September 30, 2008

Over the past eight years, did America truly become the Great Deceiver?


We convinced the world that Iraq had WMD. They didn't.

We convinced the world that our currency was safe and secure. It wasn't.

We convinced the world that our mortgages were appraised, triple-A rated, and as good as gold. They weren't.

We convinced the world, post-Sarbanes-Oxley, that are CEO's were legit, and that their personal guarantee was on their companies' financial results. Instead, they were corrupt, the results were fiction, and there would be no prosecutions.

We convinced the world that we should be trusted and respected. Instead, we screwed them all.

So, are we now The Great Deceiver? Should the world ever trust us again? Will the world ever trust us again? And aren't you ashamed that the good name of America has now been destroyed?

Are you pissed off yet?

HousingPANIC Quote of the Day


"The United States is in a recession and facing the worst financial crisis in almost 80 years because the folks currently in charge were out to lunch"

- Dean Baker, September 2008

HousingPANIC Stupid Question of the Day


Do you think Americans are regretting not saving, or relying on their home's value to be their "savings", right about now?

Bonus question - are you in that boat, or did you see what was coming, live below your means, prepare for a rainy day, and save?

Here's Schiff and Beck. "This is not a textbook. This is really happening"



What happens to a country, an economy and a generation of Americans who rely so so much on debt and credit, when the credit lines dry up?

Just pick up a newspaper today.

So, you diggin on this deflation thing yet?



Take a bit of historic asset price deflation
Add a pinch of currency debasement
Add a cup of demand destruction
Grate in some recession and job losses
And a heaping tablespoon of credit retraction
And enjoy the deflation stew


This inflation/deflation discussion is the most important one. We're writing new history now - a massive deflation underway with a Fed and government doing anything they can to create inflation. An epic battle royale.

A message from Wall Street to Washington DC - by Barry Ritholtz

We on Wall Street feel somewhat compelled to take at least some responsibility. We used excessive leverage, failed to maintain adequate capital, engaged in reckless speculation, created new complex derivatives. We focused on short-term profits at the expense of sustainability. We not only undermined our own firms, we destabilized the financial sector and roiled the global economy, to boot. And we got huge bonuses.

But here’s a news flash for you, D.C.: We could not have done it without you. We may be drunks, but you were our enablers: Your legislative, executive, and administrative decisions made possible all that we did. Our recklessness would not have reached its soaring heights but for your governmental incompetence.

I hope you can recite this in your sleep by now.

The final phase is a self-feeding panic, where the bubble bursts. People of wealth and credit scramble to unload whatever they have bought at greater and greater losses, and cash becomes king.

Ron Paul on the bailout failure

September 29, 2008

HousingPANIC Stupid Question of the Day


Was today the US Economic 9/11?

Or was it the 2008 version of the Boston Tea Party?



Bonus: Predict what Bernanke and Paulson do overnight to stop Armageddon... or will they?...




Global Economic Armageddon is now here

The REIC took America and the world to the brink today, and we fell off. The credit and money markets have now shut down, and the stock market has tanked.

Our corrupt Congress, who did nothing until it was too late, did nothing. This is cause for celebration, and it's cause for panic.

This week will be, when it is all said and done, one of the most historic weeks in world financial history.

If you were anti-bailout, don't get too excited, because it will still be passed. But not until the world burns.

If you were pro-bailout, don't get too depressed, because it will still be passed. But not until the world burns.

If you're pro-world-burning, get excited. Your day is here.

Reactions?

Predictions?

May you live in interesting times.

And may you have ammo. And liquidity. And cash.

Corrupt monkeys on Capitol Hill currently debating the Casey Serin Angelo Mozilo Housing Gambler Bailout Bill of 2008 - LIVE on CNN.com


Live video for those of you at work.

Grab your barf bag first.

Some pretty good rage though from some of the monkeys. Too bad it won't matter, but it's good politicaltainment.

[UPDATE - BAILOUT FAILS, MARKETS CRASH, MONKEYS STAYING IN SESSION TO MAKE THE CHANGES TO BRING IT BACK UP FOR A VOTE. MEANWHILE, WORLD MARKETS ARE HOURS AWAY FROM AN EPIC MELTDOWN. THANK YOU REALTORS OF AMERICA]


Buy. Sell. Hold. ?


Have at it.

Sarah Palin weighs in on the bailout


"That’s why I say I, like every American I’m speaking with, were ill about this position that we have been put in where it is the taxpayers looking to bail out. But ultimately, what the bailout does is help those who are concerned about the health-care reform that is needed to help shore up our economy, helping the—it’s got to be all about job creation, too, shoring up our economy and putting it back on the right track. So health-care reform and reducing taxes and reining in spending has got to accompany tax reductions and tax relief for Americans. And trade, we’ve got to see trade as opportunity, not as a competitive, scary thing. But one in five jobs being created in the trade sector today, we’ve got to look at that as more opportunity. All those things under the umbrella of job creation. This bailout is a part of that."

