Another flashback: "Do you FEEL 'bailed out?'"

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The bailout isn't working for most people. Oh, it's working for the few with friends on Capital Hill.... those people get all the money.... political paybacks abound.

But the PRACTICAL effect is that we're vaporizing money as fast as we can print it. And there's never been any good outcome from that.

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Oct 9: Stock Market down ANOTHER 678: how's that "bail out" working for you?
Gee, today's bailout news?

Stock Market: down ANOTHER 678!

Do YOU feel "bailed out" yet?

Remember, it was YOUR government and BOTH of our presidential candidates that helped do this to you.

Well, here's a partial list of payoffs and sellouts within the bill that some here, initials "Eric," were so proud of (Are so proud of?)

From Evergreen Freedom Foundation:

Today the bailout bill was signed into law by President Bush. EFF agrees that action was needed to be taken to reassure the markets. However, we proposed free market solutions like exempting capital gains tax for anyone who purchased these troubled assets.

We do not believe this will solve the financial problems facing the country because this bill essentially nationalizes the mortgage market and gives the Secretary of Treasury virtually dictatorial power over much of our economy. It does not address the pubic policy problems which led this crisis... things like government forcing financial institutions to give home loans to people who could not afford the payments.

We are deeply troubled by the intent section of the bailout bill.

The U. S. Constitution clearly says "to protect the general welfare" not to ensure the general welfare. But the purposes of this bailout bill include giving the Secretary of Treasury the authority and such facilities to use in a manner that:

-"protects home values, college funds, retirement accounts, and life savings;.
-"preserve homeownership and promotes jobs and economic growth;
-"maximizes overall returns to the taxpayers of the United States; and
-"protects public accountability for the exercise of such authority."

The bill reads more like the Communist Manifesto than a free market bill, and I read every word of its 451 pages.

Here is a summary of the bill.

1. It started out as 3 pages and is now 451.

But only 112 1/2 pages are bailout. the rest is:

* energy improvement pages 112-244
* Broker requirements pages 244-261
* Tax breaks 261-310
-alternative minimum tax relief (sections 101-103 , pages 264-267)
-extend deductibility of state and local sales taxes (section 201, page 267)
-extend deduction of qualified tuition and related expenses (section 202, page 268)
-extend deduction for certain expenses of elementary and secondary school teachers (section 203, page 268)
-extend tax free distributions from IRA plans for charitable purposes to December 31, 2009. (section 205, page 269)
-$18 million in clean energy breaks (includes wave- and-tide electricity generators, fringe benefits for bicycle commuters, etc
-$192 million to cover a rum excise tax with money diverted to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.(section 308, page 279)
- $33 million in economic development funds for small business in American Samoa. (section 309, page 279)
-$4 million in tax credits for mine rescue team training. (section 310, page 280)
-$? million in expensing advanced mine safety equipment (section 311, page 280)
-$? million in Domestic production activities in Puerto Rico (section 312, page 280)
-$119-205 million in tax credits for business that employ American Indians who live on reservations and accelerated depreciation for property used on reservations (sections 314 and 315, page 288)
-$? million railroad track maintenance. (section 316, page 289)
-$331 million seven-year-cost-recovery period for land improvement at motorsport racetracks. (section 317, page 290)
-$? million in tax incentives to invest in the District of Columbia (section, 322, page 291)
-$? million in enhanced charitable deductions for contributions of food inventory (section 323, page 293)
-$148 million reduction of wool fabric import tariffs to the Wool Trust Fund to promote American wool competitiveness (section 325, page 295)
-$397 million deduction for domestic projects for film and television productions (section 502, page 298)
-$6 million for exemption from excise tax for certain wooden arrows designed for use by children (section 503, page 300)
-$223 million in payouts to fishermen who received payments for the 1989 Exxon Valdez incident (Section 504, pages 301-307)
-Mental health parity which will cost $3.8 billion over the next five years and will result in more uninsured people because mental health coverage will now be included in all health care plans - pages 310-344
-Rural schools - pages 344-394
-Disaster relief-pages 394-451
-"Spending reductions [I can't find them!] and appropriate revenue raisers for new tax relief policy"
-correct title of bill page 451

2. Notice this is a "mental health" and "substance-related disorder" bill that had the bailout added to it.

3. President Bush, on October 1, told us not to worry because it is not really $700 billion. It is only $250 billion to start and then the Treasury can ask him for another $100 billion and, if needed, go back to the Congress for the remaining $350 billion.

SO WHY IS THE DEBT LIMIT RAISED BY another $700 billion, which is in addition to the $800 billion increase in July. (SECTION 122, PAGE 68 ) .

4. The underlying assets involved do not even have to be in the United States! Here is the definition of a "troubled asset," right from the bill:(Section 3(9). This permits the Secretary of Treasury to bail out foreign investors.

