(SomaliNet) A spokesperson for renegade officer Laurent Nkunda's group said fresh fighting broke out on Sunday in eastern Democratic Republic of Congo between the army and rebel militia. "The FARDC (government troops) attacked our positions early this morning in Rugari," 45 kilometres north of Nord-Kivu provincial capital Goma, Bertrand Bisimwa said by telephone.
"They attacked with heavy material. We had warned the UN mission to the DR Congo (MONUC) about it," added the senior official of Nkunda's National Congress for the Defence of the People (CNDP).
The rebel group also reported fighting near the northeastern town of Kanobe.
Meanwhile the head of a refugee camp in Tongo, a town some 60km north of Goma, said on Sunday that CNDP rebels fired shots from their positions in the hills two days after losing control of Tongo to the FARDC. "Gun shots resumed. If fighting spreads to the town, we will withdraw to the MONUC camp for protection," Benjamin Seburu said.
Residents in the town of Sake, 25km west of Goma, also said they were beseiged by gun fire lasting three hours on Saturday evening by rebels wanting to reclaim the town from the army.
The FARDC has not confirmed any of these attacks, while a press conference organised by the head of the army, General Dieudonne Kayembe, scheduled for Sunday afternoon in Goma, was postponed until Monday.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/30/2008 00:00 ||
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Local Goma economy, banks and citizens will soon suffer. Urgently needed....33 Russian T-72 tanks. Urge congress to sign and fund off-shore tank bill NOW!
An Anti-Corruption Commission (ACC) investigation into the Tk 2.10 crore embezzlement case against BNP Chairperson Khaleda Zia, her elder son Tarique Rahman and five other people has found enough evidence against the accused.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/30/2008 00:00 ||
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The High Court (HC) yesterday rejected a bail petition filed by Awami League President Sheikh Hasina in an extortion case filed by businessman Noor Ali.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/30/2008 00:00 ||
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Ecuadorans approved by a wide margin Sunday a new constitution that would expand the powers of President Rafael Correa and open the possibility that he could serve a decade in office.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/30/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
It worked so well for Venezuela. The milk lines there are only because of the global milk shortage.
#2
I don't think that voting to take away money from the middle class and wealthy, to give to the poor, works when the middle class and wealthy don't want to have their money taken away.
#3
How come, without exception, politicians who pander to the poor rip them off the worst? You'd think the poor dumb bastards would wise up after a while. But they don't, they fall for it every time. I'm beginning to think liberals have a different brain physiology than conservatives.
Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev will join forces with Russian tycoon Alexander Lebedev to launch a new political party independent of the Kremlin, the billionaire businessman said on Tuesday.
...
The party will press for legal and economic reform and promote the growth of independent media, said Lebedev, who does not plan to bankroll the party himself but said it should be financed only from "non-state sources."
He said the party favored "less state capitalism," the development of independent media, reform of the justice system and a stronger role for parliament, adding that it would take part in elections.
However, Mikhail Kuznetsov, the deputy chairman of Gorbachev's present political organization, the Union of Social Democrats, said winning seats was not the objective.
"Mikhail Sergeyevich (Gorbachev) is not striving to take seats in parliament, he is going to establish an independent democratic party and its task will be to let young people find fulfillment in new politics," Kuznetsov said.
Posted by: ed ||
09/30/2008 17:20 ||
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Mr. Gorbachev changed the world once, however unintentionally. If he can make this work, both Russia and the world will benefit.
Russia's confrontation with the West is escalating, with Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov accusing the U.N. Development Program of collaborating with the financier George Soros to fund Mikheil Saakashvili's rise to the Georgian presidency.
Russia has long accused Mr. Soros of financing the 2003 Rose Revolution, and Mr. Saakashvili in particular. Yesterday, Mr. Lavrov called for an examination of the ties between Mr. Soros and the UNDP. "At the time, George Soros was sponsoring members of the Georgian government," Mr. Lavrov told reporters, adding that UNDP "funds and finances" were also used to support Georgian officials. "We should clearly check and establish clear rules for controlling the spending by international organizations," he said. "We should not allow that such organizations be privatized."
American officials have raised questions about the relationship between Mr. Soros's Open Society Institute and the UNDP in the past. And as The New York Sun first reported in June 2006, a former UNDP administrator, Mark Malloch Brown, rented a house adjacent to Mr. Soros's estate in Katonah, N.Y., paying the financier what real estate agents in the area characterized as below market rate rent. Since the breakup of the Soviet Union, Mr. Soros's OSI has concentrated much of its pro-democracy activities in former Soviet republics striving to break with their totalitarian past, with local leaders and their nationalist supporters pledging to sever ties with Moscow.