- Sarah Palin, September 2008


(much, much more at americapanic)


I give you the acting president of the United States, congratulating the Democratic & Republican monkeys in Congress that helped him wreck America



I seriously feel like I've been transported back to 1929.

Anyone selling pencils on the street yet?

FLASH: Ho-hum, another day, another bank failure. Today's bank death pool winner? Wachovia, as Citigroup picks the meat off the bones


This just came in from the FDIC. Citigroup picks up the first $42 billion in losses, the FDIC (i.e. US Taxpayer) gets the (unknown) rest. Even though the FDIC is spinning that this isn't a failure or bailout.

Citigroup Inc. to Acquire Banking Operations of Wachovia
FDIC, Federal Reserve and Treasury Agree to Provide Open Bank Assistance to Protect Depositors

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 29, 2008
Media Contact:
Andrew Gray (202) 898-7192
angray@fdic.gov

Citigroup Inc. will acquire the banking operations of Wachovia Corporation; Charlotte, North Carolina, in a transaction facilitated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and concurred with by the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve and the Secretary of the Treasury in consultation with the President. All depositors are fully protected and there is expected to be no cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund. Wachovia did not fail; rather, it is to be acquired by Citigroup Inc. on an open bank basis with assistance from the FDIC.

"On the whole, the commercial banking system in the United States remains well capitalized. This morning's decision was made under extraordinary circumstances with significant consultation among the regulators and Treasury," Bair said. "This action was necessary to maintain confidence in the banking industry given current financial market conditions."

September 28, 2008

The world as you knew it changed tonight. America is not the country you thought it was. And this day will live in infamy.



Sunday, September 28, 2008.

In the 232nd year of its existence, on a cool September day, as the leaves changed, the American empire peaked.

The Great Housing Ponzi Scheme and Greatest Unwinding changed everything.


9/11 was childsplay.

The Iraq Debacle simply sped up the decline.

This, HP'ers, is the real deal. The effects and unintended consequences of today will last for generations. Today, and the past few grotesque years that led up to today, will be written about in history books for the rest of time.

The post-WWII American lifestyle, one of over-consumption and greed, fueled by credit cards, loans, debt and borrowing, and epitomized by a self-centered Clinton/Bush Baby Boom generation out of control, will be radically changed.

You, and your children, and their children, will remember today for the rest of your lives. Whether you understand that now or not.

Everything has changed.

America will never be the same.

The $700 Billion Casey Serin Angelo Mozilo Housing Gambler Bailout Bill of 2008 will be announced tonight. So, what does it mean?



1) For home prices?

2) For the US stock market?

3) For foreign stocks?


4) For bond interest rates?


5) For the US dollar?


6) For gold and oil?


7) For capitalism and democracy?


8) For the average American?


9) For the GOP?


10) For you?

And... the biggest question - is this the beginning of the end, or just the end of the beginning? Is this the last bailout? Or just another one in, before another one, before another one?


"Wall Street's big banking boys are bankrupting America. These plunderers of our economy are now running home to mama"

Five minutes of rage from Rep. Marcy Kaptur from Ohio. Maybe she gets to stay.

I hope this represents the growing mood in middle America.

Too bad it was all for naught HP'ers.

Bailout approved.


America has been robbed in the night.

Plan accordingly.

[UPDATE - original video was pulled... hmmmm... but here's Marcy Kaptur going off again from another source, and a bonus rant too. I hope she has good security... And sure can't wait to see Jim Bunning single-handedly throwing a wrench in this tomorrow with a filibuster. Oh, wait, you mean they got to him too?]



September 27, 2008

From AmericaPANIC: Will Sarah Palin quit this week?


Get on record now.

I say yes.

Read the full piece here.

And McCain's new Veep pick?

Mr. Economy, Mitt Romney.

The housing crash, and the $700 billion bailout, changed everything.


HousingPANIC Stupid Question of the Day


Are you trying to liquidate?

Are you trying to raise cash?

Don't you think you should be by now?

Here's Obama's and McCain's opening statements on the housing panic and bank bailout bill



This election is about one issue and one issue only:

The Great Housing Crash.

Just like we said it would be.

Ladies and Gentlemen, one more time, I give you the words of Andrew Hac


Dude needs his own blog.

He's like that guy at a party who's real quiet, listens to everyone with a smile on his face, and then the one thing he says when he finally opens his mouth is the one thing you remember from that night.

Dude scares me a bit. And he kinda repeats himself sometimes. But damn, it's good stuff.

Thanks for dropping by Andrew Hac, whoever you are. Don't hurt us.


OK, Snapper Turtle, fat-ass Americano and all other tortoise-like creepers out there,

Listen and listen hard:

A house is a place to sleep in, eat your meal, do your homeworks, make kids, get piped-up, get shitface, smoke a doobie, take a doo-doo, etc...

A house is not an investment, a Las Vegas casino, a stock purchase certificate, a trading commodity, a bank, an ATM machine, etc...

Not every turtle is entitled to own a house. Owning a house is a privilege, not a right, not an endowment from God or Uncle Bushy.

