Ian’s on fire!

hmm I have an account with WaMu. Nothing huge but I use it to tranfer money to family down in Brasil. Thanks for the info, Ian

The democratic house members need to walk out in unison and go home. McCain killed any chance of them working together and it is time that they showed some leadership.

Margaret Carlson is Hot hot hot on KO.
I know why she’s been kept under wraps…speaking of Palin’s tough day today.
Oops McCain. Oh, and the little game your tried today faild too. Oops again.

Ian, Who is going to buy Wachovia?

Question: Wait, when did the FDIC seize WaMu? What about the investors and shareholders?–have they just lost everything?

Her comment about coming from a small town was great.

I say wait until for the new administration

Thanks Ian.

digg

What’s the novelty McCampaign (h/t Margaret Carlson) going to do tomorrow to mix things up? We should have a brainstorming session on Late Night to see if we can figure it out in advance.

Loved that!
(what a really interesting news cycle we’re breathing through. So many incredibly poor strategies spun, so many really stupid sentences spewed, so much stuff — read Shit).

Are the national nightly news programs (which I don’t watch) speaking at all of the now-obvious Palin stupidity?

Just seeing this, but on the face it sounds like a typical sort of FDIC deal. They have always looked to have as much as possible of a failing bank taken over by another one in better shape and with some reasonable chance of making a going concern.

Though they’re calling it a seizure, I wonder if it’s being done so that the feds never take possession of the WaMu branches; perhaps JPMC will move in immediately at next business opening. Thursday failure announcements by FDIC are quite unusual.

I would seriously try to stay awake for that. :)

Hard to say that investors and shareholders will lose. Their investments may be transferred. Depositors should be OK. However, there will be many WaMu employees who will lose their jobs. I’ve been through this a couple of times and it’s not always pretty. Losing a job during a Republic era can take a long time to recover from.

Hi Ian A thousand apologies but I had a brainstorm while I was uostairs cooking and cleaning. Our govt is trying to figure out how to bail out wall street w/ 700B of our $ by buying their excrement. What if instead we were to establish a corp. This new corp could buy assets but not the excrement but the good stuff. Let the $ buy the good stuff at firesale prices. Let the commercial banks go belly up then buy the best assets. Sell shares in the new co. As i Understand the crisis part of the problem is the inability to fund operating costs and/or phase costs of previously commited to projects. Allow the new corp to step in on a new first lien position to fulfill the obligations of the note holder. When and if these commercial banks go belly up be prepepared to buy good assets but let them wallow in their crap

*note to self to check late night thread*

Since tomorrow is supposed to be the debate there should be some really big spinning going on. Maybe we will just have a wonderful speech by Obama from Ole Miss.

Unfortunately (or the opposite) my imagination is not wild enough to even take a guess.

thanks for the info. I’m curious as to the investors and shareholders as my understanding is that they have lost everything

Republics need change the subject quick. Did you know that Palin prays correctly? Did you know that McCain was a POW?

I put my Roth IRA money in WAMU a few years ago…

ubetchaiam posted this link a couple of threads ago (am i the only one having trouble keeping up tonight?). worth more than i link i think:

A Bailout We Don’t Need
By James K. Galbraith

Now that all five big investment banks — Bear Stearns, Merrill Lynch, Lehman Brothers, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley — have disappeared or morphed into regular banks, a question arises.

Is this bailout still necessary?

The point of the bailout is to buy assets that are illiquid but not worthless. But regular banks hold assets like that all the time. They’re called “loans.”

With banks, runs occur only when depositors panic, because they fear the loan book is bad. Deposit insurance takes care of that. So why not eliminate the pointless $100,000 cap on federal deposit insurance and go take inventory? If a bank is solvent, money market funds would flow in, eliminating the need to insure those separately. If it isn’t, the FDIC has the bridge bank facility to take care of that.

Next, put half a trillion dollars into the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. fund — a cosmetic gesture — and as much money into that agency and the FBI as is needed for examiners, auditors and investigators. Keep $200 billion or more in reserve, so the Treasury can recapitalize banks by buying preferred shares if necessary — as Warren Buffett did this week with Goldman Sachs. Review the situation in three months, when Congress comes back. Hedge funds should be left on their own. You can’t save everyone, and those investors aren’t poor.

McCain will show up at the debate, make a prepared statement (about going off to work on world peace, or something really really important), then walk off the stage?

WcCain’s stunts work in the south.

