Remember Neel Kashkari*, the Goldman Sachs "creative class" gofer who's running the trillion dollar bailout for Goldman Sachs CEO Hank Paulson's golfing buddies at the big banks?
Here's what Neel Cash-and-Carry had to say about process at his bailout press conference just over a week ago:
Consistent with Congress' intent, we are committed to transparency and oversight in all aspects of the program ...
That was then. This is now. So how's that "transparency" thing working out?
Via the excellent Bailout Sleuth:
Outsourcing the bailout to contractors is really a beautiful racket, isn't it?
First, the financial system of the entire world goes tits up because these guys sold themselves and their clients a ton of toxic derivatives that nobody knows how to value -- taking huge salaries and bonuses, which was the point of the exercise. Then, with the Bush + Reid + Pelosi + Obama bailout bill, we give these guys an initial bailout tranche of $250 billion -- $70 billion of which these guys will take in huge salaries and commissions, which was the point of the exercise. And now they're going to use the rest of our money -- this is the contract you see above -- to "inject capital", as government contractors, into very same institutions they destroyed as infestment bankers -- taking huge salaries and commissions, which is the point of the exercise. And you know that has to be happening, because why else black out the numbers?
Always, with these guys, it's all about the compensation. That's all this is. Has that magical, elusive, mysterious essence called "confidence" been restored? If so, it's because these guys have been assured that they can still stick their snouts in the trough with impunity. Fuck
them, and fuck the Villagers who made it all possible.
NOTE Last I checked, there was some sort of election going on. You'd think that when a trillion dollar giveaway of taxpayer money turns into looting as usual, one of the candidates might make an issue out of it. Maybe the Democrat? But I guess not. That would be populism. Anyhow, the Village agrees the bailout's a good thing, the press has called the election, everybody's b-o-o-o-o-o-o-r-e-d, and while Pottersville turns into Peaksville, they're all Hey! How about the O-man's branding strategy? It's called a kleptocracy because it klepts.
NOTE * What is it with these finance guys and bald heads, anyhow? Or is Kashkari just emulating the guy at the top of the food chain?
NOTE Goldman Sachs is my parasite! Have you adopted a parasite to post on?
- lambert's blog
Printer-friendly version- Login or register to post comments
Front page
Comments
we're never gonna know
exactly how much the "administrators" or even the banks/companies themselves get, i'm betting.
And today they're buying up assets from Mutual Fund Companies too--they're spreading the wealth, i guess--
"The Federal Reserve announced Tuesday that will start buying commercial paper - a crucial short-term funding mechanism that many companies rely on for day-to-day operations - from money market mutual funds. ..." -- http://apnews.myway.com/article/20081021...
What a surprise!!
Did any of us think we'd get real transparency? It's not like it's actually any of our business, is it?
And by a weird coincidence, I just found this picture from my Wisconsin Trip. I took this the morning of the Bail Out
Evolution
The Vulture's Bald Head:
Thank you for that mental picture, badger
Remember all those pictures of Bush rubbing guy's bald heads? I guess he was checking whether the carrion had been baked off or not. And then there's "Jeff Gannon," who, in retrospect, seems innocent and naive, compared to Paulson, et al.
[ ] Very tepidly voting for Obama [ ] ?????. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi
i betcha Gannon/Guckert is next to endorse
; >
Look up a picture
of Edward Lazear, chair of the Council of Economic Advisors too - another bald head. Could be the vulture people taking over, might still be the lizard people, but I doubt they're from this planet.
Seems like an apt metaphor - feeding on the carcase of the US economy.
it's worse--we're feeding them--
it's not like they're searching for carrion or starving--we're volunteering billions to all of them without mandating any change in behavior or law.
we're putting our govt's ability to do things for the rest of us out in the gutter as if it's a dead animal--and then telling them to "come and get it!".
Looked at realistically, that's probably helpful in the long run
if it weren't for carrion-eaters (crows, vultures, bugs, etc.) we'd still be neck-deep in rotting dinosaur.
The US economy was built, since the passage of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley act, on the giant gaming engine of Wall Street.
A stubborn lack of willingness to understand the lessons of history on the part of "forward thinkers" like Gramm (and the inevitable repetition of the events they can't believe they'd live to witness as a result of their hubris) is at the root of the financial crisis the nation faces today.
Of course, the blame is always on the 'subprime borrower.'
