Do you realize what Bush's "emergency bailout" means? This was the frightening description the New York Times offered to American taxpayers:
"The Bush administration on Saturday formally proposed a vast bailout of financial institutions in the United States, requesting unfettered authority for the Treasury Department to buy up to $700 billion in distressed mortgage-related assets from the private firms.
The proposal, not quite three pages long, was stunning for its stark simplicity. It would raise the national debt ceiling to $11.3 trillion. And it would place NO RESTRICTIONS on the administration other than requiring semiannual reports to Congress, granting the Treasury secretary unprecedented power to buy and resell mortgage debt."
Bush was quoted: “I will tell our citizens and continue to remind them that the risk of doing nothing far outweighs the risk of the package, and that, over time, we’re going to get a lot of the money back.”
KEY QUESTIONS??
Assuming we all agree that we need to do something drastic to stabilize this financial fiasco, there are some serious questions we need to consider:
- Why would anyone in their right mind, give the failed Bush administration $700 Billion, especially without restrictions? What has this administration done that would give us the slightest indication that this would be a wise decision?
- Why is $700 Billion in Bush's hands presented as an all or nothing proposition? Based on the failed policies, practices, and administration characterized with its greed, incompetence, poor judgment, mismanagement, and corruption, shouldn't we more thoughtful about how we implement any solution and with whom, especially when we're told it is a "crap shoot" whether this proposal will work.
- Shouldn't there be a targeted shared responsibility for those who have already took their "profits" on the front-end of the meltdown? If the taxpayer has to bear this responsibility for this "emergency bailout" for generations to come, shouldn't the corporations and banks and others involved, also be charged with helping to pay back the bailout with their future profits?
- Shouldn't the failed leadership in the government, banks, and corporations that created this financial meltdown have their severance packages trimmed down? Shouldn't this bailout be built on accountability of those in charge all the way to the top where BUSH sits? Shouldn't the bailout make severance packages for the executives in parity with what the thousands of employees will get for their abrupt layoffs, eliminating the "golden parachutes" for unsatisfactory performance and financial and business misconduct.
This is what kept me awake last night.
What are your thoughts?
Debbe
Debbe Kennedy
author and founder, President and CEO
Global Dialogue Center and Leadership Solutions Companies
New Book! Putting Our Differences to Work (June 2008)
Learn more: www.puttingourdifferencestowork.com
Berrett-Koehler - BK Business
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