Turns out Toledo has a well-spoken Rep in the form of Marcy Kaptur. She's not buying the bullshit bailout the White House is selling, and I'm not either. These crooks on Wall Street belong in jail, not on the receiving end of my tax dollars. This whole bailout scheme is a political ploy on the part of the Bush administration. We should know better by now not to trust a single thing they say. Rep. Kaptur basically sums it up by reminding us that this ploy is just one more Republican attempt to privatize economic gains into the hands of the wealthy and socialize losses into the wallets of the poor and working classes. I won't be as polite as Rep. Kaptur when I offer this from-the-heart opinion: FUCK THAT.

She says it better:

I urge you to call your Senators and your Congressperson and urge them to vote against any rushed bailout of Wall Street banks. Let's properly investigate what happened and who's to blame, and then set a well-considered course of correction AFTER the November election. Let President-elect Obama be the guiding hand on this policy, not Lame-duck Lame-ass Bush.

And a special request to those of you who so generously heeded my call to donate money to the Obama campaign: Please get in touch with the campaign and urge Obama to not rush into any deal that's been put forth by Bush. You who gave money own a piece of this campaign. Act like a shareholder and make your interests known to the CEO. Contact the campaign here, or contact Obama's Senate office here. It is imperative that we speak up!

UPDATED AT WEDNESDAY 5:30PM TO ADD:
Senator Schumer has suggested doling out the bailout money $150 Billion at a time, with the Treasury coming back to the Congress each time they need more. And while this idea is somewhat better, I still say: FUCK THAT. Why should I pay to bail out banks? Tell you what, if they reform the tax code as part of this bailout, with the upper 10% paying their fair share plus an added "bailout" tax which would expire in 10 years, and make income tax for the poorest 10% a big fat zero, then I'll get on board with my middle class tax dollars bailing out the fatcats, just so we don't have a total economic collapse. But until the tax code is fair, my rather inelegant answer holds.