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F.D.I.C. May Borrow Funds From Banks
WASHINGTON - Tired of the government bailing out banks? Get ready for this: officials may soon ask banks to bail out the government.
Chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Sheila Bair briefs the media on the bank and thrift industry earnings for the second quarter of 2009 while in Washington, August 27, 2009. (REUTERS/Larry Downing) Senior regulators say they are seriously considering a plan to have the nation's healthy banks lend billions of dollars to rescue the insurance fund that protects bank depositors. That would enable the fund, which is rapidly running out of money because of a wave of bank failures, to continue to rescue the sickest banks.
The plan, strongly supported by bankers and their lobbyists, would be a major reversal of fortune.
A hallmark of the financial crisis has been the decision by successive administrations over the last year to lend hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars to large and small banks.
"It's a nice irony," said Karen Shaw Petrou, managing partner of Federal Financial Analytics, a consulting company. "Like so much of this crisis, this is an issue that involves the least worst options."
Bankers and their lobbyists like the idea because it is more attractive than the alternatives: yet another across-the-board emergency assessment on them, or tapping an existing $100 billion credit line to the Treasury.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which oversees the fund, is said to be reluctant to use its authority to borrow from the Treasury.
Under the law, the F.D.I.C. would not need permission from the Treasury to tap into a credit line of up to $100 billion. But such a step is said to be unpalatable to Sheila C. Bair, the agency chairwoman whose relations with the Treasury secretary, Timothy F. Geithner, have been strained.
"Sheila Bair would take bamboo shoots under her nails before going to Tim Geithner and the Treasury for help," said Camden R. Fine, president of the Independent Community Bankers. "She'd do just about anything before going there."
Bankers worry that a special assessment of $5 billion to $10 billion over the next six months would crimp their profits and could push a handful of banks into deeper financial trouble or even receivership. And any new borrowing from the Treasury would be construed as a taxpayer bailout that could open the industry to a political reaction, resulting in a wave of restrictions like fresh limits on executive pay.
Any populist furor could be avoided, the thinking goes, if the government borrows instead from the banks.
"Borrowing from healthy banks, instead of the Treasury, has the advantage of keeping this in the family," said Karen M. Thomas, executive vice president of government relations at the Independent Community Bankers of America, a trade group representing about 5,000 banks. "It is much better for perceptions than having the fund borrow from somewhere else."
Ultimately, officials say, the deposit insurance corporation could settle on a plan that replenishes the insurance fund by doing some of both: borrowing from healthy banks to shore up the shorter-term liquidity needs of the fund, and imposing a special fee on banks to increase the longer-term capital level of the fund.
Since January the F.D.I.C. has seized 94 failing banks, causing a rapid decline in the deposit insurance fund. Despite a special assessment imposed on banks a few months ago to keep the fund afloat, its cash balance now stands at about $10 billion, a third of its size at the start of the year. (Another $32 billion has been set aside for failures that officials expect to occur in the coming months.)
The fund, which stands behind $4.8 trillion in insured deposits, could be wiped out by the failure of a single large bank, although the deposit insurance corporation could always seek a taxpayer bailout by borrowing from the Treasury to stay afloat.
Officials say that the F.D.I.C. will issue a proposed plan next week to begin to restore the financial health of the ailing fund.
There is no consensus among the five board members, consisting of Ms. Bair, two other F.D.I.C. officials, and the heads of the Office of Thrift Supervision and the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency. Others may propose novel ways to replenish the fund, for example, by asking the banks to prepay the premiums that they were planning to make next year.
Borrowing from the industry is allowed under an obscure provision of a 1991 law adopted during the savings and loan crisis. The lending banks would receive bonds from the government at an interest rate that would be set by the Treasury secretary and ultimately would be paid by the rest of the industry. The bonds would be listed as an asset on the books of the banks.
33 Comments so far
Show AllCAN'T HANDLE THE IRONY!!!!
Wow. The Government actually borrowing money from private corporations. Can it BE any more obvious that our representative form of government is no more?? Yet another step towards 100%, complete, and total Oligarchic Corporatacracy, (also known as "fascism" according to Benito Mussolini), where our government is 100% owned and paid for by the Corporate elite.
Can you say "The United Corporations of America, Inc.?"
We're done. Finished. Finito.
"When fascism comes to America, it will be wrapped in the flag, carrying a cross."
