Fri, Oct 31 2008
BARNEY FRANKS IS SHOCKED, SHOCKED I TELL YOU
That total dipshit, Barney Frank, is surprised that the $700 billion of your dollars that the moneyBoyz stampeded him into forking over is being used to pad their bottom lines, not yours. Fucking moron.
Rep. Frank: bailout funds must be used for lending
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Companies receiving public money under a U.S. government financial rescue program must use it for lending or they will be violating the law, the powerful chairman of the U.S. House of Representatives Financial Services Committee said on Friday.
"I am deeply disappointed that a number of financial institutions are distorting the legislation that Congress passed at the president's request to respond to the credit crisis by making funds available for increased lending," Rep. Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat, said in a statement.
"Any use of the these funds for any purpose other than lending -- for bonuses, for severance pay, for dividends, for acquisitions of other institutions, etc. -- is a violation of the terms of the Act," he added.
Frank said U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson must make it absolutely clear to a participating entity that the federal government will insist on compliance.
[Yeah? How you gonna do that, Barney-boy? You wrote him a fucking blank check with no teeth behind it! More of Frank's pathetic snivelling here ->] More yaddah...Fri, Oct 31 2008
WHAT IS "MIDDLE CLASS"?
From Charles Smith at Of Two Minds blog:
We hear a lot these days about the middle-class-- Middle-class tax breaks, etc. But what exactly constitutes "middle-class"? The usual definitions are income-based, as in "between $45,000 and $125,000."
I submit that since income-based definitions do not actually address either asset accumulation or purchasing power, they are a priori of no value. Instead, I propose the following definition of middle-class based on what the income can accomplish/buy:
1. No more than 30% of net income is spent on housing, either to own or rent.
2. 6-8% of net income is saved--not including retirement IRAs or 401K plans.
3. No more than 15% of net income is spent on medical and dental expenses, including insurance.
4. The household can afford to pay tuition, fees and books for two household members living at home and attending a 4-year state university/college.
5. Food (including meals away from home) costs no more than 15% of net income.
6. The household can pay cash for a recent-vintage reliable used vehicle, and can support the one reliable vehicle and a "beater" old vehicle for secondary use; the household carries no auto loans.
7. The household pays off all credit card purchases monthly and carries no consumer credit balance.
8. The household can afford to take a domestic vacation once a year without incurring debt or tapping the 6-8% of income set aside for savings.
9. If the family owns a residence, the equity stands at a minimum of 50% of market value.
10. The household maintains at least 6 months' living expenses in readily accessible savings.
By these standards, how many households in the U.S. are truly "middle-class"? Not very many.
You might say, "You've described a fantasy world."
Interestingly, the "fantasy world" was the U.S.A. circa 1955 - 1975. Yes, a modest income earned by school teachers, sales managers, production workers, etc. could, with modest spending constraints, easily hit each of these points in that 30-year time frame.
Thu, Oct 30 2008
TAKE A LEFT AT ALBUQUERQUE
Thu, Oct 30 2008
UNEMPLOYMENT MARCHES ON
Keep in mind, the official goobermint figures are "seasonally adjusted" and include other "adjustments" based on things like the wildly euphoric BLS birth/death model, as well as not counting the people whose unemployment has run out and still have not found a job, those that have given up on finding a job altogether, those too sick, too old, or too young to find a job, or those people who work on contract or under the table and don't qualify for unemployment insurance to begin with.
Boy, if you add all those up, I'm betting the figure would double, if not triple... but why quibble over irrelevants?
Jobless claims remain elevated due to weak economy
WASHINGTON, Associated Press – New claims for unemployment benefits were unchanged last week, remaining at the same elevated level due to the struggling economy, the government said Thursday.
The Labor Department said new claims for jobless benefits for the week ending Oct. 25 stood at a seasonally adjusted 479,000, the same as the previous week and above analysts' estimates of 475,000.
The four-week average, which smooths out fluctuations, was 475,500, down 5,000 from the previous week's total.
The number of people continuing to claim unemployment benefits also improved, falling 12,000 to 3.72 million.
Separately, the Commerce Department said Thursday that the nation's economy shrank by 0.3 percent in the third quarter, an indication the country may already be in recession.
Many economists expect the economy to continue to shrink in the fourth quarter and first quarter of next year, meeting one definition of a recession as at least two consecutive quarters of decline.
Consumer spending plummeted by 3.1 percent in the July to September quarter, the Commerce Department said, the sharpest drop in 28 years.
Jobless claims above 400,000 are considered a sign of a recessionary economy. A year ago, claims stood at 332,000, the department said.
Job losses can ripple throughout the economy by causing consumers to cut back on their spending, and can also make it harder for individuals to make their mortgage payments, fueling the ongoing housing crisis.
Four weeks ago, the impact of the economic slowdown as well as Hurricanes Ike and Gustav sent jobless claims to a seven-year high of 499,000. The department attributed about 45,000 of the claims at that time to the impact of the hurricanes.
Hurricane Ike added only about 7,500 claims in Texas last week, the Labor Department said, which means claims have remained high even as the impact of the hurricanes has faded.
Companies cut 760,000 jobs in the first nine months of this year, sending the unemployment rate to 6.1 percent in September. Many economists expect the rate to increase to 8 percent or higher by next year.
Several companies have announced mass layoffs recently, including Whirlpool Corp., financial services company National City Corp. and Xerox Corp.Thu, Oct 30 2008
BAILING OUT THE WORLD
$120 billion more of taxpayer money down the hole, the lucky winners today: foreign bankers.
If every American living right this second declared themselves a banker and demanded a bailout of a measly $100,000 dollars, the total bailout would be a measly $305 billion. Everybody gets a hundred K! That will help out the folks who are really hurting, what an idea, huh?
Why don't we just cut out the fucking middleman already?
Fed Opens Swaps With South Korea, Brazil, Mexico
Oct. 30 (Bloomberg) -- The Federal Reserve agreed to provide $30 billion each to the central banks of Brazil, Mexico, South Korea and Singapore, expanding its effort to unfreeze money markets to emerging nations for the first time.
The Fed set up ``liquidity swap facilities with the central banks of these four large systemically important economies'' effective until April 30, the central bank said yesterday in a statement. The arrangements aim ``to mitigate the spread of difficulties in obtaining U.S. dollar funding.''
Full article here.Wed, Oct 29 2008
UNINTENDED CONSEQUENCES
The brainiacs at the Fed drop the key interest rate by 50 basis points (.5%). Normally, this action creates rallies in markets and strength in the dollar. So what happened today?
FOREX-US dollar posts biggest daily fall in 23 years
Wed, Oct 29 2008
WHAT'S IN YOUR FOOD?
Wed, Oct 29 2008
SHEEPLE
The problems are over! Buy. buy, BUY! This is what the mindless talking heads and Main Stream Media are trumpeting right now, so be sure to go with the herd:
Tue, Oct 28 2008
YOUR AVERAGE AMERICANS
Tue, Oct 28 2008
ANNA SCHWARTZ TAKES THE PAULSON PLAN TO THE WOODSHED
Tearing Into the Fed and Treasury Plans
[ANNA SCHWARTZ, CO-AUTHOR WITH Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman of the seminal A Monetary History of the United States, has worked with the National Bureau of Economic Research since 1941, and remains an adjunct professor emeritus at the Graduate Center of the City University of New York. About to turn 93, she has spent most of her professional life studying how the changes in money supply interact with inflation -- both within the United States and abroad.]
New York City, Barrons Magazine - "The chief problem is that the Treasury can responsibly provide capital only to solvent institutions, but should not recapitalize insolvent institutions. The current program offers no way of determining who is solvent and who is insolvent," says monetary authority Anna Schwartz.
