TARP Is Thrown Over Roofless Banks by Elaine Meinel Supkis

[Joanne98]

September 28, 2008

Elaine Meinel Supkis


I just got the TARP bill. Some in Congress hope to torpedo this bill but I don't think they can succeed since the top people want it passed no matter how unpopular it is. Each opponent is given one minute to register their ire. Maybe yelling, 'YOU WILL BE SORRY!' should be used? Well, it will pass like all the other Hail Mary passes thrown by the central banks, the leaders and the legislators have worked: not at all. For far from probing what is wrong, they are throwing a tarp over the burning bank business in the hopes this will smother the whole mess. It won't work. And that is due to the fact, the Derivatives Beast is bigger than the banks.


$700-billion Wall Street bailout plan is unveiled

The House is likely to vote on the bill Monday, congressional staffers said. But the plan faces fierce opposition from Republicans and Democrats angry at what they say is a taxpayer bailout of Wall Street "fat cats." As the House opened for an unusual Sunday session, lawmakers from both parties rose, one after another, for one-minute speeches denouncing the agreement -- and signaling a continuing struggle as policymakers and their staff work out the final details.

"This morning we should be very much alarmed," said Rep. Scott Garrett (R-N.J.), addressing taxpayers directly. "Obviously, Washington is not listening to your wishes. Those who used to work for Goldman Sachs will support this deal. . . . Those who have blocked reform in the past will support this deal. I will not support this deal."

Rep. Marcy Kaptur (D-Ohio) railed against the agreement and the Wall Street financiers who would be helped. "These criminals have so much political power they can shut down the normal legislative process," she said.

Rep. Ted Poe (R-Texas) rose to compare the administration's urgings to rush a bailout plan to the pressure exerted on Congress to act after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.

"This is the same politics of fear we're hearing from the financial fat cats on Wall Street," Poe said. "Backroom deals trouble me because they usually turn out to be bad deals for America."

The conservative Texan was followed and echoed by the staunchly liberal Rep. Dennis J. Kucinich (D-Ohio), who said, "The $700-billion bailout is driven by fear, not fact."



Since the Derivatives Beast is bigger than the entire banking system of the entire planet earth, yes, fear is called for. 'Oh my god! Look at that thing! It is taller than the Burj Dubai, whatever that is!' Or, 'It is bigger than Madonna's pointy bras!' Or how about, 'It is as big as the garbage circling in the North Pacific Gyre!' Finding the appropriate metaphor is hard work for this thing the bankers, themselves birthed and bred, raised and fed is bigger than all other monetary, banking, economic or any other possible thing we use numbers to describe. Except for Zimbabwe inflation which is now totally in the grip of the Goddess of Inflation who is happily running that up to infinity pretty fast.


This is what happens when we dwaddle for several years: instead of focusing on what is obviously wrong from the get-go, we end up screaming and running in circles. Everyone wants to fix this mess but fixing it is impossible unless we first recognize what is wrong! This takes time. Alas, it requires overcoming vast seas of money injected into the political system to encourage our Representatives to not look at the monster, this Beast, as it was growing. So instead of attending to its vast girth and size, it was studiously ignored.


Now that it wants to eat its fathers who fed it the rest of the planetary financial systems, now Congress and the ruler of America wake up from their happy dreams to lasso this creature. Only they are not doing this! They want to feed more money into a system that had epic, huge, insane amounts of money, both fake and counterfeit, flooding the entire economic systems!


Click here for the PDF of the entire proposed bill:

SEPTEMBER28, 2008
110THCONGRESS 2nd SESSION H. R. ll

To provide authority for the Federal Government to purchase certain types of troubled assets for the purposes of providing stability to and preventing disruption in the economy and financial system and protecting taxpayers, and for other purposes.

IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES: A BILL

To provide authority for the Federal Government to purchase certain types of troubled assets for the purposes of providing stability to and preventing disruption in the economy and financial system and protecting taxpayers, and for other purposes.



I lived in a tent complex for ten years. It was covered with huge tarps. Every fall, I would have to recover the entire thing with new tarps. If I failed to do this, the entire thing would disintegrate. Once, when it was a very stormy year, I had to put on the annual tarps in a very violent windstorm. I had to use logging chains and the ox team to yank it over. At one point, I lost control of the tarp and it whipped up into the air. It flapped with great energy and I hauled on the lines to pull it back down. The oxen strained to haul it over the peak and I had to tie it to the oak trees on the forest side.


It was very frightful. So I know all about tarps! Having lived under them for ten years, I assure everyone, solid roofs are far, far better! And this bill is no solid roof over the US economy. It is a temporary tarp that will flap in the economic winds even if we tie it down with logging chains.

Continued>>
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