I see that Duncan Black, the American Prospect, Paul Krugman, and Kevin Drum at Mother Jones are all a little concerned about signing a 700 billion dollar blank check. I have to agree with Greenwald that it is completely insane that we are just about to dump this money on the same jackasses that caused this mess without even debating it.
Meanwhile, the good Republican stewards of our finances at the NRO are all bent out of shape about… abortion, abortion, and Charlie Rangel. Because, as everyone on the inside knows, fiscal conservatism is the biggest fucking hoax of the last three decades.
Meanwhile, Hillary Clinton is making some sense:
Finally, and seventh, I’m proposing that we require any financial institutions borrowing money from the Federal Reserve’s new lending facilities to open their books and ensure accountability and transparency to identify unsound practices. These banks and other entities have tapped the Fed’s new lending windows levels for over $300 billion in capital. They’ve shifted a lot of that risk onto the backs of our taxpayers. These are unprecedented interventions and we should make sure that these companies aren’t using taxpayer dollars to subsidize golden parachutes or risky investments, throwing your good money after bad. If we’re bailing you out we deserve to know exactly your liabilities. And you have to be part of this new regulatory framework.
The shitbirds at the National Review would be doing themselves a favor if they went and read what Hillary had to say.
BTW- Before we agree to send these scumbags 700 billion, can we at least force them to sign over the keys to the Rolls, the Jetstream, the house in the Hamptons and the ski cabin in Aspen? I mean, a trillion dollar mistake ought to cost at least one of these cocksuckers to lose one of their houses or a couple hundred hours of community service. Assuming they are at least as well off as McCain, they will still have at least six to work with.
El Cid
I love the fact that the “rescue plan” for the crisis brought on by the deregulation of our financial industry requires that Congress DEREGULATES the actual “rescue plan” itself.
No rules whatsoever on what Secretary / Former Goldman-Sachs CEO Paulson chooses to do with the taxpayers’ 3/4 of a trillion dollars.
Ha. Ha. Ha.
In other news:
I have a “plan” to rescue my small business which involves you giving me a million dollars and then going the f*** away
Deal? C’mon this is a crisis, hurry up. I need my “plan” implemented quick.
rawshark
Didn’t we just raise the debt ceiling recently?
Incertus
Wonder what China thinks of all this? I mean, someone’s got to lend us the money we’re about to dump in the shitter.
Jeff
I like Senator Clinton. I felt she would be much more effective as a Senator than as President. She can actually work with others effectively that way.
Evie
Shit-birds only read what they have written, and they read it over and over again out loud. You know – to make it real and stuff.
I hear that Paulson rejected regualtions out-of-hand
This is OUR MONEY is it not?
Jeff
Has anyone noted the similarities between Bush’s press conference today about acting boldly and pressers before the Iraq war?
El Cid
Wait — is Palin the President already?
The Pale Scot
“I mean, a trillion dollar mistake ought to cost at least one of these cocksuckers to lose one of their houses or a couple hundred hours of community service”
I’m more inclined to require something they don’t value as much, like a kidney or eye, put ’em on the Involuntary Organ Donor List. Like that Python sketch. Get A DNA sample and if they are a match, give it up. China’s got the right idea.
Rick Taylor
As usual, Atrios put it most succinctly and best:
As for Hillary Clinton’s plan, that ought to be a no-brainer. I wish I thought our Democratic representatives had enough spine to insist on that as a condition to any aid. I expect they’ll cave when Republicans stonewall any such government intervention, and threaten to blame Democrats for everything bad that happens if a deal doesn’t go through.
The Pale Scot
Of course, I suppose they could opt out by submitting a small donation, 20 million sounds like a nice round number, payed every time their number comes up.
james
This is honestly looking like some Patriot act bullshit. Scare folks so bad that there’s literally no way to vote against horrific legislation. Has anyone checked Section 8 of the bill? It reads as follows…
“Sec. 8. Review.
Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.”
Wasn’t it deregulation and lack of oversight that lead to this entire cock up? Wasn’t Paulson the one driving the doombuggy?
Where are the provisions for renegotiation of mortgages? Allowing folks to revalue their homes to a more realistic price?
There needs to be a mortgage strike. Failing that, could someone photo shop a picture of Hugo saying ‘Bitches, you’re doing it wrong’… I could do with a laugh over this.
