Just like an episode ending cliffhanger of “24,” we’re huddled together in a room hog-tied (sans lipstick) and blindfolded. We’re hostages. The stolen suitcase bombs are strategically placed for maximum destruction, and the red neon numbers dance toward a vaporizing of all within their blast radius. The suitcase “weapons of mass destruction” as described by Warren Buffett, are filled with toxic debt instruments; the ransom is $700 Billion Dollars, and if we don’t pay it, capitalist terrorists will allow the clock to run out and watch the pancaking of our economy from lower Manhattan penthouses.

The government of course is led by an inept president, and many in congress are united by fear and by terrorist infiltrators whispering the corporate slogan, “just do it.” There’s fear in the air and the drumbeat to deliver “shock and awe” to our financial system is heightening. Today, history provides 4,161 reasons why we should have slowed down prior to invading Iraq, and the magnitude of our financial crisis demands we think this through.

Paying the ransom as currently constituted will transfer a minimum of $700B of taxpayer dollars to Wall Street firms, and nothing to individuals and small businesses preyed upon by them. Just this morning, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, is dismissing Democratic efforts to aid households as part of the bailout bill. “We need this to be clean and to be quick,” Paulson said in an interview on ABC's “This Week.” This episode of “24” is brought to you by Goldman Sachs, the firm Mr. Paulson formerly led. In a case of naked corporate nepotism, Mr. Paulson actually gets to act in the episode, and is serviceable as the cliché “Fox in the Henhouse.” Many of these people the administration wants to leave in the burning towers were put there by the marketing efforts and slick sales pitches of the builders, and many of them weren’t educated enough to save themselves. I’ve seen it. My daughter hasn’t graduated high school yet, but she receives 1-2 credit card solicitations a week. Just try it… you won’t get hooked.

Of course, the terrorists control the weapons, so any delay in the Bush administration’s “clean and quick” plan will be met by frantic Wall Street selling tomorrow and a ratcheting up of fear, another post-9/11 tactic that swayed public opinion toward war. The men calling for the ransom to be paid and threatening dire consequences if it isn’t, built empires on leveraging leverage and personally profited obscene numbers while doing it. In 2006, Wall Street firms paid $33.9 Billion in bonuses alone. 2007 was an “off” year, and the bonus pool shrank to $33.2 Billion, or $180,420 per employee. The combined $67.1B is nearly 10% of the bailout price tag, and these giants of capitalism stuffed their personal piggy banks with it in just 2 years. We don’t know all of their names, but we know a few of the alleged leaders and their 2007 compensation for helping to get us here:

Martin Sullivan – former Chairman and CEO of AIG - $14.3 Million
James Cayne – former Chairman and CEO of Bear Stearns - $38.3 Million
Kenneth Lewis - Chairman and CEO of Bank of America - $24.8 Million
Daniel Mudd - former CEO of Fannie Mae - $11.6 Million
Richard Syron - former Chairman and CEO of Freddie Mac - $18.3 Million
Lloyd Blankfein - Chairman and CEO of Goldman Sachs Group - $68.5 Million
Richard Fuld, Jr. - Chairman and CEO of Lehman Brothers - $34.4 Million
John Thain - CEO of Merrill Lynch & Co. - $17.3 Million
E. Stanley O’Neil – former CEO of Merrill Lynch & Co. - $24.3 Million
Angelo Mozilo - founder and former CEO at Countrywide Financial Corp. $122 Million in stock options alone.

Will any of these “perps” be held responsible? Will homeowners be helped as part of Bush’s bailout? Will the American terrorists allow the clock to run out? Tune in tomorrow to see if anything remains ticking.

Tick… Tick… Tick…

Yep...privatize profit and socialize debt.

It is obscene that these individuals have profited while the U.S. taxpayer, well generations of taxpayers really, will be handling the debt.

It's interesting that the republican congress made filling for bankruptcy (for individuals) much more difficult and touted the aspect of personal responsibility when it did so. Never mind that the leading cause of bankruptcy fillings was unforeseen medical expenses not undisciplined spending. No rescuing people who make poor financial decisions right? They need to be responsible!

Now this?

we had something similar post Malvinas war...of course, we held the private business sector accountable, made them foot most of the bills and things worked out ok..as a matter of fact the president of Argentina is in Washington, DC chatting with Bush..guess you all could learn a thing or two from us peon-3rd worlders...hmmm...wonder where kerber, wouldee and the other neocons are hiding today??

How come there are no wails of "Socialism" from our friends on the right here as our government bails out private enterprise with $700B? This $700B must be "good" socialism, but spending money to provide people health care is the evil form of it.

t22learner!

You finally get it!

/smirk

We've been had.

more than half of the fat cats on Wall Street are democrats.

Bill Gates, chief among them.


worth 50 billion on a bad day.

how about George Soros, the financier of the looney left?

Bush is trying to stem the collapse of insolvency of little guys with 401Ks, and SEPs and 503Bs and CALPERS, and the unions pension funds, etc.



HEY!!!!!!!!

those are the little guys.






The fat cats fund the DNC!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!


biting the hand that feeds you again?

You know those fat cats fund both sides.

that was reflected in my first comment, war.


more than half of the fat cats on Wall Street are democrats.


whether half full or not, the glass is full of sh!t, huh?

my post was directed at the posts above yours in r3ebuttal. it took me a while t write it and I didn't see your post when i began to eloquently deride the blindness.

But you ended with "They fund the DNC." They fund both sides of the aisle, the globalists have been providing false choices for decades while using their interests in corporate america and the media to block any real choices that might present themselves.

They create the problem, wait for the sheep to bleat in reaction and then they present the false solution.

We have got to get past this false left/right crap and start standing together or we are done.

Bill Gates from Wall Street? Really? I thought he built his company in Redmond, WA, but Woody, I'm sure you're right.

his fortune is due to Wall Street investing in his monopolistic invention.

they have capitalized him very handsomely while rewarding themselves with the crumbs.

yes, in fact, he is a laizze fair capitalist and a social democrat as well.

he is all things to all men that he might know all men's business from the secret peep hole of his quirky little business of creating software that no one but Bill Gates really understands.

Even the US Government can't stop hm.

they have still no clue how his clever inventiveness really works and to what degree it's incomprehensibly vast capabilities can be known, let alone be measured.


How do we know that he isn't a closet peeping tom?

we don't.


but carry on thinking in eminently obvious and succinct suppositions of semantical machination.

Amen.

true.

amen

More no proof nonsense. That must thrilled with Obama's plan to increase their taxes.

let's do the math.

Gates is worth a cool 50 billion.

most Americans are worth only the equity left in their homes which has been correcting to the tune of a 30% decline in value and retirement funds are all tanking.

subtract the bill for the total national debt due each American of about $35,000 for every man, woman and child and you don't have much left, do you?

If Bill Gates gave a million Americans $50,000 each, things might be different, huh?

and apply the same to all the rest, of which half of them are democrats.


you make no sense.

keep believing your mentors and their fuzzy math.


KOOL AID, anyone?

The whole purpose of the left/right crap is to keep us divided & distracted while they enslave us.
I am taking a second look at Ron Paul, he's the only voice of reason in this mess.

Your blathering didn't address your nonsensical statement that "more than half of the fat cats on Wall Street are democrats."

I don't blame you. It's indefensible.

can't see it, huh? The majority of Americans, rich and poor, are democrats.


lay off the KOOL AID.

Bin Laden worked for the CIA.