Jon Stewart and Aasif Mandvi discuss the Fed’s recent bailout “currency-supply, free-market re-invigorment” of Bear Stearns.
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The USA Today (as Colbert would call it) chimes in with some rosy predictions and observations.
Red flags in Bear Stearns’ collapse:
If the U.S. economy were a car, all of its warning lights would be flashing red. The breathtaking collapse of investment bank Bear Stearns over the weekend is the latest — and perhaps the most alarming — indicator to flash on the economy’s dashboard.
The story of Bear Stearns isn’t just a saga of a spectacular Wall Street failure. The company’s failure signals far deeper problems with the nation’s economy and raises questions about the consequences of Bear Stearns’ problems for ordinary Americans.
When Bear Stears was sinking, the Fed threw them a $30 billion lifeline — one we’re expected to pay for. When NOLA was sinking, Bush spared them 10.5. Tells you where the priorities lie, huh?
No Trackbacks To “TDS on Bear Stearns: Government Bailout? or “Free-Market Reinvigorment”?“
You’re the cog, we’re the wheel, get over it -
/Greenspam
Froomkin:
“”As with the war in Afghanistan, the Iraqi war aftermath, the Hurricane Katrina disaster and current efforts at Mideast peace, investors are concerned that the president is responding too late and with inadequate understanding, resources and creativity.”"
http://www.washingtonpost.com/.....inionsbox1
George Bush’s first committment to the tsunami recovery was $300 million!! LOLOL!
He then upped it when he got publicly ridiculed.
Is ‘Conservative Economics’ Bankrupt? Is Bear Stearns SH*T in the Woods?
How come no one is discussing Bear Stearns CEO Alan Schwartz’s $83 Million Jackpot?
What is it going to take to stop the Bush onslaught?
Vidal: Economic collapse.
We are too deeply in debt.
We can’t service the debt, or so my financial friends tell me, that’s paying the
interest on the Treasury bonds, particularly to the foreign countries
that have been financing us. I think the Chinese will say the hell
with you and pull their money out of the United States. That’s the
end of our wars.
http://hubble.quantumlinux.com.....01763.html
People who believe in a “free” market are Cray-zee! The repugs (especially…but with the help of the corporate-loving dems) have done everything they can to weaken the government by restricting tax revenue while “privatizing” our society as much as they can. It has always been about maintaining power for a few at the expense of the majority. And because the majority has allowed it (even supported it), they get what they deserve. A pox on capitalism and its apologists, sez I.
one evil empire down………. one to go.
As outrageous as it seems on the surface, the Fed really had no choice in the Bear Stearns bailout. If Bear Stearns were to truly collapse, it would signal a major upheaval in the liquidity of cash assets that would extend far beyond Wall Street.
It would definitely affect consumers at every income level because it would cause the whole banking community to circle its wagons and create such tight controls that could choke whatever dynamic movement our economy has left. Yea to Bush for being the biggest leadership disaster and friend of those who hate America for our economic slide! Without him, Bear Stearns wouldn’t be where they are!
Corporate Welfare Queens = Wall Street
Bottom line is this BS bailout prevented a crash-market sell off-bank runs.
So what does Bush do?
Bailout the markets so the illusion everything is fine continues until he can high tail it out of D.C. next year for the brown brown grass of home.
“Privatize the profits, socialize the losses.”
This is the mantra of predatory capitalism.
Thus we get KBR mercenaries that cost 3x as much as a regular soldier.
Thus we get the gaming of the energy industry.
Thus we get deregulation and the collapse of the mortgage market.
Thus we get school vouchers, and no accountability for students who actually do worse then in public schools.
Thus we get backroom deals of public funds shifted to support religious agendas.
When you think of neo-cons, think of CON ARTISTS.
Bush sounds like a commie. I could use a federal bail out.
greg white @ 12:
You are SO right.
Seems sometimes humanity is getting some signal to “annihilate ourselves”.
Let us count the ways we’re succeeding.
weldon @ 16:
You won’t be laughing next year.
The purpose of warfare is to economically bankrupt your enemy into submission. Guns, tanks, bombs, and bullets are just tools to bring about that result.
I think it is time for Bushco to seek exile in Argentina.
national disgrace.
hmmmmmmmmmmmmmm……….. interesting
What is it going to take to stop the Bush onslaught?
Vidal: Economic collapse.
We are too deeply in debt.
We can’t service the debt, or so my financial friends tell me, that’s paying the
interest on the Treasury bonds, particularly to the foreign countries
that have been financing us. I think the Chinese will say the hell
with you and pull their money out of the United States. That’s the
end of our wars.
The S-chip bill was turned down last year because it would have been too expensive. How much $$ would it have required?
What is the economy anyway? I don’t think the economy is heading south, I think our values as a country are going south. We always talk about being the richest nation in the world and here we are arguing about stock. Mutual funds are still the way to go. Random thoughts.
