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POPSBecome a Bank Holding Company Like them, I’ve got some bad loans out there, and I’m suffering from “market turbulence.” My nephew is into me for two grand on a college loan, and he can’t seem to get a job that doesn’t require a hair-net. Meanwhile, my bartender at the Chug-a-Lug will testify that I’m behind on my bar tabs because of the “unusual and exigent circumstances” roiling financial markets. That’s the very line that American Express used to get its snout into the public trough, so why not me?
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POPSObama's Pick for Chief of Staff. . . . . . 
. . . . . .Tops Recipients of Wall Street Money . . . . . Emanuel, who is currently the No. 4 Democrat in the House, has also collected $136,640 from the lobbying industry during his career, making K Street his 13th most generous industry. Since being elected to the House six years ago, he has collected $1.5 million from the investment industry , with lawyers and law firms and the entertainment industry coming in at a distant second and third place ($682,900 and $376,100). As a member of the powerful House Ways & Means Committee--which has jurisdiction over tax legislation, Social Security, Medicare and other entitlement programs--Emanuel is a popular industry target. Private equity firm Madison Dearborn Partners has given Emanuel more than any other contributor over his career at $93,600. Emanuel and Obama have more than just Chicago in common; investment bank UBS, Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan Chase, Citigroup and Morgan Stanley are among both men's lists of top donors .
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POPSLoan officers @ WaMu pressured to approve loans "No matter what" This is what people mean by "predatory lending". The whole industry went out looking for people who didn't qualify to give loans to. At the same time, they helped rewrite the bankruptcy laws to make it harder for people to get out from under crushing debt. See also: - In Debt We Trust - Where Does Money Come From?
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POPSDon't blame deregulation Indeed, exactly contrary to Obama’s claims, the repeal of Glass-Steagall has helped to counter the current crisis. It allowed Bank of America to buy out Merrill Lynch, JP Morgan Chase to buy out Bear Stearns, and Barclays Bank to work on buying up the remains of Lehman Brothers. It allowed investment banks Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to take up refuge as bank holding companies. If investment banks Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers had diversified more into commercial banking, taking commercial deposits — as the Act’s repeal made possible — that might have provided them with the superior capital cushions needed to survive.
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POPSTaxpayers Likely Profit Hank is getting us a nice dividend on the money we invest in Wall Street. He's also likely buying at the bottom (even if one or two banks don't make it). This, of course, all depends on whether the cash infusion actually gets banks to lend.
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POPSFinancial Crisis: The Great Bank Bailout The nine banks had "no choice" as the federal government (with money created by the Fed from thin air) is buying a portion of these banks, injecting cash into them to ease credit. This is a partial government takeover or pseudo-nationalization of these banks, also being done in the UK and Europe.
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POPSFinancial Crisis: Fed Becomes Rogue Power
The Fed under Bernanke does whatever it wants. There is little constraints on it by law, being a creature actually outside of government. The "central bank" is actually a consortium of private banks with authority to print money "from thin air", as it states here. The Federal Reserve is no more "federal" than Federal Express. The only reason the Fed Chairman Bernanke went to Congress for a Bailout Plan (by using Treas. Sec'y Paulson to front, and hiding behind Bush) was to cover his hindquarters, and gain "consent" (by fear and coercion) of Congress, and putting Americans on the hook with them. Note the article states that the Fed acted already on its own to bailout Bear Stearns and make other "loans" (print money) without Congress: The Bernanke Fed first invoked rarely used 1930s powers to intervene — with taxpayer backing — in March when it provided a $29 billion loan as part of JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s takeover of Bear Stearns. The Fed is now Czar.
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POPSCEO pay: What those involved in the financial meltdown made
Amazing. "If George W. Bush, John McCain, or Barack Obama had any honesty and integrity, they would approach the current banking malady in much the same way that President Andrew Jackson did. In discussing the Bank Renewal bill with a delegation of bankers in 1832, Jackson said, "Gentlemen, I have had men watching you for a long time, and I am convinced that you have used the funds of the bank to speculate in the breadstuffs of the country. When you won, you divided the profits amongst you, and when you lost, you charged it to the bank. You tell me that if I take the deposits from the bank and annul its charter, I shall ruin ten thousand families. That may be true, gentlemen, but that is your sin! Should I let you go on, you will ruin fifty thousand families, and that would be my sin! You are a den of vipers and thieves. I intend to rout you out, and by the eternal God, I will rout you out."" ~ Chuck Baldwin, Constitution Party Presidential Candidate.
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POPSWaMu falls What is that line about getting what you deserve? If you make risky bets you reap the consequences. Unfortunately, that means the rest of us reap them also!
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POPSJPMorgan Buys WaMu Deposits; Regulators Seize Thrift David Bonderman's TPG Inc., which led a $7 billion capital infusion for WaMu earlier this year, lost most of its initial $2 billion investment. TPG, based in Forth Worth, Texas, said in a statement yesterday it was ``dissatisfied with the loss'' and that the WaMu investment was a ``small part of assets.'' New York-based JPMorgan, which separately announced plans to raise $8 billion by selling common stock, had its outlook lowered to negative by Moody's Investors Service. Moody's left its Aa2 rating on JPMorgan unchanged. JPMorgan won't acquire WaMu's liabilities, including claims by shareholders and subordinated and senior debt holders, the FDIC said. JPMorgan paid $10 a share for Bear Stearns in March as the New York-based securities firm teetered on the brink of bankruptcy. ``Having worked with Kerry Killinger for 10 years, I still absolutely cannot fathom where or why he went wrong, and what caused him to lead the company into taking the kinds of risks that they did.''
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POPSLARGEST BANK FAILURE IN US HISTORY Now everybody is waiting for the fall-out. What about the investment industry, those that got to depend and make a living around the industry? Unemployed financiers. This is a catastrophe.
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POPSWashington Mutual Succumbs It's the largest bank failure in US history. Will this bank failure provide the impetus for Congress to overcome its impasse over the bailout package? Or will Congress keep a cool head and not settle for a trillion dollar hasty plan?
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POPSGOP: Lose Your Home, Lose Your Vote (cont.)McCain, who owns ten houses, has long been a lackey of the banking industry and a strong supporter of the industry's efforts to weaken government safeguards against irresponsible lending. Since 1989, the financial services, insurance and real estate industries have contributed $23.8 million to McCain's campaigns, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. This sector far outspent any other industry in making donations to the Arizona senator. Topping the list of McCain donors are Merrill Lynch ($366,035), Citigroup ($317,751), Goldman Sachs ($305,015), Morgan Stanley ($253,871), JPMorgan Chase ($207,728), Credit Suisse Group ($178,825), UBS ($178,515), Pinnacle West Capital ($164,050), Bank of America ($160,625), Lehman Brothers ($128,550) and Wachovia Corp ($121,346).
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POPSNext bailout WAMU? Would you buy a failing bank if knew the government and the taxpayers will buy junk for you?
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