I had been skeptical about the auto bailout, but generally supportive and relieved Bush is going to throw the automakers a lifeline. Well, I was relieved until I read this:
This is cautious, responsible governance by a responsible president seeking to make his successor’s transition as smooth as possible.
That was Hugh Hewitt. We are so screwed.
cleek
i can’t find a link to it, but Bush himself said he felt a responsibility to not leave a disaster like this for his successor.
(i guess he thinks Obama has enough disasters already waiting for him)
Reverend Dennis
Thank goodness for that. For moment I thought that Bush might just kicking the can down the road like he did with Afghanistan, like he did with Iraq, like he did with Global Warming, like he did with the collapse of the economy, like he did with immigration reform…
Herbert Hoover, you may now rest in peace: you’ve been topped.
gopher2b
I was against the bailout until only southern Republican Senators were against it. They are the George Constanza of politics and we should do the opposite of whatever they think is the correct move.
BTW, Ford is looking very good coming out of this by refusing the bailout money (or crazy). Worth investing in?
TheHatOnMyCat
Proving that even a complete bonehead president can be right once every eight years.
Too bad the one time came so late, but anyway …..
Xecky Gilchrist
@Reverend Dennis: Herbert Hoover, you may now rest in peace: you’ve been topped.
Yup. Did Hoover have as many rabid supporters as Bush once did, ready to unleash a torrent of death threats on people who dared to question Hoover’s genius? I’ve always wondered.
shirt
As smooth as possible? How are they proposing to do that? Warm the K-Y?
TheHatOnMyCat
Stay tuned. None of the Big Six are selling cars right now. Massive dealership failures are likely early next year. The public isn’t in the mood to buy and the retail car loan capital isn’t flowing.
This story isn’t over, Bush just bought some time. Round Two is early next year.
joe
I was relieved when the TARP was first announced, but we see how that came out. So I’m not really expecting whatever Bushy’s team comes up with now to accomplish much of anything other than to keep the Big 3 going long enough to allow him to skedaddle out of town and avoid blame for yet another disaster. In 2010, The GOP will be campaigning on how America’s biggest industry failed under the Obama administration.
bootlegger
If Hughy is on board than we are all fucked. Something is amiss.
Shinobi
K-Y Warming, skip the extra steps.
Though the fact that a product like that actually exsists makes me wonder if maybe an economic contraction isn’t exactly a terrible idea. I think I should have seen it coming when the Swiffer happend, oh and the pre packaged dishwasher detergent. But so many lube varieties they pracically need their own Aisle? Sign of coming economic doom.
Reverend Dennis
His true supporters were likely the same true supporters that Bush has now: the people whose accumulated wealth will allow them to pick up the worthwhile parts of the nation at ten cents on the dollar.
Punchy
Nope. SATSQ.
Llelldorin
The Big 3 have spent the last many years having brief lucid periods amidst a lot of gibbering. Ford basically won at musical chairs–they were in the midst of just such a lucid period under Mulally when the economy collapsed. They were in the enviable position of already being in the midst of a switch towards smaller cars when the gas crunch turned brutal this year.
If the economy had fallen apart in 1998, GM would’ve been the one stable company instead of Ford.
Atanarjuat
Having so many people thrown out of work so close to Christmastime is a very sad and tragic thing, which is why I’m so glad that President George W. Bush is doing all he can within his means to help out the little guy.
This latest development just proves that Bush’s generous heart is far larger than that of his mean-spirited detractors. If any of you BDS-afflicted leftists had any decency, you’d pause in your conservative mudslinging for just a moment and thank the President for this very good deed.
gbear
You may have to just go with the broken clock theory. At this point I’m glad Bush did something, even if it’s just buying time. Doing nothing was just too wrong.
Gopher2b, you are a wise person who offers sage advice.
The Moar You Know
@gopher2b: I don’t know if they are worth investing in; if I had money to invest, I’d be buying cartons of cigarettes and ammunition for the coming apocalypse.
However, I give Ford a lot of credit; they saw this coming back in 2006, revamped a lot of their production lines and sold off a ton of assets. The reason Ford doesn’t need any bailout money is that, through those asset sales, they are sitting on a large pile of cash. Good for them.
Oh yeah, and their cars, while not at the level of a Nissan or Toyota, are not the unmitigated crappy, ugly piles of shit that GM and Chrysler vehicles have turned into.
gbear
He would have, but they all died of syphilis first.
