Comment & Debate
Ian Waslsh. “Hank Paulson’s Raid on the Treasury”. Firedoglake. 20 Sept. 2008 – So the gun that Paulson is holding to Congress’s head, while not filled with blanks, is a BB gun. He’s trying to stampede Congress into giving him more money and more power than he actually needs to fix the ostensible problem by acting as if there’s no time to think through, or disaster will occur almost immediately.
Why?
Well, that 700 billion bails out Paulson’s friends and colleagues at the highest levels (most of the little people will still lose their jobs). It preserves the world that Paulson worked in all his life. It means that Wall Street and the Banking industry doesn’t have to change how they do business. The people in charge of it will stay in charge and they will stay rich.
Richard Behan. “The $700 Billion Bailout: One More Weapon of Mass Deception”. AlterNet. 22 Sept. 2008 – Not since the Bush administration’s lies about Iraq’s “weapons of mass destruction” have the American people been so despicably misled.
The Bush administration’s proposal to buy, with taxpayers’ money, $700 billion of toxic liabilities from the corporate financial titans of Wall Street is a fraud. It is by no means necessary, as Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson claims in the agency’s Fact Sheet, “to promote market stability, and help protect American families and the U.S. economy.”
It is necessary only to assure the financial survival of Wall Street banks and brokerages, the administration’s most loyal supporters and its greatest political contributors — and in large measure the cause of the financial meltdown the country is facing.
Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass. – “It would be a grave mistake to say that we’re going to buy up a bad debt that resulted from the bad decisions of these 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.”[1]
Gael Murphy, founder of Code Pink, told IPS. – “We’re outraged. We want to see the people who caused this problem and profited from it, pay for it.”[2]
LA-Renter at L.A. Land. 26 Sept. 2008 – Throughout the crisis, I never saw one single Wall Street banker on TV….
pleading for mercy… begging for help… apologizing profusely… bowing his head… promising to return the money… pledging allegiance to his country… asking for God’s mercy…
I’ve seen plenty of uncomfortable politicians –Democrats and Republicans– but no sorry bankers.
For $700 billion, can’t we get just a wee little humility.
Hmm.[3]