:rolleyes

...man stelle sich das einmal bei uns vor :rolleyes:schwitz

Page last updated at 08:29 GMT, Tuesday, 29 July 2008 09:29 UK
America's house price time bomb

By Michael Robinson
BBC World Service


With the American housing market in its worst crisis since the Great Depression of the 1930s, President Bush is expected to sign into law a massive new government intervention designed to slow the slide.....


......No renegotiation

In the city of Stockton - the foreclosure, or repossession, capital of the US for 2007 - estate agent Kevin Morgan sells repossessed houses on behalf of the banks that now own them.

According to him, walking away has become commonplace.

"I would say it's probably 70% of the volume of our foreclosures right now," he says.

"It's a business decision for their family that the smartest thing they can do is walk away from their home."

As a sign of the changing times, some 60% of borrowers do not even bother to contact their banks to attempt a renegotiation of their loan, Mr Moran explains.

"They stop paying and they stop talking," he says. "They just plain walk away."


Professor Nouriel Roubini, New York University
This is becoming a tsunami of voluntary defaults

Total disaster

It is impossible to know for sure how many of the people who are now walking away from their homes could have gone on paying their mortgages.

But Professor Nouriel Roubini of New York University, one of the first economists to warn of the dangers of the American house price boom, believes the number of people positively choosing to walk away is growing rapidly.

"This is becoming a tsunami of voluntary defaults," Professor Roubini says.

"The losses for the financial system from people walking away could be of the order of one trillion dollars when the entire capital of the US banking system is only $1.3 trillion.

"You could have most of the US banking system wiped out, so this is a total disaster."

Which is why it is not just US policymakers who are hoping America's new, multi-billion dollar initiative to stabilise the housing market will succeed in its aims and thus make walking away less attractive.

Because if it fails, the economic fallout could be felt far beyond America's shores.

Michael Robinson's two-part series "The Trouble with Money" is broadcast on 30 July and 6 August on BBC World Service. You can hear the programmes online by going to: the BBC World Service documentaries page

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7529277.stm

:eek MERRYL FINANCED CDO PURCHASE :eek

Lonstare received 75% financing for $6.7b CDO purchase

- Financing is said to be at commercial rates

CNBC


....Merryl finanziert also seinen eigenen Verkauf :kopf wer blickt da noch durch :rolleyes


*****************************************

...na ja man wusste es also gestern schon :rolleyes

CDO Sale:

On July 28, 2008, Merrill Lynch agreed to sell $30.6 billion gross notional amount of U.S. super senior ABS CDOs to an affiliate of Lone Star Funds for a purchase price of $6.7 billion. At the end of the second quarter of 2008, these CDOs were carried at $11.1 billion, and in connection with this sale Merrill Lynch will record a write-down of $4.4 billion pre-tax in the third quarter of 2008.

On a pro forma basis, this sale will reduce Merrill Lynch’s aggregate U.S. super senior ABS CDO long exposures from $19.9 billion at June 27, 2008, to $8.8 billion, the majority of which comprises older vintage collateral – 2005 and earlier. The pro forma $8.8 billion super senior long exposure is hedged with an aggregate of $7.2 billion of short exposure, of which $6.0 billion are with highly-rated non-monoline counterparties, of which virtually all have strong collateral servicing agreements, and $1.1 billion are with MBIA. The remaining net exposure will be $1.6 billion. The sale will reduce Merrill Lynch’s risk-weighted assets by approximately $29 billion.

Merrill Lynch will provide financing to the purchaser for approximately 75% of the purchase price. The recourse on this loan will be limited to the assets of the purchaser. The purchaser will not own any assets other than those sold pursuant to this transaction. The transaction is expected to close within 60 days.
http://jessescrossroadscafe.blogspot.com/

DemReadingDU (1000+ posts) Tue Jul-29-08 10:05 AM
Response to Reply #38 50. 'They're All Toast': Roubini Says Brokers, Even Goldman, Can't Stay Independent
7/22/08 'They're All Toast': Roubini Says Brokers, Even Goldman, Can't Stay Independent (ja das möchte ich noch erleben :rolleyes ob das die FED/Paulson & Co zulassen :confused ich bezweifle es :mad) by Aaron Task

The broker/dealer business model is "inherently unstable" and the four remaining major firms will not be independent in a few years, says Nouriel Roubini, economics professor at NYU's Stern School and chairman of RGE Monitor.

Embattled Lehman Brothers is likely to seek a buyer "within months," Roubini says. Lehman Brothers ceasing to be independent is not such a shocking outcome, but Roubini ultimately sees a similar outcome for Goldman, Merrill Lynch, and Morgan Stanley.

The problem, he says, is that broker/dealers use the same model as banks -- borrow short and lend long -- only they borrow on even shorter timeframes, use more leverage, and don't have the kind of government backstop banks enjoy.

In the wake of Bear Stearns' demise, which showed how brokers are vulnerable to a "run on the bank" if they can't get overnight funding, the Fed temporarily opened its discount window to brokerage firms. But making that option permanent means submitting to the same kind of regulation and capital requirements as banks; that, in turn, means a very different business model -- and much lower profitability -- for Wall Street firms, whose current business model is "not viable," he says.

With U.S. financial giants like JPMorgan, Citigroup, and Bank of America dealing with internal issues, the most likely buyers are international financial firms or sovereign wealth funds, Roubini says. But unlike in 2007, foreigners are not going to settle for preferred shares, and non-voting rights next time around.

That raises the questions: Is America ready for (true) foreign ownership of major financial institutions? And do we have a choice?

http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/article/41330/\'Th...

Tuesday, July 29, 2008

BREAKING: Senator Ted Stevens indicted on 7 criminal counts

By GottaLaff

60 seats looking more feasible every day:

Sen. Ted Stevens from Alaska, the longest serving U.S. Republican senator ever, was indicted on seven counts related to his holding of public office, a federal law enforcement official said on Tuesday. The U.S. Justice Department has scheduled a news conference for 1:20 p.m. to make an announcement "regarding a significant criminal matter." The official said the news conference would announce the criminal charges against Stevens that have been returned by a federal grand jury in Washington, D.C.

And this is the good part:

Stevens, who has served in the U.S. Senate for 40 years, is up for re-election this year, and Democrats view his seat as one of their top pick-up opportunities.

......

Wolfgang Münchau: Goodbye, Wall Street

von Wolfgang Münchau

Der moderne Finanzkapitalismus angelsächsischer Prägung gehört der Vergangenheit an. Nach der Krise steht den Finanzmärkten eine lange Phase äußerst harter Regulierung bevor.


In meiner ersten Serie zur Finanzkrise habe ich im vergangenen Sommer zunächst noch über die drohende Krise geschrieben. In einer weiteren vierteiligen Serie geht es um deren Ausbreitung. Erst im nächsten oder übernächsten Jahr kann ich Ihnen das Ende der Turbulenzen präsentieren. So lange wird es wohl noch dauern.

Was von vielen Menschen immer noch als Subprime-Krise bezeichnet wird, ist tatsächlich eine tiefgreifende Krise des angelsächsischen Kapitalismus. Im ersten Teil der Serie geht es um den vordergründigen Aspekt dieser Krise, und zwar um jene des angelsächsischen Finanzsystems. Eines der entscheidenden Charakteristika dieses Systems ist die Verbriefung von Krediten. Ein weiteres Merkmal ist ein hoher Grad an Innovation verbunden mit einem geringen Maß an Regulierung......

.....Die Krise des angelsächsischen Finanzsystems bedeutet daher nicht notwendigerweise das Ende der Verbriefung von Krediten. Sie bedeutet allerdings das Ende eines Systems, das auf einer irrwitzigen Explosion dieses Prinzips basierte. Ich stelle mir schon lange die Frage, ob die modernen angelsächsischen Finanzmärkte die Blasen vielleicht sogar benötigen, um überhaupt am Leben zu bleiben. In Zeiten der Blasenbildung wird viel Geld verdient. In den zwischenzeitlichen Korrekturphasen kommt großzügige Hilfe vom Staat wie auch jetzt wieder in den USA. In einem derart asymmetrischen System handelt man rational, wenn man möglichst hohe Risiken eingeht.

