shAARP Talk: Observations from AARP

Its impossible to read all the comments, but mine is short.

To the big CEO's that left with millions and millions of dollars: GIVE IT BACK. Then we meezly hard working citizens won't have to pay for your failing on the job.

This makes sense to me - don't know who to give credit for it, but might be
good to spread around, if you like it.

I much prefer this be adopted then some $700 billion golden parachute for the
buddies of Henry M. Paulson, Jr., current Secretary of the Treasury who
himself benefited with a $100 million "bonus". This is being proposed by a
group of grass roots economists and financial leaders. --- Kent
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Years of bad decisions and stupid mistakes have created an economic nightmare
in this country, but $700 billion in new debt is not the answer. As a
tax-paying American citizen, I will not support any congressperson who votes
to implement such a policy. Instead, I submit the following three steps:

Common Sense Plan.

I. INSURANCE

A. Insure the subprime bonds/mortgages with an underlying FHA-type insurance.
Government-insured and backed loans would have an instant market all over the
world, creating immediate and needed liquidity.

B. In order for a company to accept the government-backed insurance, they
must do two things:

1. Rewrite any mortgage that is more than three months delinquent to a 6%
fixed-rate mortgage.
a. Roll all back payments with no late fees or legal costs into the
balance. This brings homeowners current and allows them a chance to keep
their homes.
b. Cancel all prepayment penalties to encourage refinancing or the sale
of the property to pay off the bad loan. In the event of foreclosure or short
sale, the borrower will not be held liable for any deficit balance. FHA does
this now, and that encourages mortgage companies to go the extra mile while
working with the borrower-again limiting foreclosures and ruined lives.

2. Cancel ALL golden parachutes of EXISTING and FUTURE CEOs and executive
team members as long as the company holds these government-insured
bonds/mortgages. This keeps underperforming executives from being paid when
they don't do their jobs.

C. This backstop will cost less than $50 billion-a small fraction of the
current proposal.

II. MARK TO MARKET

A. Remove mark to market accounting rules for two years on only subprime Tier
III bonds/mortgages. This keeps companies from being forced to artificially
mark down bonds/mortgages below the value of the underlying mortgages and
real estate.

B. This move creates patience in the market and has an immediate stabilizing
effect on failing and ailing banks-and it costs the taxpayer nothing.

III. CAPITAL GAINS TAX

A. Remove the capital gains tax completely. Investors will flood the real
estate and stock market in search of tax-free profits, creating
tremendous-and immediate-liquidity in the markets. Again, this costs the
taxpayer nothing.

B. This move will be seen as a lightning rod politically because many will
say it is helping the rich. The truth is the rich will benefit, but it will
be their money that stimulates the economy. This will enable all Americans to
have more stable jobs and retirement investments that go up instead of down.
This is not a time for envy, and it's not a time for politics. It's time for
all of us, as Americans, to stand up, speak out, and fix this mess.

When ever our government sees a crisis and responds to it, they always seem to screw it up and make it more complicated than it need be. To my simple mind, the Congress should just loan the money to firms which need capital, and charge a reasonable interest on the loan. This was the approach of Lee Iococa at Chrysler several years ago and the process worked. If the government needs collateral for the loans, there are thousands of homes out there. Personally, I don't believe in bailing out those home buyers who have a zero down mortgage with a variable rate. If I make an investment and I lose money on the deal, I don't expect the government, or anybody else, to bail me out.

Where are the 2,990 comments made to "Cost of Inaction"??? I'd like to read them. Only those made prior to 09/30/08 at 9:00 PM show up. I'm really interested in what was written today, Oct. 1st. How can I view them?

Subject: In Addition to the $700 b think about this

I'm against the $85,000,000,000.00 bailout of AIG.

Instead, I'm in favor of giving $85,000,000,000 to America in
a We Deserve It Dividend.

To make the math simple, let's assume there are 200,000,000
bonafide adults in the U.S. our population is about 301,000,000 +/- counting every man, woman
and child. So 200,000,000 might be a fair stab at adults 18 and up..

So divide 200 million adults 18+ into $85 billon that equals
$425,000.00.

My plan is to give $425,000 to every person 18+ as a
We Deserve It Dividend.

Of course, it would NOT be tax free.
So let's assume a tax rate of 30%.

Every individual 18+ has to pay $127,500.00 in taxes.
That sends $25,500,000,000 right back to Uncle Sam.

But it means that every adult 18+ has $297,500.00 in their pocket.
A husband and wife has $595,000.00.

What would you do with $297,500.00 to $595,000.00 in your family?
Pay off your mortgage - housing crisis solved.
Repay college loans - what a great boost to new grads
Put away money for college - it'll be there
Save in a bank - create money to loan to entrepreneurs.
Buy a new car - create jobs
Invest in the market - capital drives growth
Pay for your parent's medical insurance - health care improves

Remember this is for every adult U S Citizen 18+ including the folks who lost their jobs at Lehman Brothers and every other company
that is cutting back. And of course, for those serving in our Armed
Forces.

If we're going to re-distribute wealth let's really do it...instead of trickling out a puny $1000.00 ( "vote buy" ) economic incentive.
If we're going to do an $85 billion bailout, let's bail out every adult U S Citizen 18+!

