Friends,

Let me cut to the chase. The biggest robbery in the history of this country is taking place as you read this. Though no guns are being used, 300 million hostages are being taken. Make no mistake about it: After stealing a half trillion dollars to line the pockets of their war-profiteering backers for the past five years, after lining the pockets of their fellow oilmen to the tune of over a hundred billion dollars in just the last two years, Bush and his cronies -- who must soon vacate the White House -- are looting the U.S. Treasury of every dollar they can grab. They are swiping as much of the silverware as they can on their way out the door.

No matter what they say, no matter how many scare words they use, they are up to their old tricks of creating fear and confusion in order to make and keep themselves and the upper one percent filthy rich. Just read the first four paragraphs of the lead story in last Monday's New York Times and you can see what the real deal is:


"Even as policy makers worked on details of a $700 billion bailout of the financial industry, Wall Street began looking for ways to profit from it.

"Financial firms were lobbying to have all manner of troubled investments covered, not just those related to mortgages.

"At the same time, investment firms were jockeying to oversee all the assets that Treasury plans to take off the books of financial institutions, a role that could earn them hundreds of millions of dollars a year in fees.

"Nobody wants to be left out of Treasury's proposal to buy up bad assets of financial institutions."

Unbelievable. Wall Street and its backers created this mess and now they are going to clean up like bandits. Even Rudy Giuliani is lobbying for his firm to be hired (and paid) to "consult" in the bailout.

The problem is, nobody truly knows what this "collapse" is all about. Even Treasury Secretary Paulson admitted he doesn't know the exact amount that is needed (he just picked the $700 billion number out of his head!). The head of the congressional budget office said he can't figure it out nor can he explain it to anyone.

And yet, they are screeching about how the end is near! Panic! Recession! The Great Depression! Y2K! Bird flu! Killer bees! We must pass the bailout bill today!! The sky is falling! The sky is falling!

Falling for whom? NOTHING in this "bailout" package will lower the price of the gas you have to put in your car to get to work. NOTHING in this bill will protect you from losing your home. NOTHING in this bill will give you health insurance.

Health insurance? Mike, why are you bringing this up? What's this got to do with the Wall Street collapse?

It has everything to do with it. This so-called "collapse" was triggered by the massive defaulting and foreclosures going on with people's home mortgages. Do you know why so many Americans are losing their homes? To hear the Republicans describe it, it's because too many working class idiots were given mortgages that they really couldn't afford. Here's the truth: The number one cause of people declaring bankruptcy is because of medical bills. Let me state this simply: If we had had universal health coverage, this mortgage "crisis" may never have happened.

This bailout's mission is to protect the obscene amount of wealth that has been accumulated in the last eight years. It's to protect the top shareholders who own and control corporate America. It's to make sure their yachts and mansions and "way of life" go uninterrupted while the rest of America suffers and struggles to pay the bills. Let the rich suffer for once. Let them pay for the bailout. We are spending 400 million dollars a day on the war in Iraq. Let them end the war immediately and save us all another half-trillion dollars!

I have to stop writing this and you have to stop reading it. They are staging a financial coup this morning in our country. They are hoping Congress will act fast before they stop to think, before we have a chance to stop them ourselves. So stop reading this and do something -- NOW! Here's what you can do immediately:

1. Call or e-mail Senator Obama. Tell him he does not need to be sitting there trying to help prop up Bush and Cheney and the mess they've made. Tell him we know he has the smarts to slow this thing down and figure out what's the best route to take. Tell him the rich have to pay for whatever help is offered. Use the leverage we have now to insist on a moratorium on home foreclosures, to insist on a move to universal health coverage, and tell him that we the people need to be in charge of the economic decisions that affect our lives, not the barons of Wall Street.

2. Take to the streets. Participate in one of the hundreds of quickly-called demonstrations that are taking place all over the country (especially those near Wall Street and DC).

3. Call your Representative in Congress and your Senators. (click here to find their phone numbers). Tell them what you told Senator Obama.

When you screw up in life, there is hell to pay. Each and every one of you reading this knows that basic lesson and has paid the consequences of your actions at some point. In this great democracy, we cannot let there be one set of rules for the vast majority of hard-working citizens, and another set of rules for the elite, who, when they screw up, are handed one more gift on a silver platter. No more! Not again!

Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint@aol.com
MichaelMoore.com

P.S. Having read further the details of this bailout bill, you need to know you are being lied to. They talk about how they will prevent golden parachutes. It says NOTHING about what these executives and fat cats will make in SALARY. According to Rep. Brad Sherman of California, these top managers will continue to receive million-dollar-a-month paychecks under this new bill. There is no direct ownership given to the American people for the money being handed over. Foreign banks and investors will be allowed to receive billion-dollar handouts. A large chunk of this $700 billion is going to be given directly to Chinese and Middle Eastern banks. There is NO guarantee of ever seeing that money again.

P.P.S. From talking to people I know in DC, they say the reason so many Dems are behind this is because Wall Street this weekend put a gun to their heads and said either turn over the $700 billion or the first thing we'll start blowing up are the pension funds and 401(k)s of your middle class constituents. The Dems are scared they may make good on their threat. But this is not the time to back down or act like the typical Democrat we have witnessed for the last eight years. The Dems handed a stolen election over to Bush. The Dems gave Bush the votes he needed to invade a sovereign country. Once they took over Congress in 2007, they refused to pull the plug on the war. And now they have been cowered into being accomplices in the crime of the century. You have to call them now and say "NO!" If we let them do this, just imagine how hard it will be to get anything good done when President Obama is in the White House. THESE DEMOCRATS ARE ONLY AS STRONG AS THE BACKBONE WE GIVE THEM. CALL CONGRESS NOW.

