[…] Now you don’t have to go to Teh Google to find your congress-critters, as Brad has handily posted a link where you can just enter your zipcode and find […]

Financial firms often have extensive art collections.

I’m just sayin’.

And we might want to consider taking their corporate apartments in Manhattan and elsewhere (fuckers can rent), their corporate jets (fuckers can time-share) and their customer-schmoozing stadium skyboxes (fuckers can get a six-pack of PBR and take the client to watch the game on the cafeteria plasma TV).

WARNING: We are about to be f**ked….

Whenever you hear the Republicans in Congress saying that we need to act quickly and in a bi-partisan manner, you can bet your bottom dollar (at which time you will be officially bankrupt) that they’ve buried shit in every nook and cranny of this $700 billion bail-out. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.

I’ll make the damn call, but I preferred the “pitchforks and torches” personally.

Let’s be honest here: there’s not going to be any meaningful oversight over the money that’s going to be thrown away. At most there will be a 25 billion dollar “Economic Justice” package that will pay for credit counseling for the poor.

I watched one of the cable business shows this morning, and seriously, some of these free-market types deserve a beating.

You get the idea from this naked grab of power that Bushco still expects to be in office on January 21 should their party lose in November.

How odd to grab this kind of power less than 4 months before giving it up.

Well, this is a start, anyway.

Better yet, how ’bout a provision that the executives of any company being bailed out hand over their personal fortunes to the treasury and actually take up residence in the local homeless shelter until the money is paid back. I see no reason why this is beyond the power of the congress.

I’m a big S,N! fan, but I can’t say I agree. The comparisons to the AUMF are idiotic. Even if the taxpayer money cushions the losses of some already-rich assholes, that’s not per se a good enough reason not to do it. The question is whether US taxpayers are better off with the money in the federal budget or in the banking system, and there are pretty good arguments for the latter. It’s certainly a closer call than whether we needed to invade Iraq.

Anyway I write about this in more detail on my blog, but I just want to register my dissent from the party line.

My Rep is Keith Ellison (teh evil islamofascist) and my senator Amy Klobachar. I’m pretty happy with them. My other senator is that POS Norm Coleman though, hopefully this is his last term.

lowellfield – you really think it’s wise to give the Bush clownshow $700 BILLION with no strings attached? Seriously?

How odd to grab this kind of power less than 4 months before giving it up.

This is cash out time for the Bush cronies and they need that power to cover their tracks and hide all the crimes they committed. The SCOTUS said no to Bush’s unitary executive so this is an attempt at an end around. If Bush can’t be UE directly then you give Paulson dictatorial powers and go through him. He’s a loyal toadie.

The comparisons to the AUMF are idiotic.

This guy seems pretty smart, and he agrees with Brad.

So I called up my congressman, Rahm Emanuel, and told his phone-answerer. About as effective as writing my comments on a piece of paper, wadding it up, and flushing it down the toilet, if you ask me.

This guy seems pretty smart, and he agrees with Brad.

Same with Krugman

you really think it’s wise to give the Bush clownshow $700 BILLION with no strings attached?

Well I do think that it’s probably wise to give the major financial institutions a huge amount of taxpayer money, yes, and despite his being part of the Bush administration I actually don’t think Hank Paulson is an especially bad choice to administer it.

I think his personal motivations at this point run more towards his historical legacy than just personal enrichment (he’s already very rich) or enriching his former peers like Blankfein, Mack and Lewis.

It’s not that I object to strings being attached, but they’re not just giving the hard sell when they say time is of the essence. Hammering out all the reforms that need to be made (and I’m very pro-regulation) is going to take a lot of time, so it may not make sense to condition the bailout money on them.

I just want to register my dissent from the party line.

Well, then, that’s it. You’re out.

You coulda just kept your mouth shut, and none of us would have known the difference.

But now, you’ve got to turn in your card, and your keys to that cozy little flat out on the edge of the arty warehouse district.

Your life just got much more complicated.

No second chances.

My counter-example to Krugman, DeLong, and all the economists on both sides of the spectrum who hate the deal is Nouriel Roubini, who doesn’t like the amount of authority it gives Paulson but also believes that it could prevent the recession from getting worse than it would otherwise.

Roubini has been righter than just about anybody about the current mess, and he doesn’t think the plan is totally crazy.

I hate the idea of throwing good money (and our tax money, to boot) after bad, but idiots like McSame and his deregulatory delusions put us here, and I don’t see another way out. I can’t justify small businesses and aspiring homeowners who can pay being rejected for loans just to satisfy my need for vengeance. It sucks, it’s not fair, but it looks like we have to do it.
But yeah, there better be a buttload of regulations attached, along with some way to ease the foreclosure glut.

OK, I gave my congressman’s office a call. Not sure how he’ll swing – Democrat, but a major Blue Dog. Sigh.

yep I’m getting mad about this. take back your shit-sandwich. Do not want.

My congress critter is Waxman, so….I’m still calling him.

It’s not that I object to strings being attached, but they’re not just giving the hard sell when they say time is of the essence.

Um, actually, I think they are giving it the hard sell. I think they are exaggerating how much this will affect the average American. And I think that the powers that Paulson would have under this deal will be abused as surely as every other special power has been under the Bush administration. So I want congress to take its sweet time figuring out exactly how to regulate this new office that would be created under the plan, with its dictatorial powers over the financial system.

We were robbed and now the fuckers want us to give them cab fare home. It’s done, it’s over. The goal of the ruling class is to rule, and they have cowed the politicians and bribed the masses to get to this very point. They have all the money now and we have all the debt.

Even if the plan were to work, and even if Paulson proves to be an honorable and effective manager, and even if the Bush administration doesn’t abuse the sudden new powers it’s being given… the very idea that congress should hand over tax dollars while insulating an executive officer from ANY and ALL oversight and accountability, including from any and all courts, is obviously, fundamentally, irrevocably wrong.

It’s awful to have to recall the Reaganite / Bush Sr / Keating 5 Savings & Loan collapse as a role model, but the government rescue plan ‘Resolution Trust Corporation’ created to buy up the failed banks actually got the f***ing banks, not just the S&L’s bad debts.

Just a point, you know.

There is no money. We can’t pay this back.

No money. None.

Don’t forget. The finance industry is the biggest contributor to BOTH political parties. A thousand phone calls won’t make a dent in their influence.

The last act of scoundrels is to loot the treasury – at least old time scoundrels. The modern scoundrels have already looted the treasury and are now getting a loan from the treasury on their way out the door.

lowellfield says regulations will only delay action on this MOST URGENT MATTER. This might be true if you’re talking about finely-crafted legislation (do they still have that?) but most dissenters are merely asking that a few bold and simple conditions be attached before congress signs off.

Like, for instance, Paulson doesn’t get to hide his actions from the light of day and do whatever the fuck he wants with other people’s money.

It’s not that I object to strings being attached, but they’re not just giving the hard sell when they say time is of the essence. Hammering out all the reforms that need to be made (and I’m very pro-regulation) is going to take a lot of time, so it may not make sense to condition the bailout money on them.

If Paulson were on the up-and-up, there’s absolutely no reason to include the “no oversight, no judicial review” clause. Hell, even I had complete faith in him, I would balk at that clause: it’s just fucking wrong on the face of it.

If they want to “save the economy”, then, for starters, NO LOBBYIST FOR ANY FIRM ASKING FOR MONEY SHOULD BE INVOLVED IN THE BAILOUT LEGISLATION. Period. End of story. Deal-killer. Done.

No closed-door decision making, either. Let’s see a public hearing run by an independent panel of experts review the different issues and proposed solutions. I’m perfectly willing to let CEOs and CFOs offer evidence to an independent panel–on the record, under oath,–but that’s as far as ANY of these companies should be involved.

I’d like to see the bailout terms include some clauses like

1) All firms must exhaust every available asset (hard and liquid) before applying for taxpayer money.

2) No senior executive or board member that had decision-making authority can retain his position and must waive all severance packages, stock holdings in this firm, and outstanding compensation.

