Elaine Meinel Supkis
More details of how the Federal Reserve jinked the rules and ripped off savers in order to save a bunch of bankers who made zillions of bad, bad, bad loans. The system's collapse was cured in a very strange, strange, strange way and it will take a long, long, long time to unwind this tangled skein. Arrest them all, I say.
A letter from the Federal Reserve playing Sugar Daddy:
What's this? What the hell is this? Remember the little children's fairy story our financial wizards read just the other day, the story of the good little bankers who went to the Gingerbread house and pretended they weren't really hungry at all, they were going to sample the sweets and set an example so other good little borrowers could see, the Gingerbread house was not a trap! Each nibbled $500 million and then smugly told us, they really didn't need one red cent. Not even one brass farthing. Hahahaha.
Right. Now more ugly details are coming out. We all must play Sherlock Holmes and figure out the riddle of this hokus-pokus banking scheme. Um, according to this letter a certain bank, the Bank of America, is in very big trouble. Oops. And it has to rescue a certain entity which shall not be named...Vortehedge Fund LLC! This dying doggie has to be rescued. It ate too many bad tranches and got very sick. The act of basically deciding it is OK to break the law since the Federal Reserve is a retirement home for addled wizards, sort of the final resting place called Hogheaven. And so we see the Bank of America 'borrowing' from 'itself' a tiny sum of money. Heh.
$25 billion. A drop in the bucket when the money in this game is around....ah...we have absolutely no idea. $10 trillion? $500 trillion? $1 trillion? The problem of letting a bunch of guys using islands set aside by the Queen of England as private pirate coves comes to mind. Many of these organizations are stationed all over the Atlantic Ocean right up to just off shore from England itself. They all swear fealty to this old dragon. Well, they are secretive and don't pay taxes and don't answer to anyone. So we are in mysterious country now.
$25 billion is a lot of money. True, in Iraq, it is enough to run things for about two months give or take $10 billion and 50 dead soldiers. Make that 100 dead soldiers. So something very mysterious and very serious happened. Will the pirates running the Bank of America (hahaha) come clean? Or is it really 'The Bank of the Cayman Islands'? I suspect that is closer to the truth here.
I am filled with foreboding and horror tonight. Intead of sleeping, this goofy story pisses me off. Tremendously. If the Bank of America (sic) is in such dire straits and needs to be saved from some mysterious disease, how on earth did they manage to buy the nearly bankrupt Countrywide Mortgage guys? Who sold off most of their stock this last year, $400+ million? I smell a whole army of rats here! Countrywide boasted they got $11 billion. The Bank (sic) of America (hahaha) claims it had plenty of reserves to take over Countrywide.
Obviously, someone is lying. How unusual is that? If they are lying abouy this, what else are they lying about? And in every statement including this letter from the clowns destroying our currency, they claim these actions are being done to stop a panic. Well, I hate to clue these clowns but when I hear a stream of lies when there is danger, I PANIC. Actually, I don't panic, I get famously pissed off.
So here it is: YOU STUPID......BASTARDS!
The US Federal Reserve injected 17.25 billion dollars into the financial system in three actions Thursday, the latest in a series of moves designed to ease a credit squeeze in global markets.The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, which handles the overnight repurchase agreements for the Fed, announced the actions on its website.
A first injection of seven billion dollars at 8:30 am (1230 GMT) was followed by another of the same amount at 9:40 am and a third of 3.25 billion at 9:55 am.
THIS is the 'good news' that made stocks shoot up. Sugar Daddy, here we come, jingle bells, all the way. You know, if we said, 'Funding children's health care will cost $17 billion,' the shrieking harpies on Wall Street and in DC would deafen us with their wails. But they happily sneak these funds right under our noses. How many people made billions today by selling off stinky stocks they couldn't unload two weeks ago for love or money? How many saps bought up stocks because they believed the banker's lies? This is sick. S-I-C-K-O and should be illegal.
