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More pabulum from Gloria

Malaya’s editorial today says:

The local markets are in turmoil as the US financial crisis spreads. Investors, lenders and borrowers need information. They are desperately seeking assurance from anybody in government credible enough to be believable.

What they are getting instead is more of the pabulum that Gloria Arroyo dished out to businessmen during the economic briefing she and her Cabinet conducted before she went to the United States purportedly to gather a deeper insight into the crisis and, consequently, come up with measures that would minimize damage to the local economy.

Here’s Gloria’s take direct from Samar: To insulate the Philippines from the effects of the US crisis, the government will focus on easing inflationary pressures, providing safety nets, creating jobs, generating revenues and strengthening the banking system.

This is all, a bunch of motherhood statements? Crisis or no crisis, a government is supposed to focus on these things. Where are the “deeper insights” she gained during her US visit that are supposed to help her craft programs specifically addressing the current crisis? In time, stability would surely return to the US financial system. But between now and that wished-for future, how do we deal with the reality of a global liquidity crunch, a pullout of foreign investments, and a likely deep recession in the US?

Since her return last week from the United States, Gloria has not made an appearance in Manila. She has, however, been all over the countryside with her tired dog-and-pony show of bringing development to the provinces.

Click here for the article.

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Gloria: Focus is on insulating RP

PRESIDENT Arroyo yesterday said her economic team is working hard to insulate the country’s economy from the financial crisis in the United States.

Arroyo said the economic team is focusing on managing the inflationary pressure to avert any continued hike in prices of commodities, and in sustaining economic growth to “continue to generate jobs and deliver the tax revenues we need to fuel our investment,”

She said the government is also strengthening the banking system to improve the fiscal health, encourage investment, sustain the economic growth and insulate the economy from the volatility in the world market.

“We have been working hard to make sure that food supplies remain stable. We’re working hard to make sure that there is food on the table of every Filipino. We have also been introducing measures to lift the burden of high fuel prices from our people,” Arroyo said.

However, details of the programs were not mentioned.

Arroyo convened her economic team Tuesday night in Malacañang to further discuss measures and to assess the impact on the economy of the developments in the US including the rejection of the US House of Representatives on the $700 billion bailout package.

Expected to attend the meeting were Budget Secretary Rolando Andaya Jr., Finance Secretary Margarito Teves, Trade Secretary Peter Favila, Bangko Sentral governor Amando Tetangco, Planning Secretary Ralph Recto, Agriculture Secretary Arthur Yap, and Energy Secretary Angelo Reyes.

Andaya foresees that if the US Congress continues to reject the bailout plan, the current economic crisis could worsen and be far worse than the Asian financial crisis of 1997.

He said this would mean among others, that the interest rates would go up and exports would shrink. The US is the biggest trading partner of the Philippines.

“Mas concern namin kung ano ang effect. What will be the negative effects if a bailout does not materialize? Of course, down the line new taxes would be one of the options,’ he said.

Sen. Mar Roxas called on the Bangko Sentral, the DOF and other government financial institutions not to keep the public “out of the loop” about the unraveling global financial crisis.

“Lack of information only causes uncertainty among the public. As long as the BSP and DOF communicate clearly with the people – from sophisticated investors to ordinary depositors – we are containing speculation,” he said.

Roxas, chair of the committee on trade and commerce, said more importantly, the economic managers must take stock of any impact of the financial crisis on the real economy, which may happen within a few months unless plans to plug these are put in place.

Roxas said that instead of panicking or taking imprudent actions, the government and private sector institutions should take this challenge as an opportunity to plan strategically for the future.

“We already know that global markets are changing in an increasingly dynamic and interconnected way. We all know that we cannot be in ‘business-as-usual’ mode forever,” he said. – Jocelyn Montemayor

Published inEconomy

86 Comments

  1. Chabeli Chabeli

    Re: “Here’s Gloria’s take direct from Samar: To insulate the Philippines from the effects of the US crisis, the government will focus on easing inflationary pressures, providing safety nets, creating jobs, generating revenues and strengthening the banking system.”

    Ayan nanaman si Gloria ! How the hell can this bitch “insulate the Philippines from the effects of the US crisis” when even the U.S. has not told the public how deep & grave the problem is ?! You mean to tell me, she has inside information ? I happen to have a friend working in a U.S. government financial department & he told me that the problem is real bad. He cannot even explain bad. His words were, “it’s catastrophic.”

    I told him that the Philippine midget says that “her economic team is working hard to insulate the country’s economy from the financial crisis in the United States” & he was laughing his heart out ! He said it would be more truthful for Gloria to say that “her economic team is working hard to insulate HER FAMILY from the financial crisis in the United States.” That should sound more like the truth.

  2. Valdemar Valdemar

    She’s buying time going around at nowhere only waiting for the $700B for grabs. Her minions must already have the blueprint of the grand scheme of her brainchild in cornering money matters.

  3. atty36252 atty36252

    We have also been introducing measures to lift the burden of high fuel prices from our people,” Arroyo said.
    ***************************

    Really now. What measures? The price of oil per barrel is now 97 dollars. Did you have something to do with this? Or are you riding on a market pullback to claim brownie points at home?

    “We have been working hard to make sure that food supplies remain stable.
    *********************

    How? Are we planting more? Have we used more fertilizers? Or did we fertilize other people’s wallets?

    We’re working hard to make sure that there is food on the table of every Filipino.
    *****************************

    That’s right. We have not regulated nor taxed pagpag. Bravo.

  4. norpil norpil

    the only way to insulate pinas from what is happening in the usa is to be isolated from world business and finance. but if pinas has a lot of cash they can think of buying usa like some russians would like to do. even the chinese were afraid of what is happening and is rethinking its capitalist ways.

  5. chi chi

    See, I told ya. Gloria’s brain cells are all dead. Even a pabulum won’t help.

  6. chi chi

    Impakta Gloria had just another lapse. Her tongue slipped admitting that eight years in a stolen throne and she has not done any of the tasks she enumerated here.

    Going on 10 and all she cares about are measures to effectively rob the country’s coffer repeatedly for the sole interest of the Pidal Republic.

  7. chi chi

    Naglalaway si Gloria sa $700B!

  8. pranning pranning

    01 October 2008

    Whatever it is, there’s onloy one way to INSULATE the Philippines from the economic turmoil in the USof A and Europe. Remember during the Presidency of of CPGarcia??? what was he’s policy then??? THE FILIPINO FIRST POLICY” that is a sure thing insulations from the economic crisis in europe and the usa, if that escalates to the far east, GOD knows what will happen next???remember the adventurisms of the so-called super power countries in the 1910-1920 and the late 1930’s and early 1940’s.

