While some in the mainstream media are blithely writing the obituary for free market capitalism, something odd is happening: The free market is actually working, not in the way anyone wanted, but it is working; and that is in spite of the best efforts of Bush, Paulson, Bernanke, Pelosi, Reid, Dodd, Frank and all of the other dubious bit players and functionaries that have been spouting off about the need to do something about the crisis. That is the thing about the free market. It is like gravity. It is always on. There is another odd thing happening as well: With the exception of the greedy Wall Street CEOs that everyone involved in the scandal as well as those covering it can agree are evil, no one really wants to identify anyone else responsible for this mess to task. Instead, we hear a great deal about fixing the problem and moving on.
Move on...hmmm...that sounds awfully familiar....
Welcome to the Recession
After the $700 billion Wall Street bailout was ra...
By Charles M Cooper · October 07 2008
small business, congress, paulson, bailout bill
Regardless of what side of the issue you come down on, whether you backed the bailout bill or were against it, yesterday's resounding defeat of the bill does have something to it that should make every American very happy. In that vote we saw a very clear example of how members of Congress actually work for the taxpayer.
Constituents and Political Games Equal Bailout FailureThere were two reasons for the failure of the $700 billion Wall Street bailout bill. One was a barrage of angry phone calls from constituents who stated their opposition to the bill. It seems that the American people were not happy with the idea of giving people with that much personal responsibility for the mess (Paulson, former CEO of Goldman Sachs, Dodd and Frank who were instrumental in creating the problem in the first place—the list goes on and on) the money and authority to bail out their Wall Street pals. No, the people did not like that at all and they let their representativ...
By Charles M Cooper · September 30 2008
small business, congress, paulson, bailout bill
Yesterday, I took a look at the latest bailout proposal that is currently making its way through the Congress. Is it necessary? I am sorry—to the point of nausea—to say that is probably is if we wish to avert a 1929-style economic meltdown, but there are two things about it that really bother me: one is the power that Paulson wants and the other is the sheer magnitude of the various bailouts.
A Question of Power
In a crisis where oversight failed and the inmates were allowed to run the asylum, Secretary Paulson, in his proposed $700 billion bailout bill, slipped in this little gem:
Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.
In plain language, this portion of the bill, Section 8, says that the Secretary of the Treasury may work with no oversight from anyone. In other words,...
By Charles M Cooper · September 23 2008
small business, congress, paulson, bailout bill