When it comes to the unprecedented lending by the Federal Reserve Bank under Chairman Ben Bernanke and new and untested programs from the Treasury and its head, Henry Paulson, she doesn't like what she sees.
Her prescription: Stop managing by press release. The federal government needs to turn off the liquidity spigot and quarantine bad assets. Ad hoc program announcements have only undermined faith in the U.S. financial system, in her view, and, if continued, could raise fears that ultimately threaten the U.S. financial system. Here are more of her provocative thoughts on the current crisis.
More yaddah...Tue, Oct 28 2008
ADDICTED TO DEBT
Spending the Economy into Oblivion
by Dr. Ron Paul
With news this week that Congress is poised to consider a new stimulus package, I am forced to again ask a question that seems silly in Washington: How will we pay for this?
While a few Members of Congress have raised the issue, it certainly was not the primary concern of the House Budget Committee when they interviewed Ben Bernanke on Monday. And, when they did direct this question to the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, his answer was the standard rhetoric about how Congress needed to make tough choices. Needless to say, not many specifics were discussed.
One of the most liberal members of the House, Barney Frank, has at least volunteered something of a suggestion: "We can let Iraq take care of itself." This, of course, goes in the right direction, but hardly far enough.
We need to declare the facts and their obvious consequences. The deficit of the United States is now spiraling out of control, and the recent bailout package has only made it worse. Our crushing federal debt is one key reason behind our current economic turbulence.
As Congress begins to consider the third "stimulus package" of the year, we need to realize it is time to start setting priorities. Priority number one should be cutting spending in foreign countries. This does not simply mean Iraq, but everywhere.
The next stimulus package is likely to include money for infrastructure. While these investments are, constitutionally speaking, supposed to be made by state and local governments, it is not likely that Congress will suddenly begin to pay heed to the document we are all sworn to uphold. Still, we need to acknowledge the fact that the current Congress and Administration are rushing the nation toward bankruptcy.
This being the case, we could hope they would at least come to their senses regarding our debt and foreign spending sprees. Our nation's foreign-held debt is at record highs and moving ever higher. Continuing to borrow money from Red China and others in order to pay "dues" to the United Nations and run "Plan Colombia" makes no sense at all.
Our whole carrot-and-stick approach to foreign policy makes no sense. The US government simultaneously gives money to Israel, and to Egypt. We send AIDS money to Africa while AIDS clinics in America shut down. "Millennium challenge" funding goes to countries which enact "market based reforms" as we push our own country further and further into a centrally planned economy.
Economic recovery will only come through financial prudence, savings and getting back to producing things of value again. But it seems to be a foregone conclusion that we are about to enact another government initiative to "stimulate the economy." Instead, there should be some serious talk about cutting all of these foreign giveaway programs. But, alas and again, we should not hold our breath. Congress is still not close to being serious about ending its addiction to debt and spending, and is again faced with the deadly temptation to attempt to spend us out of a recession. We should not forget that in the 1930's those types of efforts gave us the Great Depression.Mon, Oct 27 2008
TERMINATOR FOR REAL
DARPA is putting out bids for a "Multi-Robot Pursuit System" that will let packs of robots "search for and detect a non-cooperative human".
Haven't these assclowns learned ANYTHING from Hollywood?
Mon, Oct 27 2008
THINKING THE "R" WORD
Sun, Oct 26 2008
NUCLEAR PERSPECTIVE
This is the 1961 test of the USSR's Tsar Bomba, with a yield of 50 megatons. The US and Russia currently have many warheads with 500+ kiloton yields. Seriously, if even just one of these deathmachines gets deployed, the entire planet is seriously fucked. And we all know that when it comes to nukes, you can't deploy just one...
Did we mention that Pakistan has nukes, is bankrupt, and the Taliban is taking over their government? Can you say "open for business"?
Sun, Oct 26 2008
ANDREW LAHDE THUMBS HIS NOSE AT STUPID ELITE
Lahde is arguably the world's most successful hedge fund manager. He's quit the biz, and it taking off to enjoy his gazillions and laugh his ass off. In his final letter to investors, he trashes the "idiot" Ivy League bankers who so gullibly took the other side of his very profitable bets. Basically, he thinks the 'aristocracy' in charge of finance and government are total morons, and what is coming is exactly what they deserve. Thank you very much, jerkwads! Bwahahahahahaha!!
Letter: Andrew Lahde, Lahde Capital Management
By Andrew Lahde
October 17, 2008
Today I write not to gloat. Given the pain that nearly everyone is experiencing, that would be entirely inappropriate. Nor am I writing to make further predictions, as most of my forecasts in previous letters have unfolded or are in the process of unfolding. Instead, I am writing to say goodbye.
Recently, on the front page of Section C of the Wall Street Journal, a hedge fund manager who was also closing up shop (a $300 million fund), was quoted as saying, “What I have learned about the hedge fund business is that I hate it.” I could not agree more with that statement. I was in this game for the money. The low hanging fruit, i.e. idiots whose parents paid for prep school, Yale, and then the Harvard MBA, was there for the taking. These people who were (often) truly not worthy of the education they received (or supposedly received) rose to the top of companies such as AIG, Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers and all levels of our government. All of this behavior supporting the Aristocracy only ended up making it easier for me to find people stupid enough to take the other side of my trades. God bless America.
There are far too many people for me to sincerely thank for my success. However, I do not want to sound like a Hollywood actor accepting an award. The money was reward enough. Furthermore, the endless list of those deserving thanks know who they are.
I will no longer manage money for other people or institutions. I have enough of my own wealth to manage. Some people, who think they have arrived at a reasonable estimate of my net worth, might be surprised that I would call it quits with such a small war chest. That is fine; I am content with my rewards. Moreover, I will let others try to amass nine, ten or eleven figure net worths. Meanwhile, their lives suck. Appointments back to back, booked solid for the next three months, they lookforward to their two week vacation in January during which they will likely be glued to their Blackberries or other such devices. What is the point? They will all be forgotten in fifty years anyway. Steve Balmer, Steven Cohen, and Larry Ellison will all be forgotten. I do not understand the legacy thing. Nearly everyone will be forgotten. Give up on leaving your mark. Throw the Blackberry away and enjoy life.
So this is it. With all due respect, I am dropping out. Please do not expect any type of reply to emails or voicemails within normal time frames or at all. Andy Springer and his company will be handling the dissolution of the fund. And don’t worry about my employees, they were always employed by Mr. Springer’s company and only one (who has been well-rewarded) will lose his job.
I have no interest in any deals in which anyone would like me to participate. I truly do not have a strong opinion about any market right now, other than to say that things will continue to get worse for some time, probably years. I am content sitting on the sidelines and waiting. After all, sitting and waiting is how we made money from the subprime debacle. I now have time to repair my health, which was destroyed by the stress I layered onto myself over the past two years, as well as my entire life – where I had to compete for spaces in universities and graduate schools, jobs and assets under management – with those who had all the advantages (rich parents) that I did not. May meritocracy be part of a new form of government, which needs to be established.
On the issue of the U.S. Government, I would like to make a modest proposal. First, I point out the obvious flaws, whereby legislation was repeatedly brought forth to Congress over the past eight years, which would have reigned in the predatory lending practices of now mostly defunct institutions. These institutions regularly filled the coffers of both parties in return for voting down all of this legislation designed to protect the common citizen. This is an outrage, yet no one seems to know or care about it. Since Thomas Jefferson and Adam Smith passed, I would argue that there has been a dearth of worthy philosophers in this country, at least ones focused on improving government. Capitalism worked for two hundred years, but times change, and systems become corrupt. George Soros, a man of staggering wealth, has stated that he would like to be remembered as a philosopher. My suggestion is that this great man start and sponsor a forum for great minds to come together to create a new system of government that truly represents the common man’s interest, while at the same time creating rewards great enough to attract the best and brightest minds to serve in government roles without having to rely on corruption to further their interests or lifestyles. This forum could be similar to the one used to create the operating system, Linux, which competes with Microsoft’s near monopoly. I believe there is an answer, but for now the system is clearly broken.