In a clear sign that the credit crunch is still affecting the nation's largest financial institutions, the Federal Reserve agreed this week to bend key banking regulations to help out Citigroup (Charts, Fortune 500) and Bank of America (Charts, Fortune 500), according to documents posted Friday on the Fed's web site.The Aug. 20 letters from the Fed to Citigroup and Bank of America state that the Fed, which regulates large parts of the U.S. financial system, has agreed to exempt both banks from rules that effectively limit the amount of lending that their federally-insured banks can do with their brokerage affiliates. The exemption, which is temporary, means, for example, that Citigroup's Citibank entity can substantially increase funding to Citigroup Global Markets, its brokerage subsidiary. Citigroup and Bank of America requested the exemptions, according to the letters, to provide liquidity to those holding mortgage loans, mortgage-backed securities, and other securities.
So, Citigroup is also falling down fast. What this business means is...THESE BANKS ARE BANKRUPT. Unlike in the good ol'e days, these bankrupt bankers can get the Fed to conspire with them to do everything they need to do to paper over their obvious bankruptcy. So they did the little theatrical event where they pretended to go to Sugar Daddy Bernanke and get that little gift box with $500 million and then stand in a line and repeat some very potent magic spells that, with the fake housing data that was very poorly analyzed...typical, no? And then, with this fake magic production, they conjoured up a good day across the globe as our trade rivals were assured, we will continue towards eternal debt and utter ruin, no one needs to panic, nothing is changing!
CNN:
On Wednesday, Citibank and Bank of America said that they and two other banks accessed $500 million in 30-day financing at the discount window. A Citigroup spokesperson declined to comment. Bank of America dismissed the notion that Banc of America Securities is not well positioned to fund operations without help from the federally insured bank. "This is just a technicality to allow us to use our regular channels of business with funds from the Fed's discount window," says Bob Stickler, spokesperson for Bank of America. "We have no current plans to use the discount window beyond the $500 million announced earlier this week."There is a good chance that other large banks, like J.P. Morgan (Charts, Fortune 500), have been granted similar exemptions. The Federal Reserve and J.P. Morgan didn't immediately comment.
The regulations in question effectively limit a bank's funding exposure to an affiliate to 10% of the bank's capital. But the Fed has allowed Citibank and Bank of America to blow through that level. Citigroup and Bank of America are able to lend up to $25 billion apiece under this exemption, according to the Fed. If Citibank used the full amount, "that represents about 30% of Citibank's total regulatory capital, which is no small exemption," says Charlie Peabody, banks analyst at Portales Partners.
Just a technicality that stood in the way of the Bank (sic) of America (hahaha) from doing something that would send the boss to prison but just for the fucking hell of it, they did this caprice because....they felt like it????? Gads. And these are adults who are supposed to be responsible for our economic well being. They are supposed to be...our bankers. Never trust stupid bankers who say dumb things that are obvious tissues of lies.
I once saw a movie made in the mid-1950s with Shelly Winters about a banker who stole from his own bank and to cover his tracks, he killed more and more people until he set a forest fire, set a house on fire and was totally batty until he was shot. I thought it exaggerated things but now I am not so sure.
Wall Street investment banks may be stuck with fewer leveraged-buyout loans than previously estimated as investor demand for riskier debt recovers, Citi Investment Research strategists said.Securities firms may be forced to write off as much as $25 billion of loans and notes they had planned to sell to investors to fund leveraged takeovers, Citi strategists led by Tobias Levkovich wrote in a note today. That's one-third of the amount estimated by Citi analyst Prashant Bhatia on Aug. 8.
OK: here is another $25 billion story. We have to keep track of all these amounts these bankers talk about as they set fire to the forest and run riot. Um, Why are all the amounts $25 billion? Is this magical? Just like the all picked up $500 million---was that their tip? Or was that a bribe to shut them up? I can't tell! Must interrogate them some day. Waterboarding included. I promise to use only expensive French wines.
So, the amount was 25x3? That is...mmmmm....$75 billion. I recall that the Central Banks around the world spent what? $500 billion? Just yesterday, the Fed injected another $17 billion, the amounts are tremendous and rapid. I also recall a story that the Fed thought these were temporary loans and they would accept CDOs. So...did $50 billion vanish? Is it part of that huge deal last week? What are the terms and can we see the CDOs and see how much toxic junk is in them? I want raw data, not bizarre stories about broken cookie jars that suddenly were filled with gingerbread cookies again thanks to a certain Wicked Witch.
Bill Gross, the world's largest bond fund manager, said he's buying debt of investment banks.Gross, who oversees the $103 billion Pimco Total Bond Fund, is buying new corporate bond issues from Bank of America Corp, Merrill Lynch & Co., Deutsche Bank AG and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Gross made his comments in an interview today.
WHOA!!! HOLD THEM THAR HORSES! Wait. Wait. Hell's bells, dark is light and up and down! Lightning laced midnight becomes day in a flash! OK: Gross has $103 billion in something or other, at least, he claims his paper is worth this and is not devalued but we don't know what these things are...HAHAHA. And this rich guy is buying the 'new corporate bond issues' of a certain quartet of begging children who ran off to the Fed for lots and lots, around $110 billion in rescue money and suddenly this guy is buying their paper off of them and how did he get money? Is he an entity that is part of this mysterious deal where the banks sell their stuff to entities that are themselves? Which was illegal until today? Huh? OK: the skunk smell here is so strong, we need clothespins on our noses. And burn a barrel of incense! Wow. Just...my god. This pisses me off.
Goldman Sachs Group Inc.'s Global Equity Opportunities hedge fund rose 12 percent last week after the securities firm shored up the money-losing pool with $3 billion of cash, investors said.Assets more than doubled to $7.5 billion as New York-based Goldman put $2 billion into the fund and raised $1 billion from investors including Maurice ``Hank'' Greenberg, the former chairman of American International Group Inc., and billionaire Eli Broad. The fund lost about 30 percent in early August as rising mortgage defaults caused stocks to tumble, upending the computer models its managers use to select trades.
Goldfinger! Hello! So, Goldman got a cool $2 billion out of...hello, Bernanke Sugar Daddy-o! Santa in August! Then, Goldfinger got another $1 billion. From whom? Mr. Gross. The tribe takes care of its internal lies well. These guys dumped $3 billion down the rat hole they created. 30% down? Why, the Bank of America (sic and hahaha) also had to use that same 30%! When numbers are this similar, this harmonic, across this many stories, either we are in trouble or it is 12:21 as I write! (It really is that witchy hour) I suspect they have either decided to pull a classic number-driven magic spell or they are very unoriginal in their choice of numbers. When they held their very secret meetings, did they decide it would be easier if they told everyone '500--3--25---30%'? What if a number was '7' or '14'? This would ruin the effect of the wand waving going on this month?
James Pallotta's $8.5 billion Raptor fund fell 8 percent this year through Aug. 15 as a common hedging strategy he uses -- betting against some stocks -- failed to protect him amid a global equities selloff.``Some of our core longs were simply crushed,'' Pallotta, who manages Raptor from Boston for Tudor Investment Corp., wrote in an Aug. 21 letter to investors obtained by Bloomberg News. ``Compounding matters, our short book failed us, which was enormously frustrating because historically it has been more volatile than our long book.''
Raptor fund. Right. Another winning name. And the baby got hurt. Lost $8.5 which is 8%. I see he isn't part of the group that uses the $25 billion/30% formula. He is behind the 8 ball and since it is the 8th month of the year, let's applaud his contrary numerical harmony. I wrote about these guys in the past. Mocked their ability to make money. Will they sue me? Many a hedge fund is in the news this month doing this. I will talk about that later. Gads. Touchy little pirates, ain't they?
