MUAH!

And I mean it.

This is a repost from The Agonist.  This libertarian madness is at least being a little more honest than the Dean Baker ammendments-- which are suicidal.  You can't fight fire with fire.  Trading insolvent dollars for insolvent equities is shuffling the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Ric

Dear Senator Obama-

Chances are most if not all of the major commercial and investment banks are insolvent. Not one of them is opting out of the do-not-short list, and they don't seem to have the confidence in their survival to opt out of the L3 asset swap program Secretary Paulson is proposing.

It is also very likely that acutely dangerous systemic risk already exists, not merely from direct lines of credit among the banks, but especially from credit default swaps, which if activated by more than one large bank default would probably bring down many others. Remember, though, that this systemic risk is highly concentrated in the top 25 or so banks in the world, and does not jeopardize the 6,000 other community banks in the U.S.

Third, it is also highly probable that as this recession worsens, and as housing values continue to sink, forcing more foreclosures, the large banks will be even closer to collapse.

Having worked for many years in the banking industry and been closely involved with risk management and derivatives, I can tell you that it looks like catastrophe is already here.

What Sec. Paulson wants you to believe is that catastrophe is approaching, but it can be averted if only Congress acts urgently to give him the extraordinary authority he is requesting. The implication is if you don't give him $700 billion in borrowing authority within a week, markets will collapse and it will be all your fault.

We've seen this drill before, with the Patriot Act and with the Iraq War authorization. The scare tactics, the urgency, the implied threat of blame for any failure - this is what the Bush administration does. Some of you in the Senate were able to stand up to this pressure, and that type of strength is desperately needed now.

If insolvency is here now for the big banks, the last thing you want to do is throw $700 billion of money that is not yours at bailing out the banks who created this disaster. You'll need every bit of that money to protect the taxpayers and their deposits in these banks when these financial companies are thrown into the bankruptcy courts. You'll need that money to make sure consumer deposits are protected with insurance, and you'll need it to keep the healthy parts of these banks that deal with consumers and businesses functioning until they come out of bankruptcy.

And forget about comparing Paulson's plan to the RTC. These L3 assets aren't homes, condos, or commercial real estate that can be easily sold at the right price. They are bits of paper giving the bond holder the right to some small portion of thousands of mortgages, a right that is shared with all the other investors, who are required to agree on what is done with foreclosed properties in the pool. This is one of the reasons no one wants to buy this stuff, and no one will for many years until it is crystal clear what the final losses will be.

Once you give Paulson the authority he seeks, he will buy these securities at 65 cents/dollar, then quietly auction them off at a nickel each. It will be "unfortunate but necessary" to revitalize the banking industry, even though you will discover the banks won't be lending after this is all over to any but the finest credits. You will have rewarded the banks for their calamitous decisions, stuffed the taxpayers with huge losses, squandered your remaining ability to shore up the FDIC, not prevented the big banks from collapsing anyway, done nothing to help the community banks that will constitute the new banking system in this country when these problems are solved, and in the end made the situation much worse.

If you want to do something practical, require the SEC to go into these banks, open up their L3 holdings to public scrutiny, auction off a sampling of these securities, and apply those prices to the L3 portfolios of all the banks. In this way we will know which banks are insolvent. You won't need to go through this charade of having the Treasury take ownership of these assets, because the core of the problem is not that these assets are clogging up bank balances sheets, as Paulson says (which is tantamount to saying, by the way, that no one will buy them). The core of the problem is that there is no transparency about these portfolios and their real worth. Congress doesn't need $700 billion of our money to create that transparency, and if it shows as I suspect that many of these banks are insolvent, that's why we have bankruptcy courts. You can certainly protect the banks from bank runs while they are in bankruptcy.

Paulson is basically rolling you and the rest of Congress into giving him unprecedented power to protect his friends on Wall Street. This decision you are making is probably as momentous as the Iraq War resolution. Don't fall for this bailout disguised as the only way to prevent Armageddon. Armageddon is already here - at least for the big banks - and it needs an entirely different solution. Spend our money protecting us, by ensuring the FDIC is properly funded, by throwing these too-big-to-fail banks into bankruptcy if they truly are insolvent, by preserving the healthy parts of these banks while in bankruptcy, and bringing them back out again so they function under much better safety and soundness regulations. We've had airlines functioning properly and safely for years while in bankruptcy, and there is no reason we can't do the same with banks.

Please, please, do not fall for some useless compromise or bipartisan agreement that gives the administration what it wants in the end. Kill this proposal here and now, protect us from this bailout, and deal with the real problem - the insolvency of the major banks, not the paper that is supposedly blocking their lending capabilities.

