Showing posts with label 20071200 2008 Subprime Mort Crisis qv Bus. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 20071200 2008 Subprime Mort Crisis qv Bus. Show all posts

Thursday, March 22, 2012

When Vampire Squids Become Cannibals – by Kevin Dayhoff – The Tentacle March 21, 2012

March 21, 2012



In case you missed it, last Wednesday Greg Smith, a Goldman Sachs executive, resigned. Actually it was really no big deal, except while he was on his way out the door, he burned his bridges and then strafed the wounded.

Mr. Smith publicly nuked Goldman Sachs in a scathing op-ed article in The New York Times that left many holding their hands up high and shouting “Alleluia.”

Last Wednesday began the same as many of the most recent monotonous mid-week editions of the end of winter blues as our nation’s wounded business and financial community continues to snort and bellow while it tries to extricate itself from an economic tar pit and in the process, try not to pee all over itself anymore than it already has.

The European sovereign debt crisis continues to languish in the markets like a bad hangover and economic public policy, especially unchecked profligate U.S. sovereign spending and debt, continue as troublesome issues. And where there is a financial cesspool, one can count on Goldman Sachs merrily swimming with the rest of the bottom-feeders and leaches.

So, as one may imagine, a headline like “Why I Am Leaving Goldman Sachs,” caught my eye.

Goldman Sachs, the venerable ginormous, intergalactic investment banking, financial services and securities firm has arguably found itself in the caustic crosshairs of public scrutiny more in the past several years than at any other time in its storied history that goes back to 1869… http://www.thetentacle.com/ShowArticle.cfm?mydocid=4986

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"Leadership used to be about ideas, setting an example and doing the right thing. Today, if you make enough money for the firm (and are not currently an ax murderer) you will be promoted into a position of influence." … http://www.huffingtonpost.com/wendell-potter/goldman-sachs-greg-smith_b_1362755.html?ref=politics&ir=Politics






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I’m a newspaper reporter. I’m pushy, inconsiderate and I do not respect boundaries.
Kevin Dayhoff is an artist - and a columnist for:

Twitter: https://twitter.com/kevindayhoffTwitpic: http://twitpic.com/photos/kevindayhoff
Kevin Dayhoff's The New Bedford Herald: http://kbetrue.livejournal.com/ = www.newbedfordherald.net

Tumblr: Kevin Dayhoff Banana Stems www.kevindayhoff.tumblr.com/
Smurfs: http://babylonfluckjudd.blogspot.com/
Google profile: https://profiles.google.com/kevindayhoff/

E-mail: kevindayhoff(at)gmail.com
My http://www.explorecarroll.com/ columns appear in the copy of the Baltimore Sunday Sun that is distributed in Carroll County: https://subscribe.baltsun.com/Circulation/
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Monday, February 23, 2009

Rick Santelli and the "Rant of the Year"


Rick Santelli and the "Rant of the Year"

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEZB4taSEoA



Transcript


Hat Tip: NewsBusters

(from start to about 2:33)

Becky Quick, in studio: …. Rick have you been listening (to the previous conversation)?

Rick Santelli, on trading floor: Listening to it? I’ve been just glued to it because Mr. Ross has nailed it. You know, the government is promoting bad behavior, because we certainly don’t want to put stimulus forth, and give people a whopping eight or ten dollars in their check, and think that they ought to save it.

And in terms of modifications, I’ll tell you what, I have an idea. You know the new administration’s big on computers and technology. How about this, (Mr.) President and new administration — Why don’t you put up a web site to have people vote on the Internet as a referendum to see if we really want to subsidize the losers’ mortgages, or would we like to, at least, buy cars and buy houses in foreclosure and give them to people who might have a chance to actually prosper down the road, and reward people that could carry the water, instead of drink(ing) the water.

Trader sitting near by: What a novel idea! What? Who thought of that!

(traders in the pit start clapping and cheering)

Joe Kernen, in studio: Rick, they’re like putty in your hands. Did you hear –

Santelli: No they’re not, Joe. They’re not like putty in our hands! This is America! (turns around to address pit traders) How many of you people want to pay for your neighbors’ mortgage that has an extra bathroom and can’t pay their bills? Raise their hand. (traders boo; Santelli turns around to face CNBC camera) President Obama, are you listening?

Trader (sitting nearby, goes over to Santelli’s mike): How about we all stop paying our mortgage? It’s a moral hazard.

