The President is scheduled to speak again this morning around 10:30am, regarding the current fiscal crisis. I really wish he wouldn't. Everytime one of these idiots in Washington speaks about their plan to aid the market, just the opposite happens. When the House passed the bailout plan, what happened? The market tanked 700+ points. When Secretary Paulsen preached patience a couple of days ago, what happened? A market that was up and down all day took a nosedive. Yesterday the President started talking about a coordinated global response to the crisis? You guessed it, another nosedive. Face it, nobody has any confidence that the people that either instigated the current crisis or sat idly by driving the bus while it was taking shape are now going to be the saviors to bail us out from this mess. That doesn't meant they should do nothing, but for God's sake, don't tell us about it. Any credibility a plan may have is instantly lost the moment they open their mouths.
So the President is going to speak in one hour and change. The markets are getting ready for him, Dow futures are off 400+ points. Can somebody shut these people up while the markets are still worth something?
And so it opens and 10 minutes in it is down another 500 points.
ReplyDeleteAll they can do is describe how they are going to stick a fork in it because it is done.
ReplyDeleteIt actually made an impressive rally, it was down about 700 points, got to the point where it was up about 50, all within an hour. Bush steps to the podium and at the time it was -83 points, not great but better that the -700 from earlier. By the time he shut his trap it was -195 again.
ReplyDeleteI noticed that too.
ReplyDeletemost financial analysists claim that it will take 2 to 6 months for wallstreet to recover.
ReplyDeletei being against the bail out purely on the fact that i dont like the government buying up anything to do with private homes ( be it mortgages or stocks based on home loans )....i feel that eliminating the capital gains tax could have stimulated the market and not lead to our government suddenly becoming landlords!
come to think of it ....could buying up homes be what clinton wanted when he caused this mess ?
ReplyDeleteI'm not bright when it comes to politics but exactly how is Clinton to be blamed for "this mess"?
ReplyDeleteLeslie, in 1999 Congress enacted the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, This act which repealed the part of the Glass-Steagall Act prohibiting a bank from offering a full range of investment, commercial banking, and insurance services. The Glass-Steagall act was introduced in the 1930's partially as a result of the stock market crash and some of the reforms included controls in place on speculation.
ReplyDeletePresident Clinton signed into law the Act in 1999 that saw the banking reforms of the 30's repealed, so a lot of the blame is being aimed at him.
Frankly I don't care whose fault it was, they just need to fix it! Are we going to see the start of a New World Order & one world currency?
while you are correct in naming the glb act , it was the amendment added to the glb act that caused the problem(put in by dems of course)
ReplyDeletethe amendment roughly stated that in order for banks to merge with other institutions and conduct certain business, they must comply with the community reinvestment act. this on its own may not have lead to our woes today , but when combined with hud telling fannie mae what pecentage of loans had to be sub prime .....this brought us to where we are today
And passed by Republicans. In 1999 we were well into our Contract with America phase, where while the president was a Democrat, the House and Senate, where legislation originates, were very much Republican. The Gramm of that bill is Senator Phil Gramm, a Republican from Texas, where the bill passed along a party line vote, the R's supporting it and the D's against it, Leach would be James Leach, another Republican, this time in the House of Representatives, where the bill received more than just Democratic support, passing 343-86. Sorry, but both sides of the aisle can take credit here.
ReplyDeleteokay....i am on vacation this week....what do you say we find a day to take this arguement up over some beer and a few cue sticks
ReplyDeleteAnd I am standing by the original premise of this thread, whatever they are going to do, don't tell us about it, because no one has the confidence that you are capable of pulling it off. There will be plenty of time down the road should you prove successful to thump one's own chest at how great and smart you are, but it is telling that any time someone in Washington does one of these press conferences, you can watch the market fall while they are talking, thanks to the wonders of modern technology, the current market value is usually somewhere on the very same screen and the more they flap their gums, the worse it gets.
ReplyDeleteThat could be arranged, though I don't think any bars are open quite yet.
ReplyDeleteyour original premise is correct, the fact as i believe it ,is that only four percent or the sub prime loans have gone into foreclosure ....but just the threat of more coming down the road is enough to shut down wallstreet.
ReplyDeletei often wonder what role these "get rich buying and selling homes" schemes had to play in this mess also ?
ReplyDeleteI would argue that it is partially because any speech that is going to be given is going to tell us how bad the economy is to start, and talking down the economy, whether the hoenst thing to do or not, is not the way to build confidence in the market. Yesterday when the market took its initial nosedive of 700 points and rallied back to go up 50 in the first hour, one of the sectors that was doing well that morning was financial stocks, then the President comes out as says banks don't have money to lend. That may an honest assessment, but it just takes a hatchet to those people who thought that yesterday could have been the beginning of a rebound and wanted back into the market. Sure enough, the market spiralled back down again, bailed out by only a late rally to keep it at about a 125 point loss.
