http://senateconservatives.files.wordpress.com/2008/10/ayo08c32_xml.pdf
Reading the bill right now, all 450 pages of it and making notes as I read so forgive me for not writing more formally in my comments. How many scams are in this little piece of legislation?
Page 8. Section 101(c):
"(c) NECESSARY ACTIONS.—The Secretary is authorized to take such actions as the Secretary deems necessary to carry out the authorities in this Act, including, without
limitation, the following:
(3) Designating financial institutions as financial agents of the Federal Government, and such institutions shall perform all such reasonable duties related to this Act as financial agents of the Federal Government as may be required...."
Secretary can designate any financial institution his financial agent. Doesn't say anything about being distressed or limited to sellers of toxic paper. It says "without limitation".
Page 10. Section 102: Insurance program. This section authorizes the Secretary to implement an insurance program for the toxic assets. However, it says he "may" take such actions related to this program. "May" means HE DOES NOT HAVE TO TAKE SUCH ACTION. Its NOT a mandate but simply a grant of power to use at his discretion as he sees fit. Republicans were snookered or were snookering the American public.
Page 33. Section 112: "To the extent that such foreign financial authorities or banks hold troubled assets as a result of extending financing to financial institutions that have failed or defaulted on such financing, such troubled assets qualify for purchase..."
Do I really need to explain this one?
Page 59. Section 119 (Judicial Review):" (A) INJUNCTION.—No injunction or other
form of equitable relief shall be issued against the Secretary for actions pursuant to section 101, 102, 106, and 109, other than to remedy a violation of the Constitution..."
"(3) LIMITATION ON ACTIONS BY PARTICIPATING COMPANIES.—No action or claims may be brought against the Secretary by any person that divests its assets with respect to its participation in a program under this Act, except as provided in paragraph (1), other than as expressly provided in a written contract with the Secretary....."
Take the money, the institution forfeits its rights, even if it gets shafted.
"(4) STAYS.—Any injunction or other form of equitable relief issued against the Secretary for actions pursuant to section 101, 102, 106, and 109, shall be automatically stayed. The stay shall be lifted unless the Secretary seeks a stay from a higher court within 3 calendar days after the date on which the relief is issued..."
No Comment.
Huh? There is this little title on page 113: "DIVISION B—ENERGY IMPROVEMENT AND EXTENSION ACT OF 2008" What the hell is this? First 40 pages are a collection of tax credits for fuel cells, wind power, steel industry fuel, solar, hydropower, and other renewable energy. Nothing for nuclear, coal, oil, shale, etc. The next section deals with coal and carbon provisions as well as carbon emissions. Page 159: "EXPANSION AND MODIFICATION OF COAL GASIFICATION INVESTMENT CREDIT". You can figure that one out for yourself. Page 161: "TEMPORARY INCREASE IN COAL EXCISE TAX; FUNDING OF BLACK LUNG DISABILITY TRUST FUND."
Page 180. SEC. 117. CARBON AUDIT OF THE TAX CODE. Get ready for this one:
"(a) STUDY.—The Secretary of the Treasury shall enter into an agreement with the National Academy of Sciences to undertake a comprehensive review of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to identify the types of and specific tax provisions that have the largest effects on carbon and other greenhouse gas emissions and to estimate the magnitude of those effects..."
Had enough? We are only at page 180 out of 451 pages. Think it gets better? Hang on because here we go.
Ah, there is a TITLE II!!! "TRANSPORTATION AND DOMESTIC FUEL SECURITY PROVISIONS. SEC. 201. INCLUSION OF CELLULOSIC BIOFUEL IN BONUS DEPRECIATION FOR BIOMASS ETHANOL PLANT PROPERTY. ...." Do I really want to read this section? I think the title alone will suffice as to its intentions. "SEC. 202. CREDITS FOR BIODIESEL AND RENEWABLE DIESEL." Yeesh. They don't know when to stop. Shazam. I was right, they REALLY don't know when to stop. "SEC. 205. CREDIT FOR NEW QUALIFIED PLUG-IN ELECTRIC DRIVE MOTOR VEHICLES." I'm only at page 200, please tell me this will end soon. You'd be amazed at how detailed these tax credit provisions are getting. Where is the provisions for cutting the corporate tax rate or capital gains tax rate? This bill WAS supposed to help the economy and the markets, wasn't it?
Damn. Wouldn't want to forget about INSULATION, would we? "SEC. 206. EXCLUSION FROM HEAVY TRUCK TAX FOR IDLING REDUCTION UNITS AND ADVANCED INSULATION..." Keep reading. Finally some sanity: "SEC. 210. EXTENSION OF SUSPENSION OF TAXABLE INCOME LIMIT ON PERCENTAGE DEPLETION FOR OIL AND NATURAL GAS PRODUCED FROM MARGINAL PROPERTIES." Guess what this means? Makes it cheaper for oil companies to engage in oil exploration. Drill baby drill. JUST passed page 200. Getting scarier.
