What the 1 trillion bailout is shaping up to look like

[Human Snorenado]

First of all, the text of the proposed bailout bill from the Treasury Dept. can be found by clicking on this link.

I'll go ahead and parse some of the really... um, I guess interesting stuff.

(a) Authority to Purchase.--The Secretary is authorized to purchase, and to make and fund commitments to purchase, on such terms and conditions as determined by the Secretary, mortgage-related assets from any financial institution having its headquarters in the United States.

    (b) Necessary Actions.--The Secretary is authorized to take such actions as the Secretary deems necessary to carry out the authorities in this Act, including, without limitation:

    (1) appointing such employees as may be required to carry out the authorities in this Act and defining their duties;

    (2) entering into contracts, including contracts for services authorized by section 3109 of title 5, United States Code, without regard to any other provision of law regarding public contracts;

    (3) designating financial institutions as financial agents of the Government, and they shall perform all such reasonable duties related to this Act as financial agents of the Government as may be required of them;

    (4) establishing vehicles that are authorized, subject to supervision by the Secretary, to purchase mortgage-related assets and issue obligations; and

    (5) issuing such regulations and other guidance as may be necessary or appropriate to define terms or carry out the authorities of this Act.

This is fucking insane.  But wait, it gets better!

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.

Holy.  Fucking.  Shit.

The Secretary of the Treasury can now appoint who he wants to buy what he wants at the prices he wants, is subject only to his own oversight aside from making a report to Congress every six months, and nothing he does is reviewable by Congress or a court of law or any administrative agency whatsofuckingever.

Ahem.  This is not the socialism I signed up for, I'm afraid.

[Bocsius]

FDR's New Deal, meet GWB's Raw Deal.

[Human Snorenado]

FDR's New Deal, meet GWB's Raw Deal.

Haha, that's fucking awesome.  I hope some flapping head starts calling this The Raw Deal, would be awesome.

If this passes as is, I think every real American owes it to themselves to go to Washington and skin and eat their elected representatives, then we can caravan down to Wall Street and do the same. 

[Mandark]

This is like the AUMF of financial intervention.

I do trust Paulson and Bernanke more than I trust Bush but yikes.

[Human Snorenado]

This is like the AUMF of financial intervention.

I do trust Paulson and Bernanke more than I trust Bush but yikes.

That's not saying much man, I trust my 10 year old autistic nephew more than Bush but JESUS FUCKING CHRIST I wouldn't trust myself with that much power and responsibility.

[Bocsius]

It just makes me sick. Government handouts for the wealthy, awesome! Corporate welfare for businesses too greedy and stupid to survive. And yet they will, thanks to the millions of taxpayers that will get stuck with the bill.

[Human Snorenado]

It just makes me sick. Government handouts for the wealthy, awesome! Corporate welfare for businesses too greedy and stupid to survive. And yet they will, thanks to the millions of taxpayers that will get stuck with the bill.

Which, you know, sets an awesome example for future nutbars in the financial sector. 

You know, more and more it looks like my idea for just killing all the rich people is a winner.

[Bocsius]

Tack this on as a provision. Any CEO, any director, any executive for any company that takes this bailout should immediately be fired, prohibited from holding any similar office for at least five years, and their bonuses/stock options should be seized and the proceeds given to Habitat for Humanity and other charity organizations.

And then they should be sent to Afghanistan, where at least they can be useful for once in their lives and try to hunt down Bin Laden.

[Mandark]

This is like the AUMF of financial intervention.

I do trust Paulson and Bernanke more than I trust Bush but yikes.

That's not saying much man, I trust my 10 year old autistic nephew more than Bush but JESUS FUCKING CHRIST I wouldn't trust myself with that much power and responsibility.

Well, yeah.

I remember when they were trying to fill the Treasury spot and were having a hard time, because everyone knew how that department had lost its say in the policymaking process.  When Paulson signed on some of the egghead liberal economist types I read said "He's better than he deserves, but I wonder if he's going to be able to fight the turf battles and make an impact with just two years left."

