Glenn Wilson

Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz ?
My friends all drive Porsches, I must make amends.
Worked hard all my lifetime, no help from my friends,
So Lord, won’t you buy me a Mercedes Benz ?

Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a color TV ?
Dialing For Dollars is trying to find me.
I wait for delivery each day until three,
So oh Lord, won’t you buy me a color TV ?

Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a night on the town ?
I’m counting on you, Lord, please don’t let me down.
Prove that you love me and buy the next round,
Oh Lord, won’t you buy me a night on the town ?

Mercedes Benz

Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke are scheduled to testify today before Congress on their massive bailout program.

Here are some questions I would like to hear asked:

1. You two gentlemen have been wrong about the Housing crisis, missed the leverage problem, and understated the derivative issue. Indeed, you two have been wrong about nearly everything since this crisis began years ago. Why should we trust your judgment on the largest bailout in American history?
13 Questions for Paulson & Bernanke

Use the form below to submit bad assets you'd like the government to take off your hands. And remember, when estimating the value of your 1997 limited edition Hanson single CD "MMMbop", it's not what you can sell these items for that matters, it's what you think they are worth. The fact that you think they are worth more than anyone will buy them for is what makes them bad assets.
Click Here.

I’ve had more time to read the Dodd proposal — and it is a big improvement over the Paulson plan. The key feature, I believe, is the equity participation: if Treasury buys assets, it gets warrants that can be converted into equity if the price of the purchased assets falls. This both guarantees against a pure bailout of the financial firms, and opens the door to a real infusion of capital, if that becomes necessary — and I think it will.
Daddy doesn’t know best

Is watching everyone rush off to read Chris Dodd’s proposal, and rather than read it and judge it on the merits of the proposal, read it and compare it to the ridiculous opener from Paulson. Instead of reading the Dodd proposal and saying “this is a good idea” or “this sucks hard,” we will be treated to a few days of “well, it was better than what Paulson suggested.” Which, no doubt, will be true, because what Paulson asked for was completely ridiculous- “Give me a trillion dollars and then piss off.”

... one of the real and fair knocks against Dodd is that he is wholly in bed with the banking and insurance industries? But somehow, because we are a nation of morons, we will judge giving 700 billion to someone with no strings unacceptable, but giving 700 billion to someone with a few caveats about CEO pay is somehow teh awesome. And who will be the white knight to bring us this reform? The guy in the Democratic party most in bed with the people who screwed up.
The Next Thing That Will Piss Me Off

What Gingrich's wish list tells us is that the dumping of private debt into the public coffers is only stage one of the current shock. The second comes when the debt crisis currently being created by this bailout becomes the excuse to privatize social security, lower corporate taxes and cut spending on the poor. ...

We have seen this many times before, in this country and around the world. But here's the thing: these opportunistic tactics can only work if we let them. They work when we respond to crisis by regressing, wanting to believe in "strong leaders" ...

So let's be absolutely clear: there are no saviors who are going to look out for us in this crisis. Certainly not Henry Paulson, former CEO of Goldman Sachs, one of the companies that will benefit most from his proposed bailout (which is actually a stick up). The only hope of preventing another dose of shock politics is loud, organized grassroots pressure on all political parties: they have to know right now that after seven years of Bush, Americans are becoming shock resistant.
Now is the Time to Resist Wall Street's Shock Doctrine

Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and Morgan Stanley may be among the biggest beneficiaries of the $700 billion U.S. plan to buy assets from financial companies while many banks see limited aid, according to Bank of America Corp.
Paulson Debt Plan May Benefit Mostly Goldman, Morgan

When I get to the bottom
I go back to the top of the slide
Where I stop and turn
and I go for a ride
Till I get to the bottom and I see you again
Yeah, yeah, yeah
Do you don't you want me to love you
I'm coming down fast but I'm miles above you
Tell me tell me come on tell me the answer
and you may be a lover but you ain't no dancer

Go helter skelter
helter skelter
helter skelter
Yeah, hu, hu
I will you won't you want me to make you
I'm coming down fast but don't let me break you
Tell me tell me tell me the answer
You may be a lover but you ain't no dancer

Look out
Helter skelter
helter skelter
helter skelter
Yeah, hu, hu
Look out cause here she comes

The Beatles - Helter Skelter

Labels: economy