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Whole World in Meltdown
ALARMISIM is not to be encouraged, sending mighty palpitations through populations as is its wont. But the opposite, which might be termed the Ostrich Syndrome, might even prove worse. (In folklore, the ostrich, when fearful, is supposed, if sand is thereabouts, to sink its head in it, presumably supposing this renders it invisible! ALARMISIM is not to be encouraged, sending mighty palpitations through populations as is its wont. But the opposite, which might be te... more
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Political Power and Economic Ignorance
Political Power and Economic Ignorance
Daily Article by Jeremie T.A. Rostan | Posted on 10/9/2008
George W. Bush
Georges Bush's recent speech in defense of his bailout plan was quite a tour de force. Indeed, it managed to explain the pending recession of the US economy by a previous situation of "easy credit" without mentioning the monstrously inflationist policy of the Federal Reserve — which reached its climax in 2003 and 2004, when it lent dollars at a negative short-term interest rate, and resulted in the creation of more dollars in a seven-year period (2000–2007) than had been created cumulatively in the two centuries since the founding of the United States.
According to the 43rd President, the fault rests entirely on "foreign investors" willing to profit from the competitiveness of the US economy. Logically, the lengthening of the structure of production brought by net investment should have resulted in aggregate profits and economic growth — but not this time. For some reason (which the president deems useless to explain) low interest rates were a curse that somehow led all financial entrepreneurs to dissipate their capital in hopeless ventures and loans.
Because of fractional-reserves policies and the de facto international dollar standard, even the billions of units of the US currency spent abroad are duplicated and sent back to America, where they encourage credit. But George Bush did not mention that.
Finally, he concluded that
1. the Federal Reserve should have its powers extended far beyond their current scope, notably over all financial enterprises, not just banks, and
2. a massive bailout of taxed funds was necessary — as an exceptional intervention and some sort of public investment which would help the economy recover and be paid afterwards.
Not all "experts" agreed. One commentator on CNN even acknowledged that the impending recession was a consequence of Alan Greenspan's "lax money policy."
Nevertheless, if some grasped the connection between these present effects and that past cause, few of them seem to have grasped that resorting to the same policies at present will necessarily have the same consequences in the future: to delay the recession, and worsen it.
Is there anything we can learn from such demonstrations of ignorance?
______________________
Much More at Link Political Power and Economic Ignorance Daily Article by Jeremie T.A. Rostan | Posted on 10/9/2008 George W. Bush ... more -
A Crisis Made in the Oval Office
A financial panic provoked by President Bush was designed to stampede Congress into passing the bail-out for Wall Street
By Dean Baker
07/10/08 "The Guardian" -- This is the first time in the history of the United States that the president has sought to provoke a financial panic to get legislation passed through Congress. While this has proven to be a successful political strategy - after the House of Representatives finally passed the bank bail-out plan today - it marks yet another low point in American politics.
It was incredibly irresponsible for George Bush to tell the American people on national television that the country could be facing another Great Depression. By contrast, when we actually were in the Great Depression, President Roosevelt said: "We have nothing to fear, but fear itself."
It was even more irresponsible for President Bush to seize on the decline in the stock market five days later as evidence that his bailout was needed for the economy. President Bush must surely understand, as all economists know, that the daily swings in the stock market are driven by mass psychology and have almost nothing to do with the underlying strength in the economy.
The scare tactics of President Bush, Henry Paulson, the Treasury secretary, and Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, created sufficient panic, so that by the time of the first vote on the emergency package in Congress, much of the public believed that the defeat of the bail-out may actually have had serious consequences for the economy. Millions of people have changed their behaviour because of this fear, with many pulling money out of bank and money market accounts, and adjusting their financial plans in other ways.
This effort to promote panic is especially striking since the country's dire economic situation is almost entirely the result of the Bush administration's policy failures. First and foremost, the decision of Paulson and Bernanke (and previously Alan Greenspan) to ignore the housing bubble, allowed for the growth of an $8tn bubble, which is now collapsing.
It is the collapse of this bubble - which has already destroyed more than $4tn in housing wealth, and is likely to destroy another $4tn over the next year - that is at the root of the economy's problems. While competent economists were warning of the bubble and the dire consequences of its collapse, the top officials in the Bush administration were celebrating the rise in homeownership rates.