Sinclair Lewis, "It Cant Happen Here", 1935
just as I suspected -- and MANY erudite writers had long predicted:
the TIME WILL COME when the USA's OWN Government will become bankrupt..and ITS own ability to maintain its DEPENDABILITY - as "the final GUARANTOR" - upon which the ENTIRE
US ECONOMY and POWER and MIGHT rests - with its DOLLAR hegemony -
will begin to collapse.
i just NEVER imagined it would come THIS soon.
it is exactly as the Asiatimesonline writer HENRY CK LIU
predicted LONG AGO.
Yep teddy, Anyone who understands the "miracle of compounded interest", knew this was coming.
EXACTLY !!! we should always remember that !
this compound interest NONSENSE should NOT be allowed to exist or be practiced. at the very least - there should be a LAW to CAP IT. REGARDLESS of the state of the "debtor" because it is a system that ENTRAPS people whose wages are already suppressed from ever becoming "economically sound" EVEN were they earning well.
compound interest without end is the ultimate form of money slavery.
and it should be declared ILLEGAL and CRIMINAL.
there should be a cap to such interests . NO MORE than whatever LESSER amount compared to the original debt EVEN in a capitalist system - allow the debtor to pay in increments until it is done and shake hands and it is OVER as a transaction...and both parties can start fresh.
there is an old word for it that CHRISTIAN AMERICA ought to remember:
it is called USURY.
teddy; I have also read account after account of scenarios similar to this. And, as unsurprised as I am, I am still dumbfounded by the news!
I want to wipe that grin off Obama's face!
I know that the situation is more dire here in NYC than what the officials are telling us. The other day, I read an indepth account of a default on 110 apartment buildings in Peter Cooper Village and Stuyvesant Town, here in Manhattan. The partners in the venture (Jerry I. and Rob Speyer, with BlackRock Realty) paid $5.4 billion for the properties 3 years ago -- and the venture was celebrated as the biggest real estate deal in history. Today, they are teetering on the brink of default, owning $4.4 billion, and the loan is intertwined, of course, with other entities, e.g. Calpers, the California pension fund which is invested in this deal. Recently, the properties were reassessed at $2.1 billion.
Of course, this isn't exactly the same story that we just read, but it is a piece of the story. Commercial real estate has to be in dire straits. Almost every block in Manhattan has at least one empty commercial space -- small spaces, large spaces, and even entire blocks are now empty of businesses, most of which have emptied out since the end of the 2008 holiday season in January, 2009.
Michael Hudson has written that commercial real estate may be the next big shoe to drop. Who will bail them out? Another crash seems inevitable to me. Again, the banks hold the loans on the commercial real estate properties, along with pension funds, etc.
This seems like a toxic mess waiting to eplode!
and it boils down to VERY SIMPLE TRUISMS:
an economy that is based on PHANTOM WEALTH can not last. and WEALTH can NOT be produced by mere "money printing" no matter how powerful - such as the USA federal bank and treasury , "backed-up by congressional fiat based on the USA's economic might and dependability" .
in other words - WEALTH is only real wealth because it is produced by LABOR - aggregatedly . money is only transactional and does not iN ITSELF constitute wealth nor even REPRESENT IT completely nor correctly (witness the "fluctuations", "interests", bonds, stocks, "financial PRODUCTS", -- all of them MAKEBELIEVE based on what?
FINAL ABILITY TO BE DEPENDABLE to pay ! - which the USA - both PRIVATE and PUBLIC has lost the ability to do.
in other words - as Henry CK Liu always repeated in so many voluminous exposes and analysis of the entire history of the SCAM called "capitalism"....
"WITHOUT PEOPLE ..........THERE IS NO ECONOMY.........PEOPLE *ARE* THE ECONOMY"
THEREFORE:
"THE PROPER WAY FOR A CIVILIZED SYSTEM IS TO CREATE SOMETHING THAT CAN BE DONE QUICKLY, SWIFTLY, AND ENTIRELY PRACTICABLE...BASED ON SOVEREIGN CREDIT...IF THE POLITICAL WILL IS PRESENT....AND THAT IS:
RESTRUCTURE TO ESTABLISH ONCE AND FOR ALL....FULL EMPLOYMENT AT HIGH AND EVER-RISING WAGES"
"THIS IS THE WAY FOR COUNTRIES TO RID THEMSELVES OF INDEBTEDNESS AND DEPENDENCE ON FOREIGN CAPITAL".
"CHINA , were it to follow its true destiny, by using its sovereign credit to issue to its industries and citizens the ability to create full employment at HIGH wages....will realize its true potential through domestic development based on SOVEREIGN CREDIT - and RID itself of Dollar Hegemony...as should other countries who are wasting their sovereign credit and savings and earnings to SERVICE the DOLLAR as the World's main transaction currency".
