Magox
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AIG Executives deserve those bonus checks ... NOT!
Show how greedy and out of touch that industry has become ...
I hear what your saying, but there is more to it than meets the eye.
This story goes way back, way before this week.
If your going to blame people.
The first people you blame is Alan Greenspan and former president Bill Clinton.
One of Greenspan’s first acts as Chairman of the Fed was to call for repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, something which his old friends at J.P.Morgan and Citibank had ardently campaigned for. It wasn't until Nov. 1999, that
Bill Clinton repealed the glass-steagal act, which basically paved the way to make it legal to trade OTC derivatives
to understand what all this means, you have know what an OTC derivative is
Over-the-counter (OTC, or direct buyer-to-seller) derivatives are contracts that are traded and privately negotiated between two parties. All OTC derivatives are unregulated, so the counterparty risk is the key factor: basically, when the contract terminates will one party stay solvent and reimburse the other without going bankrupt? According to the BIS, the total outstanding notional amount is $684 trillion as of June 2008. Of this total notional amount, 67% are interest rate contracts, 8% are credit default swaps (CDS), 9% are foreign currency exchange contracts, 2% are commodity contracts, 1% are equity contracts, and 13% are other assorted types.
Just so you know, Warren Buffet refered to them back in 2003 as "financial instruments of mass destruction"
These non regulated investments, in a nutshell are sidebets on interest rate contracts, credit default swaps (CDS), foreign exchange contracts, commodity contracts, 1% equity contracts, and 12% in an other category. It's basically a legal way of gambling, but at the highest of highest stakes of poker. So high, that it can bring the world to it's knees.And now the reason for Buffet's concern becomes clear. As the world's reserve currency, the majority of all derivatives are transacted in dollars. And these trillions of dollars of worthless fiat electrons truly dwarf the rest of the world.
~8 Trillion Total Monetary Supply of US Dollars, cash, coin, and banking accounts <$100K (Federal Reserve M2)
15 Trillion Total US 2008 GDP, or the market value of all goods and services by all American parties
50 Trillion Total world GDP in 2008 per US Global
75 Trillion Total value of the world's Real Estate per US Global
77 Trillion Total nominal value of world's ETD derivatives per BIS
100 Trillion Total value of the world's stock AND bond markets per US Global
684 Trillion Total nominal value of world's OTC derivatives per BIS
So the whole point of this, is that these "financial instruments of mass destruction" when they go wrong, just the slightest % causes severe damage.
Since AIG insured massive amounts of these sidebets, from companies like BearSterns, Lehman, Bank of America, J.P Morgan etc. etc. It was obvious that AIG was going to receive the majority of the losses because they are the insurer of these disastrous investment vehicles.
So back to AIG, there is no doubt that they were wreckless, but this is well before Liddy took over, If we are to blame anyone from AIG it would be Maurice "Hank" Greenberg, Martin Sullivan and Robert Willumstad. Liddy inherited this mess.
So here we are, You have 100's of derivative traders that are working for AIG. These guys did not create the mess, they are the one's trading these toxic assets that no one wants. So the retention bonuses are necessary. The reason why is a simple reason.
These guys can decide to walk away and quit. Which I know many people here would say "fine, go ahead and quit". Well, that really would not be a wise move to make. They are handling massive amounts of money, it is critical to have them still in place. They have been in the trenches, they are familiar with these products. If you bring in new people to take over and manage these contracts, it could be even more disastrous.
So Liddy, had communicated this with the Secretary of Treasury Geithner. Geithner then communicated this with Dodd, and the "loophole" was created. When Congress signed on to this, they did this well before the most recent outrage. If you are going to blame anyone about this bonus, it should be congress, they were the one's that signed onto it.
Now what a sham. Now they want to make a populist decision and tax them %90 of the bonus.
These guys are morons. They need to step back a second and realize the possible implications of doing this.
