http://projects.nytimes.com/creditcrisis/recipients/table?ref=business

Man this is crazy Nouriel!! …and what if wars begin to erupt, like north korea with their missle. I hope protectionism doesn’t take hold. so the S&P should explode to the upside on Monday huh…

@ Guest – previous thread – “The budget is just quasi, iffy nonsense… It’s iffy… if they can reduce government’s share of Medicare… Then, they can build their 10-year, $634 billion “down payment” for health care reform — by raising the $5000-$6000 payment elderly retired couples now pay for their “free” worker-subsidized, government medical and pharmaceutical care. Then, the government can put more of its majority minorities on zero-pay Medicaid.”My retired parents pay $7000.00+ annually for their “free medi-care.” Plus, their co-pay prescription drugs get more expensive every day since the government stepped in. To the $7000,00, add the $4000.00+ deducted from my sister’s and my paychecks for Medicare – and that’s how “free” medi-care it is.The following message, featuring a glamorous, wealthy looking black couple, accompanied Blue Cross’s notification of its 2009 payment increase for supplemental Medicare insurance to the elderly:NEED HELP PAYING FOR YOUR PRESCRIPTIONS, ENERGY BILLS, OR PROPERTY TAXES?There Are Benefits You May Be MissingLocal, state and federal programs can help many people with expenses such as prescriptions drugs, rent, heating bills, meals and more. The programs already exist, although it’s [sic] often hard to find them.BenefitsCheckUp is a Web site that can help people aged 55 and over and some younger people with Medicare find and get the benefits they are eligible for…Visit the BenefitsCheckUp Web site sponsored by Anthem Blue Cross. (end)There you have it. As more and more people fall through the cracks and can’t pay the price increases, BenefitsCheckUp allows Blue Cross to keep ratcheting up the costs to those still able to pay.What an ingenious scam, while it lasts – socialism, American style.

Pretty skimpy article – what’s the problem with the NYT? I know the Professor is better than this …

There is nothing in place in America that will keep the Fed eventually from taking all the money – no bar against it.Here is a case in point from “Criminal Banks and Brokers Continue To Ply Their Trade… Stealing From You and Me As the Public Carries On Its Belief in Fantasies” by Richard J. Greene published on Financial Sense | February 27, 2009:Section 19 of the Coinage Act of 1792 specifically states that any officer debasing the money shall suffer death.Alan Greenspan wrote the following back in 1967, “In the absence of the gold standard, there is no way to protect savings from confiscation through inflation. There is no safe store of value…”Obviously, with this eloquent explanation on how gold protects the property of the common man it is certain that Greenspan clearly understood BEFORE he took his job at the Fed that there was no longer anything that kept the privately owned Fed from confiscating the wealth of the American people. So he knowingly took a job that he understood beforehand was confiscating the wealth of the American people and for 20 years this man moved rates for the privately owned Fed to the advantage of the many banks worldwide that own a stake in the Fed that subcontracts monetary policy for our country.It would not be hard to convict this man as he has provided his own evidence. The only thing lacking is enough intelligent individuals to cause a big enough ruckus to bring this man to justice, and of course, the bigger task of overcoming his grateful friends in high places…The quickest way to get back on a recovery path is to end sending billions, and eventually trillions if this is not stopped, to failed organizations…Are we going to allow the heavy hands of Government to move America toward the Communism that brought down Russia? Don’t be surprised if the same banks are left in charge when you wake up one morning and find out they are trying to stuff a new fiat currency down your throat and try to give you one of the new ones for three of your old ones that you have on deposit…http://www.financialsense.com/fsu/editorials

You get what you pay for. Why not sign up, pay the $1,500/year and then he will talk your ear off!

I had missed this one – seems that NR lurks amongst the blogs Dr. Doom Responds on Wells Fargo (SeekingAlpha

Wanna bet who ponies up a large part of the $380 billion eastern EU countries need this year? Why the US of course (likely through some back door).

“The bald fact is that the combination of ignorance, negligence, and ideology that permitted the crisis to happen is still present and is blocking any remedy. Either the people in power in Washington and the financial community are total dimwits or they are manipulating an opportunity to redistribute wealth from taxpayers, equity owners and pension funds to the financial sector…“How long will Americans permit ‘their’ government to rip them off for the sake of the financial interests that caused the problem? Obama’s cabinet and National Economic Council are filled with representatives of the interest groups that caused the problem. The Obama administration is not a government capable of preventing a catastrophe.“If truth be known, the ‘banking problem’ is the least of our worries. Our economy faces two much more serious problems. One is that offshoring and H-1b visas have stopped the growth of family incomes, except, of course, for the super rich. To keep the economy going, consumers have gone deeper into debt, maxing out their credit cards and refinancing their homes and spending the equity. Consumers are now so indebted that they cannot increase their spending by taking on more debt. Thus, whether or not the banks resume lending is beside the point.” PAUL CRAIG ROBERTS | How the Economy Was Losthttp://www.vdare.com/roberts/090223_economy.htm

