I watched him at lunch , and every day I am thankful he is in the White House giving this country a chance to return to fiscal sanity. All you have to do is look North of the border where the Canadian banking and insurance industries are fully regulated in the interest of the consumer not the other way round

But what about my BONUS????!!! I'm the BEST and the BRIGHTEST!!! Really, I am!!!!

Alright, I *know* that the phrase "holding the bag" doesn't mean anything dirty...but it still makes me giggle like a 7th Grader every time I see it.

Last week, on Countdown, I think it was Robert Reich who said that companies should not be allowed to get so big "they cannot fail," and that makes sense: why should one company, even if it isn't run by greedheads and egomaniacs, become so powerful it controls and can destroy the national/international economies? Could there be an kind of anti-trust legislation -- forgive me, I am not a lawyer or political scientist -- or anti-chop-up-derivitatives-into-worthless-confetti-in-everybody's-backyard law?

Well Obama, tell that to your fucking tax cheat at the treasury dept. He's the one trying to prop up his wall st. friends.

Didn't Obama say "foot the bill" not "fit the bill"?

neilt:

Thanks for the laugh. Now _I'm_ ready to giggle at the phrase.

Steve, Your post is dead on.

Ask yourself this:

When was the last time a Democrat and a Democratic congress found themselves pressured from the left by the public (and to an extent) the press to get tough on corporate culture? Sure this controversy may cost the Democrats a few point in the polls, but it is a year and a half until the next federal elections. On the plus side, this has really given the Democrats the opening to get things done. I am not saying nationalization per se... but let me tell you, the conversation has changed enough over the last few months that I don't think the word would stir most to blink.

After The One, via Timmy G, opposed... er, tougher regulation just five weeks ago? What horse crap.

And, rather than a straightforward fix, let's create another regulatory agency, probably to further obfuscate the issue. (Which it won't for other G20 countries, per their complaints of last week.) And, it's more government by ad hoc.

Yep, that's a return to sanity, John R.

(1) Non-discretionary countercyclical reserve policy
(2) Structural regulation (limit concentration of deposits and assets)
(3) RICO prosecutions of rating agencies and insolvent banks
(4) Throw Geithner and Summers into the volcano
(5) Draconian revolving-door restrictions
(6) Mandatory public disclosure for all written lobbying material and minutes of spoken contacts

Nothing less can salvage his presidency

Alright, I *know* that the phrase "holding the bag" doesn't mean anything dirty...but it still makes me giggle like a 7th Grader every time I see it.

Posted by: neilt

Well, at least he didn't say he wanted to "teabag the White House".

Vlad, sounds like a good list. A damn good list.

Could Congress give him authority to conscript people with expertise needed to address the current crisis? That would be all the leverage he'd need to get the bonus babies to fall in line: "Here, i'll give you 10% of your bonus now, 40% once you've cleared the books at AIG, and make the remaining 50% a contribution in your name to the Unemployment Insurance trust fund. If you'd rather sue me, fine - see you in court, and then get in line behind AIG's other creditors; maybe after attorney fees & years slogging through the courts you'll walk away with something. And if you threaten to quit, that's okay, too, because i'll draft you the next day & you'll be right back here drawing the same pay as a buck private in the Army. So, what do you think?"

So easy to "comment" so difficult to govern. Some humility on this blog would be greatly appreciated. The issues are far too naunced to be treated with a sledge hammer.

AIG should be seized, dismantled and sold off.

The insurance/reinsurance bits can be kept stable somehow, but the investment group should be nuked if it hasn't been already.

Any $ for $ payments to holders of Credit Default Swaps should be clawed back and then settled at much less on the dollar in a bankruptcy court.

Somebody is getting BILLIONS of taxpayer booty for nothing.

My guess is Goldman Sachs.

I'm an Obama fan, but his financial team is dirty IMHO. They need to go.

I can almost hear all the lobbyists scurrying around like cockroaches to blunt any new regulations. Meanwhile, from ThinkProgress "A group of eight centrist Senate Democrats �is quietly maneuvering to keep open the option of vetoing two of President Barack Obama�s most ambitious agenda items this year � climate change and health care reform.� The group, which includes Sens. Mary Landrieu (D-LA) and Blanche Lincoln (D-AR), are seeking to kill efforts to pass climate and health care legislation through a budget reconciliation, which requires only 51 votes. Do we really need the Senate anymore?

>>>WHAM

That was me hitting Scott F. with a sledgehammer.

SocraticGadfly appears to be actually proud of his posts.

"The Pivot"? What the heck kind of post name is that? Sounds like the name of a poem written by a deaf mute and read by a moron.

Mark H, @19:25,

Would you rather "The Pirouette"?