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The full text of the Presbyterian Washington Office background paper, written by Leslie Woods, associate for domestic poverty and environmental issues: In response to ailing financial markets and the collapse of a number of large investment banks and AIG, the American International Group, Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson arrived on Capitol Hill on Saturday, Sept. 20 with the Administration’s proposal to stabilize the tottering financial market. The proposal requested $700 billion to buy up troubled assets from a broad range of financial institutions. In the original proposal, the authority to administer the funds lay with the Secretary of the Treasury. The idea was that the injection of so much new capital into the financial market would begin to stem their current scramble of banks to rid themselves of investments that were falling in value. Members of Congress on both sides of the aisle balked at the plan, calling it a blank check for bailing out the irresponsible investments that large banks had made during the housing bubble, which has now burst, resulting in record home foreclosures. Of course, the situation is much more complicated than this explanation, but the primary concern of far-reaching impact — that is, beyond Wall Street — has been a threat to the liquidity of assets and banks being unwilling to extend credit to each other or to the market, meaning that it is becoming increasingly difficult for individuals and businesses to access credit and loans, e.g. car loans, student loans, mortgages, or business loans. In addition, the uncertainty in the market has also brought great instability to the stock market, which has brought fears for 401(k)s and other retirement savings. A series of heated negotiations and hearings ensued the week of Sept. 22, in which members of Congress proposed their own alternative bills, or suggested amendments, limitations, and additions to the Paulson plan. Members worked through that weekend to reach a deal among themselves and the Administration, inserting some oversight and provisions designed to provide some accountability for the massive amount of money being allocated to this new program. The House brought the compromise to the floor on Monday, Sept. 29. In a vote that shocked Wall Street and sent the Dow Jones Industrial Average plummeting nearly 778 points that day, the House defeated the measure in a vote of 228-205. So, with the Jewish New Year approaching, members adjourned for business but were sent scrambling back to the drawing board for some solution to the pending crisis. In the meantime, with members vowing that they would try again, the Dow Jones gained back 485 of its lost points the following day. The stock market was in a yo-yo pattern all week. On Oct. 1, the Presbyterian Washington Office sent a letter to Congress urging them, in whatever bill they pass, to find a solution that will move our economy closer to a vision of a just economy, where human worth and the common good are valued above economic self-interest, personal wealth and greed. Also on Oct. 1, the Senate passed their version of the financial bailout — or rescue — bill, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, H.R. 1424, the centerpiece of which is still the defeated House bill with some modifications. In addition, the Senate packaged the financial-crisis-fix with several other pieces of legislation that Congress considered ― must-pass. Among the provisions in the newly announced bill are:
During Senate debate, and again as the House wrestled with the measure, members on both sides of the aisle lamented that the deal is not perfect, but urged that something had to be done to address the weakness in the economic system. On Friday afternoon, October 3, the House passed the bill and the President signed it about an hour later. For more than 60 years, the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) and its predecessor bodies have been bearing witness to its concern for just federal economic policies that benefit everyone in a society, not just a wealthy few. In the letter to Congress, the Washington Office reminded our elected officials that it is low- and middle- income people who will first and foremost feel the burden of a crash in our financial markets. The solution must ensure a safety net for those most at risk. General Assembly Guidance In 1934, in the midst of the Great Depression, the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. recommended a set of guidelines outlining a vision for true justice in economic relationships. Among these principles, it included setting aside the motives of money-making and self-interest, reexamining competition as a major controlling principle in our economic life, and valuing human worth above material riches as the primary asset of a community. In addition, the 1934 General Assembly urged that our natural resources and economic institutions be considered as existing for the public good and such plans for ownership and control be developed as will lead to the best use in the interests of all. In 1995, the 207th General Assembly expressed its support for the Community Reinvestment Act, which requires lenders that receive deposits to meet the credit needs of the communities in which they operate. In other words, the commissioners expressed a wish that banks and communities would place in each other mutual trust to build the common good and financial health of the community. Presbyterian General Assemblies in recent years have focused on the very relevant topics of usury, or the charging of exorbitant interest, and just housing policy. Both issues are integrally linked to a financial crisis that was precipitated by the bursting of a housing bubble created in part by unwise subprime mortgages. The 217th General Assembly approved “A Reformed Understanding of Usury in the 21st Century” and the 218th General Assembly approved “From Homelessness to Hope: Constructing Just, Sustainable Communities for all God’s People.”
