Well, I'm not alone

Others are spotting the startling similarity between what the administration is asking Congress to do now to bail out our financial system and what it asked Congress to do in the run-up to Iraq.

Some skeptics are calling Henry Paulson’s $700 billion rescue plan for the U.S. financial system “cash for trash.” Others are calling the proposed legislation the Authorization for Use of Financial Force, after the Authorization for Use of Military Force, the infamous bill that gave the Bush administration the green light to invade Iraq.

Paul Krugman smells a stinker.  I smell a stinker.  I bet you do, too. But it's hard to find anyone who thinks Congress will actually even go so far as to unplug its nose and open its eyes.

Mr. Paulson insists that he wants a “clean” plan. “Clean,” in this context, means a taxpayer-financed bailout with no strings attached — no quid pro quo on the part of those being bailed out. Why is that a good thing? Add to this the fact that Mr. Paulson is also demanding dictatorial authority, plus immunity from review “by any court of law or any administrative agency,” and this adds up to an unacceptable proposal.

I’m aware that Congress is under enormous pressure to agree to the Paulson plan in the next few days, with at most a few modifications that make it slightly less bad. Basically, after having spent a year and a half telling everyone that things were under control, the Bush administration says that the sky is falling, and that to save the world we have to do exactly what it says now now now.

But I’d urge Congress to pause for a minute, take a deep breath, and try to seriously rework the structure of the plan, making it a plan that addresses the real problem. Don’t let yourself be railroaded — if this plan goes through in anything like its current form, we’ll all be very sorry in the not-too-distant future.

Harry?  Nancy?  The skunk is lifting its tail and is about to douse you.  Are you going to just stand there?  Again?

Comments

[JayDenver]

I faxed letters to both my senators, to my congressional rep, to Senator Obama, Senator Reid, Rep. Barney Frank, and Speaker Nancy Pelosi urging them to oppose the proposal as presented and to revise it in line with the good of the American people.

Bush has pushed the panic button once too often and he broke it -- just like Wall Street. His ratings have tanked.

Time for Congress to take back the purse strings and show some backbone. Don't make this a Wall Street Patriot Act.