The Sharks Smell Blood And Are Circling, Sir

Now, you didn't honestly think that a trillion dollars of oversight-free regulation-free money was going to just magically get past Wall Street lobbyists, did you? (h/t TPM)

Also, according to the Journal, finance industry lobbyists are already giving orders to Republican hill staffers not to allow any meaningful reforms or protections for taxpayers. So, just the money. No strings attached.

House Republican staffers met with roughly 15 lobbyists Friday afternoon, whose message to lawmakers was clear: Don't load the legislation up with provisions not directly related to the crisis, or regulatory measures the industry has long opposed.

"We're opposed to adding provisions that will affect [or] undermine the deal substantively," said Scott Talbott, senior vice president of government affairs at the Financial Services Roundtable, whose members include the nation's largest banks, securities firms and insurers.

A deal killer for the group: a proposal that would grant bankruptcy judges new powers to lower the principal, interest rate or both on a mortgage as part of a bankruptcy proceeding.

Nope. I didn't think so either. What I want to know is how exactly the hell Wall Street lobbyists get to call the shots on anything anymore? Oh wait, I remember: Wall Street is more than willing to take down the economy with them if they don't get exactly what they want out of this deal, which is the money. The GOP has been given their ultimatum. Give us the money or else. Do you see them drawing any real lessons about what got us into this?

Who gives a shit about the American taxpayer? Not these guys. They want their slice of the trillion with no oversight and no regulation so they can get right back to making risky deals with the profits they'll have freed up with this. The last ten days have clearly demonstrated that the Bushies have no clue how to fix the problem other than to throw money at it, and that Wall Street just doesn't care, they want the money and they want it now.

The only thing that will change when this too fails is the magnitude of the financial devastation. Uberbailout will have no meaningful regulation, no meaningful oversight, and no meaningful protections for taxpayers.

And it has no meaningful chance of working. But by then it's the next President's problem. This is nothing more than Bush dumping off the financial nightmare on the next guy. How many trillions will it take to fix this?

More than we'll be able to spend without destroying the economy.