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TechnoratiThe Power of 'No' and the Need to Keep the Pressure on Congress
Incredible! This time, when the People spoke, Congress listened.
At least 228 members of the House listened. They voted early this afternoon to reject the Bush Administration's scaremongering, and the cowardly Democratic Congressional leadership's attempt at ducking and covering by attaching some meaningless verbiage to what remains a case of legalized highway robbery. At least for the moment, the bailout scam is killed.
Earlier in the day, the Congressional switchboard was jammed. You could get through, but it took a dedicated finger on the redial button of your phone. Operators at the Capitol say it's been that way for a week now, as Americans across the country have been flooding their Congressional delegations with phone calls (and emails) urging them to vote "No" on the Bush/Paulson Wall Street bailout.
That today was no exception, even after Democratic Party leaders (and both major party presidential candidates, John McCain and Barack Obama) had bought into the plan following their adding of some window-dressing measures designed to make it look more palatable, showed that the public is not being fooled (calls were reportedly running better than 9:1 or more like 999:1 against a bailout, perhaps more like 99:1).
People see clearly that this proposal is a trillion-dollar giveaway to the very people who have been hollowing out and destroying the US economy for over a decade or more by convincing both parties to let them do whatever they want to get rich, free of any kind of significant oversight or regulation.
As Nobelist economist Joseph Stiglitz has written of this outrageous rip-off, there are four problems facing the financial system, and the bailout proposal only addresses one--getting the toxic mortgages off the banks' books and onto taxpayers' hands. Left unsolved is the gaping hole in banks' balance sheets in the form of loans made to people and companies which cannot be repaid, which will mean they still won't start lending money again. Left unaddressed too is the continuing collapse of housing prices, which will inevitably lead to more bank collapses even after the bailout. Finally, Stiglitz says there is the general loss of faith in the financial system--a major crisis which the bailout will also not solve.
Stiglitz doesn't even address a fifth problem which is that this trillion-plus-dollar boondoggle (and when you add in the bailouts of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG, Bear Stearns, the multiple mega-bank failures and the pending auto-industry bailout, you're already talking $1.5 trillion and counting), all of it with borrowed money, the stage is being set for a collapse in the US dollar, with consequences that will reverberate through the economy. Consider: if the dollar collapses, as many experts say is almost inevitable with this kind of huge addition to the national debt, oil prices (which are set in dollars) will soar to compensate, the price of all the other goods that Americans import--more than half of everything we use in daily life thanks to the decimation of American manufacturing--will rise dramatically, and ultimately, in an effort to stem the bleeding, interest rates will have to be raised, thus bringing what's left of the economy to a grinding halt.
All of this is readily predictable--and indeed a group of over 200 prominent economists has written Congress joining Stiglitz in opposing the bailout plan--but that doesn't matter to the proponents of the bailout in Washington. What they want is to get past Election Day, and the bailout may do that, unless the public gets really aroused.
The tsunami of calls and emails to Congress, and last week's nationwide demonstrations against the bailout suggest that the public is waking up to this looming disaster and to the fact that they are being sold a bill of goods.
But it ain't over yet. We can be sure there will be arm-twisting now to try and get 12 members of Congress to change their votes and win passage in the House (the Senate, where two-thirds of the members aren't facing election for two or four years, will probably pass the bill easily). A continued expression of public outrage and of a promise of retaliation at the ballot box against those who vote for the bailout needs to be expressed.
If you haven't made an effort to call your two senators and your representative to demand that they vote "No" on this bailout, do it now (the number is 202-225-3121 or 202-224-3121), and don't give up when you get a busy signal. That's a sign that you are not alone. Just keep hitting "redial" until you get through. At that point, get the operator, before switching you, to give you direct numbers for your three members of Congress, so you can bypass the main switchboard number after that. If you did call, call again and say you don't want anyone changing their vote to become a bailout backer.
Unlike the 2002 rush to war against Iraq, we've shown that this latest bum's rush can still be stopped. We did stop it.
To make your next call more impactful, make sure you tell each member of your congressional delegation that any yes vote on the bailout means you will vote against them next election. To read about this strategy, go to:
ThrowThemAllOut.com...and then spread the word.
Keep the pressure on!
And don't forget to contact the Obama campaign too. How embarrassing for candidates Obama and McCain, who both got suckered into backing the bailout, which it is now abundantly clear the American people recognize as a ripoff.
