How to get even more people against the bailout:

Before I get flamed, I'm not saying this is the right solution, but this is an argument that would get people to start questioning the logic of the bailout. If people read this, they'll REALLY tell Washington to F-off.

Copy / Paste and Send anyone you know who is starting to come around to the bailout / on any blogs or forums you know. This will really get people thinking about things and realizing not to blindly trust their government and this deal -- also it means ABSOLUTE POLITICAL SUICIDE for anyone that does vote for this deal.
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The government is taking YOUR money, GIVING it to banks, and the banks ARE LOANING YOU BACK YOUR OWN MONEY WITH INTEREST!

WE DON’T NEED TO BAIL OUT WALL STREET. WE CAN RESCUE AMERICA BY CREATING JOBS.

The American economy is 70% based on consumer spending. This means that in order for our economy to survive people must keep spending money. Unfortunately, people can’t spend money if THEY DON’T HAVE JOBS. The bailout plan for Wall Street as presented WILL NOT help our economy – it will not create a single new job or help anyone keep their homes.

What people have to realize is that banks are a for-profit business. After Congress gives them $700 billion dollars, they’re going to pay their executives well, but they’re not going to be giving people easy loans to start a business or buy a house because banks are going to take a loss on their balance sheets when selling their bad mortgages to the Federal Government. So they’re going to hold onto the money that the government gives them and reduce their risk. Credit won’t be easier to get, consumer spending will be reduced and EVERYONE will be worse off because no one will be able to buy anything without a job.

Basically, all the money from the bailout is going to be locked up in company coffers while people lose their homes, lose their life savings, and will end up starving in the streets if nothing is done. The $700 Billion bailout plan is based on the idea that that American taxpayers will pay back the debt; but, if other countries like China move away from the dollar as the reserve currency, refuse to lend and call their debts, we will have to sell our country piece-by-piece to pay off the debt because PEOPLE WITHOUT JOBS CAN’T PAY BACK DEBTS. If you think that can’t happen, think again, because that’s how everyone felt about our economy, and as we all know, we’re now on the brink of a total financial collapse.

With this plan, people can keep their jobs and their homes and the banks can make back their money without burdening tax payers, forcing our economy into a recession or doing something insane like buying up defaulted mortgages that will never be paid off using taxpayer money. Taxpayer money should be used to HELP TAX PAYERS.

Instead of bailing out Wall Street, the Federal Govt. could actually save our country by sending that money to the States. Many States, like Michigan, are effectively bankrupt and people are losing their homes and jobs. If the Federal Government just skips over the banks and gives the money to the States, the States can enact government spending via construction jobs, government service jobs, etc. and offer grants from that money to small businesses so that they, in turn, can offer jobs to people and even low-interest loans to struggling homeowners so that they don't lose their homes. The best part of this situation is that when the State loans money, it can afford to take a higher risk because it doesn’t have a fiduciary duty to maximize returns to stockholders (unlike private banks). By doing this, and Americans actually seeing people around them doing better, this will have a psychological effect of bolstering consumer confidence – which will lead to increased spending and economic growth—and a stabilization of the housing market because people will demand homes once they have jobs. The tax revenues gotten from the economic stimulation will be able to repay debts and reduce inflation as the Federal government collects on income taxes.

This concept is based on a simple premise. If you put a little bit of money into a lot of people's hands, they will spend that money and jumpstart the economy -- e.g. a million people with $1 can buy a million loaves of bread (injecting $1 million into the economy and paying the salaries of the workers at the grocery store, the truck drivers who delivered the goods, the gas station owners where the drivers filled up, and the farmers who grew the wheat for the bread), but one guy with $1 million is still only going to eat one loaf of bread while a million people who are starving and not spending money leads to a contraction of the economy.
This will help not only small business but big business too, banks will have more assets on their books as people put money into savings and checking accounts, markets will be shored back up, money market assets will re-stabilize, and companies like Apple, Microsoft, IKEA, etc. will see their bottom lines increase as people go out and spend on things like computers, iPhones, flat screen TVs, furniture, and new homes; this also means more jobs as companies have more money. Company profitability will automatically create value for investors and they will return to the stock market.

