This is the original call to self-organize that went out on Monday:

When: 4pm Thursday, September 25!
Where: Southern end of Bowling Green Park, in the plaza area
What to bring: Banners, noisemakers, signs, leaflets, etc.
Why: To say we won’t pay for the Wall Street bailout

Everyone,

This week the White House is going to try to push through the biggest
robbery in world history with nary a stitch of debate to bail out the Wall
Street bastards who created this economic apocalypse in the first place.

This is the financial equivalent of September 11. They think, just like
with the Patriot Act, they can use the shock to force through the
“therapy,” and we’ll just roll over!

Think about it: They said providing healthcare for 9 million children,
perhaps costing $6 billion a year, was too expensive, but there’s
evidently no sum of money large enough that will sate the Wall Street
pigs. If this passes, forget about any money for environmental protection,
to counter global warming, for education, for national healthcare, to
rebuild our decaying infrastructure, for alternative energy.

This is a historic moment. We need to act now while we can influence the
debate. Let’s demonstrate this Thursday at 4pm in Wall Street (see below).
We know the congressional Democrats will peep meekly before caving in like
they have on everything else, from FISA to the Iraq War.

With Bear Stearns, Fannie and Freddie, AIG, the money markets and now this
omnibus bailout, well in excess of $1 trillion will be distributed from
the poor, workers and middle class to the scum floating on top.

This whole mess gives lie to the free market. The Feds are propping up
stock prices, directing buyouts, subsidizing crooks and swindlers who
already made a killing off the mortgage bubble.

Worst of all, even before any details have been hashed out, The New York
Times admits that “Wall Street began looking for ways to profit from it,”
and its chief financial correspondent writes that the Bush administration
wants “Congress to give them a blank check to do whatever they want,
whatever the cost, with no one able to watch them closely.”

It’s socialism for the rich and dog-eat-dog capitalism for the rest of us.
Let’s take it to the heart of the financial district! Gather at 4pm, this
Thursday, Sept. 25 in the plaza at the southern end of Bowling Green Park,
which is the small triangular park that has the Wall Street bull at the
northern tip.

By having it later in the day we can show these thieves, as they leave
work, we’re not their suckers. Plus, anyone who can’t get off work can
still join us downtown as soon as they are able.

There is no agenda, no leaders, no organizing group, nothing to endorse
other than we’re not going to pay! Let the bondholders pay, let the banks
pay, let those who brought the “toxic” mortgage-backed securities pay!

On this list are many key organizers and activists. We have a huge amount of
connections – we all know many other organizations, activists and
community groups. We know P.R. folk who can quickly write up and
distribute press releases, those who can contact legal observers, media
activists who can spread the word, the videographers who can film the
event, etc.

Do whatever you can – make and distribute your own flyers, contact all
your groups and friends. This crime is without precedence and we can’t be
silent! What’s the point of waiting for someone else to organize a protest
two months from now, long after the crime has been perpetrated?

We have everything we need to create a large, peaceful, loud
demonstration. Millions of others must feel the same way; they just don’t
know what to do. Let’s take the lead and make this the start!

When: 4pm Thursday, September 25!
Where: Southern end of Bowling Green Park, in the plaza area
What to bring: Banners, noisemakers, signs, leaflets, etc.
Why: To say we won’t pay for the Wall Street bailout
Who: Everyone!

To find protests around the country, go to True Majority (www.truemajority.org) or United for Peace and Justice (www.unitedforpeace.org).

September 2008: An Economic 9/11/2001

“How seriously, then, should we take comparisons with the crash of 1929? Most economists believe we have the monetary and fiscal instruments and understanding to avoid collapse on that scale .… Moreover, it is difficult to have faith in the policy wherewithal of a government that oversaw the utter mismanagement of the war in Iraq and the response to Hurricane Katrina. If any administration can turn this crisis into another depression, it is the Bush administration.” Joseph Stiglitz1

The financial centers of Wall Street are under attack in 2008. Americans are trying to understand who’s to blame and why this is happening. The Congress will be making decisions this month that could change how the Federal Government operates for the foreseeable future. The choice presented by the Bush Administration is;
A. Either give us a blank check to rescue any financial institution
B. or else terrible things could happen.

I had to ask myself, when have I heard this before? After Sept. 11th, 2001 attacks, the Bush Administration asked for a blank check to attack, and wage war anywhere on Earth.

