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Mark · Site Admin Joined: 13 Nov 2007 Posts: 1052

Bush Treasury Dept. Redacts More Bailout Contracts

http://www.ourfuture.org/blog-ent...pt-redacts-more-bailout-contracts

David Sirota takes some time out from his usual political flackery to address an important issue.

Excerpt:

I was on CNBC this morning discussing the Wall Street bailout, and specifically, the Bush Treasury Department's decision to redact key parts of private contracts that would tell the public how much taxpayer cash various law firms, accounting companies and stock management houses are going to receive as part of this boondoggle. The lack of transparency is stunning, even if it is exactly what many bailout opponents predicted. You can watch the clip here, and you can see the redacted documents here and here (and a big hat's off to Bailoutsleuth.com for all its great work).

What was fascinating about this CNBC exchange was the interplay between CNBC anchor Dylan Ratigan and CNBC correspondent Steve Liesman - interplay that suggests even the highest echelons of the media and business community are realizing something is very, very wrong.

Essentially, Liesman delivers the Treasury Department talking points, saying that it's acceptable for the government to hide the amounts that taxpayers will be forced to pay these well-connected execs and fat cats - and that this information will come out at some point in the future anyway. Ratigan, however, vehemently agreed with me that these kinds of redactions are absolutely outrageous, both substantively in terms of how they keep taxpayers in the dark, and psychologically in terms of how the behavior helps intensify the public's already seething anger about the bailout.

(Note: the "here" links in the first paragraph only work if you visit the site. --Mark)