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Economic Meltdown (37 posts)

  1. truthmod
    Administrator

    Long live the free market.

    Naomi Klein: Financial crisis part of Bush 'shock doctrine'
    http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Naomi_Klein_Financia...

    http://subprimeshowtime.wordpress.com/2008/09/19/r... sd

    In what is both the single most socialist move ever made by the US government, and the biggest robbery of US taxpayer since the creation of the union, the Fed and the Treasury have quickly realized who pays the government and acted quickly to ensure the survival of all the crooks on Wall Street. If anyone was at all confused about the puppet and master relationship between big business and DC, this shocking slight of hand should leave no doubt whatsoever who’s in control.

    As my good friends at the Housing Timebomb pointed out, the last time this amazing scam was pulled off was during the savings and loans crisis, and the RTC cost the taxpayer $124.6 billion, or roughly $400 for every person living in the US of A. But this meltdown makes the S&L blip look like the boom era, since we’re already $6 trillion in the hole, and that’s just the tip of

    http://housingpanic.blogspot.com/2008/09/end-of-am...

    "The Secretary's authority to purchase mortgage-related assets under this Act shall be limited to 700,000,000,000 dollars outstanding at any one time"

    What this does is give Hank Paulson, acting as an emperor with unchecked control over the nation's treasury, a $700 billion line of credit in which he can buy up toxic debt for whatever price he'd like to pay, $700 billion at a time.

    In other words - he could buy trillions. Trillions and trillions and trillions. Buying and selling, buying and selling.

    Posted 16 years ago #
  2. truthmover
    Administrator

    Kucinich: No 'cash for trash,' give taxpayers a stake in bailout

    “Simply purchasing bad debt, 'cash for trash' and not receiving anything of value or giving $700 billion and not having a commensurate equity interest in Wall Street firms is unacceptable," Kucinich said in a news release Monday. "No 'cash for trash.'"

    The former Democratic presidential candidate said he would be introducing a bill this week to create a "United States Mutual Trust Fund" to convert assets purchased by the governemnt into shares that would be distributed to every man, woman and child in the country. Every American would receive about $2,300 worth of shares because that is the cost of the bailout package to each individual, Kucinich said.

    http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Kucinich_No_cash_for...

    Posted 16 years ago #
  3. JohnA
    Member

    A critical - and radical - component of the bailout package proposed by the Bush administration has thus far failed to garner the serious attention of anyone in the press. Section 8 of this legislation is just a single sentence of thirty-two words:

    Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.

    you have GOT to be kidding me. $700 billion with NO oversight or legal recourse?

    Sounds like an economic version of the 'patriot act' where panicked Senators are told, with a gun to their heads, that they must sign over the whole farm..... or else.

    Posted 16 years ago #
  4. truthmover
    Administrator

    Just about to post that as well. Ran into this.

    "Dirty Secret Of The Bailout: Thirty-Two Words That None Dare Utter"

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/22/dirty-sec...

    Patrick Leahy on the bailout package:

    "We will do something this week -- but if we learned anything from right after 9/11, it's that the biggest mistake is to pass anything they ask for just because it's an emergency," Leahy says.

    Posted 16 years ago #
  5. truthmod
    Administrator

    Average of $250,000 per person

    Fury at $2.5bn bonus for Lehman's New York staff
    http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/fu...

    Up to 10,000 staff at the New York office of the bankrupt investment bank Lehman Brothers will share a bonus pool set aside for them that is worth $2.5bn (£1.4bn), Barclays Bank, which is buying the business, confirmed last night.

    Posted 16 years ago #
  6. JohnA
    Member

    This editorial equates it to a coup:

    http://www.huffingtonpost.com/larisa-alexandrovna/...

    Posted 16 years ago #
  7. truthmod
    Administrator

    Of course, the bipartisan consensus is coming any minute. I just don't trust either side of this government to really be looking out for our interests. They're playing politics as usual. If the dems hold up legislation, the repubs can nail them for being responsible for the fallout. They're only going to make a few superficial safeguards to please their supposed constituents. But we all know who both parties really work for.

    The oversight is better than nothing, but I have zero confidence in this system. It's going under one way or another.

    Congress has a plan
    Lawmakers agree on bailout principles to protect taxpayers and ensure oversight.
    http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/25/news/economy/deal_...

    Bailout Could Deepen Crisis, CBO Chief Says
    Asset Sales May Lead to Write-Downs, Insolvencies, Orszag Tells Congress

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/artic...

    "Ironically, the intervention could even trigger additional failures of large institutions, because some institutions may be carrying troubled assets on their books at inflated values," Orszag said in his testimony. "Establishing clearer prices might reveal those institutions to be insolvent."

    Posted 16 years ago #
  8. truthmod
    Administrator

    In some ways, this is very encouraging...

