Blogoshpere is about to get the rules changed on it!!!
The government can do whatever it wants.
Brokers need access to cash, change the rules.
Need a loan to buy a brokerage firm, change the rules.
Government debt nearing the maximum amount, change the rules.
Foreclosures not going the way the government wants, change the rules.
Stock prices too low (short sellers), change the rules.
GSE's need money, change the rules.
Oil prices to high (futures market), change the rules.
Yes, blogs influence almost as much as newspapers do. This is why bloggers should exercise responsibility over their content. Sadly, most bloggers simply pass on info they glean from someone else, without bothering to verify its veracity.
Sad, really. Pretty soon, blogs are gonna be like the boy who cried wolf.
Why would anyone keep more than 100k in a possibly illiquid bank?
I think Shiela B should be emphasizing that everyone under 100k is fine.
Everyone over is not FINE.
She should not complain about bank runs when they don't need to exist- especially after soooo many folks got burned in IndyMac with accounts over 100K.
You want to avoid a bank run, then get ready to make the takeovers seamless, with depositers getting made whole without complaint.
FDIC seems to have lost some expertise in this process.
"Out of control?" Ohhhh out of her control. And just exactly does she think close monitoring will do? Will she find some weak blogger who didn't adequately SLAPP and IANAL and not intended as investment advice caution and hang him?
CR, I still don't get the whole bit about declining cancellation rates, net, gross etc. I haven't forgotten about that one but I've been busy, and I'm sure other readers are also not yet clear on it.
I do love you but if Tanta can do an ubernerd mini-post on that subject it would be amazing.
"The blogs were a bit out of control," Sheila Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., told the San Francisco Business Times after a speech in San Francisco this week.
I'm sure at some point the Federal Reserve will be given power over ISPs to shut down any blogs that prove and impediment to monetary actions that speed economic recovery.
"The blogs were a bit out of control," Sheila Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., told the San Francisco Business Times after a speech in San Francisco this week.
The FDIC plans to pay closer attention to the blogosphere in the future.
The bloggers are out of control ? Its Sheila who's out of control and that's why the blogosphere keeps an eye on her.
Sheila was at the Dollar store today in Tyson's Corner buying dollar shampoo to wash that greasy hair. That hair is a bit out of control!
That FDIC is a bit out of control!
That Bush is a bit out of control!
That Paulson is a bit out of control!
That Fed is way out of control!
On July 5, 2008, the Associated Press (AP) released a story titled: Secret U.S. mission hauls uranium from Iraq. The opening paragraph is as follows:
The last major remnant of Saddam Husseins nuclear program a huge stockpile of concentrated natural uranium reached a Canadian port Saturday to complete a secret U.S. operation that included a two week airlift from Baghdad and a ship voyage crossing two oceans.
See anything wrong with this picture? We have been hearing from the far-left for more than five years how, Bush lied. Somehow, that slogan loses its credibility now that 550 metric tons of Saddams yellowcake, used for nuclear weapon enrichment, has been discovered and shipped to Canada for its new use as nuclear energy.
It appears that American troops found the 550 metric tons of uranium in 2003 after invading Iraq. They had to sit on this information and the uranium itself, for fear of terrorists attempting to steal it. It was guarded and kept safe by our military in a 23,000-acre site with large sand beams surrounding the site.
This fiasco keeps getting weirder and weirder. The fact that Ms. Bair cites bloggers and insinuates that they've somehow fanned the flames of the crisis is absurd. Desperate, even.
Naturally, bloggers trying to help others keep their savings from money heaven are the real problem.
Who not to blame? Certainly not recklessly leveraged banks who destroyed their lending standards, subverted G. Steagall with off-balance sheet SIVs and are now choking on their own filth.
Don't blame Congress & the B. administration who are now dashing off a massive check from our children to prolong the correction, bailout said corrupt banks, and eventually tank the dollar.
Yep. Bloggers created this mess in its entirety and they should all be censored and replaced with message boards about rainbows & kittens.
When the FDIC starts blaming BLOGS for bank-runs, it only encourages public texas ratio publishing for the countless teetering regionals.
Anyone care to oblige Ms. Bair with some examples?
So now what? In what way does Ms. Blair intend on paying closer attention to the blogospere? Sounds like a rather chilling statement to me. Next to go after naked shorts just may be free speech!
Sure, blame the bloggers. Blame the short sellers. Shut down the bars where people swap stories about how much money they lost on housing.
Instead, let's all talk about the magical la-la land we live in. With la-las running around eating tasty la-la fruit. And we all have our own la-la ponies.
I nominate Sheila Bair as the future chairwoman of the Ministry of Truth.
"18:22 PDT SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plans next week to slash the pay of more than 200,000 state workers to the federal minimum of $6.55 per hour to deal with the state's budget crisis, according to a draft executive order obtained by the Chronicle today.
The governor also will order an end to overtime pay for all but critical services, a freeze on state hiring and the immediate layoff of 22,000 temporary, seasonal and student workers."
"They had to sit on this information and the uranium itself, for fear of terrorists attempting to steal it. It was guarded and kept safe by our military in a 23,000-acre site with large sand beams surrounding the site."
You believe this based on an ap story relayed through townhall.com???
Ok, ok, Shiela! I CONFESS! It was me the whole time, me who started the runs, me who securitized the loans, me who turned a blind eye and kept the sharp lookout and...let me tell you something else...
I am glad I did it! And I would have got away with it too, if it wasn't for you meddling kidz!
"The market that we were looking at consists of homes that start at $1.5M and run all the way up to $10M. . .Today, the numbers of these homes on the market is staggering. . .
This is a very stubborn market. These are people that still believe the value of their homes cant go down 20, 30, 40, 50%. . . .And heres the catch. Even the sellers priced
below the "market" are not getting bids."
(snip)
". . .if the short sellers push the envelope too far, buyers have the right to step in and take advantage of the bargains. But when the Federal Government, or should I say
Goldman Sachs (Paulson), take it upon themselves to change the rules, thats when you can bet Armageddon is in the cards. Over the next few weeks, we will all see
just how much more pain there is, and the bag of garbage we just threw up in the air, will come back down harder and stinkier."
Looks like that we are going to have fascist capitalism in this country.
An excellent observation. The amount of corporatist propaganda coming out of our politician's mouths is truly alarming. I'm sure it's always been bad, but this seems ridiculous.
Worries about socialism are misplaced. Instead, we seem to be steps away from fascism. Thank God we own (most of) the nukes.
El Cliffo, I'm not sure I can scrape up much admiration for Mike Morgan. I read this:
"My clients decided not to buy right now, because they believe the global markets have not finished punishing those that are sucking on helium balloons and sipping the Kool-Aid being served up by Bob Toll, Cramer, Paulson, Bernanke, Roubini et al."
and it sure looks like he doesn't know what he's talking about. He's seems to be a salesman, through and through.
CR,
Did you wear a Batman mask to hide your secret identity? Was Sheila Blair killing three deliquent borrowers every hour until you revealed yourself? Did she have to resort to blowing up a hospital?
...but CR has a good point. This particular blogosphere kept its head on straight. Others had posters and commenters calling the next failure. Well some commenters here were calling the next failure, but the blogger was level headed.
Rant on.the current state of affairs in the USA is critical,and those who do not believe we have already descended into Fascism should take the time to read the military commissions act,patriot 1 and 2,the analysis of the Hamdi decision at dirt rhoades scholar and the kelo decision.Freedom is gone,and so is privacy.They cost a lot of blood to gain and they were pissed away.Rant off.
On July 5, 2008, the Associated Press (AP) released a story titled: Secret U.S. mission hauls uranium from Iraq. The opening paragraph is as follows:
The last major remnant of Saddam Husseins nuclear program a huge stockpile of concentrated natural uranium reached a Canadian port Saturday to complete a secret U.S. operation that included a two week airlift from Baghdad and a ship voyage crossing two oceans. "
Panda, this was 1.8 tons of yellowcake uranium that had been in Iraq since the late 70's/early 80's, purchased from Portugal and Niger and was frequently inspected and documented after the First Gulf War by the IAEA... the facility that housed it was stumbled upon in 2003 by the USMC, who broke the seals and subsequently abandoned it until a Pentagon team arrived a month later to find it looted.... it was not weapons grade uranium, that requires sophisticated refining, but nonetheless some of the stockpile was taken, by God knows who.
the new Iraqi government sold the old uranium stock to a Canadian uranium producer. in other words, non-story. but a nice try to save an otherwise fully discredited reason for going into Iraq.
You can hide out in Canada for a while...Oh! wait! they are getting to the Iraq deserters now so boogers will be next...our child prisoners in gitmo say it is not a very nice place.
You are on the rag because people have found a way around the sanitized MSM of Amerika? Well, tough shit.
There are some wackos online, to be sure, but I know I dismiss them. If you can't stand the new world of the internet, then I can say that I can't stand the new world of hedge funds, CDO squareds, derivatives, credit default swaps and all the other crap foisted on our financial system by hucksters while all of you stood around with your thumbs up your asses.
Go to hell. And, by the way, Suave is usually only 88 cents on sale. Go buy a bottle.
Looking back, I guess we were one of the voices of reason. I couldn't find lines at any other banks ... and as far as can tell, reports of lines at other banks (other than IndayMac) were inaccurate. - CR
Something we should all work on before the next one... less reason, more cowbell. Lots more cowbell.
More grumblings from Uncle Ivan...er Sam. Accusations against Chuck Shumer didn't stick so they are looking for someone else to blame. I love how the FDIC keeps blaming everyone else but the FDIC for IndyMac's failure.
KFP: I put some of the technical details at Warren Strobel's place. You are free to click through to my place to get some idea whether I am technically credible on issues of nuclear physics.
When you sit down and do the numbers, the radiological threat from the yellowcake is likely roughly equivalent to that from a large transoceanic shipment of bananas.
/OT
Can we haz housing now?
Suecris--I thought it very odd about Roubini in Morgan's post, but Roubini has of late been insistent that this is not going to be a Great Depression-sized event. That may be why Morgan lumped him in.
CR--did you use your real name, or did you go the Digby route and make everyone refer to you as "Mr. Risk"?
In the next few weeks we will log on to Calculated Risk and get the following message on an otherwise blank screen.
"The Calculated Blogsptot has been discontinued due to disruptions in the housing and financial markets. Please tune in to your local network news station for further information." S. Bair
I haven't heard anyone come up with a use for this new fearsome regulator. Can anyone offer an explanation? I can't come up with anything under these circumstances.
Uh, Sheila, you have to go to a blog, it doesn't come to you like the evening news or the daily paper.
Anyone reading the blogs already were long gone from those banks or were under the 100k limit.
Blogs are frequented by the informed.
Unjustified bank runs are caused by the uniformed.
Why don't you spend whatever time you have to read blogs, talking to loudmouth politicians instead. As far as I know, blogs were unsuccessful at causing any bank runs.
Sheila Bair would love our local Real Estate columnist in santa rosa if she read his stuff.Betcha she'd give him a Hummer if I sent her a link...anyone got her address?
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
Hey, wrecking the economy with panicky rumors is your patriotic duty. Economic dislocation minimizes the chance that the Republican falange will be able to perpetuate its rule. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go email some old ladies and send them doddering off to wait in line at the bank. I got this terrifying fabricated warning and I'm going to append it to an email that says Obama's a Marxist Muslim radical Commie black panther gangbanger Jew.
[In addition, homebuyers who purchase a property with an FHA loan will no longer be able to receive financial assistance from the sellers. The bill closes a loophole that let sellers channel money to buyers through charities.
While critics say defaults from these no-money down loans are rising to such an extent that they threaten to put taxpayers on the hook, supporters say many borrowers with good credit but without enough money saved up for a down payment will be locked out of the market.
"That's going to cause a lot of people not to be able to buy a house," said Mike Davis, a Realtor in West Des Moines, Iowa. "That's really going to hurt."]
I got this terrifying fabricated warning and I'm going to append it to an email that says Obama's a Marxist Muslim radical Commie black panther gangbanger Jew.
pangloss | 07.23.08 - 11:23 pm | #
Who does Bair think she is? Hasn't this clown ever heard of the First Amendment? Why would anyone listen to her? She will say whatever she has to say to protect whichever banks Paulson tells her to protect.
