Hank Paulson is spending this morning on the talk show circuit trying to scare up $700 billion of our money. And he wants that money by tonight. Not only that, but he wants to be able to spend it without anyone ever being able to question his decisions. Paulson and his colleagues have already thrown $800 billion at the problem and that didn't work. So what's the big hurry? And exactly what does he think will happen if he doesn't get the money?

This administration has a penchant for secrecy that seems to be at odds with how a democracy is supposed to work. For instance, a judge ordered the vice president to retain records that he was planning to destroy. There is a small chance that he has done things in office that he doesn't want anyone else to know about. Meanwhile, Section 8 of the Act Paulson is pushing so hard to pass says "Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency." In other words he wants absolute power and complete secrecy.

As I explained to janelanaweb.com, Paulson perceives that the global financial system will cease to function unless he gets his money. Now the New York Post provides a little detail from anonymous sources -- which if true -- could help shed some light on what's irking Paulson. According to the Post, if the Fed had not injected $105 billion into the money markets on Thursday, the Dow would have dropped 22% to 8,300. That's because, "money market funds [which have $3.4 trillion in assets] were inundated with $500 billion in sell orders prior to the opening," according to the Post.

Continue reading Why is Paulson so desperate to spend $700 billion of our money?

Why is Paulson so desperate to spend $700 billion of our money? originally appeared on BloggingStocks on Sun, 21 Sep 2008 10:25:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.