Monday, March 16, 2009

The Unforgiven

Ben Bernanke speaks;

http://www.businessinsider.com/watch-ben-bernanke-on-60-minutes-2009-3
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9 comments:

  1. Comrade OneMarch 16, 2009 at 4:57 PM

    Wall Street hoarding cash?

    "Taking protective measures amid the crisis and the recession, U.S. firms took "dramatic" action through 2008 to preserve cash, according to Moody's Analytics. Not only did dividends after years of explosive growth turn negative, but also share buybacks fell by more than half, to $395 billion in 2008 from $831 billion in 2007"

    http://cxa.marketwatch.com/TSX/en/Market/article.aspx?guid=http%3a%2f%2fsystem.marketwatch.com%2fnewscloud%2fdocguid%2f{390D2D07-19EC-4CA6-810E-BCC6E866F185}

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  2. I, CharlesiusMarch 16, 2009 at 8:34 PM

    Fundamentals on Purchasing vs. Leasing . . .

    Purchasing: The math on the Paul McCartney-Heather Mills divorce is as follows:

    After five years of marriage, he paid her $49 million. Assuming he got sex every night during their relationship, it ended up costing him $26,849 per time.

    This is Heather (pic unavailable to show)

    Leasing: On the other hand, New York Governor Elliot Spitzer's hooker, Kristen, an absolute stunner with a body like no other, charges $4,000 an hour. For anything!

    This is Kristen (pic unavailable to show)

    Had Paul McCartney "employed" Kristen for 5 years, he would've paid $7.3 million for an hour of sex every night for five years (a $41.7 million savings).

    Value-added benefits are: A 22 year old hot babe, no begging, no coaxing, plays all requests, no bitching and complaining.

    Best of all, she leaves when you're done and comes back when asked. All at 1/7th the cost, and no legal fees.

    Sometimes renting makes much more sense.
    ------
    Whoa mamma! There is a chance it may warm up to minus 92 in the shade sometime this year. When the Maple Laffs win the Stanley Cup!
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    The above is one form of mathematics (I am not a math buff). Here is another, with a para. below. -- http://solari.com/blog/?p=2293

    "Alan Greenspan is a liar. The Federal Reserve and its long standing partner, the US Treasury, engineered the housing bubble, including the fraudulent inducement of America as part of a financial coup d’etat. Our bankruptcy was not an accident. It was engineered at the highest levels."
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    Isn't this the same as Carney is doing? I understood the BoC spent $75 bln. bailing out the banks, the deficits are getting higher and Cdns. are sinking further into the quagmire of worthless money.

    Now the IMF and BoE are doing one and the sane thing, along with the US Fed and Canada. ". . . Quantitative easing, as it is called, poses a grave danger . . .".

    Seems there is a design to what is happening around the world presently; keep in mind, we are NOT, under ANY circumstances, sheeple.

    http://tinyurl.com/d44no6 http://tinyurl.com/ada3fv
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    Re: Ben Dover -- ". . . it appears the 1929 recession ended in 1932 thanks to massive government spending."

    Certainly the stock markets crashed in 1929, there was a fiscal slowdown until 1931-32, then the depression kicked in, which led to WW2, and the worldwide economies were rejuvenated from about 1950 on.

    My two cents only; the link may shed further light. In the UK at present, there are ten applicants for each job posting that comes up. -- http://tinyurl.com/ddexp9

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  3. AnonymousMarch 16, 2009 at 9:19 PM

    I, Charlesius

    "there was a fiscal slowdown until 1931-32, then the depression kicked in"

    Exactly my point in agreeing with your comment on recovery leading to sustainable employment.

    While massive government spending created a technical recession recovery in so far as GDP is concerned, it did nothing for sustainable growth, resulting in years of depression.

    I think the Obama recovery plan was devised under last years economic conditions and not future conditions. Adding trillions of debt to an already debt overloaded populous that will eventually have to pay it off with interest seems a backwards step into the abyss.

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  4. Comrade OneMarch 16, 2009 at 10:33 PM

    Ben, one of the things I find curious and maybe a little ominous, is the strength of the US dollar. Conventional standards indicate the floor level interest rates would give the dollar strength but in combination with existing and proposed debt, trade deficit and other economic factors, it's something of a mystery. I've read the theory that this is choosing the best of the worst among the major currencies, but that seems a little simplistic. If so, it's disconcerting.

