Filed under: Big Banks, DEBT, deindustrialization, despotism, detroit, devaluation, Dictatorship, Economic Collapse, economic crisis, economic depression, Economy, Empire, Fascism, ghost town, global warming cult, Great Depression, Greenback, housing market, Inflation, middle class, real estate, US Economy | Tags: collapse of detroit, death of detroit, detriot extinction
Detroit family homes sell for just $10
London Telegraph
March 12, 2010
Family homes in Detroit are selling for as little as $10 (£6) in the wake of America’s financial meltdown.
The once thriving industrial city has suffered a dramatic decline following the global economic crisis.
According to Tim Prophit, a real estate agent, the crisis has led to a unprecedented portfolio of homes, but they are failing to sell.
He said there were homes on the market for $100 (£61), but an offer of just $10 (£6) would be likely to be accepted.
Speaking on a BBC 2 documentary, Requiem for Detroit, to be screened on Saturday, Mr Prophit said: “The property is listed by the city of Detroit as being worth $35,000 (£22,000), but the bank know that is impossible to ask.
The Death of Detroit (Pictures of an Economic Disaster)
Filed under: AIG, Al Gore, bank bailout, bernanke, Big Banks, cap-and-trade, carbon credit system, carbon credits, carbon dioxide, carbon rationing, Carbon Tax, citigroup, climategate, Co2, corruption, deception, Dictatorship, dotcom bubble, Economic Collapse, economic crisis, Economy, Empire, enron, environmental taxation, Federal Reserve, geithner, Global Warming, global warming hoax, global warming scam, Goldman Sachs, government crimes, henry paulson, Hoax, housing bubble, housing market, IPOs, ken lay, mafia, main street, mortgage, Robert Rubin, robert steele, scam, scandal, subprime lending, tarp, Taxpayers, US Economy, Wachovia, Wall Street | Tags: Ed Liddy, Gary Gensler, John thain, Joshua Bolten, mark patterson, Neel Kashkari, stephen friedman, william dudley
Goldman Sachs Next Scam: Carbon Credits
Cap and Trade is a Goldman Sachs and Enron Scam
Filed under: Credit Crisis, DEBT, devaluation, Dollar, dollar collapse, dollar drop, dollar dump, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Federal Reserve, forecast, global economy, gold, Great Depression, Greenback, housing market, hyperinflation, Inflation, peter schiff, predictions, Stock Market, unemployment, US Economy, Wall Street
Schiff: No Economic Recovery in 2010
Filed under: Big Banks, central bank, Credit Crisis, DEBT, depression, despotism, Dictatorship, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Empire, Great Depression, housing bubble, housing market, hyperinflation, Inflation, job market, main street, middle class, mortgage crisis, Stock Market, unemployment, US Economy, Wall Street
No Jobs for The Next Ten Years?
Daily Bell
December 30, 2009
The decade ahead could be a brutal one for America’s unemployed – and for people with jobs hoping for pay raises. At best, it could take until the middle of the decade for the nation to generate enough jobs to drive down the unemployment rate to a normal 5 or 6 percent and keep it there. At worst, that won’t happen until much later – perhaps not until the next decade. The deepest and most enduring recession since the 1930s has battered America’s work force. The unemployed number 15.4 million. The jobless rate is 10 percent. More than 7 million jobs have vanished. People out of work at least six months number a record 5.9 million. And household income, adjusted for inflation, has shrunk in the past decade. Most economists say it could take until at least until 2015 for the unemployment rate to drop down to a historically more normal 5.5 percent. And with the job market likely to stay weak, some also foresee another decade of wage stagnation. Even though the economy will likely keep growing, the pace is expected to be plodding. That will make employers reluctant to hire. Further contributing to high unemployment is the likelihood of more people competing for jobs, baby boomers delaying retirement and interest rates edging higher. All this would come after a decade that created relatively few jobs: a net total of just 464,000. By contrast, 21.7 million new jobs were generated between 1989 and 1999. – Huffington Post
Dominant Social Theme: It’s looking grim?
Free-Market Analysis: There are a lot of statistics cited in this article but like many articles with a mainstream tone, most of them are besides-the-point or shed little illumination about what is going on. First of all the jobless rate in America is closer to 20-30 percent, we figure, when you throw in everyone who wants to work but can’t find work, even part-time work. And second, we distrust the other unemployment figures cited in this article. Finally, we look in vain for a reason as to why all this is happening. Can we find it somewhere else in the body of the article? Here’s some more:
That’s mainly because the economy’s recovery, sluggish by historical standards, isn’t expected to regain its vigor over the next few years. As a result, companies will be in no rush to ramp up hiring. Other analysts think the economy will recover the jobs wiped out by the recession by 2013 or 2014 but that the unemployment rate will stay high. They note that the healing economy will cause more people to stream back into the labor force, vying for too-few jobs.
In addition, baby boomers whose retirement accounts have shrunk could put off retiring and stay in the work force longer. That would leave fewer positions available for the unemployed. Other contributing forces – businesses squeezing more work from employees they still have and relying more on part-time and overseas help – have intensified. And record-high federal budget deficits and the threat of inflation could drive up interest rates, which could hobble growth and restrict job creation. All those factors could combine to keep unemployment high.
“It will be the mother of all jobless recoveries,” predicts economic historian John Steel Gordon. On the other hand, it’s possible some technological innovation not yet envisioned could generate a wave of jobs. Yet at the moment, most economists aren’t betting that any such breakthroughs will rescue the labor market.
The last time the jobless rate reached double digits, in the early 1980s, it took six years to bring it down to normal levels.
Unemployment hit a post-World War II high of 10.8 percent at the end of 1982 as the country was emerging from a severe recession. The rate fell to around 5 percent in 1988. It took less than two years for the number of jobs to return to its pre-recession level. In this recovery, the economy is far more fragile. Hard-to-get credit is exerting a drag. Wounds from the banking system’s worst crisis since the Great Depression will take years to fully heal. People and companies, scarred by the crisis, are likely to restrain borrowing, spending and investing.
From our perspective this article does what all such articles do, it describes what’s going on without explaining anything. You can read the whole article, and you’ll never come up with a reason why 20 percent or more of America is unemployed. Is it because people are lazy? They don’t want jobs even though they pretend they do?
We would write the article differently. We would start by explaining that for the past 100 years America’s manufacturing might has been disintegrating even though the country has looked relatively healthy. But the combination of the income tax and central banking, introduced in the ‘teens, has robbed the country of its industrial muscle. Many big companies have moved away rather than be subject to the income tax. And employees have given up productive trade and agricultural jobs to chase after the latest Fed-stimulated bubble. The tech sector looked attractive in the 1990s, and the mortgage business was great during the 2000s. But neither business lasted because they weren’t real. They were the chaff of central bank monetary stimulation.
