This comes via Reason.tv:
Article mentioned in this video is Here
Cue the Music!
Tag: Wall Street
The Southern Avenger on “The Mexican Flu”
How the news coverage of the swine flu isn’t so much indicative of any serious crisis, but the mainstream media’s corporate and government, PC sensibilities.
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 “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?
President Barack Hussein Obama’s March Towards Communism
In all honesty…. it is more like a marathon run towards Communism actually.
Thanks to the stupidity of the Carter and Clinton Administrations and the inaction on the Republican controlled 2003 Congress. We are now becoming a Communist Nation. We have no one to blame, but ourselves.
The Communist owned Washington Post reports:
The Obama administration is considering asking Congress to give the Treasury secretary unprecedented powers to initiate the seizure of non-bank financial companies, such as large insurers, investment firms and hedge funds, whose collapse would damage the broader economy, according to an administration document.
The government at present has the authority to seize only banks.
Giving the Treasury secretary authority over a broader range of companies would mark a significant shift from the existing model of financial regulation, which relies on independent agencies that are shielded from the political process. The Treasury secretary, a member of the president’s Cabinet, would exercise the new powers in consultation with the White House, the Federal Reserve and other regulators, according to the document.
The administration plans to send legislation to Capitol Hill this week. Sources cautioned that the details, including the Treasury’s role, are still in flux.
Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner is set to argue for the new powers at a hearing today on Capitol Hill about the furor over bonuses paid to executives at American International Group, which the government has propped up with about $180 billion in federal aid. Administration officials have said that the proposed authority would have allowed them to seize AIG last fall and wind down its operations at less cost to taxpayers.
The administration’s proposal contains two pieces. First, it would empower a government agency to take on the new role of systemic risk regulator with broad oversight of any and all financial firms whose failure could disrupt the broader economy. The Federal Reserve is widely considered to be the leading candidate for this assignment. But some critics warn that this could conflict with the Fed’s other responsibilities, particularly its control over monetary policy.
The government also would assume the authority to seize such firms if they totter toward failure.
Besides seizing a company outright, the document states, the Treasury Secretary could use a range of tools to prevent its collapse, such as guaranteeing losses, buying assets or taking a partial ownership stake. Such authority also would allow the government to break contracts, such as the agreements to pay $165 million in bonuses to employees of AIG’s most troubled unit.
The Treasury secretary could act only after consulting with the president and getting a recommendation from two-thirds of the Federal Reserve Board, according to the plan.
Geithner plans to lay out the administration’s broader strategy for overhauling financial regulation at another hearing on Thursday.
You see folks, this is where it starts. They start seizing businesses, and taking the assets for themselves. Then the Government decides to take YOUR assets; because they happen to think that you are making too much money. What amazes me, is the resounding silence from the Republicans, especially the Neo-Conservatives like Michelle Malkin and over at HotAir.com. Could it be that the Neo-Conservatives secretly approve of such actions? Possibly the Republican Party as well? Could it be that the Republican Party is now infiltrated with Communists to the point of having lost it’s true identity?
You decide.
Others: The Moderate Voice, Reuters, pw, , The Strata-Sphere,Bloomberg, Washington Monthly, Pajamas Media, Right Wing News, Sweetness & Light, Neptunus Lex, Stop The ACLU, Sister Toldjah, and Fausta’s Blog
(Via Memeorandum)
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?
