Barney needs a Thesaurus...and a frontal lobotomy

Heh...Matthew Hoy (HoyStory) makes a valid point concerning Barney Frank's understanding of the word 'viable."

"If they give Detroit $25 billion dollars, and it turns out that that isn’t enough to save them, how excactly is Frank going to get that money returned?"

For some reason, this reminds me of an embezzler sitting on the witness stand while the prosecutor levies questions in an effort to recover the money. Who remembers Jawad Hashim?

Jawad Hashim raises his chin slightly, looking directly into the video camera recording his statement. Droves of lawyers hover. They all want to know just what Hashim did with several tens of millions of Arab dollars that disappeared more than a decade ago.

...

"Where did the $20,000 go?" Gaffney asks.

"On what I spent it, I really have to figure out," Hashim, who has master's and doctorate degrees from the London School of Economics, replies. "Because I don't know. I can't remember."

Gaffney rephrases the question.

"Did you buy anything?"

Hashim pauses, casts a glance toward his attorney, and replies: "Probably. I bought two shirts. Yes. Some socks. Shampoo."

And so it goes.

Hour after hour. Day after day. Gaffney presses Hashim for details. Slowly, very slowly, information starts to emerge. Sometimes, information that Hashim failed to disclose on his sworn bankruptcy filing. Sometimes, information that catches the attention of a federal bankruptcy fraud task force.

A bank account here. A few hundred thousand dollars over there. A mysterious offshore company. Complex real estate deals. Cash spirited out of Canada in suitcases. Bundles of checks, endorsed by other people, given to Hashim to cash whenever he wishes.

I can only imagine how the big three are going to answer similar questions next year. Oh,...wait...that's right, the United Auto Workers (UAW) have a knife to the neck of the auto industry. In short, a filed Chapter 11 restructuring would result in renegotiated UAW contracts and loss of UAW workers (hence, loss of UAW member fees that eventually find their use politically on that left side of the aisle). So, the necessity to pump up the industry...even solidify a "nationalization" of sorts is instrumental to the propogation of the Americ...Amer...of the...uh...hmmmm...Democratic party.

Nevermind...Detroit will pay off the $25 Billion with a portion of the $75 Billion they get next year. THAT'S SHOWING A PROFIT...RIGHT BARNEY!!