Das kann auf Dauer nicht gut gehen. Ich kann mir nicht vorstellen, dass die USA und andere angelsächsische Gesellschaften eine solche Entwicklung auf ewig tolerieren. Meine Erwartung ist deshalb, dass wir nach der aktuellen Finanzkrise eine lange Periode äußerst restriktiver Regulierung vor uns haben. Finanzinnovationen der vergangenen Jahrzehnte werden größtenteils überleben. Neue werden hinzukommen. Der moderne Finanzkapitalismus angelsächsischer Prägung hingegen gehört der Vergangenheit an.

Wolfgang Münchau ist FTD- und FT-Kolumnist. Er leitet den Informationsdienst Eurointelligence.com.

ganzer Artikel: http://www.ftd.de/meinung/leitartikel/391902.html?mode=

Zitat des Tages - Trader's Daily

"Wenn man den toten Hund nicht aus dem Brunnen holt, wird man den Brunnen nie sauber bekommen."

- Pakistanisches Sprichwort

SEC Extends Limit on Short Sales of Brokers, Fannie, Freddie
By David Scheer and Edgar Ortega




July 30 (Bloomberg) -- The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission extended an emergency limit on short sales in shares of Freddie Mac, Fannie Mae and 17 brokerages as it prepares broader rules to thwart stock manipulation.

The SEC pushed back expiration of its ban on so-called naked short sales of the firms' stocks to Aug. 12, the Washington-based agency said in a statement yesterday. The order aims to keep traders from driving down financial stocks to boost profits after Bear Stearns Cos. and IndyMac Bancorp Inc. collapsed amid rumors they were faltering.

The emergency order, focused on companies whose collapse might expose the U.S. government to losses, gives regulators time to weigh wider restrictions. SEC Chairman Christopher Cox last week told lawmakers the agency is examining additional proposals.

``The commission will continue exploring other remedies for the broader marketplace to further protect :ironie investors from 'distort and short' artists,'' Cox said in the statement. The agency doesn't plan to extend the temporary order again.....
full story: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?...4oao&refer=news

...wenn mich nicht alles täuscht war naked short selling schon immer ungesetzlich - wenn also der "ban" aufgehoben wird, dann darf man also wieder :confused:rolleyes:gomad:bad und die anderen ausser F&F und den 17 brokerages darf man also weiterhin bis zum geht nicht mehr :rolleyes:mad:bad :dumm
.....und warum eigentlich GS und Co. - man sollte besser den Otto-Normal-Investor vor denen schützen :grrrr

Moody's Profit Falls 48% as Asset-Backed Rating Demand Dries Up
By Mark Pittman

July 30 (Bloomberg) -- Moody's Corp., the world's second- largest credit-rating company, said second-quarter:rolleyes profit fell 48 percent as demand slumped for ratings (...ist ja kaum zu glauben - und die kleinen Gefälligkeisgelder "slumpen" wohl auch :o) on mortgage bonds and collateralized debt obligations.......

.....Moody's and larger rival Standard & Poor's are suffering from a plunge in bond sales that stifled demand for credit ratings. S&P parent McGraw-Hill Cos. yesterday reported a 44 percent slump in new bond sales in the quarter, driven by a 95 percent decline in mortgage-backed securities and an 88 percent slide in CDOs.

``This will be the worst quarter in the cycle in terms of earnings performances,'' Peter Appert, an analyst at Goldman Sachs (...na dann kann man ja annehmen, dass GS schon mal vorsorglich geshortet hat :bad die kann man ja :dumm) Group Inc. in San Francisco, said before the report. Appert, who rates Moody's ``neutral,'' had predicted revenue would decline by 25 percent....

full story: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?...y36M&refer=news

Gesetz :rolleyes :nw ...mal so - mal so :o aber eher :kotz so

TODD HARRISON
Hanky panky

Commentary: Are we trading against Hank Paulson?

By Todd Harrison
Last update: 12:01 a.m. EDT July 30, 2008
Comments: 92


NEW YORK (MarketWatch) -- They say the friction between opinions is where true education lies. If that's true, we've officially entered the realm of higher learning.





As both sides of the societal chasm haggle over how the market -- and, by extension, the economy -- is being handled, Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson has found himself in the center of the storm.
Perhaps that's a fitting role for the former chairman of Goldman Sachs (GS:Goldman Sachs Group, Inc
News, chart, profile, more
Last: 183.50+1.87+1.03%
10:15am 07/30/2008
, a man who deftly sold his equity holdings tax-free when he took the position in 2006. If anyone knows how the game is played, it's Hammering Hank. When pressed on policy, he recently responded, "I'm playing the hand I've been dealt."
Fair enough and truth be told, there isn't a realistic solution other than the elixir of time and price. It just so happens that we've all got chips on this particular table as he draws his next card.
Sucker's bet
We can wag our finger that the writing was on the wall since the subprime simmer of last summer. See MarketWatch column.
We can point to Alan Greenspan, who sowed the seeds of cumulative imbalances during the Asian contagion and tilled them anew after the technology bubble burst. See MarketWatch column.
Wall Street, repackaging risk and masking the disease with years of financial engineering, deserves a dishonorable mention as we dissect the discussion. See MarketWatch column.
And we, the people, must shoulder some of the blame. Questions were rarely asked as we collectively consumed beyond our means and pushed our obligations into the future. The bar tab has been building for quite some time and now that it's due, our pockets are empty. See Minyanville column.
To appreciate where we are we must first understand how we got here. Once we have -- and not many people do -- we're left with the naked truth that few, if any, viable alternatives exist.
Government officials must choose the lesser of two evils: massive intervention that will burden future generations or chaotic unwinding of risk that will bury our current one.....

.....Sir Isaac Newton wrote of three physical laws that provide relationships between the forces acting on a body and the motion of the body.

The first law is that a particle will stay at rest or continue at a constant velocity unless acted upon by an external, unbalanced force.


The second law is that the net force on an object is equal to the mass of the object multiplied by its acceleration.


The third law is that every action has an equal and opposite reaction.


Hank Paulson and the boys on the Beltway are powerful forces indeed.
But unless they want to rewrite the basic covenants by which our universe is based, they would be wise to let markets do what free markets do.
The sooner we're allowed to go through it, the quicker we'll all get through it
full story: http://www.marketwatch.com/news/sto...dist=TNMostRead

*****************************************

Comments: 92

Realgara 3 hours ago
+19 Votes (20 Up / 1 Dn) |





Sent

Well done Todd, a fantastic article and I hope he reads it and takes note and acts on it.

Paulson was allowed tax free gains, he is fine, no bother. What about all the people who were/are about to be cheated.. US tax payers... to underwrite and pay for the blank cheque he has written for the bale outs?

He is meddling in the market and as an outsider looking in at the US see that it is no longer a free market but interfered with by government. He is pushing share prices up so the companies that made horrendous mistakes and made huge losses can get more money? That is NOT good, that is daylight robbery and he is condoning and the world is looking in at him doing it.
He is artificially pushing the market up.
He maintains strong dollar policy and I have seen people on financial TV laughing at his statement on Strong Dollar. What a joke. The US have someone spouting rubbish when all the world can see the dollar has fallen off a cliff.
Why because the US is becoming a joke thanks to people like him openly telling obvious lies.

I would not invest a penny of my money in the US, it is not safe there.

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ands8oo 1 hour ago +13 Votes (13 Up / 0 Dn)





Sent

The entire U.S. financial system is a complete joke right now - and for TH to be brining this article up now is like pointing out the out of control freight train thats already at the bottom of the hill heading straight for a little town called "Middle Class America" - why wasn't this published six months ago?

Well Todd - I do commend you for at least bringing it up before things are completely unrecognizable... But let me let you in on a little secret - there is no way Paulson can let the market "sort itself out" without bringing the entire world financial system (and U.S. dollar) to its knees.

