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When it was Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis' turn to testify and tell the world how the USGov was threatening poor little and weak BoA, the mainstream media afforded the story the same amount of coverage as the Michael Jackson funeral.
But when Paulson testifies about threatening the US Congress into backing his bailout plan, it gets almost no coverage at all.
That's real, deep politics my friends, not the left~right paradigm that keeps everyone distracted from the FIRE.
This is it, one source - ABC News.com continues to the very best of the mainstream websites.
No other coverage. Where is Fox? Where is CNN? What about the New York Times or Post? Nowhere to be found.
I guess this isn't a big deal...
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Business/s...8100996&page=1
The Independent (UK):
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/bu...r-1750076.html
an obscure blurb on USAtoday.com, someone was paying attention: http://content.usatoday.com/topics/q...0A06DLfDp4Jq/2
Goldman Hank's prepared testimony:
http://oversight.house.gov/documents/20090715180923.pdf
But when Paulson testifies about threatening the US Congress into backing his bailout plan, it gets almost no coverage at all.
That's real, deep politics my friends, not the left~right paradigm that keeps everyone distracted from the FIRE.
This is it, one source - ABC News.com continues to the very best of the mainstream websites.
No other coverage. Where is Fox? Where is CNN? What about the New York Times or Post? Nowhere to be found.
I guess this isn't a big deal...
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Business/s...8100996&page=1
Paulson told lawmakers that he knew the situation last fall was dire, but attempted to avoid being too explicit in public.
"We didn't want to overly scare people and make it worse," he said, but the government feared that "a meltdown of the system could lead to chaos."
And so ensued the massive taxpayer bailout. But rather than purchase toxic assets off the banks' balance sheets -- as the program was originally designed to do -- Paulson quickly shifted gears and instead injected money into financial institutions.
"We needed to do something quickly, and the way we were able to do something quickly and make a difference, and make a dramatic difference, and prevent something very dire from happening was to make the change and inject capital," he said.
"You're talking about how you guys saved the economy and saved the world," responded an exasperated Burton. "We do have a meltdown going on right now!"
"We didn't want to overly scare people and make it worse," he said, but the government feared that "a meltdown of the system could lead to chaos."
And so ensued the massive taxpayer bailout. But rather than purchase toxic assets off the banks' balance sheets -- as the program was originally designed to do -- Paulson quickly shifted gears and instead injected money into financial institutions.
"We needed to do something quickly, and the way we were able to do something quickly and make a difference, and make a dramatic difference, and prevent something very dire from happening was to make the change and inject capital," he said.
"You're talking about how you guys saved the economy and saved the world," responded an exasperated Burton. "We do have a meltdown going on right now!"
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/bu...r-1750076.html
Making his first appearance on Capitol Hill since leaving office, the former Treasury secretary Hank Paulson said it was important at the time not to reveal the extent of officials' concerns, for fear it would "terrify the American people and lead to an even bigger problem".
Mr Paulson testified to the House Oversight Committee on the Bush administration's unpopular $700bn (£426bn) bailout of Wall Street, which was triggered by the failure of Lehman Brothers last September. In the days that followed, a run on some of the safest investment vehicles in the financial markets threatened to make it impossible for people to access their savings.
Paul Kanjorski, a Pennsylvania Democrat, asked Mr Paulson to reveal details of officials' concerns, which were relayed to Congress in hasty conference calls last year. The calls included discussion of law and order and whether it would be possible to feed the American people, and for how long, according to Mr Kanjorski.
"In a world where information can flow, money can move with the speed of light electronically, I looked at the ripple effect, and looked at when a financial system fails, a whole country's economic system can fail," Mr Paulson said. "I believe we could have gone back to the sorts of situations we saw in the Depression. I try not to use hyperbole. It's impossible to prove now since it didn't happen."
The Oversight committee is investigating the takeover of Merrill Lynch by Bank of America, a deal forged in the desperate weekend that Lehman Brothers failed, and which later required government support because of Merrill's spiralling losses.
Mr Paulson defended putting pressure on Bank of America when it had last-minute doubts about the deal in December. Not to have done so could have rekindled the "financial havoc" the bailout had calmed.
Mr Paulson testified to the House Oversight Committee on the Bush administration's unpopular $700bn (£426bn) bailout of Wall Street, which was triggered by the failure of Lehman Brothers last September. In the days that followed, a run on some of the safest investment vehicles in the financial markets threatened to make it impossible for people to access their savings.
Paul Kanjorski, a Pennsylvania Democrat, asked Mr Paulson to reveal details of officials' concerns, which were relayed to Congress in hasty conference calls last year. The calls included discussion of law and order and whether it would be possible to feed the American people, and for how long, according to Mr Kanjorski.
"In a world where information can flow, money can move with the speed of light electronically, I looked at the ripple effect, and looked at when a financial system fails, a whole country's economic system can fail," Mr Paulson said. "I believe we could have gone back to the sorts of situations we saw in the Depression. I try not to use hyperbole. It's impossible to prove now since it didn't happen."
The Oversight committee is investigating the takeover of Merrill Lynch by Bank of America, a deal forged in the desperate weekend that Lehman Brothers failed, and which later required government support because of Merrill's spiralling losses.
Mr Paulson defended putting pressure on Bank of America when it had last-minute doubts about the deal in December. Not to have done so could have rekindled the "financial havoc" the bailout had calmed.
Goldman Hank's prepared testimony:
http://oversight.house.gov/documents/20090715180923.pdf