I thought that may just be a good question to revisit now that Bush has approved the remaining 350 billion in TARP funds to be released by the Obama administration: http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/12/22/bailout.accountability/index.html I am not comfortable at all that there will be accountability and that there has been accountability. I am still appalled and sickened by the scrutiny and scorn heaped on the auto industry execs for their paltry requests in comparison to the Wall Street execs who have had to answer few questions about how they screwed up....why they need the money and more importantly just what in the hell did they do with all that money they have already received?
So....everybody is A-Ok with the way this sh*t has gone down so no comments? Must be a lot of blind trust out there.
I'm numb to all of this. I am hopeful that the Porn industry will get it's bailout sometime soon. I worry about the girls, what are they going to do if the Porn industry goes under.
I don't have blind trust. What I do have is complete ignorance of how these various industries were able to con the government out of all this money and what has become of it since they got their hands on it. I think most of us are silent because we don't have a clue what to say.
I watched Pelosi get grilled on this today on GMA and nothing she said makes me feel any better. Supposedly....they had instructions in place on how the money was to be spent but it sounds like no accountability procedures were put in place and followed up on the way they should have. They also talked about something most heinous....and devious....and downright criminal.....2-3 billion dollars in retention bonus money for two large banks that were talking merger after they received bailout money. Check out these 10 ways in which the money has been misspent: http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/CompanyFocus/the-10-worst-bailout-boondoggles-slides.aspx?slide-number=1 I have to tell you....it's hard to even read this crap without getting a knot in your gut.
Thieves and charlatans, one and all. The market tanked again today mainly on news that BOA is back at the government trough once again, looking for another $25,000,000,000. Their reason? Their acquisition of Merrill Lynch has cost them much more than they expected. Why? Well, they only did two whole daysof due diligence before buying that schlock outfit at the beginning of this saga. So let's get this straight. BOA is hardly making loans. They are investing in foreign banks. They are buying up US companies like ML who are already dead. And they are gouging their own customers with high interest rates, inadvertantly perpetuating their own demise. And they are doing all this with OUR money. If you or I pulled such a scam we would be imprisoned.
That's the damned truth George. It is preposterous to me that anyone anywhere has the brash disregard for what's decent and honest to actually defend this swindle. You can bet that some of the money BOA receives for the ML foul-up is for RETENTION bonuses to execs who aren't worth a tinker's damn in the first place!!
I find most galling, even more than bargain basement purchase of a basically defunct ML; the investment of American taxpayer money, meant to stimulate our economy and save homes and businesses, into foreign banks. The hubris of these pinstriped shakedown artists is incredible.
But George.....that's the "market" at work.....capitalism at it's finest we're told. We just need to bend over...grab our ankles and everything will be OK if we just let the system work...... :lol: :lol: :roll:
The free market at work....with greed running rampant and unchecked or unregulated...is what got us into this mess. No longer is ethics, honesty and long range planning a part of the business equation on Wall Street. Witness Mr. Madoff for example. Now there is a role model for ya.....
What....Madoff or the part about the financial markets going unchecked and unregulated? You mean there were honest...forward thinking individuals or groups in charge who were so stupid they didn't know what was going down? Or maybe they knew but turned their heads for fear of getting in the way of exorbitant but foolish profits and greedy executives and investors?
BOA just got a frssh $20bil of taxpayer play money to piss away on non-customer related expenditures like foreign bank investments and dressing up that turd Merrill Lynch that they bought in the fire sale. This is surreal.
Thanks for the rotten news George...hadn't seen that one yet. I'm sure though from what I'm told that BOA has the best interests of the American people in mind and if we just leave the bast*rds alone that money will find it's way into our checking account somehow. :x :roll:
The market hasn't run unchecked, the federal government has had its hands all over this build up for some time now... all at varying degrees, but it is there and it is just not a good thing. You've continually made sweeping generalizations and over-statements begging for the Fed to step in for months now...and in they did..and you get what you get.. Did you think we were all going to get checks? Hell "W" did that and he was made fun of for not giving that money to 'people who know what to do with it.' Now that money is given to those people who allegedly 'know what to do with it' and you are wondering where your check is.. We've been so tied up in playing the 'blame game' for so long that we've ignored the root causes that were rotting long ago regarding so many issues, and refusing to call the kettle black to avoid 'messy confrontation' that we are now screwing ourselves in ways we never thought possible. I warned you years and years ago that putting Pelosi and the California, Inc. Dems in charge was a bad idea... Gimme a good old fashioned Scoop Jackson Dem any day... but not these pretenders... There's the old saying "As goes California, so goes the nation" and we've been ignoring what is going on there for faaaaar too long. That place is being run aground and the people who were leading that sinking ship were given the keys to the kingdom. I am sure some how, some way this is all Ws fault...
Yeah...I am wondering why credit became so tight that my company's bank decided that my Big Three business base couldn't count towards credit worthiness for my company and therefore the company had to take drastic actions....like cutting payroll.....like cutting me....so yeah.....I am wondering where my pay check is!!! I am wondering why credit became so tight in spite of 350 billion effin dollars that were injected into the effin financial system and yet many businesses around the nation are still in the bind that my company is in. At the bar last night which I haven't been to in a while I announced my layoff to the bartender who I've known for 15 years and she offered these words of comfort....."big deal....the whole world's laid off"..... So whatever blog you read Corey has you convinced that Pelosi is behind all of this? That's perplexing at best if not amusing.
It's no blog, it is the actual life experience of living through the Californication that took place in the mid-90s and continues on today. Not to be too obtuse here, but perhaps the business was too reliant on a single source for its income? My father, currently an employee of the state of California, is now receiving IOU's for paychecks instead of actual currency. California has the 6th highest tax burden of the nation. Source cited here. Yet they can't come up with money to pay the teachers? The reasons 'why' the credit is so tight is a lengthy list, none of which you care anything about. I believe it was Terry who tried to engage in a discussion with you about the subject earlier and you outright dismissed any and all things he had to say on the subject. I have no idea if you, or really anyone, knows this but my fiance produces a nationally syndicated radio program that is 100% dedicated to the subject of small business. For the past several years, I know they feel as if they have been screaming into the wind while eating a steady diet of crazy pills. People want the quick fix, and that is especially true when times are tough. People want an easy scape goat and an easy answer. Life does not, and has not, ever worked that way... but people don't want to hear that... so please, by all means... continue on with your rant.