The Bailout Passes! Now What? »
Posted By Happy31 9 months ago in NewsIt is officially called H.R. 1424, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008. It is also called the Wall Street Bailout Bill, the Rescue Bill, the largest Federal power grab in US history, the socialization of the US Financial sector, and, of course, the crap sandwich. As of a few moments ago, the legislation passed the House on a 263-171 vote. Wall Street rallied at the news while down on Main Street, folks are getting ready for a piece of that sandwich.
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Wolfie20079 months ago
FTA
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The Core Proposals Have Not Changed, Just the Wrapping
The heart of the bill, that lovely great $700 billion Wall Street Bailout, is still there. This, of course, means that one of the primary objections to the original bill is still very much in place. True, the Senate version makes the bailout more palatable—raising the FDIC insurance cap to $250,000 for example—but not in any way that really takes care of core objections. What the Senate did was to tie a number of other popular bills to the failed bailout proposal, add in a hefty helping of pork and then drop it steaming and stinking onto the plate of the House, figuring that there would be enough excess spending and tax-play to make everyone happy. Oddly enough, they were right. Here are just some of the things that the Senate included in this bill:
Rum producers in Puerto Rico and the US Virgin Islands.
Wool research.
Corporations operating in American Samoa.
Bicycle commuter benefits.
Children's wooden practice arrows.
Film and television productions.
Commercial fishermen affected by the Exxon Valdez oil
spill.
Motor sports complexes.
Mental health parity in health insurance. -
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Wolfie20079 months ago
FTA
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Let me now speak to my hopes and fears. No one truly knows if this plan will work. We all hope it does. No one knows the true amount of taxpayer exposure. Treasury could spend $700 billion in no time flat and come right back to Congress for $700 billion more. Some believe the taxpayer will actually make money in the deal and I hope that proves true. But history as my guide, I have strong fears it will not. And at what point do we finally bailout the American taxpayer from the unconscionable burden he or she faces from out of control Washington spending? -
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Wolfie20079 months ago
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This bailout mess and the headlong rush to do something to solve it tells us one thing: Perhaps the biggest change we need in Washington is the elimination of unrelated amendments and earmarks to legislation. Bills should be clean, of single purpose, and given straight up or down roll call votes, no more voting “present” to weasel out of taking a position. No buying votes for weak, uncertain or even dangerous legislation such as this bailout bill or the laws that Congress has passed over the years that have brought us to this apparent point-of-no-return. I know that isn't what the politicians would want, it would force them to actually work for a living and be honest about their positions, standing by their votes. I can't imagine many on either side of the aisle wanting to do that, but what a change for the better it would be! -
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Wolfie20079 months ago
"Bills should be clean, of single purpose, and given straight up or down roll call votes, no more voting “present” to weasel out of taking a position. No buying votes for weak, uncertain or even dangerous legislation such as this bailout bill or the laws that Congress has passed over the years that have brought us to this apparent point-of-no-return."
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I'm all for this suggestion being implemented but the biggest problem we face is getting Congress to pass a law to enact it. It's always a catch 22 when dealing with our Congress.-
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chevydog9 months ago
I have to agree. One of the things I've long disliked is the practice of adding unrelated stuff to bills to get them to pass. It's usually used for budget resolutions; but nothing is really immune from it. It makes a mockery of what politics is supposed to be--the mutual altering of positions to get something in the end that is partly acceptable to all concerned parties.
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For whatever reasons (mixed I'm sure), a large number of Representitives from both parties decided that the initial bill wasn't acceptable for the purposes that it was supposed to achieve. The bill as passed by the Senate did very little if anything to address this situation; IMHO our Senators did not do what they were elected to do.
I think that if a proposal has merit, it can stand or fall on that. I guess that i narrowly supported the objective of the original bill as unpassed by the House; though I would have preferred to see more deliberative time taken and a few more conditions applied. I hope that what we have now will work as predicted. But I'm not sure that even if it does that the price wasn't too high.
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Happy319 months ago
You don't have to be a psychic to know that a lot of pork had to be added to this pork sandwich before it got voted into existence.
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canadianrancher579 months ago
Read your above comments and I agree with them completely , when you ask when the stock markets will respond it just makes me mad because does it not show that a large number of people have become socialists, all those free market people waiting on the government to do something.
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bmorgan9 months ago
As well as everything else, the thing that really gets me is the amounts of money being talked about. They are stupenduous. 700 BILLION ... ooh let's add 110 BILLION !! Charles Cooper illustrates this so clearly when he suggests “Treasury could spend $700 billion in no time flat and come right back to Congress for $700 billion more”. The actual value of money must lose any meaning when you're talking about and dealing with these kinds of amounts of money everyday. I mean .... never mind 700, Take just 1 Billion. What does $1 Billion buy the taxpayer, then? Cheap trinkets?
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BOLYER279 months ago
i will not vote another dem or rep into office. mccain has showed he will not stand against a bill full of pork barrell spending like he says he will. obama did not stand with the will of the people and voted with and pushed w's agenda. both showed a lack of leadership. the way i see it is McCAIN/OBAMA more of the same!
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AnteUp9 months ago
I've been watching the hearings on C-SPAN - but I'm wasting
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my time. This effort at "transparency" is a total joke.
Follow the link below and find out how Bush gave John Negroponte
the authority to exempt the major firms and banks of his choosing from ANY SEC oversight in May of 2006.
http://www.businessweek.com/bwdaily/dnflash/may200...
Did anyone know about this? Have you heard it mentioned
in the media? Have you heard any testimony to Congress
referencing SEC oversight waivers?
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