BANKING ON OBAMA ADMINISTRATION ?

I know we probably don't agree on certain issues, akamaial, but I certainly agree with your assessment above. I smelled a rat about seven years ago and took all of my 401k money out of stocks (I was the CEO and General Counsel for a small company so while we are not talking about a fortune, it was significant enough that had I not made the move, I would have lost over a quarter of a million dollars during the bust). As it was, I actually MADE a few thousand dollars during that period. I can't help feeling like a HUGE amount of this suffering was brought about by everyday individuals making incredbily stupid and naive moves with their own hard-earned money as well as by being willing dupes for stock brokers and mortgage bankers. An adage that has not changed in my lifetime is one that I gotta believe just about everyone knows: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably ISN'T true. When a broker or a book or magazine article WRITTEN by a current or former broker advises you to subract your age from 100 and invest the resulting percentage in stocks, it is time to call BS!

But what REALLY CHAPS my heinie is that people from a certain party are running around screaming that the sky is falling as a result of the President's support for the current stimulus package, when the previous President handed out roughly FIVE TIMES as much money with vitrually NO STRINGS. Seriously! He and the Treasury Secretary ACTUALLY BELIEVED that if the goverment purchased partial ownership of these banks, they would "feel sufficiently secure" (what, is this one of those Lifetime Chick Flicks of the Week? Did the poor widdle banks feel insucure? Awwww.) to start lending money out again. Since when does the Federal Government hand out money and then tell the recipient that the use of that money is entirely at their own discretion? Would it have been so hard to have said, "within 30 days, you will have loaned out a minimum of 10% of these funds to borrowers who meet the following criteria? Within 90 days, you will have loaned out 25%? That you may request a waiver of these percentages only if you can show that you have made a good-faith effort to comply and were unable to finds sufficient borrowers who would qualify -- PROVIDED that a loan was made in EVERY case in which the borrower DID qualify?...

Add to all the above....some moron gave $78 billion with the first TARP to "Someone". The mistake was found but they can't even figure out who it was paid to? I repeat for dramatic affect: 78 BILLION DOLLARS! I think billion is the new million. It doesn't even sting anymore.
Oh, it was to a bank but they don't know which one.

And I LOVE this one. A couple of banks said they didn't need the money but were forced to take it "just in case".

At least they took out the CA water Park millions, but left in so much crap. 150 Million for HONEYBEES???? WTF? Send that to us and we will take care of our own honey bees!

Campaign promise: "I will go through everything line by line and remove all unnecessary items that are no longer needed".

If you haven't read the entire list, go to www.whitehouse.gov and read it then email a message up on the right. SPEAK your opinions loud and clear!

No one in the government seems to understand what the problem was. Calling insurance policies on bundled mortgages derivatives to avoid insurance regulations should have raised a red flag somewhere. I don't think anyone in management realized how risky these vehicles were. Follow the money. Who developed these and who approved their sale? Why weren't economic advisors declaring the possible risks if the housing market collapsed. The housing bubble was being talked about for several years but no one seem to put the equation together. The lawmakers are rushing in and giving away billions without investigating whether the banks they're giving the money to have a sound business model. The money may not bail them out. But no one is checking to see if it will. It's like they're saying, "good luck, I hope it works."

If they fail after injecting the funds, we are left with a bill that returns nothing. It'll be a magic act and the magicians will have robbed more money the all the organized crime syndicates in the history of man. We may be witnessing the largest con game ever played. Has any one seen Hank Paulson lately?

If your are not pro-active in managing your money, you can only blame yourself. (example:) Bernard Madoff who "made off" with greedy fools money....Yea-ah.!.!

I have taken out the second wave out of my money market accounts and converted them to precious metals IRAs. I might even consider owning some coin-so that when these stimuli packages fail and hyperinflation sets in, the value of my currency does not drop with the dollar. If the banks fail and the government gets stuck subsidizing them, it would be necessary to depend on the government.

With a Fed rate at 0.25% I wouldn't count on much return from a bank.

Just found out yesterday that he (Obama)didn't even participate in the recent "plan". He "trusted" Nancy and others to put one together and have it on his desk.

What a mess. Thank God there are some voices of reason out there who are trying to weed out all the fluff.

Jobless rate is rising everyday. Even nurses who have always been 'recession proof". These bills do a lot for Mexican aliens but not much for the citizen of the USA.

I say lets go through the pain, help those without income, help some states a little. But Nancy has NO clue what she is doing. I have lost all faith that anyone knows. After finding out Wall St ran a Prostitution Ring...its beyone mind boggling how we have all been raped and pillaged by the greedy government. How could we trust them to do anything but look out for each other and keep their cushy jobs.