House Bailout Vote: The Uprising Comes to Wall Street and Washington

I'm scheduled to appear on CNN at 3:30pm EST to discuss the House's extraordinary vote to reject the $700 billion Wall Street bailout. What I'm going to say is pretty simple: it's clear that Congress is facing a full on revolt from both the Right and Left - the very revolt that I predicted in my book, The Uprising. No longer is this a populist revolt merely scaring Wall Street and Washington - this is a populist revolt that has, to quote Markos, crashed the gate, and it represents a real victory for the progressive movement and voices who said Hell No.

Those who are surprised by this turn of events just haven't been paying attention to what's going on out in the country - they haven't been paying attention to, for instance, the social survey research showing rising rage against both our corrupt government and Corporate America. During my 3 month book tour, I faced a wave of skepticism from the Establishment media about my thesis. This earthquake on the floor of the U.S. House should end that skepticism once and for all.

Just as I said in the book that it's not clear what is going to come out of the Left-Right grassroots uprising throughout the country, it's not clear what is going to come out of this uprising in Congress. Will Democratic leaders tack to the hard right, load the bill up with corporate tax cuts and pass this bill with only Republican votes? Or will they actually be leaders of the Democratic Party, make this bill a vehicle for the kind of New Deal-style investments and regulations that are necessary to start rebuilding this country, and pass this bill with full Democratic Party support?

This is the question moving forward. I've laid out the top 5 reasons to vote against this bill and go back to the drawing board. That article outlines what should be the basic conditions for any bailout, including a speculators tax, re-regulation, economic stimulus, bankruptcy law reform and aid to homeowners. No amount of tinkering with Paulson's atrocity is going do the trick. They have to go back and start from scratch.

Make no mistake about it - this is not a moment of celebration, it is a moment for increasing pressure. The Uprising is waiting for a serious response - will Congress step up to the plate? Contact your member of Congress right now and demand he/she goes back to the drawing board.

Comments

[castlerider]

You that's OK for you, David. You get a paycheck anyway.

A lot of us out here are going to be hurt without this. We need to get Sen. Obama in there, then we can fix this. But not having this pass is going to immediately hurt too many of us.

[super]

Fair enough (castlerider). Just get in line behind the Katrina victims, war widows, foreclosed former home-owners,...

[katok]

Excellent David, I am suprised the Internet remains up and the phones are still working. I have to go now, I am running out of Aluminum Foil....

[RedneckDem]

I do hope that Mr. Sirotas 5 steps are heeded and the financial markets rebound, but until we come up with a way to start protecting American jobs and incomes the American Business loop will have a gigantic hole in it. We cannot continue to allow jobs to go offshore and we cannot allow American Corporations to prop up communist countries and still be allowed to sell to Americans. The housing boom was based upon easy credit and burning home equity to buy foreign made goods. Just think if that equity went to American made products and their loyal patriotic companies!! It sure would have offset some of this current mess... Plus with rising incomes would have come fewer foreclosures, and once the regulation loopholes are shut again, a sustainable growth pattern would have emerged. And for goodness sake, someone please start regulating the Military Industrial Complex, which is the next bubble, as their greed is almost as bad as Wall Streets.

[Nahnmon]

I just wrote my two senators and congress rep. I tried to write Frank, but his email is inaccessible, jeez, I wonder why.

You can't even access the financial services committee page - they are running for cover. Let's face it, they're all in the pockets of big business. All out revolt is the only way to get these guys to do anything resembling the right thing.

[shamaniceconomist]

Some of the people in Congress need to start checking with their colleagues and constituents. Representative democracy won't work if everyone in town wants to be a loose cannon. By the way, did you notice that the House web site was effectively offline Friday and again today? It takes more than a million angry constituents to make that happen.

[Nahnmon]

Yes, I noticed that. Try the finance committee page - no dice. Barney Frank is running for cover as well.

[mommadona]

Good luck on CNN...

ONWARD!