The Democrats shouldn’t be alone on the hook for a delay in Emperor Paulson’s tailoring, so when a GOP steps up and speaks true, it’s important we acknowledge and recognize that what he says is likely right:
Given the magnitude of the Treasury’s request and its long-term ramifications, lawmakers want to spend at least a little time debating the issues. And one key lawmaker, Richard Shelby, R-Ala., the top-ranking Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, indicated in a statement Monday that he’s not going to be pressured into passing something that he fundamentally disagrees with.
"In my judgment," Shelby said, "it would be foolish to waste massive sums of taxpayer funds testing an idea that has been hastily crafted, and may actually cause the government to revert to an inadequate strategy of ad hoc bailouts."
You likely won’t see me praise Richard Shelby very often in this space, but I agree with him here. There’s no reason to believe Hot Hank’s solution will work — none of his previous ideas in this crisis ever have. And the Treasury Secretary is hardly a disinterested observer when it comes to self-dealing for himself and his friends, while he allowed Goldman Sachs’ traditional investment banking rival Lehman Brothers to fail within a unique window of opportunity.
Can Paulson tell us there won’t be more bailouts?
Can Paulson tell us his plan won’t need more money?
Can Paulson tell us what, exactly, we’re getting for all this money?
Can Paulson tell us what the end-game is here, exactly, for all this money?
{YouTube of Barney Frank and Richard Shelby on Sunday’s Face the Nation courtesy of CBS News}
Related posts:
- Richard Trumka of AFL-CIO on FDL to Talk Health Care, Monday, August 24, at 4pm ET
- Richard Trumka, Andy Stern Accuse Fed of Massive Secret Bailouts and Cronyism
- Talking Health Care With Richard Trumka of the AFL-CIO
- Richard Cohen: Is Obama Man Enough to Win in Afghanistan?
- Vote: Which Democrat Doesn’t “Walk the Talk” On the Public Option?
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Can Paulson tell us where his head is?
Hi Teddy. Nice questions.
Can Paulson tell us that we could trust a Phil Gramm with his hand in this cookie jar and no accountability?
Hi Twain — I’m not hearing answers to them are you?
Let’s see – I see a total of four question marks in this post. As “luck” would have it, only one answer is required.
Oh and, Granny wisdom from my sainted late mother-in-law…if they’re tellin’ you you gotta hurry, last chance, rush, rush, rush, you’re gonna get screwed.
If Paulson is a credible steward of the tax payers’ money what is he doing working for the Bush Crime Family?
I can. Up his butt.
I think we should do what FDR did to get us out of this mess.
Trust Phil Gramm? I liked it when Jonathan Alter said to KO tonight, “After Gramm’s bill is when the economy started going in the tank.” It takes a little air out of the “blame-Clinton” part of the 1990s equation: everything was okay, and then the GOPs messed it up at the end of the century.
Can Paulson tell us there won’t be more bailouts?
Can Paulson tell us his plan won’t need more money?
Can Paulson tell us what, exactly, we’re getting for all this money?
Can Paulson tell us what the end-game is here, exactly, for all this money?
yes
Yes
YES
and YES!!!!!
Yes He Can!!!!
He can tell us all those things!!!
He can tell us anything he damn well pleases. If he’s lyin’, tough shit, ’cause there is zero oversight.
somewhere I heard or read that the $700 Billion had grown to $1.8 Billion over the weekend….. but I can’t find it…… to me I see the bottomless candy pot for the 6 year old’s who have NO babysitter……
Arrest them.
in what respect, TCU?
Dodd needs to stop complimenting Paulson. His lack of attention is what got us in this mess, and I’m not convinced he should keep his job. That “section eight” power grab of his laughable legislation is profoundly unAmerican. I’m not sure someone like that should be working in government at all.
Victory, that’s the end game. If we withdraw, that means the terrorists win. We’ll stand down when the bankers stand up.
Or something like that.
Dodd knew, and so did all of the other Congresscritters.
Do you mean 1.8 trillion? maybe not. I’m just not used to daeling with numbers like that.
That’s the way to shove the Overton Window into rational-world!
Why are we talking about letting them keep their compensation packages? We should be talking about letting them stay out of jail!!
Bingo.
