Here is a modest proposal: Let the Fed buy up mortgages from Fannie and Freddie, and reset the interest rate based on the rate for the 10-year note plus perhaps a point. Last year, Uncle Ben was reminding evertone that, if held to maturity, these securities were perfectly okay. That was before unemployment went to 10%+. Still, a rate under 5% (reset, not a refinance) would prevent many foreclosures by making mortgages affordable AND provide real economic stimulus for the middle class. Maturity would not change, so the Fed would not face a 30-year risk. Yes, this is a form of monetizing debt, but why should not the American middle class get the benefit of the Fed's largesse, since the banks apparntly have no use for it. Hell, at current rates, the bankers might even want some of the action.
Frank T.
I agree, multiple fantastic interviews, heavy focus on the financial bail outs...
I promise to do a "It's the Bill Moyer's Show" as a series, pulling up a bunch of these interviews in one shot.
PBS is so screwed up on enabling embedding. Moyer's in particular is weird, he has the video for downloading, pod cast, a host of things which imply they approve of distribution yet no embedding code and honestly I suspect it's because their webbie doesn't know how to add it with that player. ;)
To avoid copyright issues, I only post videos where embedding is enabled and it's meant to be shared and also, if there are ads, try to make sure the ads are going to the content owner.
But I will do a "It's the Bill Moyer's show" per your suggestion of yet another fantastic interview.
I believe this and documenting the political "paybacks" and the lobbyists score in billions of grants, funds, loans when frankly in terms of the best "bang for the buck", they do not deserve a dime, is something I'd like to get more details on.
How many billions, even trillions have been wasted? I know huge tech contracts, many in the billions, have literally produced not one line of usable code, often go to offshore outsourced companies, who have hordes of "influential people" and lobbyists.
May I suggest creating an account and joining us to help keeps us informed on the details? You'll skip the CAPTCHA and can track your own comments.
The key is to get a running documented #'s tally on this...
for while it's well known, precisely how much taxpayer money is wasted and just how much GDP is lost, real economic growth is lost, jobs for Americans are lost...
I don't have a running tally and that would be damn useful.
This is a fair rebuttal of Farrell's wacko ideas - there is no empirical evidence to back up any of the assertions made. Thousands of jobs and lives are being trashed based on this rubbish.
Just a heads up. For all of those who either do not celebrate Christmas or have PTSD from dysfunctional Christmas or are about to throw themselves over a bridge because they maxed out their credit cards for ingrates in Xmas gifts....of their Fried Turkey just set their house on fire or whatever....
I've got a "marathon" planned for an old series from the 1970's but it's a "classic" and on macroecon. So, there will be something to watch all day that isn't full of jingle bells.
This is for the people who need something to watch beyond all of the slasher movie marathons. ;)
That said, I try to dig out documentaries that at least give a lot of detail. For example, in Commanding Heights you can find some tidbits on how these globalists really do not understand contagion and really ignore the negative effects to local economies (the United States now being one very large local economy).
Something you might like better, and I think it's so well done, the book is even better, is this documentary,
The Prize. (click this link the entire 8 part series is at this link).
It's a little out of date, stopped during the 1990's but it's history of oil, the geo-political strategies to dominate oil, the economic consequences of oil....goes through the start of the importance to oil the wars, the strategy, the coup's, all of it and I think it's fairly objective.
Please send $800 billion dollars. We will make sure it barely gets a mention in the main stream press. It is not enough that the Fed has bought up $1.25 trillion MBSes from us, and we're not telling anyone what they are really worth, (hehe, often nothing!). We're Fannie and Freddie and we want $800 billion total now.
Oh yeah, by the way, Merry Christmas, we're suspending our foreclosures over the holiday.
Less than 20 car companies applied for $25 BILLION DOLLARS in taxpayer money managed by a certain group of people at DOE in order to get loans to make green cars for Americans’.
There was enough money to help every single one of the car companies that applied. The administrators applied their interpretations of the law in order to benefit the large lobby group-related firms and avoided every one of the “unconnected” companies.
The amount of lobby and influence money spent is in direct ratio to the amount of money awarded.
The smaller companies, due to lower overhead, could have dramatically more productive results with the money than the large burdened companies yet the money was given out based on political career advantages rather technology advantages.
All of the people that reviewed the applications had political and financial connections to GM, Ford, Chrysler and the large Detroit recipients.
Each of those smaller American companies had technology and resources that presented a strong economic threat, if they got the loans, to the large politically connected companies that did receive funds.
