Republicans Itching To Bolt Paulson Plan

Over the weekend, I thought the left-right opposition to the Bush administration's $700 billion bailout plan would grow. Freemarketers didn't like it, and neither did Democrats who saw it as corporate welfare. I was pretty confident it would pass. Now, I'm not as sure, despite the bipartisan leadership of Congress being for the measure.

Republicans are being encouraged to walk away. Patrick Ruffini, the former webmaster of the Bush/Cheney '04 race, and founder of Thenextright.com has encouraged Republicans to vote no and so has Newt Gingrich. Could the president lose more than half his party on this one? In the House, I think so. In the oh-so-adult Senate, I'm less sure but the opposition of Richard Shelby of Alabama, the ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, might bode opposition from others. I guess I'd still bet that it's going to make it out the door this week, but that's not a totally foregone conclusion. In time, something is gonna pass because the markets will revolt and Congress will get pushed into some kind of measure.

Meanwhile, there are some other ideas in play. I like Sebastian Mallaby's idea of banks canceling their dividends. Shareholders would be screwed but so what? It would give the banks some more capital and ease the situation a bit.

I still don't understand why there's not a global summit of finance ministers to come up with some coordinated solutions here.

And why aren't the bank heads coming forward and saying that they A.) apologize for getting us in this mess; B.) will not use the crisis or any bailout to exploit the situation; C.) stand ready for a new era of regulation; and D.) will voluntarily cut their salaries?

Comments

[williambanzai7:]

CHARGE OF THE TARP BRIGADE

(Charge of the Light Brigade, Alfred Lord Tennyson)

(Modified by WilliamBanzai7)


Half a trillion, half a trillion,
Give or take 200 billion, onward!
All in the valley of Balance Sheet Death
Rode the seven hundred billion tax dollars.
"Forward, the TARP Brigade!
"Charge for the ABS Credit Default Swaps!" he said:
Into the valley of Balance Sheet Death
Rode the seven hundred billion tax dollars.


"Forward, the TARP Brigade!"
Was there a politician dismay'd?
Not tho' the Congress knew
Some guy named Hank had blunder'd:
Their's not to make reply,
Their's not to reason why,
Their's but to do and die:
Into the valley of Balance Sheet Death
Rode the seven hundred billion tax dollars.


CDOs to right of them,
CDSs to left of them,
AIG and the GSEs in front of them
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with Wall Street shot and shell,
Boldly that load of Federal largesse rode and well,
Into the jaws of Balance Sheet Death,
Into the mouth of Hell
Rode the seven hundred billion.


Flash'd all the workout sabres bare,
Flash'd as they turn'd in air,
Sabring the asset backed losses there,
Charging an army of tawdry bankers, accountants, and shysters, while
All the world wonder'd:
Plunged in the seedy subprime-smoke
Right into the red numbers they broke;
Lehman and Bear Stearns
Spared from the sabre stroke
Shatter'd and sunder'd.
Then they rode back, but not
Not the seven hundred billion.


Subprime CDOs to right of them,
Subprime CDSs to left of them,
Fat Wall Street advisory fees behind them,
Volley'd and thunder'd;
Storm'd at with derivative losses, asset backed shot and shell,
While level 3 zeros fell,
They that had fought so well
Came thro' the jaws of Balance Sheet Death
Back from the mouth of insolvency Hell,
All that was left of it?
Nothing left of seven hundred billion!


When can its glory fade?
O the wild loss charges!
All the world wondered.
Honor the huge expenditures they made,
Honor the TARP Brigade,
Noble seven hundred billion taxpayer dollars.


(TARP--Troubled Asset Relief Plan of 2008)


williambanzai7.blogspo.../

2008 Sep 23 10:06 PM

[RatWatcher:]

This 'credit crunch' is our Reichstag fire; we simply cannot allow our Congress to be the Reichstag. The more I learn....the more I want no deal at all, not just a deal with something for Main Street. If executive pay cuts are enough to make the deal not work....it's an unnecessary deal. Choosing between utter annihilation and forfeiting your Christmas bonus is not so very difficult.

Paulson is no dummy: he's watched Bush abdicate his power to every old white guy in DC: Cheney, Rumsfeld, Ashcroft, Ridge....all got whatever they wanted. Not a single veto for 6 years. The move to power has to be made before the elections get rid of the fop. Imagine....the power to decide who lives and who dies (financially), worldwide. The election is completely secondary to this attempt at absolute power - none of the candidates, even the third parties, would be this comatose. Wait....comatose would be good. Bush is actually supporting his own overthrow. von Hindenburg wasn't this pathetic.

Bernanke is embarrassing himself as Paulson's enabler. Usually I'd snipe his 'ivory tower academic pathetic liberal suck up' performance, but stopping Paulson is so important, I don't want to dis anyone who might help in that cause. Today this all-punyful Fed Chairman (when your Treasuries have been swapped for Bear Stearns trash, you're not very powerful) told Congress if they didn't pony up the $700B, 'there might be a recession.' Gee, no kidding? Every economist says that when the nation's mothers shut the lemonade stands for dinner. Let's take our chances!

AIG, it turns out, is the lure: let the fish win a small hand, so they'll go all-in next time. Word is AIG shareholders are planning to pay off the $85B in record time, with a few weeks' interest, thereby letting Paulson and his crowd show how the taxpayer 'wins!' No dice....I'm not even a poker player, but I can see sucker bait this time.

Lehman, of course, is the example for all those who don't toe Paulson's line once he's Fuhrer. There is little doubt we could have saved Lehman (I admit to having been against bailing them out at the time), which is now having it's crown jewels picked by Barclay's (UK bank) for peanuts. And the Japanese (Nomura) got a great Asian piece of Morgan Stanley, which their chairman called a 'once in a generation opportunity.'

Meanwhile, the foreign banks are lining up to feed at our $700B trough, as their governments and taxpayers cheer them on from the sidelines. We must be a truly stupid people. When it is our turn to falter...they will rape our corpse and kick us in the nearest hole in the ground. Guaranteed.

This program is nothing but TFT: Treasuries for Trash Program. Congress must not pass this Enabling Act.

Be sure to contact your rep and 2 Senators, and promise to vote against them if they allow this crap to happen. Do whatever you can to stop Paulson and save the Republic. Even if you're not particularly proud of everything we do.

2008 Sep 23 11:35 PM