Read the bill

Four hundred and fifty-one pages. That's the length of the financial bailout bill the Senate overwhelmingly approved last night by a vote of 74 to 25. The legislation reportedly contains a long list of tax breaks and extenders for various interests as "sweeteners" to make the $700 billion of taxpayer money to help Wall Street go down just a little bit easier.

I say "reportedly" because, frankly, I haven't had time to read the bill. And I seriously doubt many of the senators who voted late last night did either. After all, the text had been made available just several hours before they recorded their "yeas" and "nays." Now the members of the House will be expected to vote on some version of the bill tomorrow-will they have time to study the bill?

And what about us ordinary constituents? Our nation's leaders have been asserting that we're on the brink of financial disaster and we must move quickly. The stock market is dropping, the credit markets are seizing up. Fine. But this situation has been a long time in the making. The same administration figures who are telling us now that we must move rapidly are those that assured us that everything was just fine for months and months.

What about asking for a mere 72 hours to consider a proposal of this magnitude? Is that so nutty?

After all, we're being asked to turn over a lot of money. A recent story from the Associated Press points out $700 billion is enough to pay for universal health care coverage for six years, or all outstanding student loans in the country and then some, or the entire U.S. national intelligence budget for more than 15 years. And:

According to the Wall Street Journal, half the money FDR spent on his New Deal program to lift the country out of the Depression and banking crisis was for public works projects. For $250 billion in today's dollars, the nation got 8,000 parks, 40,000 public buildings and 72,000 schools.

Why can't we take a deep breath, pause, and take some time actually to read the bill?

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