Naomi Klein: In Praise of a Rocky Transition (CHANGE, DAMMIT!)

[mhatrw]

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20081201/klein

The more details emerge, the clearer it becomes that Washington's handling of the Wall Street bailout is not merely incompetent. It is borderline criminal. In a moment of high panic in late September, the US Treasury unilaterally pushed through a radical change in how bank mergers are taxed--a change long sought by the industry. Despite the fact that this move will deprive the government of as much as $140 billion in tax revenue, lawmakers found out only after the fact. According to the Washington Post, more than a dozen tax attorneys agree that "Treasury had no authority to issue the notice."

Of equally dubious legality are the equity deals Treasury has negotiated with many of the country's banks. According to Congressman Barney Frank, one of the architects of the legislation that enables the deals, "Any use of these funds for any purpose other than lending--for bonuses, for severance pay, for dividends, for acquisitions of other institutions, etc.--is a violation of the act." Yet this is exactly how the funds are being used.

Then there is the nearly $2 trillion the Federal Reserve has handed out in emergency loans. Incredibly, the Fed will not reveal which corporations have received these loans or what it has accepted as collateral. Bloomberg News believes that this secrecy violates the law and has filed a federal suit demanding full disclosure.

Despite all of this potential lawlessness, the Democrats are either openly defending the administration or refusing to intervene. "There is only one president at a time," we hear from Barack Obama. That's true. But every sweetheart deal the lame-duck Bush administration makes threatens to hobble Obama's ability to make good on his promise of change. To cite just one example, that $140 billion in missing tax revenue is almost the same sum as Obama's renewable energy program. Obama owes it to the people who elected him to call this what it is: an attempt to undermine the electoral process by stealth.

much more ...

[Joanne98]

1. THANKS NANCY!

[Eric J in MN]

2. Rep. Barney Frank apparently didn't read the bailout bill.

It doesn't say what recipients have to do with the money.


RE:
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According to Congressman Barney Frank, one of the architects of the legislation that enables the deals, "Any use of these funds for any purpose other than lending--for bonuses, for severance pay, for dividends, for acquisitions of other institutions, etc.--is a violation of the act." Yet this is exactly how the funds are being used.
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[Idealism]

3. Klein is a brilliant mind

and I hope she continues to write about the atrocities of this bailout. Much like Red Scares, Exective Order 9066 (The Japanese interment), and the Patriot Act, this wall street bailout was passed through with not enough thought and too much emphasis on fear. Thank Paulson for cramming this down our throats, remember him saying "if we don't get this passed, the markets will descend into armageddon within a week" line he gave us? And now hes telling us that they changed the game plan, how convenient.

[CAcyclist]

6. Her book, The Shock Doctrine, should be required reading

And her previous book, No Logo, is also well worth reading.

[KoKo]

4. Kick!

[Locrian]

5. history

Naomi Klein knows what is happening because her "Shock Doctrine" book is really about history. And this is EXACTLY what they have done in other countries (S. America etc).

What happens, when the newly elected (by the people) gets in - they look around are realize it's 100x as bad as what was let on. That's when they start making deals with the devil - the devil being the federal / world banks / markets / etc that really hold all the cards now.