Now every bank that is receiving tarp will want to pay back the money as quick as possible, so they don't fall under these restrictions. Which in turn will defeat the whole purpose of the TARP. Which btw, I think is a terrible strategy, but this is the strategy that they are going with.
I believe the biggest mistake about this most recent situation, is that this needed to be communicated to the American Public, that these guys that are handling all these OTC contracts need to be retained.
Remember, these traders of OTC contracts did not create the mess, it was created along time ago, and since then greed from Wall Street CEO's pushed the idea onto their employees.
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You guyz have the wrong USC LB. Matthews will be the best out of the bunch. Good tackler, great bloodlines, fastest and most athletic out of the three.
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As long as the Bills don't trade him, he will sign.
He has little choice.
At $4 Million a year with 2 years left, he is obligated to fulfill his contract or sit out the season. If he sits out, he get's Nothing. If the Bill's don't offer him a new contract he get's $4 Million.
So he can either, sit out, accept the contract that the Bills offer him or fulfill his existing contract.
That's it. There are no other options.
The Bills have the leverage, and they shouldn't trade it away.
Most likely the Bills will offer him another contract. As of right now, we are hearing that it is at $8.5 Million a year. Let's say the Bills bump it up to $9 Million. Peters and his agent most likely won't like the deal.
But what are their options?
They will have to take the deal. By not taking the deal, they will be giving up anywhere between $5 Million and $9 Million a season.
We are holding all the cards.
As long as we are patient, and don't trade him away and stick to our guns, he will sign.
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Mangini is an idiot
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Oh god, no.
Unless you love Schobel and Kelsay, say no to this guy. Because he is the same type of player.
please
spare yourself from looking more ignorant then you all ready sound.
Just because a player is white, like Schobel and Kelsay, doesn't mean they will be the same mold of player.
Oh, and btw, last I remembered, Schobel has had about as many sacks as just about anyone in the last 8 years, and that is considering he didn't play that much last year.
If he turned out to be another Schobel, then he'd be well worthy of our 1st round pick.
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Yes, the adjustments needed for a player with a nagging back injury were never made. Furthermore, we just never let McCargo play to his strengths. What are they again?
Believe it or not, he is very quick on the snap. When he is at his best, he sort of reminds me of the Big Cat Leon Lett.
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I read a post about JM being in a trade scenario. I just watched a highlight video of 2007. I forgot how many big plays he made that year. Maybe his back was the issue last year, but just didn't complain about it bothering him. I'd love to see If he could play at that level consistantly during camp and pre-season.
I was very disappointed that he didn't play any role last year. After showing lots of promise in the second half of 2007, I was sure that he was going to impact our defense positively. If he doesn't get traded, I hope that he is motivated to play well this year. If he is motivated and healthy, I wouldn't be surprised if he stepped up his game.
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The most apparent athletically gifted DE in this year's combine. Good production in his limited experience playing the position. Sounds like a player with a lot of upside, I'm just not to sure what sort of immediate impact he can bring to the team considering that he is raw. Sounds like we are considering him for the 2nd round choice. I hope we bring in Sidbury as well.
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My friend, you are not the only one. I'm a Christian so I look at things in a different manor than alot of people do. From my perspective and what I understand of prophecy, this is all a set up. All of these things are going on at this point in time because we are rapidly heading towards the days of the book of Revelation and Daniel being lived out upon the earth. With all of the wars, utter rebellion against God, and economic unstability worldwide the end is soon near. When the great collapse finally takes place it will be the Anti-Christ who steps in with his plan to save the world. He will seemingly have the answer to all things and people will embrace him and worship him. He will also have a cloak of religion around him with a false prophet. Many signs and lying wonders will take place before the eyes of all. God will send a strong delusion upon the people who did not receive the Lord Jesus Christ and they will be drawn in that much more. They will cry out "Who is like the beast and who can make war with him?" He will then be mortally wounded, die before all, and then come back to life by the power of Satan himself. People laugh and say it sounds like something out of Hollywood or a comic book. They try to brush it aside, but it's coming my friend and seemingly soon with the way things are shaping up. All the stuff you see now is nothing more than the road to tribulation.
