I Call Bullshit


This quote by Paulson is so wrong and deceitful I can even begin to express my outrage:

Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. said Lehman Brothers could not have been rescued.

That's poppycock! You know who first proposed the idea to turn Wall Street investment banks into commercial banks? Fuld at Lehman. He did it weeks ago. Paulson said no, let them go bankrupt and then allowed Morgan and Goldman to do what Lehman had proposed.

That's what we call in Texas, a lie!


Sean Paul Kelley October 23, 2008 - 1:20am
( categories: Economics: USA | The Markets )

We call it a lie in Idaho as well. A headline at Jesse's Cafe Americain website probably explains it best.

"Goldman May Be the Fed's Consigliere, But JPM is Still a Capofamiglia"

steelhead October 23, 2008 - 4:18am

He said in his bankruptcy deposition that it was turned down by Timothy Geithner, NY Fed president. That was probably one of the worst regulatory decisions of this decade. Geithner I believe is a Goldman Sachs alum, but there will be no way of knowing whether he consulted with the Treasury or not. He must have consulted with Bernanke, so it is probably the same thing.

The entire top management of the Treasury needs a thorough cleaning. All these GS guys need to get the boot. Whether or not they think or act for the benefit of their previous employer, they have a perceived conflict of interest. You can't have confidence in the Treasury because of that.

I'm surprised in this crisis that no one has mentioned the four accounting firms. Maybe that's because there are only four left and we can't afford another Arthur Andersen-like bankruptcy, but still how can the accountants for GS allow them to get away with mark to model results that are much more generous than the rest of the industry?

Numerian October 23, 2008 - 6:57am

It is now widely recognized that letting Lehman go under was the straw that broke the camel's back, or, more aptly, was a bottom card in the house of cards.

What's the poor guy gonna do, take the blame and fall on his sword like an honorable person would?

Like Greenspan, he'll soon be writing a book exonerating himself, and as with Greenspan, someone of the stature of Anna Schwartz will call BS.

tjfxh October 23, 2008 - 12:28pm

For what he did:

Lying to Congress, Fraud, Misrepresentation and Gross Negligence.

Synoia October 23, 2008 - 7:14pm

eom

tjfxh October 23, 2008 - 10:11pm

When they stopped publishing M3, was that straight-up evidence that they knew exactly what was happening and wanted to make the evidence disappear?

“The Playboy reader invites a female acquaintance in for a quiet discussion of Picasso, Nietzsche, jazz, sex.” - Hugh Hefner

Tonsure Wimple October 24, 2008 - 2:34am

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