gonna nationalize your 401k -Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, said a government-run pension system would help shield workers from inadequate coverage, high costs, and “far more risk than has been generally recognized,” according to submitted testimony.”The system would be a universal system like Social Security, however it would be voluntary,” Baker said. He added, the proposed system could yield modest returns by setting participant investment limits, and could embrace annuity payments, along with tax subsidies for low- and moderate-income workers.http://www.easybourse.com/bourse-actualite/marches/retirement-experts-push-for-pension-systems-overhaul-at-622408Retirement savings are too exposed to market risk, according to Dean Baker, co-director of the Center for Economic and Policy Research in Washington and another witness at today’s hearing. Baker proposed a government-run pension system providing a modest guaranteed rate of return, according to a statement released last night.Employees must work longer to extend retirement savings and social security could be stabilized and supplemented by target- date funds, said Alicia Munell, director of the Center for Retirement Research at Boston College, in prepared remarks. Target-date funds shift money into more conservative investments as an investor approaches retirement.http://www.app.com/article/20090224/BUSINESS/90224033/1003

The biggest obstacle to getting the policy choices right is probably the media and the U.S.’s strait-jacketed ideological discourse.CNN simply must hang on every word that spills from Rush’s mouth. The big names at NBC takes it as an article of faith that Social Security is an entitlement headed for bankruptcy. Nationalization is a word that the administration cowers from.Here is a policy proposal. Let’s invite the current airhead media incompetents and the whole Art Laffer conservative movement to take a tour of the CERN lab in Switzerland. Let’s invite them to step inside the blackhole. At that point, our possibility of making good policy choices will improve dramatically.

Well said … the NYT is very lucky to host even a bit of his wisdom …

2 views from London:LAURALaura (not her real name) works for a commercial bank in London.We are standing on the edge of the abyss – on one side is a quick decline into becoming managers of a declining portfolio and a winding down of the business and, on the other, the will to take risk by rejoining the land of the living and a sustainable future as a Bank.Senior management have become so cowed by recent events that the easiest decision to make at the moment is to not make decisions at all. Are we really lending any new money? No. Does anyone want to make a leap of faith and break the Banks’ perpetual self-flagellation over mistakes made? No. Can we continue as we are? No. Will anyone stick their neck out and personally make a decision to either give up or get on with business? Not likely…If we can achieve the best capitalisation ratio by hardly lending will that stop our business being torn to shreds? If anything markets have proved to be more fickle than anyone suspected, so it won’t be long before they return to wanting to make a decent return on their money which means growth. The movement of depositor money to nationalised banks is sucking the life out of the rest of us, and so a race to appease the rating agency gods continues in the vague hope that it will bring depositors back. We are being perversely punished for not being bailed out.What is apparent to us ‘cannon fodder’ at the bottom is that this paralysis has to stop, but we are facing the classic prisoner’s dilemma – he who jumps first may take the pain despite getting the long-term moral victory. Most managers are oblivious to reality due to being in a state of shell shock, but eventually the true horror of deferred leadership will dawn. I just hope it isn’t too late.—————————STEPHENStephen (not his real name) has worked in the City of London for over a decade.A lot of us “insiders” have been very worried for a very long time. Not all of us are multi-millionaire CEOs. Some of us do it because the work itself is not just interesting, but important to get right! But due to the general prohibition on speaking to the press, this point of view rarely gets aired, if ever.The sad truth is that both the Democrats AND Republicans in the US stoked the housing bubble, and our Labour party simply played “me too” as they felt that if they could “engineer” prosperity, they would prove once and for all that the Tories were “the nasty party” who had got it all wrong and that Labour could indeed be trusted with economic stewardship. For all the faults of the Tories, they certainly left the economy in amazing shape; the only miracle is that it took so long for Labour to wreck it. And to be completely clear, I am free-thinking floating voter and neither a Tory nor a socialist.But the single worst thing that happened was the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act in 1999. Up until then, the commercial banks and investment banks were forced to be separate following the Great Crash of 1929. The then Treasury Secretary Lawrence H. Summers even said in an interview of the time, ”At the end of the 20th century, we will at last be replacing an archaic set of restrictions with a legislative foundation for a 21st-century financial system.” The measure, he added, ”would provide significant benefits to the national economy.”Perhaps he didn’t realise that this would let the genie out of the bottle, but this is precisely why so many of us insiders were worried. We realised that if there was a problem with the investment banks, they could now only drag down the rest of the banking system with them. So it’s with sober awareness that I note Timothy Geithner, the new Treasury Secretary, is a close associate of those who created this mess in the first place – Robert Rubin, Larry Summers, Alan Greenspan and others. Another face from exactly the same gang, it’s no surprise that the prescription is more of exactly the same that got us into this mess in the first place: more debt, more money supply. To say it pithily: the cure to too much debt and too much money cannot be more debt and more money, but that is exactly what is happening. No amount of nay saying from us on the inside seems to be able to get this point through, and the few public figures who warned on the issue are still being ignored. Nobody seems to care that our children and grandchildren are being asked to pick up the bill, so long as our politicians can get re-elected.There’s a lot of argument for a return to separation, with the humbled investment banks less mighty and the rest of the sector reborn as good-old “utility banking”, no more exciting than a gas or water company but safely in charge of that one thing that regulates everyday activities, our money system. I agree. The investment banks should be separate and independent, not further integrated into the banking system, as has in fact been done. The hedge funds should also go back to being what they used to be – the minority of rebellious kids on the block, not the core of the establishment.The sad fact of the matter that the seeds of the next crisis have already been sown, by enormous bailouts and further consolidation of the banking system.—————————

Greetings O.E.Fiona ~Reading your comment, especially the last paragraph, reminds me of words from the script of Lethal Weapon 4 uttered by Jet-Li’s character to the forefathers about their currency counterfeiting operation and America being a place governed by Laws created by men and how money can change all of the laws …Best to you and to all …

good post! totally agree with Stephen.