    Dodd says White House meeting was a disaster

    http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/dodd-says-wh...{F849F192-D0CD-4456-BC50-751A5259D7F4}

    The whole meeting "looked like a rescue plan for John McCain," Dodd said. He said he was simply going to pretend that the meeting had never happened.

    Bailout plan progress unravels
    Up-and-down day ends with no congressional deal on Paulson proposal

    http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/up-down-day-...{9995E1C7-392C-4CE9-B41F-401C6FFCAA15}

    Posted 16 years ago #
  9. truthmod
    Administrator

    Glad my checking account is FDIC insured. And this is early enough that FDIC should still be functional...hopefully. Run on the bank tomorrow?

    WaMu goes under, acquired by J.P. Morgan Chase

    http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/jp-morgan-bu...{42316B59-4AB5-406B-808E-931513D5763C}

    In the largest bank failure in U.S. history, Washington Mutual Inc. succumbed Thursday to the fallout from the subprime mortgage crisis, was seized by federal regulators and rapidly acquired by J.P. Morgan Chase . The federal Office of Thrift Supervision said it closed WaMu on Thursday and appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. as receiver. The FDIC in turn conducted the bidding process that led to the acquisition by Chase (JPM: JPMorgan Chase & Co

    Federal officials said WaMu would be open for business Friday. The financial terms and extent of the transaction weren't clear Thursday night. As of June 30, Seattle-based WaMu had $307.2 billion in assets, 43,198 employees and 2,239 retail offices in 15 states.

    Posted 16 years ago #
  10. Victronix
    Member

    http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=l7B4laX1E70

    Posted 16 years ago #
  11. JohnA
    Member

    and the dominoes continue to fall:

    • UK nationalises Bradford & Bingley

      • Fortis, Huge European Bank, Partially Nationalized

      • Citigroup To Buy Wachovia Banking Operations For $1 a Share

      • Japan, World's 2nd-Largest Economy, Reports Rare Trade Deficit. It was an alarm signal for the country's already shrinking economy and yet another worrisome indicator for troubled global markets.

    Posted 16 years ago #
  12. Arabesque
    Member

    House Rejects Bailout Bill; Wall Street Shudders

    However, Democratic Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts said Republicans had revolted against the Bush administration, which called for the dramatic rescue plan. "The Republicans don't trust the administration," he said. "It's a Republican revolt against George Bush and John McCain." White House spokesman Tony Fratto said President Bush was "very disappointed" in the outcome of the vote.

    http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?story...

    Posted 16 years ago #
  13. truthmod
    Administrator

    Wall Street bailout passes Senate

    http://rawstory.com/news/2008/Wall_Street_bailout_...

    The Senate version of a failed $700 billion cash infusion for Wall Street has passed with hopes of enticing opposing House members to change their votes, MSNBC reported.

    Posted 16 years ago #
  14. truthmod
    Administrator

    s

    Who's profiting from the crisis? Goldman Sachs, of course
    http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/whos-profiti...

    Recession now certain, economists say
    http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/recession-no...{19786F11-56EF-4FCF-94CA-88189A007276}

    Posted 16 years ago #
  15. Victronix
    Member

    Vote switchers on financial bailout http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5i4CXi5jhOgTYFk1...

    WASHINGTON (AP) — Sixty lawmakers Friday switched from their previous position on the huge Wall Street bailout measure. Fifty-eight switched from "no" to "yes," one switched to oppose the measure and a lawmaker who was absent on Monday voted "yes." Here's the breakdown by party and state:

    Republicans, No to Yes (25)

    Arizona — John Shadegg.

    Florida — Vern Buchanan, Ileana Ros-Lehtinen.

    Illinois — Judy Biggert

    Louisiana — Rodney Alexander, Charles Boustany.

    Michigan — Joe Knollenberg, Peter Hoekstra.

    Minnesota — Jim Ramstad.

    North Carolina — Howard Coble, Sue Myrick.

    Nebraska — Lee Terry.

    New Jersey — Rodney Frelinghuysen.

    New York — Randy Kuhl.

    Ohio — Jean Schmidt, Pat Tiberi.

    Oklahoma — Mary Fallin, John Sullivan.

    Pennsylvania — Charles Dent, Jim Gerlach, Bill Shuster.

    South Carolina — Gresham Barrett.

    Tennessee — Zach Wamp.

    Texas — Mike Conaway, Mac Thornberry.

    Republican Jerry Weller of Illinois was absent Monday. He voted yes on Friday.

    Democrats No to Yes (33)

    Hawaii — Neil Abercrombie, Mazie Hirono.

    California — Joe Baca, Barbara Lee, Adam Schiff, Hilda Solis, Mike Thompson, Diane Watson, Lynn Woolsey.

