American Civility

Honorable Senator Clinton,

The administration’s bailout plan will not work and will add dangerously to the national debt.

I suggest building a hedge for the American people much like Wall Street builds hedges for their investments. Authorize the Fed to lend the banks money to support their balance sheets at a special favorable rate, say 2-3%. Authorize the banks to create a private auction market for the 'toxic' assets, with government oversight not direct participation, as banks do with "dark pools". The government would then get options on any profit the auction generates or, in the extreme against the banks' profits in other operations, as protection against default on the Fed loan.

This plan will inject badly needed capital into the banks, not cost taxpayer directly (except in the case of loan default, made unlikely by the new capital injection), and preserve private market principles for our economy.

Long term, Senator, may I urge you to support an overhaul of our tax system. Only a growing economy will put more money in the hands of homeowners and raise the demand again for real estate.

Respectfully,