"A FULL EMPLOYMENT, HIGH and EVER RISING WAGES regime for the world's countries will almost overnight change the nature of global economy......PEOPLE are the ECONOMY"
"economies should serve the people not the other way around".
"THE TRUE WEALTH OF NATIONS is not money.......not commodities....but PEOPLE".
henry ck liu.
Teddy: You don't have to convince me, I completely agree with you!
"economies should serve the people not the other way around!"
Hi, Kay.
Let us hope that ALL is NOT lost YET. that no matter how dire ....PEOPLE - AMERICANS - will find it in themselves to confront the realities and INSIST , once and for all -- that the "economy" SERVE the people!!!
AMERICANS - their hard labor , through THEIR wages - which have FALLEN - and rendered them like RATS trying to compete for "crumbs" from their supervisors and managers and board members of coporations -
ARE the REAL owners of the economy and shoudl DEMAND IT BACK!!!
FULL EMPLOYMENT< HIGH and EVER RISING WAGES.
its OPPOSITE - which is "the american way" being promoted globally and has BEEN imposed on OTHER nations -
results in what we all see.
its AMERICAN version result:
Suppressed wages = false labor "market overabundance" = by DEVALUING labor in relation to money capital which has NO value IN itself = americans addicted and imprisoned in a Credit Card and Debt Society = for which their SUPPRESSED WAGES can NOT pay =
which translates into MONEY CAPITAL losing ITS own value= which translates into banks and investment and speculating houses looking for places to "park" their money where there is NONE to park it in = leading to MAKE BELIEVE "investments" such as the "rising housing prices" = etc/ etc/ etc/...
what a charade
and it all is SO EASILY FIXED by
a FULL EMPLOYMENT, HIGH WAGES economy that VALUES EVERY single person .!
how can americans have allowed this?
I agree with Demonstorm. Stick a fork in America, we are done! This all brought about by the "legitimate" trades gone bad. What happens when the 60 - 150 trillion, yes trillion in nebulous, toxic assets explodes? This is all, "off the books" debt that will have to be paid at sometime. The short answer is, there will be no one who is capable of paying it and poof the death of America and I am sure several other countries in short order. The pain of this collapse will be unbearable for most. Revolution is inevitable.
This is another flavor of the self-licking ice cream cone!
Which "healthy" banks? Name them. If any of them are past recipients of bail out funds, then they ought not be lending money, they ought to be paying it back (with interest), not the other way around.
This is the most insane proposition I've heard. We are going to pay interest on money to rescue a failing bank? Why not just have the healthy bank buy the failing bank? The failed bank should not be allowed to pretend to continue its existence. It must be renamed -- the FDIC should only be assuring depositors that they will not lose their money (to the limit covered). This is all to maintain this house of cards.
Take your money now, and put it in a credit union.
this is like a neighborhood where the Big MAN of the town - after getting burned by feeding its other Big Honchos - such as the big banks and corporations - by "insuring" THEM and THEIR toxicities - NOW has NO money to continue doing that....
and now has to go to the streets to beg from the SMALL store owners and ordinary folks and families in the neighborhood
who were mostly the VERY SAME folks that THAT BIG MAN and HIS BIG HONCHOS victimized to begin with....
COMPLETELY , ENTIRELY without CREDIBILITY.
it is AMAZING that once again - the Asiatimesonline Writer - Henry CK Liu -- who had sharply described these things for years and months
just RECENTLY REPEATED his warnings and assertions that PERFECTLY FITS this very same scenario of the FDIC government because it is CLEAR -- it is now the FEDERAL BANK and TREASURY that - for ALL their PRINTING PRESS Dollar Fiat
have NO CREDIBILITY at ALL!!!
