unusualmusic_lj_archive

The DEBT RATTLE

Hank Paulson was not elected by the people. If you think there’s no connection between Paulson being Goldman’s CEO for 8 years, and the fact the Goldman will now be able to bury an insane amount of toilet paper in the contaminated RTC composter that is being set up in the capital's backrooms, at the same time that shorting Goldman is banned, then I want some of the drugs you’re taking.

The members of Congress are elected. But they have no idea what is going on. The New York Times quotes even the "finance experts" among them as saying they were stunned when Ben and Hank told them about the shape of things to come. The same two dudes who until now, in every single Congressional hearing, have insisted that the economy was strong, a propaganda piece incessantly repeated by everyone involved, including Shrub.

So who do the members of Congress turn to when they have to vote on issues they don’t understand? They listen to their staff, made up to a large extent of lobbyists, who are on the payroll of the same financial institutions that Congress, see the Constitution, is mandated to regulate. And of course those lobbyists have not been elected by the people. MORE

An Anonymous Lawmaker Diagrams the High Stakes Chicken in the House

Here's the industry's play: progressives will approach Nancy with ideas for reform, and she'll agree to push for their proposals, and she'll really mean it. Then industry lobbyists will go to Dennis Moore, Melissa Bean and a few other Democrats, and tell them how dire the consequences of the proposals would be, and that the members who understand how the economy works need to step up to stop Nancy and the crazy liberals from doing something rash. Then those Democrats will go to Steny and tell him how terrible Nancy's crazy ideas would be, and how we can't rush into something like that without much, much more thought. Maybe Barney will try to talk to Dennis or Melissa, but it will become apparent quickly that they have no idea what they're talking about; they're just repeating by rote what the lobbyists told them to say. Melissa may actually be dumber than Sarah Palin. Barney will realize he might as well talk to the lobbyists directly and save a step. The lobbyists will agree to something inconsequential, but certainly nothing that would really affect the industry's conduct. Then the leadership will do the math and conclude that because the vast majority of Republicans will vote against any bill, we can't get enough votes without the Dennis and Melissa crowd. The only way, our leadership will conclude, to get anything at all passed is to include nothing more than the inconsequential proposals that the lobbyists agreed to. Then we'll all go along because it would be wildly irresponsible not to act when we're staring over the brink of a complete collapse of world financial markets. MORE

All this while Paulson considers the bailout for big business only, fuck the homeowners who were caught in this mess and thinks that
any demand to cut CEO compensation is a "poison pill".

Oh yes.

Meantime, economists from conservative to libertian to progressive are screaming bloody murder at the madness. Nobody seems to be listening to them, however. And I've got a headache.