Information about the UNDP's activities in Georgia is available to all the members of the agency's board, including Russia, a spokesman for the agency, Stéphane Dujarric, told the Sun yesterday. Launched in January 2004, the program in Georgia included "salary top-ups for leading officials," he said, and was designed "to enable the government to recruit the staff it needed, and also to help remove incentives for corruption." The Georgian president, prime minister, and speaker of the Parliament received monthly salary supplements of $1,500 each; ministers received $1,200 a month, and deputy ministers $700, Mr. Dujarric said.
The program was funded initially by Mr. Soros's OSI, which gave $1 million, while the UNDP gave $500,000. A Swedish government agency later added another $1 million. An "exit strategy" was built into the program, Mr. Dujarric said, and the Georgian government assumed responsibility for the salaries after three years.
Mr. Lavrov's contention that the UNDP must avoid being "privatized" came at the end of a week in which Russia significantly sharpened its rhetoric against America. At a press conference yesterday and in his speech before the U.N. General Assembly on Saturday, Mr. Lavrov repeatedly denounced Washington's disruption of the existing world order by invading Iraq. "The solidarity of the international community fostered on the wave of struggle against terrorism turned out to be somehow privatized," he said in his assembly speech, referring to the Iraq invasion.
Separately, Mr. Lavrov declined yesterday to provide new details about his country's resumption of military cooperation with Syria, amid reports that the Russian navy sent several ships to the Mediterranean port of Tartus. "This cooperation is conducted in the framework of the international law and does not endanger anyone's security," Mr. Lavrov said.
Musicians and tour organisers have told The Daily Telegraph that a series of significant performances have been affected amid a tightening of political control over the arts and Christianity.
Among the victims are the Academy of Ancient Music, one of Britain's leading orchestral and choral groups, which was invited to sing The Messiah at the Beijing International Music Festival in October. The performance will go ahead but has been made "by invitation only" to get round the ban.
Ironically, among the invitees are members of the Politburo and other senior government leaders.
The Sinfonica Orchestra di Roma has dropped plans to play Mozart's Requiem in the Sichuan earthquake zone in honour of the dead and to raise money for survivors. It will play a programme of smaller, mostly non-religious works instead.
At least one other performance of The Messiah has been cancelled and one of Verdi's Requiem is under threat.
No-one was available from the ministry of culture to comment on the reasons for the ban. But an official said: "It is not a black and white issue, and there is nothing written on paper or in the regulations. A smaller piece as part of a bigger programme might be OK, but a big work like Mozart's Requiem would definitely be out."
Although the official said the ban was longstanding policy, Western choral classics have been performed regularly in the last decade as China's cultural scene has opened up. With a growing middle class, many of whose children learn western classical instruments, the big names of international music have followed business and sport in eyeing the Chinese market eagerly.
Until recently the government seemed to give its backing. The China Philharmonic Orchestra played Mozart's Requiem for the Pope in Rome earlier this year as proof of Beijing's sincerity in seeking to win the Vatican's diplomatic recognition.
But attitudes in the top leadership to religion and western culture in general are thought to be divided. Some regard an explosion in evangelical Christianity across the country as having social benefits, while others regard it as an alien threat to Communist Party control.
Stefano Palamidessi, the Rome orchestra's general manager, said he had been advised to drop Mozart's Requiem from an open-air performance in the main square in the city of Dujiangyan, part of a China-wide tour. Dujiangyan, north of the Sichuan capital Chengdu, lost thousands to the quake.
Simon Fairclough, marketing director of the Academy of Ancient Music, said it had been the Beijing Festival's idea for them to perform The Messiah. A spokeswoman for the Festival said the presence of senior leaders had made it necessary to exclude the public.
Cai Jindong, a Chinese-born conductor and professor of music at Stanford University in the United States, was asked to drop a section from Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, an arrangement of raucous Latin and German medieval songs, which he conducted in Shanghai in August.
He said he thought the reason was most likely the Icelandic singer Bjork, who embarrassed the leadership by linking her song Independence to Tibet at a concert in Shanghai before the Olympics. All performers were subsequently subject to much tighter checks. "I don't know how many people in Shanghai know Latin," Mr Cai said. "But officials get into a position where they can't not say something."
#3
Of course, all these same people demanding this will also denounce The West for its lack of spirituality and morality, even as they prohibit the expression of our traditional religions in their country.
#5
I wrote to my sis in Peking. She's concerned about their annual performance of the Messiah. It has been a sell-out success for a number of years. This is a step back for intellectual freedom for the Chinese, I'm afraid. And really, quite unexpected.
.
#1
The article may well be crap, but the comments afterward are gold.
Posted by: Grenter, Protector of the Geats ||
09/30/2008 15:24 Comments ||
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#2
Comedy Gold indeed - EU telling us to vote again until we get it right; Japan saying that government interference always works...and that is just the article! Comments are great.
