INTERESTING QUOTES ON THE BAILOUT

"How much inflation has there been? From the signing of the Constitution right up until landing a man on the moon the whole American experience, every house, car, television, freeway, airplane, war... everything, cost one trillion dollars. Then consider that the debt ceiling has been raised 2 1/2 trillion dollars just this last 12 months. Do you see the value in that? Of course not; that is because you didn't get it. The rich bankers and their Wall Street friends that you are now being told you have to bail out got the lot."

--Sam Mathid

"It is just that simple. When the Secretary of the Treasury said it is too complicated and that time was critical and that no one needs to understand all this and that we just needed to give him the biggest blank check ever written in the history of the world and that he would be exempt from all prosecution and his use of these funds was final... I almost burst a blood vessel. The 700 billion dollar fund is just the start. How many times have you heard of a deal gone bad that asks for more money only to come back a while later and say they needed even more; and then more; and then more. Does anyone think it a bit odd that the very man asking for dictatorial power over the finances of these United States was the chairman of Goldman Sachs; one of the largest culprits that got us into this mess and that profited greatly in the process. We, as a country, are being asked to give a known arsonist the keys to the fire truck and then look the other way? We are being told that there is no other option but to give one of the very men who got us into this mess by unrestrained greed a blank check to spend with his cronies to fix the mess... with no oversight... and a get out of jail free card stapled to the check for good measure?"

--Larry LaBorde

"The scheme is actually pretty simple. Please forgive my primitive graphics abilities.
The fund will buy mortgages from the banks at market value, and then re-sell them back to the banks at a discount. The fund will then repurchase those mortgages from the banks, who will sell them back to the fund again. The same product (perhaps an ill-advised mortgage for a half-million dollars taken out on a house in the distant suburbs of Las Vegas) will be bought, then resold, then re-bought and re-resold in an endless spiral of profit-taking. The taxpayer will lose on every transaction, the banks robbing the treasury each time each mortgage, or package of mortgages is swapped.

It is amazing to observe the greatest transfer of wealth in history, from Main Street to Wall Street,from the many to the few. What is even more amazing is that nobody seems to be stopping it."

--breadwithcircus.com

"I was sitting at the table on Saturday night trying to figure out which bills to pay. Times are tough. I owe $25 billion on my GM Visa card and they are bitching about payment. I've been paying the minimum and the bastards just raised my interest rate to 31%. My AIG Master Card is sitting at $85 billion and they want to lower my credit limit. Like where am I supposed to raise enough money to pay that down?

My FDIC Sears card is bumping the limit at $150 billion but I may be able to hold them off for another month. It would be nice to have some money for food this month.

Then my brother-in-law Bill comes over. He's a nice guy but he's a crack addict and hits the bottle and my sister a little hard. But a nice guy at heart.

He hits me up for a loan. How can I turn him down? As I said, he's a nice guy. He needs $700 billion. Or is it trillion? Those numbers are so high I can barely cope with them. He needs $700 billion and he needs it now so he can sort out his crack problem. I can understand that, a crack problem needs sorting out.

'Here,' I say, 'Take my American Express Platinum card and punch it for the $700 billion. They may give you a little bit of a hard time but they know I'm good for it. I pay my bills mostly on time. What's $700 billion between friends?'

I know it's foolish but he really does need help with his crack problem and I want to do everything I can. My friends at American Express are sure to understand."

--Bob Moriarty

"We won the battle. Please remember this is a war."

--Mike Shedlock

And just a side note about caring from above:
"The Bush administration has abruptly halted a program that tests levels of pesticides in fruits, vegetables and other crops, arguing that the $8 million dollar a year program is too expensive."

--greendaily.com

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[October 4]

"Less than two weeks after Uncle Sam gave American International Group (AIG) an $85 billion loan - staving off financial collapse - execs from one of its insurance subsidiaries, AIG American General, gathered for a conference at the uber-swank St. Regis Monarch Beach Resort, billed as “California’s only Mobil Travel Guide Five-Star Resort,” where ocean-view rooms start at $565 a night and “world class luxury” is the rule."