David Corn

Yes, he should say, "Whoa", every elected official should say, "Whoa"...and all Citizens of this Nation should say, "Just hold the F@#k ON!" "What, EXACTLY is this $700 billion "Pig in a Poke" and why is it so GDamn imperitive that we buy it RIGHT HERE, RIGHT NOW?"

...or something like that.

-T

DC,

"That is, let the folks who screwed up do what they can with their bad paper."

THAT is the only idea that makes any real sense.

These poorly crafted - hurry up we have to pass something - laws have all been very bad and are the reason we are in trouble.

There is no real rush when Bush has had the "plan" on his desk for months.

Thanks

As an insider tells me, Congressmen are "peeing in their pants" over the proposed bailout of the plutocrats - because they are being inundated by calls, emails, and visits from their very angry constituents. No regular American believes Paulson and Bernanke, or thinks that their insider deal to rip us off for the government-connected rich is a good idea. Both Obama and McCain are wholly owned subsidiaries of Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley. But congressmen are vulnerable to a change in the climate of opinion. Indeed, eventually, the whole regime is.
......Lew Rockwell

http://tinyurl.com/4nsll8

...as I've posted elsewhere, if the CBO thinks we're better off NOT knowing the worthlessness of what we're buying, we're FUBARed anyway... better to let them die in the light of day than continue to fester in the dank abyss of financial subterfuge!

-T

Bailout foes plan day of protests

Grassroots groups and online activists rally against the proposed taxpayer rescue of Wall Street.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- The public backlash against the Bush administration's proposal to use tax dollars to bailout Wall Street could spill into the streets Thursday.

"People all over the country are up in arms about this," said David Elliot, a spokesman for grassroots advocacy group UsAction. "Our members are livid, and they're hitting the streets."

At present, there are 220 events planed in more than 30 states, according to organizers at TrueMajority.com. A number of organizations have contributed to the planning of the protests, including Democracy for America, the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (Acorn) and labor unions.

A protest organized by labor unions is scheduled to take place on Wall Street at noon. Another protest, which was spontaneously organized online, is also targeting New York's financial district, where protestors plan to build a "pile of citizen junk" near the famous Wall Street bull statue.

http://tinyurl.com/3oaa3n

*****

I don't think the PTB would give a darn if cops were busting heads open.

Someone suggested that the "phone banks of phony constituents" would be innundating congressional offices on BEHALF of the Paulson Plan.

I hope to the FSM that the voices of real people are REACHING the ears of their "Reprehensitives"!

-T

If I had a landline . . .

I would bet that Obama chooses not to rock the boat today.

Personally what bugs me is why aren't there more Wall St. types jumping out of windows?

I want to see THOUSANDS and THOUSANDS of finance industry professionals losing their fancy cars, mcmansions, and having to go work at Wal-Mart.

For those of us who've weathered bad times in recent years (unemployment, hugely expensive health crises)... we're not so rich that we have so much to lose after all. We'd actually be glad to weather another Great Depression if we could be allowed the pleasure along the way of witnessing some of those things I've listed above...

It could be a thing of beauty:

BLACK FRIDAY Lyrics
Artist: Steely Dan
Album: Katy Lied

When Black Friday comes
I'll stand down by the door
And catch the grey men when they
Dive from the fourteenth floor
When Black Friday comes
I'll collect everything I'm owed
And before my friends find out
I'll be on the road
When Black Friday falls you know it's got to be
Don't let it fall on me
When Black Friday comes
I'll fly down to Muswellbrook
Gonna strike all the big red words
From my little black book
Gonna do just what I please
Gonna wear no socks and shoes
With nothing to do but feed
All the kangaroos
When Black Friday comes I'll be on that hill
You know I will

When Black Friday comes
I'm gonna dig myself a hole
Gonna lay down in it 'til
I satisfy my soul
Gonna let the world pass by me
The Archbishop's gonna sanctify me
And if he don't come across
I'm gonna let it roll
When Black Friday comes
I'm gonna stake my claim
I'll guess I'll change my name

*****

Why should anybody be worried about the millionaires and billionaires? These rich folks could take a MAJOR hit to their assets and they would still be very rich and worry free.

The fact is - the wealthy are never really hurt by financial woes. That makes any "bail out" a BAD idea for US.

