It's arrived. The Administrations plan to get the toxic assests off banks books. It depends heavily on private investors participating. I guess the big question is how much of a discount (and govt backing) will it take for private investors to take Mortgage Backed Securities off the hands of banks and is that a price that the banks will be willing to let them go? Devil's in the details. I read some places that private investors expressed concern that if they got in bed with the govt in taking on these "toxic" securites will they be castigated by Congress and the Admin if they somehow end up making a lot of money on the deal, possilby even have retroactive taxes placed on their profits.
....TOK, you've nailed it. My partners and I are discussing that very dynamic. The mere fact that we, and scores like us, are having that conversation and expressing reservations about it suggests the damage that this government has done in terms of unintended consequences......also, will they change the deal after the fact? These are the kinds of questions people ask when they contemplate investment in foreign bananna republics, not the US. Congressional actions have, in fact, and will for certain limit the amount of private capital flowing into this economy. Dumb is forever...... My wife asked me that if we decide to play in this game, will there be tour buses in front of the house and will the kids be subject to harassment at school.....can you believe this sh!t?! Kudos, however, to Geightner for finally letting us have a peek after his debacle of Feb 10.....interestly enough, the market today is clawing back just about all that his ill conceived press conference of that day gave up......
The Dow is up a staggering 500 points!! There must be a whole ton of very liquid foreigners and Democrats out there investing their asses off for this to happen because I can't see any Republicans giving the Obama administration the slimmest chance of succeeding given the comments that predominante this board. I'll bet Rush Limbaugh is howling with criticism over the Dow's rise today.
At the end of the day, the country will "succeed" in the sense that the economy will "recover" and growth will return......it will "recover" in spite of the socialists' best efforts to destroy it.....how long it will take and whether or not we will ever regain the growth potential we had prior to his social experiment and tyrannical abuses of the tax code, etc, is highly problematic imho......you should seek a career in comedy. Clearly you have no appreciation for the damage that has already been done in his class war and the unintended consequences of their vision for violent government intrusion into the private lives and choices of its citizenry, but damage indeed has been done......how long it will take to recover is a direct function of the elapsed time before we again have adult supervision......
The reason that the market went up is that Turbo Tax Timmy finally came up with the plan for banks he was supposed to announce weeks ago. It's amazing that just one hint of competence can move the markets in a big way. What's Obama doing today Opra or the Daly Show?
"Clearly you have no appreciation for the damage that has already been done." ....uh....yes...yes....I do... :cry:
BT, Are you that optimistic that there will be a sustainable recovery? Unlike you I have no expertise in finance and my question is sincerely meant. At some point, say even in 2 to 5 years, can our ever ballooning debt load and our inability as a nation to deal with this issue result in a free fall of the dollar leading to economic times far, far worse than what we are dealing with now?
Perhaps a strict isolationist policy in the world could help us reduce the debt load in an accelerated fashion.Bring home all the troops; shut down our bases overseas. Lock down our borders. Throw out all the illegals here. Stop all or most foreign aid.
I always like the sound of that George but there are drawbacks as in it didn't work last time ( Hitler ) and now we have an abundance of foreign investors ( 5% rise in Feb. existing home sales fueled in part by foreign investors ). I think some retraction of our military expenses overseas is doable but the the troops need to be back on safe soil before that happens.
Bobda, I am optimistic that we can get through the current crisis in the financial system - given our present direction, I'm less optimistic about the long term prospects and indeed would suggest that our present course will materially undermine the growth potential of our economy. Will the electorate realize the error of their ways and re-chart a different course? I hope so, but am uncertain....we are a different nation today than when we grew up. As you suggest, if our course continues to steer towards a socialist democracy, massive government intrusion into the capital allocation process, wealth redistribution, disincentives to capital investment, anti-business sentiment, massive entitlement spending, out of control appropriation processes will materially constrain productivity increases of our system, the ever ballooning debt will force foreign investment to find other alternatives, crush the dollar and eventually diminish our growth and employment potential towards those of the European systems - albeit with a heavier debt burden. We will thus be the first generation of US parents who left their children with a lower standard of living and lesser opportunities for prosperity than their predecessors.... .....I really don't believe you do. You need to look 20 years down the road and get a sense of the disastrous implications compounded over time by the policy course charted by these socialists and how dramatically different it is than the environment from which evolved the greatest economic system known to mankind. Massive government spending on social welfare, increasing tax burden on success, lack of incentives, barriers to capital investment to fund growth and innovation and greater central planning are not new to the world.....they are known policy commodities and have been evidenced as failures in every instance. They will in fact reduce the opportunities available to our children and theirs and diminish our standing in the world in dramatic terms.....hope it works out for you.
