We need a comprehensive list of demands for what we get in return for Wall St. bailouts: add yours

[yurbud]

We need to apply the same reasoning that Republicans gave for welfare reform in the 90s: if you get public money, you get public accountability and rules.

Some mentioned here already:

• caps on interest on credit cards, mortgages,etc.
  
  
• caps on executive compensation
  
  
• controls that reduce speculation
  
  
• Higher tax rates for capital gains than dividends, to encourage "buy and hold" rather than "pump and dump"
  
  
• tough anti "foxes guarding the henhouse" measures to keep industries from picking their own regulators.
  

On corporate bailouts outside of Wall Street, particularly the automakers:

• gov't control of exec compensation,
  
  
• set ratio of exec compensation to lowest paid employee
  
  
• no lay offs, no lobbying against mpg changes or emission controls. We tell them what to do and they say "yes, sir."
  
  
• No off-shore outsourcing
  
  
• No spending on union-busting
  
  
• If you move, you lose. Move your headquarters overseas to avoid taxes, lose your gov't contracts and subsidies. Period.
  
  
  
• and so on.
  

Most importantly, Democrats cannot surrender anymore when Republicans call spending on healthcare, education, veterans benefits, or fuel oil for old people "wasteful" and budget busting. We are coming off of 28 years of putting corporate America first, from defense spending to seizing oil reserves, to trade deals, to allowing union-busting even of government employees.

All of those came at considerable expense not just to the health of our middle class, but to taxpayers as well, as they shouldered the social costs inflicted by corporate welfare.

I was going to say we should get a comprehensive list before we contact Congress and the Obama campaign, but this is too urgent. Contact them NOW AND LATER.

Find your senators & Congressman:

http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/index.html

Obama campaign:

http://my.barackobama.com/page/s/contact2

I already can predict one of the responses to this: go out and knock on doors, get people registered, and donate money to get Obama elected and leave the ideas to the suits in the party.

To those people, I politely say, fuck you.

We need to simultaneously get them elected AND let them know who is boss, or we will get the capitulation we have seen from the Democrats during Bush or the compromise of Clinton.

And if we remain silent now, when the compromise and capitulation come, the administration could claim (correctly) that their base never expected them to do otherwise.

[magellan]

1. As Biden suggested

You want a bailout? Open your books. We want to know EVERYTHING.

[VeggieTart]

30. I agree!

And you know what? Until the cost of the bailout is paid back, the profits and proceeds go back to the taxpayers, figuratively speaking. And if you want deregulation, you have no right to complain when your company goes under.

And I agree: End corporate personhood.

[magellan]

37. Exactly

All great ideas. :thumbsup:

[begin_within]

2. Reinstate the Fairness Doctrine

[aquart]

3. On the "set ratio to lowest paid employee...."

That must include any CONTRACT employee not merely those on the direct payroll. Otherwise it's a black hole of a loophole.

[yurbud]

4. good point

[akwapez]

5. Can we tack on the resignation of everyone in the Bush admin?

chimpy, darth, and all the way down. Gotta go.

[aquart]

48. I'm a traditional person.

I'd like a formal walking the plank ceremony. At precisely fifty miles from our shoreline, where the drilling will begin. Bog bodies were found at borders. They can think of their souls as eternal protection for US oil rigs.

[Union Thug]

6. Add to this life without parole in a federal prison for each and every

exectuive/ceo involved in this. No exceptions.

[nadinbrzezinski]

7. Remove corporate personhood

taxes of 70% for the top 1%

End of NAFTA, CAFTA et al

Absolute right of labor to organize, end of right to work legislation nation wide

Living wages

National single payer health care

Lock box for SS

WPA programs

Return to tariffs and re-industrialize the country

I could go on

[dana_b]

8. great additions! excellent thread.

please, do go on! I think you all have started a wonderful idea and just think if everyone here on DU sent this comprehensive list to their congressional people, Senators, even the White House ( :eyes: ) and so on, maybe, just maybe, some of them might pay attention to us for once.