The full text of the letter to Presbyterians, dated Oct. 4, from General Assembly Moderator Bruce Reyes-Chow, General Assembly Council Executive Director Linda Valentine, and General Assembly Stated Clerk Gradye Parsons: We write out of concern for those in your congregations who are suffering loss of their homes, their jobs, their ability to meet other financial obligations or conduct their normal business activities. Indeed, we recognize that even for those who may not be in immediate jeopardy, the current “credit crisis” has spread fear throughout the nation regarding the stability of our whole economic system. Even as our legislators and financial advisors struggle to find solutions that address the disastrously complex problems exposed by this crisis, blame for the “melt-down” is being cast in all directions: from government failures to provide adequate regulatory safeguards, to investors intent on exploiting bizarre mortgage schemes, to ordinary citizens whose penchant for incurring disastrous levels of debt, there is blame enough to go around. Our Washington Office has witnessed to legislators on principles expressed by the General Assembly over time that relate to government's service to the common good. As followers of Jesus Christ, let us join in a call to our own people and to our fearful nation to hear God's word that “perfect love casts out fear”; and let us look anew at our economic system — one which has been immensely productive in many respects, but which has tended to favor the strong and aggressive, often at great cost to the weak.
Let us all repent of our own decisions, both personal and corporate,
regarding our use of the earth's resources and of the financial
resources of which we have been made stewards. And let us make clear
to our legislators and to those whose are charged with the
management of this nation's financial resources that any recovery of
fiscal accountability must be accompanied with moral accountability
for the unfortunate, so that the burdens and blessings of the future
are fairly shared. As you provide pastoral and prophetic leadership to your own people in the face of the ongoing crisis, we would like to offer some resources that reflect efforts by recent General Assemblies to address many of the economic and moral issues facing our nation and the world at this juncture. As Reformed Christians, we are neither individuals nor congregations alone in times of crisis. With this social vision it will still be up to our communities — with our strong participation — to deal with these problems for the long term.
The full text of the letter to members of the U.S. Congress, dated Oct. 1 and signed by Sara Pottschmitt Lisherness, Director of Compassion, Peace and Justice Ministries for the denomination: As the nation struggles with the current financial crisis, I write to urge you to find a solution that will move our economy closer to a vision of a just economy, where human worth and the common good are valued above economic self-interest, personal wealth and greed. Presbyterian General Assemblies, over the past sixty years have expressed concern about federal economic priorities, calling for an economic policy that is humane and sensitive to the needs of all persons; taxes on the basis of equity; and, while supporting private initiative, does not allow private interests to trample the poor, disenfranchised or unemployed. These concerns are equally relevant today as you consider legislation designed to undergird the U.S. economic system. It is not only corporations and large banks. Livelihoods that are at stake. More important are the lives and livelihoods of the majority of Americans who work hard, save carefully, and yes, rely on the credit industry, which is in such turmoil. Particularly endangered by this crisis are those who already live on the financial edges of society — low-income Americans who have been hit hardest by the recent souring of the economy and upturn in food and gas prices. Low-income families will feel the impacts of further economic recession even more heavily than those with enough disposable income to be directly affected by a fallout on Wall Street, even though they are the least able to bear the burden. Even now, over fifty percent of our churches already support food pantries and homeless shelter. How many more will they have to serve? While the details, price tag and even certainty of government action loom large, we nonetheless acknowledge that government action in this crisis is likely. Given such a likelihood, we call on you to reject sending a blank check to Wall Street, but rather ensure appropriate transparency and accountability that will rebuild trust and financial security. In 1995, the 207th General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) expressed its support for the Community Reinvestment Act, which requires lenders that receive deposits to meet the credit needs of the communities in which they operate. In other words, the 207th General Assembly expressed a wish that banks and communities would place in each other mutual trust to build the common good and financial health of the community. In view of the current crisis in the financial markets, it is clear that there has been a breakdown of that mutual trust between the bankers on Wall Street and the national community. In crafting the solution, it is incumbent on Congress to ensure appropriate safeguards to reestablish that mutual trust. I urge you to incorporate the following provisions into any bailout legislation:
The Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) has long been concerned with the establishment of a just economic order that benefits all, not only the wealthy few. In 1934, in the midst of the Great Depression, the Presbyterian Church in the U.S.A. recommended a set of guidelines outlining a vision for true justice in economic relationships. Among these principles, it included setting aside the motives of money-making and self-interest, reexamining competition as a major controlling principle in our economic life, and valuing human worth above material riches as the primary asset of a community. In
