I knew you didn`t have it in ya.
Frickin moron.
Posted on 09/20/2007 4:55:46 PM PDT by NYer
"According to some US experts, some US$ 20 trillion in worthless securities exist, putting US and European banks are at risk. Asia should avoid the worse. A new North American currency, the Amero, is making news.">
According to US financial analyst Mike Whitney[1], a mountain of unfunded, unregulated paper worth more than US$ 20 trillion might be out there [2]. Apparently, no one, neither the general public nor professionals on Wall Street, has yet to realise the extent of the hole, a hole of 20 trillion dollars with no market, nor value.
Even if the Federal Reserve were to ease bank reserve and capital requirements, the existing financial system would still be moving towards its worst crisis in 80 years because the problem is not liquidity, but solvency. The situation is such that banks are even scared to lend to one another uncertain about each other’s solvency. Even the London interbank market is not going beyond day to day lending.
Greenspan and speculative financing
The problem arose in the United States where, starting in 1987, the bank lobby—by means of US$ 300 million in contributions—got Congress to do away with the Glass-Steagall Act (officially the Banking Act of 1933) that had been adopted in the wake of the 1929 Wall Street Crisis. President Bill Clinton signed into law the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which repealed the Glass-Steagall Act.
The original law had been introduced to avoid conflicts of interests between banks and companies that sell stocks and bonds.
Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan was the main proponent of financial liberalisation. Before his appointment to the post, he had served as a corporate director for J.P. Morgan, the first bank to take advantage of liberalisation.
Under his 18-year chairmanship he oversaw the greatest expansion of speculative financing in world history. But now the chicken are coming home to roost like a would-be train wreck that no one can stop, not even the Fed.
If Mike Whitney’s numbers are right, we are on the verge of a meltdown like that of 1929-1930, perhaps worse because of the world’s greater economic interconnectedness.
Lately, the big US financial and banking groups have tried to protect themselves by selling their junk bonds in Europe and Asia.
In Asia equity in most banking and financial institutions is in US securities and US dollar denominations. Most banks are ranked AA or even AAA by so-called independent agencies like Standard & Poors, Moody’s and Fitch. Securities with such ratings are, or perhaps we should say, were considered virtually risk-free.
Theoretically, US pension funds, insurance companies and big foundations are exposed to the uncontrolled offer of atypical securities of the past decades; so should the US financial and banking institutions which created them.
Yet we should not be surprised if those who hold the keys to the corporate are not, nor will ever be, held accountable for their wrongdoing.
Central banks, especially the Federal Reserve, are at the root of the problem because they have known about the overall situation for quite some time. But whomever is in charge of the Fed knows that a solution cannot be had from within.
Amero, North America’s new currency
With a bank crisis looming on the horizon, an odd piece of information is becoming news. As unlikely as it may seem, the United States along with Canada and Mexico, appears to be getting ready to launch a new single currency: the Amero.
With the monetary bubble on the verge of bursting, one solution would be getting rid of the dollar, replaced by a currency, the Amero, to serve a would-be North American Union.
In addition to the United States, Mexico should join such a union and in principle might be even in favour of it. Canada, too, might join, setting aside its aversion to losing its monetary sovereignty, out of concern that its equity in US dollars might simply lose its value.
When US President George W. Bush met then Mexican President Vicente Fox and then Canadian Prime Minister Paul Martin in Waco, Texas, in March 2005, they discussed a North American union.
The idea resurfaced the same year in a report released by the powerful US Council on Foreign Relations, a group that has influenced most US presidents, both Democrat and Republican, and a tri-national task force involving ministerial-level officials.
Wikipedia already sports a page dedicated to the Amero with the photos of prototypes.
A news report on the Amero broadcast on CNBC is also available on Youtube [3].
Similarly, 20 Amero coins can be seen on the Hal Turner Show webpage, with a small D visible, D as in ‘minted in Denver.’ Curiously, the Denver Mint is currently closed to the public, ostensibly for restoration work, till September 28 [4].
Whilst AsiaNews is unable to determine whether there is any basis to such claims, it does seem certain that a plan for a North American union is being developed [5].
Such an entity would have a population almost the size of the European Union, and could adequately respond to the current bank crisis that is bound to end up in a monetary crisis.
However, far from being a simple monetary union, the operation is likely to mean a de facto US annexation of the rest of North America.
For Asia the real point of interest would be economic rather than political since the Americas have been the United States’ backyard for a long time.
Firstly, the Amero would be definitely weaker than the US dollar because it would include the Mexican pesos, which was insolvent not so long ago.