You are right that the people bought in to the Public Relations and Madison avenue brainwashing,and failed to question the assumptions that themarket fundamentalists fed them. I propose to youthat they were bamboozled and hoodwinked. The demi-god Maestro was telling them that adjustablerate mortgages were great! The media told them that America was an Exceptional Society. The Maestro had started his hoodwinking way back when headed the blue ribbon committee that recommendedincreases in payroll taxes and self employment taxes in 1983. There was a concerted effort todeceive the American people to think they werericher even though their wages were being reduced.This allowed for marginal tax rates to be reducedfor the really wealthy. This allowed dividend and capital gains rates to be lowered so investmentincome was less than ordinary income. The intellectual community sold out and did not defendthe people, because there was no money in publicinterest. It was our fault for not upholding theprinciples of the american revolution. Our forefathers were Enlightened and we shamed them.Don’t blame the rabble, they just did what they were told. Blame the Masterminds that Looted thecountry while knowing exactly what was happening.Now the Masterminds took the loot and left the people with the Debt. They will now profit fromthe debt. The idea is to help the people survive and then Clawback the Illicit Profits of the Masterminds. In an age of computers, this is verypossible.

1.There is no outcome as long as there is this undemocratic two party system.(which is one party anyway)

Bloomberg headlines. What will the market look like tommorrow?•AIG May Get an Another $30 Billion in Capital, Loan Relief From Government•EU Leaders Reject Pleas for Eastern European, Auto Aid on Budget Concerns•Obama Will Seek Another $750 Billion for Banks if Necessary, Orszag Says•HSBC Said to Consider $17 Billion Sale of New Stock to Bolster Its Capital•Buffett Says U.S. Economy Will Be `Shambles’ This Year, Foresees Recovery•U.S. Recession May Extend Beyond 2010, Economists Roach, Roubini Tell NYT

PAY NOW, OR PAY A LOT MORE LATER——————————————————–As usual, Dr Roubini makes the courageous call – “1/3 chance of L-curve”, ahead of everybody. And he made that call with intelligence, and with apprehension (I suspect).The reasons the Federal gov dare not nationalize much of the banking system are two twofold:1) Very complicated, and destroy a great deal of shareholder/bondholder values. They just don’t know how to manage a nationalized banking system, much less how to fix it. They don’t know how long, and how to bring it back to the private sector. In short, nationalization could very well destroy the entire banking system instead of fixing it.2) Nationalizing the big banks mean nationalizing the Federal Reserve. While there are popular sentiments for doing so, the politicians are scare stiff of the repercussions. Many ranking politicians know a bit of history – they know the last time the government took over the power to create money, major private banks declared war. It was a war the banks won, their prize of victory was the creation of the Federal Reserve to control monetary policy. Congress is scare of starting a second civil war. But then, Congress has been and will continue to be scare of just about everything.So how about running a bankrupt banking system, fighting a banking civil war in the middle of a L-curve de facto economic depression. I suggest, however, Congress had better realize this very unpleasant task is for them to deal with whether they like it or not. Because if they don’t they might just have to deal with the resulting political breakup of the USA.

We don’t need depopulation we need debt reduction, there are plenty of resources available for the population of the world if fairness were enacted if powerful controlling monopolies were disassembled.

Agreed but this marks a new point in history I don’t believe ever before has there been a anti-private banking feeling amongst the public. Two this banking crisis may dwarf any past banking crisis’s. The seeds of change may be stronger than ever and inevitable.

You are in the DENIAL stage of “dying” – watch the movie.

One wonders how good Warren B’s prognostication skills are these days. He is after all, the one who said ‘cash is trash’ before the market trashed his cash.

Unemployment will be about 8 percent by the end of this month.So, how is it that it is only going to decrease another 1 percent in the next 10 months?Unemployment will probably reach 9 percent by the end of June.

Been there, done that, and the scoundrels stopped us with the courts. Time to strike again! This from Wikipeidia:“Reformers during the early 1990s used the initiative and referendum to put congressional term limits on the ballot in 23 states. Voters in every one of these states approved the congressional term limits by an average electoral margin of two to one.“In May 1995, the United States Supreme Court ruled 5-4 in U.S. Term Limits, Inc. v. Thornton, 514 U.S. 779 (1995) that states cannot impose term limits upon their federal Representatives or Senators.”http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Term_limits_in_the_United_StatesThis from Paul Jacob:“That the American people want term limits for members of Congress is clear, but can the people overcome the resistance of the political class to enact the term limits they want? That question looms large at present. Another powerful question arises from it: If Congress and the political establishment can thwart the will of the vast majority of citizens for term limits, then the looming question is: Whose government is it, anyway?“On May 22, 1995, the U.S. Supreme Court handed down a ruling in the case U.S. Term Limits v. Thornton that amounted to “liberation day” for politicians in Congress. In the name of preserving “the relationship between the people of the Nation and their National Government,” the court struck down the work of 25 million voters who had enacted congressional term limit laws in 23 states. The court’s close 5 to 4 decision says that to limit the terms of members of Congress requires amending the U.S. Constitution.“The movement for term limits now must focus on a constitutional amendment. Many suggest that the action therefore returns to Congress. But there are two methods established in Article V of the Constitution to propose amendments to our country’s basic law, which must then be ratified by three-fourths of the states (thirty-eight states) to become part of the Constitution. One method is for two-thirds of both Houses of Congress to vote out a proposed amendment. The other method is for two-thirds of the states to force Congress to convene a convention to propose an amendment to the states for ratification.”https://fp.auburn.edu/simconcon/fte_jacobs3.htm

A San Francisco Chronicle article today said “Buffett was unsparing about his own mistakes. For example, he bought a block of ConocoPhillips shares just as oil and gas prices were reaching their highest levels. The move was timed so poorly, he wrote, that even with a rebound in prices, the cost to Berkshire will probably be several billion dollars.”He also bought shares of two Irish banks for $244 million, which subsequently have decreased more than 89 percent. ‘The tennis crowd,’ he wrote, ‘would call my mistakes “unforced errors.”‘”The article reported that “Buffett’s company, Berkshire Hathaway, reported a 62 percent drop in net income for 2008 and posted a decline in book value per share for only the second time since he took control in 1965.”According to SFC, Buffett estimates Berkshire’s book value — assets minus liabilities — declined 9.6 percent to $70,530 per share in 2008 — the biggest drop since he took control of the comany… Berkshire’s Class A shares remain the most expensive U.S. stock, but they fell nearly 32 percent in 2008 and have declined 48 percent since setting a high of $151,650 in December 2007…”The S&P 500 fell 37 percent in 2008.”

The majority of the participants are over leveraged. They would prefer the system would die so they don’t have to pay the money back. Just like when you borrow money from your single uncle, you hope he dies and no one notices you him money.

if 401k will be nationalized, then IRA and Roth IRA will be nationalized. your child’s college fund will be nationalized under equal opportunity program for all children too.

we can also nationalize anyone with secondary home and provide that her for homeless to live. that will solve home inventory over-supply problem and fix foreclosure problem.

We either change the party in power from within,or this game is over. We don’t havetime to consolidate a party that covers thewhole political spectrum from Ron Paul toDennis Kucinich, but is united in one idea.The banking establishment has control of ourgovernment and the present administration must eliminate the power of the Fed and concentrate on the public good. There mustbe one test for all legislation. Does itbenefit the public good or the banking establishment. If it benefits the bankingestablishment and not the people, it mustnot be allowed. We are approaching the samesituation of the early 30′s, where debt brought the world to war again.

For sure. It is the over-leveraging of the investment banks (and commercial banks to a lessor degree) that has turned a relatively minor subprime problem into a full-blown domestic and international crisis. The tremendous leveragings have triggered a cascading de-leveraging that extended all the way to ‘healthy’ low leveraged investments, which feed onto itself. In short, a bubble going the other way.For this to stop, the feedback mechanism must be turned off. And the only way to do that is to wipe out the high-leveraged stuffs – cut the head off. In short, wipe out all leveraged ‘vapor’ assets by nationalization. Extremely painful yes, but less painful than seeing even the un-leveraged real assets getting wiped out as has begun to happen.My message to those in charge – gov and private sectors: allow the real assets of the economy to be wiped out and you get riots, revolution. And blood. This is no longer some kind of nasty banking game.

It is important for us to understand that agriculturalself sufficiency was not stressed during the post war period for the developing countries. The World Institutions were always playing the role of billcollectors for international investors and government loans. A bill collector wants you to plant export cash crops for export so you can have dollars to pay your debt.This bill collector mentality has brought many countries to a TOTAL LACK OF SELF SUFFICIENCY TODAY.When the food shortages comes the underdeveloped world will suffer first because they have been forcedto plant such inane things as flowers for export tobring the money to pay government debts. There hasbeen a strategy of de facto underdevelopment with IMFconditionalities stressing exports Read Joseph Stiglitz, he documents it well, and he was in aposition to know the details.

The separation of the people’s normal lives from the insulated “Cloud Minders”, who seldom mix with the rabble has created a democratic disconnect that prior Guest ably describes.Most chose not to descend from their metaphorical ego cloud and there gated enclaves to see the results of their actions.The “Satanic Trillionaire Psychopaths” thatBob Chapman describes in Gloomy’s post don’t consider the rabble as truly human. They arespare parts in their cog of perpetual acquisitive accumulation. They are pathologically insane. We are being governedby the marionettes of the truly insane as Chapman describes. I used to cringe when Chapman would use that word “Illuminati”,but I no longer cringe. He may have beenright and I was too naive. It is importantto admit mistakes. I have been naive to thinkthat the Cloud Minders were sane. They are out of their mind Zealots that want to accumulate it all, and they bury us all inthe process.

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/business/story/0,28124,25115869-643,00.htmlRoubini, Taleb and now Ferguson.The three musketeers of Davos!1)”There must be nationalization, shareholders zeroed,and bondholders 20% haircut.2)He is stressing the need to reduce interest rateson all loans. The Professor’s recommendation of areplay of HOLC. Reduce debt overhang!However, Morbid is right! NOBODY IS TALKING ABOUTSLAYING THE CREDIT DEFAULT MONSTER IN THE CELLAR!Thank you very much for supplementing that veryimportant pillar of any solution earlier in thisthread. If any of you read the 10 page position paperof Chris Whalen, you will know how important Morbid’spoint is.http://www.rcwhalen.com/articles.aspWHY IS THIS SUBJECT SO TABOO? WHO STANDS TOBENEFIT FROM MAINTAINING THE CDS STRUCTURE?FOLLOW THE MONEY!GOLDMAN SACHS, CITIBANK, AND JPMORGAN AMONG OTHERS!!p.s. Morbid and Gloomy are gentlemen and scholars!

It is with much respect that we are Blessed to have access to the brillant perspective of Nourial Roubini. The pages are turning quickly as we see new elections to take place in September in EU-led Germany and a Vatican instrumental in supporting the fast deployment forces of the EU and the naval vessels cruising in the waters of the Middle East seeking to become the power broker of the region ready to take on Iranian leadership and its nuclear ambitions – these two powers will clash after the EU is intentionally reduced to only a ten (10) nations. The ever worsening economy today presents itself to be a detriment to economies in Ireland, Greece and most certainly and unfortunately the former eastern block countries whilethe United States of America – my country which I am so proud of yet see so many entrusted to lead sadly wallowing in partisanship and we becoming more impoverished and ruled by by the elite Federal Reserve and otjer central bankers, one must look younder for it most assuredly will be Germany once again in history which will affect political and economic issues. In fact, Iranian leadership should become very worrisome of German Middle East policies for it appears that the German-EU will become less and less tolerant of those involving themselves with EU governments.Unfortunately the lack of repentence of mankind in general and the self-agenda pervaded win arrogance will only lead to more dysfunction in global economic woes and it is quite evident that challenging times lay ahead more so than most expect. We must all clasp hands in reaching out and seeking solutions to the complexities of a global dependent economy which looks at least in the present without much promise unless we acknowledge the necessity for transparency and the willingness to diligently commit to truly addressing reality.The 21st century offers much in technological and scientific advancement and hope for mankind even in the remote areas, yet unless the leadership of nations identifies and addresses the economic uncertainties before us, anxiousness and despair will usurp any optimistic hope for mankind. Let’s get our act together! A global Day of Prayer should be called for not by the Vatican or politicians, but a grassroots movement desigating a day for global prayer!Christopher TingusHarwich (Cape Cod), MA 02645

futures are currently not that bad (not great) but not that bad

Dow has broken the 7000 mark in futures trading and this pyschological barrier might spark a mass sell-off tomorrow. The ideal thing(we believe) would be to short it now, buy back when Bernanke comes on tv to make another announcement to throw money around(which will spark a brief rally), and then sell again within half an hour.

Speaking of L curves, The Sunday Oregonian had an article on how its public pension fund might keep its promised 8% return going forward:[Paul Podolsky, a senior portfolio strategist from Bridgewater Associates in Westport, Conn. offered a brutally dismal outlook in one a briefing to the council on the economy. His message: Rather than a manageable economic contraction that will ease later this year or next, we are in the midst of a full-blown depression.The economy is stuck in a negative feedback loop, with plunging housing values, stock prices and employment numbers feeding on each other, he said. The downturn is unresponsive to standard monetary stimulus measures. And it could go on for a decade."The antibiotics have been given, and the patient isn't responding," Podolsky said.]http://www.oregonlive.com/business/index.ssf/2009/03/oregon_investment_council_cons.htmlI have always thought of Bridgewater as a pretty savvy group. This put “icing on the cake”, so to speak, for my L suspicions.

First sentence should read “Oregon’s” public pension fund.

Fed Officials Weigh ‘Exit Strategy’ for End of CrisisThe Federal Reserve’s efforts to bolster credit markets and revive growth pose a long- term risk of provoking inflation and worsening other problems that must be solved quickly when the crisis wanes, Fed policy makers said.re-arrange into a well-known phrase:thebeforehorsecartputtingthe

http://uk.reuters.com/article/businessNews/idUKTRE5202MN2009030130 billion more for AIG”The whole thing is ridiculous. How much longer are we going to do this? This is another bandaid, and we’ll be having this discussion again,” said Christopher Whalen, co-founder of Institutional Risk Analytics, a provider of analysis and ratings for banks.”The government can not fund AIG’s operating losses, the numbers are too big,” he added. “We should have simply restructured AIG. Between their real estate exposure and structured exposure on CDS, I don’t think this company is viable.”______________________________________________________The west european banks that are going to feel the defaults in eastern europe have AIG CDS cover!The numbers could be staggering!!!!

Nouriel Roubini on Tech Ticker Yahoo Finance!You can’t be half pregnant!Stop the Facade! The Mechanics of Full Nationalizationhttp://finance.yahoo.com/tech-tickerThe professor will be on tech-ticker again tommorowmorning. His grasp of the details is astounding!

How much money is the Federal Reserve makeing on this mess?

.Follow the thread :1) – Considering that China surpluses are sharply tumbling, who on Earth is going to keep on buying US-TBonds to finance the current existing debt? ( and so are Japan, Russia, Brazil, India – the ones who used to have surpluses …).2) – When deficit was 400 bi in Sept ’08, it was already difficult… and since then, Fed had to quietly step in and buy it, through “dealears” …3) – Now that deficit baloons to trillions, I ask again … WHO DA HELL is gonna buy this junk????4) – Therefore, da Fed is gonna be the ONLY buyer !!! ( by da way, thus owning da US …)5) – In order to do so, da Fed’s raising “quantitative easing” will have go ballistic !!! Printing bills at overdrive warp speed, and diluting USD even more !!!6) – Thus said … Why won’t investors dump a falling asset, then ?????????? Huh ??? Why not ??? For da good of da country ????7) – In 48 hours, a cataclismic collapse of entire USTbonds System !!!8) – To catch a falling knife, desperate Obama orders a “bank holiday”, and defaults the USTbonds !!!9) – And then refuses to accept worthless dollars dumped back into da US from foreigners, in a desperate attempt 2 buy properties here !!!10) – He then replaces dead dollar by a new currency ( … guess which? from Denver Mint, huh? … ), at 10 to 1 !!!11) – And that is the real B.O.D.U. – Bottom Of Da Universe !!!12) – Next day, business as usual, but … in order 2 buy goods abroad – oil & food – da US will have to pay in a currency other than useless dollars !!! e.g. gold, companies, carriers, jet fighters, etc. A GENERAL SELL OFF OF DA US !!!13) – Then – and only then – fat cats US Sheeple will jump off the couch in fury, and … hang ‘em !!!*****Can anybody here answer this :Why is “Denial” the only answer to “Truth”?Why is “Hope” so powerfull that people choose to remain an ostrich?Who is calling me a “conspiracy theorist” now? Anybody?Francisco Almeidacomexfrancisco@yahoo.com.br.

McLaughlin Report suggested 12% by end of year on the latest TV show. So that makes it in real numbers 19%!

-117 DJI, -14.1 S&P…6 hours to open….

My question is: Who eats the criminal derivatives?

The U.S. has the technological and intellectual skills to build a collider to match or exceed CERN, what they don’t have is the political will. Congress canceled the U.S. effort because the financial benefits went to too small a constituency (the pork was not spent widely enough). The armaments industry builds plants and shipyards everywhere – the collider requires 15 square kilometers of land and lots of electrical power. Very short-sighted, and the U.S. will regret it one day. At times listening to American politicians reminds me of the 19th century party called the ‘know nothings’.

Hopium is a powerful drug of choice – the ObamaNation of Desolation being its primary users.So is trying to be a prophet.

What are you talking about. The US is the only country that has used nuclear weapons and feels free to roam the world invading whomever they want, supporting dictators here and there. The threat to world peace is Obama and Clinton who plan to expand the war in Afghanistan, crush the Palestinians, and threaten Iran using their crazy president as an excuse. The real threat will be when the US and Russia confront one another.

why nationalize just the banks, mortgages and homes?what can also be nationalized is all the jobs too.that way the government would have a much better control over things.and all non-compliers could be annihilated.By the way I think TV news were “nationalized” already in the early 90′s…

http://interfluidity.powerblogs.com/posts/1235945541.shtmlWaldman! You don’t have to be coy with us!We are morons sitting around subject to aFASCIST CORPORATE STATE OF THE MONOPOLY BANKING ESTABLISHMENT. He calls is “Mussolini-style corporatism”. He is being subtle, but his analysisis right as always. He says that we must get beyondnationalization. Replace rather than reorganize. Setup a run off of the megabanks. There are plenty ofgood banks to replace them. We must apply the wisdomof Teddy Roosevelt who broke the large trusts. Monopoly Bankers are as dangerous as the crazy fundamentalists. It is a matter of national security.This is a war on Banking Terrorists!!!

The ticker guy has to drop “the bezzle” and come right out and say that the government is both permeated by Goldman types, and they make sure thatthe regulators are not funded so the Monopoly Financial Establishment can embezzle the money fromthe inside. The regulators are facilitators forinside job embezzlement of public money. However,he does a great job of deliniating the inadequaciesof the pseudo-regulation system.http://market-ticker.denninger.net/These acts of malfeasance and misfeasance in government agencies include (but are not limited to):* “23A Exemption” letters* Willful and improper classification of funds (IndyMac) which kept the FDIC from taking enforcement action in a timely fashion* Willful removal of leverage limits (championed by and granted as a consequence of Henry Paulson’s request before he joined Treasury; every one of the 5 firms that has blown up had 2x or more the formerly legal limit)* Willful removal of bank leverage limits and reserve ratios by The Fed and Congress in permitting “sweeps” along with allowing The Fed authority to set reserve ratios wherever it would like, including to zero.* Willful failure to police CDS margins and capital adequacy (e.g. AIG and others) thereby leading firms to be deeply insolvent yet continuing to operate as if nothing was wrong – until the cash ran out and we suddenly had a systemic crisis.* Willful failure to enforce suitability regulations on mortgage lenders, along with intentional preemption of state predatory lending laws.* Willful blindness related to the blatant and outrageous false statements made by both lenders and borrowers; the essence of “liar loans.”* Willful blindness related to both Madoff and Stanford Financial* Willful blindness related to ratings agency conflicts of interest, “ratings shopping” and known-flawed ratings models.* Willful blindness with regards to firms selling securities to customers which they were shorting at the same time – without disclosing this fact to the customer they were marketing to.* Refusal to take action related to the false statements of executives on the health of their firms on national TV networks such as CNBC, when reliance on those statements led to complete wipeouts (Bear Stearns and Lehman)* Misleading statements related to the health of Fannie and Freddie made by administration officials, leading to near-total losses for both common and preferred shareholders.* Most recently, misleading statements related to the intended path for banks and capital adequacy, including Citibank.

Good post Tom K, but it doesn’t undermine Stephen’s point, in fact may reinforce it. We’re naive if we believe the regulations that work in one country will work in another. If regulatory discipline is missing in the US as you claim (and I agree with you), then leaving Glass-Steagall intact would would have provided at least some protection against the insane behavior of our financial sector.

million- 1 Million cost for an inch of snow removal in NYCbillion- 63 Billion AIG 4th qtr losstrillion- 500 Trillion in Toxic assets/bad derivatives currently worldwide?quadrillion – Do we hit 1 quadtrillion worldwide in Toxic assets/bad derivatives?Only computers could count all this… Ban computers, go back to calcualtors, pen and paper and a simpler way of life….

Is that Rick Santelli of CNBC holding that sign that says “The End is Near” ?

Or could it be that the dying patient, instead of getting antibiotics, is being given more of the same poison that caused his malaise in the first place? Seems to me, the government, aka the bankers, has just upped the dosage of the poison that brought the economy down in the first place — literally, a death sentence. But wasn’t it too much to ask, anyway, to expect robbers to excell in economic revitalization?

I, too, fear my fate and the fate of this nation in the hands of a criminal government that represents and is controlled by money monopolists. These will be the people who will negotiate our “nationalization.” Ours is the fate of a fallen people, in the rapacious hands of evil.

Dow headed down today – decisively below the 7,000 mark. I said in the middle of last week that this outcome looked probable. I missed the timing by only a day or two (and except for some market intervention … I would have been right last week).As I have said earlier, there is a really serious problem in terms of market recovery now. The technical damage done to the markets is enormous, and it will take many years for a recovery to happen. That’s under best circumstances. Even if (and when) a recovery does happen, the recovery will be in “inflated dollars”.It is important that all financial commentators who are making market comparisons (and prognostications), do so from now on by using inflation-adjusted dollars. Anyone who just says in the future “Ohhh … the market has gone up by 20% …” is talking nonsense if they don’t use inflation-adjusted figures. It’s just hype.Baby Boomers are now in an extremely defensive posture. With losses exceeding 50%, and the possibility of further significant declines, nobody is going to stick their head out. Peoples’ entire life savings are vanishing, as Washington DC struggles to feed these insolvent banks.Finally, I happened to be down at my local barber shop over the weekend. And the barber commented … “What do those idiots in Washington think they are doing? They expect us to go out and spend, or to put money into their banks? People are way too scared to do anything like that. It ain’t happening!”So my point is this … when the guy at the local barber shop gets the picture, and the folks running Washington DC don’t get it, you know we’ve got a serious disconnect in policies in this country.PeteCA

still playing the game – how bizarre.

The bankers and government I believe think the American public will remain docile while they pillage us, I also fear they are wrong.Don’t for a minute believe that they thought that we’d be docile:Gulags For American Citizens In Final Planning StagesMark

