The Frankfurter School

The irony of the “bailout compromise” that is expected to pass Congress this week is that the largest-ever robbery of the US Treasury is actually being committed by banks. And like the rest of the lawbreaking overseen by this Administration and Congress, laws are furiously being re-written to make it legal. At least this time, they’re doing it in advance of the criminality.

One hundred prominent economists from the country’s leading universities have signed a letter to Congress saying that this bailout is unnecessary. Many members of both parties who still hold core beliefs and are not high-dollar recipients of Banking Industry political contributions oppose this bailout. The American public opposes this bailout by decisive margins in every poll conducted.

What’s the rush? The economy is not actually collapsing. None of the doomsday scenarios being proffered are very specific. Our government always reserves the right to close the markets and force a national bank holiday if things were to suddenly go south. Meanwhile, how about holding hearings, building support, and working transparently? That is the way representative government is supposed to work.

The most disturbing aspect of this “bailout” bill is how much power it vests in the Treasury Secretary. In fact, the most historically significant thing about this (Democratic-led) Congress is how much of its own Constitutionally-mandated power it has permanently ceded to the Executive Branch. Just like the Democratic-markup of the Bush surveillance law that passed this summer, this bill pays lip service to oversight and makes cosmetic suggestions that the Democrats can use in form-letters and talking points that address issues important to their constituents, but which are only in this bill as options to be used entirely at the discretion of the Treasury Secretary. That is not governing, that is cynical posturing, and it could spell the downfall of the party.

This bailout is a deeply shameful bill that will alter the fate of our country forever by assuming ballooning debt that will keep us in hock to our creditors like a third world country unable to govern itself. It does not “socialize” private businesses, as many on the right complain; it essentially privatizes our government and turns it over to banks and private corporations.

Government intervention in our economy is not the issue: that is often a good and necessary thing. This particular intervention, however, is being done in such a hurry and so in secret, controlled by the very people who got us into the mess, with the cooperation of the very people who have betrayed every principle of our democracy. We must do everything in our power to stop this bailout if that is still possible, and we must do everything in our power to defeat our Members of Congress who vote for it, no matter how much we may “like” them.

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