[nadinbrzezinski]

11. We need to take to the streets and have some direct action

that is what it partially took in the 1930s to get that legislation passed

From having called Pelosi's office, no they don't want to listen to us

[fascisthunter]

10. sorry... didn't see your post before I posted mine

[foxer]

18. Shouldn't they be subject to the "Death Penalty"

[nadinbrzezinski]

20. No, white collar crime does not have that

that said, if they decide to go to the legal system... it will take upwards of a decade to do the financial forensics work needed to build a case

And there are cases.., will we get a nice AG that will go there?

Oh and this IIRC is a good 20 in the pokey.. and no, not a lawyer

(And I am quite against the death penalty anyway)

[foxer]

57. I meant the corporation should be subject to death penalty

[lynnertic]

33. excellent! I want that, and tuition. n/t

[fascisthunter]

9. A New "New Deal" that includes Revocation of "Corporate Personhood"

[nadinbrzezinski]

12. No problem, good afternoon by the way

[fascisthunter]

13. You Too Friend

I woke up very late and am still enjoyng my coffee... Well, actually it's cold now since I have spent most of this early afternoon posting on DU. I guess you could say, DU is more addicting than the coffee....

[yurbud]

22. or at least invocation of corporate death penalty.

[lumberjack_jeff]

14. We deserve the profit that our capital generates.

If we're the prime stockholder, we should get the profits.

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

15. Use the interest and principle payments and any profits to establish national healthcare

and also put some of it into medicare and social security. Use the interest and principle payments from the loan to AIG and any profits made from running Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that we now own go towards giving something back to the people.

[yurbud]

17. I like that!

[Lyric]

16. Healthcare. For everyone.

If we can afford to drown Wall Street in tax dollars, we can afford national healthcare.

[InkAddict]

19. Elimination on the use of Triune credit score punitive judgements

when the person has been been let go without cause and is eligible for unemployment benefits. I'd also like to include elimination of use in the case of serious illness/disability not caused by seriously imprudent choices of action like domestic violence, using a deadly weapon, addiction, or driving recklessly.

[fascisthunter]

21. Come On DUers... Recommend this

It's about brainstorming for REAL CHANGE!

[hedgehog]

23. How about a tax payer owned entity to issue low or

no-interest mortgages and student loans for people who haven't reached the SS cap? (I was going to say people making under $250,000, but this way people may be more amenable to raising the SS cap!)

Or maybe, invest Social Security funds in mortgages and student loans at a max of 4%!

In other words, let the middle class build a life without carrying the wealthy on our backs!

[tpsbmam]

24. Demand the CEO's who made millions/billions off of the companies

they ran into the ground, leaving American taxpayers holding their bags, chip in 80% of those earnings. Never happen but it'd be appropriate. It's a one time tax levy on people who are going to cause every single American's taxes to go up.

[yurbud]

26. they should be locked up until the money they lost is recovered. They do this for debt collection

now: it's called body attachment.

You're arrested, and the bail is set at whatever your debt is.

[Shanti Mama]

38. ALL those who profited from the derivatives market and other scams

must give back (don't know the proper legal word) their profits. This is the real issue, in my mind.

[VeggieTart]

58. Restitution?

Is that the word you're thinking of?

[mascarax]

52. How about minimum wage?

CEOs and senior/executive management get minimum wage. I'm sure they're confident others live comfortably on it (since the majority are no doubt *against* raising it).

[anakie]

25. equity in

and board voting rights on any company that is bailed out.


peace

[Regret My New Name]

27. I want a football helmet full of cottage cheese... but that's just me.

[Runcible Spoon]

28. FORGIVE FUCKING STUDENT LOANS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

biggest goddamn theft from those who will inherit this fucking mess. I am drowing with a $75,000 albatross around my neck and it scares the shit out of me.

I'm at the point where I'm just not going to pay it back. I don't care if I have to wait tables to hide my (insanely meagre for my level of education) income. Fuck my credit rating, anything I buy will be in cash or channeled through my fiance.

