Paulsen in A Game of Chicken with Congress

A Democratic Congress wants a piece of the bailout bill to call their own -- lower executive compensation or more affordable housing-- and will push Paulsen to add provisions to the bill.  It will be a game of chicken, with escalating rhetoric, and we will see who blinks.  My guess, Paulsen will blink -- expect something on the government holding equity positions in sellers of toxic MBSs and executive compensation.  By the way, why no hearings on the crisis?  Normally we get grandstanding hearings whenever an opportunity for a public condemnation is present.  Why none now?  Answer: Because leaders in Congress have too much dirty laundry in the crisis and does not want it aired out.