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You are here: Home / Politics / Domestic Politics / September is the Month for New Products

September is the Month for New Products

by John Cole|  September 23, 20081:52 pm| 69 Comments

This post is in: Domestic Politics, Republican Crime Syndicate - aka the Bush Admin.

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For those of you who have noticed the similarity in the rhetoric and rush to act on the bailout rescue plan to the run-up to the invasion of Iraq, here is something else for you to chew on (via Digby):

Paulson said Congress and the administration must move rapidly.

“We must do so in order to avoid a continuing series of financial institution failures and frozen credit markets that threaten American families’ financial well-being, the viability of businesses both small and large, and the very health of our economy,” Paulson said in remarks as prepared for delivery. “The market turmoil we are experiencing today poses great risk to U.S. taxpayers.”

Fratto said it would be “unthinkable” for Congress not to pass legislation this week, asserting the result would be a “very, very serious situation” for the U.S. economy.

“It shouldn’t take much analysis to remember what happened last week, which was a very serious freeze-up in our credit markets,” Fratto said. “Our financial markets right now do not need uncertainty, they need increased certainty as to how this rescue plan is going to go forward — and that they can be sure that there is a plan to go forward — and that will begin the correction in our financial markets.”

Fratto insisted that the plan was not slapped together and had been drawn up as a contingency over previous months and weeks by administration officials. He acknowledged lawmakers were getting only days to peruse it, but he said this should be enough.

Hey, as Andy Card said, “You don’t roll out a new product in August.” It worked the last time, so you can’t fault them. Last time, the threat was mushroom clouds over our cities. Now it is mushroom clouds over our 401k’s.

This whole thing is stinking more and more, and I have completely lost faith in Dodd. At the end of the hearings before the Code Pink protestors, it seemed pretty clear he was resigned to ramming this down our throats.

*** Update ***

And just to illustrate what these guys are asking for, someone in the comments to another post googled up some numbers:

Whoops! Just did a little bit of googling, and it turns out that 700 b-large is enough to get Hank invited to the G7 all by himself:

Budget expenditures 2008 Country Ranks

1 United States $2,731,000,000,000
2 Japan $1,575,000,000,000
3 Germany $1,477,000,000,000
4 France $1,372,000,000,000
5 United Kingdom $1,237,000,000,000
6 Italy $1,029,000,000,000
7 China $634,600,000,000

Time to break out the pitch forks, folks.

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Reader Interactions

69Comments

  1. 1.

    LiberalTarian

    September 23, 2008 at 1:57 pm

    Ya, very stinky. They put it together over months? So they knew this was coming, and sprang it on the Congress when the big banks started to fail?

    You know, you have made something of a running joke about the Bush Crime Syndicate, now the Republican Crime Syndicate, but I do believe they have stepped whole body into criminality here. If they were not the government, it would be insider trading. What is it called when the Treasury does it?

  2. 2.

    nicethugbert

    September 23, 2008 at 1:59 pm

    It took them three pages to say what they’ve been saying forever: “Give me your money AND your life”.

  3. 3.

    scott

    September 23, 2008 at 2:00 pm

    Finally, President 24% unites this country:

    Everybody hates this bill….except the politicians in Washington. Well, most of em. When I start agreeing with wingnuts like Pence, I know something’s wrong.

  4. 4.

    The Moar You Know

    September 23, 2008 at 2:00 pm

    Fratto insisted that the plan was not slapped together and had been drawn up as a contingency over previous months and weeks by administration officials. He acknowledged lawmakers were getting only days to peruse it, but he said this should be enough.

    Oh. That’s an interesting statement. Is he authorized to be that honest?

    No fucking bailout.

  5. 5.

    John Cole

    September 23, 2008 at 2:01 pm

    You know, you have made something of a running joke about the Bush Crime Syndicate, now the Republican Crime Syndicate

    Who was joking? I am deadly serious when I use that tag. There is a reason I left the GOP.

  6. 6.

    Joshau Norton

    September 23, 2008 at 2:02 pm

    Have you noticed that the Bush “emergencies” are always based on secret evidence that only they know about? And they can’t tell us about?

    Has anyone else noticed that King Henry Paulson was one of the head people who helped create these toxic “emergencies” when he was CEO of Goldman-Sachs? Is this more to cover his ass than it is to cover ours?

    I’m just saying….

  7. 7.

    r€nato

    September 23, 2008 at 2:05 pm

    you know what would kill this fucking Wall Street giveaway, stop it dead in its tracks?

    If the people could see how some of these WS fatcats live, what they got paid over the last few years while they were pushing toxic mortgages and toxic mortgage-backed securities and toxic credit default swaps.

    A single death is a tragedy. A million deaths is a statistic.

    Let’s make this personal.

  8. 8.

    smiley

    September 23, 2008 at 2:09 pm

    What a surprise. This isn’t about saving the financial markets. It’s about looting the U.S. Treasury.

  9. 9.

    nicethugbert

    September 23, 2008 at 2:10 pm

    Life Style of the Rich and Famous: Henry Paulson Edition

    DO IT!!!

  10. 10.

    r€nato

    September 23, 2008 at 2:11 pm

    I did NOT call either my congressman or my senators about opposing this bailout.

    They are Shadegg, Kyl and McCain.

    IF this bailout is approved, I damned well want them voting FOR it. I do NOT want them to be able to demagogue against the Democrats for voting for it.

    It shouldn’t pass at all… but if it does, goddamit Harry and Nancy, demand that the vast bulk of Republicans vote for it too, INCLUDING McCain.

  11. 11.

    jenniebee

    September 23, 2008 at 2:14 pm

    I just read a summary of the Dodd plan, but I didn’t see what’s so horrible about it, overall. We’d get equity, and I’m enough of a socialist to think that Federal ownership of corporate equity might not be such a bad thing (hey, if the free market is so great and taxes are so bad, why not get the government running on net profits and dividends?)

    The Paulson plan is simply an invitation to sell the feds junk at above-market prices and then buy it right back for pennies on the dollar, then do the whole thing all over again. We might as well just drop the pretense and deposit the money straight into their accounts.

  12. 12.

    Studly Pantload

    September 23, 2008 at 2:15 pm

    As I’ve said before, this all has really been presented to us as an offer we couldn’t refuse, a la, “either your signature is going to be on this contract, or your economy is.”

    But John, what do you see as the downside of the Dodd proposal? Seems to me it would weed out the truly hurtin’ institutions, the ones willing to assign an equity stake in exchange for unloading the crap, from the ones that can weather the write-downs, with realistic potential upside for taxpayers. No?

  13. 13.

    Fwiffo

    September 23, 2008 at 2:21 pm

    No, no, no. The only answer on this “plan” should be fucking goddamn fucking hell no. No. No. The Democrats shouldn’t be coming up with a bail-out plan of their own. The Democratic plan should be “raze these fuckers to the ground, plow them under and salt the earth.” Anything less is fucking charity. Maybe then we can negotiate to “doing nothing” as a compromise.

  14. 14.

    John S.

    September 23, 2008 at 2:24 pm

    Well folks, we’re all about to get fucking PLAYED. Again.

    I do NOT want them to be able to demagogue against the Democrats for voting for it.

    This is precisely what will happen. Bush had this shit planned for months and this is his October surprise. There is a reason conservative pundits are referring to this as the Bush/Pelosi bailout: They are going to hang this around the necks of Bush AND Democrats.

    The GOP could give a fuck about Bush. He’s on his way out (don’t let the door hit you in the ass) so it doesn’t matter if he gets blamed. What does matter is letting voters see that Bush and Democrats are on the same side and Maverick McCain is not.

    If Democrats fall for this, we will lose. And we deserve it.

  15. 15.

    NR

    September 23, 2008 at 2:29 pm

    If Democrats fall for this, we will lose. And we deserve it.

    Where is Obama on this? It’s his ass on the line, too. The seven points he laid out on Sunday were good, but I haven’t heard anything from him since.

  16. 16.

    Joshau Norton

    September 23, 2008 at 2:29 pm

    The real financial disaster with what will happen after the fix is in.

  17. 17.

    gopher2b

    September 23, 2008 at 2:29 pm

    Hey, as Andy Card said, “You don’t roll out a new product in August.” It worked the last time, so you can’t fault them.

    That’s the key point to this entire thing. What triggered this? AIG failed and the government swept it up. Three days laters..CRISIS….CRISIS…..CRISIS!!!

    There are three possible scenarios: (1) Nothing changed and this was in the works for months (i.e. they planned to loot the Treasury on their way out, (2) they are reacting to the fact that MS and Goldman were about to go under (who gives a shit other than Ibankers and their shareholders), or (3) they are scared to death about CDSs failing and hadn’t considered that possibility until AIG went under.

    If it’s #3, they are more incompetent than I ever thought they were…..which is saying something.

  18. 18.

    Bob In Pacifica

    September 23, 2008 at 2:35 pm

    If someone gives me 700 billion bucks I can solve my financial problems. Just don’t look over my shoulder after you give it.

  19. 19.

    Punchy

    September 23, 2008 at 2:37 pm

    and I have completely lost faith in Dodd

    Time for that update/apology, John

  20. 20.

    David

    September 23, 2008 at 2:39 pm

    Make the bailout hurt so bad that only the worst of the worst take it.

    Not a general bailout for all the bad loans.

    Not a bailout for Republican administration buddies.

    Only those who are so scared of going bankrupt that they are willing to forgo their CEO salary, their shareholder equity, and do exactly what the regulators say.

    None of this blank check bull.

  21. 21.

    Tsulagi

    September 23, 2008 at 2:40 pm

    Fratto insisted that the plan was not slapped together and had been drawn up as a contingency over previous months and weeks by administration officials.

    Seems the Office of Special Plans shifted over to Treasury. Good news.

  22. 22.

    jake

    September 23, 2008 at 2:43 pm

    What every CongressCritter loves to hear: We’ve been talking about something for weeks and didn’t tell you. Now we just need you to go through the piffling formality of voting on it.

  23. 23.

    The Grand Panjandrum

    September 23, 2008 at 2:44 pm

    We can add another definition in the Urban Dictionary for MOAR – Mother Of All Ripoffs.

