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Originally posted by redhatty
reply to post by marg6043
Yeah - I posted about that "super-currency" a few days back in this thread
scary how we are slowing being corralled into a one world currency no matter how we try to fight it, isn't it?
Oh heaven - I just learned how wonderful the IGNORE button can be
Originally posted by GreenBicMan
Hold the phone folks, NASDAQ coming back like a freight train
I ABSOLUTELY LOVE the look of the ten year old virgin QQQQ
Take a look, just BROKE and CLOSED over my resistance...
*Breakout City*
Could be a real heavy hitter and if its an indication NASDAQ straight follows suit
QQQQ Powershares Close of March 17 - Meeeoooww
Grassley led the stampede with a statement Monday night on a radio show that AIG executives should either return the money or commit suicide in what he described as the Japanese style of taking responsibility.
The state of New Jersey on Tuesday sued Lehman Brothers (LEHMQ.PK) executives and directors for "fraud and misrepresentation," Gov. Jon Corzine said, seeking to recover the $118 million lost by state pension funds.
New Jersey's Division of Investment bought $182 million of Lehman securities in April and June 2008. The move attracted widespread attention since it was unusual for a U.S. state pension fund to use the same strategy as sovereign wealth funds, hedge funds and private equity groups.
Lehman filed for bankruptcy on September 15, 2008, after failing to win a federal bailout. This left "shareholders with virtually worthless stock," said the Democratic governor who is running for another term.
The bankruptcy means the state cannot now sue the company, but New Jersey said it sued nine top executives, including former Chairman Richard Fuld, and nine board members, including John Akers and Henry Kaufman. Lehman paid each board member $325,000 to $397,000 in fiscal 2007, the statement said,
Corzine, a Democrat and former Goldman Sachs (GS.N) co-chairman, said in a statement the state also sued Lehman Brothers' longtime accountants, Ernst & Young, for letting the firm "improperly account for and disclose its true financial condition."
For months, Republicans have faulted Corzine for the state's loss on its Lehman stake. On Tuesday, state Senator Joseph Pennacchio said the governor should explain why the council overseeing investment policy failed to block the purchase.
Noting three former Lehman officials and the wife of a former Lehman executive serve on the investment council, the Republican state senator said in a statement: "It is not unreasonable to ask why board members, two of whom were working for Lehman at the time of the bank's collapse, didn't have more to say about this investment."
LAYOFF DAILY
Tue 3-17-2009
Ramtron -17%
HiRel Systems Closing Plant -50
Food Word -431
Road Home Program -500
More Layoffs At American Funds
Garlock Cuts Again -17
WestPoint Home Inc. -12
Resurrection Healthcare -125
Stanley Tools -36
Canadian Broadcasting Corp. Up To -1,200
GE Healthcare -175
University Of Maine Layoffs Inevitable
Layoffs Coming To MySpace
money.cnn.com...
Caterpillar Update -2,454
Panasonic -130
Potash Corp. -940
Trail King Trailers -75
Caterpillar Engine Plant -439
Caterpillar Closing Fuel Facility -89
Blue Cross Blue Shield Of MI -1,000
Nokia -1,700
Taylor Made Closing FL Plant -24
Wilton Armetale Co. Closed -15
Ramtex Closing Plant -205
Paper and Printing Companies On The Ropes
Food Co. Kings Delight Closing Plant -78
Catawissa Closing Plant -100
2 More Auto Suppliers Close Plants -80
Texas Hydraulics -117
West Aurora School District -169
The Body Shop -18
Zambia Copper Mine -1,321
Clarksville Gas and Water -22
Harris Interactive -90
Smurfit Stone Container -83
TRW Cutting More -42
Merillat -35 Merkle Inc. -34
Corning Cable Systems -200
News Tribune In Tacoma -30
Caterpillar In Pontiac Rolling Layoffs -40
Scopus Video Networks -100
Applied Materials In Austin -50
Getty Images -110
Hawker Beechcraft In Salina KS -41
The Olympian -15
HIRING
Mutual Of Omaha +100
NEW YORK (Reuters) - American International Group(AIG.N) funneled over $90 billion of taxpayer bailout funds to various U.S. and European banks, but the biggest beneficiary was politically connected Goldman Sachs Group Inc (GS.N).
Suspicions of potential conflicts of interest and favoritism have been fueled by $12.9 billion AIG paid to Goldman Sachs -- where then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson had previously worked as chief executive -- in the months after the insurer was rescued by the government last September.