Donna
“force them to sign over the keys to the Rolls, the Jetstream, the house in the Hamptons and the ski cabin in Aspen?”
and, while you’re at it, send me that retirement fund too! Or, as the Pale Scot suggests, maybe they can just give up a few vital internal organs.
Rome Again
John, I hope you don’t mind, but I’m going to post this link to a petition against this bailout again (I already did so in another link – I hope you don’t mind, thank you!)
El Cid
james: That’s what my first comment was getting at. Yeah. We have a “plan” that involves giving Hank Paulson $700 Billion and putting in place not one f***ing rule on what he can do with the money, not only Congress but no one else, no court, nobody.
Yeah. That’s not what the word “plan” means.
Rome Again
Usually the middle finger is displayed on the right hand; this time it’s displayed on both the right and the left, and it’s aimed directly at American taxpayers.
SnarkyShark
This crap is going to go about as well as the Occupation did.
And of course “nobody could forsee…”
Lot of pain coming our way to pay for years of celebrating teh stupid.
jrg
I think we should let the shareholders and bond holders of these institutions take a bath, then have the banks issue new stock with an agreement that the government buys 51% of it. The feds could then use their power as shareholders to curb abuses among executives, and ultimately to break up the banks into smaller companies.
We should not have banking institutions that are “too big to fail”. There needs to be a way to break these companies up.
SnarkyShark
I consider living here in Houston without electricity and with gas/food supply uncertain to be good training for the upcoming near term future.
I consider my 11B training an excellent investment in the medium/long term American way of life.
I don’t see how we come up with the money for all this shit short of printing it as we go.
We know how that turned out for the Wiemar Republic, and we know these clowns are stupid enough to do it.
lampwick
Any elected politician who votes in favor of this plan should be charged with treason and imprisoned for life.
Remember all those oil firms that Bush bankrupted by his sterling management skills before he ran for office? USA Inc. seems destined to become the last notch on his belt.
Martin
Yeah, this is bullshit.
The govt. should simply manage the liquidation of these firms, unroll the mortgages in these debt packages into Freddie/Fannie and refinance as much of the bad mortgages as possible under short-term favorable rates, that slowly increase to market rates. Executives and investors get nothing.
If the government is going to put taxpayer money up, everyone would be best served if as few foreclosures took place as possible. We’d be better off getting 4% off of a mortgage for the next year than dealing with moving a property 20% below market rate. The fed has Fannie and Freddie available to do this, so turn them loose.
Further, take those foreclosed properties and run up a new GI bill to help vets get into properties, then open it up as part of a broader housing package. Give preference to people willing to teach in inner-city schools, and that kind of thing.
That still leaves a lot of pain to manage, but it sends the right message to Wall Street (we’ll help you liquidate, but not save you), to taxpayers, and helps diffuse a lot of the problem closer to where individuals will feel it.
Oh, and a cap gain rate increase most certainly should accompany any bailout. Start paying for this bailout from the source. It can be a progressive tiered increase from the current rates, so small cap gains distributions stay at the current rate, but the more you take in a year, the higher the rate you pay. That wouldn’t hurt small investors, but again puts the burden on the people that had the capital to contribute to this mess.
D. Mason
Rome Again, seriously WTF is “signing” that supposed to do ?
Stuck in the Fun House
This whole business of essentially nationalizing our financial markets Is the BIGGEST political capitualation in our lifetime and probably for the history of the Union. I don’t think the full import of vaporizing in a single stroke the Holy Grail of the Conservative (so-called, really a big slow con) Movement has fully dawned on our wingnut friends. It erases the validity of their 75 year complaint on The New Deal, as well as ANY credibility about ANYTHING economic. What else do they have left now but the culture war, and shooting wars to foist upon the nation. So today it’s abortion and tomorrow bombing Iran, or maybe even Spain.
It’s QUE sera night at the Funhouse.
Dennis - SGMM
Isn’t that just special? We’re going to give the guy who stood by and did nothing to stop this mess the power to dispense $700 billion of our money (And that of our children and their children) as he sees fit with absolutely no review, no recourse to the courts. Wonder what it’s like to get a gift basket made out of solid platinum?
MR Bill
It would appear some Democratic legislators realize now is the time to assert some power.
“Frank, who has been in phone discussions with Paulson, said the secretary appeared receptive to adding some foreclosure-relief language. The second Democratic proposal — to impose compensation limits on Wall Street executives — is meeting more resistance.
