$700 Billion dollar reward for screwing our economy?

Well, Bush and his Gang of Thieves certainly are pushing hard for this "bailout". Having just been through Hurricane Ike, I turned to my government for some assistance. I asked for the really huge and expensive assistance, to the tune of about $5. I just wanted some ice and water. But that help never came. I was eventually able to find ice, at $2.19/bag. But someone else in my neighborhood brought some water to us, and we survived.

I asked my lenders for a bit of help coping with this national disaster, and was rebuffed with a hearty "Sorry, pay your bill. No help for you, and no, you can't have one payment put off to the end of the loan."

I was charged $75 to cancel my flight.

My cruise line cheerfully refunded my money in full for our December cruise that we can no longer go on. They will get my booking next time.

What irks me is that I was given no quarter, no relief from ANYONE from this storm, despite living less than 10 miles from where Ike rumbled ashore, and the eye passed directly over my house. I wasn't asking for a lot of assistance, just a little relief from the ravages of the storm. Enough breathing room to not go under. What I got was the proverbial "sharp stick in the eye".

After 13 days, we finally have power. Life will return to normal.

What will NOT return to normal, in my opinion, is the venereal, er, venerable, institutions known as "Wall Street". What they are doing is asking us, the taxpayer, to foot the bill for the multi-million-dollar "exit packages", the bonus that executives get for ruining a company and sending it into the abyss of history. They want us to bail them out, to save them from the abyss they threw themselves into through bad decision-making, and plain, unadulterated greed. They want us to save them from the fires of hell with our own money. I am against this "plan". They want US to give them more money? After they have plundered the US treasury, ruined our economy, offshored our jobs, debased our currency, robbed my children of their futures, and now they want to saddle us with even MORE DEBT? The kind that takes generations to pay off? Are they insane? We're supposed to trust these vermin? We're supposed to give them even more money to reward them for this thievery? No. Not only no, but HELL NO! These people have nothing in the game. I would make this loan only under the following conditions-

1) All profit comes back to the people after the principal is paid, and with a stiff penalty.

2) All property, including thier personal residences, retirement accounts, golden parachutes, and stock options, all bank accounts, cash, and vehicles should be immediately forfeit. They can serve as the "down payment", so to speak. Let's get these bastards to have some "skin: in the game.

3) Immediate cancellation of all bonuses and regular salary for the CEOs of the affected companies. Put those twoard the repayment of this debt. They can have it back if and when the markets recover.

What is happening with Bush and cronies proclaiming the end of the world if we don't approve their looting of the Treasury is nothing short of financial terrorism. It's like rewarding the captain of the Exxon Valdez with a bigger ship full of oil, and a case of Scotch to go with it. If my banks won't even grant me ONE DEFERRED PAYMENT to help me get past a declared national disaster, why should I be expected to give my child's future to them? Let Goldman Sachs fail. It would probably do MORE for the world economy's trust to let them fail than to reward bad behavior with saddling the taxpayer with debt and risk.

What they are doing, in a nutshell, is giving us the risk while they reap the rewards. This is flat-out WRONG. It is thievery, plain and simple. "Hank" Paulson was the CEO of Goldman Sachs up until 2 years ago. Why would he give up the $16Billion bonuses and the salary of that job for a $400,000 a yr job in the government, unless he knew that this was going to happen? He was one of the architects of this destruction, let him enjoy the reward of seeing his creation through. Let him give up all his ill-gotten gains. Let him feel the pain he is causing us. He earned it!

We need to get out OurPitchforksAndTorches and give ol' Hank a sharp stick in the ass. Just like he's doing to us! How's it feel, Hank?