Famous Quotes... This [bailout] bill does not deal with the absurdity of the fox guarding the henhouse. Maybe I’m the only in American who thinks this, but I have a hard time understanding why we are giving $700 billion to the former CEO of Goldman Sachs who, along with other financial institutions, got us into this problem to begin with! —Senator Bernie Sanders A plan that relies on the former chairman of Goldman Sachs presiding over disbursing hundreds of billions of dollars to Wall Street is a terrible concept and inevitably will lead to crony capitalism and the appearance of—if not the actual existence of—corruption. The American people understand this and they don't trust the Paulson plan. Congress should never have been faced with this as its only option to solve the financial crisis. Congress never should have been confronted with this bill. And one man, above all others, is responsible. That man is Henry Paulson, who may have been a great deal maker for Goldman Sachs, but has been an utter failure during this economic crisis. It's time—passed time, in fact — for President Bush to fire Secretary Paulson. —New Gingrich

Thank you for joining our call for Treasury Secretary Paulson to resign or be fired.

If you haven't already, please sign our call to Pinkslip Henry "the fox" Paulson!

We will take your signatures to elected officials in both the Bush Administration and Congress. We’re already organizing demonstrations in front of the Treasury Department in Washington DC and in front of Wall Street in New York. With your help, we’ll keep building pressure UNTIL WE GET RESULTS. It’s appalling that our taxdollars are going to Wall Street. It’s even worse that they are being doled out by a Wall Street “inside traitor”!

Below is more information about why Paulson Must Go. To get more involved in this campaign, contact: info[at]codepinkalert.org or call 202-290-1301.

Treasury Secretary Paulson Must Go!

Talk about the fox guarding the hen house! Treasury Secretary Henry “Hank” Paulson should not be in charge of resolving this nation’s economic crisis. On the contrary. He should be fired! Here’s why:

Paulson is a consummate Wall Street insider. As CEO at Goldman Sachs, he amassed a personal fortune of over $700 million in the casino economy. He created billions of dollars in those bizarre financial products you hear about—which are now nearly worthless. In other words, he helped create the very problem he is now being asked to solve.

The economy crumbled on Paulson’s watch. He fiddled while our economy slowly burned. In June 2008, Secretary Paulson told CNBC: “Our long-term fundamentals in this economy are strong, and this is a strong, competitive economy.” Last May, discussing the credit crunch and problems in the subprime market, Secretary Paulson said, “I think we are closer to the end of this problem than we are to the beginning.” He added, by the end of the year, "It's likely that there'll be more strength in terms of the growth of the overall economy.”

When the crisis was full blown, Paulson’s response was atrocious. He told us if we didn't bail out his fat-cat buddies on Wall Street—with $700 billion of our money and no strings attached—there would be a gigantic meltdown. With a gun to its head, Congress was asked hand to hand over this massive sum — immediately — on the basis of a three-page proposal! His three-page bailout plan was possibly the most brazen attempt to grab power in American history, demanding the keys to the U.S. treasury with NO oversight, no Congressional or Judicial review, no accountability whatsoever...and 700 BILLION DOLLARS! And where did that $700 billion figure come from? “It’s not based on any particular data point,” a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com Tuesday. “We just wanted to choose a really large number.”

Paulson has consistently ignored the problems of Main Street America, touting American “productivity” while more than 600,000 Americans lost their jobs, blaming “supply and demand” rather than speculation for the skyrocketing oil prices, and promoting the free trade policies that have shut down America's factories and mills.

Under Paulson, the bailout will be riddled with crony capitalism and corruption. The bill gives enormous power to the Secretary to decide which companies will be bailed out and which will go under. Allowing an insider to determine the fate of his Wall Street buddies is an appalling conflict of interest. We’ve already seen an example: With taxpayer money, he bailed out AIG to the tune of $85 billion, making sure AIG could pay Goldman Sachs the $20 billion AIG owed them. Imagine what he’ll do with $700 billion to play with!

Paulson asked for unprecedented power, and should not be rewarded—or trusted—for this power grab. Paulson’s plan called for the Secretary to have enormous discretion over our economy. It actually included the following language: “Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.” Non-reviewable? Is he crazy?

Rather than being the czar who decides the future of our economic life, Paulson should be fired!