U.S. Treasury Secretary Paulson changes tack on financial rescue

And the American public responds with thinly-veiled anger and sarcasm.

The original story is posted here:

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/paulson-flips-script-financial-rescue-plan/story.aspx?guid={2809B670-5F1F-4407-8079-836A5A05E8E5}#comment1018948

Among the 2000+ posted comments to the story link listed above, the one I liked best and found most apt for the holiday season approaching is this one, from a poster named "justaguymyself,"

"Well, I just got off the phone with Santa, and things are looking grim up at the North Pole this year.

It seems the reindeer had the idea of starting their own "Polar Wealth Fund" sometime last year.

They invested heavily in EBS's (Elven-backed securities), and were promised they should be making a tidy sum for a good long time.

Unfortunately, they came to find out that the Elves had actually become quite concerned about the security of the underlying assets.

They had been purchasing SDS's, (Santa Default Swaps), to protect their investors, but eventually it seemed to represent what appeared to be an opportunity.

The plan was simple. Buy up SDS's, then carefully spread a few rumours that Santa was not "real" to a few of the children - just enough to trigger the default Claus.

After that, they would collect the insurance, and cover any losses on the EBS side of the business.

Apparently something went terribly wrong - and they have no clue how to fix it."

If one wants some clues on how to fix what is going on in the economy, then check out ALL the comments posted on Marketwatch.com.