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United States of America Plays Politics While Wall Street Burns

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Source: All Hat No Cattle and BU Family Member X

While Republicans and Democrats play the blame game, the DOW Jones declined 778 points by close today. Financial Analysts estimate that the stock market was devalued to the tune of 1.2 trillion dollars. Senator John McClain suspended his campaign last week to go to Washington to bring leadership to the bailout plan, but instead all hell has broken out and the US financial market maybe about to go belly up and take global financial markets along for the ride.

Although the polls indicate that Obama is pulling ahead, the BU household continues to be amazed that White America is not prepared to give Obama the overwhelming support which the current state of the economy and foreign policy merits. Even in the face of the most idiotic selection of Sarah Palin to be his running mate, we have intelligent Americans who see the logic in the McClain selection.

The other side of the coin to this issue is that the protectors of fthe ree market system hail the defeat of the bill today as a victory. Time will tell if the attempt to make Wall Street pay for his skulduggery is correct. Should we mention that Wall Street may have been suckered by the politicians to go the route of offering generous financing to low risk homeowners?

Political pundits know that the  Palin selection was a knee jerk reaction by the maverick McClain, when Republicans refused to agree to former Democrat and Independent Joe Lieberman.

The Republican Party is about to implode.

The polls show that Obama is inching ahead in the  polls.

Obama may just win after all.

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152 responses to “United States of America Plays Politics While Wall Street Burns”

  1. PiedPiper Avatar
    PiedPiper

    I’ve given up trying to figure out the American psyche. It seems that if you walk with a Bible and call God’s name alla time, it doesn’t matter if you don’t know diddlysquat about economics, global responsibility, respecting the real democracys of other countries, human rights and how to stop enforcing your will on other people through aggression.
    You reap what you sow, and Bush and his 8 year reign of terror and abuse of human rights to further the insatiable greed of the corporate machine are all gonna come tumbling down right before the election 🙂 It must be Karma.

  2. PiedPiper Avatar
    PiedPiper

    It is always a surprise to see how Americans vote (hence how did Bush get a 2nd term) but seriously, only the most ignorant, uneducated baffoons could vote for McCain and Palin.

  3. Green Monkey Avatar
    Green Monkey

    Obama may just win? Well, by all means, good luck to him if he does. I have a feeling he’s going to need it (as are we all).

    The Ponzi-Plus Plan

    What we’re seeing in this fiasco, among other things, is a lesson in the diminishing returns of technology. This is a train wreck of investment vehicles so complex that they could only be created with the aid of computers. The result is that hardly anyone — perhaps even nobody in or out of Wall Street — really understands what they represent. In fact, this alphabet soup of engineered securities — CDOs, CDSs, MBSs, SIVs, etc — was cooked up from a recipe of Ponzi algorithms. They were designed to be mathematically indecipherable, except by computers, in an alternative universe of model-making that bore only a superficial relation to the real world. That was their dirty secret. And the dirty secret of the Great Bail-out is that, in the real world, we will never be able to discover the actual trading value of these things at any number above zero. This is why they are called “toxic.”

    The big effort of Mr. Paulson and his working group has been to ram through legislation that at all costs avoids any attempt to place a reality-based value on this bad debt. He managed it by holding a gun to Congress’s collective head, telling them in plain English that a genuine “work-out” of these “toxic” investments would set in motion a fatal cascade of credit default swaps which would leave the entire banking landscape a smoldering wasteland — with the result that virtually every retirement account and pension fund would go up in a vapor, the Federal Reserve and the FDIC would melt away to twin piles of goo, scores of millions of lives would be ruined, and the USA would be left a basket case among nations, making us envy even the fate of Haiti and Zimbabwe. Talk like that might prompt a congress-person to do any fool thing.

    SNIP

    What the mainstream is truly missing here en masse is that another tsunami is building right behind the finance fiasco, and that it will render moot the whole reeking cargo of schemes and wishes that comprises the Great Bail-out. I am speaking of the global oil problem. In fact, the problems in banking and money currently roaring in the center ring of the world circus, can be described categorically as a product of the oil problem — since oil is the primary resource of industrial economies and therefore the motive force behind our ability to generate “wealth.” Without reliable and ever-growing supplies of oil, there is no industrial growth, and without industrial growth things like capital investment instruments lose their legitimacy. That is why the Frankenstein family of Ponzi securities was invented in the first place — to compensate for the demise of industrial growth by creating wealth out of… nothing!

    The looming oil problem entails a swirl of factors that will aggravate and accelerate our social, economic, and political struggles. These factors will mutually reinforce the instabilities that they set into motion. For instance, the new oil nationalism is undermining the traditional operation of oil markets as we’ve known them since the mid-20th century. In turn, oil nationalism will aggravate the oil export crisis, which will starve the oil importers — the USA being the chief victim. Finally, there is the remorseless base-line condition of Peak Oil itself, meaning that we are at point where world oil demand permanently outstrips world oil supply no matter if the USA falls on its ass economically or not. What remains beyond this is a desperate contest among the oil importers — America, Europe, China, Japan, India — for control of the world’s remaining oil resources.

    http://jameshowardkunstler.typepad.com/clusterfuck_nation/2008/09/the-pnzi-plus-plan.html

  4. Adrian Hinds Avatar
    Adrian Hinds

    It is obvious to me that you have no clue and rather than say so, you feel incline to spout nonsense as inform opinion.

    So answer these questions below to demonstrate how bad your lack of information is or isn’t and that i may help to bring to a place of clarity. That is if you are interested in such a place, as i got a feeling that you are content to be were you are.

    what is the purpose for the 700 billions dollars?

    What is your understanding the current crisis that this 700 billion is to resolve?

    what specific policies of George Bush lead to this crisis?

    How does this translate into an unwillingness to vote for Obama?

