Filed under: AIG, bankruptcy, bernanke, Big Banks, Central Banks, CNN, Cold War, Congress, corporatism, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Dictatorship, Dollar, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Empire, Euro, fannie mae, Fascism, FDIC, Federal Reserve, foreign aid, freddie mac, George Bush, georgia, glenn beck, global economy, gold, Goldman Sachs, Great Depression, Greenback, henry paulson, House, housing market, hyperinflation, Inflation, Lehman Brothers, liquidation, Media, middle class, Military, morgan stanley, mortgage, mortgage companies, mortgage lenders, nationalization, Nazi, Paulson, real estate, Ron Paul, Russia, Senate, silver, Stock Market, subprime, subprime lending, Taxpayers, US Constitution, US Economy, US Treasury, Wall Street, war funding, WW3, ww4 | Tags: john roberts, run on banks
Ron Paul: This Bailout Won’t Be the Last
Ron Paul on CNN w/ John Roberts
Ron Paul Blasts “Secret Government” Running Economy
Filed under: bailout, Big Banks, China, consolidation, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Dollar, Dow, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, fannie mae, Federal Reserve, freddie mac, gas prices, George Bush, global economy, Great Depression, Greenback, housing market, hyperinflation, Inflation, interest rate cuts, liquidation, Media, middle class, mortgage, mortgage companies, mortgage lenders, neocons, Oil, Petrol, rate cut, real estate, Stock Market, subprime, subprime lending, Taxpayers, US Economy, Wall Street, WMD | Tags: run on banks
China Blames Wall Street Meltdown On Fed Overissuance Of Currency
Paul Joseph Watson & Yihan Dai
Prison Planet
September 19, 2008
China’s state media today reports on the real reason behind the Wall Street meltdown and a subject that the mainstream US media dare not mention – the Federal Reserve’s overissuance of currency – which the Chinese say is part of a wider agenda to justify increased control over the global economy.
The Bush administration today announced a plan to use hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer money to buy up up bad mortgages and other debts. The process of injecting more fiat money into an already over-inflated system had the desired effect – the Dow Jones shot up 450 points – but the dollar, following a brief jump, began to plummet.
According to numerous Chinese state media news sources today, the Federal Reserve’s continued zeal for propping up the market by injecting illusory liquidity is part of an agenda to gain trust and grease the skids for increased government intervention in financial markets.
China Finance , China News and Chaobao Financial News, all state owned media outlets, slammed the Fed for taking action that will only make long term economic conditions worse and devalue the dollar by “creating money that does not exist which leads to the inflation of liquidity,” a policy contrary to China’s position as a holder of vast reserves of US dollars.
The analyst quoted by Chaobao Financial News highlighted “that when there is market failure, the paramount purpose of government intervention should be saving the market for the benefit of the people: Relief, Recovery and then Reform,” and that “Protecting the rights of people who are suffering in the housing market and as a result of high oil prices should be treated as a priority.”
The analyst added that by concentrating on saving just a few large financial companies, the Fed is creating wider financial chaos while arousing anger and suspicion by “only protecting and encouraging large companies’ wrong doing.”
CEIBS Professor of Economics and Finance Xu Xiaonian told a conference yesterday that “The fundamental source of Wall Street’s meltdown is caused by Federal Reserve overissuing currency.” He cautioned that the US government has already exceeded its scope in terms of intervention compared with their usual policy.
Similar sentiments were echoed by economist Zuo Xiaolie, who said that the amount of money injected into the market will have little real impact, but that such measures are a “Narrow minded way that the Federal Reserve uses to diversify the pressure of currency adjustment to other countries, which leads to the devaluation of the dollar, causing imbalance in the global economy.”
“The amount of money that has been put into the market can not fundamentally save the market,” said Xiaolie, adding that the move was merely part of an agenda to “regain the trust and justify future further intervention in the economy.”
On Wednesday, China’s official People’s Daily newspaper, the voice of the ruling Communist party, said that the US had unleashed economic “weapons of mass destruction” and set off a “financial tsunami” by allowing Wall Street lenders to trade in subprime debts and unstable financial derivatives, according to a Press TV report.
China has previously threatened to liquidate its vast holding of US treasuries, amounting to $1.33 trillion, if Washington imposes trade sanctions to force a yuan revaluation. The Communist power has also repeatedly expressed its anger at the Fed’s indifference to the weakening dollar. If China were to dump the dollar it would likely set in motion a chain of events that would lead to a collapse of the greenback.
We know we are in trouble when the Chinese Communist Party sound like bastions of sound money policy and fiscal conservatism in comparison to the Bush administration and the Federal Reserve, who in creating more money out of thin air continue to bail out their friends on Wall Street while the economic future of hundreds of millions of American citizens is sold down the river.
Filed under: 2008 Election, 9/11, bailout, Big Banks, Bill Kristol, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, fannie mae, flip flop, flip flopping, freddie mac, George Bush, global economy, Great Depression, Greenback, housing market, hyperinflation, Inflation, John McCain, mortgage, mortgage companies, mortgage lenders, neocons, phil gramm, real estate, scandal, Stock Market, subprime, subprime lending, US Economy, Wall Street | Tags: fa, run on banks
McCain on U.S. economy: from ‘strong’ to ‘total crisis’ in 36 hours
Herald Tribune
September 17, 2008
Early this week, as the American financial system absorbed one of its biggest shocks in generations, Senator John McCain said, as he had many times before, that he believed the fundamentals of the economy were “strong.”
Hours later he backpedaled, explaining that he had meant that American workers, whom he described as the backbone of the economy, were productive and resilient.
By Tuesday he was calling the economic situation “a total crisis” and denouncing “greed” on Wall Street and in Washington. Meantime, he moved from adamant opposition to resigned acceptance of the big government bailouts.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=igAmVs0cvY8
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/16/mccain-economy-strong-18/
McCain Embraces Government Bailout Of Fannie Mae And Freddie Mac
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/06/freddie-mac-mccain/
Phil Gramm would be ‘just the guy’ to lead us into a Great Depression
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/16/krugman-on-gramm/
Advisor: McCain helped create BlackBerry
http://www.politico.com/blogs/jon..ain_helped_create_BlackBerry.html?showall
John McCain, The Stripper, And Bill Kristol
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b2COPT6Cxug
Bush: Vote For McCain Because Of 9/11
http://www.prisonplanet.com/bush-vote-for-mccain-because-of-911.html
McCain Manager: ’This Election is Not About Issues’
http://voices.washingtonpost.com..anager_this_election_i.html
Filed under: AIG, bailout, bear sterns, Big Banks, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, fannie mae, FDIC, Federal Reserve, Fox News, freddie mac, global economy, Great Depression, Greenback, hyperinflation, Inflation, Media, Ron Paul, Stock Market, Taxpayers, US Economy, Wall Street | Tags: run on banks
U.S. Taxpayers to Bailout AIG With $85 Billion
AP
September 17, 2008
Another day, but not just another bailout. This one’s a stunning government takeover.
In the most far-reaching intervention into the private sector ever for the Federal Reserve, the government stepped in Tuesday to rescue American International Group Inc. with an $85 billion injection of taxpayer money. Under the deal, the government will get a 79.9 percent stake in one of the world’s largest insurers and the right to remove senior management.
AIG’s chief executive, Robert Willumstad, is expected to be replaced by Edward Liddy, the former head of insurer Allstate Corp., according to The Wall Street Journal, citing a person it did not name. Willumstad had been at the helm of AIG since June.
