Login Here
Why am I not surprised? Treasury bailout overseer sees no real plan, no coherence, nothing strategic as yet in the billions of dollars pouring forth out of our taxpayer pockets and into failing corporate coffers. Via NYTimes:
...the government still does not seem to have a coherent strategy for easing the financial crisis, despite the billions it has already spent in that effort.
Elizabeth Warren, the chairwoman of the oversight panel, said...that the government instead seemed to be lurching from one tactic to the next without clarifying how each step fits into an overall plan.
“You can’t just say, ‘Credit isn’t moving through the system...You have to ask why.”
Having some strategic planning and contemplating implications for the long haul might be the teensiest bit useful, don't you think?
Instead, we have outright panic maneuvers designed for public CYA. And stalling until January so the problem can be fobbed off...but little else.
Ezra discussed Krugman's smackdown of conservative deficit hawks and the value of public works expenditures. Krugman will be here live tomorrow at noon PT/3 pm ET for a book salon about "The Return Of Depression Economics And The Crisis of 2008." We couldn't host him at a better time, because everything old is new again:
Only much later would those same distinctive characteristics -- the cozy relationship between government and business, the extension of easy credit by government-guaranteed banks to closely allied companies -- come to be labelled crony capitalism and seen as the root of economic malaise. (p. 60)
Krugman is talking about Japan's recession in the 1990s, but it does have a certain familiar ring, doesn't it?
Economic signs are worsening, pointing to a longer recession, and every time Hank Paulson speaks the market tanks. With no coherent plans, shouldn't we all be asking why in the hell they continue to throw our money at problems they haven't bothered to think about beyond "shit! we have to look busy, throw more money on the pyre!"
Spotlight
Support this site!
Keep
up with news
Advertise on Firedoglake
Send
us your tips
Make us your homepage
About Firedoglake
Advanced search
RSS/XML Feed
Meanwhile, Nouriel Roubini — Dr. Doom himself — likes the people Obama has picked for his economics team:
who could have predicted?….
oh wait. we did.
The Krugman book is scaring the crapola out of me in terms of length of recession fears. I’m ordering my seed catalogs early this year.
How is everyone else this morning?
I swear, some days I don’t know whether I should laugh my ass off, rage at the world, bang my head on the desk or just have a good cry. Today feels like an all of the above type of day. Jeebus, it’s beyond frustrating to watch all of this wheel spinning and preening while I know what a tough time local food banks, soup kitchens and homeless shelters are having just keeping up with demand.
roubini is the man when it comes to economics. but it’s been a colossal disappointment to see the economics profession circle to wagons and protect a bunch of fuck ups and self-dealers.
I’ve read a lot of people here not being very happy with Obama’s Financial Team. Since, they are the ones who will have to make a plan work, does it make sense for the current team to just Stop with the money throwing and wait until the new year, the new team takes over? Can’t there just be a time out, for now? Somebody gag Paulson?
Economics is my weakness. I read here, but I struggle to understand.
I loved this pix, btw — the cookie cutter feel of the monopoly houses just felt perfect. Ugh.
Much as I would like to think them right, methinks Bernard Baumohl and his Barron’s buddies are whistling in the dark:
Carl Icahn’s buying up debt like crazy — he’s apparently also betting on a fast recovery. Or he’s very patient.
The banking system has failed. Paulson is trying to plug holes in the hull of the ship not realizing that the hull has come apart at the seams.
Roubini is failing to distinguish between bad experience and good experience. Those guys are neoliberal Rubin (you know, the one who ruined Citi) clones, who wish to remove regulations from every aspect of the financial markets. Summers was in charge of treasury when Glass-Steagall was trashed. Geithner is in charge in NYC fed which has oversight for its financial institutions (not sure what its specific mission is) and did nothing while the crisis developed. These guys should be in jail not with a prez pen to sign checks to whoever they want, just like Paulson.
You know, Obama’s (laughingly-referred-to-as) economics team has been big about plans for infrastructure spending, which is all to the good, but have been completely mum on what should be done about busted financial institutions now. They aren’t any better than the hapless Paulson.
