Hank Paulson: "The British Screwed Us" Before We Could Screw Them - Imagine if we had Succeeded in Offloading Lehman on Unsuspecting U.K. Taxpayers

Hank Paulson is one bitter stinking rich man. These days he is hell bent on honing his multi-tasking skills. Not only has he been desperately promoting his upcoming book, in hopes of making some precious moolah (yeah people "billions" are not enough), but he has also decided to simultaneously undergo a cathartic purging of his stomach contents - out with all those dirty little secrets, that have been giving our rich boy awful tummy aches ever since he first heard the name "Lehman Brothers". Speaking of Lehman, Hanky Panky is hopping mad that the "The British Screwed Him" before he could have done the same to them.

According to a report in the Telegraph, former U.S. Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson has come out swinging the baton at the U.K. Financial Services Authority (the equivalent of the SEC), for blocking his masterfully evil plan to offload toxic Lehman by selling it to U.K.'s Barclays Bank. This would have let Barclays assume ALL of Lehman's toxic liabilities. (Note that Barclays did eventually buy Lehman, but only after the company had shed all its toxic liabilities in bankruptcy).

"The British screwed us," were Paulson's words when he learnt of the Financial Services Authority's (FSA) decision in the UK not to approve a guarantee which would have allowed Barclays to buy Lehman. But his words, contained in extracts from his new book On the Brink, obtained by the Associated Press this weekend, are just one side of the story.

Lawrence McDonald, a former Lehman trader, claims that he has been told by several people close to the talks that the FSA was "willing to do the deal" to back Lehman – by waiving certain regulatory criteria to allow Barclays to buy the failing bank – if the US Treasury would share the risk.

"I've been told that [Chancellor Alistair] Darling was willing to do it 50:50 and that it was Paulson who said no," says McDonald, who wrote A Colossal Failure of Common Sense about Lehman's collapse.

But, according to extracts of Paulson's book reported by Bloomberg, the Treasury Secretary feared "the toxic quality of Lehman's assets, [which] would have guaranteed the Fed a loss".

"The hole was too big," said Paulson, time and time again, according to speechwriter Carlson, whose own book on the crisis – You, Me & the US Economy – has just been published.

Yeah the hole was too big FOR SURE, so why not put lipstick on the pig and sell it off across the pond. When the U.K. finally wakes up and realizes the nuclear waste they bought, you would be labeled an "American Hero" while the poor U.K. taxpayers pony up the cash to bailout a U.S. company.

Instead when his evil plan failed, Hanky Panky in a fit of childish rage simply allow Lehman to fail, setting off a global economic catastrophe...and then proceeded to bailout every remaining bank left. Hanky Panky your antics are really reserving you a special seat in Hell.