Don't believe all the hype - we needed those bailouts! Becky Quick says we've already forgotten about the fall 2008 fear and why the government had to step in, and "the armchair-quarterback lawmakers and candidates who are now second-guessing these moves are dangerous." [View news story]
Read and reread TRADERMARK's comment till it sinks into your thick heads. America has been skull-fucked by the banking elite to the tune of TRILLIONS (not billions) of dollars of YOUR money! Had we gone the 'oh so dreaded' nationalization route, we would undoubtedly be out of the depression America faces by now... Along with going to Congress and basically asking for a blank cheque to the tune of nearly a Trillion dollars to bail his friends @ Goldman Sachs out, Hank Paulson asked for and GOT 'Immunity from Prosecution'! A basic 'Get out of Jail Free Card' since he KNEW what he was doing was criminal. He didn't want any future blow back from bending America over and making them take it up the ass! WAKE UP people! ...Oh, never mind. Go back to watching Dancing with the Stars and also watching your 401K dissolve into nothing...
Rise of the Machines: In today’s exchanges, strong programs prey on weak ones, humans are hard to find, and the SEC struggles to keep up. If the majority of trades racing back and forth are now simply lines of code swapping with other lines of code, what exactly is this thing we call the financial market? [View news story]
5 Monsters Eating the Global Economy [View article]
To add to what 'dividend_investor' said, Secretary of State Clinton was just in China and I can see (hear) a back room conversation somewhat like this: "Guys, look, everyone hates this punk, he needs to go! You coax him into attacking South Korea, and we'll vaporize him and his buddies. Korea may get a little bruised in the dust up but hey, while they are rebuilding, you can be scooping market share from them worldwide. Speaking of rebuilding, wouldn't you LOVE to build hi-speed rail and freeway lines from China through a united Korea, from Shanghai to Seoul?! Not to mention LOTS of new residential construction! ( you've had lots of practice!) It'll be a win-win for all of us... Think about it and get back to me, love, Hillary"
Sure, taxpayers hate bailouts, whether of banks or nations, but they need to stop and consider the "costs of the panic and destruction" that would have ensued without them, James Pethokoukis argues. TARP bought U.S. banks time to raise private capital and restore confidence; the European plan "is in the same vein." [View news story]
I agree a THOUSAND percent! I'll take the 'supposed' path of "panic and destruction" ANYDAY to this Global debt-fueled default we are all speeding toward...
Eighteen months after the crisis hit: no arrests, no indictments, no convictions at big banks or government-owned institutions. Edward Harrison wonders: How do trillions of dollars go away in a lax regulatory regime without someone lying or stealing? [View news story]
It's called 'late stage capitalism' Kleptocracy' silly... THAT'S how!
"Eventually housing will come back," says Alan Greenspan, because "it can't get any lower." Though house prices appear to have bottomed, they're still fragile, and the U.S. won't be out of the crisis until home prices see a real stabilization. [View news story]
"...house prices "can't" get any lower"... Wanna bet! And THIS from the guy who 'didn't see it all coming' in the first place and denies culpability (presumably to protect his legacy).
A Japanese probe into confidential post-war agreements with the U.S. confirms the existence of a secret deposit that Japan kept with the Fed for nearly three decades. The $103M non-interest deposit was made as part of the U.S. ending its occupation of Okinawa. [View news story]
... The outrage and uproar over what would be found on the 'Books of the Fed' could be the spark of a VERY cleansing fire...
Greece: The Bailout Arrives With Bells On [View article]
Audit the Fed! For God's sake... Vaporize Goldman Sachs Re-institute Glass-Steagall A minute beginning... User 353732 and others could make a MUCH more thorough list... I fear a 'complete reset' is long overdue and the ONLY thing that will save the polity!
A Japanese probe into confidential post-war agreements with the U.S. confirms the existence of a secret deposit that Japan kept with the Fed for nearly three decades. The $103M non-interest deposit was made as part of the U.S. ending its occupation of Okinawa. [View news story]
Aren't we ALL deeply curious to have a peek 'behind the curtain' of the Federal Reserve?! An audit is SO long overdue!
Wall Street Celebrates While Main Street Suffers [View article]
"Make no mistake: the world's biggest borrower stays the world's biggest power," Summers said. So THIS is the Administrations response to criticism of it's policies! A sad and desperate impotence indeed Larry! I have to say, after several decades in the US, I finally 'gave up' on America and sadly returned to western Canada, where, despite the economic ties C has with the US, I feel my chances of eeking out a safe, quiet life are marginally better than south of the border at this point...
With the imminent decline of North Sea Oil, the fate of the UK is, I'm afraid, pretty much sealed... Sky rocketing expenditures and declining 'revenue generation' from manufacture, oil, etc will DO that to a currency/country!
A Question of Cultural Failure: Part I [View article]
At one point, as I recall, Nixon was terrified the American inner cities would explode with racial tension, Black Panthers, etc. I really believe that the whole movement was neutered by the access to what people now call 'the culture of easy money'. Even just the possibility of access to the 'middle class model' was enough to extinguish Black rage. (TV's, and pacifiers like credit cards and mortgages was all it took)... This schema to co-opt and feed off the middle class's 'appetites' was thus perfected and expanded through the subsequent decades to the present we all find ourselves in that User 353732 so eloquently speaks to... << It depends on whether the remnant of the middle class still retains the capacity for rebellion and the character for renewal.>> People revolt and rebel when they feel there is no other option. You can light all the 'fires of rebellion and renewal' you want. I fear, however that the 'powder' of the middle class has gotten wet! They haven't the stomach for a bottom up revolt! A future of impoverishment, servitude and oppression awaits I'm afraid, aided and abetted by intrusive and ever controlling technology. Technology will be a favorite tool of the fascistic control! Physical and virtual monitoring becomes inevitable and universal... Credit, freedom of movement, access of every kind and dimension can and will be controlled. (ok, a little 'tin foil hat') The Soviet Union finally collapsed when the architecture of the system could no longer support what was going on. Corrupt and failed systems can and do muddle along far longer than anyone would like. Once it collapsed, the citizenry, whether peasant or oligarch, HAD to simply deal with it and adapt... The 'extend and pretend' of cultural failure could continue for decades here in America. And while it does, the economies of robust and emerging nations will grow and prosper due to the hard work, drive and focus of their citizens... I always enjoy User 353732's comments. I just don't know what comes after the rot, corruption and decades of 'sub-optimal' politique...
