Time is limited - Let's collaborate to read the 106 page Discussion Draft

My own (limited) take on this:

http://muddythoughts.blog...

Part II may not happen now if this stays dead.

Overstock CEO Comments on President Bush's Speech Outlining Bailout Plan
Wednesday September 24, 10:56 pm ET
'
Is Something Not Worth Doing Worth Doing Well?' asks Byrne

SALT LAKE CITY, Sept. 24 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Overstock.com, Inc. (Nasdaq: OSTK - News) chairman and CEO Patrick M. Byrne comments on President Bush's September 24, 2008 speech outlining the President's market rescue plan.

Dr. Byrne commented: "This bailout is necessary to save the bacchanal that is our US financial system. However, at the core of the administration's plan is the assumption that Wall Street is worth saving. It is not. For years Wall Street has bossed Washington, DC around like they're hired flunkies, while preying on Main Street businesses and investors. The federal government should use this opportunity to extract from Wall Street concessions that could never be extracted were Washington in its customary subordinate position.

"If American taxpayers are to bailout the Power Elite, they should attach conditions. Taxpayers should share in any upside, and gaping flaws in the current system should be fixed. Towards that end, I believe that any bailout legislation should include at least the following protections:

1. Taxpayers need to share in the upside if the bailout works, to compensate them for the risk that the administration is forcing them to take. This could be accomplished through warrants on shares in the firms being bailed out, such as those Mr. Buffett extracted from Goldman Sachs.

2. The government should impose a tax on those that benefit most from bailout -- Wall Street itself. Perhaps a 0.25% transaction tax on all securities trades is in order? Such a tax would be insignificant to investors, while be largely borne by those that are merely speculators - including those that churn trades in an attempt to manipulate the markets.

3. Bailout or none, the government must fix underlying problems in our capital market. The fixes includes:

a. Reforming our stock settlement system so that trades actually settle promptly, precisely as Congress stipulated in 1934. This can be accomplished by putting in place a market-wide mandatory pre-borrow requirement (like the SEC did in the 30-day July 15, 2008 emergency order that protected the 19 financial institutions);

b. Creating the obligation that if a naked short seller fails to deliver a share, the broker-dealer must force a mandatory buy-in (as is done in civilized countries, such as Canada);

c. Tracking trades cradle-to-grave (rather than net blocks of trades against each other), so that it is obvious who the naked short sellers are and the total amounts they are stealing;

d. Providing regular, timely disclosure of when and how many shares have failed to deliver;

e. Enforcing the rules, including significant monetary penalties and jail time.

"Keynes said that an ocean of productivity can support a bubble of speculation, but an ocean of speculation cannot support a bubble of productivity. Washington has been captured by speculators at the expense of producers. I have long been talking about systemic risk and potential financial crisis (see http://www.youtube.com/wa... for a three- minute video from as early as October 2005). I am proposing specific steps to fix the system. For those that agree with these fixes which protect Main Street Americans, I ask you to sign the electronic petition at http://mainstreetamericans.info."

http://biz.yahoo.com/prne...

Below is after a second read through. I have to go to bed, and will give analysis in the morning. Some areas for further research are noted if someone wants to take them up...

Questionable terms which may be defined in the bill or elsewhere in law are placed in " "

Special notes of importance that sound fishy or outrageous or are otherwise too important to miss are denoted by one or more *

Questions for further research and/or comments are in ()

SUMMARY:

The second section (126) makes it illegal to falsely advertise a product as FDIC insured, or that it is insured for more than it really is, and gives the FDIC and other agencies enforcement powers. The language is so bad, that potentially ANY business, even if no FDIC related claim is made, could be construed as breaking this law. (you have to read it to believe it) The FDIC is apparently also given jurisdiction over ANYONE not already under jurisdiction of another federal agency. (very strange, need some definitions there - please read and research)

Page 69 line 12 section 125

Establishes a new entity within the Legislative Branch called the Congressional Oversight Panel

