More Asian sensibility?

If our homeless operated with "Asian sensibility", it would make life much more interesting. I didn't realize how tidy and prompt the homeless of Japan were until I found myself walking past tons of neatly piled "camps" under overpasses with tarps over them. I have a feeling that the police had something to do with it, but even the homeless tried to use what they could and maximize their time and energies to ensure that the greater society was not any more hampered by them if possible.

If people really want to experience Singapore, Japan, or Seoul, please do so on your own dime before you drag the entire country with you. Like any marriage, there are Pros and Cons, and I think many people are using American when they talk about "Asian sensibility".

Wow, guess he isn't pulling any punches.

Ownership or sponsorship of hedge funds and private equity funds should be among those prohibited activities. So should in my view a heavy volume of proprietary trading with its inherent risks. Some trading, it is reasonably argued, is necessary as part of a full service customer relationship. The distinction between “proprietary” and “customer-related” may be cloudy at the border. But surely by the active use of capital requirements and the exercise of supervisory authority, appropriate restraint can be maintained.

Nuclear Glass Steagal.

He is right. Now the howls begin.

Back to the future. GS- this means you.

Someday this war's gonna end...

I hope Volcker has a roast beef taster.

Volcker goes on to disagree with the Treasury plan to name banks that are “systemically important” or "too big to fail".

.
Oh wait. He isn't talking about TBTF in a way in which I have grown accustomed...

Waking up to discover the mortgage market was a giant criminal enterprise - Matt Taibbi - Taibblog - True/Slant 

Volcker is a genius and one of the last, maybe THE last honest banker.

He shames the current administration and Fed.

If Volcker speaks to the Congress, will anyone hear?

What is the over-under that when he gets to GE that CNBC cuts to commercial or talking head commentary?
.
On a more serious note, we should all read aloud the transcripts of what he says at work to ensure that people at least had the chance to hear him.

Why do they have prepared statements? It seems as if these Financial Services Committee boobs should be caught off guard and soil themselves on the tube! This gives them advanced warning to wear pampers -- but it would be nice to see the fraudsters look a little ashamed and have a wee bit of guilt (for those of watching this farce)!

....sometimes the best step forward is a step back........

This is Volcker's last speech -- count on it and no one will give a shit on the Financial Services Committee!

BIS had the word "International" in it. There is no way a self-respecting Fed officer could side with them. Now if they had called it: "The Fed's Golden Throne For The Peasants' Settlements" then they probably would not have frozen 'em out, no?

TBTF should be the same as a 'Money Utility'. Make them as exciting & profitable as city water plant or sewer system. They want to take risk then they need to be TSTN - too small to notice.

...TSTN - too small to notice.

Kinda like the TVA until one of their soot pond's support wall gave way? Oh wait...

Volker's job is to create the appearance that there is a debate within the administration.

It's sad that he's only a puppet. What makes it even sadder is that he knows it.

We cannot let the transparrorists win!

+1 Total Win

My mother was born in 1920 and on the day they repealed Glass-Steagall she remarked that the idiots in charge had guaranteed a crash within 10 years.others of her generation said the same at the time.Stupidity of sufficient magnitude is indistinguishable from malice.

It really is a joke, that a man like Volker has to give a speech like this to the scum that reside on the Financial Services Committee -- this is like having Mother Teresa giving a going away lecture to a group of mafia hitmen in Vegas.

What say any bank and its officers subject to oversight/regulation be forbidden from making campaign contributions?

Kinda like the TVA until one of their soot pond's support wall gave way? Oh wait...

But that was local & while ugly for the natives involved wasn't a 'systemic risk'... think Hoover Dam blowing out... or the Missouri River dams up in the Dakotas... like losing Three Gorges. That's the difference between TBTF & so small you don't notice.

Bluto,

This speech is a fine effort aimed at providing truth and it is sad that Volker is being abused in this curtain call -- he deserves better, but I guess he's doing all he can with what's left to him.

Tom Stone wrote:

My mother was born in 1920 and on the day they repealed Glass-Steagall she remarked that the idiots in charge had guaranteed a crash within 10 years.others of her generation said the same at the time.

Add my late father to the list. Died a few years ago but fully expected this crash...

"that a man like Volker has to give a speech like this to the scum that reside on the Financial Services Committee "

It might be worth watching this on C-SPAN to catch it uninterrupted by the TV talking heads. If anyone on the Committee gives Volcker a bad time, a donation to their opponent in the upcoming primaries might be useful.

No, it wasn't a systemic risk, but it showed how many "failures" we can have. We are just waiting for the next one... and the next one...
.
Eventually, we may get an equivalent of Corus or Colonial, and a failed bank v. a utility is not a contest.
.
In sum, point taken.