Most Americano believe that it is their God-given right to own a house. Heck NO !!! That is incorrect. It is also stupid to heed that belief. If you are poor, ignorant, illiterate, dumb, uneducated, buckteeth, harelip, fat, obese, or just plain WACKO then you do not have the right, the mean or the privilege to own a house. No BUT, IF, HOW, WHEN ,WHY, WHAT, etc...

The game of survival is simple. You are strong then you will survive and prosper. Your descendant will grow strong and will not have rotten teeth or marry his/her cousin as spouse. Joe6Pack is like a gazelle in the African Segenreti plain, his destiny is to be hunted down, chased after, pursued relentlessly, devoured by the lions, the leopards, the hyenas, etc...

Joe6Pack does not simply possess any right or privilege to own a house in the land of the Americano AKA the land of the Skunk.


Got it, Turtle ???

June 2005: TIME Magazine's infamous housing porn cover nails the bubble peak. Sept 2008: TIME Magazine cover FINALLY mentions the housing collapse.

I'm not sure what they were doing the past 168 weeks, but it sure the hell wasn't reporting. Not one cover since the 2005 housing porn on the housing bubble or crash.

Not one cover.

Even though it was far and away the biggest news story in the world.

Even though it impacted every one of their readers.

TIME Magazine failed America. Along with most of the MSM. Maybe that's why their circulation has dropped 600,000+ since 2005. Maybe America is tired of reading crap. They found the blogs now after all. So why read crap?

TIME Magazine, Time Warner and TIME's editor Richard Stengel should be ashamed.


Sure is nice to see them pull their heads out of their infotainment asses and put the news on their cover this week.

168 weeks too late.


The final phase is a self-feeding panic, where the bubble bursts. People .. scramble to unload whatever they have bought at greater and greater losses


Cash:

1 : ready money
2 : money or its equivalent (as a check) paid for goods or services at the time of purchase or delivery

As I walk by the Porsches and Lamborghinis and BMWs and Mercedes and the (formerly) multi-million dollar homes over here, I wonder, how bad do those owners, many now unemployed, wish they could just have the CASH right now, not the assets.

They've lost their jobs. They've lost their income streams. They've lost their credit lines. And it's not just them. They funded the companies. They paid the salaries. They supported the restaurants and the car dealers and the realtors and the clothing stores and the dry cleaners and the travel agents and the private schools and oh, so much more.

And now, cash (not dollars!) HP'ers, is king. As it's been for over a year. As it will be for quite some time. It hath been foretold. By a great man with a great book, the HP bible - Manias, Panics and Crashes.

Too bad more people didn't read it. Everything you needed to know was right there.



LIVEBLOGGING THE OBAMA/MCCAIN DEBATE

September 26, 2008

FLASH: J.P. Morgan predicts California home prices to crash 58%. Yes. 58%. And for US home prices to fall 37% from their fraud-and-speculation-peak


Ho.

Ly.

Crap.

Well, now even J.P. Morgan has gone HousingPANIC.

Does anyone know what a 58% fall in home prices looks like?

Seriously.

Do you have any idea what the world looks like after the knock-on effects of a 58% fall in home prices? Or 37% nationwide?

Example: Pay $500,000, get foreclosed, bank sells for $210,000.


No, that's not data the NAR wants you to see.

No, that's not what Connie de Groot, Mike Norman, Tom Adkins, Greg Swann, Nicholas Retsinas, David Lereah or Lawrence Yun wanted you to believe.

But believe now you will. California prices are already down a sickening 41%. Hitting 58% is a walk in the park. And 37% nationwide might be optimistic.

I feel sorry for all the innocent people caught up in this. Tradesmen who went to work for years and years in homebuilding, earning an honest living. Honest appraisers, who wouldn't fudge a number to make a commission. Home Depot salesmen, who really wanted you to have the right screw. And people who 'bought' homes because that's what people should do.

They listened to realtors on commission, they watched housing porn, they laughed at HP, and they got killed.

Never again America. Seriously, never again. George Bush, the US Congress, appraisers, ratings agencies, realtors and mortgage brokers should now be seen on the same level as terrorists. Instead of using bombs and guns, they used happy words, broken promises and glossy brochures. And they did much, much more damage to America than Osama bin Laden ever could.

In a presentation on its WaMu acquisition, J.P. Morgan forecast a 58% peak-to-trough slump in California home prices if the U.S. enters a severe recession. In Florida, house prices could fall 64% in such a scenario, while nationwide prices could drop 37%, the bank said.

HousingPANIC SPECIAL EDITION Holy Crap I Can't Believe It's Come To This Quote of the Day


Ladies and Gentlemen, the President of the United States. And yes, this quote is real:

"If money isn't loosened, this sucker could go down"

-Acting President George W. Bush, freaking out, losing control and in an obvious housing panic, September 25, 2008


HousingPANIC SPECIAL EDITION Stupid Question of the Day


The façade, the charade, the Big Lie, it's over now, right?

Why do I ask? Because there can be no recovery until the ignorance and denial have been conquered. We can't hit bottom until we indeed hit bottom. Until there's panic in the streets. Until people are disgusted with houses. Until the guilty are hauled off to jail. Until the incompetents are voted out. Until the housing porn is off the air. Until the realtors have found new work. Until the lenders fail. Until the bad decisions are washed away.

