Lawmakers say Paulson kept bailout details secret

Source: AP

WASHINGTON (AP) -- Lawmakers accused former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson on Thursday of bending to the demands of a major bank and keeping negotiations of a hefty bailout secret in his rush to stabilize financial markets last year.

Paulson, testifying for the first time since leaving office in January after putting in place a $700 billion bank bailout program, was defiant in his response and admitted no wrongdoing.
"No one was tougher than I was in trying to protect the American taxpayer," he told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

.....

Paulson had been called to testify because of his role last year in Bank of America Corp's merger with Merrill Lynch & Co. Paulson acknowledged in his testimony that he pressured Bank of America CEO Kenneth Lewis to proceed with the deal despite Merrill's mounting financial losses.
Paulson said he warned Lewis that Lewis might lose his job if he dropped the deal or tried to renegotiate because doing so would exhibit a "colossal lack of judgment."

At one point during the discussions, Paulson pledged government aid to help Bank of America absorb some of the losses from acquiring Merrill. Paulson said he declined to put that promise in writing because the details would have been vague and would have had to be disclosed publicly by the Treasury Department.
Paulson said he never told Lewis to hide potential losses from shareholders, but kept discussions private to prevent fluctuations in the market.





Read more: http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Lawmakers-say-Paulson-kept-apf-4172060968.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=main&asset=&ccode=

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We screamed, we wrote, we called Congress, we fought to no avail. These monsters have looted this country just as surely as George W. Bush plundered Iraq.

that fire is hot.

and held back the guards.

Only 24% voters support bailout plan., September 27, 2008


Senate votes on bailout, October 1, 2008


Senate package would bail out major foreign investors, including China; attaches bailout plan to Paul Wellstone Mental Health/Addiction Equity Act of 2007, October 2, 2008



* * * *


Lawmakers say Paulson kept bailout details secret, July 16, 2009

in Congress. I am no longer shocked to watch them pretend they did not know things that the average office worker knew.

Yes, we called, we faxed and wrote letters and at first Congress caved to the huge outcry from the public, but in the end, they were threatened and caved to the corporate rulers of this country and the public was once again, ignored.

As long as the current crop of bought-and-paid-for Representatives are in power, Paulson and his robber barons have nothing to fear. This is nothing more than a show. We've seen it so many times before.

So, where are we to turn? :think: We need a third party called the Progressive Party Against The Status Quo! Or something like that... and real legit election reform!

it seems we have only one party and that explains the frustration and shock we often felt as time after time, the party we put our faith in for so long, voted right along with the Republicans, just enough of them to make sure Bush's disastrous agenda was passed.

I don't know the answer, but while we've waited for one thing or another, it's always some excuse, they have stolen the country from the American people and handed it over to their corporate bosses. We need to do something to salvage what's left, I wish I knew what though.

That in a few months they could all claim "We had been duped. Duped! We tell ya!"

Now that the markets are stabilized the corporatists now have the leverage they need to really screw us!

Our tax dollars at work!!!

the least they could do is watch TDS with Jon Stewart to keep up. At this rate they need to watch a few years worth of reruns. Sheeesh.

"No one was tougher than I was in trying to protect the American taxpayer," he told the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Only a few months ago, yet I forgot already. How did Paulson protect us again?

Was it all those conditions on the bailout, like limits executive compensation, or caps on prices of wastebaskets?


Was it that the deal Paulson got for taxpayers was half as good as the one Buffet cut for himself, while putting less money on the table?

Was it all that transparency and accountability?

Was it all that missing money?


What?

Congress got incredibly pressure from the voters, and Congress knew that Paulson wanted a "secret plant= that was not answerable to any oversight"..
That is the phrase that generated the massive voter response.

Remember what happened:
The House originally voted the bill down, but Reid, in the Senate, got it passed with some added amendments, the Senate accepted the amendment and passed the entire amended bill by a vote of 74-25
the House voted 263-171 to enact the bill into law.

And now those lousy wormy bastards are claiming they did not know what they voted for ????????????

Here are the Senators who voted for the Bailout:
YEAs ---74
Akaka (D-HI)
Alexander (R-TN)
Baucus (D-MT)
Bayh (D-IN)
Bennett (R-UT)
Biden (D-DE)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Bond (R-MO)
Boxer (D-CA)
Brown (D-OH)
Burr (R-NC)
Byrd (D-WV)
Cardin (D-MD)
Carper (D-DE)
Casey (D-PA)
Chambliss (R-GA)
Clinton (D-NY)
Coburn (R-OK)
Coleman (R-MN)
Collins (R-ME)
Conrad (D-ND)
Corker (R-TN)
Cornyn (R-TX)
Craig (R-ID)
Dodd (D-CT)
Domenici (R-NM)
Durbin (D-IL)
Ensign (R-NV)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Graham (R-SC)
Grassley (R-IA)
Gregg (R-NH)
Hagel (R-NE)
Harkin (D-IA)
Hatch (R-UT)
Hutchison (R-TX)
Inouye (D-HI)
Isakson (R-GA)
Kerry (D-MA)
Klobuchar (D-MN)
Kohl (D-WI)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)
Lieberman (ID-CT)
Lincoln (D-AR)
Lugar (R-IN)
Martinez (R-FL)
McCain (R-AZ)
McCaskill (D-MO)
McConnell (R-KY)
Menendez (D-NJ)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Murray (D-WA)
Nelson (D-NE)
Obama (D-IL)
Pryor (D-AR)
Reed (D-RI)
Reid (D-NV)
Rockefeller (D-WV)
Salazar (D-CO)
Schumer (D-NY)
Smith (R-OR)
Snowe (R-ME)
Specter (R-PA)
Stevens (R-AK)
Sununu (R-NH)
Thune (R-SD)
Voinovich (R-OH)
Warner (R-VA)
Webb (D-VA)
Whitehouse (D-RI)




