Get Calling -- Beggars Can't Be Choosers

This is your brain on dope
John McCain on 60 Minutes last night.
"I think the [bank] deregulation was probably helpful to the growth of our economy."

Contacting Congress

You can get the telephone numbers of your Congressperson & Senators at this link.

I just finished my calls, and didn't get one busy signal.

Get calling, people!

I made two points:

(1) No blank check for those crooks on Wall Street, and

(2) Don't include foreign banks in the bailout!

-- Foreign banks like Phil Gramm's UBS Bank -- a Swiss bank! -- have lobbied to be included in the bailout proposal, and yesterday Treasury Secretary Hank Paul[Son of a Bitch] said he would be in favor of that.

I Approve This Message

Flickr user Paul Keleher: Vote No sign

No. Blank. Checks. For. Crooks.

Thers at Eschaton:

I think everyone who reads this blog who's American, first thing on Monday morning, needs to call their Representatives and Senators and say: No. Blank. Checks. For. Crooks.

Be as polite as you can be and don't use bad words. Personally, this injunction may limit the duration of my calls to under a thirtieth of a second, or shorter.

TO CLARIFY. Look, right now the choice is, Bush's Plan, or Something Else. Kill Bush's Plan now, worry about Something Else later.

This is Not a Liquidity Problem

Another pithy explanation of the current financial crisis from Duncan Black:

[T]he problem is that lots of bad loans were made, lots of people made highly leveraged investments in those bad loans, and still more people bet on those loans by insuring them. The loans are bad. The mortgages are not going to be repaid in full. Housing prices are not going to magically shoot up 50% over the next 6 months. People gambled and lost and now the Democrats are racing to bail them all out.

When you hear member of Congress on TV enthusiastically talking about taking over these illiquid assets and selling them, remember: They're worthless paper.

The houses weren't worth what the mortgage documents said.

The homeowners can't pay the mortgages.

When the government takes over the properties, they're going to sold in a fire sale as real estate prices tank.

Republican shell game. Democrats fall for it every time.

The Financial Crisis Explained

By my favorite economist Duncan Black (sorry, Krugman, you're 2nd) at Eschaton:

The Bag Holders

The mystery all along throughout all of this is who would be missing the seat when the music stopped, who would be left holding the bag.

This is not a liquidity crisis. It's an insolvency crisis. People made bad loans, and other people made hugely leveraged bets on those loans, and still more people insured those bets.

And now the taxpayer gets the bill.

WHEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE

The Stupid, It Burns

OMG

Just watching Campbell Brown's terrible CNN "show" with her very knowledgeable guests.

Ali Velshi just said that ultimately, a taxpayer bailout like the one we had during the S&L bailout of the 1980s won't cost taxpayers any money, because the market will rebound and regain all its value. (So that 1.4 trillion we taxpayers spent propping up the empty shells the S&L thiefs like John McCain's big buddy Charles Keating and George W. Bush's brother Neil (Silverado S&L) left in their wake? Nothing. Nothing!)

What was that song they used to play on MTV? Money for nothing, and chicks for free.

At that point anything seemed more honest and plausible, so I'm watching Colin Farrell flounce through Alexander.

They think you're stupid. Prove you're not. Vote Obama '08.

Cheap Like Me

flickr

Get Rich Slowly: Festival of Frugality #75

Welcome to the 75th edition of the Festival of Frugality. Here you’ll find a mass of money-saving tips from 44 different bloggers. I’ve organized the entries into broad subject areas, and noted my favorites with a happy star: *. Thanks to everyone who participated! (And tune in next week at Blogging Away Debt where Tricia will host the 76th installment of this roadshow.)

hat tip to The Consumerist