I am on quite a few mailing lists. One is from George Soros.
I had not hear much from him during this whole meltdown crisis. Finally, I received some information, but it's brief and the rest of the article is behind a firewall. Alas, I don't want to pay for a subscription. Does anyone else have one, and could they peek-in and let us know some of Soros' reasons?
Dear Friends and Colleagues:
I thought you might be interested in my opinion piece which appears in the September 25th edition of the Financial Times.
George Soros
Paulson cannot be allowed a blank cheque
By George Soros
Published: September 24 2008 20:28 | Last updated: September 24 2008 20:28
Hank Paulson’s $700bn rescue package has run into difficulty on Capitol Hill. Rightly so: it was ill-conceived. Congress would be abdicating its responsibility if it gave the Treasury secretary a blank cheque. The bill submitted to Congress even had language in it that would exempt the secretary’s decisions from review by any court or administrative agency – the ultimate fulfillment of the Bush administration’s dream of a unitary executive.
It continues:
Mr Paulson’s record does not inspire the confidence necessary to give him discretion over $700bn. His actions last week brought on the crisis that makes rescue necessary. On Monday he allowed Lehman Brothers to fail and refused to make government funds available to save AIG. By Tuesday he had to reverse himself and provide an $85bn loan to AIG on punitive terms. The demise of Lehman disrupted the commercial paper market. A large money market fund "broke the buck" and investment banks that relied on the commercial paper market had difficulty financing their operations. By Thursday a run on money market funds was in full swing and we came as close to a meltdown as at any time since the 1930s. Mr Paulson reversed again and proposed a systemic rescue.
FinancialTimes
I have my own reasons for being against this bailout, and the largest reason is that I have no confidence in Hank Paulson and the Bush Administration. None. I just hear Goldman Sachs will get billions from the AIG bailout. The whole thing makes me sick.
When I hear them saying this could not have been predicted, I know they are lying, again.
We are headed for a recession, and we might as well face it so we can start rebuilding our economy.
Sorry for short diary.