Bush - Caught Red-Handed In A Lie

The joke of the day comes from the AP and MSNBC:

"WASHINGTON - An impatient White House is serving notice on banks receiving billions of dollars in federal help to quit hoarding the money and start making more loans."

Oh really?

Let's see.

Your Treasury Secretary (you know, a guy you appointed and can fire?) put together the TARP/EESA bill, a three-page document that gave him plenary authority to do whatever the hell he wanted with the $700 billion.

You and he then made a half-dozen appearances on national television for the express purpose of twisting the arms of Congress so as to force it to pass over the strong objections of the American people.

Congress was told that if they attempted to restrict the use of the funds you would veto the bill.

We the people, in our phone calls, letters and faxes both to you and to Congress, said that we disapproved - that Hank Paulson would abuse this power and the banks would abuse our (not your) money.

Paulson in fact did exactly that.

He gave out $125 billion of that money in the form of "equity injections" to these banks without requiring in the form of contact that:

• They not pay out any of it in bonuses, dividends, or executive compensation.
• That they not use it to acquire other companies.
• That they agree to verifiable means of showing that they have used it to make loans into the economy.

The banks in fact are using the money for bonuses and acquisitions, and aren't making loans - exactly as we the people said would happen, and which your political appointee enabled through his explicit actions.

Oh, and speaking of those contracts, where are they?  Government in the sunshine?  Yeah, right - this is why the two contracts we have seen for services contracted had the pay sections blacked out.

What's even better is this tidbit:

"Indeed, the government approved PNC Financial Services Group Inc. to receive $7.7 billion in return for company stock and, at the same time, PNC said it was acquiring National City Corp. for $5.58 billion."

Got that?  Treasury approved $7.7 billion for PNC knowing full well they were going to use nearly all of it to acquire National City, another bank (that is, a competitor.) 

In other words we now have proof that Treasury is doling out money knowing full well it won't be used for lending.

And who does Hank Paulson work for Mr. President? 

That would be you.  He is a direct report.

President Bush, you're embarrassing yourself, The Republican Party, The White House and The United States of America.

The way you express disapproval with what has happened is to summarily fire your stooge Hank Paulson who has intentionally violated what you claim is the purpose for that $700 billion dollars in taxpayer funds - on national television.

This is what you do if your pique is real and not some sort of gaudy show for the American Public and press, praying that the public won't take out the fact that $70 billion of the bailout money was siphoned off into bonuses on Republicans in another week at the voting booth (good luck with that, by the way, given the market's reaction to your idiocy.  Speaking of which, that's a very nice stock market crash Paulson and Bernanke caused with the passage of the EESA, no?)

But instead of doing what any executive does when his or her subordinate screws up to such a colossal degree, blowing $700 billion of the firm's (in this case, the taxpayers) money on what amount to beer and hookers, you instead show up in the press to "chastise" the banks and urge that they do that which your stooge did not require (but could have) and in fact which Treasury has said they did not include in their demands because it would limit participation in the program.

In other words, that these banks are not lending the money was no accident.

Henry Paulson omitted these terms knowing full well the banks would not lend and you have full knowledge of this fact - and that's just from what Treasury has said in public!

Your Treasury Secretary shoveled taxpayer money at banks so they could pay out $70 billion in bonuses and make acquisitions, he did so with full knowledge that this was going to happen, and he still has his job that he holds at your pleasure.

The American public has this to say to you Mr. President and your false claim of "impatience":