“Hank says it’s a poison pill,” Frank said. “I say I don’t think it’s very patriotic for someone to not give up his golden parachute when we’re trying to save the markets.””
The Dems need to go on air and point out that the Secretary of the Treasury is willing to destroy the economy to keep executive salaries out of control..
And I remember “Section 8” as the provision to allow one to be mustered out of the armed services for insanity (probably from too many episodes of MASH.
It’s insane to place investigation of this crash off limits, and the Dems need to impose an independent Prosecutor, hell, put Fitzgerald and Iglesias (from New Mexico) and Carol Lam and the disgraced Elliot Spitzer (if he’s not disbarred) to work nailing this silk stocking sleaze.
If they don’t leverage their power for some real good, they should be driven from office (after they’ve run the Republicans out).
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/13675.html
El Cid
Even given everything else we’ve lived through recently, this is so fucking absurd I can’t stop insanely giggling at the absolute dark humor of it. This is just god damn insane.
KT
The fuckers who caused this mess should be apprehended, given $10 billion dollar bonuses, airlifted to Dubai where they will be forced to spend the rest of their natural lives playing golf, servicing a personal harem of kidnapped under aged girls (or boys). Only then will they see the true evil they have caused.
Oh, wait…
4tehlulz
>>Wonder what China thinks of all this?
Wonder who threatened to nuke the financial markets unless its investments were guaranteed?
The Moar You Know
I think she would make an excellent Majority Leader. The one we have now is worse than useless.
james, thank you. I wasn’t aware of this, and it makes the bill a non-starter as far as I’m concerned. Totally unacceptable.
Stuck in the Fun House
What a bunch of arrogant asses. They nearly destroyed the economy and are balking at taking away the wingnut gilded award for failure. It wouldn’t surprise me to see these greedy incompetent fuckers lined up in the Rose GArden awaiting Dear leaders bestowance of The Medal of Freedom. And I agree, if dems don’t use their power to demand personal accountability this time, then off with their political heads.
El Cid
UPDATE: The new reason we must say that we can’t possibly afford anything for the vast majority of Americans like national health care or anything else good for you peons will now be this bailout. All previous excuses are now placed back into storage. Also, f*** off and die, vast majority of America.
PaulB
It’s even worse than that, if I’m reading the language of the proposal properly. It’s not limited to $700 billion; it’s limited to $700 billion outstanding at any one time.
If the secretary charges up to $700 billion, turns around and sells it all, he can charge up another $700 billion. The only real limit seems to be the national debt, which is raised by roughly $1.8 trillion by this bill.
PC
It’s looting, plain and simple. Instead of the AUMF where they were able to loot the public coffers from the back door, they are now busting down the front door and telling everyone to strip. No one has stopped this criminal organization yet, so why shouldn’t they be more bold?
Napoleon
Unless the bailout caps executive compensations at the entities participating, and requires them to discontinue dividend payments until the meet some kind of standard of proving that they are solvent, it will be BS. Further they should be required to raise new capital.
From what I have read so far this looks to me to be shaping up as the greatest Republican raid on the country to date.
El Cid
HAND OVER THE F***ING MONEY AMERICA, AND NO MARKED BILLS, EITHER, OR THE ECONOMY GETS IT!!!
searp
Make them take it out of the DOD budget.
Scott H
Look, this is just the final act in the pillage of America. The sweat equity of the American workers gets taken to buy a trillion dollars of sh!t paper. There is nothing “unforeseen” about it, and never has been.
Chris Andersen
No. Fuck No. No Fucking Way. Get your ass out of my fucking face.
— Possible rational responses to Sec. Paulson’s proposal
jon
They could always sell their assets on eBay. For a profit!
MR Bill
And if Obama won’t make this an upfront issue, one of “Let’s have some fairness and justice when we bail out Wall street. Let the American people be sure we’ve cleaned up the corruption..”,he should be kicked.
“Don’t give Wall Street Crooks a Section 8 Discharge”…
D. Mason
Pretty shitty compared to what this guy’s getting.
Rick Taylor
Expanding on Hillary Clinton’s condition, Dean Baker makes a list of Progressive Conditions for a bailout. I expect Democrats will make some noises about conditions and then cave completely; I hope I’m wrong.
w vincentz
Comeon now…stop your frettin’.
