Bailing with a Hole in the Bucket Despite a lot of extraneous fluff attached to the new Senate bill to rescue the markets, despite a friend's mention of this very persuasive argument in favor of immediate action, I still have to say no. This is still the "Paulsen Plan" wrapped in a bow.

NYU's Nouriel Roubini, the guy who predicted this mess two years ago to the guffaws of policy makers, put it best:

Thus, the Treasury plan is a disgrace: a bailout of reckless bankers, lenders and investors that provides little direct debt relief to borrowers and financially stressed households and that will come at a very high cost to the US taxpayer. And the plan does nothing to resolve the severe stress in money markets and interbank markets that are now close to a systemic meltdown. It is pathetic that Congress did not consult any of the many professional economists that have presented - many on the RGE Monitor Finance blog forum - alternative plans that were more fair and efficient and less costly ways to resolve this crisis. This is again a case of privatizing the gains and socializing the losses; a bailout and socialism for the rich, the well-connected and Wall Street. And it is a scandal that even Congressional Democrats have fallen for this Treasury scam that does little to resolve the debt burden of millions of distressed home owners.

When a plan to restore confidence emerges with far stronger guarentees on tax-payer protection, then, and only then, will I agree with committing 12 figure sums to the folks who caused the problem in the first place.  ¶ 10:09 PM