Asleep at the Switch–With One Eye Open

Since I'm already antagonizing Toast today... Let me excerpt and link to an excellent column by Matt Taibbi that highlights the fundamental flaws in the financial system and its supposed overseers:

For what we’ve learned in the last few years as one scandal after another spilled onto the front pages is that the bubble economies of the last two decades were not merely monstrous Ponzi schemes that destroyed trillions in wealth while making a small handful of people rich. They were also a profound expression of the fundamentally criminal nature of our political system, in which state power/largess and the private pursuit of (mostly short-term) profit were brilliantly fused in a kind of ongoing theft scheme that sought to instant-cannibalize all the wealth America had stored up during its postwar glory, in the process keeping politicians in office and bankers in beach homes while continually moving the increasingly inevitable disaster to the future.

That's just about the most perfect capsulization of our recent history that I've seen anywhere. But he expands from there, getting into the failures of the regulatory agencies the media and both parties, and why we're really not in a position to make anything much better anytime soon.

Fannie, Freddie, and the New Red and Blue

Go read the whole thing.

Good News For From John McCain

As part of a move long overdue, John McCain emerges as a force for good—combining with Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-WA) to introduce legislation that should have come along with the bailout:

The anger at the nation’s financial behemoths is taking shape in a variety of ways, most notably in a bill from Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and John McCain (R-Ariz.), who are targeting big financial institutions such as JPMorgan Chase and Citigroup.

The bipartisan duo’s bill would reinstate the Depression-era law that built a wall between commercial banking and the riskier activities of investment banking. The separation — originally set up in the Glass-Steagall Act — was repealed in 1999.

[...] “The American people want us to do something about the fact that capital is [not] flowing down to them. It is flowing in a direction that is making Wall Street huge profits. Nothing wrong with making profit, but this consolidation has squeezed the American public out of needed capital. And I think that capital could be going to investment in technology, to new business start-ups, to things that are about the ingenuity of America, not the ingenuity of toxic assets,” Cantwell said on MSNBC.

Damn fucking straight. A key reason for the bailout was to help balance the books, but that was to free up capital for banks to lend money. Instead they simply kept it all and lent to each other. CRedit is still extremely tough to come by.

And Cantwell-McCain aren't the only ones getting in on the act:

Rep. Paul Kanjorksi (D-Pa.), who is generally seen as a rather pro-business moderate on the House Financial Services Committee, pushed language that would empower federal regulators to pre-emptively break up large financial institutions that posed a risk to the economy, even if they were currently healthy...

In the Senate, Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) introduced the “Too Big to Fail, Too Big to Exist Act,” which would require the Treasury secretary to break apart any financial institution deemed too big to fail. The Vermont independent has become a populist hero on the left and the right of the political spectrum for his crusade against Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, a mission also rooted in his belief that the American people want a change in the way Wall Street functions, and Bernanke and the Fed he runs represent the status quo, Sanders says.

Of course, much of this will die the death of a thousand amendments and compromises, but it's a clear move in the right direction.

Until it needs the approval of President Lieberman.

A Wonderful Idea

I can get behind that plan. We currently have accounts with Wachovia (Wells Fargo) and SunTrust...not the biggest banks, but hardly local. One of the reasons for picking these banks was availability of branches (both have branches walking distance from or house and my office). And ATMs. Well, we hardly, if ever use ATMs so that's not really a factor. We don't even use debit/check cards anymore either...

Annoyingly, I still get paid via a check that needs to be deposited, but I'd be happy to walk a block to get to the Bank of Asheville if they have the online bill-pay capabilities Mrs F requires.

I'll be looking into it.

Person of the Year

DougJ summed this up just about perfectly:

I have nothing special against Bernanke. I think he probably deserves credit for averting financial catastrophe.

But this is a pretty strong signal that elite media still worships the architects of our awesome financial system. Some things never change.

Though, ...given the alternative...

Foxes Grizzly Bears and Henhouses, etc.

Matt Taibbi's latest financial exposé is in the new Rolling Stone, and it is as infuriating as it is thorough and detailed. It's long—one of those features that when you read the actual magazine was page after page of nothing but columns of text, that "continued on page 96," then 104, then 132...

In it, Taibbi breaks down how the biggest investment banks—namely Goldman-Sachs and Morgan Stanley—conspired, often with the help of the federal government, to cannibalize two of the other Top 5 banks since there were no more suckers on Main Street left to screw over.

