The Steamroller

Get ready for the steamroller on the $700 billion bailout of Wall Street.

Yesterday was the time for throat clearing. It started to get out of hand. Opposition to the plan grew through this morning.

Then...

1. Warren Buffett, the Oracle of Omaha and the biggest billionaire of them all, bought into Goldman Sachs, betting on the upside of the bail out. Today, Buffett is praising Paulson, "talking his book."

2. The President announced he'd speak to the nation tonight at 9:00, undoubtedly to scare the devil out of us.

3. John McCain announced a "time out" from campaigning (When the going gets tough, the tough call time out) to come to Washington.

4. The Obama Campaign announced that he and McCain had agreed to meet and work out a joint position on the bailout.

Look out folks, the fix may well be in. Here's what it might look like:

President issues grave alarm tonight.

Leaders of both parties of both Houses of Congress promise a bill by the weekend.

Obama and McCain issue a statement (previously checked with Bernanke or Paulson?) with conditions for the bailout.

Buffett's move rallies investors and Wall Street lobbies organize full court press.

We get steamrolled.

The smartest sage on all of this, William Grieder of The Nation, has the best possible fallback position. "We should make one simple demand:

If taxpayer money is used, we want the same deal Buffett got." (Buffett's deal was preferred stock with 10% annual return and the right to convert to stock if the stock takes off after the bailout. Taxpayers should get the same deal.)

Comments

[srbeckman]

02:50 PM on 09/25/2008

Agreed. I want the same deal Buffett got. Nothing less or NO DEAL as to my share of the $700 billion the Congress is pledging.

[TXfemmom]

10:35 AM on 09/25/2008

The Dems need to slow down on this and take their time. I find it somewhat strange that this HUGE thing just happened overnight, when Paulsen and Barnanke have been saying they had it under control for months. Then, suddenly, overnight with just two weeks left in this session of Congress, it becomes something they have to achieve in twenty-fou­r hours.

This is partly something they kept under wraps until now, so Bush could make one last power play and try to reward the rich thieves one last time before he leaves office. The Dems need to keep Congress in session during the week, with weekends off for campaignin­g, and work diligently and slowly through this mess, while calming volatility by saying that they are reviewing the informatio­n and the problem and will take the appropriat­e steps to safeguard a meltdown. That shows them to be firm, protective of the people and the market, and prevents Bush from hijacking the government again.

They also need to make it perfectly clear that McCain is not helping and is getting in the way and doesn't even understand the process or the problem.

[ConcernedGuy]

12:12 PM on 09/25/2008

Why do people think there's some type of conspiracy­? Financial markets can move very quickly because it's an issue of confidence at the end of the day.

Plus - to say they need to make it perfectly clear the McCain is not helping and getting in the way?? That's absurd. He (and Obama) belong in Washington trying to craft what Frank and Dodd have called the most important bill they've constructe­d in their lifetimes.

One of them will be president and will need to implement it. To say that they shouldn't be involved in crafting the bill is completely absurd.

[Phil Waste]

10:17 AM on 09/25/2008

If this deal goes through like this, I'm done with America, I will not vote, I will look out for myself and to hell with anyone else.

Our countries leaders are bending over backward to give into blackmail and I don't want any part of it.

With all this pending doom and gloom the market is going up?

If anyone wants to lead a revolution­, I'm ready to join.

I don't know why I should be so upset, Bush went to war with lies and we did nothing about it.

I'm done, my brain just won't handle this anymore.

[GiggidyGeshmoygen]

09:27 AM on 09/25/2008

cheney, bush and rove are playing the democrats like a piano just like they've been doing for the last eight years and the american people are totally pissed off watching this kabuki charade that is trying to pass itself off as a democratic government

when are the dems gonna wise up and grow some moral backbone ?

where are the democrats, AND ESPECIALLY BARACK OBAMA, who will stand up to these corrupt traitors and criminals and tell them to go to hell where they belong ?.........­.....

[Geauterre]

08:53 AM on 09/25/2008

The article gives an impression that Americans can get a sweet heart deal if we cry enough to those who have everything to lose if we do. Hmm. Well, if that's the scenario we're walking on, perhaps it's time to consider changing our form of government to something more in keeping with a convention of clowns. At least you can get a laugh out that.

[spqesq]

09:23 AM on 09/25/2008

Reverse the roles and that's exactly what's happening. The Wall Street crowd is crying enough to those who have everything to lose (the American taxpayers) in the hopes of a sweetheart deal that will save their asses and preserve their way of life, standard of living, etc. And no, it's still not funny.

[All in All]

08:50 AM on 09/25/2008

"If taxpayer money is used, we want the same deal Buffett got." (Buffett's deal was preferred stock with 10% annual return and the right to convert to stock if the stock takes off after the bailout. Taxpayers should get the same deal."

I just said basically the same statement in one of My other Post!

It just make sense to Me.

[NoMercy]

08:53 AM on 09/25/2008

That would be socialism! tsk tsk...

[spqesq]

09:21 AM on 09/25/2008

Sort of... Here in 'Merika, we socialize losses and privatize profits.

[All in All]

09:28 AM on 09/25/2008

Using Taxpayers Money to Bailout Companies is the same as People Buying Stock in those Companies, is it not?

[koyonis]

08:33 AM on 09/25/2008

"This is a nation of inconsiste­ncies. The Puritans fleeing from oppression became oppressors­. We fought England for our liberty and put chains on four million of blacks. We wiped out slavery and our tariff laws and national banks began a system of white wage slavery worse than the first. Wall Street owns the country. It is no longer a government of the people, by the people, and for the people, but a government of Wall Street, by Wall Street, and for Wall Street. The great common people of this country are slaves, and monopoly is the master. " From a speech by Mary Elizabeth Lease (circa 1890)

Wall Street owns the country, but we pay for it.

