Paulson's Plunder is The Scam of the Century
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Bob FertikWant to meet our members? Click 'Join' above!
The evidence is accumulating that Paulson's Plunder really is the scam of the (new) century.
* Testifying before the Senate Banking Committee on 9/23, Paulson lied about demanding dictatorial powers without oversight.
* On 9/15, Paulson reassured us that, "We're working through a difficult period in our financial markets right now as we work of[f] the past excesses, but the American people can remain confident in the soundness and resilience of our financial institutions." Five days later, Congress is told it has to cough up a $700 billion bailout package or the world's entire economic house of cards will collapse.
* Paulson has been working on this plan for some time, but waited until Congress' very last week to spring it on them in the frame of "certain death." Bush has used this "deadline ultimatum" scam successfully before - most notably with the Iraq War authorization in late September 2002 and the "Protect America Act" in late July 2007.
* Paulson's plan was a skimpy 2.5 pages with no business plan and a demand for unlimited power.
* The whole plan relies on the salesmanship of one tall "super-respected" establishment hero - just like the Iraq War relied on the salesmanship of Colin Powell.
* The Wall Street bankers, their lobbyists, and their ideologues - who are collectively responsible for the financial crisis and benefited the most from the real estate bubble - are trying to blame the crisis on Democrats. (Newt Gingrich, AEI's Kevin Hasset.)
* Paulson opposes giving taxpayers an equity stake (warrants) because it would "limit participation." As Kos writes, "Why should we give a shit if a provision "limits participation in the program"? I call that "saving taxpayers money". If a financial institution doesn't need our money to survive, then GOOD!"
* It's a perfect example of Naomi Klein's Shock Doctrine, where the powerful exploit (or manufacture) a crisis so they can rewrite the rules to make massive profits.
* Here's how far-right Republicans want to exploit the shock, according to dday:
The Republican Study Group - basically hard-right conservatives - have released their counter-proposal for the bailout. It includes suspending the capital gains tax for two years, privatizing Fannie and Freddie, and repealing the Humphrey-Hawkins Full Employment Act. In case you thought that the GOP suddenly got religion on economics and wanted to move forward without throwing money at rich people at the expense of the poor.
* A handful of House Democrats are cautiously revolting against Bush.
* The few remaining House Republican moderates are revolting against Cheney - for the first time in his entire 8 years!
* Bush says he's willing to negotiate - for the first time in his entire 8 years!
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Stop Paulson's Blunder
If you lost your home would you want a tax cut on top of losing your home? Would you want to bail out the "slim" that played roulette with your dream house? The Stock Market is a free market system, the only way we should support keeping it afloat is for every person that lost their home in 2007 or 2008 to foreclosure should be able to reclaim their property with supporting financial documentation to show he/she or they can support the payments moving forward. This will wipe out billions of dollars.
Oh if it were all so simple
Your blog is childish and irresponsible ( almost Republican like). This situation is so much more complicated than you present. The time for indignation was 2 years ago when we we all knew the real estate boom was not sustainable. Did any Democrats take advantage of the super heated home market? (did you?) Of course we did. We are also not on an island in the global economy. If we collapse, we all collapse together. The stock market is not the issue. Confidence, belief in the system is the heart of our national and international economy. It is on the brink... banks have stopped trading. I agree that Bush's lack of oversight is a huge aspect that caused the problem, but let's try to avoid a depression before we fall all over ourselves with righteous indignation. If you were responsible and didn't get into debt will that be enough solace when you lose your house too? Yea, that will show those bad guys.
sorry you make no sense
"banks have stopped trading"
huh? trading what? their shares are still being traded on Wall Street.
read a little more about the issue
The stock market is only the most visible trading platform. I'm speaking about trade among banks. Banks pump our economic blood (ie. money) by trading securities between banks and brokers. If a banks cannot find trading partners they die. If there is a trading gridlock then lots of banks die and you have a depression.
Then I have to ask if this was orchestrated...
We are talking about blue blooded ivy leaguers here, right? One would assume they have all the charts and graphs and could have stopped the crazy train at any time.
Just like enron, haliburton, blackwater, disney, foxnews, monsanto corp. the pharm industry, healthcare, BIG OIL, etc., etc., etc., ad infinitum... these base and vile, morally decrepit industries run by CEOs of the same caliber hanging on to Bush Co's coat tails to fleece and disenfranchise the American middle class into two classes... the very poor, a.k.a. the working schlubs and the elite rich.
