The "Mother of All Bailouts"

As Paulson Defends $700B Plan To Buy Bad Debt, Congress Sees No End In Sight

(CBS)  Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson defended the Bush administration's proposal to spend up to $700 billion to buy up bad debt of financial institutions struggling with illiquid assets (such as defaulted mortgages), saying not acting would have jeopardized the possibility of anyone getting a loan - and may have jeopardized Americans' savings and retirement funds.

Over the course of the week, the stock market dropped by a thousand points, and then rallied for a thousand points on news of the government bailout. "But underneath the surface, credit markets and capital markets were freezing up. And when the capital markets freeze up, then mainstream American companies have trouble raising money to do their job; farmers will have trouble getting loans, small business people will have trouble getting loans. This would then hurt the broader economy," Paulson said.

"This was a situation that we couldn't allow to go on."

The chain reaction had its roots, Paulson said, in irresponsible behavior and lending practices, and from people borrowing money when they shouldn’t have. The illiquidity that resulted meant financial institutions could not function.

Appearing on CBS News' Face The Nation, Paulson said the $700 billion plan was the "least costly" option.

"We felt this was the best way to stabilize the situation, unclog the system so that it can work."

"I hate the fact that the taxpayer is going to be at risk, but the taxpayer was already at risk. And I think this is going to minimize the cost to the taxpayer. "

Host Bob Schieffer noted that the figures being discussed for the bailout are higher than what the United States has spent on the Iraq War.

But Paulson was quick to differentiate between money tied to Iraq and the costs associated with the administration plan to purchase bad debt.

"The Iraq war was expenditures," Paulson said. "This is purchasing assets, holding assets, reselling assets, with money coming back into the Treasury. The taxpayer is clearly at risk, but … this, I think, will minimize the risk and the cost to the taxpayer."

"We as a people always work through these situations. We will work through this situation. The markets will stabilize over time and then we will do what we need to do to clean up the mess."

But the costs of the program augur a tremendous jump in the budget deficit. How will the incoming administration handle that?

"Well, the next president is going to have some challenges," Paulson said, "and there's no doubt that debt issuance by the United States of America is going to go up. I'm not minimizing it at all, but I want to continually emphasize, because sometimes people get confused, this is different than spending money you know you're never going to get back; this is buying assets, holding assets and then selling assets. And although I can't tell people now what the cost of that process will be, and there is a risk, the ultimate cost will be determined by how quickly the economy is stabilized and what happens in the housing markets."

"Are you asking other foreign governments to help as well?" Schieffer asked.

"We have, we are urging others to do so. A number have expressed willingness to do so. This is, you know, a global financial system. I'm not saying anyone is committed to do this yet, but … we've started that dialogue."

But will the final plan that Congress approves be limited to giving money to banks, or will homeowners or others hard-hit by the financial crisis be included?

When asked to comment on Paulson's remark that he wanted a plan passed "clean and quick," Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.), Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said, "Secretary Paulson and I have a lot of agreement, but we have a difference on what's 'clean.'" With over six percent unemployment, Frank said, "Let's not forget other problems as we focus on this one. I don't think that dirties up the bill.

"We're on track to lose over a million private sector jobs this year, and this [crisis] is going to exacerbate an already bad situation."

Another concern was executive compensation for officers of companies who are being bailed out. "It would be a grave mistake to say that we're going to buy up the bad debt that resulted from the bad decisions of these [private sector] people and then allow them to get millions of dollars on the way out. The American people don't want that to happen and it shouldn't happen."

Frank said Congress wants to add measures that would slow down the number of foreclosures. "It's kind of hard to tell the average American that we're going to continue to have foreclosures that destabilize neighborhoods and deprive cities of revenues they need, but we're going to buy up the bad paper."

Sen. Richard Shelby (R-Ala.), the ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, thought the $700 billion estimate - which Paulson stated might be an over-estimate of actual costs - was not realistic. "It's going to be about $1 trillion at least.