I wouldn't ever discount anyone's beliefs on their faith. Whether the world is coming to an end or not, it doesn't really matter to me. What I mean by that is that, it won't change the way I live my life. I am looking to better myself every day in every single way. Of course, there are many setbacks along the way, but that is a main focus in my life.
According to the Bible, God helps those who helps themselves. It happens to be, that money is a way that helps make things easier for my life. That doesn't mean that I enjoy making money for the purpose of having money. I make money so I can put a roof over my head, have a vehicle to get around in, food to eat, clothes to wear. But other than just needs, I make money with the motivation to make my life more comfortable and enjoyable, and I don't see that as a sin.
I basically live my life to be happy, or at least I try to live my life that way.
I have a strong interest in the economy, as my job is to advise people in how to handle their finances. I enjoy what I do, I love the research, I love communicating with people, and I have a genuine interest in helping others.
I strongly advise for people to take another look at their finances and investments. The decisions today that the Fed, Treasury and Government are making, has and will continue to impact very heavily people's investments moving forward.
Some people have the view that hope is a good strategy. I can tell you that Hope is a terrible strategy. It is mind boggling to me, that people will work hard all their lives, and put a % of their income into their 401k, IRA etc. but not put no where near enough emphasis and time tending to their investments.
It is counterproductive to spend all your time working, and very little time researching and taking care of your investments. Many people that I speak to have lost over half of their life savings through their 401K's. They lost this money partially because they listened and entrusted their life savings to these "financial guru's" or as I call them "stock cheerleaders".
You have to be either misinformed, misguided or just deciding to turn a blind eye to believe that these huge decisions that the government is making won't impact your investments.
Hope is a terrible strategy. So for those who have their investments, and are down significantly. You still have a choice in where to put your money.
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The Bills need to step up to the plate, pay him a 6 year $60 Million contract, with incentives taking it up to as high as $70 million, $30 Million Guaranteed.
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I remember reading that taking on debt is deflationary in the long term. Short term it is inflationary due to the increase in money supply, but every dollar printed today will have to be paid back with the principle $1 plus interest in the future, therefore taking money out of the supply. The chinese are financing a majority of our debt, and all of this money plus interest will end up in their economy in the near future.
In the past inflating our way out of a financial mess has worked. Prices on everything rise, hosuing prices rise (getting people from being upside down in their mortgages), wages increase, stock market goes up, commodities go up etc etc. If you want to protect your money invest in commodities or commodity based stocks. I invested in natural gas and bought gold and platinum a couple months ago for this exact reason. You could argue that real estate would be a solid investment right now as well.
I absolutely agree with investing in commodity based stocks. The chinese right now are buying up lots of commodity based companies, M&A activity has been picking up significantly out east, because they know this will benefit their expansion, and it is a way to hedge themselves in case if the value of the U.S dollar depreciates, which I think is inevitable.
There have been recent statements from foreign governments (like the chinese, who just recently said that they were "worried" with their U.S investments, largely Treasuries)suggest the rest of the world finds much fault with U.S systems that, it perceives, allowed the current crisis to metastasize. Global leaders may seek to impose significant international finance changes that would alter how the U.S operates.
Perhaps the U.S will concede on some demands, but possibly at a price, the acceptance of a substantially weaker u.S dollar over the lon term.
The reasoning behind it is that a weaker dollar allows the U.S to compete better globally by boosting exports, helping shrink the exploding current-account deficit, and the treasury has massive debt to sell to pay for all these sundry bailouts. Debasing the currency allows the treasury to repay its debt with cheaper dollars.
My concern is, up to what point will the chinese decide to not buy any more of our debt, or maybe even start dumping it? After all they do have their own pressing needs and they do need to watch over their investments. I mean, the fact of the matter is, the more debt we rack up, the more at risk we are of defaulting on our commitments with foreign holders of U.S debt.
