Tag Archives: Money/Economy/Taxes

What came from the G7 meeting?

Last week, after the G7 met in Washington, the markets rallied (then crashed again). I don’t know what came out of the meeting – ABCNNBCBS reported enthusiastically: “don’t worry, our leaders are fixing the problem.”

A second, less conspicuous wave of headlines about the meeting betrays its meager results:
–On crisis, Europe to US: ‘I told you so’
–Europe to United States: You’re On Your Own!
–Europe to U.S.: You messed up the rescue, too

Interventionism, Militarism, and Debt, NOT Capitalism

This is very important. The financial crisis was caused by interventionism, militarism and debt, not capitalism. It will be blamed on capitalism, and government will attempt to seize oppressive new powers, or, even worse, a global government will begin to form based on the lie that our current crisis is a failure of capitalism. It is not. We must win this intellectual argument to protect our freedom.

Video here

McBama has been talking about global solutions to global problems. I fear this is the rhetorical groundwork for global tyranny.

NY Times absolves Freddie & Fannie

“A decision, made under pressure from Congress and investors, to steer Fannie Mae into dangerous corners of the mortgage market proved to be disastrous.” This article is sickening. Typical of big media propaganda, they even personalize an executive, saying how he wanted his son to be proud of him. (Read more from NY Times)

The NY Times says nothing about the millions of dollars in campaign contributions made to Congress.

A threat to U.S. Sovereignty?

There’s broad speculation among the blogs I read about a movement to create a North American Union, which would give huge power to an international financial organization, and elevate them above the constraints of our pesky Constitution.

If true, the globalists attempting this may leverage the dollar crisis to propose the NAU. There’s even speculation that crashing the dollar is a deliberate step toward the NAU.

– U.S. Ships 800 Billion “AMEROS” to China; prepares to De-Monetize U.S. Dollar

– CNBC interview with some guy in an expensive suit.

– Great article from information clearning house.

– It will be come under the guises of euphemisms like this.

Hollywood may benefit from U.S. bailout

“Hollywood may benefit from the proposed $700 billion bailout of the U.S. financial system, the Los Angeles Times said late on Wednesday.

The plan which was endorsed by the U.S. Senate would provide tax breaks worth more than $470 million over the next decade for movie and TV producers that shoot in the United States, the paper said.

One provision in the bill would provide film and TV producers with the same tax deductions that American manufacturers such as General Motors Corp and Boeing Co receive for making their products at home, according to the paper.

. . . .

Additionally, the tax package lifts the budget cap on the existing tax deduction, which was limited to movies that cost less than $15 million to make — in effect excluding most studio films, which cost a lot more, according to the paper.” (Read more from news.yahoo.com)

Congress & the Financial Crisis

“The millionaires in the US Senate, apparently moved by the prospect of having to actually live on their salary rather than their substantial investments, passed by a 75-24 vote a sweeter version of the Troubled Asset Relief Program(TARP) than the one that failed in the US House of Representatives on Monday. . . .

The House is scheduled to once again vote on the proposal on Friday; perhaps enough previously recalcitrant arms have been twisted, bent, fractured and, if that doesn’t work, ripped straight off the shoulders to obtain a passage vote there, as well. . . .

The problem here is that, in a financial crisis that has at its heart a loss of confidence in the financial system, why would you want to even further drain confidence by putting in question the actual truthfulness of bank balance sheets? Michael Rapoport of Dow Jones Newswires makes an intriguing point: Wachovia Bank, just bought out by Citicorp for $2 billion, had on its last day on its ledgers assets with a book value of $75 billion. Maybe its not that asset values are too low – maybe the entire crisis is the markets telling us that they’re too high. . . .

If the question is whether or not to buy something, like the $700 billion in mortgage securities to be bought in the plan, shouldn’t the question of how much you’re going to pay for it be a major consideration? All children in the capitalist world quickly learn the tradeoff between price and quantity. . . . It’s the same thing with mortgage-backed securities. The $700 billion can be spent to buy lots and lots of them very cheaply, or much fewer of them priced higher. Whichever option is chosen will critically determine whether we’ll soon be able to see the breaking of the dawn out of the current darkness.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke have been playing this issue pretty close to the vest, but through leaks and the likes it looks like they’re going to be buying high, paying as close to par value on the securities as feasible. If this really is the implementation strategy for the buyout, one wonders just how much Dr Bernanke and Secretary Paulson really understand what’s on. . . .

Will paying higher prices for MBS accomplish that? It will, at least temporarily for whoever is lucky enough to get a piece of the government action. But for the system as a whole, the benefits are a lot more questionable. . . .

Essentially ignored in all this is the probable trillions upon trillions of leveraged structured finance derivative securities whose value depends on the original securities. Nobody really knows how much of these there are; one estimate put the number at around $25 trillion. You can’t solve a $25 trillion problem with $700 billion. It’s no wonder that Warren Buffet once called derivatives ‘financial weapons of mass destruction’.” (Read more from Asia Times Online)

Obama: Bailout needed to avert catastrophe

“‘To the Democrats and Republicans who have opposed this plan, I say this: step up to the plate. Do what’s right for the country, because the time to act is now,’ Obama told rally in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Obama plans to fly back to Washington later to cast a vote in favor of the plan in the Senate. ‘It is clear that this is what we must do right now to prevent a crisis from turning into a catastrophe,’ he said.” (from ynetnews.com)

This is heartbreaking! How can he say this when so many economists say the plan makes no sense? When the Treasury admitted to pulling the $700billion figure out of thin air? When the people who predicted this crisis years ago are saying it won’t work? When the people being bailed out are the ones whose greed and irresponsibility caused this mess? When there is so much history reflecting exactly what is happening today?


Andrew Jackson to fear-mongering Central Bankers:

“The bold effort the present (central) bank had made to control the government … are but premonitions of the fate that await the American people should they be deluded into a perpetuation of this institution or the establishment of another like it.”

“Gentlemen, I have had men watching you for a long time and I am convinced that you have used the funds of the bank to speculate in the breadstuffs of the country. When you won, you divided the profits amongst you, and when you lost, you charged it to the bank. You tell me that if I take the deposits from the bank and annul its charter, I shall ruin ten thousand families. That may be true, gentlemen, but that is your sin! Should I let you go on, you will ruin fifty thousand families, and that would be my sin! You are a den of vipers and thieves.'”

“There are no necessary evils in government, the Treasury to you gentlemen is closed!”

Ethnic Conflict Stoked By Government Economic Intervention, Not Globalization, Study Finds

“According to Dr. Stephen Saideman and his former McGill Master’s student David Steinberg – now pursuing his doctorate at Northwestern University – the more government intervention there is in the local economy, the more likely interethnic violence and rebellion becomes. Conversely, the more economically open a society is, the less likely such violence becomes.” (Read more from sciencedaily.com)

Another reason to nix the bailout (and the Fed).