We have a Bush/Cheney legacy to protect donchaknow?
There’s nothing wrong with tying the hands of the next six administrations with the obvious fuckups of this one.
Look how long it has taken to rid the USA of Reagan’s fuckups.
Oh? They haven’t disappeared yet either, huh?
Look, folks, my fiends, we’ve been on a mission to bring remedy to the 3rd world countries.
Little did we know that our great emporer would bring us, the once great USA, to become one.
Welcome to the third world US of America.
Bush’s legacy, INDEED!
4tehlulz
Bailing out Wall Street is OK because somehere, somehow, some black people didn’t repay their mortgages.
/wingnut
Ted
lol. Interesting, “cock” doesn’t trigger the spam filter, but the first analogous slang word that pops to your mind for its counterpart does.
LiberalTarian
Fiscal conservatism was always a scam. Just look at the proponents–crooked as $3 bills, all of them.
How angry do we have to get for the feds to national their assets and not just their debt????
PC
Mangina?
Ted
lol! The P-ssy.
El Cid
Apropos of nothing, I have been wandering around my chores for the last several hours saying little more than “Holy Mother of God!”, and I’m not in the slightest religious.
4tehlulz
Pissy?
PanAmerican
Paulie could do anything. Like run up bills on the joint’s credit. Nobody will pay for it anyway. Take deliveries at the front door and sell it out the back at a discount. You take a two hundred dollar case of booze and you sell it for a hundred. It doesn’t matter. It’s all profit. Then finally, when there’s nothing left….when you can’t borrow another buck from the bank…you bust the joint out. You light a match.
Stuck in the Fun House
Is now Communist Conservative. Ok! who’s gonna write the Pantload Sequel?
Ted
Conservative Communism: From Richard Nixon to Whenever The Fuck This Inanity Ends.
Ted
Conservative Communism: From Richard Nixon to Whenever The Fuck This Insanity Ends.
Dennis - SGMM
Bushco: “Or really, really Bad Things will happen>”
Dems: “Really, really Bad Things?”
Bushco: “The Realiest, Baddest Things!”
Dems: “Okay, it couldn’t be like the last time.”
No sense bringing in someone whose fingerprints aren’t all over this thing. No point in ever subjecting Paulson’s actions to review because, of course, he’s going to do the Right Thing.
Fuck! The last time I was robbed the son-of-a-bitch at least had the decency to point a gun at me.
Ted
sry fr dbl post
Tax Analyst
We are SO farq’d.
james
It’s the Palin Plan… we’re literally being charged for our own rape kits.
Pug
In other news, John McCain is really pissed off. Really, really pissed off.
Kevin Phillips, long-time Republican but now a critic, called this. He also called the long Republican domination (or nightmare if you will) of American politics back in the early 1970’s. He’s got a crystal ball or something.
Ted
We’re all socialists now. Kinda surreal how fast this bailout is being processed and put through. My bank should take a few notes about that.
I’m going to start calling the straight guys I don’t like “p*ssylickers”. Then the rest of you can wonder, “Hey! What’s wrong with straight men who reciprocate oral??”
Sorry, that term just gets on my nerves.
[lesse if that passes the spam filter]
w vincentz
Mission Accomplished.
LiberalTarian
Good point.
Ted
We’re all socialists now. Kinda surreal how fast this bailout is being processed and put through. My bank should take a few notes about that.
I’m going to start calling the straight guys I don’t like “p*ssyli*kers”. Then the rest of you can wonder, “Hey! What’s wrong with straight men who reciprocate or*l??”
Sorry, that term just gets on my nerves.
[figuring out the spam filter is tricky]
PeterJ
Link?
Dennis - SGMM
Win.
Marshall
Krugman has gone from “uneasy feelings” to “No Deal.”
About sums it up for me.
SGEW
Paul Krugman says: “No Deal.”
It’s nice to see the Clinton/Krugman axis on the side of righteousness again.
w vincentz
Wait ’til ya see the new powers in the proposed bail-out plan that are afforded to the Sec of the Treasury.
Go over to kos and have a look. Action needed.
Why vote?
We now have a Bush appointed dictator.
SGEW
Obviously, Marshall and my reading habits are the same (as is our timing).
