It’s an interesting time to be in the UK, where the Mother of All Parliaments, the House of Commons, has been roiled by infighting and discouraging economic news.
The Chancellor of the Exchequer ignited a firestorm of protest last week: see Chancellor Alistair Darling warns slump could be the worst for 60 years, precipitating a slump in the Pound Sterling and a furious debate over whether he acted irresponsibly or not. In many ways the entire thing -including debating whether government ministers ought to be blunt or Pollyanna-like in their official statements, the reliability or unreliability of official statistics, the question of whether the chief executive should take the fall to prevent the decimation of the party- sounds eerily familiar and because of that, oddly comforting.
The Brits are working through issues not very different from our own and it seems to be there isn’t all that much of a difference between the way British and Filipino politicians are trying to do damage control: orare ignoring public opinion altogether while politicizing previously relatively partisan-free civil service institutions.
The Times in a recent editorial (which came at the heels of the paper’s report that a sacking was in the offing), The twilight of Sir Ian Blair, looked at the controversial head of Scotland Yard and took him to task in all-too-familiar (for Filipinos) terms:
His responses are by now well practised. He believes that near-constant pressure to quit is an occupational hazard to be shrugged off if not actually ignored. And he believes mutinous disloyalty from senior colleagues is an inevitable result of radical reforms of which he is fiercely proud.
The trouble for Sir Ian is that his reforms have not made him indispensable. Nor can he be sanguine any longer about the calls for him to go. His support from the Association of Chief Police Officers and the Home Office has crumbled: his contract will not be renewed in 2010. This makes him a lame duck not only in the view of his many critics, but in fact. If his record were spectacular, this newspaper would back his bid to stay in office until the 2012 Olympics and beyond. Unfortunately, it is not.
What sets the British media apart from our own is the deeper sense of memory, whether institutional, national, and personal, that the media, the politicians, and commentators have. For example, Libby Purves in Why did Alistair Darling choose 1948? points out a fascinating detail, concerning 1948 as a watershed year for Britain despite postwar austerity:
The disreputable anomaly of plural voting was abolished – previously university graduates could vote in two places, and business owners had an extra vote at their place of work.
The odd thing of course being that there are frustrated middle and upper class Filipinos who continue to think plural voting might be a good thing.
The business and finance media, too, write clearly and informatively, something hardly ever seen at home. The Business Editor of The Times pens an analysis: This slowdown has a long way to go yet — so just look forward to the sales. And there are short, but richly informative reports that contextualize the economic news. An article Is the party over for pubs? points out British pubs are closing at the rate of four per day and also ties in the various economic trends (crashing property prices, increasing food and labor costs, etc.) into the uncertain future of a British institution.
In Britain 2028: we need ten new cities, please, Camilla Cavendish looks at the immigration policies of the UK, something that ought to be of interest to Filipinos living and working here.
Just today, Gordon Brown to increase Holyrood’s tax powers focuses on the great Labour project of restoring the Scottish Parliament and increasing its powers over taxation and budgeting: again, this ia a debate erupting in Britain which should be interesting to proponents of Federalism.
Update: Only Blair could save Labour now provides an insight into how more “mature” democracies factor surveys into the political situation, and how past and present leaders can add and detract from their party’s future prospects.
A great pleasure is reading the obituaries published in the British papers. See K.K. Birla: industrial tycoon and philanthropist.
This week has been a short week, literally. What with all the:
PI,RP, RN, LPN, LVN, CNA, NCLEX, H1B, USIS, USICS, USMLE, ETC.
BTW, UPNS CYWMUWIO?
(Can you wake me up when it’s over?)
kg,
thanks… people asked me why did i give up my law practice….
with light in my eyes i told them.. that’s one reason I should stay, but I have four reasons why should i go to the U.S., my wife and my three kids. 🙂
master yoda,
i understand the frustration.. so what acronyms you have in mind? 🙂
“i will still call RP P.I. even if it hurts your nationalistic sentiment.”…..Mr P.I.
I understand. jcc. i know you have been a trial lawyer for more than twenty years, since Makoy’s time….”you can’t teach an old dog new tricks” It’s just hard to believe this is happening to a well educated and “respected” professional, like a lawyer.
“LPN’s and CNA’s do not cancel out RN for they are three distinct professions in the medical field and quite frankly they support each other’s duties and come as an evolution of health management in the U.S. that is getting sophisticated.”…jcc
That is not entirely correct, jcc. We have seven nurses, many RMT’s and a few MDs in the family (up to end generation). Some of my siblings started working as LPNs prior to the release of their RN’s exams during their first year here. Others will work part time on call for their FRIENDS in need of “nurses” (RN, LPN, MA) when no one is available during ungodly situations, just to help their nurse supervisor friends. In my office, I will hire anyone suited for the job, and is OK with the contract….RN, LPN, MA. RMT. MT. Of course there are some state and federal rules to follow but most of the time, they complement each other, work together and with proper MD supervision, all will be fine, all things will be by the book. Medicine and paramedical profession is not a completely compartmentalized profession, we help each other according to the situation’s need. Multitasking is common.
In as short statement, jcc, years ago, most workers in Hospitals, clinics, nursing homes were nurses. With time, LPN, MA etc. became widely available and were accepted by the healthcare system. Jobs previously done by RNs (which most of the Filipinos are) wre now done by other paramedicals. Result, less demand for Fil RNs.
It is not being nationalistic.(another palusot after seeing that USPS never used the code anymore.)
It’s being updated with the times. You’ve been lving under the rock ,Mr. Rip Van Winkle.
some people try to impress by writing something they do not know.
it is difficult to educate this kind of people. Their brain must have been frozen that it could no longer absorb new information.
There is a lot of thawing to do but old brain is hard to thaw.
mweheheh
i
One of my family members, a nurse was given that Hib visa. His was an administrative position in the nursing facility.
those who were petitioned to work as nurse on floor esp. in convalescent were given H1A, a working visa that has a condition to pass the NCLEx within a certain period.
If the candidate fails the test for three times, he/she will be denied of a green card.
“In as short statement, jcc, years ago, most workers in Hospitals, clinics, nursing homes were nurses. With time, LPN, MA etc. became widely available and were accepted by the healthcare system. Jobs previously done by RNs (which most of the Filipinos are) wre now done by other paramedicals. Result, less demand for Fil RNs. – Pilipinoparin
Maybe in your place. But in Michigan, despite the presence of local CNAS and LPNs nurses are still in short-supply.
In Michigan, LPNs are not allowed to do certain medical intervention on the patient while RNs to some extent can. So are CNAs who do diaper replacement and grooming of a patient. Not entirely a nursing function. Your Yaya can do that.
Again you open up your post that my claim that LPNs, CNAs do not cancel out RNS is not true, yet you agree with my conclusion that these three medical persons complement each other and are three distinct professions in the medical field.
as regards the old dog not being able to learn new tricks, maybe because it is a trick, it is not a reality 🙂
again nobody accepts the fact that the glut in the recruitment of P.I. Nurses was due to the “quota” having been exhausted, not because US sees LPNs/CNAs as substitutes for RNs.
Pilipinoparin, Cat,
You are free to call me anything you want, and I will not return that insul with insult, nor should i obliged myself to elevate your “ad hominems” to a level than what they really deserve. 🙂
Pinoys and the serf mindset.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/12/AR2008091202605.html?hpid=opinionsbox1
“The summer before beginning at CRJHS, ninth-graders go to a behavioral boot camp where they get what David Whitman calls “a dose of cultural imperialism” to inculcate bourgeoisie values, from personal hygiene to table manners. The school believes that some Latino traditions should be tempered: Many of the students had been raised to show respect by speaking quietly and avoiding eye contact while softly shaking hands. That is not how things are done downtown in the city of broad shoulders. Before long, the children are introducing themselves with firm handshakes and are introducing their parents to the Loop” George Will
Most sutdents of sociology would recognize the same mindset under another name – Feudal.
Stupid is as stupid does. A smart guy once said that trying to put a daisy on a pile of shit won’t cover it.
Making a difference in one’s community is not and should be not quantifiable by oneself.
One who does it does not need ratification for oneself as trophies to be displayed. We all should plant seeds for future generations to harvest. Just like those on whose shoulders we stand on.
The pinoy was culturally trained to be a serf. Generally speaking;
He still does not know it.
A mind is not the person and the person is not the mind..
“The pinoy was culturally trained to be a serf. Generally speaking.”
A freeman became a serf usually through force or necessity.
Freedom to work and to play:
My dad taught me not to judge people by the color of their skin or by where they came from. He taught me that if I put the money he paid me in the bank it would earn interest. And he taught me how to thump a watermelon to see whether it was ripe.
http://blog.nola.com/sheilastroup/2008/07/freedom_to_work_and_to_play_1.html
“A mind is not the person and the person is not the mind”
let’s see if you are correct: “Freedom is the societal condition that exists when every individual has full 100% control over his own property.
So what is property? You are your own property. Your body is your property. Your mind is your property. When you apply your mind to the creation of a physical good, that is your property. When you apply your mind and body to working for someone else, the money you receive in exchange for your effort is your property. When you buy something off someone else, it becomes your property.
The whole free market is the mechanism by which property is exchanged by voluntarily agreed means. If there was no property, there would be no market.”
hvrds,
pinoy are not the only serf minded. do not judge the comments as if you are also not a serf to your own property…
🙂
Philippines Court of Appeals ruling :
the whistle-blower on the scuttled $329-million National Broadband Network (NBN) deal was neither kidnapped nor threatened by government officials.
In a ruling released on Friday, the court rejected the claim of Lozada, 45, head of the environmental state agency Philippine Forest Corp., that he was abducted by security men on his return on Feb. 5 from Hong Kong. He had gone abroad to avoid summons to appear before a Senate inquiry on the NBN deal with China’s ZTE Corp.
The court, in denying Lozada’s petition for a writ of amparo, said there was no proof that his life, liberty and security were threatened by government officials.
What is this judicial proof judicial proof, anyway? The technicality just complicates what people believe.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20080915-160684/Lozada-wasnt-abducted-says-Court-of-Appeals
Philippines Court of Appeals ruling :
the whistle-blower on the scuttled $329-million National Broadband Network (NBN) deal was neither kidnapped nor threatened by government officials.
In a ruling released on Friday, the court rejected the claim of Lozada, 45, head of the environmental state agency Philippine Forest Corp., that he was abducted by security men on his return on Feb. 5 from Hong Kong. He had gone abroad to avoid summons to appear before a Senate inquiry on the NBN deal with China’s ZTE Corp.
The court, in denying Lozada’s petition for a writ of amparo, said there was no proof that his life, liberty and security were threatened by government officials.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view/20080915-160684/Lozada-wasnt-abducted-says-Court-of-Appeals
mlq3 had already several interesting articles in the inquirer that did not get posted in his blog. maybe because he thinks his blog is now occupied by people who mistakes this blog for a forum?
“let’s see if you are correct: “Freedom is the societal condition that exists when every individual has full 100% control over his own property.” true lunacy….
The communal familial tribes in the Amazon, parts of Africa and other places on the planet practice communal ownership. The idea of personal private property is alien. You can even share women.
Are they not free also???????
What about the tenant peasant farmer? The sharecropper?? What about the workers in industry that participate in the division of labor. They create the value. In effect they collectively create the value that is known as property…..
If a woman owns her own body does it give her the right to abort the child???????
What does your mind tell you.???? What does your conscience tell you??????
hvrds: As of 2005, . . . . Official estimates put annual abortions in the Philippines at 400,000 to 500,000, and rising. The World Health Organization estimate puts the figure at nearly 800,000, one of the highest rates of unsafe abortions in Asia.
Seventy percent of unwanted pregnancies in the Philippines end in abortion said Jean-Marc Olivé, the country representative of the World Health Organization. One of four pregnancies in the Philippines end in abortion, according to Pro-Life Philippines, an anti-abortion group.
According to the Department of Health, nearly 100,000 women who have unsafe abortions every year end up in the hospital.
The Philippines, with its high population growth rate (2.6 percent) and low rate of contraceptive use (an estimated 35 percent) also has an increasing number of teenage pregnancies. As many as 17 percent of all unsafe abortions are done on teenage or young mothers, according to the Department of Health.
Compounding the problem is the fact that 36 percent of Filipino women become pregnant before marriage and 45 percent of all pregnancies are either unwanted or ill-timed, according to the World Health Organization.
There are “a lot of unmet needs regarding family planning or planning and spacing pregnancies in the Philippines,” said Olivé of the WHO. “Families, it seems, would like at least one child less than what they have.”
About 4 in 5 abortions in the Philippines are for economic reasons, according to a survey by the University of the Philippines. In many cases, . . . . . . “the mother can’t afford another child, so ends up choosing her five living children over the fetus in her womb.”
hvrds: Because the Department of Health does not supervise medical abortions, then the procedures are performed by quacks. When the procedures are performed by quacks, then more deaths follow, e.g.:
Armando Magnaye whose 24-year-old daughter died due to septic-induced abortion performed by Tolentino.
Magnaye told NBI that her daughter suffered infection after the suspects duped her into believing that they were able to abort the fetus from her womb.
http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/breakingnews/metro/view/20080828-157407/82-year-old-5-others-arrested-for-performing-abortions
And how many unwanted pregnancies (and abortions) do you think are caused by lecherous old men who have a fixation with lower sphincter muscles of young women?
“And how many unwanted pregnancies (and abortions) do you think are caused by lecherous old men who have a fixation with lower sphincter muscles of young women?”
Ask the male gay community……… Practicing sodomy will never lead to pregnancies.
Another answer, of course, is “… it depends!” ‘Dem shooting blanks don’t cause pregnancies.
Another answer, of course, is “… it depends!†‘Dem shooting blanks don’t cause pregnancies.
It is sad as it appears that an individual who did not know the difference between a vagina and an a.. hole now has, it appears, gone visceral on a personal level.
The male species sperm count decreases with age but erections on healthy males can obviously still occur.
Off course chemistry today has worked wonders to bring joy to many men.
Ah the joy of sex……
‘Sphincter’, ha ha ha. Wasn’t that the name of the sensei of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles?
Practical description of sex from Physicists:
Exchange of body fluids through hydaulic motions with a plateau phase at the terminus of the cycle. Possible Big Bang results.
There are those who believe that abortion is a biological issue others believe that is a moral issue, still other see it as a responsibility issue.
For some it is all right to abort a fetus, an unwanted one at, because it will inconvenience the mother, and her choice is biological. She has the full power to terminate an abortion in her body. Liberal politics translate this to mean “pro-choice”.
From Catholic viewpoint, a fetus is a human being entitled to dignity of being finally born. This is the moral issue.
The responsibility issue comes in where a couple due to financial constraint would not want a baby, hence would abort a baby.
The Philippines is basically a catholic country and therefore the morality issue will always permeate in every discussion of abortion.
People may disagree with the church’s position on abortion and they are free to dissociate themselves from the church, but those who take the position of the church and abide by its teaching deserve no more public flagellation than those who believe that it is all right to pull out a fetus from a mother’s womb, held it up high dripping with blood and claim that “we have just exercised our fundamental right to do what we want with our bodyâ€Â.
p.s.
if people do not want to get pregnant all they must do is refrain from doing the act or if they cannot helped it, have the decency of using contraceptives or ask their partners to use condoms… they cannot engaged in irresponsible acts and then blame the church for condemning them for aborting their fetus. . I consider myself a catholic and therefore I am anti-abortion.
jcc: In the eyes of the Catholic Church, sinners, too, are they who use condoms and/or contraceptives. The Roman Catholic Church is even against high school and college kids being taught about sexuality and the differences between holding hands, necking and petting, and penetration and what condoms, IUD’s, birth-control pills (and abstinence) can do to prevent the unwanted pregnancies and the number of dead or mutilitated Filipinas that occur yearly because of lack of government supervision of abortions.
cvj,
its ‘Splinter’
“they cannot engaged in irresponsible acts and then blame the church for condemning them for aborting their fetus.”
true. the church should then put condoms next to the holy water para paglabas ng simbahan, kuha na rin ng condom.
using condoms than abortion is tolerable if you ask a catholic like me.. if that is not all right with the church, may be it will be in due time.
i think, the church abhorrence to contraceptives and artificial devices like condoms have something to do with the the possibility of encouraging promiscuity in our teenagers.
the church, i suppose would not mind married couple using any form of contraceptives because the couple are not prepared to have a baby due to financial constraint, or the pregnancy will endanger the life of the wife.
i do not see any wrong with the church’s position on contraceptives. it is our responsibility to teach our unmarried kids to abstain from sex and if they cannot, to atleast give them hint that maybe they use contraceptives…… but not to give them hint and let them get pregnant and then abort the fetus because we have that right anyway according to “liberal politics”, is to me is a greater sin compared to our complicit consent to use contracepives.
mindanaoan :
“mlq3 had already several interesting articles in the inquirer that did not get posted in his blog. maybe because he thinks his blog is now occupied by people who mistakes this blog for a forum?”
the other side mindanaoan, MLQ3 thinks, the discussions on this thread has some gems on the intertice amidst a pile of garbage. 🙂
crisis management in mindanao requires a new leader? who will be fit to the job decsription that will bring long lasting peace?
The Rise of a New Leader
“the decline in the influence, prestige, and legitimacy of the old Muslim royalty (McKenna suggests their claim to old pedigrees was itself something of a fraud) led to the rise of secularist intellectuals like Nur Misuari, and new warlords like the Dimaporos and Sinsuats of the modern era.
But the reality is whether one proposes and another person contests an interpretation of history, everyone has to acknowledge that what matters is what the majority subscribes to.
http://opinion.inquirer.net/inquireropinion/columns/view/20080915-160675/The-rise-of-a-new-leadership
Crisis worsening the In the USA…
“Lehman has survived for 157 years, through wars, the Depression and the vagaries of the markets, but got into trouble by buying and financing commercial and residential real estate, including subprime mortgages.”
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/10/business/10place.html?hp
leytenian,
ricky carandang is back in business. 🙂
lehman files for bankcruptcy and merrill lynch sold to bank of america.
jcc,, ok.. i will check. thank you
“…….the possibility of encouraging promiscuity in our teenagers.”
ESTUPIDONG logic ito.
…because it simply implies that the influence of the church on its flock is WEAK.
A global reality show may be developing before the world stage on the Darwinian theory of natural selection.
To save the what is left of the tribe a prized member had to sacrificed to soothe the jungle animals.
But the T-Rex and other carnivours smell not only blood but fear.
Weaker tribes not yet affected will soon feel the upheaval in the jungle of the major tribe.
To keep the major tribe going they will have to pull out of supporting weaker tribes. Tribes that are dependent for food and capital from major tribes will feel the hit.
I still go back to my earlier suggestion to get Luli Arroyo married to someone close to the heirarchy in Saudi Arabia.
Suggestions for new business models.
Export of women for marriage… markets -Japan, China, Europe and M.E.
Export of men for recruitment in the U.S. or European Foreign Legion to fight in the GWOT.
We have a competitive price advantage
Afghanistan will require more men on the ground. Guys from the MNLF and the MILF could be enticed to join. That would be also one way of paying for modernizing the military here.
Big Mike and GMA have seriously handicapped the logistical capability of the military to keep themselves in power and wealth.
Failure most especially in markets is the best antidote for hubris.
In the 1930’s FDR called them rulers of the exchange of mankind’s goods.
Recently they became known as the masters of the universe.
The creme de la creme of the financial universe who are the zealots of the free market system are tumbling like dominoes and are turning to socialism to save themselves because they are also custodians of the savings of the working class.
Now everyone is a statist……… Without government intervention JP Morgan, Citi and even BoA would all come tumbling down and could possibly create the mother of all depressions.
Where are all the equilibrium scientists when a massive storm strikes?????? They bear a heavy responsibility for this.
J.M. Keynes was dead on target.
Financial markets shuddering in many more countries as investors panic. Time to open the pocketbook because the next few months, Mr. Market will be visibly “going cash” fleeing to the sidelines and in the process there will be good merchandise on sale for less than they are worth.
[Year-end tax-selling will be early.]
I still go back to my earlier suggestion to get Luli Arroyo married to someone close to the heirarchy in Saudi Arabia.
Luli is already engaged to the nephew of both Cong. Villafuerte of Bicol and Fr. Bernas. Both are close to the lords. Jueteng and and the Almighty One.
Madadagdagan pa ng mga Arroyo (bukod kay Joker) ang lahing Bikolano. Kulang pa bang parusa ang Mayon at Bulusan?
Financial markets shuddering in many more countries as investors panic.
I’ve seen how it actually looks when bulls rule the boards. Not a few times prior to 9/11, we witnessed how the Dow, Nasdaq and S&P hit their biggest one-day gain, first, after the Y2K doomsday paranoia proved to be a dud and then in March to September the same year. Phenomenal stock rise of four times like those of Yahoo and Amazon and the floor was crazy as nothing like you’ve seen before.
It would be interesting to see how it looks when the opposite happens, like it does today. I can’t imagine something as big as Lehman come crumbling down, or AIG stocks now worth less than the paper it’s written on and back to its 1985 price (down 92% YTD), or Merill Lynch sold (for a huge premium at that!) at only $50B.
Some were rescued, while some were not. If you ask the gurus and the grunts in Wall street why, they reply “go ask the Republicans”. We were always taught US business was insulated from politics. But of course, under Bush, anything happens. Parang Pilipinas.
‘Some were rescued, while some were not.’
Lehman was not rescued because it won’t reveal everything and they’re also asking for a high price. Also, the bailout of Bear Sterns did not do much to stabilize the market so why bailout another one. Merrill Lynch’s CEO Thain grabbed the opportunity and talked to BA’s CEO on the side during the Fed sponsored meeting last weekend to avoid the same faith. AIG has a lot of filthy rich subsidiaries. It might survived in some form without a bailout.
AIG’s options are limited. Like Lehman, it is not a bank that could borrow funds from the Fed to shore up its capital. Its an insurance company which wrote up a lot of those credit default swap policies.
These investment banks/insurance companies made bad bets. Why should taxpayers save management, who after all took fat bonuses as recent as a year ago.
This is what happens to Bush’ pro-business policies, which is to say America’s version of ‘unmoderated greed.’
Thanks supremo, but wasn’t Lehman also negotiating with BAC that as soon as the Merill Lynch deal was announced, Lehman filed bankruptcy. This only shows how thin that line many big houses are now walking on. Not many options. Investors are still licking their wounds, gold surprisingly has even slid like the other metals. Nataranta na ang mga players?
I don’t know if it’s the sentiment of the majority of investors but many have been advocating the non-intervention of the Feds and let these groups fall since the bailout option only spreads the crisis out to more innocent people by way of taxes.”Punish the crooks and the idiots” is probably the current mantra.
The stability of housing prices would therefore be the most definitive indicator that this crisis will start to turn around. So says my broker/analyst. But he also says this might take at least 2 years.
Also there is talk gov’t might rescue AIG although this was from the CNBC clown who predicted Bear Stearns way off the mark. To me bailing out an insurance company, whose very existence is founded on guaranteeing your financial needs at a future time, is illegal and immoral. The punishment for such failure should be nothing short of death.