Until the system is cleansed.




FLASH: THIS IS NOT A MISPRINT. CALIFORNIA HOME PRICES NOW DOWN 41% YoY, HISTORIC REAL ESTATE COLLAPSE CONTINUES...

From 2005:

"Population and household growth will continue to put pressure on home prices, resulting in greater price appreciation in California compared with the nation."


-Leslie Appleton-Young, California realtors Association "Economist", January 2005

And now today:

California Home Prices Drop Record 41% Amid Defaults

At this point folks, any cheerleading California realtor (Connie De Groot, Tom Adkins, Leslie Appleton-Young, etc) should resign, and legally never be allowed to work as a "financial advisor" again.

Forty one percent down. In 12 months.

41%.

So $1 million overpriced California homes became $590,000 pretty quick. That's a freefall of $34,000 a month if you're keeping score at home. Over $1000 a day. Should have rented folks in CA. And NEVER should have listened to realtors on commission.

It was the P/E stupid. It will always be the P/E stupid.

People all over California, and all over America, will be simply turning in the keys now. It makes no financial sense to keep paying on a mortgage whose balance is nowhere near the value of the asset. Especially loans of the no-or-little-down variety.

It's the banks' problem now. No, actually, it's the taxpayer's problem now.

California Home Prices Drop Record 41% Amid Defaults

Sept. 25 (Bloomberg) -- California home prices tumbled a record 41 percent in August from a year earlier as foreclosure sales pushed down values in the most populous U.S. state.

The median price of an existing, single-family detached home fell to $350,140, the lowest since March 2003, and will likely fall further, the Los Angeles-based California Association of Realtors said today in a report. Sales increased 56.7 percent from August 2007 and 1.8 percent from July.

``While sales appear to have turned the corner, the median will experience additional downward pressure as we move into the off-peak season in the coming months, and will continue to face pressure from distressed sales,'' Leslie Appleton-Young, vice president and chief economist of the association, said in a statement.

Flashback to Appleton-Young's 2006 preso:

FLASH: Ruh-Roh. No deal. Monkeys going to go nuts now.


Batten down the hatches HP'ers. It's gonna get wild now...

Get some popcorn and watch the monkeys go nuts.


Wild day, no deal


A high-profile White House meeting on Treasury’s $700 billion Wall Street rescue plan ended on a sour, contentious note Thursday after animated exchanges among lawmakers laced with presidential politics just weeks before the November elections.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson came up to the Capitol hours later to revive talks, but House Republicans did not participate, and Democrats warned that the whole process could collapse unless President Bush gets them to come to the table.

“Unless this fourth leg shows up at some point, this could fall off very quickly,” said Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.).

At the White House, in fact, House Minority Leader John Boehner had bluntly warned about the lack of Republican support for the massive government intervention: “I can’t invent votes,” Boehner said. But House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) angrily accused the minority of trying to undercut Paulson by crafting a late-breaking alternative proposal—with the tacit support, Frank said, of Republican presidential candidate John McCain.

Both McCain and his Democratic rival, Sen. Barack Obama, would leave the White House without comment, and the meeting was described as among the wildest in memory. A beleaguered President Bush had to struggle to maintain order and reassert himself. And when Democrats left to caucus in the Roosevelt Room, Paulson pursued them, begging that they not “blow up” the legislation.

The former Goldman Sachs CEO even went down on one knee as if genuflecting, to which Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Cal.) is said to have joked, “I didn’t know you were Catholic.”

FLASH: And then, to complete the HousingPANIC clean sweep, Washingtion Mutual failed


Fannie - check
Freddie - check
Countrywide - check
Indymac - check
WaMu - check

Why did they all fail? Because they knowingly and illegally enabled mortgage fraud by writing or buying "liar's loans". They called them liar's loans for a reason. It was fraud. And they knew it.

Idiots. Committing crimes and knowingly destroying their companies all to enrich themselves with short-term commissions.

And when the arrests start, and yes, eventually, they will start, it's these companies in my personal opinion that will contribute the greatest number of new inmates to our fine prison system. Mortgage fraud is a crime. It was before Bush at least. And under the next president's justice department, let's hope it will be again.

Paulson avoided bank lines outside WaMu or a hit to the broke-ass-FDIC though, by getting his friends at JPMorgan to take them on. Who will of course then sell the $30 billion plus in toxic debt to Paulson (and the taxpayer). Brilliant.

The WM stockholders got wiped out as expected, and a lot of their employees will get the ax too. And anyone else get the feeling JPMorgan and Goldman Sachs are going to make out just fine after the dust settles and Paulson gets done with us?


WaMu is largest U.S. bank failure

Washington Mutual Inc was closed by the U.S. government in by far the largest failure of a U.S. bank, and its banking assets were sold to JPMorgan Chase & Co for $1.9 billion.

