NYC Letter: More, Please

Countdown 30 days to go

$700,000,000,000 OR MAYBE

$850,000,000,000 OR MAYBE

$1,000,000,000,000**

Make Them Pay!

When a legislator refers to his own handiwork as a "crap sandwich", well, that is some sorry legislation. Of course, noboby would vote for a bill named "The Crap Sandwich Act Of 2008", so it is given a more inspiring and dignified title, "Emergency Economic Stabilization Act Of 2008". The legislative progress of this sandwich gives us a peep into how the little wheels turn the big wheels in Washington.

On September 19, Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson sent a 3-page proposal requesting $700,000,000,000 in spending authority for his office -- pretty please. The United States House of Representatives took up the proposal and, given the hyped urgency, quickly transformed this simple if extraordinary request into a 110-page "crap sandwich" (H.R. 3997). The House, which earlier had shown little to no interest in its oversight duties, kept the $700,000,000,000 but immerded it with special House "taxpayer protection" crap sauce. But the deft House leadership appeared to sabotage its own handiwork and [Gasp!] the bill was voted down. The United States Senate then as an extra-constitutional topsy-turvy necessity, crafted its own 451-page bill, which it jigsawed into an earlier House bill (H.R. 1424). The Senate bill kept the $700,000,000,000 and topped it off with an extra $110,000,000,000 of "stimulus" for good measure.* This bill passed easily in the Senate 74-25, and was now big and fat and stimulating enough to pass in the House 263-171.

The United States government is now ready to nationalized 3/4 of a trillion dollars** of domestic and foreign debt. It's the new up-side-only capitalism, profit where you can and have the government socialize your losses. Can we please get back to greed?

Uh-ho.

ECONOMISTS SAY RESCUE PLAN STILL NEEDS WORK
Academic Experts Say Government's Approach Comes Up Short
October 2, 2008 (MSNBC)

RESCUE PACKAGE MAY NOT FULLY THAW CREDIT MARKETS
October 3, 2008 (WaPo)

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* Or maybe $152,000,000,000.

** Ok, let's just say it sums to around $1,000,000,000,000.