Did I mention that it's infuriating? Yes, it is infuriating—but it's a special kind of anger that is tempered by overwhelming dismay that nothing was done at the time to stop it, nothing is being done now to stop it, and nothing ever will be.

Most of the crooks responsible are still running those same banks, only now gambling with our money and making obscene profits with it. And the guys no longer working for those banks? Don't worry about them—they're working for Obama's financial team.

I want to vomit.

UPDATE: Some excerpts:

What really happened to Bear and Lehman is that an economic drought temporarily left the hyenas without any more middle-class victims — and so they started eating each other, using the exact same schemes they had been using for years to fleece the rest of the country. And in the forensic footprint left by those kills, we can see for the first time exactly how the scam worked — and how completely even the government regulators who are supposed to protect us have given up trying to stop it.

This was a brokered bloodletting, one in which the power of the state was used to help effect a monstrous consolidation of financial and political power. Heading into 2008, there were five major investment banks in the United States: Bear, Lehman, Merrill Lynch, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs. Today only Morgan Stanley and Goldman survive as independent firms, perched atop a restructured Wall Street hierarchy. And while the rest of the civilized world responded to last year's catastrophes with sweeping measures to rein in the corruption in their financial sectors, the United States invited the wolves into the government, with the popular new president, Barack Obama — elected amid promises to clean up the mess — filling his administration with Bear's and Lehman's conquerors, bestowing his papal blessing on a new era of robbery.

To the rest of the world, the brazenness of the theft — coupled with the conspicuousness of the government's inaction — clearly demonstrates that the American capital markets are a crime in progress. To those of us who actually live here, however, the news is even worse. We're in a place we haven't been since the Depression: Our economy is so completely fucked, the rich are running out of things to steal.

Hank Paulson's moment of glory:

[...] early on the morning of Friday, March 14th, Bear's CEO, Alan Schwartz, struck a deal with the Fed and JPMorgan to provide an emergency loan to keep the company's doors open. When the news hit the street that morning, Bear's stock rallied, gaining more than nine percent and climbing back to $62.

[...]

The rally proved short-lived — Bear ended the day at $30 — but it suggested that all was not lost. Then a strange thing happened. As Bear understood it, the emergency credit line that the Fed had arranged was originally supposed to last for 28 days. But that Friday, despite the rally, Geithner and then-Treasury secretary Hank Paulson — the former head of Goldman Sachs, one of the firms rumored to be shorting Bear — had a sudden change of heart. When the market closed for the weekend, Paulson called Schwartz and told him that the rescue timeline had to be accelerated. Paulson wouldn't stay up another night worrying about Bear Stearns, he reportedly told Schwartz. Bear had until Sunday night to find a buyer or it could go fuck itself.

Bear was out of options. Over the course of that weekend, the firm opened its books to JPMorgan, the only realistic potential buyer. But upon seeing all the "shit" on Bear's books, as one source privy to the negotiations put it — including great gobs of toxic investments in the subprime markets — JPMorgan hedged. It wouldn't do the deal, it announced, unless it got two things: a huge bargain on the sale price, and a lot of public money to wipe out the "shit."

Wait. It gets better...

So the Fed — on whose New York board sits JPMorgan chief Jamie Dimon — immediately agreed to accommodate the new buyers, forking over $29 billion in public funds to buy up the yucky parts of Bear. Paulson, meanwhile, took care of the bargain issue, putting the government's gun to Schwartz's head and telling him he had to sell low. Really low.

On Saturday night, March 15th, Schwartz and Dimon had discussed a deal for JPMorgan to buy Bear at $8 to $12 a share. By Sunday afternoon, however, Geithner reported that the price had plunged even further. "Shareholders are going to get between $3 and $5 a share," he told Paulson.

But Paulson pissed on even that price from a great height. "I can't see why they're getting anything," he told Dimon that afternoon from Washington, via speakerphone. "I could see something nominal, like $1 or $2 per share."

Just like that, with a slight nod of Paulson's big shiny head, Bear was vaporized. This, remember, all took place while Bear's stock was still selling at $30. By knocking the share price down 28 bucks, Paulson ensured that the manipulators who were illegally counterfeiting Bear's shares would make an awesome fortune.

