Fed to markets: Let the bubble blow David Callaway – MarketWatch

Fed to markets: Let the bubble blow David Callaway – MarketWatch

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Last Night on TV

So, last night I’m watching the La Lakers take the first game of the Western Conference Finals (online of course) and I get to watch all the commercials on ESPN. Some of you might think that’s a bit odd, but I don’t have access to commercial television; no cable or satellite dish, just my internet connection.

All through the game I saw a lot of different advertising and this one I couldn’t believe. First of all Toyota is advertising their prius and it’s Green Appeal, and then I see this Cadillac Escalade commercial and it hits me that this whole GM bailout is going to fail, sure as shit. How is this any different?

Toyota and Honda are both selling cars that people need in order to meet with the changes coming, frankly gasoline cannot last for ever and these things can get 50 mpg. What does an Escalade get for mileage. I don’t even care. Like I said I don’t even own cable..

It amazes me we even bothered bailing anything out at all, the banks the insurers and the automakers can fold and I don’t think I would miss them at all. It seems to me that they got themselves into this mess, right!?

But, promising the American Government that it would change directions and then going on like “business as usual”, minus the layoffs, factory closures, and dealer closings. Don’t worry we’ll help you stretch out that failure, while we let our factory workers and and sales people find something else to do.

Personally I believe that all that bailout money would have been far more wisely spent on education, because the people running these companies obviously missed out on economics 101…

Is that Tamiflu in your pocket…?

OMG!! We’re all gonna DIE! Again… It really amazes me how ridicules the Nation’s Media is. Look, I like Drama just as much as the next guy, but Pandemic? The Spanish Influenza kill 50 million people in 30 days. Loosing 200 in a week is not on the same scale. First of all only about 50-75 people in the US have contracted this thing, and according to “The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) (they) estimate that approximately 1.1 million persons are living with HIV in the United States.”(1)

The funny part about living with the US’ Media is that they are all on the same script. I wonder if viewers could start a group law suit for starting a panic over total misinformation. When Howard Dean was tore apart by the Media after misinterpreting what I would consider to be a pep rally to raise the morale of the thousands of volunteers that were there to support his Campaign. For weeks we had to see this one stupid picture that fraudulently depicted his actions, while the “commentator news core” ripped on him and told us all about his poor behavior, unbecoming of a president.

Now, everyone may not agree with me, but I think he was the only president running at the time who had any real plan, including a balanced budget, health care for America, and alternative energy. We could have really used him in 2004, but that’s not what happened. Instead we got a Republican agenda which was running rampant against all the things most American’s believe in, like Torture and Financial System Bailouts, and 4 dollar a gallon gasoline.

Personally I feel that any format that presents itself as a news program must leave commentary to the commentary segments and should be held accountable for the facts they present as news to America. I wish Howard Dean would have sued AP News and any parrot news agency who repeated the lie. It’s bullshit and we all know the Media is a PR scandel in American life. If you don’t believe me check out your sources and the fact surrounding them and see what’s what. Don’t take my word for it, do a little research on your information.

1). Taken from the CDC website.

A Taxing Tea Party

In response to Congress’ new Stimulus Package A site called taxdayteaparty.com/ has become the highly vocal spirit behind the movement to protest the taxation built into the new Congressional Stimulus Package. Fox News, as well, have begun running commentary ringing the theme “Take Back America”. A big position for a National News Service, to say the least.

It has been my opinion that there is a strong and steady building of sides that has cast a shadow on the Obama Administration. Probably not as potent as the separation of ideals that originally led to the breakaway states that ignited the Civil War in the 1800’s, but America has definitely come to a turning point in its History.

As Fox News has pointed out there is almost no coverage from many of the Major News Services in the US or abroad for that matter. It doesn’t seem PC to discuss it.

Michael Steel, RNC Chairman, had to respond publicly to rumors that he was asking to be counted in as a participant of the Tax Day Demonstrations. According to his response he had never considered himself involved in any way, nor had he suggested that to Tax Day Tea Party or its organizers.

In the past few months since Obama has taken office there have been a cacophony of voices cheering on one side of the isle, while another less casual voice from across the way that has begun chanting descent of the Liberal Pull that has swept through Congress.

But, lets not forget that the Republicans got the ball rolling with the TARP program request to Congress which gave $700 bil to financial institutes, who essentially put the US in dyer straights with reckless decisions, while ignoring the systemic risks involved, not to mention the bailout of Bear Stearns and AIG, Instigated by George Bush’s choice for Fed Chief, Ben Bernanke.

