America is about to be legally stolen from the people, and given to a very small group of powerful men.
Yes, HP can be a bit dramatic sometimes.
This is not one of those sometimes.
The Patriot Act of Finance, otherwise known as Paulson's $700 billion bailout bill, if passed in its present form will be the nail in the coffin for an America by, for and of the people.
Just like the Patriot Act appeared to be written before 9/11, so does this Patriot Act of Finance appear to be written before the housing crash. And yes, both were rushed through a panicked Congress and complacent media in the middle of the night.
A nation founded by the people, for the people will be given to a very select group of bankers. Legally. Without a shot fired. Because Americans were too distracted and too dumb to know what was going on.
Brilliant.
Here's how it will be done:
1) The key line in the proposed bill is this one:
"The Secretary's authority to purchase mortgage-related assets under this Act shall be limited to 700,000,000,000 dollars outstanding at any one time"
What this does is give Hank Paulson, acting as an emperor with unchecked control over the nation's treasury, a $700 billion line of credit in which he can buy up toxic debt for whatever price he'd like to pay, $700 billion at a time.
In other words - he could buy trillions. Trillions and trillions and trillions. Buying and selling, buying and selling.
He can sell the junk he buys from his banker friends for whatever price he wants, saddling the taxpayers with the loss. He keeps this process going, using his $700 billion credit card. Buy for 60 cents on the dollar, sell for 30 cents on the dollar. Buy for 80 cents on the dollar, sell for 5 cents on the dollar. He's in charge.
$700 billion folks IS JUST THE LINE OF CREDIT. He can purchase trillions and trillions of bad debt with this credit card, as long as only $700 billion is OUTSTANDING at any one time.
2) Hank Paulson, CEO of Goldman Sachs on leave, has complete and total control over the nation's treasure. He would be unchecked by Congress, unchecked by the President. He will be king. Here's the text:
"The Secretary is authorized to take such actions as the Secretary deems necessary to carry out the authorities in this Act, including, without limitation"
Using this power, Hank Paulson of Goldman Sachs could pay Goldman Sachs anything he wanted for their mortgage assets. Let's say the market value was 20 cents on the dollar. Hank Paulson could pay them 100 cents on the dollar. Its his decision and his alone. No oversight. No limitations. Hank Paulson could simply give the nation's treasure to Goldman Sachs.
Get it now?
3) Deputizing the banks and investment banks as "agents of the government". Seriously. Here's the text:
"Designating financial institutions as financial agents of the Government, and they shall perform all such reasonable duties related to this Act as financial agents of the Government as may be required of them"
4) Have no outside control over the firesale of assets and loss to the taxpayer. Again, Hank Paulson and Hank Paulson alone shall be in control. No auditors. No oversight. No multiple bids. No nothing. Hank Paulson and Hank Paulson alone. Here you go:
"Sale of Mortgage-Related Assets. The Secretary may, at any time, upon terms and conditions and at prices determined by the Secretary, sell, or enter into securities loans, repurchase transactions or other financial transactions in regard to, any mortgage-related asset purchased under this Act."
5) Hank Paulson has final say. Hank Paulson knows what's best. Hank Paulson cannot be reversed. Hank Paulson cannot be sued. Hank Paulson is king.
"Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency"
So, what can you do? Normally here I'd say contact your corrupt Congressman or Senator. Contact the media. But folks, Congress has been bought. The media have been bought.
The American people have lost.
Deal with it.
So unless there's rage in the street, which there won't be - the new Fall TV season is starting - it's over. They win. In eight short years, they took everything they wanted. And nobody could stop them.
The only hope, for the hopeful? That we can run out the clock, and this bill doesn't pass until Bush and Paulson are gone. But if that's the case, and the bill does pass after January 2009, then the question is - who do you trust more - the outsider or the insider. And with this much on the line, will the outsider be allowed to win?
If this bill does pass ASAP, well, then watch Paulson get busy with his new credit card as fast as he can. He only has four more months. He'll be buying up crap as fast as he can in a desperate and reckless orgy of greed.
Regardless of how this plays out, prepare the best you can. Know what is happening in your former country, and do what is best for you and your family to survive.
I'm off to go find my tin foil hat now. I'm not usually one for conspiracy theories.
Until now.
September 21, 2008
The end of America as you knew it is at hand. It was a good 232 year run. But it is about to be stolen in the night.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
120 comments:
Dear Senator XXXXXX:
I am writing in very deep concern over the Wall Street Bailout Act, currently entitled as "LEGISLATIVE PROPOSAL FOR TREASURY AUTHORITY TO PURCHASE MORTGAGE-RELATED ASSETS".
This is, to say the least, a deeply troubling bill. Specifically:
1. There is little to no oversight. Furthermore, section 8 ensures that any oversight is crippled from the start, as it states, and I quote from the text of the act: "Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency."
2. The floating amount controlled by the Secretary of the Treasury is $700B is effectively a blank check as there is no hard limit.
3. It appears that the power of the Secretary extends to no-bid contracts.
4. It provides no restoration of the provisions of the Glass-Steagall Act, modernized or otherwise, that were stripped away by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. It does absolutely nothing to change the fundamental problems that led us to this situation.
I strongly urge you to vote against this bill. I know that we need to prevent the complete disintegration of our economy, but this is not the solution. This is a blank check to the executive; it is the abdication of the financial powers granted to the legislative branch in Article 1, Section 8 of the constitution.
Sincerely,
This is it. We are toast. Don't be fooled by anything these lying morons say. I'm going to start my own blog soon to fully expose these morons who did this. It was people in BOTH parties.
I am so pissed off. I hope you are all ready. Here is what's going to happen.
They will bail them out. Wall St. will soar...will be forgotten about for 2-3 weeks and then the bottom is going to fall out.
400 Trillion in derivatives. There is nothing they can do to stop this. Nothing at all.
If they extent the short ban it could take longer. When they lift that ban...look out below.
Good Luck all and get prepared.
You think bloggers are going to stop anything? If these guys took over the country they sure as hell could pull your plug.
It's not conspiracy. Just the result of 30 years of conservatism in control of the country. The conservatism most of you voted for.
Anonymous is correct.
Another "bail-out" which does nothing but saddle tax-payers with more debt - debt which cannot be paid back.
Anonymous said...
This is it. We are toast. Don't be fooled by anything these lying morons say. I'm going to start my own blog soon to fully expose these morons who did this. It was people in BOTH parties.
I am so pissed off. I hope you are all ready. Here is what's going to happen.
They will bail them out. Wall St. will soar...will be forgotten about for 2-3 weeks and then the bottom is going to fall out.
400 Trillion in derivatives. There is nothing they can do to stop this. Nothing at all.
If they extent the short ban it could take longer. When they lift that ban...look out below.
Good Luck all and get prepared.
As an American, I am getting tired of being blamed for "allowing our Congress people to get away with it!".
As if I have any F***ing control over our Corrupt Congress Critters!
The media everywhere, especially internationally are having a field day blaming us US citizens for allowing our Gov't to screw us over like this! Like we actually voted for this, or something!
DON'T BLAME ME!, I didn't vote for any of these SOBs, and I don't support what they are doing, or I mean Screwing, to all of us.
We, the American People are as horrified as anyone about what is going on. But we did not and do not approve of what the PTB are doing to "protect us" from themselves.
Let us place the blame squarely where it lies: Corrupt Politicians who are engaging in Political Payback for those crooks who have financed their election!
The average American is just as pissed off and horrified by what we see going on, as the rest of the world is!
Blame the Corrupt Crooks, not the people who are getting shafted!
Yes, the voters had and have control over Congress, the Senate and the President.
And they willingly gave them the power to rob them.
Why?
Because half of Americans are dumb, and easily distracted by bullsh*t issues like abortion and gay marriage.
This was a coup by the few, voted for by the masses.
An interesting chapter in world history for sure.
Very much along the same line and extremely sober to be frank scary analysis of the treasuries actions and political medium term implications:
http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/584-The-Potential-End-Of-Americas-Government.html
It's worth pointing out that that $700 billion will be created out of thin air by the Federal Reserve. That's $700 billion of additional inflation.
