Update as of 5:44pm MT:
Text of the Bill that was defeated at this site:
http://graphics8.nytimes.com/packages/pdf/business/20080928bailout_text.pdf
3:30 PM 9/29/2008
Here are the things in that bill that raised questions to me:
1)it includes the US but including the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico, Guam, the Virgin Islands,
American Samoa, and the Northern Mariana Islands, none of which are
territories or states of US;
2) it says it is to 'make, fund committments to purchase from any financial institution on such
terms and conditions as are defined by Secretary" of Treasury;
3) It creates an Office of Domestic Finance to be headed by an Assistant Secretary
appointed by the President but if he doesn't then by an interim approved by US Senate;
4) It says its consultants are Federal Reserve Board, Comptroller of Currency, Office of Thrift
Supervision, Secretary of HUD.
5) it says it will be able to 'designate financial institutions as financial agents of the federal government';
6) it gives the authority to 'purchase, hold, and sell assets, and issue obligations" [debt] ;
7) it does not define the phrase 'troubled asset' but uses it as the goal;
8) it says premiums collected from the insurance plan it wants to create could be, would be invested in securities;
9) it does not include chapter 11 bankruptcies;
10) it would cover the debts of cities, counties;
11) it would buy debts from developers of multi-family properties;
12) it would create a "special Investigator General of the TARP=Troubled Assets Relief Program' a new federal office;
13) it would create a "Financial Stability Oversight Board with these folks: Chairman of the Board of Governors, Secretary
of the US Treasury, Director of HUD, Chairman of SEC, Secretary of HUD, and they would appoint a "credit review committee";
14) no real end of it established but 'fifteen days after last troubled asset is bought or fifteen days after last insurance
contract is issued; [open ended]
15) Creates reports to Congress of 'all transactions' -- [WOE, a lot of power of confidential info of taxpayers!]
16) Secretary of Treasury may 'sell,enter into securities loans, and repurchase transactions of any troubled asset';
17) Secretary of Treasury may 'waive specific provisions of Federal Acquistion Regulation " for 'minority contracting';
18) it would 'encourage homeowners to take advantage of HOPE for HOMEOWNERS Program under section 257 of
National Housing Act;
19) Could buy 'any mortgage or mortgage-backed security of Federal Reserve Ban, as provided in section 110(a)(1)(c)
of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, or HUD, or 'other federal agencies' [including Congresss???]
20)the golden parachute provisions only kick in if the financial institute sells more than $ 300 million to the US gov't;
21) US government would receive 'non-voting or preferred stocks' in financial institutions or 'senior debt instruments'
[worthless loan papers???}
22) Secretary of Treasury would have the right to prevent disclosure of transactions if he wanted too;
23) establishes a FASTRACK through both houses of Congress with words such as 'motion not debatable', 'motion to
reconsider not in order', 'not subject to postpone', 'limit debate to ten hours', and allows a single quorum. These are
subrogate the US Constitution! Every Senator and every Representative should have the right to debate as long as necessary
and to filibuster it.
24) The "Congressional Oversight Panel' would consists of:
one member appointed by Speaker of House;
" " " " Minority Leader of House'
" " " " Senate Majority leader [notice it is not the President of Senate=VP as is usual]
" " " " Senate Minority leader
" " " " Speaker of House and Majority Leader
and four members=quorum, and get this: this "Oversight Panel' could "secure directly from any department or
agency of the U.S. any info necessary to enable it".
25) It amends the FDIC laws to prohibit false advertising of being covered by FDIC for some financial institutions [who is undefined];
and allows 'affirmative action' to remedy any existing violations of current law;
26) Amends section 203 of Financial Services Regulatory Relief Act to end Oct 1,2008 instead of Oct 1,2011.
27) It allows itself to operate secretively if requested by Chairman of Board of Federal Reserve;
28) It requires 'all reports' to Congressional Oversight Panel; [so much for being free of unreasonable searches and seizures of
confidential financial info!]
29) It amends section 128 (b)(2) of the Truth in Lending Laws [ 15 USC 1638 (b)(2) by saying that if an APR is misrepresented
then the offending company only had to reissue another statement three days after the potential borrower applied
telling what the new APR would be;
30) It says the feds "may not establish a guarantee of money market mutual funds industry";
31) it says the SEC may 'suspend, by rule, regulation, order the application of statement #157 of the Financial Accounting
Standards Board for any insurer, or with respect to any class or category of transaction in Mark to market accounting;
32) It says if after five years, taxpayers suffer a loss then the US President should submit a legislation proposol with his
or her plan to recoup losses [dumps problem on the future President five years from now about how to pay for any of this]
33) it extends subsection (E) of section (108)(a)(1) of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to Jan 1,2013.
