Financial Collapse: Fear & National Resentment

monetary whirlpool

Global reports state that the global credit crisis has deepened. Banks have stopped lending to one another. Britain and Europe are encountering many of the same problems as the United States. Central bankers are dumping cash onto the market and playing the same game as the Federal Reserve through auctions to keep commercial banks on life support. Who is to blame? Today, the blame is being cast on the collapse of Lehman Brothers, but the reality is a tragic loss of confidence brought on by bankers themselves. Some of the best educated men and women on the planet have been powerless to improve the situation.

Commercial bankers have locked up the market and the only option central bankers think they have is to dump money into banks, in effect, satisfying the “need for cash.” The need for cash and credit is a symptom of the larger problem: panic by bankers because of their poor choices.

Economists publicly expect the longest recession in a quarter century with or without a bailout plan to rescue the battered banking industry. Most say the next six months are going to be very difficult. Market scare tactics say that if a bailout is not approved, a depression is likely as credit freezes up and markets collapse. The global consortium of central banks dumped an additional $630 billion into the global financial system, which will fuel both inflation and devalue currencies simultaneously. Central bankers are doing the same thing with other major currencies, portending a global debacle in an effort to keep the cash and credit flowing. On the other hand, the central bankers don’t want to be caught holding devalued cash, so now is the time to cleanse their palates. Central bankers only collect and horde gold among themselves since that is how they settle their accounts against each other.

stormy economic skies

Whether disaster can be averted or not, the United States has a right to do nothing, even to fail. The reality is that this is already what has happened as politicians and money managers stubbornly cling to the hope of sustaining what currently exists in the current power structure. The problem remains as a global crisis that even central bankers are ill-prepared to deal with.

George Bush warned Congress that they must act or damage to the U.S. economy will be painful and lasting. Congress seems to have rejected that notion. What the nation really has is a credibility crisis. Authorities seem to be more interested in their reputations than possible solutions. Meanwhile, many American scrimpers and savers are in a panic and most American voters resent the bailout efforts, convinced that the rescue effort is for the good of Wall Street and not the average man in America. Considering the decline in the U.S. living standard over the last few decades, the popular opinion to let banks fail and allow the system to unwind naturally is seen as likely to have little effect on meaningful personal assets in the eyes of most Americans. The real problem that panics bankers and politicians lies in the market correction and pricing standards in a bankrupt economy as values fall through the floor, creating still more bankruptcy and poverty for business and citizens.

The correction in the U.S. housing market bore a decline of more than 16 percent in July 2008 alone as the accounting totals have come rolling in. Americans are quickly becoming “upside-down” on mortgages on their homes, encouraging more defaults and foreclosures, even as more Americans lose their employment from an already failing economy.

The public line is that business must have a huge amounts of credit available. Business, like consumers have become increasingly dependent on credit while overpaying executives and paying stockholders instead of reinvesting in themselves. With credit becoming increasingly tight, businesses may find it tough to obtain short-term loans to meet payrolls or purchase inventory. That may lead to job layoffs, which could ripple through the economy in a matter of weeks. The bottom line is that solvent businesses do not need large amounts of credit for everyday business. In the “old days,” business used to borrow for expansion purposes only. Business needs were met by the influx of cash coming in from clients and customers. Have business standards declined so dramatically in the name of personal profit taking or is this statement simply a political red herring to generate urgency?

Increasingly, Americans have become more and more detached from the wealth and prosperity of Corporate and Political America. They have become beasts of burden for the affluent. Considering the circumstances, it isn’t hard to see why many Americans don’t favor a bailout, even if they risk losing a few thousand in a retirement account they may never see anyway. There is an underground pessimism and resentment that has come to rest in much of mainstream America. ~ E. Manning

A Bailout Draft Without Details

government efficiency

Once the new Wall Street bailout legislation was released to the public by Congress, pundits and citizens alike plowed into the house.gov website. Sunday afternoon, presumably because of high traffic, the website was not accessible for many. In the late evening only a summary file was available. The actual legislation file was not viewable, duly noted with the stately notice “the file is damaged and could not be repaired.” So much for getting any real news direct from the source or the media. Other “helpful” media links merely directed John Q. Public to the same official document with the same result. Does anyone have a copy of the draft legislation? Heaven forbid that such a thing was intentional. Perhaps Chinese hackers are to blame.

The summary of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008 was short on details, in which unquestionably the devil resides. The old news is that $700 billion will be designated to the Secretary of the U.S. Treasury for buy bad mortgage securities. The recent Republican contribution “allows” companies to insure troubled assets.