It was completely clear that w, paulson, and bernanke were totally lost from before the money was voted by the Congress; they had no plan, no standards for the recipients, and no real clue as to what is happening. The Congress is not a lot better in their understanding and long term view. No real requirements were set on the “leaders” of the financial institutions. The throwing of money at AIG that is giving barrels of money to the failed company officers, but requiring detailed plans from the auto companies asking for less money for a bridge. We can only sit and watch. It has been shown time and again that we out here in the blogosphere do not count as “serious” people.
“Circling the wagons”?
You must not like Volcker, then, either.
Boy I think thy know full well what they are doing. They are emptying the treasury before the Democrats are in the WH. They are moving money into the pockets of the very rich as fast as they can and they do not give a rats arse about the American people, the American economy or American opinion. Steal, baby steal is their mantra.
Jeez Louise, there I was, downstairs, doing my best Andy Rooney bloviating and everyone had moved up here. I tell ya, it’s hell being the token airhead at FDL.
Christy, this:
could just as well be about Iraq, couldn’t it?!
i’m with you on “all of the above.”
this issue has grabbed me, even more than fisa - it’s the thoughts of so much needless suffering that provides the motivation. and as bad as it will be here, it will be far far worse in other places. i wonder how many will die. so sad and so unnecessary.
The weird thing is, we keep injecting money into the banks to help with liquidity, and they keep using the infusions to shore up bad assets. But it’s not really opening liquidity, even for businesses that are solid and would be a good risk at the moment. The “no strings” cash handovers are mind boggling to me — I keep thinking maybe I’m missing something about the theory involved, because I’m not an econ expert. Would love other thoughts on this, because the more I’m reading, the more I’m thinking maybe I’m not missing anything at all…
I don’t have an opinion about Volcker yet. He did something bold to get rid of 1970s’ inflation. That seemed to be the right thing at the time, but I haven’t seen the revisionist history on that subject yet. He seems to have done an OK job on Oil-for-Food corruption investigation.
I’m not sure how those jobs make him qualified for what is happening today. Maybe I’ll google around & see if he’s had a speech or anything that would be relevant.
Also, what’s his job? Because it’s new, we have no idea what influence it will have. Is it just for show (gathering all the experts into Obama’s big tent) or will it really have a role?
The Decider said he was sorry about the economy.
Jeb’s shadow government will know just what to do, won’t it?
not willing to say anything bad about their colleagues even in the face of gross incompetence and neglect.
we were not alone
…look at these clowns - many of the usual suspects make an appearance
as does the usual excuses:
gonna go google to see if the Comptroller of the Currency kept his job :D
That “shadow government” quote from Jebbie made me laugh out loud yesterday. Insurrection — it’s the new red. And totally incompetent because it’s announced in advance. *g* Dude, where’s my Sun Tzu?
d’oh. i’m an idiot. thanks for catching my typo. i’m blind to them.
As I am not economist the answers all seem very simple to me. Get people back to work with massive works projects, give people decent pay (not that farcical minimum wage), bring in National health care, cap credit card rates and limits, and stall foreclosures for ? period of time. $8 trillion would have done all of those things just fine and not one effin penny would have needed to be put into the out of date an=d failing financial institutions.
As soon as I read about Jeb’s shadowy government, I thought, “Duh-oh. He’s rising up out of the ruins.” Must be why brother George has gone all wistfully mellow-fellow about his booboos.
PW
Found a couple of Volcker speeches that seem to be directly relevant. Will listen & report later. Thanks for spurring me to do this.
After the first of the year the shit is really going to start hitting the fan as the commercial loans start going into default. What is the CDS exposure on these loans. I heard yesterday (or the day before) that Trump was going to miss $53 million payment.
They sure as hell are not good at real government maybe shadow is all they are good for.
I like Roubini a lot but he is dead wrong about both Geithner and Summers. What we are really not hearing from either of them is what they will do. Their track record and statements to date suggest they would continue the overall direction that Paulson has chosen and that Elizabeth Warren crticizes so severely. And Roubini doesn’t say what he thinks they will do differently.
