Krugman on AIG

AIG was just one more way to funnel money to the Vampire Squid from Hell s of the universe.

Hoocoodanode?

Let there be no mistake who decided to pay out 100 cents on the dollar. Geithner.

AIG shoulda gotten the GM bondholder deal.

The day, we the people were forced to purchase 79.9% of a certified white elephant, the total value of every share of stock was around $10 Billion, but we the people ended up paying around 20x fair market value, so the Unabankers wouldn't have to lose anything on their risky gambles, a Mulligan.

I find it very interesting that comments for his column and David Brooks' column have been disabled now. I'm noticing this more and more with NYT columns. When I look at what made it through their moderation system, you can't help but wonder why it was disabled.

Most human beings have an almost infinite capacity for taking things for granted. -- Aldous Huxley

Before you slip into oblivion
I'd like to have another diss
Another blogging chance at bliss
Another diss, another diss

The market is up and filled with gain
Embarking overseas on a big jet plane
The time you ran away was too insane
We'll meet again, we'll meet again

Oh tell me where your freedom lies
And why Wall*Streeters can't be extradited?
Deliver me from reasons why
You'd rather fly, I'd rather cry

The Cristal ship is being filled
A thousand bubbles, a trillion troubles
A million ways to spend your dimes
When we get you back, I'll drop a line

YouTube - The Doors - The Crystal Ship

The Masters of the Universe have their hands up the asses of the whores on the Hill.

Kid gloves? Nice cover, Mr. Nobel.

It's corruption, not cowardice or incompetence.

Corruption is the root but we can't bare to face that reality.
So we pretend that things just need a little tweaking.

The whole barrel is spoiled. First it made us drunk and now it's turned to poison.

And still we drink.

If they were making contracts they knew they could never honor then they are guilty of fraud.
So where are the regulators?

Krugman argues that government officials have squandered the trust of the American people by treating the financial industry with kid gloves. He argues that this make it more difficult to pass another stimulus packaged focused on job creation.

Hoocoodapredictedit.

Krugman's been blaming everyone else for derailing his ever-larger stimulus ("inflation hawks"), but now we're getting closer to the true cause. I agree a large stimulus would help, just like I believe that rebuilding a house after a fire is a good thing. Too bad we haven't put the "FIRE" out yet. All the stimulus is just going up in smoke.

Krugman argues that government officials have squandered the trust of the American people by treating the financial industry with kid gloves. He argues that this make it more difficult to pass another stimulus packaged focused on job creation.

Yes!

Amen, Professor Krugman. I would definitely prefer Professor K in the office that Summers is sitting in now, policy disagreements notwithstanding.

The DeFazio clip is definitely worth watching...he refers to the SecTreas as "Timmy" on the air. Laughing out loud

Did you see Geithner get all Munchkin like during the hearing yesterday, seeing that guy trying to act tough and flexing his muscle is hilarious, reminds me of Pee-Wee's playhouse.

Making small, quick cuts across my forearm with a razor blade keeps me feeling alive.

But I'm getting numb nonetheless.

Time to switch to CBT.

Well he is ahead of the curve, no?

please!

You can't win if you don't play.
Cast your vote in the BFF Poll.
Does the FDIC Order Anchovies? Beer

digalert wrote:

AIG shoulda gotten the GM bondholder deal.

Somebody, somewhere, somehow is going to have to realize that the bad companies/assets/corporate leadership have to be purged.

It will be painful. But it will be more painful by putting it off.

the last thing we need is more stimulus. Keynesian economics - FAIL.

The worst aspect of AIG's swaps was the system where European banks bought them as a substitute for a real capital base. So when AIG choked, the biggest banks in Europe were suddenly realized to be insolvent. The swap lines that Bernanke setup with the ECB and other European central banks were a replacement for the fraudulent AIG promises.

On the Verge of Self Mutilation wrote:

Making small, quick cuts across my forearm with a razor blade keeps me feeling alive.

Tell us you're snarking or we will have kcoop track your IP and there will be a gaggle of Its a chopper, baby Its a chopper, baby Its a chopper, baby Its a chopper, baby outside your doorstep in the next 90 seconds.

Krugman argues that government officials have squandered the trust of the American people by treating the financial industry with kid gloves. He argues that this make it more difficult to pass another stimulus packaged focused on job creation.

The other thing that makes it hard is that nobody can seem to answer one very simple question:

"How can you borrow your way out of a crisis caused by too much debt?"

from last thread, hackintosh is actually illegal, per the DMCA.