My question is, who is Volkers protege ? I'm betting he is heavy into the mentor role right now

Rob Dawg wrote:

Wouldn't it be great theater if he deviated from the prepared text?

No one would notice - the congress critters would still only ask the questions they already had prepared based off the 'original' text... it would be grand kabuki but kabuki just the same.

Unfortunately, at this stage of the game this is sort of like Ron Paul speaking about what he'd do if he were president. He's accepted a position that effectively allows Obama to muzzle him. By that I mean he's part, averysmallpart, of the administration. I think his words would carry more weight if he were an outsider looking in.

Didn't Bernanke do that once last year? I remember once he started saying something about "preserving Americans' confidence in their retirement assets" that I couldn't find anywhere in the prepared text. It stuck in my mind, because it was probably the one thing he said that he actually meant (as opposed to speaking towards a calculated effect).

And you're right--it was completely ignored in the questioning, and in the media commentary afterwards, all of which was based on the original text.

+++

who was the pres at the time, Clinton? Thanks.

Bruce in Tennessee wrote:

I think his words would carry more weight if he were an outsider looking in.

If he were an outsider he wouldn't be there... they are only [really] listening to him because they have to... because he still has some 'power' although small & rather symbolic. But hell - face it - they'd rather be golfing with their lobbyists and wish Volcker was playing shuffleboard somewhere.

my old prof Richard Pious at Columbia used to tell us the various tricks an Admin would use
to put an issue out in public and then bury it... for instance say you appoint a blue ribbon commission
to study the banking system and its findings are not what you wanted so you rig the roll-out of the
report somewhere between calling up the national forces on standby alert and say the day the president
pardons the Thanksgiving turkey
////
OT: see those pictures of Sydney Australia... cue Bowie's Life on Mars

Basel - ya think?

His protege is probably one of the many blue dog intellectual giants.

C

WTF, did I miss this?

Congressman Brad Sherman (CA27) :: Press Release :: Geithner Rejects $1 Trillion Limit on New Bailout Power

Sherman asked Secretary Geithner whether he would accept a $1 trillion limit on the new bailout authority; if the executive branch wanted to spend more, it would have to come back to Congress. Geithner rejected a $1 Trillion limit, insisting that the executive branch be able to respond without coming back to Congress.

Plus... as Keynes said 'in the long run we are dead'... Volcker's at the age where in the short run he'll be dead. There's just a lot less bull shitting once you realize that.

poic - which index? CSI300 is showing -1.5%, biggest decline is Shenzhen A down -2.27 at lunch.

C

Congressman Brad Sherman (CA27) :: Press Release :: Geithner Rejects $1 Trillion Limit on New Bailout Power

How many zeros did the Renten Mark have ??

German Rentenmark - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

When I was working for a white shoe firm, "prepared statements" would typically be leaked to us, confidentially, 3-15 days ahead of the actual congressional testimony. We got to see what these bums would say before they said it.

As a lobbyist, we usually try to give politician's staff advance notice of what we're talking about prior to testimony we give in committees, etc. If the issue is one where a joint statement between government and industry groups is beneficial, we'll work out a release together far in advance. It's quite frequent that politician's staff sends me a press release or prepared statement in advance so that we know what's coming and that we won't crap all over it without understanding rationales behind it (or at least they know how we'll crap on it).

Lobbyists are a weird but necessary evil. Where most people anticipate lobbyists to be undertaking the greatest harm--by interfering in the development and discussion of potential legislation--they actually perform a valuable and productive service in helping the government reach consensus. Where most people think of them as being benign--such as consumer advocacy, environmental, or similar populist grassroots groups--they can accomplish the greatest harm in distorting effective policy.

Most have great disdain for corporate lobbyists because they are perceived as being a source of implicit--if not explicit--bribes to politicians. But the populist or special-interest grassroots organizations are far more dangerous because they control votes, the only tender that is of absolute importance to politicians. And in the interest of disclosure, my work is with the latter.

Sorry your right c

hsi down 3.5 %
sse down 1.5%

My bad it was the Papiermark that had all of the zeros

German Papiermark - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

I realize Volcker is quite elderly, but several people have referred to this appearance being his last major speech. Does he have an illness I am not aware of (apart from the normal aches and pains of age)?

No, I think the impression is simply that he's gone too far off the reservation this time and will be prevented from attending too many more public speaking functions.

Hollywood - you see this: Federal Reserve Admits Hiding Gold Swap Arrangements, GATA Says

First saw it in Jesse's Cafe...

Anything there or ?

TIA...