    What a surprise. This isn’t about saving the financial markets. It’s about looting the U.S. Treasury.

    David Kurtz at TPM has another post about this nonsense as well. It links to a piece written by David Cay Johnston formerly of the NYT.

    The coverage of the Paulson plan focuses on the edges, on the details. The focus should be on the premise. And be skeptical of what gullible Congressional leaders, most of them up before the voters in a few weeks, say after being given a closed-door meeting on supposed horrors.

    The Administration has scared the markets and some key legislative leaders, but it has not laid out a coherent, specific and compelling need for this enormous proposal, which is the equivalent of a one-time 55 percent income tax surcharge. (Instead the money will be borrowed, so ask from whom and how this much can be raised so quickly if the credit markets are nearly seized up with fear.)

    Read the entire piece. I went to a talk on this today by someone I respect. These rat fuckers are trying to spook the Congress into doing something stupid so all the FOB (Friends of Bush) don’t have to give up the private jets and put their kids in public school.

    Like I said yesterday (and I am NOT joking either) hang a few of these fuckers, let the rest of them live in a car for a while. Homelessness will do them some good. Maybe the kids of these criminals will begin to appreciate that earning a living doesn’t entail fucking the rest of us and that NOT breaking the law doesn’t make you a good person. How about just being honest. Its not against the law to be an asshole but that doesn’t make it the right thing to be.

    But John, what do you see as the downside of the Dodd proposal?

    Paying for it. Let them sweat it out. This didn’t happen overnight. A rash and ill thought out solution could put the taxpayers on the hook for TRILLIONS of dollars. They do not know how much bad debt is out there. THEY DO NOT KNOW. Until the unwrap these products to find out what is in them, THEY DO NOT KNOW. Did I say THEY DO NOT KNOW?

    The Dodd Plan has NO up side. NONE.

    The Administration spooked the markets. They pulled a James A Baker III in spades. Back in the 80’s when Baker was still Treasury Sec he said something very stupid and the following Tuesday the markets tanked. AND he only said something! They underlying economy was weak but we didn’t have the tangled mess we now see. The one thing that usually causes the greatest degree of fluctuation in the markets(i.e. on the downside)is opacity. Uncertainty brings turmoil to the market and you can bet your ass the ride is going to be rough until a decision is made. The Administrtion’s solution sucks. The Dodd plan is the Administration’s pig with lipstick on it.

  24. 24.

    Dennis - SGMM

    September 23, 2008 at 2:47 pm

    No one expects the Paulson Bailout!
    Our two weapons are fear and lies. And secret evidence.
    Our three weapons are fear, lies and secret evidence. And apocalyptic threats.
    Amongst our weapons…

  25. 25.

    scott

    September 23, 2008 at 2:48 pm

    The Dems have completely forgotten a great stragety that worked so well for them during President 24%’s attempt to steal the Social Security trust fund:

    Do nothing. Roman historians call that the Fabian Strategy.

    We’ve fallen into the trap they tried laying for us with Social Security: pony up an alternative plan. We didn’t.

    And we don’t have to now.

    *Anything* we do will rebound against us politically. And if it’s massive, it’ll totally hamstring an Obama administration. As someone said here earlier in the week: “Goodbye universal health care. Norquist and his goons have finally drowned the gubmint in the tub.”

    Assholes. All of em.

  26. 26.

    NonyNony

    September 23, 2008 at 2:48 pm

    I don’t know, Punchy. If I were John I’d probably be a little bit leery of giving an apology to Dodd based on what was at the link:

    WASHINGTON (AP) — Dodd says the administration’s $700 billion bailout proposal is not acceptable.

    That’s quoted in its entirety. Not really very informative – it’s kind of like saying “water is wet.”

    I’m not sure if John wants a bailout at all. I’m of the opinion that we can have a bailout, but it has to be a painful choice on the part of the banks involved – this shouldn’t be an easy choice for them. They need to give up equity – we own their asses in proportion to the debt we’re taking on. They need to accept regulation and transparency as the new way of doing business (actually, that should come for all of them regardless of whether or not they accept a bailout). And to save face for Congress buying out their asses, they need to accept compensation caps for their execs – no one makes more than the POTUS. That’s good politics – the voters need to know that these guys have been kneecapped in some way to make the bailout acceptable. If the execs walk out with golden parachutes and keep their current pay, then it’s just Wealthfare for the rich and will blowback on the pols in Congress hard.

    If those aren’t on the table, then they aren’t in enough pain yet. Authorize it and tell Paulson “that’s all you’re getting”. Eventually either the banks will take what’s offered, they’ll go bankrupt, or they’ll figure out a way to make things better without intervention. Any of those three options potentially works just fine – the middle one is possibly painful, but Congress can do something like they did for the S&L debacle and buy bankrupt banks that no one wants cheap during the bankruptcy process.

  27. 27.

    mikkel

    September 23, 2008 at 2:50 pm

    Here are four graphs that build up to the final graph punchline: we’re fucked.

  28. 28.

