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Pete Visclosky wrote me back today in response to the letter I wrote him yesterday. I was very pleased to get his response so quickly. Not only that, but it was personalized and he is on the same page as me and a lot of people I know.

I’m glad to be able to post Pete Visclosky’s views on the Wall Street Bailout. I haven’t seen anything in the paper about it and his websites are absent any opinions on the matter. So, consider this directly from the horses mouth and spread the word.

Check out my letter from Pete Visclosky about the Wall Street Bailout below.

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Dear Jonathan:

Thank you for contacting me to express your concerns regarding government assistance to distressed financial institutions. I share your concerns, and I am outraged that American taxpayers are being asked to bail out those whose avarice created the crisis that we now face.

In 1991, Representative John Dingell stated that repealing the Glass-Steagall Act regulations would usher in a “golden age of thievery.” Mr. Dingell has been proven correct.

In response to the growing number of firms experiencing loss because of a lack of regulation, a lack of oversight, the greed of financial executives who often make sums in excess of 250 times the income of the average American worker, and bad judgment, President Bush is asking Congress to consider a hastily crafted $700 billion legislative package that would establish a system to bail out certain financial institutions using taxpayer money.

This Administration, which will soon leave office and never have to deal with the catastrophic financial dislocation they have caused and the long-term consequences of its request, is asking Congress to make a decision within seven days on whether to levy a $700 billion liability on you and every other taxpayer for at least a generation. I have the gravest reservations over the President’s bail out proposal and the arrogance of his suggesting that Congress act within a week to undo a disaster that has crescendoed over the last decade and enriched countless Wall Street executives and speculators while impoverishing multitudes.

The problems in our current financial system are not temporary aberrations in an otherwise healthy system, and may not be so easily addressed. Given the gravity and systematic nature of these problems, I believe that Congress should be deliberate and conduct a comprehensive examination of alternative solutions.

Be assured that I will consider any proposal with the greatest of caution, and I will assess its impact on you and every citizen that I represent.

Thank you again for contacting me.

Sincerely,

Peter J. Visclosky
Member of Congress

I know I’ve made it very clear in the past that I want to keep politics off of this blog, but with the recent upheaval in the financial markets and political wrangling that has followed, I thought I’d share the letter I wrote to Pete Visclosky today.

I’ve written him in the past and I still believe that he actually reads our letters and takes what we have to say to heart. Call me a sentimentalist if you want but I still believe my voice matters.

So, feel free to use this letter to come with ideas for your own. We need to do everything we can to stop this bailout.

End political message.

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Dear Mr. Visclosky:

I’m writing you with great concern about the Bush Administration’s latest grab for power in a supposed ‘emergency.’ My wife and I have watched in horror for the last week and half as the economy looked to be on the verge of collapse.

While we recognize that something needs to be done to contain the problem, we don’t think that bailing out Wall Street with $700 billion is the answer. These big investment banks have made their own bed and they must now lay in it.

I would not trust a man who was the former CEO of Goldman Sachs with unlimited fiscal power to fix the problem. While Mr. Paulson’s knowledge and experience may be admirable, he is tainted by his connections to Wall Street. He is not the man to lead us out of this. Wall Street executives don’t deserve to have their banks bailed out, then go on to receive multi-million dollar bonuses while we, the American Taxpayer foot the bill.

What is most frightening of all is how the Bush Administration already had this ‘emergency’ plan in the works for months. There is only 4 months left in Bush’s Presidency, don’t give them more unaccountable power in these last few months. They can still do a lot of damage and then leave an even larger mess for the next President to clear up.

We’re being pushed around by fear right now and these are the absolute worst conditions under which to commit to spending $700 Billion. I hope that you do not support the Wall Street Bailout and vote against it unless there are provisions within to protect our interests, punish those who let this happen and reign in the unmitigated greed in Wall Street.

I hope Congress gets paralyzed by indecision, as they usually do and don’t vote on anything before they recess to Election. That way, there will be time to weigh in all the options and come up with a viable solution that would not be influenced by Electoral Politics. This problem has been stewing for over a year, what’s a few more months? The banks can stop hyperventilating and just be patient.

I have no problem with Socialism and socially guided government programs. But this is just WRONG. I’m sure you’ve heard it repeated ad nauseam: “Socialized Losses, Privatized Gains” and that is exactly what this plan entails. I’d rather we spend the money on universal healthcare for all or better college tuition funding. I hope your other constituents in District One share a similar view and I hope that you are listening.