3) All firms that apply for taxpayer money must include a plan detailing the errors that were made and new guidelines that ensure this won’t happen again. (Honestly, this will probably be a boilerplate for most firms.)

4) Taxpayer-held debt must count as ultra-super-special preferred stock: in the event that any firm later declares bankruptcy, taxpayer-held debt must be resolved first.

5) No firms that accept taxpayer money can pay dividends on stock until at least 50% of the “taxpayer-grant stocks” are repurchased.

I figure any company that can agree to these terms is sincere, at least, instead of just lining up at the government teat to suck our blood. (No, that’s not a hashed metaphor: it’s possible that an infant can suckle so hard that the nipple bleeds. If the infant keeps sucking, it’s drinking blood instead of milk. That’s where we are right now.)

Obama and the Dems will cave, and you’ll shift your POV to justify it.

When has Obama ever stood with you?

I emailed Sherrod Brown. He’s been stand-up since 2006. I won’t bother with Mean Jean Schmidt.

MzNicky said,

September 22, 2008 at 15:33

Well, this is a start, anyway.

Holy shit, MzNicky! I think you’ve just found the last American hero!

You have to admit that America really deserve this. They have shown nothing but ignorance, arrogance and contempt, while killing hundreds of thousands of people, allegedly because they don’t like our “freedom.” On some level, I’m hoping Rome burns. Nothing will change in a world where no one believes in karmic retribution. Time for us to go Third World. Burn baby, burn!… Anyone seen my fiddle?

What will things be like one year from now? That’s what I keep asking myself.

I’m one day older than Mr. Obama. When I was younger, the threat of nuclear war hung over our heads all the time. But always in the past, barring that potential world-ending disaster, there was never really any doubt but that the next year would bring more of the same with variations on the theme. For the first time in my adult life, I can honestly say I wouldn’t bet any money on what life will look like a year out.

Holy fuck.

I’m absolutely horrible asserting myself on the phone. I stutter and get incoherent. The bullet points above are okay, but does someone have something more like a script I could read from?

You have to admit that America really deserve this.

No you don’t.

This dwarfs the raids on the treasury by war profiteers.

Whoa, Nelly! I live in Illinois 14, and already called Bill Foster’s office this morning, but just out of curiosity I plugged my zip code into the form at House of Reps link you gave above. Surprise, Denny Hastert is still my Congressman! I wonder which party is in charge of updating that search database.

Some people will always enjoy watching others suffer.

This article has a few interesting points about the repig bailout:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389×4049626

Will we also be buying up the bad debts of Nigerian e-mail scammers? They are also too big to fail, plus if we give them our account information they are going to share a billion dollars in secret government funds with us.

Should we do it? Should Secretary Paulson give them our national bank account information? They keep calling and saying it’s urgent.

Dearest Sadly’s, thank you for partaking in our latest theatrical presentation. Why, it really wouldn’t be any fun screwing you over if you didn’t squeal a bit … yrs, Mr Ogre

Look, push-back is good and may make some marginal difference, so we gotta do it, I completely agree. But there is definitely an element here of play-acting all round. I rather doubt Paulson seriously thought he could get that first draft through, I suspect it was an opening bid, designed to make whatever they do end up with seem relatively reasonable (which it almost certainly won’t be); but what the heck, worth a shot, eh?

Just a note of cynical caution, thassall …

I’m absolutely horrible asserting myself on the phone. I stutter and get incoherent. The bullet points above are okay, but does someone have something more like a script I could read from?

PapaJijo

Here’s what I said:

“Three things about this Bernanke/Paulson plan.
First, don’t let them give you the hard sell. Take your time looking at the plan, and ask questions.
Second, I want regulations placed on Wall Street and on Paulson. Wall Street has shown that they can’t or won’t regulate themselves.
Third, you know it will be more than 700 Billion dollars. This plan won’t solve the problem. Keep that in mind.”

Re Mz Nicky’s link:

(Reporting by Savio D’Souza in Bangalore; editing by Sue Thomas)

Damn Dinesh D’Souza’s ferriner kinfolk air takin’ air jerbs!

My ex-boyfriend called and said he’ll give me back all the money he stole from my purse if I take out a loan and give him the money, no questions asked. I said okey-dokey, as long as I can ask questions and get my money back. He said whatever you want, baby.

Will we also be buying up the bad debts of Nigerian e-mail scammers? They are also too big to fail, plus if we give them our account information they are going to share a billion dollars in secret government funds with us.

Should we do it? Should Secretary Paulson give them our national bank account information? They keep calling and saying it’s urgent.

Next time you get one of those email offers, say yes. Just take out a princely inheritance and/or secret government funds default swap with JIG (J— International Group, Inc.), and you’re good to go.

the very idea that congress should hand over tax dollars while insulating an executive officer from ANY and ALL oversight and accountability, including from any and all courts, is obviously, fundamentally, irrevocably wrong.

Actually, that’s exactly how things are supposed to work in a monarchy.

America doesn’t deserve what we have right now, but if we permit this crapulance to go forward under the McPaulson regime, we DO deserve it. I will vote for Obama no matter what. I accept that he is not some transcendnent post-partisan politician. Hell, I was never really attracted to that meme anyway. I do believe that he wants to take this country in a direction more like the Clinton years. And I would be happy if that’s where we were. I don’t need much more than that. I think he can help us get there.

If ‘Murica doesn’t get this fact through its thick scull, and permits the GOP criminals to continue punching it in the balls, I will be tempted to say “fuck it.” America won’t deserve my concern any longer.

You know, one of the nice things about living in Oakland is that I don’t have to call my Congresscritter when things like this come up. I didn’t have to call the only member of the House who voted against Bush’s authorization for war in Iraq and plead for sanity.

It’s really true: Barbara Lee speaks for me.

http://lee.house.gov/?sectionid=57&sectiontree=35,57&itemid=1412

They only hurt me because they love me so much.

Thanks, athiest.

I called, and ended up babbling incoherently anyway. But the assistant was cool about it, and I got my essential point across.

In other, less pressing news, Barack Obama not only knows who Zapatero is but also understands what a NATO ally is.

I agree with you. So does Paul Krugman.

To the Honorable Robert A. Brady, First District of Pennsylvania:

I have several reservations about Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s bailout plan for the financial market, but my main problem is with this clause in his legislative proposal (a copy of which was published in The New York Times):

“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.”

This is patently anti-democratic no matter how you look at it. This is power without any accountability to the citizenry. Not only are we socializing private debt, now we’re giving government bureaucrats infallible power like they’re the pope, an absolute monarch, or a dictator?

Therefore I want to say the following.

Representative Brady, I am a registered Democrat and of course you have my vote, but as one of your constituents I beckon you firstly to have this “absolute authority” clause stricken from Secretary Paulson’s proposal before you even consider the rest of the agenda contained within.

Secondly, is spending $700 billion of our national wealth bailing out Wall Street without doing anything to cushion the blow for the middle, working, and poor classes a wise course of action? Shouldn’t there be at least a stimulus package of tax cuts for working families? Shouldn’t we extend unemployment insurance for longer periods when people start losing their jobs because of this—and you KNOW they will? Shouldn’t we be pouring money into our infrastructure like the Japanese did when their economy deflated in the 90s to keep their GDP from deflating, thus providing jobs and income to the countless thousands who will be displaced by this economic collapse?

Thirdly, we the people need much better accountability about how our taxpayer money is spent than this proposal states. We need strict overwatch and regulation not only of this bailout, but also of our financial markets in general. The wanton lawlessness and rampant amorality that Wall Street has exhibited in this de-regulated economy has been appalling and destructive beyond any measure of those two words.

It is time for Democrats to start truly fighting for the middle and lower classes and not the wealthy elite who have gotten us into this awful mess. If not, I for one will work my hardest to have all of you ousted and replaced by citizens who will.

Thank you for your time.

