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It’s a rich man’s world

“And the rich man in his summer home, singing just leave well enough alone…” – the Grateful Dead

On the imminent sale of Wachovia’s operations to Citigroup, the New York Times reports:

Given their size and reach, the institutions would probably come under greater scrutiny from federal regulators.

Yeah, because that’s worked so well in the past. Even now, when the government should be addressing the problems that arose when they didn’t regulate — and with $700 billion on the line — they’re still essentially handing Wall Street a blank check:

Even as policy makers worked on details of a $700 billion bailout of the financial industry, Wall Street began looking for ways to profit from it.

Financial firms were lobbying to have all manner of troubled investments covered, not just those related to mortgages.

At the same time, investment firms were jockeying to oversee all the assets that Treasury plans to take off the books of financial institutions, a role that could earn them hundreds of millions of dollars a year in fees.

Nobody wants to be left out of Treasury’s proposal to buy up bad assets of financial institutions.

The bill coming up for a vote now is better than the Bush administration’s original “let’s think up a big number and give them that, no questions asked” plan, but not by much. Not by enough.

So make no mistake, you financial fat cats, you barons of Wall Street: if you screw over the American people, if you throw our financial institutions into disarray, our representatives will find you. They will hunt you down. And they will throw lots and lots of money at you.

Saturday various

  • I may be one of the few people who didn’t actively dislike the second season of Heroes. But even I have to admit, judging by the two episodes that aired this week to open season three, it really does look like the show is creatively bankrupt. I share a few of Jeremy‘s problems with the premiere, but mostly I was just immediately bored with it. There were a couple of minor flashes — I’m still sort of interested in Kristen Bell’s character — but I’m seriously thinking about quitting on the show.

  • I’ve never even seen The Hills, and I hate it.

  • Oh, and hey, here’s another reason to hate MTV. [via]

  • Okay, virus writers, get cracking.

  • “People are amazed that with something as simple and inexpensive as a Sharpie, you can decorate a whole basement. Provided you have some artistic talent, that is. Nobody, including me, wants to decorate a room with my doodling. [via]

  • I must admit, a team-up between Sesame Street and the Department of Homeland Security sort of scares me a little. [via]

  • Meanwhile, the New York Times reports the equally disturbing news that “recent focus groups indicated that some children could not even identify Kermit and Miss Piggy, much less ancillary characters like Fozzie Bear and Gonzo the Great.” How can that be?

  • Richard Gere and Diane Lane — “together again.” Was the first time around really so great? And even if 2002’s Unfaithful was a classic (or even just mildly popular) movie, reuniting starts to recapture that lightning in a bottle rarely works. Just ask Richard Gere.

  • If George W. Bush really wants to throw a $700 billion Band-Aid on Wall Street’s gaping wounds, maybe he can fund it with all the money that’s gone missing or been spent on failed projects during his presidency. [via]

  • And in light of that proposed bailout, it’s interesting to note the following from the 2008 Republican Party Platform:

    We do not support government bailouts of private institutions. Government interference in the markets exacerbates problems in the marketplace and causes the free market to take longer to correct itself.

    Ah, irony. [via]

  • And still on the bailout (via Mark Evanier) Paul Krugman writes:

    My sneaking suspicion is that they started with a determination to throw money at the financial industry, and everything else is just an excuse.

    His and mine both. Especially when I read how they arrived at that $700 billion figure:

    “It’s not based on any particular data point,” a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com Tuesday. “We just wanted to choose a really large number.”

    I guess they figured $700 kajillion might not fly. [via]

  • Look, I’ve said before that I Am Legend was actually one of my favorite movies of last year. And I stand by that — even if I don’t expect lots of other people to share the opinion. But a prequel? I won’t be standing in line for that.

  • I probably will line up for a copy of a new Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy sequel, but again, I really wish they wouldn’t.

  • Jack Handey:

    Because of its remoteness, it is a good idea to make a lot of noise when you approach the Humor section, to avoid surprising people engaged in a sex act. More prostitutes are arrested in Humor sections than in any other part of the bookstore.

    [via]

  • The Periodic Table of Videos. A really cool and simple idea: click on an element and it launches a short video about it. [via]