"We don't know the endgame in this. And I'll tell you what bothers me about this: that I believe that the chairman of the Fed and the Treasury Secretary Paulson, with all due respect to them, they've been staggering from crisis to crisis and they haven't even said today that this will end the crisis. He said this will lubricate the financial markets if we take the financial sludge, as we call it, off the books of the banks. But as Congressman Frank said, this doesn't do anything for the homeowner. This is doing something for the banks. And if [homeowners] get any relief, it'd be incidental."

Frank said the amount of debt that the government would take on strengthens his argument for a surtax on the wealthiest Americans - those who made the mistakes in the financial market, or who profited handsomely from them at the expense of the system. "It's almost as if we let them take the economy hostage by not having appropriate financial regulation.

"I agree with the secretary, it's not going to ultimately cost all these hundreds of billions - we'll recover most of it, maybe all of it - but I do think at this point the people making over $1 million a year, a surtax on their incomes, that's one way to get the people who made these mistakes to contribute to the cost of undoing it. But I do stress, I'm speaking only for myself here."

Shelby ("I'm not a taxer") said that the burden on the taxpayer is unavoidable. "When we add an additional trillion dollars to the debt … sooner or later there's got to be a reckoning, as you allude to. And I don't know what's going to happen. But I can tell you, you add a trillion here and a trillion there, and you've got a lot more debt on the American people, and that's what I'm concerned about.

"We've been down this road before, through the thrift bailout. [It] cost the American taxpayer billions of dollars. This is the mother of all bailouts and we don't see the end in it yet."

---

Read the full "Face the Nation" transcript here.

By CBSNews.com producer David Morgan.

[steppin]

why dont they want to help us? I dont think them Ppl in Washington would no what what to do if they were broke

[tscc2]

Republicans want to bail out the capitalists. Obama wants a bailout the homeowners. With a trillion dollars bailout, so $200 billion will go to help homeowners. Bush/McCain/Palin will do everything they can to not help homeowners and that is why we are in this mess. If the Republicans would have rescued homeowners 12 months ago as Obama wanted, this whole mess would have been avoided.

[morris61]

More Corporate welfare from the neocons,this will only stop after the US files for bankruptcy. A One Trillion Dollar bailout for the Banks.Zero for homeowners.By the way,whats the next"crisis"?Let me guess,wait until 2 days before it implodes,then bail the next set of Banks out on the weekend before the oversees markets open.

[credibility2]

This is criminal, not to mention disgraceful. Millions of Americans, myself included, had absolutely nothing to do with the stupidity of greed of some on Wall Street and Main Street, yet we''re collectively being punished for their egregious malfeasance. Blame the foreclosure mess on mostly the Dems for sticking with a loose canon of a program that was an entitlement for low-income folks just to give inclusion and feel all Kumbaya and give them a part of the so-called American Dream, home ownership, even though they weren''t entitled it, like rotten credit, low income and debt ratio to the size of mortgage, etc. Banks and other lenders were scamming the system too, but the inept homeowners and those living way beyond their means actually believed that they could get anything just because they were breathing air. No one has helped me. But, now I''m being shoved against the wall and forced to help out all of these deadbeats, slackards and socialists.

[davewrite1]

To understand the roots of America%u2019s current dilemma, we must turn the clock back to 1981. It was then that Ronald Reagan, preaching the gospel of supply-side economics, successfully pushed out the last vestiges of FDR liberalism. Although it became known as Reaganomics, David Stockman, his private tutor and OMB Director, claimed that Reagan barely understood its principles or long-term ramifications. Besides emplacing a new vision of economic correctness, Reagan began the elitism, militarism, and imperialism that have evolved into the actions and policies of the current administration.