    Dennis - SGMM

    September 23, 2008 at 2:52 pm

    There’s something stinky here. According to Paulson, the world as we know it will end if this doesn’t pass, fast. Also according to Paulson, capping CEO pay might be a deal breaker. So it’s bad enough to cause a global financial catastrophe but not so bad that CEO’s need a pay cut.
    What am I missing?

  29. 29.

    salcam

    September 23, 2008 at 2:52 pm

    This just in from Steffy; could it be just a glimmer of recognition by the Dems?

    ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos reports: If Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain doesn’t vote for the Bush administration’s $700 billion economic bailout plan, some Republican and Democratic congressional leaders tell ABC News the plan won’t pass.

    “If McCain doesn’t come out for this, it’s over,” a Top House Republican tells ABC News.

  30. 30.

    r€nato

    September 23, 2008 at 2:53 pm

    you know what would make me really happy?

    If the people who are supposed to buy the bonds which would finance this bailout – because of course, nobody should have to pay higher taxes – refused to buy ’em unless the US restructured its capital markets to regulate and stamp out this cowboy/crony capitalism.

  31. 31.

    NonyNony

    September 23, 2008 at 2:54 pm

    Do nothing. Roman historians call that the Fabian Strategy.

    We’ve fallen into the trap they tried laying for us with Social Security: pony up an alternative plan. We didn’t.

    Do nothing works when you’re not in leadership.

    If you do nothing when you’re supposed to be in charge, it bites you in the ass.

    The best thing to do is to propose a countermeasure that sounds reasonable to taxpayers but is utterly and completely unreasonable to people who just want to raid the Treasury. Then voters can say “why would those horrible bankers say no to such a reasonable proposition – they must be crooks.”

    Don’t fall for their trap, but set your own. Make them walk into it. And hell, if things really are as bad as Paulson says, the banks should be begging for a “bad deal” to get themselves into the black again. If they won’t take it, maybe things just aren’t as bleak as the administration wants everyone to think.

  32. 32.

    The Grand Panjandrum

    September 23, 2008 at 2:54 pm

    And from the DCJ piece I linked to above here is an excellent question. If you understand what short selling is and how it HELPS shake the market out you can understand why this is an important question to be asking these filthy criminals.

    How does banning short selling of the stocks of 900 companies help the markets? (The markets are heavily biased toward the sell side, so why constrain the shorts, who often turn out to be right about stocks whose share prices has been artificially inflated.)

    How is banning short selling of this growing list of companies show a commitment to “free markets,” a stated goal of this and a long lost of previous administrations?

    During this short selling ban, why are there no parallel controls on insiders getting out of their positions?

    Please! Answer! They won’t. The answer to most of these questions is: But … but … but … I don’t wanna be responsible for my disastrous decision making. And if we can get the taxpayers to bail us out then why should we be stupid enough to bear the cost?

    The Democrats are dancing around like a bunch of fucking cowards like they did before the vote on the AUMF. But anyone who votes for a Republican after this deserves to have EVERYTHING they own repossessed (especially any cash) to help pay clean up this fucking abortion. (So much for being against abortion, eh?)

  33. 33.

    libarbarian

    September 23, 2008 at 2:56 pm

    CEO murdered by mob of sacked Indian workers

    These bitches had better start thanking God that they live in the USA.

  34. 34.

    NonyNony

    September 23, 2008 at 2:58 pm

    ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos reports: If Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain doesn’t vote for the Bush administration’s $700 billion economic bailout plan, some Republican and Democratic congressional leaders tell ABC News the plan won’t pass.

    THIS is part of what I mean by “setting your own trap”.

    Now they just have to work up the part where it’s toxic to the CEOs but tolerable to the voters…

  35. 35.

    ThatLeftTurnInABQ

    September 23, 2008 at 2:58 pm

    This is precisely what will happen. Bush had this shit planned for months and this is his October surprise. There is a reason conservative pundits are referring to this as the Bush/Pelosi bailout: They are going to hang this around the necks of Bush AND Democrats.
    The GOP could give a fuck about Bush. He’s on his way out (don’t let the door hit you in the ass) so it doesn’t matter if he gets blamed. What does matter is letting voters see that Bush and Democrats are on the same side and Maverick McCain is not.
    If Democrats fall for this, we will lose. And we deserve it.

    Word.

    But you still are only seeing half of the picture. This plan is so perfect in its design, only an evil genius come have come up with this

    – If Obama and the Dems back a bailout plan (never mind the details of which one), then McCain and the GOP spends the next 40 days campaigning against “the Democrats and the corrupt culture of Wall St.”

    – If Obama and the Dems reject then plan, then the financial markets fall off a cliff (hint: there may be some pushing behind the scenes), and McCain spends the next 40 days ripping the Dems for having deliberately triggered the next Great Depression, by irresponsibly refusing to do the right thing, which everybody said was the only thing which could save us.

    Zugzwang.

    Prediction: after much negotiating over the details of “the plan” to get something with broad support, the GOP will pull a last minute switcheroo and vote against it en-block, leaving the Dems holding the bag for it. Then if bad things happen on the markets because no plan was passed, the GOP will blame the Dems for failing to pass a plan, saying that they loaded it up with too much pork, and it would have passed if only the original Paulson TARP plan had been given an UpOrDown vote.

