Twitter
StumbleUpon
Facebook
Delicious
Digg
Newsvine
Google
Yahoo
TechnoratiTARP This: Paulson's Bailout Plan Riddled With Deception
How a Program To Save The Economy Ended Up Enriching Big Banks
Talk about crazy making. How do we believe anything Hank Paulson says?
First, he needed $700 Billion, and fast, to buy up troubled assets or the skies would fall and we would be pressed to impose martial law. He found an appropriate acronym, TARP, to manage the money with a skeletal staff of 28 headed up by one of his former protégés at Goldman Sachs.
So Far, So Good,
But then he had himself a rethink, realizing that no one has a clue about how to price troubled assets considered practically worthless. So he had to a make a shift, "in the light of new facts," even though Congress never authorized the shift.
So Far, So Good.
He claimed this showed flexibility and a willingness to respond to new information. Never mind that that information was not new and kind of obvious to anyone paying close attention to the subprime fiasco.
So Far, So Good
Then Congress pumped a three-page proposal into a four hundred-page package. Once it was 'enhanced' will all kinds of pork and earmarks it was passed. Legislators screamed about the absolute necessity of oversight and transparency; after all, this is taxpayer's money. But then, they took a break to run for re-election without naming anyone to oversee Hank's new TARP or the taxpayer money. There seems to have been an oversight of oversight?
So far, Less Good
Paulson, then changed the playbook and started pumping a few billion here, and a few billion there into the coffers of financial institutions, many with lots of money already to recapitalize banks. The goal, we were told was to get them lending again.
There was a problem, though. Most banks didn't start lending because of fears of the risks to their own survival in the current economic free fall.
Partly that was because the government was not requiring any concessions except NON-Voting stock which gives it little leverage. The auto industry was expected to outline a reorganization plan to get the money. The banks had no such requirement.
A New York Times report from London explained:
"Some analysts said the idea that recapitalizing banks would repair the lending market was flawed from the beginning because it was contradictory. On the one hand, the policy was meant to make banks reduce risk. On the other, it pressured them to lend more which meant taking more risks."
So instead they diverted some of the money to satisfy their internal needs. An Associated Press investigation found: "Banks that are getting taxpayer bailouts awarded their top executives nearly $1.6 billion in salaries, bonuses, and other benefits last year." Many other banks would not disclose what they did with the money. Many of them have tightened credit, rather than loosened it.
Oops, not so good
"Treasury has bought preferred stock with no control rights," writes former Fed governor Alan Blinder. "...There are no public-purpose quid pro quos, such as a minimal lending requirement. So banks can just sit on the capital, which is what most of them have done, or use it to make acquisitions, as a few have....
So here we are, looking at an all-too-familiar story. The administration that brought you the Iraq war and the Katrina response is locking in another disaster before it leaves town."
Yikes...
"TAMING WILD BEASTS"
Historian Howard James goes further indicting the measures governments have been taking which he calls a "crescendo of ad hoc measures that several governments took throughout the fall: injecting liquidity, purchasing toxic assets, capitalizing banks, and, finally, nationalizing entire banking systems." He's skeptical that they will work.
"The $700 billion bailout announced by the U.S. Department of the Treasury in late September was designed to remove from banks' balance sheets mortgages and other securities that in some way corresponded to real houses. But it is still unclear today how these assets are to be valued or how that valuation might wind up benefiting or hurting their new owners. In the United States and in Europe, the hope is that governments will assume many of the risks inherent in this uncertain valuation -- and tame the wild beasts of the financial jungle through state-backed and state-run banking systems. To some, this is profoundly ironic.
As Russian President Dmitry Medvedev put it in September, the experience shows that "the move from self-regulating capitalism to financial socialism is only one step." American free-market capitalism was not supposed to look like this.
Recently, I met Princeton Professor James, who was speaking at an elite forum on the economy at the Council of Foreign Relations. I asked if he shared my belief that our financial system is permeated with crime, and that the financial crisis was engineered by banksters and white collar criminals. (This was before the Bernard Madoff revelations.) I expected the panel to be dismissive of such a "crude" suggestion in a room full of finance professionals, but he wasn't, and agreed publically that the problem is fraud problem is serious but that in times of prosperity, exposes are rarely pursued.
He now sees the US now emulating China-which is having a hard time too-with more state intervention. He thinks this is the direction we will be forced to move in and sees Beijing more than Washington as key to solving what is now a global mess.
This thought upsets guardians of the free market like finance expert Peter Schiff, Ron Paul's economic advisor and the man who was laughed at on TV when he warned of the current collapse. I spoke to him recently for the film I am making on the economic crisis based on my book, Plunder. He thinks the government has to stay out of markets even if that means businesses will collapse.
SCHIFF: What is happening right now, the credit crunch, the collapse of the real estate stocks, all these companies going bankrupt, this is not the problem. This is actually the solution. This is the consequence of the problem. The problem was that for years we ran this funny economy where we borrowed money to consume.
SCHECHTER: How could that be the solution? So many people are out of work, people are losing homes?
SCHIFF: Well, we have to rebalance our economy
The clash over macro-economic policy is mirrored in a debate over specific policies. Congress finally found an oversight person in Elizabeth Warren, the Harvard Professor and critic of consumer rip-offs. She says Paulson is not disclosing enough and just published a report with tough questions about Paulson's TARP.
Already the banking industry is fighting back, questioning her judgment and implying she is some kind of commie. Hedge Funder Tom Clark derides her concerns but doesn't refute them:
"The Professor doesn't just quibble with this lending practice or that one. She thinks the entire industry is diabolical. Warren apparently believes consumer lenders have some mystical, systematic advantage over consumers, which they see as their duty to exploit at every turn. Or, as she puts it, ‘Credit products aimed at both middle class and poor families are designed to trick them, trap them, and otherwise pick their pockets.'"
And so, as the Obama Administration is poised to take over, we have radically conflicting ideas of what to do. Should we help people or banks, Main Street or Wall Street, take new initiatives or recycle old ones, use interventionist government power or put all our eggs in ‘the market rules' basket?
The President-Elect's centrist appointments suggest he is buying into the prevailing Washington-Wall Street consensus that tilts towards the private sector with Wall Streeters as key advisors.
To be fair, the Obama Plan has yet to be spelled out. The Washington Post reports he has expanded it with a massive federal stimulus package and now hopes to create or preserve 3 million jobs over the next two years. He also has said Wall Street needs "adult supervision." Great phrase, but they will need more than that. Many banks are basically bankrupt; any recovery seems far off.
