Tag archive for ‘Congress’
US and World Markets fall and Congress looks for blame.
Today’s markets plummted around the world reacting to the bailout bill, worries about the broader credit markets, and the lack of reaction by most Western governments to what is undoubtedly a broadening financial crunch around the world. Panic swept through the world’s financial markets, wiping $2.5 trillion from share values, amid concern that regulators and politicians were struggling to get a grip on the worsening crisis of confidence.
The Sting: Now that the bail out is law - will it work?
Yesterday, the President signed into law HR 1424, the Emergency Economic Stabilization and Recovery Act, also known as “the bailout bill.” With the stroke of the President’s pen, Uncle Sam entered the financial market with 700 billion dollars in cash and a mandate to buy the crappiest investments that Wall Street can muster. The hope of the politicians who passed the measure is that the massive injection of money by the Treasury will stabilize the mortgage market, stop the free fall in the value of equities, and most importantly, keep the entire fabric of western capitalism from unravelling. We should all be cheering, right?
Bail out on the bailout
Put simply - the problem with the bailout is this - who are we bailing out, exactly, with the current Bill (HR 1424)? The now 420+ paged monstrosity includes things such as tax breaks for employers who encourage their workers to take bicycles to work, a 2500+ dollar tax for electric vehichle purchases, an alternative fuel tax credit, credits for biodesiel and alternative fuels, credits for carbon dioxide sequestration, credits for geothermal heat pumps, tax breaks for the steel industry, changes to the Alternative Minimum Tax system, oh and among my personal favorites, a seven year amortization table for the expenses associated with development and running a motocycle racing track. Yes, you heard me - motocross racing tax provisions.
Uncle Sam the Loan Shark
I must admit - I’m totally dumbfounded and stunned today by the article I read in the Wall Street Journal entitled, “The Paulson Plan will make Money,” by Andy Kessler. Essentially, Kessler’s argument is that somehow in all of this mess, the money spent in the proposed financial intervention plan before Congress will actually result in a windfall to the taxpayer in potentially trillions of dollars. This argument is fundamentally flawed - for it if were true, there would be no investment/financial services crisis to force the government’s hand.
Republican Jobs: Communications Coordinator: The Foundation of Defense of Democracies (FDD)
Communications Coordinator: The Foundation of Defense of Democracies (FDD), a non-profit, non-partisan policy institue focused on fighting terrorist ideologies and promoting democractic values, seeks a communications coordinator/web editor. Position responsibilities include: managing the organizations’ websites; writing and editiong press materials, preparing a weekly newsletter, maintaining media lists, tracking media placements, and supporting projects and initiatives [...]
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