Goldman, for its part, has insisted it did not need the bailout money because it was "always fully collateralized and hedged."
Long Wall Street's largest investment bank before it recently became a bank holding company, Goldman answered a series of questions from Reuters about the bailout funds.
"We can say that our notional exposure to AIG is a fraction of what it was at the time of the September bailout," Goldman spokesman Michael DuVally said.
Asked why Goldman Sachs took $12.9 billion of taxpayer money if it was collateralized and hedged on its AIG positions, DuVally said it was because AIG was not allowed to fail, so Goldman did not get money from hedges that would have paid out if the insurer had collapsed. And, he said, under the terms of its contracts with AIG, Goldman was entitled to collateral.
DuVally also said the bank does extensive due diligence on all its counterparties.
How much Goldman and other counterparties received from AIG has been just one of several flashpoints over the taxpayer rescue of what was once the world's largest insurer.
AIG has also infuriated politicians -- including U.S. President Barack Obama -- with its plan to pay $165 million in bonuses to employees at the unit at the heart of its problems.
Still, the payments to counterparties like Goldman Sachs dwarfed the bonuses, and some experts contend that these companies should have been made to share some of the losses resulting from the giant insurance firm's near collapse.
"People see that the guys that ruined AIG are getting paid more money, and that creates outrage," said Porter Stansberry, managing director of Stansberry & Associates Investment Research. "If you want to be outraged, be outraged that the counterparties got paid out full value."
Goldman was not the only large bank with exposure to AIG. The list of counterparties that AIG disclosed on Sunday included others that got large sums. Goldman was followed by Societe Generale (SOGN.PA) with $11.9 billion, Deutsche Bank (DBKGn.DE) with $11.8 billion and Barclays PLC (BARC.L) with $8.5 billion.
Originally posted by disgustedbyhumanity
reply to post by GreenBicMan
No one else can see through the trees.
Do you realize that the markets went up 133% from Apr 1, 1932- Apr. 1, 1933. Most people don't. Do you know what caused it? FDR rolled out the New Deal, similar to what Obama is doing. If Hoover had taken these steps it would have all ended much sooner. 1932 and 1933 were the worst years of the great depression and stocks went up 133%. Just goes to show you the state of the economy is not the only thing that determines stock prices.
1932
This and the next year are the worst years of the Great Depression. For 1932, GNP falls a record 13.4 percent; unemployment rises to 23.6 percent.
Industrial stocks have lost 80 percent of their value since 1930.
10,000 banks have failed since 1929, or 40 percent of the 1929 total.
GNP has also fallen 31 percent since 1929.
Over 13 million Americans have lost their jobs since 1929.
International trade has fallen by two-thirds since 1929.
Congress passes the Federal Home Loan Bank Act and the Glass-Steagall Act of 1932.
Top tax rate is raised from 25 to 63 percent.
Popular opinion considers Hoover's measures too little too late. Franklin Roosevelt easily defeats Hoover in the fall election. Democrats win control of Congress.
1933
Roosevelt inaugurated; begins 'First 100 Days'; of intensive legislative activity.
A third banking panic occurs in March. Roosevelt declares a Bank Holiday; closes financial institutions to stop a run on banks.
Alarmed by Roosevelt's plan to redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor, a group of millionaire businessmen, led by the Du Pont and J.P. Morgan empires, plans to overthrow Roosevelt with a military coup and install a fascist government modelled after Mussolini's regime in Italy. The businessmen try to recruit General Smedley Butler, promising him an army of 500,000, unlimited financial backing and generous media spin control. The plot is foiled when Butler reports it to Congress.
Congress authorizes creation of the Agricultural Adjustment Administration, the Civilian Conservation Corps, the Farm Credit Administration, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Federal Emergency Relief Administration, the National Recovery Administration, the Public Works Administration and the Tennessee Valley Authority.
Congress passes the Emergency Banking Bill, the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933, the Farm Credit Act, the National Industrial Recovery Act and the Truth-in-Securities Act.
Roosevelt does much to redistribute wealth from the rich to the poor, but is concerned with a balanced budget. He later rejects Keynes' advice to begin heavy deficit spending.
The free fall of the GNP is significantly slowed; it dips only 2.1 percent this year. Unemployment rises slightly, to 24.9 percent.