The income tax and central banking have hollowed out American industrial capacity. This is the reason that jobs will not return to America – and the world – for a long time. It wasn’t enough by the way that all this happened over a period of nearly 100 years now, but every time there’s a cyclical bust, the West stimulates – throws good money after bad that only prolongs the agony by confusing the market signals that the economy would otherwise present to rational investors.
Conclusion: Deprived of market signals, investors have a hard time determining what’s an efficient business and what is not. They’ve decided, with considerable reason, that too-big-too-fail banks are probably a good investment. Well, this may be so, but it does nothing for the larger economy. Putting good money after bad into these large fiat-money sinkholes only retards real innovation and sets the economy up for another bout of inflationary bleeding and boom-bust madness. What’s needed is a return to a private market gold-and-silver standard that will provide real feedback to those who want to purchase equity in winning entrepreneurial companies. See, it’s not hard to explain, but for some reason, the story just doesn’t get told, certainly not in the mainstream press.
Filed under: 2008 Election, auto bailout, bailout, bank bailout, Barack Obama, Bear Stearns, bernanke, brad sherman, bush, campaign for liberty, cash for clunkers, Congress, Credit Crisis, DEBT, devaluation, Dictatorship, Dollar, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Empire, Fascism, fearmongering, George Bush, Goldman Sachs, Great Depression, Greenback, House, housing market, hyperinflation, Inflation, jim kramer, main street, Martial Law, Media Manipulation, middle class, Military Industrial Complex, obama, obama stimulus, Paulson, real estate, Ron Paul, Senate, spending bill, stimulus, Stock Market, subprime, subprime lending, subprime mortgage bubble, Taxpayers, US Economy, US Treasury, Wall Street, wall street bailout, War On Terror
Houses Passes $1.1 Trillion Spending Bill
Antiwar.com
December 10, 2009
There was a time when the federal government’s annual budget was submitted by the president and decided by the Congress in a relatively straightforward fashion. A time when it wasn’t so difficult to figure out what the government spent taxpayers’ money on.
But this is, or soon will be, 2010, and President Obama’s promises of transparency aside, the new way of doing things in the perpetual wartime economy is to pass bulky spending bills filled with anything and everything Congressmen want on an accelerated schedule, every few months.
In today’s example, a 1088 page $1.1 trillion “compromise” spending bill passed through the House of Representatives in a 221-202 vote along partisan lines. The bill covers everything from veteran’s benefits to arbitration for car dealers and, of course, a hefty raise in the foreign aid budget.
The latest massive spending bill comes less than two months after the White House signed a $680 billion “Defense Spending Bill,” which included hate crimes legislation provisions and restarted military tribunals at Guantanamo Bay.
That bill itself came just a few months after a $106 billion “emergency” war spending bill, which included a number of “pet projects,” including the so-called Cash for Clunkers program that subsidized new car purchases in return for a promise to destroy what were in many cases serviceable used cars.
Which of course came not long after the $787 billion “stimulus bill” aimed at hurling enough money at assorted government programs that the economy would improve.
When President Obama took office, he promised a more transparent budget, particularly with promises to stop requesting “emergency” war spending bills to pay for what are now several year old wars.
This promise, like so many others, will likely be ignored, as the defense budgets have projected a more rapid pullout from Iraq and did not include last week’s massive escalation of the Afghan War, itself a $30 billion addition to the annual cost. Instead, America seems poised to continue the new way of doing things, piecemeal spending bills which provide ample opportunity to include the trendy projects that Congress craves and the unclear picture of the overall cost of war that keeps the voter largely in the dark about how much the nation’s assorted adventures really cost.
Look Who got the economy wrong and why are they still in charge
Filed under: Big Banks, bob chapman, central bank, credit collapse, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Economic Collapse, Economy, end of america, FDIC, Federal Reserve, global elite, global government, global oligarchs, Great Depression, Greenback, housing market, Inflation, internationalist, internationalists, Lindsey Williams, liquidity, manipulation, New World Order, NWO, oligarchy, One World Government, real estate, Stock Market, tarp, US Economy, US Treasury, Wall Street, world government
Bob Chapman: US Dollar Will Collapse at end of 2010
Filed under: Barack Obama, bernanke, Big Banks, China, Credit Crisis, death of u.s. economy, DEBT, deflation, devaluation, Dollar, dollar collapse, dollar dump, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, economy collapse, Euro, Federal Reserve, fiat currency, food market, global economy, gold, gold standard, Great Depression, Greenback, housing market, hyperinflation, imf, Inflation, interest rate cuts, job market, latin america, liquidity, obama, Oppression, peter schiff, private banks, rate cut, silver, stock exchange, Stock Market, subprime, subprime lending, unemployment, US Economy, Wall Street, weimar republic, World Bank, Yen, Zimbabwe
Peter Schiff: Get out of the U.S. Dollar NOW
Filed under: 2-party system, AIG, audit the fed, bailout, bailouts, Barack Obama, Bear Stearns, bernanke, Big Banks, Credit Crisis, DEBT, deficit, deflation, Dictatorship, Dollar, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Empire, Fascism, Federal Reserve, George Bush, global economy, Goldman Sachs, Great Depression, Greenback, housing market, hyperinflation, Inflation, interest rate cuts, left right paradigm, obama, rate cut, socialism, Stock Market, Taxpayers, Tim Geithner, unemployment, US Economy, Wall Street
Embracing Bushonomics, Obama Re-appoints Bernanke
Mark A. Calabria
Cato @ Liberty
August 25, 2009
In re-appointing Bernanke to another four year term as Fed chairman, President Obama completes his embrace of bailouts, easy money and deficits as the defining characteristics of his economic agenda.
Bernanke, along with Secretary Geithner (then New York Fed president) were the prime movers behind the bailouts of AIG and Bear Stearns. Rather than “saving capitalism,” these bailouts only spread panic at considerable cost to the taxpayer. As evidenced in his “financial reform” proposal, Obama does not see bailouts as the problem, but instead believes an expanded Fed is the solution to all that is wrong with the financial sector. Bernanke also played a central role as the Fed governor most in favor of easy money in the aftermath of the dot-com bubble — a policy that directly contributed to the housing bubble. And rather than take steps to offset the “global savings glut” forcing down rates, Bernanke used it as a rationale for inaction.
Perhaps worse than Bush and Obama’s rewarding of failure in the private sector via bailouts is the continued rewarding of failure in the public sector. The actors at institutions such as the Federal Reserve bear considerable responsibility for the current state of the economy. Re-appointing Bernanke sends the worst possible message to both the American public and to government in general: not only will failure be tolerated, it will be rewarded.