Right this very moment, banks are borrowing money from the federal reserve, buying back their own stock to create short-term "sucker rallies" and then trading the stuff (once it falls in value) into the Federal Reserve for more to do it all over again!! WHAT IS THAT!!?? Then, (just as Merrill has been doing) they sell GUARANTEED EQUITY let me spell that out G-U-A-R-A-N-T-E-E-D equity to Singapore's Sovereign wealth fund to give the illusion that the issue is OVERSUBSCRIBED!!!!???! - ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!? AND WE BELIEVE IT ALL!? So - then when the stock tanks, more money is borrowed by the bank trading in its poopy worthless stock as collateral to the fed to get more money to buy up the remaining stuff on the market and PAY OFF the Singapore Sovereign Wealth Fund? What an unbelievable scam. This is nothing more than the financial raping of America... and for what? The model is failed. Failed miserably.

Unfortunately, all the socialism you hear about and the lies and the manipulation and the deceit and the corruption are no longer the talk of the conspiracy theorists - we are watching it happen before our very eyes, and the funny part about it all is that Americans as a whole could really care less.

Goodbye middle class - there will be a stratified society when all this is finished and Uncle Sam's out of control choo choo rolls into town at 200mph loaded with dynamite and a lit fuse - those left will be the ones that made money off the privatized profits and those that lost their middle class status and way of life by paying for the socialized losses.

This isn't the America you grew up reading about in history books... Thank you Henry Paulson, Thank you Allen Greenspan, Thank you Ben Bernanke, and a big big thank you George W. Bush.

Where did all the true conservative, free-market republicans disappear too???

Why have we become the very thing we've always rallied against - a socialist state?

I'm writing in Ron Paul on my ballot - and if he doesn't win I'm leaving the country with any valuables I can smuggle out.

Very Sincerely,
An American Patriot

******************************

ich lösch mal lieber Report Abuse :rolleyes;)

Hanky panky
 

commentary:


Report Abuse

:rolleyes ......und wen/wem willst Du melden :confused Herrn Paulson am besten :cool

UpInArms (1000+ posts) Wed Jul-30-08 10:21 AM
Response to Original message 70. (intervention) CHRONOLOGY-Fed actions to boost liquidity http://www.reuters.com/article/bondsNews/idUSN304331662...

Following are previous extraordinary steps the Fed has taken since August, when the credit crisis erupted:

July 13: The Fed authorizes government-sponsored entities Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to borrow from its discount window as necessary for emergency funding. Any lending would be collateralized by U.S. government and agency securities. The Fed also agrees to take on a consultative role in setting capital requirements and financial safety and soundness standards for the two companies.

May 13: The Fed writes to Congress seeking immediate authority to pay interest on reserves held by banks at the Fed. The central bank says this move will contribute to the efficiency of the financial system.

April 9: The Fed says it is considering a plan in which the Treasury Department would borrow in excess of its requirements and deposit the surplus at the Fed. The central bank is also considering whether to issue debt under the Fed's name and seek authority to immediately pay interest on commercial bank reserves.

March 24: Fed details its role in amended JPMorgan Chase & Co's planned purchase of ailing investment bank Bear Stearns Cos. It says it will assume control of a portfolio of Bear Stearns assets valued at $30 billion, pledged as security. Any profit from the assets will accrue to the Fed, while JPMorgan will bear the first $1 billion of any losses. The Fed will finance the remaining $29 billion on a non-recourse basis to JPMorgan.

March 16: The Fed in a surprise move cuts the discount rate it charges on direct loans to banks and announces new lending program to provide credit to other big Wall Street firms. In addition, it increases the maximum maturity of discount rate loans to 90 days from 30 days. The actions are taken in concert with a decision to approve special financing to facilitate the purchase of Bear Stearns by JPMorgan Chase.

March 14: The Fed says it authorized JPMorgan Chase to borrow at the discount window on behalf of Bear Stearns, an emergency move last used in the Great Depression.

March 11: The Fed says it will accept a broader range of collateral, including home mortgages, in a new securities lending program. It says it would lend up to $200 billion to primary dealers, secured for 28 days, and accept federal agency home mortgage-backed securities and highly rated private mortgage-backed securities as collateral.

The action was coordinated with steps by the Bank of Canada, Bank of England, European Central Bank and Swiss National Bank. The Fed also says it increased existing currency swap lines with the ECB and SNB to up to $30 billion and $6 billion, respectively, and extended the term of those lines through September to help those central banks provide dollar liquidity in their markets.

March 7: The Fed says it will inject $100 billion into the banking system by increasing the size of its two term auctions of short-term funding and start a series of term repurchase transactions with primary dealers expected to be worth another $100 billion.

February 29: Fed announces two TAF auctions of $30 billion each in March. It says it intends to conduct auctions for as long as necessary to ease pressures in short-term funding markets.

February 1: Fed announces it will continue biweekly TAF auctions in February, holding the amount in each auction steady at $30 billion.

January 3: The Fed raises TAF auction amounts to $30 billion from $20 billion for each of the two auctions in January. The European Central Bank and the Swiss National Bank also offer dollar funds in conjunction with the Fed auctions.

December 12: As part of a global coordinated central bank effort, the Fed establishes the TAF to provide funds over a longer period to a wider range of banks to meet temporary shortages of funds. It also establishes foreign exchange swap lines with the ECB and SNB. The arrangements will provide up to $20 billion for the ECB and $4 billion for the SNB.

November 26: The Fed promises more than the usual year-end liquidity and says it will lift limits on how much can be lent to any one bank.

August 17: The Fed cuts the discount rate by a half percentage point and says it will act as needed to offset adverse effects on the economy arising from disruptions in financial markets.


there's more at the link

*************************************

...freie Marktwirtschaft :ironie

... freie Marktwirtschaft
 

:runter

In einigen Jahren wird sich das ganze als ein
einzigartiges Lügengeflecht historisieren und
unwiderruflich für die Guillotine sprechen ...

Kopflos zeigt man sich schon zum heutigen
Zeitpunkt ...

With best regards to the district of Columbia

www.chicagotribune.com/business/yourmoney/chi-tue-gail-jul29,0,5885930.column

chicagotribune.com

Even the pros may be stuffing the mattresses

Gail MarksJarvis

July 29, 2008

If you saw dark clouds drifting from St. Charles last week, they were probably coming from the dreary mood at the CFA Institute's annual investment seminar for professional investment managers.

Every year, the respected chartered financial analyst investment education group brings money managers from around the world together in the Chicago area and exposes them to provocative thinkers on investment strategy and market conditions. And with most of the world's stock markets down 20 percent or more from their highs, economies slowing throughout the world, and a credit crisis toying with the flow of money, this year's speakers were gloomy.

"I am officially scared," GMO investment manager Jeremy Grantham told professionals from as far away as Abu Dhabi and Malaysia. "In 2000, we had a technology bubble. But this is massive, a massive credit crisis and a bubble in global housing, global equity and global land."

Grantham is sometimes referred to as a "perma-bear" because he's a stickler about avoiding overpriced stocks. Two years ago, he warned his audience that U.S. stocks were too expensive, even after recovering most of the ground lost from the 49 percent drop to correct the bubble in technology stock prices in 2000. But back then, Grantham was cautious; not fearful. While he was avoiding U.S. stocks, he thought fast-growing emerging markets still held promise.

Now, after a tremendous surge of investor money into Asia, Latin America, Africa and the Middle East, he is concerned about the prices of those stocks, as the world works its way through what he called the "first truly global bubble."

In the last few weeks, economies throughout the world have slowed sharply, and Grantham said corporate profit margins must decline as the trend continues. But he does not think investors have adjusted their expectations.

For investors expecting 7 percent annual returns in the U.S. stock market, Grantham said the price-earnings ratio would either have to go to 35, or "profit margins would have to go off the chart." The price of Standard & Poor's 500 stocks is currently about 22 times earnings.

When asked by a money manager what he would buy now, Grantham said, "long mattresses"—jesting about the stereotypical nervous behavior of hoarding cash. He seriously suggested: "Put money into something incredibly safe, like a high-quality hedge fund."