The catechism of the new economics stressed the shrinking of government and a reduction in taxes and government spending, leaving more money in the hands of productive citizens. According to the theory, citizens would spend the money on products or services, and they would invest the money in businesses, thereby boosting the economy and expanding markets. And much of this did occur. What also occurred, thanks to deregulation, were high-risk business deals, stock market surges, billion-dollar mergers and takeovers, and corruption, nonpareil. Government was described as the problem %u2013 the enemy -- not the solution, so government revenues would be reduced by tax cuts

[credibility2]

The Community Reinvestment Act of 1977 has contributed to the housing market meltdown by deadbeat borrowers and banks and lenders frightened into not being accused of redlining in order to promote their other products. Hey, if a person can''t afford something, they haven''t any right to obtain it. This includes credit cards and home mortgages. Can''t afford a house, then continue renting until you have enough money to qualify for one. And, while you''re at it, always have an attorney who specializes in real estate reviewing your documents before you sign anything, and this includes having them at your closing. If you don''t, you''re just a stupid fool and you deserve to be a loser.

[kissamaarse]

So our government is going to nationalize the losses and privatize the profits. This is the sickest marriage of capitalism and socialism I have ever seen! Either let the financial services industry fail and the chips fall where they may, or nationalize these failed institutions and should they ever become profitable again, let the American tax payers benefit.

[ubrew12]

A shoe company builds shoes, a deoderant company builds deoderant. But what does Wall Street build? Wall Street builds knowledge: the proper valuation of a companies worth. On the open market, the many trades result in knowledge of what a companies worth is, and this is valuable because money can then be invested properly.

A few days ago, Americans woke up and heard Wall Street say that it had been wrong in estimating the value of one critical component of our economy: itself. In fact, it was actually worth $1 trillion less than it had previously claimed it was.

At the least, this means Wall Street wasn''t doing its job, and should be fired. At the worst, it means Wall Street was inflating its value and hiding the inflation from the ''free-market'' it supposedly believes in, and should be jailed.

Instead, we''re going to reward Wall Street for this incompetence or perfidy with our tax dollars: no questions asked. If Wall Street is rewarded in this way, this definitely wont be the last time this happens. Once the gov''t reveals that when they said ''free market capitalism'' they didn''t mean it, expect bailouts to come from every direction.

[davewrite1]

Some years ago, after being besieged by relentless predatory lenders, I tried to discourage them by filling out a false application. I claimed to be a felon recently released from prison, adding that I never held a steady job, paid a bill on time, nor did I expect to in the future. When I was flooeded with even more offers, I knew that I was dealing with a criminal element and than an economic collapse could not be far off. That was about two years ago.

These sub-prime mortgages packaged with legitimate ones were sold on world markets. It''s what Uncle Same is now buy back with the money of ordinary taxpayer money. The high rollers may have to sacife a mansion or two, or simply lay low for a while.

[txpatriot4us]

Credibilitytwo; You have lost all credibility when you make such and incorrect statement.

"Blame the foreclosure mess on mostly the Dems for sticking with a loose canon of a program that was an entitlement for low-income folks just to give inclusion and feel all Kumbaya and give them a part of the so-called American Dream, home ownership, even though they weren''''t entitled it, like rotten credit, low income and debt ratio to the size of mortgage, etc."

PHIL GRAHAM McCains Finance Guru is the root cause of this mess of deregulation! Get your facts straight and possibly regain your credibility. Bush has ruined our economy with his "Friend''s that got drunk on Wall Street." HIS WORDS. Do you expect "I know nothing about the economy" Sen. McCain to change anything?

[steppin]

how come they wont help us? I live in mich and move in with my Grandma. there are going to be more cut backs up here unemployment going to reach 12 maybe 20%

[credibility2]

taxpatriot4us: blame both parties in Congress, but the banking act was pushed through by guilt and trying to accommodate low-income people getting home mortgages they should have never been entitled to get. This banking act was an entitlement act right out of the socialist Dem''s playbook. What kind of moron and fool who has bad credit, makes little money, has no assets, can''t have income verified, etc. actually believes they''re entitled to home mortgage without intelligently making comparisons and having some minimal working knowledge of the market, or seeks legal counsel for guidance? Stupidity and ignorance is no excuse for falling for the boy do I have something for you scam? True, there were other factors contributing to the meltdown, but most foreclosures are due to ignoramuses that hadn''t any business getting a mortage in the first place. Many are deliberately defaulting since the home values are less than the mortgage loan amount. Many never could afford the initial loan and certainly weren''t in a position to continue paying for it. What ever happened to individual responsibility and accountability? Wall Street and Main Street welfare needs to stop, even if that means low-income people never again get a mortgage unless they''re truly qualified for one. Same goes for credit cards. Live within your means like the rest of us.

