patrick.net

Henry CK Liu is the son of a prominent Chinese communist founder, also a big power broker in the last century. I believe that CK Liu deflected after the Tiananmen Massacre.

The Original Bankster Says:
what will happen when all these CDS/CDOs collapse? Does that just mean no more Credit Cards? No more student loans? are these derivatives representing all consumer debt in all forms?

Don't be afraid - that is just Hank Paulscam's way of scaring a bunch of congresspeople into making him Führer of the Treasury.

Consumer debt (at much more sane levels) existed for centuries before CDS and CDO and other derivatives showed up.

If this system goes under, another credit system will start growing literally the next day. All this talk about "credit being frozen" is just code for "banks don't want to mark to market". If they drop prices, there is a market - just like housing, heh.

“Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson has intimate relations with the Chinese elite, dating from his days at Goldman Sachs when he visited the country more than 70 times.”

I say, I just had a capital idea. Let us force the SOB to default on debt to China. The day after that, I will be happy to buy the knob-gobbler a one-way ticket to China, so he can go stutter an explanation in Beijing as to exactly why he was unable to do their bidding.

I hear the Chinese government has a rather charming way of dealing with fuckers who stiff them.

By the way, in a perfect world, this would all happen _after_ Hank catches syphilis from his dog.

SP,

you are mistaken. The Chinese government has carried out "extermination" missions overseas, mostly in surrounding countries in Asia and South America. Maybe they will make an exception for Paulson.

This should really make TOB's day. Try not to get spooge on the keyboard while you're reading this, will ya?

CEO murdered by mob of sacked Indian workers
Corporate India is in shock after a mob of workers bludgeoned to death the chief executive who sacked them from a factory in a suburb of Delhi.

Other executives said that they were lucky to escape with their lives. “I locked my door from inside and prayed they would not break in. See, my hands are trembling even three hours later,” one Italian consultant told reporters.

I wonder what they would do to someone like Hanky-Panky Paulson. Say what you will about the Indians, TOB, they seem to know how to deal with CEOs. Gotta respeck dat.

My favorite word of the moment: "Bludgeoned"

What a nice, unambiguous word.

OO Says:
McCain said: “Carly Fiorina is a role model to millions of American women”

Someone tell the senile old bastard that statement is an insult to American women on so many levels. As far as I know, most American women don't aspire to make a career out of colossal fuck-ups.

Hope she catches syphilis from Paulson (who I am still hoping will get it from his dog)

SP Says : Hope she catches syphilis from Paulson (who I am still hoping will get it from his dog)

If Fiorina catches it , i guess mccain would catch it too ?

SP says :

"CEO murdered by mob of sacked Indian workers
Corporate India is in shock after a mob of workers bludgeoned to death the chief executive who sacked them from a factory in a suburb of Delhi."

If american people do the same, they will fix the moral hazard issue we are facing now :-)

letter from Economists to congress:
http://faculty.chicagogsb.edu/john.cochrane/research/Papers/mortgage_protest.htm

The Original Bankster Says:
India to be what it is… a barbaric backward culture

Coming from someone like you, that is rather hilarious. Lets not get carried away here.

They bludgeoned a dirtbag who screwed over his workers - given a chance, how many of you have wanted to do the same to your boomer-fuckwad CEOs? The law recognizes three kinds of homicide - criminal, excusable and justifiable. They should add a fourth kind - "highly recommended". :-)

Killing a 'warning to management'
September 25, 2008

INDIAN Labour Minister Oscar Fernandes has shocked industrialists by saying the lynching of a CEO by a mob of sacked workers on Monday should serve as a "warning" to management to show compassion.

Mr Fernandes blamed the brutal murder on "simmering labour discontent" and warned businessmen not to push contract workers too far.

He said managements were often in a position to give workers permanent jobs but only gave contract work.

Nandan Nilekani, chairman of software giant Infosys, accused Mr Fernandes of giving the murder "a totally different spin".

"Nothing can justify the lynching of any person and no dispute can be settled by murdering an adversary," he said.

Credit Crunch to Stay Until Bank Leadership Goes
Thursday August 21, 2008

Nassim Taleb has a reputation for straight talk, and his books provided foresight and insight into the current crisis. In a recent Bloomberg on the Economy show, Taleb reassures us that he's won't mince words. He claims that the credit crunch and economic bumps will stay around as long as top management at financial institutions does.

Taleb compares the banking crisis to medical care: the doctors killed all the old patients, and now the same doctors are claiming that they can save our new patients. Their views on risk and management did not keep us out of trouble, so they won't get us out of trouble.

To hear more, download the Nassim Taleb interview (MP3 File).
http://media.bloomberg.com/bb/avfile/Economics/On_Economy/vq9bffStoNko.mp3

Bush is speaking at 9pm. Anyone want to bet against that this is going to be some bs about how congress needs to come together in true bipartisan fashion and screw the people with a blank-check bailout bill?

