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POPSClassic Liquidity Trap Such a Brilliant man...lol... Only a Foolish Fed falls for the Classic Liquidity Trap. Read more about it at:Google... doctrader liquidity trap.
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POPSFed chairman's identity stolen "Identity theft is a serious crime that affects millions of Americans each year," he said. "Our family was but one of 500 separate instances traced to one crime ring. I am grateful for the law enforcement officers who patiently and diligently work to solve and prevent these financial crimes."
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POPSObama Taps Bernanke (too big to fail) For Second Term
Bernanke said that if confirmed again by the Senate, he will pursue a “solid foundation for growth and stability” during a second four-year term and promised to work “to restore a more stable financial and economic environment in which opportunity can again flourish.” What’s unstated, of course, is the fact that in reappointing Bernanke, Obama is once again embracing the failed policies of his predecessor in the Oval Office: 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,
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POPSRoubini Sees Increasing Risk of Double-Dip Recession: Update1 “There are risks associated with exit strategies from the massive monetary and fiscal easing,” Roubini wrote. “Policy makers are damned if they do and damned if they don’t.” Government and central bank officials may undermine the recovery and tip their economies back into “stagdeflation” if they raise taxes, cut spending and mop up excess liquidity in their systems to reduce fiscal deficits, Roubini says. He defines “stagdeflation” as recession and deflation. Market Vigilantes Those who maintain large budget deficits will be punished by bond market vigilantes, as inflationary expectations and yields on long-term government bonds rise and borrowing costs climb sharply, he wrote. That will in turn lead to stagflation, Roubini said. European Central Bank officials led by President Jean- Claude Trichet are suggesting they won’t rush to reverse their emergency stimulus amid mounting evidence of an economic recovery. The ECB has cut its benchmark interest rate
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POPSBuffett Says Debt Could Devolve U.S. Into A "Banana Republic Economy" Last month, in a newspaper column of his own, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, said the huge amounts of money the U.S. central bank has pumped into the economy will not undercut its ability to push borrowing costs higher when the time is ripe. Stressing that the weak U.S. economy will likely warrant exceptionally easy monetary policies for a long time to come, Bernanke outlined in a Wall Street Journal opinion article how the Fed could raise interest rates even with cash flooding the financial system. "At some point, however, as economic recovery takes hold, we will need to tighten monetary policy to prevent the emergence of an inflation problem down the road," Bernanke wrote. The outline of the Fed's "exit strategy" from the extraordinary monetary policy easing it has undertaken in the past two years to deal with the global financial crisis was the subject of testimony to Congress by Bernanke in his twice-a-year economic report on July 21.
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POPSUC Regents demonstrate tone deafness with raises
More: I think reasonable people could agree the current job descriptions of the aforementioned federal employees are just as demanding as the UC employees who received stipends on top of their salaries because they had to assume additional responsibilities. …When I hear the "You got to pay good people" argument, three things come to mind: First, I agree, assuming all things are reasonably normal, which is clearly not the case in California today. Second, good people would know the timing for these raises are poor and if everyone is having to sacrifice, they would at least be amenable to waiting for a more appropriate time. Third, if they can't wait along with the other 180,000, then maybe they are not as good as advertised, and it might be a good idea if they did go somewhere else. …The increased salaries reflect a body insulated from the impact of the abominable timing and perceived arrogance of their actions — a group severely tone deaf of the justifiable public outcr
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POPSWhat Type of Recession Is It? Good news...the recession is over? Obviously this makes no sense. I suppose the elections in Afghanistan, the tea-parties, town hall meetings, Obamacare, swine flu domestic militarism, missing Russian boats, the return of Star Wars, unrest in South America, typhoons, wildfires, and approaching hurricane news needed a little pick-me-up.
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POPSEconomic signs: Washington may have gotten it right "evidence is now pointing pretty strongly in one direction: history books may conclude that the financial crisis of 2008 turned out to be far less bad than it could have been and that Washington deserved much of the credit"
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POPSBernanke Defends Bail-Out Package Mistakes Should Ben Bernanke and Timothy Geitner both be called before congress to testify under oath about the huge mistakes that they made in issuing the bailout packages, and sending unaccounted money to foriegn banks last fall ?
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POPSCongressman Kucinich Asks ‘Is the Fed Paying Banks NOT to Loan Money?’ Domestic Policy Subcommittee Chair Announces New Probe of TARP If these reports are true, this raises significant questions about who the Fed is working for. There is record unemployment and businesses and consumers across American are starved for capital, if the Fed is paying higher interest rates on term deposits in order to induce banks to keep money at the Fed rather than lend, it would be an outrage,” Kucinich said. Kucinich recounted for Barofsky the policy path which TARP followed when it was first presented to Congress: “First Congress was told that TARP was for the purchase of toxic assets, to help keep people in their homes. Then the Bush Administration switched the program. “Next Congress was told that the TARP funds were instead needed to bail out the banks, in the form of a direct capital infusion, to keep credit markets alive. “If TARP isn’t about keeping people in their homes or providing credit to businesses, what is it for?
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POPSPaulson to Testify July 16 to House Panel He denied that the Fed inappropriately persuaded Bank of America Chief Executive Ken Lewis to continue with the deal, despite Lewis' concern about Merrill's condition. Lewis had told Bank of America's board that federal officials said if he did not go through with the transaction, "the Treasury and the Fed would remove the Board and management of the Corporation," according to a transcript of that meeting. The committee has released hundreds of pages of documents that it subpoenaed from the Federal Reserve, which has shined a spotlight on the internal deliberations that took place during the time the deal was being negotiated. Towns and Kucinich, both Democrats, also said they want Paulson to answer whether the government had any role in persuading Bank of America to acquire Merrill Lynch. Republicans on the committee have accused regulators of strong-arming Bank of America to complete the Merrill acquisition,
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POPSThe Economic 9/11: September 11th 2008 "Changed Everything" The Big Secret: The Economic Terrorist Attack Sept. 11, 2008 in New York City. An "electronic run on the banks" that almost led to total American and global financial collapse. Who was the "someone" behind the "electronic bank run" that almost collapsed America's economy, in the New York City financial district, center of international trade as well, on Sept. 11, 2008, between the hours of 9am and 11am, on the very anniversary of the 9/11 attack in the same city, and at the very same time? The Bailouts have received all the attention without giving due attention to this "catalyzing event" on 9/11/08 that precipitated the Economic Crisis and subsequent government response. It is an unspoken, but fully documented event, that receives no attention. Why not?
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POPSThe federal Reserve In light of the above statements, it is safe to say that it is not US Commander-in-Chief Barack Obama who holds the reigns of real power in America, but rather Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the Fed.
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POPSDid the Federal Reserve’s Ben Bernanke Lie? “Just had a long talk with Ben . . . says they think the MAC threat is irrelevant because it’s not credible. Also intends to make it even more clear that if they play that card and they need assistance, management is gone.” In other words, Bernanke acknowledged to Lacker that if BofA management disclosed to shareholders the terrible state of Merrill, even in considering a withdrawal from the deal, Bernanke would fire them. This directly contradicts the Fed head’s public statement before Congress’s JEC. At that time, Lewis was strongly considering a material-adverse-change clause to stop the Merrill deal. So Bernanke put a gun to Lewis’s head, but he won’t fess up about it. A House investigative committee will probably call Bernanke to testify on this subject. If so, the whole world will be watching. As former Reagan prosecutor Joe diGenova told me last night on CNBC, the Justice Department won’t prosecute Bernanke.
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POPSBernanke warns on deficit Interpretation: The Fed passes the toxic debt ball back to the government, and washes its hands. The interesting thing is that if government is stuck with all the debt, the only way it can do this is to radically curtail its own activities. Libertarians and anarchists (and other advocates of local self-govenment) could, ironically, be the winners. On the other hand, it could be the banks and the multinationals.
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POPSDocuments Detail Historic Treasury/Bankers Meeting # "CEO Talking Points" used by former Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson confirming that the nine bank CEOs present at the October 13 meeting had no choice but to accede to the government's demands for equity stakes and the resulting government control. # "Major Financial Institution Participation Commitments" signed by the nine bankers on October 13. The CEOs not only hand wrote their institution's names but also hand wrote multi-billion dollar amounts of "preferred shares" to be issued to the government. # Email documenting that, on the very day of the meeting, the Chief of Staff to the Treasury Secretary and other top Treasury staff did not know the names of any of the banks that would be in attendance. # Email showing Treasury officials wanted to use the Secret Service to help keep the press away from the CEOs arriving at the meeting. # Email showing a public relations effort, run in part out of the Bush White House, to tamp down public concerns about "nationalizing the banks."
