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Again, members of Congress were called out on a late evening to be told what Ben Bernanke and Hank Paulson intended to do, this time regarding AIG and its imminent collapse. The members were told that AIG’s collapse would trigger a domino effect, possibly taking the rest of the financial sector of the economy along for the plunge. The damages for this episode come to $85 billion.
With the $35 billion for J.P. Morgan/Chase to purchase the remains of Bear Stearns and the $200 billion so far for Fannie and Freddie, we’re are at very nearly a third of a trillion dollars out the door with nothing to show for it. Yes I realize that we have Fannie and Freddie as our own again, and with the housing crisis just building momentum, we also have the other $5 trillion in exposure. There are also rumors of our government receiving a stake in AIG, which is in bad enough shape to come crawling onto our doorstep. Thanks.
The heel of the first shoe may not have hit the floor yet, but will. The second, derivative, shoe has yet to drop, and may be reliably depended upon to do so.
These masters of the universe that we have seen with their hands out are the same geniuses who would be managing your privatized Social Security portfolio if Dubya had his way. The reason they were recommended for the role is that they could manage those funds so much more efficiently and professionally than the government could. That being the case, why the hell are they rifling my pockets now?
The only thing that I can see them doing more efficiently than the government is shoveling taxpayer dollars into a black hole. That third of a trillion dollars that we are wasting on these supplicants is going out faster than George Bush can throw it away in Iraq, and he’s averaging about $15 million an hour.
With our government’s fiscal hemorrhage continuing and imminent bankruptcy looming, it is imperative that these handouts have the sort of strings attached that would be described as ligature at a coroner’s hearing. Those proud capitalists accepting this charity should be promising repayment in their own blood if they can do so in no other way.
The truth is that if these people know what they are doing and how to do it, we definitely have an interest in curbing their plans.