The legislation requires the Treasury to modify the troubled loans involved in the failed securities to allow some Americans to keep their homes. This process has been widely discussed for more than six months with little real result or prospect of streamlining the process. How will the U.S. Treasury manage such a large job and save homeowners in foreclosure from losing their homes? “Wherever possible” is the key word of the day, insuring that very little will be done by the Treasury. Instead, homeowners have hope through improving the HOPE for Homeowners program through HUD. The idea, once again, is to help more families to keep their homes. Once again, we are classicly short on details or provisional government motivation.

can of worms?

Part 3 highlights taxpayer protection with idea that taxpayers should not be expected to pay for Wall Street’s mistakes. This statement prevents a tea party. As a bonus for being bailed out, warrants will insure that taxpayers will benefit from future growth enjoyed as a result of participation in the program. Interestingly, the draft legislation intends that the President is responsible to submit legislation to cover losses to taxpayers resulting from the program.

Part 4 covers windfalls or golden parachutes for executives. They won’t walk away with millions in bonuses. Companies are projected to lose “certain tax benefits” and may be required to limit executive pay. Unearned bonuses must be returned. What determines “unearned” and the resulting enforcement is a huge question mark.

Finally, the federal government assures strong oversight in the draft legislation. Financial provisions indicate that the U.S. Treasury will not receive the funds at one time, starting with $250 billion, and followed up by the president as funds are needed. The Treasury is required to issue a report every sixty days. EESA establishes an Oversight Board that cannot act in an arbitrary manner and includes a special Inspector General to secure against fraud, waste and abuse.

Obviously, the legislation has good points and seems to take plenty of precautions. The reality is that the liquidity crisis is an accounting crisis bolstered by destructive decisions and pandering politics. More troubling is that trusting the government to properly handle legislation once it has passed has become a large question mark based on past performance. Trust has to be built and the nation is short on that right now. The morally-bankrupt weak-kneed Congress wants to restore that trust. Just considering that the nation must elect a Senator to be President is enough to give one pause to think. ~ E. Manning

Read First Amendment of rejected Congressional Bailout 

Liquidity Crisis is Accounting Semantics

In dealing with the bailout the reader needs discernment that is provided on this website. Remember that the ultimate solution for global banking per the global central bankers is the integration of Basel II rules. Basel II rules don’t prohibit the kind of banking profitaking or abusive policies that we have seen in the United States over the last decade or more. Basel II, the creation of global bankers is little more than a charade, pretending to be a solution for little or nothing. Basel II merely restricts the surface exposure of the tricks that accountants play with the direction of their superiors.

The bottom line is that the liquidity crisis in America is in large due to semantics in accounting, combined with the fear of bankers. When payback has come home to roost, bankers have become very protective of themselves. The result is clear to see. These accounting tricks that are used by bankers and big business to bolster the bottom line while accentuating power and growth has become the established tour de force of the industry that they don’t want to give up. If you haven’t deduced the truth from reading this blog over the last year, know the truth now. The crisis that we have in largely based in fear because of rampant abuse of the system. Bankers know what awaits them because of what they have done along with the sponsorship of the U.S. government. Turning a blind eye to improper banking and accounting standards because those standards “enriched” the nation has finally completed the cycle. Regulations weren’t the problem. The will to enforce regulations along with acceptable standards was and still is the Achilles Heel of the system.  

What everyone in the U.S. economy has forgotten about is the glory of small business creativity and empowerment that the United States as a nation used to enjoy. Instead, the U.S. has turned to fascist corporate policy and close scrutiny on personal freedom as the safe way to live and profit. Increasing control, now available through computers, the internet and global tracking technologies is becoming the established way of policing the nation. A meaningful grass roots recovery will be difficult to impossible until this changes. Ultimately, this is what is needed to restore any level of quick recovery to the nation. Politicians must give up some of the control that they are determined to enjoy. ~ E. Manning

U.S. Sovereignty Lost to Federal Reserve

United States now a multinational corporate nation

For a long time the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission has been committed to deregulation and a proponent of voluntary regulation. The head of the SEC, Christopher Cox admits that voluntary regulation has been a major contributor to the market and economic collapse. By his admission, the government regulatory oversight program was fundamentally flawed from the beginning.

The reality is that the SEC is out of a job because investment banks in the strict sense no longer exist. The SEC will still have primary responsibility for regulating securities brokers and dealers. However, the interesting prospect is that all future oversight will be turned over to the quasi-governmental Federal Reserve under Ben Bernanke. All the government players have agreed that government regulatory failures brought on the economic collapse.

