Well, once again, an overwhelming majority of the American populace was overridden by the DC politicians.
The last time that happened didn’t turn out so well, as I recall. In fact, it is still not working out so well. It’s called Iraq.
At any rate, the full-court press to pass this thing was phenomenal to witness.
[quote]WASHINGTON — The House of Representatives gave final approval on Friday to the $700 billion bailout for the financial system, reversing course to authorize what may be the most expensive government intervention in history.
At 1:21 p.m., applause and cheers echoed through the House chamber as the number of “aye” votes crossed the threshold needed for passage with just seconds remaining in the official 15-minute voting period. The vote was 263 to 171.
And in a sign of the urgency surrounding the package, Congressional staff rushed the newly printed legislation into a news conference where Democratic leaders gathered after the vote and Speaker Nancy Pelosi, Democrat of California, signed it, at exactly 2 p.m.
Earlier, Ms. Pelosi said the measure was essential to “begin to shape the financial stability of our country and the economic security of our people.”
[/quote]
Throughout the process, there was never any doubt in my mind that it would be passed. I was a little bit surprised at the three-pager that Paulson tried to ram through, both for its brevity and for its blunt attempt to seize unlimited power.
Lessons were learned, and plenty of pork was padded throughout the 400+ page final bill so that enough politicians got enough from it to pass it.
The one thing we never got was a good explanation for why it was needed at all, or why a different approach that better shielded the taxpayers was never considered.
This next quote captures the emotion of fear that was used to slam this thing through.
[quote]“Nobody in East Tennessee hates the fact more than me that I am going to vote ‘yes’ today after voting ‘no’ on Monday,” Representative Zach Wamp, a Republican, said in a speech on the House floor.
“Monday I cast a blue-collar vote for the American people,” he said. “Today I am going to cast a red, white and blue-collar vote with my hand over my heart for this country, because things are really bad and we don’t have any choice. We’re out of choices and our backs are up against the wall.”[/quote]
And after all of this, how did the markets respond?
Badly. Very badly. This chart of S&P 500 futures (Central Time) is my favorite way to keep an eye on the stock market, because it leads it by seconds to minutes.
The Dow is off 153 as I write this.
Already Wall Street is saying, "Not enough!" And, mark my words, it will be back for more before the year is even up.
This was the greatest looting operation ever in our history. Keep a journal. These are historic times.
by blackrott