FUCK MORE STIMULUS!!! KICK ALL OF THE BUMS OUT OF OFFICE!!!
In the next election, make sure you vote for the main opposing candidate. It doesn't matter if they are Democrap or a Republitard, they are one in the same.

Wow, Krugman wrote something that I mostly agree with. I need to re-examine my position.

Oxtail,
from last thread...
Ron Paul repudiated the Truthers and their theories on Glenn Beck during his presidential run after taking Truther money for months...after that he earned the reputation in some circles of controlled opposition...

At the very least change your handle to:

Actively Self Mutilating.

The "Elmo" tile in the sidebar is beyond awesome!

"[S]eemingly safe choices have now placed the economy in grave danger." - PK

Choices you endorsed and promoted Professor. Choices you were warned would lead to greater danger. Choices you were shown would not have the results you imagined and would also carry consequences you chose to ignore. Now, after a string of epic failures of your policies you wish for another round? No, time to step aside and let the voices of reason take a turn at the ear of the administration. you know, those voices you've been deriding all along. Performance based evaluation doesn't just apply to policies but to the policy makers. You had your chance.

Ministry of Truth wrote:

FUCK MORE STIMULUS!!! KICK ALL OF THE BUMS OUT OF OFFICE!!!

Coffee kicking in, eh?

If they are the same, then what difference would your proposal make?

took old Bug Eyes long enough to see the obvious

ac wrote:

"How can you borrow your way out of a crisis caused by too much debt?"

Easy! Just put it on the credit card! Or, steal your grandchilds' credit card and put it on that.

rosethorn wrote:

the fraudulent AIG promises.

and AIG was perpetrating a fraud - just so we're all clear on that.

They're shallow cuts. Mostly for adrenaline and attention.

It's part of the popular culture now - the girls version of mass death war games - used to train our kids to be more animalistic and desperate.

Times have changed. Kids do this in school now. (They even have little cut kits.)

You probably folded up paper fortune tellers when you were a lad. "Pick a number!"

Old fogey.

As the 'populist' heat is turned on...stimulus/bailout pundits, apologists, and shills are going to have to back pedal a little and soften their positions or they will become irrelevant and obviously wrong...

HomeGnome wrote:

If they are the same, then what difference would your proposal make?

I'd say they're both the same on economic issues, and have been for many years, but are vastly different on social issues. I'll take the Democrats any day over the Republicans on that front.

"How can you borrow your way out of a crisis caused by too much debt?

ac,

The problems only arise when the borrowing stops (be it borrower or the lender initiated).

Ponzi schemes give the appearance of wealth creation while they are working.

Wall St. is a giant inflation shuffling machine. Of course, Wall St. skims most of the wealth out of the system. Bernanke had to save wall st. in order to save the debt ponzi scheme.

AIG should have been allowed to go and the resulting fall out would have resulted in the world continuing to spin and the economy in no worse condition than the centrally planned debacle we have now.

The chance was missed to allow the TBTF dinosaurs to have died out and we'd be on the road to a rationalized banking sector. Instead we have extend and pretend and now REALLY too-big-to-fail.

We mustn't judge Timmah too harshly he wanted to be the CEO or president of Goldman one day and this certainly helps his candidacy.
~splat

ac wrote:

How can you borrow your way out of a crisis caused by too much debt?"

Debt or overconsumption compared to new real productivity gains? If one dollar is now worth a hundred dollars does the debt go away?

As far as I'm concerned we can dream up all the imaginary money we want (second stimulus style), but when we open our eyes...the extra zeroes won't be there.

Krugman argues that government officials have squandered the trust of the American people by treating the financial industry with kid gloves. He argues that this make it more difficult to pass another stimulus packaged focused on job creation.

Duh

There is no means of avoiding the final collapse of a boom brought about by credit expansion. The alternative is only whether the crisis should come sooner as the result of voluntary abandonment of further credit expansion, or later as a final and total catastrophe of the currency system involved.”
Human Action: A Treatise on Economics
Ludwig von Mises (1881-1973)

Good. Sorry for being a bit of a dick, I missed a signal when I was younger and now I overcompensate as penance.

'Kid gloves' is a euphemism for squid-ism.

They're shallow cuts. Mostly for adrenaline and attention.

It's part of the popular culture now - the girls version of mass death war games - used to train our kids to be more animalistic and desperate.

Times have changed. Kids do this in school now. (They even have little cut kits.)

Ok now I am nervous.....yet intrigued all at the same time. Sexy Innocent

Krugman argues that government officials have squandered the trust of the American people by treating the financial industry with kid gloves

Kid gloves? We handed them trillions.