BJP's prime ministerial candidate L K Advani on Monday condemned attacks on Christians and churches in Orissa and Karnataka.
"I strongly condemn such acts of violence and vandalism. It cannot be justified. The law must take its course and culprits brought to justice," he told reporters in Guwahati.
Advani pledged to ask the BJP-ruled states to ensure there were no more attacks on Christians. Advani, who was in the Pine City to address a rally, assured this to Archbishop of Shillong Dominic Jala during a meeting with Christian leaders in Shillong.
"I had a fruitful meeting with Hindu, Muslim, Christian and Buddhist leaders in Shillong. I utilized the opportunity to comment on the recent incidents (killing of Christians and attacks on churches) in parts of Orissa and Karnataka," Advani said in Guwahati.
He said inter-religious dialogue should be initiated to strengthen the bond of "Indianness". "The inter-religious dialogue should be frank and constructive. Let people belonging to all religious groups consciously strengthen the bonds of Indianness that tie us together," he said.
"Advani promised us that he would persuade the BJP-ruled states to stop the violence against Christians," Jala told reporters after his meeting with Advani in Shillong.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/30/2008 00:00 ||
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The Dow is up 500 points today. What's going on here? We do better when Congress doesn't meddle in the marketplace? Is there a disconnect between what happens in Congress and the marketplace? Is credit tight or not? Where's the money coming from to buy in the stockmarket today? Well-managed regional banks in the hinterlands seem to be doing OK?
LONDON (Reuters) - World stocks were at near three-year lows on Tuesday but fears of a major market meltdown failed to carry through from Wall Street to Europe as confidence in bank rescue packages persisted.
The U.S. Congress's rejection of a bank rescue plan tore nearly 9 percent off the broad S&P 500 on Monday but European shares and many Asian stock markets clawed back from early losses on hopes the U.S. plan would eventually go through.
U.S. stock index futures also pointed to a higher opening, suggesting belief that Monday's selloff was over-done.
"It's certainly my working assumption that there (will be) some sort of agreement reached in the U.S. and based on that I would expect the market to recover quite strongly from yesterday's sell-off," said Darren Winder, equity strategist at Cazenove.
Angst over the battered financial sector continued, nonetheless, with Belgian-French financial services group Dexia getting a 6.4 billion euro ($9.18 billion) capital boost from public shareholders to help it fight the global credit crisis. Ireland also offered to guarantee all bank deposits for two years to improve banks' access to funds on international markets. It also guarantees covered bonds, senior debt and dated subordinated debt.
Money markets remained on life support with benchmark rates continuing to climb, albeit distorted by the final day of the third quarter. European stocks fell as much as 2 percent in early trading and Japan's Nikkei closed 4.12 percent lower after the deep losses on Wall Street in the wake of Congress's failure to agree a $700 billion plan to buy up toxic debt from the financial industry.
Globally, MSCI's main world stock index, a benchmark for many leading investors, was down 0.7 percent, adding to a 6.84 percent loss on Monday that saw the index's market capitalization plunge $1.73 trillion. But the FTSEurofirst 300 index of top European shares recovered to gain 0.6 percent.
"No one really expected a no vote (in Washington), but it's encouraging that they're clearly going to vote on this again," said one equities trader in Europe.
Earlier, the Nikkei average hit a three-year closing low, shedding 483.75 points to 11,259.86, the lowest finish since June 2005. It earlier lost nearly 5 percent. Other Asian stocks recovered, however. Hong Kong's Hang Seng index closed 0.8 percent higher, while South Korea's KOSPI pared losses to end down 0.6 percent. Both had fallen more than 5 percent early in the day.
We know you are a human being, or at least you believe that matters to us, but sadly, our mailboxes are too small and cannot possibly handle the number of emails you people wish to send. We lose them anyway and we never read them so why bother. Also, when we built the mailboxes, we only anticipated hearing from 0.001% of our constituents, not this whopping 1.02% contact ratio we're experiencing!
We have assessed the situation and believe that you fall under one of the following categories:
1. You are whining about something that we did to hurt your feelings.
2. You want us to do something.
3. You have a complaint.
Here are some generic responses to help you cope:
Category #1: (You are whining about something that hurt your feelings.)
Sorry. Vote for me in 2008!
Category #2: (You want us to do something.)
We are already doing everything we can. KTHXBYE. Vote for me in 2008!
Category #3: (You have a complaint.)
GTFO. Canada is that way -------> Vote for me in 2008!
Therefore, while we will gladly take your taxes from you, we have some bad news. We can't hear you. La la la la la la la la what? can't hear you! la la la la la...
