Let's do "bonings" first - that is, what the Illinois Governor is apparently going to get (assuming the allegations against him are true, of course.)
"At a news conference in Chicago on Tuesday, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald called it a sad day for the citizens of Illinois and alleged that the governor tried to "auction off" the Senate seat "to the highest bidder.""
Surprised? I'm not.
Off to the big house for you fine Sir. Don't drop the soap.
Now let's talk about who's not going there, and ask why:
"WASHINGTON (AP) — When the Washington Nationals played their first-ever baseball game in the nation's capital in April 2005, two congressmen who oversaw mortgage giant Freddie Mac had choice seats — courtesy of the very company they were supposed to be keeping an eye on.
Hmmmm.... read that whole article. Then consider all the "cut rate" loans that were disclosed this fall that were given to various Congressfolk by Countrywide, which of course imploded and sold billions of trash loans to Fraudy and Phoney.
Hope springs eternal that the FBI will have many more similar investigations, and that this den of vipers will find itself missing a few heads - or at least, getting a few forcible posterior examinations.
I'm not holding my breath on this, by the way, given that I'm willing to bet that if you actually went after all the fraudsters in Congress (and other organs of government) related to this financial mess you'd have to lock up half of Washington DC.
If President-Elect Obama really stands for Change We Can Believe In then prosecuting all these scamsters will become one of his top priorities come January.
Hope may not be an investment strategy, but it'll do for now when it comes to Washington corruption. We'll revisit this come early February once President Obama has had a chance to sleep in the White House for a week or so.
Next, on the automakers. News is out that an "agreement in principle" has been reached on a short-term loan package for GM and Chrysler.
"Dec. 9 (Bloomberg) -- Congressional Democrats and White House negotiators agreed on the outlines of a $15 billion plan to give General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC federal loans to stay in business while requiring them to restructure their operations.
A senior administration official said tonight the White House reached an agreement in concept with lawmakers and that negotiations on details were continuing."
There are a few interesting details in the story, two of which caught my eye immediately - appointment of an "auto czar" and the ability to call these credit lines if the deadline for a final and complete restructuring plan, which I presume would include a requirement that bondholders take a monstrous and voluntary cramdown-style haircut, is not reached by the end of March.
I like that. A lot. You don't get your act together and we pull the checkbook and force your butt to go in front of a bankruptcy judge.
Now let's go back and restructure the EESA/TARP to demand the same of all the banks that Paulson and his pals gave $330 billion of our money to - thus far!
Odds on that?
Again - is President-Elect Obama REALLY "Change We Can Believe In", or was that just more hot air and LIES in the heat of a political campaign?
Words are worthless when they come out of a politicians's mouth Mr. President; I pay attention to deeds.
I do understand that the nation can only have one President at a time, so I'll give 'ya until, oh, February 1st before I pass judgment on whether you bamboozled the nation or really meant what you said.
One of the elements of that test will be whether you apply the same standards to the EESA/TARP money that is being applied to GM and Chrysler.
While you're at it, how about hauling Bernanke and his Fed into the dock for some very pointed questions about what I believe is an attempted coup d'etat, as noted last night in The Ticker. The record of the last year and a half is clear on the "crowding out" effect that occurs when The Fed starts tampering with the debt markets; should that be done to Treasuries the government's ability to fund itself via Treasury sales ends immediately and The United States Government collapses. Given the record of the last year and a half and the fact that Bernanke is not stupid, the consequences of such an action, should it be permitted, are both readily foreseeable and must be viewed as intentional.
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