Think that they, in concert, have conspired to taint and poison every thing they can possibly taint and ruin, just because they can. It isn't even a matter of not cleaning up after themselves... they deliberately conspire to poison and murder. This is all coming out. It is coming out in a flood and Bush and Co. will have no place on earth to hide because they have put their taint EVERYWHERE.
Just about the time when the world was dispairing that there was, perhaps, no God, afterall.
A little paranoia here.
A bit of paranoia on my part. One wonders if the neocons deliberlitly ran everything into the ground so that all they could fund would be the military.
Ah, the old "Independent"
Ah, the tired old "Independent" mindset that everyone is to blame but you guys.
The wealthiest 1% of the population of the USA have shown that they can not be trusted to run a "free market" economy. The "Independent" stance is to bail them, and their neoconservative political whores, out with no oversight.
It is "Independents" and other "not my fault" do-nothings who have allowed these criminals to prevail. If the "time for indignation" was two years ago, where were you?
We Democrats were right here -- demanding oversight of the crooks and liars who were cutting taxes, and "deregulating" the industry for their friends. Did you step up and try to help us? No, you were too busy standing on the outside throwing stones, and doing absolutely nothing else.
Please spare us your "Independent" bull hockey.
who said anything about independent
I'm a democrat... and plenty of democrats are among the wealthiest 1%. I'm saying that you and I are to blame just a much as the "bad guys". I hate Bush/all the he represents. However, I'm even more tired of the devisiveness and the "blame somebody, anybody" mentality. Just because the Republicans were wrong doesn't make the Democrats right. This is not a simple issue and a blind broadside with catchphrases designed to get people angry does not solve anything. Have you been listen to Obama?
republicans are to blame
first for bank deregulation and then for pumping up the housing market in 2004 to steal a 2nd term for Bush.
who cares...
so are you going to fix the crisis by blaming them... by calling the intervention a scam... read, learn, then suggest an action and be willing to listen to other points of view.
The problem is MUSH.
McCain's Mush.
Faux Democratic Mush.
Republican/Conservative Economic Theory is demonstrably false.
A subset of them are also evil. Not often the exciting kind, ugly, with teeth and fangs, but evil none the less. Further, the public at large does not respond to nuance, to mush.
We begin, not with compromise, but with a clear message:
CONSERVATIVE ECONOMIC THEORY IS FALSE.
Compromise with evil bastards got us exactly where we are today.
Compromise with conservative folks is welcomed!!!!!!!!
Jim
NO MUSH.
Conservative/Republican Theory got us:
We should:
-Stop putting dumb asses on pedestals.
-Collect the damned taxes. NO DEFICIT. Trivial.
-etc.
Nothing will be fixed UNTIL blame is established. Etched in stone in America's soul. Until then, Far Right Wingers will continue to blame "We the People", strategically targeted however to one group at a time: blacks, women, gays, liberals, immigrants, etc.
With that established we can add the footnotes.
Jim
P.S. if one needs ethical arguments as well, I'll provide them, including ones not relying on appeals to the Liberal heart.
I do care
I care but I am tired of no one mentioning why these Banks , corporations or whatever got so big that they "can't fail". Where are the anti-trust laws?
I do take offense at the majority of americans being blamed for this crisis.
This is the effect of 25+ years of deregulation. So some of us are a bit skeptical that the same people that have been screaming for deregulation now expect to be bailed out.
Maybe you should read some other points of view.
Sometimes somebody IS at fault.
Republican notions about Economics are FALSE.
That needs to be advanced on a visceral and academic level.
Some of what you say is correct. Some of what Obama says is correct. So too is what I opened with, and that happens to be the larger ball of wax.
It is a mistake, both politically and factually, to try to integrate footnotes, appendices, and caveats into the fundamental truths that folks have lost site of:
All we have heard for over a decade from Right Wing Talk Radio IS the damned footnotes: that folks can be lazy, that when we pool together our efforts via government there can be waste, etc. WELL NO DUH.
Time for change!
Jim
I agree...
trickle down is simply wrong. So, how do get from here to somewhere else? I'm simply pointing out that it is the Republicans that like to paint everything black and white. Reality says it's gray. Our economy is a very complicated machine that is in dire trouble. We need level headed, intelligent discussion... not accusations. If you are having a heart attack you don't disdain a defibulator because you don't like hospitals.