Thursday's seizure and sale is the latest historic step in U.S. government attempts to clean up a banking industry littered with toxic mortgage debt. Negotiations over a $700 billion bailout of the entire financial system stalled in Washington on Thursday.

Washington Mutual, the largest U.S. savings and loan, has been one of the lenders hardest hit by the nation's housing bust and credit crisis, and had already suffered from soaring mortgage losses.

Washington Mutual was shut by the federal Office of Thrift Supervision, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp was named receiver. This followed $16.7 billion of deposit outflows at the Seattle-based thrift since Sept 15, the OTS said.

"With insufficient liquidity to meet its obligations, WaMu was in an unsafe and unsound condition to transact business," the OTS said.

September 25, 2008

HousingPANIC Spooky But Kinda Realistic Quote of the Day

"The whole future of the American economy is in danger"

- John McCain, going all housing panic on us, September 25, 2008

So, if this last, desperate, neutron-bomb housing gambler bailout doesn't work, and it all goes to hell, what's your gameplan?


When I say "goes to hell" I mean, worst-case scenario, worst than 1929 goes-to-hell. Worse than you've ever let yourself imagine.

Take a few minutes, just in case, and think about it.
At least give it some thought. If that happens, what's your plan? Do you have one? Because if this bailout doesn't work (anyone remember the "super SIV"?), it could get quite, well, interesting.

Side note - on an HP'ers recommendation I just finished "Last Light", a peak-oil slash terrorism slash Goldman Sachs/Skull & Bones worst-case-scenario societal-breakdown book set here in the UK and Iraq. Good read. Check it out. Even if you never need to activate your "worst case" plan, it's good to have one.

Don't worry, I'm not getting all survivalist / truther on you. But you have to admit, the headlines these days are unlike anything you've ever seen.


We're spinning out of control. Housing panic is here.

Here's Bush, explaining the pending "financial panic", and how he and his party wrecked America

"Without immediate action by Congress, America could slip into financial panic"

- George W. Bush, the Worst President Ever, who in eight short years wrecked America, September 24, 2008



Panic?

Panic?

WHO MENTIONED PANIC?

OH MY GOD ARE THOSE LINES OUTSIDE THE BANKS?

NOBODY SAW IT COMING!

Nice to see Bush take the blame though. That was real honorable.

Oh, wait, my bad, he didn't take the blame. Deregulation. Ownership society. Incompetence and cronyism at the FBI, SEC, HUD and FDIC. Steering sheeple to buy overpriced homes. Doing nothing until it was too late. Nah, that wasn't him.

Monkeys I tell ya HP'ers. The Democrats too. Monkeys.

And now, thanks to all of them, the housing panic is everywhere.




After the biggest financial bubble in human history, comes, of course, the biggest financial crash. And Hank Paulson played it, and us, like a cello

The key for Paulson and his co-conspirators was to suck as much wealth out of the system as they could on the way up, and then suck as much out of the taxpayer as they could on the way down.

Shameful. And wasn't it so, so nice that the media and the world went along with all of it. The whole big scam. The fleecing of a lifetime.

And we still are.


"This is far and away the strongest global economy I've seen in my business lifetime"


- Goldman Sachs CEO, oops, I mean now US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, July 2007

"We must do so in order to avoid a continuing series of financial institution failures and frozen credit markets that threaten American families' financial well-being, the viability of businesses both small and large, and the very health of our economy"

- Goldman Sachs CEO, oops, I mean now US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, September 2008


Here's Rostropovich. Watch, and while you do, look over to the right at that tan man, and think about it. Think about the whole big con.

My greatest hope is that kids growing up in America today learn a lesson from this debacle.


Their parents' generation partied.

Hookers & cocaine & Hummer H2's & big houses with granite countertops & trips to Jamaica for everyone.

But the kids got stuck with the bill. And it's a big one.


They cared more about video games and MTV cribs and celebrities than their country or their world or their educations.

Their peers got sent off to die in a stupid war, their country got financially raped by a corrupt few, their planet got dirtier and warmer, and the vast majority of them sat on their increasingly-fat asses and let it happen.


And now, they're going to be moving out of their parents' foreclosed McMansions, they're not going to have HELOC money to go to the mall, and they're going to wonder why the big party ended. Now, they may be the first generation of Americans to have a worse lifestyle than their parents.

I hope they learn something from this debacle. Something that changes them to the core. Like the Great Depression generation learned. Save. Work hard. Care about your country and your world. Get a good education or educate yourself. Care about your fellow man. Debt is evil. Materialism is a disease.

The Baby Boomers screwed America. The kids, if they wake up, are the ones who can fix it.

Or not.





Here's Obama and McCain's joint statement on the housing panic

Joint Statement of Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain

The following is a joint statement from Senator Barack Obama and Senator John McCain on the current economic crisis:


_____________________________

The American people are facing a moment of economic crisis. No matter how this began, we all have a responsibility to work through it and restore confidence in our economy. The jobs, savings, and prosperity of the American people are at stake.

“Now is a time to come together – Democrats and Republicans – in a spirit of cooperation for the sake of the American people. The plan that has been submitted to Congress by the Bush Administration is flawed, but the effort to protect the American economy must not fail.

