Geitner's "plan": Guarantee trillions in junk bank assets... send taxpayers bill later
The “gurus” proposing the next taxpayer fleecing… I mean bank bailout… er, “rescue package” want to spend trillions (more) taxpayer dollars bailing out failed banks. But they want to withhold the bill from us because telling us how many trillions of dollars they want to put us on the hook for would scare the bejeezus out of everyone.
The new “plan” is for taxpayers to guarantee trillions of dollars of toxic bank-owned assets without even telling us how many trillions we’d be on the hook for.
Tricking the public into massive bank bailouts while pretending there will be little or no cost is not democracy.
Congress may well roll over and do what they’re told, but at least they enjoyed a good chuckle:
Administration officials were greeted with sarcasm and laughter Monday night when they briefed lawmakers and congressional staff on Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner’s new financial-sector bailout project, according to people who were in the room.
The laughter was at its height when Obama officials explained that the White House planned to guarantee a wide swath of toxic assets — which they referred to as “legacy assets” — but wouldn’t be asking Congress for money. Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA), a bailout opponent in the fall, asked the officials to give Congress the total dollar figure for which they were on the hook. The officials said that they couldn’t provide a number, a response met by chuckling that was bipartisan, but tilted toward the GOP side. By guaranteeing the assets, Geithner hopes he can persuade the private sector to purchase a portion of them.
Posted by James on Wednesday, February 11, 2009