why haven't bernanke and paulson stepped down?

[spanone]

this financial crisis happened on their watch

[EmeraldCityGrl]

1. They haven't finished raping and pillaging the treasury...so much yet to do, so little time.

[spanone]

5. i forgot about that.

i guess republicans don't do responsibility

[librechik]

18. you stole my answer!

hell, it's the best one...

[goddess40]

2. It's not there fault

it the fault of the people that took the loans their banks convinced them they could afford.

Yeah, right. step down - they should be arrested.

[Robbien]

3. Because they are the main beneficiaries of the bailout

They will not leave as long as there is one last dime left to steal in taxpayers' coffers.

[RB TexLa]

4. I'd have fired Paulson when he brought the bailout plan to me. Would have told him

you either believe in free markets or you no longer work here, goodbye.

[Orrex]

6. Because they're doing a heck of a job

And the fundamentals of the economy are still strong.

[spanone]

7. they were too busy telling us the fundamentals were strong to see the shitstorm coming

i agree they should be arrested

[ljm2002]

8. No, no, you have it all wrong...

..."personal responsibility" is only for us peons.

[CJCRANE]

9. Step down?!!

Bush will probably give them a medal.

[On the Road]

10. I Think They're Both Doing a Good Job

trying to prevent a complete disaster.

One thing you have to keep in mind about their earlier statements ot the effect that the economy is strong: it is irresponsible and counterproductive for a Fed Chairman or a Treasury secretary to predict a crisis or depression. It tends to be a self-fulfilling prophecy. That's why analysts and economist are always parsing the Fed Chairman's words to glean clues as to what he really thinks. For an example of what not to do, think of Cheney's statement in Dec 00 that "I'm afraid we're on the verge of a recession."

Paulsen had a good track record with Goldman Sachs (same position as Robert Rubin had), and kept it out of the bad investments that sank a lot of other firms. There is a tidal wave taking place right now, and it's difficult to know what if anything is going to work.

[soothsayer]

13. paulson is a crook who gives inside info to some, and causes hostile takeovers

of firms that oppose goldman. honest to pete, this is just naked conflict of interest and abuse of power. now, here we come, now that the US has been drained dry of cash.

[soothsayer]

14. paulson is a crook who gives inside info to some, and causes hostile takeovers

of firms that oppose goldman. honest to pete, this is just naked conflict of interest and abuse of power. now, here we come, now that the US has been drained dry of cash.

[ContinentalOp]

15. Isn't what you're saying highly contradictory?

You say it's irresponsible to predict a crisis or depression but that's exactly what they did when they called for this bailout and set a timeline, declaring that it was a great emergency. It was a manufactured crisis designed to push through legislation they already had planned. Sound familiar? Sure there are underlying problems which helped give them cover and confused the issue, but the bailout does nothing to address those problems.

[On the Road]

19. When They Called for the Bailout,

it was well underway. People are criticizing the legislation as having been written months earlier, but that tells you it was being monitored.

As far as the plan not addressing it, I've seen about 50 suggestions which all propose spending $700B on some pet project and ignoring where the crisis is. Whether you think it will be effective or not, it does address the nature of the crisis.

Do you really think that the failures at Bear, Lehman, AIG, Merrill, and other financials were manufactured, and that executive would have willing wiped themselves out financially just to sell some assets to the government?

[leftofthedial]

11. as easy as bailout I was,

they think they might get two or three more trillion before bush is driven from office.

[Warpy]

12. They all think their idiotic dogma will work

if they keep doing it long enough.

Their idiotic dogma has us staring down at another Depression and they know it. They just think if they get all those mean old Democrats out of the way, their dogma will somehow fix it.

It's why we have to get them out and keep them out.

[Mariana]

16. They're waiting for their Medals of Freedom.

Bush likes to award them to the biggest screw-ups in his administration.

[madokie]

17. Charges would be good