I am fearful that as a result of all this government spending, that inflation could be "the canary in the coal mine" . I could see their being an unhealthy inflationary whiplash. One that doesn't so much consist of actual strong, robust demand for commodities, but one where a "freefall" of the U.S dollar will have serious implications on where investors park their money.
In times of inflation fears, as you astutely pointed out, investors would rather hold on to tangible assets as opposed to paper.
My fear in commodity stocks though, is that if the U.S dollar falls precipitously, then you may see a serious devaluation of all U.S dollar denominated assets, including U.S stocks. The underlying commodity may rise, but that doesn't mean that the value of the stock will.
Take a look at the performance of Gold Mining stock index and the value of Gold bullion. The value of Gold bullion has risen over %200 in the last 5 years, where the value of Gold mining stocks at an average has risen less than %50. It is still a paper asset.
I guess what I'm saying is that i trust tangible assets more than paper assets.
For now
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Cornelius Ingram vastly improved his stock at the UF Pro Day (he ran a 4.53). I hope we take this guy to stretch the field and add an extra element to our already-improved offense. I think he can line up at WR in some situations, as well. Options, options, options. If we could get him in the 3rd, I'd be thrilled.
Check out the pic after the link; the man is a freak of nature.
He's like a black hulk
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Here's an op-ed piece that Florio wrote on ProFootballTalk in the wake of breaking the Bills sign Pat Thomas story (is that official yet?).
http://www.profootballtalk.com/2009/03/19/...e-drug-testing/
While reading this article I had the same exact thought as Magox...ask him to submit to a voluntary test. I think there is enough raised eyebrows and concern about the legitimacy of his weight gain that a negative test result would put to rest fears that teams may have about his sudden transformation.
If he says no, he's almost hurting himself at this point. He could even do one drug screen and make the results available to all teams for that matter. It would be easier on him than taking multiple screens.
Thanks for the link.
I absolutely agree with your assesment. If he has nothing to hide, then he should willfuly submit a drug test result to all potential NFL suitors.
That way, there is no doubt.
I would have to believe that any team would be naive to think that "juicing" himself in some sort of manner isn't a possibility. The jump in #'s are staggering. Not to mention, there were NFL analysts had him dropping in value, some suggested even into the 2nd round.
After his, what I thought to be disastrous Combine workout, there is little doubt that he had lots of motivation to better himself in his pro day work out.
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Yesterday's decision from the Fed is seen by many as bold.
In my view, it is wreckless.
There is no doubt in my mind, that this was the single largest decision that will impact the dollar since the 1985 Plaza Accord.
The fed is basically deciding to finance our deficit by buying our own national debt.
The logic behind it is that it will bring down rates in mortgage/consumer/credit card/school loans.
In the short run, it most likely will.
It was just a few months ago the fed's made a similar move, and the committed and spent $800 Billion in Mortgage/consumer loans. It brought down rates.
for just a little while.
Mortgage rates on the 30 year loans came down to as low as 4.96%.
Then gradually they went higher as I knew they would.
Now the fed has commited another $1 Trillion dollars and rates this morning for the 30 year came down to as low as 4.98%. So we are right back where we were just a few months ago, except now we have committed an additional Trillion dollars. Now I wouldn't be surprised to see rates go lower in the coming weeks, but it will just be temporary.
Bernanke was a big student of the Great Depression. I believe he feels as if he was destined to be the Fed Chief.
Comments from the fed chief offer support for this argument. In his famous address on fighting deflation in 2002, Mr. Bernanke said the fed wouldn't run out of ammunition to influence prices even after cutting interest rates to zero: "The U.S government has a technology called a printing press... that allowes it to produce as many U.S dollars as it wishes at essentially no cost."