What's most frustrating about the whole affair is that due to the banks controlling their own regulators and having infiltrated agancies like the Fed, much of this was legal—and if something they wanted to do wasn't, they'd have that regulation changed, dropped or simply not enforced.

Even if Obama (or anyone else) suddenly decided to crack down and haul these crooks in, it's likely they couldn't even be charged with anything.

The critical part of Taibbi's story is his explanation of naked short-selling and how it was the weapon of choice in taking out Bear Stearns and Lehman. Just go read it.

UPDATE 2: This also comes on the heels of TAL's recent update to last year's seminal "The Giant Pool of Money."

Fed Up

James K. Galbraith has an interesting review of a book about the bailout.

Brilliant

The newest right-wing tantrum movement is calling for a boycott of General Motors and Chrysler. That's right, buying American is now un-American. Or something.

And guess who is leading the charge:

Limbaugh reassures any GM workers who might be listening that the boycotters aren't angry at them. "They don't want to patronize Obama. They don't want to do anything to make Obama's policies work!" he explains.

Yeah! 'Cause if it's not the assembly-line workers the listeners are furious with it must be the highly compensated—and likely Republican—executives who drove GM into a ditch? What?...it's just that Obama got involved? Well, since Rush and the Dittoheads want him to fail at any cost, sorry U.S. autoworkers, this time it'll be your jobs.

And so goes Ohio... this fat fucking loudmouth is doing a bang-up job leading the Republicans off a cliff.

Screw Job

It's another deadline week, so posting will be sparse... I haven't had time to read the details of the GM bailout and forced Chrysler merge, but my gut reaction is...

"Bullshit."

Yes, viewed in a vacuum, I say the government gets to dictate terms when they bail you out. If that means, "fire your board," or "your shareholders get a haircut," that's fine. Don't take the money if you're not willing to abide.

But the fact that the auto companies—companies that nation-wide employ hundreds of thousands of people in good living-wage jobs manufacturing real, durable, tangible goods that contribute to the economy in myriad ways—are getting a trial by fire from the Obama team. Last I checked, the Big Three didn't blow through everyone else's savings (well, excepting Dodge Avenger owners) and drive themselves and the economy over a cliff with borderline-illegal high-stakes gambling. At least at the end of the year Detroit can point to several million cars as a result of their business.

Meanwhile, the greed cancer-infested financial sector that engaged in an unregulated spree of graft and thievery is getting comparatively soft, kid glove treatment and a bailout approach that seems hell-bent on preserving the previous, fatally flawed system and those who run it. Oh, and did I mention an exponentially higher price tag?

This double standard is fucking bullshit. Automakers get raked over the coals for how they flew into D.C. while Wall Street thieves walk away with taxpayer-funded bonuses totaling in the billions.

Someone explain to me how this doesn't sound exactly like something that would have happened under the previous administration.

UPDATE: Mike's spent some more time thinking/reading/writing about this...

UPDATE 2: And so has The Michigan Posse.

Reading Assignment: "Dear A.I.G. Guy, You Suck!"

An AIG exec submits his resignation/woe-is-me letter as an Op-Ed in the New York Times—"Dear A.I.G., I Quit!"

But that's not the assignment. Matt Taibbi's response is...

DeSantis has a few major points. They include: 1) I had nothing to do with my boss Joe Cassano's toxic credit default swaps portfolio, and only a handful of people in our unit did; 2) I didn't even know anything about them; 3) I could have left AIG for a better job several times last year; 4) but I didn't, staying out of a sense of duty to my poor, beleaguered firm, only to find out in the end that; 5) I would be betrayed by AIG senior management, who promised we would be rewarded for staying, but then went back on their word when they folded in highly cowardly fashion in the face of an angry and stupid populist mob.

I have a few responses to those points. They are 1) Bullshit; 2) bullshit; 3) bullshit, plus of course; 4) bullshit. Lastly, there is 5) Boo-Fucking-Hoo. You dog.

AIGFP only had 377 employees. Those 400-odd folks received almost $3.5 billion in compensation in the last seven years, a very large part of that money coming from the sale of credit default protection. Doing the math, that averages out to over $9 million of compensation per person.

[...] Are we supposed to believe that Jake DeSantis knew nothing about Joe Cassano's CDS deals? If your boss and the top guys in your firm were all making a killing selling anything at all -- whether it was rubber kayaks, generic Levitra or credit default swaps -- you really wouldn't bother to find out what that thing they were selling was?

