I must say, I was overjoyed when the House of Representatives voted against the initial bailout plan. The plan essentially made the Secretary of Treasury the tzar of finances. In addition, the initial bailout plan did way too much to reward the Wall Street gamblers and not enough to assist people on Main Street who are still in the process of losing their homes.
My celebration was short-lived as the Senate managed to use Paulson's original plan, spice it up with unrelated tax and energy provisions, and sell it to the American public as a new and improved "rescue bill." The bill, which is coined the "Emergency Economic Stabilization Bill" rescues everyone but the homeowner. After reviewing the 451 pages of this new bailout bill, I realized why Congress has such a low approval rating. I also realized that this is what Congress does when the American public is not watching...padding their pockets with earmarks and protecting their rich, well-connected friends at the expense of the American taxpayer. Let's take a look at what is in this so-called bail-out plan:
THE GOOD
- Sec. 202. Deduction of qualified tuition and related expenses.
- Sec. 201. Deduction for State and local sales taxes.
THE BAD
- making the bill so damn long that the average American will not bother to read
THE QUESTIONABLE
- Sec. 503. Exemption from excise tax for certain wooden arrows designed for use by children.
- Sec. 502. Provisions related to film and television productions.
- Sec. 317. Seven-year cost recovery period for motorsports racing track facility.
- Sec. 325. Extension and modification of duty suspension on wool products; wool research fund; wool duty refunds.
THE MISSING IN ACTION
- forcing mortgage companies to negotiate with homeowners (reset existing bad mortgages to 30-year fixed)
- forcing mortgage companies to renegotiate current executive benefit packages
- no plan in place to prevent this credit meltdown from happening again
*´¨`·.¸¸.* Ebony Ynobe *¨`·.¸¸.*
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