Is It Really a Recovery if Households Are Still Suffering? [View article]
Is It Really a Recovery if Households Are Still Suffering?
That would be a 'NO'! A gutted and neutered Middle Class will simply not have the means to pay down their debts (re: overpriced housing, extortionate credit card payments, etc) pay higher taxes AND save and invest for theirs and their children's future. Compression is the future. The future has arrived! Through in some resource depletion and "America 2020" isn't going to be a happy place!
Don't believe all the hype - we needed those bailouts! Becky Quick says we've already forgotten about the fall 2008 fear and why the government had to step in, and "the armchair-quarterback lawmakers and candidates who are now second-guessing these moves are dangerous." [View news story]
Rise of the Machines: In today’s exchanges, strong programs prey on weak ones, humans are hard to find, and the SEC struggles to keep up. If the majority of trades racing back and forth are now simply lines of code swapping with other lines of code, what exactly is this thing we call the financial market? [View news story]
Is Housing Already Double Dipping? [View article]
FUNNY!
5 Monsters Eating the Global Economy [View article]
5 Monsters Eating the Global Economy [View article]
Sure, taxpayers hate bailouts, whether of banks or nations, but they need to stop and consider the "costs of the panic and destruction" that would have ensued without them, James Pethokoukis argues. TARP bought U.S. banks time to raise private capital and restore confidence; the European plan "is in the same vein." [View news story]
Eighteen months after the crisis hit: no arrests, no indictments, no convictions at big banks or government-owned institutions. Edward Harrison wonders: How do trillions of dollars go away in a lax regulatory regime without someone lying or stealing? [View news story]
"Eventually housing will come back," says Alan Greenspan, because "it can't get any lower." Though house prices appear to have bottomed, they're still fragile, and the U.S. won't be out of the crisis until home prices see a real stabilization. [View news story]
Wanna bet!
And THIS from the guy who 'didn't see it all coming' in the first place and denies culpability (presumably to protect his legacy).
A Japanese probe into confidential post-war agreements with the U.S. confirms the existence of a secret deposit that Japan kept with the Fed for nearly three decades. The $103M non-interest deposit was made as part of the U.S. ending its occupation of Okinawa. [View news story]
Greece: The Bailout Arrives With Bells On [View article]
Vaporize Goldman Sachs
Re-institute Glass-Steagall
A minute beginning... User 353732 and others could make a MUCH more thorough list... I fear a 'complete reset' is long overdue and the ONLY thing that will save the polity!
A Japanese probe into confidential post-war agreements with the U.S. confirms the existence of a secret deposit that Japan kept with the Fed for nearly three decades. The $103M non-interest deposit was made as part of the U.S. ending its occupation of Okinawa. [View news story]
Wall Street Celebrates While Main Street Suffers [View article]
So THIS is the Administrations response to criticism of it's policies! A sad and desperate impotence indeed Larry!
I have to say, after several decades in the US, I finally 'gave up' on America and sadly returned to western Canada, where, despite the economic ties C has with the US, I feel my chances of eeking out a safe, quiet life are marginally better than south of the border at this point...
British Pound Falls Off a Cliff [View article]
A Question of Cultural Failure: Part I [View article]
This schema to co-opt and feed off the middle class's 'appetites' was thus perfected and expanded through the subsequent decades to the present we all find ourselves in that User 353732 so eloquently speaks to...
<< It depends on whether the remnant of the middle class still retains the capacity for rebellion and the character for renewal.>>
People revolt and rebel when they feel there is no other option. You can light all the 'fires of rebellion and renewal' you want. I fear, however that the 'powder' of the middle class has gotten wet! They haven't the stomach for a bottom up revolt! A future of impoverishment, servitude and oppression awaits I'm afraid, aided and abetted by intrusive and ever controlling technology. Technology will be a favorite tool of the fascistic control! Physical and virtual monitoring becomes inevitable and universal... Credit, freedom of movement, access of every kind and dimension can and will be controlled. (ok, a little 'tin foil hat')
The Soviet Union finally collapsed when the architecture of the system could no longer support what was going on. Corrupt and failed systems can and do muddle along far longer than anyone would like. Once it collapsed, the citizenry, whether peasant or oligarch, HAD to simply deal with it and adapt... The 'extend and pretend' of cultural failure could continue for decades here in America.
And while it does, the economies of robust and emerging nations will grow and prosper due to the hard work, drive and focus of their citizens...
I always enjoy User 353732's comments. I just don't know what comes after the rot, corruption and decades of 'sub-optimal' politique...
Is It Really a Recovery if Households Are Still Suffering? [View article]
That would be a 'NO'! A gutted and neutered Middle Class will simply not have the means to pay down their debts (re: overpriced housing, extortionate credit card payments, etc) pay higher taxes AND save and invest for theirs and their children's future. Compression is the future. The future has arrived! Through in some resource depletion and "America 2020" isn't going to be a happy place!