  36. 36.

    Dennis - SGMM

    September 23, 2008 at 2:59 pm

    “If McCain doesn’t come out for this, it’s over,” a Top House Republican tells ABC News.

    This is bad news for McCain. He was coming on all mavericky because he figured that it would safely pass anyway. Now he’s on the hook.

  37. 37.

    scott

    September 23, 2008 at 3:03 pm

    Since this bill was “month’s in the making”, then Congress should take months to examine it. And if they make a lot of noises about doing something different, fine. As long as they take months crafting up something different.

    That’s another way of doing nothing while they wait and see how things shake out.

  38. 38.

    r€nato

    September 23, 2008 at 3:06 pm

    ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos reports: If Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain doesn’t vote for the Bush administration’s $700 billion economic bailout plan, some Republican and Democratic congressional leaders tell ABC News the plan won’t pass.

    fuckin’ A, that is what I am talking about.

  39. 39.

    Mary D

    September 23, 2008 at 3:09 pm

    But can the fake Sarah have her brother-in-law fired?

  40. 40.

    Svensker

    September 23, 2008 at 3:14 pm

    Do you guys really think this meltdown and the Paulson Plan was a clever ploy by Bush to jigger the election? This market tank has been in the making for years and has been pushed off by Bernake & Co. fairly successfully for a while, but it was always coming. I’m pretty sure they were hoping to stave off the collapse until after Bush was out of office, but the center couldn’t hold and things went south fast a few weeks ago. Of course, they had a bailout plan ready, because they knew the collapse was coming, just not exactly when.

    I’m not saying some people won’t be trying to use it for political gain — of course, they will. But this economy has been a dead pig for a long time. It just had so much lipstick on it, everyone still thought it looked like Sarah Palin.

  41. 41.

    PeterJ

    September 23, 2008 at 3:17 pm

    ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos reports: If Republican presidential candidate Sen. John McCain doesn’t vote for the Bush administration’s $700 billion economic bailout plan, some Republican and Democratic congressional leaders tell ABC News the plan won’t pass.

    Link.

    Admiral Ackbar saw the trap, but in the end the rebels were victorious.

  42. 42.

    Rick Taylor

    September 23, 2008 at 3:17 pm

    Via Digby, there’s an article in the NY Times about how Sweden met a similar crises; also infusing banks with huge amounts of money but demanding equity in return. This sounds like what Krugman is pushing and what Biden’s plan is supposed to do; it’s frustrating I haven no idea if it does it or not.

    Sweden did not just bail out its financial institutions by having the government take over the bad debts. It extracted pounds of flesh from bank shareholders before writing checks. Banks had to write down losses and issue warrants to the government.

    That strategy held banks responsible and turned the government into an owner. When distressed assets were sold, the profits flowed to taxpayers, and the government was able to recoup more money later by selling its shares in the companies as well.

    “If I go into a bank,” said Bo Lundgren, who was Sweden’s finance minister at the time, “I’d rather get equity so that there is some upside for the taxpayer.”

    Sweden spent 4 percent of its gross domestic product, or 65 billion kronor, the equivalent of $11.7 billion at the time, or $18.3 billion in today’s dollars, to rescue ailing banks. That is slightly less, proportionate to the national economy, than the $700 billion, or roughly 5 percent of gross domestic product, that the Bush administration estimates its own move will cost in the United States.

    But the final cost to Sweden ended up being less than 2 percent of its G.D.P. Some officials say they believe it was closer to zero, depending on how certain rates of return are calculated.

    The article goes on to describe how Sweden’s largest bank after hearing the draconian conditions for a bailout found another way to recapitalize, avoiding the necessity of a bailout altogether. So maybe the idea of taking over bad debt isn’t bad in principle, so long as the country gets something in return.

    Then came the imperative to bleed shareholders first. Mr. Lundgren recalls a conversation with Peter Wallenberg, at the time chairman of SEB, Sweden’s largest bank. Mr. Wallenberg, the scion of the country’s most famous family and steward of large chunks of its economy, heard that there would be no sacred cows.

    The Wallenbergs turned around and arranged a recapitalization on their own, obviating the need for a bailout. SEB turned a profit the following year, 1993.

    “For every krona we put into the bank, we wanted the same influence,” Mr. Lundgren said. “That ensured that we did not have to go into certain banks at all.”

  43. 43.

    The Moar You Know

    September 23, 2008 at 3:19 pm

    libarbarian Says:

    CEO murdered by mob of sacked Indian workers

    These bitches had better start thanking God that they live in the USA.

    You can bet the next guy will think twice before giving himself a whopping raise and laying off a hundred guys on the same day.

    I miss the days when Americans used to stand up for their rights like the Indians do now.

  44. 44.

    jake

    September 23, 2008 at 3:23 pm

    There’s something stinky here. According to Paulson, the world as we know it will end if this doesn’t pass, fast. Also according to Paulson, capping CEO pay might be a deal breaker. So it’s bad enough to cause a global financial catastrophe but not so bad that CEO’s need a pay cut.

