It’s not that I expect my representatives and Senators to pay any attention, but I understand that every letter they get is counted as representing at least ten people, so maybe they’ll get the idea that I’m at least ten times angrier about this than I have been about all the other Rethug malfeasance — and my head’s been on the point of exploding for most of the last 8 years, so….

I had completely forgotten about that. Wasn’t that a kind of way to use the expectation of guaranteed federal money to make shaky loans more secure and hence get through a cash-flow crisis?

Do NOT assume the rich-powerful-fuckhead contingent sincerely wants the McCapitalism Cardhouse to stay upright. They can get exponentially richer faster in the wake of a crash (in terms of dirt-cheap capital & infrastructure) than they can in even the most pork-saturated high-cost bull OR bear market.

Senator McCain still hasn’t yet decided whether he will permit the country to conduct the presidential debate. Throughout the campaign this man has exhibited a pattern of bad, impetuous, self-interested judgement leaving a trail of chaos wherever he goes.

In other words, he’s acting presidential already.

One angle I haven’t seen brought up just yet … I don’t think the GOP wants ANY action to halt or reduce foreclosures, to put it mildly … because those legions of newly-displaced homeowners (who’ve just been given the best reason in the world to vote “D” in November) can then easily be vote-caged en masse to swing the elction for McNutbar.

This is The Mother Of All Ratfucks.

Their problem is that after 8 long painful years of this ugliness, heaps of regular folks know their scuzzy MO by heart by now, & this could turn off the fully franchised voters in droves – in fact, it already looks like that’s just what it’s doing.

Dirty pool is the only game they know how to play any more.
But Americans are getting very tired of a game where they always pick up the tab.

No shit, Sherlock.

woody, tokin librul: My sentiments exactly. St. Ronnie’s entire political philosophy, as embraced and endorsed by “conservatives”, as is now becoming painfully clear to most Americans with an IQ above room temperature: “I got mine, so fuck you.”

For an example of how to do it reasonably fairly, and efficiently, take a look at what the Swedes (gasp!) did in the 1990s with a similar problem:

Damn socialists may have even made a profit for the taxpayers from their plan

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.”

Also, keep in mind that any bailout moneys are probably going to go at least partially to funding enormous bonuses for some of these dirtbags.

Stand up in Miss, and tell us: “Government is not the evil alien to be feared, unless we turn it over to people who see selfishness as a virtue. Government is simply a way we have invented to do the right thing. It is how we are able to feed the hungry and clothe the naked and care for the least among us in a large and complex society. Not to mention keep out communities safe from attack, with clean air and water, and schools for our children.

“But we need to work to make this work. If we sit back and expect good things to happen automatically, we will fall asleep. And the corrupt and the selfish will again ruin our best hopes.”

It is 1932 again. If ever there was a time for eloquence and inspiration, this is it.

McCain parachutes into DC after not bothering to vote in the Senate since April, contributes zilch to the negotiations until the very end when he raises vague dissatisfaction with the Bush/House Dem/Senate Dem/Senate Rep compromise. He doesn’t even say clearly if he supports the Hose Republican plan either.

Senator McCain still hasn’t yet decided whether he will permit the country to conduct the presidential debate. Throughout the campaign this man has exhibited a pattern of bad, impetuous, self-interested judgement leaving a trail of chaos wherever he goes.

He nearly ran his campaign into the ground then got out of it by gaming the electoral finance system he once pledged to clean up. He hired the very same scumbags that conducted a vicious attack against his family in 2000. He bizarrely and cynically picked a ridiculously unqualified running mate. He melodramatically cancelled the first day and a half of the GOP convention to minimize the association between himself and his own rotten party. He has put out a series of TV ads that are universally considered the most dishonest in US history. His melodramatic bullshit reached a peak this week when the rest of the government (save the incumbent Republicans) are trying to deal with the most serious crisis since WWII.

This guy is so clearly unfit to be president.

- There is no problem a tax cut for corporations or the rich cannot solve. This tax cut is always called “relief” and its purpose is “to create jobs” (the likelihood of the latter is proportionate to the wealth of the recipient.)

- The sole intent of setting up a commission or “blue-ribbon panel” to study a problem is to find ways to blame Democrats for causing it. If Democrats cannot be blamed, then the purpose is to delay discovery of GOP wrongdoing until the problem is forgotten, or the election is over, whichever comes first.

- “Reform” is a word that has no meaning in the GOP lexicon. When used by Republicans it should be understood as a symbolic punctuation mark to signify that the sentence or paragraph in which it appears is absolute bullshit.

- “Oversight.” when referring to Republican policy disasters, means “look the other way.”

- When Republicans talk about doing something for “the good of the country,” or “to benefit the American people,” don’t for a minute think they are talking about you.

Why not when Harry and Harriet can’t meet the mortgage and default, then Uncle Sam buys the property at foreclosure and sells it back to H&H at terms they can afford. Uncle takes an equity lien so that when the house goes up in value and is sold, Uncle and H&H split the appreciation.

Because mortgages have a US guarantee, no more impossible-to-value bad paper. Banks assets re-liquified and banks willing to lend. Communities more stable and home values more stable. Uncle Sam and homeowner both vested in caring for and improving property. The only losers are holders of outrageously leveraged derivatives that are trash regardless of the quality of the underlying mortgage assets. But those guys — mostly hedgefunds — can (and should) be left on their own. That’s what high-risk bondholders are for.

Maybe I haven’t been watching closely enough, but has anyone seen a breakdown of the ‘benefit per bank’ in this situation? It would be nice, if not a wise and ethical mandate, to know who’s getting this money and how much. The idea of giving $700B to “the Banking Industry” doesn’t exactly inspire confidence or stand as an example of “good governance.” Another thought is, why does this need to be a one-time, blanket payment? Why can’t it be done on a case by case basis? “Show us your books, we’ll reach an agreement to solidify your bank’s operations, then we’ll move on the next institution.” Or is that crazy talk?

And, more to the point of the post, I wouldn’t trust any deal that Congressional Republicans proffer, even if the banks really, truly promise not to cum in our mouths this time.

I said it before, I’ll say it again, Mel Brooks deserves the Lifetime Achievement Award for Documentary Filmmaking.

Bottom line, of course, is you cannot EVER ‘negotiate’ with people who wish you dead and will do nothing to sop your demise, and will hurry it if they can without seeming to.

The USofA as was imagined by the Founders died the day Raygun took office. Since then, we’ve just been rolling around in the decaying offal.