Financial Crisis

[AlexLah]

Sorry 12, the article says that some people are going to be held accountable in court, including Geitner and Paulson, I think that is a good thing.

Teletiger, I don't understand what you mean by that comment, please explain as I am not a native English speaker so most likely do not understand the humour.

[Naam]

Sorry 12, the article says that some people are going to be held accountable in court, including Geitner and Paulson, I think that is a good thing.

i concur and think they will all get life sentences without the possibility of parole or perhaps even the death penalty

[samuibeachcomber]

Sorry 12, the article says that some people are going to be held accountable in court, including Geitner and Paulson, I think that is a good thing.

i concur and think they will all get life sentences without the possibility of parole or perhaps even the death penalty

they would consider it a life sentence if the courts ruled against them and subsequently took all their money,hurt them where it hurts most.

[Naam]

they would consider it a life sentence if the courts ruled against them and subsequently took all their money,hurt them where it hurts most.

yes, based on "would... / if..."

[samuibeachcomber]

they would consider it a life sentence if the courts ruled against them and subsequently took all their money,hurt them where it hurts most.

yes, based on "would... / if..."

yes i know,one can only hope.

[AlexLah]

http://informationclearinghouse.info/article22400.htm

[AlexLah]

I was reading this article and after that I was wondering about something.

http://seekingalpha.com/article/130528-why...icle_sb_popular

There is a lot of scary stories that all this printing of dollars is going to cause inflation.

Inflation is when the amount of money in circulation increases as well as the velocity if I still remember correctly.

So money is created by borrowing and handing out bonds and such, money is then loaned to the banks that use it to balance their books and loan it back to the FED in some/many cases and some is used to pay for outstanding obligations like CDS. So that extra money does not come into circulation and inflation is avoided.

But with the US having a massive debt, the only way out of that is to create sort of hyperinflation or will they just build up more and more debt so that the banks receive more income from higher interest which needs to be payed by increasing taxes. But with more peeps loosing jobs less income tax is collected as well as less income from VAT as people buy less goods and save more and pay off personal debt.

So Paulson, Geitner and others are making sure banks and insurance company's are being helped to balance their books and pay off on some bad bets by creating more debt.

To me it sounds like running in circles. What is the point of this exercise?

I don't get it, do you?

[AlexLah]

[BlackJack]

you must watch this and send to as many people as you can

http://www.pbs.org/moyers/journal/04032009/profile.html

Assoc Prof Black knows his stuff and has the creds to back up his talk

[Chaimai]

Been away for a couple of weeks holiday. I notice that apart from Alex contributing inane posts there is a serious lack of doom and gloom.

Spotted this green shoot today:-

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/21/20090417/tuk-w...er-6323e80.html

Still agree with 12D that a hand-picked selection of the bankers should be shot just to show present incumbents whate fate may befall them if they screw up again. A ban on all bonuses over GBP 1,000 for 3 years should be implemented.

[samuibeachcomber]

Been away for a couple of weeks holiday. I notice that apart from Alex contributing inane posts there is a serious lack of doom and gloom.

Spotted this green shoot today:-

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/21/20090417/tuk-w...er-6323e80.html

Still agree with 12D that a hand-picked selection of the bankers should be shot just to show present incumbents whate fate may befall them if they screw up again. A ban on all bonuses over GBP 1,000 for 3 years should be implemented.

you dont believe this mumbo jumbo do you?If the high flyers had been japanese they'd have commited hari kari by now and rightly so.

[midas]

Been away for a couple of weeks holiday. I notice that apart from Alex contributing inane posts there is a serious lack of doom and gloom.

Spotted this green shoot today:-

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/21/20090417/tuk-w...er-6323e80.html

Still agree with 12D that a hand-picked selection of the bankers should be shot just to show present incumbents whate fate may befall them if they screw up again. A ban on all bonuses over GBP 1,000 for 3 years should be implemented.

I could say don't believe everything you read on Yahoo

but it's more illustrative to post a contrary view - a not so green shoot

also on Yahoo...... remember what you posted yourself about

reporting the same thing in different ways?

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090416/ap_on_...o_ec_fi/economy

[midas]

It seems remarkable that banks have reported a turnaround in their fortunes

so quickly compared to what we were hearing just a few months ago.

Even Citibank today announced a profit while analysts were still expecting

a loss. Then I started wondering about accountancy rules and whether

these profits are based on something I read about to do with valuations

of their bad assets.