LiberalTarian
Welcome to the beginning of the Great Depression of the 21st century. This is what happens when you put people with no ability in positions of great responsibility. But, cheer up. We’ll all gather around the TV in our tenement houses, the 20 or 30 of us its takes to keep a roof over our heads, and watch Real Housewives of the OC, or Real Housewives of Manhattan, and oo and ah over how they are spending our tax money for the next 40 years.
PC
Hank Paulson To Dems: Not Allowing CEO’s to Keep Multi-Million Dollar Salaries Is A “Poison Pill”
They are looting and they don’t care who knows it.
w vincentz
Here ya go. Pay special attnetion to Sec 8. :
LEGISLATIVE PROPOSAL FOR TREASURY AUTHORITY
TO PURCHASE MORTGAGE-RELATED ASSETS
Section 1. Short Title.
This Act may be cited as __________________.
Sec. 2. Purchases of Mortgage-Related Assets.
(a) Authority to Purchase.–The Secretary is authorized to purchase, and to make and fund commitments to purchase, on such terms and conditions as determined by the Secretary, mortgage-related assets from any financial institution having its headquarters in the United States.
(b) Necessary Actions.–The Secretary is authorized to take such actions as the Secretary deems necessary to carry out the authorities in this Act, including, without limitation:
(1) appointing such employees as may be required to carry out the authorities in this Act and defining their duties;
(2) entering into contracts, including contracts for services authorized by section 3109 of title 5, United States Code, without regard to any other provision of law regarding public contracts;
(3) designating financial institutions as financial agents of the Government, and they shall perform all such reasonable duties related to this Act as financial agents of the Government as may be required of them;
(4) establishing vehicles that are authorized, subject to supervision by the Secretary, to purchase mortgage-related assets and issue obligations; and
(5) issuing such regulations and other guidance as may be necessary or appropriate to define terms or carry out the authorities of this Act.
Sec. 3. Considerations.
In exercising the authorities granted in this Act, the Secretary shall take into consideration means for–
(1) providing stability or preventing disruption to the financial markets or banking system; and
(2) protecting the taxpayer.
Sec. 4. Reports to Congress.
Within three months of the first exercise of the authority granted in section 2(a), and semiannually thereafter, the Secretary shall report to the Committees on the Budget, Financial Services, and Ways and Means of the House of Representatives and the Committees on the Budget, Finance, and Banking, Housing, and Urban Affairs of the Senate with respect to the authorities exercised under this Act and the considerations required by section 3.
Sec. 5. Rights; Management; Sale of Mortgage-Related Assets.
(a) Exercise of Rights.–The Secretary may, at any time, exercise any rights received in connection with mortgage-related assets purchased under this Act.
(b) Management of Mortgage-Related Assets.–The Secretary shall have authority to manage mortgage-related assets purchased under this Act, including revenues and portfolio risks therefrom.
(c) Sale of Mortgage-Related Assets.–The Secretary may, at any time, upon terms and conditions and at prices determined by the Secretary, sell, or enter into securities loans, repurchase transactions or other financial transactions in regard to, any mortgage-related asset purchased under this Act.
(d) Application of Sunset to Mortgage-Related Assets.–The authority of the Secretary to hold any mortgage-related asset purchased under this Act before the termination date in section 9, or to purchase or fund the purchase of a mortgage-related asset under a commitment entered into before the termination date in section 9, is not subject to the provisions of section 9.
Sec. 6. Maximum Amount of Authorized Purchases.
The Secretary’s authority to purchase mortgage-related assets under this Act shall be limited to $700,000,000,000 outstanding at any one time
Sec. 7. Funding.
For the purpose of the authorities granted in this Act, and for the costs of administering those authorities, the Secretary may use the proceeds of the sale of any securities issued under chapter 31 of title 31, United States Code, and the purposes for which securities may be issued under chapter 31 of title 31, United States Code, are extended to include actions authorized by this Act, including the payment of administrative expenses. Any funds expended for actions authorized by this Act, including the payment of administrative expenses, shall be deemed appropriated at the time of such expenditure.
Sec. 8. Review.
Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.
Sec. 9. Termination of Authority.
The authorities under this Act, with the exception of authorities granted in sections 2(b)(5), 5 and 7, shall terminate two years from the date of enactment of this Act.
Sec. 10. Increase in Statutory Limit on the Public Debt.
Subsection (b) of section 3101 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by striking out the dollar limitation contained in such subsection and inserting in lieu thereof $11,315,000,000,000.