Duties
Review current state of “financial markets” and “regulatory system”
Submit Reports to Congress
Regularly Reports (w/in 30 days of 1st section 101(a) or 102 use, and every 30 days thereafter)
Each use by Sec. of the Act *including contracting and admin
Impact of purchases on “financial markets” and “financial institutions”
Degree of “market transparency” from info on transactions made under Act
Effectiveness of foreclosure mitigation efforts
Effectiveness of minimizing long term costs to taxpayers
Effectiveness of maximizing benefits to taxpayers

Special Report (no later than Jan 20, 2009)
Regulatory Reform
Current state of “regulatory system”
Effectiveness of "regulatory system" overseeing “participants” in the "financial system"
Effectiveness of “regulatory system” protecting consumers
Recommendations for improvement
***including if “participants” currently outside the “regulatory system” should be subject to the “regulatory system”
Rationale for such a recommendation of new inclusion
Gaps in existing consumer protections

5 members, chosen by the Senate and House minority/majority leaders.
4 is a quorum, any number, ***even ONE, can hold a hearing
Chair or majority can call a meeting

**Can appoint and set pay of any employees it wants
Can ‘borrow’ employees from ANY federal department or agency
**Can hire/contract for professional services

Pay - equal to daily equivalent of the annual rate of basic pay for Level I of the Executive Schedule for each day actually worked on the panel. *including travel time

(can someone look up the figures from that pay schedule so we have a firm dollar amount?)

Full-time Federal workers, Congress cannot be paid, given allowances, or benefits for serving on Panel.

(says nothing of part-time emplyees or WHO can be selected to this panel, it is POSSIBLE that Congress could choose the CEO's or other such knuckleheads as members of this Oversight Panel)

Paid travel expenses *including per diem

(see USC 5: ch 57 sub ch 1)

Powers:

as the Panel considers appropriate:

Hold hearings
“sit and act at times and places”
Take testimony
Receive evidence
Administer oaths and affirmations to witnesses

of members AND agents:

anything the Panel can do IF the Panel authorizes them to

**not a specific authorization for a specific act, but a blanket “acting as or in the name of”

to demand AND receive:

**ANY information from ANY other department or agency they deem necessary to carry out section 125. (this section)

to receive and consider all reports submitted to it.

Panel will terminate 6 months after date in section 120.

Funding:

**Any amount necessary - ½ from the House account and ½ from the Senate contingent fund.

(that's right, ANY amount necessary, the Panel can hire ex Wall Street CEO's at millions of dollars to provide 'expert' advice if they choose)

Secretary must reimburse both accounts from the other funds made available to the Secretary by the Act.

Page 76 line 14 section 126

FDIC Authority

Prohibition of falsely advertising any deposit, liability, obligation, certificate, or share as FDIC insured if it is not.

*by using the terms:

“Federal Deposit”
“Federal Deposit Insurance”
“Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation”
and/or
“FDIC” as part of the business name or firm name (person, corporation, partnership, business trust, association, or other business entity)
** OR any combination of "such" terms listed above.

(presumably, no business entity may ever use two or more of the words "Federal", "Deposit", "Insurance", or "Corporation" in its name - for example: "State Farm Insurance Corporation" appears to be illegal now)

*by using any such terms **** “or any other terms, sign, or symbol” as part of an advertisement, solicitation, or other document.

(the way this is worded, ANY term, sign or symbol, FDIC related or not, would be a violation of this section!!!)

No “person” may misrepresent any deposit, liability, obligation, certificate, or share as insured if it is not.

Also prohibited: if above is not insured to the extent claimed

Enforcement authority to appropriate federal banking agency with respect to the violator or any “institution-affiliated party”

If such agency fails to act, FDIC can recommend they act using anything from section 8.

If such agency fails to act within 30 days of receipt of FDIC recommendation, or
provide an acceptable response plan, then FDIC can take the action itself.

FDIC has jurisdiction over:

****“any person other than a person for which another agency is the appropriate Federal banking agency or any institution-affiliated party thereof; and any person that aids or abets a violation of this paragraph by a person described above:

(so if a "person" is not under the authority already of another Federal Banking Agency, then they are under the jurisdiction of the FDIC by default - we need a contextual definition of "person" here. Is this ANY natural individual, or just related to financial institutions and their officers/agents?)