I welcome Warren’s criticisms but again the piecemeal, ad hoc nature of Paulson’s approach, its twists and turns, its expense, and its lack of effect have been pretty much obvious from the start. Paulson and Bernanke had a year (from the freezing of the BNP Paribas funds on August 9, 2007)to come up with a plan and confront the growing financial crisis. They did virtually nothing. When things blew up on September 15, 2008 with Lehman, Paulson came to Congress with an ultimatum and a plan that was a ridiculous 3 pages long. And it was a non-starter even before Obama and the Congress in an act of supreme idiocy passed it. Meanwhile Bernanke has kept a lower profile but his approach has been even more erratic than Paulson’s and potentially far more expensive. Money markets? Here’s a trillion. Crap assets? Here’s a trillion. Want loans? Here’s a trillion.
Even being charitable, these guys are idiots and for the damage they have done to the country they should be behind bars.
I thought there was a lot of shadowy things going on over the last eight years.
maybe that’s it. Sure wish the Bush Family would go away and stay there, haven’t they done enough?
linky? i have a bathroom and some other cleaning to do today. would be a perfect accompaniment. *g*
I’m not certain we have any real clue what the CDS exposure is, because there’s no transparency and no real oversight on any of it. There are forms that corps have to file on special infusions — so there will be a trail for shareholders to follow of money coming in from the government. And there would have to be some record that shows up in the quarterly filings, at least — but the question would be when we find out about it, because if there are ongoing negotiations on the financing that process can draw it out from reporting for a few quarters.
So it may be years before we ever get any full public picture, if then. On the one hand, it’s not the public’s business how a private corporation’s finances are doing — just the shareholders. But it becomes our business when our tax dollars become the glue holding things together, isn’t it? What a fricking mess…
When they came out in panic mode and demanded 700 Billion dollars immediately and Paulson gave them a three page ransom note demanding complete control of disbursement with zero oversight the writing was on the wall. No one can tell me that these people did not see this coming, just as they knew good and well the economy has been in a recession since last year.
Threatening members of Congress with Martial Law should have been a dead giveaway they were using the fear card again.
For those of us who have been adamant over the past full year that we were already in a recession, yesterday’s confirmation of it is EVIDENCE that the numbers the government was putting out relative to the economy were in fact FALSE.
The banksters with access to the REAL DATA knew exactly what was going on as they continued to lie about the economy being “strong,” - all while dumping their shares into a market peak they caused - and positioning themselves for the ride down.
ALL of this is illegal, criminal behavior - unless you’re with the FED, the IMF, the World Bank, or the Treasury (or a pal of theirs).
Having all of this inside knowledge about the economic implosion that they have not only known was coming, but planned to profit from, on purpose, years in advance, should help everyone to clearly see that there is no “market.” There is the appearance of a “market,” but when you understand that the Treasury and the Fed have the ability to manipulate all markets, through their “open mouth operations,” you can see that only they and their co-conspirators are in position to profit from the whipsaws which they create, intentionally, while fleecing the sheeple in both directions.
Why is there no investigation of insider trading at the highest corporate and individual levels on a global basis to see exactly who has advanced knowledge of every announcement? For the same reason there were never any arrests for insider trading when individuals like Buzzy Krongard were caught red-handed shorting the airline stocks just days prior to 9/11…because they are all in on the same conspiracy.
It’s because the co-conspirators own/control the FED, the Treasury, the SEC, the IMF, the World Bank, the DEA, Justice, Homeland Security, the Financial Media, etc. and can literally manipulate ANY market they chose (see gold and silver) at their whim.
The answers to what is unfolding before us (on purpose) are all waiting to be revealed, if we just had subpoena power to access the trail of “digital cash” into individual numbered bank accounts around the globe.
The co-conspirators all have names. Assume the worst of them.
http://calculatedrisk.blogspot.....peech.html
At this point, Jeb is the place-holder. He’s the Bushes only chance at redemption, and I’m guessing that for Bar and Poppy, that’s a humongous issue. The pathology of that family runs wide and deep, as we’ve learned in spades the past 80 years. Oh, wait, it was only 8 years, wasn’t it?!
great link - thanks! i’m going to use it for my time line.
It’s called a liquidity trap. As others have said the present system has failed. It is a house of cards that should not survive but both Paulson and Bernanke are unalterably committed to it. Looks like Geithner and Summers are too.
