Posted on 02/02/2009 12:41:18 AM PST by Tempest
The basic story line so far is that we are all to blame, including homeowners who bit off more than they could chew, lenders who wrote absurd adjustable-rate mortgages, and greedy investment bankers.
Credit derivatives also figure heavily in the plot. Apologists say that these became so complicated that even Wall Street couldn't understand them and that they created "an unacceptable level of risk." Then these blowhards tell us that the bailout will pump hundreds of billions of dollars into the credit arteries and save the patient, which is the world's financial system. It will take time—maybe a year or so—but if everyone hangs in there, we'll be all right. No structural damage has been done, and all's well that ends well.
Sorry, but that's drivel. In fact, what we are living through is the worst financial scandal in history. It dwarfs 1929, Ponzi's scheme, Teapot Dome, the South Sea Bubble, tulip bulbs, you name it. Bernie Madoff? He's peanuts.
(Excerpt) Read more at villagevoice.com ...
Your answer...there was fed money involved and losses to the taxpayer in the end.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bankruptcy_of_Lehman_Brothers
Lehman Brothers filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on September 15, 2008. According to Bloomberg, reports filed with the U.S. Bankruptcy Court, Southern District of New York (Manhattan)on September 16th indicated that J.P. Morgan provided Lehman Brothers with a total of $138 billion dollars in “Federal Reserve-backed advances.” The cash-advances by JPMorgan Chase were repaid by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York for $87 billion on September 15th and $51 billion on September 16th.[14]
I hope you are correct about unemployment...but who knows?
I’m not working until Monday...GM was down the entire month...and will resume today (for me tomorrow). Thus, I have time on my hands...since you find my posts or the frequency of my posts so objectionable, feel free to ignore them.
We can agree that there is blame to go around.
there was fed money involved and losses to the taxpayer in the end.
The Federal Reserve doesn't use taxpayer money.
Many individual taxpayers did lose money when Lehman declared bankruptcy, but that's not what you meant, was it?
I think the average congressperson know less about economics than I do...scary thought.
We can agree that there is blame to go around.
Absolutely, the question is, what good will it do.
Nope, I consider the feds giving JP Morgan the cash aid... for the losses they suffered under Lehman. If you mean it didn’t come from Tarp, you are correct.
It won’t do any good...you are correct.
We’re all groping in the dark here and anyone’s guess is as good as the next man’s. That’s what I like about these forums, they shake out a lot of new thinking on this. Ping me when you see anything new and I’ll return the favor.
“So you don’t think deregulation and lack of over-sight allowed Wall street crooks to fabricate boiler rooms?”
Here’s my message.
It wasn’t deregulation in the equation of responsibility. It was the wink and nod from the Clinton misAdministration towards creative financial mechanisms in the latter 1990’s that today are convenient as means to divert attention from the Democrats responsibility at the core of the breakdown that has caused the Domino’s effect, or if you will the toppling of the house of cards that comprises the economic system. (Meaning systemic traditional values as the spine are easily adjusted by whimsy of opportunistic economics manipulators. It’s happened throughout history, thus boom and bust.)
It doesn’t matter about these mechanisms the Leftists point their diversionary finger at. Those were simply tools that were used. It most matters who, whom, what, was behind it all, and the answer is DEMOCRATS from the git-go. It matters not where you go, what you read concerning this matter the tools that were obtained, fabricated, or otherwise. It matters only who the mechanic was using the tools.
We all need be concerned with the flaming Leftists hopping about tricking the eye, waving their arms in frenzy, pointing their fingers at everyone and everything but themselves. Keep your eye on the mechanic. Not the tools, because they will do it all over again if we allow them to.
I will add you to my ping list and would appreciate you return the favor...I like these forums too for the reasons you stated...have a nice day.
You know in reading about Lehman...I realized something. The credit default boys and girls...believed that the Feds would bail Lehman out and they would be able to continue as before...they were caught with their pants down.
The Fed did not give JP Morgan cash for losses JP Morgan suffered for loans or investments in Lehman.
Here is the guy who published “Bailout Nation”
http://bigpicture.typepad.com/comments/2008/10/lehman-credit-d.html
Lehman Credit-Default Swaps Settle “Without Incident”
Thursday, October 23, 2008 | 06:23 AM
in Derivatives | Markets
I received quite a few panicky emails about this settlement process being a potential disaster. Crisis averted:
“Hundreds of traders who placed bets on Lehman Brothers’ creditworthiness before it went bankrupt have settled their positions “without incident,” according to a company that tracks derivatives contracts.
The company, Depository Trust & Clearing Corporation, processes large numbers of investment transactions. It said that only $5.2 billion had to change hands for all the traders to close out their positions, a much smaller amount than had been predicted a week ago.
The settlement process had been seen as a major test of the market for credit-default swaps, and whether it could handle the unprecedented stress of a big Wall Street firm going bankrupt. The overall system appears to have borne the shock successfully, although individual firms might have taken painful losses they have not yet disclosed.
At the same time, the contrast between this week’s orderly settlement process and last month’s financial turmoil, which also involved credit-default swaps, raised anew policy questions over the market for credit derivatives and its failure to limit systemic risk. Because the swaps are private contracts between two parties, there is still almost no information in the public domain over who holds which positions, or who might be left teetering the next time there is a major default.”
Go figure . . .
>
Oh he has some sway..no doubt about that.
But "own" them? Nope.
Let me ask you a couple questions.....
How much is the N.E.A. worth?
How much is the Teamsters and other unions worth?
How much total money do Trial Lawyers give the Dim party?
Okay...so that was three questions............: )
Cheers!!
Unions are unions.... what you are describing are the tentacles of the 'PROCESS'. Others call it the 'scientific methodology' survival of the fittest. MOST fit get their feed at the trough first.
okay.........
bookmark
The French chopped off 80,000 heads during their revolution. I’d settle for 535.
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