We "get from here to
We "get from here to somewhere else," by finally holding those responsible accountable. That will take both blame, and a responsible approach to a "fix."
I've been a player in the stock market for a while, and it will self-correct over time. Protecting the major market players will NOT solve the problem -- it will only delay the inevitable.
The level headed discussions...
...ARE filled with fire BECAUSE Republicans have made:
-Complexity (AKA Science) evil.
-Grey areas (AKA religion, whom we love, etc.) evil.
-Love of country (in non Conservative manners) evil.
-etc.
As far as the detailed, nuanced, footnoted conversation, I'm all for it, including making inroads within academic circles on Economic matters.
I do feel however, that nothing will be gained long term unless blame is affixed. I do not say this out of revenge or any other petty reasons. I am advancing the position that it is a necessary condition for the advancement of truths (some of which I enumerated in this thread) amongst the greater public.
I reiterate that compromise, and sensitivity to conservative folk's sensibilities, is paramount as well, in advancing both demonstrative truths about Economics, and Liberal goals (which while only opinion, deserve equal footing with conservative goals).
Jim
Your profile lists you as an
Your profile lists you as an "Independent," however, you sound like a neoconservative.
WE The People have a damned right to be angry because of the cronyism of this neoconservative Republican administration with their coroporate pimps. WE have a right to be angry about this runaway brand of obscene greed and corruption. WE have a right to angry about the artificial manipulation of the stock markets by the so-called "Captains of Industry," or in Dubya-speak, his "Have Mores."
Maybe YOU should read up a little more on what's happening to our Constitutional Rights, as well as our Treasury. This administration has run up the biggest deficit in the history of this nation, and you call for "understanding?" We are calling bullshit!
Your "forgive and forget" approach is the major reason that we are in this mess. If the do-nothings in Congress had the balls to impeach these crooks, we may not have reached this crisis point. Real Americans all across this country, Republicans and Democrats alike, are against this fat-cat bailout with no penalties attached. Enough is enough!
I sound like a neoconsertaive...
because I want to concentrate on a solution not retribution. Have you listened to Obama... ever?
Yes, I have listened to
Yes, I have listened to almost everything Obama has had to say, but I don't see your point. Obama is in no way responsible for this mess -- the neoconservative corporate enablers are.
Handing out great sums of our children's, and their children's, money is NOT the "defibulator" that we need at this time. That would be analogous to cutting out someone else's heart to save YOU from a heart attack. This "instant gratification," me-first, mindset is why we are, where we are.
The assumption that we are facing a major "depression" is just another example of the Rovian scare tactics used by neocons to bully the American taxpayers into giving them carte blanche to rob our treasury -- again.
If some banks need to fail, let them fail, as long as we don't allow those responsible to take their vaults home with them.
Obama...
is all about moving forward without rancor. His strongest messages have been about healing the divisions created by the Bush Whitehouse.
We may disagree about the required actions but virtually nobody believes the economy can survive without intervention. I think our actions must include saving the institutions AND enabling responsible home owners. There is no answer that will leave us unscathed. The question is what are we willing to endure. Will it help to make the banks the enemy?
Any "intervention" must have
Any "intervention" must have checks, balances, AND accountability attached. This is not a matter of "rancor," or blind blame-fixing, it is a matter of attaching responsiblility, and holding the criminals accountable -- both as a deterent to future crooks, and for societal retribution.
Just shoving gobs of unaccountable money at the problem will not "fix" it, unless someone learns the lessons to be gleaned from this fiasco.
Your "heart attack" analogy was a little off-base. This is more like advanced cancer, where radical surgery is necessary. The cure may be unpleasant, but it is necessary, and just relieving the symptoms will not suffice.
I like the cancer analogy...
but unfortunately our economy is having a heart attack and cancer. I'm truly afraid we won't make to chemo.
Dale, to find a solution, the problem must be
identified.
Deregulation, lack of oversight and unmitigated
greed drove the market to where it is today.
We can do something about this.
Demand oversight and regulation of the market.
Doing the same thing ( expecting a bailout with no accountability
or oversight) and expecting different results is
the definition of insanity.
Obama's message...
