Bailing Out the Bailout – By Matt Taibbi (Rolling Stone) / March 31 2020
It will take years to sort through the details, but Trump’s $2 trillion COVID-19 response looks like a double-down on the last disaster
“I’ve never signed anything with a ‘T’ before,” Donald Trump quipped at the signing of the $2 trillion CARES Act. He reportedly wants his signature on coronavirus relief checks, as if they were Trump Plaza casino chips. This might be a fitting metaphor for America’s post-virus economic future.
The new bailout bill, which combined with a series of Federal Reserve interventions is more like a $6 trillion rescue, is a massive double-down on the 2008 rescue efforts. This bailout of the last bailout sets the stage for permanent state sponsorship of America’s overheated financial markets.
Like 2008, only moreso, the new mega-rescue is a bipartisan effort. Lawamkers sold this as a good thing.
“This is a 9/11 moment,” said Republican congressman Dan Newhouse of Washington state. “A time to put partisan differences aside.”
“We have our differences, but we also know what is important to us,” said House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. “America’s families are important to us.”
Congress needed a year of intense infighting to approve a $4.7 trillion budget, but just a single week to draft this $2 trillion deal. Although members quibbled before the vote over numbers — Bernie Sanders insisted on more unemployment insurance, while others worried about creating a “slush fund” for airlines and other industries — the bill ultimately cruised through, passing in a voice vote in the House and 96-0 in the Senate.
Continue to article: https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/political-commentary/coronavirus-fed-bank-bailout-disaster-976086/
