Here's what I don't get about the bailout bill.

[rkc3]

Each and every politician that gets his/her 30 seconds on camera tells America this bill sucks. They tell us they don't want to vote for it. They tell us they wish they weren't in a position to have to vote on a measure like this. But yet, they will vote on, and probably approve, a shitty bill that no one likes, that now contains "sweeteners", and is guaranteed to piss off about 90% of America.

Is the leadership in the House and Senate so poor that no one can say - let's step back a minute, look at the situation, and write a bill that makes sense? One that doesn't transfer an enormous amount of power to one man - and do you really think Paulson is going to be here after January 20? One that prevents this from happening again. One that doesn't require America to mortgage its future on mistakes made by this administration.

There isn't even one person who can muster the courage to write a meaningful piece of legislation on this matter?

[antigop]

1. Have we become a "crazy-ocracy" -- led by people who are insane?

http://action.credomobile.com/sirota/2008/10/bailout_as_proof_of_americas_c.html

[tama]

5. As the saying goes

people get the leaders they deserve.

[girl gone mad]

2. Makes you wonder..

what kind of dirt Bush and Wall St. have on them.

[2speak]

3. You will see

they have no dirt but are holding them hostage. Well the hostages will get their revenge. Give it some time.

[Warpy]

4. The problem is that they're pressed for time

The election is now 32 days away. They need to recess so they have time to go home and kiss babies while they tell lies. They need to pass something quickly and they don't have time to work out a lot of the details--which is how this administration planned it.

The miracle is that they didn't just ram Paulson's incredibly bad bill through, that they're talking about this at all.

The Senate bill provided more than an adequate stopgap measure to keep credit flowing at least at a trickle. That will do things like keep goods on store shelves, something I think we all realize is important. It also provided a few progressive sweeteners like raising the AMT floor. It's probably the best we can expect right now.

No one is happy with it because they all know it's going to be something they're going to have to defend to the folks back home.

However, it will buy time for the new and more strongly Democratic Congress to sit and make lasting changes to our broken economy.

[LSK]

7. and they need something that will PASS

[Ah Xoc Kin]

6. stories are popping up

from businesses here and there
that their expansions have to be cancelled

[Dover]

8. Well, considering who is WRITING the bill, what do we expect?

I just posted this elsewhere:

Okay ante up! Looks like we're going to have to collect millions to have a place at the table
crafting our future. Isn't this how Cheney crafted our energy policy? Double standard?

----------------------------------------------------------------

Obama, McCain look to lobbyists for advice on financial crisis

Top lobbyists for the financial-services industry are feverishly working connections inside both presidential campaigns, hoping to influence a torrent of regulation certain in the aftermath of the market crisis.

As the financial-market crisis has deepened, economic advisers from both campaigns have reached out to the big industry lobbying groups, vetting ideas on what they should do.

It is the "dirty little secret in town," said one financial-services lobbyist -- that after lambasting lobbyists on the stump, the candidates need their counsel on how to respond to a crisis with origins too complicated for most industry outsiders to understand.

"It's a dialogue...that's taken on a greater urgency in the last couple of weeks," said Steve O'Connor, senior vice president for government affairs at the Mortgage Bankers Association. The group is urging caution on regulatory proposals, he said, telling both camps, "You want to get it right."

The financial industry has invested heavily in that dialogue, giving $22.5 million in the current election cycle to Sen. Barack Obama, the Democratic candidate, and $19.6 million to Sen. John McCain, the Republican nominee, according to data from the Center for Responsive Politics.

This week, two of the biggest financial groups in Washington, the Financial Services Roundtable and the Mortgage Bankers Association, have drawn in members from across the country to grill economic advisers from both campaigns, develop policy positions and urge prudence as both parties struggle to craft a regulatory stance on the deepening crisis.

The Financial Services Roundtable has developed draft legislation that calls for the Federal Reserve to regulate brokerages and dealers that seek access to its discount window; a new federal insurance regulator within Treasury; and a mechanism for federal agencies to coordinate regulation among themselves....>

http://www.greenchange.org/article.php?id=3272


Financial Services Roundtable:
http://www.fsround.org/about/member_companies.htm