A little follow up to the “Bail Out” : Apparently, the Democratic Members of the House and Senate read the proposed Legislation (it’s not very long 3 Pages?). Senator Dodd has proposed a version WITHOUT Section 8 (Seriously, it’s Section 8. Coincidence or do they just know it’s Crazy??).
Sec. 8. Review.
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.
As I mentioned before, I have really a big problem with this part.
Here is how I bet the Administration attempts to frame it: “The Democrats are UN-American and Hate the Ecomony!!!” or “WE have a plan. the Democrats have NOTHING!“. What do you think?
In any case, I bet the Administration will attempt to ram this down Congress throats. Call me skeptical but whenever this Administrations cries about a “Dire Imminent Emergency!“, I grab my wallet with both hands and wonder. The Economy is in trouble and does need help. The problem is, this Administration ALWAYS takes the “My Way Or the Highway” approach to “negotiating”.
I *really* hope Congress does NOT roll over on this.
Slight update: The NY Times has an informative article on this topic.
Another update: Here is Sen. Dodd’s bill on Politico. Sen. Dodd’s version reads:
SEC. 8. LIMITS ON REVIEW.
(a) IN GENERAL.-Any determination of the Secretary with regard to any particular troubled asset pursuant to this Act shall be final, and shall not be set aside unless such determination is found to be arbitrary, capricious, an abuse of discretion, or not in accordance with the law.(b) EXCEPTION. -Notwithstanding subsection (a), the terms of a residential mortgage loan that is part of any purchase by the Secretary under this Act shall remain subject to all claims and defenses that would otherwise apply notwithstanding the exercise of authority by the Secretary or the Corporation under this Act.
Which is quite different from the version the Administration wants.
Music I’m listening to now:
“Mad World“, sung by Gary Jules from the “Donnie Darko soundtrack“ album. You can see the video here.