Hello, Teddy. I really appreciate the questions you’ve been raising over the last several days.. even down here in the comments
Dugg
i should know more about the guy and could easily look it up but am too lazy and tired. off the top of your head, anyone know how long this guy has been secretary?
Ya, it was Trillion…. whats a few Trillion between millionaires?
I’m getting the overall feeling that pitchforks and torches are being contemplated by the “People”. The “proletariat” is not…happy.
in what respect,
TCU?Charlie?sorry. couldn’t resist.
The very fact that Paulson said the other day that any restrictions on executive compensation would be “a deal breaker” shows that there is plenty of time to work this through. Personally, I would like to know who the fuck on Wall Street thinks that they have anything to deal with? They will take what we give them, kiss our asses, and tell us how wonderful we are for not pissing on them.
you may have heard 1.8 Trillion?
$700 billion, as I understand it, is the upper limit at any one time. But they could buy $700 billion of crap, sell $400 billion of it for half price and buy another $200 billion and keep on keepin on and likely tellin’ Congresscritters well, maybe you oughta let us buy $400 billion since that was the retail of what we sold and….
whambamboozlement with all the skill of the hustlers and grifters. Which they are…just with better suits. Better morals? Not so much.
It’s a bit unsettling that (current) President Paulson and his Main Boy Duhbyuh are all lathered up to ram this $700 Billion (read:” $1 Trillion Plus”) monstrosity through the congress in record time. A week ago we hadn’t even heard of the thing and now they’re essentially demanding that the whole steaming pile be shoveled out of the Capitol and onto the president’s desk by the end of the week.
It just don’t pass the smell test…
If we thought we had strange bedfellows on the FISA fight, I’m terrified whom we might find ourselves under the sheets with on this one. I mean, Richard Shelby making sense? I had to pinch myself.
But we need to take allies where we can find them. This could be a real populist realignment occurring right before our eyes.
Or Shelby could be signaling to the banks that his coffers are low. Which reminds me: where in Dodd’s bill is the prohibition on political contributions and lobbying by the financial services industry and all of its employees? Taxpayers shouldn’t be funding that. If the bankers have no money of their own then there’s none of ours available to lobby.
Right?
Remember that guy that jumped out of the airplane with all the money and they never found him or the money????
That is what this is…only they want “immunity”…before they jump out of the airplane.
So…. I must love this deal because THE Lou Dobbs is again it…… wow…. guess what did him in…… foreign banks getting OUR money…… ding ding ding….
Hanky Panky’s Wiki page says he’s worth 700 million.
Surely a good portion of that is tied to Goldman Sachs stock.
Amazing how he stood on the sidelines as Lehman Bros., and Merrill Lynch took the pipe.
But now, once the short sellers he let run rampant fixed their sights on Goldman (and therefore his net worth), we must act!
And act right away! Then he says figure out what went wrong.
Never mind as CEO of Goldman he presided over the ramping up of leverage in his firm in 2005 as he pocketed a cool 38 million.
Remember when the deal-breaker on FISA was amnesty for lawbreaking telecoms? Bush’s team loves deal-breakers. And the Democrats love to roll over for them.
Not on this one, Harry Reid.
whambamboozlement with all the skill of the hustlers and grifters.
“Thanks for the dough, Hank. Gotta go – things to do and people to screw, ya know.”
I’m really sick of that. It’s not like idle flattery will inspire Paulson or (most of) the GOP to compromise. They’ll screw us all if they can, sans the simple courtesy of a reach-around.
no they want the airplane and the rest of us jump out.
i thought so, but I really wasn’t sure. I’m not kidding when I say I’m not used to dealing with numbers like that. ‘course we’ve been throwing them around since the Iraq war started, so maybe I should be use to it. Hoope you ban find the link and I’ll look too. The 700 billion number5 struck me as bogus because: 1) they always underestimate. everything; and 2)i figured it was put out just to avoid the Trillion word. so pick a number that’s close but not so close people would round it off to a trillion.
And exactly what restrictions on future employment will be placed on the current Treasury Secretary and his team? Will we see them all running Goldman Sachs on 1/21/09? What kind of self-dealing is prohibited?
Folks. It is the cocktail schmoozy circuit crew that are writing the legislation. They are protecting their friends. But now, some are getting peed off, because they are losing their money…that they were assured was safe. That is what is happening.
It is a very, very small world in D.C.