Since the federal government is financing all of its unconstitutional activities by merely inflating the unconstitutional fiat currency, taxation is now basically irrelevant. The only purpose of the IRS is to provide a means to harass and intimidate the public.
we basically have a rouge trader with access to the entire treasury making buy and sell calls with everyone's money
insanity is an understatement
"CONTROL OF ELECTIONS, DECLARATION OF MARTIAL LAW, and FASCISM WITH A FRIENDLY FEMININE FACE: The power elite entertain and divert us with a non-serious circus-like election process. The government and the capitalist elite can then ignore the plunder of our planet home, ignore our lack of jobs, ignore our hunger, ignore our illnesses, and ignore our needy old ages. We employees are in effect placed into wage slavery if we have any jobs at all. If we riot, we are placed in detention camps. If we starve nobody in control cares. If we march and protest at political conventions, we are arrested as terrorists.
http://tinyurl.com/3kp4p4
what if this bill is a GOP political stunt, october suprise?
If there is a crash and no bill, then it is the democrates fault for destroying the financial system.
The democrates would not let the bill pass in time, so the whole thing is thier fault, McCain wins.
Jersey Girl
Thanks for your insights, Keith.
I am from the Third World. This smells exactly like what happened/happens in these countries. Shame on Americans (lowest IQ animals) to have masquandered Global Savings and cheated the whole World.
BWA HA HA HA HA HA
How's your plan of stuffing money under the mattress and renting going now HPers?
Dow will be at 15K by the end of the year. By the time this is all said and done, mortgage rates will be frozen for everyone and tons of mortgage debt will be forgiven. And with the oncoming inflation, it will be moot anyway since the $500K mortgage of today will be the equivalent of $100K in a few years.
And your precious "cash is king" will be worthless.
DOPES!
So I am still confused as to what this means exactly.
I get that he will have money to buy the bad debt. But what does that mean in terms of the nuts and bolts of it? Will Paulson now end up buying the 10 million empty homes all across the country?
Or if not, is the plan then to sell off the bad debt to someone else? But if that's the case, why do we need a 3rd party for this? Why not have the 2 parties - selling bank and buying bank - just do the transaction themselves.
I'm not much of a finance guy so this is all Greek to me. I do however know enough to realize that one way or another I, as a responsible taxpayer who didn't live beyond my means is getting fucked over at the expense of people who were irresponsible.
And I am livid. I'm only 1/2 kidding when I say I feel like rushing out to buy a house with $0 down and not make a dime in payments. Maybe Paulson will buy me out too.
Fuck I'm pissed off!!
Keith- you are in rare form again! luv the blog again too!
To HPers-
C'mon guy and and all of those beautful smart women of hp who come here to get insight or vent frustration about on coming collaspe of the beautiful country called the United States of America. The word united means nothing in america. We are not united and people don't give a shit about anything except whats for dinner and what's on tv. People I have tried to speak to purposely do not want to talk about this shit at all! Nobody wants to hear it and if I say anything to anyone I actually care about they look at me like I have no life, or I am a negative person! My point is it is not COOL! to talk about this stuff. To talk about this stuff makes people think I am negative and stale for personality! It's cool to talk about the biggest loser family though. How ironic!! Biggest Loser is what people want to talk about!! I hope Dancing With The Stars is not on the same night as the biggest loser!! What will i do then! This is what is important to the sheep!! No I know has the energy I have or the desire to succeed or dream big anything like that. People are so easily content with thier stupid little lives!! I wish people were more like us!! There are only so many people who actually care about things today! It is not cool to care about anything except material things which are advertised on TV. I am 35 but I feel older than that because I know the tv is evil!! I mushes the brain of the retarded to new levels and only the retarded are breeding here on a regular basis. I don't have kids because I can't afford them! Can't feed them don't breed them!! I wish everyone thought like me!! Instead we have 3-4 generation on section 8 housing with more breeding going on at the lowest level. Finally, America was one great gigantic experiment to see if it would work after we started to try bring up the slaves into our modern society!! If we didn't have slaves in the 1st place or if we still had slaves we would not have this problem. Keith I need your back up on this please! Where else in the world besides america where people live in a country with an attitude that the poor people especially blacks have the attitude of entitlement because they are black? Or the corporations who want to profit on illegal immigration and bi-langual everything here in south florida! All this does is separate us instead of unite! United States use to be the best and every one knew it and they know we can't make a god damn thing right anymore. Cars are my example! I love cars and I go to classic car shows all of the time to see americas best makes back at the time when made in usa meant something proud! It meant people in factories in pittsburgh made the best steel they possibly could so the people in michigan at gm could make the best possible cars with the best possible materials. They wanted to make sure they were doing their best because people were looking out for each other back then. It's not like that now!It's all about me and my $$$$!!!
lil waynes "got money" is an example on the radio right now playing 25 times a day on the black station!!
Since we're paying for it anyway, why not go all the way and nationalize the whole kit and caboodle? If they want to "act as agents of the government", that means they work for *us*. Ultimately, we can steer our tax money to things We The People want and need.
The system is broken - this is a chance for reform and alternatives.
I just sent something to my senators' web sites, but will send the first post as a hard-copy follow-up.
American Dreampuff
keith said:
"Yes, the voters had and have control over Congress, the Senate and the President."
The voters only have the power to choose who takes the seat, not what they do during his/her term in office. A Senator gets six years to do whatever he/she pleases without any recourse. With the exception of Ron Paul and maybe a handful of others, all of Washington are slimeballs who won't seriously consider letters from their constituents unless there's a campaign donation in the envelope.
Moreover, the election system's been perverted to the point where almost without exception the challengers to these slimeballs are equally slimy. If Kerry were elected in 2004, there wasn't much he could realistically do about Iraq for a couple of years and I think he would have been at least as quick as Bush to bail out the investment banks as well as the FB's directly. The same holds true at the Congressional level, where it's tough to find choices that don't have a "(R)" or a "(D)" following their names on the ballot. Furthermore, the two parties have rigged the system in most states where it's becoming even more difficult for an independent or third party can even get a candidate on a ballot.
Instantly replacing all 435 members of the House (and the 34 or so Senators up for election this time) with their challengers from the opposite party in November isn't going to change much. Most of them would quickly find sources for "campaign contributions" and morph their positions away from what got them into office. Similarly, I think the "change" that Obama would bring is only window dressing compared to what really needs to be done, though he's certainly the lesser of the two proverbial evils.
While voting out the incumbents needs to be done, there's not going to be substantial change in this country until a third party becomes a legitimate threat to win seats in Congress and the presidency. That's the only reason real change happened at the beginning of the 20th century. Unless this threat comes bottom-up from the states, you're just going to see more pork-for-pork deals in the budget and more divvying of the middle class's wealth between the poor (welfare) and the rich (sweetheart tax breaks and contracts).
As you point out, the minor issues like abortion and gun control are all that separate the two parties. Until an outsider can seriously promise (threaten from the Rep/Dem perspective) to bring substantive change to Washington, the bleeding's going to continue. It's time people in their states to start this movement, because it sure isn't going to start from inside the Beltway.
I'm still not sure that we won't see a Depression this year. Those troops in Iraq will have to come home. No more money for them to be there.
BTW, I haven't read one post yet from "Frank I Hate Scottsdale". I wonder how Mr. Republican Businessman and his gold digging whore will fare during the Bush Depression?
You guys don't get it.The sheeple don't care about the govt bailing out anyone.All they care about is if the stock market goes up.They are out shopping at walmart this weekend because the market rallied on the news of a bailout.So the sheeple think this is good.their 401k's will go up and they will feel richer.that is the way the sheeple think.You are getting way to complicated.
