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Bailout Lacks Oversight Despite Billions Pledged
- Text size
Amit R. Paley
Washington Post
November 13, 2008
In the six weeks since lawmakers approved the Treasury’s massive bailout of financial firms, the government has poured money into the country’s largest banks, recruited smaller banks into the program and repeatedly widened its scope to cover yet other types of businesses, from insurers to consumer lenders.
Along the way, the Bush administration has committed $290 billion of the $700 billion rescue package.
- A d v e r t i s e m e n t
Yet for all this activity, no formal action has been taken to fill the independent oversight posts established by Congress when it approved the bailout to prevent corruption and government waste. Nor has the first monitoring report required by lawmakers been completed, though the initial deadline has passed.
“It’s a mess,” said Eric M. Thorson, the Treasury Department’s inspector general, who has been working to oversee the bailout program until the newly created position of special inspector general is filled. “I don’t think anyone understands right now how we’re going to do proper oversight of this thing.”
In approving the rescue package, lawmakers trumpeted provisions in the legislation that established layers of independent scrutiny, including a special inspector general to be nominated by the White House and a congressional oversight panel to be named by lawmakers themselves.
Some lawmakers and their aides fear that political squabbling on Capitol Hill and bureaucratic logjams could delay their work for months. Meanwhile, the Congressional Budget Office, which also has some oversight responsibilities, is worried about the difficulty of hiring people who can understand the intensely complicated financial work involved.
The legislation grants the special inspector, who is expected to be the primary overseer of the program, a budget of $50 million. The measure calls for him to conduct audits and investigations of how the government spends money under the bailout program, including on equity investments in firms. In particular, he is to report about any assets acquired and their value, plus an explanation of why they were acquired and details on individuals or companies involved in the transactions.
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November 13th, 2008 at 2:12 pm
What type of gun(s) should I purchase?
November 13th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
No more bubbles.
November 13th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
“I don’t think anyone understands right now how we’re going to do proper oversight of this thing.”
That was known before the deal and the intentional part that made sure no one ever would. Paulson wasn’t even sure of how much of a crisi existed when asking for the handout to give to the FED.
One selfish generation of Americans passing a tax burden on to the next two generations.
November 13th, 2008 at 3:14 pm
I think we need to turn on all “Western Governments”. We are being shafted.
November 13th, 2008 at 3:25 pm
the Federal Reserve has never been audited nor will they ever be. that’s what happens when you allow somebody to have a monopoly on your financial system.
people with pitchforks will have to go in there and toss them out on the street, otherwise nothing will change. people on youtube are starting to get the right idea…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ogz1nMM2U4
November 13th, 2008 at 6:17 pm
there was never any oversight intended. it was not suppose to start for two months if i remember right. in the mean time the foxes are still in the hen house stealing and eating up america. it is over folks, face it. the new world order just jumped by leaps and bounds. DEFAUL AND A NEW CURRENCY has now been put on steroids. they might jist skip the NAU and go to a sinoicas. our disease is and has been sinoicas america borrowing from china to fund our illegal wars and money printing. they never raises taxes or worry about defecits because they know they will not pay their bills. default will be their answer, the loss pof our freedom and country will be the result. welcome to the new world order.
November 13th, 2008 at 11:17 pm
you cant get blood from a stone.
November 14th, 2008 at 7:23 am
Simon .. At least an Assault rifle 9mm/.556 perhaps a side arm as well … i prefer a 9mm. Don’t forget lots of rounds.
November 14th, 2008 at 8:55 am
On June 4, 1963, a virtually unknown Presidential decree, Executive Order
11110, was signed with the authority to basically strip the Federal Reserve
Bank of its power to loan money to the United States Federal Government at
interest. With the stroke of a pen, President Kennedy declared that the
privately owned Federal Reserve Bank would soon be out of business. The
Christian Common Law Institute has exhaustively researched this matter
through the Federal Register and Library of Congress and can now safely
conclude that this Executive Order has never been repealed, amended, or
superceded by any subsequent Executive Order. In simple terms, it is still
valid.
When President John Fitzgerald Kennedy – the author of Profiles in
Courage -signed this Order, it returned to the federal government,
specifically the Treasury Department, the Constitutional power to create and
issue currency -money – without going through the privately owned Federal
Reserve Bank.
President Kennedy’s Executive Order 11110 [the full text is displayed
further below] gave the Treasury Department the explicit authority:
“to issue silver certificates against any silver bullion, silver, or
standard silver dollars in the Treasury.”
This means that for every ounce of silver in the U.S. Treasury’s vault, the
government could introduce new money into circulation based on the silver
bullion physically held there. As a result, more than $4 billion in United
States Notes were brought into circulation in $2 and $5 denominations. $10
and $20 United States Notes were never circulated but were being printed by
the Treasury Department when Kennedy was assassinated. It appears obvious
that President Kennedy knew the Federal Reserve Notes being used as the
purported legal currency were contrary to the Constitution of the United
States of America. “United States Notes” were issued as an interest-free and
debt-free currency backed by silver reserves in the U.S. Treasury.
In the illustrations below, a “Federal Reserve Note” issued from the
private central bank of the United States (the Federal Reserve Bank a/k/a
Federal Reserve System), is compared with a “United States Note” from the
U.S. Treasury issued by President Kennedy’s Executive Order. They almost
look alike, except one says “Federal Reserve Note” on the top while the
other says “United States Note”. Also, the Federal Reserve Note has a green
seal and serial number while the United States Note has a red seal and
serial number.
President Kennedy was assassinated on November 22, 1963 and the United
States Notes he had issued were immediately taken out of circulation.
Federal Reserve Notes continued to serve as the legal currency of the
nation. According to the United States Secret Service, 99% of all U.S. paper
“currency” circulating in 1999 are Federal Reserve Notes.
Kennedy knew that if the silver-backed United States Notes were widely
circulated, they would have eliminated the demand for Federal Reserve Notes.
This is a very simple matter of economics. The USN was backed by silver and
the FRN was not backed by anything of intrinsic value. Executive Order 11110
should have prevented the national debt from reaching its current level
(virtually all of the nearly $9 trillion in federal debt has been created
since 1963) if LBJ or any subsequent President were to enforce it. It would
have almost immediately given the U.S. Government the ability to repay its
debt without going to the private Federal Reserve Banks and being charged
interest to create new “money”. Executive Order 11110 gave the U.S.A. the
ability to, once again, create its own money backed by silver and real value
worth something.
Again, just five months after Kennedy was assassinated, no more of the
Series 1958 “Silver Certificates” were issued either, and they were
subsequently removed from circulation.
Perhaps the assassination of JFK was a warning to all future
presidents not to interfere with the private Federal Reserve’s control over
the creation of money.
November 14th, 2008 at 11:38 am
$290 billion of the Wallstreet bailout is missing
http://ca.youtube.com/watch?v=dEJjeNByWSg
November 15th, 2008 at 10:09 am
#10- You are absolutely…without a doubt…correct.