The Bush administration made the crisis even worse by deregulating Wall Street. This led to the huge over-leveraging of financial institutions, which has vastly complicated the country's economic policies. It is especially disturbing that Secretary Paulson personally profited from these policies, earning millions of dollars in compensation from Goldman Sachs during his years there as its chief executive.
The collapse of the housing bubble, while falling short of the magnitude of the Great Depression, is likely to lead to the worst recession since the second world war. Repairing the damage caused by this bubble will be a long and difficult process. Cleaning up the damage to the political system from President Bush's unprecedented fear campaign may prove to be even more difficult.
07/10/08 © Guardian News and Media Limited 2008 A financial panic provoked by President Bush was designed to stampede Congress into passing the bail-out for Wall Street ... more -
Judge orders Bush to release 17 Guantanamo prisoners
Release of Chinese Muslims Ordered
By WILLIAM GLABERSON
Published: October 7, 2008
WASHINGTON — A federal judge on Tuesday ordered the Bush administration to immediately release 17 Chinese Muslims and allow them to stay in the United States, ruling that they are no longer considered enemy combatants.
Federal District Judge Urbina called the detention of the 17 prisoners — ethnic Uighers, a restive Muslim minority in western China — unlawful, saying the Constitution prohibits indefinite imprisonment without charges.
Efforts to find a home for the detainees has been complicated by fears in many countries of diplomatic reprisals by China. In June, federal appeals judges issued a decision that ridiculed as inadequate the Pentagon’s secret evidence for holding one Uighur, Huzaifa Parhat, a former fruit peddler who said he had gone to Afghanistan to escape China. Release of Chinese Muslims Ordered By WILLIAM GLABERSON Published: October 7, 2008 ... more -
House approves historic bailout bill
Tell us why this is interestingIn four long days, as credit markets froze, Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama worked the phones with President Bush. California Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger leaned on the California congressional delegation. The chairmen of General Motors and Chrysler allied with the small-town car dealer and banker in a full-court press on Congress. And in the end, they helped House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, a Democrat from San Francisco, engineer the biggest bailout of the banking system in U.S. history.
The overwhelming 263-171 House vote for the $700 billion rescue erased a stunning defeat Monday that shocked Pelosi and her GOP counterpart, Minority Leader John Boehner of Ohio. That defeat, and fear that inaction would lead to a once-in-a-century style economic collapse, set in motion the most extraordinary political alliance witnessed in modern times.
The nation's top leaders quickly rallied their combined forces behind an unprecedented and deeply unpopular government intervention in the U.S. economy, one that offended much of the public and the ideological wings of both parties just one month before a presidential election.
Three Bay Area Democrats switched their votes to yes: St. Helena's Mike Thompson, Petaluma's Lynn Woolsey and Oakland's Barbara Lee.
Riding the powerful political tailwind of a 74-25 bipartisan Senate vote Wednesday night, 24 Republicans and 32 Democrats changed to yes votes. They had spent two days at home hearing horror stories from small and large businesses shut off from bank credit lines and unable to float short-term loans to buy inventories or meet payroll. They heard from retirees who had seen their savings evaporate in the $1.2 trillion stock market plunge that followed the House rejection. And on Friday, they heard the news that 159,000 more Americans had lost their jobs in September.
Calls from Obama
Thompson and Lee got a call from Obama. Lee, the only member of Congress to vote against the use of force after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks - and perhaps the one least likely to hand $700 billion to Bush's Treasury secretary - said she was convinced that she could "not afford to risk the potential consequences of inaction. ... I am confident that this is the right vote, even if it's not a popular vote."
Republican nominee John McCain, who announced with fanfare after the crisis broke that he was suspending his campaign to return to Washington to broker a resolution, made calls as well. But GOP members and aides said he did not show the urgency of either Bush or Obama in pushing for the bill.
Rep. Joe Knollenberg, R-Mich., who switched his vote to yes, said he had not heard from McCain but that he had "never talked to so many bank presidents." He heard from General Motors Chairman Rick Wagoner, Chrysler Chairman Robert Nardelli and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson.