They want the govt to stop their house from going down even though the market has already told some that it was 50% overvalued.Look at sacramento and phoenix.I have seen 60% haircuts folks.Elk grove is a disaster.Starter homes were selling for over 200k in queen creek and maricopa and now they are starting from 80k, really.Their have been 60% haircuts my friends.So now it is the govt's duty to save your home value.They are going to buy all those liar loans from wamu and cwide so americans can sleep easy at night.All those dumbshits who heloced thier house to death will be glorified for supporting the economy.The govt will give them another loan so they can get another house.What a f@cking joke this administration is.
Good morning, comrades.
Relax Keith.
The RTC worked just fine. I used to receive the weekly sheet from the RTC in the early 90s. There were newish apartment buildings going for $5,000/unit in Dallas and other assorted deals.
There will be opportunity in these uncertain times.
And from a previous thread...no, I do not feel dirty from my long positions. I am, however, feeling skittish...LOL.
Best of luck to all!!!!
This is horrifying. At least they could put in a few common sense clauses instead of unlimited, unchecked power for Paulson:
1) Treasury gets extremely dilutive warrants from any bank that touches this facility. This is what happened at AIG: the taxpayers may lose a lot of money, but at least Wall Street's profit from the scheme is minimized and the taxpayers get something back in a best-case scenario.
2) Executive compensation is capped at any bank that touches this facility. Nobody makes more than 10x or 20x the median employee, and no more stock options. Maybe even a clawback for ill-gotten gains during the bubble. Executives don't go along? Push them out.
3) A huge new program for the Justice Department to prosecute mortgage fraud and securities fraud for everyone that caused this problem, from Angelo Mozilo and investment bankers all the way down to speculators who committed fraud on their loan applications.
Keith said:
The American people have lost.
I am tired of the whole "American's as Victims" bullcrap. We haven't lost. We GAVE it away while watching HGTV and day dreaming about granite and hickory 24/7. Who cares if the Americans all live in tent cities? Not me. Not anymore.
JaneZ
This reminds me several years ago...as I was trying to decide which housing blog to follow. I wrote a piece how I sold a 5000sq ft Greek Revival stone house in Houston in 1991(?) for $80,000. Yes it needed repairs, but it was a cool house. My employer had received the property from a failed S&L we purchased. Anyway the blogger thought I was a liar and did not print it. Keith always printed whatever I write...after rolling his eyes, I presume!
My biggest fear of this entire debacle is the marriage of the investment banks and commercial banks...effectively allowing the IBs use of our checking accts, savings accts and CDs...just like the roaring 20s.
Keith,
Why don't you crucify Obama and the democrats for trying to add more assistence to home debtors? What a joke. How about some assistance to renters for once? Are homeowners a privileged class in this country like Wall St?
We are the worker bees.
Mission accomplished.......
1) Establish agenda
2) Cause/allow crisis to unfold
3) During ensuing chaos unveil "rescue plan"
4) Gain absolute power
5) Proceed with agenda
9/11 and Financial Crisis - premeditated power grabs during time of chaos.
The facade of democracy is gone. We are now owned by a small elite group of vicious greedy maggots who are accountable only to themselves.
Does anyone think the election is anything but a sideshow for the fools who still think the "political process" amounts to anything?
If so, I have some RE to sell you.....
One step closer to the "Amero" and the "North American Union".
The Bush administration has always had a Globalist agenda.
I said it keith...The next plan is the Amero. We will be boardless with Mexico and Canada. It was done by Criminal Insane Bush and administration in 2005. CNN Lou Dobbs was screaming it..Nobody Listen.
Criminal Congress What the Fuck. Nancy Pelosi should be fired as all of them.
Ron Paul Ron Paul Ron Paul.
This is truly disturbing.
I knew in my life time America would turn into Mexico. I knew it.
Bush Best Friend from Mexico.....
Keith What can we do?
Really. I am a man in my 70's My life is coming to an end, but I worry for my children and Grandchildren.
Look at Europe....Its not like we will be boardless with Beautiful Countries like Italy or Spain. Its Mexico for God's sake.
Where is the Outrage. This 150 year old bank was a scheme. It was a plan. And the Rothschilds and other Banking families won.
My friends read your Bible, doesn't sould crazy after all.
You don't want to have Chimi-Chang-Ahhs for lunch do you?
If I am elected it will be Summer every day.
Vote for Summer.
Realistically, Paulson isn't even limited to $700 billion. All he has to do is raise the spectre of financial meltdown, and Congress will give him whatever he asks for. And if he did spend more than $700 billion at one time, how would anyone even know? He will keep printing money for his rich buddies until the dollar collapses. And you can bet they are investing in commodities and foreign currencies.
Looks to me like its only going to get worse. Dictator Bush doesnt seem to care. God help us if his little "mini-me" McBush wins in November!
Jiff
www.FireMe.To/udi
I am pissed at our masters in the g'ment, more so than usual after reading this!
As hard as it might be for some to believe, we are witnessing the death of the American dream. That patient was in critical condition and died last week. The new system replacing it will be serfs supporting the Kings and Queens of this once great country.
Neither party is mine, I hate the Jackass and I am pretty much disgusted by the elephant. Get ready, the collapse is coming. We are doomed, get on your knees and pray, buy ammo and gold, hoard canned snapper turtle, put on your tinfoil hats. Collapse is imminent.
-SRI
Let us know what Blog you are going to start to expose these criminals all of them democrat and Repubican. My beef with Republicans is that they New Bush was criminal, no one stood up against him. They defended him over and over in the media. Sean Hannity was given a gift of 100 million dollars in a radio contract for his loyalty. Bill Oreilly, Rush, Ann Coulter, that other Blond Bitch I can't remember her name. They all use Religion, abortion, hate towards Gays to brainwash the ignorant and dumb.
I blame the Media first they did not do their job to inform americans. They gave their opinion not the Facts.
I blame the media. Guess what folks If the Tv is garbage I will save myself 100.00 a month and cancel. I get my news from the internet....I am sorry everything but Keith and Rachel Maddow is bullshit. Larry king sits backs and says nothing when these spin meisters are reporting the lies, he says nothing.
People beleive it.
I do like Cnn lou Dobbs, folks he was reporting the truth.
We are Mexico Amero.
http://www.consumeraffairs.com/news04/2008/09/fdic_wva.html
FDIC Seizes West Virginia Bank, More Likely to Follow
More than 100 banks on agency's troubled list
September 21, 2008
One word: dual-citizenship. Get it. If you don't have it, then get another citizenship and ditch this one.
For the first time in 10 years, Keith is right. It's game over.
What in the hell is going on here????
Huh?
Can I still get cheezdoodles on sale at Wal-Mart?
I love Sarah Palin's legs, btw.
You missed the whopper in section 8.
Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.
< nsadisclaimer > The following is purely conjecture and in no way constitutes a call to action or condoning of said action. It is for discussional purposes only. < /nsadisclaimer >
How long until some "nut" pulls a Lee Harvy Oswald. "We regret to inform you that your 'credit card account' has been cancelled due to non-payment."
What kind of protection do you think Paulson has on a daily basis? Do you think it has increased in light of recent events?
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, trying to remedy the biggest U.S. financial crisis in decades, said on Sunday, "I wouldn't bet against the long-term fundamentals of this country."
Becuase you can't bet against them. Because Paulson outlawed betting against 799 stocks. What an A**hole.
GT Charlie
Knowing us Americans, I think we're heading, quickly, down the path toward that TV show "Jericho".
It's not something I want to see happen, but the break up of America is probable.
I and others believe in America, but far too many of our so called leaders have completely given up on our American project.
If you study our history, it is clear that people invested everything they had to make this country what it WAS. Not enough people give a shit anymore. So it is.
The world will go on, but America, as we knew, will not.
Burger king is having a sale for .99 cent whoppers here in phoenix.You should see the lines of sheeple.
New builder here is offering 50 gas card for application.You get a 42" plasma if you buy.so they want to give me 1000.00 in gifts to overpay by 50 grand.I can get a forclosed house 50 grand cheaper then their new pos.They say that you get a warranty with the new home.If they stood behind quality they would not be selling based on a warranty.They are still looking for sheeple here.Get in line for your 50 dollar gas card.
