This is the language from Paulson's request for bailout money (nominally, $700 billion, but the debt ceiling hike requested indicates more than double that):
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.
It's carte blanche. Why does he need it? He wants to pay a premium price for toxic assets and let the taxpayers absorb the loss.
Unfortunately, this is all part of a classic scam.
For decades the market for our financial system's virtual products relied on the greater fool theory. Simply, that there was always some foreign firm/investor stupid enough to buy them (and then absorb the loss when they turned out to be worthless). Foreign investors aren't playing this game anymore. That leaves one fool left: the US government.
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