Pathetic Grampappy and the 700 Billion Dollar Boondoggle

In fact, some of the most basic details, including the $700 billion figure Treasury would use to buy up bad debt, are fuzzy.
“It’s not based on any particular data point,” a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com Tuesday. “We just wanted to choose a really large number.”
Forbes, September 23, 2008

Soomebody better tell John McCain that sometimes the president needs to walk and chew gum at the same time, in other words, he/she sometimes needs to multitask. However, I am so glad that Grampy McSame decided to rally and join Barack Obama in Oxford, Mississippi for the first presidential debate. A debate in which ole Grampy managed to get through without incessant "blurting out of random crap."

But back to DC for more Bail Out Fun Plans - a plan that was about to come together until John McCain swooped into town and got behind the radical right's idea that what this fire needed was more gasoline, i.e. less regulation is the key to solving a situation that was brought about by virtually dissolving any oversight and regulation. This makes sense only if you believe semi-fascist, former-president Ronnie Reagan's infamous line that the nine most frightening words in the English language are "I am from the government and I am here to help you." At this point I think that it is a good thing that the politicians inside the beltway are bringing other ideas to the table, rather than swallowing Bush's urgent plea to pass his ridiculous Bill hook, line and sinker. Because sink is what Bush's Insane Bill of No Accountability, Oversight or Judicial Review would do to our already gigantic financial debacle. Never mind the fact that this Bill (as suggested by Bush) puts all the power for resolving this colossal failure in the hands of one man whose last job before he became Secretary of Treasury happened to be the CEO of Goldman Sachs. A job that paid Paulson over 38 million dollars in 2005. With that glaring conflict of interest staring them in the face, I applaud Congress for going back to the drawing board to rewrite this horrible piece of legislation. I just hope that saner heads of Representative Barney Frank and Senator Chris Dodd prevail and that while they send billions of dollars to Wall Street they don't forget to give the taxpayers a stake in the game that they are essentially buying, along with making sure that excessive CEO pay is checked, and that the Bill includes assistance for those people who are about to lose their homes in foreclosure. It also should include some measure of oversight and regulation to insure that this boondoggle doesn't beset us again in the foreseeable future.

Here are some links for further reading on the Financial Crisis of 2008 (how we got here and how we can get out, and a few other issues that we must consider during this feast of foreclosure and crisis of credit that is going on across America):

See Brian Wingfield and Josh Zumbrun's article in Forbes (see quote at top of post) The Paulson Plan - Bad News For The Bailout

10 Ways to Bail Out Wall Street (and Main Street) Without Soaking Taxpayers in Debt

McCain's Economic Plan: Blurt Out Random Crap

As Homes Are Lost, Fears That Votes Will Be, Too