Add:

Grrrrrrrr

If the situation can be explained in a 12 minute address - it isn't worth $700,000,000,000.00

This BS should NEVER pass either the house or the senate - neither party.

no no no no no no

Bailout Outrage Races Across the Web
The Internet is flooded with angst about Treasury Secretary Paulson's proposed $700 billion bailout—and inspiring old-fashioned street protests

http://www.commondreams.org/headline/2008/09/25

****

All kinds of links and whatnot in the above piece.

I wonder if the emergency has more to do with the Chinese and Asian countries cutting off our credit?

That would be a problem while we are dumping $10-12 billion a month into the Iraq mess.

I know Germany has decided they will be no part of it:

****

'Our Economy Will also Suffer'

At a meeting of parliament in Berlin on Thursday, Germany's finance minister warned of the longterm consequences of Wall Street's near collapse. Still, he reiterated his stance that the country would not join Washington in creating a bailout fund for failing banks.

http://www.spiegel.de/international/germany/0,1518,580501,00.html

Any corporation that is "too big to fail" is also too big to allow it to continue to do business as a behemoth that draws on the public tax dollars to support its continuing to be “too big to fail”.

Anti-trust, regulation, laws and rules are all fine and dandy but we have no choice but to break up these mega-corporations. Leave the “ownership” in private hands and let the chips fall where they may.

THAT is the old fashioned way I guess.

House clears $25bn for carmakers

The House of Representatives on Wednesday approved a $25bn package of low-cost loans to help hard-pressed carmakers and their suppliers finance plant modernisation at a time of restricted access to public capital ­markets.

The automotive loans are separate from the proposed $700bn bail-out for the banking sector, which is still being debated in Congress. The House approved the measure 370-58, setting the stage for Senate approval within days.

http://tinyurl.com/3ux7r6

*****

As long as we are spending money we don't have - why not help out the airlines, food services, trucking, etc.

$25 billion each! - Heck how about $25 billion to split between all of us regular folks?

Oh wait, that would be socialism.

Nevermind

Call their bluff! Sign our emergency petition to the Debate Commission to make sure the debate schedule stays intact and tomorrow's takes place as planned. If McCain doesn't want to show up, then Senator Obama should be allowed to use the full time to answer the moderator's questions and to tell America about how his administration would govern.

Sign the petition here:

http://site.PFAW.org/Debates

House Republicans Still Not On Board

A spokesman for House Minority Leader John Boehner, R-Ohio, cautions that House Republicans have not signed on to anything.

Spokesman Kevin Smith said this includes Rep. Spencer Bachus, the ranking Republican on the House Financial Services Committee, who spoke to the press after this morning's negotiation over the Wall Street bailout bill.

http://tinyurl.com/42z7km

*****

The D's are being played. Will they ever catch on?

almost every single issue (including this latest "financial crisis") in todays "post 9/11 world" stems from the actual 9/11 itself.
god forbid anyone would even study 9/11 much less point out the many fallacies that are the official 9/11 fairytale.

remember; it only takes one contradiction to refute a (official) "theory".

Collapse My Ass: Tower Top Explodes Falling in Midair

http://tinyurl.com/4hapc5

probably not

Palin expounds on relevance of Russia-Alaska border

http://tinyurl.com/4cdxa2

****

The debate ploy is more and more obvious.

"stems from the actual 9/11 itself"

I think the roots run very deep and were from long before 9/11. (well obviously)

Just sayin'

Stephen Suspends the Show

(video)

http://tinyurl.com/45bcjm

"I can't think of anything more presidential than suspending your presidential camapign" (Colbert)

lololo

From politico:

"Those principles will include improved oversight of the program, as well as a plan to phase in the $700 billion investment in stages, while still assuring the administration a virtual free hand for at least the first $350 billion."

http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0908/13918.html

*****

That is suppose to be better? Heck NO! Cheesus only politicians could think this is a good idea. Both/either parties. UGH!

I am Mainstreet. I am the American Dream. I am a small business owner who has been affected by high gas prices, lost jobs and the cost of a government gone spending crazy.

Stop the War and make $140 Billion available to help the banks.

Raise taxes and the top 2% and get the rest of what's needed.

Lend them the money to meet their capital demands and set a level that they can't fall beneath.

