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The Tampa Tribune

Published: September 20, 2008

Deeper In Debt

Regarding "Fed Runs To Rescue Of AIG" (front page, Sept. 17):

Let's do the math: In the past week, our government as guaranteed $2.6 trillion in loans to Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and AIG. That's over $8,500 for every man, woman, and child in the United States. Isn't it nice to work hard, pay bills, and balance checkbooks, so we can be put on the hook for those unfortunate, ailing companies? I bet you just can't wait to see who'll be in our pockets next week!

DEAN DRAPIN

Tampa

Questions Need Answers

Here are a few questions for readers:

Where in the constitution of the United States does it say that using public funds to help private businesses is a right?

What's the difference between bailing out a company with taxpayers' money and nationalizing a company the way that it was done in Cuba, Venezuela and Saudi Arabia? Should not shares of these bailed out companies be awarded to every taxpayer because it's the taxpayer who is now footing the bill? Why should the taxpayer be handed, and accept, a bill for which she receives nothing - nada, zip, zero?

The CEOs of the failed companies are making multimillion dollar salaries after having guided the companies in taking excess risk. Now that the taxpayer is funding the company via bailouts, are not taxpayer dollars being used to pay these failed CEOs their multimillion dollar salaries? On which planet is that just?

When taking a risk to gain a reward, if a wrong decision is not followed by natural consequences, how is the risk/reward supposed to work?

At what point in this economic downturn will companies be allowed to fail?

Are these bailouts not a concession by congressional leadership that our "free market" system does not work?

What happened to honesty, integrity, sacrifice and hard work, the way it was taught to the baby boomers by their World War II parents?

When will the grass roots declare enough is enough and reclaim the nation from the alliance between Washington and Wall Street?

Are you feeling badly, or angry, about this? If not, why not?

SHERE SCHILLER

Tampa

Less Government?

Isn't it ironic? A common theme of conservatives is, "We need less government oversight." So, after almost eight years of minimal government oversight, what are we left with? A government that has to spend billions to take control of greedy, failing private corporations.

Maybe we don't need bigger government, but let's at least elect a government that has the intelligence, integrity, and sense of social responsibility to oversee and enforce private corporation rules and regulations that are already in place.

JOE FUHR

Tampa

Golden Parachutes

I would be more sympathetic with those on Wall Street, suffering much turmoil, if when the good times rolled they had been more concerned about the people on our streets stretching the capacities of the charities to their limits, taking care of them. There were millions of dollar payments in salaries and payouts to those leaving the scene. That wealth was not shared with the street people. I'm not worried about this turmoil. All the stock I own is in my pantry, and it's edible.

HARTLEY STEEVES

Tampa

Bailouts Have Limits

Watching financial markets collapse bodes horrors for the future. There is a bad chance that all this will lead to a world depression. There is a finite limit to how much can be bailed out by the Federal Reserve and/or U.S. taxpayers. When that limit is reached, a global financial meltdown will occur. The great depression will be nothing compared to what is coming due to the expanded leverage in all parts of the financial markets. This means that debt is a major part of almost all financial transactions. Easiest example of this is home mortgages which have been available with little to nothing down. That debt has had a large impact of the current financial chaos.

The other day, Alan Greenspan opined that the current financial mess is a once-in-a-hundred-years happening. Interesting. Our depression was within that time period. The conclusion would be that conditions in the financial markets were not as bad in 1929. Now that should scare everybody. I think the people in the know are fearful, but they are not letting the gravity of the situation out to the general public for fear of runs on all banks and resultant overnight chaos.

Prudence would dictate that everybody in uncertain times assess their situation if the worst case scenario becomes fact.

VALD SVEKIS

Sarasota

The Rich Get Richer

Last week's bailout of the private corporations Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is nothing more than a money transfer from the American taxpayer to the executives and stockholders of these institutions. The amount that we, the taxpayer, will lose is estimated to be at least $25 to $50 billion.

This action fits the pattern of every single Republican scam over the last eight years. The Medicare Prescription Drug program takes $700 billion from the taxpayer and sends it to big pharmaceuticals. The original Bush tax cut for millionaires in 2001 transferred wealth to the elite 1 percent and left the rest of us with a staggering deficit. Their energy policy, developed in secret, has had the result of moving big bucks from your wallet to the oil companies in record amounts. And the Iraq debacle has used tax funding to buy more Halliburton executives bonuses that it has bought safety for the American people.

It's as if the GOP sees its sole job as transferring taxpayer money to big corporations and the very wealthy.

SCOTT COCHRAN

Tampa

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