PART II: The Sphinx and the Hijinks by Elaine Meinel Supkis

[Joanne98]

After the break, the room filled to bursting with Congressmen, their staff, bankers, lobbyists, three tourists and a mob of media. There was practically no room. I was directly behind Paulson’s top aid and could reach him with my outstretched arm. Bernanke strolled in and then sat down and literally posed for the media. Paulson looked very uncomfortable in the media flashing camera lens glare. But Bernake was a perfect sphinx. He sat there and coolly ignored the media. He did turn his head slightly when I said very softly, ‘Sphinx’. It was very close to almost being a moment where the magician meets the witch. I focused mostly on him, figuring that Paulson is cooked meat and on his way out the door.


Paulson's throne:

At the end of the session, I leaned forwards and took these signs as souvenirs.


Bernanke and his Secret Service agent were very close to me:

Paulson went first. I observed him closely and sketched him from behind. It shocked me to see both the veins standing out on his hands. A sign of great stress. Worse, his little finger was so tense, it was held out, crookedly. He looked physically decimated. Even his business suit was rumpled and on the edge of disorderly. The effort of dragging his beloved Goldman Sachs pirate crew out of the financial hurricane was literally killing him. He volunteered to replace the saner Mr. Snow who was forced out by Bush because he told Bush, the Iraq war was going to cost much more than $10 billion.

As the entire GOP game plan, Paulson repeated all the lies about how this mess is totally due to a bunch of homeowners in California and Nevada not paying the banks their ‘rent’. This is a huge attempt at preventing a true fix on the system. As Paulson gave his GOP history of the banking collapse, the chair, Barney Franks, looked utterly bored and annoyed.


When Paulson announced that selling the US government all these garbage CDOs. the taxpayers would break even, Franks broke in to say, ‘AIG had to pay 11% interest as punishment. And Buffett got a 10% goodie for saving Goldman Sachs.’ This was aimed right at Paulson’s heart.


Also, Paulson did mention the government DOUBLED SWAPS with the gnomes specifically in their mountain headquarters in Switzerland. This VERY interesting information was not explained further nor did anyone ask questions about this very startling news! Incidentally, the same day as this, the Financial Times had a front page headline: ‘Corporate cash pile hits peak in SPITE of financial meltdown.’


As usual with the financial media, this is ass-backwards. The cast hit a peak BECAUSE of the financial meltdown. The gnomes are running to their cave with the loot and hiding it there! It is NOT CIRCULATING. In depressions, cash is king. In inflation, gold is queen. Buffett’s $5 billion buy this same week shows us there is no specific crisis that is killing all systems. Just certain systems.


Here is a Treasury document I got to photograph before they flipped everything over because they were mad, I got a picture of it.

At this point in the hearings, there was a discussion all about ‘price discovery’. I thought of the Nature Channel’s endless sharks eating festivals. One thing everyone there agreed on was, things were ‘too complex to learn before passing the <$700 billion bank bail bill>’. At this point, I noticed that as Bernanke talked about the Swiss gnomes and the need to learn something, his tailored jacket slipped back and his sleeve as well as his cuffs were now showing. This is a sign of his inner agitation, I might suggest.


As this Hyper-übergnome discussed how this huge, massive bail out of his fellow green skinned guys would be a ‘win/win’ situation I drew more sketches of him. He has lost weight and is now quite thin. I wonder if his sleep is disturbed?


This inside-the-beltway professor who is NOT a pure ivory tower resident had the moxie to actually say, ‘This bill will bring LIQUIDITY back into the banking system’.


Now, as I watched TV that night, I saw a Honda commercial. In huge letters it said, ‘0.9% loans if you buy a Honda.’ This is the Bank of Japan’s latest desperate moves to put more debt into America by luring us into buy their cars. The peculiar loan amount means this isn’t those fake ‘0%’ loans by Americans. It is an actual loan from the Bank of Japan! There is nearly INFINITE lending available but ONLY if we buy Japanese! Isn’t that interesting?


Here are some Financial Times headlines from this same day the hearings were held. Note that things are just plain JOLLY on Wall Street:

Continued>>>
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