Capitol Hill Blue Forums Hot Topics & Breaking News News What was Paulson Thinking?

By the time Obama takes office, the Bush administration will have transferred a staggering amount of money, measured in trillions of, to private banks. That money will no longer be available for the kind of employment-based stimulus package that we desperately need, nor for targeted and potential more effective mechanisms to increase liquidity in the credit markets such as an expanded version of the CPFF, nor to secure access to education. On their own, large private lenders - including Citigroup, Bank of America, and JP Morgan Chase -- are renegotiating mortgages, but there is no organized, centralized effort and no leadership coming from the government (my own lender, Countrywide, called while I was writing this post to see if I want to refinance.) Only advisory "guidelines" and buckets of money. And once again, the Bush administration is seeking to jam this enormous program down the throats of Congress and the American people without consultation, oversight, or transparency. Will Congress just stand there and watch this happen? What is Paulson thinking?