Source: YouTube
Henry Paulson
Bush wants OK to spend $700.000.000.000
Bailout proposal sent to Congress seeks authorization to spend as much as $700 billion to buy troubled mortgage-related assets.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — President Bush has asked Congress for the authority to spend as much as $700 billion to purchase troubled mortgage assets and contain the financial crisis.
The legislative proposal – the centerpiece of what would be the most sweeping economic intervention by the government since the Great Depression – was sent by the White House overnight to lawmakers.
Pat Buchanan: The Party’s Over
The Crash of 2008, which is now wiping out trillions of dollars of our people’s wealth, is, like the Crash of 1929, likely to mark the end of one era and the onset of another.
The new era will see a more sober and much diminished America. The “Omnipower” and “Indispensable Nation” we heard about in all the hubris and braggadocio following our Cold War victory is history.
Greenspan’s sins return to haunt us
Back in 2002, when his reputation as “The Man Who Saved the World” was at its peak, Alan Greenspan, former chairman of the Federal Reserve, came to Britain to pick up his knighthood. His biggest fan, Gordon Brown, now the UK prime minister, had ensured that the citation said it was being awarded for promoting “economic stability”.
During his trip, Mr Greenspan visited the Bank of England’s monetary policy committee. He told them the US financial system had been resilient amid the bursting of the internet bubble. Share prices had halved and there had been massive bond defaults, but no big bank collapses. Mr Greenspan lauded the fact that risk had been spread, using complex derivative instruments. One of the MPC members asked: how could this be? Someone must have lost all that money; who was it? A look of quiet satisfaction came across Mr Greenspan’s face as he answered: “European insurance companies.”
Six years later, AIG, the largest US insurance company, has in effect been nationalised to stop it blowing up the financial world. The US has nationalised the core of its mortgage industry and the government has become the arbiter of which financial companies should survive or die.
US Taxpayer: A Giant Dumpster For Illiquid Assets
Paulson, Bernanke, and Congress are conspiring to make the US taxpayer the fall guy for financial stupidity by banks and brokers. Congress is now willing to ram through legislation at the last moment, even though Senate Majority Leader Reid Says “No One Knows What to Do”.
Please consider Paulson, Bernanke Push New Proposal to Cleanse Balance Sheets (at taxpayer expense).
U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke proposed moving troubled assets from the balance sheets of American financial companies into a new institution.
Congressional leaders who met with Paulson and Bernanke late yesterday in Washington said they aim to pass legislation soon. The initiative, which may also insure money-market funds, is aimed at removing the devalued mortgage-linked assets at the root of the worst credit crisis since the Great Depression.
The Real Reason for the Global Financial Crisis…the Story No One’s Talking About
Part I of a three-part series looking at how so-called “credit default swap” derivatives could ignite a worldwide capital markets meltdown.
Are you shell-shocked? Are you wondering what’s really going on in the market? The truth is probably more frightening than even your worst fears. And yet, you won’t hear about it anywhere else because “they” can’t tell you. “They” are the U.S. Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury Department, and they can’t tell you what’s really going on because there’s nothing they can do about it, except what they’ve been trying to do – add liquidity.
At the exchange rate yesterday (Wednesday), 35 trillion British Pounds was equivalent to U.S. $62 trillion (hence, the 35 trillion Pound gorilla). According to the International Swaps and Derivatives Association, $62 trillion is the notional value of credit default swaps (CDS) out there, somewhere, in the market.
Read moreThe Real Reason for the Global Financial Crisis…the Story No One’s Talking About
Capitalism in convulsion: Toxic assets head towards the public balance sheet
In the space of just two momentous weeks, the landscape of global finance has been dramatically transformed. President George W. Bush’s administration has mounted a multi-billion-dollar rescue of the financial system at the cost of inflicting severe damage on the US model of free- market capitalism.
Heavy costs will be inflicted on the American taxpayer, who is now subsidising Wall Street – and indeed financial institutions around the world – in a bail-out of unprecedented size.