[...] let's just say, Jake, that you're telling the truth, that you don't know anything about this toxic portfolio. If that's the case, then why the fuck does anyone need to retain you at an exorbitant salary to help unwind that very portfolio? If these transactions aren't and never were your expertise, then where the hell is your value here?

I'll add this: Jake DeSantis was already paid in the neighborhood of ten mil (at least!) the last few years. So, he's either still pretty fucking wealthy and can shut the fuck up, or, he's broke—in which case he's a financial moron and shouldn't be anywhere near anyone elses money.

As a commenter at Taibbi's post said, "This guy needs to be punched in the fucking soul."

Reading Assignment: Get Mad

Matt Taibbi's The Big Takeover.

If yesterday's assignment was a punch in the gut—knocking the wind out of you while you contemplate how screwed we are—then Taibbi's article is like a drink in the face and a finger in the chest...

It's fucking go time.

The people on Wall Street should give thanks that New Yorkers have no reason to own pitchforks. This makes me want to abandon any pretense of a bailout or rescue and burn the whole fucking thing down and sort through the ashes—no matter the cost. I'm now of the opinion we have nothing to lose. We're going down either way, I want some bankers to land on. And Joe Cassano and Phil Gramm's heads on pikes.

Quote of the Day

From John Cole's Being a Republican Means Never Having To Know What the Hell You Are Talking About:

Now, if you read Bob Owens during the campaign, you would have thought that Obama’s first priorities as President would have been to institute Sharia law, unionize ACORN and pay them 100 dollars an hour to go door to door taking away shotguns from white people, and then burn down every small business and build a mosque in its place. But, the times have changed, and now Owens informs us that President Obama is looting the treasury to send your tax dollars to companies that were by law forbidden from contributing to his campaign but he is sending them the money anyway, and even better, Obama managed to do it while Bush was President.

8 Minutes

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

CNBC Gives Financial Advice

Daily Show Full Episodes
Important Things With Demetri Martin

Political Humor
Joke of the Day

Jon Stewart obliterates CNBC with the perfect combination of humor, disgust and disdain. It's a thing of beauty.

Dick of the Week: Harry Reid

Big surprise, right? This feckless asshole has GOT TO go...

Senate GOP Kills Auto Bailout Compromise
A proposed $14 billion automaker bailout bill, agreed to by Congressional Dems and the White House, collapsed late Thursday evening in the face of the opposition by Senate Republicans. "It's over with," declared Harry Reid.

Is is Harry Reid's fault that a group of Southern Senators want to jumpstart a new Confederacy and push the whole country towards a Depression just to score a few union scalps? No. But it's Reid's fucking fault that the Republicans get to scuttle badly needed action by quasi-filibustering without actually having to get off their asses.

Again.

Reid is yet again letting the whole Senate appear to blow it, when it's really a handful of "right to work" assholes actually colluding with foreign companies against American workers just to bust unions.

There's much more on this topic, but I'm on deadline, so it might be days til I can spend time on it...Have at it.

UPDATE: Another reason Harry sucks. His kiss-ass reaction to this bullshit.

Not Even Close

According to this analysis by Jim Manzi, it appears I spent more time and effort on my post Wed. night than GM did on their "restructuring" proposal to Congress.

As I read through Manzi's post I found myself growing angrier, further resenting these asshat execs running GM, and wishing them and the company nothing but ill will.

GM does not appear serious about doing anything that will help the industry—or even their own goddamn corporation—over the long haul. Their proposal appears to be nothing more than a PowerPoint presentation for getting in on the bailout bonanza and a way to extort concessions from the unions. Assholes.

Oh, and fuck Chrysler and Cerberus.

--

UPDATE: Ford says it's okay for now, but wants a line of credit in case things get worse—I think that's posturing and merely trying to avoid the "about to go under stigma" of GM and Chrysler. That USAT link has a side bar that includes a list of each automakers plans. Here's part of GM's:

Sell Saab, trim Pontiac, sell or close Saturn, sell fewer models. Reduce powertrain and stamping facilities to 38 by end of 2012, from 64 now.

A good start, but nowhere near what I suggested, and as Manzi pointed out doesn't get them anywhere close to financially viable.