Lastly, while I still have an audience, I would like to bring attention to an alternative food and energy source. You won’t see it included in BP’s, “Feel good. We are working on sustainable solutions,” television commercials, nor is it mentioned in ADM’s similar commercials. But hemp has been used for at least 5,000 years for cloth and food, as well as just about everything that is produced from petroleum products. Hemp is not marijuana and vice versa. Hemp is the male plant and it grows like a weed, hence the slang term. The original American flag was made of hemp fiber and our Constitution was printed on paper made of hemp. It was used as recently as World War II by the U.S. Government, and then promptly made illegal after the war was won. At a time when rhetoric is flying about becoming more self-sufficient in terms of energy, why is it illegal to grow this plant in this country? Ah, the female. The evil female plant – marijuana. It gets you high, it makes you laugh, it does not produce a hangover. Unlike alcohol, it does not result in bar fights or wife beating. So, why is this innocuous plant illegal? Is it a gateway drug? No, that would be alcohol, which is so heavily advertised in this country. My only conclusion as to why it is illegal, is that Corporate America, which owns Congress, would rather sell you Paxil, Zoloft, Xanax and other addictive drugs, than allow you to grow a plant in your home without some of the profits going into their coffers. This policy is ludicrous. It has surely contributed to our dependency on foreign energy sources. Our policies have other countries literally laughing at our stupidity, most notably Canada, as well as several European nations (both Eastern and Western). You would not know this by paying attention to U.S. media sources though, as they tend not to elaborate on who is laughing at the United States this week. Please people, let’s stop the rhetoric and start thinking about how we can truly become self-sufficient.
With that I say goodbye and good luck.
All the best,
Andrew LahdeSun, Oct 26 2008
FALL DOWN GO BOOM
World stock market losses for October 2008
1. U.S. down 26%
2. Canada. down 37%
3. Mexico down 44%
4. Argentina down 43%
5. Brazil down 48%
6. Chile down 30%
7. Peru down 42%
8. Britain down 31%
9. Germany down 35%
10. France down 31%
11. Switzerland down 20%
12. Italy down 30%
13. Ireland down 35%
14. Iceland down 83%
15. Netherlands down 35%
16. Belgium down 37%
17. Denmark down 35%
18. Finland down 26%
19. Greece down 45%
20. Poland down 46%
21. Czech Republic down 45%
22. Russia down 53%
23. Hungary down 50%
24. Lithuania down 37%
25. Turkey down 50%
26. South Africa down 42%
27. Israel down 22%
28. Japan down 23%
29. Hong Kong down 30%
30. China down 21%
31. Taiwan down 23%
32. South Korea down 46%
33. Australia down 34%
34. New Zealand down 25%
35. India down 36%
36. Singapore down 35%
37. Spain down 33%
Fri, Oct 24 2008
OLD McPAULSON SOLD THE FARM
With a bailout here
and a bailout there
here a bailout
there a bailout
everybody want a a bailout!
Old McPaulson sold the farm
Ei, ei, oh!
Fri, Oct 24 2008
NUTBAG FREEPERS
There's been a story in the papers the last few days about a McCain volunteers who said she was mugged at an ATM by an Obama supporter who carved up her face. Turns out the story was total racist partisan bullshit. How much you wanna bet the crazy bitch is covering up for her boyfriend who smacked her up.
[Swear to god, there are some serious lying fruitcakes on the repuglican side!]
Police: McCain volunteer made up robbery story
PITTSBURGH, Associated Press – A McCain campaign volunteer made up a story of being robbed, pinned to the ground and having the letter "B" scratched on her face in a politically inspired attack, police said Friday.
Ashley Todd, 20-year-old college student from College Station, Texas, admitted Friday that the story was false and was being charged with making a false report to police, said Maurita Bryant, the assistant chief of the police department's investigations division. Police doubted her story from the start, Bryant said.
Todd, who is white, told police she was attacked by a 6-foot-4 black man Wednesday night. She now can't explain why she invented the story, Bryant said.
Todd also told police she believes she cut the backward "B" onto her own cheek, but she didn't explain how or why, Bryant said.
[Nutcase Ashley Todd carted off to "mental health facility"]
Fri, Oct 24 2008
PARTY IS OVER
"There is now no safe haven globally other than a deeply indebted U.S. government," said Jim Reid, head of fundamental credit strategy at Deutsche Bank AG in London.
Well, that's a big comfort, huh? (please note the debtclock on the left, which as of this post is a sneeze away from $10.5 trillion...)
"Are Americans last to realize the financial structure destruction means the US Economy does not enter a recession, but rather a bizarre unprecedented disintegration? It seems so. " - Jim Willie, "Hat Trick Letter"
Fri, Oct 24 2008
SHOCKED, SHOCKED I TELL YOU
Don't forget these asswipes on your list of "motherfuckers that bankrupted America":
Thu, Oct 23 2008
TREASON
Thu, Oct 23 2008
WORLD CONTINUES TO MELTDOWN
Some days a little up, most days a lot down.
Thu, Oct 23 2008
BUBBLEMAN "SHOCKED" - MOI?
Oh, please, Bertha. If you, whose job description it was to understand the financial system, foresee these kinds problems and guard against them, couldn't see the mess as you were creating it, then you are worse than incompetent, you are criminally negligent.
This disingenuous sonofabitch should be strung up by his balls in the town square.
Greenspan "shocked" at credit system breakdown
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Former U.S. Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan told Congress on Thursday he is "shocked" at the breakdown in U.S. credit markets and said he was "partially" wrong to resist regulation of some securities.
Despite concerns he had in 2005 that risks were being underestimated by investors, "this crisis, however, has turned out to be much broader than anything I could have imagined," Greenspan said in remarks prepared for delivery to the House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
"Those of us who have looked to the self-interest of lending institutions to protect shareholder's equity -- myself especially -- are in a state of shocked disbelief," said Greenspan, who stepped down from the Fed in 2006.
More yaddah...Tue, Oct 21 2008
MARC FABER EXPLAINS IT ALL FOR YOU
Brilliant guy. Love his plain-spokeness. Click the pic to see the video.
Tue, Oct 21 2008
THIS MOMMY CAN DEFINITLY DEAL
Why eating males pays off, for spiders
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – Female spiders who eat would-be suitors produce more babies, and those babies are stronger and bigger, than spiders who stick to more mundane fare, researchers reported on Tuesday.
And the merciless mother spiders waited until they had mated with another -- ensuring they would hatch spiderlings -- before consuming their new beaux, the researchers found.
More yaddah...Tue, Oct 21 2008
STUPID QUESTIONS
"A democracy cannot exist as a permanent form of government. It can only exist until the voters discover that they can vote themselves largesse from the public treasury. From that time on the majority always votes for the candidates promising the most benefits from the public treasury, with the results that a democracy always collapses over loose fiscal policy, always followed by a dictatorship."
- attributed to Alexander Fraser Tytler "The Decline and Fall of the Athenian Republic" (1776)Tue, Oct 21 2008
MOMMY CAN'T DEAL
"According to the World Health Organization, suicide rates have increased by 60 percent in the last 45 years."
Yowza. This is serious stuff. Not good, not good at all. Often, middle-aged women are the sole emotional and physical support for their families. Wonder how much the alcoholism and meds abuse rates have skyrocketed amongst this group? This signals a serious breakdown in the fabric of our already tattered society. If Mom can't keep it together anymore, we are well and truly screwed...