Sincerely,

Too bad you couldn't hear-- Tweety was probably talking.

Do you enjoy a good mystery?  I was just doing a book signing in a quaint little New England town, and a scraggly old scientist turned up dead!  Everyone said it was a suicide, but I began asking around.  Let me tell you, for a quaint litte New England town, everyone is acting very suspiciously.  Especially that George fellow-- I know he's from Connecticut, but speaks with a fake Texas accent.  Forgive me, that was rude, but you have to admit, it's suspicious indeed!  I don't trust the detectives here either (they're a little too big for their britches, if you don't mind me saying).

And so, I'm writing to you with my trusty typewriter, because I need your help!  There's a nice lawyer from New York who's helping me on this case.  (Like all those New York lawyers, he's a bit pricey, but it's the only chance we've got!)  I just gave him the last $100 I had in my purse-- can you help me solve this mystery?

Hello!  How was your McDonalds?  Good to hear, good to hear.  Yes, the Diet Coke was a superior choice, I agree.  Oh yeah, that is a funny commercial!!  I laugh every time he says the catchphrase.  Yes, it gets me every time.  Your rendering of his funny voice is spot on.

What a game it was!  Such a game!  Our star player is more talented than their star player.  We live in a great area for competitive athletics.  Really?  I also believe all other teams are feminine and weak in comparison with ours.

Yes, those other races are inferior-- good joke!  Did you hear the one about the other race being inferior to ours?  Hysterical!  It's okay, I know a man of that race and he thinks it's true.  In all seriousness, we should just nuke 'em.  Nuke 'em.  Yes- the problem is other races and nations.  That's the problem, nobody has the balls to just nuke 'em.

Now you're speaking my language, friend.  Yes, I also heard that on the radio.  I also read that in the newspaper.  Right, right, it's all over TV!  I heard it on the radio, and then my hunch was confirmed by its ubiquity on television and in the newspaper.  No, you just don't have time to read the whole thing.  Magazines are also a good source of information.  Did you read the article about our star player being talented and superior?  How true!

I've been meaning to tell you something, and I hope you don't take this the wrong way.  Your car could stand to be bigger.

Today we saw evidence of the DOD accusing Rajiv Chandrasekaran of a "liberal bias", by linking him with TPM.  Mark Kimmitt, Deputy Assistant Secretary of Defense for  the Middle East, characterizes Josh Marshall as a "Bush-bashing uber-liberal."  I'm with Dick Cheney on this one:  so?

Bias differs from corruption.  Bias is healthy, and corruption is sick.  Please indulge me in an analogy.

A scientist hypothesizes that the Earth revolves around the Sun.  He performs an experiment, and confirms his hypothesis.  Mark Kimmitt would accuse this scientist of a "Heliocentric Bias."

Another scientist also hypothesizes that the Earth revolves around the Sun.  He too performs an experiment, and it disproves his hypothesis (the experiment was flawed, what can I say).  He falsifies his research, and declares, in spite of the facts, that the Earth revolves around the Sun.  This scientist is corrupt.

Both scientists reached the same conclusions, and both had the same bias.  The difference between them is clear:  the first one was clean, and the second was corrupt.

The moral of this parable?  The next time you find yourself accusing someone of bias, first look to see if you can prove he is corrupt (evidence would help here, insofar as you are proving something).  Otherwise, that someone might just be doing his job.

In case you needed a fix.

The word Moccasin originates from the Algonquian language Powhatan word makasin (cognate to Massachusett mohkisson/mokussin, Ojibwa makizin, Mi'kmaq m'kusun), from Proto-Algonquian maxkeseni, meaning a shoe made of deerskin or other soft leather. Its sole and sides are made of one piece, stitched together on top, sometimes with an additional panel or vamp. The sole is soft and flexible and the upper part is often adorned with embroidery, beading or other ornament. It is the historical footwear of many North American Indian tribes and was also worn by hunters, traders and settlers. There are many types of moccasins from different tribes.
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Moccasins allow the wearer to feel the ground while offering protection. The Plains Indians had hard-sole moccasins because the ground they walked upon was rocky and there were occasional cactuses. The eastern tribes had soft-sole moccasins. These were perfect for walking on the leaf-covered ground in a forest. Moccasins are fairly light, allowing the wearer to be virtually soundless when walking.
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Today moccasins are most often worn by Native Americans as part of a powwow outfit, or regalia. The most common is the Plains-style moccasins. Many are beaded, either partially or fully, usually with a design that goes with the rest of the outfit.
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In New Zealand and Australia sheep shearers make for themselves footwear consisting of part of a cured sheepskin with the wool inside to use while working; these moccasins protect the feet, provide good grip on wooden floors and soak up the sweat of the wearer. Moccasins may also refer to any kind of genuine or faux leather shoe shaped like a loafer, but with shoelaces.
<p>
More recently, moccasins have made a resurgence as a popular form of women and men's slipper. Along with a parallel trend of loafers and boat shoes, moccasins are now available widely. Women will wear moccasins out and about, but for men, moccasins are typically designed as in-house slippers (although often include a rubber sole).
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<i>This is an experiment.  My hypothesis is that many post comments without reading the contents of the post;  they simply react to headlines.  Please disregard.</i>

How 'bout it?  Can you out mic Ric?  Mc____...

