Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008

Submitted by Bill St. Clair on Mon, 29 Sep 2008 06:16:50 GMT  <== Politics ==> 

The House Financial Services Committee (PDF) has published Poulson's $700 billion bailout bill. 110 pages. It provides some toothless oversight (if notified of a problem, the Secretary can "certify" that it's not necessary to correct it), and allows Congress to forbid passing the $350 billion mark, if they can override a presidential veto, but bascially gives the Secretary of the Treasury full reign in buying mortgage related securities, and nearly full reign (he has to "consult" with the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System) in purchasing any other financial securities he deems necessary to "promote financial market stability". He can do this until the end of 2009, or until two years after passage, if he asks nicely.

One of the participants in the Break the Matrix chat channel remarked, "We are going to party like it's 1929!!!"

I saved the bill at billstclair.com/blog/images/ayo08c04_xml.pdf (intentionally NOT a link so Google won't index it), in case the House web site goes down again, as it did yesterday.

The House is going to vote on this today, under a "Martial Law" rule put into affect by the House leadership that eliminates the normal one day minimum to review it (clause 6(a)). So if you believe in begging your congress critter to consider your opinion, you might want to give them a call this morning.

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