Sebastian Mallaby makes a strong case against the Bush Administration’s proposed Wall Street bailout bill.
With truly extraordinary speed, opinion has swung behind the radical idea that the government should commit hundreds of billions in taxpayer money to purchasing dud loans from banks that aren’t actually insolvent. As recently as a week ago, no public official had even mentioned this option. Now the Treasury, the Fed and congressional leaders are promising its enactment within days. The scheme has gone from invisibility to inevitability in the blink of an eye. This is extremely dangerous.
His bottom line: “The Treasury plan outlined on Friday involves vast risks to taxpayers, huge complexity and no guarantee of success. There are better ways forward.”
Meanwhile, NPR’s Adam Davidson is shocked at the extent to which the bill would delegate extensive (and unreviewable) authority to the Executive Branch to address the financial crisis.
UPDATE: David Zaring has more thoughts about the potential delegation issues here.