Ron Paul on AIG bailout…Bad Monetary Policy
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080917/ap_on_bi_st_ma_re/wall_street
AIG’s Collapse Would Have Impact Around the Globe
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news..&sid=adkrRxBFo5nA&refer=home
Filed under: Alan Greenspan, bailout, Bank of England, bernanke, Big Banks, BOE, Britain, central bank, CFR, China, CNBC, Communism, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Dow, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, energy, Europe, european union, fannie mae, Fascism, Federal Reserve, freddie mac, George Bush, george soros, global economy, gold, Goldman Sachs, Great Depression, Greenback, henry paulson, housing market, hyperinflation, Inflation, interest rate cut, interest rate cuts, jim rogers, martgage companies, Media, Merrill Lynch, mortgage, mortgage companies, mortgage lenders, Oil, Paulson, rate cut, real estate, Russia, Stock Market, subprime, subprime lending, Taxpayers, United Kingdom, US Economy, US Treasury, Wamu, washington mutual, WW2 | Tags: run on banks
Fannie and Freddie Seized…Cost to Taxpayer: Over $1 Trillion
Contrarain Profits
September 8, 2008
Uncle Sam has finally taken over Fannie Mae (NYSE:FNM) and Freddie Mac (NYSE:FRE). Yesterday, the Bush administration placed the mortgage giants under a conservatorship, putting billions of dollars of taxpeyers’ money at risk in the process.
The Treasury says it will stump up $200 billion to back the companies in exchange for a 79.9% stake in each. The government is now the biggest player in the US mortgage market.
Don Rich warns that the government’s bailout spells trouble for anyone holding US dollars. A major issue is that the Congressional Budget Office’s estimation of the costs of the bailout is far too conservative…
This from last Thursday’s Daily Reckoning:
A recent study from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has zero credibility. It pegged likely taxpayer losses in the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bailouts at $25 billion. For those with a sense of history, it is worth remembering that the S&L bailout had a $160 billion price tag. The numbers diverge so far from reality as to be laugh-out-loud funny. Funny, that is, except that the CBO estimate demonstrates a willful disconnect with the actual consequences of federal government actions.
As demonstrated below, the real cost of the bailouts will easily exceed $1.3 trillion. In fact, the real cost is likely to range between $1.3 trillion to $1.6 trillion, and is not unlikely to reach $2.5 trillion.
Between 2001 and 2007, Fannie and Freddie purchased or guaranteed $700 billion of Alt-A and subprime loans. Given the default rates on these loans – and the fact that the price of the housing that is the ultimate security of the loans will, for reasons demonstrated below, fall by at least thirty percent – this alone implies a loss for Fannie and Freddie on the order of $210 billion.
Fannie and Freddie acknowledge already-impaired loans on the balance sheet of $19 billion, which they have used creative accounting to avoid deleting from the shareholder equity account. This means that Fannie and Freddie have a maximum of $64 billion in capital remaining.
Given the inevitable losses on the Alt-A/subprime portion of their portfolio, it must be the case that if the federal government, as it is doing, guarantees Fannie and Freddie’s solvency, the difference between the loss and the capital to be made up by the government (i.e., the taxpayers) must equal, not $25 billion but $147 billion.
That alone would mean that the CBO is blowing smoke with their estimated cost figures, and if you think back to the S&L cost of $160 billion, this is not a surprising result. The real picture is so much worse that it is pretty obvious the CBO is flat out inventing figures just to get the politicians through November.
It doesn’t take a genius to work out how the government is going to get its hands on such money: the Federal printing press…
I don’t know what those people in Washington are taking to sleep at night after all their electorally driven accounting and finance exercises, but I can tell you what they will be doing to keep the government open for business: printing a whole lot of money.
Chairman Bernanke has the discount window open to any collateralization not worth the paper it is written on, so in effect he has the helicopters ready to drop hundred-dollar bills over Wall Street – as he once famously described the ultimate policy instrument of a fiat-money system.
Of course, if he does that, we will have to change his nickname from Helicopter Ben to Hyperinflation Ben, which answers the question of who picks up the tab of bailing out Fannie and Freddie: anyone owning dollars.
Produce a lot of something, and it becomes worth less. And given the losses at Fannie and Freddie, the taxpayer guarantee, and the ongoing initiation of Boomer retirement, only the inflation tax will work to pay for keeping Fannie and Freddie afloat.
Like it or not, we are about to enter interesting times, and it is too bad our supposed professional civil servants at the Congressional Budget Office have failed to tell the emperor the truth: that he is buck-naked bankrupt and getting ready to take a lot of people with him.
P.S Don Rich is an instructor of economics, finance, and political science at Montgomery County Community College in Blue Bell, PA. He also teaches economics, government, and history at Delaware County Community College in Exton, PA. You can leave comments for Don on the mises.org blog.
Greenspan: U.S Economy in ’once-in-a-century’ financial crisis
September 15, 2008
The nationalization of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac shows that the U.S. is “more communist than China right now” but its brand of socialism is meant only for the rich, investor Jim Rogers, CEO of Rogers Holdings, told CNBC Europe on Monday.
“America is more communist than China is right now. You can see that this is welfare of the rich, it is socialism for the rich… it’s just bailing out financial institutions,” Rogers said.
Stock markets jumped after the U.S. government’s decision to launch what could be its biggest federal bailout ever, in a bid to support the housing market and ward off more global financial market turbulence.
But Rogers said in the long term the move spelled trouble.
“This is madness, this is insanity, they have more than doubled the American national debt in one weekend for a bunch of crooks and incompetents. I’m not quite sure why I or anybody else should be paying for this,” Rogers told “Squawk Box Europe.”
Soros Compares Mishandling Of Current Crisis To Great Depression
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
September 17, 2008
Billionaire investor George Soros has slammed US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson for behaving in the same manner as bankers in the 1930’s and mishandling a financial crisis that threatens a repeat of the Great Depression.
Soros told BBC Newsnight that the world was merely at the beginning of a financial storm and warned, “We mustn’t allow the financial system to collapse as it did in the 1930s.”
Referring to Hank Paulson, the US Treasury Secretary, Soros stated, “The way Paulson is handling the situation is reminiscent of the way the bankers handled it in the 1930s.”
He added: “The financial system has gone overboard and the financial engineering has grown to big, it takes up too big a share in the world’s resources.”
“Now it is shrinking. When it becomes regulated it will be less profitable than the last 25 years.”
Soros, a former member of the Board of Directors of the Council on Foreign Relations, is ranked by Forbes as the 99th richest person in the world with a net worth of around $9 billion.
Ironically, Soros made his name by reaping the dividends of another financial meltdown when he “broke the Bank of England” by short-selling the pound sterling before the currency dropped out of the European Exchange Rate Mechanism in 1992, landing Soros a profit of around $1.1 billion.
In 2006, the highest court in France upheld a conviction that Soros had practiced insider trading when he bought shares in French bank Société Générale after discovering that the bank was on the verge of a takeover.
Soros has repeatedly predicted fiscal armageddon, writing three books about a “superbubble” that is on the verge of collapse.
In response to those accusing him of crying wolf in an effort to panic financial markets and benefit from the fallout, Soros stated, “I have a record of crying wolf…. I did it first in The Alchemy of Finance (in 1987), then in The Crisis of Global Capitalism (in 1998) and now in this book (2008’s The New Paradigm for Financial Markets). So it’s three books predicting disaster. (After) the boy cried wolf three times . . . the wolf really came.”
Respondents to a Daily Mail article about Soros’ comments accused the financier of engaging in wanton hypocrisy.