Read the Patriot act in full and you'll see they ALREADY have that authority. Under the section enemy combatants. Remember the health of the stock market has been deemed in the interest of national security.
Remember that little bill a few weeks ago that gave the telco's immunity.....
Sort of passed thorough with barely a whimper from anyone.
" got this terrifying fabricated warning and I'm going to append it to an email that says Obama's a Marxist Muslim radical Commie black panther gangbanger Jew"
Really? Forward me the email. I know a few people that I would love to share it with.
Many US banks have been accused of unwittingly allowing their online customers to take risks with their passwords and other sensitive account information.
University of Michigan researchers have found design flaws in 76% of the 214 US financial institution websites they studied, leaving customers vulnerable to fraud.
The researchers found that many banks silently redirect users to third-party sites, place signs on their web sites which falsely claim they are secure, and improperly use Social Security numbers or e-mail addresses, putting users at risk.
A US woman shot herself shortly after faxing a letter to her mortgage company saying that, by the time it foreclosed on her house, she would be dead.
Police said 53-year-old mother Carlene Balderrama used her husband's high-powered rifle to kill herself shortly after faxing the letter at 2.30pm (4.30am AEST) on Wednesday.
Her husband had petitioned unsuccessfully for bankruptcy three times.
The mortgage company phoned police in Taunton, Massachusetts, who found Mrs Balderrama's body an hour later.
The auction was scheduled to start at 5pm and interested buyers arrived at the property while her body was still inside, Taunton police chief Raymond O'Berg said.
If you follow Kunstler you may already know it. Shockingly accurate even for almost 5 years ago. The only thing it doesn't touch on is the banking situation however that's just another piece of the puzzle
"The FDIC plans to pay closer attention to the blogosphere in the future."
What is that statement supposed to mean? Listen you ugly greasy-haired bitch -- do your fuckin' job and leave the blogging to us.
Incidentally, I happen to think Downey is next on the collapse list, or maybe WaMu. I keep hearing rumors about bank runs at both of those institutions. If I had an account there, I would get my money out TODAY.
Anon: not just the banks. Every networked computer in the world is currently exposed to a flaw in the way DNS works. Some security company had the specifics of the exploit and now pretty much everyone is vulnerable to redirects to malicious websites. (That's probably why we end up back here so frequently). No joke though. It's estimated that it will take a year to get all the dns servers up to speed, and that very few are currently patched sufficiently.
"The FDIC plans to pay closer attention to the blogosphere in the future."
Well, that's the warning shot. I do feel better that Andy in NZ is on board. Does tend to confirm that the corporate media is toeing the admin line...that the "news" is being packaged and managed by the bush team.
I cant know and certainly dont hope that conditions become as bad as they did during the 1930s, but rational people did some amazing things back then, such as allow the government to force the trade of publicly held gold for government paper. Voters allowed this because they were angry and scared and thought that it would help their predicament. Will voters become so scared that they will allow the government to silence bloggers who incite bank runs? Walk into a crowded theater and yell FIRE. You will shortly discover that free speech has limits. Desperate times call forth desperate measures.
Plus I think there's some common sense involved. If you're on a goofball blog and you mouth off, you don't expect to cause much damage. If you're on something like CR, or a blog attached to a national newspaper, you need to watch yourself more carefully.
Panda- "Somehow, that slogan loses its credibility now that 550 metric tons of Saddams yellowcake, used for nuclear weapon enrichment, has been discovered..."
Yellowcake. Yellowcake? Jesus, can't you do better than that? That's 18-year-old news.
so then our banking system is a-ok, and strong, rock-solid even...unless those terrorists^Wbloggers say something mean and nasty, and then the whole thing is gonna collapse?
gee, that sounds like an amazingly well-stacked house of cards.
I lost money when I bought puts on Indymac 3 or 4 years ago (can't remember which... ) in spite of Indymac's deteriorating fundamentals
The only reason I bought the puts in IMB (was NDE) in the first place was informaton that I had gleaned from the blogosphere: IMB's out of control construction loans and ALT-A loan portfolio.
You win some and you lose some. The bearish bloggers have been right for ages. FDIC should have been reading years ago.
"The blogs were a bit out of control," Sheila Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., told the San Francisco Business Times after a speech in San Francisco this week.
The gold confiscations pale compared to the bundled twigs of italy, the grey goosesteppers of Germany, and the aspiring samurais of Japan. All exploited the systemic frailty of other land, the intense unemployment and idled manpower, fed their need to acquire by conquer as their means of internal production had been decimated. I worry less about financial systemic meltdown than the insane multinational schismatic warring that could occur. Sengoku Jidai times 10.
Sheila: Your not so thinly-veiled threat has inspired me to carry my camera 24/7, and to be the first in my area to publicize, as widely as I can on the internet, any local withdrawal lines or disturbances at neighborhood branch banks.
In my role as a defender against those who would interfere with free speech, I declare you to be a Person of Interest, and the FDIC to be an Agency of Interest.
That aint worth my time and it aint worth Sheilas time either! WTF, where is the tribe? It seems they get into jammies very early these days, then get tucked in before dark...WTF!
You know your shit, WTF is going on in refgard to this threat to constitutional free speech and the fact that people like myself like to read about Ms Sheils and see insults regarding her appearance and lack of intelligence, integrity and issues relating to her part in collusion and corruption? Why the fuck does she care what bloggers think about her or The FDIC and the job they fail to do? I just don't get this anymore and feel kinda sad and .... sitting here, wondering, wondering why, why, did she say this??
OT: Countrywide Insurance Services is soliciting auto insurance business in Michigan...got a postcard in the mail, "Save up to 20% on auto insurance!" with an 800 number but no web site link
Re: "Oh Kona you got a hat tip from the byz, congrats!"
WTF does that mean? I'm gone all day and then get a puzzle like this tossed at me from some insane blogger that may be here with the intent to destroy the world -- destroy me and smash the essence of pure thoughts into disorganized fragments that will be banished like Siberian Huskies who have lost races they should have Fuc-king won! WTF is going on here anyway?
On a serious note, these comments from Ms. Bair inspired a chill of lack of confidence in our banking system in me.
Admittedly, it's been shakey for a couple of months now.
But this was the first time I seriously considered removing all $$ from the bank.
Very very very wierd thing for her to say.
Something else important: It was on the BLOGS that it was pointed out repeatedly how supremely stupid it was for people to be lining up to get their money out AFTER the FDIC took IMB over.
Didn't hear that kind of clear-headed comment from MSM coverage now did we?
Since the mandate of the FDIC is to prevent bank runs, they're looking pretty foolish at how they let IndyMac Bank turn into a PR disaster... a few FEMA emergency-funds RVs packed with $50 bills would have been worth millions towards avoiding negative media coverage. I mean, free lawn chairs? They should have opened a temporary warehouse to get those people off the street, and helped within an hour. That would have done more to preempt future bank runs than any jaw-boning against the blogs.
Not that anyone asked me, of course. (Sheila, are you listening?)
Please call your Senators in the AM about the Housing/Fannie&Freddie Bailout bill.
If they're Democrats, chances are slim they'll vote "nay" BUT what the heck, it's a free call. At the very least, you can request that they not vote to stop a fillibuster should a brave Republican step up to do that.
I mean come on, somebody's got to at least READ this bill before it gets passed and clearly, none of the House got to read the full 700pp. before they passed it today.
FREE CALL to Capitol Hill Switchboard, tell the nice lady who answers what state you're calling from and she'll connect you with your Senators' offices.
But this was the first time I seriously considered removing all $$ from the bank.
It was a surreal moment for me, but I've already done this myself. After seriously considering what a WaMu/Wachovia/etc. failure would mean for FDIC reserves and the equity/Texas ratios for my institution, I no longer felt safe. Writing "I no longer have faith in the FDIC's ability to insure assets" on paper is a much more sobering experience than typing it, for reasons I don't understand myself.
The tellers were wonderful folks and very cordial through the entire process. I'll certainly maintain my account with them, but with a skeletal balance. The rest goes into T-bills and other short-term sovereign debt since I've got plenty in other safe assets already, and this is my rainy day fund.
Good luck, Sheila. You're fighting the good fight; you have ample resources and support; and the preponderance of history is on your side. I wish you well, and now I sleep better at night. When this turmoil ends, you'll be able to sleep well too.
Kona, I knew that would get your attention. I'm testing the power of rumour. A single mention won't work, but if we keep it up every couple of days soon there will be many waiting eagerly for the holiday blog party (which should be hosted on the West Coast, for convenience).
We can discuss home grown produce, composting, chicken sexing... all the fun stuff.
Now let's have some fun and watch Sheila show up at the blog party in December.
Oh, I might add, if your Senator's a Dem. who would like to vote "Nay", they will be needing all the moral support they can get - so don't hold back! Give 'em a call, just in case!
The De-Paving of America - Asphalt Prices Handicap Efforts At Infrastructure Renewal \tJul. 22nd, 2008 @ 08:50 am
From "Kona Tax Attack" on Calculated Risk, file under my "re-growth of 'improved surface' paving class in my county"
Yah, I ate some protein and the hormones are pumping me up, which is too bad because I have no where to go and nothing to attack -- yet; maybe it's too late? I feel so guilty being a blogger and being part of a culture that is under suspicion. Maybe the ol' girl just does want to have better news connections and her comments (like many before) have been mis-interpreted? Oui?
dk- Do you really feel like T-bills are iron-clad safe?
Perhaps I don't understand the concept, but they seem shakier than anything to me at the moment, what with all the crap that's going in and out of Treasury.
Why do people think Tbills are so safe? Honest question.
Bush comments on a subject he actually knows something about:
Bush says Wall Street got drunk
In a video recording that emerged on Tuesday, Mr Bush questioned how long Wall Street banks would remain sober and not try to do all these fancy financial instruments.
The recording was obtained by an ABC outlet in Houston and filmed even after the president apparently asked for cameras to be turned off.
Theres no question about it. Wall Street got drunk - thats one of the reasons I asked you to turn off the TV cameras - it got drunk and now its got a hangover. The question is how long will it sober up and not try to do all these fancy financial instruments.
I tried calling some of these fools, but what good does it do? Perhaps the best way to help them, is to ridicule them and bust them for being corrupt and in most cases, simply doing nothing.
I tried to get some press people fired up about The Pension Protection Act last year, but it comes down to who you are and how well your connected, i.e, the press waits for figures of authority whom have credentials, versus tapping into these wild blogs that are stuffed full of insane people that are obsessed with billions of chaotic topics (like this).
Nonetheless, these blogs may offer a way to connect people to Senators, but it does take numbers. One idea I had, a few months ago, was to suggest that people just go to the web page of a senator and thus send a traffic message in terms of increasing daily webpage hits; that idea was the week after the Bear Stearns bailout, and I suggested hitting on The Senate Banking page or something like that -- to no avail, I might add!
I agree that people need to keep trying, but the only tool in this game is to threaten those in power with loss of power, i.e, the threat to vote them out, the action to do so, the surge of a united voice that collectively tells them to get screwed...
RE: We can discuss home grown produce, composting, chicken sexing... all the fun stuff.
This is great, I had been looking for a new hobby today: Chick sexing is the method of distinguishing the sex of chicken and other hatchlings, usually by a trained person called a chick sexer or chicken sexer:
Thousands of buyers who have not yet taken ownership of their properties on what has become known as the "Costa del Crash" could lose everything.
Others who have paid in full now own homes on resorts that may never be completed. They are seeking to recoup their losses to salvage what remains of their dream move abroad or hope of a perfect holiday home.
"I've now got dozens of British clients who all want to know where they stand," said Martin de la Herran of the Spanish law firm Abolex.
California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. amended their lawsuit against Countrywide Financial, the now taken over mortgage lender and some of the evidence presented is simply startling. What we are given is a keen insight into some of the financially irresponsible loans put out by the institution.
CR did a GREAT job on the bulls v. bears panel. He is much younger than I would have guessed. Young, thin and good looking. I have pictures. He said I could post them but maybe it would be better if we just all imagined him as the dark knight of housing.
For all who are interested, I just posted a recap of the morning sessions on foreclosures at raincityguide.com
Best sound bite: "The housing crisis is like Hurricane Katrina."
