A Financial Train Wreck

A few quotes from this week-
"I don't want the American taxpayer to get this bad debt and then the guy (whose company once held the bad loans) gets millions of dollars on his way out the door," said House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank, D-Mass.

Paulson said that "it pains me tremendously to have the American taxpayer put in this position but it is better than the alternative."

My edge is completely gone and the government is now in full control of your money. So sad. (howardlindzon)

When the markets inevitably start going into freefall again, everyone will say "That short covering rally should be coming soon. Oh wait, no short-sellers??? Damn, maybe shouldn't have banned that..." (HCF comment on bigpicture)

The U.S. Government's historic reaction to the financial crisis firmly puts us in a place not seen in generations. We have officially crossed the line from capitalism to socialism in less than a week. The Fed synthetically owns Wall Street as we speak. The historic checks and balances built into the system, e.g., the ability to freely buy and sell, have been suspended for a large segment of the market. While the sayings "Wall Street privatizes gains and socializes losses" and "When there is too much capitalism you need a little socialism, and when there is too much socialism you need a little capitalism" have had symbolic meaning to me, they have never sounded so true than they have this week. (Information Arbitrage)