posted
I was under the impression that there would be full transparency with the 700 billion dollar bail out.
Why is it permissible for page 25 and page 5 to be blacked out to the public so we cannot see the compensation and pricing guidelines for paying private firms money from the bailout? Why cant we even know the hourly labor rate?
I thought we were going to have full disclosure with how this massive bailout is going to be used.
posted
Hmmm. It's not as if they can cite national security.
"Terrorists will use this information to determine how much they should be paying the banks they subsidize. This poses an imminent risk to our financial stability. Also, 9/11."
Posts: 21182 | Registered: Sep 2004
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posted
Well, they may not give us the exact compensation, but at least we know its somewhere between $0 and $700 billion....
Posts: 2432 | Registered: Feb 2001
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posted
I'd suggest federal minimum wage, as they have already proven themselves to be unskilled and requiring a LARGE amount of supervision.
Posts: 8501 | Registered: Jul 2001
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posted
Transperency has nothing to do with ordinary American citizens. It's just a word describing which information legislators will share with their most well-connected lobbyists.
You are so naive sometimes.
Posts: 2804 | Registered: May 2003
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quote:Originally posted by lem: It is our money....
I think this assumption is where you've missed the point. All the money that we earn belongs to the government. Whatever portion they decide not to tax is their charitable contribution to us, and we just need to shut up and be grateful that they're so generous.
Honestly, haven't you been listening to any of the candidates?
Posts: 2804 | Registered: May 2003
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posted
No, you missed the obvious. Money is only as good as the government backing it. Care to be a quadrillionaire? All ya hafta do is be willing to put up with the 231,000,000% annual inflation rate...
posted
Enough sarcasm... Did you write or call your legislators to ask them to give you that information, lem? If so, how did they respond?
Any lawers here have any insight on whether the Freedom of Information Act would apply here? What kind of action would one have to take to disclose the hidden info?
Posts: 2804 | Registered: May 2003
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posted
I don't mean to derail the thread, but I've been trying to keep an eye on the bailout and the progress of the economy. I found a resource today that has been investigating the question asked at the top of the thread.
Rather than just post that, I thought I'd list all the resources I've been using to keep myself informed on the bailout and the state of the economy. Then maybe others can add other sources of information that they find useful, and we can have a single location to find all the best information.
If you don't want me to hijack the thread, let me know and I'll start my own.
First off, I've been listening to a lot of NPR podcasts, which have been very helpful.
This American Life has done a couple very good specials about the crisis. This one is a few months old, so it's a bit dated, but lays some excellent groundwork for understanding what happened. This one is from a couple weeks ago, so it examines the actual meltdown. Not as entertaining as the first one, but again, very informative.
Since the meltdown, NPR has started a new blog and podcast called Planet Money that examines the progress of the economy on a daily basis. It's aimed at laypeople (fortunately for me), but it does a very good job of explaining all the details of the problem, what caused it, where it's headed, and what options are being considered for solving it.
Along with the stock market, Planet Money is following two indicators of economic performance: Treasury Bond Rates. TED spread. Rather than trying to explain what these mean, here is the episode that covered it.
And finally, the one that made me think of this thread.
A couple days ago on Planet Money, they interviewed a guy who is investigating the crisis, and specifically how the government is using our money to solve it. His blog is here: http://bailoutsleuth.com/ He has a section dealing with the question that was asked in the first post in this thread. Maybe that will clear some of this up.
Anyway, those are my favorites. Does anyone else have any reliable sources of news? How do you keep up on the crisis? What are you doing to watch the government and make sure they're acting in our best interest with all our money?
posted
I second the recommendation for listening to the "This American Life" tracks concerning the economy. I believe you will find it not only extremely educational and enlightening but also entertaining.
Thank you for the post Speed, I'll be sure to check out your other suggestions.
Posts: 247 | Registered: Jun 2008
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posted
I don't know for sure, but I can guess 2 reasons for the blackouts based on what was removed:
1) The Government doesn't like to publish "personally identifiable information" which might be why the names were blacked out.
2) If the bid process is ongoing or the same thing will be bid out again soon they might conceal the costs in order to maintain competitive bidding on the next round.
These are just speculations, of course...
Posts: 409 | Registered: Apr 2002
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posted
(2) is consistent with reports that they will unredact the contract after other contracts are awarded.
Posts: 26071 | Registered: Oct 2003
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