"Why hasn't Congress put a call for more alternatives and held hearings on options?"
27.09.2008
The Bailout: What Are Our Options, And Why Haven't We Explored Them?
David Cay Johnston, who won a Pulitzer Prize for his innovative coverage of our tax system, retired this year as a investigative reporter for The New York Times. He is the author of Free Lunch: How The Wealthiest Americans Enrich Themselves at Government Expenses (and Stick You with the Bill).
Maybe there is a cheaper way out of the credit mess than the plan put forth by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, the former chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs. Any solution that costs less or has a better chance of success deserves serious review before Congress takes an action that will affect taxpayers for years to come.
The most stunning aspect of the Bush Administration's plan to borrow $700 billion to buy illiquid assets like bundles of subprime mortgages was the initial demand that neither Congress nor the courts could review how the money was used. That arrogance caught the attention of everyone who looked at the actual proposal, angering not just Congress, but Middle America.
The second most stunning was the lack of alternatives, the my-way-or-the-highway approach that has characterized the two terms of a president who won office promising he was a uniter and not a divider. The lack of options was also surprising since a basic tenet of management theory is exploring al options and this is, after all, the first time we have a president with an MBA, though not the first time we have a Treasury secretary who was head of an investment bank.
Taxpayers should be troubled that on Capitol Hill and at the White House the talk was about modifying the Paulson plan, not a different approach. They should be just as troubled that most news reporters and TV anchors initially assumed that there must be a crisis and only asked questions around the edges of the plan instead of taking it apart.
Now several options to the Paulson plan have begun to circulate.
(see article)
Why hasn't Congress put a call for more alternatives and held hearings on options?
http://blogs.tnr.com/tnr/blogs/the_plank/archive/2008/09/27/the-bailout-what-are-our-options-and-why-haven-t-we-explored-them.aspx