The $700 Billion Question - action item from the AFL/CIO

( form at their site sends email to:
* Your Congressperson
* Your Senators
* cc: Majority Leader
* cc: Speaker of the House )
_ _ _ _ _


George Bush, Henry Paulson and Ben Bernanke came to Congress
this weekend with a request for a $700 billion blank check to
bail out Wall Street. Thankfully, our allies in Congress are
pushing back against this dangerous and ill-conceived bill.

To ensure that the bill Congress passes is a balanced one, our
congressional leadership needs to hear from you. Contact your
member of Congress and their leaders today and tell them "no
blank checks" for Wall Street:

http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/noblankcheck

Our nation is facing a real financial crisis, brought on by
seven years of Bush-McCain financial policies, that calls for
action that is thoughtful and swift--but not hasty. The actions
we take at this perilous time must set the stage for a real
recovery that benefits Main Street as well as Wall Street.

The last thing we should do is compound the enormous imbalances
in our economy with an enormously imbalanced rescue package. To
accomplish this, any bailout must:

* Be governed by an independent board with transparency and
effective public and congressional oversight.

* Use the full array of financial and legal tools available to
the government to stop foreclosures and restructure home
mortgage loans for working families.

* Address the cause of the crisis on Main Street in addition to
the symptoms on Wall Street. Congress should pass a second
stimulus package in its entirety.

* Work to address the disastrous weaknesses in our financial
regulatory system and corporate governance system that allowed
this disaster to happen.

Contact your member of Congress and their leaders today and tell
them to ensure that any bailout package is a balanced one:

http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/noblankcheck

The current Bush-Paulson-Bernanke proposal does nothing for
families facing foreclosure or for working people hit hard by
the economy, and it does nothing to hold those who caused this
crisis accountable. Meanwhile, it grants unlimited authority to
the Bush administration to spend $700 billion of the public's
money to prop up whomever they wish on Wall Street, without any
rules or independent oversight.

This is not acceptable.

The stakes are enormous. If this plan ends up squandering
hundreds of billions of dollars of the public's money, the
damage will not be limited to the financial system. As a nation,
we must address the health care crisis, the infrastructure
crisis, the energy and environmental crisis and the jobs crisis.
Our future and our children's future depend on focusing our
nation on these challenges in the real economy.

Contact your member of Congress and their leaders today and tell
them "no blank checks" for Wall Street:

http://www.unionvoice.org/campaign/noblankcheck

In solidarity,

Working Families e-Activist Network, AFL-CIO

they have sat on their plan for months and it is not an emergency now - this is like iraq - they had the plan in place before they even took office

...and I now think the whole thing is a ripoff and a farce.

Unfortunately, I doubt our oh-so-wise (not) "leaders" will concur.

I'd say AIG probably is and should be part of that but what is the rest of this nonsense?