Be very proud...

[Jimmy Neutron]

All 451 pages of it.

 

Who says congress never does anything? They took a really bad 3 page bill and turned it into 451 pages.

 

A few snipits from the text:

SEC. 504. INCOME AVERAGING FOR AMOUNTS RECEIVED IN 20 CONNECTION WITH THE EXXON VALDEZ LITIGATION.

 

SEC. 316. RAILROAD TRACK MAINTENANCE.

 

SEC. 317. SEVEN-YEAR COST RECOVERY PERIOD FOR MOTORSPORTS RACING TRACK FACILITY.

 

SEC. 309. EXTENSION OF ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CREDIT FOR AMERICAN SAMOA.

 

SEC. 401. PERMANENT AUTHORITY FOR UNDERCOVER OPERATIONS.

Yeah, it's imperfect - but we need to pass something.

 

[evil_gop_liars]

SEC. 316. RAILROAD TRACK MAINTENANCE.

 

This might come in handy.

 

Now all we need is a provision for mulligan stew and we will be set.

[wiegie]

 

Yeah, it's imperfect - but we need to pass something.

stupid ass politicians

[billay]

So if it passes the house now, what does that say?

[budlitebrad]

The bill just passed in the Senate... watching it on CSPAN.

 

74-25

Edited October 2, 2008 by budlitebrad

[Gonkis]

The railroad business is booming. I'm benefitting directly. Fantastic.

[Big John]

The railroad business is booming. I'm benefitting directly. Fantastic.

and thus the changing from the Old Glory avatar?

[wiegie]

 

SEC. 503. EXEMPTION FROM EXCISE TAX FOR CERTAIN WOODEN ARROWS DESIGNED FOR USE BY CHILDREN.

truly f'ing pathetic

[AtomicCEO]

This sucks.

[evil_gop_liars]

truly f'ing pathetic

 

20 SEC. 503. EXEMPTION FROM EXCISE TAX FOR CERTAIN

21 WOODEN ARROWS DESIGNED FOR USE BY

22 CHILDREN.

23 (a) IN GENERAL.—Paragraph (2) of section 4161(b )

24 is amended by redesignating subparagraph (B ) as sub301

O:\AYO\AYO08C32.xml S.L.C.

1 paragraph © and by inserting after subparagraph (A)

2 the following new subparagraph:

3 ‘‘(B ) EXEMPTION FOR CERTAIN WOODEN

4 ARROW SHAFTS.—Subparagraph (A) shall not

5 apply to any shaft consisting of all natural

6 wood with no laminations or artificial means of

7 enhancing the spine of such shaft (whether sold

8 separately or incorporated as part of a finished

9 or unfinished product) of a type used in the

10 manufacture of any arrow which after its as11

sembly—

12 ‘‘(i) measures 5⁄16 of an inch or less in

13 diameter, and

14 ‘‘(ii) is not suitable for use with a bow

15 described in paragraph (1)(A).’’.

16 (b ) EFFECTIVE DATE.—The amendments made

17 this section shall apply to shafts first sold after the date

18 of enactment of this Act.

 

 

Who knew the wooden arrow lobby was so powerful.

[budlitebrad]

The no votes, if anyone was curious:

 

Allard ®

Barasso ®

Brownback ®

Bunning ®

Cantwell (D)

Cochran ®

Crapo ®

DeMint ®

Dole ®

Dorgan (D)

Enzi ®

Feingold (D)

Inhofe ®

Johnson (D)

Landrieu (D)

Nelson (FL) (D)

Roberts ®

Sanders (I)

Sessions ®

Shelby ®

Stabenow (D)

Tester (D)

Vitter ®

Wicker ®

Wyden (D)

[keggerz]

what do politicians think we are? Idiots? oh thats right never mind

[keggerz]

so what reporter will have the balls to ask anyone in congress about these things?

or does it have to be kept quiet for our own good :oldrolleyes:

[The Holy Roller]

Total f'n bs. Both Missouri senators voted yes? F'n both next time they run.

[evil_gop_liars]

so what reporter will have the balls to ask anyone in congress about these things?

or does it have to be kept quiet for our own good :oldrolleyes:

 

4 SEC. 316. RAILROAD TRACK MAINTENANCE.

5 (a) IN GENERAL.—Subsection (f) of section 45G (re6

lating to application of section) is amended by striking

7 ‘‘January 1, 2008’’ and inserting ‘‘January 1, 2010’’.

 

What question would ask regarding this?

[Puddy]

I wonder if they reversed the decision to outlaw these.

 

 

That would be f'n cool.

[Big John]

Total f'n bs. Both Missouri senators voted yes? F'n both next time they run.

And both Georgia senators.

[wiegie]

this is from Paul Krugman:

 

Stockholm Syndrome

 

On Olbermann a few minutes ago (that basement classroom with the heavy paper over the windows and camera sure has come in handy lately!) a phrase popped out of my mouth: “Stockholm Syndrome”, with regard to the bailout rescue.

 

Here’s the thing: it’s very hard for Congress to originate complex financial rescues, so it’s normally up to the executive to put things together. Unfortunately, Paulson came up with an awful plan. Ideally, the Dems would have ripped the thing up and started over, but that was never realistic. So instead they made it significantly better, but still building on the original, misconceived structure; it became better than nothing, but not good.

