Working Group on Financial Markets

(c) The Working Group shall report to the President initially within 60 days (and periodically thereafter) on its progress and, if appropriate, its views on any recommended legislative changes.

Congressman Ron Paul, writers Kevin Phillips (who claims "no personal firsthand knowledge" [7]) and John Crudele,[8] have charged the Working Group with going beyond their legal mandate.

"[9] In August 2005, Sprott Asset Management released a report that argued that there is little doubt that the PPT intervened to protect the stock market.

[10] However, these articles usually refer to the Working Group using moral suasion to attempt to convince banks to buy stock index futures.

Author Kevin Phillips wrote in his 2008 book Bad Money that while he had no interest "in becoming a conspiracy investigator", he nevertheless drew the conclusion that "some kind of high-level decision seems to have been reached in Washington to loosely institutionalize a rescue mechanism for the stock market akin to that pursued...to safeguard major U.S. banks from exposure to domestic and foreign loan and currency crises.