Jackie and Dunlap on the recent chimp attack in Connecticut.
Category: News
Greenspan says "nationalize now"
Now this is something:
The US government may have to nationalize some banks on a temporary basis to fix the financial system and restore the flow of credit, Alan Greenspan, the former Federal Reserve chairman, has told the Financial Times.
In an interview, Mr Greenspan, who for decades was regarded as the high priest of laisser-faire capitalism, said nationalisation could be the least bad option left for policymakers.
”It may be necessary to temporarily nationalise some banks in order to facilitate a swift and orderly restructuring,” he said. “I understand that once in a hundred years this is what you do.”
Mr Greenspan’s comments capped a frenetic day in which policymakers across the political spectrum appeared to be moving towards accepting some form of bank nationalisation.
“We should be focusing on what works,” Lindsey Graham, a Republican senator from South Carolina, told the FT. “We cannot keep pouring good money after bad.” He added, “If nationalisation is what works, then we should do it.”
Speaking to the FT ahead of a speech to the Economic Club of New York on Tuesday, Mr Greenspan said that “in some cases, the least bad solution is for the government to take temporary control” of troubled banks either through the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation or some other mechanism.
The former Fed chairman said temporary government ownership would ”allow the government to transfer toxic assets to a bad bank without the problem of how to price them.”
But he cautioned that holders of senior debt – bonds that would be paid off before other claims – might have to be protected even in the event of nationalisation.
”You would have to be very careful about imposing any loss on senior creditors of any bank taken under government control because it could impact the senior debt of all other banks,” he said. “This is a credit crisis and it is essential to preserve an anchor for the financing of the system. That anchor is the senior debt.”
Let me get this straight, one of the main douche bags that was responsible for the meltdown of the bank industry and the economic collapse is now telling us what we should do with our banks?
<— click
Islamic subversion is real and it is on the move
This stuff really bothers me:
A former FBI special agent told law enforcement and Homeland Security personnel that a network of Islamic organizations are working to incrementally implement Islamic law in the United States.
During a presentation at the Bedford County Emergency Management Agency, former FBI agent John Guandolo briefed members about groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood, which he claims is working with other Islamic groups to slowly implement Shariah, also known as Islamic law, which encompasses all areas of life.
Guandolo worked in the FBI since 1996, including nine years as a member of its SWAT team. After 9/11, he worked in the Bureau’s Washington Field Office’s Counterterrorism Division, developing expertise concerning Al Qaeda, Muslim Brotherhood organizations and the Islamic movement in the U.S.
He now works with Stephen Coughlin, former Islamic Expert for the Joint Chiefs of Staff, to advise leaders at the federal level and also brief local law enforcement about the Islamic threat at home.
Coughlin was fired from his position with the Joint Chiefs following a report revealing opposition to his work by officials within the office of Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England, according to a Washington Times report dated Jan. 4, 2008.
Coughlin had run afoul of a key aide to England, Hasham Islam, who accused him of being a Christian zealot or extremist “with a pen,” according to defense officials, the report states.
via Shelbyville Times-Gazette: Story: Islamic subversion alleged by speaker.
I think this one warrants a full read. Please go read now.
This is why Ammo sales are going through the roof, because our Government cannot be trusted. The Radical Muslims have figured it out, they did not destroy us on September 11, 2001; so, they are going to do it from within, and now with a Liberal President, they just might succeed.
Act accordingly.
Others: The Corner, Jihad Watch, Moonbattery
An update from Rebuild The Party
Republicans now supporting nationalization of banks
It looks like the party of Freedom is selling the American people up the river:
Nationalization, long regarded in Washington as a folly of Europeans, is gaining rapid ground among US opinion-formers. Stranger still, many of those talking about federal ownership of banks are Republicans.
Lindsey Graham, the Republican senator for North Carolina, said that many of his
colleagues, including John McCain, the defeated presidential candidate, agreed with his view that nationalisation of some banks should be “on the table”.