    Going back to the policy of the late President Garcia, it really helps the Philippines then. It was then emulated by then strongman marcos with his MASAGANA 99. It stabilizes the country. What is sure effective then, can be effective now, it’s a matter of adjusting the 2 programs to the present. Why is the economy of Japan and Korea prospered??? because of the same policy, Japanese for Japan, Koreans for Korea. The problem right now, is this administration is all praises to the USA, and this administration will make sure that whatever uncle sam say it will be done.

    But first things first, the evil of corruption must be removed, then we can start. They say that supreme sacrifices must be made, but what about those rich families and the powerful politicians of this beknighted kingdom???are they willing to make a supreme sacrifices??? Your answer is as good as mine. The rich and the powerful are not that really affected, but the poorest of the poor of this kingdom will feel it.

    Prognosis, only the rich and the powerful will not be affected by this global economic phenomenon, and the poorest of the poor will become more poorer.

    prans

  9. vic vic

    whoever writing GMA speeches should better put more substance in them..they’re empty as the Country’s treasury. Loans are tight now, and even China would not extend any more loans and domestics loans not as good cuz they come in local currency and the kickbacks have to be laundered clean in dollars and kind of hard at this time of tight money…

  10. US Financial Crisis: The Philippines’s Economic Debacle
    PUBLISHED ON September 29, 2008 AT 3:41 PM Having produced only disastrous results, economic management can no longer be left in the hands of an elite corps of bureaucrats and technocrats who ape lock, stock and barrel models purposely to make corporate profits bigger at the expense of workers, farmers, and other marginal sectors.

    http://www.pinoypress.net/2008/09/29/the-us-financial-crisis-and-the-philippiness-economic-debacle/

  11. chi chi

    Ang ina ng bayan, pilit na ipinalulunok sa madlang pipol ang pabulum at melamine kaya tuloy sakitin at malnourished ang Pinas.

  12. RP Economy to Suffer from US Crisis – Think Tank
    Contrary to government officials’ claim that the current U.S. financial crisis has little impact on the Philippine economy, independent think-tank IBON Foundation deems otherwise.

    BY RONALYN V. OLEA
    Bulatlat

    During the forum Usapang Ibon (Bird Talk) held Sept. 24, Rosario Bella Guzman, IBON Foundation’s executive editor, said that ‘the Philippines will inevitably suffer the implications of the U.S. crisis because it is linked to the U.S. and global economy; it is a country with basic weaknesses and vulnerabilities; and it is a client of imperialist globalization.’

    http://bulatlat.com/main/2008/09/27/rp-economy-to-suffer-from-us-crisis-%e2%80%93-think-tank/

  13. From the article above…

    Links to the US Economy

    Guzman cited several vulnerabilities.

    Seven Philippine banks have exposures in the bankrupt Lehman Brothers in the amount of $386 million or about P2 trillion.

    Twenty-five percent of agricultural exports go to the U.S. Twenty percent of other Philippine exports go to the U.S.

    Another 44 percent of exports go to third markets (Japan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Malaysia, Thailand, Taiwan), which are intra-transnational corporations’ trade. She said these are exports sent to these third markets but also end up in American market.

    Twenty percent of foreign investments are from the U.S. mostly in manufacturing, BPOs and financial services. Guzman said these investments may slow down or decrease. She said U.S. corporations may also be ‘more ferocious in extracting profit.’

  14. Isagani Isagani

    Same old story, ano? Same shit, different day. Same shit, different problem. Same shit, same Gloria Macapagal Arroyo.

  15. chi chi

    There’s only one way to insulate Pinas from the effects of the US financial meltdown…take out Gloria Arroyo Pidal, the “same old shit”, from the equation!

  16. http://bulatlat.com/main/2008/09/27/rp-economy-to-suffer-from-us-crisis-%e2%80%93-think-tank/

    Guzman said this would mean continued plunder of the country’s resources. Foreign direct investments (FDI), official development assistance (ODA) and other foreign debts, she said, would take advantage of cheap and docile labor, which would intensify contractualization, flexibilization, rationalization and downsizing.

    Foreign corporations would also further exploit cheap raw materials especially in extractive industries, said Guzman. She noted that global FDI infiltrate power, electricity, mining, among other extractive industries.

    She said that foreign corporations affected by the mortgage crisis would shift to speculation in commodities and artificially inflate demand. This would translate to unwarranted price increases in food and oil, Guzman said.

    Guzman also said that ODA focuses on privatization of social services and public utilities. To press this, she said the Arroyo government would push for charter change to remove provisions protecting national patrimony and economy.

    She also said the Arroyo government would pass the burden to the Filipino people by increasing VAT and imposing other regressive taxes. She said that VAT is very crucial for the Arroyo government and more importantly for the financial lending institutions as they ensure the country’s capacity to pay its debts.

    What we need is insulation from Gloria Arroyo.

  17. rose rose

    naalaala ba ninyo yong tatak na Made in USA ang brand name na ipinag habol habol natin makamtan be in toys, dresses, shoes, etc. well what do we have kay putot?..maid ng USA?

  18. chi chi

    Jug,

    With all the links you provided, it seems that the future of Pinas with the same old shit Gloria is darker than the US economic crisis.

  19. Diego K. Guerrero Diego K. Guerrero

    Re: Arroyo said: “the economic team is focusing on managing the inflationary pressure to avert any continued hike in prices of commodities, and in sustaining economic growth to “continue to generate jobs and deliver the tax revenues we need to fuel our investment”.

    These are paper tiger measures by her economic team. I already heard this ‘ampaw’ measures 100 times. Maybe Gloria Pandaka is referring to high risk seafarers’ jobs and more additional taxes. SMS text messaging tax is the next in line for more revenues.

  20. chi,
    Even at its worst, the US economy will never be darker than the Philippines.

  21. Creating jobs, generating revenues and strengthening the banking system.— Arroyo.

    Creating Job! Where?
    Don’t tell me OFW again.

    Because of inept governance our country is becoming an employment agency of cheap labor.

    Arroyo is not concerned if Filipinos will get a job, She is concern for the coming flow of money.

    Due to US financial crisis Philippines will see less or no foreign investments flowing into its economy.Another impact to the economy is higher cost of foreign borrowing, both to the government and the private sector.Demand for Philippine exports will also drop depreciating peso.

    The only solution and the a major factor that could prevent a downward tailspin of the economy is the remittances from OFW. Without OFW remittances baka magka Rebolusyon na.

    Kaya ang sinasabing continue to generate jobs ay sa bansa ng mga manyakis,sadist,rapist na mga Arabo at doon niya tayo ipapadala.Para maraming remittances, maraming dollar sa bangko.Hindi naman makakakolecta ng taxes ang gobyerno kung hindi gagastusin ng tao ang pera nila,papano sila makukunan ng EVAT.
    Kaya bili na kayo ng Gatas na galing ng China.Murang mura at 90% discount pa.Kung ayaw ninyo ng gatas ay mga sapatos,damit at rolex watch murang murang one hundred pesos lamang.Parang awa niyo na bili na kayo dahil mabangkarote ang gobyerno ni Gloria.Hehehehe!

