Malkin on Paulson "The Naked Emporer"

Malkin has been spot on in her critique of the bailout. I'm as confused as the next person (be they novice or economist, it seems) but one thing I believe: Hank Paulson is not to be trusted, either because he is dishonest and involved in blatant cronyism, or because he is an idiot and has no clue.

Paulson held a bazooka to taxpayers’ heads. He groveled on his knees in front of Democratic House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. He lured leaders from both political parties into linking arms in a panicked Chicken Little line dance for the beleaguered mortgage industry. Paulson demanded an unprecedented $700 billion troubled assets relief program for the good of the country. For the health of the housing market. For the survival of the economy. No time for deliberation. No time to review the failures of such interventionist approaches around the world. Now, now, now!

Damn skippy.

It's a tough situation, though. Now we also have the auto-makers asking for a bailout, and probably more deserving of one than the idiots on Wall Street. Then again, is either industry really deserving of one? The collapse of the US auto-makers would be disastrous, but isn't it already happening? Hasn't it been a long time coming?

It certainly seems that way to me.