Nader: Bailout a boondoggle plus blank check
President Bush, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, congressional leaders, the major presidential candidates, and Wall Street bigwigs are all relieved that the House gave final approval today to the financial bailout package.
Count Ralph Nader out of that happy crowd.
"The whole thing was a special interest boondoggle, around the core of a $700 billion blank check," Nader told the Globe this afternoon.
The longtime consumer activist, waging a long-shot presidential campaign for the third consecutive election, asserted that the legislation does not have any comprehensive regulations to stop the Wall Street meltdown from happening again, does not enhance shareholder control over financial institutions, offers no guarantee that taxpayers will get their $700 million stake back ("very doubtful," he said), does not make clear how the bailout will be financed, was larded up with huge tax breaks and other goodies, and does nothing to deal with the spate of foreclosures that stared the crisis.
The package is the wrong way to bailout Wall Street and raises the question if it doesn't work: "What next?"
Instead, Nader supports a Wall Street speculation tax, starting on derivatives, to generate enough money to eliminate federal taxes on the first $50,000 of income.
Nader, who plans a rally at 11 a.m. Sunday at Bowker Auditorium at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, predicted that fed-up voters will go after members of Congress who voted for the package when they return to their home districts to campaign before the November election.
"They're drinking champagne, they've got their pens from Bush, but when they go back home, wait for the hornets nest," he said in a telephone interview.
And that anger, Nader said, will boost his campaign. "It's a big door for us," he said. "....If voters want someone who did them in, they can vote for Obama or McCain."
"We're not just jumping on this," he added, noting that he opposed the 1999 financial deregulation law that many blame, at least in part, for the crisis, and has long predicted the consequences.
Both Barack Obama and John McCain, who voted for the bailout package on Wednesday, have issued statements. The full texts are below.
“America is facing one of the greatest financial crises in history, and today’s passage of an emergency rescue plan was absolutely necessary to prevent an economic catastrophe that could have cost millions of jobs and forced businesses across the country into bankruptcy," Obama said.
“I’m glad that Democrats and Republicans put aside their differences, came together, and took this step. I am also grateful to the House Democrats I personally spoke with who supported this rescue plan. While the Administration initially asked for a blank check to solve this problem, over the last few weeks we were able to include important taxpayer protections to prevent golden parachutes for CEOs, provide independent oversight, help struggling homeowners, and ensure that taxpayers get their money back when the economy recovers.
“Now we must ensure that this Administration uses the authority it has been given wisely and in a way that protects American taxpayers. We also must do more than this rescue package does to help homeowners stay in their homes. And while we will all hope that this rescue package succeeds, we should be prepared to take more vigorous actions in the months ahead to rebuild capital if necessary.
“This is not a moment for celebration, but a sobering day when we found out that three-quarters of a million jobs were lost just this year. Passing this rescue plan cannot be the end of our work to strengthen our economy – it must be the beginning.
“I call on Congress to pass an emergency plan for the middle-class that will help folks cope with rising food and gas prices, save one million jobs by rebuilding our schools and roads, and help states and cities avoid budget cuts and tax increases. It’s a plan that should extend expiring unemployment benefits for those Americans who’ve lost their jobs and cannot find new ones.
“I will also continue to lay out the clear choice in this election between myself and Senator McCain: four more years of policies that have killed jobs and devastated our middle-class, our a change in Washington that will provide tax relief to 95% of workers and create millions of new jobs by investing in clean, renewable energy. It is time to end the era of greed and irresponsibility in Washington and on Wall Street so that we can come together and restore American prosperity from the bottom-up.”
"I commend the House of Representatives for coming together to pass the economic rescue bill today. I'm glad I suspended my campaign to go back to Washington to help bring the House Republicans to the table. I believe that the taxpayer protections that have been added have improved the bill," McCain said.
"This rescue bill is not perfect, and it is an outrage that it's even necessary. But we must stop the damage to our economy done by corrupt and incompetent practices on Wall Street and in Washington.
"The action Congress took today is a tourniquet, not a permanent solution. Our economy is still hurting and further action is needed, and it should not take a crisis to get this Congress to act.
"Washington is still on the wrong track, and we face a stark choice in this election. We can go backwards with job-killing tax hikes, the same old broken partisanship, and out of control spending as Senator Obama would have us do or we can bring real reform to Washington.
"My focus is to reform Washington and put government back on the side of working families with tax relief, modern job training, energy independence, more affordable health care, and policies that get spending under control.
"That's how we're going to get America moving again, and that's exactly what I'm going to do. Thank you and again, I commend the House Republicans for acting in the best interest of our nation."
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What further proof do you need that Ralph Nader was correct when he said both major parties and their candidates were owned by corporate America?Failure to
appreciate the truth of his position will now cost your children and grandchildren.
You can still vote for the single candidate who is not for sale.