Well, I have Mark Kirk (R-Ill 10), and here is what he’s saying about an amendment he is offering to the bailout bill. I emailed him through his website to approve his amendment in principle, but to tell him it needs to go much further. Specifically:

1. Termination must be presumptive, not merely “authorized”
2. Golden parachutes granted within 6-12 months prior to the bailout must be disgorged — executive rats who deserted the ship ahead of time don’t get to keep their ill-gotten gains.
3. Terminated executives give up incentive bonuses and stock/options. New execs can have incentives, but only if tightly tied to performance and success. (Time to stop rewarding failure.)
4. All administration and use of the bailout funds must be public and transparent, and participants in the decision-making processes must be identified — including links to lobbyists, recipients and legislators.
5. All bailout funds must be treated as secured debt, given priority in the event of bankruptcy, and no dividends paid out until 50-75% is paid back to the taxpayers.
6. Put significant meaningful regulation on the institutions receiving any bailout funds.

(H/t Dorothy for some of those ideas.)

Kirk is a Republican — though relatively moderate — and I doubt most of these things will get anywhere near his amendment. But if enough people demand these things, maybe someone will get the message and something will come of it.

MzNicky said,
September 22, 2008 at 15:33

Well, this is a start, anyway.

I’d like to see other CEOs do the same.

Just a wee word of advice if you think your Congress Cretin is hopeless: Contact him anyway. People who have been gobbling the pResidential knob for years stopped long enough to past the Medicare bill. If they think they might have to get a real job, they’ll do it again.

The argument for this bailout is that we need to give these fucks money so they can keep investing it in the economy, and us poor peasants can have jobs, kittens and a pony in every pot. Why doesn’t the government just invest that money directly in the kitten market, and build us some damn trains, and let the wallstreet fucks find some new scam? Oh so angry. god dammit. arrrrrrrggghghghghghgshl.

So, I saw this headline over at TPM:

OBAMA TAKES ON EL CID

And I thought, OH SHIT!, Obama reads Sadly, No! and doesn’t like our witty friend.

And then Josh Marshall was like,

Obama gets his turn with Spanish-language radio and says John McCain’s refusal to meet with Spain’s prime minister is a continuation of the Cheney foreign policy.

And I was sad.

I’m not particularly impressed by the ceo who turned down his severance package. I bet he has more money socked away than I and my whole family, and everyone reading this will ever make in our lives. No decent person in his position WOULD take the money. By running AIG into the ground he cost the nation more than even he could ever pay back. fuck ‘im. If he gives the rest of his AIG earnings back, then I’ll give him some credit.

Be aware, Loneoak. Our witty friend is a medieval mercenary.

“I just called my Congressman and urged him to give Big Hank Paulson the finger on his insane $700 billion to buy worthless assets.”
——————————————————————————————————

I have to say that I agree ‘Sadly, No’ on this one.

I’ll be calling my congressperson as well.

think his personal motivations at this point run more towards his historical legacy than just personal enrichment (he’s already very rich)…

Because once people are rich, they never bother trying to get richer.

I sent the Honorable Timothy V. Johnson an email, for all the good that would do. If I called, they’d go “Oh, he’s suspiciously young, therefore a university student, and so he can go take a flying fuck at the moon.”

But, hey. I type like an old person, so maybe he’ll listen.

Disculpe, but as far as I am concerned, El Senador Obama may, how do you say, ‘bring it on’. Traigalo, cobarde!

Five people who disagree with Brad.

In other unrelated OT news:

The average number of vehicles per household remained constant between 1988 and 1994 at approximately 1.8, while the number of households with vehicles reported in the 1988 survey was 81.3 million, compared with 84.9 million in 1994. The total number of vehicles nationwide rose from 148 million to 157 million, an increase of 6 percent.

So the expected number of cars owned by the McCains is thirteen. See they are just like an average family!

Is Obama’s Blackazoid power so mighty that he can take on an Eleventh Century Spaniard?

Since Barack has taken it upon himself to give the business to fellas with Spanish names, I’m anxious to see him take on that mother-fucker Jose Cuervo.

Man, if this doesn’t light a fire under the drones passed out in front of American Idol nothing will.

Go to http://www.publiccitizen.org (at least, it’s the front page today) and send a letter to your CongressCritter.

Nitpicking:

Barbara Lee was the only member of the House who voted against Bush’s authorization for war in Afghanistan

To authorize the use of United States Armed Forces against those responsible for the recent attacks launched against the United States

I hate to break it to the leftists here at the Sadly, No! web site, but the more radical left-wing politicans like Obama downplay Americas strengths and the more they say how bad everything is, the more the public trust is lost and the laws of economics take effect and then we really get a recession. Of course, the leftists want that so they can exert even more control over the country and keep people in a state of fear.

Is there a petition?

I’m also wondering what Ringo’s objection to the Commissar Paulson’s proposal is. And that is a serious inquiry.

Shorter SowellFan: Pretending everything is all puppy dogs and sunshine is a conservative virtue.

More shorter: If you think bad thoughts, bad things will magically happen. Because of the magic.

There’s a lot of pretty thoughts that I ain’t thunk.

I could wile away the hours
Conferrin’ with the flowers
Consultin’ with the rain
And my head I’d be scratchin’
While my thoughts were busy hatchin’
If I only had a brain

the more radical left-wing politicans like Obama downplay Americas strengths and the more they say how bad everything is, the more the public trust is lost and the laws of economics take effect and then we really get a recession. Of course, the leftists want that so they can exert even more control over the country and keep people in a state of fear.

Ok, Sparky one last time, it doesn’t matter how hard you fucking clap the problem isn’t going to go away.

Republican GREED has turned into a giant pile of Shit and now you punks sit there and squeal “MORE MORE MORE”.
Swine!

If you think bad thoughts, bad things will magically happen. Because of the magic.

Somebody, quick, send Hank Paulson a copy of The Secret!

Well, I e-mailed my Congressmen last night. I don’t expect it to do much good, because they’ve all bought very heavily into the Bush-Worship.

Shorter Gary Ruppert & SowellFan: 100% of Americans are stupid.

Obots differ from fascists in many ways. I don’t deny this. Indeed, it is central to my point. Obots differ from each other because they grow out of different soil. What unites them are their emotional or instinctual impulses, such as the quest for misogyny, the urge to “unify” Democrats, a faith in the perfectibility of the Creative Class, and an obsession with the aesthetics of elitism and the cult of action.

the more radical left-wing politicans like Obama downplay Americas strengths and the more they say how bad everything is, the more the public trust is lost and the laws of economics take effect and then we really get a recession. Of course, the leftists want that so they can exert even more control over the country and keep people in a state of fear.

So if the $700 bil isn’t because the economy is weak, and things really aren’t that bad, how about I keep the cash and just promise to clap REALLY hard for the Market?

Be gone, fake troll!

Of course, the leftists want that so they can exert even more control over the country and keep people in a state of fear.

Like stipulating that the Treasury Secretary will not be subject to congressional oversight, and insisting that the bailout be rushed through Congress without discussion?

[…] Light ‘em up […]

Don’t forget to contact your senators too, not just the representatives.

http://senate.gov

Trolls: always real, never fake.

Or http://www.senate.gov

*sigh*

Smoke ’em if ya got ’em.

busker: As to the AIG CEO and his turn down of $$22M:

I think that guy had only been in the position for a good bit less than a year (around three to six months, IIRC). While I have a hard time crediting any Wall Street “Master of the Universe” with ethical leanings, he surely carries less culpability than many of the other players.

Anyway, howcum we’re not going to seize that 30 or 40 billion dollars of bonuses? It was acquired fraudulently; seize their ill-gotten gains and send it to Main Street as reparations/damages.

note: I do know why, I’m just sayin.

I look on this as the last act in a very long play written by and starring a cast of kleptocratic imbeciles who’s only talent is bamboozlement and theft.

It may also be the last act of the US of Argentina Weimar Republic America.

I could be wrong,but wouldn’t it be cheaper to give every household in America a million dollars? Seems like that would stimulate the economy,send some kids to school,buy some healthcare and raise the hell out of consumer confidence.

I hate to break it to the leftists here at the Sadly, No! web site, but the more radical left-wing politicans like Obama downplay Americas strengths and the more they say how bad everything is, the more the public trust is lost and the laws of economics take effect and then we really get a recession. Of course, the leftists want that so they can exert even more control over the country and keep people in a state of fear.

