Letter to the Editor of the San Francisco Chronicle

François de Mélogue
Rancho Navarro, CA


To whom it may concern:

I am writing in response to your recent article entitled “Why bailout funds go to banks, not us” by Carolyn Lochhead. As an ordinary person I am outraged in her defending the corporations that got us into this mess and not sticking up for plain folks that make up the country. What we need is voice questioning the apparent corporate takeover of our government and our daily lives not another voice in the choir justifying the further pilfering of the average Joe.

Mrs. Lochhead constantly hides behind quotes from official sources and offers only lame commentary proclaiming giving average people money probably wouldn’t prevent a major financial meltdown. President Obama held a pathetic press conference announcing that the mission was accomplished touting the fact that his policy saved 25 police officers from losing their jobs in Ohio. 25 jobs saved for one year while hundreds of thousands are losing jobs. Well, so far giving money to the large corporations has accomplished zero. Instead of average people being able to buy food, pay bills, fend off creditors, fight credit card companies that constantly boost percentages higher and higher and generally survive she seemingly advocates giving multimillionaires even more money in the form of bonuses, office redecorations and other elaborate spending.

The Wall Street Journal reported that executives at Citigroup and Morgan Stanley are trying to figure out how to keep bonuses and not tell us. Wells Fargo, recipient of 25 billion dollars of OUR money simply increased base salaries as to avoid the issue completely and continue rewarding it’s executives with the fleecing of the American public. The Treasury Department has released a report stating that banks are actually lending less and less. The 21 top banks in the country, all of whom received OUR money, have drastically lowered the amount they loan for first mortgages. In December, they loaned out 162 billion and in January they lent out less than half of that.

She defends her flawed stance with would the average person want a loan from the government that they would have to repay. The answer is hell yes! I am currently jobless, homeless and camping on a friend’s property because I do not qualify for any of the government’s bailouts, unemployment or other programs because I am not a home owner and I worked seasonal. My credit card masters did not get the memo that we the people are now partners in their failed institutions and should work hard to keep America solvent and prosperous by offering lower credit card rates and actually lending money to people in need. At some point soon I will have to file for bankruptcy to protect myself and meager possessions from my employees, the overpaid executives in the failed banking and insurance corporations. That $10,714 per person she calculated would save me from financial ruin and offer me a chance to recoup and get back on my feet.

I believe we ought to live in a world where failure is rewarded with losing your job not million dollar bonuses. I think Timothy Geithner ought to be fired and replaced with someone who isn’t a Wall Street insider. Obama ought to think deep and hard about actually returning to the principle that our government was founded by the people and for the people. This should be a clear message to the powers that be that we the people are NOT going to take this abuse of power anymore… that revolution in the streets could happen, even in America.

I AM MAD AS HELL AND NOT GOING TO TAKE IT ANYMORE!

François de Mélogue