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Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Good and bad aspects of the Senate bailout passed

So first of all, for those who hadn't heard the Senate passed their version of the bailout 74-25 tonight. The house will vote on it Friday.

You many not have noticed though because it's called the "Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act of 2007." Nope, not joking. This was bundled with a bunch of other bills that were up for consideration to make it seem more appealing. So here's what they were bundled with:
  • Tax credits for renewable energy
  • Requiring group health care to include mental health and addiction treatment
  • Alternative minimum tax extension/protection
  • Temporarily raising FDIC from $100k to $250k
Couple notes: Obama, Biden, and McCain all voted for this so the vote itself is a wash (economy still favoring Obama).
Here's a question: shouldn't McCain be opposed to this because this $700B bailout was hidden/attached to a bill that had nothing to do with it?

Even though a lot of great progressive economists (Krugman, Stiglitz, and Kuttner) now favor the bailout I still have my apprehensions and applaud the 24 senators who voted against it (yeah Sanders and Feingold). I especially applaud those who think there is a different way or that we are being pushed into the bailout without exploring how necessary the bailout is or better alternatives. This gives Feingold the only senate trio (against War in Iraq, Patriot Act, and Bailout) although I will say that Sanders was in the house not the senate.

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