A few days ago, I mentioned a few items of pork that the Senate loaded into the so-called bailout. Dave Harsanyi of The Denver Post has listed a few more:
Republican New Hampshire’s Judd Gregg, who was actually referred to as the money man, told America, “This is not a time for rhetoric; it’s a time for responsibility.”
Responsibility? Does Gregg mean the inclusion of $6 million for the manufacturers of kids’ wooden arrows? … How about $128 million cost-recovery for motor-racing tracks? Are the film and television industries in such desperate straits that they need $10 million? At least we know those perks were inducement for three votes.
But then, what is the anxiety-ridden citizen to make of the $192 million headed to the Puerto Rican and Virgin Islands rum producers? Or the $33 million in credits headed to business interests in gorgeous American Samoa?
The bailout is quite possibly the biggest politician- and media-perpetrated scam in my lifetime. This is organized theft on a massive scale.
This bailout shows that Congress is not in touch with reality and, in its hubris, believes it is never accountable for their misuse of public funds. I’ve listed over a dozen egregious examples of pork stuffed into this disastrous bailout of irresponsible parties by the responsible taxpayers. As a result, I’ve setup bailoutpetition.com. Please sign the petition to repeal this disastrous bailout bill. It’s the only thing left we can do to show Congress how angry we are and to prevent this colossal disaster. http://www.bailoutpetition.com
Some of the things included, like the alternative minimum tax repeal, were good things, but inappropriate for this bill. The claim is that because the Senate can’t originate a bill, they had to use one that had been previously submitted to bring up in the house.
Pundits describe this as like watching sausage being made. As a young man, I used to work in a meat packing plant and have observed sausage making first hand. This is not sausage making; it is far worse.