And a large number it was. This seemingly arbitrary amount of taxpayer dollars set by Treasury Secretary Henry (Let me just choose a number) Paulson passed the Senate yesterday in a wide margin of 74 to 25. To give somewhat of a perspective on how much money $700 Billion is, it is seven hundred thousand million dollars, or enough to pay about half of my student loans.
The only Senator absent from the vote was Ted Kennedy (D-Mass) who is recuperating from a seizure thought to be caused by a change in medication. The “Lion of the Senate” is currently battling a brain tumor first diagnosed in May, 2008. My sincerest wishes for his speedy recovery.
Meanwhile in the wake of the Senate vote, support for the bill is gaining among House Republicans whose “hurt feelings” over a speech from Nancy Pelosi last Monday, seem to be getting “all better.”
“Still President” George W. Bush praised the passing of the bill in the Senate. With the revisions, Bush said, “I believe members of both parties in the House can support this legislation. The American people expect and our economy demands that the House pass this good bill this week and send it to my desk.”
The one question that has been on my mind, and the question in which I couldn’t find an answer to despite digging in numerous publications, was if the bill still contained those scary 32 words that was a key part of Bush’s original bill. You know, these words:
“Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.”
I even looked in “Um, All Of Them” magazine and got nothing on the bill’s wording. That magazine was worthless. I don’t know why Sarah Palin even recommended it to Katie Couric.
I am hoping, nay praying that those 32 words were not inserted into the new bill. This remarkable piece of legislation is going to be with us for a very long time. Get ready American taxpayers. As soon as this bill clears the House and is on the President’s desk, we will be proud owners of $700 billion of debt.
During this saga, I’ve been trying to wrap my brain around all of this. Two weeks and 3 1/2 bottles of Motrin later, I can only say that Wall Street and the US Government put all of us in “Mainstreet,” “Middletown,” or whatever else it is they’re calling us these days in an almost impossible situation. Imagine if they were contacting us by phone:
“Umm, American taxpayer? Yes, this is the Government. Uh yeah, it seems that thanks to our deregulatory policies, bankers and Wall Street investors kinda went nuts. You know what children they are. Well long story short, they gambled away billions of dollars and put the financial market in a umm, how shall I put it? A meltdown. Oh, I’ve already talked to the financiers responsible and offered some very harsh words. They tell me they’re very, very sorry. Yes, I’m afraid this is very serious, and you’re going to have to bail them out. I know it’s not fair to you and that you didn’t do anything to cause this. Fact is, Wall Street is strapped for cash and we’re already a good trillion in the hole. I know that this negates your tax-rebate check, but this is serious! It all comes down to you. We need you to fix this cratering economy. No, I checked with other countries. They refuse to give us a dime. They called us irresponsible. Hmph! Can you believe it? So yeah, $700 billion sounds like a nice, round number. We’ll get the legislation through and let you know how it goes.”
At least, that’s how it sounds to me.
