". . . a republic, if you can keep it."
“The Federal Reserve will pump an additional $630 billion into the global financial system, flooding banks with cash to alleviate the worst banking crisis since the Great Depression.” (Read more from bloomberg.com)
They are propping up share prices by printing money out of thin air. Soon the dollar will be worth nothing, and stocks will crash anyway. I’m glad that a couple weeks ago, I moved the remaining 1/3rd of my retirement account into gold.
I hope this thing stays defeated. The Masters of the Universe don’t like being told ‘No.’
Prices of houses/stocks will have to come down to reflect the true values of things. This will cause some pains, but it’ll result in a bad year, as opposed to the bad decade we’d have if Congress attempted to support a broken system with non-existent money.
SEE ALSO:
– Ron Paul comments on the failed Bail-out. A MUST WATCH. (Video Here)
– Great explanation of why congress made the right decision by Jeffrey A. Miron, senior lecturer in economics at Harvard University. (from edition.cnn.com)
– “I don’t see one penny of that $700 billion ending up helping the broader economy. I see it being used to prop up share prices so the insiders can salvage as much as possible when dumping their shares.” (Read more from counterpunch.org)
– Congressman Thaddeus McCotter’s Fantastic Anti-Bail-Out Speech: Video Here. “There are no necessary evils in government, the Treasury to you gentlemen is closed!” -President Andrew Jackson to fear-mongering Bankers
– Congressional leader will try again. (more from swamppolitics.com)
Surprise, surprise.
“US presidential hopefuls Barack Obama and John McCain have broadly welcomed an outline multi-billion dollar plan to help shore up the US financial system.” (Read more from news.bbc.co.uk)
“Whenever a Great Bipartisan Consensus is announced, and a compliant media assures everyone that the wondrous actions of our wise leaders are being taken for our own good, you can know with absolute certainty that disaster is about to strike.” -Ron Paul
Presidential Candidates in favor of the bailout:
Barack Obama (Republicrat)
John McCain (Republicrat)
Presidential Candidates against the bailout:
Chuck Baldwin (Constitution Party)
Cynthia McKinney (Green Party)
Ralph Nader (Independent)
Bob Barr (Libertarian Party)
A fantastic collection of articles for anyone seeking insight into our banking crisis from the Ludwig Von Mises Institute.
“I believe that banking institutions are more dangerous to our liberties than standing armies. If the American people ever allow private banks to control the issue of their currency, first by inflation and then by deflation, the banks and corporations that will grow up around them will deprive the people of all property until their children will wake up homeless on the continent their fathers conquered” -Thomas Jefferson
See Also: Bailout protest in NYC
“Government’s housing bias created a permissive climate for lax lending. Both the Clinton and present Bush administrations bragged about boosting homeownership. Regulators who resisted the agenda risked being ’roundly criticized.'” (Read more from washingtonpost.com)
SEE ALSO:
–Video of President Bush boasting about home ownership
–How A Clinton-Era Rule Rewrite Made Subprime Crisis Inevitable
The Prophet, Ron Paul: “Politicians throughout history have tried to solve every problem conceivable to man, always failing to recognize that many of the problems we face result from previous so-called political solutions. Government cannot be the answer to every human ill. Continuing to view more government as the solution to problems will only make matters worse.”
As Forbes writes:
In fact, some of the most basic details, including the $700 billion figure Treasury would use to buy up bad debt, are fuzzy.
“It’s not based on any particular data point,” a Treasury spokeswoman told Forbes.com Tuesday. “We just wanted to choose a really large number.” (More from George Washington’s blog)
Bush & Congress (while Bernanke’s and Paulson’s lips move): SHUT UP AND LET US SAVE YOU FROM DISASTER! FINANCIAL RUIN! MUSLIM TERRORISTS!
Ron Paul: Government creates problems, then attempts to solve them with more government.
