first?

The Public Debt hit $10 trillion on 9/30, an increase of $3.8 bil in Sept.

if is is a money matter, why dont make it at $700 T?

欠債老漢殺妻自盡而在美國波士頓，六十一歲資訊科技顧問莫根森周日晚將妻子槍殺後打電話報警，說自己準備自殺。警方其後在他們的住所發現兩人屍體。莫根森吞槍自殺之前不久，曾於個人網頁宣布他和妻子已死。調查指二人生前有財政困難，欠下約四萬三千港元房租，已被房東下令遷走，另外莫根森亦欠下約二十二萬港元消費債項。

“Paulson Bank Rescue Proposal Is `Crazy,’ O’Neill Says “it is not crazy enough. It should be $700 T.

Senate vote on Bailout: 74 Yes, 25 No

VODKA LOTS OF IT

A tax cut after increasing debt by US$700b???!?! What the hell are these people thinking about?I am afraid this spells the end of the US of A. It shows that the leadership in the US has absolutely no courage to make the right decisions. The world will be dragged down by the incompetence of the Americans.

Sorry I don’t download and run executable code from unknown publishers because of security concerns. Please give me standard windows media player format. Thank you.

So sad

Here is a really good basic article from Fortune magazine on credit default swaps (CDS). Any Americans who are reading this blog and don’t understand the big problem with CDS – should really take the time to read and understand this.http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/30/magazines/fortune/varchaver_derivatives_short.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2008093012I remain convinced that if most Americans really understood what has transpired with this greedy, sordid CDS mess … then they would probably all grab crowbars and go down to Wall St to take apart the big banks. Our entire financial system has been run by a bunch of overpaid cowboys. And now the Head Cowboy wants a $700 billion handout so his buddies can buy new ponies and go on another big roundup.PeteCA

Chris Laird had some interesting comments in his commentary today …http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/30/magazines/fortune/varchaver_derivatives_short.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2008093012Please note the final words from this article. And I quote:”There is one more problem worth noting. We are just entering a stage of bank runs. What happened with the 5 EU banks bailed out this week, and then the failures of all the investment banks and banks/institutions in the US in the last two weeks were bank runs. I am quite concerned that a wave of these in the US and the EU can lead to a failure or interruption of credit cards and ATMs and debit cards.So, not only do people have to accumulate cash in general and sell investments, but also they will start to need actual cash in hand. I think everyone should be stocking a month or so of cash, just in case they need to pay some bills, buy gas (have you noticed big gas stations not accepting credit or plastic money?).”This is exactly the advice I was giving people on this blog last week. It is getting important for Americans to have some emergency cash on hand, some basic food & water put away, and the gas tank in their car at least half full. Congress and the US economy can go into the toilet. But we’ve all got to take care of our families and our kids. I’m not saying everyone should make a run on the bank or the gas station. No need for panic. But it does pay to be a bit more self-reliant right now.PeteCA

Thanks a lot!

Were done.USA. The population only cares about who the next American Idol is. We can’t communicate with each other because of all the different languages. Education in this country failed years ago. Consumer credit with weak education spells disaster. 8 years of blind spending in a religious war while playing the fiddle. Nero had it this good. All we need now is a match to light the candles when the power goes out. Good luck everyone.

Oh this is real bad. I am sorry to hear this terrible news. Dont worry Bush will bail you guys out too.

Indeed. A sad day, and week for America. When the history books are written, this will surely be included in the chapter titled “The fall of the American Empire”.

I’m thrilled Mr. Buffet is optimistic. I’d love to meet some of those productive American workers he’s bragging about. The candidates I interview are more concerned with listening to their i pods and straightening out their truckers’ caps than actually producing labor. We are all free to labor at their game. Maybe Warren can buy some preferred stock in our other great freedom: starvation. The RFC of the Great Depression is the Phoenix.

P1AQL,you as many others are proposing ways to turn lead into gold.I’ve got a news flash for you: it ain’t work.

P1AQL from previous thread:

Outerbeltway and Alessandro , I gotta hand it to ya! Looks like you pulled the rope and ended up in the abyss!See http://money.cnn.com/2008/09/30/autos/car_dealer_pain/index.htm?postversion=2008100115If you want to see how America’s credit crisis is hitting the streets of your hometown, go to your local car dealer.Now that you’re in the abyss, it’ll be easier for us with the Yea vote to pull the rope back up!Enjoy the fishies down there!

So what? Have you ever heard of the possibility to actually PAY for something you BUY? This is what that “cold and hard cash” thingy is supposed to be used for.Guess what, when I’ll buy my next car I’ll pay for it cash. And I’ll pay less than today. And I’m waiting because I don’t need no fancy new car right now and I know the more I wait the better the car I’ll purchase with the same amount of cash.The credit crunch hits those who are in debt and those who financed them. Prudent savers will actually profit from the credit crunch as long as civilization doesn’t come to an end, which I don’t expect. Think Warren Buffet as a prudent saver (and a crook, but thats another story).

