Paulson Wall Street Welfare Bill Now the Law of the Land

A short time after Henry Paulson’s Wall Street welfare package received final congressional approval today, President George W. Hoover signed the colossally flawed bill into law, AP reports. Conservatives, as in real, living, breathing free market enthusiasts –as opposed to weak-kneed make-believe conservatives who caved while assuring us that they were really, truly, unhappy with the bill– are angry:

“How can we have capitalism on the way up and socialism on the way down,” said Rep. Jeb Hensarling of Texas, a leader among conservative Republicans who oppose the central thrust of the legislation—an unprecedented federal intervention into the private capital markets.

Something had to be done perhaps, but not this something. The Community Revitalization Act, for starters, could have been repealed. Mark-to-market accounting could have been repealed or at least suspended in some situations, capital gains taxes could have been suspended, corporate income taxes could have been repealed or suspended, and the list goes on and on and on.