Paulson resists calls for added help in bailout

[DeepModem Mom]

Source: NYT/AP

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is resisting a Democratic push to add additional help for households to the $700 billion bailout bill.

Paulson said Sunday that because financial markets remain under severe stress there is an urgent need for Congress to act quickly without adding other measures that could slow down passage.

''We need this to be clean and to be quick,'' Paulson said in an interview on ABC's ''This Week.''

Read more: http://www.nytimes.com/aponline/washington/AP-Financial-Meltdown.html

[Gman]

1. There's a very hidden agenda here...

I don't know what it is, but anytime a Republican wants something "to be clean and to be quick", there's a hidden agenda. We need to know what it is. We especially need to know when the provisions include prohibiting a court review of any part of it.

[DeepModem Mom]

2. The very magnitude of this action is really frightening -- and when you add this kind of haste...

it's even more frightening. Bush and Co. have really brought us to the brink this time, and, you're right, there are many, many more questions than answers.

[Ghost Dog]

12. Haste? Paulson prepared to delay if CEO compensation threatened:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x4049655

[DeepModem Mom]

16. Well, THAT's interesting! Thanks, Ghost Dog. nt

[Retrograde]

30. "Country First", right? (n/t)

[TankLV]

15. Remember the "patriot act" - remember the department of HS

DON'T TRUST THESE - CRIMINALS - PROVEN CRIMINALS!!!

We should do what we can to wait till Obama is in office, or, god forbid, if mcINSANE steals it again, wait till the hopefully new democratic majority...

If not, if the repukes get in, we should wash our hands of it.

Oh, and on the TV just now "we should not use this to score political points" from the repuke bob portman...

WE NEED TO SCORE POLITICAL POINTS - NOW!!! IF WE DON'T DO IT NOW, WE WILL NEVER DO IT!!!

THE REPUKES ALWAYS - ALWAYS - CRY - NOW IT'S NOT THE TIME TO SCORE POLITICAL POINTS - WHEN IT'S THEIR POLITICAL POLICIES THAT HAVE CAUSED THE FUCKUP WE'RE TRYING TO FIX AT THE MOMENT!!!!

GOOD FUCKING GOD...!!!

[Joe Chi Minh]

18. As in this:

[ozymandius]

20. Always. It's like that "tax cut we needed yesterday" in 2001.

Arbitrary deadlines, panicky resolve and few details: it's a blizzard of bullshit to hide an ulterior motive.

[dgibby]

24. Hmmmmmmmmm-

Could it be complete and total overthrow of the gov't?:shrug: :grr:

[AlphaCentauri]

25. Ball And Chain for the next president and the american public

This measures will prevent the next president from implementing universal health care or free college education.

During the Dot-Com bubble there were no bailouts and it wasn't a big tragedy for the economy, why they have to do it now?

[dchill]

31. I don't think it's allthat hidden...

Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.

Maybe the average citizen won't see this, but you can bet our congresscritters have. The question is, if they don't do something about it, why not?

(a) Authority to Purchase.--The Secretary is authorized to purchase, and to make and fund commitments to purchase, on such terms and conditions as determined by the Secretary, mortgage-related assets from any financial institution having its headquarters in the United States.

(b) Necessary Actions.--The Secretary is authorized to take such actions as the Secretary deems necessary to carry out the authorities in this Act, including, without limitation:

(1) appointing such employees as may be required to carry out the authorities in this Act and defining their duties;

Meaning: Henry Paulsen is about to be made Chancellor of the Reich.

http://calculatedrisk.blogspot.com/2008/09/bailout-proposal.html

[AzDar]

3. Something is very wrong here.

[RC]

4. Clean and quick, huh? That sound like they are killing something.

Like "Middle America"?

How about bailing out their victims instead. Strip the perpetrators of their wealth and use that money to bail out their companies under new, non-rightwingnutz management.

[mcollier]

5. We'll likely having our OCTOBER SURPRISE this week:

$700 BILLION BLANK CHECK BAILOUT....

