Suppose you were an idiot. And suppose you were a member of Congress. But I repeat myself.
- Mark Twain, a Biography
If at first you don’t succeed, try to destroy the economy again. That seems to be Congress’ motto these days, as they prepare to vote on the “revised” bailout bill. This, time, however, the proposed bill is so full of spending pork - from exempting children’s wooden arrows from excise taxes to increased cover of rum excise tax revenues - that proves Twain’s other saying that there was nothing a Congressman knows that couldn’t be taught to a flea.
What a scam!
Funny, though, how the world didn't end now two days after the first bill was defeated. A trillion dollars was pulled from the stock market on that day, but almost 2/3rds of it was put right back in today - only in better investments and smarter companies. Contrary to popular belief, mortgages were still issued today and people still closed on their home sales and purchases.
Apparently, the end isn't as near as we are supposed to believe.
Even Secretary of the Treasury Putin, I mean, Paulson, played the groundhog today, keeping out of the light lest he see his shadow and realize just how far out to the sides his twirling-mustaches have grown... He just kept cranking the Federal printing press and output some short-term liquidity - oh, how about a round number like $630 billion - the largest floating since the Great Depression - through its term facilities. How did markets respond? Not with thanks; The dollar fell against the Euro, Yen and Sterling. Nobody wants cheap paper.
Also putting the lie to the crisis claim that credit is frozen was the Sage of Omaha himself. Warren Buffet took out his wallet and threw $3 Billion at at GE. Maybe banks aren't lending, but private investors most certainly are buying. Oil fell today (can anyone say that's entirely a bad thin - except for my portfolio which prefers $150/barrel..)And even as a few more banks failed, others quickly used their PRIVATE equity and credit to buy them and keep them running.
There's plenty of money to go around.
Of course, no ordinary American believes the bailout is really about saving the housing market any more. How could they, when the Senate's new version is so full of pork that has NOTHING to do with the mortgage or credit crises, including:
- A whole bunch of tax breaks
- An increase in UNfunded FDIC insurance limits, with UNLIMITED authority to borrow taxpayer dollars to pay claims
- A provision to force employers to and health insurers to put mental health issues on par with physical illness (because we're both confused and sick to our stomachs over Congress's pandering?)
- Four HUNDRED pages of legislation, which most certainly every Congressman and Senator has thoroughly read in the last few hours
The laundry list continues. Taken from http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122286874792094117.html
Apart from the Troubled Assets Relief Program, the bill before the Senate includes:
- Extensions of the AMT patch, tax deductions on state and local sales taxes, tuition, teacher expenses and real property taxes and tax credits for business research and new market investors
- Energy tax credits and incentives to encourage wind and refined coal production, new biomass facilities, wave and tide electricity generators, solar energy property improvements, CO2 capturing, plug-in electric drive vehicles, idling reduction units on truck engines, cellulosic biofuels ethanol production, energy efficient houses, offices, dishwashers, clothes washers and refrigerators, and fringe benefits for employees commuting by bicycle.
- A requirement for private insurance plans to offer mental health benefits on par with medical-surgical benefits
- Tax relief provisions for victims of this summer's Midwestern floods, and Hurricane Ike
- Freezing of deductions for sale and exchange of oil and natural gas, mandatory basis reporting by brokers for transactions involving publicly traded securities and an extension of the oil spill tax
But it also extends the following tax provisions:
- Economic development credit to American Samoan businesses
- $10,000 tax credit for training of mine rescue team members
- 50% immediate expensing for extra underground mine safety equipment
- Tax credit for businesses with employees from an Indian reservation
- Accelerated depreciation for property used mostly on an Indian reservation
- 50% tax credit for some expenditures on maintaining railroad tracks
- 7-year recovery period for motorsports racetrack property
- Expensing of cleaning up "brownfield" contaminated sites
- Enhanced deductions for businesses donating computers and books to schools, and for food donations
- Deduction for income from domestic production in Puerto Rico
- Tax credit for employees in Hurricane Katrina disaster area
- Tax incentives for investments in poor neighborhoods in D.C.
- Increased rehabilitation credit for buildings in Gulf area
- Reduction of import duties on some imported wool fabrics, transfers other duties to Wool Trust Fund to promote competitiveness of American wool
- Special expensing rules for film and TV productions
And there's more:
- Increasing cover of rum excise tax revenues to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands
- Making it easier for film and TV companies to use deduction for domestic production
- Exempting children's wooden arrows from excise tax
- Income averaging for Exxon Valdez litigants for tax purposes
No wonder Congress' approval ratings are at 10% or lower. Every ordinary American understands that this bill isn't designed to SAVE anything - most certainly money in their pockets, which will be taken to pay for all of these provisions. The bailout bill is really just a raid on the Piggy Bank - done fast and loud, amid screams of disaster and fear. It's election-time HANDOUTS. I particularly like the handout to American Samoan businesses - you know, the ones with their headquarters on Wall Street.
And we're all just supposed to go along. Pretend we don't see it. Overlook the largesse. Assert it 'has to be done," For the Greater Good.
The KGB must be amazed; Chavez, mad at being so up-staged,
Jefferson must be screaming from his grave.
- Matthew
Matthew Ferrara
;)
;)
That's quite the list of add-ons. Thanks for doing the research Matt!