PS: Imagine if the same kind of pressure had been brought on Congress back in October 2002 when Bush was scare-mongering Congress into approving a war against Iraq. We'd have 4500 young Americans still alive, 40,000 other young Americans would still have their limbs and other body parts. A million-plus Iraqis would still be alive. And the country would have an extra $500 billion with which to deal with the current economic crisis.
43 Comments so far
Show AllMr. Obama won, but the pressure and the economical problem of the country make him loose. The banks that got emergency cash as a part of the government bailout don’t have to follow the same rules as people who have to get payday loans. They do not have to pay the money back, or even be accountable for it. The banks and other companies that got generous portions of taxpayers’ money are popping up all over the place in reports that they are either unable or unwilling to report just how exactly they have been spending that money. (My guess is the latter.) If a regular person needs some emergency funds, and gets a payday loan, they have be accountable for it and pay it back, whereas the Wall Street types evidently don’t. Maybe in the future the government should look to payday loan companies as a guideline for how to hand out emergency cash.
I happen to be in the middle of reading "When The Corporations Rule The World" by David Korten. He wrote the first edition back in 1995, and it is now considered a classic. Wow! How poignant and appropriate for this whole dang scenario. The whole book might as well be a Cliff Notes reader for the economic disaster and "bailout" proposal happening at this very moment. In fact, check out this quote from page 188: "Speculation is another form of extractive investment. The financial speculator is engaged in little more than a sophisticated form of gambling - betting on the rise and fall of selected prices. When a speculator wins, he or she is simply capturing claims to wealth created by others. When a large speculator funded with borrowed money loses, the survival of major financial institutions may be placed at risk, resulting in demands for a public bailout to save the financial system from collapse. In either instance, the public loses. Rarely does a speculator's activity contribute to the wealth or well-being of society."
I highly recommend this book. Part V of the book is entitled "Reclaiming Our Power", and it offers fantastic, practical and empowering ideas on how the people can take back the power that was stolen from them by the corporations. As an example, he suggests we need to strip the corporations of their "personhood" that was essentially given to them with the 1890 something Supreme Court decision of Pacific Railroad vs. Santa Clara County.
Awesome book.
Blessings,
John
thing is most stock markets got back about 60% of what they lost. Give them 10 days and see where the market is. I say it will be up and running just like before with no bail out
The solution to the credit freeze is simple.
1. Give the Banks 30 days to properly value their bad debt and through transparency, by law, display their financial condition to other banks. The value of these bad assets can be established by a pilot auction.
2. Give the government the authority to guarantee bank loans to one another.
3. Establish severe penalties for those bank executives who falsify their reports.
4. Establish a temporary government organization and staff it appropriately to work out and recast troubled loans with individual homeowners until the crisis has passed.
5. With respect to other bad bank loans, i.e. complex derivitives, allow them to fail as an example of good capitalism.
No David, the number to call is 1-800-828-0498
It's a FREE call to the White House Operator.
Simply ask her to connect you with any congressperson or senator.
It's FREE, so call as many times as you want.
no joy
snydly
THE TOP 1% HAS DECIDED TO SAVE THE TOP 1%.
I CAN'T REMEMBER ANOTHER TIME WHEN THE MSM WAS SO CANTED TOWARD AN ISSUE.
PERHAPS NOT SO SURPRISING---EVERY ONE OF THOSE PUNDITS LOST AT LEAST A MILLION YESTERDAY.
THIS VOTE HAS SHOWN US THAT THE POLITICAL SPECTRUM IS NOT A LINE WITH TWO ENDS, BUT A BROKEN CIRCLE WITH THE ENDS CLOSER TO EACH OTHER THAN TO THE "MIDDLE".
LOOKS LIKE A WINNING COMBO---DENNIS/RALPH/RON TRIUMVIRATE PRESIDENCY.
THE THIRD PARTY IS PURPLE...WITH A HEAVY GREEN TINT!
In 2004, 10% of people in this country had over 70% of the wealth. They also owned nearly 80% of stocks. I'm sure that more wealth has "trickled up" since then. See:
http://www.demos.org/inequality/numbers.cfm
Does anyone have later numbers on this?
The bailout plan includes a limit on CEO pay of $500,000 per year. Yet, financial experts say that there is always other methods of paying executives that can be used. It also allows the government to reduce the principal owed on homes with the government picking up the difference. Whose homes?
For myself, I'm retired. All my life I've worked and saved and paid my bills. That limit on CEO pay is more than 10 times what I ever earned. I paid into social security for 46 years. It's half of my income at this point. I'm scared that inflation or whatever will take what little I have and find some way to hand it over to the rich.
