(no subject)

[sophiaserpentia]

I'm under the weather, so i'm just phoning it in today. But this, i had to link to. At first i wanted to make sure it wasn't a spoof site or something.

Forbes.com reports, about the $700B cost of the mortgage bailout:

"It's not based on any particular data point," a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com Tuesday. "We just wanted to choose a really large number." (thanks, mariacotto, the_recession)

We just wanted to choose a really large number. There you have it, folks... quantitative truthiness.

ETA. mariacotto also also posts this: Asia Needs Deal to Prevent Panic Selling of U.S. Debt. If China and Japan blink, won't buy any more US Treasury bonds, and try to sell some of the ones they're holding, that mortgage bailout can have any number on it that Congress or the president want to put on it, it won't happen.

Comments

[squigglefish.livejournal.com]

"One of the ironies about this financial crisis is that it makes action on poverty look utterly achievable. It would cost $5bn (£2.7bn) to save six million children's lives.

"World leaders could find 140 times that amount for the banking system in a week. How can they tell us that action for the poorest is too expensive?"

[idealforcolors.livejournal.com]

I am feeling like we're living Dr. Strangelove right now, everyone in the government is either crazy or has no clue what they're doing or both. It's scary.

[kittenkissies.livejournal.com]

Was there anything from this administration that WAS NOT TOTALLY FUCKED UP?????? SHIT

i saw that too,,,

[merlot-winters.livejournal.com]

and my jaw hit the floor. And they seriously want us to approve of this plan?

Paulson is a wall-screet hack who buddied his way to the top of treasury and is now deeply in over his head.