Treasury Secretary and would be junk-bond czar Hank Paulson told Congress, ""You know, I share the outrage that people have. It's embarrassing to look at this, and I think it's embarrassing to the United States of America."
How about a little personal embarassment, Mr. Paulson?
As Bloomberg reported last year in this story, Paulson was leading Goldman Sachs when it ran up at least $13 billion of its almost $37 billion in bonds backed by subprime loans or second mortgages. Those bonds have an average delinquency rate of almost 22 percent, higher than the average of other subprime bonds from the period, according to data compiled by Bloomberg.
For his trouble, Goldman paid Paulson $38.5 million for 2005, and he received an $18.7 million bonus for the first half of 2006 before he joined the Bush team. An embarrassment of riches, perhaps?
Through 2007 and until recently, he kept telling us the mess was under control. More embarrassment.
Beyond that, the former CEO still looks to be looking out for Goldman.
His alma mater just arranged with him to stretch out from investment banking to being an everything bank.
And Bloomberg, in this piece, predicts Goldman will be one of the real beneficiaries if Congress gives Paulson $700 billion to hand around as he sees fit.
That's what he's asking for. No limits, no restrictions, no oversights. No regulation -- the same rules he had as Goldman CEO that let him collect those millions while issuing billions in bad debt.
This thing smells to high heaven, people.
I say we seize the big banks the way we seize failed thrifts, instead of simply absolving them of bad debt.