Matt Yglesias

20 Responses to “Hearings”

1. Pan Says:
   September 23rd, 2008 at 2:37 pm

   Can we do that in the evening prime time? That would give a new meaning to “Reality TV.”

2. Marshall Says:
   September 23rd, 2008 at 2:39 pm

   My proposal is for anyone who wants bailout money be required to literally kiss Barney Frank’s ass.

3. Joseph Nobles Says:
   September 23rd, 2008 at 2:43 pm

   Paulson does understand that “nothing but the truth” covers absolute BS, doesn’t he?

4. bdbd Says:
   September 23rd, 2008 at 2:44 pm

   I expect those folks are beyond humiliation. I advocate the “literally kiss Barney Frank’s ass” test to confirm that.

5. blah Says:
   September 23rd, 2008 at 2:45 pm

   Why isn’t more attention being given to the massive conflict of interest that will arise when the bailout is outsourced to the very financial firms that got us into the mess? This thing looks sloppy as hell.

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6. nukev Says:
   September 23rd, 2008 at 3:07 pm

   I found this hearing informative. Bernanke has an “oh my God we’re fucked” look about him that has him wishing that he could just disappear from this mess while Paulson gets to leave in January. They have no clue if this will “fix” anything. We’re going to pay “hold to maturity” (read inflated) prices instead of “fire sale” prices. All the Senator’s really don’t want to do this (but they will anyway). Everyone knows we’re screwed no matter what.

7. kafka Says:
   September 23rd, 2008 at 3:08 pm

   “My proposal is for anyone who wants bailout money be required to literally kiss Barney Frank’s ass.”
   
   You fail to see the silver lining here. Gays have truly achieved equality in America. Gay politicians can be hired as Wall Street sock puppets and screw over the voters just like straight politicians have been doing all along.

   So let’s here it for diversity and inclusiveness!

8. William Smith Says:
   September 23rd, 2008 at 3:42 pm

   Matt,
   I’d rather see abject begging and tearful apologies from the executives to Congressional Democrats that, “We were wrong; you were right! Please regulate us!” Get it on the record.

9. mpowell Says:
   September 23rd, 2008 at 4:19 pm

   
   someone should drag a whole bunch of financial services company execs before congress to get yelled at and humiliated.
   

   MY, I can’t believe that you didn’t already know that this was the purpose for all congressional hearings!

10. NBarnes Says:
    September 23rd, 2008 at 4:19 pm

    William Smith has the right idea. I think the value of hearings is that it gets executives from the industries in question in front of cameras, under oath, being asked questions of by, rather than compliant members of the MSM, congresspeople with the power to totally screw them if it pleases them to do so. They can, and likely often will, still lie. But at least congresspeople aren’t under some bizzare delusion that they have to act like they believe them.

11. Colatina Says:
    September 23rd, 2008 at 5:50 pm

    “I expect those folks are beyond humiliation.”

    Ask Jeff Skilling if it was fun to get berrated by a silly person like Barbara Boxer. No, they’re not beyond humiliation at all. And it would make them look like criminals, which they wouldn’t like. Your average individual filing for bankruptcy has to go through plenty of humilitation, legally mandated by our government, in many cases for the simple fact that they were evil enough to get sick or lose their job.

    Congress has oversight over the executive agencies that get this kind of money; I’d expect that any major company getting bailed out would also have to testify before Congress.

12. Kolohe Says:
    September 23rd, 2008 at 5:51 pm

    But it seems to me that this crisis may have created a situation that’s well-suited to congressional hearings — someone should drag a whole bunch of financial services company execs before congress to get yelled at and humiliated. That wouldn’t accomplish much of anything of value, but it’d be fun to watch.

    Which again shows that Mr Yglesias has been paying to attention to this stuff for about a week or two.

    They had hearings like you describe in March.

13. CN Says:
    September 23rd, 2008 at 8:15 pm

    Hearing’s aren’t useless. They might not do much during a crisis like this–well, actually, I’d argue that it served an important purpose today–but hearings generally get a bad rap. Just because it’s tedious listening to people talk in circles doesn’t mean there was a purpose to it all.

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