Kernen: It’s like mob rule here, I’m getting scared. I’m glad –

Santelli: Don’t get scared, Joe. They’re already scaring you. Y’know, Cuba used to have mansions and a relatively decent economy. They moved from the individual to the collective. Now they’re driving ‘54 Chevys, maybe the last great car to come out of Detroit.

Kernen: They’re driving ‘em on water too, which is a little strange to watch, at times.

Santelli: There you go.

Kernen: Hey Rick, how about the notion that Wilbur pointed out, you can go down to 2% on the mortgage …..

Santelli: You can go down to minus two percent, they can’t afford the house!

Kernen: ….. and still have 40% not be able to do it, so why are we trying to keep them in the house?

Santelli: I know Mr. Summers is a great economist, but boy I’d love the answer to that one.

(some cross-talk)

Quick: Wow. You get people fired up.

Santelli: We’re thinking of having a Chicago Tea Party in July. All you capitalists that want to show up to Lake Michigan, I’m going to start organizing.

Quick: What are you dumping in this time?

Santelli: We’re going to be dumping in some derivative securities. What do you think about that?

Wilbur Ross, in studio: Mayor Daley is marshalling the police right now.

Kernen: The rabble rousers.

Ross: …. the National Guard.

(from about 3:10 to 3:35)

Ross: You know Rick, one of our producers says if Roland Burris steps down, man, Senator Santelli, the junior senator from Illinois. It’s a possibility. I’m just sayin’ –

Santelli: Do you think I want to take a shower every hour? The last place I’m ever going to live or work is DC.

Kernen: Have you raised any money for Blago?

(laughter)

Santelli: No, but I think that Somebody’s going to have to start raising money for us.

(go to 3:50 mark until almost the end)

Santelli: Listen, all I know is that there’s only about 5% of the floor population here right now, and I talk loud enough they can all hear me. So if you want to ask them anything, let me know. These guys are pretty straightforward, and my guess is, a pretty good statistical cross section of America, the silent majority.

Quick: Not so silent majority today.

Kernen: Yeah, not so silent.

Quick: So Rick, are they opposed to the housing thing, to the stimulus package, to everything out there?

Santelli: You know, they’re pretty much of the notion that you can’t buy your way into prosperity, and if the multiplier that all of these Washington economists are selling us is over one, that we never have to worry about the economy again. The government should spend a trillion dollars an hour because we’ll get $1.5 trillion back.

Quick: Wilbur?

Ross: Rick I congratulate you on your new incarnation as a revolutionary leader.

Santelli: Somebody needs one. I’ll tell you what, if you read our Founding Fathers, people like Benjamin Franklin and Jefferson, what we’re doing in this country now is making them roll over in their graves.


20090219 Rick Santelli and the Rant of the Year YT
Kevin Dayhoff www.kevindayhoff.net http://kevindayhoff.blogspot.com/
Kevin Dayhoff: www.westgov.net Westminster Maryland Online www.westminstermarylandonline.net http://kevindayhoffwestgov-net.blogspot.com/

Sunday, September 21, 2008

President Bush Discusses Economy


President Bush Discusses Economy

For Immediate Release Office of the Press Secretary September 19, 2008

Rose Garden

Video (Windows) /news/releases/2008/09/20080919-2.wm.v.html
Presidential Remarks
Audio
En Español
Fact Sheet: Confronting Economic Challenges Head On
In Focus: Economy

THE PRESIDENT: Good morning. I thank Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, and SEC Chairman Chris Cox for joining me today.

This is a pivotal moment for America's economy. Problems that originated in the credit markets -- and first showed up in the area of subprime mortgages -- have spread throughout our financial system. This has led to an erosion of confidence that has frozen many financial transactions, including loans to consumers and to businesses seeking to expand and create jobs. As a result, we must act now to protect our nation's economic health from serious risk.

There will be ample opportunity to debate the origins of this problem. Now is the time to solve it. In our nation's history, there have been moments that require us to come together across party lines to address major challenges. This is such a moment. Last night, Secretary Paulson and Chairman Bernanke and Chairman Cox met with congressional leaders of both parties -- and they had a very good meeting. I appreciate the willingness of congressional leaders to confront this situation head on.

Our system of free enterprise rests on the conviction that the federal government should interfere in the marketplace only when necessary. Given the precarious state of today's financial markets -- and their vital importance to the daily lives of the American people -- government intervention is not only warranted, it is essential.

In recent weeks, the federal government has taken a series of measures to help promote stability in the overall economy. To avoid severe disruptions in the financial markets and to support home financing, we took action to address the situation at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The Federal Reserve also acted to prevent the disorderly liquidation of the insurance company AIG. And in coordination with central banks around the world, the Fed has injected much-needed liquidity into our financial system.

