The Ben Franklin Report: The Bailout Settles In

Just in case you need a reference point to how much the bailout was, consider the number to the right, the cost of the War in Iraq thus far. Yes, the bailout that was passed last week surpasses the amount of money spent on that mistake by leaps and bounds. So, when history is written, how should this period be judged? Where were our priorities? Did we ensure that every child in America had access to primary health care? Were we more concerned about finding a cure for cancer, or spending money on making sure that phone calls and emails didn't contain terrorist-related content?



The bailout and its effects in the market place, in a nut shell. Apparently, today the chaos continues as the first market to open after Bush's signature, the Israeli Tel Aviv Stock Exchange tumbled like a rock going down a sheer slope. 

The fundamental source of the entire financial crisis has been the opaque nature of the books of the biggest financial institutions. The fact that they refused to value assets which, if shown in the light of day, would be revealed to have little revenue potential, will probably end up costing the companies billions in dollars is only being papered over by the bill that the various branches of the federal government approved on Friday. This is further reinforced by new rules from the Securities and Exchange Commission stating that corporations no longer have to price these assets on a 'mark-to-market' basis. That is to say, they no longer have to value them at the price they would likely fetch in a free and open market, but rather can just pencil in whatever they want and use these assets as capital, or as collateral for the various short-term lending programs offered by the Federal Reserve. However, the hanging $55 trillion question in the air is what happens when the Credit Default Swaps start becoming unbundled. For instance, you may remember A.I.G. which met its fate and an $85 billion bailout from the Federal Treasury because of these insurance policies, but has yet to sell a single asset, despite blowing through $61 billion of the money provided in the bailout. Yet their executives party like Nero in Rome. Party on, Wayne. Why worry when none of those responsible for the lending practices will ever be prosecuted? 

So, with some banks saying that they won't even participate in the No Bank Left Behind program and banks that will still fail regardless of their participation, what are we left with? A budget problem that will hamstring the domestic and foreign policies of the next President, whoever it may be, an IRS with undercover investigative powers which will be on the prowl to make sure that every dollar Uncle Sam has coming is brought to the Treasury, and good, old-fashioned rage almost everywhere other than Wall Street. 

A Little More Bacon Makes the Medicine Go Down

Unfortunately, the professional politicians of the Senate, including Sens. and presidential candidates Obama and McCain, voted in favor of a revised version of the bailout. Now, with some tax breaks and other pork barrel spending to enhance the bill's chances to pass through the House, and of course extra flavor. This delicious bacon costs an addition $100 billion, which is far more than I would ever pay for it, no matter how delicious it is. In addition, there are other sections that have been added to the bill, and you don't need to worry anymore about your children's wooden arrows being taxed at an exorbitant rate. One may argue that it passed through the Senate because only a portion of its members have to worry about re-election, which may or may not be the true reason. However, if one feels that this bill is overtly socialist, consider the opposition of Sen. Bernie Sanders, a self-described socialist, who describes the bailout as unfair.

Also, I would like to see the opinion polls that Americans are more confused than opposed to the bill. I'm sure Mike Shedlock would have something to say about that, in between falling asleep at his computer, leading the charge against this horrible piece of legislation.

For those who need this explained, one has the choice of either the illustrious Dr. Ron Paul's Campaign for Liberty, or if you need to have it put into perspective with examples, this Opinion piece by Jonathan Weil is a must-read.

I wish that I could believe that this bailout is just an inefficient piece of legislation written in a system that didn't suffer from the systemic failings that went through Sweden's financial system in the 90's. But, even with, or should I say despite, the benefit of the experience of Sweden's former Finance Minister, the legislation is going forward in the worst way possible. When these banks are able to price these horrible pieces of financial wizardry that are currently befuddling their balance sheets at a price dictated by a former head of Goldman Sachs, the economic crisis will continue unabated, as the underlying fundmental economic problems remain. People will still be losing their jobs and inflation will be destroying the purchasing power of the dollars that are still being earned by those fortunate enough to have employment. This is a very dangerous game, with even more money being wasted on tax breaks that aren't substantiated in any significant way.

Republicrats: Another Nail in the Coffin

As some of you might have heard, the amendments to the FISA regulations, which also includes telecom immunity, has passed through the Senate. As the article mentions, there were 19 Democratic Senators who voted in favor of the legislation, along the lines of security before freedom or something like that.

Here is a list of the Senators who have voted to uphold the Bush administration's priorities, to twist the truth, to become Republicrats.

• Baucus (MT)
• Bayh (IN)
• Carper (DE)
• Casey (PA)
• Conrad (ND)
• Inouye (HI)
• Johnson (SD)
• Kohl (WI)
  
• Landrieu (LA)
• Lincoln (AR)
• McCaskill (MO)
• Mikulski (MD)
• Nelson (FL)
• Nelson (NE)
• Rockefeller (WV)
• Salazar (CO)
• Webb (VA)
• Whitehouse (RI)
  

GAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

There is no curse loud or profane enough to hurl at the senators who voted to give immunity to the telecom industry. All this does is encourage companies to break the law whenever the government asks them to. It makes the rule of law waivable at the whim of the president. If the alagations against the telecom companies are true, then we all have been harmed. Even law abiding people have secrets that should be kept and respected. Even criminals deserve privacy. Privacy is a human right that is not granted by governments or agencys, we are imbued with that right by our creator and the purpose of government is to protect our rights.

The Democrats roll over, fail to understand why they won last election, and approval ratings continue to fall.