Billionaire Bailout

Bush's Billionaire Banker Bailout: Are You Kidding Me? By Walter Moore, Candidate for Mayor of Los Angeles, WalterMooreForMayor.com September 20, 2008 Is this $700 billion bailout some kind of a joke? According to the New York Times, Bush wants to spend $700 billion to buy bad loans from banks and other investors, in addition to the $85 billion already spent on American International Group, and up to $200 billion for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. That's $985 billion. How much money is that? Glad you asked: It's enough money to pay the starting salary of over 1.7 million police officers -- for 10 years. It's enough money to pay the average annual premium for health insurance for over 40 million families for 20 years (i.e., $12,100 for a family of four). You could buy 44 million people a Prius, if you're willing to settle for the $22,000 base model. Heck, you could even buy 123 new aircraft carriers. Our entire Navy has a total of 11 aircraft carriers right now. Or you could give $3,271 to every man, woman and child in the United States. Why should America's taxpayers spend that kind of money -- or any tax money -- to "bail out" investers who gambled by buying "securitized" home loans that turned out to be worth less than hoped? That is the risk they took when they made the investment. If they wanted to avoid that risk, they could have put their money in a federally insured savings account. If the banks and investment firms that bought bad home loans go bankrupt, so what? No homes will be destroyed. No buildings will disappear. Rather, people who made bad investments will suffer the consequences. It happens every day. Over 38,000 businesses and 934,000 individuals filed for bankruptcy in the 12 months ending June 30, 2008. So what makes bad investments in securitized home loans different? This time, it's not you or me, Mr. and Ms. Middle Class, going bust. This time, it's happening to investment bankers -- people who have become accustomed to making more money in a year than you and I will in our lifetimes. They have money, and therefore political clout, and are trying to "pull a fast one" by making you and me think we will suffer unless they get our money. Don't buy it. Don't buy the "pay up or the Great Depression returns" story at all. The only way you and I will suffer is if Bush and Congress use our money -- $700 billion of it -- to "buy" these worthless invesments, thereby moving them from the bankers' balance sheets to our balance sheet, as taxpayers. This bailout out is a massive securities fraud, and you're being pressured to hurry up and approve it before anyone figures out what a massive rip-off it is. Banks deserve to fail if they invest poorly. People who bought bank stocks, moreover, took that risk. If they had wanted a safe, federally insured investment, they could have and should have put their money into federally insured accounts. It's not fair for the rest of us to have to bail them out simply because they gambled and lost. Will certain people have trouble getting new home loans. Sure. But they will have trouble whether the bailout occurs or not. None of the bailout money would to struggling homeowners to help them pay their mortgages. Not a dime. The tax burden of paying for the bailout, however, would fall on their shoulders -- and yours, as a taxpayer. Now, I don't care if you're a Republican, a Democrat, or, like me, an independent: one thing we can all agree is wrong is to give billions in welfare to the rich. Please tell your United States Senator and your Congress Member to vote "no" on this billion-dollar -- nearly TRILLION-dollar -- boondoggle.