This is a time to rise above politics for the good of the country. We cannot risk an economic catastrophe. Now is our chance to come together to prove that Washington is once again capable of leading this country.

September 24, 2008

FLASH: JOHN MCCAIN, DESPERATE, NOT READY TO DEBATE, AND KNOWING HE IS GOING DOWN TO A CERTAIN LANDSLIDE DEFEAT, SUSPENDS CAMPAIGN


You can't make this sh*t up HP'ers.

McCain, after his party created the biggest financial debacle since the Great Depression, is pulling out all the stops in a desperate and flailing attempt to cover up his and his party's misdeeds.

This one though takes the cake.

(This is so big and so tied to housing that it belongs here on HP, instead of the political blog AmericaPANIC)

McCain, who has run the most desperate, most cynical, most dishonest and most dishonorable campaign for president in modern American history, is now supposedly taking the high-road. Yeah, right. If you believe that America, then you truly are a ship of fools.

So HP calls McCain's bluff. If the economics and morals-challenged McCain REALLY cared about America more than he cares about himself, he'd step aside, right now, tonight, and return to the Senate. He'd drop his incompetent and in-over-her-head joke of a running mate Sarah Palin, and recommend that his party go with a true fiscal conservative outsider and reformer as the GOP nominee in 2008.

Michael Bloomberg

With Mitt Romney or Rob Portman as the VP.

Then, and only then, will we have a race on our hands. Then, and only then, will McCain reclaim his legacy.

McCain suspends campaign, Obama plans to continue

NEW YORK (CNN) -- Republican presidential candidate John McCain announced Wednesday that he is suspending his campaign to return to Washington and focus on the "historic" crisis facing the U.S. economy.

McCain said it was time for both parties to come together to solve economic crisis.

Democratic rival Sen. Barack Obama in a news conference later Wednesday said that he and McCain had spoken by phone and had agreed to issue a joint statement about shared principles in the approach to resolving the economic crisis.

But he disagreed with McCain's call for postponing Friday's first presidential debate in Oxford, Mississippi.

"It's my belief that this is exactly the time when the American people need to hear from the person will be the next president," Obama said. "It is going to be part of the president's job to deal with more than one thing at once. It's more important than ever to present ourselves to the American people."

Regarding McCain's call to join him in Washington to help participate in the debate over the economic recovery plan, Obama said: "I will be anywhere at any time," he said. "If you need us I'll be there."

Obama called McCain early Wednesday morning to ask for a joint statement, a McCain senior advisor said.

An Obama campaign source confirmed the call and said that McCain returned his call six hours later, and accepted the concept and suggested the two of them return to Washington to join the negotiations. The source says that Obama told him that he would do that only if negotiators saw it as useful.

According to the Obama source, soon after they ended the call, McCain announced he was suspending his campaign and returning to Washington.

FLASH: George Bush, The Worst President in the History of the US, to crawl out of his cave to tell people housing has crashed and he screwed the pooch


Hi.

I'm George W. Bush.

I f*cked up.

I, and my party, wrecked America.

Sorry.

My bad.

But a big thank you to the Democrats, and the voters, for allowing me to get away with it.

Good night. And good luck.

Bush to address nation tonight on economy woes

WASHINGTON - President Bush readied a prime time speech to the nation and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson accepted a major change in legislation for a $700 billion bailout of the financial industry on Wednesday as the administration scrambled to prevent further deterioration in the economy.

Republican officials said that Paulson had bowed to demands from critics in both parties to limit the pay packages of executives whose companies benefit from the proposed bailout. They spoke on condition of anonymity because Paulson's decision had not been formally announced.

White House officials said Bush's speech would dwell on the financial crisis.

HousingPANIC Stupid Question of the Day

So how are all the housing porn shows dealing with the housing crash? Or are they?




Bonus: Do you still watch them, in a sick and twisted way knowing what you know now?

NBC Nightly News: "Rage over Federal Bail-Out Boils Over"



Oh, trust me, they ain't seen nothin' yet.

SCREW YOU HANK PAULSON. YOU ARE NOT THE KING OF THE UNITED STATES. WE KNOW WHO YOU ARE. WE KNOW WHERE YOU'RE FROM. WE KNOW WHAT YOUR GOAL IS / WAS.

There will be a housing bust government program. A "RTC2". But it won't be as Paulson and Goldman Sachs wanted. It won't be the limitless credit card with no oversight.

It better not be.


HANK PAULSON EXPOSED!!! Rep. Peter Defazio - "We should not be rolled by a Wall Street exec who is masquerading as the Secretary of the Treasury"



Finally.

Some OUTRAGE by one of the monkeys in DC.

Too bad it won't matter.

The looting of America by Hank Paulson, George Bush, Alan Greenspan, Chris Dodd and Goldman Sachs will happen.

The nation got gamed.

Plan accordingly.

Good discussion on the bailout with Matthews, Pearlstein and Cramer



Cramer is salivating at a bailout. At the same time he's panicked if the package doesn't go through.

Hmmm...

Wonder why?


