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Return to Article: Bailout brings massive hiring, oversight challenges

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  So the war on capitalism continues. Old saying goes that if you fail to study the past you are bound to repeat it or words to that affect.

  While capitalism does have it drawbacks it is STILL the most efficient system. How is France's economy right now? By the way, that is Obama's model for our economy.

  Here's a little insight for all you "spread the wealth around" idiots! Lenin and Stalin couldn't make it work and they were a lot smarter than Barack Obama!

  Tom Posted October 15, 2008 6:10 PM
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  This is a joke article with a lotta comments by individuals with formulaic BS. Smart people needed??? Only one smart person is needed to effect map...the others just follow the map...Does everyone think each of the 1000 persons that work there is going to develop their own map? Unretrained anything, is evil and your not going to have 1000 people going their own way reiventing the wheel each time. After map is developed, you audit compliance with the map.

  TDK Posted October 14, 2008 4:37 PM
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  This article is well done and really gives a clear picture as to where we are at in this recovery process. The thought of many of the folks responsible for this mess as now being the saviours is scary. There have been occassions in years past where we rallied around a problem, S&l CRISIS, Wage and Price Controls under both Nixon and Carter, these programs had clear goals in mind at the outset of their life and focused on achieving those goals without getting distracted with side issues also in the case of the first Wage and Price Controls under the Cost of Living Council (headed by Don Rumsfeld) there was a time limit existence for this organization and it was to vanish on a date certain and it did. More importantly when it needed to be staffed the interesting approach used by this group was to recruit from three distinct groups,Government agencies that had employees on loan to them, Industry folks that were hired, and acadamia, which made for a very unique and highly charged workforce that actually complimented each other well. The bottom line is there are plenty of smart people in Government and others that would return for the appropriately cahllenging job and this certainly qualifies for that. If we leave it to business as usual(for hiring) we will probably get many folks that will not have our best interests at heart. True you will have to deal with the compensation/ethics issues that will arise however believe me there are talented folks that would work for 150 to 200k,of course they do not own multiple houses nor do they expect or receive multi-million dollar bonuses and somehow they manage to muddle along , raise families, own property and enjoy a fairly decent standard of living.

  Frank Pugliese Posted October 14, 2008 2:57 PM
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  Can't remember the author of this quote, but it certainly applies: "unrestrained capitalism is unrestrained evil"!Amen.

  ChristmasTree Posted October 14, 2008 1:16 PM
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  Congress created this mess and they need to keep their mitts off of the correction otherwise they will make it worse

  Dan ketter Posted October 14, 2008 11:33 AM
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  I haven't seen any references in the comments on THIS article to 'this isn't 1929', but I have seen them in response to other articles. Wake up, people. This is, indeed, 1929 again. There was a reason why all those regulations were put in place after the 1929 crash. The system was fine until deregulation started. We should have learned a lesson from the FSL crisis in the late 1980s and early 1990, but it went right over the heads of our elected officials, and the deregulation of the financial system continued. Now we are essentially right back to the unregulated financial system that we had prior to 1929, and apparently we still haven't learned a blessed thing. We're in trouble again, and wailing and beating our breasts saying 'How could this happen, since we took such actions to prevent 1929 from ever happening again'. It happened because all the protections that were put in place were removed!!! AND, the idiots that did it are mostly still in office!!

  Larry R. Doane Posted October 14, 2008 10:50 AM
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  "The New Deal wasn't written in a day." "This is stuff that the government doesn't do great."

  God help us all when this New Deal is written and the government gets "good" at this.

  Phil..."Mr. Market" is only "disorderly" when "Mr. State" doesn't like the results and coerces different outcomes. So you argue "bring on the State" to fix things. "Mr. Marx" would be proud of you.

  Jon Posted October 14, 2008 10:31 AM
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  Given that we are now nationalizing banks, do we really need another federal agency to administer the troubled assets? Why not, as a majority owner, direct the banks to renegotiate the terms of those loans. After all, the USA doesn't have to be concerned with quarterly earnings, stock prices and all that short term stuff.

  As an aside, while Paulson may have no other choice than to contract with the same Wall Street Wizards who created the pmess, it would be interesting to know what the skim will be from the $700 billion in G&A and Profit.

  M Onger Posted October 14, 2008 9:42 AM
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  The authors have fallen into the hearsay trap. They need to get down here where the action is to see that there are two standards applied by the Government oversight agencies. One standard for small businesses who have no political influence and legal muscle, and another for the big businesses who do. Don't make the "poor" civil servants the victims when their lack of uniform enforcement is largely to blame. Whistle blowers, within the Government, are punished and no action is taken on thier accusations. Small Businesses who complain suffer retaliation. The big businesses have come to understand that not all rules apply to them. That's why we find ourselves in this mess. Try to get the facts right.

  Frank Gordon Posted October 14, 2008 8:10 AM
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  This is an excellent article, and one of the few to address the actual "nuts and bolts" behind the bailout. I hope for the best, but as a federal employee myself with almost 30 years of service, as well as a taxpayer, I wonder where these new employees will come from, given the unique and highly complicated nature of this job.

  The fact that the government is thinking of using Wall Streeters with this kind of knowledge and experience also troubles me, because I agree with the statement in the article that "the public, however, may balk at hiring the arsonists to put out the fire". Can we trust those who created this mess in the first place to fix it, or do we really have no better alternative?

  I guess we'll all just have to keep our fingers crossed and hope for the best.

  Just Saying Posted October 13, 2008 12:27 PM
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  Great article, the best I've read so far abou the next steps to come. I will now be a regular reader & visitor

  Mitch Posted October 13, 2008 10:08 AM
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  The facts of what we now face and the choices we either must make or will be made for us:

  1. Leverage must come out of the system and will. We will get back to 12:1 or less one way or another. We can either do it under regulatory fiat, which is neutral and nails everyone, or we can do it in a disorderly fashion as Mr. Market imposes it upon us and wind up with a Depression in the process. There are no other options; this is reality whether we like it or not. Deal with it. 2. Ditto for homes. If you think 20% down, 36% DTI and no more than 3.5:1 home price to income is going to be avoided, you're wrong. Again, we can either do it by regulatory practice and principle, or we can do it in a severely disorderly fashion (what we have now) as one market after another crashes and burns, taking people out to the woodshed and bankrupting both them and the institutions serving them. Deal with it. 3. Full financial balance sheet disclosure. It will happen. Again, it can occur one of two ways - either by regulatory fiat or it will happen as firms that refuse to do so go bankrupt, one at a time, as has been happening in a disorderly fashion. Down the "disorderly" rabbit hole lies the destruction of our financial system in total, a DOW that trades at 2,000 or less, an S&P 500 that trades at 200 or less, 25% unemployment, a Depression worse than the 1930s, no recovery for a decade or more, Social Security and Medicare being rendered insolvent and a potential default on American sovereign debt. Deal with it.

  Phil Posted October 13, 2008 7:47 AM
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  "The public, however, may balk at hiring the arsonists to put out the fire." That's a laugh. How naïve does the author think we are; when does the "public" have any input into the civil service hiring process? Just like everywhere else in the civil service, the "good old boys" will do the selecting. They will see to it the people they want get hired, the people they don't want will get ignored, and that will be that. If anybody doubts what I say, just look at NSPS. That is exactly what it was set up to do!

  Jim Posted October 12, 2008 12:51 AM
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  Just like the Keating Five the government will sell the best properties to their friends and leave the garbage for WE THE PEOPLE.

  chris d purdy Posted October 12, 2008 12:37 AM