Good grief.

Is this the reason the M3 (how much money is in circulation) report is no longer being done?

It’s not reassuring.

sorry o/t

Attackerman in a tie on Rachel’s show right now..

“We will print as much money as we have to to make sure no more banks fail. We gave or guaranteed 350 billion to Citigroup, after all. We’re willing to spend however much taxpayer money it takes.”

ian, you left out the part where paulson means to say that he doesn’t give a shit if the big banks start lending again – only that they don’t fail.

A variation that’s going around notes that Paulson hasn’t been so reassuring since about 3 days before Citigroup went belly up, when he said much the same thing. (Sorry, can’t find it at the moment.)

Either way, must be duck & cover time again.

ATTACKERMAN!

“We will print as much money as we have to to make sure no more banks fail. We gave or guaranteed 350 billion to Citigroup, after all. We’re willing to spend however much taxpayer money it takes.”

Thank dog I have a pacemaker-And I almost died anyway!

((katymine)) how are you doing? I think so, with M3, “they” said they expected the Fed to flood the market with USD.

Paulson spent his $350 billion. He has now become almost as irrelevant at Bush. Their last hurrah will be how they screw over the auto industry and the UAW.

Bets on whether Rachel will take up the Rick Warren issue??

Is that roll two-ply?

She certainly knows about it, so ignorance is no excuse…. *g*

W’s irrelevant, Bernanke’s irrelevant, Paulson’s irrelevant, only 34 days before Obama’s irrelevant.

Pfff, Bernanke will print the money for him.

Spoke like a true banker FU to everyone except my wall street cronys.
The dollar is tanking gold is climbing, Tommorrow thw CRE report will hit the street…trillions of square feet that was bringing in over $4.oo a suare foot will be vacant…mant lease broken that were securing trillions in debt are gone.

Dang it — looks like I need a second wheelbarrow…

Does that mean you won’t bet? Dinner on you if I get to SF first, and on me if you get to SD first!

Guess that just leaves Rick Warren.

Geez, I never bought another wheelbarrow when they were cheap, after I noticed that one of the supports on mine was warped. Now I might not be able to afford one, since the demand will be so high.

Well I’m shocked at what crazy paul has to say, Deflation on the way, hang on.
jo6pac
The race to the bottom continues
Thanks Ian, but it seems most here are worried about the wrong thing?

If a train leaves San Franciso heading south at 85 miles per hour . . . .

How many people does his “church” seat? At least he’s relevant for them.

Oh, I forgot the 18% who will miss W. I never intended to offend them. I’m a D which means I must not offend anyone.

How long will the platitudes Obama is spouting hold him up…he can’t continue to throw us under the bus and the satisfy his repuplican coalition can he?

I hold off buying one for now, at the rate we’re going we’ll be in trailer territory soon ; ) The good news is a trailer is easy to whip up from 2×4s and an old axle with a couple of wheels ; )

Can we say now that Obama is the best R the Ds ever elected?

I’m a D which means I must not offend anyone.

LOL!

Hey! Where’s your epu, girlfriend?

Weekly church attendance exceeds 23,000, making it the largest church in California and the 4th largest church in the United States.

Reverend Rick is apparently a source of bovine inspiration.

here’s the scary thing ian;

before the banks collapsing the president was printing more money then ever before in our history, so much paper they had to stop reporting the m3 index

I thought back then that was an attempt to undermine our currency and bring inflation that rivaled viet nam days exponentially

then the housing market crashed, money disapeared and it seemed like it was actually a good thing that money was printed in excess before the crash

so it seems if they wanted to undermine our currency by printing so much of it that didn’t work

now it looks like they are trying it yet again

how many days till obama?

man, this is rough, and they STILL don’t want to fund the industries that actually provide jobs

You want it up here???

I am switching from pancakes to waffles because there are do many of them…please pass the maple syrup

OK. What are the 3 churches that are bigger, and do they meet in the 75,000 seat stadium where Obama did his acceptance speech?

Can we say now that Obama is the best R the Ds ever elected?

too soon to tell. that title still belongs to bill clinton. but i’m hoping.

man selise, you really called it with obama

I sure hope things change with obama but since he epic failed on fisa it does not look like this is gonna be good at all

epu’d from last thread:

Dear Mr. Obama:

Here’s the thing. I hoped and yeah, even prayed, that Al Gore would run for president in 2008. He didn’t. I gnashed my teeth, rent my garments and cast about for an alternative. Thus it was that I homed in on John Edwards, and we all know how that turned out.

