On Wed, 24 Sep 2008 22:04:54 -0400, "Mike Marlow"
wrote:

Not that I'm in favor of this bailout, but where did you get the scoop that
there would be no accountability?
========
From Hank "the bazooka" Paulson.
------------
snip

"Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act
are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may
not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative
agency," the original draft of the proposed bill says.

And with those words, the Treasury secretary - whoever that may
be in a few months - would be vested with perhaps the most
incredible powers ever bestowed on one person over the economic
and financial life of the United States.
snip
Just take a look at the original draft: "The Secretary is
authorized to take such actions as the Secretary deems necessary
to carry out the authorities in this act," the proposed bill read
when it was first presented to Congress, "without regard to any
other provision of law regarding public contracts."

It goes on to say, "Any funds expended for actions authorized by
this Act, including the payment of administrative expenses, shall
be deemed appropriated at the time of such expenditure."
snip
The bigger issue is that the bill effectively creates protections
not just for the Treasury, but for the executives on Wall Street
who created this near Armageddon. Rosner says the draft bill
"prevents judicial review that could allow the protection of
decisions that create false marks, hide prior marks, or could be
used to prevent civil or criminal prosecution in situations where
a management knowingly provided false marks that aided the growth
of this crisis of confidence."

False marks - using mark-to-market accounting to hide the true
value of security, rather than disclose it honestly - has a lot
to do with why Jeffrey Skilling, the former Enron chief
executive, is in jail.
snip
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for complete article see
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/09/....php?pass=true

Note that this is the International Herald Tribune based in
Paris. The domestic US media won't touch this background story.


Unka' George [George McDuffee]
-------------------------------------------
He that will not apply new remedies,
must expect new evils:
for Time is the greatest innovator: and
if Time, of course, alter things to the worse,
and wisdom and counsel shall not alter them to the better,
what shall be the end?

Francis Bacon (1561-1626), English philosopher, essayist, statesman.
Essays, "Of Innovations" (1597-1625).