The "up-to-the-minute Market Data" thread

reply to post by RetinoidReceptor
Once again...they have no Freakin' idea what to do...


After this and that for months now, their gonna call the guy others recommended months ago???

Didn't they already say a couple of times now that wouldn't work???

Oh Boy!!! That's rich I tell ya...

reply to post by RetinoidReceptor


The fact that they made this public is troubling! This man "Mr. Fix It" is the same man who got the Swiss banks under government control. Chew on that for a bit.
Why on earth would he need the help of a man who's "expertise" is taking banks and putting them under government control unless the POTUS was going to do it.

Hx
Ahh yes but you see month's ago people still didn't know how bad things where. NOW that they do they are ripe for picking and ready for pretty much anything to stop this. Even if that INCLUDES putting the entire financial sector under the control of the government!
P.S.
It won't stop with just the financial sector either.

[edit on 21-3-2009 by xoxo stacie]

Here's da scoop on the Credit Union meltdown last night...

Credit union victim of soured mortgage market
www.reuters.com...

KANSAS CITY (Reuters) - Regulators worked on Saturday to assess troubles at the largest U.S. corporate credit union with the aim of keeping liquidity flowing through the nation's 7,800 credit unions.

A new chief executive will take charge on Monday at U.S. Central Federal Credit Union following seizure by regulators on Friday. The institution, with $34 billion in assets, provides settlement services used by more than 90 percent of all U.S. credit unions, which are member-owned lending institutions.

The National Credit Union Administration, or NCUA, took control of U.S. Central as well as Western Corporate (WesCorp) Federal Credit Union of San Dimas, California, another corporate credit union with $23 billion in assets.

"We took action to protect the assets, the share insurance fund and its members," NCUA regional director Keith Morton said in an interview from the Lenexa, Kansas, headquarters of U.S. Central, where he and other officials were working on Saturday.

More at link...

Scary stuff...now they got me considering a withdraw...great...


[edit on 3/21/2009 by Hx3_1963]

reply to post by xoxo stacie


Heh, glad to see you all talking about Mr Fix It. I had posted about him back here.

From that post - a detailed (long) article on exactly what the Swedes did.

Some tickers you may have not caught

On Executive Pay

Toxic Assets: Promise, But Also Peril

Rolling Stone has a wonderful 8 page article discussing the economic crisis. While recommend the entire article, here is how it ends

VII. YOU DON'T GET IT

The real question from here is whether the Obama administration is going to move to bring the financial system back to a place where sanity is restored and the general public can have a say in things or whether the new financial bureaucracy will remain obscure, secretive and hopelessly complex. It might not bode well that Geithner, Obama's Treasury secretary, is one of the architects of the Paulson bailouts; as chief of the New York Fed, he helped orchestrate the Goldman-friendly AIG bailout and the secretive Maiden Lane facilities used to funnel funds to the dying company. Neither did it look good when Geithner — himself a protégé of notorious Goldman alum John Thain, the Merrill Lynch chief who paid out billions in bonuses after the state spent billions bailing out his firm — picked a former Goldman lobbyist named Mark Patterson to be his top aide.

In fact, most of Geithner's early moves reek strongly of Paulsonism. He has continually talked about partnering with private investors to create a so-called "bad bank" that would systemically relieve private lenders of bad assets — the kind of massive, opaque, quasi-private bureaucratic nightmare that Paulson specialized in. Geithner even refloated a Paulson proposal to use TALF, one of the Fed's new facilities, to essentially lend cheap money to hedge funds to invest in troubled banks while practically guaranteeing them enormous profits.

God knows exactly what this does for the taxpayer, but hedge-fund managers sure love the idea. "This is exactly what the financial system needs," said Andrew Feldstein, CEO of Blue Mountain Capital and one of the Morgan Mafia. Strangely, there aren't many people who don't run hedge funds who have expressed anything like that kind of enthusiasm for Geithner's ideas.

As complex as all the finances are, the politics aren't hard to follow. By creating an urgent crisis that can only be solved by those fluent in a language too complex for ordinary people to understand, the Wall Street crowd has turned the vast majority of Americans into non-participants in their own political future. There is a reason it used to be a crime in the Confederate states to teach a slave to read: Literacy is power. In the age of the CDS and CDO, most of us are financial illiterates. By making an already too-complex economy even more complex, Wall Street has used the crisis to effect a historic, revolutionary change in our political system — transforming a democracy into a two-tiered state, one with plugged-in financial bureaucrats above and clueless customers below.

