Hey Congress, Tell Mr. Paulson: No Public Investment without Public Equity
Wait a minute. What's that smell? Big Daddy might detect a powerful odor of mendacity coming off the Paulson Bailout Plan, but I'm just picking up more rotten fish from the man from Goldman Sachs.
The Bush administration, now presumably winding down, has pursued three activities relentlessly over the course of its tenure: undermining the rule of law, transferring the public wealth to private hands, and attempting to establish imperial sway abroad. While the third of these efforts has not gone well, the administration, with the complicity of a supine and compromised Congress, has achieved astonishing success on the first two. Now, as the election looms, and the administration sees its inner lame duck winging toward that January 20th horizon, it makes one last great and truly spectacular push to roll Congress one more time so as to empty what remains of the public treasury into private pockets.
As we go into a week of negotiations over the administration's plan for a Wall Street bail out, the Congress has a golden opportunity to redeem itself by addressing a simple but crucial question.
Secretary Paulson proposes to stabilize the financial markets by allowing Treasury to buy bad loans from the private sector. While I fully see the urgent need to recapitalize the financial services industry, this seems a peculiar (really a predictably Bushian) way to do it. As Paul Krugman points out, the most equitable and straightforward way for the taxpayers to recapitalize these over-leveraged firms would be to buy not their bad paper, but their stock. This would replenish capital and place a temporary floor under collapsing stock prices.
Most important from the taxpayer's point of view, it would give us an equity share with which to assert the public interest in how these firms are run and to recoup the public investment when they return to solvency.
In this season when they are mindful of the need to return to their districts and ask for our votes, we can help our representatives in Congress keep focus by urging them to assert an essential free-market principle: No public investment without public equity. To do otherwise is simply to continue and greatly exacerbate the practice of privatizing profit while socializing risk.
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POOF! THE BAILOUT DRAGON
(to the melody of Puff the Magic Dragon, Peter, Paul & Mary)
Adapted by WilliamBanzai7
POOF!, the bailout dragon lived by the subprime sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist near a land of Wall Street greed,
Little Hanky Paulson loved that rascal POOF!,
And brought him mortgage backed securities and other fancy finance stuff. oh
POOF!, the bailout dragon lived by the subprime sea
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land of Wall Street greed,
POOF!, the bailout dragon, savior of all deadbeats,
And frolicked in the autumn mist in a land of Wall Street greed.
Together they would travel on a workout boat with billowed sail
Hanky kept a lookout perched on POOF!s gigantic tail,
Finance kings and princes would bow wheneer they came,
Pirate ships would lower their flag when POOF! roared out his name. oh!
Chorus
Wall Street lives forever but not so little boys
Without leverage and quantitative finance you can't make make fancy toys.
One grey night it happened, Hanky Paulson came no more
And POOF! that mighty dragon, he ceased his fearless roar.
His head was bent in sorrow, greenbacks ceased to rain,
POOF! no longer wanted to play financial legerdemain.
Without his life-long friend, POOF! could not be brave,
So POOF! that mighty dragon sadly slipped into his bailout cave. oh!
Chorus
Henry the Bailout King of 2008 I am
(to the melody of Henry the Eighth I am, Hermans Hermits)
WilliamBanzai7
I'm Henry of 2008 I am
The Henry the Bailout King of 2008 I am, I am
I got stakes in all the banks next door
They've been bailed seven times before
And all the bankers love Henry (Henry!)
Without him they won't get a penny from Uncle Sam (no Sam!)
I'm the Bailout King, I'm Henry
Henry of 2008 I am
Second verse same as the first!
I have been watching Sen. Dodd and company explore the $700 billion bail out all morning. Their explination seems to be that for various reasons the "clog" in the finacial system originated in failed and failing home morgages secttion. This "trickled up " through the system. However, none of our representatives seem to be able to conceve of the possability , that giving an infusion, directly in to the "clog" would allso "trickle up" through the system. I think that as tax payers we would be a lot more willing to see a balilout designed to work from the bottom up. The experts allso stated that the crissis is a first time and never before seen scenarion. Perhaps the solution needs allso to be a first time and novel one. I think we need to be talking about makeing loans to mortgaged home owners ,backing our neighbors, and indirectly the mortgage companies. "Trickle up" . That is, if our representatives can tolerate the whineing , bound to ensue from the finacial institutions.
I've been watching senator Dodd and company this morning, and it seems to me that if the solution to the housing crisis is a $700 billion injection, it should be given directly into the "clog" . That is to say , we tax payers might make the loans directly to the home owners recently foreclosed upon, in foreclosure, or those about to enter into foreclosure. If done quickly It might have the same kinds of desired effects as loaning the money to the forclosrs. The "experts" have been sayin all morning that this is a new / never encountered situation. It seems to me that the solition may need be a new and never encountered solution. Let the funds "trickle up".
