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One Lump or Ten?
Andrew Leonard goes digging in the Senate’s bailout package and finds a bunch of “sweeteners” added to lure in votes. Among them:
* Sec. 105. Energy credit for geothermal heat pump systems.
* Sec. 111. Expansion and modification of advanced coal project investment credit.
* Sec. 113. Temporary increase in coal excise tax; funding of Black Lung Disability Trust Fund.
* Sec. 115. Tax credit for carbon dioxide sequestration.
* Sec. 205. Credit for new qualified plug-in electric drive motor vehicles.
* Sec. 405. Increase and extension of Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund tax.
* Sec. 309. Extension of economic development credit for American Samoa.
* Sec. 317. Seven-year cost recovery period for motorsports racing track facility.
* Sec. 501. $8,500 income threshold used to calculate refundable portion of child tax credit.
* Sec. 503 Exemption from excise tax for certain wooden arrows designed for use by children.
There are also tax credits for solar and wind power, and a very expensive requirement that health insurance companies cover mental health the same way they cover physical health.
But remember, this is only about preventing an economic cataclysm.
Elemenope|10.2.08 @ 8:59AM|#
Sec. 503 Exemption from excise tax for certain wooden arrows
designed for use by children.
That's my favorite. They're cutting taxes *and* arming children. I
like this trend.
Fluffy|10.2.08 @ 9:00AM|#
The funny thing is that although the bailout belongs to Bush,
lock stock and barrel, putting that mental health thing in there
actually creates some veto risk.
It would be funny to watch the MSM celebrate as their pet statism
bill finally passes the Senate and House, and then watch their
crestfallen faces as their hopes are crushed by an unanticipated
Presidential veto.
|10.2.08 @ 9:03AM|#
Our lords and rulers would never think of using a fake
emergency to advance their pet projects. Never.
I wish there was one--just one--major media figure who had the
balls or inclination to call these shitheads out for their
bullshit, but unfortunately, there isn't.
jamie|10.2.08 @ 9:05AM|#
Wait a second, I want to tack on a rider to this bailout. Thirty million dollars of taxpayer money to support the perverted arts.
|10.2.08 @ 9:09AM|#
Shouldn't John McCain have voted against this bill on principle...oh wait...he doesn't have any.
ktc2|10.2.08 @ 9:10AM|#
I like those folks down on Wall Street holding the signs "Jump! You Fuckers!". They pissed away their money now they want to steal ours and our "leaders" are only too happy to hand it over, they just got to get their share stuck in the bill first.
jamie|10.2.08 @ 9:11AM|#
oh, and Fluffy and Episiarch, I assume CNN/Lou Dobbs simply
aren't major or MSM enough to count?
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=1DCA4QxZeVY
Elemenope|10.2.08 @ 9:15AM|#
oh, and Fluffy and Episiarch, I assume CNN/Lou Dobbs simply
aren't major or MSM enough to count?
The real problem with Dobbs is when he's right (which isn't often)
he hurts the cause.
|10.2.08 @ 9:19AM|#
The Senate was conceived as a place where more due deliberation
would occur, with politicians that would, hopefully, be more
statesman like than their colleagues on the other side of the
Capitol. Unfortunately, that is not the case, as this vote clearly
highlights.
Repeal the 17th, please.
|10.2.08 @ 9:20AM|#
I wonder if it would be possible to reverse-engineer this bill, and figure out exactly whose vote is being bought with each particular item.
|10.2.08 @ 9:21AM|#
I assume CNN/Lou Dobbs simply aren't major or MSM enough to
count?
I don't listen to anything Lou says because he is an
insane dipshit. Even a stopped clock yadda yadda.
|10.2.08 @ 9:25AM|#
I thought that, since all appropriations bills originate in the
House, that they had to take a tax bill already passed in the House
and on the Senate docket for consideration to mark up and add the
bailout language to.
In other words, the pork didn't get added to the bailout. The
bailout got added to the pork.
Elemenope|10.2.08 @ 9:29AM|#
Repeal the 17th, please.
ProL, I'm pretty sure it *didn't* go downhill because senators have
to pander to the people now instead of to state parties and
legislative apparatchiks.
They were assholes before the 17th, by and large.
|10.2.08 @ 9:29AM|#
Soups' on at the cannibal-pot, kids. Eat up.
