Paulson Claims He Always Wanted Oversight
But the plan he proposed specifically states:
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.
But Paulson is dumbfounded that Congress would think anything other than that he wanted oversight, but that to include it in his proposal would have been “presumptuous”.
Let’s take a walk down memory lane and look at some of Paulson’s statements leading up to this crisis. On PBS’s Newshour with Jim Leherer on May 17, 2007, on the issue of the deteriorating housing market, Paulson said:
So my very strong view is that we are near the bottom and that this will be contained as — the housing will be contained, and we’re fortunate that we have a diverse, healthy economy.
In a speech at Georgetown on October 17, 2007:
“I have no interest in bailing out lenders or property speculators.” Responding to a question, he added that the bank fund is “a 100 percent market-based solution.”
And, as recently as July 11, 2008, Paulson put out a statement saying:
“Today our primary focus is supporting Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in their current form as they carry out their important mission”
The same day Fannie and Freddie put out statements that they were “adequately capitalized.” I guess this all means we can have great confidence that the people who have been making these statements know what they’re doing, are on top of it, and will be able to fix it. Right?
You can’t rebuild an economy on shaky ground. This fallout is the direct result of 9-11 and the effort to prop up the market instead of investigating the evils that lead to 9-11. The insurance company (AIG) profited from raising rates after an act of war and fraud. They went belly up because the truth came out. How far will the market fall…it’s like water and it will seek it’s own level. The bailout insures the people who profited illegally will get to keep their illgotten gains. Do we have the courage to investigate or will fear close the books and close this investigation? You can bet that fear will close this investigation, but it won’t silence the truth. How many people profited from a foreknowledge of the 9-11 attack? How many people profited from the “Ownership Society?” A bad mortgage serves one purpose…get the property. A person who buys a house wants that house and they will pay what they can to keep it. What’s wrong with accepting a little less for a little longer?
September 23rd, 2008 at 6:35 pm
If you are fed up with corruption…then you should listen to this analysis of what went wrong and WHO can fix it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jf1y9s73Nos
September 23rd, 2008 at 7:11 pm
I actually agree with the libs on this. No evaluation of all this should go undone.
I actually agree with Shumer-give a little and see how it plays out.
Noone really knows how to stop this, but hang on to your portfolios–the market will tank another 3000 before its done.
September 23rd, 2008 at 7:24 pm
Well, let’s see.
Paulson graduated Dartmouth with a BA in English. He got an MBA from Harvard. He was staff Assistant to the Assistant Secretary of Defense and an assistant to John Ehrlichman during the Nixon years. He joined Goldman Sachs in ‘74 and as of 2006 his personal net worth is estimated at $700 million.
I guess it’s safe to say he knows how to enrich himself. Can he fix the economy? Judging by the Bush track record I’d say it’s almost a certainty that he’ll turn a disaster into a cataclysm.
And obviously he says what he wants people to hear.
September 23rd, 2008 at 7:26 pm
Here is some enlightenment for you.
WARNING: contains historical references.
http://www.jerrypournelle.com/view/2008/Q3/view537.html#Tuesday
I am not defending this imperial action, but I understand it. Were they to attempt to give me the power to spend that money, I would insist on immunity or I would not take the position; and in this political climate, with prominent Democrats saying openly that they intend to prosecute Bush and Cheney for war crimes as soon as they leave office, anyone I would entrust with the bailout money would so insist. One of the reasons the Roman Republic collapsed was that the two parties simply could not refrain from prosecution of public officials after they left office. Political differences became crimes; and while few of those prosecutions came to anything important, the cost in time and money was large.
Gerry Ford spared us a terrible ordeal by pardoning Nixon as his first action as President. That act cost Ford the presidency, and saddled the nation with Jimmy Carter, but those were small costs compared to what would have happened had he not done it. And yes, I have heard the arguments about “rule of law” and how no one should be safe from the consequences of his actions. Prosecutions of Presidents goes to the heart of the concept of “rule of law” because “the law” doesn’t rule; people holding office and commanding power rule. Tampering with the fountain of justice is a terribly dangerous thing, as our English ancestors found when they deposed and executed King Charles (Charles I, King and Martyr) and found that whatever Cromwell’s good intentions, the real rulers were the New Model Army. For more on that, see Macaulay’s History of England.