Lay down the law Volcker. Enforce Glass Steagal, oh Golden Slacks that means you. I thought two years ago the talk of the town was we should never permit TBTF, now that's all their doing is making the big bigger. And uncle Paul, if you could throw in some language like laws, fraud, corruption, prison that would go over well.

I realize Volcker is quite elderly, but several people have referred to this appearance being his last major speech. Does he have an illness I am not aware of (apart from the normal aches and pains of age)?

The one thing I've appreciated most when hearing Volcker talk is his humility and recognition of what he doesn't know. The man realizes bullshit when he sees it, but also goes through great pains in describing the deficiencies in information that interfere with effective analysis. I have a deep respect for that approach, and it makes his conclusions--when he finally reaches them--all that more powerful.

Naming companies as "too big to fail" is retarded beyond all belief. They could name a random pissant company trading on the pink sheets as TBTF and it would immediately - overnight - become exactly that.

FYI: Obama’s Speech: ‘TARP on Steroids’ - Economix Blog - NYTimes.com

Mr. Sherman pointed to Section 1204 in the Obama administration’s bill, which he said would give the Treasury broad authority to order the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to invest, lend money or take a wide range of other actions to prevent a systemically important institution from collapsing in a disorderly way.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation — which would actually carry out the job of arranging an orderly sale, shutdown, shot-gun marriage or some other “resolution’’ of the bank — would be authorized to borrow as much as it needed from the Treasury.

To be sure, the proposal also instructs the F.D.I.C. (see section 1209, subsections ‘n’ and ‘o’) to set up a new insurance fund to pay for all this through premiums on medium-sized and large financial institutions.

But Mr. Sherman said the proposal is vague and would be unfair. Any institution with more than $10 billion in assets would have to pay into the fund, and its assessment would be based on an analysis of its size and riskiness, but only the 20 biggest institutions would get any additional protection in exchange.

In practice, Mr. Sherman said, the F.D.I.C. would be starting out with no money in its fund and a huge potential exposure.

“It’s implicit insurance with no insurance premium,” he complained. His recommendations: 1) require that Congress approve any new bailouts; 2) tell the public exactly what the additional insurance that the government would be providing to institutions that are “too big to fail’’ would be, and then make the insurance premiums explicit.

obviously, I was very aware of GATA when I was researching that stuff seven years ago. hard to say what their mission is, exactly, when the market print is obviously making the point for them. the condescension in the response from the Fed does provide some entertainment value, however.

There's nothing in the actual Fed letter that even remotely "confirms" what that website is claiming.

Skip the hagiography. If the man had half the nutsack and objectivity the folks here seem to ascribe to him, he would be properly calling Paulson and Bernanke criminals, and stating that the obvious - the closure of the Fed - was long past due.

But that's exactly what he's doing. He's just doing it in a different language than you're used to. It's called tact.

yes, he was a key component of the policies which saved the dollar from endless commodity inflation, and pushed these inflationary pressures into great things like securitized mortgages and ridiculously overvalued equities, helping explode the ceo/worker income multiple from something like 20-1 to 2000-1. he served under Reagan at the same time as James Watt, right? what a hero.

patientrenter wrote:

Well, I like what he says now a lot better than what Mr Geithner says.

And he isn't going to advocate shutting down the fed - that's like expecting the pope to advocate shutting down the church... isn't gonna happen. In fact if any of them did I'd worry even more... the replacement they had in mind most certainly would be worse.

But I do get the feeling this presentation is a bit of a death bed confession - as close as we are likely to get from any of them. I'd bet a lot more than we ever get from AG... he is likely to go into the night muttering something no one will understand. Rosebud or something...

"It's called tack."

I don't see how it involves boats or horses... no, wait, I do... his tact legitimizes the trillions of dollars in ponies and the latest yacht purchases stationed at the caymans... got it.

have another bite, jamie, ken, lloyd... don't worry, paul the maitre'd has the breath mint ready

YouTube - The Meaning Of Life - The Autumn Years

"pushed these inflationary pressures into great things like securitized mortgages and ridiculously overvalued equities....he served under Reagan at the same time as James Watt, right?"

If I recall correctly, Volcker was pushed out in 1987. The most ridiculous portion of our last 3 decades' worth of asset price inflation occurred after that, under Greenspan. James Watt? Is he relevant to Paul Volcker's role in the country's financial system in anything beyond a tangential way?

So Noob Goldburg;

Who is really funding those groups?
From what I've seen, it's usually one or more of the big foundations, which are run by the same old Harvard/Yale/Princeton/Skull&Bones types...

"And he isn't going to advocate shutting down the fed"

I get it. Anyone who doesn't advocate the abolition of the role of a central bank for the US is a coward and/or idiot.