I believe invention and manufacturing was the catalyst to the above statement being true. What now? Also....I made the statement once before that we live in such a stock driven time that CEOs operate in a much tougher environment with respect to how they must answer to the investors daily and how they sometimes sacrifice vision and future growth opportunities for better returns NOW and TODAY. With everyone's retirement depending on it who can blame anyone for that mindset? It's the bed we have all made for ourselves.
I don't understand? What do you mean? What now? On an earlier topic, I thought we had put to bed your myth that US manufacturing was dead.....the domestic auto industry is bankrupt, but that is far from representative of the entire US manufacturing sector. US manufacturing is quite healthy in sectors where the US commands competitive advantages in areas such as intellectual capital. Technology, aerospace, bio-pharma and healthcare, etc. I have a thought, let's create an environment that places barriers to capital investment, increase the cost of capital thereby limiting profitable expansion opportunities and remove funds from the private sector to assist the swamp rats.....but sure, in terms of the industrial midwest, let's place a material tax on their plants and ship the proceeds out west to subsidize the already advantaged industrial competitors, that should help. Invention - i.e, research and development and innovation is at present a monumental strength of this system. I have a thought, lets put the government in charge of thinking what is valuable to invest in....let's remove decision-making from the hands of the country's collective wisdom and put it in the hands of some DC bureaucrats controlled by Comrades Reid and Pelosi.....let's limit new investment by increasing its costs and limiting its returns, put a cap on the rewards, increase the tax burden on its success, constrain the amount available for new discovery by taking it out of the economy and ship it to DC so they can tell fund tatoo removal......that should help. This is change you can believe in.......it is also destructive to much of what made this country the greatest economic growth, employment and productivity and innovation engine the world has ever seen......not perfect, to be sure, but so far ahead of the next best alternative that it's not enough close.....
BT: Quid pro quo (yes I am hijacking the thread)... How significant are the efforts, would you estimate, that George Soros has had negatively on the American economy and social stability since say..... the late 90s? I ask because, he has made his money 'shorting' and destroying entire banking systems in the past. He became a 'philanthropist' and created agencies of dissent such as MoveOn that he passionately funded throughout the Bush Administration to create discord... I am certainly not blaming one man here, but I do wonder what a person with far more expertise in the field might hold of someone like him. In return, flexible Buckeye fans.
Speaking of Banks, I wonder what Obama is going to talk about with those CEO's that are coming to the White House? Say guys, if you just go ahead and keep that TARP money I'll promise to keep congress off your back and I won't demonize you for making money. If he doesn't and the strong banks give back the tarp money and can do business as best benefits their shareholders and depositors with less govt influence, what happens to the weak banks who have to take govt rules on compensation and the best people in those banks go ...BullChit...I'm leaving for a non-TARP bank where I can be rewarded on a level commensurate with my efforts.
Corey, re: Soros.....political scumbucket from where I sit. Aggressively intrusive into the political process and radical activist. However from trading standpoint he was/is perhaps the finest currency trader/speculator the world has ever known and the source of much of his fortune. He almost busted the Bank of England during the Euro currency conversion and virtually brought them to their knees.....similarly, he made a fortune during the Asian currency crisis is likely to be jailed if he sets foot on Thai soil any time soon.....however, if he never took another breath, I and many, many others wouldn't grieve. Thanks for the pic.....they didn't make em like that when I was in school.
T, Funny, I just read this article today and came back here to see if you've answered the question yet. Soros: I'm having a very good crisis I still can't believe people didn't see right through this act for all these years. These "Bush lied, children died" MoveOn jackasses are, quite literally, the useful idiots penned about long ago.
Can you believe this? Not to worry......Comrades Pelosi and Reid under the direction of the Obama White House will draft legislation that limits compensation for everybody.......dentists, lawyers and doctors are next up. Lube up and grab your ankles boys...... :shock: