BernieHund: The Political Watchdog

Last night Tommy Smothers, at the Emmy Awards, hit the nail on the head when he said, “Truth is what you get others to believe.”

So, what is the truth behind the bail out, buy out, rescue, or whatever term you choose to use? No one knows. That is the truth I believe.

Yesterday as Paulson made the rounds of all the morning talk shows trying to truth us into believing that we are on the verge of Apocalypse Now said that other countries were talking about helping the US with the financial crisis.

Today

The United States, having expanded its proposed rescue of the financial sector to include foreign banks, has not yet found any other country willing to join the landmark bailout.

Apparently, they didn’t buy into the “truth.”

“There’s a view in Europe that this is a U.S.-made problem, and that it should be solved in the U.S.,” said Charles H. Dallara, the managing director of the Institute for International Finance, a group of 340 global banks.

Back on the home front, it appears that the Democrats are trying to hold ground on making a few changes to “The Proposal.” Of course, we know from past experience that they always come out strong and fold under pressure. Maybe I’m not looking from the right angle, but it seems that more often than not, when it gets down to the nitty gritty, the Dems don’t have the grit.

Scrambling for a swift deal on the $700 billion bailout for failing financial firms, key Democrats and Bush administration officials agreed Monday to include mortgage help for beleaguered homeowners but wrangled over other issues, including “golden parachutes” for executives who benefit from the unprecedented rescue.

Democrats demanded that the measure limit pay packages for executives of companies helped by the biggest financial rescue since the Great Depression. The administration was balking at that, and also at a proposal by Democrats to let judges rewrite mortgages to lower bankrupt homeowners’ monthly payments.

It looks as if the current administration, with four months left to feather the nests of friends and big business, just can’t grasp the concept that if a CEO runs a company to ruin he/she shouldn’t be rewarded for doing so. Of course, Bush is still getting paid for being President and he has successfully run an entire nation to the edge of bankruptcy. And, let’s face it folks, when the idiot returns to the village he will take one hell of a “severance” package with him. So, there. His nest is feathered and the American taxpayers will pay for his mistakes for life.

The real test of the bail out rhetoric seemed to fail today. It’s getting harder and harder to sell the “truth.” The stock market dropped like a rock today.

Wall Street wasn’t comforted by the progress of the talks. The Dow Jones industrials plummeted 372 points, oil prices soared $25 a barrel at one point and gold prices surged anew as investors searched for a safe place to park their money.

Phil Gramm, John McCain’s economic advisor and now the head of UBS in the US, recently said that America is a country of “whiners” and that our economic crisis was a “mental recession.” Who is whining now, Phil?