Wall Street's Meltdown: An Executive Summary
Lehman's demise was driven by timing. Its fiscal quarter ended on August 31, so it was compelled to report $7 billion in losses on mortgage backed securities sooner than other banks.
HuffPost's QuickRead
My 2008 "McLaughlin Awards" [Part 2]
Love her or hate her, you have to admit that John McCain's selection of Sarah Palin for the Republican ticket this year was without any doubt the boldest political tactic of the year.
We're in a "Repression": The Economics of Shame
Perhaps we're better off thinking of our current state of economic ennui not as a recession or a depression, but as a "repression."
Surprise! This Bank Refuses Fed Bailout
The way major financial institutions are feasting on taxpayer-backed bailouts, you'd think every bank in this country has on the feed bag. Not true. Just north of Chicago is a bank that doesn't want any part of the U.S. government's $700 billion bank bailout or any subsequent rescue plans.
Bush's Legacy of Failure
Once again there was our president, presiding over disasters in part of his making and on his watch, grinning with an aplomb that suggested a serious disconnect with existing reality.
Economic Recovery -- Five Lessons from the Depression
The Washington Consensus is that whatever measures are needed to ensure economic recovery should be taken. This is especially true of the incoming te...
Should The World's Reserve Currency Yield Zero Percent
We must grow the economy by empowering the private sector. I would have hoped by now we learned that inflation doesn't solve anything.
The United States vs. Capitalism?
The rich countries, most innovatively or desperately the United States, are right now developing alternatives to their own system, and very possibly undermining it -- in order to save it.
Murdoch and Polonius: A Subscriber's Report
In 2008, during the biggest financial news story since 1929, the credibility of the Wall Street Journal's ed page coughed, sputtered, and collapsed.
Obama's New Deal for America
I believe now is the time for Obama to consider a bolder and more historic approach to the financial crisis by presenting to middle income Americans a step-by-step "big think" FDR-style New Deal program.
Some Good -- and Fun -- Automotive News for the Holidaze
Really wish there were better news to post about, but the auto industry is reeling worldwide, and there's no better example than Toyota.
Why Wall Street Socialism Will Fail
The inevitable chimera of economic collectivization is coming undone. Will ordinary Americans pay much of the price? Almost certainly. Should they blame what happens on marketplace forces? No.
Missing Minsky
Hyman Minsky didn't live to see how closely this year's meltdowns would follow his predicted scenario, with the Lehman failure being one of several clear Minsky moments.
Wagging the Dog With Fannie Mae: Republicans Explain the Financial Crisis With Racist Mythology
Into a void of understanding, Republicans have sought to absolve themselves of blame with a racist mythology that has gone viral.
Citigroup as the "Grim Reaper"
In an earlier post, I ended by paraphrasing Lenin, "Wall Street will sell us the rope to hang American Capitalism." Well, in Citigroup we have created the perfect "Grim Reaper."
Republicans Kill any Help for Detroit
Late last night, Senate Republicans derailed a bill, passed the day before by the House, to loan $15 billion to the Detroit Three, with 10 Republicans joining 40 Democrats and two Independents in favor.
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So it is not a 'real tax' cut unless the rich get 98% of the tax cut..of course...How about we take the cap off of the Social Security tax? Like the rich have done anything for the rest of us in the last 30 years...Oh yes they gave us Walmart and took away our jobs and then don't know why we shouldn't fork over our first born children to wage slavery....
I was opposed to any bailouts, even home owners. I'm fed up with paying for everyone else's life through my taxes.
I remember this clearly, from Paulson and Bernanke's "End of Days" pitch to get the mortgage backed securities off of the Banks' balance sheets.
Paulson was pontificating to some Jr Representative from somewhere. The representative asked a common sense question, probably based on a bedtime story he was told as a youth. When there is a hole in the dike, you don't start bailing, you put your finger in the hole in the dike.
"Sec Paulson, if the securities are bad because the mortgages aren't being paid, why aren't we considering covering the lost value in the homes, and then support re-mortgaging for real value, at a reasonable rate?
Paulson took a micro-second glance at his supply-side, free-market buddy next to him. As if to say. "Ya see what we have to deal with?"
"Representative X, by next year with expected further devaluation, that would cost us $10 to 12 trillion."
Last count we were at $8.6T committed, with $5T spent or encumbered. With tons more on the way.
Meanwhile, the Fed/government is guaranteeing that any cheap mortgage will be bought in the secondary market, after propping up insolvent companies.
The Market? People don't know which companies are alive, or actually dead being propped up by the government. People need to know market dynamics are working to value. Or they won't buy.
My plan is to sell what the government guarantees. Then buy what I think the government will guarantee next.
They won't buy and us suckers who bought at the top are thinking about bankrupcy....
"The Fed's balance sheet is really ours,"
That's the way it's set up, alright. But it isn't legal, it isn't constitutional, and it could be unwound with one Presidential signing. All that "debt" and the interest it takes to feed it--the interest that a private bank like the FED feeds upon like a cancer--could be wiped away by having the Federal Government disband the FED, forgive itself whatever debt the FED claims, return the right of minting, distributing, and setting the interest on money to the Government as the Constitution requires, and putting the people of this country back in control of their own economy.
What's going on now is a robbery of the People's Treasury, and the robbers are the FED and their partners in crime on Wall Street.
The Fed is a private and unnecessary middleman, not only un-Constitutional but also outright usurious. There is NO reason why we should be paying interest on this debt to this institution. In fact, the IRS was created simultaneously with the creation of the Fed expressly to put this debt-interest slavery into process.
I don't know if the Fed can be undone with a Presidential signing statement or if it requires legislation such as Rep. Paul already introduced. There is danger to the President in doing it alone.
But end it we must, if we can. Otherwise, we are destined for a new world economic system, as outlined in this article:
http://www.womensgroup.org/bisrept_20000903.html
I wish I knew just how many congress members are bought and paid for (or downright scared to make a change). I do think that if Rep. Paul suddenly stops pushing for the change, it means no hope at the government level.
I hope congress members worldwide realize that if they are bought and paid for now, that this status is likely to be lost when power becomes more centralized - too many of them to support long-term. I hope there are enough enlightened ones planning to make a change.