Would it have killed you guys to cover Ralph Nader's ideas about the bailout (shared by an overwhelming majority of Americans, opposed by McBama) BEFORE it was passed? Is it such a strange concept that the man who's been predicting, speaking out about, trying to prevent this crisis for many YEARS, might actually have something worthwhile to say about it?
Vote Nader in 2008!
700$Billion Corporate Bailout
...thank you Ralph Nader for runnng for President in 2008!
2004, not so sure, 2000 was a great effort. Please checkout www.votenader.org
people of America...
Ralph Nader needs to go away and let someone who is not a nut bag run as independent for president. He does more harm than good because he can not play the game. Like it or not it is a game and never gonna change.
I'm so thankful that Ralph Nader is around to speak some Truth, along with Kucinich and a handful of others, to this disgusting bailout.
I fully support Nader 2008.
If only news media would let Ralph Nader and other presidential contenders debate on air so people could hear and see how much smarter and on the side of the people Ralph Nader is, I know he could be elected. But because big business has bought everything, the airwaves, our politicians, Washington and the media, he has been shut out from wide public exposure. I am shocked every time I hear Ralph how clear, knowledgeable, wise and true Ralph is, and that he cares about PEOPLE. My vote unhesitatingly goes to Ralph Nader. A true leader, doing what he knows to be right for citizens even when those same citizens are too hateful and dumb to know it.
Ralph Nader doesn't play games,and we should no longer put up with politicians who do. Nader has integrity, wisdom, a deep understanding of government and posesses the knowledge and character to stand up for the American people, not for the corporations or Wall Street. We deserve political fortitude, honesty and integrity, for a change. I will be voting for Nader this November, and I urge all Americans to do the same. He really is the best candidate.
We are at a point in society that demands OUR PARTICIPATION!
I believe in the ideals that Ralph Nader champions, the belief that we are all “The People”, and that when corporate funds are accepted, strings ARE attached. I can only hope that our divided, distracted, diverted populace does something other than electing one of the corporate shills running, we’ve had 200 years to have a representative government, and still have a corporate power structure that has run us into the ditch YET AGAIN! Let Nader in the debates, the worst that can happen is public embarrassment of the corporate candidates McPalin and O’Biden
Lets do something different this time, Vote Sanity, Vote Nader.
yep, ralph nader is the man! send these corporate crooks to guantonomo bay and waterboard them until they tell us where our money is!
Nader\Gonzalez o8!!!
NADER IS CORRECT...the U.S.TAXPAYER just FLUShED 700 BILLION DOWN THE DRAIN what happened to expression SOUND AS A DOLLAR...why is the media hiding RALPH NADER..
Obama lost my vote by supporting the Bail Out. I will being voting nader 2008
Barack John
Left and rights of passage
Black and whites of youth
Who can face the knowledge
that the truth is not the truth?
Obsolete Absolute
Ron Ralph
Cruising under your radar
Watching from the satellites
Take a page from the red book
and keep them in your sights
Red alert Red alert
Nader is more than just a solution to the problem, he is also a case of how our government is terribly imbalanced. If you look into exactly how he's been ostracized from the debates and the ballots, you will begin to see just how miraculous it is that he is still fighting and has manged 10% in the polls and is on the ballot in 45 states. We will never encounter another candidate who has fought harder for what is most important on behalf of the majority of Americans. History will remember him, not as a spoiler but as a champion of the people. Although we are in a political dark age now, we will emerge eventually and remember all he did and how well he did with such horrible conditions. Less we forget that it was the third parties who pressed the hardest issues throughout history: womans suffrage, black suffrage, minimum wage, the list goes on and it was because of their suppor that the major parties accepted their policies. Now today we have Nader who warns about corporate abuse and fraud, who presses for impeachment of the worst President in history, who fights to open the debates from duopoly, and always speaks on behalf of the people. Think different, think third party.
IndependentforObama08, why does he need to go away? He has every right to run for election. If you have any perspective on ISSUES, please state them. Otherwise, your statement that "he needs to go away" just comes across as boorish and ignorant. Also, you can vote for Cynthia McKinney.
I also don't understand one thing - Nader needs to go away, and McCain doesn't? What kind of logic is that, and how do you come to the conclusion that someone whom you probably agree with needs to go away, whereas someone whom you disagree with needs to stay in the race?? Please explain.
Do your research, instead of parroting the mainstream media's line - they have vilified Nader enough and without justification.
Go Nader!!!
I voted Obama in 2008 & donated what was a lot of money for me ($250) , hoping against all reason "for change you can believe in". Obama has lost my support due to his support of escalation of the wars in Pakistan and Afghanistan and non withdrawal (lots o BS talk of future dates) from Iraq......and due to his support of bailouts for the rich only. His campaign slogan should have been "More of the Same". I am very angry I was fooled. I knew and know we have a one party system of government by the corporations for the corporatiions and the wealthy......but I hoped against all reason. I was in the Kubler-Ross stages of denial and bargaining.