Some of America have become quite upset with the bailout and feel that the economy should have followed the natural course it had created for itself, which could have brought a huge number of major banks to ruin. It’s hard to say what’s really helping, but it is well known in economic circles, that the Government isn’t responsible for the health of the economy, or shouldn’t be. Hence the idea of Free Enterprise.

Its very hard to predict where this movement will take us, as it is equally difficult to predict whether or not the now Trillions of dollars being spent on these broken financials will ultimately do what it has been intended to do.

The good news is that people are talking about topics that were once considered taboos in America. Lets just hope it comes to wholesome and constructive ends!

Congress Averting another Catastophe: But this time a Revolution

Man, talk about a close call. The public uproar on the whole AIG bonus Scandal was quite a fervent scene to observe. Congress was so worried about it that they basically lynched anyone who was supposed to get any kind of bonus, that had anything to do with any financial agency that took Fed or Treasury funds.

The problem is that it reminds me of the day the Treasury announced the take-over of Freddie and Fannie. I really think it was the first wave of panic that started the horrible conditions we see today. The second shock was letting Lehman Bros. fail… but the biggest shock so far was when Congress’ Lame duck Republican leaning vote against the original TARP Funds. That was the shot heard round the World.

Within a few hours of the outcome, the LIBOR jumped more than 200 basis points and essentially shut down all loaning. This was the real Credit Crisis. Everything previously experienced was just a warm up. After that everything became a shock to everyone…

So, here we are. 2 years after the fall of the Real Estate Bubble and things were starting to look as though there might be a shift in the momentum, of what many are hoping would be the bottom of this deflationary period, and Congress sounds the Alarm!

I wonder how many people will show up for work tomorrow. At least the ones that are being held responcible for cleaning up the mess at AIG might not be interested in working for free… The one thing that’s certain is that we will find out whether or not Liddy was telling the truth, in his testimony to Congress. He said that without the people who are receiving the bonuses, it would leave about $1.6 Trillion of risk unmanaged, and that that would lead to the collapse of AIG. And… according to Ben Bernanke, a collapse of AIG would lead to a World Financial Systemic Collapse.

hmm… It should be an interesting week ahead.

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60 Minutes with Ben Bernanke

When he was asked “why” are you appearing for an interview, Ben (may I call you Ben?) responded… “These are unusual times!”. Ferderal Reserve Chiefs never give interviews, so Yes, it is an extraordinary time.

He also said it gave him the chance to speak directly to the American People. I, on the other hand, have to blog in order to gain such hope, that anyone wants to really hear anything I have to say. So, you go Ben…

Oh, hey since I’ve got you on the show, do you mind if I ask you an unrehearsed question? “Why are you still ignoring the Mortgage Securities issue. The fact that all these banks are still hiding the amount and real values of all these, “what does wall street call them?”, oh yeah! Toxic Assets. If my memory serves me, you did the same thing in the beginning as the foreclosures began in late 07, and had these results. Weird, so…

Now you go on 60 minutes and tell the AMerican People that the probl;em with the financial system is the financial system, sell us on further bailout “political will”, while you continue to ignore what still seems to have no answer. Nice…

Well here’s my opinion, and you can put this on 60 Minutes!).. Take the paper from the banks as collateral, let them value it as they like and we’ll loan’em the dough. Then! We take all this paper and assemble a crack team of trackers and those ladies that do all those puzzles in the kitchen, and find the missing real estate. Put all those rotten piece of collateral into nice easy to manage mortgages. Then return the assessed value in real estate back to the bank. Once the debts are reassembled, as mortgages, they will have a very clear value and other banks will know for a fact that there books are clean.

Or, come up with something else that doesn’t involve giving the banks more money without a plan to resolve the real issue! It’s the paper that got us here… Come on, Ben!

GM: An Example of America Autrocity

In a desperate panic GM spent the last week lobbying Congress to pass some kind of bail out to assist the SUV heavy American Auto Industry. It’s not surprising to see GM leading the way in factory closings, as the glut of high mileage SUV’s and Trucks fill the back lots.

In Oct. GM announced the closure of factories in Ohio, Wisconsin, and Michigan that build SUV’s costing America thousands of jobs. Democrats have insisted that any bailout should require these auto companies to build higher efficiency vehicle if it was to consider bailing them out, and that the money should be used for retooling in the wake of $147 a barrel oil.

The problem that most law makers suggest is a recession that cannot be solved by better consumer products even though the price of oil has fallen to half of the price it peaked at. People are still not going to buy new vehicles right away for home economic reasons, unemployment, and or credit tightening. It’s just bad timing for the auto industry in America.

Ironically GM built an electric car and leased something like 6,000 of them to test the market in the late 90’s. A company called Ovonic built a lithium Ion battery which was capable of pushing the car to over 100 miles per hour and had a range of 200 miles. The project, for some reason, was scraped and these perfectly working vehicles were all smashed. Maybe it had something to do with Texaco buying Ovonic, but who really knows.

Now the same company, who had a chance to move into one of the fastest growing markets in automobiles, wants the America it shelved in order to stay the course, to bail it out… without so much as a plan to change the way it addresses the American consumer markets. It’s not surprising that Congress isn’t responding.

One thing, and I consider this a positive in America, is it’s appetite for change. Too long have the Corporations of this country kept us in a perpetual state of outdated technology. It is a historical fact that the Internal Combustion Engine and its proverbial use of gasoline ran concurrent with the invention of the Hydrogen Fuel Cell. Circa 1839… I sometimes wonder if that was merely because Standard Oil and Nelson D. Rockefeller’s corporate influence.

The fact is that it is an American habit not just to produce a product, but also to destroy any competition. It doesn’t always work though. Thomas Edison led a campaign against Nikola Tesla, after firing him, when Tesla began to expand his Alternating Currency technology, using the argument the AC was dangerous because it was used at the time for capital punishment.

To most Corporations, in this era of Capitalism, the consumer represents an index point on a spread sheet and employees are either assets or liabilities. Competition is like the Archangel of the “In God We Trust” and I think people are past getting tired of it. It makes us look stupid as a society.

We are in the midst of an era of self empowerment. With tools like the internet at our disposal there is no excuse for not investigating our choices, when it comes to purchasing. This power makes up two-thirds of the American Economy and every choice we make either empowers companies like GM or not, and can empower our future and an example we desire for our generations to follow.

The US Financial Crisis: Confidence or the Lack of

There’s an old saying that goes, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it”. The irony of this statement, in today’s broken financial system,

Bernanke and Paulson testify before Congress

is the concept that what is broken here is the system, when in fact what is broken is confidence in that system.

According to Secretary of Treasury Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chief Ben Bernanke the banking system needs more liquidity in order to restart the banks ability to loan to each other. The belief is that they are not lending due to earlier commitments called Drawdowns, prearranged loan agreements to businesses.

The fact is that banks are not loaning to each other for two entirely different reasons. One, the possible write downs from their Subprime Mortgage Security positions, and two, the possibility that anyone of these banks could collapse at anytime. Hense the lack of confidence.

What really needs to be solved in this situation are the things that are truly broken. The biggest break I can see is the continuing collapse of homeowners. Something like 2 million Americans are at risk of loosing their homes this year, either through variable rate mortgages they were sold, or unemployment. This is the foundation of the bigger problem that has led the US to this position and crisis, and it is no longer exclusive to the US. Fannie Mae today announced 29 Billion Dollars in 3Q losses due to foreclosures or delinquencies.

Giving the banks more money to shore up the loses from their overwhelming risk taking won’t solve the problem, as Japan found out after 14 years of recession. What needs to happen is transparency. Banks need to write-OFF all these Subprime Securities and the SEC needs to force them to do it. There is no way they will volunteer to do it on their own for fear of stock holder sentiment being lost, but which is the bigger threat.

Th US Government also needs to do it’s part in a real way, instead of buying shares and Nationalizing companies, or buying up all the bad paper. This kind of give away of American Tax Payers money is reckless and ignorant. This direction is Paulson’s, who actually led the way to giant risk taking out of greed and now he wants to fill the empty coffers of the guilty. read more

The double edged sword of Bailouts sends the message that there is something gravely wrong. It may solve the immediate need for the banks, which by the way are hording this money, but creates it’s own monster. That being loss of confidence. In fact it may be motivating banks to do nothing to solve their own mistakes in order to get their cut. Greenspan may have been guilty of bad decisions, but he was never guilty of bad PR when it came to sending out news.

According to Adam Smith, the father of theoretical economics based on Free Enterprise, nothing in this economic system is really broken. Economics is similar to Natural Selection. If economic systems become outdated, something will rise out of the collapse to take it’s place. He called it supply and demand, that if were left alone it would naturally define itself. What is not in demand, in this instance, is the heavy risk taking that led to this crisis. You can see this in the Libor to Over Night Spread.

So, should we seek to stabilize it and prolong it’s lack of usefulness, by stimulating it like a heart patient who has flatlined, or let it collapse and allow Natural Selection to have it’s day. Personally I believe that America and the World for that matter have the resilient strength to arise from the challenges to be stronger, wiser and better than the past it was created out of.