The U.S. Chamber of Commerce revved up an intense lobbying effort, along with state and local governments who warned that it had become impossible to float bonds or get bridge loans to cover normal spending while awaiting receipt of property and sales tax revenue. Some members were lured by the $150 billion in popular tax breaks added by the Senate. These extended shelter for 26 million upper-middle-income taxpayers from the dreaded alternative minimum tax, as well as popular business tax credits for renewable energy and research and development.
It was Paulson, joined by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, who stunned first Bush and then congressional leaders on Sept. 18 with dire alarms that the nation's financial system was on the brink of collapse and would require a huge government intervention. The warning from Bernanke, who in academic life was a leading authority on the Great Depression, was especially persuasive to Pelosi. Tell us why this is interestingIn four long days, as credit markets froze, Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama worked the pho... more -
Biden touts experience, Palin pushes 'maverick' record
Highlights:
Joe Biden, Sarah Palin debate change, "maverick" status
Both candidates get good reviews for their debate performances
VP candidates discuss economy, foreign policy, climate change
Biden tries to link McCain to Bush; Palin pushes record of reform Highlights: Joe Biden, Sarah Palin debate change, "maverick" status ... more -
Senate bailout vote puts pressure on House Republicans, aides say
Story Highlights:
Rep. Charles Rangel thinks "sweeteners" will smooth passage in House
Bailout package passed Senate 74-25 on Wednesday with bipartisan support
The bailout failed 228-205 on Monday in the House
President Bush urges the House to pass an "improved" bill Story Highlights: Rep. Charles Rangel thinks "sweeteners" will smooth passage in House ... more -
Scandal: McCain Won Miss Congeniality Of U.S. Senate In 2000, 2003 | The Onion
Despite insisting several times during the first presidential debate that he had never won the U.S. Senate Miss Congeniality award due to his maverick, no-holds-barred legislating style, John McCain was recently revealed to have twice secured the much-coveted congressional superlative during his four terms in office. "This just proves that Sen. McCain is not only willing to lie to the American people, but that he is also perky, helpful, and exceedingly amiable around the Senate," said MSNBC political analyst Keith Olbermann of the documents that have recently come to light, including copies of both award certificates as well as photos of McCain handing out freshly baked cupcakes to the Senate Subcommittee on Appropriations. "American voters feel duped. This allegation runs completely counter to the gruff and unpredictable rebel persona that McCain has carefully cultivated." According to a statement released by the McCain campaign, the senator deeply regrets misleading the American public in regard to his bubbly personality, but remains proud of his seven consecutive U.S. Senate "Best In Swimsuit" wins. Despite insisting several times during the first presidential debate that he had never won the U.S. Senate Miss Congeniality award due... more
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Vote Underscores Bush's Loss of Influence
The vote marked the biggest legislative defeat of Bush's tenure and underscored the vanishing influence of a president who could once bend a pliant Congress to his will on wars, taxes, surveillance and a host of other high-profile initiatives.
The defeat also brought into focus some of the key characteristics of Bush's troubled second term, including his weakened hold on his party, his tendency to delegate major responsibilities to aides and his continued reliance on alarmist rhetoric in an effort to get his way. Bush left much of the sales job for the rescue plan to Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr., and his last-minute warnings that "our entire economy is in danger" appeared to have little impact on the debate. The vote marked the biggest legislative defeat of Bush's tenure and underscored the vanishing influence of a president who could ... more -
Americans on the bailout: Were pissed!
It's pretty obvious to anyone paying attention a majority of Americans oppose the bailout plan passed last night by the Senate and heading toward the House.
As discussed here and here, many Americans seem to understand the "real" economy -- i.e., Main Street -- will suffer if the plan fails, but they still oppose it and view it as a bailout for Wall Street "fat cats."
"I've lost my money because of these idiots, now they want me to subsidize their losses too???," Yahoo! Finance user "hoser48" wrote yesterday. "They can go to hell with the common man, we will all live together as equals then. A bailout is not the answer."
Clearly that sentiment isn't universal, and Monday's 778 Dow dive did change many people's view. But it's also true the mood in the country is ugly, and it didn't happen overnight.
Todd Harrison, CEO of Minyanville.com, has been warning about the threat of "societal acrimony" for some time....
