I was out partying with a huge cabal of yuppies... I come back at 3 am and find CR posting cartoons... CR, you should try some melatonin. It will even out your sleep.
On last thread: FED loan to hedge funds. Is this a hoax or for real?
Comrade Peronista | 12.21.08 - 6:11 am |
Yes, it's true, indirectly.
They will be lending based on the type of assets available as collateral (various Asset Backed and Mortgage Backed debts). The loans will keyed to the type of debt, not the nature of the borrower, so hedge funds could line up at the trough.
Fubar... that Kos piece,
who knew that legislation had such power - I thought it had something to do with demand destruction. guess, that's what I get for reading CR. why isn't Levin wearing a cape?
That link warmed my heart....that is great....I can't wait until that type of sentiment takes hold here....we need some of that revolutionary spirit and disdain for "authority" about now.
"About 60 percent of American workers are covered by health plans offered by their employers, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. It's difficult to determine how many people who lose their jobs will lose health insurance.
Those who are lucky enough to be married to someone who has job-based insurance probably can be added to their spouse's group policy. Some people may be able to find another job quickly enough to avoid a gap in coverage. But for many, especially older workers or those with pre-existing medical conditions, the options are few.
"Even during good times, employers trimmed and scaled back their coverage. In these tough economic times, we have to be prepared for a dramatic drop in coverage when people are losing their jobs and thus their health insurance," said Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California, a coalition of grassroots health care consumer groups.
To make matters worse, traditional safety-net options - public health programs, clinics and other sources of care that receive government funding - are being cut back or threatened by state and national budget crises. Health services face major cuts under proposals made to bridge California's estimated $41.8 billion budget deficit in the next 18 months.
LiveLong Medical Center, a group of nine Bay Area health centers that offer care to the uninsured, saw a 25 percent increase in the numbers of patients from July until the end of October compared with the same period last year.
The nonprofit group's development director, Lillian Samuel, said she can't determine how much of the increase is due to the jump in unemployment, but she has heard about patients who started coming to the clinics after they lost their jobs.
"The number of uninsured patients knocking on our door is growing. That's not something we budgeted for," she said."
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Afghan and coalition troops found and destroyed [I'm sure they did] 2.5 tons of marijuana in an abandoned school in southern Afghanistan,...
Afghanistan is the world's largest producer of opium, the main ingredient in heroin. But as the U.S. and other Western nations have tried to help Afghanistan stamp out its poppy fields, an increasing number of farmers have turned to marijuana, which is receiving less attention from authorities.
We could be growing this in the Inland Empire and saving lots of transportation costs... and increasing our GDP too.
It doesn't mine. That kind of thinking where does it lead? We need respect for each other and the world. I keep coming back to the destruction of money leads to the destruction of values. Giving the power to create money to banks leads to the corruption of governments.
"Of all the contrivances for cheating the laboring classes of mankind, none has been more effective than that which deludes them with paper money." Daniel Webster"
All the perplexities, confusion and distresses in America arise not from defects in the constitution or confederation, nor from want of honor or virtue, as much from downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit, and circulation." John Adams
"tg is a born & bred dope in a writes:
That link warmed my heart..
It doesn't mine. That kind of thinking where does it lead? We need respect for each other and the world. I keep coming back to the destruction of money leads to the destruction of values. Giving the power to create money to banks leads to the corruption of governments."
Inasmuch as it scares those who take social stability for granted as they run the nation into the ground... it has its points.
Fresno County's unemployment rate climbed in November to 12.1% as a gain in health and teaching jobs failed to offset losses in agriculture, trade, government and construction, the state Employment Development Department reported today.
The jobless rate increased from 11.3% in October and 8.9% in November 2007. Officials noted that agriculture lost 4,500 jobs between October and November, and construction employment declined by 1,300 jobs in the year-over-year period. government also lost 1,000 jobs in that period.
Freno RV dealer throws in the towel:
RV king Dan Gamel, struggling with a lousy economy, closed all but one of his dealerships Friday and laid off 150 employees for three months while he sells motor coaches online and by appointment.
The Camp America store on Shaw Avenue and dealerships on Highway 99 in south Fresno, in Modesto and in Rocklin are closing until spring, Gamel said. The Redding outlet is staying open because the store is profitable, he said.
All the real estate -- totaling 85 acres with much of it on prime frontage -- is for sale.
"It doesn't make sense to be in business the way we are in this economy," Gamel said. "I thought we could make it and hang on, but every month brought a
more dire situation."
Our current "leaders" do not deserve our respect and when the game becomes rigged as far as effecting change through traditional channels than there is really only one option. Our leaders, especially here, need the pressure that a bit of civil disobedience would provide to remind them that they work for us.
Would you respect a band of pirates who broke into your home and raped and pillaged your family? I would hope not.
I have no more worries... I have decided to become a bank and get free money too...Sweet!
Discover Wins Federal Reserve Approval to Become Bank
Discover Financial Services, the fourth-largest credit-card network, won approval to become a bank holding company, joining American Express Co. and other financial firms in a rush for government funds and retail deposits.
The Federal Reserve approved the credit-card companys conversion, according to a regulatory filing today. The change may make Riverwoods, Illinois-based Discover eligible for funds from the Treasurys rescue plan to bolster financial firms.
"fried writes:
I posted this last night. I do think TPTB are counting on the numbness of the populace and underestimating any blowback."
When the paint gets bad enough, blowback there will be.
I see in the news this morning that Obama has decided that his initial stimulus ideas were too timid, after getting a better take on how things are out there. Whether you agree or not with that approach, that's a man who understands blowback.
re rioting in Greece and the breakdown of law and order.
Do not forget that the use of agents provocateurs are the oldest trick to justify preordained repression and suspension of civil liberties.
Like false-flag attacks have justified all American wars since 1898 (I know, Rooseveld didn't bomb Pearl Harbour, but he did have foreknowledge and did not share it with the base commanders who ended up taking being punished for it), Martial Law, if it finally becomes overt, will be preceded by some high-profile rioting broadcast 24/7 in all controlled media.
The anger is real, but one should ask if the action is genuine, or some synthethic terror contrived to justify even more oppression.
Just as a reminder for gullible who think "our government would never do that", here's a recent case of Canadian cops-cum-agent-provocateurs who were busted in 2007.
If I am the least bit of objective I am not a moral person. Is our government moral?. At this point in time I would have to say no. Has any society come to the forefront without a sound monetary system? Do governments need to be held to a higher standard?
I have always thought that the collapse will come shortly after Bush leaves office. They have done everything they can to prevent this under their watch.. people need to be ready.
Am I the only one who sees a disconnect between the kinds of workers that are losing their jobs and the kinds of projects being proposed for the stimulus plan? How did this work during the Great Depression? I guess it goes without saying that we are a more services-oriented economy now than we were then.
Where is the outrage? They piss and moan about $14 billion for the autos, but they turn around and do this with out a discussion..
Financial Times
Hedge funds gain access to $200bn Fed aid
By Krishna Guha in Washington
December 20 2008 05:01
Hedge funds will be allowed to borrow from the Federal Reserve for the first time under a landmark $200bn programme intended to support consumer credit.
The Fed said on Friday it would offer low-cost three-year funding to any US company investing in securitised consumer loans under the Term Asset-backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF). This includes hedge funds, which have never been able to borrow from the US central bank before, although the Fed may not permit hedge funds to use offshore vehicles to conduct the transactions.
Am I the only one who sees a disconnect between the kinds of workers that are losing their jobs and the kinds of projects being proposed for the stimulus plan? How did this work during the Great Depression? I guess it goes without saying that we are a more services-oriented economy now than we were then.
Bond Girl
Yes, I've noticed it for quite some time now. Infrastructure? Refurbishing bridges? Somehow I don't see people getting laid off from call centers getting jobs as heavy equipment operators.
Bob Dobbs writes:
When the pain gets bad enough, blowback there will be.
Ive read that there are more than 20 million federal, state and local government workers.
And
"According to the United States Bureau of Economic Analysis, federal employees earn an average annual compensation of $106,871, including pay and benefits, compared to just $53,288 in the private sector," says Dennis Damp, author of "The Book of U.S. Government Jobs," citing statistics gathered in late 2005 and early 2006.
Damp adds that the average federal salary alone, not counting benefits, is more than $67,000. Government jobs offer good pay, benefits (Page 1 of 3)
Government/bureaucracy is a parasite on the people, in my unvarnished opinion.
Am I the only one who sees a disconnect between the kinds of workers that are losing their jobs and the kinds of projects being proposed for the stimulus plan? How did this work during the Great Depression? I guess it goes without saying that we are a more services-oriented economy now than we were then. Bond Girl
Yes, I've noticed it for quite some time now. Infrastructure? Refurbishing bridges? Somehow I don't see people getting laid off from call centers getting jobs as heavy equipment operators. Doc at the Radar Station | 12.21.08 - 9:52 am | #
Eh - we need to create new jobs, not necessarily the same jobs - how many mtg. brokers do you really need?
The advantage to infrastructure jobs is they're not easily outsourced. Yes, workers may have to be retrained, but...civil engineering is still engineering.
Scott, back in the depression things weren't so automated with regards to infrastructure projects. My grandfather was in the WPA and worked on building dams. I think he probably used a shovel more than anything else. Most jobs require far too specific and narrow of a set of skills. Employers don't invest much in training employees anymore and everybody wants a highly specialized employee with training that becomes obsolete too quickly. The days are long gone where you get a high school diploma and go to work for the railroad, they invest a lot of time training you over years and you work your way up into a management position, etc.
In the other "great depression" they had the civilian consevation corps. My grandfather left for Alaska to build an oil pipeline. They earned $30 dollars a months and were required to send most of it home to the family. I suspect we will see something similar soon.
Where is the outrage? They piss and moan about $14 billion for the autos, but they turn around and do this with out a discussion.. Crewman | 12.21.08 - 9:52 am | #
Well, Paulson wasn't a UAW member. Why should there be outrage?
I guess it goes without saying that we are a more services-oriented economy now than we were then.
What it says is that we're a bunch of lazy, obese, moronic sheep who don't know honest, hard work. I'm all for putting these lard asses to work. Hell, I dont't mind paying them to do jumping jacks all day as we get to throw tomatoes and other garden variety vegetables at their grotesque rotund figures.
I will never, never surrender. Zimbabwe is mine: President Mugabe scorned the growing international clamour for him to step down. Almost 21,000 Zimbabweans are infected with cholera.
What provisions do anarchists generally make to protect the weak?
That's a bit misleading. At the core of Anarchist sentiment is the perpetual mitigation of hierarchical power structures which exist to create, nurture and/or exploit the weak, so, in the least, Anarchist sentiment indirectly frees the weak from the source of its bondage.
Scott writes:
Am I the only one who sees a disconnect between the kinds of workers that are losing their jobs and the kinds of projects being proposed for the stimulus plan? How did this work during the Great Depression?