[scorpio59er]

Full-Spectrum Breakdown

The problems cannot be resolved by shifting the debts of the banks onto the taxpayer. That''s an illusion. By adding another $1 or $2 trillion dollars to the National Debt, Paulson is just ensuring that interest rates will go up, real estate will crash, unemployment will soar, and foreign central banks will abandon the dollar. In truth, there is no fix for a deleveraging market anymore than there is a fix for gravity. The belief that massive debts and insolvency can be erased by increasing liquidity just shows a fundamental misunderstanding of economics. That''s why Henry Paulson is the worst possible person to be orchestrating the so called rescue project. Paulson comes from a business culture which rewards deception, personal acquisitiveness, and extreme risk-taking. Paulson is to finance capitalism what Rumsfeld is to military strategy. His leadership, and the congress'' pathetic abdication of responsibility, assures disaster. (MORE)

http://www.counterpunch.org/whitney09202008.html

[credibility2]

The bonuses paid to many of these CEOs is egregious, especially since many receive bonuses based on numbers that eventually need to be restated. The boards of these businesses need to institute a pay-back system of the differential of what was paid and what was restated. Unfortunately, the government can''t legislate wages, bonuses, ethics or morality. Greed is a temptation and we''re seeing the ills of it with this crisis by those on Wall Street and Main Street. Don''t hold your collective breath waiting for an apology by any of them, or a thank you for bailing them out, either. Immorality and a lack of ethics also doesn''t equate to humility and personal accountability.

[ubrew12]

mtracy99 said: "In the U.S.... If you are a profitable institution, your profits will go to individuals -- mainly to wealthy individuals. On the other hand, if your unprofitable, your loses will be absorbed by the citizenry at large. "

It does appear that the arc of Reaganomics has been revealed to be ''Privatize Profits, Socialize Losses''. Too bad it happened too late for the many who''ve been spouting that corrupted philosophy for 25 years to do anything about it now but pay the man.

[hotpaulie]

I am sick of all this carefree spending by this administration. They are setting up the next president - no matter what party - up for disaster.

[jmurrieta11]

"We''ve been down this road before, through the thrift bailout. [It] cost the American taxpayer billions of dollars. This is the mother of all bailouts and we don''t see the end in it yet."



And the curious thing is the role that John McCain has played in both of these huge taxpayer bailouts of the Wall Street elite and the ultra-rich elite.

The operative word there is "elite".

McCain panders to this elite. McCain is OK with giving billions of our dollars to this elite.

But, oh no, McCain isn''t an elitist!!

Obama is the elitist, according to McCain!!

But McCain hasn''t yet found an elite organ he hasn''t sucked.

[jmurrieta11]

Gosh, we can''t have the court reviewing any decisions by His Excellency, the Chimp In Chief, the Decider, George Bushit!

His decisions have all been flawless and without error!

Haven''t they?

[aicohnx2]

We''re going to turn the treasury secretary into the manager of the biggest hedge fund on god''s green earth, all in the interests of preventing a "severe recession".

I''m sorry, but I''m not buying this idiotic plan. Booms & busts are inherent in the free-market system. We can''t accept the booms & then decide we''ll intervene to prevent the busts any more than we can privatize the gains while socializing the risks.

Without a doubt this is the dumbest plan to come out of the bush administration yet (& they''ve had some real doozies!). The thing I hate most about George Bush is that he isn''t even a good republican. Adam Smith is spinning around in his grave right now!!