HE WAS FOR IT BEFORE HE WAS AGAINST IT?


You mean to tell me that the FED, having already injected nearly $2 TRILLION over the past YEAR into the financial market, to help support the very corporations that are on the verge of collapse, We, The American People are asked to Bailout these very same corporations to the tune of $1.4 TILLION additional dollars...!!!!! WHoa, Whoa WTF are you Kidding ME!!!!!! What the Fuk did theses corporations do with all that damn money the FED has been pumping into the system over the past year....!!!

There is no way the American People are that damn stupid..... Right?

[womanofthehills]

8. stalling tactic

Bernie Sanders is on Tom Hartman saying they want to put a quick band-aid on it till they can get McCain elected. Tom says they are just trying to stall it until after Nov and then all hell will break lose.

[msongs]

13. we are a moose and they are going to dress us in the field lol nt

[mbperrin]

6. This is the last grab before the election. An open-ended grant of money

BEGINNING with 700 billion which allows asset swaps of worthless securities for new money to loan again, and grants to replace money lost, all while retaining current management and their bonus structure. In fact, if less than $10 billion of this bailout is used as performance bonuses for the "managers" who got this done, I'll applaud their restraint.

Borrowing money to give to irresponsible idiots who have proven they can't handle it does two things: rewards dangerously dumb cronies, and crowds out universal health care, infrastructure improvements, education aid, and just about anything else you might want to benefit living things.

I've let my rep and Senators know that I don't support one dime of welfare for the "free" marketeers, but that I would support mandatory conversion of existing ARMS to 5 or 6% fixed rate mortgages with forgiveness for all closing costs associated with the conversion, and need-based grants up to 100% of arrears on those currently in foreclosure. Useless, of course, as I am just a nobody in a sea of nobodies whose great great grandchildren will still be paying for the children of privilege to look down their noses at us.

[PSPS]

9. Not so fast

I agree this stinks and amounts to bush cleaning out what's left of value in this country before he scurries away. But "need-based grants up to 100% of arrears on those currently in foreclosure" is equally abominable. I'm certainly not interested in picking up the tab for someone who bought more house than they could afford with their "liar's loan." They should lose their house if they can't afford the payments. If this includes you, I'm sorry but you should be renting.

[mbperrin]

33. I own several dozen rental houses outright as well as a small

apartment complex, and our own house, and have never had a bank mortgage. The needs-based aid I would give would be for those souls who have had unforeseeable reversals, like my neighbor, who found out he has a brain tumor as large as a grapefruit, inoperable and affecting his speech. He was teaching school for $67,000 a year and has a house payment of $880/month, which he cannot now pay because he is unemployed and likely to remain so for the rest of his relatively short life. His wife died last year of an aneurysm, and they have no children.

I'd rather help him for relative nothing per month than these greedy assholes for untold billions for the rest of my life, my children's lives, my grandchildren's lives, well, you get the idea.

Didn't mean to make it sound bigger than I intended. If the asses who approved his mortgage had put disability with it rather than strictly a death benefit, he'd be covered.

[TankLV]

17. and it FREES UP THE MONEY OF SO THESE REPUKES CAN FUND MCINSANE'S CAMPAIGN - AGAIN!

These CRIMINALS will now get to keep ALL their money, get this "debt" off their shoulders onto OUR backs, and start FRESH with TRILLIONS to put into mcINSANE!!!

[Pale Blue Dot]

7. Hmmm... where have I heard this before?

Oh, that's right... I've heard it every single time the Bush administration wants to pass something that turns out to be a disaster for our country!

We MUST call and write our Reps. They must not act out of fear - that hasn't worked before and it won't work now.

[Lorien]

11. Yep. Shock Doctrine politics

it's Iraq all over again.

[BeyondGeography]

10. How about changing the bankruptcy law so people who own just one home can stay put

in the case of a foreclosure. No immediate outlay by the government and more fairness for those in trouble.