No job training
There was serious concern about the CCC from the American Federation of Labor which feared it would be a job training program. With so many union construction workers unemployed, a new job training program would introduce unwelcome new competition for scarce jobs. Roosevelt promised there would be no skills taught that would compete with established unions, and he named labor leader Robert Fechner to run the CCC. After observing the new standard 8-hour day and 5-day work week at manual labor, the enrollees could, if they wanted, attend evening classes at different educational levels to study subjects ranging from college-level U.S. history and civics classes to basic literacy
Hey, I have an idea. Why doesn't Obama pay everyone to run 5ks every week, or two, and then after a year, and 60 lbs lighter, everyone gets a bottle of 5-star Scotch.
A veteran staffer in the SEC's enforcement division tells TPMmuckraker's Zack Roth that the agency is in a "state of complete panic" over Bernie Madoff's $50 billion fraud.
At the same time that the agency is trying to unravel the unprecedented decades-long scheme, staff is being ordered not to destroy any records related to its earlier investigations of Madoff because of inside and outside probes into the SEC's own role in not catching Madoff sooner.
Meanwhile, paranoia has set in, we're told, and junior staff has been ordered to go back and review other cases the SEC has closed in recent years out of fear that violations may have been missed in those cases, too.
Morocco Bama writes:
Hey, I have an idea. Why doesn't Obama pay everyone to run 5ks every week, or two, and then after a year, and 60 lbs lighter, everyone gets a bottle of 5-star Scotch.
Morocco Bama | Homepage | 12.21.08 - 10:13 am | #
Studies show that short term objectives rewarded often with a longer term goal rewarded once and spectacularly are what best makes for an incentive compensation plan.
Perhaps we could have a taste after a week, a nip or three after a month, a half pint at 3 months, pint at six months. Of course there would need be forgiveness for back sliding and special extra reward for accomplishing in excess of goal, even along the way, you see. Now that's a plan I could get with, especially if it were beer. Not just any beer, a really good import from an obscure brewery in Bavaria or Czechoslovakia.
Dec. 19 (Bloomberg) -- The shoe hurled at President George W. Bush has sent sales soaring at the Turkish maker as orders pour in from Iraq, the U.S. and Iran.
The brown, thick-soled Model 271 may soon be renamed The Bush Shoe or Bye-Bye Bush, Ramazan Baydan, who owns the Istanbul-based producer Baydan Ayakkabicilik San. & Tic., said in a telephone interview today.
Weve been selling these shoes for years but, thanks to Bush, orders are flying in like crazy, he said. Weve even hired an agency to look at television advertising.
Iraqi journalist Muntadar al-Zeidi hurled a pair at Bush at a news conference in Baghdad on Dec. 14. Both shoes missed the president after he ducked. The journalist was jailed and is seeking a pardon from Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
Baydan has received orders for 300,000 pairs of the shoes since the attack, more than four times the number his company sold each year since the model was introduced in 1999. The company plans to employ 100 more staff to meet demand, he said.
Model 271 is exported to markets including Iraq, Iran, Syria and Egypt. Customers in Iraq ordered 120,000 pairs this week and some Iraqis offered to set up distribution companies for the shoe, Baydan said.
Baydan has received a request for 4,000 pairs from a company called Davidson, based in Maryland. He declined to provide further details.
Has anyone ever noticed Bankers Hands?
Give The Banker's The Shovels, The Middle Class the duty of figuring out The Ponzi schene's of AIG and Goldman Sach's.
Would like someone to tell me why Madoff was outed NOW, when agency's of Goverment had to have known what was going on.
Giving Hedge funds our tax dollars is Criminal, and perk walks for each who is making these decisions.
Bond Girl, I have my doubts about the ability for it to accomplish much unless they think through all of the detail in greater depth. They need to get some really smart labor economists to look at the impacts of the spending at a micro level. Krugman talked about oversight being in place yesterday on C-span, but oversight just to make sure there isn't corruption isn't enough IMO. If you have a bunch of unemployed people that do not have the skills required to do the real jobs this spending will create, what then? That's the dilemma.
OT but very interesting link discussing the rhymes between the current situation with the 1870's, which may be a closer fit to what we are seeing than thttp://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/cascio20081219/he 1930's:
The Fed is under the impression that credit spreads for securitized debt do not actually reflect projected default rates and that people are too paranoid to purchase them. The Fed is essentially trying to reconstruct risk-taking behavior in the markets by making the risk-taking behavior cheaper. The Fed does not care who it gets to take the risks so long as someone is willing to make a market for these things. Once again, the Fed is confusing a liquidity problem with a solvency problem.
If FDR could outlaw private holding of gold, why can't Obama outlaw the production and collection on credit default swaps? Wipe them out and let the cards fall where they may.
--
Regarding govt involvement in housing bubble (yesterdays threads), below is what wrote on September 04, 2006:
Let us see, in 2003, Bernanke wanted to artificially boost the economy in preparation for the Bush re-election in late 2004 and his own future appointment. He had read articles by some self-serving economists in 2002, if it hadn't occurred to him, that low interest rates could boost housing and that may lead the economy out of the recession (it was already out of the recession, but didn't feel like a recovery with the employment falling). So, during the first half of 2003, Bernanke, as a Fed Governor, started to publicly talk about the deflation threat and how the Fed can always stop that by "printing money." Thus, the Fed, under Greenspan chairmanship back then, lowered the rates to "emergency" levels when the only real emergency was the Bush re-election. Greenspan was very happy to play along because his own reappointment in 2004 was contingent upon the economy visibly recovering.
The artificially low rates gave rise to artificial boost to the economy in the form of the predictable housing boom, but no one could have predicted the Housing Bubble and the overbuilding that ensued. As mentioned earlier, the global building boom, as well as the general rise in consumption due to the boom, also gave rise to the steep increases in the price of oil, which has led to the current problem of inflation. So, now the Fed has the excuse to force consumption down by altering the availability of Consumption Debt in the form of mortgage refinancing. Therefore, the Fed is actively engaged in leading to the Peak Debt that I am predicting. This is because curbing consumption is necessary to control inflation, especially, inflationary psychology, and it is not an accident that "inflation peaks during the first year of a recession," as announced by Ron Insana on CNBC. One way or another (by raising the rates further, if necessary, or holding rates high enough for long enough) Bernanke will have to bring the consumption down by indirectly affecting Consumption Debt. As in the past, at some point Consumption Debt in the US will peak (the debt service to income ratio having reached historical highs), most likely during the next recession, leading to the general condition of the Peak Debt for the current Longwave Cycle.
With great forethought, in 1999, Bernanke, an academic getting attention as the future Fed Governor, pre-empted any talk of Fed having to take any actions to nip in the bud any asset bubble by his public declaration that Fed should keep its hands off any asset bubbles, i.e., let the asset bubbles build as far as they go. Bernanke was just the man that Bush needed on the Fed for his re-election bid and was thus appointed just in time. (On a historical note, one of the three conditions that Grant had to agree to get the command of the Union Army was that Lincoln be re-elected; this was confirmed by another general who was offered the command on the same conditions, before Grant was offered, and who declined due to the conditions).
And someone wrote that a like kind exchange is a tax advantage. You can not like kind exchange your personal residence. Only business property may be like kind, (1031), exchanged.
Yes, lots of time wielding a No. 2 shovel as a CPA?
I'm no ordinary CPA. In fact, for me, at least, the letters after my name could just as easily mean Cautiously Pragmatic Anarchist. I'm a CPA who used to toke up...and still wants to. I'd take that over Scotch, any day, but I hate the smoking part of it. There's always brownies, I suppose. No worries, Obama's going to legalize it in short order, so we can all laugh our asses off as we quite literally build our endless bridge into the Abyss.
Weve been selling these shoes for years but, thanks to Bush, orders are flying in like crazy, he said. Weve even hired an agency to look at television advertising.
Now that would be an entertaining ad.
(Video, um, footage, of the shoe fling is spliced with CGI showing the shoe rotating through the air to show it off from all angles.)
(announcer speaks)
"Model 271 - a shoe worthy of insulting the most evil of foreign invaders yet like angel wings for your feet."
"Now available at a shoe store or bazaar near you."
Or they could get Yassin Majid as spokesman.
"They beat and tortured me all night but the worst part was that they kept the shoes."
I think it's safe to say that we have reached, and perhaps surpassed, the point of Peak Human. From here, either we cull the herd, perish as a species, or quickly evolve into something that can no longer be considered human (i.e. the Singularity and all of its implications regarding man and machine).
I have to give credit to Bush on his reaction to the shoe. If nothing else, he's consistent. He just offered his usual smirk, as though this were just another daily event. Maybe it is.....Cheney and Rove throw shoes at him every other day....it could explain the Pretzel Incident.
We have a thoroughly corrupt system controlled, or manipulated, by very few powerful men, much more so than at any time in the US history.
The perceived integrity of our financial system allowed us to dig an unfillable hole. Now that integrity has been shown to be a sham. Our leaders analysis of the problem is deeply flawed, infused with denial, and their solutions and proposed solutions are making/will make things worse. We are now headed directly into GDII, do not pass Go, no matter what they do or do not do. And Treasury rates are destined to rise (skyrocket?) IMO, the Dollar will crash and those events will make things worse. But no one is angry. Strange country.
Am I the only one who sees a disconnect between the kinds of workers that are losing their jobs and the kinds of projects being proposed for the stimulus plan? How did this work during the Great Depression? I guess it goes without saying that we are a more services-oriented economy now than we were then. Bond Girl | Homepage | 12.21.08 - 9:39 am | #
The advantage is that if you build a bridge, at least we have something to show for it, and people can use it to progress somewhere. If we pay people to shuffle paper we actually end up impeding progress.
JimPortlandOR writes:
If FDR could outlaw private holding of gold, why can't Obama outlaw the production and collection on credit default swaps? Wipe them out and let the cards fall where they may.
JimPortlandOR | 12.21.08 - 10:27 am | #
I would certianly support an outlawing of writing new CDS's and frankly think it whould be right up at the top of the agenda, let the existing book run off since I think forced unwinding could open up a huge can of worms.
From here, either we cull the herd, perish as a species, or quickly evolve into something that can no longer be considered human
I think what will end up happening to correct the imbalance will be as simple as producing more of the stuff that we consume. It will also cost more, and we will consume less of it, but that will also put less pressure on resources and will be more sustainable. Some folks will squeal and whine about having to work in a factory environment rather than a cube in a call center, but they'll get over it.
Spineless writes:
Would like someone to tell me why Madoff was outed NOW, when agency's of Goverment had to have known what was going on."
I believe that I read in the New York Times, that Madoff "outed" himself. (Technically he told his employees which included his sons. And one of his employees turned him in.)The economic downturn resulted in some of his investors wanting to withdraw funds. He did not have enough funds available to meet the 7 billion Dollar in redemptions, so he admitted what he did.
I think what will end up happening to correct the imbalance will be as simple as producing more of the stuff that we consume. It will also cost more, and we will consume less of it, but that will also put less pressure on resources and will be more sustainable.
Way less pressure on resources in my opinion, because the items we can produce here will have a longer life. I am on my third tea kettle in 5 years - 2 of them the same style/model, and it was the best one i could find, selection is all China-made. Before that the kettle that finally wore out was made in about 1965 - here in Canada - it lasted 35 years.
