The speaker says Merritt Paulson has asked for and received "hundreds of millions of dollars" from Portland. Is that accurate?

I've really enjoyed Zirin's books on sports, and coincidentally, just finished his monthly article in The Progressive before checking bojack.org. I really like Zirin's insistence on surfacing the political connections that sports mobsters prefer be hidden.

...says the guy that wanted the city of portland to spend hundreds of millions on a baseball stadium.

As a diehard timbers fan, i'll admit there might be something shady about the whole Paulson deal, but most of the cases that Zirin has documented in his book happen to deal with cronyism and checks and whatnot that usually have another one or two zeroes at the end of 'em. the new ballparks for the Yankees and the Mets, for example, in the face of New York's atrocious budgetary problems, are a bit more substantial and disturbing than whatever tax giveaways helped the rennovation of PGE Park.

"the new ballparks for the Yankees and the Mets, for example, in the face of New York's atrocious budgetary problems, are a bit more substantial and disturbing than whatever tax giveaways helped the rennovation of PGE Park"

Oh, well, if they're small-time crooks, I guess that's okay then.

ambrown probably doesn't own property in Portland... just guessing..

ambrown there is a lot of poverty in this city. Take a drive around or walk the streets and you'll see it. Unfortunately the powers that be gloss it over. Inside Cityhall and outside of Cityhall. They don't give a rat's ass. sometimes I think they want it that way so they can pit one group against the other in this burg.

Jack, you might enjoy this site:

http://www.fieldofschemes.com/

From that site, on Paulson's recent scheme:

http://www.fieldofschemes.com/news/archives/2010/02/4016_portland_timber_1.html

Notice how carefully the deal's being structured so it (a) looks like taxpayers are getting a fair shake, and (b) Paulson gets off easy in a few years when it all goes belly up.

"hundreds of millions of dollars"

He's certainly getting tens of millions. Starting with the subsidized wages of his stadium workers, through eight figures on the stadium remodel. And if you count the $28 million on the old remodel that's now being flushed down the toilet, you're probably past $60 million.

Henry Paulson should sue, but not about this figure of hundreds of millions. Obviously, that number was pulled from thin air and can't possible be correct...yet.

But who's to say that buried in some of these documents there aren't the poisonous seeds of a payday Portland has yet to discover? I heard one term during all this that freaked me out: Zero coupon bonds. I'm guessing Wall Street won't end up with the zero. Other municipalities across America have awoken one day to realize that things had not gone according to their Wall Street expectations and they were now catastrophically in debt.
Check out the sewer system of Jefferson County, Alabama.
Thank God there can never be any sewer system shenanigans here.

If mere counties aren't impressive enough, look at the country of Greece. It made the mistake of dealing with Goldman Sachs under the Paulson reign. Heck, look at America.

Just read this Henry Paulson essay: Is there any discussion about derivatives and security swaps that were fraudulently rated triple A? No, Henry points back to homeowners behind on their mortgages. (At least he didn't mention Sam by name.) Then he drops the scariest sentence of all:

"Congress could eliminate that tension by restructuring Fannie and Freddie to create one or two private-sector entities that would purchase and securitize mortgages with a credit guarantee explicitly backed by the federal government and paid for by the new entity." Anybody feel less tense?

As Karl Rove's recent piece in the Wall Street Journal proves, the sleaze bags of the Bush administration are done laying low (in case there were charges), and are now poking their heads out to respin history, and preparing to strike again. They never really stop.

But back to the Henry Paulson
lawsuit. For over a year now, Matt Taibbi's phrase "vampire squid" has been used to describe these Wall Street gangsters running their endless con games. Reading this piece, the vampire part no longer applies. Vampires crave warm blood - and besides the kids are crazy about them. Vampires are now cool.

The soul in Henry's piece is as cold and lifeless as a bank vault. It is as heartless as Dick Cheney - a man who no longer even generates a pulse. True.

What creature roams the world with these characteristics - eyes dead like a shark, always moving, with tentacles pulling apart all it sees?
Of course! Henry Paulson has been ripped off by a new B-movie. His life story has been stolen by those sick liberals in Hollywood.
Henry Paulson is the Sharktopus!

Bill,

What about all those rights we lost under Bush and Cheney. I couldn't tell when I lost then so I'm wondering, have I got them back from Obama yet?

Come on, you're comedian, that was funny wasn't it?

Ben: No

Bill... I gotta much better B movie title for you.... Invasion of the Economy Destroyers... featuring derivative aliens and investment paper snatchers with music by Scam the Sham and the Investment Bankers (apologies to Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs)

No I haven't got back my rights or no that wasn't funny?
Or both?