[nearl4511]

It''s times like these that make me wish I understood more about how our financial systems work (or are supposed to).

I find myself ignorant of the extent of the current crisis (i.e risk if nothing is done) and unsure whether or not this bailout is just the beginning of Govt having to take over to keep solvency.

I feel like a mouse on a roller coaster with no seat belt....best to jump or not or is it just fate at this point.

[scorpio59er]

Full-Spectrum Breakdown

The problems cannot be resolved by shifting the debts of the banks onto the taxpayer. That''s an illusion. By adding another $1 or $2 trillion dollars to the National Debt, Paulson is just ensuring that interest rates will go up, real estate will crash, unemployment will soar, and foreign central banks will abandon the dollar. In truth, there is no fix for a deleveraging market anymore than there is a fix for gravity. The belief that massive debts and insolvency can be erased by increasing liquidity just shows a fundamental misunderstanding of economics. That''s why Henry Paulson is the worst possible person to be orchestrating the so called rescue project. Paulson comes from a business culture which rewards deception, personal acquisitiveness, and extreme risk-taking. Paulson is to finance capitalism what Rumsfeld is to military strategy. His leadership, and the congress'' pathetic abdication of responsibility, assures disaster. (MORE)

http://www.counterpunch.org/whitney09202008.html

[jmurrieta11]

Sarah Palin''s remedy for the financial crisis:

"Alakazoo and bibbety boo, and bibbety bobbity boo.
Put them together and what do you got? Bibbity bobbity bibbity bobbity bibbity bobbity boo!"

[credibility2]

Nearl4511 - most of us don''t fully understand the confusing intricacies and there''s no shame or remorse in this fact. Some of the financial talking heads feel that there was an over-reaction and unnecessary panic on Wall Street, especially comparing the crash of 1987 when a much higher percentage of the market was lost compared to what we experienced last week. However, our economy wasn''t as global then as it is today. The taxpayers are being asked to bailout too many greedy Wall Street and Main Street idiots. What happens when the rest of us need to be bailed out? Who will come and rescue us? Greed ruins and robs the person of morality, ethics, integrity and humanity.

[usgeneral-2009]

This entire effort by Paulson has a familiar, horrifying rotten smell to it. Remember The Patriot Act? Like Paulson''s proposal, The Patriot Act was rushed through Congress during a previous emergency. Initially only a few, outstanding Americans, like Al Gore and Russ Feingold, recognized this Act for for what it is - the worst assault on American civil liberties ever "approved" by the US Congress, if you can call a POS legislation that wasn''t even read by the majority of those voting for it as "approved". Today, of course, anybody familiar with the gory details of this act realize that it should never have been enacted, and that it must be repealed to restore the protections to Americans'' freedoms as defined in the Constitution and Bill of Rights.

With the gross incompetence of Congress and its "leaders", it is easy to see another, similar tragedy unfolding with Paulson''s outrageous proposals. This time, we can only hope that there is a Gore and Feingold around who succeed in preventing enactment of yet another disgraceful piece of legislation.

[aicohnx2]

This "mother of all bailouts" has my vote for "mother of all idiocies". It is really a very desperate, extremely stupid & counterproductive idea.

[aicohnx2]

Sarah Palin''''s remedy for the financial crisis:

"Alakazoo and bibbety boo, and bibbety bobbity boo.
Put them together and what do you got? Bibbity bobbity bibbity bobbity bibbity bobbity boo!"

The only problem is this makes more sense & will do less real damage than what''s being proposed here.

[txgrouch2006]

EIGHT YEARS FROM NOW (IF our country still exists)

The US dollar will be worthless on the foreign market. We will be unable to buy ANY imports. Manufacturing will be forced to move back here OUT OF NECESSITY. We will become a self-sufficient and independent economy.

Foreign countries will cease to buy our bonds. Once we cease buying their exports to support their economy, they have no reason to continue lending money to us to prop up our sham economy. All deficit spending will cease.

