you_can_call_me_Al

A Paulson Fan's View of the U.S. Mortgage Company

Wow, there are a lot of folks here who really have no idea how bad this thing could have been. Do you really think this is just about bailing out the old boy network? Folks, the entire financial network was sitting on quicksand. Paulson put a foundation under it, and yes, we're paying the upfront costs.

On the upside, we, the taxpayers, actually stand to make out pretty well. First of all, Wall Street probably won't melt down now, and you guys won't lose your jobs. Most of you are in "unrelated" professions, but following that melt down, you'd probably still be hurting ...bad. No credit, no loans. No loans, no businesses. No businesses, no employees. No employees, no customers. No customers, no jobs, etc.... There's some hyperbole here, I know, but not much. This thing was a big shit sandwich, and we all would have had to take a bite.

Second, these "bailouts" were more akin to vulture capital. AIG, for example, basically just needed a bridge loan so they could make some short term payments. After that, they'd be able to sell some assets to pay off their bad bets. The short term money crunch threatened to destroy them. So Paulson, like any good Wall Street shark, gutted them. "Here's a relatively small loan at a very high interest rate, plus, oh yeah, 80% of everything you own." They were dying, so he robbed AND raped them, and they had to thank him for it. ...And you're complaining. Jesus.

The key to this whole thing was time. Someone with skads of cash (like the U.S. government) and no time pressure stood to make tons, and Paulson recognized it. Make this guy king. At this rate he wouldn't need taxes in five years, and in ten the government would be paying you dividends.

He saved our asses. Get the man a medal.

Historic Financial Collapse Underway?

"I'm convinced mortgage losses after recoveries will exceed 10% of the total outstanding and could exceed 20%."

I'd like to see a little more on this. How did you arrive at these estimates?