Middle-aged women drive rise in U.S. suicides: study
WASHINGTON (Reuters) – U.S. suicide rates appear to be on the rise, driven mostly by middle-aged white women, researchers reported on Tuesday.
They found a disturbing increase in suicides between 1999 and 2005 and said the pattern had changed in an unmistakable way -- although the reasons behind the change are not clear.
The overall suicide rate rose 0.7 percent during this time, but the rate for white men aged 40 to 64 rose 2.7 percent and for middle-aged women 3.9 percent, the team at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore found.
"The biggest increase that we have seen between 1999 and 2005 was the increase in poisoning suicide in women -- that went up by 57 percent," said Susan Baker, a professor in injury prevention with a special expertise in suicide.
More yaddah...Mon, Oct 20 2008
R.I.P. CAPITALISM
"The question of whether capitalism can survive is irrelevant because a government, by issuing public debt to buy private assets, will have effectively ended it."
- Kevin Depew
Mon, Oct 20 2008
NEWS TODAY
Bear market rally as bottomfeeders chase illusion of 'bottom' while desperate selling to raise cash makes some sectors and stocks attractive. BushCo wants to give more rebate checks to 'stimulate' economy. Fundamentals continue to deteriorate badly as shipping, factory output and employment continue to crap out. LIBOR still shit, credit still frozen. Sockpuppets continue to jawbone company li(n)es. Pensions and 401Ks continue to evaporate. Wealth transfer gains speed.
Same old same old.
Sun, Oct 19 2008
THE FOXES IN THE HENHOUSE
Ran across this on Mish's blog by 'blackswan'. The dots just keep on connecting:
"I defy anyone to tell me that this is not the most overt example of regulatory capture and conspiracy in US history. What do the following people have in common?
Paulson, Kahskari, Jeffrey, Jester, Shafran, Wilson, Forst, Steel, Friedman, Dudley, Corrigan, Liddy, and Johnson are ex-Goldman Sachs directors, who are either working for the Fed or were brought on board for the Treasury bailout of Goldman by Paulson.
They are succeding beyond imagination. Thus far, Goldman Sachs is receiving $10 billion in Government bailout money plus unlimited Government money to insure all new GS senior notes (bonds).
Who was behind most of this? Josh Bolton, Bush's Chief of Staff and a GS alumnus. Where is the outrage? Where is the press?"
Where indeed.
Here's another fun connection - most of these are Harvard. As is Obama. Tight little group, those Harvard boyz.
Another fun blogpost, this one by 'Gaudia Ray'. I'm obviously not the only severely pissed-off nut in cyberspace:
"The anger and the desperate cleaving to the "rock" which ain't the US Constitution or the Declaration of Independence will not subside until it is crushed by financial destitution.
The orthodoxy is in charge. And the plutocrats have shown their political sword has been painted paper.
Every responsible citizen of the world has an opportunity to speak up and hold up the true bible, the Constitution of the USA. And that must be done in the face of the rabid FOX -- Al-Jazeerah emasculated followers who even today, October 2008, are claiming themselves wired to blow, and crazed to avoid submission.
The plutocrats trade on that. They too just claimed they too were so wired. And the rabid many genuflected, and we the remaining people received the notice, too.
There will be FDR Plus. There will be no change. Rubin and Buffett have huge vested interests, irrespective of their good intentions. The marriage made in hell, Wells Fargo, Wachovia, Goldman Sachs has all but been announced. Instead of bankruptcies across the board, they have all grabbed and waive furiously the flag of systemic survival and club the people, including the dubya tripe, into fearful submission.
It's all pretend. It's all hogwash.
Next up... slam gold.
Nobody rational will buy fiat...Treasuries... in any country, save out of a posture of submission.
What I expect is the public now hiding their 401K assets in MMF's won't wait patiently. They will take risk in equities and long term bonds, and they'll pummeled as they find no floor.
This economic event is well-precedented. Those who look back in human history see it repeated ad nauseum. The great advances, the black boxes, the new found understandings, are more hogwash. As I've said here at least a year ago, Bernard Baruch wrote in his memoirs, My Public Years and My Private Years, human behavior changes, every few thousand years, very slightly.
The rabid orthodoxy is vested. While soon receiving the boot of defeat in an election, they're vested. The world will always be spittooned.
My one redundant piece of advice: stay focused on the store of value.
Personally, this round of fear should be washed off with pumice, quickly. Prudence fell off the stage for decades, but it's never unwarranted. "
Sun, Oct 19 2008
TRUST THE POWER OF A FREE MARKET
Massive intervention, corrupt manipulation and complete lack of regulation and oversight is NOT a free market.
THIS is what happens when you trust that kind on not-free market:
Most of America and much of the world who followed her greedy shortsighted lead have lost half their pensions and savings in the last month. Seriously, when the hard times are well and truly entrenched, there will be a lot of destitute old folks. Remember back in the '70s, the articles about penniless old ladies eating catfood to survive? Get ready for a lot worse. Get ready for third-world poverty, with gaunt little old ladies begging on street corners...
Oh, it's bad, I tell ya, it's bad... I went to buy a toaster today, and they gave me a bank! *rimshot*
Sat, Oct 18 2008
CORRUPTION, LIES, BRAZEN THIEVERY
With the government suspension of the FASB mark-to-market rule (forcing the price to reality), the thieves are free to mark to model (pricing at whatever fantasy they care to) once again. How many gazillions of free taxpayer dollar bailout money is your toxic waste product worth?
Corporate governance takes back seat in bailouts
Treasury's investments will do little to advance cause, experts say
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) -- The U.S. Treasury's plan to invest $125 billion in nine of the country's largest banks will do little to advance the corporate governance movement, experts said on Friday.
Some of the corporate governance and executive compensation rules in the original bailout legislation have since been softened by interim final rules drawn up by the Treasury as part of its plan to inject capital into banks, they added.
"The rock struck the water and it made a significant splash, but the ripples have been limited by the actual rules," Patrick McGurn, special counsel at corporate governance specialist RiskMetrics Group, said in an interview. "From a corporate standpoint, the fine print has limited some of the impact of the bailout package."
Earlier this month, Congress passed massive bailout legislation allowing the Treasury to spend $700 billion buying bad assets from struggling financial institutions.
But stock markets plunged further and credit markets froze, forcing the government to use $125 billion of that money to invest directly in nine of the largest U.S. banks, including Citigroup
"In line with normal commercial practices, the government on behalf of taxpayers will have appropriate representation on their boards," Chancellor Alistair Darling said. "These shareholdings will be managed on a fully commercial basis by an arm's-length body - with a precisely-defined remit - to act in the interests of taxpayers."
Other limits
Other limits imposed on U.S. banks by the Treasury probably won't change current practices, corporate governance experts said.
Under the rules, banks can't deduct executive compensation above $500,000 against taxes.
That's tougher than the current standards, but it probably won't stop companies paying executives handsomely, McCormick said.
"Executives at these firms are accustomed to making a lot of money and the companies will want to retain talent and prevent them leaving for hedge funds," he explained.
The banks will probably give up the tax deduction, rather than pay executives less, he added.
The original bailout legislation also banned golden parachutes, which are big severance payments made to executives after mergers or acquisitions.
The Treasury's interim final rules defined golden parachutes as payments equal to or exceeding three times an executive's annual salary and bonus. That's in line with the current tax code and common practice already among companies.
"Under the rules, you can still pay out up to three times annual salary and bonus," McGurn said. "The legislation looked like it had real teeth, but the interim final rule is just a gap-toothed smile."
Still, the Treasury's rules impose this limit on severance packages triggered for other reasons, not just change of control events like mergers and acquisitions.
