Conservative senator: Paulson may have given bailout money to friends

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Source: The Raw Story

Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) is making waves by criticizing Treasury Secretary Paulson's handling of the bailout and saying that Congress should take back whatever is left of the $700 billion "blank check" it issued to the Bush administration in October.

In a letter posted on his website, Inhofe told his Senate colleagues that he intends to push for immediate legislation that would require Congressional authorization for any further payouts.

The ultra-conservative Oklahoma Republican told the Tulsa World, "It is just outrageous that the American people don't know that Congress doesn't know how much money (Paulson) has given away to anyone. ... It could be to his friends. It could be to anybody else. We don't know. There is no way of knowing. ... He was able to get this authority from Congress predicated on what he was going to do, and then he didn't do it."

Paulson is a former CEO of the giant investment banking firm Goldman Sachs, which is assumed to be a primary beneficiary of the bailout plan. ThinkProgress warned in September, "The conflict of interest provides all the more reason for the bailout legislation in Congress to have more stringent oversight that the administration opposes."

Read more: http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Conservative_senator_Take_back_bailout_blank_1117.html

[SpiralHawk]

1. "As usual - Smirk" - Republicon crony fat cats

[KittyWampus]

2. why the hell is Inhofe making sense. I HATE when Republican neanderthals manage to say something

remotely close to truth.

[mrreowwr_kittty]

4. It's called being a day late and a dollar short

Real easy to be a conservative with convictions after the fatcats robbed us blind. Where was Inhofe when the bulk of the theft was taking place?

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

5. Even profoundly stupid/evil people ocassionally do get things right.

After all, Hitler had the Volkswagen made.

[EverHopeful]

15. Just as with Bush et al.

I've come to believe that if a republican is speaking, whatever he's saying is in his own self interest.

& off subject but i hope you will allow me a personal aside--Porsche was determined to create the Volkswagen and was, by all accounts apolitical. He had apparently been introduced to Hitler long before Hitler became Chancellor but didn't remember the meeting. Hitler used Porsche and the Volkswagen as part of his propaganda machine and and although Ferdinand Porsche and his son Ferry were both imprisoned as Nazi collaborators, Porsche was used by Hitler and, I believe, innocent of war crimes. Porsche was so determined to create a "People's car" and was so respected by his employees and by others in the automotive industry that people were willing to work with him even when he was unable to pay. I believe in my heart that Porsche was an engineering genius and would have created his People's car (albeit an internal combustion engine that is, as we know now, a planet killer) without any assistance from (or exploitation by) Hitler.

[Jackpine Radical]

21. Hitler was only evil, not stupid. Inhofe is a double-crown holder.

Fortunately for us, Inhofe's stupidity prevents him from being as fully effective at the evil as he might otherwise be.

[Frisbee]

6. I disagree...

I think Inhofe heard that Bush may leave as much as 1/2 the money for Obama to deal with. He'd say just about anything to stop that. There is not a reasonable, sensible or moral bone in that mans body.

[KittyWampus]

10. Ah, thanks for the return of a more cynical and realistic explanation.

[Veritas_et_Aequitas]

3. Late Breaking News: World Round, Bacon Delicious

Now do something about it, dammit!

[4_TN_TITANS]

11. lol.... Bacon delicious? Whoda thunk.......

I'm with you, he needs to save his breath until he's ready to actually do something about it.

[bluesmail]

7. I smell something rotten in his 'playing nicey-poo'.

I hope I am wrong, but after all he is an 'R'.

[daggahead]

39. Somehow, Inhofe must not be making money from this, which explains why he's not cool with it. n.t

[Habibi]

41. Exactly my thought.

He must not be one of Paulson's "friends."

[Algorem]

8. too bad so many believe Inhofe is like a big ball of hot air

doesn't help his credibility

[mbperrin]

9. Ya THINK????!!!

quelle surprise

[MichiganVote]

12. I take it Inhofe's not one of the friends.

[ConcernedCanuk]

13. That's a no-shit Sherlock! - - - - did someone get PAID to figure that out?

.
.
.

Murika's got a problem . . .

doh!

[Binka]

19. No Shit !!! Hey Dave How Are Ya?

Hey check out my Halloween rig! LOL!!! :hi:

[high_and_mighty]

14. Duh

Go figure.

[Swede Atlanta]

16. For once I agree with this Geriatric Neocon.....

I agree that there should have been better safeguards built into the bailout if it was going to be authorized. I can appreciate that it may not be prudent for these investments to be widely known but should be known to some one or someones accountable to Congress. The fact that Paulson has had carte blanche authority to decide how, who and when to use the money is astounding. He even changed his tune last week to say that it wasn't smart to buy up the bad assets that allegedly had caused the problem to begin with but rather to invest money in various institutions. So let's say a bank has $3BN in "questionable" assets. The value of these assets is largely unknown, the level of risk undetermined with the value of those assets depreciating daily. So rather than take these assets off their hands so that their balance sheets get a good scrubbing, we leave these troubled assets on their books. Now we take taxpayer (Joe the Plumber's assets if he was current on his taxes) money and invest in this company. The company still has the same issues they had the day before the investment, $3BN in these nebulous assets. They now have say $1BN the feds invested in them but what are they to do? This is stupid.