The only good news in this bleak picture is that Paulson, the Goldman Sachs miracle worker turned Donald Rumsfeld of the economy, is leaving soon, stage right. Despit his feverish initial demands, however, he just announced that he doesn't need another $350 Billion... at least for now. That was yesterday. Maybe he changed his mind.
That ball has been kicked into Barack's court.
Have the Bush-Paulson-Bernanke policies worked? Did the economy turn around on their watch or through the trillions spent by the Fed?
Not even close and maybe its time to TARP them all.
So far, Not good at all.
63 Comments so far
Show AllHey Sioux Rose and Teddy, thanks for noticing my citation of a brilliant economist well known around the world but rarely cited by the MSM, Henry CK Liu, who is in fact calling directly upon the Chinese to rethink their current form of capitalism and to stop depending on exports as they have for its value in building up "foreign exchange," aka DOLLARS that he says are of no value to their internal economy. Have you perhaps also noticed that another well-known economist, Dean Baker, who predicted the collapse of the housing bubble at least three years ago, is now being interviewed by the MSM, however sporadically? Gee, Dean, we had no idea...
My earlier point was that there is no way to comprehend the disaster that is now the U.S. economy without placing it in the global context. Neoliberal globalism integrated the fraud of financialization globally. Thus, for example, Great Britain and Spain ALSO had financialized housing bubbles that have also collapsed, creating Depression economies.
There is a third economist I would like to mention, Michael Hudson, writing at counterpunch.org. He has written of the massive effort of the Fed and the Treasury to "re-inflate" the housing bubble, or the land bubble, with the intent to reinforce DEBT on the American Middle Class. Also at Counterpunch is Paul Craig Roberts, an economist who brings a unique perspective.
Even taking in Krugman at the NYTimes, none has given an inkling whether we are headed for a long-term Recession or a Global Depression. We do not even have an inkling whether the current under-$40 per barrel of oil is part of a natural economic cycle or the result of meddling by short-selling commodities speculators.
One result of the current calamity is that the actuarial cohorts no longer apply. This means that all the players have to interpolate in new ways for which their computer models of investing and divesting were not designed. And I have not even touched on homeowners'insurance, totally bankrupt and yet an absolute requirement for any mortgage, a subject untouched by the MSM.
Sorry for rambling a bit, but in any case,
MERRY CHRISTMAS to all of you, and yours. Good night and good luck! And may the Force be with you. You're gonna need it and so am I.
-30-
Sioux Rose
Between CD, Henry C. Liu, Deep Capture by Patrick (can't think of his last name right now), and astrological cycles, it's clear the paradigm AS IS cannot be sustained. I hope we don't see riots over food, but the callous disregard for human life shown by our own government after Katrina, the rise of "Disaster Capitalism," the lack of accountability on the part of leaders, the insidious growth of the military-industrial complex, the failure to move towards less intensive energy technologies, and the dearth of that key spiritual ingredient: compassion, in far too many... all these things presage MASSIVE change. The Bible is largely a morality tale, and its indication of a great flood needed to clear the slate tells us something fundamental. It was purportedly the same fate for the Atlanteans, nor is our civilization immune. When, as Dr. Martin Luther King so eloquently explained, a nation places a priority on armaments but fails to feed its children, then something is VERY wrong. A nation divided against itself cannot stand, and lately stands for all the wrong things. This perhaps explains why such morally bankrupt individuals have been given the reins to so much power. In any case, I will buy some gardening tools... and hang on for a rough ride.
Thanks too OldManRiver for reminding about the other writers -- i will certainly follow their explanations more regularly now.
Thank you very much also OldManRiver for EMPHASIZING some more the writings of that person...which I happen to think is a RARITY in how CLEARLY and uncompromisingly he details and explains the history of things - what the REAL meanings of concepts are that are often bandied about without real understanding as to their FUNDAMENTAL meanings from all the corruption of languages thrown around that has managed to MISeducate people - not just for decades or years but CENTURIES.
he is able to explain in highly ORGANIZED fashion -- step by step - how things came to be...why, WHO specifically, which institutions or schools of thought, what were the actual events and motives ...etc...that produce certain consequences which -- capitalists would NEVER wish for people to understand .
for example:
when he "suggests" or likely HOPES that china will LISTEN to ITS inherently well-founded reasons for being a successful continuous civilization for thousands of years - as to how they had long achieved a foundation for the BALANCE between collectivism and the good of a society with individualism - he explains in VERY clear terms HOW and WHY china has the MEANS at its disposal =-- with NO further need for FEAR of failure -- to creat a truly harmonious society that sacrifices none of the individualities of people in the real ESSENCE of individuality - as a PART of a larger WHOLE - by means of
right in the first 2 paragraphs:
"FULL EMPLOYMENT policies UNCONTRADICTORY with HIGH WAGES"...
and shows WHY THIS ought and SHOULD be and CAN be the TRUE "only way" ....
and shows -- especially by showing (not ONLY IN THIS particular article recently on china) the contradictions and ULTIMATE crises and failure of capitalism in contrast (citing a history KNOWLEDGE that is PHENOMENAL, even EXPOSING EXACTLY where greenspan and company, etc....have "hidden" things from people or twisted them) -- how this can so EASILY be achieved.
I'm so glad you and others have been reading those articles too. they are just (I TRIED< believe me while reading for years now) -- IRREFUTABLE.
and the beauty of the writings and analyses is that Liu REALLY always comes back - but not boastfully so -- to BASIC HUMAN DECENCY!!! and shows WHY the historic processes such as capitalism and wars have rested upon misguided leadership and TWISTING of things to lead people to DESIRE things that are our OWN destruction -- and THEN shows why THESE are ABERRATIONS and DO NOT have to be so....
the amazing thing is how EASILY he could explain and discuss the most esoteric "numbers" - (i've seen other articles detailing foundations of logic, reasoning, algebraic thinking, etc.) and EASILY put these things in the context of metaphysical concepts such ASthose that capitalists USE all the time "morality, goodness, justice....fairness, etc." -- but DON"T live UP to and in fact CONTRADICT -
and THEN show exactly how these things come together AS THEY SHOULD.
and why they ought NOT to be DIFFICULT for ordinary people to realize and recognize and BUILD UPON as OUR collective natural rights as a civilization.
For example:
his statement:
"national wealth is everything a nation possesses...but its basis is people. without people, there is no nation. if people are not healthy and live a MEANINGFUL life ..that nation's national wealth is "underperforming..every living person IS a future wealth for the nation...but if the nation does not allow the person to become the best he or she can be in his lifetime -- this is not a problem of *overpopulation8 but a systemic problem .."...
the point being that PEOPLE ARE the "WEALTH OF NATIONS" .....
and in this he basically DISPOSED of the 'adam smith' , "ricardo" principles of "scarcity" .
he also explained clearly WHY and HOW
"FULL EMPLOYMENT AT HIGH WAGES" eventually makes IRRELEVANT the "idea of wealth" since there would be populations that are "wealthy" so much so that there is no need to "compete in order to become wealthy" -- clearly REVEALING - for the first time in MY memory of readings of the "basic" foundations of global and social and human economy - that WEALTH ITSELF is a function of DENYING "wealth" to OTHERS..and ONLY has meaning IF scarcity of wealth for others is constantly applied!
and THEN goes on to bring it to its logic :
when , through full employment - which is the function of GOOD governance to provide the conditions and principles for - that is: rewarding people SIMPLY for being people , and HIGH WAGES - (obviously while ANY kind of "wage" is necessary) - a nation and eventually the world achieves this -
what emerges is the BASIC PROMISE of humanity:
as full human beings - who (in his own words) "take pleasure at the gift of being alive" - every individual treated as a "wealth" - and "taking pleasure at doing what he or she does best for another person to share in what he or she offers" -
there arrives NOT a "surplus of wealth" (remember how wealth is only a concept when there is ITS accompanying SCARCITY for others of wealth) -- but a "WEALTH OF SURPLUS"...which mind you, he doesn't mean by "overpopulation" ...but that a nation just instinctively wisely has inhabitants whose own populations are maintained according to its ability to provide each and every person a "meaningful existence".
the writings and analyses are erudite and comprehensive - historically accurate and covers so many topics that most don't even know about - but , just as important, HUMANE and Ethical ...
so much so -- that the "dominant" pronouncements and history-manipulating dogmas of the capitalists that run this world
REALLy, REALLY look CRAVEN and DEBASED in comparison.
thanks for bringing that up again.
Liu also goes on to discuss WHY china has NOT achieved its "RIGHTFUL" ("if all things being equal") - place among nations - because its "natural wealth" -- that is, PEOPLE with all of their individual "future potentials to be full human beings" under benevolent and wise government - has NOT been brought to its true fruition...by , of course , the many "detours" of history (including of course China's OWN decline just prior TO western imperialism in asia - and including the NEED that china woke up TO - to DEFEND itself against western imperialism :
thus , as a consequence , raising communism, but WHICH LIU also describes as - in PRINCIPLE the "NATURAL" state of CHINESE civilization of seeing the "collective" as a VERY NATURAL state of being...from which an INDIVIDUAL that DETACHES himself or herself (like in the hyper-individualism of the west leading to capitalist "wealth accumulation" throough denial towards others) ... will , in the chinese worldview - lose his or her "completeness" and "wither".
he explains how "socialism" or ultimately "the communist" or "collective" reality - which is at one with the individual as part of that collective and from WHOM the individual takes HIS or HER fullness and individuality -- is such a "natural" view for the chinese civilization that th western model of "separatedness" - glorified through "wealth" - is really considered "alien" and even an aberration.
LET US REMEMBER one thing:
that while the IDEA of 'emperors' is - by most standards a BAD connotation - in china -- an emperor truly WAS tasked with the WELFARE of his nation ..rather than being a "tyrant" whose task was to just accumulate wealth for himself.
it in fact was the reason why china , since 5,000 years ago - but more firmly since 3 thousand and then 1,500 years ago was maintained as a "collection" of kingdoms under one "nation"..but SINCE those times when the GENERAL outlines of china's geographic limits (still similar to TODAY's) -- china's borders have seldom CHANGED to any important sense...since china was IN FACT< NOT, EVER< interested in :global empire-- ONLY in maintaining the 'wealth of its own nation'....as a self-sustainign place of "people" who are the WEALTH of the nation - and in their collective -- as much as possible produce a WEALTH of "Surplus" (meaning: people who are HAPPY and proud of their own lives, whether as laborer, or craftsman, or prince, because they are all part of a "harmonious order" -based on their own worldviews that everyone IS part of a collective) ....
furthermore -- there is IN FACT historical PROOF -- by way of the FIRST european to visit and live in china - who detailed his years as the chinese emperor's "adviser" and "teacher of western culture" -- the famous italian -- MARCO POLO:
who, even NEARING the declining years of the LATEST chinese "empire" or dynasty or fulers -
Marco Polo remarked in his writings again and again and again :
"WHEREVER I WENT in all my years in china -- there were great crowds of smiling, productive, healthy, good looking people, all busy in LIVING life..." such as the cities of europe could not compare in richness and variety and creativity...
and how CURIOUS the chinese were to LEARN of the outside world but nevertheless were NOT interested in imposing themselves outwards .
he also wrote repeatedly:
"whereever i went -- even the lowliest workers - WORE such RICH clothing -- SILKS flowed on their persons which was a testament to the richness of their lives".
it seems that this is probably WHERE china is wanting to return to -- a nation of people that were ONCE the most prosperous people on the planet for CENTURIES upon centuries SIMPLY by means of their INTERNAL economy and system of having people that UNDERSTOOD that the reason for LIVING was to BE able to "take pleasure" at being as COMPLETE as they could be - perhaps also explaining the very deep and broad philosophies so inherent in chinese culture that goes beyond "materialism". and perhaps EXPLAINING to US today -- why it is a well-known chinese trait of culture to have great respect for old people, for wise people, even if they are "relatively" materially poor in whatever stratum of society.
and it seems that Liu -- apparently FEELING his own kinship with the old chinese civilization and clearly seeing its rationality - although he is himself a US resident (although i can imagine he maintains his "ancient" chineseness) - is ANXIOUS (compared to his other writings months ago - perhaps because HIS predictions about the US economic implosion came true) and that HE doesn't WISH to see the great chinese civilization -- in its adoption of "capitalism of the west" become POISONED.
AND -- HE IS CORRECT.
but this is NOT really just about "chinese culture" - it is , in fact , only PART of his many writings - that show , taking china as the main example today, obviously , SINCE it is china that is the emerging giant or more correctly "emerging from its long sleep" BACK to where it OUGHT to be BASED on "all things being equal -- the WEALTH of china -- ITS PEOPLE, ought to have the CORRESPONDING influence and prosperity according to THAT wealth".
this is also not a prescription even for "ruling the world" but SIMPLY RETURNING to china what a GLOBAL ABERRATION in the spread of wealth that is not based on "all things being equal" or FAIR _ that is CAPITALISM and western imperialism --
had denied china for several generations now.
SO - my unbderstanding is LIU is trying to PERSUADE china and its leaders to be WISE -- as they ONCE were towards a "harmonious society" - as witnessed by Marco Polo - "full of unimaginable riches and creativity" -
and BE the china that its "WEALTH OF SURPLUS" CAN BE ...as a MODEL for the rest of the world -- where every other nation , whatever ITS internal population and "wealth of people" is -- ALSO will ENJOY
through wise governance - "FULL EMPLOYMENT AT HIGH and EVER RISING WAGES" -- so that FINALLY -- once and for all - the whole globe has nations that have citizens and residents that are
"living meaningful lives"....
i think the thinking and analyses and explanations and knowledge of this guy -- an architect by training and profession -- is PROFOUND as i had seldom if ever read of influential thinkers in history.
Forget saving at this point in time. Buy all the "hard goods" you can that will be of value for barter. Ammunition and guns, for one example, can always be traded for other necessities. Canned and dry foods. Tires and other car parts. Hand and power tools of all kinds. Building materials. Forget things like television sets and fancy clothing and jewelry other than 18K or purer gold and other "consumer goods". Solid silver coins will be useful to hold. Any hard assets that can be used to build shelter and grow food are the best. I say this because we are headed for a period of hyperinflation and your $250,000 today will be worth the equivalent of $250.00 tomorrow.
-- ekaton aka d.k.shaw
correct.
especially on GOLD. there is a reason why the industry that goes on TV with commercials "bring in your UNUSED jewelry and gold for CASH, CASH, CASH"........is BECAUSE the truth underneath is coming out -- the FIATDOLLAR is really a WORTHLESS PIECE OF PAPER based on what ultimately is arriving - in the capitalist system espoused by the USA since its inception -- "phantom value" ..MAKE BELIEVE value.
of course - we'rea ll basically trapped in this system --but that is essentially what it IS.
after all- the private banking industry can only TURN DEBT and BORROWING from people in their aggregate deposits INTO "asset" if people BELIEVED in the "value" of a piece of PAPER issued by banks as IOU's supposedly backed up by government -- even if it turns out that the government itself has NO BACKUP ....that would be NICE in itself - if they can be TRUSTED -- but they CAN"T. and THAT"S when make-believe value enters the game that people swallow up and before you know it -- it's
"the system".
It is the nature of pigs to eat whatever is put in front of them, so it is hard to blame bankers for the fact that somebody put $800 billion in their trough and walked away. That somebody was also a banker, and it is to his credit that he thought to share the loot with his fellow bankers instead of giving it all to himself. Perhaps we might blame Congress for authorizing the giveaway of their constituents' treasure, but it is the nature of cattle to be easily herded even into slaughterhouses. That would leave the citizenry (us) who did not grab torches and high powered rifles and march on Washington, but it is the nature of mice to burrow into their nests in times of crisis (although some of us did squeak rather loudly.)
Taken all together as a groteque mutant beast we seem to be blameless as dodos or any other unfortunate creature maladapted for survival. I'd suggest that the time for rage has passed and that a nostalgic sadness might be more appropriate. It is a time when, in the words of that inspirational poster at despair.com, our personal best wasn't quite good enough.
The basic problem is that accounting was deregulated. The books became a fiction? Don't believe it? I could write pages of names and dates, take my word for it. Bottom lines became works of fiction.
Banks started their own private markets where a security was worth whatever they said it was worth. You could buy something and sell it the same day for ten times as much and no one would know.
Why should anyone in the business world trust anybody else any more? You have no way of knowing whether anyone is solvent. They want to borrow money, the books look good, but so what? The books mean nothing. Who wants to lend in such circumstances?
And nothing is being done about it.
Sioux Rose
FRISBIE: I agree. I no longer believe the FDIC CAN insure bank deposits, since not enough $ exists to cover this promise; and the same goes for insurance companies. In Florida the "state fund" that is supposed to cover those regular insurers won't cover (like me) has about 1 billion, but the typical hurricane disaster like Andrew costs about 9 billion. This shortfall problem is everywhere, thus all these odds are gamed and when enough numbers come up, people will realize the degrees to which they have been defrauded. Integrity has gone missing, and it's the last vestige of any decency possible within a rabidly capitalistic system. Regulated capitalism combined with teaching ecology & intelligent conservation, could be sustainable for some time. But this? It's like those at the top of the fiscal pyramid are busily axing away at the bottom. Real smart.
The money DOES exist to insure all deposits , or to be accurate CAN with the power of the printing press.
The problem is said money becomes worth less and less with each dollar printed.
I'm not sure.
The Fed can print money, sort of, but the Government can't. The Fed is more or less independent. I'm pretty sure the FDIC is part of the Government, so it wouldn't be able to print money. The money would have to come from sale of govt bonds.
The market could never absorb that many bonds, so if ALL the banks failed then the government couldn't really cover the losses. I don't know how much could reasonably be covered. But there is a reason the govt is making sure those monster banks like B of A and Citicorp don't fail. That would be one heck of a lot of money.
exactly, there is no escaping karma, the toaist principle of balance, the basic reality that what goes up must come down. inflation or lost deposits. personally, i feel inflation is more dangerous and therefore i reccomend everyone pulling out their cash, buy food and/or gardening supplies and gold, then weather the storm.
abolish the fed and end these artificial bubbles. it appears to be just blatant manipulation and im sure it goes much deeper than we'll ever actually know.
Not one comment regarding the Federal Reserve which has already given out 2 TRILLION $$$ (5 times as much as the Treasury) and has pledged to give out 6 TRILLION $$$ MORE!
And the Fed REFUSES to say which banks they lent the $$$ to and what they put up as collateral.
Ron Paul was right, we must ABOLISH the Fed, before they steal every last dollar.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=apx7XNLnZZlc&refer=home
I went to work this evening at the copy shop where I work in a university city.
Not one customer in 6 hours. No wonder! There was an ice storm and walking was hazardous as hell, esp. if you're old.
So a couple of additional thoughts on Schechter's article and a couple of observations in re the likes of CV and tPotts (taken from Alice in Wonderland or the Teapot Dome scandal under Harding, discovered after he left office...?).
A major perspective is missing from the article, and it is that this financial crisis is GLOBAL, with some exceptions. It seems that most major nations "financialized" their economies in ways similar to the United States, thus other billions of individuals and families are now similarly situated, which suggests that what Henry CK Liu at atimes.com and now others call "dollar hegemony" may survive thus changing the, er, import of the national debt and deficit. Put another way, almost as a concomitant, is that if we have "hyperinflation" it is likely to infect the world. If this happens, the relative value of the dollar would not fall into disequilibrium with other world currencies as radically as suggested by those who address this crisis at a mere national level.
In at least one thread above someone mentioned the hyperinflation under the Weimar Republic (which my maternal grandmother experienced first hand...). People seem to forget a similar phenomenon just two decades ago when the Soviet Union imploded, their currency inflated, their living standards plummeted, and then the guvment recalled the currency, exchanging it for a new currency of fractional value. People who had been "saving" suddenly found their money nearly worthless, but not entirely worthless. People who had not been saving got nothing. Early mortality rose.
In a sense, this all started when Nixon abandoned Bretton Woods in 1971 and took the dollar off Monetarism while retaining "dollar hegemony."
In any case we are in for a really bumpy ride. It seems fair to ask, How much gold actually exists at Fort Knox? If not the dollar as the international fiat currency, then what? The Yuan? The Euro? Seems a bit premature.
Hyperinflation can be relative. Just a thought.
-30-
Sioux Rose
OLEMAN RIVER: So, the Scrooge disease gets to spread the misery around. Should we be glad that our economy is not the only one going down? My studies of the corelation between planetary bodies and events on our plane suggests a number of years of "tribulation." The eventual result will be a global proletariat of sorts with far more representative power than is now the case. That's the good news. The bad news, I don't see this materialized into law until 2020, and if we are alive by 2025, a very different kind of governance FOR the people looks to be the case.
Do you really see a "Global" anything? And 2020/2025 is a heartbeat in time for something that significant to happen. Are you seeing war?
Sioux Rose
THOMAS: As many know, I study planetary cycles. I see HARSH times, that will eventuate in a "rise of the global proletariat" because the understanding that we are all people, precious human beings that deserve some rudimentary basics, will no longer be cloaked by the rhetoric, theories, and practices run by global elites. THAT "arrival" could be 2020 (I see international law at the time articulating this type of value system), and its full implementation by 2025. At that time Pluto, the planet that over the course of 15-20 years ultimately brings Renaissance, a breaking down that leads to a new evolutiohn, will enter Aquarius. THAT is the true beginning of the Aquarian Age, we are "on the cusp" at the very confusing transition phase now.
Some very good thoughts, especially the fact that the US wasn't the only one engaging in financial chicanery. Most of the global financial elites were doing pretty much the same thing we were. The problem is Global and our problems aren't even the worst.
NOW -- you're talking, by mentioning Henry CK Liu-- whom i have suggested as extremely erudite and complex reading here several times.
i simply will state -- HE is a person who Greenspan, Merkel, Obaman, Paulson, whatever -- whomever
WILL NOT want on the stage with them in a debate for he will EASILY DESTROY ALL the tenets of this "capitalist" paradise they are talking about -- RIGHT DOWN to the very essence of what
IS "wealth" -- what IS "value"
what IS money
WHY did banks come around.
I HOPE chinese leaders REALLY have been alerted to HIS writings and suggestions TO them - and invite him to help them guide their economy -- especially as they are trying to KEEP china from being fully affected by this explosion which BEGAN from the CENTER of CAPITALISM -- wall street and washington....
with ALL of its historic anomalies and contradictions for all to see, in not only ECONOMIC terms but meta-physical terms...which Henry Liu COMPLETELY understands in its historic terms through all the societies in human history.
the guy is a genius, as far as I am concerned.
I HOPE china adopts HIS suggestions - DETACH themselves from the 'export dependence based on low wages' dictated by "markets" DICTATED BY the US capitalist regime -- and REALIZE they DON"T HAVE TO BE AFRAID - but actually BECOME a prosperous nation, STABLE all across the board WITHOUT having to PLAY the US western "free market enterprise game".
IF they did that -- the USA and CAPITALIST imperialism, dollar hegemony , is FINISHED!
this henry ck liu BETTER watch HIS back ....there's No knowing what the capitalists will do ...now that their backs are against the wall trying to EXPLAIN how THIS came to be!!!
and that SOME people Like Liu ACTUALLY CAN explain WHY and HOW to get OUT of it! and is suggesting it ,in VERY CLEAR, no nonsense terms - TO the chinese . for HE udnerstand what they are all about as well as what the western capitalist money imperialism has BEEN all about.
CAPITALISM -- it's capitalism, "free market" NONSENSE which doesn't really exist -
IT IS CAPITALISM = THEFT - PERIOD!
and frankly . when i consider , at least within my limited understanding -- that whether one calls is "free market", "laissez-faire", "small government" , "let the markets prevail" (but supposedly with more accountability after all these exposures), "libertarian", or any such thing -- it is FUNDAMENATLLY the capitalist system , give or take one school of thought as to HOW it should be run - from ron paul to the big government ones - that is the real culprit.
with that - since i think that it will eventually implode (while going through the expansions FIRST of more corporatist predatory methods to create even larger disasters before it's REALLY all over for capitalism) -
I almost want to say - that from a personal standpoint , opinion-wise , even if I , like anyone, is affected by these disastrous things - that I REALLY couldn't care LESS anymore about how the USA "manages" its own capitalist implosion eventually...so long as it doesn't SPREAD it OUTWARDS some more...where i hope countries learn -- and regain their sovereignties from what is , i think the ROOT cause of this "dominance" of what is really "finance" capitalism:
DOLLAR HEGEMONY --
rigth now the usa is about to FLOOD the rest of the world with more "liquidity" starting with teh bailouts and 2 trillion dollars of projected "debt " and "borrowing" "payable" by more PRINTING...to force the rest of the world to HOLD US treasuries that are worhtless and keep them subject to US debt holding at NO EXPENSE FROM THE USA side .
my hope is -- cHINA for example , eventually removes itself from being beholden to the dollar financial regime. although HOPEFULLY - with concentrating in building its economy from teh INSIDE (full employment and immediate or accelerated HIGH WAGES policies - INDEPENDENT of export and dollar holdings commitments -- they can afford it since THEY hold savings for programs ) - china doesn't exactly DEMAND the USA to pay back its debt - IN YUAN denominations .
for THAT will surely spell the total collapse of the US economy .
The Bailout Ponzi Scheme
The housing bubble was in full gear, houses appreciating twenty percent a year median home price $325 000---------STOP, DANGER
Any amateur twelve year old real estate investor could see that the demographics of family income would tell you that there were not enough families whose income could support the mortgage requirement for a $325 000 home.
The regulatory agencies should have jumped all over this, some who worked at these agencies did ring the fire alarm, but the bush appointed heads of these agencies looked the other way.
So the companies who wrote these loans committed massive fraud on the loan application. The individuals writing these loans,( recruited off the street) made lavish salaries.
The mortgage companies sold these mortgages to investment banks, who could not buy them fast enough. The interest rates these mortgages were paying were to good to be true. Did the investment banks do, due diligence, to verify the integrity of these loans? --------NO----
So the banks are criminally negligent to their shareholders and investors.
The banks ,in their free market deregulated genius of invention, created a way to combine these mortgage instruments into a bundle of loans, and market this new entity as an investment bond. Investors fell over themselves to buy them, because of the too good to be real return.
Investment banks were giving out billion dollar bonuses to their employees, year after year. No one asked, where did this money come from, they just assumed the management of these banks were geniuses.
Now as the demand for these bonds became insatiable, state ,city, school pension funds were being offered these bond investments. For some of these institutions to invest in these bonds they had to have a ,tripleAAA rating.
So these institutions went to where they have been going for seventy years ,and where all of WALL STREET goes for a valuation of bonds, for every company in the country. The whole trillion dollar bond market is dependant on three rating companies, to define a bonds creditworthiness.
All three of the rating companies rated these investment, triple AAA,the highest rating a bond can have.
So are not these companies libel for negligence ??????????
As the defaults on these mortgages started to materialize, Paulson and Bernake,maintained that everything was fine ,the banks had the capital to back up the defaults. For three months these borderline criminally incompetent imbeciles were telling the American public not to worry everything was fine ,they talked to the banks and were assured the banks were capitalized
Then panic, suddenly the traitor to the citizens of the United States, Henry Paulson, says he needs eight hundred billion dollars, or the world economy will be in ruins .And he needs it tomorrow no questions asked. Its caused by the failing housing market ,its caused by the falling stock market, its caused by the loss of confidence of the consumer. He came up with so many reasons in a ten day period of why he was going to take, that’s right, remember, appropriate eight hundred billion dollars in emergency funding, he almost did it ,until congress woke up and got involved.
Congress should had let these banks fail, there were hundreds of other banks ,in financial order, that could have been given the funds as needed to satisfy all loan demands.
Congress could have frozen foreclosures, and very quickly analyzed the needs region by region and stopped the downward spiral, until a rational solution was found.
No doubt there would have been some chaos, the stock market would have tanked, and other minor inconvenience would have emerged. But congress would have been able to direct emergency funding on a need to need basis,
States,cities,towns would receive emergency funding, society would function while a solution was found to deal with this new reality.
The reality being that our economy could no longer function as it had .there are no more consumers to consume. The country is in debt the citizens are in maximum debt, no way of creating new wealth, fewer jobs paying less money, the polarized distribution of wealth.
What we are doing in this current bailout is covering the losses incurred by various investors and stock holders, we are redistributing the wealth from the U S citizens, to people who already have tremendous wealth.
We have to stop this monumental theft from our citizens.and hold accountable those who must be held accountable,we must open our eyes ,demand of our congressmen and senators to stop the out flow of capital,today.
I hope we stop this in time and that we get to rebuild society and the world with an enlightened point of view.
Take heed, people, and mark oNdini's words. This is an individual who understands what has happened. Whatever happened to the stockholders bearing the losses? Why is the taxpayer held liable to cover the capitalist's fraudulent dealings?
-- ekaton aka d.k.shaw
Sioux Rose
DONDINI: Excellent analysis of what fueled this engineered bubble...the popping of which is being heard (and felt) 'round the world.
This is the culmination of a ConJob. The Cons, Neo and Otherwise, have performed a hostile takover on the Treasury, due to be emptied on or about January 20th. They've been working toward this for forty plus years and have finally succeeded in starving the beast.
Happy New Year.
I find the section on Peter Schiff very interesting.
The libertarians are completely right about economic policy. That is eliminating the federal reserve and putting the power to coin a currency into the hands of the legislative branch of government... like it says to in the constitution.
I don't like to see people end up unemployed, foreclosed on, and losing their savings. They were scammed, but does helping them hurt more than it helps? Their houses (values overvalued by real estate bubble) and retirement accounts (a stock bubble because of the ERISA) are bad policy of the federal reserve and the federal government. It sucks and we should have some REAL CHANGE, no BS campaign slogans.
But does printing money out of thin air at astronomical rates help? It creates inflation and too much inflation can destroy a country. I'm talking Weimar Republic hyper-inflation. Check out Zimbawe's currency and you can see what's going on. That's possible if you print too much money.
The government should regulate the money supply like it says in the constitution. A common misperception has been about free-market arguements. Telling them their argument is dead is disingenous because our current system isn't close to a free market, its a debt-based monetary system, one in which a handful of connected banks determine how money is distributed, and one in which industry can buy legislation and regulation that HELPS the corps, is not free-market capitalism, its crony capitalism, an incompitent and ineffect form of fascism.
I don't think free-market fundamentalists are right all the time. WTO, world bank, and IMF have used their arguments to pillage the world... most of the time to the liking of these free-market fundamentalists. A single-payer national health care system is much more efficient than the BS system we have now and we need public schools. But taking a note from Schiff and others fromthe Austrian school of economic though, on reforming monetary policy.
The libertarians are also against our imperial foreign policy and the agricultural policy that benefits big farms of smaller//natural/healthier farms. We have alot in common with these people in terms of key policy areas.
Libertarians are people who think Republican policies aren't selfish enough.
> That is eliminating the federal reserve and putting the power to coin a currency into the hands of the legislative branch of government... like it says to in the constitution.
That was the first thing they tried, the old Bank Of The United States. It went corrupt and was worse than the Fed. The politically well-connected got loans they never paid back.
Then they tried private bankers in the old JP Morgan days. No thanks.
The Fed is the best of a bad lot. Don't blame the Fed for the big deficits, which are the real problem.
You are wrong. The Fed and the FDIC enable bankers to legally screw us. We could push oversight and transparency standards on the politicians. The fed does not give us anything. We cannot look and see what they are doing. That has to happen. We can have a monetary system that helps keep people out of debt and only creating productive debt by changing the way money is created.
The Fed is not the best of a bad bunch of eggs. And if it is, we need to get our eggs from a new fuckin chicken.
You might want to look a little closer at the Libertarians' Economic policies. Eliminating Corporate taxes completely, along with eliminating regulation. No Capital Gains, or transaction taxes, no income tax. Government supported entirely by user fees, that is every road is a toll road and not 50c per booth and forget going to a National Park. Actually, scratch that because without State and Federal Highway maintenance there won't be much driving anyway.
Certainly pulling back our Military from the 770 bases in 135 countries around the world, that's all good. Legalize all drugs, fine, but no FDA to keep people from selling you bunk or poison?
The Libertarian model, economicaly, is basicly CorporateFeudalism and guess who plays the Serfs.
They are also against corporate welfare, so at least they are intellectually honest. I don't agree with cutting out progressive taxation but I do think the federal reserve does distort the value of our money to the favor of the rich.
