Friday, November 14, 2008

 

Hank Paulson Is a Bald (-Faced) Liar: I Have Proof

Here is an ABC story (HT2EPJ) reporting on Paulson's sudden change of heart regarding how his requested $700 billion "Troubled Asset Relief Program" (TARP) would now not involve any troubled assets:

So, is this the biggest bait and switch in American history? There will certainly be critics who say that Paulson and the Bush Administration were disingenuous when they were selling Congress and the American public on the program back in September. And they’d probably be right. Paulson said today, he knew when the bill was signed the purchase of trouble assets wasn’t the right solution to the problem.


(Incidentally, if someone can point me to a direct quote from Paulson--preferably from an official transcript--that would be great. Paulson's defenders could argue that the ABC reporter is fudging what he actually said.)

Assuming the statement above is true, and that Paulson really did just admit that he knew purchasing "toxic" mortgage derivatives wasn't the solution when the bill was signed, then the following clip casts our Treasury Secretary in a less than ideal light, wouldn't you say?




Comments:
The Blackadder Says:

This raises the old lawyer's question: was he lying then or is he lying now. I would vote for now, but really, who knows.
 
Here's your proof Bob:

"During the two weeks that Congress considered the legislation, market conditions worsened considerably. It was clear to me by the time the bill was signed on October 3rd that we needed to act quickly and forcefully, and that purchasing troubled assets – our initial focus – would take time to implement and would not be sufficient given the severity of the problem. In consultation with the Federal Reserve, I determined that the most timely, effective step to improve credit market conditions was to strengthen bank balance sheets quickly through direct purchases of equity in banks." - Treasury press release dated 11/12/08

http://www.ustreas.gov/press/releases/hp1265.htm
 
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