Some of the companies that have gotten money have backed out of making the electric cars they said they would make. But they still get to keep the money.
Some of the companies that got the money have already wasted more money than other companies applied for as their total request.
Most of the companies who got money were in dire financial situations
Some of the companies that got taxpayer loan money are not even American companies and/or are doing their manufacturing offshore with non-American employees.
All of the things that the rejected small companies (who did not pay lobby fees) were rejected for, were the same things that the insider big companies were doing.
-------------------
We will continue to keep you updated.
Let's be specific on EP and keep the insults off the site. Our motto is "when in doubt, use a calculator" and "be good to each other"...
so let's not resort to name calling please to make a point.
i.e. you're right and someone trying to claim any regulation "interferes with commerce" probably has been asleep for the last 2 years but... leave the rage for the ones in power, controlling legislation, policy. ;)
Well I would guess that the company that produced this video is the same one that produced Al Gore’s on global warming. Characteristically of both is the “cherry picking” of the data.
A more meaningful presentation would have provided some counter facts. The main speaker’s description of the Persian Gulf oil situation says that Iran peak some years ago conveniently ignores the US lead embargo that’s denying Iran equipment to develop its fields. He also makes no mention of Iraq and its enormous untapped reserves because of war. He makes no mention of central Asia’s fields that have hardly come on line because there is few pipelines for export the oil. No mention that in the last year what was described in financial news as the largest IPO ever was for a Chinese company preparing to drill in the North China sea. He makes no mention of the militarization of the Artic Ocean by five countries to support their claims to oil rich continental shelf. No mention of the fields recent discovered on the Brazilian continental shelf…have I missed anything? I think so. I just can’t remember all the points that a scientifically rigorous presentation would have included.
I’m not saying that I don’t think there is such a thing as Peak Oil. I’m saying this presentation is pure propaganda. The only thing honest about it is its complete lack of pretensions about being objective.
Admittedly, I stopped listening after about 50 minutes. I just couldn't take anymore.
The map shows a great deal of where people live in the "real economy." Florida has hit 11.5% unemployement -- but things are worse in Michigan, California, Nevada, and SC. There are some hopeful signs, but can't come fast enough. Add the blizzards to that and we may see a realignment of values -- instead of the usual obscene spending, let's feed the hungry and homeless this year. I do my christmas shopping at the local food market and place my gifts in the bin for the food bank near the exit. Beats hell out of buying a bunch of "Made in China" neckties people don't really want (and won't wear).
Now, as for the religious side of the holiday, we should all join with Father (or Rabbi) Ben and pray for inflation --it's what the Fed really wants for Christmas. What will he give the middle class in the way of mortgage relief?
Frank T.
You got it this week but I've been listing each bank closure's FDIC estimated cost, but have no kept a running tally. That would be some good information that maybe we should stat out, along with the total percentage of banks closed (nationally, per state)?
Every week it's (as I'm recalling) at least $600 million, many weeks a couple of billion? per week so I'm surprised they have any money.
I remember reading a few months ago how the FDIC's original estimates were being low-balled.
Now I want to remind you of one of the larger failures this year - Colonial Bank.
Colonial, which was deemed the sixth-largest bank failure in U.S. history after its seizure four months ago, had a current net worth of negative $5.8 billion by the end of the third quarter. That’s far worse than its original estimate of $2.8 billion to its insurance fund, according to recent data released by the FDIC.
“It basically says Colonial was a lot worse off than everybody thought it to be,” said Bert Ely of Alexandria, Virginia-based bank-consulting firm Ely & Co.
Also, the FDIC possesses more than $4.2 billion of the Montgomery, Alabama-based bank’s assets currently in liquidation. However, the FDIC also expects to lose more than $3.1 billion on those assets, according to a balance sheet posted by the FDIC.
Also, other losses could arise as the regulators attempt to untangle the web of loans held by Colonial but owned by its close partner and mortgage warehouse lender, Taylor Bean & Whitaker, which was shut down days prior to Colonial’s seizure, Ely said. Supposedly, loans were sold to Taylor Bean’s bank subsidiary, Illinois-based Platinum Community Bank, but it never received them.
the housing sector. But we will see how long that lasts when Fed stops buying MBS very soon.
I have been a reading an interesting article by Prof. Steve Keen called The Roving Cavaliers of Credit. A very interesting read and provides some context to our current situation.