LIU titled his latest article series:
"POWER (federal bank and treasury) WITHOUT CREDIBILITY"
WHICH really translates into "US POWER without credibility"
next thing you know
Sheila Bair (who I think has TRIED her best to be a responsible guide in her capacity) -
will have to LEARN MANDARIN to accompany TIM GEITHNER to go ABEGGING in china and asia some more!
and THIS TIME -- asking SMALL FARMERS over THERE to LEND THEIR money to
the GREAT AMERICA!!!
i guess - it is true what some people say:
INTERNAL COLLAPSE of its Greatest Symbols and institutions and structural coherence - apart from bleeding itself with wars and overextension -
IS the stuff of how an Empire IMPLODES !
who would ever think that for all its over 3 centuries of habitually pointing fingers towards "outside" , towards "THEM" as EXISTENTIAL THREATS to america
that it is the age-old Truism..from which america would see its own decline that it can't find a way out of......except with more thrashing and screaming and plain childish tantrum-making.....to try to preserve and "Defend" what is INDEFENSIBLE...its systemic capitalist crisis-laden exploitativeness -
and it is in one word, something that was there FROM THE VERY BEGINNING:
INTERNAL ROT!
a ROTTEN system and a ROTTEN economics, and ROTTEN culture that John Perkins , CIA former Economic hitman defined :
"A VERY VERY VICIOUS SYSTEM of exploitation that Dehumanizes and Enslaves People Everywhere".
and its ROT is eating it up ALIVE!
who would have thought....after all teh glorious Mythmaking that americans STILL , somehow, try to CLING TO even as their own "beloved country" - right before their own eyes is dissolving in whatever is WORTHY in it.
for the record -- speaking of Hongkong - in another health care related thread...
where hongkong -- the "bastion of capitalism" in asia - actually subsidizes national health care - so ANYONE "that can scrape up the equivalent of 13 dollars can get health care, emergency , anywhere - at a VERY HIGH quality and care" (cited by a chinese american that moved there and swears :"until i see america..MY HOME COUNTRY...do that...i am staying put HERE"....)
Hongkong...with its very savvy businessmen and enterpreneurs and investors...
is about to finish building a very large - supermodern complex - strangely enough, in the hongkong airport (itself a supermodern one) -
that will house its GOLD RESERVES that it is asking europe and other places holding them to quickly begin transfer to Hongkong.
that is a already a "canary in the mine" as to the coming FATE of the DOLLAR and the US dependability.
developing economies in asia are already weathering the US INSTIGATED global recession and emerging from it (unlike what happened in the 1990's through IMF , US instigated "prescriptions") - through REGIONAL and DOMESTIC developments.
it is CLEAR --as I also long suspected - coming from the philippines myself and having seen the RAVAGES of US inspired capitalism -
that the asian region is preparing itself to eventually RENDER the USA as "just another customer" that has LITTLE influence or sway in their affairs after getting burned so many times for over a hundred years.
so -- what EXACTLY is the USA going to do about it?
RATTLE SABERS against "north korea?" that is laughable....i know for a FACT that asians are NOT frightened OF north korea whatsoever and would just deal with it like some "prodigal son" until he learns how to behave where HIS place is in the "family" ...
that is something the USA and americans SIMPLY can NOT get in their heads!
the usa is going to threaten TRADE WARS with CHINA? that is laughable.
the USA is going to try and undermine JAPAN that sees ITS future WITH making sure it has good relations WITH its FELLOW ASIAN neighbors and that GIANT across the china sea - CHINA?
the USA is going to SEND more NAVAL FLEETS to surrouond EXACTLY which country? and try to isolate it?
Vietnam? Indonesia? philippines? south korea?...or try to coerce them to "contain china?"
that is laughable.
what the USA and americans do NOT understand and perhaps NEVER will is:
REGARDLESS of how a GIANT such as china CAN be threatening - REALITIES dictate and ALWAYS have -- that to ASIANS....
"WHERE CHINA GOES -- the rest of asia FOLLOWS".
US hegemony and having the "pacific as our ocean" to launch DOMINANCE in china and the rest of asia
IS OVER! OVER and KAPUT and NEVER to be repeated.
it's THAT simple!
just a quick example:
ten years ago - -i went home t0 visit my dying mother...and my plane stop in asia were Seoul , south ,korea and Taiwan international airport...
believe me -- it was a CULTURE SHOCK for ME - as an asian -- coming from "new york" ...
I felt so BACKWARD and so BEHIND in modernity and their efficiency.
and THAT alone, convinced me , long before all this talk of "shifting power centers and wealth" ....
the USA is IN for a RUDE, RUDE awakening.
1) that it , americans, have NEVER understood other cultures and merely made ASSUMPTIONS that all turn out bad results for everyone
2) that trying to IMPOSE "the american way" on others
IS NOT GOING TO WORK...others WILL resist - whether through direct action or simply by going about THEIR ways as THEY see fit...regardless of what americans DEMAND or WISH or IMAGINE "has to be".
"ten years ago - -i went home t0 visit my dying mother...and my plane stop in asia were Seoul , south ,korea and Taiwan international airport...
believe me -- it was a CULTURE SHOCK for ME - as an asian -- coming from "new york" ...