A grand attempt to extort the nation has been made by Henry Paulson as he claims that the United States must rush into a solution that has been evolving for the last twenty years. His reputation is on the line. The reputation of the Bush administration is on the line if they still have one. The reality behind the immediate panic of the crisis rests firmly on the loss of jobs in America as bad mortgage securities continue to implode on nation. Trust across the board has been diminished and lost. The crisis of confidence reigns supreme.

The Federal Reserve continues to attempt to suck up more and more control and power. And why not? They hold the purse strings and ultimately the support required to run the nation. The United States has lost its sovereignty to what is effectively a multinational corporation courtesy of the mindless politicians that citizens elected to man the helm of the United States. They have lost the will to manage money, turning the nation into a den of slavery. The United States is effectively a corporation that belongs to International Bankers, a fascist state of sorts.

corporate slaves

The Federal Reserve cannot be audited even though there have been some moves by Congress to make the attempt. The Fed has resisted responsibility for national accountability, instead using economic theory and global banking governance to bolster its position and control over the dollar. The world is now effectively run by an International Banking Cartel that on this website is referred to as the International Society of Bankers. ~ E. Manning

For more information on this topic including the hierarchy of the global banking system, review this website.

 

U.S. Political Infighting Threatens Bailout

rushing to secret meeting

Tempers are aflair in Washington on the eve of what authorities hoped would be the salvation of Wall Street and the U.S. economy. What Democrats declared as a breakthrough Wednesday evening seems a bust. The nation was led to believe that agreement had been reached and the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury could begin the work of applying the agreement. Negotiations toward a massive bailout for Wall Street has just fallen into disarray on after Democrats said they learned in a White House meeting that presidential candidate Senator John McCain is backing a new plan differing markedly from one that has been under discussion. So much for bipartisan political agreement and cooperation that McCain advertised in the U.S. bailout.

Now, the feeling is that a new plan could be another week in the making as Republicans retired to an unknown location to plow through their ideas for the bailout. The Republican plan may involve a mortgage insurance plan as an alternative to the Bush plan, which has encountered criticism on Capitol Hill. Republicans also argued that the Treasury Department should charge premiums to holders of securities to finance the insurance.

Until Thursday’s White House meeting, Republicans had not brought up an alternative plan for the Wall Street bailout, including during previous meetings and Senate hearings. Is this political grandstanding or a far better concept? What does this mean, if anything, for the nation? If a negative catastophic reaction occurs will U.S. citizens hold Republicans responsible for the result? This portends to be a big stakes gamble for McCain which could catapult him to great heights or destroy his chances at winning the presidency. Only time will tell whether what Republicans are doing is a boon or a bust as some U.S. politicians seem to have forgotten that global confidence is more important to sustain the ailing U.S. economy than the opinions of the U.S. taxpayer. This reality isn’t opinion, but fact.

Meanwhile, the global central bankers of the G8 continue to dump dollars to encourage global dollar liquidity, thus increasing the pitch of inflation and further devaluing the dollar between the dollar and other currencies as the U.S. becomes indebted to foreign central bankers through the Federal Reserve. The dollar has less buying power and increased pressure toward inflated pricing across the board. The dollar is overheating, which will easily evolve into hyperinflation along with pressures that would force the Fed to admit the truth of that inflation. Even though central bankers are essentially holding a gun to the head of the U.S. national economy, they can’t seem to stop themselves in the name of dollar liquidity. In the end, foreign central bankers don’t want to be stuck with devalued dollars anyway. The International Society of Bankers are looking at global monetary policy and their own corporate profits.

Global reaction to a bailout is not very positive overall as the U.S. economy remains on life support. The German Finance Minister reacted, “The United States will lose its superpower status in the world financial system.” How the world reacts as the morning and day wears on in Europe and Asia remains to be seen. Ultimately, outside global and sovereign financing is what the U.S. economy is dependent on. How the world reacts is of great importance.

~ E. Manning

Power: The Truths behind the Meltdown

massive bailout

Americans should feel some value in the fact that the FBI is now investigating toxic firms that have been central to the U.S. financial meltdown. For some time 26 firms have been under intense scrutiny by the FBI. The media has been highlighting investigation of the 4 firms that have collapsed: Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, AIG and Lehman Brothers.