NEARLY nine out of 10 Americans believe Congress' failure to pass a financial system rescue package has worsened the crisis, and 44 per cent blame the Republicans, according to a Washington Post/ABC News poll released today.
Fully 88 per cent of Americans said the collapse of the bailout bill took the country even deeper into crisis, and 51 per cent said they were very concerned. Forty-four per cent of those surveyed blamed the Republicans while 21 per cent put the blame at the Democrats' feet.
See folks, propaganda does work ...
In scenes of suspense and shock rarely seen on the House floor, Republican conservatives and rebel Democrats, many fearing a vote for the $US700 billion ($879 billion) bailout could cost them their seats, joined to doom the bill yesterday by 228 votes to 205.
Americans were deeply divided on the content of the plan: 45 per cent said they support it while 47 per cent were opposed, the poll showed.
Sixty-one per cent of those surveyed said Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson's plan did too little for ordinary Americans. President George W. Bush was blamed for the current financial morass by 25 per cent; while 18 per cent blamed financial institutions themselves; eight per cent the government; and eight per cent the Democrat-led Congress.
#1
So ... the crisis deepens because a poll of people *think* it did?
Also ... 88% felt that not passing the bill made things worse, but only 45% supported it passing? There is some weirdness at play ... mainly using a poll's results as if it's reality.
#1
I don't think mere video evidence of them saying it themselves will convince the lefties that they did it to themselves. They were probably tortured for this confession.
#2
Fannie and Freddie were managed by thieves who got rich on the backs of poor people who got overcommitted. In fact they were encouraged to get in over their heads. You could get a loan, in some instances, if you were bankrupt.
Barney Franks, Dodd were vote trolling. They were also getting hefty campaign donations from Freddie and Fannie. There were others too. Fannie's and Freddie's books were cooked to make them look good when they were in bad shape because of toxic loans. There is much fraud and corruption going on here.
...And we taxpayers are asked to bend over, grab our socks, be patriotic and like it when we take it once again.
A new posting of "Burning Down the House" has been put up on Youtube. The original post was pulled down and it had to be resubmitted. Send this link to everyone you know.
#11
Youtube keeps pulling it down, claiming a copyright claim by Universal Music Publishing. Does this mean youtube is going to pull down every video that plays music without the appropriate copyright permissions? I call BS.
#12
They should just remove the music as it adds nothing to the message of the video. Then have YouTube put it back up. If they don't (and they won't) they should be called out for the fraudulant, election-steering bastards they are.
"Some supporters of the package are of the view that the package is necessary in order to prevent economic disruptions. They mean by this that various phony activities should be kept alive by wealth generators for a little bit longer until a proper system is established. By "proper," they mean more controls.
For a while, the government's package can appear to be working; this is because there is still enough real savings to support both profitable and unprofitable activities. If, however, savings and capital are shrinking, nothing is going to help, and the real economy will follow up with further declines.
Hence the rescue package cannot prevent so-called economic disruptions. If anything, government intervention would make these disruptions much worse. Again, a better alternative is to let the market do the job. The market's ability to make swift adjustments without much drama was vividly illustrated only a few weeks ago when the very large investment bank, Lehman Brothers, was allowed to go belly up. The world did not come to an end. Instead, this was a healthy development. A money loser was eliminated from the market. This freed up resources to promote growth.
One could have made the case that when Lehman was on the brink it was too big to fail -- assets of $639 billion and employing over 26,000 people. Yet in a few days the market, once allowed to do the job, reallocated the good pieces of Lehman to various buyers and the bad parts have vanished. It was poetry."
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
09/30/2008 00:00 ||
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An interesting post at Instapundit by Glen Reynolds and also on KnoxNews.com
Posted by Katie Allison Granju on September 30, 2008
If Americans really want change in Washington, and improvement in the mean-spirited and debilitating partisan malaise that seems to have settled over our Congress, then we need to start with working to get rid of Nancy Pelosi as Speaker. Our House of Representatives - and we - deserve better.
...and a few more should go too. Well there is Nov. 4th!
#2
Seen government handle natural disaster relief.
Seen government handle finances.
Ain't no way I want to see how government handles health care.
Like a bunch of monkeys got into the grape juice plus and trying to fly a helicopter. "Hey, hows the collective stick?" "Pretty good schtick made lots of money - pass that barrel back around!"
NEW YORK (AP) -- Oil prices tumbled more than $10 a barrel Monday, dropping back below $100 as a U.S. financial bailout failed to win legislative approval, raising fears of a prolonged economic downturn that could drastically erode global energy demand. Light, sweet crude for November delivery sank $10.52, or 9.8 percent, to settle at $96.36 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after earlier dropping as low as $95.04.
The dramatic sell-off capped a week of frenzied volatility in oil markets.
A week earlier, prices shot up over $16 to $120.92 a barrel in the biggest one-day dollar gain ever. But as disagreements over the government's $700 billion bailout plan intensified over the last several days, oil market traders began moving out of their positions at a rapid clip; Monday's decline was the second largest ever in dollar terms and the biggest percentage-wise since 2001. Crude has now fallen almost $25, or 20 percent, in the last seven days.
Monday's nosedive came as House lawmakers defeated the emergency measure, which would have absorbed billions of dollars in banks' bad mortgage-related debt and other risky assets in a bid to steady the teetering economy. Democratic and Republican lawmakers pledged to try and work out another deal, but oil markets traders viewed the defeat as another bearish weight on oil.
"This is an acknowledgment that the global slowdown is here and energy demand is not going to be what it was," said Phil Flynn, energy analyst at Alaron Trading Corp. in Chicago.
Oil market traders were skeptical before the plan was voted down. Many doubted it would go far enough to unfreeze credit markets and restore calm to the financial system. If the economy worsens, analysts say businesses could be forced to lay off workers, leading Americans to cut back on driving and other energy use in the world's largest consumer.
Energy consumption overseas is also expected to drop, even in fast-growing developing countries such as India and China, where booming demand for cars and other goods helped drive the oil bubble earlier this year.
"With demand falling at the pace it is, nothing can support crude at levels above $100," said James Cordier, president of Tampa, Fla.-based trading firms Liberty Trading Group and OptionSellers.com. "There's no underlying demand from any pocket."
Highlighting weak U.S. appetite for energy, pump prices kept falling Monday. A gallon of regular slipped about a penny overnight to a new national average of $3.643, according to auto club AAA, the Oil Price Information Service and Wright Express. Prices peaked at $4.114 on July 17. Gasoline could get cheaper as U.S. Gulf Coast energy output ramps up following the passage of Hurricanes Ike and Gustav. About 57 percent of crude oil production and 53 percent of natural gas output remained shut-in Monday after shutdowns prompted by the storms, according to the U.S. Minerals Management Service, meaning more supply has yet to come on line.
But analysts say the rough economic conditions will make $3.50 gasoline feel like $4 for many consumers. "In a falling economy like this, that's going to seem very expensive and is not going ot jolt the consumer to spend more or drive more," Cordier said.
In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures fell 22.89 cents to settle at $2.7885 a gallon, while gasoline futures dropped 26.81 to settle at $2.397 a gallon. Natural gas futures lost 40.7 cents to settle at $7.221 per 1,000 cubic feet. In London, November Brent crude fell $9.56 to settle at $93.98 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/30/2008 00:00 ||
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...We have still been seeing gas shortages due to refinery outages from Hurricane Ike - but prices have been falling consistently for the last few days, and the shortages have almost disappeared, even though the dealers are still being told that the supply situation has NOT changed. Gotta love the free market.
Mike
Posted by: Mike Kozlowski ||
09/30/2008 7:59 Comments ||
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#2
It's partly the dollar strengthening on the chance that the "socialism for wall street billionaires" plan isn't accepted
Crude oil prices were down on Tuesday ahead of Wednesdays weekly report on US inventories. Analysts believe that crude oil stockpiles will increase by 900,000 barrels, while gasoline inventories are expected to be up by 1.8 million barrels.
Brent crude for May delivery dropped 89 cents to $65.95 per barrel on the International Petroleum Exchange. Meanwhile, May contracts for West Texas Intermediate crude lost 94 cents to $65.80 per barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.
Nymex gasoline futures for May gained 18 cents to $1.8650 per gallon after a warning from Merrill Lynch that gasoline prices in the US could reach $2.40 per gallon, or $100 per barrel, by summer due to higher demand in the face of low domestic output and dropping inventories and imports.
#7
Atlanta is under an EPA edict to have special blends "cleaner" fuel because of air pollution. Get away from Fulton County and the prices and availability are better.
#8
You've got to get way away Besoker. Lake Oconee area is dry. Now I had no problems last week when I had to travel to Savnnah once I made it to Macon.
#12
No gas in Atlanta, plenty gas in Wilmington NC, where it arrives by sea. Apparently there are no spare gas tanker trucks or rail cars that could make up a bit of the shortage. Pity.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/30/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Rescue plan for you and your Goldman pals, or for the rest of us? Please tell us why Goldman and Morgan Stanley should not go the way of Lehman, again?
Posted by: tep ||
09/30/2008 6:49 Comments ||
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#2
Don't think, just sign?
Is that what he's saying?
Just like a car dealer.
#4
yeah - we need a rescue plan before the market recovers and shows the 'end-of-the-world crisis' to be a simple(and oh-so-badly-needed) 'correction'.
#8
Washington mandated "affordable housing" with Fannie and Freddie repurchasing the resulting sub prime loans. It is good and proper that Fannie and Freddie have been bailed out. The issue today is that investment banks, powered by their own greed, who retained some of the high yielding but ultimately worthless paper are also going under.
To hell with them. But I do worry about the follow on cascade of those who invested in those who invested in them.
Is the bailout of Fannie/Freddie in addition to the Federal Reserve(remember them?) pumping liquidity into the market enough to keep a total meltdown from occurring? I don't think ANYBODY knows.
Posted by: Minister of funny walks ||
09/30/2008 10:48 Comments ||
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#9
Ya know, I hear y'all. But if in fact the credit markets seize up for months there may well be a whole lot of small businesses that go under as a result, jobs that go away and families that lose the results of decades of hard work.
#11
If money can be made from loaning money, money will be made. Been that way for quite some time. The... to whom is the only question. If you are not CONFIDENT in your ability to get a loan, the system may not be the problem.
#12
Why is it that the presidential race had three polls per day, but the only marker on the popularity of the bailout is Representatives - both d and r - in contended districts overwhelmingly voted against the bailout?
CrazyFool, that is my feeling exactly. I lack confidence in a congress which could not see this crises coming (or did and didn't care) is going to within a week fix a decade of bad decisions; wall street and congress - Many of these companies actively lobbied to not fix the problem like someone diagnosed with emphysema and chooses to keep smoking as to sue the tobacco business and does not quit smoking. Throwing money at a problem without fixing the reasons for the problem makes as much sense to me as fixing a cracked bathtub by just adding more water.
What was that story, oh maybe a year ago or something, about the economic professor volunteering his time in order to teach econ 101 to all members of congress?
End the requirement of banks to make bad loans and the small and medium banks who have had to make smart business decisions in order to compete with the larger banks fill in the gaps.
We got a running pool out here for how much it will cost (if a bailout passes). I have five bucks on $2 trln by end of 4th quarter. Unfortunately if I'm right that $5 bet will only seem like a $3 bet.
#13
"End the requirement of banks to make bad loans and the small and medium banks who have had to make smart business decisions in order to compete with the larger banks fill in the gaps."
It is my understanding that Washington, though Fannie and Freddie, repurchased the sub prime paper from small and medium banks, but that large investment banks retained some of the bad paper for their own portfolios, attracted by the high yield note rates.
Posted by: Minister of funny walks ||
09/30/2008 11:07 Comments ||
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#14
Bullshit.
SOME bailouts may be needed, but we sure as hell don't need to save every twit that bought their way to bankruptcy. $700 billion is way to much, and not targeted enough.
#16
I can see where your coming from lopd - we cannot forget the human aspect of the problem.
But I think that perhaps a lot more business might end if the market is not _allowed_ to correct itself - if we just slap on yet-another-patch on yet-another-crutch to prop up a seriously ill market. And if we don't fix the stupid 'you must use preditory lending practices ' Act (otherwise known as the 'Community Reinvestment Act').
In short the market might just have to vomit to get better...
#17
if in fact the credit markets seize up for months there may well be a whole lot of small businesses that go under as a result, jobs that go away... Those businesses & jobholders might be worthy recipients of a bailout from the Fed -- which is already authorized to do that in an emergency.
#18
Correct Besoeker. This was driven first and foremost by the CBC desire to provide affordable housing to their constituents. (Welfare without the name) But the original legislation was passed back in 1995 when, IIRC the REPUBLICANS held majorities in congress. As such, the affordable housing/sub prime mortgage bubble was the ultimate fault of Washington as a whole. We elect the fools and now it's time to pay the piper.
Posted by: Minister of funny walks ||
09/30/2008 11:37 Comments ||
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#19
Bloomberg Radio just reported both McCain & Obama want the FDIC to increase its coverage on deposits to $250,000. Sounds like a winner to me. Also make sure there is no doubt on full funding for the FDIC for the bank failures & closures which will be happening. Many banks are insolvent & have been shuckin' & jivin' about it.
#20
So let me see. The government has already injected billions into the market to help bailout AIG, Fannie and Freddie. There are probably others not included on the list. Additionally, the FBI is investigating failed bank IndyMac Bancorp Inc. for possible fraud. Countrywide Financial Corp., formerly the nations largest mortgage lender and now owned by Bank of America Corp., is also under scrutiny. Bush's Secretary of Treasury injected another 150 B into the market in the last couple of days.
We are asked to trust all these people. Congress is largely the problem. Time to clean house in Washington. All House members are up for re-election and so is part of the Senate.
Dow is up triple digits today. It seems like the markets do pretty well if not meddled with by Washington. Manufactured crisis?