So then, I caught the wave and worked very hard at becoming an Obama Mama. I sent you money. More than makes sense for someone like me, but I was so afraid that the Republicans would score a win if we didn’t get solidly behind you. So we did. Oh, some of us had reservations, but the rest of us came to believe in you. At least in theory, because we hadn’t yet had a chance to see where the dazzling rhetoric would take us.

Now we are engaged in a great civil war, brother against sister, arguing among ourselves about who you really are. About what your choices tell us about our prospects for the next four years. About whether there is really hope for change for us.

I haven’t said much about those choices. I’ve tried to adopt a kind of “you must know what you’re doing; you must know something we don’t; you must be doing something really crafty with these odd selections you’re making” attitude. Wait and see. Wait and hope.

Well.

Holder, Vilsack, et al notwithstanding, I believe you’ve truly reached the tipping point with Rick Warren praying to the creator on behalf of America. All of America. Jeebus, sir. What were you thinking? I mean, really, what were you thinking?

I am very disappointed and disenchanted with you today. I expect that doesn’t matter much. I’m neither a mover nor a shaker. I’m just a midwesterner who put all her faith in you to do the right things on our behalf. That means embracing the Constitution, exercising radical inclusiveness, and listening to the people as you promised us you would.

Sir, I think I’d like my money back.

The people hurt by inflation are the fiscally sound people. Those who saved money, paid cash, paid off their loans, got their kids out of college debt-free, those who paid attention to their depression-era parents. They are screwed.

Yes.

The evidence has always shown that Obama is right of Clinton. Medical policy was my clue. And he’s lived down to his reputation by a huge amount. I’d say there’s already plenty of evidence, but we have 1,495 more days to decide for sure.

Very well done. I salute you.

OK. What are the 3 churches that are bigger, and do they meet in the 75,000 seat stadium where Obama did his acceptance speech?

Only if you combine the three. Houston appears to be hive central.

1. Lakewood Church in Houston, TX – attendance 47,000
2. Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, IL – attendance 23,500
3. Second Baptist Church in Houston, TX – attendance 23,198

I have everything crossed and so does a lot of folks that are watching his cabinet appointments. He still wants to go into Afghanistan with more troops. Sends message FU to gays. With republican conservative suck butt Warren the Fundies will be lining up for taxpayer donations to their religious school programs. This is sickening. Harry reid will adjust his holy underwear and twist arms for that. Aw shoes.

Boy ain’t that the truth. Selise, do you ever wonder what the country would look like if we had an opposition party to the corporatocracy?

Thanks for that.

I visited my very dear friend in Houston before I went to Netroots Nation in Austin in July. I had meant to work in a Sunday so that we could go to one of those megachurches, but her schedule made that not work. I was so disappointed. I usually visit her only every 2-3 years, but if those kinds of preachers are gonna play such a prominent role in Obama’s admin, I need to get back down there ASAP and figure out what they’re all about.

What I want to know is… Do they have separate buildings with enough space for all the percolators needed for the coffee hour? Those numbers are almost unimaginable…

Pop quiz: Who said this:

I’ve been a wartime president. I’ve dealt with two economic recessions now. I’ve had, hell, a lot of serious challenges. What matters to me is I didn’t compromise my soul to be a popular guy.

Ya know what? We should get together a FDL delegation to attend all together so we figure out what the happening is. TexBesty & crew in Austin are tight-knit group who could arrange it.

And name tags on a conveyor belt like at the dry cleaner.

LOL.

I’m ready for the experience. This religion stuff is an endless source of fascination for an atheist like me. Let’s go.

Rhetorical Q?

Someone who’s prez started with Enron & ended with AIG, etc?

not as big, but the Cathedral of Hope (known as the “world’s largest gay church”) seems appropriate. even if they were waaay too conservative for me – i went for a while after they were denied entry into the national council of churches, thinking that anyone the NCC didn’t want might be worth trying.

The Shoe Ducker in Chief?

