&^%@! Politics

So the Republicans have pushed for a change to the Financial Regulatory Reform Bill (or whatever it's called):

Basically, instead of creating a recovery fund formed from money banks pay in, they want to take TARP money and use that as the basis for the fund.

This is after Republicans have erroneously maligned the recovery fund as another "taxpayer bailout". In the original version, it was not - it was formed by a tax (better described as an economic rent) on big banks.

So now, the Republicans are sayings that sure, this fund can be resourced from taxpayer money that has already been allocated - a provisioning that they complained about before, during, and after its use.

Want to bet that Democrats get accused of using taxes to save big banks next election cycle? Want to see the world turned upside down? You will, you betcha.

http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/30/business/30regulate.html