Sec. 11. Credit Reform.
The costs of purchases of mortgage-related assets made under section 2(a) of this Act shall be determined as provided under the Federal Credit Reform Act of 1990, as applicable.
Sec. 12. Definitions.
For purposes of this section, the following definitions shall apply:
(1) Mortgage-Related Assets.–The term “mortgage-related assets” means residential or commercial mortgages and any securities, obligations, or other instruments that are based on or related to such mortgages, that in each case was originated or issued on or before September 17, 2008.
(2) Secretary.–The term “Secretary” means the Secretary of the Treasury.
(3) United States.–The term “United States” means the States, territories, and possessions of the United States and District of Columbia.
Good luck my fellow “Merkins”…the terrorists ain’t over there..they’re here!
Let the revolution begin!
SGEW
I’ve got a better solution for those CEO’s:
ACTUAL POISON PILLS! DRINK THE HEMLOCK!
(I jest, I jest)
SGEW
With this in there, why the hell do they even need the rest of it?
PC
Fuck that. Heads on pikes.
Stuck in the Fun House
And the Wingnut Gods speaketh. And say fucketh the constitution, Once again.
Dennis - SGMM
Paulson is merely hewing to the quite sensible (From a Republican perspective) notion that there should be no accountability, no repercussions, no blame and no restitution.
“Mistakes were made.”
Conservatively Liberal
I wouldn’t wipe my ass with Harry Reid because I would only end up spreading more shit on myself. If Hillary put half of the effort she put into her campaign into leading the Senate, the republicans wouldn’t know what hit them.
She has ten times the balls of Reid, at the very least.
Blank check for Paulson? No conditions? Bullshit. These guys fucked the system up and we are supposed to believe that giving them a blank check will fix it?! Fuck dat.
One positive thing about this is that we can enjoy telling wingnuts who bitch about social security, medicare or any other entitlement programs to stuff it up their ass. I am sure that we are going to hear a lot of but I was against the bailout, and probably often enough that it will seem like nobody on the right wanted this so it obviously must be the fault of the Democrats.
This is the New Deal: Republican Edition, where nobody is held accountable for anything. In the past, the financial markets have sucked all of the cash they could out of the people who participated. Now that they are out of cash they want to suck the rest of the cash out of the pockets of everyone else in the country.
We are all Arbusto Energy now. We are Bushed and busted flat.
SGEW
I think that this might be another one of those times when I say to myself: “It can’t be that bad, right? I mean, surely the Bush administration couldn’t possibly be that corrupt and harmful to the American people, could it?”
Which is a very bad sign indeed.
Stuck in the Fun House
This works better in the form of wingnut self interview.
Paulson says “Were mistakes made” — answers self “Yes”
r€nato
Best comment about this, from over at Talking Points Memo:
A-fucking-men.
If you want to reward this by giving the GOP another four years in the White House, you must either own banking stocks or have rocks in your head.
w vincentz
If the Dems in Congress sign off on the above^, mark my words, true patriots will take necessary actions, just like the once did at a place called Concord.
I never thought I’d see it, honestly, but the tyrants will be brought down, we will rebuild this nation, and WE the people will again be FREE!
SGEW
Whoa, calm down a bit vincentz. I don’t think we’re quite at the “streets run red with the blood of the traitors” stage yet.
KT
Can we at least have a tea party?
4tehlulz
Whiskey Rebellion seems more BJ’s speed.
w vincentz
@SGEW,
If Congress goes along with Sec 8, there are many people that will react. The Constitution has already been trampled. Freedoms to defeat “terrorists over there” so they don’t show up here has been proven to be a myth.
Sorry if you disagree, but there is something far larger at stake than bailing out greedy Wall St assholes.
If you don’t remember what happened in France in the late 1700’s, or Russia in the early 1900’s, or Cuba in the 1950’s, or so many other times when the oppressed decided they would no longer allow themselves to exist as victims of those that exerted uncontrolled power over them, then you need to sit down with a book with a title that begins with “History”.
The people will again assert their power.
Stuck in the Fun House
By all means. And Crumpets too, French ones, served at the Funhouse by wingnut waiters with their mouths sown shut.
Conservatively Liberal
How about a block party? We go down to Boston Harbor, chain a couple of concrete blocks to each CEO/CFO of every company that was involved in this mess and toss their asses in the harbor. Same for anyone else who was involved, time for them to walk the plank.