Read More and Watch Video at Link... It's pretty obvious to anyone paying attention a majority of Americans oppose the bailout plan passed last night by the Senate an... more -
Bush: Lawmakers 'must listen' vote yes
President Bush said Thursday "a lot of people are watching" to see if Congress will enact the $700 billion financial rescue plan that he called the best chance to restore calm to the financial industry.
As both Democratic and Republican House party leaders worked the offices and halls of congressional office buildings to find enough votes for passage in a floor showdown scheduled for Friday, Bush spoke with more urgency than previously as he lobbied furiously for the measure...
Read More at Link... President Bush said Thursday "a lot of people are watching" to see if Congress will enact the $700 billion financial rescue ... more -
Historic Disapproval: Bush Hits All-Time Low Amid Economic Meltdown
Barack Obama maintains an advantage on the economy, especially economic empathy, and he's cracked majority acceptance on his key challenge, experience. But the political center remains unrooted, keeping John McCain in the race, albeit against headwinds.
Movement continues among independents, quintessential swing voters and a highly changeable group this year.
They favored McCain by 10 points immediately after the Republican convention, swung to Obama last week and stand now at a close division between the two -- 48 percent for McCain, 45 percent for Obama in the latest ABC News/Washington Post poll.
Preference among likely voters overall is 50-46 percent, Obama-McCain, a bit closer (albeit within sampling error) than the 52-43 percent last week.
The race between them is up for grabs as long as movables -- independents and others less rooted in partisan allegiance -- remain unswayed by either candidate.
But fundamental advantages for Obama remain.
McCain's laboring under the Bush legacy. With the current economic situation, a record 70 percent of Americans disapprove of George W. Bush's job performance; a career-low 26 percent approve.
Bush's Disapproval Rating Highest in History
Just two presidents have had lower approval (Richard Nixon and Harry Truman) than President Bush, and none has had higher disapproval in polls since 1938. Barack Obama maintains an advantage on the economy, especially economic empathy, and he's cracked majority acceptance on his key ... more -
Flashback: Stimulus plan may lead to Fannie and Freddie bailout
Congress is about to sell us the biggest fraud in American history.
Thanks to Congress, junk bond investors will be able to pawn off their bad debt to Fannie and Freddie, instead of suing the big investment houses for ripping them off. This shift will certainly doom Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, so don't be surprised if we, the taxpayers, have to bail out poor Fannie and Freddie - to the tune of more than $1 trillion.
But, as the old adage goes, nothing comes for free. As part of the bill, Congress is set to rush through an increase in the mortgage loan limits for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac (and Federal Housing Administration insurance, too) - from $417,000 to $729,750 - the first step toward a massive financial disaster in which taxpayers will end up paying through the nose.
Here's how we got to this point. Domestic and international investors hold hundreds of billions of dollars in bad debt, because U.S. investment houses sold them junk securities based on often fraudulent mortgages. Many of these mortgages were sold to unqualified buyers under terms that made widespread foreclosures a certainty once the housing market began to fall.
Investment banks and bond rating agencies sat down and tried to figure out how to describe Americans with insufficient incomes and little for a down payment as great credit risks on loans too big for their incomes. The new rules focused on credit scores, because it was a good excuse to avoid looking at income and down payment, factors that would have restricted this moneymaking fiasco.
It's been highly touted as an economic stimulus bill that will help millions of Americans - and has the backing of both President Bush and House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. In the coming year, individuals would receive rebates of up to $600 and families up to $1,200. There are other goodies, too, including tax write-offs for small businesses and an expansion of the child tax credit. Congress is about to sell us the biggest fraud in American history. ... more -
London Market in Turmoil
The London stockmarket staged a remarkable rally today amid optimism that the rescue plan for the US banking sector could be revived following last night's shock rejection by Congress.
Having plunged 147 points in early trading, the FTSE 100 index surged back into positive territory and was up 24.6 points by 1.30pm at 4843.3.
Britain's battered banks bucked the trend, though, with HBOS down more than 16% at one stage — putting its takeover by Lloyds TSB in doubt. As fears continue to stalk the financial sector, Bank of England governor Mervyn King met Gordon Brown this morning to discuss the crisis.