For the Madoffs and Paulsons of the US financial world:
no torture, just ritual castration conducted in public on Wall Street. All nice and sterile, but the off'd parts put on display for 3 days in front of the NY Fed and NY Stock Exchange. Souvenir postcards too.
I've been reading about the upcoming rally in the DOW based on TA, Elliot wave 4 taking the SP to 11-1200. Anyone believe or disbelieve this theory as applicable at this present time?
And anyone else see that Friday's volume on the Dow was almost perfectly symmetrical between the 150m trades at open, anaemic all day, the the 150m traded at 3:58pm?
It amazes me how quickly we forget agriculture. not everything is automated. These financial swindlers should try weeding beans in the sun for 12 hours a day.
Madoff may be an unusually large cockroach but not the only cockroach. No, I'm not talking about the fraud part but the redemptions part. An apparently stable and highly profitable fund was facing $7b of $17b in redepmtions. What are the others facing? Orderly unwinding hedged positions is no longer possible in my opinon and it is only a matter of some trivial trigger that precipitates the supersaturated solution. While he is not saying explicitly this is probably what caused Conjure to jump the bond implosion clock.
"The advantage to infrastructure jobs is they're not easily outsourced. Yes, workers may have to be retrained, but...civil engineering is still engineering.
And putting the civil engineers back to work will create how many jobs?
I can just see the corruption in the awarding of these contracts as well--with plenty of undocumented workers getting picked up to do the dirtiest work.
I'm sure everyone that lives in a small town in US and Canada has a story EXACTLY like this one. For 3 generations there was a family hardware business in our town. It was not a big store, in fact there were two in town. Somehow the store had whatever you needed, and then some. You could fit about 25 of these stores in one Wal-Mart. It went out of business about 8 years ago, after the big chains entered the area. Of course there are now a lot of store vacancy's on the main street, and the town center pedestrian traffic also died taking a lot of mom-and-pop run small stores out. I guess we could call it a 'dislocation' of the economy of the small town retail center. Shopping malls opened on the outside of town, consuming the best farmland. Now everyone has to drive to the grocery. The elderly take taxis.
If the bankers and investment managers hands are too dainty for hard labor (those laid off), give them the choice of changing bedpans and giving baths in nursing homes for minimum wage. Or trimming trees, cutting grass in parks, or cleaning public toilets.
The Selling on Strength seemed to have some big numbers on Friday, and one rolled off of the top - during the day the top of the list was XOM at less than -900 million, maybe it rolled the next digit and that was too much (or offsetting trades? weird to note CVX one of the biggies for Buying on Weakness)...
I would certianly support an outlawing of writing new CDS's and frankly think it whould be right up at the top of the agenda Dirk | Homepage | 12.21.08 - 10:54 am | #
"Giving Hedge funds our tax dollars is Criminal, and perk walks for each who is making these decisions."
We conclude that, under a paper-money system, a determined government can always generate higher spending and hence positive inflation.
Federal Reserve Board Governor Ben S. Bernanke, Deflation: Making Sure "It" Doesn't Happen Here
+1 for the chemistry metaphor, what appearantly 'trivial' partical becomes the nucleus for the precip reaction...and noting that Madoff was the uber-fund that supposedly performed through every sling and arrow of outrageous fortune...
Kondriatief,
I live in the pittsburgh area, where most hardware stores are long replaced by big boxes. One notable exception is 2 miles away- Family owns the building, was able to restart after the hurricane Ivan floods. Been there a hundred years, but they're an exception. I now avoud buying new crap. Stuff from my mother-in-laws house is being kept because it lasts.
Just why is it a social benefit to allow 'sophisticated investors' to put their money into hedge funds, especially since they lack any meaningful oversight or regulation?
Our financial system needs to be greatly simplified and much more transparent if it is going to regain the confidence of savers/investors. Prune the tree!
Besides new spending, the Obama plan would provide tax relief for low-wage and middle-income workers of roughly $150 billion, Democrats familiar with the proposal said. The government would probably reduce the withholding of income or payroll taxes so that most workers received larger paychecks as soon as possible in 2009, an Obama adviser said....
The sorts of jobs Mr. Obama would propose to create involve construction work on roads, mass transit projects, weatherization of government buildings and installation of information technology in medical facilities, among others....
The Obama team has a list of $136 billion in infrastructure projects from the National Governors Association that consists mostly of transit construction but also includes port expansions and renewable energy programs. For education, besides money to build and renovate schools, Mr. Obama will call for money to train more teachers, expand early childhood education and provide more college tuition aid....
With millions more Americans losing their health care coverage, either through job losses or because they can no longer afford to pay for insurance, Mr. Obama will propose major new spending to subsidize states share of Medicaid and their childrens health programs, and to expand health care coverage for those who lose insurance from their employers.
Just as an aside -- you do know that they are parking off-sheet assets with PE and other companies?
I remember the money centers did a round of bond(?) fundraising just before (?) Lehman collapsed, and deals which were conditional sales -- partially seller-financed, on terms that equated to a loss, with reversion covenants that essentially made them rentals. I remember someone, I think Citi(?) paying about 7% to 7.5% for money and then lending it at about 5-6%.
Anonymous writes:
I've been reading about the upcoming rally in the DOW based on TA, Elliot wave 4 taking the SP to 11-1200. Anyone believe or disbelieve this theory as applicable at this present time?
Anonymous | 12.21.08 - 11:04 am | #
Bear market rallies can be very powerful and sustained. There is no way to predict when or what will trigger a reversal. Who cares? Only born and bred dopes are in this market. But good luck with whatever strategy you are pursuing.
They can't make this stuff up! On the heels of the largest hedge fund scam in history, run by one of Wall St.'s highest profile players, the Fed announces TARP access for hedge funds.
I would amend to say only born and bred dopes believe in this market, they are in as well as some speculators, compulsive gamblers and plain batsh!t crazies...
There is no way to predict when or what will trigger a reversal. Who cares? Only born and bred dopes are in this market. But good luck with whatever strategy you are pursuing.
Comrade Volker the Viking
Thank you for the response. Evidently I'm a born and bred dope. 10% in the markets, 80% of that in short positions. You can't win if you don't play
After a few drinks last night I have come to the conclusion that Wall St is ultimately responsible for the housing & economic disaster. Wall St's entire raison d'etre is to efficiently allocate capital. They failed miserbly & completely and need to be shut down, sold off, & prosecuted to claw back any resources that can still be scavenged...
Paulson needs to grow something but I'm not sure it is chia hair! How did we ever get the former head of GS in a position to bail out his buddies - or let his enemies fail(Lehman)? Talk about dictatorial power! It's Obama time............
Read the article Morocco Bama posted regarding the ready-to-go "infrastructure" projects detailed by local governments. Apparently, polar bear exhibits and minor league baseball stadiums count as infrastructure needs.
Oh, don't get me wrong, I appreciate the unorthodox.
Incidentally, we watched Casino Royale last night. I like the new Bond approach. The character has much more depth, and they have removed the "cheese" factor.
cb, no I haven't. Being of Italian descent, I'm suitably ashamed. Although I'm not a big fan of "bitter" flavors which is probably why I prefer the Absinthe.
I really like spy stuff in general. The Bond movies are great fun, but they actually aren't my favorites. My favorite spy movies are those involving John le Carre's George Smiley (played by Alec Guinness).
\tBeg do differ, Dawg: shepple do not get haircuts, they get fleeced. Twilight of the Gods | Homepage | 12.21.08 - 11:46 am | #
Yes, far better analogy. And when they take our skin they can turn us into footwear to warm the toes of our masters. They are called Uggs for a reason.
If you are a Scotch drinker then blended provides a consistent and usually smoother experience. Single malt however is the only way to go if you are a scotch taster. On a similar note the Quarles Harris 10 year old Tawny Port at Trader Joe's $15 is a real find. Tawny means blended.
Bond Girl. I saw in your post last night that you liked Balvenie and Glenmorangie. Seems as if you do like sherry-casked Scotches. The Sprinkbank Counterpointer recommends is fantastic, but very pricey. The 18-year-old Macallan would also be just about perfect I think, but again, expensive. Bowmore 15-year-old darkest might be a nice fit without having to take out a HELOC to pay for it. Irish single-malts tend to be nice and sweet too (as they triple distill). You might enjoy Middletons.
Hi Everyone, I wanted to know if there are any efforts to lobby Congress to stop the hedge fund bailout? Or to try and freeze the remaing TARP assets? I worked hard on protesting the TARP (only to see it get worse on the 2nd version)and wondered if any of you have a pro- active suggestion. (other than kissing my ass goodbye)
Thanks, POORISTHENEWBLACK
Begging your pardon, tawny is just a particular type of port and not blend.
You got your tawny, ruby, late bottle vintage and vintages among the types.
As for whisky.. Highland Park 12 and 18Yr olds, swear by them.
The Keynes model is missing a chapter. The chapter describes the dynamics of a government running up more debt to support a GDP created by unsustainable debt creation. The final bubble.
"Morocco Bama writes:
Did any of you ever consider that Henry Paulson's wife may be reading the comments here?"
Since Paulson and wife are sitting with a 700 million dollar plus fortune, do you really think she cares what a collections of disgruntled American peasants think?
And come January, they are outta here, with the money.
Tawny means blended. -------------- Begging your pardon, tawny is just a particular type of port and not blend. You got your tawny, ruby, late bottle vintage and vintages among the types.
As for whisky.. Highland Park 12 and 18Yr olds, swear by them. Anonymous | 12.21.08 - 12:13 pm | #
"Tawny ports are made from a blend of grapes from several different years;"
The IMF has called for fiscal stimulus -- higher government spending and temporary tax cuts -- worth $120 trillion, or 2 percent of global annual economic output, to fill the gap caused by slumping private demand following the credit crunch.
So they've bought $2Trillion of crap with money borrowed from the treasury. If it turns into $1Trillion, and they stiff the treasury, whats the harm? The threat of inflation? Is this treasury money backed by bonds, or just printed?
And now we have 1.5 million people digging holes, and 1.5 million people filling them up?
anks that are getting taxpayer bailouts awarded their top executives nearly $1.6 billion in salaries, bonuses, and other benefits last year, an Associated Press analysis reveals.
The rewards came even at banks where poor results last year foretold the economic crisis that sent them to Washington for a government rescue. Some trimmed their executive compensation due to lagging bank performance, but still forked over multimillion-dollar executive pay packages.
Benefits included cash bonuses, stock options, personal use of company jets and chauffeurs, home security, country club memberships and professional money management, the AP review of federal securities documents found.
The total amount given to nearly 600 executives would cover bailout costs for many of the 116 banks that have so far accepted tax dollars to boost their bottom lines.
Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services committee and a long-standing critic of executive largesse, said the bonuses tallied by the AP review amount to a bribe "to get them to do the jobs for which they are well paid in the first place.
"Most of us sign on to do jobs and we do them best we can," said Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat. "We're told that some of the most highly paid people in executive positions are different. They need extra money to be motivated!"
fried writes:
"Morocco Bama writes:
Did any of you ever consider that Henry Paulson's wife may be reading the comments here?"
Since Paulson and wife are sitting with a 700 million dollar plus fortune, do you really think she cares what a collections of disgruntled American peasants think?
