The $700 billion dollar bailout bill that is now being referred to as a, "rescue plan, " to try an convince Americans that it will rescue the economy, ( how dumb do they think we are?!?!?!), passed a first major hurdle on Thursday night as the Senate approved the package with a 74-24 vote.
The Senate made changes to the bill that essentially add tax extension provisions which though shown as a $105 billion dollar addition to the bill are not actual expenditures because they are a form of tax cut. Extensions that are not extremely helpful but are also not damaging but designed to get House Republicans and Blue Dog Democrats on board. It remains to be seen if they will work. Additionally the FDIC insurance maximum has been increased from $100,000 to $250,000.
The basics of the bill though, the purchasing with tax payer money of failed mortgages whose value under current market conditions is next to nothing remains the same as the bill voted down by the House on Monday.
What angers me most about this entire debacle , (setting aside assigning blame to those truly responsible which I have posted on several times in the last week) , is that the rush to get , "something," through Congress in order to , "save, " the eminent collapse of the economy is not only a lie but the real reason for the rush is being brushed under the carpet.
While the necessity of doing something to correct the damage and the reasons for the collapse in needed, the rush to get anything down and dirty passed is not at all necessary. The rebound by the Stock Market on Tuesday nearly recovering all that was lost on Monday and the rise in consumer confidence that has been reported for September while this debacle was unfolding and the fact that the economy is still moving along shows that the complete collapse used as a scare tactic to try and get the people on board was not only an over exaggeration but a false assumption.
The main reason for the rush is so that lawmakers can leave Washington and get out on the campaign trail since the election is only 33 days away. All House members and one third of the Senate is up for grabs and these members want to campaign as much as possible.
If this had happened in a non election year or even earlier this year the Congress would have spent months deliberating this and other alternatives, which are available, would have been considered and even incorporated into the legislation. But the rush for November is causing an undo haste on the part of Congress to get a bill passed and being an election year is also causing members to hold back on a vote that they know will upset their constituency.
Now with the tax breaks, for what they are worth, added by the Senate, House Democrats may very well fight the bill or seek to add earmarks that meet with liberals as a way of , "balancing," the bill by the time it gets through the House.
Whatever happens it looks as though the American taxpayer will be the sad owner of worthless paper that should never have been allowed to get to this point in the first place. What a grand and glorious day, (all sarcasm intended), for the American people. The earth shattering noise that we are hearing is not the crash of our economy but George Washington and our Founders rolling over in their graves !
Ken Taylor http://theliberalslies.blogspot.com
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