THE $700 BILLION MEN; PAULSON PICKING RESCUE ADVISERS (scavengers gorging on US carcass?)

NY POST ^ | 10/6/08 | JAMES COVERT

[Liz]

Secy Henry Paulson today begins handpicking advisers to administer the $700B rescue plan.......drafting a list of between 5-10 Wall Street asset managers to tackle the massive mortgage mess. Paulson has the biggest say in how much the government decides to pay for troubled mortgages and other securities - If he pays too much - taxpayers could be on the hook for hundreds of billions of dollars if the government is unable to sell the securities at a profit......if Paulson pays too little, financial analysts agree it might fail to convince leery lenders to open up their wallets and start making much-needed short-term loans that are necessary for businesses to operate.........auctions of the securities aren't expected to start until mid-November.....big-name financial insiders for Paulson's rescue advisory panel include Bill Gross, legendary founder of the Pimco asset-management giant....... and Larry Fink, CEO of the investment firm BlackRock. Although experts in mortgage-related assets, critics said big names could be saddled with conflicts of interest if hired by the government. "Pimco is one of the larger beneficiaries of this bailout, as they were" with the government rescue of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

[Liz]

HERE'S HOW US TAXPAYERS ARE GOING TO PROFIT OFF THE BAILOUT (snicker): EXCERPT---Bloomberg---The Federal Reserve may lose as much as $6B on a portfolio of mortgage-backed assets it took over from Bear Stearns Cos, according to Bank of America analysts. The Fed will announce Oct. 23 its quarterly estimate of the fair value of Maiden Lane LLC's $30B of holdings that JPMorgan Chase considered too risky when it acquired Bear Stearns in March, BofA analysts wrote in a client note. The central bank valued the assets at $29B as of June 30....... "With the worsening in mortgage markets since last quarter, we estimate a range of $2-6 Billion of unrealized losses," the NY-based analysts wrote. About 1/2 the portfolio is backed by commercial mortgages and 1/2 by residential loans. SOURCE http://www.nypost.com/seven/10032008/business/bofa_says_fed_may_go_bear_131960.htm

[Billg64]

On Nov. 4 we should vote Paulson ou... oh never mind...

[DieHard the Hunter]

> Secy Henry Paulson today begins handpicking advisers to administer the $700B rescue plan.......drafting a list of between 5-10 Wall Street asset managers to tackle the massive mortgage mess.

That’s Hell Funny. It’s like inviting the Foxes over to help clean up the chicken carcasses in the chicken coop.

Why hasn’t anybody in the US gotten out the tar and feathers for this discredited mob of mungrels? US$700 Billion Dollars — that’s about $2,000 for every man, woman, and child in the United States (excluding illegal aliens): donated because overpaid yacht-driving morons made massive trading mistakes due to greed...

Aren’t you guys even a little bit peeved at that? If you were French you’d be rolling out the Guillotines by now...

[screaminsunshine]

Ha ha. Paulson has appointe a guy mamed Kashkari. Meanig “You got no kash you no kari” The new economy “econ-oh-my”

[WayneM]

Why has Paulson not been fired?

[Wolfie]

Man, what a bunch of suckers we are.

But you’re right. These things only end up one way. And in a society as armed to the teeth as we are, those gated communities better be offshore.

[Wolfie]

W. wants his cushy post-Presidential job, that’s why.

[tiger-one]

When will someone challenge the Constitutionality of the power given to to the Sec. of the Treasury??

[exhaustguy]

“That’s Hell Funny. It’s like inviting the Foxes over to help clean up the chicken carcasses in the chicken coop”

Great line.

“Aren’t you guys even a little bit peeved at that? If you were French you’d be rolling out the Guillotines by now...”

Yes, but we hope that once we clear up the Republican leadership problem (ala McCain) we can make change at the ballot box in 2010 and 2012 (assuming we have a country left by then). I think a whole bunch of Ds and Rs need to get voted out. If that doesn’t work, then I think we will prefer bullets to the Guillotine.

[DieHard the Hunter]

> Yes, but we hope that once we clear up the Republican leadership problem (ala McCain) we can make change at the ballot box in 2010 and 2012 (assuming we have a country left by then).

One thing that I do know about America: it would take much more than a US$700 billion mistake to make her fall.

History shows that whenever America runs into adversity she comes out of it much stronger and much wealthier: it is one of the beauties of your wonderful Nation.

Americans are very strong and resilient people, infinitely resourceful.

This will be the catalyst that makes the “Next Reagan Era” possible — just like the Vietnam War made the first Reagan Era possible.

You stand poised at the beginning of a Golden Age. Count on it.

God Bless America
*DieHard the Hunter*

[Anvilhead]

"if Paulson pays too little, financial analysts agree it might fail to convince leery lenders to open up their wallets and start making much-needed short-term loans that are necessary for businesses to operate"

Just take from them like you took from us, Paulieboy.

Or would the frosty stares over dirty martinis at the country club be too much for you to bear?

[Need4Truth]

“If he pays too much - taxpayers could be on the hook for hundreds of billions of dollars “

wallstreet welfare. so where is the incentive to control costs?

[DieHard the Hunter]

> Man, what a bunch of suckers we are.

Our economy is in for a pasting here in NZ: for the first time in 9 years are projected to be running deficits over the next four quarters.

When America sneezes, we all catch cold.

One thing that we do know about America: it will take much more than US$700 Billion to do any permanent damage. If anything, the United States will get even stronger as a result of being able to clean up house on Wall Street.

God Bless America
*DieHard the Hunter*

[Texas4ever]

Obama using CNN to fuel voter depression/suppression. They will start saying Obama has already won. That way a what’s the use attitude starts.

Dont buy it!...Dont watch CNN tell your friends!