I bet Sarah Palin tomorrow will drive a snowmobile onto the stage just to get the media talking about anything but her last interview & Johnny’s screw ups!

Well, I’m glad “the meeting of significants” turned out this way. For awhile I was worried that Bush was gonna play “bad cop” to McCain (and the Republicans) “good cop” (with a deal already worked out behind the scenes. My fear was that McCain would present an “alternative plan” to Paulson’s that Bush had already said “yes” to and that Reid and Pelosi would be dragged into that.

McCain would’ve then emerged as a “hero”, leaving Obama looking insignificant.

My guess is that the red-belt Republicans realize that their constituents are even more bat-sh*t crazy about a huge bail-out than many Democrats. So they weren’t willing to take a bite of a poison apple that might lose, or push incumbents running this year into a death spiral.

Good idea! Hope I can stay awake.

MY patience have worn thin. They have not shown any spine in the last eight years and if WcCain is elected we are so screwed. I don’t want Miss Sarah as president.

CSPAN-2 has Steny and Frank taking questions from earlier in the day.

Steny reminded me about the principles that McCain and Obama had already agreed upon.

Be there or be square.
Oh you’ve prolly heard that, even though it was before your “time”.
Econ- yeah, but it could be really fun, if not totally productive. It would be kinda like the dance stupid DC did today. But, we’d laugh, and it wouldn’t have any disasterous consequences.

Don’t think they will tomorrow night. Different place and very different time.

“Are the national nightly news programs (which I don’t watch) speaking at all of the now-obvious Palin stupidity?”

McCain needs someone convincing to go around Congress discussing the feasibility of his plan….how about Palin! She’s supposedly smart and convincing!

I called Congressman Tom Allen’s office here in Maine 3 times today screaming that he should vote ‘no’ on whatever is proposed, because the FBI is investigating these company, so why the hell should Americans pay these assholes first. I also told them that no matter what the repukes say, they are going to vote against the bill because they want the Democrats/Barack tied to this bailout ONLY.

I better not respond to that. I might sound like I’m making a gross generalization.

The FDIC should have covered most of WAMU’s customers anyway. This is the problem with the financial community. Speculation and schemes are like heroin to them, and they are addicts. JP Morgan is not acting to shore up the financial system. It is looking out for number one. How can the system be fixed if the members of it even after all that has happened still act this way?

This is the core reason Paulson’s plan will fail. Everyone is angling for a cut of that $700 billion and none of them give a rat’s ass for the problems of the system itself. This is why the government needs to come in and establish the rules, the value of assets, the nullification of most kinds of derivatives because the individual players have shown over and over and over again that they are incapable of cleaning house or even stopping themselves from burning it down.

Commercuial banks won’t sell the good stuff. It’s the bad stuff they need to get rid of.

McCain will show up at the debate, make a prepared statement (about going off to work on world peace, or something really really important), then walk off the stage?

I think McGramps will show up, and will, either immediately before or after the debate, fire off a statement that he was unprepared for the debate because he (as opposed to that lazy, shiftless Obama guy) was out battling heroically to save the nation from financial meltdown.

And he did, ya know, show up in D.C. a coupla hours before Obama did – didn’t he?

Earlier this evening I was speaking with a WcCain supporter who said that it was a good idea to delay the debate. I mentioned that they both had planes and could probably get in Mississippi after the Senate shut down in order to debate. She mentioned that they debate late on the senate floor. I asked her to research how late they debate on Friday nights and get back to me. Haven’t heard back yet but her son works for Isakson and he is coming back to Atlanta tomorrow at six.

Excellent idea, Hugh. But I don’t think the current government can manage it.
Also, can anyone explain to me how a society without rules =anarchy BAD but business without rules = free market GOOD?

Obama has already said that he will be there and if McC doesn’t show there are going to be some very angry people in Mississippi because they have spent over $5 million getting ready for this.

If McCain doesn’t show, Obama should take questions from the moderator and then open up the floor to questions from the audience, townhall style.

Or he could alternate questions from the moderator and questions from the floor. Either way is fine.

A set speech without any Q&A from either the moderator or the floor wouldn’t, under the circumstances, be inappropriate, but it would be anti-climactic. People have heard prepared speeches from Obama before, and it would waste all that debate prep.

A spontaneous Q&A, allowing Obama to show off his adaptability and grace under pressure would be more exciting and informative, and more likely to sway new or undecided voters, in my opinion.

.

