patrick.net

http://tinyurl.com/5hp3th

Is this type of news just so familiar or the amount so small ($15 Bln.) that nobody even talks about new losses at SHITIBANK and ML?

Time to go back to the trough - http://tinyurl.com/56dg4k

Two links and its moderation hell for you!

NY Times piece identifying renters as another "victim" in the housing "crisis"

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/13/realestate/13cover.html?_r=1&oref=slogin

ON a cold evening in March, Desiree Dookhoo was at home in Ozone Park, Queens, studying for a nursing exam, when she heard someone trying to open her front door. She demanded to know who was there and threatened to call the police.

"This stimulus package is timely, targeted and temporary and represents an important first step toward stimulating the economy."

Translation: I want to placate my smug constituents with their tony Palo Alto digs. The outrage that Peninsula RE should ever fall!

Years back, I shared an office building with Eshoo, and ran into her entourage a few times. My impression was her staff was of lower than average intelligence--but that's probably politics as usual, lol.

The stupidity of entrenched entitlement isn't split along political lines. We're now paying for decades of self-indulgence from the consuming wage-earner to the smug, blissfully erroneous exec. G-d save us from all this stupidity!

G-d save us from all this stupidity!

No. God save the Queen. Let's move to Canada. :)

The Almighty will save your soul. He ain't gonna do much for your checkbook.

:)

The queen will surrender the crown and sceptre to God Almighty, from whence they came. The UK components will then enter as sovereign states into the Great United States.

The "conservatives" are calling for The Fed to just start printing money and opening up the nation to inflation, rather than risking that an Obama Administration would regulate the financial industry. I kid you not:

http://preview.tinyurl.com/3epmt3

I actually always thought that a period of inflation was the most likely alternative to the aftermath of the US government loading up on a bunch of loans from foreigners. Now we have the AEI arguing for this in the opinion section of the WSJ.

Inflation is still preferable to more taxes.

I agree with many of the arguments in that WSJ article. Policy or not, inflation is the end game. So the distinction is whether to announce it or do it in a stealth way as has been done till now. The risks in that approach seem lesser of the evils to my non-economist mind. And US is in a position today to inflate and get out of all types of debt. Tomorrow it may not be able to pull that off.

Nationalization of all the mortgages is perhaps a forgone conclusion. But that by itself is hardly going to help.

Higher taxes lead to inflation and deceptive growth since savings lose value. In another word stagflation.

Despite what people say, taxes cause inflation and hurt profits. People pay more, to make less. It sucks all the way around.

IMO some effort is warranted to keep the money supply flowing, but interest rates should be allowed to float, and savers should be the ones supplying banks with the money so that they aren't hurt by the phenomenon of below inflation rate interest rates. Banks should be competing with each other to get savers to put their money in, not just running to the reserve to perpetuate a ponzi scheme by exchanging bad loans when the market clearly wouldn't pay anything for them.

Policy or not, inflation is the end game.

No, deflation is the endgame.

Despite what people say, taxes cause inflation and hurt profits.

Absolutely. Our hero, Ronald Reagan, cured stagflation by cutting tax.

Flat tax!!!

Compare this with TurboTax. :)

http://www.cse.org/flattax/index.php

Of course I disagree with you: we need to raise more taxes to fix our collapsing infrastructure and to stop borrowing so much from foreign powers.

But inflation is preferable to nationalizing the banking industry, as I am sure you will agree.

Banks should be competing with each other to get savers to put their money in, not just running to the reserve to perpetuate a ponzi scheme by exchanging bad loans when the market clearly wouldn’t pay anything for them.

I posted this last week but didn't get any comment (it was near the end of a thread). At any rate, the bid-to-cover ratio at the last TSLF auction was less than 1. Are we turning a corner, or just taking a breather before the rest of the SHTF.
Primary dealers submitted only $33.95 billion of bids for the $50.0 billion of Treasury securities auctioned, the Federal Reserve said. The auction is part of a new $200 billion program aimed at helping Wall Street dealers, called the Term Securities Lending Facility.

