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Paulson Pwned
Rep. Cliff Stearns not heart GS.
hat tip Caley
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Yes, that was fucking awesome.
How is it awesome? Everything is said and done. Can't even get him. Did you see his poster sitting there? Paulson looked like a gangter. He's there to create an illusion that there is law and orders in America, but there is none that applied to the elite, government sach.
Yes, yes, I know all that. Can I please enjoy my bread and circuses?
hahaha, funny and sad that even peeps that know whats going on just want to enjoy our bread and circuses they are willing to give us
Wow..just wow.Did you see paulson squirm?You can tell he is not comfortable being talked to like that.Delicious!
I think Paulson had a stroke during that questioning
Au contraire; that was the smoothest and most coherent I have seen Mr. Fudd in front of a mic and public audience to date.
It made my day. :-)
The crooks should be humiliated and sent to jail.
That's total bullshi*! He did about as solid of a job anyone could have in his position.
yeah, a 3 page bill for hundreds of billions of dollars and a scare tactic to boot was real "solid." That "solid" performance was only outperformed by his earlier efforts to raise the leverage ratio for wall street banks to 30:1. Take your stockholm syndrome elsewhere.
Ha! What a troll!
Although I'm against all bailouts always, Paulson could have used the money to reduce the principal of mortgages. The banks wouldn't have lost and the homedebtors would have kept their homes. Also, RE could've depreciated with less pain. That way, the banks, the homedebtors, and new buyers could have come out winners. Win! Win! Win! I just came up with this idea in less than 10 seconds--an idea that would have been far superior to Paulson's (IMO, of course). And I'm nobody.
You are quite smart! A bailout from the bottom up could have had a much greater impact for less $$$. Those naked at the top would be exposed for what they are and disposed of accordingly.
I'm not for bailouts or welfare, but if money is going to be pissed away it should have been from the bottom up.
Thank you, Bubby. I'm all about the Win! Win! Win!
I'm sure thousand of wall streeters could tell you that bottom-up is dommed to fail, that money only has an effect when trickled-down from a *much* higher level.
There's no multiplier in helping serfs fill in their debt hole.
The average person has a liquidity crisis. The banks (and the government) have a solvency crisis.
Using the purchasing power of the US government to renegotiate consumer debt down to the current (almost zero) rates would not reduce the debt of the USA but it would certainly reduce the cost of servicing the debt.
The lowered cost of interest service costs for taxpayers (rudely called consumers) would provide a 500 billion (?) 'stimulus' over several years?
If that renegotiated debt was used to pay off credit card debt, car debts, mortgages, etc (starting with most expensive debt first) then consumers would get some liquidity (breathing room) and the money would recapitalize all of the banks in the system.
The bottom up approach is fair for a simple reason - the money that is borrowed by the US government belongs to the citizens of the country and not the banks.
Why should the money be borrowed and given to the banks hoping that they will lend it to broke consumers and businesses? There is no multiplier in giving the money directly to the banks and there is no multiplier using it pay off citizen debt.
The difference is this : giving it to the banks is used to collateralize more leveraged garbage (bets) ; but using the money to pay off taxpayer debt directly will solve both the liquidity problem of the taxpayers and the recapitalize the banks *for the same amount that they would get if the banks were given the money directly*.
And if the first round of debt renegotiation isn't enough - do it again. It fair, legal and the impact on both the budgets of households and the capitalization of the banks is immediate.
Screw the banks - the money being borrowed by the US (and other governments) belongs to the taxpayers, not the stupid banks.
The White House can't move against the banksters without support for people who can write credibly about things like liquidity and solvency.
If you think this makes sense - tell the White House.
Dear Webmaster : I wrote the above comment on my Linux Ubuntu computer and all of the linefeeds got removed. I noticed that other people have this problem with their comments. Perhaps your comment system doesn't support Linux well? I hope this helps.