I think he came in around 05 or 06. He was previously head of Goldman Sachs which is why Teddy pointed out that he was hardly a disinterested observer when he chose to allow former rival Lehman to go belly up.
Sounds about right. I also did not see anything about the current executives being cast penniless into the streets to beg for a living. That is one of my personal requirements. Nobody who created this mess gets to benefit from it. Complete replacement of senior executives, who are prohibited from ever serving in an executive capacity in any publicly traded company for life and have to return all their bonuses and stock option.
a bunch of republicans are coming out against paulson’s bill – is their plan to blame it on the dems and paulson while distancing themselves from bushco?
here’s gingrich on npr today:
If they roll on this one, it is time to sharpen the pitch forks and light the torches.
THE Lou Dobbs is again it
crap. Lou Dobbs and Michelle Malkin are both against it?
This is very troubling.
ok, I’ve decided – I’m against it, and I still loathe both Lou Dobbs and Michelle Malkin.
Ta hell with consistency.
The money needs to be phased, too. “Here’s a quarter-trillion, Hank. Come back when it’s gone, let us know what you spent it on and how much Americans now own. Then there might be another quarter-trillion dollars for you after the election. Maybe.”
Otherwise, what’s to stop them all from fleeing to Paraguay? Love of country? Hahahahaha!
Random chance says that even batshit psycho idiots can be right occasionally (though for absolutely wrong reasons, I would wager).
And their many very fancy houses turned into foundling homes and unwed mother retreats.
Reid and Pelosi are king and queen of the cave-people. All we can do is hope they’ve undergone some much needed evolution since the last capitulation.
More to the deal…Boner got all freaked out because he didn’t know what was up…same with Gingrich and other Repubs…
Paulson and crew didn’t tell their fellow cronies what was up…these are the people that “party” together..that is why some major weanie circuit Repubs are pissed…they will lose money.
This is where the loyalty implosion will happen…
The cocktail weanies were loaded…and nobody knew.
Cronies First
Exactly.
I’m not buying it. Where was all this righteous indignation and outrage when his rethug buddies were cooking this mess up?
Defender of “taxpayer funds” my ass. He just wants TV time.
I guess all the money we’re wasting in Iraq is just fine.
Of course there was the student who, on a multiple choice test, scored half of what he should have gotten by random chance.
The Repubs at the top of the pyramid got caught and are about to lose their butts…so sad.
isn’t shelby dodd’s partner on the banking committee? i should look that up.
Hmmmm, conservative caste system we didn’t know about?
Paulson/Goldman/Carlyle be the brahmins….
Gingrich et al the untouchables….
Homeless shelters for all the people they put out on the streets. They, on the other hand, have to live under bridges.
I’m thinking the figure $1.8T comes from the current $700B added to the (I believe it was) $800B for the Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac bail plus other assorted odds and ends from the ongoing meltdown like the Bear Stearns piece etc.
There is no rebellion in Boehner. He is a Bush lap-dog through and through. If he gets frightened he might pee on the rug but they’ll rub his nose in it and next time he’ll go where he’s told.
yup. that might explain it.
Hey, I heard about a great deal…you just invest 100,000 grand and it’s gonna multiply when it gets chopped up, and each part earns interest…we’re gonna make billions…
Bourbon straight up?
thanks. i’ll check. didja see that Palin drew 60,000 people in orlando yesterday? If you’re wondering about that figure, you’re right to be. i wasn’t there. but from every account it was a very big crowd. but the reported estimate range was 15,000 to 60,0000. of course, FOX reported the 60,000 figure and i think some other news organizations picked it up. look, she’s a good draw. granted. but bush went to the same place in 2004 when his brother was governor and got 6,000. 60,000 smells like bullshit. and she’s really not as popular down here as most other places, if polls are to be believed.
Atrios thinks they are planning to let the Dems bail out their buddies on Wall Street and then run against them on that issue.
He rebelled the other day.
A $1.8 Trillion Bailout
I believe I saw where Shelby was one of the few who voted against the Gramm-Leach-Bliley act in ‘99 so he has a history on this on the side of the good guys.
I know it’s tough to deal with sometimes but occasionally folks like Shelby actually do vote their principles and not the highest bidder.
I certainly wouldn’t touch Gingrich with your ten foot pole. God knows what you might catch.
Then, he peed on the rug.