Get on record HP'ers - is this bailout going through?

And then China's Communist Party paper threw the United States under the bus, and called for a new world order that doesn't rely on the dollar or US


From "The People's Daily", the official newspaper of China's ruling Communist Party:

"The eruption of the U.S. sub-prime crisis has exposed massive loopholes in the United States' financial oversight and supervision."

"The world urgently needs to create a diversified currency and financial system and fair and just financial order that is not dependent on the United States."

(Its pronouncements do not necessarily directly reflect leadership views, but this commentary by a professor at Shanghai's Tongji University suggested considerable official alarm at the strains buckling world financial markets.)

Independent Senator Bernie Sanders calls Larry Kudlow a Socialist



It is an interesting version of Socialism. Give the government's money to the banks and the rich.

Meanwhile, with Senators like Sanders and Bunning against this bailout, how will it pass?

September 23, 2008

"We were close to bank lines in this country". Yup. Gee. Imagine that. Oh, no, we didn't see that coming.

And guess what?

Bank lines we shall have.

SPECIAL THREAD - LIVE BLOGGING THE HOUSINGPANIC SENATE HEARINGS WITH DODD, BERNANKE AND PAULSON CURRENTLY STREAMING LIVE ON CNN.COM


Bernanke basically says if we don't do the Paulson giveaway, the end of the world as we know it will come.

Dodd kisses the ring. Thinking about that sweet deal he got from Angelo Mozilo from Countrywide.

Paulson has a big sh*t eating grin on his face, knowing that Goldman Sachs is gonna make out bigtime.

More in the comments...

HousingPANIC Classic Quote of the Day

"The impact on the broader economy and financial markets of the problems in the subprime markets seems likely to be contained"

- Ben Bernanke, Idiot, March 2007

HousingPANIC Stupid Question of the Day


Has your impression of the United States of America changed for the worse over the past 12 months?

How to channel your bailout RAGE HP'ers: Demand that Senator Jim Bunning, who is 100% against this Paulson/Goldman Sachs looting, stand up and fight


People are asking what to do.

Some want to march on Washington.

Many are calling their corrupted Congressmen and Senators.

But I think we need a laser-targeted attack for now. So here's what to do:

1) Phone and email Senator Jim Bunning and demand that he filibuster Paulson's outrage.

He can stand against the madness. He's really the only one standing up right now. Send him a cot. Send him some Red Bull. And tell him that the future of American democracy and the free market is in his hands.


If Bunning doesn't stand up and fight, if he doesn't filibuster this debacle, then you'll know they got to Bunning too, that he's as corrupted as the rest of 'em, and that you should then give up on America.

Use this contact form
Call him at 202.224.4343
Fax him at 202.228.1373
Send a letter or visit 316 Hart Senate Office Building, Washington, DC 20510
Visit or take over his Kentucky office at 1717 Dixie Highway Suite 220, Ft. Wright, KY 41011

Here's some thoughts for your letter or communication. Copy and paste and make it your own:

Senator Bunning

Thank you for speaking out against taxpayer bailouts for banks and speculators who gambled on housing and lost. It is your patriotic duty to stand up to this outrage. I am asking you to personally filibuster any additional taxpayer bailouts for housing gamblers that come to the Senate floor. There is an army of fed-up taxpayers out here, who are ready to give up on the Republican party forever if you do not stand up now. Please do the right thing, and stop this. America is depending on you.


In addition, to hedge our bet, we need to get to the MSM in DC. Here's how:

2) A reporter for the Washington Post has given HP'ers time in the past. So let's let her know what the taxpayers are feeling, so that the monkeys in the Capitol read it over their morning coffee before they go out and give Paulson a trillion of our dollars.

Contact Renae Merle
The Washington Post
phone: 202-334-7446
merler@washpost.com
Or write: The Washington Post, 1150 15th Street, NW, Washington, D.C. 20071

Here's Jim Bunning on bailouts. So let's see if he'll do something about this one - the Hank Paulson Fleecing of America Act of 2008.

In the Senate, it only takes one. One with courage. One who will stand up and be counted. One who will take on his own misguided party, and launch a rebellion for the ages.


That man is Jim Bunning. Attack HP'ers. With everything you've got.

Bunning Declares The Free Market Dead

Washington, DC
Friday, September 19, 2008

U.S. Senator Jim Bunning today issued the following statement regarding the Treasury Department’s bailout of Wall Street.

"Instead of celebrating the Fourth of July next year Americans will be celebrating Bastille Day; the free market for all intents and purposes is dead in America," said Bunning.

"The action proposed today by the Treasury Department will take away the free market and institute socialism in America. The American taxpayer has been mislead throughout this economic crisis. The government on all fronts has failed the American people miserably.

"My great grandchildren will be saddled with the estimated $1 trillion debt left in the wake of this proposal. We have gotten to this point because nobody has been minding the store. Both Secretary Paulson and Chairman Bernanke should be held accountable for their inaction – and now because of that inaction – the American taxpayer is left with bill.