Basel Too wrote:

from last thread, hackintosh is actually illegal, per the DMCA.

So is giving the girl you like a mixed CD of sappy love songs.

Goldman is paying RECORD bonuses from the AIG (UST) windfall bonus pool. Disgusting. The current administration wastes tax dollars like no other administration in history.

Kid gloves? We handed them trillions.

And got $13 extra a week in return..

"Krugman argues that government officials have squandered the trust of the American people by treating the financial industry with kid gloves. He argues that this make it more difficult to pass another stimulus packaged focused on job creation."


what trust..squandered...it was never there

the american people never supported tarp

unfortunately most people dont know the difference between tarp and the obama stimulus plan

furthermore most people dont know that nearly 50% of the stimulus plan was tax cuts for individuals and businesses

the "trust" is gone cause it was never there

the obama administration should have created a "bank of the United States of America"

and taken the assets of the failed institutions into receivership and then loaned money directly to qualified borrowers

now we have a total credit meltdown by any reasonable standard the banks are not lending to credit worthy businesses

and americans are sick of trickle down cause we are tired of being "trickled" on

the dems should have never voted for tarp in the fall of 08 and let the bush administration take the responsibility

now obama and the dems own it and have effed up most likely opportunities for solution

The American Revolution was Illegal.
Franklin, Jefferson and the rest were all terrorists.

Spunkmeyer wrote:

I'll take the Democrats any day over the Republicans on that front.

New rule -- you must wait until at least 100 comments deep into a thread before starting the debate over which party is better/worse, Democrats or Republicans.

It's like the game of "Hearts" -- it's no fun if someone always plays a heart in the first round.

Angry Saver wrote:

The problems only arise when the borrowing stops (be it borrower or the lender initiated).
Ponzi schemes give the appearance of wealth creation while they are working.

"Minsky identifies hedge, speculative, and Ponzi finance as distinct income-debt relations for economic units. He asserts that if hedge financing dominates, then the economy may well be an equilibrium-seeking and containing system: conversely, the greater the weight of speculative and Ponzi finance, the greater the likelihood that the economy is a "deviation-amplifying" system. Thus, the FIH suggests that over periods of prolonged prosperity, capitalist economies tend to move from a financial structure dominated by hedge finance (stable) to a structure that increasingly emphasizes speculative and Ponzi finance (unstable)"

SSRN-The Financial Instability Hypothesis by Hyman Minsky

I was pulling into the local gas station the other day, when a convergence of friends happened, 5 of us. One friend nobody had seen in a few years, had developed quite an appetite for meth, and and when we all saw him, we didn't know who he was at first.

He looked like he put on 10 years...

Oxtail wrote:

So is giving the girl you like a mixed CD of sappy love songs.

I think broward might argue: you will pay heavy fines for that too.

And the next thing you know, some Patriotic, terror-fighting American like JP will be calling a tipster line and turning you in as a pirate. Wink

Then it's SWAT Teams, Tasers, and prison rape for you.

Do what you're told, slave. The other slaves are watching you for us.

I'll see your 100, and raise you 100.

There's going to be a scramble for the architects of Keynesian over-spending and misallocation of 'bailouts' to spin their way out of the Big pickle by becoming pseudo-critics of the failed policies...

The sad joke is that all this crap was approved by those talking heads before Obama, or Geithner were in office. If you were going to go after him, you could at least ask nasty questions like: "Is there an appearance of impropriety when you're overseeing what amounts to a payout of $13B to your former employeer?", or "Do you believe that there are any constitutional limitations on the powers that the TARP bill granted to the Sec. Treas.?"

It's a cute little baby banker.
Ahhhh.

And if you consider the gift that keeps on giving (handouts to Wall St) was really hatched at the NY Fed... Effectively a redistribution of national taxpayer funds to the NY area. Theft.

The unemployment numbers will expose the stimulus/bailouts as shams and banker booty given away under false pretenses...

1st) Negative T-bill yields gone.

2nd)

The cds on most of these companies still trade! It has'nt gone away. Arguably , it's increased

HomeGnome wrote:

If they were making contracts they knew they could never honor then they are guilty of fraud.
So where are the PROSECUtors?

Fixed it fer ya'; add in any of:
* money laundering
* bribery,
* theft,
* embezzlement,
* obstruction of justice,
* racketeering,
* gambling,
And you've got grounds for RICO

Agree, but the bigger question is. Where is all the money?

ac wrote:

The other thing that makes it hard is that nobody can seem to answer one very simple question:
"How can you borrow your way out of a crisis caused by too much debt?"