“I don’t know why on Earth they interview Soros since he has been proven again and again to deliberately spread financial rumour for his own exploitation and gain,” wrote one, “Soros became a multi multi billionaire precisely through manipulating markets like this – if this man says that we are heading for a 1930’s style crash you can guarantee he already has plans to profit from it.”
http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSPEK4365020080917?sp=true
US authorities have now spent $900 billion to prop up the financial system
http://www.swissinfo.ch/eng/..d=9736054&cKey=1221686585000&ty=ti
Central banks pump £100bn into money markets
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/m..2008/09/17/cncentral117.xml
Treasury announces debt auctions for Fed
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5jnS9Vm..m4iAD938I1A80
Fed Pumps $70B Into Financial System
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080916/ap_on_bi_ge/fed_credit_..E44U6Xfx.Fe7GUOQ.D1v24cA
Run On The Bank? Americans Could Lose Their Deposits
http://www.prisonplanet.com/run-on-the-bank-americans-could-lose-their-deposits.html
Merrill Lynch seals future with Bank of America deal
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/bu.._finance/article4755438.ece
Rogers: Dollar To Lose World Reserve Status
http://www.prisonplanet.com/rogers-dollar-to-lose-world-reserve-status.html
Paulson: Congress Has No Authority Here
http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2008/09/paulson-congres.html
Goldman profit plunges 70 pct amid market slump
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080916/bs_nm/goldmansachs_dc
August home starts seen at lowest level in 17 years
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSN1638353220080917
Russia halts trading after 17.5% share price fall
http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles..ORTUNE5.htm
Dow closed down 450
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20..er=1;_ylt=Al5VvbZImvYKFj5hEtFaLktv24cA
Is Britain Heading For Worst Recession Since 1929?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?xml=/money/2008/09/15/bcnrecession115.xml
Washington Mutual Tumbles 30%
http://news.yaho..CZ6k2k2Rd38VKPgv6b.HQA
Now fear stalks British banks
Inflation rises to 4.7% and FTSE plunges ANOTHER 90 points as global markets tumble in wake of Meltdown Monday
Bush Claims Economy Can Weather Storm
Bailouts Will Push U.S. Into Depression
Filed under: Alan Greenspan, bailout, central bank, CNBC, Congress, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Dollar, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, fannie mae, Federal Reserve, food crisis, food market, food prices, freddie mac, gas prices, global economy, gold, Great Depression, Greenback, henry paulson, house senate, housing market, hyperinflation, Inflation, Jim Cramer, liquidation, Mad Money, Media, medicare, morgan stanley, mortgage, mortgage companies, mortgage lenders, nationalization, NYSE, Oil, Paulson, Petrol, real estate, SEC, Stock Market, subprime, subprime lending, US Economy, US Treasury, USDA, Wall Street, Warren Buffett | Tags: securities and exchange commission
Buffett Says Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac ’Game Is Over’
Bloomberg
August 22, 2008
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two largest mortgage finance companies, “don’t have any net worth,’’ billionaire investor Warren Buffett said.
“The game is over’’ as independent companies said Buffett, the 77-year-old chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., in an interview on CNBC today. “They were able to borrow without any of the normal restraints. They had a blank check from the federal government.’’
Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae touched 20-year lows yesterday on the New York Stock Exchange on speculation a government bailout will leave the stocks worthless. U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson won approval from Congress last month to pump emergency capital into the companies, which account for more than half of the $12 trillion U.S. mortgage market.
Fannie and Freddie mispriced their products and “kept existing because they had the federal government behind them,’’ Buffett said. Omaha, Nebraska-based Berkshire had been among the largest holders of Freddie until about 2001, when it became apparent the company wasn’t being run well, he said.
Jim Cramer Talks About Market Manipulation
http://www.reuters.com/article..220080820?sp=true
79 Million Americans Struggle To Pay Med Bills
http://news.yahoo.com/s/hsn/2..AjuAtPXqgtjMugI32IL4GWO9j7AB
Gold surges to a 1-week high of $839
http://africa.reuters.com/business/news/usnBAN222833.html
US Crony Capitalism
http://mparent7777-1.livejournal.com/1375774.html
Recession within year, say experts
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/pres..ay-experts-6323e80.html
Oil shoots to $122 on missile shield row
http://www.thestandard.com.hk/..70614&sid=20295831&con_type=3
Morgan Stanley Says Financial Crisis Will Last: Report
http://www.cnbc.com/id/26252398
Wholesale prices: Highest annual rate in 27 years
http://money.cnn.com/2008/08/19/ne..postversion=2008081910
Wall Street Pulls Back As Financials Fall
Stocks Fall On Inflation Data
Financial Fears, Soaring Inflation Hit Wall Street
Filed under: bailout, Big Banks, central bank, Credit Crisis, DEBT, deficit, Dollar, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Euro, freddie mac, global economy, gold, Great Depression, Greenback, housing market, hyperinflation, Inflation, infrastructure, liquidation, Mexico, morgan stanley, mortgage companies, mortgage lenders, ohio, Oil, privatization, real estate, Stock Market, tax, Toll Roads, US Economy, Wall Street | Tags: highways, infrastructure transactions, investing, roads, run on banks
U.S. Roads, Airports Being Sold To Private Investors
Reuters
August 4, 2008
Cash-strapped U.S. state and city governments are likely to sell or lease more highways, bridges, airports and other assets to investors desperate for stable returns after being frazzled by the credit crisis.
The trend is set to pick up speed given worsening budget deficits in state capitals and city halls nationwide.
It will also be welcomed by Wall Street bankers hoping to help create and market so-called “infrastructure” transactions at a time many debt markets remain paralyzed, and after major U.S. stock indexes fell into bear market territory.
“When you are nervous about everything else, you put your money in a toll road,” said John Schmidt, a partner at the law firm Mayer Brown LLP in Chicago. “That’s the logic of infrastructure. Returns are stable and predictable. You won’t get fabulously rich, but you’ll get stable cash flow.”
The latest enthusiasm for at least partially privatizing infrastructure assets came on July 30 from New York Gov. David Paterson, who is trying to plug a budget deficit caused in part by lower tax revenue as Wall Street retrenches.
“We’re just looking at ways to be more efficient and that’s why I used the term public-private partnerships — trying to find some creative solutions,” Paterson said. “The reason I’m avoiding taxes is because I think taxes are addictive.”
Bankers and others in the industry say there is pent-up demand from dedicated infrastructure funds and public pension funds to invest in hard assets — perhaps $75 billion to $150 billion of equity capital — but not enough supply.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pi…fQ0PVYvOgzI&refer=home
Dropping USD Makes Mexican Vacations Go Up
http://www.usatoday.com/news/world/2008-08-06-mexico_N.htm?csp=1
Dollar soars to 5-mth high vs euro as turnaround eyed
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/feedarticle/7709840
list of ’fastest-dying’ cities includes four in Ohio
http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/busin../05/forbes.html?sid=101
Mexico’s Poor Forgo Goods as Income From U.S. Drops
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20..A2CsXnpEac&refer=home
Freddie Mac’s negative net worth raises questions
http://www.reuters.com/article/news..geNumber=2&virtualBrandChannel=0
Gold sinks to $860
http://uk.reuters.com/article/goldMktRpt/idUKL144962020080808
Oil Falls To $118
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080805/oil_prices.html?.v=13&printer=1
Report: Freddie Mac Chief Disregarded Warnings
http://news.yahoo.com..g1D3M8_8.Si1pc1w4tgtv24cA
Roubini: Hundreds Of Banks Will Fail
http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN0344130720080803?sp=true
No Change Expected In Fed Interest Rates
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080..1D3M8_8.Si1pc1w4tgtv24cA
Filed under: Amero, Australia, bailout, Bank of America, Big Banks, BIS, Britain, Canada, China, Congress, corporations, corporatism, Costa Rica, David Rockefeller, Ecuador, energy, Eugenics, Euro, Europe, european union, exxon mobil, fannie mae, FDIC, Federal Reserve, food market, food prices, food shortage, freddie mac, gas prices, general motors, George Bush, Germany, global economy, global elite, global government, Globalism, gold, housing market, hyperinflation, India, indymac, International Bankers, internationalist, Iran, Japan, job market, liquidation, malthusian catastrophe, Martial Law, Mexico, middle class, mortgage companies, mortgage lenders, mugabe, nationalization, neocons, New World Order, North American Union, Oil, Patriot Act, Petrol, Police State, Population Control, Posse Comitatus, private banks, real estate, rockefeller, rothschild, shell, silver, South America, spain, Stephen Harper, subprime, subprime lending, Taxpayers, United Kingdom, Venezuela, wells fargo, Zimbabwe | Tags: Deutsche Bank, george green, k-mart, run on banks, sears, silver shortage, spanish bank, wells fargo
Stressed banks borrow record amount from Fed
Reuters
July 31, 2008
Banks borrowed a record amount of funds from the Federal Reserve in the latest week as the year old credit crisis took a persistent toll, while the commercial paper market continued to contract, signaling tough conditions for short term borrowers.
