"We ask Congress not to rush, to hold appropriate hearings, and to carefully consider the right course of action." -- 400 eminent Professors of Economics, organized by Professor John Cochrane (University of Chicago). September 25, 2008

"There is a kind of suggestion in the Paulson proposal that if only we provide enough money to financial markets, this problem will disappear. But that does nothing to address the fundamental problem of bleeding foreclosures and holes in the balance sheets of banks." -- Joseph Stiglitz (Nobel Laureate, Columbia University). September 26, 2008

"I totally disagree that this needs to be done this week. It's more important to get it right." -- Alan Blinder (Princeton University).

"I have doubts that the $700 billion bailout if enacted, would work." -- William M. Isaac, (Former Chairman, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation).

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/davidcorn/2008/09/slowing-down-the-bailout.html

“It’s our view that this package, in a fundamental sense, will not solve the problem,” said Simon Johnson, a former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund. Mr. Johnson said that he had been hoping that the bailout plan would simply stabilize the markets through the presidential elections in November, but that he was now pessimistic about even that.

Michael Darda, chief economist at MKM Partners, an investment firm in Greenwich, Conn., said the Treasury’s bailout plan might have even unnerved many investors. “I don’t see how it can help banks unless it’s clear that the government is going to buy these assets for substantially more than they are worth right now,” Mr. Darda said. “It’s such a big step in terms of government influencing the private sector, and it’s hard for investors to take a leap like that overnight, especially when they don’t know what’s going on.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/30/business/30plan.html?hp

"It is obvious that the current financial crisis is becoming more severe in spite of the Treasury rescue plan (or maybe because of it as this plan is totally flawed)

-Nouriel Roubini

http://tinyurl.com/46r24u

"We ask Congress not to rush, to hold appropriate hearings, and to carefully consider the right course of action."

- 400 eminent Professors of Economics, organized by Professor John Cochrane (University of Chicago). September 25, 2008

"There is a kind of suggestion in the Paulson proposal that if only we provide enough money to financial markets, this problem will disappear. But that does nothing to address the fundamental problem of bleeding foreclosures and holes in the balance sheets of banks."

- Joseph Stiglitz (Nobel Laureate, Columbia University). September 26, 2008

"I totally disagree that this needs to be done this week. It's more important to get it right."

- Alan Blinder (Princeton University).

"I have doubts that the $700 billion bailout if enacted, would work."

- William M. Isaac, (Former Chairman, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation).

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/davidcorn/2008/09/slowing-down-the-bailout.html

re: "the incoherence of Monday's House vote"

It is not at all established as fact that the hastily conceived bailout bill will have any effect other than to put a helluva lot of cash into Paulson's hands, with very few restrictions as to how he might use it. Presenting this as "do or die" is simply unsupported by any evidence. Neither Paulson nor Bernanke could say with anything resembling certainty that this would fix the problem. Indeed, many highly respected economists have counseled a "go slow" approach to the problem, to wit:

"We ask Congress not to rush, to hold appropriate hearings, and to carefully consider the right course of action."

- 400 eminent Professors of Economics, organized by Professor John Cochrane (University of Chicago). September 25, 2008

"There is a kind of suggestion in the Paulson proposal that if only we provide enough money to financial markets, this problem will disappear. But that does nothing to address the fundamental problem of bleeding foreclosures and holes in the balance sheets of banks."

- Joseph Stiglitz (Nobel Laureate, Columbia University). September 26, 2008

"I totally disagree that this needs to be done this week. It's more important to get it right."

- Alan Blinder (Princeton University).

"I have doubts that the $700 billion bailout if enacted, would work."

- William M. Isaac, (Former Chairman, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation).

http://blogs.cqpolitics.com/davidcorn/2008/09/slowing-down-the-bailout.html

re: "Where did all the money go?"

Hell, I'll settle for finding out where the hell went the 363 TONS OF CASH(!) that Bremer "misplaced" in Iraq!

http://www.rawstory.com/news/2007/Waxman_grills_exUS_leader_in_Iraq_0206.html

The bailout bill is a piece of crap that basically gives $700bn(!) to Bush/Paulson to do with as they please. Great idea: Give the gang who couldn't shoot straight a shitload of taxpayer money with only the thinnest of strings attached. Jesus, are you insane?

Ever since the first version was defeated, the MSM has been in full propaganda mode, trying to shove it right back down our throats, recasting it as a "rescue bill" instead of a "bailout". Never mind that barely a third of Americans support it no matter what you call it; no, the other two-thirds of us are characterized as just plain too ignorant to understand all this highfalutin economic stuff.

Yeah, well fuck you, too.

It will do nothing whatsoever to "solve this crisis". Just because it has now been "sweetened" to make it more palatable to recalcitrant House members doesn't make it any better today that it was before. Wow, talk about putting lipstick on a pig!

THANKS, BUT NO THANKS.