Technorati Tags: 9/11 ,Afghanistan ,America ,Ann Coulter ,Announcements ,Automotive Bailouts ,Autos ,Bailouts ,Banking Crisis ,Banks ,Barack Obama ,Bias ,Biden ,Bill Clinton ,Blagojevich ,Blagojevich Scandal ,Blogs ,Bob Barr ,Borders ,Bush ,Bush Administration ,Business ,CNN ,Canada ,Capitalism ,Celebrity ,Cheney ,Chris Matthews ,Christ ,Christanity ,Chrysler ,Chuck Baldwin ,Church ,Comedy ,Commodities ,Communist ,Congress ,Conservatism ,Conservative ,Conservatives ,Constitution ,Constitutionalists ,Corruption ,Democrat ,Democrats ,Detroit ,Economy ,Ed Morrissey ,Editorial ,Edwards ,Election ’08 ,Election 2008 ,Family ,Federal Reserve Bank ,First Admendment ,Fitna ,Ford ,Fox News ,Freedom of Speech ,Fun ,Fundraising ,Funny ,G.M. ,Gaza ,Global Warming ,Globalism ,Gold Prices ,Government ,Guantanamo Bay ,Guns ,Hillary ,Hillary Clinton ,History ,Holiday ,Holland ,Housing Crisis ,Huckabee ,Humor ,Identity Politics ,Idiots ,In Memory ,Internet ,Iran ,Iraq ,Islam ,Israel ,Jerusalem ,Jewish ,Jews ,Jobs ,Joe Biden ,Joe Wurzelbacher ,John Edwards ,John Gibson ,John Kerry ,John McCain ,Judaism ,Keith Olbermann ,Kwame Kilpatrick ,Labor ,Laura Ingraham ,Law ,Lebanon ,Lew Rockwell ,Liberal ,Liberals ,Libertarian ,Libertarian Party ,Local ,MSNBC ,Martin Luther King Jr. ,McCain ,Media ,Memorial Day ,Men ,Michael Savage ,Michelle Malkin ,Michigan ,Middle East ,Mike Huckabee ,Military ,Misc ,Mitt Romney ,Money ,MoonBat ,Moonbats ,Muslim ,NAFTA ,NBC ,National Review ,Nationalism ,Neo-Conservatives ,Netroots ,New York ,New York Post ,New York Times ,News ,North Korea ,Nukes ,Obama ,Obama Administration ,Oil Companies ,Oil Prices ,Olympics ,Open Thread ,Open Trackback ,Opinion ,Pakistan ,Paleo-Conservatives ,Palestine ,Platinum Prices ,Police State ,Political Cartoons ,Political Correctness ,Politically Incorrect ,Politics ,Polls ,Presidential Debates ,Privacy ,Progressive Talk Radio ,RIP ,Race Baiting ,Rachel Maddow ,Radio ,Ralph Nader ,Rants ,Religion ,Republican ,Republican Party ,Republicans ,Rest In Peace ,Rick Warren ,Romney ,Ron Paul ,Ronald Reagan ,Rudy Giuliani ,Rush Limbaugh ,Russia ,Russia News ,Sarah Palin ,Schools ,Second Amendment ,Short takes ,Silver Prices ,Site News ,Snow ,Social Security ,Socialism ,Sons ,Space ,Stock Market ,Stocks ,Stupidity ,Sub-Prime Loans ,Support Our Troops ,Sy Hesh ,Syria ,Taliban ,Talk Radio ,Taxes ,Tazers ,Technology ,Terrorism ,Thanksgiving ,Time Magazine ,Todd Harris ,U.A.W. ,Uncategorized ,Unions ,Video ,WMD’s ,WTF? ,Wall Street ,Wall Street Crisis ,War ,War on Terrorism ,Washington DC ,Washington Post ,Washington Times ,Waste ,Wealth ,Weather ,Web 2.0 ,White House ,Whites ,Women ,World News ,World Politics ,Youtube ,assholes ,blacks ,blogging ,chicago ,communism ,constitution party ,cool stuff ,crime ,deportation ,economics ,fascism ,foreign oil ,healthcare ,illegal immigration ,immigration ,justice ,life ,lolcats ,mexico ,nra ,oil ,open borders ,racism ,relationships ,senate ,twitter ,vote ,voting ,writing
A New Parody “Barry’s Farm”
Here’s the Original Song:
Update: It seems that some Fascist Socialist Liberal twit keeps going around getting my video yanked. No biggie, if they yank it. I will find it elsewhere and put it up. This is America and not fascist Germany and I have the RIGHT to express my opinions about the President and his fascist polices. You liberals don’t like it? TOUGH SHIT! 😡
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
Technorati Tags: stocks ,Stock Market ,Wall Street ,Wall Street Crisis ,political ,AIG Bailout ,politics ,opinion ,Wealth
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?
