The Crashing U.S. Economy

A Proud Liberal · **Posted:** Wed Mar 19, 2008 5:47 pm

lefty wrote:

I was so fricken shocked the idiot could actually compare the two situations.

Another difference is the stockholder can sue the execs at Bear for malfeasance, the former homeowner doesn't have the proverbial pot nor the window to throw it out of. Even if he were able to cobble together enough to sue, most mortgages have arbitration clauses that prevent that from happening.

Just One More Thing.... · **Posted:** Thu Mar 20, 2008 1:34 am

Lefty,

Watched the video. Hank Paulson is a former Goldman Sachs man. He is actually a very effective man as far as things go. I don't mean in terms of fairness per se, but in terms of a representative of the Bush Regime. He is a good communicator and gives the appearance of " getting things done. " Look how swiftly, for example, he and members of Congress approved the money that will be sent out the taxpayers come May. They worked quickly together on that because they knew tha the system had been damaged by lack of regulation in the financial markets. In a way, they were just covering their asses by getting some money into the hands of the middlle classes. You will have noted, of course the beaming face of Nancy Pelosi for having done the right thing at the right time.

The Federal Reserve and the Bush Regime, together screwed up the economy. Low interest rates and war brought about the current crisis. Add in a a little globalization and you have a real fine mix for a problem. The shit hit the fan of course when the interest rates started to rise. The second rate securities started to blow up in everybody's faces. Banks, Investement banks and all sorts of institutions got caught with the bad paper. Bear Stearns was just one big victim in the whole thing. Victim of course if you were a stockholder. The Fed and the Administration know that they have a real big problem on their hands. The essential issue is one of trust and the lack of liquidity between the financial instiutions. That is why Paulson focused on the bailout and the Fed comes to the rescue. They are going to help their financial friends first because that is what they do. Now, Joseph Lewis, the major shareholder and a billion dollar loser in this whole thing is not happy, so the bailout is not a fait accompli.. He is unhappy because he is losing too much money. A former multi billion company is now worth only a couple hundred million . That is what the 2 dollars per share means. But, the Fed is coming up with 30 billion or so to back up the assets and commitments of the Company. So, there must be some value there to protect. And, lest we forget that the big guys just got paid a couple of hundred million that they get to keep. Strange isn't it how such huge sums of money separate the classes in society.

Just seems like it is them versus us. I don't think we should ever forget that the Federal Reserve is basically a group of private bankers. They do not do anything that will somehow not add to their bottom line.

Catherine · **Posted:** Mon Mar 31, 2008 10:50 pm

APRIL FOOLS: THE FOX TO GUARD THE BANKING HENHOUSE

The Federal Reserve, which has been credited with creating the current housing bubble and bust just as it created the credit bubble of the Roaring Twenties and the bust of 1929, is now to be given vast new powers to oversee regulation of the banking industry and promote "financial market stability." At least, that is the gist of a Treasury Department proposal to be presented to Congress on Monday, March 30, 2008. Adrian Douglas wrote on LeMetropoleCafe.com, "I would like to think that this is some sort of sick April Fools joke, but, alas, they are serious! What happened to free markets?"

In fact, what happened to regulating the banks? The Treasury’s plan is not for the private Federal Reserve to increase regulation of the banking system it heads. Au contraire, regulation will actually be decreased. According to The Wall Street Journal:

Just One More Thing.... · **Posted:** Tue Apr 01, 2008 12:56 pm

Wow. That was quite an article. Just goes to show you that the power of the Federal Reserve and their connivance with the administration. One would think that the current mess would allow the overseers to fix up the mess so as to not allow such a calamity to occur again.

The policies and actions of men like Paulson only indicate to me where the real power is in the country and that the powerful have their players working on their behalf. The poor consumer and the economy in general are simply held hostage to those whose only interest is in the accumulation of as much profit as is possible. I think it is instructive, as I have pointed out in a previous post that Paulson is a former Goldman Sachs man. Also interesting to note that here in Canada, our new Governor of the Bank of Canada is a also a former Goldman Sachs man.

I guess the big lesson for us is that if you want something done you are going to have to do it yourself. Remember, Nancy Pelosi was elected to take care of business. That is to say, get the hell out of Iraq. But, she has failed to enact the will of the people, just as the Bush Regime and their banker friends are laughing all the way to the bank.

