Posted on 11/20/2008 2:17:27 AM PST by flattorney
- - Oklahoma senator reveals details of conference call and is set to push legislation to make bailout spending transparent.
At the time of the votes on the $700-billion bailout bill, which finally passed Oct. 4, there were dire warnings of calamity if the bill failed. Rep. Brad Sherman, D-Calif., said martial law would have to be enacted to keep public order if it didn’t pass. Rep. Jo Bonner, R-Ala. said the aftermath would be comparable to the scenes in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
Sen. James Inhofe, R-Okla., revealed on “The Pat Campbell Show” on 1170 KFAQ, a talk radio station in Tulsa, Okla., where some of these ideas in Congress may have originated. He divulged details of a conference call with Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson from mid-September, which may be behind why some members of Congress were warning of catastrophe. “We had a conference call early on,” Inhofe said on Nov. 18. “It was on a Friday I think – a week and half before the vote on Oct. 1. So it would have been the middle … what was it – the 19th of September, we had a conference call. In this conference call – and I guess there’s no reason for me not to repeat what he said, but he said – he painted this picture you just described. He said, ‘This is serious. This is the most serious thing that we faced.” According to Inhofe, Paulson said this would be far worse than the Great Depression - a time when unemployment was at 24.9 percent and U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) suffered steep declines. “He said, ‘This is going to be far worse than the Great Depression in the ’30s,’” Inhofe said. “And all these things – he was very descriptive of exactly what would happen if, if we didn’t buy out these toxic assets which he abandoned the day after he got the money.”
However, nearly a month and a half later, Paulson changed course on his bailout plan. Instead of buying up troubled assets as he originally proposed, the former head of the investment bank Goldman Sachs (NYSE:GS) announced on Nov. 12 the Treasury would instead on injecting capital directly into banks, upsetting some lawmakers in Congress. Paulson had to defend this decision before the House Financial Services Committee on Nov. 18. Inhofe also appeared on CNN’s Nov. 18 “Lou Dobbs Tonight” and said even as senior member of the U.S. Senate he just found out only $60 billion of the initial $350 billion amount remains. He also said he feared the amount of power Paulson has to do with the $410 billion remaining. “I have introduced a bill and it’s called Senate Bill 3683,” Inhofe said. “And, it would freeze any further spending. And if you look at what’s just left now and the $350 billion that would come up, I’m very much disturbed because there is a process to enter into that, to access that $350 billion. That means if we’re not here in session, then it’ll be done unilaterally by the Treasury Department.” “When in the history of America has one unelected person had the control of a massive amount of money like this – total control to do with whatever he wishes?” Inhofe asked.
Inhofe later appeared on Fox News Channel’s Nov. 18 “Hannity & Colmes” and said Paulson made the same warning, but he also put this size of the bailout in perspective. “Now, you know what really bothers me – and a lot of people that talk about these big numbers and don’t realize how big this is,” Inhofe said. “I took the time to count and there are 139 million taxpaying families that file returns. If you do the math, that’s $5,000 a family. Now that’s why this is such a big thing here – and to give all that power to one person.”
Paulson’s tactic of using the Great Depression is similar in nature to what the media have done in their coverage of the U.S. economy. According to a recent Business & Media Institute report, “The Great Media Depression,” the mainstream media has compared current economic conditions to the Great Depression more than 70 times in the first six months of 2008. Coverage of the Bear Stearns collapse was four times more negative than coverage of the stock market crash that led into the depression.
I didn’t put the blame on you for not figuring it out. I did admit it was riddled with metaphors, including what i said about “comrades in arms”. Many of them are socialists, but my intent was metaphorical not literal.
Now chill out and stop trying to pick a fight. I don’t like to waste FR resources on this type of useless argument.
Thank you, Sen. Inhofe!
Along with Hannity, Beck and some others, Sen. Inhofe has the guts to say that our emporer has no clothes.
I am embarrased that Bush and McCain fell for this political stunt.
Agreed on all points.
McCain killed himself by supporting the bailout plan. He could have showed real leadership by opposing it.
Senator Inhofe: “I voted no,” on the bailout bill.
October 2, 2008
From U.S. Senator Jim Inhofe (R-OK)
The Senate just voted on the bailout, and I voted no. After spending time in Oklahoma meeting with my constituents, local business leaders, and elected officials, I could not, in good conscience, vote to approve a massive taxpayer-funded rescue plan that was so hastily crafted. Too little time was allowed for reading and comprehension of this bill. Insufficient time was allowed for proper discussion and debate on a bill with a $700 billion price tag. $700 billion dollars of your taxpayer money. Certainly our nation faces a financial markets crisis that requires action. Unfortunately, it remains unclear if this bill is the right action. I believe it is much more important to get it right than to rush it through.
