Paulson Claims He Always Wanted Oversight

But the plan he proposed specifically states:

Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.

But Paulson is dumbfounded that Congress would think anything other than that he wanted oversight, but that to include it in his proposal would have been “presumptuous”.

Let’s take a walk down memory lane and look at some of Paulson’s statements leading up to this crisis.  On PBS’s Newshour with Jim Leherer on May 17, 2007, on the issue of the deteriorating housing market, Paulson said:

So my very strong view is that we are near the bottom and that this will be contained as — the housing will be contained, and we’re fortunate that we have a diverse, healthy economy.

In a speech at Georgetown on October 17, 2007:

“I have no interest in bailing out lenders or property speculators.” Responding to a question, he added that the bank fund is “a 100 percent market-based solution.”

And, as recently as July 11, 2008, Paulson put out a statement saying:

“Today our primary focus is supporting Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in their current form as they carry out their important mission”

The same day Fannie and Freddie put out statements that they were “adequately capitalized.”  I guess this all means we can have great confidence that the people who have been making these statements know what they’re doing, are on top of it, and will be able to fix it.  Right?

By: Alan

Alan Colmes is the publisher of Liberaland.