Our government is set to bail out dozens of companies that acted with reckless, stupid, and wild abandon. An entire legion of drunken sailors armed with limitless credit cards could not have kept up. Taxpayers are being asked, more like told, to pony up $700 billion to pay for this bender and keep the irresponsible companies afloat. This goes beyond stupid.
I am rarely at a loss for words or a crazy metaphor. Some how, I feel like this is the metaphor that I'll be using to describe some Darwin Award attempt somewhere down the line. "Welding a seat to a JATO rocket and going for a ride with nothing but a Barbie helmet and a leather jacket? That's like the $700 billion dollar bailout of the financial sector, only without the collateral damage."
Here's the letter I'm sending to all of my elected representatives. Write to yours. Copy and past mine if you want. If you're silly enough to want them to vote for this bailout, go get your Barbie helmet.
The Honorable Tom Davis
2348 Rayburn House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515-4611
Dear Mr. Davis:
I am writing you regarding the “LEGISLATIVE PROPOSAL FOR TREASURY AUTHORITY TO PURCHASE MORTGAGE-RELATED ASSETS.” I believe this bill is both a serious moral hazard and a fundamentally unfair transfer of wealth from taxpayers to financial institutions. I urge you to vote against it.
Unlike the Savings and Loan bailout, the “assets” this plan proposes to purchase are not tangible property. Rather, taxpayer dollars would be used to purchase securitized debt instruments. The highly dubious value of these “assets” is in no small part to blame for the trouble many financial companies are in today. The taxpayers did not force these companies to buy these, and therefore have precisely zero obligation to take them off the hands of the businesses that foolishly bought them.
Even if our government were not $9.6 trillion dollars in debt, it would have no place using tax dollars to bail out irresponsible businesses. As it stands, you are being asked to spend money you do not have. Just because you have a checkbook doesn’t mean you still have money. I will be watching this vote with great interest.
Thank you for taking the time to read my letter.
