Paper Avalanche Buries Plan to Stem Foreclosures:
Hanging in the balance is more than the fate of individual homeowners. The administration portrays its mortgage program as a crucial piece of its broader effort to restore vigor to the economy. If the effort fails, foreclosures will continue to surge and home prices will probably keep falling, sowing [...]
Another must read piece by Matt Taibbi, scanned from Rolling Stone. Gangster Capitalism is an apt name.
From tech stocks to high gas prices, Goldman Sachs has engineered every major market manipulation since the Great Depression - and they’re about to do it again
By MATT TAIBBI
If you’re tired of having your hard earned dollars looted, please read Alan Grayson’s letter to members of Congress to support H.R. 1207 and then sign the petiton at FireDogLake. Also read Yves Smith at Naked Capitalism on this.
It’s time we learned where our money is going. All U.S. citizens are ultimately accountable [...]
Like many small businesses, we’ve been using credit cards when necessary to fund operations. It’s no surprise that BoA just sent us a change to our perpetually self modifying cardholder agreement stating our APR on purchases is rising 4%. Not as bad as I’ve seen happen to others, but ridiculous nonetheless.
Ultimately as these [...]
The Obama administration is engineering its new bailout initiatives in a way that it believes will allow firms benefiting from the programs to avoid restrictions imposed by Congress, including limits on lavish executive pay, according to government officials.
The looting of the public continues, aided by the Obama Administration. (I almost typed Bush. Wow.)
As explained in On the Urgency of Restructuring Bank and Mortgage Debt, and of Abandoning Toxic Asset Purchases:
Indeed, the only way for the toxic asset sale to increase shareholder equity is if the buyer overpays for the asset. To accomplish this, the Geithner plan creates a speculative incentive for private investors, by effectively offering them [...]
Steve Keen has a must read article, Steve Keen’s DebtWatch No 31 February 2009: “The Roving Cavaliers of Credit”, that turns the accepted relationship of money supply and the Fed on its head.
Eugene Fama speaks of government recapitalization of banks in Government Equity Capital for Financial Firms.
Several must read articles just from the past couple days.
No Return to Normal Why the economic crisis, and its solution, are bigger than you think. James K. Galbraith.
The Big Takeover. The global economic crisis isn’t about money - it’s about power. How Wall Street insiders are using the bailout to stage a revolution. [...]