I'm more sympathetic to this than the AUMF, because the guy in charge isn't a proven idiot and liar and because the situation probably does warrant the authority to make snap decisions in response to a crisis (as opposed to Saddam, who wasn't going anywhere).

That said, giving him a carte blanche seems nuts.  They couldn't think of any rules or institutional checks to follow?  Really?

I need to get some talking points on this.  Where's Max Sawicky when you need him?

[Fresh Prince]

Tack this on as a provision. Any CEO, any director, any executive for any company that takes this bailout should immediately be fired, prohibited from holding any similar office for at least five years, and their bonuses/stock options should be seized and the proceeds given to Habitat for Humanity and other charity organizations.

And then they should be sent to Afghanistan, where at least they can be useful for once in their lives and try to hunt down Bin Laden.

Oh how I wish this would happen.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

We're so fucked.

Its like saying the best way to put out a fire is to pour gasoline over it.

[laesperanzapaz]

i thought it was half a trillion

....

[Kestastrophe]

Tack this on as a provision. Any CEO, any director, any executive for any company that takes this bailout should immediately be fired, prohibited from holding any similar office for at least five years, and their bonuses/stock options should be seized and the proceeds given to Habitat for Humanity and other charity organizations.

According to Sat's WSJ, Dick Fuld (the CEO of Lehman) sold 2M shares of stock for net proceeds of $0.5M. They were worth $145M a few months ago. Talk about kicking yourself in the pants.

[Human Snorenado]

Paul Krugman explaining the disastrophe we're in on Real Time with Bill Maher Friday.

[youtube=425,350]FKMy8pf9qY8[/youtube]



But before anyone gets excited (and boy that sure made me feel better, let me tell ya!) here's Krugman talking about the plan the Treasury Dept. unveiled.

Here’s the thing: historically, financial system rescues have involved seizing the troubled institutions and guaranteeing their debts; only after that did the government try to repackage and sell their assets. The feds took over S&Ls first, protecting their depositors, then transferred their bad assets to the RTC. The Swedes took over troubled banks, again protecting their depositors, before transferring their assets to their equivalent institutions.

The Treasury plan, by contrast, looks like an attempt to restore confidence in the financial system — that is, convince creditors of troubled institutions that everything’s OK — simply by buying assets off these institutions. This will only work if the prices Treasury pays are much higher than current market prices; that, in turn, can only be true either if this is mainly a liquidity problem — which seems doubtful — or if Treasury is going to be paying a huge premium, in effect throwing taxpayers’ money at the financial world.

And there’s no quid pro quo here — nothing that gives taxpayers a stake in the upside, nothing that ensures that the money is used to stabilize the system rather than reward the undeserving.

I hope I’m wrong about this. But let me say it again: Treasury needs to explain why this is supposed to work — not try to panic Congress into giving it a blank check. Otherwise, no deal.

I never thought I'd hate socialism so much!  Although really, this is more fascism than socialism imo.

[Olivia Wilde Homo]

Corporate socialism

[Loki]

I tend to refrain from commentary when I haven't put in the requisite level of thought, or when I don't fully comprehend the situation, but I have to say that many of the actions by the government this past week just don't pass the smell test.  One doesn't need an MBA to realize that.

[Human Snorenado]

I tend to refrain from commentary when I haven't put in the requisite level of thought, or when I don't fully comprehend the situation, but I have to say that many of the actions by the government this past week just don't pass the smell test.  One doesn't need an MBA to realize that.

Yeah, I'm by no means the smartest dude ever when it comes to all this financial shit, but it's fairly obvious to ME at least that this reeks of a last ditch effort by the Bush Administration to line the pockets of the uber rich in the face of what will obviously be more stringent regulation of financial markets.  When my libertarian friends and I are agreeing that the government is fucking up OVER SOCIALISM, something is obviously rotten.