To the editor:

When other governments nationalize successful businesses in order to redistribute their profits to the citizens of those countries, we become morally outraged and label it undemocratic socialism. However, our own government seems willing to rush forward to “rescue” or “bail out” Wall Street businesses guilty of gross mismanagement and criminally negligent behavior.

It seems that our free market theory has been replaced with a philosophy of privatizing wealth and socializing losses! We are told that the public should pay for Wall Street boondoggles without sharing in the windfall profits of successful corporations (Exxon, for example). Down on the farm, they call this “all pit and no peach.”

To make matters worse, our elected officials are pressured to act immediately without examining the long-term implications of the so-called remedy or putting in place concrete safeguards against repeat offenses. What Wall Street needs right now are fewer CPAs and more CPHs (Chrome Plated Handcuffs).

When did bank fraud stop being a crime? To add insult to injury, the plan may include bailing out foreign banks with your tax money! We are asked to trust the government with 700 billion more dollars to deal with this self-inflicted crisis by the same administration that has in the past suggested that government programs are incapable of efficiently running anything more complicated than a bake sale.

Stop this insanity now. Insist that your elected representatives slow down or stop this process! Your children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren are counting on you.

James Redden,
Lawrence