Picking up a theme seen around the liberal blogs, where does the Fed's authority to bail out all these financial institutions come from, obligating taxpayers to many billions in new debt that we already can't afford? When did Congress approve the takeover of Freddie and Fannie? When did Congress extend rescue authority to insurance companies? Or did it come from the Authorization to Use Military Force, the way every other power the government wants was allegedly ceded by the Legislative branch?
The roots of our democracy and our liberty are in law. Without law, we are already sliding into arbitrariness and government by personality.
I'm not arguing against strong measures in the financial markets, including some bailouts. I'm saying that there's a lawful way to do it, and of course the Bushists are not pursuing the messy, difficult business of actually framing a law that allows them to do these things legally. They just don't care.
The largest irony is yet to come. There will come a time again some distant day in the future when Republicans are well-regarded again. At that time, after the worthless assets have been paid off to their foolish investors, the GOPers will suddenly realize that it's creeping socialism for the government to actually hold the valuable assets, and they will stamp their feet and wail that those assets should be privatized in a fire sale to their cronies.
And they'll all get rich yet again.
Update: The Bushists didn't even brief Congress on the AIG bailout. Congress, we don' need no stinking Congress.
Republicans, meanwhile, are already setting up their complaints to cash out in the future.
Friday: Retail Sales, Industrial Production
6 hours ago
9 comments:
I think the FEDS need to look at the CEO's of these companies that Bush has allowed the FED to bail out. Bet they are linked to hime by money donations to get him re-elected! This President has lied to the American Poeple on everything and POLICALSIZED everything!
I know if I were in on a political discussion about the past eight years i.e., Katrina, Iraq, Torture, The Real Estate fall out, Fannie May & Freddie, Bear and Sterns, the economy, 47 million without healthcare coverage, just to name a few...And let's not forget Rove, DeLay, Libby, Abramoff, Rumsfeld. Again, just name a few. It wouldn't take five minutes before a Republican throws this comment out...
"Well what do you think about one President in the Oval office with an intern?"
And then to straighten their argument add
"And he lied on the stand when asked."
These are the pople who voted in Bush and now they McCain and what's her face, and without flinching, they'd support more deregulation.
Yeah, I'd really like an explanation too by God.
Simply put, every American (tax payer) just spent $300.00 to save AIG. Once again the goverment give (rebate check) and take back.
They only mean to help the economy of the top 1% of the population who own 45% of our nations wealth and property, and to large corporations. As long as Capitalism is America's way we are destined to continue this trend. The war "on terror" is a result of this as well. The worst part is... A democrat as president doesn't help really. No matter which party is elected the system continues.
There are parts of the system that are very valuable, that I want to keep - or to restore. The rule of law is one of them, and it does change slowly. That's actually beneficial.
Capitalism is a great engine of economic dynamism. It has many positive effects to balance the negative ones.
The far-reaching problems we're seeing result from thirty years of willful forgetting of the lessons our parents and grandparents learned at great cost. They figured out that only regulated capitalism can function fairly and without sweeping busts that hurt everyone, and they built government interventions in the "free" market to handle many of them.
We chucked all that in the name of letting shysters run wild, and their greed is now causing tremendous trouble. The benefits haven't trickled down much, but the costs certainly will.
A year ago, the Wall Street Journal, in an editorial, pointed out that Rep Barney Frank (D-MA) prevented the regulators (e.g, the administration) from tightening up the credit requirements for Fannie and Freddie. That editorial predicted their demise quite accurately. Why is this Bush's fault? If several years ago we had said, "You can't be so liberal with your lending standards to those who otherwise couldn't afford a house," we would have been labeled racist. There is plenty of blame all around.
- Midwest common sense.
This economy stuff is a hard job but its not my fault. It is the cause of the Democratic do nothing Congress who were in charge. Also the greedy people on wall street who made millions of dollars are responsible for the housing slump, high oil prices, record deficits, the state of the affairs of the airline industry and 911 (opps I already pinned that on someone else.
This country is strong and I am confident that Senator McCain and his pet Sarah will fix all of this. I will be thinking of you when I am off hunting with Dick in Texas, well maybe that is not such a good idea.
Happy Trails
'Wall Street Journal editorial'? Ah, a common source of bullshit. Hardly anything on the last two inside pages of the front section is worth reading, much less believing.
Try this instead.
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