Catherine · **Posted:** Fri Apr 04, 2008 4:25 am

I wonder how many Americans are paying the minimum (or nothing at all) on their gas credit cards?

[url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/23941174/]Loan delinquencies at highest rate since 1992
Banking industry study offers more evidence economy may be in recession
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NEW YORK - More Americans have fallen behind on consumer loans than at any time in nearly 16 years, as credit problems once concentrated in mortgages spread into other forms of debt.

In a quarterly study, the American Bankers Association said the percentage of loans at least 30 days past due rose to 2.65 percent in the fourth quarter from 2.44 percent in the third quarter, and from 2.23 percent a year earlier.

The rate of delinquencies was the highest since a 2.75 percent rate in the first quarter of 1992. It provides a fresh sign the nation's economy is slowing, and may be in recession.

Just One More Thing.... · **Posted:** Sat Apr 05, 2008 1:52 am

There are just so many things working against the consumer. It amazes me that you still have a consumer. I mean, just add all of the things up that are working against the common working stiff. Billion dollar wars that must be paid for. Globalization which is constantly eating away at the jobs base, along with the price being paid for labour. Higher and higher prices for everything including gasoline and everything else that everyone consumes. Asset bubbles such as housing caused by the Federal Reserve interest rate policy, meaning that many people simply cannot afford to own a home at prices that their jobs cannot pay for etc. The American has been trained to be a consumer all of his life - that is his function in society and he is the person that keeps the whole system working. But, it comes to a point when something is going to break the camel's back. And, it looks like lots of things are aiding that cause.

Catherine · **Posted:** Mon Apr 07, 2008 9:57 pm

[url=http://www.globalresearch.ca/index.php?context=va&aid=8568]US jobless figures: The specter of a new depression

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Friday’s Labor Department report, revealing that US payrolls were cut by 80,000 jobs in March and that 232,000 jobs have been lost in the past three months, can only mean new levels of social misery and raises the specter of a severe economic slump, perhaps the deepest since the Great Depression of the 1930s.

The March decline in jobs is the largest in five years. The number of private sector jobs has dropped by 300,000 since November 2007.

Millions of Americans face the prospect of a sharp decline in living standards and conditions of life. Because of their commitment to the profit system, no section of the US political establishment—neither the Bush administration and the McCain campaign nor the Clinton and Obama camps—is capable of proposing any measures that will materially assist those seeing their jobs, homes nor social benefits disappear or devastated by the present developments.

The figures contained in the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) survey are bleak. The number of those officially counted as jobless rose by 434,000 in March to 7.8 million. The unemployment rate rose from 4.8 to 5.1 percent (the highest since the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina in September 2005). In the past 12 months, 1.1 million people have been added to the jobless rolls and the official jobless rate has climbed by 0.7 percent.

The number of people unemployed because they lost jobs climbed to 4.2 million; that figure has grown by almost one million in a year.

The debacle in the housing, credit and financial sectors is leading to “a broad-based decline,” in the words of Moody’s economist Mark Zandi. March’s figures on jobs, said Zandi, indicated that the problem “wasn’t just housing and Wall Street. The problems in the housing market have now affected the rest of the economy.” (Los Angeles Times)

Construction continued to be hard hit, with a loss of 51,000 jobs in March. Construction employment is down 394,000 since its peak in September 2006. Most of the decrease in March, 42,000 jobs, took place among specialty trade contractors. Both residential and commercial construction employment declined. David Wyss of Standard and Poor’s told the Associated Press that the construction figures were “doubly troubling” because March is “the first good month you get on construction because seasonal factors aren’t as large as they are in January.”

Read more about this gloomy situation at the link

HERE'S HOW GEORGE BUSH RESPONDED TO THIS NEWS:

Quote:

George W. Bush spent Friday evening with the president of Croatia, Stjepan Mesic, in Zagreb. Oblivious to popular suffering either in America or the Balkans, during the course of his toast to Mesic, Bush idiotically declared: “We believe there’s a Creator that has given every man, woman and child on the face of the Earth the great gift of freedom. We believe markets are capable of unleashing the entrepreneurial spirit of our peoples. We understand that freedom requires sacrifice.”

Yeah, George...just as long as it's not you and your BASE that's doing the sacrificing! :evil:

And George.... how about that so-called creator's gift of freedom being extended to the Iraqi people? Give them freedom from American occupation. Bring out troops home NOW!

Just One More Thing.... · **Posted:** Tue Apr 08, 2008 12:24 am

Let's face it. The business cycles continue on as before, just like weather and the climates. The little guy basks in the sun when all is well and suffers the pain more than most when things get tough. The elites in our system seem immune from these things, they are almost like Gods that they do not suffer like the rest of us. It is good to have a God that protects you, in the sunshine and the rain as well.

Catherine · **Posted:** Tue Apr 08, 2008 9:09 am

While Bush behaves like the idiot prince of some royal houses that are now defunct, he should realize that 81% of "his people" do not approve of his leadership.

WE ARE NOT AMUSED!

TUTUTKAMEN · **Posted:** Tue Apr 08, 2008 5:22 pm

I'm totally amused :lol:

WASHINGTON (AP) - Worries about a deep recession—not a shallow one—drove Federal Reserve policymakers to slash a key interest rate last month, meeting minutes show.

Even as the Fed battled in almost unprecedented fashion to stem a widening credit and housing slump, some members fretted over the possibility of a "prolonged and severe" economic downturn. It was in that environment that they voted—with two dissents—to cut its most important interest rate by three-quarters of a percentage point to 2.25 percent. That action capped the most aggressive Fed intervention in a quarter-century.

Some Fed policymakers thought that such a widening recession could not be ruled out given the "further restriction of credit availability and ongoing weakness in the housing market," according to the meeting minutes that were made public Tuesday. ......

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id ... t=breaking

When you have nothing left to loose you are free. I am fucking FREE !!!!!!! :wink:

TuT

A Proud Liberal · **Posted:** Tue Apr 08, 2008 8:36 pm

TUTUTKAMEN wrote:

When you have nothing left to loose you are free. I am FREE !!!!!!!

JANIS JOPLIN, ME AND BOBBY McGEE wrote:

Freedom is just another word for nothing left to lose,
Nothing, that
But feeling good was easy, Lord, when he sang the blues,
Hey, feeling good was good enough for me, hmm hmm,
Good enough for me and my Bobby McGee

TUTUTKAMEN · **Posted:** Wed Apr 09, 2008 3:12 am

Yes I remember that !!!!!!!! :lol:

Catherine · **Posted:** Sun Apr 13, 2008 8:05 pm

[url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/24096723/]Democrat blames weak economy on Iraq war
Previous poll said almost half think pullout would help U.S. stabilize
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Rep. John Yarmuth of Kentucky linked the costly, unpopular war with the growing economic troubles — some say recession — in this country.

Yarmuth said in the Democrats' weekly radio address that the testimony this week of Gen. David Petraeus and Ambassador Ryan Crocker about the Iraq war served as reminder of the billions of dollars being poured into Iraq as the U.S. economy struggles.

Catherine · **Posted:** Tue Apr 15, 2008 10:09 am

This information seems to certainly support the previous post.

NYT: Retailer bankruptcies set to prompt thousands of store closings

A growing number of bankruptcies among US retailers is set to prompt thousands of store closings, the New York Times will report on the front page of its Tuesday edition.

"The consumer spending slump and tightening credit markets are triggering a wave of bankruptcies in American retailing," with ensuing store closures "expected to remake suburban malls and downtown shopping districts across the country," writes Michael Barbaro for the Times.

Barbaro notes that over half a dozen store chains have filed for bankruptcy in recent months amidst "mounting debt and plummeting sales" and warns that financial troubles are "quickly spreading to bigger national companies."

Catherine · **Posted:** Fri Apr 18, 2008 4:44 pm

Poll: Economy Gets Nine Thumbs Down

A poll by The Washington Post-ABC News reports that nine in 10 Americans rate the economy negatively, with a majority of those polled believing it to be in “poor” shape. Support of the U.S. war in Iraq is also down, with six in 10 Americans rejecting the administration’s argument that the conflict is an effective defense against terrorism.

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The Crashing U.S. Economy

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