Debt Free Hispanic @ 22:
Once again, by cutting interest rates, the Fed rides to the rescue of the market bubble.
L.A. Confidential @ 17:
personally, I’m stoked. I’m gonna buy a fantastic house for dirt cheap, even though I got shit credit - because I’m in an incredibly safe industry, and I’m making myself valuable in one of those “if he got hit by a bus we’d all be screwed” sort of ways.
but I feel sorry for all the rest of you, and I’m incredibly annoyed that someone like me is going to be so well-positioned by this time next year.
but ya. I plan on laughing late next year when I get my broke neighbor’s house for dirt cheap, from his broke banker.
cramer has lost his mind.
And Bush’s madness is now hurting everyone in America in a way they can feel.
burnt @ 24:
Yeah thats what they all say. Then never to to be heard from again.
I have tried extremely hard to believe that there wasn’t a group of folks out there who are so calculatingly cold that they would watch the slow, tortuous death of our country. Adding insult to that slow death, is the knowledge that the very same group of power-brokers who are trashing this country, sit around regaling in stories and face-reddening laughter at the idiot they put in charge to ensure it happened. Knowing full well Americans would vote for him and do nothing about their mistake.
Clearly there has never been a dumber, more disgraceful national leader in all of history. I beg anyone to name two that are dumber and more disgraceful than the current bag of feces in command.
Thinking about this situation and the Big One in 29. That happened because people were buying stock with borrowed money, and if the stock didn’t go up they couldn’t pay the loan. This is happening because if the value of the underlying real estate doesn’t hold up, the people who sold the debt that it might be hidden in need to pay more interest or even give the buyers their money back (that’s what happened at BS).
So both times it was based on an assumption of prices never going down. And both times it was a pervasive racket that dragged down investments that weren’t even related to it– the risk of one stupid idea was diluted to the entire market.
L.A. Confidential @ 26:
Agreed and with higher and higher inflation coming down the pipe it will make things a lot more difficult for everyone. We are turning into a third world country economically and only a few seem to care.
Some Wall St banks seen riskier than poor countries
“You could say Lehman is riskier than Nigeria,” one trader said, asking not to be named. “But it’s not a trade or a comparison people often try to make.”
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/200.....ifGlCs0NUE
Charlie Rose had a great interview last night with Andrew Ross Sorkin, who explained much of what the MSM fails to touch.
His second interview was also on the Bear Stearns bailout, but I have to say that Lawrence Summers seemed much like a damage control agent compared to Sorkin’s straight forward presentation.
c. atrox @ 7:
you said it, anyone who falls for the “free” market mantra has been snookered.
the owners game the system for their advantage, there is no “even playing field”, as that is anathema to capitalism.
the owners and market fundamentalists don’t want government intervention… unless it benefits them. then, by all means, intervene.
The Iraqi invasion and occupation has run for a full 5 years now and cost just about 500 billion dollars.
In less than a week the Fed has dumped just under half that amount, a quarter trillion dollars, at the financial markets and the bail-out of Bear Stearns.
Sometimes money doesn’t talk, it SCREAMS.
~Nyc
PS: This isn’t an impending recession that we’re headed for, been in one already for practically the entire period Busch has been in office, this is another Depression that’s headed our way.
Brace yourselves.
Bush worked faster to bailout Walstreet than the people affected by the Katrina disaster.
When will this guy leave us?
Poppy Bush is the one who started this domino effect. Why is this not all over the media?
Carlyle Capital Corporation Unable To Reach Agreement With Lenders; Lenders Likely to Take Possession of Remaining Assets
New York, NY – Carlyle Capital Corporation Limited (Euronext Amsterdam ticker symbol: CCC; ISIN: GG00B1VYV826) (the Company) today announced that, although it has been working diligently with its lenders, the Company has not been able to reach a mutually beneficial agreement to stabilize its financing. The Company expects that its lenders will promptly take possession of substantially all of the Company’s remaining assets.
The only assets held in the Company’s portfolio as of today are U.S. government agency AAA-rated residential mortgage-backed securities (RMBS). During the last seven business days, the Company received margin calls in excess of $400 million. As the Company was unable to pay these margin calls, its lenders proceeded to foreclose on the RMBS collateral. In total, through March 12, the Company has defaulted on approximately $16.6 billion of its indebtedness. The remaining indebtedness is expected soon to go into default.
The Company explored a variety of proposals with its lenders in an attempt to refinance its portfolio on sustainable terms. The Carlyle Group participated actively in those negotiations and was prepared to provide substantial additional capital if a successful refinancing could be achieved. Negotiations deteriorated late on March 12 when, among other things, the pricing service utilized by certain lenders reported a drop in the value of the RMBS collateral that is expected to result in additional margin calls tomorrow of approximately $97.5 million.
