Analysis Topic: Politics & Social Trends
The analysis published under this topic are as follows.Sunday, March 08, 2009
The Bottomless Bailout / Politics / Credit Crisis Bailouts
Ralph Nader writes: Does anybody in the federal government know or could know “who, what, where and when” of the massive, complex, vertical, horizontal, global collapse of Wall Street and its planetary tentacles in over 100 countries abroad? Step forward if you exist! Uncle Sam needs you!Is the multi-million dollar bailout of this financial mess and house of cards, this phantom wealth mummy hitting air beyond the federal governments' salvage capability?
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Friday, March 06, 2009
Can the U.S. Tax Authorities Break Swiss Bank Secrecy? / Politics / Gold & Silver 2009
It would seem so clear that the U.SA. Tax Authority attack on UBS is going to break the Swiss secret banking system. Will they succeed? After whacking them with a $780 million fine they are now coming in for another attack demanding the exposure of U.S. Swiss account holders in the bank. They had agreed to disclose the names of 300 U.S. based clients with accounts with U.B.S. in the States. They have and will not agree to disclose the names of U.S. citizens who hold accounts in Switzerland . But the entire body of U.S. citizens holding Swiss bank accounts are worried about this prospect. On top of that, all other foreign Swiss bank account holders are worried too.Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, March 06, 2009
Obama Success or Failure, Which is Better for the U.S. Economy? / Politics / Economic Stimulus
Talk show host and conservative icon Rush Limbaugh recently ignited a firestorm of criticism for expressing his desire that Barack Obama should fail. Democrats, and even some Republicans, suggested that he had put aside his patriotism to wish for an economic collapse that would result in political advantage for conservatives. However, if you believe as I, and apparently Rush, that Obama's plans will prevent recovery, then wishing that they fail to become actual policy is the right thing to do. The problem is that since Mr. Limbaugh has a history of partisanship, and since he did not forcefully criticize the Bush Administration for similar (if slightly more modest) plans, many cannot see past the messenger to recognize the truth in the message.Read full article... Read full article...
Friday, March 06, 2009
Quantitative Easing Means Quantitative Failure of Monetary Policy / Politics / Credit Crisis 2009
The Fiscal Insanity Virus has struck again. See if you can spot the occurrences in BOE's King ‘Groping in the Dark' as U.K. Expands Money Supply .
Bank of England Governor Mervyn King, criticized for his initial response to the credit crisis, is now embarking on one of the biggest risks in British economic history.
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Friday, March 06, 2009
Frank Talk on Outlawing the Monstrosities of Debt Securitization / Politics / Credit Crisis 2009
Barney Frank is in the news. As is typically the case with "Frank News", Barney is throwing stones in the wrong direction. Please consider Frank Seeks to Curb ‘Phenomenon of Securitization' .Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, March 05, 2009
Why TALF is Bad for America / Politics / Credit Crisis Bailouts
The recent Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility (TALF) announcements bring to mind Einstein's definition of insanity – “doing the same things over and over again and expecting different results”. It is well documented that securitization of loans, use of leverage, and government intervention in the free markets helped inflate assets bubbles, fostered a culture of debt, and distorted the efficient allocation of limited resources in our economy. If you want a good real world example, Fannie Mae bonds guaranteed by the government, backed by a pool of subprime mortgages, and bought using borrowed money (leverage) touches most of the bases.Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, March 05, 2009
The Worst Global Crisis of All Time / Politics / Water Sector
Larry Edelson writes: No, I'm not talking about the global financial crisis. Nor am I talking about the AIG disaster … Citibank's failure … the collapse of GM or Ford. I'm not even referring to the Dow's recent plunge to below 7,000.
Don't get me wrong: I am not minimizing the financial crisis that's affecting people all over the world.
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Thursday, March 05, 2009
Financial Crisis Big Picture: What Can We Do? / Politics / Credit Crisis 2009
In Part 1 of this series, we examined how our “leaders” and “experts” ignored the warning signs of an impending economic storm and ended up with huge trade deficits, growing budget deficits, rising consumer debt, the collapse and loss of trust for our financial sector, the erosion of our middle class, significantly increased corporate debt levels, the United States as the world's largest debtor nation, a planet on the verge of potentially catastrophic climate change, and out of control population growth. We essentially had a system that was not sustainable.Read full article... Read full article...
Thursday, March 05, 2009
Top Secret Credit Crisis Bailouts / Politics / Credit Crisis Bailouts
Interesting stories are stacking up again so it's time for some economic potpourri starting with secret dealings by the Fed.Fed Refuses to Release Bank Lending Data, Insists on Secrecy The Fed refused yesterday to disclose the names of the borrowers and the loans, alleging that it would cast “a stigma” on recipients of more than $1.9 trillion of emergency credit from U.S. taxpayers and the assets the central bank is accepting as collateral.
