President Bush signed the 451-page Emergency Economic Stabilization Act into law Friday, Oct. 3, 2008. The "bailout bill" passed in the Senate Oct. 1 under emergency rules by a margin of 74-25 and was quickly approved in the House (263-171) without amendment the following day. Rep. Brad Sherman (D-CA) claims that Congress passed the bailout bill amid intense "fearmongering"—threats that nonpassage meant the stock market would lose thousands of points in a few days and that, "…a few members [of Congress] were even told that there would be martial law in America if we voted, ‘No.’"

The original House version of the $700 billion bailout bill (which, under fractional reserve lending practices equals at least $4.9 trillion in "new money") failed by a vote of 228-205 on Sept. 29, 2008.

Among the odious provisions of the bailout bill is that:

• It amends Section 3101 of Title 31, U.S. Code to increase the federal government’s debt ceiling from $10.6 trillion to $11.315 trillion.

• It authorizes the Treasury secretary to extend no-bid contracts to private sector consultants at his discretion per 5 USC 3109 and designate foreign financial institutions from such nations as "Russia, China, Cayman Islands and Luxembourg" as "financial agents of the Federal Government."

• Section 104 of the bill also creates the "Financial Stability Oversight Board" comprised of the Chairman of the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, the Secretary of the Treasury, the Director of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, the Chairman of the Securities Exchange Commission and the Secretary of Housing and Urban Development.

The board will oversee the administration of Troubled Asset Relief Program funds and be responsible for reporting fraud to the U.S. attorney general.

• Section 119, "Judicial Review and Related Matters," is very simple to understand: The section, "Essentially indemnifies the secretary."

In other words, neither his actions, nor the actions of those operating under his authority, are subject to judicial review.

• To insure that the Senate version of the bill would pass in both the Senate and House, a huge schedule of "pork" was tacked on in the form of tax breaks for various special interests.

Going back a few months, on July 30, 2008, President Bush signed the "Housing and Economic Recovery Act" into law after passing the House July 23, 2008 (272-152) and the Senate July 26 (72-13). The bill, which officially authorized the Federal Housing Authority to guarantee up to $300 billion in new, 30-year, fixed-rate mortgages for subprime borrowers, was really a bailout package for government-subsidized secondary mortgage marketers "Fannie Mae" and "Freddie Mac."

Among the strange provisions of the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bailout bill is tightened restrictions on who is qualified to "originate" mortgages. Per Section 1505 "STATE LICENSE AND REGISTRATION APPLICATION AND ISSUANCE," background checks for those applying for "licensing and registration" as "State-licensed" loan originators, "...shall, at a minimum, furnish to the Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry information concerning the applicant’s identity, including….fingerprints for submission to the Federal Bureau of Investigation, and any governmental agency or entity authorized to receive such information for a State and national criminal history background check…"

Going back a few months farther to March 15, 2008, the Federal Reserve backed $29 million in Bear Sterns’ assets primarily tied to mortgages in an effort to help JP Morgan Chase acquire its former investment banking rival for $1.1 billion, or $10 per share of publicly traded stock.

Since the collapse of Bear Stearns last March, the so-called "subprime mortgage crisis" has been widening, deepening and worsening. The federal government has responded by adding $1 trillion to the public debt, creating huge new bureaucracies to promulgate and enforce new lending laws and administrate the distribution of funds loaned into circulation at interest.

What the federal government has not done is order audits and investigations of insolvent investment banks as a condition of them receiving bailout funds. It also has not ordered the CEOs of banks receiving bailout funds to reduce salaries or suspend dividend checks to shareholders until debts are paid and independently-audited account balances actually show black ink.

Case in point, within weeks of being given an $85 billion "bailout package, it was widely reported Oct. 9, 2008, that executives from American International Group (AIG) blew $400,000 on a lavish spa hotel party. Several notables, including presidential hopefuls Obama and McCain, publicly chastised AIG for being so irresponsible.

Though the complexities of this $multi-trillion web of government and banking intrigue are as timeless and endless as they are bottomless, we can infer from the conditions indicated above that the term "subprime mortgage crisis" has been pinned to the front door of America’s conscience—to literally hit them where they live—as a cover for the fact that there is no financial crisis.

G. Edward Griffin devoted a whole chapter to this issue in Chapter Two of The Creature From Jekyll Island (1995). Following is an appropos excerpt:

"It was stated in the previous chapter that the Jekyll Island group which conceived the Federal Reserve System actually created a national cartel which was dominated by the larger banks. It was also stated that a primary objective of that cartel was to involve the federal government as an agent for shifting the inevitable losses from the owners of those banks to the taxpayers...

"They will explain that the borrower has exhausted his ability to service the loan and, without assistance from the federal government, there will be dire consequences for the American people. Not only will there be unemployment and hardship at home, there will be massive disruptions in world markets...

"The final solution on behalf of the banking cartel is to have the federal government guarantee payment of the loan should the borrower default in the future. This is accomplished by convincing Congress that not to do so would result in great damage to the economy and hardship for the people. From that point forward, the burden of the loan is removed from the bank’s ledger and transferred to the taxpayer..."

The system is functioning perfectly: The assets of nations and working people are being transferred to the elites and their bankers while the imaginary debts are being charged to the people.