[Anyone] Solution For Wall Street (It Ain't Bad, Folks)

[totem at laplaza.org]

> Friends, 
> The richest 400 Americans -- that's right, just four hundred people -- own MORE than the bottom 
150 million Americans combined. 400 rich Americans have got more stashed away than half the 
entire country! Their combined net worth is $1.6 trillion. During the eight years of the Bush 
Administration, their wealth has increased by nearly $700 billion -- the same amount that they are 
now demanding we give to them for the "bailout." Why don't they just spend the money they made 
under Bush to bail themselves out? They'd still have nearly a trillion dollars left over to spread 
amongst themselves! 
> Of course, they are not going to do that -- at least not voluntarily. George W. Bush was handed a 
$127 billion surplus when Bill Clinton left office. Because that money was OUR money and not his, he 
did what the rich prefer to do -- spend it and never look back. Now we have a $9.5 trillion debt. Why 
on earth would we even think of giving these robber barons any more of our money? 
> I would like to propose my own bailout plan. My suggestions, listed below, are predicated on the 
singular and simple belief that the rich must pull themselves up by their own platinum bootstraps. 
Sorry, fellows, but you drilled it into our heads one too many times: There... is... no... free... lunch. 
And thank you for encouraging us to hate people on welfare! So, there will be no handouts from us 
to you. The Senate, tonight, is going to try to rush their version of a "bailout" bill to a vote. They 
must be stopped. We did it on Monday with the House, and we can do it again today with the Senate. 
> It is clear, though, that we cannot simply keep protesting without proposing exactly what it is we 
think Congress should do. So, after consulting with a number of people smarter than Phil Gramm, 
here is my proposal, now known as "Mike's Rescue Plan." It has 10 simple, straightforward points. 
They are: 
> 1. APPOINT A SPECIAL PROSECUTOR TO CRIMINALLY INDICT ANYONE ON WALL STREET WHO 
KNOWINGLY CONTRIBUTED TO THIS COLLAPSE. Before any new money is expended, Congress must 
commit, by resolution, to criminally prosecute anyone who had anything to do with the attempted 
sacking of our economy. This means that anyone who committed insider trading, securities fraud or 
any action that helped bring about this collapse must go to jail. This Congress must call for a Special 
Prosecutor who will vigorously go after everyone who created the mess, and anyone else who 
attempts to scam the public in the future. 
> 2. THE RICH MUST PAY FOR THEIR OWN BAILOUT. They may have to live in 5 houses instead of 7. 
They may have to drive 9 cars instead of 13. The chef for their mini-terriers may have to be 
reassigned. But there is no way in hell, after forcing family incomes to go down more than $2,000 
dollars during the Bush years, that working people and the middle class are going to fork over one 
dime to underwrite the next yacht purchase. 
> If they truly need the $700 billion they say they need, well, here is an easy way they can raise it: 
> 
> a) Every couple who makes over a million dollars a year and every single taxpayer who makes over 
$500,000 a year will pay a 10% surcharge tax for five years. (It's the Senator Sanders plan. He's like 
Colonel Sanders, only he's out to fry the right chickens.) That means the rich will still be paying less 
income tax than when Carter was president. This will raise a total of $300 billion. 
> 
> b) Like nearly every other democracy, charge a 0.25% tax on every stock transaction. This will raise 
more than $200 billion in a year. 
> 
> c) Because every stockholder is a patriotic American, stockholders will forgo receiving a dividend 
check for one quarter and instead this money will go the treasury to help pay for the bailout. 
> 
> d) 25% of major U.S. corporations currently pay NO federal income tax. Federal corporate tax 
revenues currently amount to 1.7% of the GDP compared to 5% in the 1950s. If we raise the corporate 
income tax back to the level of the 1950s, that gives us an extra $500 billion. 
> 
> All of this combined should be enough to end the calamity. The rich will get to keep their 
mansions and their servants, and our United States government ("COUNTRY FIRST!") will have a little 
leftover to repair some roads, bridges and schools. 
