Ed Brayton is a journalist, commentator and speaker. He is the co-founder and president of 
On October 13th, the Interim Assistant Secretary for Financial Stability at the Treasury Department, gave a talk to the Institute of International Bankers. Among the many things he said about the new $700 billion bailout plan was this:
Consistent with Congress' intent, we are committed to transparency and oversight in all aspects of the program and have already taken several important steps in this area...
We quickly found out how empty that promise was. The very next day, the treasury department posted a copy of the contract they've signed with New York Mellon Bank to act as the primary financial agent in the transactions made under the bailout bill -- and blacked out all the details of how much was being paid for this service. Balko has this screen grab of the contract:
So much for transparency. WashingtonWatch gets it exactly right:
Let's get something clear here:Private contracts can be kept private. Public contracts are the public's business.
When the government goes to spend $700,000,000,000.00 of taxpayer money, the public must be able to review every particular of that spending.
We are under no obligation to "trust" that this will be handled well. We should be able to see that it is being handled well.
The firms that contract with the government to provide services have no claim to privacy or confidentiality if they want to do government business.
Treasury should immediately publish complete versions of these documents.
And the two candidates should insist on it. Obama and McCain were both sponsors of a bill that required the government to reveal every grant and every contract they give on a website so the public has access to that information. They should be speaking out on this and demanding that Treasury reveal the full contract.
Politics
Comments
Ok, that's it; I'm pissed. I've been rationalizing this whole bailout situation up to this point but if they start pulling this sort of nonsense I won't be able to. It's our money and we deserve to know where ever red cent goes without question or conditions.
Posted by: stevogvsu | October 28, 2008 10:22 AM
Couple this with the fact that banks receiving the bailout money aren't even 'required' to loan out the money and I really don't know if there is anything the U.S. government can't manage to screw up, no matter how vital.
Posted by: stevogvsu | October 28, 2008 10:26 AM
"The firms that contract with the government to provide services have no claim to privacy or confidentiality if they want to do government business."
Oh how I wish this were true. In the UK, private sector contracts with the government are routinely kept entirely secret on the grounds of "commercial confidentiality".
Posted by: Ginger Yellow | October 28, 2008 11:04 AM
So can I fill out my taxes next year with?
Annual income: ******
That's very personal information. I'd be happy to share with the government what I do:
Engineer with ***** working on ***** alongside ******. That's transparent enough, right? I'll honestly pay my share of taxes, but I just don't think the government needs to know how I came about that figure.
Posted by: Odie | October 28, 2008 11:23 AM
How is it that this sort of thing is not ilegal?
Posted by: Valhar2000 | October 28, 2008 12:58 PM
But, what if Bin Laden found out? Don't you support the troops?
Posted by: Pierce R. Butler | October 28, 2008 1:04 PM
Odie -
what about:
Family Name: ******
Given Name: ******
Middle Initial: *
SSN: **********
Address: **********************************
2008 Income: *********.00.
2008 Farm income: **********.00.
2008 Capital gains: ***********.00.
Deductions: *****
Tax Credits: *****.00.
Taxes owed: ******.00.
Signature: **********
That ought to do it!
Posted by: Umlud | October 28, 2008 2:34 PM
Why is this even a surprise folks?? Did you actually think this whole bailout fiasco was going to be handled honestly? The Treasury Secretary was delegated enormous powers by a toothless Congress. Some of you here are dedicated Democrats and I REALLY wish you would wake up and take a honest look at the complicity many Republicans AND Democrats had in creating this mess and keeping us in the dark about what is really going on in the clean up efforts. This bail out is just the beginning. There are plenty more to come, and we certainly cannot count on our pathetic Congress to look our for our interests. REAL leadership from Obama or McCain would have meant that they would have resoundingly condemned this stupid bailout plan.
Posted by: mroberts | October 28, 2008 2:46 PM
REAL leadership from Obama or McCain would have meant that they would have resoundingly condemned this stupid bailout plan.
McCain has condemned the bailout on occasion. Of course, having voted for it, and suspending his campaign to work on it, he's looked rather foolish doing so.
Posted by: Odie | October 28, 2008 3:32 PM
I can actually hear Satan sharpening his skates as I read the eighth comment. Wow.
Posted by: Sivi Volk | October 28, 2008 6:09 PM
This points out another similarity between preachers and politicians, to wit: No matter how badly they screw up, no matter the severity of the transgression, the solution is to act momentarily contrite (though Stevens has not, yet) and continue on as if nothing had happened, nothing has changed, and everyone is just fine.
Alfred E. Neuman Syndrome?
. . . sometimes I get soooo tired . . .
Posted by: Crudely Wrott | October 28, 2008 10:00 PM