Foreign sham economies that have been scavenging off ours will either sink or swim without us. Some or all will collapse, and they will cease to pose a threat of foreign competition in ANY market.

Credit will be unobtainable in this country. We will be forced to live within our means. If we want something expensive, we will have to SAVE OUR PENNIES and buy it out of savings.

There will be a mass exodus of recent immigrants when they realize things are better back home. So they%u2019ll go back home.

Illegal workers will stop at the border and ask themselves, %u201CIs it REALLY worth the trip? Things STINK there.%u201D

Even the lowest paying jobs will become available to PERSONS WHO WERE BORN HERE. And we%u2019ll take them because WE HAVE NOWHERE TO GO BACK TO.

In other words, WE WILL BE FORCED TO DO WHAT WE SHOULD HAVE BEEN DOING ALL ALONG. But instead of doing it by choice, we will be FORCED INTO IT THE SLOW AND PAINFUL WAY.

[tacitus27]

At least he didn''t get a BJ in the Blew Room from another adult.
This is a win-win-win for the swells:
1) If it passes, they get to continue to party-on while the rest of us $uck hind-teat. 2) If it doesn''t pass, the fat-cats can have an excuse to axe more American jobs and send them to East Bumblefuckor and 2a) The resulting bread riots will give Cheney, et al. an excuse to declare martial law and formally suspend the Constitution (rather than "nickle and dimeing" it to death the way he has so far) leaving them in power for decades. Oh, to be among the filthy-rich in American..."I love the smell of the middle class burning. It smells like more booty for me. But, F-em and feed ''em fish heads if they don''t like it."

So here''s a package of solutions:
1) Institute an immediate surtax on GROSS income $1,000,000.
2) Institute a "CEO Tax" on all Executive officers of publicly traded companies on COMPENSATION $1,000,000 IN ANY FORM INCLUDING DEFERRED COMPENSATION.
3) Require that publicly traded companies include on their boards at pay, an American citizen employed by the company who is elected by his or her peers at the level of Supervisor and below.

4) Prepare for a General Strike of all workers in the country to petition OUR government for the redress of our grievances.

RE:
Gosh, we can''''t have the court reviewing any decisions by His Excellency, the Chimp In Chief, the Decider, George Bushit!
His decisions have all been flawless and without error!

[aicohnx2]

What America needs most is simply rational leadership-- not Bush with his hands in the pockets of Wall Street, and theirs in his.

I agree. One thing that really makes me angry is when Nancy Pelosi uses the current crisis as a political cudgel against republicans. The truth be known, the current problems have been 75 years in the making & cut across ideological lines. And there''s a time to stop being a republican or a democrat trying to score political points. This is such a time.

In truth, the best, most honest, and ultimately least painful approach for the american people would be to let the house of cards come crashing down & let the markets simply clear all these imbalances. Yes, there would be some very hard times, comparable to the great depression. But we survived the great depression with our society and laws intact. The alternative approach, used by administrations past (both democrat & republican) is to just blow a bigger bubble some place else. In my opinion, that will now lead to a worthless dollar & a Weimar Republic sort of state where the society breaks down & the end-result may be fascism.

Mr. Paulson seems to be picking the latter approach. And that''s not an approach a sane person who knows history would take.

All JMHO.

[strewthmate]

... the REAL meltdown is global warming.

As incremental change to our geo-economic system hasn''t been working fast enough this catastrophic meltdown of our "artificial" finanical system is necessary.

[Michael Arnold]

Screw our congress reps. Screw the presidential candidates. They''re useless.

We need to know where THESE people live, like this weasel Paulson. Let''s start with the Head Rat and go from there.

Anyone know?

I suggest a massive protest at the NYSE. (and screw the "permits"--just GO!)

And while we''re at it, TAKE OUR FLAG(S) DOWN FROM THIS HIDEOUS BUILDING.