As for AIG - liquidate it.
Sell off its parts.
Let American General go back to being American General.
Sell off the real estate.
Let the private sector bargain hunters cut it up and clean it up.

Here's my rationale. We deserve it and AIG doesn't.

Sure it's a crazy idea that can "never work."

But can you imagine the Coast-To-Coast Block Party!

How do you spell Economic Boom?

I trust my fellow adult Americans to know how to use the $85 Billion
We Deserve It Dividend more than I do the geniuses at AIG or in
Washington DC .

And remember, This plan only really costs $59.5 Billion because
$25.5 Billion is returned instantly in taxes to Uncle Sam.

I was surprised that with the Democratic majority that the bill did not pass. Another surprise was Ms. Pelosi's speech; I had to leave the room. What is her definition of non-partison?!
The bill MUST to save our country's economic structure. Frozen lines of credit will cripple business owners from buying and that will ripple down to consumers not being able to make purchases.

OK, after all the complaints, we still have to do something to relieve the credit market or our economy and country will go down. A bill must be passed. PASS A BILL!!!!

The issue is not just about the devaluation of my home, 401K or any other investment I may have. Truly it's about everyone impacted by our economy. While we don't want to support the "golden parachutes" created in our unregulated companies - every day real people with real faces, names, families, needs and wants are being impacted.

We need to accept that approval of this act will not improve our overall economy immediately and we are aware of the gross unregulated practices that drove us to this place.

Every day we delay approving this act will increase the number of unemployed, the number of kids going hungry or facing abuse due to family hardships, the number of uninsured and welfare participants....how is being angry at the "wall street fat cats" going to make my life better?

Move on people - the longer we stand still the faster we sink!

You should put your readers on notice that tomorrow's moderator, Gwen Ifill has a book on Obama due out on inauguration day. Perhaps she can be unbiased.... but she does have a vested financial interest.

All viewers should watch with this knowledge to appropriately view the questions and answers.

I without my support until we treat the wall street gang like drug dealers, seize all their assets, (their boat, their houses, their bank accounts)and throw them in jail. Set their bail so high they have to stay there until they lose their day in court and start their sentence. After we use their assets to pay off the bad loans, then we will see how much the hard working honest tax payers will need to bail wall street out.

I called my congresswoman and I guess she was given a wrong message from her staff from me. Anyway, I think this is Bush's way of doing things. He throws out these scare tactics like he just heard about this problem. This is his October surprise. It makes the citizens crazed and he takes advantage of everyone (the lame press, the Congress and the people). It works every time. He loves to cry wolf. I suggest that whatever we pass won't be right and he owes some more "gold" for his friends on K Street. So in January, the Congress goes back and corrects the bill again with President Obama leading the way. Some of the Senate and more of the Congress will not be coming back. This will be a great time to start correcting many of the ills from 8 years of outrageous behavior. We will be working to bring back the Constitution and Bill of Rights, probably having hearings about who will find themselves facing charges, which will take a long time, but it is certainly worth it. We have a lot of despicable people that are so unethical, that need to be punished. Please bring back ethics and clean the earth of this sludge. Thank you, but if don't vote for Obama, take some more of the McSame and Palin. God help us!

The more I understand this so called "bail-out" the more disgusted I become. As has been pointed out by so many for so long, Wall Street is run by a group of unsupervised, greedy, narcissistic people whose narrow world view led us to this chasm. I have no pitty for any of them. They need a special dose of poverty to snap them back to reality. In terms of what can be done. why don't we STOP with this
"US is the greatest nation in the world" propaganda and really attend to the domestic crisis that have all been swept under the proverbial rug. What exactly makes us so great when millions live uninsured, others live in abject terrorism (in their own neighborhoods), still others not being able to afford high profile lawyers, don't have a voice to advocate for their needs or for justice. And don't get me started on the mortgage and unemployment crisis. A nation, any nation's greatness comes from and is evidenced by how it treats its most vulnerable, not by juvenile proclamations of greatness!

Hey skip, please check this for me:

425,000.00 X 200,000,000.00= 85,000,000,000,000.00. That's 85 trillion, or 85 thousand billion.

In spite of it's severity, the financial crisis facing our country is solvable...but not if it becomes politicized...and that's where my concern lies. The same politicians who were overseeing the unraveling of the regulations which were designed to prevent this sort of melt down are now charged with devising the solution. My sense is that so many of these politicians are beholding to special interest groups and lobbyists, except for the strongest of them, it will not be possible for them to be either non-partisan, nor free thinking enough to make the long term interests of the country paramount in their considerations. Greed really isn't the only culprit here...it is that the sysytem became so free wheeling that it became a breeding ground for corruption and opportunism...with no restraining over sight.

Why isn't AARP speaking out forcefully on the bailout bill?

I personally think it's a bad idea -- having the Fed provide liquidity to solvent institutions would be more effective and much less costly -- but whatever you think, it's $800 billion of taxpayer money ($700 billion for the bailout + $100 billion for "pork.")

That $800 billion could go a long way towards, for instance, providing universal health insurance.

Shouldn't AARP make its voice heard?