OUCH! That's gotta hurt

Wowzers, Jimmy- even TIME thinks McCain has gone too far. Finally, I'm not an extremist! Yay!! Time to go a little farther left, I guess... haha
About Hanky-pank Paulson's bailout thing. People who are paid to know better, apparently deliberately over-extended their businesses. This was no 'accident.' They are bankers, ferchrissakes, they are paid very well to know how the business works. This was deliberate, and they should suffer the consequences, not us. This is criminal. I want to see people hang, at least metaphorically. I have no sympathy for thieves and bandits. None.

Here are some questions to ask (from Poynter Online):

"Do we need a bailout of American and foreign banks? Show us in detail the reasons for this, and the numbers: make the case.

Is there a market solution to this? If so, why impose a government solution? If not, what does that tell us about our entire economic theory?

Is there a less expensive solution?

How do we know this will not just be a downpayment on a much bigger bailout?

Is there a solution that provides direct help to those who took out these loans, rather than those who sold them?

If AIG and others are too big to fail, what does that tell us about government anti-trust policy and regulatory policy and inaction?

Why have both Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley made clear that they want IN on this deal? Get skeptical and ask the basic questions -- who benefits, how much and what makes this plan so attractive that Goldman and MS want to participate? Ditto for GE. That they and others want to be included should prompt a great deal of skeptical questioning.

How does banning short selling of the stocks of 900 companies help the markets? (The markets are heavily biased toward the sell side, so why constrain the shorts, who often turn out to be right about stocks whose share prices has been artificially inflated?)

How is banning short selling of this growing list of companies show a commitment to "free markets," a stated goal of this and a long list of previous administrations?

During this short selling ban, why are there no parallel controls on insiders getting out of their positions?"

RESIST THE BAILOUT. It is a con.

AIG is not being bailed out because of bad debt. AIG is being bailed out because they are very, very closely tied to private security firm Kroll- the private version of the CIA, only more powerful and less restricted. Kroll does all the dirty work that the CIA used to do, back when Poppy Bush was in charge (and before, to be fair to ol' Poppy -don't have me anthraxed!). For this reason, and this reason alone, they say AIG "cannot be allowed to fail."

If you ever have trouble making sense of what a talking head is talking about, big red flags should start to wave in your head (metaphorically of course). If it doesn't make sense to you, then it probably doesn't make sense at all, and you're probably being conned. Lies are always confusing, and the truth always makes sense. If your questions aren't answered to your satisfaction; if you still don't understand the explanation, don't buy it.

October surprise? Don't forget this...