And come January, they are outta here, with the money.
Yep. Charity begins (and stays) at home. Only here, 'home' is a code word for the Wall Street exclusive 'frat house.
An observation: scotch seems to be an indicator of extremes. Talk of it goes up when things are going swimmingly...and when sh## is hitting the fan. I think this says a great deal about the drink's appeal, I'm just not sure what.
el lurko writes:
An observation: scotch seems to be an indicator of extremes. Talk of it goes up when things are going swimmingly...and when sh## is hitting the fan. I think this says a great deal about the drink's appeal, I'm just not sure what.
In other words, the ideal beverage for any occasion?
El Cliffo writes:
the Obama plan would provide tax relief for low-wage and middle-income workers of roughly $150 billion
I think this means low-wage and middle-income workers making roughly $150 billion (in grotesquely hyper-inflated '09 dollars--assuming people will actually be employed in '09 ...).
Tighter regulation limited Indian banks' exposure to global financial crisis created by the "robust, mature, sophisticated" US financial services industry. There maybe some lessons here for future US govt. response to bubble management. Also, the restrictions will likely prevent this BRIC's economy from falling a lot further than it otherwise would.
Tighter regulation limited Indian banks' exposure to global financial crisis created by the "robust, mature, sophisticated" US financial services industry.
In other words, they were too dumb so to speak, to reap the humongous profits of the banksters schemes here and that in the end, was their saving grace.
I knew the IMF was revising the numbers; got a feed out of them on Friday Fugly. Scary.
Bond Girl - the AAA sov paper coming to market in Q1 is colossal, rollovers and new funding; ditto commercial AAA and shit-backed paper.
Who on earth is going to be on the other side of the trade? There seems to be an assumption that there's no end of liquidity sitting on the sidelines waiting to snap up AAA as if it's a fortress investment. We'll see a wave of mutilation if the confidence levels are so low that the trade says damn this game, the sidelines look like a perfect place to sit this out. A fortiori if CBs also do not trust their peers' full faith and credit backing. Ain't far off.
"[When] corruption.. has prevailed in those offices [of]... government and [has] so familiarized itself as that men otherwise honest could look on it without horror,... [then we must] be alive to the suppression of this odious practice and... bring to punishment and brand with eternal disgrace every man guilty of it, whatever be his station." --Thomas Jefferson to W. C. C. Claiborne, 1804. (*)
Av' ye "Drambuie", lass?
A sweet, authentic sipper and Isle of Skye warmer " A link to the '45' "
as in 1745
Oh yeah and I think a martial law clampdown would be very counter productive, both for the gov't and those who attempt to enforce it.
This is a message your local police chief should receive if they haven't figured it out already
Jus sayin'
I don't suppose anyone has posted a list somewhere of the Top 100
USA Public Enemies (Financial Dep't)
names, address(es), phone numbers?
aliases, hideouts, known associates?
why are you up CR?
morning!
Hey CR, if you could set the posts to have the Mortgage Pig arrive at a certain time, some readers may be able to use it as an alarm clock!
Girl Scout Heroin, what are YOU doing up? I sleep at weird hours sometimes...
Best to all.
I was out partying with a huge cabal of yuppies... I come back at 3 am and find CR posting cartoons... CR, you should try some melatonin. It will even out your sleep.
On last thread:
FED loan to hedge funds. Is this a hoax or for real?
Comrade Peronista | 12.21.08 - 6:11 am |
Yes, it's true, indirectly.
They will be lending based on the type of assets available as collateral (various Asset Backed and Mortgage Backed debts). The loans will keyed to the type of debt, not the nature of the borrower, so hedge funds could line up at the trough.
Rita Marley saw into the future by 30 years when she wrote "crazy baldhead"
ch ch ch chia
Is this the real reason oil prices came down so far so fast?
Daily Kos: The Enron Loophole is Closed! Senator Levin: Bless you!!
Expert opinions appreciated.
Looks like new short term revenue beating tactics at Amazon-
'Prime buyers' now and get $10ff. But the $10ff won't make it to your account until Feb.
Gold Box: Creative Labs Vado Pocket Video Camcorder
The officials said Obama is increasing his goal from 2.5 million to 3 million jobs over the next two years
the nation is likely to lose up to 4 million jobs over the next year and that the unemployment rate will probably rise above 9 percent
Obama ups jobs goal to 3 million on bad economic news - CNN.com
funny cartoon... here's my take, Hanky is joined by Wilbur on this vid mash-up...
YouTube - TARP Piggies visits Obama's Larry Summers( Smalley Biggs) music: Pink Floyd
in the words of Britney... Oops, I did it again
here's the correct link of vid with Hanky, piggy and Pink Floyd
YouTube - TARP Piggies visits Obama's Larry Summers( Smalley Biggs) music: Pink Floyd
FUBAR & WASS LLC
Thank you, makes sense when I actually bothered to read the text.
Well not makes sense, but......
Greece
"People have lost faith in the authorities or anyone in government - they are so angry.
They have started smoking and drinking on the metro - all rules are out. There's been a total breakdown in law and order.
I put an empty plastic bottle into a bin and somebody laughed and asked: "Why are you doing that?"
Even ordinary people are questioning authority and I can't see it getting back on track for a long time."
BBC NEWS | Europe | 'The anarchists are misunderstood'
Anarchy might be the result.
CR-
i too have a very weird sleep schedule - i understand your plight all too well
the upside (if you can call it that) is that i am cramming 5 lifetimes into one.
take care, and enjoy your nap!
Fubar... that Kos piece,
who knew that legislation had such power - I thought it had something to do with demand destruction. guess, that's what I get for reading CR. why isn't Levin wearing a cape?
The anarchists of San Francisco
Protesters wreak havoc at S.F. mall
Common theme from tg's BBC link
"The feeling here is if you have money and status you can pretty much do what you want"
OT don't know if anyone of you are up on modern art but check out the right panel of Francis Bacon's triptych >>>
http://bp1.blogger.com/_mr-PNhz6Xhg/SC3NjKjyrnI/AAAAAAAABJc/dRk1XIXs1IU/s1600-h/PH2008051403693.jpg
looks just like Hanky, no?
Gotoil? writes:
Is this the real reason oil prices came down so far so fast?
I'm just happy they're way down.
Does anyone know if Eric has a website? Somewhere all of these are archived? Might've a missed a few.
AIG Goldman CDS glod just following links do not know date on this posting
Credit Default Swaps, What are they, the Definition of… | Rapid Trends - Gold and Silver Bullion
<a href="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TaBBtfzdy8s>Winter thread music
From yesterday's thread, sorry, I owe Werner an apology for losing my temper.
Pavel
Winter thread music
Persecuted Comrade Anonymouse | Homepage | 12.21.08 - 8:25 am | #
Winter's been here for less than a day, and I am unamused. Already had to use the snowblower twice, temp right now is -5F.
Less than five months until Maui vacation though. (Heh.... last year the FDIC shut down my employer during the Maui jaunt....)
@ tg is a born & bred dope in a
That link warmed my heart....that is great....I can't wait until that type of sentiment takes hold here....we need some of that revolutionary spirit and disdain for "authority" about now.
US debt approaches insolvency?:
U.S. debt approaches insolvency | Spero News
OT -- I came across this link simulating a day's global airfline flights. It really puts the world into perspective.
Another 800-pound gorilla in the room that nobody talks about -- access to health care for the 500,000 people being laid off every month:
Health insurance options limited after job loss
"About 60 percent of American workers are covered by health plans offered by their employers, according to the Kaiser Family Foundation. It's difficult to determine how many people who lose their jobs will lose health insurance.
Those who are lucky enough to be married to someone who has job-based insurance probably can be added to their spouse's group policy. Some people may be able to find another job quickly enough to avoid a gap in coverage. But for many, especially older workers or those with pre-existing medical conditions, the options are few.
"Even during good times, employers trimmed and scaled back their coverage. In these tough economic times, we have to be prepared for a dramatic drop in coverage when people are losing their jobs and thus their health insurance," said Anthony Wright, executive director of Health Access California, a coalition of grassroots health care consumer groups.
To make matters worse, traditional safety-net options - public health programs, clinics and other sources of care that receive government funding - are being cut back or threatened by state and national budget crises. Health services face major cuts under proposals made to bridge California's estimated $41.8 billion budget deficit in the next 18 months.
LiveLong Medical Center, a group of nine Bay Area health centers that offer care to the uninsured, saw a 25 percent increase in the numbers of patients from July until the end of October compared with the same period last year.
The nonprofit group's development director, Lillian Samuel, said she can't determine how much of the increase is due to the jump in unemployment, but she has heard about patients who started coming to the clinics after they lost their jobs.
"The number of uninsured patients knocking on our door is growing. That's not something we budgeted for," she said."
For growing hair:
KABUL, Afghanistan (AP) - Afghan and coalition troops found and destroyed [I'm sure they did] 2.5 tons of marijuana in an abandoned school in southern Afghanistan,...
Afghanistan is the world's largest producer of opium, the main ingredient in heroin. But as the U.S. and other Western nations have tried to help Afghanistan stamp out its poppy fields, an increasing number of farmers have turned to marijuana, which is receiving less attention from authorities.
We could be growing this in the Inland Empire and saving lots of transportation costs... and increasing our GDP too.
That link warmed my heart..
It doesn't mine. That kind of thinking where does it lead? We need respect for each other and the world. I keep coming back to the destruction of money leads to the destruction of values. Giving the power to create money to banks leads to the corruption of governments.
"Of all the contrivances for cheating the laboring classes of mankind, none has been more effective than that which deludes them with paper money." Daniel Webster"
All the perplexities, confusion and distresses in America arise not from defects in the constitution or confederation, nor from want of honor or virtue, as much from downright ignorance of the nature of coin, credit, and circulation." John Adams
"tg is a born & bred dope in a writes:
That link warmed my heart..
It doesn't mine. That kind of thinking where does it lead? We need respect for each other and the world. I keep coming back to the destruction of money leads to the destruction of values. Giving the power to create money to banks leads to the corruption of governments."
Inasmuch as it scares those who take social stability for granted as they run the nation into the ground... it has its points.
Fresno County's unemployment rate climbed in November to 12.1% as a gain in health and teaching jobs failed to offset losses in agriculture, trade, government and construction, the state Employment Development Department reported today.
The jobless rate increased from 11.3% in October and 8.9% in November 2007. Officials noted that agriculture lost 4,500 jobs between October and November, and construction employment declined by 1,300 jobs in the year-over-year period. government also lost 1,000 jobs in that period.
Freno RV dealer throws in the towel:
RV king Dan Gamel, struggling with a lousy economy, closed all but one of his dealerships Friday and laid off 150 employees for three months while he sells motor coaches online and by appointment.
The Camp America store on Shaw Avenue and dealerships on Highway 99 in south Fresno, in Modesto and in Rocklin are closing until spring, Gamel said. The Redding outlet is staying open because the store is profitable, he said.
All the real estate -- totaling 85 acres with much of it on prime frontage -- is for sale.
"It doesn't make sense to be in business the way we are in this economy," Gamel said. "I thought we could make it and hang on, but every month brought a
more dire situation."