"If you die first, I am definitely going to eat you. But the
question is, if I die, what are you going to do? Bon
appétit...eat or die."
Fluffy|10.2.08 @ 9:38AM|#
Jamie, you got me there.
I don't watch Dobbs, so I don't know what he has to say about the
bailout.
It's nice that Lou could take time out from endlessly repeating his
single looped show about hating Mexicans to talk about the
bailout.
|10.2.08 @ 9:39AM|#
And a big (but unspecified in the quoted article) tax credit for
"Hollywood" apparently. From the LA Times:
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-bailout2-2008oct02,0,4103411.story
Others were aimed at narrower interests to win the votes of specific lawmakers, such as a tax break to encourage Hollywood studios to do more filming in the United States.
The tax provisions added more than $100 billion to the cost of the plan. From the original three-page proposal by the Treasury Department, the bill has swelled to 451 pages.
|10.2.08 @ 9:40AM|#
Elemenope,
Undoubtedly they were, but they were different kinds of assholes
with different constituencies. Having two houses that cater to the
same people removes a check on government. I think it's safe to say
that we have too few checks and balances now, not too many. It may
or may not be a coincidence that government has grown and grown and
grown since the Senate went to a popular vote, but I think it's
most likely a contributing factor.
|10.2.08 @ 9:42AM|#
I wonder if it would be possible to reverse-engineer this
bill, and figure out exactly whose vote is being bought with each
particular item.
I'm pretty sure the stuff for American Samoa was largesse to bring
the Hawaiian senators, Inouye and Akaka, on board. The motorsports
racing facility stuff has the stink of local Hawaii politics,
too.
And since half of the nation's solar panel installations occur in
Hawaii, that's "our" pork too, though McCain may have had a hand in
that -- lots of sunshine in AZ.
I'm starting to see why our House delegation voted "no", while our
Senate delegation voted "yes", especially since neither of those
fuckers is up for reelection this year -- not that that matters in
Hawaii -- once you're in Congress, you're in until you retire or
die, and not necessarily even then. I'm referring, of course, to
the infamous "re-electing Patsy Mink even though she was already
dead and buried" debacle.
Wow, I hate local politics here.
robc|10.2.08 @ 9:42AM|#
Brian,
All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of
Representatives
Appropriations bills can originate in either body.
robc|10.2.08 @ 9:46AM|#
lmnop,
The combo of the 16th and the 17th is the problem. When you dont
have the power to directly tax income but instead have to ask each
state for its proportionate share of the money (or pass a
destruction tariff) the senators appointed by the body that is
going to have to come up with the money by taxing their
constituents tend to throw a fit.
JMR|10.2.08 @ 9:48AM|#
McCain voted for it because despite all the hype, he LIKES pork. I'm still thanking God so many of my tax dollars went toward attacking those privately-issued precious metal backed currencies. And news media, whatever you do, don't look into precious metals derivatives even though the problem stretches back to the Clinton era. Good thing the legal system very artfully ignored it. Sigh.
Alan Vanneman|10.2.08 @ 9:49AM|#
Well, I for one think we should have an economic cataclysm maybe once a month, because I have both a geothermal heat pump and a black lung, plus I spill oil everywhere! See you in the welfare line, suckers, because I am sittin' pretty!
|10.2.08 @ 9:50AM|#
Damn - A Ravenous quote. Never thought I'd see the
day.
I had to. It had to be done.
|10.2.08 @ 9:51AM|#
It may or may not be a coincidence that government has grown
and grown and grown since the Senate went to a popular vote, but I
think it's most likely a contributing factor.
I think the two biggest contributors to the explosion in growth of
the federal government since the early 1900s were the amendments
allowing the income tax, and women's suffrage.
Not against women's suffrage, BTW, just saying that women tend to
be a bit more nanny-statist and big-government supporters than men
ON AVERAGE, as even a casual perusal of the voting split by gender
for Democrats / Republicans / Libertarians would show. I mean, it's
a fucking sausagefest here at H&R. (Hi, Jennifer and
Miche!)
Josh|10.2.08 @ 9:59AM|#
Can someone explain why little toy plastic arrows with the little rubber suction tips aren't as vital to our economic salvation as wooden arrows?
Elemenope|10.2.08 @ 10:00AM|#
Damn - A Ravenous quote. Never thought I'd see the
day.
