$700 Billion: "We just wanted to choose a really large number"

If you didn't catch George Bush's address to the nation, don't worry, there wasn't much to miss. Basically he said that too many people screwed up on their mortgages, causing his buddies to lose out on mortgage securities. So if we don't give them money to get rid of the bad securities, the economy will go from here to the 7th ring of hell. One thing George forgot to mention were the facts of how this whole thing was going to work and he didn't answer something on the minds of many, why $700 billion?

Well a Treasury spokeswoman did that for him:

In fact, some of the most basic details, including the $700 billion figure Treasury would use to buy up bad debt, are fuzzy.

"It's not based on any particular data point," a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com Tuesday. "We just wanted to choose a really large number."

Wow. If it wants to see a bailout bill passed soon, the administration's going to have to come up with some hard answers to hard questions. Public support for it already seems to be waning. According to a Rasmussen Reports poll released Tuesday, 44% of those surveyed oppose the administration's plan, up from 37% Monday.

Hmm, I don't know about you, but that doesn't give me much confidence. In fact, nothing the Administration is doing right now gives me anything but the chills. Giant giveaways to the rich aren't going to solve anything. If there is any money going to fix this, it should be directed at homeowners.

One thing in particular pissed me off last night about that speech. Bush talked about loving the free market and if it screws up then let business pay the price, but if it screws up really bad, then we have to save it. No wait, that wasn't the worst of it. Oh yeah, I remember now. He said that the democratic capitalist society is still the greatest thing out there. Well Mr. Bush, this isn't democratic capitalism, its socialist corporatism.

Paulson Takes His Cue From Nigerian Scam Artists

Almost everyone with an email box has received spam messages that offer too-good-to-be-true proposals that "guarantee" millions in profit. All you have to do is send a small amount of money to Mr. So and so from xxx bank and you are on you way to living like a millionaire. I feel bad for the few unfortunate suckers that actually believe that garbage and lose money. Of course, it'll be nowhere near as devastating if Congress believes the junk that just showed up in their inbox.

From RawStory:

Dear American:

I need to ask you to support an urgent secret business relationship with a transfer of funds of great magnitude.

I am Ministry of the Treasury of the Republic of America. My country has had crisis that has caused the need for large transfer of funds of 800 billion dollars US. If you would assist me in this transfer, it would be most profitable to you.

I am working with Mr. Phil Gram, lobbyist for UBS, who will be my replacement as Ministry of the Treasury in January. As a Senator, you may know him as the leader of the American banking deregulation movement in the 1990s. This transactin is 100% safe.

This is a matter of great urgency. We need a blank check. We need the funds as quickly as possible. We cannot directly transfer these funds in the names of our close friends because we are constantly under surveillance. My family lawyer advised me that I should look for a reliable and trustworthy person who will act as a next of kin so the funds can be transferred.

Please reply with all of your bank account, IRA and college fund account numbers and those of your children and grandchildren to wallstreetbailout@treasury.gov so that we may transfer your commission for this transaction. After I receive that information, I will respond with detailed information about safeguards that will be used to protect the funds.

Yours Faithfully Minister of Treasury Paulson

Those of us that use our cerebral cortex would hit the delete button instantly, yet Congress is actually taking its time on this crap. If they are seriously that dumb, I'm going to draft my own Nigerian letter, stash a billion or two in my bank account and retire to some place tropical. This bailout/giveaway/scam has no business being on the table for discussion.

Congress should get a group of real, independent economist and draft a proposal that will put the American people first and the bankers who put us in this mess dead last, where they belong. Actually, they probably belong in jail. I wouldn't mind some of my taxpayer dollars going to keep them in lockup, far from being able to influence the financial markets.