Who is the 'subprime borrower'?
The sucker at the table, usually.
And the dice are always, always, always loaded to favor the house.
1 John 4:18
We can admit that we’re killers … but we’re not going to kill today. That’s all it takes! ~ Captain James T. Kirk, Stardate 3193.0
1 John 4:18
Don't provoke 'em, lambert -- remember what vultures do
when they feel threatened? I'd say we've got enough of a mess on our hands already, wouldn't you?
We can admit that we’re killers … but we’re not going to kill today. That’s all it takes! Knowing that we’re not going to kill today! ~ Captain James T. Kirk, Stardate 3193.0
1 John 4:18
We can admit that we’re killers … but we’re not going to kill today. That’s all it takes! ~ Captain James T. Kirk, Stardate 3193.0
1 John 4:18
I am shocked
And you are linked
The Heretik
At the gambling?
Thanks!
[ ] Very tepidly voting for Obama [ ] ?????. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi
Has anyone been feeling a bit uneasy about the MCM's seeming
equable take on the Big Me$$? No big deal made of Bernanke saying another economic stimulus will be needed. No concern that the $7 Billion which had to be provided THEN, THEN, THEN (only it was NOW then) will take weeks, perhaps months to get into the liguidity system?
For some reason, I've been feeling we're being, well, played. Does anyone know what is really going on with the global banking system and its effects on so many? It seems like the Big Banker Boiz and the political enablers have decided to just try to keep us calm until after the election. Move along, little people; nothing to see here.
On NewsHour tonight, there was an interview with Nassim Nicholas Taleb, statistician, former derivatives trader, and author of The Black Swan, and a Prof. Mandelbaum, developer (or one of them) of chaos theory. Neither is very sanguine about the outcome of Big Me$$.
The segment closed with a suggestion to watch the entire interview on the website--and I can't find any mention of such an expanded interview, nor did the site have the names of the people being interviewed. I'm sure they used to have a more informative and user friendly site. But I haven't been there for awhile. Frustrating.
The author is so worried he wakes up nights, hoping the next day will not be the day the whole thing implodes/explodes. The mathematician says he sleeps better but worries as much, given that they has been so little transparency, few data points, and therefore no way to really know what can be predicted. Taleb is very concerned about the unwinding of hedge funds. As is....
Bernhard at Moon of AL, also is feeling very uneasy and can imagine the US defaulting on its debt.
He quotes Mike Davis from a TomDispatch post (link at Moon of AL):
So, go read for some nice nightmares.
BTW--would greatly appreciate getting a link if someone finds that expanded interview from NewsHour. It'll probably be a head bank moment--right there in front of my nose....
Taleb's homepage.
Yes, I am more than uneasy
Did you read that they're putting another $450 billion (somehow) into commercial paper? Didn't get any play at all. I went over to memeorandum to see if there were any bailout stories to link to, and there was nothing. Zip. Zilch. Nada. And that's from our tribunes of the people, the progressive blogosphere. To me, this story is huge -- far more important than the election, since it will constrain everything that the next President does. I mean, we can make all the lists we want about what Progressives should do, but if the US defaults in 2009... Well, WTF
? Somehow, I don't think we're going to handle that nearly as well as, say, Argentina. Of course, there's also the aspect that I'm sure the financial press is just as hideous, in its own way, as the political press.
[ ] Very tepidly voting for Obama [ ] ?????. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi
jawbone,
BTW—would greatly appreciate getting a link if someone finds that expanded interview from NewsHour. It’ll probably be a head bank moment—right there in front of my nose….
I used to watch NewsHour and provide links a lot in the old days. I don't think a link will be ready until later, maybe even tomorrow. I found that they don't put all interviews up on the website, but if it was announced that this one will be available, it will be.
pie, please do
Sounds like great information.
[ ] Very tepidly voting for Obama [ ] ?????. [ ] Any mullah-sucking billionaire-teabagging torture-loving pus-encrusted spawn of Cthulhu, bless his (R) heart.
"First they ignore you, then they ridicule you, then they fight you, then you win." -- Mahatma Gandhi
Transcript for Solman interview with Taleb and Mandelbrot, 10/21
Transcript and link for audio or download.
Also, interview for 10/23--huh?
I listened to it today.
I couldn't help thinking that NewsHour is trying to cushion the blow.
Oy.