These were targeted measures designed primarily to stop the problems of individual firms from spreading even more broadly. But more action is needed. We must address the root cause behind much of the instability in our markets -- the mortgage assets that have lost value during the housing decline and are now restricting the flow of credit. America's economy is facing unprecedented challenges, and we are responding with unprecedented action.

Secretary Paulson, Chairman Bernanke, and Chairman Cox have briefed leaders on Capitol Hill on the urgent need for Congress to pass legislation approving the federal government's purchase of illiquid assets, such as troubled mortgages, from banks and other financial institutions. This is a decisive step that will address underlying problems in our financial system. It will help take pressure off the balance sheets of banks and other financial institutions. It will allow them to resume lending and get our financial system moving again.

Additionally, the federal government is taking several other steps to address the trouble of our financial markets.

The Department of the Treasury is acting to restore confidence in a key element of America's financial system -- money market mutual funds. In the past, government insurance was not available for these funds, and the recent stresses on the markets have caused some to question whether these investments are safe and accessible. The Treasury Department's actions address that concern by offering government insurance for money market mutual funds. For every dollar invested in an insured fund, you will be able to take a dollar out.

The Federal Reserve is also taking steps to provide additional liquidity to money market mutual funds, which will help ease pressure on our financial markets. These measures will act as grease for the gears of our financial system, which were at risk of grinding to a halt. They will support the flow of credit to households and businesses.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has issued new rules temporarily suspending the practice of short selling on the stocks of financial institutions. This is intended to prevent investors from intentionally driving down particular stocks for their own personal gain. The SEC is also requiring certain investors to disclose their short selling, and has launched rigorous enforcement actions to detect fraud and manipulation in the market. Anyone engaging in illegal financial transactions will be caught and persecuted [sic].

Finally, when we get past the immediate challenges, my administration looks forward to working with Congress on measures to bring greater long-term transparency and reliability to the financial system -- including those in the regulatory blueprint submitted by Secretary Paulson earlier this year. Many of the regulations governing the functioning of America's markets were written in a different era. It is vital that we update them to meet the realities of today's global financial system.

The actions I just outlined reflect the considered judgment of Secretary Paulson, Chairman Bernanke, and Chairman Cox. We believe that this decisive government action is needed to preserve America's financial system and sustain America's overall economy. These measures will require us to put a significant amount of taxpayer dollars on the line. This action does entail risk. But we expect that this money will eventually be paid back. The vast majority of assets the government is planning to purchase have good value over time, because the vast majority of homeowners continue to pay their mortgages. And the risk of not acting would be far higher. Further stress on our financial markets would cause massive job losses, devastate retirement accounts, and further erode housing values, as well as dry up loans for new homes and cars and college tuitions. These are risks that America cannot afford to take.

In this difficult time, I know many Americans are wondering about the security of their finances. Every American should know that the federal government continues to enforce laws and regulations protecting your money. Through the FDIC, every savings account, checking account, and certificate of deposit is insured by the federal government for up to $100,000. The FDIC has been in existence for 75 years, and no one has ever lost a penny on an insured deposit -- and this will not change.

America's financial system is intricate and complex. But behind all the technical terminology and statistics is a critical human factor -- confidence. Confidence in our financial system and in its institutions is essential to the smooth operation of our economy, and recently that confidence has been shaken. Investors should know that the United States government is taking action to restore confidence in America's financial markets so they can thrive again.

In the long run, Americans have good reason to be confident in our economic strength. America has the most talented, productive, and entrepreneurial workers in the world. This country is the best place in the world to invest and do business. Consumers around the world continue to seek out American products, as evidenced by record-high exports. We have a flexible and resilient system that absorbs challenges and makes corrections and bounces back.

We've seen that resilience over the past eight years. Since 2001, our economy has faced a recession, the bursting of the dot-com bubble, major corporate scandals, an unprecedented attack on our homeland, a global war on terror, a series of devastating natural disasters. Our economy has weathered every one of these challenges, and still managed to grow.

We will weather this challenge too, and we must do so together. This is no time for partisanship. We must join to move urgently needed legislation as quickly as possible, without adding controversial provisions that could delay action. I will work with Democrats and Republicans alike to steer our economy through these difficult times and get back to the path of long-term growth. Thank you very much.

END 10:54 A.M. EDT

http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/releases/2008/09/20080919-2.html

20080919 President Bush Discusses Economy