Diane Ritter

Britain's 'TARP': Taxpayers Locked in to Potential Upside

And in the United States, Congress enacted a bill that will allow the Bush Administration to buy any security they want, at any price they want, from anyone they want, with as little downside protection against further loss to the taxpayer that they want. This has to be the most poorly designed, irresponsible piece of legislation ever passed into law. The Bailout Bill seems DESIGNED to allow corruption and fraud, pay-off's and insider deals. Paulson has already said that he plans to pay far above market prices for the toxic assets he is going to buy. And the legislation gives him complete liberty to decide who to buy the assets from, and the kind and amount of downside protection to require. 100% of the $700 Billion dollars could be used to pay off political pals and cronies of the Bush Administration. We shouldn't be calling this the Bailout Bil, we should be calling it the $700 Billion Dollar Rip-Off Bill. It's the biggest slush fund in history.

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