To: Whom It May Concern I am concerned with the current bailout proposal now being debated in Washington and would like express some of my thoughts with you. Lets take a look at this situation from my vantage point. I have been fiscal responsible with little or no debt outside of a mortgage. I have a sound retirement investment strategy with a well diverse portfolio. I have the recommended 6 months of salary in savings and live on about 80% of my earnings. I have attempted to make good financial decisions, so where does this financial crisis leave someone like me. So here is my perspective from the bottom 90% looking up at the top 10% of Americans or investors. Since 2001 I have been raped 3 times by the top 10% and now in 2008 the top 10% have resorted to extortion. Pay us 700 Billion dollars or lose everything you have worked for your whole life, consequently that works out to around $2,300.00 per person in America. First there was the Dot Com Rape. The top 10% drove market prices to astronomical levels on companies that were no more than ideals, some with less real worth than my home. They then convinced 'and I use that tern loosely' the wall street money managers to push these hyped up stocks to the bottom 90% through our retirement fund managers. When the time came that the top 10% could no longer maintain the illusion they walked away with the bottom 90% losing billions and the top 10% billions in gain. Secondly there was the Housing Rape. Again the top 10% drove market prices to astronomical levels on houses some that were little more than shacks, who are we kidding a trailer selling for 1 million dollars. Like before the top 10% colluded, I mean convinced wall street money managers to push these hyped up stocks to the bottom 90% through our retirement fund mangers. Once again when the illusion could no longer be maintained they walked away with the bottom 90% losing billions and top 10% billions in gain. Most recently there is the Gas Rape. The top 10% drove the market prices to astronomical levels on oil using the war in Iraq, political conditions and speculation. Unlike the first 2 rapes this one is much more stealth in its workings. The top 10% pumped billions of dollars into oil futures causing a rise in gas prices. Back to the play book, they then convinced wall street money mangers to push these hyped up stocks ( well over 139 billion currently) to the bottom 90% through our retirement fund managers driving the price of gas even higher. This creates a cycle wherein the more the bottom 90% attempts to recapture earnings through oil futures, the more they pay at the pump resulting in a net gain of zero. While the top 10% reap record profits. Make no mistake there is a enormous transfer of wealth going on in this country and it is flowing upward from the 90% of middle and low income Americans to the top 10% of wealthy Americans. Given the current financial situation we have no choice but to bailout the markets after all, we are, whether we like it or not a silent partner in these very same markets. Many are angry about the bailout and rightly so, but If the financial markets fail, at the end of the day it's the bottom 90% (people like me) who will be the biggest losers. Sure the top 10% would take a big hit also but unlike the bottom 90% when they awake the next day they will still the top 10% and wealthy. While I fully expect to weather this storm as I have done in the past I can't help but wonder where is the government we entrusted to ensure our right to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I won't pretend to have any answers but I do want the top 10% to know we are not all blind, its the bottom 90% who make you who you are and like it or not you do need us. America is a great country with great people and together we can solve any problem. Now is the time to put aside our differences and work together to ensure a future for our children. No matter what political party is chosen to lead this nation we all have to recognize something has gone terribly wrong in the country and work towards solutions so WAKE UP PEOPLE. Mike Leach