The money dance

The money dance

With any piece of legislation that is rushed through congress and across the president’s desk, the devil is in the details.

And so it is with the $700 billion bailout bill that was designed to shore up the nation’s financial markets and staunch the bleeding on Wall Street.

It had to be passed, and passed quickly. But now it is time to dance with the devil.

Last week, the Bush White House showed its impatience with some of the nation’s banks and other financial institutions that have been given tens of billions in taxpayer dollars. Some of that money is being hoarded, the White House said, and it is past time to get the money flowing into the economy.

Reasons for anxiety

The White House is understandably anxious, what with consumer pessimism reaching new highs in October, unemployment inching upward, home prices continuing to drop in most markets and millions of taxpayers receiving 401K reports that show investment accounts that have lost a quarter of their value since the beginning of the year.

In days to come, Congress will also be asking questions about how companies that have accepted billions in government funds are using that money. Watch for executive bonuses and stockholder dividends paid by those companies to come under special scrutiny. Questions have already been raised about some banks using government subsidies to buy up other banks.

Raising questions and making legitimate demands are valid. But neither the administration nor the Congress should attempt to make political points that could undercut the purpose of the bailout, which was to shore-up a financial system that was in danger of collapse.