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September 28, 2008
Mr. President: Please Fire Paulsen
An open letter to President Bush:
Please fire Hank Paulsen before it is too late. Here are the reasons: 1) As head of Goldman Sachs he was one of the primary people responsible for our reckless risk taking culture. He will have no credibility administering $700 billion. Goldman, for example, was the primary counterparty to AIG, now bailed out. A bailout will benefit the shareholders in his old firm in the billions. 2) As head of the Treasury, he was late to note, or do anything, about the credit crunch. 3) As head of the Treasury he, once panicked, went immediately to full government control, ignoring the economic views of Republicans in the House and others in the base of his party. 4) As head of the Treasury he submitted an initial proposal that gave him unlimited, unchecked, and reviewable powers. 5) As hear of the Treasury, he submitted an initial proposal that bailed out an entire asset class -- which is way too broad a remedy. 6) As head of the Treasury, and now called to task correctly on the ambition of his first proposal, he is now granting to Democrats way to many, many concessions that we will come to rue later. He has lost his backbone as well as his credibility. 7) He got down on his knees in front of Pelosi. I do not know what this was, sexist, flirtatious, school boy charm, silliness, cravenness, capitulation, in any event it was the last straw for me. I know one does not change horses in the middle of the stream, but there are exceptions to any general rule; the horse has drowned.
Mr. President please replace Mr. Paulsen with Mr. Thain, before you sign any financial bailout deal.
September 28, 2008 | Permalink
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Comments
"...your legacy depends on it."
It would take more than Thain; even if Thain was the second coming.
And, it's not totally obvious that replacing Mr. Risk with another Goldman guy who, no doubt, looked good (at being able to rake in profits) because he came from the mortgage securities desk and eventually ran what ended up changing into their questionable risk models. I don't think it's ideal that he's been raking in tens (hundreds?) of millions because of his leadership role in a market fueled by unwise (in the long term) decisions. And, it could also be problematic that he's an extremely partisan supporter of the R party.
Aren't there any folks who are less obviously partisan? How about someone from a company that has avoided this mess? How about someone who hasn't been bouncing around in recent years? Best of all, what about someone who has been with one company throughout this mess (at least six years,) and while at that company they made good long term decisions so that they are now profiting from this mess? Does anyone like that exist?
It will be very interesting and important to see the details of the so-called oversight plan for this bailout. Presumably, the oversight plan will distribute power so that no one individual is running amok. Time will tell.
Posted by: 1jpb | Sep 28, 2008 11:22:14 AM
"...your legacy depends on it."
It would take more than Thain; even if Thain was the second coming.
And, it's not totally obvious that replacing Mr. Risk with another Goldman guy who, no doubt, looked good (at being able to rake in profits) because he came from the mortgage securities desk and eventually ran what ended up changing into their questionable risk models. I don't think it's ideal that he's been raking in tens (hundreds?) of millions because of his leadership role in a market fueled by unwise (in the long term) decisions. And, it could also be problematic that he's an extremely partisan supporter of the R party.
Aren't there any folks who are less obviously partisan? How about someone from a company that has avoided this mess? How about someone who hasn't been bouncing around in recent years? Best of all, what about someone who has been with one company throughout this mess (at least six years,) and while at that company they made good long term decisions so that they are now profiting from this mess? Does anyone like that exist?
It will be very interesting and important to see the details of the so-called oversight plan for this bailout. Presumably, the oversight plan will distribute power so that no one individual is running amok. Time will tell.
Posted by: 1jpb | Sep 28, 2008 11:26:08 AM
3) Did the "party" have a better idea? It seems like the solution of the republicans in the House was to "insure" these toxic investments. At lest with this plan the government has an ownership interest in the securities in question. Under the insurance plan wouldn't you expect that the minute these assets became anything less than a drain on a company's books they'd stop paying their premiums? I can't say that I'm on board with the Democrats'/Administration plan, but at least their plan is structured to create adverse selection.
4) Did he? I thought he submitted the proposal with the intent that Congress would "write in" the necessary oversight. Paulsen isn't in the business of drafting laws. It probably saved a great deal of time that he left that to the "experts." Of course with Ms. Pelosi at the helm perhaps this is another problem entirely.
7) Neither you, nor I, nor anyone in America can hate him more than he hates himself after this...
Posted by: CJT | Sep 29, 2008 10:35:07 AM