You need to think outside of the box-
Wink

If they were making contracts they knew they could never honor then they are guilty of fraud.
So where are the regulators?

No, where are the criminal prosecutors? It is really shocking that after 1 year no one has gone to trial yet, no indictments.
The white collar criminal class is America's ruling class.

zephyrum wrote:

Krugman's been blaming everyone else for derailing his ever-larger stimulus ("inflation hawks"), but now we're getting closer to the true cause. I agree a large stimulus would help, just like I believe that rebuilding a house after a fire is a good thing. Too bad we haven't put the "FIRE" out yet. All the stimulus is just going up in smoke.

One thing PK got right is that the previous bailouts were just that - bailouts at taxpayer expense & with little in the way benefiting those same taxpayers except ambiguous 'promises' the financial industry wouldn't blow up if the bailouts went through [if not it was going to be TEOTWAWKI].

Meanwhile the fire has spread from the House of Wall Street to everyman's house. Meanwhile those in the House of Wall Street are partying on dude.

I wouldn't pass another stimulus until they find a way to make Wall Street pay for a big ass chunk of it - via transaction taxes, windfall profits tax targeted at financial companies or some other similar measure. Claw me some claw back, baby.

'Kid gloves' is a euphemism for squid-ism.

really?

squid-ism
verb
to nettle the world with exraordinary gains by seeding the Republic with sunservant souls (no expiation for any act what so ever)
example
http://blogs.denverpost.com/lewis/wp-content/photos/paulson.JPG

dum luk,

It's beyond Minsky's FIH, imo. We actually have a system that is so deluded it demands senseless credit creation. eCONomists have thoroughly corrupted rational economic thought. Usury is now our highest paying industry. And we call it innovation.

Just look at cash for clunkers, ZIRP, FHA, FNM, FRE, Home buyer tax credits, etc. Financial hucksters pushing junk theories have usurped the system for the benefit of themselves and a small minority. It's not like they weren't aware of the FIH, they just figured they would milk the system on the way up and then milk it on the way down.

It's a giant skimmming operation. Sadly, that's the entire point.

So now all of those people that opposed TARP on the grounds that it would just be spent on crony bankster selective bailouts are warning that it will likely happen again, and I am supposed to blow them off on the grounds that they are just cynical party-poopers who are interfering with more .gov pinata-popping candy-store giveaways?

Please. Here is some thread music for ya, Krug:
Candy Store Rock- line up for your shot at the Treasury pinata, everybody!

YouTube - Led Zeppelin - Candy Store Rock

I'll see your 100, and raise you 100.

String raise.

No action.

"I'd say they're both the same on economic issues,...

anyone who thinks this is true should be watching the Senator's statements on the healthcare bill on C-SPAN2. The two sides couldn't be more far apart on the cost of this (economic) issue.

C-SPAN2 Live Stream - C-SPAN

NateTG wrote:

The sad joke is that all this crap was approved by those talking heads before Obama, or Geithner were in office.

Geithner was President of the NY Fed. He was personally and thoroughly dripping with involvement. So, as far as Timmay goes, your response is ill conceived.

merchants of fear wrote:

There's going to be a scramble for the architects of Keynesian over-spending and misallocation of 'bailouts' to spin their way out of the Big pickle by becoming pseudo-critics of the failed policies...

Piece of cake: "We didn't go far enough fast enough. If they've only listened to us instead of sitting on their hands".

Oxtail wrote:

rom last thread, hackintosh is actually illegal, per the DMCA.

The politicians that passed the DMCA were on MDMA.

Angry Saver wrote:

It's a giant skimmming operation. Sadly, that's the entire point.

....and it's a point I have considerable difficuly refuting; yet, I just can't quite accept it either.

dfwmix wrote:

No, where are the criminal prosecutors? It is really shocking that after 1 year no one has gone to trial yet, no indictments.
The white collar criminal class is America's ruling class.

Weren't 2 people acquitted in the last week or so?

String raise.

No action.

lol, you caught me bluffing. I don't even know what you said.

Anyone else remember Obama leaving the campaign trail to fly back to Washington during the original TARP discussions?

There's a lot of revisionism going around on this issue IMO.

Timmay doesn't have a strong stage presence, and his pipsqueak voice doesn't help matters.

The sad joke is that all this crap was approved by those talking heads before Obama, or Geithner were in office.
Geithner was part and parcel to what happend. He was the NY Fed President even before the crisis. He was either incompetent or corrupt. You can take our pick.