Banks’ primary credit borrowings averaged $17.45 billion per day in the latest week, the second straight week this had hit a record and up from $16.38 billion the previous week, Fed data showed on Thursday.
Zimbabwe Devalues Currency
AP
July 30, 2008
Zimbabwe will drop 10 zeros from its hyper-inflated currency — turning 10 billion dollars into one — the country’s reserve bank said Wednesday. President Robert Mugabe threatened a state of emergency if businesses profiteer from the country’s economic and political unraveling.
Shop shelves are empty and there are chronic shortages of everything including medication, food, fuel, power and water. Eighty percent of the work force is unemployed and many who do have jobs don’t earn enough to pay for bus fare.
Inverview with George Green – (7/16/2008)
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0708/12166.html
Soaring energy bills set to push inflation to 16-year high
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/ar..set-push-inflation-16-year-high.html
GM Has $15.5 Billion Loss on U.S. Sales Drop, Leases
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=agMEuJ_r_yxA&refer=worldwide
Venezuela to Nationalize Spanish Bank
http://english.cri.cn/2947/2008/08/01/1821s388058.htm
IndyMAC Files For Bankruptcy Protection
http://www.nytimes.com/2008..2&ref=business&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
Jobless Claims Up Highest In Five Years
http://www.wnbc.com/news/17049831/detail.html
Inflation Could Hit 6% By Fall?
http://economictimes.indiatimes.com..Economist/articleshow/3307499.cms
Deutsche Bank Writedowns Exceed $11 Billion
http://moneynews.com/financenews/bank_writedowns/2008/07/31/117802.html
Shell reports 33% rise in profit
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/07/31/business/31shellNEW.php
Exxon posts record $11.68 billion profit
http://money.cnn.com/2008/07/31/news/.._profits/?postversion=2008073109
Britons Skipping Meals Due To Money Worries
http://www.money.co.uk/article/100..-meals-due-to-money-worries.htm
IMF Calls For N. African Economic Integration
Greenspan: Housing No Where Near Bottom
Economic Rebound Not As Energetic As Hoped
Biggest dive for commodities in 28 years
Filed under: Arizona, Big Banks, California, central bank, charles schumer, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Dollar, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, fannie mae, FDIC, Federal Reserve, freddie mac, global economy, Great Depression, Greenback, henry paulson, housing market, indymac, Inflation, liquidation, mortgage lenders, nationalization, nevada, Paulson, real estate, Stock Market, subprime, subprime lending, US Economy, US Treasury, Wachovia, Wamu, washington mutual | Tags: federal bank, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Federal Deposit Insurance Corperation, Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation, Federal National Mortgage Association, First Heritage Bank, mutual of omaha, National Bank of Nevada, run on banks, william poole
FDIC Takes Over Two More Failed Banks
AP
July 26, 2008
The 28 branches of 1st National Bank of Nevada and First Heritage Bank, operating in Nevada, Arizona and California, were closed Friday by federal regulators.
The banks, owned by Scottsdale, Ariz.-based First National Bank Holding Co., were scheduled to reopen on Monday as Mutual of Omaha Bank branches, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. said.
The FDIC said the takeover of the failed banks was the least costly resolution and all depositors – including those with funds in excess of FDIC insurance limits – will switch to Mutual of Omaha with “the full amount of their deposits.”
The FDIC also said accountholders can access their funds during the weekend by writing checks or using ATM or debit cards.
Wachovia Joins the Financial Apocalypse
JBS
July 22, 2008
It’s beginning to look as if Fortis was right. In June the Belgium-Dutch financial giant, itself beset by financial woes, warned, according to a Dutch paper, that the “complete collapse of the U.S. financial markets” was in the offing, just days or weeks away.
Maybe it won’t be a “complete” collapse, but the dire warning is beginning to appear more credible daily. Just days after the Fortis warning, letters from Senator Charles Schumer speculating about the “possible collapse of big mortgage lender IndyMac Bancorp Inc.” set off a run on that ailing mortgage lender with depositors withdrawing more than $1.3 billion in just 11 days.
In the weeks since there has been increasing speculation about the stability of both the Federal National Mortgage Association (Fannie Mae) and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation (Freddie Mac). These holdovers from the Roosevelt Administration’s ill-conceived New Deal presently own or guarantee half of the $12 trillion U.S. mortgage market, yet they were characterized recently as “insolvent” by former Federal Reserve President William Poole.
In a free market, when you perform poorly your business might fail. But Poole, a consummate government regulator, thinks Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac are too big to fail. “Clearly they must be supported,” he said according to a July 11 Reuters report. “They (the U.S. government) cannot allow that amount of assets … to go into limbo.” In other words, according to Poole, the federal government must take money (a lot of money!) from some and give it to others. As economist Frederic Bastiat eloquently pointed out, that is socialism, the law run amok and turned on its head.
On top of IndyMac and Fannie and Freddie, the bad news from the financial sector keeps coming. On Tuesday, Wachovia Corp. reported striking losses totaling nearly $9 billion for the quarter. “Our reported results today are clearly a disappointing performance for which we take responsibility,” Wachovia CEO Bob Steel told analysts on a conference call. The nation’s fourth largest bank also noted that it would eliminate as many as 10,750 positions.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601110&sid=a3479q5QfJhw
Two Troubled U.S. Banks Post Big Losses
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/07/22/business/bank.php
Bank Gave Counterfeit Bills, Couple Says
http://www.local6.com/news/16960809/detail.html
8,500 Banks Will Fail
http://cryptogon.com/?p=2994
Evidence of the US Banking System Teetering on the Brink of Collapse
http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article5594.html
Paulson Says Banks Safe & Sound (liar)
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/../united_states/article4368749.ece
Arabs Buying Up Failing Western Banks
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/126866
Filed under: 1984, 2-party system, bailout, bear sterns, Big Banks, Big Brother, biometrics, California, central bank, Congress, Control Grid, credit card, credit cards, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Dollar, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, fannie mae, Federal Reserve, forclosure, foreclosures, freddie mac, George Bush, global economy, gold, Great Depression, Greenback, henry paulson, House, housing market, imf, indymac, Inflation, IRS, left right paradigm, liquidation, mortgage lenders, national debt, nationalization, neocons, Neolibs, Oppression, orwell, Paulson, Police State, Propaganda, real estate, Ron Paul, Senate, silver, Stock Market, subprime, subprime lending, Surveillance, Taxpayers, US Economy, us national debt, US Treasury, Wall Street | Tags: fingerprints, housing securities, HR 3221, The American Housing Rescue & Foreclosure Preventio
Taxpayers Will Pay $800 BILLION For Failed Mortgage Lenders
House & Senate passes housing bailout bill H.R. 3221 (The American Housing Rescue & Foreclosure Prevention Act) by an overwhelming 272-152 vote, Bush will sign soon.