#22
Providing "affordable housing" was just a placebo motive for the Housing Bubble. The bubble's real effect on housing was to make it less affordable, and it succeeded in that very well. The sub-slime mortgages ginned up in the Housing Bubble were really not affordable, as shown by the home loaners so affected being foreclosed on. 30-year fixed rate mortgages to creditworthy buyers was what FNMA provided for between 1938-1998, and that worked quite well to provide truly affordable housing.
#23
True but irrelevant Anguper. Congress responded to a constituent need. All the problems are just the MAN keeping you down. And the media has their back on this. Fully.
*spit*
Posted by: Minister of funny walks ||
09/30/2008 12:03 Comments ||
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#24
Some reasons why Democrats voted against the bailout.
Posted by: Deacon Blues ||
09/30/2008 12:59 Comments ||
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#25
Sen Tom Coburn, not exactly a flaming liberal, issued a statement today saying
Taxpayers deserve to know that there is no guarantee this plan will work, but there is a guarantee that we will face a financial catastrophe if we do nothing. If banks continue to fail and stop lending the average American could lose their job, be unable to secure a loan for a car, home or college education, and find their life savings and retirement in jeopardy. Our economy depends on having liquid assets available for credit and lending just as an automobile engine needs oil. If those liquid assets stop flowing, our economy will be seriously damaged and will require far more costly and lengthy repairs.
This bill does not represent a new and sudden departure from free market principles as much as it represents an emergency response to congressional actions that have ignored free market principles, and our Constitution, for decades. If anyone in Washington should offer their resignation it should be the members of Congress who peddled the fantasy of free home ownership without risk. No institution in our country is more responsible for the myth or borrowing without consequences than the United States Congress.
I'm not sure everyone here is sensitive to just how bad things could get quickly.
#27
I just checked my bank's loan rates, which as of this afternoon were quite reasonable. I'm sure that if their liquidity was tapped out they'd charge what the market could bear. It may be that with the Fannie/Freddie bailout, FDIC protections, Federal Reserve pumping liquidity and a trillion in SS checks going out each year etc, the underpinnings are already in place to support the American banking system.
The benefits of the Paulson rescue plan (as opposed to the overall government lending) may be mostly psychological at this point. A "we're in charge and we will take care of you" while the heavy lifting (and most of the expense) have already been done.
Posted by: Minister of funny walks ||
09/30/2008 14:31 Comments ||
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#28
So there's 2,000,000 houses about to be foreclosed on ready to tank the price of housing. How to deal with this problem? Find 2,000,000 new home owners.
Where do we find 2,000,000 new home owners?
I suggest an auction of 2,000,000 green cards to college educated adults who promise to move to the US and buy a house within 12 months without respect to country of origin, minimum bid $100,000.
#30
Here is my issue - if the engine is busted adding more oil not just deals with the symptoms and not the actual problem, it could cause more damage by covering up the symptom and creating false belief that everything is ok. They want a bailout, then fix the underlying problem and dissolve every entity and congressional power associated with this trespass of government power and spending then talk liquid cash bailout options (pouring oil on top of the engine dont help either, which knowing this congress is what they are going to do - "see I added oil!"). Otherwise its just gobs of bluish smoke coming out the tailpipe.
What nobody has been able to clarify to me is that if nothing is down the economy takes it for a couple of years; if something is done the economy takes if for a couple of years - so why get more of this omnipitant government interference. To me, Wall Street et al whoever spent lobby money on congresscritters are just as responsible as the a-holes who took the money so now they pay for their dishonesty. I probably will not be immune to the market forces (just started own business 2 weeks ago, yippee!) but I want to know what I will be dealing with after 6 months is for real and not some cushioned economy which collapses again.
Coming down the pipe is SS and Medicare so maybe somebody should start dealing with this now instead of after the barn catches fire, hmmm? (I know President Bush already tried to get people's attention on this)
#32
Simple answer to Paulson: DON'T DEBASE THE CURRENCY! If the bailout doesn't get passed, some institutions are going to take a hit. So are some innocents. That's bad for the folks who didn't deserve it. Debase the currency and WE ALL take a hit. A HUGE ONE. For me there's no question which is worse.
#34
Anybody here know why the banks gained soo much today?? Wachovia was up 90%, over 400mil shares and AIG was up about 33%, over 100mil shares.
All 25 NYSE top gainers were banking categories..
Posted by: Tom- Pa ||
09/30/2008 19:56 Comments ||
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#35
#34 Anybody here know why the banks gained soo much today?? Wachovia was up 90%, over 400mil shares and AIG was up about 33%, over 100mil shares. All 25 NYSE top gainers were banking categories..
(1.) Hank Paulson's nose is growing daily and the scare tactics are failing.