Ian —

I know Wachovia had bad mortgage/securities, I thought they dumped and wrote off losses, are they still in trouble? even after dumping thier CEO?

I’m sure that’s what Obama would do instead of speaking for an hour or so. Makes good sense to me.

Or perhaps we could have a pool on the date & time that McCain will withdraw.

Or be hospitalized.

Or whatever.

WAMU should have taken the deal last spring when JPMorgan tried to buy them

thanks, selise. that was a good column by Galbraith. He is a good economists, and very good on monetary macroeconomics. Hope everyone reads the ‘Galbraith plan’.

Why can’t McCain be streamed live at the debate on a teletron or am I just being a thorn in the old man’s side? LOL

Have you seen the new Robert Greenwald ad?
McCain’s medical condition. Pretty stark, scary and part of the “going out” scenario?

Yes I have. Pretty eerie & effective, at least to me.

Effective for me too. Hoping that people everywhere (even the South) see it and are affected.

Congress keeps their days short and their weekends long. Most of the time the kritters leave Dee Cee on Thursdays. Late nite votes are unusual. If they happen, at least there is some warning ahead of time.

This Paulson Fraud was first going to be done by Monday. Then it is supposed to be done Friday nite. So Obama must be in Dee Cee instead of Oxford, Miss. Otherwise the sky will fall and rich people will not be amused.

The Investment Bankers are Masters of the World. They want their money and they want it now! You stupid whining peasants do not understand derivatives or fungibility. So stop debating or the DOW loses 600 points tomorrow.

yes, yes and yes

Have you seen the new Robert Greenwald ad?

I know you weren’t talking to me – but I’ve seen it. And I think it’s pretty offensive, over-the-top, and might very well back-fire.

ymmv.

Actually replying to #39.

They’re holding a gun to our heads, Frank33! *jumping in Frank33’s arms for safety*

Thank you JPL9 — I thought so, but haven’t had time to read up on them lately. I find myself skimming the news these days the best I can.

Is any one watching Rachel. Shelby was swinging around paper and saying the plan is bad cause the paper I have says so. Rachel tried to ask him why and he said that very important economists said no.. In fact the economist came from the best schools such as Harvard, Princeton, and MIT. I’m not sure if he mentioned Sarah’s schools.

OK.. so I gather that at that contentious WH mtg, Obama took the moral high ground, Congressional Dems favored the compromise proposal, Congressional Rethugs played the role of recalcitrant pro-dereg bugbears, Shrub just plain lost control of the meeting.. and McLame? CNM: “Multiple sources said McCain didn’t say much. Two Democratic leadership aides said he didn’t speak until 43 minutes into the meeting.”

Ummm…….

What did you find offensive, if I may ask?
Anybody else here, please jump in on this.

fwiw, this afternoon he also mentioned economists from The Friedman School of Chicago….

lol, It was actually quite funny when I asked what time her son was coming home.

Slightly OT
Just for fun, I just finished scanning the last quartely SEC 10Q from Merril Lynch, as of June 29, 2008. Considering the company was basically toes up within 2 1/2 months, i was surprised to see a clean bill of health from the Auditors. Yep, an unqualified opinion.
There was a short discussion of valuation practices or certain “Level 3″ assets in the notes on about page 137. Shame nobody picked up on that lambent red flashing neon warning sign w/ ululating siren.
(always wanted to use those words in a real sentence.)

JPM scores another sweet deal.

On the bail-out: I have been calling Kennedy, Kerry, and my rep all week as well as some others. They all report that they have been flooded with calls nearly all against the bail-out. Sad to say, but I believe McCain can frame his scuttling the deal as being a good thing and improve his standing.

I have been trying in all of my calls to warn the Dems that the bail-out is a scam and a trap. If a bail-out is necessary (and I’m still not convinced it is) the terms should be along the lines of the Bernie Sanders proposal–loaded with solid populist provisions and that Bush be forced to sign them into law. Also, it should include a provision for funding social security and medicare with taxes on the rich, maybe a confiscatory tax on estates.

All told I think the Dems had a chance to call all the shots and may have blown it.

gruesome, morbid, hack-looking “doctors” (who probably *are* doctors, but they don’t come off looking very intelligent). And if this one isn’t very properly termed an “attack ad”, then I’ve never seen an attack ad.

I find it to be in poor taste, poorly done, and possibly sympathy-inducing.