[yurbud]

32. I second that--I'm $100K in the hole because I didn't make enough teaching college to pay

for the first eight years after grad school, so my $50K nut doubled.

[aquart]

49. Yes. Give US something.

I know your fear, btw. It isn't quite at your amount but it's inching up there. Mind you, I only borrowed $20,000 of which I only saw $14,000 as they took "points." Low interest loans my Aunt Sallie Mae. Columbia did it all and I would love to know how much of a cut they got out of those "points."

[nadinbrzezinski]

29. And off to the greatest with you

damn folks, Palin I guess is more important than this shit.... there are days

:banghead:

I know it is much more fun to talk of how this was on purpose, or patriot act II, or the lipstick on the pig... but jeessu age... time to wake up and smell the roses. We have precious little time to PRESSURE your and mine so-called leaders to do something

And that might include streets and shoes on them

[Fly by night]

31. A chicken in every pot ... rather than leaving us with no pot to piss in.

[UpInArms]

34. CEOs of "bailed out" corporations need to surrender their

compensation for the period leading up to this crisis - they knew what they were doing and took money away from fixing the situation and now they think they deserve more. I say - no more - and give back your ill-gotten gains.

[Shanti Mama]

39. ALL of them.

Not just the CEOs. The average white collar worker at Bear Stearns, working in the markets, probably made at least a few million last year.

Then, help out all the 'peons' at the company who made normal pay along with all the rest of us.

[pointblank]

35. No more of those stupid fucking

TPS reports

[BraneMatter]

36. Squat...

that's what we will get.

George Carlin had it right: "They don't care about you. At all... at all... at all."

They are going to rush this bailout bill through Congress, and Congress will be lucky to even get oversight of the money. Most of it will get passed out to whomever Bush and his cronies select.

Capitalism CANNOT be reformed. It is rotten at its core, it's founding principles genetically grotesque and mutated by the disease of unbridled greed.

The only solution is revolution. If your eyes are not opened after this, they likely never will be.

Americans live in a false reality matrix, and have been conditioned by decades of dumbing down and propaganda. They have us all scratching each other's eyes out over stupid shit of no consequence, while they laugh all the way to the bank.

As was pointed out on Air America today, most Americans can't even name the three branches of their government, much less have a clue about what is happening on Wall Street. And, in the grip of some unknown insanity, we keep right on electing the same crooks over and over again expecting, that THIS time, they will somehow clean up their act.

Arguing about "lipstick on a pig," that's where we are at while Rome burns, and somehow, it seems an appropriate metaphor for this election, if not for America itself.

[JVS]

40. Centralized Planned Economy

If we have to pay for it, why shouldn't we take the whole thing?

[depakid]

42. You forgot the sarcasm tag

[depakid]

41. I thought these looked like responsible policy changes

that need to be kept on the table- if not explicitly adopted in the next several weeks:

Here are six actions that will fairly generate over $400 billion a year to pay for a broad-based economic recovery and reduce the extreme inequalities that fueled speculation at the outset.

Institute a Financial Transactions Tax. Congress should levy a tax on financial transactions such as sale and purchase of stock and more exotic transactions such as credit default swaps, options, and futures. The UK has a modest financial transaction tax of 0.25 percent, a penny on every $4 invested. This is negligible for a long-term investor, but imposes a cost on the fast-buck flippers. Estimated annual revenue: $100 billion.

Impose an Income Tax Surcharge Rate on Incomes Over $5 Million. The 50,000 households with annual incomes over $5 million are the bigger winners from twenty-five years of Wall Street deregulation. They've also seen their effective tax rates decline under President George W. Bush. Instituting a 50 percent tax rate surcharge on incomes over $5 million and a 70 percent rate on incomes over $10 million would generate $105 billion a year.

Progressive Inheritance Taxes. When great amounts of wealth passes to the next generation a portion of it should be taxed. A progressive estate tax could generate $50 billion a year in the short term, but much more in outlying decades.