-G

I expect Obama to withdraw from Iraq, implement a medical plan that improves cost and coverage, and pave the way for massive increases in alternative energy usage and decreases in gasoline consumption. If he accomplishes that, he’s had a successful presidency.

I don’t know if having this idiot speak at the inaugaration helps with those goals.

Rachel just played a clip of Caroline Kennedy saying about the books she’s written. Here’s the list.
http://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb…..x=Caroline

I believe Flavor Aid is the beverage of choice at such gatherings.

ding, ding, ding!! In an interview on Faux.

Man, no joke. There better be a really big Starbucks nearby ; ) Trust me eCAHN, a lot of “this religion stuff” is all about the coffee ; )

We could make our TX trip into a real sample of all that religion has to offer. Living in the NE, how did you manage to attend a church in Dallas?

I’m in! *g*

Ahhh, that explains everything! Thanks ; )

And it was a very tentative and weak speakie.

You forget the snark tag, right?

Coffee and lobotomies.

i don’t think both clintons are the same policy-wise. but yes, on economics, there was evidence that senator clinton was very slightly less anti-progressive than obama. on foreign policy however, it was the opposite.

For the sake of perspective, do remember that the 47,000 at Lakewood church requires two services. The Summit Compaq Center House of worship probably only seats 24,000 at a time.

Ja, sure, especially up here in Swedish country. Actually, our biggest congregations here (far as I know — haven’t been churchy for a long time) run about 12,000. Bigger than most of the towns in the state!

so very sorry. :(

Sh*t. As an atheist, I can assure you I make better coffee at home than any church could possibly provide. You make my trying to understand the religious sorts even more difficult. It was easier to understand them when I thought it was about faith rather than coffee. Discouraged now.

I was not much impressed with what I’ve seen today of Ms Kennedy’s public debut on her Syracuse listening tour, which seemed to consist of a meeting with the Mayor and running from the press.

I’d accept what rw settled for if it included justice on torture/war and rape of the USA!

Ready, teddy? Here we go!

How do I become incorporated as a bank ,so I can get my bailout?

Oh, shit.

senator clinton was very slightly less anti-progressive than obama

Luv that locution.

on foreign policy however, it was the opposite.

Until he appointed Hillary as SoS.

Well, you have grounds for discouragement. Bwahahahahaha!!

I’ve been to a UU church that had good coffee- and belief optional.

Oh, Barbara! *g*

Rachel got it in under the wire during her Kent Jones Pop Culture segment. She also managed to call what we want “gay marriage” which it isn’t: we want MARRIAGE EQUALITY, Rachel.

Teddy, I owe you (and Patrick) dinner.

My one great regret over my entire life is that I’ve never been important enough to bribe.

In the past couple of months, I’ve added a new great regret, which is that I’ve never been rich enough to be bailed out. (Trump was the first person who alerted me to that phenomenon.)

i know people who go (or at least used to go) to willow creek. yikes!

I’m not sure what progressive foreign policy is.

I understand not starting stupid wars, but that just seems SANE, not necessarily progressive.

previous life – i lived in dallas.

Ja, you bet ; ) I grew up in a town of 2500. I can honestly say that even a service of 24,000 is unimaginable. However, I should point out that when I was a kid, there were a lot more people on the membership roles than showed up on any given Sunday morning.

Church is a place where a lot of people go to have a social hour and talk about something OTHER than work or football.

Sorry, didn’t mean to shatter your illusions. And fwiw, I never said it was good coffee ; )

I thought banks were required to maintain a cash reserve so they wouldn’t need to be bailed out.

Consider MAD. I rest my case.

I’ve been going on the assumption that the NYS senate seat was Caroline’s for the asking. But my niece, a retired NYC teacher, visiting me, sez that public is sick of rich & famous being annointed. That, coupled with Caroline’s dim-witted public performance, makes me think there might be hope that Caroline won’t get it.

I emailed Paterson, disapproving Caroline & suggesting Maurice Hinchey. He’s the U.S. rep for mid-Hudson & every progressive luvs him.

Need to be writing my holiday letter tonight. Maybe a short poem that wraps it all up succinctly?

My sweetheart died.
Obama tried
To woo our side
But he’s failing.

Economy stinkin’.
Investments are sinkin’.
Everyone’s thinkin’
’bout bailing.

