Tag: Wall Street Crisis
The Federal Government cracks down on the Scam Mortgage Loaners , except for the most important one
So much for enforcing the law….:
The Obama administration has already unveiled its plan to stem the rising home foreclosure rate, but with foreclosure scams also increasing, the administration today announced a multi-agency effort to crack down on scams that prey on struggling homeowners.
“Just as this administration has intensified our efforts to help American homeowners, those who would seek to prey on the most vulnerable are intensifying their tactics as well, often through purported mortgage modification and foreclosure relief companies,” Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner said at an announcement in Washington. “These are predatory schemes designed to rob Americans of their savings and potentially their homes.”
The FBI is currently investigating more than 2,100 mortgage fraud cases, up 400 percent from five years ago
Hip Hip Hooray, Obama is enforcing the law! Well, perhaps not. 🙄
Judicial Watch reports that the two biggest corrupt lenders; Fannie Mae and Freddie Mack, have broken the law for years. What excatly is President Teleprompter and his attack Dog Tim Geithner AKA Eddie Haskel doing about this?
*crickets*
You guessed it! Not a damn thing……. So much for all the “Hope and Change” and a new direction in America. As I long suspected a very long time ago, it is simply more of the same from an empty suit, who’s big on speeches and low on substance.
Update: Hello to all the Freepers reading this! 😀 Please take a look around, you might just like it here. 🙂
Even More Professional Behavior from President Teleprompter
This is unbelievable:
The bankers struggled to make themselves clear to the president of the United States.
Arrayed around a long mahogany table in the White House state dining room last week, the CEOs of the most powerful financial institutions in the world offered several explanations for paying high salaries to their employees — and, by extension, to themselves.
“These are complicated companies,” one CEO said. Offered another: “We’re competing for talent on an international market.”
But President Barack Obama wasn’t in a mood to hear them out. He stopped the conversation and offered a blunt reminder of the public’s reaction to such explanations. “Be careful how you make those statements, gentlemen. The public isn’t buying that.”
“My administration,” the president added, “is the only thing between you and the pitchforks.”
via Inside Obama’s bank CEOs meeting – Eamon Javers – POLITICO.com.
Talking about cashing in on the public outrage! What’s more is this one here:
There were signs from the outset that this was a business event, not a social gathering. At each place around the table sat a single glass of water. No ice. For those who finished their glass, no refills were offered. There was no group photograph taken of the CEOs with the president, which typically happens at ceremonial White House gatherings but not at serious strategy sessions.
“The only way they could have sent a more Spartan message is if they had served bread along with the water,” says a person who attended the meeting. “The signal from Obama’s body language and demeanor was, ‘I’m the president, and you’re not.’”
Way to go there Mr. Bambi, piss off the very people that made you on wall street. What more do the people need to see, to realize that electing this buffoon was the biggest mistake America ever made?
You know, I criticized Bush relentlessly during the man’s time in office. But the actions of this new President is starting make me really wonder just how better off we truly are. I mean; this guy is right now over in Europe, and now going to France to make speeches saying that the United States of America was arrogant?? I have to admit, I do not always agree with Sean Hannity, But tonight he was spot on. Obama ought to be impeached for treason, first for bowing an Arab leader and then going overseas and basically sounding like the Dixie Chicks! I am, quite frankly, surprised that our media here has given him a pass on that one. But then again, when you are in the tank for the guy. What can one expect??
Not to mention that, he is spending like a drunken sailor, which is going to weaken our dollar. It is truly unbelievable.
You see people want to say that Bush caused all this economic recession, and that’s just flat out horse hockey! Bush did not cause this recession, Bill Clinton did! Clinton was one the one who placed the high pressure on the big lending institutions, like Freddie Mack and Fannie Mae to give loans to those who could not normally afford them. Then the people on Wall Street, thanks to the stupid deregulation of the Markets, cooked up these crazy credit swaps. Bush’s White House saw the impending disaster and warned sternly the Republican controlled Congress that there were signs that the Markets are showing signs that there was about to be a serious problem. This was in 2003, Congress then began an investigation and the then President/CEO or whatever the hell you call him, who was black, did what any black person does when they’re under the gun. He played the race card. Rep. Barney Frank sat right up there and said there was no crisis.
So, this whole notion that is being peddled by the Democrats is totally false and is basically revisionist history. No wonder Bill O’Rielly flipped out on Barney Frank. Because the man is a damned liar. As are the Democrats in general. But yet, the President can sit there and act like a total asshole?!?! It was his party that created this whole mess!
Unbelievable, just totally unbelievable.
