Did the Treasurey Secreatary Bail out AIG to save his old Boss?

New York Times

Two weeks ago, the nation’s most powerful regulators and bankers huddled in the Lower Manhattan fortress that is the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, desperately trying to stave off disaster.

As the group, led by Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr., pondered the collapse of one of America’s oldest investment banks, Lehman Brothers, a more dangerous threat emerged: American International Group, the world’s largest insurer, was teetering. A.I.G. needed billions of dollars to right itself and had suddenly begged for help.

One of the Wall Street chief executives participating in the meeting was Lloyd C. Blankfein of Goldman Sachs, Mr. Paulson’s former firm. Mr. Blankfein had particular reason for concern.

Although it was not widely known, Goldman, a Wall Street stalwart that had seemed immune to its rivals’ woes, was A.I.G.’s largest trading partner, according to six people close to the insurer who requested anonymity because of confidentiality agreements. A collapse of the insurer threatened to leave a hole of as much as $20 billion in Goldman’s side, several of these people said.

Days later, federal officials, who had let Lehman die and initially balked at tossing a lifeline to A.I.G., ended up bailing out the insurer for $85 billion.

The Bailout

"In the world I see - you are stalking elk through the damp canyon forests around the ruins of Rockefeller Center. You'll wear leather clothes that will last you the rest of your life. You'll climb the wrist-thick kudzu vines that wrap the Sears Tower. And when you look down, you'll see tiny figures pounding corn, laying strips of venison on the empty car pool lane of some abandoned superhighway."

Corporations are human beings.

That was not a joke. It is a fact that the supreme court of the united states ruled as truth in 1886. It was based off of the 14 Amendment of our Constitution.

"No State shall make or enforce any law which shall abridge theprivileges or immunities of citizens of the United States; nor shall any State deprive any person of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor deny to any person within its jurisdiction the equal protection of the laws.'"

That was supposed to free the slaves.

I bring this up only because Corporations fought for the right to be recognized as human. Humans make mistakes, and they make badge choices. And when those bad choices lead to bad ends...you face it...and sometimes you hit rock bottom.

These corporations did not make mistakes, they made piss poor decisions, and they knew it. They also knew that there was a good chance the government would save them. After all, we have been bailing out the airlines and the rail services for years. What was they line fed to us then?

"We need the transportation for the economy"

Well, now that line is being shoved down our throats again.

Please, I really need that credit card company screwing me around...yes please...bail them out with my money. I'll pay them twice a month. That's fine. And that insurance company that takes my money every month for years and then refuses to pay when I actually have a claim. Yes...send them more of my money please.

1 Trillion Dollars!! Maybe we are so complacent about this because we aren't wired to think that big. But trust me....it big. But hey, our national debt is already at 10 trillion dollars....what's another trillion right.

My friends if this bailout plan goes through, the country that has been spreading democracy around the world for the last decade will take a giant leap into the cesspool of Socialism.

Mark my words.

A Message From Ron Paul

Wednesday, September 24, 2008 

Dear Friends, 

Whenever a Great Bipartisan Consensus is announced, and a compliant media assures everyone that the wondrous actions of our wise leaders are being taken for our own good, you can know with absolute certainty that disaster is about to strike. 

The events of the past week are no exception. 

The bailout package that is about to be rammed down Congress' throat is not just economically foolish.  It is downright sinister.  It makes a mockery of our Constitution, which our leaders should never again bother pretending is still in effect.  It promises the American people a never-ending nightmare of ever-greater debt liabilities they will have to shoulder.  Two weeks ago, financial analyst Jim Rogers said the bailout of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac made America more communist than China!  "This is welfare for the rich," he said. "This is socialism for the rich. It's bailing out the financiers, the banks, the Wall Streeters." 

That describes the current bailout package to a T.  And we're being told it's unavoidable. 

The claim that the market caused all this is so staggeringly foolish that only politicians and the media could pretend to believe it.  But that has become the conventional wisdom, with the desired result that those responsible for the credit bubble and its predictable consequences - predictable, that is, to those who understand sound, Austrian economics - are being let off the hook.  The Federal Reserve System is actually positioning itself as the savior, rather than the culprit, in this mess! 

•    The Treasury Secretary is authorized to purchase up to $700 billion in mortgage-related assets at any one time.  That means $700 billion is only the very beginning of what will hit us. 

•    Financial institutions are "designated as financial agents of the Government."  This is the New Deal to end all New Deals. 

•    Then there's this: "Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency."  Translation: the Secretary can buy up whatever junk debt he wants to, burden the American people with it, and be subject to no one in the process. 

There goes your country. 

Even some so-called free-market economists are calling all this "sadly necessary."  Sad, yes.  Necessary?  Don't make me laugh. 

Our one-party system is complicit in yet another crime against the American people.  The two major party candidates for president themselves initially indicated their strong support for bailouts of this kind - another example of the big choice we're supposedly presented with this November: yes or yes.  Now, with a backlash brewing, they're not quite sure what their views are.  A sad display, really. 

Although the present bailout package is almost certainly not the end of the political atrocities we'll witness in connection with the crisis, time is short.  Congress may vote as soon as tomorrow.  With a Rasmussen poll finding support for the bailout at an anemic seven percent, some members of Congress are afraid to vote for it.  Call them!  Let them hear from you!  Tell them you will never vote for anyone who supports this atrocity. 

The issue boils down to this: do we care about freedom?  Do we care about responsibility and accountability?  Do we care that our government and media have been bought and paid for?  Do we care that average Americans are about to be looted in order to subsidize the fattest of cats on Wall Street and in government?  Do we care? 

When the chips are down, will we stand up and fight, even if it means standing up against every stripe of fashionable opinion in politics and the media? 

Times like these have a way of telling us what kind of a people we are, and what kind of country we shall be. 

In liberty, 

Ron Paul 

Mc Cain won me over!

At the beginning of this election cycle there were two candidates I supported. Rudy Giuliani and Mike Huckabee. I would have loved for either one of them to win the nomination. And there was one candidate that I didn't support. John McCain. I felt he had abandoned the GOP and there was no way I was, or could, vote for him. But I did prefer him to Obama. Barack Obama is the wrong man for the job at any time, but especially today.

I started to listen to what McCain had to say and I kind liked it. The experience factor started to really play into this election for me. And McCain trumps Obama handily on that. I started to consider what was really at stake in this election. Who could better lead this country in the many fights we had before us. I was starting to like John McCain. Then last week he made his choice for V.P. Typical McCain, he threw a curveball and chose someone that the vast majority outside of her state had never heard of. Sarah Palin, a person when challenged would stand up to her own party. A true conservative! And not only did I start to like him, I started to find myself supporting him.

Then she took to the stage at the convention and blew me away. She laid out who Sarah Palin was and what she stood for. By now I'm excited about this election for the first time. Then John McCain took the stage. And gave one of the best political speeches I've ever heard. And during that speech realized that John McCain hadn't abandoned the GOP. The GOP had abandoned us. They've gone from the party that opposed slavery and championed civil rights to the party that's supported MASSIVE governmental waste and turning a deaf ear to our concerns.

John McCain is the man to fix what is wrong with out political system. Everyone says they want bipartisan government, but talk is cheap. John McCain has proven that he can do it. So, I have now made up my mind. I will support John McCain and I will vote for him come November.