The mortgage twins, Fannie and Freddie, have already been under investigation for years based on varying problems with financial irregularities and leadership issues. The investigations will focus on the financial firms and the individuals that ran them. Hopefully, middle management will also be scrutinized and judged. The truth is that the FBI needs to find the perpetrators of the fraud rather than single out top dog scapegoats.

financial storm

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke made the joint unilateral decision last week that the only way to stop the U.S. financial carnage was to deal with the root cause of all the troubles by rooting out billions of dollars of bad mortgage debt sitting on the books of major financial firms. This debt has triggered the worst credit crisis in decades, “causing” credit markets to freeze up despite the fact that the Fed joined with major central banks around the world to pump billions of dollars of reserves into the financial system. The billions of dollars pumped into the global economy are creating a crisis of stagflation themselves, a nasty round of inflation coupled with the current economic recession and malaise. The results of those actions cannot be undone and are being ignored by panicked authorities.

The reality behind the liquidity lock down that the Bush administration and U.S. Treasury Secretary are panicking about revolves around interbank lending, a problem that has been noticed publicly for at least a year. Why is there a problem? The crisis boils down to an issue of trust. Bankers know that they cannot trust one another and are unwilling to take the fall for the fraud of other bankers. In other words, the bankers know they have been harpooned by the securities that were supposed to make them wealthy. Bankers have put the thumbscrews on lending to protect their solvency.

selling Wall Street

The Bush adminstration has its game face on. President Bush says he expects Congress to pass “a robust plan” that deals with the nation’s economic problems. The word robust has become another favorite public watchword that should garner your prompt attention. Robust implies a broad emcompassing scope along with complex provisions that could very well be the downfall of any attempts to band-aid the current situation. Currently, an estimate is that 1 of 254 mortgages is actually in some measure of foreclosure. This is a very small percentage to cause a crisis. What the American press and government is acknowleging is merely the tip of the iceberg. The main problem with securitized loans is that when they were developed and created, a system was not developed to track reality. An internal processing scandal within the process of issuing of these securities is implied. However, government has not been eager to breach this area of the mortgage crisis beyond specifying that the regulations and concepts in the entire financial system are dated and ineffective. Somehow, this idea is supposed to get government, regulators and bankers off the hook.

taxpayer crisis

What should be done to resolve the current foreclosure crisis? Not a soul has bothered to shift gears in addressing the real problem regarding predatory financing and usury in place. Each known problem loan triggered by payment issues needs to be evaluated regarding the current real value of the home. If evaluation of home value is an issue because of a weak market, then half the real value of home should be the mortgage value. This action would assist in correcting inflated home prices and counter price inflation. Any failure of the past verification process through bankers or qualification of the homeowner should be ignored as long as the homeowner is gainfully employed and can make the payments on the new loan. The government then needs to reissue a safe government-backed assumable loan that will allow the buyer to stay in the home at a low interest rate. Ultimately, the goal would be for every loan to be converted to a non-predatory government loan with low interest. Loans would not be securitized or bundled for resale as government securities. Banks would not bundle loans into any internal or banking instruments. Bankers would simply make money from compound interest and providing basic banking services. The bailout needs to be on the side of the taxpayer, the basis and stock of capital and wealth, rather than on the side of corporate interests that often pay few taxes in the real world beyond payroll.

losing the Dream

If push came to shove, the nation would be better off giving mortgages away than bailing out the endless debt and failure created by Wall Street and the system in place. Americans would then own their homes fair and square with a new national beginning. Trillions in debt would be eliminated overnight. This idea seems radical and expensive, but is assuredly no more expensive than a long-term bailout of government and corporate fraud. The American population would benefit directly from the bailout, as should always be the case. The main problem is that such an action would destabilize the power structure in place. However, the ideas presented here are no less sane than what is being proposed by the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury in the name of the Bush administration. We are a nation of double standards that bolsters government and corporate power at the expense of the populace, a fascist notion. That needs to change.

The FBI has been in various stages of investigation regarding the mortgage debacle since March of 2007, even before most Americans were aware of a scandal. This proves that the Bush administration has been aware of mortgage fraud and scandal before the nation began to see the sign in the summer of 2007. As far back as the summer of 2004, President Bush beamed with pride about the creativity of the banking and mortgage industry, the single force that had maintained the illusion of national prosperity during the last three political administrations, originating from the Clinton administration.

Where are the people that are being investigated and implicated in fraudulent activities? Is the FBI keeping tabs on the movements of those may be involved in the scandal? What Americans should be concerned about is whether the U.S. government is allowing people that are tied directly into these firms to leave the country if they haven’t left already. ~ E. Manning

Global Liquidity Crisis: On the Brink

crisis solution

Turn on the TV, read the paper or peruse the latest internet news. You’ll be told that we’re on the brink of imminent crisis, a lock down of liquidity that must be remedied immediately. The Fifth Avenue Rush is on. The only solution is bipartisan unity in Congress to turn over vast power to the Bush administration and the U.S. Treasury without accountability. The Republican feel-good legislation is in place to save the home of the brave. We can do it if we can do it together. We will save the world for democracy.