34) It says the OMB {Office of Management and Budget of US] shall by Dec 31,2008 submit a report to Congress and President of
Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae transactions;
35) It says the GAO and the Comptroller General 'shall have access upon request to ANY information, data, schedules,
books, accounts, financial records, reports, files, ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS, and or other papers, things or
property in use by TARP or any vehicles established by Secretary under this Act and to the officers, directors, employees,
independent public accountants, tax advisors, and other agents or representative's activities on behalf of or under
authority of TARP; {WOW, suspending the US Constitution!} and requires "verifying transactions by depositories,
fiscal agents, custodians"; and may make and retain copies of any of this!!!!!!! BIG BROTHER GOV't in your bank account!
36) Annual audit will use GAAP standards [Generally Acceptable Accounting Principles] except it was those so-called
principles that created the mess in the first place;
37) 'any reports shared with Congress Oversight Panel' of five members;
38 ) No lawsuit against Treasury secretary unless he agreed to it before hand.
39) Secretary of Treasury could appeal to 'high court';
40) increases public debt of US government to: $11,315,000,000,000;
41) establishes new government agency of Office of Special Inspector General of TARP; at pay of level IV of Executive
Schedules under 5315, title 5 US Code; and allows hiring at grade GS-15 of General schedule of section 5332; and gives $50 million
to the administration and set up of that;
42)"Nothing in this subsection shall be construed to authorize public disclosure of information that is (c) part of an
criminal investigation [this would be called a CYA provision";
43) Amends section 257 of National Housing Act [12 USC 1715z-23]
I am not an accountant and there are provisions that are very complex that I am not sure I understand and of course,
that is probably the intent--obfuscation, the character trait of crooks.
And you thought it did nothing! It suspends the Constitution, creates two new Federal agencies, allows them to snoop
into citizen's bank accounts and email, and puts all power into the five appointed by Congress members people; and
postpones the day of reckoning for five years; and allows concealing of financial fraud, and crimes, and probably destroys mutual funds;
and allows secretive operations. THANK GOD it failed!
signed gloria poole, RN and artist, Denver CO 80203
5:42 PM 9/29/2008
Update as of 11:44am MT:
I am adding this to the top of the pile because I realized suddenly what makes the bill that is being proposed as the 'rescue' so bad. It creates a special privilege for homeowners while denying those who have credit card debts or student loans the same privilege of dumping their debt onto the taxpayers.It is a rotten deal for all Americans for that reason. Either buy up all the student loans of every American and all the credit card debt or vote NO WAY to giving special deals to rich homeowners! There is a concept in American law that all citizens are equal. Where is the equality in the bill being proposed today--the rich bankers, traders, robbers, get richer at the US taxpayer's expense while at the same time, the average American gets what? ZERO, zilch, nada! Stop the bill and stop lying to the American public. Do right by all of us in debt that we were tricked into or that was rewritten after we signed loan documents [the facts for most student loans made decades ago by really poor people]. Either rescue us all from that pervasive debt or do not give special dump-your-mortgage-on-taxpayer-breaks to those who could afford a house.
I quickly read many articles this morning and there is still no plan to help homeowners or to help the nation, but instead it is designed to help build a banking monopoly giving unconstitutional powers to the head of Treasury Dept. There is no plan still that is written or revealed to the public that would help the average
homeowner! Creating a monopoly of mega-banks and financial dictators will ruin America. Read the article below and pray, because the future of whether the US
will be a nation that encourages free enterprise, and small business and liberty to
try to build a business even if you fail too, or big government run institutions including controlling every cent you have, is what is at stake.Remember that in the first hundred years of this nation, every founding father opposed a nationalised bank
except one, [I have forgotten who though but I remember studying his arguments against it.]
Monopolizing banking:
"The sale would further concentrate Americans’ bank deposits in
the hands of just three banks: Bank of America, JPMorgan Chase
and Citigroup. Together, those three would be so large that they would dominate the industry,
with unrivaled power to set prices for their loans and services."
quote from NY Times article entitled,"Citigroup Buys Banking Operations
of Wachovia" at this site:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/30/business/30bank.html?_r=1&hp&oref=slogin/
7:27 AM 9/29/2008
And this quote:"There was no assurance that the bailout plan
would work as intended to ease financial turmoil and economic
uncertainty.
Indeed, the reckoning in the finance industry has a long way to go,
said Nouriel Roubini, an economist at the Stern School of Business
at New York University." from the article,"Bailout Plan is only one
step on a long road", by Steve Lohr, in the NY Times today at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/29/business/29econ.html?hp
7:30 AM 9/29/2008. Another quote from that same article highlights
the reality:"Yet that pruning of the banking industry must take
place, economists say, and it is the government’s role to move it
along instead of coddling the banks if the financial system is going
to return to health."