Thank you, I know where you are coming from now.

following up on Noob's comments they remind me of a case from the late 70s.
Five movie studios sued Sony over the copyright infringement potential of their
Betamax machines. .
And Sony right before they went to trial offered to pay a license fee on each machine sold
and even a fee on each blank tape sold.
Riding shotgun for the studios was the godfather himself Lew Wasserman of MCA/Universal (Reagan's former agent @ MCA).
He rejected the offer cause he was cocksure they'd win - they lost. Appealed the case all the way to the Supreme Court.
The courts saw the device as a time shifting mechanism whereas one could tape a show on TV and watch it later, not as
a device to build your own personal film library.
There was also a institutional taboo against selling films. Much like say Hughes Tool and his oil drill bits in the 20s you could
only rent or lease say Gone with the Wind or even a B movie like DOA. At some point the canisters are picked up and bicycled around the distribution chain.
And because of this the early video stores needed product and this created a mini boom-let of Indie film financing in the 1980s.
My point - when the studios released some titles for sale they tried to stop the rental of VHSs by going to Congress to get protection
much like they had in the recording (it's illegal to rent out an LP and to this day a CD) but their was an association
something like American Home Video Store Assoc. who went to Congress and said they represented hundreds of mom and
pop video stores in US and that the legislation would kill 'em.
Noob-
the kicker in all of this was that association was created out of whole cloth by a handful of VHS makers from Japan... (of course they signed up a bunch of mom and pops and took their case to DC and they won!

"Federal Reserve Admits Hiding Gold Swap Arrangements, GATA Says "

This is old news to the GATA folks, they're just excited because they interpret the letter as admitting that the Fed was doing what they thought all along. It's sort of a paper victory at the end of a long string of FOIA requests.

"But if Ad Hominems and Reductio Ad Absurdums make you feel better, so be it."

"Skip the hagiography. If the man had half the nutsack and objectivity the folks here seem to ascribe to him, he would be properly calling Paulson and Bernanke criminals,"

Mirror- check. You have several more quotes above that make the point in my juxtaposition, but I'll leave it at one.

I'm not talking about screaming obscenities - just acknowledging the basic fact that the crew that presided over TARP's administration were utterly criminal, and that the fig leaf granted to them in terms of 'conflict of interest' was one of the most brazen acts of treason in the history of the republic.

but I'm glad you bring up Paul - I loved his exchanges with Greenie in '02 when no one really knew or cared about who he was. obviously, you're still on the other side of that exchange from the good Doctor. must be a nice world to inhabit.

" the kicker in all of this was that association was created out of whole cloth by a handful of VHS makers from Japan... (of course they signed up a bunch of mom and pops and took their case to DC and they won!"

And Jack Valenti never stopped whining about it, even though VHS and later DVD saved the industry and his job.

It's worth mentioning that the porn industry helped a bit as well. In fact, they kept the Mom and Pops fed with content at a crucial time, among other things.

Mad Money: Cramer: Here Comes Another Pullback - CNBC

BT. i thought we were friends.

sm_landlord wrote:

This is old news to the GATA folks, they're just excited because they interpret the letter as admitting that the Fed was doing what they thought all along. It's sort of a paper victory at the end of a long string of FOIA requests.

So is this gonna get Greenspan in hot water [lying to congress] if in fact they can show they were doing it [swaps] even as AG testified they weren't. Sounds like a bigger deal than lying about a blow job.

futures look very

i'm going to skulk off to bed. too much action to look forward to tomorrow.

"So is this gonna get Greenspan in hot water [lying to congress] if in fact they can show they they were doing it [swaps] even as AG testified they weren't."

So much was redacted that I don't think they can prove anything concrete. The next step would be for Congress or an AG to somehow get the unredacted documents that the Fed still claims that they do not have to supply. Greenspan will have gone to his reward before that happens. This will be sorted out 20 or 30 years from now is my guess.

In all honesty the speech is very weak and starts out with a whimpering tone, almost apologetic and poetic, like a swan song and then, he slips in a small crumb, under the table to the aging dogs to gum: Substantial progress is being made on a voluntary
basis in the area of derivative markets, including
particularly in clearance and settlement arrangements.

He then begins to gain some strength, as if this is an opera that needs pacing to pick up the aria:

However, I want to emphasize two inter-
related issues of fundamental importance that run across
the more particular elements of reform. One is a matter of
broad regulatory practice: how to deal with the insidious,
potentially risk-enhancing, spread of “moral hazard”, the
presumption that systemically important institutions may be
protected in the face of imminent failure.

