Congress Told "We're Literally Maybe Days Away From A Complete Meltdown Of Our Financial System"

[Amerigo Vespucci]

Congress Told "We're Literally Maybe Days Away From A Complete Meltdown Of Our Financial System"



http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/20/washington/19cnd-cong.html?_r=1&hp=&pagewanted=print&oref=slogin

September 20, 2008
Congressional Leaders Stunned by Warnings
By DAVID M. HERSZENHORN

WASHINGTON — It was a room full of people who rarely hold their tongues. But as the Fed chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, laid out the potentially devastating ramifications of the financial crisis before congressional leaders on Thursday night, there was a stunned silence at first.

Mr. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. had made an urgent and unusual evening visit to Capitol Hill, and they were gathered around a conference table in the offices of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

“When you listened to him describe it you gulped," said Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York.

As Senator Christopher J. Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut and chairman of the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, put it Friday morning on the ABC program “Good Morning America,” the congressional leaders were told “that we’re literally maybe days away from a complete meltdown of our financial system, with all the implications here at home and globally.”

Mr. Schumer added, “History was sort of hanging over it, like this was a moment.”

When Mr. Schumer described the meeting as “somber,” Mr. Dodd cut in. “Somber doesn’t begin to justify the words,” he said. “We have never heard language like this.”

“What you heard last evening,” he added, “is one of those rare moments, certainly rare in my experience here, is Democrats and Republicans deciding we need to work together quickly.”

Although Mr. Schumer, Mr. Dodd and other participants declined to repeat precisely what they were told by Mr. Bernanke and Mr. Paulson, they said the two men described the financial system as effectively bound in a knot that was being pulled tighter and tighter by the day.

“You have the credit lines in America, which are the lifeblood of the economy, frozen.” Mr. Schumer said. “That hasn’t happened before. It’s a brave new world. You are in uncharted territory, but the one thing you do know is you can’t leave them frozen or the economy will just head south at a rapid rate.”

As he spoke, Mr. Schumer swooped his hand, to make the gesture of a plummeting bird. “You know we’d be lucky ...” he said as his voice trailed off. “Well, I’ll leave it at that.”

[sakabatou]

1. Thank you * for fucking America in the ass

[Amerigo Vespucci]

2. So much for his "legacy."

The only thing he's been interested in is buying that mansion in Houston and hitting the paid lecture circuit.

OOOOPS!

[bluesmail]

9. I thought I heard he was retiring in Abu Dhabi.

[TrogL]

13. He's bought property in Paraguay

[bluesmail]

23. He can forget that extradition policy.

Paraguay's new socialist government has deleted the policy.

[Raksha]

24. Who'd pay to hear Chimpy lecture? n/t

[HysteryDiagnosis]

3. It's not as bad as it appears on the surface, actually it's

lot worse.

[spanone]

4. and it comes of the form of a mushroom cloud...i don't believe anything from these criminals

[Inuca]

8. Did you see Dodd?

I saw him this afternoon on CNN. Do you conisder him a criminal?

[MH1]

32. I haven't seen any news that wasn't text yet....but my first reaction was the same as spanone's

I smell a big, foul, stinking rat in this thing.

Maybe the bailout is necessary, but it will really piss me off if Congress doesn't take the opportunity to impose some real regulation to prevent the crap that got us here.

I just don't think anything is ever what it is made out to be, with BushCo.

[The Traveler]

5. I'm almost through "The Shock Doctrine"

So, like, there is for some reason suspicion brewing in the back of my brain ...

I know, I know, Trav is just being paranoid again ...

:tinfoilhat: :yoiks:

[lostnfound]

39. I would feel better if I thought every Dem in congress had read it.

I'm in agreement with your paranoia.

[Inuca]

6. I am getting scared

I refuse to even try to understand financial issues beyond the dummiest of the dummies level, but still I understand enough to be scared. And even assuming that what they are trying to do is going to work, I have no idea what the longer term implications of such a huge buyout may be.

[Virginia Dare]

22. From what I heard today, if I was Obama..

I'd throw up my hands, walk away and let the repubs own this mess. We are literally fucked for probably a generation or more.

[Tangerine LaBamba]

7. And they don't have the slightest idea

of what to do about it.

It's too late. Fuckface has maxed out our credit. No one's going to bail out the US, while the US bails out AIG and backs up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

It's too late. We're all alone on this one.

Remember that famous Chinese curse: "May you live in interesting times."

[davidwparker]

10. like the dude who wrote the book, "* on the Couch" said. * has always been

a fu*k up and he is on the verge of his biggest fu*k up: the destruction of the USA.

Good one, Chimpy. You piece of sh*t.

