WTF?!? Senate Bailout Bill Loaded with Pork!

[FarmerJohn]

Setting aside for a moment the constitutional issue that tax bills (which this bill clearly is) must origionate in the House of Representatives, what's up with all the pork?
FJ
$223M for Alaskan fisherman
$192M for rum producers in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands
$128M for auto racing
$33M for companies operating in American Samoa
$10M for film & TV production
$6M for producers of wooden arrows (wooden arrows!)

http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticke...-in-Senate-Bailout-Bill:-Will-the-House-Balk?

Loads of Pork, Little Accountability in Senate Bailout Bill: Will the House Balk?

By a healthy margin, the Senate passed the $700 billion bailout package last night, setting the stage for a do-over in the House, which is expected to vote on the bill Friday.

The House rejected the original bill on Monday but the revised bill contains a lot of "sweeteners" designed to garner enough votes, including $100 billion in tax relief, a widening of the FDIC insurance cap to $250,000 and aid to rural schools.

But the Senate bill is also laden with pork, including:

$223M for Alaskan fisherman
$192M for rum producers in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands
$128M for auto racing
$33M for companies operating in American Samoa
$10M for film & TV production
$6M for producers of wooden arrows
Those 'earmarks' may not be palatable to many House members, especially those concerned about fiscal spending and/or getting reelected.

Notably, overseas markets were mixed in reaction to the Senate passage and U.S. stocks got off to a very weak start Thursday. At 10:15 a.m. EDT, the Dow was down about 200 points, or 2%, while the S&P and Nasdaq were each down about 2.3%.

Whether the market is telling us the bill won't work or won't pass the House is unclear -- although maybe the answer is both.

Meanwhile, Todd Harrison, CEO of Minyanville.com, says more time should be given to what's not in the legislation. His wish list includes:

More protection for savers and penalties for bad actors
Regulation of the credit derivatives markets
Accountability and culpability for this mess, up and down the food chain

 

[Fred]

Surely this doesn't surprise you?

 

[Grantbo]

Why the outrage fJ? This always happens and has been happening for 50+ years. Same thing different day. Yawn.

 

[tanstaafl]

Something that is continuously being overlooked and under-reported: The rise in the bank account cap to $250,000 for FDIC insurance is TEMPORARY. I don't know the details, but I would guess that it will expire in about a year. Also, the relief from the Alternative Minimum Tax is, again, TEMPORARY (this bill would extend the expiration one year). Note that both can be stripped out in committee when the House and the Senate bills are reconciled into a single identical bill.

Regarding "temporary" and "permanent" in governmentese, here are two rules that were created by a group of NASA contractors I worked with back when there was such a hopeful project as "Space Station Freedom" (subsequently considerably scaled WAY back to the orbiting tinkertoy now known as the "international space station"):

Rule #1: There's nothing more permanent than a temporary government action.

Rule #2: There's nothing more temporary than a permanent rule or a newly issued policy.

My point being, the bailout bill ain't final until it's final. The final bill may not look like it does today, and even if it does pass it's only "temporary" and "permanent" in the government sense (see Rules #1 and #2). Which means it's subject to change (aka, "amended") at the future whim of Congress, the President, and the Supreme Court. (Does anyone doubt the Supreme Court, as the third branch of government and flexing its muscles these last few years, will allow itself NOT to be involved in this?)

 

[Josie]

Yeah, I heard this on the news this morning. It was padded with the pork to make it more palatable. All it's doing for me is raising my blood pressure!!!

 

[USDA]

Bernake of the Fed poured 630 billion into the markets this week....sounds like most of the 700 billion Congress is being asked for. And what happened? The stock market went down anyway...and the money just disappeared.

This is what will happen to the 700 billion if it passes...it will just disappear, except for some pork here and there (as usual) and a big bill for the tax payer when it doesn't work out. The banks just suck this money in and plug their own holes, but do not lend it out.

This money ultra billions so far, has done next to nothing because it never makes to Main Street, never makes it out of the banks themselves. Banks turn in their bad paper, get money from the Fed and then just sets on it. Banks don't lend to on another or anyone else for all practical purposes because they don't trust the balanace sheets of other banks, because the balance sheets lie, just like their own balance sheets lie, bad loans are hidden in this 'Special Vehicle" or that one, thus no one except a few a the bank in question really knows the status of the bank.

Without knowledge of the true state of affairs of a company would you, as an astute investor, put money into it? You would be a fool if you did. Banks need transparancy and not to hide their problems, otherwise pouring all the money that computers at the FED can create will not clear up their problems and bring back lending.

These banks who are opaque should fail, close, be sold off...let new institutions with new balance sheets, and who have hopfully learned a lesson or two off this crisis, come into being.

We keep pouring the publics New Wine, into old crooked banks...not good at all.

 

[yarrow]

Kinda interesting that McCain talks on his TV ads about pork barrel spending... then explain why $223M goes to Alaskan fishermen.... hmmmm isn't Palin from Alaska and her hubby a fisherman????