Queer · and · Loathing · in · America

I have been watching the implosion of the McCain campaign with a lot of interest. When I got home from work yesterday and signed on-line to see the headline Bailout Bill Killed by the House, I also have to say I had a bit of respect for the 60% of Republican congressmen who held true to their party principles and voted against the party leadership. Wow, I thought to myself, some of them still believe in not having big government.

And then I discovered that apparently the reason they decided to vote against the bill was to "punish" Speaker Nancy Pelosi who made a speech pointing out that this entire financial disaster was the direct result of the failed policies of the President and a Republican dominated Congress; they decided to pout and punish the country to teach her a lesson.

Yes, this is the party of "country first."

I, frankly, oppose this bailout bill as it was written; it was just a bad bill. The vast majority of my fellow citizens agree with me. I fail to see why we need to bail out the sons of bitches who, through their greed and frankly stupid business policies, have wrecked our economy and created this disaster. So, a bail out is necessary to save our economy? Then this is what I think needs to be included in this bill:

1. Regulatory oversight with teeth. You violate the rules, you go to jail. Period.

2. Limits on executive salaries, bonuses and no golden parachutes. Period.

3. Heavy taxes on profits until this bail out is paid back.

4. A revision of personal bankruptcy laws that will help people in financial trouble instead of throwing them under the bus.

5. A rewrite of these 'bad' mortgages to help people keep their homes.

6. A maximum level of credit interest (no more of this 'preapproved credit regardless of whether you have a job, have bad credit history, or have defaulted on other credit recently for a low APR of 22% or higher'), and retroactive fines for credit companies who have issued such predatory credit.

7. National health care. The majority of people who default on their mortgages do so because of outrageous medical bills they cannot pay.

8. Complete and total regulation of the insurance industry. If an insurance company delays payment on a claim, or rejects one for absolutely no good reason other than they don't want to pay it, they get fined. Period.

9. If a corporation decides to send jobs overseas, they get taxed. Heavily. And if they try to pass that tax cost on to consumers, a HUGE fine.

10. A limit on how much money we continue to spend in Iraq.

I am not an economist, but all it takes is the ability to balance a checkbook to figure out that we, as a nation, cannot afford to keep spending money we don't have. Americans who spend money they don't have and then can't pay back are screwed; yet our government operates on the very same principle.

Current Location:	my desk
Current Mood:	angry
Current Music:	Freeway of Love by Aretha Franklin