The more I read, the more I’m disgusted.  The Bush administration wants this bill passed quickly, without Congress (both Democrats and Republicans) attaching appropriate conditions to it.  And yet, President Bush continues to expand the original scope of the legislation: agreeing to the demands of lobbyists who are now scrambling to get a piece of the action.  Foreign banks want in, credit card companies want in, banks want it to apply to commercial loans, etc, etc.  Vultures!  Where does it stop?  What happened to the original goal of the plan to resolve the residential mortgage mess contributing to the financial instability?

A bill of this magnitude should not be signed lightly.  It will have a significant financial impact on our nation today and for generations to come.  Financially responsible members of Congress will do right to question whether this bailout plan is appropriate.  I believe there are better alternatives for spending the $700 billion, without rewarding the people who created the mess.

The bill, as it stands today, will essentially reward those firms whose bets did not payoff.  Without the pain of a hard lesson learned, these same firms will create yet more troubles in the future.  In fact, they will be more emboldened to take risks in the future.  After all, why should they care about the risks if they believe that Uncle Sam will help them out in a pinch?

Enough is enough.  It’s time we stopped paying attention to the threatening bullies on Wall Street.  They hold Congress and the American People over a ledge of fear.  But in fact, they are the biggest bunch of cry-babies I have ever seen.  First, they wanted deregulation, so they could be unfettered in their ability to make money.  And now they are asking for a bailout when their methods have proven to be disastrously wrong.

It is important to remind the bullies on Wall Street of the old saying “Live by the sword, die by the sword.”  More appropriately, “Live by the capital markets, die by the capital markets.”

I have so much more I can say about this bailout plan, and I understand the further downside risks of doing nothing.  But my message is clear, and my position is still the same.  No bailout!