Please contact your congressman. >Click here< for details & resources. Here's my letter: Dear Congressman/Senator, I am writing this email from xxxxxxxxxxx where I'm serving as a xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx. Please, NO BAILOUT. I recommend instead the following four actions: 1.) End the Bailouts - The Federal Reserve's authority to use taxpayer money to bail out Wall Street must be revoked and the Fed must be held accountable. 2.) Stop Congress' Reckless Spending - We must freeze all non-entitlement spending by the federal government at current levels and eliminate wasteful spending both domestically and in our trillion-dollar overseas budget. 3.) Cut Taxes - If Wall Street can be given your tax dollars, shouldn't you get some back? It's time to cut taxes and return your money to you. Combined with spending reform, this will increase the purchasing power of our dollars and help lessen the economic storm. 4.) Reform the Monetary System - If we are to have long-term economic progress, we must end the system of printing money out of thin air. The current laws limiting the circulation of gold and silver-backed currency must be overturned.
I think “swallow” is a good choice of word, since taxpayers are now Wall Street’s bitches.
“‘America’s economy is facing unprecedented challenges and we are responding with unprecedented action,’ [President Bush] said. ‘There will be ample opportunities to debate the origins of this problem. Now is the time to solve it.'” In other words: PAY NO ATTENTION TO THE MAN BEHIND THE CURTAIN!!! (Read more from guardian.co.uk)
SEE ALSO:
Grasping at Straws
On Friday morning, Senator Christopher Dodd, the head of the Senate Banking Committee, was interviewed on ABC’s ‘Good Morning America.’ Dodd revealed that just hours earlier at an emergency meeting convened by Secretary of the Treasury Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, lawmakers were told that ‘We’re literally maybe days away from a complete meltdown of our financial system.’ Dodd added somberly, that in his three decades of serving in public office, he had ‘never heard language like this.’ . . . The problems cannot be resolved by shifting the debts of the banks onto the taxpayer. That’s an illusion. By adding another $1 or $2 trillion dollars to the National Debt, Paulson is just ensuring that interest rates will go up, real estate will crash, unemployment will soar, and foreign central banks will abandon the dollar. In truth, there is no fix for a deleveraging market anymore than there is a fix for gravity. The belief that massive debts and insolvency can be erased by increasing liquidity just shows a fundamental misunderstanding of economics. That’s why Henry Paulson is the worst possible person to be orchestrating the so called rescue project. Paulson comes from a business culture which rewards deception, personal acquisitiveness, and extreme risk-taking. (Read more from prisonplanet.com)
Treasury Seeks Asset-Buying Power Unchecked by Courts (Update2) By Alison Fitzgerald and John Brinsley
Sept. 21 (Bloomberg) — The Bush administration sought unchecked power from Congress to buy $700 billion in bad mortgage investments from financial companies in what would be an unprecedented government intrusion into the markets. Through his plan, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson aims to avert a credit freeze that would bring the financial system and the world’s largest economy to a standstill. The bill would prevent courts from reviewing actions taken under its authority. “He’s asking for a huge amount of power,” said Nouriel Roubini, an economist at New York University. “He’s saying, `Trust me, I’m going to do it right if you give me absolute control.’ This is not a monarchy.” (Read more from bloomberg.com)
==> Video here <==
Fascism: Socialism With Shareholders (RE: AIG), or “capitalism” American style: Privatize all profits, socialize all risks & costs. Here’s a headline you’ll never see: Fed Takes Over AIG – Gets 80% Stake for $85 Billion of Fiat Money, Printed from Thin Air. US Taxpayers on Hook. (Read more at www.dailypaul.com)
“Frantic Day on Wall Street as Banks Teeter
By Andrew Ross Sorkin, Ben White and Jenny Anderson
In one of the most extraordinary days in Wall Street’s history, Merrill Lynch is near an 11th-hour deal to avert a deepening financial crisis while another storied securities firm, Lehman Brothers, hurtled toward liquidation, according to people briefed on the deal.
The dramatic turn of events was prompted by the cataclysm of losses that has shaken the American financial industry over the last 14 months.
The moves came after a weekend of frantic negotiations between U.S. government officials and Wall Street executives over how to avert a downward spiral in the markets. Questions still remain about how the market will react and whether other firms may still falter like AIG, the large insurer, and Washington Mutual, both of whose stocks fell precipitously last week.
Coming just a week after the government took control of mortgage lenders Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the magnitude of the industry’s reshaping is staggering: two of the most powerful firms on Wall Street, Merrill Lynch and Lehman, will disappear.” (Read more from campaignforliberty.com)
“Obama says the ongoing crisis is the result of ‘[e]ight years of policies that have shredded consumer protections, loosened oversight and regulation, and encouraged outsized bonuses to CEOs while ignoring middle-class Americans’; the obvious solution is more regulations.
McCain, on the other hand, says the problem is ‘the outdated and ineffective patchwork quilt of regulatory oversight in Washington,’ for which he promises reform, not abolition. Furthermore, he wants to ‘bring transparency and accountability to Wall Street,’ which can only mean additional regulations.
Once again an election promises to offer an echo, not a choice.” (Read more from lewrockwell.com)
Neither candidate demonstrates the courage and integrity to bring up the money-printing Fed’s role in creating artificial bubbles which lead to busts, or the obscene quantities of money spent on our wars of choice.
“The Republican/Democrat duopoly has, for far too long, ignored the most important issues facing our nation. However, alternate candidates Chuck Baldwin, Cynthia McKinney, and Ralph Nader agree with Ron Paul on four key principles central to the health of our nation. These principles should be key in the considerations of every voter this November and in every election.
We Agree
Foreign Policy: The Iraq War must end as quickly as possible with removal of all our soldiers from the region. We must initiate the return of our soldiers from around the world, including Korea, Japan, Europe and the entire Middle East. We must cease the war propaganda, threats of a blockade and plans for attacks on Iran, nor should we re-ignite the cold war with Russia over Georgia. We must be willing to talk to all countries and offer friendship and trade and travel to all who are willing. We must take off the table the threat of a nuclear first strike against all nations.
Privacy: We must protect the privacy and civil liberties of all persons under US jurisdiction. We must repeal or radically change the Patriot Act, the Military Commissions Act, and the FISA legislation. We must reject the notion and practice of torture, eliminations of habeas corpus, secret tribunals, and secret prisons. We must deny immunity for corporations that spy willingly on the people for the benefit of the government. We must reject the unitary presidency, the illegal use of signing statements and excessive use of executive orders.
The National Debt: We believe that there should be no increase in the national debt. The burden of debt placed on the next generation is unjust and already threatening our economy and the value of our dollar. We must pay our bills as we go along and not unfairly place this burden on a future generation.
The Federal Reserve: We seek a thorough investigation, evaluation and audit of the Federal Reserve System and its cozy relationships with the banking, corporate, and other financial institutions. The arbitrary power to create money and credit out of thin air behind closed doors for the benefit of commercial interests must be ended. There should be no taxpayer bailouts of corporations and no corporate subsidies. Corporations should be aggressively prosecuted for their crimes and frauds.”
“Regulators closed Silver State Bank on Friday, the 11th US bank to fail this year as the struggling economy and falling home prices take their toll on financial institutions.
An adopted son of Republican presidential candidate John McCain formerly served as a director of the Henderson, Nevada, bank, which was closed by Nevada state officials and taken over by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (Reuters)” (Read more from ynetnews.com)
“WASHINGTON (AP) — Banks borrowed more over the past week from the Federal Reserve’s emergency lending program, while Wall Street firms took a pass for the fifth week in a row.
A Fed report released Thursday said commercial banks averaged $18.98 billion in daily borrowing over the past week. That compared with a daily average of $18.47 billion in the previous week.
For the week ending Sept. 3, Wall Street firms didn’t take out any loans, the fifth straight period of no action. Their borrowing, however, averaged as high as $38.1 billion a day over the course of a week in early April.
Investment houses in March were given similar loan privileges as commercial banks after a run on Bear Stearns pushed what was the nation’s fifth-largest investment bank to the brink of bankruptcy. The situation raised fears that other Wall Street firms might be in jeopardy.
Bear Stearns was eventually taken over by JPMorgan Chase & Co. in a deal that involved the Fed’s financial backing.
The identities of commercial banks and investment houses that borrow are not released. Commercial banks and investment companies now pay 2.25 percent in interest for the loans.
In the broadest use of the central bank’s lending power since the 1930s, the Fed in March scrambled to avert a market meltdown by giving investment houses a place to go for emergency overnight loans. The Fed has since extended those loan privileges into next year.” (Read more from biz.yahoo.com)
My favorite part is that we taxpayers don’t get to know the identities of the institutions propped up by our largess. Abolish the fed. If rich NY finance types act reckless, let them go out of business.