Bankers Gone Wild.

• Author: Hightower, Jim Allen
• Position: The Lowdown - Viewpoint essay

They came. They saw. They ran away: November's big global finance summit session was a far cry from the "veni, vidi, vici" of Julius Caesar. Rather than conquering the spreading problem of economic collapse, the leaders of the world's twenty most powerful economies dithered, blathered, postured, and then fled for home.

Still, a White House official who spoke for our stalwart leader, George W., insisted to reporters after the show that average Americans should "take comfort from what happened today." Uh, why? Because the leaders showed that they understand "the depth of the economic problems," he said. Wow, I certainly feel better now, don't you?

[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]

But, wait--the so-called Group of 20 didn't leave us totally empty handed. They did issue a neat set of principles for all nations to ponder:

Reinforce cooperation.

Improve regulation.

Promote market integrity.

Reform international financial institutions.

Strengthen transparency.

Double-wow! A high-school football coach couldn't have done a better job of posting motivational platitudes on the locker room walls: Reinforce! Improver Promoter Reform! Strengthen!

And if that doesn't comfort you, be assured that the group also agreed to meet again next spring.

Meanwhile, not only does the economic crisis rage on, but so does Washington's unlimited bailout of those who caused the crisis. The star of this "Bankers Gone Wild" is bailout chief Hank Paulson, who keeps going all out to satisfy the wildest fantasies of financial honchos, hurling ever more billions of our tax dollars at them.

Maybe you think that the total tab for the Administration's giveaway bill will be $700 billion, since that's what Congress authorized. Guess again. As one Wall Street insider put it, "Let's be realistic, $700 billion is not enough. I think it's the 'T-word,'" meaning a trillion bucks. Indeed, various financial institutions, such as insurance giant MG, have received their handouts, then stepped right back in line for seconds and thirds. Their slogan seems to be: Too much is not enough.

If you're not a bank and therefore technically ineligible to party with Paulson, don't worry, for he will simply declare you to be a bank. That's what he did for American Express. When the credit card giant knocked at Treasury's door last month...