Even on those rare occasions when the Bush Administration makes the right call they bungle the implementation. After nearly eight years of gross incompetence this is hardly surprising, but here we go again. The latest bonehead blunder concerns the financial bailout. Of the $350 billion distributed so far, hardly any of the recipients either know or will say where the taxpayers' largess has gone, or if it is being used for the intended purposes of continuing to make loans or preventing foreclosures.
The total lack of accountability recalls earlier blundering performances such as Iraq and Hurricane Katrina. These dimwits never seem to learn from their mistakes. Or maybe as long as welfare is going to the rich they really don't care. The Associated Press conducted a revealing investigation. It's called "Where'd the Bailout Money Go? Shhhh, It's a Secret."
Given the financial meltdown and the burden of bad debt brought on by the subprime mess, a bailout to get money circulating again was needed. I myself agreed with the necessity of doing this, as you can check by referencing my earlier posts on the economy. What I did call for, however, was some strict accountability. But no such luck, apparently. The money no doubt is helping these firms in general, but no one can or will say how much is going to free up funds for intelligent loans and how much for mergers or executive bonuses.
JP Morgan Chase's spokesman said, "We've not given any accounting of, 'Here's how we're doing it.' We have not disclosed that to the public. We're declining to." The firm received $25 billion. Sun Trust Banks of Atlanta got $3.5 billion. They say, "We're not providing dollar-in, dollar-out tracking." Mellon Bank said of its $3 billion, "We're choosing not to disclose that." Comerica said of its $2.25 billion, "We're not sharing any other details."
Treasury Secretary Paulson's lame comment on the matter is, "What we've been doing here is moving, I think, with lightning speed to put necessary programs in place, to develop them, implement them, and then we need to monitor them while we're doing this. So we're building this organization as we're going." He wouldn't demand an accounting for every dollar as an up-front requirement before anybody got a single buck? And he's the Secretary of the U.S. Treasury? Unbelievable.
Now, after the fact, a bipartisan Congressional oversight panel is trying to get to the bottom of things. Chair Elizabeth Warren, appointed by the Democrats, will begin calling witnesses. Republican Scott Jarrett of Ohio remarks, "A year or two ago, when we talked about spending $100 million for a bridge to nowhere, that was considered a scandal."
Indeed, the more one finds out about this benighted gaggle of incompetents the more it seems they might indeed be the worst presidential administration in American history.
3 comments:
Steve, why do you insist that this administration has committed so many "blunders"? It should be clear to everyone by now, that the whole debacle, (two terms) was very carefully calculated and executed. To see it any other way defies all logic. The new prez-elect will ALSO be a "compassionate conservative", and a "uniter not a divider" and will lead us forward in the unending war against 'good will towards men'...peace, john
Good point, John. I believe it is a mix of nefarious intent and basic incompetence. I do not feel these guys are capable enough to have calibrated everything flawlessly. For instance, I regard the environmental havoc, unconstitutional power grabs, justice department goings on and Iraqi invasion as intentional sinister actions.
On the other hand, I view things like the Katrina response, failure to catch Bin Laden at Tora Bora and the failure to secure Iraq not as intentional outcomes but as bungles brought on by their own stupidity or fealty to failed ideology.
The current Administration has been not only malign but also often incompetent. I do not buy, for instance that they, say, have intentionally brought the stock market down from 11,000 to 8,000.
The outcome of Katrina is that an historically Democrat town was turned into a republican town overnight, intentional? The benefit of NOT knowing whether or nor bin laden is alive certainly keeps the terror alert levels nicenhigh, intentional? Had the 'war' had been "secured" in a timely manner, say, "...6 hours, 6 days, I doubt 6 monthes" D. Rumsfeld 2003, there would not have been time to construct over 30 military bases there. intentional? We probably agree that the decider wasn't really, and that the real power was/is the nefarious elements within the cabinet. I firmly believe that it was in their interest to have a buffoon at the helm, I mean, if a guy can't speak english, how diabolical could he be? I'm hopefull that war crime tribunals can restore our country's honor.
peace on this earth, john
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