Geithner: Auditing the Fed is a “line that we don’t want to cross”
Filed under: Alabama, army, Bank of America, bankruptcy, Big Banks, Communism, Conditioning, Credit Crisis, DEBT, deflation, Dictatorship, Dollar, domestic terror, domestic terrorism, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Empire, Fascism, global economy, global government, Great Depression, Greenback, Hegelian Dialectic, housing market, hyperinflation, illinois, Inflation, intimidation, jefferson county, JP Morgan, Lehman Brothers, Martial Law, Military, Military Industrial Complex, national guard, Nazi, New World Order, NWO, Police State, Posse Comitatus, Problem Reaction Solution, socialism, Stock Market, u.s. soldiers, u.s. troops, urban warfare, US Economy, Wall Street, War On Terror, world government
National Guard Might Take Over Police Duties in Alabama
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
August 5, 2009
The implementation on martial law in America advanced a step further yesterday when the sheriff of Alabama’s most populous county said he would probably have to bring in National Guard troops to perform law enforcement duties due to budget cuts.
Plans to slash $4.1 million from the budget of Sheriff Mike Hale by Jefferson County commissioners in order to head off a municipal bankruptcy filing were approved by Circuit Judge Joseph L. Boohaker.
“A spokesman for Hale, Randy Christian, said the sheriff told Riley after the ruling that state assistance may be needed to perform basic law enforcement tasks once the department’s current funding is exhausted in early September,” reports the Associated Press.
“We will certainly be looking at calling in the National Guard,” said Christian.
Jefferson County has 640,000 residents and includes the state’s largest city, Birmingham.
Moves to replace traditional law enforcement with National Guard troops have been replicated in other parts of the country, including in Schenectady New York, where budgetary constraints were not even cited as a reason for the changeover.
After a handful of police officers were accused of assaulting citizens, Mayor Brian Stratton proposed declaring martial law and replacing the city’s entire roster of cops with National Guardsmen.
“It may be that as a stopgap measure, that you would need military forces – State Police, National Guard.” the Mayor said.
The use of military assets in civilian law enforcement is still illegal under Posse Comitatus, unless a clear state of emergency exists. The misbehavior of a few cops or the inability of a Sheriff to manage a budget cut does not constitute a state of emergency.
In this context, without the justification of an existing crisis that mandates National Guard intervention, the threat to replace police officers with troops on a whim is a sad reflection of how America is turning into a Soviet style military police state, as law enforcement increasingly shifts over to Homeland Security and Northcom controlled military assets.
Possible National Guard Deployment in Alabama Result of Bankster Scam
Kurt Nimmo
Infowars
August 5, 2009
Earlier today, Paul Joseph Watsonn reported on the expected deployment of National Guard troops in Jefferson County, Alabama, to perform law enforcement duties in violation of Posse Comitatus due to budget cuts. “Plans to slash $4.1 million from the budget of Sheriff Mike Hale by Jefferson County commissioners in order to head off a municipal bankruptcy filing were approved by Circuit Judge Joseph L. Boohaker,” Watson wrote.
As it turns out, Jefferson County’s financial woes are a direct result of a bankster derivative scam.
“A few years ago Jefferson County, Alabama bought 17 interest rate swaps from JP Morgan, Lehman Brothers and Bank of America with the intention of hedging interest rate risk,” writes Moe Tkacki for the Business Insider’s Clusterstock. “In a sequence of events that played out in state capitals, city halls, and school and public utility boardrooms throughout the country , Jefferson County officials bought into complex interest rate swap contracts they didn’t understand, at much higher prices than the going rate, only to face hundreds of millions of dollars in sudden collateral calls when the subprime mortgage crisis began.”
Credit default swaps are a mega-scam perpetuated by the major banks. Last year, there was more than 70 trillion dollars in the so-called credit default swap market, a sum larger than the GDP of the world. “If only 1 to 2 percent ’service fee’ were charged in these transactions (which are based on illusory assets), we’re talking nearly three-quarters to one-and-a-half trillion dollars in real term fees being siphoned off (i.e. hijacked from) the global economy for no productive, but merely parasitic, purpose,” writes Zeus Yiamouyiannis. “One thing of which I am convinced, we have just been ripped off trillions of dollars and 700 billion of even real money won’t fix the problem.”
In late 2008, then Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson attempted to cover-up this scam and protect his bankster masters. Now the damage is coming home to roost in places like Jefferson County, Alabama. Expect the rot to spread and troops to be called out in other parts of the country.
It really is a genius plan on the part of our globalist rulers. First, they hijacked the economy with their scam. Second, they created an economic crisis of fantastic proportion (and are now demanding world government as the cure). Third, in response to the social and political disintegration caused by their scam cash-strapped government tells us they have to lay-off the police and send out the troops because “anarchy” will rule if they don’t.
It is problem-reaction-solution on steroids.
For now, reports the Associated Press, “sewer system is still operating normally” — sewers are one of the hallmarks of an advanced civilization — but the county has closed four satellite courthouses and residents are standing in line for hours at the main courthouse to do routine business like renewing car tags.
It doesn’t take much imagination to speculate what will happen when the sewers stop working and normal government operations — fire and ambulance service, county hospitals, trash collection, the maintenance of the public water system, etc. — come crashing to a halt.
Jefferson County will need the National Guard to stop the plebs from revolting.
Photo of Combat Vehicles on the Streets of Springfield, Illinois
Infowars
August 3, 2009
On July 30, Infowars reported on an Illinois Army National Guard plan to put Armored Security Vehicles on the streets. “A Springfield-based military police company will be training with a new armored vehicle in the area this week,” the Associated Press reported. “The Illinois Army National Guard says training with the new Armored Security Vehicles will start Thursday and run through Sunday.”
An Infowars reader captured an image of the combat vehicles over the weekend. “Here is a picture of the Illinois National Guard driving the new armored military police vehicles through the streets of Springfield, Illinois.”
Staff Sgt. Daniel Becker told the AP people shouldn’t be afraid of the vechicles. “No, they shouldn’t be afraid — they need to let the idea sink in that it is normal for armed troops to be on the streets. After they get used to military vehicles on the roads, they will need to get accustomed to military checkpoints like the ones in Iraq and Afghanistan,” we wrote at the time.
Filed under: 2-party system, AIG, bailout, Bank of England, Bear Stearns, Big Banks, Britain, Central Banks, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Derivatives, Dictatorship, Dollar, ECB, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Empire, Europe, european union, fannie mae, Fascism, Federal Reserve, foreclosure, freddie mac, G7, global economy, Great Depression, Greenback, henry paulson, housing market, hyperinflation, Inflation, interest rate cuts, Japan, JP Morgan, liquidation, london, middle class, mortgage, mortgage companies, mortgage lenders, Nancy Pelosi, national socialism, nationalization, neocons, Neolibs, Paulson, rate cut, real estate, scotland, socialism, Stock Market, subprime, subprime lending, switzerland, Taxpayers, UBS, United Kingdom, US Economy, US Treasury, Wall Street | Tags: Nouriel Roubini, run on banks, swiss central bank
Potential Cost For Bailout is $5 Trillion or $43K Per Household
Steve Watson
Infowars.net
October 15, 2008
The total potential cost of the financial bailout to the U.S. taxpayer is already rapidly approaching $5 trillion, over seven times as much as the meaningless $700 billion bailout bill figure.
