Ever since I can remember the major money center banks have gotten into trouble loaning money globally to foreign countries, governments and mega corporations, falling on their ass and then getting bailed out. Through the 1970's commercial banks were limited to banking in their own states and skirted the intent by making stupid foreign loans, eventually getting a haircut or giving one to the US taxpayer. Illinois went further and prohibited branch banking within the state. Savings and Loans took money from local depositors and made local real estate loans.
When Congress allowed the S&L's to pretend they were commercial banks, Wall Street raided them as a source for junk bonds, another banking debacle, another bailout. Now we learn this morning that Wall Street Aristocracy Got $1.2 Trillion From Fed
We do not need government support for anything to do with Wall Street, no more than we need government support for Las Vegas casinos. Let them do what they want and if they fail, tough shit. All real estate mortgages should be done on a local level. Banking should be a state function and should be de-federalized. When a bank reaches a certain size it should be cut-off from all government support and guarantees. Place the risk where it belongs, to the dumb bastards that run them and their investors.
Consumer Economic Index is now at 45.4, down 10 percentage points from July and down 1.5 points from the 46.9 level it reported on August 10. Two days after that report, the Thomson Reuters/University of Michigan's preliminary August reading showed that U.S. consumer sentiment had fallen to its lowest point since May 1980.
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ReplyDeleteThe economy tanked when banks became too big to fail.
Since their most recent bailout, these banks have actually grown bigger percentage-wise as weaker ones were absorbed.
As D's post points out, we have been here before and Washington is always there to bail them out with taxpayer money. They continue to do so by fighting reglations to curb the risks these guys are allowed to take.
Count on it, within 8-10 years we will see another of these fiascos.
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The big banks arrived at their destination as a result of their insidious greed. Then, they were rewarded for their effort by becoming classified; TBTF. They are living the dream! With the full support of the USG (us), moral hazard is no longer an issue…full speed ahead. If we truly live in a democratic country and the majority rules, then we should expect to see these monsters reigned in. My bet is that the old adage, “money talks and bullshit walks” will prevail.
ReplyDeleteThere is a fine and very fuzzy line that separates government institutions from private institutions, it is a symbiotic relationship. So long as we remain under the illusion and are willing to believe that these private sector institutions represent “free market capitalism” and that government institutions represent the people as two opposing adversaries, when in fact, they are both parts of the same, we can continue to delude ourselves into thinking that there is a possibility for reform we will continue to continue. Nothing will happen till we get a president willing to take no prisoners.
ReplyDeleteMy call on oil going down was prescient. It is off $.01.
ReplyDeleteAll this talk of Irgun killing Brits and no one seems to care that they also made a habit of regularly blowing up Palestinian homes...bah, who cares? they are just muzzies anyway.
ReplyDeleteRemember, the rising price of gasoline tanked the economy in the last half of Feb - well before things went to hell in Libya.
ReplyDeleteJust like rising gasoline prices started our economy Contracting in the 1st qtr of 2008 way before any talk of a "banking crisis."
ReplyDeleteI'm reading that some of those big, older fields could take up to 36 months to get back up to speed.
ReplyDeleteMeanwhile, the One Million Barrel/Day infusion from the IEA/SPR has about 3 weeks to go.
I wouldn't look for oil prices to tank very much in the near term.
All this talk of Irgun killing Brits and no one seems to care that they also made a habit of regularly blowing up Palestinian homes...
ReplyDeleteNow WiO will say "fuck you Bob" because:
Irgun = Zionism
Zionism = Judaism
Jews are Semites
Therefore you are an anti-Semitic asshole.
Re all this talk about getting along - I've been reading some Huston Smith - who is trying to figure out how to get along with the 'scientists' among others.
ReplyDeleteAnyway towards the end of the book he brought up the events in Europe in the thirties and forties. One thing I noticed was his assertion that the resistance to Hitler in Germany sure wasn't in the German universities, which folded under like cards, but rather, to the extent there was resistance, it occurred in the Christian churches, with the likes of D. Bonhoeffer etal who died right at the end of the war in some prison. His example of the university types towing to Hitler was M. Heidegger, who is turgid reading, to the least.