I heard an urban legend about this…if you say ‘Ralph Nader’ five times in the comments, the fake trolls transform back into D.N.

I think Democrats should insist the bail-out be called The “George W. Bush has been the worst POTUS of all time Memorial Fund.”

I want to point something out regarding calling reps in Congress. Even if your own rep is a hopeless case it wouldn’t hurt to shift and call out of state to a rep who might be swayed. I called the local office of Rep. Paul Ryan, my rep here in Wisc., pressed the issue hard and wound up having my call transferred to a staffer in Washington. It went way beyond mere chat with someone sitting at a phone bank. Ryan is a repub who would face a hard time here if he rubber stamped the proposal. Find the Republicans who need to break away from Bush to get re-elected. Those are the ones to call.

I could be wrong,but wouldn’t it be cheaper to give every household in America a million dollars?

When a tornado struck Uncle Scrooge’s money bin it scooped up every cent of cash and rained it down all over the countryside. Everyone in the area was instantly wealthy and immediately quit their jobs. Scrooge, working always, was the last remaining proprietor of any kind in the area and raised the price of eggs to $1,000,000, quickly refilling his money bin.*

*May not hold true in non-duck circumstances.

This is just stunning.

Representative Barney Frank, the chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, put forward the Democrats’ proposed changes to the administration’s plan. They would give the Treasury secretary the authority to set “appropriate standards” for compensation of senior executives whose companies sell troubled assets to the government.

Under a so-called claw-back provision, the secretary would have the power to force companies to recoup previous payments to executives of companies involved in the program. And Mr. Frank’s plan would give broad authority for the Government Accountability Office, an investigative arm of Congress, to audit and oversee the program.

But Mr. Paulson said that he was concerned that imposing limits on the compensation of executives could discourage companies from participating in the program.

“If we design it so it’s punitive and so institutions aren’t going to participate, this won’t work the way we need it to work,” Mr. Paulson said on “Fox News Sunday.” “Let’s talk about executive salaries. There have been excesses there. I agree with the American people. Pay should be for performance, not for failure.”

Boo hoo, the ‘poor me’ executives who brought this on themselves might not play if we don’t pay them. The gall is unbelieveable! The country is so habituated to Republican criminality it’s no big deal anymore.

Up until yesterday I was buying Paulson’s fear mongering – that if these companies weren’t bailed, the economy would collapse – but now I frankly don’t care. These pigs have been overextended for so long they need what’s coming to them. And if it results in widespread chaos, so be it. They need a wake up call. Maybe fortune will smile on the taxpayer and some of these corporate pricks will jump out of windows.

When a tornado struck Uncle Scrooge’s money bin it scooped up every cent of cash and rained it down all over the countryside. Everyone in the area was instantly wealthy and immediately quit their jobs. Scrooge, working always, was the last remaining proprietor of any kind in the area and raised the price of eggs to $1,000,000, quickly refilling his money bin.*

*May not hold true in non-duck circumstances

Ah, RB, you gave my first healthy chuckle of the day.

Reading comments in Jim Kunstler’s Clusterfuck Nation blog, & this one really jumped out, both for brevity & signifigance:

Is there a reason why I should be paying my credit card bills next month?

Ohhhh BABY.

You wanna REALLY light a fire under the otiose flaps of your torpid Congresscritters? It’s Old-Fashioned Yankee Ingenuity Time!

Explain to them that unless they start doing their jobs properly, you’re contemplating a little economic “Direct Action” in regards to your personal contribution to the financial system, that you’ll be telling all of the folks (the ones who fund their parties) who are addicted to your greenbacks exactly why they just got cut off cold-turkey, that you’re organizing others to do the same – & that you have the means to hold out for a hell of a lot longer then they can.

Complaints & petitions are the buzz of flies to these people – but money is a locomotive at full throttle.

Even at this late date, Americans can make their government & businesses work for them (instead of working them over), but only if they can understand just where their REAL power lies.

Hint: $$$$$.

China’s food safety boss resigns after 53,000 children fall ill.

At least in China they resign. In the US under Bush, someone would get a bonus.

I called, and ended up babbling incoherently anyway. But the assistant was cool about it, and I got my essential point across.

Pretty much exactly how it went for me, too. Babbling or not, our voices were as heard as they’re gonna get, so well done.

The staffer for my local rep — Jim McDermott — says whatever does come to pass won’t look anything like Paulson’s plan, certainly not with Barney Frank standing in the gap. As he explained it to me, we’re still stuck on “too big to fail” as too many pension funds and 401Ks are mixed up in this. So we’re borrowing money from ourselves to pay ourselves back for loans we shoulda never made in the first place.

When I hear the phrase “too big to fail” I hear something like a publicly-regulated utility or other monopoly. You can’t have it both ways.

Jim, what the American consumer should start doing is stop shopping. Boycott consumption of everything beyond the necessities.

(Like that will ever happen. I’m betting most Americans are yawning as usual this morning and could give a fuck like the’ve given a fuck for the past eight years about Bush crime.)

Not paying credit card debt does squat for the consumer. In fact the banks love it when you delay paying because they make more money in the long run. Ever notice how when you pay it down they increase your limit and dangle carrots? Paying down debt and cutting up credit cards would hit them really hard. Can you imagine the banks not being able to profit from credit cards?

But Mr. Paulson said that he was concerned that imposing limits on the compensation of executives could discourage companies from participating in the program.

I know we live in a country where mealy-mouthed David Brooks “centrism” rules, and the sort of people power that actually accomplishes a better piece of the pie for most Americans drools, but I still think there’s a breaking point. If these jokers keep telling Peter Tomarken that they want to use another spin, and another spin, and another spin, there has to come a time when they’ll stop on a public approval Whammy, and out come the knives. See also: Deal, New. The kleptocracy can only survive off of public indifference, or public attention to silly lipstick cheesesteak arugula crap, but I don’t think it’s sustainable.

Oh, I forgot to mention why I used that above quote: Seriously. Fucking seriously. They have the nerve to whine about compensation at a time like this? When they’ve done squat to deserve it?

Lesley, if these pricks start jumping from windows, I would fully expect them to aim for pedestrians on the way down. Children if they can see ’em.

The stock market fell today after Congress announced it would be taking time to review the bail out plan. Dearie me.

I am so mad I could spit.

How many times have the poor been raked over the coals by Cons for needing a scrap to cover rent and food in some shithole on poverty row. But we’re supposed to bleed for these criminal Wall Street motherfuckers. If this doesn’t call for a trillion man/woman march – one person for every dollar spent to bail these cocksuckers, I don’t know what does.

If this doesn’t call for a trillion man/woman march – one person for every dollar spent to bail these cocksuckers, I don’t know what does.

We don’t have that many people.

And don’t forget to sign up your own bad assets at http://www.buymyshitpile.com. The dollar amount of stuff posted on here has doubled in the last hour.

Gather ’round, gypsies, vagabonds and freaks! Bring your pitchforks and bayonets to the new Bush Big Top! Watch as our feckless moron of a president feebly tries to save his feebly tenure as the ass of the modern world by throwing all of us into the fires of the grindhouse! Watch as he gibbers trying to stave off his fate as the president who gave us the second Great Depression!

Hey, Americans! Like getting fucked all the time? You think that not voting for Obama is going to make you feel better? Give the weight of your frustration to someone who won’t make a difference. The only thing that matters is your conscious…

Jim, what the American consumer should start doing is stop shopping.

I suppose I wasn’t very clear – that was exactly what I had in mind. Boycotts require no funding of their own, & when they get widespread support, they nearly always work. I also wonder how Wall Street might react to a similar approach to the banks themselves … if enough folks were to set a date on which to go to their bank, tell the banker that as of today their lettuce is emigrating indefinitely to a local Credit Union or Co-op, & tell them why.

Your observation about paying down plastic & chopping it up is spot-on: perhaps the most devastating form of protest at this point would be a mass “Chop-In” with a group of folks holding scissors in one hand & the sacred plastic hell-shingle in the other … yes, I know, I’m dreaming with my eyes open here.