    What specifically did Obama or for that matter McCain say on this issue that could inspire anyone to vote for either of the two, from the prospective of having either of them as president, resolved this issue?

    Is this a presidential issue or one belonging solely to the congress?

    I honestly think you are clueless or ultra partisan on this issue and i don’t think you can prove me wrong on both!

  5. Avatar
    Anonymous

    While it would be a good thing for the world if Obama wins the election, it is hard for me to beleive that white americans will go out in they vast numbers and vote for him. At the end of the day this race will be about race. This is America and liberal is still a bad word there.

  6. Adrian Hinds Avatar
    Adrian Hinds

    Oh my post above in directed at David.

  7. Facts Avatar
    Facts

    I have to agree with you Piper with respect to your 2nd submission.
    I can’t for the life of me, understand how they vote either.
    As you said, how could they have put back in the Bush11, a not so popular President. I think the answer lies in the Iraq war. The propagana of WMD and the “threat” to the USA.

    Another reason why Americans vote irratically is due to the power of the media and its ability to control the minds of its citizens who are given an unrelenting one-sided view of the world.

    That can explain how Sarah “I’ll get back to yah” Palin has only recently received a passport and for the first time travelled outside the USA .

    Even now, its amazing to see that Obama is getting a run from McCain.
    Given the sate of the economy, among other things, the outcome of the election under normal circumstances should be a foregone conclusion.

  8. Facts Avatar
    Facts

    Adrian,
    I don’t think he is spouting nonesense.

    But to revert to you earler question above, re. “What specific polices of Bush 11 led to the current crisis”, I’ll name a couple:
    1. The Iraq war – Leakage of monetary outflow of scarce dollars.(The war has not generated the jobs the conveyors thought would have happened)

    2. Uncertainty in the money market due to the polices of Bush 11

    3. Rising oil prices triggering another round of uncertainty. Rising prices originating from the Middle East (OPEC), in retalliation to Bush’s policies.

  9. Adrian Hinds Avatar
    Adrian Hinds

    Facts, please use a different handle. schuuppsssee.

  10. Facts Avatar
    Facts

    Another thing. As we daily see the undoing and unmasking of Sarah Pain, we have to wonder if the Americans would be so gullible to fall for McCain’s bait.

    The woman is definitely out of her league and a great embarrassement to the Repulican Party.

    One member of the said party said that when Palin speaks, she (the party member) cringes.
    I can understand why.

  11. Adrian Hinds Avatar
    Adrian Hinds

    I gine an get some sleep, inform non partisan debate on this particualr issue is hard to come by on this Blog. wunnuh so obvious it aint funny. 🙂

  12. Facts Avatar
    Facts

    Adrian,
    What we are saying is unbiased truth.
    He who hath ears to hear, let him hear.

  13. David Avatar
    David

    Adrian your position is clear just like our. We can agree to disagree. A Republican government has presided over this meltdown, a Republican government has created a foreign policy which has alienated the USA against the world. After eight years of Bush the USA is a weaker country for it.

    The next piece of the puzzle, Sarah Palin on Thursday night.

  14. sarahpalin Avatar
    sarahpalin

    As someone said about me, “it’s not that I don’t understand my answers, it’s just that I don’t understand the questions.”

  15. Hopi Avatar
    Hopi

    Airdrian Hinds….
    “I gine and” You are always asleep.

    David……
    I say to you to just watch this high stakes poker play itself out. Both Obama and mutant McCain are willing to accommodate these gangsters. Obama did get a lot of juice from wall street. At the outset everyone blamed the “sub-prime”, now the ponzi-scams. But this is nothing short of avarice, deceit and corruption. They were banking on complete control of oil from Iraq, Iran, Caracas and the Caspian Sea to keep these schemes afloat but these bloody money changers ran into brickwalls. Hence their ponzi schemes fell apart. Don’t put your money on any of these marionettes because the USA is controlled by outside forces. Elections is just a sham to fool the amerrycans into thinking that they have a say in what goes on in their country. Right now they are too drunk with debt and the blood of the Iraqis and Afghans to comprehend. As a black man I would love to look at Obama as a harbinger of good change, but history has taught me otherwise. Obama is already bought and payed for. Just watch this play itself out.

  16. The People's Democratic Congress Avatar
    The People’s Democratic Congress

    The so-called American economic and financial systems continue to suffer terribly from the disastrous carcinogenic effects of altogether therein the sub-prime mortgage crisis and the housing market slump, and from the destructive consequences of credit market and financial system decay and collapse.

    Moreover, though, whenever these systems seriously malfunction – as they are presently doing in and outside of America – it would mainly be the American people, families, social clubs, businesses and other entities, that would be bound to be the ones reeling tremendously from such deep-rooted failings moreso than these systems themselves would be suffering from the same.

    However, such adversities will certainly make for many of these same people, families, social clubs, businesses and other entities in America, attempting to evolve newer or different ways and approaches to bringing about newer or different so-called economic and financial systems. For, these systems CANNOT themselves create such newer or different so-called economic and financial systems!! NOR can the American empire avoid the cycle – which it is already involved in – of birth, growth, maturation, decay, ruin, and death!!!

    Not going unscathed, too, at this time of American economic and finacial instability, would be the vast majority of countries of the world, which would be made to feel vis-a-vis the present globalized political, social, material and financial systems, the enveloping miseries and calamities of this economic and financial fallout in America. But, of course, such adversities would truly serve as a measure NOT ONLY of the pervasiveness and intensiveness, BUT ALSO of the increasing rottenness and shakiness of American and, by extension, Western imperialism!!

    But, in coming home to Barbados, it must be clear that the way how Barbados and so many other peripheral capitalist democratic countries behave in response to these seismic imbalances in the USA, will somewhat help to indicate whether the American Revolution was truly one or NOT, and whether the Age of American Imperialism and Expansionism will come to end or NOT before the beginning of the next century.

    Finally, it is clear, too, that more and more the financial basis for American Imperialism and Expansionism is becoming more and more discredited and illegitimated – just like how many communist ideas were just before the fall of the Soviet Union – in the eyes of so many people of this world. The falseness, wickedness and satanism of of Taxation; Interest Rates; Making the American masses and middle classes “repay their own money” in regard of money that has been used for productive purposes; continuing with a dreaded sickness called mortgages; and economics itself, have all the more been exposed for what they really are – as just described above – during these inevitable US housing and financial market crises, decays and collapses.

    That is why we in PDC want Barbadians and other peoples in Barbados to understand us when we in the PDC say to them and others that a future PDC Government shall, et al, do the following to help Barbados become a brighter, better and stronger society:

    1) Abolish All Taxation;

    2) Abolish All Interest Rates;

    3) Abolish All Motor Vehicle Insurance;

    4) Abolish All Exchange Rates Parities with the Barbados Dollar;

    5) Abolish Mortgages;

    6) Make Institutional Loans for Productive Purposes Non-Repayable;

    7) Make Imports of Goods and Services Zero-“Priced” at ALL points of Entry; and,

    8) Make Exports of Goods and Services paid for in local currency/”prices”.

    PDC

  17. John Doe Avatar
    John Doe

    PDC, you are onto something, but we normally put people like you in Jenkins.

    You just happen to be 1000 years ahead of your time.

    Please put your idea into books so that mankind can have a record of your thoughts.

    You are truly onto something.
    People are quick to dismiss you but you are way ahead my brother.

    It’s all an illusion.
    Switch off the TV, go in de backyard and pick a breadfruit and roast it, drink some goat milk and you’ll quickly realize that it’s all an illusion.

    Please put your ideas in a book. Do a free e-book and put it on the net for starters. You have great ideas.

    The other myth is copyright.

    You still selling socks in town? De next time I see ya, we gonna discuss a world without patents and copyright bullshit.

  18. Facts Avatar
    Facts

    PDC,
    You fellows have it right! Just the change we need – The abolition of all taxation! Wonder why others never thought about this before.

    I just love your mastery of penmanshp:”…a future PDC government, shall, et al, do the following….”

  19. John Doe Avatar
    John Doe

    @ Facts:

    FYI there are people thinking about a world without taxes.

    Give it a little thought.
    You go to Cave Shepherd and you purchase a DVD, you have to pay VAT.
    Right?
    Now you can download the same movie from Amazon.com plug it into your TV and there’s no local VAT. Same movie.

    THINK A LITTLE. AND READ A LITTLE!

    http://faculty.chicagogsb.edu/austan.goolsbee/research/intertax.pdf

  20. J Avatar
    J

    John Doe I like I agree with you and PDC at this point. Look we thought that the well educated boys on Wall Street, and “The City” had it right and that the rest of us who worked hard and saved hard and did things bit by bit and worked we ground and fed we self were a bunch of ignorant unwashed idiots.

    But look who crying now?

  21. J Avatar
    J

    The people we shoudda put in Jenkins is those bright boys from Wall Street and “The City” who told poor people that they could afford a no money down mortgage with an interest rate that would change (upwards of course) in as little as 6 months.

    The first fella who suggested that sholdda been locked in a padded ward in the back if the mental.

  22. Sir Bentwood Dick Avatar
    Sir Bentwood Dick

    @ Green Monkey,

    Great post, sir.

    I looked out a parking lot yesterday and wondered how long will alll of these vehicles be mobile?

    I was actually looking at them as if they were stranded, without any hope of ever moving again.

    Funny world, huh.

    Morseso, who will be the new ‘kings of the world’?

    Places like Guyana and Cuba, who do not rely on imports nor oil to eat, sleep, live.

    Think about it.

    Illusions, marketing, reality?

    Ah, what the hell, lets call it a day, announce September 30 as a holiday and have a jolly good ‘wine up and wuk up’.

    Party the old world away, into the new.

    Bye bye cars, bye bye mobiles, bye bye tv’s.

    Here we come steamship.

    Buh wait, dis now like 1930’s, in more way than one?

    Buh duh betta be nuff breadfruit an sweet potato for we.

    Leh we plant pun de golf courses, deng.

    Iffin not, foreigners going get eat.

    Roast pork, PROPER!

  23. Sir Bentwood Dick Avatar
    Sir Bentwood Dick

    As sparrow, said,

    ‘I aint eat no white meat yet’

    Buhayyyyy de congo man!

  24. Sir Bentwood Dick Avatar
    Sir Bentwood Dick

    As Monty Python melody, ‘Always Look on The Bright Side of Life’.

    Heads Up lads!

    Less obesity as less food better food and you have to walk anyway; less stress working late, chasing those overseas ‘standards’.

    Less drink and smoking, as we will not be able to afford it.

    More community spirit, playing dominoes, cricket, football, as there will be no tv.

    A whole lotta goodness, in your soul.

    Times a-changing.

    I will miss the international papers however.

  25. freewilly Avatar
    freewilly

    [url]http://www.michaelmoore.com/words/message/index.php?id=235[/url]

    The Rich Are Staging a Coup This Morning …a message from Michael Moore

    Friends,

    Let me cut to the chase. The biggest robbery in the history of this country is taking place as you read this. Though no guns are being used, 300 million hostages are being taken. Make no mistake about it: After stealing a half trillion dollars to line the pockets of their war-profiteering backers for the past five years, after lining the pockets of their fellow oilmen to the tune of over a hundred billion dollars in just the last two years, Bush and his cronies — who must soon vacate the White House — are looting the U.S. Treasury of every dollar they can grab. They are swiping as much of the silverware as they can on their way out the door.

    No matter what they say, no matter how many scare words they use, they are up to their old tricks of creating fear and confusion in order to make and keep themselves and the upper one percent filthy rich. Just read the first four paragraphs of the lead story in last Monday’s New York Times and you can see what the real deal is:

    “Even as policy makers worked on details of a $700 billion bailout of the financial industry, Wall Street began looking for ways to profit from it.

