Addendum To “Bailing Out the Bailouts”

Posted by LK on 9/22/08 • Categorized as Anarchy, Psychology, The Economy and Markets, The Press

note: the following is an addendum, a day later and billions of dollars shorter for most Americans, to the piece below, “Bailing Out the Bailouts”

After spending the last 24 hours reading and listening, once again, to both respected elders and pundits du jour, I’m still standing by the plan. It’s downright sickening that the gap between the haves and have-nots is widening, and worse still that the haves, whose compulsion for profit at any cost precipitated this unholy mess, will escape largely unscathed.

The one addition I’d like to make is an observation by Jake from Vegas, whose street moniker is an intentional misdirection, so that you don’t know what hit you ’til you been hit. Earlier today he astutely pointed out that he liked the plan, but had the following question:

“Why not also put a surtax on the corporate profits of those 799 entities? Sure, the big shots made money, but the companies probably did too. They should pay the penalty as well. Make sense?”

I responded way too much like a lawyer/accountant/legislator type, none of which I am. I breezed right past his straight talk on my way to obfuscation via intellect, and said “Absolutely. I missed that completely. I wonder how you collect, considering dividends and stock price were affected by reported corporate results. Will have to ask around. Many thanks.”

And he replied, “I have no idea how to calculate it, but I’m sure some forensic accountants can figure it out”, proving once again that uncommon common sense trumps ivory tower nuance every time.

Chances are there’s more than a handful of forensic accountants in DC, and probably a number of them, newly laid off, with a hangover and an axe to grind, walking the streets of NYC.