And what rights did I lose, I forgot?

"Homeownership was overstimulated to the point that it was unsustainable and dangerous to the broader economy."

Yes, and it was the Bush administration that helped overstimulate it. The increasing percentage of home ownership was about the only economic talking point GWB had when he ran in 2004. Even in its better times during his tenure, the economy wasn't generating many jobs, and any economic gains from GDP growth were accruing largely to the upper class.

There were many villains in the economic collapse, and Paulson was among them.

"We should go further and reduce the subsidy for homeownership that helped create the crisis."

How about if we reduce the subsidies for billionaire sports team owners first?

I understood that they had moved on from vampires to zombies. They want to eat your brains. I think they succeeded with out council members.

"Yes, and it was the Bush administration that helped overstimulate it. The increasing percentage of home ownership was about the only economic talking point GWB had when he ran in 2004."

Yeah, you'r right. Braney Frank looking the other way while FNAM was going down the drain and Chris DOd taking a cheap payoff from Conturywide had nothing to do with it either. They headed the Finance committees.

Can you just get over Bush the previous idiot president and focus on the current one?

Term limits for all.

Steve,
I can see some exasperation at the focus on what Bush did, and the lack of the same scrutiny of Obama. But what's evolved and grown since then, is the power of foreign bankers and Wall Street as they run America into the ground. In short, the snake has tightened its grip.

Just look at this Paulson suggestion. He wants one or two private companies buying and "securitizing" these mortgages with the government there to back them up if they fail. Tell me how that's any different than what got us into this jam?
That's why Paulson has to explain the crisis in a way that ignores the true culprits - because he's asking that the true culprits continue on as before. And gee, I wonder who gets to pick this new private company and control it? Joe Sixpack or the people who own the Federal Reserve?

The comparisons between Bush and Obama would make more sense if we were living in the same America as before either of them. But it was on Bush's watch that the real damage was done - I'm sure if Obama had followed another president he would have done much better, but discussing this as a failure of the presidency is ignoring the additional power of the true rulers. America is now less ours than before. That's why you had BP arresting our reporters along the Gulf.

Remember how Bush would sometimes label things in direct opposition to reality? Remember the Clean Skies Initiative?

Well, that's why Bush and Cheney always talked so much about our national security - because they were in the process of destroying it. The Soviet Union imploded because of a bad economy. If we don't shape up here and address the true rulers of America, we will implode as well.

"He wants one or two private companies buying and "securitizing" these mortgages with the government there to back them up if they fail. Tell me how that's any different than what got us into this jam??"

That is the point. FNMA is taking all of this weak paper and losing a tom of money to do it. Except now Congress needs to write one large check to them instead of bailing out the individual banks which is what FNMA does now on each loan by buying it.

Bush was as ignorant as Obama is now. Having a Geithner, Summers or Paulson lead the charge only gives us a bunch of self-serving grifters.

Unfortunately, I think it is just going to take time to heal the housing market and the more tricks we paly the longer it takes.

Steve,
One of the key areas where President Obama clearly surprised the voters is in the area of economic advisors. In short, he ran with one group and replaced them after getting elected with the usual suspects.
If he had done it after getting in office, he could claim that he hadn't known what he was up against before that, but that wasn't how it happened. He did it right after getting elected - as noted by the great Matt Taibbi. Some would say he sold out - others would say he was following orders.

For years I have been wondering about the mechanism by which these bankers control elected officials. I think it comes down to, "Do what we say or we'll crash the economy." That's the leverage.
Remember the initial credit freeze happened on 9/11, 2008. Interesting date if you're trying to instill fear in a big shakedown before that nice Bush boy leaves office. Then when Tarp failed to pass the market immediately cratored with Paulson reportedly threatening martial law if he didn't get the money. So it passed.

I believe both ends of that were banker manipulation of the stock market - something I believe happens every day.
That's how it's done and every crisis turns into more control for the ruling bankers because we have to pay them more just to avoid the next crisis they control. We're essentially paying them to lend us our money and bankrolling them as they gamble in a big casino. And if they win, they win, and if they lose, we lose.

The high these bankers chase is control. That's why it was vital for the Paulsons to get our city council to pay for some of the PGE Park workers. It's for that feeling of control. It's so they can go back to their big clubs and tell their other millionaire friends how they have the Mayor of Portland and the city council hopping around like puppets on a string: "Get this, Monford, the city even pays part of the employee salaries at the ballpark we took over!" When you have over 700 million, it's not about the money as much as the rush, and nabbing PGE park for your son's soccer team? That's a rush.

