As "Big Dick" Cheney marches up Capitol Hill with his squad of enforcers, Congress needs to resist pressure for rash action. Plus other bailout fun!

[Click on all cartoons to enlarge.]

"Now, despite promises otherwise, the U.S. Treasury and the taxpayers will be in the position of bailing out speculators in the event that their risky plays in the securities business threaten the solvency of the soon-to-be-formed mega-banks."

-- Nancy Watzman and Micah L. Sifry, in an October 1999 PublicCampaign.org post following effective repeal of Glass-Steagal Act, which "for six decades has kept the banking, securities and insurance businesses separate from each other"

by Ken

Whew! So much ground to cover!

In the wake of the financial crisis, as you know, everything has changed. I already commented in my plaintive post this morning on the newly minted hopelessness of any action on infrastructure investment, no matter how desperately needed. This morning, of course, Senator Obama warned on Today that with the bailout in place, he doesn't expect to be able to do "everything that I've called for in this campaign right away."

Also this morning came word that a Bush regime goon squad headed by the biggest goon of them all, "Big Dick" Cheney, was headed for Capitol Hill to strong-arm members of Congress into giving the regime the blank check it's demanding for distribution to its friends and cronies.




(1) CONFIDENTIAL TO ALL SENATORS AND REPRESENTATIVES:
WHEN BIG DICK COMES A-CALLING, GET THE S.O.B. ON TAPE!

That's right, make a show of setting up a tape recorder and asking him if he minds you recording the conversation.

Think of what happened to that poor old troll Dick Armey, who has just revealed in his book that back when Big Dick was lobbying for clearance to go to war in Iraq, which Armey -- then the House majority leader-- opposed, Big Dick just plain lied to him about "secret" information in his possession which he knew would force Little Dick to vote the "right" way.




(2) JUST SAY NO TO A BAILOUT?
"I have come to the conclusion that the bailout bill cannot be
fixed and thoughtful members of Congress should simply say no"

In a post on Credo Blog, I Don't Trust Henry Paulson, Michael Kieschnick writes in part:

I have come to the conclusion that the bailout bill cannot be fixed and thoughtful members of Congress should simply say no. This is closer to the Social Security privatization fight - where only saying no until privatization was off the table - than the minimum wage increase fight, where Republicans extracted billions in tax breaks for business as the price of paying poor people a little bit more. Liberal congressional leaders are treating the bailout like the minimum wage deal. It is not. This vote is the bookend signature act of the Bush Administration to be coupled with the first vote authorizing Bush to invade Iraq. The details are not particularly relevant. Reports out of Washington say that the Bush Administration is comfortable adding in the notion of taxpayers getting an equity stake in bailed out Wall Street firms, but only if it is option, and not a requirement. And just who do you think is going to take that option? Not Henry Paulson. . . .

[I]f you are not quite sure, and think we have to act right now, just remember that this is the same Administration that explicitly evoked the certainty of nuclear weapons in Iraq - "we know where they are" in order to stampede Congress into voting a blank check for Bush. Just this morning, the word came out that Vice President Cheney is on his way to Capitol Hill to lobby. Time to adjourn. No possibly acceptable deal will be available.

(3) HAVE YOU SEEN THIS HILARIOUS FAKE-SPAM E-MAIL?
"I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business
relationship with a transfer of funds of great magnitude"

This post, of unknown origin, has been circulating all over the place. The Nation Washington Editor Chris Hayes posted it yesterday with the note: "I almost missed this email because it was diverted to my spam folder. But apparently Paulson is sending this around," but later had to add an update noting explicitly: "I didn't write this. It was sent to me by a friend and is making the rounds."

Dear American:

I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship with a transfer of funds of great magnitude.

I am Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic of America. My country has had crisis that has caused the need for large transfer of funds of 800 billion dollars US. If you would assist me in this transfer, it would be most profitable to you.

I am working with Mr. Phil Gram, lobbyist for UBS, who will be my replacement as Ministry of the Treasury in January. As a Senator, you may know him as the leader of the American banking deregulation movement in the 1990s. This transactin is 100% safe.

This is a matter of great urgency. We need a blank check. We need the funds as quickly as possible. We cannot directly transfer these funds in the names of our close friends because we are constantly under surveillance. My family lawyer advised me that I should look for a reliable and trustworthy person who will act as a next of kin so the funds can be transferred.

Please reply with all of your bank account, IRA and college fund account numbers and those of your children and grandchildren to wallstreetbailout@treasury.gov so that we may transfer your commission for this transaction. After I receive that information, I will respond with detailed information about safeguards that will be used to protect the funds.

Yours Faithfully Minister of Treasury Paulson

(4) TRUEMAJORITY TARGETS THURSDAY AS THE DAY WHEN --

"America Says NO Bush Bailout!"

Over at TrueMajority.org, they're trying to organize nationwide demonstrations Thursday against congressional capitulation to the Bush regime's steam-roller campaign for a bailout to benefit its friends and cronies.

Volunteers will host actions in cities and towns across the country with a simple message: "America says NO Bush Bailout!”

The events will be simple and easy to host -- we'll provide everything you need, then we'll alert hundreds of thousands of activists around the country to attend. And you can get personal assistance with a single e-mail to stopthebailout@truemajority.org. But someone has to take the first step...

Meet to say "No, No, HELL NO" to a $700 Billion giveaway to Wall Street criminals.

(5) FINALLY, IT'S NOT AS IF NOBODY FORESAW WHERE
"FREEING" OF THE "MONEY" INDUSTRIES WOULD LEAD

When it comes to early warnings of the storm that has descended on us, we don't know of any earlier than this remarkable post published on PublicCampaign.org by Nancy Watzman and Micah L. Sifry on October 27, 1999, five days after

The president at the time was of course Bill Clinton, a sobering reminder that Democrats have played a complicit role in the surrender of control of the U.S. regulatory apparatus to the surging forces of Big Money. But there's no question who's really driven the surge. The following year the Money People would rise in force to put their chosen stooge, George W. Bush, in the White House, ushering in an era of frontier lawlessness -- or worse than lawlessness. By the second term of the regime, all three branches of government would be serving as eager abettors of the reign of corporate greed and selfishness.

Here, then, is what Nancy and Micah wrote back in October 1999:

"Friday, October 22, 1999 should go down in history as the day that big money in politics won its biggest victory ever. That was the day that White House and Senate negotiators worked out a final, late-night deal engineering the repeal of a critical Depression-era law, the Glass- Steagal Act, that for six decades has kept the banking, securities and insurance businesses separate from each other.

The ramifications of this change are huge. First, insurance companies, brokerage houses, banks and credit card companies will be allowed to merge, a process that has been already taking place in dribs and drabs through regulatory waivers, but now will be vastly accelerated. Glass-Steagal had forced commercial banks out of the hyper-risky business of stock speculation and set up the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to protect individuals from bank failures. Now, despite promises otherwise, the U.S. Treasury and the taxpayers will be in the position of bailing out speculators in the event that their risky plays in the securities business threaten the solvency of the soon-to-be-formed mega-banks."

Today, by the way, Micah wrote: "I should note by the way, that neither Nancy nor I are trained economists. We just tried to pay attention to a few smart people, notably (in my life): Robert Sherrill, Tom Ferguson and Kevin Phillips. When I was a young(er) editor at the Nation, I worked a few special issues with Sherrill and believe me folks, his writing on the S&L Crisis more than stands the test of time. I've asked the Nation's editors to post some more of Sherrill's stuff on their website."

#