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Miss T, the b was missing, was not me.
ReplyDeleteWhat happened to everyone using a picture anyway?
I have a great one but need my daughter to set it up.
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Bloomberg is completely ignoring that 8.4% Home Loan Delinquency Rate.
ReplyDeleteThat is just a Gawdawful number.
There's lot of lessons in the thirties, one being democracy isn't exactly a perfect cure all for what ails in certain circumstances.
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But, Drudge linked it.
ReplyDeleteOverall, 12.54 percent of all U.S. mortgage loans outstanding are either late in payments or in the foreclosure process, and that is up 0.23 percent from the previous quarter.
Yikes
Should I use a picture of Risky the Horse,or the new owner of the stables who looks like Santa Claus/ZZTop and drives his tractor with a quart of ale always in hand, my son's picture of a trucker piss jug/cactus flower/butterfly in Northern Nevada (true work of art with much deep social and natural meaning), or go back to my piss on it all in my youth in the river?
ReplyDeleteRufus, I'm dying to know what you look like some day.
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70 or 80% of homes in Las Vegas are underwater I read somewhere, and Rufus wants to build a trillion dollar Desert Debtor super train to there from LA, presumably to help poor old Wynn out.
ReplyDeleteWell, piss on that.
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Since Obama took office, employment at federal regulatory agencies has jumped 13 percent while private-sector jobs shrank by 5.6 percent.
ReplyDeleteI see an inverse correspondence between regulator jobs and real, you know, jobby jobs.
Mecca seems extreme, of course, but then again few people would die and it would send a signal.'' --What is "Occupation"'s buddy Rich Lowry, Senior Editor, The National Review, March 2002.
I want to know what you look like because I have these arousing fantasies about you. Wordsworth would be proud but even more so would be Abu Nuwas.
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:)
ReplyDeleteThat's gotta be The Twisted One, aka Quirk, cause it wasn't me.
Identity theft!
It's not the first time.
I'm going now, anyone posting under my initial will be excommunicated.
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Re: Overall, 12.54 percent of all U.S. mortgage loans outstanding are either late in payments or in the foreclosure process, and that is up 0.23 percent from the previous quarter.
ReplyDeleteA couple weeks ago I saw the number 6.5 million homes seriously delinquent or in foreclosure. This did not include, as I recall, REOs. That could bring the number to 8 million.
Think about this, for the first six months of 2011, California, formerly the world's sixth (5th) economy issued less than 20,000 building permits!
Think about this, for the first six months of 2011, California, formerly the world's sixth (5th) economy issued less than 20,000 building permits!
ReplyDeleteAnd each permit took longer than they ever did before when times were booming, because gummint wants to look busy.
Ms T: Mecca seems extreme, of course, but then again few people would die and it would send a signal.'' --What is "Occupation"'s buddy Rich Lowry, Senior Editor, The National Review, March 2002
ReplyDeleteNotice she takes a picture of the square in Mecca at the height of season...
The maximum lie possible.
Now show a picture of the square empty...
Still arguing a false arguement that she in fact created...
Lazer the rock, kidnap it, or nuke it with a small suitcase..
design a bomb for it... but the only one that claim I want to nuke the city is still the people that lie when they say I made that specific claim..
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EMPTY Square
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ReplyDeleteEMPTY Square 2
So to enforce Ms T's lie that I advocate genocide of the people that advocate genocide on me and mine?
ReplyDeleteshe posts photos of the Hajji at peak times...
"When I went for Hajj for the first time just few years back, I realize that every moment remains tagged in my mind even today . There is a distinguished difference between visiting the Kaaba during the Hajj and during off season when the crowd is little. Each has its own charm. During the Hajj you see a colorful crowd amidst the white ihram. The muscular Turkish men , in their light green safari suits, in groups, holding their women firmly, locking each other in arms pushing every Hajji who comes on the way during tawaf, remains a common experience. The short fair and stout Indonesians youth also perform the tawaf in the same manner. I am told that for the Indonesians, the number of Hajj they perform in youth works as their bio data in their matrimonial papers. The poor Africans no more jostle and push the people as they are infamous about. They leave Makkah immediately after the Hajj without going to Madina."