ANOTHER blog comment note - the Captcha doesn't put a space between the dash character and the number. So, my current CAPTCHA looks like this : X times 20 equals -200. I'll bet that the answer is 5! I had this same problem on the CAPTCHA for the comment above ('Tell the White House if you like the idea')
Thank you for your excellent blog!
Stockholm syndrome or shill.
The bullshit is the lies that continue to be told that our country's citizens seem to swallow, like "we didn't have the authority to do anything about Lehman" and 'the world will end as we know it if i don't get my bazooka'. It would have taken ONE day to level with the American people and congress about LEH, MER, GS, MS and C being on the verge of bankruptcy, and either buyers ( not forced unethical shotgun weddings with the dowry given to MER like the one forced on BAC) but honest acquisitions, absorbed into other entities or not--and that ONE DAY ALSO asking for the power to unwind any entities that didn't find a buyer.PERIOD.
Instead, we American's are viewed as idiots who stood to be duped by the banksters and the world knows it, and now understands that instead of the premiere world currency, we are indeed a corrupt country, just like any other banana republic---and all the rest will follow...and you call that the best anyone could do!!!!! Yea, in his position to terrify and coerce the country into believing there is such a thing as "toobigtofail" he did an excellent job. But, this job has cost us our country's reputation, and potentially our future security, and i want all of that back! And, if Obama hadn't become an accomplice to this crime, he could have saved our country's reputation. Now, it is up to the citizens of the United States to demand that these crimes are punished and reconciled.
Well done!!
Wow. Your grotesque support of open criminality is grotesque. Solidly grotesque. What is much softer is that lump three feet above your ass.
Yeah, anonymous! You're right! Solid as could be. . . given his level of talent and depth of complicity. Solid performance! After all he got up and walked away a free man! What more can you ask for?
This beats my favorite Jenna Jameson g2g action clip - heck got a hard on just watching this - wished I would have been there.
BTW, I have said it before and I will say it again - I fucking hate this comment system - please set up disqus.
for the about 3.14th time, disqus is gone. period.
*snap*
I guess I came full circle then :-)
Sorry - is it that time of the month again?
what do you not like about this comment system.
I hated it before also. But i didnt complain because i gave no advice on how to improve. And now, gotta say, love the improvements so far.
Would like to see the Anons reduced and good (liked) comments pushed up higher, so the first to post doesnt get stuck at the top. its gay i know, but people really do take it that serious. I like to follow the comments just as much as your articles. I learn a ton.
thanx a ton guys!
Apocalypse Now-
Eat that pie in the face (translated for those that didn't get that).
I agree with this move, seemed like a good way to track people and for a moment I questioned whether GS, Gov & Co could be a cookie monster.
No one from Goldman Sach's should be allowed anywhere near the Treasury or Fed. This is ridiculous. It is the biggest conflict of interest ever. This will go down as one of the darkest days in America.
Generations from now people will equate this period of time with that of the Robber Barons.
Stuttering Stanley...
Who would believe anything that dirt ball says?
Let's not forget where his career started. That would be in the Nixon Whitehouse. That would be working as an assistant to John Ehrlichman during 1972-73. You can see where this is going...
yea, on the other hand, it takes one to know one, so, he outed the hankster.
I was referring to Paulson. Rep. Stearns had an honorable career starting with a motel/restaurant business.
oops, i wasn't thinking, sorry! nevermind.... my name is rosanna rosanna danna
as much as his comments were needed, it would help if rep. stearns had a clue about what he was talking about. then again no one in congress does have a clue, and certainly none of them are "honorable".
The F@#$%^%^ mic issue dilutes all the questions and statements. Additionally, yes, it was great to hear the statement, but somehow, when paulson spoke, it is as if God has spoke, and we should be so thankful and nominate this man for a Nobel prize--
The only way this guys words will make any difference will be if he takes his words and moves forward with a written complaint to the justice department about the inappropriateness of paulson not recusing himself and showing how his choices were self dealing and prosecute him for failure as a fiduciary. I am sure he has a lot of protection for being a public figure, but if there is wrongdoing, i don't think that protection stands...