The Federal Reserve said all 12 of its regional bank districts reported elevated or increasing price pressures during June and July amid slower economic growth.
Five of the districts indicated a weakening or softening in their economies and consumer spending was sluggish or slowing in every region, the central bank said yesterday in its economic survey, known as the Beige Book for the color of its cover.
More than 17,000 Northern San Joaquin Valley homes have been lost to foreclosure during the past year, data released Tuesday shows.
The number of homes repossessed by lenders continues to skyrocket in Stanislaus, San Joaquin and Merced counties, according to DataQuick Information Systems.
This April, May and June, for instance, 2,207 homes were foreclosed on in Stanislaus, pushing the county's one-year total to 5,554.
Last night at Sam Sadats meeting I heard Nick Manfredi explain in detail about the new law that makes banks contact a homeowner in pre-foreclosure and try and do a work out or rather due diligence (whatever that means) 30 days before they file the NOD. Additionally, banks that are holding REOs are now required by law to maintain the property or risk being fined a $1000 a day. Good for investors, bad for banks. To me this means that getting short sales accepted or doing loan modification is going to be a lot easier.
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) California is facing an unprecedented threat to its state economy and local economies because of skyrocketing residential
property foreclosure rates in California. Residential property foreclosures increased sevenfold from 2006 to 2007. In 2007, more
than 84,375 properties were lost to foreclosure in California, and 254,824 loans went into default, the first step in the foreclosure process.
DCRogers writes:
Since the mandate of the FDIC is to prevent bank runs, they're looking pretty foolish at how they let IndyMac Bank turn into a PR disaster... a few FEMA emergency-funds RVs packed with $50 bills would have been worth millions towards avoiding negative media coverage. I mean, free lawn chairs? They should have opened a temporary warehouse to get those people off the street, and helped within an hour.
Better yet, they should have stuck them on a foreclosure bus tour, kill two birds with one stone: "...see that one? That's where your money is"
Re: -In conjunction with the downgrade of Wachovia Corporation's (Wachovia) Issuer Default Rating (IDR) and senior debt ratings to 'A+' from 'AA-', Fitch Ratings has downgraded 72 bonds backed by Wachovia letters of credit (LOCs).
Most of the downgrades are to 'A+' from 'AA-' reflecting the credit substitution of Wachovia, but certain bonds are downgraded to 'AA' from 'AA+', considering the joint probability of the failure of both a rated municipal obligor and a bank LOC provider.
Florida State Board of Administration USD187,500 Public D.B. US / Active
USD12,170 Unknown The fund directed to issue an RFP for investment management
Fixed-Income firms to manage the Local Government Investment Pool for approximately USD10.17 billion for its high-quality investment fund and USD2 billion in default or under financial distress
Why do people think Tbills are so safe? Honest question
The US is far, far, far from bankruptcy, we only think we are since that is what the wealthy people who control our mass media wish us to believe.
Given the return of Clinton-era taxation, that which he inherited from "Read My Lips" G HW B, re could get our fiscal house back in order to some great extent.
(Paid medicare services and drug bennies to the baby boomers are the elephant in the room that is going to require more than tax levies to solve)
Obviously, any US citizen buying t bonds isn't being taxed enough. Obviously. . .
...based upon a preliminary evaluation of last quarter, it would not be in compliance with its financial covenants. The two covenants at issue are the leverage ratio or net debt to EBITDA covenant, and the interest coverage or EBITDA to interest covenant. On Thursday the company's term loan was trading in the 90-91 context; it had been trading at the 95 level in June.
The company said it was engaged in negotiations with its lenders regarding a possible amendment, including a waiver of Masonite's non-compliance
Yell Group plc financial report for the three months ended 30 June 2008 UK-Wire
In what remains a very challenging economic and commercial environment, Yell has performed strongly, delivering increased revenues, earnings and cash.
Net debt at 30 June 2008 was 4.9 times annualised adjusted EBITDA (4.7 times at consistent exchange rates) compared with 5.1 times annualised adjusted EBITDA at 31 March 2008 (4.9 times at consistent exchange rates). The movement in net debt is explained in note 15 on page 22. Based on our credit facility's criteria and definitions, the headroom on our net debt to EBITDA covenant was 13% and net EBITDA to net cash interest covenant was 18% at 30 June 2008.
We remain within the terms of our banking covenants. However, in light of current market conditions and to protect against the risk of further deterioration, we have agreed an amendment to the terms of the revolving credit facility with our banks. This includes suspending the covenant based on net interest in relation to EBITA, which we believe is not appropriate in current market conditions, in favour of one based on operating cash flow, reflecting our ability to generate cash. This amendment is conditional on the Company raising additional equity.
In light of the lack of clarity as to the pricing of the placing, our 130p target
becomes baseless (it was already looking obsolete - our stance was Hold).
Target and recommendation under review, but we believe this may be at least a
short term (3 - 6 month) buying opportunity since TW has now first mover
advantage in writedowns and fundraising. Beyond then, it depends on the state
of the market.
Land and WIP is written down £660m - or 11%. We believe writing down land
has benefits - not just in non-cash accounting terms, but operationally. As well
as relieving margin pressure going forward, and giving a tax advantage, it allows
the company more flexibility in the market, in our view. We believe other
housebuilders will follow suit: the question is who will be more realistic and who
will remain in denial.
Price target has been based on 2007 tangible net assets less 25% reduction in
gross inventories. We believe further land writedowns may be neccessary - but
potentially not in aggregate as much as 25% - and do not know what the new
dilution will be. Lest any confusion emerges, we remain bearish of the the
market. But, intuitively, TW - which is now battle-hardened from the US - has
more than its rivals grasped the nettle.
OK, I am going to risk being unpopular and take the "under" on this bailout thingy.
I don't like giving a trillion dollars of extra spending authority to a bunch of guys who should be in jail in the Hague, but if they don't decide to use it immediately to invade Iran all that extra PPT ammo will probably stop the short-term run on Fannie and Freddie. If the government gets reasonable value in stock or options in return for whatever aid they provide, it won't be that much different in principle from the Chrysler bailout.
It does not appear to me that the consumer provisions will do much to prevent the adjustment of housing prices here in Phoenix and similar locales. Maybe we will have a few good mortgage modifications in Cleveland or maybe not. I look forward to Tanta's evaluation of the details.
Any additional regulation of Too-Big-To-Fail financial institutions is a good start, IMO. You can't blame the current congress for a situation that goes back to the Johnson administration and further. Although you can blame Clinton for appointing Wall Street sharpies and Bush for appointing horse-lawyer Brownies as regulators. If we elect Obama maybe he will appoint competent regulators. If we don't, maybe it will at least give the crooks an incentive not to become too big to fail.
This isn't going to bring an end to the Republic. Television is going to bring an end to the Republic.
Why do people think Tbills are so safe? Honest question.
waitinginPNW
It's about De Nial. People ford a river and think they've arrived on terra firma without realizing they've only crossed a small tributary and the swamp is rising.
"The misinformation that came out over the weekend fed a lot of depositors' fears."
Misinformation can only exist when a lack of information creates a vacuum. We are closing in on 200 comments here, the SF article has no comments and Blair chooses not to reveal the secret 90 troubled banks. Blair's problem isn't with bloggers her problem is with the paradigm where bloggers are more credible than she.
Control of information leads to... Well, let's just say leads to Godwin's law being invoked.
To be fair Blair isn't really trying to control the flow of information. She's just used to information asymmetry which in the past has allowed the FDIC and brethren to do their job more easily. Tough, times change. Now even the lowest cretins such as I can look at real time indicators and successfully identify troubled banks. Now that WaMu is visibly wobbly the FDIC is left with a tough decision. They'd prefer anything but a takeover seeing as that one event alone appears likely to wipe out half the insurance pool and tie up a similar fraction of employees but it might be too late if instead they reorganize the likes of Downey and National City first. Bank triage of that sort depends upon information asymmetry.
Downey Replaces Chief Executive, Says to Explore `Alternatives'
By Steve Dickson
July 24 (Bloomberg) -- Downey Financial Corp., the California savings and loan that's lost 91 percent of its market value this year, replaced Chief Executive Officer Daniel Rosenthal and said it's exploring ``strategic alternatives.''
Downey's net loss for the second quarter was $218.9 million, or $7.86, compared with net income of $32.7 million, or $1.17, in the same period a year earlier, the Newport Beach, California- based company said today in a statement.
Heck, if you were 83 years old and 50 plus years in the business and Chair of a company [DSL] that went from 35 six months ago to 3 wouldn't you walk away?
See anything wrong with this picture? We have been hearing from the far-left for more than five years how, Bush lied. Somehow, that slogan loses its credibility now that 550 metric tons of Saddams yellowcake
What I see wrong with this picture is that someone still thinks this somehow justifies the Iraq Experience. The cost is measured in imperial reach foregone and policy focus captured, which appears to be roughly "all of it" in both cases.
Yes, the war has had every justification that could easily be seized and set to the labor. If this is the one flag among the many deployed that you wish to seize and proudly raise atop the shitpile that is Iraq, you are welcome to it.
God Bless America. I expect widespread rejoicing will not be forthcoming.
Sheila Bair is welcome to come shut me up for the good of the Republic. "We don't want to stifle your freedom, we just want you to be responsible, meaning agreeable to our agenda, or at least not so timely you move markets we're trying to manipulate." Whatever. You suck at your job but you're not alone.
This is how Confucian criticism works, shutting me up will just draw a line under what I'm saying. Bring it on.
Shiela Blair does need to pay attention to the blogosphere. She needs to recognize that any corners the FDIC tries to cut will be reported instantly and reverberated widely. These corners will cause people to lose confidence in FDIC and run on banks.
I've told you that bank employees all over the U.S. are telling elderly people that they can expand FDIC coverage just by changing the names of beneficiaries. In many cases, this information is wrong. The FDIC needs to take timely action to correct disinformation of this type.
Two nights ago, I posted here a message that I received from a lady who had two deposit accounts with Indymac for about $100,000 each. One account was for corp. cash and was fully covered. The other was for a defined contribution plan with 8 employees, and she was told it had to be combined with the cash account and was not fully covered.
The FDIC needs to correct this kind of disinformation. A properly titled and structured defined contribution plan (non-participant-directed) deposit account has "pass through" status under FDIC and Federal Reserve and is regulations and is protected for up to $100,000 PER PARTICIPANT.
Take care of your own house, FDIC, and the blogosphere will treat you with respect. Right now, Shiela's house is in disarray. She's trying to shift the blame.
The yellowcake that was recently removed from Iraq was actually legally obtained during the eighties and impounded after the 1991 Gulf War. At that time it was put under IAEA seal. Yellowcake is a long, long way from being enriched weapon's grade uranium.
When the UN inspecters came back in 2002 they found the seals had not been removed.
In fact this yellowcake that already existed in Iraq shows how stupid the lies were about Saddam needing going to Niger to get even more yellowcake. He had tons and tons of the stuff, with only a UN seal, and a total lack of any means of enriching uranium, standing between him and a nuclear arsenal.
"The blogs were a bit out of control," Sheila Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., told the San Francisco Business Times after a speech in San Francisco this week.
SO WHAT, Sheila! Everybody knows the blogosphere is just a bunch of dirty effing hippies. Since when does Government policy revolve around the ramblings of DFPs?
The FDIC plans to pay closer attention to the blogosphere in the future.
Does this mean FDIC is going to lay on more staff to monitor the 'sphere? I'll join up. Work from home in my underwear, coffee and ciggies close by.
Report to Sheila: They're saying your hair is greasy. They're also saying you STINK at your job. So far they're not saying you're a stupid slut who'll say just about anything to hold on to your job. Or maybe they are, and I missed that part.
Or does "paying closer attention to the blogosphere" mean the FDIC is going divert resources from PAYING CLOSER ATTENTION TO THE BANKS IN PERILOUS CONDITION?
I hope not. That could lead to more surprises like, ummm, IndyMac?
Amen, we are indeed already a fascist state. St. Obama's FISA capitulation just shows there is no "change we can believe in" - or rather, change which exists in only a faith-based reality.