People here, including me, are speculating that the Paulson Plan is really a rescue package for the FED who will be able to unload all the crap in its books to the Treasury/taxpayer/foreign-central-banks.The FED has attempted to bail out Wall Street, going broke in the process.Now the US is attempting to bail out the FED. I let you guess he result I expect.

Hi folks. I’ve been wondering… Is it possible that what we’re seeing boils down to a battle between pensions and our children’s future?I kind of liken this to the recent UAW contracts that fought to retain retirement benefits and conceded a wage cut for new hires. Who would retirees sell their homes to? Not to the folks whose wages were compromised.There’s clearly a lack of balance being pushed. But this will come back in a vengeance. Blowback looms.

“Ambrose Evans-Pritchard says it is ironic that European banks have turned out to be deeper in debt than their US counterparts. “http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/comment/ambroseevans_pritchard/3118994/Financial-Crisis-So-much-for-tirades-against-American-greed.htmlNothing ironic about it at all – as I have posted here a number of times, it was clear 20 years ago that most European banks were technically bankrupt. … Then, there was friend Greenspan.Friends, what you are seeing is a trend – downwards, where the edge of the waterfall nears.It is a “leadership” crisis brought about by incompetence and stupidity (I will also add, desperation, treason and cowardice) er, did I mention “fear”.This lot have had their day; let them begone.Vivre la revolution

ER, anybody watching the Alt-A’s?Vivre la revolution

The irony is that the “standard” format for ram files (Real Player) is loaded with bloatware and spyware. Your best bet IMHO is the Real Alternative, but do as you wish.

Bingo!

FFR back to 1,15% (2% target). Apparently the FED taking back the control of the FFR lasted exactly one day.BTW, they are resisting to cut the rates, but can’t hold it much longer, be prepared for a surprise rate cut sometime soon. My best guess is shortly after the bailout bill is definitely passed.MA? Your call?

Here is where the money is going:http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/596-The-TRUTH-About-The-Bailout.htmlIt appears the money is going to foreign banks so they don’t pull the plug on us and call in their debt that we can’t pay. This is basically just “delay” money. It is being used to quell our nervous creditors and possibly pave the way for another round of borrowing by saying, “See, you can lend us even more money, we’re good for it. At least we can stick it to our population and they hardly ask why, so don’t worry, we’ll pay you back.”Also, the Heads of State are very scared that foreign banks will stop using the dollar in favor of another currency. A worldwide liquidation of the dollar would be catastrophic for the US and they know it. But that is exacty where we are. You know, Iraq threatened to switch currency and we brought them “democracy.” Bush and Paulson are very afraid that the “oil countries” might switch currencies, and among other fallout, drive up the price of gas to free market levels. Obviously, this would not be good for our “public servants.”Cancer seems less insideous than good ole Hank.

Here’s an idea let the Government take into recievership all of the big banks including Federal Reserve and run it like the post office. This would be more democratic than the facism we had before. Fractional Reserve Banking is a pyramid scheme where the wealthy get wealthier by charging interest on ficticous created money a whole industry is created where ceos and management make billions in salaries by working credit spreads off of illusionary money supply. My argument is that all of that interest paid and spread money should go back to the tax payer via government collection. This would not be socialism in any way but without sound money if we continue the practice of Fractional Reserve lending then the profits should be going to the Government/tax payer not private investors/shareholders and bankers who prove to abuse the system. It’s the biggest welath generating scam ever and if we continue the scam atleast put it into the hands of taxpayers. If anything privatize the post office but nationalize the banks.

Another excellent interview, Professor. It was evident in this interview that when the question was posed in a negative context, the Professor did not fall into the trap of making a similarly negative response. (He is labelled “Dr. Doom” unfairly.) Instead he spoke about what needed to be done. This is the positive approach to addressing the dire financial/economic situation. He did not get drawn into the ‘politics’ and the ‘ideological’ but referred to the ‘practical’. It takes skill, practice and patience to respond as Dr. Roubini did. He has made much effort to enlighten the public.

Yes I would like to know the professor’s idea of how he thinks the Bretton Woods2 agreement could break down how would it transpire?

To bad the debate was cut off at the most interesting moment (decline or no decline of the US).It seems that some pundits believe the US economy will resurect simply because it is to big to fail. It would be interesting if you could analyse further the pros and cons of a resurection of the US. What are the arguments on both sides.

Great comment!!That is exactly what I was thinking. He should be re-named Dr Reality check. I am getting sick and tired of people labelling this guy Dr Doom. It’s funny how people are starting to listen to him now. The Western world is in a state of denial and has been for a very long time, especially the United States and UK. The shift of economic power is changing before our very eyes and there is nothing short of a war that will stop it. Maybe that is next on the cards?! Even this idiot ex hedge fund manager is in denial with regards to the dollar and its demise as the worlds reserve currency. As for the revised Paulson plan, well guess what? YOU CANT POLISH A TURD

I don’t see it being “Money AND cut”… I see it being: “money OR cut”Miss America

I think that Congress is so spooked because theywere briefed that Bretton Woods 2 would break apartwithout the Bailout! Whether it is true or Paulson/Bernankeplaying games, they bought it! They look like Deerin the headlights!What do you say professor?

