...that we're in for some very serious trouble? I'm beginning to think that the reason Paulson has been reluctant to make a deal with the Big Three maybe that the money isn't actually there, anymore. They are saying that there is still $15 billion left to be spent, but who the hell knows, anymore?

Auto loans or not, we are seriously screwed. I'm almost certian that my brother is going to tell me he's been let go in a few hours. GM is shuttering 20% of their domestic (inc. Canada and Mexico) for the month of January, meaning that the supplier he's working for may not even be around in January. Upon the failing of the cloture motion, last night, the suppliers are now revolting against the manufacturers, wanting cash up front for their parts.

It's already too late. We've always been able to deal with the painful laying off of thousands, up here. There is no way one could ever prepare one's self for tens-of-thousands of umemployment literally over night.

withhold funding for the agencies, Treasury and Fed. Reserve Board to try to get their attention? I wonder, can Bloomberg that the FOIA request to the Courts?

Jesus, this is a helluva lot of nerve from Paulson. I suppose Congress could ask for this info and if not provided could hold him in contempt of Congress, but shit, we all have a certain amount of contempt for Congress!

Hey lambert. I understand where Paulson is coming from in this case - disclosing the documents might reveal a worse situation than even the most pessimistic speculation and start a massive run. Having said that,

And why do I feel that "confidence" will only be restored when Big Money has looted the very last dime -- up to and including Social Security?

He runs the Fed. Not that he and Paulson aren't working together because they are and we haven't gotten any better transparency from Treasury. But the Fed is independent and run by Bernanke. A small matter, but now that this is a stock blog... :-)

London Banker (Emphasis mine):

It is now clear to me that policy makers in the West are determined to apply every available resource to underpinning failure, misallocation and executive excess. As this discourages the honest saver from parting with cash, policy makers are ensuring that deflation will wreak its havoc on the financial and real economies of the world. Only when that deflation has played out and rational policies that reward market-based management and returns are restored will it be worthwhile to invest again. In the meanwhile, any wealth saved securely from state seizure will "swell" to buy more assets in future - a key aspect of deflation and a key means of restoring the control of the economy into the hands of more farsighted savers and investors.

....The bankers, lawmakers, regulators and academics who collaborated in the betrayal still hold power, like the well-armed brigands in the fortress, and their continued collaboration to prevent accountability must inevitably discourage honest savers from risking further loss. Even so, it is the savers/peons who hold the ultimate power as they can starve the brigands.

Go read the post. He talks about why foreign investors should no longer bother with the US and UK economies that are still fundamentally flawed--especially the US, which is at the center of it all. And this is the best part, where he describes the dollar strengthening as:

...a last looting of the surrounding countryside before dangerous brigands hole up in their hilltop fortress. The brigands appear temporarily wealthy compared to the peons left stripped and penniless and facing winter. When the brigands have eaten all the stolen grain and livestock, however, they will have no means to replenish except to use force to raid the countryside again. The peons can always hunt, forage, farm and carefully husband a surplus to gradually increase their wealth. If the brigands raid too thoroughly or too regularly, the peons have no incentive to grow crops or keep herds (negative savings returns) and everyone starves (deflation).

In the meanwhile, the peons just might wise up, hide any surplus more securely and organise mutual defense against further attacks to ensure that their peon children prosper and the brigands die off. That would be the end of Bretton Woods II, and the rise of China, India, the Gulf and other productive and/or resource rich states which invest surplus in domestic productivity and regional growth.

in Wall Street and by extension the economy?

Right now, the banksters who caused the problems are still managing everything. Who can Obama turn to? Will turn to? I have no faith he has any idea of what to do.

but aren't those the same brigands and criminals who acted irresponsibly all along, and are rewarded for it with our money and who are now sitting on it all?

Us pouring trillions into their pockets -- and weakening the govt overall (and especially govt's power to regulate their industries) -- strengthens them, and prevents the "peons" (whether here or in up and coming countries) from ever countering them.

we can't ever starve the "brigands" when we're materially and massively rewarding them -- thus ensuring their survival and power.

... policies have been pursued by central banks in the US, Europe and UK since the beginning of the sub-prime crisis in August 2007. They have cut policy rates drastically, and as the crisis escalated and spread, the yield on government debt has dropped to negative territory. Meanwhile they have shielded those responsible for the creation of record levels of bad debt from any regulatory accountability, relaxed transparency of accounts, and provided massive taxpayer-funded financial infusions to prevent failure and liquidation.

While in the short term these policies have expediency and the maintenance of market “confidence” on their side, in the longer term these policies must undermine any confidence a rational and objective saver or investor might have that savings or investment in the US, EU or UK will be fairly remunerated at an above-inflation rate, or that savings and investments will be protected by effective oversight and regulation from the sorts of executive debasement and outright misappropriation and fraud that are beginning to colour our perceptions of the past decade.

Anyone sitting on a pile of cash now is unlikely to want to either (a) place it in a bank, or (b) invest it in the stock market. As a result, the implosion of the financial and real economy must continue no matter how big the central bank’s aspirations for its balance sheet or the treasury’s aspirations for its deficit. ...

Right now survival of businesses in the West depends largely on political pull and access to regulatory forbearance and central bank or treasury finance. The market has failed, and officialdom is collaborating in perpetuating that failure.
...

the "piles of cash" are all in the brigand's hands--now more than ever--and from their point of view, they are totally rational and objective, no?

and aren't the same "rational" investors he speaks of (and includes himself in) wholly entwined in the current system?

The whole nation would feel pretty insecure if they knew where all that money went.

It took Bu$hCo to bring us to national socialism under the loving hand of Hank Paulson.

Perhaps Obama's Company handlers will bring us to the elimination of money altogether.

Me, I'm looking for all the hours- perhaps days, weeks, years of community service the One will doubtless encourage in private contractor-run work camps across the land to replace all the jobs that are about to go down the tubes.