Dear Sen/Rep X: re the bailout...

Here's a letter I sent to my senators and congressman. Send something like it to yours. And it doesn't really matter if you prefer Chris Dodd's plan, or someone else's ...

[Senator (Cardin / Mikulski) / Congressman Sarbanes]:

I called your office this afternoon to urge you to fight to require oversight in any Wall Street bailout. May I go further and offer you Robert Reich's suggestions? These, or something like them, must be included in any legislation:

1. The government (i.e. taxpayers) gets an equity stake in every Wall Street financial company proportional to the amount of bad debt that company shoves onto the public. So when and if Wall Street shares rise, taxpayers are rewarded for accepting so much risk.

2. Wall Street executives and directors of Wall Street firms relinquish their current stock options and this year’s other forms of compensation, and agree to future compensation linked to a rolling five-year average of firm profitability. Why should taxpayers feather their already amply-feathered nests?

3. All Wall Street executives immediately cease making campaign contributions to any candidate for public office in this election cycle or next, all Wall Street PACs be closed, and Wall Street lobbyists curtail their activities unless specifically asked for information by policymakers. Why should taxpayers finance Wall Street’s outsized political power – especially when that power is being exercised to get favorable terms from taxpayers?

4. Wall Street firms agree to comply with new regulations over disclosure, capital requirements, conflicts of interest, and market manipulation. The regulations will emerge in ninety days from a bi-partisan working group, to be convened immediately. After all, inadequate regulation and lack of oversight got us into this mess.

5. Wall Street agrees to give bankruptcy judges the authority to modify the terms of primary mortgages, so homeowners have a fighting chance to keep their homes. Why should distressed homeowners lose their homes when Wall Streeters receive taxpayer money that helps them keep their fancy ones?

Please fight to include oversight and control in the bailout. We should not just hand over hundreds of billions to the people who created the mess and trust them to be responsible this time.

Thank you.