Dork
I looked up "obvious spoof giveaway", and I saw this. Use of the full name is something only the spoofers use. The question remains, however…..exactly who is writing him? I’m guessing TOS.
TheHatOnMyCat
Too bad he’s the idiot that created the dumbass administration.
Sorry, (S)Atan, your post is rejected.
TheHatOnMyCat
A listmember who will not confess, and who will be severely punished in the fullness of time.
Napoleon
In defense of Hoover he was a better man (by far) and, particularly when taking into account the state of economics theory when he was President, a better President then Bush, and I would have been willing to say that before the economic meltdown. His failed Presidency aside, Hoover had actual accomplishments in life which he could be justly proud of.
Do a mind exercise. In 1947, which was only 15 years after the Dems started running every election like they were running against Hoover, which lasted until about the 1972 election, Democratic President Harry Truman appointed Hoover chairman of a commission (the Hoover Commission) to reorganize the executive branch. Can anyone imagine any Democratic President from now to the end of time even letting Bush wash the limo or clean up the dogs c**p of the lawn of the White House?
The Moar You Know
@Atanarjuat: My thanks come in the form of not marching down Pennsylvania Avenue with pitchfork and torch in hand, which is more than C-Plus Augustus deserves.
You’re welcome.
Trollhattan
If Hewett’s on board…this is good news for ROMNEY!
Zifnab
Yeah, bullshit. The $14 billion loan comes with some fun strings attached. If the car industries aren’t fixed by March, the loans will suddenly come due. Think of this as a subprime band-aid to give Bush cover while he dives out the back door of the collapsing economy.
The loan is basically rigged to bankrupt the Big 3 two months after he leaves office. It’s a load of crap.
Hewitt is a fucking fire hose of bullshit. If Bush denied the Big 3 their loan, he’d be declaring this a gracious act on the part of the President not to further burden the incoming administration with debt. If Bush had donated the $14 billion to Habitat for Humanity on a whim, Hewitt would fling praise at the daring hidden wisdom of our 43rd CinC. If Bush had taken the money, shoved it down his pants, and jizzed, Hewitt would have lauded the sensible monetary policy that would leave the Obama White House on secure footing.
He should just end ever post with "This Can Only Be Good For Bush’s Legacy!!!!!!11onefapfap!!!!!!"
TheHatOnMyCat
Well, this.
Toyota 104, Honda 109, Mercury 110, Ford 112.
Industry average 118.
Of the twelve brands after the luxuries, American brands make up seven of them.
Reverend Dennis
His true supporters were likely the same sort of true supporters that Bush has now: the people whose accumulated wealth will allow them to pick up the worthwhile parts of the nation at ten cents on the dollar.
The Moar You Know
Hoover worked his ass off, didn’t try to undermine the legal system, was intelligent and could speak in complete sentences, so he has Bush beat by a mile.
This:
Sadly true. He’d been Commerce secretary, so he knew economics pretty well. But the world had changed and those teaching economics didn’t realize it. Hell, even FDR’s court-constrained efforts didn’t really fix the situation (although it improved matters considerably) only the massive government spending and sky-high tax rates of World War II did.
bootlegger
@Atanarjuat: Thank you for President Bush for doing the right thing, finally, after 8 years of fucking up my country.
Satisfied Attanut?
Desargues
They achieved a bit of a trifecta with this: let Republican Senators look tough on inefficient businesses and big bad unions, if GM and Chrysler do indeed collapse; claim credit on account of a Republican president saving the day, if the carmakers survive; and let Obama deal with the inevitable mess, when the Big Three come back for more cash.
Why aren’t the Democrats controlling the message on this?
bootlegger
@The Moar You Know:
Don’t forget booze, it will be highly fungible in the Badlands.
TheHatOnMyCat
And he invented a helluva vacuum cleaner.
Zifnab
So the Big 3 have to completely reform their industries between mid December and the first of April or the loan bounces back, sending everyone into bankruptcy.
Translation: IT’S A TARP!
J.
I’m sorry. Were psychedelic drugs legalized while I was sleeping? A responsible president?!
Yet another snow job making the news.
And speaking of snow, here in the Northeast it’s coming down fast and furious.
