Just put it on our tab
In the past week, new government spending has increased by $1 trillion. If you’ve been disappointed by how little of your money the Bush administration has been spending of late, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and the Democratic Congress have a plan for you:
Sept. 21 (Bloomberg) — U.S. Democratic lawmakers said they would act quickly on a $700 billion rescue plan for financial companies, while demanding that the legislation limit compensation for executives of companies that will benefit.
That brings the grand total in new spending to around $1 trillion: a $700 billion financial company rescue plan, a $100-200 billion bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, an $85 billion bridge loan for AIG…am I forgetting anything? Oh, and there’s that $1 trillion war, that $1 trillion new Medicare drug entitlement…
“This is not a position where I like to see the taxpayer, but it is far better than the alternative,” Paulson said on NBC’s “Meet the Press.”
Color me skeptical and then some. And the Democrats’ idea that executive compensation is the biggest downside is positively jaw-dropping:
“We will not simply hand over a $700 billion blank check to Wall Street and hope for a better outcome,” [House Speaker Nancy Pelosi] said.
We’re about to force the American people to throw something on the order of the entire GDP of the Netherlands at a bunch of Wall Street i-banks and the only thing the Democrats can think to worry about is the fact that a few rich guys might get even richer?
Matt Yglesias gives Damir good reason to question the wisdom of giving government significant ownership of private enterprises. Say what you will about lobbying and corruption. Has anyone thought through the consequences of making government a significant stakeholder in any of these firms? Question #134 for proponents of the latest bailout: Just how is a government that owns pieces of major companies supposed to enforce the law against them, or treat their competitors equally?
At the National Conference of Editorial Writers in Little Rock over the weekend, the group gave away a bunch of tongue-in-cheek T-shirts contributed by Competitive Enterprise Institute, including one designed to look like a Coca-Cola logo, that read “Enjoy Capitalism.”
“While it lasts,” quipped the emcee.