The Right in this country has always been the authoritarian threat - not the radical communist/socialist left - and they have long desired a country which looks much more like Latin America - Chile, Argentina and Mexico being ideal models - with an economic aristocracy supported by a debt-serf class comprising some 85% of the population.
For one brief moment after Scalia's commentary on Kyllo, I thought the radical right (of whom he is a chief legal enabler) might actually feel compelled to extend some protections to all of us in the service of protecting themselves, but I was pretty quickly disabused by Kelo and Hamdi. We are really pretty screwed - and most of the populace will continue to believe "it won't happen to me" until it's far, far too late.
Well, that didn't take long. I've just been recruited to monitor the Internets by someone in Sheila's office. (I can't divulge the source; it was marked "your eyes only".
Scott, I'm going to have to forward your nickname to DHS. (We're suddenly understaffed here at FDIC.)
Cutting the cost of mortgages via the U.S housing bill and rescue package for mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is the best route to recovery for the beleaguered housing market, the manager of the world's biggest bond fund said on Thursday.
Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of guys..I made a killing on Icahn's bluff with puts after he forced it up 24 with his "offer". When you do not do any DD and SAY IT you've got to just take that FWIW.
Do you really feel like T-bills are iron-clad safe?
waitinginPNW, no, I don't. I do feel that they're much safer than bank deposits because they aren't used as collateral and lent against 10:1. However, you're right that they have been chained to everything else in a hope that the combined mass is too great for anything to slide off the cliff. I wish they hadn't been, so that I'd have a good safe alternative, but that's life.
Everything might turn out okay. Who knows? That's why it's nice to be diversified, including a supply of dollars. I also feel I already have plenty of precious and base metals and oil in case Treasury or the Fed continues with the hero complex and the entire thing does, indeed, fall off the cliff in one bundle.
I'm not looking to get rich. I'm looking to preserve savings.
Rdawg-
As a physician I've had to contend with the loss of information assymetry for several years as, not unsurprisingly, people quickly appreciated that all these health care websites on the intertubez improved their ability to make informed decisions.
At first, this was a more than a little offputting as I could no longer just make recommendations using my black box authority.
So I find Bair's comments like so many of other previously opaque banking machinations decidely out of synch with what has been happening in our culture for quite a long time.
Outlier writes:
As a physician I've had to contend with the loss of information assymetry for several years...
I have the same issues in computer administration. It is decidedly the mixed bag as you note.
On the s[ecifics of your profession; as a 40yo recovering from emergency quad (two leg vein, one radial artery grafts and mammary redirect, no pump) bypass I flummox my cardiologist who is used to 78yo patients. You'll probably read about me as I am also a third generation cohort in the Framingham heart study.
LDL under 70? Jeez. Don't make it too tough or anything. There's nothing wrong with me that new ancestors wouldn't fix. It ain't the LDLs it is the HDLs of 20 (yes, twenty) that gets me.
Re: Report to Sheila: They're saying your hair is greasy. They're also saying you STINK at your job. So far they're not saying you're a stupid slut who'll say just about anything to hold on to your job. Or maybe they are, and I missed that part.
CR, look on the bright side. At least you haven't dreamed about the Justice Departments or ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) camping by the door of your residence, yet.
I mean we haven't heard about those guys in the news in a while. I don't get it how could they miss the credit crisis as opportunity to shine.
Got video??
Blogoshpere is about to get the rules changed on it!!!
The government can do whatever it wants.
Brokers need access to cash, change the rules.
Need a loan to buy a brokerage firm, change the rules.
Government debt nearing the maximum amount, change the rules.
Foreclosures not going the way the government wants, change the rules.
Stock prices too low (short sellers), change the rules.
GSE's need money, change the rules.
Oil prices to high (futures market), change the rules.
Blogs causing bank runs...change the rules!!!
Yes, blogs influence almost as much as newspapers do. This is why bloggers should exercise responsibility over their content. Sadly, most bloggers simply pass on info they glean from someone else, without bothering to verify its veracity.
Sad, really. Pretty soon, blogs are gonna be like the boy who cried wolf.
Why would anyone keep more than 100k in a possibly illiquid bank?
I think Shiela B should be emphasizing that everyone under 100k is fine.
Everyone over is not FINE.
She should not complain about bank runs when they don't need to exist- especially after soooo many folks got burned in IndyMac with accounts over 100K.
You want to avoid a bank run, then get ready to make the takeovers seamless, with depositers getting made whole without complaint.
FDIC seems to have lost some expertise in this process.
I believe they will soon get much more practice.
Someday this war's gonna end...
"Out of control?" Ohhhh out of her control. And just exactly does she think close monitoring will do? Will she find some weak blogger who didn't adequately SLAPP and IANAL and not intended as investment advice caution and hang him?
CR, what's John Williams like in real life?
CR, I still don't get the whole bit about declining cancellation rates, net, gross etc. I haven't forgotten about that one but I've been busy, and I'm sure other readers are also not yet clear on it.
I do love you
but if Tanta can do an ubernerd mini-post on that subject it would be amazing.
thanks
"The blogs were a bit out of control," Sheila Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., told the San Francisco Business Times after a speech in San Francisco this week.
I'm sure at some point the Federal Reserve will be given power over ISPs to shut down any blogs that prove and impediment to monetary actions that speed economic recovery.
"The blogs were a bit out of control," Sheila Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., told the San Francisco Business Times after a speech in San Francisco this week.
The FDIC plans to pay closer attention to the blogosphere in the future.
The bloggers are out of control ? Its Sheila who's out of control and that's why the blogosphere keeps an eye on her.
Jeez.
-K
Sheila was at the Dollar store today in Tyson's Corner buying dollar shampoo to wash that greasy hair. That hair is a bit out of control!
That FDIC is a bit out of control!
That Bush is a bit out of control!
That Paulson is a bit out of control!
That Fed is way out of control!
From Townhall.com:
On July 5, 2008, the Associated Press (AP) released a story titled: Secret U.S. mission hauls uranium from Iraq. The opening paragraph is as follows:
The last major remnant of Saddam Husseins nuclear program a huge stockpile of concentrated natural uranium reached a Canadian port Saturday to complete a secret U.S. operation that included a two week airlift from Baghdad and a ship voyage crossing two oceans.
See anything wrong with this picture? We have been hearing from the far-left for more than five years how, Bush lied. Somehow, that slogan loses its credibility now that 550 metric tons of Saddams yellowcake, used for nuclear weapon enrichment, has been discovered and shipped to Canada for its new use as nuclear energy.
It appears that American troops found the 550 metric tons of uranium in 2003 after invading Iraq. They had to sit on this information and the uranium itself, for fear of terrorists attempting to steal it. It was guarded and kept safe by our military in a 23,000-acre site with large sand beams surrounding the site.
What the heck! The FDIC has time/effort to worry about a few blogs.
Hey! Try monitoring some banks for a change.
SO, CR. what exactly does crow fed thinly sliced bull laid out to dry taste like?
Enjoy this or cry. Audio.
Contrary Investors Cafe, Daily Wrap
"The FDIC plans to pay closer attention to the blogosphere in the future"
What, nothing else productive for them to do with limited resources? IMB surprised them. Which bank is the next surprise going to be ?
Yeah,
This fiasco keeps getting weirder and weirder. The fact that Ms. Bair cites bloggers and insinuates that they've somehow fanned the flames of the crisis is absurd. Desperate, even.
Naturally, bloggers trying to help others keep their savings from money heaven are the real problem.
Who not to blame? Certainly not recklessly leveraged banks who destroyed their lending standards, subverted G. Steagall with off-balance sheet SIVs and are now choking on their own filth.
Don't blame Congress & the B. administration who are now dashing off a massive check from our children to prolong the correction, bailout said corrupt banks, and eventually tank the dollar.
Yep. Bloggers created this mess in its entirety and they should all be censored and replaced with message boards about rainbows & kittens.
When the FDIC starts blaming BLOGS for bank-runs, it only encourages public texas ratio publishing for the countless teetering regionals.
Anyone care to oblige Ms. Bair with some examples?
The news is something someone else doesn't want you to hear.
Bloggers spread news quickly.
The FDIC plans to pay closer attention to the blogosphere in the future.
I think maybe what the FDIC means is that if it were to follow blogs more closely, it might get clues as to what's about to happen next.
So now what? In what way does Ms. Blair intend on paying closer attention to the blogospere? Sounds like a rather chilling statement to me. Next to go after naked shorts just may be free speech!
Bloggers out of control?
Are any of you US Senators spewing confidential information? Didn't think so.
Put it in perspective.
Bart Simpson: "What do you mean, the bank is out of money? Insolvent?! You only have enough cash for the next three customers?"
Teller: "I don't have your money here. It's at... Bill's house... and... Fred's house!"
Sure, blame the bloggers. Blame the short sellers. Shut down the bars where people swap stories about how much money they lost on housing.
Instead, let's all talk about the magical la-la land we live in. With la-las running around eating tasty la-la fruit. And we all have our own la-la ponies.
I nominate Sheila Bair as the future chairwoman of the Ministry of Truth.
SF Chron:
"18:22 PDT SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger plans next week to slash the pay of more than 200,000 state workers to the federal minimum of $6.55 per hour to deal with the state's budget crisis, according to a draft executive order obtained by the Chronicle today.
The governor also will order an end to overtime pay for all but critical services, a freeze on state hiring and the immediate layoff of 22,000 temporary, seasonal and student workers."
That's got to hurt discretionary spending a bit.
Oh sorry about talking you country down into the shitter, I wasn't aware that Americans weren't privy to the information.................
She really should have named blog names.
"They had to sit on this information and the uranium itself, for fear of terrorists attempting to steal it. It was guarded and kept safe by our military in a 23,000-acre site with large sand beams surrounding the site."
You believe this based on an ap story relayed through townhall.com???
Well, Bair was on CNBC a few months back asserting that most of the problems in the financials were due to short-sellers.
I'm not sure if these guys really believe this or if they're forced doctrinally into saying so.
It is quite remarkable how much more bearish foreign news reports are about the U.S. economy than their domestic counterparts.
Perhaps we should bomb them. Right, Sheila? Right?!
"The blogs were a bit out of control," Sheila Bair
The FDIC plans to pay closer attention to the blogosphere in the future.
Looks like that we are going to have fascist capitalism in this country.
I am so fu(*&^ing disgusted.
WAWAWA-
We already have em.
AAAAUUURGH~! How did you find out???
Ok, ok, Shiela! I CONFESS! It was me the whole time, me who started the runs, me who securitized the loans, me who turned a blind eye and kept the sharp lookout and...let me tell you something else...
I am glad I did it! And I would have got away with it too, if it wasn't for you meddling kidz!
I think we all should send some nasty e-mails to Sheila Bair, to re-calibrate her.
Maybe it's much, much worse than anyone thinks.
Here are a few snippets from (and a link to) Florida real estate expert and attorney Mike Morgan:
"The market that we were looking at consists of homes that start at $1.5M and run all the way up to $10M. . .Today, the numbers of these homes on the market is staggering. . .
This is a very stubborn market. These are people that still believe the value of their homes cant go down 20, 30, 40, 50%. . . .And heres the catch. Even the sellers priced
below the "market" are not getting bids."
(snip)
". . .if the short sellers push the envelope too far, buyers have the right to step in and take advantage of the bargains. But when the Federal Government, or should I say
Goldman Sachs (Paulson), take it upon themselves to change the rules, thats when you can bet Armageddon is in the cards. Over the next few weeks, we will all see
just how much more pain there is, and the bag of garbage we just threw up in the air, will come back down harder and stinkier."
Looks like that we are going to have fascist capitalism in this country.
An excellent observation. The amount of corporatist propaganda coming out of our politician's mouths is truly alarming. I'm sure it's always been bad, but this seems ridiculous.
Worries about socialism are misplaced. Instead, we seem to be steps away from fascism. Thank God we own (most of) the nukes.
Damn, Damn, this is not the United States that I immigrated to and loved so much.
Tell me this is just a nightmare and nothing more.
Wawa: I think it's a nightmare that you will awaken from only to find that reality is even worse.
El Cliffo, I'm not sure I can scrape up much admiration for Mike Morgan. I read this:
"My clients decided not to buy right now, because they believe the global markets have not finished punishing those that are sucking on helium balloons and sipping the Kool-Aid being served up by Bob Toll, Cramer, Paulson, Bernanke, Roubini et al."
and it sure looks like he doesn't know what he's talking about. He's seems to be a salesman, through and through.
