I Come to You, Cashmere Hat in Hand . . .
By Dana Milbank
Washington Post
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
"I don't like to be in this position, asking for things and, you know, answering to the American taxpayer," Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson informed the Senate banking committee yesterday.
His discomfiture was easily understood.
He left Goldman Sachs two years ago with hundreds of millions in his pocket and an invitation from President Bush to take over the U.S. Treasury. Now, after assuring lawmakers for the past two years that the markets would take care of themselves, he was asking Congress for perhaps $1 trillion in borrowed taxpayer money to bail out his former peers and colleagues on Wall Street. He wanted the money so desperately -- "quickly and cleanly . . . avoid slowing it down . . . immediate implementation . . . urgency . . . immediate need" -- that, if he had any hair, he probably would have set it on fire right there in the Dirksen Senate Office Building.
The senators were none too pleased to receive this panhandler. Though they've collectively accepted more than $33 million from Wall Street and related industries in this election cycle alone, the committee members took turns channeling their inner Huey Longs.
"This massive bailout is not a solution -- it is financial socialism, and it's un-American," fumed Jim Bunning (R-Ky.).
"It does not make any sense; it will reward the banks first, who got us in the financial mess," protested Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.).
(Continued here.)
Washington Post
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
"I don't like to be in this position, asking for things and, you know, answering to the American taxpayer," Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson informed the Senate banking committee yesterday.
His discomfiture was easily understood.
He left Goldman Sachs two years ago with hundreds of millions in his pocket and an invitation from President Bush to take over the U.S. Treasury. Now, after assuring lawmakers for the past two years that the markets would take care of themselves, he was asking Congress for perhaps $1 trillion in borrowed taxpayer money to bail out his former peers and colleagues on Wall Street. He wanted the money so desperately -- "quickly and cleanly . . . avoid slowing it down . . . immediate implementation . . . urgency . . . immediate need" -- that, if he had any hair, he probably would have set it on fire right there in the Dirksen Senate Office Building.
The senators were none too pleased to receive this panhandler. Though they've collectively accepted more than $33 million from Wall Street and related industries in this election cycle alone, the committee members took turns channeling their inner Huey Longs.
"This massive bailout is not a solution -- it is financial socialism, and it's un-American," fumed Jim Bunning (R-Ky.).
"It does not make any sense; it will reward the banks first, who got us in the financial mess," protested Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.).
(Continued here.)
Powered by Blogger
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home