{"id":215,"date":"2008-09-23T10:59:10","date_gmt":"2008-09-23T17:59:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.talesfromthe.net\/jon\/?p=215"},"modified":"2008-09-23T10:59:10","modified_gmt":"2008-09-23T17:59:10","slug":"social-network-activism-and-the-wall-street-bailout-just-suppose","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/2024.thenexus.today\/index.php\/2008\/09\/23\/social-network-activism-and-the-wall-street-bailout-just-suppose\/","title":{"rendered":"No blank check for Wall Street! (DRAFT)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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DRAFT! <\/span><\/p>\n

Final version posted on OpenLeft<\/a> and Pam’s House Blend<\/a><\/span>
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Executive Summary<\/strong>: please check out the No blank check for Wall Street<\/a> Facebook page, add yourself as a fan, let your friends know, and blog about it.<\/p>\n

How to help:<\/strong><\/p>\n

If you’re on Facebook<\/strong>, it takes next to no time to sign up as a fan<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 While you’re at it, please post a link to wherever you’re reading this to your profile, and share it with your friends; and maybe even write a note about it.<\/p>\n

If you’re on other social network sites<\/strong>, please check the current list<\/a>.\u00c2\u00a0 If you don’t see your site, please help out by starting up a No blank check for Wall Street!<\/em> page there as well.<\/p>\n

If you’re a blogger or journalist<\/strong>, why not cover this as an emerging story?\u00c2\u00a0 If it pans out, you’ll have a scoop.\u00c2\u00a0 When you get a chance, please add your article to the coverage page.<\/p>\n

And if you use email, <\/strong>please send mail to your friends and ask them to join!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Details:<\/strong><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

There’s outrage over the Bush Administration’s proposed bailout of Wall Street — unlimited authority, no oversight, a $700 million dollar blank check — on both the right and the left.\u00c2\u00a0 It’s amazing to see people on all sides of the fence draw comparisons between the ultra-short deadlines and the overly broad language of Paulson’s initial proposal and the PATRIOT Act.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Newt Gingrich and Robert Reich, Yuval Levin and Paul Krugman, McCain\/Palin and Obama\/Biden, all agree: the original proposal doesn’t cut the mustard.<\/p>\n

So now what?\u00c2\u00a0 From afar, the scene in DC seems like a game of chicken: Patrick Ruffini on The Next Right<\/em> describes the political reasons for Republicans to oppose any deal<\/a>; Matt Stoller, on OpenLeft<\/em>, quotes Steny Hoyer as saying there will <\/em>be a deal<\/a>, with a “soft deadline” of Friday.\u00c2\u00a0\u00c2\u00a0 Meanwhile, Lehman’s $2.5 billion bonuses<\/a> are adding fuel to the flames, and experts see a need for punitive action<\/a>.<\/p>\n

On the blogs, discussion boards, and in the news, it’s clear: people are angry<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

From a strategic standpoint, it’s interesting to compare-and-contrast with the FISA situation.\u00c2\u00a0 The most important difference is that the bailout is far more concrete and visceral for most people than FISA: it feels like Wall Street’s stealing money from me, my family, and my friends.\u00c2\u00a0 And while\u00c2\u00a0corporate accountability is a big deal in both situations (telecom immunity is by far the most unpopular piece of the FISA legislation), with the bailout it seems like there’s a chance to build a multi-partisan movement in favor of accountability.<\/p>\n

Of course, there are also strongly partisan aspects as well.\u00c2\u00a0 Still, building on the learning from the Strange Bedfellows anti-FISA group, it’s likely to be more effective to focus on some unifying prinicples.\u00c2\u00a0 Here’s an initial proposal:<\/p>\n