Economy . . . I case you missed it

[MorGrendel]

The Stock Market dropped 500 points yesterday.
After announcing bankruptcy, Lehman employees announced that they had lost their retirement as the companies 401K was backed by Lehman stock.
The Gov't stepped in and bought AIG for 85 billion to stop the ripple effect as 3 out of 5 major credit holders are now defunct
Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase had been trying to arrange a $75 billion loan from the Federal Reserve
FDIC announced yesterday that they do not have enough money should there be a bank run

[Berserker]

Yup, I saw. My mutual funds felt it too.

[MorGrendel]

Don't look now, there goes WaMu . . .

To pump my guy, he could not get on TV during the campaign, however, now that the economy is right where he said it be, he's on the TV so far everyday this week. If you missed him on David Asman, Cavuto, or Glenn Beck here's your dig for today:

http://www.campaignforliberty.com/blog/?p=551
Two More TV Hits for Dr. Paul
1) Dr. Paul will be on MSNBC today at 3:30 ET to talk financial meltdown.

2) On the same topic, Dr. Paul will be on CNN tomorrow morning at 7:25 ET to chat with our good friend, John Roberts.

If you’ve never seen Dr. Paul interviewed by Mr. Roberts, you should really try to tune in. John is one of the classiest guys in the business and asks intelligent questions most hosts do not.

[MorGrendel]

So the Tax payer payouts so far . . .
$29B Bear Stearns
$200B Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac
$85b AIG
$168B Stimulous Package
$50B proposed stimulous package

More than half a trillion dollars . . . In less than a month

And I think I heard something about a $300B for the Federal Housing Administration to refinance failing mortgages.

[Berserker]

History repeats itself. Really, this is nothing new.. Think back to the 70's energy crisis. Same thing happened. The market fell, people stopped driving SUVs and Chrystler (big giant of that time) was bailed out by the govt. Lockheed Martin was bailed too btw.

The situation is far more complex then just where the tax payers money is going. Here's a thought. When our economy falls, the dollar falls. If the dollar falls too much, it looses its trustworthyness in the world market (and you really don't want that to happen). Many countries hold dollars as part of their reserve. What that means is that they hold dollars to back up their own currency. If they lose faith in the dollar, then they will trade their dollars for some other currency. This would cause a lot of dollars to be exchanged in a hurry, causing the dollar supply to rise dropping the price of the dollar. In the 70's crisis this almost happend and the gov't deemed necessary to interviene. Obviously the gov't has to weigh in the risks of doing nothing with the risks of doing something.

I hear this weekthey are meeting to discuss more on how to adress the financial crisis. We'll see if they choose the correct door ;)

[hypo]

$888 Billion to bail out these banks as Ben Bernanke sees fit. Looks like he has at least another $356 Billion that they can use! :x
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/co ... 03828.html

[MorGrendel]

Yesterday, asked by reporters why Bush had not addressed the issue of the economy more directly in the midst of a crisis, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said Bush was wary of holding news conferences in general because he didn't want to distract from the presidential campaign.

Bahahahaha! What a joke.

"Just how long can the poor beleaguered taxpayer be expected to bear all the losses and bear all the risk?" said Rep. Jeb Hensarling (R-Tex.), one of the protest's organizers. "Lehman Brothers must have the worst lobbyist in town, since they are the only ones that appear to have lost out on the bailout mania."

Bahahaha! Where do they come up with this stuff.

"No one in this democracy -- unelected -- should have $800 billion to dispense as he sees fit," Frank said.

Wait, that's not all that funny.

Conrad said Paulson and Bernanke also could not say what the effect might be on the federal budget, which is already running up near-record deficits. Nor could they say what the ultimate cost to taxpayers might be.

Ah, hell. You killed it.

[MorGrendel]

Hypo,
Here is your next google search:
Blueprint for a Modernized Financial Regulatory Structure

[Berserker]

Morg, when you told doug to read that document, did you mean it as "this document sucks" or "this document is just what we need" or "interesting read" kind of way? Were you trying to make a point with the document?

[hypo]

I didn't Google search I saw it on Washington Post website. Which you can choose to think if you would like, an unbiased opinion.

[MorGrendel]

Oh I'm sorry, I meant none of the above. I'm sorry it sounded curt, I was jumping on board.

Above is something I came across. I don't fully understand it yet, but what I meant to get at was, "check this out".

Bernake might be a bad man, but he got this authority in March 08 from Henry Paulson, Treasury Secretary and former Goldman Sachs CEO. Wolf in the Hen house?

[hypo]

me too I just didn't want people thinking that I only come on here to try and disprove them. I was on the post and sall the story and it reminded me of what was here so I thought it was wise to share. I also went and looked up the Modernized Financial Regulatory Structure and it is a small book that I would never want to read. My God were is the cliff notes

[Berserker]

yeah, it's a hard read..i'm on page 20..

[MorGrendel]

Getting closer to actually talking about saving money, just wish they would actually name programs and talk dollars and cents.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-UcSa5rgb6k