Deep Thought
Any member of Congress who looks at the plan to give Hank unchecked power to transfer $700 billion from the Treasury to his friends’ companies and has any reaction other than ‘You’ve got to be f%#@ing kidding me’ does not deserve to hold office.
Krugman opposes the plan, at least in the form presented by Henry Paulson, though he is more receptive to Chris Dodd’s version, which requires equity from the firms rescued for buying their part of the big sh$#pile.
Sebastian Mallaby, who normally favors economics for the benefit of rich folk, hates the Paulson plan too.
Brad DeLong is of a similar mind to Krugman.
In The Nation, William Greider calls the Paulson plan a, “historic swindle.”
Dean Baker, as is his wont, gets into some fairly specific proposals in some depth, which which I agree.
Robert Reich is less specific, but he does add one specific proposal: allowing primary mortgages to be modified by a bankruptcy judge, with which I also agree.
As for me, I will merely note that Henry Paulson holds hundreds of millions of dollars worth of shares on Goldman Sachs, and the idea that he get a blank check to work this is therefore nuts.