addition, the 1934 General Assembly urged that our natural resources
and economic institutions be considered as existing for the public
good and such plans for ownership and control be developed as will
lead to the best use in the interests of all. The prophet Isaiah said someday there will be a king who rules with integrity, and national leaders who govern with justice. Each of them will be like a shelter from the wind and a place to hide from storms. They will be like streams flowing in a desert, like the shadow of a giant rock in a barren land. Their eyes and ears will be open to the needs of the people. (32:1-3, TEV) I urge you to be such national leaders in the face of this financial storm. Greed gets blamed for our Wall Street woes
– but hey, is it really that bad? |
[8-2-08] Everybody is blaming greed for our current financial crisis. But if you’d like to think a little more deeply about the subject of greed, you might take a look at a blog on the Utne website, which gathers together bits from a number of perspectives, and links you to them the original sources – including Rabbi Michael Lerner of Tikkun, and Dr. Rebecca Blank, who says in an interview on Religion & Ethics Newsweekly that greed does have its value, too. So
what about all this money business? |
[9-26-08] Your WebWeaver is far from being an expert in economics. (But then, have we seen anybody lately who really understands what’s going on?) I was struck yesterday by one economist who pointed out that the strength of the U.S. dollar rests not on mountains of gold backing it up, but is quite simply “faith-based.” [James Grant, editor of Grant’s Interest Rate Observer, and author of the forthcoming Mr. Market Miscalculates: The Bubble Years and Beyond.] So what happens if we try to consider this truly dangerous situation from a faith perspective — if we dare to ask that frighteningly simple question, “What would Jesus do?” I have no intention of offering my own analysis, but I’d like to point to three commentators that dare to view the situation from a faith-based and justice-oriented perspective. You may find these interesting and helpful. And I invite you to add your own comments, arguments, laments, cries of outrage, or whatever seems appropriate. But let’s not allow this crisis to wash over our world without some reflection, some prayer, some action. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ An opportunity for a “new New Deal” Sakia Sassen, who is the Robert S. Lynd professor of sociology and member of the Committee on Global Thought at Columbia University, sees this crisis as an opportunity for a “new new deal,” which would work “to the immediate benefit of tens of millions of people across the land, and of the long-term sustainability of their social and environmental livelihoods.” She elaborates: What would this counter-plan involve? The most important item would be to focus on the kind of work the economy needs desperately but seems unable to perform, work that involves wide sectors of the population and of the economy. A rebuilding of the country's infrastructure is a prime example. There are vast numbers of essential tasks waiting to be done: repairing flood defenses and unsafe bridges, environmental clean-ups, developing alternative-energy sources, introducing suburban train systems, rebuilding devastated inner-cities, creating urban parks and green belts, helping low- and modest-income households to acquire foreclosed properties; and allowing recently foreclosed on households to recover their homes. There is so much more. These tasks alone would require the creation of huge numbers of jobs and enterprises of all sizes, in almost all economic sectors. This in turn would feed directly into GDP growth and heave a healthy effect eventually on the value of the dollar. At present, actual economic growth is more urgent than lowering the interest-rate so that households can borrow more; households need income and employment, firms need buyers of their goods and services. In this dispensation, banks would do the lending through conventional loans rather than financial firms selling high-risk structured financial instruments. $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Rabbi Michael Lerner advises: Just Say "No" to Any Immediate Bailout – Don't try band-aids to keep the Tower of Babel Standing Rabbi Michael Lerner – the founder of Tikkun magazine and of the Network of Spiritual Progressives – compares the current world market economy to the ancient effort of human to build “a Tower of Babel that would allow people to storm heaven as a symbol of human hubris and technological power gone crazy. It was globalization for the sake of power, not for the sake of kindness or goodness, so, according to the Bible, God ensured that the whole thing would collapse.” So, he argues, “Our contemporary capitalist system and its globalization of selfishness has evolved into a similarly grotesque distortion as people are increasingly socialized into the goals of the system: accumulate as much money and power as possible, and refuse to allow any other ethical goals into the public sphere (we are allowed to pursue them in our own ‘private lives’ but not together in social space). The human suffering that results is not only for the poor.” He continues: This is an extraordinary moment, a crisis like this is a precious thing and should not be wasted. If we had any ethically or spiritually visionary leadership, they would reject any immediate bailout, and instead, talk of ethical and spiritual reconstruction of the society in accord with a New Bottom Line: that every institution should be judged efficient, rational and productive not only to the extent that they maximize money and power, but also to the extent that they maximize love and caring for others, generosity and kindness, ethical and ecological sensitivity, and awe and wonder at the grandeur of the universe. To