<— click
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.
Some Funnies…
Stock Advice
From Patriot Post:
Many people are looking for financial advice during these hard economic times. Normally, however, we avoid offering advice regarding buying or selling stocks. But as President Obama prepares to sign the stimulus bill today, the market fell 250 points by noon, and we thought it best to warn investors concerning a few specific companies. Please review any holdings you might have in the following stocks:
- American Can
- Interstate Water
- National Gas Company
- Northern Tissue Company
Due to uncertain market conditions, we advise you to sit tight on your Can, hold your Water, and let go of your Gas. You may be interested to know that Northern Tissue touched a new bottom today, and millions were wiped clean.
It’s a tough market out there!
If the Bill Fits:
and a Cartoon:
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)
Should we give incentive bonuses to Wall Street Watchdogs?
I have fixed feelings about this, and I will explain why a little further down.
An Article in the New York Times Dealbook Column asks a question whether Wall Street Regulators or Watchdogs should get performance bonuses.
Maybe someone deserves a bonus.
Like someone who sniffs out the next Bernie Madoff. Or jousts with tomorrow’s gonzo bankers. Or defuses the Next Big Crisis in whatever Next Big Thing is dreamed up by Wall Street.
Someone, in short, who regulates.
It is clear that the nation’s financial regulators were no match for Wall Street last time. The financiers were always one step ahead. But maybe that isn’t surprising. The financiers, after all, have a big incentive to outsmart the financial police. It is called a bonus. Wall Street lures a lot of bright minds with money. How can federal agencies compete? They can’t.
So, of course, The Government of Singapore’s head honcho says we ought to incentivize watchdog process.
Tony Tan Keng Yam, deputy chairman and executive director of the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, suggested that one reason American regulators fell down on the job was that they were paid too little.
“You must have as good people working in the government in the regulatory authorities as those that are working in the private sector,” Mr. Tan said. “You do need, particularly in these very difficult times, capable people in central banks, in government, in the Treasury who can effectively supervise.”
Mr. Tan knows about this firsthand. He is a former regulator himself, and Singapore has a different view about compensation.
“We pay our politicians and our government servants very well,” he said. “We lock remuneration to the market.”
While Singapore’s watchdogs aren’t paid enough to afford private planes, some in top positions make seven-figure salaries.
At first blush, this would seem to be a great idea; however, if you think about it closely, this would not be such a good idea. Because of the following:
Some at Davos thought the bonus idea could work. But anxiety over that approach was palpable. “They already treat us like criminals,” one hedge fund manager said.
A few said giving bonuses to regulators would be like giving bonuses to the police for issuing speeding tickets. Maybe the regulators, like Wall Streeters, would start thinking about the money, rather than what is right. But maybe that’s exactly what Wall Street needs to slow down.
I must say, that I highly disagree with this idea. Why? While I believe that moderate regulation is a good idea on Wall Street; I believe that incentivizing the Wall Street watchdog process will result in a overzealous regulatory process, that will be solely based upon monitory compensation. This would be absolutely disastrous to the free market process in America. As well all know we already law enforcement that borderlines upon a police state. Doing this to Wall Street would cause a fear mentality amongst the financial sector and discourage investment.
We need regulation, not a financial police state.
Is Bernard Madoff’s Wife an accessory to a crime?
That is what is being reported.
Since the Bernard Madoff scandal broke in December, two overarching questions have been raised. What if anything did other family members know about the Ponzi scheme? And when did it begin—was he a legitimate investor who ran into trouble or was it all a ruse from the beginning? Now, key players I spoke to in the multipronged investigation into the Madoff scheme say they are beginning to piece together answers to those questions.
While she has not been charged with any wrongdoing, authorities now believe Ruth Madoff, Bernard’s wife of almost half a century, played a larger role than previously thought. Until now, the assumption has been—as Madoff himself told FBI agents—that his investment-advisory business was separate from other, legitimate Madoff businesses; it was housed on a different floor and operated, he has said, without knowledge of others in his family.
I do believe before it is over with, that whole family is going to end up in jail.