Mr Graham said that people across the US accepted his argument that it was untenable to keep throwing good money after bad into institutions such as Citigroup and Bank of America, which now have a lower net value than the amount of public funds they have received.
“You should not get caught up on a word [nationalisation],” he told the Financial Times in an interview. “I would argue that we cannot be ideologically a little bit pregnant. It doesn’t matter what you call it, but we can’t keep on funding these zombie banks [without gaining public control]. That’s what the Japanese did.”
Barack Obama, the president, who has tried to avoid panicking lawmakers and markets by entertaining the idea, has recently moved more towards what he calls the “Swedish model” – an approach backed strongly by Mr Graham.
via FT.com – Bank nationalisation gains ground with Republicans.
Nationalization is nothing more than Communism. We are being sold up the river. Remember this come 2010.
(H/T Drudge)
Obama signs the Generational Theft Act and Promises Another, Markets Tank…
I figured this was coming:
The Story:
President Obama has not ruled out a second stimulus package, his press secretary, Robert Gibbs, said on Tuesday, just before Mr. Obama signed his $787 billion recovery package into law with a statement that it would “set our economy on a firmer foundation.”
The president said he would not pretend “that today marks the end of our economic problems.”
“Nor does it constitute all of what we have to do to turn our economy around,” Mr. Obama said at the signing ceremony in the Denver Museum of Nature and Science. “But today does mark the beginning of the end, the beginning of what we need to do to create jobs for Americans scrambling in the way of playoffs.”
Mr. Gibbs, speaking to reporters aboard Air Force One on the way to Denver, said, “I think the president is going to do what’s necessary to grow this economy.” While “there are no particular plans at this point for a second stimulus package,” he added, “I wouldn’t foreclose it.”
Mr. Obama began the first leg of a two-day trip, using the museum ceremony to spotlight the bill’s clean-energy provisions. The president will also visit Phoenix, where he will unveil his new housing plan on Wednesday.
After a bruising legislative battle on the stimulus bill, which drew only three supporting votes from Republicans in the Senate and none in the House, the White House is trying to recapture the debate over the economy. Mr. Obama’s message is that the bill will create or save 3.5 million jobs over the next two years.
While the bill has been criticized by conservatives as bloated with pork-barrel spending, it has also been criticized by the left as too tepid and not bold enough to jumpstart the economy. Mr. Gibbs’s remarks on the plane seemed to echo that concern.
In describing the package, the press secretary called it “a strong start towards economic viability” and “the beginning of getting our economy back on track.”
via Signing Stimulus Bill, Obama Does Not Rule Out Another – NYTimes.com.
I figured Obama would do this, sign one porkus bill into law and say, “This is not the end, but just the beginning of the pork!”
Meanwhile, the markets basically tanked, even more so than last week: (Via the New York Times)
From Hong Kong to eastern Europe to Wall Street, financial gloom was everywhere on Tuesday.
Stock markets around the world staggered lower. In New York, the Dow fell more than 3 percent, coming within sight of its worst levels since the credit crisis erupted. Financial shares were battered. And rattled investors clamored to buy rainy-day investments like gold and Treasury debt.
It was a global wave of selling spurred by rising worries about how banks, automakers — entire countries — would fare in a deepening global downturn.
“Nobody believes it’s going get better yet,” said Howard Silverblatt, senior index analyst at Standard & Poor’s. “Do you see that light at the end of the tunnel? Any kind of light? Right now, it’s not there yet.”
At the close, the Dow Jones industrial average was down 297.81 points or 3.7 percent to 7,552.29 points as losses in General Motors, Bank of America and American Express dragged the blue chips lower. The only Dow stock in positive territory was Wal-Mart, which rose after reporting better-than-expected profits.
“If we get substantially below 800 then look out below,” said Marc Groz, chief investment officer at Topos, a risk-advisory firm in Greenwich, Conn.
The broader Standard & Poor’s 500-stock index slid 3.7 percent to drop below 800, which analysts said was an important trading threshold.
