All I could think reading about the bailout plan was "PATRIOT ACT".
The exact same logic is being used in its defense. We're in Terrible, Terrible Danger and Must Act Now, so don't dare question how pathetically flimsy this legislation is.
We have no idea where the money's going to go. The plan was three pages long. 870 words to explain how the Treasury intends to spend seven hundred billion dollars. Is that not terrifying?
And then: “It’s not based on any particular data point,” a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com Tuesday. “We just wanted to choose a really large number.” Good to know in trying times there's a firm hand on the wheel, eh?
And still, Section 8 of the Act in its entirety: Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.
The Treasury wanted seven hundred billion dollars. They refused to give a reasonable account of how they would spend it, and refused to be held accountable for how they would spend it. It would have been spent exactly as they pleased and nobody could have questioned or second-guessed it. If you're happy with that, you've got a lot more faith in the Bush administration that I do.
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Date: 2008-09-30 08:16 am (UTC)The exact same logic is being used in its defense. We're in Terrible, Terrible Danger and Must Act Now, so don't dare question how pathetically flimsy this legislation is.
We have no idea where the money's going to go. The plan was three pages long. 870 words to explain how the Treasury intends to spend seven hundred billion dollars. Is that not terrifying?
And then: “It’s not based on any particular data point,” a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com Tuesday. “We just wanted to choose a really large number.” Good to know in trying times there's a firm hand on the wheel, eh?
And still, Section 8 of the Act in its entirety: Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.
The Treasury wanted seven hundred billion dollars. They refused to give a reasonable account of how they would spend it, and refused to be held accountable for how they would spend it. It would have been spent exactly as they pleased and nobody could have questioned or second-guessed it. If you're happy with that, you've got a lot more faith in the Bush administration that I do.