Youtube
July 24, 2008
Ron Paul talks about the bailout out of the housing industry and how it really just destroys the dollar and adds enormously to the debt.
Also, slipped into the bill, was the stipulation that ALL credit card transactions must now be reported to the IRS.
Details of today’s housing bill by Dr. Ron Paul:
-$2.5B line of credit to the Treasury (Fannie & Freddie – ‘F & F’) is now “open-ended”
- UNLIMITED – Treasury now allowed to buy all ‘F & F’ housing securities
- Congress no longer involved in appropriating funds (Treasury now does)
-National Debt Ceiling Moved up $800 BILLION (buried in the bill)
–Treasury Bills being exchanged for unwanted ‘F & F’ securities
- This is the asset which “backs up our currency”
- Value of these assets are depreciating
- Treasuries have replaced gold and silver to back US Dollar
– Solution breeds inflation
- Places pressure on the US Dollar
-Mortgage industry workers “will now have to be fingerprinted.”
–All credit card transactions will now be reported to the IRS.
Housing bailout bill – another $800 billion gift from the taxpayer to Wall Street
Related News:
http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archive..GRESS-IMMINENT.html
Investors worldwide are betting more than $1 trillion on a collapse in American stock prices
http://www.wakeupfromyourslumber.com/node/7529
Faber: Fannie, Freddie Should Not Get Aid
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/n..&sid=a_L_tms03WSI&refer=home
Senate Passes Housing Bill
http://www.axcessnews.com/index.php/articles/show/id/16490
House OKs Fannie Freddie Bailout
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/200..Aujs0nZJn4G9TEm4v_o7vh.MwfIE
woman commits suicide as home foreclosed
http://www.norwichbulletin.com/new..suicide-as-home-foreclosed
Fannie and Freddie Own A Record $6.9 Billion Foreclosed Homes
http://www.economicpolicyjournal.co..d-freddie-own-record-69.html
U.S. Foreclosures Double
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news..87&sid=aomtw8.Pro2E&refer=home
IMF: U.S. Housing Overvalued By 20%
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN2542244220080726
California foreclosures up 261% from ‘07 levels
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/laland/2008/07/cal-foreclosure.html
Freddie MAC CEO Paid $20 Million A Year
http://money.cnn.com/2008/0.._CEO.ap/index.htm?section=money_latest
Fannie, Freddie rescue pricetag could hit $25B
Housing report bruises Wall Street
Bank of China may hold huge US debt
Dems & Paulson Push Fannie/Freddie Bailout
Filed under: central bank, Credit Crisis, david walker, DEBT, Dollar, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, fannie mae, freddie mac, GAO, George Bush, Great Depression, Greenback, housing market, Inflation, mortgage companies, neocons, real estate, Stimulus Package, Stock Market, subprime, subprime lending, tax rebates, Uncategorized, US Economy
US debt now at an astonishing $53 trillion
SF Gate
July 17, 2008
As the Bush administration proposes backstopping mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac with a $300 billion line of credit and Congress contemplates another economic stimulus, the question is who will bail out the government?
“People seem to think the government has money,” said former U.S. Comptroller General David Walker. “The government doesn’t have any money.”
A rare consensus has developed across the political spectrum that the government’s own fiscal affairs are precarious, with an astonishing $53 trillion in long-term liabilities, according to the Government Accountability Office.
Filed under: Big Banks, black tuesday, Britain, central bank, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Dollar, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Europe, european union, fannie mae, Federal Reserve, foreclosure, freddie mac, FTSE, global currency, Great Depression, Greenback, henry paulson, housing market, Inflation, mortgage companies, nationalization, Paulson, real estate, Senate, Stock Market, United Kingdom, US Economy, US Treasury, Wall Street | Tags: run on banks
Fed May Inject $15 Billion Into Failing Mortgage Lenders
Times Online
July 13, 2008
US TREASURY secretary Hank Paulson is working on plans to inject up to $15 billion (£7.5 billion) of capital into Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to stem the crisis at America’s biggest mortgage firms.
The two companies lost almost half their market value last week as rumours of a government bail-out swept the stock markets, hammering share prices around the world.
Together, the two stockholder-owned, government-sponsored companies own or guarantee almost half of America’s $12 trillion home-loan market and are vital to the functioning of the housing market.
The capital-injection plan is said to be high on a list of options being considered by regulators as a means of restoring confidence in the lenders. The move would protect the American housing market, but punish shareholders in both companies.
U.S. Weighs Takeover of Two Mortgage Giants
NY Times
July 11, 2008
Alarmed by the growing financial stress at the nation’s two largest mortgage finance companies, senior Bush administration officials are considering a plan to have the government take over one or both of the companies and place them in a conservatorship if their problems worsen, people briefed about the plan said on Thursday.
The companies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, have been hit hard by the mortgage foreclosure crisis. Their shares are plummeting and their borrowing costs are rising as investors worry that the companies will suffer losses far larger than the $11 billion they have already lost in recent months. Now, as housing prices decline further and foreclosures grow, the markets are worried that Fannie and Freddie themselves may default on their debt.
Under a conservatorship, the shares of Fannie and Freddie would be worth little or nothing, and any losses on mortgages they own or guarantee — which could be staggering — would be paid by taxpayers.
The government officials said that the administration had also considered calling for legislation that would offer an explicit government guarantee on the $5 trillion of debt owned or guaranteed by the companies. But that is a far less attractive option, they said, because it would effectively double the size of the public debt.
The officials also said that such a step would be ineffective because the markets already widely accept that the government stands behind the companies.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/busin..f-collapse-866481.html
Senate passes mortgage rescue plan
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080712/ap_on_go_co/congress_housing
Fannie and Freddie: A Run on the Bank?
http://www.kiplinger.com/columns/picks/archive/2008/pick0711.htm
Run On Banks Spells Big Trouble For U.S.
http://business.smh.com.au/run-on-banks..r-us-treasury-20080713-3eiv.html
Bank Crisis wipes $1 trillion from financial stocks
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM..P-JSq4qwbdYAD91P87HO0
World stocks at 21-month low as banks plunge
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSHKG35069520080708
Credit crunch: Emergency scheme to help cash-strapped homeowners
http://www.guardian.co.uk/busines../creditcrunch.houseprices
Small Banks’ Reckoning Day Is Coming
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121494953423420859.html
Nationalizing Freddie & Fannie?
http://biz.yahoo.com/nytimes/080711/1194793612725.html?.v=4&printer=1
Poole: Fannie and Freddie Insolvent
http://uk.reuters.com/article/burningIssues/idUKBNG6370020080710
Black Tuesday as FTSE plummets, bank shares tumble and Britain faces recession ‘within months’
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/news/article-23512506-d..+months’/article.do
Filed under: Bank of America, Bear Stearns, bernanke, Big Banks, Britain, central bank, copper, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Dollar, Dow, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, energy, Euro, Europe, european union, fannie mae, Federal Reserve, food market, food prices, freddie mac, gas prices, George Bush, global economy, gold, Great Depression, Greenback, housing market, Illegal Immigration, imf, Immigration, Inflation, Israel, Mexico, mortgage companies, nymex, Oil, Petrol, real estate, silver, stimulus, Stimulus Package, Stock Market, tax, tax rebates, UAE, United Kingdom, US Economy, US Treasury, World Bank | Tags: soybeans, wheat, with corn
Oil Hit Record $147, Gold $969, Euro $1.59
On Friday Oil hit record of $147.27, Gold $969, Euro $1.5972 against the greenback, Today July 14, 2008 11:31 AM EDT Crude price sinks to $145, Gold $969, Euro 1.5859.