start that process, we should demand that any corporation receiving help from our government give a corresponding level of ownership and control of their venture to the people of this country. ... [Thus] any corporation with an income of more than $50 million a year must get a new corporate charter once every ten years, to be granted only if it can prove a satisfactory history of social responsibility as measured by an Ethical Impact Report and as decided by a jury of ordinary people whose task is to represent the interests of the common good. Meanwhile, the rest of us should be protected as the Tower of Babel collapses. So the hundreds of billions of dollars being thrown recklessly by our Congress into the hands of the very people and corporations that fostered the current meltdown, should instead be used to create a national bank that would provide mortgage assistance at affordable rates, buy up and restart in the hands of the people who work within them any at-risk corporations providing socially useful functions ..., recreate ... pension funds for families with incomes under $300,000/yr., create a single-payer universal health care system ..., and provide strong incentives for alternative energy-oriented investment and a minimum wage that rises with inflation to ensure adequate compensation for working people. Lerner’s full essay (which is shorter than most of his) >> $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Arianna Huffington offers typically sharp advice to Barack Obama: Bailout Bill: Obama Needs to Lead, Not Be One of the Bailout Bipartisan Musketeers Excerpts from her brief article: I've said it before, and I'll say it again: bipartisanship in service of bad legislation is not a good thing. And, make no mistake, this bailout bill – at least if the details that are trickling out are accurate – is going to be very bad legislation indeed. And by that I mean very bad for the American people, whose interests are by no means identical to Wall Street's. ... Last night, he announced that he'd urged Democratic leaders in Congress not to pursue efforts to include an economic stimulus package in the bailout, or to push for a provision giving bankruptcy judges the power to rework mortgage rates because it might derail a deal. That's the kind of thinking that prompted White House press secretary Dana Perino to applaud the candidates for trying to take the politics out of the equation. But, as David Sirota, asks: "When did a crisis suddenly mean that giving away taxpayer cash is laudably apolitical, but spending taxpayer money on taxpayers is inappropriately 'political?'" ... So will it be Obama, as the standard bearer of the Democratic Party, making a deal that, in the end, adopts the overriding trickle down essence of the original Paulson plan: give Wall Street what it wants, cross our fingers, and hope that the crisis is averted? Instead of siding with Bush and Paulson on far too many deal points, Obama should draw a line in the sand and refuse to cross it. Voters are not looking for smiling post-partisan photo ops. They are looking for a leader willing to fight for a bailout plan that more directly protects the interests of the American people. Huffington's full essay >>What are your thoughts,
concerns, hopes?? Just Say "No" to Any
Immediate Bailout – Don't try band-aids to keep the Tower of Babel
Standing |
by Rabbi Michael Lerner Rabbi Lerner is the founder of Tikkun magazine, and of the Network of Spiritual Progressives. Rabbis of antiquity interpreted the attempt by humanity to build a Tower of Babel that would allow people to storm heaven as a symbol of human hubris and technological power gone crazy. It was globalization for the sake of power, not for the sake of kindness or goodness, so, according to the Bible, God ensured that the whole thing would collapse. Scrambling languages and created a multi-cultural reality provided a way for humans to develop their own less imperialistic goals, diffusing power and challenging the notion that the path to salvation lies with material conquests and technological prowess. Our contemporary capitalist system and its globalization of selfishness has evolved into a similarly grotesque distortion as people are increasingly socialized into the goals of the system: accumulate as much money and power as possible, and refuse to allow any other ethical goals into the public sphere (we are allowed to pursue them in our own "private lives" but not together in social space). The human suffering that results is not only for the poor. As people internalize the ethos of the marketplace and its "looking out for number one" and its seeing others primarily in instrumental terms ("what can you do for me to further my goals or satisfy my needs?"), families feel increasingly unstable, education becomes training to "make it in a global competition," and politics increasingly focuses on how to best assist the most powerful in their aims to secure or increase their wealth, or to protect American corporate interests as they increasingly seek to dominate world markets. The pursuit of money and power is a huge ethical distortion for human life and destructive for a society. Whether manifested in the failed wars in Vietnam or the continuing bloody conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan and soon Pakistan and Iran, or in the collapse of our banking, insurance, and stock market systems, the ethos of selfishness and materialism are not sustainable in the 21st century. So the careful and skillful manipulating us into a mass hysteria that this all be worked out immediately and before Congress goes on recess to run for reelection, with dire predictions that nobody knows to be true, to rush to use our monies (currently proposing a trillion dollars, but there will be trillions more to come, because we will be nurturing a "culture of dependence" by the rich and their corporate holdings) to bolster this way of life. Democrats have bought in. Yet it is a huge error-it's like trying to put bandages on the