Have an opinion about Paulson’s proposed $700 billion bailout of failing banks, one that does not allow for any oversight of how the money will be spent? Our Congresspeople are working on this issue and others and need your feedback in order to act in your interest.
Call or email your elected representatives and let them know how you want them to handle the issue.
The US House of Representatives makes it easy to write your rep with a website that helps you identify your Congressperson.
If you’ve never called your Congresspeople before, it’s easy. Dial the number and tell the person who answers your view on the issue. He or she will relay the message. You can tell them your name or choose to remain anonymous.
For residents of Hawaii, here are our Congresspeople’s contact information:
Hawaii Senators
Daniel Inouye
Washington DC Office (202) 224-3934
Honolulu Office (808) 541-2542
Web contact form
Daniel Akaka
Washington DC Office (202) 224-6361
Honolulu Office (808) 522-8970
Web contact form
Hawaii Representatives
Mazie Hirono
Washington DC Office (202) 225-4906
Honolulu Office (808) 541-1986
Web contact form
Neil Abercrombie
Washington DC Office (202) 225-2726
Honolulu Office (808) 541-2570
Email Neil.Abercrombie@mail.house.gov
I continue to watch the unstable stock market. My assets are worth only a fraction of their value several months ago. I understand that the easy credit market was used inappropriately by both borrowers and lenders. Borrowers liked the lax requirement credit rules and that the lenders recklessly provided credit that created wealth for both borrowers and lenders.
Two other groups, executive management and investors, joined in the quest for wealth. It became common practice for management to bargain for larger and larger compensation packages. They managed risk by getting employment contracts that gave them compensation and bonuses even if the company failed.. This created the situation where management is rewarded when the firm failed while the owners or shareholders experience the consequence of losing their money..
I believe that we need some boundaries established on management compensation when a company is taken or managed into bankruptcy or seeks public assistance such as federal loans. Recently, I read that the House Financial Services Chairman, Barney Frank, wanted strings to be attached to aid for the auto industry which was seeking Federal loans. The provision suggested was that employees earning more than $200,000 year with companies receiving federal loans, cannot receive a bonus during the period that the loan is outstanding. I have suggested in previous correspondence that laws be changed to prohibit managers or executives of a bankrupt publicly traded company from receiving any compensation including performance bonuses.
I believe that this is a long standing problem. In the Savings and Loan bailout, the Enron bankruptcy, and the current bankruptcy such as Lehman Brothers, that is has been the employees, the people who rely on pensions, the middle class taxpayers, the investors but not the executive management who has lost money. The executive management only lost future compensation and most seemed to have incurred large legal bills while they defended their right to avoid responsibility for their actions.