How The US Blew The Trillion-Dollar Trade Of The Century

Bloomberg:

When the government was forced to bail out the financial system, our friends in Washington also had the opportunity to make the trade of the century for the American taxpayer. While Uncle Sam succeeded in the former, he failed miserably in the latter.

Read the whole story: Bloomberg

Comments

[VoteDemocrat]

05:59 PM on 10/27/2009

How do we hold wall street accountable? NO matter what Obama & his team tires to do the bankers always find a way to evade it.

as stated by http://financeopinionss.blogspot.com it is time to create economic growth that we can all benefit from; not the top 1% of earners. An equitable economy is a better one.

[spaceship4theking]

11:40 AM on 10/27/2009

End the war in iraq. End Guantanamo. NO more tax haven for the rich. NO more bailouts.

good articles; http://financeopinionss.blogspot.com

Obama please reform heath care and get unemployment benefits passed ASAP

[PhilipTaylor]

02:55 AM on 10/27/2009

G0LDMAN+WallStreet's Bangster returned from DE@D Rising out of Tombs!

Cha!nsaw M@ssacre C0stume Ba11 in H@nk P@ulson's Honor for historic role in b1oody m@ssacre of America+Capitalism set to magic of M!chael J@ckson's "Thri11er:"

1. Hank Paulson= Leatherface s1icing up sou1s to feed WallStreet VAMP1RES. Paulson warned Bush of meltdown when hired because of his G0ldman role in creating derivatives bubble. Hank suckered Congress+Taxpayers into protecting his G0LDMAN buddies.

2. Arthur Levitt = Notorious bank robber 'Dillinger' said, "America's investors have been ripped off massively like a bank being held up at gunpoint." He Now defends G0ldman's High-TECH Nanosecond Trading.

3. Ben Bernanke = Bela Lugosi, as 'Count Dracula' in FED's shadowy castle sucking $23Trillion of blood from future generations of taxpayers, without oversight!

4. Lloyd Blankfein G0ldman's CEO = 'Giant Vampire Squid' wrapped around America's NECK sucking for all he is worth!

5. Tim Geithner = Damian, prince of darkness in 'The Omen' =the "Too-Greed y-to-Fail" Banks saw him as perfect TrojanHorse replacing Paulson to raid Treasury. He’s headed for huge bonuses from G0LDMAN.

6. Larry Summers = Hannibal Lecter in 'Silence of the Lambs' part of steady flow of EL1T1STS back and forth between Washington +WallStreet!

7. Mad Man Cramer = Jack Nicholson in 'The Shining' who doesn't want a deal with G0LDMAN, knows too much, been there, done that.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/goldman-sachs-chainsaw-massacre-costume-party-2009-10-27

[DiogenesOfAlaska]

07:34 PM on 10/26/2009

There was no shortage of voices at the time who recommended precisely what this Monday morning quarterback reminds us of.

It's certainly not the fault of the Obama administration alone, because the crucial bailout decisions precede even the elections.

But I am not criticizing Mr. Fisher. I would merely like to remind Mr. Fisher of the reason why the solution that helps the taxpayer capitalize on the crisis was NOT chosen: because a totally irrational view prevailed in which the required constructions would have smacked of 'nationalization', or temporary nationalization or receivership. THAT was why it didn't happen.

Of course the appropriate step was to neither let the giants fail nor to bail them out - but to restructure them, with the government or the Fed as the financier of last resort.

It didn't happen for reasons that could be called - and here I totally agree with Mr. Fisher - the quite possibly stupidest act of the century.

But even then, there's still an upside: may the costs incurred in taxes be the final argument for American citizens that the era of

'government is the problem and whatever it is they do must be stupid because - they're the government and hence they're stupid'

should be over. It would be about time to have another look at what government actually is. There's really no reason to ask Reagan when it comes to answering that question.

[FoonTheElder]

05:42 PM on 10/26/2009

No duh! Did you think the Bush Administration was going to negotiate a deal that favored the taxpayers over big business? Just more big corporate welfare paid for by the taxpayers.

[Jannsmoor]

07:01 PM on 10/26/2009

Exactly, the Bush administration believed in selling out government and the middle class to big business. We allowed this when we elected George Bush and Dick Cheney.

[wft21]

03:27 PM on 10/26/2009

Still doing the same mistakes. No change in the way financial institutions operate.

[1sanevoice]

03:22 PM on 10/26/2009

the premise at the article's start: government didn't rescue lehman, instability of entire system follows, gov't steps in anyway... what a huge effin joke. paulson's (goldman's) biggest rival was lehman. he sunk them out of spite at the multplied expense of generations of americans. how much gs stock in his "blind" trust?

[Pearlswan]

02:55 PM on 10/26/2009

First, the article mentions 2008 as the time when this deal of the century was possible. Please, Bush and his cronies were in office to facilitate the financial coup that was carried out by the bankers in Sept. 2008. Second, why would they want the American people to make a profit off their coup? This article isn't even worth reading. It should have been written in 2008. Its too late now. The bankers have the Treasury Dept. and the Federal Reserve under their control now, just like they wanted it.

[DASChicago]

04:42 PM on 10/26/2009

You know just like the announcement that we were in a "Recession", officially announced what December 2008 by the E-Con'omist? Manipulators!