The idea wasn't turning everyone at common dreams into a libertarian. I was pointing out that we share similar interests with those on, what i call the intellecually honest right, and should use those similarities to our advantage.. and so should they. The fed and the imperial foreign policy are two major problems and contribute to many others. Forgive me for finally realizing that republicans and democrats will not fix anything.
Sioux Rose
CV: Thanks. That about nails it, and quite succinctly.
Libertarians? I think they are but one arm -=- the more EXTREME arm of capitalism itself.
they love to talk - whether its ANTIWAR.com editor Justin Raimondo (who CORRECTLY speaks up against WAR economy but is libertarian economy wise) - or those like Patrick Buchanan in American Conservative - etc...abotu libertarianism and "small government" == but only in terms of "freeing capitalism" from government regulation or intervention to benefit a society as a whole.
their entire reasoning is based on MERELY a western point of view of hyper-individualism -- which ITSELF led to capatlism as the VEHICLE through which GREED is glorified....and that is why there is to be "no regulation"..."let the markets prevail" -- FORGETTING, conveniently enough, that "markets" whether in actual goods traded or finance or derivative values are MERELY a SUBSECTION of "economy" which is also itself just a PART of "society".
I don't trust their views by a mile. they are like the "PURISTS" of the "free market" idolators. and rail against bad capitalism ONLY because it is "not pure enough". but they NEVER question capitalism ITSELF. , which is really an aberration in history for its glorification of greed and selfishness as the "guiding principle" of human society.
Sioux Rose
TEDDY: Well said. It's the Mars-rules orientation applied to economics, and/or the marriage of Mars with Mammon. Woe to nature and human rights... if you don't have the pay to play.
What should have happened with the money is to start some new well regulated banks to make sensible loans to people and businesses at reasonable rates.
The banks could be made with a charter that returns all capital to the government if any operating practices are changed (like the Green Bay Packers) As the crisis eases stock in these banks could be sold to recover the capital.
We need more banks that are not affiliated with each other not fewer bigger banks.
All businesses deemed 'too big to fail' should be controlled by the government directly or broken up. Period.
The hypocrisy expressed by Washington insiders when they jumped at the finance-sector bailout (in order to protect their own investments), yet shunned the auto-industry bailout (likely because most own imported cars, and anyway, domestic cars are for poor people) is appalling.
Rebooting the finance-sector with $700B+ is like mainlining more drugs to a sick junkie.
The finance sector produces nothing but paper. At the end of the day, it is worth nothing. A paper tiger.
The auto industry is manufacturing, meaning real jobs, real products, real work satisfaction, and real trickle-down economies. I'm not saying that the US auto industry is world class, but it is one of the few products that the US manufactures (other than military hardware), and deserves help to reorganize itself.
We need to kickstart manufacturing again. This will take 5-10 years. So yes, let the economy tank. Let us not be able to afford to import goods. Let American ingenuity start manufacturing to make up for the loss of imports. We need a New New Deal.
"We need to kickstart manufacturing again. This will take 5-10 years. So yes, let the economy tank. Let us not be able to afford to import goods. Let American ingenuity start manufacturing to make up for the loss of imports. We need a New New Deal."
Great comment. The economy is tanking anyway. If we don't manufacture we die or become "consumer's in the new "Globalist" business Baronies.
i agree with Schiff in his basic insight that a system will self correct if we allow it to. and also agree that the current situation is not the problem. but i would say also that the real problem is capitalism and that the real system -- the higher system of common sense and nature -- is struggling to correct itself by replacing capitalism with something better. and forget the pablum which the ruling class has been feeding us about socialism.
> i agree with Schiff in his basic insight that a system will self correct if we allow it to.
That was what Mellon thought in 1929-1932. "Liquidate everything" was they way he put it. The result was not good.
I feel like the author was attacking Schiff. Although he could have more of a heart in terms of extending unemployment benefits, he is against all the bailouts. If all the banks totally crashed like the banksters threatened, at least the causes of the problem would be hurting as much as the victims. Also if the banks who owned all the assets went bankrupt, the people might have been able to keep the houses. Perhaps a program that enables the government to buy the houses and refinance.
But the people in the mainstream are bashing this guy. But he may be right, if we bailout all these people we could end up with hyperinflation. That'd turn the entire country into detroit. At least if detroit goes we're not losing any part of the country that's actually nice.
Plus, just a note too all these people defending the UAW... why don't you ask them about their role in all the exposes of planned obsolescence at the auto companies. For all those out there that has owned a terrible american car that broke down and forced you to buy a toyota, think about whether they are indeed so innocent.
Well nobody can fix anything this big until everybody knows it is broken... at least now everybody knows.
Maybe we can export financial poetry.... some good ones created on this thread already.
A little bait will draw fishes.
A lot of bait draws sharks.
TRAP is a feeding frenzy.
The Reign of the Plutocrat Ponzies
Waves of money is for nothing
were lapping on the shores of debt
with entitled continents still to let
as plucky plutocrats planned the next big bet
for Ponzi schemes were growing mold
with real assets rare and left untold
Windfalls based on bubbles
like the fog of plenty
were misting on the bounty of intrigue
while the soot of debt merged with the fog
for a truly earthy smog
The debt precipitated and grew to a gigantic ball
and overran the money bubbles all
"She thinks the entire industry is diabolical."
She ain't the only one.
Congressman Kucinich, last Monday: "They (the banks) never had the money they said they had as they constructed their debt-based monetary system which now lies in ruins."
Which is just another version of a pyramid scheme - Madoff never had the money he claimed, either.
U.S. Comptroller General Gene Dodaro, yesterday: "There's not yet a systematic process in place... a monitoring and reporting system back on how the money was used, to ensure it was used consistent with the purposes of the act, and that also that requirements, such as limits on executive compensation and payment of dividends, were being complied with."
Paulson is a crook.
Meanwhile, the push to screw the UAW workers reduces their capacity to make purchases which reduces demand for goods and services. If you thought Michigan is a basket case today, wait another year.
Congressional lemmings...
-30-
There never should have been a bailout for wall street, or the auto companies. The only ones who'll benefit are at the top. Bailout or no, the workers, the middle class?? and the poor will just get screwed again.
Note that one of the demands made on the Auto Companies is that the workers take a wage cut that will be substantial.
They will have to make do with much less . Meaning they will very likely need more CREDIT.
It is the inequality in wealth that led to this wherein the worker must make do with less and less while the elite have more and more. The worker is punished for his or her labor with higher taxes, health care costs and the like while those who got GET simply by manipulating the wealth and assets they already have.
The worker is too small to save thus is expected to make do while those that got are too big to feel thus need even more.
Capitalism in its purest form.
The fix of trying to prop up a fundamentally flawed stucture with ever more debt is not a fix at all.