AP
July 12, 2008
Gold prices rose Friday, making their largest advance since first hitting $1,000 earlier this year, after another record crude rally and a tumbling stock market led jittery investors to the safety of hard assets.
Other commodities traded mostly higher, with corn, soybeans, wheat and other agriculture futures rising.
Gold’s rally suggests investors are increasingly concerned about rising inflation as Americans struggle with $4 gasoline and the U.S. dollar continues to lose ground against its main rivals.
After a week of volatile trading in the commodities complex, a myriad of dour economic developments pushed gold prices skyward: Oil soared above $147 for the first time, stocks dove on concerns that mortgage companies Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae might collapse and the dollar tumbled further against the euro.
“All of these things are a pretty good recipe for safe-haven buying into bullion,” said James Steel, analyst with HSBC in New York. “You’re really spoiled for choice on a day like this.”
Gold for August delivery added $18.60 to settle at $960.60 an ounce on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after earlier rising as high as $969.10. That was gold’s highest trading level since first cracking the $1,000 threshold on March 13 after the collapse of Bear Stearns & Co.
Nervousness about the U.S. economy, record energy prices and the falling dollar have helped propel gold 34 percent higher in the past year, but it’s not clear if the current climate is gloomy enough to push gold back into record territory.
“The $1,000 mark accompanied a bank failure the last time so it’s questionable whether the situation now is as severe, but that doesn’t mean it won’t go back to that level,” Steel said.
Other precious metals also traded higher. September silver prices added 50 cents to settle at $18.82 an ounce on the Nymex, while September copper gained 2.15 cents to settle at $3.74 a pound.
Euro falls one cent vs dollar from day’s highs
Reuters
July 14, 2008
The euro fell over one cent from the day’s highs against the dollar on Monday, after the U.S. Treasury and Federal Reserve launched emergency steps to restore investor confidence in U.S. mortgage lenders Fannie Mae (FNM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Freddie Mac.
The euro fell to as low as $1.5866 on trading platform EBS, down from an intraday high of $1.5972.
Jim Rogers: Dollar Doomed, Fed Will Fail
Recent News:
http://www.nydailynews.com/ny_local/2008/07/12/2..siness-2.html
Bush acknowledges ’tough times’
http://rawstory.com/news/afp/Bush_..mes__07112008.html
Dow Drops Below 11,000
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/2008..TBWOFUn8JIG0V8Jn7V5dv24cA
Stimulus Checks for the Dead
http://taxprof.typepad.com/taxprof_blog/2008/07/stimulating-the.html
Budget Deficit Twice as Big as Last Year’s
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp..7.html?hpid=sec-nation
World Bank’s Zoellick: Food Prices High Until 2012
http://www.washingtonpost.com/..AR2008071101987_pf.html
Mexican Illegal Aliens Leaving U.S.
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedc..nmetimmigrants.24395628.html
Experts Worry Euro Might Replace US Dollar as Primary Reserve Currency
http://rawstory.com/news/2008/The_buck_doesnt_stop_here_it_0706.html
IMF says world economy between recession and inflation
http://uk.news.yahoo.com/rtrs/20..economy-imf-bd5ae06.html
Oil’s Rise Stirs Talk Of $200 A Barrel This Year
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB12..od=hpp_us_whats_news
Bank of Israel to buy more US dollars
http://www.jpost.com/servlet/Satel..me=JPost%2FJPArticle%2FShowFull
Bank of America CEO: Recession “feel” may last year
http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSWNAB018220080709
Similarities between 1929 and 2008 terrifying
Emirates calls on GCC countries to depeg currencies from US dollar to curb inflation
Pension plans suffer huge losses
Filed under: 1984, 4th amendment, Big Brother, biometrics, Britain, Canada, Control Grid, DHS, Europe, fannie mae, FBI, foreclosure, freddie mac, Homeland Security, housing market, michael chertoff, real estate, United Kingdom, US Constitution, War On Terror | Tags: richard shelby
Fingerprint Registry in Housing Bill Passed
John Berlau
Open Market.org
May 24, 2008
Fingerprints are considered to be among the most personal of information, and fingerprint databases created and proposed in the name of national security have generated much debate. Recently, “Server in the Sky” — a proposed international database of the fingerprints of suspected criminals and terrorists to be shared among the U.S., U.K. and Canada — has ignited a firestorm of controversy. As have cavalier comments by Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff that fingerprints aren’t “personal data.”
Yet earlier this week, a measure creating a federal fingerprint registry totally unrelated to national security passed a U.S. Senate committee almost without notice. The legislation would require thousands of individuals working even tangentially in the mortgage and real estate industries — and not suspected of anything — to send their prints to the feds. The database and fingerprint mandates were tucked into housing and foreclosure assistance bills that on Tuesday passed the Senate Banking Committee by a vote of 19-2.
The measure the committee passed states that “an indvidual may not engage in the business of a loan originator without first … obtaining a unique identifier.” To obtain this “identifier,” an individual is requiredto “furnish” to the newly created Nationwide Mortgage Licensing System and Registry “information concerning the applicant’s identity, including fingerprints for submission” to the FBI and other government agencies.
The fingerprint provisions are contained in a “manager’s amendment” that was hammered out by committee Chairman Chris Dodd, D-Conn, and Ranking Member Richard Shelby, R-Ala., on Monday and attached the next day to a broader housing bailout bill that had been scheduled for a comittee vote. That bill, the “Federal Housing Finance Regulatory Reform Act of 2008,” expands the lending authority of the Federal Housing Administration and the government-sponsored enterprises Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to refinance the mortgages of troubled borrowers and banks.
The amendment adopted the fingerprint provisions in a section called the “S.A.F.E. Mortgage Licensing Act.” The fingerprints will be part of what the amendment calls “a comprehensive licensing and supervisory database.”
And the database would cover a broad swath of individuals involved with mortgage lending. The amendment defines “loan originator” as anyone who “takes a residential loan application; and offers or negotiates terms of a residential mortgage loan for compensation or gain.” It states that even real estate brokers would be covered if they receive any compensation from lenders or mortgage brokers. Since many jobs in both real estate and mortgage lending are part-time and seasonal, even some of the most minor players in the mortgage market may have to submit their prints.
Justifications listed in the bill for this database include “increased accountability and tracking of loan originators,” “enhance[d] consumer protection,” and “facilitat[ing] responsible behavior in the subprime mortgage market.”
I conducted a wide Internet search and found fingerprint provisions in some state bills, but I don’t know if any, or how many passed. But in my search, I could find no arguments explaining how, specifically, collecting the fingerprints of loan originators would better serve borrowers getting mortgages. I called the Senate Banking Committee asking this question, but my call has not been returned yet. (I will update OpenMarket readers when and if it is.)
I imagine that, yes, a fingerprint registry might stop an ex-con from handling loans, but I doubt it will make even a dent in the lending problems the bill aims to stop. And I would venture to guess that the vast majority of the problem mortages were handled by employees with no criminal record. Rather, this seem like another thoughtless idea that lets politicians brag that they are “getting tough” about a particular problem.
But this fingerprint database, in addition to the privacy violations, might create a host of new problems of mortgage fraud. Identity theft involving fingerprints is becoming a major concern among data security experts. Security consultant Bruce Schneier has argued that hackers can steal electronic images of fingerprints directly from the databases they are stored in. And there is virtually nothing in this bill about security procedures that would apply to this database.
It amazes me. We have wrenching debates about privacy and freedom vs. national security when it comes to proposed anti-terrorist programs. But then a smililar scheme is done in response to an economic problem, and it almost escapes without notice. A similar thing has happened with anti-money laundering requirements that mandate that banks effectively spy on their customers for possible violations of everything from drug laws to the tax code.