FDIC has authority to:

conduct investigations under section 10(c)
Enforcement actions under subsections (b),(c), (d) and (i)

None of this restricts powers given other agencies or individuals by other laws.

end of page 80 deals with new enforcement order authority under the Act and continues into other pages.

send your congressman to see what the treasury thinks and how the treasury plans on ignoring so many parts of the Bill

http://www.nakedcapitalis...

You know what I discovered? I have the uncanny ability to read something and then forget everything that I just read. Amazing huh? What I did come to realize is that this has been sitting on the shelf for years. Theatre is what the last few days have been. A big orchestrated drama. Who amongst public servants after reading this would pass this? Corporate whores and idiots. It is plain to me that this is not good for the people. I say that, but then again, I'm poor and insignificant.

Why doesn't everyone on this site read the whole 100 pages.
Are you learning impaired? They're taking away your freedom and money and all the effort you can muster is 10 pages?

Not being understood by the American people is that China is the holder
of over $1.4 Trillion of US debt backed by the mortgages on the homes
and property of tens of millions these people which, in essence, makes
the Chinese one of the largest holders of land in the United States, and
which the Chinese government has stated they will protect ‘at all
costs’.

In rapid response to China’s demands that they be granted immediate
access to their American properties to protect their ‘investments’, the
United States is enacting a new law titled the Emergency Economic
Stabilization Act of 2008, and which in Section 101, Paragraph 7:3
chillingly states:

“Designating financial institutions as financial agents of the Federal
Government, and such institutions shall perform all such reasonable
duties related to this Act as financial agents of the Federal Government
as may be required.”

The United States Federal Reserve has further notified the China
Development Bank, the second largest bank in Asia and the main holder of
US mortgage debt instruments, that they will be designated by the US
Secretary of the Treasury as one of the financial institutions protected
by this extraordinary new law, and which, according to these reports,
will empower Chinese policing authorities the right to act as law
enforcement officers in the United States including granting them the
right to evict American citizens from homes whose mortgage debt is held
by China.

Unfortunately for these American people, their own public officials have
totally abandoned them as the American Center for Responsive Politics
has reported that the staggering amount of $2 Billion has been paid by
the perpetrators of this Global financial crisis to US Lawmakers, of
both political parties, to sell out their fellow countrymen as virtual
economic slaves to the all powerful International corporate cartels who
now rule over them.

"This used to be a government of checks and balances. Now it's all checks and no balances." (Gracie Allen for President 1940)

I'll get to it right now, and if someone else has it, let me know.

I'm not sure what section it is yet, but a UK newspaper alluded to a provision which allows the secretary to by-pass normal hiring guidelines and procedures, and hire or contract with WALL STREET firms and employees to manage all these toxic 'assets.' So now, they ruined their own companies balance sheets with this stuff, and they get to work for the feds continuing to mismanage this crap.

bump

Amendment 10 - Powers of the States and People. Ratified 12/15/1791. Note

The powers not delegated to the United States by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States respectively, or to the people.

They have no authority to purchase private securities to enhance the stability of anything.

They will all be impeached and recalled.

and this is what he said about SECTION 8

In Section 8 - A CLAIM BEYOND ALL LIMITS
In Section 8 of the Treasurer's bailout proposal, there is a claim to unlimited powers. We quote it: "Decisions by the Secretary (of Treasury) pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and commited to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency." If the US Congress signs for this clause it has abdicated its Constitutional responsibiliies. It will also have placed the US Treasury beyond the reach of the courts. Congress will have done this by an act of legislation enacted by itself!! THAT IS ABDICATION.
The US Treasurer, Mr. Paulson, will get an unlimited discretion. He could act as he pleased and would become a law unto himself, his decisions being "non-reviewable". So ends the rule of law in the USA.
From Bill Buckler's #613 Privateer 9-28-08

I'm going offline for a bit, but will be back later to continue the compilation. So keep them reviews coming, folks!

sec 128 - ACCELERATION OF EFFECTIVE DATE

so basically as of this wednesday, the Fed will not only pay interest to its member banks on their reserves but allow them to maintain a zero reserve ratio, meaning that they no longer have to have any reserves with the Fed to operate...none, nil, zilch.

this means that the member banks will legally be allowed to operate, even if they're technically 'bankrupt'.

this also includes the 2 new member banks - Morgan Stanley & Goldman Sachs who were allowed in last week when Bernanke waived the 30 day waiting period.

btw, this was originally supposed to into law 3 years from now.

sec 129 - DISCLOSURES

(c) CONFIDENTIALITY - upon request of the Chairman of the Board, all information above will be held confidential and only available to the chairperson and ranking members of the committees (and according to subsection e, the Congressional Oversight Board).