    ,

  22. chi chi

    Yes, jug. In fact, I have faith in the political leadership of the US (no matter who wins)because the check and balance is still very much in place.

    And the citizens, they just don’t look and see..they act. The House of Reps website almost crash with millions of emails from the people that they have to limit the number of emails it accepts.

    The $700B bailout failed because the constituents spoke and the more enlightened representatives listened.

  23. bitchevil bitchevil

    Vic, do you think Canada would suffer the same way as the US?
    There’s a report that Canadian housing market would suffer the same fate especially in places like Vancouver and Alberta.

  24. chi chi

    cocoy,

    Where else? Siempre OFW na naman as you said. Gloria is a clever monkey and won’t create jobs inside Pinas. E kung bumalik ang mga OFW, di mapapatalsik sya.

  25. Chi,
    Kaya nga dumadami ang mga OFW dahil walang trabaho para sa kanila sa Pinas.Kapag mag create ng trabaho si Punggok sa Pinas di uuwi na ang mga OFW. Sana naging totoo na siya sa sinabi niya na “Oy! Totoy patuli ka na para mabilis kang lumaki at ipapadala kita sa Iran,Iraq o Afganistan para makapagtrabaho ka at padalhan mo ako ng pera.Mamili ka na basta’t huwag ka lang tumambay dito sa Pilipinas.”

  26. kejotee kejotee

    Ellen/Editorial:
    “This is all, a bunch of motherhood statements? Crisis or no crisis, a government is supposed to focus on these things. ”

    AMEN to that. Gloria never had it so good at insulting the intelligence of the pinoy pipol.

  27. bitchevil bitchevil

    Oh my God, Imelda Marcos announced that she wanted her son Bongbong Marcos to run for President! Is this another ploy to divide the opposition in favor of Malacanang? Remember when Imelda ran knowing she had no chance of winning? She succeeded in taking some of the votes away from the opposition.

  28. It’s gonna be very difficult for America. Paulson is designing measures to remedy a crisis he and his syndicate partners in Wall Street created. Absolutely no credibility that’s why I’m not surprised Americans as chi says are against the bailout package.

    But he can’t be replaced either because it’s too late. Elections is just five weeks away.

  29. On March 25, 2008 McCain said in his speech on the housing crisis in Sta. Ana, CA:

    In financial institutions, there is no substitute for adequate capital to serve as a buffer against losses. Our financial market approach should include encouraging increased capital in financial institutions by removing regulatory, accounting and tax impediments to raising capital.

    After the bailout defeat in Congress, he now says:

    We won’t solve a problem caused by poor oversight by a plan that has no oversight and part of the reason we’re facing this crisis is an antiquated regulatory system of uncoordinated agencies that just haven’t been doin their job.

    He’s contradicting himself, is he FOR or AGAINST regulatory oversight?

  30. Tongue,
    And how do we all of a sudden have 700 billion dollars to spend, when Bush is threatening to veto a Stimulus package that would help the unemployed, put people to work on fixing our infrastructure, provide needed healthcare, That plan would only cost $60 billion and keep people in their homes.Why not just spend $700 Billion and give every American $2000.At least the Korean liquor store would be revitalized.They are selling Trojans condoms too, in different sizes from small to super extra large.

  31. Bitchevil,
    That’s not surprising if Bong Bong want to run for president.The news that bothers me most, Victor Wood is running for president.My Gosh! how could Victor win if most of his supporters are sitting in a wheel chair in nursing homes.

  32. Seriously Tongue the bill is a joke.Paulson, doesn’t have any teeth.It will allow all the fat cats to get paid off and then USA in exact same situation were in now, except $700 billion more in debt to the Chinese. It is the most ridiculous thing this country of America has ever done,second perhaps only to the Pidalism government.

  33. Here’s George Bush on Democrat Rep. Barney Frank’s Bailout Bill (May 1, 2008):

    “I will veto the bill that’s moving through the House today if it makes it to my desk,” the president said at the White House, after meeting with Republican House leaders. “I urge members on both sides of the aisle to focus on a good piece of legislation that is being sponsored by Republican members

    http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/05/07/america/07bush.php

    So they change the details of Frank’s bill with those supplied by Sec. Paulson. It is now a Republican-championed bill. The other day, 2/3 of the Republicans rejected their own version. WTF?

    Paulson’s predecessor, Paul O’Neill believes Bush is in panic and doesn’t even understand the package he is pushing. Even congressmen are not inclined to scrutinize the 600-page bill and hurry home to be with their constituents before and during the elections. O’Neill proposes insuring the mortgage-backed investment aganst their present value instead of owning those worthless but overvalued assets.

    Personally I believe it is useless to pump more air into a bubble that has developed holes and about to explode. The nationalization of Fannie and Freddie isn’t just $2.5B as originally claimed. It is open-ended and may run in the hundreds of billions or even a trillion. It is a hard lesson learned about the hidden effects of the principles of deregulation and capitalism as a whole.

    The more reason that I have a low regard for so-called economists.

  34. Valdemar Valdemar

    Links after links paint a sordid portrait of a failing US economy. While nothing changed yet in the Philippines. Only progress in corruption and criminality. I am against with the $700B bail out. It will only provide another phase of corruption breed here. Whereas, if the bail out fails, the US economy fails, then it follows a hefty rebuilding, an open field of roses for the OFWs. Lets be ready with those passports. They may not even require passports anymore, just permits like in the old ways of the first Filipino OFWs in the cane fields of Hawaii.

  35. cocoy,
    That bill will put all of that money in the discretion and decisions of one man, Paulson. Whatever he intends to do with that money, or what he actually does with it is beyond us. In local terms, imagine giving all that moolah to Sec. Teves a few days before elections. Of course, the Pinoys far “outgreed”, if you will, the Americans in that department.

    What to me is unacceptable is that Paulson was part of the problem – the huge securities inverted-pyramid scam. And now you feed his addiction with a large dose of high-grade stuff his kind craves for.

    Remember whenever government gives out money, it is taken from someone else.

  36. This is not a bail out, this is a new tax for all Americans. Isn’t it ironic that guys in $10,000 suits,driving Lamborghini and fly high with their own private jet are begging.That’s what they are doing…begging. Poor little rich guys; I’d like to see Paulson march in with that know it all attitude and demand some money from Mrs. What’s-her-name at the welfare office. He could see what kind of paperwork is submitted when you beg for money; so far they have submitted nothing tangible. Don’t give them the dough. Make them sell a stake in their companies. Banks, investment firms, insurance companies, you name it.Put the money in accounts to fund Social Security.

    I am beyond frustrated by this blatant attempt to ram through the biggest heist on taxpayers and their children’s children in the history of the world. And the corporate propaganda mouthpieces, step right into line with their pompoms.I’m so frustrated by Obama’s stance on this that I’d vote Harry,Larry and Moe if they had the guts to oppose it. Thankfully, they don’t.Obama, what the freak are you doing?