The Southern Avenger on “Steadfast Sanford”
When hundreds of protesters showed up at the South Carolina statehouse to protest Gov. Mark Sanford’s refusal to accept $700 million in federal stimulus, it was worth noting how Sanford doesn’t represent economic disaster – but perhaps the only chance we’ve got.
The Article referenced in this Video is found here
The Southern Avenger on “AIG Bonuses are a Ruse”
How the controversy over the AIG bonuses imbedded in the stimulus obfuscate the root problem of spending in general.
A.I.G. Executive Quits
Seems that Jake DeSantis, an executive vice president of the American International Group’s financial products unit has quit and sent his resignation letter to the New York Times.
It is with deep regret that I submit my notice of resignation from A.I.G. Financial Products. I hope you take the time to read this entire letter. Before describing the details of my decision, I want to offer some context:
I am proud of everything I have done for the commodity and equity divisions of A.I.G.-F.P. I was in no way involved in — or responsible for — the credit default swap transactions that have hamstrung A.I.G. Nor were more than a handful of the 400 current employees of A.I.G.-F.P. Most of those responsible have left the company and have conspicuously escaped the public outrage.
After 12 months of hard work dismantling the company — during which A.I.G. reassured us many times we would be rewarded in March 2009 — we in the financial products unit have been betrayed by A.I.G. and are being unfairly persecuted by elected officials. In response to this, I will now leave the company and donate my entire post-tax retention payment to those suffering from the global economic downturn. My intent is to keep none of the money myself.
I take this action after 11 years of dedicated, honorable service to A.I.G. I can no longer effectively perform my duties in this dysfunctional environment, nor am I being paid to do so. Like you, I was asked to work for an annual salary of $1, and I agreed out of a sense of duty to the company and to the public officials who have come to its aid. Having now been let down by both, I can no longer justify spending 10, 12, 14 hours a day away from my family for the benefit of those who have let me down.
You and I have never met or spoken to each other, so I’d like to tell you about myself. I was raised by schoolteachers working multiple jobs in a world of closing steel mills. My hard work earned me acceptance to M.I.T., and the institute’s generous financial aid enabled me to attend. I had fulfilled my American dream.
[….]
The only real motivation that anyone at A.I.G.-F.P. now has is fear. Mr. Cuomo has threatened to “name and shame,” and his counterpart in Connecticut, Richard Blumenthal, has made similar threats — even though attorneys general are supposed to stand for due process, to conduct trials in courts and not the press.
So what am I to do? There’s no easy answer. I know that because of hard work I have benefited more than most during the economic boom and have saved enough that my family is unlikely to suffer devastating losses during the current bust. Some might argue that members of my profession have been overpaid, and I wouldn’t disagree.
That is why I have decided to donate 100 percent of the effective after-tax proceeds of my retention payment directly to organizations that are helping people who are suffering from the global downturn. This is not a tax-deduction gimmick; I simply believe that I at least deserve to dictate how my earnings are spent, and do not want to see them disappear back into the obscurity of A.I.G.’s or the federal government’s budget. Our earnings have caused such a distraction for so many from the more pressing issues our country faces, and I would like to see my share of it benefit those truly in need.
On March 16 I received a payment from A.I.G. amounting to $742,006.40, after taxes. In light of the uncertainty over the ultimate taxation and legal status of this payment, the actual amount I donate may be less — in fact, it may end up being far less if the recent House bill raising the tax on the retention payments to 90 percent stands. Once all the money is donated, you will immediately receive a list of all recipients.
This choice is right for me. I wish others at A.I.G.-F.P. luck finding peace with their difficult decision, and only hope their judgment is not clouded by fear.
Mr. Liddy, I wish you success in your commitment to return the money extended by the American government, and luck with the continued unwinding of the company’s diverse businesses — especially those remaining credit default swaps. I’ll continue over the short term to help make sure no balls are dropped, but after what’s happened this past week I can’t remain much longer — there is too much bad blood. I’m not sure how you will greet my resignation, but at least Attorney General Blumenthal should be relieved that I’ll leave under my own power and will not need to be “shoved out the door.”
Of course, this has generated a good deal of Conservative outrage, which you can sample at the end of this entry. The links marked in red are, for the most part, Conservative. The blue ones, of course are Democrats or liberals. One thing that I must say that I agree with, is this comment from a Blogger who calls himself “The Anonymous Liberal“:
But the reality is this: when companies fail, lots of innocent people get screwed. Lots of promises aren’t kept. That’s why companies declare bankruptcy: because they can’t afford to live up to their promises. Had the government allowed AIG to fail last fall, DeSantis wouldn’t have received anything. He’d be like many other people who woke up one morning to find their lives turned upside down by this recession. On second thought, given that Mr. DeSantis can apparently afford to give his entire $750,000 bonus to charity, I suspect he’d be much better off than most people who have suffered through the failure of their employer.