"We need respect for each other and the world."
Our current "leaders" do not deserve our respect and when the game becomes rigged as far as effecting change through traditional channels than there is really only one option. Our leaders, especially here, need the pressure that a bit of civil disobedience would provide to remind them that they work for us.
Would you respect a band of pirates who broke into your home and raped and pillaged your family? I would hope not.
I posted this last night. I do think TPTB are counting on the numbness of the populace and underestimating any blowback.
Frank Rich in the NYTImes...
"The wholesale loss of confidence is so catastrophic that even the new president's new deal can not set it right".
- NY Times? hp
I have no more worries... I have decided to become a bank and get free money too...Sweet!
Discover Wins Federal Reserve Approval to Become Bank
Discover Financial Services, the fourth-largest credit-card network, won approval to become a bank holding company, joining American Express Co. and other financial firms in a rush for government funds and retail deposits.
The Federal Reserve approved the credit-card companys conversion, according to a regulatory filing today. The change may make Riverwoods, Illinois-based Discover eligible for funds from the Treasurys rescue plan to bolster financial firms.
"Would you respect a band of pirates who broke into your home and raped and pillaged your family?"
AP study finds $1.6B went to bailed-out bank execs
AP study finds $1.6B went to bailed-out bank execs
Speaking of a band of pirates.
"fried writes:
I posted this last night. I do think TPTB are counting on the numbness of the populace and underestimating any blowback."
When the paint gets bad enough, blowback there will be.
I see in the news this morning that Obama has decided that his initial stimulus ideas were too timid, after getting a better take on how things are out there. Whether you agree or not with that approach, that's a man who understands blowback.
Pavel,
The number from Bloomberg includes guarantees.
"When the paint gets bad enough, blowback there will be.
"
Excuse me -- when the PAIN gets bad enough, blowback there will be.
Sigh. Too early. I hope CR got some sleep.
re rioting in Greece and the breakdown of law and order.
Do not forget that the use of agents provocateurs are the oldest trick to justify preordained repression and suspension of civil liberties.
Like false-flag attacks have justified all American wars since 1898 (I know, Rooseveld didn't bomb Pearl Harbour, but he did have foreknowledge and did not share it with the base commanders who ended up taking being punished for it), Martial Law, if it finally becomes overt, will be preceded by some high-profile rioting broadcast 24/7 in all controlled media.
The anger is real, but one should ask if the action is genuine, or some synthethic terror contrived to justify even more oppression.
Just as a reminder for gullible who think "our government would never do that", here's a recent case of Canadian cops-cum-agent-provocateurs who were busted in 2007.
YouTube -
If I am the least bit of objective I am not a moral person. Is our government moral?. At this point in time I would have to say no. Has any society come to the forefront without a sound monetary system? Do governments need to be held to a higher standard?
Pavel Chichikov writes:
US debt approaches insolvency?:
IIS 7.0 Detailed Error - 404.0 - Not Found insolvency
I have always thought that the collapse will come shortly after Bush leaves office. They have done everything they can to prevent this under their watch.. people need to be ready.
Am I the only one who sees a disconnect between the kinds of workers that are losing their jobs and the kinds of projects being proposed for the stimulus plan? How did this work during the Great Depression? I guess it goes without saying that we are a more services-oriented economy now than we were then.
So we have a Nemo and an ille_vir. Funny.
Rita Marley? I thought it was Scratch Perry?
Gotta dub them crazy baldheads, outta your life...
This is the remix, but I'm sure there's a version from the late 60s:
YouTube - Lee Scratch Perry & Mad Professor - Dub Those Crazy Baldhead
C
"The officials said Obama is increasing his goal from 2.5 million to 3 million jobs over the next two years"
Screw that working for our phony fiat currency how about I'll stay home sitting on my ass and they can just send a check.
Where is the outrage? They piss and moan about $14 billion for the autos, but they turn around and do this with out a discussion..
Financial Times
Hedge funds gain access to $200bn Fed aid
By Krishna Guha in Washington
December 20 2008 05:01
Hedge funds will be allowed to borrow from the Federal Reserve for the first time under a landmark $200bn programme intended to support consumer credit.
The Fed said on Friday it would offer low-cost three-year funding to any US company investing in securitised consumer loans under the Term Asset-backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF). This includes hedge funds, which have never been able to borrow from the US central bank before, although the Fed may not permit hedge funds to use offshore vehicles to conduct the transactions.
Am I the only one who sees a disconnect between the kinds of workers that are losing their jobs and the kinds of projects being proposed for the stimulus plan? How did this work during the Great Depression? I guess it goes without saying that we are a more services-oriented economy now than we were then.
Bond Girl
Yes, I've noticed it for quite some time now. Infrastructure? Refurbishing bridges? Somehow I don't see people getting laid off from call centers getting jobs as heavy equipment operators.
Bob Dobbs writes:
When the pain gets bad enough, blowback there will be.
Ive read that there are more than 20 million federal, state and local government workers.
And
"According to the United States Bureau of Economic Analysis, federal employees earn an average annual compensation of $106,871, including pay and benefits, compared to just $53,288 in the private sector," says Dennis Damp, author of "The Book of U.S. Government Jobs," citing statistics gathered in late 2005 and early 2006.
Damp adds that the average federal salary alone, not counting benefits, is more than $67,000.
Government jobs offer good pay, benefits (Page 1 of 3)
Government/bureaucracy is a parasite on the people, in my unvarnished opinion.
Am I the only one who sees a disconnect between the kinds of workers that are losing their jobs and the kinds of projects being proposed for the stimulus plan? How did this work during the Great Depression? I guess it goes without saying that we are a more services-oriented economy now than we were then.
Bond Girl
Yes, I've noticed it for quite some time now. Infrastructure? Refurbishing bridges? Somehow I don't see people getting laid off from call centers getting jobs as heavy equipment operators.
Doc at the Radar Station | 12.21.08 - 9:52 am | #
Eh - we need to create new jobs, not necessarily the same jobs - how many mtg. brokers do you really need?
The advantage to infrastructure jobs is they're not easily outsourced. Yes, workers may have to be retrained, but...civil engineering is still engineering.
Did any of you ever consider that Henry Paulson's wife may be reading the comments here?
It is easyer to retrain Paper-pushers to become burger-flippers than bridge-builders. Maybe Obama should also nationalize Burger King and McDonalds.
What provisions do anarchists generally make to protect the weak?
Scott, back in the depression things weren't so automated with regards to infrastructure projects. My grandfather was in the WPA and worked on building dams. I think he probably used a shovel more than anything else. Most jobs require far too specific and narrow of a set of skills. Employers don't invest much in training employees anymore and everybody wants a highly specialized employee with training that becomes obsolete too quickly. The days are long gone where you get a high school diploma and go to work for the railroad, they invest a lot of time training you over years and you work your way up into a management position, etc.
In the other "great depression" they had the civilian consevation corps. My grandfather left for Alaska to build an oil pipeline. They earned $30 dollars a months and were required to send most of it home to the family. I suspect we will see something similar soon.
Civilian Conservation Corps - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Where is the outrage? They piss and moan about $14 billion for the autos, but they turn around and do this with out a discussion..
Crewman | 12.21.08 - 9:52 am | #
Well, Paulson wasn't a UAW member. Why should there be outrage?
I guess it goes without saying that we are a more services-oriented economy now than we were then.
What it says is that we're a bunch of lazy, obese, moronic sheep who don't know honest, hard work. I'm all for putting these lard asses to work. Hell, I dont't mind paying them to do jumping jacks all day as we get to throw tomatoes and other garden variety vegetables at their grotesque rotund figures.
Bush/Cheney's role model:
I will never, never surrender. Zimbabwe is mine: President Mugabe scorned the growing international clamour for him to step down. Almost 21,000 Zimbabweans are infected with cholera.
I'm sympathetic to the disconnect and relativities points, but can't help thinking we've taken eyes off the ball.
Bigger stories:
Citigroup's $1.1T off balance sheet (July 14 Bloomberg story)
JP Morgan sinking Bear allegations (Market Oracle covered this)
AIG black hole
Ecuador sovereign CDS auction,first of its kind
ABS market frozen.
And more.
More crazy baldheads.
C
Doc at the Radar Station writes:
I think he probably used a shovel more than anything else.
I hate shovels they give me blisters
What provisions do anarchists generally make to protect the weak?
That's a bit misleading. At the core of Anarchist sentiment is the perpetual mitigation of hierarchical power structures which exist to create, nurture and/or exploit the weak, so, in the least, Anarchist sentiment indirectly frees the weak from the source of its bondage.
I hate shovels they give me blisters
Don't worry...we have gloves for the weak.
Plantagenet | 12.21.08 - 8:51 am | #
Phenomenal data visualization there, Plantagenet - thanks for posting the link - wow.
Scott writes:
Am I the only one who sees a disconnect between the kinds of workers that are losing their jobs and the kinds of projects being proposed for the stimulus plan? How did this work during the Great Depression?
No job training
There was serious concern about the CCC from the American Federation of Labor which feared it would be a job training program. With so many union construction workers unemployed, a new job training program would introduce unwelcome new competition for scarce jobs. Roosevelt promised there would be no skills taught that would compete with established unions, and he named labor leader Robert Fechner to run the CCC. After observing the new standard 8-hour day and 5-day work week at manual labor, the enrollees could, if they wanted, attend evening classes at different educational levels to study subjects ranging from college-level U.S. history and civics classes to basic literacy
Hey, I have an idea. Why doesn't Obama pay everyone to run 5ks every week, or two, and then after a year, and 60 lbs lighter, everyone gets a bottle of 5-star Scotch.
A veteran staffer in the SEC's enforcement division tells TPMmuckraker's Zack Roth that the agency is in a "state of complete panic" over Bernie Madoff's $50 billion fraud.
At the same time that the agency is trying to unravel the unprecedented decades-long scheme, staff is being ordered not to destroy any records related to its earlier investigations of Madoff because of inside and outside probes into the SEC's own role in not catching Madoff sooner.
Meanwhile, paranoia has set in, we're told, and junior staff has been ordered to go back and review other cases the SEC has closed in recent years out of fear that violations may have been missed in those cases, too.
Yes, lots of time wielding a No. 2 shovel as a CPA?
I get that everyone thinks Americans are lazy, etc. But I was asking a serious question. Is this actually going to accomplish anything?
Morocco Bama writes:
Hey, I have an idea. Why doesn't Obama pay everyone to run 5ks every week, or two, and then after a year, and 60 lbs lighter, everyone gets a bottle of 5-star Scotch.
Morocco Bama | Homepage | 12.21.08 - 10:13 am | #
Studies show that short term objectives rewarded often with a longer term goal rewarded once and spectacularly are what best makes for an incentive compensation plan.
Perhaps we could have a taste after a week, a nip or three after a month, a half pint at 3 months, pint at six months. Of course there would need be forgiveness for back sliding and special extra reward for accomplishing in excess of goal, even along the way, you see. Now that's a plan I could get with, especially if it were beer. Not just any beer, a really good import from an obscure brewery in Bavaria or Czechoslovakia.