Overall, it has become apparent to the Company that the basis on which lenders are willing to provide financing against the Company’s collateral has changed so substantially that a successful refinancing is not possible.
* * * *
About Carlyle Capital Corporation
The Company is a Guernsey investment company that was formed on August 29, 2006 and completed its initial offering in July 2007. Carlyle Investment Management L.L.C. (“CIM”) manages the Company pursuant to a management agreement. CIM is a registered investment adviser under the U.S. Investment Advisers Act of 1940 and is an affiliate of The Carlyle Group.
This press release does not constitute or form part of any offer or invitation to sell or issue, or any solicitation of any offer to purchase or subscribe for, any shares or other securities of Carlyle Capital Corporation Limited. Certain of the information contained in this press release represents or is based upon forward looking statements or information. Forward looking statements are inherently uncertain, and changing factors, such as those affecting the markets generally, or those affecting particular industries or issuers, may cause events or results to differ from those discussed. Therefore, undue reliance should not be placed on such statements or the conclusions drawn therefrom, which in no event shall be construed as a guarantee of future performance, results or courses of action. The Class B shares and the related restricted depository shares of the Company are subject to a number of ownership and transfer restrictions, including restrictions that limit the ability of U.S. persons to acquire or hold such securities.
RMac @ 27:
Why 2? How about 1?
Soon, we will finally know what our grand parents
experienced during the depression in the 1930s…
and your flat screen t.v.s, $30,000 SUVs, video
game systems and $700,000 home won’t be
worth dog shit. Sooner or later, you can kiss
your paycheck bye bye too because the corps
and companies you work for won’t be able to
afford you any longer.
RE:
Dustin de Wynde Says:
The Iraqi invasion and occupation has run for a full 5 years now and cost just about 500 billion dollars.
In less than a week the Fed has dumped just under half that amount, a quarter trillion dollars, at the financial markets and the bail-out of Bear Stearns.
Sometimes money doesn’t talk, it SCREAMS.
~Nyc
PS: This isn’t an impending recession that we’re headed for, been in one already for practically the entire period Busch has been in office, this is another Depression that’s headed our way.
Brace yourselves.
THAT’S WORTH REPEATING!
PS: This isn’t an impending recession that we’re headed for, been in one already for practically the entire period Busch has been in office, this is another Depression that’s headed our way.
AMEAN
G.O.P.ping BUSH ECONOMIC DEPRESSION SINCE 2001 !!!!!!!!!!!!
where’s Ayn Rand when you need her?
weldon @ 16:
I didn’t know that there was a 110+ storey brick building he could jump off of.
RE: 39 hussein it was a bailout Says:
where’s Ayn Rand when you need her?
AYN RAND IS DEAD AND ROTTEN!
We need a new government agency called the department of blame bush. anytime things are not going right in your life you can just blame government, well bush..
Ayn Rand? Yuck.
The usa is phucked financially. Who voted that monkey and his terrorizing buddy cheney into power anyways? Outside N. america you don’t have very many allies anymore. GL with that. I think a good chunk of canadians are getting sick of the BS too. Something about invading sovereign nations, commiting murder and t0rture that turns the people off. Getting it yet?
Noam Chomsky recently wrote that America thinks that it owns the world. That is definitely the view of the neoconized Bush administration. But the fact of the matter is that the US owes the world. The US “superpower” cannot even finance its own domestic operations, much less its gratuitous wars except via the kindness of foreigners to lend it money that cannot be repaid.
The US will never repay the loans. The American economy has been devastated by offshoring, by foreign competition, and by the importation of foreigners on work visas, while it holds to a free trade ideology that benefits corporate fat cats and shareholders at the expense of American labor. The dollar is failing in its role as reserve currency and will soon be abandoned.
When the dollar ceases to be the reserve currency, the US will no longer be able to pay its bills by borrowing more from foreigners.
I sometimes wonder if the bankrupt “superpower” will be able to scrape together the resources to bring home the troops stationed in its hundreds of bases overseas, or whether they will just be abandoned.
Everybody says the economy is tanking. How is it tanking if the Bear Stearns CEO Alan Schwartz pulled down $35 million in 2007 in salary and options from Bear Stearns alone? Explain to me how the economy is tanking when the richest 1% of our country gained 23% in 2007 alone? You all are barking up the wrong tree. The economy is not tanking. The ruling class is taking it for a ride. You think JPMorgan Chase is worried about acquiring Bear Stearns at less than 10% of its net worth. (The actual office buildings Bear Stearns owns are worth many times what JPMorgan paid for ownership of all its operations).
When Chevron has an annual report that shows significant losses and Warren Buffett has too tighten his belt then the economy would be in a down turn, but what is really happening is the economy is being played with to the benefit of a very small percentage of our population…and they are doing very, very well….like Alan Schwartz.
GB @ 45:
Finally, someone gets it.