If Ron Paul's Audit the Fed bill picks up any steam again...the character attacks and name-calling (homophobia, white supremacist, Truther Man) will also pick up steam in the media and on the internet to derail his efforts...politics is dirty business...the fate of the Global reorganization of the Economy is at stake!

barfly wrote:

anyone who thinks this is true should be watching the Senator's statements on the healthcare bill on C-SPAN2. The two sides couldn't be more far apart on the cost of this (economic) issue.

It has economic consequences, for sure, but I would actually consider it to be a social issue.

Yes, if you got massive return on investment for the borrowed money used to fund stimulus spending then you could borrow your way out of a "debt crisis" (assuming the lenders would cooperate with you).

Alas the record of government spending and stimulus isn't so reassuring when it comes to hoping for big returns.

After all, does a government that has been spending more than it makes for decades now (i.e. the U.S. govt) really have any hope of employing borrowed money so effectively that it not only pays for its own expenditures but also covers the cost of servicing the huge additional debt financing the stimulus spending?

volker the viking wrote:

So, as far as Timmay goes, your response is ill conceived.

Hell, he was in the room, and at the table during Bear, Lehman, AIG... For all we know, he may have been pulling Paulson's strings.

It's a giant skimmming operation. Sadly, that's the entire point.

"The last official act of any government is to loot the nation ...

I like Krugman when he is not on Hopium and tries to Pitchforks and Torches the Vampire Squid from Hell

Krugman argues that government officials have squandered the trust of the American people by treating the financial industry with kid gloves. He argues that this make it more difficult to pass another stimulus packaged focused on job creation.

Sorry to revisit something I brought up the other day, but what is the Administration's justification for another stimpack for job creation when they are on the record saying this:

DR. SUMMERS: David, I, I think that's really very, with great respect, I think that's really a very misleading way of putting it. The administration's report was very clear that the stimulus would build over time, that less than 10 percent of the job creation would take place during 2009, that the largest impacts would be felt as the program took effect, as all of those projects got started. So we forecast that there would be a meaningful impact felt right away, but that that effect would increase very substantially.

Aug. 2: Larry Summers, roundtable - Meet the Press- msnbc.com

....and it's a point I have considerable difficuly refuting; yet, I just can't quite accept it either.

Money lending has a long, winding and dirty history. But certain elements never change.

On DeFazio - his bio says he's been in congress since 1986... ya think he voted for Gramm-Leach-Bliley dereg bill in '99 that eliminated Glass-Steagall? And also made it impossible to regulate CDS [the crap AIG sold that got us into so damned much trouble here]?

Because if he did - he has more finger prints on this corpse than does Geitner, Paulson, Bernanke, Greenspan, Bush or Obama.

Words fail me.
There can be no trust when the current holding value of assets is not disclosed, when the off-cooks conduits are still off-books, when CDS are still not regulated, when the Fed does not have to answer as to the collateral posted for its treasuries.
Squandered the public trust does not come close to describing the rage at paying for a financial system that uses brinksmanship to insist on payment in full - as well as their percentage take.
If we had let these companies fail, we could have rebuilt a far better system that would not have so grossly miss-allocated capital.

poic wrote:

Anyone else remember Obama leaving the campaign trail to fly back to Washington during the original TARP discussions?
There's a lot of revisionism going around on this issue IMO.

Anyone remember Obama offering any input between Election Day and Inauguration Day, when it could have made a difference?

What are the odds of Wyoming getting Californicated in the next few years? CA is "most troubled" and WY is "least troubled"
Where to retire: The most and least troubled states

Blackhalo wrote:

Hell, he was in the room, and at the table during Bear, Lehman, AIG...

thank you

Now this mule headed moron is acting like a tough guy against the criticism. We'll see what we shall see about his strategery.

The administration's report was very clear that the stimulus would build over time, that less than 10 percent of the job creation would take place during 2009

The administration's report was very clear that the stimulus would KILL over time, that MORE than 10 percent of the job LOSSES would take place during 2009

Fixed for you

Basel Too wrote:

from last thread, hackintosh is actually illegal, per the DMCA.

Only because of the way Apple wrote the EULA.

I recently paid over $100 for Windows 7, and would have gladly paid the $30 to give Snow Leopard a shot, if it were possible. IMHO, Apple is either making a big mistake or a very good one by not allowing this. Time will tell which is the case. There are a lot of companies going to OpenOffice, so Microsoft seems like they are in a perfect spot for some competition if Apple were willing.

OK, so how does the government create jobs?
And once the program goes away, what happens to those jobs?
Or does it ever go away?

Any program is going to be flawed, but why not encourage actual businesses, new or existing, to create jobs?
At least those jobs might outlive the government program.