By Mark Bentley
Dec. 19 (Bloomberg) -- The shoe hurled at President George W. Bush has sent sales soaring at the Turkish maker as orders pour in from Iraq, the U.S. and Iran.
The brown, thick-soled Model 271 may soon be renamed The Bush Shoe or Bye-Bye Bush, Ramazan Baydan, who owns the Istanbul-based producer Baydan Ayakkabicilik San. & Tic., said in a telephone interview today.
Weve been selling these shoes for years but, thanks to Bush, orders are flying in like crazy, he said. Weve even hired an agency to look at television advertising.
Iraqi journalist Muntadar al-Zeidi hurled a pair at Bush at a news conference in Baghdad on Dec. 14. Both shoes missed the president after he ducked. The journalist was jailed and is seeking a pardon from Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki.
Baydan has received orders for 300,000 pairs of the shoes since the attack, more than four times the number his company sold each year since the model was introduced in 1999. The company plans to employ 100 more staff to meet demand, he said.
Model 271 is exported to markets including Iraq, Iran, Syria and Egypt. Customers in Iraq ordered 120,000 pairs this week and some Iraqis offered to set up distribution companies for the shoe, Baydan said.
Baydan has received a request for 4,000 pairs from a company called Davidson, based in Maryland. He declined to provide further details.
Has anyone ever noticed Bankers Hands?
Give The Banker's The Shovels, The Middle Class the duty of figuring out The Ponzi schene's of AIG and Goldman Sach's.
Would like someone to tell me why Madoff was outed NOW, when agency's of Goverment had to have known what was going on.
Giving Hedge funds our tax dollars is Criminal, and perk walks for each who is making these decisions.
I get Jas, maybe it's an age thing.
Spineless writes:
I get Jas, maybe it's an age thing.
Spineless | 12.21.08 - 10:22 am | #
Well, it's certainly not a spelling thing.
Bond Girl, I have my doubts about the ability for it to accomplish much unless they think through all of the detail in greater depth. They need to get some really smart labor economists to look at the impacts of the spending at a micro level. Krugman talked about oversight being in place yesterday on C-span, but oversight just to make sure there isn't corruption isn't enough IMO. If you have a bunch of unemployed people that do not have the skills required to do the real jobs this spending will create, what then? That's the dilemma.
OT but very interesting link discussing the rhymes between the current situation with the 1870's, which may be a closer fit to what we are seeing than thttp://ieet.org/index.php/IEET/more/cascio20081219/he 1930's:
Re: Hedge Funds accessing the TALF
The Fed is under the impression that credit spreads for securitized debt do not actually reflect projected default rates and that people are too paranoid to purchase them. The Fed is essentially trying to reconstruct risk-taking behavior in the markets by making the risk-taking behavior cheaper. The Fed does not care who it gets to take the risks so long as someone is willing to make a market for these things. Once again, the Fed is confusing a liquidity problem with a solvency problem.
To those who have fairly decent jobs but not a lot of savings: batten down the hatches.
If FDR could outlaw private holding of gold, why can't Obama outlaw the production and collection on credit default swaps? Wipe them out and let the cards fall where they may.
--
Regarding govt involvement in housing bubble (yesterdays threads), below is what wrote on September 04, 2006:
Let us see, in 2003, Bernanke wanted to artificially boost the economy in preparation for the Bush re-election in late 2004 and his own future appointment. He had read articles by some self-serving economists in 2002, if it hadn't occurred to him, that low interest rates could boost housing and that may lead the economy out of the recession (it was already out of the recession, but didn't feel like a recovery with the employment falling). So, during the first half of 2003, Bernanke, as a Fed Governor, started to publicly talk about the deflation threat and how the Fed can always stop that by "printing money." Thus, the Fed, under Greenspan chairmanship back then, lowered the rates to "emergency" levels when the only real emergency was the Bush re-election. Greenspan was very happy to play along because his own reappointment in 2004 was contingent upon the economy visibly recovering.
The artificially low rates gave rise to artificial boost to the economy in the form of the predictable housing boom, but no one could have predicted the Housing Bubble and the overbuilding that ensued. As mentioned earlier, the global building boom, as well as the general rise in consumption due to the boom, also gave rise to the steep increases in the price of oil, which has led to the current problem of inflation. So, now the Fed has the excuse to force consumption down by altering the availability of Consumption Debt in the form of mortgage refinancing. Therefore, the Fed is actively engaged in leading to the Peak Debt that I am predicting. This is because curbing consumption is necessary to control inflation, especially, inflationary psychology, and it is not an accident that "inflation peaks during the first year of a recession," as announced by Ron Insana on CNBC. One way or another (by raising the rates further, if necessary, or holding rates high enough for long enough) Bernanke will have to bring the consumption down by indirectly affecting Consumption Debt. As in the past, at some point Consumption Debt in the US will peak (the debt service to income ratio having reached historical highs), most likely during the next recession, leading to the general condition of the Peak Debt for the current Longwave Cycle.
With great forethought, in 1999, Bernanke, an academic getting attention as the future Fed Governor, pre-empted any talk of Fed having to take any actions to nip in the bud any asset bubble by his public declaration that Fed should keep its hands off any asset bubbles, i.e., let the asset bubbles build as far as they go. Bernanke was just the man that Bush needed on the Fed for his re-election bid and was thus appointed just in time. (On a historical note, one of the three conditions that Grant had to agree to get the command of the Union Army was that Lincoln be re-elected; this was confirmed by another general who was offered the command on the same conditions, before Grant was offered, and who declined due to the conditions).
http://safehaven.com/article-5824.htm
We have a thoroughly corrupt system controlled, or manipulated, by very few powerful men, much more so than at any time in the US history.
Jas
Wipe them out and let the cards fall where they may.
Are you mad? That will expose all the insolvent banks, which is every big bank!
Spineless,
currently these guys are walking with quite a few "perks"
And someone wrote that a like kind exchange is a tax advantage. You can not like kind exchange your personal residence. Only business property may be like kind, (1031), exchanged.
Yes, lots of time wielding a No. 2 shovel as a CPA?
I'm no ordinary CPA. In fact, for me, at least, the letters after my name could just as easily mean Cautiously Pragmatic Anarchist. I'm a CPA who used to toke up...and still wants to. I'd take that over Scotch, any day, but I hate the smoking part of it. There's always brownies, I suppose. No worries, Obama's going to legalize it in short order, so we can all laugh our asses off as we quite literally build our endless bridge into the Abyss.
Wipe them out and let the cards fall where they may.
Are you mad? That will expose all the insolvent banks, which is every big bank!
Anonymous
Yep. If Citi, JPM/Chase, BOA, Wells et al are insolvent, take them over or withdraw their ability to deal with the Fed.
Creative Destruction, baby. Build some banks that have integrity and let them pick over the assets, if any, they want to acquire.
Shitcan the rest.
Sorry, wrong thread.
That would be no, then...
Weve been selling these shoes for years but, thanks to Bush, orders are flying in like crazy, he said. Weve even hired an agency to look at television advertising.
Now that would be an entertaining ad.
(Video, um, footage, of the shoe fling is spliced with CGI showing the shoe rotating through the air to show it off from all angles.)
(announcer speaks)
"Model 271 - a shoe worthy of insulting the most evil of foreign invaders yet like angel wings for your feet."
"Now available at a shoe store or bazaar near you."
Or they could get Yassin Majid as spokesman.
"They beat and tortured me all night but the worst part was that they kept the shoes."
I think it's safe to say that we have reached, and perhaps surpassed, the point of Peak Human. From here, either we cull the herd, perish as a species, or quickly evolve into something that can no longer be considered human (i.e. the Singularity and all of its implications regarding man and machine).
The venom with which the shoes were hurled, i thought the journalist was an american.
A new meaning for "sabotage"
I have to give credit to Bush on his reaction to the shoe. If nothing else, he's consistent. He just offered his usual smirk, as though this were just another daily event. Maybe it is.....Cheney and Rove throw shoes at him every other day....it could explain the Pretzel Incident.
MB,
Data to test that thesis (viz new avian flu action and an Ebola outbreak in swine in the Phillipines)
Recombinomics Commentary
Jas Jain writes:
We have a thoroughly corrupt system controlled, or manipulated, by very few powerful men, much more so than at any time in the US history.
The perceived integrity of our financial system allowed us to dig an unfillable hole. Now that integrity has been shown to be a sham. Our leaders analysis of the problem is deeply flawed, infused with denial, and their solutions and proposed solutions are making/will make things worse. We are now headed directly into GDII, do not pass Go, no matter what they do or do not do. And Treasury rates are destined to rise (skyrocket?) IMO, the Dollar will crash and those events will make things worse. But no one is angry. Strange country.
Am I the only one who sees a disconnect between the kinds of workers that are losing their jobs and the kinds of projects being proposed for the stimulus plan? How did this work during the Great Depression? I guess it goes without saying that we are a more services-oriented economy now than we were then.
Bond Girl | Homepage | 12.21.08 - 9:39 am | #
The advantage is that if you build a bridge, at least we have something to show for it, and people can use it to progress somewhere. If we pay people to shuffle paper we actually end up impeding progress.
JimPortlandOR writes:
If FDR could outlaw private holding of gold, why can't Obama outlaw the production and collection on credit default swaps? Wipe them out and let the cards fall where they may.
JimPortlandOR | 12.21.08 - 10:27 am | #
I would certianly support an outlawing of writing new CDS's and frankly think it whould be right up at the top of the agenda, let the existing book run off since I think forced unwinding could open up a huge can of worms.
From here, either we cull the herd, perish as a species, or quickly evolve into something that can no longer be considered human
I think what will end up happening to correct the imbalance will be as simple as producing more of the stuff that we consume. It will also cost more, and we will consume less of it, but that will also put less pressure on resources and will be more sustainable. Some folks will squeal and whine about having to work in a factory environment rather than a cube in a call center, but they'll get over it.
Spineless writes:
Would like someone to tell me why Madoff was outed NOW, when agency's of Goverment had to have known what was going on."
I believe that I read in the New York Times, that Madoff "outed" himself. (Technically he told his employees which included his sons. And one of his employees turned him in.)The economic downturn resulted in some of his investors wanting to withdraw funds. He did not have enough funds available to meet the 7 billion Dollar in redemptions, so he admitted what he did.
Doc at the Radar Station writes:
I think what will end up happening to correct the imbalance will be as simple as producing more of the stuff that we consume. It will also cost more, and we will consume less of it, but that will also put less pressure on resources and will be more sustainable.
Way less pressure on resources in my opinion, because the items we can produce here will have a longer life. I am on my third tea kettle in 5 years - 2 of them the same style/model, and it was the best one i could find, selection is all China-made. Before that the kettle that finally wore out was made in about 1965 - here in Canada - it lasted 35 years.
For the Madoffs and Paulsons of the US financial world:
no torture, just ritual castration conducted in public on Wall Street. All nice and sterile, but the off'd parts put on display for 3 days in front of the NY Fed and NY Stock Exchange. Souvenir postcards too.