There were a solid 2 and a half requests to repost this during the day.  Here are some of the success stories from the previous one... try to get on the master list, let out some rage, bridge the Obama/Clinton divide... but most of all, spread the hate!

The Coulter Prize for discourse lowering goes to: McCancer, with McMelanoma as runner up.

The Godwin's goes to: McAryan.

The Matthews' Prize for achivement in trivializing and feminizing goes to:
McReadMyLipsIfYouCanFindThem.

The Swiftboat goes to: McCan My Car Battery Ask Your Testicles A Few Questions?

The Atwater for excellence in pre-smearing:  McCain and UnAble (pre-smearing the future VP nominee).

Honorable mentions:
McCan't
McThuselah
McWealthy
McSugarMomma'sadopefiendbutIgotheroff
McFailure
McLobbyist
McAdultDiapersFilledWithCowardFeces
McBribed
McCannibal
McCatholics_Are_Whores
McConomy_Questions? McAskMeAfterTheElection

How 'bout it?  Can you out-Mic Ric?  Mc_____ ...

Gather 'round, and I will tell you a story of Patriotism.
<p>
Have you ever been to the Special Olympics?  It is sad, but also nice.  People who are hurt play games, just like healthy athletes.  In the end, they all get prizes.  The audience always applauds, and most people cry a little.  Families say they are proud, but let me tell you an awful secret-- most everyone applauds or cries because they feel guilty!
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Every few years, we also have Special War.  In war you know, soldiers shoot each other until the losers are dead.  But in Special War, a lonely, forgotten army gets to finally have some fun!  The Special War soldiers get to shoot farmers, drive tanks over little girls, and steal lots of money for their country.  It's not as hard as war, but everyone applauds and cries for the special soldiers, because they feel guilty!  We call that feeling "Patriotism."
<p>
Once, there was a Special War called Vietnam.  In that Special War, there was a very special soldier called John "My Friends" McCain, 847.  He was bad at flying planes, and one day a farmer shot his plane down!  The farmers didn't have nuclear bombs, so they hit him with sticks and fed him bad food for a long time.  When the Special War was over, and John came home, everyone felt guilty.   They gave him lots of prizes like a new rich wife.  His biggest prize was the title of Senator, which is like a little king who takes bribes.
<p>
But then a very bad thing happened.  Many years later, there was another Special War called the Iraq War.  John went to the television, and told the people it was a real war!  And whenever he did, everyone felt too guilty to correct him.  Whenever a special soldier shot lots of farmers, John would say "we killed the evil terrorists, we are winning!"  Even though he was lying, people felt too guilty, too patriotic to tell him so.  If a tank would drive over little girls, John would say "we killed the evil terrorists, we are winning!"  Even though he was lying, people felt too guilty, too patriotic to tell him so.  And whenever the special army stole money for their country, John would say "we killed the evil terrorists, we are winning!"  Even though he was lying, people felt too guilty, too patriotic to tell him so.
<p>
So, the next time you go to the Special Olympics, think of the patriotic story of John "My Friends" McCain, 847.  Make sure to applaud and cry, because you don't want anyone calling you a monster!  And the next time a Special War comes around, make sure to applaud and cry, because you don't want anyone calling you unpatriotic, my friends!

Per http://politifact.com/media/travel.html

Victoria Falls, Zimbabwe
3/23/97: With Chelsea, takes cruise on Zambese River; watches dance show.

Xi'an, China
6/25/98: Arrives with President Clinton.
6/26/98: Tours Terra Cotta Warriors Exhibit with President Clinton.

Lyon, France
6/27/96: Attends various official events with President Clinton.
6/28/96: Attends various spouse events.
6/29/96: Attends various spouse events.
(Trip is with President Clinton)

Naples, Italy
7/8/94: Attends philharmonic performance.
7/9/94: Tours castle, church with other spouses, dines with presidents and spouses.
7/10/94: Tours Mt. Vesuvius, embassy event.
(Trip is with President Clinton)