  37. Tongue,
    I agree with you.Unfortunately, this bailout will happen, but I had hoped the Democrats wouldn’t yield to Bush and Co.’s hysteria. More debate and analysis is needed to protect the People’s investment, and that’s just what it should be. Bailed out companies should get 10% interest loans, collateralized assets, no perks or tax loop holes, and increased regulation until they pay back every dime of the People’s Money. Every dime should return to the Treasury, and not a separate fund.
    Taxes are not popular, but Americans have to realize that government cannot operate on fumes. Uncle Sam needs revenue, cake, cash, mulah, green. The infrastructure of the country is seriously decaying, unless they act now we’ll decline just as the Roman Empire.I don’t think that government is the problem. The problem is “We the People” who are disconnected and not fully participating. We must demand better from our government, but realize that it cost.

  38. cocoy,
    You’re even luckier than the Philippines. If that happened here the total cost of the package would be 700B plus that which will be used to bribe the congressmen and senators to vote for the bill.

    Gloria is now offering financial advise to GWB. As if.

  39. TT, your low regard for economists which I presume includes the chief economist Ate Glue is shared. So watch and behold a scenario where the aggressor in the simmering Meralco-Pidal-GSIS issue becomes the besieged. And watch too the frantic moves of the U.S. Congress to set-up a bailout package to mitigate the putative recession, which if unsuccessful could be tragic: The billion dollars invested by GSIS may lose most of its value and Pinoy teachers about to retire may come to grief. Retribution comes with so much pain.
    But our chief economist may not feel any pain.

  40. Tongue and those who knows “economy” more than I do, help me out here.

    In Habito’s piece he said,

    “Put simply, the plan would permit US Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson to buy from troubled US financial institutions, using taxpayers’ money, up to $700 billion worth of the so-called “toxic mortgages” or failed subprime loans.

    “These are the loans that had been lent by banks and mortgage companies to American home buyers that the latter could no longer pay for.”

    Why were American home buyers not able to pay their loans? Did they live beyond their means? Or the economy was already doing badly before this crisis exploded?

  41. etcetera etcetera

    The purpose of the $700B bailout based on the news that I have read so far, is to use the bailout for those assets like real estate properties that the banks invested on and sold to people, who at this time cannot afford to pay it anymore. The current market price of those real estate assets are way below than the maturity price or the original price of the house when the buyer bought it.

    Let say the buyer bought the house five years ago for $100,000. Those buyers who cannot afford to pay the house anymore have no other choice but to return the house to the seller, the bank. It’s foreclosed. That foreclosed house is not worth $100,000 anymore in the open market. With the current economic condition that house might just be worth $75,000 in the real estate market.

    With the $700B bailout, the taxpayers should only pay $75,000 or less for that house. In fact, taxpayers should only pay $40,000 for that house because its the banks who needs the taxpayers money and not the other way around. But the tendency of the bank is to sell that house for $100,000 or more. To get as much money as they can from the taxpayers.

    What are the guarantee’s that the taxpayers will not pay more than $75,000 on that house? Who decides at what price the taxpayers will pay? In this case, it is Paulson who decides whether taxpayer will pay 75k or more, and definitely not less.

    Look at what Paulson was saying,”…buy assets from any financial institutions at any price deemed necessary, neither the courts nor any administrative agency to question his decision.”

    What!?? Taxpayers cannot sue if the banks get paid on that $75,000 house for $100,000? Paulson and the banks should be sued if the taxpayers paid the real estate more than what it is worth for.

  42. pollyhernandez pollyhernandez

    Ano ang epekto ng krisis sa pinansya ng US? Higit na kahirapan sa mamamayang Pilipino kasi babagal ang proseso ng pagpapadala ng mga remitances ng ating mga OFW sa kani – kanilang pamilya. Therefore matamlay ang negosyo dahil kakaunti na ang mayroong kapasidad na mamili. Dahil ang ating ekonomiya ay umaasa sa mga OFW kaya it will worsen the situation. Maybe if our government officials were credible enough as well as they are honest and truly serve their constituents I can say that I will very much at Peace.

  43. dandaw dandaw

    Always look for a 30 year fix when signing or buying a house. Do not go for this variable payment because the rate will always go up. People that got suckered into this variable payment by the banks is the one that triggered this financial market mess. Better still don’t buy anything if you don’t have the dough.

  44. It’s not just the variable rates. In the first place, loans as high as $500,000 should not have been given to minimum wage earners. The agent makes a fat commission. The next guy comes along representing some fly-by-night equity lender raising the value of the property and enticing you to avail of the differential, you may now also buy a new car! Before you know it, the variable rate period kicks in, compounding your woes with the high gas and food prices and you end up defulting on your payments.

    Meanwhile, the mortgage company or bank sells it to Fannie or Freddie for cash value then repeats the cycle with another borrower. The mortgage buyer then combines these mortgages and issues securities backed by these mortgages and sell them to the open market changing hands several times until it rests with the final buyer. At every stage, fat commissions and bonuses were made from a collection of several “toxic” mortgages. And so on.

    For a detailed CPA view, I suggest reyna elena’s blog entry para hindi kayo antukin kahit mahaba ang explanation.
    reynaelena.com/2008/09/17/understanding-subprime-and-the-us-housing-market/

  45. “defaulting” hindi “defulting”, sus ginoo.

    ***********

    neonate,
    “Free-market” proponents have been consistently criticizing all our past presidents, except perhaps, FVR, for our practice of changing the rules mid-game. Now it’s the US’ turn, they change the rules of the game while they are losing. Do you hear even a faint whimper? Double-standard.

    One reporter from Russia Times calls it aptly: privatizing profits while socializing debts.

    America has turned socialist but only for the rich!

  46. Chabeli Chabeli

    Re: “Why were American home buyers not able to pay their loans? Did they live beyond their means? Or the economy was already doing badly before this crisis exploded?”

    From what I understand, from one point of view it seems that Americans did live beyond their means, BUT the lenders are also to blame; they would “rig” the loan papers to be able to lend to a home buyer. For example, if I was earning only $48000 a year, I would be approved for a loan for a $600,000 home–will I be able to pay the amortization down the line? I won’t be able to.

  47. As I said earlier in my post this this bailout will happen.Senators loaded the economic rescue bill with tax breaks and other sweeteners before passing it by a wide margin, 74-25.

    The measure didn’t cause the same uproar in the Senate, where both parties’ presidential candidates, Republican John McCain and Democrat Barack Obama, made rare appearances to cast “aye” votes, as did Obama’s running mate, Sen. Joe Biden of Delaware.

    In the final vote, 39 Democrats, 34 Republicans and independent Sen. Joe Lieberman of Connecticut voted “yes.” Nine Democrats, 15 Republicans and independent Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont voted “no.”

