First, it is not a “bailout.”  It’s not a boon to Wall Street at the expense of the taxpayers. It is effectively a loan to save our economy, get the flow of credit going again, protect jobs, and protect our investments. 

We can get money back and possibly make a profit and in the meantime save our economy from tanking.  After five years, if the taxpayer ownership of the assets purchased were facing a loss, a plan would take effect to recoup the loss from the financial institutions that participated.  This was successfully done by Franklin D Roosevelt and the taxpayers made a profit; with Chrysler, where the taxpayers made a profit AND thousands of manufacturing jobs were saved; and the savings and loan crisis, which almost broke even.

The House version of the “bailout” bill had many inadequacies. It lacked sufficient reforms, oversight, and accountability provisions to prevent a repeat of this crisis; it had insufficient restrictions on “golden parachutes” for executives; and didn’t do enough to help prevent foreclosures and help people to stay in their homes.

But the failure of the bill to pass on Monday September 29, 2008 created a real loss of 1.2 trillion dollars in the stock market! As the credit markets remain frozen, businesses can’t get the credit lines they need to keep operating. People can’t get a loan to buy a house, a car, or to start a business. This is doing real damage to our economy.

Bottom line: a bill needed to be passed  and was a first step in fixing the problem.  If I were in Congress, I would have been fighting for the reforms mentioned above, particularly those protecting homeowners.  Before Congress would have adjourned, I would have voted for the best bill available. 

However, Thaddeus McCotter, who voted against the bill, seems only interested in distancing himself from President Bush as much as possible to get re-elected, although he voted over 91% of the time with Bush and his party and helped create this economic mess. 

You may have received his robocall on Tuesday September 30, 2008. I did! He tried to portray the rescue plan as a windfall for Wall Street at taxpayer expense. But he is deliberately mischaracterizing the entire plan and playing to people’s fears.

McCotter is also voting ideologically and grandstanding, rather than working across party lines to create something to help our economy here and now. Not me…I would vote to protect people’s homes, jobs, and investments.