Grantham said rather than buying stocks for the long run now, he would only "short" them, or bet that they will decline in price. He sees "nothing interesting in quality corporate bonds," and he has been shorting oil. "Commodities had a good run, but that's over," :( he said.

Although downtrodden mortgage-related bonds might be a good deal now because some are selling for 59 cents on the dollar, he said he wonders if the price will seem compelling if home prices fall another 20 percent or 25 percent.

He confessed to the group that "I bought my first gold last week, and I hate gold. It doesn't pay a dividend. I would only do it if I was desperate."

Grantham said part of his angst comes from a lack of leadership. He criticized U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson for failing to force banks to raise capital when it was warranted two years ago. And he added: "Just imagine, we have chosen to borrow money from China so we can buy oil from the Middle East and use it to pollute the planet."

Marc Faber of Marc Faber Ltd. blamed former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan for failing to acknowledge the Fed's role in repeatedly inflating dangerous bubbles.

By keeping interest rates low, "the Fed has created a bubble in everything—stocks in emerging market, real estate everywhere in the world, commodities, art," he said. "The only asset class that is down is the U.S. dollar."

Generally, when bubbles burst, the asset prices stay down for lengthy periods. Grantham isn't expecting the stock market to hit its low until 2010.

Farouki Majeed, the senior investment officer for asset allocation and risk management for the giant California Public Employees' Retirement System, noted that with the tech bubble bursting in 2000 and the current bear market, investors in stocks have seen virtually no return for the last 10 years. That's unusual, but typical of "boom and bust" cycles, he said.

Calpers reduced its exposure to stocks from 60 percent of the pension fund to just 54 percent this year.

Faber said, "It is quite likely that the current synchronized global economic boom and the universal, all-encompassing asset bubble will lead to a colossal bust." And with commodity prices so inflated, he expects an "increase in international tensions" over resources.

gmarksjarvis@tribune.com

RICK SANTELLI
CNBC On-Air Editor

....die :supi Ausnahme bei den CNBClern
er meinte vorhin - alle diese provisorischen Massnahmen von Paulson & Co. und vieles davon wird noch auf "nach November" geschoben "....all these people are not at the helmet any more after election and that's why it's the question of the day." :rolleyes

Who Gives a Shit?

Bush to the Democrats..."Let's see you create some domestic bills with THIS on your shoulders!" At this point its pretty clear that he's just trying to fuck things up as much as possible for President Obama
It's not THEIR fault and never is, it's the economy, stupie!

The next president will inherit a record budget deficit of $482 billion, according to a new Bush administration estimate. A Bush administration official said the deficit was being driven to an all-time high by the sagging economy and the stimulus payments being made to 130 million households in an effort to keep the country from falling into a deep recession. A $482 billion deficit approaching billion would easily surpass the record deficit of $413 billion set in 2004.

Land mines....... The vicious cycle. Republicunts ruin the economy by looting the treasury, Democrats have to raise taxes to fix it. Republicunts blame Democrats for raising taxes to win election, then ruin economy once they take office, Democrats have to raise taxes to fix it... lather, rinse, repeat. Clinton left with $128 billion surplus... Chimpenfurerher Von Stupie has posted a deficit in EACH of his 7 years as Appointed-by-the-Supreme-Court Decider.
Now, Obama takes over as Captain right after the ship has been torpedoed twice.

As George Carlin once said: "You don't take a shit, you leave a shit." Or a big ole stinky can of worms.



:bad wie kann man nur die nächste Präsidentschaft anstreben :rolleyes

Illegal Short Sellers May Face RICO Indictments

by: R.J. Chopin posted on: July 29, 2008



RICO, Racketeering Influenced Corruption Organizations Act, the law Rudy Guiliani :rolleyes used to bring down Michael Milken, and other Wall Street crooks, could be revisited in the SEC's struggle to clean up Wall Street's growing threat to the financial markets.

The SEC's crackdown against illegal naked short selling and rumor-mongering resulted in more than 50 hedge funds being slapped with subpoenas last week, according to the Wall Street Journal. Conspiracy theorist and CEO of Overstock.com (OSTK), Patrick Byrne, has embarked on a crusade to expose the nefarious hedge funds that practice illegal short selling. Byrne's web site, Deep Capture.com, has compiled a plethora of facts documenting, names, dates, times and videos of the players and their schemes.

Mark Mitchell, of DeepCapture.com, believes there exist a "hedge fund-orchestrated campaign to cover-up the crime of naked short selling." Depending on how deep the SEC probes (eben - depending :rolleyes) and what insidious facts they discover, we could see hedge fund managers, traders, and other employees facing scandalous, unprecedented charges under the infamous racketeering law, RICO. There is growing pressure for whistle-blowers to sound off or risk becoming the next scapegoat.

Clusterstock.com, reported, "the SEC is demanding both trading records and email correspondences" from subpoenaed firms. The inclusion of cell phone and text messaging records will undoubtedly be scrutinized. Concurrently, the NYSE Regulation Inc. is also investigating how some of its largest firms comply with false and misleading rumors that could undermine a stock's price. This is going to intensify.

Motley Fool, published an article on March 24, 2008, titled "The Naked Truth on Illegal Shorting," in which 100% of a company's shares were purchased by one individual, and were not available for shorting. Nevertheless, 60 million phantom shares were traded, according to owner. Subsequently, he filed a SEC 13-D compliant form.

Dick Fuld, CEO of Lehman Brothers (LEH), told market regulators that he has information that short-selling hedge funds colluded to bring down Bear Sterns (BSC). If Fulds's "information" is of evidentiary value, these hedge fund managers, and their cast of cohorts, could find themselves behind bars.

If the SEC diligently investigates the facts, we could see RICO indictments against illegal short sellers as early as Labor Day. Anyone charged under the RICO statue, even if they are found "not guilty," will become permanently damaged.

After observing the demise of Fannie Mae (FNM), and Freddie Mac (FRE) last week, it is expedient that the SEC move quickly to abolish the practice of naked short selling for all stocks. Short selling should only be allowed after the short seller has successfully borrowed the shares. The practice of selling shares that cannot be borrowed is a crime!

Discloser: No long or short positions in LEH, FNM or FRE.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/876...?source=d_email

...na ja - hoffen darf man ja :o

antigop (1000+ posts) Wed Jul-30-08 12:48 PM
Response to Original message 95. FASB nixes Jan. 1 start date for consolidating off-balance sheet entities http://financialweek.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/200...


The Financial Accounting Standards Board has delayed by a year the deadline by which companies will have to consolidate qualified special-purpose entities under FAS 140.

The new rule, designed to help investors more easily gauge a company’s liabilities from off-balance-sheet securitized assets, was slated to go into effect Jan. 1 for certain preparers, with a one-year delay for existing QSPEs.

But during its meeting this morning, FASB nixed that timeline, which had been approved in June.

“There was pressure and interest from Washington for this change of heart,” Jim Vogel, an analyst with FTN Financial Group, wrote in an e-mail. “But it’s not clear how much FASB was bowing to that as they were to complaints of whipsawing accounting changes at financial institutions, which may soon have the option of moving to ” rather than complying with U.S. GAAP.

Mr. Vogel added that the “SEC has pushed originally for fast action,” which likely contributed to the initial deadline. Some corporate executives had criticized that time frame as too short to be practical.

Wow. I think this may be the biggest news of the day. Finnfan

So the SuperRich need more time to move their wealth? DemReadingDU

...endlich :mad

OLMERT TO STEP ASIDE

Political Satire Disguised as News


Straight Talk Shootin'......