Dow down over 300 now! I find it amazing that the senate could ballon a $700 Billion bill by over $100 Billion in just a couple of days! You want inflation? The original proposal was 3 pages, the house version was 116 pages, the version passed last night was over 400 pages!! Just goes to show you that you don’t have to search deep to see why things are out of control…

P1AQL: you say the Paulson plan is “perfect”. Those are your words.I say it’s a bad plan, worse than worthless. It does harm. Here’s why:a. It buys stricken assets at 80 cents on the dollar (according to P1AQL). Those assets have recently sold for 22 cents on the dollar (Merrill Lynch, May 2008).b. It puts scarce capital back into the hands of the gang that couldn’t shoot straight.c. It diverts resources away from the productive segments of the economyd. It increases the nation’s debt by another 8% at a time when our borrowing costs are about to skyrocket (they certainly can’t get any lower)In an earlier post, you suggested that denying Wall Street their extortion money caused the reduction in sales of U.S. autos.If indeed that is the case, why aren’t you agitating for an injection of money directly into the automakers, which is at least a component of the real economy? Instead, you advocate pouring an additional $700B down the Wall Street rathole. None of the $200B we’ve recently given Wall Street has made it into the real economy. Why would this next $700B be different?The geniuses on Wall Street blew a bubble, and had significant exposure to the pumped-up assets they were pawning off on everyone else. Due to their own miscalculation, the bubble popped before they could unload all the junk on the rubes. The bailout is another trick-the-dopes ruse, and the entire nation understands this perfectly.The core problem remains: the real economy is under-resourced in critical areas, and every dime of available capital needs to be programmed toward rebuilding an economy that can cope with globalization and resource re-pricing (energy and raw materials).

THEY ARE GOING TO PASS IT EVEN THOUGH THE MAJORITY OF CITIZENS SAYS “NO”!!!!11:33 a.m.New bailout bill looks better to House members: Rep. Frank

Don’t change a winning team! That’s Paulson plan purpose.

11:37 a.m.SEC backs down on short-selling disclosure rule, extends ban

I wonder why the USD is up over 1% this moment.Manipulation?

Stocks rallying back here…they have to price in a recession now, earnings estimates are still far too high and on an inflation adjusted basis, the S&P is sitll sporting a PE of 19…no bull market has ever started from these levels!

Isn’t it all about assumptions?PeteCA thanks for the link, someone here directed me to utube Khanacademy has some great videos up explaining CDOs, CDS and the bailout plan…It’s a shame so many people are not more intellectually curious and involved in this whole process. Unfortunately the only thing that will prompt them is probably loss…

err … PeterJB, we should say:Vive la Révolution!:)

11:55 a.m. Bush: Mortgage rescue plan best way to revive bank lending11:55 a.m. Bush urges House to pass mortgage purchase plan

俄羅斯總統梅德韋傑夫在聖彼得堡大學演說時表示，全球金融危機顯示，美國經濟一統天下，以「一個經濟、一個貨幣」主導全球經濟的時期已經結束。他呼籲建立新的以及更合理的金融體系。

What I don’t understand is no media outlet on TV is talking about Defazio’s no bailout plan which seems infinitely better than the one that will likely pass.http://www.swamppolitics.com/news/politics/blog/2008/09/bailout_alternative_offered_ho.htmlTo add insult to injury I have seen pictures of these courageous congress critters pasted on to articles that have nothing to do with the press conference that they gave….Again, this reminds me to the lead up the war in Iraq…

Could you please rephrase that last sentence, Pete? Could you please demand the RICH to finally become the least teeny-tinsiest little bit self-reliant?? Just how many palaces and luxuries do we poor “useless eaters” have to give to the gigarich from our meager paychecks, before we get credit for having been the only ones who have always been the self-reliant??!!Sometimes I get the feeling folks on this board are not even aware that for some of us – who came here trying to understand the details of this particular crisis and bailout – there is no such thing as cash-for-a-month put aside! Sometimes I think those who haven’t been totally robbed yet, don’t know that we who were totally robbed already, even exist…

I guess I’m dense – your point?

I am never going to understand why even people who appear to grok what’s really going on, continue to ascribe the situation to things like cowardice and idiocy, ineptitude and stupidity.The very damn reason we can’t win this freaking fight is because people just will not call it like it is:THE PEOPLE DOING THIS HAVE CONSCIOUS INTENT AND ARE CARRYING OUT PREMEDITATED PLANNING, PLAIN AND SIMPLE. WHY DOES NO ONE SAY THIS PLAINLY???

Really enjoyed the Olympics.