Thanks Teddy.
digg
When I saw him on TV yesterday he was basically saying the bill should be passed without discussion or modification.
ROFLMFAO
and steal their own shopping cart from WalMart or all their earthly possessions.
That’s probably why his nickname is Spotty.
i agree. shelby’s history and role on the banking committee i think is evidence that his statement is for real. on the hand, gingrich? – no fucking way.
First he threw a hissy fit…then he peed on the rug.
god knows i’m not one to criticize the appearances of others but when i saw newt on TDS and they showed a side view of him, i couldn’t believe it. he was always a chub but he is like, morbidly obese.
Did they rub his nose in it?
Ok, ok, I’ll cut him some slack, given you’re a reputable source.
just a note that the reg regarding ’short selling’ is to expire Oct. 2; anyone want to bet it’s extended?
He’s just undertall. A fifteen foot man would look fine at that weight.
They threw him a poisoned bone.
Shelby just doesn’t want a D Treas Sec with such power. Everything else is irrelevant.
Part of the bailout needs to take into consideration the cost of analysis of every single asset that we are purchasing. The analysis needs to start with the premise that any previous analysis was BS. Any asset that is based on an intangible such as goodwill should have a negative value.
ok. i stopped being lazy and checked. paulson was appointed in may, 2006. he’s not ready to lead.
Hopefully it was a Milkbone, so at least he’d have whiter teeth.
I can’t even find any photos of the crowd when I Googled around in the “Photos” search section. Odd! You’d expect even some aerial shots of a crowd that size. Or some actually showing the people looming off in the distance. I’d be even suspicious if the local fire/police made some estimates as they wouldn’t have the skills that even large city Public Safety groups have.
But where are the photos?
I know, but I don’t think we can let this be a party-line bill. If the Democrats pass it without any GOP support, they will run against our candidates THIS FALL using this bailout as an example of their own independence from Bush. “When my Democrat opponent lined up to support Wall Street socialism, I said NO!”
And I think we need to take our allies where we find them. Gingrich is entirely prepared to blame this bailout on Goldman and Democrats. We can’t let that happen.
He peed on the floor where he wasn’t supposed to
Short selling proscription is just on financial stocks.
One wag on CNBC suggested that perhaps you should only be able to buy stocks, never sell.
yes, he’s ranking GOP on banking.
Thee were two thousand unclaimed Palin tickets at The Villages (a Republican enclave) on the day of the event. Whereas Obama in Daytona at Bethune Cookman College was sold out by 2pm the day before his event.
The bailout should be:…give the people who have lost their homes due to misleading, fraudulent mortgages back their homes, change mortgage payments to reflect property values, and arrest and jail all of those who profited and who created and enabled the practice of ensnaring mortgagees.
That would be justice.
It is not his appearance, but rather the slimy toxic toad essence which oozes from every poor and permeates his being.
It’d be interesting to pick at those crowd estimates. Call the fire marshall, the police department, the sheriff. Ask them all who provided what estimates. Betcha nobody will own up to any of them. Then call FOX and ask if their source was anyone other than the campaign. Then call the campaign and ask where they came up with their estimate.
Then send an email to rachel@msnbc.com
But according to Fiorini he is a CEO = they are superior lifeforms don’t you know. /s
well, it was a big crowd, but i just can’t believe 60,000. sorry. not when the estimates were all over the place. i made a mistake in an earlier post. bush got 15,000 there in 2004.
Perhaps we should drop the word “bailout” since we have no idea how large the hole might be.
Thanks, BooR!
I believe I saw where Shelby was one of the few who voted against the Gramm-Leach-Bliley act in ‘99 so he has a history on this on the side of the good guys.
Nope.
Alabama
Aye AL Sessions, Jefferson [R]
Aye AL Shelby, Richard [R]
http://www.govtrack.us/congres…..=s1999-105
Mike Pence ULTRA CONSERVATIVE also said tonight on Hardball this is a bunch of bullshit. Looks like the rethugs aren’t too pleased with Hanky Panky’s deal.
Not that that means anything. Still got the Blue Dogs to whip into shape.
could well be the combination of assorted bailouts, but also, the $700 billion is not a one-time number, rather a rolling cap, yes?
Which is, I thin, why greater wingnuttia is up in arms over this. While they will not admit it, they know they are going to lose the election and they are terrified of a Dem having this kind of power.
