“How To Pass the Damn Bailout” Update

Posted by LK on 10/02/08 • Categorized as Financial Markets, The Economy, The Economy and Markets

“Recovery plan” my a…. nevermind.

The Senate passed their version of the bailout plan last night and calling the event anti-climactic would be attributing far more drama and import to it than it deserves. Everyone’s waiting for the House to stop bickering and start producing. The jury, in the form of the credit markets and the stock market, is out until then.

So, you House hooligans, if you want to escape DC relatively unscathed and try to save your sorry seats with the campaign time you’ve got left, listen up:

Merrill Lynch sold $30.6 billion of collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), the kind of toxic paper that’s currently clogging the arteries of the financial system, for $6.7 billion, or about 22 cents on the dollar.

This is the same toxic debt that our (as in yours and my) 700 billion dollars is supposed to be taking off the hands of former investment banks (Goldman and JPM) and other players, some of whom were nefarious, and some of whom were unwitting.

So 22 cents on the dollar is the benchmark that was arrived at in the free market prior to the uber-meltdown.

And that’s the cap that should be put on the price that Uncle Sam (meaning we, the taxpayers) pay for the same garbage. This doesn’t mean that’s the price we should pay, it just means that’s the most we should pay.

If Buffet can work out sweetheart deals with Goldman and GE, we the people should also be able to hold Goldman and other institutions over the same barrel.

Convince the taxpayers that we’re getting a Buffet-like deal, similar to the one that Merrill and GE had to settle for, and those pesky folks who have the unmitigated nerve to ask how their dollars are being spent might just stop calling their representatives in DC, or at least call and tell them to pass the bailout and try (over the long haul) to make some money from it.

It’s only then that we can all begin the arduous process of getting credit flowing and find our way towards the new business as usual.