Good samaritan law
The USA Patriot Bailout Act
The many thoughts about the Bailout proposed by Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson permeate the blawgosphere. But one that may not have received sufficient mention is that this isn’t the first time our country has rushed blindly into an emergency situation with a law under the guise that “something has to be done immediately.”On October 26, 2001, President George W. Bush signed into law the “Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act of 2001,” better known by its acronym, the USA Patriot Act.This law, coming on the heels of 9/11 at a time when there was no law that could be too tough or restrictive if it served to protect Americans from terrorism, was an amalgamation of the failed wishlist of Justice Department initiatives. Suddenly, the rejected became the desperately needed. And no one wanted to be held accountable for leaving the nation open to a terrorist attack.They didn’t know that the law said. No one had bothered to read it. No one had time. It was an emergency. We had to act. NOW! We had to protect America. We just had to.Some think the USA Patriot Act didn’t turn out nearly as well as Congress hoped. Yet once we jumped off the cliff, eyes closed but heart full of promise, there was no going back.The economy presents a big problem, commanding attention. Pat Paulson was tasked to come up with a plan to get us out of this very large ditch. Some are questioning the plan, particularly the $700 billion blank check that Paulson would hand to himself with no strings attached. I can’t tell you how relieved I am that somebody read this law before passing it. But even as the ubiquitous Barney Frank talks about various tweaks, it’s still Paulson’s plan. He created the paradigm, and there’s no time for anyone else to craft a competing plan. While pundits pick at the edges, the essentials remain intact. Being no economist, I’ve got no clue whether Paulson’s plan will save the day. But others, more macroeconomically incline than me, should consider whether the concept is, at its heart, sound before jumping on the bandwagon to approve another hastily created plan to address another “sky is falling” emergency. Just take a few days to think about it, as should have happened before the USA Patriot Act was passed.Jonathon Adler at VC notes that George Will, one of the few surviving conservative dinosaurs, is none too pleased with Senator McCain’s talking points.
mccain’s smear ? that [chris] cox [sec chairman] “betrayed the public’s trust” ? is a precursor of a mccain presidency. for mccain, politics is always operatic, pitting people who agree with him against those who are “corrupt” or “betray the public’s safe keeping,” two categories that appear to be exhaustive ? there are no other people.
One of the easiest ways to address emergencies is to find a fall guy and burn him. It’s a tried and true means of quieting the maddening crowd. While the population is afraid, a villain provides a target for their anger and deflects attention from deeper, more complex causes. Today, people still believe that we invaded Iraq because of its role in 9/11. Once a myth levitra is firmly established, it can be very hard to convince people that it was only a myth. Is our bailout plan premised upon myth?George Will, incidentally, reaches an interesting conclusion about Senator McCain:
it is arguable that, because of his callowness, obama is not ready with a view the presidency. it is arguable that mccain, because of his boiling moralism and abyssal reservoir of certitudes, is not suited to the presidency. unreadiness can be corrected, although perhaps at great payment, by sagacity. can a dismaying temperament be agreed?
It’s a Hobson’s choice. But as Winston Churchill told the ugly woman, “tomorrow I’ll be sober.”
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