"A back-and-forth over bailout; Democrats insisting on major changes" by Michael Kranish, Globe Staff and Jenny Paul, Globe Correspondent | September 23, 2008
WASHINGTON - Wall Street investors reacted with deep anxiety about what the final bailout package might look like, which helped send the Dow Jones industrial average down 372 points, or 3.3 percent, to close at 11,015.69. The news from Washington also had a ripple effect worldwide: The value of the dollar had its sharpest drop against the euro since the introduction of the currency in 1999, and oil recorded its biggest one-day jump on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Earlier in the day, President Bush urged Congress to act immediately on his proposal, without add-ons or restrictions. Lawmakers are slated to adjourn Friday, with many members anxious to head to their home districts for the end of the campaign season. Both the House and the Senate must approve the package by then and send the bill to Bush's desk for his signature.
To do what? Face the wrath of voters?
"The whole world is watching to see if we can act quickly to shore up our markets and prevent damage to our capital markets, businesses, our housing sector, and retirement accounts," Bush said. Though he acknowledged that the Democratic-controlled Congress will want to amend the package, he warned them against doing anything that would "undermine the effectiveness of the plan."
I'm so sick of this asshole!! He can go fuck himself!
I'll be waiting in hell for you, Georgie, where I look forward to rending your flesh, fuck stick!!!!!!!!!
But House Financial Services Committee chairman Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat, said at a news conference yesterday that it was essential that the bailout package included some mechanisms to help homeowners caught in the mortgage squeeze. He said taxpayers also should get a stake in the financial companies the government will buy, guaranteeing them at least some repayment if the companies are resold at a profit.
"We understand that bad market choices have put us in a situation where something has to happen," Frank said. "We want it to happen with the best possible chance of it working and with the taxpayers ultimately being made whole."
Frank and his Senate counterpart, Banking Committee chairman Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, provided the Democrats' main response to the president's plan, as Bush administration officials, including Paulson, are slated to come to Capitol Hill starting today to testify. The two chairmen put forth fairly similar proposals, and many other Democrats are expected to weigh in with legislation today.
Despite strong opposition from the banking industry, Democrats insisted on granting bankruptcy judges the power to restructure bad home loans or adjust monthly payments as a way to keep people in their homes. And lawmakers included provisions to cap CEO severance payments, mindful that chief executives of failed mortgage companies
I'm so pissed at this shit; that's why I'm not commenting.
I don't want ONE DIME going to these fuckers!!!!!!!!!!!
In a sign of possible trouble for the administration, one of the most influential House Democrats yesterday said he has "serious reservations" about the plan. Henry Waxman, chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, said that "the structure of the plan appears designed to maximize returns for Wall Street and minimize protections for the taxpayer."
That's because THEY WROTE IT!
"There were signs of the industry’s fingerprints on drafts of the legislation released over the weekend."Waxman called for a limit of $2 million in annual pay for executives of companies that benefit from the rescue plan, while seeking more government oversight of the troubled firms.
That is $2 million too much! They should get NOTHING!!!!
Are YOU rewarded for RAPING, LOOTING and STEALING, readers?
Urging that alternative rescue plans be studied, Waxman said: "We should not be stampeded into enacting a flawed proposal at huge costs to the taxpayer."
I'll reserve judgment on that until later, Hank.
In Congress yesterday, Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell, a Kentucky Republican, appearing sensitive to charges that the measure was a widely unpopular bailout of Wall Street, tried to shape his party's message by recasting the proposal as a "Main Street Rescue Plan."
Good Lord, what a LYING SCUM!!! How FUCKING SHAMELESS!!!!!
Fuck the Repuglicans!!!!!!!!
Acknowledging that the GOP has "many serious questions," he said the plan would give Americans "the security of knowing that the problems on Wall Street are not going to spread to Main Street."
Did McConnell's tongue turn to sand because of the OUTRAGEOUS LYING or what?
Though many Republicans closed ranks around the president's plan, some in the GOP expressed reservations about adopting a sweeping, costly package that goes against such party principles as deregulation, deficit spending, and opposition to government bailouts.
That is the group I'm in; the RON PAUL WING of the Republican party!
Taxpayer watchdog groups, which typically work to shine a light on federal projects in the hundreds of millions of dollars, yesterday expressed alarm that Congress could rush the financial package into law within days, saddling future generations with an enormous financial burden.
Yeah, we are ALL ALARMED by this POWER GRAB by the FASCISTS of the BUSH ADMINISTRATION!!!!!
The Bush plan would cost an estimated $700 billion, on top of other obligations, including the rescues of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, that could cost another estimated $300 billion.
That's at least ONE TRILLION dollars! You have that kind of $$$$, America?
For comparison, if Congress eliminated every federal earmark - a hot-button issue in the presidential campaign - from every spending bill, the savings would add up to just $18.3 billion, according to Steve Ellis, president of Taxpayers for Common Sense.
--more--"
Of course, we all know who is going to BENEFIT from this bailout:
Trade groups are lobbying Capitol Hill to ensure companies benefit from the various steps the government is taking - and to limit new regulation of their operations.
Insurance companies, which were large buyers of the kinds of securities at the heart of the credit crisis, face similar tradeoffs. US Representative Barney Frank, Democrat of Newton and the House's chief strategist on the bailout, wants institutions that sell such assets to the government to give the government an ownership stake in the company via either equity or preferred stock.
That is SOCIALISM!! Why isn't the AmeriKan MSM calling it what it is?
Why must they LIE and OBFUSCATE about EVERYTHING?!!!
Currently regulated by each state they operate in, insurers don't welcome the prospect of federal regulation raised after the bailout of American International Group, said Robert Hartwig, president of the Insurance Information Institute. "Management likes to be in control," he said.
If they don't like the regulations, etc, then FUCK 'EM!!!!!!
They get NO MONEY at all then!!!!!!!!!!
Banks, meanwhile, are fighting on another front. The government takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac wipes out dividend payments on the mortgage giants' preferred stock, which also made the value of those shares worth less.
More than a quarter of the country's banks hold these preferred shares, a survey by the American Bankers Association found yesterday, with the largest number of holders based in Massachusetts; banks like the preferred stock because of these dividend payments. Sovereign Bank recently said it would have to take an unspecified charge on its $623 million in holdings of both companies.
That won't be helping our already suffering economy!!!
The American Bankers Association is pushing to have the federal government pay the dividends at least until the end of this quarter on Sept. 30, possibly longer. A Sovereign spokesman declined to comment.
It is called LOOTING the TAXPAYERS!!!!
I can see why he didn't want to comment!
