Today the US House of Representative is very likely to pass one of the most stupid pieces of legislation I have ever seen. They’re getting MAJOR pressure by the president, majority and minority leaders in congress, both major party presidential nominees, the Federal Reserve, and everyone else you can think of to pass an “emergency” bill that does NOTHING to help people stay in their homes.
Instead the proposed bill introduces liquidity into the market by purchasing garbage mortgage-backed securities from private companies, thereby socializing their risks while privatizing their profits. Warren Buffet described the derivatives we are to buy as financial weapons of mass destruction. Incidentally, they’re the same kind of stuff that brought Enron down, but do you see anybody going to jail from our current scandal? No, instead we reward them purchasing these bad assets at above-market prices.
Believe me, if these things had real value, the free market would be forking out the dough for themselves. Ask yourself, “Why in the world should you and I be forced to purchase ’securities’ that cannot sell on an open market?” It’s analogous to having congress force you to buy every car in the junkyard and then have the nerve to tell you it might actually be a good investment.
“But surely,” you ask, “people who are upside-down in their homes will finally get some much-needed relief?” Absolutely not! This bill does nothing for them –not that it should. But since the whole seductive point of socialism is supposedly to benefit the working class, you would think they would make some effort at it. This bill actually hurts upside-down buyers because it reduces their bargaining power by flooding the coffers of their debtors.
“You mean that congress might not be acting in our best interests?,” you ask.
The Center for Responsive Politics, a Washington nonprofit group that studies money and politics, reports that on average, lawmakers who voted in favor of the bailout bill have received 51 percent more in campaign contributions from sources in the finance, insurance and real estate industries.
Hmmm… Could congress possibly be acting in their own interests? Might those be directly opposite yours? One commenter hits it right on:
Why wouldn’t America, the greatest nation on earth, have the best congress money can buy?
This is especially true considering the sheer amount of pork added to the bill to insure that it passes in the house.
Wait, you thought the a motivated Senate might insuring passage by actually adding something substantive to the bill, or maybe cutting out some of it’s blatant threatening verbiage? Nope, too hard. Just throw on a bunch of tax-credits from a completely unrelated bill to make sure it has enough earmark grease to squeak through. Tax credits for green appliance manufacturers? That should get some Democrat votes. Oh NASCAR needs some tax credits? Republicans will like that. Tax rebates for Puerto Rican rum duties? Sure, throw it in. All of a sudden the bill is 451 pages of meaningless pork, which by the way our maverick hero John McCain swore to veto. Can you say double-speak?
Seriously, any house member who changes to an approval vote this time around has clearly been bought and sold. There are almost no differences whatsoever that relate to the main subject matter at all. Just more grease.
Want more?
This bill rewards companies that behaved foolishly (and probably dishonestly). It consolidates unprecedented power to the Federal Government, the Treasury, and the Federal Reserve. It increases the average American citizen’s tax burden. It grants unprecedented power (with no oversight whatsoever) to a consummate banking insider. And it undermines our so-called “Free Market” system at every step of the way.
And just in case you thought I was kidding that there’s no oversight whatsoever in how the $700 billion is spent, here’s the verbiage directly from the bill:
“Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.”
By the way, how did they come up with the $700 billion figure in the first place? The answer: it had to be a lot. Now that’s good math in action. What’s it for? Well, if we knew we could have come up with a real number by now. Besides, wouldn’t you rather leave that up to one man with no recourse to the American people whatsoever. He alone decides who wins and who looses. Checks and balances be damned!
Oh yeah, and did I mention that nobody is saying that this thing will work? It’s always pitched as a “band-aid” at best. But when this $700 billion band-aid is saturated with blood, it will need to be ripped off so another one can be applied. This is a slippery slope, a terrible precedent. Bad companies need to be allowed to fail so that markets can adjust gracefully, and so that basic market principles can be reinforced.
Make no mistake: this is power grab, a consolidation of wealth, and a giant step toward socialism. Furthermore, it does NOTHING to address the actual problems at their source. This bill actually prolongs the problem by side-stepping the free market with heavy-handed government intervention. And on top of everything it’s blatantly unconstitutional! No wonder everyone is in such a hurry to get it passed! But seriously, if people took time to read and think about this, it would never pass; thus the rush.
Please tell your congressmen that failure to honor their oaths to uphold the defend the constitution will disqualify them from every getting your vote again. They already know that this bill is vastly unpopular, but they need to hear it from you. They actually do keep a tally, and letting them know how you feel really can work –so long as their phones are ringing off the hook.
For background, here’s how House members voted last time around (when it failed). Here’s how the Senate voted on the bill that they will try to jam through the House today. Here’s a list of House members that may change their vote. Here’s a list of all congressmen with their contact info.
Please contact House members first since this bill has already sailed through the Senate. A simple 2-line email will do. This legislation is insideously dangerous, so please contact them right away.
Economics, Nerdiness, Politics | 
October 31, 2008 4:07 pm | 
Comments (1) 
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