    We must provide the CEOs with a lifesaver in the color and texture of the find most pleasing or they’ll drown and we’ll feel just awful.

  45. 45.

    Sinister eyebrow

    September 23, 2008 at 3:23 pm

    Hold the phone. Poyner Institute (sorry, no link due to incompetence)raised some damn good questions. If there is a credit crisis, why aren’t banks refusing loans on revolving credit for businesses? Why are mortgages still being sold online at 1.9%? Why are banks still lending? Why are mortgages and car loans still being approved?

    Something is extremely fishy here. They’re howling crisis, but not providing any evidence that there really is a crisis except within several investment banks that are going to go belly up. If this were a systemic crisis, why aren’t there systemic affects being seen and felt?

    Without laying out what the actual effects are, how can anyone judge whether the solution will fix them? This all is starting to look like a shell game. The longer it drags on, the more the story appears to unravel.

  46. 46.

    Rick Taylor

    September 23, 2008 at 3:24 pm

    There’s something stinky here. According to Paulson, the world as we know it will end if this doesn’t pass, fast. Also according to Paulson, capping CEO pay might be a deal breaker. So it’s bad enough to cause a global financial catastrophe but not so bad that CEO’s need a pay cut.
    What am I missing?

    That CEO’s would rather see the world end than take a pay cut? :)

  47. 47.

    NonyNony

    September 23, 2008 at 3:26 pm

    Do you guys really think this meltdown and the Paulson Plan was a clever ploy by Bush to jigger the election?

    I certainly don’t. These guys don’t do “clever ploys”. They do stupid stuff. And the stuff that they do is so damn stupid that anyone who isn’t a supporter stands around wondering what they’re missing – they can’t possibly be THIS GODDAMN STUPID – and start crafting elaborate conspiracy theories to explain why whatever stupid thing they’re doing is actually a crafty plan in disguise.

    Nope. They got caught with their pants down. I’m firmly in the camp that thinks that they were convinced that they were going to be able to kick the can into the next President’s lap and then were surprised when the meltdown happened when it did.

    I’ll bet that those claims that are floating around right now that they’ve had this “plan” of Paulson’s percolating around for “months” are also false – cover to make people think that this plan of his wasn’t just hacked out in the middle of the night in a state of panic over a meltdown. Come on – let’s get serious here. The “plan” is three pages long and amounts to “Give Paulson all of the money. No, don’t ask him what he’s going to do with it. Why? Because SHUT UP THAT’S WHY!” That isn’t a plan that conspirators hatch over months – if they’d done that the plan would have been 300 pages long, full of meaningless details and drivel – while still being essentially “Give Paulson the money” and “SHUT UP THAT’S WHY!”

    That’s what you do if you’re crafty. If you’re caught with your pants down you crank out a three page document in a Mountain Dew fueled all-nighter and hope that Congress has forgotten how to read and that no one in the room thinks to leak it to the press. (And once again, thank JHVH, Jesus, Bhudda, Allah, Zeus, Hera, Thor, Odin, Ra, Isis and any other God or Goddess of your choice that SOMEONE had the wherewithal to leak the damn thing out of that meeting room so that the rest of us could get let in early on the scam).

  48. 48.

    The Moar You Know

    September 23, 2008 at 3:29 pm

    Again, because it can’t get said enough:

    1. Unpopular Republican administration declares disaster.

    2. Unpopular Republican administration proposes legislation with a price tag so insane it makes even the most oblivious Americans sit up and take notice.

    3. Unpopular Republican administration insists legislation be passed exactly as written.

    4. Democrats make some fairly insignificant changes and vote for it en masse.

    5. Republicans vote against it as a block. Legislation passes by single-digit margins.

    6. McMaverick and other Republicans then run ads 24/7 condemning the “Bush/Pelosi” bailout bill.

    7. The Republican base votes for McMaverick as a solid block, as they would for anyone with an “R” after their name.

    8. Independents, hating Bush, Pelosi and 3-trillion dollar bailout bills, go solidly for McMaverick.

    9. Obama only wins Massachusetts and Illinois, quits Senate, says “fuck you guys” and moves to Canada to live happily ever after with ponies and rainbows.

    10. Preznit McMaverick dies in late 2009, giving us Preznit Palin. Concentration camps for unbelievers open the following day.

    11. Profit!

    We’re at stage 3.5, guys. If it gets to stage 4 the game is done. How much longer do you want to keep playing a rigged game?

  49. 49.

    jake

    September 23, 2008 at 3:33 pm

    of the

    THEY

  50. 50.

    The Moar You Know

    September 23, 2008 at 3:34 pm

    Hold the phone. Poyner Institute (sorry, no link due to incompetence)raised some damn good questions. If there is a credit crisis, why aren’t banks refusing loans on revolving credit for businesses? Why are mortgages still being sold online at 1.9%? Why are banks still lending? Why are mortgages and car loans still being approved?

    A good question. Just signed a car loan Friday. I was approved for more than the car ended up costing – they asked if I wanted to cash out the difference!

    Having a shred of responsibility, I said “absolutely not” – and they were surprised, which tells me something bad about how Americans treat debt.