OH SHIT, the Oceans are farting:
MotherJones.com | Advertisement
George W. Bush legacy will be destroyer extraordinaire of American middle class
Biden to oversee efforts aimed at middle class
Yahoo! 404 - Page Not Found
I've been reading about the upcoming rally in the DOW based on TA, Elliot wave 4 taking the SP to 11-1200. Anyone believe or disbelieve this theory as applicable at this present time?
"But no one is angry. Strange country."
I'm pissed off as hell personally. That's why I'm a bum screw'em.
"Did any of you ever consider that Henry Paulson's wife may be reading the comments here?"
Naw,if that were the case she'd have left him by now. Nice divorce settlement as well..
OT - Asia open tonight should be interesting - Hang Seng looking for trouble and will probably find it acc to futures on kaboomberger:
\tVALUE\tCHANGE\t% CHANGE
Nikkei 225\t8,530.00\t-70.00\t-0.81
Topix\t828.50\t-6.00\t-0.72
Hang Seng\t14,995.00\t-405.00\t-2.63
Singapore Straits Times\t1,796.00\t3.00\t0.17
S&P/ASX\t3,610.00\t11.00\t0.31
And anyone else see that Friday's volume on the Dow was almost perfectly symmetrical between the 150m trades at open, anaemic all day, the the 150m traded at 3:58pm?
C
It amazes me how quickly we forget agriculture. not everything is automated. These financial swindlers should try weeding beans in the sun for 12 hours a day.
He did not have enough funds available to meet the 7 billion Dollar in redemptions, so he admitted what he did.
trader walt | 12.21.08 - 10:54 am | #
If he just had access to the TARP, this would still be going on. Not unlike other wasky financial schemes. heh?
Is this what happened to Macolm Gladwell?
Madoff may be an unusually large cockroach but not the only cockroach. No, I'm not talking about the fraud part but the redemptions part. An apparently stable and highly profitable fund was facing $7b of $17b in redepmtions. What are the others facing? Orderly unwinding hedged positions is no longer possible in my opinon and it is only a matter of some trivial trigger that precipitates the supersaturated solution. While he is not saying explicitly this is probably what caused Conjure to jump the bond implosion clock.
"The advantage to infrastructure jobs is they're not easily outsourced. Yes, workers may have to be retrained, but...civil engineering is still engineering.
And putting the civil engineers back to work will create how many jobs?
I can just see the corruption in the awarding of these contracts as well--with plenty of undocumented workers getting picked up to do the dirtiest work.
Manhattan real estate down 20%...
Curbed NY: Open House Open Thread
More on stimulus plan
OBAMA EXPANDS RECOVERY PLANS AS OUTLOOK DIMS - NY Times
Not unlike other wasky financial schemes. heh?
sdtfs
SSI, Medicare, Dot.Com bubble, US housing/MBS bubble the same things. Tarp Bernie
I'm sure everyone that lives in a small town in US and Canada has a story EXACTLY like this one. For 3 generations there was a family hardware business in our town. It was not a big store, in fact there were two in town. Somehow the store had whatever you needed, and then some. You could fit about 25 of these stores in one Wal-Mart. It went out of business about 8 years ago, after the big chains entered the area. Of course there are now a lot of store vacancy's on the main street, and the town center pedestrian traffic also died taking a lot of mom-and-pop run small stores out. I guess we could call it a 'dislocation' of the economy of the small town retail center. Shopping malls opened on the outside of town, consuming the best farmland. Now everyone has to drive to the grocery. The elderly take taxis.
If the bankers and investment managers hands are too dainty for hard labor (those laid off), give them the choice of changing bedpans and giving baths in nursing homes for minimum wage. Or trimming trees, cutting grass in parks, or cleaning public toilets.
Meanwhile, paranoia has set in, we're told, and junior staff has been ordered to go back and review other cases the SEC has closed in recent years out of fear that violations may have been missed in those cases, too.
You mean.... there could be more iceberg than on the surface? Come on, that would be unthinkable...
Counterpointer | 12.21.08 - 11:06 am | #
Money Flows: Selling on Strength - Markets Data Center - WSJ.com
Counterpointer,
The Selling on Strength seemed to have some big numbers on Friday, and one rolled off of the top - during the day the top of the list was XOM at less than -900 million, maybe it rolled the next digit and that was too much (or offsetting trades? weird to note CVX one of the biggies for Buying on Weakness)...
I would certianly support an outlawing of writing new CDS's and frankly think it whould be right up at the top of the agenda
Dirk | Homepage | 12.21.08 - 10:54 am | #
That will never happen.
Exchange traded? Maybe.
Insurance style regulation? Maybe.
Outright ban? NFW.
"Giving Hedge funds our tax dollars is Criminal, and perk walks for each who is making these decisions."
We conclude that, under a paper-money system, a determined government can always generate higher spending and hence positive inflation.
Federal Reserve Board Governor Ben S. Bernanke, Deflation: Making Sure "It" Doesn't Happen Here
Obviously it will take a little fraud too.
Is it just me, or is CR getting snarkier? Haven't decided if I approve or not...
Rob Dawg,
+1 for the chemistry metaphor, what appearantly 'trivial' partical becomes the nucleus for the precip reaction...and noting that Madoff was the uber-fund that supposedly performed through every sling and arrow of outrageous fortune...
Someone was on here the other day saying CRE in Sf was doing great..LOL!!!
Curbed SF: Office Space: Market Crushed and Flooded
Kondriatief,
I live in the pittsburgh area, where most hardware stores are long replaced by big boxes. One notable exception is 2 miles away- Family owns the building, was able to restart after the hurricane Ivan floods. Been there a hundred years, but they're an exception. I now avoud buying new crap. Stuff from my mother-in-laws house is being kept because it lasts.
Oh and one more for RD - there never is only one cockroach!
Just why is it a social benefit to allow 'sophisticated investors' to put their money into hedge funds, especially since they lack any meaningful oversight or regulation?
Our financial system needs to be greatly simplified and much more transparent if it is going to regain the confidence of savers/investors. Prune the tree!
Oh, and NO MORE off-balance sheet entities.
From NYT article -
Besides new spending, the Obama plan would provide tax relief for low-wage and middle-income workers of roughly $150 billion, Democrats familiar with the proposal said. The government would probably reduce the withholding of income or payroll taxes so that most workers received larger paychecks as soon as possible in 2009, an Obama adviser said....
The sorts of jobs Mr. Obama would propose to create involve construction work on roads, mass transit projects, weatherization of government buildings and installation of information technology in medical facilities, among others....
The Obama team has a list of $136 billion in infrastructure projects from the National Governors Association that consists mostly of transit construction but also includes port expansions and renewable energy programs. For education, besides money to build and renovate schools, Mr. Obama will call for money to train more teachers, expand early childhood education and provide more college tuition aid....
With millions more Americans losing their health care coverage, either through job losses or because they can no longer afford to pay for insurance, Mr. Obama will propose major new spending to subsidize states share of Medicaid and their childrens health programs, and to expand health care coverage for those who lose insurance from their employers.
A few more SF CRE disaster links
Doesn't Everybody Want To Work Here? (Class A Rents Plunge) at SocketSite™
energyecon - tx, I hadn't seen that page before, I was going on gross volume.
Dawg/c&c - yep, it's going to crystallize, not sublime, and it's only going to be pretty in a grotesque kind of way.
C
Counterpointer(Excellent) writes:
Bigger stories:
Citigroup's $1.1T off balance sheet (July 14 Bloomberg story)
Just as an aside -- you do know that they are parking off-sheet assets with PE and other companies?
I remember the money centers did a round of bond(?) fundraising just before (?) Lehman collapsed, and deals which were conditional sales -- partially seller-financed, on terms that equated to a loss, with reversion covenants that essentially made them rentals. I remember someone, I think Citi(?) paying about 7% to 7.5% for money and then lending it at about 5-6%.
If the Madoff case shows anything, it is that the "sophisticated investor" concept is total BS.
--
Dopes are to be found among believers!
Just observe!!
Jas
Bond Girl, IMO, here's just a sample of what Obama's program will become.
Mayors' infrastructure request full of pork, critic says - CNN.com
Anonymous writes:
I've been reading about the upcoming rally in the DOW based on TA, Elliot wave 4 taking the SP to 11-1200. Anyone believe or disbelieve this theory as applicable at this present time?
Anonymous | 12.21.08 - 11:04 am | #
Bear market rallies can be very powerful and sustained. There is no way to predict when or what will trigger a reversal. Who cares? Only born and bred dopes are in this market. But good luck with whatever strategy you are pursuing.
Jas, I would go a step further and state that dopes are believers.
They can't make this stuff up! On the heels of the largest hedge fund scam in history, run by one of Wall St.'s highest profile players, the Fed announces TARP access for hedge funds.
Welcome to the Twilight Zone.
Polar bear exhibits and minor league baseball. Special.
Volker,
I would amend to say only born and bred dopes believe in this market, they are in as well as some speculators, compulsive gamblers and plain batsh!t crazies...
It was for TALF, not TARP, right?
minor league baseball--shades of Bill Veck, let's put a midget up to bat
There is no way to predict when or what will trigger a reversal. Who cares? Only born and bred dopes are in this market. But good luck with whatever strategy you are pursuing.
Comrade Volker the Viking
Thank you for the response. Evidently I'm a born and bred dope. 10% in the markets, 80% of that in short positions. You can't win if you don't play
After a few drinks last night I have come to the conclusion that Wall St is ultimately responsible for the housing & economic disaster. Wall St's entire raison d'etre is to efficiently allocate capital. They failed miserbly & completely and need to be shut down, sold off, & prosecuted to claw back any resources that can still be scavenged...
Paulson needs to grow something but I'm not sure it is chia hair! How did we ever get the former head of GS in a position to bail out his buddies - or let his enemies fail(Lehman)? Talk about dictatorial power! It's Obama time............
"It was for TALF, not TARP, right?"
TARP, TALF- same pigs, different trough
Read the article Morocco Bama posted regarding the ready-to-go "infrastructure" projects detailed by local governments. Apparently, polar bear exhibits and minor league baseball stadiums count as infrastructure needs.
Bond Girl, here's an informative article on Scotch, and some suggestions for your potential gift.
The top 5 misconceptions about scotch whisky - Food on Shine
I have to say, though, it isn't typical for a Bond Girl to be a Scotch drinker.
Wooden arrows are also critical infrastructure...
USG must retain the commanding heights of the economy.
We are all Market Leninists now.
C
Thanks. What can I say?
I think atypical is the only typical in the commentariat...
What can I say?
Oh, don't get me wrong, I appreciate the unorthodox.
Incidentally, we watched Casino Royale last night. I like the new Bond approach. The character has much more depth, and they have removed the "cheese" factor.
Hmm never could drink Scotch, just didn't aquire the taste for it. I've been on an Absinthe kick as of late...
scotch whiskey and organ meats are definitely acquired tasts for only a minority of folks. It is sort of like being a Bush fan (lol)
Comrade Kristina: Have you tried Campari?
File this under "everyone is an art critic."
Shouldn't Paulson in the cartoon be smiling after a successful $700b transplant? After all it is the taxpayer who got the bad haircut.
Light Sunday reading, Denninger's, 'We're all Madoff'
The Market Ticker
Bond Girl - try to track down a Springbank 33 online. It's expensive, but it's pure gold.