> 3. BAIL OUT THE PEOPLE LOSING THEIR HOMES, NOT THE PEOPLE WHO WILL BUILD AN EIGHTH 
HOME. There are 1.3 million homes in foreclosure right now. That is what is at the heart of this 
problem. So instead of giving the money to the banks as a gift, pay down each of these mortgages 
by $100,000. Force the banks to renegotiate the mortgage so the homeowner can pay on its current 
value. To insure that this help does no go to speculators and those who have tried to make money by 
flipping houses, this bailout is only for people's primary residence. And in return for the $100K 
paydown on the existing mortgage, the government gets to share in the holding of the mortgage so 
that it can get some of its money back. Thus, the total initial cost of fixing the mortgage crisis at its 
roots (instead of with the greedy lenders) is $150 billion, not $700 billion. 
> And let's set the record straight. People who have defaulted on their mortgages are not "bad risks." 
They are our fellow Americans, and all they wanted was what we all want and most of us still get: a 
home to call their own. But during the Bush years, millions of them lost the decent paying jobs they 
had. Six million fell into poverty. Seven million lost their health insurance. And every one of them 
saw their real wages go down by $2,000. Those who dare to look down on these Americans who got 
hit with one bad break after another should be ashamed. We are a better, stronger, safer and happier 
society when all of our citizens can afford to live in a home that they own. 
> 4. IF YOUR BANK OR COMPANY GETS ANY OF OUR MONEY IN A "BAILOUT," THEN WE OWN YOU. 
Sorry, that's how it's done. If the bank gives me money so I can buy a house, the bank "owns" that 
house until I pay it all back -- with interest. Same deal for Wall Street. Whatever money you need to 
stay afloat, if our government considers you a safe risk -- and necessary for the good of the country 
-- then you can get a loan, but we will own you. If you default, we will sell you. This is how the 
Swedish government did it and it worked. 
> 5. ALL REGULATIONS MUST BE RESTORED. THE REAGAN REVOLUTION IS DEAD. This catastrophe 
happened because we let the fox have the keys to the henhouse. In 1999, Phil Gramm authored a bill 
to remove all the regulations that governed Wall Street and our banking system. The bill passed and 
Clinton signed it. Here's what Sen. Phil Gramm, McCain's chief economic advisor, said at the bill 
signing: 
> 
> "In the 1930s ... it was believed that government was the answer. It was believed that stability and 
growth came from government overriding the functioning of free markets. 
> 
> "We are here today to repeal [that] because we have learned that government is not the answer. We 
have learned that freedom and competition are the answers. We have learned that we promote 
economic growth and we promote stability by having competition and freedom. 
> 
> "I am proud to be here because this is an important bill; it is a deregulatory bill. I believe that that 
is the wave of the future, and I am awfully proud to have been a part of making it a reality." 
> 
> This bill must be repealed. Bill Clinton can help by leading the effort for the repeal of the Gramm 
bill and the reinstating of even tougher regulations regarding our financial institutions. And when 
they're done with that, they can restore the regulations for the airlines, the inspection of our food, 
the oil industry, OSHA, and every other entity that affects our daily lives. All oversight provisions for 
any "bailout" must have enforcement monies attached to them and criminal penalties for all 
offenders. 
> 6. IF IT'S TOO BIG TO FAIL, THEN THAT MEANS IT'S TOO BIG TO EXIST. Allowing the creation of 
these mega-mergers and not enforcing the monopoly and anti-trust laws has allowed a number of 
financial institutions and corporations to become so large, the very thought of their collapse means 
an even bigger collapse across the entire economy. No one or two companies should have this kind 
of power. The so-called "economic Pearl Harbor" can't happen when you have hundreds -- 
thousands -- of institutions where people have their money. When you have a dozen auto 
companies, if one goes belly-up, we don't face a national disaster. If you have three separately-
owned daily newspapers in your town, then one media company can't call all the shots (I know... 
What am I thinking?! Who reads a paper anymore? Sure glad all those mergers and buyouts left us 
with a strong and free press!). Laws must be enacted to prevent companies from being so large and 
dominant that with one
>  slingshot to the eye, the giant falls and dies. And no institution should be allowed to set up 
money schemes that no one can understand. If you can't explain it in two sentences, you shouldn't 
be taking anyone's money. 
> 7. NO EXECUTIVE SHOULD BE PAID MORE THAN 40 TIMES THEIR AVERAGE EMPLOYEE, AND NO 
EXECUTIVE SHOULD RECEIVE ANY KIND OF "PARACHUTE" OTHER THAN THE VERY GENEROUS SALARY 
HE OR SHE MADE WHILE WORKING FOR THE COMPANY. In 1980, the average American CEO made 45 
times what their employees made. By 2003, they were making 254 times what their workers made. 