BEIJING (Kyodo) Japanese investment in China, which dropped in the first half of 2007, is unlikely to pick up in the near future as manufacturers scale down investments in the country, a Japanese trade organization said Thursday.Even as overall overseas Japanese investment more than doubled in the January-June period, that to China dropped 11.2 percent from a year earlier to ¥342.8 billion in the same period, a report by the Japan External Trade Organization's Beijing office says.
*snip*
The report adds that Japanese manufacturers are also diversifying investment destinations to hedge risks.In contrast to the drop in Japanese investment in China, that in Southeast Asia from January to June shot up 72.8 percent from a year earlier to ¥427.5 billion, while that in India quadrupled to ¥107.3 billion, the report says.
Like I said, Japan is scared of the Dragon and is now withdrawing as fast as they can backpedal and this isn't going to go well for China isn't Vietnam and even Vietnam isn't Mexico, there are repercussions. So Japan is running off to India and will move its factories there only this is a fool's errand since India is more like Italy than Germany in culture, atttitude and style. China is very much like Germany. And it is big. Japan and China's battle for dominance is now out in the open and will rage wildly. And this won't help us any. Not at all.
Maybe not this year. GM and Ford want to cut costs by transferring retiree health benefits to a union-run fund. Chrysler LLC, now owned by Cerberus Capital Management LP, has different priorities, according to people with knowledge of the situation. The smallest of the three automakers needs to negotiate more immediate savings to raise cash for operations, said the people, who don't want to be named because the discussions aren't public.
Cerberus needs to grind bones and then run off to find other game to kill. This is one big mess that will be messier. Think of dogs garfing up leaves and dog biscuits. And body parts. The death of our last industries should sober up our rulers and bankers but they are too busy playing money games and playing pirate in the Cayman Islands.
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Golly, I thought that the mega mergers were all about "synergy."
CitiBank Travelers Salomon Smith Barney
Margan Stanley Chase Manhattan Dean Witter (and Sears, the hedge fund)
Bank Of America NCNB, etc
The deceit is epic
Take a look at the history of the 4 banks that, as you commented, used the discount window just because
like a star athlete serving meals at the soup kitchen because he is supposed to be, you know, a role model
It is stunning
overheard this am a group of middle aged republicans (apparently)
"The economy has NEVER BEEN BETTER Because there actually is money flowing INTO the Treasury - a net inflow - - - "
Surreal. Another of the group commented that this administration will go down in history as one of the absolut worst and reminded the group of the record deficits
So someone is paying attention at least
But so many people need to be deluded and the fed and the co-conspirators are only too willing to oblige
This will dwarf 1929
What in hell are we going to do?
Posted by: D. F. Facti | August 25, 2007 at 12:32 PM
The reason I fear another Great Depression is because it comes with a Great War as part of the package. Therefore, I am dead set against it.
When Congress, out of the blue, suddenly passed that stupid bankruptcy law, I knew that they and the banks knew we were going into a major bankruptcy episode and the fools thought they could circumvent this by forcing bankrupt people to pay even when they could not pay at all. This wasn't for the money but for the FICTION that money would still come in.
Posted by: Elaine Meinel Supkis | August 26, 2007 at 09:42 AM
JenPen, your winters are so extreme you must feel the joy of spring all the more when it comes. It’ s in the air- the animals are at it like it’ ll be banned tomorrow or something. Last night I was up with insomnia for a while, and listened to a pair of lusty raccoons courting for about half an hour. I swear, if all the love in the air could be visualized, there would be showers of little love hearts popping over all the bushes.
Posted by: make her fall in love with you | April 02, 2008 at 08:51 AM
I live in Massachusetts.
I am from Libya and too poorly know English, please tell me right I wrote the following sentence: "Learn how to become a successful and profitable computer reseller in as little as two weeks."
Thanks for the help :(, Maclean.
Posted by: Maclean | February 20, 2009 at 07:59 AM