Unstable Isotope pointed us to this draft of the bailout legislation earlier today. Look closely (highlighting mine):
(b) Necessary Actions.–The Secretary is authorized to take such actions as the Secretary deems necessary to carry out the authorities in this Act, including, without limitation:
(1) appointing such employees as may be required to carry out the authorities in this Act and defining their duties;
(2) entering into contracts, including contracts for services authorized by section 3109 of title 5, United States Code, without regard to any other provision of law regarding public contracts;
(3) designating financial institutions as financial agents of the Government, and they shall perform all such reasonable duties related to this Act as financial agents of the Government as may be required of them;
(4) establishing vehicles that are authorized, subject to supervision by the Secretary, to purchase mortgage-related assets and issue obligations; and
(5) issuing such regulations and other guidance as may be necessary or appropriate to define terms or carry out the authorities of this Act.
This draft also excludes the actions taken under this bailout from review “by any court of law or administrative agency”.
I can’t — for the life of me — see any upside to this deal for taxpayers. We end up with the debt and the banks get to go back and party like it was 1999 — no incentives to change behavior, the people who created this mess employed at massive salaries and a Treasury that is not paying attention to the fundamentals (but given extraordinary power to erase the financial burdens of the bad actors in these same banks). And last, but not least, all of this new and unfettered power is being asked for by the folks that brought you Iraq, Katrina, the DoJ, spying on Americans and all of the rest of the epic fail that we’ve been living through. Several Dems and pundits have made the point that this is the time for Dems to get their secondary stimulus package through as a part of this deal. Now that I’ve seen the deal, I’m hoping that Democrats will focus on negotiating this deal so that this bailout doesn’t become a cleared field for more of a failed ideology. I’m hoping that accountability to Congress and to courts gets back in AND that someone builds in a better taxpayer upside.
Time to raise some hell, I think — with our Congressional delegation, the White House and the media.
EDIT: This isn’t promising. Josh Marshall cites a story from the WSJ of banking lobbyists already meeting with the Republican caucus to ensure that the deal is just the money, no strings attached.