When you screw up in life, there is hell to pay.

They lie, they steal, they cheat, they murder, yet because of their wealth, they believe that they are blessed...

One of Gods curses was that there wouldn't be enough wealth in the world to buy them out of their problems...

(Blessings and Curses.)

---

It may not be 1984 but George Orwell sure did see the future . . .

YA - HOO. The bailout went down in flames!!!!

It is only for now though. I'm sure the crooks in Gov will get their way. At least they will have to wait a bit longer.

This could serve as a lie detector for Bush and Paulson. If the USA economy tanks this week, I guess they can say I told you so. I don't really trust them, so I will wait and see. Time will tell. We may all share Wall Street's pain eventually, but I love to see those goofballs sweat bullets.

I just know some CEO is going to get 10 million to quit. And it will not be me.

Chris.

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YA - HOO. The bailout went down in flames!!!!

It is only for now though. I'm sure the crooks in Gov will get their way. At least they will have to wait a bit longer.

This could serve as a lie detector for Bush and Paulson. If the USA economy tanks this week, I guess they can say I told you so. I don't really trust them, so I will wait and see. Time will tell. We may all share Wall Street's pain eventually, but I love to see those goofballs sweat bullets.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NU6fuFrdCJY

I just know some CEO is going to get 10 million to quit. And it will not be me.

So what? Are you a CEO? Are your business skills worth a multimillion dollar contract with a retirement/discharge clause? If not, why do you care?

If you enjoy the freedom that you have to choose to do as you wish with your life, working for whoever you agree to work for, then you can understand why Carly Fiorina or Indra Nooyi want that same freedom.

---

Cordially,
Rush

elrushbo2@theobviousgmail.com
Remove the obvious...

business skills worth of a multimillion dollar, you speak as it is difficult,
stop right there, you should know it is not.

If I remember correctly, our friend Rush is a low level functionary/management wannabe.
He is also a strong believer in letting people fall by the wayside if they can't keep up.

His last answer is classic Rush (more Limbaugh than most humans can muster) in that when some ceo is raping the system and can steal another $10 million on his way out the door, it's none of your business.
It's none of your business unless you, as a taxpayer, are being asked to supply that $10 million to the moron who drove his company to insolvency.

This is a perfect time for American citizens (not the elites, but working people) to take control of their own destiny.
These jerk thieves driving the economy have been beating working people into submission while declaring your productivity is too low for so long that most have come to believe this as fact.

While working people strive to satisfy the ruling class, in spite of the betrayal of the dream and promise of a prosperous working class, the elites have been steadily sending jobs overseas to be performed by a slave/serf population.

I've been advocating a socially democratic solution for many years and recent events have only served to show that I am more correct than Milton Friedman.

His theories are based on nothing but naked greed and the quest for raw power.
Those who believe in a socially democratic state base their theories on the needs of the many.

If I remember correctly, our friend Rush is a low level functionary/management wannabe.

No, I am an attorney. Nothing more, nothing less.

He is also a strong believer in letting people fall by the wayside if they can't keep up.

Nope. I believe that you cannot push a gun in the face of others to make them think as you do. You help whoever you wish, as I will help whoever I wish. You have no right to make me help who you want to.

His last answer is classic Rush (more Limbaugh than most humans can muster) in that when some ceo is raping the system and can steal another $10 million on his way out the door, it's none of your business.It's none of your business unless you, as a taxpayer, are being asked to supply that $10 million to the moron who drove his company to insolvency.

This is just more idiocy. No company should pay an idiot who drove a company to insolvency anything. If that company freely choose to sign such a contract, that is their problem--no one else's.

If you, as a taxpayer are being forced to do so, well, that's just gov't force. And you seem to LOVE when gov't force is imposed on others. So, you should be thrilled that the gov't is forcing the taxpayer to supply that $10 million.

Smart plan.

This is a perfect time for American citizens (not the elites, but working people) to take control of their own destiny. These jerk thieves driving the economy have been beating working people into submission while declaring your productivity is too low for so long that most have come to believe this as fact.

I have no idea what this means. Good luck with it. Maybe the unemployed UAW guys can do this. Oh, wait, they can't be bothered.

While working people strive to satisfy the ruling class, in spite of the betrayal of the dream and promise of a prosperous working class, the elites have been steadily sending jobs overseas to be performed by a slave/serf population.

Then, if I were you, I would get everyone that thinks as you do to just employ Americans. Hey, how about the UAW, they've got nothing else to do. What are they waiting for? If I were them, I would put GM out of business instead of crawling to them for jobs.

I've been advocating a socially democratic solution for many years and recent events have only served to show that I am more correct than Milton Friedman.

Why, because you sez so? I haven't seen evidence that you can even understand Milton Friedman's economic positions.

His theories are based on nothing but naked greed and the quest for raw power.

Which, of course, is simply wrong, and it isn't true because you happen to say it is. His economic theories are based on the very very very simple idea that people respond to incentives, nothing more, and that when the gov't uses force to skew those incentives artificially, there will be bubbles, and those bubbles will eventually pop.

Those who believe in a socially democratic state base their theories on the needs of the many.

More power to them. Maybe they should actually provide what they beg capitalists for. They would have a LOT more credibility that way...

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Cordially,
Rush

elrushbo2@theobviousgmail.com
Remove the obvious...

yes, like dot con bubble, that was gov´t fault or depression in early nineties
or oil crisis, whoops they were markets own doings