The Dord of Darien

Musings from the Mayor of the Internet

Fun with bank bailouts

Hey kids, guess what’s actually printed in the text of the Troubled Asset Relief Program proposal!

"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."

I’m serious. That’s in there. Look for yourself; it’s not very long.

What the fuck?


September 25th, 2008 Posted by | Bullshit | 9 comments

9 Comments »

  1. One of the weirdest loopholes in the Constitution is that Congress has nearly total control over most of the federal court system, including what cases they can hear. There are a few types of cases that the Supreme Court has original jurisdiction over, and those are constitutionally mandated, but the vast majority of the judiciary’s power to hear cases comes from Congress.

    But it’s a great idea to give the Treasury Secretary $700 billion and tell him that no matter what he does with it, he can’t be held accountable. That’s like the cornerstone of good governance — unaccountability!

    Comment by Stephen | 28 September 2008

  2. Don’t look now, Stephen, but I think you might have rocks in your head.

    Comment by Ama | 28 September 2008

  3. Have you guys never used the internet before?

    Comment by Dave | 28 September 2008

  4. Just because I’m saying you’re a Nazi doesn’t mean I’m calling you a Nazi.

    Comment by Stephen | 28 September 2008

  5. Besides, if he wanted to insult you, he’d have called you an American. And he’s not trolling.

    Comment by Darien | 29 September 2008

  6. Looks like nobody has to worry anyway. The thing failed. DEPRESSION TIME! Dibs on selling the rotten apples.

    Comment by Dave | 29 September 2008

  7. In other news, it looks like writing your Congressman actually can make a difference afterall! Congressman Mark Udall, D-CO, my rep, voted against the bailout after a STERN EMAIL from yours truly. He was so afraid of losing my vote in November (not that I was going to vote for him anyway–I FOOLED YOU MARK!) that he broke with the majority of his party and voted the bailout bill down.

    Next I’m going to try to get him to approve me as official rotten apple vendor of the coming depression.

    Comment by Dave | 29 September 2008

  8. I sent some stern e-mails to some congressmen my own self. I’ve heard rumours that I may even have threatened to use my sizable influence — which extends to about four people who already all agree with me anyhow — against them if they voted for it. Which probably they all did anyhow, because fuck those guys.

    Comment by Darien | 29 September 2008

  9. It is probably worth noting — and mentioning — that the final version of the bill that the house actually voted on didn’t contain the guarantee of unlimited unreviewable authourity that I and all y’all and so many other commentators found completely repellent.

    I mean, it was still apalling, but at least it didn’t have that bit.

    Comment by Darien | 30 September 2008

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