PrintOctober 8, 2008
The Crime of the Century: The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008
It could probably be shown by facts and figures that there is no distinctly native American criminal class except Congress.
- Mark Twain
America, we just got suckered. We fell for the biggest money grab in modern politics, possibly in the history of the nation. No wonder Nancy Pelosi is beaming and her familiars, Harry Reid and Chris Dodd, are giggling behind their hands; they now have piles of money and they succeeded in pegging the Republicans for a problem they manufactured and are getting away with scot-free.
More importantly, they may have handed the election to Obama, and in so doing, they have set America up for the worst possible leader in a perilous time. Not a bad day's work for our "progressive" socialist fifth column and the America-haters that pull its strings.
More importantly, they may have handed the election to Obama, and in so doing, they have set America up for the worst possible leader in a perilous time. Not a bad day's work for our "progressive" socialist fifth column and the America-haters that pull its strings.
The Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 is a swindle. If the Democrats in Congress and their Republican accomplices had worn masks and carried pistols, the voter would have had a more accurate view of the "crisis" and its probable one trillion dollar cost. This emergency was brought about by government interference and influence and manipulated for political ends by the lawless opportunists that inhabit congress. It will accomplish four things:
(1) Distract the voter from the reality of a Democrat-controlled congress so bumbling and corrupt its approval ratings are in the single digits.
(2) Save failing Democrat-run mortgage companies Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and avert, for a time, their disastrous influence on the economy and Democrat party image.
(3) Confuse the electorate into blaming the Republicans, who have called for oversight for decades, only to have it blocked by Democrats.
(4) Set up Obama to play the reformer, which he is decidedly not, as he is neck-deep in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac money and complicit in moving federal money to leftist "philanthropic" front groups in Illinois such as the failed Annenberg Challenge.
To understand the level of corruption one need only look at Representative Barney Frank (D - MA), the liar-in-chief for Freddie and Fannie for years. His own words thoroughly damn him. He blames the private sector ("bad decisions that were made by people in the private sector") and the Republicans ("the country is in dire straits today thanks to a conservative philosophy that says the market knows best"), a stunning new level of hypocrisy and deceit, even for the Democrats.
Yet Rep. Frank repeatedly and clearly stood against fiduciary controls. In 2003, he defended them in The New York Times, saying,
Yet Rep. Frank repeatedly and clearly stood against fiduciary controls. In 2003, he defended them in The New York Times, saying,
"These two entities -- Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac -- are not facing any kind of financial crisis. The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing."
In an Oct 3 news conference, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi lauded Frank as a leader, a bipartisan "maestro." In this bizarre political theater of the absurd and the ludicrous, Frank is hailed for solving the crisis he helped perpetrate. Pelosi promises to "shine the bright light of accountability on what is happening in our financial markets so that it doesn't happen again." This is as laughable as Frank's accusation that it was conservatives that caused it. This level of deception and manipulation requires true "maestros" of falsehood. Pelosi pulls it off beautifully.
"Under the leadership of our chairman, Barney Frank, as I called him on the floor, a maestro, we were able to make improvements, working in a bipartisan way, making improvements in the legislation, and then make more improvements in the legislation before it came back to the floor today.
"The eye now is to the future. To shine the bright light of accountability on what is happening in our financial markets so that it doesn't happen again. That accountability will tell us how we got to this place and ferret out the abuses. That accountability will honor our trust to the American people.
"Mr. Frank will be holding hearings on where we go from here, because we are about the future. Mr. Waxman's hearings will be instructed as to how we got here -- that we know how to avoid this in the future.
In terms of wealth redistribution, the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 is a clear victory for the progressive socialist left. The Frank and Waxman hearings will surely cover up Democrat malfeasance, obscure the cause and attack political opponents. The only thing they will "ferret out" will be a way to avoid actual oversight. They will also work hard to manipulate public perception with stacked witnesses, loud activists and hearing room Performance Theater. Their lies will fill the airways and the electorate will buy in to the fiction from the sheer volume of the onslaught, an information warfare bombardment. The press will help deliberately, happily, and stupidly. The leaderless Republicans, timid and fearful, will likely surrender. Another urban political myth will be born to join the Hadditha massacre, Iraqi defeat, and Katrina narrative.