The Kaaba has an off season...
It is empty MUCH of the year...
the destruction of the black rock is what i advocate..
Ms T?
She stirs up lies...
Ms T...
ReplyDeleteTherefore you are an anti-Semitic asshole.
No you are an "anti-Semitic asshole", dont try to put words in my mouth...
i call them as I see them...
You are an anti-semite...
plain as day...
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ReplyDelete.
ReplyDeleteThat's gotta be The Twisted One, aka Quirk, cause it wasn't me.
It wasn't me, b, or dsw, or dwrs, or whoever you are today
Should I use a picture of Risky the Horse,..
Naw, just crop the picture and post the horse's ass as your avatar. It would be more appropriate.
:)
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Well, this you can take to the bank; Risky's ass will grace your silver screen long before mine will. :)
ReplyDeleteA government official told Reuters 376 people on both sides were killed, and about 1,000 wounded, though it was unclear how the figures were arrived at.
ReplyDelete...
Only five months ago, Khadafy forces were set to crush the rebel stronghold of Benghazi. He warned then that there would be "no mercy, no pity" for his opponents.
His forces, he said, would hunt them down "district to district, alley to alley, house to house, room to room." It is a refrain some rebels have thrown back at him in recent days.
Ms T,
ReplyDeleteI most certainly do not dislike you, despite reasonable evidence to the contrary.
Understanding that you are ill, I pray for you each and every day.
While frequently strongly disagreeing with you on many things Jewish, I would find the world a much duller place without you.
She’s Just My Style
And there were other indications that the battle elsewhere still has not run its course. A rebel spokesman in the city of Misurata said a Scud missile, apparently fired from Sirte, had exploded in the sea, causing no casualties but serving as a reminder that Gaddafi’s forces still have considerable weaponry at their disposal.
ReplyDelete...
There were also reports late Monday that Gaddafi loyalists had launched a fierce counteroffensive against rebels who had seized control of the western coastal town of Zuwarah, near the border with Tunisia. Arish al-Fanousa, a spokesman for the town’s rebels who fled to Tunisia, said loyalist forces had surrounded Zuwarah and subjected it to a 24-hour barrage of shellfire.
“We tried to go fight, but there is no way in and there is no way out,” he said. “If this continues, everyone inside will be dead.”
Report: Libyan Leader Moammar al-Qaddafi May Flee to Venezuela, Cuba
ReplyDeleteHe can fly nowhere without our knowledge and permission. That plane needs to be found and, in a second of sublime, poetic justice,
destroyed in the air.
As for his Lockerbie hitman, we now have the reach to grab him and bring his terminal illness to a sad, but abrupt end.
Libyan Draft Constitution: Sharia is ‘Principal Source of Legislation’
ReplyDeleteIf true, that Jew in London will have a hard time returning home to run for office.
WiO, you have helped me see the brilliant white light that lasts for several seconds! Consider me converted.
ReplyDeleteI used Google to see if there were others like us who also want to nuke Mecca, and I found someone who is right on the same wavelength with us.
I have already made the case that Mecca is central to Islamic forms of worship. Mecca, I have argued, is a Temple City. Although many Muslim theologians will deny that any place is holy in Islam, there is at least a de facto holiness ascribed to the area surrounding the Kaaba stone. In many ways the city of Mecca is central to Islam in just the same way that the Temple of Solomon was central to ancient Judaism. It is this similarity which is so striking, and why the destruction of Mecca might do to Islam what the final destruction of Herod's Temple in Jerusalem did to Judaism. While the bloody events surrounding Rome's sacking of Jerusalem are indeed disgusting and tragic, that event forced Jews to rethink their relationship with God. More importantly, that event forced Jews to rethink their relationship with their fellowman.
Without wishing to reduce all of Jewish history or life to one paragraph, and thus leaving out the many facets of ancient Hebrew worship, let me go ahead an do that anyway (with many apologies up front--and welcoming any corrections or differing opinions). Ancient Judaism had a legal structure which was similar to Islamic sharia in that they both unify the religious codes thought to be handed down by God with secular authority. In fact, the Old Testament laws seem just as draconian as any I would find in sharia. There is just something about stoning adulteresses that I kind find of harsh, that's all. I know such applications of Mosaic law were probably rare, but Muslims would argue the same thing about the strict application of sharia law in the ideal Islamic state.