    Nevada — Shelley Berkely.

    Iowa — Bruce Braley.

    Indiana — Andre Carson.

    Missouri — Emanuel Cleaver.

    Texas — Henry Cueller, Al Green, Sheila Jackson Lee, Solomon Ortiz.

    Maryland — Elijah Cummings, Donna Edwards.

    Arizona — Gabrielle Giffords, Harry Mitchell, Ed Pastor.

    Illinois — Jesse Jackson Jr., Bobby Rush.

    Michigan — Carolyn Kilpatrick.

    Georgia — John Lewis, David Scott.

    New Jersey — Bill Pascrell.

    Ohio — Betty Sutton.

    Massachusetts — John Tierney.

    Vermont — Peter Welch.

    Oregon — David Wu.

    Kentucky — John Yarmuth.

    Democrats Yes to No (1)

    Washington — Jim McDermott.

    Posted 16 years ago #
  16. truthmod
    Administrator

    Iceland's Crash

    The party's over for Iceland, the island that tried to buy the world
    Almost overnight, its population became the wealthiest on Earth. Tracy McVeigh in Reykjavik finds that the credit crunch is making the cash disappear

    http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2008/oct/05/icelan...

    The snow has arrived early in Reykjavik after an unusually long and warm summer. The freeze has brought out the ghostly green haze of the aurora borealis - the Northern Lights - the shape of which shifts dramatically across the tiny city's black skies.

    The bars and restaurants of Iceland's capital are packed, the Range Rovers and BMWs are parked nose to tail all along the streets of the central 101 district, and music is pumping from a black stretch Hummer limousine cruising by.

    'What can we do? Its difficult times but we've spent all day talking about it, watching the news getting worse and worse. We had to go out and be with friends. Maybe it's like the party at the end of the world,' says Egill Tomasson, 32, sitting in the Kaffeebarinn bar.

    Iceland is on the brink of collapse. Inflation and interest rates are raging upwards. The krona, Iceland's currency, is in freefall and is rated just above those of Zimbabwe and Turkmenistan. One of the country's three independent banks has been nationalised, another is asking customers for money, and the discredited government and officials from the central bank have been huddled behind closed doors for three days with still no sign of a plan. International banks won't send any more money and supplies of foreign currency are running out.

    Posted 16 years ago #
  17. truthmod
    Administrator

    Russian stocks plunge by nearly 20 per cent, worst daily loss ever

    http://canadianpress.google.com/article/ALeqM5hCIc...

    Russia's benchmark stock exchange suffered its biggest-ever one-day loss as shares went into free fall on the back of falling oil prices and deepening fears about the global economy despite the passage of a US$700 billion U.S. bank bailout.

    Trading on MICEX - the country's largest index - was shut down three times, closing down 18.6 per cent to 752 points. The benchmark RTS - where trading was halted twice - crashed to its lowest point since August 2005, falling by 19.1 per cent to 866.4 points. It is the most the RTS has fallen in one day.

    Posted 16 years ago #
  18. truthmod
    Administrator

    DOW DOWN 672 right now

    http://www.marketwatch.com/quotes/djia

    Posted 16 years ago #
  19. chrisc
    Member

    The UK's top share index chalked up its biggest ever one-day points fall... In terms of points, Monday's fall was bigger than the slides seen in the wake of the September 11 attacks on the US and the 1987 stock market crash.

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7655288.stm

    And the "solution" to this...

    Gordon Brown has urged global markets to abide by a system of "morals", including "responsible risk-taking" and a "work ethic".

    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/7655723.stm

    At least the collapse of capitalism turns out to be amusing....

    Posted 16 years ago #
  20. truthmod
    Administrator

    BERLUSCONI: LEADERS MAY CLOSE WORLD’S MARKETS

    http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087...

    Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi said political leaders are discussing the idea of closing the world’s financial markets while they “rewrite the rules of international finance.”

    “The idea of suspending the markets for the time it takes to rewrite the rules is being discussed,” Berlusconi said today after a Cabinet meeting in Naples, Italy. A solution to the financial crisis “can’t just be for one country, or even just for Europe, but global.”

    The Dow Jones Industrial Average fell as much 8.1 percent in early trading and pared most of those losses after Berlusconi’s remarks. The Dow was down 0.5 percent to 8540.52 at 10:10 in New York.

    Group of Seven finance ministers and central bankers are meeting in Washington today, and will stay in town for the International Monetary Fund and World Bank meetings this weekend. European Union leaders may gather in Paris on Oct. 12, three days before a scheduled summit in Brussels, Berlusconi said today, while Group of Eight leaders may hold a meeting on the crisis “in coming days,” he said.

    Berlusconi didn’t give any details about what kind of rules leaders were looking to change, except to say that leaders are “talking about a new Bretton Woods.”