I think the strong manufacturing sector will buoy all storms. The US is fundamentally strong, we make so much stuff that everyone wants do buy. Don't we?

I think you should ask yourself, "who is responsible for this"?

The Boomers!

I think the best course of action is to elect a no talent assclown boomer seeing as the previous two did such a good job.

FUCK YOU, I WAS AT WOODSTOCK.

Hitler gave good speeches also, and! without a teleprompter.

I hope you die before you get old.

http://nowallstreetbailout.com/

Sign the Petition to Congress
"We are signing this petition in opposition of a taxpayer bailout of Wall Street. Banks and their millionaire CEO's should take losses for risky lending, not taxpayers."

TOB, the Fed is already giving them loans directly in the form of the TAF. Problem is, the Fed is running out of treasuries in their coffers. If they keep playing the game they have been playing, they would need to print more money. And since they are already worried about inflation, I'm guessing they decided against that route, and instead want to steal it from us.

Meanwhile congress thinks we are outraged about compensation packages when really it's the whole fucking plan that stinks. The only people that want this thing to pass are traders, because it will make their stock prices go up for 2 days.

Let the banks eat the pile of shit they created.
I'm willing to take the consequences just to see them burn.

http://www.gop.com/2008Platform/Economy.htm

Rebuilding Homeownership

Homeownership remains key to creating an opportunity society. We support timely and carefully targeted aid to those hurt by the housing crisis so that affected individuals can have a chance to trade a burdensome mortgage for a manageable loan that reflects their home’s market value. At the same time, government action must not implicitly encourage anyone to borrow more than they can afford to repay. We support energetic federal investigation and, where appropriate, prosecution of criminal wrongdoing in the mortgage industry and investment sector. We do not support government bailouts of private institutions. Government interference in the markets exacerbates problems in the marketplace and causes the free market to take longer to correct itself. We believe in the free market as the best tool to sustained prosperity and opportunity for all. We encourage potential buyers to work in concert with the lending community to educate themselves about the responsibilities of purchasing a home, condo, or land.

Republican policy aims to make owning a home more accessible through enforcement of open housing laws, voucher programs, urban homesteading and – what is most important – a strong economy with low interest rates. Because affordable housing is in the national interest, any simplified tax system should continue to encourage homeownership, recognizing the tremendous social value that the home mortgage interest deduction has had for decades. In addition, sound housing policy should recognize the needs of renters so that apartments and multi-family homes remain important components of the housing stock.

TOB,
The Fed currently has around $480 Billion left in Treasuries. Of that, $185 Billion has been swapped out through the TSLF. They have only about $295B left to throw at the problem (well, plus a $40B injection from the Treasury last week), though some of that is already spoken for (see AIGs credit line). But most importantly, the toxic crap is still owned by the banks (or at least that is still the pretense at this point). Clearly, though, the Fed will continue to need help from the Treasury to continue on this trajectory.

McCain is pulling a fast one to try to look like a man of action, all the while trying to avoid to face Obama in debate on Friday.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080924/ap_on_el_pr/mccain

I predict this sneaky move will backfire on him, Obama is too smart to let him score cheap points with this posturing.

Obama supporters are striking back by saying that crisis makes the election all the more important, and that the debate should go on. They also question McCain's ability to multitask. Come on, the debate is on Friday night. He can't manage to talk with Bush, Paulson, and Congress on Wednesday without having to cancel Friday's debate? That's weak.

If they want to structure this plan as an investment, then make it a structured one, whereby the people are paying into a separate fund, whereby which they can begin pulling money from that fund at a specified date.

Instead, they are going to raise taxes to pay for this. Of course, the tax will start out as "temporary", but will then be made permanent like every other tax we have. Then our money will be "invested" in a program that even in the miracle of success, will then be pulled out and spent on a useless war, or welfare, or some other stupid scenario.

Let's not kid ourselves, our government at this point is no better than the banks. "Their" (meaning our government) investment is NOT equal to OUR investment.

This whole thing is so ridiculous I can't even put it into words.

TOB,
Why don’t these major banks just sell bonds?
Well, this really IS a credit crisis. The TED spread has gone crazy and banks are very suspicious of each other, so investors are even doubly so...
As for "war bonds"... I have yet to do my patriotic duty, but that's essentially what those 5.0% CDs at WaMu are... In fact, this is about the only place to get funding these days, and one of the reasons all the investment banks fell or converted to bank holding companies. Note: the Paulson Plan was also a nice incentive...
Does Supplementary Financing Program for the Federal Reserve sound like a "credit crisis war bond" to you? This is not covert "printing", but explicit borrowing through the selling Treasuries. I am curious to know if Congressional approval is required or if there is a discretionary amount available for this Hanky Panky. Depending on your bias , this is either sustainable (flight to safety, plenty will come) or inflationary (need to offer higher rates as our foreign masters just walk away).