There was a time when I would say Obama sold us out, but I now believe he's following orders he can't refuse.
At this point the President of the United States might as well be wearing an employee name tag.

Just the president?

Bill, it wouldn't surprise me one bit to learn that the up and coming "elected" officials as well as the current ones, are actually in their employ. Sign them up, give 'em a badge, stroke their ego by telling them they WILL get elected, do this do that, ding! Your elected!

But remember who is your employer.

I've been telling others this pov and they look at me like I'm crazy!

Am I?

The inquiring mind wants to know.

Ben and others sort of shy away from the notion that this is a Republican disaster - preferring to point at President Obama and say, "Our guy sucked, but so does this guy."
Meanwhile the GOP is really worried about Bush's book coming out and reminding everyone just before the elections how awful GOP rule can be.
But wait: This is the party of Ronald Reagan. Talk about the Chosen One. He has taken on the dimensions of a deity with GOP fans.
And that's what's so interesting about the David Stockman piece in the NYT today: "The 4 Deformations of the Apocalypse." He's from the Reagan administration and has some rather stern words for his GOP buddies.

"Yeah, you'r right. Braney Frank looking the other way while FNAM was going down the drain and Chris DOd taking a cheap payoff from Conturywide had nothing to do with it either. They headed the Finance committees."

Actually, Steve, Frank and Dodd DIDN'T head the Finance committees until January of 2007. Even then, with Bush still in office and having veto power (and with the Senate Dems being at least nine votes short of power to fend off filibusters until January of 2009), they had little power.

Barney Frank talked recently about the House Dem minority trying to introduce legislation that would have reduced sub prime lending back in 2005--but the Republican leadership refused to allow the bill to be introduced.

Paulson just wants the ultimate in corporate welfare. If things go well, the corporation, it's overpaid execs, and shareholders flourish. If things don't go well, the risk and consequences are absorbed by the common taxpayers. Kind of stand classical market economics on its head..... Bravo for d*****bag economics.... coz trickle down was a joke but this is gross

"Watching two men argue about which politician is worse is like seeing two old women complain about whose burnt biscuits are most likely to be eaten at a picnic."

--Mark Twain

Steve, Barney Frank & Chris Dodd didn't take over the House and Senate Banking committees until Jan 2007

Oops I see rural resident beat me to it.

Again, we can go back to the iriginal question. SInce Bush was a screw-up what the heck has Obama done with his band of grifters that is any better?

FNMA is taking all the bad paper again and it's not getting any smaller and I don't hear one word out of this Dem congress (Frank or DOdd) or President about stuff like this or why FHA still allows 3% down loans.

You guys get so obsessed about Bush, Limbaugh, Beck et al you lose track of what really matters.

Steve,
I had a blog for awhile and one of the reasons I quit was that people would come on and pose questions, and then say, "I'm still waiting...." as if their question was the original topic that had to be answered.
This thing started out about Henry and Merritt Paulson. Henry was a Bush official after running Goldman Sachs.
Now he's a minority owner of the Timbers. A lot of people are wondering why we'd go into business with someone on the short list of the people who wrecked America - one of the key men who brought us to this place in our history. As head of Goldman Sachs he fought and lobbied for some of the changes that caused this great recession we're now in.
Dealing with the Paulsons seems unwise and fraught with peril when you see the wreckage in Henry Paulson's wake.
So far we're down one baseball team and one baseball stadium. Stay tuned.
That's what this is about.
If you need to turn it into a defense of Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck or an anti-Obama thing, maybe you're the one who's obsessed and having trouble focusing.

"turn it into a defense of Rush Limbaugh and Glenn Beck or an anti-Obama thing"

I'm not, I am saying both parties have some major issues and the biggest in each is valuing campaign contributors way more than the average taxpayer. I really don't have a problem if you want to call Bush an idiot, but saying we can't do anything better because he screwed it up is not a lot of help either - especially since the current president doesn't look like that much of an improvement in the brains dept.

I have no idea why we are so desperate to jettison a tenant (Beavers) at PGE Park and then make it harder to rent to anyone else besides the Timbers. My gut is that if Paulson doesn't do well, he'll come back at our all-star genius Randy who will roll over and talk himself into Phase II of improvements - at our cost. If he does great, then we'll hear the talk of how Palson made this whole deal happen and that LAX needs two MLS teams and threaten to move.