Credit for this goes to a member of the "Ron Paul Forums" who did a little digging and added comments. Enjoy..
http://www.ronpaulforums.com/showthread.php?t=159044
The latest version: http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/28/news/pdf/index.htm
Quote:
NECESSARY ACTIONS.—The Secretary is authorized to take such actions as the Secretary deems necessary
to carry out the authorities in this Act, including, without
limitation, the following:
.
..
.
Designating financial institutions as financial agents of the Federal Government, and such institutions shall perform all such reasonable duties
related to this Act as financial agents of the Federal Government as may be required.
seems to me, at the flick of a finger the Secretary (Paulson, now) can make any financial company part of the national government...am I reading that wrong?
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page 10/106
Quote:
(c) PREMIUMS.—
(1) IN GENERAL.—The Secretary shall collect
premiums from any financial institution participating in the program established under subsection
(a). Such premiums may be in amount that the Secretary determines necessary to meet the purposes of
this Act and to provide sufficient reserves pursuant
to paragraph (3).
No defined cost could be used against banks to make them pay too much. What worries me here is that the Secretary can ask for any amount of money to "insure" these assets, if they can not pay, then the "Necessary action" I quoted above could come into effect. In essence, small banks (which we know the Fed hates) can be forced to pay high costs, and if they can not afford to, they become nationalized.
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page 13/106
Quote:
that nothing in this Act prevents the Secretary from protecting the retirement security of
Americans by purchasing troubled assets held by or
on behalf of an eligible retirement plan other than
a plan described in section 409A of the Internal
Revenue Code of 1986;
I can't find the section 409[A[ of the IR code, but what qualifies as a "eligible retirement plan" is what is to debate here. Can the secretary buy your 401K or IRA at any time. This could wipe out the savings of anyone if they are bought at a "low point" or after a crash.
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Quote:
STANDARDS REQUIRED.—The Secretary shall
issue regulations or guidelines necessary to address and
manage or to prohibit conflicts of interest that may arise
in connection with the administration and execution of the
authorities provided under this Act, including—
(1) conflicts arising in the selection or hiring of
contractors or advisors, including asset managers;
.
.
.
(5) any other potential conflict of interest, as
the Secretary deems necessary or appropriate in the
public interest.
The secretary can control who companies hire?..and of course the line "any other potential conflict" is always asking for abuse.
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page 44/106
Quote:
(2) AUTHORITY.—In carrying out paragraph
(1), the Secretary shall—
(B) sell such assets at a price that the Secretary determines, based on available financial
analysis, will maximize return on investment for
the Federal Government.
nothing about the tax payer...profits of this will never be seen by the taxpayers
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most of page 44 and 45 is pretty vague. The secretary can buy (and sell, which is said on p.48) any asset at a price he deems reasonable...
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page 48/106
Quote:
(F) SUFFICIENCY.—The financial institution shall guarantee to the Secretary that it has
authorized shares of nonvoting stock available
to fulfill its obligations under this subsection.
Should the financial institution not have sufficient authorized shares, including preferred
shares that may carry dividend rights equal to
a multiple number of common shares, the Secretary may, to the extent necessary, accept a
senior debt note in an amount, and on such
terms, as will compensate the Secretary equivalently, in the event that a sufficient shareholder
vote to authorize the necessary additional
shares cannot be obtained.
yikes, am I reading this right? The Secretary will be compensated, at whatever price he deems appropriate, including shares and preferred shares , for his services
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page 54/106
Quote:
(B) DEBATE.—Debate on the resolution,
and on all debatable motions and appeals in
connection therewith, shall be limited to not
more than 10 hours, which shall be divided
equally between those favoring and those opposing the resolution. A motion further to limit debate is in order and not debatable.
it is getting scarier as I go further into this section...with a simple motion can stop any debate.
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page 65/106
Quote:
SEC. 118. FUNDING.
For the purpose of the authorities granted in this
Act, and for the costs of administering those authorities,
the Secretary may use the proceeds of the sale of any securities issued under chapter 31 of title 31, United States
Code, and the purposes for which securities may be issued
under chapter 31 of title 31, United States Code, are extended to include actions authorized by this Act, including
the payment of administrative expenses.
It is pretty clear to me now that the taxpayer will not benefit from this, even if the assets increase in value.
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page 67/106
Quote:
(3) LIMITATION ON ACTIONS BY PARTICIPATING
COMPANIES.—No action or claims may be brought
against the Secretary by any person that divests its
assets with respect to its participation in a program
under this Act, except as provided in paragraph (1),
other than as expressly provided in a written contract with the Secretary.
If an institution participates in this program, they may not take any actions (like taking to court) against the Secretary.
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page 76/106
Quote:
SEC. 122. INCREASE IN STATUTORY LIMIT ON THE PUBLIC
DEBT.
Subsection (b) of section 3101 of title 31, United
States Code, is amended by striking out the dollar limitation contained in such subsection and inserting
‘‘$11,315,000,000,000’’.
yay more debt
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page 83/106
Quote:
(f) TERMINATION.—The Oversight Panel shall terminate 6 months after the termination date specified in section 120.
you may ask what section 120 is...well here it is:
Quote:
TERMINATION.—The authorities provided under
sections 101(a) and 102 shall terminate on December 31, 2009.
no oversight after June 31 2010
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On page 98/106
Quote:
SEC. 135. PRESERVATION OF AUTHORITY.
With the exception of section 131, nothing in this Act
may be construed to limit the authority of the Secretary
or the Board under any other provision of law.
speaks for itself
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on page 100/106
Quote:
(d) AUTHORIZATION OF APPROPRIATIONS.—There
are authorized to be appropriated such sums as may be
necessary to produce reports required by this section.
what makes me nervous about that line is all the stuff that comes before it in that section...it seems that the section listed allows for A LOT of money to be used. Such as employment of personal (with no pay regulations from what I see).
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on page 103/106
Quote:
(a) IN GENERAL.—For purposes of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986, gain or loss from the sale or exchange of any applicable preferred stock by any applicable financial institution shall be treated as ordinary income or loss.
this might be nothing new...do financial institutions not pay capital gains tax on their investments? where is is instead taxed as income? This might just be my lack of understanding here
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Quote:
page 106/106
(e) REGULATORY AUTHORITY.—The Secretary of the
Treasury or the Secretary’s delegate may prescribe such
guidance, rules, or regulations as are necessary to carry
out the purposes of this section.
no limit of authority
you made it to the end of my analysis of my skim through of the bill...the Secretary is given amazing powers to control our financial system.
__________________
Keep calling and writitng.
Bunkloco
