“The Effective Fed Funds rate has been trading 50 basis points or more below the 2% target for five straight days now, and for the last two days, it has traded 75 basis points under.” (Don’t take Karl’s word for it, here’s the official data.)

What is Ben Bernanke doing?

Why did WAMU fail on a Thursday instead of a Friday (like the other 6 banks?)

Hank Paulson was the CEO of Goldman Sach’s. Do you think he has the best interests of Main Street or Wall Street in mind?

I even called my two senators (Murray and Cantwell) today. Most of the faxes were campaigns thanks to Mish, but I’ve also been urged on by Jesse, Karl, and others - and I’ve even authored a few originals.

It helps that I was able to script the delivery of a single letter to multiple senators using some Python and MetroFax.

Admittedly, sending faxes from your house isn’t much work for political activism. Nontheless, few things have compelled me to action as much as the recent fear mongering and insanity aimed at bailing out the rich few on the backs of the ordinary.

Senator,

Haste Makes Waste.

The American economy is strong and resilient. The key to that strength is the creativity, flexibility, and hard labor of American citizens. The key to that strength is the belief that tomorrow is a new opportunity to improve and prosper and that opportunity is unburdened by the sins of the past.

The following text was reproduced with permission from Mish. If this compels you, this should also. Act now!

This was the fastest way to spread the word. I have faxed my senators (and those below). I encourage you to do the same.

Fate May Rest With Shelby CNBC is reporting Fate of Bailout May Rest With Republican Sen. Shelby.

Many members of the U.S. Senate blasted the Bush administration's Wall Street bailout plan Tuesday, but no senator has come forward so far with an explicit pledge to kill the $700 billion proposal.

The rules of the Senate, unlike the House, give individual lawmakers substantial power to delay or halt legislation, but three Senate aides said there were no clear signs yet of that power being exercised.

As the Senate Banking Committee held a hearing on the plan put forward by the Treasury Department, aides said much would depend on Alabama Sen. Richard Shelby, the committee's top Republican, who was sharply critical at the hearing.

The outlook for Treasury's plan would dim greatly if Shelby were to move to block the bill that is expected to emerge soon from congressional debate over the plan, the aides said.

Other senators, including Republicans Jim Bunning of Kentucky and Jim DeMint of South Carolina, have expressed strong concerns.

But the aides said these lawmakers also have stopped short of warning they would work to block the bill.

Another Fax Needed

My co-worker Chris and I just finished our 3-country press and analyst tour. We were in Hong Kong for 5 days, Tokyo for 2 and Seoul for 2. It was my first press tour and a good experience. The last day was especially interesting as I went on a customer visit to some Korean scientific agencies and then they took me out for sushi. It was a lot of fun to build a personal relationship with people from a different culture.