“Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke and the Bush administration on Thursday defended the decision to rescue Bear Stearns amid questions by lawmakers about why the government was helping Wall Street investment houses but not people on Main Street.”I gagged when Ben Bernanke actually tried to defend the Bear Stearns bail-out by claiming a crisis in confidence. So exactly how confident are investors in the good 'ol US of A supposed to be now that the Fed has to bail out 80-something year-old investment firms?
Hey Ben, you want to restore confidence? Let the free markets work.
And does Bernanke even care about Americans or does he just care about those Americans who happen to work for Wall Street? Here's one reader's answer:
How do the Master Planners feel about the American household, about the little guy? Here's some of Bernanke's testimony today on the hill:Angry yet?
Mr. Kennedy (loud): "What's your recommendation? We have monetary and fiscal policy. You have responsibility in monetary, Congress does in fiscal policy. But you have to have some position in terms of the economic crisis that we're facing."
Mr. Bernanke (calm): "No sir."
Mr. Kennedy (louder): "You're not prepared to tell us, to try and provide help and assistance to the states . to try and help and assist families, working families?"
Mr. Bernanke: "I'm all in favor of assisting people, sir, but it's Congress' position."
Mr. Kennedy (at his loudest): "You don't have a recommendation?"
Mr. Bernanke: "No sir."
What they really meant:
Kennedy: "What are you going to do to bail out the American household, Ben?"
Bernanke: Nothing Ted. What are you going to do about it?
Kennedy: "I asked you first."
Bernanke: "Well, Ted, you ignorant sot, we bailed out Wall Street. That's good enough."
Kennedy: "That is not good enough, Ben, you pretentious pedagogue. You need to bail out the American household too."
Bernanke: "No, Ted, you do that."
Bernanke: "No Ben, you do that." "No, you do it." "No, you do it."
Or is any despicable act justifiable if it means that there is even the very slightest chance of saving some of your precious housing loot?
6 comments:
No one wants to see a recession, much less The Great Depression 2.0 (I should copyright this term so I can at least get something out of this mess). At this point The Fed is throwing everything including the kitchen sink at this economy to get it to turn around. Cutting rates, printing money, bailing out companies, selling treasuries to our enemies, etc. Within about a years time people will be squatting in houses that were foreclosed on them, the homeless rate will sky rocket, the stock market will crash. Overly liberal labor laws (designed to help) will force even more jobs over seas as companies are just trying to make a buck. I rate the stock USA as a STRONG SELL SELL SELL! Get out while you can. On that note does anyone have any recommendations for countries that ARE doing okay and where gaining citizenship is an actually possibility?
*Sorry for being so negative. Ruff week at work.
Well, and what happens with another brokerage house or bank finds itself facing a "panic" run on the institution?
The bailout talk is just so infuriating. But with standards getting tighter, I just don't see how the government can prop prices up at these levels. So a FB gets to stay in their overpriced house. How does the next door neighbor sell unless someone qualifies for a loan? How does anyone sell when hardly anyone is willing or able to buy at these prices?
Jim Rogers, for example, has moved to Singapore. Asian countries with high savings rate and trade surpluses may be places to consider for migration.
You make a good point Holland. I wonder if Singapore has an "America town" like most major US cities have a China town.
Singapore is probably the most westernized country in Asia. Singapore has four national languages: Mandarin, Malay, Tamil and English. For business and politics, English is the language of choice.
I have a friend who travels quite frequently to different countries in Asia. She really likes Singapore. She also said in Vietnam, it is easy to communicate with local people in English. Vietnam has 5-star beaches with relative cheap properties value.
Jim Rogers claimed he will liquidate all his US dollar holdings by the end of this year. Right now he is accumulating the Taiwan dollars and stocks because he thinks Taiwan is shifting its policy by broadening its economic ties with China. In his opinions the best currencies to hold are Chinese, Taiwan and Hong Kong. These three places have high savings rates, trade surpluses and close to each by geological links.
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