Wonderful system isn't it? They privatize the profits for the already rich and politically connected, then socialize the risk to the Joe six-pack pee-ons like me. I say let the depression begin! It's going to happen anyway.

You should discuss this with the political leader on the banking deregulation movement and chairman of the Commerce Committee... John McCain.

We should never have gone to paper money. It always fails.

ROTFL!!

Did you mean THIS McCain? (I wasn't quite sure who you meant) I easily confuse this guy (one who claims to be in favor of small government and free markets) with another person who's soon to be General Secretary of the Proletariat here in the U.S.

I saw some piece on Fox News this morning where they were trying to blame Bill Clinton for this mess while ignoring all of the moves under the leadership of the Bush administration, like printing huge volumes of unsupported extra cash thereby enabling more and more risky debt, huge tax cuts and unfunded mandates, not to mention misleading us all into a war in Iraq, and deregulating various aspects of, and/or removing many safeguards of, the financial market system. When runaway growth didn't happen following questionable tax reductions that might have covered the devaluation of our Dollar, combined with huge trade deficits, various kinds of short-selling and debt-rating issues, the Federal Reserve was forced to raise interest rates that caused a huge number of defaults in adjustable mortgages, which are always riskier than fixed-rate mortgages. The resulting shortage of credit and the declining value of our currency against stronger foreign currencies caused prices for fuel and imports to skyrocket, followed by transport costs. The shortage of credit also created a glut of homes for sale, thereby driving down home values, as too few potential buyers have been able to qualify for mortgages. Last night it was revealed that a 30% to 40% down-payment is almost always required for mortgage approval these days. And the home foreclosure crisis is certainly not over yet.

Let's see: $200-$250 Billion to bail-out Fannie & Freddie plus the shareholder loss of equity value there, the Lehman bankruptcy where $20 per share in value was wiped-out from last Friday to Monday and $60/share since last Spring, $59 billion that we didn't have to stabilize our markets Tuesday after the Lehman bankruptcy, $83 Billion more on Wednesday for the AIG bailout plus the loss of value to shareholders, (whose failure would have bankrupted the finances of New York State and NYC, and the New Jersey State pension fund, among many others, and did leave the common shareholders in the lurch), $50 Billion more on Thursday to stabilize a panic in money market accounts, and now $700+ Billion more or it's doomsday???

I liked one sentence that Senator Saunders said on Fox Business yesterday. He said, "If a company is too big to fail, than it is too big to exist". Did any of you guys see either of Fox News' interviews of Senator Saunders yesterday? If he gets his way, this bailout isn't going through without a fight or substantial considerations from the Republicans and the Bush administration on certain Democratic issues, like a housing bailout plan, and the Senator wants an emergency tax levied on incomes above a certain level too.

Stay tuned, because next week could be a lot like watching a category 5 hurricane wipe-out Washington, D.C, as well as the presidential hopes of the Commerce Chairman and his juvenile delinquent new sidekick.

Did you see precious metals recover? Our money is going to be worth a lot less with $1 trillion in bailouts and inflation is starting to become a problem again. All of the damage from Hurricane Ike is only estimated in the $10-$15 Billion range. Oil was up $11/barrel since Monday, and up $6/barrel just on Friday.

To quote Stretch, "hang-on, it's going to be a bumpy ride".

Mark

Mike,

I can see where this is a hard thing to hear. This article may be useful in helping to see why paper money is a terrible medium of exchange.

Andy

You ever feel a bitch of a storm coming?

[rant]

What sucks in my opinion is those same banks that are now failing were predatory in their pursuit of loaning people money. From credit cards to auto and home loans they were going after the people they knew were high risk using predatory tactics. Now that the chickens have come home to roost they want the same people they screwed to bail them out...

[/rant]

http://www.rasmussenreports.com/public_c...financial_firms

"Just 7% Favor Fed Bailout for Financial Firms"

Wednesday, September 17, 2008


This IS total bullshit. What Bush and the Bush-bots are effectively doing is price-fixing. What do I mean by this? Well, I'm sorry to tell most of you home-owners out there, but your particle-board, pvc pipe-built houses are OVERPRICED. If the Bush-bots would stop subsidizing this economic engine that is fueled by debt and all-too-easy credit, the price of homes would COME down and I could afford to buy one of these cheaply built\over-priced homes.

I mean, COME ON, think about it. WHY on earth does a house that took 4 or 5 thousand man-hours to build, costs 300 THOUSAND+ dollars? I mean, these homes don't even come with bomb shelters or razor wire guard towers or anything really COOL, they're just cheaply built homes with newer windows, and they want $300,000 for these things? No WONDER there is a glut of unsold homes, they're OVERPRICED and only those people who get a windfall or go to college for 6 years can afford them.

Oh, and what about our "representatives" that claim to act in our best interests and reflect our collective will? Well, the article above pretty much says it all.

I'm cashing in my 401k tomorrow and buying shares in an Icelandic fishing company or something that can't be touched by these lying, contemptible jerks.

I think I'll start a new political party, called the National American Socialist Workers Party. With a name like that, the politicians should clamor for our votes and endorsements in short time.

Ok, enough ranting, hehe.