http://archive.wbai.org/.Law and Disorder.Monday, March 2, 2009 10:00 amPublic Affairs 1 hour radio program..2nd half of program….EPIC RECESSION AND GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISISThere are other economic solutions and proposals that are critical of the 787 billion dollar Economic Stimulus Plan. Dr. Jack Rasmus’s recent article in Z magazine titled Obama’s Economic Plan vs. An Alternative lays out a different recovery program in 20 measures that could stimulate job growth, run an alternative tax plan and a push through single payer health plan. His Z magazine article is a snapshot from his newly published book titled Epic Recession and Global Financial Crisis.Dr. Jack Rasmus: – “We are in an Epic Recession phase now, not a normal recession.”* Banks come first, trickle down. Maybe they’ll give something to the rest of us which they don’t.* We’ve see a virtual bankers strike for the last six months, we’ve thrown somewhere between 2 and 3 trillion dollars at the banks with the hope they’ll loan a bit out with a lower interest rate. Of course, we know they’re not doing that, they’re paying each other big bonuses, dividends and acquiring each other.* The commercial money center banks are broke. Zombie banks, banks by name only.* It’s a solvency crisis, the banks are in default and are not going to loan.I) Stimulus Bill – 789 Billion of Tax Cuts and Spending1. Designed to slow the accelerating collapse of consumption.2. Not designed to reverse massive unemployment which is gaining momentum. Since 2007 – 13 million unemployed. 20 million unemployed by 2009.3. We’re losing 400 billion dollars just from the now 10 million unemployed. Add in 401k collapse, stocks collapsing, credit cards cut off, long term rates rising, reduction in hours worked occuring, state and local tax and fee increases, state and local funds decreasing.4. Obama is changing rhetoric from creating 3 million new jobs to saving and creating 3 million jobs.II) Big Bank Bailout1. What to do about the bad assets of commercial banks.2. Securitize Markets – Auto / Credit Cards/ Student Loans3. Insurance Scheme Proposal – Instead of giving banks money they’ll insure them. Taking the Citigroup Bailout Plan Model – 300 Billion back up.III) Housing Industry – Mortgage modification1. Give the mortgage lenders money – 600 Billion – and hopefully they’ll stop going on strike and they’ll lower the interest rates.Solutions:* No way out of housing crisis without nationalizing housing market.* Create a new government agency and properly fund it, – 900 billion dollars – it would create a small residential and business loan agency.* Go in there and reduce long term principle and interest to long term averages that existed before 2002’s run up of huge speculation.* That would be for all loans, not just the ones in foreclosure. Which would stimulate consumption not just shore up housing industry.* Similar to the Homeowners Loan Corporation of the 1930s* Auto Companies – You can’t just have 3 US Auto Companies surviving. They have to be nationalized if they’re going to put that much government money into them.* We don’t give them a penny unless they stop their investment and expansions overseas.* Ford is building big plants in Petersburg Russia. GM is building big plants in Shang Hai, China. Immediately they should be required to build cars with proper mileage.* Bring back 2 trillion of the 6 trillion that’s been stuff away in offshore tax havens in the last 20 years.Guest – Author and Professor, Jack Rasmus teaches in the Department of Economics and Politics at St. Mary’s College, Moraga, California..we stole your wealth fair and square. now leave us alone to rule overyou. so says “elitism”. “leadership”?stole fair and square?

Like you say,the barber got it. Is our whole Congress,Government, smokeing crack? How can they think that the people need to spend and borrow money to make things wonderful again??? Common sense is completely dead!And your right about inflated dollars! Were done!

New Thread

Is this from the same folks who condoned child rape?Don’t let their supposed good intentions distract from the fact that they are, just like any other huge organization, all about concentrating power.The Catholic church had a lot to do with empowering Hitler’s nasty deeds. Hitler wasn’t a communist…Mark

What is your opinion of steps taken to stem the bleeding of the economic situation and what would you have done differently?

@ManiI agree with you and will go a step further: The real truth of globalization (or what Chomsky calls neo-liberalism in “Neo-Liberalism: Profit Over People”) means that the “Oligarchs” don’t have the same sense of loyalty to nation that you do. They look like US citizens, talk like citizens, etc. But they buy your politicians to make it easier to destroy labor unions and export jobs. Your previous higher standard of living is worth nothing to them if they can put it on the same playing field as the standard of living of the slaves of dictatorships. As long as they squeeze an ounce more of profit of the arrangement. And I say “Oligarchs” in quotes because these pathetic tin-plated tiny gods are just financiers, folks! They’re not anyone who can actually DO anything — they can’t repair cars, or build skyscrapers, or design electrical systems. Our engineers and innovators and manufacturers used to make up a large part of our GDP, but now it’s made up of 25% finance and 12% manufacturing. That is why they are so arrogant — they have been so used to producing electronic-numbers which they passed off as something of REAL VALUE — and yes we indulged in that fantasy right alongside of them — that they think they are really CRUCIAL to the future of this country. But they ARE NOT, and we CAN take them down, folks, really we can! Yell at your congressmen to stop this bailout nonsense; these crooks still want to get elected and they haven’t totally figured out how to eliminate the voter from their future.

Because they are either not educated enough to get it or uninformed, preferring to watch American Idol. The US is such a scam with corrupt career politicans from both parties.

Then I would like to have privatized accounts. I certainly will not entrust Obama with his hate of the “rich” with my retirement.

I hate to say this, but, the freedoms of the world are systematically being stripped away. The surveillance step up, with these questionable threats. Funny how not much has gone on since Sept. 11 and still we’re all aware of the vulnerability of our ports, borders, and many power facilities, including nuclear. And yet not a peep for some time now. It seems like there were staging areas around the world to create mind sets, that have allow in the peering eyes from the top down, looking into our lives, interests, finances etc.In the meantime, the money has been quietly leaving the economy, and becoming concentrated in, I’m pretty sure, fewer hands. When we began to see the compulsive buy ups, and conglomerates being formed worldwide this should have been a sign. It is on the way to becoming one system, ruled, that being the telling word, by a small group of power. Liberties, properties, businesses, and now the money. As said above, “we stole your wealth fair and square”. But not really, if it was stolen, it was done by fear, the “devils” aerosol.

I agree. The American mantra is “I’m me and fock you.”