The Bush proposal is basically a takeover by the Bush administation.

[JDPriestly]

This proposal creates an agency that looks at first glance like any other government agency.

http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2008/09/20/treasurys-financial-bailout-proposal-to-congress/

In fact, it is not like other government agencies in that it would be set up with complete disregard for the separation of powers concept.

Most agencies are headed by a government official who is selected by the president, but confirmed by the Senate. This one puts the Secretary of the Treasury in charge. Short of impeachment, Congress doesn't get to ask him what he plans to do with the money that this bill would allow him to play with before he starts playing.

Most agencies are divided into three parts -- an administrative part that has the kinds of powers that the executive branch of the government has, a quasi-legislative part that, after notice and comment and careful review including release to the public about proposed actions, establishes rules and regulations that have the force of law and finally, a quasi-judicial branch that provides for at least some due process rights.

This proposal contains none of those safeguards. And it prohibits judicial review of the decisions of the Secretary of the Treasury. After the fiasco in the Justice Department, I do not think that is a good idea.

This proposal appears to permit Congressional supervision. After all, it requires that the Secretary to report to Congress every six months. But, what does that mean? Couched in the language of a guarantee of reports, it may also be interpreted to limit Congress's right to review the Secretary's exercise of the vast discretion that the bill grants to him.

Another point of concern is whether employees of the Secretary will be part of the civil service system, whether they will have whistleblower protections or whether they will fall into some other category. The bill would dispense the Secretary with the obligation to comply with the usual laws that apply to government contracts and merely permits him to hire employees, thus my question.

I have many more questions about this proposal. I think it is a gross violation of the Constitution. It is a gross violation of our rights to due process and property.

I call for a holiday for the stock market rather than passage of this measure.

This is simply a coup. The Bush administration and Secretary Paulson have to have seen this crisis coming for months. That they waited until the last moment to take this action is not to be believed. This is a coup. And a Communist coup to boot.

Please call your friends, your congressmembers, everyone you know. This bill should not be passed. To give that much power to a gang of thieves like the Bush administration would be worse than complete economic chaos. We are the most resourceful people on earth. We can work together to recover from economic chaos, but we can never recover from the relinquishment of our rights to due process and to property.

The rights to due process and property are fundamental to our way of life. The Almighty Dollar is not.

[no_hypocrisy]

1. Run from the "Think Tank" on the campus of Methodist University.

[gulliver]

2. Agreed. Bush will give it to Halliburton.

His pig friends will have their financial asses saved, and their troughs filled. That's Bush.

We need a bipartisan solution. Bush needs to go to the ranch, put on sunglasses, close the doors and drink himself into the dirt.