[Will Goldman Sachs give dishes or toasters to people opening new accounts or Christmas Clubs when it becomes a commercial bank?]My problem with Henry concerns his iron-grip control of the $700B rescue package of Wall Street, or as Lanny Davis calls it in today’s Wall Street Journal, the GOP’s “socialist bailout” of the fat cats.
Paulson demands the keys to the Treasury. His plan makes the Treasury Secretary’s decisions “non-reviewable” and “may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.” Who died and made Paulson boss? It's the taxpayers' money.
The bailout is nothing more than an outright power grab by Paulson and a mechanism to enshrine his successors as U.S. money czars accountable to nobody. Geez, what happens if John McCain becomes the next president and he appoints his financial adviser, the despicable Phil Gramm of "stop whining” fame, as head of the Treasury. Feet don’t fail me now.
A re-write of Paulson’s plan is necessary. Stringent congressional oversight is required for the spending of such a colossal hoard of cash. Federal watchdogs need to be crawling all over the money.
Paulson is part of a bungling Administration that has played fast and loose with the facts for the last eight years. Henry, himself, has spent the last year calming jitters about the nation’s financial situation. He now has dramatically shifted gears and warns that all hell will break loose if we don’t let him have his way with the $700B.
We heard that “my way or the highway” refrain before. It came from the White House. Congressional and media caving to the false threats cooked up by the Bush Administration got us into the mess in Iraq. Congress should take a deep breath and tell Paulson the bailout cash comes with many strings attached.
(Photo: Hoover Institution)