Analysts have previously marked out the $5 trillion figure as the actual cost, now those predictions are becoming demonstratively accurate.
Meanwhile, Hank Paulson has defended government intervention, stating “There’s no doubt that the way to get the maximum bang for the taxpayers here was to invest in banks.”
Based on this Reuters summary and the sources linked within the table, here is a breakdown of the bailout’s cost to taxpayers so far.
|
Bailout Type
|
Cost To Taxpayers |
|---|---|
|
|
$300 billion |
|
|
$250billion |
|
|
$25 billion |
|
|
$150 billion |
|
|
$700 billion+ |
|
|
$29 billion |
|
|
$200 billion |
|
|
$85 billion (+ extra request of $35 billion) |
|
|
$300 billion |
|
|
$4 billion |
|
|
$87 billion |
|
|
$200 billion+ |
|
|
$50 billion |
|
|
$144 billion |
| POSSIBLE TOTAL | $2.56 trillion+ |
| NUMBER OF HOUSEHOLDS PER U.S. CENSUS |
105,480,101 |
| POSSIBLE COST PER HOUSEHOLD |
$24,26
|
In addition, the U.S. government has said it will temporarily guarantee $1.5 trillion (£856 billion) in new senior debt issued by banks, as well as insure $500 billion (£285 billion) in deposits in non-interest accounts, mainly used by businesses.
These figures take the potential cost to $4.559 trillion+ – or $43, 221 per household.
Furthermore, when you account for the fact that the credit default swap market is around $62 trillion, and that derivatives worldwide are worth between between $1 and $2 quadrillion, the numbers start to become meaningless.
Fed To Offer Unlimited Dollars
Bloomberg
October 13, 2008
The U.S. Federal Reserve led an unprecedented push by central banks to flood financial markets with dollars, backing up government efforts to restore confidence in the banking system.
The ECB, the Bank of England and the Swiss central bank will offer unlimited dollar funds in auctions with maturities of seven days, 28 days and 84 days at a fixed interest rate, the Washington-based Fed said today. The Bank of Japan may introduce “similar measures.’’ The dollar declined and some money-market rates fell.
Policy makers from the Group of Seven nations pledged at the weekend to take “all necessary steps’’ to stem a market panic after the MSCI World stock index plunged 20 percent last week. Central banks last week cut interest rates in tandem for the first time since 2001, the U.S. plans to buy $700 billion in distressed assets from banks and in Europe, the U.K. is leading a push to keep lenders afloat with taxpayers’ money.
“By providing unlimited dollar funds they are acting on the back of the G-7 plan to ensure the system is fully liquidized,’’ said Lena Komileva, an economist at Tullet Prebon Plc in London. “We’re going to see even more liquidity provided and more aggressive rate cuts are coming.’’
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE49F97920081017
Millionaire Hedge Fund Trader Thanks Idiot Traders
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/oct/18/banking-useconomy
Treasury Black Out Key Parts Of Bailout Contracts
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/..136030.html
Wall Street banks in $70bn staff payout
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/oct/17/executivesalaries-banking
Homeless Numbers Alarming
http://www.usatoday.com/news/nation/2008-10-21-homeless_N.htm
House prices ‘to plummet by 35%’ – the biggest ever fall in Britain
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/..–biggest-fall-Britain.html
Royal Bank Of Scotland Nationalized
http://business.timesonline.co…g_and_finance/article4932250.ece
Switzerland Pumps Billions Into Bank System
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/081016/eu_switzerland_banks.html?printer=1
UBS Gets Bailout From Swiss National Bank
http://www.chicagotribune.com..7,0,4057853.story
Dow Jones Bloodbath Mirroring 1929 Rout
http://www.prisonplanet.com/dow-jones-bloodbath-mirroring-1929-rout.html
Two More Banks Closed By Regulators
http://money…00397x1211373371x1200675175
U.S. Stocks Plunge Most Since Crash of `87 on Recession Concern
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid..er=home
Roubini Sees Worst Recession in 40 Years, Rally’s End
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?..efer=home
JPMorgan Responsible for the Destruction of U.S. Financial System
http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article6826.html
World May Be Lucky to Get Worst Recession Since 1983
http://www.bloomberg.com..OAeSWBCY&refer=home
Stocks On Track For Worst Year Since 1937
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/nation/6050283.html
Former Fed chief says U.S. now in recession
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE49D2QB20081014
Filed under: 2008 Election, al-qaeda, bailout, Big Banks, bin laden, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Dictatorship, Dollar, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Empire, global economy, Great Depression, Greenback, housing market, hyperinflation, Inflation, John McCain, Media, mortgage, neocons, real estate, Stock Market, subprime, subprime lending, tax, US Economy, US Treasury, Wall Street, War On Terror | Tags: run on banks
John McCain: I’ve Always Aspired To Be Dictator
McCain Proposes $1 Trillion Bailout Bypassing Congress
http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2008/10/03/msm-mccain-billions/
McCain’s Last Hope Is Osama Bin Laden
http://www.prisonplanet.com/mccains-last-hope-is-osama-bin-laden.html
Pro-McCain Group Offering Cash For Frats To Demonstrate At VP Debate
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008.._n_130827.html
Filed under: 2-party system, 2008 Election, bailout, Barack Obama, bernanke, Big Banks, brad sherman, Britain, C-Span, California, Chicago, China, chris dodd, citigroup, CNBC, Congress, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Dictatorship, Dollar, Dow, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Empire, Europe, european union, Fascism, FDIC, Federal Reserve, food crisis, food market, food prices, food shortage, foreclosure, foreign banks, foreign investors, France, general motors, George Bush, Germany, global economy, Globalism, GM, Goldman Sachs, google, Great Depression, Greenback, Harry Reid, henry paulson, House, housing market, hyperinflation, Inflation, interest rate cuts, Japan, jim rogers, joe biden, John McCain, Larry Kudlow, left right paradigm, liquidation, london, marc faber, middle class, mortgage, national socialism, nationalization, neocons, Neolibs, obama, Paulson, Propaganda, Psyops, putin, rate cut, real estate, Russia, Senate, socialism, Stock Market, subprime, subprime lending, Taxpayers, US Economy, US Treasury, Wachovia, Wall Street, wells fargo | Tags: earmarks, financial markets bill, financial terrorism, great britain, hr 3997, mental health bill, pork, pork barrel, pork barrel earmarks, Pork Barrel Spending, shanghai
Bailout Bill Will Help Chinese Banks, Foreign Banks
Congress Approves Bailout Bill
AP
October 3, 2008
With the economy on the brink and elections looming, Congress approved an unprecedented $700 billion government bailout of the battered financial industry on Friday and sent it to President Bush for his certain signature.