    “Financial firms were lobbying to have all manner of troubled investments covered, not just those related to mortgages.

    “At the same time, investment firms were jockeying to oversee all the assets that Treasury plans to take off the books of financial institutions, a role that could earn them hundreds of millions of dollars a year in fees.

    “Nobody wants to be left out of Treasury’s proposal to buy up bad assets of financial institutions.”

    Unbelievable. Wall Street and its backers created this mess and now they are going to clean up like bandits. Even Rudy Giuliani is lobbying for his firm to be hired (and paid) to “consult” in the bailout.

    The problem is, nobody truly knows what this “collapse” is all about. Even Treasury Secretary Paulson admitted he doesn’t know the exact amount that is needed (he just picked the $700 billion number out of his head!). The head of the congressional budget office said he can’t figure it out nor can he explain it to anyone.

    And yet, they are screeching about how the end is near! Panic! Recession! The Great Depression! Y2K! Bird flu! Killer bees! We must pass the bailout bill today!! The sky is falling! The sky is falling!

    Falling for whom? NOTHING in this “bailout” package will lower the price of the gas you have to put in your car to get to work. NOTHING in this bill will protect you from losing your home. NOTHING in this bill will give you health insurance.

    Health insurance? Mike, why are you bringing this up? What’s this got to do with the Wall Street collapse?

    It has everything to do with it. This so-called “collapse” was triggered by the massive defaulting and foreclosures going on with people’s home mortgages. Do you know why so many Americans are losing their homes? To hear the Republicans describe it, it’s because too many working class idiots were given mortgages that they really couldn’t afford. Here’s the truth: The number one cause of people declaring bankruptcy is because of medical bills. Let me state this simply: If we had had universal health coverage, this mortgage “crisis” may never have happened.

    This bailout’s mission is to protect the obscene amount of wealth that has been accumulated in the last eight years. It’s to protect the top shareholders who own and control corporate America. It’s to make sure their yachts and mansions and “way of life” go uninterrupted while the rest of America suffers and struggles to pay the bills. Let the rich suffer for once. Let them pay for the bailout. We are spending 400 million dollars a day on the war in Iraq. Let them end the war immediately and save us all another half-trillion dollars!

    I have to stop writing this and you have to stop reading it. They are staging a financial coup this morning in our country. They are hoping Congress will act fast before they stop to think, before we have a chance to stop them ourselves. So stop reading this and do something — NOW! Here’s what you can do immediately:

    1. Call or e-mail Senator Obama. Tell him he does not need to be sitting there trying to help prop up Bush and Cheney and the mess they’ve made. Tell him we know he has the smarts to slow this thing down and figure out what’s the best route to take. Tell him the rich have to pay for whatever help is offered. Use the leverage we have now to insist on a moratorium on home foreclosures, to insist on a move to universal health coverage, and tell him that we the people need to be in charge of the economic decisions that affect our lives, not the barons of Wall Street.

    2. Take to the streets. Participate in one of the hundreds of quickly-called demonstrations that are taking place all over the country (especially those near Wall Street and DC).

    3. Call your Representative in Congress and your Senators. (click here to find their phone numbers). Tell them what you told Senator Obama.

    When you screw up in life, there is hell to pay. Each and every one of you reading this knows that basic lesson and has paid the consequences of your actions at some point. In this great democracy, we cannot let there be one set of rules for the vast majority of hard-working citizens, and another set of rules for the elite, who, when they screw up, are handed one more gift on a silver platter. No more! Not again!

    Yours,
    Michael Moore
    [email]MMFlint@aol.com[/email]
    MichaelMoore.com

    P.S. Having read further the details of this bailout bill, you need to know you are being lied to. They talk about how they will prevent golden parachutes. It says NOTHING about what these executives and fat cats will make in SALARY. According to Rep. Brad Sherman of California, these top managers will continue to receive million-dollar-a-month paychecks under this new bill. There is no direct ownership given to the American people for the money being handed over. Foreign banks and investors will be allowed to receive billion-dollar handouts. A large chunk of this $700 billion is going to be given directly to Chinese and Middle Eastern banks. There is NO guarantee of ever seeing that money again.

    P.P.S. From talking to people I know in DC, they say the reason so many Dems are behind this is because Wall Street this weekend put a gun to their heads and said either turn over the $700 billion or the first thing we’ll start blowing up are the pension funds and 401(k)s of your middle class constituents. The Dems are scared they may make good on their threat. But this is not the time to back down or act like the typical Democrat we have witnessed for the last eight years. The Dems handed a stolen election over to Bush. The Dems gave Bush the votes he needed to invade a sovereign country. Once they took over Congress in 2007, they refused to pull the plug on the war. And now they have been cowered into being accomplices in the crime of the century. You have to call them now and say “NO!” If we let them do this, just imagine how hard it will be to get anything good done when President Obama is in the White House. THESE DEMOCRATS ARE ONLY AS STRONG AS THE BACKBONE WE GIVE THEM. CALL CONGRESS NOW.

  26. David Avatar
    David

    Whether average Americans are upset or not the challenge is how does the system relieve the credit squeeze in the banking system which is affecting average Americans from accessing credit, businesses from doing payroll and buy stock. These are the real issues while Republicans play politics.

    Our solution: Democrats find 12 more votes to make this stabilization initiative fly and hopefully send confidence to the markets. This is not a US problem alone, global financial markets are affected as well.

  27. PiedPiper Avatar
    PiedPiper

    http://www.thestar.com/News/World/article/508599

  28. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Should the people of America give their money to the greedy bankers who caused the problem? If these people are bailed out, will it cost $700 billion or many times that?

    Should Barbadians spend millions bailing out Gems?