It’s striking to me that the very same people who are outraged by DeSantis’s treatment showed no sympathy at all for the nation’s autoworkers. In fact, they were angrily demanding that these workers (who make a small fraction of what DeSantis makes) agree to give up their “luxurious” health benefits and agree to salary reductions. These workers too had been promised things by their employers, but their complaints fell on deaf, even hostile ears. If their companies were going to be saved by taxpayer money (at a fraction of the cost of bailing out AIG), well these workers were just going to have to suck it up and take the hit.
The fact that the plight of a millionaire executive (one who actually received his promised bonus) elicits such sympathy from the Right, but the plight of blue collar assembly line workers doesn’t says a lot about the ideological prism through which many conservatives view the world. They simply identify with DeSantis in a way they don’t with many of the other victims of this recession.
I could not have put that any better. I too sat here seething with anger, as I watched Wilsonian Neo-Conservatives screaming at the top of their lungs at the autoworkers; “Screw Them!”, “Let them Fail”, “To hell with Detroit!” and so on. Seeing my own Father is a retired General Motors worker. The only Conservatives who were sticking up for the middle class, was myself and Pat Buchanan.
So, while I am sympathetic towards this guy; I am also aware that there are many others out there, that are hurting and are out of work, or have lost thier jobs, due to the stupidity of this company and others like it.
Others: The Moderate Voice, The Daily Dish, Megan McArdle, Swampland, The Swamp, The New Republic, Michelle Malkin, Salon, Political Machine, Right Pundits, Obsidian Wings, The Anonymous Liberal, Commentary, Gawker, Don Surber, JustOneMinute, Hot Air, Le·gal In·sur·rec· tion, The Foundry, Simply Left Behind, Samizdata.net, AmSpecBlog, Six Meat Buffet, Wizbang and Power Line
The Southern Avenger on “What Happened to the War on Terror?”
On the sixth anniversary of the war in Iraq, why are the loudest champions of the War on Terror no longer talking about it?
Tim Geithner reveals his plan and it still sucks
There’s a great deal of coverage on this… go here to check it out. We’re screwed, and I do mean badly.
Others covering:
RedState Update on “Shimmysham The AIG Dummy”
This is most likely the strangest, but most funny video that Jackie and Dunlap have ever done. I think anyway.
The Late Night Music Express Presents…….Montose
A very approprate song for the current political Climate….
Here is Paper Money and I got the Fire:
The White House gets the Message! President Obama to Block A.I.G. Bonuses
Wow! No sooner than I publish the last entry. This news breaks:
Via Politico.com:
Harnessing public outrage over lavish bonuses for bailed-out executives at insurance giant AIG, President Obama said Monday that he will “pursue every single legal avenue to block these bonuses and make the American taxpayers whole.”
Obama made his forceful remarks at a small-business event at the White House, following a weekend of heavy news coverage of the payments that fueled the populist backlash already building against bailouts for the wealthy.
“This isn’t just a matter of dollars and cents. It’s about our fundamental values,” Obama said.
“All across the country, there are people who work hard and meet their responsibilities every single day, without the benefit of government bailouts or multi-million dollar bonuses,” Obama said. “And all they ask is that everyone, from Main Street to Wall Street to Washington, play by the same rules.”At one point, he ad-libbed after a cough, “Excuse me, I’m choked up with anger here.”
American International Group has received $173 billion in U.S. bailout funds, making it the largest single recipient. The company has said the bonuses, which came to light over the weekend, were required by contract and can’t be rescinded.
But administration and congressional officials are pursuing indirect ways to recover the roughly $165 million in bonuses.
Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) on Sunday called the bonuses “unconscionable.”
House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) said on NBC’s “Today” show that the bonuses amount to “rewarding incompetence” but acknowledged there might be no way to stop the payments.
“Maybe it’s time to fire some people,” he said. “We can’t keep them from getting bonuses but we can keep them from having their jobs,” he said. “In high school, they wouldn’t have gotten retention [bonuses], they would have gotten detention. … These people may have a right to their bonuses. They don’t have a right to their jobs forever.”
Some Conservatives are not impressed, however, I am extremely happy! The President has gotten the message. Yeah, I know, he is still doing the bailout crap. But this is a first step, the White House knows that the American people are not happy. The point is, we need to keep up the pressure. This is not a time to quit, this is the time to go into double time pressure, at some point the people in Washington D.C. will get the message.
Good job Tea Party people! 😀
Those pesky populists
Not that there’s anything wrong with that….. 😀
The Story via The Old Grey Lady:
The Obama administration is increasingly concerned about a populist backlash against banks and Wall Street, worried that anger at financial institutions could also end up being directed at Congress and the White House and could complicate President Obama’s agenda.
