[Anyone] the thieves steal all our money

[totem at laplaza.org]

Friends,

Let me cut to the chase. The biggest robbery in the history of this country is
taking place as you read this. Though no guns are being used, 300 million
hostages are being taken. Make no mistake about it: After stealing a half
trillion dollars to line the pockets of their war-profiteering backers for the
past five years, after lining the pockets of their fellow oilmen to the tune of
over a hundred billion dollars in just the last two years, Bush and his cronies
-- who must soon vacate the White House -- are looting the U.S. Treasury of
every dollar they can grab. They are swiping as much of the silverware as they
can on their way out the door.

No matter what they say, no matter how many scare words they use, they are up to
their old tricks of creating fear and confusion in order to make and keep
themselves and the upper one percent filthy rich. Just read the first four
paragraphs of the lead story in last Monday's New York Times (
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/22/business/22lobby.html ) and you can see what
the real deal is:

"Even as policy makers worked on details of a $700 billion bailout of the
financial industry, Wall Street began looking for ways to profit from it.

"Financial firms were lobbying to have all manner of troubled investments
covered, not just those related to mortgages.

"At the same time, investment firms were jockeying to oversee all the assets
that Treasury plans to take off the books of financial institutions, a role that
could earn them hundreds of millions of dollars a year in fees.

"Nobody wants to be left out of Treasury's proposal to buy up bad assets of
financial institutions."

Unbelievable. Wall Street and its backers created this mess and now they are
going to clean up like bandits. Even Rudy Giuliani is lobbying for his firm to
be hired (and paid) to "consult" in the bailout (
http://www.nydailynews.com/news/politics/2008/09/25/2008-09-
25_rudy_giulianis_crass_opportunism_reflect.html
).

The problem is, nobody truly knows what this "collapse" is all about. Even
Treasury Secretary Paulson admitted he doesn't know the exact amount that is
needed (he just picked the $700 billion number out of his head!). The head of
the congressional budget office said he can't figure it out nor can he explain
it to anyone.

And yet, they are screeching about how the end is near! Panic! Recession! The
Great Depression! Y2K! Bird flu! Killer bees! We must pass the bailout bill
today!! The sky is falling! The sky is falling!

Falling for whom? NOTHING in this "bailout" package will lower the price of the
gas you have to put in your car to get to work. NOTHING in this bill will
protect you from losing your home. NOTHING in this bill will give you health
insurance.

Health insurance? Mike, why are you bringing this up? What's this got to do with
the Wall Street collapse?

It has everything to do with it. This so-called "collapse" was triggered by the
massive defaulting and foreclosures going on with people's home mortgages. Do
you know why so many Americans  are losing their homes? To hear the Republicans
describe it, it's because too many working class idiots were given mortgages
that they really couldn't afford. Here's the truth: The number one cause of
people declaring bankruptcy is because of medical bills (
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/02/02/business/02insure.html ). Let me state this
simply: If we had had universal health coverage, this mortgage "crisis" may
never have happened.

This bailout's mission is to protect the obscene amount of wealth that has been
accumulated in the last eight years. It's to protect the top shareholders who
own and control corporate America. It's to make sure their yachts and mansions
and "way of life" go uninterrupted while the rest of America suffers and
struggles to pay the bills. Let the rich suffer for once. Let them pay for the
bailout. We are spending 400 million dollars a day on the war in Iraq. Let them
end the war immediately and save us all another half-trillion dollars!

I have to stop writing this and you have to stop reading it. They are staging a
financial coup this morning in our country. They are hoping Congress will act
fast before they stop to think, before we have a chance to stop them ourselves.
So stop reading this and do something -- NOW! Here's what you can do
immediately:

1. Call (
http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/cgi-bin/newmemberbio.cgi?
lang=&member=ILJR&site=ctc&address=&city=&state=IL&zipcode=&plusfour=
) or e-mail ( http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/contact2 ) Senator Obama. Tell
him he does not need to be sitting there trying to help prop up Bush and Cheney
and the mess they've made. Tell him we know he has the smarts to slow this thing
down and figure out what's the best route to take. Tell him the rich have to pay
for whatever help is offered. Use the leverage we have now to insist on a
moratorium on home foreclosures, to insist on a move to universal health
coverage, and tell him that we the people need to be in charge of the economic
decisions that affect our lives, not the barons of Wall Street.

2. Take to the streets. Participate in one of the hundreds of quickly-called
demonstrations (
http://truemajority.wiredforchange.com/event/distributedEventCalendar.jsp ) that
are taking place all over the country (especially those near Wall Street and
DC).

 3. Call your Representative in Congress and your Senators. (click here to find
their phone numbers: http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/ ). Tell them what you
told Senator Obama.

When you screw up in life, there is hell to pay. Each and every one of you
reading this knows that basic lesson and has paid the consequences of your
actions at some point. In this great democracy, we cannot let there be one set
of rules for the vast majority of hard-working citizens, and another set of
rules for the elite, who, when they screw up, are handed one more gift on a
silver platter. No more! Not again!



P.S. Having read further the details of this bailout bill, you need to know you
are being lied to. They talk about how they will prevent golden parachutes. It
says NOTHING about what these executives and fat cats will make in SALARY.
According to Rep. Brad Sherman of California, these top managers will continue
to receive million-dollar-a-month paychecks under this new bill. There is no
direct ownership given to the American people for the money being handed over.
Foreign banks and investors will be allowed to receive billion-dollar handouts.
A large chunk of this $700 billion is going to be given directly to Chinese and
Middle Eastern banks. There is NO guarantee of ever seeing that money again.

P.P.S. From talking to people I know in DC, they say the reason so many Dems are
behind this is because Wall Street this weekend put a gun to their heads and
said either turn over the $700 billion or the first thing we'll start blowing up
are the pension funds and 401(k)s of your middle class constituents. The Dems
are scared they may make good on their threat. But this is not the time to back
down or act like the typical Democrat we have witnessed for the last eight
years. The Dems handed a stolen election over to Bush. The Dems gave Bush the
votes he needed to invade a sovereign country. Once they took over Congress in
2007, they refused to pull the plug on the war. And now they have been cowered
into being accomplices in the crime of the century. You have to call them now (
http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/ ) and say "NO!" If we let them do this, just
imagine how hard it will be to get anything good done when President Obama is in
the White House. THESE DEMOCRATS ARE ONLY AS STRONG AS THE BACKBONE WE GIVE
THEM. CALL CONGRESS NOW ( http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/ ).

from michael moore