I called Hillary three times, phone just kept ringing. On third attempt, the phone kept ringing for the first two, i got Schumer's recorded message but no invitation for comments. yes, i talked to the staff of congressman Bishop.
so the pattern is clear. Both senators have their friends in the wall street, they either wanted to bail them out or make them rich. Apparently they did not want to hear the voices against the bail out, so not picking up the phone was the best strategy, they must have thought. i have different idea.
Way to go and I am sure you are not alone in your frustration. Well E mail or write a letter. The old Post Office dropping off a few thousand letters would maybe wake a few more up.
since anthrax scare, postal mail isn't a viable option. They might get it... perhaps next year.
Email and phone are our only options... and now they are cut off as well. We have been firewalled. We have been disenfranchised... just one more way to insist that the people's voice should not be heard.
To all,
This is the reply from Ms. Feinstein I received, the only reply I received from my CA Congress representatives. For full disclosure, I am a registered Independent. I was requested to limit it to 1000 words. I edited out the speech to the USHR:
Thank you for your letter expressing concern about Congress' consideration of a plan to meet our Nation's credit crisis with financial help from the Federal Government. This is a difficult situation for which there are no perfect solutions, and I would like to share my thoughts and concerns about this issue with you.
On September 19, 2008, Secretary of the Treasury Henry M. Paulson, Jr. announced a legislative proposal to use $700 billion to purchase illiquid mortgage-related assets from ailing financial institutions. Secretary Paulson's three-page proposal was a non-starter, and without critical changes it has no chance of approval from Congress.
This proposal would have given a blank check to an economic czar who would have been empowered to spend it without administrative oversight, legal requirements, or legislative review. Decisions made by the Treasury Secretary would be non-reviewable by any court, agency, or Congress. The proposal also lacked a requirement for regular reports to Congress on the status of the program. This was simply untenable.
Since this announcement, my offices have received thousands of comments from Californians like you concerned about how this action will affect them. Yet, I believe prudent action must be taken. The bill should include the following principles: a phase-in of funding; oversight, accountability and transparency; a mechanism allowing the Secretary of the Treasury to modify mortgages to prevent additional foreclosures; and a precise cap on executive compensation.
The current credit crisis affects all Americans. If action is not taken to stem the crisis, Americans risk losing their homes, jobs, personal savings, life insurance and more. Banks will cease to lend to businesses and homeowners, and credit will be increasingly difficult to come by for average Americans. I strongly believe that the consequences of failing to act now would be greater than not acting at all.
Attached please find a statement I recently made on the floor of the Senate expressing my feelings on this issue. Please know that I will keep your thoughts in mind as this situation unfolds.
Once again, thank you for writing. If you have any additional questions or concerns, please do not hesitate to contact my Washington, D.C. office at (202) 224-3841. Best regards.
U.S. Senator Dianne Feinstein
Floor Statement on the Economic
Rescue Proposal
September 26, 2008
"Mr. President, to date I have received from Californians more than 50,000 calls and letters, the great bulk of them in opposition to any form of meeting this crisis with financial help from the Federal Government. I wanted to come to the floor to very simply state how I see this and some of the principles that I hope will be forthcoming in this draft....I have tried to keep in touch -- I am not a negotiator; I am not on the committee -- but California is the biggest State, the largest economic engine, and people are really concerned....
We face the most significant economic crisis in 75 years right now. Swift and comprehensive action is crucial to the overall health of our economy. None of us wants to be in this position, and there are no good options here. Nobody likes the idea of spending massive sums of Government money to rescue major corporations from their bad financial decisions. But no one also should be fooled into thinking this problem only belongs to the banks and that it is a good idea to let them fail. The pain felt by Wall Street one day is felt there, and then 2,3,4 weeks down the pike, it is felt on Main Street.....
The turbulence in our financial sector has already resulted in thousands of layoffs in the banking and finance sectors, and that number will skyrocket if there is a full collapse. The shock waves of failure will extend far beyond the banking and finance sectors. A shrinking pool of credit would affect the home loans, credit card limits, auto loans, and insurance policies of average Americans. I am receiving calls from people who tell me they want to buy a house, but they can't get the credit or the mortgage to do so. Why? Because that market of credit is drying up more rapidly one day after the other. It would have a major impact on State and local governments which would lose tens of millions of dollars, if not hundreds of millions of dollars...
