So Congress gave Hank Paulson the $700 billion, and the first thing he did was to take $125 billion out of the bag and give it to his pals at the nine biggest banks and investment banks in the country. Never one to display ingratitude, he gave $10 billion to Goldman Sachs, the firm he had headed before passing through the revolving door to the Treasury.
He went on to give other big financial institutions a cut of the loot, too. So generous was old Hank with the taxpayers’ money that he has now handed out $290 billion of the $350 billion that Congress authorized him to spend immediately. He has traded the money for preferred shares in the recipient companies, thereby realizing Eugene Debs’s cherished dream of bringing socialism to the United States, but – mirabile dictu – he has not spent a dime on the rotten paper whose purchase was the heart and soul of the big bailout law.
If you've been reading these posts, you already are familiar with the laments of Robert Higgs, but you'll enjoy reading this column, not only for its sarcastic wit, but to arm yourself with some facts and data with which to compose a rebuttal when you confront others who are still in denial about the craziness which has transpired in the last two months.
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