The administration’s sharp rebuke of the American International Group on Sunday for handing out $165 million in executive bonuses — Lawrence H. Summers, director of the president’s National Economic Council, described it as “outrageous” on “This Week” on ABC — marks the latest effort by the White House to distance itself from abuses that could feed potentially disruptive public anger.
“We’ve got enormous problems that need to be addressed,” David Axelrod, Mr. Obama’s senior adviser, said in an interview. “And it’s hard to address because there’s a lot of anger about the irresponsibility that led us to this point.”
“This has been welling up for a long time,” he said.
Mr. Obama’s aides said any surge of such a sentiment could complicate efforts to win Congressional approval for the additional bailout packages that Mr. Obama has signaled will be necessary to stabilize the banking system.
As it is, there have already been moves in Congress to limit compensation to executives at banks and Wall Street firms that are receiving government help to survive.
Beyond that, a shifting political mood challenges Mr. Obama’s political skills, as he seeks to acknowledge the anger without becoming a target of it. A central question for Mr. Obama is whether his cool style — “in a time of crisis, we cannot afford to govern out of anger,” he said in his address to Congress last month — will prove effective when the country may be feeling more emotional.
[….]
Mr. Obama’s advisers argued that to at least some extent, this was a sentiment they could tap to push through his measures in Congress, including raising taxes on the wealthy. They pointed out that in his speech to Congress, Mr. Obama denounced corporations that “use taxpayer money to pad their paychecks or buy fancy drapes or disappear on a private jet.”
“The president has been very clear about this,” Mr. Axelrod said. “There is reason for anger, but we also have to solve the problem. We need a functioning credit system. That’s our responsibility, and he intends to meet it.”
Still, aides acknowledged the risks of a backlash as Mr. Obama tries to signal that he shares American anger but pushes for more bail-out money for banks and Wall Street.
For all his political skills and his capturing of the nation’s desire for change in the 2008 election, Mr. Obama, a product of Harvard Law School who calls upscale Hyde Park in Chicago home, has shown little inclination to strike a more populist tone. The danger, aides said, is that if he were to become identified as an advocate for the banks and Wall Street, people could take out their anger on him.
“The change now is you have a free-floating economic anxiety that has expressed itself in a kind of lashing out at those being bailed out and people who are bailing out,” Michael Kazin, a professor at Georgetown University who has written extensively on populism. “There’s not really a sense of what the solution is.”
“I do think there’s a potential for a ‘damn everybody in power’ kind of sentiment,” Mr. Kazin said.
Memo to the Tea Party People: It is working my good people! Keep up the protests! Keep up the e-mails and the phone calls and above all, just keep on, keeping on! 😀
For those that wonder what Populism actually is:
Entry: (via Websters)
- 1pop·u·list
- Pronunciation:
- ?pä-py?-list
- Function:
- noun
- Etymology:
- Latin populus the people
- Date:
- 1892
1: a member of a political party claiming to represent the common people ; especially often capitalized : a member of a United States political party formed in 1891 primarily to represent agrarian interests and to advocate the free coinage of silver and government control of monopolies2: a believer in the rights, wisdom, or virtues of the common people— pop·u·lism –?li-z?m noun— pop·u·lis·tic ?pä-py?-?lis-tik adjective
2: a believer in the rights, wisdom, or virtues of the common people
From the Preamble of the United States Constitution:
We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.
Join the Glenn Beck 9/12 Project. Remember, we sorround them. Government is controlled, financed, and ordered by “We the people”, not the other way around. The banking cartels do not run this country, we the people do. Stand up, stand up and fight!
….and for what it is worth, Populism is not a Right or Left thing, it is an American thing.
Others, from all sides: The Moderate Voice, The Hill, Michelle Malkin, The New Republic, TalkLeft, Democracy in America, Hot Air, The Note, Political Punch, Open Left, QandO, Jules Crittenden, Bloomberg, theheretik.us, Brilliant at Breakfast, The Plum Line, Commentary, The Strata-Sphere, The Politico, AMERICAblog News, DealBook, DISSENTING JUSTICE, Washington Post, The Huffington Post, Althouse and TIME.com
An Interesting Movie
I post this because I believe that it is interesting. Alex Jones has always struck me as a kook. Someone amongst the “Tin Foil Hat” crowd. However, it is something interesting to watch.
Enjoy…
What do you think? Do you think that there is any truth to this?
Can someone remind me as just to why exactly we elected this douche nozzle??!?!?
First off, check this out: (Via America Digest)
Via U.K. Telegraph:
Sources close to the White House say Mr Obama and his staff have been “overwhelmed” by the economic meltdown and have voiced concerns that the new president is not getting enough rest.
British officials, meanwhile, admit that the White House and US State Department staff were utterly bemused by complaints that the Prime Minister should have been granted full-blown press conference and a formal dinner, as has been customary. They concede that Obama aides seemed unfamiliar with the expectations that surround a major visit by a British prime minister.
But Washington figures with access to Mr Obama’s inner circle explained the slight by saying that those high up in the administration have had little time to deal with international matters, let alone the diplomatic niceties of the special relationship.
Allies of Mr Obama say his weary appearance in the Oval Office with Mr Brown illustrates the strain he is now under, and the president’s surprise at the sheer volume of business that crosses his desk.
A well-connected Washington figure, who is close to members of Mr Obama’s inner circle, expressed concern that Mr Obama had failed so far to “even fake an interest in foreign policy”.
A British official conceded that the furore surrounding the apparent snub to Mr Brown had come as a shock to the White House. “I think it’s right to say that their focus is elsewhere, on domestic affairs. A number of our US interlocutors said they couldn’t quite understand the British concerns and didn’t get what that was all about.”
The American source said: “Obama is overwhelmed. There is a zero sum tension between his ability to attend to the economic issues and his ability to be a proactive sculptor of the national security agenda.
“That was the gamble these guys made at the front end of this presidency and I think they’re finding it a hard thing to do everything.”
Oh, it gets better, trust me… Too Tired?!?! Seriously? Think that’s bad?
Via The Old Gray Lady:
President Obama declared in an interview that the United States was not winning the war in Afghanistan and opened the door to a reconciliation process in which the American military would reach out to moderate elements of the Taliban, much as it did with Sunni militias in Iraq.
Mr. Obama pointed to the success in peeling Iraqi insurgents away from more hard-core elements of Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, a strategy that many credit as much as the increase of American forces with turning the war around in the last two years. “There may be some comparable opportunities in Afghanistan and in the Pakistani region,” he said, while cautioning that solutions in Afghanistan will be complicated.
[…]
“I don’t think that people should be fearful about our future,” he said. “I don’t think that people should suddenly mistrust all of our financial institutions.”
As he pressed forward with ambitious plans at home to rewrite the tax code, expand health care coverage and curb climate change, Mr. Obama dismissed criticism from conservatives that he was driving the country toward socialism. After the interview, which took place as the president was flying home from Ohio, he called reporters from the Oval Office to assert that his actions have been “entirely consistent with free-market principles” and to point out that large-scale government intervention in the markets and expansion of social welfare programs began under President George W. Bush.
Sitting at the head of a conference table with his suit coat off, Mr. Obama exhibited confidence six weeks into his presidency despite the economic turmoil around the globe and the deteriorating situations in Afghanistan and Pakistan. He struck a reassuring tone about the economy, saying he had no trouble sleeping at night.
[…..]
Asked if the United States was winning in Afghanistan, a war he effectively adopted as his own last month by ordering an additional 17,000 troops sent there, Mr. Obama replied flatly, “No.”
Again, can someone please tell me why we elected this feckless idiot douche nozzle? I am really beginning to believe that America blew it. In a really, really, really, big way.
Those who were actually stupid enough to vote for this socialist idiot, get what is coming to them. (yes, that applies to my family too.)
I mean, this asshole is acting like this is some sort of a community organizer job. Being the President is a serious job and this idiot is not even acting remotely like a President. 😡
As much as I disagreed with President George W. Bush on Iraq, I will say this; you never, EVER heard George W. Bush complain or his staff ever say to reporters, even anonymously say that the job was making him tired! Not once.
Not getting enough sleep, what a pansy ass! 🙄
Others: JustOneMinute, Power Line, Pajamas Media, Flopping Aces, QandO, Six Meat Buffet, Macsmind, Flopping Aces, Gateway Pundit, NO QUARTER, AMERICAN DIGEST, Wizbang, Atlas Shrugs, THE ASTUTE BLOGGERS, HotAir, NO QUARTER, PoliGazette and Cold Fury
Update: Right Voices links in. Thank you! 🙂
Update #3: Peace and Freedom Global Future links in. Thank you! 🙂
Update #2: Whole Bunch more cool people covering this:
- This is why we needed the fighter… « Moderate in the Middle
- Ace of Spades HQ
- Gripe of the day: Floundering v Foundering | STL-CargoShortsToday
- Obama And The Fine Art of Political Nuances « Peace and Freedom Global Future
- Narcissistic views on News/Politics
- Ed Driscoll » I Don’t Think The Obamamobile Turns In Any Other Direction
- Being President Not As Easy As Community Organizer :: all-encompassingly :: blog
- threedonia.com » The Drowning Man
- SnarkyBytes » So it is Incompetence after all. Good to know.