The final vote, 263-171 in the House, a comfortable margin that was 58 more votes than it garnered on Monday. The vote capped two weeks of tumult in Congress and on Wall Street, punctuated by daily warnings that the country confronted the gravest economic crisis since the Great Depression if lawmakers failed to act.
Dow plummets when bailout passes
List of Representatives who Switched from “Nay” to “Yea”
http://www.campaignforliberty.com/blog.php?view=1087#.
Food Riots Have Already Begun as Global Grain Prices Skyrocket, Supplies Dwindle
http://www.naturalnews.com/024372.html
California may need emergency $7 billion bailout
http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE49229820081003
Hoax Bank Closure Story Peddles Bailout Propaganda
http://www.prisonplanet.co..e-story-peddles-bailout-propaganda.html
Fed Officials Considering Further Rate Cuts: Report
http://www.cnbc.com/id/26986621
Former Head of Fed’s Open Market Operations Says Bailout Might Make Things Worse
http://georgewashington2.blogspot.com/2..ad-of-feds-open-market.html
Bailout Would Only Prolong Crisis: Jim Rogers
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=49SYpcaWHTE
Wells Fargo Buys Wachovia Nixing Citi Deal
http://biz.yahoo.com/..ls_fargo_wachovia.html?.v=8
Report blames U.S. trade gap for 5.6 million lost jobs
http://www.reuters.com/article/ousiv/idUSTRE4913E220081002
Putin blames US for world economy crisis
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=71042§ionid=351020602
Bailout bill is 451 pages long
http://news.yahoo.com/s/a..cnWOA64ch9GkocOsJ0lJv24cA
Who’s profiting from the crisis? Goldman Sachs, of course
http://www.marketwatch.c..CDCB7}&print=true&dist=printMidSection
Paulson Bank Rescue Proposal Is ’Crazy,’ O’Neill Says
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/ne..mClVjevU&refer=home
France Wants $500B Rescue For Europe
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/markets/article4864032.ece
Faber: U.S. Bailout Won’t Stop Slowdown
http://www.bi-me.com/main.php?id=25070&t=1&c=35&cg=4&mset=1011
IMF Adds Pressure On Congress To Pass Bailout
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/oct/01/banking.useconomy
Google stock plunges more than 93% in “erroneous trading”
http://www.tgdaily.com/html_tmp/content-view-39543-118.html
Ford & GM Auto Sales Drop
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081001/ap_o..OmxGcLJO8EjS5v24cA
Chicago woman buys a house for $1.75
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=71130§ionid=3510213
Ex-bankers on pushing customers to rack up debt
http://www.cnn.com/2008/LIVING/pers..dex.html?iref=mpstoryview
US economic dominance over – Russia
IMF Warned Of Full-Blown Crisis
September’s ISM Manufacturing Index “Screams Recession,” Economists Say
SEC Extends Ban On Short Selling
Brazilian president: Brazilian economy solid, U.S. should do their homework
Western World Will Become Less Wealthy
’Car sleepers’ the new US homeless
Filed under: 2-party system, 2008 Election, Barack Obama, big bankers, christopher dodd, Congress, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Dollar, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, fannie mae, FEC, freddie mac, global economy, Great Depression, Greenback, House, housing market, hyperinflation, Inflation, John McCain, left right paradigm, lobbyists, mortgage, mortgage companies, mortgage lenders, neocons, Neolibs, obama, real estate, Senate, Stock Market, subprime, subprime lending, US Economy, US Treasury, Wall Street | Tags: Davis Manafort, federal election commission, Rick Davis
Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac execs Paid Off Obama for LAST THREE Years!
Daily Musings
September 18, 2008
Campaign contributions from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac made to Barack Obama may backfire if the Democratic presidential hopeful wages an aggressive campaign to cast blame on rival John McCain and the Republicans in Congress for the mortgage-related losses that forced the U.S. Treasury to take over the quasi-governmental mortgage giants.
A review of Federal Election Commission records back to 1989 reveals Obama in his three complete years in the Senate is the second largest recipient of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae campaign contributions, behind only Sen. Christopher Dodd, D-Conn., the powerful chairman of the Senate banking committee. Dodd was first elected to the Senate in 1980.
According to OpenSecrets.com, from 1989 to 2008, Dodd received $165,400 in Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac campaign contributions, including contributions from PACs and individuals, followed by Obama, who received $126,349 in such contributions since being elected to the Senate in 2004.
A Freddie Mac Money Trail Catches Up With McCain
Newsweek
September 27, 2008
Few advisers in John McCain’s inner circle inspire more loyalty from him than campaign manager Rick Davis. McCain and his wife, Cindy, credit the shrewd, and sometimes volatile, Republican insider with rescuing the campaign last year when it was out of money and on the verge of collapse. As a result, McCain has always defended him—even when faced with tough questions about the foreign lobbying clients of Davis’s high-powered consulting firm. “Rick is a friend, and I trust him,” McCain told NEWSWEEK last year.
Last week, though, McCain’s trust in Davis was tested again amid disclosures that Freddie Mac, the troubled mortgage giant that was recently placed under federal conservatorship, paid his campaign manager’s firm $15,000 a month between 2006 and August 2008. As the mortgage crisis has escalated, almost any association with Freddie Mac or Fannie Mae has become politically toxic. But the payments to Davis’s firm, Davis Manafort, are especially problematic because he requested the consulting retainer in 2006—and then did barely any work for the fees, according to two sources familiar with the arrangement who asked not to be identified discussing Freddie Mac business. Aside from attending a few breakfasts and a political-action-committee meeting with Democratic strategist Paul Begala (another Freddie consultant), Davis did “zero” for the housing firm, one of the sources said. Freddie Mac also had no dealings with the lobbying firm beyond paying monthly invoices—but it agreed to the arrangement because of Davis’s close relationship with McCain, the source said, which led top executives to conclude “you couldn’t say no.”
Filed under: bailout, bernanke, Big Banks, Central Banks, Congress, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Dollar, ECB, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, european central bank, Federal Reserve, global economy, Great Depression, Greenback, henry paulson, house senate, housing market, hyperinflation, Inflation, interest rate cuts, liquidation, middle class, mortgage, mortgage companies, mortgage lenders, nationalization, Paulson, rate cut, real estate, Ron Paul, Stock Market, subprime, subprime lending, tax, Taxpayers, Uncategorized, US Economy, US Treasury, Wall Street
Banks borrowed $940 Billion Last Week
Bank Borrowing From Fed Already Exceeded Bailout Total in Last Week
Steve Watson
Infowars.net
September 26, 2008
U.S. banks borrowed $188 billion per day on average in the latest week from the Federal Reserve, meaning that the Fed loaned out more money than the Treasury’s proposed bailout in just one week, still barely managing to keep the economy afloat.