Sorry anon 4:19, the scumbags are one step ahead of you. Congress passed a "Exit Tax" recently. If you give up your American citizenship, the US will levy a (large) tax on your worldwide assets. Of course, you can still work overseas in a country with a functioning economy, but of course you'll need to pay US taxes.
Sounds as if someone knew a lot of Americans were going to flee the country, doesn't it? My, how could they have known the economic collapse was coming, almost like it was planned or something.
How long until some "nut" pulls a Lee Harvy Oswald. "We regret to inform you that your 'credit card account' has been cancelled due to non-payment."
Are you kidding me? I can't believe it hasn't happened already. It's only a matter of time till some of these traitors get whacked. Maybe all the nuts are still trying out for American Idle.
Um, I think America Panic is bleeding over to your Housing Panic blog. Please keep them separated. Excellent breakdown of the proposed bailout bill, but in this case, politics is a big distraction from what's really going on. Parties pointing fingers at each other keeps people from realizing what just happened. It's your "American Idol De Jour."
If you look at mainstream comments to bailout articles, the public is uneasy, but still largely clueless. They think that this was done to appease the "wealthy." The truly wealthy won't be the ones in soup lines if this whole thing falls apart.
The US has taken a unprecedented step in risking solvency to try and protect the public's confidence in the banking system. The alternative was to allow the deleveraging to bring money velocity to a standstill.
At this point, it is more important to understand where we might go from here than to call names. It will be a sad day, but this bill will likely pass. It is reactionary legislation.
Funny you mention the short sale restriction above.
When will people realize the real world isn't Lake Woebegon (that mythical Minnesotan city in Garrison Keillor's world), where all the children are above average and everyone owns stocks which only increase (which is what the short selling restrictions are foolishly hoping to accomplish)?
Of course, this place cannot exist: every child can't be ABOVE average, as it ignores the very definition of what it means to be 'average'.
This fallacy (the "Lake Wobegon Syndrome") was fueled when we had Greenspan praising the 'miracle' of those fancy CDOs (which were hard-to-understand, and probably why he liked them so much!). These financial miracles seemingly allowed banks to turn water into wine, and were the innovation that allowed all of these financial modern miracles to occur.
Ironic, as some 40 years ago Greenspan wrote in his PhD thesis that there were no financial perpetual motion machines which propelled houses on any ever-upward trek of appreciation. Greenspan KNEW better; he KNEW bubbles and other popular delusions had existed since Man started trading assets; they've ALWAYS existed, and this is certainly NOT the last bubble we'll see.
(Much why I was surprised when Greenspan publicly stated a few years ago that the whole mortgage crisis would be solved IF houses continued to appreciate a further 10%! SO fine, Al suppose they do: then WHAT happens?)
Throw in Bush's praise of the American "Ownership Society", and we had the makings of a perfect scam. That's right: I said 'scam'.
If anyone doesn't "get it", this whole episode was NOT an accident: the big players all knew the game-plan, they KNEW what was developing, and consciously decided to get theirs while the going was good.
Bush oversaw the vampirization of our once-great Nation, already moth-eaten by fears of a recession. Despite short-term fixes (interest rate games, creating a series of asset bubbles, AKA Ponzinomics) there's nothing left now but an empty shell....
Take Goldman Sachs, a company that is widely regarded as being the smartest on Wall St, not just for surviving, but for PROFITING from the mess of the mortgage meltdown.
How did they do this?
It's now widely known that GS was shorting stocks (uh-oh: there's that nasty word!) of financial companies, while simultaneously RECOMMENDING these same stocks to their retail investors/clients from the front office.
The up-tick rule had been suspended in July 2007, and the dropping of the barriers by the SEC basically allowed them to do this.
Now that they've played the shorting game until it's nearly killed the market (and themselves! GS didn't count on THAT!), now GS CEO Paulson (on leave) is ready and willing to tell Wall St. to knock it off, now that they pilfered what they could. They don't want to KILL Wall St., just give it a severe beating that brings it within an inch of it's life!
As I've been saying all along, it was ALL a scam, a power-play to squash the competiton:
Large investment banks (like GS) wanted to put the kabash on these upstart firms which had side-stepped the traditional securitization process, in effect being able to sell off their mortgages by slicing-and-dicing these as CMOs/CDOs to eventually sell to investors.
It was a hard-fought battle, but it looks like the 'traditional' firms won: they apparently are winning the battle of securing THEIR access to the marketplace.
Who better to manage the aftermath, than the ex-CEO of GS who KNEW what the real point was? He helped create the mess, so who better to make sure we don't fall into the precipice, the deep chasm, that he and his kind profiting from digging (where GS is the Halliburton of the financial world)?
Make no mistake: this is truly fascism, defined as government by the corporate entities FOR the benefit of the corporate cronies of the Republican administration. If they can foist their losses off on the public (and the government allows it), then they will.
Pure socialism and pure capitalism (which don't actually exist) would NEVER accept this for their populace: instead, you'd see socializing of both profits AND losses. That's the very definition of these forms of government, which unless you're a member of the elite Republican ruling class, is not such a bad thing!
Funny how many people say they hate Obama since he seems 'socialist': I've got news for them, what they've seen under Bush is FAR WORSE, far more DAMAGING for their future than ANYTHING they'd see under Obama! Unless you're making over $250k a year, you have nothing to fear under Obama (who wants to make the rich actually PAY their fair share of taxes, after decades of being able to side-step taxes). If you're making this much cash, then YES, you'd be better off voting for McCain (who wants to keep things status quo).
But back on point: this is pure 'screw you' fascism, operating under the sheep skin of 'free enterprise'. Unfortunately, most Americans are too stoopid to realize it.
It doesn't get much uglier than this.
I am neither a Republican nor a Democrat so I don't really lean towards one or the other. I can say however, with metaphysical certitude, that last week the Republican Party died a violent death.
By the Republicans proposing this nationalization bill, and giving dictatorial powers to the Treasury in which none of its decisions can be reviewed or litigated, the Repubs hammered the final nail in their coffin.
Having said that, if anyone on this blog thinks that a bill like this is a Republican thing, they are smoking something. It is certainly not something Republicans have stood for in the past. The Democrats, feigning disgust to the MSM over this crisis, are actually salivating over this power grab because it's a 21st century New Deal.
We no longer live in the America defined by our Constitution. We can no longer call the government inside the Beltway the American government...it has nothing to do with America. It is something more akin to a "Monocracy": a semi-democracy that is run by minority groups of lobbyists and special interests who use money and influence to get their way.
America, is indeed, toast.
Vote for me and all your wildest dreams will come true.
Vote for Pedro.
Haha you said it. American Idle. Too idle in fact to prevent bankers from becoming the law. Not just part of government, THE LAW. Deal.
but..should not the banks that have been printing up 10, 20 or 30 times my deposit of dollars with debt dollars indistinguishable from my dollar deposited and that competed with that dollar at every buying of housings, collapse and not take my thru that unacounted inflation, by perhaps design, and not steal my dollar in the bank while at the failing but restore its purchace power......................
Keith, you seem to think you have such a great mind, so it is really sad to see you post with your usual Liberal bias. I agree that this bill is horrible and goes against the intentions of the signers of the Constitution, but that means it should not be passed PERIOD, not just later to keep Bush/Paulson from using it. Just delaying passage until after this administration is not acceptable. Pull your head out into the sunshine. Anything that provides complete unquestioned power should not be ratified. "Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely" ya know, so even if a "good" person has these reins, they are liable to abuse the power.
There are 46 posted comments ahead of mine, and who knows how many not yet posted. Sorry if someone already said this, cannot be bothered to read all of these right now - I have Congressmen to email and call.
I am having a big laugh as Keith and HP'ers are PISSED OFF. I am living in a townhouse I can not afford, I haven't made a mortgage payment in eleven months now. The government will soon "rework" or "remodify" my loan to reflect the actual market value. HP'ers, you guys are a bunch of losers. Thanks for paying my bills/lifestyle.
DOPES!!!!!!!!!!!!!