Then..... the drugs kick in and the ghost writer takes over:

The Federal Reserve Board should not
become an academic seminar debating in its marble palace
various approaches toward monetary policy without the
leavening experience of direct contact with, and
responsibility for, the world of finance and the
institutions through which monetary policy is effected.

.... Then he takes sides and wants to piss off some people:

In sum, I believe the needed oversight and
coordinating role should be in the hands of the Federal
Reserve rather than the Treasury.

Sorry, but after looking at this, I'd say thumbs down and a very poor last effort by a man that once seemed to offer hope.

Heard your songs of freedom and man forever stripped,
Acting out his folly while his back is being whipped.
Like a slave in orbit, he's beaten 'til he's tame,
All for a moment's glory and it's a dirty, rotten shame.
YouTube - Bob Dylan - Dirge

HollywoodHack
the salomon brothers orgy of securitization"

... talk about hyperbole! I was there at Salomon for the latter
part of the 1980s.... our total bonus pool at at the end of '87 was
56 million dollars, of that 3.5 was to go to Geutfreund which he
put back into the pool (Ranieri had left the previous July and Tom Strauss [Archipelago founder]
became the new Vice Chairman)...
And since I was a bond analyst and followed the top 100 commercial banks
I can tell you that the profits made by Bankers Trust via trading (about 48%)
were not seen in a good light at all... my MD had come over from S&P, that might
explain it.
.....
your use of the word orgy is almost as hilarious as when you called yourself
a manufacturer of culture...
duke

headcount was about 6,000

Hey Basel

"Mad Money: Cramer: Here Comes Another Pullback - Mad Cap Recap - CNBC.com"

Page 232 of Cramers book "Real Money" ....." There is another type of bottom worth commenting on: the Tax loss bottom. Every year at the end of October when most mutual funds end their fiscal year, the funds like to take their losses....now you know why there are so many crashes during this period."

Cramer may be a hack, but he is consistent in his arguments.

"the war against DAT tapes was similarly pathetic and ultimately pyrrhic "

Oh man. I remember when you needed to prove you were a professional to buy one. They tried to enter the market "carefully". Do you remember the god-awful watermarking that they attempted on both DAT and CD? And Sony's compression format that would distort the ring-out on piano chords? What a mess.

noob goldberg wrote:

How's it feel to be someone's base?

Something like being a daddy figure I'd guess.

Long live Volcker! I hope he lives for another twenty years because it might take us that long to get us out of this mess. He is an honest voice I can trust.

i don't lose any sleep over it, and never sent the man a dime or lived within a thousand miles of east texas, so i'm a pretty weak component of said 'base'.

but i'm unsurprised that you would totally avoid any mention of the substance of his arguments and instead use the same approach used by mccain, thompson, romney etc.

i'm an isolationist first and foremost, and was disappointed that Paul didn't join Lee.

of course, as a foreigner, you have zero stake in any of this and any familiarity with it must just just be chalked up to intellectual curiosity. give the queen my regards.

dr paul is really more of a crazy uncle figure

Doc - Treasury & the Fed have a love hate thing going, always have... we know what side Volcker will side with - no way he'd ever want Treasury to be the arbiter of 'oversight'. After all we all know the Treasury isn't 'independent'.

of course, as a foreigner, you have zero stake in any of this and any familiarity with it must just just be chalked up to intellectual curiosity. give the queen my regards.

She's lying next to me. She says hi.

sure, it can add value to an executive involved in packaging or marketing the product, and said packaging and marketing created many temporary jobs.

but it can also lead to a complete break in the connection between a lender and the product they're lending against, and, especially, the people they are lending to. it did. and here we are.

Looks like Elmo is morphing into Godzilla in the Asian markets tonight, can't stay up for the fun though, be interested to see how everything settles in the morning. A little alternate science for you lovers tonight...

The DNA Mystery: Scientists Stumped By "Telepathic" Abilities

This has interesting repercussions if true.

Hollywood
why stop the bright line there? might as well go back to the first state deposit bank, Banco di San Giorgio (Bank of St. George), founded in 1407 at Genoa, Italy.
Also consider that without the advent of banking (Italian word banco "desk/bench") used during the Renaissance in Florence
that town would look nothing like it does today.
......
I worked under Glass Steagall and I don't see that thin red line of which you speak... more like a series of lurches at best...

Audits of The federal Reserve?

YouTube - The Financial Flogging Continues

"Mad Money: Cramer: Here Comes Another Pullback - Mad Cap Recap - CNBC.com"

Go long SkyNet on the dip. Cramer says they will be terminating the competition.

And I actually believe Cramer on the Funds fiscal year-end part.

Volcker also makes little to no mention of the unsustainable aggregate debt to GDP, excessive bank/financial institution leverage, or the perils of massive unregulated financial instruments.