No. Say it isn't so. Even bike riders get a mention in this bill: Page. 205. "SEC. 211. TRANSPORTATION FRINGE BENEFIT TO BICYCLE COMMUTERS..." We've gone from trying to stay out of a depression to helping bikers. Nice. However, back to sanity:"TITLE III—ENERGY CONSERVATION AND EFFICIENCY PROVISIONS" I think you get the idea. Ok, NO MORE ENERGY mentions. OK. I lied. Did you know you can get a tax credit for your WASHER AND DRYER in this bill? See page 218: "SEC. 305. MODIFICATIONS OF ENERGY EFFICIENT APPLIANCE CREDIT FOR APPLIANCES PRODUCED AFTER 2007." This bill gives you tax credits for your washer and dryer. It even includes your DISHWASHER. This bill was supposed to save the world, remember? Just read this section, you have to in order to believe it.
The tax extenders are on page 262. Just read the list. You won't believe some of them. Wooden arrows anyone?
Uh-oh. Page 311: "MENTAL HEALTH PARITY AND ADDICTION EQUITY ACT". Just saw the mental health provisions as they relate to insurance. Health insurance premiums will sharply increase OR insurance companies will increase the copays and deductibles as the bill mandates they have to give mental health treatment the same coverage as they do surgical and medical procedures. Insurance companies will thus be forced to raise premiums, which probably won't be enough to cover the higher costs of coverage for them. Consequently, they will probably limit coverage, forcing you to pay more for procedures and other medical treatment. Another possibility would be for insurance companies to completely drop ALL mental health treatment. The bill states:
‘‘(A) IN GENERAL.—In the case of a group health plan (or health insurance coverage of offered in connection with such a plan) that provides both medical and surgical benefits and mental health or substance use disorder benefits, such plan or coverage shall ensure that— ‘‘(i) the financial requirements applicable to such mental health or substance use disorder benefits are no more restrictive than the predominant financial requirements applied to substantially all medical and surgical benefits covered by the plan (or coverage)......"
‘‘(ii) the treatment limitations applicable to such mental health or substance use disorder benefits are no more restrictive than the predominant treatment limitations applied to substantially all medical and surgical benefits covered by the plan (or coverage) and there are no separate treatment limitations that are applicable only with respect to mental health or substance use disorder benefits......"
(B)(i) FINANCIAL REQUIREMENT.—The term ‘financial requirement’ includes deductibles, copayments, coinsurance, and out-of-pocket expenses..."
You just got screwed on your health insurance.
This is a VERY bad bill. Congress knows what to do and how to fix this problem. We don't need a bill loaded with wooden arrows, bogus energy tax credits, and provisions that will make health insurance cost more for Americans. It is clear that all the Congressional trolls care about is attacking each other and getting their little pork projects passed, not actually helping the country. This bill grew from 3 pages to 110 to 450. If there has ever been a more disgusting display of what is wrong in Washington, I do not know what it is. If you think Obama and McCain are your friends for while they are claiming they will change Washington, the Change guy and the Maverick said nothing about how this bill has mushroomed into its current form. The main reason we are in this fix is because none of our so-called leaders have taken their jobs seriously and until they do, we can expect more of the same.
Thursday, October 2, 2008
The Bailout's Devils
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5 comments:
Jacksonians shouldn't expect any analysis on this level out of the JFP but considering their casual dissing of McCain's health care plans one would think that they'd draw some type of attention to the potential downstream impacts of the mental health insurance language slipped into this bill. As you rightly note, this will increase everyone's costs but more likely than not employers will look to employees to carry most of the burden via increased copays, deductibles and lifetime maximum payout limitations.
The JFP cult, if they mention it at all, will make some noise about how the problem is with the healthcare and insurance industry, not with the regulation while conveniently glossing over the fact that increased regulations in general, not just the ones they like, are all, inevitably, passed on to the average working people of this city, state and country.
I saw where the JFP is now pushing a business blog. Do you think they'll be offering any tax advice or covering any tax related issues?
Page 262 mentions a tax break for rum. Given enough rum, I don't think I will be worried about health care, energy, or the economy.
I'd call my Congressman and ask him to support the bill if he could offer an amendment to provide us with free rum. Because we're gonna need to get good and skunked after thinking about the mountain of new debt this bill adds to our already obscene national burden.
Does anyone realize what these mental health care changes are going to do to the price of insurance?
Make no mistake, the stock market is still going to tank even with the bailout. It may, or may not, take a lot longer but it is still going to tank.
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