Barack Obama's Special Olympics line on Leno got all the headlines, but the night's real money quote was his saying that his administration plans to "set up a securitized market for student loans and auto loans outside of the banking system" in order to "get credit flowing again." Excuse me, but isn't that what the $700 billion bank bailout was supposed to do? So what happened? Instead of lending the billions we gave them, Obama explained to Leno, the bailed out banks "are keeping it in the bank because their balance sheets had gotten so bad." Imagine that: zombie banks using taxpayer money to stay afloat. If the White House really didn't see that one coming, it's no wonder the ferocity of the public's reaction to the AIG bonuses caught them so off-guard.
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Please wake up America, your country and your President need you,... just not as blind cheerleaders.
My President needs me to contradict his remark, "I will not accept Geithner's resignation if offered."??
Please wake up America, your country and your President need you,... just not as blind cheerleaders.
I find it ironic that many of the people leaving negative comments aimed at anyone criticizing the Obama administration were the exact same people who were repulsed by the non-thinking, blind supporters of John McCain and Sarah Palin. Blind unthinking allegiance to any politician is a dangerous thing regardless of their political affiliation.
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The hedge funds that pumped up the market for mortgage-backed securities saw how overheated it was and switched out for insurance (credit default swaps sold principally by AIG) in a bet that the securities would fail - they were right, and now the government has to pump money into AIG in order to pay those obligations because AIG could not actually pay up once the market finally tanked.
So now, those same securities that made money overheating the securities market, and that subsequently made money on the failure of those same securities, will now get to purchase those securities at pennies on the dollar and make money yet again once the market begins to recover. In other words, the toxic assets will eventually take care of themselves as soon as Obama and the treasury finish creating a trade mechanism for them.
That unfortunately means that same jerks who created the mess will be the ones that will profit most from it.
It sucks, but it's the only way we are going to recover. And Obama knows it. Unfortunately, making that case to a bunch of ADD, MSM obsessed Americans is not something Obama is willing to tackle at the moment. We are just too sensitive right now.
This assumption has been so toxic itself, it needs to be disregarded. Obama should trust his instinct, and lead as he promised us to. To rely on the same bunch of 'masters of the universe' to undo the mess they invited upon us is every bit wrong as well as ineffective. I really hope Obama abandon that approach and tell Geithner to find other means to get the money move again and bypass the zombie banks altogether. I just hope he does this quickly and forcefully, so he can salvage some of the goodwill, or I fear the cost will be so high that the other initiatives (way more important than the current mess, in my book) will fall flat as well due to their own incredible difficulty and the loss of public trust in his competence. I shudder at what would happen, if health care and energy reform doesn't succeed this time!!!
Yes it is WRONG that $1,000 goes to Banks for every $1 that goes to Main Street.
Why NOT an Internet Government Bank that lends directly to consumers and businesses at low rates and low fees, with NO BRANCH OFFICES to increase OVERHEAD!
Automate the Industry so Main Street gets served regardless of the corruption or FAILURE of the BIG Zombie Banks! Create A MAIN STREET ECONOMY independent of WALL STREET!
No more waiting in lines to see a loan officer or deposit a check.
An Internet Central Bank removes the corrupt middle man and can do everything Main Street Needs through the Internet, ATMs, and Debit/Credit Cards at much lower Rates and Fees!
And one, two, three, and who-knows-how-many-more demands for additional billions of dollars just waiting over the horizon.
Of course, this time the trickle-down theory is really going to work. What's needed is more time, more time without any signifigant accountability.
"Ready on day one."
Day one = 60 days ago, i.e., January 20, 2009
Day one = 111 days after the Senate bailout vote on October 1, 2008.
Day one = 710 days after Senator Obama formally announced his presidentialy candidacy on February 10, 2007.
More time is needed before anyone can ask: "Where's the money?" "Who got it?" "How does this trickle-down theory work?"
More time is needed.
Sure.
With all of this, you site is choosing to join the chorus on legal but stupid bonuses. It's a lost opportunity to show us that you can see farther than yesterday, and look toward the future with support for the programs our President is implementing.
We need your vision to help us understand the bigger picture, we need your leadership to take us to a better understanding of the good programs that are being implemented to help the American people.
Please....
"Here is what just happened in a nutshell:
The hedge funds that pumped up the market for mortgage-backed securities saw how overheated it was and switched out for insurance (credit default swaps sold principally by AIG) in a bet that the securities would fail - they were right, and now the government has to pump money into AIG in order to pay those obligations because AIG could not actually pay up once the market finally tanked.
So now, those same securities that made money overheating the securities market, and that subsequently made money on the failure of those same securities, will now get to purchase those securities at pennies on the dollar and make money yet again once the market begins to recover. In other words, the toxic assets will eventually take care of themselves as soon as Obama and the treasury finish creating a trade mechanism for them.
That unfortunately means that same jerks who created the mess will be the ones that will profit most from it.
It sucks, but it's the only way we are going to recover. And Obama knows it. Unfortunately, making that case to a bunch of ADD, MSM obsessed Americans is not something Obama is willing to tackle at the moment. We are just too sensitive right now."
THIS IS WHAT THE HUFFPO AND THE MASS MEDIA SHOULD BE SAYING INSTEAD OF ALL THE FAUX POPULIST OUTRAGE AIMED AT A MAN WHO'S BEEN IN OFFICE LESS THAN 3 MONTHS.
The government simply should not have allowed itself into being hoodwink into giving AIG any money beyond an initial outlay to simply stave the appearance of an entire system in collapse. The country should not have "bailed out" AIG, by giving it enough money to sustain it.
That we did in a foolish rush is what makes AIG so hard to face. It wasn't necessary to save the market. Most of what happened initially was a groping for solutions--and posturing to calm the panic of Wall Streeters who had the ear of policymakers and rightlly viewed their own impending collapse but wrongly conflated theirs with the total collapse of the country.
AIG is not just a financial entity. It is an insurance company which insures and provides insurance and annuity dollars to millions of individuals and businesses all over the world. When AIG fails and all those affected realize they now have no insurance or any annutiy funds which they thought they had then we would see real collapse, real panic and real fear spread throught the country.
I would wish someone could lay out a spaghetti chart that shows all the interdependences / tentacles that spring from AIG to major corporations and main street individuals. Maybe, just maybe then Americans would get what we are up against and quit whining because this path we are on is necessary.
Wake up America: letting AIG fail (claim bankruptcy) is not like letting your average, local, Mom and Pop store so the same.