Right.org Announces Anti-Bailout Video Contest with Grand Prize of $27,599

- Jared McKinney Right.org, a new grassroots website calling on Congress to do what's right and stop bailouts, has announced a video contest asking Americans to speak out against the bailouts. The winning submission will be awarded $27,599—one person's bailout burden as determined by the Right.org Bailout Calculator.

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The contest also offers a second-place prize of $2,759, and five runner-up prizes of $275 gift certificates to the Apple Store. Videos may be submitted between February 23 and May 25. Winners will be announced in June. Contest rules and submission guidelines are available at Right.org. President Barack Obama said it best in a speech on February 4: "[W]hat gets people upset – and rightfully so – are executives being rewarded for failure. Especially when those rewards are subsidized by U.S. taxpayers." Right.org gives voice to Americans who don't want to pay for corporate failures that aren't their fault. The federal government has put taxpayers on the line for nearly $8.5 trillion in debt obligations—more than $100,000 per family. "Economists and Treasury Secretaries have deceived the American public—so we're taking the facts straight to the taxpayer," says Right.org founder Evan Baehr. "The passage of the new 'stimulus' package makes it clear that Washington isn't listening, so Right.org is asking Americans to turn up the volume." The Bush and Obama Administrations and Congressional leaders often use complex economic terms to describe components of the bailout—like “term auction facility” and “money market investor funding facility.” “Regardless of what you call these components, they add up to 8.5 trillion dollars,” Baehr remarked. “That's nearly three times the size of Congress' total budget last year and nearly two-thirds of what the entire U.S. economy produced last year!” Thousands of Americans stood up to the egregious economic stimulus package signed into law yesterday. Even if the bill contains up to $300 billion in bailouts, as some estimate, these commitments are dwarfed by the FDIC and Federal Reserve authority to spend an additional $5 trillion of taxpayer money. Our fight has only just begun. Right.org features many tools for learning more about the bailouts and taking action to stop them:

• The Right.org Petition is collecting thousands of signatures against bailouts. Soon Right.org will allow users to call their representatives directly using Voice-over-IP technology.
• The Bailout Calculator determines how much a citizen and his or her family will have to pay in taxes to finance the government's bailout commitments.
• A Learn More center gathers short articles, charts, and longer essays explaining the origins of the financial crisis, and the structure of the different bailout packages.
• A Twitter feed keeps visitors up-to-date on the latest bailout news and videos.
• A Video Center hosts the best videos about the bailout.

With almost $3 trillion already spent and with no end in sight as bankruptcy looms for more banks, industries, cities, and states, there has never been a more urgent moment for Americans to send the message to Congress: DO WHAT'S RIGHT AND STOP THE BAILOUTS. A cool Bailout Calculator flash widget is available for your site. Please visit right.org for details.

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