If he had just stopped at Bernanke.
Did I just get more power?
gosh, We're so f*cked now.
I can't go on this evening.
Cheers,
Look at the dollar, there go the exports...........
What blogs was she talking about? Anyone know? Does she know?
Damn Billy, you are such a comfort.
Where is my Absolute Vodka, I need it now.
I know, it would be nice if she named names.
Not "blogs"
"the blogosphere"
I come around, and I go around.
CR,
Did you wear a Batman mask to hide your secret identity? Was Sheila Blair killing three deliquent borrowers every hour until you revealed yourself? Did she have to resort to blowing up a hospital?
Being out of her control is supposed to be a bad thing? God help us all if they bring blogs "under control."
...but CR has a good point. This particular blogosphere kept its head on straight. Others had posters and commenters calling the next failure. Well some commenters here were calling the next failure, but the blogger was level headed.
Rant on.the current state of affairs in the USA is critical,and those who do not believe we have already descended into Fascism should take the time to read the military commissions act,patriot 1 and 2,the analysis of the Hamdi decision at dirt rhoades scholar and the kelo decision.Freedom is gone,and so is privacy.They cost a lot of blood to gain and they were pissed away.Rant off.
Elvis,
"Did she have to resort to blowing up a hospital?"
Sheila and the Joker are the same. The Joker has principals.
Cheers,
Yes. Good blogospheres have nothing to worry about. Only the bad ones will be punished.
"The Joker has principals."
Does he have students and teachers, too?
"Kung Fu Panda writes:
From Townhall.com:
On July 5, 2008, the Associated Press (AP) released a story titled: Secret U.S. mission hauls uranium from Iraq. The opening paragraph is as follows:
The last major remnant of Saddam Husseins nuclear program a huge stockpile of concentrated natural uranium reached a Canadian port Saturday to complete a secret U.S. operation that included a two week airlift from Baghdad and a ship voyage crossing two oceans. "
Panda, this was 1.8 tons of yellowcake uranium that had been in Iraq since the late 70's/early 80's, purchased from Portugal and Niger and was frequently inspected and documented after the First Gulf War by the IAEA... the facility that housed it was stumbled upon in 2003 by the USMC, who broke the seals and subsequently abandoned it until a Pentagon team arrived a month later to find it looted.... it was not weapons grade uranium, that requires sophisticated refining, but nonetheless some of the stockpile was taken, by God knows who.
the new Iraqi government sold the old uranium stock to a Canadian uranium producer. in other words, non-story. but a nice try to save an otherwise fully discredited reason for going into Iraq.
for more info:
Baghdad Nuclear Research Facility - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Time to flood the English-speaking world with the CV.
Hello, Singapore? You there?
Hong Kong? Ni Hao?
Elvis,
He might. I rather liked him in Dark Knight.
Might explain a thing or two.
Cheers,
ah, Clownhall, fine purveyors of bullshit since 1995.
You can hide out in Canada for a while...Oh! wait! they are getting to the Iraq deserters now so boogers will be next...our child prisoners in gitmo say it is not a very nice place.
Good job nunya, I was about to post the same response to KFPanda about the 35 year old yellow cake.
Sheila-
You are on the rag because people have found a way around the sanitized MSM of Amerika? Well, tough shit.
There are some wackos online, to be sure, but I know I dismiss them. If you can't stand the new world of the internet, then I can say that I can't stand the new world of hedge funds, CDO squareds, derivatives, credit default swaps and all the other crap foisted on our financial system by hucksters while all of you stood around with your thumbs up your asses.
Go to hell. And, by the way, Suave is usually only 88 cents on sale. Go buy a bottle.
Looking back, I guess we were one of the voices of reason. I couldn't find lines at any other banks ... and as far as can tell, reports of lines at other banks (other than IndayMac) were inaccurate. - CR
Something we should all work on before the next one... less reason, more cowbell. Lots more cowbell.
bloggers not boogers...
Took a long time to post, big brother is watching?
Maybe Sheila should have read the blogs BEFORE the crisis started. Maybe then she wouldn't have to whine, complain and blame evil bloggers.
took a long time to post, big brother is watching?
Canadian watching with popcorn | 07.23.08 - 10:44 pm |
probably. let them....maybe they might learn something as they are all dolts.
dryfly,
Here ya go bud:
YouTube -
Cheers,
Bank run at the FDIC!!!
Get your money out!!! Bank run!!!!
Run, get your money out of America!!!!
Currency run!!!
Get your money out of FDIC!!!!
Hey pretty soon the government will get authority to shut you up if you aren't happy and upbeat enough. Pessimism is outlawed. "Roubini arrested"? LOL
Canadian, Omnivore is always absorbing.
But hey, the biggest problem is that events are starting to blast out of the administration's control. Now that has Shiela B. totally terrified.
It should be sending Hank to his secret GS control room BatCave over in Joisey to begin to figure out what will survive.
At this point, I have no idea what the next shoe to drop will be, and the administration has no idea either.
someday this war's gonna end...
Don't drink the water!!!!!!
Thanks Misean - I knew I could count on you.
Kung Fu Panda
This was already know about by IAEA, is not weapons grade. If it were true the Bush administration would be advertising the fact.
Don't trust your media, question everything..
BBC NEWS | Middle East | Missing Iraq uranium 'secured'
More grumblings from Uncle Ivan...er Sam. Accusations against Chuck Shumer didn't stick so they are looking for someone else to blame. I love how the FDIC keeps blaming everyone else but the FDIC for IndyMac's failure.
That FDIC is a bit out of control!
That Bush is a bit out of control!
That Paulson is a bit out of control!
That Fed is way out of control!
It's scary how the most prominent people in the US today can't even orally work their way through a single sentence in the English language.
KFP: I put some of the technical details at Warren Strobel's place. You are free to click through to my place to get some idea whether I am technically credible on issues of nuclear physics.
When you sit down and do the numbers, the radiological threat from the yellowcake is likely roughly equivalent to that from a large transoceanic shipment of bananas.
/OT
Can we haz housing now?
Suecris--I thought it very odd about Roubini in Morgan's post, but Roubini has of late been insistent that this is not going to be a Great Depression-sized event. That may be why Morgan lumped him in.
CR--did you use your real name, or did you go the Digby route and make everyone refer to you as "Mr. Risk"?
In the next few weeks we will log on to Calculated Risk and get the following message on an otherwise blank screen.
"The Calculated Blogsptot has been discontinued due to disruptions in the housing and financial markets. Please tune in to your local network news station for further information." S. Bair
Hey Sheila! How come WAMU got exiled from survivor island today?
If Sheila tries to shut CR down I will host the site down here, in my bunker, at the other end of the earth.
/tinfoil hat adjustment>
Don't drink the water!!!!!!
Canadian watching with popcorn | 07.23.08 - 10:52 pm |
YouTube -
I haven't heard anyone come up with a use for this new fearsome regulator. Can anyone offer an explanation? I can't come up with anything under these circumstances.
Thanks Andy! I got goosebumps from the very thought of CR being down...it's bad enough when haloscan hiccups!
I guess they don't get blogs too well.
Uh, Sheila, you have to go to a blog, it doesn't come to you like the evening news or the daily paper.
Anyone reading the blogs already were long gone from those banks or were under the 100k limit.
Blogs are frequented by the informed.
Unjustified bank runs are caused by the uniformed.
Why don't you spend whatever time you have to read blogs, talking to loudmouth politicians instead. As far as I know, blogs were unsuccessful at causing any bank runs.
Bogey man hunting.
"Bogey man hunting."
Why are they hunting David Duval?
Sheila Bair would love our local Real Estate columnist in santa rosa if she read his stuff.Betcha she'd give him a Hummer if I sent her a link...anyone got her address?
Turning and turning in the widening gyre
The falcon cannot hear the falconer;
Things fall apart; the center cannot hold;
Mere anarchy is loosed upon the world,
The blood-dimmed tide is loosed, and everywhere
The ceremony of innocence is drowned;
The best lack all conviction, while the worst
Are full of passionate intensity.
Surely some revelation is at hand;
Surely the Second Coming is at hand.
The Second Coming! Hardly are those words out
When a vast image out of Spiritus Mundi
Troubles my sight: somewhere in sands of the desert
A shape with lion body and the head of a man,
A gaze blank and pitiless as the sun,
Is moving its slow thighs, while all about it
Reel shadows of the indignant desert birds.
The darkness drops again; but now I know
That twenty centuries of stony sleep
Were vexed to nightmare by a rocking cradle,
And what rough beast, its hour come round at last,
Slouches towards Bethlehem to be born?
Oh,that Hummer? I mean the kind people live in.
Oh, yeah, aleister, how about this one:
Fleas
Adam
Had'em
Hey, wrecking the economy with panicky rumors is your patriotic duty. Economic dislocation minimizes the chance that the Republican falange will be able to perpetuate its rule. Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go email some old ladies and send them doddering off to wait in line at the bank. I got this terrifying fabricated warning and I'm going to append it to an email that says Obama's a Marxist Muslim radical Commie black panther gangbanger Jew.
dryfly,
Anytime man...
Cheers,
Talk about kicking a gift horse in the teeth...
[In addition, homebuyers who purchase a property with an FHA loan will no longer be able to receive financial assistance from the sellers. The bill closes a loophole that let sellers channel money to buyers through charities.
While critics say defaults from these no-money down loans are rising to such an extent that they threaten to put taxpayers on the hook, supporters say many borrowers with good credit but without enough money saved up for a down payment will be locked out of the market.
"That's going to cause a lot of people not to be able to buy a house," said Mike Davis, a Realtor in West Des Moines, Iowa. "That's really going to hurt."]
I got this terrifying fabricated warning and I'm going to append it to an email that says Obama's a Marxist Muslim radical Commie black panther gangbanger Jew.
pangloss | 07.23.08 - 11:23 pm | #
Old news. Townhall had that up last week.
Who does Bair think she is? Hasn't this clown ever heard of the First Amendment? Why would anyone listen to her? She will say whatever she has to say to protect whichever banks Paulson tells her to protect.
ac-
Read the Patriot act in full and you'll see they ALREADY have that authority. Under the section enemy combatants. Remember the health of the stock market has been deemed in the interest of national security.
Remember that little bill a few weeks ago that gave the telco's immunity.....
Sort of passed thorough with barely a whimper from anyone.
That's coming soon to a computer near you.
Ciao
MS
" got this terrifying fabricated warning and I'm going to append it to an email that says Obama's a Marxist Muslim radical Commie black panther gangbanger Jew"
Really? Forward me the email. I know a few people that I would love to share it with.
Many US banks have been accused of unwittingly allowing their online customers to take risks with their passwords and other sensitive account information.
University of Michigan researchers have found design flaws in 76% of the 214 US financial institution websites they studied, leaving customers vulnerable to fraud.
The researchers found that many banks silently redirect users to third-party sites, place signs on their web sites which falsely claim they are secure, and improperly use Social Security numbers or e-mail addresses, putting users at risk.
US banks place online customers in danger
Hey Shela! While your sniffing around here trying to get a clue could you check on this.
yeah, it's gonna spread like wildfire.
IA,the first amendment only applies in"Freedom Zones".The closest one to you is Gitmo,didn't you read the secret signing statement?
Independent Accountant,
"Why would anyone listen to her?"
I dunno...
She's a gov't official that can ignore the Constitution...and get away with it.
Might be a factor.
Cheers,
Misean
Nice tinfoil hat BTW...
andy in NZ,
Cheers,
Foreclosure Map: Bay Area's Hardest Hit ZIPs
See San Francisco on that map. No, you don't. Only the bad hoods are hurting. Same as it ever was: Location, Location, Location.
Uh oh. CR in the house!
If you are in SF for a couple of days, you should eat at La Taqueria - La Taqueria - Mission - San Francisco, CA
If you like expensive food, the ferry building is good.
Stay out of the TL.
Chef and the Butler in South Park for the French cafe food. Best Croque Monsieur - get the tomato.
Walk down Valencia & 16th-24th to experience The Great San Francisco Housing Bubble via retail hipster-style.