The most galling thing about this financial crisis is that so many Wall Street types think they actually deserve not only their huge bonuses and lavish lifestyles but the awesome political power their own mistakes have left them in possession of. When challenged, they talk about how hard they work, the 90-hour weeks, the stress, the failed marriages, the hemorrhoids and gallstones they all get before they hit 40.

"But wait a minute," you say to them. "No one ever asked you to stay up all night eight days a week trying to get filthy rich shorting what's left of the American auto industry or selling $600 billion in toxic, irredeemable mortgages to ex-strippers on work release and Taco Bell clerks. Actually, come to think of it, why are we even giving taxpayer money to you people? Why are we not throwing your ass in jail instead?"

But before you even finish saying that, they're rolling their eyes, because You Don't Get It. These people were never about anything except turning money into money, in order to get more money; valueswise they're on par with crack addicts, or obsessive sexual deviants who burgle homes to steal panties. Yet these are the people in whose hands our entire political future now rests.

Good luck with that, America. And enjoy tax season.

And yet another cry from the FDIC for more money for the fund

Sheila Bair: FDIC Reserves To Hit Zero

maybe this is part of the reason...

Washington Mutual sues FDIC for over $13 billion

Another piece of FOOD for thought

Dairy farms are drying up across the state
Prices headed to 30-year low

The plummeting price of milk that's bringing relief to consumers is also strangling the state's dairy farmers.

As consumers bargain-hunt for milk under $2.50 a gallon, farmers are trucking cattle to slaughter, selling land for cash and trying to renegotiate loans with banks. Several dozen dairy farms in North Carolina are expected to go under this year, accelerating a 50-year trend of the dwindling dairy farm.

"It's really dead serious now," said Pete Strickland, who has raised Holstein cows on 300 acres for more than more 50 years in Nash County. "If milk goes back to $5 a gallon by fall, we don't need to hear [any complaints] from the consumer, because they're putting us out of business."

more at link

New Jobs from Stimulus???

(sorry guys but we need a smile sometimes)

40% of loans gone bad

New Student loan changes will require paying interest while attending school

Well after all that, I hope you get out this weekend and enjoy some sunshine now that Spring has sprung - I will be attending the Irish-Italian Parade tomorrow - throw me something mister

reply to post by xoxo stacie
Well...heres Chavez's answer to capitolism...

Venezuela announces 20 pct minimum wage hike
www.reuters.com...

Venezuela ups '09 financing to $16 bln from $6 bln
www.reuters.com...

Venezuela's Chavez increases sales tax to 12 pct
www.reuters.com...

Venezuela's Chavez cuts '09 budget by 6.7 pct
www.reuters.com...

Nice huh?

Sounds kinda familar...bigger budget...increased taxes...


[edit on 3/21/2009 by Hx3_1963]

www.abovetopsecret.com...'

This is big news. I recommend participation in this thread.

reply to post by redhatty


Thanks for sharing...all that good news! Have had a knot in my stomach since yesterday morning...it is all better now!

I dont recall seeing this wonderful news posted yet...
Financial Crisis worst to come,

And this result from the giant pump
Dollar Declines Most in Quarter Century

LAYOFF DAILY
Sat 3-21-2009

Express News San Antonio -133
Wausau Financial Sys. -24
APB -24
FPL Foods LLC -5%
LDS Test and Measurement -51
Ft. Wayne Indiana Schools -50
Staff Development For Educators -27
Grand Sierra Resort In Reno -50
Wilson County NC Unemployment 12%
Alcan -50
C.R. Onstrud Inc. -15
Hawaii Feb. Layoffs -1,200
Ohio Unemployment Rate 9.4%
Winnebago County -70
Parkdale Mills Closing Plant -75
Rea Magnet Closing Plant -85
Finning Canada -69
Amaze Entertainment/Evri Make Cuts
Wm. Wrigley Jr. Co. -10%
U.S. Postal Service -1,400
Wash. DC Needs To Cut -1,600
Denver Post Plans Cuts -200

Italy Layoffs First 2 Months '09 -560,000

All I can say is -
Learn to love your neighbor -
We are going to need each other.

Three have looked over Geithner's "Leaked Plan" and have deemed it a FAIL

Krugman
Yves Smith
and Calculated Risk

Do you think they know something the Government doesn't? Or are they simply right??


[edit on 3/21/09 by redhatty]

reply to post by redhatty


My summation...

Despairing Zombie Mess
Krugman


Haunting Crappy Paper
www.nakedcapitalism.com...

Troubled Toxicity
www.calculatedriskblog.com...

reply to post by burntheships


Missed the summation - I think????

