THE BAILOUT PROPOSAL: CORPORATE WELFARE, BUT THIS TIME WITH CASEWORKERS

I'm sure glad that I'm a speed reader when I have to be. After skimming through the current 110 pages of the discussion draft for the pending bailout legislation, here's what I find interesting (that is, if this shit gets passed in total):

1. Looks like we're going to be hearing and seeing the term "TARP" (Troubled Asset Relief Program) a whole Hell of a lot for the next few weeks or so. It does have a kind of New Dealish ring to it.

2. There's going to be a whole bunch of committees and commissions and bureaus created with a whole bunch of new appointed positions available to provide oversight and regulatory enforcement and all that stuff that governments like to do to try to convince the public that they are doing something good with their tax revenues.

3. In my own layman's opinion, the Secretary of the Treasury still has way too much juice in regards to how this whole bailout process is going to operate.

4. There's yet one more Special Inspector General position being created and with a little luck, since it's a Presidential appointment maybe this can stall out until January 20. If McCain somehow gets elected, however, my wishing defeats the purpose.

5. The statutory debt limit is being increased to just over eleven trillion dollars, which at this point, if that doesn't make the public debt limit meaningless, aw Hell, nothing will.

6. It seems like renters of properties owned by landlords who are holding failed mortgages will be protected from unfair eviction, but it's pretty thin language, so how effective this protection would be remains to be determined.

7. As for the supposed crackdown on fat CEO severance packages- same as point number 6.

8. There's going to be yet one more Congressional oversight panel to be created to have meetings, and by the way,

"Each member of the Oversight Panel shall each be paid at a rate equal to the daily equivalent of the annual rate of basic pay for level I of the Executive Schedule for each day (including travel time) during which such member is engaged in the actual performance of duties vested in the Commission."

Yeeeah boyee. Mo' money, mo' meetings. That's how we DO it on Cap Hill, G!

Yeah, I predict that, in the end, this act will accomplish... well close to fuckin' nothing, actually. But, hey, the nation's conscience will be cleared. Maybe. After all, we've got to do something, and gosh darn it, we sure did! Now, let's get this thing passed, and signed, and get right into those meetings that look great on C-SPAN!

But don't just assume that I know what I'm talking about. Read some of this stuff yourself, especially if you've got a couple of hours to kill. Click Here, Pilgrim