Yep — Krugman talks a lot about that, actually, in the context of the Japan mess in the 1990s. Hopefully we’ll be able to get into that with him tomorrow as time allows during the chat…
I’m disappointed that Roubini and/or Krugman weren’t given top positions on Obama’s economic team.
These banks committed fraud. They broke laws. We must see the books and we must face the truth and fix it. People have had there good credit stolen by these banks. There is no trust in this system. The books have to be combed through, the gov’t must take control of the money and “govern the mint” NOW.
It’s just like with the subprime loans. I could not get any lawyer to look at the details, the facts about what they were doing. There was so much generalizing and skipping of the bottom line. We have to stop listening to the banking industry tell us what is wrong and seek the truth about what is wrong for ourselves. They committed crimes and they are doing everything in their power to keep that a secret.
The “Shadow Banking System,” which included Mortgage Backed Securities, Credit Default Swaps and countless other forms of exotica, actually grew to be LARGER than the entire actual banking system. It was all enabled by a crooked ratings industry that was in on the deal - and bolstered by a financial media system that profited by the financial advertising done to “promote the lie.”
No amount of “money” thrown at the problem can “fix it.” The debt is greater than all of the “money” on earth.
They broke it as well as they possibly could - on purpose, enriching themselves and concentrating ultimate power beyond anyones wildest imaginings.
Not certain Krugman wanted one, actually — don’t know about Roubini. But I haven’t heard he wanted to work inside government either, FWIW.
volcker will be fun to watch/hear. he be a blunt economic weapon.
Banks have to declare their CDS exposure. Hedge funds being private don’t. Since CDS’s were also considered private transactions, no one knows how many were written.
Re Volcker, the salient factor about him is that he is 81. He is an elder counselor. He is not going to be down in the trenches.
well lookee here what I found while googling Comptroller of the Currency:
this was under John Hawke (Comptroller 99 - 2004)
(my bold)
kinda like outing a wmd specialist when you wanna go to war . . .
To flesh that out a bit more, there is value in having people on the outside poking holes and being able to independently evaluate and opine as much as there is value having people on the inside doing the jobs well. The folks who enjoy working inside government and those who enjoy working outside it are not always intersecting pools…and it’s always good to keep in mind that offers may have been extended or possibilities explored that didn’t work, and we just may not know about them until later in the process.
But, since Krugman’s going to be here tomorrow afternoon, you might try and ferret out a tidbit if you feel like asking. Nothing says he’ll answer, but… *g*
Tippy-toeing around in the sparkling pond of naivete, I can’t help wondering if we’re premature in castigating the incoming economy crew. I have read every word written here (well, most of them) and elsewhere. I get that there are re-treads aplenty in the picture. I understand (vaguely) that they have a mixed record, historically. It seems to me there’s a limit to what they can/should say/do in the run-up to January 20. Is it possible that they’re data gathering and trying to fit the disparate pieces of wreckage into a whole? If it’s true that this economic situation is unprecedented (if…), then is it also true that it is going to require a level of new-think also unprecedented to accomplish that? Is it possible (even remotely) that they’re capable of that? Lordy, I’m sounding snotty. Not feeling that way at all. Seeking something hopeful in what increasingly feels like a hopeless situation.
if you’re missing something then so am i.
the economics is complicated, i’m trying but it’s pretty opaque to me.
what’s not complicated though is the need for oversight and regulation - these are the same basic ideas i learned by following the fisa issue here. things like: don’t give any administration the power to spy on us without oversight from a court. be suspicious of corporate allegiances (telco and rockefeller or wallstreet and paulson)….
In the last 6 months there has been big building project a group of banks that are new to Arizona……WaMu and Chase came in here 4-5 years ago and built all over the place. Now with the merger, a lot of the WaMu are going to disappear.
Is community banking a growing business?
aka, The Republican Way.
Yesterday Julia had a post up regarding the NYT. One of her links dealt with Freidman’s in-laws and ultimately his wife’s losses in their shopping mall holdings. Over $3,300,000,000.
Citigroup is wheeling and dealing now that Hanky Paulson has recapitalized them. You want highways, toll roads, airports, they got them.