Go down to the ball park to experience the condos sprouting like mushrooms after an early spring rain.
Stay out of the hip restaurants in marginal areas (like emeryville/west oakland). Patrons are being robbed at gun point.
Speakers | Real Estate and Technology News for Agents, Brokers and Investors | Inman News
Here are the speakersat inman 2008. Don't get to excited, CR doesn't have a picture.
Oh dear:
A US woman shot herself shortly after faxing a letter to her mortgage company saying that, by the time it foreclosed on her house, she would be dead.
Police said 53-year-old mother Carlene Balderrama used her husband's high-powered rifle to kill herself shortly after faxing the letter at 2.30pm (4.30am AEST) on Wednesday.
Her husband had petitioned unsuccessfully for bankruptcy three times.
The mortgage company phoned police in Taunton, Massachusetts, who found Mrs Balderrama's body an hour later.
The auction was scheduled to start at 5pm and interested buyers arrived at the property while her body was still inside, Taunton police chief Raymond O'Berg said.
Owner shoots herself after foreclosure - World - smh.com.au
oh dear, oh dear =(
How Goldman Sachs took over the world -
Business Analysis & Features, Business - The Independent
Your new boss
Here are some San Francisco foreclosures, even one in Pacific Heights (94115).
Are we getting a Blog Czar? The FDIC would be better off worrying about their reserves.
AT&T: Not that it's a problem. It's not. The FDIC is in good shape and I approve of the job the President is doing.
Rent this DVD
"the End of Suburbia"
If you follow Kunstler you may already know it. Shockingly accurate even for almost 5 years ago. The only thing it doesn't touch on is the banking situation however that's just another piece of the puzzle
Just rent it.....
Ciao
MS
Sheila Bair can suck my fat one.
"The FDIC plans to pay closer attention to the blogosphere in the future."
What is that statement supposed to mean? Listen you ugly greasy-haired bitch -- do your fuckin' job and leave the blogging to us.
Incidentally, I happen to think Downey is next on the collapse list, or maybe WaMu. I keep hearing rumors about bank runs at both of those institutions. If I had an account there, I would get my money out TODAY.
There, Sheila. Now come and get me, bitch.
Anon: not just the banks. Every networked computer in the world is currently exposed to a flaw in the way DNS works. Some security company had the specifics of the exploit and now pretty much everyone is vulnerable to redirects to malicious websites. (That's probably why we end up back here so frequently). No joke though. It's estimated that it will take a year to get all the dns servers up to speed, and that very few are currently patched sufficiently.
"The FDIC plans to pay closer attention to the blogosphere in the future."
This, of course, bothers me more than anything else.
What to say except "Fuck You!"
I'm gonna go drink some more...and pass out watching Myth Busters.
This is shit!
Talk to you all manana...
Cheers,
"The FDIC plans to pay closer attention to the blogosphere in the future."
Well, that's the warning shot. I do feel better that Andy in NZ is on board. Does tend to confirm that the corporate media is toeing the admin line...that the "news" is being packaged and managed by the bush team.
"Sheila Bair can suck my fat one."
HOW FAT IS IT!
I cant know and certainly dont hope that conditions become as bad as they did during the 1930s, but rational people did some amazing things back then, such as allow the government to force the trade of publicly held gold for government paper. Voters allowed this because they were angry and scared and thought that it would help their predicament. Will voters become so scared that they will allow the government to silence bloggers who incite bank runs? Walk into a crowded theater and yell FIRE. You will shortly discover that free speech has limits. Desperate times call forth desperate measures.
Paul:
Plus I think there's some common sense involved. If you're on a goofball blog and you mouth off, you don't expect to cause much damage. If you're on something like CR, or a blog attached to a national newspaper, you need to watch yourself more carefully.
Panda- "Somehow, that slogan loses its credibility now that 550 metric tons of Saddams yellowcake, used for nuclear weapon enrichment, has been discovered..."
Yellowcake. Yellowcake? Jesus, can't you do better than that? That's 18-year-old news.
"Desperate times call forth desperate measures."
She's just a little pissed that Schumer got to call IMB insolvent before her. That was her job, so she's a little emotional about it.
so then our banking system is a-ok, and strong, rock-solid even...unless those terrorists^Wbloggers say something mean and nasty, and then the whole thing is gonna collapse?
gee, that sounds like an amazingly well-stacked house of cards.
Whatevs...
I lost money when I bought puts on Indymac 3 or 4 years ago (can't remember which... ) in spite of Indymac's deteriorating fundamentals
The only reason I bought the puts in IMB (was NDE) in the first place was informaton that I had gleaned from the blogosphere: IMB's out of control construction loans and ALT-A loan portfolio.
You win some and you lose some. The bearish bloggers have been right for ages. FDIC should have been reading years ago.
There is no need to use the banks at all.
YouTube - Checkmate
"The blogs were a bit out of control," Sheila Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., told the San Francisco Business Times after a speech in San Francisco this week.
If CR was dressed as Batman, was Tanta in the audience dressed as Catwoman?
I have read on these out-of-control blogs that G-M- calls T- 'a catty woman'; same thing?
Hey Paul N:
The gold confiscations pale compared to the bundled twigs of italy, the grey goosesteppers of Germany, and the aspiring samurais of Japan. All exploited the systemic frailty of other land, the intense unemployment and idled manpower, fed their need to acquire by conquer as their means of internal production had been decimated. I worry less about financial systemic meltdown than the insane multinational schismatic warring that could occur. Sengoku Jidai times 10.
Corn Rises First Time in Six Days as Steep Falls Seen Excessive
Corn Rises First Day in Six as Steep Declines Seen Excessive - Bloomberg.com
Shela is cornholiod, she will be assimilated.
Sheila: Your not so thinly-veiled threat has inspired me to carry my camera 24/7, and to be the first in my area to publicize, as widely as I can on the internet, any local withdrawal lines or disturbances at neighborhood branch banks.
In my role as a defender against those who would interfere with free speech, I declare you to be a Person of Interest, and the FDIC to be an Agency of Interest.
Maybe "the greasy hair'd" ms Sheila is hoping to obtain some cutting edge info versus going to the mailbox after work for her news?
66 Visitors Online
That aint worth my time and it aint worth Sheilas time either! WTF, where is the tribe? It seems they get into jammies very early these days, then get tucked in before dark...WTF!
Oh Kona you got a hat tip from the byz, congrats!
Uncle Billy,
You know your shit, WTF is going on in refgard to this threat to constitutional free speech and the fact that people like myself like to read about Ms Sheils and see insults regarding her appearance and lack of intelligence, integrity and issues relating to her part in collusion and corruption? Why the fuck does she care what bloggers think about her or The FDIC and the job they fail to do? I just don't get this anymore and feel kinda sad and .... sitting here, wondering, wondering why, why, did she say this??
OT: Countrywide Insurance Services is soliciting auto insurance business in Michigan...got a postcard in the mail, "Save up to 20% on auto insurance!" with an 800 number but no web site link
Re: "Oh Kona you got a hat tip from the byz, congrats!"
WTF does that mean? I'm gone all day and then get a puzzle like this tossed at me from some insane blogger that may be here with the intent to destroy the world -- destroy me and smash the essence of pure thoughts into disorganized fragments that will be banished like Siberian Huskies who have lost races they should have Fuc-king won! WTF is going on here anyway?
Is Sheila still using AOL?
Ah...Countrywide...a name you can trust....
Better get on that 20% savings lickety split, anon.
destroy me and smash the essence of pure thoughts into disorganized fragments
Well, aside from the other disorganized fragments, I think it's the impure thoughts that are gonna get you in trouble.
Did any of you actually go to the Inman link? Not only did CR and Tanta not have a photo, but the reviews at the CR hyperlink included,
"Some of the commentary can be a slog, but no other site offers this level of analysis." Business Week
People can be so cruel.
I get all my financial advice from my financial adviser, Currently Smoking Cannabis.
On a serious note, these comments from Ms. Bair inspired a chill of lack of confidence in our banking system in me.
Admittedly, it's been shakey for a couple of months now.
But this was the first time I seriously considered removing all $$ from the bank.
Very very very wierd thing for her to say.
Something else important: It was on the BLOGS that it was pointed out repeatedly how supremely stupid it was for people to be lining up to get their money out AFTER the FDIC took IMB over.
Didn't hear that kind of clear-headed comment from MSM coverage now did we?
Sheila can put FFDIC back on her payroll to monitor this blog 24/7. He is constantly on anyway.
"Some of the commentary can be a slog, but no other site offers this level of analysis." Business Week
They must have gotten stuck in one of those ipodius, Sebastian, barely, MS, Jas Jain "who you calling an idiot" loops
I see ipodius, barely, and MS, but did Sebastian and Jas Jain skulk away? Will they be at the holiday blog party?
Since the mandate of the FDIC is to prevent bank runs, they're looking pretty foolish at how they let IndyMac Bank turn into a PR disaster... a few FEMA emergency-funds RVs packed with $50 bills would have been worth millions towards avoiding negative media coverage. I mean, free lawn chairs? They should have opened a temporary warehouse to get those people off the street, and helped within an hour. That would have done more to preempt future bank runs than any jaw-boning against the blogs.
Not that anyone asked me, of course. (Sheila, are you listening?)
holiday blog party?????
What?
I'll beat this dead horse one more time:
Please call your Senators in the AM about the Housing/Fannie&Freddie Bailout bill.
If they're Democrats, chances are slim they'll vote "nay" BUT what the heck, it's a free call. At the very least, you can request that they not vote to stop a fillibuster should a brave Republican step up to do that.
I mean come on, somebody's got to at least READ this bill before it gets passed and clearly, none of the House got to read the full 700pp. before they passed it today.
FREE CALL to Capitol Hill Switchboard, tell the nice lady who answers what state you're calling from and she'll connect you with your Senators' offices.
1-877-851-6437
1-800-828-0498
1-866-340-9281
1-866-338-1015
1-866-220-0044
But this was the first time I seriously considered removing all $$ from the bank.
It was a surreal moment for me, but I've already done this myself. After seriously considering what a WaMu/Wachovia/etc. failure would mean for FDIC reserves and the equity/Texas ratios for my institution, I no longer felt safe. Writing "I no longer have faith in the FDIC's ability to insure assets" on paper is a much more sobering experience than typing it, for reasons I don't understand myself.
The tellers were wonderful folks and very cordial through the entire process. I'll certainly maintain my account with them, but with a skeletal balance. The rest goes into T-bills and other short-term sovereign debt since I've got plenty in other safe assets already, and this is my rainy day fund.
Good luck, Sheila. You're fighting the good fight; you have ample resources and support; and the preponderance of history is on your side. I wish you well, and now I sleep better at night. When this turmoil ends, you'll be able to sleep well too.
Kona, I knew that would get your attention. I'm testing the power of rumour. A single mention won't work, but if we keep it up every couple of days soon there will be many waiting eagerly for the holiday blog party (which should be hosted on the West Coast, for convenience).
We can discuss home grown produce, composting, chicken sexing... all the fun stuff.
Now let's have some fun and watch Sheila show up at the blog party in December.
You seem feisty tonight.
Oh, I might add, if your Senator's a Dem. who would like to vote "Nay", they will be needing all the moral support they can get - so don't hold back! Give 'em a call, just in case!
Kona- Kalm down! sheesh!
The Epic Of The Fall
The De-Paving of America - Asphalt Prices Handicap Efforts At Infrastructure Renewal \tJul. 22nd, 2008 @ 08:50 am
From "Kona Tax Attack" on Calculated Risk, file under my "re-growth of 'improved surface' paving class in my county"
btw, you're welcome.
Anonymous: Do I know you as byzantine ruins from another blog?
Re: "You seem feisty tonight"
Yah, I ate some protein and the hormones are pumping me up, which is too bad because I have no where to go and nothing to attack -- yet; maybe it's too late? I feel so guilty being a blogger and being part of a culture that is under suspicion. Maybe the ol' girl just does want to have better news connections and her comments (like many before) have been mis-interpreted? Oui?
dk- Do you really feel like T-bills are iron-clad safe?
Perhaps I don't understand the concept, but they seem shakier than anything to me at the moment, what with all the crap that's going in and out of Treasury.