A weaker North American common currency would quickly push the value of the currencies of China and the whole of Asia, which have hitherto been reluctant to do so.
Secondly, converting dollars used outside the United States would raise problems since in Asia as well as in many countries around the world payments in dollars are more common than one might think. In this case the impact of a North American union would also be very significant.
Fotflol!!
I knew you didn`t have it in ya.
Frickin moron.
;)
I think the writer should have decided wether he was going to write on either the financial mess or the globilization idea. He gives very little credence to either argument.
Sorry, that's an answer straight out of the DU playbook.
You didn't answer my question in the first place. The question was: "Which candidate do you support in the primaries?"
It doesn't seem so difficult to answer. We at FR are quite politically tuned in and are quite vociferous about our choice.
You seem like you're just here to bash conservatives and aren't ready to back a candidate.
So, who's your choice?
I keep reminding you to take one of the red pills like all the head-in-the-sand ones here do. That way, you'll just go down the rabbit hole all happy and oblivious.
I was talking with a fella earlier tonite whose name is Jesus. He pronounces it Haysoos. He was in Nam in 68 & 69. Left a chunk of his leg up in the mountains over there but he gets around OK for an old Marine.
You're too generous, idiot.
I'm a moron--50-60-percentile.
Idiot (that's you) 20 percentile.
The family they reported on, and some other vignettes, were from California. Thank you RR.
Could you please provide a source for that figure of 40%? It's not what I'm finding.
This is the most mortgage free group: Mortgage Study - Americans Will Carry Mortgage Into Golden Years
Whereas, in 1989, 54 percent of homeowners in the 55 to 64 age cohort were mortgage free, by 1998 that number had declined to 39 percent.
http://www.mortgagenewsdaily.com/292005_Mortgage_Study.asp
And this:
As a result, the ratio of equity to home value continued to fall. At the end of the first quarter of 2007, the ratio of equity to home value stood at 52.7 percent, another record low. This ratio stood at 54.3 percent at the end of 2005. It had been at 57.9 percent as recently as 2000, and was close to 70 percent until the nineties. This drop in the ratio of equity to value is especially disconcerting given the country's demographics. With much of the baby boom cohort at the edge of retirement, it would be expected that the ratio of equity to value would be near record highs. There is reason to believe that the ratio of equity to value will continue to decline for the foreseeable future.
http://www.cepr.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=1207&Itemid=220
And
According to the Census Bureaus latest American Housing Survey in 2001, about 15.4% of all occupied units had a primary mortgage that was refinanced. The most popular reason for the refinancing was a lower interest rate. But the second most popular reason was to receive cash. The median amount of cash a homeowner gained in refinancing was $24,513. One result of all this borrowing: More than 1 million homeowners now have three or more mortgages on their property. Meantime, over 1.8 million owners have outstanding loans that equal 100% or more the value of their homes.
The average principal amount owed on a mortgage is $69,227. Nearly 14 million homeowners, about 19% of all homeowners in the country, owe more than $100,000.
Number of homeowners with 3+ mortgages 1,008,000
http://moneycentral.msn.com/content/savinganddebt/p70741.asp
Well, I have been called a moron by an idiot. I'll jot that down so I don't forget.
I like cheese.
Sorry, but accusing me of being a DUmmy doesn’t hurt my feelings, because I’m used to it. That practice began when I was outspoken against open borders and giving illegals amnesty back in 2002.
I see the tactics haven’t changed.
I choose not to answer your question...if and when I change my mind, I’ll let you know. It’s still none of your business, with or without your attempts at goading and baiting.
Lol! Well, you're the furthest from a moron here. How low can some go.
Can't help but wonder how this "annexation" of North America can help us, since Mexico is a third world country and Canada is welfare heaven.
Interesting info., AuntB. Doesn't look too good. One thing I don't understand is how so many people in the Los Angeles area can buy homes. Most now in the $500,000 range used to sell for $70,000 in the 70's or 80's. They're just small houses on smallish lots, for the most part (and many now in crappy neighborhoods...once beautiful).
Whoops, I swallowed too many happy, red pills tonight.
One thing I don’t understand is how so many people in the Los Angeles area can buy homes
A)Incomes have gone up in urban areas more than they have increased in other parts of the country.
B)Young kids are getting help from parents.
Probably because it tears away at the Constitution and the Bill of Rights. Not that I consider that to be help for the republic but globalists love the idea.
How low can some go.
There is the slot for profound (below 20) is still open. lolol
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