xsuddensam

What Obama Needs to Know about Tim Geithner, the AIG Fiasco and Citigroup

DollarTalk,

I beg to differ with you regarding your implication that perception, influenced by the media and the election, is responsible for market volitility and the deep pessimism that abounds.

My God, CNBC and Bloomberg (to a lesser degree) have been painting a rosy picture of the market since the highs of last year. The likes of the flag waving Larry Kudlow who has incessantly promoted the "Goldilocks theory of economics" have greatly contributed to the damage. It has only been recently that the talkingheads have finally acknowledged the seriousiousness of our financial problems.

I'm sorry, but no amount of optimism will overcome the dire straits we are in. Optimism in the face of adversity is noble; optimism in the face of calamity his foolhardy.



On Nov 27 02:00 AM DollarTalk wrote:

> I am very thankful for the blessings that I have in my life. Now,
> regarding the market, the power of optimism never ceases to amaze
> me. In fact, we are missing a very large component of our view on
> the market and the economy in larger view when we discount the role
> of perception. Most of this market volatility was brought on by increased
> uncertainty and the perception that our credit crisis and financial
> difficulties were beyond our ability to solve as a free market. This,
> of course, was exacerbated by the media and capitalized on by the
> media in order to accomplish the election of now President-elect
> Obama. Now, the media has their man and would do well to continue
> to promote positive, uplifting views on the future direction of the
> economy and the solutions and people proposed by President-elect
> Obama. Otherwise, they will find themselves in the company of the
> Republican party when the public develops a pessimistic or negative
> perception of the new President and his leadership team. That's all
> for now. More on my blog.

What Obama Needs to Know about Tim Geithner, the AIG Fiasco and Citigroup

Those who support bailing out AIG and the rest of the pigs just don't get it. The problem is so big and the resources so inadequate that it's like pissing on a forest fire. The financial system is going to implode from the sheer weight of the Ponzi pyramid. The relevent question is not how we're going to save the system; it's why would we squander our children's and grandchildren's future with this wasteful exercise in futility.

What Obama Needs to Know about Tim Geithner, the AIG Fiasco and Citigroup

The absurdity of the bailouts is that the very people who are directly or indirectly responsible for the CDS Ponzi scheme, as well as those politicians entrusted to be our watchdogs, are the ones trying to solve the crisis.

Common sense tells us that we are paying for a very expensive "Hail Mary" pass to save the reputations of the incompetent political hacks as well as the pocketbooks of the Wall Street crooks that robbed us in the first place.

It's obvious this will not work and they are just buying time at our expense. Unfortunately, where there is so much money involved, there will be more fraud and there will be those who will handsomely profit from our misfortune

Henry Paulson Could Have Done Better

What are you talkin' about; Paulson could have done better?

He's doing just fine for his banking buddies.

Time to Dismantle the 'Corporatocracy'?

DJT says:

"Now, I’m no math genius, but when you have a subset of the economy growing much faster than the economy, it points to a super-concentration of risk. Especially when the system is so inter-connected, perhaps the issue is that some companies became too big, ya think? "

Yup, I agree that some companies have become too big, however; you've left out the most important thing: accounting fraud. With size comes the ability to obfuscate and mislead through complex and fraudulent accounting procedures.

Don't Buy These Bonds - Cramer's Stop Trading! (9/4/08)

oops......

all this trash

Don't Buy These Bonds - Cramer's Stop Trading! (9/4/08)

What this idiot Cramer fails to say is that it will be you and me that are going to be on the hook for all trash.

The Fed better keep the printing presses rolling.

Corporate Fraud + Government Intervention = Bailout Nation

Great article!

SUB-SLIME well describes the loan originators, mortgage companies, brokers, bankers, rating agencies and everyone involved, including the politicians, the Fed and Treasury.

It's too bad that the Justice Department doesn't show any interest. It will take a public outcry to get to the bottom of all this.

Credit Crisis Review: ARMed for Failure

Brian Croner:

"Who cares if things go to shit? There is no social mobility in the US. So what's wrong with "crooks" giving a half-assed attempt to get rich? Decorate it however you want."

What's wrong with it? It's dishonest. Many of today's problems can be attributed to dishonesty. Ambivalence allows the environment in which dishonesty flourishes.

Credit Crisis Review: ARMed for Failure

Ishortyou:

Yup, these criminals knew exactly what they were doing; however, you left out the rating agencies. These schemes could not have worked without the the guys who rated these packaged sub-prime mortgages as Triple-A. There had to be a concerted effort to disguise and misrepresent these bogus "securities" in order sluff off this garbage to investors. It's real simple; nobody in their right mind would have bought this stuff unless they were fooled!

My question is why aren't we going after everyone involved from the loan originators, mortgage companies, bankers, rating agencies and others that were materially involved in this fraud? These crooks are slipping under the radar as all of our attention is on mitigating the problems caused by these scumbags rather than prosecuting them. I just don't understand.

Is the U.S. Banking System Safe?

User199792:

That was the "Keating Five", one of which is running for President today. Charles Keating went to jail for his part in the S&L debacle. John McCain and the others should have joined him.

Is the U.S. Banking System Safe?

Scooter-pop:

"I sit on a Privately Held Bank Board in TEXAS and can assure you things are tightening up, but remaining VERY SOLVENT thanks to CONSERVATIVE VIGILENCE!!!"

You've got to be kidding! It's "conservative vigilence" or better put, a lack thereof, that has created the environment that has allowed all these fraudulent lending practices to flourish.

Hypocritically, the conservatives who cry out for less government regulation and less government spending are the ones who want the people to bail out the perpetrators of these crimes.

I think it's disgusting.

Is the U.S. Banking System Safe?

Great article.

Fraud and corruption in the banking system need to be investigated. I don't think it will happen unless there is a citizen outcry. The bankers and politicians are in bed together and the few honest ones don't have the courage to call it like it is.

The talking heads like Kudlow, (who was in a Republican administration) are either ignoring the coverup or they are just plain stupid. In either case, they are doing the public a great disservice.

We need to get to the bottom of this mess, ferret out the offenders and severely punish them. Unfortunately, they have done so much damage that the future looks awfully bleak.

Banking Sector: Band-Aids Just Won't Do It

user 229748: "What is almost incredible is the magnitud of the so called "sub prime morgages. By definition morgage is a loan guaranteed by the value of a real estate property."

One needs to understand that the sub-prime mortgages were originated with the unreasonable expectation that prices would continue to rise. This expectation is no different than the expectation of rising prices of commercial real estate prices in the eighties which brought down the S&Ls.

The culprit is the Federal Reserve which unreasonably increased the money supply. It's real simple, when money is plentiful, lenders fall over each other trying to make loans. As long as the underlying security continues to appreciate, the risk seems to be mitigated. When prices stop rising, it doesn't take rocket science to understand the resulting problem. It can be likened to a Ponzi scheme.

These loan originators, mortgage companies, investment banks and rating agencies should all be investigated for fraud and malfeasance.

I'm not real confident that the politicians are willing to go after the fat cats that made a ton of money in these schemes and who regularly contribute to their campaign coffers.

Banking Sector: Band-Aids Just Won't Do It

User 89063:

Talk about naivety. A corrupt financial system knows no political party.