Going back to the basics, it would have taken ONE DAY TO ASK CONGRESS FOR AUTHORITY TO UNWIND THE TOOBIGTOFAIL Lehman, Merrill, Goldman Sachs, Morgan and Citi, unless buyers stepped in--instead we got three weeks of lobby for the blackhole fund that is named Tarp. The funny thing about the Fed's balance sheet is that without some of these companies going down, the size of the balance sheet can't change since that money is there to keep alive those who should have died.
The citizens of the United States have been f@#$%^ by the biggest bank heist of all time....i can only hope that somehow this will be rectified.
M-m-m-my n-n-n-n-name is H-h-h-hank P-p-p-paulson and I-I-I-I am n-n-n-n-not a cr-cr-crook.
I feel a scintilla of ethics.
There's a cream for that. He's over it now.
Apocalypse Now-
Saw this live,was inspired, and clapped at my computer. American Public hearts Cliff Stearns.
Favorite line:
Isn't that true there's a clause that if you come into the administration you sell your assets it's tax deferred, you have a $200m profit and you didn't have to pay any tax isn't that true, yes or no? Maybe that was an incentive for you to become the Secretary of the Treasury so you didn't have to pay the tax there. Ohhhhooohhhhhhh, theeeee nexxxt thing I say to youuuu. Shouldn't you have recused yourself? HP- I got a waiver for the ethics agreement - wewewe got it from the government ethics office.
http://www.ustreas.gov/press/releases/hp856.htm
The Congressman hasn't heard of "HOPE NOW", which was a program to do precisely what he asks for at the begining of his questioning. Notice what Hank Kimble Paulson says about both the Systemic Problems and the solutions. Things were entirely manageable at this time with only little "bumps in the road" facing us. Phil Swagel attempts to backmap history to make it seem as if ol' Hank was a HERO in March of 2008.
It turned into an Economic Coup. The Presidential Suit Dummies of both parties had/have no clue as to what has happened. And as much as I like the exchange with the Congressman, until someone can piece together when the Assassins realized they HAD to be in, these moments will be merely humorous.
HEY! The Captcha question is (-39) minus five equals [[-44]]. This is rejected because answers must be 2 characters only!!! WTF!!!
"HEY! The Captcha question is (-39) minus five equals [[-44]]. This is rejected because answers must be 2 characters only!!! WTF!!!"
...Same question, same problem for me too. OH, and as I type this, the question is "(-19) times (-17) equals ___" Let's see if a three digit answer fails this time.
While this was awesome, this discussion should have happened when Paulson was named Treasury Secretary. This was embarrasing for him, but at the end of the day, Hank went home to his 200 million tax-free dollars.
Fuck yeah, you stammering, stuttering, lying sack of shit. Without that $13B from AIG, GS would be staring down the barrel of a $10B loss rather than a $3B "profit". Who gave AIG the $, Hank Fucking Paulson. Bait and switch is exactly what he did. As I recall, the initial TARP bill had a provision in it saying essentially, "To be used for whatever the SecTreas wants without oversight." That language was supposedly taken out, but he basically did exactly what the fuck he wanted to with one foot out the door after the election, hooked up his boys at GS, and then left to go hang out on the fucking island that he bought with his tax free GS stock sale that he claims was purchased by his blind trust! http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aKOzg9Bu3H_o&refer=home
Are you fucking shitting me? His blind trust purchased an island off the coast of Georgia for $32MM. I thought blind trusts were supposed to buy a bunch of shitty mutual funds. Do you think we are blind, asshole?
People who lie professionally (and this is a trick used in the monetary circles) stutter and stammer so that the questioner becomes tired of listening to their bullshit that they give up asking follow on questions.
Yeah, the GS Cock Suckers might be the Smartest!