[SE Mom]

I was listening to FBN just now- they interviewed Peter Monroe who had some involvement with fixing the S & L mess. He is shaking his head this morning over the folly of this bill. Now we learn Neel Kashkari (asst to Paulson at Treasury and former pal at GS) will be heading up the effort and we’re already seeing other foxes preparing to move in to the henhouse.

One of the points the Monroe made is that during the S & L mess- there were civilians on the board- now there are only government officials.

The unchecked power given to Paulson and his pals is unheard of- and now everyone is starting to wake up and figure out WHAT’S IN THE BILL.

The panic that allowed this radical bill to pass is only getting larger- the European markets are down and falling fast.

[Thebaddog]

IMHO,He’s the October Suprise. He’s a democrat with ties to Schumer and Obama was way too calm when he was down a month ago in the polls. He was telling the faithful that everything was going to be all right, and then the melt down began. Does some one have the memo out there on this one?

[Leisler]

"if Paulson pays too little, financial analysts agree it might fail to convince leery lenders to open up their wallets and start making much-needed short-term loans that are necessary for businesses to operate"

Let's rework that to better fit reality.'

Lenders won't start making loans until Paulson opens up his wallet. In other words, we got you by the shorts, will make the economy scream and we know you got the cash, now, and after all Hank, you are OUR buddy. Right? Right? So hand it over MF****ker or da country gets in da head!

I'm sure it's phrased differently, but it's the same. Hey, when you are a street walking hoe, like the US government is, that's the way you get treated. You are a mess, you are broke, and you got's 'chil-dar-in' and ol'folk to take care of back at da crib. If $20 for a car load of frat boys is all you get....it's what you get.

The new Pimp, Barry, he'll be much better to sister Amerika.

[grayhog]

We are lucky to have a Paulson and Bernanke trying to steer us through this crisis. The crisis is here whether we like it or not. I can only imagine the debacle if Snow, the embattled former CEO of CSX railroad, was still at treasury. Hank Paulson understands how this mess was created. He was a fantastic CEO of Goldman Sachs — keeping that firm out of all of the messes that brought down Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, Merrill Lynch and perhaps Morgan Stanley. Paulson and Bernanke are our best chance to come out of this.

The wrong moves by the government at a time like this can easily push this crisis into a catastrophe.

[paratrooper82]

“Lawmaker Accused of Fannie Mae Conflict of Interest Friday , October 03, 2008 By Bill Sammon Unqualified home buyers were not the only ones who benefitted from Massachusetts Rep. Barney Frank’s efforts to deregulate Fannie Mae throughout the 1990s. So did Frank’s partner, a Fannie Mae executive at the forefront of the agency’s push to relax lending restrictions. Now that Fannie Mae is at the epicenter of a financial meltdown that threatens the U.S. economy, some are raising new questions about Frank's relationship with Herb Moses, who was Fannie’s assistant director for product initiatives. Moses worked at the government-sponsored enterprise from 1991 to 1998, while Frank was on the House Banking Committee, which had jurisdiction over Fannie. Both Frank and Moses assured the Wall Street Journal in 1992 that they took pains to avoid any conflicts of interest. Critics, however, remain skeptical. ‘It’s absolutely a conflict,’ said Dan Gainor, vice president of the Business & Media Institute. “He was voting on Fannie Mae at a time when he was involved with a Fannie Mae executive. How is that not germane? “If this had been his ex-wife and he was Republican, I would bet every penny I have - or at least what’s not in the stock market - that this would be considered germane,’ added Gainor, a T. Boone Pickens Fellow. ‘But everybody wants to avoid it because he’s gay. It’s the quintessential double standard.’ A top GOP House aide agreed. ‘C’mon, he writes housing and banking laws and his boyfriend is a top exec at a firm that stands to gain from those laws?’ the aide told FOX News. ‘No media ever takes note? Imagine what would happen if Frank’s political affiliation was R instead of D? Imagine what the media would say if [GOP former] Chairman [Mike] Oxley’s wife or [GOP presidential nominee John] McCain’s wife was a top exec at Fannie for a decade while they wrote the nation’s housing and banking laws.’ Frank’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment. Frank met Moses in 1987, the same year he became the first openly gay member of Congress. ‘I am the only member of the congressional gay spouse caucus,” Moses wrote in the Washington Post in 1991. “On Capitol Hill, Barney always introduces me as his lover.’ The two lived together in a Washington home until they broke up in 1998, a few months after Moses ended his seven-year tenure at Fannie Mae, where he was the assistant director of product initiatives. According to National Mortgage News, Moses ‘helped develop many of Fannie Mae’s affordable housing and home improvement lending programs.’ Critics say such programs led to the mortgage meltdown that prompted last month’s government takeover of Fannie Mae and its financial cousin, Freddie Mac. The giant firms are blamed for spreading bad mortgages throughout the private financial sector. Although Frank now blames Republicans for the failure of Fannie and Freddie, he spent years blocking GOP lawmakers from imposing tougher regulations on the mortgage giants. In 1991, the year Moses was hired by Fannie, the Boston Globe reported that Frank pushed the agency to loosen regulations on mortgages for two- and three-family homes, even though they were defaulting at twice and five times the rate of single homes, respectively. Three years later, President Clinton’s Department of Housing and Urban Development tried to impose a new regulation on Fannie, but was thwarted by Frank. Clinton now blames such Democrats for planting the seeds of today’s economic crisis. ‘I think the responsibility that the Democrats have may rest more in resisting any efforts by Republicans in the Congress or by me when I was president, to put some standards and tighten up a little on Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,’ Clinton said recently.” Bill Sammon is FOX News’ Washington Deputy Managing Editor.

[9YearLurker]

The real way he kept Goldman Sachs out of that mess was with the AIG bailout.