Over a hundred years ago a phrase came into our lexicon. It was called 'Gunboat Diplomacy,' and it was a phrase dedicated to the use of naval forces to effect decisions or change in favor of the nations who used it. It might possibly have best been used by Teddy Roosevelt when he sent the Great White Fleet around the world to prove that there was muscle behind the words of his foreign policy. We need to see a return to this form of intentful communication among nations. Maybe not all nations, but definitely a few. I am not writing about Iraq or Afghanistan here, or even Iran or North Korea. I a writing about gunboat diplomacy to effect the surrender of hidden asset and deposit information. So my ideas for the new form of gunboat diplomacy would be effected against such places as Lictenstein, the Channel Islands and even countries running up and down the Carribean. Throw in Switzerland. Nobody has threatened Switzerland (militarily) in quite some time.
We need to recover the lost assets of this nation. The liquidity which has been purloined from our banks, insurance companies and even top manufacturing companies. Financial instruments, devices and shadow accounts have been used to hustle many many trillions of dollars to these offshore havens. We need the money back. But before we can even consider getting it back we need to know about it. You read this blog and your belief level is low. I have no account data, institutional names, or even real suspects. All I know is that we are missing about three hundred trillion dollars and that that money has been drawn down from our financial institutions and companies over the past twenty years. Where did it all go? What is it doing now? What form is it in? If it is not in an account then where was it transferred? Who are the people who took the money? Where are they living now?
And so we come to gunboat diplomacy. We have this one thing going for us which we ought to seriously consider. We are the pre-eminent military power on this earth. I mean, however, only if the very people who are running the country and in charge of our military are not heavily involved (if they are, then we are simply screwed). We can get the information we need to find the answers to those questions if we use gunboat diplomacy. It probably won't even involve the loss of many lives (we lost forty troops in Afghanistan this month, so far, alone!). All we have to do is aim our cruise missles, and maybe even some of the bigger stuff. We call a bank in the Channel Islands and tell them that we want all their records. That our people will be there in 24 hrs to audit the institution. If they say they can't, or won't, do that then we send a cruise missile and blow the bank off the face of the earth. Then we call the next bank. Somewhere, as we proceed through our list of banks out there, we are going to begin to get compliance. If the countries behind these financial holding banks and companies protest, we simply offer them the same deal, or go to war. We have not gone to war for any of the right reasons for the last fifty years. We will have a good reason to go to war if we are denied the privileges of having this secret information on our own citizens. A much better one than we used for Vietnam, Iraq or even Afghanistan. We will be going to war to save our culture. To save our way of life. To save our children and their children to come.
Why won't we do it? Most probably, I mean. Well, why do we still have PayDay loan places located in 35 states? They are allowed to charge unlimited interest from the poor people who use them. Some charge five hundred percent a year or more! They lie to the people borrowing the money, of course. How could this be? How could we, as a purportedly free country, allow this sort of horrid death-dealing unfairness to go on? We do though. I imagine we will not pursue these outrageous robber barons who have stolen the country blind either. And for the same reason. The people who did this are the same people as the ones who own the PayDay loan places. They are evil bastards, and they have a lot of power within the political structure of the United States. Credit card companies are fully involved, as well. How can they possibly get away with the outrages they pull? They deliberately hold bills until the payment is late. Then they charge late fees on the bill, and change the interest rate of the card holder from twenty per cent a year to thirty or more! The other credit card companies hear about this 'default increase' and increase their rates too!! How can this happen in a purportedly fair country?
So, I don't think we will be using gunboat diplomacy to fix this mess. Unfortunately, for you and I, that means there is only one other way out. If we can't or won't get that money back, then the U.S. currency has to eventually go down. Yeah, that's right, the dollar goes away to be replaced by some other instrument. The new money is issued and then a conversion factor is used to convert old dollars to the new. When people convert to the new currency they have to reveal where they got the money they are converting. That fixes the problem (unless those people are not asked!). But that is a mighty painful way to solve the mess. If we don't do that then the rest of the world is going to create a 'World Dollar,' which we will have no control over and will have to convert to, as well, in order to do any international business. No more printing money to get ourselves out of trouble. But no more secret stashing offshore either. This kind of trouble is right around the corner. The 'bail-outs' are not working. They are not nearly big enough. We don't have enough money to make the bail-outs big enough. We can't even print enough money to fix the problem (what do you suppose printing a couple of hundred trillion dollars would do to the world economies?).
I like the gunboat diplomacy solution, however. It has some real justice, with teeth, at its foundation. Like the United States of old.
http://www.jamesstraussauthor.com
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Video interview: Kucinich outraged over $3.7 billion in bonuses paid by Merrill Lynch Today at 12:27am
Kucinich focuses attention on bailouts given to big banks.
At the beginning of 2008, the world economy seemed to heading towards recession. Economists alarmed about its peeping face. But the world leaders upon whom the responsibility of advancing the world economy towards forward was entrusted, did not admit it at that time. They felt comfortable not to pay any heed to the fact and tried to make the world understand that the world economy was on a proper track and was behaving appropriately. Not late, the recession had appeared with all its terrible dentate appearance. The economy across the world was gradually being gripped under deep recession. World leaders had become puzzled, perplexed, bewildered and all together confused to combat the recession that gradually was spreading its evil curtain all over the world. The leaders were then holding a series of meeting in groups in Washington, Lima, Paris, London, Delhi and in many other places to take some uniform measures so as to get rid of the abyss of recession.
Meanwhile, Development economists were recalculating their growth forecasts. They were afraid, that most of the developed countries even would not be able to sustain their positive growth rate. The U.S. economy might undergo negative growth rate. China, Japan, India, Pakistan, South Korea and some other developing countries might have been able to maintain their growth rate up but that too is far below the target. For the last several years, China and India were feeling much comforts with their double digit growth rate, but now they are rescheduling their growth target. China apprehends to achieve less than 7.5% might be at 7% and India from its 7.9% growth rate last year to less than 7% growth rate in the current year. Growth rate in some others Asian countries like South Korea, Pakistan and Taiwan also seems to move downwards. All together this gleams to an alarming situation for the whole world.
The big companies of most of the countries are trying to safeguard their interest by cutting jobs in huge number. In the U.S.A. meanwhile 3.6 million of people have lost their jobs. In January only in a single month in U.S.A., some 598000 people have lost their jobs. Unemployment rate in US is now 7.6%. The Bank of America some days before announced to cut thirty five thousand jobs in the next three years. The big Car Manufacturing Companies in the U.S.A. have cut about one hundred thousand jobs by this time. Some car manufacturing companies are at the verse of announcing lay-off. Sony one of the largest electronic goods producing companies in Japan has incurred losses of 199 million US dollars last year. Large scale heavy industry producing machinery goods seeing bleak days ahead with their huge investment and a large fleet of employees. Factories producing consumer’s goods also see clouds over their business sky on the backdrop of falling demand as the consumption level of the people has enormously gone down due to job cut and spreading of unemployment. It is apprehended that by the end of this year some 51 million people will loose their jobs world-wide. And thus the recession steps in gripping the world economy.
Of course, to tackle the situation the U.S. Government had spontaneously tried to put its pioneering efforts last year by launching a stimulus package of $700 billion Bail out plan to meet the liquidity crisis of the large banks and save them from bankruptcy. Under the coverage of the Bail out plan, provision was also made to help other big manufacturing companies by advancing fund. France, U.K., Belgium, Japan, India, China, Korea, Australia and some other countries have meanwhile come up with their Bail out plan following the U.S. initiatives. But it not a panacea to recover their economies suffering from the disease of recession. It is just a temporary and partial measure and at the same time it is controversial. During the Bush Administration, the U.S. Senate-upper house of the Congress did not approve such a proposal of providing fund to three big car maker companies in U.S.A though it was backed by the former U.S. president himself. The reason was obvious that the taxpayers’ money should not be given to the big companies which are at the verge of bankruptcy due to their mismanagement and mishandling of affairs. Now banks are requested to advance fund to the companies. But the banks are not willing to do so though the bank rate has been reduced to zero. However, after the assumption of President Barack Obama administration in U.S.A. a second dose of about $787 billion Bail out plan is under way.
The Bail out plan is a paradoxical approach. In stead of giving money to the hard hit middle and lower middle class people it is advocated to give to the large companies and organizations with the expectation of no jobs cutting. But the irony is this that hundreds and thousands of people in the mean time have lost their jobs. Many are scared even to loose. In the U.S.A. rate of unemployment figure now stands at about 8%, highest since 1992.
Now the question arises what measures and steps should be taken up to bring the world economy out of recession and place it on the proper track. The simple answer is to pull up the consumption level of the people at any means i.e. to increase and only to increase the market demand. Now again a question arises how it can be achieved? The following measures can be considered to this end;
1. Not a single organization should cut any more jobs. The mills and factory owners should take more responsibility to help the employees thereby the people of the nation in time of such a crisis. They are to share the impact of the crisis.
2. Payment of all kinds of bills may be kept suspended for the hard hit people.
3. Measures of tax cut may be adopted. But administration should be efficient and honest enough to ensure that the beneficiaries are actually getting the benefit.
4. Students’ tuition fees can be waived or suspended for the time being.
5. Premium of health care insurance can be waived or suspended for a certain period
6. Payment of installment for housing or mortgage can also be suspended for a considerable period of time.
7. Special Credit Card facilities can be introduced for buying goods and services with the provision of repaying its dues after a considerable period of time.
8. Banks should be asked to lend money at a generous hand with no hard conditions.
9. Money under Bail-out plan can be utilized for the mentioned above measures.
10. Owners of the firms and factories producing consumer’s goods may be advised to reduce their production level to a certain quantity with out any jobs cut.
11. The surplus consumer’s goods, which can not be marketed on consideration of existing demand level in markets, should be purchased by the Government and make a buffer stock. The Government can donate these goods to the International Refugee Camps all over the world and also to the calamities shaken and hunger driven poor countries as the U.S. did it before under PL-480. This may create additional demand for goods with out hampering the existing effective market demand. (money under the Bail out plan should be utilized to this end.)
12. The big companies producing investment goods or the machinery can sell their goods on deferred payment system to the potential entrepreneurs home and abroad.
13. To help the car producing companies, Government can buy the cars replacing the old ones at their disposal and donate to the International Organizations for humanitarian work.(Bail out plan can also work under this head.)
14. Government expenditure should have to be increased on different heads like construction of public buildings including hospitals, schools, colleges, universities, clubs, libraries; houses, roads, bridges, culverts etc. at different places with the aim of wide participation of people all over the country.
15. Alternative source of energy generation specially the “Green Energy” generation package advocated by the U.S. President Barack Obama should be launched giving much attention on environment protection.
16. Utmost importance should have to be given on establishing small industries as they generate more jobs and can easily cope up with the changing conditions of the markets. Much attention should to be given on their proper organization and efficient management as with out “proper organization and efficient management” it is quite hard to achieve the expected goals.
17. Activities of stock exchange should closely be monitored so as to prevent any abnormal or artificial behaviors or malpractices. Banking activities should also be monitored and controlled with strong hand by the Central Bank, if necessary.
If the measures, put forwarded above to recover the economy from the grip of recession now the world faces, are widely and honestly adopted with wisdom and enthusiasm, it is hopped that the economy is sure to recover from the recession within a short span of time.
# -Jahangir Azim
February 14, 2009
In case you have some questions about how the Treasury Department is spending the $700 billion of taxpayer dollars that Congress authorized, you're not alone.
The Congressional Oversight Panel (COP) is tasked with answering just that question.
Established by the same law that made the $700 billion fund available, COP is chaired by Harvard Law School Professor Elizabeth Warren - a bankruptcy expert who has written extensively about the credit crisis for the blog Credit Slips.
Over at COP's homepage, COP.Senate.gov, she recorded a short video to tell you a little bit about the panel and the work they'll be doing.
In their first monthly report, the panel lays out 10 questions about the use of the economic stabilization funds, including "Is the strategy working?" and "Is the public receiving a fair deal?"
To answer those questions, COP is going to be holding hearings with officials from the Treasury Department, the Federal Reserve, and elsewhere to make sure that your money is being put to good use. But they're asking for your help and your involvement.
Watch the video, read the first monthly COP report, and share your story of how the economic crisis has affected you at COP.Senate.gov.
Not a business was stirring, not large corporationsTheir requests had been sent to Congress with care
In hopes that Pelosi, or Reid, would give them a share The CEO’s had their hopes set on the Fed
And visions of bonuses danced in their headsI was at home, full of hope and wonder
At the thought of big companies not going under.
Then out on the street there arose such a clatter,I looked out the window to see what was the matter.On the street was a hay wagon, making its way
Not the usual wagon, filled with bales of hay.
No, this one, (and I know this sounds funny),
Was filled instead with bales full of money.
With a very old driver, so morose and deadpan,
That I knew in a flash it was Alan Greenspan
There was a small note, stuck to each cash bale
With the name of a company too big to fail.
His wagon was drawn by eight sleek mega-bucksAnd he shouted their names as he whipped their buttocks “Now Paulson, Bernanke, Now Rubin and Volcker
On Krugman, On Samuelson, Kudlow and Cramer,To the next company’s holiday retreat! So I can deposit a bale at the revelers’ feet"And so the wagon continued on,Until the last bail-out bales were gone.Greenspan then to his team gave a whistle,And away they all flew like the down of a thistle.And as they flew way up into the sky,
Alan cried, “I must see Ayn Rand once more ‘fore I die.”And I heard him exclaim as they flew into the night"Happy bail-outs to all, and to none, oversight!"
Why does the money from the "bail-out" go to Government infrastructure and private business when it could be better used in the hands of the people? If an impactful stimulus check were given to each registered taxpayer, would the economy not be better stimulated intrinsically? As a taxpayer $600 or $800 isn't big enough to make a dent in the economy as it is right now. A considerably larger sum to each person, totaling far less than the current projected/proposed bail-out amount, would trickle "up" with a much quicker effect.
If I have a substantial stimulus "check" I will buy a house, and a car, and furniture, and hire someone to do landscaping, and get medical attention that has been postponed. In other words I would be bettering not only myself but those in my community. Farther out, my actions would impact the banks with the funds I would invest in savings, 401K, and stocks, and pay more taxes directly back to the government, etc.
I would like to propose an amount of one million dollars per taxpayer. While that sounds at first like a lot of money wouldn't it be far less than the 700 billion currently on the table? The effect on the economy would be instantaneous and positive. This would lessen the "regulation and control" on agencies that are being "created" to implement the "rescue" and would put the forces of the natural economy back in balance and in the hands of those who drive it.
Please don't spend my money on GM, Ford, Chrysler or any other company that has been grievously mismanaged. Their record of fiduciary responsibility speaks for itself; they have already demonstrated the behaviors won't change.
November fourth's closing in so rapidly that political ads are growing yet more strident, and the two parties are exchanging blows like boxers from respective corners. And these pugilists have taken off the gloves as Republicans continue to practice the politics of fear. The back stabbing ongoing, I find myself reminded of Julius Caesar, surrounded by assassins. It seems like everyone has their respective daggers out, intending to draw blood. Distortions abound. Sometimes one cannot tell Republicans from Democrats without a program. Fiscal responsibility? It's like water in the desert. But the greatest financial irresponsibility goes straight to the Bush administration. Our burgeoning national deficit has nearly turned not just our country, but the entire world, into a disaster area. England's forbidding executives to collect ridiculous salaries and bonuses, and even is nationalizing banks. Germany is reacting with similar measures. China and Russia own far too much of the United States. Our workers' ability to compete in global markets has suffered to the point of desperation. Here in Pueblo Colorado, the C.F.& I. Steel plant is now owned by Russians. Outsourcing has given away telemarketing positions in so egregious and fanatical a way, that one feels enormous relief to find an American on the other end of the line! To return to the original analogy, it's a horse race, and our workers are dropping by the thousands. We ride them hard and put them away wet! Technology has transformed the world and its techno-markets, with Japan, of course, in the lead, India and China sprinting to catch up. Chinese goods are prevalent in our dollar stores and Walmarts. They also have saturated the third world markets of Africa, and are building roads there as well. Too many American children are deficient in both reading and math, such that we dare not cut educational budgets, and are desperately looking for competent teachers to help our students catch up. Too few were, and likely still are, incapable of adequate English composition. Millions of kids have been left behind. Our schools should teach more languages. Any student who expects to compete internationally in a global job market must gain proficiency in Spanish, Russian, Japanese, and Chinese languages. International trade agreements have not proved to our advantage, and it is time that our workers receive every possible advantage. If retraining in technical spheres is needed, so be it. Lifetime learning becomes, of necessity, the the order of the day. Our extemded dependence upon foreign oil has us prostrate before the rest of the world. The outcry of “drill, baby, drill” may on it's face seem a great thing. But Oil Conglomerates have failed to invest in American infrastructure and especially refineries. George Bush, as the Bumbler in Chief, has taken us to the edge of a precipice financially, and we hang like careless mountain climbers from a shredded rope beneath a cliff. Our “basically sound” stock market and economy have become anvils, rather than motors of productivity. In the past few weeks, my credit card bills have ranged from radical decreases in available to buy back to increased credit. Like many Americans, I am shrewdly transferring balances until that opportune moment that I may refinance a mortgage, and, at last successful as a writer, performer, or teacher, I am able to kiss debt goodbye. The great lies told the American citizenry have rivaled those of Adolf Hitler. Weapons of mass destruction did not exist in Iraq, much to Colin Powell's chagrin as presented to the United Nations. Thus we entered an unnecessary war, and continue to pay a heavy toll for it day by day, in both lives and dollars. Where there was no insurgency and Al Quaeda before in Iraq, there now is ingrained terrorism before unheard of. Afghanistan also continues to perplex us, for Bin Laden's still apparently safely hidden, his grizzly beard getting greyer and longer. Meanwhile the world's needs cry out for our help, for ethnic cleansing is once again rearing its ugly head in Dar fur, as in Georgia so very near Russia. Our exiting President claimed to have looked into the eyes of Vladimir Putin and seen his soul. The absurdity of this claim demonstrates itself in Russia's shenanigans in South America with Venezuela's president – or one should rather say Dictator – Ugo Chavez – has Russia conducting military exercises in his waters and arranging for arms sales. All of O.P.E.C. continually seems to ask itself “What can we do next to hobble the United States?” Hopeful signs in the arms race now appear in North Korea. Kim-Jon-ll is submitting to examination of nuclear sites. It's served up as a gift upon a silver platter, since the Bush administration was loathe to directly negotiate with a “terrorist” regime. Obama, on the other hand, promises to keep all avenues of communication open. As was said in the movie “The Godfather I,” “Keep you friends close. But keep your enemies even closer.” Indeed, we have now, more than ever before to be cognizant of every and any threat to our national security. But need that mean the violation of human rights? Abu Graeb and Guantanamo, plus the outsourcing of torture to Arabic allies have diminished our image in the eyes of the world. Meanwhile, provisions of the Patriot Act relegated policies verging upon fascism. Anyone, under the least suspicion, can be wire-tapped or taken hostage. Our founding fathers, surely would view this with chagrin. Back to the race... Just to where are we running – and from what? We are certainly not approaching solvency by anything but the slowest of pace, and our ownership society is threatened with thousands of home foreclosures. So we now look to a bail-out to restore confidence. All of this has been irremediably exacerbated by tax cuts and loopholes that have favored the extremely wealthy. “Trickle-down” theory simply does not work! If a major corporation, however, finds its costs increasing, you may be assured that it will pass the expense along to you, the consumer! Goods must be transported, and the price of oil runs the gamut of high speed inflation upon our highways. Currently General Motors and Chrysler corporations are negotiating a merger. But then, Chrysler is entwined with Mercedes Benz. New automobiles utilizing rechargeable batters are promised and in development. But, the Japanese seem always to be ahead of us. For my part I wish I had back my 1963 Volvo station wagon, which I treated like a Jeep in the Rocky Mountains. It got 28 miles per gallon in town and 37 on the highway. The simplicity of the engine always amazed me. When a clutch rod broke, I was able to create a replacement for in out of a carriage bolt in the University of Wyoming Theater scene shop. Our nation still leads the world in entertainment – particularly movies. Yet Sony of Japan owns a large chunk of its enterprises. And no doubt the escapism of movie reality appeals as much now as it did in the Great Depression of the 1930s. So, as we negotiate the last furlongs of this race, let us take stock of where we stand upon this track, and what the competitor horses are doing:-Economy, employment, deficit: suffering, no end in site.-International relations: badly in need of shoring up our alliance and regaining the world's trust.-The arms race: not entirely secure with weaponry being sold to the South Americans by Russia, and Iran threatening Israel with nuclear annihilation.-Education: lagging behind most other industrial nations, particularly in math and science.<BR>-Health: the most expensive in the world, and unavailable to far too many Americans, even children.-Human rights: ongoing ethnic cleansing and abuses, and a dire need to take on crises with allies or the United Nations – not so expensively and at such great cost – unilaterally.-Terrorism and drug traffic: Poppy seeds flourish, and the Taliban continues to finance destruction. Why should peasants settle for less with crops not as lucrative?-Honesty in government: We continue to be lied to, as the American dream seems to be dimming. So, it comes down to the inevitable question: who is the jockey who can ride the American horse at last to victory? It is a true-breed stallion. Who can manage its spirit satisfactorily, taking up the reigns with skill up to the finish line? I'm laying odds, and betting on Barack Obama! How about YOU?
I’m still trying to figure things out about this economic bail-out.
I want to know why the American tax-payer has to pay for the mistakes that Wall Street made.
Why do we have to give them a loan when most of us are not going to see that money come back to us anyway. What I mean is, when our electric bill gets behind can we get a government loan to help pay that off? Can we get a government loan when we need to straighten out our credit so that some of us can be home owners and buy those fuel efficient cars? I hear a lot of talk about the middle class but did we forget about the lower class or do we just classify them as just middle class? What about the homeless situation here in America? Who is going to bail them out? Are you going to be like all the rest of the presidents and make a promise and not keep it or not work to fulfill the promises you made?
Personally I think the American people are tired of all the political B.S that is going around whether you are a democrat or a republican. In last night’s debate there was one question out of all that stood out, and that was how can we trust you? Not only with the economy but with everything that goes along with being a leader.
The majority of Americans are Against the Bailout plan.
Who does Obama represent? Americans or Business?
I admire your leadership and Support Obama for President, However I did not like the Bill that was voted down. I think we can have a Bill that helps shore up the industry and also helps the normal hard working person in this country. we should help people with foreclosure, and protect the tax payer and give some work programs to the public as well as to limit the funds going into the bailout, and to limit who gets the money and not allow for people pay himself million's while taking the bailout. despite what was said i do not believe the failed bill was much more than window dressing on these issues. it also has to put money into the system, and to address jobs, welfare, social security, we need to put it in this Bill now or it will not get done latter. We need a new New Deal- I believe we must address the problems in the bill and to fix it rather than just handing over the money and hoping that there will be change because there will be no change without making it in writing and we need to protect everyone and not just bail out wall street. the economy is going to hurt more and it hurts now, normal people need help with their homes, and normal people like me and my girlfriend who are hoping to get married and to be able to afford a home are having a rough time. i work hard and am a trained paralegal and yet the best jobs i get are temporary, they pay OK but the problem is no health insurance. I think we need to address a number of issues for people like me, people that work hard and love this country and need to see some social programs that help us. I am also interested in the college education for our country, we can't fall behind. I believe we need a way, perhaps pay credits with service,not military service although that counts too, but service to community and country, i would like to see each state have at least one sate university that federal credit can be applied to to pay for college. when people have jobs, and education and are healthy we see our creativity and economy grow, and people have the money to power the economy. I hope to see leadership for the shrinking middle class and working class that we need on this bill and these issues, and i believe democrat unity on these issue swill help all of us and will help propel Obama into the white-house!
It is very apparent that the economy is grinding to a halt. It needs really innovative people to come up with the real solution. It is appalling to watch how the Bush Administration is coming up with requests and figures without a proper plan. The bail out will work if the common man is also bought in. This is how it should work in my opinion.
If the bad mortgage is bought from the bank, then the house value has to be fixed to the market value, and the bank should be ready to refinance to the current mortgage holder at current market rate no matter what the credit score is. Now how will the difference between the market value and the existing loan amount worked out? Simple solution. Say if the house was financed at $500,000 and the current market value is $400,000, The difference is $100,000. The bank writes off $33,300 the mortgage holder, Mr Joe Public would have to take a hit of $33,300 and the Government funds will pay for $33,300.
When Government money is paid out, there will be an automatic special Lien on the property and a notice displayed in the house and in public records to indicate that this is a house under special lien. The lien will transfer with ownership. If at any time in future the house is sold at $450,000 then the owner has to pay the Government $33,300 + a nominal 2% interest if possible before he pays any other fees or commissions. This is the only way that there could be a cost effective and real solution to the mortgage crisis and the credit crunch.
It is really stupid if the banks are paid $700 Billion without any guarantees and the public has no idea how it will affect the home owners in crisis. It does not talk about Mr Joe Public. This plan will take care of Mr Joe Public, Bank and serve the nation better. I am not an economist, But do understand common man's pain.
Or maybe the McCampaign knows that Obama supporter are more likely to get together and raise contirbutions during the debate!
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/25/us/politics/25mccain.html?em
Although Mr. McCain was the first to emerge on Wednesday afternoon and announce a change in campaign plans, Mr. Obama apparently began the exchange with his Republican rival hours earlier.“At 8:30 this morning, Senator Obama called Senator McCain to ask him if he would join in issuing a joint statement outlining their shared principles and conditions for the Treasury proposal and urging Congress and the White House to act in a bipartisan manner to pass such a proposal,” said Bill Burton, the spokesman for the Obama campaign. “At 2:30 this afternoon,” he added, “Senator McCain returned Senator Obama’s call and agreed to join him in issuing such a statement. The two campaigns are currently working together on the details.”Some Democrats reacted skeptically to Mr. McCain’s surprise announcement, charging that it seemed like a political ploy to try to gain the confidence of voters concerned about the economy.“What, does McCain think the Senate will still be working at 9 p.m. Friday?” Gov. Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania said in an interview, referring to the scheduled start time of the debate. “I think this is all political — I wish McCain had shown the same concern when he didn’t show up in the Senate to vote on the extension of the renewable energy tax credit.”
Although Mr. McCain was the first to emerge on Wednesday afternoon and announce a change in campaign plans, Mr. Obama apparently began the exchange with his Republican rival hours earlier.
“At 8:30 this morning, Senator Obama called Senator McCain to ask him if he would join in issuing a joint statement outlining their shared principles and conditions for the Treasury proposal and urging Congress and the White House to act in a bipartisan manner to pass such a proposal,” said Bill Burton, the spokesman for the Obama campaign.
“At 2:30 this afternoon,” he added, “Senator McCain returned Senator Obama’s call and agreed to join him in issuing such a statement. The two campaigns are currently working together on the details.”
Some Democrats reacted skeptically to Mr. McCain’s surprise announcement, charging that it seemed like a political ploy to try to gain the confidence of voters concerned about the economy.
“What, does McCain think the Senate will still be working at 9 p.m. Friday?” Gov. Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania said in an interview, referring to the scheduled start time of the debate. “I think this is all political — I wish McCain had shown the same concern when he didn’t show up in the Senate to vote on the extension of the renewable energy tax credit.”
And
Both Mr. McCain and Mr. Obama have said that action must be taken, but have urged greater oversight built into the plan, to monitor how the Treasury Department plans to use taxpayer money to take distressed assets off the hands of failing financial firms, as well as guarantees that taxpayer money is not used to enrich Wall Street executives.Mr. McCain made the call after spending more than an hour preparing for Friday’s debate at the Morgan Library and Museum — which, by coincidence, is where J. Pierpont Morgan bailed the country out of the great financial panic of 1907 by locking the leading bankers of the day in his library and forcing them to come up with a rescue plan.Speaking to a small pool of reporters at his hotel in midtown Manhattan, Mr. McCain read his statement from a Teleprompter, and took no questions.
Both Mr. McCain and Mr. Obama have said that action must be taken, but have urged greater oversight built into the plan, to monitor how the Treasury Department plans to use taxpayer money to take distressed assets off the hands of failing financial firms, as well as guarantees that taxpayer money is not used to enrich Wall Street executives.
Mr. McCain made the call after spending more than an hour preparing for Friday’s debate at the Morgan Library and Museum — which, by coincidence, is where J. Pierpont Morgan bailed the country out of the great financial panic of 1907 by locking the leading bankers of the day in his library and forcing them to come up with a rescue plan.
Speaking to a small pool of reporters at his hotel in midtown Manhattan, Mr. McCain read his statement from a Teleprompter, and took no questions.
Henry M
THE WALL STREET CRISIS IN A NUTSHELLWritten by Brasscheck
This story is about a five minute read, but if you have any interest in what's going on in the financial markets, I think you'll find it a more useful analysis than you're likely to find anywhere else. Along with the video link at the end, you'll REALLY know what's going on, better than most people on earth, including financial news reporters.
A SHORT EXPLANATION OF HOW WE GOT TO WHERE WE ARE
Today's banking crisis is the THIRD trillion dollar plus US-caused financial meltdown in the last twenty years. Each one of these crises came into being through the same basic mechanism: The fraudulent over-valuing of financial assets by Wall Street, with a "wink and a nod" (and sometimes a lot more) from the White House and Congress.
The fraudulently valued assets stimulate the economy, impart the illusion of health, and then inevitably, the fraud goes too far, and the whole house of card comes painfully crashing back to Earth.
The three trillion dollar plus frauds were:
Fraud #1: The so-called "Savings & Loan Crisis" of the late 80s
Fraud #2: The so-called "Tech Bubble" of the late 90s
Fraud #3: The so-called "Credit (Sub-prime mortgage) Crisis" of today
HOW THE SCAM WORKS
The mechanism of these frauds is simplicity itself.
You take a shaky financial asset, blow up its value, and then sell as much of it as you can.
In the "Savings & Loan Crisis," the instrument was "Junk Bonds".
In the "Tech Bubble", it was Internet Stocks.
In the "Credit Crisis", it was individual mortgages collected into pools, and then re-sold to investors.
In each case, normal, well established "bread and butter" financial principles, were consciously thrown away by Wall Street, with no hint of protest from federal regulators.
THE "SAVINGS & LOAN CRISIS" DISSECTED
Junk bonds caused the Saving & Loan crisis, which resulted in the US taking over the assets of hundreds of banks, and selling them back over time to the marketplace at fire-sale prices.
Junk bonds, which caused the "Savings & Loan Crisis", were shaky bonds that were pumped up by deliberate misrepresentation, and what I call "Staged Dealing."
Bonds get their value from two things: the amount of interest they pay, and how safe they are.
"Junk" bonds have to pay higher interest because they are less safe. Therefore, until the "Savings & Loan Crisis", savings and loan banks banks were not allowed by law to buy them and callthem assets.
Reagan/Bush changed all this, and then a group of Wall Street fraudsters used the new loophole to kick off an orgy of junk bond creation, and junk bond selling, to banks and insurancecompanies.
The crooks would deal the junk bonds back and forth amongst themselves, thereby establishing their "value", and then they'd sell them to outsiders. The bonds then became "assets" which could be borrowed against, and leveraged to buy even more bonds.
When the bonds failed, the banks failed, and in stepped the US government to "fix" the problem that it created, at a cost of at least one trillion dollars to US tax payers.
THE "TECH BUBBLE" DISSECTED
The instrument of fraud in the "Tech Bubble" was Internet stocks, "start-ups" in particular.
A stock gets its value from the underlying company's sales, its growth, and its overall prospects for the future.
Pre-tech bubble, companies used to have to prove themselves by being in existence for several years before they could be sold on major exchanges. That standard was thrown away during the tech bubble.
To pump up their values, the companies engaged in "Staged Dealing" just like the junk bond crooks.
Company #1 would "sell" 20 million dollars in banner ads to Company #2, which would in turn "sell" 20 million in banner ads to Company #1.
In fact, nobody sold anybody anything. Company #2 ran ads for Company #1 and billed it for them. Company #1 ran ads for Company #2 and billed for an equal amount.
These should have been called "media trades", not sales, but Wall Street was happy to claim them as legitimate cash sales, and then use the sales numbers to fraudulently value these companies, many of them totally worthless, in the hundreds of millions, and sometimes even the billions.
THE CREDIT (SUB-PRIME MORTGAGE) CRISIS DISSECTED
By now, you see how the scheme works. It's not complicated at all.
You take nearly worthless pieces of paper (junk bonds, stock of start-up Internet companies, etc.) and declare them to be good as gold.
Then you create as many junk bonds and Internet start-up stocks as you can, and sell them as fast as you can.
In the case of our current crisis, the instrument of fraud was so-called sub-prime mortgages.
Previously, sub-prime mortgages had very little trading value. Only people in the sub-prime industry itself dealt in them, and for good reason. They're tricky to value, and packed with financialperil.
But Wall Street changed all that. Wall Street said: "If we take LOTS of these mortgages, and groupthem into large pools, and then slice and dice the pools in various ways, we can sell the slices to banks and other investors as AAA paper."
It sounds crazy, doesn't it?
If the underlying pieces of paper are garbage, how does assembling a whole bunch of garbage into one place make it better? It doesn't, of course. This is a principle even a three year old child can understand.
But greed and the need to pump up a shaky economy for propaganda purposes, are two very strong motivators.
Banks created these mortgage pools, sold them to each other, and they, by virtue of these "Staged Sales", declared them valuable.
Do you recognize the pattern now?
If you do, then you are now smarter than all the assembled jerks who do financial reporting, because they apparently can't, or won't.
This is the THIRD trillion-dollar plus fraud driven financial meltdown in twenty years, and apparently no one in the financial news media can see how it happened.
BUT THERE'S MORE
Junk bonds were mass manufactured as fast as the crooks could invent them. Ditto for Internet stocks. But how did hundreds of billions of dollars worth of "toxic" mortgages suddenly come into being?
Why did the mortgage industry change its lending standards so radically, and so suddenly, to make their creation possible?
And why did real estate lending regulators in all 50 states (because real estate lending is a STATE-level issue, not federal) go along with it?
Here's where it gets very interesting.
The fact is, state-level lending regulators were VERY concerned about what was going on. They've been concerned for years. They not only expressed their concern clearly, they also took SERIOUS concerted legal action to stop lenders from making these bad real estate loans to their citizens.
Most of the sub-prime loans so much in the news today, were designed to screw the people who borrowed the money, and can rightly be called "predatory" loans.
Guess who stopped the states from enforcing their own time-proven real estate lending laws, and thus created the raw material that made the current "Credit Crisis" possible?
It's the trillion dollar question, and if you're a US taxpayer, you're going to pay for this fraud, so you might as well know who did it to you.
His initials are GWB. You know him well.
But perhaps more interesting, is the name of the person who single-handedly rallied state attorneys general, and then fellow governors, to fight the creation of these loans, and whoin the process became Public Enemy #1 to the Bush Administration.
His name is E Spitzer.
If you follow "silly" US political scandals, you recognized his name instantly, and FINALLY understand why he was swiftly assassinated politically, earlier this year. Had he remained, he would have been in a position to remind everyone who made the current meltdown possible. He was silenced so effectively, that no one can mention his name in connection with today's crisis, without risking ridicule, or worse.
The crisis this fraud has created is *exponentially* bigger than the S & L and Tech Bubble combined. It's not going to be resolved by a quick "patch up".
On that cheerful note, here's the big story everyone missed this year and now you'll finally know what REALLY happened and why:
http://www.brasschecktv.com/page/291.html
P.S. If you find Brasscheck TV valuable, please share our e-mail and videos with friends and colleagues. That's how we grow. Thanks.
Brasscheck TV2380 California St.San Francisco, CA 94115
Imagine that you suddenly break out in a rash all over your face... big, giant, red bumps. And your ears start ringing. And you see double. Imagine, then, that you rush to the nearest hospital emergency room. The triage nurse looks you over, takes your temperature and announces that “since you’re not running a fever, there’s nothing seriously wrong.” You’re told to go home and return only if you develop a fever.
What would you do? Me... I’d go to another emergency room, or insist on seeing another nurse or doctor. Why? Because the body is a complex tangle of electrical, chemical, and physiological systems and I know that a fever isn’t the only sign that something’s gone terribly wrong. And since I, who didn’t attend any medical school, know this to be true, I wouldn’t put my trust in any “medical professional” who didn’t share that basic understanding.
For decades there have been economic theorists like Hazel Henderson who have been telling us that using GNP and the condition of the stock market as the measure of our nation’s economic health was inaccurate, incomplete, and could have disastrous results. Well, lo and behold, here we are. By the time our economic illness reflected a Wall Street fever, the rest of the body had been pretty well ravaged and now may not have the strength to fully recover.
Returning to the medical analogy: I also know that a fever is just a symptom and reducing a fever won’t necessarily fix what ails me. That rash won’t go away with aspirin. Anyone who watches “House” knows that the correct diagnosis has to explain all the symptoms, not just mask them. So any solution that is built on just one symptom is bound to fail. The collapse of Wall Street and the banking system is just one symptom. Fixing it may bring temporary relief, but the underlying disease will inevitably reassert itself. Throwing $700B at the fever and expecting it to be “the fix” while the rest of the body rages with disease won’t save us.
Barack Obama and John McCain need to throw out their pool of economic theorists and find others, like Hazel Henderson, who bring a more holistic view of the economy based on multiple, realistic measures (e.g. the true number of unemployed workers vs. the number of workers receiving unemployment benefits). And the rest of us need to jump up and down, scream and yell, harass the heck out of our senators and congressional representatives and do whatever it takes to make them do it.
We have been operating on the wrong theory of the economy. Now, before the patient dies, is a perfect opportunity to start over.
Here is some news from around the world and here at home. Some of this will be discussed on the MSM, but much of it will not be discussed. Although the MSM has seemed concerned about our economic mess, once more their focus is largely on the political effects of this problem, and the "horse" race. Polls are not news. I have compiled news from around the world and attempted to set forth a brief synopsis. If you want to get more on the story, you can click the link below the summary.
Hurricane Ike:
A Blog about Gulf Coast Hurricanes Past and what Houston was saying at the time.
http://blogs.chron.com/bayoucityhistory/
Houston Mayor Bill White says the Houston area will need $40 billion in aid to repair the destruction brought by Hurricane Ike. He says they need 2.5 billion now.
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6017417.html
Myanmar (sometimes referred to as Burma)
The Myanmar military junta frees political detainee, Win Tin, after 19 years imprisonment. He was part of a package that freed 9,000 political prisoners there. He is 79 years old and one of the founders of the National League for Democracy (NLD) led by Aung San Suu Kyi. The NLD won elections in 1989 and Aung San Suu Kyi was set to take the reigns of government, but the generals stopped the transfer of power. Aung San Suu Kyi is under house arrest.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7631395.stm
South Africa-- the President, Thabo Mibeki, and 11 members of his cabinet are resigning.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7631358.stm
Chinese milk fears spread in Asia. The milk is tainted with melamine, which causes sickness and kidney problems.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7631265.stm
A 22 year-old shot 10 people at college in Kauhajoki, Finland before shooting himself. (My own editorializing: The tragedy of this waste!)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/7630969.stm
NATO faces rising hostility in Afghanistan. The Taliban uses innocent civilians as human shields-- and those civilians too often are killed. Also, innocent civilians are killed by aerial bombing and they get caught in the cross-fire.
http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,471416,00.html
President Bush meets with military and other advisers to review Afghanistan policy.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/23/washington/23policy.html
Yahya Jammeh, the "President" of Gambia (he seized power in a military putsch in 1994) claims he can cure AIDS and asthma. He says he can cure AIDS on Thursdays and asthma on Fridays and Saturdays. He has one requirement to seek treatment from him-- patients must stop taking anti-viral medication (commonly prescribed for AIDS). (Again my own editorializing-- is this "President" doing this in an attempt to keep power or does he actually believe this nonsense? This "cure" will kill many-- another senseless tragedy).
http://www.spiegel.de/international/spiegel/0,1518,470231,00.html
Members of the Sunni Awakening fight each other over power and control. Quote from the article:
“What you have is essentially armed factions, like mini-gangs, that operate in a certain set of checkpoints in certain territories,” said Lt. Erick Kuylman, a patrol commander in the First Battalion, 68th Armor Regiment, which operates in Adhamiya.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/23/world/middleeast/23awake.html?_r=1&oref=slogin
Great Lakes protection. Ban near that would prevent water being taken from our Great Lakes and diverted to areas outside of the Great Lakes basin.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/23/us/23lakes.html
Our economy:
Secretary Paulson wants $700 billion quickly.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7631500.stm
Secretary Paulson's plan includes NO oversight of his action with regard to this $700 billion.
Secretary Paulson's plan upsets both Democrats and Republicans. Fed. Chair Bernanke says recession will come without bail-out.
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2008/09/23/bush-team-congress-haggle_n_128501.html
A discussion of what might be done with the $700 Billion.
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/23/opinion/23kashyap.html?partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all
Here is Senator Christopher Dodd's (D) legislative proposal:
http://www.politico.com/static/PPM41_ayo08b28.html
and a discussion of this proposal by Politico:
http://www.politico.com/blogs/thecrypt/0908/Dodd_bill_much_more_aggressive_than_Treasury_plan.html
If Obama and Biden do not go to Washington this week, especially if they miss the Vote on the Toxic Bail-Out, my family will be extremely disappointed. I would think that he could prepare for the first Debate there as well as in Florida. I don't think any of the Rallys and Discussions would object to some special advisor shows up instead when the economy needs immediate attention.
