Sherman's March

As details of the government bailout of Wall Street were released for the Treasury Secretary's 700 billion dollar deal requiring congressional approval that would buy troubled mortgage-based assets from investment banks, one of the first legislators to raise the alarm against the plan from the Executive Branch was California's Brad Sherman, congressman from the San Fernando Valley.

Today Sherman was in the news for sending out a mass e-mail inviting legislators to a "skeptics caucus" to explore concerns from elected representatives and their constituents about the plan's lack of oversight, possible excessive compensation for failed executives, and tendency to overlook root causes in deregulation. Surprisingly, however, Brad Sherman's official site says nothing about his very public profile on this issue. Although Sherman's website says little about current plans for public financing to shore up the economy, he does express strong opinions about privatization. For example, one of his rhetorical tools is "Calculate How Much You Will Lose" if Social Security is privatized. According to my input numbers from my own personal finances, Sherman's online calculator predicts that privatization would cost me about four and a half thousand dollars a year in benefits as a senior citizen.