[RedLetterRev]

17. In another news flash, Republicans Eat Own

Kan Inhofe Haz Cheezburger wif dat saide of heffalump?

[fascisthunter]

18. and the Democratic Leadership will do nothing about it

they knew what he was going to do... and they rolled right over and once again gave what the right wanted... why? Because they share their ideology but too cowardly to come out and admit it publicly.

[baldguy]

20. Why am I not the least fucking bit surprised.

The BFEE strikes again.

WHEN WILL THESE FUCKERS BE PUT IN JAIL?

[valerief]

22. MAY HAVE? Duh! You can't change a leopard's spot. Of course, he did!!!! nt

[Blue_in_Mass]

23. Inhofe makes perfect sense, and I must applaud this stance.

For example,

Of the $20 billion that Morgan-Stanley and Goldman-Sachs got, $11 billion will go towards BONUSES for the high fliers. Extremely wealthy people getting more money for their bank accounts, straight from your pocket. It's one thing to be bitching about the government spending money on roads and postal service (like the Milton Friedman loving idiots at the University of Chicago), but another entirely to loudly complain about this theft of the national treasury by ensconced plutocrats.

[lisa58]

24. Inhofe is crazy and there is not reason to believe anything has changed.

[matcom]

25. JAIL.

For LIFE.

NOW!

[Booster]

26. Who the Hell couldn't see this coming?

[varelse]

27. Oh, you'd be surprised.

Some of them post here on a fairly regular basis :(

[liberal N proud]

28. What was his first clue?

National City denied while money given to PNC to buy National City.

Who would have ever suspected the neocons would steal from the poor for their already rich friends?

[underpants]

29. Oh so NOW you want us to have more information

Where was that the last 7 years?

[pjt7]

30. We need some real honest Democrats in the Senate

to champion this financial theft cause. Come together & let's get the details on were are money has g-o-n-e.

IMO the D's in general have been behind the 8 ball on this issue. It might have been good political jockeying, in pretending they made that bill better.. but the bottom line is they gave the devil the LOOT.

[Richard Steele]

31. K&R

[AllyCat]

32. And our complicit Congress just sat back and gave it to him

So it's all legal eagle, right? Stupid idiots. If they didn't know what he was gonna do, they are too stupid to be in Congress. If they knew what he was gonna do, they are aiding and abetting. And yeah, I know who voted for it. Ticks me off. Really ticks me off. :grr:

[Art_from_Ark]

33. All I can say is

THANK GAWD IT PASSED!!!!!!!!!

:sarcasm:

[whatdoyouthink]

34. You will see

them (pug's) all of a sudden - "fiscal responsible" but...UH past 8 yrs they all had blinders on, now that we control the purse - with I think we should beat them to the punch (cut out all pork - excessively in red states) on these issues.

[quiet.american]

35. In all the time I've been aware of Inhofe, this is the first time he sounds even remotely sensible.

[investintrains]

36. Paulson and Inhofe : 2 vultures fighting over same cadaver

Inhofe and Coburn, Oklahoma's 2 pawns of the cattle genoicde business,
with Chambliss' help criminalized peaceful vigils at slaughterhouses
.... The Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act

Paulson and Inhofe : 2 vultures fighting over same cadaver


Goldman Sachs former CEO Paulson's plan Would Give Billions from US Poor to the rich of the Royal Bank of Scotland
http://www.sundayherald.com/news/heraldnews/display.var.2453817.0.rbs_will_get_billions_in_us_bailout_of_economy.php
1
Paulson made 120 million dollars in 2006 in self appointed salary
at Goldman Sachs
2
Paulson used the IRS as his instrument of revenge against Eliot Spitzer
because Spitzer as AG had indicted Goldman Sachs
3
Paulson with 2 hats (GS CEO and President of Nature Conservancy)
turned wilderness shrines into cattle concentration camps...
4
Paulson is the author of the billionaire and other big banker bailout..
a massive theft from the poor of the US

[unkachuck]

37. hey jimmy....

....here's a clue....

"Paulson is a former CEO of the giant investment banking firm Goldman Sachs, which is assumed to be a primary beneficiary of the bailout plan."

....jimmy, you're a grown boy and a full-fledged puke....surely you understand that if you're a blue-collar Union company like the Big-3 you have to play capitalism if you get into trouble....

....BUT, if you're a connected white-collar financial service, investment or banking company you have the honor of playing Socialism and receive all the help you need with those take-overs, year-end bonus' and high-priced conference spas....

....I know this can be confusing to an old fascist, but hank-the-wank is just doing his job....

[NoSheep]

38. Really? Surely, no.

[earth mom]

40. No shit. Most of us on DU knew the score from day 1.

:argh: