The clip above shows Franklin D. Roosevelt campaigning for the US presidency in 1933, using eerily familiar rhetoric. The clip opened the second portion of last week’s episode of The Explainer (which you can watch on YouTube), which focused on the Great Depression (in it, I asked my guest to expound on his blog post, Smartly protectionist). The Great Depression has provided a lot of grist for the mill in recent years, for example see A history lesson from the Great Depression – How the World Works – Salon.com
Today, I was going to focus on what’s going on in America but I’m down with the flu so it will have to be for next week.
For the past couple of weeks watching Bloomberg’s been a riveting experience as experts try to grapple with the goings-on in markets in the US and elsewhere. Non-experts, too: Question for a Management Class makes for quite interesting reading.
On the eve of the US House of Representatives voting on the bailout, a group of American economists released an open letter calling on representatives to reject the bailout plan. Columnist Will Hutton in The Guardian pointed out the argument at the heart of the economists’ opposition (and, by all accounts, among US voters who had House Republicans spooked about a popular backlash if they voted for the White House-proposed bailout plan):
And although some conservatives in Britain and America continue to make the ideological case against any government action as a response to the recent turmoil – governments necessarily do everything worse than the market – they have no alternative proposal about how to restore trust once it has gone. Trust is a reciprocal relationship, dependent upon a desire to be considered decent and honourable. Even in the dog-eat-dog financial markets, trust and integrity are matters of self-interest. However amoral you may be, it is in your interest to care about your reputation, because if you behave badly you will not do business with me – or others – on favourable terms again.
But the scale of the personal rewards now available in London and Wall Street – £15m-£20m at the top is the norm – along with the greed-is-good doctrine associated with extreme laissez-faire economics, has trashed the need for individuals to worry about integrity. They don’t need to be concerned about their reputations; they just need one deal or one year at the top and they need never work again. The incentive structure has so departed from one of the principal norms of fairness – proportionality between value added and reward – that it has eviscerated trust relationships and integrity.
Everybody tries to ‘game’ the system on their route to vast personal fortunes – whether short-selling, packaging up dud mortgages as prime mortgages or telling lies about their financial viability – and the result is that the system is getting wise. The best course today in any financial transaction is to presume zero integrity. Credit is drying up and with it the very lifeblood of the economy.
Worse, now that the system is in trouble, financiers are turning to taxpayers in the US and Britain for help without understanding the other key principal of fairness – that we will consider helping those who for no fault of their own get into trouble, but not those who freely created their own bad circumstances.
Hank Paulson certainly acted decisively in launching his plan, but the former Goldman Sachs CEO, who negotiated a special exemption from tax when he took the job, like his former Wall Street colleagues is not well endowed with the fairness gene. It polluted the very design of the scheme.
He knows that unless the US government does something comprehensive, the entire financial system is at stake, but his original plan was designed to bail out the system intact. It made no demands that any financial executives sacrifice pay or bonuses despite having driven their firms and wider economy to the point of bankruptcy. He does not want the government to provide new bank capital to help recapitalise a bust banking system. Instead, he wants the government to buy their toxic debt and so leave the banks unreformed. On top he wanted complete discretion to act as he chose without any oversight.
American economists of every persuasion signed a joint letter complaining not at the aim of the bail out, which is plainly vital, but for its lack of fairness. Conservative papers and politicians echoed the complaint. Suddenly, Wall Street is coming back to earth. The transactions from which it skims such riches are built on the savings of ordinary Americans to whom it has obligations, as it has to other Wall Street firms. What we know now about the yet to be agreed compromise is that Paulson has accepted Congressional oversight, will offer direct help to distressed US homeowners as well as banks, and will accept some constraints on the worst excesses of executive pay.
But the core proposal remains. The government will buy toxic debt rather than inject government funds into the banks’ capital base, in other words, reject even partially nationalising the entire US banking system as the Swedes had to in 1992. I don’t know – nobody does – whether the Paulson plan would be sufficient or whether ultimately the Americans will have to go for nationalisation. What I do know is that unless there is a radical and government-led change in ownership, structure, regulation and incentives so that the principles of fairness are put at the heart of the Anglo American financial system – proportionality of reward and fair distribution of risk – there is no chance of the return of trust and integrity upon which long-term recovery depends.