- Track-A-’Crat: The Roll Call Of Democratic Delinquency
- Tough job « The Tiger in DC
- Riehl World View
- Great news: Obama fumbled Brown visit because he’s in over his head — But As For Me
- The American Pundit » Blog Archive » Obama Only Messed Up Brown Visit Because He’s In Over His Head
- Right Angles » Blog Archive » How’s that OJT going, Barack?
Edited to remove accidental dupe links… ooops!
A New Parody “Barry’s Farm”
Here’s the Original Song:
History about the song and concert
New Lyrics:
Barry’s Farm
(Sung to the tune of Maggie’s Farm by Bob Dylan)
Written by Paleo Pat
I ain’t gonna work on Barry’s farm no more.
I ain’t gonna work on Barry’s farm no more.
Well, I wake up in the morning,
Fold my hands and pray that I might keep my gain.
I got a bill full of Taxes
That are drivin’ me insane.
It’s a shame the way he makes me tip the whore.
Naw, I ain’t gonna work on Barry’s farm no more.
I ain’t gonna work under Barry’s Law’s no more.
I ain’t gonna work under Barry’s Law’s no more.
Well, he hands you a Dollar,
Taxes you a dime,
Looks at you with a grin
While robbin’ you fuckin’ Blind,
Then he taxes you every time you open the door.
I ain’t gonna work under Barry’s Laws no more.
I ain’t gonna be a slave for Barry’s Government no more.
No, I ain’t be a Slave for Barry’s Government no more.
Well, he puts a Tax Bill
in your face just for kicks.
His White House
It is made out of Bricks.
The Secret Service stands around his door.
Ah, I ain’t gonna be a slave for Barry’s Government no more.
I ain’t gonna work for Barry’s Bitch no more.
No, I ain’t gonna work for Barry’s Bitch no more.
Well, she talks to all the people
About Equality and Race and Law.
All the while the workin’ people
Are payin’ for other peoples bad calls
She’s a lying thief, but she says her honesty stands tall.
Naw, I ain’t gonna work for Barry’s Bitch no more.
I ain’t gonna work on Barry’s farm no more.
I ain’t gonna work on Barry’s farm no more.
Well, I try my best
To do the best I can,
But everybody wants you
To pay thier bills for them.
They eat steak while you slave and I just get bored.
I ain’t gonna work on Barry’s farm no more.
On Heals of AIG News Markets off to Shaky Start
The News this morning that AIG is going to get even more bail out monies from the Government. To put it mildly, the markets are not reacting too well at all.
Here’s the charts:
Dow Jones:
VIX:
NASDAQ-100:
S&P 500 Index
QQQQ’s
XAU
Charts Courtesy of Think or Swim
Others: JustOneMinute, Commentary, Fausta’s Blog,Michelle Malkin,Don Surber, and more via Memeorandum
Asian Markets Slide
The ripple effect of Government Socialism spreads:
Asian stock markets slumped Monday amid resurgent concerns that a recovery in the global economy is unlikely to materialize until next year and worries about the global financial sector following fresh government bailouts for the insurance giant American International Group and Citigroup.
The Nikkei 225, Japan’s benchmark index, was down 4 percent and the Kospi in South Korea fell 3.6 percent, while the key index in Hong Kong sagged 3.8 percent. Singapore’s stock market fell 3.3 percent, and the markets in Australia and Taiwan dropped 2.8 percent. Stocks in mainland China declined least, falling 0.2 percent by Monday afternoon.
Stock in banks like Mitsubishi UFJ and Mizuho Financial Group were more than 4 percent lower in Tokyo because of fears about the health of the global banking system, after the United States government moved to take a larger stake in the ailing banking giant Citigroup and was set to give an additional $30 billion in taxpayer money to AIG.
And in Hong Kong, trading in HSBC was suspended in the wake of reports that the British bank will announce on Monday that it is tapping investors for about £12 billion, or about $17 billion.
“It’s pretty despondent everywhere,” said Dwyfor Evans, a strategist at State Street Global Markets in Hong Kong. “Okay, there are signs that some of the leading indicators have stabilized to some extent, but it’s at a very, very low level, and we’re not seeing corporate investment picking up, or consumers starting to spend again – in other words, the traditional mechanisms by which economies come out of a recession are absent at this time.”
While Barack Obama might be the President that saved the working class family in America, he might very well go down as the President who destroyed the free market capitalist system in America and around the World. Although, I will admit, that he did have help. Bill Clinton’s polices, along with the inaction of the Republican Congress of 2003, did nothing to stop this mess.
The bad part about is, I and everyone else will be most likely dead before it is all straightened out.