Tower of Babel. Of course, the wealthy all think that this is an immediate emergency-they suspect that a Democratic President and Congress might be more willing to demand a better deal for ordinary citizens in return for using their tax dollars this way. And they think that our tax monies (of which they contribute very little, should be used to "provide confidence to the markets"-meaning themselves). Many of them don't care that the resulting inflation is likely to make most working people's savings, retirement accounts, and social security considerably less valuable in real purchasing power terms. But they are wrong to fear the Obama election-the Democrats, including Obama, are as much committed to propping up the current system as the rich, in order to prove (to the pundits and inside-the-Beltway crowd and their wealthy funders who together constitute their primary reference group) that they are "responsible." So their demands for "accountability," re-regulation, and "limits on executive incomes" throws the merest little restraint while the hundreds of billions that will be spent will resuscitate the system of selfishness, keep the majority of corporate executives benefiting from the excesses they current enjoy, and not even touch on reshaping the fundamentals. This is an extraordinary moment, a crisis like this is a precious thing and should not be wasted. If we had any ethically or spiritually visionary leadership, they would reject any immediate bailout, and instead, talk of ethical and spiritual reconstruction of the society in accord with a New Bottom Line: that every institution should be judged efficient, rational and productive not only to the extent that they maximize money and power, but also to the extent that they maximize love and caring for others, generosity and kindness, ethical and ecological sensitivity, and awe and wonder at the grandeur of the universe. To start that process, we should demand that any corporation receiving help from our government give a corresponding level of ownership and control of their venture to the people of this country. Moreover, any such corporation should be required to meet the terms of the Network of Spiritual Progressives' proposed Social Responsibility Amendment to the Constitution: that any corporation with an income of more than $50 million a year must get a new corporate charter once every ten years, to be granted only if it can prove a satisfactory history of social responsibility as measured by an Ethical Impact Report and as decided by a jury of ordinary people whose task is to represent the interests of the common good. Meanwhile, the rest of us should be protected as the Tower of Babel collapses. So the hundreds of billions of dollars being thrown recklessly by our Congress into the hands of the very people and corporations that fostered the current meltdown, should instead be used to create a national bank that would provide mortgage assistance at affordable rates, buy up and restart in the hands of the people who work within them any at-risk corporations providing socially useful functions at a price not dictated by the need to ensure that the wealthy prosper, recreate ( for those who've lost them) and sustain (for those who still have them) pension funds for families with incomes under $300,000/yr., create a single-payer universal health care system of the sort now being used by Members of Congress, and provide strong incentives for alternative energy-oriented investment and a minimum wage that rises with inflation to ensure adequate compensation for working people. Yet these are only baby-steps, and the moment is now to insist that the elections themselves be dedicated to exploring more visionary approaches to reconstructing our economy on the basis of caring for each other and rejecting the materialism and selfishness that has perverted our media and threatens to continue to destroy our economy in the years to come. Just say "no" to the demands for an immediate "bailout" of the wealthy with your tax monies-and take the time to use this amazing historical moment to put ethical and spiritual values back into our economic life! Try this out for a solution. Wouldn't
it be wonderful?!? |
[9-26-08]
Already comes this delightful idea, sent by Witherspooner Bill Coop. The Birk Economic Recovery Plan 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 U.S. Citizens 18+. 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 $850 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 team 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. Enable Deadbeat Dads to come clean – or else. 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 that is being proposed by one of our candidates for President. 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 $850 Billion We Deserve It Dividend more than do the geniuses at AIG or in Washington DC.
Ahhh...I feel so much better getting that off my chest. Kindest personal regards, Birk T. J. Birkenmeier, A Creative Guy & Citizen of the Republic
Comments on economic crisis |
[9-26-08] I 'm not willing to say we "deserve" the "Birk Economic Recovery Plan," but it looks good – provided every single recipient donated at least ten percent to resolve the problems of hunger and homelessness in the world. Shirley Nelson $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Fortunately (in all sorts of ways) your WebWeaver is not running for President. So I can say Oooops! I was wrong! But then, I never have been mathematically gifted. The "Birk Economic Recovery Plan" that we posted this afternoon, if you do the math correctly, doesn't look quite as convincing. Here’s how I learned about my mistake:
I’ve tried the math again (three times), and I think they’re right. Sorry! And thanks to those who can count their zeroes and correct me. Doug King
$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ Is the bailout needed? Many
economists say "No" |
[9-26-08] Kevin G. Hall, of McClatchy Newspapers, writes:
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