The bill failed in the House on Monday, and the sky didn't fall. Those who predicted doom are a bit like the cartoon characters who don white robes and climb mountains carrying signs that say "the world will end tonight." They feel silly when the sun comes up the next morning.
It made me feel rather foolish. However, after reading the following post by Eric Posner at the Volokh Conspiracy, I am no longer felling like a "cartoon characters who don white robes and climb mountains carrying signs that say 'the world will end tonight'." The most relevant passage is as follows:
I ought to point out that, in any event, the Fed and Treasury have already made plans to go ahead and lend all the money that you thought Congress had voted down. They are doing so because Congress gave them the authority to do this in statutes enacted long ago, and charged them with the responsibility of resolving financial crises, which is exactly what they are trying to do. It is odd that the critics of the bill are not trying very hard to persuade the Fed to back off. What the Fed and Treasury want from the bailout bill but are not getting (so far) is additional political backing to help restore confidence in the financial markets. One might think that if all this money is going to be spent anyway, the case for the bill, which provides for additional tools and oversight, is rather strong.
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