I started wondering if it had anything to do with what seems to be

a very quick turnaround in results.

It was only October last year that we heard we came dangerously close

to the entire U.S. financial system going into meltdown.............

I recall reading something about proposed changes that would allow these banks

to decide themselves on what valuation is appropriate. Does anyone

know whether this was correct and whether this was implemented?

When I heard this initially it sounded like putting Dracula in charge of

the blood bank and just the perpetuation of the same Alice in Wonderland

mentality that got them into trouble in the first place?

Edited April 17, 2009 by midas

[AlexLah]

I believe they use the marked to fantasy rules now indeed.

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com...to-fantasy.html

[midas]

I believe they use the marked to fantasy rules now indeed.

http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com...to-fantasy.html

" These inputs reflect management’s own assumptions about the assumptions a market participant would use in pricing the asset or liability "

How about some meaningful independant scrutiny for the sake of the small time investor ?

I think we can " assume " they are just sweeping the problem under the carpet but one day

there will be a real day of reckoning

[12DrinkMore]

Been away for a couple of weeks holiday. I notice that apart from Alex contributing inane posts there is a serious lack of doom and gloom.

Spotted this green shoot today:-

http://uk.news.yahoo.com/21/20090417/tuk-w...er-6323e80.html

Still agree with 12D that a hand-picked selection of the bankers should be shot just to show present incumbents whate fate may befall them if they screw up again. A ban on all bonuses over GBP 1,000 for 3 years should be implemented.

Welcome back!

The catastrophic collapse of the banks seems to have been staved off with tax payers' humongous bailouts, coupled with the ability to now value there assets at a price they can pull out of a hat. To be positive, I hope that this will enable them to sort out their balance sheets and not result in the falling commercial property prices to bring another round of massive bailouts.

But that is the banks.

Looking at the economies, everyday more people are being made redundant, the prices of "unnecessary" or overpriced assets are falling (eg cars, TVs and housing respectively), but the price of day to day essentials is climbing steadily. I cannot believe for a second that there will be a sudden and massive turnaround in three months or six months or whatever timescale the politicians are trying to put on it. I think we are in for a long slow decline in the western economies, which will bottom out sometime in the next couple of years. And then begin a slow climb back up.

So I am still gloomy about the economy, but long slow declines or static growth don't make headlines.

[AlexLah]

I believe a lot more sh1t is coming and the regular media is misinforming the peasants. Plenty evidence already presented in this and some other thread(s).

[midas]

I believe a lot more sh1t is coming and the regular media is misinforming the peasants. Plenty evidence already presented in this and some other thread(s).

It's the small time investors that are getting sucked in again by all these people on CNBC saying

we are seeing the recovery that I feel sorry for because they will get caught with their pants down.

The same channel that shows Jim Cramer-it's a joke how many times these people

called the bottom of the market last year only to see it slide down further so why should they be right this time around?

[AlexLah]

I just can't believe that there are actually people that believe the verbal sh1t that comes out of their mouths, disgusting really.

Specially that Cramer guy, what a piece of utter crap. Anyway the small investors that are sucked in at least can claim they held off the bottom for some time.

[AlexLah]

You just wonder what it is that I am trying to tell, don't ya?

Edited April 17, 2009 by AlexLah

[AlexLah]

What a joke.

[PCA]

You just wonder what it is that I am trying to tell, don't ya?

naa, finally something worth to look at - link pls.

[Naam]

It seems remarkable that banks have reported a turnaround in their fortunes

so quickly compared to what we were hearing just a few months ago.

Even Citibank today announced a profit while analysts were still expecting

a loss. Then I started wondering about accountancy rules and whether

these profits are based on something I read about to do with valuations

of their bad assets.

I started wondering if it had anything to do with what seems to be

a very quick turnaround in results.

It was only October last year that we heard we came dangerously close

to the entire U.S. financial system going into meltdown.............

I recall reading something about proposed changes that would allow these banks

to decide themselves on what valuation is appropriate. Does anyone

know whether this was correct and whether this was implemented?

When I heard this initially it sounded like putting Dracula in charge of

the blood bank and just the perpetuation of the same Alice in Wonderland

mentality that got them into trouble in the first place?

not only the U.S. system but globally!

[AlexLah]

Is what they want us to believe...............