UPDATE 2: An additional "Fuck you" to Cerberus, and can somebody explain to me how combining two "too big to fail corporations" into one even bigger failing corporation is a smart move? Republican Senators are pushing for a GM/Chrysler merger.

My Big Three Bailout Plan

Yeah, that's right. I'm laying out my plan to save the industry, but first, I've got some shit to get off my chest...

I've been mulling over a massive critique of the American auto companies for a while now...Ever since I went to the (Detroit) North American International Auto Show a couple years ago and watched as GM countered the onslaught of the Prius, hybrid Hondas and other kick-ass imports with the big unveiling of their updated GMT900 line of full-size trucks and SUVs (Silverados, Tahoe, Yukons, Suburban, etc.)

One year later, Dodge brought in a herd of cattle for their new full-size Ram pickup to "drive" through downtown Detroit. Putting aside the sheer stupidity of that stunt and lack of relevance of using the truck for actual labor, they were even further behind than GM.

Now I'm not saying all of those vehicles weren't a little long in the tooth, and didn't need a facelift—they did, and they are the best looking versions of those trucks yet—but GM (and last year, Chrysler) was betting EVERYTHING on these vehicles at a time when it was clear the Era of the Big SUV was winding down. They've made some admirable gains in fuel economy, introduced a hybrid Tahoe, but the fact remains they were behind the curve in a big way, and instead of investing in warm blood and fur, they poured hundreds of millions of dollars redesigning the dinosaur right before the Ice Age.



It appears they have learned that lesson now, when it is too late. GM has indefinitely suspended plans to redesign the line again, instead of the standard six-year lifespan. What brought them to that conclusion? Full-size SUV sales have plummeted 51% since they unveiled the 2007 models. The Trailblazer (mid-size SUV) sales fell 73%. And those numbers are from before gas prices spent the summer over $4.

One thing Detroit can clearly still do is rear-view mirrors.

Here's the thing: Two years ago, I knew those SUVs were going to be launched, and how fucking stupid a bet GM was making, but that's not what's most frustrating... It was going to the NAIAS this past January and seeing these cars:



What's wrong with those cars, Mr Furious?

Nothing. Nothing except the fact that in January of 2008 they were still fucking concept vehicles for GM! I'm pretty sure Toyota's been making money hand over fist in that niche with Scion since 2004.

All I could do is stare from offstage, snap my pics and wonder aloud, "Why the hell aren't cars like that in showrooms NOW?!?"

If I were on the Senate Banking Committee today, I'd ask Rick Wagoner why it wasn't some team's 24/7 job to get those two cars on the road by the end of the year. Seriously. And don't waste time blanding-down the design—those two cars are hot and would sell like crazy just as they are.

Which leads me to my first bailout requirement:

Fire everyone who looks at a concept car and says, "our focus group tells us that they won't like..." I bet there's a whole level of management jackasses in each division responsible for taking cool cars and turning them into Cobalts and G5s. History backs me up on this. The cars released in the last decade that made the smallest style jump from show floor to showroom were successful: The New Beetle, Mini Cooper, PT Cruiser, the current Prius. Next up? The Volt. They've already made the concept car look too much like a Stratus. Why is Detroit afraid to take a fucking chance? The Volt NEEDS TO look different. It's the first electric car. People who buy one don't want to be mistaken for Malibu drivers (and for the record, I think the Malibu is the best-looking Chevy sedan in forty years). Do you hear what I'm saying, GM? "Green" sells. Prius drivers aren't just saving gas, they're making a fucking statement driving around in that lozenge. All the hype around the Volt is going to deflate somewhat when that cool-ass concept everyone saw looks "normal."

Let me get to the real nuts and bolts stuff that needs to happen to save these companies. Trim the fat. And there is plenty of it. All of the Big Three have too much duplication across brands. Cut brands, and cut models:

GENERAL MOTORS

Buick—Gone. The loyal Buick customer base has to be pushing 70. Elderly people buying their last car ain't a plan for the future.

Cadillac—An upscale line is good. And I like the new "sharp edge" direction. Skews younger. Pick one full size sedan, I like the STS, so ditch the DTS. You can only keep the Escalade if every single one is Hybrid or DoD (Displacement on Demand—shuts off half the cylinders when not needed)

Chevy—Family cars, SUVs, pickups and the Corvette. That's it. Start making Hybrid Equinoxes. And goddammit, build a fucking station wagon again. No more Avalanche—stupidest idea ever. All full-size trucks and SUVs need Hybrid or DoD powertrains.