This is your fed chief
I honestly believe that the value of the U.S dollar is in for a very hard landing.
according to U.N economists, and mind you, this was before the potentially disastrous decision that the Fed's made yesterday, "that the U.S external debt has risen to new heights thatr could provoke a dollar collapse"
they also went on to say "an accelerated fall of the dollar could bring new tumroil to markets. Investors might renew their flight to safety, though this time away from dollar-denominated assets, therby forcing the US economy inta a hard landing and pulling the global economy into a deeper recession"
If the Obama administration pushes through another stimulus plan, the dollar is done.
the reason why I am sharing this with anyone who reads this is so that you can be aware of what is happening.
I know people will criticize what I am saying, but for those who actually know how to read in between the lines, of what the federal reserve, U.S Treasury and the U.S president are looking to do.
Invest in things that protect yourself against a devalued dollar and inflation.
TIPs is a good way to invest. Basically it is a bond that protects yourself against inflation. Right now they are priced very cheaply because of this deflationary whirl wind that we are in. But people are starting to get into them now, so they are rising in value.
Precious Metals, another way to protect yourself. If the Central banks across the world are not going to make responsable decisions, then you have to be your own central banker.
anyway, I am a passionate and concerned investor. I thought I'd share this with you.
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I wouldn't count on it - although it is Detroit at #1, and they're the only NFL team to lose money last year.
I smell a holdout
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Makes sense.
That's probably why there won't be a deal for Peters till after the top tackle signs.
Hopefully with the woeful economy, that this will impact the draft contracts
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FWIW, here's the story those pictures are from. (I read it in the print edition yesterday ...)
PSU star transforms body to prepare for NFL scouts
That's a good find Lori.
However, I am a slightly skeptical of some of these athletes that have these pro day workouts that are considerably better than the scouting day combine workouts.
I am not sure if teams are able to do this or not, but if possible, If I were a GM and i was seriously considering drafting a player that had a huge jump in their workout numbers, I'd ask the player if he would take a voluntary, discreet drug test, just to make sure.
It would make perfect sense to do so, considering a team is investing the success of their organization on such an important decision.
If Maybin, took no illegal drugs or supplements, and he did in fact have these workout numbers, then I would have to say, without a doubt, that his stock has risen considerably.
I have been on the bandwagon against drafting Maybin, but considering last year's production, 25 lbs of added solid muscle weight, and now his explosive Vertical and broad jump #'s, which in my view is a sign of potential edge rushing explosion, I would have to say that he in my book, would now merit serious consideration for the #11 pick.
Without the drug test, if legal, which it should be, if he volunteered, I would be highly skeptical and would rather go another rout.
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Man, this better not be the answer to our OLB woes. We better see Cato June signed tomorrow or something.
I get the feeling this is the FA LB signing for the offseason. We all ready have Digiorgio, Ellison, Buggs, Bowen, Poz, Mitchel and now Thomas.
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Sorry if this has already been posted.
http://www.profootballtalk.com/2009/03/18/...ads-to-buffalo/
That's a surprise. At least to me it is. I read that he is good athleticism, sideline to sideline player. Pretty much has been hampered with injuries, but has shown promise.
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No need to rush.
Derrick Brooks, Keiaho and June are all "cover 2" OLB's. There really isn't too much of a high demand for these sort of players. "cover 2" is becoming less popular, so I really don't see a need to rush this decision. Now I would suspect, that if one of these players get signed, then maybe you'll see some sort of urgency on the Bills part to land one of these players, if that is the direction that they are wanting to go. Patience is a virtue, and you never know what player may get cut or want to get traded (ex. Julian Peterson).
Not only that, but every day that goes by, the value of these players go down.
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I'm getting a bit worried that free agency is waning and the Bills still have major holes to fill. To my way of thinking here's what still needs to be filled (in order of urgency):
Sign Peters. He has Bills over a barrel. They can't afford to open another massive hole on the O-Line.
Sign a starting Guard to take Dockery's place.
Sign a Starting Linebacker.
Sign a DE that can get to the QB.
Sigh a starting TE to take Royal's spot.
Sign a serviceable RB to back up Jackson during Lynch's suspension.