Sat, Oct 18 2008
THE REAL STATE OF THE UNION
Sat, Oct 18 2008
GET A ROPE
Sat, Oct 18 2008
CONTEST PRETTY MUCH OVER
Although they will continue to go through the motions, the sentiment across the spectrum is that Obama has bagged the election. Barring an outright theft of votes via the Diebold machines (totally possible), McCain is just comedy gold now:
Fri, Oct 17 2008
IF ONLY IT WERE GLAMOROUS ENOUGH FOR A MOVIE
Thu, Oct 16 2008
YEAH, WE'RE ALL SOCIALISTS NOW
Thu, Oct 16 2008
MERCHANTS OF FINANCIAL DEATH PRINTING UP AMERICAN HYPERINFLATION
"Inflation is always and everywhere a monetary phenomenon" - Ludwig von Mises (father of Austrian economics)
It's not like the Fed has a half trillion a day of cash lying around, which means they are 'printing' it out of thin air. Our entire Gross Domestic Product is $13 trillion a year.
Holy shit. Weimar experience, here we come.
Banks borrow record $437.5 billion per day from Fed
NEW YORK (Reuters) - Financial institutions ran to their lender of last resort for record amounts of cash in the latest week, under extreme pressure from the worst global financial crisis in a generation, Federal Reserve data showed on Thursday.
Banks and dealers' overall direct borrowings from the Fed averaged a record $437.53 billion per day in the week ended October 15, topping the previous week's $420.16 billion per day.
Some analysts are concerned that banks' dependence on Fed lending might become long term and difficult to change.
[Gee. Ya think?]
More yaddah...Wed, Oct 15 2008
PASS HB2755
“I sincerely believe the banking institutions having the issuing power of money, are more dangerous to liberty than standing armies.” - Thomas Jefferson
Call your congressman and demand passage of HB 2755 Federal Reserve Abolition Act.
http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=h110-2755
Ron Paul ROCKS.Wed, Oct 15 2008
SO MUCH FOR THE MARKET RALLY. MEOW. BOING!
Wed, Oct 15 2008
NO ECONOMIC HANGOVER HERE
Wed, Oct 15 2008
GOT GOLD?
Brenner expertly lays out the systemic stupidity that has brought the world to the brink of financial disaster.
How we got here
The current financial crisis stems from the decision to divorce our currencies from a reliable standard of value
Reuven Brenner, Financial Post, Canada
Gold is hovering again around $900, commodity prices are on the rise, and the U. S. dollar is back to its downward trend of the last few years. This isn't a surprise.
The $700-billion bail-out plan is mum about the dollar -- a big mistake (reflected in the immediate currency/gold price movements), since the Fed's mismanagement of the dollar as a reserve currency contributed to the present mess. The signals were all there for the Fed to see. Yet academic fads blinded it. How did we get here? More important: how to get out? Take a deep breath.
More yaddah...Tue, Oct 14 2008
WHAT ARE YOU, STUPID?
U.S. pouring $250 billion into nation's ailing banks
WASHINGTON, Associated Press - President Bush on Tuesday announced a $250 billion plan by the government to directly buy shares in the nation's leading banks, saying the drastic steps were "not intended to take over the free market but to preserve it."
[rest of mind-numbing article here]
From Tatsuya Ishida's "Sinfest", brilliant stuff:
Mon, Oct 13 2008
INTERNATIONAL "SHUT THE FUCK UP DAY"
Today is international "Shut The Fuck Up" day. Please observe it.
Mon, Oct 13 2008
HUGE SUCKER RALLY
The markets have gone crazy to the upside. This is the biggest sucker rally in history. None of the fundamentals have changed, in fact, they've gotten worse. The world governments have agreed to nationalize banks and print unlimited amounts of fiat. This, of course, will make things pretty goshdarned bad everywhere. Some places will suffer more than others. Wars may break out. Hunger will definitely be spreading. Buy, buy BUY!
"To put this amount into perspective: if you had spent one million dollars a day, from the birth of Christ until today, you would have only spent about 732 billion dollars." - Casey Research
"Bailouts and state guarantees to shore up the system may help, but they also strain public finances and raise concerns that the government may be tempted to inflate away its debts by printing money." - The Economist
May be tempted? May? Hello! Want some coffee, dude? 'Coz while you were sleeping, that train blew right outta the station...Sat, Oct 11 2008
BOTTOM LINE TO KEEP IN MIND
"The strongest reason for the people to retain the right to keep and bear arms is, as a last resort, to protect themselves against tyranny in government." - Thomas Jefferson
Sat, Oct 11 2008
THE BANKS THAT WON'T FAIL
Merge, yes (see Merrill/BofA). Be bailed out with massive injections of brand-new taxpayer-backed fiat, you betcha. This is a list of the Primary Dealers, not coincidentally, the owners of the Federal Reserve, a private corporation:
BNP Paribas Securities Corp.
Banc of America Securities LLC
Barclays Capital Inc.
Cantor Fitzgerald & Co.
Citigroup Global Markets Inc.
Credit Suisse Securities (USA) LLC
Daiwa Securities America Inc.
Deutsche Bank Securities Inc.
Dresdner Kleinwort Securities LLC
Goldman, Sachs & Co.
Greenwich Capital Markets, Inc.
HSBC Securities (USA) Inc.
J. P. Morgan Securities Inc.
Merrill Lynch Government Securities Inc.
Mizuho Securities USA Inc.
Morgan Stanley & Co. Incorporated
UBS Securities LLC.
My company operational account is with Banc of America. I'm looking at opening a swiss franc-denominated account with UBS. The only 'paper gold' I hold (for trading the wild swings) is the Barclay's ETF. It will be fucked with last. If these are the biggest rats, the ones that are not going down with the ship, then that's whose back I'm gonna ride.
Sat, Oct 11 2008
MIDDLE AMERICA'S FUTURE
Gonna be dialing it waaay back, folks.
Sat, Oct 11 2008
JOE SIXPACK WAKING UP TO THE REALITY OF FIAT "MONEY"
"Does the world have some fixed amount of wealth that shifts between people, nations and institutions with the ebb and flow of the economy?"
Well, yes and no. No, in the sense that none of the money is real. Yes, in the sense that purchasing power is lost. And the cascade of power redistribution that occurs with loss of purchasing power for one sector is a very much a transfer of wealth.
Over the past year, people in the U.S. have watched $8.4 trillion drain from investment accounts and retirement savings. That tends to piss the sheeple off.
All that money you've lost — where did it go?
NEW YORK, Associated Press - Trillions in stock market value — gone. Trillions in retirement savings — gone. A huge chunk of the money you paid for your house, the money you're saving for college, the money your boss needs to make payroll — gone, gone, gone.
Whether you're a stock broker or Joe Six-pack, if you have a 401(k), a mutual fund or a college savings plan, tumbling stock markets and sagging home prices mean you've lost a whole lot of the money that was right there on your account statements just a few months ago.
But if you no longer have that money, who does? The fat cats on Wall Street? Some oil baron in Saudi Arabia? The government of China?
Or is it just — gone?
If you're looking to track down your missing money — figure out who has it now, maybe ask to have it back — you might be disappointed to learn that is was never really money in the first place.
Robert Shiller, an economist at Yale, puts it bluntly: The notion that you lose a pile of money whenever the stock market tanks is a "fallacy." He says the price of a stock has never been the same thing as money — it's simply the "best guess" of what the stock is worth.
"It's in people's minds," Shiller explains. "We're just recording a measure of what people think the stock market is worth. What the people who are willing to trade today — who are very, very few people — are actually trading at. So we're just extrapolating that and thinking, well, maybe that's what everyone thinks it's worth."
Shiller uses the example of an appraiser who values a house at $350,000, a week after saying it was worth $400,000.
"In a sense, $50,000 just disappeared when he said that," he said. "But it's all in the mind."
[Gee, thanks Bob. That makes us all feel SOOOOOO much better....]
More yaddah...Fri, Oct 10 2008
SOME TRIED TO FIGHT THE FASCIST TAKEOVER
God love Kucinich. Congress holding secret hearings to pass FISA legislation, Kucinich protests. He gave it a shot, but you can see how pathetically feeble dissent in Congress is.
Fri, Oct 10 2008
PAULSON NATIONALIZING BANKS
Boy, when the fascist New World Order makes a powergrab, they aren't half-assed about it, are they? First, they engineer the collapse, then they siphon all the wealth, and now they consolidate their powerbase across the globe. Next on the Agenda? The North American Union.
"The people will greet us as liberators."
SonofaBITCH.
US to take stake in banks, first since Depression
WASHINGTON, Associated Press - The government will buy an ownership stake in a broad array of American banks for the first time since the Great Depression, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said late Friday, announcing the historic step after stock markets jolted still lower around the world despite all efforts to slow the selling stampede.
Separately, the U.S. and the globe's other industrial powers pledged to take "decisive action and use all available tools" to prevent a worldwide economic catastrophe.
More yaddah...Fri, Oct 10 2008
VULTURES AND DEAD CATS
The Dow rollercoastered some 1000 points today, currently at breakeven. We'll see which direction the last 30 minutes of trading take it (yesterday the last 30 were a slaughter). Folks desperate to raise cash, other folks looking for bottoms and bargains. Meow. Boing.
Fri, Oct 10 2008
NEW STOCK DEFINITIONS
The markets continue to tank. Capitulation is near total, selling at any price. Blood in the streets around the world. This one is historic, folks, the Big Crash of '08.
Here's some new definitions:
NEW STOCK MARKET TERMS
CEO -- Chief Embezzlement Officer.
CFO -- Corporate Fraud Officer.
BULL MARKET -- A random market movement causing an investor to mistake himself for a financial genius.
BEAR MARKET -- A 6- to 18-month period when the kids get no allowance, the wife gets no jewelry, and the husband gets no sex.
VALUE INVESTING -- The art of buying low and selling lower.
P/E RATIO -- The percentage of investors wetting their pants as the market keeps crashing.
BROKER -- What my broker has made me.
STANDARD & POOR -- Your life in a nutshell.
STOCK ANALYST -- Idiot who just downgraded your stock.
STOCK SPLIT -- When your ex-wife and her lawyer split your assets equally between themselves.
FINANCIAL PLANNER -- A guy whose phone has been disconnected.
MARKET CORRECTION -- The day after you buy stocks.
CASH FLOW -- The movement your money makes as it disappears down the toilet.
YAHOO -- What you yell after selling it to some poor sucker for $240 per share.
WINDOWS -- What you jump out of when you're the sucker who bought Yahoo @ $240 per share.
INSTITUTIONAL INVESTOR -- Past year investor who's now locked up in a nuthouse.
PROFIT -- An archaic word no longer in use. (It was difficult to find in my Thesaurus ...)
Fri, Oct 10 2008
ENDGAME: ONE WORLD ORDER
Thu, Oct 09 2008
WORLD BURNING
Thu, Oct 09 2008
CROWD CONTROL
Sonofabitch. This is totally worth a full read.
Thousands of Troops Are Deployed on U.S. Streets Ready to Carry Out "Crowd Control
by Naomi Wolf
Members of Congress were told they could face martial law if they didn't pass the bailout bill. This will not be the last time.
Background: the First Brigade of the Third Infantry Division, three to four thousand soldiers, has been deployed in the United States as of October 1. Their stated mission is the form of crowd control they practiced in Iraq, subduing "unruly individuals," and the management of a national emergency. I am in Seattle and heard from the brother of one of the soldiers that they are engaged in exercises now. Amy Goodman reported that an Army spokesperson confirmed that they will have access to lethal and non lethal crowd control technologies and tanks.
George Bush struck down Posse Comitatus, thus making it legal for military to patrol the U.S. He has also legally established that in the "War on Terror," the U.S. is at war around the globe and thus the whole world is a battlefield. Thus the U.S. is also a battlefield.
He also led change to the 1807 Insurrection Act to give him far broader powers in the event of a loosely defined "insurrection" or many other "conditions" he has the power to identify. The Constitution allows the suspension of habeas corpus -- habeas corpus prevents us from being seized by the state and held without trial -- in the event of an "insurrection." With his own army force now, his power to call a group of protesters or angry voters "insurgents" staging an "insurrection" is strengthened.
U.S. Rep. Brad Sherman of California said to Congress, captured on C-Span and viewable on YouTube, that individual members of the House were threatened with martial law within a week if they did not pass the bailout bill:
"The only way they can pass this bill is by creating and sustaining a panic atmosphere. … Many of us were told in private conversations that if we voted against this bill on Monday that the sky would fall, the market would drop two or three thousand points the first day and a couple of thousand on the second day, and a few members were even told that there would be martial law in America if we voted no."
More yaddah...Thu, Oct 09 2008
STAMPEDE FOR THE EXITS
Dow industrials fall over 678 points, below 9,000
NEW YORK , Associated Press - Stocks plunged in the final minutes of trading Thursday, sending the Dow Jones industrials down more than 675 points, or more than 7 percent, to their lowest level in five years after a major credit ratings agency said it was considering cutting its rating on General Motors Corp. The Standard & Poor's 500 index also fell more than 7 percent.
Wed, Oct 08 2008
WATCHING THE AVALANCHE GATHER SPEED
The Dow closed down another 200 points. Markets around the world did much much worse. All this after the world Central Banks all announced a coordinated rate cut. It's out of control, baby, this is a stampede for the exits.
Wall Street panic rolling over consumers worldwide
CHICAGO (Reuters) - A London businessman may have to put off his wedding. A baker in Paris fears customers will disappear. A student in Slovenia sees an automobile loan fall out of reach. And a real estate agent in Chicago says she's just plain scared.
The worst financial crisis since the 1930s was stark reality for millions on Wednesday as retirement savings evaporated, jobs disappeared, stock market values slipped again and a dramatic cut in interest rates by central banks from Europe to Asia did little to stem three weeks of near panic.
More yaddah...Tue, Oct 07 2008
FINANCIAL CARDIAC ARREST
Wow, this shit is getting pretty bad. Markets around the globe tanking really really, historically badly. Nobody lending anything, everyone selling everything, trying to get into treasuries and gold. Goobermints turning on fiat firehoses and drenching liquidity, nothing is working (duh). I suspect by next weekend, we may see bank "holidays" and no one able to get cash out of their ATMs...
"May you live in interesting times" - old Chinese proverb
Interesting times indeed...
Bullion lending by central banks all but dries up
London , Financial Times - Central banks have all but stopped lending gold to commercial and investment banks and other participants in the precious metals market, in a move that on Tuesday sent the cost of borrowing bullion for one-month to more than twenty times its usual level.
The one-month gold lease rate rocketed to 2.649 per cent, its highest level since May 2001 and significantly above its five-year average of 0.12 per cent, according to data from the London Bullion Market Association.
More yaddah...Tue, Oct 07 2008
GLOBAL MELTDOWN IN PROGRESS
All hell is breaking loose in every market, the Dow alone closed down 500 today. Jesus, it really is happening.
The various goobermints are doing what they can to manage the slide, and by and large, Joe Sixpack out on Main Street is not feeling anything yet. But institutionally, there's a mother of all bankruns happening, and a huge flight to safety in the form of bonds and gold.