Here is an article that speaks to the issue of the nations who have
really fought a war and have suffering on a day to day basis;because it
helps put the US 'crisis' in perspective. Though
I have often disagreed with Roger Cohen, I would like the whole
world to read this particular article of his in the NY Times today,
entitled, "The Most Dangerous Job on Earth" at this site:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/29/opinion/29cohen.html?hp/
7:40 AM 9/29/2008
And the European Nations are dealing with the nuclear fall-out from
the US bad banking also, according to this quote:
"In the latest sign of trouble to hit Europe from the global credit
crisis, the Belgian, Dutch and Luxembourg governments announced
Sunday a partial nationalization of the Belgian-Dutch financial
conglomerate Fortis, involving a combined injection of 11.2 billion euros, or $16.1 billion,
from the three governments, which took a 49 percent stake. "
in article entitled, "European Regulators move swiftly to rescue Lenders"
by Matthew Saltmarsh and Landon Thomas, Jr, in the NY Times business
at:http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/30/business/30fortis.html/
7:45 AM 9/29/2008
And too much power to the Treasury Secretary as noted in this quote:
"The draft legislation, which will be put to a House vote on Monday,
gives Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. and his successor
extraordinary power to decide how the $700 billion bailout fund
is spent." and in this quote from same article:
"Rarely if ever has one man had such broad authority to spend
government money as he sees fit, with no rules requiring him
to seek out the lowest possible price for assets being purchased."
from article in NY Times' business section at:
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/29/business/29bill.html/
7:48 AM 9/29/2008
Update:
Here are some details in the BBC that were not in the NY Times:
I quote:"Banks that accept bail-out money will have to hand over
shares in return, which allows tax payers to benefit from the banks' recovery."
and another quote: "Four agencies will monitor the deal, including an
independent Inspector General and a bipartisan oversight board .
Banks will be obliged to join an insurance programme to protect
them against the losses of mortgage-backed securities." [end quote]
Oh yea? Do they mean like that fraudulent insurance company AIG that the government also bailed?
And do you sincerely think that four agencies will add anything of
significance to the problems since the US already has the FDIC,
the SEC, the Anti-trust dept, the Congress, the blah,blah,blah agencies
that all failed? Will siphoning off more money to more inept
agencies help or more impoverish the average american? And what
good are shares that are worthless? They are not worth the paper
they are written on, if the bank has no money on deposit to pay them.I am convinced
what will do more good than anything else the government could do is prosecute
the criminals who defrauded the citizens routinely and who packaged their worthless
debts to sell abroad to unsuspecting banks and investors, while disguising that they were worthless papers. Send those crooks to the federal prison for violating of
banking rules and SEC rules and then watch how fast the rest
clean up their business dealings!
Read article at BBC business news:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7641733.stm/
8:06 AM 9/29/2008
Update:
This quote from MarketWatch today:
"Freddie Mac (FRE:Freddie Mac
said it received a grand-jury subpoena from the U.S. Attorney's
Office for the Southern District of New York in Manhattan,
seeking documents relating to accounting, disclosure and
corporate-governance matters for the period from Jan. 1, 2007,
to the present.
The company also said it's received notice that it is the subject
of a probe by the Securities and Exchange Commission, directing
it to preserve documents."
Read entire article at:
http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/freddie-freddie-get-subpeonas-sec/story.aspx?guid=%7BC25B6134-23B7-4E1C-A292-CEE58B3A5C57%7D&dist=msr_2/
9:27 AM 9/29/2008
Update:
Update :
This quote from Bloomberg News:
"On the other hand, ``the Fed's balance sheet is about to explode.''
spoken by Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd.in New York. And also this quote from same source:
"Banks and brokers have slowed lending as they struggle to restore
their capital after $586 billion in credit losses and writedowns
since the mortgage crisis began a year ago." Read entire article
about the US Fed pumping in $630 Billion into banks and also banks abroad to recapitalize them at:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=ahwz_k5JvuB8&refer=home/
10:06 AM 9/29/2008
Update:
This quote from article, 'who wins, who loses under proposed bailout plan?"
by Tom Raum, AP writer:
"It doesn't deal with the fundamental problems that gave rise to
the problem -- or alleviate the credit crisis," said Peter Morici,
an economist and business professor at the University of Maryland."
Read entire article at:
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080929/rescue_winners_losers.html?.&.pf=banking-budgeting/
12:04 PM 9/29/2008
And from The Washington Post this quote from NY Mayor Bloomberg:
"The problem is that nobody knows what any institution owns and
what the terms of the securities they own are and what they're
worth," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said Sunday on
"Meet the Press."
Please read the entire article named, " A Lesson the Markets ignored"
by Richard Cohen, for Tuesday, Sept 23,2008 at this site:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/22/AR2008092201922.html/
12:14 PM 9/29/2008
signed gloria poole, RN and artist, Denver CO 80203
