<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre-wrap">So the McCain, in all of his Mighty Maverickness, appears to have thrown his lot in with the House GOP on the economic bailout plan. And what, pray tell, is the House GOP plan? It appears to be nothing more than a gigantic giveaway to the very people who got us into this mess
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre-wrap">So the McCain, in all of his Mighty Maverickness, appears to have thrown his lot in with the House GOP on the economic bailout plan. And what, pray tell, is the House GOP plan? It appears to be nothing more than a gigantic giveaway to the very people who got us into this mess:
Instead of the government buying the distressed securities, the new plan would have banks, financial firms and other investors that hold such loans pay the Treasury to insure them. Rep. Paul Ryan, R-Wis., a chief sponsor, said it was clear that Mr. Bush's plan "was not going to pass the House." But Democrats said the same was true of the conservatives' plan. It calls for capital gains tax cuts and insurance provisions the majority party will not accept, they said. ... At one point, several minutes into the session, Obama said it was time to hear from McCain. According to a Republican who was there, "all he said was, 'I support the principles that House Republicans are fighting for.'"
You read that correctly. The House GOP plan,which McCain apparently is backing -- or, at least, is not trying to push them off -- is to insure rather buy the assets and to give the very people who got us into this mess a two year holiday on paying capital gains taxes. So the GOP plan is to insure the bad debts, putting the taxpayers on the hook for possibly much more than the 700billion dollar Paulson came up with without giving the taxpayers anyway to ever get compensation if the government is required to pay off on that insurance. And then, just to rub salt in the wounds of the average tax payer, they are going to give the class of people who are most responsible for getting us into this mess a huge tax break for two years. Apparently the plan is to put the taxpayers on the hook for an unknown amount of money, fix none of the regulatory lapses that allowed this risky behavior in the first place, and then give essentially the same people who created the mess a bunch more money so they can do the whole thing over again. It's like catching a drunk driver, taking all the cops off the road, handing him the keys to a Ferrari, a cooler of vodka and telling him to drink up and be sure not to be late to that party on the other side of the state.
<span style="font-family: Verdana; font-size: 13px; line-height: normal; white-space: pre-wrap">I've been joking for a couple of days that if we really want to solve this mess we should just take that 700 billion dollars and pay off the mortgage on everyone's primary residence. The banks get cash, the country gets a huge and permanent stimulus, and, hey, if we are going to do the socialism thing let's do it right! Who would have thought that I didn't have the craziest plan around?</span>
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