  29. Anonymous Avatar
    Anonymous

    Time magazine
    http://www.time.com/time/business/article/0,8599,1845209,00.html?cnn=yes

  30. Avatar
    Anonymous

    Sir Brentwood, Child you really in touch. Ah love you, yes Guyana will not suffer in this crisis as we have always been hand to mouth anyway. Here I am thinking that I could beat the white man by putting money in a 401 K and taking back 401 thousand US to Guyana. Yes I was planning it at 59 1/2 years of age. Fancy me not long ago saying oh I will be flying over to Bridgetown to shop and eat at Cheffettes on Liat, and returning to Guyana the same day. I was thinking that, and then I get news I lost a lot of money, so you see a black old woman like me cannot even win with she hard earned money. I am really vex, but on the flip side I know I can go back to Guyana empty handed and still live nicely, but I will still remember my money that someone stole from me in America. Yes Sir Brentwood, you too can come to Guyana in these times. Love and Unity Peace and Harmony. A Mexican just asked me who I voting for I said Obama, she said why, and I juswt said he black like me. I don’t care anymore, a while back I would a say oh he more qualified.

  31. Snake-in-the-grass Avatar
    Snake-in-the-grass

    @ BU “Although the polls indicate that Obama is pulling ahead, the BU household continues to be amazed that White America is not prepared to give Obama the overwhelming support which the current state of the economy and foreign policy merits.”

    Come on David …. WHO DO YOU THINK made Obama the Democratic candidate? The Orientals? The American Indians???? No, the whites did.

    You are “amazed that White America is not prepared to give Obama the overwhelming support which the current state of the economy and foreign policy merits.”

    You really think Mr. Obama has a bromide to fix the US economy?

    Have you ever seen a naked woman in a yellow dress?

    Please, please do not be so simplistic.

  32. Straight talk Avatar
    Straight talk

    David:

    “how does the system relieve the credit squeeze in the banking system”?

    It is easy to be blinded to the root of the problem by a profusion of zeroes after the dollar sign and the unfamiliar language of the financial world.

    To my mind the answer is simple, the banks will not lend between one another because they have lost confidence in their own balance sheets as being a snapshot of a company’s true worth.

    If the banks are worried, and they are experts in the new accounting, we, the public, should be doubly concerned.

    The remedy must involve all financial entities (remaining) must open their books and have a true valuation of the entire sector’s assets.
    That is at current market value.

    I’m sure this exercise will reveal many horror stories of insolvency and mismanagement, but until there is transparency, those with funds available to lend will be unable to calculate the true status of any borrower or the risk the loan involves.

    Now, to prevent a complete collapse of the banking system, the US Fed and Treasury could the legitimately intervene with taxpayer’s money.

    They could make informed decisions on each company as to their viability and the amount of assistance necessary to those judged worthy of rescue, and the amount of public equity to take to ensure eventual repayment of all federal money.

    Allowing Paulson and Bernanke massive funds to pick and choose who should benefit from their largesse, with no oversight or legal challenge, was always a non-starter in a democracy.

    The system needs a spotlight shining on it, to discover how there came to be a disconnect between the real economy and the finance industry.

    Lessons will have to learnt, and with a more rigorous regulatory regime, a more transparent banking system will rise from the ashes of these past masters of the universe.

  33. Wishing In Vain Avatar
    Wishing In Vain

    The race for the White House is really quite a sad state of affair when we can be seriously considering a 72 year old White man having survived 3 bouts of cancer ahead of a young, vibrant, brilliant, sharp thinking Black man that has shown tremendous leadership qualities and real class.

    The present economic melt down can only be viewed in one light that is that a Rep the President of the USA George Bush presided over the country as this situation developed and slid to this low point, not a Dem was near to hand or could be blamed so the people of the USA have no choice but to see it as Rep led action that has put them into this hot water and by extension they need a Dem to bring them out of the mess.

    May Obama have a most memorable life as THE PRESIDENT OF THE ALMIGHTY USA .

    One wonders what role the attempt to fight as many wars around the world at the same time maybe doing to the USA economy generally, because this is one massive price tag attached to the REP Bush madness.

  34. The People's Democratic Congress Avatar
    The People’s Democratic Congress

    To: John Doe, Facts, J and any others that are following

    From: The People’s Democratic Congress

    For hundreds of years millions across the world have been so brainwashed into thinking and acting out so many kinds of OUTRIGHT FOOLISHNESS AND DEGRADATION that have been indoctrinated and socialized into them by many so-called civilized elitist European colonizers and other imperialists and their African, Asian, and Western supporters and sympathizers, that, surely to their own profound disadvantage and loss, their own further, greater marginalization and oppression within the context of the further evolution of global society have been anything but partly secured by the same Europeans and those “non-European sellouts” up to this day.

    In fact, today, many European books that are given to representing in many instances the “twistory” of Caribbean development from the time of our introjection into so-called Western Civilization vis-a-vis the TransAtlantic Slave Trade and the Western Colonial Slave System, have provided evidence of the brutal brainwashing and dehumanization of many of our Caribbean black people up to this day. These books, as well as some other history books that have been written by post-colonial Caribbean black academics like Sir Hilary Beckles, do portray how many blacks in Africa were deliberately grotesquesly racistly described as savages and cannibals; were damnedly seen as fit for enslavement in Western society because of their ruggedness and toughness; and were later seen as unfit to govern the societies in which they were earlier transplanted against their will by many of the same European colonizers and their supporters, because of their so-called uneducated status. So, there we have it those and more unseemly barbarous falsehoods that were used by many of the said racist elitist Europeans, and adopted by some of our own black misthinkers, could only have been primarily generated and sustained to make our own black people in Africa and in the Americas feel and look inferior to the “white man” and his culture.

