A critical - and radical - component of the bailout package proposed by the Bush administration has thus far failed to garner the serious attention of anyone in the press. Section 8 (which ironically reminds one of the popular name of the portion of the 1937 Housing Act that paved the way for subsidized affordable housing ) of this legislation is just a single sentence of thirty-two words, but it represents a significant consolidation of power and an abdication of oversight authority that's so flat-out astounding that it ought to set one's hair on fire. It reads, in its entirety:
Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.
~From the website, linked above.
Sure. Blank check. No oversight. Hmmm, sounds typical of Bushco tactics. Oh, and we have to do this RIGHT NOW! We have no time to stop and think and look at the history and other potential solutions. We don't want the smoking gun on Wall Street to be a mushroom cloud! Sound familiar?
I know next to nothing about economics - my partner will attest to the fact that when anyone starts talking money market and Roth IRAs my eyes glaze over like a Stepford wife. But I know another Bush disaster when I see it.
Is this the October surprise? Or is this an economic 9/11 that is designed to keep us so off balance and scared that we're willing to give total control to this disastrous administration? (See Naomi Klein's website re: The Shock Doctrine.) Is this Bush's last hurrah, his little parting gift as he leaves Washington in disgrace as the country's Worst pResident EVER?
Sound like conspiracy theory? Go back and read the 32 words above. That's how the bailout was originally written; that's the language that - thank God - some Congresspeople actually read this time (because the document was only 3 pages long) and objected to - unlike the Patriot Act, which was too long and complicated for them to read and to realize what rights of ours they were signing away.
Here's another take on the necessity (or not) of the bailout.
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3 comments:
I watched Bill Maher, and he mentioned this carte blanche clause. Very scary.
Why don't they give the money to the Americans to bailthemselves out of their bad mortgages?
I just bought The Shock Doctrine, and I can't wait to get to it!!
Lezlie
It continues to amaze me that this adminstration stepped in to bail out millionares, but let many people lose their homes. No oversight and a tone of "trust us, we know best" is infuriating!!!!
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