Bailout

[thomasjordan]

Here's the content of the "bailout" bill:

October 3, 2008 10:07 AM PDT

Bailout bill loops in green tech, IRS snooping

Posted by Declan McCullagh 96 commentsShare

Bailout type Cost to taxpayers (Source: Reuters)

Financial bailout package approved this week up to or more than $700 billion

Bear Stearns financing $29 billion

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac nationalization $200 billion

AIG loan and nationalization $85 billion

Federal Housing Administration housing rescue bill $300 billion

Mortgage community grants $4 billion

JPMorgan Chase repayments $87 billion

Loans to banks via Fed's Term Auction Facility $200 billion+

Loans from Depression-era Exchange Stabilization Fund $50 billion

Purchases of mortgage securities by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac $144 billion

POSSIBLE TOTAL $1.8 trillion+

NUMBER OF HOUSEHOLDS PER U.S. CENSUS 105,480,101

POSSIBLE COST PER HOUSEHOLD $17,064+

Last week, the Bush administration proposed a three-page bill to bail out Wall Street to the tune of $700 billion. It died in the U.S. House of Representatives earlier this week.

On Friday, though, the House approved a far bigger, broader, and beefier version of the bill--which has ballooned to a remarkable 442 pages. The vote was 263 to 171, with the bulk of the opposition coming from Republicans. Because the Senate already approved the measure, it immediately went to President Bush, who signed it into law.

On the theory that this would be a way to convince previously skeptical Democrats to approve the measure, one large chunk of the bailout bill is devoted to renewable energy, energy-efficient appliances, and so on (the "Energy Improvement and Extension Act of 2008"). The authors lured Republicans with protections from the alternative minimum tax (via the "Tax Extenders and Alternative Minimum Tax Relief Act of 2008").

That includes, as the New York Post pointed out, millions in tax breaks and related pork for kids' wooden arrows, Puerto Rican rum producers, auto race tracks, and corporations operating in American Samoa. (The likely explanation for the latter: StarKist has a large tuna-canning operation in American Samoa. And StarKist's parent company happens to be located in the district of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.)

The bill has become, in other words, something almost unrelated to the business of bailing out Wall Street. The Beltway term for this is a "Christmas tree bill," meaning everyone gets to hang their favorite spending projects on it--though by the time Congress gets it through, it more closely resembles a slop bucket.

"We will not Christmas-tree this bill," Sen. Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat promised a few days ago. "The times are too urgent. Everyone has their own desires and needs. It's going to have to wait."

So much for that idea.

Here's a look a some of the green-tech measures:

[maddog]

I have always found Pat Buchanan's analysis on economic issues to be fair and balanced.

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=28743

http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=28616

It isn't a democratic party problem. Plenty of blame to go around politically and economically. We can point fingers at both parties, banks, and foolish people who tried to buy more than they could ever hope to pay.

Now we get to foot the bill.

--Ray.

[thomasjordan]

Ray:

It's interesting that you would find anything Buchanan writes fair and balanced.  He is about as far to the right as it is possible to go on most issues.

He's also a great guy to share a few beers with, as I did in a hotel lounge in 1992 in Dearborn, Michigan.  His campaign for President was dead in the water, but he hadn't totally quit yet.  I was doing some work for our Dearborn office, and as chance would have it, we both were staying in the same hotel.  Since he was my choice for President that year, we got along very well.

He is "right on" about this fiscal mess, and most people seem to agree with him.

Rob

[Gwizz]

Buchanan's last statements about puts the problem in a nut shell.

What we are witnessing today is how empires end.

The Last Superpower is unable to defend its borders, protect its currency, win its wars or balance its budget. Medicare and Social Security are headed for the cliff with unfunded liabilities in the tens of trillions of dollars.

What we are witnessing today is nothing less than a Katrina-like failure of government, of our political class, and of democracy itself, casting a cloud over the viability and longevity of the system.

Notice who is managing the crisis. Not our elected leaders. Nancy Pelosi says she had nothing to do with it. Congress is paralyzed and heading home. President Bush is nowhere to be seen.

Hank Paulson of Goldman Sachs and Ben Bernanke of the Fed chose to bail out Bear Sterns but let Lehman go under. They decided to nationalize Fannie and Freddie at a cost to taxpayers of hundreds of billions, putting the U.S. government behind $5 trillion in mortgages. They decided to buy AIG with $85 billion rather than see the insurance giant sink beneath the waves.

An unelected financial elite is now entrusted with the assignment of getting us out of a disaster into which an unelected financial elite plunged the nation. We are just spectators.