Of the three TSLF auctions held so far, this auction was the only one where the amount on offer exceeded the amount that was bid.

Of course I disagree with you: we need to raise more taxes to fix our collapsing infrastructure and to stop borrowing so much from foreign powers.

We need to privatize our collapsing infrastructure.

As long as we have a strong military, it is fine to borrow from foreign powers. LOL :lol:

But inflation is preferable to nationalizing the banking industry, as I am sure you will agree.

Of course.

Actually Jimbo, I don't disagree with you. Those purposes, again IMO, are legitimate government expenditures. MORE funds are desperately needed in the areas of infrastructure at all levels.

My problem with taxes are when they are used for wasteful purposes, like 30 billion for 'counseling troubled borrowers.' Like I said, investing that money in solar with private partners would supply a pretty nice percentage of the total residential electric demand.

No, deflation is the endgame.

Depends on when your game ends ;-)

But to quote Bill Fleckenstein, "In a world of fiat currencies, all roads lead to inflation."

My problem with taxes are when they are used for wasteful purposes, like 30 billion for ‘counseling troubled borrowers.’

Taxes feed wasteful purposes. The *only* way to cut wasteful spending is to cut taxes.

MORE funds are desperately needed in the areas of infrastructure at all levels.

If we privatize the infrastructure, the market will fix it efficiently. Gee, even I am tired of cheer-leading for Free Market. :)

Higher taxes, significantly higher taxes, are now an inevitability as our fed, state, and local governments are not going to be able to borrow as easily and cheaply any longer. An era has passed.

Budget deficients just became significantly more difficult to manage. We are facing a situation where massive spending cuts are likely to be paired with significant tax rate increases.

Welcome to the new United States of America. :-)

It may take a couple few years for this to really begin to play out, and there is no way to put lipstick on it.

Auction Rate Securities courtesy of NYT

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/13/business/13cash.html?pagewanted=1

But even though Wall Street heavyweights and major corporations have been stung, many of them also appear to have bailed out of the market well ahead of individuals. At the end of 2006, institutional investors held about 80 percent of all auction-rate securities issues, according to Treasury Strategies, a consulting firm in Chicago. At the end of last year that portion had fallen to just 30 percent.

“A number of corporations understood there was a rising threat to their securities; there had been failures and warnings,” Anthony Carfang, chief executive of Treasury Strategies, said in a conference call late last month.

Lewis D. Lowenfels, a securities lawyer at Tolins & Lowenfels in New York, represents several investors who are stranded in auction-rate securities. “If the evidence shows that large corporate clients were being advised to unload these securities at the same time that the investing public was being counseled to purchase the same securities,” he said, “one begins to slip over the line from questions of due diligence and suitability into the realm of securities fraud.”

Budget deficients just became significantly more difficult to manage. We are facing a situation where massive spending cuts are likely to be paired with significant tax rate increases.

With enough spending cuts and privatization, we can even use some new tax cuts.

The reality is that if we cut tax, wasteful spending will have to disappear. On the other hand, essential programs will be picked up by the private sectors and managed efficiently.

People need to understand that they are entitled to nothing.

The reality is that if we cut tax, wasteful spending will have to disappear.

That is not how it has worked so far. All that has happened when taxes are cut, is that borrowing has shot up.

We might be having to finally pay the piper for 20 years of Republican deficit spending though. Through in the increased cost of borrowing to the increased cost of food and the increased cost of gasoline and a lot of people are going to be seeing a lower standard of living.

Through, throw, throuwgh. I think the scotch is finally catching up to me. No more posting for me tonight.

Here's another guy's idea to fix the housing mess.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/04/14/opinion/14leamer.html?ref=opinion

the last thing the Fed should offer is low interest rates. But that’s what it did — now it doesn’t matter what the rates are; not even low levels can entice buyers when house prices are declining.

The only solution is for the federal government to offer a temporary 5 percent tax rebate — up to $25,000 — for first-time home buyers.