[Naam]

Is what they want us to believe...............

any other claims from "them" you obviously believe Alex especially when it concerns some of your favourite conspiracies, conveyed by you via youtube clips and enigmatic pictures

i can assure you that on Friday, oct 10th, 2008 we were a hairbreadth away from a total global freeze -albeit a temporary one- of all financial transactions!

[VegasVic]

I believe a lot more sh1t is coming and the regular media is misinforming the peasants. Plenty evidence already presented in this and some other thread(s).

"the regular media is misinforming the peasants" Yea that terrible mainstream media, they are all paid off by those bad boys on Wall Street right Alex? I see that you get your news from seeking alpha.com, now there's a good neutral goldbug source Why is it that you goldbugs see conspiracies behind everything? Is it a way to rationalize the fact that you have achieved so little in your lives? By the way alex wasn't it you that said Goldman was going to $40/sh a couple months ago, hows that bet working out for you

[AlexLah]

I think you have mistaken me for someone else VV, getting old, memory problem?

Show proof of your claim Naam, the 10 October one that is........

[ronz28]

The collateralized debt securities that were based on fraud are such a small percentage of the total investment universe that it cannot account for the 50%+ decreases in many benchmarks. The market meltdown is just the same old fear and greed cycle of investors that was exaggerated by the misapplication of mark to market accounting and some shocking fraud as a catalyst for the decline that should have been avoided if the companies and regulators were doing their jobs. The fraudsters ought to be relentlessly pursued and punished.

To me, the problem assets are being blown out of proportion by the shorts collecting on terrorizing investors but markets are now recovering and they are covering their shorts. Investors are regaining confidence enough to get back in, but a 50% decline takes a 100% increase to get back to the same money level. A pull back can always become yet another retest of the November 2007 lows (March 6 was lower but volume was lighter so that's a successful retest)....no guarantees as a fat tail event like 9/11 could occur... but the risk reward ratio is a lot better here than at Dow 14,000.

[midas]

The collateralized debt securities that were based on fraud are such a small percentage of the total investment universe that it cannot account for the 50%+ decreases in many benchmarks. The market meltdown is just the same old fear and greed cycle of investors that was exaggerated by the misapplication of mark to market accounting and some shocking fraud as a catalyst for the decline that should have been avoided if the companies and regulators were doing their jobs. The fraudsters ought to be relentlessly pursued and punished.

To me, the problem assets are being blown out of proportion by the shorts collecting on terrorizing investors but markets are now recovering and they are covering their shorts. Investors are regaining confidence enough to get back in, but a 50% decline takes a 100% increase to get back to the same money level. A pull back can always become yet another retest of the November 2007 lows (March 6 was lower but volume was lighter so that's a successful retest)....no guarantees as a fat tail event like 9/11 could occur... but the risk reward ratio is a lot better here than at Dow 14,000.

That is not what I have read in other places where people keep saying

quite simply no one knows for sure how big this problem

is and what is yet to come because it hasn't been scrutinized?

Edited April 18, 2009 by midas

[midas]

flying I am interested in your feedback of a subject which I hope the moderators

don't consider to be too of topic - because it would certainly exacerbate the financial crisis

even more and that is the possible implications of an ultra --right wing Israeli government

after the elections this weekend.?

Those likely to win the election seem more potentially dangerous than Dick Cheney

was and I feel pretty worried that it's only a matter of time now before they go

in against Iran - and that's just what we don't need in this already chaotic world.

What is your perspective?

I am sorry Midas I am not well read on the subject.

I have been looking just recently & like you I wonder.

It is very likely now that they will in fact win that election & that will only increase the tensions there & not likely ease anything.

Remember this question from February?

So now we have our right wing Israeli government and we now have this story

It seems to me, this train wreck is bound to happen because we know Ahmadinejad

and his followers actually want to bring on Armageddon because of their " plans ". Does anyone believe

Ahmadinejad will lose the election-I suppose that's the only chance of this bombing not happening?

Israel stands ready to bomb Iran's nuclear sites

The Israeli military is preparing itself to launch a massive aerial assault on Iran's nuclear facilities within days of being given the go-ahead by its new government.

Among the steps taken to ready Israeli forces for what would be a risky raid requiring pinpoint aerial strikes are the acquisition of three Airborne Warning and Control (AWAC) aircraft and regional missions to simulate the attack.

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/worl...icle6115903.ece