"The end of America as you knew it is at hand. It was a good 232 year run. But it is about to be stolen in the night."
----------------------------------
Where do you come up with this stuff Keith?
It has always been a country by, for, and of the wealthy. They are just exercising their perogative to do as they please.
Dear Greedy CEO’s of America:
The United States of America Real Estate Company is proud to announce a private auction of newly acquired real estate. You have been selected as the chosen few to grab these properties for literally PENNIES on A Thousand DOLLARS. We know you can hold them for a few years (hint – upcoming tax break), gain a controlling share of property in your chosen area, regulate rent and home prices, and further our plan of eliminating the middle class.
Our business plan is to dump these properties as soon as possible so that the pesky homeless, jobless, poor, and the returning soldiers, don’t get any funny ideas that we are going to help them with their “housing problems”.
There are no opening bids. Just write us and tell us what properties/market area you want to control. Send that with your donation in the enclosed SASE, and we will send you the deeds. It’s that simple!
Thank you for your assistance in helping us finalize this 8-year long plan to fuck the American people in return for your votes and other gifts you have so generously donated over the years.
H. Paulson
President and CEO
United States of Amer.
Real Estate Company
Everyone...
I've been saying this since 1998, and I'll say it again here:
Americans want AUTHORITY, not FREEDOM.
This place was ready for socialism a long time ago.
And now it is here. Nobody resisted. Few even cared.
OMG, I can not believe that this is what America has come to. I am a new mom to be and I am worried sick about my unborn child future. I worry about the what if's with this upcoming election. What if's like : what if he can't deliver? what if she really (wait i cant finish that) Anyway I hope that this ends before my child gets to college. Cuz that will be a high priced item to have to pay with out government assistance.
A $700B revolver?
Why not make it $911B - it'd have more political impact?
We've been sold down the river.
We've lost control of our destiny.
Indentured servitude is coming...
Democrats are demanding more oversight in the bill.
Republicans have no problem with emperors. As long as one of theirs is the emperor.
Happy yet, brainstems?
The way I read this is that the big banks and cronies of Paulson are actually going to get 2 bites of the (taxpayer's) cherry - First is having their toxic crap bought at vastly higher rates than it is worth, that is obvious. But also secondly, when emperor Paulson has gone through and found anything of value at all (if he can) then he can sell it back to the big banks for a fraction of what it is worth. Buy high, sell cheap, rape the American tax payer and reward the cronies some more. Has anybody read the bill and ensured that anyone selling into the pool can at no time buy ANYTHING back from it? Without that clause we will be doubly screwed.
If this happens, and Paulson is given the checkbook, you better forget dual citizenship. The government is not going to let you live outside its borders, until it exacts its tolls from you. You see; you're an American sheeple citizen. The government wants their "pound of flesh". You will pay for the greed of others. When the government has sucked the financial worth out of you, then you can take one pair of shoes, and a pair of blue jeans with a tee shirt, and embark on your foreign journey - penniless.
BTW, I heard Ron Paul say this morning that he wouldn't vote for McCain or Obama.
This Bill needs to be stopped . You don't set up trillions in debt without careful review . I do not except the notion that there are not
better solutions or options and I resent that they are trying to get a enmergency passing of this Bill.Quick Quick ...before anybody has a chance to think about it .
The Feds has the ability in inject funds as needed while this bill is sorted out as to who the real winners and losers are .
This Bill has to be carefully weighed as to determine what the
counter moves will be in the market that might be more dire .
Paulson is a mad-hatter as far as I'm concerned ,and one man should never be viewed as the hero to save the day ,and just ask no question .
For all we know Paulson has money tied up in something that might fail should he not take these steps .Paulson is a rich man and
a Wall Street man ,and we have to examine his views from the standpoint of bias.
The blank checks and powers demanded by Paulson reek of a
person who has no tolerance for
check and balances . Paulson chooses the winner and losers ....
NO WAY ,,,,,
This dude Paulson could be a nut -cake with no ability to see what his actions will cause in the final analysis . Is this a man that just wants to cover for the blunders that have already been made ? This is not the time in history where you give one man power over all .
In addition ,it has not been proven or discussed what the other options are . This is wrong .
In addition there is no reason why
to speed up this bill when its only 45 days until election . This is a power-play move and a desire to cast a policy in stone ,that no adminstration that follows can undo. This is the cover the ass play before new powers have the ability to come up with different solutions .
The only emergency is that the corrupt might be exposed more if this bill is not passed quickly .
Who is this a emergency for ,the public or the corrupt ?
"Adam said...this whole episode was NOT an accident...this is pure 'screw you' fascism...It doesn't get much uglier than this."
Thank you for the excellent post.
i've had it said...
I am neither a Republican nor a Democrat so I don't really lean towards one or the other. I can say however, with metaphysical certitude, that last week the Republican Party died a violent death.
Oh really? Well the polls I see show that Palin, the double d, moosedresser (McCain can't pull a crowd of old nursing home grandmas) is neck in neck with The Obama.
The Republicans will not die until every last crumb of America is swept up and digested. So just keep worrying about gay marriage and abortion rights and prayer in school America while they empty out every last dime of your rotten carcass.
God Bless our Retard Nation.
(Damn I sound like bitterrenter)
JaneZ
Silly Wabbit said...
Um, I think America Panic is bleeding over to your Housing Panic blog. Please keep them separated.
In the beginning I thought separating the two was a good idea, but I have learned something.
You can't separate them now. The crybaby, go-along Democrats have cowered in the corner while the Repub Mafia has destroyed us. How do you separate what has happened from politics?
Politics is what has created this entire problem. (with the help of the retarded, dumbed down, self absorbed, greedy citizens of Merika)
Me thinks it is going to get waaaayyy worse going forward.
Got guns (no question mark)
JaneZ
I asked my father if he knew about this situation this morning when he returned from church. He said "Bailout? Oh yeah, well, there's nothing we can do about it. America is broke."
Yes, I am scared.
Anonymous 6:30 is right. A lot of this toxic stuff on the books won't really change hands. Example-Almost simultaneous purchase by US of WAMU crap for 80 cents on the dollar, then sell back to WAMU for 10 cents on the dollar. WAMU will have great earnings, executives will get even bigger bonuses and all is well.
Paulson will be a hero to all greedy financial services executives.
Horrified American said...
As an American, I am getting tired of being blamed for "allowing our Congress people to get away with it!".
As if I have any F***ing control over our Corrupt Congress Critters!
The media everywhere, especially internationally are having a field day blaming us US citizens for allowing our Gov't to screw us over like this! Like we actually voted for this, or something!
DON'T BLAME ME!, I didn't vote for any of these SOBs, and I don't support what they are doing, or I mean Screwing, to all of us....
Let us place the blame squarely where it lies: Corrupt Politicians who are engaging in Political Payback for those crooks who have financed their election!
The average American is just as pissed off and horrified by what we see going on, as the rest of the world is!
You are being sarcastic right? The average Joe6 and JaneZ don't have a clue what is going on, and they don't care. The only thing that pisses off the average American is when the bank reduces the credit limit. Retard Nation.
JaneZ (not average, I love you Andrew Hac)
From iTulip
"The appeal of the Paulson solution is that it taxes the many and benefits the few. Since the many (we, the taxpayers) are dispersed, we cannot put up a good fight in Capitol Hill; while the financial industry is well represented at all the levels."
and so did you read that not only are we bailing out the US banks we will now be bailing out foreign banks so we will be bailing out the world with the gambling done in stock markets. Okay so these other countries didn't sell houses to their own citizens, and they aren't going to jack them up for billions just us. The US government is using us to pay off other countries for keeping the wheels of money greased and they won't cut off credit like a thief in the night. This is ugly very ugly and what about those of us who did nothing and had nothing to do with this mess (like me). All this world economy bullshit is going to destroy the world.