Phil and Wendy Gramm get double blocks and chains and dropped in the Marianas Trench. Works for me.
OriGuy
I think we should start looking around for a suitable wall to line the bastards up against when the Revolution comes.
H/T Douglas Adams
KT
LMFAO
gil mann
Yeah, but hulu.com didn’t exist during those periods. Wii neither. That changes the whole equation.
KT
Wii revolution!
Conservatively Liberal
Don’t forget American Idol. That really fucks the whole equation up.
NYT
Meanwhile in other news today
Lie baby, lie!
Come on. If you thought our country’s dive to third world status was going to be easy and painless, then obviously you were wrong. So grow up and take your medicine.
KT
Got any morphine? This really hurts…
w vincentz
Who was the presidential candidate that said this word “ENOUGH!”?
Conservatively Liberal
Stalin?
D. Mason
You’re absolutely right and that’s what’s really wrong with America.
Conservatively Liberal
Headline! Sarah Palin too incompetent to debate!
This is unfuckingbelieveable. They are admitting she doesn’t have what it takes to debate using the same format that the presidential candidates will use. She needs to have the debate arranged around her inadequacies.
If she is not ready to debate as it was agreed, she is not ready to lead.
KT
Sexist pig (sans lipstick)
Debates are a farce anyway. She’s too busy boning up on all the things she will need to vice president effectively. Who cares if she doesn’t want to waste her time learning the useless skills she will only use in a single debate? She has much more important things to do.
aap
is there a petition we can sign protesting this-ive sent emails to my senator (texas, barney frank, schumer and dodd.we need nationwide action against this proposal. see bernie sanders proposed restrictions.
ThatLeftTurnInABQ
Considering how tea in the late 18th Cen. was a widely consumed and semi-addictive drug, heavily in demand and highly profitable, the modern day equivalent of the Boston Tea Party would be for patriots to disguise themselves as illegal aliens and set a gas station on fire, while it was being refueled from a tanker truck.
Your Local Action 7 News team would cream their pants over that “breaking news story”.
Don’t get any ideas – if anybody out there actually tries to do this, I told you not to.
Bernie
Sir, as an out and proud “cocksucker” myself, I take umbrage with your reference to Wall Street’s Republican criminals as “cocksuckers.” It demeans and debases the word, and my people, for you to associate the term with such a low class of scum scraping filth who feed off the working class. Please find a more appropriate ephithet to hurl in their direction.
Homosexually yours,
Bernie
US Navy Commander (Retired)
(former gay in teh military)
Rome Again
Well, if you and others don’t sign it and spread it far and wide, and get this into the hands of as many American voters as possible, nothing will happen.
If we could get massive signatures, perhaps then we could possibly change the direction of this crappy situation and let the chips fall where they are supposed to, on the people and companies who got us into this mess instead of the taxpayers.
Of course, I understand that those who we are asking to grow a pair of balls would have to do so, and I’m not guaranteeing that would happen, but it’s worth a shot. Anything, at this point, is worth a shot; but since you’re going to be complacent, turn around and kiss your children’s and grandchildren’s futures goodbye.
Darkness
If she is not ready to debate as it was agreed, she is not ready to lead. Just a little reminder from the ever-present Fates that no matter how bad things seem they can ALWAYS get worse.
Delia
I have spent the last two hours getting caught up on the Decline and Fall of the West, aka, the trillion dollar bailout that won’t work, and now I feel sad. Last time I checked, the government takeover of the means of production was either communism, fascism, or simple kleptocracy, depending on the details of how it is fashioned.
For those of you who don’t feel sad enough yet, I recommend that you wander over to Arthur Silber’s blog and read what he has to say about how the ruling class is going to take this opportunity to screw us and the world over even more completely than before. Arthur is one of those people who doesn’t seem to like anybody very much, but he’s interesting.
And now I must go watch science fiction until I cheer up.
D. Mason
I’m sorry, it is honestly not my intention to be a dick, but I realize that’s what I’m doing so here goes. I cannot believe that after the last 4 years you really think that the people calling the shots on this thing might possibly give a fuck about what the American people want or need. Seriously. By the way, even though I’m a dick as mentioned above, I’m not enough of a dick to have kids.
