Speaking of being preemptive, how about the relentless attack by the NYTimes on the pending new "regulations" proposal for Wall Street and the banking industry from Paulson and the administration.

Don't get me wrong now, I'm all for bashing these proposal and all of the convoluted ways it will redistribute wealth from taxpayers to the government and its cronies on Wall Street (to be sure of course, any of these new regulation proposals from either fraternity party in Washington will will redistribute wealth from taxpayers to the government and its cronies on Wall Street just as the government always does "in the name of protecting you"), but the relentless front page attack on the NYTimes this weekend struck me for its very preemptiveness (ooh, nice word).

News Analysis

In Treasury Plan, a Reluctant Eye Over Wall Street

By NELSON D. SCHWARTZ and FLOYD NORRIS

The Bush administration is proposing the broadest overhaul of Wall Street regulation since the Great Depression. But the plan, to be unveiled on Monday, has its genesis in a yearlong effort to limit Washington’s role in the market.

Editorial

Toward New Rules for Wall Streete

...But early word from the Bush administration, which still has nine months to influence the debate and even start the nation down one path or another, is not altogether encouraging. On Monday, the administration is releasing a blueprint for regulatory reform, much of which was developed before the Bear mess, though it may still be important for further discussion...

Treasury’s Plan Would Give Fed Wide New Power

By EDMUND L. ANDREWS

Published: March 29, 2008

WASHINGTON — The Treasury Department will propose on Monday that Congress give the Federal Reserve broad new authority to oversee financial market stability, in effect allowing it to send SWAT teams into any corner of the industry or any institution that might pose a risk to the overall system.

Doug Mills/The New York Times

The proposal is part of a sweeping blueprint to overhaul the nation’s hodgepodge of financial regulatory agencies, which many experts say failed to recognize rampant excesses in mortgage lending until after they set off what is now the worst financial calamity in decades.

Democratic lawmakers are all but certain to say the proposal does not go far enough in restricting the kinds of practices that caused the financial crisis.

We'll hit on this subject and more when we discuss the proposals from Paulson and Washington on tonight's Happy Hour with Barron's Bob O'Brien.

PS. Ever notice how funny a word preemptive is if you sound it out phonetically? Pree-mptive, as in rhymes with tree-empty?