Four Simple Things to Look for in a Bailout Plan That Isn't a Taxpayer Rip-off

Lots of smart people with extensive financial and economic expertise will weigh in on the bailout legislation now winding its way through Congress.

I am going to look for four simple things:

1. Taxpayers need equity in the companies we are saving.

If the government is guaranteeing rather than buying the "bad" paper, once those investments pay off -- and many of them eventually will -- we will have gotten nothing for our money. We will absorb the losses but get nothing for the gains.

2. Executive pay must be limited.

Executives of the firms we save must not be allowed to be the ones benefiting. If the firms stock price and profit's increase during the time we are guaranteeing against their losses, there should be a pool where that money goes to ALL employees after the taxpayers are paid back equity on our investment.

3. Congress must have continued Oversight

The authority should sunset after 6 months. There should be a special committee of Members of Congress on an Oversight Board and they should be forbidden from taking political contributions from the financial sector.

4. Stimulus $ that focuses on more than just mortgages -- we need jobs

If sufficient authority already rests within the Federal Housing Authority, the Bush administration must be required to act on it to help regular folks from losing their houses due to bad loan practices and if it is not adequate, it must be increased.

But the other key point of our economic emergency is that too many people are losing their jobs based on financial decisions beyond their control. We have historically high job losses over the past few months. What could be more of an emergency than to address this now rather than wait another six months for Congress and a new president?