That's six glaring holes. Realistically, the draft can probably fill 2. (That also eliminates the old "Take the best guy on the board" scenario that teams like to operate under. The Bills will surely have to draft for need.)
The T.O. shot in the arm was nice, but it is looking more and more like sugar coating on a sour off-season.
Let's lock up Peters, which I believe we will do before preseason starts.
Sign a LB and Guard would be good, and I'm hoping it will be soon.
DE and TE I would hope that we would address these needs in the draft.
RB, I don't see why we need to
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It's all good, he was just chillin, while his boyz were smokin a spliff.
no harm
no foul
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Its still too early to declare his assessment of the market and work at Peters' direction a done deal yet (it ain't over 'til its over) but given some of the vitriol spewed last year about how stupid Peters and his agent were in how they played this negotiating exercise, I think a rational assessment of the current situation in negotiation is almost all in Peters' favor.
I know there is no requirement and I do not expect any hardcore Bills partisan to be rational, but it is no surprise to me that even with the Bills and Peters reported to be about $3 million apart, I think one needs to realize that this is far closer to Peters' outrageous demand of the top OL contract in the market (which is now over $11.5 million a year that Jake Long signed for) than where the Bills started out which is wanting Peters to honor his existing (RT pay scale) contract.
The Bills have moved from the $4 mill a year (which by far is the largest paycheck Peters ever saw but that does not seem to matter in the modern NFL where both teams and players seem happy to get every one of our dimes they can) apparently to 8 and given the situation I think its a pretty safe bet that Peters is gonna get a lot more than $8 million a year.
Maybe Peters and his agent got to the current position through their intelligent gauging of the market, or through dumb luck, or through getting a couple of things to go their way and they took advantage of these opportunities, but whatever the reason (my guess is opportunism rather than Peters and his posse anticipating just how this would go) I think it takes real blinders not to see the superior negotiating position Peters is in.
The 3 big events in this negotiation IMHO were:
A. Peters aimed high and stuck to his guns for the most part last off-season-
As with most games of chicken (which in essence what last year's juvenile multi-million dollar face off between the Bills and Peters was) no one really won and both sides should count their blessings they survived this dispute to live again. Peters missed camp by holding out until the last minute (the last minute was he crawled back before being docked a game check which would have been serious money. There was a noticeable effect in terms of his performance in the first half of last year as he got off to a slow start. However, this slow start had no real impact on the important stat of W/L as the Bills won despite the initial inconsistent play of Peters. In the more imaginary world of the media (radio and the web being the loudest) Peters was labeled as lousy.
However, since the Bills got off to a fast start without Peters hitting the ground running, and many of his teammates rooting for the Bills to set a precedent of caving into player demands, and since Edwards was not killed due to lame LT play both Peters and the Bills escaped his holdout with their lives.
B. Peters made the Pro Bowl-
This accomplishment really put Peters in the driver's seat. Many Bills fans made leery of the validity of Pro Bowl selection after watching Ruben Brown get in year after year despite having some not very good years sometimes really devalue Pro Bowl picks. However, the critical issue here is market value and whether he deserved it or not Peters scored a big plus by getting voted in by a mixed and balanced opinions of coaches, peers, and fans.
One has to give props to Peters for winning this nod as from a marketing/negotiating standpoint this validated his decision to hold out as even with the slow start he still got the nod from this mixed panel. Even for those who want to claim all they care about is play and not popularity, they actually are ignoring play to claim Peters is a bad player as part of his winning this was that his on field performance seemed to this viewer (and is born out by some statistical analysis that looks at which opposing DL player got a sack) improved in the second half of the season probably as he improved from his selfish holdout.
C. Dockery was let go-
This created a dual advantage for Peters in that this move not only made some cap room for Peters as the Bills cut him rather than pay him a roster bonus, but it also put the Bills in a situation where they already were replacing their starting center and several back-ups on the OL. While some seem to have their panties all up in a wad over Peters not honoring his contract (hello real world are you surprised) it looks really doubtful the Bills will want to replace the majority of their OL in one off-season which they would have to do if they cut Peters.