    Furthermore, who would think today that years ago – according to many present day encyclodepic information – that it used to be outrageously thought by many earlier peoples then that the world was flat? Who would have thought today that years ago there used to be found in British society, and possibly in other earlier European societies that were under yoke of totalitarianist Kingdoms – the obscene notion that the “King could do NO wrong”? Who would think in this day and age that years ago it was being racistly peddled by many Europeans that humankind – more precisely construed to mean the black man – emerged from monkey, and that that glaring misthinking was fuelled by some of the writings of Charles Darwin? Who would conceive now that years ago many Western commentators were trying to casually link some monkies, blacks, and homos with the coming about of the HIV/Aids virus? Who would have thought now that as recently as, say, six years ago the present US President, George Bush, and then US Secretary of State, Colin Powell, and many others in the Bush Administration were telling the people of the world that Iraq possessed weapons of mass destruction and therefore was a threat to Middle East and, by extension, world peace and stability? WHO? WHO?

    Finally, the point here is that huge throngs of people who have been long residing in countries that are now former colonies of European colonial powers, and in many cases too even those other throngs of people that have been long living in these so-called leading industrialized countries, have been deliberately lied to and deceived and plotted against by many so-called elitist conservative cabals within Western society, with a view of ensuring that they remain as much as possible confused about who they are, where they are going and such other questions, and with a view to helping to make sure that they are as much as possible seriously marginalized, exploited, disempowered within the sphere of extant global society.

    Thus, as a correlationship to disproving those earlier mentioned falsehoods and thus our becoming more enlightened in Barbados and elsewhere, the search to prove that under a future PDC Government there will NOT be, et al, TAXATION, INTEREST RATES, MOTOR VEHICLE INSURANCE, EXCHANGE RATES PARITIES WITH THE BARBADOS DOLLAR MORTGAGES, THE IMPORTATION OF THE PRICES OF IMPORTS OF GOODS AND SERVICES INTO BARBADOS, etc., lies ultimately within the intellectual capacity, scientific development and social power of our Barbadian people.

    PDC

  35. Snake-in-the-grass Avatar
    Snake-in-the-grass

    Re this “bail out” thing… and the failure of the Bill to pass… polls indicate a large number, maybe the majority of Americans do not want the Government spending their tax dollars to bail a system that has crashed through bad management. The American people are saying this to their Representatives in clear words.

    Elections for the House and Senate are coming up in November and the ‘politicians’ do not wish to alienate their constituants….. so they are in a bind.

    It’s easy for shallow people to sit on the sideline and take pot shots. The problem is when statements are made based on nothing more than OPINIONS you hear being bandied about, opinions that are idle and unfounded.

    It does not show much maturity.

  36. David Avatar
    David

    If we understand the American media this morning, Main Street is against the bail out but they are also angry at the politicians for not doing something to arrest the problem.

    The bailout is seen as a method to ease cash into the banking system but the bigger problem will have to be tackled as Straight Talk commented.

  37. Adrian Hinds Avatar
    Adrian Hinds

    I wish to acknowledge the following contributions.
    http://bajan.wordpress.com/2008/09/29/united-states-of-america-wall-street-obama/#comment-41093

    http://bajan.wordpress.com/2008/09/29/united-states-of-america-wall-street-obama/#comment-41099

    http://bajan.wordpress.com/2008/09/29/united-states-of-america-wall-street-obama/#comment-41102

    After the Green Monkey gave us the videos “Money as Debt” and the “Money Masters” and we had an opportunity to understand the “fractional reserved” system of Banking system, I am surprise that this blog can fault the American taxpayer for not willingly allowing Wall street and our politicians to steal from us to cover their mistakes and greed.

    How is it so? Wall street lent highly leveraged mortgage loans to people who could not meet the traditional vetting standards for loans, and they did this by force, via the community redevelopment act. If got worse when Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were encourage by congress to back more and more of the mortgages, all with the silly belief that the housing market will continue to grow. Wall Street in their greed, leverage these mortgage with their highly complex ponzi schemes of “derivatives” and credit default swaps. So when the unthinkable occurred (housing market collapse) all hell broke loose. Wall street decided to call the Government on their promise to back these loans. Government is now colluding with Wall Street to scare people into parting with their money to refund their loses. There is more to this story that you can or will get from the bias American mainstream media.

    Did any of you know that the original bill had in it a payment of up to 20 million from any profits to a group that is notorious for voter fraud?

    When you are this bias as clearly the case with many of the opinions on here, maturity has long since been thrown thru the window.

    It is amazing to see a picture of wall street burning and socialist democrats anger at the American citizen for not bailing out the capitalist. The world has clearly gone mad.

  38. Bush tea Avatar
    Bush tea

    ….yes Snake-ITG, but you see, the problem is that the ‘American people’ are a little late- even in deciding not to “…bail a system that has crashed through bad management”…. they waited for the horse to bolt before trying to deal with the stable door.

    Most people still do not recognize exactly how serious a problem we have. This is a clear case of sowing the wind and reaping the whirlwind. It is the summation of years of dubious dealings, built on greed and grounded in deceit.

    Most of the so-called bedrock financial institutions are nothing but paper tigers, whose strengths are based on the general ignorance of the population and the complicity of the regulators.

    When a few of them become exposed as they go overboard even beyond their ‘normal’ deceit, the whole house of cards is at risk.

    The ONLY intent of the proposed ‘bailout’ is to prevent a close look at the other institutions – because if we ever assess them closely, it will be the END.

    So Americans (actually all of us) now have a catch 22 situation.

    …we all pay for allowing the folly to reach this stage (by bailing them out) – and then adopting stringent changes afterwards…

    or… allow the house of cards to collapse and we all lose everything.

    Even those of us whose real assets exceed our liabilities will suffer as a result of the devaluation of these assets where bankrupt holdings come on the market at fire house prices.

    If Obama is lucky and blessed, Americans will vote to make McCain president.

    As I predicted last year, late 2008 and into 2009 will be worst than it is possible for most to imagine… it was so obvious ….

