Paulson Plays Dumb...Again

Posted by JCE

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During his exit interview, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson revealed that he and the administration knew more than they let on...but did nothing. His waffling on intelligence is enough to make even the most calm persons blood pressure skyrocket. Here is his latest claim:

"But we have been for some time in the frustrating situation of understanding much more than the public or even the Congress understood in terms of the magnitude of what we are facing."

Okay, so they knew but chose to do nothing? Oh wait - there's more:

"If you asked me six months ago... if I was surprised by the magnitude of the challenge, the answer is 'yes'," he said.

So they didn't know?

Yeah, I don't think so either. Henry Paulson is an incompetent buffoon who possesses more than enough experience and intelligence to understand exactly what was going on and the potential repercussions. Unlike many Americans he will not be facing a foreclosure on his house or even the nail-biting effects of being out of a job. Like most other pieces of turds in the societal pool, he will rise to the top and get picked up by an even larger group of turds to continue their money-making scams.

They (the top turds) claim that the 'average American' cannot possibly understand the intricacies of the inner workings of the financial world but they have no problem pitching their legal laden products on us using scare tactics to sop up whatever money they can meanwhile neglecting to properly educate the consumer in any way. Every last one of them sickens me.

As they say "If you are not part of the solution, you are part of the problem" and to date I have yet to see one CEO from any of the troubled institutions or anyone from the administration generate a solution that avoids directly benefiting themselves. Even the most dim witted of consumers could see that the housing market was in trouble a long time ago - obscene prices for substandard homes, nose-diving interest rates, a glut of advertisements for home refinancing and bad credit acceptance, etc. All of these things combined to create a horrific financial storm and they knew it was coming.

Of course the housing market is not the sole cause of the financial disaster. There were many other industries, such as hedge funds, created to scam even more money from the consumer. I do not understand hedge funds and neither do even the most economically astute, which leads me to think they probably border on pyramid scams and should probably be illegal or at least investigated. If you cannot adequately explain what the hell it is you do, then something is wrong. There was also the glorious default loan program designed by yet another scam artists who chose to use mortgages as their gambling tool instead of heading to Vegas or Atlantic City and gambling their own damn money.

Few people read the fine print on their mortgages or other legal contracts primarily because they do not understand them and feel that no matter what it says, they are going to end up screwed. It should not be this way - contracts should not require a law degree to determine whether or not it is fair. I have been through the initial stages of home buying and signed the 15 or so documents required to even make an offer. I have also read those pages while an impatient real estate agent waited occassionally remarking that it was just standard language in hopes that I would just breeze right through it. 90% of what I read appeared to be redundant...which always raises the red flag of suspicion for me. If it is redundant, why put it in there? I'll tell you why - because there is something just slightly different in each phrasing that may end up coming back to bite you in the ass. Between warranties, agreements, investments/banking documents right up to the return receipt for a blouse you purchased and returned - everything is written in what is quickly amounting to a foreign language.

But the ones who have disappointed me the most are Congress. During the bailout crisis the constituants made their singular thought clear - NO. Congress passed the bailout measure anyway. They made a big show of being tough and wanting to 'protect the taxpayers' then huddled together and passed the bailout package anyway. Nearly all of them have law degrees so they have a distinct advantage over the majority of us and yet when they finally made their appearance on camera, weary from hours of 'work' they told us it had to be done. Did it? So far I have yet to hear a clear explanation as to why. Furthermore I have yet to hear and explanation as to why Henry Paulson was not held accountable for his incompetence or for his end-run tactic around the legal wording in the agreement regarding the executive bonuses OR any explanation for the lack of accountability regarding 'lost' funds.

Henry Paulson, all of the financial gurus on the Bush Administration and the entire Congress should be stripped of their power and jobs without any compensation and be forced to work for their keep just like the rest of us. We deserve answers and they continue to treat us as though we ride the short bus to school.

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