"Cowabonga! ... we’re about to see 700 years of common law precedence and written law regarding contracts thrown under the fascist bus."
Emperor Paulpatine better not have a clone army in his back pocket.
Posted on 09/20/2008 11:36:49 PM PDT by givemELL
(Page 1 of 268, totaling 536 entries) » next page The Mother Of All Frauds now.
Well now we have it - since this is a proposed bill (public) and in the interests of fair use, here you have it as reported by Fox:
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 Secretarys 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.
I'm speechless.
Let's disassemble this monster piece by piece.
First, this is a de-facto nationalization of the entire banking, insurance, and related financial system. Specifically:
"(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;"
That's right - every bank and other financial institution in the United States has just become a de-facto organ of the United States Government, if Hank Paulson thinks they should be, and he may order them to do virtually anything that he claims is in furtherance of this act.
This might include things like demanding that a bank or other financial institution sell him its paper, even if it forces that firm to collapse and be assumed by the FDIC!
You didn't buy any bank stocks last week did you?
"(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."
This, at first blush, would seem to indicate that only American firms would be covered. Nothing is further from the truth. If the Chinese wish to unload some of their purchased toxic sludge they merely sell it to, oh, Goldman Sachs for 40 cents on the dollar and then Goldman sells it to the Treasury for 50. This, under the black letter of the law here, is perfectly legal, which means that one must assume that Paulson will in fact foist off all the bad paper on world markets that was originally based on a mortgage in the United States, while allowing his banker buddies here to loot the taxpayer by acting as an intermediary in the transaction!
"(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;"
Contracts can (and presumably will) be "no bid, no solicitation" and given to whomever Secretary Paulson favors, without regard to the public interest or normal competitive bidding processes. Must be nice to be a "Friend of Hank."
"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."
Notice which comes first.
"(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."
Having bought these securities for any price Mr. Paulson would like (and he can compel institutions to sell at his demanded price as noted above!) he can then sell those assets at any price he wishes, to anyone he wishes. It certainly is nice to be a "Friend of Hank", and it most certainly sucks if you're not.
"The Secretarys authority to purchase mortgage-related assets under this Act shall be limited to $700,000,000,000 outstanding at any one time"
This is clever and nobody in the mainstream media has figured it out.
If you think the cost of this bill is $700 billion, you're wrong. The cost is actually infinite and the entire bill constitutes a giant money-laundering scheme.
Paulson can (and presumably will) buy up to $700 billion of these "assets", then sell them. Let's say he decides to buy them at 60 cents on the dollar and sell them for 10. You, the taxpayer, will eat the fifty cents, for an immediate cost of $350 billion dollars.
Having done so, he is then authorized to do so again, since the $700 billion is no longer on the government's balance sheet.
In fact, he can do this without limit, other than possibly due to the federal debt ceiling, which of course Congress will raise any time we get close to it. Oh yeah, this bill does that right up front too. No need to bother with it the first time around.
Folks, $700 billion isn't even close to the total cost of this monster.
If Paulson and his successor decide to, they could literally cycle all $5.3 trillion of Fannie and Freddie's debt through this scheme, potentially sticking the taxpayer for 20% or more of the total, plus as much private debt on various bank balance sheets as they can manage to nationalize until (and possibly beyond) the point where the bond market tells him to go to hell.
Bottom line: This bill gives Paulson the ability to nationalize an UNLIMITED amount of private debt and force YOU AND YOUR CHILDREN to pay for it.
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.
If you are a bank, investor, or other entity who is forcibly gang-raped by Secretary Paulson due to his actions as "King" (crowned by Congress) under this law, you are unable to seek redress in the courts or by administrative action.
The claim is that this is intended to "promote confidence and stability" in the financial markets.
It will do no such thing.
It will instead strike terror into the hearts of investors worldwide who hold any sort of paper, whether it be preferred stock, common stock or debt, in any financial entity that happens to be domiciled in the United States, never mind the potential impact on Treasury yields and the United States sovereign credit rating.
I predict that if this passes it will precipitate the mother and father of all financial panics, although exactly when the "short bus" riders who inhabit the equity market will figure it out remains to be seen.
If they have an IQ larger than their shoe size it will commence at 9:30:01 AM Monday morning, although given history and the lack of intelligence displayed by the crooning media market euphoria may continue until the first couple of firms are dismantled by Paulson's newly-crowned Kingly powers with the scraps handed out to his favored few.
The best part of this outrageous fraud is that those who get bent over the table can't even sue - their only recourse will be the (literal) deployment of pitchforks and torches.
That Paulson and Bernanke circulated this document, irrespective of what actually gets reported out onto the floor of the House and Senate (if anything) tells you everything you need to know about his intentions and the safety of your financial assets in the United States markets.