This isn’t a bailout for irresponsible people or for badly run companies—it’s a very reasonable plan to help EVERYONE – to help the AMERICAN PEOPLE and benefit on all sides—you don’t look like you’re bailing out people from bad mortgages or bailing out companies—but you are providing equal opportunity to all Americans.

Why the Paulson Bailout Won’t Work:

Put simply, let’s say you have to pay your rent but you loaned your last $100 to a guy who said he’d pay you back $150. Instead, he defaults on the loan and now you’re broke. Your mom bails you out by giving you $50 (so now you’re still $50 in the hole, but at least you have something). A new guy comes by and asks you to loan him some money. Are you going to loan it to him? Probably not without a blood sample, a lot of collateral, and a very high interest rate (because you still have to make back the $50 you lost the first time around). Even though you have replenished capital, you’re still fairly illiquid, because you don’t want to take the risk. Now replace “you” in the story with “Goldman Sachs” add “billion” after the “$”and change “your mom” to “the U.S. Government” and “guy” to “borrowers”—welcome to the US economy post-bailout.

Banks are businesses and even with the write downs they won’t loan money to people at a high risk—this will mean that it will still be very hard for small businesses or individuals to get loans and they’ll have to still pay an unaffordable interest rate—which will lead to even more defaults. States don’t have this problem – the government isn’t a for-profit business – their only job is to make sure that the citizens are taken care of – even if some people default on their loans to the government, it won’t wipe out the economy because the government recoups money through taxes, but when companies lose money they don’t get it back (that’s why they need the bailout on Wall Street right now). Also, bailing out Goldman Sachs or other banks won’t bring back the money or value people lost in companies that have already gone under like AIG or Lehman Bros. An economic recovery, however, will automatically re-capitalize the markets because people will have extra money to put into the stock market.

The plan:

1. Split the $700 Billion as needed amongst the 50 States: If split equally, that is $14 Billion per State (to give a context to this, the entire budget of Michigan is ~$1 Billion).

2. Using State revenues, all 50 states can implement social and economic programs to help retrain their workers, offer capital and grants for businesses, jobs, education and tuition costs, and infrastructure. Many States have recently been through severe upheavals due to entire industries collapsing or being outsourced (e.g. automotive) – hundreds of thousands of people have worked in the same place for 30-40 years and just been laid off. When a State has that kind of burden, it needs a significant amount of capital to retrain workers or provide a safety net for these displaced people – the redirected bailout will provide these funds so that American workers can “catch up” to the times or exit the workforce with dignity and enough of a cushion to pay their rent / heating bills in retirement.

3. This plan will pay for itself because when consumers spend money, they pay sales tax, gas tax, and other taxes; which come right back to the State…not to mention INCOME taxes, which go to the Federal government and will allow us to REPAY the national debt instead of just destroying people’s lives and burdening future generations with more debt.

4. The banks will be repaid and people will be able to keep their homes because THEY WILL HAVE JOBS

This plan accomplishes the following:

1. Reinvigorates consumer spending by GIVING PEOPLE JOBS. This fixes the economy because 70% of the economy is based off of people spending money.

2. Enables people to stay in their homes and increases home ownership because THEY HAVE JOBS, so they can pay their mortgages – even possibly move back into their old homes and reduce the glut of properties being held by banks.

3. Recreates the credit markets, because people with jobs can pay back their debts and homes with intrinsic value can once again be considered a safe asset.

4. Increases consumer sentiment and psychologically gives people hope: Nothing says things are changing for the better than seeing homes in your neighborhood being bought, property values going up and finding a job / seeing your standard of living go up.

5. Education -- $14 Billion would go a LONG way to saving State education (No Child Left Behind could be adequately funded), helping kids go to college via more State scholarships, and with more people employed, they can begin saving and paying back debt like student loans.

6. Fixes our INFRASTRUCTURE (roads, bridges, waterways, sewer systems, flood protection, etc.) in our cities that is falling down / crumbling (e.g. Texas and Louisiana). Even pays for hybrid fuel public transportation.

Ask your Congressman why they don't do this plan?