I want to hear you walk into the nursing home where I visit lonely patients, and try to sell this idea that america’s got a stupid and lazy workforce. tell it to the underpaid caregiver who is cleaning up somebody’s grandfather’s shit-soaked sheets, and comforting him for his terrible embarrassment to his dignity at the same time!i-pods and truckers caps, indeed!how come when organized labor goes out on strike the batons come down on our heads, but when the banksters organize a strike, the government takes the workers’ earnings and shoves it at the richest bastards??!!

Politics must be like heroin…12:27 p.m.New York Mayor Bloomberg says he will seek 3rd term: report

美國房地產數據公司Radar Logic表示，由於抵押房屋遭沒收，加深樓價跌幅，7月份美國25個大城市中，有24個區的樓價均錄得按年跌幅。其中拉斯維加斯以每方呎計的跌幅最大，達33%。洛杉磯、鳳凰城、三藩市等的跌幅均達28%。

no point.Nouriel gets to pat his back on the accuracy of his projections… So do I….actually, where I’m at is a point of frustration. As a banker, dealing with Wall st for the past 15 years, I’ve learned how to watch their flow. I’ve pretty much become obsessed with analyzing it. That’s what brought me to this website 2 years ago.Over the past 2 years, I have made nothing but dead on accurate projections… and have been well ahead of the curve, but yet find myself immersed with people who don’t listen to me. (at least on the RGE I get some acknowledgement from some fellow bloggers) Now, at the precipice of yet another major market turn, I have worked through my economic flow of what I think should happen vs what I see being done… and I find my thought process once again dismissed by the people I deal with.My frustration is this… If I’ve been right all this time… then why don’t people think my solutions would be right?I’m just venting a bit. (hell, I can’t even get my own parents to listen to any of my financial advise)…and MY ADVICE HAS BEEN FREE ALL ALONG!!! With no ulterior motives. (I’m not trying to sell anything!!!) …just trying to help. Knowledge is king.yep… like I said earlier. “no point” just “frustration”.MA

AfA 2 things. my “eyes” and excel.I love excel. For fun, i created a program to solve suduko puzzles. It took about 900 lines of code.I do the same kinda economic workouts, on excel, but the variable are so far reaching, and bugs exist. (likewise, some calculations that I create, don’t gel with future additions to my thought process, thus throwing the spreadsheets out of whack.It’s the FREAKIN REASON I can’t finish my “evapor-flation” theory!!!Miss America

You gotta see me after I talk with traders…The fire running through my veins has got to show??? …and their dismisal of my thought process leaves me wondering if I should punch them or myself (myself – for thinking I could change them or their nature)That bull/trader mentality is nearly as powerful as religious belief. …and the reason I don’t want Paulson anywhere near this bailout plan!!!MA

The only way I don’t want Bloomberg for mayor… is if he ran for President!He has my utmost respect. I swear by him.Miss Americap.s. He takes no paycheck. (works for free) and has straight talked to NYC since the finacial crisis of NYC/9-11.He could be off in his ivory tower still making millions, but has chosen a better path for the purpose of making other people’s lives better.

@MAJust an FYII seek out your comments daily. Sometimes I print them so I can review them at a later date because they are so helpful.

They are comments written in Chinese. You can copy them and paste them into Googles language translator for a rough translation.

Rough translation:Don’t worry – be happy – We are your new Masters!

U.S. real estate data company Radar Logic said that as the housing mortgage forfeited, deepening decline in property prices, in July the United States in 25 major cities, 24 districts in prices were recorded in the year-on-year decline. Las Vegas, one per square foot of the largest decrease, amounting to 33%. Los Angeles, Phoenix and San Francisco reached 28% decline.http://translate.google.com/translate_t?hl=en#

Russian President Vladimir Medvedev in St. Petersburg University speech that the global financial crisis shows that dominate the U.S. economy to the “one economy, one currency” leading the global economy over the period. He called for the establishment of a new and more rational financial system.http://translate.google.com/translate_t?hl=en#

@ BBH “Dont worry Bush will bail you guys out too.”Enough of this flummery. Are you such a partisan spectator that you cannot see beyond political rhetoric? Do you really believe this game of Bailout was invented by batboys, the likes of George Bush or Bill Clinton? If so, you must study the history of American financial and political football, a game that began in 1913.Grasp the import of this remark by Walter Wriston, chairman of the Citicorp Bank in 1982:“If we had a truth-in-Government act comparable to the truth-in-advertising law, every note issued by the Treasury would be obliged to include a sentence stating: “This note will be redeemed with the proceeds from an identical note which will be sold to the public when this one comes due.”This persistent “rolling over of debt” is the football that enables big bank players to score off large, unsound loans. But the game is stalled. These unsound loans are now in the default zone and the players’ multi-trillion dollar winnings are in jeopardy.Bernanke’s play is to create additional money out of nothing to lend to defaulting borrowers so they can borrow more and pay even higher interest to keep the Big Bank Monopoly players in profits and the rigged leverage bets coming in. If he fails to make good on the $40 trillion in toxic waste fallout from fiat money and Street corruption at the bettors’ window, the whole game is in jeopardy.But wait! Congress has stepped in. The game is extended! Waving the old banner canard of “preventing dire consequences to the taxpayers,” Congress, and Obama, and McCain and Bush et al are going to save the deadbeats. The game continues!The only losers are the dollar and the taxpayers…who just had the wheels stripped off their cars in the parking lot. But what the hey, they’re always on the losing side.

You will, of course, let us know when the corner comes again, won’t you? It was pretty impressive the way you timed it back in the spring.

It’s a Race to the Bottom on steroids … the Great Leveling. We’re all third world nations now!Noam Chomsky’s ‘Manufacturing Consent’ in realtime USA.Miltion Friedman’s ‘Shock Doctrine’ on home turf.Vivre la revolution

Thanks for the update Mark!With delta(PPI) > delta(CPI) => This talk of hyper inflation is all garbage as the consumer smacks the producer in the face.Ben, PRINT AT WILL.P1AQL.

cool. thanks for the answer!

My letter to Sen. Boxer:Senator,I am a progressive Independent voter who has always supported you in the past. Sadly,I can do that no longer after your vote for TARP, a criminal tax payer heist by the most egregious, greedy traitors this country has known–the FED, treasury and the Bush administration. Why in hell would you give this incompetent, discredited, lame-duck administration which fostered this disaster exactly what they wanted? Not only do the so called safeguards have no teeth, no relending requirements, no limits on current executive compensation, but you then loaded another $100 bill in pork to make sure it passed!! If you don’t understand the complex finances and the implications of this bill, which will do nothing for the sinking economy and create even more mistrust of the markets, why not do nothing; or better yet, wait until after the elections when there is time to evaluate better proposals? Should Obama win, by Jan 20, 2009 the $700 billion will be gone–vaporized forever. Do you and the rest of Congress really believe the taxpayers will make money on this? The treasury will take the worst of the assets, buy them at inflated prices, as the housing market continues to decline. And do you think the banks will want to lend into a diving economy? I think not. They will take the recapitalized funds and go to greener pastures–gold, commodities, hedge funds, you name it! That is sure looking out for the taxpayer! What is good for Goldman Sachs, Senator, is not good for the country. If you haven’t realized that by now, you should give up your career in politics now. No Senator, you and the Democratic leadership have proved to be as inept and shortsided as your Republican counterparts. And you have betrayed us in a profound way. I will not vote for you in 2010.

This is America we’re talking about. In these critical moments nothing could be less useful than for Democrats and Republicans to use bailout to rail against the opposing candidates. What is useful is to realize that the political classes on both sides of the aisle are as guilty as Eve and that the only the real issue worth discussing is the heinous bail out of financial corruption with taxpayer money at horrendous price.The public is beginning to identify the real problem and who caused it. Opposition to bailout is powerful and growing. Congressional politicians are throwing in everything that America has to save these corrupt financiers. But know that all their complicity and duplicitous representation won’t work. The economy won’t permit it: it’s sliding now.

Uh oh. This doesn’t look good for the Paulson cabal . . . multipolarity, the rule of law and respect for mutual interests are exactly what they don’t want from all appearances.

US economic dominance over – RussiaFrom correspondents in St Petersburg | October 02, 2008THE era of US global economic dominance is over and the world now needs a new and “more just” financial system, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said today.“The time of domination by one economy and one currency has been consigned to the past once and for all,” Mr Medvedev said in an address to a Russian-German development forum, with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at his side.”We must work together towards building a new and more just financial-economic system in the world based on the principles of multipolarity, supremacy of the law and taking account of mutual interests.”The current crisis proved that even with its vast economic resources the United States was not in a position to play the role of “mega-regulator” and that a new system based on collective management was needed, he said.”We simply need new mechanisms of collective decision-making and collective responsibility,” Mr Medvedev said.His comments came a day after Russia’s powerful Prime Minister Vladimir Putin lashed out at US economic “irresponsibility” for the global financial crisis.”Everything happening now in the economic and financial sphere began in the United States,” Mr Putin told a televised government meeting.”This is not the irresponsibility of specific individuals but the irresponsibility of the system which claims leadership,” he said.Mr Putin’s remarks, made hours before the US Senate approved a $US700 billion ($A888 billion) Government bailout plan for the country’s financial sector, were rebuffed by the White House, which called them “unfair” finger-pointing.Russia’s young stock markets, rarely predictable in normal times, have swung wildly in recent weeks as the scope of the US-rooted crisis has become clear, with regulators repeatedly suspending trading after sharp drops.Although Russia’s Central Bank still holds massive US dollar reserves, the Kremlin has in the past two years sought to diversify the country’s holdings, notably by boosting holdings in euros.New housing and automobile purchases in Russia, two closely watched indicators of Russia’s economic health, are heavily dependent on bank financing and the crisis has reportedly taken a toll in those two sectors.

When is the house vote?

Dr. Roubini:I understand your points about the rescue plan being flawed because: 1) it doesn’t directly recapitalize the banks through the government taking an equity stake in them, e.g., buying preferred shares; and 2) it doesn’t provide for any “cram down” of mortgage debt to assure relief to stressed consumers. What I fail to understand are the reasons that Ben Bernanke, who spent the better part of his academic career studying the Great Depression and thinking about how to deal with economic crises, apparently did not emphasize the need for such provisions in a plan. Why, I wonder, did he and Secretary Paulson focus principally on the government buying up the bad debt alone? Why would a guy who is so intimately familiar with the economic history of the Great Depression not insist on creating a HOLC-like program as a critical component of any rescue plan?Thank you,SWK

Tomorrow, I believe.SWK

I don’t see any “vaulting,” just a 10% uptick.

Which has now dissipated, as we’re back over a 300-point loss on the DOW. This is just volatility.SWK

@Guest, good job and better than my more passion-heated one below. I hope it encourages others to write their representative AGAIN. They are still nervous and watching the numbers, and this point in time before the election is a rare moment of leverage for us. It’s also similar to the moments before the first vote last week. Here’s mine to Joe Wilson-R, SC:Dear Congressman Wilson:You voted “yes” on the original bailout plan offered by Secretary Paulson, despite the strong and broad opposition of the American public to this extremely flawed plan. Therefore, I have little hope that you will reconsider voting “No” on the Senate version. But I would like to make one last appeal to you before you vote again.All Americans, regardless of their level of wealth and education, clearly recognize that just because investment banks like Bear Stears and Lehman stupidly decided to get in the real estate business as principal (and thereby created our current unhealthy credit expansion almost single-handedly through their mortgage-securitization activities), this in no way justifies Secretary Paulson’s request for the U.S. taxpayer to now bail them out. A fundamental correction is needed in housing prices which unavoidably entails substantial credit losses, and it will be painful for everyone. But no one should seriously consider trading our children & grandchildrens’ future for our own pensions.Whether you are a single mother quickly educating yourself about this issue on the internet or a respected banking/finance expert like Bert Ely, you recognize exactly who the Emergency Economic bailout is for. And every politician, from McCain to Obama, who doubts that the American public clearly recognizes who is on their side vs. who is on the side of the wealthiest 1% will find out on Nov. 4.Respectfully etc.,

I feel sick…..I think I have to look away for a few days.

“Is This The Stake Through Neo-Liberalism’s Heart?” by Alexander Cockburn (of counterpunch fame)What exploded last week was an economic credo that has been rolling along since the early 1970s: neoliberalism. By all rights, this last crisis has brought us to the crossroads where neoliberalism should be buried with a stake through its heart.We’ve had 30 years worth of deregulation — the loosening of public controls on Wall Street and the banking industry. This has been the neoliberal mantra preached by both major parties, the whole of the establishment press and almost every university economics department in the country. It is central to the current disasters. And if you want to identify symbolic figures in the legislated career of deregulation, there are no more resplendent culprits than the man at McCain’s elbow, Phil Gramm, and the man standing at Obama’s elbow at his press conference, Robert Rubin.Gramm is a prime exhibit in any list of the architects of the current economic mess. At the behest of the banking industry, he wrote the laws that enabled the huge balloons of funny money debt that exploded this year. The deregulatory statutes bearing his name, eagerly signed by Bill Clinton, prompted Wall Street’s looting ogres and the subprime thievery.But is Gramm Exhibit A among the miscreants? No. That honor should surely go to Bill Clinton’s Treasury Secretary, the former Goldman Sachs bond trader Robert Rubin, and to the economic course he set for his boss. Gramm has been the hireling of the banking industry. Rubin is at the beating heart of Wall Street finance, and he and Lawrence Summers at Clinton’s Treasury, were the guiding forces for financial deregulation. The gang that successfully got out of Dodge in time was the Clinton-Rubin-Summers gang, just before the last bubble — the stock market bubble — burst in March of 2001. They knew what was coming.The Republicans hoped that the roof wouldn’t fall in on their watch, and the crisis could be deferred to 2008 and then blamed on the Democrats.But their insurance policy was that if the roof did cave, as it has now, the rescue policy would be identical in both cases. That’s why Obama has collected more money than McCain from the big Wall Street houses.Now, as in the final reel of the old-fashioned Hollywood cliffhangers, it’s a race against time. Will Congress stiffen its spine, face down Paulson’s blackmail and tell him there’ll be no $700 billion on his terms?….Americans have been living in a casino economy for years… But at the prospect of a long-term losing run, they are getting frightened and angry, fast. Congress knows it could be facing voters who can see what’s coming over the horizon when the Treasury bails out Wall Street…[A]s Obama polls higher than 50 percent for the first time on day three of the bailout hearings, he clearly deems it too rash to try to ignore a populist constituency. His proposed conditions on the bailout have been very tame. He’s frightened of setting a match to the tinder of public outrage and thinks it’s seemly to have Rubin, Summers and Volcker stand next to him. Those are his natural instincts, anyway.The irony is that it’s McCain’s demagoguery about hanging the chairman of the SEC that’s shoved Obama a bit to the left. In extremis McCain will say and do anything. He put Sarah Palin on the ticket. Maybe now he’ll propose an FDR-type New Deal and Obama will have to raise the ante and start sounding like a real leader who can seize the opportunity presented by this crisis, which the gods have offered him with such perfect timing.http://www.creators.com/opinion/alexander-cockburn.html?columnsN

Unfortunately, Obama did not take the oppty. to riseto the occasion when he could have, when he shouldhave. Now all of those who have preached of Obama’sinexperience and lack of leadership skills have theirconfirmation.

When they said: “with German Chancellor Angela Merkel at his side” what did that mean? Do you know or have you heard anything?If Germany gets behind it, I could picture there being a story here with a little potential.If Merkel was there just to hear (rather then support) then it doesn’t mean much… IMO.Russia isn’t afraid to make a lot of noise, with little follow through. …are they still trying to sue BoNY for a gazillion dollars? (Because some Rus/mob laundered cash through BoNY’s London desk 10 years ago…)It’s interesting none the less.Does Russia have financial allies?(I’m not fishing. I really don’t know?)Miss America

It has lots of european ‘natural gas dependents’…

Neoliberalism has exported bankrupt economic policies and misery to humans the world over. This truly may be a juncture where there’s a dramatic shift in American consciousness.I’m not counting on it.

STRATEGERY CAPITAL MANAGEMENT LLCFunniest thing I’ve seen all week! Be sure to click through to all the pages on the site.

Truth is always funnier than fiction.Good one!

“They” are using stocks to assure passage tomorrow. Stocks will open down 200 more before the vote, then rally 100 points after it passes…BULLETIN DOW INDUSTRIALS FALL 348 POINTS TO THREE-YEAR LOW

From Der SpiegelThe End of Arrogance: America loses its dominant economic role

Merkel talked about a “distribution of risk at everyone’s expense” and the consequences for the “economic situation in the coming months and possibly even years.” Most of all, she made it clear who she considers the true culprit behind the current plight. “The German government pointed out the problems early on,” said the chancellor, whose proposals to impose tighter international market controls failed repeatedly because of US opposition. “Some things can be done at the national level,” she said, “but most things have to be handled internationally.”Merkel had never publicly criticized the United States this harshly and unapologetically. In this regard, she enjoys the wholehearted support of her coalition government partner, the center-left Social Democrats (SPD). In a speech before Germany’s parliament, the Bundestag, Finance Minister Peer Steinbrück of the SPD spoke of the end of the United States as a “superpower of the global financial system.”

I just looked at the money supply and moetary base data for the week and MAN! BOOM! The monetary base grew by $67.7 Billion the week ending Sept 24th-ONE WEEK it grew 8.02%

John Stuart Mill writes:Panics do not destroy capital; they merely reveal the extent to which it has been previously destroyed by its betrayal into hopelessly unproductive works.

———–Both my Senators voted for the Bailout. I called them today to rake them over the coals. Not because they didn’t vote as I had hoped, but because (as is generally the case) they acted like Buffalo, and went stampeding over the cliff.Their packaged pablum of penitence offered the most cursory of explanations, like so:”I hated to do it, but the economy will melt, or at least that’s what I’ve been told. Plus, we had to get out of town”.If I was a legislative aide, it would make me cringe to read such whiny drivel to people.

Google translate [tinyurl.com/4krl5c] turns up this Boston Globe story:Web page portends death of coupleBy John R. Ellement and Milton J. ValenciaGlobe Staff / September 30, 2008Burdened by debt and facing eviction, a self-employed Boston computer consultant killed his wife and then shot himself Sunday night – but not before leaving a chilling posting on his Internet website announcing their deaths, according to the posting, Boston police, and court records.Christian Mogensen, 61, was inside the couple’s 20th-floor apartment in Charles River Park when he shot and killed his wife of almost 12 years, 60-year-old Sharon Glassman, with a single gunshot around 9:30 p.m., authorities said. He shot himself a short time afterward, police said.

And after the vote “the Paulson Propeller Tool”

Can you point me to where I can find these numbers?

So did mine. Pathetic purveyors of populist pablum. You crack me up, OB. Let’s get the House riled up again.

I am sure that in this nasty business of treason and theft, that your computer monitors get fouled and as dirty as mine so, for those wishing a solution to this dirty business, there is now a technical on-line answer. Your mileage may vary.http://www.actrix.co.nz/special/cyberclean.htmlI believe that it is free of chargeHo hum

The Peristaltic Moment has arrived ”THE AUSTRIAN SCHOOL AND THE MELTDOWNby Dr. Ron PaulThe financial meltdown the economists of the Austrian School predicted has arrived.F.A. Hayek won the Nobel Prize for showing how central banks’ manipulation of interest rates creates the boom-bust cycle with which we are sadly familiar. In 1932, in the depths of the Great Depression, he described the foolish policies being pursued in his day – and which are being proposed, just as destructively, in our own: “This came in the Daily Reckoning Newsletter so please Google (or whatever) for the full text. Excellent common sense. Make this guy your next President, er, please?Ho hum

Thank you. I wasn’t suggesting that it was sinister – just a socio-economic trend. I don’t believe in conspiracies, although of late, i am somewhat tempted to:-)>Perhaps the root cause is money being impatient accelerating the development process, this in turn could imply that an increase in population numbers, could provide for such a scenario? Shareholder returns (faster and bigger) also serves to distort reason somewhat.We also must remember that stupidity isn’t racially constrained and is also not limited by borders or class. We can all share this state of being, as can be seen to be the case.