Read moreCapitalism in convulsion: Toxic assets head towards the public balance sheet
CNN: Will the rescue plan work?
Kirby Daley of financial brokerage Newedge Group on emergency measures to help rescue banks from bad debt.
Hinzugefügt: 19. September 2008, Source: YouTube
The burden is shifted from the shareholders to the taxpayers.
This is socialism for the rich as Ron Paul and Jim Rogers said before.
Will the rescue plan work???
If not it is the financial system and the US who will fail.
I say the rescue plan will not work but it will destroy the middle class and it will concentrate
power and wealth in fewer and fewer hands.
The United States may be “days away from a complete meltdown of our financial system”
Key lawmakers promise fast action on bailout
WASHINGTON (AP) – Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd says the United States may be “days away from a complete meltdown of our financial system” and Congress is working quickly to prevent that.
Dodd said Friday that Democrats and Republicans on the Hill are coming together to support the Bush administration’s developing plan to buy up bad debt from financial institutions and get the credit system working again. Dodd told ABC’s “Good Morning America” that the nation’s credit is seizing up and people can’t get loans.
The ranking Republican on the Banking Committee, Senator Richard Shelby, predicts the new bailout plan will cost at least half a trillion dollars.
Shelby says the nation has “been lurching from one crisis to another.” Both veteran lawmakers say this is the most serious financial crisis they’ve seen in their years in Congress.
Read moreThe United States may be “days away from a complete meltdown of our financial system”
Stocks rally on report of entity for bad debt
Stocks end sharply higher on report that government will create entity to hold banks’ debt
NEW YORK (AP) — Wall Street rallied in a stunning late-session turnaround Thursday, shooting higher and hurtling the Dow Jones industrials up 400 points following a report that the federal government might create an entity to absorb banks’ bad debt. The report also cooled investors’ fervor for the safest types of investments like government debt.
The report that Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is considering the formation of a vehicle like the Resolution Trust Corp. that was set up during the savings and loan crisis of the late 1980s and early 1990s left previously solemn investors ebullient. Wall Street hoped a huge federal intervention could help financial institutions jettison bad mortgage debt and stop the drain on capital that has already taken down companies including Bear Stearns Cos. and Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.
Federal bank insurance fund dwindling
Federal bank insurance fund dwindling, regulators consider options for replenishing it
WASHINGTON (AP) — Banks are not the only ones struggling in the growing financial crisis. The fund established to insure their deposits is also feeling the pinch, and the taxpayer may be the lender of last resort.
The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., whose insurance fund has slipped below the minimum target level set by Congress, could be forced to tap tax dollars through a Treasury Department loan if Washington Mutual Inc., the nation’s largest thrift, or another struggling rival fails, economists and industry analysts said Tuesday.
Wilbur Ross: Possibly a Thousand Banks Will Close
In an exclusive interview with CNBC.com, Wilbur Ross, chairman and CEO of WL Ross & Co., says he sees possibly as many as a thousand bank closures in the coming months. And this will create opportunities for investors.
(Watch the full CNBC.com exclusive interview with Wilbur Ross )
“I do think a lot of the regional ones will (close), just as they did in the last savings and loan crisis in the 1990s,” Ross said.
Lehman Files Biggest Bankruptcy Case in History
Sept. 15 (Bloomberg) — Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc., the fourth-largest U.S. investment bank, succumbed to the subprime mortgage crisis it helped create in the biggest bankruptcy filing in history.
The 158-year-old firm, which survived railroad bankruptcies of the 1800s, the Great Depression in the 1930s and the collapse of Long-Term Capital Management a decade ago, filed a Chapter 11 petition with U.S. Bankruptcy Court in Manhattan today. The collapse of Lehman, which listed more than $613 billion of debt, dwarfs WorldCom Inc.’s insolvency in 2002 and Drexel Burnham Lambert’s failure in 1990.
