Too Big to Fail Page #9

Cover your ears.

You tell Tim Geithner to f***ing blow me.

I'm trying to save my company.

Put him on the schedule,

but make sure it's after lunch,

because that way I can

fit Madeline beforehand. And...

Morgan just made a deal with Mitsubishi.

So we're the only bank

with our dick still in the wind.

I'm calling Buffett again.

Grandpa, they keep calling.

What if it's important?

They always think it's important.

All right, I'll make it fast.

Warren, thanks for

calling back. How are you?

Just fine, Lloyd. What

can I do for you today?

I'd like to talk to you about

taking a stake in Goldman Sachs.

What do you have in mind?

Sounds expensive.

Maybe not.

You better have good news,

because I might be dead before we finish

haggling over TARP.

Buffett's throwing five

billion into Goldman.

We're off the ledge.

For the moment.

The October surprise arrived a little early,

with a game-changing jolt

to the White House race.

Call it a master stroke

or a desperate Hail Mary pass,

McCain announced he would

suspend his campaign

and asked for this Friday's

debate to be postponed

so he can return to Washington

to focus on the economic crisis.

Now is our chance to come together

to prove that Washington is once again

capable of leading this country.

Thank God he came back.

Like Daniel Day-Lewis

in Last of the Mohicans,

he will find us!

- They're blowing it up.

- What happened?

McCain wanted to swoop in and save the day,

but doesn't have any idea how to do it.

It's a 100-page piece of legislation

we've been carefully negotiating for days.

What, did he think they were

gonna sit around and spitball?

Yeah, when McCain got here

and found out that the deal

was basically done, he went apeshit.

The Republicans fell in behind their guy.

They wanna start all over again.

Democrats flipped out. Republicans dug in.

- Clusterfuck.

- Clusterfuck.

- Where's Hank?

- Still talking to McCain.

If you or anyone else does anything

that causes the next depression,

it is not gonna be on me.

I have a big mouth, Senator,

- a very big mouth.

- Hold on...

He's not threatening

the Republican presidential nominee, is he?

- Something's gotta be done.

- No, no. Excuse me, please.

Where are the Democrats?

They're right down this way.

- Is Nancy there?

- Yes. Yes, she is.

Thank you.

Nancy...

Gee, Hank. I didn't know you were Catholic.

I beg of you, don't blow this up.

It was a bad meeting,

but we need to get together on this.

We're not the ones trying to blow it up.

I just ask you to stay with us.

Please.

The House began debating the rescue bill

at 9:
27 this morning.

At about 1:
28 p.m.,

Congress did finally act.

- This is a squeaker of a vote.

- We are down to it right now.

It looks like the Democrats

delivered their caucus

and the Republicans so far have not.

What do you think they could do

to change the bill

to get a few Republican votes

over to the other side?

If they hang Wall Street CEOs,

I think that would get a few more votes.

I'm not sure what they could do exactly.

It is possible that the leadership

of the Congress would conclude

that there's nothing that can

get a majority of support

and see what Hank Paulson can do

and the administration can do.

Leaders are negotiating right now

who risks their seat.

And that's what I'm hearing.

Pelosi wouldn't have

brought the bill to the floor

if she didn't think it would pass.

I don't know the answer to that, Charlie.

I can't answer.

I'm just reading an e-mail

that's coming to me.

I think the bottom line

is they gotta go back to the drawing board.

Do they have the time, though, to do that?

Look at the Dow Jones Industrial Average.

You know you're gonna get a sell-off.

You guys, at this point, we just gotta

hold on to the sides of the kayak

and ride through this because...

They didn't pass it.

- They did not pass it.

- It just wasn't enough.

They're gonna end up being

nine votes short, Bill.

Say that again, Steve.

I think they're gonna end up

being nine votes...

If they get all six...

Five of the remaining votes,

they'll be 10 votes short now,

if they get all five remaining.

The writing is on the wall there.

And we're here down on the floor.

Of course,

traders have been standing around.

Look, we're all here in knots...

The networks are waiting for you

in the press room.

I can't even...

We have to go back again.

They don't get to say no on this.

Okay.

The White House wants a meeting.

Good. We'll come up with a new strategy.

The White House has to push harder

on the Hill.

Meanwhile, we need to keep working

on what we do with the money.

Let's act like this is gonna work.

In that case, let's talk

about cash injections.

- Here we go again.

- We can't nationalize the banks.

It's not nationalizing...

That's how Japan got itself

a decade-long recession.

Is that where we wanna go?

What else do we have?

Cash for Trash.

Buying toxic assets is still our go-to move.

All right. Find a way to simplify it.

Dan, work something up.

For discussion purposes,

let's see what it would look like.

For those who supported

the $700 billion Wall Street bailout,

it was a surprising and stunning failure

when the House of Representatives

voted to reject it.

It's a stinging defeat for President Bush,

delivered at the hands

of his fellow Republicans.

We put forth a plan that was big

because we've got a big problem.

The reality is that we're

in an urgent situation.

And the consequences

will grow worse each day

if we do not act.

- I know. I keep telling...

- Draft of the new bill.

Are they having any luck with it?

The White House thinks

they got a better shot of pushing it

through the Senate side first.

Hopefully they're right.

They asked us to back off

and let them handle it.

So I'm trying to back off.

Buying toxic assets isn't gonna work.

- Why not?

- It's too slow.

I think I've been saying that.

We knew it was complicated, but how slow...

Two months, maybe more.

How is it possible we didn't know how...

I didn't ask how long it would take, okay?

Can we move on?

So maybe we can talk

about capital injections.

Dan, we really can't.

I think we're gonna have to.

Even if Neel could expedite the process,

which seems unlikely,

the system is crumbling.

The banks need money now.

If cash injections are the most

efficient way to stabilize them,

then we can't back off

because we're uncomfortable being the men

who nationalized a few American banks.

It's faster, that's for sure.

It will push us back off the precipice, yes,

unfreeze the system.

We give them some money

and they lend it out.

The motion is adopted.

After rejecting the Bush

Administration's TARP plan

only four days ago,

the House passed it today.

The big question now, whether investors

will take comfort in the news.

Current indicators show the stock market

is continuing its free fall.

Hello?

Warren, it's Hank.

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes