* Bush, having made the biggest strategic military blunder in the history of the United States with Iraq, now gonna send in more troops for the slaughter
* The NAR, facing the biggest implosion in the history of the housing market, places $40,000,000 worth of hilarious "buy now" ads
* After a 50% wipeout in value, stock analysts recommend buying homebuilder stocks
* Bush, facing Medicaid and Medicare costs that will eventually bankrupt the US, instead of cutting, passes the big wet kiss to the pharmaceutical industry at a $1.2 Trillion cost in the next ten years alone called the Prescription Drug Benefit, which, of course, will bankrupt the US even faster
* The Fed, after having caused the biggest ponzi scheme of all time with the late great housing bubble, now thinking of lowering US rates to try to reinflate it
January 06, 2007
From the school of "when you're in a hole, keep digging"
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
49 comments:
CONCLUSION.....
ONE NATION GONE TERRIBLY....
STUPID
STUPID
VERY STUPID!!!!!
Two friends of mind where laid off last week. One with a publishing firm and one an electrician. Now it is hitting a little closer to home. These two people are not going to be purchasing a new $600,000.00 house this year.
If these stupid, greedy homebuilders would build modest sized homes on the lots already for sale maybe they could move this over supply. But.....no..... they are addicted to 30% profits on crappy plastic mcmansions.
If these stupid, greedy homebuilders would build modest sized homes
Modest or not, they are going to pay for it!
Kweith,
You forgot giving the illegals Social Security. We can afford that. Not really.
Washing Post
http://tinyurl.com/ycmft5
Bush really has no choice on Iraq........ What his jewish masters say goes afterall.
"* Bush, having made the biggest strategic military blunder in the history of the United States with Iraq, now gonna send in more troops for the slaughter"
Slaughter,heh. this entire Iraq campaign or "slaughter", doesn't surpass some individual battles from WW2, Korea or Vietnam. We lose more to drunk driving than Iraq. Where is the outrage to that slaughter? You dilute the word when you use it.
I agree, we should call it a kosher slaughter.
how can you end up bankrupt when your debts are in your own currency, and you can print as much as required?
Drug prescription benefit - bribe to the people who actually vote - just good politics on Bush's part
Iraq, when the senate is controlled by the casting vote of Lieberman's, you can bet that America will do whatever Israel wants. How long before America begins to attack Iran
America, the best democracy money and Jew's can buy
U.S. Banks are Giant Casinos
by Michael Edward
PostPosted: Sat 07 Feb, 2004
While media financial reporters keep the current focus of the public eye on Martha Stewart, the insolvency of U.S. banks due to their derivative holdings is being swept under the carpet.
Because banks have not been making a profit from traditional lending, derivatives became a fantastic way for them to net huge gains by trying to guess (gamble on) future prices of commodities or stocks. They were able to take these gambling risks because the Fed is supposed to back them from losses that would make them insolvent (more liabilities than assets). The worst part is that derivative transactions stay off the books and away from the prying eyes of investors and analysts.
U.S. interest rates being kept low by the Federal Reserve System (which is neither Federal nor does it have any intrinsic reserves) is to simply hide the hundreds of $Billions ($100 Billion U.S. Dollars = $100,000,000,000) of derivative losses and the true insolvency of U.S. banks. The moment interest rates start to run up, U.S. banks will be left holding little paper value assets to offset their vast derivative gambling losses.
U.S. stock markets are being manipulated to show overall value gains and "profits" is to keep U.S. banks "paper solvent". In reality, the public is being conned into thinking that U.S. banks are still solvent because they show "gains" in their stock "paper" value. If the U.S. markets were not manipulated, U.S. banks would collapse overnight along with the entire U.S. economy.
U.S. banks are merging with each other to hide their derivative losses with "paper asset" bookeeping that incorrectly shows they are solvent with enough "assets" to overcome their losses. In reality, this is smoke and mirror accounting, a scam worth $Trillions.
U.S. banks - with the privately owned Federal Reserve System at the helm - have turned into giant casinos by running a Casino Economy that is splintering into vast piles of insolvent firewood. The kindling was lit in the early 1990's, but now a bonfire is raging with great plumes of red-ink smoke. Can the Fed and the Fed-controlled media keep the public from seeing that red smoke with their manipulative mirrors? If the public would just open their eyes and wake up, they would see what's really going on, so here's something to focus your eyes on:
The top 25 U.S. banks with the largest derivatives holdings (estimate based on OCC Q3-2003 report and updated from news releases since 10/03). Remember, $1 Billion U.S. Dollars = $1,000,000,000.
RANK - BANK NAME - DERIVATIVES (in $US BILLIONS)
1 - JPMORGAN CHASE BANK - 33,700 ($33 Trillion, 700 Billion)
2 - BANK OF AMERICA - 13,800
3 - CITIGROUP - 11,000
4 - WACHOVIA CORPORATION - 2,457
5 - BANK ONE CORPORATION - 1,133
6 - HSBC - 1,043
7 - WELLS FARGO BANK NA - 911 ($911 Billion)
8 - FLEET BOSTON - 494
9 - BANK OF NEW YORK - 496
10 - COUNTRY WIDE FINANCIAL - 410
11 - STATE STREET - 320
12 - TAUNUS - 307
13 - NATIONAL CITY - 203
14 - ABN AMRO - 188
15 - MELLON - 153
16 - KEYCORP - 98 ($98 Billion)
17 - SUNTRUST - 82
18 - FIRST TENNESSEE BANK NA - 58
19 - U S BAN CORP - 54
20 - PNC BANK NATIONAL ASSN - 45
21 - DORAL - 31
22 - NORTHERN TRUST - 25
23 - CIBC DELAWARE - 25
24 - METLIFE - 22
25 - UTRECHT-AMERICA - 20
If you want to get a hint at how much red ink your U.S. bank casino is swimming in, look at their latest financial report and keep an eye out for an entry such as, "adjustment of derivative financial instruments" or "adjustment of non-interest instruments". If they list such an "adjustment" (most do not), this means they have written off the losses incurred from their derivative gambling.
If you bank with one of the 25 banks listed above, you can expect worse than the 1986-1990 Savings & Loan bank collapses when people were unable to remove all or most of their money from their accounts until years later. This time, you can expect to loose whatever they claim to "hold" for you because the FDIC and the "Fed" have no means to replace the losses with any intrinsic value.
If you choose to keep accounts with these U.S. banks, you have just become a high-stakes gambler, and the odds are stacked against you.
Non-commercial reproduction allowed, otherwise copyright 2004 by WorldVisionPortal.Org
FINANCIAL WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION
"We view them as time bombs both for the parties that deal in them and the economic system... In our view... derivatives are financial weapons of mass destruction, carrying dangers that, while now latent, are potentially lethal." -- Warren Buffett
"It could rip your guts out overnight... the biggest, most potentially lucrative, and destructive market in the world." - Into the Fire, by Linda Davies
"Derivatives are nothing more than a set of tools. And just as a saw can build your house, it can cut off your arm if it isn't used properly." - Walter D. Hops, Treasurer, Ciba-Geigy, Business Week, October 31, 1994, p.98
"I once had to explain to my father that a bank didn't really make its money taking deposits and lending out money to poor folk so they could build houses. I explained that the bank actually traded for a living." - Stan Jonas, Derivatives Strategy, April, 1998, p.19
Here's my favourite: "The government announced that it's no longer going to issue 30 year bonds. What better way to inspire confidence in our government than by saying 'We might not be around that long.'" - Jay Leno, The Tonight Show, November 1, 2001
After the november elections, I believe the republicans can no longer give ole 'dumbya' his way; as it seems to me, if they did that, they may provoke another clock cleaning in '08. LOL, then again perhaps they all might as well go ahead and collectively, 'like the borg', all fall on their swords at once as this country would be far better for it in my opinion, and then the start of the libertarian party can commence in earnest. Its called evolution.