Federal Reserve data showed on Thursday the total amount banks borrowed nearly quadrupled the previous record of $47.97 billion per day notched just the week before, Reuters reports.
$188 billion per day on average over the course of five days means that the total amount borrowed from the Fed in the week ending the 24th September stood at $940 billion – a figure that easily eclipses the proposed $700 billion bailout.
As we have already reported, the $700 billion number was simply pulled out of thin air by the Treasury.
The Treasury’s fact sheet about the bailout states, “The Secretary will have the discretion, in consultation with the Chairman of the Federal Reserve, to purchase other assets, as deemed necessary to effectively stabilize financial markets.”
This gives the government and the Federal Reserve carte blanche to do whatever they want to long as it is done in the name of stabilizing financial markets, they can nationalize any company or industry and use taxpayer money, above and beyond the initial $700 billion, for whatever purpose is deemed necessary, without any oversight. Paulson’s bailout plan is also unreviewable by any court, it will remain in perpetuity.
Paulson’s draft bailout plans says: “The Secretary’s authority to purchase mortgage-related assets under this Act shall be limited to $700,000,000,000 outstanding at any one time.”
As Chris Martenson writes, “This means that $700 billion is NOT the cost of this dangerous legislation, it is only the amount that can be outstanding at any one time. After, say, $100 billion of bad mortgages are disposed of, another $100 billion can be bought. In short, these four little words assure that there is NO LIMIT to the potential size of this bailout. This means that $700 billion is a rolling amount, not a ceiling.”
If the bailout bill passes it is just the beginning of something much larger. $700 billion is a meaningless figure that will do nothing to shore up the economy. It is not a bailout, it is a giveaway that will allow insiders to purge themselves of bad bets and free to continue where they left off. The real reason for the bill is the unprecedented transfer of power to the Executive Branch and into the hands of the global corporate elite.
Fed Pumps $630 Billion Into Global Banking System
Bloomberg
September 29, 2008
The Federal Reserve will pump an additional $630 billion into the global financial system, flooding banks with cash to alleviate the worst banking crisis since the Great Depression.
The Fed increased its existing currency swaps with foreign central banks by $330 billion to $620 billion to make more dollars available worldwide. The Term Auction Facility, the Fed’s emergency loan program, will expand by $300 billion to $450 billion. The European Central Bank, the Bank of England and the Bank of Japan are among the participating authorities.
The Fed’s expansion of liquidity, the biggest since credit markets seized up last year, comes as Congress prepares to vote on a $700 billion bailout for the financial industry. The crisis is reverberating through the global economy, causing stocks to plunge and forcing European governments to rescue four banks over the past two days alone.
“Today’s blast of term liquidity will settle the funding markets down, and allow trust to slowly be restored between borrowers and lenders,’’ said Chris Rupkey, chief financial economist at Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ Ltd. in New York. On the other hand, “the Fed’s balance sheet is about to explode.’’
Stocks around the world plunged the most since 1997 today and credit markets deteriorated further as authorities scrambled to save more financial institutions from collapse.
Bailout by Stealth
While the public is distracted by the “bailout bill” and its rejection, trillions are pumped in to keep financial balloon inflated
James Corbett
The Corbett Report
September 30, 2008
The media is falling all over itself to report on every minutiae of the so-called Wall Street “bailout bill” and its rejection by Congress yesterday (just a few of the thousands of examples can be seen here and here and here and here). And why not? The media’s breathless coverage of the bill has produced a furious backlash by the public and hysteria on Wall Street in a self-justifying feedback loop that makes the media attention seem merited.
The startling truth which the controlled corporate media is not reporting, however, is that a bailout is actually taking place right now, completely out of the public spotlight. This program has already pumped trillions of dollars into Wall Street (compared to the mere $700 billion proposed in the legislation that the media is focusing on) to help prop up the faltering investment banks and promises to pump in even more, every dime of it to the detriment of the taxpayer though the public will have no stake in its success. Why, then, is this program not being talked about in the media?
Slipping under the radar last week amidst the hullabaloo in Washington over the bailout bill was this story noting that in the past week alone, the Federal Reserve had pumped an astonishing $188 billion per day into the system in the form of emergency credit. This means that in just four days, the Fed injected as much money into the system as the entire $700 billion bailout proposal. After the proposal was rejected, the Fed responded by immediately announcing it would pour another $630 billion into the global financial system.
The Federal Reserve, of course, is America’s central bank and although the above story conjures the reassuring image of a national bank lending out some of its vast reserves to help Wall Street weather the storm, the fact is that the Federal Reserve is not Federal and has doubtful reserves. In fact, the trillions of dollars that have been lent to the banks in the last few weeks were created out of nothing by the privately-owned Federal Reserve. When the Federal Reserve “lends” money to a bank through repurchase agreements (repos), credit auction or other method, it is not actually lending out money from its vaults. It is simply creating the money it “lends” out as electronic credits created in the recipient banks account. It is literally money out of thin air.
That the general public is on the hook for this money created out of nothing is not an exaggeration. It is paid for in a dimly-understood mechanism often known as the “inflation tax.”
Inflation is nothing more than an indication that the ratio of money to products that can be purchased with that money has been increased. Since the overall number of dollars has gone up without any corresponding increase in economic production (as happens when the Federal Reserve creates money out of thin air), the value of each individual dollar goes down. That means that the value of the money in each individuals’ bank account (not to mention their pension and social security dividends) can be reduced simply by the flick of a pen of a Federal Reserve paper-pusher. (Unless of course that individual just happens to be a billionaire investment mogul or a Vice President who can divest themselves of U.S. dollars in time for this inflation not to affect them.) This is sometimes known as an inflation tax because its overall effect is the same as if the government came in and took that value out of the individuals’ bank account. Watch Ron Paul explain the inflation tax in the video below:
The most insidious part of this inflation tax is that the inflation does not begin until the new money begins to circulate in the system. In other words, the first person (or, more likely, giant corporate conglomerate) to use the money receives its full value, while those at the bottom of the pyramid retrieve the diminished returns of a devaluing dollar.
Why, then, is the public not furious about this stealth bailout, now taking place at the blistering pace of nearly $1 trillion a week, and all to the taxpayer’s detriment? The obvious answer is that the media is not whipping the public into a frenzy about it, instead focusing its attention on a $700 billion program and allowing the public to feel like they scored a blow against Wall Street when the program gets rejected. If so, it’s time the public got wise to how the system is really being run by and for the benefit of private bankers and at the expense of the average taxpayer. Otherwise, the fleecing of the public will continue unabated even as the public thinks they’ve won the battle.
