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US Bail-out
For what it's worth, here's the summary of the bail out I put together.
So I finished reading over the 450 pages of the bail out that was written into law in October. Unfortunately I've now got to figure out what modifications have been done, but here are some notes on the original law.
Overview
It is organized into three 'Divisions'. The first one is a modified version of the bail out that was initially rejected, the second one is all about energy, the third one is about taxes.
Division A
The whole point of this bill is to make sure that banks don't become insolvant. The way they wanted to do this was to buy up the riskiest loans that the banks had made; 'toxic assets'. The wording is a bit misleading though, my intuition is that the government would not end up with risky assets but would simply get assets that were already lost.
There's some wording that makes me think the government expects to run into really dodgy practices as it begins scrutinizing actual mortgage dealers.
I'm pretty sure that one of the changes (still have to double check) between the rejected and the passed bill is that the one that passed has a section that says the FBI is to go over the whole program.
Division B
Let the pork begin!
I found it interesting that in these new 'divisions' it is pretty easy to see which changes are Democratic and which are Republican.
There is a lot of incentive creation and renewal for 'green tech.', including energy generation, coal 'cleaning', and transportation infrastructure changes. For the most part Division B is very progressive and the world in general should be happy it passed.
Title IV is one area that made me do a double take. It is all about oil and with the exception of a doubling of the amount oil companies have to pay to insure against oil spills the section wasn't clear (to me) which makes me cautious.
Division C
For the most part this is the boring part.
It's also the part where the worst provisions are inserted.
Title III has a section on 'training teachers in order to promote appropriate market driven technology in the classroom' (page 286-287). This seems like an ideological attack on education.
Title III also has an incentive for first time buyers to buy houses in Washington DC, in the form of a tax credit extention. Odd that they want to encourage new buyers in the mists of a housing crisis. It makes a lot more sense when taken together with the zero per cent capital gains tax (normaly applied to house price gains), also in DC. It's clear that the politicians are trying to sell thier houses for maximum profit to people who are new to the market. SHADY!!!!
Title IV could be the most disturbing of all 450 pages. It is called 'Extension of Tax Administration Provisions' and all it does is delet three paragraphs from other pre-existing laws (I haven't looked them up yet). One of the deletions is to grant permanent Authority for undercover operations, the other two are to grant permanent authority for disclosure of information relating to terrorist activities. The fact that the title is deceptive (to reduce the number of people who would look into the actual law because it looks innocent in the table of contents) and that the actual modifications are not even included in the document makes me extremely leary of this sub-section.
Title V has the weirdest section in the whole document: "Sec. 503. Exemption from Excise Tax for Certain Wooden Arrows Designed for Use by Children." ???? Come on, this is pork for one or two people!
Maybe I should work on optimisim though, the import/export of certain (not all) wooden arrows designed for use by children is going to save us all and fix the problems that Lehmans and Bear Sterns left us with!
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