He really views Congress as an inconvenient and horrible disruption in his plans, Paulson does. I think the arrogance of Section Eight is what really sent them around the bend. They might have passed the whole thing if it hadn’t been for the blatant power grab. That was Krugman’s theory tonight on KO, I believe.
Indeed. Those holding paper will absolutely try to inflate the value when foisting it off on the US. Congress has to make sure that there can be artificial inflation of values…buy purchasing these at the LOWEST value obtained for similar properties at auction for properties of the same size, condition and in the same vicinity. If the holder wants a higher value for it they try to obtain it by going to the marketplace to get it.
McCain/Ponzi ‘08
Ding ding ding.
But that is fine with us. We don’t want a D Treas Sec with this power either.
Interdiction of all overflights of Palin events owing to credible threats from the Frost Giant Liberation Front and the Global Polar Bear Jihad.
No Jail= sieze their assets and all future earnings above the poverty levels. move them into slums and let them fend for themselves. I don’t want to pay for their support
McCain group already caught before lying about crowd numbers at least twice…once attrib to Secret Service, once to local firefighters group.
The truth is not in them. Not no way, no how.
Paulson’s Third Attempted Rescue?
Hot Hank: Third Down and ???
Kevin Phillips told Bill Moyers that if you wanted to use a sports analogy, you’d have to admit we aren’t halfway through the baseball game. Maybe inning three, I think he said. Or four, if we’re lucky.
Lots more to come, in other words.
Based on the available evidence, I would rate American CEOs as slightly behind a retarded chimpanzee on the evolutionary scale.
watertiger is upstairs!
A Christmas (without) Carol
Apparently the Palin-McCain campaign already had a number that they wanted to foist off. The campaign was the source for the 60K number, while officials in the fire department said perhaps 25-30K…according to the Miami Herald
Then suddenly, despite their earlier estimate, the Fire Chief (although I can’t find the actual reference) agreed with the RNC number. Exactly the same! Imagine THAT! He doubled the number his Department originally put out.
Wonder why? Maybe he should explain his new method of estimating the crowd size that suddenly changed from the two points in time?
Hey, George Bush CAN TOO run an American company!
No shit. Nobody in the government should have it. That way lies tyrany.
I believe Krugman said on Maher the other night that best case was a year for job loss to hit bottom and two years for housing.
Hey – no sports on Teddy thread!
i thought she did well. she didn’t melt.
Just like the rest of these yahoos – straight into the ground.
yea, into the ground!
It may not have been Gramm-Leach, but there was one of those banking de-reg bills where Shelby part of an extremely small minority that voted no. Like less than 10 total.
Been the Bush/Cheney view from day one. Took 9/11 for Congress to see themselves that way.
Short selling in and of itself isn’t a bad thing; it does add liquidity to markets.
The problem these days is the concentrated shorting of selected stocks to drive the price down. This causes a self fulfilling prophecy, since the lower the stock goes, the weaker the company gets.
Hedge funds essentially run our markets now, and it ain’t pretty.
Their size, multiplied by crazy leverage allows them to move markets at will. This absolutely has to be stopped before all confidence in our financial markets is lost by the average investor.
Everything
Gingrich on Why the Bailout is “Just Wrong”
http://www.npr.org/templates/s…..038;f=1001
I don’t know. Is the enemy of my enemy now my friend. He’s at least articulating the proper concerns. (Wasn’t it republicans like Newt who helped us get rid of Harriet without us even having to say very much?)
I think we should at least buy some popcorn — just in case.
That’s a lower bar than even the one that was set for Bush.
Shelby was one of the eight who voted against Gramm-Leach-Bliley’s final version, though I’m not sure he voted against the Senate bill.
Paulson already has. It’s a rolling $700 billion.
More on the first 1.8 TRILLION here
I’m thinking of it as a bust out. And rolling is good. Or as a cap not a ceiling
Dugg it for Teddy!
D.B.Cooper jumped…http:/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/D._B._Cooper
Around the world a bunch of markets are instituting the no-short-sell ban.
Egypt is an exception. They’re instituting the short sell just now for the first time.
What are all these people thinking? Banning the short sell just makes a crash worse.
Palin/McCain and their Treasury Secretary Mr. Ponzi