Carlyle threw together a mite creepy performance for that little
ditty.
Elemenope|10.2.08 @ 10:04AM|#
Can someone explain why little toy plastic arrows with the
little rubber suction tips aren't as vital to our economic
salvation as wooden arrows?
Population control, bitches!
|10.2.08 @ 10:05AM|#
Can someone explain why little toy plastic arrows with the
little rubber suction tips aren't as vital to our economic
salvation as wooden arrows?
Population control, bitches!
No, no... it's a pork barrel provision to the glass eye
industry.
|10.2.08 @ 10:06AM|#
LMNOP, Carlyle was great. And the soundtrack...did you know that the lead singer of Blur, that douchebaggy band, was half responsible for it? Fucking great. Of course, the other half was Michael Nyman, but still.
|10.2.08 @ 10:09AM|#
Shouldn't John McCain have voted against this bill on
principle...oh wait...he doesn't have any.
McCain blows another opportunity. Turning this into a Christmas
tree gave him exactly what he needed to pivot and start running
against a grossly unpopular bill and Congress. A tool and a
fool.
short, fat bastard|10.2.08 @ 10:19AM|#
First emancipation, then sufferage. It's been downhill every since.
|10.2.08 @ 10:21AM|#
Brian is essentially correct, according to Sen. Specter. He said
on radio this morning that the bailout had to be attached to a bill
they were already considering in order to "get around" the House
origination problem.
So we are now likely to get a worse bill than the one many
libertarians and free marketers railed against, because all the
pork would not have been added had the House measure passed.
Elemenope|10.2.08 @ 10:22AM|#
And the soundtrack...
You know, I honestly don't remember the soundtrack...or much of the
plot for that matter. Just Carlyle and digging holes and
cannibalism and a bear trap near the end. And I remember liking it,
so there's that.
I made the mistake of watching a movie that takes place in Alaska
sitting next to an Alaska native, and he wouldn't stop bitching
about all the "things they got wrong". It was distracting. Usually
I have a dead-on memory for quotes and scenes, but that movie is
fuzzy for me.
Elemenope|10.2.08 @ 10:24AM|#
No, no... it's a pork barrel provision to the glass eye
industry.
Clearly you have not watched The Sopranos.
|10.2.08 @ 10:24AM|#
I made the mistake of watching a movie that takes place in
Alaska sitting next to an Alaska native
Ravenous does not take place in Alaska, dude. It takes
place in northern California. You must have been royally stoned to
forget so many details.
robc|10.2.08 @ 10:25AM|#
creech,
Since the bill now contains a coal tax increase provision, yeah, it
requires house origination. There may have been some revenue aspect
to the original one too.
|10.2.08 @ 10:29AM|#
Clearly you have not watched The Sopranos.
Oh, I have. But when the environuts got into the debate, Big Glass
Eye had to back the "sustainable" wooden arrow to cobble together a
coalition so they could push to bring back the recycled aluminum
and shredded newspaper lawn dart.
Don't you keep up with the news? Sheesh.
|10.2.08 @ 10:32AM|#
Almost a trillion fucking dollars and all we can do is bitch
about it on the Internet.
See? This is the problem with being so enlightened and advanced. We
don't eve think about armed rebellion any longer. I mean,
can we at least surround the Capitol with a mob carrying lit
torches and pitchforks?
|10.2.08 @ 10:32AM|#
Big Glass Eye
Whoah, dude...can't you leave Sammy Davis Jr. and Sandy Duncan out
of this?
robc|10.2.08 @ 10:36AM|#
JW,
We don't eve think about armed rebellion any longer. I mean,
can we at least surround the Capitol with a mob carrying lit
torches and pitchforks?
It worked in Tennessee a few years ago.
JLE|10.2.08 @ 10:51AM|#
Prolefeed:
Women's suffrage? Sausage fest? From my reading, sex/gender has
little to do with the political issues Reason discusses.
There are plenty of women who comment on these feeds, and we are
not all nanny-statists.
Scumbag.
|10.2.08 @ 11:04AM|#
All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House
of Representatives
Appropriations bills can originate in either body.
True, but they've now made this a tax bill (also). Not that there's
any recourse, of course.
