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Bailout! Let's look to Congress. Here's a good member

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Message Margaret Bassett
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Perhaps it would be useful to discuss whether those who are worried about the Bailout have anyone in Congress who knows what we need.

My head is swimming with millions, billions, trillions, quadrillions of dollars being discussed in OEN articles.  As they say:  It all depends upon where you put the Zero.  

Perhaps it would be useful to discuss whether those who are worried about the Bailout have anyone in Congress who knows what we need.  I found one such, and Bernie Sanders is a member of OEN.  Below is a link to the article he wrote on Sept 21.  I quote below.  Then you can discuss things with him, the member who is an Independent and knowledgeable.  Formerly a House member and now in the Senate, he has the kind of experience which means we should take him seriously.  

http://www.opednews.com/articles/The-Middle-Class-Must-Not-by-Bernie-Sanders-080921-17.html


Let us be clear.  If the economy is on the edge of collapse we need to act.  But rescuing the economy does not mean we have to just give away $700 billion of taxpayer money to the banks. (In truth, it could be much more than $700 billion.  The bill only says the government is limited to having $700 billion outstanding at any time. By selling the mortgage backed assets it acquires -- even at staggering losses -- the government will be able to buy even more resulting is a virtually limitless financial exposure on the part of taxpayers.)  Any proposal must protect middle income and working families from bearing the burden of this bailout.  
Here's his plan:


I have proposed a three part plan to accomplish that goal which includes a five-year, 10% surtax on the income of individuals above $500,000 a year, and $1 million a year for couples; a requirement that the price the government pays for any mortgage assets are discounted appropriately so that government can recover the amount it paid for them; and, finally, the government should receive equity in the companies it bails out so that when the stock of these companies rises after the bailout, taxpayers also have the opportunity to share in the resulting windfall.  Taken together, these measures would provide the best guarantee that at the end of five years, the government will have gotten back the money it put out.
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Margaret Bassett passed away August 21, 2011. She was a treasured member of the Opednews.com editorial team for four years.

Margaret Bassett--OEN editor--is an 89-year old, currently living in senior housing, with a lifelong interest in political philosophy. Bachelors from State University of Iowa (1944) and Masters from Roosevelt University (1975) help to unravel important requirements for modern communication. Early introduction to computer science (1966) trumps them. It's payback time. She's been "entitled" so long she hopes to find some good coming off the keyboard into the lives of those who come after her.
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