Here is the text. Didn't want it buried in another thread.

Read this, and consider:

No oversight.

Blank Check.

Power to do no-bid contracts that can convey authority to corporations with no checks and balances.

Power of the purse stripped from Congress, just as legislative power has been largely stripped.

This is a financial coup!

Call your reps and urge them not to pass this without VERY SIGNIFICANT AMENDMENTS to incorporate re-regulations to fix the lack of regulations that got us here.

Remember, REPUBLICANS DID THIS.

Ask yourself how we are gonna deal with a potential 11 TRILLION DOLLAR PUBLIC DEBT when we have OUTSOURCED so many jobs.

Ask yourself who should be paying the VERY HIGH taxes necessary to pay this back, WHEN THE CORPORATIONS WILL KEEP THE PROFITS AND WE KEEP THE LOSSES.

11 TRILLION DOLLARS. Unlimited power to purchase and do no-bid contracts all going down this weekend, unless we can convince Congress to not pass this.

Ask yourself which is cheaper. Continuing to entertain this ideology, or assisting the common American people, then building from there. I'll bet it's cheaper to just pay off the mortages, support the financial industry indirectly, then tax the living shit out of them to get it back over 10 years, than it is to go down the path this bill will take us down.

Text in next post.

LEGISLATIVE PROPOSAL FOR TREASURY AUTHORITY

TO PURCHASE MORTGAGE-RELATED ASSETS

Section 1. Short Title.

This Act may be cited as __________________.

Sec. 2. Purchases of Mortgage-Related Assets.

(a) Authority to Purchase.--The Secretary is authorized to purchase, and to make and fund commitments to purchase, on such terms and conditions as determined by the Secretary, mortgage-related assets from any financial institution having its headquarters in the United States.

(b) Necessary Actions.--The Secretary is authorized to take such actions as the Secretary deems necessary to carry out the authorities in this Act, including, without limitation:

(1) appointing such employees as may be required to carry out the authorities in this Act and defining their duties;

(2) entering into contracts, including contracts for services authorized by section 3109 of title 5, United States Code, without regard to any other provision of law regarding public contracts;

(3) designating financial institutions as financial agents of the Government, and they shall perform all such reasonable duties related to this Act as financial agents of the Government as may be required of them;

(4) establishing vehicles that are authorized, subject to supervision by the Secretary, to purchase mortgage-related assets and issue obligations; and

(5) issuing such regulations and other guidance as may be necessary or appropriate to define terms or carry out the authorities of this Act.

Sec. 3. Considerations.

In exercising the authorities granted in this Act, the Secretary shall take into consideration means for--

(1) providing stability or preventing disruption to the financial markets or banking system; and

(2) protecting the taxpayer.

Sec. 4. Reports to Congress.

Within three months of the first exercise of the authority granted in section 2(a), and semiannually thereafter, the Secretary shall report to the Committees on the Budget, Financial Services, and Ways and Means of the House of Representatives and the Committees on the Budget, Finance, and Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate with respect to the authorities exercised under this Act and the considerations required by section 3.

Sec. 5. Rights; Management; Sale of Mortgage-Related Assets.

(a) Exercise of Rights.--The Secretary may, at any time, exercise any rights received in connection with mortgage-related assets purchased under this Act.

(b) Management of Mortgage-Related Assets.--The Secretary shall have authority to manage mortgage-related assets purchased under this Act, including revenues and portfolio risks therefrom.

(c) Sale of Mortgage-Related Assets.--The Secretary may, at any time, upon terms and conditions and at prices determined by the Secretary, sell, or enter into securities loans, repurchase transactions or other financial transactions in regard to, any mortgage-related asset purchased under this Act.

(d) Application of Sunset to Mortgage-Related Assets.--The authority of the Secretary to hold any mortgage-related asset purchased under this Act before the termination date in section 9, or to purchase or fund the purchase of a mortgage-related asset under a commitment entered into before the termination date in section 9, is not subject to the provisions of section 9.

Sec. 6. Maximum Amount of Authorized Purchases.

The Secretary’s authority to purchase mortgage-related assets under this Act shall be limited to $700,000,000,000 outstanding at any one time

Sec. 7. Funding.