The Moar You Know
@TheHatOnMyCat: Hey, thanks for that! Very informative. I’ve been a Japanese car owner for most of my life, just recently bought a Lincoln. Nice car. Fucking pimpmobile (freaking air-conditioned seats!), actually, but it seems very nicely put together. Ford has really cleaned up their act since the last Ford I bought back in 1984.
bootlegger
@TheHatOnMyCat: I’m shocked that Subaru is so low. I had a Forester and that thing would run circles around any car I ever or currently own.
TheHatOnMyCat
The terms will be renegotiated. Chrysler may fail, but GM will get extensions as necessary. Look for a GM-Chrysler deal, too. The Obama administration is not likely to let the American auto industry collapse.
Napoleon
@The Moar You Know:
If somehow you could have magically swapped Hoover for Bush at the beginning of his term (and gave him a mind melt to bring him up to speed on the world) there is no way we would be as bad off as we are today. Hoover may have lacked the creative "out of the box" thinking to get him out of a crisis that was basically unprecedented, but much of what has gone wrong in the last 8 years (and I happen to think the economic meltdown is one of them) is a result of actively making terrible fantasy based decisions, which now is SOP for the GOP. I have a feeling he may have been boring, but at least he was based in the real world. At a minimum he would likely not have just p–sed trillions of dollars down a rat hole in the Middle East just to find out it could have been better spent on bailing the nation out.
The Moar You Know
@bootlegger: I can make booze. Not so much cigarettes or ammunition (not humid enough here to grow tobacco and too scared of blowing my face off to load my own ammo).
One easy form of booze to make.
Here’s another.
gbear
Some OT good news:
The vote counters in MN have been going thru the pile of Coleman’s challenged votes today and have been finding out that most of his challenges were crap. Franken is ahead by 170 votes as of about 20 minutes ago.
Coleman has one court challenge regarding improperly rejected early votes that is still holding up the results, but it looks like Franken could waive those votes and still win.
Anything Coleman cooks up now is total desperation. Hah.
Napoleon
@TheHatOnMyCat:
I use to work in Canton, Ohio and actually would hang out with one of the grand/greatgrand kids of the Hoover family (they are a differant Hoover family).
TheHatOnMyCat
I know, I was just being a smartass.
The Other Steve
I was listening to NPR the other day and they had a short editorial piece by Robert Reich, which I really agreed with.
Reich basically said that he agreed with bailing out the auto companies right now, but he said the President had no authority to use TARP money to do that. The question had to go back to Congress. Otherwise this is setting a bad precedent. The President has no authority to do this, as Congress never authorized the spending in this manner and to do so is counter to what the Constitution says is the role of the executive.
Now personally, I see this as a failure of Democratic leadership. If the GOP wanted to play politics, they should have made it clear that that was what they were doing, and hung it around their necks for the next election.
Zifnab
@TheHatOnMyCat:
With what money? The GOP has successfully proven they’ve got the Senatorial muscle to shut down future bailout capital. That leaves the $350 billion Paulson is currently stomping his feet and begging for to draw on which – at the rate he’s been doling it out – probably won’t last till New Years much less Inauguration Day.
Obama will have to fight tooth and nail for bailout capital on industries that have already failed the GOP litmus test. The hammer will drop on unions as everyone gets desperate for cash. It’s a beautiful little trap for the new administration to get thrown in, and the current Dem Caucus is leading the charge straight into the jaws of death.
The Other Steve
I was stupid, I think. I bought back into the markets when the DOW hit 9000. Since then I’ve lost a fair amount of money, although not as bad as if I had left my money in at 14000.
But this year is falling out just as I predicted. Although the collapse came before the election, I knew that there was worse news out there waiting until after the election.
Xecky Gilchrist
@The Moar You Know: One easy form of booze to make. … Here’s another.
Or there’s always this. (ETA: oops, I see your first link includes a link to that).
Props for Jenkem, though, especially the mulled Jenkem you can only get around Christmastime.
It would have been a real shot in the arm for the drug warriors if the "Jenkem is catching on in America!" hysteria had stuck. Imagine being able to arrest people for possession just because they were walking around needing to take a dump.
TheHatOnMyCat
Wow. You are quite the Pollyanna, I must say.
If Obama is smart, he will resign now.
Llelldorin
In the current senate (49-49-1-1), this is true. It’s not as obviously true in the (assuming Franklin pulls it out) 57-41-1-1 senate that we’ll have in a few weeks.
John S.
What Bush meant to say is that all he cares about is preserving his ‘legacy’, and doesn’t want to have the auto industry collapse on his watch.
