Posted on 10/01/2008 10:24:51 PM PDT by bruinbirdman
The prospect of a second defeat for George Bush’s rescue package for the US economy is looming, as members of the lower House of Representatives expressed their discontent with the government’s revised plan.
The new version of the bill, including a 250 per cent increase in the amount the US government will insure in peoples’ savings accounts, is expected to pass the Senate in a vote on Wednesday night.
But with the world waiting anxiously for an agreement in Washington, considerable wrangling still lies ahead in the lower house, which rejected the first draft on Monday.
On a day of rising tension on Capitol Hill, supporters of the bailout faced delicate calculations of how many Democrats or Republicans would be won or lost by changes to the bill.
Left wing Democrats in the lower House of Representatives expressed their unhappiness with the addition of tax cuts for businesses and the lack of provision for home owners in danger of defaulting because of sub-prime mortgages.
Members of the Black Congressional Caucus and Hispanic Congressional Caucus, who represent poor communities blighted by foreclosed homes and who voted heavily No on Monday, insisted on more aid for their constituents before changing their votes.
“The poor – poor blacks, poor whites, Native Americans, Latinos – get little help from this administration. Then they come in here and ask us to bail out Wall Street. I’m not prepared to,” said John Lewis, from Georgia.
Right-wing Democrats on the other hand asked how the proposed tax cuts for businesses would be paid for. “I’m not particularly pleased with that addition myself, very frankly,” said Steny Hoyer, leader of the Democrats in the House. “There’s no doubt the tax package is very controversial.”
Architects of the revised bill will be hoping that rebellious Democrats are won over
(Excerpt) Read more at telegraph.co.uk ...
I don't know about that.
I think a lot of these mortgages were shoved at people had no hope of paying them off from the beginning.
You should have heard the "No money down! Bad credit ok!" crap that was happening around here.
These mortgage dealers sounded more like used car dealers, but they were selling six-figure sums to the lower-income, less-educated, unaware.
In the name of "compassion" of course.
And now they're bankrupted and dumped on the street.
That Community Redevelopment Act was oh-so-compassionate, don't you see?
Vote for Obama. He's one of these oh-so-compassionate types. Really, he is. You dopes.
The Congress scrambling to pass this mess of a bill reminds me of a kid who has put off a school paper until the night before it is due. The result is a disaster. In the case of Congress they had years of prior warnings, but did nothing.
And small businesses are just looking for our political leaders to responsibly perform their duties. Let me give you some examples from my perspective. Have a few small businesses. Some are business services related and one is product related. The first 6 months of the year were very strong. The last two months of summer were weak (probably due to bank failures and rumors of troubles). The last month may be one of the worse experienced in 5 years. All the ranting and raving about financial meltdown in September from our political leaders has people spooked. I am starting a another new business the last quarter of this year and we have already had to scale back the scope and size by 50 %. All due to slowing interest the past month. These are all cash businesses and we scale the endeavors to match the market. That is what most small businesses do. If they do not have the cash to acquire equipment, product or fund an expansion, it typically does not get done. Getting a loan is the last resort. And in this current atmosphere anyone who takes a loan out for an expected future business activity is a fool. Just wait until Mid January. Business slacked off so fast the last half of this year that my estimated tax payments are probably gonna end up being too high. The feds will be giving me a refund in January. If their stupid political leaders had kept their mouths shut and actually acted responsible they would have probably gotten more tax money. Oh well. Small businesses adjust with the flow and move on. What goes around comes around.
Oh, you are right about that. It's about a crisis that brewed up just a few days late to save Lehman, but just in time to rescue Goldman Sachs’ investments in AIG and to encourage Buffet to invest 5 billions in GS.
If I wanted to make that case to the sheeple, I would lead every newscast with individual, face to face tales of - thriving, cash positive small businesses who can't get operating credit, home buyers with good incomes, good credit and down payments who can't get a mortgage, and runs on commercial banks possessed of conservative lending policies and strong balance sheets.
I've been looking for those stories this week, with little success.
I personally think Nancy will let it fail again. She needs the campaign issue far more than she needs a solution plus she knows that after the bill is passed and wall street is happy with it’s shiny new toy the finger pointing will start. Better (for the dems) if they keep the pot boiling and blame it on pubbies.
That’s a fine socialist solution.
The credit market was fine until the proposed bailout hit the street, then it dried up because the credit markets were waiting to see what Washington would do. So any businesses that go belly up can trace their demise to DC’s door.
The House has interpreted it to apply to all spending bills, and when the Senate tries this, they usually mark it return to sender.
I think so - but they know that Congress has been passsing a lot of bailouts lately to everyone except the hard working guy who asks for no favors, pays his mortagage on time and just wants to be left alone. He knows that he always ends up paying for the freebies for everyone else.
Bills for printing worthless money can originate in either House.
You are absolutely correct, and in this case it did. What the Senate did was to take H.R. 1524, a bill titled "Genetic Fairness in the Workplace" (a bill to prevent discrimination at work based on any genetic testing done), which has already passed the House, and amended it by striking every single stinking word after the title, and inserting the 450 pages of pork as an amendment.
That is why there were two votes last night. One was to accept the "Dodd amendment" which did the above, then the second vote was to pass the amended bill.
Sneaky, but perfectly constitutional.
Bohner ought to coral up all the Conservatives and shoot down this (Obama) bill, then put forth one with free market principle that work to correct past indiscretions.
...and where is the outrage Bohner? Where's the call to root out the cause of this? Why isn't McCain fighting, he looks like a tired punch drunk fighter in the tenth round during his interviews.
His “calm” demeanor does not befit him, show some heart man! Stand up for Main street!
This bill was put forth as an Amendment.(The Dodd Amendment)So,it’s not an actual “bill”.
I don’t own a small business but I work for one. I’d be very concerned if my employer needed loans to makes its payroll every month. These “... small businesses need loans ...” and “... little people need loans to buy cars ...” are just “talking points” used by the criminals who are involved with taking $700 bn from “the many” and transferring it to “the few”. I’m not smart enough to know if we’re going to have “economic collapse” if this transfer doesn’t occur but, I’m smart enough to know that the people who will receive this $700 bn are “way” smarter than me. So smart, that they can probably figure a way out of this mess without taking $700 bn from the rest of us. Another thing, doesn’t the MSM recognize this transfer of $700 bn is going to hinder would-be-president Obama’s proposed spending on “social” programs?
:-D
H.R. 1424: Genetic Information Nondiscrimination Act of 2008
(I knew it had something to do with genetic information when I looked it up two days ago. Sorry for the multiple posts.)
Amen and amen!
It occurred to me this morning that the press is, as usual, spinning the hell out of this. They talk about the pork that was added to get the support of a the few more members it needed to pass in the House. They are not mentioning that there might also be members who reluctantly supported the original measure but would be turned off by the addition of so much pork.
It's two-way street, not everyone who supported it in the first should be counted on to do so when the price goes up.
I am hoping, and praying, it will go down to defeat again, but deep down in my heart I fear the worst. Like the great old Hank Snow country song of 50 years ago, we're “Doing 90-miles-an-hour Down a Dead End Street!”
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