Chamber of Commerce Pulls for Paulson to Stay

September 2, 2008, 7:58 pm

Chamber of Commerce Pulls for Paulson to Stay

...But Paulson, an avid bird watcher and naturalist, has said repeatedly that he has no intention of working beyond Jan. 20, 2009, when the new president is sworn in.

Still, given that Paulson has a full grasp on the issues, as well as the confidence of financial markets, Donohue expressed hope that he can be convinced to work — at least briefly — for John McCain or Barack Obama.

“He’s a great American. I believe if the president asked him himself, he’d do it,” Donahue said.

Thurgy: I do believe Paulsen does have a grasp on the issues.  After all, he was partly responsible for creating the mess.  However, he's proven to be clueless when it comes to defusing the financial weapons of mass destruction.  I'm sure he's a fine American but I'm not sure about the confidence part.

From MarketTicker

"as Chairman of Goldman Sachs, testified in Congress as far back as the year 2000 that Investment Banks should have the shackles ofleverage restraint removed from them.  He failed to get that from Arthur Levitt in 2000 (President Clinton's chair of the SEC) but came back to the well in 2004 under President Bush and was successful.  Two years later, having used that expansion of leverage to garner a personal fortune of $500 million dollars, he cashed out tax-free to take his seat as Treasury Secretary."

and

Bloomberg says Congress is starting to question the bailout?

"Shelby, an Alabama Republican, questioned why Paulson shifted tack and decided to use the first batch of the $700 billion plan for bank-stake purchases. The Treasury chief originally had asked Congress for authority to buy distressed assets from financial companies."

The endless list of McGruber creations from Hank as only made things worse.