[lanlee]

08:23 AM on 09/25/2008

Don't be surprised. Did you think it was mere coincidenc­e that George Bush is a descendant of King Edward I (known as King Edward the Longshanks - depicted in the movie Braveheart­)

http://www­.svu2000.o­rg/genealo­gy/George_­W.pdf

The illuminati have come back to claim their throne.

Stay safe my friends. May God preserve democracy and Freedom for all.

[sufi66]

08:13 AM on 09/25/2008

Meanwhile the Democrats cave on extending unemployme­nt benefits without even forcing a vote. That's playing tough!

Don't the Democrats know how to play a basic political game?

Looks like Nader was right. Is there that much of a difference between the two parties? I'm afraid that if you really "follow the money," as Deep Throat once advised, the answer is no.

[vooter]

07:55 AM on 09/25/2008

No, this is what Congress needs to understand­: PASSAGE OF THIS BILL IS WAR. If they're interested in starting a second civil war in the United States, this will do it for them.

[MitTheMan]

07:46 AM on 09/25/2008

How did we get this economic crisis?

Let’s go back to 2005 when Alan Greenspan told everyone there was a storm on the horizon if something wasn’t done about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. They were buying up mortgages they knew would default and selling them to other banking institutio­ns under the guise they were backed by the Government­. The Senate voted for stronger regulation of these two entities in order to halt this financial debacle. Every Republican voted for more regulation and every Democrat, led by Barney Frank and Charles Schumer, voted against it.

Now Barney Frank is pontificat­ing on a solution to the crisis, when in fact he has been blocking regulation for the past three years. In that same time period, both McCain and Bush have been trying to convince congressio­nal Democrats something needed to be done. Now, all of the sudden, it’s Bush’s fault and the same Democrats that let this happen, claim to have a solution.

[spqesq]

09:29 AM on 09/25/2008

Riiiight. And black is white, up is down and inside is out. You go ahead back to 1985 and ask yourself which party was in favor of de-regulat­ion of EVERYTHING­. PRIVATIZE the UNIVERSE!

The R's have controlled the WH and both houses of Congress and the Supreme Court for over a dozen years. The slim current dem majority is held together by LIEBERMAN - Corporate enemy - Banker battling - Anti-war - FOX news hating L I E B E R M A N ! ! !

Gimme a break.

[MitTheMan]

01:44 PM on 09/26/2008

FYI...

Fannie Mae was founded as a government agency in 1938 as part of Franklin Delano Roosevelt'­s New Deal to provide liquidity to the mortgage market. For the next thirty years, Fannie Mae held a virtual monopoly on the secondary mortgage market in the United States.

In 1968, to remove the activity of Fannie Mae from the annual balance sheet of the federal budget, it was converted into a private corporatio­n.[6] Fannie Mae ceased to be the guarantor of government­-issued mortgages, and that responsibi­lity was transferre­d to the new Government National Mortgage Associatio­n (Ginnie Mae).

In the late 1990s, the then-CEO Franklin Raines relaxed lending standards at Fannie Mae to allow subprime borrowers to obtain loans. This was done under the direction of the Clinton Administra­tion. Relaxing of Lending Standards

Fannie Mae was put under a conservato­rship of the U.S. Federal government on September 7, 2008

[zjr909]

07:25 AM on 09/25/2008

You gotta attach the right name to things. This is not a "bailout." It's plunder, pure and simple - a hell of a lot more dangerous than a simple, benign sounding "bailout." And it isn't just plundering the national treasury; it's plundering the very essence of our society - namely, that everyone gets at least some small say in how their money is spent. If Congress agrees to everything the Administra­tion is demanding, and adds neither oversight nor safeguards­, then everything people fought and died and struggled for over the past 200 years is destroyed in one fell swoop. You cannot continue calling a system based on naked plunder a democracy, let alone a "free society." For citizens to keep voting in a system turned overnight from a democracy to a dictatorsh­ip is not merely senseless - it's an abominatio­n. There's nothing more the people can do to make their voice heard; poll after poll after calls and emails and letters have made it abundently clear to Congress where we stand. If they choose to completely ignore us, that'll be nothing less than their final memo to us: "People of the USA, we've sold you lock, stock and barrell to the highest bidder. Have a nice day."

[MitTheMan]

09:17 AM on 09/25/2008

You can thank your congressio­nal Democrats for letting this happen. They're the ones that blocked reform of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

[spqesq]

09:30 AM on 09/25/2008

It's a coup to save the anarchist de-regulat­ors.

[DavidBlackburn]

07:04 AM on 09/25/2008

Of course another option is to take the Buffet approach and invest that $7,000,000­,000,000 in banks that don't own the paper, letting those that do get bought out or go under.

[DavidBlackburn]

07:02 AM on 09/25/2008

I suppose that everyone noted that President Bush said events had occurred within the past few weeks. I suppose his economic briefings have been during nap time for the past 10 months. For Senator McCain his awakening has only been within the past week and now he's so panicked that he wants to suspend his campaign? The only thing that's uglier than a panicked maverick is a pit bull that's afraid to appear before the free press.

[montemalone]

11:25 AM on 09/25/2008

These are people that act tough, so long as they know they won't actually have to defend themselves­.
Like the school bully that had a couple of larger, shall we say not so bright friends.

[GrainOSand]

05:07 AM on 09/25/2008

No bailout, no more robbery, no more cheating, no more stabs to the heart of a nation by the greedy. Let us rise up to beat down this scourge and start anew, challenged but unafraid. Shysters are trying to secure generation­al power and wealth. They will likely succeed.

http://www­.mcclatchy­dc.com/227­/story/528­56.html