I wonder if Citigroup knows there is Road to Nowhere in Alaska, with a Bridge coming soon.
It’s a recurring pattern. We saw with FISA. Corporations broke the law blatantly for years and the result was that the government gave them cover. We are seeing the same in the banking crisis.
(((katymine!!!))) Are ya sick of hugs yet? *g*
and the mystery hold by one Republican Senator on the overseer of this b.s. sure makes a lie of that all-important 60 vote majority.
kabuki-pu-ke.
If they are private and we can’t know how many were written are we funding them? Sounds like a con to me
Back when I was in school, they called economics the dismal science. Well, they were right about the dismal part, but wrong about the science aspect.
I remain skeptical of anyone who says they know how to fix this.
i’m with ya.
Is the going theory on that hold still Jim Bunning from KY? If anyone with a GOP Senator gets an answer out of their office on this, I’d love to hear it.
imo, that’s exactly it - and why we are supposed to have regulations to protect against systemic risk. since at least the early nineties smart experienced people have been warning that we need to have some way to track OTC derivatives, but the wall street crowd has prevented it - and that includes rubin and summers, who along with greenspan i blame the most for the lack of regulation.
The most salient question to get the answers to seems to be whether or not to trust any of the government’s numbers, or to rely instead on the REAL numbers published by John Williams at shadowstats.com
For the life of me, I can’t figure out how someone as wise as a Krugman or Roubini won’t come right out and say that the government’s numbers are all false.
Any comparisons to be made between the present crisis and the Great Depression should be based on the exact same definitions and metrics, no?
What is the ACTUAL number of “unemployed” under the definition of the word as it was used in the 1930s?
Who are they trying to fool, and why?
thanks!
If Citi owns it you can expect tolls to go up tenfold.
looks like the dfh’s are closing in on the mystery Senator:
TPM
Well in some cases like the banks and AIG after we took them over, we can tell, but with hedge funds not so much.
Per the ISDA::
But, IIUC, the current exposure is the difference between the past value of something and it current value taken over all the the CDS on things that are in default. (But I could be totally wrong about that.)
I remember when well meaning folks were saying “you just need to report this to the FDIC, your attorney general, they can’t just do what they are doing”. I would try to explain that I had done everything that I knew of to get help and to try to get the outright illegal behavior to stop.
It felt like being raped…it felt like someone was destroying my credit, putting their hands in my checking account and just stealing my hard earned money. And no cared. No one would stop them. And they are still doing it. GMAC Homecomings financial.
I seem to recall some foul mouthed fem blogger having something to say on this.
ah yes, Here It Is . . .
Last I read it was reportedly Bunning.
never tire of the hugs….. getting stronger everyday….
roubini has worked in gov - he’s not only an ivory tower academic type (’98 through 2000, in treasury and cea).
stiglitz also… there are a bunch of clinton era people who are not rubin/greenspan ideologues. unfortunately none of them have gotten important positions in obama’s economic team.
The banks gambled on leverage 20 to 1, 30 to 1 etc I read all kinds of numbers the banks are using the bailout money as a reserve in case the banks have to declare losses on that money the loaned.
Except Citibank they bought a company recently it reminds me of when some bank bought some power barges from Enron and then 5 months later sold them back to Enron to take them off the books.
After all why use bailout money to buy a foreign company if you won’t even lend to Americans?
not ot - i wrote a diary yesterday on a bit of the history of how it was decided not to regulated otc derivatives (including cdss). would love links and additional information if anyone has it (cbl2?). thanks.
Has TPM reported on the the results of their ‘Call your GOP Senator and ask’ campaign?
Hi Christy and Pups.
If anything can be called wonderful today, it’s the feeling I get seeing all the pups at work. THANK YOU for this important post Christy.
Delighted to see Krugman’s weighing in more regularly and more aggressively, ever since he received his well-deserved honor.
eCAHN. Thank you also. Wow. You make me feel better just being here. I’m a true economics dunce.
My only mental recourse is an overwhelming desire to stuff all cash under a mattress, keep close track and take loving care of all tangible valuables, stay out of debt as much as possible, and keep an eye out on our two sons, who somehow have to stay afloat financially while they deal with the mess junior hath wrought on their budding careers.
