No Blank Check Paulson Petition

Litbrit sent me this petition urging citizens to tell Congress not to give Henry Paulson his requested power in the bailout, without oversight.

Congress is on the brink of making a one-sided deal to give George W. Bush a blank check to bail out his pals - offering nearly (or perhaps more than) a trillion taxpayer dollars to Wall Street to cover its bad debts. That works out to somewhere between $2000 and $5000 from every American family. So what do the taxpayers get in return?

Nothing. No new regulation or oversight to help avoid this kind of crisis in the future. No public interest givebacks to help people whose homes are in the hands of the banks. Perhaps most shockingly of all, the taxpayers get absolutely no share in the profits if and when these finance giants bounce back, even though we are now assuming a great deal of the risk.

The taypayers are going to lose money on the bailout. With or without oversight. The other option is letting the mortgage industry collapse. Recouping tax dollars from selling high-risk illiquid assets is unlikely. Times like these makes me wish I was running an entertainment gossip blog.

Sign the petition