Let the market handle the mortgages. The United States of America should not be on TV with an infommercial to the people for foreclosure real estate.

Without a telepromptor Bush doesn't have a clue.

Just talked to a guy on Wall Street - no one jumping out of windows.

Just another reason why we should have renditioned this bitch 3 years ago!

Geof01,

I agree, I can't think of any rational person thinking this BS is a good idea.

I am certain this only prolongs the pain. All of this is to bail-out the Bush legacy as an economic powerhouse and an effort to save the failed republican ideology.

Enough is enough.

My broker e-mailed me a plan that divided the 700 billion among 200 million voters and had us all getting $425,000. If only there were 200 Thousand of us instead.

No wonder we're in trouble!

They might as well keep the paltry balance of my account, they've already taken everything else.

Let me add to that,

Enough is Enough is Enough!

"There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all."

~ Peter Drucker

Online100: McCain's move a political gimmick

Senator John McCain made a bold political move yesterday as he suspended his campaign to deal with the current economic crisis. The Online100 has weighed in on his decision, as 87% of panelists agreed that McCain's move was a political gimmick.

44% of panelists believed that it was a smart political gimmick, while 43% thought it was politically damaging to his campaign. Only 6%of respondents, thought that it was a boldplan that puts McCain in a favorable light as an above the fray dealmaker.

http://www.politicshome.com/mobile/blog.aspx?id=3233

*****

His mavericketyness has worn thin. Stick a fork in him - he's done.

Someone should address the transparency. Not to congress and oversight but to us "the people" - it should be very easy. Put every dime online - no funny stuff. There is a system already created:

http://www.usaspending.gov/

We need to see this like we can see our personal check book online. Starting balance:

$250,000,000,000.00

Now we just need to see how our money is spent. Is there any reason we shouldn't? They should also show deposits as transactions become "profitable" (sarcasm)

The Truth About Sarah Palin

Sarah Palin's credentials as a "reformer" are nothing but spin. She has sided with Big Oil, lobbied to increase pork spending and abused her public power to carry out personal vendettas. Here's a guide to separating myth from fact.

http://tinyurl.com/4zs5z8

Pfotenhauer, Bounds on TV after campaign suspension

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9GJOFKnl1Vg

*****

These are the people with which McCain surrounds himself?

Biden: McCain 'posturing' and coming up short on bailout

[...]

"He laid out what he thought the package should include," said Biden. "I looked it over and what's notable is what's not in the package. The silence on issues relating to the middle class is deafening in the package John has put forward. There is no help in his package for families struggling to stay in their homes."

Biden regularly criticizes the Arizona senator for experiencing "an epiphany" on economic issues - arguing the fundamentals of the economy are strong and then claiming the economy is in crisis.

"If John keeps changing his rhetoric but not changing the worn out philosophy that got us in this spot, if John continues to do that, ladies and gentlemen, why is John expecting us to believe he will be an agent of change?" Biden added.

http://tinyurl.com/4vqn7e

BBC uncovers lost Iraq billions

A BBC investigation estimates that around $23bn (£11.75bn) may have been lost, stolen or just not properly accounted for in Iraq.

The BBC's Panorama programme has used US and Iraqi government sources to research how much some private contractors have profited from the conflict and rebuilding.

A US gagging order is preventing discussion of the allegations.

The order applies to 70 court cases against some of the top US companies.

War profiteering

While Presdient George W Bush remains in the White House, it is unlikely the gagging orders will be lifted.

To date, no major US contractor faces trial for fraud or mismanagement in Iraq.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/7444083.stm

*****

This is what we can expect. Does anybody believe the Bush crew has learned how not to just lose billions? Heck they specialize at exactly that.

Oh yeah, did anybody consider cronies can steal as much of the booty as they want and be pardoned - I bet we see some preemptive pardons - maybe in blanket fashion.

What have we become as a country?

Barney Frank: GOP Colleagues Winced At 'Mighty Mouse' McCain

One would think that some of John McCain's Republican colleagues might actually want to help him become president of these United States, but no: given the opportunity to ensure that the presidential candidate might be able to make a substantive contribution to bailout measure negotiations, McCain's friends in the Republican Party put their noses to the grindstone and worked out a deal without any Maverick input. Clearly Republican leaders are totally in the tank for Obama.