Merry freaking Christmas.

(Whaddaya think?)

Went to one in Redding Ca…10,000 sent their pastor to Hawaai cause he was banging someone elses wife. The local sherriff was a member the same deal. There are plenty of pastors if one screws up. They jusy keep popping up.
It is a big bureaucracy each unite is called a ministry, The more contoversial groups meet invite only in people’s homes.
The multiple services have favorite attendees so they can cater to different regigious taste. The front row is thew honor seats for the diffferent miistry leaders. Wives obey your husbands is rule one. They have Dobson and countless other mininstrerial tapes for sale or check out so you can get propaganda 24/7 even sleep tapes. Then there is the
Christian networks you can watch as well.
Key in all is the pecking order…and the critical eyes on one another.
Everyone has to not only love and worship but praise god in a never ending prep for heaven which will be an eternal choir singing praises to god the father son and holy ghost who noone messes with the big sin is a slight against the ghost.
Bonus…They will also tell you how to vote. Church meet state.

OMG. How did you manage that? Like my friend & Molly Ivins?

Just a guess, but Obama may not care much about church anyway, so it’s no skin off his ass WHICH idiot preacher appears.

I was not much impressed with what I’ve seen today of Ms Kennedy’s public debut on her Syracuse listening tour, which seemed to consist of a meeting with the Mayor and running from the press.

Yes, Kennedy seems to like the idea of being a Senator except for that part about having to deal with the public.

Luv it barbara, but it seems uncharacteristic. You have seemed more optimistic to me.

My evil twin surfaces after dark.

Feinstein’s office sez it was Obama’s choice, not hers, so he apparently has some interest in the issue.

Knowing that, I’m keeping my neck all wrapped up. *g*

eCahn, that’s the thing about a hot potato. No one wants to hold it.

Syracuse can be hard on the unacclimatized this time of year. For the record I am strongly anti dynastic, especially in the House of Lords. The damned place is the most anti-democratic agency in this Country. And by design, from the days of the framers. But this super majority shit has to stop. Nuclear option, whatever.

The truth is, I am optimistic by nature. But I gotta tell you that the past eight years in general, the last year in particular, and recent months most of all have made optimism tough to keep alive. “Tink, Tink. If you believe in fairies, clap your hands!!”

So he’s givin a freebee to the snakehandlers out of indifference?

epu’d

i just realized who is giving the benediction, that may explain it, warren is there to balance out reverend joseph lowery. lowery is the one who threw reality at bush at coretta king’s funeral. and got a standing ovation when he did it. at a funeral. hmmmmm. and he’ll get the last word. warren is the invocation, lowery is the benediction. this might be worth watching after all.
read lowery’s wiki, he’s gonna put warren in a slam dance party line–
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Lowery

just like he did bush and his minions.

We know now there were no weapons of mass destruction over there. But Coretta knew and we know that there are weapons of misdirection right down here. Millions without health insurance. Poverty abounds. For war billions more but no more for the poor!

I am pessimistic by nature, and so when I see someone like you turning, it is really significant.

LOL! a friend gave me a copy of Molly Ivins Can’t Say That, Can She? as a going away present when i moved (from northern CA). i was pretty much prepared to hate dallas – but to my surprise, actually liked it (other than the absence of natural beauty which i tried to make up for with gardening and back packing trips to the mountains)

My interpretation is that Obama is giving the snakehandlers prominence because he believes in snake handlers, or at least believes in trying to court their parishioners votes.

I lived in Dallas for years and had the pleasure of reading Molly regular in the local fascist rag. Always looked forward to her, and to Joe Bob Briggs who did such a good parody of Texans that it took em years to catch on and get his ass out of there.

I dunno. Maybe I need some of that old-fashioned religion caffeine.

Just started listening to Ivins’ Who Let the Dogs In, an essay collection. I miss her so.

(((barbara)))

As I said earlier today, that is a curious kind of symmetry to balance a black minister from the civil rights movement with a white religious bigot.

“believes in snake handlers”

Come on now- that’s a stretch. Now the votes- that’s something ELSE.

As I typed, we have 1,495 days to figure it out.

If Obama’s any good, we never will.

Yes, Kennedy seems to like the idea of being a Senator except for that part about having to deal with the public.

if my senators are any indication, that shouldn’t be a problem once she is appointed as that is what staff are for.

