They Sold Us Down The River Again

These assholes have supposedly worked it all out. So they say. (Does Henry Paulson look like a bloodsucking ghoul all the time?)

Behold the cornucopia of hedging language to describe this deal.

The plan calls for the Treasury Department to buy deeply distressed mortgage-backed securities and other bad debts held by banks and other investors. The money should help [or not help] troubled lenders make new loans and keep credit lines open. The government would later try [they will try, but they will fail] to sell the discounted loan packages at the best possible price.

At the insistence of House Republicans, some [unspecified amount] of the program's $700 billion would be devoted to a program that would encourage [as opposed to require] holders of distressed mortgage-backed securities to keep them and buy government insurance to cover defaults.

The legislation would place "reasonable" limits [as determined by the ultra-rich] on severance packages for executives of companies that benefit from the rescue plan, said a senior administration official who was authorized to speak only on background. It would affect fired executives of financial firms, and executives of firms that go bankrupt. Some [unspecified] of the provisions would be retroactive and some [unspecified] prospective, the official said.

The proposed legislation also calls for the financial sector to help [unspecified limited responsibility] make up the difference if [you mean when] the government does not recoup its investment in five years, the official said, but details were unclear. [wink wink]

Also, the government would receive stock warrants in return for the bailout relief, giving taxpayers a chance to share [kind of like the craps tables] in financial companies' future profits.

To help struggling homeowners, the plan would require the government to try [try but fail, then express regret] renegotiating the bad mortgages it acquires with the aim of lowering borrowers' monthly payments so they can keep their homes.

The measure's main elements were proposed a week ago by the Bush administration, with Paulson heading efforts to push it through the Democratic-controlled Congress. Democrats insisted on greater congressional oversight, more taxpayer protections, help for homeowners facing possible foreclosure, and restrictions on executives' compensation.

To some degree, [what do you think...2%?] all those items were added.

At the insistence of House Republicans, who threatened to sidetrack negotiations at midweek, the insurance provision was added as an alternative to having the government buy distressed securities. House Republicans say it will require less [CYA...they 'tried' to help us] taxpayer spending for the bailout.

But the Treasury Department has said the insurance provision would not pump enough money into the financial sector to make credit sufficiently available. The department would decide how to structure the insurance provisions, [Unitary Executive Powers] said Sen. Kent Conrad, D-N.D., one of the negotiators.

Money for the rescue plan would be phased in, he said. The first $350 billion would be available as soon as the president requested it. Congress could try [and fail, surely expressing regret] to block later amounts if it believed the program was not working. The president could veto such a move, however, requiring extra large margins in the House and Senate to override.

Despite the changes made during an intense week of negotiations, the heart of the program remains Bush's original idea: To have the government spend billions of dollars to buy mortgage-backed securities whose value has plummeted as hundreds of thousands of Americans have defaulted on their home loans.

Senate Majority leader Harry Reid, D-Nev., said Saturday that the goal was to come up with a final agreement before the Asian markets open Sunday night. "Everybody is waiting for this thing to tip a little bit too far," he said, so "we may not have another day."

This is total bullshit. Vote them all out. This is a house of cards deal for the house of cards economy. The thing will fall down just as soon as our money gets whisked away.

The correct answer for the American people is NO BAILOUT. They failed the test. It is time to go.

So what happened is that the people who actually own this country told the people who pretend to run this country what to do. Apparently your only role, American citizen, is to shut up and pay.

But consider that many financial analysts say that the real reason that the government bailed out Freddie and Fannie is because China demanded it. And there were rumors last week that China instructed its banks to stop lending to U.S. banks. The U.S. owes trillions of dollars to China which, along with Japan, Saudi Arabia, and other creditor nations, is keeping America afloat. If they pulled the plug, the U.S. would instantly default on its obligations.

They say that economics and finance are now global. Perhaps corruption, blackmail and tyranny are also.