He could give a rat’s ass about Obama.
The Moar You Know
@Xecky Gilchrist: I love the "Steve, Don’t Eat It!" series. He’s braver than me.
Atanarjuat
How forgetful of me. I neglected to take into account the unforgiving, vindictive nature of most leftists. This is why attempting to appeal to your better nature only ends in failure — because leftists don’t possess the virtue of forgiveness or anything that might allow for redemption.
President George W. Bush is uniquely positioned to provide economic relief to hundreds of thousands, if not millions of middle class families, and your only reaction is to compare Bush to Hoover and completely dismiss this welcome aid to our fellow Americans. If President Bush were a Democrat, I suspect that most of you sneering liberals would be cheering heartily instead. But, since it’s a Republican making the proposal to help out blue collar workers, you leftists are astoundingly unable (or unwilling) to get past your partisan enmity.
You should all be ashamed.
Xecky Gilchrist
@The Moar You Know: I love the "Steve, Don’t Eat It!" series. He’s braver than me.
Likewise. He also writes a lot better than I can.
Zifnab
@TheHatOnMyCat:
I think the term is "optimist". And Obama is doing well. It’s the rest of the Dem caucus I lack faith in.
Zifnab
@Atanarjuat:
You fool! Now you’ve fallen into our trap!
If Bush was a Democrat, I’d be voting Republican.
bago
There are far more psychedelic drugs out there than are outlawed. The 2c series is quite extensive.
John S.
Ditto. But apparently despite the defeat of William Jefferson at the hands of Democrats who voted for his Republican opponent, this meme has not penetrated the right in their alternate universe.
Ash Can
@Atanarjuat: LOLZ!
TenguPhule
Piss on him and piss on you.
He dragged it out long after it should have been settled.
And if Hewitt is on board, then it’s a universal law that it’s going to go wrong.
Because Hugh is never ever right on anything. Ever.
steve
200 plus years of american jurisprudence developed tthrough the old Bankruptcy Act, The Bankruptcy Reform Act and the Bankruptcy Code specifically designed to provided an orderly reorganization/liquidation of distressed companies thrown down the crapper to be supplanted by politician who never run a damn thing in their life….this is awful….
TenguPhule
Fixed for accuracy.
r€nato
Atanarjuat: the king of projection.
Napoleon
@steve:
Cry me a river. Did it bug you when the administration threw habeas corpus down the crapper after 500 years or the Constitution after 231 years?
TenguPhule
Fun Fact: Twoface Paulson is going to be the Car Czar.
Yeah, Mr. "Give me $700 billion with no strings attached and oops I fucked up that TARP thing, my bad!" Paulson.
The only salute Bush deserves for this is one fingered.
Xecky Gilchrist
@Napoleon: I’d misread steve – "politician who never run a damn thing in their life" describes Bush pretty well. He has nominally run companies and a country, though only into the ground.
The Moar You Know
Damn straight. I love the death penalty, mandatory sentencing, three-strikes laws, warrantless wiretapping, draconian law enforcement, and preemptive war.
Oh, I am. Obvious spoofery is obvious.
Dork
And he built a helluva dam, too.
Perry Como
Who says he fucked it up? Goldman Sachs gets $10 billion from TARP and GS employees get $11 billion in bonuses. It seems to be working exactly as intended.
MIchael Demmons
Important question:
Why do you people respond to Atanarjuat? Just askin!
MIchael Demmons
@TenguPhule:
Not quite. Dick Morris has to be on board first.
Napoleon
@Xecky Gilchrist:
I thought about that, but Bush actually did run companies in the past. Granted, he ran them into the ground, well except the one that got huge public subsidies in the form of a stadium. I mean Bush was even stupid enough to trade away Sammy Sosa. Obama actually wins in his fantasy football league.
steve
dont give a damn about habeus corpus…and i would not want george bush running my business…nor would i want barney frank, dick cheney, nancy pelosi (insert your own politician here) and i dont want them running the car companies….
mellowjohn
Atanarjuat @ #14:
pause.
"thank you, george."
now then, where were we? oh yeah… george, you’re an clueless buffoon.
Joshua Norton
Word. He even had the nerve to state that the biggest problem with Capitalism was the greedy Capitalists.
Even though he was so wrong in so many ways, he got that part of the equation right.