Our sons get cash, big hugs, and all they can eat from our kitchen and freezers this Christmas, so they can aim precisely for whatever they feel they most need among store-bought goods.
Keeping the victory garden in operation year-round is a priority as well, even in northern OH and without a greenhouse. Spinach, green onions, herbs, self-sown choy, chard, snow mulch and old shower curtains weighed down gently with whatever’s handy (even tucking corners in with a glob of soil works).
That’s my layman’s panic speaking. How’d I do?
p.s., I hear dubya’s taken to claiming he’s sorry about this ‘n that, here ‘n there; looks like self-pity masquerading as noble impulse. Methinks Bar’s ulcer and poppy’s recent crying jags finally got thru the lad’s thick skull. i wish them all good health. i wish they’d thought to care about a WHOLE lotta things earlier, they-own-selves, and…. oh well…
Where do you want me, and what can I do?
*picks up well-worn broom and manure shovel*
With me being gone nearly two months this summer, one on vacation and the other helping my parents in Oregon….. now driving around to medical appointments I see commercial property builds just sitting. One 4-5 story structure near a high end mall is just sitting there and has been for months. And another commercial/retail build on the way to my oncologist which was fenced off and building ….. poof the fence is gone and only a few half built buildings are standing.
Phoenix has been the building boom and I have never seen structures go up so fast. You can find new buildings if you don’t drive down a road a few weeks.
Seeing a lot of chain restaurants closing …..even Denny’s
If folks would give this a digg, I’d really appreciate it.
Last I saw this morning, they had narrowed it down to Bunning’s office refusing tocomment — and a host of usual suspects saying it wasn’t them. Leaving Bunning standing there by himself likely holding the bag. But no outright confirmation as far as I know…
that one is a must read for me. thanks.
note to self: send 1/2 pkg of depends to Paulsen for Christmas.
none to Bernienki. btw, is he wound up tight enough each morning? i’d give it another twist, if i were in charge…
was thinking of (((you and yours))) when I saw that line about the “50 Sheriffs” just couldn’t recall the specific firedog name.
am wondering why the AG’s didn’t do what Calif EPA did and sue their asses - afterall, same legal priniciple to be challenged: Feds get final say over regulatory conflicts
I know it appears that this bailout isn’t working and it isn’t working if you define the bailout as getting the economy back on solid ground. But if you define bailout as the banking elite stealing as much money as they can before Bush leaves office, it’s working wonderfully.
And maybe some of it will trickle down on the rest of us. ;-)
Was that trickle dow…or trickle on? *g*
(((((Katymine)))))
mebbe the faux-cheese on that last omlet finally crusted over.
They’ve been trickling on us for a very long time.
Paulson has suggested more cowbell.
-G
seriously folks, referring to silly comment at 87, it’s not so silly…
What with ailing/failing businesses all around, make sure, as much as you are able, that whenever you purchase pretty much ANYTHING, that all the pieces-parts are there, the box has not been re-sealed and otherwise possibly banged around, the food source is a trusted one, etc. etc.
if the bidness goes belly-up the next day after you walk out the door, you’re not gonna get yer money back, nor any satisfaction of note. Buyer beware!
That is great news chain food is corporate its bland lower quality ingredients, lower wages etc.
PW, if you’re still around.
The April 08 Volcker speech that I linked above places him squarely in the guise of a solid citizen. He spoke about the financial market problems clearly and enumerated a lot of them, if not all of them. He had some interesting ideas on regulation for the future while warning against the “nostalgia” to return to the 40 post-WWII years when there wasn’t a financial crisis every 5 years.
He did not have much to say about what to do right now. Thought Fannie & Freddie should play a bigger role in underpinning mtg market, rather than the FRB. Well, so much for that idea.
One sour note was that the thought Paulson was a good guy to have at Treasury. *g* Who can be right all the time?
So he looks to be a good person to have around & I hope he’ll have some important input.
Pete Peterson asked him why he supported Obama. The answer was that confindence in govt is at records lows and he thought Obama could change the political “climate” to get things done.
Just a thought guys, while everyone is ripping on Bush and all the people benefiting in the banking industry, do you think things are going to change under the Obama administration?