After the fall of the Soviet Union is when the looting got going in earnest, but we seem to be doing one-stop looting before the fall, here.

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- Valero Energy on Friday said it's shutting down its refinery in Delaware City, Del., in a move that will eliminate 550 jobs.

Anyone remember Obama offering any input between Election Day and Inauguration Day, when it could have made a difference?
Yeah, he did. He announced Summers and Geithner as his primary Ecomonic team leads. Did he need to say more? He basically said - we will continue the looting.
/snark

sm_landlord wrote:

OK, so how does the government create jobs?

government doesn't create jobs, they spend what they take (and then some) from the people

You wanna see gubbermint encourage the economy? Then have them step out of the way.

I do not want the Government creating Jobs, they have fucked things up enough, we need Entrepreneurs to create jobs. The problem is they are bum rushing the Entrepreneurs out of here.

dryfly wrote:

On DeFazio - his bio says he's been in congress since 1986... ya think he voted for Gramm-Leach-Bliley dereg bill in '99 that eliminated Glass-Steagall? And also made it impossible to regulate CDS [the crap AIG sold that got us into so damned much trouble here]?
Because if he did - he has more finger prints on this corpse than does Geitner, Paulson, Bernanke, Greenspan, Bush or Obama.

To his credit, he voted against it:
http://clerk.house.gov/evs/1999/roll570.xml

(edit: fixed vote link)

shill wrote:

Valero shutting Delaware refinery employing 550

"The refinery specializes in handling heavy, high-sulfur crude oil."

Not sure what other refiners handle this, but this could be a good niche service in the future.

On the Verge of Self Mutilation wrote:

Times have changed. Kids do this in school now. (They even have little cut kits.)

This is called Borderline Personality Disorder and has been going on a long time. Used to be mostly resticted to adolescent women.

How about instead of giving large sums of taxpayer money to foreign banks, loan it to small businesses.

You want to create jobs? Cheap, plentiful SBA loans will real risk assessment.

Have a great business plan? Get what you need on a long term cheap SBA loan.

But that would lead to too much personal financial freedom, as smart slaves bailed on their cubicles to make more on their own.

So we can't support small biz. But we should.

A small biz boom, fueled by disgust, shrugging Atlas's, and a growing desire for self-sufficiency could turn the US around in time.

This can't.

The administration and CONgress have to look like they are doing something now after bailing out the bankers with so much $$$$$$$$ that it will make the dollar a Third World currency...Government jobs are coming to a neighborhood near you...for another bailout package for taxpayers paid by taxpayers for the consumers but there will be an angle for the fat cats somewhere. The consumers also need some money to spend!

dryfly wrote:

Because if he did - he has more finger prints on this corpse than does Geitner, Paulson, Bernanke, Greenspan, Bush or Obama.

That's a bit of a stretch.

GovTrack: House
Vote on Conference Report:
S. 900 [106th]: Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act

GovTrack: Senate
Vote On Passage:
S. 900 [106th]: Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act

Nay OR-4 DeFazio, Peter [D]

Of course, a super flu wiping out most of the Baby Boomers would also fix things.

That seems to be in the works.

Oh, but they'd never....

nice find Spunkmeyer..I see Pelosi didnt vote and RPaul on the nays too.

shill wrote:

The problem is they are bum rushing the Entrepreneurs out of here.

As I see it, they are planning to bleed the entrepreneurs with transfer taxes to buy the next election.
That's not how you create more jobs.

Duke had an excellent point above as well - with the loss of trust, it's even more difficult to create jobs. Even a potentially helpful change will be greeted with mistrust now.

I always suspected the US dollar would trade at par with our nearest neighbor. I just thought it would be Canada.

Juvenal Delinquent wrote:

After the fall of the Soviet Union is when the looting got going in earnest, but we seem to be doing one-stop looting before the fall, here

This is just the warm up before the kick off - you haven't seen anything yet. Even in the old USSR - the pols & apparatchiks were looting prior to the fall... they lived in nice dachas outside Moscow & took very nice western European vacations all on the pretense of 'official business' - the state pretended to own the assets & the party elite & apparatchiks got the benefit. After the fall all pretense ended. Not unlike the 'management apparatchiks' here today - the stockholders pretend to own the assets but the corporate elite & apparatchiks get all the benefits. If we fall - same will be true.

That is unless we go the other way first - a 'December Revolution'.

This is one of Krugman's better (if sadder) write-ups. It may always have been obvious to some, but I think Krugman said it well for a wider range of folk to see and understand. Further, from everything I can tell, for most people the economy is pretty bad and getting worse.

