capitall Posted February 22, 2009 Report Share Posted February 22, 2009 I am (or at least was) a huge fan of Obama and think that he offered a genuine hope for change and a chance that those of us outside of the US might again find something to respect in that great country. (If it wasn't for the outstanding posters here, I would truly despair in this regard - take a bow Shorty in particular). However I am very rapidly becoming dismayed by Obama's and his team's response to the economic crisis, which is just more of the same. The basic premise remains ridiculous - that it is the decline in house prices that is somehow erroneous and innappropriate and not the preceding massive runup in prices. Other things perplex me - how can it not have been made an utterly non-negotiable prerequisite that any institution that partook of public assistance (via whatever 4 letter acronym was the designated trough) was to pay exactly $0 in bonuses until any public input was paid back in full?? The only conclusion I can reasonably come to is that he is as bought and paid for as any and every arsehole on Capitol Hill has been for decades. You simply cannot have your cake and eat it too - there is a price to be paid for the boom. End of story. I tend to come from the slightly left side of the political spectrum, but passionately feel that there should have been no bailouts whatever - every shitbag bank and borrower who lent/borrowed/spent excessively should have suffered the natural consequences of their actions. I just don't buy the line that the world would have ended if Lehman/ Citi/ JPM/ Bear/ Merrill/ Countrywide/ BAC/ MS etc etc had failed. The very essence of capitalism dictates that some better run, more conservative banks would rapidly have come in to fill the vacuum created by the deserved failure of these institutions. Yes there would be some misery and pain, but I have seen no evidence that the actions to date have nullified any downside to the average Joe one iota. I always appreciate hearing from you folks on the board who are outside the U.S. The whole world is suffering from this economic crisis. What each country does will affect the others. And perhaps some countries will come up with solutions that work and then those countries can be role models for everyone else. And if something fails miserably, perhaps other countries can learn from one country's mistake. You make a good point, Kiwibear, that "an utterly non-negotiable prerequisite that any institution that partook of public assistance (via whatever 4 letter acronym was the designated trough) was to pay exactly $0 in bonuses until any public input was paid back in full" should have been enacted in the U.S. and was not. I sincerely hope that both the U.S. and other countries will learn from this mistake in the future. Swordfish, your report on demonstrations in Ireland reminds me, I saw the Bill Maher TV show, I think it was Friday's show, and the guy was on a roll. He said he thought the U.S. should learn from China, where the business execs who poisoned babies with melamine were sentenced to death. He said he thought the U.S. should take a couple of Wall Street crooks and execute them in public, and hang them from the Big Board at the NYSE with their cojones in their mouths. This is supposed to be a comedy show, but I think he was only half kidding there, and half serious. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DrStool Posted February 22, 2009 Report Share Posted February 22, 2009 Tel Aviv down 3.5% today. A precursor? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roxy Posted February 22, 2009 Report Share Posted February 22, 2009 Issues advancing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
drwells Posted February 22, 2009 Report Share Posted February 22, 2009 http://news.ino.com/headlines/?newsid=689671827077791 (AP:BANGKOK) Asian finance ministers pledged Sunday to uphold free trade and investment in the midst of the global economic slowdown and said they would allocate an additional $40 billion to protect falling currencies... Why don't they just save time and hand the $40B over to currency speculators directly? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
roxy Posted February 22, 2009 Report Share Posted February 22, 2009 McClellan Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
summoner Posted February 22, 2009 Report Share Posted February 22, 2009 Out in Telluride for some R&R this week with the wife and kids. No signs of recession here. We are a long way from the bottom IMHO. RE prices still about a 1000 bils a SQ foot in the nicer hoods. Spoke with a broker last night, good time to buy bla bla bla. Tons of places for sale but nobody budging on prices. Would be a nice place to hole up when the revolution starts. Must be a lot of Libertarians around. I saw many Thomas Jefferson qoutes spray painted on some of the derelict buildings this afternoon when i checked out the downtown area. Also picked up a couple of sweet BEAR paintings from The Great Bear Trading Company. Don t think the owner appreciated my comments about scoring some disposable income with the market tankage. Matter of fact everything in the place was a minimum of 25% off, her way of stimulating