"Note that one of the demands made on the Auto Companies is that the workers take a wage cut that will be substantial."
Though this is reality, your basic point is sound. Sacrafice is demanded of these workers while none is demanded from the Banks and Insurance companies that were handed Billions with no strings or requirements.
"The worker is punished for his or her labor with higher taxes, health care costs and the like"
Exactly. Why is there a cutoff on the social security taxes? There shouldn't be. Why does a corporation get to deduct health care costs but a worker doesn't? Inflation helps the rich, not workers. Our tax system favors the high earner or the existing wealthy which is inherently unfair.
There is nothing fundamentally flawed in a capitalist system. It can have flaws as it does now because it lacks the oversight and regulations that are required to protect the economy and its citizens.
Capitalism without these controls becomes much like any other system and the elites skim the cream and accumulate the majority of the wealth.
actually that is why capitalism IS fundamentally flawed.
it is designed, with or without regulation -- to "create wealth" BY denying wealth and value to others who are the majority and true "value" creators - people.
capitalism is a system that sacrifices PEOPLE , ALWAYS with an impetus to create structures to LOWEr the labor values and exchange ability of people - against "capital" that was created BY the surplus created BY the labor of PEOPLE who are the REAL capital. -- NOT money which is only a means of transaction.
capitalism ENSURES that money TAKES OVER the "value system" rather than the actual value of each and every person on the planet.
that is why - capitalism IS a flaw -- the greatest flaw ever perpetrated on human kind, with a face promoted as "the way to prosperity".,
in fact -- what it DOES is DEFORM the true balance between people and societies through the ideals of what humanity OUGHT to be ABLE to achieve -- a HIGHER level of existence by means of COOPERATION rather than COMPETITION for "scarcity" which capitalism ARTIFICIALLY induces in order to create its
"wealth".
if people really understand this very SIMPLE logic - they will understand that capitalism should NEVER have seen the light of day- or at its birth as a "codified" concept -- been - if there was a "higher being" - INSTANTLY annihilated for it has done NOTHING but promote DESTRUCTION and GREED .
Capitalism is exactly the opposite of what you say I believe.
Certainly it allows you to create wealth, anyone, anyone at all. But it must have regulations and oversight to level the playing field.
If you believe every person produces the same value, that every person should have an equal share no matter their contribution....there is nothing left to say. That system has failed every time and in every form its been tried.
Money is no more evil than any other system of value in any society that we have records for. Called by other names it's still money.
"the labor of PEOPLE is the REAL capital. -- NOT money which is only a means of transaction."
This is correct. People are the real capital of any enterprise and money is only the means of transaction."
Capitalism as practised in the US has given the most wealth and freedom to the greatest number of people by any measurement you'd care to use, any at all. But it is flawed at the moment. It cannot function properly without rules to stop what has just happened. Without rules it produces somewhat the same results socialist societies do.
People or labor, the terms may be used interchangably for this discussion are most definitely NOT capital. Capital is bricks and mortar, machinery, raw materials extracted or grown, infrastructure and the like. Capital is produced by labor. Labor is not capital, although the "capitalists" seem to regard labor as capital, as just one more machine, one more resource, hence the term "human resources" which I find to be just a horrid description of labor. Without labor there is no capital. The distribution of the fruits of labor is another issue entirely. Capital does not, cannot exist without labor.
-- ekaton aka d.k.shaw
I really have to disagree. People and their brains are more valuable than bricks and mortar.....plus they are indeed capital in the idea that if a person goes from one employer or business to the other he takes his skills and talents..."his capital" with him.
I understand your point, "Without labor there is no capital." and while this is true, consider labor without capital is useless. Capital has many different meanings in my view. None are detrimental, just designations.
There is also a great deal of difference between skilled labor and unskilled labor as to its value.
There is no capital without labor, period. People are not capital, ever. People may have desired skills that assist in producing capital or using capital to produce goods and services. Capital is a thing. A person is a person. A person can never be capital. It does not matter one whit what your view of capital may be. Labor without capital? That is pure nonsense. Labor produces capital. Discussion of "human resources" or "human capital" simply skews reality. Are YOU nothing more than a piece of capital? Because that is what a "capitalist" would like you to think. Use your mind. Never forget, the capitalist needs YOU more than you need the capitalist. And the capitalist would do well to remember that when he is doing everything he can to reduce wages.
-- EKATON --
Perhaps I should say thought rather than person as capital. We may be on the same wave length using different meanings.
Could be. Wishing you a joyous Christmas and happy and New Year.
-- ekaton aka d.k.shaw
" Wishing you a joyous Christmas and happy and New Year."
And the same to you mr. Shaw.
Thomas M.
Each mid-level Wall Street pirate's annual income for the past two decades has exceeded the lifetime income of each auto worker, while each Wall Street top dog's monthly income has exceeded the lifetime income of each auto worker.
It is criminal for politicians and academics to call for auto workers to take pay cuts after promoting the unconditional bailout of Wall Street. The hypothetical taxpaying Indiana waitress (that the politicians allege will be harmed if auto workers are spared foreclosure on their 3 bedroom midwest homes), will be harmed far more by the Wall Street pirate bailout. Perhaps the politicians want to make sure that the Wall Street pirates don't lose any of the yachts and luxury homes they own in choice venues around the globe.
Paulson is a crook. Special thanks go to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid for pushing this package thru the house and senate.
Hopefully the new administration will put an end to these handouts, even though i really doubt it.
"Special thanks go to Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid for pushing this package thru the house and senate."
And kudos to Barack Obama who also helped pushed this package through the Senate.
-- ekaton aka d.k.shaw
Would you have rather they let the economy collapse?
This is a tough situation. The greatest mistake would have been to do nothing.
"The greatest mistake would have been to do nothing."
That's the point of this article - it would have been better to do nothing. The only people who have been "saved" are the elites (at the expense of everyone else).
Screw'em. I'm not paying taxes next year. Not for no wars, not for no bailouts.
The next shoe has just Dropped..I think it was Liz Warren on C Span talking about the tricks and traps of all financial products like including credit cards...Today half of all or 50 million households are months behind on Credit card payments because they are broke and living on Credit cards.
The mortgage bust is being used as the scapegoat of the whole system from top to bottom being a giant Ponzi fraud.
I think Central governments and Central banking will fail soon if a miracle doesn't happen, Local communities will have to find ways to prevent crime and survive in the chaos that is coming.
Obama is going to be expected to get us out of this mess but God would have the same problems even with Nader's help too.. How do we as individuals and nations borrow our way out of Debt?
Borrowing and injecting money into jobs is about the only option left, but wasting it on the banks is digging the whole deeper.