(meaning not available to other members of Congress or the public)

(so much for transparency -- they're gonna keep the secrets 'all in the family', likely 12 members of Congress maximum.)

sec 131 - EXCHANGE STABILIZATION FUND REIMBURSEMENT

this one is interesting: Secretary has to reimburse this fund for the recent money market guarantees and protects the fund from any further losses by prohibiting the Secretary from using the fund to guarantee the money markets.

from: http://en.wikipedia.org/w...

note: the fund was originally created out of the profits the govt made from seizing the gold of US citizens in 1934 then jacking up the price.

what this one does is shackle Treasury from using it in the future for anything else than what its designed for -- to manipulate exchange rates without the help of the Fed.

looks like Henry overstepped his bounds on this one. perhaps 'they' (Obama & his boys) realize they're gonna need as much as dough as possible to prop up the dollar.

get ready for the replay of the FDR gambit that created the fund in the 1st place.

~~~~~

i'm researching sec 130 a bit more -- the Truth in Lending changes

i have a hunch there's some sneaky sinister lurking beneath the legalese.

There are still sections missing!

Take a look at the Consolidation thread and see what items still need to be covered. Then, come back here, pick a section, read, and post -- it'll be included in the consolidation.

Let's finish 'er up!

This is the sec treas's power.

9 (5) Issuing such regulations and other guidance
10 as may be necessary or appropriate to define terms
11 or carry out the authorities or purposes of this Act.

Translation: make it up as you go along.

Aku Soku Zan

But the site shuts down right now. Must be an overwhelming bunch of people going there now. I'll keep trying....

Like how many days/weeks/months ago was this written?

The way it is written leaves so much open to interpretation. The appointment of a special inspector by the President to oversee what is going on with the qualities of integrity and accounting skills. This is Washington speak for investment banker with ties to the existing criminal sindicate. BTW he well have a 75,000,000 dollar budget for his work. Can you spell PORK. They also raise the debt ceiling to about 11.5 trillion. Generally the text is hoplessly vague and can be interpreted anyway you want.

Roger Hermann
Chicago, IL

I'm ready for more consolidating! Let's go, DPers!

The consolidation thread has been updated, with comments in italics (as much as possible; some text was merely summarized, so those have not been italicized). Also, phrases have been placed in their legal numbered lines whenever space permitted

1 so that sentences
2 will start with their numbers
3 for legal reference

:)

I'll go add in the latest stuff now (91 - 100). FYI, I'm only keeping in comments germane to the text itself, to keep the consolidation cleaner.

Pages 91-100

Page 91
16 SEC. 128. ACCELERATION OF EFFECTIVE DATE.
17 Section 203 of the Financial Services Regulatory Re-
18 lief Act of 2006 (12 U.S.C. 461 note) is amended by strik-
19 ing ‘‘October 1, 2011’’ and inserting ‘‘October 1, 2008’’.

According to my research of the Financial Services Regulatory Relief Act of 2006 this would mean that effective immediately the Federal Reserve Act would be amended to: (1) authorize payment of interest on funds maintained by a depository institution at a Federal Reserve bank; and (2) authorize the Federal Reserve Board to reduce to 0% the reserves required to be maintained by a depository institution against its transaction accounts. (The current requirement ranges from 3% to 14%.) That second part sounds pretty sketchy to me, but what do I know.
---------------------------------------------------------------------

Page 92
14 (b) PERIODIC UPDATES.—The Board shall provide
15 updates to the Committees specified in subsection (a) not
16 less frequently than once every 60 days while the subject
17 loan is outstanding, including—
18 (1) the status of the loan;
19 (2) the value of the collateral held by the Fed-
20 eral reserve bank which initiated the loan; and
21 (3) the projected cost to the taxpayers of the
22 loan.
23 (c) CONFIDENTIALITY.—The information submitted
24 to the Congress under this section may be kept confiden-
25 tial, upon the written request of the Chairman of the
Page 93
1 Board, in which case it shall made available only to the
2 Chairpersons and Ranking Members of the Committees
3 described in subsection (a).

Bullshit! Every taxpayer ought to have the right to look at those numbers considering we're all essentially shareholders, and at the very least ALL of our elected representatives in congress should be able to get a hold of them so that they can pull the BS alarm if and when this thing starts getting out of control.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 95
5 SEC. 131. EXCHANGE STABILIZATION FUND REIMBURSE-
6 MENT.
7 (a) REIMBURSEMENT.— The Secretary shall reim-
8 burse the Exchange Stabilization Fund established under
9 section 5302 of title 31, United States Code, for any funds
10 used for the temporary guaranty program for the United
11 States money market mutual fund industry, from funds
12 under this Act.
13 (b) LIMITS ON USE OF EXCHANGE STABILIZATION
14 FUND.— The Secretary is prohibited from using the Ex-
15 change Stabilization Fund for the establishment of any
16 future guaranty programs for the United States money
17 market mutual fund industry.
18 (c) CONSULTATIONS.—In carrying out any guarantee
19 program, the Secretary shall consult with the Board of
20 Directors of the Corporation and the Securities and Ex-
21 change Commission.

Section a) and b) sound ok to me they basically say you can't use the Exchange Stabilization Fund to prop up money markets any more, and you have to pay back what you took out of it over the past few weeks. C), on the other hand, seems a little bit pointless... as if those jerks are going to have different opinions on anything.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 95
22 SEC. 132. SUSPENSION OF MARK-TO-MARKET ACCOUNTING.
23 (a) AUTHORITY.—The Securities and Exchange Com-
24 mission shall have the authority under securities laws (as
25 such term is defined under section 3(a)(47) of the Securi
Page 96
1 ties Exchange Act of 1934 (15 U.S.C. 78c(a)(47)) to sus-
2 pend, by rule, regulation, or oder, the application of State-
3 ment Number 157 of the Financial Accounting Standards
4 Board for any issuer (as such term is defined in section
5 3(a)(8) of such Act) or with respect to any class or cat-
6 egory of transaction if the Commission determines that
7 is necessary or appropriate in the public interest and is
8 consistent with the protection of investors.
9 (b) SAVINGS PROVISION.—Nothing in subsection (a)
10 shall be construed to restrict or limit any authority of the
11 Securities Exchange Commission under securities laws as
12 in effect on the date of enactment of this Act.

Securities Exchange Act of 1934
Statement Number 167 of the Financial Accounting Standards Board

As I'm just a dumb computer science student unskilled in the ways of this junk I've posted links to the acts referenced in this section for other people to look at and try and make sense of. As far as I can tell, this act simply suspends the practice of Mark-To-Market accounting. Which in and of itself might not be a bad idea, but anytime I hear depression era legislation being referenced, and language like 'in the public interest and is consistent with the protection of investors' my BS alarm goes off.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Page 97
19 SEC. 134. RECOUPMENT.
20 Upon the expiration of the 5-year period beginning
21 upon the date of the enactment of this Act, the Director
22 of the Office of Management and Budget, in consultation
23 with the Director of the Congressional Budget Office, shall
24 submit a report to the Congress on the net amount within
25 the Troubled Asset Relief Program under this Act. In any
Page 98
1 case in which there is a shortfall, the President shall sub-
2 mit to the Congress a legislative proposal that recoups
3 from entities benefitting from the program an amount
4 equal to the shortfall in order to ensure that the Troubled
5 Asset Relief Program does not add to the budget deficit
6 or the national debt.

Supposedly if we, the taxpayers, get screwed royally by all of this then the President will come up with a super smart plan to get our losses back from the companies we helped. I give congress an A+ for passing the buck on this one, but I've really got no clue as to how they're going to go about doing this without causing a massive headache in 5 years.

I actually think a lot of people are reading this one..especially congressmen.

is one of the few who actually reads it all....similar to the Patriot Act.