Lehman Brothers teeters on verge of collapse as Barclays pulls out
Lehman Brothers HQ in New York
Global investment bank Lehman Brothers is teetering on the verge of collapse after Barclays pulled out of an 11th-hour rescue.
The departure of Barclays left US Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson and Tim Geithner, the head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, spearheading desperate last-ditch attempts to put in place some form of a workable rescue package.
Traders fear that the collapse of Lehman would send shockwaves around the world and spark a global sell-off of shares.
Lehman which employs 4,000 staff in London and 24,00 around the world, could be placed into liquidation as soon as Monday. The bank would be the single largest casualty of the current credit crisis and its collapse one of the biggest failures in Wall Street history.
In one of the most traumatic days in the history of Wall Street, Bank of America is reported to be on the verge of buying Merrill Lynch for $38bn.
Read moreLehman Brothers teeters on verge of collapse as Barclays pulls out
N.Y. Fed calls meeting to forestall Lehman collapse
SAN FRANCISCO (MarketWatch) — As U.S. Treasury officials made it clear the government will not bail out Lehman Bros., the Federal Reserve Bank of New York met Friday night with Wall Street executives in an effort to forestall the collapse of the investment firm and shore up rapidly weakening financial markets.
The New York Fed called the emergency meeting Friday evening with the heads of major financial institutions and the group reportedly plans to continue meeting throughout the weekend if necessary to come up with a plan to save the ailing Lehman Bros. (LEH:Last: 3.76, -0.46, -10.90%) and prevent further damage among financial companies.
Read moreN.Y. Fed calls meeting to forestall Lehman collapse
Freddie, Fannie Scam Hidden in Broad Daylight
Sept. 9 (Bloomberg) — When the history is written on the collapse of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, it will go down in the annals of corporate scandals as one of the greatest accounting scams committed in broad daylight.
All anyone had to do to know the government-guaranteed mortgage financiers were insolvent was read their financial statements. You didn’t need a trained professional eye to discern this open secret, only a skeptical one.
Just last month, Fannie and Freddie said their regulatory capital was $47 billion and $37.1 billion, respectively, as of June 30. The Treasury Department now says it may have to inject as much as $200 billion of capital into the two companies. Nothing much changed at the companies in that span. They just couldn’t get the government to keep up the ruse any longer.
Why Government Bailout Of Fannie And Freddie Will Fail
With yesterday’s announcement of the most massive federal bailout of all time, it’s now official: Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two largest mortgage lenders on Earth, are bankrupt.
Some Washington bigwigs and bureaucrats will inevitably try to spin it. They’ll avoid the “b” word with vengeance. They’ll push the “c” word (conservatorship) with passion. And in the newspeak of 21st century bailouts, they’ll tell you “it all depends on what the definition of solvency is.”
The truth: Without their accounting smoke and mirrors, Fannie and Freddie have no capital. The government is seizing control of their operations. Their chief executives are getting fired. Common shareholders will be virtually wiped out. Preferred shareholders will get pennies. If that’s not wholesale bankruptcy, what is?
Read moreWhy Government Bailout Of Fannie And Freddie Will Fail
US waves goodbye to prosperity and democracy
THE events of the weekend begin the greatest intervention in the US economy by the Federal Government since the Great Depression, with the Bear Stearns rescue but a splutter on this road we must now travel.
If you were wondering what all the flag-waving at the Republican convention has been about, it is now clear. Americans are waving goodbye to the prosperity the nation has enjoyed since the Great Depression and a final goodbye to democracy. But while preparation for the most important decision made in the nation’s post-depression financial history towered above the conventions, I don’t think the fate of Freddie and Fannie and the remaining government-sponsored enterprises (GSEs) was mentioned during either convention.
Related article: Jim Rogers: US Is More Communist than China
And the politicians. President Bush has long authorised the Treasury to open its purse strings and, naturally, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said he did not expect the line of endless taxpayer credit to be used. This is like signing an authority to go to war and saying we don’t expect to go to war. Once the authority is given, it will happen. It was always laughable to expect otherwise. Paulson “briefed” John McCain and Barack Obama on the “plan”. The fact is that while America, and the world, wait to see who will govern, Mr Paulson has decided to take matters out of the politicians’ hands.
