This is just a synopsis of the reality of the new US bank and financial institution (like insurance companies) bailout bill that did finally get approved by the US Government. 

US Bailout Bill full of Pork, or is it?

Lots of people are complaining about various provisions in the US bailout bill, like those for children's arrow makers, Virgin Islands rum distillers and others.

Lots of people like to say that these are "pork" riders to the bailout bill. I'm not saying these tax breaks are good or bad.

Here's a little information about the new bailout bill.

The whole bailout bill was basically a rider added onto an old bill that was limp, but not dead in congress. They (supposedly) did this because it was quicker and easier than introducing a brand new bill in the complicated congressional system.

Here's the history of the US Bailout bill:

From http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/z?c110:H.R.1424:

There are 6 versions of Bill Number H.R.1424 for the 110th Congress

1 . Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act of 2007 (Introduced in House)[H.R.1424.IH]
2 . Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act of 2007 (Reported in House)[H.R.1424.RH]
3 . To amend section 712 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, section 2705 of the Public Health Service Act, section 9812 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to require... (Engrossed as Agreed to or Passed by House)[H.R.1424.EH]
4 . To amend section 712 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, section 2705 of the Public Health Service Act, section 9812 of the Internal Revenue Code of 1986 to require... (Placed on Calendar in Senate)[H.R.1424.PCS]
5 . Resolved, That the bill from the House of Representatives (H.R. 1424) entitled `An Act to amend section 712 of the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974, section 2705 of... (Engrossed Amendment as Agreed to by Senate)[H.R.1424.EAS]
6 . To provide authority for the Federal Government to purchase and insure certain types of troubled assets for the purposes of providing stability to and preventing disruption in the economy... (Enrolled as Agreed to or Passed by Both House and Senate)[H.R.1424.ENR]

So what does this mean about the Bailout Bill?

Notice that they're all listed as House Resolution 1424, because they're all the evolution of a bill that finally got approved.

Poor Paul Wellstone.

Yes, that's right, the same bill that is now the (new) US Bailout bill was originally introduced to congress in 2007 as the"Paul Wellstone Mental Health and Addiction Equity Act".

So, when you complain about "pork" being added to a bill, think about all of this. It is way more complicated than you think.

So, really, the whole bailout bill is nothing but a rider to an unrelated bill! Not that I'm saying that the bailout is good or bad, I just want people to know how and why it happened.