Shares had been expected to plunge sharply today, on the back of the massive losses on Wall Street last night, where the Dow Jones industrial average shed 777.7 points. It is now tipped to come roaring back when trading begins at 2.30pm BST.
In a sombre address this afternoon, the US president, George Bush, said Congress must reach agreement on the bail-out.
"The consequences get worse every day if we do not act."
Analysts said there were hopes that the deadlock over the US government's proposed $700bn (£380bn) bailout of Wall Street could be resolved. The London stockmarket staged a remarkable rally today amid optimism that the rescue plan for the US banking sector could be revived f... more -
Where is Dick Cheney These Days?
During the worst financial collapse in recent American memory, where has the Vice President been? Not a peep from a man closer to the financial button than Bush .. During the worst financial collapse in recent American memory, where has the Vice President been? Not a peep from a man closer to the ... more
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Bush had no plan to catch Bin Laden after 9/11
WASHINGTON, Sep 29 (IPS) - New evidence from former U.S. officials reveals that the George W. Bush administration failed to adopt any plan to block the retreat of Osama bin Laden and other al Qaeda leaders from Afghanistan to Pakistan in the first weeks after 9/11.
That failure was directly related to the fact that top administration officials gave priority to planning for war with Iraq over military action against al Qaeda in Afghanistan.
As a result, the United States had far too few troops and strategic airlift capacity in the theatre to cover the large number of possible exit routes through the border area when bin Laden escaped in late 2001.
Because it had not been directed to plan for that contingency, the U.S. military had to turn down an offer by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf in late November 2001 to send 60,000 troops to the border passes to intercept them, according to accounts provided by former U.S. officials involved in the issue.
On Nov. 12, 2001, as Northern Alliance troops were marching on Kabul with little resistance, the CIA had intelligence that bin Laden was headed for a cave complex in the Tora Bora Mountains close to the Pakistani border.
The war had ended much more quickly than expected only days earlier. CENTCOM commander Tommy Franks, who was responsible for the war in Afghanistan, had no forces in position to block bin Laden's exit.
Franks asked Lt. Gen. Paul T. Mikolashek, commander of Army Central Command (ARCENT), whether his command could provide a blocking force between al Qaeda and the Pakistani border, according to David W. Lamm, who was then commander of ARCENT Kuwait.
Lamm, a retired Army colonel, recalled in an interview that there was no way to fulfill the CENTCOM commander's request, because ARCENT had neither the troops nor the strategic lift in Kuwait required to put such a force in place. "You looked at that request, and you just shook your head," recalled Lamm, now chief of staff of the Near East South Asia Centre for Strategic Studies at the National Defence University.
Franks apparently already realised that he would need Pakistani help in blocking the al Qaeda exit from Tora Bora. Secretary of Defence Donald Rumsfeld told a National Security Council meeting that Franks "wants the [Pakistanis] to close the transit points between Afghanistan and Pakistan to seal what's going in and out", according to the National Security Council meeting transcript in Bob Woodward's book "Bush at War".
Bush responded that they would need to "press Musharraf to do that".
A few days later, Franks made an unannounced trip to Islamabad to ask Musharraf to deploy troops along the Pakistan-Afghan border near Tora Bora.
A deputy to Franks, Lt. Gen. Mike DeLong, later claimed that Musharraf had refused Franks's request for regular Pakistani troops to be repositioned from the north to the border near the Tora Bora area. DeLong wrote in his 2004 book "Inside Centcom" that Musharraf had said he "couldn't do that", because it would spark a "civil war" with a hostile tribal population.
But U.S. Ambassador Wendy Chamberlin, who accompanied Franks to the meeting with Musharraf, provided an account of the meeting to this writer that contradicts DeLong's claim.
Chamberlin, now president of the Middle East Institute in Washington, recalled that the Pakistani president told Franks that CENTCOM had vastly underestimated what was required to block bin Laden exit from Afghanistan. Musharraf said, "Look you are missing the point: there are 150 valleys through which al Qaeda are going to stream into Pakistan," according to Chamberlin.