    This is NOT the behavior of an instituion that is in any way concerned with liquidity. I agree wholeheartedly that something really stinks.

  51. 51.

    burnspbesq

    September 23, 2008 at 3:37 pm

    No real surprise here … there is no crisis too severe for good ol’ fashioned Republican greed to rear its ugly head.

    A group of House Republicans is suggesting that the “rescue plan” include a two-year suspension of taxes on capital gains, and a reinstatement of Internal Revenue Code Section 965, the 2004 provision that allowed U.S. parent companies to repatriate income accumulated in foreign subsidiaries at an effective rate of 5.6 percent.

    Now, I have an undergraduate degree in economics, two law degrees, and 26 years experience as a practicing tax lawyer, and I will readily confess that I see no way that either of these initiatives contribute a damn thing to solving the current problems. But they will absolutely do two things: (1) increase the deficit and (2) enrich traditional Republican constitutencies at the expense of the public good.

    Fuck ‘em. All of them.

  52. 52.

    John S.

    September 23, 2008 at 3:38 pm

    Do you guys really think this meltdown and the Paulson Plan was a clever ploy by Bush to jigger the election?

    The meltdown has been years in the making. The Poison Pill Paulson Plan (suck on THAT alliteration) is a clever ploy by Bush to jigger the election.

    And need I say it? One has absolutely nothing to do with the other.

  53. 53.

    Tax Analyst

    September 23, 2008 at 3:39 pm

    “If McCain doesn’t come out for this, it’s over,” a Top House Republican tells ABC News.

    This is bad news for McCain. He was coming on all mavericky because he figured that it would safely pass anyway. Now he’s on the hook.

    Geez…and little Johnny McCain already his “apology” written for later on when he was gonna admit he did the wrong thing. I think this might be the only thing he is actually good at.

  54. 54.

    John S.

    September 23, 2008 at 3:49 pm

    5. Republicans vote against it as a block. Legislation passes by single-digit margins.

    And you will all marvel at how for the first time in 2 years the Republicans in the Senate allow an up-or-down vote on a piece of legislation that passes by a narrow majority WITHOUT deploying the gentleman’s filibuster that Harry Reid has allowed them to abuse.

    And I don’t really give a rat’s ass anymore. Once we get past #4 on your list (Democrats make some fairly insignificant changes and vote for it en masse) and we see the triumphant return of McMaverick on his populist march to take back the White House (snort!), I’m officially done caring about the future of this country.

  55. 55.

    NonyNony

    September 23, 2008 at 3:50 pm

    “For every krona we put into the bank, we wanted the same influence,” Mr. Lundgren said. “That ensured that we did not have to go into certain banks at all.”

    This is EXACTLY what our reps in Congress need to be saying. For every dollar we put into your bank, we own a piece of your ass. Enough dollars, we own your entire ass.

    That’ll make the banks stop and THINK about whether they’re really in a crisis or not. If the bankers are willing to peddle their asses to the government, I’ll believe that there might actually be something to this crisis. But I’m beginning to think that this is just Bernanke in a panic and a bunch of finance CEOs who think they can make a buck off of his panic…

  56. 56.

    Incertus

    September 23, 2008 at 3:51 pm

    And yet Bernanke says we’ll have a recession without a bailout. What the fuck have we been in for the last two years? If a recession is all we have to worry about, bring it on, bitches.

  57. 57.

    The Grand Panjandrum

    September 23, 2008 at 3:54 pm

    I miss the days when Americans used to stand up for their rights like the Indians do now.

    We are all Cowboys now.

  58. 58.

    Seanly

    September 23, 2008 at 3:56 pm

    After I get my Mad Max outfit & retool my car as a methane-fueled crossbow-studded battle wagon, the first thing I am going to do is hunt down some of those slow-moving fatcats. Dump trucks full of money don’t mean shit when all that paper is worthless.

  59. 59.

    nicethugbert

    September 23, 2008 at 3:58 pm

    But, why do we want equity in these wall street losers?

  60. 60.

    calipygian

    September 23, 2008 at 4:04 pm

    If only we had invested Social Security in Wall Street five years ago, these motherfuckers wouldn’t be jacking us for 700 billion today.

    Its that simple.

  61. 61.

    Not My Fault

    September 23, 2008 at 4:05 pm

    OK. I really don’t understand this at all, so … here is my solution.

    Have the federal government backstop all home loans made before the middle of this year for a fixed amount of time (5 years?)
    In that time:

    Borrowers who could afford their loans if they were restructured (not written off) will get the restructuring that they need and the taxpayers will eat the cost of restructuring the loan (but not principal)
    Borrowers who cannot afford their loans even if restructured will have their loans foreclosed (yes, it’s gonna hurt) and something (?) will happen to the equity.

    Borrowers with negative equity will have their loans foreclosed and will be able to walk away. The federal government will eat the cost of closing out the loan with the lender (without defaulting) (yes, that’s gonna hurt).

    This program will spread the actions across a clearly defined time to split the difference between the fire sale aspect and the Uncle Sugar aspect.

    While the program is in place, qualifying loans would not be allowed to go into default. (If all else fails, Uncle Sugar will keep up the payments, but that would move the loan to the front of the line for disposition.)