I yield the floor. I suggest the absence of quorum."
Sincerely yours,
Dianne Feinstein
United States Senator
Further information about my position on issues of concern to California and the Nation are available at my website http://feinstein.senate.gov/public/. You can also receive electronic e-mail updates by subscribing to my e-mail list at http://feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ENewsletterSignup.Signup.
Also,
The area, district is represented by Republican David Drier, a fully corporate funded, retrobate in a predominately Republican stronghold. This, however has been turning against him in the registering of Democratic voters. The numbers look good, but it is So. Cal. where any media is highly suspect of giving information or investigating anything of any worth. If Drier gets dumped it will only be because too many people lost too much equity and the building industry needs mexican labor, legal or otherwise. I hate this place. Full of Mormons, OC John Birchers, MISE Institute 'libertarians,' etc.
Adios.
I beg to differ with you on one point. May just be semantics though. The "building industry" does not need illegal labor. Only the corporate/commercial builders need them to triple their profits.
I'm afraid there isn't much chance in stopping some kind of giveaway. The sold-out Democrats are on board. The Republicans, unfortunately are against it for the wrong reasons. It's not that it will screw the taxpayers. They couldn't care less about that. Their main concern is that it is meddling with the free market. Despite the serious crises, they somehow still believe that the markets and CEOs will grow a conscience and never let this happen again. If some more loopholes for Wall Street can be put in a watered-down, toothless bill they will soon be on board as well.
My info is the Republicans want; more tax breaks for corporate and business entities, no homeowner 'giveaways' and one other item that I didn't catch. I think it was for other corporate losses. As usual, the predictable items not included were the real reasons 'Repugs' did not vote for this bill. Their 'no' vote had nothing to do with what Bush and Paulson asked for, and nothing to do with what the 'Dims' wanted included. Get it, now? It was a choreographed false flag event, and the 'Repugs' once more showed the 'Dims' to be fools. How could they lose when the 'Dims' were split by righteous pressure, the ethical ones voting 'no.' However, I did not separate out the ones that, say, voted for telecom/Bushit immunity of the 94 'Dimwits.' I believe 22 did that, no names here.
They voted early this afternoon to reject the Bush Administration's scaremongering, and the cowardly Democratic Congressional leadership's attempt at ducking and covering by attaching some meaningless verbiage to what remains a case of legalized highway robbery.
-well put!
People see clearly that this proposal is a trillion-dollar giveaway
-no surprise Obama and McCain are on board is there?
thus bringing what's left of the economy to a grinding halt.
-thanks Dims and Pugs
Suddenly the neocon enablers have turned into raging populists.
.You seem not to understand that the true neocons voted for the bailout, the real republicans, and those afraid of losing re-eelction bids, voted no...
.
We see things, not as they are, but as we are.
Anais Nin
Got it in one. The true conservatives are standing up to this. Mostly Republicans but some Democrats too.
Do you understand that ALL Republicans voted for ALL the Bush/neocon policies for the past eight years? And for Reaganism for much longer? True hypocrites and in fear of losing their jobs, they just did a 180.
.I suggest you peruse the various votes involved, then come back with an amended viewpoint.
.
We see things, not as they are, but as we are.
Anais Nin
Obama fans: your man is a failure on this issue (in fact, on what issue isn't he a failure?).
The people v. Obama on this one, the central issue of our time.
Vote Nader.
Barack Obama was for single payer before he came out against it.
FLUSH THE RASCALS OUT
by Arthur Lukas
Well congress, in the words of Ronald Reagan, "There you go again!"
Our representatives (sic) in congress are doing it to us again. The Patriot Act, the Iraq War, the Military Commissions Act, the ex post facto telecommunications industry immunity from prosecution for illegal wire tapping, . . . were not enough. Now congress is putting us all in debt to the tune of $700 billion. And we all know how these things work—if the $700,000,000,000 doesn't do the job, our beloved congress, with much hand wringing, will have to add a few more hundred billion to the pot to protect their original bet. There they go again!
Once again the American people have risen up and made our voices heard and our wishes clear—NO BAILOUT. Of course we have done this before; like when we came out in the hundreds of thousands to stop the invasion of Iraq before it happened. Our representatives (sic, sic, sic) listened to us then just as they are listening to us now. There they go again!
How do we get those who are supposed to be representing us to listen and do what we are asking them to do? We do what American citizens have done so many times in the past—"Throw the rascals out!" We throw them out by voting them out of office.