Why do people think Tbills are so safe? Honest question.
OK Yosarrian, who's the slogger?
Bush comments on a subject he actually knows something about:
Bush says Wall Street got drunk
In a video recording that emerged on Tuesday, Mr Bush questioned how long Wall Street banks would remain sober and not try to do all these fancy financial instruments.
The recording was obtained by an ABC outlet in Houston and filmed even after the president apparently asked for cameras to be turned off.
Theres no question about it. Wall Street got drunk - thats one of the reasons I asked you to turn off the TV cameras - it got drunk and now its got a hangover. The question is how long will it sober up and not try to do all these fancy financial instruments.
Sheila don't surf.
byz post here anonymously and miss the chance to link to the byz blog, LOL! you're kidding right?
"Feeling feisty and have nowhere to go and nothing to attack"..
Kona, call your Senator. Some have answering machines that may be working at night.
Left a message on one myself today.
No. Does byz post as byz? Haven't seen that.
often, from this morning:
HaloScan.com - Comments
oops, yesterday morning
Wait!!!!!...35 year old yellow cake? I thought only fruit cake had that sort of shelf life. Did ANYONE check the "born on date" of the containers?
old trader
Kona, call your Senator,
I tried calling some of these fools, but what good does it do? Perhaps the best way to help them, is to ridicule them and bust them for being corrupt and in most cases, simply doing nothing.
I tried to get some press people fired up about The Pension Protection Act last year, but it comes down to who you are and how well your connected, i.e, the press waits for figures of authority whom have credentials, versus tapping into these wild blogs that are stuffed full of insane people that are obsessed with billions of chaotic topics (like this).
Nonetheless, these blogs may offer a way to connect people to Senators, but it does take numbers. One idea I had, a few months ago, was to suggest that people just go to the web page of a senator and thus send a traffic message in terms of increasing daily webpage hits; that idea was the week after the Bear Stearns bailout, and I suggested hitting on The Senate Banking page or something like that -- to no avail, I might add!
I agree that people need to keep trying, but the only tool in this game is to threaten those in power with loss of power, i.e, the threat to vote them out, the action to do so, the surge of a united voice that collectively tells them to get screwed...
""Leftys Liquors writes:
OK Yosarrian, who's the slogger?""
Well, like others here, I'm guessing that Business Week caught some of our late night commentaries about .. well, odd topics...
Like 'yellowcake'... jeebus, my Dad's old Bulova is more radioactive than a pound of that stuff.
WMDs, indeed.
Re: Kona- Kalm down! sheesh!
I am deeply appreciative (I think) that my asphalt news has been connected to places beyond these prison walls, where the streets have no name:
YouTube - U2 - Where The Street Have No Name (Rattle and Hum)
I'm not going to call my Senators. I am going to order a bunch of pizzas to their offices though.
UB,
RE: We can discuss home grown produce, composting, chicken sexing... all the fun stuff.
This is great, I had been looking for a new hobby today: Chick sexing is the method of distinguishing the sex of chicken and other hatchlings, usually by a trained person called a chick sexer or chicken sexer:
Chick sexing - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ummm,... training!
OT: Britons caught in Costa del Sol housing collapse launch legal battle
Britons caught in Spanish housing industry collapse launch legal battle - Telegraph
Thousands of buyers who have not yet taken ownership of their properties on what has become known as the "Costa del Crash" could lose everything.
Others who have paid in full now own homes on resorts that may never be completed. They are seeking to recoup their losses to salvage what remains of their dream move abroad or hope of a perfect holiday home.
"I've now got dozens of British clients who all want to know where they stand," said Martin de la Herran of the Spanish law firm Abolex.
Mortgage CSI: Investigating a Countrywide Pay Option ARM under the Financial Microscope.
Mortgage CSI: Investigating a Countrywide Pay Option ARM under the Financial Microscope. -- MrSwing
California Attorney General Edmund G. Brown Jr. amended their lawsuit against Countrywide Financial, the now taken over mortgage lender and some of the evidence presented is simply startling. What we are given is a keen insight into some of the financially irresponsible loans put out by the institution.
Hi all,
CR did a GREAT job on the bulls v. bears panel. He is much younger than I would have guessed. Young, thin and good looking. I have pictures. He said I could post them but maybe it would be better if we just all imagined him as the dark knight of housing.
For all who are interested, I just posted a recap of the morning sessions on foreclosures at raincityguide.com
Best sound bite: "The housing crisis is like Hurricane Katrina."
Jillayne,
You guys are all so young, you look as if you should not be allowed to drive automobiles; stunning, amazing!
Jillayne,
Make everyone hit the tip jar before you post pix or just Let the mystery be
YouTube -
The Federal Reserve said all 12 of its regional bank districts reported elevated or increasing price pressures during June and July amid slower economic growth.
Five of the districts indicated a weakening or softening in their economies and consumer spending was sluggish or slowing in every region, the central bank said yesterday in its economic survey, known as the Beige Book for the color of its cover.
Not much sun in Seattle = less wrinkly skin?
Well, I must have aged 5 years during the "gripping" taxi ride from the Trulia party back to the hotel tonight.
17,000 valley homes seized as foreclosures continue to skyrocket
17,000 valley homes seized as foreclosures continue to skyrocket - Real Estate - Modbee.com
More than 17,000 Northern San Joaquin Valley homes have been lost to foreclosure during the past year, data released Tuesday shows.
The number of homes repossessed by lenders continues to skyrocket in Stanislaus, San Joaquin and Merced counties, according to DataQuick Information Systems.
This April, May and June, for instance, 2,207 homes were foreclosed on in Stanislaus, pushing the county's one-year total to 5,554.
REO's, Short Sales, Credit Crunch oh my....
REO's, Short Sales, Credit Crunch oh my.... - Naked Lady Real Estate, The Bare Truth About Real Estate Investing
Last night at Sam Sadats meeting I heard Nick Manfredi explain in detail about the new law that makes banks contact a homeowner in pre-foreclosure and try and do a work out or rather due diligence (whatever that means) 30 days before they file the NOD. Additionally, banks that are holding REOs are now required by law to maintain the property or risk being fined a $1000 a day. Good for investors, bad for banks. To me this means that getting short sales accepted or doing loan modification is going to be a lot easier.
Re: above: http://info.sen.ca.gov/pub/07-08/bill/sen/sb_1101-1150/sb_1137_bill_20080707_enrolled.pdf
SECTION 1. The Legislature finds and declares all of the following:
(a) California is facing an unprecedented threat to its state economy and local economies because of skyrocketing residential
property foreclosure rates in California. Residential property foreclosures increased sevenfold from 2006 to 2007. In 2007, more
than 84,375 properties were lost to foreclosure in California, and 254,824 loans went into default, the first step in the foreclosure process.
DCRogers writes:
Since the mandate of the FDIC is to prevent bank runs, they're looking pretty foolish at how they let IndyMac Bank turn into a PR disaster... a few FEMA emergency-funds RVs packed with $50 bills would have been worth millions towards avoiding negative media coverage. I mean, free lawn chairs? They should have opened a temporary warehouse to get those people off the street, and helped within an hour.
Better yet, they should have stuck them on a foreclosure bus tour, kill two birds with one stone: "...see that one? That's where your money is"
The "Roubini" in Morgan's post was a mistake. It was supposed to be "Rubin."
Further down in the post he refers to the former Treasury Secretary with the correct spelling.
National Bank Operating Subsidiary List (A-M
National Bank Operating Subsidiary List (A-M)
Re: -In conjunction with the downgrade of Wachovia Corporation's (Wachovia) Issuer Default Rating (IDR) and senior debt ratings to 'A+' from 'AA-', Fitch Ratings has downgraded 72 bonds backed by Wachovia letters of credit (LOCs).
Most of the downgrades are to 'A+' from 'AA-' reflecting the credit substitution of Wachovia, but certain bonds are downgraded to 'AA' from 'AA+', considering the joint probability of the failure of both a rated municipal obligor and a bank LOC provider.
Moohawahahahha, that one was for Shiela
♥✿ ☼♥
Say, "Good night," Dick...
YouTube - Smothers Brothers
"Good night Dick!"
Ooops, here is link to story about those CDO bond things
Page Cannot Be Found
Also see: Investment Analysis and Research.
Check Out The Ongoing And Potential Searches For High-Yield, CDO And Distressed Debt Manag ...
Florida State Board of Administration USD187,500 Public D.B. US / Active
USD12,170 Unknown The fund directed to issue an RFP for investment management
Fixed-Income firms to manage the Local Government Investment Pool for approximately USD10.17 billion for its high-quality investment fund and USD2 billion in default or under financial distress
Why do people think Tbills are so safe? Honest question
The US is far, far, far from bankruptcy, we only think we are since that is what the wealthy people who control our mass media wish us to believe.
Given the return of Clinton-era taxation, that which he inherited from "Read My Lips" G HW B, re could get our fiscal house back in order to some great extent.
(Paid medicare services and drug bennies to the baby boomers are the elephant in the room that is going to require more than tax levies to solve)
Obviously, any US citizen buying t bonds isn't being taxed enough. Obviously. . .
i hope CR's brain didn't get rotten from hanging out with a bunch of realtors.
whoops wrong link
Say, "Good night," Dick...
YouTube - Say Goodnight, Dick
"Good night Dick!"
Whoops?
LOL!
...based upon a preliminary evaluation of last quarter, it would not be in compliance with its financial covenants. The two covenants at issue are the leverage ratio or net debt to EBITDA covenant, and the interest coverage or EBITDA to interest covenant. On Thursday the company's term loan was trading in the 90-91 context; it had been trading at the 95 level in June.
The company said it was engaged in negotiations with its lenders regarding a possible amendment, including a waiver of Masonite's non-compliance
Yell Group plc financial report for the three months ended 30 June 2008
UK-Wire
In what remains a very challenging economic and commercial environment, Yell has performed strongly, delivering increased revenues, earnings and cash.
Net debt at 30 June 2008 was 4.9 times annualised adjusted EBITDA (4.7 times at consistent exchange rates) compared with 5.1 times annualised adjusted EBITDA at 31 March 2008 (4.9 times at consistent exchange rates). The movement in net debt is explained in note 15 on page 22. Based on our credit facility's criteria and definitions, the headroom on our net debt to EBITDA covenant was 13% and net EBITDA to net cash interest covenant was 18% at 30 June 2008.
After making a lot of money with the subprime and putting the poors in a mess, he comes to sell his book !!
That's disgusting !
Markets live chat transcript for the chat ending at 11:57 on 30 Jun 2008. Participants in this chat were: Paul Murphy (PM) Rachel Morarjee (RM)
FT Alphaville » Blog Archive » Markets live transcript 30 Jun 2008
We remain within the terms of our banking covenants. However, in light of current market conditions and to protect against the risk of further deterioration, we have agreed an amendment to the terms of the revolving credit facility with our banks. This includes suspending the covenant based on net interest in relation to EBITA, which we believe is not appropriate in current market conditions, in favour of one based on operating cash flow, reflecting our ability to generate cash. This amendment is conditional on the Company raising additional equity.
OK, I am going to risk being unpopular and take the "under" on this bailout thingy.
I don't like giving a trillion dollars of extra spending authority to a bunch of guys who should be in jail in the Hague, but if they don't decide to use it immediately to invade Iran all that extra PPT ammo will probably stop the short-term run on Fannie and Freddie. If the government gets reasonable value in stock or options in return for whatever aid they provide, it won't be that much different in principle from the Chrysler bailout.
It does not appear to me that the consumer provisions will do much to prevent the adjustment of housing prices here in Phoenix and similar locales. Maybe we will have a few good mortgage modifications in Cleveland or maybe not. I look forward to Tanta's evaluation of the details.
Any additional regulation of Too-Big-To-Fail financial institutions is a good start, IMO. You can't blame the current congress for a situation that goes back to the Johnson administration and further. Although you can blame Clinton for appointing Wall Street sharpies and Bush for appointing horse-lawyer Brownies as regulators. If we elect Obama maybe he will appoint competent regulators. If we don't, maybe it will at least give the crooks an incentive not to become too big to fail.
This isn't going to bring an end to the Republic. Television is going to bring an end to the Republic.
