Bush, swift action, and executive power

Those three things--George W. Bush, swift action, and increased executive power--are an alarming combination. Reading this article about the proposed bailout as a solution to the credit and mortgage crisis gives me a sinking feeling... I don't trush Bush or his administration, and it's frightening to contemplate the magnitude of what we don't know about what's going on:

The Bush administration, moving to prevent an economic cataclysm, urged Congress on Friday to grant it far-reaching emergency powers to buy hundreds of billions of dollars in distressed mortgages despite many unknowns about how the plan would work.

The outlines of the plan, described in conference calls to lawmakers on Friday, include buying assets only from United States financial institutions — but not hedge funds — and hiring outside advisers who would work for the Treasury, rather than creating a separate agency. Democratic leaders immediately pledged to work closely with Mr. Paulson to pass a plan in the next week, but they also demanded that the measure include relief for deeply indebted homeowners, not just for banks and Wall Street firms....

People involved in the discussions on Friday said that Mr. Paulson said he did not want to create a new government agency to handle the rescue plan. Rather, he said, the Treasury Department would hire professional investment managers to oversee what could be a huge portfolio of mortgage-backed securities.

He indicated that he wanted to buy securities only from United States financial institutions, a decision that could anger legions of foreign institutions that poured hundreds of billions of dollars into the American mortgage market in the housing boom, and have customers located here.

Basic questions remained unanswered as of Friday evening, including how much of the mortgage market the administration hoped to buy up. The broader economic questions were even more daunting. What were the dangers in letting the government borrow another $500 billion — which ultimately might have to come from foreign investors — at the same time the deficit was already skyrocketing?

Where is all of this money coming from?

Who are these "investment professionals" who will be running this incredibly huge, taxpayer-funded portfolio?

Why wouldn't the government directly manage it?