the economy according to the large sign out front. Anyway, still think that gold and silver are the forever trade FWIW. Trade Safe Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Charmin Posted February 22, 2009 Report Share Posted February 22, 2009 http://abcnews.go.com/video/playerIndex?id=6932460 If there is a stress test for banks as Mr. G says - anyone know who may fail the test? and the result: more money axed if the pigmen wouldn't think of touching bank stocks no wonder the market can't get traction. http://www.fool.com/investing/dividends-in...tress-test.aspx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mdporter Posted February 22, 2009 Report Share Posted February 22, 2009 Bay Area House Prices Take an Additional 45% Lopping In santa clara I'm seeing the real dogs cheap, but they need at least $50k in repairs. I haven't seen anything for $400k yet, but am keeping a lookout. Inventory is starting to have FOR SALE signs posted in front of them again. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phatbubble Posted February 22, 2009 Report Share Posted February 22, 2009 Out in Telluride for some R&R this week with the wife and kids. No signs of recession here. We are a long way from the bottom IMHO. RE prices still about a 1000 bils a SQ foot in the nicer hoods. Spoke with a broker last night, good time to buy bla bla bla. Tons of places for sale but nobody budging on prices. Would be a nice place to hole up when the revolution starts. Must be a lot of Libertarians around. I saw many Thomas Jefferson qoutes spray painted on some of the derelict buildings this afternoon when i checked out the downtown area. Also picked up a couple of sweet BEAR paintings from The Great Bear Trading Company. Don t think the owner appreciated my comments about scoring some disposable income with the market tankage. Matter of fact everything in the place was a minimum of 25% off, her way of stimulating the economy according to the large sign out front. Anyway, still think that gold and silver are the forever trade FWIW. Trade Safe Great area.....right around the corner from Galt's Gulch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
phatbubble Posted February 22, 2009 Report Share Posted February 22, 2009 Out in Telluride for some R&R this week with the wife and kids. No signs of recession here. We are a long way from the bottom IMHO. RE prices still about a 1000 bils a SQ foot in the nicer hoods. Spoke with a broker last night, good time to buy bla bla bla. Tons of places for sale but nobody budging on prices. Would be a nice place to hole up when the revolution starts. Must be a lot of Libertarians around. I saw many Thomas Jefferson qoutes spray painted on some of the derelict buildings this afternoon when i checked out the downtown area. Also picked up a couple of sweet BEAR paintings from The Great Bear Trading Company. Don t think the owner appreciated my comments about scoring some disposable income with the market tankage. Matter of fact everything in the place was a minimum of 25% off, her way of stimulating the economy according to the large sign out front. Anyway, still think that gold and silver are the forever trade FWIW. Trade Safe Great area.....right around the corner from Galt's Gulch. Edit: now, that's weird, posted 2x. I'm gonna go get the papers, get the papers... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Solax Posted February 22, 2009 Report Share Posted February 22, 2009 Great area.....right around the corner from Galt's Gulch. How's the RE market in Galt's Gulch? I'm planning on moving there in the near future. You may or may not hear from me after that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretzel Logic Posted February 22, 2009 Report Share Posted February 22, 2009 Great area.....right around the corner from Galt's Gulch. Edit: now, that's weird, posted 2x. I'm gonna go get the papers, get the papers... Sure thing, Jimmy Two-Times. Now go get yer f****ing shine box! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alceringa Posted February 22, 2009 Report Share Posted February 22, 2009 RBS to Be Split Into ‘Good’ and ‘Bad’ Banks, Slash Costs Feb. 22 (Bloomberg) -- Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc plans to divide itself into a “good bank” and a “bad bank” and cut costs by more than 1 billion pounds ($1.44 billion) a year to help it recover from the biggest loss in British corporate history, The Sunday Times said, without citing anyone. Link In other reports the words "core' and "non-core" are being used instead of good/bad. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbys...62/RBSRock.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pretzel Logic Posted February 22, 2009 Report Share Posted February 22, 2009 OMG, is this quote right? Dollar down 5% at the open? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trader Joe Posted February 22, 2009 Report Share Posted February 22, 2009 OMG, is this quote right? Dollar down 5% at the open? Nope.... Looks as though your quotes are being delayed.... My system shows the USD as worthless..... Try a "refresh"...... BWAHAHAHAHA Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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