$700 billion and counting, 'doesn't mean we will stop there'-- Henry Paulson

[babylonsister]

http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/09/congress_ready_mother_of_all_b.html

Congress ready: 'Mother of all bailouts'
$700 billion and counting, 'doesn't mean we will stop there'-- Henry Paulson
Posted September 21, 2008 1:30 PM
The Swamp

by Mark Silva


Congressional leaders appear ready to act quickly on the Bush administration's demand for authority to bail out as much as $700 billion in bad mortgage debts, but not without adding some conditions and possibly added costs of their own.

Democratic leaders are demanding limits on pay for executives of financial firms that unload their bad debts on the government in what one Republican leader is calling "the mother of all bailouts.'' And they are renewing their push for a new job-creating economic stimulus package, with an added cost of $50 billion, as the White House presses Congress to approve a bailout before adjournment for elections at the end of this week.

Yet, despite the enormousness of the federal action which Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is pressing Congress to swiftly approve - possibly exceeding what Congress has spent on the war in Iraq, and pushing the federal deficit to new record highs - it is clear that he has convinced congressional leaders of the urgency of acting to avert a meltdown in credit for American consumers.

snip//

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), ranking Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, warns that the nation has not seen the end of the cost for the credit crisis it is bailing out.

"This is not going to be $700 billion... this is going to be a trillion at least - we don't know the endgame in this,'' Shelby said on Face The Nation. "I can tell you, when we add another trillion dollars to the debt of the taxpayer, sooner or later there is going to have to be a reckoning.

"You add a trillion here, a trillion there and sooner or later you have a debt for the American people,'' the Alabama Republican said. "This is the mother of all bailouts.''

[originalpckelly]

1. It's going to be fucking pathetic if only a Republican stands up to this.

There better be more than a few Democrats who say no.

[Phred42]

2. So When has Bush EVER given out the REAL number the first time?

This will cost one hell of a lot more than they are declaring at this point

[originalpckelly]

3. Of course it will...

this is a much bigger problem than housing, and this bailout will only be a short term fix. In fact, I think it's going to let the car go farther off the cliff.

[PDJane]

4. The estimate I have seen, and will have to try to remember

where, is 1.2+ trillion dollars. That's an outrageous amount of power and money to give to the Secretary of the Treasury. Just simply stupid. I hope that no one is going to vote for that.

There has to be some oversight somehwere...jesus, people. Does anyone trust this bunch to do the right thing? Not to lie like hell? To tell you where your taxpayer money is going?

OK, checking up, the total now of all the current bailouts has hit 1.2 trillion in liquidity bailouts. The federal reserve auctions topped 1.2 Trillion in June; the counter is still ticking over. I suggest that it's time to total the amounts the American taxpayer is on the hook for over this crisis, and bring that into the open.

Tax cuts are not viable, and extending the bush tax cuts is just plain robbery.

No.