the banking bailout, brought to you by The Office

Think of Dwight as Secretary Paulson and Michael as Congress, and just about everyone else, and "Emergency Disaster Mode" as the current bailout legislation.

As happens many times when the Bush Administration starts yelling, "DO IT. DO IT NOW. 3, 2, 1...5, 4, 3, 2, 1...DO IT. NOW. SHAKE MY HAND...," a voice in the back of my head keeps whispering that things never seem to work out as planned when they do this, and we spend the next 6 months finding all the little hidden gems they buried in the legislation (see USAPATRIOT Act). If the bailout is not going to deal with the structural problems that led to this meltdown, not going to rain hellfire down on those responsible, and yet is going to be enormously expensive, why should it pass?