Lucille
11-10-2008, 06:49 PM
This bailout boondoggle just gets worse and worse and worse. It's time to write/call Congress, or Revolt like our Founders.
Now THAT's Revolting (Or Should Be) (http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/653-Now-THATs-Revolting-Or-Should-Be.html)
"The sweeping change to two decades of tax policy escaped the notice of lawmakers for several days, (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/09/AR2008110902155.html?hpid=topnews) as they remained consumed with the controversial bailout bill. When they found out, some legislators were furious. Some congressional staff members have privately concluded that the notice was illegal. But they have worried that saying so publicly could unravel several recent bank mergers made possible by the change and send the economy into an even deeper tailspin.
"Did the Treasury Department have the authority to do this? I think almost every tax expert would agree that the answer is no," said George K. Yin, the former chief of staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation, the nonpartisan congressional authority on taxes. "They basically repealed a 22-year-old law that Congress passed as a back door way of providing aid to banks."
....
But several aides said they were still torn between their belief that the change is illegal and fear of further destabilizing the economy.
"None of us wants to be blamed for ruining these mergers and creating a new Great Depression," one said. "
So all I have to do in order to steal $150 billion and not get nailed for it is claim that stealing the taxpayer's money is necessary to "prevent a Depression" (never mind that $150 billion is less than 1/20th of what has been blown thus far) and I can rip everyone in America off?
[...]
"Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601009&sid=aatlky_cH.tY&refer=bonds) said in September they would comply with congressional demands for transparency in a $700 billion bailout of the banking system. Two months later, as the Fed lends far more than that in separate rescue programs that didn't require approval by Congress, Americans have no idea where their money is going or what securities the banks are pledging in return. "
We have an agency that has a federal charter and operates at the pleasure of Congress, and a branch of the executive, both of which made promises to Congress (and the American People) in the management of near $3 trillion dollars - or 1/5th, roughly, of the US GDP, and equivalent to the size of the entire federal budget ($3 trillion), yet exactly none of this has been fully disclosed, there are gifts being handed out all over the place, and some Congressmen have concluded that at least some of the actions taken thus far have been and are against the law.
Oh Mr. FBI Man! Where are you?
A better question: Mr. and Mrs. America? Where are you?
How long has it been since you have read this document (http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/index.htm), my fellow Americans?
Perjury? Time For Subpoenas Yet? (http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/652-Perjury-Time-For-Subpoenas-Yet.html)
Two months before Washington Mutual failed (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2008368332_sundaybuzz090.html), Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson warned then-CEO Kerry Killinger that he ought to sell the Seattle-based thrift before it deteriorated further.
"Paulson said, 'You should have sold to JPMorgan Chase in the spring, and you should do so now. Things could get a lot more difficult for you,' " said one of several current and former high-ranking WaMu executives familiar with details of the call.
So, Congress, you were lied to. Repeatedly.
Remember all the statements made by Paulson and Bernanke to you in the spring and summer surrounding Bear Stearns and later, the Housing Bailout Bill with Paulson's "Bazooka" for Fannie and Freddie?
Its against the law to lie to Congress, and Congress has the power to subpoena Paulson's phone records as well as the people on the other end of those calls.
Will Congress enforce the law and do the right thing or do we the people get screwed (again) by a Congress that refuses to enforce the law?
The Declaration of Independence
The Want, Will and Hopes of the People (http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/index.htm)
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
Now THAT's Revolting (Or Should Be) (http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/653-Now-THATs-Revolting-Or-Should-Be.html)
"The sweeping change to two decades of tax policy escaped the notice of lawmakers for several days, (http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/11/09/AR2008110902155.html?hpid=topnews) as they remained consumed with the controversial bailout bill. When they found out, some legislators were furious. Some congressional staff members have privately concluded that the notice was illegal. But they have worried that saying so publicly could unravel several recent bank mergers made possible by the change and send the economy into an even deeper tailspin.
"Did the Treasury Department have the authority to do this? I think almost every tax expert would agree that the answer is no," said George K. Yin, the former chief of staff of the Joint Committee on Taxation, the nonpartisan congressional authority on taxes. "They basically repealed a 22-year-old law that Congress passed as a back door way of providing aid to banks."
....
But several aides said they were still torn between their belief that the change is illegal and fear of further destabilizing the economy.
"None of us wants to be blamed for ruining these mergers and creating a new Great Depression," one said. "
So all I have to do in order to steal $150 billion and not get nailed for it is claim that stealing the taxpayer's money is necessary to "prevent a Depression" (never mind that $150 billion is less than 1/20th of what has been blown thus far) and I can rip everyone in America off?
[...]
"Fed Chairman Ben S. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson (http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601009&sid=aatlky_cH.tY&refer=bonds) said in September they would comply with congressional demands for transparency in a $700 billion bailout of the banking system. Two months later, as the Fed lends far more than that in separate rescue programs that didn't require approval by Congress, Americans have no idea where their money is going or what securities the banks are pledging in return. "
We have an agency that has a federal charter and operates at the pleasure of Congress, and a branch of the executive, both of which made promises to Congress (and the American People) in the management of near $3 trillion dollars - or 1/5th, roughly, of the US GDP, and equivalent to the size of the entire federal budget ($3 trillion), yet exactly none of this has been fully disclosed, there are gifts being handed out all over the place, and some Congressmen have concluded that at least some of the actions taken thus far have been and are against the law.
Oh Mr. FBI Man! Where are you?
A better question: Mr. and Mrs. America? Where are you?
How long has it been since you have read this document (http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/index.htm), my fellow Americans?
Perjury? Time For Subpoenas Yet? (http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/652-Perjury-Time-For-Subpoenas-Yet.html)
Two months before Washington Mutual failed (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2008368332_sundaybuzz090.html), Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson warned then-CEO Kerry Killinger that he ought to sell the Seattle-based thrift before it deteriorated further.
"Paulson said, 'You should have sold to JPMorgan Chase in the spring, and you should do so now. Things could get a lot more difficult for you,' " said one of several current and former high-ranking WaMu executives familiar with details of the call.
So, Congress, you were lied to. Repeatedly.
Remember all the statements made by Paulson and Bernanke to you in the spring and summer surrounding Bear Stearns and later, the Housing Bailout Bill with Paulson's "Bazooka" for Fannie and Freddie?
Its against the law to lie to Congress, and Congress has the power to subpoena Paulson's phone records as well as the people on the other end of those calls.
Will Congress enforce the law and do the right thing or do we the people get screwed (again) by a Congress that refuses to enforce the law?
The Declaration of Independence
The Want, Will and Hopes of the People (http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/document/index.htm)
When in the Course of human events it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.