An even greater departure from reality is that some fans are vocal about wanting to trade Peters for draft choices. This is simply a departure from reality in that actual NFL GMs realize that even though the conventional wisdom is a 1st round pick should be a starter (many Bills fans have been fooled by good picks like Nate Clements becoming a star after the Bills traded down to the last third of the 1st round to get him). It does happen a lot that a later pick becomes a starter, but the actual real world occurrence is that its only a little over 50/50 most years for a first round pick to be a starter at the beginning of the next season.
Even if the Bills got 2 1st rounders for Peters (could happen but like franchise player Cassel and others a top vet may only bring later round choices in reality) they are likely writing off 09 in terms of OL play as these rookies learn to become vets. When Dockery got cut the cash registers started going off in Peters and his agents head.
The bottomline here appears to me that despite the whines of many fans and media types like Ed Kilgore who have instant stories he would not have to work hard to do his job if the Bills stupidly drew a line in the sand, the Bills will likely wait until after the April draft to ink Peters. As the rookie cap is separate from the vet cap who they pick makes little fiscal difference (our decision to do our accounting based on cap to cash may to some extent link rookie contracts to existing contracts but not by a huge amount) and the Bills can roll over and sign Peters when they choose. However, by leaving the situation unclear they also send misinformation to our opponents so outside clarity probably waits until after the draft.
However, in the big picture I give my props to Peters and his agent. They appear to have played this well and even in the worse case the Bills ship Peters and he probably really cashes in as his new team would almost certainly want to sign him for his career.
Well played Peters.
Your only flaw is
that you are talking to irrational bitter fans
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Umm... I think you mean, "... is a $4 that has to be paid back tomorrow."
(Unless you know someone who lends at 0%.)
Absolutely.
We are putting ourselves into debt, not just on a national but a personal household level.
We don't create things anymore. Our Economy's growth doesn't depend on production, it rely's on credit extension. The more we buy, the more our economy grows, which in turn puts us heavier into debt.
I find it Ironic, that what was largely responsable for putting us into this mess, was irresponsable lending and borrowing. We leveraged ourselves to the tilt, and when the Sh*t hit the fan, the buyers dryed up and as a result, we have found ourselves in this deflationary whirlwind.
So what we are doing now to get us out of this mess, is we are now going to print more money and buy more U.S debt with the money we printed. WTF
don't let them fool you.
they call it "quantitative easing"
The Japanese adopted it in the 1990's
ya that worked really well for them didn't it?
so, I guess the thinking is, since it didn't work for the Japanese, it will work with us.
Two words
Zombie banks
that is the plan.
recapitalize a bank who had bad lending practices and 0 risk management. Give them money, so they stay alive, but never will have the confidence to lend again. Just like a zombie, alive, but not really.
On top of it all, the irresponsable lenders, who helped create this mess, not just with the lax lending, but the wreckless, insane OTC derivative markets (mortgage back securities) that were 30 times leveraged, we are going to Recapitalize these banks with Hundreds of Billions possibly Trillions of dollars (and produce in effect zombie banks) and now force them to lend
AGAIN, in an economic environment worse today than what it was before.So in effect.
1)Irresponsable lending and borrowing is largely responsable for where we are today.
2)Now we will recapitalize these banks that should of gone under and give them a second chance.
3)Bail out lots of irresponsable borrowers with the housing forclosure plan.
4)Force banks to lend AGAIN in a worse economic environment today than before
It's a vicious cycle
What they should do, is Nationalize the banks, or if you prefer to use another word, take them into "temporary receivership", break them off and sell all their healthy assets and deposits to stronger regional banks who practiced better risk management. Reward the good banks.
Then pool all the toxic assets into a "bad bank" and play the waiting game. With time, these assets will rise in value, and the American taxpayer will be able to recoup a good portion of what was invested.
I think its safe to say...
in The Stadium Wall Archives
Posted
gotta agree