I felt so BACKWARD and so BEHIND in modernity and their efficiency." -- Teddy
Several years ago, when I traveled to France, I had a similar internatized reaction. Living in NYC, I sometimes take the subway, but mostly, I walk whenever possible. Our subway system is old -- and I'm glad we have it, many cities in this country don't even have the option of public transportation. Although I had been to France/Paris, I hadn't previously used their public transportation system. This time, I used it all the time, and I was so impressed -- clean, huge detailed maps at every stop, organized beyond anything I am used to here in NYC, etc. Even though I am not very fluent in French, I didn't get lost even once. I know people who live in NYC who take the train and, once in a while, go the wrong direction -- due to no signs, no maps, etc.
I returned home with a very different attitude toward the propaganda machine of the U.S.A., and the message that America is "exceptional" -- at everything.
Kay -- your experience also reminded me of a recent "comparison" i noted - which dealt with the health care system americans still largely believe is the "best" in the world:
what was VERY instructive to me was:
i happened to have the opportunity to talk to TWO senior citizens - naturally with their old age ailments now -
and we were talking about the main differences of opinion :
For Public, National, everyone in-no one out expansion of medicaire type or non=profit system -
and of course the usual privatized mishmash of insurance.
ONE seemed to be skeptical of ANY move towards the system as in other countries. citing "socialist", "i've heard you can not choose your doctors", "i've heard there is no money", "i've heard they will take away my choice"..."i've heard doctors don't want to serve in medicaire anymore"..."i've heard THEY'RE cutting medicaire..and I'm alright because I also have SUPPLEMENTAL insurance"...etc...
the OTHER swiftly said : "I like that one...the one where everyone is covered...and we all pay together and no more private profiteers ...i like that one..like they have in europe".....
of THESE two - similar in age and clarity of mind -
the SECOND one was VERY well traveled and had been to europe and other regions
the FIRST ONE all her life was largely traveling in her own "american" neighorhood....
tells you something, doesn't it?.
Teddy: Yes, it is interesting, and I have quite a few friends who know almost nothing about the cultures of other countries, and they haven't traveled that much, despite their education levels. It does make a difference. Reading books, too, by foreign writers can open up the mind. I have always been interested, from the time I was very young, in knowing more about other countries, their cities, art, music, etc. -- my curiosity was a natural extension of simply reading a lot.
I keep telling my friends that people in other countries think we are nuts! They ask, "What do you mean?" So, I tell them. They are literally shocked when they find out how many vacation days Europeans have, health care plans in other countries, etc. They had no idea until we began to talk about it!
I work as an independent researcher, when I can get work -- sometimes working for writers who are working on books, and I also do genealogical research. Therefore, I have clients, from time to time, in other countries with whom I regularly converse. That really keeps me centered, and more realistic about what is going on in this country.
Borrow the money you just gave them at interest?
GwNorth September 22nd, 2009 2:11 pm
"Borrow the money you just gave them at interest?"
How do you like them apples? The Treasury prints money and lends it to the privately-owned Federal Reserve Bank at zero to 0.25% interest and then borrows it back at what interest rate??????
What’s new in America is not the existence of these destructive patterns and forces but rather their ascendancy to such dominance. Save the billionaire banksters and destroy the lives of millions of citizens!
"One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we’ve been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We’re no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It is simply too painful to acknowledge -- even to ourselves -- that we’ve been so credulous" - Carl Sagan
Been watching Sagan's Cosmos series on Netflix. He seemed to think we might very well destroy ourselves. Interestingly, he fervently wished to make contact with intelligent life on other worlds, but wondered if there were any civilizations that survived the phase we now find ourselves in. My guess is no advanced and enlightened (sane) race would attempt to contact us after a period of observation, realizing that any attempt to do so would be both dangerous and futile. Or if one is presently observing us, perhaps they are watching for signs of a transformation toward sanity.
We are F#%ked. I just hope that what ever horrible tsunami of karma that is on the horizon comes quickly, so as to not prolong the suffering.
the horror we're facing isn't a dying economy, it is a dying planet due to our economy...
we need to rescue the planet, not the economy...
"We need to rescue the planet ,not the economy" Excellent point and the fact that the vast majority of humans see themselves as separate from their planet is the relative problems of all problems. This arrogant and erroneous belief that we are separate from the natural world is manifesting itself in the multitude of seemingly unconnected problems. when in reality, we are nature. WE must disassemble the collective arrogance, greed, cruelty to plants and animals and each other. The result of which would almost immediately produce an increase in perceptual sensitivity necessary to see that we are inseparable from nature .
