Parsing the “Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008″

Lenadams Dorris
Thursday, October 2, 2008

My truth-loving friends…

I heard on the radio about an item on page 300 of the current bill before the Senate (the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008)…300 pages! I thought to myself…what sort of “emergency bill” would take that many pages, I wondered? It’s not as if they’re actually writing the statutes and procedure manuals for implementation. And besides, wasn’t the original plan 7 pages?

Turns out it’s actually 450 pages…seen ‘em with my own eyes. And it’s filled with an extraordinary number of things that have little or nothing to do with the crisis at hand. In short, it’s the same old bullshit politics as usual, dripping with pork barrel and special interests. Don’t believe me? Download your own 450 page copy at http://banking.senate.gov/public/_files/latestversionAYO08C32_xml.pdf, and happy reading.

Of course, I might just be a political naif who doesn’t understand just what it takes. I do understand bluff, bullshit and diversion, however…after all, I’m from Las Vegas.

For your titillation, here’s just a few tidbits excerpted from the table of contents of just a few titles of just one section of the bill…it goes on and on and on for 451 pages and is stuffed to overflowing with so much extraneous crap that I doubt I will ever be able to read and digest it all…but trust me, someone will…

(ARTICLE CONTINUES BELOW)

Title III

Sec. 308 – Increase on limit on cover over of rum excise tax to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands
Sec. 309 – Extension of economic development credit for American Samoa
Sec. 310 – Extension of mine rescue team training credit
Sec. 314 – Indian employment credit
Sec. 316 – Railroad track maintenance
Sec. 317 – Seven year cost recovery period for motorsports racing track facility
Sec. 319 – Extension of work opportunity tax credit for Hurricane Katrina employees
Sec. 322 – Tax incentives for investment in the District of Columbia
Sec. 325 – Extension and modification of duty suspension on wool products; wool research fund; wool duty refunds
Title IV

Sec. 401 – Permanent authority for undercover operations
Sec. 402 – Permanent authority for disclosure of information relating to terrorist activities
Title V

Subtitle A – General Provisions

Sec. 502 – Provisions related to film and television productions
Sec. 503 – Exemption from excise tax for certain wooden arrows designed for use by children
Sec. 504 – Income averaging for amounts received in connection with the Exxon Valdez litigation
Subtitle B – Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Act of 2008

Sec. 512 – Mental Health parity

Title VI

Sec. 601 – Secure rural schools and community self-determination program
Sec. 602 – Transfer to abandoned mine reclamation fund

And remember…this is a teeny-tiny part of the whole!

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