.........more.... WASHINGTON, Sep 29 (IPS) - New evidence from former U.S. officials reveals that the George W. Bush administration failed to adopt any ... more -
Top 5 Reasons to Vote Against Paulson's $700 Billion Bailout
1. BAILOUT'S INHERENT FISCAL INSANITY COULD MAKE PROBLEM WORSE
2. EXPERTS ON BOTH THE LEFT AND RIGHT SAY THIS BAILOUT COULD MAKE THINGS WORSE
3. THERE ARE CLEARLY BETTER AND SAFER ALTERNATIVES
4. ANY INCUMBENT VOTING FOR THIS PUTS THEMSELVES AT RISK OF BEING THROWN OUT OF OFFICE
5. CORRUPTION AND SLEAZE ARE SWIRLING AROUND THESE BAILOUTS - AND AMERICA KNOWS IT
Read entire article for details.......... 1. BAILOUT'S INHERENT FISCAL INSANITY COULD MAKE PROBLEM WORSE ... more -
Provoking Russian nationalism
Gareth Porter: The state of the empire. Part 3
Gareth Porter discusses US hawkishness in the Caucasus with Real News Network senior editor Paul Jay. As the US and NATO pursue their containment policy, the threat of a new cold war emerges.
Gareth Porter is a historian and investigative journalist on US foreign and military policy analyst. He writes regularly for Inter Press Service on US policy towards Iraq and Iran. Author of four books, the latest of which is Perils of Dominance: Imbalance of Power and the Road to War in Vietnam.
See Part 1 at: http://current.com/items/89336287_bush_doctrine_at_the_...
See Part 2 at: http://current.com/items/89339379_the_state_of_the_empi...
See Part 4 at: http://current.com/items/89361295_war_and_cash_for_tras...
See Part 5 at: http://current.com/items/89373473_will_a_new_us_preside... Gareth Porter: The state of the empire. Part 3 ... more -
Huge European bank fails
BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- Dutch-Belgian bank and insurance giant Fortis NV was given a 11.2 billion euro ($16.4 billion) lifeline to avert insolvency as part of a wider bailout plan agreed to by Belgium, the Netherlands and Luxembourg, officials said Sunday.
Belgium's Prime Minister Yves Leterme said the bailout shows account holders and investors that Fortis will not be allowed to fall victim to the global credit crisis.
Leterme announced the deal after weekend talks between the three countries, European Union and national banking officials.
The deal will force the bank -- which has headquarters in both Brussels and the Dutch city of Utrecht -- to sell its stake in Dutch bank ABN Amro, which it partially took over last year. Fortis paid 24 billion euros for its share of ABN.
Fortis Chairman Maurice Lippens will be forced to resign and will be replaced by a candidate from outside the company, Leterme said.
"We have taken up our responsibility, we did not abandon" account holders, Leterme told reporters.
Under the bailout, Belgium will invest 4.7 billion euros ($6.88 billion) and the Netherlands 4 billion euros ($5.86 billion) in Fortis' banking operations in the two countries. In return, they each receive 49 percent ownership in those national arms of the bank.
Luxembourg will invest 2.7 billion euros ($3.95 billion) in the bank's Luxembourg operations, also for a 49 percent stake.
The deal, orchestrated by the three neighboring countries and EU Central Bank chief Jean-Claude Trichet, is meant to restore confidence in the bank before the reopening of markets on Monday after a tumultuous week in which Fortis' shares imploded.
Belgian officials also announced Sunday that they planned to offer better guarantees for all retail deposits at Fortis, the country's largest bank and largest private employer.
Fortis named its third chief executive officer in as many months Friday after insolvency fears caused the company's shares to tumble to 5.18 euros ($7.56), their lowest level in more than a decade. The shares have lost more than three-fourths of their value in the past year.
Fortis denies any imminent solvency problems, but it has been in trouble since it took part in a three-bank consortium last year that acquired ABN Amro in a 70 billion euros ($102.5 billion) deal that was the largest takeover in the history of the banking industry. BRUSSELS, Belgium (AP) -- Dutch-Belgian bank and insurance giant Fortis NV was given a 11.2 billion euro ($16.4 billion) lifeline to a... more -
Rice admits torture okayed
Secretary of State Rice become the first Bush administration official to admit that high-level discussion of the use of tortue took place in 2002 and 2003. Secretary of State Rice become the first Bush administration official to admit that high-level discussion of the use of tortue took pl... more
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