“Finally, we come to my number two man. His name? Number Two.”

From USA Today:

He’s now the $700 billion man.

On Tuesday Neel Kashkari, 35, an assistant secretary of the Treasury, was named interim head of the Office of Financial Stability by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson. The office will run the $700 billion financial bailout program signed into law Friday.

The former Goldman Sachs vice president came to Washington in 2006 to be a senior adviser to Paulson, the Goldman CEO who had been named Treasury secretary.

For some reason, kids, the appointment of Neel Kashkari makes me very uneasy. I can’t put my finger on quite why. Is it that his name looks like Cash & Carry? No, that’s not it. OMG!! I remember now!! It’s that company picture that they took together before Paulson left to be Treasury Secretary!!

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Risky Business

From NewsHounds:

You know Neil Cavuto right? He’s the head of “business news” at the Fox “News” Channel and at the Fox” Business” Network.

Here’s what he had to say about the financial crisis when discussing it with Rep. Xavier Becerra (D-CA):

Did you warn or express concern about any things that happened? I’m not saying that one or the other is beyond blame, I’m just saying I don’t remember a clarion call that said Fannie and Freddie are a disaster. Loaning to minorities and risky folks is a disaster? Maybe if you said it, enlighten me.

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It’s a Miracle!

(CNN) — Sen. John McCain’s senior domestic policy adviser said Tuesday that the BlackBerry mobile e-mail device was a “miracle that John McCain helped create.”

When asked, Captain Underpants laughed and said, “That’s silly! People can’t invent fruit!”

The adviser, Douglas Holtz-Eakin, discussing the nation’s economic woes with reporters, said that McCain — who has struggled to stress his economic credentials — did have experience dealing with the economy, pointing to his time on the Senate Commerce Committee.

Pressed to provide an example of what McCain had accomplished on that committee, Holtz-Eakin said the senator did not have jurisdiction over financial markets, then he held up his Blackberry, telling reporters: “He did this.”

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