Today is the beginning. At 12 PM tomorrow in Washington D.C., Barack Obama will be sworn in as the 44th President of the United States of America. I am honestly excited & hopeful for the country under our new leadership. I believe that Barack Obama is uniquely qualified to bring together our nation, every citizen in the country. One man can only accomplish so much, but if we all work together-- liberals and conservatives, men and women, the young and the elderly, new citizens and old, the skeptical and the hopeful-- we can forge a more perfect union. What the future holds for this nation under the leadership of Barack Obama for the next four years will be decided not by the man himself, but by all the people of our country. His success is our success, and his success depends on all of us. As he reaches out across the partisan divide to rivals like John McCain and independent-minded folk like Joseph Lieberman and Colin Powell, Barack Obama is already demonstrating how he will lead our nation. Everyone will be disappointed at times, myself included, but as he builds coalitions across the nation, Barack Obama will have the ability to create better policies, with more public support. It will take hundreds of millions of people, working together at times and as rivals at times, but we will move this nation forward. The United States of America is admired across the world for our openness, our freedoms, our technologies and our innovation. Together we can extend our leadership, and serve as a better example to the world. Yes we can. Today is the beginning.

"Ms. Bair said the assets could be purchased at fair value, the figure banks use to value their own assets. Such a move would remove the challenge of placing a price on assets that rarely trade."

It was a bad idea in September, and it's a bad idea now. Josh has a post up about  this now. And while some things have changed, other things haven't. The banks & their enablers are attempting a sleight of hand, convincing taxpayers to pay $350 billion for assets that are worth about $100 billion. That's total BS.

Not one more penny for the banks until common is wiped out and the unsecured creditors trade that debt for equity. No other solution is acceptable that involves the government funding these banks. No more deals that are so good banks are falling over themselves to get billions in free money from the Feds.

Sorry Citi. Your run is over, close up shop. BofA, tough luck, but you might be hosed. It's time for some pre-packaged bankruptcies before any more taxpayer money goes to fix our failing financial system.

Say it with me kids. No way, no how no bailout. I was right then, and I'm right now. Call Obama on Wednesday and tell that this plan would be BS.