Their sgood stuff can be sold via bankruptcy court

lol.. Has every one watched the Sarah Silverman tape. The Page linked to it but I actually like the version on http://www.thegreatschlep.com/site/index.html We can all become schleppers, too.

I think this is what Shelby was referring to.
http://faculty.chicagogsb.edu/…..rotest.htm
All the signatories are at the end. You can scan down the list to see the schools.

To me, that is an impressive list that includes people from across the ideological spectrum.

But whether Shelby is using that list to do Good or Evil, I am not sure.

Ian, I wrote to my senators and congressman. I received a reply from one of my Senators and this is one paragraph.. In the immediate term, we must address the credit and liquidity crisis. In the long term, we must put in place the oversight and safeguards to ensure the transparency and accountability necessary to prevent this from happening again. The Treasury has proposed using up to $700 billion dollars to purchase, at a discount, these mortgage-backed securities. This would provide liquidity to the financial institutions and improve their balance sheets. The important question is this: “Is the taxpayer of Georgia protected?” If the Treasury properly discounts the securities to, say, 50 or 60 cents on the dollar, and holds the securities to maturity there should be little or no cost to the Treasury. More importantly, investors will return to the market and will compete with the Treasury to by these discounted securities and the market will be reestablished. I am working to ensure the safeguards necessary for maximum security for the taxpayer So we are all saved, right.

Okay, I asked.
Poor taste? In the eye of the viewer.
Poorly done? You mean the production qualities?
Sympathy inducing? Possibly. But after looking at that cheek scar in the ad and looking at video of the man today with that cheek all puffed out again, it’s hard not to make the association. He has lied so many times. So very many times and the media calls him out Sometimes and there are a lot of citizens who haven’t realized what he really is about, that I’m hoping this ad affects voters on a subliminal level. The man is in trouble and the one thing this country doesn’t need is Sarah Palin anywhere near a decider-guy post.

I thought I had read this ..Morgan is also getting the loan portfolio or at least some of it.

“The deal will give JPMorgan branches in California and other markets where it does not have a footprint. But JPMorgan will also inherit a big loan portfolio of troubled mortgages and commercial real estate.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09…..mu.html?hp

The man is in trouble and the one thing this country doesn’t need is Sarah Palin anywhere near a decider-guy post.

Can we agree to agree on that? *g*

One other point, in 2007 Senators Shelby and Dodd were trying to get banks to work on renegotiating subprime loans and one of the JP Morgan did sign on to their plans of working with people before their loans reset (or whatever horrible thing was going to happen).

It could be better then it looks.

Of course. And, you betcha.
See you upstairs.
(also, would you like some sugarfree strawberry jello with whipped cream for desert?)

And Barack Obama went to Harvard! Was that mentioned?

FDIC Failed Bank List with WaMu update. The largest in modern history.

You have a point – this shows that the bailout is not needed. Perhaps it was a political ploy, all along (although Hank did want some $$ to reward his buds). Seems as if Paulson met privately with Republican leaders yesterday or the day before. Maybe he told them it really wasn’t an emergency.

Yesterday McCain warned us that we would be facing depression and 12% unemployment by Monday if this bill wasn’t passed by Friday. Imagine the outrage if Obama said something like that.

Dem’s CANNOT call the shots because of the veto and Repubs willing to back Bush; look at the issue of drilling off the coasts.

And with Hoyer and Emmanuel leading the corporate charge for money/donations, there is no backbone. And just as an aside, Senator Dodd has received more campaign donations from the financial industry than anyone, so when he states ‘I’ll just pretend it didn’t happen’, you know the shit has hit the fan.

Did anyone notice that this was done without the knowledge or approval of the Borad of Directors of Washington Mutual?

WASHMU Seized By Feds, Then Sold To JP Morgan

This was the largest seizure by “eminent domain” in history…in fact probably the largest “Nationalization” of a single company in history. Maybe the GasProm takeover by Putin in Russia may exceed it.

So this wasn’t simply WashMu making a deal with JP Morgan! NOOOO! The Directors were stripped of their authority without any notice, then the key “profitable” assets were sold off to another PRIVATE Company.

It’s some bizarre twisted variant of Fascism…legitimized by that bizarre Supreme Court decision about eminent domain about two years ago. Maybe that’s why John Yoo returned to Washington, D.C.?

I understand the thread is old, but would like to keep the question in the same topic……

My mortgage is held by WaMu – what just happened to it?? My payments are auto-withdrawn on the 5th of the month and includes the property tax / homeowners insurance escrow.