Breaking............. :ironie (...hmmm oder doch nicht :rolleyes:confused;):D)
McCain Invades Iran Himself
USS Nimitz - Presumptive Republican presidential candidate John McCain flew an F-18 Hornet into Iranian airspace today and dropped several 2,000 lb. bombs on what he thought were important military targets. The bombs were actually dropped into a cluster of camels in an otherwise abandoned stretch of desert. One camel was reportedly wounded. McCain was not fired upon by Iranian air defense forces, presumably because he was nowhere near a significant target, and he returned to the USS Nimitz aircraft carrier at approximately 2PM Eastern Standard Time. Oh gaaaawwwd, read the rest





Posted by Undeniable Liberal at 7/30/2008 04:12:00 PM

Aussie

Paulson is speaking Washington at 1pm about the markets and economy . . . watch out
__________________

Posted by fabric

.

Ab-Artenschutzabkommen ...
 

... dann winken ja die 12000 Punkte
mit 5 stelligen Aussichten – spätestens
hier erhalten die Metalle wieder Gegen-
gewicht, siehe auch Hokas' posting von
gestern ... #3209

bei DU gesehen - merci
 

...leider wahr :mad

Wed, 30 Jul 2008 07:48:00

Thar She Blows: The Last Hurrah for the Banking System

By Mike Whitney



(Mike Whitney) -- The Bush administration will be mailing out another batch of "stimulus" checks in the very near future. There's no way around it. The Fed is in a pickle and can't lower interest rates for fear that food and energy prices will shoot to stratosphere. At the same time, the economy is shrinking faster than anyone thought possible with no sign of a rebound. That leaves stimulus checks as the only way to "prime the pump" and keep consumer spending chugging along. Otherwise business activity will slow to a crawl and the economy will tank. There's no other choice........

......Something has gone terribly wrong with the economy, but no one knows what it is? In the last three months bank credit has shrunk faster than any time since 1948. The banks aren't lending and people aren't borrowing; that's a lethal combo. When credit-creation slows, the economy falters, unemployment rises and the misery index soars. That's why Bush will have to mail out more stimulus checks whether he wants to or not; his back is against the wall. He'll try to make it look like the economy is still breathing on its own and just needs a spell on the respirator before resuming its normal activities. But Bush is wrong; we've reached Peak credit and the blood-transfusions won't work anymore. The vital signs have shut down and rigamortis is already setting in. Our goose is cooked......

.....An article in the San Francisco Business Times said that the FDIC is worried about the reporting on Internet blogs :rolleyes They'd rather keep banking system's troubles out of the news. The publicity just further undermines the publics confidence and spreads fear :rolleyes Sheila Bair, chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., summed it up like this after the run on Indymac: "The blogs were a bit out of control. We're very mindful of the media coverage and blogs in controlling misinformation :dumm All I can say is were going to continue to stay on top of it. The misinformation that came out over the weekend fed a lot of depositors' fears."....

.....step up to the microphone and tell the public what they really need to know:

"My fellow citizens, we are embroiled in the greatest financial crisis our nation has ever faced and we will have to take emergency action to keep the entire system from melting down."

How hard is that? But it won't happen, because everyone in the administration has an aversion to telling the truth; it's like the Devil and Holy Water.....

....P.T. PAULSON: "The the banking system is sound... This is a very manageable situation.".....Paulson is like a broken record. Everything is always hunky-dory. He is the consummate Wall Street investment sharpie; a bright guy who could charm a hungry dog off a meat-wagon. But when it comes to telling the truth; forget about it.....

.....Even now, if you go to your bank and try to withdraw $9,000 or $10,000, it sends waves of panic through the entire building like a 5-alarm fire that quickly engulfs the main exits. It's crazy. Tellers go scampering around helter-skelter, and bank managers suddenly appear at the window grimacing in pain and wringing the sweat from their brows.

"Did you say $10,000, sir?" which is usually followed by low moaning sounds and heavy wheezing......

.....FANNIE BAILOUT: "If they dumped these securities on the market today, their value would go straight to 0.".....

.....None of congress's back-room maneuvering has anything to do with "providing a lifeline for the struggling homeowner", as Senator Dodd claims. That's all bunkum. The homeowner won't get a lick of help from this bill. Its just another handout for the brokerage fraternity :mad The country is putting its AAA credit rating on the line for same clatter of carpetbaggers who created the mammoth equity bubble in the first place. Now they are being rewarded for their criminal conduct. Also, Bloomberg News notes that, "Sensible people are starting to question whether the U.S. can hang on to its AAA credit rating. The prospect of an extra $5 trillion or thereabouts leaking onto the U.S. government's tab from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac has spooked investors."......

......The whole system has been rejiggered to serve the needs of a few greedy bankers on top of the food chain. They could care less whether the whole country blows up or not as long as they get their slice of the pie. That's all that matters. Congress is just as bad. They abdicated their most important responsibility by giving Paulson the authority to take whatever money he needs to do whatever he wants. If that's their attitude, then what do we need congress for? Let's just board up the House of Representatives and send them all home. It would be a lot cheaper.

The truth is, the big money guys have taken a wrecking-ball to the financial system and now they've moved on to the real economy. By the time they're done, we'll be picking through the rubble just to feed our families.

lesenswert ---> full story: http://www.inteldaily.com/?c=173&a=7715

Washington Manipulation of GDP Data to Hide Recessions

Economics / Market Manipulation Jul 30, 2008 - 03:06 PM By: Mike_Stathis


I continue where I left off – discussing just a few of the ways Washington tries to fool us by its misuse and manipulation of data. Washington likes to remind critics that Americans enjoy the highest living standard in the world. As evidence of this, government “experts” discuss statistics such as GDP growth, employment, wealth, income and wage growth, and other economic data without defining exactly what they are referring to or explaining all the assumptions used. In Part 1 of this series, we saw how hedonics can alter GDP and inflation data. Here we look at some additional problems with GDP. After you read this piece, I hope you will agree that the misuse of GDP data as an indicator of economic strength has been one of the biggest errors made in the field of U.S. economics.....

......In conclusion, the basic rules of reasoning never change. When one tries to paint an accurate picture of a complex variable such as the health of the economy or living standards by looking at one number, they're fooling themselves and those they represent. The best way to measure economic growth and changes in living standards is to examine other macroeconomic indicators in addition to GDP, such as interest rate (yield curve) and inflation trends (the CPI and PPI, core and non-core), trade imbalances, currency exchange rate trends, job loss and recovery, underemployment, real wage and benefit growth, debt and money flow trends. And if you do elect to use GDP as a measure of economic activity, at least measure it accurately and make the appropriate adjustments. With thousands of economists working for the government or in academia serving on government committees or as consultants for government agencies, it seems strange they're unwilling or unable to provide a comprehensive analysis of the economy based on other data. Then again, the current system of illusion and confusion serves Washington just fine. Most serve as parrots, mimicking the same lines they hear from myopic economists in their ivory towers. Consumers don't need economists to tell them what the data of the day means based upon flawed calculations. They need economists to report realistic data. Only then will they stand a chance to come up with accurate forecasts. If they cannot achieve this then they are only serving as record-keepers at best and partners in deception at worst. With all the forecasts economists make, I know of not a single one who has made a fortune in the stock market as a result of these “timely and valuable” forecasts.




full story: http://www.marketoracle.co.uk/Article5685.html

...wieder mal ein ellenlanger Artikel - ich hab ihn nur diagonal überflogen - jedenfalls illusion and confusion wie immer :o:rolleyes

...and on we go :rolleyes

Mass Charges Merrill With Fraud In Auction-Rate Sec Sale

July 31, 2008: 11:01 AM EST


DOW JONES NEWSWIRES

The Massachusetts Secretary of the Commonwealth charged Merrill Lynch & Co. ( MER) with fraud in pushing the sale of auction-rate securities while "misstating the stability of the auction market itself."

"This company was aggressively selling ARS to investors and its auction desk was censoring the research analysts to make sure they downplayed ARS market risks in research reports up to the day Merrill pulled the plug on its auctions, " Secretary William Galvin said. "They knew the auction markets were in trouble, but the investors were the last to know."

The complaint also alleges Merrill co-opted its research department to help sell the securities and seeks to order the brokerage to "make good" on the sales of now-frozen securities and make restitution to investors who sold at less than par.

Merrill Lynch had no immediate comment.

