File under: How the poor pick up the tab for the rich; or is it, How the rich pick the pockets of the poor? You choose.

Hank Paulsen, U.S. Treasury Secretary, spoke to us all this morning. According to today's front page of the Wall Street Journal, Paulsen is "confident" that Congress will bail Fannie and Freddie out because:

... of their size and scope, Fannie and Freddie's stability is critical to financial market stability," he said in a speech at the New York Public Library. "Their continued activity is central to the speed with which we emerge from this housing correction and remove the underlying uncertainty in our financial markets and financial institutions."

That's a clue to a future grab at plenary power over the country's financial markets and matters.

Two other articles in the WSJ caught my eye over the past couple of days... The first, alluded to in the title, is Mark Gongloff's column yesterday, Like S&Ls? Paying the Tab for a Cleanup, about the possibility of the Government resurrecting a Resolution Trust Corporation to resolve the current Banking and Credit Crisis as its predecessor did to resolve the Savings and Loan crisis. The line about robbing the poor to pay the rich -- well, that's straight from NYU economist Nouriel Roubini. Don't believe him? Check out the numbers -- the S&L bailout cost the American taxpayer $76 billion dollars (according to the FDIC); the subprime bail out could cost us an estimated $1 trillion dollars 'nuf to make you gag on your godiva chocolate.

Amy Miller/CorpCounsel: 2008 GC Compensation Survey: Party Like It's 2001:

Simply put, the top legal officers at Fortune 500 companies raked it in. And that was true even for those heading the law departments at such financial institutions as Morgan Stanley, which are reeling after the collapse of the subprime mortgage market.

Well, hey. They earned it dontcha know.

Sometimes, comedy is so biting you can't help but wonder at the circumstances that create such a perfect opportunity to skewer reality.

Bush Tours America To Survey Damage Caused By His Disastrous Presidency

Hat-tip Red Prince.

posted by permission of Nicholas Benton, owner/editor of the Falls Church News Press Benton anticipates today's headlines on Wachovia in his latest Op Ed.

Bernanke's Good Advice

For those who blame Sen. Chuck Schumer for the failure of the IndyMac Bank in California last weekend, alleging his identification of the bank's troubles triggered a run, what are they saying now about the prominent front page headline and story in yesterday's Washington Post baring Wachovia Bank's dirty laundry? What are they saying about the fact the FBI has now launched an investigation into IndyMac?

Those who urge us to "shoot the messenger" divert attention from the realities of the unraveling U.S. economy, including the role of predator lending in it, and are appealing to those incapable or unwilling to accept things as they actually are.

So it was with President Bush's lame attempt on national TV Tuesday to blame the nation's economic woes on "psychology." This, of course, comes from the man who sold us "weapons of mass destruction in Iraq," "we don't use torture," and other bald-faced lies.

Bumped again by Carol. Originally posted 2008-07-19 17:09:07 -0500; Originally promoted. -- GH

Stephen D reports on a Phil Gramm Friday night dump attributing Gramm's resignation from the McSame campaign to the "Americans are whiners!" comment. I think that is just cover for the more likely real reason:

UBS, LGT Helped Hide Assets, Evade Taxes, Senate Says

By David Voreacos and Carlyn Kolker

July 17 (Bloomberg) -- UBS AG and Liechtenstein bank LGT Group aided rich U.S. clients who wanted to disguise ownership of accounts and evade taxes on hidden assets, a Senate subcommittee said.

UBS, the world's largest wealth manager, hid as much as $17.9 billion for 19,000 Americans who didn't declare assets to the Internal Revenue Service, the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations said in a report released in Washington late yesterday. LGT, owned by Liechtenstein's ruling family, fostered a ``culture of secrecy and deception'' while assigning code names to U.S. clients, the panel said.

Remember that Phil Gram works for and lobbies for one arm of UBS in the USA. More below...

This thread is really linked to Cho's commentary below.

A friend who reads the economic blogs pointed out the following commentary to me. It is on a topic that is close to home, Why a lot of people think the CPI is not representative of their experience ... and are right. At least partly.

Joe Del Bruno/AP: Wall Street to tumble on disappointing results:

Wall Street looked to open sharply lower Tuesday after dismal quarterly results from Wachovia Corp. and other blue chips heightened concerns about corporate results amid the ongoing credit crisis.

A street "looked"? So that would be "ass-fault eyes"? And somebody put food coloring in the feed, now the bulls drop "blue chips"? E-nuff o' this. I'm just gonna "tumble" on outta here.
:: :: ::
Jefferson Graham/USAT: Apple's earnings, revenue up, but Street's not satisfied

That lede pretty much covers the current state of "HUYA" (head-up-yur-ass) thinking of the 1% of the population receiving 40% of the capital gains in our "democratic republic". A corporation redeemed by the vision of one of the original founders, with a reputation for quality product, is pounced upon by Veruca clones, who should receive the same treatment as their namesake character.

Wankers.

event horizon: the boundary of a black hole beyond which nothing can escape from within it

-- Merriam-Webster Online

After five years and change of turned corners and dead enders and last throes, is it possible that we're approaching an event horizon in our Middle East miasma? Stuff seems to happen faster than anyone can deny it occurred these days, and from the sound of things, it won't be too long before we're committed to getting out of Iraq in smart fashion or sucked into staying there until kingdom come.

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"You want to have some idea what it is like to be a care-provider for someone with Alzheimer’s or other age-related dementia? Watch it."

            -- Jim Downey
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Before reading the rest of this essay, watch the following piece.

My Name Is Lisa

The public interest in Ohio News Bureau, John Spinelli's Ohio Attorneys to Assert RICO Claim Against Karl Rove for Orchestrating Theft of 2004 Election prompted us to compile links of work from the ePluribus Media community and friends that have helped to reawaken the 2004 Ohio Election legal story.

We hope you'll find these useful for context.