I have a Visa account (& no card) & my balance is exactly diddly-squat dollars & bugger-all cents. I’ll only use it in the event of an emergency (or a rare low-octane splurge), & it gets paid back in full, pronto. I can only imagine how profoundly they loathe me & everyone like me.

If this doesn’t call for a trillion man/woman march – one person for every dollar spent to bail these cocksuckers, I don’t know what does.

We don’t have that many people.

No problem. We can borrow more from China.

I like your dream, Jim. Although few people in debt are likely to be able to pay their balances, they can start shopping around for low interest consolidation loans. They can cut up the cards and reduce their shopping. They can also transfer healthy interest earning accounts to other more conscientious banks. Small but effective steps.

A trillion dollar march?

Here’s an idea. A mass protest on Wall Street. Tens of thousands of people holding anti-bail out banners and cutting up credit cards with scissors. This is certainly doable.

Oh that’s so cute. You guys still think you have a representative democracy.

Sure, call your congressthing. That’ll work.

Dark Paranoia Alert:

They are starting to bring home infantry divisions in Iraq to cope with “domestic disturbances” anticipated as a result of the financial meltdown…

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/09/army_homeland_090708w/

On the same day you could have hundreds of thousands descend on Washington doing the same thing.

Sure, call your congressthing. That’ll work.

What if everyone called their congressthing?

People are doing that. Latest news reports is that the Great American Somnambulist Population finally arose over the weekend and the Congressional switchboards have been lit up like New Year’s Eve (for all the good it’ll do)…..

Well last night I sent emails to my two senators and my rep.
This morning I made phone calls to both their DC and local offices.
That gets three bean counters to log my views on the daily tally sheets.
I’m thinking maybe I should send a hardcopy of the email text as a letter.
I may send the message via morse code and smoke signals too.
If it doesn’t work – pitchforks, torches and ropes.

But I’m still voting for Obama no matter what.

663 comments on Krugman’s op ed “cash for trash” and none of them favour a bail out.

I’m betting most Americans are yawning as usual this morning and could give a fuck like the’ve given a fuck for the past eight years about Bush crime

I doubt it.

Too many of them are looking at the past due mortgage and credit card statements, the pink slip they got Friday and the college tuition bill that they’ve put off paying and saying HOLY SHIT, GET ME OUT OF THIS!

I hate to break it to the leftists here at the Sadly, No! web site, but the more radical left-wing politicans like Obama downplay Americas strengths and the more they say how bad everything is, the more the public trust is lost and the laws of economics take effect and then we really get a recession.

No.

Being evicted is why people in America are a bit down in the mouth. But not to worry, with cheerleaders like you, it ought to be lots of fun watching them sharpen their knives on your rib cage…

ter Inviolata said,

Oh that’s so cute. You guys still think you have a representative democracy.

As John Cole would say, Go die in a fire.

The fact is,

The number of folks who think the economy is getting better has fallen to ZERO.

Meanwhile, the bail-out is failing in the court of public opinion by 28–37, with 35% undecided.

Interesting.

By the way, the polls are great news for McCain. Not.

Really, there’s nothing unusual about this:

They may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control….

The 1st BCT’s soldiers also will learn how to use “the first ever nonlethal package that the Army has fielded,” 1st BCT commander Col. Roger Cloutier said, referring to crowd and traffic control equipment and nonlethal weapons designed to subdue unruly or dangerous individuals without killing them.

“It’s a new modular package of nonlethal capabilities that they’re fielding. They’ve been using pieces of it in Iraq, but this is the first time that these modules were consolidated and this package fielded, and because of this mission we’re undertaking we were the first to get it.”

The package includes equipment to stand up a hasty road block; spike strips for slowing, stopping or controlling traffic; shields and batons; and, beanbag bullets.

Why can’t I get the lyric “And it’s up against the wall ya redneck motherfucker” out of my head?

They may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control….
The package includes equipment to stand up a hasty road block; spike strips for slowing, stopping or controlling traffic; shields and batons; and, beanbag bullets.

That ought to do wonders for re-enlistment numbers.

Why can’t I get the lyric “And it’s up against the wall ya redneck motherfucker” out of my head?

Because you haven’t listened to “I Wanna Destroy You” by the Soft Boys yet.

Too many of them are looking at the past due mortgage and credit card statements, the pink slip they got Friday and the college tuition bill that they’ve put off paying and saying HOLY SHIT, GET ME OUT OF THIS!

Sadly, many will swallow their bile and support the bail plan thinking it will rescue them from debt (which it won’t).

The most in-debted people tend to be the least cognizant I’ve found. They live in la la land. Example: I couldn’t persuade a friend who has been perpetually in debt all of her life that a 40-year mortgage is a very bad idea.

“But the montly payments are so low I can spend the extra money [she doesn’t have] fixing the place up and making it my own!” Only, you won’t ever own it dearie, the bank will, while you’re barely keeping up the interest payments and never paying down any principle for 40 years.

Like the corporate execs who are boohooing today, she doesn’t want to face the fact that she’s in a sink hole of her own making. I feel sorrier for her though.

Thankfully the government of Canada made 35-40 year mortgages illegal so only a few of them got under the wire.

Dorothy Says:
September 22nd, 2008 at 20:07

And don’t forget to sign up your own bad assets at http://www.buymyshitpile.com. The dollar amount of stuff posted on here has doubled in the last hour.

Glad to contribute.

Oh that’s so cute. You guys still think you have a representative democracy.

Yeah, that’s why the rich don’t even bother to have their own political party, contribute to campaigns, or vote on election day.

Sheez, get hep luzars!

Maybe all the soldiers who come home will join the protesters, leaving only Elmer Cheney to shoot everyone in the face.

The most in-debted people tend to be the least cognizant I’ve found. They live in la la land.

This. My in-laws, who have jumped in and out of welfare for the last decade or so, and who are up to their eyeballs in debt, still think that the real problem is that those blacks have moved into their neighborhood and made it so that they can’t sell their home for a gazillion dollars and make everything better.

The most in-debted people tend to be the least cognizant I’ve found.

It really depends. Those in debt for medical reasons are pretty cognizant of their circumstances.

haha, DN Nation. How sad.

Oh yeah DN? Try this on: my cleaning lady (yeah, i’m elitist) is 2k in debt on her credit card and just went to Brazil for some cut rate plastic surgery. She just signed up for a debt consolidation plan that is worse than her original card because she just looked at the monthly payments and didn’t calculate the percentage rate.

Those in debt for medical reasons are pretty cognizant of their circumstances.

true, bubba. I didn’t consider that because in Canada (I’m Canadian) medical expenses – with the exception of cosmetic surgeries/treatments – are covered.

Even when I retire I will be fully covered for medical. Unless the neocons get a majority and wipe out our indexed pension plans. Sadly, I think they might because Canadians have become complacent, socially narcissistic, and politically stupid. I’m truly hatin’ many of the Canadians I meet these days…so many assholes.

Americans have a degree of socialized medicine when they’re young enough or old enough. God forbid that the two schemes should expand and be useful.

Buy My Shitpile is funny, but has a shitpile of a server. The Pantload sendup is mine, BTW. Vote for it!

Let me be clear by saying I’m not one who thinks the poor are getting what they deserve, or that fiscal instability is a sign of moral failing. But it breaks my fucking heart that they’ve completely bought into the notion that their problems are the result in full of the damn minorities, and the more they rant on and on, the more I just want to let loose with- know what?, if you didn’t spend so much money on ridiculous crap, you wouldn’t have to blame affirmative action/Hollywood liberals/Mexicans/etc.

Why have my dreams – both night and day – been revolving around DMZ lately?

In Sicko, Michael Moore profiled a woman in her early twenties who was diagnosed with breast cancer. Her HMO wouldn’t cover her surgery and chemo because she was “too young to have breast cancer.”

She didn’t fit some demographic profile and that’s the excuse they used to reject her treatment.

I’m so afraid Canada’s going this way. Our physicians are itching for privatization so they can make more money. Government supports them. The public is gradually being persuaded by these boneheads that the free market can do a better job.

