Citizens to Own Shares of Rescued Wall Street Companies

“WASHINGTON — President Obama’s top economic advisers have determined that they can shore up the nation’s banking system without having to ask Congress for more money any time soon, according to administration officials.

“In a significant shift, White House and Treasury Department officials now say they can stretch what is left of the $700 billion financial bailout fund further than they had expected a few months ago, simply by converting the government’s existing loans to the nation’s 19 biggest banks into common stock.

“Converting those loans to common shares would turn the federal aid into available capital for a bank — and give the government a large ownership stake in return.

“While the option appears to be a quick and easy way to avoid a confrontation with Congressional leaders wary of putting more money into the banks, some critics would consider it a back door to nationalization, since the government could become the largest shareholder in several banks.”

—Edmund L. Andrews,
“U.S. May Convert Banks’ Bailouts to Equity Share,”
The New York Times, April 19, 2009

Republicans Are Predictably Outraged at this potential to “nationalize” American banks and turn America into “a socialist state.” But think about this:

If Republicans Would Pull Their Heads out of Their Ideology, and turn their thoughts toward constructive solutions—instead of always shouting out, “Just Say No!—just think what we could achieve.

Take This Proposal For Example:

The American Shareholder Plan

Now That President Obama’s Top Economic Advisors have begun turning taxpayer TARP loans into shares of common stock, it’s time to take another look at the ASP—the American Shareholder Plan.

(For Our Description of this taxpayer/shareholder proposal, see October 11, 2008:
“ASP: The American Shareholder Plan.”)

Conservative Americans Oppose Nationalization of publicly owned companies: Under the ASP corporate ownership gets taken out of the hands of government, and into the hands of private, American citizens.

Conservatives Oppose the “Moral Hazard” of rescuing profligate private companies such as A.I.G. and Citigroup. By giving ownership to individual taxpayers, the ASP makes sure that those on Wall Street who got us into the current mess pay the price—through loss of ownership. Thus, moral hazard comes at a real cost.

Liberal Americans Are Angry at the Investment Banks and Insurance Companies that have put the economy at risk, and countless Americans out of their homes and out of work. The ASP puts shareholder rewards in the pockets of the American taxpayer. Under the ASP, all citizens stand to benefit.

Americans Right and Left Share Concerns about Social Security. Republicans under the administration of President George W. Bush lobbied for private retirement accounts under the Social Security umbrella. The ASP can provide the basis for such private accounts—at no additional cost to the Federal Government and the American taxpayer.

For Once, Wall Street Need Not Benefit Alone from these historic excesses. Those who bear the real cost—the American taxpayers—receive the real benefit, in the form of stock-ownership that accrues toward each American’s retirement and education and health care.

If the American Shareholder Plan Raises Questions for You, please post a comment below or send an email to: channelingbarackobama@yahoo.com.

Otherwise, Please Write Your Senators and Representatives. If you’d really like to own a share of America, let your government officials know.

And If Your Congresspersons Happen to Be Republicans, please let them know about pulling their heads out of their ideology. It's time for the Republican Party to get back to work supporting America.

NEWS FLASH: The New York Times Attacks President Bush Again!

[From the pages of today's edition of The New York Times:]

“Global Forecast by American Intelligence
Expects Al Qaeda’s Appeal to Falter”

“WASHINGTON — A new study of the global future by American intelligence agencies suggests that Al Qaeda could soon be on the decline, having alienated Muslim supporters with indiscriminate killing and inattention to the practical problems of poverty, unemployment and education.”*

Leave It to The New York Times to report on the Islamist terrorists of Aghanistan, Pakistan, Iraq, and elsewhere in the Middle East—and at the same time, to find new ways to take a jab at the lame-duck presidential administration of George W. Bush.


*The New York Times, 11/21/2008, p. A13 (Italics ours)

Can America Really Have It Both Ways?

Anyone Listening to Senator McCain over the past few weeks has heard him promise to rid Wall Street of greed, while deregulating the economy so that America can get back to work.

But Greed Is One of the Key Reasons that regulation is needed. And regulation is what the Republican Party has spent the last eight years getting rid of.

Senator McCain, Like Most People, wants to provide necessary government services, while lowering the taxes necessary to pay for them.

The Way Conservatives Explain It, when tax rates are lowered, tax revenues go up. If that’s the case, doesn't it make better sense to get rid of tax rates entirely, and let tax revenues rise through the roof?

Another Way of Saying This Is “You Get What You Pay For.” Republicans don't want to pay for anything. These years of the twenty-first century in America so far are the result.

“Voodoo Economics,” is what George H.W. Bush called it. And current circumstances make it look like he had something.

The Past Seven Years Provided an Unprecedented Opportunity for Conservative Americans and the Republican Party to put their free-market ideas to the test. Controlling all three branches of the Federal Government for six of those years is about as good as it gets. And yet almost 90% of Americans say that the economy now is about as bad as it gets.

The Free-Market Ideology Does Not Work. Not back in the 1920s. Not in the twenty-first century. It makes no sense. It is illogical. It is “voodoo economics.”

Yeah, But What Really Went Wrong? Maybe the following quote from David Brooks’s column, “Revolt of the Nihilists,” in The New York Times, 09/30/2008 (italics by Channeling Barack Obama) may shed some more light on a key Conservative ideological flaw:


“What We Need in this Situation Is Authority. Not heavy-handed government regulation, but the steady and powerful hand of some public institutions that can guard against the corrupting influences of sloppy money and then prevent destructive contagions when the credit dries up.”


What Public Instititutions Is David Brooks Talking About? The Carnegie Library? The American Red Cross? The Daughter of the American Revolution?

The Key to the Republican Disaster is this cluelessness about government. Republicans don’t know what government is. They don’t know how it works. They finally seem tired of running it.

Here’s Hoping that on November 4, 2008, They Finally Give America Some Government Back.


My Name Is Not Barack Obama, and Barack Obama does not even know that this exists.