Paulson’s Complaint

Since Mr Paulson doesn't understand the whole retail thing, I've asked Lenny the butcher to explain:

Yo Mr P!. It;s like dis - ya take 1 filet mignon steak and put it in a pile of meat-by products. Ya know, stuff you usually feed to a dog. Then you grind the whole thing up into sausages. They you grease the meat inspector's palm so he stamps it "filet mignon sausages". Then you sell it sausages for $50 a lb. Good enough ta up yer leverage on, wouldn't ya say??

Lenny is available to be employed at $45 million, as he is the best and brightest at explaining complex things.

I suggest that Paulson set up and run organizations which help the disadvantaged get the education, training, mentoring and skills which they need to compete in today's marketplace.

"He says a perfect storm of other near failures caused the financial crisis???the troubles at Fannie and Freddie, the news that AIG faced huge liabilities from its financial insurance gambles, the teetering of giant mortgage lender Washington Mutual on the edge"

What didn't you understand about thirty-to-one leverage ratios across the board at each one of these giants? How does a row of dominoes ready to fall constitute a perfect storm? Why was it hard to see that a brand name like AIG buying up a whole bunch of subsidiaries and changing nothing but the reporting and profit structure doesn't constitute growth?

I think Mr. Paulson - like most finance titans of his era - forgot that, at some point, business is more than numbers on a sheet. One has to look at whether or not the companies on the ground underneath the balance sheet are performing their core businesses well. If they're not, and you have insane leveraging, you don't have a "perfect storm".

This "perfect storm" means "I deny responsibility". It says "don't blame me, circumstances were beyond my control". If they were beyond your control, then why did someone hire you to try to deal with them? Why did you jump into the job, convinced you could sign over a bunch of money to a bunch of financial executives whose policy caused the crisis and solve the underlying structural problems?

I never thought Paulson was malicious. I think that, like most other Bush-era administration officials, he was overconfident, cocky, arrogant, and out of touch completely with realities on the ground, and came in with a swagger and left with a shrug. I think he doesn't realize that a lot of poor mergers and deregulation caused this nightmare, and I don't think he knows anything about the kind of trustbusting it would take to restore control to more manageable levels and cut the waste and overhead and nightmare of these layers of merger management.

Who gives a rat about Paulson's "reputation." What about the billions of dollars Paulson wasted on billionaire bailouts. We need to make the billionaire bankers give it back - Raise their taxes, make them pay for their own bailout.

Being a former All-Ivy lineman is somewhat akin to being the tallest of the Lilliputians. Mr. Paulson's reputation, to the extent he had one outside of Wall Street, will likely remain clouded by remembrances of a profusely sweating and panic-stricken "master of the universe" demanding access to enormous sums of money based upon a Chicken LIttle scenario. Mr. Paulson's issue is not his reputation but an overly-developed ego fed by the Wall Street elite who viewed themslves as omniscient and invincible. Relax, Hank. Mingle with the little people. Invite Michael Millkin to lunch and chat about reputational rehab.

Hank Paulson is a key enabler of the greatest theft in human history. His absolute disdain for the citizens of this nation and every other nation places his picture forever in Webster's dictionary next to "oligarch, corrupt". His unabashed willingness to destroy his nations currency and the savings and asset values for the narrow gain of a few associates, during a time of war is treacherous, treasonous and seditious beyond measure.
So, now Hank wants his reputation back. Just as soon as he and his associates reimburse and provide complete restitution to every man, woman & child in the world who has and is suffering mounting losses I believe then he might find some soul that would be willing to consider the prospect. First however, he needs to accept responsibility for his actions and willingly provide full, complete and unabridged information as to what exactly happened over the course of his career and how the world can reclaim its misappropriated wealth for him, his associates and their firms, trusts, partnerships and every other vehicle and method wherein the wealth of the world has been absconded to.
Hank Paulson and his associates fail to appreciate many things. Among them one of the biggest hurdles he needs to cross is the notion of "self regulating markets". Let me provide a bit of insight to Hank on this one. To the vast majority of regular folks out here on Main Street, and especially off South Main Street, self regulating markets is understood to mean that market leaders and participants will enforce the law of the street upon itself. For a clear idea of what this means just ask to observe any disciplinary action being enforced by a major gang. I suggest the Mexican Mafia, MS 13, Aryan Brotherhood, FSU or the Long Beach Cripps. When he and his associates have subjected themselves to this law and have managed to establish it throughout the whole of the financial services industry as well as completely met the requirements of restitution, we'll consider his application.

Man up Hank!

Fate gave Mr Paulson one historical chance to become a hero, a chance to steer wall street out of danger.

He could have emerged as an impartial leader whom children of the future generation would have read about with respect. (a la Keynes, Roosevelt)

Instead, he chose to malign his name for the rest of eternity by
1. allowing Lehman to fall, and then
2. saving AIG in order to protect Goldman Sachs, a company where he had spent 32 years of his career.

This whole debate about how important was Lehman's failure is a pathetic attempt to cover up these failures.

clearly Hank is starting to work on his "legacy" project. Problem he has got is that the sheer agony he cost millions of people while protecting his small clique of buddies at the top of Goldman Sachs is getting more and more obvious every day. Frankly, as the details come out about what went on with AIG, I'd be more worried about getting indicted than with cleaning up any lost reputation. What went on with AIG can be seen as outright, blatant theft. Why in the world, Goldman Sachs was paid out at 100 cents on the dollar for literally worthless securities is simply breathtaking. But, whatever, the peasantry, aka the taxpaying public, is paying and the Goldman Sachs elite were protected......so, its all good, right Hank?

how the mighty have fallen. Perhaps mr. paulsen dhould go have a drink with pete rose or milly vanillie. the higher you soar the farther you fall. this article is written as though paulsen is some kind of miss labelled loser. not nearly!

Lehman was only the first nail in Paulson's coffin. Let's talk about the 100 cents on the dollar payment to Goldman thru AIG.....let's talk about that "little" item. Let's talk about how the taxpayers were raped -- a la Paulson -- in an effort to make sure that the almighty Goldman Sachs did not lose one dollar with the AIG debacle.....of course, our children, grandchildren and great grandchildren will be paying this debt. But, whatever -- maybe Paulson can buy the textbook companies and force them to rewrite the truth so that he appears to be a "hero" to all generations who will be paying for his so-called "mistakes".

Paulson is worried about his reputation?? And is having trouble writing his memoirs? Perhaps he's having trouble thinking of anything good to say about him self.
Paulson helped engineer the largest transfer of wealth from main street America in recent history and he's worried about what we think of him.
Let me put it in simple English, Paulson is a piece of sh$t and it is not likely to change.
Those of us on Main Street have a concept those on Wall Street cannot grasp. It's called win win, we have numerous examples in our homes assuming we still have a home that is.
I like to use Bill Gates as my example of this concept. Bill Gates has become incredibly wealthy and I have sent him thousands of dollars as have most of us. Yet I am always thankful for what he has provided me that made business so very much easier, I won as did most anyone who gives it thought. You could just as easily pick any appliance in your home that makes life more efficient. Capitalism at its finest, production and trade the key word being production.
The problem with people like Paulson is they produce nothing and for him to think of himself as a capitalist is laughable and as a person who deserves respect ludicrous. Wall Street is a win lose world best avoided and ignored by all.