My vote tonight was against the Paulson plan, not against taking extraordinary action to provide necessary confidence to financial markets. The plan before us would have bureaucrats in Washington attempt to do what the experts on Wall Street can’t do - value troubled assets. From the very beginning, it was the Paulson plan or no plan. It is Congress’s duty to examine its options, deliberate, come to a decision that has the support of America, and act. I regret we were not allowed to do that.
Sincerely,
Jim Inhofe
# # # # #
10/1/08: Senators who voted NO on on the financial bailout bill (S. Amdt. 5685 to H.R. 1424):
Allard (R)
Barasso (R)
Brownback (R)
Bunning (R)
Cantwell (D)
Cochran (R)
Crapo (R)
DeMint (R)
Dole (R)
Dorgan (D)
Enzi (R)
Feingold (D)
Inhofe (R) <<<<<<<<<<
Johnson (D)
Landrieu (D)
Nelson (FL) (D)
Roberts (R)
Sanders (I)
Sessions (R)
Shelby (R)
Stabenow (D)
Tester (D)
Vitter (R)
Wicker (R)
Wyden (D)
TAB
Paulson also caused the election to swing wildly Democratic as well...jackass...thanks for nuttin’.
This mess has been in the works and it all came together like a perfect storm and a whole lot of people fell for the scam, including McCain. Has he ever named names like he promised?
He must have meant he’d name names ONLY if he won the election.
*Overheard on NPR radio news two years ago: "The stock market today reached a new record of 15,000 points despite the stuggling economy!" There was no way Bush would ever be given credit for anything!!!! It seems no one is capable of looking at their own tax records and realizing they really are getting a tax credit already!Back then, the concern was gas prices. Funny how the no one wants to talk about plummeting prices for oil and gas.
Allard (R)
Barasso (R)
Brownback (R)
Bunning (R)
Cochran (R)
Crapo (R)
DeMint (R)
Dole (R)
Enzi (R)
Inhofe (R) <<<<<<<<<<
Roberts (R)
Sessions (R)
Shelby (R)
Vitter (R)
Wicker (R)
It's a pitifully short list isn't it?
The late economist John Kenneth Galbraith blamed Goldman Sachs for policies causing the Great Depression of '29. In his book, The Great Crash, 1929, Galbraith, a key figure in JFK's admin, an entire chapter titled “In Goldman, Sachs, We Trust,” details the “large-scale corporate thimblerigging” that Goldman and other Wall Streeters practiced in the 1920s.
G/S frat boys at the highest levels of govt are now pulling the levers of power. Watching them operate, we know Goldman types promote their own interests relentlessly...........the rest of us be damned. Heaven help us.
NO SURPRISE---G/S SCREWED TAXPAYERS Secy Paulson and his buddies---the Goldman Sachs boys----helped themselves to the bailout billions. Typical Wall Street chicanery. Pavelson told Congress the billions would be used for one purpose then the foxy, wily Pavelson changes horses in midstream and decides to use the billions for something else without burdening himself with the force of US law. No wonder the economy is in turmoil.
US Sen. Jim Inhofe (R-Oklahoma) said that Congress was not told the truth about the $700 billion blank bailout check. "The American people don't know how much money Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson has given away to anyone. IT COULD BE TO HIS FRIENDS. We don't know. There is no way of knowing.''
KEEP IN MIND Henry Pavelson (former Goldman Sachs honcho) named his Goldman Sachs underling, Neel Kashkari, to oversee the $700B Wall Street bailout. G/S alumni are bailing out the very crooks who contributed to the economy's meltdown. Conflict of interest anybody?
GOLDMAN SACHS SCREWS US AGAIN Secy Pavelson told Congress bailout billions would be used for one purpose then the foxy, wily Pavelson changes horses in midstream and decides to use the billions for something else. Typical Wall Street chicanery.
The heck with Congress enacting the bailout law for one use. Pavelson personally decides he and the G/S guys will use it for "something else."
As US citizens line up at soup kitchens and sell apples on street corners, Pavelson, Kashkari, and the G/S frat boys should come clean about their holdings ..............(at least the ones not hidden in numbered offshore bank accounts, the ones not "parked" at Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street entities, or bailout billions not tied up in untraceable, untaxable, casino chips).
Eaxactly! Oh how I would love to hear just one of the talking heads on tv say "You know, I guess things weren't so bad during Bush's first seven years after all."!
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