GMC—Gone. There is no need to duplicate with Chevy: Yukon=Tahoe. Stop building both. All commercial trucks are Chevys now. Why? Because the separate division has a whole layer of management that is redundant.

HUMMER—Gone. Just for symbolism's sake if nothing else, but that market is dead.

Pontiac—Because I like the Vibe, Solstice and G6 so much it's hard to let go. Pontiac can be the "sporty division" and those three and the G8 is their lineup. That's it. No SUVs or vans, and ditch the G5, it's ugly.

Saab—Sell it. Please. Let somebody in Sweden make cool, quirky cars again. GM trashed this once great brand the second they bought it, and I will go back to Detroit and kill someone if their mismanagement means Saab's demise.

Saturn—Duplication is a problem here, but they have the best lineup in the company, run differently from factory to sales floor and as far as I know do well.


FORD MOTOR COMPANY

Ford—Your website won't load, so you get nothing. Actually, here's what I want: The European Focus. Wagons and hatchbacks. Trust me.

Lincoln—Again, and upscale brand is fine. Sedans only. No SUVs.

Mercury—A fetish for vertical grillwork is no reason to duplicate an entire line of automobiles. Good bye.

CHRYSLER

Chrysler—Family sedans and minivans. No more Aspen. All trucks and SUVs are now Dodges or Jeeps. Limit duplication.

Dodge—Sporty cars and trucks only. All lame sedans (Avenger=Sebring) and vans are now Chryslers.

Jeep—Compass, Liberty or PAtriot: Pick one, lose the other two. Everything else is fine.

Note: In no way do I support a financial benefit for Cerberus, the holding company that owns Chrysler, until the company is back in the black and they earn a reward for their investment.

--

All companies need to start cracking on electric, hybrid and alternative fuel vehicles like fucking yesterday. Engine technology improvements have gone too far over towards power instead of efficiency. There is really no need for any average family car to be packing over 200 horses. Get that shit turned around.

No companies can pay dividends, and stockholders are holding the bag—I don't care if they take a bath. Top level executives forgo salaries until the loans are paid back. Their stock options should be compensation and incentive enough. Mid-level management should have been thinned with consolidation of brands and models, all salaries and bonuses are frozen.

Union wages freeze. Contracts are not opened up, but concessions can and should be made. Negotiations to alter terms for legacy costs should ensue.

ALL THREE COMPANIES NEED TO ACTIVELY PUSH FOR UNIVERSAL HEALTHCARE. When enacted, all employees top to bottom, plus retirees need to abandon company healthcare in favor of national plan. This single factor will relieve their biggest current and legacy financial burdens.

That's all I can think of now, and I'm tired. Get it done, you bastards.

Mitch Writer & The Detroit Wheels

A good column from Mitch Albom on the hypocrisy and posturing by Congress regarding the auto industry.

[h/t Bob]

This is Bull-Cit

Robert Reich wonders aloud why, now, Citibank is about to get bailed out, while the automakers are still left out in the cold...

I can't come up with a good reason, and neither can he.

936

WTF? Can anybody convince me that Wall Street isn't some combination of bed-wetting pussies, space aliens, and embezzlers? No substantive action has been taken regarding the bailout, yet the market is all over the place. Nothing bad enough actually happened to cause the 700-point drops, and nothing good enough happened to justify a 900-point gain.

It's a crock of shit.

FAIL

The bailout doesn't even get through the House. I'm no economist, but then, none of the douchebags voting on this are either. My initial reaction is the same as Friday, "Good."

Again, the more I read about this "compromise plan" the worse it looked—even if Krugman and others thought it was worth passing. I don't see any reason why taking some time to make sure what passes is RIGHT instead of just QUICK is a problem.

Taking a bit more time to weigh options might give me a chance to find out what the hell might be wrong with this plan, because it sounds far preferable to this bailout to me.

Based on Paulson's original proposal, this whole thing reeked of the White House demanding the whole damn solar system when all they really want is the planet. Negotiations ensue and when the dust clears, the Dems stand around patting each other on the back for getting the GOP to "settle" for the Earth and the Moon.