Warm Regards
Jonathan Thomas
http://dunesblog.jonathanwthomas.net
Valparaiso, IN

Well, get on with it guys.

That’s what I have to say to those pushing to build an extension of the South Shore Line. This is something that I wholeheartedly support. The plan on the table it to extend the South Shore Line to run south through Lake County and terminating in Lowell and to run it southwest into Porter County, terminating in Valparaiso.

They have been talking about doing this for years. And every year it becomes increasingly more necessary that they actually do it. The population in Northwest Indiana is exploding. People are discovering that it’s cheap land and closeness to Chicago make it an attractive place to commute from. Currently, people are stuck either driving to Chicago from Lowell or Valparaiso or in the case of Valparaiso, driving way out of the way to take a train from the Dune Park Station.

Anyone that has ever tried to take the train from Dune Park knows that it’s at capacity. Despite the fact that they’ve built a new parking lot, it’s still always full as are the trains. Oftentimes during morning commutes on the South Shore, it is standing room only.

The Northern Indiana Commuter Transportation District, or NICTD, has bought new train cars which will be arriving soon, to help alleviate some of the overcrowding. But that is only a temporary solution. The long term solution is to build new commuter lines.

The project will cost nearly $1 billion. This money has to come somewhere and it’s proving hard to come by. The federal government won’t open it’s coffers until the Regional Development Authority (RDA) can prove that population growth is high enough for justify the cost.

There are many reasons why South Shore Expansion is a good thing. It will ease overcrowding on the highways, it will encourage population growth in Northwest Indiana, it will make Chicago more accessible to Hoosiers while also providing a greener way for people to commute to work. The economic benefits of it are sound. Wages would most likely rise in the area as business will have to compete with Chicago for the same labor pool.

People seem to forget that Amtrak used to run a line to Valparaiso many years ago and the NITCD is studying the prospect of simply using the old line to run the new service. This seems like the most logical solution to the problem since the track and the rights of way are already there. The biggest cost of building the proposed extensions is purchasing the rights of way and laying new track. I think I heard that it costs something like $1 million a mile to lay new track.

Many people are afraid of what South Shore Line Expansion will bring. Some say it will bring Chicago’s problems to the quiet corners of Indiana. Some say it will cause the local population to grow too quickly. Some argue that it will cost too much and provide little economic benefit. I don’t believe any of those arguments.

Let’s hope legislative support is strong this year and that they can finally put this project on the front burner.

If you’re interested in support the South Shore Line Expansion Project, then go ahead and show your support by signing this petition:

http://www.petitiononline.com/CESSL/petition.html

This past weekend, Indiana’s venerable Senator Lugar, reaffirmed his undying support for Gary International Airport, the unwanted stepchild of the Chicago Aviation industry.

He talked up his continued committement to airport expansion and getting the federal funding neccessary to faciliate it (also known as pork barrel spending).

Every year, and this is a cycle that play outs every year like clockwork; a new start-up airline pledges to use Gary Airport. Usually the flights go to places that one wouldn’t think immediately, ‘hey let’s go there!.’ Inevitably, no one actually does and the airline folds a few months later.

We’ve seen a kaleidoscope of names, SkyBus, SkyValue, PanAm, Hooters Air, Southeast. There is an even more exciting array of names for airlines that have pledged to use it in the future. But the runways at Gary are splattered with the dead bodies of failed airlines. So, this raises the question, will Gary Airport ever matter? Will it ever be taken seriously?

I really don’t think it ever will. It will continue to be a hub for corporate jets, antique aircraft, the Gary Air show and the Chicago Air and Water show. But I don’t think it will ever be anything more unless a major airline decides to make it’s home there.

And for the life of me, I can’t figure out why they don’t. It’s the perfect location. 30 minutes from the Chicago Loop. Traffic is reliably good. Easy to get to. Small. So security lines. Cheap for the airlines to operate from.

All it would take is a serious commitment from Chicago and the airlines and it could easily be ‘Chicago’s Third Airport.’ But it won’t happen. It won’t benefit the City of Chicago, it won’t get a share of the revenue. Springfield won’t care because it won’t benefit them either. They’d much rather build a new airport from scratch in the middle of nowhere (Peotone).

Gary Airport is in the midst of expansion, money is being thrown at it. I hope it’s not a waste.

What do you guys think?