The Bailout.

In case you've been out of the country in a far-off foreign land with no internet access, or in a coma, or really very high, you know that the US economy had what might be termed a near-extinction level event last week, as two huge investment banks, died an unpleasant death, and the credit markets seized up like an engine run at redline with no oil. The engine did what what one might expect: it threw a rod. In this case, that rod was, oh, several trillion dollars of shareholder equity in the markets, and quite possibly thousands of jobs.

So now, wither the US economy, and by implication, your and my tax dollars? At this moment, the US Treasury estimates that the bailout will cost us a cool $700 billion dollars (with the best Dr. Evil voice I can muster). Now, I'm mad as hell, because when I went through financial hard times, there was no bailout forthcoming from the government. When I made credit mistakes fresh out of college, all I was left with was bills to pay, and a credit score in the high-500s.

But now, multi-billion dollar entities, who turned out to be far too smart (?) for their own good, get skunked, and Lord have mercy, here comes the feds to purchase all their "toxic mortgage-based assets." And not just domestic banks, even foreigners get in on the dialing for dollars.

Here's a question for you: why are foreign banks getting bailed out as well? Well, one name: Phil Gramm.

Mr. Gramm has been involved in the creation of the bill that the President wants congress to pass without debate. Mr. Gramm of "Americans are a nation of whiners" fame, and former chief economic advisor to candidate John McCain, is now vice-chairman of UBS, and he's been intimately involved in the crafting of the legislation designed to rescue the economy. UBS stands to be the recipient of several billion to cover their losses as a result of the exotic mortgage meltdown.

I don't know about you, but I don't want some rich bastard who calls me a whiner to get any of my tax dollars for his Swiss employer.

As if that's not enough, there's not going to be even a bit of recourse if the fed just throws money at these firms and overpays for those aforementioned toxic assets. Section 8 of the proposed bill explicitly states that whatever the Secretary of the Treasury does, those actions are not reviewable by the courts or congress:


I don't know about you, but when I got credit to buy my new car for example, there was oversight and stipulations on what I could purchase (new car), from whom (a franchised dealer) and with a maximum transaction price. And if I didn't meet the covenants of my loan, there would be no purchase. Who trusts the government to wisely spend our three-quarters of a trillion dollars?

We're going to get royally screwed by this legislation. Giving away authority to spend over $700 billion completely without oversight?!

No oversight, no accountability. And an open purse containing nearly a trillion of our hard-earned dollars, available to banks and the wealthiest worldwide. And by the way, many economists are expressing doubt that the bailout will work. And fiscal conservatives are apoplectic. None other than Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.) is so concerned, he may not vote for the bill:


This is the price we, as a nation, get to pay, for years of completely non-existent regulation. We need to slow this train down, before the second train wreck occurs in short order.