Tuesday, September 23, 2008

Lipstick on the bailout, still a bailout

Mr Hank Paulson is performing the job he knows best – peddle snake oil to the unsuspecting masses… Come to think of it, this was what he learned and honed as an investment banker at Goldman Sachs - sell your way into a deal using fancy shmancy words...

Memorable quotes from Secretary Paulson trying to sell the $700,000,000,000.00 bail out plan to lawmakers today.

"this is not an expenditure, it’s an investment

“if you impose any kind of punitive conditions, this program won’t work and we’ll all lose"

"this is all about the American taxpayer, that's all we care about

The last statement is hilarious. Maybe the guy thinks the rest of us are complete idiots... The Lede is liveblogging the session...

A discussion draft of the bill here. (via Dealbook)

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Yeah, haven't seen much that makes me think I really want to make this investment yet. And nothing that makes me want to make it without strings!

What do we get for the money? If my money buys a few more months of a WStreet cowboy’s high living days and nights or a golden parachute for some idiot who managed his or her company into insolvency, I’m not much interested and more than willing to let the free market these folk love so much take care of them.

On the other hand, if this is going to help out people across the country who are suffering and working double shifts or jobs to keep roofs over their heads while paying exploding mortgages, then yes, I’ll ok this loan.

Steppen Wolf said...

It is very clear that the bailout is not going to help distressed homeowners when the objectives included in the plan is to purchase distressed debt instruments in the hands of the companies. There is nothing in it for the individual losing her/his home. Nothing.