Exactly how many sub-prime lenders have now gone 'tits up' in the last couple of months?
Perhaps Mr. market is starting to awake, then again time will tell.
FMW - Good post.
Its definitely the greatest story never told because simplifying it so difficult.
I keep watching out for signs of stress in this area. A story in the last week caught my attention.
2 executives in charge of derivatives at Bank of America left on Jan 2nd. Some speculate that this was fallout from the bankruptcy of the subprime lender Ownit - BofA had a stake in them. But it wasn't such a large stake so that explanation seems thin.(Another story about hiccups in the $36billion ( 36 BILLION ) LBO of real estate company Equity Office due to credit default swap issues, a complicated story, is also a sign of unforseen consequences ).
The derivatives market is supposed to have reduced risk because one is buying insurance, hedging against all adverse events. Its sound math to say that insurance really only works if there is somebody at the end of the chain(primary, secondary, excess, reinsurer..) to actually be on the hook - the "Names" at Lloyds come to mind.
If derivatives really have hedged against all adverse events, then intuitively I'm certain that this implies a closed insurance loop and a Mobius strip not a cylinder at that. Then, we have ended up with ALL asset classes correlated to each other.
And since nobody takes out insurance when assets are GOING UP, this correlation exists only for downward moves ( Nope it does not have to be symmetric in direction).
So, my prediction is that when large downward moves occur, they will occur in ALL asset classes : equities, bonds, commodities. I can't, I don't know anybody who can yet put these predictions in falsifiable terms so this isn't exactly scientific. But..
We'll see.
-K
Vietnam was a bigger blunder, by the way....
Bush, having made the biggest strategic military blunder in the history of the United States with Iraq, now gonna send in more troops for the slaughter.
Getting the US out of the quagmire Iraq will be like removing a bandage affixed with adhesive tape. This can be accomplished by employing a series of agonizing little tugs or one excruciatingly-painful yank. The new and improved Bush "Surge" plan will employ the former strategy.
Increasing troop levels will cause the violence in Iraq to escalate and create the need for still more troops. Troop levels will be increased until Bush runs out of troops, whether they be volunteers or draftees. At this point, it will be necessary to pull all troops out of Iraq and the war will be over. The cost in lost lives and wasted resources will be tremendous and the US economy will be devastated.
George Bush will then be known as the worst of all US presidents. This is only fitting, because the "wartime president" is, after all, a mass-murdering psychopath.
The derivatives do spread the losses around---or concentrate them if somebody is screwy enough to buy all that risk.
I don't think it's as completely crazy as people fear.
Did the introduction of options to listed stocks suddenly make those stocks much more risky? (Not really, and in fact the theory is that it makes the stocks a little less volatile).
That's parallel to the derivative situation, which is equivalent for bonds.
What I think will happen is that bank's earnings will fluctuate in unpredictable company-specific ways in response to events in the yield curve or credit risk.
Traditionally since banks had similar investment profiles they would respond in predictable ways to macroeconomic changes.
Now bank earnings will be "strange". Some banks will do very well when all their competitors are hurting.
There is one primary advantage to the trading in credit derivatives. It is an unregulated market, and insider trading is legal.
I am acutally very happy w/ Iraq progress. We found, tried, killed Saddam, his sons, and Zarqawi, plus a bunch of others. Huge success I would say. Go Bush! You Dems suck.
"I am acutally very happy w/ Iraq progress"
So you are that person. Welcome to the board.
"Go Bush! You Dems suck."
Dude I don't know if you noticed but it is your Republican brethren including myself that are jumping off this sinking ship. My biggest concern moving forward is that Republicans will have a stigma from this debacle of which we can not recover.
