September 22, 2008
Monday

I am very worried about the proposed bailout of the financial services industry that will cost US taxpayers nearly a TRILLION dollars. I've spent all morning writing my elected officials and the chairmen of the House and Senate Finance Committees and I encourage you to do the same.

Fiscal conservatism - Rest In Peace...

Long a cornerstone of the Republican Party, we seem to have have lost all sense of any sort of fiscal restraint. The bailout plan calls for raising the statutory limit on the national debt from $10.6 trillion to $11.3 trillion to pay for this plan.

We cannot borrow our way out of this mess - that's how we got here in the first place.

As written, the plan allows no oversight by Congress or any court. It does not protect any homeowner in financial difficulty. It does nothing to ensure that lax lending practices are reined in, or regulate the exotic debt instruments that let the finance industry hide their failures from both their shareholders and regulators. Our tax dollars will pay full retail for the most toxic and worthless loan packages and let the bankers get off scot-free.

Today the plan was broadened to include FOREIGN banks holding US mortgages. Barclays and UBS stand to get the relief of US taxpayers' hard-earned dollars. Phil Gramm - the architect of deregulation in the banking industry and chief financial advisor to John McCain - is both vice chairman of UBS's US division and a lobbyist for UBS. Lucky for them.

This transcends party politics. Please, insist on responsible bipartisan oversight of the bailout or our kids and grand kids will be paying for this for generations.

Paul Merrill
Ketchikan, AK

About: "Part-Time Ketchikan Resident"

Received September 22, 2008 - Published September 22, 2008

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