Day: January 14, 2009

Bernanke Speaks With Forked Tongue

A mammoth stimulus package being crafted by President-elect Barack Obama could give the economy a much-needed lift, but other steps must be taken to bolster the wobbly financial system for any recovery to stick, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Tuesday.

Specifically, Bernanke suggested the government inject more money into banks. He also offered options to deal with rotten mortgages and other bad assets held by financial institutions, a problem that has contributed to a lockup in lending.

Bernanke also again called for the government to do more to curb home foreclosures.

The Fed chief’s extensive remarks, in a speech at the London School of Economics, come at a critical time as the United States gets ready to change its political and economic guard from President George W. Bush to Obama next week.

Bernanke’s idea of giving more federal money to banks, and his mention of the fund’s original intent of buying up their toxic assets, could affect the argument over whether to release the second $350 billion in bailout money.

Obama favors broadening the bailout program to help distressed homeowners.

“Bernanke knows there is a debate out there on how to use the second half of the bailout money, and I think his remarks will have some influence on that,” said Michael Feroli, economist at JPMorgan Economics. “I think the Obama team … hasn’t ruled out anything in terms of ways to assist the financial sector.”

So this is the answer…save the banks and all will be fine……May I call this thinking what it really is?   BS!

What A Difference A Collar Makes

That would be a white collar…..as opposed to a blue collar.

U.S. Representative Anthony Weiner denounced a federal judge’s decision to allow Bernard Madoff to remain free on bond while awaiting trial for allegedly running a $50 billion Ponzi scheme.

“He should not be living at home, he should be in a jail cell,” said Weiner, a Democrat from New York, at a press conference yesterday in front of Madoff’s Manhattan apartment on East 64th Street. His comment followed the judge’s ruling in Manhattan federal court. “This judge doesn’t seem to get it.”

U.S. Magistrate Judge Ronald Ellis said Madoff, 70, may remain free on a $10 million bond, denying a request by federal prosecutors that he be jailed because he mailed a diamond necklace, Tiffany and Cartier watches and other jewelry to relatives. The mailing violated a court-ordered asset freeze.

Now take a look a a guy that has stolen $750…where would he be today?  Most likely sitting behind bars waiting for a trial.  Why?  He is a risk of flight person….but some a/hole that steals billions is a secure person from flight.  Is that logic or stupidity?

On another note along these same lines.

This man has ruined the lives of many people and yet when he is in public he has this arrogant smirk on his face.  You know the kind of smirk I am talking about, the same type that Pres. Bush has when speaks of war.  This man should be help under the jail or put him in with Big Bubba and llet them get married.

Banks Need More Money

Even before word came on Tuesday that Citigroup might split into pieces to shore up its finances, an unpleasant message was moving through Congress and President-elect Barack Obama’s transition team: the banks need more taxpayer money.

In all likelihood, a lot more money.

Mr. Obama seems to know it; a week before his swearing-in, he is lobbying Congress to release the other half of the financial industry bailout fund. Democratic leaders in Congress seem to know it, too; they are urging their rank and file to act quickly to release the rescue money. And Ben S. Bernanke, the chairman of the Federal Reserve, certainly knows it.

On Tuesday, Mr. Bernanke publicly made the case that one of the most unpopular and most scorned programs in Washington — the $700 billion bailout program — needs to pour hundreds of billions more into the very banks and financial institutions that already received federal money and caused much of the credit crisis in the first place.

The most glaring example that the banking system needs even more help is Citigroup. Though it already has received $45 billion from the Treasury, it is in such dire straits that it is breaking itself into parts.

Is there ever gonna be an end to this?  It is like having an addicted child, who returns time after time with his hand out.  There comes a time for tough love and to just sya NO!

War Comes To Gaza–Day 18

Israeli troops and Hamas fighters traded fierce gunfire on the streets of Gaza City on Tuesday as Palestinian president Mahmud Abbas accused the Jewish state of trying to “wipe out” his people.

Israeli special forces backed by tanks and air strikes barrelled their way ever deeper into Gaza’s largest city, advancing several hundred metres (yards) into several neighbourhoods in the south, witnesses and correspondents said.

The Gaza fighting has raised tensions around the region and galvanized anger toward Israel throughout the Arab world. On Tuesday, at least one gunman opened fire at an Israeli army patrol along the desert border between Israel and Jordan, the military said. There were no casualties, and Jordan said the claim was “baseless.”

In the southern West Bank city of Hebron, the Israeli military said, a Palestinian was shot and injured after he tried to grab a gun from an Israeli soldier whose patrol stopped him for questioning. The man later died, according to an Associated Press reporter who saw his body.

Israelis remain overwhelmingly supportive of the military operation in Gaza, according to the latest poll. With few casualties among soldiers and civilians, and the government keeping the focus on stopping rocket attacks, more than 91 percent of Israel’s Jewish population support the operation, and less than 4 percent oppose it, according to a Ma’ariv/Teleseker survey published on Jan. 9. The poll was based on a sample of 500 respondents and had a margin of error of 4.4 percent.

International aid groups have warned of a humanitarian crisis, with shortages of food, water and medicines in the impoverished Gaza Strip, where about 1.5 million people live in an area of 360 square kilometers (144 square miles).

And the bombs go on and on…….