Bericht van mijn vriend Michael Moore

[Hein van Meeteren]

REPLY TO: D66 at nic.surfnet.nl

Friends,

Let me cut to the chase. The biggest robbery in the history of this
country is taking place as you read this. Though no guns are being used,
300 million hostages are being taken. Make no mistake about it: After
stealing a half trillion dollars to line the pockets of their
war-profiteering backers for the past five years, after lining the
pockets of their fellow oilmen to the tune of over a hundred billion
dollars in just the last two years, Bush and his cronies -- who must
soon vacate the White House -- are looting the U.S. Treasury of every
dollar they can grab. They are swiping as much of the silverware as they
can on their way out the door.

No matter what they say, no matter how many scare words they use, they
are up to their old tricks of creating fear and confusion in order to
make and keep themselves and the upper one percent filthy rich. Just
read the first four paragraphs of the lead story in last Monday's New
York Times and you can see what the real deal is:


"Even as policy makers worked on details of a $700 billion bailout of
the financial industry, Wall Street began looking for ways to profit
from it.

"Financial firms were lobbying to have all manner of troubled
investments covered, not just those related to mortgages.

"At the same time, investment firms were jockeying to oversee all the
assets that Treasury plans to take off the books of financial
institutions, a role that could earn them hundreds of millions of
dollars a year in fees.

"Nobody wants to be left out of Treasury's proposal to buy up bad assets
of financial institutions."

Unbelievable. Wall Street and its backers created this mess and now they
are going to clean up like bandits. Even Rudy Giuliani is lobbying for
his firm to be hired (and paid) to "consult" in the bailout.

The problem is, nobody truly knows what this "collapse" is all about.
Even Treasury Secretary Paulson admitted he doesn't know the exact
amount that is needed (he just picked the $700 billion number out of his
head!). The head of the congressional budget office said he can't figure
it out nor can he explain it to anyone.

And yet, they are screeching about how the end is near! Panic!
Recession! The Great Depression! Y2K! Bird flu! Killer bees! We must
pass the bailout bill today!! The sky is falling! The sky is falling!

Falling for whom? NOTHING in this "bailout" package will lower the price
of the gas you have to put in your car to get to work. NOTHING in this
bill will protect you from losing your home. NOTHING in this bill will
give you health insurance.

Health insurance? Mike, why are you bringing this up? What's this got to
do with the Wall Street collapse?

It has everything to do with it. This so-called "collapse" was triggered
by the massive defaulting and foreclosures going on with people's home
mortgages. Do you know why so many Americans are losing their homes? To
hear the Republicans describe it, it's because too many working class
idiots were given mortgages that they really couldn't afford. Here's the
truth: The number one cause of people declaring bankruptcy is because of
medical bills. Let me state this simply: If we had had universal health
coverage, this mortgage "crisis" may never have happened.

This bailout's mission is to protect the obscene amount of wealth that
has been accumulated in the last eight years. It's to protect the top
shareholders who own and control corporate America. It's to make sure
their yachts and mansions and "way of life" go uninterrupted while the
rest of America suffers and struggles to pay the bills. Let the rich
suffer for once. Let them pay for the bailout. We are spending 400
million dollars a day on the war in Iraq. Let them end the war
immediately and save us all another half-trillion dollars!

I have to stop writing this and you have to stop reading it. They are
staging a financial coup this morning in our country. They are hoping
Congress will act fast before they stop to think, before we have a
chance to stop them ourselves. So stop reading this and do something --
NOW! Here's what you can do immediately:

1. Call or e-mail Senator Obama. Tell him he does not need to be sitting
there trying to help prop up Bush and Cheney and the mess they've made.
Tell him we know he has the smarts to slow this thing down and figure
out what's the best route to take. Tell him the rich have to pay for
whatever help is offered. Use the leverage we have now to insist on a
moratorium on home foreclosures, to insist on a move to universal health
coverage, and tell him that we the people need to be in charge of the
economic decisions that affect our lives, not the barons of Wall Street.

2. Take to the streets. Participate in one of the hundreds of
quickly-called demonstrations that are taking place all over the country
(especially those near Wall Street and DC).

3. Call your Representative in Congress and your Senators. (click here
to find their phone numbers). Tell them what you told Senator Obama.

When you screw up in life, there is hell to pay. Each and every one of
you reading this knows that basic lesson and has paid the consequences
of your actions at some point. In this great democracy, we cannot let
there be one set of rules for the vast majority of hard-working
citizens, and another set of rules for the elite, who, when they screw
up, are handed one more gift on a silver platter. No more! Not again!

Yours,
Michael Moore
MMFlint at aol.com <mailto:MMFlint at aol.com>
MichaelMoore.com

P.S. Having read further the details of this bailout bill, you need to
know you are being lied to. They talk about how they will prevent golden
parachutes. It says NOTHING about what these executives and fat cats
will make in SALARY. According to Rep. Brad Sherman of California, these
top managers will continue to receive million-dollar-a-month paychecks
under this new bill. There is no direct ownership given to the American
people for the money being handed over. Foreign banks and investors will
be allowed to receive billion-dollar handouts. A large chunk of this
$700 billion is going to be given directly to Chinese and Middle Eastern
banks. There is NO guarantee of ever seeing that money again.

P.P.S. From talking to people I know in DC, they say the reason so many
Dems are behind this is because Wall Street this weekend put a gun to
their heads and said either turn over the $700 billion or the first
thing we'll start blowing up are the pension funds and 401(k)s of your
middle class constituents. The Dems are scared they may make good on
their threat. But this is not the time to back down or act like the
typical Democrat we have witnessed for the last eight years. The Dems
handed a stolen election over to Bush. The Dems gave Bush the votes he
needed to invade a sovereign country. Once they took over Congress in
2007, they refused to pull the plug on the war. And now they have been
cowered into being accomplices in the crime of the century. You have to
call them now and say "NO!" If we let them do this, just imagine how
hard it will be to get anything good done when President Obama is in the
White House. THESE DEMOCRATS ARE ONLY AS STRONG AS THE BACKBONE WE GIVE
THEM. CALL CONGRESS NOW.

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