The USA PATRIOT Act was introduced to the House on October 23, 2001 and was signed by the U.S. President George W. Bush on October 26, 2001. In the documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 the sheer magnitude of the Act itself was noted. In one of the scenes of the movie, Congressman Jim McDermott alleges that no Senator read the bill. Authorization for Use of Military Force Against Terrorists was enacted 9/18/2001 and gave the President unlimited authority to wage war in any country. The laws supporting an imperial presidency were passed during a Congressional panic. That panic has ended but the Presidency has retained these unlimited powers.

Then there was the phrase in 2003 by Dr. Condoleezza Rice “But we don’t want the smoking gun to be a mushroom cloud.” The panic about Iraq and the WMD’s resulted in Congressional authorization of another war. That panic resulted in an occupation that has yet to end even though the Bush Administration admits Iraq had no WMD’s.

The current panic could result in the Congressional power over the economy being transferred to the imperial President. Perhaps Democrats would like Senator Obama to have that power if elected but might feel different if Senator McCain wins the Presidency. However current proposals could transfer the financial obligations of Wall Street to every American. The money to float Wall Street for a year could fix up our education and health care system and infrastructure. The decisions made during this panic could sink the U.S. economy for the next 10 years. While activists focus on the election, the Bush Administration could be cementing their friendship with Wall Street with this parting gift?

What can we do other than throw money at Wall Street? There’s no simple solution to this complex problem! In the next few years, we will need to rethink any solutions implement this year. Any authorization of a Wall Street bailout slush fund should end by Jan. 20th, 2009. This would allow the new President to propose a new program and a Congress to evaluate it without the pressure of a financial panic. Limiting the Congressional bailout to the end of their term would allow for a sane program next year.

The Wall Street panic is the result of highly complex financial instruments that threaten to suck money like a black hole absorbs light. One of the wild and woolly ideas is that Congress could consider implementing special financial courts of limit duration, where the participants could reach an agreement on how to unwind these financial black holes. If an agreement can’t be found with the court then binding arbitration should be used to deleverage these financial contracts.

Congress should consider various solutions, including modifications of mortgages for those about to be foreclosed. Don’t let Congress succumb to a financial panic that we would regret. Seize the moment!

1 “The fruit of hypocrisy: Dishonesty in the finance sector dragged us here, and Washington looks ill-equipped to guide us out” By Joseph Stiglitz, The Guardian, September 16, 2008
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/16/economics.wallstreet

Also see “Fannie and Freddie Must Not Get a Free Lunch”, The Financial Times, July 25, 2008 by Joseph Stiglitz. http://www2.gsb.columbia.edu/faculty/jstiglitz/download/opeds/2008_FannieandFreddie.pdf

Joseph Stiglitz is professor of economics at Columbia University. His most recent book, co-authored with Linda Bilmes, is ‘The Three Trillion Dollar War: The True Costs of the Iraq Conflict’. He was the recipient of the 2001 Nobel Prize in economics. His web site is http://www.josephstiglitz.com/

PS. in a final analogy: the TARP program does NOT want to bail out the mortgages, NO instead it will focus on CDOs as is increasingly becoming clear in what little news one can obtain (see McNeil Lehrer News Hour from 24th Sept…vikas bajaj). CDOs should NOT be part of a bailout.

Buying CDOs…..that’s like saying: We won’t buy the equity of an ailing company (which economically might directly help the company, providing cash in return for ownership) INSTEAd they are buying the “call options” on the company (which has NO ECONOMIC VALUE whatsoever, oh unless you are part of the GAMBLING ELITE, then it benefits YOU tremendously).

Where is Sarbanes Oxley in all this fraud and corruption. THis deal with democrats in congress was probably pre-arranged over MANY MONTHS COMING NOW! QUIETLY SLIDE CDOs UNDER THE TARP. Wake uP SHEEPLE. WRITE AND RIGHT YOUR ELECTED REPRESENTATIVES…don’t bail out gamblers, cocky gamblers at that!

read:
http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1845209,00.html?cnn=yes

Also WSJ(9/30/08): “while buying debt issued by fannie/freddie could relieve some pressure, these securities AREN’T THE TOXIC ASSETS the government believes it needs to remove from financial institutions in order to restore markets”

just like I said in my earlier mail here. See how the (m)ASS media works: only when the (m)ASSES already KNOW something do they come around to tell the truth about it!

Cunningly early reports suggested “buying mortgages” or “helping homeowners” …Today another layer of the ONION has been peeled back….and it STINKS…and we WEEP!

NEW SLOGAN: LET THE CEOs choke on their CDOs. CDOs should NOT BE IN TARP PLAN AT ALL. LET the betting elites FAIL.