'This wartime president is actually a mass murdering psychopath'.
On the contrary, he has been more associated with being a sociopath, similair to that of 'Ted Bundy'.
It has been said that Ted was also an excellant con man too. It's what makes their 'craft'(s) come naturally. I guess it goes with the turf. Team 'dumbya' just like ted, were (are) both living in extreme denial, and that ain't a river in Egypt either.
I still cant get over how 'team dumbya' the conned 59 million dumbasses in 06 elections. Oh well...I wonder if this is why keith now lives in England?
BUY GOLD
Looks like Casey Serin is signing a promissory note (Casey making a promise LOL) with Countrywide. Countrywide's stock has been amazingly strong during the initial phases of this bubble burst. Anyone shorting CFC????
The wrong man was hanged in Iraq...
Saddam has morphed into a hero/martyr in the Mid-East, while his photo and huge banners in Arab cities proclaim: "God damn America and its spies".
Bush is directly responsible for more death and destruction than Saddam Hussein and Adjimenad of Iran, put together.
Nice job by the Jewish lobby but this country will reap the consequences some day of this Iraq bloodbath.
Well the hole just keeps getting deeper in Denver:
Home sales slump
Foreclosures blamed for '06 drop in value, number of properties
Home sales dropped by $424 million in 2006 from 2005, probably the first time the Denver-area market has ever seen a year-over-year drop in total dollar volume.
"This is the first time we've seen a drop since we began tracking the market in 1985, and I think it is very likely it is the only time it has ever happened," said independent broker Gary Bauer, who released a report based on Metrolist data on Thursday.
The decrease was caused by two factors: The price of homes rose only modestly, and the number of homes that sold dropped.
The report shows that $14.5 billion in homes were sold by Realtors in the Denver area last year, compared with $14.9 billion in 2005.
The record 19,425 home foreclosures were the chief culprit for keeping a lid on the average price of homes in 2006, Bauer said.
article continues:
http://www.rockymountainnews.com/drmn/real_estate/article/0,1299,DRMN_414_5259481,00.html
Dude I don't know if you noticed but it is your Republican brethren including myself that are jumping off this sinking ship.
------
Ditto that.
Thanks SK.
iw
Pelosi, Reid Urge Bush To Begin Iraq Pullout
President Considering Three 'Surge' Options
By Peter Baker and Robin Wright
Washington Post Staff Writers
Saturday, January 6, 2007; A01
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Harry M. Reid declared yesterday that "it is time to bring the war to a close" and warned President Bush that sending more U.S. troops to Iraq would be unacceptable to the Democratic majorities that have just taken over Congress.
Directly challenging Bush's wartime leadership on their second day in charge on Capitol Hill, Democrats Pelosi (Calif.) and Reid (Nev.) sent Bush a letter suggesting that, instead of starting a short-term escalation, he begin a phased withdrawal of U.S. forces in the next four to six months. The mission of remaining troops, they said, should be shifted away from combat toward more training, logistics and counterterrorism.
The newly ascendant Democrats are trying to preempt the president before he announces his new strategy. As he prepares for a nationally televised address next week, officials said, Bush is considering three main options to bolster U.S. forces in Iraq: a relatively modest deployment of fewer than 4,000 additional troops, a middle-ground alternative involving about 9,000 and, the most aggressive idea, flowing 20,000 more troops into the country.
In a speech today unveiling his own revised security plan, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki is expected to publicly welcome additional U.S. troops, a condition requested by the Bush administration. Maliki's cooperation is pivotal to Bush's own efforts. Bush told Maliki in a videoconference Thursday that the United States is willing to help but that Maliki has to deliver along the way, U.S. officials said.
In preparation for the shift in strategy, Bush reshuffled his national security leadership team yesterday. He replaced the top two generals running the Iraq war, named a new Army chief of staff, moved his intelligence director over to the State Department and put a veteran officer in charge of intelligence. Officials have said he also plans to move his ambassador in Baghdad to the United Nations and replace him with a veteran diplomat.