Thanks, selise!

I really need to go write that Christmas letter. Urgh. If all y’all figure things out, please send me a note! *g*

G’nite.

If Caroline can’t get out and meet people, she will lose the election when it comes, My guess is that she can learn to do it well enough to get by..it’s mostly bullshit.

He’s obviously not that good, as most of us here have already figured him out. Perhaps I should have typed that there are 1,495 days for the rest of the voters to figure him out. Also I made a calculation error. 1,495 is the number of days until the end of 2012. Less until the next prez election, more until the next inauguration. Take your pick.

re balance.

sort of reminds me of modern “journalism” – the kind krugman described as: republicans claim earth is flat, some democrats disagree.

Kennedy is at a place where she is creating her image and what is coming across so far is someone who is kind of stiff, who has difficulty speaking off the cuff, and dislikes any interaction with the press that isn’t on her terms.

I suspect that Obama has figured out that most people determine the acceptability of a president by things that are outliers politically, religion, sense of family, perceived honesty, etc. so he’s giving everyone a few reasons to trust him- which can either be used to grease the skids for some meaningful change, or can be wasted in watered down compromise.

We’ll see soon enough which it is.

Obama may have to get a cat when he gets his puppy, somethin fer the cat people.

If he gets a fish and a monkey too, we’ll know that he’s gone too far.

LOL, I used that flat earth thing a long time ago and I stole it from a government enviromentalist I saw on a segment I think on PBS who used it about the Bush Administration’s global warming skepticism. It’s a classic.

If the fish wears a cross, he’s gone WAY too far.

Well if the auto bailout is any indication, his greasing the skids wasn’t worth spit.

Well there’s the part about him not bein prez yet.

What’s the deal about the new interior secretary’s hat? Has he got ringworm?

Hey he weighed in on FISA and the $700 billion bailout even before he was elected.

maybe krugman stole it from the same place? that kind of “balance” we can do without.

“We will print as much money as we have to to make sure no more banks fail. We gave or guaranteed 350 billion to Citigroup, after all. We’re willing to spend however much taxpayer money it takes.”

Did our “Treasury Secretary” just fail to understand the vast difference between acquiring money through taxation, and manufacturing it out of thin air?

Truly, a Bush Administration official.

a train in this state they goes 85 miles an hour? what a concept ;-)

He thought Obama was serious about lovin’ teh rugged Western look …

Let me translate this…

Ooops. My bad. Though with these guys it’s so easy to believe…

i wrote a diary about him, and why i think obama invited warren.
http://oxdown.firedoglake.com/diary/2512

Is this the reason the M3 (how much money is in circulation) report is no longer being done?

Back during the general election campaign I suggested Palin be asked if M3 should be printed again. And THAT was long before this bailout stage of the Bush disaster began.

I’d guess Paulson wants to run the presses hot, so they can flood the economy with dollars and keep it ruined long after Bush is out of office.

I thought banks were required to maintain a cash reserve so they wouldn’t need to be bailed out.

A lot of banks apparently used Mortgage Backed assets and the mortgages became less valuable either because they were finally recognized as bad/toxic or because the houses associated with them were quickly losing value after the housing bubble burst. That reduced the value of a bank’s reserves and caused them to place more other assets with those assets to build up the reserves — thus leaving them less capital to loan out.

Whomever allowed mortgage lending to create bad mortgages made a boo boo.
Whomever allowed mortgages to be splintered and distributed to the winds in various CDOs made a boo boo.
Whomever caused rating agencies to call these toxic assets AAA made a boo boo.
Whomever made law which wouldn’t let mortgage servicers modify a mortgage to keep it from defaulting made a boo boo.
Whomever bought a Credit Default Swap on bad mortgage assets from someone who didn’t have proper reserves made a boo boo.
Whomever refused to let Credit Default Swaps be regulated made a boo boo.
Whomever refused to let New York regulate the offering of Credit Default Swaps as insurance made a boo boo.

There are a LOT of boo boos which is a red flag telling me it was done intentionally (at least a large part of it). Somebody wanted this disaster to befall us.

Here is how Paulson former employer apparently used the money.

http://www.financialweek.com/a…..79977/1036