How painful was the thought of working alongside McCain? Over at Politico, they report that Barney Frank minced few words, saying: "Nobody mentioned him. The man's irrelevant to the whole process. No Republican mentioned his name. I'm the only one who raised his name. They winced when I did." Frank also compared McCain to a cartoon superhero:

http://tinyurl.com/3n7o4c

Raw Story is breaking news that the McCain campaign issued payments to Rick Davis' lobbying firm rather than pay Davis directly.

The Arizona senator's presidential campaign paid at least $90,000 to Davis Manafort Inc., the firm Davis founded with Republican lobbyist Paul J. Manafort, during the first six months of last year, while Davis was serving as CEO for the campaign. Five payments were made for "communications consulting" in increments of $10,000 to $40,000, according to a Raw Story review of campaign finance records maintained by the Center for Responsive Politics.

The payments stopped in July 2007, when Davis and some other top McCain aides reportedly began working for free, as McCain's campaign struggled to raise money. Davis himself never received a personal salary from the campaign, although he reportedly earned $20,000 per month from the campaign.

David Corn --- BHO certainly ought to call 'stop' to any rush to bailout.

At the very least.

Most Americans a really, really p*ssedoff.

China banks told to halt lending to US banks-SCMP

BEIJING, Sept 25 (Reuters) - Chinese regulators have told domestic banks to stop interbank lending to U.S. financial institutions to prevent possible losses during the financial crisis, the South China Morning Post reported on Thursday.

The Hong Kong newspaper cited unidentified industry sources as saying the instruction from the China Banking Regulatory Commission (CBRC) applied to interbank lending of all currencies to U.S. banks but not to banks from other countries.

"The decree appears to be Beijing's first attempt to erect defences against the deepening U.S. financial meltdown after the mainland's major lenders reported billions of U.S. dollars in exposure to the credit crisis," the SCMP said.

A spokesman for the CBRC had no immediate comment. (Reporting by Alan Wheatley and Langi Chiang; editing by Ken Wills)

http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSPEK16693720080925

*****

I assume this is no surprise.

Wil the Chinese accept, oh...I dunno...say ALASKA...as a good - faith gesture toward paying off our debt?

-T

Trade Alaska for our debt with China? Only if that includes the governor.

I just heard Pat Robertson say that telegrams to Washington are 200 to 1 against the bailout.

Telegrams? Where do I get one of those, Radio Shack?

WASHINGTON -The Bush administration signaled strongly today that troubled Wall Street should not expect more rescues from Washington.
9/15/08

http://tinyurl.com/4n32x9

only 10 days ago!
no telling what they will say 10 days from now!

BIDEN vs PALIN

The difference in experience between Sen. Joe Biden and Gov. Sarah Palin is astounding. It has been generally assumed that Biden has more experience but the depth of that experience is surprising even to those who follow politics closely.

Senator Biden has met and discussed policies with 3 UN Secretaries General, one queen (Her Majesty Elizabeth II), several kings, plus a few tough guys like Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and Serbian president Sloban Milosevic. He has, after all, been in the Senate for 36 years.

The next Vice President must be experienced at something more international than moose butchering and aerial slaughter of wolves, and dealing with Putin, for example, requires a bit more than looking at Big Diomede Island in the Bering Strait from Little Diomede Island and thus, according to Cindy McCain, becoming an "expert on Russia."

http://tinyurl.com/484csh

McCAIN REVEALED

the keating 5 scandal in 97 seconds

http://tinyurl.com/53frk3

HISTORY OF U.S. GOVT BAILOUTS

Note how $1.3 trillion of those bailouts happened while a Bush was on the Oval Office.

"If the people were to ever find out what we have done, we would be chased down the streets and lynched." -- George Bush, cited in the June, 1992 Sarah McClendon Newsletter

http://www.propublica.org/special/government-bailouts

DODD SAYS WHITE HOUSE MEETING WAS A DISASTER

Chris Dodd, the top Democrat on the Senate Banking Committee, said Thursday that bipartisan meeting with President Bush at the White House on the mortgage rescue plan was nothing short of a disaster. In an interview on the CNN cable news network, Dodd described a meeting in which Democrats were blindsided by a new core mortgage proposal from House Republicans, with the tacit backing of Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

http://tinyurl.com/4ogcgy
----
the republicans, with the full complicity of the democrats, have thoroughly fucked up the U.S.

