[pieceofthepuzzle]

All of this seemed so inevitable. I remember reading a few years ago that something like 50% or more of mortgages in San Diego were ‘interest only’. How does that make any long term sense? As the economy worsens and the people living in those homes have trouble paying the interest only rent on homes, in which they have no equity, what are they going to do? I fear many will just walk away. We may have just seen the tip of the iceberg regarding defaults.

[Uncle Ike]

It might be that ‘Prevent’ may be an overly optimistic word choice on the part of the headline writer....

Indicator: CNBC stayed ‘live’ all night, foregoing its usual fare of infomercials and Suze Orman reruns....

[durasell]

check out the markets in Europe...

[Flavius]

NEW YORK -- This might have been one of Wall Street’s most dismal years in a decade, but that hasn’t stopped bonus checks from rising an average of 14 percent. Four of the biggest U.S. investment banks — Goldman Sachs Group Inc., Morgan Stanley, Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. and Bear Stearns Cos. — will pay out about $49.6 billion in compensation this year. Of that, bonuses are traditionally estimated to represent 60 percent, or almost $30 billion. http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2007/12/22/money/doc476cba0ee4556884828444.txt

[ovrtaxt]

A buddy of mine works at JP Morgan. He told me that they’re positioned to be the premiere powerhouse on the block when this thing is all over with.

As an aside, I predict that this episode will wind up with the introduction of the Amero. It will take a while to get there, but the trauma will be deep enough and persistent enough to overcome concerns of the loss of sovereignty. Just my prediction- I hope I’m wrong.

[djf]

So what are they going to do? Make more steel to sell? Grow a few hundred million tons of wheat? Design a car that gets 60 mpg? For that matter, open up and start refining oil fields to the tune of 20 million barrels per day?

What?

Play with the numbers.
That’s what.

[TheWasteLand]

This is what happens when a free market is toyed with by regulators and legislation. Byzantine ponzi schemes that completely ignore proper risk-reward structure of financial management. Not pretty, not unexpected.

[Theophilus]

Federal Reserve steps in to prevent into financial meltdown

ftfy

[Tempest]

NO FED BAILOUT!!!