Secretary Paulson begged at the SEC for more leverage as CEO-Thain is insane and greedy

This Goldman boys are greedy and the frontrunners are their CEO , worrisome is that this disgraceful Bush made Paulson the man to run the bailout as he is majorly responsible for creating the crisis. I know I have repeated that a several times now but his top 2 motives were to control the information flow for his old firm and place some 'agents into the system' plus to get a tax break of around 150-200 mil worth.

Excerpt Barrons

What's your impression of the bank bailout?

[Treasury Secretary] Hank Paulson is really the imperfect messenger for this bailout. Remember that Paulson is one of the five executives who went to the SEC in 2004 to beg, 'Please, let us lever up more. Please let us go to [a leverage ratio of] 30 or 40.' It is bad enough that he helped create the crisis. It appears that this whole response is completely ad hoc.

Thain asks for a 10 mil bonus after having received a sign on bonus is this guy out of his mind but this Goldman boys think they deserve every money they can get hold of. The guts he has to ask for one is outrageous but does not suprise at all.

Thain Spars With Board Over Bonus At Merrill

Merrill Lynch & Co. chief John Thain has suggested to directors that he get a 2008 bonus of as much as $10 million, but the battered securities firm's compensation committee is resisting his request, according to people familiar with the situation.

The committee and full board are scheduled to meet Monday to hear Mr. Thain's formal bonus recommendations for himself and other senior executives of the New York company. No decision has been reached, and it isn't known what Mr. Thain will recommend, but the compensation committee is leaning toward denying the executives bonuses for this year, these people said.

Obama seems to have an agenda as he stays away from TARP as it were nuclear waste - lets wait and see if a positive suprise shows up and he calls for a full fledged investigation into the unholly methods off secretary Paulson. Which makes me think he will not is the fact that he hired Geithner who would be sharing that responsibility.

Obama Keeps His Distance From Treasury on TARP

Paulson Can't Ask Congress for Second Tranche of $350 Billion Unless He Knows Next Administration's Plans for the Money

By JONATHAN WEISMAN and DEBORAH SOLOMON

CHICAGO -- Barack Obama decried the state of the economy Wednesday for the fifth time in 10 days. But the president-elect and his team are resisting overtures from the Bush Treasury Department to get more involved now in shaping how the rest of the $700 billion in financial-rescue funds are spent.

Associated Press

President-elect Barack Obama gets ready to introduce his nominee for Commerce secretary, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson, in Chicago on Wednesday.

Since his election exactly one month ago, Mr. Obama has maintained a campaign-like approach to the economy, speaking in broad terms about the need for intervention, while refusing to engage in specifics. Introducing New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson as his nominee for Commerce secretary on Wednesday, Mr. Obama declared: "With each passing day, the work our team has begun, developing plans to revive our economy, becomes more urgent."

Some Bush officials feel those plans may not be able to wait until the Jan. 20 transfer of power. As early as next week, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will decide whether to seek the second tranche of $350 billion in the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) to help rescue the nation's financial sector. To access that money, Mr. Paulson must present to Congress not only his plan for the money, but also detailed plans from the next administration, which would spend the bulk of it.

Mr. Obama told reporters Wednesday he didn't need to deal with the issue yet. "Until Secretary Paulson indicates publicly that he's drawing down the second tranche, the second half of the TARP money, it would be speculation on my part to suggest that [the first tranche of] that money is going to be used up," Mr. Obama said.

Treasury officials have grown frustrated with the Obama transition team's unwillingness to engage in specifics. Mr. Paulson has to consult with the Obama team on any big moves, in particular on plans for how the next $350 billion should be used. While Treasury has been in frequent contact with the Obama team, there is uncertainty about what it wants to do with that next batch of money. Many within Treasury believe the next administration is trying to keep its distance in an effort not to be painted as endorsing any of the Bush administration's plans.

Mr. Obama also hasn't discussed one of his hot-button issues -- foreclosure-mitigation efforts -- with the Paulson team. While Mr. Obama has talked about helping homeowners, his aides haven't presented Treasury with any type of plan they would like to see implemented.

Associated Press

Obama is resisting overtures from the Bush Treasury Department to get more involved now in shaping how the rest of the rescue funds are spent.

Obama transition aides have pushed back on what they see as undue pressure from the Bush administration. "We've had three press conferences on the economy. The president-elect delivered his radio address on it. He met with the governors [Tuesday]. He's talking [Wednesday] too, but the one-president-at-a-time rule applies here," said one Obama aide, after acknowledging that the Bush White House is pressing for help on the TARP.

David Axelrod, a senior Obama adviser, said that until Mr. Paulson commits to seeking the additional funds, any statements about its use would be presumptuous. Told that such a commitment could come next week, Mr. Axelrod shrugged, "Well, that's not this week."

Mr. Obama has been willing to make general statements about how he would handle TARP once he is in office. "One of my central principles...when I first examined the TARP proposal, was to insist that there was going to be strong oversight," he said. "We're seeing some areas where we can be doing better, in making sure that this money is not going to CEO compensation, that it's protecting taxpayers, and that the taxpayers are going to get their money back; that it's effective in shoring up our financial markets."