some bullet points from todays bailout congressional hearing

[radbag]

- paulson is an ineffective speaker
- fdic chairman bair explained how her programs have helped keep families in their homes avoiding foreclosures at her explanation was magnificent
- barney frank was pissed off with paulson for 180ing the congress as he's accused paulson of abandoning addressing the foreclosure calamities
- paulson wants to be clear about the TARP program and it's intention...it's intended to help the ailing financial industry...not the auto industry....he wants to be clear in differentiating between addressing the financial industry which in turn will help the economy
- ron paul said the dollar was dead...bernanke said it wasn't and that he oversees the transacting of currency swaps with other central banks that would indicate immense interest in us dollar assets...paul asked if there were conversations amongst the other central banks that there might be a interest in starting a new global monetary relief fund, bernanke answered no....paul asked if bernanke was speaking to other central banks about gold...bernanke answered no...unless they're selling.
- latourette from ohio (R) just blasted paulson for allowing TARP funds to be used for mergers citing the PNC and NATCITY situation...paulson in the end agreed to learn more about it
- melvin watt from NC sounds a shit load like the black guy from family guy
- maloney from NY wants to know who benefited from the TARP program as it related to AIG and it's counterparties...she believed the taxpayer money should NOT be used to pay off the 'gamblers' or those who bought protection via credit default swaps but did NOT own the underlying security...bernanke was quick to answer that the program does not differentiate as to whom of those counterparties owned AIG or didn't own AIG...he stressed that institutions use credit default swaps to hedge all sorts of positions...you could use it as a hedge versus an industry exposure...bernanke also said that the 9 institutions that received funding from the program will not be released because it was counterproductive...the object of the program is to get institutions at the window to ask for funding...he felt that if the names of the institutions were released, he felt the institutions would shy from asking.

[radbag]

- maxine waters from california got ghetto on paulson...she felt paulson needed to follow FDICs bair's lead

[radbag]

white house saying that additional funding for the auto industry being asked to come from the TARP funds is both 'unreasonable' and 'unnecessary'

btw - auto industry receiving moneys from some energy bill currently...no funds have been doled out from the TARP