For months, Senate Democrats have been leaking negative financial information -- exploiting market sensitivities for political gain -- choreographed to burst precisely when it would do the most damage. Senator Chuck Schumer ignited this by leaking a letter regarding the lending practices of troubled Indy Mac. Indy Mac failed when the Schumer letter caused a "liquidity crisis," where depositors withdrew over a billion dollars. Over three thousand people, half its employees, lost their jobs in the resulting collapse. As a member of the Senate banking committee, Schumer knew the impact on the market. He used confidential regulatory information and set the stage for the "crisis" the Democrats prosper from today. Power is everything, and those who suffer for Democrat ambition matter not at all. Schumer knew exactly what he was doing.
"If Schumer continues to go public with letters raising questions about the condition of individual institutions, he will cause havoc in the banking system. Leaking his IndyMac letter to the press was reckless and grossly irresponsible. I don't see how he can be trusted with confidential information in the future."
- Former United States Comptroller of Currency John D. Hawke
It should be clear, Senator Schumer cannot be trusted nor can his party. His purpose in the Indy Mac leak was far more sinister than his feigned concern over viability; it was the October surprise, set in motion by the most corrupt political party this nation has seen for a century. Now the fox is in the hen house and we have opened the gate.
We should not be surprised. Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae funneled 200 million dollars into political coffers in just over a decade. They had an extensive and expensive lobbying organization. Democrats ran both companies, and they contributed many millions to leftist "charities" that in turn donated a portion of that money back into Democrat coffers in a convoluted money laundering system that takes taxpayer money, funnels it into groups like ACORN, then reaps the rewards of well-funded advocacy. It is theft and sleight of hand and against the law only as far as the Democrats in congress allows it to be. When you control the appropriate committees, it is easy to stall regulation.
ACORN is using this stolen money even now to fund "voter registration" drives across the nation. These drives register primarily Democrat voters by design, and they frequently "lose" or discard Republican registrations. They have been accused, indicted and convicted of fraud in a dozen states. This deters them not at all. Thousands of false registrations for this election cycle have been discovered already. ACORN irregularities have been reported in Ohio, Connecticut, Colorado, Nevada, Washington, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin and others. Who knows how far or how deep the voting manipulation extends.
This is where taxpayer money goes, funding organizations that steal our votes and our tax dollars. This is where the Democrats in congress send it. Senator Chris Dodd brazenly attempted to slip funding for ACORN Housing in an early version of the Economic Stabilization Act. Harry Reid tried to disguise an oil shale exploration ban. Add to that a dozen earmarks for everything from rum imports to children's archery equipment and you can see that for such a dramatic "crisis," many of our legislators do not take it seriously. So many crises are manufactured for political ends that it is hard for some in Congress to ferret out actual emergencies. One thing remains clear: the taxpayers have been funding the Democrat political machine and front groups like ACORN for far too long.
Now they have the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, a windfall that will keep them swollen with cash and power for many years. The price tag will surely rise as the Democrats pad expenditures and siphon off funding to their proxies. We will inevitably let them, beaten down by the propaganda and drum beat fury of the "progressive" left that controls so much of the information we absorb from the press.
In a perfect world there would stand thousands demonstrating in Washington D.C., outrage across the nation, and impeachments and voter uprisings. But as usual, we act like the rubes the Democrats always assume we will portray.
Warren Buffet, the "genius" of the financial world, says it best. Like the rest of us, he gives the thieves a pass with the morally relativist excuses we have come to expect from our leaders and our cultural icons. "I don't worry too much about pointing fingers at the past," he said. "I operate on the theory that every saint has a past, every sinner has a future."
Buffet will certainly profit from the crisis, so why make a fuss. He says,
"There are not bad guys in that situation; it's a condition of human nature."
There are some bad guys in "that situation." They belong to the same political party and have accomplices across the aisle. They are Buffet's chums and they love investment bankers, whom they have helped make billions, and in turn, they receive a tidy sum on top of what is stolen from the American people.
There are some bad guys in "that situation." They belong to the same political party and have accomplices across the aisle. They are Buffet's chums and they love investment bankers, whom they have helped make billions, and in turn, they receive a tidy sum on top of what is stolen from the American people.
Congress has been ripping us off with abandon, squandering our children's future and stealing our country, one dollar at a time. They do not represent the people; they manipulate the people. It is about power and money and they consider your money to be theirs for whatever social experiment and entitlement they desire, regardless of what you the voter wants. After all, you are too dim to know what to do with it. Without accountability, it will stay that way. We do not need reform; we need a revolt. Think about that when you vote this November.