Welcome to the 21 century. 🙄
Manufacturing Suffers
Some more grim news… 🙁
Via the Economist:
$0.00, not counting fuel and handling: that is the cheapest quote right now if you want to ship a container from southern China to Europe. Back in the summer of 2007 the shipper would have charged $1,400. Half-empty freighters are just one sign of a worldwide collapse in manufacturing. In Germany December’s machine-tool orders were 40% lower than a year earlier. Half of China’s 9,000 or so toy exporters have gone bust. Taiwan’s shipments of notebook computers fell by a third in the month of January. The number of cars being assembled in America was 60% below January 2008.
The destructive global power of the financial crisis became clear last year. The immensity of the manufacturing crisis is still sinking in, largely because it is seen in national terms—indeed, often nationalistic ones. In fact manufacturing is also caught up in a global whirlwind.
Industrial production fell in the latest three months by 3.6% and 4.4% respectively in America and Britain (equivalent to annual declines of 13.8% and 16.4%). Some locals blame that on Wall Street and the City. But the collapse is much worse in countries more dependent on manufacturing exports, which have come to rely on consumers in debtor countries. Germany’s industrial production in the fourth quarter fell by 6.8%; Taiwan’s by 21.7%; Japan’s by 12%—which helps to explain why GDP is falling even faster there than it did in the early 1990s (see article). Industrial production is volatile, but the world has not seen a contraction like this since the first oil shock in the 1970s—and even that was not so widespread. Industry is collapsing in eastern Europe, as it is in Brazil, Malaysia and Turkey. Thousands of factories in southern China are now abandoned. Their workers went home to the countryside for the new year in January. Millions never came back (see article).
This is what happens when you create an economic bubble, by loosening up regulations to sell mortgages to those who cannot afford them. The whole world suffers. Our American companies suffer, the World manufacturing sector suffers. It is a domino effect. The problem is, that the United States is going about this all wrong. Instead of changing the way our economic system works. They are simply trying to reinflate the broken bubble. It is like trying to tape up a busted air ballon and trying to put air back into it again. It works for a while, but ends up breaking again.
Greenspan says “nationalize now”
Now this is something:
The US government may have to nationalize some banks on a temporary basis to fix the financial system and restore the flow of credit, Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chairman, has told the Financial Times.
In an interview, Mr Greenspan, who for decades was regarded as the high priest of laisser-faire capitalism, said nationalisation could be the least bad option left for policymakers.
”It may be necessary to temporarily nationalise some banks in order to facilitate a swift and orderly restructuring,” he said. “I understand that once in a hundred years this is what you do.”
Mr Greenspan’s comments capped a frenetic day in which policymakers across the political spectrum appeared to be moving towards accepting some form of bank nationalisation.
“We should be focusing on what works,” Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator from South Carolina, told the FT. “We cannot keep pouring good money after bad.” He added, “If nationalisation is what works, then we should do it.”
Speaking to the FT ahead of a speech to the Economic Club of New York on Tuesday, Mr Greenspan said that “in some cases, the least bad solution is for the government to take temporary control” of troubled banks either through the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or some other mechanism.
The former Fed chairman said temporary government ownership would ”allow the government to transfer toxic assets to a bad bank without the problem of how to price them.”
But he cautioned that holders of senior debt – bonds that would be paid off before other claims – might have to be protected even in the event of nationalisation.
”You would have to be very careful about imposing any loss on senior creditors of any bank taken under government control because it could impact the senior debt of all other banks,” he said. “This is a credit crisis and it is essential to preserve an anchor for the financing of the system. That anchor is the senior debt.”
Let me get this straight, one of the main douche bags that was responsible for the meltdown of the bank industry and the economic collapse is now telling us what we should do with our banks?
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Obama signs the Generational Theft Act and Promises Another, Markets Tank…
I figured this was coming:
The Story:
President Obama has not ruled out a second stimulus package, his press secretary, Robert Gibbs, said on Tuesday, just before Mr. Obama signed his $787 billion recovery package into law with a statement that it would “set our economy on a firmer foundation.”
The president said he would not pretend “that today marks the end of our economic problems.”
“Nor does it constitute all of what we have to do to turn our economy around,” Mr. Obama said at the signing ceremony in the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. “But today does mark the beginning of the end, the beginning of what we need to do to create jobs for Americans scrambling in the way of playoffs.”
Mr. Gibbs, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on the way to Denver, said, “I think the president is going to do what’s necessary to grow this economy.” While “there are no particular plans at this point for a second stimulus package,” he added, “I wouldn’t foreclose it.”
Mr. Obama began the first leg of a two-day trip, using the museum ceremony to spotlight the bill’s clean-energy provisions. The president will also visit Phoenix, where he will unveil his new housing plan on Wednesday.
