Socializing Private Securities
Just think, 6 months ago the Republicans were talking about privatizing Social Security. Now they're talking about socializing private securities.
Here's a copy of the proposal.
This looks like a very, very bad idea, if for no other reason than the Bush administration is proposing it, and his cronies will run it.
Update: This morning the talking heads of both parties seemed to be reaching some sort of bipartisan consensus that quick action is needed. This supposed somber-faced meeting last week, yadda, yadda, yadda really reminds me of the run up to the Iraq war. And sections 8 and 9 of this proposal:
Sec. 8. Review.
Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.
Sec. 9. Termination of Authority.
The authorities under this Act, with the exception of authorities granted in sections 2(b)(5), 5 and 7, shall terminate two years from the date of enactment of this Act.
Is the Democratic leadership crazy??? Give this unbridled, unreviewed authority to a partisan hack like Paulson, whose authority will last two years? This is the same Paulson who has said repeatedly the economy was sound and there was no problem or recession.
posted by Paul @ 11:42 AM
3 Comments:
Thanks for reading the bill so I don't have to. All signs point to a pig in a poke. I can't believe we're once again just trusting this administration in a moment of crisis, as if we don't know how they game crises. I guess Bernanke lends some heft. Still, I'd hold out for real accountability. Josh Marshall at TPM has been dead on so far, I'd say.
I'm horrified by the quick shift in "centrist" conventional wisdom. It's now the government's job to ensure money market funds without limit? It's now the government's job to buy Wall Street assets so awful that literally no private firm will touch them with a 10 foot pole. When did the US become a country of socialism for bankers?
All it seems to take is for the administration to take a position and then--no matter how profoundly radical it is--it becomes the baseline for "middle of the road." Big deviations from the administration's plan one way or another are instantly defined as "extreme."
It doesn't matter whether the administration is proposing an all out invasion of a country that has taken no aggressive action against the US whatsoever. Or whether the administration now says that the equivalent of the entire Pentagon budget be turned over to Wall Street firms IMMEDIATELY.
Democrats, I fear, will sell us all out for a mere fig leaf. Hell, they might not even get that, if the past is prologue. They are, as always, a pathetic and weak group of fearful followers.
By the way, if the legislative authority lasts for two years, Treasury Secretary Phil Gramm could be empowered with these kingly authorities.
Any legislature that agrees to this is effectively putting itself out of business as a political institution. Talk about throwing away your own power with both hands.
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