The Parable and Paradox of Santa Henry

   It’s certainly true that U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson doesn’t look much like the traditional depiction of Santa Claus.  However, in 2008 America he is playing that role with a vengeance which will undoubtedly affect and afflict all of us for decades to come.  Indeed, Santa Henry’s trillion-dollar giveaway to those who caused much of the present financial crisis is already arriving.  While it may seem paradoxical, not to mention inappropriate, to reward those who got us into the present economic mess, Santa Henry is loyal to his former Wall Street colleagues, investment bankers, and other assorted cronies.  They are Santa Henry’s Elves, in a manner of speaking.

Consider that Santa Henry’s case for this trillion-dollar-plus bailout (it’s occurring in stages to make it look smaller, but we should know better) changed totally recently.

He had advocated for most of the Fall of 2008 the need for the U.S. Treasury over which

he presides to buy up “toxic assets” such as bad and unwise loans made by the financial sector, to rescue those financial institutions from their own greed and bad decisions.  The

U.S. Congress was panicked into giving him his way, to the tune of the larger part of that

trillion dollars, under threat of a total financial meltdown if Congress did not comply.

As the weeks passed after Santa Henry got his way on the first round of the bailout, some of us began to wonder what was being done with such an unbelievable amount of money.

Little effect was seen: homeowners were still losing their homes, companies were still going belly up, while financial institutions such as AIG staged lavish celebrations fueled

in part with bailout money.  It has been much like rewarding the fox for eating the hens.

But just when hard questions began to be asked, and left unanswered, by Santa Henry and

other bailout advocates and leaders, we were treated to an astounding press conference.

Santa Henry told us that he and his ilk were not in fact going to use that good old trillion

dollars to buy up toxic assets, bad loans, and other remnants of the incompetence of the leaders of our financial sectors.  No, Santa Henry had seen a new light, a new unholy grail to pursue, while stating blithely that he would never be one to fail to change his mind when confronted with new “facts” – facts largely of his own creation, of course.

The Parable and Paradox of Santa Henry   by Eugene F. Elander          Page 2

Now, Santa Henry has had a new vision, an epiphany, a revelation……you get the idea.  He will use that trillion-or-so-dollars to buy stock and other ownership interests in our financial sector, making the U.S. government a partner with those who failed to watch their own stores in the first place.  His new approach is somewhat like the fox buying a part interest in the henhouse from the weasels. 

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