Finally someone might be talking about the taxpayer..
I would not give these people one dime without removing the Bush tax cuts for the rich and giving the bottom 60% tax modifications to promote real estate stability for these working families..
Dole is a stooge for the plan,,, She would rather take care of Wall Street than the soldiers and familiese who live in her state. Think Fort Bragg and Pope Air Force base....
Ok while hardworking citizens are worrying about groceries, gas, and ghastly bills. With only a $300 stimulis piss package, which hasn't helped (go figure). Now they want us to bail out wall street without preconditions while still worrying about OUR own well being and a UNNECESSARY WAR that is costing us BILLIONS a month something has got to give, and I don't mean our HEARTS. WTF!!! where am I, I have obviusly missed something.
Jon Tester and Menendez did a fabulous job... These slime balls Paulson and Cox should be thrown out....I am not sure about Bernanke..
Paulson quit your whining and throw Phil Gramm out of the negotiatio
We don't have universal healthcare because the GOP says we can't afford it. We may have to raise the age of retirement because we "can't afford" social security. But somehow we can afford to make sure the richest people in society get to keep their billions they made by gambling with the money trusted to them. We can't afford to extend unemployment, but can afford for the taxpayers to pay for a spa weekend in Switzerland for the harried financial aristocracy. Make no mistake about it, this is exactly what the poster said, further transfer of wealth from the many to the few. The royalists never gave up. They have won the American Revolution.
In addition to the shared urgency of purpose in electing Barack Obama as President we must elect a 60-40 Democratic Senate majority.
As our financial institutions crumble around us, the Bush Administration, managed by the most extreme adherents of Market Fundamentalism since Hoover, has proposed a bailout amounting to nearly $1 Trillion in institutionalized Socialism. Having destroyed the foundation of our economy this Administration is now intent on billing the American taxpayer.
The irony is that over the last 2 Senate sessions the minority Republicans have set records in the number of partisan filibusters blocking much needed legislatio
A 60-40 majority in the Senate allows the Democrats to legally quash obstructionist filibusters and get our representatives back to work solving the extremely serious problems currently facing our nation.
I urge you to add your voice and your financial contributions to the following Senate campaigns where strong Democrats are facing vulnerable Republicans:
- Alaska: Mark Begich http://www
- Colorado: Mark Udall http://www
- Idaho: Larry LaRocco http://www
- Louisiana: Mary Landrieu http://www
- Minnesota: Al Franken http://www
- Mississippi: Ronnie Musgrove http://mus
- Nebraska: Scott Kleeb http://www
- New Hampshire: Jeanne Shaheen http://www
- New Mexico: Tom Udall http://www
- North Carolina: Kay Hagan http://www
- Oregon: Jeff Merkley http://www
If a CEO gets fired for doing a bad job, why should he or she be excluded from the sting of showing up at the unemployment office? Typically, they are wealthy enough to choose whether or not they WANT to work again. How many of us have that luxury? Instead, they are rewarded for poor performance, and now, we are all expected to pay for their disasters.
not only that, we are asking them to bail out the ship with their lily white hands... throw them overboard NOW....
Shelby is spouting some decent commments, but this is politicing and I do not trust him at all because he has voted with Bush and McCain 90% of the time....
Ballad of Komrad Hank (Gorgy Busz's Kommerz Sekretary)
(Tune of Beverly Hillbillies)
Come and listen to a story about a fine komrad named Hank
A szwanky Goldman banker, who ably kept his partners fed,
Then one day he was laughin at some AIG fools,
And up through the ground came a toxic derivative krude.
CDSs that is, fools gold, Wall Street tea.
Well the first thing you know ol Hank buys billionz of CDOz n szhares,
Taxpayers said "Hank move away from here"
Said Zheleznodorozhny is the place you ought to be"
So he loaded up the junk and shipped it overseas (to Moscow that is).
Szwimming pools, Oligarchs , and everything.
Well now its time to say good by to Hank and all his bailout kin.
And they would like to thank you kapitalist fools fer kindly droppin in.
You're all invited back again to this socialist locality
To have a heapin helpin of state hospitality
Set a spell, Take your white shoes off.
Do swidania, y'hear?.
http://wil
HOLDING THE BAG
NEWSWIRE--As Congress considers bailout legislation, there is uncertainty whether it will provide homeowners with mortgage assistance.
Halloween's still weeks away,
But tricks of finance start today:
Some get gift bags in the billions,
Others, pennies (mere civilians).
Whether treat's insane or small,
Depends if street is Main- or Wall-.
www.newsan
Light verse, ripped from the headlines
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