If you say ‘Yes’ have you seen who he is surrounding himself with and who those people have ties too? It is all the same people you are complaining about here, nothing will change and will more than likely get worse. The only thing that will change is we will hear about it less as the media will hush it to protect Obama. If Hannity, or O’Reilly bring it up, they are going to be deemed a racist, sexist, or have some other colorful terminology place on them (or just generally deamonized).
I will be interested to see if you all hold Obama to the same standards Bush has been held too.
here is Business Week link mentioned in the wiki
btw, am still working my way through your diary, hence any comment redundancies that may appear.
am thinking any of the now bazillion articles out there about Greenspan being warned in 05 may contain some connecting nuggets -
although it has nothing to do with CDS’s, this one always gets my goat: FBI Agent warned Supervisors in June 04 conditions were in place for massive fraud in lending industry. (Colleen Rowley much ? …)
Obama’s up at some sort of governors’ conference. Live on cnbc which has gone to commercial right now during introductions.
I’m curious to find out if Sen. Jim Bunnig has secretly put a hold on the nomination of Neil Barofsky, President Bush’s appointee to serve as the Treasury Department’s Inspector General to provide oversight for the $700 Billion rescue of the financial system. Having some idea of how we’re spending that money and whether crooks or fraudsters are getting a big chunk of it is a big deal.
thanks! i’m working on a timeline and plan to write summaries for other regulatory decisions (unless someone beats me to it). the timeline is where most of my links are (scroll down to the bottom for a list of some of the recent summary articles, etc). i’m still working through a very large backlog, but appreciate all/any references. would like to have a better understanding of what has been going on.
Do you read this blog at all, or just throw in random comments? because Ian’s written a whole series of commentary on potential problems with Obama’s economic team and proposals and Dem congressional failures on this — and Jane smacked the living crap out of Robert Rubin and Larry Summers just the other day.
Honestly, do try reading the content here. We tend to call bullshit when we see bullshit.
And perhaps you might consider doing the same when the Bush Administration is shoveling out nothing but crapola…as in having no plan for forking over billions in taxpayer dollars, and yet handing over the money just the same. Last I knew, conservatives found that sort of “corporate socialism” abhorrent…but maybe “conservative” values are passe now?
Be a more informed concern troll. Could be good for you…
YES!
I refuse to panic in advance of Obama’s taking office. Period.
I cast my vote on Nov. 4. I do not regret that vote.
I will give him a fighting chance.
That’s the least I can do.
You may follow your own muse. Just don’t step on mine.
If my choice is correct in any way shape or form, I promise not to gloat. But, if I prove to be well-advised in the long run, I hope you will permit me to indulge in a small sigh of relief.
(((((Christy)))))
We love you when you’re mad. *g*
Failure to perform basic reading comprehension and research skillz annoys me.
Simple Gifts, folks.
Double check the pantry, closets, tool shed, cedar chest, toy chest.
If you don’t need it, find it a worthy home ASAP (local food bank, shelter, etc.)
What will be different is the purpose behind how government acts.
- Government will act to fix social security not undermine it for the benefit of the financial industry.
- Tax policy will be as concerned about middle class as the top 5%.
- We will stop torturing prisoners, although we may not prosecute those who have in the past.
- We will not invade countries with large oil reserves after screaming ‘mushroom cloud, mushroom cloud’ as an excuse
- We’ll have competence in our agencies enforcing policies that the agency rightly should enforce, rather than as a vehicle to undermine the purpose of the agency to the benefit of the industry FDA, Labor, FERC, FEMA
- on the financial markets and economy, it must work before it can be shaped to serve the middle class as well as the top 5%.
You have company, dear, and a cadre of buddies who admire you greatly.
This 2nd career of yours is a great gift to the world.
I salute you, and I thank you. ;-> [no snark, none at all]
Sorry, are you offended? Is this ‘ripping on Bush’ somehow not warranted Kurt?
thank you.
has anyone coined the term, “fraudulators” yet? it has a certain ring to it, but then i’m a suspicious old hag.
p.e.a.c.e.