I would think Timmy/Treasury would be supportive of auditing The Fed Reserve!

You gonna wreck your next job?

It really is a joke, that a man like Volker has to give a speech like this to the scum that reside on the Financial Services Committee -- this is like having Mother Teresa giving a going away lecture to a group of mafia hitmen in Vegas.

Come on now, really? Comparing Senators to mob hit men? That's totally unfair; in fact it's outrageous! Mob hit men kill people at the behest of their superiors in return for remuneration. In other words, they provide their employers with a valuable service in return for money. When was the last time a Senator actually provided a valuable service to their putative emploers? (That is, the voters that elected them.) You really owe the hit men an apology....

Icepick,

I was out of line and I hope that Vegas will understand that I spoke with passion and forget to think clearly -- Don Vito, please accept my apology....

"Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, who referred in his speech to the “absurd doctrine that markets could regulate themselves,” broke with the U.S. by later saying Ahmadinejad would visit Brazil in November to discuss enhanced trade and cooperation in the two countries’ oil industries. Lula said he plans to visit Tehran sometime early next year.

Lula said Ahmadinejad assured him that Iran was developing its nuclear industry for peaceful, civilian uses and he has so far seen no evidence it was evading international norms.

“I’ve told all the presidents who ask me about Iran the same thing I’ll tell you: I defend for Iran the same rights with respect to nuclear energy that I do for Brazil,” Lula said."

Obama Pledge to Engage UN Runs Into Resentment of U.S. Power - Bloomberg.com
++++
Reading over the day's events at the UN and Pres Obama snubbing PM Brown over the last few days points towards much discord. Hegemony left some marks on the emerging markets, multinationals with a primary US identity are hoeing a tough row. Deservedly.
++++
Does anyone believe the nuclear powers of the world can stop nuclear proliferation?

OT?

YouTube - 12 Days of Christmas

"

Any ideas on why the Chinese markets are down so much?

Is it the threatening appearance of the Fed moving towards the Treasuries / MBS punchbowl, the Japanese export figures, declining Chinese oil-use, or just eoy blues? Dooooooooooooooom!!!
"

Just use your magic 8-ball or Ouiji Board and the answer will become clear.

I figured out how to mount a legal challenge to use of TARP funds. The way to gain standing is to buy shares in an auotmaker stock; and say that by propping up GM and C it is hurting the economic value of those shares. Once this is established it's almost trivial to show Congress did not intend a "broad interpretation" of financial institution in the TARP. I believe a district court would grant standing on those grounds.

In fact by bailing the automakers out under TARP it cut into the $700B that treasury needs for the real banks. I can't figure why a clever Republican wouldn't sue over this as well; you could potentially deadlock Congress if they have enough votes to block the reinstatement of funds that will happen when a judge smacks the whole thing down and they have to go back and specifically authorize funds for automakers.

Now that I have what I believe to be a set of case law and framework for the challenge I'm going to draft up the complaint and release it into the public domain and see if anyone is willing to go all William Wallace... I'm not... by now I've probably done as much time as $15k in fees to a lawyer would get you. Our Constitution is in worse shape than anyone knows. We've gone from "When the President does it, it is not illegal... to when Congress and the President do it, it is not illegal." We are no more a nation of laws than a nation of "political will".

I think the courts are the next battlefield... if the courts fail than what's left is the guns... country is turning dangerous. All the damn fools screaching about unconstitutional acts need to sue in court if they really feel it is unconstitution (looking in your direction Hannity, Rush, etc.) What's also clear is that Bush basically said, "I don't care if it is illegal, no one is going to challenge me..." and he's right, so far... not one person has challenged this in court, even though it fell squarly on his shoulders. That guy has some balls...

All the people trying to sue Obama over his citizenship should focus their efforts here if they want to be a thorn in his side... just saying.

Good for you.

I too am amazed that there hasn't been more challenges made; you'd think a lawyer somewhere would want to make a name for themself, or that some well-heeled type with real concerns about the country's direction would call out the dogs. Where are they? For that matter, where are the bond vigilantes?? Is everyone co-opted somehow?!?

Anyone with some time may enjoy reading the following

http://www.federalreserve.gov/monetarypolicy/files/FOMC19950201meeting.pdf

1995 FOMC meeting. Greenspan in the chair. LOTS of color, including a long discussion on releasing minutes, how to impart minimum information in the FOMC statement, an impassioned Janet Yellen on Fed inflation targeting, paranoia about congress and a just HILARIOUS comedy farce of a conversation talking about the Mexican crisis.

Honestly, things like this are absolutely the best argument for never throwing ANY meeting minutes away.