$3B profit.......Did we ever hear what happened to the dissapearing December?
Is it part of Goldman Sachs hazing to make every CEO bald? I mean, what do they have against hair anyway? They must be long propecia. Or that spray on hair stuff.
Not only is he a customer... but he liked it so much he bought a country!
In the old days these kind of people would have been stuffed in a drum and tossed into the East River.
...just an observation...not that I would condone such behavior.
BTW...math is hard!
PS, what is with the quantum physics math questions for captcha?? My last one was:
"If the water level in a cylinder of radius 2 m is rising at a rate of 3 m per second, what is the rate of increase of the volume of water?"
I mean come on!
...uh
to quote judge dredd: couuuuurtzzz adjouuuurnned
The captain is 48 years old, it took me a while to get this one:
"Since you are now studying geometry and trigonometry, I will give you a problem. A ship sails the ocean. It left Boston with a cargo of wool. It grosses 200 tons. It is bound for Le Havre. The mainmast is broken, the cabin boy is on deck, there are 12 passengers aboard, the wind is blowing East-North-East, the clock points to a quarter past three in the afternoon. It is the month of May. How old is the captain?"
we love all our readers equally... but our mathematically astute readers are more equal than others.
Does it count against us somewhere to get it wrong on purpose and hope for an easier one next time?
Actually it's like the GREs - you screw one up, you get progressively harder ones.
thank you TD
I say make the captchas require at least college level algebra, at least some uniform motion word problems..... or a HP35
my catcha: xxx times (-17) = 221.... awesome!
Actually we are working on some bond math questions. We fully expect to get no comments in the period those run... especially not from the GS bond trading desk.
AAA. Not working... Keep typing AAA, eventually it'll get pushed through.
Are you going to make them model the payment streams on a AAA bullet? =)
only if they reinvest the coupons into GS stock, levered up 100:1 courtesy of the GSPPIP
I'd go for a separate Captcha pop-up step before submission, with the results of each attempt and time taken to answer displayed with the post.
Wow - that was awesome!
These guys are kicking him all over the stage.
I guess most people would take a beating if they could make 200 million - pay no taxes on that - and then loot the treasury of $750 billion for all their friends and family.
that congressman has some balls - i wish they help people!
madoff::fraud, paulson::treason
I think what you mean is Madoff:fraud::Paulson:treason
Probably. I was better at the math section anyway.
TREASON---WHY WASN'T THAT WORD USED IN THE CONGRESSIONAL TESTIMONY...
TREASON, THAT IS THE CHARGE, NOW WHEN WILL THE TRIAL BE HELD?
Awesome video.
Fun to watch but it's all just talk, HP is still where he is feeding $ to his cronies and we are still fleeced.
What can we say much!! Americain country. The liberty of demoncracy. It's a insult to all people around the world. Paulson you are has a crook then maydolf!!
The sad part is the damage is done.
It's funny how the bozo's at CNBC during that time period would coment on how wonderful it is to have someone of his caliber running the treasury.
Dumb asses.
nice looking girl behind paulson
f'in right, man.
Hank = Ken? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VFE7RQyMW8s
what are they hiding
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/20/AR200907...
They're hiding what we already know.
As economy bites, White House delays budget review
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSTRE56J3ZU20090720
Only one comment for me - Hey Marla!!!
It is confounding how this bumbling idiot reached the heights he did...Diogenes will always be looking for an honest man while dualistic nature seemingly capitulates to venal, corrupt men in the corridors of our government.
There is an argument to be made that at times, it is worse than other times. This is one of those times. Exactly the reason why no matter what, we must never give up our Second Amendment right to bear arms.
Many say Twain was right that history rhymes. Well what rhymes with 1776.
Well, well, well.
Is this posturing by rep. stearns for his constituency or does he really feel this way? or maybe its both.
If you feel this bad about it, start prosecuting him congressman stearns...