You’re right. Obama has proven to be a terrible President. I recommend beginning impeachment proceedings immediately and starting the drive for Kucinich in 2012.
dear kurt. best thou exert moderate caution diving head-long into a roiling Lake full of agitated puppies.
there’s a special corner on the dock to go sit and cogitate, or even open a laptop and read before playing swan among the bloodhounds, pointers, retrievers, and poodles. Then there’s that miniature doxie. Yeeouch!
shameless scamp! Bad doggie. Sit! Stay! *g*
Okay. Will everyone please keep it down so I can puleeze catch up with the pack? I have yet to read this whole post, much less all the links and previous related posts. Thanks much. When I run on full startle, I tend to smack forthwith into walls that weren’t there when I put my head down to gain speed. I’ll git there. Promise.
kurt, you don’t read my comments or diaries do you? not saying you should, but if you’re going to write a comment like that, i wish you would at least take a look ian’s or jane’s posts on the subject.
when he comes to, i’ll pass the message on to him. heh
you pups are brutal. *g*
Through the Orweillian looking glass…
U.S. May Be in for ‘Great Recession,’ Longest Postwar
They simply change the language (a Rovian stunt in the Strauss style) in order to eliminate any chance of comparing the coming Great Depression to the past Great Depression.
The media has their marching orders, and the public will dutifully refer to the coming event not as a “Great Depression,” but as a “Great Recession.”
By proclamation.
Yes ma’am. I was minding my own business, digging the bunker in my back yard. After that, I was going to go to Cabello’s and exercise 2nd Amendment rights. Then he said that.
You’re more optimistic than I am.
lol!
i wish i could hand out smelling salts, shots of one’s fav drink, backrubs, etc to go along with my comments.
It’s definitely trickle on. But you can can wipe up some of that pee with a paper towel and add it to your compost heap.
(The garden seed catalogs should start arriving in the mail this week.)
IMO They’ve been laundering our $$ since they took US into Iraq. This “bank/Wall Street” bailout is just another, huger money laundering operation. Give it to the banks and watch it disappear.
This is why Paulson originally wanted guarantees of no prosecutions in the future. I see the fake angst on their faces, but behind their beards, they are laughing all the way to their Swiss/Cayman Islands/Dubai/Paraguay bank accounts.
Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Bush is throwing as many roadblocks in Obama’s way as he possibly can. Assuming, of course, that O is really who he says he is and will do what he promised to do in the heat of his campaign appealing to the “far left” which, I assume is code for people who want good jobs and a strong America in these parlous times.
All this talk of O’s “pragmatism” makes me very squeamish. What it seems to me is more code for “business as usual”.
“FAR LEFT” my big, fat fanny!
“We need help, reckoned the poet” - Woody Guthrie
Helen Thomas knows a depression when she sees one - and knows to call it what it is:
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/.....ine29.html
omg. has anyone here ever seen video of a pack of cute-looking little wild dogs taking down a wildebeest? absolutely surgical skill at play.
poor poor kurt. yikes. called y’all “guys” and applied all that nice lock-picking banter. whoosh. *g* I’ll botch this, but….
Improv teamwork on the fly.
So ashamed? not i.
Not even mods need apply.
Trussed up, set on fie.
My oh my, it just flew bye.
Can we still contact our congress-individuals and prod them to vote “NO” on the next installment of the bailout?
Not enough credit is being given to the high gas prices this past year and it’s serious damage it did to our economy and society. A record number of homes and jobs have been lost as a direct result.Most families broke the budget at the pump alone. The high cost of fuel affected production and shipping of every consumer product & was passed on to us at the checkout. Electric companies have huge rate hikes. And, while we are doing the happy dance around the lower prices at the pumps OPEC is announcing cuts to manipulate the prices upward again.We can’t take another year like this past. There is a wonderful new book out about the energy crisis and what it would take for America to become energy independent.This book is profoundly informative and our country needs to become more informed and move forward with becoming energy independent. Green technology would not only provide clean cheap energy it would create millions of badly needed new jobs. The Book is called The Manhattan Project of 2009 Energy Independence NOW by Jeff Wilson. I highly recommend this book if you are distressed about our economy, would like to see new jobs created and see our country become energy independent.
sustainability is the key, not stubborn reliance on fossil fuels.
imo