The Bailout Just Keeps Getting Worse and Barney Loves It!

So. Quite the day for bailout revelations.

First, we learn that nestled into the Pelosi/Reed bailout was a secret $140 billion in tax breaks for the banks. Amazing that Barack Obama voted to cut taxes on those evil greedy predatory lending banks.

The financial world was fixated on Capitol Hill as Congress battled over the Bush administration's request for a $700 billion bailout of the banking industry. In the midst of this late-September drama, 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.

Then we learn that the tax break isn't the only secret the feds are keeping. Apparently, it's now none of our business which banks actually laid their hands on the stash:

Nov. 10 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve is refusing to identify the recipients of almost $2 trillion of emergency loans from American taxpayers or the troubled assets the central bank is accepting as collateral.

And Barney Frank is just fine with that:

In an interview Nov. 6, House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank said the Fed's disclosure is sufficient and that the risk the central bank is taking on is appropriate in the current economic climate. Frank said he has discussed the program with Timothy F. Geithner, president and chief executive officer of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and a possible candidate to succeed Paulson as Treasury secretary.

``I talk to Geithner and he was pretty sure that they're OK,'' said Frank, a Massachusetts democrat. ``If the risk is that the Fed takes a little bit of a haircut, well that's regrettable.'' Such losses would be acceptable, he said, if the program helps revive the economy.

As to if the conversation occured in the bedroom or the boardroom still remains to be determined. Of course, there was other more open news ... like that AIG got its umpteenth cash infusion, bringing its total thus far to $150 billion.

So, this is what we get from the Democrats being in control. Make no mistake, they will paint it as the Bush bailout, the McCain bailout. Remember, Joe Biden and Obama voted yes. 172 house democrats voted yes (73% of them.) 39 Democratic Senators voted yes (81% of them.) Make no mistake, this was the Democrats running to try to hide their enormous Social Financial Engineering failures. Keep in mind, Income Distribution and Fairness are code words for more social financial engineering.

Real Conservatives would NEVER approve of ANY of these bailouts.

In Response To: Too big to fail. Or to pay taxes. Or to be identified.