"We must take care of Main Street. Small businesses in Ashland, Bowling Green, and Paducah are hurting because of high taxes, and energy costs. Those small businesses are the economic engines that fuel our economy. I hope in the closing days of this Congress we can pass legislation to help those good people on Main Street rather than helping the power brokers on Wall Street."

And here's how to filibuster, in case Bunning has forgotten:

In current practice, Senate Rule 22 permits filibusters in which actual continuous floor speeches are not required, although the Senate Majority Leader may require an actual traditional filibuster if he or she so chooses. This threat of a filibuster can therefore be as powerful as an actual filibuster. Previously, the filibustering senator(s) could delay voting only by making an endless speech. Currently, they need only indicate that they are filibustering, thereby preventing the Senate from moving on to other business until the motion is withdrawn or enough votes are gathered for cloture.

Preparations for a filibuster can be very elaborate. Sometimes cots are brought into the hallways or cloakrooms for senators to sleep on. According to Newsweek, "They used to call it 'taking to the diaper,' a phrase that referred to the preparation undertaken by a prudent senator before an extended filibuster. Strom Thurmond visited a steam room before his filibuster in order to dehydrate himself so he could drink without urinating. An aide stood by in the cloakroom with a pail in case of emergency."

September 22, 2008

Ho hum, another day, another stock market and dollar meltdown. When does American Idol start up again?

Get out your crystal balls HP'ers, and be realistic:

1) Are you buying, selling or holding

2) What's the rest of the year and 2009 look like?

3) What stocks do you like?

4) What stocks do you hate?

5) Where's the safest place for your money?

6) Are you thinking about heading to the bunker or moving overseas to ride this sucker out?




Denninger speaks truth to power. Power could give a sh*t.

HP Presents: The American housing market meets collaterized debt obligations and unregulated shadow banking, 2002 - 2007

The taxpayers will be out trillions. The REIC CEO's pocketed hundreds of millions. Time to jail the bastards,and go after their ill-gotten gains



Arresting the former CEOs of Countrywide, Indymac, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, WaMu, First Federal and so many more should be included in the Hank Paulson Goldman Sachs Bailout Bill of 2008.

Arrest them. Sue them. Fine them. Make them plea.

This will happen HP'ers, it's only a question of when. Just like Ken Lay and Bernie Ebbers before them, the likes of Angelo Mozilo and Michael Perry will eventually be brought to justice. And they will pay. And with a little luck, so will Chris Dodd too.


Sue Them, Jail Them, Make Them Pay for Meltdown


Sept. 19 (Bloomberg) -- As it stands, the rest of us will be paying much money over a long time for the greed and bad judgment of those who melted down the economy.

Hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars are propping up firms that a relative few money lenders and Wall Street wizards ruined.

The real kick in the teeth is that the executives who inflicted all this financial pain, who forced unprecedented government takeovers, walk away with hundreds of millions of dollars. It's up to us -- innocent little us -- to dig into our pockets, into our futures and into our children's futures to fix their spectacular errors.

Stanley O'Neal took a $161 million package last year when he left Merrill Lynch & Co. (remember Merrill Lynch?), even without a severance package in the mix. Angelo Mozilo, founder and top executive at Countrywide Financial Corp., reaped almost $122 million during 2007 in stock options alone.

For a mere three months at the helm of American International Group Inc., Chief Executive Officer Robert Willumstad gets a $7 million package.

Toss the rascals in jail. Criminal prosecution allows the government to seize ill-gotten gains. Snip the straps off those golden parachutes and grab them. Take over bank accounts, investment accounts, mansions, private planes and yachts.

HousingPANIC Quote of the Day


"As we get to the other side of this, the dollar will get crushed"

- John Taylor, chairman of New York-based International Foreign Exchange Concepts, the world's biggest currency hedge-fund firm

September 21, 2008

This one is for all those realtors reading "The Secret", hoping against hope that the housing bubble comes back


Luke 16:13 (NIV) "No servant can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."

Heb 13:5 (RSV) "Keep your life free from the love of money, and be content with what you have."

1 Sam 2:7 (NIV) The Lord sends poverty and wealth; he humbles and he exalts.

Luke 14:33 (Phi) "Only the man who says goodbye to all his possessions can be my disciple."

Mat 6:24 (NIV) "No one can serve two masters. Either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will be devoted to the one and despise the other. You cannot serve both God and Money."

Job 31:24-25,28 (NIV) [Job:] "If I have put my trust in gold or said to pure gold, 'You are my security,' if I have rejoiced over my great wealth, the fortune my hands had gained... then these also would be sins to be judged, for I would have been unfaithful to God on high."

Jer 9:23-24 (NAS) Thus says the Lord, "Let not a wise man boast of his wisdom... let not a rich man boast of his riches, but let him who boasts boast about this, that he understands and knows Me... "

HousingPANIC Quote of the Day

"What we are witnessing may be the greatest destruction of financial wealth that the world has ever seen -- paper losses measured in the trillions of dollars."

-Steven Pearlstein, Washington Post, "How to Clean Up a Category 4 Financial Storm," September 18, 2008

(be afraid folks. be very afraid.)