The American taxpayer must trust that Henry Paulsen will use $700 billion wisely to snatch up worthless securitized bonds. Sound familiar? In the same way that the Federal Reserve Bank is totally unaccountable and is never subject to audit, the current proposal contains this proviso:

Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.

Henry Paulson, because of the massive liquidity freeze, is about to receive kingly authority to solve the current liquidity crisis. Even after the nation spends an initial sum of $700 billion, there is no guarantee of success beyond maintaining the current business, investor climate and monetary markets, shaky though they may be. The entire proposal is designed to bailout the collapsing U.S. financial system and save the world so that the current power structure can continue unchanged, further supporting control over the failing system. In the words of the administration, the fate of every American’s retirement and savings hangs in the balance. That makes many Americans nervous, at least for those that have managed to prosper, save and invest.

bailout money grab

In one more segment of authority, the executive branch of the Bush administration wants to perform another magnanimous service while exempting itself from any chance of responsibility or review for the pending results.

While the media and Congress are fussing about the lack of oversight on the project or who Henry Paulson uses to assist him in the huge money grab, the Federal Reserve Bank and the International Society of Bankers sit quietly by watching the drama like ripe fruit ready for picking. A few have pointed out that the lack of oversight is a grand opportunity for abuse or profitaking.

This current idea proposed is bold and transparent in simplicity. Have the Federal Reserve wave its monetary wand, giving buddies in the former investment banking industry piles of cash for rooting out the bad bonds and making a huge chunk of debt go away as the Federal Reserve apportions more American gold to send quietly to Swiss vaults while clueless Americans aren’t watching. No rush about the physical location of gold. International Bankers will count it anyway as their personal profit and add it to the national debt. Never mind that the Fed is already holding all the nation’s gold. Fort Knox is an illusion.

fort knox gold

The funding credits will never actually need to leave the Fed. The entire process can be done electronically without a trace. The craft is in the paperwork that the U.S. Treasury will alter, permanently erasing a mountain of fraudulent debt that only the banking community and authorities can see. The scheme is perfect because the scheme is all about semantics anyway.

Never has such a bailout been proposed with such secrecy. Even the federal bailouts during the Great Depression and during the Savings and Loan collapse of the 80s never suspended judicial review. Enter an emboldened U.S. Congress led by a Democrat majority that seeks oversight and taxpayer protections. Congress claims to be keenly interested in recouping any possibility of future income derived from currently worthless securitized bonds as the Bush Administration claims. Yet, the American taxpayer will never see a penny from these worthless pieces of paper.

homeowner bailout

Democrats want to be certain that going forward, any institutions that benefit from financial insurance also bear the cost of that insurance. Congress is also interested in bailing out beleaguered homeowners that face losing their homes. On “The View,” Whoopi Goldberg and Bill Clinton agreed that enraged Americans need the same bailout consideration that Wall Street and the financial system is getting. Unlike Congress, Whoopi and Bill weren’t talking about new bankruptcy laws that Barney Frank thinks will do the trick. Americans want cold hard cash that they can retire on, like the bankers that robbed the nation.

While all of these opportunities can be justified and even supported, the possibility of pork barrel spending is likely to escalate as Senators and Representatives see the opportunity to bolster their interests. That is the part and parcel of shameless American politics in this age.

credit addiction

Meanwhile, a desperate executive administration and U.S. Treasury Secretary are prepared to do most anything to get legislation through Congress. Reputations are now on the line.

Paulson and President Bush have argued that the alternative is that credit markets will remain frozen. Businesses will fail because they can’t get the loans they need to operate. The economy will grind to a halt because consumers that account for two-thirds of U.S. economic activity, won’t be able to get the credit they need to keep spending. Just think, it all started with broadening the profits of bankers by using compound interest instead of simple interest. We’ve come a long way baby.

national security

Unbridled credit is the insanity that this nation has been built on in the last four decades. Unbridled credit is what has enabled this nation to rise prices without raising wages. Unbridled credit is what has allowed the American consumer to sell himself into slavery to financial interests. Unbridled credit is what has built the power that politicians and business have come to depend on. Unbridled credit is why even Big Business seeks cheap Federal Reserve funding. The Federal Reserve and the International Bankers hold the key to that credit through the auspices of the federal government. The spectacle is all about power and the fear of change. This is the nation’s new national security issue. ~ E. Manning