bailout

So we have this bailout that is needed for Wall Street to survive. The only problem is that Wall Street wants the plan carved their way or no way. From the WSJ:

House Republican staffers met with roughly 15 lobbyists Friday afternoon, whose message to lawmakers was clear: Don't load the legislation up with provisions not directly related to the crisis, or regulatory measures the industry has long opposed.

"We're opposed to adding provisions that will affect [or] undermine the deal substantively," said Scott Talbott, senior vice president of government affairs at the Financial Services Roundtable, whose members include the nation's largest banks, securities firms and insurers.

A deal killer for the group: a proposal that would grant bankruptcy judges new powers to lower the principal, interest rate or both on a mortgage as part of a bankruptcy proceeding.

I think the most ironic part is that the lobbyists know the only hope they have of getting this wish is to lobby the minority party. Why is that? Because the minority party is the party that will listen to them. So they expect us to give them nearly a trillion dollars with no strings attached. Time for the Democrats to give them a big "fuck off" and make it known they are there to protect the people - not the financial big wigs.

And they want this idiot to be our vice-President?

Speaking before voters in Colorado Springs, the Republican vice presidential nominee claimed that lending giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had "gotten too big and too expensive to the taxpayers." The companies, as McClatchy reported, "aren't taxpayer funded but operate as private companies. The takeover may result in a taxpayer bailout during reorganization."

The economy is issue number 1 with voters and Sarah Palin just made a massive gaffe. Bundle that with Phil "whiners" Gramm and you got the making of an excellent campaign commercial. We need some good ads out by the Obama campaign and the script was just started - thanks to the ineptness of Sarah Palin.

This is one of those double take moments. During his statement on the failing of the bailout bill, John McCain blamed it on partisanship, then immediately went into a partisan attack the very next sentence. Also worth mentioning is the statement his campaign released after the bill failed blaimng Barack Obama solely for it. In McCain's defense that was prior to the new GOP talking point that it was Pelosi's fault.

The collapse got a temporary reprieve:

Bear Stearns Cos., teetering on the brink of collapse from a lack of cash, got emergency funding from the Federal Reserve and JPMorgan Chase & Co. in the largest government bailout of a U.S. securities firm.

After denying earlier this week that access to capital was at risk, Bear Stearns Chief Executive Officer Alan Schwartz said today that the 85-year-old company's cash position had ``significantly deteriorated'' in the past 24 hours. The central bank agreed to provide financing through JPMorgan for up to 28 days, the bank said in a statement today.

I wonder where the right wing outcry is on this? When Congress talks about helping people facing foreclosure, the wingers get their panties in a bunch. "No government handouts" echoes through that side of the political spectrum. When the feds do the same for a corporation, they are mum. Just another case of the right wing motto of America; "A country by the corporations for the corporations".