This even beats Monty Python. John Cleese with his silly walk was just an amateur. Bush, Paulson and Bernanke with their silly talk just are a class apart. The apex of surrealism, the artists of self-indulgination.

@PeterJB”Make this guy your next President, er, please?”As a liberal progressive, I sincerely hope not. I’m sure that Paul’s heart is in the right place and he’s got a finger on the pulse of some of the US’s financial ills, but his philosophy and intellectual curiosity is limited in scope. He doesn’t represent mainstream America.I fear that he’d do more harm than good.

That what I was saying a week ago.Losses to taxpayers are a function of1-the average loss/paper; and2-the average paper turnoverI do not see any provision that limits the amount the Treasury can raise at any given time. By issuing bonds every week or so, the Treasury can keep the $250B outstanding at any time, while incurring unlimited losses, potentially in excess of $700B.@Marc August:”In your scenario, the $90 billion loss per week would accumulate and reduce the available funds. Eventually locking up the entire $750 billion”Is there a provision that restricts the Treasury from issuing more bonds beyond the first $700B?

TED SPREAD OVER 360 BPS

Wasn’t GWB supposedly a good representation of “mainstream America”?

DON’T FEED THE GREEDCongressman Brad Sherman (D-CA) believes the new Senate bailout billfails to address the fundamental flaws in the bill thatwas rejected by the House last Monday.For more information on => Sherman’s position, click here.

Credit Default Swap…after all these years, and all these wars, and all the fianacial panics of history, this Piece of Shit is going to bring down the western world? It is just amazing. 62 Trillion. Sixty two trillion.

Indeed. It’s the most vulgar expression human wantonness and greed that can actually be measured.

Sorry, in my haste I left out an ‘of’ …Indeed. It’s the most vulgar expression _of_ human wantonness and greed that can actually be measured.

@AfASorry, I don’t seem to be able to reply within the posts.The authorization limits the amount outstanding. Basically it is a working line of credit. This does not limit the number of transactions, however, any losses they incur will reduce their remaining working line. Their ability to contain losses preserves the ability to reinvest.Marc August

That exactly what I said to myself when I saw it this afternoon. Funny how bloombergers turn and twist any Market reaction the wrong way.Before the bailout … oops Rescue plan was voted for by Senate:- When markets went up: “Asian markets rally on expectations Rescue plan would be voted”- When markets went down: “Markets slump over suspicions plan would not be voted”And now this. As the other guy said: Fun-Da-Mentals

I have a strong feeling/conviction that the $700B is just an amuse-gueule. Paulson’s plan, if (don’t laugh) passed will just make it easier for raising more money later.Assume, as I said earlier:1-Average loss/paper = 20%2-Average turnover = 1 month*3-Duration = 3 months (Until Paulso leaves office)@Oct.30: Amount outstanding in securities = $700B@Nov.01: Cash in hand = $700*80% = $560B: Buy new securities/ outstanding = $560B: Ask authorization for new issuance: $140B@Nov.30: Amount outstanding in securities = $700B@Dec.01: Cash in hand = $560B: Ask authorization for additional $140B@Dec.30: Amount outstanding in securities = $700B@Jan.01: Cash in hand = $560B: Ask authorization for additional $140B: Amount outstanding in securities = $700B…They can do it for as long as it takes even before tapping the last $700B, making total losses virtually unlimited/undetermined. And they have to do it this way if they want to have any real impact on the market/really rob taxpayers (depending on your vision of things)*Turnover means that a typical security is sold one month after being purchased. Of course not the whole $700B worth of securities will be bought and sold at the same time, but it was assumed so for illustration purposes.

Putting an end to oil wars, corporate welfare and Wall Street bailouts would be a step in the right direction.And fair trade policies and an immediate end to the US’s penchant for propping up puppet dictators around the world, would likely improve the quality of life of those folks currently living on $3 a day or less.Corporate and financial interests are sucking wealth from the bottom of the food chain. And however comfortable folks may think that they are, we’re, none of us, immune from their toxic influence and power.

Comfortably, the post is during truthfulness a hottest on this subject well known subject matter. I agree with ones conclusions and often will desperately look ahead to your . Saying thanks a lot will not just be sufficient, for ones wonderful ability in your producing. I will immediately grab ones own feed to stay knowledgeable from any sort of update versions. Amazing get the job done and much success with yourbusiness results!