Montysano
My recommendation would be to pass on a trip over to Silber’s place. I know that Silber is revered by many, but all I ever get from my infrequent visits is anger and bitterness, without a shred of optimism, and never any trace of a solution or any practical course of action. The last straw was his frequent hectoring posts in which he demanded to know why the reader chose to remain part of the problem (without offering any clue as to what not choosing is supposed to look like).
Both he and Chris Floyd are brilliant at describing problems, but that’s only part of the battle, eh?
MobiusKlein
those NRO guys are just nutso.
One guy is praising Palin’s undecipherable statement about the AIG bailout.
gibberish here
Not pretty. Nobody at the home page has said Boo about the 0.7 Trillion buyout. Wankers.
Bruce Moomaw
Read ABC News on the tragic sacrifices that the wealthier investment bankers are having to make as a result of the current crisis. I tell you, it will break your heart.
Rome Again
The petition doesn’t ask them to give a fuck about ordinary American people, it asks them to seriously look at what they choose to do as it will determine whether these people get to keep their influential positions in the future. When congress critters are threatened with being removed from office, they take notice.
Keep an eye on who votes for this travesty, and remember them in the voting booth.
Tax Analyst
I suppose “prick-licker” isn’t going to work for you either.
There’s just no way to satisfy some folks. You’d probably complain even if they hung you with a new rope. (j/k)
nicethugbert
I guess this is Grover’s Bathtub. New Orleans was just the smoke’n’mirror.
Tax Analyst
But anyway, Bernie, I actually like the term “Ass-Hats” for the aforementioned Wall Street Republican Scum-bags. It might not be strong enough, but I like it because because it seems to connote their foolishness as well as their craven side. Hmmm…how about “Scum-bag Ass-Hats”?
TenguPhule
And that is why America FAILS.
Glocksman
It appears we’re still at Claire Wolff’s ‘awkward stage’, and it’s not time just yet to start shooting the bastards.
Give it some more time though, and…
Michael Pugliese
Clinton admin. shares co-responsibility for this mess.
Re: Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999, see these paragraphs from a major book on the Clinton era by a leftist economist, Robert Pollin, “Contours of Descent: U.S. Economic Fractures and the Landscape of Global Austerity, ” published by Verso Books, the publishing arm of New Left Review.
Bob Rubin, http://cache.daylife.com/imageserve/06UU5RV6D66qT/610x.jpg
w/Obama, Laura Tyson and Joseph Stiglitz.
http://www.time.com/time/politics/article/0,8599,1842720,00.html
>…”The second major component of Clinton administration policy in this area was supporting the successful repeal of the Depression-era Glass-Steagall framework of financial regulation through the 1999 Financial Services Modernization Act, otherwise known as Gramm-Leach-Bliley Dismantlement of Glass-Steagall, de facto and de jure, had been long in the making. Innovative financial market players were easily circumventing this old regulatory apparatus, with its focus on creating firewalls between segments of the financial services industry, and preventing commercial banks from operating in more than one state. But the point is that an alternative to both Glass-Steagall and complete deregulation could have been devised, through some combination of policies such as taxing speculative financial transactions and establishing lower reserve requirements for loans that finance productive, as against speculative, investments. But the Clinton administration never considered such an approach. Quite the contrary. The 2001 Economic Report of the President, the last one written under Clinton, was unequivocal in dismissing Glass-Steagall and touting the virtues of financial deregulation:
“‘Given the massive financial instability of the 1930s, narrowing
the range of banks’ activities was arguably important for that day and
age. But those rules are not needed today, and the easing of
interstate banking rules, along with the passage of the Financial
Services Modernization Act of 1999 have removed them, while
maintaining appropriate safeguards. These steps allow consolidation in
the financial sector that will result in efficiency gains and provide
new services for consumers.’
“Moreover, Robert Rubin, a major Clinton administration force
behind Glass-Steagall repeal, was also among the first to benefit
personally from it, in moving from his Treasury position to co-direct
the newly merged investment/commercial banking conglomerate Citigroup.
Under any reasonable interpretation of Glass-Steagall, the former
commercial bank Citicorp and the former investment banking firm
Travelers would not have been permitted to merge.”
Michael Pugliese
Summer 2008 »
http://www.dissentmagazine.org/article/?article=1229
The Legacy of the Clinton Bubble
By Timothy A. Canova
http://www.dissentmagazine.org/