Bad Ass ets

The Senate has now passed the bill from hell and we don’t yet know what Congress will do. They surprised us last time. More importantly, I don’t know what I’d do if I had to vote right now and I’ve heard the arguments for both sides. I still feel so strongly that there will be obscene amounts of money stolen out of the bill from the money monsters who will game this piece of business to a fare thee well.

Already the senate version has tax breaks for Puerto Rican rum producers and some “wooden arrows for kids” company in Oregon. I kid you not. It was for $7 mill. If Ted Stevens wasn’t in court yesterday, for supposedly taking bribes, you can be sure he would have grabbed a taste. The purpose of these sweeteners is to sway the votes of the left or right side of the aisle. If these schmucks won’t stand up now for the right thing to do for their country without being bribed, when will they? It is almost impossible to comprehend the selfish and stupid thinking that makes these people tick. They seem to be proudest of their contributions to political gamesmanship and what they can get away with, but are absolutely spineless when it comes to their duty to make the best decision.

One interesting point is that the voters “seem” to be overwhelmingly against it though I heard a pollster yesterday that said that it was more like 45% that want the “rescue plan.” (“Bailout” being too strong a term for voters who will be easily tricked by this nuance.) And some congress members have claimed that they are voting with their constituents in mind. That should be good. But someone else has pointed out that individual members are sent to congress to do what we cannot do and that is to access and assess the information and do what’s best for the country. They know the little tricks of wording in the bill. They know what the pitfalls down the pike will be. They know the people to ask when they don’t know.

The Monday vote being so close in a 435 person chamber does nothing to clarify which is the way to go. I am instinctively opposed to giving the government this much rope. I do not trust the administration to do the right thing. I am fearful of Jim Cramer’s assessment of Bernanke and Paulson as being the wrong people for the job. But I am equally fearful that if the liquidity markets fail, it becomes a world wide problem.

McCain says he would “fix the system.” But he voted for the Senate versions with the goofball earmarks. He claims “this bill will prevent financial disaster” but cautions that “it is just a tourniquet.” That makes me wonder how much the actual operation will cost. Obama voted for it. And the coin canny Warren Buffet has said that he will buy $3 billion of the bad-ass assets. But even there, you know he’s just skimming the cream and leaving the taxpayers with the toxic wasteland that is the worst of the worst.

What would you do?