"WE must disassemble the collective arrogance, greed, cruelty to plants and animals and each other."
Enough people would have to 'wake up' spiritually for that to happen. Within such an awakening one would perceive his or her relationship with the whole and therefore cease to rape and destroy it.
Exactly
you know i was extremely worried i don't have the money for end of year tax payments and i desperately need two new bath
rooms and a kitchen. but now after reading this presto
problem solved! i sell all five bridges spanning the east
river here in nyc for a few billion to uncle sam put the money
in the bank (not in america too much funny business)
and live off the interest for the rest of our lives.
i haven't travelled outside the us but now i can afford a villa
in tuscany or maybe a nice chalet on lake como in italy.
they have democracies there too. and as a bonus if i live in france anytime some shit happens i don't like i just go to the demonstration going on to voice my displeasure. and
that's something that will never happen here again. and then
maybe in the future i'll send a new statue of liberty to
ny kind of a reminder of how things once were here in the
usa. now what department would be stupid enough to buy
something they already own? hum i'll try the fed first
and if that doesn't work we'll just keep dialing until
we find the right one!
bon voyage!
"The bonds would be listed as an asset on the books of the banks."
That's right! Brand New E-printed money.
the IRONY here is -- america the bastion of capitalism, deregulation of finance, privatization, "free market competition", the home of the "brave and the free" and "innovation" (such as the "innovative financial products") ...etc....
will likely one day become the TROGLODYTE and USELESS DINOSAUR of economies...LEFT BEHIND still trying to "preserve" or keep ALIVE its ZOMBIE economic model....while the rest of the world might have gone forward to things FAR BEYOND the comprehension of "americans"....
Theres a lot more going on then meets the eye.
Several YEARS prior to the Crash in the US and the sudden need of trillions in Capital to prop up the Banks, the US Government announced it would suspend the announcement of the
M3 component of the money supply.
In short investors would no longer get information on the Movement of suply of huge sums of US dollars as in who held them, how fast they were growing and what they were doing with them.
The banking crisis comes along and trillions are pumped into the economy to prop it up (at least this their official story).
The IMF just announced it was selling 403 tons of gold.
Ok what the heck is this about? Is this an attempt to ward off a US dollar crash? Gold recently reached near record levels as the US dollar weakened. Dump tons on the market and its price will drop...
The UN, Russia and China are all calling on a new World reserve Currency.
China announces it is considering buying up a portion of the IMF gold reserves and will use US dollar holdings to do so.
More wars are being promoted....against Iran, Somalia...Pakistan.
The National Guard is being used to help Police the G20 gathering in Pittsburgh, the US Police forces long ago Militarized and the Patriot act and other such acts relatibg to domestic terrorism and expanded Government powers well in place.
Something is about to hit the fan and its gonna hurt a lot harder then a puck in the side of the head from a Sheldon Souray slapshot.
GwNorth September 22nd, 2009 7:37 pm
"China announces it is considering buying up a portion of the IMF gold reserves and will use US dollar holdings to do so."
China can't wait to get rid of its US dollars but is doing it in a carefully, controlled manner so not to create an immediate US Dollar crash and turn a major recession into a global depression. It's also giving them time to accumulate as much gold as possible before the crap hits the fan and paper currencies are no longer considered a valuable form of exchange.
"We are witnessing the demise of the US-UK empire, a era built upon banker monopoly, engineered inflation, Wall Street power, economic mythology, and military prowess. The US$-based structures are vanishing, a gradual process to date, but as times passes, more sudden shocks are sure to arrive as entire floors simply crumble beneath the feet of the wizards and their harlots." – Jim Willie
You can read the full article here: http://www.financialsense.com/fsu/editorials/willie/2009/0910.html
HaHaHaHaHa! A Pznzi scheme admihnstered by a Ponzi scheme--who needs situation comedy?
Poet
This article is scary as hell.
http://www.thepantaloon.com/
I haven't even read the article yet because I can't stop laughing at the title. If I didn't laugh I'd cry.
So, then, you see, we bundle up the loans made to the FDIC, and slice and dice them into triple A rated bonds that we can sell all over the world. You see, the US Government has never defaulted on a debt so these bonds should be quite the new financial "product" on the block. The Taxpayers, you see, have endlessly deep pockets. The important thing to remember is that the already obscenely wealthy must be allowed to become more wealthy at the expense of everyone else. It's only fair.