Maybe it is you who should listen a little more clearly to Obama's messages:
http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/09/23/campaign.wrap/index.html
Like a majority of Americans, Obama does indeed "fix blame" on the current administration.
dale919
dale919 your overwhelming certitude concerning your personal mental and moral superiority does not give you the right to make personal attacks on other members of this site. After more than a year here you should have found time to read the rules. Please find them here http://www.democrats.com/rules
Personal attacks are not allowed.
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross." ~ Sinclair Lewis
Holding people accountable will
prevent us from returning to this place. It will not heal our economy. It does not fix the divisions in our nation. And yes, the market will self repair... eventually. Are you willing to endure months or years of economic depression to punish those that are to blame?
If it means saving future
If it means saving future generations of Americans from having to pay for the mistakes of current generations, an unequivocal YES. This is not about you, or me. It is about the future of this nation, and those who will follow us.
However, if you buy the neocons' claim that the world is on the brink of financial disaster because a few of their friends on Wall Street are collapsing, I would draw your attention to their "crisis" reasons for invading Iraq. Would you buy a used car from these people, and expect it to make it off of the lot?
This "crisis" did not happen overnight, and going about a well-reasoned approach to addressing the situation will take as long as it takes. It may well indeed require that the USA taxpayer to be saddled with some of the bill, but there must be strings attached, and assurances obtained.
Here, here!
I agree wholeheartedly. I still believe that there is a time issue for some of the needed responses. You seem to be under the impression that it is only the neocons that believe we must act. I don't think that's true.
No, it is only the neocons
No, it is only the neocons who believe that we must act immediately, tomorrow, and listen to their advice only.
No one has said that no response is necessary, only that a reasoned response (intervention?) is absolutely necessary. If that response includes allowing certain "financial titans" to fail, and allow other, more responsible, financial firms to assume their assets, so be it.
For some examples, see this thread:
http://www.democrats.com/is-there-a-financial-crisis
Where is the division?
That is the nub of the question.
When folks laugh at pictures of Iraqi children horribly maimed or killed in the war (as posted on internet forums) one knows that THAT division can not be healed. Those folks are as different from me as can be. No need for compromise or conversation. None.
On the other hand there is a larger group who have bought into Conservative Economic Theory who are reachable.
Without reaching them there is no hope for advancement, and that requires shaking them to the core a bit. Affixing blame helps with that.
Additionally, within that group one finds folks who do not possess a liberal heart but who, none the less, can be reached via other sensibilities.
Finally, with the above group restored to an American balance, your damned right we must all sit down and compromise. That is Americanism.
Jim
Holding people accountable.
We must absolutely hold the people accountable who created this disaster. It is necessary that they be made an example of to deter the same improprieties in the future. It seems likely that we are going to endure more hardship anyway even if the Wall Street fat cats get off with no consequences whatsoever. Too many people were aleady going through hard times because of the policies of the Bush Administration long before this latest fiasco. I feel that bringing our nation to the brink of economic collapse should be considered just as treasoness as a spy who sells our intelligence secrets to a foreign adversary.
SCAM!
I’m feeling more & more that this bailout of Wall Street is the Biggest Scam in our History of the taxpayers, and our “wimps” in Congress are buying it. Who was it that said “Fear” is our biggest enemy, with these eight years of the Bush Administration he has drove us with Fear. I really think we had better sit back and take a good look at “BAILOUTS”, to me it is like throwing good money away, and nothing good can come out of it. I do see Billionaires walking away with the bailout money!
Everything going on in this
Everything going on in this country for the past eight years is inexcusable and criminal. Every dirty trick played to gain attention and to further their agenda got dirtier and dirtier as each year has gone by.
I've been listening to the congressional meetings for the past two days. I've heard them say the banking laws/regulations(non) aren't working for modern banks and they need to be changed to catch up with the modern way banks do business. This administration always has some reason things aren't working right.
Next we will hear them say the words in the Constitution aren't keeping up with modern times and that may need to be changed too. (Maybe we've already heard Bush say that).
It's all very disgusting. If people don't start seeing through these increasingly dirty tricks and crisis events, we, as a Nation we know and love, will be done. The future for our kids will not be as we know and want it to be.
Obama definitely knows how to accomplish this task before him if he's elected. He knows the WE is more important than the ME in order to get this mess cleaned up. WE all need to work together to get him elected. Then after that, hand out all the brooms, mops, wrecking trucks, and disinfectant to clean it all up! That could very well take a long time, but the dirt is really ground in by now. Obama can get the WE put together to do it.