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POPULISTS POUND PLUTOCRATS
Millions of voters voice outrage over ill-conceived Bush bailout plan designed for bankers, stock barons
By James P. Tucker, Jr.
The House defeat of the administration’s proposed bailout for big bankers was a triumph for populists throughout America, who bombarded Congress with phone calls, Internet petitions and emails, then took their protests to the streets of America.
Lawmakers had their political pants scared off and did right for their country. While some version of the “rescue” legislation will probably pass, patriots forced Congress to make significant improvements in the pending legislation.
Instead of a blank check for $700 billion, Congress will dole out $200 billion and the administration will have to explain itself to get more.
Frivolous items, such as helping pay off credit cards and making car payments, have been killed.
Unworthy groups are unfunded. For example, a left-wing group called ACORN has received millions of taxpayer dollars for many years to help poor, inner-city people buy homes they can’t afford.
ACORN is also under investigation in several states for vote fraud—turning in phony ballot applications so non-citizens, dead people and imaginary people can vote. ACORN was to get an extra chunk to help with the bailout. Not only are its bailout funds denied, but the annual appropriations are killed.
A lid is placed on paying big bucks for bad work. The “golden parachutes” for the disgraced heads of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are gone. Limits will be placed on the compensation for their successors.
Other bureaucrats will face similar limitations. After five years, the president must submit to Congress a proposal that recoups from the financial industry any projected losses to the taxpayer.
The Treasury is required to receive non-voting stock warrants from participating financial institutions, so taxpayers get money back when the values go back up.
Lawmakers from both parties admitted that it was the American voters who forced them into making these improvements in the bailout proposal. They said their Internet sites, phones and emails all were jammed by voters protesting the bailout.
AFP correspondent James P. Tucker Jr. is a veteran journalist who spent
many years as a member of the “elite” media in Washington. Since 1975 he has won widespread recognition, here and abroad, for his pursuit of on-the-scene stories reporting the intrigues of global power blocs such as the
Bilderberg Group. Tucker is the author of Jim Tucker’s Bilderberg Diary: One Man’s 25-Year Battle to Shine the Light on the World Shadow Government. Bound in an attractive full-color softcover and containing 272 pages—loaded with photos, many never published before—the book recounts Tucker’s experiences over the last quarter century at Bilderberg meetings. $25 from AFP. No charge for S&H in U.S.
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(Issue # 41, October 13, 2008)
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