    The rescue package lets the government spend billions of dollars to buy bad mortgage-related securities and other devalued assets held by troubled financial institutions. If successful, that would allow frozen credit to begin flowing again and prevent a deep recession.

    Even as the Senate voted, House leaders were hunting for the 12 votes they would need to turn around Monday’s 228-205 defeat. They were especially targeting the 133 Republicans who voted “no.”

  48. I refuse to give my hard earned dollar blank check to the thieves who got us into this quagmire in the first place. Let those ceo’s with their golden parachute bail themselves out. Anybody who has money to play the stock market, has a lot more money than I do and I will not pay for your greed and your mistakes.

    I can only hope the House will again veto this shameful and shameless bill.

    If we are going to bail out Wall Street, it should be those people who have caused the problem, those people who have benefited from Bush’s tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires, those people who have taken advantage of deregulation, those people are the people who should pick up the tab, and not ordinary working people like me.

    This bill does not deal with the absurdity of having the fox guarding the hen house.Why we are giving $700 billion to the Secretary of the Treasury, the former CEO of Goldman Sachs, who along with other financial institutions, actually got us into this problem.

  49. I understand Mc Cain for voting yes on this bailout because he’s Bush Protegee and a party loyalty.But,Obama.Oh mama!What the freak he is doing voting yes on this bailout.He shown Americans that he doesn’t have a testicle fortitude to stand up for common working americans.He caved-in.

    As much as I am for Mc Cain and loathsome of Obama presidency, I have had it up to here with Obama’s shtick of accomplishing what is practical, of doing as much as we can do now, of accepting a flawed proposal because if we don’t the consequences could be dire, of treating every political decision as an exercise in pragmatism.

    The Congress and the Executive are once again selling out the working people of America to the already wealthy.

  50. Bernie Sanders was one of those senators who’s ball is a big as Lacson.I salute Senator Sanders, for his efforts. It is shameful what happened. It is now up to the House. Voting NO on this shameful bill is extremely important. Congress needs reasoned deliberation, hearings with many and varied experts, and judgment, wisdom and common sense, by God! I am furious. There are alternative proposals being offered but Congress is ignoring them. American taxpayers are being ROBBED. I am very disappointed at Obama’s stance on this and on his comments being only a replay of his campaign rhetoric. I am outraged at the “lard” that got added to this bill making it even more costly. They must think: what the heck – 700 billion? What’s a few billion more. The suckers won’t notice and they can’t do anything about it anyway! Good effort, Senator Sanders; thanks for trying.

  51. etcetera etcetera

    If the US Congressmen and Senators will vote according to their conscience that $700B bailout will never get approved by both Houses. But the reality is, both parties, the Democrats and Republicans are indebted to lobbyist. They are being wined and dined, free trips here and there, donations,etc…..years before this meltdown hit the front-page. These lobbyist are now in overdrive to spread around their manure (money) to politicians to get this bailout approved. Since taxpayers do not have a lobbyist to represent them, then inevitably they will get the short end of the stick.

    Obama showed his natural color. He even made a speech at the US Senate supporting this bailout bill. He does not represent “change”. It is the same old trapo. They are governed and corrupted by lobbyist.

  52. chi chi

    Ellen,

    This is from a point of view of a non-economist but an active trader and investor.

    Subprime loans are with greater risks because they give loans to people with low credit standings who ,consequently, could not pay for their mortgages.

    Perhaps, because of the American dream (of owning a house), more and more of them were enticed to buy with “interest only” catch payment (for a definite period).

    When economist Bernanke took over the Federal Reserve, first thing he did was to increase the interest rate to 8.25% from 5% something. Diyan nagsimula ang gulo sa housing. Of course, people who were cornered into subprime loans and those living with the Joneses began to default on their payments.

    Seeing his mistake, BB made a turnaround, ibinaba naman ang interest rates to 7 then 6 then 5 etc. But his later moves did not save the financial sector which was heavily and deeply involved into lending activities (details supplied by Tongue). Ayan, nagkarun ng domino effect…

  53. chi chi

    Cocoy,

    Your Senator Dianne Feinstein said that she got 90,000 emails from Californians. Out of this number, 85,000 were against the bailout.

    Buti pa ang mga tao, alam na ang bini-bailout ni Paulson ay ang financial sector, not the “WE THE PEOPLE”.

    Oo nga naman, this bailout will not stand for long, it’s a short term solution which won’t hinder recession. Perhaps, this bailout is their security net while looking for a long term solution to the economic crisis.

  54. chi chi

    America has turned socialist but only for the rich! -Tongue

    Exactly! The people know it best, kaya yung website ng US Congress was not able to handle the millions and millions of emails from the people of America.

    And Obama’s line was for the poor and the middle class, what a hypocrite! Tapos, he’s one of the most ardent supporters of this bailout. My economist hubby was so dismayed, he was about to vote for him sana.

    Mc Cain? He’s approval rating on economy is low, anyway. Pero si Barack, what a letdown!

    Parang Pinas, walang pagpipilian sa mga topnotchers(daw) sa survey!

  55. etcetera etcetera

    The Federal Reserve Board, SEC, and US Treasury are in collusion with Wall Street. These people knew exactly what is happening to the US economy, they have the data. They are not dumb.

    Increasing the interest rate by Federal Reserve is not for the benefits of the US economy but for the benefits of Wall Street. How? Everytime the interest rates goes up those institutional investors or people who bought stocks on margin has to pay more in interest to their stockbrokers.

    For those who do not know what margin is, if the price of a single stock for example is $100 and you only paid $60 for it then the stockbroker will lend the buyer $40 to complete the transaction. The $40 is the margin and the stockbroker charges interest on those margins until you sold that stock.

    The margins are one of the major source of income of Wall Street.

  56. Chi,
    It’s a electronic age Robin Hood,stealing from the poor and giving it to the wealthy.The same thing you always get with voodoo economics …… Nothing Good.

    As people struggle to pay their mortgages and provide basic needs for their families, they will not be buying automobiles at the rate they did last year. Whether or not the credit supply is opened up a bit will not increase automobile sales, people need to be able to afford financing another vehicle. A bailout of the financial institutions will not solve this problem. If you can not afford to buy a BMW, buy a Kia. Auto sales down.Bad news! This is great News, those 20th century dinosaurs need to be recycled. Recycled into green energy mass transit systems. Preventing idiots from going into debt to purchase gas guzzling road hogs will save oil that we have to import from dangerous countries, improve global warming, and improve the chances of turning to clean renewable energy.

    Don’t forget the Winners! Not the rich, they always win no matter what, but ordinary middle class people who will benefit from the collapse.

    Liquor and Bars
    Those that don’t go to church, will try and drink their misery away, as a hopeless situation leads to the solace of the bottle. Defeated husbands will hide from angry wives, in countless dive bars across America, and the globe.