After a bruising legislative battle on the stimulus bill, which drew only three supporting votes from Republicans in the Senate and none in the House, the White House is trying to recapture the debate over the economy. Mr. Obama’s message is that the bill will create or save 3.5 million jobs over the next two years.
While the bill has been criticized by conservatives as bloated with pork-barrel spending, it has also been criticized by the left as too tepid and not bold enough to jumpstart the economy. Mr. Gibbs’s remarks on the plane seemed to echo that concern.
In describing the package, the press secretary called it “a strong start towards economic viability” and “the beginning of getting our economy back on track.”
via Signing Stimulus Bill, Obama Does Not Rule Out Another – NYTimes.com.
I figured Obama would do this, sign one porkus bill into law and say, “This is not the end, but just the beginning of the pork!”
Meanwhile, the markets basically tanked, even more so than last week: (Via the New York Times)
From Hong Kong to eastern Europe to Wall Street, financial gloom was everywhere on Tuesday.
Stock markets around the world staggered lower. In New York, the Dow fell more than 3 percent, coming within sight of its worst levels since the credit crisis erupted. Financial shares were battered. And rattled investors clamored to buy rainy-day investments like gold and Treasury debt.
It was a global wave of selling spurred by rising worries about how banks, automakers — entire countries — would fare in a deepening global downturn.
“Nobody believes it’s going get better yet,” said Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst at Standard & Poor’s. “Do you see that light at the end of the tunnel? Any kind of light? Right now, it’s not there yet.”
At the close, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 297.81 points or 3.7 percent to 7,552.29 points as losses in General Motors, Bank of America and American Express dragged the blue chips lower. The only Dow stock in positive territory was Wal-Mart, which rose after reporting better-than-expected profits.
“If we get substantially below 800 then look out below,” said Marc Groz, chief investment officer at Topos, a risk-advisory firm in Greenwich, Conn.
The broader Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index slid 3.7 percent to drop below 800, which analysts said was an important trading threshold.
Investors know what this is, it is basically nationalization of our Economy, our banks, everything. They are just not going to invest money in a Government owned banking system. I believe this drop is just the beginning. Wait till it totally collapses and the world is thrust into chaos. It will be an interesting time, indeed.
Stanford Financial Group busted in fraud charges
Well, this is quite interesting:
Stopping what it called a “massive ongoing fraud,” the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday accused Robert Allen Stanford, the chief of the Stanford Financial Group, of fraud in the sale of about $8 billion of high-yielding certificates of deposit held in the firm’s bank in Antigua. Also named in the suit were two other executives and some affiliates of the financial group.
In the complaint, filed in Federal District Court in Dallas, the S.E.C. accused Mr. Stanford and two associates — James M. Davis, a director and chief financial officer of Stanford Group and the Antigua-based bank affiliate, and Laura Pendergest-Holt, the chief investment officer of both organizations — with misrepresenting the safety and liquidity of the uninsured CDs.
The CDs were sold by Stanford International Bank through the firm’s registered broker-dealer and investment adviser, which are in Houston. Both the bank, which claims $8.5 billion in assets and 30,000 clients in 131 countries, and the brokerage unit, which operates about 30 offices in the United States, were named in the S.E.C. suit. Stanford Financial asserts that it advises about $50 billion in assets.
Shortly after 10 a.m. Central time, about 40 police officers and other law enforcement officials simultaneously entered Stanford Group’s two office buildings in Houston. Many of the law enforcement personnel carried large black briefcases. Stanford group’s headquarters are in two offices in Houston, one within a tower of the Houston Galleria shopping mall, and the other across the street.
A spokesman for Stanford Group declined to comment.
It is amazing how a major meltdown in the markets will expose the frauds.
Vox Day Snarks:
What, there was something fishy about high-yield Antiguan CDs? Really? What will shock us next, the discovery that the import/export firm with the branch office in Medellin is selling coke?
Heh.
While I think it is alright to have a sense of humor about it. One must realize that there most likely some people “taking a bath” right about now. So, I shall keep the giggles to a minimum. Who I feel mot sorry for, are the peole who trusted these companies to invest thier money properly, and have gotten horribly screwed over. Those are the one’s I feel for.
As Geithner rolls out Bailout Plans and Stimulus passes senate, stocks plummet
So much for reviving the economy. No sooner does Obama’s Treasury secretary roll out his plan for bailing out the banks and Obama’s “stimulus plan” passes muster in the Senate; the stock market drops and drops quite hard.
Here are the charts (as of 1:34 PM EST):
Dow Jones:
New York Stock Exchange:
The rest of the numbers:
So much for Stimulus eh?
I think Barry needs to try again… Badly.
(Charts by Think or Swim)