......Thursday's complaint versus Merrill alleges the company had known for several months that the auction markets faced significant danger of collapsing. In a personal email last November, one executive allegedly wrote, "The market is collapsing. No more $2k dinners at CRU," referring to a Manhattan restaurant. Yet about three months later, a research analyst told financial advisers the auction business represented a "good, conservative and reasonable investment."......


full story: http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds...14_FORTUNE5.htm

.....es hört ja gar nimmer auf mit miesen Meldungen :( kleine Erholung zwischendurch ;):)



from sagayago

das ist einer der besten Artikel der die heutige Situation beschreibt und wie es dazu gekommen ist :supi es lohnt sich wirklich jede Zeile zu lesen - ist meine Meinung ;):cool darum auch in voller Länge, steht nirgends was von ©right :schwitz

The Con In Central Bankers' Confidence

Darryl Robert Schoon
Jul 30, 2008

Rising gold prices are a cold sore on the lip of central bankers. In the world of paper money, it's a clear sign something's not right

Central bankers are the keepers of the keys to the kingdom. The kingdom, however, is on the edge of bankruptcy and in danger as never before. Comparisons are now being made to the Great Depression of the 1930s. The comparisons, however, are just that.

In some ways, the situation is similar. In many ways, it is not. In a very fundamental way, the conditions are much worse. The systemic strains on the global financial system are today much more profound than even during the Great Depression.

The Great Depression of the 1930s was unique in the history of capital markets built on debt-based money, sic capitalism. Until the creation of the Federal Reserve System, the US economy had been a savings-based, not debt-based, economy. The difference between the two, although rarely understood, is profound.

The price paid for credit-based expansion is debt. Increasing the debt-based money supply increases the amount of debt; and, over the naturally limited life of a debt-based economy, the constantly increasing and compounding levels of debt will grow until the economy collapses.

Compounding debt, the wellspring of bankers' profits, will eventually destroy the economy on which it lives. The time it takes to do so is dependent on the strength and productivity of the underlying economy.

No economy, however, no matter how strong initially, can out run the constantly compounding debt of credit-based money - not even the United States.

THE GREAT DEPRESSION, VERSION 1.0

In 1913, the Federal Reserve System began feeding debt-based money into the previously savings-based US economy; and in just ten years, the newly available cheap credit poured into the stock market and drove shares prices to historic highs. In 1929, the stock market collapsed and the Great Depression began in 1933, only thirty years after the Federal Reserve Act was approved.

It was the vast amounts of cheap credit from the Federal Reserve that fueled the meteoric rise of the stock market bubble in the 1920s, a bubble so large its collapse plunged the US and the world into the first Great Depression in the 1930s; and, now, today, the same is again about to happen.

The amount of debt that will soon come crashing down will make the Great Depression seem exactly as it is, a prelude to something much larger and much more dangerous - a possible hyperinflationary deflationary collapse that will soon dwarf the merely deflationary collapse of the 1930s.

This time around, the Federal Reserve and its government enablers, sic co-conspirators, have created far more leveraged debt than existed during the historic 1920s stock market bubble. The housing bubble of 2002-2006, created in the wake of the 2000 dot.com bubble (remember that?) is the biggest bubble in history and again we will relearn the lesson that the more that goes up, the more will come down.

THE GREAT DEPRESSION, VERSION 2.0

Modern economics is a shell game, a 300 year old confidence game designed to hide the fact that bankers' credit replaced real money, credit created out of thin air by private bankers and public government that leaves compounding debt, and ultimately economic destruction, in its wake.

Recently, because of the increasing collusion between bankers and government, the line between private banking and public government is gone. They are now one and the same - only the union hasn't been publicly announced because of anticipated opposition to the now consummated marriage.

Central bankers are modern day confidence men who have so embedded themselves into the fabric of everyday commerce that people are convinced they need credit in order to survive; like Elvis Presley in his final days believed he needed prescription pills to live.

Just as Dr. "Nick", Elvis Presley's pill doctor, is responsible for killing Elvis with his over-prescription of drugs, Dr. Bernanke, the current US credit provider, and his predecessor Dr. Greenspan will be remembered for their fatal over-prescribing of central bank credit to the US and world economy. Too much of a good thing is and has always been in the end, a bad thing.

THE ILLUSORY SAFETY OF DENIAL

Americans often tell themselves that safeguards are in place that will prevent another Great Depression; and, as we are now on the edge of another such collapse, it would do us well to take another look at those "safeguards" to see how safe we actually are - or aren't.

The daisy chain of debt defaults set in motion by the collapse of the 1920s bubble caused 15,000 banks to fail between 1929 and 1933. So in 1933, the US government responded by passing the Glass-Steagall Act to prevent another such collapse.

Unfortunately, the Glass-Steagall Act was designed to deal not with the cause (debt-based Federal Reserve bank notes fueling excessive speculation) but with the results (bank failures and loss of savings). Nonetheless, the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 is the reassurance Americans believe will insure that "it won't happen again".

Glass-Steagall prohibited investment banks from again acting as commercial banks. No longer could investment banks (which make speculative bets) own commercial banks (which accept savings deposits from customers) and thereby risk the savings of depositors.

But in 1999 Glass-Steagall was repealed. Wikipedia's recounting of the repeal, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glass-Steagall_Act is well-worth the read:

On November 12, 1999, President Bill Clinton signed into law the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which repealed the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933. One of the effects of the repeal was to allow commercial and investment banks to consolidate. Some economists have criticized the repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act as contributing to the 2007 subprime mortgage financial crisis.[6][7]

...One reason banks are losing money is the repeal nine years ago of the 1933 Glass-Steagall Act, which separated commercial and investment banking after excessive risk- taking contributed to the Great Depression.

...The repeal enabled commercial lenders such as Citigroup, the largest U.S. bank by assets, to underwrite and trade instruments such as mortgage-backed securities and collateralized debt obligations and establish so-called structured investment vehicles, or SIVs, that bought those securities.

...Citigroup played a major part in the repeal. Then called Citicorp, the company merged with Travelers Insurance company the year before utilizing loopholes in Glass-Steagall the allowed for temporary exemptions.

...the "finance, insurance and real estate industries together are regularly the largest campaign contributors and biggest spenders on lobbying of all business sectors [in 1999]. They laid out more than $200 million for lobbying in 1998, according to the Center for Responsive Politics..." These industries succeeded in their two decades long effort to repeal the act.

In 1999, investment banks, insurance companies, and real estate companies together gave $200 million to US politicians in order to repeal the act specifically designed to prevent another Great Depression; and, now the idea that investment bankers such as US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson fresh from Goldman Sachs will save America's economy is absurd - for Paulson and his cohorts are not in Washington DC to save America, they are there to profit and save themselves.

The $200 million lobbying effort by investment bankers, real estate and insurance companies to repeal Glass-Steagall prevailed but their task is not yet over. Investment bankers via the privately owned Federal Reserve System are now about to complete their control over the entire US financial system.

The following is excerpted from Silver, Gold, & The Last American Hero, JFK. Written March 2008, it was true then, it is true today and unfortunately will be true tomorrow.

FED ASKS FOR OVERSIGHT OF ALL FINANCIAL MARKETS
oversight n 1: synonym, overlooking, as in government oversight

Plan Would Expand Fed's Power To Intervene In Financial Crisis
March 29, 2008

WASHINGTON(CNN) -- The Federal Reserve would have the power to regulate virtually the entire financial industry under a Treasury Department proposal to be announced Monday.

The proposal is part of a sweeping overhaul of the government's regulatory structure that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson will propose in a speech Monday, said Treasury Department spokeswoman Michele Davis.

"I am not suggesting that more regulation is the answer, or even that more effective regulation can prevent the periods of financial market stress that seem to occur every five to 10 years," Paulson will say, according to a text of the speech obtained by The Associated Press.

According to Brookly McLaughlin, another department spokeswoman, Paulson will propose these changes:

• Give the Federal Reserve authority to look at the financial status of any institution that could affect market stability;
• Merge the Securities and Exchange Commission with the Commodity Futures Trading Commission;
• Give stock exchanges more room for self-regulation;
• Consolidate bank supervision into one regulator.