    In short;The catalyst for the rescue operations was paralysis in the credit markets. Some companies have had trouble borrowing in the commercial-paper market to finance their short-term cash needs. Should conditions continue to worsen, it’s plausible that some employers will find they can’t meet their payrolls. When workers don’t get their paychecks, will that be enough to shock them into recognizing we face a crisis. It’s a bitter pill to swallow, but it’s the cyanide of Republican greed: we’re all interconnected in this economy and their downfall will bring the rest of us with them.

  57. bitchevil bitchevil

    With the US Senate passing the Bailout plan, the US House would most likely follow. Some question Obama’s voting in favor of it. I don’t think he should be blamed for even Biden and Hilary also voted in favor. The failure in the House was not because of the Democrats; but the Republicans who mostly voted against it.

    It’s simply and American issue. The bailout is for all Americans, not Democrats or Republicans; not Wall Street or Main street. America has no choice but to pass it. It’s like pointing a gun at one’s head. While they could partly or mainly blame Bush’s eight years of mismanagement and incompetence, America must solve this problem as one. They must solve the problem first and then let the ax fall to whoever is responsible for this mess. The way I understand it is that the government would own these financial institutions. Any equity earned is to the government. People worry about the tax payers having to pay for it but don’t realize that the tax payers also benefit from it. America is at this point faced with a problem with only one solution: Bailout. Whether people agree or not, that’s the only option now.

  58. This Bailout Package will do nothing to help the market, it will only add to the disaster. It’s fundamentally flawed and needs to be scrapped entirely. And a new plan that’s not trickle-down needs to be drawn up by economist, not politicians and Wall Street executives, in very short order.

  59. dandaw dandaw

    Whom are you calling rich guys? John Kerry, Nancy Pelosi, Schumer, Kennedy, Al Gore, Bill and Hillary Clinton, Joe Biden, John Edwards, etc.? You knew that they are there some for the money but some really pass bills that are needed to make the economy stable. We know that Kerry married a widow of a very wealthy Republican – Heinz catsup enterpreneur, Edwards was a very shillful attorney for the big labor, Kennedy inherited his fathers “prohibition liquor businnes, etc. too many to mention.
    I don’t know about you guys, We made a few dollars in the stock market and real estate. We bought our first house for very low price, made some improvements in the house and sold it with a good profit, bought fixer-uppers and so on and so forth. Of course we like to eat steaks too but considering the cholesterols in red meat, we avoid it. Instead, I cook with vegetables most of the time to make money stretch. Now we are out of the stock market and out of the real estate market. We are not rich by any strecht and the government can not fool me that they will get me involved by rescueing people that mismannaged their houshold and lazy to work. Enonomic begines at home. I know a lot of Pinoys that work in the hospital. That hospital is manned by Pinoys except they don’t own it.
    These nurses have 3 jobs but they still ate buto-buto nang manok para makahigup nang sabao. Are they consider Rich? Pero masaya kami.

  60. dandaw,
    Those person only eat buto-buto are those person who couldn’t arrange their finacials.They are buying house at the cost more than they earn.

    When my cousin first arrived in America,he was impressed about Filipinos living in a very expensive houses and a nice car park in enclosed garage.I told him,Yes they have a nice house but they don’t welcome visitors.They are content with a can of sardines at dinner and boiled eggs for breakfast because mortgage alone eats up all their incomes.

    Now, they want bailout with taxpayers money? Before the taxpayers are asked to hand over a huge sum of money to be spent with little oversight, I would like to see those who caused this crisis to contribute first.

    We cannot let the traders and CEOs of Wallstreet pocket billions in salaries and bonuses, while asking the very same people these “financial wizards” have harmed with their risky practices give up their hard-earned money to sustain the lifestyle of the super-wealthy.

    If money is needed to support the economy, then we should ask those that created this crisis to contribute first. The super-wealthy need to return a large portion of their wealth, before the taxpayer will make up any difference. It is now very obvious that the traders and CEOs never deserved their bonuses and obscenely high salaries. Asking them to return the money they unjustly received will accomplish two things: 1) It will save the taxpayer a huge amount of money and 2) it will make any future CEO and trader proceed with a healthy amount of caution and common sense.

    And if we really are going to give money to the rich, let’s at least follow the rules we demand other countries adopt when the International Monetary Fund bails them out: slash spending, balance budgets and eliminate trade restrictions and subsidies. We also sometimes force them to come here and clean our houses, do our gardening and watch our kids. I foresee a not-too-distant future when Chinese guys complain about how every time their cheap cell phone breaks, they can’t understand the tech-support guy because his Mandarin has a thick accent.

  61. Cocoy:”Even as the Senate voted, House leaders were hunting for the 12 votes they would need to turn around Monday’s 228-205 defeat. They were especially targeting the 133 Republicans who voted “no.”

    I guess this is where Gloria’s advise is needed by Bush. Get those brown doggie bags over to the Oval Office now!

  62. Yes Tongue,Bush and congressional leaders needs only 12 in congress to twist arms and they are furiously lobbying they’d need to reverse Monday’s stunning setback and approve a massive rescue plan designed to stave off national economic disaster.

  63. Let’s face it, the US government has to make its move. And fast. I have not seen the text of the Senate bill but despite some crossing over to the other side of the aisle, it’s still basically along party lines. Obama is being blamed for supporting the House bill crafted by the other party. On the other hand, McCain is being called inutile for not being able to goad his herd of elephants.

    Nobody knows what the correct solution is. Or if there really exists one. The $700B is indeed an expensive gamble without even knowing what the odds are. Or the amount of the pot.

    But no one will come to aid if they wait idly and watch the sky as it falls. The industry moguls, the scions of the billionaire families, leaders of big business and top government should all come together and forget about November’s elections first and start giving back to their country.

    This will test the Americans’ patriotism, how far they are willing to go, how much sacrifice they’re willing to suffer for the good of almighty America and its proud sons.

    Or as cocoy sees in his crystal ball, choose to do nothing and start learning fluent Mandarin minus the thick accent.

  64. TT, Chi,
    I am more comfortable with your economic fundamentals than those from the Chief Economist who demands pre-conditions and advance copies of questions to be asked by FOCAP (so she can consult her economic team who can be blamed later if things go sour.)

  65. chi chi

    Hey, neonate. And I’m more comfortable reading your site and pampered myself with nutritious foods and health and medical information I discovered there than follow advice from my doctor and other journals of medicine. 🙂

    Tell you what, the bulk of my investment is on Euro pharma dealing with vaccines for infants, multiple sclerosis and finding cure for alzheimer’s disease. One of my angel stocks is already on the last phase of its anti-rabies vaccine project… research and tests are being done in the Philippines. Sa dami ng asong ulol sa Pinas (includes Gloria and gang), dun ginawa ang research and testing, hahahaha! Joke only.

    I’ve been to your website, you deal with big pharmas there, so there…we have konek. heheh!

