If this thing passes, we will all regret it for decades to come.

Nothing should be done until the new president comes into office.

The "Stockbroker Bailout Act of 2008" is just BAD policy.

D'ya think this'll hurt consumer confidence....?

huh hu huh

Bring on the DOOM!

The only thing the Bush-Paulson-Bernanke $700 billion bail-out has going for it is that it's the only game in town.

It won't work ... buying bad assets won't stop bad banks retrenching lending. They're in a liquidity trap.

It's a heist and a con ... There is no reason for the public to buy bad assets to help bad investors, no matter how desperate Paulson is to save his banking buddies.

Here's a better solution.

What did Warren Buffet do? He saw the problem coming and now he's giving a good bank (Goldman Sachs) new equity to buy up distressed assets.

Why shouldn't Congress do the same. Empower Treasury (with oversight) to invest $700 billion in equity in America's best capitalised and best-run financial institutions, not the worst. They can then expand to lend to America and pick-up some bargains from the losers. The equity can then be transferred or sold to bolster Social Security.

The losers go bankrupt, and good riddance.

Seems to me he's been doing a lot of thoughtful amending to the Paulson proposal ...

"He's still the president," one senior House Republican aide said. "It's different hearing it from the president than from Hank Paulson."

You got that right! Paulson isn't well known as a corrupt liar like Bush is!

George Bush is robbing the US of about a trillion dollars or as much of that as that organization can grab in the few weeks left. The timing of this wasn't really an accident. Plus minus a few weeks was about what we could have expected. And by the time The Supreme Court is finished anointing Presidentress McPalin there won't be a functioning economy left to salvage. The wheels are in motion and there's nothing you can do about it. America is dead and Bush killed it.

And good thing too because in about 3 years Congress will be done with its initial inquiries. We'll also discover that Harry Reid was built in the Disney animatronic factory and was discarded by them as a defective unit.

I suspect that something like the proposed bail out needs to be passed by this weekend. It is, however, an irony that Republicans who have done this to the Country are now presenting the Democrats with an "or else" proposition.

I have a suggestion--which I know full well is a fantasy because Democrats are incompetent. I suggest that the Democratic leadership publicly announce that they will provide enough votes to ensure passage of the bill with minimal change by Friday as long as every Republican in both the House and Senate votes for it.

The Democratic leadership should make it perfectly clear, and enforce the decision, that they will not let Republicans force them to be the responsible ones yet again since this is a Republican debacle. If Republicans try to duck responsibility, Democrats should adjourn and go home, and be very blunt as to why. Then we would see if the administration finally got one right.

Economic 9/11 or just a rough patch?

If you want to keep the economy running that is. If you want to keep the economy running, why not invest in the most vigorous firms still out there, get a stake in them, and infuse THEM with cash that they can loan out to keep Main Street running. Screw the idea of buying the sh!ttiest debts from the sh!ttiest companies. This should be approached from a common sense business-like perspective - you know, the way Wall Street would do it if they weren't broke and begging from a bailout form all of us tax-paying chumps.

I think it's time we take some back...We own the majority shares of the financial corporations...The board's personal assets are seized pending outcome of investigations...prison terms are handed out...Sounds like a good deal to me.

This sounds like the ultimate battle between good and evil playing out right now...WOW...he really is the Anti-Christ.

Vive La Citizens!

do other notice that the Repugnants always go in for the bipartisan "now is not the time..." WHEN THEY ARE LOSING BAD.

You know what - I HATE THE REPUGNANTS FOR RUINING WHAT WAS ONCE NOT SUCH A BAD COUNTRY.

IN 8 YEARS THEY'VE TRASHED THE COUNTRY THE WORLD THE ENVIRONMENT THE FINANCES HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS HAVE BEEN KILLED AND WOUNDED IN LOSING WARS.

AND THEY ALWAYS BLAME SOME ONE ELSE

AND RETURN TO THE MIND NUMBING 'MORAL' ISSUES WHEN ALL THE TIME THEY ARE THE FIRST TO PUT THEIR PRICKS IN CRAP.

and now Mr Brave ain't so brave anymore. Go away Repugnants - far away....

Warren Buffet is so full of it:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/sep/25/banking.wallstreet1

Quote: "The Nebraska billionaire, whose fortune was estimated at $62bn before the recent financial turmoil, threw his weight wholeheartedly behind Henry Paulson's rescue package for Wall Street, arguing that US industry would "grind to a halt" without action."

Now, let's see what Buffet is really worried about. If the major investment banks were forced to rapidly liquidate their holdings in pharmaceuticals and fossil fuels, then the share value of their holdings would also drop - it would be a buyer's market.

He's worried about his exposure, but he's also snatching up bargains:

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Billionaire Warren Buffett on Thursday said MidAmerican Energy Co. would buy Constellation Energy Group for $4.7 billion in cash -- a discount of nearly 60% from levels at which the ailing power firm's shares were trading just days ago.

His support for the bailout is intended to keep oil prices high:

The Commodity Futures Trading Commission allowed banks and trading companies to take over enormous swaps positions held by Lehman Brothers and AIG, contributing to Monday's record spike in oil prices, Forbes Magazine reports. Without the bailout, experts say, the price of oil would have collapsed. "If speculators were forced to liquidate their positions, oil would easily be $65 to $75 per barrel by the time the liquidation was complete," according to hedge fund chief Michael Masters.

Why does that matter to Buffet? Well, he is also heavily invested in ConocoPhillips:

Berkshire's purchase of ConocoPhillips started in the fourth quarter of last year, it had sought confidential status for its investment in the company. Berkshire held 9.6 million shares of ConocoPhillips, worth about $559 million, on Dec. 31. It nearly doubled that investment by March 31 when it held 17.9 million shares worth about $1.1 billion.

ConocoPhillips major plan for future profitability is to develop Alberta tar sands using Alaskan natural gas, conveniently provided by Buffet's good friend Sarah Palin. Mid-American was originally Palin's choice for the pipeline, but due to concerns over Alaska's booming corruption scandal, Buffet's Mid-American withdrew from the pipeline deal:

http://www.daily-journal.com/archives/dj/display.php?id=408995

In a letter Friday to Gov. Sarah Palin, the chief executive of MidAmerican Energy Holdings Co. explained why his company did not apply. "As you are painfully aware the ongoing corruption investigations coupled with previous indictments, guilty pleas and convictions draw into question virtually every major Alaskan project participant and governmental levels from State to Federal," said the letter from MidAmerican CEO David Sokol.

Thus, Palin set up a bogus competition and handed the pipeline deal to Transcanada - but not to worry, the gas is all intended for the Alberta tar sands.

However, Alberta tar sands are uneconomical at $50-$75 a barrel - so Buffet needs this bailout to keep his Conoco investments performing.

Unbelievably shady, isn't it? And yet Buffet is always portrayed in the press as some do-gooder Democrat - his PR people rival those of old John D. Rockefeller. Why is a do-gooder Democrat like Buffet in bed with Sarah Palin, anyway?

Tar sands deals!

See Buffet congratulating Palin on her Alaskan governorship win:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_BGE3cX3ZWQ

We must stand up to these disgusting and arrogant people, or we'll all be living in the Third World before long.