We are 23.7 billion (potentially) in the hole. I wonder if Paulson has ever been assaulted in public? I would give 20 dollars to the first person who throws a drink in his face. I will double up if you can hit him in the head with a dinner roll and get it on video...
not paying attention I noticed today that AIG was trading in the teens
- and upon 30 seconds of research realized they did a 1:20 split - perhaps that is some sort of harbinger
"the market changed" goldman didn't get what it wanted and they dropped the market until they did . it's called blackmail
Many of these comments are egregious. IN THE TERMS OF THIS HEARING, the key question is: Did Paulson act ethically or unethically. Man, was he pissed in the encounter with Stearns. Choked up with HIS OWN indignation, and could barely get a word in. I, for one, think Paulson acted ethically - within the most extraordinarily dangerous two weeks in the history of the world's economy. Now we still are in deep shit, and maybe a number of his ideas aren't so hot. But he acted ethically, and aside from that prevented a gigantic and sudden implosion. THOSE ARE THE ISSUES (IMHO).
Did you know that Lehman asked for a 6 billion dollar bridge loan, and bank holding status--they were denied the loan, and bank holding status was stuck in red tape when they officially went down--
Did you know that one of the most obvious bets out there was to bet on Lehman going down, and by letting Lehman go down, alot of people (entities) won a big win--do you not think that Goldman, or Morgan had the bet on? And if they did, do you think Paulson couldn't understand what was going on?
And since AIG was the biggest writer of the Lehman credit default swaps, do you not think it odd that their immediate protection was enabled by paulson? Why not take the one day to ask for authority to unwind this entity to give all counterparties and creditors less that 100% on each dollar owed? What is so wrong with letting corrupted institutions fall--Enron used SIV's SPV's and all kinds of other secretive instruments to hide their doing and that is what banks and bank holding companies are now doing thanks to the repeal of Glass Stegall...and you think protecting all of this is a good thing?
Good points. It just seems to me, however, that in the sudden or threatened collapses of Lehman et al., the huge overhang of CDS could well have H-bombed the world economy, and that immediate drastic action was the most prudent and strong antidote. No one knows for sure - yet just look at the possible consequences (think immediate multiplication of mass poverty). If that was the case, let's save ourselves from the fire first, notwithstanding the egregious nature of banker shenanigans, which we can deal with afterward.
My understanding of the nature of complex web is only a fraction of what paulson and bernake had, and with care, they could have coordinated an unwinding instead of a raping of our country. This nuclear financial holocaust is what has held everyone hostage to the notion that it was the alternative that produced the "least"harm--problem is, the US coffers got emptied, but the problems are still there, so when you follow the money, you can find out who benefited, and it isn't the US public that was held hostage by the failed dealings of what appears to most to be at best, reckless gambling--and now, after all the money that can be squeezed out of all of our creditors is gone, we are viewed as shysters. If we don't correct this injustice, our country will never recover it's integrity, and so, the choice is, prosecute and make right what was wrong by calling back the tarp and other programs that are not righteous, or watch our country fall into bankruptcy and the value of our dollar fall to nothing.
I think the world markets at that time would not have tolerated any hint of a plan for an "orderly unwinding." It would have seemed to them a shocking corroboration that things were imploding. That violent reaction, greatly cushioned by Paulson and Bernanke's actions in Sept.-Dec. 2007, could well have contributed to a financial holocaust. I think Paulson and others were in a position to see this clearly.... Whatever the corruption and self-serving practices of many - and I agree that they were and are astounding, even part of our culture - I think that there were some, including Paulson, who could think of the country first. All is not good vs. evil here, even if these same people had/have divided loyalties with respect to their firms and society, or have economic ideas that, directed at society, may or may not prove helpful to it.
Never let a good crisis go to waste. Not just the motto of the new Administration, but also the mantra of the shadow bankers. I'm sure they're not waxing poetic about turing lemons into lemonade.
Good point, Gilgamesh (from the Anonymous right above you).
