Monday, September 22, 2008

Insanity Prevails (High Finance in the USA)

In another breathtaking display of government idiocy, the Heads of the Treasury Department & Federal Reserve began discussions on Thursday with congressional spineless puppets on what could become the biggest financial blunder in U.S. history. The proposal could result in the most direct abuser of taxpayer funds, so far in the financial crisis that Fed and Treasury officials say it is the worst they have ever allowed to happen.

Senior aides and lawmakers said the goal was to complete the shady deal legislation by the end of next week, when Congress is scheduled to get the hell out of D.C to adjourn for vacation.

Call it what you will- cooked books • administrative failure • the final betrayal and disregard of we the people. The fat cat rich government wants to bail out the fat cat financial risk players.

The mammoth bailout $700 billion bucks, is a bad idea on thin ice. The Government is saying trust us to have unfettered authority to manage this- and the $ can even go to foreign banks--it's not even limited to US based banks or financial institutions!


This is the People's money. If they want to do bailouts, then pony up money for proper care of Vets, Seniors, Health Care, Infrastructure, Ya know People things. Bailing out funky corporations means they can act irresponsibly, demand there be no regulation, then come begging for bailout money? If there is going to be a big long line of banks needing bailouts, than those at the front of the line will get big bucks, those at the end of the line....
Who is scrutinizing their spending that helped get them in this catastrophic crunch?

I don't the Feds- especially the Bush administration to handle such Historic blunder and desperate attempt to fix this mess. Please excuse me for pointing out the obvious, but I can't help but notice all of Bush's historic events are built around monumental failures. Add this one to the list.

I am no financial poobah.
The 2008 U.S GDP= $14.3 trillion
Ntl Debt= $9.6 trillion
Deficit= $400 billion
War=$556 billion
Bailouts= $600 billion
More Bailouts= $700 billion (additional, for this week, anyway)

So I will say we should flood the House & Senate with calls to say NO to more bailouts. Make that Hell No!


Perhaps Billy Preston said it best, in this Dave Matthews rendition- this is my mathematical conclusion


Nothin' from nothin' leaves nothin'
You gotta have somethin'
If you wanna be with me
Nothin' from nothin' leaves nothin'
You gotta have somethin'
If you wanna be with me

I'm not tryin' to be your hero
'Cause that zero is too cold for me, Brrr
I'm not tryin' to be your highness
'Cause that minus is too low to see, yeah

Nothin' from nothin' leaves nothin'
And I'm not stuffin'
Believe you me
Don't you remember I told ya
I'm a soldier in the war on poverty, yeah
Yes, I am

[Instrumental Interlude]




4 comments:

eProf2 said...

I agree with your post. On one point re: "the people's money" I demur because the government will be adding to the debt some two trillion dollars. Where will that money come from? China and other foreign countries. So, this is a double wammy: we bail out the financial institutions, add to the debt and get deeper into the Chinese financial system than ever before. By the end of this century our children and grandchildren and great grandchildren will pay for what we're doing now.

Unfortunately, I don't see an alternative to this developing scenario unless we want to take the ultimate risk of a full scale depression. What I would like to see in exchange for this bailout is some heads of these companies finding their way to jail until the "loan" is paid back, oh, sometime in 2050 or so. Now, they not only get to keep the money they've been paid by the greedy company directors but will soon get to earn more with the bailout money on the table. Meanwhile, you and I are starting to sweat out staying in our homes, receiving our wages or retirement incomes, and casting about looking for a new place to land should everything turn to shit.

Fran said...

Hi eprof~ good to see you. Adding a few trillion to the debt of $9.6 trillion-- so you think it will take a few generations to dig out of that debt, plus the $400 billion deficit & all the other hidden misc expenses "W" keeps off the books?

What an optimist you are!

Of course the other thing is this *ignore the economy* plan, is the infrastructure is not getting any younger, so we are going to have more & more catching up to do in that respect as well.

These companies need to have oversight, fines & fees (just like when you owe back taxes, in the real world). I want to know about their perks & bonuses too. They should be made to disclose- if they want the bailout, they will have to put their cards on the table. Many of the high finance companies give out huge bonus $.

Check out this late 2006 article, where Lehman gave out $8.7 billion in bonus $.

Lehman Brothers said it would pay its average member of staff $335,441 (£170,933) this year as it reported a record fourth-quarter profit of $1.0 billion, capping its most profitable year ever.

The US investment bank is paying its 25,936 staff a total of $8.7 billion in salary, bonuses and other benefits for 2006 on the back of a 23 per cent rise in net income to a record $4.0 billion.

Profits for the fourth quarter jumped by 22 per cent, from the year earlier period, to $1.0 billion, as revenue from fixed-income sales and trading rose by nearly a third to $2.1 billion.

They were high on the hog @ that time

http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/industry_sectors/banking_and_finance/article754348.ece

Oy!

enigma4ever said...

great post and I love the song- perfect..and yes, we are right to question this as a plan..the only plan..and more rushing after years headed to this implosion is not going to change that this is a crisis..we need level heads, and rational people looking at this- this is not about Bailing out the Corporate Entities...mainstreet can not be abandoned or "katrinaed" again...

Fran said...

Congress is in a rush to wrap this up & go on vacation by the end of the week.
Maybe the only silver lining about this is it IS an election year.
If they come up with a crappy solution, they can be voted OUT in November.
I bet Bush was hoping all this would have happened in a few months after his term ends.