 

And then it failed in the House, so the Senate has larded it up, with stuff like SEC. 503. EXEMPTION FROM EXCISE TAX FOR CERTAIN WOODEN ARROWS DESIGNED FOR USE BY CHILDREN.

 

I think that Congressional leaders know that it’s a bad bill, but feel compelled to defend it, because they’re (rightly) scared of the financial consequences of a second rejection. And to some extent economists like myself are in the same position; I think I called it the “hold your nose caucus.”

 

So am I for the bill? Yuk, phooey, I guess so. And I’m very angry at Paulson for putting us in this position.

I'm in this camp as well (except that I blame all of these mofo's).

[keggerz]

What question would ask regarding this?

Why would you be taking time to add items to this bill that have nothing to do with the bailout when that is supposed to be of the utmost importance?

Don't you think it would be better to focus on the bailout since that is supposed to be most important issue at hand rather then self serving blah blah blah blah blah...

 

Something like that

[SuperCharger]

Why would you be taking time to add items to this bill that have nothing to do with the bailout when that is supposed to be of the utmost importance?

Don't you think it would be better to focus on the bailout since that is supposed to be most important issue at hand rather then self serving blah blah blah blah blah...

 

Something like that

 

Too long winded, you'd lose them halfway through. Try "Are you a moran?", that would work better.

[Azazello1313]

well, I'm not going to try to defend the nonsense that goes into legislating. excise tax exemption for children's wooden arrows? but as far as I know, all those little things are tax cuts and exemptions...not spending. reading through the AP article, there are a couple substantive changes that could actually be good.

1) FDIC deposit insurance cap raised to $250K from $100K

2) an easing of the mark-to-market accounting rule, which I don't really understand, but I know it was instituted this decade and I've heard a lot of people saying it's a dumb rule that has been freezing a lot of companies' assets.

[muck]

...there are a couple substantive changes that could actually be good.

1) FDIC deposit insurance cap raised to $250K from $100K

2) an easing of the mark-to-market accounting rule, which I don't really understand, but I know it was instituted this decade and I've heard a lot of people saying it's a dumb rule that has been freezing a lot of companies' assets.

 

IMO:

 

1) More for public perception than really changing much...

2) The CPA who audits my investment funds thinks that mark-to-market (interpreted strictly for non-publicly traded assets) is absolutely asinine. Mark-to-discounted cash flow is better, as is mark to cost (less depreciation. Do you really want to mark-to-market the microwave in the breakroom as if you had to sell it tomorrow?

3) A potentially really big deal will be whether or not the Fed is going to be able to pay interest on excess deposits made at the Fed by its member banks...didn't see if that made the senate bill or not...

4) Another potentially big deal will be the markets reaction to learning which institutions are needing to sell crappy assets, and what happens to their stock after the sale.

[detlef]

I am so freaking embarrassed by our government. Perhaps there was a day when people who aspired to run our country were actually cut from better cloth than the rest of us. That they were strong minded visionaries who could steer us through good times and bad, but it appears those days are long gone. Besides this utterly inane crap, just look at the a-holes themselves.

 

Look at Biden. You know, having heard him in a few interviews, I've always thought he seemed like a reasonable guy. Then every freaking time I turn around, dude is being caught in some stupid lie about nothing he needed to freaking lie about. The whole helicopter deal lately? You know about terrorism because your helicopter was forced down once? Oh wait, it turns out that was because of a snowstorm. Gee, thanks for playing. Do these people know that things get looked up? That, to me, identifies you as a pathological liar. Someone who can't help but make things up for no good reason. Normal people might lie saying they were sick when they really wanted to go to the ball game. These a-holes just lie because they've run out of true things to say.

 

Don't get me started on the genius behind Palin. Does the GOP actually think that she's the 2nd best they have to offer? I understand that oversimplifies it. OK, is she the 10th best? No, they plucked her out of nowhere in some calculated attempt to lure votes. They put a clueless dipsh!t one heart attack away from being commander in chief as some ploy to steal Obama's thunder. Now they're asking to basically change the rules of the debates because they admit she has no idea what she's doing. Great. How 'bout you find someone capable of actually expressing your party's stance rather than watering down the process.

 

Poor McCain is stuck having to defend her against "Gotcha journalism" because some random dude at a pizza parlor asked her about Pakistan and she basically said she'd handle it the exact way that McCain lambasted Obama for saying.

 

We're all still so naive to think that these people's primary job is to serve this country and nothing could be further from the truth.

 

This makes me sick.

[TimC]

I would've been better off building the $4 million dollar house and taking out some crazy mortgage I could never ever afford than building something I could manage with a 30-year fixed back in 2006.

[westvirginia]

OMFG, for once, I agre with detlef. :shocked:

 

And muck, the discounted cash flows rule is a MUCH more accurate way of judging an impairment rather than mark-to-market. Because of the conservatism principle, you can mark an asset down, but NEVER mark it back up again. The only time you could realize any gain from appreciation is if you did some extraordinary repair (n/a for financial assets) or if you sold it. So we've got a bunch of assets on these banks books that are heavily "toxic" right now, that would need to be marked down terribly, but they might stabilize in a few months and end up performing well, or at least so you wouldn't take a beating. If you take a hugh loss on them right now, you impair the bank's ability to get credit, not to mention send its stock into the toilet, all because of a temporary uncertainty? I'm still not sure what the answer is, but the FDIC limit-raise and ridding ourselves of this rule for SOX purposes really needs to happen.