SUMMARY OF THE "EMERGENCY ECONOMIC STABILIZATION ACT OF 2008"

MarketWatch.com ^ | 5:57 p.m. EDT Sept. 28, 2008 | MarketWatch

[PressurePoint]

I. Stabilizing the Economy
II. Homeownership Preservation
III. Taxpayer Protection
IV. No Windfalls for Executives
V. Strong Oversight
Link

[PressurePoint]

Okay, anyone who likes being played for a chump will love this part of the Emergency Economic Stability Act:

Section III requires participating companies “to provide warrants so that taxpayers will benefit from any future growth.”

I’m guessing this won’t work as hoped.

I figure tomorrow the executives of those companies are going to file papers to set up new corporations to buy good mortgage instruments. Then they’ll sell all the good loans at bargain prices to the new company and leave all the crappy loans with the old crappy bankrupt company that our esteemed leaders have just purchased “warrants” in with our taxpayer dollars. The new company will go on making billions. But we don’t own part of that company.

Basically just a replay of the Hillary Clinton cattle futures scheme. The broker assigns the winning positions (after the fact) to the preferred party and the losing positions to another “less preferred” party. You, the taxpayer, are the “less preferred” party in this scenario.

[stockstrader]

Just more business for government lawyers, CPA’s, accountants and tax lawyers.

[airedale]

Sounds reasonable and certain congress critters will probably be part owners of the new companies or at least their spouses and children will be. Perhaps some influential media types or their families will also be let into the deal provided they know how to keep their mouths shut.

[Defiant]

Section III requires participating companies “to provide warrants so that taxpayers will benefit from any future growth.”

Didn't the militia movement issue warrants like that?

[Nathan Zachary]

I’m afraid to even read it all.

No doubt Joe citizen will take a beating. Especially those who don’t even realize their brokers have their mutual funds tied up in institutions that are left of the vine to rot.

[FlyVet]

troubled loans - many the result of predatory lending practices -

Hmmm...if there were predatory lending practices...that must mean there were predators...

When are these predators going to jail?

Why is there never any mention of perps going to jail?

Why is that?

[PressurePoint]

Thank you for that Jackson quote. How prescient the forefathers were.

All the perplexities, confusions, and distresses in America arise, not from defects in their constitution or confederation, not from a want of honor or virtue, so much as from downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit, and circulation. John Adams

[Nathan Zachary]

"These are not anywhere near depression numbers....

You can't just look at DOW and decide that. That's only an average of 30 companies, one of which was just bailed out. expand your list and then average, or look at other averages like Niki. You'll be concerned, seeing that just about everything is down. Not only are things down, they are on a steady trend down. DOW is only an average of the 30 best stocks. How many of those are in your portfolio?

[NVDave]

Oh, it gets more interesting than what is being released to the press.

The discussion by Treasury on a special, insiders-club conference call puts to lie quite a bit of the public spin:

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2008/09/mussolini-style-corporatism-in-action.html

[Irish Eyes]

EESA requires the Treasury to modify troubled loans - many the result of predatory lending practices - wherever possible to help American families keep their homes. It also directs other federal agencies to modify loans that they own or control. Finally, it improves the HOPE for Homeowners program by expanding eligibility and increasing the tools available to the Department of Housing and Urban Development to help more families keep their homes.

What is the HOPE for Homeowners program ?

[Cementjungle]

What is the HOPE for Homeowners program ?

Free houses for the underpriviledged probably.

[PressurePoint]

HOPE for Homeowners program is probably the repackaged CRA. They probably figured the CRA is going to start getting bad reviews. So they'll replace it with "HOPE" (since that's the new mantra). And blame the CRA on Republicans.

[Nathan Zachary]

Looks like it means more people who wouldn’t normally qualify for a mortgage- will. Or, more of the same Fanny and Freddy crap, and all the “home ATM” equity loans to homeowners without the means to pay them back that put us in this mess in the first place

[Nathan Zachary]

HOPE= Hispanic Ownership (of) Primo (real) Estate

[PressurePoint]

Whoa. You start tossing around the name Mussolini and you get people's hopes up that the trains (and planes) will start running on time. I'm willing to bet we'll get plenty of government corporativismo. But we'll still have the same old bureaucratic inefficiency we've all come to know and love.

[Charge Carrier]

SEC. 104. FINANCIAL STABILITY OVERSIGHT BOARD

The oversight board is a classic “fox running the hen house”. It is charged with reviewing that the exercise of authority by the Secretary is in accordance with the Act. It does not terminate until the last troubled asset acquired by the Secretary has been sold or transferred out of the ownership or control of the Federal Government. It is made up of the following:

1. The Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System;

Bernanke has the unfortunate position of extreme culpability and prejudice, demanding the $700 billion already.

2. The Secretary of the Treasury

Paulson gets to decide how much and who to give the money to and is in charge of everything already.

3. The Director of the Federal Home Finance Agency;

The Federal Housing Finance Board is one of the regulators charged with financing loans for home mortgages and as an organization is culpable in this mess. There are four directors and a chairman. Here’s the recent bio of just one, a Geoffrey S. Bacino: He was appointed by President Bush and confirmed by the Senate on July 28, 2006. Prior to this appointment, Mr. Bacino served as a Senior Vice President for Legislative and Regulatory Affairs at Centrix Financial, an auto finance company that specialized in nonstandard lending (Bad Credit, No Problem, Zero Down kind of stuff). Centrix Financial filed chapter 11 bankruptcy on September 19, 2006, six weeks after Mr Bacino’s appointment.

4. The Chairman of the Securities Exchange Commission

You may have heard of Cristopher Cox when John McCain demanded that he get fired for letting this mess get out of control. Just a few from near the top of a Google search: Investigation into Cox Role in Fraud Should be Launched, Corporate reform dead; SEC chief should resign, http://www.firechriscox.com/.

5. The Secretary of Housing and Urban Development

HUD is another innovation of the “Great Society” of Lyndon Johnson. The new secretary is Steven C. Preston, an ex-Senior Vice President at Lehman Brothers. Lehman Brothers filed for the largest Chapter 11 bankruptcy in US history on September 15, 2008, five months after Mr. Preston took over (just in time) after his predecessor resigned amid ethics violations.

[The Duke]

And don't forget...

VI. Preferential treatment for minority contractors.

[screaminsunshine]

I bet they pass this bill before noon. That will beat Rush.

[finnsheep]

Unless there is something in there forbidding creation of these derivatives, nothing will stop the whole thing from blowing up again. As I understand it some derivatives involve getting another bank to sort of co-sign on the mortgage in exchange for payment. The other derivatives are basically just betting on which side will win - - like betting on a sporting event. If all sports betting stopped the teams would still play. I don’t think this fixes anything without abolishing derivatives.