Behold the people as one and they have one language and this they begin to do and now nothing will be restrained from them, which they have imagined to do
go to let us go down and there confound their language that they may not understand one anothers speech
Perhaps the bible did have a looking glass into the future. All this globalization and no borders is going to mean that lines are blurred and will be no us and them. It will mean us against them. My argument was always how can people afford houses for 300,000 dollars that is alot of money and now we see they couldn't so that means the wealth was being transfered through a series of overpriced houses and overpriced goods and services and everyone rich wratched the prices up hourly, daily, weekly until American's were broke but the money was already paid out no loss to the rich who cares about a house that is in foreclosure the money was already paid out in the initial sale. With house values falling the rich don't care because they got thier money. So now let the American's pay for their GREED by making taxpayers pay for it ALL. Then things will be back to normal on wall street as if there is a blip on the screen and it was touch and go for a minute.
This is wrong, so very wrong to make the world rich on us, to make us pay for the world to stay employed while we are unemployed and broke and they abandoned the US like an unwanted step child after making billions. Maybe they think they have sucked out as much of US as they can and it's time to move on, but we shall see. Remember the tower of babel.
My fellow Americans ,this Bill needs to be stopped now . They want to pass the Bill now because the provisions of the Bill give no recourse for the next President . The bill is designed to be non-amendable . The urgency to pass the Bill is to stop the truth . You have to stop the bill now because it will be to late by the time a New President is elected . That President will have to live with the KING committing us to trillions and trillions .
I was okay with anonymous until that person started ranting about welfare and lowest people. I don't see anyone trying to figure this shit out but white people who fucked everybody, people have been on welfare forever and it was never a consideration for this housing crisis only people who could not afford the houses they bought, people on welfare did not buy houses, by the way I work at the POST OFFICE and I see the mail and you are being lied to. The amount of apartment complexes, office buildings and commercial real estate for sale is astronomical (did welfare people buy that) The amount of homes that are for sell for millions (even though no one can get a loan) laying flat on the market is astonishing did welfare people qualify for that, so go fuck yourself trying to blame everyone but republicans for your fuck up. Maybe the real smart people are the people on welfare at least they don't have to pay for your fuck up so kiss my fat black ass. Not everyone who contributes to this site is a well heeled, overly educated white fool, there are some well educated black folks who consider the state of America and understand what is befalling this country, who love and respect it and aren't all on welfare with a bunch of baby daddies all over. Selling crack cocaine on street corners, drive by shootings, and some like me do own houses have had a job for 31 years (because I do it well and I don't work good enough for government work, your mail is all fucked up because you ignorant people don't know how to address a letter too stupid to understand that an email address is not a pysical address how the hell do we know where the hell you live at) two well guided children and pay taxes for your stupid white folks greed driven society. So fuck you asshole. All I read is Keith going on exotic vacations and shorting the market so fucking blame him and people like him for this shit, or it is it too easy to blame black people when you got no one else that you WANT to blame, always the one in society to get blamed for everything that goes bad instead of blaming your pursuit of the seven deadly sins. Black folks wanna be just like you have alot of shit they think they need and want it even if they don't need it. Hard looking in a mirror isn't it seeing yourselves reflected back in black deal with it. You caused it and now your ass will pay for it.
Noodles123-
Lets look at it another way people...No matter what the system was going to crash.
Say it again...NO MATTER WHAT THE SYSTEM WAS GOING TO CRASH.
This is overtime for me in the game to set my things in order and prepare...Buy my extra food, silver, guns, ammo.
The financial sytem could have crashed last week and we all would have been fucked at that point.
Instead this gives us a small window to prep for what we know is coming like a tidal wave no matter if it's in 2 days or 2 years.
I was in Mexico during their crash and I also remember the crash in Argentina...Look into it people because that's where we're going multiplied by 3.
God help us all.
Paulson will be a hero to all greedy financial services executives.
I notice that very few people here also place blame on the shit-stupid greedy people who bought houses they couldn't afford, then extracted that phantom equity each year to buy expensive toys. The vast majority of these assholes are in California.
The American people are being taken hostage by a gang of terrorists from Wall Street.
Among the hostages you will find Pelosi and Reid and all those moron dems who are still shaking their heads, wondering what happened.
Those jerks in Congress are about to hand over the nations' coffers to Paulson and Bush thieves, and nobody is asking any questions.
No Hollywood genius could have dreamt up a scam like this-- a scam whereby the victim, while being robbed, is begging the thieves to take more, because the thieves had somehow convinced the victim that he should be stripped of all his possessions, or else he'll be ruined.
The only weapon that we as individuals have is control over our individual money.
If everyone was to pull all money out of banks and sell off all stocks, etc. they would be powerless.
It comes down to this people. Do you have the guts to actually do something for the country as a whole or are you more interested in adding a little interest to your personal portfolio?
If you are more interested in your portfolio, than you are no better and are just as greedy as the creeps of wall street.
I pulled all my money out of the bank months ago.
Does anybody else have the guts to put their money where their mouth is?
"I pulled all my money out of the bank months ago.
Does anybody else have the guts to put their money where their mouth is?"
I am not going to put my money where my mouth is but I did notice I am out of toilet paper so my money will be applied to the other end....
Keith-
I got into blogging because I wanted to provide honest, easily digestible information for people interested in the housing market.
Now my emphasis has changed. I fear for the loss of our constitutional freedoms.
My opinion of this bailout? Don't do it. I'd rather have the banks fail and either barter and use wampum than give up my freedom.
With our freedom, we can rebuild. If this passes, welcome to the world of "Animal Farm" where some animals are more equal than others.
Keith, this is just like 9/11. Congress, MSM, the sheeple, Wall Street and corporate America all rallied behind Bush's ill-advised policies. We ended up invading Iraq and Afghanistan with no exit plan. We helped Emperor Bush bend the constitution and screw our way of life-- the exact same thing Bush said bin Laden wanted to do to us! We ended up giving Bush the powers he wanted to finish bin Laden's job. Emperor Bush was even more zealous in screwing our way of life, executing bin Laden's plan to the fullest, and then some.
Now we have a 9/19 mother-of-all-bailouts bill before a trembling, dizzied Congress. Senators, reps, MSM, corporate America and the sheeple are ready to rally again behind a new emperor: Hank Paulson!! But who the f*ck is Paulson? Who elected this retard in the first place? And why is it that nobody is raising their voice while the will of the people is about to be royally usurped and generations of Americans are being lined up for a collective rape?
I just can't believe this is happening in America, to America!
Because half of Americans are dumb, and easily distracted by bullsh*t issues like abortion and gay marriage.
The Bible
Revelation Chapters 17-18
(Take from this what you will...)
The Whore of Babylon
Then the angel carried me away in the Spirit into a desert. There I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was covered with blasphemous names and had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was dressed in purple and scarlet, and was glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls. She held a golden cup in her hand, filled with abominable things and the filth of her adulteries. This title was written on her forehead:
MYSTERY
BABYLON THE GREAT
THE MOTHER OF PROSTITUTES
AND OF THE ABOMINATIONS OF THE EARTH. I saw that the woman was drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of those who bore testimony to Jesus.
...
The woman you saw is the great city that rules over the kings of the earth."
...
After this I saw another angel coming down from heaven. He had great authority, and the earth was illuminated by his splendor. With a mighty voice he shouted:
"Fallen! Fallen is Babylon the Great!
She has become a home for demons
and a haunt for every evil[a] spirit,
a haunt for every unclean and detestable bird.
For all the nations have drunk
the maddening wine of her adulteries.
The kings of the earth committed adultery with her,
and the merchants of the earth grew rich from her excessive luxuries."
...
Give her as much torture and grief
as the glory and luxury she gave herself.
In her heart she boasts,
'I sit as queen; I am not a widow,
and I will never mourn.'
Therefore in one day her plagues will overtake her:
death, mourning and famine.
She will be consumed by fire,
for mighty is the Lord God who judges her.
"When the kings of the earth who committed adultery with her and shared her luxury see the smoke of her burning, they will weep and mourn over her. Terrified at her torment, they will stand far off and cry:
" 'Woe! Woe, O great city,
O Babylon, city of power!
In one hour your doom has come!'
...
"The merchants of the earth will weep and mourn over her because no one buys their cargoes any more— cargoes of gold, silver, precious stones and pearls; fine linen, purple, silk and scarlet cloth; every sort of citron wood, and articles of every kind made of ivory, costly wood, bronze, iron and marble; cargoes of cinnamon and spice, of incense, myrrh and frankincense, of wine and olive oil, of fine flour and wheat; cattle and sheep; horses and carriages; and bodies and souls of men.
"They will say, 'The fruit you longed for is gone from you. All your riches and splendor have vanished, never to be recovered.' The merchants who sold these things and gained their wealth from her will stand far off, terrified at her torment. They will weep and mourn and cry out:
" 'Woe! Woe, O great city,
dressed in fine linen, purple and scarlet,
and glittering with gold, precious stones and pearls!
In one hour such great wealth has been brought to ruin!'
"Every sea captain, and all who travel by ship, the sailors, and all who earn their living from the sea, will stand far off. When they see the smoke of her burning, they will exclaim, 'Was there ever a city like this great city?' They will throw dust on their heads, and with weeping and mourning cry out:
" 'Woe! Woe, O great city,
where all who had ships on the sea
became rich through her wealth!
In one hour she has been brought to ruin!
Rejoice over her, O heaven!
Rejoice, saints and apostles and prophets!
God has judged her for the way she treated you.' "
First off Regulators needs to know what they are working with before they can throw money at the problem.
Remember these are the same regulators that said they did not see the subprime loan crisis coming.
First off by now many of us know that these mortgage back securities (MBS) have been sliced and diced so many time that no one know who owns what.
Then you have to ask are these MBS tied to CDS, or are these MBS tie to SWAP. What tier are these MBS tie to Level 1, Level 2, or Level 3.
Even if you could figure that out do you pay all of the tranches or just some of them. Should the high risk tranches become AAA - what would become fair.
At least in the Saving and Loan Crisis the rescue funds were tied to a physical asset like a property.
Many of the financial institution don't even have a code on how to pay off these debt when things begin to unravel and these Regulators think they can do it in ten to thirty days or by the time the ban on Naked Short Selling expires.
It almost like throwing a truck load of rubik cubes to a class room of kindergarten kids and expect them to figure it out.
Except this time these rubik cubes have LED in them that changes the colors of the side boxes after certain amount of time.
By the time these kids figure it out they probably be in their retirement age and by that time this financial crisis would have went it course already.
When these derivatives unravel how low can they get.
Not that there is no time pressure
But $700,000,000,000 seems small when you look at the bigger picture.
Like $92,000,000,000,000
http://www.marketsmediaonline.com/
news_details.htm?wP=1&wPI=1&cN=
1605&UID=
According to the BIS, total derivatives turnover based on notional amounts fell to $600 trillion, from $692 trillion in the first quarter., a fall of 13 percent.
http://online.wsj.com/article/
SB122191819568460053.html
Devil Is in the Details
U.S. Bailout Plan Calms Markets,
But Struggle Looms Over Details
Went2puke,
what we have now is a mass Stockholm syndrome
from wiki
is a psychological response sometimes seen in an abducted hostage, in which the hostage shows signs of loyalty to the hostage-taker, regardless of the danger (or at least risk) in which they have been placed.
Its gonna be an interesting fall... My plan is to stack up on popcorn and follow this closely
The sun is setting on America.
Anonymous said...
"My friends read your Bible, doesn't sould crazy after all."
Senator McCain is that you?
Canada called...they want the hydro bill payed up..and the lumber bill, and the water bill or they may start to cut services(electricity) in certain areas(U.S.A.).
silly wabbit said "At this point, it is more important to understand where we might go from here than to call names. It will be a sad day, but this bill will likely pass. It is reactionary legislation."
The guarantee of $700B is just a temporary sop to the banks. "Where we might go from here" is a number so large, our entire GDP wouldn't begin to cover it. These are the actions of madmen who dare to warn us of dire consequences should we fail to heed more of their (insane) advice!
Sorry, but this movie doesn't have a happy ending.
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm
Mish has links on his site - send something to your Senators like this!!!!
Senator [your Senator],
I am a resident of the state of [your state]. I am contacting you because I believe it is critical to oppose Paulson's bailout bill. Based on what I have seen online (fully realizing that my information is probably not 100% correct) the scope of the discretion it grants the Treasury is bordering on the absurd, not only from an authority standpoint but also from a financial standpoint.
A $700 billion dollar blank check deserves serious review. If the situation is this dire today, surely it was dire one month ago. This would imply that the Treasury was unaware of the situation, and given the haste to enact legislation, it makes me believe they still are unaware of the details.
My feelings are far from alone on this matter - I believe you would be hard pressed to find support for a bank bailout from the average American struggling in these difficult economic times. Remember, it was at least partly the greed of the banks that destroyed the real estate market.
Historically it has been the Senate, through the power of the Filibuster as granted in the Constitution, which has proven to be the check against poor discretion by the Legislature. I know I speak for many citizens of our state when I say that we are counting on you to prevent rushed, borderline insane legislation from becoming law.
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
steely damn said...
silly wabbit said "At this point, it is more important to understand where we might go from here .....
The guarantee of $700B is just a temporary sop to the banks. .....These are the actions of madmen who dare to warn us of dire consequences should we fail to heed more of their (insane) advice!
It isn't a warning anymore than it is a bailout. I wish we could start using the correct words to describe what is happening.
The bailout is THEFT
The warning is BLACKMAIL
The result is a coup d'etat.
You will never make people understand what is happening if you continue to use the words given to us by The Federal Goldman Sachs. Stop calling it the federal government. We are now governed by Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.
Answers.com
coup d'état
(kū' dā-tä')
The sudden overthrow of a government by a usually small group of persons in or previously in positions of authority.
JaneZ
We gonna' Walk Down To
Im-peach-ment-Ave-nue.
And then we'll take it higha'!
The crooks they working so hard now,
Can't make good on de bills.
Let's call in Porter, from Payback,
Let him ring G double-you's phone. oh yeah!
We gonna' Walk Down To
Im-peach-ment-Avenue.
And then we'll take it higha'!
I call this the Endgame Act.
Pigs to the trough...
Big Financiers Start Lobbying for Wider Aid
By JENNY ANDERSON, VIKAS BAJAJ and LESLIE WAYNE, New York Times
Published: September 21, 2008
Even as policy makers worked on details of a $700 billion bailout of the financial industry, Wall Street began looking for ways to profit from it.
Financial firms were lobbying to have all manner of troubled investments covered, not just those related to mortgages.
At the same time, investment firms were jockeying to oversee all the assets that Treasury plans to take off the books of financial institutions, a role that could earn them hundreds of millions of dollars a year in fees.
Nobody wants to be left out of Treasury’s proposal to buy up bad assets of financial institutions.
http://tiny.cc/Wiv2R
There's a big misconception about the cost of 'the bill'. They say it's 700 billion. Read it again. It's a limit of 700 billion at a time. Hank can filter ALL the bad debt these pigs have through this RTC and put the losses on YOU. 5 trillion, 6 trillion, whatever it turns out to be. All they have to do is buy at small loss, sell at an even bigger loss, rinse, repeat. Over and over, until all the bad debt goes bye bye along with the value of the dollar.
This is just a small stepping stone on the way to socialism. Like Europe. Thought you guys liked Europe??
Pious Paulson is going worldwide! Got kerosene?
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/09/22/business/22global.php
I don't like this action by the Gvmt, but I think you're wrong about the "at one time" aspect. I think they can sell some assets, and then buy up to thr 700B$ limit again. Not 700B$ at a time, but not over a 700B$ ballance at any given time.
THIS IS NOT A $700bn BAILOUT !
Read Keith's post. It's $700bn at any one time. The total amount is UNLIMITED.
UNLIMITED BAILOUT.
HP = LOSER
Game
Set
Match
DOPES!!