C
Beg do differ, Dawg: shepple do not get haircuts, they get fleeced.
California -
Refuge to unsustainable life models
Unsustainable budget
Home to purveyors of the unsustainable mortgage
cb, no I haven't. Being of Italian descent, I'm suitably ashamed. Although I'm not a big fan of "bitter" flavors which is probably why I prefer the Absinthe.
I really like spy stuff in general. The Bond movies are great fun, but they actually aren't my favorites. My favorite spy movies are those involving John le Carre's George Smiley (played by Alec Guinness).
if you don't care for Campari then you're not drunk enough
\tBeg do differ, Dawg: shepple do not get haircuts, they get fleeced.
Twilight of the Gods | Homepage | 12.21.08 - 11:46 am | #
Yes, far better analogy. And when they take our skin they can turn us into footwear to warm the toes of our masters. They are called Uggs for a reason.
Wall St's entire raison d'etre is to efficiently allocate capital.
The question is whether polar bear exhibits and minor league softball are greater malinvestments than what Wall St.'s performance.
All this talk of sheep and fleecing and cheese makes me wax nostalgic for The Thorn Birds.
YouTube - The Thorn Birds
God how I loved Rachel Ward.
Morocco Bama: In hindsight, one must confess that Richard Chamberlain was a better actor than thought.
Counterpointer,
What are your thoughts on blended vs single? Do you think buying a high-end blended would be a waste?
High-end blended is just fine. I'm not a single malt snob, tho I'm partial to Lagavulin and Bowmore.
Johnny Blue is good.
C
If you are a Scotch drinker then blended provides a consistent and usually smoother experience. Single malt however is the only way to go if you are a scotch taster. On a similar note the Quarles Harris 10 year old Tawny Port at Trader Joe's $15 is a real find. Tawny means blended.
Bond Girl. I saw in your post last night that you liked Balvenie and Glenmorangie. Seems as if you do like sherry-casked Scotches. The Sprinkbank Counterpointer recommends is fantastic, but very pricey. The 18-year-old Macallan would also be just about perfect I think, but again, expensive. Bowmore 15-year-old darkest might be a nice fit without having to take out a HELOC to pay for it. Irish single-malts tend to be nice and sweet too (as they triple distill). You might enjoy Middletons.
World faces "total" financial meltdown: Bank of Spain chief
World faces "total" financial meltdown: Bank of Spain chief
My kind of guy, no sense sugar coating it.
Hi Everyone, I wanted to know if there are any efforts to lobby Congress to stop the hedge fund bailout? Or to try and freeze the remaing TARP assets? I worked hard on protesting the TARP (only to see it get worse on the 2nd version)and wondered if any of you have a pro- active suggestion. (other than kissing my ass goodbye)
Thanks, POORISTHENEWBLACK
Tawny means blended.
Begging your pardon, tawny is just a particular type of port and not blend.
You got your tawny, ruby, late bottle vintage and vintages among the types.
As for whisky.. Highland Park 12 and 18Yr olds, swear by them.
Where is Volcker?
The Keynes model is missing a chapter. The chapter describes the dynamics of a government running up more debt to support a GDP created by unsustainable debt creation. The final bubble.
I had originally requested Johnnie Walker Blue, but decided I should give it more thought.
If I ask for an Islay Scotch, he'll probably let me win, and that wouldn't be any fun.
"Morocco Bama writes:
Did any of you ever consider that Henry Paulson's wife may be reading the comments here?"
Since Paulson and wife are sitting with a 700 million dollar plus fortune, do you really think she cares what a collections of disgruntled American peasants think?
And come January, they are outta here, with the money.
With Paulson gone, Ben will have to act alone!
Tawny means blended.
--------------
Begging your pardon, tawny is just a particular type of port and not blend.
You got your tawny, ruby, late bottle vintage and vintages among the types.
As for whisky.. Highland Park 12 and 18Yr olds, swear by them.
Anonymous | 12.21.08 - 12:13 pm | #
"Tawny ports are made from a blend of grapes from several different years;"
But you redeem with the Highland recommendation.
Anonymous writes:
"...Evidently I'm a born and bred dope. 10% in the markets, 80% of that in short positions. You can't win if you don't play."
Dopes exist in a perpetual substitution of "return on capital", instead of "return of capital".
If you don't play, you can't lose!
Comrade Kristina & Bond Girl
mmmm
The IMF has called for fiscal stimulus -- higher government spending and temporary tax cuts -- worth $120 trillion, or 2 percent of global annual economic output, to fill the gap caused by slumping private demand following the credit crunch.
UPDATE 1-IMF head fears deeper global slowdown in 2009
| Reuters
That's what I call bling.
Re: the fedral reserve's balance sheet
So they've bought $2Trillion of crap with money borrowed from the treasury. If it turns into $1Trillion, and they stiff the treasury, whats the harm? The threat of inflation? Is this treasury money backed by bonds, or just printed?
And now we have 1.5 million people digging holes, and 1.5 million people filling them up?
Bond Girl writes:
I had originally requested Johnnie Walker Blue, but decided I should give it more thought.
I was very disappointed in Blue. Taste buds certainly differ, but that one seems priced much higher than the value.
anks that are getting taxpayer bailouts awarded their top executives nearly $1.6 billion in salaries, bonuses, and other benefits last year, an Associated Press analysis reveals.
The rewards came even at banks where poor results last year foretold the economic crisis that sent them to Washington for a government rescue. Some trimmed their executive compensation due to lagging bank performance, but still forked over multimillion-dollar executive pay packages.
Benefits included cash bonuses, stock options, personal use of company jets and chauffeurs, home security, country club memberships and professional money management, the AP review of federal securities documents found.
The total amount given to nearly 600 executives would cover bailout costs for many of the 116 banks that have so far accepted tax dollars to boost their bottom lines.
Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services committee and a long-standing critic of executive largesse, said the bonuses tallied by the AP review amount to a bribe "to get them to do the jobs for which they are well paid in the first place.
"Most of us sign on to do jobs and we do them best we can," said Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat. "We're told that some of the most highly paid people in executive positions are different. They need extra money to be motivated!"
fried writes:
"Morocco Bama writes:
Did any of you ever consider that Henry Paulson's wife may be reading the comments here?"
Since Paulson and wife are sitting with a 700 million dollar plus fortune, do you really think she cares what a collections of disgruntled American peasants think?
And come January, they are outta here, with the money.
Yep. Charity begins (and stays) at home. Only here, 'home' is a code word for the Wall Street exclusive 'frat house.
Hmmm, where does the IMF think that money is going to come from?
Bond Girl, see that little printer icon down on the lower right hand side of your screen? BINGO!
An observation: scotch seems to be an indicator of extremes. Talk of it goes up when things are going swimmingly...and when sh## is hitting the fan. I think this says a great deal about the drink's appeal, I'm just not sure what.
ew thread
"Tawny ports are made from a blend of grapes from several different years;"
When you say blend, it's a 'single' blend of grapes and aged in a cask as opposed to whisky's blend of 'many' different types of whisky.
But i shan't argue with one who enjoys Highland Park, a most exquisite whisky.
el lurko writes:
An observation: scotch seems to be an indicator of extremes. Talk of it goes up when things are going swimmingly...and when sh## is hitting the fan. I think this says a great deal about the drink's appeal, I'm just not sure what.
In other words, the ideal beverage for any occasion?
Anonymous writes:
When you say blend, it's a 'single' blend of grapes and aged in a cask as opposed to whisky's blend of 'many' different types of whisky.
Exactly. But this only appies to Scotch made from grapes.
Highland Park 12 is solid and at a great price point...for some occasion sipping, go for the legal to vote...
DOH!
...'applies
the Obama plan would provide tax relief for low-wage and middle-income workers of roughly $150 billion
. . .most of whom don't pay any income taxes at all. Now, that's what I call tax relief.
Exactly. But this only appies to Scotch made from grapes.
I thought scotch was made from malt and grains. Maybe you mean Brandy which is made from grapes.
El Cliffo writes:
the Obama plan would provide tax relief for low-wage and middle-income workers of roughly $150 billion
I think this means low-wage and middle-income workers making roughly $150 billion (in grotesquely hyper-inflated '09 dollars--assuming people will actually be employed in '09 ...).
Either that or Obama really is an elitest ...
Anonymous writes:
Exactly. But this only appies to Scotch made from grapes.
I thought scotch was made from malt and grains. Maybe you mean Brandy which is made from grapes.
DOH!^2
And for the bath:
http://2.bp.blogspot.com/_QNv9CPAjNvE/SUp9usBrfSI/AAAAAAAAAOM/8295nAELC_Y/s320/Picture+1.png
From NYT:
TALKING BUSINESS; How India Avoided A Crisis - NY Times
Tighter regulation limited Indian banks' exposure to global financial crisis created by the "robust, mature, sophisticated" US financial services industry. There maybe some lessons here for future US govt. response to bubble management. Also, the restrictions will likely prevent this BRIC's economy from falling a lot further than it otherwise would.
Tighter regulation limited Indian banks' exposure to global financial crisis created by the "robust, mature, sophisticated" US financial services industry.
In other words, they were too dumb so to speak, to reap the humongous profits of the banksters schemes here and that in the end, was their saving grace.
I knew the IMF was revising the numbers; got a feed out of them on Friday Fugly. Scary.
Bond Girl - the AAA sov paper coming to market in Q1 is colossal, rollovers and new funding; ditto commercial AAA and shit-backed paper.
Who on earth is going to be on the other side of the trade? There seems to be an assumption that there's no end of liquidity sitting on the sidelines waiting to snap up AAA as if it's a fortress investment. We'll see a wave of mutilation if the confidence levels are so low that the trade says damn this game, the sidelines look like a perfect place to sit this out. A fortiori if CBs also do not trust their peers' full faith and credit backing. Ain't far off.
Long scotch.
C
Anonymous writes:
From Tighter regulation limited Indian banks' exposure to global financial crisis
Perhaps. But it's not saving them from hilarious headlines like this one posted on Wired's Dec 17,'08 blog:
'Dikshit Guilty of Internet Gambling
"[When] corruption.. has prevailed in those offices [of]... government and [has] so familiarized itself as that men otherwise honest could look on it without horror,... [then we must] be alive to the suppression of this odious practice and... bring to punishment and brand with eternal disgrace every man guilty of it, whatever be his station." --Thomas Jefferson to W. C. C. Claiborne, 1804. (*)
Fascinating discussions this am
Bond Girl, clearly you are not "typical"
Av' ye "Drambuie", lass?
A sweet, authentic sipper and Isle of Skye warmer " A link to the '45' "
as in 1745
Oh yeah and I think a martial law clampdown would be very counter productive, both for the gov't and those who attempt to enforce it.
This is a message your local police chief should receive if they haven't figured it out already
Jus sayin'
I don't suppose anyone has posted a list somewhere of the Top 100
USA Public Enemies (Financial Dep't)
names, address(es), phone numbers?
aliases, hideouts, known associates?
Useful information in near future.
Given his gutter ball economic theory, let's let the world see him as he really is - Hank "Bowling Ball" Paulson.