Ancient Judaism also had another commonality with Islam: worship was centered on a holy place of ritualistic practice. After the destruction of the Temple, though, Jews had to ask new questions about the meaning of being holy. Stateless, they found that strict religious codes of conduct could not be enforced in the same way as before. While the Jewish Diaspora had already begun the process of transforming Judaism, the final destruction of Temple centered worship forced this transformation on a broader scale.
Jews found that God no longer had a place to reside in. Jews found that they could no longer perform the rituals required by God to be purified. Jews found that they could no longer enforce God's law. Jews found that their specialness was different than they had previously supposed. Worship changed. Everything changed.
What I propose is simply this. Would destroying Mecca begin a similar process for Muslims?
Let me remind all you horse's asses I had QUIRK all fitted up to Nuke the Rock, but he got the Detroit scaredycats and wouldn't push the plunger. Other than that he has remained loyal to the Big Cheese, and so I have forgiven him.
ReplyDeleteAnd when I come into my own, and am Bob the Ruler, as confedgal predicts and attests, Quirk will have a special place in my Principality.
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ReplyDeleteBeer Tester?
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They were doing the Campbellian chimpanzee around that rock long before Mo came around, I think.
ReplyDeleteI wonder how it got started, this circumambulation shit.
It's exactly what the chimps do.
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Ale drinker & horse shit shoveler.
ReplyDeleteYou can work two jobs.
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ReplyDelete...horse shit shoveler.
Having you around would at least provide a lot of job security.
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Update II: According to Fox News, the rally will feature “a major announcement”:
ReplyDeleteCharlie Gruschow, co-founder of event host Tea Party of America, told FoxNews.com he doesn’t know what Palin will do at the rally, but that “all we’re being told is that she’s going to make a major announcement.”
Tea Party of America has already started running radio ads in Iowa promoting the event. And the group’s website has a poll asking readers not if but “when” Palin will announce her candidacy.
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I'd never really fire you Quirk, you know that.
ReplyDeleteBe much more secure employment than that minimum wage part timer you got at Souls.
I might fire upon you though.
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ReplyDeleteSpeaking of horseshit.
Obama will be in Detroit over Labor Day.
Likewise, the Novemeber 9 Republican pesidential debate will be held here at Oakland University, a few miles from me.
Time to start planning some road trips.
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Statue Kidnapped, Held For Ransom
ReplyDeleteBeen in Florida lately, Quirk?
This is the kind of operation that has your fingerprints all over it.
I'm outta Rosauer's. Tomorrow we get our internet hooked up again. whooopeee
Later
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Fore I go --
ReplyDeleteOn Monday morning, Tabor found a ransom note on his door made in cut-out letters, reading:
Elmer Tabor,
We have Big John. Wait for further instructions. Do not call police or he will be floating with the fishes.
Quirk means business, this time.
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ReplyDeleteElmer Tabor,
ReplyDeleteI see the bank transfer has taken place.
You will find Big John dressed in a clown outfit in the back seat of a Mini Cooper parked in the rest stop on I75 just north of Ft. Meyers.
The other 11 clowns in the car had nothing to do with this. They were mere dupes.
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Fine in Libya
ReplyDeletePublished reports say the president of Standard & Poor’s is stepping down, a decision coming only weeks after the rating agency’s unprecedented move to strip the United States of its AAA credit rating.
ReplyDeleteThree surface-to-surface missiles were fired within Libya on Monday evening, NATO said in a statement. The alliance said it was not aware of damages or casualties.
ReplyDeleteTurkish Foreign Minister Ahmet Davutoglu, the chairman of an alliance of nations working to deal with the Libyan crisis, is scheduled to fly Tuesday to the Libyan city of Benghazi, where the rebels' National Transitional Council is based.
ReplyDeleteA boat from the International Organization for Migration is scheduled to arrive in Tripoli Tuesday to evacuate stranded migrants in the Libyan capital, the organization said. The boat, which can carry 300 people, left the Libyan city of Benghazi Monday morning.
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