Filed under: bailout, Bank of America, Barney Frank, Big Banks, China, Congress, credit cards, Credit Crisis, Daily Show, David Rockefeller, DEBT, Derivatives, Dictatorship, Dollar, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Empire, Fascism, Federal Reserve, global economy, Great Depression, Greenback, Harry Reid, henry paulson, House, housing market, Hugo Chavez, hyperinflation, Inflation, jon stewart, JP Morgan, Larry Kudlow, Lehman Brothers, liquidation, lou dobbs, Media, middle class, mortgage, mortgage companies, mortgage lenders, Nancy Pelosi, national socialism, nationalization, Nazi, Neolibs, Paulson, putin, real estate, rockefeller, rothschilds, Russia, Senate, socialism, steven colbert, Stock Market, subprime, subprime lending, Taxpayers, US Economy, US Treasury, Venezuela, Wall Street | Tags: dexia, run on banks
Bailout Bill Fails But May Revive And Pass Anyways
Bloomberg
September 30, 2008
The U.S. Senate will try to salvage a $700 billion financial-rescue package after the measure was defeated in the House of Representatives. The lawmakers won’t have a lot of room to negotiate.
While the legislation will need to be tweaked enough to win over reluctant House Republicans, the lawmakers will risk losing votes from Democrats if they veer too far from the delicate compromise that congressional leaders hammered out with the U.S. Treasury.
“They’re not going to totally revamp the bill,’’ said Pete Davis, president of Davis Capital Investment Ideas in Washington, who spoke to House and Senate leaders yesterday. “They’ll make some minor changes and pass it. This is all about political cover.’’
Paulson: King Paulson or Convict Paulson
Recent News:
Bank of America to close credit cards for approximately 60% of customers? (by Oct 1)
http://mparent7777-1.livejournal.com/1933222.html
House Clears $25 Billion For Carmakers
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/83bfe68c-8a8f-11dd-a76a-0000779fd18c.html
Home builders will ask for $90 billion bailout
http://money.cnn.com/2008/09..ion=2008092608
I’ve watched the economy for 30 years. Now I’m truly scared
http://www.guardian.co…/globaleconomy.creditcrunch
Treasury explains how it came up with $700 billion: We just wanted ‘a really large number.’
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/24/treasury-large-number/
Stocks rallied a day after failed $700B wallstreet bailout
http://money.cnn.com/2008..?postversion=2008093009
US will lose superpower status, claims German minister
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/..-superpower-status-crows-Germany.html
http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/coming_derivatives_crisis_150.html
China Banks Told To Stop Lending To U.S. Banks
http://www.reuters.com..PEK16693720080925
Refusing Dollar as “World Currency” Inevitable
http://capital.trendaz.com/index.shtml?show=news&newsid=1304435〈=EN
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news..efer=home
Putin Promises $50Bln For Banks
http://www.themoscowtimes.com/article/1010/42/371301.htm
Dexia bank gets multi-nation $9.2B bailout
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080930/eu_belgium_dexia.html
Home Prices in 20 U.S. Cities Declined 16.3% in July
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?.d=aEyKpTpk90C0&refer=us
http://newsfromthewest.blogspot.com/2008/05/who-owns-federal-reserve.html
Chavez says U.S. can’t fix financial crisis
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSLQ4692420080926
The Hanky Panky Banking Bailout Bill
Rep. Kaptur responds to Bush’s address on failed bailout bill
RBS will get ‘billions’ in US bail-out of economy
Jobless Claims Pushed To 7-Year High
Dow Drops 777 Points
680% Inflation?
Nasdaq tanks, down 6%
California Home Prices Drop Record 41% Amid Defaults
Rumors Trigger Bank Run In Hong Kong
New Home Sales Plunged 11.5% to 17-Year Low
Wachovia Stock Sinks On WaMu News
Filed under: 2008 Election, Ahmadinejad, airstrikes, Alan Greenspan, Alex Jones, army, bailout, bernanke, Big Banks, civil liberties, civil rights, Congress, Coup, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Dictatorship, Dollar, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Empire, enron, False Flag, Fascism, FBI, FDIC, Federal Reserve, global economy, Great Depression, Greenback, housing market, hyperinflation, Inflation, Iran, Iraq, John McCain, liquidation, Martial Law, middle class, Military, military strike, morgage, mortgage companies, mortgage lenders, nationalization, neocons, Nuke, Posse Comitatus, Preemptive Strike, preemptive war, real estate, Ron Paul, Russia, Shock and Awe, socialism, Stock Market, subprime, subprime lending, Taxpayers, Tehran, urban warfare, US Constitution, US Economy, Venezuela, Wall Street, War On Terror, WW3, ww4 | Tags: failed banks, run on banks
Ron Paul: Greenspan, Bernanke Should Be Criminally Charged 
Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet
September 26, 2008
Congressman Ron Paul says that the bailout bill is likely to pass, heralding a 10-year plus economic depression for America and the potential for martial law should civil unrest arise as the financial meltdown worsens.
Speaking on The Alex Jones Show, Paul said of the bailout, “They want dictatorship, they want to pass all the penalties and suffering on to the average person on Main Street,” adding, “We will have a depression or recession, it’s locked in place due to previous Federal Reserve actions.”
“When they say that if we don’t do exactly as they say and turn over more of our money and more of our liberties and exempt themselves from any court in the whole nation, they’re trying to intimidate us and lead us into doing the wrong thing,” said Paul.
The Congressman added that serious problems would arise if nothing was done to address the problem, but that more serious consequences would follow should the bailout be passed.
Paul warned that the only question was whether the meltdown would last one year or ten years and how much liberty would be lost in that time frame.
“It looks like from I see in Congress, that they’re opting for a decade plus of depression rather than saying let’s correct our ways, let’s balance the budget, let’s bring our troops home,” said Paul, adding that the same course of printing money would continue – prolonging the agony and preventing a necessary correction.
Asked if civil unrest was a possibility in the midst of an economic depression, referencing a recent Army Times report concerning the use of active duty military being brought back from Iraq for “Homeland patrols” and “crowd control,” Paul questioned, “Are we going to have martial law or are we going to have more freedoms? The more problems that we have, the more likely it is that we’re going to have martial law, so I do think they anticipate and they plan for these things.”
Asked if criminal investigations and prosecutions of individuals on Wall Street should commence, Paul agreed but said that the main target of criminal inquiry should be the Federal Reserve board itself because, “That’s where the fraud is.”
“They want to be lawless, they don’t want to be held accountable,” he added.
Paul said that grand juries should be convened to take on prosecutions rather than the FBI becoming involved, stating, “We have proper authority with that and experience with it and the Enron case is a good example.”
The Congressman said that Greenspan and Bernanke should be criminally charged but that such an effort would be largely symbolic. “Morally speaking, they’re the culprits,” said Paul.