(2.) Banks are crawling out from under the Gov't pressure to lend to risky, undeserving borrowers.
#36
Conspiracy theory here, fellow R'burgers, please comment. The oligarchists run this country. Just suppose all this recent activity has been staged.
Pelosi was to make sure the bill didn't pass so she made that blame speech on R's, GWB. What's GWB care anyway, he's lame(duck). The bailout is really a tax inrrease on those who can afford it.
I'm not so sure what is in the bill, but I'm sure its totally unfeaseable given the lack of time given for review. I think Nancy, amongst others, got her AIG losses back today. Thanks, Hank, your a genious.
Posted by: Tom- Pa ||
09/30/2008 20:44 Comments ||
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#37
Wachovia was up 90%, over 400mil shares
Strokes chin: "interesting"
U.S. President George W. Bush said on Monday he was disappointed that the House of Representatives voted down a $700 billion plan to rescue the financial system but said he would continue to confront the problem head-on. "I was disappointed in the vote that the United States Congress had on the economic rescue plan," Bush told reporters after a meeting with Ukraine President Viktor Yushchenko. "We put forth a plan that was big because we've got a big problem."
As the markets plummeted after the House voted down the rescue package negotiated between the administration and lawmakers, Bush said he would meet with his economic advisers and work with congressional leaders to plot a way forward.
The Dow Jones industrials suffered its worst single-day point decline ever Monday, losing some 738 points, after US lawmakers rejected the rescue of the financial system. "Our strategy is to continue to address this economic situation head-on and we'll be working to develop a strategy that will enable us to continue to move forward," Bush said.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/30/2008 00:00 ||
Comments ||
Link ||
[4 views]
Top|| File under:
#1
Sorry, Mr. President. I'm not. We'll just have to disagree.
#3
Please invite Newt over for lunch and discussions today Mr. President. You may want to have Mac & Sarah sitting quietly in the room as well. If I may suggest a starter topic, let it be Mark-to-Market economics.
#4
How long is Wall St. going to hold out before they have to go back to work? All those loans arent worthless, they're just worth less than they expected. They are still backed by physical real estate, something tangible, but they'd probably prefer to deal in imaginary money, like futures, or options, where no product ever changes hands.
#5
Gee, Mr. President, when the generals screwed around for a tie in Iraq, you were smart enough to get a man who really understood the situation. Fire the Secty of Treasury like you fired the SecDef. Get yourself people who can explain the fundamental issue and apply the action(s), if necessary, to that and not a 'bailout'.
Credit crunch - recharter the Bank of the United States [that shouldn't be hard with 700B] and become the Lender of First Choice forcing the other lending institutions to follow or fall.
Solidify the value of housing - give direct relief to mortgage holders who have real equity in their homes, not speculators who are riding a float. Don't add value to paper.
#6
#4: How long is Wall St. going to hold out before they have to go back to work?
They'll want to drag this "Manufactured Crisis" out as long as there's any hope of free Government cash to be had.(It also increases the chance of their making a boodle on this "PANIC scam)
Posted by: Redneck Jim ||
09/30/2008 11:07 Comments ||
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#7
Would that President George W. Bush, master of conservative economic policies?
Leaving your money in the stock market during an election year is risky in and of itself.
#8
I read the text last night of that little speech that Nancy Pants made before the vote on the bailout. It was bitterly partisan and totally inappropriate. She blamed the whole crisis on Bush's "failed economic policies" and then went on to praise Barney Franks. She was like some spoiled brat who curses her dad and then asks him for money. No matter how I felt about the bailout there is no way in hell I would have voted for it after having to sit through that speech. She slapped their faces, rubbed their noses in her own $h!t and then expected them to bail her out? They slapped her back so now she's acting all surprised and hurt. No deal, bitch.
#10
Well, folks, just keep hammering on your congress critters to keep voting this crap sandwich down until the nation examines the origins of this problem in the light of day.
DON'T F**K WITH THE TAXPAYER. That's the message we need to send.
Posted by: Alaska Paul ||
09/30/2008 16:15 Comments ||
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#11
Called mine from Asia right after they opened for business in DC this A.M. Told his aide I was very proud of him for voting the bailout down and to tell him I said "stick to your guns." I also mentioned that my absentee ballot was on its way and he'd have my vote for sure.
The guy I talked to seemed pretty pleased to have the call for some reason...
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NEW YORK (AP) -- Oil prices tumbled more than $10 a barrel Monday, dropping back below $100 as a U.S. financial bailout failed to win legislative approval, raising fears of a prolonged economic downturn that could drastically erode global energy demand. Light, sweet crude for November delivery sank $10.52, or 9.8 percent, to settle at $96.36 on the New York Mercantile Exchange, after earlier dropping as low as $95.04.