Edit: 1. Sorry to be underfoot of YLSP, and 2. pp69 is the smoking 'gold swap' reference, in context of crap that can be pulled in the interests of supporting a 'stable system of currency exchange'.

There's no question the courts (and the administration) abused creditors in the automaker BKs.

One other area I really have to wonder about is the Fed's bank assistance. Again, how the hell can publicly traded financial institutions seek & acquire Fed help without it being considered a material event requiring public reporting? Why hasn't a major bank stockholder sued the hell out of the Fed and one or more banks on that basis???

For a point a couple weeks ago I seriously considered filing Amicus Curiae with Supreme Court asking them to hear the Chrysler appeal. When I learned I needed a lawyer boarded by the SC... well it wasn't worth it. Looking into it I think realized this thing could still be challenged in District Court; no one has challenged it yet...

But just thinking of who you would be up against; Federal govt + UAW? I have a friend with a theory on Mexican hit squads that can make any hit look accidental hired by the mob (he has a Chicago background and lived in Phoenix)... I really don't think I want to see if these alleged hit squads exist.

Johnathon: Why read through old FOMC minutes for a laugh, I suggest the daily Congressional record.

Nevada Rep on Unemployment Extension
The once recession-proof economy of my district of Las Vegas has not been spared from the effects of this downturn. In fact, Nevada has been hit harder than any other State by the foreclosure crisis, and our unemployment rate has skyrocketed to over 13 percent, the second highest in the Nation. This legislation will bring much-needed relief to many jobless Nevadans.

I didn't see this reported anywhere else, you heard it first from YLSP.

Barack Obama extends national emergency re: terrorist attacks

To the Congress of the United States:

The White House, September 21, 2009.

YLSP wrote:

Johnathon: Why read through old FOMC minutes for a laugh, I suggest the daily Congressional record.

I'd submit that the FOMC minutes are to the congressional testimony, as the conversations between pilots at an airshow are to the conversations of the crowd.

Heh, I may have inadvertently summed up why we are such a hole.

Additional reading note on those 1995 FOMC minutes (page 94) ... (Denninger, I hope you're reading this!)

Governor Lindsay gives a prescient warning that 44%, or almost HALF of '93 - '94 PCE growth was financed on 'installment' credit.

Most likely completely unrelated, but in 1997, Governor Lindsay resigns to join 'Economic Strategies'. I'm sure this was nothing to do with expressing concerns over the growth in credit. Greenspan was not to resign until 2006.

Federal Reserve Board governor Lawrence B. Lindsey to join Economic Strategies, Inc. as managing director | Business Wire | Find Articles at BNET

HollywoodHack : "Skip the hagiography. If the man had half the nutsack and objectivity the folks here seem to ascribe to him, he would be properly calling Paulson and Bernanke criminals, and stating that the obvious - the closure of the Fed - was long past due.

He doesn't. He was working for the Fed back in nineteen-fucking-fifty-two. Does he leverage that stature and experience into a voice for change? Hell no. He's just Timmay minus an octave and plus four decades.

Princeton, Harvard - might as well be a fucking Bonesman. Someone who legitimizes treason with a veneer of integrity belongs in a very low circle of hell."

Applause, bravo.
For those who get it, skip the first 16 pages of grand rhetoric and cut to the chase on page 17 and read how power should be transferred to the Fed reserve rather than Treasury, and then page 19 on how the US should 'coordinate' the other major countries regarding the oversight of international banking organisations...

the end game is on...

yeah, I'm around right now (although I'll be leaving soon to see a speech given tonight by the 2009 Pulitzer Prize winner in Drama (Ruined))
does this involve Nigeria by chance? [actually, could be convergence since her play deals with genital mutilation in Africa]

we'll have to work out how to exchange addy's in code. I have to get my beauty sleep now, i'll catch up with you on the weekend or such.

Nice rant.

Going forward, I also urge that the United States recognize the need to coordinate with the authorities of the other major countries regarding the oversight of international banking organizations, the open and timely sharing of information, and greater clarity on home and host responsibilities, including dealing with failing institutions. This will greatly assist in the closing of regulatory gaps, and raise standards, and help in developing a “level playing field”. - Volker statement

For all the early criticism in his remarks he ends by pushing for a stronger Fed and international ties. In the end he is all about saving the banks and as such makes him no different than Barry, Timmay or Larry.

burnside wrote:

Was responding to BD's evident mental firepower - swift triage at automakers as an example, and decently done.

Shouldn't we wait for the arrow to land before grading the shot? Granted his plan appears designed to provide the most public protection but we are still a long way from resolution.

....there's a small private lion and big cat "shelter" here. Volcker is kinda like "Teddie" a big old lion they keep around there, because of the kids.........they like watching him watch them.