That this "proposal" hasn't resulted in Congress calling for both Bernanke and Paulson to resign for their blatant attempt to crown Paulson King tells you everything you need to know about Congressional integrity as well.
My advice: Don't be caught with any stock or debt instruments linked to a United States financial firm in your portfolio past 9:30 AM Monday morning.
TO PURCHASE MORTGAGE-RELATED ASSETS
Americans will not be able to shrug off Paulsons' plan results. Denninger seems to have this correct. It is stupefying. Read this piece carefully. All the details of the Paulson proposal are present including complete immunity from investigation or accountability as noted in Section 8.
This is gross beyond words. The death of fiscal conservatism. And yes, I feel like a Section 8 after reading Section 8.
This is simply the manifestation of the consequences.
Blaming the Fed's action now is a bit like screaming at firemen doing their best to keep the flames from burning down the entire city.
The real damage has already been done and can't be reversed. It is now all about survival, not who's going to get the blame.
bump
you must contact the people that can possibly save us from this nightmare bailout scheme RIGHT NOW
and who might that be? I live in Maryland and am “represented” by democrat idiots elected by a stupefyingly (and now quite possibly terminally) ignorant electorate. Te George Bush we elected in 2000 was snatched and replaced by a pod person or given the Stepford treatment by the democrats.
Jumpin’ Jehosophat.
The effects of this will surely be global. I wonder what Auntie Helen thinks to this? She’s probably envious, wishes she could have this kind of power.
Say goodbye to the world economy for a wee spell...
Y’all do realize that this has an excellent chance of falling into enemy hands. I mean, Obama’s minions could very well be at the helm of Treasury. The LibDemComs are going to PAR-TAY!!!! like there is no tomorrow.
And just in case anybody missed the subtlety in this bill, this law gives the Treasury Secretary absolute power. Y’all remember what Absolute Power leads to, don’t you? Now give Obama’s Treasury Secretary absolute power and see what I’m leading up to...
We are f s up the a. Get ready to sign your entire paycheck over to the government. And you can be sure that when the Dems get their way (the Republicans will pussy out and gave to get this done quickly) and allow Obama’s Treasury Secretary to renegotiate loans at will with this absolute power, you better believe that every member of Congress and the Senate, every staffer, every corporate CEO, every favorite liberal non-profit chairman/chairwoman will be lobbying for those 1% teaser rates on their new 99 year mortgages.
This stinks to high heaven.
NO oversight. NO review. NO accountability! NOTHING. Just ABSOLUTE POWER wielded in complete and total isolation. By the time Obama’s Treasury Secretary is done, the Director of CIA will be completely jealous that his covert operations pale compared with the secrecy of Treasury.
WE
ARE
DOOMED
It’s time to buy beachfront property in Australia and hope that is far enough away from the epicenter of the Great American Meltdown.
Giving a government bureaucrat ABSOLUTE POWER with NO oversight and NO review. OMG
Errata: Above should have read “Republicans will pussy out and cave”, not “gave”.
I can hear Obama’s oil-slick voice ringing in my ear, “And for Treasury Secretary I have chosen Jaime Gorelick. Madam Secretary Gorelick will be addressing the ongoing financial crisis...”
You see where I am going with this.
Yes. Now that the Reichstag has been burned down zee only way to safe us iss to pronounce Herr Hitler der Chancellor. /s
Good point... What is my embarrassed blush smilie?
Here’s the good part -
“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.”
Dictatorship, anyone? I don’t recall anything in the constitution that allows an unelected bureaucrat to write law, steal money and manipulate markets. As the writer mentioned, our only redress should this pass is to take to the streets with torches and pitchforks. Asking congress to kill this monster appears to be nil.
“(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;”
Holy cowabonga!
If I’m reading this right, we’re about to see 700 years of common law precedence and written law regarding contracts thrown under the fascist bus.
The contract will be what I say it shall be.
And how they will whine! lol. It is simply glorious.
As for your absurd fears, the authority will be used exactly as congress wants it to be used, because they can take it away at any time. The no review clause is just the way congress leaves itself in charge, instead of George Soros' hired lawyers and bagmen.
http://www.321gold.com/editorials/droke/droke051908.html
I ask you all to please look at this piece.
"Cowabonga! ... we’re about to see 700 years of common law precedence and written law regarding contracts thrown under the fascist bus."
Emperor Paulpatine better not have a clone army in his back pocket.
I would expect that the law itself will eventually be challenged all the way to the Supreme Court.
Whereas the individual acts engaged in by the treasury could not be challenged, the law itself can be.
I think, not being a lawyer myself.
No doubt this scheme will lead to greatest profiteering of all time. On the other hand, would your feelings change if "Norwegians" were substituted for "Chinese" in the sentence above?
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