    So, is the answer: “This wouldn’t address the problem at all.”
    Is the answer: “This would cost WAY more than 700 Billion”
    Is the answer: “This would make things WORSE.”
    Is the answer: “This would put off the problem for 5 years and then we would be in the same place.”
    Is the answer: “Not possible. couldn’t be done.”
    Is the answer: “Fill in the answer here.”

    Anyone who can explain this to me better than Paulson is doing would be greatly appreciated.

  62. 62.

    gopher2b

    September 23, 2008 at 4:12 pm

    And yet Bernanke says we’ll have a recession without a bailout. What the fuck have we been in for the last two years

    For accuracy’s sake, the answer is “not a recession.” Sorry, but its true.

    That being said, we’re going into one with or without the bailout. The only question left to be answered is how bad this recession is for IBankers.

    You can almost understand why these guys are freaking out. The only industry that they have ever known is collapsing on an epic scale and they are about to lose Bush. This is looting…plain and simple.

    Our economy can weather a complete Wall Street collapse. The only thing this bailout does is keep their stock positions afloat for six to nine months (long enough for them to liquidate).

  63. 63.

    tavella

    September 23, 2008 at 4:13 pm

    But, why do we want equity in these wall street losers?

    It’s a good question, but in theory there’s still some meat on the bones, so if we own them, write off the bad debt, and break up and sell them, we might at least come out even.

  64. 64.

    chopper

    September 23, 2008 at 4:15 pm

    For accuracy’s sake, the answer is “not a recession.” Sorry, but its true.

    depends on who you ask. truth be told, continuously lowering fed rates to push off the inevitable will help keep recession at bay but if it’s comin either way you better let it happen earlier rather than later.

  65. 65.

    chopper

    September 23, 2008 at 4:27 pm

    “If McCain doesn’t come out for this, it’s over,” a Top House Republican tells ABC News.

    part of me thinks that this bailout was bush’s goodbye for the GOP, an excuse for every gooper running for office to cut their ties with an incredibly unpopular administration. i mean, asking for 700 billion w/o any oversight? that’s perfect fodder for mccain and congression republicans to come out swinging as a united front, demanding a good bill and getting something and looking like major leaders on this issue, even slipping some nice republican business provisions that will give their pals in wall street even more after all the dust settled.

    if true, mccain didn’t get the memo. now congressional goopers are acting like his vote is going to be crucial, maybe in an attempt to get him off the back burner and into the forefront on this issue cause the dems are looking like the guys taking charge and fighting the most egregious part of the bush offer. i dunno. since mccain is just so utterly bad at politics he’s bound to fuck the whole thing up.

  66. 66.

    Martin

    September 23, 2008 at 4:34 pm

    The article goes on to describe how Sweden’s largest bank after hearing the draconian conditions for a bailout found another way to recapitalize, avoiding the necessity of a bailout altogether. So maybe the idea of taking over bad debt isn’t bad in principle, so long as the country gets something in return.

    Exactly. This isn’t supposed to be easy – not for Bush, not for Congress, not for the taxpayer, and not for Wall Street. That Wall Street is lobbying FOR it is a HUGE red flag.

    But the theory is that if there was really a crisis we’d be seeing it in the market. Off 161 today, not nearly a crisis. Oil down as investors got out of commodities and back into other investments. So, everything is working as planned.

    It seems to me the easiest solution to the mess is to simply declare all credit swaps null and void unless you hold the underlying bond while guaranteeing customer money market funds up to the FDIC limit and guarantee that FDIC will remain solvent whatever happens. Yeah, LOTS of people lose money because they’ve bet on these things failing and have been paying a premium on that bet, but lots of people are going to lose money no matter what, and the premiums have already been paid.

    How these things were ever allowed to be legal in the first place is the real crime. This is the craziest scheme I’ve ever heard of.

  67. 67.

    bago

    September 23, 2008 at 4:41 pm

    I think this is the picture of the day.

  68. 68.

    PGE

    September 23, 2008 at 4:48 pm

    I haven’t seen any pictures of this yet, but I assume at some point Paulson held up a vial representing “toxic” assets.

  69. 69.

    Kim

    September 24, 2008 at 8:00 am

    Don’t compensate the money men and women – they are part of the problem – compensate the investors at the low end :- 1) establish a valuation date for the investments – eg. April 16 th. 2007 , 2) establish an evaluation date for current personal capital holdings – eg. house – eg. September 2 nd. 2008 , 3) state that anyone can exchange ALL their investment holdings for their value at the valuation date up to a maximum amount of $1M minus any amount of their personal capital holding over the value of $1M . It’s a simple formula and it bails out the Mom and Pop investors and passes this bailout up the chain – ie. the companies who own the investments – such as mortgaged homes – can liquidate these homes at reduced prices without any problems and the government will get a return . It ensures that Mom and Pop investors can each get $1M and live in a home together to the value of $2M . It does ensure that the people who have hijacked the money markets don’t get rewarded . It does ensure that the wise investors survive , as they wont need a bail out , and become dominant – which is good for the industry .

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