Eliminate Taxpayer Subsidies for Excessive CEO Pay. Five loopholes that benefit top executives should be abolished. These include eliminating offshore deferred compensation, capping the tax deductibility of excessive pay, and eliminating double standards for stock option accounting. Closing these tax loopholes would generate $20 billion a year. (Read more about this in this recent report from the Institute for Policy Studies and United for a Fair Economy.)

Close Offshore Corporate Tax Havens. Congress should prevent corporations from playing games by claiming expenses in the United States and profits in countries that don't collect taxes. According to the Government Accountability Office, two-thirds of US corporations paid no corporate income tax between 1998 and 2005. Closing this loophole would generate over $100 billion.

Government action should prioritize protecting ordinary people and the real productive economy, not further reward the superrich and the speculative sectors of the economy. A fair plan to the pay for the recovery is a good start.

http://www.commondreams.org/view/2008/09/19-3

Someone on another thread also suggested a graduated capital gains tax, based on how long one held various sorts of assets. That made more sense to me than eliminating capital gains treatment entirely.

[yurbud]

43. start a thread for that

[depakid]

45. Just trying to be realistic

Money and credit- it's borrowed, spent and raised one way or another,

Republicans and their ilk- they have a hard time based on the record of dealin' with that simple set of facts.

[Lord Helmet]

44. legalize pot, let gays marry, and stop the damn war

[FKA MNChimpH8R]

46. Repeal every goddamn law Phildo Gramm ever sponsored

that touched any financial instution of any kind

Selling the execs of Fannie/Freddie/every other institution getting a nickel into chattel slavery in Saudi Arabia. Including their families, and I am not kidding. Out at LEAST two degrees of consanguinity. If they don't like that option, here's another one:

Louis XVI. One or the other. Make your choice.



Repatriation of every last fucking nickel the aforementioned pigs stole in the last ten years.

Reinstatement of the Glass-Steagall Act - and then some.

A constitutional amendment putting an absolute and complete end to corporate personhood, so not even a right wing court can ignore the ban.

Everyone foreclosed upon in the last two years gets their fucking house back no questions asked.

Usury laws that are enforced with something approaching mania and the death penalty for institutions proved guilty of multiple (read two) violations.

No tax deductibility for one thin dime of executive compensation that exceeds 35 times that of the lowest paid worker.\

And every last thing mentioned in every previous post.

[yurbud]

59. sounds good to me

[crispini]

47. k and r

:kick:

[radfringe]

50. a pony? or some shiny twinkly thing....

on a more serious note, (but i still want a pony) - all that you have said

if,as mccain was "re-spun", the fundamentals of the economy are American Workers, then the emphasis needs to be put on supporting American Workers, this means JOBS IN AMERICA, decent wages, health care, and retirement protections.

I find it ironically amusing that while mccain spins fundamentals into meaning american workers, the repubs are busy blaming american workers for the mess - i.e. were irresponsible in buying homes

for a list of legislation introduced: http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Federal_housing_and_mortgage_legislation_(U.S.)

please note the ones that were BLOCKED by repubs

[Hubert Flottz]

51. You left out Impeachment of Bush and Cheney...

[POAS]

53. What about people who have been paying their

mortgages, sometimes with great difficulty? Do they get special consideration of any kind? Maybe a lowering of their interest rates or a grant to help pay down their debt?

[yurbud]

54. switch to non-profit service fee instead of interest, like a "shipping & handling" fee

that would be an incentive to make fewer payments overall, but wouldn't add up to the crushing debt people now have.

[POAS]

55. There ya go, I like it

Flat fee every month at a rate far below what the interest rate would be.

[BlooInBloo]

56. Here's Obama's list...

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/post/samgrahamfelsen/gGgmmL

[yurbud]

60. From Robert Scheer: ban foreclosures to force banks to work out terms with those in default

which would also keep the housing market from collapsing from a glut of empty houses for sale.