Whoa .... hold on for one minute. First, we the taxpayers are asked to foot the bill to the tune of $700 billion dollars to "socialize the risk" for Wall Street because of a failed Republican economic policy of unfettered "free markets". This started back during Reagan’s Presidency, moved through Republican Phil Gramm's push to deregulate the financial industry all the way through the out of control spending of the Bush Administration to land us in the current economic crisis that we are in.
So everyone had a great time, CEO's made billions in bonuses, and everyone partied like they were at a never ending frat party. So now President George W. Bush, Henry Paulson (the Treasury Secretary), and Ben Bernanke ( the Federal Reserve Chairman) have put forth their plan to save of us from this disaster that could turn into a catastrophe any day now. Wait where have we heard this one before ....? Oh yeah Iraq had weapons of mass destruction, was linked to 9/11, and was an imminent threat to the United States. We must invade Iraq now or face the dire consequences of inaction.
Naomi Klein's unbelievably poignant characterization of the Bush Administration’s economic policies led her to coin the phrase "Shock Doctrine". Basically this is a policy of allowing a disaster to occur, or suggest it will occur if things are not done quickly because that is the only time you can get the American public to agree to dramatic reductions in their liberties, their rights and their powers. Her book 2007 "The Shock Doctrine: The Rise of Disaster Capitalism" gives one pause as we watch the beginnings of what could be the greatest economic disaster this country has ever faced. Or so we are being told.
Here in lies the quandary for the American people and the congresspeople that supposedly represent us. How trusting should we be in the Bush Administration and how much power should we give them to save us from this catastrophe? In Bush's plan that his administration is pushing forward this weekend, it calls for giving unprecedented powers to his Treasury Secretary, Henry Paulson. It also allows Treasury Secretary to use up to $700 billion dollars of taxpayer money to make the necessary bailouts as he sees fit. The initial draft proposal was published in the New York Times yesterday [reference].
Today on the Sunday pundit shows Henry Paulson suggested that the proposal needed to be expanded even further. Mr. Paulson defended the administration's decision to expand the bailout package to protect foreign companies and authorize even wider latitude to buy assets other than those that were backed by mortgages. So now the U.S. taxpayer will also be funding the bailout of companies that aren't even U.S. based companies? Mr. Paulson also rejected some of the Democrats demands that there be some accountability and some Congressional oversight on the execution of this bailout by the Treasury Secretary.
Remember, this is the administration that brought us the FEMA incompetence, the recent sex and drugs scandal in the Interior department [reference], an ongoing incompetence and/or cronyism in the FDA, and the billions of dollars that have just vanished from the defense department. Now granted Henry Paulson and Ben Bernanke are probably some of the most qualified people holding positions in the Bush administration. Michael Bloomberg on "Meet the Press" this morning gave Henry Paulson a qualified vote of confidence and said he is probably the best suited person right now to deal with this crisis and deal with it quickly.
Nevertheless, in light of all that has happened over these past eight years and given the current adminstration's track record I don’t think Senator Christopher Dodd is being unreasonable when he says, "We need to offer some assurance to the American taxpayer that Congress is watching. One of the things that got us into this mess was the lack of accountability and the lack of oversight that was occurring, and I don't think we want to repeat those mistakes with a program of this magnitude." Senator Barney Frank offered an amendment to the plan that would give broad authority for the Government Accountability Office, an investigative arm of Congress, to audit and oversee the program.
We can't afford to allow the Bush administration to ram their plan through Congress without any concessions and without any accountability to Congress and the American people who are picking up the tab for this bailout.
Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont has also offered a well-thought out plan that shifts alot of the bailout burden off the middle class taxpayer and onto the top 1% who have most benefited from the Bush's economic policies over the past eight years. This plan can be read here.
Write your congressmen or congresswomen and let them know you are not willing to give the Bush Administration free reign to solve this disaster that his policies helped create in the first place.