Mark my words HP'ers, Wall Street knows that most people can not afford to pay up their massive credit card bills, personal bills/loans, car notes, etc... Soon, those too will be sent off to the Treasury Department.
You HP'ers are a bunch of DOPES. When the government gets a hold of all of those mortgages and credit card debt backed securities, what do you think they will do? They will begin to massively write it down and allow people to have a much lower mortgage or credit card debts! YOU HP'ERS ARE STUPID to think that any politician won't try to bailout the "poor homeowners" or "a young couple that is drowning in credit card debt".
I was thinking the same thing as Alex3191, the only power you have is your $'s in the system. Pull them out and they've got nothing to play with. Sure, you'll cause a run on the banks, but that's gonna happen anyway. At least your dictators will be powerless.
so rather than let the banks fail, we will pay the extortion and let them continue to print up 10, 20, or 30 debt dollars indistinguishable from the dollars of my deposit for every dollar of my deposit to bid against my dollar at the buying of things....or they will steal the deposit itself............................
I will miss this country. It was a nice experiment.
Back to the regular way of life, which is no human rights for anyone.
BULLSHIT!
I am not an American. But I will say this.
America is not the failing financial sector! It's not your money! And its definitely not a 232 year run!
It's an idea.
The idea that has permeated all of history - the idea of being free. Not from want or need - we will always have those - but the freedom from tyranny. Both from an external dictator or an internal value system which doesn't allow us communion with our creator.
Try to remember the words of V, if not your own forefathers.
An idea such as this CANNOT be owned by Americans alone. It is not Amreicans who came up with it - but inherited it and brought it forward. Like a light from candle to candle in an infinite darkness. It cannot be stopped by bullets. It cannot die so long as one human is willing to sacrifice his life to carry the idea forward. Or picks it up from the corpse of the last martyr to carry it.
I'm not asking (nor would I ever dream that I would have the authority to ask) that anyone should die for such ideas. Or that you should rebel against the system. It's too late now anyway.
Darkness will come - like it always does. But just when things are darkest, when the world around you might freeze and all hope is lost - there will be a glimmer of dawn and a new day.
When THAT day comes... THAT is when you will pull up your sleeves and rebuild.
Until then - teach your children what freedom means.
America wasn't an experiment.
It was just the highest stepping stone so far that humanity could build.
It's time to build the next step.
As someone once said... stop cursing at the darkness and light a candle instead. America did good! It showed us the way. Now it will just take courage by the rest of us to continue down that path.
{/venting}
The Emperor: [to the Senate] In order to ensure our security and continuing stability, the Republic will be reorganized into the first Galactic Empire, for a safe and secure society which I assure you will last for ten thousand years.
[Senate fills with enormous applause]
Padmé: [to Bail Organa] So this is how liberty dies... with thunderous applause.
Is this post important? It's too long to read. I've got hockey games for the kids to go to tonight and then I want to watch American Idol and Deal Or No Deal.
Signed,
Typical American
Readers -- I've never been one for conspiracy theories either, until I watched, IN DETAIL, a thorough documentary about the WTC towers (esp. Tower 7) coming down by way of controlled demolitions ("squibbs" -- those little explosive devices detonating at the various floors). So if the government can take out 3,000 of its own citizens to get us into a fake out war & pretext for a suspension of habeas corpus, probable cause requirements for electronic surveillance, etc., and use 9/11 as the pretext for the "buy-buy-buy" mentality, then this debacle is no surprise what so ever. Watch for the Amero next. We'll be required to exchange our greenbacks for Ameros. As for voting, Keith and the Obama/McCain show? Not anymore - its every man for himself. Our elections are the final farce in keeping Joe & Jane believing that there is some semblance of normalcy and some sense of 'democracy' left in America.
When in the Course of human events….
The time is now. We the people must take our country back. No more bailouts. No more foreclosures. No more bankruptcies. No more raping of the people and looting of the People's Treasury.
The call for action: On October 3rd, 2008 We The People call for a national day of protest. Do not make any purchases. Do not go to work. Do not send your kids to school. Limit all commercial transactions. We need to get our elected officials to understand that We The People will not take any further abuse at the hands of our leaders laying down. Take to the streets.
Please email/circulate to as many people as possible.
publius
if the govt does not bail out every financial institution will file for chapter 11 which will anyway come on tax payers and loss of jobs. which one would you prefer?
Some posters here are confused.
I'm talking about the people who think this bail out is to help with mortgages. No no no. None of what they're talking about is intended to help any individual with their mortgage. This is all about bailing out the investor class. Please be aware of that.
Is this how Wall Street pays back America for all of the support after 9-11?
Nice job guys, you almost finished Al-Qaeda's work for them, while making us pay for it... WTF?
I'm not blaming the government for this at all... it's your fault Wall Street. Now go back to craigslist and best of luck with the yard sale this weekend!
I've been saying this for two elections now, going on three:
DON'T VOTE FOR CORPORATE-FINANCED PARTIES!
It doesn't work. The "Democrats" let all this happen because they're financed by the same corporate forces that finance the Republicans.
Neither Ralph Nader nor the Green Party accept ANY corporate cash. They would both be good choices.
Did you know that if either of them gets 5% of the vote, they'll get Federal funding for their party? That's not much; 5%.
IF YOU VOTE FOR A CORPORATE-FINANCED PARTY, YOU ARE PART OF THE PROBLEM AND MUST SHARE THE BLAME FOR THE RESULTING DAMAGE.
Anonymous said...
I'm still not sure that we won't see a Depression this year. Those troops in Iraq will have to come home. No more money for them to be there.
BTW, I haven't read one post yet from "Frank I Hate Scottsdale". I wonder how Mr. Republican Businessman and his gold digging whore will fare during the Bush Depression?
September 21, 2008 2:54 PM
There's not a dumber person on this blog. Frank stands alone as #1 nit wit at HP.
The fact that he's unaware of his severe intellectual shortcomings makes him all the more memorable.
the "american dreams" allways was on the expensive of anothers countrys nightmares. so now wellcome to ours nightamres dreams.
wy starying crying and bitching, raise the guns, that's any way is something american have a lot over there. kill the mother fuckers now! kill them all.
Ummm... I may be wrong but I think the math here is a little off regarding "Trillions" of debt.
Yes, the US Gov could purchase Trillions in debt, but only in aggregate and after they paid back previous debt.
Exmaple:
If you give me a $100 credit limit, as long as I don't have more than $100 outstanding at any one time -- and I buy "Failed Bank USA" for $100 -- then turn around and sell that bank for $5 to my friends... I only received $5 in return to pay back the credit limit. That means when the next bank fails, I can only pay $5 for that bank, not another $100 for that bank as I still have $95 outstanding on my debt.
So the most I could lose in total is $100.
If I bought for $100 and sold for $100 or more, I could then buy another $100 and so on, so yes I could technically buy and sell and buy and sell forever, spending trillions over time for bad debt, however it is a moot point since I would have paid it back millions of times.
It's like a credit card limit -- if the bank gives you a $10,000 credit card limit, the most you can rack up is $10k (except for interest but that's not really the point trying to be made in this blog). Unless you pay back the $10k, you can't spend another $10k... and you can only spend in the future up to the amount you paid back previously.
It's almost as if they are fulfilling the Protocols of Zion.Ooops!I'm sorry!That is verboten!Is my comment going to be delated?
Anyone want to guess WHY? the Jews have been persecuted and kicked out of dozens of countries?Anybody?
1. Fed should allow one time withdrawal up to $300,000 from IRA/401k directly to pay home mortgage. Amount should not be includible on normal Federal or State income tax return. A 15% Federal Special Rescue Tax on balance could be paid (withheld) directly by Administrator of Account and sent to US Treasury. This solution solves many of the financial problems for both the little guy and the banking system.
Seems like you were right: http://www.thenation.com/doc/20081110/greider2#
I've been saying this since 1998, and I'll say it again here:
Americans want AUTHORITY, not FREEDOM.
This place was ready for socialism a long time ago.
Everything seems in place now. Few resisted. Even few cared.
Post a Comment