I see the place hasn't fallen apart since last night. Good Morning.

All are being stymied by a legislative deadlock that has stalled projects in Missouri and throughout the U.S. With revenue from fuel taxes declining, lawmakers are arguing over how to renew a six-year, $286.5 billion spending law that expires in six days.

How can a room full of Democrats be "stymied by a legislative deadlock"? Seems when the 'Publicans had the majority, they much didn't want to step on any toes - they never learned how to "pull-the-trigger". The times they DID, they shot themselves in the foot. The Dems fight amongst themselves......the house is on fire, and the two 7-year old brothers are fighting over who gets the red marbles.

JD...........and, there are as many living just outside the tunnels under and along I-15. Most of them don't want to go to work - they want a hand-out. I talked to an old gentleman who gets some of his brothel women from the Greyhound Bus Station, so I figured I'd try and round up a few "ranch-hands" during construction years ago from downtown Vegas.........turned out no one wanted to work.......they'd rather just continue 'pan-handling'.

"they'd rather just continue 'pan-handling'."

Wall*Street's pan-handling is just a homeless person's 'credit-hustle'...

In 2001 the median house fetched 460 ounces of gold and the median price was about $115,000, a 4-to-1 ratio ounces of gold per dollar of house value. By the valuation peak in 2005 that ratio had fallen to 2.17-to-1. The boom period actually saw an overall loss in value.
Stated another way the best time to sell your home and buy gold actually occurred in 2001; you would have received twice the gold which would have seen very handsome appreciation. The truth: the boom was over by the time everyone thought it had begun.

Priced in gold, the median house bought 460 ounces of gold in 2001 and 490 ounces at the peak in 2005--a gain of 6%, considerably less than the nominal price in dollars.

Had a homeowner eschewed the blandishments of the housing bubble in 2001 and sold his/her home for 460 ounces of gold and rented for eight years, he/she could now buy a home for 160 ounces of gold and have 300 ounces in hand.

charles hugh smith-Weblog and Essays 

Re-instituting Glass Steagal is a start, but severely curbing leverage would also help.

Financial leverage (debt) absolutely soared when we left the gold standard. Why? Because with a policy of inflation in place the power of government guaranteed exponential growth was set. Financial debt (leverage) was/is a way for banks to grab the future inflation.

What happens when the anticipated future inflation (bogus credit creation) fails to materialize? The financial system starts to implode. But no worries. Central Banks the world over are always there to guarantee the banks your piece of the future inflation (senseless credit creation).

Is it any wonder while the FIRE industry has flourished while most everyone else has taken a step back financially?

Inflation should be eliminated or distributed more evenly. Perhaps it should be taxed.

U.S. Commerce Creates Office to Boost Entrepreneurs (Update1) - Bloomberg.com

Commerce Secretary Gary Locke will announce the initiative in a speech today in Maryland, saying his department will help fledgling business owners get training, credit and access to government research, according to a copy of the remarks he is to deliver at the event.

......having the FedGov help in a small-business start-up.........now THAT'S a sure-fire money-making combination! Don't they have a few more pressing matters to contend with?

Commerce Dept Strategic Goal #1: Enhance economic growth for all Americans by developing partnerships with private sector and nongovernmental organizations.

We used to have partners like that.

ROFLOL........you've been here before........

pr wrote:

securitization can add value.

Net or to bankers? How? Please don't say long-term capital gains welfare arbitrage.

"Washington Times - Dems block GOP demand for more time"

Finally,a first step...

"Washington Times - Dems block GOP demand for more time" Finally,a first step...

First step to what? Serfdom?..This bill as well as Cap and Trade will be the un-gluing of this country in a big way...be very careful of what you wish for.-

.....the delay is to allow the Congressional Budget Office to complete its final analysis on the cost and implications of the legislation.

.....what is it the Dems are afraid of - they'll wake up and realize it's NOT just all a bad dream?

BSR: the Dems are like the little boy who stood at the bus stop whispering into the ear of passing pretty girls. He got slapped a lot.

But when the possibility of consummation presents itself, one would rather act than think.

All things being unequal and the power in their favor, what is there to think about? Easier to act and beg forgiveness than wait and gain permission.

Walt..........I was hoping that after the last scaliwags were run out of DC, they would be replaced by a "change we can believe in" time & crew that took to heart the figurative "lopping off of heads for criminal finance-types & bankers". Imagine my disappointment.........

"Securitizing" is just ponziform for "securing". Triple A, super-duper senior preferred guaranteed security- backed by full faith and credit.

More syllables= greater security.

awaiting the jobless number pig

530k, car dealers still magically employed...