Bailout II: Bail Harder

Not my hed, but rather Paul Keil's, who is reporting that Paulson is disparately looking to get the second half of the 700 billion bailout in his hands, so that he can benefit his Wall Street cronies before someone honest, or Larry Summers, ends up in charge of the Department of the Treasury:

In order to keep tabs on how the Treasury Department is handling the $700 billion bailout, Congress split up the payments. The first $350 billion is dwindling fast. $250 billion was set aside to buy stakes in the nation's banks (here's our tally of where that's going) and yesterday $40 billion went to AIG as part of its renegotiated bailout.

That only leaves $60 billion. The Treasury has not even begun implementing its original plan, to purchase troubled mortgage assets. And with a number of major American institutions -- General Motors, GMAC, bond insurers, insurance companies, etc. -- pushing for their share of the bailout, that figure is likely to run out soon. Before it does, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will be forced to return to Capitol Hill for the second helping. Such a journey is proving increasingly "likely," the Wall Street Journal ventures.

IMNSHO, if he comes back to congress, he should not be allowed to take a piss without a Congressional staffer looking over his shoulder.