Prestigious Group of 192 Economists Including Nobel Prize Winners Slams Bailout

The following prestigious group of economists, including three Nobel Prize winners, has written a letter slamming the bailout proposal.

http://tinyurl.com/45lrfy

Greg Palast: Rove Has Already Fixed the 2008 Election

http://tinyurl.com/4a9pj6

Has Sarah Palin Been Picked as the Titular Head of the Coming Police State?

http://www.alternet.org/story/100069

I'm a lifelong Democrat, albeit fiscally conservative. It seems to me that spending $708 billion on repairing our infrastructure would do a hell of a lot more for the economy than buying up worthless paper. Let's have a massive public works program. I'm rather ashamed of the Democrats in Congress who just seem to fall over themselves to toe the Bush line. Let's have investigatory hearings but build railroads, bridges and roads. The Republicans made this mess, let them figure a way out.

eric,

I agree on every point.

Not to mention WaMu was seized last nigt by the FDIC.

This is how it is suppose to work. Shareholders and investors lost it all - deposits are covered.

The bank fails - the people are covered. Who is suppose to be making a "run" on the banks? Investors and shareholders - let THEM eat cake!

The debate is on - McCain's little drama/grandstanding - didn't work.

No bail-out deal yet either so again he also lied.

No reason to actually have the debate because McCain already won!

ttp://www.mydd.com/images/admin/mcain_debate.gif

http://www.mydd.com/images/admin/mcain_debate.gif

McCain Backs Out of Debate In California

Bush campaign claims senator is abandoning state

With new polls showing his campaign dead in the water among California Republicans, Arizona Sen. John McCain has pulled out of a long-scheduled debate with Texas Gov. George Bush, set for Thursday in Los Angeles.

McCain campaign officials tried desperately yesterday to put the best face on their withdrawal, even as a new Field Poll showed Bush far ahead among likely Republican voters in the winner-take-all race for the state's 162 GOP delegates.

Top campaign officials attributed McCain's decision to Bush's earlier reluctance to appear at the debate.

http://tinyurl.com/3k8mh3

*****

Seems like McCain's history of debate ducking is well documented. Same excuses too.

It is all about credibility, honesty, judgment and temperment. By that measure Obama has already won!

Ex-Adviser: McCain "Blinked," Campaign "Governed By Tactics, Not Ideology"

[...]

Aides to Barack Obama were not, generally, surprised by the announcement, though nonetheless pleased. One called the Arizona Republican's gambit - of leaving the trail to supposedly forge a compromise on the bailout - a "failure." Other Democrats were equally biting in describing the moment.

"It means that people think he went back on his word," said Howard Wolfson, formerly the communications director for Hillary Clinton. "John McCain's presidential campaign has been in a death spiral since the Wall Street collapse and this summit gambit was an attempt to pull out of it. But it hasn't succeeded because McCain hasn't done anything to move the ball forward."

Allies of McCain tried to put the best spin on the announcement, saying that while the bailout legislation was not yet completed, McCain thought it best to address the nation.

"What's more important than anything that when we go to Mississippi tonight, both candidates can say that the Congress is working," said Sen. Lindsay Graham

But others couldn't help but admit that the Arizona Republican had mismanaged the whole scenario, basically walking himself into a corner, stuck with the choice of looking either scared or unprincipled.

"He will been seen as blinking first," Shirley declared, "since it was he who said he wasn't going until the crisis is averted. Hobson's choice, painted in a corner, bollixed -- pick your poison, or pick your cliche."

http://tinyurl.com/4alqvd

John McCain: Town Hall Meeting 12/17/07

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CZGJOkgSUdk

Palin Problem

She’s out of her league.

[...]

What to do?

McCain can’t repudiate his choice for running mate. He not only risks the wrath of the GOP’s unforgiving base, but he invites others to second-guess his executive decision-making ability. Barack Obama faces the same problem with Biden.

Only Palin can save McCain, her party, and the country she loves. She can bow out for personal reasons, perhaps because she wants to spend more time with her newborn. No one would criticize a mother who puts her family first.

Do it for your country.

http://tinyurl.com/4t6zgw

*****

Where are all the Palin defenders? You know, the ones that blather on about how she was going to win this thing for gramps?

(crickets chirping)

lololololololo