Investors know what this is, it is basically nationalization of our Economy, our banks, everything. They are just not going to invest money in a Government owned banking system. I believe this drop is just the beginning. Wait till it totally collapses and the world is thrust into chaos. It will be an interesting time, indeed.
Stanford Financial Group busted in fraud charges
Well, this is quite interesting:
Stopping what it called a “massive ongoing fraud,” the Securities and Exchange Commission on Tuesday accused Robert Allen Stanford, the chief of the Stanford Financial Group, of fraud in the sale of about $8 billion of high-yielding certificates of deposit held in the firm’s bank in Antigua. Also named in the suit were two other executives and some affiliates of the financial group.
In the complaint, filed in Federal District Court in Dallas, the S.E.C. accused Mr. Stanford and two associates — James M. Davis, a director and chief financial officer of Stanford Group and the Antigua-based bank affiliate, and Laura Pendergest-Holt, the chief investment officer of both organizations — with misrepresenting the safety and liquidity of the uninsured CDs.
The CDs were sold by Stanford International Bank through the firm’s registered broker-dealer and investment adviser, which are in Houston. Both the bank, which claims $8.5 billion in assets and 30,000 clients in 131 countries, and the brokerage unit, which operates about 30 offices in the United States, were named in the S.E.C. suit. Stanford Financial asserts that it advises about $50 billion in assets.
Shortly after 10 a.m. Central time, about 40 police officers and other law enforcement officials simultaneously entered Stanford Group’s two office buildings in Houston. Many of the law enforcement personnel carried large black briefcases. Stanford group’s headquarters are in two offices in Houston, one within a tower of the Houston Galleria shopping mall, and the other across the street.
A spokesman for Stanford Group declined to comment.
It is amazing how a major meltdown in the markets will expose the frauds.
Vox Day Snarks:
What, there was something fishy about high-yield Antiguan CDs? Really? What will shock us next, the discovery that the import/export firm with the branch office in Medellin is selling coke?
Heh.
While I think it is alright to have a sense of humor about it. One must realize that there most likely some people “taking a bath” right about now. So, I shall keep the giggles to a minimum. Who I feel mot sorry for, are the peole who trusted these companies to invest thier money properly, and have gotten horribly screwed over. Those are the one’s I feel for.
Trump Folds
Here’s more fallout from the economy bubble…:
He is known as a successful entrepreneur to the millions who watch him on the US version of The Apprentice but Donald Trump on Tuesday suffered the indignity of watching a company that bears his name file for bankruptcy protection.
Trump Entertainment Resorts, of which Mr Trump owns 28 per cent, filed for Chapter 11 protection at a court in New Jersey on Tuesday after bondholders who control the debt-laden casino operator rejected Mr Trump’s attempt to take the company private.
The filing came as the group missed its last deadline on a $53m interest payment. It is not the first time the group has filed for Chapter 11: four years ago, an earlier incarnation of Trump Entertainment also sought bankruptcy protection from its creditors.
The filing reveals that the company has assets of $2bn and total debts of $1.7bn. Its biggest creditor is US Bank, which is acting as agent for the bondholders in the group. The group of bondholders could not be reached for comment but they are owed $1.3bn, according to the filing.
Other creditors include Bally Gaming, a Las Vegas-based group, and Bovis Lend Lease, the property developer, which is owed $7.5m.
Like other casino operators, Trump Entertainment, which owns three resort properties in Atlantic City, has been hit by the economic downturn and a severe slump in visitor attendance and gaming revenues.
But of course “The Donald” did not feel like take responsibility for his failure. He did what most rich executives do and what some politicians do; He blamed someone else:
In a stinging statement released last week following his resignation from the board, Mr Trump laid the blame for the group’s demise squarely on the bondholders. He accused their representatives of making “a series of bad decisions” and said they had “encouraged wasteful spending, which has led to severe problems with the company”.
Mr Trump pointed to the contrast between Trump Entertainment and The Trump Organisation, which he controls. “While The Trump Organisation grows and flourishes, Trump Entertainment …has languished. The Trump Organisation’s portfolio of residential, commercial, hotel, and golf properties has expanded all over the world, while Trump Entertainment has yet to diversify outside of Atlantic City.”
