Gimme My Bailout -- Scorecard

A nice way to keep track of your tax dollars at work, courtesy of the New York Times:

http://projects.nytimes.com/creditcrisis/recipients/table

.. which incidentally, may be up for a bailout of its own...

Gimme My Bailout -- Mystery Meat Edition

From Politico:

Bush warned there could be more bailouts to come, and said that on his flight back from an international economic summit in Peru on Sunday, he had talked with Paulson about “the decisions made to safeguard” Citigroup Inc.

“If need be, we’re going to make these kind of decisions to safeguard our financial system in the future,” Bush said. “I talked to President-elect Obama about the decision we made. I told the American people, and I’ve told the president-elect when I first met him, that any time we were to make a big decision during this transition, he will be informed, as will his team.

Gimme My Bailout -- Citibank!

From the AP:

Referring to the Citigroup rescue, Bush said: "We have made these kind of decisions in the past. We made one last night. And if need be we will make these kind of decisions to safeguard our financial system in the future."

Briefing reporters later, White House deputy press secretary Tony Fratto would not identify any other firms or institutions that might be next in line for government assistance. "We would never foreshadow any specific actions involving private firms, but I think it's safe to say ... that we take threats to our financial system seriously and we stand ready to take any steps necessary to prevent systemic events in our economy," Fratto said.

He also said that the Treasury Department could rethink its decision last week to leave the final $350 billion of the $700 billion in bailout money approved by Congress for the Obama administration. Fratto said Treasury officials "wouldn't hesitate to go to Congress" for that money if it feels it is needed now.

Bush, who spoke after meeting with Paulson and other Cabinet members at the Treasury Department, said they all realize that Americans are concerned for their jobs and savings.

Gimme My Bailout -- The Big 3

From MarketWatch.com:

The chief executives of the Big Three U.S. automakers faced some skeptical lawmakers as they returned to Capitol Hill for a second day of furious lobbying for aid for their battered industry Wednesday.

Testifying before the House Financial Services Committee, the CEOs of General Motors Corp. and Chrysler LLC each fielded questions from members who said the companies must become more competitive and worried about how $25 billion in government loans would be used.

"If we continue down the path of taking money from more efficient and competitive companies and giving them to companies which are less efficient and in trouble because of bad management and bad decisions, our overall productivity as a country will continue to suffer," said Rep. Spencer Bachus, the top Republican on the financial-services panel.

Democrats in the House and the Senate are scrambling to push through a rescue package for the ailing industry. Bills in both chambers of Congress would extend $25 billion in the form of bridge loans, drawn from the recently enacted $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program for the financial markets. A vote in the Senate may come as early as Wednesday.

Gimme My Bailout -- State of California!

From The Sacramento Bee:

Assembly Speaker Karen Bass touted Uncle Sam as a realistic savior Wednesday for California's multibillion-dollar budget shortfall – but critics say the tactic could backfire by raising false hopes.

"I'm still concerned that some folks are looking at this in isolation and not in its national and international context," Bass said of a projected budget gap of $27.8 billion over two years.

Rather than Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger's approach of bridging the gap by roughly a 50-50 formula of tax increases and program cuts, Bass said it's realistic to turn to federal officials for a bailout that would avoid cuts.

"I don't want to go there," the Los Angeles Democrat said of cuts to education, health care or other key services. "I want to split the baby in half, too. I want to do 50 percent revenue, and 50 percent support from the federal government."

Welcome

With so many people asking for a hand out these days, we've decided to start collecting those stories and sharing them with you, gentle reader. Think of it as a heads-up on who has their hand out. And we invite you all to send us your sob stories in hopes that you, too, can get your piece of the pie. And if you find bailout stories published elsewhere that you'd like to share, send them to me here