Over the next few days before his speech, Bush is conducting intensive consultations with lawmakers, foreign allies and advisers. He met with lawmakers from both parties yesterday and plans to talk with leaders of Britain, Australia and possibly Denmark, countries that still have major military contingents in Iraq, according to U.S. officials and diplomats. The White House said he will talk with both Pelosi and Reid before announcing his new strategy.
White House press secretary Tony Snow said the sessions with lawmakers have featured "some vigorous exchanges" and have been useful. "The fact is that these meetings may not be happy-face 'Kumbaya,' but they have been very constructive in the sense that people are talking respectfully about important issues and expressing their ideas," he said. "And some of them are quite interesting. And we're taking them into account."
But some lawmakers have left the meetings unsatisfied. Sen. Ben Nelson (Neb.), a conservative Democrat needed by Bush if he hopes to have any support across the aisle, said he pressed the president yesterday to provide a clear and specific mission before ordering additional forces to Iraq. "The White House has to make the case for sending in more troops before they send the troops," he said. "We need a new direction, not just a new slogan."
http://tinyurl.com/ybcuff
for full story.
CONCLUSION.....
ONE NATION GONE TERRIBLY....
STUPID
STUPID
VERY STUPID!!!!!
++++++++
Too true. I fear for the future. However, I wanted to say thanks, Keith, for the gopher pic. Looks just like my brother-in-law....
the number 3000 or so of dead Americans in Iraq war does not account for the non citizens that were promised citizenship once the war is over. The real number of dead on the American side is higher.
heil.
Saddam was our son. he will be missed.
Thanks for the memories
Iraq isn't a strategic blunder, it's proof to the world that the U.S. is now a nanny state run by geldings like Clinton, Gore, Bush, and Kerry. All of them are cut from the same cloth, and as a nation who elects these weasels, we deserve what's coming.
I was right and I called it perfectly.
Saddam's execution, at the hands of an occupying power and its satelite (Shiite faction) govt, will render this event historically as an elimination of a legitimate leader of a sovereign nation via invading forces and its kangaroo court.
Instead, he should have been handed to to Hague and then taken out via stealth assassin which is plausibly what happened to Slobodan Milosevic.
"legitimate leader of a sovereign nation"
Hitler met that definition too.
Saddam Hussein was a despot. A tyrant. A dictator. The world is better off with him dead than alive.
:"legitimate leader of a sovereign nation"
'Hitler met that definition too.'
----
That's called Goodwin's principle when applied to internet discussions.
More appropriate, contemporary, and proportional analogies would be General Suharto of Indonesia and General Pinochet of Chile. Those two are the most comparable to Saddam Hussein in terms of cruelty to their subjects while at the same time, garnering support from the US govt.
Saddam was our puppet in Iraq, we didn't take him out the first time (Gulf War I) because we didn't want the current situation to occur. So WHY IN THE HELL did we go into Iraq this time???? There's not been a valid reason given yet, WMD, Democracy, Nation building are all crap, a moving target.
No, Bush did this, 1 man PERSONALLY starting a war. How in the hell do we allow 1 Man to start a war???? Are the conspiracy theologians correct?? It makes me wonder, how 1 man can do this.
On a strategic level we are so screwed, this war is lost, it WILL spread to Iran, Israel, perhaps Russia and China.....WWIII very possible.
God help us all
Nancy Pelosi Approval 43%
George Bush Approval 45%
See rasmussen.com
Missed this little info from the MSM and HP
Saddam Hussein proved to be a real man facing death at the hands of the American puppet thugs.
Dignity and character was clearly on display while chickenhawk faggots like Bush and Cheney aren't worthy to lick off the sweat from Saddam's GRANDE cojones.
A man with bigger balls than any Jewish neocon or flag-waving American redneck POS.