  66. dandaw dandaw

    Cocoy, Our financies are in order. I think you should blog at Townhall.com or gretawire.com. As astute as you are in blogging and knows well the intricacies of the financial market maybe you should channel your knowledge there. I still say this mess was caused by the democrats. Did you notice that Bill Clinton is very quite. I wonder why. Thank you for your very enlightining take.

  67. parasabayan parasabayan

    This economic turmoil the US is in is a product of a lot of factors. Too bad the dam broke under Bush.

    Looking at the habits of Americans, almost everything is bought with a plastic card. Young people eat out a lot like there is no tomorrow. My office is right next to an upscale restaurant. While I bring my baon to my office, not only is it practical, it is also a healthier option, I see young people in their 20s and 30s eating out a lot. These same group buy expensive cars with a minimal down, go on trips and put their expenses on their credit cards and yes, most of their monies are in stocks! They brag about making so much from their stocks!

    Sub-prime lending started again only just a few years ago but it was this same lending practice which caused the 1991-1998 real estate downfall. The US never learned. Teaser rates as low as 1% were offered to home owners. Of course with a large cash out from the refinancing and low monthly payments for at least the first two years, homeowners were enticed to refinance their homes. Also, marginal home buyers with questionable credit were also enticed to buy homes they could not afford in the long run. “No down loans” were originated. What the buyers were so naive about was that there was no such thing as “no money down” loans. There are usually two banks involved in these so-called “zero down loans”. One with an 80% mortgage with a lower interest rate called “first” and another loan for the 20% at a much higher interest rate called “second”. If both of these loans had teaser rates or a “fixed” rate only for a few years, when the changed rate kicks in, the homeowner can no longer afford to pay the increased mortgages. These kinds of loans started again in the early 2000s and now that the fixed rates are converted to adjustable loans, these borrowers are in default and the banks are foreclosing on their properties. Since the market is flooded with these inventories, naturally the prices came down drastically. Even homeowners who think that the values of their homes came down are starting to do “short sales”, meaning, having their home sold at a price less than what they owe the bank.

    The conservative rule was, a third of what one makes should be the allowed mortgage payment. But when the subprime lending started again, lenders even allowed 50% of ones’ income to go towards the mortgage payments. It was like putting a gun on someone’s hand to shoot himself!

  68. You’re right dandaw,the debacle started with homeowner defaults on subprime mortgages and that it has now spread to other types of mortgages as foreclosures escalate. We know that the unhealthy use of subprime mortgages started during the Clinton administration, as did the bundling and sale of these mortgages into mortgage-backed securities sold in the financial markets.

    What has not been reported is that it had to have been the Bush administration that turned these acts of reckless lending into a national program of mortgage fraud. Soon after George W. Bush became president in 2001, meetings at the White House between Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan and administration officials became more frequent.Direction soon began to come down from the banks to mortgage brokers to falsify borrower income information to allow them to qualify for loans that were otherwise out of reach. Someone at a very high level had to start the ball rolling. The banks would not have done it on their own without political clearance. That is not the way the system works.It’s disgrace: a bailout of reckless bankers, lenders, and investors that provides little direct debt relief to borrowers and financially stressed households and that will come at a very high cost to the US taxpayer.It is a crime; grand larceny on a monumental scale.

    You are welcome to visit my site and the bloggers are very sharp commenter in a given topic.

    Cocoy’s Delight
    http://cocoy826.wordpress.com

  69. Tongue
    I just got home few minutes and this is whatmy sensor picked-up from some Old Boy Scout tortured by Japs in the jungle of Capas.They love to talk about politics.Forget the Equity Bills for now,they are living on SSI.

    According to him he was Mc Arthur war planner.Oh Yeah !the coffee was too strong and the creamer was tainted with melamine. He told me:

    The Chinese Central Bank was an important player in the U.S. financial crisis right from the beginning.

    The Chinese didn’t only jump in with U.S. financial investor Blackstone, which since has lost much of its previous value, but also with Morgan Stanley.The Chinese had put 376 billion dollars into Freddie and Fannie duo, it became abruptly apparent to Chinese creditors that both were on the rocks.

    Here’s the funny one:
    At the opening of the Olympic games when President George W. Bush met with leaders of the Chinese government, the Chinese didn’t beat around the bush for very long.The liabilities were to be taken over by the state,they demanded…it wasn’t just the heat during the ceremonies that was causing George W. Bush to perspire….If you don’t pay it back, we’ll have to convert our dollar holdings to Euros…And who will be willing to loan you any money in the future if we won’t? If you don’t pay,we will poison your babies and people with melamine. GWB turn around and stuck his middle finger on his ass.

  70. etcetera etcetera

    Billions of dollars of stock, it is impossible to determine how many billions, are left with the banks as collateral for non-purpose loans.

    “Nonpurpose loans” are made by a bank with the understanding that they are to used for tax payments, house repairs, and other expenses but not to be used for the purchase of stock. Nevertheless, they often are.

    When a bank makes a nonpurpose loan and the collateral used is stock, the stock is put in the bank’s custody.

    The Federal Reserve banks is supposed to be just “lenders of money.” The only collateral that they are supposed to accept are notes that could be paid from goods and services that the borrower have profited from. However, almost from the day of its inception, the Federal Reserve system set about making loans on common stocks.

    Banks monetize – in effect, make into money – whatever they accept as security, including common stocks. So, each time the stock market coughs, the banks have different volume of deposit currency. That is, when the price of stock goes up, the value of banks cache of that stock grows. When the price of stock goes down, the cache of stock diminishes in value. Obviously, a major collapse of the stock market will lead to the collapse of the banking system.

  71. bitchevil bitchevil

    Cocoy, very good points you raised about the Bailout. Furthermore, the Black & Minorities are the usual scapegoats in sub-prime debacle.

  72. dandaw dandaw

    Not true that the blacks and minorities are scapegoats. The whites are now the minorities in the U.S. The whites are conscious how many children they have. There are more black babies born without fathers everday. The premise that the government will take care of them from “cradle to grave” is very much alive in that sector of society. Comes the hespanics because of their religion the reason why they have that many children. To quote john kennedy “ask not what your country can do for you but what you can do for your country. Lets just hope and pray that this mess in the financial system will be solved and be over soon so that life will be smooth as usual and if we live frugally not beyond our means we have done our part.

  73. bitchevil bitchevil

    What are you yacking about, Dandaw? The Bailout has been passed by the US House.

  74. martina martina

    The bailout proposal became $850 billion plus, the $150 billion extra is for sweeteners to lawmakers comparable to the pork barrel in the Phil.

  75. martina martina

    I mean with that, if politicians in Us are like in Phil, the bailout likely will be approved in the lower house.

    US Lawmakers were deluged by emails from their constituents. Pinoys should also do this when they want to show outrage to their politicians.

