again, a failure of leadership and foresight: Bush and Paulson assumed all they had to do was scare the crap out of the joint leadership and it would be a done deal. And they were almost proven right.

I think Reich's thumbnail prediction will prevail:
http://robertreich.blogspot.com/

"Prediction: A scaled-down bill will be enacted by the end of the week. It will provide the Treasury with a first installment of $150 billion. Treasury can use it to back Wall Street’s bad debts with lend no-interest loans of up to two years, until the housing market rebounds. Or to invest in Wall Street houses directly, in exchange for stocks and stock warrants. There will be strict oversight. Congressional leaders will promise further installments, but with conditions calling for limits on salaries and relief to distressed homeowners."

Hey everyone, do you remember that time that the Bush administration and the MSM wankers-in-chief like David Brooks got together and loudly insisted that Congress must sign off now! now! now! on giving Bush authority to invade Iraq or there would be mushroom clouds in American cities? And do you remember how a bunch of ostensibly liberal political commentators like Ezra Klein *supported* that invasion, and how after things went embarrassingly badly, those commentators claimed they wouldn't make the same mistake again? Good times.

Now have the Bush administration and the MSM wankers-in-chief like David Brooks loudly insisting that Congress must sign off now! now! now! on a massive new debt+inflation plan or a mushroom cloud will appear over Wall Street. It sure is a good thing writers like Ezra Klein would *never* be fooled again into giving them what they want right away with no discussion. I'm sure it won't end badly *this* time.

Bush: worst president ever

McCain: worst manager of his own campaign, ever

House GOP minority: worse human (?) being ever. Eric Cantor is the demonic son of Tom Delay and Newt Ginchrich is their haydays.

GOP: worst party at making themselves relevant to the voters.

My own suggestion yesterday to get more House Republicans on board was to name it after Ronald Reagan.
The "Ronald Reagan Memorial Failure of Deregulation Recovery Act" sounds about right.

Hey, Shrubby is just marking time until he can roll back to Crawford, throw some steaks on the grill and knock back a couple of bottles of Jack. See ya, suckas!

Bush and his gang of pirates have completely looted the US Treasury and can't be bothered with a last-minute project like fixing what they spent the past 8 years f*cking up.

Wow, Ezra. Your stock portfolio takes a hit and suddenly you're lamenting the stupidity of the plebs, reposting Brooks columns in full, and demanding Karl Rove take back the reigns of the White House.

I guess it's fitting that you long for Karl Rove to "rescue" the "bailout." Check that. To nurture the future growth of a free and prosperous America.

You also invoke the memory of a guy who wanted to give some semblance of truth to the cost of the 'Medicare drug welfare for billion dollar companies off the backs of the sick and infirm' program. He of course was threatened with dismissal if he dared tell the truth. And politicians at the time, knowing full well that the $350 billion projected cost was a blatant lie and gross understatement of what the actual cost of the pharmaceutical multi-national welfare program would be, went along with the sham and later claimed to have been mislead.

You now claim that there isn't a chance that the cost of the original bailout heist proposal would actually be $700 billion. When have Bush and the Republicans ever overestimated the cost of some program they wanted? Never. But you're doing their lying for them, right here. I bet you've got more than 100 grand in some bank account and you're worried the Republican thieves will rob you. Fuck the people. You want yours. Even if it's the working stiffs that have to pay you instead of the thieves.

Maybe you're looking for Karl Rove because you want a job. After all, when the dust finally settles on this mess only Karl Rove and his buddies will have any cash to work with. You told us so in another post.

What if the first proposal had been to distribute $700 billion to every person in America, on a progressive level. The most to those that have the least and the least to those that have the most. Those with the least would immediately put that cash right back into the economy. Those with a bit more would spend it on what they really needed and put the rest in bank accounts or investments. The wealthiest would likely transfer the cash to a more stable currency. They don't need it to survive (as you've pointed out, thank you).

Strangely, this was not the first proposal made by Bush Republican Wall Street parasites. Consider if it had been and at this point compromises were being proposed on how to better distribute that $700 billion pile of cash. But thanks to Karl Rove types, and you here, this is a fantasy for lunatics. Instead we're dealing with a sham compromise on a sham $700 billion give away to the richest thieves in America, because their thieving has reached such a monumental level that they won't even deal with each other.

Jackals eating jackals and you want us to toss our arms and legs to them while telling us we'll lose more otherwise.

Where the $*%*^ is Karl Rove? Or anyone who knows how to package anything?

This is the bar you're setting? It's a packaging issue? Dude, say it ain't so. Honestly, a shiny turd, it's shiny, yet a turd. No amount of shine and that good old Disney feeling can change a turd. Posse up with a bit of reality and get over marketing angles which contribute the problems we're facing.

"I'm not used to them showing the political acumen of a small, dead, iguana."

True, but I did save a bunch of money by listening to a small green gecko and switching my car insurance. Maybe we should get him involved in the wall street bailout?

My guess is that a lot of the political spin people left the White House after the 2006 elections. Karl Rove left in August 2007.

Thank goodness Rove's lipstick wasn't smeared across this pig of a bailout. We really might've been stuck with it.

Good points all, Ezra. The 700B numbering especially gave me lots of wtfs.

Paulson didn't mention bailing out Mexico and making money because a Democrat did that. A Democrat named Clinton no less.

Ezra: "Enrich Bankers and Hand Your Hard Earned Money to Undeserving Plutocrats Bill of 2008."

Good for a morning laugh -- and, after mounting reflection (based, I sadly admit, on too little knowledge, still), probably a pretty accurate description both of Paulson's plan AND of whatever eventually passes.

What makes you think they didn't intend exactly what has happened? They have written off the Presidency for now (although they won't object to keeping it) and are now focused elsewhere. They wanted a polarizing issue in the congress and got it. Everything that happens after the bill passes will be blamed on the Democrats.

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