Long live the memory of the Martyr Saddam.
Over 25,000 American GI's died in one month at the Battle of the Bulge during WWII. The Nazis did not even bomb Pearl Harbor.
That shows how ignorant Americans are today regarding casualties and history.
We also supported Stalin during WWII. Perhaps you have never heard of the phrase "The enemy of my enemy is my friend." Politics makes strange bedfellows. Do you support Hitler or Stalin? Do you support Pinochet or the Communists? Either way, the armchair quarterbacks will criticize you.
-----------------------------------
More appropriate, contemporary, and proportional analogies would be General Suharto of Indonesia and General Pinochet of Chile. Those two are the most comparable to Saddam Hussein in terms of cruelty to their subjects while at the same time, garnering support from the US govt.
What do you call broke retirees?
(And believe me, there will be MANY OF THEM comming 2008.)
Ans. Loyal Democrats.
Have a nice day.
"No, Bush did this, 1 man PERSONALLY starting a war. How in the hell do we allow 1 Man to start a war???? Are the conspiracy theologians correct?? It makes me wonder, how 1 man can do this."
Yeah, that authorization from Congress and the unanimous vote in the UN Security council never happened. Dickheads like you keep trying to rewrite history because you're not able to face the truth. You'll make a nice enuch houseboy under Sharia when your fate arrives.
For decades now our foreign policies have been one debacle after another. We have supported one bloody dictator while reviling and demonizing another. Saddam was nothing new. Panama's Manuel Noreiga comes to mind, except he wasn't strung up by some goofy kangaroo court. Our founding fathers warned us about becoming ensared in the internal affairs of foreign nations. George Washington's farewell address should be required reading for all Americans. I fear for the future of this country. A nation with so much promise now teeters on the brink. Democrats won't be our saviors either so don't get too excited about their return to power. There isn't a dimes worth of difference between the two major parties. The methods to get us there may be different but the end result for both is more government control and less personal liberty.
No, you were wrong.
Everyone sympathizing with Saddam is one of those idiots who are impressed with fame, fortune and power. If Saddam hadn't been famous he'd have been "Saddam the killer of poor minority children" and would get no sympathy from media crazed idiots such as yourself.
You know I'm right.
Though the war in Iraq was a mistake, and a terrible waste, the execution of Saddam was the right thing to do. It sent the message that no matter how rich, famous or powerful you are, justice still awaits you if you are evil.
I have puts on several of the morgage brokers (not Countrywide) and for 2 months they have been going up mostly.
Just last week they started down. I hope they reach strike price by Jan 17. Options day. Harvest time for the options brokers.
"Over 25,000 American GI's died in one month at the Battle of the Bulge during WWII. The Nazis did not even bomb Pearl Harbor."
My grandpa was at that battle. He wouldn't talk about it much or complain that he had to fight. They just did what had to be done. They were truly the "greatest generation". Now, we're all just a bunch of pansies fighting amongst ourselves over who gets to run the country, though no matter who is in charge, the outcome is the same. Corruption and greed have tainted the dream. We the People are no longer in charge of our country or our destiny.
It would be nice to just stay home and out of other people's business. What would be the result? The world would be influenced by the rich Arab countries and the Chinese and Russians.
I can agree that the people running our country do not have our best interests in mind.
Bush's "surge" will be too little too late. Now if we were to pull FDR's troops out of Germany, Truman's troops out of Korea and Clinton's troops out of Kosovo and added 200,000 troops to downtown Baghdad, I suspect the insurgency would be over in a few days.
At least we now know what Bubble III will be: Castro has been admitted to a Spanish hospital to die. The next bubble will be developing Cuba!
...but we need those troops in Germany to protect them from something or another.
We have to help the South Koreans protect themselves from the starving North Koreans.
We have to help the Japanese protect themselves since they are so poor.
...and we have to help everyone but ourselves
Post a Comment