Filed under: Big Banks, central bank, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Dow, ECB, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, european central bank, fannie mae, Federal Reserve, freddie mac, Great Depression, Greenback, Inflation, interest rate cut, interest rate cuts, liquidation, rate cut, Stock Market, US Economy, US Treasury, Wall Street | Tags: swiss national bank, Term Securities Lending Facility, TSLF
Fed pumps up liquidity in funding markets to ease credit crunch
AP
March 11, 2008
Fed Announces Further Steps to Ease Credit Crunch WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve on Tuesday ramped up efforts to provide more relief to squeezed financial institutions, a coordinated action with other central banks aimed at easing a global credit crises that threatens to push the U.S. economy into its first recession since 2001.
The Fed said it will make up to $200 billion in Treasury securities available to big Wall Street investment houses and banks. The new action is designed to ensure that there is an ample supply of Treasury securities. With strains in financial markets, demand has grown for Treasury securities, considered the safest investment in the world because they are backed by the U.S. government.
On Wall Street, the Fed’s action propelled stocks upward. The Dow Jones industrials jumped more than 250 points in morning trading.
The move comes as banks and other financial institutions face cash crunches.
“Pressures in some of these markets have recently increased again,” the Fed said in a statement. “We all continue to work together and will take appropriate steps to address those liquidity pressures.” The other banks involved are the Bank of Canada, the Bank of England, the European Central Bank and the Swiss National Bank.
The Fed announced the creation of a new tool, called the Term Securities Lending Facility (TSLF), geared to provide primary dealers — big Wall Street investment firms and banks that trade directly with the Fed — with 28-day loans of Treasury securities, rather than overnight loans. They would pledge other securities — including federal agency residential-mortgage-backed securities, such as those of mortgage giants Fannnie Mae and Freddie Mac — as collateral for the loans of Treasury securities.
“This will not turn the economy around or fix all the problems in the markets but it should reduce the liquidity issue, at least for now,” said Ian Shepherdson, chief economist at High Frequency Economics. The odds of a deep, three-quarters of a percentage point cut in the Fed’s key interest rate next Tuesday have dropped sharply as the Fed’s new relief seemed to calm market turmoil, he said.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/11/b..ef=slogin&oref=slogin
Global central bank liquidity injection no long term cure for dollar
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNews/idUSN1160659020080311
Fed gives shot in arm, but recession looms
http://www.reuters.com/article/topNew..0311?virtualBrandChannel=10155
Billionaire Investor Forsees Bank Failures
http://biz.yahoo.com/cnbc/080310/23557115.html
Filed under: Big Banks, central bank, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, fannie mae, Federal Reserve, food prices, freddie mac, global economy, Great Depression, Greenback, Inflation, interest rate cuts, job market, peter schiff, rate cut, Stock Market, unemployment, United Kingdom, US Economy
Fed Boosts Next Two Special Auctions to $30 Billion
Bloomberg
January 4, 2008
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The Federal Reserve will increase the size of two scheduled auctions of emergency loans by 50 percent to $30 billion as part of a global attempt by central bankers to restore faith in the money markets.
The Fed reiterated that it will continue the loan auctions, designed to increase the amount of cash available in the banking system, “for as long as necessary,” in a statement released today. The third and fourth auctions will be conducted on Jan. 14 and 28. The central bank will announce on Feb. 1 whether further auctions will be conducted.
Since the first of the auctions on Dec. 17, companies’ cost to borrow in dollars for three months has fallen to the lowest in two years, suggesting central banks are succeeding in spurring bank lending.
Unemployment Surge Clear Sign U.S. Is Headed For Recession: Economists
NY Times
January 5, 2008
The unemployment rate surged to 5 percent in December as the economy added a meager 18,000 jobs, the smallest monthly increase in four years, the Labor Department reported on Friday.
Economists viewed the report as the most powerful indication to date that the United States could well be falling into a recessionary downturn. Evidence of widening unemployment heightened anticipation that the Federal Reserve would further cut interest rates this month, perhaps by an unusually large half a percentage point, in a bid to prevent the economy from sliding into the muck.
“This is unambiguously negative,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com. “The economy is on the edge of recession, if we’re not already engulfed in one.”
Peter Schiff on Cashin’ In – (1/5/2008)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kr8jkevEBt8
http://www.financialpost.com/story.html?id=213343
Recession fears stoke political debate
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/22476544/
Jobless Rate Hits Two-Year High; The Last Shoe to Drop in the Unavoidable Recession Ahead
http://ap.google.com/…anM66tszKz1zFq0LOG4XvWS7zAD8TV57B80
Baltimore Sun asks what will we do if Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac go bust?
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/opi…an04,0,1654729.story
Sinking dollar alters the game in 2008
http://templewest.wordpress.com/2008/0..he-game-in-2008/
UK: Millions Face Financial Crisis
http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/article3300968.ece
War on Terror Costs $6,000 Per Second
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/p..ror-600_b_78800.html
Gold Peaks Above $861, Oil $100 a Barrel
http://www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10436089
Oil at $100 not our fault: OPEC
No End In Sight For Dollar Decline
U.S. Federal Reserve Meeting Minutes for December 11, Says Economic Outlook Is “Unusually Uncertain”
Citigroup May Write Down $12 Billion, Bernstein Says
U.S. Manufacturing Fails To Grow
Era Of Cheap Food Is Over
Chinese currency hits new high against U.S. dollar
From the sub-prime to the ridiculous: how $100bn vanished
Wall Street Start To Year Worst In 25 Years
New Year 2008 may destroy USA’s struggling economy
City of debt shows US housing woe
Mortgage Defaults Rise 35%
Top economist says America could plunge into recession
Venezuela Introduces New Currency
Filed under: 2008 Election, bernanke, China, citigroup, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Euro, fannie mae, Federal Reserve, food prices, foreclosure, freddie mac, gold, Goldman Sachs, Great Depression, Greenback, henry paulson, housing market, imf, Inflation, infrastructure, interest rate cuts, morgan stanley, Paulson, Petrol, rate cut, Stock Market, subprime, subprime lending, UAE, United Kingdom, US Economy, US Treasury
Bernanke Clears Way For Fed Rate Cut
Financial Times
November 30, 2007
Ben Bernanke put the Federal Reserve on a path towards a December rate cut in a speech on Thursday night in which he said the relapse in financial markets had resulted in a “tightening in financial conditions” that had the potential to harm the real economy.
The Fed chairman also said recent data on household spending had been “on the soft side” and warned that the combination of higher petrol prices, the weak housing market, tighter credit conditions and declines in stock prices seem likely to create some headwinds for the consumer in the months ahead.
Paulson’s Plan to Punish the Public
The Motley Fool
November 30, 2007
If you don’t learn from the past …
If the mortgage crisis and housing bubble have taught us one thing, it should be to watch out for the unintended consequences of greed. Unfortunately, our nation’s legislators and political appointees haven’t learned that lesson. Recent plans for housing and mortgage bailouts generally run from dumb to dumber. Today, The Wall Street Journal reported on yet another scheme, reportedly being spearheaded by Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson. It’s an idea so naively populist and antimarket that you would think it came from Hugo Chavez, Evo Morales, or Mahmoud Ahmadinejad, if not for its cringe-inducing, Beltway-wonk moniker: the Hope Now Alliance.
In short, bankers and loan-servicing outfits are going to lower interest rates on strapped borrowers so they don’t lose their houses. How much, how long, and who qualifies are all still up in the air. No doubt, this will sound good to those folks who signed on for mortgages they can’t actually afford. It will also look good to politicians angling to score points before the next election, and to bleeding hearts everywhere. It will also look good to select mortgage-industry players — like Countrywide Financial (NYSE: CFC) and Citigroup (NYSE: C), which could really use a government-led bailout.
