American Financial situation

bolded the things that certainly would have caught other's eye; I bet they're examples of a much larger body of unrelated legislation pushed through in a time of crisis. Regardless of how I feel about the addenda, after I heard Klein speak on the shock doctrine (Hay 08), I see these tactics everywhere.NYT:--$150 billion in tax breaks for individuals and businesses--a temporary increase in the amount of bank deposits covered by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, to $250,000 from $100,000.--the entire package was attached to legislation requiring insurers to treat mental health conditions more like general health problems--A coalition of centrist Democrats ... refused to back the tax benefits unless they were deficit neutral — offset by tax increases or spending cuts elsewhere. The bill now includes the Senate version of the tax plan, which adds most of the cost to the deficit over the next decade.--increased protection for deposits at the neighborhood bank--income tax relief for middle-class taxpayers--aid for schools in rural areas where the federal government owns much of the land--The approximately $150 billion in new tax breaks, which offer incentives for the use of renewable energy and relieve 24 million households from an estimated $65 billion alternative-minimum tax scheduled to take effect this year, would be offset by only about $40 billion in spending cuts or tax increases elsewhere.--Moreover, the increase in federal deposit insurance will not be financed over the short term, as the insurance program now is, by assessing premiums on banks that benefit. Instead, banks will get an open-ended line of credit directly to the Treasury Department. But the Congressional Budget Office noted that federal law requires the banks to eventually make up any shortfall and any loans to be repaid, though not until at least 2010.--The initial proposal from the Treasury Department ran just three pages; the latest version exceeds 450.--...changes, including additional oversight, steps to limit home foreclosures and restrictions on the compensation of --negotiators decided to parcel out the $700 billion in installments, starting with a first tranche of $350 billion. And during a weekend of negotiations, they added as a final backstop a requirement that in five years the president must present Congress with a plan to make up any losses of tax funds by looking to the financial community to make up the difference. NBR:--It includes tax breaks for businesses and alternative energy and higher government insurance for bank deposits.--increases the amount of money the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation can borrow from the Treasury to $US100 billion from $US30 billion.--A cap has also been removed, authorising the FDIC to request from the Treasury "a loan or loans in an amount or amounts necessary…without regard to limitations." The unlimited borrowing authority will last until the end of next year--The legislation also increases the government deposit-insurance ceiling for banks and credit unions to $US250,000 from $US100,000 for most depositors. This means the FDIC will be responsible for insuring a lot more money if more banks fail, which could put extreme pressure on its already low deposit-insurance fund.