"Starting Oct. 1st, the 3rd infantry division will be placed on active duty within US borders under the command of NorthCom. This marks the first time NorthCom has been assigned an active duty unit.

The 3rd will be training in how to deal with things such as civil unrest and crowd control, public panic due to nuclear, biological or chemical attacks, massive poisoning or explosives. They will also be trained in using non-lethal weapons."

http://www.armytimes.com/news/2008/09/army_homeland_090708w/

snmr,

Wow. That is heavy stuff. What is the name of that law again, which forbids using military forces as domestic police? Or did it get repealed by one of the patriot acts? I forget.

On another note, Hank Paulson was looking ragged on Capitol Hill today. He is looking like some of his banker buddies are holding a gun to HIS head.

The Original Bankster Says:
there is no country more superstitious and oppressive than India.

You, sir, have probably never been to Africa. I don't mean to piss on your little Indian fetish here, but I have seen some things in Africa that I still cannot believe I witnessed.

Posse Comitatus act

Just Me, this is what you are thinking of.

Exclusions and limitations of Posse Comitatus act

There are a number of situations in which the Act does not apply. These include:

* National Guard units while under the authority of the governor of a state;

* Troops used under the order of the President of the United States pursuant to the Insurrection Act, as was the case during the 1992 Los Angeles Riots.

*Under 18 U.S.C. § 831, the Attorney General may request that the Secretary of Defense provide emergency assistance if civilian law enforcement is inadequate to address certain types of threat involving the release of nuclear materials, such as potential use of a nuclear or radiological weapon. Such assistance may be by any personnel under the authority of the Department of Defense, provided such assistance does not adversely affect U.S. military preparedness.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_Comitatus_Act#Exclusions_and_limitations

Thanks, Neutron. Per Wikipedia, the various new patriot-act type laws that had been undermining the Posse Commitatus act as late as 2007, have all been repealed in 2008.

So what is the defense department think it is doing here. I find the linked report quite frightening.

Justme,

I think nothing will become an issue/threat for you if you make no trouble for the overlords. I would be more worried about trying to secure your job through this crisis.

Here's what some hack at the Homeland Security department has to say about it.

http://www.homelandsecurity.org/journal/articles/Trebilcock.htm

I find it disturbing.

justme Says:
McCain is ... trying to avoid to face Obama in debate on Friday.

McCain probably feels that his an position on the Paulson Poison Plan (tm) is too "embarrassing", and does not want to risk being asked about it during a debate.

I heard that he said he is heading back to DC because it looks like the Poison Plan won't pass, so he wants to go help stick it to the electorate. Kind of hard for to face the public while he still has blood on his shirt.

The US government is not dumb, of course it knows a big crisis is brewing. I actually got accidentally trapped in a martial law period while traveling in the Philippines years ago.

It was in fact easier for a foreigner from a developed country to get out under a martial law in developing countries, since you can always hide out in the embassy. We offered USD to the soldiers and since we carry foreign passport, they quickly made way for us to board a plane.

Now what do I offer to national guards? Gold? Euro? Oops, I am even carrying the same darn passport, I can't even hide out at a foreign embassy.

This is going to suck.

Btw, I am not terribly worried about the 3rd infantry, the 20-30K soldiers are a drop in the bucket to secure anything for a vast piece of land like the US.

In some Asian countries where coup d'etat is more prevalent, population is usually very concentrated at the capital and so is money and resources. You take Manila, you get the whole country, same applies for Burma, Thailand, Indonesia, etc.

What can 30K soldiers do? Secure DC and Boston, that is about it. Never mind there will be civil revolutions all over the US. I don't know about the exact ratio, but the number deployed in the coup d'etat that I've seen and lived through is typically 10-20K per major city, in countries with very meek citizens, unarmed.

I am going out on a limb like Shiseki, in order to stage a coup d'etat of any sort in the US, you will need soliders in the range of 500K.

If this is a plan by the fucking neocons of the BushCo, they, as always, underestimated the deployment needs again.

I also wonder how many loyal soldiers he can secure? The coup d'etat deployment is typically comprised of soldiers who have been trained and groomed under the offending general for years, so they are very loyal to him. Does Bush still garnish any loyalty in anyone except the evangelical church goers?

smells like suspension of election folks, act of desperation or deliberation?

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=anOdbqXviIp4&refer=home

What can 30K soldiers do?
"As of December 31, 2007, WaMu operated 2,257 retail banking stores and 233 lending stores and centers in 36 states."
That's about 12 soldiers per bank branch to keep order. I'll buy some more if they go under two tomorrow...

so. If I go to Vegas and blow $25000 on blackjack and then in my dispair kill a hooker, and then end up owing her pimp for her "lost game", and borrow money to kill her pimp, thereby ending his "pimp game", if I then borrow money to play more blackjack, and loose it, can I petition Paulsen to bail me out also.

FUCK YOU MOTHER FUCKING BOOMERS.