    Of course, the money presses can change that rather quickly. Seems to be a concern for the Chinese according to statements made at the G20 meeting. Apparently they are concerned about being paid with dollars that are highly devalued. Or twofer bucks as I like to call them. I took Bernanke's comments as meaning they will save all the major financial institutions regardless of how much money they have to generate to do it.

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  5. I, CharlesiusMarch 17, 2009 at 2:08 AM

    Success! I'm almost sure this is hairy, from Garth's old political blog. Duzzent he look good? -- http://blogs.mirror.co.uk/science/
    ------
    China and Iran signed a US$3.2 bln. deal over the weekend. Gordon Brown, another zionist loyal to Israel, as was dubya. Brown has begun the rhetoric with Iran as dubya did with Iraq.

    Further, Israel's new PM looking for a reason to have a scrap with Iran, which may involve China then Russia. -- http://tinyurl.com/d8shrd
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    "Paper money eventually returns to its intrinsic value - zero." -- (Voltaire, 1694-1778). So, is this a dead cat bounce? The way I see it, yes, but for Cdns., it is confusing to say the least.

    Garth says in his latest post that Cdns'. wealth decreased by $252 bln. or so, yet real estate sales increased in Feb. What gives? 'Spose sheeple are taking on more debt -- as usual, they won't / can't see beyond the ends of their noses.

    Also, third story down -- China is concerned about US inflation. BTW, the size of the derivatives' mess? US$190,000 per person, covering the entire planet. -- http://www.dailyreckoning.com/
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    Now that Latvia, Ukraine and Poland are broke -- as are most of their banks, along comes Medvedev to say Russia is in the same boat, although Putin has earmarked US$45 bln. as a bandaid project.

    Seems there is another country starting to hit hard times as well. -- http://tinyurl.com/d7vekl http://tinyurl.com/cl9c8c
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    Apparently, Obama is 'outraged' at AIG for their bonuses. Following is from wrh.com . . .

    "I guess the president doesn't follow Goldman Sachs, which paid out a company record $11B in pay and bonuses after grabbing $10B from taxpayers.

    "Gee, let's see...

    "$11B (GS) vs. $165M (AIG)

    "110% of taxpayer funds (GS) vs. 0.1% of taxpayer funds (AIG)".

    Bear in mind that Hank Paulson, Mark Carney and plenty of others worked for Goldman Sachs, but someone has to be the scapegoat for this.

    It ain't gonna be GS.

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  6. AnonymousMarch 17, 2009 at 7:17 AM

    "the best of the worst among the major currencies"

    Bingo, safe haven of last resort after commodities as a safe haven against the falling buck unwound in June of 2008, it really is that simple.

    I`ve been advising people to move hard assets to US government insured paper via blogs since the fall of 2007.
    I still have a personal message to a friend selling a house advising the same dated March 1st 2007.

    Couldn`t have been more obvious had it been a train coming down the track.
    -----------------

    It really is this simple.

    The unit at AIG that issued hundreds of billions in credit default swaps blanketing derivatives based on fraudulent subprime mortgages are legally entitled to the $165m in bonuses based on those sales. However the sales were the result of criminal activity of which fraud is only one crime committed in the mortgage industry.

    Sales that resulted, or are the result of criminal activity are not bona fide sales.

    No sales, no bonus, no soup for you.

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  7. Comrade OneMarch 17, 2009 at 8:56 AM

    "No sales, no bonus, no soup for you."

    If it only were that simple! Contained within are the multitude of scheming legal skaters and regulatory bending entities whose trail is guarded by underlings and fall guys purposely put in place to buffer those actually masterminding the schemes.

    By the time the Knights of Right have worked the maze long enough to begin to find their way through, the culprits have become as obscure as the seasonings in the soup. There is a residual taste, but mixed in with everything else, very hard to identify and hold responsible.

    "Oh, I get by with a little help from my friends
    Mm, I get high with a little help from my friends."

    And for those who get caught, I expect they will try not to sing out of key. Heh...

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  8. Comrade OneMarch 17, 2009 at 9:05 AM

    To BenDover. Click..Ha Ha.

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  9. AnonymousMarch 17, 2009 at 8:49 PM

    First indications on results of stimulus on GDP predicts recession ending no later than 2010 while today Caterpillar announced plans to lay off 2,500 employees, signaling the maturing of a full blown depression, and yes they are two different things.

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