[FoonTheElder]

05:43 PM on 10/26/2009

Even though we were officially in a recession since December 2007!

[RomeoMD25]

12:35 PM on 10/26/2009

The global warming scam passed by Congress. Goldman Sachs is in the middle of it, as usual– a potential trillion dollar sure thing.

And Former Vice President Al Gore who will profit from the cap-and-trade plan through his company, Generation Investment Management,–
Gore is joined by three former Goldman Sachs heads in their carbon offsets business.

http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/story/29127316/the_great_american_bubble_machine/7

[research]

02:01 PM on 10/26/2009

Yes, Cap and Trade is a bankers bill, a terrible fraud.

1$ per ton carbon equivalent TAX is the way to go.

The Existing cap and trade carbon market has crashed repeatedly.

No Gore does not, it would all go to charity.

[Rule Of Law]

12:24 PM on 10/26/2009

From the article--

"Obviously, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and his cronies have learned from the experience of the Great Depression how to repair what has been broken..."

Really?

No. What they learned is how to create and stage manage a brand new one. Let's see how adept they are with fixing it as we slide into the second dip of this W shaped Depression they have planned for us.

[Poboy]

12:16 PM on 10/26/2009

Paulson's original proposal:

Sec. 2. Purchases of Mortgage-Related Assets.

(a) Authority to Purchase.--The Secretary is authorized to purchase, and to make and fund commitments to purchase, on such terms and conditions as determined by the Secretary, mortgage-related assets from any financial institution having its headquarters in the United States.

(b) Necessary Actions.--The Secretary is authorized to take such actions as the Secretary deems necessary to carry out the authorities in this Act, including, without limitation:

(1) appointing such employees as may be required to carry out the authorities in this Act and defining their duties;

(2) entering into contracts, including contracts for services authorized by section 3109 of title 5, United States Code, without regard to any other provision of law regarding public contracts;

(3) designating financial institutions as financial agents of the Government, and they shall perform all such reasonable duties related to this Act as financial agents of the Government as may be required of them;

(4) establishing vehicles that are authorized, subject to supervision by the Secretary, to purchase mortgage-related assets and issue obligations; and

(5) issuing such regulations and other guidance as may be necessary or appropriate to define terms or carry out the authorities of this Act.

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/21/business/21draftcnd.html?ex=1379649600&en=914ccd8eaf553546&ei=5124&partner=digg&exprod=digg

------------------------------

In other words:

"This is a stick-up. Now, handover your money."

His butt should have been arrested as soon as he stepped outside the bank.

[Jason G]

12:15 PM on 10/26/2009

The author is clueless. He thinks the Fed and the Treasury want what's best for the government...

[shivers]

03:45 PM on 10/26/2009

that's a b.s. response. It doesn't have to be that way, but it is now because of 30 years of self-fulfilling, government hating philosophy.

Don't get cynical, get friggin angry. That's the only reaons FDR could do massive reform--it was painful enough and people were angry enough.

[Hank007]

12:09 PM on 10/26/2009

When the Swedish banking system crashed, the government came in, capitalized the banks, ran them until they were profitable again, then sold them back to theprivate sector for a profit. The taxpayers made money on the deal. Any discussion of this alternative raised cries of socialism, so the neocons just ran their plan. These guys knew they would be bailed out, and held all the aces, in the form of people's 401ks and retirement funds. They played W like a cheap fiddle.

[Jannsmoor]

11:35 AM on 10/26/2009

I highly doubt the government overlooked this possibility. Henry Paulson was the head of Goldman Sacks. George Bush is a libertarian. There is no way on earth those two were going to force the banks to give up one dime for the bailout.

We get the government we elect. We elected George Bush. Bush appointed Paulson and approved of every move he made. We got what we deserved, bailed-out banks with no incentive to change their greedy and extrememly dangerous ways.

[Hank007]

12:03 PM on 10/26/2009

George Bush was anyting but a libertarian. He imposed all kinds of draconian big government laws on the population, while re-writing the rules so he, his family and friends could profit. Libertarians are for little to no government. Bush exanded government more than any president in history. He just de-regulated bankjing so he could make more money. Don't forget, his English cousin George Herbert Walker made a fortune from the bailouts.

[Jannsmoor]

05:21 PM on 10/26/2009

Please cite me to one "draconian big government law." I don't know of one Federal Agency where he strengthened regulation. He appointed incompetent people at every turn in order to stop enforcement of regulations he could not get rid of. I just need you to point me to the evidence to support your thesis.

[AttorneyAtLaw]

02:10 PM on 10/26/2009

As stated above, Bush was no libertarian...

[Jannsmoor]

05:25 PM on 10/26/2009

George Bush was the most libertarian President elected in my lifetime. He consistently deregulated virtually every federal agency he could. When he couldn't change the regulations, he appointed incompetent regulators. The Department of Labor became the Department of Anti-labor. The EPA became the Department to allow Big Business to pollute. Over and over.

He turned over most formerly military functions to private for-profit companies. That's libertarianism.

You only get two choices in life. Either the government regulates, or the big corporations write their own rules. These is no third way. Bush led the charge to turn our government over to big corporations.

[totaldisbelief]

11:31 AM on 10/26/2009

a BS article that tries to deflect the blame and soft peddle the antics of those responsible.