Bailout Part 2: The Senate Version

Okay, so now the Senate is going to have their say on a bailout bill.  There were some initial reports of positive things getting in there, like tax cuts and increasing the FDIC insurance on savings accounts.  But, it was too good to be true...

Michelle Malkin has the story here, including a link to view the bill itself.  Unfortunately, this bailout is a whole new crap sandwich, loaded with earmarks.  Here are just a few:

- Film and Television Productions (Sec. 502)
- Wooden Arrows designed for use by children (Sec. 503)
- 6 page package of earmarks for litigants in the 1989 Exxon Valdez incident, Alaska (Sec. 504)

Tax earmark "extenders" in the bailout bill.
- Virgin Island and Puerto Rican Rum (Section 308)
- American Samoa (Sec. 309)
- Mine Rescue Teams (Sec. 310)
- Mine Safety Equipment (Sec. 311)
- Domestic Production Activities in Puerto Rico (Sec. 312)
- Indian Tribes (Sec. 314, 315)
- Railroads (Sec. 316)
- Auto Racing Tracks (317)
- District of Columbia (Sec. 322)
- Wool Research (Sec. 325)

Mark Steyn comments:

When this thing first came up, a lot of us felt like the Mister Average Joe guy at the start of a conspiracy thriller who gets a call saying the place is gonna blow, you got 30 seconds to get outta there, jump out the rear window, and get into the unmarked car with the fellows in reflector shades.

"Whu..? Why? Er, lemme think..."

"Clock's ticking, pal."

Now it turns out the once-in-a-lifetime save-the-global-economy emergency-measure has got time for all the business as usual. Well, which is it? I'm willing to be persuaded of the merits of a bill for "wool research", or the merits of a billion-trillion-gazillion-dollar bill to save the planet from economic meltdown. But the same piece of legislation cannot plausibly contain both.

I suppose sophisticated insiders would assure me that regrettably there's no possibility of earmark reform; this is just the price of doing business in Washington. But that's why non-sophisticated non-insiders hold the political class in contempt. The same blowhards who run for office on a platform of lowering ocean levels and healing the planet then turn around and insist they're unable to do anything about the one small area of human endeavor for which they bear sole responsibility.

If this is an emergency, hold the wool research. If it's an emergency that's got time for wool research, let's chew it over for another few months.

That's an extremely good point!  If this is the crisis they say it is, and if they're so determined to fix it, then why are they adding all the pork?  They're trying to buy votes is what they're doing, but now is not the time for earmarks, and this is not the bill to do it in!

Call your Senators and tell them what you think of their financial responsibility when it comes to dealing with the American economy.  Tell them the tax cuts and FDIC increase are good, but drop the pork and do their jobs on behalf of the American people for a change.  Remind them that it was too much government and too much spending that put us in this hole in the first place, and that this new crap sandwich is more of the same failed Washington game.

Regarding the House GOP's idea of insuring the bad debt, take a look at this:

The government of Ireland yesterday took decisive action to prevent a crisis of confidence in its banking sector by immediately insuring as much as $600-billion worth of debt and deposits at its six largest banks...

The move, which is estimated to be worth more than twice Ireland's GDP in liabilities, resurrected confidence in the country's financial sector after those stocks plunged 27% on Monday and dragged the Irish Stock Exchange's Overall index down 13%. With sentiment greatly improved, Irish financial stocks surged an astounding 28% yesterday, pulling the Overall index up 8% by the close.

The announcement appeared to have also triggered a flood of funds out of the U. K. and into the Irish banking system in a flight to safety, Reuters reported yesterday, citing a senior Irish stockbroker who declined to be named.

Under the guarantee, which went into immediate effect, the government will insure all retail, commercial, institutional and interbank deposits as well as covered bonds, senior debt and dated subordinated debt at these six Irish banks: Allied Irish Bank, Bank of Ireland, Anglo Irish Bank, Irish Life and Permanent, Irish Nationwide Building Society and the Educational Building Society.

The government said the guarantee would cover all existing and new debt and deposits over the next two years and would be provided at a charge to the six banks concerned to protect taxpayers from incurring any costs.

I'm no expert here, but this sounds amazingly similar to what the GOP were pushing as one of their fixes.  If that is the case, look what it did in Ireland!

Call your Senators NOW, because they will be voting on this new crap sandwich tonight.

There's my two cents.


PS - one last detail to pass along to you...where was Barack Obama the Great Uniter on the bailout bill in the House?  Did he reach across the aisle to build unity and compromise on this, the most important financial crisis in decades?  You decide:

"I don't think me calling House Republican members would have been that helpful. I tend not to be that persuasive on that side of the aisle."