    Endgame….. MME.

  39. Adrian Hinds Avatar
    Adrian Hinds

    David // September 30, 2008 at 9:53 am

    If we understand the American media this morning, Main Street is against the bail out but they are also angry at the politicians for not doing something to arrest the problem.

    The bailout is seen as a method to ease cash into the banking system but the bigger problem will have to be tackled as Straight Talk commented.
    ===========================

    David at times you appear rightous in your indignation, and while i welcome this, it is often the result of clueless opinions. Not that you are not trying to be informed. I think the reason you keep comming up short in your summations on things American and geopolitical for that matter, is that go about gathering information in a bias manner, therefore you tend to only get one side of a situation. Those of us you who absolutely refuse to read across all media, prefering to stay with the NYTimes, or CNN, or BBC are tuning into onesided stories, there are no more unbias than the WSJ, or the Weekly standard, or Fox news. All media have agendas, agendas that at times blurr the truth into obscurity. We need to understand this and find the courage to hear and read the same story and situation from other sources, and be confident and independant enough to conclude as to where the truth is likely to reside, but only on that particular issue. Only then can we opininate ideas that can withstand questioning minds.

  40. Inkwell Avatar
    Inkwell

    I said in a post a few days ago “Americans are basically stupid” and apologist for American stupidity Adrian Hinds sought to make jealousy my motive.

    Here is more evidence. The American economy is on the brink of meltdown, collapse, everyone says so, Bush, the president, Paulson, the Treasury secretary, Bernanke, chairman of the Fed, all with tones and body language suggesting panic. The bill which is supposed to prevent financial Armageddon and is being shoved down the throats of the people is rejected by the peoples’ representatives, the stock market panics and loses $1.2 trilliion dollars in a day and what does the House do? THEY CLOSE FOR THE JEWISH HOLIDAYS, TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY!!!

    Can you imagine anything more stupid? The Jews are surely running the US, only problem is the Americans don’t know it.

    But having said that, The leaders’ stupidity may be the thing that eventually saves the US economy, for when they see that the sky is not in fact falling, as evidenced by this morning’s stock market performance, (although it is too early too tell), they may conclude the the bail out is unnecessary, that the market, the bedrock of Capitalism, should be allowed to function and those financial institutions which were recklessly managed allowed to fail.

    Otherwise, Capitalism fails.

  41. Snake-in-the-grass Avatar
    Snake-in-the-grass

    I know what I’m about tosay is rather simplistic, HOWEVER…

    We ‘human beings’ are not All-Wise and we go along THINKING (?) what we are do is the best way to go. Then we get a rude awakening.

    This financial ‘crash’ will hurt a lot of people (quite probably myself included) but it’s not all bad. ‘Nature’ has a way of levelling things when they get top heavy.

  42. Bush tea Avatar
    Bush tea

    David,

    To bring the situation to a level we can all identify with….

    Let us say that we individually realize that certain banks or credit unions were willing to lend us funds on easy terms…..

    Rather than going out to do productive work for a mere salary, we sit around and come up with creative ploys to ‘access’ these huge funds…

    Very quickly, we all become rich – and none more so that the same banks – who now have loan ‘assets’ in the ‘Kazillions’.

    then…
    …some spoilsport comes along and challenges Bush teas viability and investigates details of my assets. ….dog dead!!!
    Obviously, you David or some other person will quickly ‘acquire’ Bush tea’s assets for some large figure (and give the Bush man a golden handshake -for fear I tell all…)

    Should it reach the point where a number of such persons are exposed, then the banks will have to step in to ‘calm’ the situation (ie pay out hush money- otherwise their ‘assets’ will disappear)

    When the Banks themselves begin to be exposed, then the Government will be tempted to spend some ‘hush’ (bail out) money to avoid a full collapse.

    …..so we can pay up now from taxes and all pretend that everything is OK, or we can watch as the system falls apart before our very eyes….

    Unfortunately, even if we pay up, we will only be buying a little time…

    …All pyramid schemes eventually collapse…

  43. Adrian Hinds Avatar
    Adrian Hinds

    David // September 29, 2008 at 10:19 pm

    Adrian your position is clear just like our. We can agree to disagree. A Republican government has presided over this meltdown, a Republican government has created a foreign policy which has alienated the USA against the world. After eight years of Bush the USA is a weaker country for it.

    The next piece of the puzzle, Sarah Palin on Thursday night
    ==========================
    I am no fan of socialism, and George Bush via his so called “compassionate conservatism” has spent more money of social and entitlement programs than any other president. I have no interest in playing party politics with you, cause this republican white house is more socialist democratic in it’s domestic policy than anything else. What you are continualy ignoring and probably doing so for partisan reasons, is the fact that Wallstreet, the whitehouse, congressinal and senate leaders are all in favour of using taxpayer money to bail out a crisis caused by all afore mention and that is fueled by greed and the willingness to use government to buy votes, which would have be succesfull had not the housing market collapes with falling and not rising house prices. The American Taxpayer has not a friend or REPRESENTATIVE in this massive thef of private wealth. Oh wait i now see it. Socialist democrats have no uses for neither corporate or private wealth, as it weakens the power of government.

    To the point of this particular thread, what are the specific George Bush policies that he would have had to seek congressinal support to past into law, that you can point to and say “this is ground zero for this financial mess”?

  44. Adrian Hinds Avatar
    Adrian Hinds

    For once a group of citizens some where on this earth is saying todays bankers who are of the same stock and trade as the money changers of old to go stuff it, and these citizen cannot get any support from fellow world citizens. But and there is always a but,…i understand the attitude coming out Barbados, as representative by Davids positions. This is a country that looked favorably on buying oil on credit thereby their future generations in debt for the convenience and ease of current consumption, and also at the risk of weakening their sovereignty. Such was the agreement to enter Petro caribe.