There is a simple equation, which even the corporate sponsored congress will understand—your vote for the $700,000,000,000 bailout of Wall Street bankers equals my vote against you on November 4, 2008. We can get rid of each and every senator and representative who casts a yes vote on the bailout by simply voting against each and every one of them in the next election.
Rather than thinking of this as throwing the rascals out, think of it as cleansing the system by flushing out the muck of soulless politicians who have sold out to the highest bidder.
We can start flushing the rascals out by sending a strong message to congress before the final vote. Tomorrow night (September 30) at 9 PM Eastern Daylight Saving Time (8 PM Central, 7 PM Mountain, and 6 PM Pacific) we can flush our toilets. Across America hundreds of thousands of toilets will be flushed. Communities throughout this great nation will feel the effect of a temporary fall in water pressure. This will let those rascals in D.C. feel the power of the people. It might even stop their rascally madness.
If tomorrow's flush doesn't get their attention, our vote in November will.
FLUSH YOUR TOILET SEPTEMBER 30 – FLUSH THE RASCALS OUT NOVEMBER 4
What happens when all you have left are the streets? This is coming you know.
Not here in Philly. John Street is out of office, and brother Milton just started serving a prison sentence.
NOW IS THE TIME TO DOUBLE THE PHONE CALLS TO ELECTED MEMBERS. Buy a 10$ phone card if you have to and use a pay phone but double or even triple the calls. Also warm even if the AIPAC threaten them you will still vote against them. This is even those coward Dems who voted FOR the bill If the line is busy keep trying 24/7 PHONE PHONE PHONE PHONE PHONE PHONE PHONE
No need to waste money on a phone card.
You can call the Capitol Hill Switchboard for FREE.
Any one of these numbers work. Ask the operator to connect you to any congressperson or senator.
Call as many times as you want.
8 0 0 . 8 2 8 . 0 4 9 8
8 0 0 . 4 5 9 . 1 8 8 7
8 0 0 . 6 1 4 . 2 8 0 3
8 6 6 . 3 4 0 . 2 9 8 1
8 6 6 . 2 2 0 . 0 0 4 4
8 6 6 . 3 3 8 . 1 0 1 5
8 7 7 . 8 5 1 . 6 4 3 7
(Please post these numbers on every board you visit and in all your outgoing email)
Right on. Work the phones and send emails. Check the web link in my article to see how your congresscritter voted. If they voted no, call and thank them and tell them to stand firm on rejecting a bailout. If they voted yes for the bailout, tell them to change that vote next time, or that you will vote for their opponent in November.
Visit Dave Lindorff's website at www.thiscantbehappening.net
http://members.greenpeace.org/blog/staff_gw/2008/09/26/green_jobs_now
Get ready to press for renewable green jobs.
toylit....I'm paranoid too. CD has become extremely slow in the last 3 days! I contacted webmaster...no reply as yet. Hmm.
Listen to Dennis Kucinich's video on Democracy Now. He is right on target as always. We are living in a monumental historical moment. The future of the U.S. is at stake. How we respond to this will set our course/curse for generations to come.
In retrospect, my mind is reviewing the events of the last few years and seeing an outright coup being accomplished right here in our own country! There are so many things that have been kept secret that we cannot know who is actually involved in all this. My conspiracy theory is that the U.S. government has been controlled by foreign interests and the Bush corporatecons are part of the plan to take over the world along with key participants like Saudi Arabia, India, China, Britain, and who knows who else. The "One World Government" plot prophesied to occur in the last days seems to be at hand.
Can Truth, Justice, and the American Way safe the day? We will see. Superman are you there? No? Oh well, going to plan B.....build that yurt somewhere and get off the grid, grow my own food, be part of a permaculture, co-op with others, share, build a life without the need for cars, oil, stuff, junk, useless money.
The power of "hell no". If the Wall Street Welfare Queens want to bailout, let them use their own ill-gotten gains to finance this turkey. These over-paid, greedy republician and occ democratic incompetent idiots have been preaching free market capitalism for decades and that sermon has bit every working American on the arse more than one time; now this time it has bitten their arses - they don't seem to like it much! This crisis is of their making; they need to clean up their own mess. Anyway, when the Dow drops, it is time to go shopping! Stocks are on sale; the only thing better would be a coupon or a discount for using a particular credit card!!! Americans need to contact their elected officials and make their seniments known and try checking out: http://www.throwthemallout.synthasite.com/
DeColores,
Rockerbabe1
Don't y'all get it? This House "vote" on the Bank Robber Reward Act of 2008 is a f**king ruse design to save their incumbent asses!