    The Bretton Woods Agreements were adopted to rebuild the international economic system after World War II in a hotel in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire. The aim of the agreements was to establish a monetary management system, initially by pegging currencies to gold. The IMF was set up later to help manage the international financial system.

    Posted 16 years ago #
  21. truthmod
    Administrator

    All US Financials Will be Nationalized in a Year: Manager
    http://www.cnbc.com/id/27835645

    It’s not preferable, but all major U.S. financial companies will eventually be under government control because the alternative is so much worse, Hugh Hendry, chief investment officer at hedge fund Eclectica Asset Management, said Friday.

    “All financials will be owned by the U.S. government in a year,” Hendry said. “I bet you.”

    Nationalizations take dramatic losses from the private sector and places them on the larger balance sheet of the public sector, he said.

    “It’s not good,” but society is vulnerable and society is going to have to intervene, Hendry said.

    Worst of financial crisis yet to come: IMF chief economist
    http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM...

    The IMF's chief economist has warned that the global financial crisis is set to worsen and that the situation will not improve until 2010, a report said Saturday.

    Olivier Blanchard also warned that the institution does not have the funds to solve every economic problem.

    "The worst is yet to come," Blanchard said in an interview with the Finanz und Wirtschaft newspaper, adding that "a lot of time is needed before the situation becomes normal."

    He said economic growth would not kick in until 2010 and it will take another year before the global financial situation became normal again.

    Posted 16 years ago #
  22. emanuel
    Member

    more...

    http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/449d47da-b7ec-11dd-ac6d-...

    Emanuel

    Posted 16 years ago #
  23. truthmod
    Administrator

    Will this be the last "normal" Thanksgiving in America?

    Latest from Ruppert:

    http://mikeruppert.blogspot.com/2008/11/after-citi...

    I cannot see everything. But here's how I see the end of the U.S.economy. What is trickling from Wall Street to Main Street will arrive in full force by March or April. And around that time, perhaps next summer, the thing that started the collapse will return to deliver the coup de grace: oil prices. By that time a return to $100 or higher oil will bring back $3.00 gasoline and no one will be able to afford it. This was always, all about Peak Oil. The dinosaurs of our age know it and they assumed they could manage it. That's what our map has always said, the one that has enabled us to make so many accurate predictions for so many years. J. P. Morgan is the next domino in line and it is one of the deepest players in government intrigue and especially PROMIS software and P-Tech.

    Ignorant people have been tossing the word revolution around like a used Hustler Magazine on this blog. (Sorry Larry Flynt. You were good to me and you saved the First Amendment. I was your "Hustler" interview of the month twice.) Revolutions start when the people rise up. Revolutions start when people are hungry. They start when a tipping point is reached and it seems they are all being reached at once, doesn't it? Energy, money, climate, food, fresh water; take your pick.

    Posted 16 years ago #
  24. truthmod
    Administrator

    Bailout costs $8.5 trillion
    http://therealnews.com/t/index.php?option=com_cont...

    http://coloradoindependent.com/16214/credit-crisis...

    • Marshall Plan: Cost: $12.7 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $115.3 billion
• Louisiana Purchase: Cost: $15 million, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $217 billion
• Race to the Moon: Cost: $36.4 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $237 billion
• S&L Crisis: Cost: $153 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $256 billion
• Korean War: Cost: $54 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $454 billion
• The New Deal: Cost: $32 billion (Est), Inflation Adjusted Cost: $500 billion (Est)
• Invasion of Iraq: Cost: $551 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $597 billion
• Vietnam War: Cost: $111 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $698 billion
• NASA: Cost: $416.7 billion, Inflation Adjusted Cost: $851.2 billion

TOTAL: $3.92 trillion

    Bloomberg chart following the money:
    http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/data?pid=avimage&...

    Posted 16 years ago #
  25. truthmod
    Administrator

    Tribune Files Bankruptcy One Year After Zell Bailout

    http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601103...

    Tribune Co., publisher of the Chicago Tribune and Los Angeles Times, sought bankruptcy court protection from creditors amid tumbling advertising less than a year after Sam Zell took it private.

    The 161-year-old newspaper and broadcast company was laboring under $12.9 billion in debt, according to today’s Chapter 11 filing in U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Wilmington, Delaware. That load and the economic crisis led to the filing, Zell said in a statement.

    “Factors beyond our control have created a perfect storm,” Chief Executive Officer Zell said.

    Zell, 67, has cut jobs, sold assets including Long Island’s Newsday and put the Chicago Cubs baseball team up for sale to cope with the publisher’s debt and declining revenue. At the same time, U.S. newspaper industry ad sales plunged at accelerating rates, dropping 18 percent in the third quarter.

    Posted 16 years ago #
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