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POPSWorld Markets Soar After Last Week's Plunge
economy into recession. On Monday five central banks — including the U.S. Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank — unveiled new measures to thaw frozen credit markets and bolster funding to banks. The Bank of England, the European Central Bank and the Swiss National Bank said they would provide unlimited U.S. dollar funds to financial institutions. The Bank of Japan said it was considering similar measures. In Britain, three of the country's largest banks — Royal Bank of Scotland Group PLC, Lloyds TSB Group PLC and HBOS PLC — announced plans to take up to 37 billion pounds (US$63 billion) of government money to boost their balance sheets. Earlier in the day, Australia said it would guarantee bank and other lender deposits for three years. The moves came after leaders of the 15 euro-zone countries said Sunday they would guarantee new bank debt until the end of 2009, allow governments to help banks by buying preferred shares and vowed to rescue DOW up 350
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POPSFinancial Crisis: Fed Becomes Rogue Power
The Fed under Bernanke does whatever it wants. There is little constraints on it by law, being a creature actually outside of government. The "central bank" is actually a consortium of private banks with authority to print money "from thin air", as it states here. The Federal Reserve is no more "federal" than Federal Express. The only reason the Fed Chairman Bernanke went to Congress for a Bailout Plan (by using Treas. Sec'y Paulson to front, and hiding behind Bush) was to cover his hindquarters, and gain "consent" (by fear and coercion) of Congress, and putting Americans on the hook with them. Note the article states that the Fed acted already on its own to bailout Bear Stearns and make other "loans" (print money) without Congress: The Bernanke Fed first invoked rarely used 1930s powers to intervene — with taxpayer backing — in March when it provided a $29 billion loan as part of JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s takeover of Bear Stearns. The Fed is now Czar.
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POPSFannie Mae & Freddie Mac not the cause of the subprime mortgage meltdown Between 2004 and 2006, when subprime lending was exploding, Fannie and Freddie went from holding a high of 48 percent of the subprime loans that were sold into the secondary market to holding about 24 percent, according to data from Inside Mortgage Finance, a specialty publication. One reason is that Fannie and Freddie were subject to tougher standards than many of the unregulated players in the private sector who weakened lending standards, most of whom have gone bankrupt or are now in deep trouble. During those same explosive three years, private investment banks — not Fannie and Freddie — dominated the mortgage loans that were packaged and sold into the secondary mortgage market. In 2005 and 2006, the private sector securitized almost two thirds of all U.S. mortgages, supplanting Fannie and Freddie, according to a number of specialty publications that track this data.
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POPSAbolish the Federal Reserve --- Ron Paul from '02 (cont.)From the Great Depression, to the stagflation of the seventies, to the burst of the dotcom bubble last year, every economic downturn suffered by the country over the last 80 years can be traced to Federal Reserve policy. The Fed has followed a consistent policy of flooding the economy with easy money, leading to a misallocation of resources and an artificial "boom" followed by a recession or depression when the Fed-created bubble bursts. With a stable currency, American exporters will no longer be held hostage to an erratic monetary policy. Stabilizing the currency will also give Americans new incentives to save as they will no longer have to fear inflation eroding their savings. Those members concerned about increasing America's exports or the low rate of savings should be enthusiastic supporters of this legislation.
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POPSZeitgeist: Addendum "What does Christianity, 911 and The Federal Reserve all have in common?" If you haven't watch the original "Zeitgeist" yet, you should watch that too.
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POPSAlan Greenspan's Culpability: From Keating to the 2008 Economic Crisis In 1985, Keating hired Alan Greenspan as an economic consultant, in an unsuccessful effort to convince an oversight agency to exempt Lincoln Savings from certain regulations. Greenspan delivered a favorable report, writing that Lincoln Savings was “a financially strong institution that presents no foreseeable risk to depositors or the government.” (Greenspan produced similar favorable reports on numerous other banks that also failed soon after).
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POPSU.S. Casued Global Market Mayhem Gets Worse
Australia today did what you're suppose to do to help prevent this descent into Global Worldwide Great Depression. QUOTE: the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) cut its key cash rate by a steep 100 basis points to 6 percent on Tuesday, the biggest reduction since 1992. On Wednesday, the central bank went further by accepting more types of debt as collateral for loans and lend to banks for much longer periods. END QUOTE They are loaning money to banks cheaper...accepting more stuff as collateral for loans, giving loans to banks for longer periods of time. Period. A key words in the Aussie actions is: LOANS & COLLATERAL. The USA is BUYING bad debts and giving unsecured loans (with no collateral). Additionally, the Bush Plan not only gives away this money to banks to buy *hit...and gives loans with no collateral...but then the banks can deposit the money with the U.S. Federal Reserve and earn interest. (which d defeats the whole purpose of "loosing up credit for people
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POPSThe Debate: I Learn Something New Every Day Apparently 95% of us will need to sacrifice by enjoying Barack's tax cut and new health care plan but some will sacrifice by paying more in taxes. Raising taxes to battle a recession - well, you can't say Obama lacks for original ideas. THE OBAMA DOCTRINE: Obama asserts that America has a moral obligation to intervene with force in certain foreign circumstances and cites the Holocaust. His gist - if we could have intervened effectively to prevent the Holocaust we should have. Hmm - many have argued that the rail lines to Auschwitz were within range of US bombers yet Roosevelt did nothing. Both George Bush and George McGovern think Roosevelt erred - $79 BILLION: Obama was wrong about the Iraqi budget surplus at the last debate and he is still wrong.
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POPSU.S.Fed Rally Fizzles: Emperor Has No Clothes At the same time the head of the U.S. Federal Reserve was testifying before Congress (Oct. 7, 2008) about how his $700-billion dollar give away to Wall Street would help to heal the economy.... ...at this very same moment the Wall St. Stock Market was dropping close to 300 points. It dropped about 300- points the day before (after being down almost 800) It's like this: Let's attack Iraq because they have Weapons of Mass Destruction. Let's attack Iraq because they are linked to 9/11. Let's attack Iraq because they were prime suspects in anthrax attacks a week after 9/11. With these alleged facts motivating the nation it was easy to stampede the Congress and nation into war -- fact ALL proven untrue. Now the same thing being done with the economy, we're treated to the Head Banker (and now/then the President one hour later) saying how much this will help while we can see with our eyes the Stock Market falling fast. What sickness! What lies! DEFEAT ALL REPUBLICANS is
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POPSBailout Might Make Things Worse * Hundreds of leading economists, including numerous Nobel prize winners, question the bailout * Former White House economist (Steve Hanke) adamantly opposes the bailout * Nobel prize economist and former chief economist of the World Bank (Joseph Stiglitz) opposes the bailout *The former Secretary of the Treasury (Paul O'Neill) questions the bailout * A prominent economist (Nouriel Roubini) says "The Treasury plan is a disgrace: a bailout of reckless bankers, lenders and investors that provides little direct debt relief to borrowers and financially stressed households and that will come at a very high cost to the US taxpayer. And the plan does nothing to resolve the severe stress in money markets and interbank markets that are now close to a systemic meltdown." * A highly-regarded economist (Michael Hudson) says that the bailout is a giveaway that will cause hyperinflation and dollar collapse
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POPSBernanke, Paulson, Trichet May Act to Unblock Lending (Update1) Rates are also surging in the commercial paper market that many U.S. companies use to finance their day-to-day operations. Yields on overnight U.S. commercial paper jumped 0.94 percentage point to 3.68 percent. `The Federal Reserve must now act as a clearing house'' for banks and ``must also take another bold step: outright purchases of commercial paper, said Bill Gross, manager of the world's biggest bond fund at Newport Beach, California-based Pacific Investment Management Co. Europe's Dow Jones Stoxx 600 Index having its steepest intraday decline since 1987 and emerging markets, until now the locomotives of the world economy, hit particularly hard: exchanges in Russia and Brazil halted trading. One less complicated step would be for central banks to lower rates in concert. Traders are betting that the Bank of England will lower rates at a meeting this week, and that the Fed will cut its benchmark by at least half a point at or before an Oct. 28-29 gathering.
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POPSPresidential Candidate AGAINST the $700 Billion Bailout I understand people need money to live, but they need real money not more paper money made out of thin air. American's need leaders that can help them understand our Constitution and what real money is and how it can turn our country around. Baldwin was endorsed by Ron Paul on Sept 22. Although Baldwin is a pastor, he has consistently and rightfully spoken out against Bush and Congress. Check the party platform. Watch the video. Then decide.
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POPSCongress approval rating just 10% "A political establishment held in higher regard may have been able to hold together some kind of coalition of the willing," wrote Joel Achenbach in the Washington Post. "But distrust of the nation's leaders, from the leaders of Congress to the president, foreclosed that possibility." This was not mere rhetoric. Congress's public approval rating was down to 18% before the crisis hit. By some estimates, it is now 10% and falling. Washington has seen a "throw the bums out" mood before, notably Newt Gingrich's 1994 anti-government "Republican revolution". But this is something else. Like some others, Gingrich is calling for the resignation of Hank Paulson, the treasury secretary, for presiding over a train wreck and then failing to persuade people why $700bn was needed to get back on the rails.
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POPSWHO DUNNIT???THIS MEGA CRISIS Summary of facts of who did what, where and why. Enough blame to go around and it begs the question? WHO COULD REALLY IMPLEMENT CHANGE?????
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POPSBank Loans Have Not 'Dried Up' Such alarming comments never mention any facts. Why not? As Neil Cavuto recently noted on Fox Business News, the Fed reports bank loans every week. Contrary to many comments, consumer and industrial loans actually increased in the latest week. Troubled giant banks have cut back on lending, but smaller banks have picked up the slack. Consumer and real estate loans dipped insignificantly through Sept. 17, remaining much higher than they were a year earlier. If all the recent hysterical chatter about lending being "frozen" or "shut down" refers to anything real, it is not about banks loans (through Sept. 17) but about such arcane financial markets as asset-backed commercial paper or loans between banks. But this too is mainly about financial firms, not Main Street. Non-financial commercial paper increased from $156 billion at the start of the year to more than $204 billion from Sept. 3 to Sept. 17, dipping only modestly since then.
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POPSThe Bailout, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, The Fed and Monetary Policy The Cato Institute has been following the crisis in financial markets since the very beginning. From the sub prime crisis to Fannie and Freddie to the $700 billion bailout, the recent financial events have given our analysts and experts plenty to talk and write about. We decided to pull together the op-eds, podcasts, reports, and publications from our scholars on this issue, so all these resources can exist in one place. We hope it’s a useful tool for your research. "The Bush Legacy: Deflation or Inflation?," "The Greenback and Commodity Prices," "Milton Friedman: Float or Fix?," "Washington Is Quietly Repudiating Its Debts," "The Greenback and Commodity Prices," "Polluted Markets," "The Fed Plays With Fire," "Greenspan's Bubbles," "Keep Complaining about the Economy, "Asset Bubbles and Their Consequences," more op-eds, podcasts, reports, and publications at link: http://www.cato.org/special/financial_crisis/
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POPSAmerica : Freedom to Fascism Now it makes sense , all the little pieces come together ! Now I know why the tried to discredit Sen. Ron Paul and make him look like a nut .
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POPSSenator DeMint Has Outlined A Plan For Economic Growth EXPAND ENERGY EXPLORATION • Permanently Repeal Bans on Energy Exploration and Expedite Production: Expedite offshore and oil shale exploration, ensure states share in energy revenues, and prevent endless litigation from frivolous environmental lawsuits. REFORM FAILED GOVERNMENT INSTITUTIONS • Schedule the GSEs for Privatization: Transition Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac over a reasonable time period to truly private companies without special government privileges and expose them to real market competition. • Stabilize the Dollar: Repeal the Humphrey-Hawkins Full Employment Act, which diverts the Federal Reserve’s attention from long-term price stability to short-term economic growth. In an effort to fuel the economy, this additional mandate has encouraged the Fed to keep rates artificially low, leading to economic booms and busts, a rise in inflation and the decline of the dollar.
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POPSFactCheck: Who's really responsible for crisis? "Screwing up takes a great deal of cooperation." D's blame R's and R's blame D's - but those accusations (and I have made them, too, sorry to say) are far too simplistic to help us fix the problem. Here's a list of contributors to the perfect storm.
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POPS After Bailout, Economy Will Still Be Lousy You'll simply be spared some sort of wipe out. Meanwhile, the economy is likely to continue its down drift, with all the hallmarks of a recession. If strained consumers expecting some kind of immediate relief grow cynical when it doesn't arrive, it could even deepen a downturn as consumer confidence quakes once again. So, do the economy a favor, and curtail your expectations. Here's what the bailout will and won't do, in the areas that matter most to consumers: Housing. Homeowners at risk of foreclosure won't enjoy much of a bailout at all. The plan calls for the government to "encourage" banks to help out borrowers who are in arrears by writing off some of the loan amount or negotiating more agreeable terms. But voluntary programs to help stressed homeowners have been marginally effective at best. The ultimate financial fix would be a fast-forward button that rushed us to the end of the housing bust, which underlies the entire meltdown. But that's beyond the government
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