There ARE penalties for misleading Congress---and he was under oath. ... The BIG question in all of our minds-----how much did Paulson collect from his "friends" ------for blanketing them with billions and billions of tax dollars with virtually no accountability. Man, the wire transfers offshore musta been going 24/7.I'm not saying Paulson, Bernake, et al didn't pull a fast one but I'm a bit puzzled by these congress-critters (phony) outrage about 'a blank check' and the $700B Bailout (TARP) now being called, 'MASTERFUL DECEIT'. As from the copy of HR 1424 I have (and every other version), if there was a 'MASTERFUL DECEIT' then CONGRESS didn't do its job.
TITLE I—TROUBLED ASSETS RELIEF PROGRAM
(pertinent 'Oversight' sections shown)Sec. 101. Purchases of troubled assets.
Sec. 102. Insurance of troubled assets.
Sec. 103. Considerations.
Sec. 104. Financial Stability Oversight Board.
Sec. 105. Reports.
Sec. 107. Contracting procedures.
Sec. 108. Conflicts of interest.
Sec. 111. Executive compensation and corporate governance.
Sec. 116. Oversight and audits.
Sec. 118. Funding.
Sec. 119. Judicial review and related matters.
Sec. 121. Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
Sec. 125. Congressional Oversight Panel.
Sec. 127. Cooperation with the FBI.
Sec. 129. Disclosures on exercise of loan authority.
Per HR 1424 there's enough rules, regs and Congressional OVERSIGHT required that not one Dime should have been 'misspent'. So if anything funny did go on Congress should look in a mirror. They dropped the ball -- again.
And the same bunch of peckerwoods want to run our healthcare?!?
If they do, we're all DOOMED!
The Boston Globe reported that the Senate version of Duh'bama's healthcare reform contains $$$billions for parks and paths.
You heard of Duh'bama's "shovel-ready" stimulus jobs? Maybe they'll call these "scalpel-ready" jobs.
One thing that seems to be missing in HR 1424 is language forcing any repaid TARP funds to go to the deficit. As it is, Barney Frank can use any such repayments as his slush fund.