Clean and quick.

[lumberjack_jeff]

14. "very clean and quick"

Everybody talks about "The Shock Doctrine" but it is apparent that few people (and no one in congress) actually read it.

[bemildred]

19. Sounds like a bank heist. nt

[Joe Chi Minh]

21. It's not negotiable. "Accept our restrictions, or you're responsible

for the economic consequences. And that's just the immediate ones."

That should be the Democratic line. Urge loudly and insistently that they either accept their (Democratic) amendments, "clean and quick" - or they will be to blame to blame, not just for creating the crisis but failing to act in time to at least delay its full nightmare unfolding.

[lonestarnot]

22. Hasn't that motherfucker ever heard "When in doubt do nothing?"

[Joe Chi Minh]

23. Apart from any other consideration, should not the Democrats insist

on Paulson and Bernanke being replaced at some early juncture, by individuals who had seen it coming for some time, and warned about it?

[IndianaGreen]

26. The banks don't have the money we gave them, as Jon Steward quipped

and now they want us to give them more money, no questions asked. These are the same financial interests that will oppose universal health coverage on the grounds it is costly. Screw them, and screw this deal!

[kirby]

27. Actually the REGULATED banks are pretty good shape, especially local banks...

Do not confuse, like Jon Stewart did, the banks with the investment companies. This is mainly a investment company issue at this point. Some banks, like IndyMac have had issue related to bad mortgages they wrote, but the vast majority of all banks are properly capitalized.

[IndianaGreen]

28. An article in the British press said FDIC is short $500 billion

FDIC has insured over $1 trillion, yet it only has half that much to cover depositors.

[kirby]

29. The FDIC is insurance...

By law FDIC is required to maintain 1.15% of the amount of deposits it insures. They have a credit line with the treasury if they need more money. Most likely FDIC will increase the insurance premiums bank by banks for the insurance.

[Adsos Letter]

32. WELL NOW...!

Haven't the Republicans been blaming home buyers for not taking enough care and caution, not being sure to understand all the ramifications of a contract, signing for things they couldn't actually afford...I mean, isn't that how they spin the mortgage meltdown?

And now they expect us to rush into a mind-boggling commitment without due diligence?

Just shoot me now... :mad:

[mbperrin]

34. Well said, and they might as well put me in that line to be shot,

as well.

[Trillo]

35. Maybe it's time for a 'special accountant' akin to a 'special prosecutor'

to assess the need for all this tax money before any of it is granted. Is the GAO up to the task?


Let them look at all the books, all the ownership, all the debts, etc., before approving anything. If all the books aren't "open" to this accountant, then there's no way to assess any so-called need, so, bailout DENIED.

[astral]

36. The rush to get this going right before the election

and 'not a minute sooner' makes me think it is just a last minute money-grab after which either there won't BE an election, or else it won't really matter whether there is one or not -- nobody can pick up the pieces after this has happened.

Helping American households is REALLY NOT on the agenda.

[halobeam]

39. Just thinking the same thing before I read your post.

no more tin-foil, imo. The Rat we smell, has his eye on the "cheesy" polls.

[oioioi]

37. There's an "urgent need" to replace the Treasury Secretary

[salin]

38. okay - jerk - you may be able to afford the 2,300 per person debt

obligation - wait - it just expanded, you told foreign banks that you would bail them out too. How much more do I have to pay? And there is NO tax payer benefits? No re-regulation to prevent this from happening again - while at the same time giving new liquidity to those businesses who used such horrendous business practices to creat this situation - so they are free to have the money and to find the next "magical" (eg manipulated) market to exploit? You want me to PAY so that these manipulative greed-heads can keep doing their get rich schemes on the back of american taxpayers?

You want to bail UBS out - even though it has recently been disclosed that they had a big business angle to help Rich US taxpayers (illegally) avoid paying taxes - and those of us who regularly pay all of our taxes are supposed to pick up the bill? Seriously?