Looks like Paulson has taken at least one stance with which the A-Train shouldn’t have too many problems (if any), and while in many ways I disagree with the Train about how to fix the problem, in this particular situation I think we’re probably both on the same page.

Bloomberg.com: Paulson Warns TARP Isn’t ‘Panacea’ for Economy Ills

Nov. 18 (Bloomberg) — Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson rejected using the government’s financial-rescue program as a “panacea” for economic difficulties, clashing with lawmakers who want the funds to help beleaguered homeowners and automakers.

“The rescue package was not intended to be an economic stimulus or an economic recovery package,” Paulson said in testimony to the House Financial Services Committee in Washington. The $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program was designed to stabilize financial markets and the flow of credit and “is not a panacea for all our economic difficulties.”

Barney Frank, who heads the House panel, took issue with Paulson, urging the Bush administration to step up efforts to stem record foreclosures. Democrats are also pursuing legislation to deploy part of TARP to prevent General Motors Corp., Ford Motor Co. and Chrysler LLC from collapsing due to lack of cash.

The American auto industry has been weak for years, and there’s absolutely no evidence that throwing additional cash at the industry will resolve any problems; it will just delay their inevitable collapse. It may be best for the Big 3 to go through Chapter 11, just as the airlines have done time and time again.

If the government starts bailing out every large corporation that is going through economic ills, then the claims that we are moving towards socialism start to gain a little more credence. It’s one thing to shore up the backbone of the American economic system by injecting capital into banks. It’s quite another thing to start buying stakes in every company that starts to experience some financial problems.

As for mortgages and foreclosures: in my opinion, the best way to help stem the tide of foreclosures is for the banks who are carrying these toxic assets (now that Paulson has indicated that the Treasury won’t be buying them, opting for direct investment in the banks instead) is for the banks to work with the individual mortgagees to reset the terms, using various loan-modification programs.

The IndyMac plan developed by the FDIC has been getting a lot of praise:

FDIC: Loan Modification Program for Distressed Indymac Mortgage Loans

Under the IndyMac Federal program, eligible mortgages would be modified into sustainable mortgages permanently capped at the current Freddie Mac survey rate for conforming mortgages (now about 6.5%). Modifications would be designed to achieve sustainable payments at a 38 percent debt-to-income (DTI) ratio of principal, interest, taxes and insurance. To reach this metric for affordable payments, modifications could adopt a combination of interest rate reductions, extended amortization, and principal forbearance.

If, consistent with maximizing the net present value of the mortgage, an interest rate reduction below the current Freddie Mac survey rate is necessary to achieve a 38% DTI, then IndyMac Federal could reduce the rate further for five years. After five years, the interest rate would increase by no more than 1% per year until it capped at the Freddie Mac survey rate where it would remain for the balance of the loan term. Other modification features could be combined with an interest rate reduction, as necessary and consistent with maximizing the value of the mortgage, to achieve sustainable payments.

A program like this should help out most people who either didn’t understand what kind of loan they were getting when they originally purchased their home, as well as some of those who bit off more than they could chew when they bought their homes, but it won’t benefit the most egregious acts of recklessness by home buyers (the $30K family who buys a $500K home).

More details (and in a more reader/listener friendly format) on Sheila Bair’s plan can be found in a great story broadcast on NPR’s Morning Edition this past Friday morning.

While Ms. Bair’s plan is meeting some resistance from Henry Paulson, it sounds like it’s a matter of working out some of the finer details, rather than a wholesale rejection of the plan by the Treasury; and hopefully Paulson’s successor in the Obama administration will be even more open to Ms. Bair’s plan.

CNN Political Ticker: All politics, all the time

“If you look at folks of color, even women, they’re more successful in the Democratic Party than they are in the white, uh, excuse me, in the Republican Party,” Dean said Friday in an appearance on NPR’s “Tell Me More” program.

Unreal.

I’m a 42-year-old white man, lifelong Democrat, raised in the South, lived most of my adult life in Northern California, and now live in the Republican bastion of Salt Lake City, Utah.

I cannot believe that Howard Dean (whom I supported in the 2004 campaign) would stoop to this level. I am offended and ashamed that a member of my Party would utter such a snarky, racially-motivated comment to denigrate our opponents.

It’s the 21st Century! Race should play a very small role (if it should play any role at all) in modern politics.

Another frightening thing is the recent mom-spam I received, entitled “Proud to Be White”, which I won’t dignify by quoting here, but if you really want to read it, just do a Google search for “proud to be white” (in quotes), and you’ll get an ample number of results. This from my mother, who is also a life-long Democrat, and who taught me to be colorblind.

Here was my response:

Perhaps if white people hadn’t treated everyone else in North America like complete shit for the past 400 years, there’d be no need for any of those groups that Mr. White Pride listed in his diatribe.

We don’t need an NAAWP, because white people already control the United States; whites don’t need to be advanced, because we are already “on top”; and anyone who doesn’t see that is a complete and utter idiot.

The NAACP and other similar groups are not about advancing their demographic at the detriment of white people; it’s not about blacks or Hispanics or Asians on top while white people get pushed down the ladder to some sort of second-class status.

White students are not prevented from attending historically black colleges; however, blacks were excluded from attending many universities for many, many years.

It’s about equality.

Think of it this way. Who is more likely to agree with this tripe? Someone who thinks like me? Or someone whose views tend to coincide with those of David Duke and Tom Metzger?

Whose company would you rather keep?

I’m not proud of being white. Sometimes I’m guilty about it. What I am proud of is being an American; an American who can think for himself, and who accepts or rejects people based on their actions and not their skin color.

I don’t know … perhaps similar feelings were what Howard Dean had in mind when he made his rather idiotic comments about the Republican Party, but there’s no reason to put a label on it … it’s just as bad as labeling people of color with any of the various epithets they’ve had to deal with for the past 4 centuries.