MAVRICK|10.2.08 @ 11:41AM|#
Well, my nanny was a woman. Therefore it makes sense to believe
that women who vote are more likely to support a nanny state.
I LOVES me some pork!
USA! USA! USA!
|10.2.08 @ 11:56AM|#
I wonder if it would be possible to reverse-engineer this
bill, and figure out exactly whose vote is being bought with each
particular item.
It's not possible unless we get get them all to testify before
congress under penalty of perjury to find out. Being honorable men
and women, they wouldn't dare lie under oath.
Also, the sun will rise in the west tomorrow.
Elemenope|10.2.08 @ 12:00PM|#
Ravenous does not take place in Alaska, dude. It takes place
in northern California. You must have been royally stoned to forget
so many details.
Oh shit, now I remember. The Alaska native (that fact turning out
to be irrelevant to what he was bitching about) was bitching about
the torturing of the Wendigo legend that the movie committed.
I'm not a purist (in pretty much anything) so it didn't bug me that
Hollywood raped *yet another* story that was holy or special to
some small group of people, so long as they made it coherent and
entertaining. The only time it does annoy me is when they do it to
no discernible plot or cinematic purpose (looking at you, Disney,
you bunch of cretinous mythology-fuckers).
He bitched about Alaska during Insomnia I believe. Or some
other Alaska movie. I forget.
Kolohe|10.2.08 @ 12:01PM|#
Speaking of the constitution everyone must keep in mind that
contributing to some (most?) of the 'sweeteners' is art 1 sect
7:
"All bills for raising revenue shall originate in the House of
Representatives; but the Senate may propose or concur with
amendments as on other Bills."
So a lot of this stuff was already in a bill that was working its
way through the house and senate, and the 'economy recovery'
portion is actually an amendment to that bill. So techinically, the
bailout is the pork.
Ska|10.2.08 @ 12:02PM|#
Can someone explain why little toy plastic arrows with the
little rubber suction tips aren't as vital to our economic
salvation as wooden arrows?
Very simply, the owner of a large arrow manufacturer knows a
senator. The tax code is full of bizarre credits that benefit only
one entity. I've seen credits where one of my clients had a
lobbyist get a specific, patented technological process, which only
they can use, inserted by name into a provision for a tax
credit.
|10.2.08 @ 12:08PM|#
He bitched about Alaska during Insomnia I believe
The real Insomnia
is Norwegian. Sounds like your friend should just shut up
already.
DrewT|10.2.08 @ 12:39PM|#
The mental health rider is the only one that seems to address
the real issues.
I believe in the sanity clause.
|10.2.08 @ 12:49PM|#
I'm all for lower taxes, but why is there an excise tax on
wooden arrows in the first place? When did this industry become big
enough to warrant the attention required to pass a special tax on
it?
That mental health requirement could be a killer. What if I don't
want mental health coverage? I have better things to spend
my money on. Minimum coverage mandates are terrible.
|10.2.08 @ 1:17PM|#
* Sec. 113. Temporary increase in coal excise tax; funding
of Black Lung Disability Trust Fund.
All bills to raise revenue must be initiated
in the house of representatives.
Scott|10.2.08 @ 2:02PM|#
One postive effect from this package: I showed sec. 503 to my high school economics class today and once they stopped laughing, I think most of them trusted Congress less then they did when they walked in.
|10.2.08 @ 2:45PM|#
If the "mental health" provision required the entire Congress to be hauled off in straitjackets, I could support it.
Invisible Finger|10.2.08 @ 4:22PM|#
This Congressional action is so cynical/insane, it's as if Congress is just daring people to come by and murder them.
Invisible Finger|10.2.08 @ 4:33PM|#
All bills to raise revenue must be initiated
in the house of representatives.
Whew. Thought we broke the law for a sec. This bill merely raises
spending.
Elemenope|10.2.08 @ 5:13PM|#
Invisible finger:
Look more closely at the part marked in bold:
Sec. 113. Temporary increase in coal excise
tax; funding of Black Lung Disability Trust
Fund.
Increasing a tax is increasing revenue. Unless you actually listen
to those capital gains nutters.
Christ on a Cracker|10.3.08 @ 8:32AM|#
* Sec. 205. Credit for new qualified plug-in electric drive
motor vehicles.
Now is my time to lobby for funding of my effort to develop a 400
mile long extension cord.
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