TonGuE-tWisTeD :
‘but wasn’t Lehman also negotiating with BAC’
Last Friday Merrill stocks were being shorted and Thain knows it. When BA backout of buying Lehman last Saturday, Thain offered Merrill to BA.
There might be a decision about AIG before 3 pm US Eastern time.
The Americans did it again!
Killing asset values, that is. First, in 1974 when they removed the US dollar from the gold standard (what hvrds is ranting about).
Now this. Many banks worlwide including Philippine banks (Banco de Oro said today ) and probably including the Philippine pension funds SSS and GSIS have exposures in Lehman Brothers and AIG.
Very soon, the Chinese, Russians, and Saudis will wake up to the fact that they cannot foreclose a house in Boise, Idaho and will know that is just a big shell game!!!
Funny but the Americans seem out of touch with reality. Read the finance blogs. They blame PPT for any and all of the large spikes in the markets. It’s supposed to be a gov’t oversight body to ensure the stability of the markets at a time like this.
The Plunge Protection Team, or formally they call it President’s Working Group on Financial Markets. Created by Reagan after the 1987 crash by EO12631 says the group, which includes the Treasury secretary, Federal Reserve chairman, chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission and chairman of the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, was formed to ensure the smooth operation of financial markets. It reportedly also includes Goldman Sachs, Citibank, Morgan Stanley.
Googling PPT, it appears this conspiracy theory might be true or at least, people take it seriously. There is even a blog dedicated to it. (www.plungeprotectionteam.com/)
For example, Washington Post published that after a 22% drop in Oct. 1987, the “PPT” supposedly flooded the market with funds, as the Feds did yesterday, pumping $50B in cold cash to loosen banks tight credit. Bloggers claim it made a 100-pt. spike in the DJIA. (Read: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/business/longterm/blackm/plunge.htm) Also this Telegraph article that says Bush convened the “secret” group in January (www.telegraph.co.uk/money/main.jhtml?view=DETAILS&grid=A1YourView&xml=/money/2008/01/07/ccview107.xml) while alternet’s Danny Schechter wants congress and media to investigate the “shadowy” group. (www.alternet.org/workplace/98860/what’s_the_government’s_shadowy_%22plunge_protection_team%22_doing_as_lehman_tanks/?page=1)
But of the articles about PPT, this one dismisses it as a myth (www.safehaven.com/article-721.htm) and explains why such an operation is impossible to hide. I find it more plausible than the others.
When people lose a lot of money they turn to religion, the stars, Chinese Feng Shui, maybe even Duvalier’s voodoo. They look for someone to blame for a decision they made for themselves.
Now this. Many banks worlwide including Philippine banks (Banco de Oro said today ) and probably including the Philippine pension funds SSS and GSIS have exposures in Lehman Brothers and AIG.
Wow, BDO sets aside P3.8B to cover possible loss from its Lehman exposure while it buys 2 of American Express’ business units.
Eto ang mas wow: The Bank of Japan injected 1.5 trillion yen into money markets to try to calm the turmoil! Lehman’s Japanese unit supposedly has $32.6B in liabilities. Another bank, Aozora who is a Lehman lender lost 18% of its stock value.
“Funny but the Americans seem out of touch with reality. Read the finance blogs. They blame PPT for any and all of the large spikes in the markets. It’s supposed to be a gov’t oversight body to ensure the stability of the markets at a time like this. ” – Tongue
And you belive ypu are better than the americans. Your reaction above showed very limted understanding of the whole issue.
“Lehman was not rescued because it won’t reveal everything and they’re also asking for a high price. Also, the bailout of Bear Sterns did not do much to stabilize the market so why bailout another one. Merrill Lynch’s CEO Thain grabbed the opportunity and talked to BA’s CEO on the side during the Fed sponsored meeting last weekend to avoid the same faith. AIG has a lot of filthy rich subsidiaries. It might survived in some form without a bailout.” – Supremo
I believe its becuas eteh government and no longer afford it becuas ethey just nationalized the Freddie Mae and Fannie Mac.