Our financial system is crumbling this week.

[TimeForGuinness]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Power_lines

Aluminum alloy...sorry AD, you're screwed.

[cpebbles]

The provisions Obama put into place today had better not have the same kind of obvious loopholes that the original program had in it. I'm hoping the public outrage about this GM news is enough to put the brakes on it, because Congress has just about convinced me to seek a third party. The Democrats may not have wanted these bailouts to be pure corporate welfare, but they settled for compromises that were wholly cosmetic so they're complicit in all of this.

[Freed Roger]

Apparantly the demand for gold is greater than ever - used in electronics, but also its viewed as a cultural necessity in growing India.

A cultural necessity? What's that about?

my understanding is that it has to do with the dowry and inheritance the family of a daughter customarily gives to the groom's family. Usually gold is involved. Semantically - no its not a necessity. Nevertheless India is one of the biggest gold consumers/holders.

[Arthur Dent]

The provisions Obama put into place today had better not have the same kind of obvious loopholes that the original program had in it. I'm hoping the public outrage about this GM news is enough to put the brakes on it, because Congress has just about convinced me to seek a third party. The Democrats may not have wanted these bailouts to be pure corporate welfare, but they settled for compromises that were wholly cosmetic so they're complicit in all of this.

It's pretty clear that what is actually needed in many cases is nationalization, but that is ideologically unacceptable, so we get giveaways instead.

[Arthur Dent]

Yves Smith doesn't like the Obama bank bailout plan:

http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2009/02/ ... n-you.html

Dear God, let's just kiss the US economy goodbye. It may take a few years before the loyalists and permabulls throw in the towel, but the handwriting is on the wall.

The Obama Administration, if the Washington Post's latest report is accurate, is about to embark on a hugely expensive "save the banking industry at all costs" experiment that:

1. Has nothing substantive in common with any of the "deemed as successful" financial crisis programs

2. Has key elements that studies of financial crises have recommended against

3. Consumes considerable resources, thus competing with other, in many cases better, uses of fiscal firepower.


The Obama Administration is as obviously and fully hostage to the interests of the financial services industry as the Bush crowd was. We have no new thinking, no willingness to take measures that are completely defensible (in fact not doing them takes some creative positioning) like wiping out shareholders at obviously dud banks (Citi is top of the list), forcing bondholder haircuts and/or equity swaps, replacing management, writing off and/or restructuring bad loans, and deciding whether and how to reorganize and restructure the company. Instead, the banks are now getting the AIG treatment: every demand is being met, no tough questions asked, no probing of the accounts (or more important, the accounting).

Continued...

[Arthur Dent]

This is a horrible idea that will cost a fortune:

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/02/05/us/po ... mulus.html

The Senate on Wednesday voted to expand the economic stimulus package with a tax credit for homebuyers of up to $15,000, a provision championed by Republicans as addressing a root cause of the recession.

...

The measure would give buyers a tax credit of 10 percent of the price of a primary residence purchased within the year, up to $15,000, and is designed to stabilize plummeting home prices that caused a wave of foreclosures and led to the near collapse of the financial system as Wall Street firms wrote down billions in losses on mortgage-backed assets.

[heyzeus]

Well, I'm proud to have started this thread. The question now is - where is the bottom? Are we there or approaching it?

Jobless claims reach 26 year high.

[TimeForGuinness]

Well, I'm proud to have started this thread. The question now is - where is the bottom? Are we there or approaching it?

Jobless claims reach 26 year high.

I think it will get worse before it gets better...and by better...I mean mediocre.

[TimeForGuinness]

Interesting...very interesting...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090204/bs_ ... achs_cfo_1

NEW YORK (Reuters) – Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N) Chief Financial Officer David Viniar said the bank is keen to avoid restrictions it agreed to after receiving funds from the U.S. government late last year and it is looking to pay the money back as soon as possible.

The investment bank, which received a $10 billion capital injection from the U.S. Treasury's Troubled Asset Relief Program in October, is not happy with the strings that came attached to the money.

[maddash]

Well, I'm proud to have started this thread.

Hey, just sayin'

http://gatewayredbirds.com/forum/viewto ... =4&t=21567