An Open Letter to Mid-Michigan's Federal Legislators

To: The Hon. Carl Levin
The Hon. Debbie Stabenow
The Hon. Mike Rogers
The Hon. Tim Walberg

CC: Their Constituents

Re: The Paulson Bailout Plan

My name is Ted Kilvington and I am the Chairman of the Mid-Michigan chapter of Democracy for America. DFA was founded in 2004 by former Vermont Governor Howard Dean to advocate for socially progressive, fiscally responsible causes and candidates. Our members – hard-working, taxpaying Americans of all faiths, races, genders, incomes, and sexual orientations – represent Main Street American values here in Mid-Michigan. And it is because of our commitment to fiscal responsibility that I am especially concerned about the “Wall Street Crisis” in Washington.

In 2008 there has been a tremendous amount of volatility in the U.S. economy, primarily in the finance sectors. With numerous commercial banks and investment firms going under, there has been pressure on the U.S. government to relieve their financial burdens. To that end one week ago today U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson proposed a $700,000,000,000 plan for the federal government to purchase bad debts held by some of the struggling financial institutions – both domestic and foreign – with no oversight whatsoever. Since the federal government does not have the cash on hand to pay for this, the money would have to borrowed, largely from foreign governments and repaid to them with interest. Estimates have placed the average American family’s tax burden for this would be at least $10,000. This plan is unacceptable to Main Street Americans and should be unacceptable to both our Republican and Democratic legislators in Washington as well.

There is no doubt that banks and financial industry companies are failing. This year BearSterns, AIG and now Washington Mutual – to name just three – have collapsed with hundreds of billions at stake. Wall Street has every reason to be scared. But so does Main Street. We are being asked to bail out the failed leadership of the same executives who mismanaged our economy into this mess. And we are being asked to do so even though our friends and families will continue to live through the foreclosure shocks to our communities.

I strongly urge Mid-Michigan’s legislators of both parties to reject any plan which puts Wall Street ahead of Main Street. If Main Street Americans cannot rely on our legislators to support us in Washington, they should not expect our support on election day.

(Note: This letter does not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of the members of either DFA or MMDFA.)

cross-posted at MichiganLiberal.com and BloggingForMichigan.com