Asked what his solution to the crisis would be, Paul said, “I think the most important thing to do is to send the message that we’re going to quit living beyond our means and the president can set the standard for that and he has the most control under the Constitution on foreign policy – he can say no more wars, we’re done with the wars, we’re not going to take on the Russians, we’re not going to take on people in Venezuela, we’re going to start talking to the Cubans and bring our troops home and save hundreds of billions of dollars – that would send a powerful message that the dollar would respond to and oil prices would come down.”
Paul said that Americans had to accept a new idea of government that harked back to what the founders envisaged and that the welfare state would have to unravel along with aspirations of building a geopolitical empire.
“In the meantime the policy ought to be – shrink the size of government, decrease regulation, work towards sound money, remove the authority of the Fed to create money out of thin air and get tax reduction,” stated the Congressman. Paul added that eliminating the income tax would mean everybody becoming a lot richer and more money would be ploughed into the economy.
“It will not solve the problem, it just delays the inevitable,” said Paul of the bailout, adding that he expects the bill to pass in a move that would, “Defy the American people.”
“I think they get to the point where they think they’re like God and can control everything and they don’t realize that the market really is more powerful than all the bankers and all the politicians….Ultimately the underground economy is the real economy and I think they could over step themselves and hopefully we could come out with a better world afterwards,” concluded the Congressman.
Ron Paul Grills Bernanke on Wallstreet Bailout
Think Progress
September 18, 2008
Filed under: AIG, bailout, Bank of America, bear sterns, Big Banks, Credit Crisis, DEBT, Dictatorship, Dollar, Economic Collapse, economic depression, Economy, Empire, Fascism, FDIC, Federal Reserve, global economy, Great Depression, Greenback, housing market, hyperinflation, Inflation, JP Morgan, Lehman Brothers, liquidation, Merrill Lynch, middle class, mortgage, mortgage companies, mortgage lenders, nationalization, real estate, socialism, Stock Market, subprime, subprime lending, Taxpayers, US Economy, Wall Street, Wamu, washington mutual | Tags: failed banks, J.P.Morgan Chase, run on banks
WaMu: The Biggest Bank Collapse In U.S. History
TOP News
September 26, 2008
In what is being termed as the biggest bank collapse in US history, J.P.Morgan Chase & Co. will acquire massive branch network and troubled assets from Washington Mutual Inc. for $1.9 billion, as per a deal arranged by federal regulators. Under the deal – the latest stunning development in the ongoing credit crisis – J P Morgan Chase will acquire all the banking operations of Washington Mutual, including $307 billion in assets and $188 billion in deposits.
Washington Mutual had been one of the most hard-hit banks during the financial crisis after it bet big, like many of its competitors, on the strength of the housing market – only to see its fortunes sour as housing prices fell. Many analysts were speculating that the endgame for the embattled savings and loan was imminent, particularly after ratings agency downgrades this week, and a freefall in the company’s stock.
As a result of the Washington Mutual acquisition, the New York City-based J P Morgan Chase – after its mid-March acquisition of investment bank, Bear Stearns – will now boast some 5,400 branches in 23 states. “We think it is a great thing for our company,” said Jamie Dimon, J P Morgan Chase Chairman and CEO, in a conference call with investors late Thursday night.
Federal regulators who helped in finalizing the deal said the transition for Washington Mutual customers would be “seamless.” In a statement, FDIC Chairman, Sheila Bair, said: “There will be no interruption in services and bank customers should expect business as usual come Friday morning.”
The acquisition might prompt criticism from J P Morgan Chase rivals about preferential treatment by the government. For instance, no government assistance was extended to Bank of America Corp. in its recently announced purchase of Merrill Lynch. However, in the case of Washington Mutual acquisition, there were presumably other bidders who, in comparison to J P Morgan Chase, offered better deal for the deposits and branches.
The fall of Washington Mutual is the latest turn in a dizzying fortnight that has seen the bankruptcy of Lehman Brothers, the acquisition of Merrill Lynch by Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500) and the near collapse of insurance giant AIG (AIG, Fortune 500). In fact, Washington Mutual has set a ‘record’ of sorts – it is the 13th bank to fail so far this year, and earns the title of the country’s ‘largest bank failure’ by assets on record, surpassing Continental Illinois’ $40 billion in assets when it failed in May of 1984.
Washington Mutual Is The 13th Bank To Fall This Year
http://www.fdic.gov/bank/individual/failed/banklist.html
Filed under: bailout, Bank of America, bear sterns, bernanke, Big Banks, Chile, Dictatorship, Empire, Fascism, FDIC, Federal Reserve, George Bush, Goldman Sachs, henry paulson, housing market, Lehman Brothers, liquidation, Merrill Lynch, middle class, morgan stanley, mortgage, mortgage companies, mortgage lenders, nationalization, neocons, New York, Paulson, qui bono, real estate, socialism, subprime, subprime lending, Taxpayers, US Treasury, White House, writedown | Tags: conflict of interest, run on banks
Paulson’s former firm to be among largest beneficiaries of bailout
John Bryne
Raw Story
September 23, 2008
It certainly pays to be Treasury Secretary if your former firm is a brokerage house, a new study says.
Goldman Sachs Group — formerly run by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, and Morgan Stanley, stand to be among the biggest beneficiaries of a $700 billion US bailout.
“Its benefits, in its current form, will be largely limited to investment banks and other banks that have aggressively written down the value of their holdings and have already recognized the attendant capital impairment,” Jeffrey Rosenberg, Bank of America’s head of credit strategy research, wrote in a report obtained by Bloomberg News yesterday.
Paulson was the head of Goldman Sach’s investment banking division from 1990 to 1994. He later became chairman and chief executive officer of Goldman, and left his post to join the Bush Administration.
According to the study, the bailout benefits Paulson’s former firm more because banks haven’t had to write down as many troubled mortage assets under accounting rules. This means that participating in the program would cause them to actually lose capital, as opposed to investment banks, which stand to gain.
Paulson $700 billion program is designed to remove “bad assets” from the US financial markets to prevent credit for businesses from drying up, which would send the economy into a further tailspin. Many businesses rely on credit to fund their daily operations.
Lawmakers are debating the plan today.
“While Goldman and Morgan Stanley, both based in New York, were yesterday granted permission to transform themselves into bank holding companies, the companies so far have operated mostly under investment-bank accounting rules, logging almost $21 billion of asset writedowns and credit losses,” Bloomberg News notes.
Goldman made sizable profits in 2007 from the subprime mortgage sector. It, along with Morgan Stanley, has fared better than investment houses Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers and Bear Stearns, because it has held a more conservative capital base.
Paulson has admirers: during his Goldman tenure the firm donated 680,000 acres of land in Chile, and he has personally given away $100 million of his fortune to charitable groups.
According to estimates conducted by Open Secrets, Paulson is the richest cabinet member of the Bush Administration.
http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/22/paulson-goldman-bailout/
noworldsystem.com 