  76. Martina,
    This is precisely the problem, they continually packaged these sub-standard loans and kept recycling them through the financial system until they started to go sour. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were guaranteeing these bad loans and it all fell like a house of cards. A mortgage is a long term asset usually 15-30 years which means that the principal will not be repaid in the short term that the banks need the money to make other loans. Packaging them allows the banks to continue to make loans by getting liquidity from the sale of these packages. Unfortunately, these packages were rotting time bombs.

    What this bill does is relieve the banks of these rotting packages so they can continue to function and keep liquidity in the system. Hopefully, the bill includes oversight and protection for the taxpayer. Supposedly, the government will begin the re-negotiation process with these mortgages and wishfull thinking turn a profit. It is not unprecedented, this is similar to what was done during the depression with bad mortgages then.

    But, what can we do when some of Americans thinks Mussolini is a Disneyland character.Instead,HOLLA! Americans,they have NO debt, meaning they are not indebted on an individual dimension, and USA has got one hundred billion in its coffer.Now,defaulted americans can thank congressman Humpty Dumpty announced he’d voted against the bill the first time but for it the second time, because it was the right thing to do after Bush and the big fat guy in congress twisted there arms.Have a party and enjoy what you just saw was democracy (the majority vote of crooked politicians and their business partners) trump a representative republic.

  77. martina martina

    The original bailout proposal for $700 billion consisted of 30 pages, now the approved one is about 400 pages. Wha duh? Ano, maraming din silang insertions at taga kaya, natuto sa mga tongressmen at senatongs from Phil.

  78. etcetera etcetera

    The ecosystem of subprime lending crisis is composed of Federal Reserve, SEC, US Treasury, Congress, US Supreme Court, and US Presidents. Maybe I missed one more thing or two. As I said before, They are all in collusion with Wall Street.

    Subprime lending is the most visible instrument that the media can grasp to blame this crisis on. Who owns the major network media in US?

    Subprime lending is not easy to understand, as it seems to be.

    Wall Street owns America!!!

  79. I’m serious here. How am I supposed to enjoy the weekend when Congress just ripped me, personally, off for at least few grand of my hard earned dollars and probably more by the time the truth comes out. Okey, the mindset is to buy bad debt, hold it and hopefully turn a profit. The market looks to be stagnant and may remain that way for a while.

    Let’s say this stagnation lasts 3 years, then takes another 3 to begin to rise. With that scenario it would be 6 years before the government can begin to see a return on this investment. Increase that to 5 years stagnation, and you get 10 years,6 years = 12 etc.etc.etc. The government may be able to turn a profit. in a decade or two. until then we’re stuck. bad economy and debt on top of it. If things get worse before they get better, which is usually the case, who will help? The government just spent the last of our money. I think this was bad no matter how you slice it. Something had to be done, yes. but not this. No one could come up with anything better than this? To me it appears that the system is broken. To throw money at a broken system doesn’t make much sense. First the system should be fixed. Then maybe a stimulus package or something of that nature. But to force a bill thru congress because “something had to be done” is very bad governing practices. $700 billion just buys enough time for the next President to get stuck with the dirty diapers. Criminal, this is all criminal.

  80. I can’t believe the gall of Congress in lecturing Wall Street and the President when they were just as guilty that this happened as they were. From the 1990’s onward, this disaster was in the wings. With the bailout today, Congress and this President screwed us again! Every person that voted for this bailout needs to be voted out of office. Neither Obama nor McCain deserve to be President for supporting this bailout. If I had my way, every Dem and Rep would be thrown out of Congress. I thought that I could not be more disgusted with politicians until their actions today. Consider this: The Democrats always help the Bush Administration. They approved the war in Iraq, they approved the bail out. There’s no real opposition… Just a lot of talk.. talk.. talk. Oh happy days for the Democrats. Lets see, they put the economy in the crapper, tax payers bail it out, Raynes and Johnson are laughing all the way to the bank of Obama, Franks will get a promotion, Pelosi will celebrate by botoxing her face yet again.

  81. There is no confidence, even among the thieves who benefited most from today’s huge bailout. Why? Once the bailout was a done deal, signed by the president, … the thieves were back in business on our dime. They don’t trust us, and they don’t trust one another. The market dove because they understand that most basic business principle.Without a reasonable and sound economic policy, … even the thieves understand that all bets are off. We just handed over $ 700,000,000,000 to make good on Wall Street’s bad debt. Going forward, would you trust a nation that would do such a thing? Tragically, and ironically, neither do the thieves that just committed the greatest heist in Human history! Among them I include Paulson, Bernanke and the Bush Crime Cartel.

    This may help to thaw the credit market in the short term, but it certainly doesn’t address the core issue. The origin of the crisis is at the homeowner level. Homeowners are defaulting on mortgages. Moving the financial instruments onto the Treasury’s books does not stop the rising default rate. They all keep yelling about cars, houses and gimmee purchases, why don’t people just forgo what they can’t afford. It worked for generations of people.

  82. dandaw dandaw

    I was glued to the TV about the bailout as you are Bitch E. Who made the blacks and minorities the scapegoat in this debacle? I believe it is Obama because he wants sympathy. Now, Obama is preaching that he is responsible for the bailout. Don’t blame Bush for this mess. It was started by Jimmy Carter and President Clinton instituted it. That is why Clinton is called the “Black President” “You know give the monority a chance to own a home even if they don’t qualify for a loan.” I’m sure you would like to give every minority houses and free health care but where will you get the money? If the government is your private enterprise are you just going to give, give, give? otherwise you will be bankcrupt.

  83. bitchevil bitchevil

    You got a point, dandaw. If you check the number of bumps and homeless in America, they’re mostly Blacks. But, I think you’re a bit unfair by generalizing it with your mention of “minority”. If it’s the Blacks who were in your mind, then I might share the same view. The ones who drain the government resources are mostly Blacks; not Asians…certainly not the Filipino immigrants. Over in Canada, mainstream Canadians are also silently protesting the native Indians or they call “First Nation” and “Aboriginals”. They are a bunch of lazy group of people. Most crimes are committed by them.

  84. dandaw dandaw

    Here’s Obamas number lists Bitchevil,
    3 – Different names: Obama, Dunham, Soetoro.
    3 – Citizenships: US, Kenya (UK), Indonisia. Won’t
    produce authentic birth certificate.
    5 – US enemy endorsements: Hamas, Iran, Chavez, Castro,
    North Korea.
    1 – US Terrorist Adviser – William Ayers.
    1 – Land deal in Illinois with convicted felon : Rezko
    1 – Anti-American Bigoted Pastor – Rev. J. Wright
    2 – Votes Against Born-Alive Legislation.
    2 – Violations of Logan Act – underming US President
    and Foreign policy when negotiating with Iraqi
    Officials and US Commanders.
    139 – “Present” Votes.
    140 – Days served in the US Senate before running for
    President.
    2 – Memoirs written
    0 – sponsored meaningful legislation.
    0 – Papers written as University Law Professor.
    18 -Million – voters of Hillary be ignored.

    UNFIT TO LEAD

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