Ummm yeah, my gold nest egg is doing fine. Unlike the equity markets, which are fried....
Tue, Oct 07 2008
MARKETS CRASHING EVERYWHERE
Mon, Oct 06 2008
MEET THE BAILOUT CZAR
Here's the fella who will be in charge of handing out the $700 billion in taxpayer moolah to the fatcats. Got that crazed axe murderer look in his eyes, don't he?:
[Bailout Czar Neel Kashkari]
Mon, Oct 06 2008
PRIORITITTIES
Here where I live, and in many other places across the nation, we're starting to get slammed with absurd ads to outlaw gay marriage and officially create a second-class citizenry. Honestly, you intolerant bible thumping neanderthal scumbags, we have bigger fish to fry....
Mon, Oct 06 2008
WHAT KIN OF NATION ARE WE, TRULY?
“The issue boils down to this: Do we care about freedom? Do we care about responsibility and accountability? Do we care that our government and media have been bought and paid for? Do we care that average Americans are being looted in order to subsidize the fattest of cats on Wall Street and in government? ...When the chips are down, will we stand up and fight? Times like these have a way of telling us what kind of a people we are, and what kind of country we shall be.”
- Ron Paul
Mon, Oct 06 2008
THE AMERO
Mon, Oct 06 2008
SHOCKED, SHOCKED I TELL YOU
And somehow, this is news... kleptocrats never change. Lying thieves, the lot of them.
SEC, Fed aware of everything at Lehman: Fuld
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. lawmakers expressed outrage about the collapse of Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc on Monday, saying the investment bank's top executive, board members and regulators all shared blame for its downfall.
But Richard Fuld, the disgraced head of Lehman (LEHMQ.PK), said regulators knew exactly how Lehman was pricing its distressed assets and about its liquidity situation in the months before its collapse.
Throughout 2008, the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission and the Federal Reserve "actively conducted regular, and at times daily oversight of both our business and balance sheet," Fuld said in testimony to be delivered to a House Oversight and Government Reform Committee hearing.
"(Regulators) held regular price verification reviews. They were privy to everything as it was happening," he said.
More yaddah...Mon, Oct 06 2008
MARKET CRISIS 2008
Boom, baby.
The Dow slid 800 points. So much for that $700 billion in taxpayer money.
Panic grips world stock markets
LONDON (AFP) - World stock markets plummeted on Monday, striking four-year lows, as panic-stricken investors doubted whether a Wall Street bailout package would stem the global financial crisis.
London, Frankfurt and Paris all tumbled more than six percent before pulling back slightly while a 15-percent dive in Moscow forced yet another halt to Russian trading.
"There is all-out panic," said ING senior strategist Adrian van Tiggelen.
"Everyone had hoped that after the acceptance of the package in the US and the bailouts in Europe, things would cam down but in effect, there are still strong fears of the domino effect."
More yaddah...Mon, Oct 06 2008
WILL HUMANS BE ON THE LIST?
They certainly deserve to be...
Scientists: 1 in 4 mammals faces extinction
WASHINGTON, Associated Press - Conservationists have taken the first detailed look at the world's mammals in more than a decade, and the news isn't good.
"Our results paint a bleak picture of the global status of mammals worldwide," the team led by Jan Schipper of the International Union for the Conservation of Nature in Gland, Switzerland, concluded.
"We estimate that one in four species is threatened with extinction and that the population of one in two is declining," the researchers said in a report to be published Friday in the journal Science. The findings were being released Monday at the IUCN meeting in Barcelona, Spain.
More yaddah...Sun, Oct 05 2008
BAILOUT IS NOT FOR AMERICA
This bailout is for fatcats around the world. It has nothing to do with the US taxpayer (other than footing the bill), nothing to do anything other than bailing out our Lords and Masters. We are their serfs now.
Sat, Oct 04 2008
THE POOR ARE TO BLAME
Sat, Oct 04 2008
JUMP, YOU FUCKERS
Sat, Oct 04 2008
WAKE THE FUCK UP, MORONS
Sat, Oct 04 2008
FED MONEY GIVEAWAY FOR THE LAST FEW WEEKS
This is how much of your money the Fed has been giving away for the last few weeks. This does not take the brand-new $810 billion dollar pork-flavor Bailout Bill into account. Notice your bailout is also not included:
Sat, Oct 04 2008
THE BAILOUT - THEORY VS REALITY
The bailout, in theory:
The bailout, in reality:
"For starters, even when the Treasury starts buying bad assets, some banks may hoard the cash they receive in return until they see how the plan pans out.
...It also creates a vicious cycle: No trust means no lending; tight credit means it's harder to buy a home; the more difficult it is to buy or sell a home, the further home prices will fall; and the further prices drop, the more foreclosures there will be."
For bailout to work, housing market needs to mend
NEW YORK, Associated Press - Washington's financial bailout plan is now law. So the credit spigot will start flowing again, banks will resume lending, and an economic recovery can begin, right?
Wrong. Experts say the most important thing that needs to happen before the $700 billion bailout even has a chance of working: Home prices must stop falling. That would send a signal to banks that the worst has passed and it's safe to start doling out money again.
More yaddah...Fri, Oct 03 2008
WHERE'S MY BAILOUT, YOU THIEVING KELPTOCRATS?
Signed, sealed and delivered. Oh, by the way, the market closed DOWN, not up. That sucking sound you hear is your $700 billion flushing down the toilet.
Here's some of the delicious $110 billion worth of pork we just bought (as it actually appears on the bill):
Sec. 101. Extension of alternative minimum tax relief for nonrefundable personalcredits.
Sec. 102. Extension of increased alternative minimum tax exemption amount.
Sec. 201. Deduction for State and local sales taxes.
Sec. 202. Deduction of qualified tuition and related expenses.
Sec. 203. Deduction for certain expenses of elementary and secondary school teachers.
Sec. 204. Additional standard deduction for real property taxes for nonitemizers.
Sec. 205. Tax-free distributions from individual retirement plans for charitable purposes.
Sec. 304. Extension of look-thru rule for related controlled foreign corporations.
Sec. 305. Extension of 15-year straight-line cost recovery for qualified leasehold improvements and qualified restaurant improvements; 15-year straight-line cost recovery for certain improvements to retail space.
Sec. 307. Basis adjustment to stock of S corporations making charitable contributions of property.
Sec. 308. Increase in limit on cover over of rum excise tax to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.
Sec. 309. Extension of economic development credit for American Samoa.
Sec. 310. Extension of mine rescue team training credit.
Sec. 311. Extension of election to expense advanced mine safety equipment.
Sec. 312. Deduction allowable with respect to income attributable to domestic production activities in Puerto Rico.
Sec. 314. Indian employment credit.
Sec. 315. Accelerated depreciation for business property on Indian reservations.
Sec. 316. Railroad track maintenance.
Sec. 317. Seven-year cost recovery period for motorsports racing track facility.
Sec. 318. Expensing of environmental remediation costs.
Sec. 319. Extension of work opportunity tax credit for Hurricane Katrina employees.
Sec. 320. Extension of increased rehabilitation credit for structures in the Gulf Opportunity Zone.
Sec. 321. Enhanced deduction for qualified computer contributions.
Sec. 322. Tax incentives for investment in the District of Columbia.
Sec. 323. Enhanced charitable deductions for contributions of food inventory.
Sec. 324. Extension of enhanced charitable deduction for contributions of book inventory.
Sec. 325. Extension and modification of duty suspension on wool products; wool research fund; wool duty refunds.
Sec. 401. Permanent authority for undercover operations. (as related to tax provisions)
Sec. 402. Permanent authority for disclosure of information relating to terrorist activities. (as related to tax provisions)
Sec. 501. $8,500 income threshold used to calculate refundable portion of child tax credit.
