STOP AND FILIBUSTER – NO DEAL
Don Knotts Key essential elements for a good plan by Norton West Sept. 25, 2008
1. TRANSPARENCY, FULL DISCLOSURE, PUBLIC AIRING to culminate in a public referendum, especially if any funding comes from taxpayers.
2. START WITH A COMPREHENSIVE CRISIS ANALYSIS IN ADVANCE: Create a comprehensive list of all default-financial market perils including commitments already made to Fannie Mae, Bear Stearns…..add CDS market exposure (about $ 50 trillion dollars), credit card exposure, commercial mortgage loan exposure, HE loan exposure, auto loan exposure and any other off-balance sheet contingent liabilities. We this total in hand begin to work on a Bailout Plan. No future surprises. Those who design and execute this plan will be fully accountable and liable under the law as trustees in the Public interest. Plan must have a funding and cash flow project plan for over a 5 – 10 year period. This is the starting point of analysis for a viable plan. This sounds much bigger than $ 700 Billion and should all be considered up front. There must be legal limits to this foray.
3. A TWO PHASE PLAN: First Phase for immediate Action and second Phase for the bulk of provisions to be initiated and implemented over a five to ten year period that is well defined and visible for the benefit of market stability.
4. ALL ELEMENTS TO BENEFIT THE TAXPAYER. THAT IS IT. If there is any leverage to be gains it should be secured for the taxpayer: job training, longer unemployment insurance, new job corp. for new directions for our future, personal debt counseling, reductions and stabilization. Middle class financial stability is the ONLY THING THAT WILL GROW THE ECONOMY! No CASH for TRASH!
5. PAY-GO PLAN as we did during Clinton Administration when we had a balanced budget; the planning process must have full public disclosure and transparency. No back room deals for the good old boys.
6. PRESIDENT’S BOGUS ARGUEMENTS. We do not need to offer consumers anymore credit! We need incentives for savings and energy use reductions, not more spending above and beyond our means. We need to help consumers manage their debt in order to reduce it, keep their homes and train for new jobs of the future. Any further debt burden on the taxpayer will only drive down spending, cause more bankruptcies and exacerbate the economic slowdown we are already in.
7. USE EXISTING NEW BANK AND INVESTMENT CO FED LOAN PROVISIONS: Why are the banks and investment houses not using the new funding mechanisms the FED already setup in the Spring which were designed to create the capital to make loans available to the public? How is the Bailout any better and why will it be anymore successful? Aren’t we already providing them with favorable rates? If they need liquidity, the FED has already offered that.
8. CUT OVERSEAS MILITARY EXPENSES in one-half now and shift those funds for bailout plan implementation. We need to see our “national security” as much broader than just the Homeland Security and Defense Budget. Our democracy is hanging in the balance here. Issues here are also part of national security and should be considered in that light of high priority: health care and child care for kids, head start program, renewable energy infrastructure development, spending more on educating kids per year than with do on prisoners, health care for everyone at a reasonable price, exercising congressional and executive branch oversight of financial institutions, funding existing programs for our social network. (see details under item 13)
9. ISSUE PREFERRED STOCK DISCOUNT CERTIFICATES to all taxpayers much as we distributed tax rebate checks this spring. These would be numbered and authorize taxpayers to purchase with your own money Preferred Stock shares in a list of financial institutions the Treasury is trying to save. Investor gets 10% off market price and no brokerage fee. The investment choice needs to be in the taxpayer’s hands. This would be our choice to invest just as Warren Buffett did in Goldman Sach this week. The choices good enough for Warren Buffett are good enough for Joe six pack or any taxpayer. Otherwise, funding would come for Pay-go basis.
10. STOP PREDITORY LENDING PRACTICES by credit card companies that was passed previously by the Congress under pressure from the industry lobbyists. Borrower negotiates for a rate and it cannot be bounced up without real personal contact and proper notice to the client and cannot be bounced up more the 20% above the standard rate. No more tricks like moving the payment date back with notice in the fine print that result in one day late payment causing automated doubling or tripling of rates!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Assign a personal banker / counselor to each borrower with direct phone line contact and real interest in managing clients debt.
11. ESTABLISH AN ACCOUNTING RULES COMMITTEE to create new accounting rules on transferring and valuing off-balance sheet collateralized asset onto the balance sheet that will subsequently be written down over a five year period. If this is done with full transparency so that the world markets will gain confidence in our practices and no one institution will be at a disadvantage except as they have created by their own behavior.
12. DIRECT PROVISIONS FOR HANDLING CDS instruments; that is, Collateralized Derivative Swaps that are insurance on CDO’s, CMO’s etc.
13. START A 1930 STYLE WORK CORP to build our infrastructure for renewable energies. Job training, support with incentive and incentives for collaboration between collegiate and industry research and educational institutions in support of renewable energies.
14. REDEFINITION OF WHAT NATIONAL SECURITY IS in the context of spending priorities, national budget and national deficit?
15. FINAL PLAN GOES OUT TO VOTER REFERENDUM IN NOVEMBER ON ELECTION DAY.
1. When budgeting for this, National Security must have a much broader meaning. When our democracy is facing collapse financially and philosophically, many issues are part of “National Security”. For Example,
• funding a building of renewable energy infrastructure
• Millions of children without health care
• Spending three times as much annual to maintain a prisoner as we do to educate our children. This is a national security issue.
• Being first in the World in spending on health care but a third world country in terms of health care performance.
• Being first in the World in arms sales to the rest of the World ferments more war not World stability and peace.
• Proclaiming to support a strong dollar while watching the floating exchange rates decimate the dollar value is a national security issue.
• Not providing first rate mental health and medical health necessities for veterans is a national security issue.
• Not providing adequate child care for working mothers and single parents.
• Using executive orders by the President to get around laws is a national security issue.
• Providing Medicaid programs that are so poorly designed (such low reimbursements) that most doctors in Maine have signs in their office that they do not accept Maine Care……..this is a ethical, moral and national security issue.
• Creating unfunded mandates
• Creating essential social programs and support mechanisms and subsequently providing such low funding that they are effectively unusable by the people who need them most.
• Proclaiming you are fiscal conservative and then creating the largest budget deficits in history. This is dishonest and creates a financial crisis such as today. This is a national security issue.
• Conducting international trade with such deficit spending that the country is being financed at the will of dictators, communists, and countries that are not friendly towards us. This is downright stupidity and creates a national security issue.
• Letting corporate special interest group and lobbyists finance and influence our elected and appointed representative such that the Public is losing control of their free speech voice. This is a direct threat to the continuance of our Democracy and the operation of our Constitution..it is a national security issue.
• Supporting tax and job incentive for the middle class.
In conclusion, it suggest that the national budget for next year have all these issue listed under the National Security, Pentagon, Commerce and Education Dept budget so as to facilitate some creative reprioritizing of our spending priorities for the future.
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