Moses Meets the Burning Bush
What happened today on Capitol Hill:
Secretary of the Treasury and ex-CEO of Goldman-Sachs Henry Paulson called Congressional leadership for a get-together. He tells them something - no doubt using charts and graphs - so horrifying, so absolutely terrifying that they all come out looking like Moses (er... Charlton Heston) after meeting the burning bush. Hair's grown a foot and is stark white, their beards fall to their bellies, they've all got that far-away look in their red-rimmed eyes, and their hands are shaking. None dare breathe the edict: Set My People Free!
So. What was it, exactly, that Paulson told them? Gee, we dunno. Nor are we allowed to know. Just as if this were top secret intelligence pinpointing WMDs that don't exist right in Saddam's palace, we don't get to find out. Even though it's supposedly OUR trillion or three or four they MUST have right now to bail themselves out. With a laughable "emergency" plan that, Deputy Admin press secretary Tony Fratto said just today, was drawn up over the course of months.
Months. Not days or even weeks. They sure as shit knew it was coming, and simply waited for just the right moment of panic to spring it on us as if the end of the world is mere hours away. Ah, the lively tune reverberates in my mind...
"It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine!"
If that's not a scam just waiting on the Greek chorus to sing the dirge I sure don't know what is. They don't care what I have to say about it, but I say "No." If it turns out that nobody's bothered to keep track of where all the paper went, then nobody really owns the lien on my house. It's mine, free and clear (if they can't produce the lien, they've got no claim). Except for the annual taxes I pay to my LOCAL government. Which I don't mind paying at all since it supports the fire department, rescue squad, county hospital, roads, bridges, schools and libraries.
Looks to me like they're trying to salvage the prime and just slightly sub-prime mortgage market by putting in a claim to the Treasury because if we were ever to figure out that our actual loans have been so fragmented and bundled and bought and sold that nobody bothered to keep the dead trees anywhere, we ALL own our properties free and clear and nobody who thinks they own the paper gets paid!
Which, btw, is just fine with me. Wall Street can crash, I don't mind. I'm sure there are capable players just waiting in the wings to kick-start things when the wind dies down. Real estate's still a good income investment and can be had cheap right now. Hold the liens yourself on just two or three houses and you're guaranteed steady income for the entire life of the loans - even at straight interest of 8-10% non-compounded, you're still earning the premium. And if they default, the property goes back to you and you just sell it all over again. Wall Street may fall, but Main Street will survive. For the most part, anyway...
[cross-posted at People First Politics]
Secretary of the Treasury and ex-CEO of Goldman-Sachs Henry Paulson called Congressional leadership for a get-together. He tells them something - no doubt using charts and graphs - so horrifying, so absolutely terrifying that they all come out looking like Moses (er... Charlton Heston) after meeting the burning bush. Hair's grown a foot and is stark white, their beards fall to their bellies, they've all got that far-away look in their red-rimmed eyes, and their hands are shaking. None dare breathe the edict: Set My People Free!
So. What was it, exactly, that Paulson told them? Gee, we dunno. Nor are we allowed to know. Just as if this were top secret intelligence pinpointing WMDs that don't exist right in Saddam's palace, we don't get to find out. Even though it's supposedly OUR trillion or three or four they MUST have right now to bail themselves out. With a laughable "emergency" plan that, Deputy Admin press secretary Tony Fratto said just today, was drawn up over the course of months.
Months. Not days or even weeks. They sure as shit knew it was coming, and simply waited for just the right moment of panic to spring it on us as if the end of the world is mere hours away. Ah, the lively tune reverberates in my mind...
"It's the end of the world as we know it, and I feel fine!"
If that's not a scam just waiting on the Greek chorus to sing the dirge I sure don't know what is. They don't care what I have to say about it, but I say "No." If it turns out that nobody's bothered to keep track of where all the paper went, then nobody really owns the lien on my house. It's mine, free and clear (if they can't produce the lien, they've got no claim). Except for the annual taxes I pay to my LOCAL government. Which I don't mind paying at all since it supports the fire department, rescue squad, county hospital, roads, bridges, schools and libraries.
Looks to me like they're trying to salvage the prime and just slightly sub-prime mortgage market by putting in a claim to the Treasury because if we were ever to figure out that our actual loans have been so fragmented and bundled and bought and sold that nobody bothered to keep the dead trees anywhere, we ALL own our properties free and clear and nobody who thinks they own the paper gets paid!
Which, btw, is just fine with me. Wall Street can crash, I don't mind. I'm sure there are capable players just waiting in the wings to kick-start things when the wind dies down. Real estate's still a good income investment and can be had cheap right now. Hold the liens yourself on just two or three houses and you're guaranteed steady income for the entire life of the loans - even at straight interest of 8-10% non-compounded, you're still earning the premium. And if they default, the property goes back to you and you just sell it all over again. Wall Street may fall, but Main Street will survive. For the most part, anyway...
[cross-posted at People First Politics]
Labels: Bailout, Economy, Henry Paulson, Ponzi Scheme, Wall Street
posted by Aileen at
9/23/2008 05:16:00 PM
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