Question: On the Amendment (Dodd Amdt. No. 5685 )
Vote Number: 212 Vote Date: October 1, 2008, 09:07 PM

Vote Counts: YEAs 74
NAYs 25
Not Voting 1


Here are the House Members who voted for it:
Abercrombie
Ackerman
Alexander
Allen
Andrews
Arcuri
Baca
Bachus
Baird
Baldwin
Barrett (SC)
Bean
Berkley
Berman
Berry
Biggert
Bishop (GA)
Bishop (NY)
Blunt
Boehner
Bonner
Bono Mack
Boozman
Boren
Boswell
Boucher
Boustany
Boyd (FL)
Brady (PA)
Brady (TX)
Braley (IA)
Brown (SC)
Brown, Corrine
Buchanan
Calvert
Camp (MI)
Campbell (CA)
Cannon
Cantor
Capps
Capuano
Cardoza
Carnahan
Carson
Castle
Clarke
Cleaver
Clyburn
Coble
Cohen
Cole (OK)
Conaway
Cooper
Costa
Cramer
Crenshaw
Crowley
Cubin
Cuellar
Cummings
Davis (AL)
Davis (CA)
Davis (IL)
Davis, Tom
DeGette
DeLauro
Dent
Dicks
Dingell
Donnelly
Doyle
Dreier
Edwards (MD)
Edwards (TX)
Ehlers
Ellison
Ellsworth
Emanuel
Emerson
Engel
Eshoo
Etheridge
Everett
Fallin
Farr
Fattah
Ferguson
Fossella
Foster
Frank (MA)
Frelinghuysen
Gerlach
Giffords
Gilchrest
Gonzalez
Gordon
Granger
Green, Al
Gutierrez
Hall (NY)
Hare
Harman
Hastings (FL)
Herger
Higgins
Hinojosa
Hirono
Hobson
Hoekstra
Holt
Honda
Hooley
Hoyer
Inglis (SC)
Israel
Jackson (IL)
Jackson-Lee (TX)
Johnson, E. B.
Kanjorski
Kennedy
Kildee
Kilpatrick
Kind
King (NY)
Kirk
Klein (FL)
Kline (MN)
Knollenberg
Kuhl (NY)
LaHood
Langevin
Larsen (WA)
Larson (CT)
Lee
Levin
Lewis (CA)
Lewis (GA)
Lewis (KY)
Loebsack
Lofgren, Zoe
Lowey
Lungren, Daniel E.
Mahoney (FL)
Maloney (NY)
Markey
Marshall
Matsui
McCarthy (NY)
McCollum (MN)
McCrery
McGovern
McHugh
McKeon
McNerney
McNulty
Meek (FL)
Meeks (NY)
Melancon
Miller (NC)
Miller, Gary
Miller, George
Mitchell
Mollohan
Moore (KS)
Moore (WI)
Moran (VA)
Murphy (CT)
Murphy, Patrick
Murtha
Myrick
Nadler
Neal (MA)
Oberstar
Obey
Olver
Ortiz
Pallone
Pascrell
Pastor
Pelosi
Perlmutter
Peterson (PA)
Pickering
Pomeroy
Porter
Price (NC)
Pryce (OH)
Putnam
Radanovich
Rahall
Ramstad
Rangel
Regula
Reyes
Reynolds
Richardson
Rogers (AL)
Rogers (KY)
Ros-Lehtinen
Ross
Ruppersberger
Rush
Ryan (OH)
Ryan (WI)
Sarbanes
Saxton
Schakowsky
Schiff
Schmidt
Schwartz
Scott (GA)
Sessions
Sestak
Shadegg
Shays
Shuster
Simpson
Sires
Skelton
Slaughter
Smith (TX)
Smith (WA)
Snyder
Solis
Souder
Space
Speier
Spratt
Sullivan
Sutton
Tancredo
Tanner
Tauscher
Terry
Thompson (CA)
Thornberry
Tiberi
Tierney
Towns
Tsongas
Upton
Van Hollen
Velázquez
Walden (OR)
Walsh (NY)
Wamp
Wasserman Schultz
Waters
Watson
Watt
Waxman
Weiner
Welch (VT)
Weldon (FL)
Weller
Wexler
Wilson (NM)
Wilson (OH)
Wilson (SC)
Wolf
Woolsey
Wu
Yarmuth

Quick...who has a list of the above traitors who are up for re-elelection next year?

:mad: :mad: :mad:

about one who will up on 2012, and his name is Obama. Don't you think that you go just a bit overboard by characterizing all the above people as TRAITORS? Did you look at the names or just copied and pasted? Kind of ridiculous IMHO...