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Tuesday, September 23, 2008

FedUpUSA States That $700 Billion Bailout Threatens U.S. Democracy, Sovereignty



According to Karl Denninger, of FedUpUSA, the $700 billion bailout proposed last week by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson effectively anoints Paulson “King” of American Finance.

The plan for the largest bailout in history has been rapidly crafted and is being forced through Congress a week before recess, effectively moving Wall Street’s disaster to Main Street with little discussion and less understanding, according to Denninger. The bailout does not address the issues affecting market confidence and will severely undermine the United States’ balance sheet.

“The plan has been sold using fear rather than facts to both Congress and the American people,” said Denninger, of FedUpUSA, a grassroots organization, and The Market Ticker, provider of commentary on capital markets.

“The fear gripping our financial markets flows from a lack of trust in the health of firms on both Wall Street and worldwide,” said Denninger. “Throwing money around does nothing to address the root cause and, in fact, simply creates further instability as we continue to have government fiat choose which firms succeed and which ones fail.”

Currently, interest on the national debt is the second largest expenditure besides military (this excludes Social Security and Medicare which are included in the Unitary Budget, but funded separately). The $700 billion bailout, which could potentially end up costing much more, will add even more debt interest. Debt interest has the potential of becoming the largest budget item, dwarfing the entire budget. This in turn could lead to capital flight from the United States and a devaluation of the U.S. dollar, already significantly depreciated under Secretary Paulson, among other things.

FedUpUSA and Denninger are advocating for an alternative – a plan that will restore confidence by ensuring that all market participants are able to objectively value firms, thereby calming both the credit and stock markets.

Americans concerned about this massive bailout are encouraged to visit http://financialpetition.org/petition-nobail.shtml and sign the petition to Congress, as well as phone members of Congress and tell them, “No more bailouts!” More information, including two 10-minutes videos on the problem and solution, is at http://fedupusa.org/.

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