One of the most dramatic changes would extend the powers of the Federal Reserve -- designed to regulate the commercial banking industry -- to oversight of virtually the entire financial industry.

THE FOX IS IN THE HENHOUSE

After the recent collapse of Bear Stearns, the Fed announced that US funds will now be made available to international investment banks. Previous to this announcement, any loaning of US funds to investment banks was prohibited.

On March 28th, the first day the funds were available, the Fed loaned the banks $75 billion dollars. These investment banks, called primary-dealers, are the inner circle of the Fed's funding mechanism.

That these primary-dealers are in need of US support is an indication of the rapidly disintegrating state of their balance sheets - and the lengths the Fed will go to protect their fellow bankers in the private sector with public money

...The bailout of the richest investment banks in the world by US taxpayers is tantamount to a kidnap victim being forced to defray their kidnappers' expenses. Someday, however, these bail-outs by the Fed will come to an end, but that end will not be pretty - for the end of central banking will be both unprecedented and brutal.

Central banks and investment banks are two sides of the same coin; and, now that the coin has been debased and recast with subprime securities and other suspect forms of debt; investment banks and their enablers, the central banks, are as vulnerable as those they once exploited.

Their increased vulnerability will soon be triggered by any number of events, e.g. bank insolvencies, collapsing currencies, slowing economies, money-market failures, counter-party derivative defaults etc., each one powerful enough to bring down a faltering house of cards built on a foundation of rapidly shifting sand.

You need not remember the above predictions. You will remember them soon enough when they occur. Private bankers have controlled the US economy since 1913. Their success has led to our present problems. Their failures will lead to our future problems.

But the bankers' work is not yet complete, there are still a few coins on the floor they inadvertently missed and their greed will cause them to bend over to pick them up. Perhaps then they will be vulnerable to the people's will - which brings us to another subject, the peoples' will.

THE LAST BUBBLE

Sometimes the patrons of strip bars - influenced by alcohol and their own delusions - believe the dancers truly desire them. While at the time it is a pleasant thought (for the patrons), it is not true and does not last, at least not long after the last bill has been stuffed into the stripper's G-string.

Self-delusion, however, is not confined to strip clubs although it regularly rises and is paid for there. Self-delusion is far more common than commonly thought as the more widespread the delusion, the less the delusion is apparent to the deluded.

America is unique in many ways but in some ways it is representative of other nations and other people. After all, its national character was forged by the many different nationalities that comprise it; and, in that way, it is both unique and reflective of humanity as a whole.

It appears to Americans as well as to others that through democracy, the peoples' will determines the nation's destiny. However, this is no more true than the delusion that strippers lust for whom they dance.

Delusions, whether private as in the confines of a strip club or collective in the case of nations, are just that, delusions. The repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act by the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act in 1999 is a case in point. Since 1933, Glass-Steagall has given Americans some measure of protection. Since 1999, however, such feelings of protection have been delusional.

The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act which repealed Glass-Steagall (note: Gramm, Leach, and Bliley were all Republicans) was passed along party lines in the Senate (Republicans for, Democrats against); but it was passed in the House of Representatives with both Republican and Democrat support, and was signed into law by a Democrat, President Bill Clinton.

FREE ELECTIONS MEAN NOTHING - WHEN POLITICIANS ARE FREELY BOUGHT AND SOLD

The passage of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act was either an example of the "hands-across the aisle" sentiment that sometimes causes both parties to join in supporting a common cause; or, it was an example of the far more common "greased-palms of politicians selling out the public good for private gain" syndrome lubricated by $200 million in lobbyists money.

Glass-Steagall was designed to protect America from another Great Depression, a time where one in four had been out of work, where 60 % of banks had failed, and where bread lines were as common as family misery. But in 1999 Glass-Steagall was repealed by those elected to represent the peoples' will.

The subversion of democracy did not happen overnight or by chance. It was built into the process itself. Alexis de Toqueville in his seminal work, Democracy In America written in the 1830s, believed that America's version of democracy suffered from a fatal flaw, a flaw that derived from the American character itself.

De Toqueville observed that Americans had two conflicting desires: (1) The desire to be free, and (2) the desire to be led. It is America's second desire that has now led to the undoing of the first.

Irrespective of America's truly revolutionary Declaration of Independence and extraordinary Constitution, America today has become a debased mockery of the founding fathers' original dream and the manifestation of de Toqueville's dire predictions; and, this November, Americans will again go to the polls to choose "their masters".

This is what de Toqueville said of the process:

"It is in vain to summon a people, who have been rendered so dependent on the central power to choose from time to time the representatives of that power; this rare and brief exercise of their free choice, however important it may be, will not prevent them from gradually losing the faculties of thinking, feeling, and acting for themselves, and thus gradually falling below the level of humanity."

In 2008, America is now the world's number one jailor. Its prisons hold 25 % of the world's entire prison population and a 2002 Department of Justice ruling allowed Americans to torture prisoners as long as the torturer "in good faith" did not believe permanent harm would result (torture being defined by the US Department of "Justice" as only those "extreme acts" that cause pain similar in intensity to that caused by death or organ failure).
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/politics/sns-ap-cia-interrogations,0,7435986.story

This is stark evidence of the devolution of the "rule of law" that has occurred in the United States of America in recent years. Perhaps America has not yet fallen below the level of humanity as de Toqueville predicted. As some might and will argue, it all depends on who sets the bar.

Just recently, in June 2008 the US Congress passed a bill submitted by President Bush that allows the US government to spy on Americans and to indemnify those that already have done so, i.e. AT&T and Verizon. Both presidential candidates, John McCain and Barack Obama voted for the bill.

IF YOU ASPIRE TO THE SEAT OF POWER - YOU MUST FIRST DROP YOUR DRAWERS

I am not saying Americans or others should not vote in elections; but, if they do, they should be cognizant of what they expect will be accomplished. Most Americans still hope their votes once every two or four years will correct the direction this once great nation has taken. They will not.

Those candidates who actually challenge the corrupt system which now masquerades as a representative democracy have been marginalized. Ron Paul on the right and Dennis Kucinich on the left represent the best of the two opposing political polarities.

Ron Paul's bills to abolish the Federal Reserve System and Dennis Kucinich's bills to impeach President Bush and Vice-President Cheney for crimes against the nation should be heard and subjected to meaningful debate. Neither will occur. Real democracy has now been silenced in our now unreal world.

HOPE IS ON THE HORIZON

Delusions die hard. But like the patrons in strip clubs, only when the money is gone, does reality return and so in 2008, America may now be on the verge of a reawakening. With gas above $4 a gallon, its credit cards tapped, home foreclosures rising and its telephones increasingly called by bill collectors from India, Americans, like the patrons in the strip club, are realizing their wallets are now empty - the money's now gone, America's last bubble may be about to pop.

THE LAST FORUMS FOR LIBERTY

I want to extend my deep thanks and gratitude to the sites that publish these writings and the writings of others, writings that draw attention to the crisis that now threatens the US and indeed the world. It is no coincidence that the gold and silver focused websites have become the last forums for liberty.

The loss of our freedoms has been accomplished by the collusion of two powerful forces, private bankers and public government. Both those forces, however, are counterfeit. Bankers no more represent real money than governments today represent those they govern; and the power of both derives from the false money that has fueled the ambitions of each.

When bankers and government first colluded in England in 1694, they replaced gold and silver with government counterfeit coupons and the world has not been the same since. It is little wonder that over the years, bankers have become more and more wealthy, governments have become more and more powerful, and we, the citizenry, have become more and more impoverished and indebted to bankers and enslaved to government.

It was on the internet, on gold and silver-focused websites where I first encountered the writings of others who knew well before I of the dangers unseen by those who could not then see. Because of them and because of the websites that posted their writings, I have gained some understanding and insight into the critical issues that now confront us.

Professor Antal E. Fekete, see www.professorfekete.com, was one of those writers. When I first read his articles, I didn't understand the value of a gold standard which the professor adamantly espoused.

