Yes, they were sellers (if they were buyers, they'd be the richest corporation in the world by now).
Did anyone see mini-me's performance live at Clowngress today?
Haven't seen much about it, just this blurb:
Paulson's `Chump' Kashkari May Ruin Christmas, Congressman Says
By John Brinsley and Rebecca Christie
Nov. 14 (Bloomberg) -- On Capitol Hill today, Neel Kashkari became the ``chump'' who stole Christmas.
Kashkari, who oversees the Treasury's $700 billion financial rescue plan, came under fire at a congressional hearing, notably by Maryland Democrat Elijah Cummings. Cummings was angry about reports American International Group Inc., which got an expanded $150 billion government bailout this week, is setting aside $503 million in compensation for executives.
``I'm just wondering how you feel about an AIG giving $503 million worth of bonuses on the one hand, and accepting $154 billion from hard-working taxpayers,'' Cummings asked Kashkari. ``What really bothers me is all these other people who are lining up. They say, well, is Kashkari a chump?''
Kashkari, who was selected by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson as interim head of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, told the panel that he was ``outraged'' when he first read the reports. Then he learned AIG has set aside the money to eliminate an incentive to leave the insurer, he said.
``I'm not defending it,'' he said.
Cummings went further, saying Kashkari's decisions will determine whether consumers will have a happy holiday.
``Every decision that you make you think about those folks who are losing their jobs and who are in pain and who are not going to have a decent Christmas,'' Cummings said. ``They're going to probably be sitting under the Christmas tree with no presents.''
Wife's Permission
Cummings didn't seem to be in a hurry to have Kashkari leave the job, asking him whether he'd stay on to manage TARP for the next administration. Kashkari responded that he'd be ``honored'' to be asked to serve, with the caveat that ``I'd have to ask my wife.''
Dennis Kucinich, chairman of a House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee, repeatedly interrupted the Treasury official during the more than two-hour session, criticizing Paulson's decision this week to abandon the TARP's original intent of purchasing toxic mortgage assets from financial firms.
Paulson two days ago said he was shifting the focus of the program to relieve pressures on consumer credit. The reversal came with two months left before the end of the Bush administration and the inauguration of President-elect Barack Obama.
`Threw it Away'
``The secretary just essentially took some scissors and cut it out and threw it away,'' Kucinich said. ``Maybe this is some kind of game to some people in the administration. They're on their way out of office and they just feel they can do whatever they want.''
The Treasury has committed $290 billion of the $350 billion already allocated through capital injections to banks and AIG. The four attending members of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee's subcommittee on domestic policy accused Treasury of picking ``winners and losers'' by giving loans to healthy banks to use in buying smaller ones.
``All of a sudden, the Treasury sent a signal to the banks: `Forget about it. We're going to give you the money you want and you do what you want with it,''' Kucinich said.
Kashkari, 35, said his department isn't in charge of bank oversight, and that financial regulators are working to ensure participating firms use capital to increase lending.
Even as they accused his department of not paying enough attention to homeowners struggling to avoid foreclosure, members of the panel acknowledged that Kashkari was taking heat for the Treasury as a whole.
``I guess you sort of got a taste of how Mel Gibson felt in the last scenes of `Braveheart,''' California Republican Brian Bilbray said, referring to when Gibson gets strung up on a rack. ``You're probably the best spokesman the administration has. You've come across with more credibility than anyone else that I've heard.'' |