In the end the House of Representatives rejected the White House plan. FT.com / In depth – House rejects US bail-out bill, stitched the news together with failures and rescues in the UK, Benelux and Germany; and in House to Wall Street: Drop dead – MarketWatch says the Republicans were the ones who blinked:
Republicans voted against the bill by a two-to-one ratio, and in the process rejected their own leadership, who had worked for nearly a week to craft a bill that could gain a majority. Nearly 100 Democrats also voted against the bill, spurning their leadership.Many Republicans in the House were never persuaded that the credit crunch in the financial system is an impending disaster deserving of taxpayer aid. Politicians who had cut their teeth on free-market principles couldn’t accept the idea that the federal government should back up the banks who had foolishly bet everything on the housing bubble.Or they didn’t want to face the voters in six weeks and explain why a Republican would vote for the biggest government bailout ever.
In his blog, Howard Lindzom put it bluntly:
The market has been demanding a large scope bailout plan for weeks. The market has been chewing through financials one by one until it gets what it wants.
Let’s not kid ourselves, the markets are rigged. The bailout is a wimpy ass way to deal with the problem for sure, but a $1.2 trillion loss in market cap was just TODAY’s tradeoff. The market wants some extra rigging short-term and a meltdown is/was the trade-off.
The people in Washington know very little about a lot of things. That is their specialty, their claime to fame. They know shit ass less than nothing about the stock market and the MOOD of America that matters (money). Today, you saw what a bad mood can bring from traders. Tomorrow and for the next week you will see what panic brings as the selling accelerates.
This crisis though is not about the stock market, it is about THE CREDIT MARKETS. There is NO access to capital. We are shut down for business. Way worse than after 9/11 when the markets were closed. At least than, we were out shopping at the request of our President. Now we are just deer in the headlights at the whim of the House of Reps and Congress and Senate who just seem out to punish the rich. Bullshit politics. Everybody has a chance to be famous. They are really punishing everybody else.
The FED is out of bullets and we have absolutely zero leadership or hopes of any leadership soon.
On that sobering note, as the New York exchange plunged (777 points), and then Asia, too (biggest drop since 1987), An analyst on Bloomberg dryly said, “Cash seems to be the safest place to put your money now.” Commodity prices had their biggest drop in 52 years (since the index began). The Australian Prime Minister issued a statement appealing to the US Congress to pass the emergency measure, a sentiment echoed by the Japanese Finance Minister.George W. Bush will address his countrymen shortly before the markets open on Tuesday.
This seems a colossal game of “chicken,” with political leaders answerable to voters pitted on a collision course with financiers normally dismissive of nations, sovereignty, etc., demanding a bailout from the political leaders, otherwise everything comes crashing down. It’s interesting that as today wore on, the analysist began to speak rather confidently of the bailout being passed by the end of the week.
The Republican nightmare is obviously straight out of the Hollywood version of populist Huey Long’s barely fictionalized movie biopic, All the King’s Men:
Here at home, people have been nervous ever since insurance giant AIG ended up being taken over by the US government to prevent its collapse. See Business – Are my Philam investments safe? in INQUIRER.net
There are also concerns, now, over the possibility of bank runs and to head off potential panic, the Central Bank has tried to make soothing noises. See Business – How safe is my money in the bank? also in INQUIRER.net
Salve Duplito, who authored the two articles above, then goes on to point out that instead of hand-wringing, some sober planning is in order for ordinary people: Money Smarts » How are you dealing with the crisis?
As for the economists, Nouriel Roubini takes a kind of grim satisfaction in not turning out to be a Cassandra (see The Worst Financial Crisis Since the Great Depression and the subsequent The Shadow Banking System is Unravelling:Such demise confirmed by Morgan and Goldman now being converted into banks) while Roubini then looks at the proposed 700 billion dollar bailout plan and compares it to other bailouts in the past: Is Purchasing $700 billion of Toxic Assets the Best Way to Recapitalize the Financial System? No! It is Rather a Disgrace and Rip-Off Benefitting only the Shareholders and Unsecured Creditors of Banks
Whenever there is a systemic banking crisis there is a need to recapitalize the banking/financial system to avoid an excessive and destructive credit contraction. But purchasing toxic/illiquid assets of the financial system is not the most effective and efficient way to recapitalize the banking system. Such recapitalization — via the use of public resources — can occur in a number of alternative ways: purchase of bad assets/loans; government injection of preferred shares; government injection of common shares; government purchase of subordinated debt; government issuance of government bonds to be placed on the banks’ balance sheet; government injection of cash; government credit lines extended to the banks; government assumption of government liabilities.
A recent IMF study of 42 systemic banking crises across the world provides evidence on how different crises were resolved. First of all only in 32 of the 42 cases there was government financial intervention of any sort; in 10 cases systemic banking crises were resolved without any government financial intervention. Of the 32 cases where the government recapitalized the banking system only seven included a program of purchase of bad assets/loans (like the one proposed by the US Treasury). In 25 other cases there was no government purchase of such toxic assets. In 6 cases the government purchased preferred shares; in 4 cases the government purchased common shares; in 11 cases the government purchased subordinated debt; in 12 cases the government injected cash in the banks; in 2 cases credit was extended to the banks; and in 3 cases the government assumed bank liabilities. Even in cases where bad assets were purchased — as in Chile — dividends were suspended and all profits and recoveries had to be used to repurchase the bad assets. Of course in most cases multiple forms of government recapitalization of banks were used.
But government purchase of bad assets was the exception rather than the rule. It was used only in Mexico, Japan, Bolivia, Czech Republic, Jamaica, Malaysia, and Paraguay. Even in six of these seven cases where the recapitalization of banks occurred via the government purchase of bad assets such recapitalization was a combination of purchase of bad assets together with other forms of recapitalization (such as government purchase of preferred shares or subordinated debt).
In the Scandinavian banking crises (Sweden, Norway, Finland) that are a model of how a banking crisis should be resolved there was not government purchase of bad assets; most of the recapitalization occurred through various injections of public capital in the banking system. Purchase of toxic assets instead — in most cases in which it was used — made the fiscal cost of the crisis much higher and expensive (as in Japan and Mexico).
Thus the claim by the Fed and Treasury that spending $700 billion of public money is the best way to recapitalize banks has absolutely no factual basis or justification. This way of recapitalizing financial institutions is a total rip-off that will mostly benefit — at a huge expense for the US taxpayer – the common and preferred shareholders and even unsecured creditors of the banks. Even the late addition of some warrants that the government will get in exchange of this massive injection of public money is only a cosmetic fig leaf of dubious value as the form and size of such warrants is totally vague and fuzzy.
Others have tried to translate the amount in human terms:CJR: What Can You Buy For $700 Billion?
It would reimburse banks, home owners, and local governments for nearly 9 million foreclosures – It could prevent over 200 million foreclosures – It could buy 8.6 billion monthly Metrocards – The government could rebuild Katrina-ravished New Orleans and Gulf Coast… three and a half times – Roughly 538 Yankee Stadiums could be built – 5.4 million students could be sent to a public university – It equals nearly 520 times the amount of Amtrak’s current operating budget – It is $14 billion more than the U.S. spent during the Vietnam War
Another economist, Carsten Hermann Pillath, offers up an approach based on evolutionary economics and cultural science, bringing up game theory and the prisoners’ dilemma (see The financial crisis: a humble evolutionary economist’s perspective).
Over at Left Flank, you can find links to scientists weighing in with their efforts to relate the financial news with Chaos Theory! See Black Swans and Charlatans.
Jeff Jarvis, in Stewardship v. ownership of our news, money, and society took a cue from the unfolding crisis and criticizes mainstream media and it’s efforts to control how their content is processed, used, and redistributed on the World Wide Web.
The political fallout, if any, is something else, altogether. I’ve been silent for some weeks because I’ve been trying to get beyond simply reacting to the news, and instead, trying to make sense of where we are and where we ought to go; I’ll attempt to start piecing my thoughts together when I’ve recovered from the flu.
“Clinton knows that McCain tried to regulate Fannie and banks in 2005. It’s democratic party who opposed the bill to regulate.”
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsynspIqAoE&feature=related
The U.S. Congress has been under Republican control since 1996 till the mid year elections in 2006 .
The U.S. Congress which is the law making body of the United States of Stupid has been Republican since 1996.
The Democrats took a slight majority in the elections of 2006 to take tenuous control of the Congress for the years 2007 till the present…….
The executive department has been under Republican control since 1999 till the present.
Hmmmm… that means management control of economic policies as well were under the Republicans from 1996 till the present time…
I would earnestly suggest to some obviously stupid pundit that they look into seriously putting up their own web site and specialize in porn. One could blow smoke out of one’s sphincter muscle and earn dollars for oneself and the Philippines. One need not expose ones face…
Yup Obama, the Muslim African Witch Doctor Communist used voodoo to bring down the U.S. economy…
The McCain demolition crew is starting to tighten the nooze around Obama’s neck, in three more weeks it will constrict then soffucate. The Obama machine will be having a very challenging job ahead until election day.
Nothing to lose for McCain, he’s losing in the polls already, the terrorist bogey is the only remaining option for him.
Personally I believe Obama has a taint of Muslim in him but concealed. Whether a Muslim president is good for America, or not, remain to be seen.
time out….what’s going on here???is there a battle of hyperlinks going on??? 😉
to Amadeo: as you think a lot of Sarah Palin being very close to Mccain, you should also be worried about Phil Gramm who is even closer to Mccain. Phil Gramm and Mccain are blood-brothers in the “deregulate-deregulate-deregulate” mantra, but Phil Gramm is the brighter of the two. Phil Gramm is the one who slipped in the provision which prohibited governmental regulation of credit default swaps.
It is these credit default swaps that bubbled up to a face-value of $62 trillion. [Two-percent of $62trillion is a lot of commissions-money!!!] Then as the housing bubble burst, the swaps became a massive pile of worthless paper.
and to those getting bored with talk about Barack and McCain and prefer sweet adorable Sarah Palin, click here:
http://www.nbc.com/Saturday_Night_Live/video/clips/couric-palin-open/704042/
Talking about Medical Tourism. This is another area of growth for Philippine government to have a Medical City to cater major surgeries and long term care. I am positive that Filipinos are superior in the medical field in Asia.
Leytenian:
You mentioned an area where I have ventured into on the smallest of scale, and thus can be easily replicated by other ex-pats. And which I know works. Imagine in our place a house call for a doctor starts at 500 pesos. A registered caregiver at 250-350 pesos a day.
This can as I have done it start as a very small and private enterprise catering to one’s own relatives. Look around you, not only in Florida and but in sunny California, many of our compatriots with their extended families count many members who are now elderly but not necessarily infirm. Many may be gaunt or look emaciated due to age, but many are essentially just that with no catastrophic illnesses. Now elderly care in California was pegged on average at 5,000 dollars a month in nursing/elderly care homes. And this datum was some years back. Many of our compatriots also maintain their residences in the old homeland, while many have invested in residential real estate awaiting for either their retirement or as second homes.
Responsible and knowledgeable Caregiving in the old homeland is not only cheap comparatively speaking, but aplentiful.
Thus simply relocate those elderly to the old homeland and allow them to have 24/7 care which they would otherwise not have in the US. Imagine the inflow of foreign exchange for their care into the old homeland. These difficult times would be most appropriate to make the move.
republicans are getting desperate but there’s no stopping of the inevitable. in 4 weeks time, america will have its 1st black president… bi-racial actually.
amadeo,
i am in healthcare consulting and management. i know for sure that Philippines is a good target for the Japanese elderly . A beach front luxurious Assisted Living is perfect for these people and a very high tech hospital nearby. The provinces is the perfect place to have a business like this as long as nearby hospital is accessible or specialized home care MD flexible enough to travel for emergency at high price.
Yup a good business venture in Pinas. The Japanese are a good target also.
Anyway, I think McCain will win because Obama is already using his people to steal for votes thru ACORN. Voter registration fraud is rampant among democrats.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s5VgzvzIJ04&feature=related
Conrado de Quiros writes about these moments when he envies USA :
Here (in the Philippines), if there are any fundamental differences between the “presidentiables†it is only on which hairstylist they prefer.
Far more to be envious about, you can be certain about several things in the United States today. First and foremost, you know that George W. Bush will be history after the end of this year.. . . The system is ironclad. A president may have only two terms, at the end of which he has to step down. . . .
You can be sure as well that the vote of each and every American will be duly noted and counted. . . .Like the sacredness of taxpayers’ money, the sacredness of elections is a given in any democratic country. It lodges deep in the psyche. It is expected to be upheld as a matter of course. Here, well, we don’t even know if Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo will be gone in 2010. I myself am certain she won’t.
Ayoko na ng mga TALSIK DIYAN demonstrasyon, pero hindi puwedeng si Gloria pa rin, kailangang magkaisa tayo na iba naman ang susunod pa presidente pagdating ng June-2010. Kung hindi si Villar, si Loren; kung hindi sa dalawa na ito, si Mar Roxas; kung hindi si Mar; si Lacson. Pero hanggang 2010 lang si Gloria, tapos, tapos na.
am tired of a female president. we need a man in the Philippines. I am a woman that I believe will always support a man. Loren is good to be a vice president. just like McCain and Plain ticket 🙂
While McCain and Palin introduce the doctrine of becoming “mavericky” and take the gloves off and accuse Obama of being a “commie terrorist” the United States of Stupid is reverting to Centralized Planning to price risk…
Shhhhhh…… don’t tell anyone this….
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/opinions/cartoonsandvideos/telnaes/telnaes_main.html?hpid=opinionsbox1
“The Treasury has asked for authority to purchase $700 billion of mortgages to get them off of the private sector’s books. Expanding the demand and reducing the supply of these risky assets is a way of manipulating their price. The Fed and the Treasury are walking down a road that ends with making the price of risk in financial markets, along with the price of liquidity, an administered price.”
“This was how central banking got started in the first place: letting the market and the market alone determine the price of liquidity was judged too costly for the businessmen who voted and the workers who could overthrow governments. Now it looks as though letting the market alone determine the price of risk is similarly being judged too costly for today’s voters and campaign contributors to bear.” Bradford Delong
From Central Bank to Central Planning?
by J. Bradford DeLong
Just one word for Mc campaign and the flooding of Anti Obama links by Leytenean…..
DESPERATE!
There is only one killer issue for Mc Cain…
ECONOMY.
All these sleaze coming from Leyetenean doesn’t really help but makes the MC Cain soooooooo negative that its turning off a lot of voter.
Leyetean should instead post something about how Mc Cain can overturn the economy.
“Gramm was always Wall Street’s man in the Senate. As chairman of the Senate Banking Committee during the Clinton administration, he consistently underfunded the Securities and Exchange Commission and kept it from stopping accounting firms from auditing corporations with which they had conflicts of interest. Gramm’s piece de resistance came on Dec. 15, 2000, when he slipped into an omnibus spending bill a provision called the Commodity Futures Modernization Act (CFMA), which prohibited any governmental regulation of credit default swaps, those insurance policies covering losses on securities in the event they went belly up. As the housing bubble ballooned, the face value of those swaps rose to a tidy $62 trillion. And as the housing bubble burst, those swaps became a massive pile of worthless paper, because no government agency had required the banks to set aside money to back them up.”
“The CFMA also prohibited government regulation of the energy-trading market, which enabled Enron to nearly bankrupt the state of California before bankrupting itself.”
Harold Meyerson Washington Post
Memo from Usama Bin Laden to John and Sarah—
Allah will shower you with so many blessings for having so many close friends in the Republican party from Alan, Phil, Charles and most particularly Hank, Ben and friends who have bankrupted the financial system of the U.S. and will probably affect the entire world and will cause untold sufferings to so many..
Your unrelenting jihad against regulations have really borne fruit. Most especially Phil who was able to allow the price of oil to reach the numbers that we needed to pay for rearming and expanding.
Do not allow those Godless commies to take hold of any power. We know that a major terrorist attack from us will help you greatly but you have done the job for us in coming close to destroying the Great Satan.
Warm messages and salutations to our friends in the White House W and Dick. UBL
Allahu Akabar!!!!
Hi, Leytenian:
Fairly or unfairly, you appear to be getting good-sized flak in this forum, some under cover with some subtlety, others not so.
So in a spirit of genuine friendliness and also since your efforts maybe can be put to better use elsewhere, let me ask:
Have you mentally surveyed this forum to find out how many could be actual US voters? – Those who comment and those who are lurkers.
Maybe not many, and from the comments, no Independents to be addressed with issues. All appear committed.
Since we appear to share the same political stripe this election cycle, we can maybe harness your tireless efforts in another venue, in a venue that could spell a difference.
Please take this in the proper spirit it is heartily given. Thanks.
leytenian,
i thought obama represents what makes (or made) America great – equal opportunity for all regardless of background, income class, gender, age, political and religious persuasion
Leytenian says ,
i am in healthcare consulting and management…….
https://www.quezon.ph/1967/a-colossal-game-of-chicken/#comment-963035
and in another post , she says:
I’m no longer in healthcare management or consulting …
https://www.quezon.ph/1963/crisis-management-immigration-and-devolution/#comment-937926
nothing follows.
said pala dapat.
so its a matter of she said ,she said.
Please join the campaign to get BBC 👿 to issue an apology.
for a 25-second comedy sketch (a copy available at http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00dnf21 ) The British-comedy-skit showed a Filipina maid as a slut, gyrating away trying to get an erection from a British. Even worse, she couldn’t do it!!!! 🙄
Speak out against the British Broadcasting Co. comedy Harry and Paul Show for degrading Filipino women and domestic workers in its September 29 episode, exhorts Loline Lualhati Reed, (head of Overseas Women’s Club) and Michael Duque of UK Philippine Nurses Association.
Support the campaign!!!! Boycott British-made items. The Brits should know (and Americans, too) that the only movie- and TV-characters that should be given to Filipinas should be of nuns or gigglish teenagers or all-suffering mothers, not prostitutes nor sluts-in-maid-uniforms.
A youtube clip of the comedy-skit is here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FL9KrTGx28E&feature=related
And one of the commenters (a Pinoy based on his many blog-entries) said:
oh yeah and very hospitable filipino is. but dont forget that filipino’s are greedy and end envious too. and everyt5ime they saw a white people they go “0H MY GOD A WALKING ATM”.
Another commenter said :
jewelces4106 (1 hour ago) y
elow mga kapwa pinoys,, dpat hindi agad mg over react .. walang ko mkita masama sa show.. its a comedy show remember.. hwag po tayong pikon ,, PLS DONT MAKE THE ISSUE LONG…tnxs
—-
“Have you mentally surveyed this forum to find out how many could be actual US voters?
Excellent point, Amadeo!
Leytenian vote for McCain counts because she is in Florida. And so is Bencard though he is silent but he will cast his vote. Same way I do.
The rest are just balooney, don’t count at all because it cannot be translated to vote come November.
I’ll vote for John. Obama? He is just the usual democrat, panay dada.
pro-MILF thuggery 😈 d0d0ng 😳 and Bencard think alike???? 😆
Woooohhh–weeeee!!!! 🙄
UP n grad – you oversimplify too much. US citizens have different reasons for voting for McCain. It doesn’t mean we think alike.
“I’ll vote for John. Obama? He is just the usual democrat, panay dada.”
Very good, Pilipinoparin. That is where it counts. Not just the blab for change – Obama’s big mantra.
Choose: a Harvard topnotcher OR the 5th bottom dweller in the Academy batch of 890 grads?
Love the smell of Republican fear and panic in the morning.
KG,
you are right . I’m now back to health care management. Other industries has no rooms for me. Lucky to have the background, the job was was much easier to find. Remember I am self employed – any industry will apply in consulting. Healthcare has rooms for me in this time of crisis. I don’t like it but I have no choice.
Obama’s healthcare policy are not populars among healthcare professionals. Majority in this industry who are paid in mid and upper income level are republicans except for those who are CNA’s, and low income healthcare employees. The ones that value welfare over pride of one’s hardwork. Sorry… but I have to be blunt. Welfare and giving them fish will not help america’s economic problem. The Republicans policy is perfect for this crisis. Low taxes both individuals and corporations to generate employment.
Gas price is now down at $90.00/barrel. What does it mean?
amadeo,
“Have you mentally surveyed this forum to find out how many could be actual US voters? – Those who comment and those who are lurkers.”
hahaha, funny. of course I have mentally surveyed most of the bloggers here. I am sharing the side of Republicans and the others are sharing their sides being democrats. It is not my biz to know if they are actually voters or losers… oh sorry… lurkers. It’s ok. It just so happened that the topic is about chicken. 🙂
UP N,
On Deregulations:
The Gramm-Leach-Bliley – BANK DEREGULATION bill was made into law during the Clinton’s Administration in 1999. The law allowed commercial and investment banks to CONSOLIDATE. It tore down the artificial walls between financial institutions. Meaning, Bank of America could have not been able to acquire Merrill Lynch, which would have been impossible prior to Gramm’s deregulation. Merrill would either have gone under or been bailed out by the taxpayers. Similarly, J.P. Morgan wouldn’t have taken over Bear Stearns, and Barclays Bank wouldn’t be considering buying Lehman Brothers. Recently Wachovia Bank will not be able to consolidate with Citibank without the Gramm Leach BILL.
Democrats blame this bill for the current financial crisis. It is the Democrats Scapegoat. And Yet, Joe Biden , VP of Obama supported the bill. Robert Rubin and Larry Summers, Clinton Treasury officials whom Obama relies on for advice, supported it. Bill Clinton signed the BILL and admitted that it’s the democrats who opposed the Republicans to start regulating the Banks in 2003 and 2005. The regulation BILL will only extend loans to creditworthy customers . Instead, the democrats push for more deregulations thru CRA and the law of redlining. Obama sued Citibank for not extending loans to more minorities and underserved individuals which are mostly members of ACORN. Youtube search: Acorn and Obama.
true it’s good to provide housing to low income people but the opposite had happened- a financial mess that affects the whole world.
Here’s a simple example: you lend money to your neighbor in pinas, knowing the fact that your neighbor has an unstable job with history of bad credit to others. There are two reasons why you lend your money to your neighbor, 1. you believe that you’re neighbor will pay you back 2. you have a big heart. Now your neighbor has only paid you for 1 year of the 5 year term loan ( for example). Who’s fault is that? It is Obama’s fault for extending credit to neighbors who cannot pay, period.
Deregulations by democrats to attack Republican author Phil Gramm of the 1999 Gramm Leach Bliley BILL is naïve. Today, Arnold Swazeneger announced budget deficit in the State of California, a democratic State. He is asking a 7B funds from Federal government.
TEACH the people how to fish instead of giving them the Fish….
Obama is giving his people the fish and he is trying hard to tell the pinoy that we belong to that equation. Excuse me Obama, majority of Pinoy in america are highly educated and belongs to the middle and upper income. We believe in contributing to the system and outsourcing of jobs to Philippines 🙂
Remember the mathematical modeling of the body count employed by McNamara during the Vietnam war.
The US lied about “leaving no men behind” in Vietnam. Documented evidences on POW-MIA-KIA like those found in the Soviet archives, the depositions of witnesses who received radio transmissions of pilot serial codes, actual satellite sightings of these codes in farm fields dismissed by Washington as “shadow and vegetation”, and the first hand knowledge of surviving veterans were either: 1. dismissed as insufficient; 2. witness’ character was assailed; 3. deemed private thus would not fall under the Freedom of Info Act.
Even close relatives weren’t allowed to know if reports that sightings of their missing loved ones were true. That’s because of one POW out of the 591 released then wouldn’t allow such info to be revealed: Sen. John McCain.
See a sample document by DPMO on “denial of specific info here.
That’s TRUTH, McCain style. (McCain’s Truth Bill)
How about WAR HERO – McCain’s definition? A mere 20hrs. of combat flight, shot down and captured; and causing fire and deaths to USS Forrestal by “Wet-Starting”
And MAVERICK? Being DIFFERENT by doing the SAME things for the past 26 years!
Go, McCain, Go! Your grave is waiting for you.
anthony scalia :
“i thought obama represents what makes (or made) America great – equal opportunity for all regardless of background, income class, gender, age, political and religious persuasion”
sorry to say that the result of giving them fish is the opposite of what US majority wants. Obama’s agenda is insecure and will take US to a bigger problem. His own people will demand more welfare . His foundation is understandable to be insecure and will always be naive. God bless him in the WHITE house. He wants to be the first black president and will provide welfare to everybody. I will suggest to Obama to run in the Philippines. 🙂
hahaha. this is entertaining.
Amadeo,d0d0ng,
wala pala kaming karapatan, magcomment ke Mccain o Obama.dahil nandito kami sa pilipinas, we cannot walk our talk.
well, at least you have noticed what our friend leytenian has been doing, If Palin is the attack dog,what can I call her?
oops wala pala akong karapatan, bakit ko binaggit si Palin,baloney nga pala.
Yeah, KG. We might as well ask Manolo to remove this thread entirely. “Balooney” (not baloney) daw.
Love the smell of Republican fear and panic in the morning.
“The rest are just balooney, don’t count at all because it cannot be translated to vote come November”- dodong
Naku alam naman nating lahat na karamihan sa mga commenters dito ay based sa Pinas and non American voters eh..
Kung gusto talaga ni Leyetenean mangampanya kay Mc Cain, dapat hindi dito sa blog na to. Doon dapat sya sa mga blog na American voters lang ang commenters. Nagsasayang lang sya ng oras dito at space . Kahit ilang links pa ang i post nya dito ay talaga naman walang syang makukhang tulong dito para manalo si Mc Cain eh. Well, ang pwede lang mangyari ay malaman nya kung sino ang kakampi nya na US voters dito.
Ngayon dahil andito na rin sya, eh di malaya ang lahat ng commenter na mad react sa mga sinusulat nya.
Ako, malinaw na simula pa lang ng Clinton/Obama contest, na hindi ako US citizen at wala akong karapatang bomoto. Pero masugid akong nagmamasid sa eleksyon na dahil dadating din ang panahon para magdesisyon kung mananatili na ako dito o hini. & taon pa lang ako dito eh.
Im am not a partisan observer though, Im very much open for either candidates. (well actually I like Hilary)..I have been swinging from Mc Cain and Obama becuase I dont see a really big diffrence from their platforms. But lets face it. Mc Cains campaign has obviously gone sooooo negative out of desperation and its tuning off a lot of people (that includes me) . Obama’s campaign on the other hand is much much better and thats the reason why he is leading. Do I believe and trust all of Obama’s press realeases? Honestly, I dont believe he can deliver all of them (just like Bush and the previous presidents). Do I believe that he will be a better president than Mc Cain.? Im not sure. I believe that remains to be seen. How wll America survived the current crisis naman will not entirely depend on the coming president eh.
But I do like to reply to some of the post that I read when I I feel I have something to say about it.
La lang…..
.
we all know that majority of the commenters here are not US citizen, I have been very clear from the start of Obama clinton contest that I am not an American voters. What I dont understand is why Leytean is campaigning so hard in this blog when she knows that she cannot really get votes for Mc Cain in this blog. She should just go to Amadeos blog or other blogs were the commenters are all US voters.
Ngayon habang nandito sya, malaya ang lahat na mag reply sa comments nya. And I can see she just love the attention that is receieving…..
tongue…,
‘Choose: a Harvard topnotcher OR the 5th bottom dweller in the Academy batch of 890 grads?’
You are using Filipino standards of who is better. Filipinos have low regard for soldiers but will usually kneel before a Harvard graduate. In the US even a private is honored with a parade in his hometown after coming back from war.
…so much for ‘American standards.’
…so much for ‘American standards.’
Look who’s talking. This a person who chose the economist over the actor and regretted his decision.
Have you apologize to the your fellow Filipinos yet?
i’m not Garci so i have nothing to apologize for. my vote had nothing to do with GMA being in Malacanang.
on the contrary, your vote and those who thought like you had A LOT to do with GMA being in Malacanang.
without your votes, GMA’s more than 1 million padded votes wouldn’t have been enough to overcome FPJ’s votes. she needed your votes to lessen the cheating needed.
you provided it conveniently.
no hard feelings though, cvj. we know of your remorse now.
btw, economic crises such as this one opens up a lot of opportunities for those who know how to seize it.
in times like these are millionaires made. you only have to know when to strike.
and before i forget, who knew pardons are now for sale to the highest bidder?
Devils, ok you’re right. i’m sorry i voted for GMA.
Good to hear from you. i see that your prophecies are so far on track.
so, the “grumpy old man†failed to rattle Osama… este Obama.
http://www.abs-cbnnews.com/world/10/08/08/angrier-mccain-fails-rattle-obama
Obama and McCain both said the US should not wait for the United Nations if Iran were to strike Israel. But Obama (correctly, in my opinion) continues to say that the US should start high-level contacts and discussions with the likes of North Korea and Iran.
As far back as 5 years ago, the US military had always been worried that there is no “hot line” direct phone link between the US State Department and the equivalent in Iran. the direct-link is needed so cooler heads (i.e. diplomats) can immediately talk and control things should there be a flash-encounter between naval vessels in the Hormuz.
tongue on, “choose, a Harvard topnotcher OR the 5th bottom dweller in the Academy batch of 890 grads?”
Unlike Filipinos who chose Arroyo, Americans are not into ivy league school backgrounds to become president.
KG on, “wala pala kaming karapatan, magcomment ke Mccain o Obama.dahil nandito kami sa pilipinas, we cannot walk our talk.”
You have your opinion. There is a world opinion at large. Obama is popular in world opinion. That has little to do with Americans choosing our president. This is not a popularity contest.
Tongue on, “Yeah. We might as well ask Manolo to remove this thread entirely.”
Pilipinos get easily offended. Don’t take it personally. It is true that you have your opinion. It also true that your opinion doesn’t count if you cannot vote. That is reality. If I have retain that kind of attitude, I would have leave this place a long time ago.
“You are using Filipino standards of who is better. Filipinos have low regard for soldiers but will usually kneel before a Harvard graduate. In the US even a private is honored with a parade in his hometown after coming back from war.”
Excellent point, Supremo