Sec. 502. Provisions related to film and television productions.
Sec. 503. Exemption from excise tax for certain wooden arrows designed for use by children.
Sec. 504. Income averaging for amounts received in connection with the Exxon Valdez litigation.
Sec. 505. Certain farming business machinery and equipment treated as 5-year property.
Sec. 506. Modification of penalty on understatement of taxpayer's liability by tax return preparer.
Subtitle B-Paul Wellstone and Pete Domenici Mental Health Parity and Addiction Equity Act of 2008
Sec. 601. Secure rural schools and community self-determination program.
Sec. 602. Transfer to abandoned mine reclamation fund.
Sec. 702. Temporary tax relief for areas damaged by 2008 Midwestern severe storms, tornados, and flooding.
Sec. 704. Temporary tax-exempt bond financing and low-income housing tax relief for areas.
Sec. 709. Waiver of certain mortgage revenue bond requirements following federally declared disasters.
Sec. 710. Special depreciation allowance for qualified disaster property.
Sec. 711. Increased expensing for qualified disaster assistance property.
Fri, Oct 03 2008
FORECLOSING ON GRANNIES, WIDDERS AND ORPHINKS
And so the Greater Depression begins...
Granny and Her Gun - The top video clips of the week are here
Woman, 90, shoots self inside foreclosed home
(CNN) -- A 90-year-old Akron, Ohio, woman who shot herself as sheriff's deputies tried to evict her from her foreclosed home became a symbol of the nation's home mortgage crisis Friday.
Fannie Mae foreclosed on the Akron, Ohio, home of Addie Polk, 90, after acquiring the mortgage in 2007.
More yaddah...Fri, Oct 03 2008
THE REAL TRICKLE-DOWN THEORY
Fri, Oct 03 2008
NASCAR, WOODEN ARROWS AND RUM - THE SWEET SMELL OF PORK
The Senate is about to pass the $700 billion dollar Paulson Paln Bailout Bill, the biggest open theft of AMerican taxpayer money in history. To add insult to injury, to get the bill passed, our 'elected' "leaders" have tacked on $110 billion more of nothing but sweet juicy pork designed to get them votes back home.
Kind of like grabbing an old lady's purse, slamming her down, then pissing on her while she's on the ground moaning from her broken hip.
Think YOU get anything out of this "rescue" but the bill? Duh, of course not. Not unless you're a NASCAR track owner, a wooden arrow maker, a caribbean rum manufacturer, or you are in the upper middle class making close to $200K a year. Which is about not 92% of us.
So, the little guy is bailing out everyone except the little guy... surprise, surprise...
Tax breaks big and small sweeten financial bailout
WASHINGTON, Associated Press - Wind power developers, disaster victims, college students, teachers and millions of taxpayers and businesses stand to see substantial benefits from the tax relief package that lawmakers added to the huge financial rescue plan.
So will more narrowly focused groups, including motor sports racetrack owners, film producers and bicycle commuters.
Virtually all of the tax breaks already exist. But many of them expired Jan. 1 for use in the current tax year, and the others will expire three months from now unless Congress renews them.
The largest group of beneficiaries in what is now the tax portion of the financial rescue bill is about 20 million mainly upper-middle income taxpayers. Without congressional action, the AMT, with originally was supposed to affect only the very rich, would add some $2,000 this year to the tax bill of people mostly earning under $200,000 a year.
More yaddah...Thu, Oct 02 2008
GOD HELP US ALL IF THIS SPRITZHEAD GETS ELECTED
Thu, Oct 02 2008
PORK-FLAVORED BAILOUT GETTING RAMMED DOWN TAXPAYER THROATS
Wed, Oct 01 2008
THE NEXT DOMINO: CREDIT DEFAULT SWAPS
This one is a biggie. The housing market and Wall Street implosions are nothing compared to this one:
Wed, Oct 01 2008
EUROPEAN BAILOUTS COMING
Bloomberg reporting the EU scrambling to provide bailouts for various countries. The only way to do this, of course, is for them to print up more of their fiat money.
Here we go in a race to the bottom. Got gold?
Wed, Oct 01 2008
FEDS HAVE LOST CONTROL OF THE SITUATION, GLOBAL BANK RUNS HAVE QUIETLY BEGUN
Nouriel Roubini points out that $2.6 trillion of uninsured US bank deposits held by foreign banks are being pulled out of the system, a "silent bank run" that is happening behind the scenes and away from the media spotlight:
http://www.rgemonitor.com/roubini-monitor/253818/roubini_sees_silent_run_on_banks_urges_triage_bloomberg_radio_interview
Bloomberg audio interview with Roubini on silent bank run
Roubini has been 100% correct for the last few years, everything he has warned has come to pass exactly as warned, only faster and harder than he foresaw. I see no reason to doubt his views now - if he says this is it, the global banking system is all unraveling and we just have to figure out who is strong enough to be saved and let the rest die, then that's what we have to do.
Wonder how long before China pegs the yuan to gold and instantly becomes the world's economic powerhouse?Wed, Oct 01 2008
ITS ALL JUST LITTLE BITS OF HISTORY REPEATING
Written in 1837:
“Every now and then the world is visited by one of these delusive seasons when “the credit system”, as it is called, expands to full luxuriance; everybody trusts everybody; a bad debt is a thing unheard of; the broad way to certain and sudden wealth lies plain and open; men are tempted to dash forward boldly from the facility of borrowing.
Promissory notes, interchanged between scheming individuals, are liberally discounted at the banks, which become so many mints to coin words into cash; as the supply of words is inexhaustible, it may readily be supposed what a vast amount of promissory capital is soon in circulation. Everyone now talks in thousands; nothing is heard but gigantic operation in trade, great purchases and sales of real property, and immense sums made at every transfer. All, to be sure, as yet exists in promise, but the believer in promises calculates the aggregate as solid capital and falls back in amazement at the amount of public wealth, the ‘unexampled state of public prosperity!’
Now is the time for speculative and dreaming or designing men. They relate their dreams and projects to the ignorant and credulous, dazzle them with golden visions, and set them maddening after shadows. The example of one stimulates another; speculation rises on speculation; bubble rises on bubble; everyone helps with his breath to swell the windy superstructure and admires and wonders at the magnitude of the inflation he has contributed to produce.
Speculation is the romance of trade and casts contempt upon all its sober realities. It renders the stock jobber a magician and the exchange a region of enchantment. It elevates the merchant into a kind of knight-errant, or rather a commercial Quixote. The slow but sure gains of snug percentage becomes despicable in his eyes: no ‘operation’ is thought worthy of attention that does not double or treble the investment. No business is worth following that does not promise an immediate fortune. As he sits musing over his ledger with pen behind his ear, he is like La Mancha’s hero in his study dreaming over his books of chivalry. His dusty counting-house fades before his eyes, or changes into a Spanish mine: he gropes after diamonds or dives after pearls. The subterranean garden of Aladdin is nothing to the realms of wealth that break upon his imagination.
Could this delusion always last, the life of a merchant would indeed be a golden dream; but it is as short as it is brilliant. Let but a doubt enter, and the ‘season of unexampled prosperity’ is at an end. The coinage of words is suddenly curtailed; the promissory capital begins to vanish into smoke; a panic succeeds, and the whole superstructure, built upon credit and reared by speculation, crumbles to the ground, leaving a scarce wreck behind.”
The Panic of 1837 - Washington Irving (who is credited with the origin of the term, “the Almighty Dollar.”)Wed, Oct 01 2008
EASY BAILOUT
We don't need to give fatcats trillions of taxpayer dollars to get the economy rolling.
Just give every single United States taxpayer one million dollars right now.
That will get things rolling *snap* like that.
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