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Wednesday, March 04, 2009
The Other Looming $7 Trillion Financial Crisis: Social Security / Politics / US Economy
Nilus Mattive writes: My new retirement report just went to press yesterday, so the material is fresh in my mind. And while I can't share the contents with you here in Money and Markets , there is one topic in that report that I want to talk about today.Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
The Great American Pump And Dump Fraud / Politics / Market Manipulation
Here is a useful definition straight from the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority (FINRA) web page which describes several different types of scams investors need to be wary of.Read full article... Read full article...
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Stop The Seller Funded Down Payment Assistance (SFDPA) Scam / Politics / Credit Crisis Bailouts
Aaron Krowne at Implode-O-Meter has asked me to help stop the Seller Funded Down Payment Assistance (SFDPA) scam.Barry Ritholtz at the Big Picture, Dr. Housing Bubble, Patrick.Net, Blown Mortgage and the Mess That Greenspan Made have already written about this scam, so I am risking the dreaded "piling on" penalty but here goes.
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Wednesday, March 04, 2009
Financial Crisis Big Picture: What has the Government Response Been? / Politics / Credit Crisis 2009
In the first part of this article we examined how we got ourselves into this economic mess and how our “leaders” and “experts” missed so many warning signs. In this second of 3 parts we will examine what the government response has been.
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Tuesday, March 03, 2009
Recession Politics of the Big Lie of "Shared Sacrifice" / Politics / Recession 2008 - 2010
It's everywhere you look and in every speech you listen to. Every time a politician or businessmen talks about the recession, an almost in-synch, repetitive mantra can be heard: “Shared sacrifice, equality of sacrifice, hard choices.” Oh my.Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
Systemic Failure of Capitalism and the Collapse of the Real Economy / Politics / Recession 2008 - 2010
After the 1929 October 24, 28 and 29 market crash, the weekly entertainment industry magazine Variety (on October 30) published its most famous ever headline: "Wall Street Lays an Egg." In October 2008, history repeated, and since the October 2007 peak, equity prices plunged over 50% after the Dow and S & P (in February) posted their second worst ever monthly percentage declines - topped only in 1933 during the depths of the Great Depression. So far, the current market drop matches its 1929 - 1932 pace, and like then, shows no signs of abating.Read full article... Read full article...
Tuesday, March 03, 2009
Financial Crisis Big Picture: How Did We Get Here? / Politics / Credit Crisis 2009
As the environmental, financial, and economic situation continues to deteriorate around us, we need to step back and take a look at the big picture. We need to see how we ended up in this economic mess, what the government response has been, and what we can do to climb out of this hole that we have collectively dug ourselves into. We are starting to see that our perceived prosperity has really been an illusion and was totally unsustainable.Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, March 02, 2009
Is Government Stimulus Spending the Answer? / Politics / Economic Stimulus
This week, Congress and the administration once again showed their lack of economic understanding, as they ramped up spending to record levels. On the surface, maybe it does look to some like the economic crisis is a liquidity problem, that the economy is in trouble because money is not changing hands at the pace it once did in the boom years. They believe that to get back to a booming economy money needs to start changing hands again - and the quickest way to do this is for the federal government to massively expand spending to pump new money into the system. If this is the extent of their understanding, no wonder they call for spending, taxing, bailouts and inflation.Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, March 02, 2009
Financial Crisis Conspiracy Theory / Politics / Credit Crisis 2009
Peter Chamberlain writes: Sermon From The Corporate Church - Hurricane winds pound at the gates of Fortress America and our leaders send out the order for more straw and sand to pound into the widening cracks. The harder the winds of change blow the more apparent it becomes that our “leaders” cannot lead, when they themselves await orders from above. As our house of cards flies apart at the seams, the master planners send their minions scrambling to salvage their disintegrating investments, worrying only about their “property,” caring less about the human life that is huddled in fear within.Read full article... Read full article...
Monday, March 02, 2009
President Barack Obama’s Fiscal Year 2009 Budget / Politics / US Debt
“The Last Picture Show” was a 1971 film depicting the decay of small town America. It took place in the fictitious town of Anarene, Texas. We hear a distant tune reminiscent of America’s high and lonely places and the sound of a dry wind blowing. It’s March 2010 in the tiny West Texas town of Anarene. Nothing much happens here any more. The last business shut down a couple of years ago. It was a cement plant that went broke after the housing bubble burst and the banks stopped lending. The kids out of high school drive their jalopies from one end of Main Street to the other past boarded-up storefronts.Read full article... Read full article...
Sunday, March 01, 2009
Credit Crisis Solution: Social Credit / Politics / Credit Crisis 2009
"Banking and credit are too important a business for citizens and politicians to be ignorant of. Upon its fair and equitable administration rests the very existence and future of our society".Read full article... Read full article...
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