September 23rd, 2008 at 8:19 pm
This whole bailout of EVEN foreign banks is starting to look EXACTLY like what Naomi Kline talked about in Shock Doctrine….. economic disaster will be the means to impose privatization of EVERYTHING on the people.
September 23rd, 2008 at 8:22 pm
oldlefty: seems odd you would complain about the logical consequence of supporing policies that led to GSEs imploding
September 23rd, 2008 at 8:44 pm
Old,
I wouldn’t go that far left. I am meerly talking about oversight to provide checks and balances. For example, making sure the debt is repaid and not reappropriated to something else the libs want like socialized health care
September 23rd, 2008 at 8:50 pm
Because socializing losses is so much better.
It’s like getting raped AND paying for the rape kit.
September 23rd, 2008 at 9:05 pm
As for GSEs imploding:
I’m for oversight in everything, but goes way beyond that, now this is more of the same free marketers deregulation:
The Bush bailout actually suggests we turn over the mismanaged wreckage of the private sector….to the private sector
“….The government could contract with private companies to manage the assets it purchased under the rescue….”
It goes to:
Sept. 22 (Bloomberg) — “The Wall Street that shaped the financial world for two decades ended last night, when Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley concluded there is no future in remaining investment banks now that investors have determined the model is broken.
The Federal Reserve’s approval of their bid to become banks ends the ascendancy of the securities firms, 75 years after Congress separated them from deposit-taking lenders, and caps weeks of chaos that sent Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. into bankruptcy and led to the rushed sale of Merrill Lynch & Co. to Bank of America Corp.”
September 23rd, 2008 at 9:16 pm
There are still portions of MD and GS that are investment. They changed their filing status, but there still is an investment portion.
September 23rd, 2008 at 9:21 pm
Old Lefty acknoweldges that the govt failed in its oversight and is demanding more.
September 23rd, 2008 at 10:37 pm
vinny p, you sound like a loyal bushie. Are you paid by the post?
September 23rd, 2008 at 11:15 pm
Just let old lefty run things ! LOL!!!!
Like Bill Clinton, you won’t get a straight answer!
MAKE UP YOUR MIND old lefty.
September 23rd, 2008 at 11:24 pm
No Jeffy. He’s right. If you can’t oversee this now…what purpose is there to MORE govt? Do you think MORE is BETTER?
September 23rd, 2008 at 11:24 pm
Oversee What Now? What are you trying to say? It’s not a matter of wanting MORE GOVT. Just transparency and oversite to keep things on the up and up. Thats just reasonable. I don’t have to explain the cronyism and nepotism that allowed this greed to run rampant. your a smart guy. And as a so called conservative you must be fit to be tied with the way these last 8 years have gone. You CAN NOT appoint people to be in charge of the SEC FDA FEMA ect. that are not competent. This is the result. Lets have a reasonable discussion. These are historic times. I welcome the debate.
September 24th, 2008 at 1:08 am
It looks like I oppose the bailout. It will costs taxpayers the kind of income they need to even pay the bills! It oppose this, especially the idea of bailing out the speculators. To Hades with them!
September 24th, 2008 at 1:13 am
Just saw this, and thought I’d pass it along:
Dear American:
I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship with a transfer of funds of great magnitude.
I am Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic of America. My country has had crisis that has caused the need for large transfer of funds of 800 billion dollars US. If you would assist me in this transfer, it would be most profitable to you.
I am working with Mr. Phil Gram, lobbyist for UBS, who will be my replacement as Ministry of the Treasury in January. As a Senator, you may know him as the leader of the American banking deregulation movement in the 1990s. This transactin is 100% safe.
This is a matter of great urgency. We need a blank check. We need the funds as quickly as possible. We cannot directly transfer these funds in the names of our close friends because we are constantly under surveillance. My family lawyer advised me that I should look for a reliable and trustworthy person who will act as a next of kin so the funds can be transferred.