Mr Trump could not be reached for comment but his statement of last week suggests he opposed the bankruptcy route. “Now I will study and watch as the horrible and outrageous fees being paid to lawyers and consultants will suck the blood from the company,” he said.
“This internal turmoil will be compounded by dramatically deteriorating revenues across the board for casino companies in Atlantic City as the market tanks and competition from local markets grows.”
Ah yes, put the blame on someone else for the failure of a company that bears your name. Instead of being a man and admitting the failure. Trump could have went down there an fired all the idiots, took over ownership of the company and steered it to prosperity, but instead, he continued to lease his name to a failing enterprise and now that it’s bombed, he’s casting blame elsewhere. Typical of people of his ilk.
(H/T The Daily Beast)
Even more Islamic Religious Tolerance
Even more Religious Tolerance from this satanic religion:
The foster mother struck off for allowing a Muslim girl to convert to Christianity took the child in after she was threatened with an arranged marriage.
The woman, a devout Christian, was asked to care for the teenager after the authorities learned of her abusive family background.
Her father beat her just for chatting to boys and warned he would haul her off to Pakistan to marry against her will, a friend claimed.
But council officials were angered when the girl chose to be baptised. They insist the foster mother failed in her duty to preserve the girl’s original religion.
As a result, the girl was removed and the foster mother struck off the register last November, despite having worked with children for ten years with a perfect record.
Neither the carer, who has looked after more than 80 children, nor the girl, who is now 17, can be identified.
But a friend of the girl claimed yesterday:
‘Her dad is a very strict Muslim who could get violent. One time he hit her with a belt just because she chatted with a couple of boys.
‘Another time he beat her over and over and said he would take her to Pakistan and make her marry.
via Muslim girl in baptism row was fleeing an arranged marriage | Mail Online.
You see why I refuse to believe that this so-called Religion is a religion of peace? Plus too, there was this beheading yesterday as well.
I suggest you stop by my bookstore’s Islam section and pick up a book or two on this subject and learn.
This Nation needs to crackdown, we need to outlaw the practice of the Islamic faith in America, before it is too late.
Others: protein wisdom and Fausta’s Blog
Faux Conservative Arlan Spector "Republicans Support Stimulus, Don't Want 'Fingerprints' On It"
Oh Please, this is about the lamest damn thing ever….
Sen. Arlen Specter (R-PA), who broke with his party to support President Obama’s stimulus package last week, said before the final vote Friday that more of his colleagues would have joined were they not afraid of the political consequences.
“When I came back to the cloak room after coming to the agreement a week ago today,” said Specter, “one of my colleagues said, ‘Arlen, I’m proud of you.’ My Republican colleague said, ‘Arlen, I’m proud of you.’ I said, ‘Are you going to vote with me?’ And he said, ‘No, I might have a primary.’ And I said, ‘Well, you know very well I’m going to have a primary.'”
Specter, along with centrist Maine Republican Senators Susan Collins and Olympia Snowe, joined with Democrats last week to move the stimulus bill forward. Specter said he doubted there would be any more Republican votes than those three Friday night.
“I think there are a lot of people in the Republican caucus who are glad to see this action taken without their fingerprints, without their participation,” he said.
Specter was asked, How many of your colleagues?
“I think a sizable number,” he said. “I think a good part of the caucus agrees with the person I quoted, but I wouldn’t want to begin to speculate on numbers.”
via HuffPo Says: Republicans Support Stimulus, Don’t Want ‘Fingerprints’ On It.
Name one, Arlan, name just one. I dare you. Truth is, there were no other supporters, nobody self-loving Republican, Conservative or Libertarian would ever vote for a bill of this sort. This bill is nothing more than watered down, and in some places; not-so-watered down communism!
I find it absolutely amazing that Sen. Arlan Specter would stoop to outright lying about something as paramount as this bill.
Others: Gateway Pundit