I just finished a stint as a grand juror, listening for weeks to various district attorney presentations of evidence as they asked us for votes of indictments. Many of the cases we heard involved bank / brokerage fraud. But you know what - in not one instance was the bank or the brokerage involved an active participant in pro actively looking out for fraud. At least, so it seemed to me based on what was presented -- that all they do is passively produce account and transaction reports when subpoena-ed to do so. And the possible fraud was generally always first detected by ordinary non-banker people, those who experience losses from their accounts and identify theft. I heard and saw nothing pro active by the banks and one security person at a bank actually let fly the opinion that his own institution had way too open policy as a matter of policy in order to make more money. Their money has to be put at risk and it isn't enough. I much admired the effort of the district attorneys conducting these investigations, but once again it's public money paying, not the bankers.

dryfly wrote:

Gramm-Leach-Bliley dereg bill in '99 that eliminated Glass-Steagall? And also made it impossible to regulate CDS

I thought that was the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 that exempted CDS (and other derivatives) from regulation. Gramm had his fingers on that one, too...

Duke at 1128

word up

+1... i agree with dum luk

The Securities and Exchange Commission on Thursday sued former gaming executive R. Brooke Dunn, charging he and a friend were involved in illegal insider trading of the securities of Shuffle Master Inc. of Las Vegas.

Dunn, of Henderson, is accused of providing nonpublic information to Nicholas P. Howey of Darnestown, Md., that enabled Howey to gain $237,000 in trading of Shuffle Master securities.
SEC sues former gaming exec for alleged insider trading - Las Vegas Sun

---So don't say the SEC is doing nothing.
This is damn close to nothing; but not quite nothing.

dryfly

you are right

and ive made this mistake before

heres the wikipedia entry

Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 (“CFMA”) is United States federal legislation that clarified that most 'over-the-counter derivatives' would not be subject to regulation by barring the CFTC, the SEC, and the states from regulating these products.[1] It enacted into law, but also went beyond, the recommendations of a Presidential Working Group on Financial Markets (“PWG”) Report titled “Over-the Counter Derivatives and the Commodity Exchange Act.” (the “PWG Report”).[2]

Although hailed by the PWG on the day of congressional passage as “important legislation” to allow “the United States to maintain its competitive position in the over-the-counter derivative markets”, by 2001 the collapse of Enron brought public attention to the CFMA’s treatment of energy derivatives in the “Enron Loophole.” Following the Federal Reserve’s emergency loans to “rescue” American International Group (“AIG”) in September, 2008, the CFMA has received even more widespread criticism for its treatment of credit default swaps and other over-the-counter derivatives (“OTC derivatives”).[3]

In 2008 the “Close the Enron Loophole Act” was enacted into law to regulate more extensively “energy trading facilities.”[4] On August 11, 2009, the Treasury Department sent Congress draft legislation to implement it proposal to amend the CFMA and other laws to provide “comprehensive regulation of all over-the counter derivatives.”[5]

How about the billions in bonuses that John Thain and Ken Lewis doled out to Merrill Banksters after Merrill became insolvent.

Effectively, Bernanke pledged public funds to pay for those banker bonuses when he backstopped the Merrill/BAC merger.

The notion that bankers "earn" their huge bonuses is a sham. The Fed covertly encourages and pays bankers to create never ending debt. Banker bonuses stem from senseless credit creation. The same senseless credit creation that made Americans pay double for a house over the past five years.

e-CON-omists. Economics thought didn't become this corrupt by accident. It was by design. Cui Bono.

'Usury is now our highest paying industry' - Angry Saver

Not for long! People are walking from usury.

On a more important note than deficits, unemployment or white-collar crime here is the top Yahoo New Item

Oprah Winfrey: Ending Talk Show "Feels Right in My Bones" - News - Yahoo! TV

umop apisdn wrote:

I thought that was the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 that exempted CDS (and other derivatives) from regulation. Gramm had his fingers on that one, too...

Same bill.

Blackhalo wrote:

dryfly wrote:

Because if he did - he has more finger prints on this corpse than does Geitner, Paulson, Bernanke, Greenspan, Bush or Obama.

That's a bit of a stretch.

GovTrack: House
Vote on Conference Report:
S. 900 [106th]: Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act

403 Forbidden

Nay OR-4 DeFazio, Peter [D]

If that is the case [a Nay vote on GLB] - then by my book the guy is clear to rip them all a new one.

GLB was the root cause for much of this - especially AIG-like reckless behavior. Anyone who voted 'no' deserves a star & a hug. Those who voted 'yes' - a front row seat at the inner circle of hell.

umop apisdn wrote:

I thought that was the Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 that exempted CDS (and other derivatives) from regulation. Gramm had his fingers on that one, too...

