Daily Flog: It's so bad that capitalists plan to help proles

This is how bad the economy is: The government is finally thinking about bailing out U.S. homeowners.

Faced with a global recession of Wall Street's own making, bankers are so desperate that even Mr. Potter is putting on a smiley face.

Even worse for them, this sudden benevolence (or least the mere thought of it) is sweeping across the globe ("West Is in Talks on Credit to Aid Poorer Nations," New York Times).

You don't have to be a Marxist, or even a respectful critic of some of Wall Street's practices, to see that this new plan to help the little guy in the U.S. make his mortgage payment — to not foreclose on his house and not flip it for even more profit — is the bankers' absolutely last option.

The only options Wall Street execs usually spend time on are the bundles of stock they hand out to one another.

Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, for instance, didn't leave his job as Goldman Sachs CEO for public service until he got $110 million just for stock options and restricted stock the company had given him. (That doesn't count his bonuses, etc.)

Paulson bailed, then he bailed out his Wall Street pals, now he has to finally start bailing us out. As the Washington Post reports this morning, in "Treasury Considers Backing Mortgages":

This follows yesterday's shocker of Alan Greenspan admitting that some regulation of Wall Street may be necessary ("Greenspan deregulated," Press Clips).

The plans to bail out the proles aren't a complete surprise. It does mean that Bair has won her argument with Paulson.

The two have been at loggerheads since the beginning of the meltdown crisis. I noted October 16:

Remember what she said back then?

Wall Street's bankers haven't cared much about the mortgages themselves; they've focused on bundling them into securities off which they've made astounding profits.

Now they finally have to roll up their sleeves, go down to the basement, and start shoring up the foundation — the little people strapped with big mortgages, many of those mortgages the result of the bankers' predatory lending practices.

While they start digging us out . . .

NO PARTICULAR ORDER:

Washington Post: 'World Markets Sink; OPEC Slashing Output'

Wall Street Journal: 'Europe Sinks; London Falls 8.7 Percent'

Wall Street Journal: 'Asia Tumbles; Nikkei Loses 9.6 Percent'

N.Y. Daily News: 'Brooklyn man accuses 5 cops of sodomy attack in subway; district attorney launches investigation'

McClatchy: 'New polls paint bleak battleground map for McCain campaign'

N.Y. Times: 'In McCain’s Uphill Battle, Winning Is an Option'

Slate: 'McCain's Hero: More Socialist Than Obama!'

Slate: 'Stolen Elections -- as American as Apple Pie' (Jack Shafer)

Salon: 'Another election nightmare in Florida?'

Village Voice: 'Angry Crowd, Bloggers Yell at Bloomberg Over Term Limits' (Roy Edroso)

N.Y. Times: 'Council Backs Bloomberg Bid to Run Again'

N.Y. Daily News: 'Sarah Palin wig a top seller in Brooklyn'

Slate: 'Attack of the Cell-Phone Zombies!'

McClatchy: 'EPA weakens new lead rule after White House objects'

CNET: 'Time to patch Windows again'

Gawker: 'Scott McClellan Endorses Obama'

N.Y. Times: 'Bomber Kills 11 in Attack on Iraqi Official'

N.Y. Times: 'Half of Doctors Routinely Prescribe Placebos'

Gawker: 'NYT Co. May Be Downgraded To Junk'

Slate: 'Hot Document: Obama Through British Eyes'

L.A. Times: 'Countrywide plan may cut mortgage rates for 395,000 borrowers'

Washington Post: 'Newest Source of Teen Ire: Webcams in Their Cars'

Washington Post: 'Credit Crisis May Force Metro to Pay Millions'

McClatchy: 'In hard times, some raid their closets in hopes of raising cash'