And Yet They Still Believe Him

Bush lies over and over and over… Yet they still believe him. It’s like some perverse version of the Boy Who Cried Wolf.

From The complete (though ever-changing) elite consensus over the financial collapse by Glenn Greenwald:

Leave aside for the moment whether this gargantuan nationalization/bailout scheme is "necessary" in some utilitarian sense. One doesn't have to be an economics expert in order for several facts to be crystal clear:

First, the fact that Democrats are on board with this scheme means absolutely nothing. When it comes to things the Bush administration wants, Congressional Democrats don't say "no" to anything. They say "yes" to everything. That's what they're for.

They say "yes" regardless of whether they understand what they're endorsing. They say "yes" regardless of whether they've been told even the most basic facts about what they're being told to endorse. They say "yes" anytime doing so is politically less risky than saying "no," which is essentially always and is certainly the case here. They say "yes" whenever the political establishment -- meaning establishment media outlets and the corporate class that funds them -- wants them to say "yes," which is the case here. And they say "yes" with particular speed and eagerness when told to do so by the Serious Trans-Partisan Republican Experts like Hank Paulson and Ben Bernake (or Mike McConnell and Robert Gates and, before them, Donald Rumsfeld and Colin Powell).

So nothing could be less reassuring or more meaningless than the fact that the Democratic leadership has announced that what they heard scared them so much that they are certain all of this is necessary -- whatever "all this" might be (and does anyone think that they know what "this" even is?). It may be "necessary" or may not be, but the fact that Congressional Democrats are saying this is irrelevant, since they would not have done anything else -- they're incapable of doing anything else -- other than giving their stamp of approval when they're told to.

Read more here.

From Thoughts On Sunday Bobbleheads by tristero:

The Republicans are also playing politics. They believed it is necessary, before actually addressing the crisis in real terms, to make sure they are carefully positioned as the "protectors of the American people" advocating a "clean" solution. Given the shared sense of imminent crisis requiring immediate action, the oversight, compensation limits, and "reciprocity" - whatever that is - put on this bill will be limited. In other words, Congress is about to hand the Bush administration the biggest blank check they have received to date.

And finally, I am confident that the American people will greatly benefit from this. Which American people? After 8 years of Bushism, you have to ask? Why, those who caused this crisis and who exploited this crisis, of course. They will slurp up the trillion dollars of our hard-earned money that's gonna be served up on a silver platter faster than you can say "Americans are suckers if they vote Republican."

Update from digby: I just have to add that when I heard Paulson say this bail out was actually going to make money for the government, I couldn't help but remember Paul Wolfowitz assuring us that the Iraq war would pay for itself.

Trust 'em?

Read more here.

From Before We Jump In by Josh Marshall:

There are subjects I know a lot about and others I know very little about. And the high-wire financial mess we're currently in falls clearly into the latter category. But I know enough to be troubled that we appear ready to give upwards of a trillion dollars in unfettered and unreviewable spending authority to the ... let's face it, the Bush administration, the folks who did such a bang up job in Iraq and New Orleans.

This morning a friend told me it's like the Iraq War all over again -- Shock & Awe, followed by an occupation of Wall Street, and all with no exit plan.