But Mr. Paulson said that he was concerned that imposing limits on the compensation of executives could discourage companies from participating in the program.

“If we design it so it’s punitive and so institutions aren’t going to participate, this won’t work the way we need it to work,” Mr. Paulson said on “Fox News Sunday.”

And that’s why those executives and their companies can say thanks but no thanks to that fiscal bridge to solvency.

Let me be clear by saying I’m not one who thinks the poor are getting what they deserve, or that fiscal instability is a sign of moral failing.

Me neither – it’s a sign of carefully planned and encouraged educational failing. Our cleaning lady is not a stupid woman, she just didn’t know what the hell she was doing and got in way over her head.

A smidgen of fresh air in my neck of the woods today.

Stepping into the political fray is almost unheard of for a scientist, especially one of Weaver’s stature. As one of the world’s pre-eminent climate scientists, he was part of the Nobel Prize-winning Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) that collates and interprets climate change data for the world’s governments and a lead author of its seminal assessment reports.

But so “incensed” is he by what he calls Prime Minister Stephen Harper’s war on science and scientists, by the government’s questioning of climate change and by the obstructionist positions the Tories have taken on the issue internationally, he felt he had no choice.

He’s telling Canadians to vote Liberal if they value the environment.

More barfaroni

Ontario Securities Commission bans short-selling in financial stocks
Reuters
TORONTO — Canada’s largest provincial securities watchdog said late Friday that it will follow other international authorities with a temporary ban on short-selling certain financial stocks.

The Ontario Securities Commission said the ban, coming on the heels of similar orders in the United States, Britain and other countries, will be in effect until Oct. 3. [WHOOPEE!]

Short-selling occurs when an investor sells a stock he doesn’t own, betting that it will fall in value so he can buy it cheaper when he has to cover his short position.

International regulators reined in short-selling of financial stocks this week in a bid to smooth volatility in financial markets.

The largest Canadian financial stocks that trade in both New York and Toronto had already been put on the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission’s list of about 800 stocks in which short-selling was temporarily banned, including Royal Bank of Canada and Manulife Financial.

The SEC said earlier on Friday it was concerned that short-selling in financial institutions’ securities may be causing “sudden and excessive fluctuations” in their prices, threatening fair and orderly markets.

Ok, isn’t this ILLEGAL? A temporary ban? The more they talk the more I want them bankrupt and living in tin shacks.

TORONTO — Canada’s largest provincial securities watchdog said late Friday that it will follow other international authorities with a temporary ban on short-selling certain financial stocks.

It’s like trying to solve your traffic problems by outlawing left turns.

Why can’t I get the lyric “And it’s up against the wall ya redneck motherfucker” out of my head?

Because you haven’t listened to “I Wanna Destroy You” by the Soft Boys yet.

Anyone for “when I am king you will be first against the wall?“

a little humour to lighten your day.

Let our husband go, his 86 wives demand
News Services
KANO, Nigeria — The wives of the most married man in Nigeria staged a protest demanding the release of their husband who is being detained for unlawful marriages and contempt of Islamic religious laws, a justice ministry official said Friday. The 86 wives of 84-year-old Muhammadu Bello Masaba stormed the Niger state justice ministry Thursday, accompanied by 20 of their 170 children and called for the immediate release of their husband. The protesters condemned the decision that he divorce 82 wives and keep four, the maximum Islam allows.

Kicking screaming Gucci little pig-gaaaaaaaayyyyyyyy

(oh, cheesy-ass Radiohead)

The fact is this bailout is only necessary because of structural problems that the Democrats caused. Specifically Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid.

Glenn Reynolds alerted me to this fact.

Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid are also responsible for this rash in my groin area.

Between those fuckers and Bill Ayers, they’ve got my whole life fucked up…

mikey

Here’s a web petition about the bailout:

http://votenobailout.org/

From the post Gary’s talking about:

SHARED SACRIFICE: So one theme we’ve heard in criticizing President Bush is that, post 9/11, he didn’t require “sacrifice from the American people.” This is generally a euphemism for “higher taxes.”

It seems likely that no matter who is elected President, we’ll see higher taxes. But an awful lot of Americans don’t pay income taxes, or pay only very small amounts — and their numbers will grow under both the Obama and McCain tax plans. Raising top marginal rates won’t affect them. So if we’re to see shared sacrifice, what might that mean? It seems to me that shared sacrifice is not only about some people paying more to the federal government, but also about others taking less. And, yeah, that’ll hurt, but that’s what “sacrifice” is about, right?

Lucky duckies, right?

Asshole.

BILL AYERS BROKE MY SHIFT-LOCK KEY.

Shift-lock? Don’t tell me I learned to type on TYPEWRITERS!

Actually if you divide up the 7 billion by the population of the us (360 mill, I think, didn’t bother to check) you get 2k each. Man, woman and child. Not actually the worst idea I can think of. Maybe better off to focus the money on people in danger of losing their homes, or just on the bottom %30 of income, or something totally socialist like that.

Did Gary say something he’s said before? I can’t tell because his personality matches the wallpaper and listening to him is like watching paint dry. I tune out now.

“about others taking less”

Yeah, those greedy Wall Street mother fuckers better STEP OFF.

I still can’t figure out if Gary’s joking, or if someone is sock-puppeting him most of the time, or if he (someone) really thinks like that. It’s awesome.

All right, which one of you people posted this?

also, where I live, Nashville, TN—- there IS NO GAS!!! Which is kinda cool, if you own a bike, but not so much if your car is out of gas!

British nannies latest victims of financial woes

Not to mention the high priced hookers. BJs on sale this weekend boyz? BDSM will be half price and when they whip you they’ll do it with feeling.

I very much enjoyed the grill. Hats off, because I wear multiple hats at all times.

It seems to me that shared sacrifice is not only about some people paying more to the federal government, but also about others taking less. And, yeah, that’ll hurt, but that’s what “sacrifice” is about, right?

BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sure, all those folks who are losing their shirts will pay less in taxes and take unemployment and food stamps…I’m sure they want to do that instead of working their jobs for real money!

WHAT IS IT WITH CONSERVATIVES AND “BLAMING THE VICTIM”??!?!??!?!

Shift-lock? Don’t tell me I learned to type on TYPEWRITERS!

Back in my day we didn’t have these fancy-schmancy “word-processing” machines with their magic “delete” “buttons” and all. We had a stick eraser with a brush on the end! And that was when a “cc” was a “cc” — as in “carbon pack,” not like today with all these high-falultin’ printers. And when we got correcting tape? Paradise! Not like these kids today, with their hot-shot “highlighting” and “cutting” and “pasting” and I don’t know what all.

We will all lose, because the credit crunch means I’ll no longer have a variety of Visa® cards from which to choose when I decide I really must have that $275 cashmere sweater I saw in one of the 56 catalogs I got in the mail today.

female idiocy

German zookeeper, Thomas Doerflein…became an improbable sex symbol for his devoted care of [polar bear] Knut and won fame himself for his playful games with Knut before large crowds of adoring fans.

…Before long, Doerflein was receiving love letters and propositions from female fans far and wide.

“Here on my desk is a pile of love letters from around the world – they’re even sending me poems and songs they’ve written about me,” Doerflein once told Der Tagesspiegel newspaper.

“It happens at least 20 times a day, I’ll be walking somewhere and people will shout ‘Knuuut, Knuuut!’ Before, there were a few women in their 60s interested in me. Now when I leave work I get besieged by young women. I’m afraid to go out there.“

…when I decide I really must have that $275 cashmere sweater I saw in one of the 56 catalogs I got in the mail today.

You mean the one made in Taiwan for $0.50? Talk about a bargain!

Do you remember the MONIAC, Phillip’s hydraulic simulation of the UK economy?

These days, a more appropriate simulator would be Wim Delvoye’s ‘Cloaca’ machine for turning nutritious food into shit.
I’m wondering how much to ask for it on BuyMyShitPile.