I don't buy this implosion Black Mail. Not then, not now, not ever.
If the system becomes so frail that it can't take the stress that comes at it, then it and everything associated with it must suffer the consequences. That is the law of nature.
In a stupid attempt to defy reality, we are kicking the can down the road pretending that the debt crisis is going to be Ok.
When are the ass holes in Washington going to face reality and step up to the fact that the USA has gone bust, the bank is closed, there is no more money to coverup systemic fuck up.
Anonymous stated:
"I, for one, think Paulson acted ethically - within the most extraordinarily dangerous two weeks in the history of the world's economy."
"...the most extraordinarily dangerous two weeks..."
O - M - G!!!
YOU. DON'T. GET. IT. These criminals CAUSED ALL OF THIS!!! Will somebody please get this dupe the Coloring Book Version of Wanniski's _Way the World Works_?!?? _A Children's Guide to the Austrian School of Economics_?
Something?
That was painful to watch. While Paulson acted criminally and deserves to spend some quality time as the designated soap retriever of his cellblock's shower, that video was like watching a stroke in progress. BTW, Rep. Stearns most likely was performing. He took a doubleshot of campaign booty from the ABA in May: http://query.nictusa.com/cgi-bin/dcdev/forms/C00229377/424204/sa/11C
Speaking of the Criminals, Chairman Bernanke will speak (ex cathedra) tomorrow before Congress when he will enlighted the assembled lawmakers about the FOMC outlook for the economy and interest rates over the remander of the year. In advance of that testimony trading shorts are busy covering.
I guess the VIX will go to 1 LOL! The crims have the upper hand!
http://acrossthecurve.com/
ben bernanke is satan's asshole....all you will
ever see from him is shit.
Nice theater but ... nothing new.
This AIG/CDS/GS business is but the tip of the iceberg. Where is the special prosecutor?
Name a special prosecutor and empanel a grand jury. Put these people under the microscope - there are a lot of disgruntled ex- employees that can shed a lot of light on all of this nonsense. Issue subpoenas and put them on the witness stand. A non- disclosure agreement will not hold up in front of a grand jury.
Why do you thing Goldman is paying the giant bonuses? It's hush money and without it the assistant managers and trading desks would be telling which hand they beat off with.
Nobody will go to the penitentiary for Paulson or any of the other crooks, it's time to shift to the Elliot Ness mode.
Hey Steve, saw that vid on your blog yesterday, good catch man.
The mega bonus payout is a capital distribution to the majority shareholders (Employees). I wonder what the other schmuck Shareholders think about that, or do they not really care as long as the share price will rise.
Sooner or later, whatever is hiding in the wood pile will be exposed. The big question is who is going to flush the Rats out and push them up against the wall.
A Centilla of Ethics,,..WOW! Great comment!
By the way, Does Paulson have a stutter or was that NERVES? I also notice that he is hard of hearing! He sure knows how to buy time in a very subtle way!
I guess there were skidmarks on his chair too.
He is probably in nowheresville hiding out, never be seen again--either he won't get called in for questioning again, or he won't show up if he is called. Either way, this sharade has gone on way too long.
Wathcing him squirm..bog ol paulsopn has to carry the weight of his lies..poor puppy
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Nice post and find Caley. Sorry some other member did not defer more time to the fine man from FL. Although I'm sure that grilling was nothing compared to a GS board meeting.Ed Hardy UGG Boots tiffany jewellery
As vile as the original Paulson Tarp "investments" were, they seem a hell of a lot more fair to the tax payers than what Geithner was trying to (and will to a lesser extent still try to) pull with the PPIP. Also, it seems disingenous to complain about a bait and switch at this point when the original concerns in Congress were that tax payers would end up overpaying for toxic assets (and if they objected so much, where were the Congressional attempts to amend the Tarp program before the second traunch was drawn in January)? Where are the laws now to reign it in and insist it not be Tresuary sponsered revolving line of credit? I don't know anything about the particular member of Congress who was in the clip, but it seems to me that Congress in general (with a few notable exceptions) has been an absolute failure in protecting the country from the wide range of abuse in favor of the money center commercial and investment banks (the various lending facilities, the SLP, the deceit of the stress test, and all the other machinations described on this blog and elsewhere (actuallly, mostly on this blog)). Hank Paulson is currupt and incompetent, but so is Ben, Tim, and Barack for that matter. At least George Bush can credibly claim he was too stupid and uninvolved to comprehend how fraudulent and unfair all the attempts were to bail out the banks. What is President Obama's excuse?
