This evening Treasury had a conference call with the SIFMA crowd. Someone took the time to record the call and share it. Torrent: http://thepiratebay.org/torrent/4418763 Podcast: itpc://drop.io/5rlhe4g2t4ueejlvzfow/64ecf0263b93a4210e3a483ab66fcb7b80022d26/sacrealstats001/podcast.rss mp3 (right-click, download): http://drop.io/download/48e057cb/7e...aconferencecallwithustreasury200809282100.mp3 There is always some interpretation in listening to these things - to me it sounds like all the accoutrements added to the original Paulson plan by Dems and Reps are very very easy to sidestep and don't amount to meaningful restrictions. Commentary (not mine) can be found in the usual places, including: http://dealbreaker.com/2008/09/live-blogging-the-treasury-cal.php#more
It sure seems like all the additions are basically window dressing to get the taxpayer to feel better about this bill. The executive compensation caps are pretty weak, help for homeowners seems to consist of "make sure they know about HOPE", and the number and price of warrants are completely at the Treasury Secratary's discretion. Not that this is all bad. If you buy into the "we need to do something" argument, than it seems like all the "punitive" measures that were talked about simply lessen the chance this thing actually works.