After 8 years of Bush, they now make over 400 times what their average employee makes. How this 
can happen at publicly held companies is beyond reason. In Britain, the average CEO makes 28 times 
what their average employee makes. In Japan, it's only 17 times! The last I heard, the CEO of Toyota 
was living the high life in Tokyo. How does he do it on so little money? Seriously, this is an outrage. 
We have created the mess we're in by letting the people at the top become bloated beyond belief 
with millions of dollars. This has to stop. Not only should no executive who receives help out of this 
mess profit from it,
>  but any executive who was in charge of running his company into the ground should be fired 
before the company receives any help. 
> 8. STRENGTHEN THE FDIC AND MAKE IT A MODEL FOR PROTECTING NOT ONLY PEOPLE'S SAVINGS, 
BUT ALSO THEIR PENSIONS AND THEIR HOMES. Obama was correct yesterday to propose expanding 
FDIC protection of people's savings in their banks to $250,000. But this same sort of government 
insurance must be given to our nation's pension funds. People should never have to worry about 
whether or not the money they've put away for their old age will be there. This will mean strict 
government oversight of companies who manage their employees' funds -- or perhaps it means that 
the companies will have to turn over those funds and their management to the government. People's 
private retirement funds must also be protected, but perhaps it's time to consider not having one's 
retirement invested in the casino known as the stock market. Our government should have a solemn 
duty to guarantee that no one who grows old in this country has to worry about ending up destitute. 
> 9. EVERYBODY NEEDS TO TAKE A DEEP BREATH, CALM DOWN, AND NOT LET FEAR RULE THE DAY. 
Turn off the TV! We are not in the Second Great Depression. The sky is not falling. Pundits and 
politicians are lying to us so fast and furious it's hard not to be affected by all the fear mongering. 
Even I, yesterday, wrote to you and repeated what I heard on the news, that the Dow had the biggest 
one day drop in its history. Well, that's true in terms of points, but its 7% drop came nowhere close to 
Black Monday in 1987 when the stock market in one day lost 23% of its value. In the '80s, 3,000 
banks closed, but America didn't go out of business. These institutions have always had their ups 
and downs and eventually it works out. It has to, because the rich do not like their wealth being 
disrupted! They have a vested interest in calming things down and getting back into the Jacuzzi. 
> As crazy as things are right now, tens of thousands of people got a car loan this week. Thousands 
went to the bank and got a mortgage to buy a home. Students just back to college found banks more 
than happy to put them into hock for the next 15 years with a student loan. Life has gone on. Not a 
single person has lost any of their money if it's in a bank or a treasury note or a CD. And the most 
amazing thing is that the American public hasn't bought the scare campaign. The citizens didn't 
blink, and instead told Congress to take that bailout and shove it. THAT was impressive. Why didn't 
the population succumb to the fright-filled warnings from their president and his cronies? Well, you 
can only say 'Saddam has da bomb' so many times before the people realize you're a lying sack of 
shite. After eight long years, the nation is worn out and simply can't take it any longer. 
> 10. CREATE A NATIONAL BANK, A "PEOPLE'S BANK." If we really are itching to print up a trillion 
dollars, instead of giving it to a few rich people, why don't we give it to ourselves? Now that we own 
Freddie and Fannie, why not set up a people's bank? One that can provide low-interest loans for all 
sorts of people who want to own a home, start a small business, go to school, come up with the cure 
for cancer or create the next great invention. And now that we own AIG, the country's largest 
insurance company, let's take the next step and provide health insurance for everyone. Medicare for 
all. It will save us so much money in the long run. And we won't be 12th on the life expectancy list. 
We'll be able to have a longer life, enjoying our government-protected pension, and living to see the 
day when the corporate criminals who caused so much misery are let out of prison so that we can 
help reacclimate them to civilian life -- a life with one nice home and a
>  gas-free car that was invented with help from the People's Bank. 
> Yours,
> Michael Moore
> MMFlint at aol.com
> MichaelMoore.com 
> P.S. Call your Senators now. Here's a backup link in case we crash that site again. They are going 
to attempt their own version of the Looting of America tonight. And let your reps know if you agree 
with my 10-point plan.
> 
> 
>       



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