Was there a "vote" on whether to "bailout" Freddie or Fannie or Bear or AIG? Was there a "vote" to pump $650 billion into "foreign banks" today? Was there a "vote" to "lend" money-markets $277 billion a couple of weeks ago?
Jesus Christ, ya think we'd learn something by now.
You are partly right. The reason for the vote was to spread the blame--Repugs and Dummycrats. But it didn't work, because the flood of protest from the public swamped them. Now we have to keep it up, so when they try again on Thursday, they'll fail again.
Don't knock it man. This was a people's victory. What we need to do is make sure it's not pyhrric. If all those weasels who voted for passage (205 of them) are contacted between now and Thursday by their angry constituents, we may see the bill go down on Thursday by an even wider margin than 23.
Visit Dave Lindorff's website at www.thiscantbehappening.net
There were also some things in here that went beyond what they could do without a bill. For instance, they were trying to give Paulson extraordinary powers to take any action he wanted with no review or oversight by any court or the Congress.
They have to pass a bill to do that. Can't just decree it.
And, I suspect they've gone beyond what they could do with Fed Reserve money. The Fed is a weird entity that is not a part of the government. Instead its a private institution I believe.
If they've run out of what they can do with Fed money and have to instead be using Treasury Dept funds, then they probably have to go to Congress. If we still follow the Constitution, Congress has to appropriate the money and\or authorize the ways it is going to be spend.
So, my guess is partly that they've run out of the money they can divert or spend on their own, and thus did have to go to Congress on this one.
But, I'm also sure that Mr. Lindorff is correct in that 'sharing the blame' is a part of the reason. You don't have to be a political genius to have known this would cause an uproar. And the Republicans didn't want to be hanging out alone on this one. So they insisted on Democratic support.
Which leads into the bizarre way they are trying to blame Pelosi on this even thought she shepparded the bill to a quick vote and then voted yes on the bill. That's just a blame game.
But, hell yes, we won! Now lets use that and build momentum and beat them again. And keep at it until they spend the money to help us instead of their big contributors.
----------------------------
"To know, and not to do, is not to know"
www.samsonsworld.blogspot.com
Gotta agree with you Samson. Not only was I surprised by the bill's failure, I was also quite inspired. Let's build the momentum and keep the pressure on! I see this whole thing as a catalyst of sorts - perhaps a revolution really IS happening.
Breathtaking! And FauXNWS says we have Nancy Pelosi to thank for saving us. I guess I owe her an apology.
McCain and Obama were not suckered into supporting the bailout; it is their real beliefs! It is why neither of these candidates deserve our support (among so many other reasons).
Is anybody else worried that Democrats will cave in the Republican pressure to pass a WORSE bill?? I'm calling my congressperson, who voted for it, to give him hell!!
It takes a full 12 minutes to connect to C.D.!!!! Am I paranoid? YES!!!
So we stopped them SO far.... They are going to push and push and push, to screw us while the "window" of opportunity is held open. Marry in haste .... repent at leasure.
Haste makes waste, a penny saved is a penny earned, penny wise and pound foolish...
Sheesh Benjamin Franklin is right on top of this whole thing figured... who knew? {he did)
They really do look like idiots up there at the mic. (our lions of state) Such sad guilty faces.
How can we look upon such obvious guilt, and let them get away???? HOW??
We put shoplifters in PRISON, these folks have stolen everybodies LIFE!!!! Not a burrito, YOUR WORKING HOURS!!!
WOW ARE WE FORGIVING? OR WHAT ... or no.
Are there places (not banks or any place where you must have money on deposit) where you can rent a safe deposit box?
thinking of withdrawing your money too, eh? screw all those banks i say.
I assume you need such a box to protect valuable papers and such. If so, then all you need is a small fire and waterproof safe/box that are easy to find at most hardware-type stores. And for safety deposit boxes, you don't need to have an account at the institution storing your box, although you might get a discount on the rental fee if you are a customer.
“That today was no exception, even after Democratic Party leaders (and both major party presidential candidates, John McCain and Barack Obama) had bought into the plan following their adding of some window-dressing measures designed to make it look more palatable, showed that the public is not being fooled”
I’m impressed, not by Barack “status quo” Obama and his non-leadership, but by American democracy. Well done. Keep it up.