Sep 20 2008
700 billion dollars is an effing lot of money
Today President George W. Bush requested to congress permission to buy over 700 billion dollars in assets that are clogging the U.S. economy. This bailout will be the largest by far since the great depression.
Let the negotiations begin…
The proposed bailout by the President would give the government the power to buy bad mortage-related assets for two years.
“We’re going to work with Congress to get a bill done quickly,” said President Bush, “This is a big package because it was a big problem.”
As usual with any Bush proposal, details of the plan were not available. What little we do know though, is kind of terrifying.
The bill is short and to the point, a mere three pages that would give the government unprecedented powers over taxpayer money and would also be sheltered from court review.
The proposal does not require that the government receive anything from banks in return for unloading their bad assets. The Treasury would be allowed to designate financial institutions as, “agents of the government.” These agents/agencies would perform any “reasonable duties” that might entail.
The proposal would also raise the statutory limit on the national debt from $10.6 trillion to $11.3 trillion to make room for the massive rescue.
Neither candidate has made a comment on the proposal yet.
My take? What is going on with the banks and really the economy in general is genuinely very scary. How much power should the federal reserve really have? They already control how much money is in circulation, and consequently have created this system of debt. When you study it closely, the American economy is designed to make more debt on top of more debt. Giving this agency more power after what they’ve already done, is a thought that scares me.
This is really scarry. I do not like the idea tha we, as tax payers, will have to foogt the bill.