An Open Letter to Congress...

Dear Legislator,

Please do not support passage of any Bill or Amendment that would make the 700 Billion "Paulson Plan" bailout become law.

You already know how enraged your constituency is with the prospect of having to shoulder the debt from yet another bailout plan for the misdeeds and failures of others.

More importantly the Administration is trying to railroad you into support of a bad plan with a sense of urgency that does not exist - this is a "you have to shake 'em up before you shake 'em down" alarmist approach by the Administration to get you and other Legislators to act quickly in favor of this plan without taking the time to fairly debate, and consider ALL of the alternatives.

Knowledgeable economists have said there is at least one month before action is needed to address Wallstreet's issues.

The "Paulson Plan" is a bailout that will, contrary to the Administration's assertions, hurt far more Americans and the American economy than it will help.

It will hurt all of us in these ways: First and foremost, 700 billion is an unprecedented amount of money in scope and timing that will add significantly to an already unsupportable national debt level. No doubt you've already heard that this alone will pose more than a $6,000 debt on every American man, woman, and child - or - more than $24,000 in new national debt for the average American family of 4 people. The impact of the existing national debt has already seriously eroded the value and strength of the American dollar - at the beginning of this year it had already lost more than 25% of its value since 2004 - cutting into savings and increasing the cost of nearly every commodity, service or product used by American consumers and commerce. This plan is a serious threat to our future financial security, especially if it is followed by further taxation.

Can you or any other Legislator seriously believe that the sponsors of this plan, who only arrived at a determination that $700 billion would be sufficient because it was " a really big number", will effectively counter the threat of trillions of dollars of exposure with this amount? There are sophisticated and expert financiers and economists, including former Federal Reserve Secretary Greenspan who don't!

Do you not suspect that as a consequence and once committed that you will be asked, just like the funding for the war in Iraq, for more money in the future - because failure to do so would jeopardize $700 billion already spent or because the Administration had vastly underestimated the extent of the "crisis" just as they were equally blindsided by it as recently as August?

Washington, unlike American business and commerce, does not have a culture of cost savings and cost containment. Can you imagine how vast the structure will be needed by Washington to administer, manage, maintain and market these "investments" , or the magnitude of the cost if it's outsourced, and for how long ? What will it take - 3 years, 5 years ??? Bill Gross of Pimco has bandied about the possibility of a 7% return - even if it was possible that's not net profit but gross profit. When all of the costs for the plan's administration are added up, there will be a loss not a profit. Even Secretary Paulson qualifies this outcome.

Pricing of these "toxic" (Wallstreet's own description for them) assets and instruments is paramount; yet this plan has no clear mechanism to assure the determination of a real and fair value that won't subsequently injure taxpayers. It's been pitched as "trust us to do the right thing". Well, poll after recent poll shows that overwhelmingly Americans do not trust the Government to do the "right" thing in this crisis.

I urge you to "step back" and recognize all of the Congressional Leadership's and Administration's posturing and arm twisting on this bailout plan and recognize it, just as the American public does, for what it is.

Please consider some of the other viable alternatives already put forth for discussion that do not harm the American taxpayer to the extent this plan does - Senator Schumer's notion of an FDIC-style insurance program to backstop these instruments and mortgages and make them marketable; the use of preferred stock for some classes of assets to give the taxpayer an equity position for their tax dollars; repeal of the "mark to market" accounting rules to establish an equitable value and market for the assets; and, lastly a substantial reduction and, or, elimination of the capital gains tax to instantly pump massive amounts of liquidity from private capital back into the housing and equity markets.

There is time to do this right - Christmas ornaments, political posturing and the notion that "a bad bill now is better than the perfect bill later" is absolutely asinine - no one believes that Congress will reform it's legislation later to make the perfect bill.

Americans recognize that this is a bailout for Wallstreet being packaged and "sold" to them as a "Mainstreet" issue .... if the "Paulson Plan" is passed into law, they will not accept any Legislator's plea afterward for having been misled by those who promoted its adoption. Gullibility will not cut it as a defense against a voter backlash. Constituents want representation and that's clear from the volume of mail, calls, faxes and emails that Congress has received over this - they don't want to hear that the American public just doesn't understand the issues and how it affects them - they're also smart enough to know that is just more Washington arrogance, suggesting the public is "too stupid to get it".

Moreover, Congress should fully expect in the wake of any passage of this $700 billion bailout, a wide sweeping voter effort to reform the "legalized bribery" of lobbyists and PAC's. The American public understands the extent legalized bribery has enabled and played an part in leading us into this financial crisis.

Nancy Pelosi has said, but unwittingly hasn't understood the implication, not only is the party over for high flying Wallstreet Ceo's, so too, will it be for the Congressional beneficiaries of influence peddling and legalized bribery if this plan passes.

* if you care to, feel free to use the above letter
Congressional Emails, Addresses, Phone and Fax Numbers

http://www.webslingerz.com/jhoffman/congress-email.html
http://www.conservativeusa.org/mega-cong.htm
http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/
http://www.congressmerge.com/
https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml
http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml