Not to worry, Bernanke and Paulson are on top of this. They won't let it get too bad--afterall, they bailed out Fannie and Freddie, which I think was the right thing to do. Lehman Bros.--meh.
But it's interesting that Bank of America is buying Merrill. Since Merril and Mizuho are working together in Japan, does this mean that BOA & Mizuho are partners? Didn't Mizuho just invest a couple of billion $ in Merrill this year? How will this play out?
How will this affect the global economy, which is already heading into a recession? Not a soft landing, at all.
Is time to try a new economic model, one not based on greed and desire?
How about Buddhist Economics? See this article Give Buddhist economics a try
But if the U.S. economy tanks and the U.S.$ goes down the toilet, I have dibs on Google, Apple, and the NY Mets.
Trends Research Journal said:On the evening of September 18th 2008, the American democratic system was replaced by a financial dictatorship.
What was billed as a "Federal Bailout" was nothing less than a bloodless coup. The Wall Street Gang had taken over the White House and control of Washington. Congress promised not to resist, and pledged to pass legislation as demanded.
Warning that America's financial system was perilously close to collapse unless immediate action was taken, economic martial law was declared.
The American people were told that from this day forward, they would be responsible for paying off the bad debt from any failing private financial enterprise deemed "too big to fail."
In simple language, with cameras rolling, in broad daylight, the American public was robbed blind. This wasn't a magic show. There were no hidden tricks or sleights of hand. "We want this to be clean, we want this to be quick," demanded the Economic Czar. "We need to get this done quickly, and the cleaner the better," intoned President Bush, with the urgency of his "smoking gun that could come in the form of a mushroom cloud" logic he used as a pretext to invade Iraq.
"The risk of not acting would be far higher," Bush said, promising to "work with Congress to get a bill done quickly."
Having accurately forecast the current financial debacle, we confidently now forecast that taking swift action will prove - as it did in Iraq - far more catastrophic than allowing Wall Street to suffer the consequences of its greed and mismanagement.
Presidential candidate Barack Obama promised to "fully support" the plan and called on Congress to take "immediate action." Republican challenger John McCain said he would further review the proposal before passing judgment while Congressional leaders from both parties have signed on with their support.
Americans were told they would have to pay to rescue the very companies whose unregulated greed, fraud and recklessness had created the crisis in the first place. Considered nobodies by the authorities, the people had no voice and had no choice.
"I know of nobody who is arguing over the amount of money or even about that the secretary ought to have the authority to purchase these toxic instruments, these bad debts,'' bowed Senator Christopher Dodd, the Democratic chairman of the Banking Committee.
Total value loss tops $1 trillion !
Crisis wipes $1 trillion from financial stocks
Monday July 7, 4:57 pm ET
By Joe Bel Bruno, AP Business Writer
Concerns about credit, housing wipe $1.3 trillion from S&P 500's financial companies in 2008
NEW YORK -- U.S. financial companies have lost more than $1 trillion in value this year, and yet another decline on Monday shows concerns aren't going away soon.
Source: Yahoo Finance - Stock Market Live, Quotes, Business & Finance News
Hollywood ....
* " There is no business like show business " starred Marilyn Monroe
During the lost decade after the bubble burst, Japan disposed some $1 trillion at end of the day. Considering US economy scale, $700 billion+ must not be a big issue, I hope.
But from my perspective, USA is moving faster than Europe as European banks so far continue to hide increasing bad loans. But soon or later they will not be able to keep hiding as they will suffer from more bad loan. European banks must be worse than USA.
Japanse financial firms must have accepted Japan premium - some 1% higher interest rate than US/EU banks in interbank market - as Japanese banks were assumed to hide bad loans. Today European premium or US premium is occurring as European banks/US banks are more risky today.
And far worse than any one can ever imagine.Gackt21 said:With the bail out the United States will just get worse. I think those banks that did that with the bad loans should tank and the banks that did not, should stay in business. This is how the free market works.
Thomas Jefferson said:ツ"I sincerely believe that banking institutions having the issuing power of money are more dangerous to liberty than standing armies.ツ"
Chuck Butler said:One of my fave economists, Nouriel Roubini, said in interview that he believed the Fed was going to have to move rates to zero! That's a big fat goose egg folks! Wow! What country does this all remind you of? Come on, you know what I'm referring to here, as I keep bringing this up over and over again... Oh, I think I'm turning Japanese, I really think so... (my good friend, and big fan of the 80's, Rick, tells me that song was by the Vapors)
Let me add up the facts here... A collapsing stock market, check. Falling bond yields, check. Economic stimulus packages, check. Bailouts, check. Dire times for the economy, check. A Central Bank that believes cutting interest rates to near zero is the right thing to do, check, and checkmate! Which country was I talking about there? The U.S. or Japan in the 90's? Oh, I think I'm turning Japanese, I really think so! This all reminds me of those Memorex commercials... Remember? "Is it live or Memorex?" Is this Japan or U.S.?
To quote from the Daily Pfennig, a daily newsletter from an online bank I utilize I quote the following:
Is it really "checkmate" or is history repeating itself and will the US be able to come out of this and survive as Japan did?
It might beIs US entering Japan's nightmare?
After Obama takes office,,,,,,,,
And far worse than any one can ever imagine.
Correction. It's how free markets USED to work up until recently. It will never be the same. I have a strange feling that if the country of Iceland does indeed declare bankruptcy, major countries of the world will soon follow like falling dominoes. Iceland, being a very small country, will be the test case. If they succeed, others will follow because the central banks are startiung to take control of major financial institutions. Once you control the money of a country the rest becomes a piece of cake.
In the words of Mayer Rothschild, who initiated the first central bank in England, ツ"Permit me to control the money of a nation, and I care not who makes its laws.ツ" – Mayer Rothschild, Patriarch of the Rothschild family who initiated the first central bank in England after he started a rumor about the war with Napoleon and the stock market tanked. He then went in and bought up the entire English stock market.
The major industrial countries are starting to consolidate by "buying shares" in major banks. However, one knows that those with the most shares, owns and controls the company and can dictate whatever they want. The noose is slowly being tightened.
After Obama takes office (yay!), the U.S. will become more protectionist as a matter of self preservation. Consequently, demand from Japan's major export market will soften hindering Japan's chance to grow out of it's economic doldrom. Emerging markets might be a new source of opportunity but the global recession will slow growth there, too. I think it will be a long economic winter--but maybe that's a good thing. The world's economy needs major rebalancing and less CO2 emissions.
Obama doesn't need to specify any indusutry to protect. All he needs to do is support a weak dollar policy, which would make sense economically and not violate any WTO rules.
I second that. Unfortunately, many people are afraid of the truth and it will fall mostly on deaf ears as most do not want to know the truth about how our government, as well as the governments of the industrialized world, including Japan, are actually run and who actually pulls the puppet strings. One look at the recent takeovers of the banks of the world by their governments should tell you that.Adulado said:I recommend watching a documentary called Zeitgeist and others related to Freemasonry, Illuminati, New World Order and the sort.
Oh please tell me you actually do not believe what you wrote here. Are you for real or are you drunk on all the kool-aid the media forces down your throat? You are the epitomy of the average person in the US only getting his/her news from 7 second sound bites on the majoir media without doing any independent research for yourself. The US is truly doomed. Tell me what industries can Obama protect. Name just one. Auto? No way as they will soon be bailed out. Airlines? No they too are in line for a bailout. Then, not only will the government own the mortage industry and the banks, but the auto and airline industries. Trust me, many many more banks and industries will fail in the near future as they tighten their grip and consolidate their power.DOGEN Z said:Obama doesn't need to specify any indusutry to protect. All he needs to do is support a weak dollar policy, which would make sense economically and not violate any WTO rules. Then all import into the U.S. would be more expensive and exports out would be cheaper....so then it would be bye bye PS3, hello Xbox 360, or so long Toyota, hello Ford in the U.S. (Only Honda truly produces cars in the U.S., Nissan & Toyoto merely have assembly plants.) In other world markets U.S. products would also be cheaper. So the trade imbalance would work itself out. Since the price of oil has dropped a cheap dollar policy would not be too inflationary.
I so agree with you. I would let those banks tank and then the market recover on its own