For the purpose of the authorities granted in this Act, and for the costs of administering those authorities, the Secretary may use the proceeds of the sale of any securities issued under chapter 31 of title 31, United States Code, and the purposes for which securities may be issued under chapter 31 of title 31, United States Code, are extended to include actions authorized by this Act, including the payment of administrative expenses. Any funds expended for actions authorized by this Act, including the payment of administrative expenses, shall be deemed appropriated at the time of such expenditure.

Sec. 8. Review.

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.

Sec. 9. Termination of Authority.

The authorities under this Act, with the exception of authorities granted in sections 2(b)(5), 5 and 7, shall terminate two years from the date of enactment of this Act.

Sec. 10. Increase in Statutory Limit on the Public Debt.

Subsection (b) of section 3101 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by striking out the dollar limitation contained in such subsection and inserting in lieu thereof $11,315,000,000,000.

Sec. 11. Credit Reform.

The costs of purchases of mortgage-related assets made under section 2(a) of this Act shall be determined as provided under the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990, as applicable.

Sec. 12. Definitions.

For purposes of this section, the following definitions shall apply:

(1) Mortgage-Related Assets.--The term “mortgage-related assets” means residential or commercial mortgages and any securities, obligations, or other instruments that are based on or related to such mortgages, that in each case was originated or issued on or before September 17, 2008.

(2) Secretary.--The term “Secretary” means the Secretary of the Treasury.

(3) United States.--The term “United States” means the States, territories, and possessions of the United States and the District of Columbia.

Was it worth it?

Worried about Gay people getting married?

How about that potential for a theocracy? Would Jesus have any part of this?

Abortion?

Flag burning?

Privatization? Yeah, like that's getting us somewhere fast isn't it?

Where are you fuckers?

Herb, Deane, et al... (Edit: I mean, in general, not that Herb, Deane, et al are fuckers!)

Not a peep now huh?

I'm ashamed I was ever a Registered Republican. I'm going to dedicate a small amount of time EVERY DAMN DAY to make sure others feel as horrible about that as I can.

When I can't get credit, I'm watching my kids struggle with their debt laden futures, I'll remember this crap big.

I suggest you all do the same.

And yes, my posts are angry. They are angry because I've lived my life trying to do the right things, raising my kids to do the right things and see this going down, knowing we never should have been here, but for way too many people, including myself, dis-interested, distracted by shiny things, feeling entitled, lazy, TRUSTING.

Well, now I know better. All of you will soon too.

Damn. Should have woke up just a bit sooner. Perhaps I could have made that difference early 2000.

BTW: This is being done with NO public debate.

Perhaps we will see that next week, but I doubt it. Just entering the conversation hands the election to Obama. Hell, just the thought of this crap hands it to Obama.

Maybe that's a wash.

However, a robust debate has got to include the cost implications of forgiving citizen debt, regulations to prevent it from happening again, as opposed to this draconian legal ponzi scheme being proposed.

Here's a starter letter:

http://www.senate.gov/...

Here is my letter. Feel free to use it if you want.

Dear Senator XXXXXX:

I am writing in very deep concern over the Wall Street Bailout Act, currently entitled as "LEGISLATIVE PROPOSAL FOR TREASURY AUTHORITY TO PURCHASE MORTGAGE-RELATED ASSETS".

This is, to say the least, a deeply troubling bill. Specifically:

1. There is little to no oversight. Furthermore, section 8 ensures that any oversight is crippled from the start, as it states, and I quote from the text of the act: "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."

2. The floating amount controlled by the Secretary of the Treasury is $700B is effectively a blank check as there is no hard limit.

3. It appears that the power of the Secretary extends to no-bid contracts.

4. It provides no restoration of the provisions of the Glass-Steagall Act, modernized or otherwise, that were stripped away by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. It does absolutely nothing to change the fundamental problems that led us to this situation.

I strongly urge you to vote against this bill. I know that we need to prevent the complete disintegration of our economy, but this is not the solution. This is a blank check to the executive; it is the abdication of the financial powers granted to the legislative branch in Article 1, Section 8 of the constitution.

Sincerely,

***I'm actually gonna include the no debate bit and helping out citizens as alternatives to debate in mine.

Missing I am thinking we are seeing the start of the... end of the US as we know it. Or downhill spiral has not only begun it has progressed into somewhat of a situation where we have no recourse of taking ourselves back and fixing what has been wrong for so long. Its possible although not written in stone what we are about to see happen to this once great nation, and idea that has become corrupted. Election day is "THE" day! What happens on that day will determine the finality of this country IMHO! We can take a fork in the road that leads to near or total destruction and quite possibly lead us into a WWIII or we can take a fork in the road that while it will be quite rocky it may at the same time have SOME potential for fixing and improving upon.