I also expect that Palin will not leave the campaign trail to waste electioniering time on something like a fiancial crisis, which shows what I've observed of her. Even if McCain shows up, it will only point out how many votes of importance he showed up for: talk about "voting present".
What do you think ?
(Reuters) - The presidential candidates Republican Sen. John McCain and Democratic Sen. Barack Obama responded on Saturday to the Bush administration's $700 billion proposal for rescuing financial markets that was submitted to Congress.
The plan's centerpiece would permit the Treasury to purchase bad mortgage-related debt that is weighing down Wall Street. The package would raise the government's debt ceiling to $11.3 trillion.
President George W. Bush called it a "bold approach" needed to prevent more severe economic disruption.
How in the world did a lameduck president with an incredibly low approval rating sell the idea that WE should hand over a trillion dollars to a (Bush appointed) Republican wall street guy to spend as he sees fit. Suddenly the dems and the republicans are stepping in line! This is BS. Read about this "plan" - you'll see that it doesn't help any consumers/homeowners, only the greedy financial institutions. The government doesn't get any assets (houses, etc.), just bad loan paper. This morning on Meet the Press, Paulson said that we could end up with a "stagnant" economy like Japan if we don't do this. I'll take "stagnant" until Obama is in office and can set his own NEW agenda. I'd like to have suggestions from others like Warren Buffett or Bloomberg or Reich. Do we really want Czar Paulson in charge of this much money when we have hungry children, people without health care and lousy schools?
First of all, the next president will have his hands tied if we do this. Bye-bye spending plans for healthcare, education, etc. You can bet these will not happen. Not just because of this bail out, but because we will have reinforced a financial situation where the greedy speculators take outrageous risks only to be rewarded by the government. Think they won't want more? "May I have just a little more crack please sir?"
I have worked as much as I could during this election, talked to more undecided voters, registered new voters, donated the little bit of money I could afford. I've even gotten involved when I could with local dems. Because I really believe that a change in government is critical now....but I didn't think it was going to be a change to total statism. (Merriam-Webster defines statism as a "concentration of economic controls and planning in the hands of a highly centralized government.")
Well I've had it! I listened to our new CEO Paulson this AM on all the political shows, and he gave me not one reason to believe that this outrageous shift of money to the gamblers in the country (and by the way not just US owned financial institutions) will actually solve anything. I see nothing that restricts what or how the money is spent, and he plans to have current "portfolio managers" from Wall Street manage big chunks of these investments. Wow, aren't these the people who brought us to where we are today? Who are they, who monitors them and BTW when has any unregulated government program ever worked? Deregulation by the Republicans got us into this mess, and we are going to trust the current players to fix it?
All I believe it will do is prevent any real change from happening by ultimately eliminating available funding for social programs.
Doesn't this remind you of the Patriot Act? Suddenly a huge bill (who wrote it and who read it?) appears out of nowhere, the Bush administration blackmails the congress into signing it AS IS and claims anyone who disagrees isn't patriotic. Well, where did this big new bailout plan come from, why was Paulson saying the economy was strong and resiliant as late as March of this year - and why does it have to be done in 7 days?
I want to hear Obama speak out against this. I need to hear Obama speak out against this! I NEED to believe that the banks and brokers don't own the Democratic party!
Unless China has called in all our loans, I just don't believe that this must be done right now! Do we really want an unprecedented financial move of this scope in the hands of Bush? This is proposed to last for a minimum of 2 years. At least take the time to read about this proposal...don't just accept it. Call your congressperson and senator and say NO! There is no time to waste. Unless you want your children to live in a country with massive debt, no regulation and corporate rule, you should call congress NOW! Tell them that they are not financial experts, cannot give adequate consideration and oversight to this plan in the next 7 days and you don't want them to do it!
All,
I need all your help to get the word out on THE most unscrupulous thing this administration has ever proposed.
The proposed bailout plan by the Republican's has a number of Poison Pills attached to it.
Some language from the proposed Bill:
(a) Authority to Purchase.--The Secretary is authorized to purchase, and to make and fund commitments to purchase, on such terms and conditions as determined by the Secretary, mortgage-related assets from any financial institution having its headquarters in the United States.
(b) Necessary Actions.--The Secretary is authorized to take such actions as the Secretary deems necessary to carry out the authorities in this Act, including, without limitation:
(1) appointing such employees as may be required to carry out the authorities in this Act and defining their duties;
(2) entering into contracts, including contracts for services authorized by section 3109 of title 5, United States Code, without regard to any other provision of law regarding public contracts;
(3) designating financial institutions as financial agents of the Government, and they shall perform all such reasonable duties related to this Act as financial agents of the Government as may be required of them;
(4) establishing vehicles that are authorized, subject to supervision by the Secretary, to purchase mortgage-related assets and issue obligations; and
(5) issuing such regulations and other guidance as may be necessary or appropriate to define terms or carry out the authorities of this Act.
Decisions by the Treasury Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2008/9/20/153952/268/395/603713
Its clear that those who drafted this proposed trillion dollar bailout are not acting in good faith.
We need Barack and his economic advisors to reject this proposed bailout and come up with terms that are
fair to the American Taxpayer "US" who will become the primary stakeholders.
Imagine they want us to give Treasury Secretary Paulson absolute power over the bailout with No oversight.
Its Outrageous ...The potential for abuse is literally on a scale we have never seen.
This Smacks of politics as usual ... They want the Democrats to VETO this bill so that they can spin it that the Democrats are holding up any kind of relief over this Financial Crisis.
Please email everyone about this issue.
Email Form to the Financial Services house committee here.
http://financialservices.house.gov/contact.html
Obama/Biden '08 ..... Hope and a new direction.
http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/blog/vince
"This country will not be a good place for any of us to live in unless
we make it a good place for all of us to live in." -Theodore Roosevelt
Lets foil this scheme before it impacts our election.
-Vince ;-}
