Jackson Jambalaya

Read it and weep:
"The bill The Senate intends to try to ramrod down your throat is neither about Main Street or really even about Wall Street.
You are going to get VERY angry. Sit down before you read further.
""Hundreds of billions of dollars are going to bail out FOREIGN INVESTORS. They know it, they demanded it, and the bill has been carefully written to make sure that can happen." - Brad Sherman , D-California"
That's right folks. You are going to have $700 billion - about 25% of the total federal budget - put on your personal credit card (via taxes forever) in order to bail out foreign investors.
Oh, and the best part of it is that the underlying assets involved do not even have to be in the United States!
Here is the definition of a "troubled asset", right from the bill:
"(9) TROUBLED ASSETS.—The term ‘‘troubled assets’’ means— (A) residential or commercial mortgages and any securities, obligations, or other instruments that are based on or related to such mortgages, that in each case was originated or issued on or before March 14, 2008, the purchase of which the Secretary determines promotes financial market stability; and (B) any other financial instrument that the Secretary, after consultation with the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, determines the purchase of which is necessary to promote financial market stability, but only upon transmittal of such determination, in writing, to the appropriate committees of Congress."
Notice that conspicuously missing from the definition is the requirement that the asset's underlying thing (that is, the property that was mortgaged, etc) lies within the United States. Also note that Treasury must tell Congress if they add "new types" of debt, but that Congress has no right of review or censure.
That is, it is perfectly legitimate under the bill for a foreign bank to sell or swap any "crap sandwich" it may hold (irrespective of how or where it originated, so long as a mortgage is the basis for it somewhere) with a bank domiciled in the United States, and said bank may then "PUT" it into the TARP.
Note also that Representative Sherman said on Kudlow last night that when this was raised with Secretary Paulson he was told that if Congress tried to restrict the ability of the Secretary to purchase assets "laundered" in this fashion from foreigners, that the bill would be vetoed...." http://market-ticker.denninger.net/

Watch the video if you have time. One thing I noticed was the phrase "ANY OTHER ASSET". Understand what that means? Secretary is given the permission to buy up any bad debt NOT related to mortgages from lenders that want to get rid of their bad paper. Let that thought percolate in your head awhile.

Note: Watch yesterday's video if you get a chance. Interesting stuff.