Its no longer a decision about whats best for you, your family, your wallet, your faith, or your community but rather what you want of the future of YOUR country.

IMHO, those are intertwined.

The future of the country ends up being your family, your wallet, your faith.

If everybody just voted their self-interest, we then would be far more on track then we are right now. It's not selfish to vote for your wallet, your family, your faith.

What is selfish is to put one of those above the others in this "nothing else matters" fashion. That's a distraction. That's part of how we got here.

I think there is always recourse. At the end of the day, we the people do hold the power. It may well be costly to exercise it, but that is the law of the land.

To me, this election is about the apathy and a sobering reminder that there really are no entitlements in this world.

Speak or be spoken for.

This is disturbing. KSKD has done a lot of research on this, so I have to do some more reading on this before I can really comment. 11 trillion dollar ceiling ???????? WHY?/ GOOD GOD...

If true, this would be like a " Financial Patriot Act"....mmmm?... makes me wonder...dubayah...and his Crises..one crises to the next, first it was 9-11, then Iraq...now the markets...and now an excuse to create a " Financial Patriot Act"...

Very convenient ....

I can't tell you how much I wished Bush was already out of office so that I can hope reasonable people are behind the bailout plan.

Kennewickman, share what you find.

I'm scared shitless over this.

Your last thoughts are mine too. Shock Doctrine 101. Get the people shaking in their boots, willing to trade the perception of security and that feeling of relief that comes with buying into that perception, for their liberty and fundamental rights.

That has played out over and over and over with these guys.

At this point, somebody is gonna have to post up a solid case why this time is different for me to even entertain the idea that this is anything other than a financial coup.

Here is an article. It is really damned funny. Not about much that is even funny, but I found myself just friggin' laughing myself to tears !

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,425693,00.html

This tells you just HOW bizzare this all is, even to the jaded, cynical, experienced old war horses of congress and Washington insiders....

That is funny.

It's as if the apathy finally ran all the way through Washington! Suddenly this isn't the game it once was. Stuff happened. (Like Iraq didn't happen real enough to wake them up.)

Figures. When the dollars are at stake, and the prospect of potentially just not being able to spend them hits, NOW it's a "WTF?" moment.

If Harry had shown us he had a pair during even one of the showdowns, maybe he would carry some weight right now.

Here's Paul Krugeman on Bill Mahar's show.

http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/9/21/10485/5683/675/605451

He's not handing out the warm fuzzies.

This entire drama is ... (drumroll)

The Bush legacy. The one that everyone keeps referring to.

A couple of points Missing missed:

Bush is too much of an idiot to have had much input to these decisions about how to avoid the collapse of the financial markets. Bush never could operate a business successfully before he became president, there is no reason to think that has changed.

The effect on the street of all this is unknown. I tend to think all this will do is slow the bleeding. It's not going to really fix all the damage the fucking Republicans have done since '94.

Obama has already said it's going to take time and sacrifice. Of course the majority of folks have little left to sacrifice.

The cessation of the Bush tax cuts will help put some real money back into the government account, but they've got more debt than they know how to manage. When the overseas money people stop buying our debt, things will get worse. This action, undesirable as it is, doesn't seem to be avoidable. As much as I might personally like to see all these big financial behemoths go down, I'm savvy enough to know that will not fix anything and in fact will just make matters worse.

All I can add that's new is simple:

The Republicans have had their way.
The G.O.P. has had its say.
The Conservatives proved they don't know how to deal with power.

It is the fault of those whom voted to put these bastards in office. And it sure wasn't me.

Hey, let's just sell Alaska. They want to secede anyway right?

Kidding!

IMHO, there are two kinds of conservatives. Rational ones, where they don't stand by broken ideology, and non-rational ones that do.

Conservative is a low risk approach. It's not this blend of wedge issues, corporatist leanings and high risk unregulated market philosophy.

THESE conservatives can't deal with power.

Just to be fair to the real conservatives out there, pissed off.

The American taxpayer gets FUCKED once again!!!!!