House ignores Bush, rejects $700B bailout bill

Wonder where we would be now, if the Greedy Old Pukes had rejected this drunken frat boy and his evil side-kick, Dick Vader, years ago instead of covering up for them.

By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS, Associated Press Writer

In a stunning vote that shocked the capital and worldwide markets, the House on Monday defeated a $700 billion emergency rescue for the nation's financial system, ignoring urgent warnings from President Bush and congressional leaders of both parties that the economy could nosedive without it. The Dow Jones industrials plunged nearly 800 points, the most ever for a single day.

Democratic and Republican leaders alike pledged to try again, though the Democrats said GOP lawmakers needed to provide more votes. Bush huddled with his economic advisers about a next step. The House was to reconvene on Thursday instead of adjourning for the year as planned.

Stocks began falling even before the 228-205 vote to reject the bill was officially announced on the House floor. The 777-point decline for the day surpassed the 721-point previous record, on the day after the Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks, though in percentage terms it was well short of the drops on Black Monday of October 1987 and at the start of the Depression.

In the House chamber, as a digital screen recorded a cascade of "no" votes against the bailout, Democratic Rep. Joe Crowley of New York shouted news of the falling stocks. "Six hundred points!" he yelled, jabbing his thumb downward.

Bush and a host of leading congressional figures had implored the lawmakers to pass the legislation despite loud protest from their constituents back home. Not enough members were willing to take the political risk just five weeks before an election.

More than two-thirds of Republicans and 40 percent of Democrats opposed the bill.

The overriding question for congressional leaders was what to do next. Congress has been trying to adjourn so that its members can go out and campaign for the election that is just five weeks away.

"The legislation may have failed; the crisis is still with us," said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., in a news conference after the defeat.

"What happened today cannot stand," Pelosi said. "We must move forward, and I hope that the markets will take that message."

At the White House, Bush said, "I'm disappointed in the vote. ... We've put forth a plan that was big because we've got a big problem." He pledged to keep pressing for a measure that Congress would pass.

Republicans blamed Pelosi's scathing speech near the close of the debate — which attacked Bush's economic policies and a "right-wing ideology of anything goes, no supervision, no discipline, no regulation" of financial markets — for the vote's failure.

"We could have gotten there today had it not been for the partisan speech that the speaker gave on the floor of the House," Minority Leader John Boehner said. Pelosi's words, the Ohio Republican said, "poisoned our conference, caused a number of members that we thought we could get, to go south."

Rep. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., the whip, estimated that Pelosi's speech changed the minds of a dozen Republicans who might otherwise have supported the plan.

That was a remarkable accusation by Republicans against Republicans, said Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., chairman of the House Financial Services Committee: "Because somebody hurt their feelings, they decided to punish the country."

The presidential candidates kept close track — from afar.

In Colorado, Democrat Barack Obama said, "Democrats, Republicans, step up to the plate, get it done."

Republican John McCain spoke with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke before leaving Ohio for a campaign stop in Iowa, a spokeswoman said.

The legislation the administration promoted would have allowed the government to buy bad mortgages and other rotten assets held by troubled banks and financial institutions. Getting those debts off their books should bolster those companies' balance sheets, making them more inclined to lend and easing one of the biggest choke points in the credit crisis. If the plan worked, the thinking went, it would help lift a major weight off the national economy that is already sputtering.

Monday's action had been preceded by unusually aggressive White House lobbying, and Fratto said that Bush had been making calls to lawmakers until shortly before the vote.

Bush and his economic advisers, as well as congressional leaders in both parties had argued the plan was vital to insulating ordinary Americans from the effects of Wall Street's bad bets. The version that was up for vote Monday was the product of marathon closed-door negotiations on Capitol Hill over the weekend.

"We're all worried about losing our jobs," Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., declared in an impassioned speech in support of the bill before the vote. "Most of us say, 'I want this thing to pass, but I want you to vote for it — not me.'"

Said Boehner, after the vote: "Americans are angry, and so are my colleagues. They don't want to have to vote for a bill like this. But I have concerns about what this means for the American people, what it means for our economy, and what it means for people's jobs. I think that we need to renew our efforts to find a solution that Congress can support."

Copyright © 2008 The Associated Press.

(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. I.U. has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is I.U endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)


The Nazis, Fascists and Communists were political parties before they became enemies of liberty and mass murderers.

Any Way You Parse It, the Proposed Bailout is a Disaster for Ordinary Americans. It Must Be Stopped

Dave Lindroff

Submitted by BuzzFlash on Fri, 09/26/2008 - 4:37pm. Dave Lindorff


The idea of bailing out Wall Street for the results of a decade or more of greedy and even criminal behavior, using almost $1 trillion in borrowed money that will jeopardize everything from Social Security to school funding to medical research, and further drive the dollar into the ditch, cannot be justified.


The president has tried to stampede Congress into throwing this colossal pile of money at the bankers who caused the crisis, by using fear-mongering, instead of by following President Franklin Roosevelt's example of urging calm and coming up with a sensible response.


Congress, which is beholden to Wall Street's bankers because of all the campaign funds they bestow on its members, Republican and Democrat, is buying into the president's nonsense.


But like lipstick on a pig, no amount of window dressing, such as protection for homeowners facing foreclosure or limits on bank executive pay, can make this bailout acceptable.


This proposal is simply out and out theft from taxpayers to reward bankers and investors who have been on a binge for too long.

( Here's the problem with that, Dave. Investors today are not the investors of yesteryear. I would venture to say that the wealthy make up a relatively small % of of investors. Of course they may stand to lose more, but they have more to lose. The ones who stand to lose everything are the people who would never invest in the market if that investment were not in the form 401ks for retirement, trusts about which the beneficiary has zip to say about how the money is invested and other forms of "slave money." Most investors, the ones referred to as minor investors, have zip to say about what the corporate officers are up to. They aren't told. If we really want to clean up Wall Street, make the corporate officers who created this mess pay compensation, which will put the Deciders and their families in trailer parks. If there is enough evidence of a crime to bind them over for trial, let them wait it out in jail, like other people who can't afford bail. Allow the full force of the law and ethics fall on a few of them once and crime on Wall Street will not be that big of a problem for a very long time to come. Nevertheless, send in the observers. As old Ronnie would say, trust but verify.)


There are plenty of things that can be done to rebuild the economy and protect the public without rewarding the crooks and gamblers who created this mess.


Meanwhile, the American people need to make it clear that we will not allow this disastrous ripoff to occur.


The answer is to finally tell Congress that we're holding them accountable. No one who votes for a massive bailout of Wall Street gets re-elected. No one.


How do we do it? Go to this Web site and start a non-partisan viral campaign to get every voter to reject any senator or representative who supports the bailout.


DAVE LINDORFF is a Philadelphia-base journalist and columnist. His latest book is "The Case for Impeachment" (St. Martin's Press, 2006 and now available in paperback edition). His work is available at www.thiscantbehappening.net.


(In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, this material is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. I.U. has no affiliation whatsoever with the originator of this article nor is I.U endorsed or sponsored by the originator.)


The Nazis, Fascists and Communists were political parties before they became enemies of liberty and mass murderers.