Please reply with all of your bank account, IRA and college fund account numbers and those of your children and grandchildren to wallstreetbailout@treasury.gov so that we may transfer your commission for this transaction. After I receive that information, I will respond with detailed information about safeguards that will be used to protect the funds.
Yours Faithfully Minister of Treasury Paulson
September 24th, 2008 at 6:51 am
Excellent OL – the Nigerians will be filthy about this business :)
September 24th, 2008 at 6:58 am
Jeffro, I agree. Gov’t programs, departments, operations that used to work, no longer do– and that’s been under Bush’s watch.
We need the oversight BACK, because it has been sorely lacking under the Neocon administration.
Gov’t by extremists doesn’t work well, as we’ve seen in the past 8 years under Republican control (the last 2 years being due to Republican-Democrat stalemate).
September 24th, 2008 at 1:21 pm
“Jeffro, I agree. Gov’t programs, departments, operations that used to work, no longer do– and that’s been under Bush’s watch.”
YEAH!!!! LETS MAKE THE GOVT EVEN BIGGER!!!!
September 24th, 2008 at 1:42 pm
Bush, et al, are trying to scare us. We must pass this quickly, they say, or disaster ensues. Why not let the billionaires buy up this bad debt, the result of Washington and Wall Street greed and deregulation. Why not use the money, instead, to shore up the FDIC or make a minuscule dent in the national debt?
September 24th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
Jewel,
Disaster has ensued. Don’t you find it a bit scary that these huge financial institutions have collapsed?
Why not let the billionaires buy up this bad debt, the result of Washington and Wall Street greed and deregulation.
What do you mean ‘let’ them buy up this debt? Nobody knows how much this debt is worth and thus nobody wants to buy it. It is not a matter of ‘letting’ anyone do anything.
Why not use the money, instead, to shore up the FDIC or make a minuscule dent in the national debt?
Jewel, think about what you are proposing… to use new debt to pay off the national debt. Not a recipe for success.
September 24th, 2008 at 1:58 pm
Vinny, The Plagiarizer! good to see you back! Now back to reality. Were we to put people in charge that did their jobs, instead of turning a blind eye(not doing their job) yet getting paid very well for doing nothing, Would that be More Government? Of course not. So drop the limbaugh talking point. It doesn’t do your credibility any good.
September 24th, 2008 at 2:48 pm
Big gov’t?
From the Cato Institute:
http://www.cato.org/pub_display.php?pub_id=3750
President Bush has presided over the largest overall increase in inflation-adjusted federal spending since Lyndon B. Johnson. Even after excluding spending on defense and homeland security, Bush is still the biggest-spending president in 30 years. His 2006 budget doesn’t cut enough spending to change his place in history, either.
Total government spending grew by 33 percent during Bush’s first term. The federal budget as a share of the economy grew from 18.5 percent of GDP on Clinton’s last day in office to 20.3 percent by the end of Bush’s first term.
The Republican Congress has enthusiastically assisted the budget bloat. Inflation-adjusted spending on the combined budgets of the 101 largest programs they vowed to eliminate in 1995 has grown by 27 percent.
The GOP was once effective at controlling nondefense spending. The final nondefense budgets under Clinton were a combined $57 billion smaller than what he proposed from 1996 to 2001. Under Bush, Congress passed budgets that spent a total of $91 billion more than the president requested for domestic programs. Bush signed every one of those bills during his first term. Even if Congress passes Bush’s new budget exactly as proposed, not a single cabinet-level agency will be smaller than when Bush assumed office.
September 24th, 2008 at 5:36 pm
Paulson sounds like another “stay the course” guy that suddenly woke up from the deafening sound of the waterfall ahead. Now it’s “I told you we might be on the wrong river miles ago when I suggested we buy a new map”.
September 24th, 2008 at 5:44 pm
Cambell Brown – you look and sound like a very bitter women. You are so jealous and wish that you can be Sarah Palin that is getting all the praise that she deserves. Wait your turn and when you get what she has – DIGNITY then the world will give you praise. You cannot become anything because you if you were elected to any position you will be a very dangerous horse to back. So go back to school and by the way call Sarah Palin and ask her which school of ethics she went to. She is a GEM and any man if they had a choice would I am sure have no doubt to pick her because his children would be much safer with someone like Sarah than a “PITBULL” like you.