They willingly agreed. The ultimate political power, to spend taxpayers’ money, has been tossed away. Obviously the economy is too important to be left to the politicians. Instead it is to be put into “conservatorship”. It has come to this.
Taxpayers take on trillions in risk in Fannie, Freddie takeover
USA TODAY WASHINGTON – The unprecedented federal takeover of mortgage giants Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae announced on Sunday is a bold attempt to stabilize financial markets and restore the faltering housing market, but it thrusts trillions of dollars of risk directly onto taxpayers’ shoulders.
“You can call it a bailout, you can call it a safety net or you can call it a rescue package, but the bottom line is the American taxpayer is left footing the bill,” says Richard Yamarone, director of economic research at Argus Research.
Read moreTaxpayers take on trillions in risk in Fannie, Freddie takeover
U.S. Losses on Fannie, Freddie May Be $300 Billion, Poole Says
Sept. 7 (Bloomberg) — William Poole, former president of the Federal Reserve Bank of St. Louis, said taxpayers may face a $300 billion bill to revive Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage giants being taken over by the Federal government.
“I would not be surprised if their total losses aggregate about 5 percent of their obligations” of about $6 trillion, Poole said today in an interview on Bloomberg Radio. “Five percent does not seem to me to be an outrageous guess.”
Read moreU.S. Losses on Fannie, Freddie May Be $300 Billion, Poole Says
U.S. seizes Fannie and Freddie
Treasury chief Paulson unveils historic government takeover of twin mortgage buyers. Top executives are out.
NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Federal officials on Sunday unveiled an extraordinary takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, putting the government in charge of the twin mortgage giants and the $5 trillion in home loans they back.
The move, which allows the Treasury to provide as much as $200 billion in capital to the two companies, marks Washington’s most dramatic attempt yet to shore up the nation’s housing market, which is suffering from record foreclosures and falling prices.
Record bail-out in US of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
THE US TREASURY will today announce a rescue of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, two giant American mortgage banks, in what is likely to be the biggest financial bail-out of recent history.
The move may trigger a bounce in global stock markets tomorrow. However, analysts warn that some of the uncertainties that plagued the markets last week, including worries over the duration of the credit crunch, will persist.
Read moreRecord bail-out in US of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
U.S. Rescue Seen at Hand for 2 Mortgage Giants
Henry M. Paulson Jr., the Treasury secretary, and Ben S. Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman
WASHINGTON – Senior officials from the Bush administration and the Federal Reserve on Friday called in top executives of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the mortgage finance giants, and told them that the government was preparing to place the two companies under federal control, officials and company executives briefed on the discussions said.
Freddie, Fannie Failure Could Be World `Catastrophe,’ Yu Says
Aug. 22 (Bloomberg) — A failure of U.S. mortgage finance companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac could be a catastrophe for the global financial system, said Yu Yongding, a former adviser to China’s central bank.
“If the U.S. government allows Fannie and Freddie to fail and international investors are not compensated adequately, the consequences will be catastrophic,” Yu said in e-mailed answers to questions yesterday. “If it is not the end of the world, it is the end of the current international financial system.”
Freddie and Fannie shares touched 20-year lows yesterday on speculation that a government bailout will leave the stocks worthless. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson won approval from the U.S. Congress last month to pump unlimited amounts of capital into the companies in an emergency.
Read moreFreddie, Fannie Failure Could Be World `Catastrophe,’ Yu Says
Buffett Says Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac `Game Is Over
Aug. 22 (Bloomberg) — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two largest mortgage finance companies, “don’t have any net worth,” billionaire investor Warren Buffett said.
“The game is over” as independent companies said Buffett, the 77-year-old chairman of Berkshire Hathaway Inc., in an interview on CNBC today. “They were able to borrow without any of the normal restraints. They had a blank check from the federal government.”