Let's not forget Nancy Pelosi, Barney Frank, and Christopher Dodd.
The problem is that they are all too competent in what they are doing. At least that is what I keep telling myself in order to explain all of this. To try to say that everyone on top, or formally on top, of the most important posts in the country (shadow puppets as they may be) are all imcompetent - just doesn't jive man. The past mistakes they have made before being annointed only served to hook the leash.
I called Stearns office to say thanks after seeing this live.
Marcy Kaptor (D-OH) also kicked the crap out of Paulson and she was mean about it. Called her office too.
Here's the youtube clip of Kaptor ... awesome: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ro_PjGqy2_w
Paulson's left pinky finger creeps me out.
Nice post and find Caley. Sorry some other member did not defer more time to the fine man from FL. Although I'm sure that grilling was nothing compared to a GS board meeting.
Clearly, he is not used to being talked to like that. He wanted to throw down an go all "DON'T YOU KNOW WHO I AM". Of course, the problem is that we all do now know who he is. And we don't like him much.
And this will continue. And accellerate. About mother fucking time too.
Tomorrow Bernanke is on the hill for two days. It's always fun to see him try to answer Ron Paul's questions....
A government of Goldman Sachs, by Goldman Sachs, for Goldman Sachs.
Nobody else matters.
Apparently that slime bucket has plenty of experience with conflicts of interest.
http://64.106.231.10/kmslaw/gendocs/doc_opinionorderdated092906.pdf
The only way to keep GS in check is to get Eliot Spitzer to run for NY AG. He has been wise to GS for years and was never intimidated by those bankstas.
Oh, and these GOTCHA math problems are effin' ANNOYING. They were definately designed by, and now apparently supported by, someone very very old and who doesn't smoke weed.
I think Hank Paulson did a pretty poor job of handling this crisis, but pardon me if I think that Cliff Stearns is an asshole
In Australia there has been a scandal over the Prime Minister borrowing a car from a car dealer to campaign with.
The good old USA does conflicts of interest and pork barrelling much better than that. Trllions of $$$s and still the public don't care!!!!
is it me ... or does paulson sounds like a record scratched by DJs in the 80s .. w-w-w-w-w-w-well i-i-i-i--i-i-t's imppppppossibe .... just say allready dude ... and what's whith the little pinky on his hand... it looks like it got stuck in Bob Rubin back in the 90s and had to be removed by force
Find the nugget in Paulson's blubbering response...
A Bush cabinet level appontee got an "ethics waver" from the "ethics office".
Anybody care to speculate on who would have been manning that post or responsible for staffing that office (with Regent University grads, probably) during the Bush Administration? Turd Blossom? N'Cest-Ce Pas?
Nice pwning of Paulson, but after 8 years of W, the Republicans wait until a Democratic administration to horse whip a Republican cabinet appontee over a lack of ethics? No one could have predicted!
Think this republican congressman would have got away with this during the reign of the boy king? Nah, me neither.
I'd love to see the bills this guy signed off on over the last 8 years. Nancy did say "Elections have consequences", but I think she meant "ethics". But it's not like she'd know anyway.
Watch the last few seconds of the video.
Stearns demeanor changes completely. The grand standing is over, he is nice and jovial and happy to get out.
All of this is just a show.
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