Unfortunately, this ill-conceived salve will ultimately punish the silent majority of Americans, people who didn’t go out and make boneheaded financial decisions over the past half-decade. Let’s take a look at why.
Price tag in mortgage crisis is looking like real money
http://www.latimes.com/bu…la-home-center
Foreclosure fallout: Renters forced out of lost homes
http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/11/30/willis.rentervictims/index.html
Shadow Mortgage Bailout Already in Progress
http://efinancedirectory.com/articles/Sha…_Progress.html
U.S. Government, Banks Near a Plan to Freeze Subprime Rates
http://cryptogon.com/?p=1662
UK: Trouble ahead for the economy
http://www.thebusiness.co.uk/the-m…economy.thtml
IMF Warns Of UK Recession
http://investing.reuters.co.uk/news/articl….NG-OPEN.XML
Video: “Food Banks Nationwide Face Shortages”
http://www.thought-criminal.org/article/node/1021
In the long run, value of paper currencies is zero
http://www.economist.com/finance/displaystory.cfm?story_id=10208445
More bad news for the dollar as the UAE gets ready to dump it
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/…p-it_1006967.html
China’s attempt to convert its U.S. Treasury holdings into euros
http://www.m-cam.com/display_news?id=240
Growth in Consumer Spending Slows While Construction Activity Drops Sharply
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/071130/economy.html
Goldman Sachs Says To Short Gold In 08
http://www.reportonbusiness.c…wgoldman1129
Treasury Close to Subprime Aid Plan
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Morgan Stanley may face $5.7 billion Q4 writeoff
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New Home Prices: Worst Drop In 37 Years
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More than 50,000 Lost Their Homes in October
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China wins from credit crunch fallout
Fed pumps $8bn into market to head off new crunch
ECB injects £35bn into markets
Foreclosures Up 165% In FLA
Oil Surges After Pipeline Bursts
U.S. incomes fall, spending flat in October
Gazprom May Switch Sales to Rubles as Dollar Weakens
US Dollar: No Longer the World’s Currency?
A diary of the onset of the Greater Depression
Gold Slips Under $800, Oil Plummets $94 on Firmer Dollar
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As credit dries up in U.S., concerns mount about recession
Sterling falls vs recovering dollar
Oil Producers See the World and Buy It Up
Fed Official Warns Of Wall Street Turmoil
A Dollar the Size of a Postage Stamp
Bet your bottom dollar tensions will follow
Housing woes have domino effect
The Next Big Bankruptcy
88% Erosion of the Dollar’s Purchasing Power
Video: Money As Debt
Forecast: U.S. Dollar Could Plunge 90 Percent
Gold sees 2-week peak as investors run for safety
Forex – Euro retreats after Friday’s failure at 1.50 usd
Retail Stocks Fall; Black Friday Spending Seen Lower
U.S. dollar may be nearing nadir on charts
Oil Prices Rise Near $99 As Temps Fall
Don’t look now: Here comes the recession
The Real Reason why Stocks are Plunging
The plunging greenback threatens to cripple U.S. power. Why are the candidates ignoring this critical issue?
1000% Hedge Fund Wins Subprime Bet
U.S. Economic Collapse News Archive
Filed under: China, Credit Crisis, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, energy, Euro, fannie mae, Federal Reserve, freddie mac, gas prices, GDP, global economy, Great Depression, Greenback, housing market, Inflation, interest rate cuts, korea, nymex, ohio, Oil, OPEC, Petrol, rate cut, sterling, Stock Market, subprime, subprime lending, US Economy
Oil Prices Rise Near $99 As Temps Fall
AP
November 26, 2007
Oil prices rose to near $99 a barrel Monday with temperatures falling in the United States and Europe and continued weakness for the U.S. dollar.
The Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday marked the unofficial start of winter in the United States. Among other areas, southeastern New Mexico got up to 9 inches of snow and experienced colder than normal temperatures over the holiday weekend. Snow also fell in Germany over the weekend.
“The onset of cold U.S. weather is going to boost fuel demand,” said Victor Shum, an energy analyst with Purvin & Gertz in Singapore.
Light, sweet crude for January delivery added 75 cents to $98.93 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange, midday in Europe.
On Friday, the contract rose 89 cents to settle at $98.18 a barrel, besting the previous settlement record by 15 cents.
January Brent crude added 68 cents to $96.44 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
Meanwhile, the dollar hit a new low against the euro Friday as speculation continued that the American credit crisis will lead to another cut in U.S. interest rates.
“The weakened U.S. dollar remains at record low levels and so we’ve got pricing trying to test $100 again,” Shum said.
Oil futures offer a hedge against a weak dollar, and oil futures bought and sold in dollars are more attractive to foreign investors when the U.S. currency is falling.
Nymex crude prices reached a trading record of $99.29 a barrel on Wednesday, and are within the range of inflation-adjusted highs set in early 1980. Depending on how the adjustment is calculated, $38 a barrel then would be worth $96 to $103 or more today.
“Almost anything could push prices higher from here and we have to expect to see a move to” $100 per barrel this week, said Peter Beutel, president of U.S. energy risk management firm Cameron Hanover, in a research note, listing a U.S. Federal Reserve interest rate cut, a weaker U.S. dollar, colder weather forecasts or “any petro-political problem” among the factors which could push oil prices to three digits.
“We have reached the point, though, where the inability to touch or break $100 this week would be seen as rather a spectacular failure,” Beutel wrote. “There is no reason for prices not to hit $100 this week.”
Shum said that data suggesting OPEC is increasing production more quickly than expected is likely to keep a temporary cap on oil prices.
Oil Movements, an oil tanker tracking firm based in Britain, reported that Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries oil exports are likely to jump by an average of 720,000 barrels a day in the four weeks ended Dec. 8, more than the expected 500,000 barrels per day.
Oil prices rose 43 percent between August and early November on falling domestic inventories, concerns about supply disruptions overseas and, many analysts argue, speculative buying. But recent forecasts have suggested high prices are cutting demand.
Nymex heating oil rose 1.94 cents to $2.7236 a gallon (3.8 liters) while gasoline prices gained 1.70 cents to $2.484 a gallon. Natural gas futures rose 19.6 cents to $7.896 per 1,000 cubic feet.
Forex – Euro retreats after Friday’s failure at 1.50 usd
Forbes
November 26, 2007
LONDON (Thomson Financial) – The euro was a touch lower as the currency continued to retreat after failing to rise past the 1.50 usd level last Friday.
After hitting an all-time high of 1.4968 usd, there was not enough momentum to keep the euro flying. Additionally, the test of the key level came amid thin conditions with at least part of US traders still out after the Thanksgiving holiday on Thursday.
As trading resumed in earnest today, the euro found it harder going.
$516 Trillion Derivatives Market
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http://www.counterpunch.org/whitney11242007.html
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http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/c…07112400174.html
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http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gtM…6GwX7Thptyg
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http://investing.reuters.co.uk/news/ar….ECAST.XML
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http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=58799
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http://mparent7777-2.blogspot.com/2….and.html
Fannie and Freddie pullback would devastate economy
http://www.reuters.com/article/reutersEdge/idU…Channel=0
Chavez says US dollar’s days numbered
http://noworldsystem.com/2007/11/22/chave….s-numbered/
Stocks Fall as Oil Flirts With $100 a Barrel
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/11/21/business/21cnd-s….a12&ei=5087%0A
Dollar hits new low versus euro
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2007-11/22/content_7124546.htm
Economic Expert Says Global Crash Imminent
http://infowars.net/articles/november2007/201107Economic.htm
China Voices Alarm at Dollar Weakness
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The Economist: Time to break free | The Middle East’s oil exporters should end their currencies’ peg to the dollar
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U.S. Economic Collapse News Archive