Can you smell the bailout sellout?

It may not be a full sellout, but it will be a partial.

Giving bankruptcy judges more power is off the table, so I guess regulatory reform will get kicked past the election.

There’s now talk about putting credit card reform in the bailout bill. Well, you know that’s got a snowball’s chance.

Is it any wonder that Obama himself, and other Democrats, want to kick the can of regulatory reform down the road past the election?

As for the “let’s start with just $150 billion” idea, that’s “nice” as far as it goes, and not much more.

The way it’s structured is that the other $550 billion would be on an opt-OUT rather than an opt-in provision. In other words, a future Congress would have to take action to stop the rest of the bailout, rather than having to take action to implement it.

Subscription websites work like this all the time, with free or low-cost three-day trials followed by opt-out provisions. So do a lot of other offers.

And, where’s Paulson’s immunity quest? Is that officially off the table or not?

Also, House liberals’ proposals’, like Peter DeFazio’s 0.25 percent surcharge on all stock transactions to make sure the American public/government don’t lose their collective shirts, are getting shot down by pseudoliberals with financial ties such as Passive Pelosi and Laura Tyson.

Here’s the full text of Paulson’s original plan.