Punchy
Serious Q — anyone suspicious that, after 30+ years of bullshitting, that Madoff confesses now in the hopes (guarentee?) of a pardon?
I mean…why now did he confess?
Xecky Gilchrist
@steve: dont give a damn about habeus corpus…
You’re OK with a liberal government being able to lock you up permanently for no reason?
Joshua Norton
Hey Cole! I see you got a shout-out in Glennzilla’s blog. How cool is that! I’m impressed, and that’s not easy to do.
demimondian
@Punchy: To protect his family. It was all falling apart, and if he confessed to everything, then the Feds might accept him as the fall guy and stop looking.
demimondian
@steve: I can haz bettur trollz pleez?
TenguPhule
He hopes the Fed will protect him from getting whacked by all the people he stole moneyt from
steve
umm never thought about it….well i guess i did…and when it comes to emeny combatants i say lock up the sons of bitches …..
Atanarjuat
Had President George W. Bush allowed the U.S. auto industry to collapse, it would only have added to the ever-deepening recession that the nation is enduring.
As it is, the lifeline of 13.4 billion dollars that will be available immediately, as well as the 4 billion dollars that will be extended early next year, will help to keep GM and Chrysler afloat while they try to forward plans to make their operations profitable again.
I’m rather pleased that cooler, more rational heads prevailed, rather than the rancorous, ankle-biting leftist grenade chuckers who can never seem to pass up an opportunity to vilify Republicans — even at the risk of undermining the country. We all owe our gratitude to President Bush, and it would behoove all you anti-conservative, liberal scoffers to extend at least that much courtesy toward the President.
steve
the only folks who dont like capitalism are the ones who cant figure out how to participate in it…
steve
the only responsible thing for the board of the distressed auto companies to do is to avail themselves of the protections afforded under title 11 of the united states code…restructure the debt of the company and avoid the uaw contract…if they do not, they have broken their fiduciary duty to the creditors of the company
Perry Como
Mmmmm. Buttered trolls. Yarrrggghhh.
Xecky Gilchrist
@steve: when it comes to emeny combatants i say lock up the sons of bitches …..
As president, I now pronounce you an enemy combatant. Want to object? Tough shit, we don’t negotiate with terrorists.
You are remanded to Gitmo until forever or until you learn to use apostrophes, whichever comes first.
Tattoosydney
@MIchael Demmons:
For the same reason that some people poke monkeys with sticks through the bars of their cage – to see if they fling more poo.
All along it has been obvious that Atanutjob is either a wingnut or a spoof wingnut (with the betting leaning now strongly towards spoof).
Either way: "Dance Atanut monkey, dance for our entertainment!"
steve
you wish i am sure for me to join all the other americans plucked from native soil and thrown onto guantanamo bay…lol
Xecky Gilchrist
@steve: all the other americans plucked from native soil and thrown onto guantanamo bay…lol
The new law allows for it. And you support it!
steve
oh yeah and its happening everywhere…americans driving innocently to their jobs each morning are being picked up by the cia, tagged as terrorists and enemy combatants without justification and banished to a temperate climate to live out their lives in an outdoor cubicle exposed to dangerous ultraviolet rays without adequate sunblock…spare me the crap!
TenguPhule
How can something so stupid still use the internets?
jenniebee
Sooo… any bets on what the poison pill for the UAW is going to be in all this?
Seriously, you don’t believe for a second that Bush is doing this without delivering a kick in the nuts to the union, or that his rationale for putting a package together right now might have something to do with the fact that in another three weeks, the automakers are likely to get a deal that would leave the union intact, do you?
OriGuy
I blame Marc Andreessen for inventing Mosaic. Bring back gopher and USENET. HTTP is the Devil’s protocol!
Napoleon
@jenniebee:
I know you could never go broke betting that the Bush administration would take any opportunity to pull some of their patented BS at the risk of hurting the country, but I actually think they will not at this time. He is only trying to keep the next to last event of his Presidency as being the bankrupty of the Big 3 (the last event will be the mid-night pardons he gives all the law breakers in the administration). That is pure CYA and since it is his own butt on the line, and not just his fellow countrymen, he is going to play it straight.
jenniebee
@Napoleon: care to bet a coca-cola on that one?
TenguPhule
Lucy is holding the football for you.
bootlegger
@steve: Are you actually saying that it hasn’t happened here? Which monkey are you? Hear No Evil or See No Evil? You certainly ain’t Speak No Evil.
