On Politics, We Can Always See the Whites of Their Eyes.
Obama Admin: What Restrictions on Bailouts?
by: Scott Martin posted: 2009-04-04 01:23:00
Viewed 444 times. 1 Comments.
This is rich. The Washington Post reports that President Obama's administration is now seeking to prevent Congressional restrictions on companies receiving bailouts from applying to future companies that receive bailouts, on the grounds that failure to do so will prevent more companies from accepting bailout relief funds.
The Obama administration is engineering its new bailout initiatives in a way that it believes will allow firms benefiting from the programs to avoid restrictions imposed by Congress, including limits on lavish executive pay, according to government officials.
Yes, the very same restrictions Obama lobbied Congress for, and decried AIG for thwarting (with his knowledge) appear to make it less likely that more and more companies will accept his bailouts.
Administration officials have concluded that this approach is vital for persuading firms to participate in programs funded by the $700 billion financial rescue package.The administration believes it can sidestep the rules because, in many cases, it has decided not to provide federal aid directly to financial companies, the sources said. Instead, the government has set up special entities that act as middlemen, channeling the bailout funds to the firms and, via this two-step process, stripping away the requirement that the restrictions be imposed, according to officials.
Although some experts are questioning the legality of this strategy, the officials said it gives them latitude to determine whether firms should be subject to the congressional restrictions, which would require recipients to turn over ownership stakes to the government, as well as curb executive pay.
And we thought President Clinton was slick.
"They are basically trying to launder the money to avoid complying with the plain language of the law," said David Zaring, a former Justice Department attorney who defended the government from lawsuits involving related legal issues. "They are trying to create a loophole to ignore Congress, and I think the courts will think that it's ridiculous..."Obama himself has called for these limits. "We've got to make certain that taxpayer funds are not subsidizing excessive compensation packages on Wall Street," he said earlier this year.
But officials at the Treasury and the Fed said they worry harsh pay limits will undermine critical bailout programs by discouraging financial firms from participating. Although many of these companies could survive without government help, they might lack money to ramp up lending, which officials consider critical to turning the economy around.
The President's seemingly endless ability to say one thing and do the exact opposite is growing tiresome, but you have to credit him for his gall. Now we've got administration endorsed money-laundering to avoid restrictions that Obama himself argued for.
Nothing, not even his own professed beliefs, appear likely to stand in the way of Obama placing every last company that he can on the government dole.
Tags: Obama,
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Getting a bit transparent isn't it.
The President's seemingly endless ability to say one thing and do the exact opposite is growing tiresome, but you have to credit him for his gall. Now we've got administration endorsed money-laundering to avoid restrictions that Obama himself argued for.
It's called jive talking dowen in the 'hood. He doesn't mean anything he says, but tries to make it sound good.