Be Afraid… Part Two

I have time now for more details.

The bill passed this week called the “Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008” is the worst piece of legislation maybe in the history of our country. It’s that because it gives incredible authority and close to a trillion bucks to the administration at a time when the administration has little reason to care at all what the public thinks. How stupid can Congress get?

The answer is, more stupid than stupid.

There have been many stories that do a better job than I can but here’s my spin nonetheless:

Be Afraid, Be Very Afraid

The more I consider the implications of that horrific bill Congress passed last week the more worried I get about our future.

My wife is tapping me on the shoulder wanting to get to the computer so I have to wait for more writing on this subject but here is a letter I’m writing to Texas papers.

You have total permission to send this to your paper. I don’t care who you give credit for the letter as long as you keep the words intact.

After the letter I’ll post my raw notes on that bill. Later I’ll try to write more words.

The letter:

Be afraid. Be very afraid. Congress passed the “Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008,” far more than a “bail out.” Did legislators actually read the bill? I did. Every American should. To say we’ve “given away the bank” is an understatement of enormous proportions.

Bush now has authority to buy ANY mortgage, security, or stock if the purchase “…promotes financial market stability.” It does NOT stipulate the item must be financially harmful to the holder. The administration can buy nearly a trillion dollars of American property, whatever it wants, with virtually no limitations! Consider the implications before reading further.

Oversight? Besides the Secretary himself the “oversight board” has the Fed chairman, SEC chairman, and director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency. Fox watching the hens! Congressional oversight is reduced to occasional reports to committees, like that will matter.

The Secretary has unlimited authority to hire employees, establish programs, contract with companies, designate financial institutions as federal agents and write regulations. In other words the Bush administration can hire or contract the very people who have caused this so-called crisis at premium federal rates and do whatever it wants with that $700 billion.

Besides the insanity of giving Bush these powers the bill has hundreds of pages Congressmen called “sweeteners.” Indeed. They’re mostly sweet to members of Congress, bitter for us. Some disturbing parts are not sweet at all, such as giving the IRS authority to conduct unlimited clandestine investigations and increasing the national debt from $10.5 to $11.3 TRILLION.

Congress has given the Bush administration one power after the other, beginning with the fantastically Orwellian Homeland Security bill. Where power wasn’t authorized the administration has simply taken it. Neither Congress, the Supreme Court nor the American people have had the guts to stand in his way. Now, at last, the administration has had the last bit of power handed to it through this bill. How bad will it get now that Bush/Cheney owns the bank? In the words of Bachman Turner Overdrive, “b-b-b-b-baby, you ain’t seen nothing yet!”

Here are my raw notes: