I’ve Called my Congress Critter — Have You?
My Congressman voted against this “crap sandwich” bailout bill on Monday. My Senators voted for it (and they’ll be hearing an earful from me when I can get through the switchboard).
This morning I called my Congressman’s office (all five, actually) to thank him for voting against the bill on Monday and to urge him to do so again today. The Democrats hadn’t handed the bill over to the minority yet, so his staff wouldn’t commit to his position because he hadn’t seen the final bill yet. That the House leadership (DEMOCRATS) would hand over a 450+ page bill to be read and voted on in the same day is absolutely tyrannical. I was a part of a group on Free Republic who split the bill up into sections to read and comment on. The Senate bill is more than a “crap sandwich” … it’s a “crap sandwich” served with a glass of yellow liquid.
If this were truly an emergency, they should all be willing to get together and come up with a clean bill that addresses the emergency… and only the emergency. Some of the items currently included in this bill are:
- Removal of an excise tax on childrens toy wooden arrows: I realize that the tax is supposed to be on hunting equipment, and these toys got accidentally included on the list and need to be removed — but does it have to be done in a $700 billion gift to Wall Street?
- Tax “incentives” for: Virgin Island and Puerto Rican Rum (Section 308), American Samoa (Sec. 309), Mine Rescue Teams (Sec. 310), Mine Safety Equipment (Sec. 311), Domestic Production Activities in Puerto Rico (Sec. 312), Indian Tribes (Sec. 314, 315), Railroads (Sec. 316), Auto Racing Tracks (Sec. 317), District of Columbia (Sec. 322), Wool Research (Sec. 325), Hollywood (Sec. 502)?
- Six pages worth of earmarks for the litigants in the 1989 Exxon Valdez incident, Alaska (Sec. 504)
- Mental Health care parity: what on earth is that?
- Carbon Credits
This is purely a knee-jerk reaction — they have put zero thought into this “plan”. Remember that $300 billion bailout to the poor misguided and abused people who signed up for more mortgage than they could afford? You know .. the Main Street bailout bill? Our Critters told us that bill would fix the issue. We needed to shore up those mortgages and keep people in their homes. How very ironic that the week that that law goes into effect and the $$ start flowing that we’re back here, now staring down the barrel of a $700 billion bailout for the oh-so-greedy banks and investment houses. Because that $300 billion that was going to fix the problem didn’t — because they didn’t THINK.
We’re now at a combined total of $1 TRILLION. Wake up, people!!! Smell the coffee!!!
Our Representatives (and unfortunately our President, too) have no clue what they’re doing. They’re fumbling around in the dark. They demanded more “affordable” housing for the poor and minorities, then praised the banking industry when they started handing out subprime loans, interest only loans, and 50-year mortgage terms. They looked the other way when Fannie and Freddie were cooking the books in 2005, and are suddenly shocked when they find out that the people who these “affordable” loans were going to weren’t qualified, never should have gotten them, and can’t pay — taking down Wall Street in the process.
Let them fail.
Let the market tank. Let the greedy lenders fail. Let the people who lied about their income, signed the papers without reading them and financed their lifestyles by refinancing and cashing out every 6 months lose their homes. Proping the house of cards up will only keep it standing for so long. We wouldn’t be in the mess we are in now if Congress and the Federal Reserve had just let things happen LAST YEAR. But now we’re here — and now they’re talking about more money out the door. The house will fall at some point, and the longer we hold it off the more it’s going to hurt.
Call your Representatives. TODAY.
(Now that that’s out of my system, my regularly scheduled content will start showing back up tomorrow. In the queue: our trip to Williamsburg last weekend.)
GOD BLESS AMERICA
