ML-Implode News - NO MORE BAZOOKAS FOR YOU!

On Capitol Hill, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher J. Dodd (D-Conn.) said he will summon Paulson to appear this week before his committee to explain why he decided to seize the companies less than two months after assuring lawmakers that no such action would be necessary. Dodd complained that just months ago Paulson was saying he wouldn't need to use the authority Congress granted him to inject capital into the companies.

"We certainly accepted him at his word that that was all that was going to be necessary," Dodd told reporters, adding that he plans to be "more cautious" about granting Paulson's future requests. "Fool me once, your fault. Fool me twice, my fault. Is this action going to produce the desired results or are there other actions being contemplated?"

John McLeod of HousingDoom, who directed our attention to the above (and suggested the title of this article pickup), remarks:

Does WaPo employ reporters or stenographers? How could anyone aware of the situation pass on that statement without a raised eyebrow?

We agree. Such a statement calls for volumnous questioning, extensive cross-examination, and considerable soul-searching. Such as: do we have a government [and Wall Street establishment], or a circus? Or: do these guys even remotely know what they're doing? Or: are they really using the Constitution as toilet paper, and not just metaphorically?

Perhaps most importantly for Dodd: given that Paulson was already thoroughly disproven on his early claims the crisis was just a "liquidity event" that would "blow over", wasn't the Bazooka incident at minimum Fool Me Attempt #2?

The "Fool Me" adage doesn't work if you don't actually keep track! Somehow, I don't think Dodd and his peers actually care... or have any incentive to keep track.

Relevant:

NO MORE BAZOOKAS FOR YOU!