Napoleon
@jenniebee:
Yes (which means I am certain to loose).
@TenguPhule:
I know how dangerous it is to think they will not over play their hand, I just really think this is about making sure the failure happens after he leaves office, nothing more or less.
steve
gimme names bootlegger…what they are accused of and where they are…
Atanarjuat
Tattoosydney said:
That’s very amusing, you (non)brilliant artist, you.
Isn’t there a dingo somewhere you should be buggering to help pay next month’s rent? Off with you, drongo!
bootlegger
@Atanarjuat: Rogering dingos? Hmmm, does Warren approve of that? Apparently Attanut does.
The Moar You Know
Surrender now, bootlegger. The rocket scientist here with the superb grammar and spelling has got all us America-hating libs on the ropes.
I WILL KISS THE TORTURER-IN-CHIEF’S HAIRY BALLSACK IF YOU PROMISE NOT TO HIT ME AGAIN WITH YOUR HARD MIGHTY FISTS OF CONSERVATIVE LOGIC AND YOUR FLAWLESS COMMAND OF THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE, STEVE, I SWEAR. I’M SORRY I SAID I HATED AMERICA AND VOTED FOR THE EVIL MOOSLIM.
bootlegger
@steve: We can start with that Canadian passing through the US who was swept away and tortured in a dungeon but, ooops, wrong guy. We did the same thing to a German chap. All the Americans of course had trumped up charges that no one can access because, wow, its a secret. Then there is this. Like I said, Hear No Evil or See No Evil. Or maybe both. Yep, I think its both.
Napoleon
@Napoleon:
Well from the report on NPR it sounds like maybe I have some crow to eat, and a Coke to buy.
Josh Hueco
steve…google ‘torturing democracy.’ it was on pbs the other night. yes, yes, I know, shhhhh…pbs is faggoty and socialistic and hates america.
Josh Hueco
ot, but microsoft vista is a piece of shit.
/goes back to wanting to fling gf’s laptop against wall
Tattoosydney
@Atanarjuat:
Oh, the pain. Atanut has cut me to the core. Let me retreat forever from the barbs of his cutting wit.
*rolls eyes*
Atanarjuat
Tattoosydney said:
Oh, wait. You think that was fucking clever?
Fuck all, you do think a great deal of yourself, you Goddamn emo.
Tattoosydney
@bootlegger:
It’s very difficult. So many sharp teeth for such a little dog.
Tattoosydney
@Atanarjuat:
No, I don’t think I am particularly clever, and I don’t think my art is all particularly good (although some people seem to like it).
I enjoy making it though, just like I enjoy pointing out that you are a sad little (spoof) troll who gets upset when anyone points out how stupid he is.
Atanarjuat
Tattoosydney said:
I wasn’t demeaning your art or how you express yourself in any medium. That’s how you define yourself personally, and I would never go there.
I was responding to your lame sarcasm, though. That’s ripe for criticism.
If calling strangers on the Internet "stupid" is your idea of enjoyment, then I feel very badly for you. I hope you find something else to do that’s just as fulfilling as your art. Life is indeed too short, as you may have noticed somewhere along the way. :-/
Tattoosydney
@Atanarjuat:
Hmmm. I sense a contradiction.
Atanarjuat
Tattoosydney said:
And you’re right to point that out.
That was rather hasty and awful of me. You have my apologies, sir.
AnneLaurie
It is the definition of Ponzi schemes that they’re successful as long as there are fresh suckers. The early suckers even make money, and then serve as cheerleaders. Only once the supply of suckers starts to fail — in Madoff’s case, as his biggest ‘clients’ started demanding return of principle so they could pay off their own suckers, I mean clients — is the scheme exposed as just another con.
Madoff’s first "confession" was made to his two grown sons, the biggest partners in Daddy’s firm. I’m sure this was a Shakespearean tableau, but I waver between imagining it as "Little did you poor innocents know, it’s all been a scam, nothing but a *scam*, alas!" and "Hah! You want me to hand over control? You think *you* two could keep a FIFTY BILLION DOLLAR pyramid scheme afloat for as long as a whole holiday weekend, you little pishers?"
I don’t think he particularly counted on a pardon from the C-Plus Augustus, but I do believe he wanted to retain his "first among equals" status even as the competition was reduced to which Big Swinging Wall Street D*ck could lose the most money fastest.