Maybe not such a good mix. Is the bailout just another executive power grab? Quin Hillyer says yes:
what Washington lawmakers are doing with this immense Wall Street bailout fills Will's bill: It is an utter abandonment of balance and restraint and a capitulation to fleeting passions. It represents a massive aggregation of power by the federal government, and within the federal government by the Department of the Treasury. It is a massive interference in the market when far less massive interference might do the trick. It is a manifestation of sheer panic when calm and considered action -- fairly swift action, yes, but not precipitous -- is called for.
The Bush White House, always fond of demanding its way or the highway, presented Congress with an ultimatum: Accept this basic framework for a bailout, and none other, or financial Armageddon will ensue. And at first the word was that the Armageddon would occur if the bailout weren't finished within about four days.
Four days came, and four days went, with no Armageddon. But then the administration said A-Day would happen within the week. Didn't happen. Then it would arrive if Congress voted down the plan on Monday. Didn't happen. The stock market dropped like a rock -- and then it recovered five eighths of its ground the very next day.
All the while, other actors -- bureaucrats, which in this case is an honorific rather than an insult -- continued to take smaller steps to help the market absorb the credit crunch. Without a greater accretion of power, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation stepped in to help stem the panic. So did the Securities and Exchange Commission. So did the Federal Reserve. All of them helped. And more can be done, within existing authority.