Back in my day we didn’t have these fancy-schmancy “word-processing” machines with their magic “delete” “buttons” and all. We had a stick eraser with a brush on the end! And that was when a “cc” was a “cc” — as in “carbon pack,” not like today with all these high-falultin’ printers. And when we got correcting tape? Paradise! Not like these kids today, with their hot-shot “highlighting” and “cutting” and “pasting” and I don’t know what all.

You mean you didn’t have an inkwell to dip your quill in?

Whippersnapper!

Back in my day we didn’t have these fancy-schmancy “word-processing” machines with their magic “delete” “buttons” and all.
I learned to type on one of these. Really.

You mean you didn’t have an inkwell to dip your quill in?

Is that what you kids are calling it these days?

Republican Selectrics have the SHIT-LOCK key.

I learned to type on one of these. Really.

I’ve got one of those, they fold up just like a laptop. Three letters on each key. Sweet piece of machinery.

Ahem, cough, cough … I honestly DID have an inkwell in which to dip my pen. Only they wouldn’t let me use it when all the other kids could because I kept making a big nasty mess.

And no, I am not yet old enough for social security. That was England in the late 1950s.

What the Wall Street elite have lost. Please, show some compassion:
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080922.wdubai_hotel0922/BNStory/Front/home

Dubai, United Arab Emirates: It’s the latest word in Persian Gulf excess: a $1.5-billion (U.S.) resort boasting a $25,000-a-night suite and dolphins flown in from the South Pacific — all atop an island built in the shape of a palm tree.
The 113-acre resort on the artificial island off the coast is among the city-state’s biggest bets that tourism can help sustain its economy once regional oil profits stop flowing.

Half-an-hour has passed, but no-one has claimed to have learned to type by pressing tokens of various sizes and shapes into soft clay. You’re slacking.

I emailed Landrieu, Jefferson ($90K in freezer, indicted asshole Jefferson), and Melancon (neighboring district blue dog) over the weekend. Called them all today.

Landrieu – “the senator is looking it over, but she doesn’t like it”
Jefferson – staffer was totally clueless about what was going on
Melancon – staffer said the congressman was looking at it

WORTHLESS. my whole congressional delegation is worthless.

I’m so old I remember key punch cards. I also recall hand-writing letters. But that was so long ago and the muscles it requires have long since atrophied.

I learned to type by carving notches into bone with a knapped flint.

I’ve got my solution:

I am changing my name to Paulson.
I am heading down to Washington D. C.
I will tell my congresscritter, cos’ my wallet’s in the shitter.
He should hand a trillion dollars to me free….

Hat tip to Arlo.

Smut, there’s already a pretty common hydraulic model of the merican Economy:A

oh ho ho, here’s the latest campaign carrot from our neoconservative party.

Tories to extend life sentences to juveniles

These guys: first they deregulate food inspection (during a month in which 18 people died from eating tainted meat) and now they want to send 14 year olds to prison for life.

I have a Visa account (& no card) & my balance is exactly diddly-squat dollars & bugger-all cents. I’ll only use it in the event of an emergency (or a rare low-octane splurge), & it gets paid back in full, pronto. I can only imagine how profoundly they loathe me & everyone like me.

When Capital One (remember those ads about how they don’t do “teaser rates”?) doubled the interest rate on my balance without warning (I pay the bill online, where they conveniently “forgot” to post an announcement of the impending rate increase), I first called and requested, as a result of my sterling record of repayment, to have the rate reduced to the previous level, telling them “hey, you have access to my credit report; you know damn well if you don’t cut the interest I can and will move the balance elsewhere, and then instead of making a guaranteed amount each month from the account, you’ll make nothing.” Sadly, they failed to grasp how serious I was and refused to lower the rate. So, I moved the balance to another account that offered a rate even lower than I had previously been paying Capital One.

I’ve continued using their card, however, for recurring monthly bills like Vonage and DirecTV…I just pay the balance in full every month. And, despite their repeated pleas for me to sign up for “paperless statements”, I haven’t done it, just so they can pay whatever it costs to print and mail the statement each month. Now, instead of earning a modest profit from the account each month, it costs them to have me as a customer. So yeah, I’m sure they do hate me, though I doubt it’s possible that they hate me as much as I hate them.

Stuff like this is why the fuckers in the financial sector are in such deep shit. When they do stuff like this, all they succeed in doing is offloading the reliable customers who pay their bills faithfully every month – because we CAN go somewhere else. They end up holding on to only those customers who are so financially distressed that they have nowhere else to go, and by jacking the rate, make it even less likely that they’ll get their minimum payments on time every month. Which I’m sure is part of the plan – then they can tack on exhorbitant late fees and jack the interest rate even higher – making it increasingly less likely they’ll get paid.

Of course, in the year and a half since I told them to go fuck themselves, they’ve fallen all over themselves to try to get me back with special offers since I’m such a “valued customer”. They called once with this line, and I more or less told them, “yeah? If I was such a ‘valued customer’, why’d you fuck me over and force me to spend $100 to transfer my balance to someone else who wasn’t being a total dick about their interest rate?” I’m afraid there’s no good answer for that.

John McCain learned to type by incising oddly patterned groups of dots, within cartouches, forming bands along the Cyclopean stonework of the walls.
Teke-li-li!

I learned to type by studying the kerning on John McCain’s cartouches.

Won’t you PLEASE do a post on the latest Melissa Clothier? With all the bad financial news, it would be so fun to worry and fret over who actually hacked Sarah Palin’s yahoo account.

Hahaha suckers!!. Me and mah new buddy Hank are gonna make out like bandits on this! Early retirement, here ah come!

Jennifer, that’s interesting about Capital One. Several years ago, they sent me many offers for increasingly low interest rates but the rates always had a time limit. One day an offer arrived that promised a life time guarantee of 5.99% interest.” I called and asked them to send the fine print. The contract stipulated that they would guarantee the rate as long as minimum monthly paymenst were met and the rate only applied to purchases and balance tranfers, not cash advances. I applied for the card in 2003 and so far they’ve been true to their word. I’ve also kept the initial contract in case they do try and change it up. The wording is very clear. They cannot increase the interest rate unless I break one of the rules.

[…] you prefer dumb and lazy to religious? « Light ‘em up […]

Early retirement — now there’s an idea. I can think of a whole lot of financial sector masters of the universe jackasses I’d like to take that. Preferably bankrupt, but I’d actually consider letting them keep a little bit of their ill-gotten gains if they would just GO AWAY.

Now, instead of earning a modest profit from the account each month, it costs them to have me as a customer.

Alas, not really. If you are using the card, they’re making money from the vendor account percentage they charge. Sure, things like Vonage and DTV get really low rates, but I doubt C1 is losing on the deal. At least they’re not getting it coming and going, though. If you want them to actually lose on the deal, you’d have to only use it for only, say $20 a month.

I’ve also kept the initial contract in case they do try and change it up. The wording is very clear. They cannot increase the interest rate unless I break one of the rules.

Good move on your part, because I never broke any rules, and they doubled the rate. Of course, I probably applied for and received the card at a different time and under different terms than you did. I think my account was opened in 2003 or 2004, and my rate was 4.9%. At the time I moved the debt to another company, I had quite a high balance – the legacy of the first Bush recession, when my credit cards were the only thing that stood between me and foreclosure and starvation for almost a year. Thankfully, it’s close to being completely paid off now. I think that’s what pissed me off so much about what they did – I had been making monthly payments, on time, of $500 (and more) to them for 3 or 4 years when they pulled that shit, and it would have translated into another $600 or $700 less debt reduction per year for the same monthly payment.

What I looked for in the fine print was any variation of: “Terms and conditions can change without notice.” My contract doesn’t have this. Most do. Or they tell you that the low interest period is only good for a finite period, usually around 6 months.

I used it to transfer a balance and I’m also sending payments (well over the minimum required) in every month. Now what I notice is a big fat zero on the minimum required in my statements. They’d rather I not pay at all.

and it would have translated into another $600 or $700 less debt reduction per year for the same monthly payment.

Which is exactly why they did it. Just because you are smart enough to tell them to go pound sand when they do that, doesn’t mean the other 100,000 poor schmucks that got the same treatment are. They probably came out on top, losing a few good customers and bilking the fuck out of the morons who stayed and let them. One thing is for certain. There is no shortage of idiots.