A little bit of wisdom and a bogus plan for action. Don't you like how academics say things like "the ONLY solution...."?

Did anyone read the recent comments Paul Volker made about Ben Bernanke? If we must have a Federal Reserve why couldn't we have a Fed Chairman like Volker? Instead we get bend over Ben the bankers bitch! I wonder if his banking industry cronies are at least giving him the pleasure of a reach around? The rest of us sure aren't getting one!

The World Bank is making noise about how the "international community" should help out in regards food prices.
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080414/finance_meetings.html
How come they don't include OPEC in their "international community"? If OPEC lowered prices to $50 per barrel, the food crisis would go away.

The only solution is for the federal government to offer a temporary 5 percent tax rebate — up to $25,000 — for first-time home buyers.

Hopefully there will be no income limits.

I hate it enough when there is a demand-side tax rebate for consumers. I absolutely hate it when I don't get a penny of that rebate. We are low-income worker bees and we cannot even deduct student loan interests!

Those who support Democrats should get this into their heads, they think you are "making too much money" and they will give your money to someone else. YOU WILL NOT BENEFIT FROM THEIR POLICIES.

A little bit of wisdom and a bogus plan for action. Don’t you like how academics say things like “the ONLY solution….”?

The only solution is to dismantle the welfare state.

The World Bank is making noise about how the “international community” should help out in regards food prices.

They can help out by producing more food. But that is simple supply and demand, right?

Robert Zoellick on Sunday said the international community has "to put our money where our mouth is" and act now to help hungry people. "It is as stark as that."

The natural solution is to let them eat cake. Giving them money to buy food is like giving FB's cheap loans to buy homes. Increasing food supply is the most sensible option.

Give a man a fish and he'll eat for a day.

Teach a man to fish, and he will never work again. ;)

*turn on sarcasm*

Is the food supply too low, or is the demand too high? Giving them arms rather than money could also them help correct their food shortage problems.

*turns off sarcasm*

Peter I agree that the welfare state must be dismantled. This to me also includes part of our bloated military. I think a strong Navy and a decent Air Force is all we need for now. A standing army does not need to be huge. Being the world's police man is very expensive and we simply can't afford it anymore.

If you get rid of the entitlement spending, the government must also recognize the 2nd amendment to allow all of us our right to self protection. I am certain many pissed off people will try and take what they think they are entitled too.

Doh!!! A mistake, the cutting and pasting got "them" and "help" switched.

Jean Ziegler, U.N. special rapporteur on the right to food, has called using food crops to create ethanol "a crime against humanity."

http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/americas/04/14/world.food.crisis/?imw=Y&iref=mpstoryemail

I have nothing to say.

What the heck is the right to food? I can just as easily say that feeding overpopulated poor nations is a crime against Nature.

Patrick Killelea for Congress!

Do you even have a job Peter, or do you just post all day from work?

Hey. Peter has a zero carbon footprint.

This is really funny. These guys are so screwed up they can't even issue a stern warning with teeth. So let me get this straight, someone sticks it to a bank for say 250K and the only warning is that they can't do it again for 5 years. And then they even have the disclaimer that it doesn't apply if the person was really under distress.

Some black 19 year old shoplifts a $50 shirt, it becomes a permanent record. How is this right?

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/04/13/RE34101D2M.DTL&ref=patrick.net

"The country's two largest sources of mortgage money have a blunt warning for anyone thinking about joining the growing "walkaway" trend, where homeowners stop making payments and months later send the house keys back to their lender: You will feel the pain."

"On March 31, Fannie Mae sent out new guidelines to lenders intended for walkaways and other foreclosure situations. Fannie will now prohibit foreclosed borrowers from getting another mortgage through the giant investor for five years, unless there are "documented extenuating circumstances." In those cases, the mortgage prohibition is for three years."

Peter has a zero carbon footprint.

Huh? :)

Do you even have a job Peter, or do you just post all day from work?

I need distractions to focus.

How is this right?

You believe things ought to be right? What if it is wrong to right wrongs? Although being wrong is just being human...