Here is a modest proposal: Let the Fed buy up mortgages from Fannie and Freddie, and reset the interest rate based on the rate for the 10-year note plus perhaps a point. Last year, Uncle Ben was reminding evertone that, if held to maturity, these securities were perfectly okay. That was before unemployment went to 10%+. Still, a rate under 5% (reset, not a refinance) would prevent many foreclosures by making mortgages affordable AND provide real economic stimulus for the middle class. Maturity would not change, so the Fed would not face a 30-year risk. Yes, this is a form of monetizing debt, but why should not the American middle class get the benefit of the Fed's largesse, since the banks apparntly have no use for it. Hell, at current rates, the bankers might even want some of the action.
Frank T.
I agree, multiple fantastic interviews, heavy focus on the financial bail outs...
I promise to do a "It's the Bill Moyer's Show" as a series, pulling up a bunch of these interviews in one shot.
PBS is so screwed up on enabling embedding. Moyer's in particular is weird, he has the video for downloading, pod cast, a host of things which imply they approve of distribution yet no embedding code and honestly I suspect it's because their webbie doesn't know how to add it with that player. ;)
To avoid copyright issues, I only post videos where embedding is enabled and it's meant to be shared and also, if there are ads, try to make sure the ads are going to the content owner.
But I will do a "It's the Bill Moyer's show" per your suggestion of yet another fantastic interview.
I'm doing volunteer work early in the day, but will catch the marathon afterward. LOL
No one has mentioned the Taibbi- Kuttner interview with Bill Moyers this week. It was fantastic!
Amidst fading hopes for real reform on issues ranging from high finance to health care, economist Robert Kuttner and journalist Matt Taibbi join Bill Moyers to discuss Wall Street's power over the federal government.
I believe this and documenting the political "paybacks" and the lobbyists score in billions of grants, funds, loans when frankly in terms of the best "bang for the buck", they do not deserve a dime, is something I'd like to get more details on.
How many billions, even trillions have been wasted? I know huge tech contracts, many in the billions, have literally produced not one line of usable code, often go to offshore outsourced companies, who have hordes of "influential people" and lobbyists.
May I suggest creating an account and joining us to help keeps us informed on the details? You'll skip the CAPTCHA and can track your own comments.
The key is to get a running documented #'s tally on this...
for while it's well known, precisely how much taxpayer money is wasted and just how much GDP is lost, real economic growth is lost, jobs for Americans are lost...
I don't have a running tally and that would be damn useful.
This is a fair rebuttal of Farrell's wacko ideas - there is no empirical evidence to back up any of the assertions made. Thousands of jobs and lives are being trashed based on this rubbish.
http://www.programmersguild.org/docs/mckinsey/index.htm
Just a heads up. For all of those who either do not celebrate Christmas or have PTSD from dysfunctional Christmas or are about to throw themselves over a bridge because they maxed out their credit cards for ingrates in Xmas gifts....of their Fried Turkey just set their house on fire or whatever....
I've got a "marathon" planned for an old series from the 1970's but it's a "classic" and on macroecon. So, there will be something to watch all day that isn't full of jingle bells.
This is for the people who need something to watch beyond all of the slasher movie marathons. ;)
But many documentaries do "cherry pick". One of the worst is Commanding from Wuthering Heights a documentary on globalization.
That said, I try to dig out documentaries that at least give a lot of detail. For example, in Commanding Heights you can find some tidbits on how these globalists really do not understand contagion and really ignore the negative effects to local economies (the United States now being one very large local economy).
Something you might like better, and I think it's so well done, the book is even better, is this documentary,
The Prize. (click this link the entire 8 part series is at this link).
It's a little out of date, stopped during the 1990's but it's history of oil, the geo-political strategies to dominate oil, the economic consequences of oil....goes through the start of the importance to oil the wars, the strategy, the coup's, all of it and I think it's fairly objective.
To me, The Prize is the "de facto" reference.
Enjoy!
A letter I found on the Internets (;)):
R & D Coalition Overview:
Less than 20 car companies applied for $25 BILLION DOLLARS in taxpayer money managed by a certain group of people at DOE in order to get loans to make green cars for Americans’.
There was enough money to help every single one of the car companies that applied. The administrators applied their interpretations of the law in order to benefit the large lobby group-related firms and avoided every one of the “unconnected” companies.
The amount of lobby and influence money spent is in direct ratio to the amount of money awarded.
The smaller companies, due to lower overhead, could have dramatically more productive results with the money than the large burdened companies yet the money was given out based on political career advantages rather technology advantages.
All of the people that reviewed the applications had political and financial connections to GM, Ford, Chrysler and the large Detroit recipients.