If I was such a ‘valued customer’, why’d you fuck me over and force me to spend $100 to transfer my balance to someone else who wasn’t being a total dick about their interest rate?” I’m afraid there’s no good answer for that.

As I’ve careered through my experience of the American work force, I haven’t met that many management-types who had any appreciation for the importance of things just going right.

Fuck it all, I heard a rumor that these dickwads are considering INCREASING what they’re demanding from 700 billion to 1.8 Trillion! It’s like “Plan 9 from Outer Space”.

The only way that any of this shit is going to be viable is if it’s so punative that the banks/brokerages/whathaveyou will be so appaled by the conditions attached to the bailout that many/most of them choose not to participate in it. Otherwise, we’ll just end up holding their steaming horseshit investments while they walk away with the good stuff. If things are so bad, these asshole ought to be willing to bite the bullet big-time and suffer some serious pain in the process, otherwise, none of this was needed to begin with. Fuck ’em!!

Tried to sign the notobailout petition but need a US zip code.
Pity, because one of the justifications for the bailout is that the shockwaves will reverberate to other western economies, global recession/Depression, bla bla.
My latest vox pop is “should we all be allowed to register to vote in POTUS elections?” given status as “leader” – or fucker-upper – of the free world.

Most people say yes, but they’re that tree-hugging, informed, geopolitically interested crowd, you know, the losers in this and most BushCo scenarios.

There is no justice. None. Zip.

So pick a zip code, preferably from one of them heartland states.

“Please enjoy the most awesome video the internet has ever seen:” http://www.theway.org/Current/Mar07/Mar07Flash4.htm

the second most awesome video
http://swissmiss.typepad.com/weblog/2008/09/laugh-your-abs.html

Despite what Paulson says, I don’t consider this a serious crisis until hurling bodies are raining down on Wall Street, Broad Street, and parts of Battery Plaza.
Only then will it be appropriate to consider adequate compensation for NYC Dept. of Sanitation workers.

Also, if they voted for the bankruptcy bill a few years ago, you might remind them how little they cared about people with sick children, or who had to put their lives on hold to go fight in Iraq. You know, as opposed to megacorporations. Anyway, I called my Senators and talked to interns, or whoever. Don’t know if it’ll help, but it couldn’t hurt.

No, no, no, no, NO!

Not only must these thieving bastards submit to severe financial controls AND penalties, they must also serve 15 months in a combat arms unit in Iraq followed by 15 months in Afghanistan.

And after that, they lose their voting and lobbying privileges forever.

Over 200 posts here on a left wing blog, and the most anyone is asking for is some oversight on the spending of almost a trillion dollars of tax money to pay for the bailout of investment banks. Not a single post with the gentle suggestion that maybe the top tax bracket rate could be raised to say, 45% Or that the capital gains rate on the second hundred thousand could be say, 25%. The conservative movement has done its work well.

Honus, try reading the comments before you judge them. Nobody supports a bail out period.

Over 200 posts here on a left wing blog, and the most anyone is asking for is some oversight on the spending of almost a trillion dollars of tax money to pay for the bailout of investment banks.

This has been going on for a couple of threads now.

Att: RBC Bank President Gordon Nixon – Salary – 11.73 Million!!

$100,000 – MISTAKE (FISHERMEN’S LOAN)

I’m a commercial fisherman fighting the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC Bank) over a $100,000 loan mistake. I lost my home, fishing vessel and equipment. Help me fight this corporate bully by closing your RBC account.

Website http://www.corporatebully.ca
YouTube http://www.youtube.com/CORPORATEBULLY

There is no monthly interest payment date on the contract.
Date of first installment payment (Principal + interest) is approximately 1 year from the signing of my contract.
Demand loan contracts signed by other fishermen around the same time showed a monthly interest payment date on their contract,(agreement).
The lending policy did change at RBC from one payment (principal + interest) per year for fishing loans to principal paid yearly with interest paid monthly. This lending practice was in place when I approached RBC.
Only problem is the loans officer was a replacement who wasn’t familiar with these type of loans. She never informed me verbally or in writing about this new criteria.

Phone or e-mail:
RBC President, Gordon Nixon, Toronto (416)974-6415
RBC Vice President, Sales, Anne Lockie, Toronto (416)974-6821
RBC President, Atlantic Provinces, Greg Grice (902)421-8112 mailto:greg.grice@rbc.com
RBC Manager, Cape Breton/Eastern Nova Scotia, Jerry Rankin (902)567-8600
RBC Vice President, Atlantic Provinces, Brian Conway (902)491-4302 mailto:brian.conway@rbc.com
RBC Vice President, Halifax Region, Tammy Holland (902)421-8112 mailto:tammy.holland@rbc.com
RBC Senior Manager, Media & Public Relations, Beja Rodeck (416)974-5506 mailto:beja.rodeck@rbc.com
RBC Ombudsman, Wendy Knight, Toronto, Ontario 1-800-769-2542 mailto:ombudsman@rbc.com
Ombudsman for Banking Services & Investments, JoAnne Olafson, Toronto, 1-888-451-4519 mailto:ombudsman@obsi.ca

“Fighting the Royal Bank of Canada (RBC Bank) one customer at a time”

Allow me to be the first to describe the Paulson plan as The Splurge.

Let me be the first to say The Splurge is working!

Good grief, Paul Fraser, why didn’t you consult a lawyer? On most loans, or at least all loans I’ve ever heard of, whatever you may monthly first goes to pay the interest and the remainder pays the principle. There are no separate payments for interest. Your case makes no sense at all, particularly the fact that the loan was for $38,000 – and they take your frickin’ house? You need a lawyer.

Well well. Mine appears to already oppose it. That’s a relief- Texas politics drive me up the wall most of the time.

“Taxpayers want, need and deserve answers and accountability. So far, I’m seeing neither when it comes to the latest proposed Wall Street bailout. I understand it’s a moving target and nothing is final but what I am hearing gives me great cause for concern.

“Believe it or not, I agree with some of the Democrats on a few things. For starters, people on Wall Street have no business receiving enormous severance packages, tremendous bonuses, and gigantic compensation deals paid for by the U.S. taxpayer. I also don’t think that the Secretary of the Treasury should have the authority to spend $700 billion with zero oversight. We don’t even know who will be the Treasury Secretary come next January.

“I don’t know what the best answer will be. I am not an economist. But I am getting sick and tired of bailout after bailout. The taxpayers deserve better. The latest and greatest bailout demands deliberation and thoughtfulness, not speed and silence.”

Honus, we’re pretty much beyond gentility at this point. You know what the “pitchforks and torches” thing refers to, right? Anyway, fiddling with the marginal tax rates is such an obvious thing at this point. Both are already on Obama’s agenda.

While good ideas, they are irrelevant to the immediate question of the impending financial collapse and what to do about it. The banks didn’t collapse because the marginal tax rates were too low. Raising them (maybe) for tax year 2009 won’t help now.

It’s kind of like pointing out that tires need to be properly inflated and periodically replaced. This is entirely true and you’re absolutely right. But at the moment, some asshole has set the car on fire, so your tip isn’t especially helpful.

Hell, Honus didn’t even read the comment directly before his.

Saw Krugman on Countdown last night. They were focusing in on article 8 of Paulson’s bailout bill. He’s basically trying to coronate himself Grand Moff Tarkin, making the bill, and himself immune to legal or congressional action after the fact. It was jokingly suggested that someone slipped it in as a poison pill to make Congress take pause.
I admit it, I bought the panic this time (though I didn’t buy it when the authorization to use force in Iraq was shoved down our throats).
They’re crafty little slimeballs, but I thank the folks at S,N! (and the unflappable Keith O.) for leveling me out. That and the Xanax.

[…] nervous enough. Obviously, we have one last chance to exert some pressure. I suggest we do it. Again. I plan on calling Mrs. Lincoln, Mr. Pryor, and Mr. Berry first thing in the morning. I ask that […]

plz denie these credents there pompus lifestyle… present them with
with a reality check. i say no to the”THE BAILOUT'”.