Henry Paulson fucked everything up!

I know the guy is supposed to be a Wall St. supergenius who earned $750 million and headed Goldman-Sachs, but in my book, he is an idiot.

If he had the common sense not to include that bizarre, stupid clause immunizing him from any oversight, and had asked for an equity stake in the companies he bailed out, people would've trusted that he knew what he was doing, and Congress probably would've signed on without much discord. This would still be a big mess, but it would be a big bipartisan mess.

But when people read that he wanted to be the sole arbiter of the disbursement of $700 billion, with no oversight, jaws dropped everywhere, along with public confidence in him. Then we learned that the $700 billion amount was just plucked out of the air because he wanted "a big number." Now Repubs and Dems are haggling with each other, and the bailout has become a political football.

Way to go, Mr. Supergenius!

You turned our entire economy and livelihoods of millions of people into a chaotic farce.

We'd be better off right now if he'd never even broached the idea, because now the market expects money, and is going to keep swinging wildly until it gets some.

All I can say is, somewhere Michael "Brownie" Brown must be smiling, taking comfort in the fact that he is no longer the biggest fuckup Bush ever appointed.

but from his masters. But yes, you're right, he's an idiot.

is one of the prerequisites for being a prominent Republican

:)

All of the truly outrageous stuff in the Paulson plan was negotiable. It was only in there so that Democrats could demand its elimination and then claim a victory while retaining the general form of the bailout.

If the dire predictions are true and a bailout is essential and everyone knows it, why would it be necessary to pull that stunt?

How desperate is that?

The guy is trying to fix things the best way he knows how. But he is steeped in Wall Street and that is limiting him.

It's precisely because he is so steeped in Wall St. that things ended up this way. If he were at Goldman-Sachs, this is how he would've done it. But he's not at Goldman-Sachs, and doing it the same way with taxpayer funds is completely inappropriate.

I think there's something about Wall St. that just eats away at your common sense.

The fact that he was willing to go that far means we are truly truly messed up. Its almost sacrilegious.

How must it feel though, to be responsible for the entire world's financial system, knowing that hundreds of millions are depending on you to get this right? Its as big as any decision a President has had to make. And George Bush basically threw the whole thing in his lap.

I feel desperate for the guy. Damn.

And how mad must he be at John McCain who truly screwed things up out of pure stupidity. That was the most selfish thing I have ever seen a Presidential Candidate do. Worse, he obviously has nothing to contribute, as he couldn't bother to read the proposal.

But that assumes the economy is not about to tank big time - personally, I think we are in for some very dark times financially.

I have no love for the guy at all, but anyone that can convince a company to pay him 18.2 million for 6 months is not an idiot. Further don't underestimate the Machiavellian nature of these thieves. That's right we should be referring to them as just what they are. Do you believe bush is the brains, no it's paulson and his ilk that are giving out the instructions.

He sold his shares when leaving Goldman TAX FREE! I don't trust these guy even the slightest.