Almost "see you, raise you"

It's not quite $700 billion, "only" $586 billion.  But it's interesting to see China weigh in with a hefty economic stimulus package.  The markets are rising in Europe and Asia.  Market's don't measure the strength of the economy but they do give it a bit of a kick in the pants.  Indeed, "investors have gotten used to seeing enormous bailout proposals and are awaiting details — 'more flesh on the bone' — to fully evaluate the plan."

Meanwhile, once again, the home team resorts to underhanded games with the bailout.  The Washington Post reveals that the Bush administration's Treasury Department pulled a fast one while we were all focused on the bill's passage through Congress.

" ...The Treasury Department issued a five-sentence notice that attracted almost no public attention.

"But corporate tax lawyers quickly realized the enormous implications of the document: Administration officials had just given American banks a windfall of as much as $140 billion."

It may well have been illegal.

"The story of the obscure provision underscores what critics in Congress, academia and the legal profession warn are the dangers of the broad authority being exercised by Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. in addressing the financial crisis. Lawmakers are now looking at whether the new notice was introduced to benefit specific banks, as well as whether it inappropriately accelerated bank takeovers.

"The change to Section 382 of the tax code -- a provision that limited a kind of tax shelter arising in corporate mergers -- came after a two-decade effort by conservative economists and Republican administration officials to eliminate or overhaul the law, which is so little-known that even influential tax experts sometimes draw a blank at its mention. Until the financial meltdown, its opponents thought it would be nearly impossible to revamp the section because this would look like a corporate giveaway, according to lobbyists."

Huge numbers of Americans protested the bailout, pummeling their representatives with "watch out!" and "don't go along with it!"  They sensed, rightly, that the Bush administration would pull a fast one to benefit banks and their lobbyists.

"'It was a shock to most of the tax law community. It was one of those things where it pops up on your screen and your jaw drops,' said Candace A. Ridgway, a partner at Jones Day, a law firm that represents banks that could benefit from the notice. 'I've been in tax law for 20 years, and I've never seen anything like this.'"

Members of Congress declared they were outraged.   But they were afraid to speak out -- again.

"'It's just like after September 11. Back then no one wanted to be seen as not patriotic, and now no one wants to be seen as not doing all they can to save the financial system,' said Lee A. Sheppard, a tax attorney who is a contributing editor at the trade publication Tax Analysts. 'We're left now with congressional Democrats that have spines like overcooked spaghetti. So who is going to stop the Treasury secretary from doing whatever he wants?'"