Tuto di Capo & Mayor for Life

Il Tuto Di Capo Paulson- Maybe it was the fact that Silvio Berlusconi was in the Capital that influenced Henry Paulson to act like a Mafia Capo ( I am Italian-American so lay off) this past Monday. The NY Times reports a remarkable behind the scenes account of what occurred when Paulson and Ben Bernanke met with the CEOs of the nation’s 9 largest banks. A single-page document was placed at each seat with each attendee being told by Paulson they would have to sign it before they left the room. This is totally fascinating as the meeting was reported to have many heated exchanges with Ben Bernanke having to try to keep the peace. Of course these arguments included one by Wells Fargo CEO Richard M. Kovacevich raising his concern about the limits on executive compensation in accepting the government's capital injections. These guys are such misguided greed mongers that allowing them all to fail may be the only thing that will wake their senses. The fact of the matter is this initial $250 billion is on much more favorable terms for these banks than the terms Warren Buffet ended up getting for his mere $5 billion investment in Goldman Sachs. Fiction writers could not come up with this stuff folks.

Left Wing Liberal Media- I cannot believe it but again yesterday, it was reiterated that spokesmodel Sarah Palin was the best speaker of all four people on the presidential tickets. Folks it is getting surreal out there and more like bizarro world. No other than Andrea Mitchell from that Obama-loving MSNBC repeated this ridiculous talking point. Why does the media spin things and continue to take voters intelligence (or lack of it) for granted. This really is one of the greatest reaches of all time to crown this mediocre, non- thinking, absurdist as the best speaker of all the candidates. I just cannot hear this argument proclaimed one more time in this election.

Weiner for Mayor- Congressman Anthony Weiner of Brooklyn is continuing on with his campaign for mayor of New York City. Unlike all the others that are genuflecting and bowing before the Billionaire Bloomberg this scrappy guy is going to take the king on. Weiner has set up a website LetNYCVote.com that encourages city residents to protest the lifting of term limits at a Thursday hearing at City Hall. Weiner has already raised $5 million for his campaign and has his sights on multiples of this. Billionaire Bloomberg is speculated to have budgeted $80 million to buy his third term. Every middle and lower class New Yorker should stand up to this billionaires and millionaires trying to circumvent the will of us voters.

Goodbye, Buckley- It seems Christopher Buckley’s endorsement of Barack Obama for president on The Daily Beast website managed to get him ousted from the National Review which was founded by his father William Buckley. Buckley was under heavy pressure from conservative nuts to resign and he proffered just that and it was accepted with zero discussion. As I wrote yesterday conservatives are now eating their own and this election cycle should leave them in disarray for decades. It is nice to see someone stands by his beliefs like Christopher Buckley only to then be thrown overboard. Democracy continues to get itself on rocky ground when one speaks and then is instantly punished.
Polls- Looks like out of the 11 toss-up states Barack Obama only needs to win one with 9 electoral votes and John McCain needs to win all 11! On top of all this, there are at least 2-3 Republican strongholds that are trending away meaning McCain would need to win something more like 14-15 toss-up states. The odds are continuing to look pretty grim for the McCain camp.

Billionaires in Bloom-berg

Bloomberg’s Billionaires- What a sham is transpiring here in NYC to keep Michael Bloomberg as mayor for a third term. Why should we have an election? Let’s just anoint him as all his rich friends in Manhattan have advocated. Term limits are such a inconvenient issue, that billionaire Ron Lauder had to step up and make the moral decision to support suspending the term limits in Bloomberg’s case. Bloomberg being the magnanimous citizen was quoted yesterday as saying “he is doing this for us citizens”. What utter bullshit and Bloomberg’s own self love is beyond shameless. It finally is reaching climax, where the rich in NYC will do whatever pleases them in their little kingdom. New York City has self fulfilled the prophecy of becoming a city for and by the rich. Never trust a Red Sox fan in New York.


Like Father, Like Son- Seems the apple does not fall too far from the tree. As Henry Paulson prints, borrows and steals money to pay for the mistakes of his Wall Street buddies, his son Merritt Paulson is seeking a taxpayer bailout of his own. According to The Oregonian, Paulson Jr is hoping Portland, Oregon taxpayers ante up $85 million for building a stadium to host his toy baseball team and hopeful soccer team. Junior, 35, is investing $40 million of his “own money” to purchase the soccer franchise, but is attempting to tap into state income taxes and city urban-renewal money meant to fight neighborhood blight. Paulson Jr owns 80% of both minor league teams, the Portland Beavers baseball team and the Portland Timbers soccer team. Guess who owns the other 20%?-- our faithful Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson. Junior is very busy spreading the family money around to lobbyists and those seeking local office.