Each of those smaller American companies had technology and resources that presented a strong economic threat, if they got the loans, to the large politically connected companies that did receive funds.
Some of the companies that have gotten money have backed out of making the electric cars they said they would make. But they still get to keep the money.
Some of the companies that got the money have already wasted more money than other companies applied for as their total request.
Most of the companies who got money were in dire financial situations
Some of the companies that got taxpayer loan money are not even American companies and/or are doing their manufacturing offshore with non-American employees.
All of the things that the rejected small companies (who did not pay lobby fees) were rejected for, were the same things that the insider big companies were doing.
-------------------
We will continue to keep you updated.
R&D Team
Let's be specific on EP and keep the insults off the site. Our motto is "when in doubt, use a calculator" and "be good to each other"...
so let's not resort to name calling please to make a point.
i.e. you're right and someone trying to claim any regulation "interferes with commerce" probably has been asleep for the last 2 years but... leave the rage for the ones in power, controlling legislation, policy. ;)
miasmo.com
The Constitution grants the federal government the power to regulate interstate commerce, so what the fuck are you talking about?
And there is nothing about these proposals that is either arbitrary or capricious, so again, what the fuck are you talking about?
Well I would guess that the company that produced this video is the same one that produced Al Gore’s on global warming. Characteristically of both is the “cherry picking” of the data.
A more meaningful presentation would have provided some counter facts. The main speaker’s description of the Persian Gulf oil situation says that Iran peak some years ago conveniently ignores the US lead embargo that’s denying Iran equipment to develop its fields. He also makes no mention of Iraq and its enormous untapped reserves because of war. He makes no mention of central Asia’s fields that have hardly come on line because there is few pipelines for export the oil. No mention that in the last year what was described in financial news as the largest IPO ever was for a Chinese company preparing to drill in the North China sea. He makes no mention of the militarization of the Artic Ocean by five countries to support their claims to oil rich continental shelf. No mention of the fields recent discovered on the Brazilian continental shelf…have I missed anything? I think so. I just can’t remember all the points that a scientifically rigorous presentation would have included.
I’m not saying that I don’t think there is such a thing as Peak Oil. I’m saying this presentation is pure propaganda. The only thing honest about it is its complete lack of pretensions about being objective.
Admittedly, I stopped listening after about 50 minutes. I just couldn't take anymore.
they would have given people mortgage debt forgiveness instead of re-inflating asset prices.
RebelCapitalist.com - Financial Information for the Rest of Us.
The map shows a great deal of where people live in the "real economy." Florida has hit 11.5% unemployement -- but things are worse in Michigan, California, Nevada, and SC. There are some hopeful signs, but can't come fast enough. Add the blizzards to that and we may see a realignment of values -- instead of the usual obscene spending, let's feed the hungry and homeless this year. I do my christmas shopping at the local food market and place my gifts in the bin for the food bank near the exit. Beats hell out of buying a bunch of "Made in China" neckties people don't really want (and won't wear).
Now, as for the religious side of the holiday, we should all join with Father (or Rabbi) Ben and pray for inflation --it's what the Fed really wants for Christmas. What will he give the middle class in the way of mortgage relief?
Frank T.
What would be interesting is a third column for population size. Then sort by population size and compute averages for quartiles.
This should make a lot of people happy but will also expose the real long term unemployment a little more.
The Senate passed (the House did earlier) unemployment benefit extensions until Feb. 28 for those due to expire on Dec. 31.
You got it this week but I've been listing each bank closure's FDIC estimated cost, but have no kept a running tally. That would be some good information that maybe we should stat out, along with the total percentage of banks closed (nationally, per state)?
Every week it's (as I'm recalling) at least $600 million, many weeks a couple of billion? per week so I'm surprised they have any money.
I remember reading a few months ago how the FDIC's original estimates were being low-balled.
Now I want to remind you of one of the larger failures this year - Colonial Bank.
the housing sector. But we will see how long that lasts when Fed stops buying MBS very soon.
I have been a reading an interesting article by Prof. Steve Keen called The Roving Cavaliers of Credit. A very interesting read and provides some context to our current situation.
RebelCapitalist.com - Financial Information for the Rest of Us.
they can make the losses all balance out with glutting our nation with their cheap labor exports into the U.S....
When I went through that China report to the government, I did not outline any of the national security/military stuff in it...
but as scary as the economic issues are with China, their military build up was very frightening.
I don't think they would do any military action because of course they will lose completely on Treasuries...
but things so out of balance, well, something eventually must tip.
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