  45. Adrian Hinds Avatar
    Adrian Hinds

    For once a group of citizens some where on this earth is saying to todays bankers who are of the same stock and trade as the money changers of old, to go stuff it, and these citizen cannot get any support from fellow world citizens. But and there is always a but,…i understand the attitude coming out of Barbados, as is representative by David’s positions. This is a citientry that looked favorably to buying oil on credit thereby placing future generations in debt for the convenience and ease of current consumption, and also at the risk of weakening their sovereignty. Such was the agreement to enter Petro caribe.

  46. Adrian Hinds Avatar
    Adrian Hinds

    Inkwell // September 30, 2008 at 10:28 am

    I said in a post a few days ago “Americans are basically stupid” and apologist for American stupidity Adrian Hinds sought to make jealousy my motive.

    Here is more evidence. The American economy is on the brink of meltdown, collapse, everyone says so, Bush, the president, Paulson, the Treasury secretary, Bernanke, chairman of the Fed, all with tones and body language suggesting panic. The bill which is supposed to prevent financial Armageddon and is being shoved down the throats of the people is rejected by the peoples’ representatives, the stock market panics and loses $1.2 trilliion dollars in a day and what does the House do? THEY CLOSE FOR THE JEWISH HOLIDAYS, TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY!!!
    ===========================

    I remain too stupid to get your point. I will ask you some questions and leave you with something to ponder. It shouldn’t be a promblem, since i am stupid, it shouldn’t befuddle you, oh wise and learnt one. 🙂

    The 700 billion PAYBACK failed yesterday and Wall street fat cats responded by purposely pulling back the Dow index by 700+ points. The Whitehouse and Congress says that they are working on another proposal and today the Dow index is back up 300+ currently. What does the 700+ drop represents as a percentage of the value of stocks held? 7%. What does the 300+ current upward rally of the Dow Index represent? 3% and you would want the citizens of America to panick?

    Inkwell tell us what exactly is the 700 billion suppose to do?

    What proof do you have that “everybody” I assume you are referring to Americans are in panic mode?

  47. Adrian Hinds Avatar
    Adrian Hinds

    Often times i have to do a double take of contributions and so again i do so with INKWELL.

    You propose that i am an apologist for American stupidy. You then went on to present a very WEAK argument to strenghten that proposal. It failed. 🙂

    You then went on to wonder out loud if the Jews are in control ofAmerica. ????????? I nominate for O’reilly’s pinhead award. 🙂 🙂 🙂

  48. Digied Avatar
    Digied

    Honestly, I agree and disagree with David’s stance. On the one hand, the free market, pro-deregulation policies of Bush did have something to do with the situation the US financial markets have found themselves in now.

    There is a useful NY times article about it here(http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/20/business/20prexy.html?_r=1&ref=business&oref=slogin)

    And McCain, who until recently supported deregulation and whose chief economic adviser Phil Gramm was instrumental in pushing regulation, is linked with that.

    Whereas Obama had called for stiffer regulation and oversight for a while.

    To put it simply – these financial types needed to be put on a leash, not given freedom to run wild. And Obama saw that.

    But (always a but) the rather scary truth is that the US president does not have as much influence on the economy as they would have you believe during election time. Or as much influence as the executive does under the Westminster system of governance (i.e. ours).

    This is because the US presidency is a constitutionally weak position, made so deliberately by their founding fathers to ensure that there were checks and balances on executive power and that the presidency could never devolve into a monarchical-type position.

    Newsweek had a good article on it (http://www.newsweek.com/id/143513)

    Truth is, the head of the Federal Reserve has more power to affect the US economy in the short term than the president.

    Anyhow, we’re also discussing this over on the forums on nationnews.com so feel free to leave a comment there as well for our Feedback Feature of the day. 🙂

  49. Inkwell Avatar
    Inkwell

    Adrian

    If you read my post carefully, I did not say that you are stupid. I said that you are an apologist for American stupidity. The two are miles apart. Further, maybe I am wrong, but I supposed you to be a Barbadian living in the US. If I am wrong and you are in fact American, I apologise, for my comment was not meant to be directed at you personally. If, however, you really do not get my point I may have to review my stance.

    Now I have to claim stupidity as I cannot understand your statement that “Wall street fat cats responded by purposely pulling back the Dow index by 700+ points.” I didn’t know that “fat cats” controlled the DOW. I’m surprised. I simplistically thought that it was the ordinary investors’ buying and selling of the thirty stocks that constitute the DOW that influenced it.

    Further, you misread my post by suggesting that I want the American people to panic. My suggestion was in fact that the administration by its tone and body language seemed close to panic. Read it again. You are allowing your emotions to get the better of your reason.

    Again, if you would read the last paragraph of my post with any level of perception, you would be able to deduce what the bailout was supposed to achieve.

  50. Real Ting Avatar
    Real Ting

    Americans must be mad in truth. forget about qualified. bush had 8 years and leaves america with a war nobody wants. mccain says that he will fight this war to the bitter end and refuses to set a timetable for pulling out despite the fact that America wants out;

    Mccain says that he will halt spending Increases except on gee guess what Defence and veterans

    the republican ideal of deregulation and free market capitalism only allows wall street to be free of independent regulation it does not allow for bad practices to result in failure.

    The economy is in tatters. A famous republican president said the buck stops here. It happened on dubya’s watch.

    And I would vote for another 4 years of republican presidency?

    Ossie moore could be running on the democratic ticket and he would get my vote.

    in the good old BDS the dees had to do an 8% cut and they were out for 14 years. only get two seats in the elections after the cut and the other parishes probably were cruel that st. lucy and john vote Dem.

    the swing that the Iraq war and the economic meltdown and high oil prices ( even though the oil companies and the speculators making record profits) should leave Obama with a 20% advantage. it just shows that some ppl in the states will vote republican even if their ass on fire.

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