Could be - Gramm did so much damage I can't even begin to keep track.

a front row seat at the inner circle of hell.

---That's a hot ticket.
Wink

Dead Shtick wrote:

What are the odds of Wyoming getting Californicated in the next few years? CA is "most troubled" and WY is "least troubled"

Cap and Tax passing, or additional environmental regulation on mining will kill Wyoming - they get their bucks off of the coal severance taxes - no state income tax.

ac wrote:

any hope of employing borrowed money so effectively that it not only pays for its own expenditures but also covers the cost of servicing the huge additional debt financing the stimulus spending?

I agree mainly with your premise but it is not really about the debt in my Tom Thumb view of the world.The government does not have to pay the interest at an effective rate if it chose to. I view money as your labor in a commoditized form accepted widely for exchange. Would you accept 50 cents on the dollar for your labor today tommorrow? We cannot create real producitivity gains without an increase in savings. The cost of money has to have real positive returns so you are willing to give up your labor for it. Otherwise it makes sense more to save your labor and convert your existing savings to a commodity that will preserve it's value better. Real positive interest rates force productivity gains the opposite of keysnian economics which is the only thing that can bring us out our current situation.

the two are not the same

CFTA

H.R. 4541 and S.2697

H.R. 4541 was introduced in the House of Representatives on May 25, 2000, as the Commodities Futures Modernization Act of 2000. Three separate House Committees held hearings on the bill. Each Committee reported out a different amended version of H.R. 4541 by September 6, 2000.[37]

Another Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000 was introduced in the Senate on June 8, 2000, as S. 2697. A joint hearing of the Senate Agriculture and Banking Committees was held to consider that bill. The Senate Agriculture Committee reported out an amended version of S. 2697 on August 25, 2000.[38]

gramm leach bliley

The banking industry had been seeking the repeal of the 1933 Glass–Steagall Act since the 1980s, if not earlier. In 1987 the Congressional Research Service prepared a report which explored the case for preserving Glass–Steagall and the case against preserving the act.[2]

Respective versions of the legislation were introduced in the U.S. Senate by Phil Gramm (Republican of Texas) and in the U.S. House of Representatives by Jim Leach (R-Iowa). The third lawmaker associated with the bill was Rep. Thomas J. Bliley, Jr. (R-Virginia), Chairman of the House Commerce Committee from 1995 to 2001.

The House passed its version of the Financial Services Act of 1999 on July 1st by a bipartisan vote of 343–86 (|Republicans 205–16; Democrats 138–69; Independent/Socialist 0–1),[3] [4] [5] two months after the Senate had already passed its version of the bill on May 6th by a much-narrower 54–44 vote along basically-partisan lines (53 Republicans and one Democrat in favor; 44 Democrats opposed).[6] [7] [8] [9]

Anyone remember Obama offering any input between Election Day and Inauguration Day, when it could have made a difference?

He did nominate a tax cheat to be SecTreas.

DeFazio also voted against the CFMA, which was an amendment to GBL, as I understand it:

Nay OR-4 DeFazio, Peter [D]

GovTrack: House
Vote On Passage:
H.R. 4541 [106th]: Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000

p.s. - excellent resource, spunkmeyer. Thanks -

Is the unabashed looting by Vampire Squid from Hell and wall street among others happeninig because they know it's all going to come toppling down soon? They know the game is up and this is the last chance to "stock up" before another great collapse? Pitchforks and Torches

CR- what is the fascination with Krugman? If his analysis was consistent with what one would expect from a Nobel prize winner it would be one thing- but his analysis is no more rigorous than any of the other talking heads.

*

Many of the cases we heard involved bank / brokerage fraud.

*

How many indictments were issued by the grand jury you were on?

Which is part of why I've been agitating for the DMCA to be repealed since the day it passed. What a horrible, awful, terrible, vampire of a law.

Apple has been as successful as they have because of strict control over the hardware. They can build a tightly integrated and well engineered interface without a lot of friction from supposed cooperators.

There is zero chance of them opening their OS to general PC hardware.

Compare the Apple user experience (channeled, well-documented, and consistent) with Microsoft (none of the above) or Linux (as bad as Microsoft).

Paul "Shifty" Krugman ... At it Again ...

"Banks are still weak, and credit is still tight; we desperately need more government aid to the financial sector."

Yep, instead of calling for reconciling insolvent banks "Shifty" says we need more "aid to the financial sector."

Once again Krugman starts out with "a truth" then quietly interjects bankster policy...

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