Tue 23 Sep 2008
At this point, most of you have read about the Paulson plan that does not give one dollar to the PEOPLE with the bad mortgages, yet it costs every American over $3000. Frankly I could put that three thousand to a lot better use than Paulson.
Since Paulson has yet to detail what he is going to spend that money on. My rule is, if the Bush Administration is keeping something a secret, it is bad news.
This administration has been unable to manage any single fund. Social Security, Katrina, and Iraq have all turned out to be clusterfucks. Why should this be any different? It isn’t.
Keep in mind, the $700 billion is not a bailout, that is just the downpayment. It is a mortgage for the nation.
The only way we are going to be able to pay this off is to start selling off national parks.
As harsh as this may sound, but not all businesses deserve to be in business. I realize jobs are at stake, but jobs have been bleeding off for the past 8 years. If we pass this law, the end result will be even worse than the shot term pain if we just let these banks fail.
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September 23rd, 2008 at 8:38 pm
I couldn’t agree more… Many of these banks were running nothing more than scams. And they want us to pay for what is surely criminal behavior? I think not.
September 24th, 2008 at 9:34 am
It’s interesting that you should relate this to a Nigerian email scam. Yesterday I received an email from a friend who actually put the entire scenario in the guise of one of those emails. For those who are interested, here’s the email:
CONFIDENTIAL BUSINESS PROPOSAL
Dear Mr. American,
Good day and compliments.
I am HENRI PAULSON, the Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic of America, and the personal financial adviser to GEORGE W. BUSH (the eldest son of the former dictator of America, GENERAL GEORGE HUSSEIN WALKER BUSH).
This letter will definitely come to you as a huge surprise, but I implore you to take the time to go through it carefully as the decision you make will go off a long way to determine the future and continued existence of the entire members of my country.
It is with deep sense of purpose and utmost sincerity that I have the privilege to write you this letter knowing full well how you will feel as regards to receiving a mail from somebody you have not met or seen before. There is no need to fear, I got your address from a Wall Street business directory which lends credence to my humble belief. I also assure you of my honesty and trustworthiness. I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship with a transfer of funds of great magnitude.
During the last Military Regime here in America, the Government officials set up companies and awarded themselves contracts which were grossly over-invoiced in various ministries. My country has had great crisis that has caused the need for large transfer of funds of US$800,000,000,000.00 (eight hundred billion US dollars) in cash for safe-keeping. If you would assist me in this transfer, it would be of most profitable for you.
I am working with the honourable MR. PHIL GRAMM, lobbyist for UBS, who will be my replacement as Ministry of the Treasury in January. As Senator, you may know him as leader of the American banking deregulation movement in the 1990s.
This is a matter of great urgence. We need a immediate blank cheque. We need the funds as quickly as possible. We cannot directly transfer these funds in the names of our close friends because as civil servants we are constantly under surveillance by Democratic members of Congress, the media, and the American public. My family lawyer, MR. RICK DAVIS, advised me that I should look for a reliable and trustworthy person who will act as a next of kin so the funds can be transferred.
Please note that this transaction is 100% safe and we hope to commence the transfer latest seven (7) banking days from the date of the receipt of the following information: all of your bank account, IRA and college fund account numbers and those of your children and grandchildren to wallstreetbailout@treasury.gov so that we may transfer your commission for this transaction. This way we will use your country’s name to apply for payment in your name. After I receive that information, I will respond with detailed information about safeguards that will be used to protect the funds. That’s all. Let me know what you think about this.
We are looking forward to doing this business with you and solicit your confidentiality in this transaction.
May the Almighty show you mercy as you do so?
Your faithfully,
Dr. Minister of Treasury Paulson
September 24th, 2008 at 11:30 am
That $700 Billion is in Beltway dollars. IOW, it could obsolete Senator Dirksen’s old remark that a billion here, a billion there, and pretty soon you’re talking real money (if Federal Reserve notes are money rather than loan instruments of a quasi-legal, quasi-illegal, quasi-government, peculiar construct). Now we’re into a trillion here for economic meltdown firefighting, a trillion a year for war crimes, and that’s just a small cost of almost electing a “miserable failure” where Choicepoint, Diebold, and “Fat Tony the Fixer” (Scalia) can handle the rest.
It’s scarier when one reads what competent analysts find reading the actual proposal:
MAX FRAAD WOLFF — An economist, Wolff just wrote the piece ‘Cowardly New World,’ which states: ‘Secretary Paulson has attempted to declare himself the most equal of pigs in our animal house economy. The Treasury seeks more than $700 billion for itself under the sole auspices of the Secretary whose management helped bring us right over the brink. I say more because unlike so many commentators, I read the proposal. It only limits Treasury to $700 billion in balances at any one time (Section 6). If they buy $700B and lose 20 percent of the principle ($140B), Treasury will just buy another $140B. That restores market confidence?’
Wolff is an instructor at the Graduate Program in International Affairs at the New School University. He is a frequent contributor to Huffington Post, Asia Times and The Indypendent.
January 28th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
Very well stated. I think that this whole bailout idea is a complete joke. I thought we were a capitalist society. If you fail at running your business than you should have to close down. I know that it may cause employment issues, but hey there will be other companies that step in or join the marketplace now that the big gorillas have fallen.