Monday, September 29, 2008
The full text of the Wall Street Enrichment Act has been published. Read the comments... It's no longer a "bailout bill" but a "Emergency Economic Stabilization Act", which I suppose will play better in Peoria.
In the process of being blessed by congress, the 3 page Paulson plan got expanded to 110 pages of legalese...
I'd have had more venom in this blog this past week if the news sites I read didn't have open comments systems, where ordinary people get to say exactly what they think, uncensored, eloquently and in real time.
The online comments are running 99% massively pissed off.
I pity anyone that reads the popular press on old fashioned newsprint. This bill will pass before a single letter to the editor reviewing it will make a physical paper, and undoubtably be balanced by the editors with a contrasting opinion.
Me, I got as far as the 6th page of the bill before I blew a gasket and had to take a nap.
The bill and popular press are conflating the terms "asset" and "debt". While in bank-ese a "debt" may be an "asset", in the real world, debt is debt. What this is all about is issuing more government debt to buy up private debt that is theoretically backed by assets of declining value, in the hope that the government (the people with guns and tanks) can make the debt pay at something closer to its original value.
On to page 7, if my heart can stand it...
update: Some good jokes. I particularly liked the ones about the bell-ringer and balloonist. The parrot in the freezer joke seemed appropriate as well.
In the process of being blessed by congress, the 3 page Paulson plan got expanded to 110 pages of legalese...
I'd have had more venom in this blog this past week if the news sites I read didn't have open comments systems, where ordinary people get to say exactly what they think, uncensored, eloquently and in real time.
I pity anyone that reads the popular press on old fashioned newsprint. This bill will pass before a single letter to the editor reviewing it will make a physical paper, and undoubtably be balanced by the editors with a contrasting opinion.
Me, I got as far as the 6th page of the bill before I blew a gasket and had to take a nap.
- (e) PREVENTING UNJUST ENRICHMENT.—In making purchases under the authority of this Act, the Secretary shall take such steps as may be necessary to prevent un-just enrichment of financial institutions participating in a program established under this section, including by preventing the sale of a troubled asset to the Secretary at a higher price than what the seller paid to purchase the asset. This subsection does not apply to troubled assets acquired in a merger or acquisition, or a purchase of assets from a financial institution in conservatorship or receivership, or that has initiated bankruptcy proceedings under title 11, United States Code.
The bill and popular press are conflating the terms "asset" and "debt". While in bank-ese a "debt" may be an "asset", in the real world, debt is debt. What this is all about is issuing more government debt to buy up private debt that is theoretically backed by assets of declining value, in the hope that the government (the people with guns and tanks) can make the debt pay at something closer to its original value.
On to page 7, if my heart can stand it...
update: Some good jokes. I particularly liked the ones about the bell-ringer and balloonist. The parrot in the freezer joke seemed appropriate as well.
Labels: bailout, banking, sarcasm
¶ 2:27 AM