"(9) TROUBLED ASSETS. The term "troubled assets" means (A) residential or commercial mortgages and any securities, obligations, or other instruments that are based on or related to such mortgages, that in each case was originated or issued on or before March 14, 2008, the purchase of which the Secretary determines promotes financial market stability;

and (B) any other financial instrument that the Secretary, after consultation with the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, determines the purchase of which is necessary to promote financial market stability, but only upon transmittal of such determination, in writing, to the appropriate committees of Congress."

Note: conspicuously missing from the definition is the requirement that the asset's underlying thing (that is, the property that was mortgaged, etc) lies within the United States. Also note that Treasury must tell Congress if they add "new types" of debt, but that Congress has no right of review or censure.

5. The bill authorizes the government to renegotiate loans for people who can't afford them! The government can reduce the interest rates; reduce the loan principal; and do other similar modifications. (Section 110, pages 27-29). Think of the difficulty of implementing this without fraud taking place.

What a socialist grab. Whoever is elected /re-elected next month will have the most sweeping authority and virtually unlimited resources to spend to have their way with the economic course in American History. Private enterprise as we call it will be less free than ever, and ownership as we know it will erode as the possibility for politically manipulated transfer of wealth is embraced as the "finest hour" when the US Senate and US House came together to fix this problem.

Bob Williams
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And now today's (1 Oct?) impact...

So this piece of crap was passed and signed into law.

The result? Gold took another hit... and so did oil.

Just as a brief aside, I have to give credit where it's due.

Back in the halcyon days of $140+ oil, when it seemed the sky was the limit, George Soros of all people came out and said that oil wouldn't go beyond $150 and that it would, in fact, fall.

While Mr. Soros appears to have the political acumen of a box of hammers, one finds it difficult to fault is financial forecasts.

How did the stock market greet this great news from the White House?

The Dow nosedived 157... dropping to 10325... lower then when it dropped 777 earlier this week. Wall Street rumblings yesterday? $805 billion: not enough.

Tell us again: how is putting us on the hook for a "so-far" $2400 or so for each man, woman and child in this country benefited us?

Oct 2.

Let's see... today's bailout impact?

Gold nosedived. Not good for THOSE investors. Oil weakened, which ultimately, may trickle down to the pump... And the senate, in their infinite wisdom, blew the 3-page-from-the-Treasury, 110-pages-from-the-House-bill up to 450 pages.

No money was freed up; after all, the entire bill doesn't REQUIRE lending. The stock market was so impressed by this sell-out that it responded... by DROPPING 348 points... putting the market back to about where it was after the 777 point drop.

So... when are all these wonderful effects SUPPOSED to impact?

Most Americans STILL don't have a clue what's actually IN the bill... you can bet that next to no one voting on the bill, yeah or nay, had a clue, either.

Well, intrepid souls, here's a link.

It is loaded with garbage. Some of those items NEED to be accomplished. But not as part of THIS bill. Many more of those things in the bill do NOT need to be accomplished.

How it is, for example, that "mental health parity" needed to be in this bill?

Now, the worthiness of mental health parity can be argued by many, both one way or the other.

But what the hell is it doing in a bill that we so "desperately" need to "save" our country?

It ISN'T needed, of course. And it's the kind of political; forgive me, bullshit that any one of us KNEW was going to be ladled into this bill.

You know, like the House bill, section 103, where all the unions were bought off and paid for by all of us.

No conservative could possibly support this kind of crap. That is, presumably, why Eric supports it.

That explains why Gordon Smith, so-called Republican, complete turncoat and non-conservative voted for it. That also explains why Patty Murray voted for it.

But in supporting the idea of, once again, removing the element of responsibility for the actions both of business and individuals who supported and took loans they could not afford, we also get this:

First, forget about the "snatched out of thin air," absolutely unsupported and arbitrary $700 billion figure. The true figure is now $805 billion.

Who was it that once said, "a billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon, you're talking real money?" (Attributed to Sen. Everett Dirksen... but in some doubt as to authenticity.) Whether he actually said it or not, the sentiment is accurate.

Therefore, here we have received the largess from a 450-page bill that had no hearings, no critical examination and is loaded with crap.

Bully for us.

Let me be clear: there is ABSOLUTELY NOTHING IN THIS BILL TO ADDRESS THE PROBLEMS THAT CAUSED IT.

So, conservatives... you like the idea of spraying money around like paint so that we can hope it will stick somewhere... while doing NOTHING to address the issues and people that put us here in the first place?

What tax loopholes were fixed? What criteria were changed? What's to keep PRECISELY THE SAME THING FROM HAPPENING OVER AGAIN?

We have a bill packed with garbage... that will dramatically increase our debt... that's an additional $805 BILLION that will vaporize.

To paraphrase the Braveheart movie, "If Republicans support this, then I'm ashamed to call myself one."

Which is, come to think of it, part and parcel as to why I no longer do.