[toby2957]

At the end of Bill Clinton''s presidency we had the highest budget surplus in our nation''s history. Now, eight years of near total Republican rule and we have an economy in the toilet, and endless war, spiraling debt, home values evaporating, record fuel, food and heating costs, massive financial institutions failing and collapsing and then being paid for by corporate welfare through taxpayer funds, and the neocons STILL try to blame the democrats. These are the facts. It''s just so incredibly pathetic.

McSame/Palin''s platform is the radical right wing agenda. McSame is no longer McCain, he''s completely reverted to type, and Palin is scary beyond all belief. She''ll be rolling around on the oval office floor speaking in "tongues". It is quite simply not possible to be patriotic American and vote for McSame. The ONLY reason anyone might want to vote for McSame is if they hate minorities and/or want to advance a radical religious agenda (Much like Iraq has done in their government).

Stop the hate. Be a patriot. Vote Obama/Biden 2008!

[ubrew12]

Frederick Douglass said, ''Find out what any people will quietly submit to and you have found out the exact measure of injustice and wrong that will be imposed on them.''

I guess Bush was good at one thing after all.

[jydavis1]

if you are keeping your hard earned money in the bank or an investment account, YOU''RE NUTS !!! .. TAKE IT OUT AND PROTECT YOURSELF BY PUTTING PART OF IT IN GOLD/SILVER - THE PARTY IS OVER AMERICA. the political and banking elite aren''t telling you the severity of the problem ... $700 billion won''t stop the flood of $500 TRILLION in derivatives .. END GAME ON !

[txgrouch2006]

TAKE IT OUT AND PROTECT YOURSELF BY PUTTING PART OF IT IN GOLD/SILVER
Posted by jydavis1 at 06:44 PM : Sep 21, 2008

The last time our nation was in a crisis like this, FDR made it ILLEGAL for private citizens to own gold or silver. All privately owned gold and silver was siezed by the government.

[toby2957]

Hi, I''m Mrs Palin. I am governor of one of the smallest states in the Union (population wise). I''m under investigation for getting people fired that I don''t like. I can fully gut a moose in under fifteen minutes! I won a beauty contest! My 17 year old daughter is pregnant but I run on an abstinence and morals platform because it works. When 72 year old McSame gets cancer again (for the fifth time) I''ll be pushing the Button at 3:00 AM.

President Palin? YIKES LOL!!! Now THAT''s scary!

McCain graduated from the US Naval Academy 894th in a class of 899. He wrecked five jets before they finally got rid of him. Obviously he is not the brightest bulb on the tree. He was shot down by an out-of-date Soviet missile by men with no experience in anti-aircraft warfare because he did not follow the rules of evasion taught in flight school. Lets just say the man has only one oar in the water.

He disses three out of every five people on the face of the earth by referring to all Asians as "*****." He said: "I hate ***** and always will." He may be viewed as a "hero," but I do not think being shot down qualifies him for the job of president. And I don''t think he will do much for American - Asian relations should America screw up and elect this clown.

McCain''s flight instructor: "One of the worst students I ever had."

[tacitus27]

Read what Paulson is actually proposing. Not a plan like Resolution Trust controlled by government (the Citizens) but passing the money to investment banks and corporations.

These crooked folkers are attempting to rob the treasury blind in front of our very eyes on their way out the door.

The Current Occupant is a f_ck-up of cosmic proportions but at least he takes care of his buddies.

[gwjackie]

I say hell no hell no if the tax payer is going to get the shaft for the bad we want the good loans to offset the bad the American people are tired of this shi!. all the people in this are nothings but crooks they should be in jail. Just a few years ago they would have been shot maby that is what need to happen now.

[nextgenman]

If you''re mad, then email your congressmen...

http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml

[notfooled]

Their plan is to bail out the rich.

The average guy who got swindled by these criminals will be left to fend for himself.

WHO IN THEIR RIGHT MIND WOULD EVER VOTE REPUBLICAN EVER AGAIN?

