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POPSBarney Frank and Chuck Schumer’s Role In Fannie Mae's Failure
In Congress, they made sure there was no additional oversight, no additional limit on executive behavior and compensation, and no further restraint on the growth of the companies’ mortgage-backed-securities portfolios, among other changes. (All of these needed reforms, by the way, have been championed for years by Sen. John Sununu.) They wanted more loans to people who might not qualify for traditional bank financing. And, as The Wall Street Journal has pointed out, Frank “pressured regulators to ease up on their capital requirements — which now means taxpayers will have to make up that capital shortfall.” Barney Frank is the very symbol of Washington’s deliberate refusal to prevent the collapse — the predicted collapse — of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Rules were relaxed and money was loaned and predictably low income families defaulted on loans that they never had any business getting in the first place and now you and I have to pay for it.
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POPSPols Taking Stock Hits Note: Let's hope Mrs. Kerry still has a nice chunk of H.J. Heinz. That stock is up 7% year to date, versus a 15 point drop for the S&P 500.
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POPSStephen Downes: Learning Networks and Connective Knowledge The purpose of this paper is to outline some of the thinking behind new e-learning technology, including e-portfolios and personal learning environments. Part of this thinking is centered around the theory of connectivism, which asserts that knowledge - and therefore the learning of knowledge - is distributive, that is, not located in any given place (and therefore not 'transferred' or 'transacted' per se) but rather consists of the network of connections formed from experience and interactions with a knowing community.
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POPSStock Market Continues Fall, Fed Bails Out AIG Crisis continues. AIG gets what Lehman Bros did not--a bail out by the Fed. Maybe the fact that Lehman Bros hired Jeb Bush as advisor a year ago and another Bush as asset manager (see previous clipmark on Lehman) did have a role in deciding not to bail out Lehman, which sent the market into a tail spin as investors and pension companies change their portfolios away from these firms at risk. The Fed's "loan" will be in the form of printing more money (devaluing the dollar, increasing inflation) by the Fed (which is not a government institution, but private bank cartel). The Treasury Dept endorsed it, which is a reflection of the Bush administration. The Fed bailout really is the nationalization of AIG (a mark of socialism, communism), since they did it for a "return of 80% public stake in the firm". The Fed "owns" AIG now.
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POPSDaily Beast - For sure! Portfolios isn't sure about the name of Brown's new website-- but we are. The name registry now points to IAC and one of their employees just emailed Forbes using an email with @thedailybeast.com extension. Go Beastie!
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POPSWebBizIdeas Web Development Portfolio Featured Design Firm, WebBizIdeas on DesignFirms.org! WebBizIdeas.com is a Minneapolis MN web development & internet business development company that helps Small Businesses & Internet Entrepreneurs build & market internet businesses. They specialize in website design, graphic design, internet marketing, software development, and internet consulting. The industries they specialize in are social networking, ecommerce, CMS, corporate, dating, and internet tv.
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POPSCongress And The Countrywide Scandal As for Republicans, most members of the Senate Banking Committee voted for the Dodd-Frank bill in exchange for reforms of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The reforms, part of a deal brokered by Sen. Richard Shelby (R., Ala.), create a new regulator to establish tougher standards for the portfolio holdings of Freddie and Fannie. While both of these agencies are in dire need of reform, this deal is still a mistake. By foisting this compromise on their Republican colleagues, Democrats are holding the reform of Fannie and Freddie hostage in order to increase bipartisan support for a bailout of reckless mortgage lenders. In a free market, businesses take risks and reap either profits or losses. But markets only work when businesses are held accountable for their bad decisions. The message this proposed legislation sends to the market is clear: Big lenders like Countrywide who make bad bets can count on generous bailouts
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POPSCommodity speculation and the cost of living As high-tech stocks and real-estate investments have started to look less promising, financial speculators have turned to commodities. This is why energy and food prices have shot up so dramatically around the world.
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POPSIpsen Buying Tercica The weak dollar strikes again, as another U.S.-based biotech gets bought by an overseas drugmaker. Ipsen already owned 25% of Tercica, which makes a hormone for treating children who are not growing adequately. Still, that 104% premium is pretty eye-catching.
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POPSFED LOANS TO BANKS NOW $500 BILLION These loans are not based on traditional criteria. Banks should be strictly limited as to which mortgagees can be recipients, as well as limiting bank profits on the subject loans. It should be prohibited for FED money to be used in such a manner to make banks or hedge funds any significant profit. Let the current bank ownership go bust, put the portfolios up for bid... with the FEDS being buyers of last resort... and make sweet deals to owner occupiers only. This should not be like the 'S&L crisis' where pols and their friends made BILLIONS without putting up any significant amount of their own cash.
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POPSThe Folly of Political Investment Portfolios Daniel Gross argues that political portfolios aren't good investment strategies. I wonder if anyone has done a formal study of this. He notes that an ideal stock in a George Bush political portfolio in 2000 would have been Enron, which ended up being a disaster. Well, that's true, if you had only one stock in your "portfolio". Exxon and Halliburton would have been pretty obvious stocks for that portfolio too. They've gone to 90 from 40 and 48 from 19. You sure that's such a bad portfolio?
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POPSWeak Dollar and Traders Behind Gas Prices, Not Supply and Demand This refutes a lot of talk about OPEC and such causing high oil and gas prices. It also explains higher prices on consumer goods, not just driven by fuel prices alone. The dollar is becoming as valued as the paper its printed on, which (this articles does not go into) is because of national indebtedness for heavy war spending, as Ron Paul pointed out during his campaigning. Traders and speculators in the investment community are increasingly buying oil futures for their portfolios and war fears (i.e. war on terrorism, middle east war-mongering) increase price on the trade floor, period.
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POPSBaby Boomers: Good Advice for Retirement This article is one of the first I have seen that mentions two things we need in retirement: 1. A Cash Reserve so we don't have to sell stocks in a down-turn just to live. 2. A way to invest in the markets with tools to help protect against the down-side.
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POPSCollaboration environment with a hint of rice wine? OK, bad spelling pun. This looks nice, but I haven't had a chance to download and install it to try it properly - if anyone has, please let me know! This and Bodlington are going to be working together, it seems, at least to some extent.
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