09/23/2008 12:27:14 PM EST

Senate Banking Committee

posted by yturks


I cannot name a single thing the Senate Banking Committee has ever done in my entire life. Never before have I ever cared about the Senate Banking Committee. But today, I am watching the hearings with Bernanke and Paulson.  Here are some observations.

  1.  The Senators are not giving long preliminary speeches during their questioning time (fortunately Joe Biden is not on this committee).  

  2. The committee consists of some of the biggest no-name Senators. What an obscure, unsexy committee this is!

  3.  Amazingly, even the Republicans are asking good, challenging questions.

  4.  Paulson sucks - he is completely incapable or unwilling to explain the situation or what the possible consequences of action or inaction are.  

  5.  The discussion is more on the details of the package, and there is very little attention to politics.  This concerns me because it makes me think this committee has already decided to approve the bailout in something close to Paulson's proposed form.

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Senate Banking Committee | 10 comments (10 topical, 0 hidden)
#5 Scares Me (none / 0)
This is sort of like Economic Stimulus Package on steroids, where the Dems just went along with a bad idea because they thought it was the right thing to do politically (they didn't want to get accused of doing nothing and not acting fast enough, etc.).

At least with that *we* got a check in the mail, even if it did ultimately increase our debt and reduce the value of our currency.

PS---CNN has a poll on which party is more responsible for this mess. Take a minute to click this link and scroll down to the middle/right side of the page to vote.

by ihavenobias on 09/23/2008 12:40:00 PM EST

I just voted at CNN (none / 0)
and of the 153,000+ votes, 72% blamed the Rethuglicans (eg. King George's Tory party mated with Al Capone's gang).

by gatekeeper50 on 09/23/2008 12:52:40 PM EST

[ Parent ]
It's amazing to me that (none / 0)
28% of people blamed Democrats. Then again that's the same 28% that thinks Bush is a good president.

PS---There is a new formal CNN Poll that shows Americans blame Republicans by a 2 to 1 margin.

by ihavenobias on 09/23/2008 12:57:47 PM EST

[ Parent ]
This might be really bad for McCain (none / 0)

Those 28% are voting Republican.

Like they would vote Republican even if they found out Trig was Bristol's baby.  And McCain was the dad and Plain charged her double for the rape kit.

They are a non-factor.

The rest of the country apparently understands the Republic Party is to blame but they turn on their TV every night and see McCain desperately trying to smear Obama with it.

This is not a good look for mister "Straight Talk."

It makes him look dishonest and childish.

Obama has looked presidential.

This may harden some of the anti-McCain swing vote.

by ProfRich on 09/23/2008 02:03:42 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Perfect (none / 0)
Your third sentence, two thumbs up.

by ihavenobias on 09/23/2008 02:17:33 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Is CNN Online Representative? (none / 0)

I hope you're right, but people who read CNN online are more likely to be part of the enlightened.  What about Fox News viewers?  There are many more of them, and maybe 78% of them think Democrats (or Obama and Rezko) are to blame.  What about the even larger number who aren't paying attention to any of this, except to what they might hear on the Limbaugh show on the radio while driving to the grain store?

Seeing that 28% of the CNN Online readers think the Democrats are at fault is a bit scary to me.

by rbruck on 09/23/2008 02:17:49 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Vote on the online poll (none / 0)
It's not representative.

The *other* CNN link I posted is representative.

by ihavenobias on 09/23/2008 02:39:13 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Watch this slideshow (none / 0)

Watch this if you want to see in more technical terms how they screwed this up so badly.  There's some hidden problems here that have not been talked about by the press, like the fact that a lot of this bad debt is being held off-shore, and it's debt that's never going to be worth anything. 

 

http://www.mymoneyblog.com/ archives/2008/02/subprime-l oan-crisis-explained-by-car toon-stick-figures.html&nbs p;

by schmoab on 09/23/2008 12:55:54 PM EST

clickable link (none / 0)
Sorry here's a clickable link to the slideshow

by schmoab on 09/23/2008 12:56:41 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Thanks (none / 0)
I enjoyed that slideshow

by bfaul on 09/23/2008 02:26:08 PM EST

[ Parent ]
Senate Banking Committee | 10 comments (10 topical, 0 hidden)
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