[malaise]

11. Reminds me of what they were told when Bush planned to invade Iraq

I hope Dems are using their heads this time.

[spanone]

14. 'in the form of a mushroom cloud' i don't believe a word they spout

[malaise]

15. Fool me once...

We're smart and don't depend on lobbyists. :hi:

[XemaSab]

12. Worst president ever.

Hoover didn't preside over a terrorist attack, TWO disastrous wars, the destruction of TWO American cities.... plus the collapse of the entire economy.

We're so fucked.

[cushla_machree]

16. Will republicans own up to this ever?

Or is it going to be someone elses fault??

[Amerigo Vespucci]

18. My fundie friends blame all of this on the Democratic Congress.

I get email after email after email "reminding me" of how great things were before Mr. Reid and Ms. Pelosi ascended the throne.

And the scary part is that they BELIEVE this stuff.

Will the Republicans own up?

Never.

[Lorien]

27. That's why they "let" Dems win by a narrow margin in the last election

it's not enough for a veto proof majority-so they can't effectively do much-but it's enough to allow the repugs to have someone to BLAME. One doesn't have to have a tinfoil hat on to believe that that was their plan all along. They knew they were fucking up; big time.

[lurky]

17. All those quotes remind me of 9/11 and the runup to Iraq.

"Uncharted territory" "We need to work together quickly." etc. etc.

Whenever they start talking like this, I get the heebie jeebies. It's when they get scared that they end up selling us all out.

[aquart]

19. The CEO president did to the USA what he did to every business he ever ran.

He bankrupted us.

On edit: and then looked for someone else to bail him out.

[chill_wind]

20. "There's simply no equal to Hank".

Senate confirms Paulson as Treasury secretary
July 2006

http://www.marketwatch.com/News/Story/Story.aspx?dist=newsfinder&siteid=google&guid={5801D6FE-295A-4326-894B-ACB0454619C5}&keyword=

The Senate approved the nomination by voice vote. Bush nominated Paulson, the departing CEO of Goldman Sachs, earlier this month to replace John Snow, who has headed Treasury since 2003.

Confirmation came just hours after the Senate Finance Committee approved Paulson's nomination by unanimous voice vote. Paulson testified before the committee for around three hours in his confirmation hearing on Tuesday.

"In the world of finance and international markets there's simply no equal to Hank," said Sen. Charles Schumer, D-N.Y., who praised Paulson's experience in international finance and relationships with Chinese business leaders and government officials.

"We need someone who is seasoned. We need someone who knows markets," Schumer said.


Bush praised the Senate for its quick action.

The Paulson Payoff at the Bush Treasury Department (David Sirota, 2006)

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/david-sirota/the-paulson-payoff-at-the_b_24379.html

[leftchick]

21. aw fuck them

if they could not see this coming years ago when we did they have no business being there anymore than bushco**

:puke:

[pitohui]

25. can we hope they just don't know the diff between "literally" and "figuratively"? EOM

m

[Ghost Dog]

26. “You know we’d be lucky ...

to avoid a full-blown popular revolution."

[Tierra_y_Libertad]

28. Translation: "The economy is FUBAR. Let's milk the people to cover our asses."

Of course, they'll tell us it's for our own good. As usual.

[kgnu_fan]

29. Shock doctrine and disaster capitalism at work

Read Naomi Kline and you may connect dots

[dgibby]

34. leading up to martial law,

cancellation of elections, suspension of Congress, and the continuation of the dictatorship affectionately known as the Bush administration.:wtf:

[gulfcoastliberal]

30. I work in car sales, and people are still getting car loans

I do not see any evidence of the credit system being "frozen".

[nadinbrzezinski]

31. You mean ... not yet because of the actions that they have taken

if this goes down the route of oh 1931... those loans will not be there

[marmar]

33. This country is f**ked eight ways from Sunday......

.... We're just going to have to watch it collapse, then rebuild something better.

[Wednesdays]

35. Maybe all those troubled banks should go to you, then

:shrug:

[TwixVoy]

38. My god

I am trying to figure out if this is a joke post or not. Sadly I've concluded it is not.

When you hear about the credit system being frozen they aren't talking about a small drop in the bucket personal car loan or some consumer credit card. They are talking about the credit system between BANKS and other large organizations/governments. They are talking about the ability for a large institution to borrow $300 million dollars. Not a freaking car loan.

In order for the "economy" to function (as it is) these organizations need to be able to easily move massive amounts of money around. This is what is breaking right now.

[RagAss]

36. Was Colin Powell there with cartoons of people in bread lines???

If these fuckers told me the sun was coming up tomorrow, I'd put on three coats and kiss my loved ones goodbye !

[lonestarnot]

37. Bread my ass! Dirt cakes all around!