ReplyDeletecorrect me if i am wromg here ....but the government has not even spent a dime yet ....just passed legislation too.
ReplyDeleteso any investor who did not know that the banks did not have money to spend, were in the dark from the start
Senator gramm wanted to have more banks exempt from being under cra control, he actully killed a similar bill in 1998 , clinton wanted more cra control....Dodd is credited with forming a compromise that got the bill through the senate !....this amendment was not in the bill in the house so it is a moot point to blame the republicans in the house
ReplyDeleteThank you all for pointing that out to me. I'm of a mind that this issue jus like every other issue cant be laid at any one persons feet. I suppose when it comes down to it we're all to blame on some level. And I'm with you Matt when you say less talk and more action.
ReplyDeleteDodd and Schumer both worked on the compromise bill between the Senate and House versions that Clinton eventually signed. The community reinvestment act has been on the books since 1977 (enter Jimmy Carter and friends into the fray if you so wish, there is plenty of blame to go around) and has been amended a number of times, including 1989, 1992, 1994, 1995,1999, and 2005. I was just making a point that far from being solely a Democratic idea, the Gramm Leach Bliley act was very much a bipartisan effort when it came to creation and passage of the legislation.
ReplyDeletemy major concern about the gov. buying these portfolios is ..come five or ten years down the rode when who ever is incharge decides to sell of these things....what will be done with the profit ? will they return it to us , pay off part of the national debt or flush it down the toilet with another social housing scam?
ReplyDeleteIf I had to guess, and this is just a guess, supposing that these things are remotely profitable down the raod (and depending on the quality of property and how much was owed, thats debateable) chances are it will go into some other pork laden project. After all, the House and Senate didn't pass a bill until enough pork was strewn through it to satisfy everyone.
ReplyDeleteThe rest of the world isn't all that concerned about whether democrats, republicans or rednecks that are too stupid to workout if they can afford what they are buying caused this. As far as we are concerned , America caused it and thats all we need to know lmao
ReplyDeleteIt's noon Monday and the market is up over 500 points and I swear if you see anyone getting anywhere near a microphone, you have my permission to trip them.
ReplyDeleteyou giving me permission ,makes me hope that pelosi gets the urge to open her trap!
ReplyDeleteI just checked, it is up 597 and change at 3pm, you can trip whomever you like if they get even within 10 feet of a microphone.
ReplyDeleteThe hypothesis will be firmly tested this morning. After no one talking and the market going up over 900 points yesterday, today the futures are up over 200 right now (7:09am) but the President is going to speak again at 8am, an hour and a half before the markets open.
ReplyDelete*sigh* whats he feel the need to say this morning...
ReplyDeleteOh, it wasn't just him, it was him then Paulsen, then Bernanke, then the FDIC chair. I hope I am wrong, but I fear I will be proven right.
ReplyDeleteI didn't bother watching. Christian has cartoons on in the mornings before school, thats better than listening to Bush, at least in my personal opinion :-)
ReplyDeleteBush came out around 8:30 and was pretty brief in his comments, then it was group speak time later with the Fed Chair, the chair of the FDIC and the Treasury Secretary. The market actually started well, early on it was up 406 points, but then the reality of the fact these stupid fucks opened their mouths yet again, this time to say, hey, we are going to take your tax dollars and by banks with it, and the market finished with a loss yet again. down 76 points for the day and if you figure in that it was up 406 at one point, it lost almost 500 points off of its daily high.
ReplyDeleteDamn...rush limbaugh just agreed with you on this one!
ReplyDeleteWell part of the problem is there is nothing good to say, so anytime they are out there talking about how they are trying to help, they have to admit how horribly off we really are. Sure enough, Ben Bernanke was at it again today, talking about how we are going to use all of our resources to fix the economy and how did the market respond? Minus 733 to you Ben. Nobody wants to hear that the government will in essence start to nationalize the banking industry by being one of its owners, nor do they want to here that hopefully the investors (aka the taxpayers) will eventually get their money back on this investment. We all know what happens when government spends money, even if they do get a return on it, they just find new ways to spend it.
ReplyDeleteLook, no major speeches today and the market is up 401 points. 'Nuff said.
ReplyDeleteFuck, Bush just got done speaking this morning. Hell hath no fury like a market scorned!!!!
ReplyDelete