re: The Secretary is authorized to establish the Troubled Asset Relief Program (or `TARP') to purchase, and to make and fund commitments to purchase, troubled assets from any financial institution...

I would call all of the unsold vehicles of the Big 3 "troubled assets", in which case purchasing them from the financing arms of the Big 3 should be perfectly legal.

I previously opined that the government should do exactly that, and give each taxpayer a new car. They're spending the money anyway, so why no make it a win-win? The automakers liquidate their unsold inventory in total, and we get a new car/truck.

Hmmm, with a little creative thinking, I could really start to like this financial meltdown...

:)

re: You can't rebut crap like yours

Translation: "Your keen intellect and grasp of the facts is far superior to mine, so I'll just resort to lame attempts at smearing."

re: we're not headed for a collapse

You have apparently ignored my post quoting Taleb and Mandelbrot. Perhaps you would like to claim that you're smarter than them?

Here, have someone read these items to you:

Why the demise of civilisation may be inevitable

[Note: This piece was written a couple months before the economic shit hit the fan]

Disturbingly, recent insights from fields such as complexity theory suggest that [doomsayers] are right. It appears that once a society develops beyond a certain level of complexity it becomes increasingly fragile. Eventually, it reaches a point at which even a relatively minor disturbance can bring everything crashing down.

"The intricate networks that tightly connect us together - and move people, materials, information, money and energy - amplify and transmit any shock. A financial crisis, a terrorist attack or a disease outbreak has almost instant destabilising effects, from one side of the world to the other."

http://tinyurl.com/5salzp

Federal Reserve sets Stage for Weimar-style Hyperinflation

The Federal Reserve has bluntly refused a request by a major US financial news service to disclose the recipients of more than $2 trillion of emergency loans from US taxpayers and to reveal the assets the central bank is accepting as collateral. Their lawyers resorted to the bizarre argument that they did so to protect 'trade secrets.' Is the secret that the US financial system is de facto bankrupt? The latest Fed move is further indication of the degree of panic and lack of clear strategy within the highest ranks of the US financial institutions. Unprecedented Federal Reserve expansion of the Monetary Base in recent weeks sets the stage for a future Weimar-style hyperinflation perhaps before 2010.

http://www.engdahl.oilgeopolitics.net/Financial_Tsunami/Hyperinflation/hyperinflation.html

"I'm extremely worried. I have been for a while, but I just see things getting much worse this time around than I expected. Conceivably we could have just had recession, hard times, sliding dollar, inflation, etc., but I'm afraid it's going to be much worse."

-Jim Rogers

[Note: This piece was written several months before the economic shit hit the fan]

http://money.cnn.com/2008/01/30/news/international/okeefe_rogers.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2008013103

There's plenty more where these came from. I'm always happy to indulge a masochist.

re: Translated from Fedspeak, that's the equivalent of "Abandon Ship! Every man, woman, and child for themselves!"

I see that you've been reading my 'Titanic' analogies again.

re: The only good news: Inflation is no longer even a whisper of a problem.

Perhaps not this week, anyway.

Federal Reserve sets Stage for Weimar-style Hyperinflation

The Federal Reserve has bluntly refused a request by a major US financial news service to disclose the recipients of more than $2 trillion of emergency loans from US taxpayers and to reveal the assets the central bank is accepting as collateral. Their lawyers resorted to the bizarre argument that they did so to protect 'trade secrets.' Is the secret that the US financial system is de facto bankrupt? The latest Fed move is further indication of the degree of panic and lack of clear strategy within the highest ranks of the US financial institutions. Unprecedented Federal Reserve expansion of the Monetary Base in recent weeks sets the stage for a future Weimar-style hyperinflation perhaps before 2010.

http://www.engdahl.oilgeopolitics.net/Financial_Tsunami/Hyperinflation/hyperinflation.html

"... it is a reflection of an utterly desolate economic picture, which will persist for the foreseeable future..."

– Ian Shepherdson, chief United States economist, High Frequency Economics

"...[it] speak[s] volumes about just how petrified policy makers are..."

– Joshua Shapiro, chief United States economist, MFR Inc.

"...[The] Fed has moved into uncharted unorthodox monetary policy..."

– Nouriel Roubini, professor of economics and international business, at New York University

"...Seriously, we are in very deep trouble..."

– Paul Krugman, The New York Times

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/12/16/reactions-to-the-feds-rate-cut/

re: I've already stated I'm done with Walter/Scorpio

Dude, you were finished when you first opened your piehole.