Lew, this scenario has played out “off Broadway” many times before. In the early ’80s, bankers came to Capitol Hill and warned Senators that “the financial system of our country would collapse” if we didn’t bail out the NYC banks for their Latin American loan disasters (I was there).
Then we had to bail out the S&L’s or “the financial system of our country would collapse.” Then it was bail out the banks that had lent to Mexico, corrupt to the core, which we had to bail out or “the financial system of our country would collapse.” So Paulson is just a walk-on in the rerun of the same old movie.
Here is the intriguing ingredient: the goal of Paulson and Co. was intimidation — all bluster. If they failed — if the truth got out — they would all be hanging from lampposts by next weekend. So they browbeat the constitutionally elected representatives of our country with threats that would make the 9-11 fearmongers proud: “