Why do people think Tbills are so safe? Honest question.
waitinginPNW
It's about De Nial. People ford a river and think they've arrived on terra firma without realizing they've only crossed a small tributary and the swamp is rising.
For all you bears feeling a little frustrated with stick save after stick save, here's a little news to cheer you up:
<a href="http://www.naplesnews.com/news/2008/jul/22/wci-sweetens-exchange-offer/>WCI likely headed for bankruptcy
"The misinformation that came out over the weekend fed a lot of depositors' fears."
Misinformation can only exist when a lack of information creates a vacuum. We are closing in on 200 comments here, the SF article has no comments and Blair chooses not to reveal the secret 90 troubled banks. Blair's problem isn't with bloggers her problem is with the paradigm where bloggers are more credible than she.
Terribly, dryly OT: Cassandra on the demise of SemGroup, LP . . .
Cassandra Does Tokyo
Amen to the Dawg.
Good information leads to good decisions.
Bad information... we'll just say that's business as usual.
CBS Marketwatch:
[DSL] Downey Q2 loss 7.86/share
[DSL] Downey names Sheila Bair interim CEO
Control of information leads to... Well, let's just say leads to Godwin's law being invoked.
To be fair Blair isn't really trying to control the flow of information. She's just used to information asymmetry which in the past has allowed the FDIC and brethren to do their job more easily. Tough, times change. Now even the lowest cretins such as I can look at real time indicators and successfully identify troubled banks. Now that WaMu is visibly wobbly the FDIC is left with a tough decision. They'd prefer anything but a takeover seeing as that one event alone appears likely to wipe out half the insurance pool and tie up a similar fraction of employees but it might be too late if instead they reorganize the likes of Downey and National City first. Bank triage of that sort depends upon information asymmetry.
From Bloomberg:
Is this bad news?
Downey Replaces Chief Executive, Says to Explore `Alternatives'
By Steve Dickson
July 24 (Bloomberg) -- Downey Financial Corp., the California savings and loan that's lost 91 percent of its market value this year, replaced Chief Executive Officer Daniel Rosenthal and said it's exploring ``strategic alternatives.''
Downey's net loss for the second quarter was $218.9 million, or $7.86, compared with net income of $32.7 million, or $1.17, in the same period a year earlier, the Newport Beach, California- based company said today in a statement.
It is if you're a DSL depositor and haven't pulled your money out of there yet ...
BTW previous my post about Sheila Bair being named CEO of Downey was a joke, for those who aren't comically inclined.
They did get rid of their old CEO and the real interim CEO is named Tom Prince, ironically enough!
(New game in town - bank CEO musical chairs. When the music stops, Sheila takes your seat! )
Heck, if you were 83 years old and 50 plus years in the business and Chair of a company [DSL] that went from 35 six months ago to 3 wouldn't you walk away?
This morning's contrary indicator - cramer says buy a house now!
http://www.cnbc.com/id/25818021
Anonymous: Do I know you as byzantine ruins from another blog?
That anon twas not I.
Ford just reported an $8.7billion loss.
Didn't the CEO say recently that they would be profitable this year or am I mistaken?
He just got the year wrong.
Hey, the year isn't over.
Or maybe he was just trying to outdo Mozillo and his prediction of Countrywide Profits in Q1?
MBIA, Ambac Sued by Los Angeles on `Unnecessary' Bond Insurance
MBIA, Rivals Sued by Los Angeles Over Bond Insurance (Update2) - Bloomberg.com
Get those bastards, better hurry while they sill have a little money. Damn right it's `Unnecessary'.
beige book quotes
"Sentiment among commercial real estate contacts was "decidedly morose," the Fed said
See anything wrong with this picture? We have been hearing from the far-left for more than five years how, Bush lied. Somehow, that slogan loses its credibility now that 550 metric tons of Saddams yellowcake
What I see wrong with this picture is that someone still thinks this somehow justifies the Iraq Experience. The cost is measured in imperial reach foregone and policy focus captured, which appears to be roughly "all of it" in both cases.
Yes, the war has had every justification that could easily be seized and set to the labor. If this is the one flag among the many deployed that you wish to seize and proudly raise atop the shitpile that is Iraq, you are welcome to it.
God Bless America. I expect widespread rejoicing will not be forthcoming.
Sheila Bair is welcome to come shut me up for the good of the Republic. "We don't want to stifle your freedom, we just want you to be responsible, meaning agreeable to our agenda, or at least not so timely you move markets we're trying to manipulate." Whatever. You suck at your job but you're not alone.
This is how Confucian criticism works, shutting me up will just draw a line under what I'm saying. Bring it on.
Shiela Blair does need to pay attention to the blogosphere. She needs to recognize that any corners the FDIC tries to cut will be reported instantly and reverberated widely. These corners will cause people to lose confidence in FDIC and run on banks.
I've told you that bank employees all over the U.S. are telling elderly people that they can expand FDIC coverage just by changing the names of beneficiaries. In many cases, this information is wrong. The FDIC needs to take timely action to correct disinformation of this type.
Two nights ago, I posted here a message that I received from a lady who had two deposit accounts with Indymac for about $100,000 each. One account was for corp. cash and was fully covered. The other was for a defined contribution plan with 8 employees, and she was told it had to be combined with the cash account and was not fully covered.
The FDIC needs to correct this kind of disinformation. A properly titled and structured defined contribution plan (non-participant-directed) deposit account has "pass through" status under FDIC and Federal Reserve and is regulations and is protected for up to $100,000 PER PARTICIPANT.
Take care of your own house, FDIC, and the blogosphere will treat you with respect. Right now, Shiela's house is in disarray. She's trying to shift the blame.
The yellowcake that was recently removed from Iraq was actually legally obtained during the eighties and impounded after the 1991 Gulf War. At that time it was put under IAEA seal. Yellowcake is a long, long way from being enriched weapon's grade uranium.
When the UN inspecters came back in 2002 they found the seals had not been removed.
In fact this yellowcake that already existed in Iraq shows how stupid the lies were about Saddam needing going to Niger to get even more yellowcake. He had tons and tons of the stuff, with only a UN seal, and a total lack of any means of enriching uranium, standing between him and a nuclear arsenal.
Scary jobless claims graph since CR is too important to be concerned with us now.
"people to lose confidence in FDIC"
I'm confident they are going to have to be bailed out by the treasury dept with a printing press. Here's your money sorry it isn't worth anything.
"The blogs were a bit out of control," Sheila Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., told the San Francisco Business Times after a speech in San Francisco this week.
SO WHAT, Sheila! Everybody knows the blogosphere is just a bunch of dirty effing hippies. Since when does Government policy revolve around the ramblings of DFPs?
The FDIC plans to pay closer attention to the blogosphere in the future.
Does this mean FDIC is going to lay on more staff to monitor the 'sphere? I'll join up. Work from home in my underwear, coffee and ciggies close by.
Report to Sheila: They're saying your hair is greasy. They're also saying you STINK at your job. So far they're not saying you're a stupid slut who'll say just about anything to hold on to your job. Or maybe they are, and I missed that part.
Or does "paying closer attention to the blogosphere" mean the FDIC is going divert resources from PAYING CLOSER ATTENTION TO THE BANKS IN PERILOUS CONDITION?
I hope not. That could lead to more surprises like, ummm, IndyMac?
Tom Stone -
Amen, we are indeed already a fascist state. St. Obama's FISA capitulation just shows there is no "change we can believe in" - or rather, change which exists in only a faith-based reality.
The Right in this country has always been the authoritarian threat - not the radical communist/socialist left - and they have long desired a country which looks much more like Latin America - Chile, Argentina and Mexico being ideal models - with an economic aristocracy supported by a debt-serf class comprising some 85% of the population.
For one brief moment after Scalia's commentary on Kyllo, I thought the radical right (of whom he is a chief legal enabler) might actually feel compelled to extend some protections to all of us in the service of protecting themselves, but I was pretty quickly disabused by Kelo and Hamdi. We are really pretty screwed - and most of the populace will continue to believe "it won't happen to me" until it's far, far too late.
Police arrest man accused of taking 42 cents from mall fountain
Concurrent from c-s's link in the Naples Times.
uuu,
That was a citizen's arrest by Angelo Mozillo, Hank Paulson, Ben Bernanke, and Mr. T - truly the next A-TEAM.
Well, that didn't take long. I've just been recruited to monitor the Internets by someone in Sheila's office. (I can't divulge the source; it was marked "your eyes only".
Scott, I'm going to have to forward your nickname to DHS. (We're suddenly understaffed here at FDIC.)
And, they already emailed me my first paycheck. So, I'm voting Republican!
Cutting the cost of mortgages via the U.S housing bill and rescue package for mortgage finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is the best route to recovery for the beleaguered housing market, the manager of the world's biggest bond fund said on Thursday.
PIMCO: Housing bill is key to helping house market
| Reuters
The fact that he is holding a ton of this worthless paper might have a little something to do with that little flash of insight.
Re WCI:
Couldn't happen to a nicer bunch of guys..I made a killing on Icahn's bluff with puts after he forced it up 24 with his "offer". When you do not do any DD and SAY IT you've got to just take that FWIW.
Thank you Carl Icahn....really thank you....
Ciao
MS
ac | 07.24.08 - 9:18 am
I think we found our next bubble.
Do you really feel like T-bills are iron-clad safe?
waitinginPNW, no, I don't. I do feel that they're much safer than bank deposits because they aren't used as collateral and lent against 10:1. However, you're right that they have been chained to everything else in a hope that the combined mass is too great for anything to slide off the cliff. I wish they hadn't been, so that I'd have a good safe alternative, but that's life.
Everything might turn out okay. Who knows? That's why it's nice to be diversified, including a supply of dollars. I also feel I already have plenty of precious and base metals and oil in case Treasury or the Fed continues with the hero complex and the entire thing does, indeed, fall off the cliff in one bundle.
I'm not looking to get rich. I'm looking to preserve savings.
Rdawg-
As a physician I've had to contend with the loss of information assymetry for several years as, not unsurprisingly, people quickly appreciated that all these health care websites on the intertubez improved their ability to make informed decisions.
At first, this was a more than a little offputting as I could no longer just make recommendations using my black box authority.
So I find Bair's comments like so many of other previously opaque banking machinations decidely out of synch with what has been happening in our culture for quite a long time.
Outlier writes:
As a physician I've had to contend with the loss of information assymetry for several years...
I have the same issues in computer administration. It is decidedly the mixed bag as you note.
On the s[ecifics of your profession; as a 40yo recovering from emergency quad (two leg vein, one radial artery grafts and mammary redirect, no pump) bypass I flummox my cardiologist who is used to 78yo patients. You'll probably read about me as I am also a third generation cohort in the Framingham heart study.
Rob,
Talk about an outlier! Fortunately, I've been flummoxed by people like you only a few times in my career. I wish you the best. Keep that LDL < 70
"Desperate times call forth desperate measures."
She's just a little pissed that Schumer got to call IMB insolvent before her. That was her job, so she's a little emotional about it.
I have one lousy job on this ship. It's stupid, but I'm going to do it! - Galaxy Quest, Gwen DiMarco
LDL under 70? Jeez. Don't make it too tough or anything. There's nothing wrong with me that new ancestors wouldn't fix. It ain't the LDLs it is the HDLs of 20 (yes, twenty) that gets me.
Re: Report to Sheila: They're saying your hair is greasy. They're also saying you STINK at your job. So far they're not saying you're a stupid slut who'll say just about anything to hold on to your job. Or maybe they are, and I missed that part.
Big Brother's 2008 Summer Agenda:
CR, look on the bright side. At least you haven't dreamed about the Justice Departments or ATF (Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms) camping by the door of your residence, yet.
I mean we haven't heard about those guys in the news in a while. I don't get it how could they miss the credit crisis as opportunity to shine.
Thankyou to everyone who replied to my "are Tbills really safe?" question.
It sounds like the answer is: It depends on what you "believe". ie. there's a "faith" aspect to it.
Which is kind of what I've thought all along.
But most people who have faith in Tbills seem to express it as "fact". Which got me wondering if perhaps I had missed some info along the way.
Buried gold and silver it is, then. Even if the authorities succeeded in driving it to zero for a while, they can't keep it there forever.