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POPSRetro on Treasury Statements -< "And following a now-familiar pattern, government failure would not only be blamed on anyone and everyone but the government itself, but it would also be used to justify additional grants of government power. The truth of the matter is that intervention in the market, rather than the market economy itself, was the driving factor behind the bust.
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POPSFederal Govt Executed a Hostile Buy In? Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn’t this the same tactics used by a certain criminal organization when someone came to them asking for money to bail themselves out of a tough financial situation? And weren't they prosecuted for it?
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POPSMo Money This is one of many articles that mentions the lack of stringency in the tests and therefore the lack of significance of the findings.
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POPSCongress Should Wear T-Shirts With Endorsements With Congress pounding away at Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke for more transparency, and New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo threatening to release the names of the AIG bonus recipients -- an invasion of privacy that has no relevance to anything -- isn’t it time Congress let a little sun shine in?
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POPSPut an End to Federal Reserve Secrecy Sen. Bernie Sanders is correct. The Federal Reserve should not have the authority to hide over $2 trillion from public scrutiny. We should have every right to know which banks are getting our tax dollars.
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POPSNYT Sues Fed and Treasury The Times accuses the government of violating FOIA by requiring an upfront agreement on fees and by not abiding by the time limits set under the Act.
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POPSAmerican housing: Map of misery The Economist looks at Ben Bernanke's new color-coded map of where the housing crisis is hitting. Looks like some regions are quite a bit less stressed than others. Hey! That reminds me of a look that somebody (wonder who?) here at Forbes.com did on America's Recession-Proof Cities: http://www.forbes.com/realestate/2008/04/29/cities-recession-places-forbeslife-cx_jz_0429realestate.html Our results line up nicely with these (think it's because of the overwhelming role housing prices are playing in the economy?) with the notable exception of San Jose.
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POPSDollar Drops On Geithner's Comments Maxine Waters Puts On Her Goldman Sachs Conspiracy Hat Whenever they hold these banking hearings, there are two people we enjoy hearing from: Ron Paul and Maxine Water. Ron Paul because he challenges the administration on core questions of monetary theory and that's fun. And Maxine Waters because, well, her questions are just crazy. And they confuse the hell out of whoever's on the other end. Enjoy Maxine Waters' performance today, where she puts Geithner in knots. http://www.businessinsider.com/maxine-waters-grills-geithner-on-goldman-sachs-conspiracies-2009-3 Maxine Waters grills Geithner about Goldman Sachs connections ~ video http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OFvnL3npQgY youtube (4:35)
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POPSDollar's Days Numbered And we still haven't gotten to The Messiah's economy destroying cap-and-trade and "free" healthcare items yet.
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POPSForeign Newspapers Do The Job Americans Won't The multi-ringed spectacle raises a disturbing question in many minds: Is this the end of America? Probably not, if only because there are good reasons for optimism. The U.S. economy has pulled out of self-destructive political spirals in the past, spurred on by its business class and corporate leaders, the profit-making and market-creating people who rose above the political turmoil to once again lift the world out of financial crisis. It’s happened many times before, except for once, when it took 20 years to rise out of the Great Depression. Past success, however, is no guarantee of future recovery, especially now when there are daily disasters and new indicators of political breakdown. All developments are not disasters in themselves.
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POPS“Money Mischief.” Classic 1992 book lays out gov''ts current response to melt down
Amazingly, what Friedman described is exactly what is happening today. Obama and the Democrats are unwilling to cut spending and be fiscally responsible, and instead will massively increase the money supply — which inevitably leads to inflation. Skarica writes, “We are seeing this phenomenon unfold right now before our very eyes.” Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke has said there is no problem with inflation, declaring on March 10, "We do think inflation will be low over the next couple of years." And just this week, it was announced the Fed pumped another $1.2 trillion into the economy! Bernanke surely knows what Friedman explained in “Money Mischief” — that it takes at least a year after the massive expansion of the money supply for inflation to rear its ugly head. And Bernanke is well aware, as Friedman so artfully explains, that inflation causes a brutal economic “hangover,” making things actually worse in the long run. Sadly, our biggest problem today is not the
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