I didn't understand that the true value of a gold standard - apart from valuing gold and silver as real money - lay in its natural bounds on the powers of government, bounds against which governments attempt to override.

Mao Zedong once proclaimed that political power comes out of the barrel of a gun. While that may be true, it is only partially true; for here in the West, since 1694, political power has increasingly come from the issuance of debt-based fiat money from central banks, money that can corrupt all who benefit from its false issuance e.g. politicians, academics, regulators, corporate officers, the military, etc.

Buckminster Fuller was fond of calling our planet, Spaceship Earth. It's a good name but it might do us well to note that, of late, our Spaceship Earth has become a bit wobbly. The icecap on the North Pole has now melted, geophysical calamities are on the rise, gold and silver have been replaced by pieces of paper, and those who purport to speak in defense of justice, liberty and democracy are lying through their teeth.

Welcome to 2008. 2009 comes next. 2010 comes after that.

Note: Session V of Professor Fekete's Gold Standard University Live (GSUL) will held November 11th through the 14th at Australian National University in Canberra, Australia. It may be the last time GSUL is offered in its present form. The opportunities to hear a thinker of Professor Fekete's stature and intellect are rare and priceless. I will be delivering a talk during the session. Inquiries can be addressed to Philip Barton at feketeaustralia@yahoo.com.

blog: http://www.posdev.net/pdn/index.php...r=drs&Itemid=81

Darryl Robert Schoon
email: info@drschoon.com
website: www.drschoon.com
website: www.survivethecrisis.com
Schoon Archive

http://www.321gold.com/editorials/s...hoon073008.html

Loren Steffy

A business blog
July 31, 2008

You know its tough when the Fed chairman is moonlighting ;):hihi

I was, to say the least, stunned when I saw the story in today's * section on male models. Not because I care, but because one of the pictures shows a "mature model at Yohji Yamamoto" that appears to be Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. Now, I obviously know nothing about fashion -- I thought Yamamoto was the Japanese naval commander during World War II -- but the fashion on display here I'd describe as Princeton Frump or Homeless Academic. Either way, when the Fed Head takes a side job, it can't be a good sign for the economy.

Bernanke at his day job And taking a turn on the runway
http://blogs.chron.com/lorensteffy/2008/07/you_know_its_to_1.htm

https://www.cia.gov/library/publica...r/2187rank.html

:gruebel ---> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6unDcYBQSpQ


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:confused Vanuatu ;) aus Versehen 2x - scheint sehr schön zu sein :)

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanuatu

...scheint ein "würdevoller" Vertreter des kleinen Mannes zu sein :bad

MITTEN IM TARIFSTREIT

Ver.di- Chef fliegt mit Lufthansa in Südseeurlaub

Ver.di bestreikte die Lufthansa - doch wo steckt eigentlich der Gewerkschaftsboss Bsirske? Der "Bild"-Zeitung zufolge sonnt er sich in der Südsee, wohin er per Lufthansa-Maschine geflogen sein soll. In der ersten Klasse und kostenlos. mehr... [ Forum ]

....interessant ist es immer wieder in den Foren zu lesen ;)

OPINION

Hank Paulson's Fannie Gamble

By LAWRENCE B. LINDSEY
August 1, 2008

Our housing finance system has been broken for quite some time, creating perverse incentives for borrowers and lenders. We have now reaped the consequences, and a major financial bailout of the system is probably inevitable.

Conservatives can rightly argue that had Congressional Democrats not blocked the various initiatives of the Bush administration to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for the past five years, we would not be sitting at the precipice like we are today. But that does not change the need for a government injection of funds to fill the financial hole in those two enterprises. The institutional arrangements in the American mortgage market cannot be changed overnight, and the risks of a breakdown in that market at some point over the next 18 months are still quite real.

Chad Crowe The trouble is, the legislation that just passed Congress indicates that Washington has learned nothing from our recent troubles. And, as this bailout bill is likely to be followed by at least one additional bill next year, the evident inability or unwillingness of Congress to move up the learning curve and abandon its past practices will make the ultimate cost to the taxpayer far higher than it might have been....

.....If any other country announced that its finance minister could print unlimited debt to do something similar, financial markets around the world would dump both the country's debt and the country's currency. It may well be different because this is the United States of America. But certainly, to take such a risky and unprecedented step, a better crafted and considered piece of legislation should have been created.

Mr. Lindsey, former assistant to the president for economic policy, is president and CEO of the Lindsey Group, and author of "What a President Should Know . . . But Most Learn too Late" (Rowman & Littlefield, 2008).

full story: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121...in_commentaries

Making Sense of the Bear Market



-- Posted Friday, 1 August 2008 | Digg This Article | Source: GoldSeek.com

Interview in today's Business Times Singapore

PARTICIPANTS

Moderator:

Anthony Rowley, Tokyo correspondent for The Business Times.

Panellists:

Marc Faber, an investment adviser and publisher of the Gloom, Boom and Doom Report.

J Mark Mobius, president of Templeton Emerging Markets Fund Inc, and director and executive vice-president of Templeton Worldwide Inc.

Ethan Harris, managing director and chief US economist at Lehman Brothers, New York.

Ernest Kepper: A former official of the International Finance Corporation and Wall Street investment banker who now heads an Asian financial consultancy.

William Thomson, Chairman of Private Capital Limited, Hong Kong and adviser to Axiom Alternative Funds, London



OVERVIEW

Since the sub-prime mortgage crisis burst upon the US a year ago, there have been market rallies and claims that the worst is over, only to be followed by fresh plunges in values and sentiment. Are we near the bottom now, or just at the start of a long, slow meltdown? Our experts take the latter view.

Where can investors find a safe haven in this sea of trouble and uncertainty? Gold is still a good refuge, suggests one expert, who expects the price go as high as $2,500 an ounce.

More fundamentally, our experts see developing markets in Asia and beyond as the promised land that will emerge relatively strong from a potentially massive destruction of wealth in the old world. The needs of these emerging markets for food and natural resources will be strong, so farmland and plantations could be good investments.....

Marc Faber: A big risk of meltdown of the (US) financial system.

Mark Mobius: A water-torture bear market has begun.

Ernest Kepper 'I say this is an avalanche.

William Thomson: In no way can this be seen as a normal bear market.

Ethan Harris: It is absurd to think that US government debt is not safe.' ....

full interview ---> http://news.goldseek.com/GoldSeek/1217610000.php

SWRichmond :verbeug
Registered User


Recon; I picked this up over at Mish.

http://bigpicture.typepad.com/commen...k-for-usa.html

Can't cut and paste. FASB has postponed implementation of fair value accounting standards until November 2009. Level 3 stays in Level 3 for more than another year.

This is just another one of the "measures" I referred to in my above post. Banks have been given the official OK to lie about their condition.

Rather than restoring trust, this measure will destroy any chance of trust returning. How can anyone value any bank now?

The article points out that about $11 Trillion is held in level 3 in "entities", presumably just those in the USA. Pretend for a moment that these assets in level 3 are valued at the same 5 cents on the dollar as Merrill recently sold CDO's. Hell, let's use a happy number and pretend like Merrill really got 22 cents on the dollar (in spite of the fact that Merrill financed 75% of the "sale" and retains liability if the CDO value declines further). We'll round it to 20 cents. In other words, their value was one fifth of face.

Now, let's take that $11 Trillion in Level 3 and say it's worth one fifth of face. The LOSS is equal to $8.8 Trillion USD. Even the Sovereign Wealth Funds don't have that kind of money. Combined. That is probably in addition to the "other" $11 Trillion reported lost in this Bloomberg article:
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?p...d=aSEBXUrwAi3w

As I have noted elsewhere, the CIA Factbook reports the total value of global equity markets to be about $50 Trillion, and another $50 Trillion or so in debt instruments. This same source reports that the GDP of the planet is about $60 Trillion per year.

Do I have y'all's attention yet? $11 Trillion in realized losses, and another $8.8 Trillion (at least) in unrealized loses.

I'm not making this shit up.