I was browsing through the full text of the bailout plan and this part caught my eye:

For the purpose of the authorities granted in this Act, and for the costs of administering those authorities, the Secretary may use the proceeds of the sale of any securities issued under chapter 31 of title 31, United States Code, and the purposes for which securities may be issued under chapter 31 of title 31, United States Code, are extended to include actions authorized by this Act, including the payment of administrative expenses. Any funds expended for actions authorized by this Act, including the payment of administrative expenses, shall be deemed appropriated at the time of such expenditure.

I had to find out what “any securities issued under Chapter 31 of Title 31 of the United States Code” means, since I’m dying to know where the extra hundreds of billions of bucks is going to come from.  So I went and looked it up.  Dry stuff.  But they seem to be referring to all of the securities held by the US treasury, without exception.

(Admittedly, I had to look up “securities“, too, since all this financial stuff is gibberish to me.)

So does the scheme really involve selling (to private banks) three quarters of a trillion dollars worth of stable and marketable government assets – such as retirement and savings bonds and foreign debt certificates – in order to purchase (ostensibly from the same banks) three quarters of a trillion dollars worth of chaotic, unmarketable assets of questionable value? What does that mean? I don’t know! Maybe someone else can explain!  (Dad?)