Letters to the Editor
rodian
Published Letters: 134 Editor's Choice: 9
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don´t lump me with the newt
[Read the article: A cry of rage from Wall Street]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I also vehemently oppose this bailout. I´d like to ask one favor, Andrew. Please don´t imply that everyone opposed to this deal is a Gingrich Republican. That is just gross.
I oppose this plan because it only treats the symptoms, not the disease. The symptom is that banks are failing. The disease is that people can´t afford to pay their debts. Why? Because they are suffering the duress of usurious interest rates. It is not the banks who need and deserve a bailout, it is the people they have robbed. Interests rates are so high that many people have paid back the money they originally borrowed many times over, and are not even close to being in the black. That is just wrong.
When the bankers hear talk about judicial modifications of their unfair ARM´s, they wail about the sanctity of contracts and the rule of law. Contract law, IIRC, also stipulates that contract terms must not be unreasonable. It is unreasonable to write a contract that says, point blank, that your interest rate on a loan may at any time in the future become anything that the lender deems appropriate without any recourse on the part of the borrower. That is patently ridiculous. It is unreasonable that credit card holders are put in debt in perpetuity to line the pockets of criminal bankers.
Yes, we need a bailout plan. We need to bail out good decent ordinary hard working Americans who are being held hostage by indecent and unfair creditors. We need to put reasonable caps on interest rates. Period. That is the bailout plan we need. It will cost the taxpayer not a penny. The people who will pay for this plan will be the banks who´s future income expectations will have to be revised downward to account for the fact that they will no longer be allowed to fleece the middle class and most egregiously the poor. That is exactly as it should be. There will be some short term pain while the economy readjusts, but readjust it will, and in the long term (there is far too much short term thinking happening in the past week) America will be much stronger. I think the sacrifice this plan requires is a sacrifice that virtually all Americans would be willing to pay. If we ask government to intervene in the economy, then government damn well better act on behalf of the American people, and not on behalf of a handful of predatory lenders.
Does that sound like Gingrich to you, Andrew? There are damn good reasons to oppose this bailout, and is not all about contempt for government or believe in squashing regulatory oversight. I love your column, but please don´t let Democrats and Republicans hand you all of your talking points. There are opinions about these matters outside of our oversimple two-party system.
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@maotsetung
[Read the article: A cry of rage from Wall Street]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]History books are full of public hangings which have proved most beneficial.
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sometimes the system works
[Read the article: Is the the credit crunch just an accounting issue?]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]I don't know why so many people refer to the house's inability to pass a bill as "failure". Not "a failure", as in "they failed to pass the bill", but just plain "failure", as if it is their duty and obligation to pass legislation.
It is not.
They couldn't get the votes. The bill didn't pass. That is how it should be. For once, government did not capitulate to the powerful, despite enormous pressure. The system worked. If we lived in an autocracy, this never would have happened. We don't, and it did.
I think it's amazing to hear people decry those representatives who's votes were swayed by concern about impending elections. Imagine that! They are actually listening to voters! Amazing!
The next move will be to have the Senate vote first. Idea being that that damn populist house of congress will then feel compelled to follow their lead, or risk losing face. Losing face with who? Who does the House answer to - the Senate or the People?
I'm generally pretty cynical about our government, but today, the House of Representatives shined brightly.
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oh please
[Read the article: Black bailout Monday]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]Please stop bleating on behalf of the wolves who would devour you.
This issue isn't about Democrats or Republicans. The split on the floor cut across party lines. I haven't been so hopeful that congress might actually do something without regard to party affiliation in, well, forever. Both parties are a complete mess, and need a serious makeover. Maybe this is their chance.
There's a lot of history happening lately. I'm finding it a little odd that you appear to be siding with the establishment, Andrew. A little creative destruction is just what we need.
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I'm with the bard
[Read the article: Black bailout Monday]
[Read more letters about this article: Here]who's Lord Polonius said:
Neither a borrower nor a lender be;
For loan oft loses both itself and friend,
And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry.
The great disaster that everyone is afraid of is that credit markets might freeze up. So what?! How did we let the foundation of our economy become so dependent on credit? The foundation of our economy is hard working highly educated people producing things that other people want. At least it used to be. I, for one, do not want a paper economy, run by and for bureaucrats.
The fancy nancy boys on Wall Street in their pinstripe suits, the predatory bankers and their usurious interest rates on adjustable rate mortgages and credit cards - they are a plague on America. They deserve their comeuppance, and I damn well hope they get it. These people are criminals so bold they would ask the Federal government to hand them a trillion dollars. They should all rot in hell.
I am proud of the House of Representatives today. They did their job admirably. They voted their conscience, and they voted for the people, and they failed to pass legislation drafted by and for the powerful. They stood up for the people of this country, and they should be congratulated. Take a look at Congresswoman Marcy Kapture's speech if you don't believe me:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zHmvyjkQ-rQ