[gwjackie]

There should be no executive compensation at all for these people when we the taxpayer kick there a$$ out not a dam dime.

[clay_nc]

see Obama saying here what he will do to our military in a time of war .... very scary !!!
www.calebgrace.com

McCain / Palin ''''08

[amazedd]

The ''Mother of All Bailouts'' and
The ''Father of All Landlords''

How are you going to vote, kid? Just remember, the family owns the mortgage on your mother''s house.

[nextgenman]

Posted by stoplying08 at 07:18 PM : Sep 21, 2008
-------

I wrote my too. Told him how sleazy he and the rest of the Republican Party are.....

[babooph]

The phoney "2 party" scam-trillions for stupid wars,trillions for corporate crime coverup,massive tax cuts for the rich!!Soc Sec -rich are exepted-funds "relocated to the three mentioned,education -TOO EXPENSIVE!!Health care-TOO EXPENSIVE!!Infrastructure-FOR IRAQ &Afghanistan-REpublicrat criminals all!!!

[ubrew12]

Instead of a bailout, we need a partial debt forgiveness or a debt-for-equity swap in the
financial sector. It has the benefit of being a well-tested strategy in the private sector and
it leaves the taxpayers out of the picture. However, the major players in the financial sector do not like it. It is much more appealing for the
financial industry to be bailed out at taxpayers%u2019 expense than to bear their share of pain.
Forcing a debt-for-equity swap or a debt forgiveness would be no greater a violation of
private property rights than a massive bailout, but it faces much stronger political
opposition.

The appeal of the bailout (if you''re a WallStreet banker) is that it taxes the many and benefits the
few. Since the many (we, the taxpayers) are dispersed, we cannot put up a good fight in
Capitol Hill; while the financial industry is well represented at all the levels.

We need to fight the bailout and insist on some equity stake in these failed companies, or they''ll just do it again (no incentive to correct their mistakes).

[enoughya]

Philosophers in the 19th century have noted "the ways of business tend to exalt the few while sinking the masses into poverty and degradation." That was an apt description of conditions accompanying the 19th century Industrial Revolution. How much worse these condition have gotten in our day, where the ultra-wealthy have concentrated even more wealth and power to themselves, to the point of even stealing with impunity from our children and grand children, including interest payments of course. Everything is a scam or racket to them, and they lay awake at night scheming as to how they can swindle the masses out of even more of the mere pitance they subsist on.

The bailout of finicial tycoons on Wall Street is perhaps the largest rip off of Americans these financial thugs have ever concocted. Notice the common pattern, immediate urgency to do something, no time to debate the merits of emergency enactments, no explanation of how we arrived at such dire a situation or as to how proposed solutions will work to aleviate some vague ailments, and most of all no accoutability for any of the key and powerful players involved. This is wholesale theft from the American public.

[jmurrieta11]

Enough! Enough Bushit!

And McCain--he''s worse than useless. He''s been sitting on his a$$ in Washington DC for 25 years and now he says "trust me, I bring change!"


Small change, that is. Except for Bushit''s Billionaries, whom McClone will continue to service with fervor.

[edward1975-2009]

tonic1111: It is due to Clinton''s lack of action that has us in Iraq today. Had Clinton done his job, instead of chasing interns, we would not be in the mess we are. Having said that, this is the only thing that would have kept the economy from collasping totally, which if banks continue their recent business practices will happen anyway. We are caught in a Catch-22.

[ubrew12]

bushisadik said: "didn''t the banks already balk at a proposal where they would have to take a 10% hit on bad loans so the homeowners could refinance? guess that wasn''t good enough for them. "

I''m not sure. What I find scary in the present situation is the financial sector is apparently so large it can dictate the terms of its own rescue. I mean, wouldn''t we all prefer a no-strings-attached bailout from our bad decisions? I think that used to be called welfare. If there''s going to be a bailout, the public should end up with an equity stake, ie swap debt for ownership, just as would happen in any Chapter 11 proceeding.