WASHINGTON — Carl “Shi- -y Deal” Levin knows one when he sees one.
And when he finds a shi- -y deal, he likes to repeat “shi- -y deal” again and again and again. Eighteen times, to be exact.
Casual observers may have been startled to hear a United States senator — complete with silver comb-over and half-glasses perched on the end of his nose — repeatedly say “shi- -y deal.”
Levin was just so excited, he was like a pig in, well, you know.
In fact, Congress peddles shameful “deals” involving amounts of money so obscene, they would make a member of the Goldman Sachs compensation board blush.
Take Fannie Mae, the shameless pusher of reckless housing loans that made Congress feel good by “helping” the poor but led to the financial meltdown and left taxpayers on the hook.
Or, as Levin put it, “an American symbol of financial success and affordable housing.”
Now, that’s putting lipstick on a pig.
Then there is the recent legislation intended to lower health-care costs and reduce the federal debt, which the Michigan Democrat also supported.
The government’s own accountants say it won’t lower health-care prices and it is projected to cost a trillion dollars. That’s savings only Congress could comprehend.
Sen. Mark Pryor (D-Ark.) yesterday actually scolded the executives for “betting with other people’s money and other people’s futures.”
Taxpayers — pitchforks in hand — should hold a hearing and grill these senators along the very same lines.
Here is the difference between Goldman and Congress:
Goldman may be trying to sell ice to Eskimos, but nobody is making the Eskimos buy it. With Congress, either you give them your money or you go to jail.