September 25th, 2008 at 2:00 am
Hello Lefties!
You all seem very thoughtful tonight! No Bush bashing? No blaming the Republicans? Of course not because this financial mess is YOURS! Chris Dodd and Barney Frank blocked the regulation that would have exposed the cooked books at Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac! John McCain & George Bush tried to regulate your piggy bank! Your guys blocked it and received enormous campaign contributions. It’s time for hearings! I call for a grand jury! Franklin Rains and Jim Johnson and Jamie Gorelick need to answer some questions to a US Attorney.
This is a scandal!
September 25th, 2008 at 2:12 am
yawns….. u seem to over estimate your own self importance. walt calls for a grand jury. by the way what color is the sky in your world walt. dont bother answerin im leaving u bore me.
September 25th, 2008 at 2:29 am
Nite nite Craig7120,
Like most liberals, when confronted by TRUTH you glaze over and retreat under your rocks.
BTW: the sky in my world is blue. I’d guess that the sky in your is world pink.
September 25th, 2008 at 2:58 am
Isn’t it time you re-arranged the deckchairs, Walt?
52-43… aren’t they such comforting numbers :)
September 25th, 2008 at 3:09 am
John, take another sip of the kool-aid and enjoy reading the slanted polls! Isn’t it great when pollsters ‘weight’ their polls and call more Dems? I recall the polls from 2000 and 2004. Your guys were out in front with double digits. Surprise! The polls were wrong. You libs live in an alternative universe that the majority of real Americans reject. They saw through Carter the second time and Dukakis and Mondale and McGovern and Gore and Kerry. Your liberal candidates are LOOSERS!
September 25th, 2008 at 4:02 am
Current projections:
Obama 282 McCain 256
Senate Dem 57 GOP 43
House Dem 242 GOP 193
This day in 2004
Bush 311 Kerry 217
Still smirking Walt?
September 25th, 2008 at 4:40 am
John, I don’t smirk. Your guy will crash. America will not elect a lightweight like Obama. Frankly, I’m surprised that a Marine can be so taken in by Obama. It must be the union brainwashing that has twisted your thinking. BTW: what are your feelings on the Chevy dealership calling it quits? Is this another example of union automakers failing to compete?
September 25th, 2008 at 5:46 am
Better get a move on Walt – if you really want the angry old liar to win, you have to change maybe 12 million minds in the next 40-something days.
Best of luck :)
September 25th, 2008 at 6:14 am
The BAILOUT PLAN is a gimmick and a rip-off.It’s ENRON 10 times.You give money to Bush to buy a house.Then he will sell the house back to you for him to make a profit.You see: IT’S LIKE PAYING FOR THE SAME HOUSE TWICE: you pay to built it and you pay to buy it.
September 25th, 2008 at 9:33 am
Ops! What happened to THE BUSH CAPITAL Which he got after the 2004 election? Let him use his own capital to BAILout his crony friends. By the way Did Bush have a BA or a BS in business?
September 25th, 2008 at 9:46 am
Tokyo Rose has nothing on Walt. All the trash-talking Republicans sound alike.
“Hello, again, Amelican Democlat G.I. Joes. You will not win war for plesident. Mr. Obama crying, he say sign sullender soon, give up erection… eLection …Bonzai now bombing Pranned Palenthood in Pennsy– Pensylvan-neah. Give up, riberal Democlats, you be coming home to Wepubrican occupation, soon.”
September 25th, 2008 at 2:10 pm
“Of course not because this financial mess is YOURS! Chris Dodd and Barney Frank blocked the regulation that would have exposed the cooked books at Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac! John McCain & George Bush tried to regulate your piggy bank! Your guys blocked it and received enormous campaign contributions.”
WALT, you might want to check which party was in the majority for both sessions that McCain backed bill died in committee. This is a bipartisan debacle, kool-aid comes in delicious Republican Raspberry right along with the other various flavors.
September 25th, 2008 at 5:13 pm