You know how the car salesman at the dealer puts that pressure on you to sign the contract NOW!, not a minute from now, but NOW!

I'm getting that same feeling reading about how Paulson, Bush, Bernanke & Co. are trying to get Congress and us to swallow this transfer of public funds from us to Wall Street.

The Plan--possibly costing more than $1 trillion of taxpayer funds--is thrown together in secret by maybe 3 guys, Paulson, Bernanke and the President of the NY Federal Reserve Bank, Timothy Geithner, in something like 24 or 48 hours, consists of 2 or 3 pages--a long Hub, essentially--and is presented to the public as if it's a document Moses brought down from the mountain.

The authors of the Plan are the same guys who already committed something like $600 of public funds--with no consultation with anybody--to purchase Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Bear Stearns and AIG Insurance. Those actions were the cure, we were assured. But they weren't the cure.

The more this comedy plays out, the more this guy is starting to think that: (a) there may not be a need for such Draconian public expenditure at all; (b) this is the Mother of All Hustles, nothing more; designed by and for the sole direct benefit of already Mega-Rich financial institutions of all species (banks, insurance, mortgage, Wall Street, etc.)

What to do? Immediately reduce the amount of available funds from $700 to $200 Billion, with increases or decreases in that amount subject to review by Congress and the President in 60 days. Minimize the risk to us, if $200 Billion can be called "minimizing." [Remember, as noted above, these same guys have already poured 100s and 100s of Billions of dollars down a sewer with no positive result to show for it.]

Richard Shelby is a Republican Senator from Alabama and the Ranking Member of the Senate Banking Committee. He's one of the very few people in Washington talking sense. The quote below is from an Associated Press story about today's hearing.

Seated a few feet away from Paulson and Ben Bernanke, Shelby added, "We have been given no credible assurances that this plan will work. We could very well spend $700 billion, or a trillion, and not resolve the crisis."

Shelby said that "while Wall Street banks get to sell their bad investments to the Treasury Department, homeowners will still be saddled with mortgages they cannot afford."

He's almost a lone voice. How scary. How sad.

UPDATE: He's not a lone voice anymore. Here's comments from Senators and House Members from both parties and from all over the nation.

"I don't think a single call to my office about this has been positive," said Sen. Sherrod Brown (D-Ohio).

Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., "I am emphatically against it."

"Just because God created the world in seven days doesn't mean we have to pass this bill in seven days," said Rep. Joe Barton, R-Texas.

"This massive bailout is not a solution. It is financial socialism and it's un-American," said Sen. Jim Bunning, R-Ky.

Connecticut Democratic Senator and Banking Committee Chairman Dodd added, "After reading this proposal, I can only conclude that it is not just our economy that is at risk, but our Constitution as well."

"Where's the accountability for these banks and their management?" Sen. Mike Enzi (R-Wyo.) demanded.

When is the last time Wyoming, Jim Bunning, ultra-lib Sherrod Brown and the Lone Star State agreed on anything? These guys, conservative or liberal, can smell a rat. They deserve credit for speaking out, and by doing so, they're making it easier and safer for others in Washington to stand up to this Wall Street-inspired raid on the Treasury.