No Permanent Majorities In America
Cartoony Politics in Canada
Being President 101
Failure To Blow Election Stuns Democratic Party Faithful Mourn End To Losing Tradition
Hope Is On The Way
The Future Is Upon Us
Illinois Outdoes Itself
Environmentalists Disregard Public Safety
There's Something About Harry
The White Collar Lament
What Good Can Come Of This?
Dummies
If The Shoe Fits Hurl It
Obama The Magic Negro-Gate
How Can Obama Fix So Much That Went Wrong?
Happy New Year ...
Out With The Old
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Harper's Weekly
The Mortgage Thieves Return
Bullet Points For Assessing The Bush Years
Bye-Bye 2008: Things I Want To Forget
The Fierce Urgency Of Now
How Many Government Workers Does It Take To Change A Light Bulb?
The Perils And Joys Of Self-Esteem
The Future Of Civilization
'Hunk' Obama Can Help Nation Fight Obesity Epidemic
Moral Clarity In Gaza
Obama's Tax Cuts Leave Logic Behind
Talking About Sex-Ed That Works
The Time Is Now
Et Al Ad Nauseam: 2008 And All That
The Generational Theft Act Of 2009
Pay Rod Gives Democrats Fits With Senate Choice
'Tis The Season To Be Jolly. Or At least Try
Hey, Caroline -- You'Re Not Entitled
Hamas Rockets Blew Away Gaza Opportunity
Season's Readings
Old Acquaintances
A Social Trauma For Obama: Youth Crime
Sensitivity And 'Gran Torino'
A Question For My Friend Alan Dershowitz
The Unsung Hero Of Obama'S Victory
Red Ink Did Me Good
Barack in Limbo
A Hard Year Ahead
Ask Not For Plum Political Appointments
Eric Holder And All Political Prisoners
Mideast Overshadows Obama's Prospects
Enough About My Hair Already
Year-End Odds And Ends
Curing The New Year's Eve Hangover
The Gamble in Gaza -- Interview With Aaron David Miller
Cal Thomas-Bonus
A Respite From Reality
One Nation, One People-God Bless Us Everyone
Dr. Leavitt's Scary Diagnosis
Teaching Economics
Richardson's Exit And The Vetting Process



Trusting Paulson
Terrence Jeffrey 11/19/2008
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President Bush's trusted treasury secretary, Henry Paulson, is setting the stage for the all-Democratic government that comes to power in January to vastly increase government control over our economy.

At an Oct. 23 briefing, CNSNews.com correspondent Fred Lucas asked White House Spokesperson Dana Perino whether Bush wanted there to be a timeline for the Treasury Department to give up the stock

it was planning to buy in American banks

. This was important because the bailout law passed by Congress does not require the government to do so.

"The president is trusting his team over at the Treasury Department to design this program, and he believes that they're doing it the right way," said Perino. "I don't have details for you on it. So we'll let them — we'll just trust our treasury secretary and those that he's tasked with to implement the program."

On Sept. 23, Paulson told the Senate Banking Committee he would use the $700 billion he was requesting from Congress to buy "complex illiquid mortgage and mortgage-related securities to unclog our credit and capital markets."

He specifically said he had considered and rejected the idea of buying stock in banks.

"Could you just in a few minutes describe several of the proposals
that you considered, telling us in ... specific terms why those proposals were deemed inadequate by both the Treasury and the Fed?" Republican Sen. Richard Shelby of Alabama asked Paulson.

"The root cause is housing and the housing correction," Paulson responded. "And until we get at that, we're not going to solve it. And as we looked at the — how we get at that, there were some that said we should just go and stick capital in the banks, put preferred stocks, stick capital in the banks. ... But we said, the right way to do this is not going around and using guarantees or injecting capital, and there's been various proposals to do that, but to use market mechanisms."

Three weeks later, Paulson did an about-face.

"Today I am announcing that the Treasury will purchase equity stakes in a wide array of banks and thrifts," he said.

In fact, Paulson had virtually ordered nine major banks to sell ownership stakes to the government and accept some government restrictions on their activities.

Paulson did not pump money into these banks because they were in trouble, but to give government leverage over the banking industry. "These are healthy institutions, and they have taken this step for the good of the U.S. economy," said Paulson.

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Paulson's magic
By Paresh Nath - The Khaleej Times, UAE * Posted 11/16/2008 12:00:00 AM
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Paulson's magic
© Copyright 2008  Paresh Nath - All Rights Reserved.
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