As Jason notes below (and in my comment) the scope of this bailout just gets bigger. Now we apparently are going to be on the hook for foreign banks (whose expose to this toxic stuff is worse than many of our own banks) and for the credit card debt your cousin Stewart racked up on vacation in Cabo.
Today, lots of very smart financial heads have been responding to the bailout proposal:
Robert Kuttner; Robert Reich; and Bob Borosage, and Dean Baker (this is a very detailed set of principles to guide the restructuring).
All are calling for:
Maximum oversight and accountability with the taxpayers funds;
Banks have to have some skin in the game to ensure that taxpayers have a way to get some funds back;
Some reregulation;
Some limits on executive windfalls from this;
Some help for currently stressed homeowners.
Monday is the day to call or write not only your Congressional delegation to say Absolutely Not to this blank check, but contact the leadership to say no as well. Call the swtichboard at (202) 224-3121, and ask for the offices of Harry Reid, Nancy Pelosi, Mitch McConnell and John Boehner to register your opinion. Make sure to call Joe Biden, Tom Carper and Mike Castle with the same messages first.
Dems own the best cards at this point and will need every phone call or email we can send to get that spine they so badly need. The media drum beat of asking for a “clean bill” will start shortly and BushCo is already out lying about the potential of taxpayers making money out of the deal. Get to them now and get to them often to make them not cave on this one.