Here's one that IS funny, new Urban Dictionary listings for Paulson, Bernanke and Geithner

Well maybe it would be funnier if it wasn't so true

and a few more AIG, to Morgan and madoff

[edit on 3/21/09 by redhatty]

reply to post by redhatty

could understand my confusing post...

The proposed plan is aDespairing Zombie Mess
with
Haunting Crappy Paper
casued by
Troubled Toxicity

reply to post by burntheships


That my friend is a wonderful summation



Can I cry now?

reply to post by redhatty


Thank You...
Those urban dictionary terms...

AIG definition...

To do an "AIG" on someone is to defraud,bamboozle,bilk,or beguile, others of your real intentions after they have come to your assistance in your time of need.

[atsimg]http://files.abovetopsecret.com/images/member/49ddd526f8b7.jpg[/atsimg] Global European Anticipation Bulletin **Warning Read at Own Risk**

reply to post by redhatty


So, pretty much we have waited for a month and a half for Geithner to come out with a plan to save the banks, and he proposes a plan that has already been shot down a few times.

Our government is a bastion of competence.

My question isn't what is in the plan-we already basically know what it will contain.

I want to know what the banks will have to give in return? I am banking on their souls. Meaning Congress will sit in their every board meeting telling them what they can and can't do.

So I keep hearing that 'main street' is going to be paying these bailouts back. Tax payers are responsible. Senators are 'angry' that their constituents will be paying off this debt.

Are we going to see a big tax hike sometime in the near future or is this money the government has saved up/created from thin air? I don't see the purpose of these bailouts if we don't have jobs or money to pay it off with. And when we get that 12 dollars a month 'stimulus', isn't that really given to us by us?

Isn't it like giving a merchant 1000 dollars for something he's going to give to someone else, and in turn, he pretends to do you a huge favor by giving you a dollar back?

I know these questions are a little late, but I'm still trying to wrap my head around this ridiculous idea of bailing ourselves out.

reply to post by Avarus


Indeed it is a Giant Ponzi scheme...and now we have the Feds
Big Treasury Bond Gambit; The Mother of All Rescue Plans...

“Of all the things that Washington has put together to get us out of this financial mess, I think what happened Wednesday is probably the most important,” says Ed Yardeni, an economist who heads Yardeni Research in Great Neck, N.Y. “This affects so many people.”

But markets have shown that the Fed’s attempts to energize the economy don’t always work as intended. The Fed has already slashed its own short-term interest rate virtually to zero during the past year and has introduced a range of large, innovative programs to get credit flowing again. Yet turmoil in credit markets has persisted, and job losses have mounted.

The Mother of All Rescue Plans

This doesn't sound very good...dang...

U.S. May Revamp Credit Unions After Seizing 2 Corporate Lenders
www.bloomberg.com...

March 21 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. regulators may rebuild the network that helps fund retail credit unions after seizing two corporate lenders with $57 billion in assets to halt an erosion of liquidity.

The National Credit Union Administration, regulator of a banking network for 90 million customers, yesterday took over U.S. Central Federal Credit Union, in Lenexa, Kansas, and Western Corporate Federal Credit Union in San Dimas, California. So-called stress tests at both lenders found an “unacceptably high concentration of risk” from mortgage-backed securities, the agency said in a statement.

“We knew if these securities continued to lose value we’d have to put these corporates into conservatorship,” Chairman Michael Fryzel said in a telephone interview. A “reconstruction of the entire corporate system might be necessary.”

The U.S. has 28 corporate credit unions, which make loans and provide other services to the more than 7,800 credit unions that cater to the public. This is the first corporate credit union seizure since 1995, when the regulator took control of Capital Corporate, based in Landover, Maryland.

“This is a result of the cooperative system we have,” said Fred Becker, president of the National Association of Federal Credit Unions, an Arlington, Virginia-based trade group. “The issue is that some of the credit unions don’t need corporates anymore.”

Credit-union losses may be $10.8 billion to more than $16 billion this year, and a “deep freeze in the number of corporates and their activities” may be needed, Fryzel said yesterday. The regulator in January approved emergency asset guarantees amid mounting losses from mortgage-backed securities.

Central, Western

U.S. Central has about $34 billion in assets and serves 26 other corporate credit unions. In January, it received a $1 billion federal injection to shore up public confidence. Western Corporate has $23 billion in assets and about 1,100 retail credit union members, the NCUA said.

The two seizures may cost the agency’s insurance fund about $1.2 billion, spokesman John McKechnie said yesterday. The regulator’s insurance fund has been drained by $5.9 billion for the takeovers and emergency steps in January, Fryzel said.

The regulator is seeking $30 billion in emergency borrowing authority from the Treasury Department to combat mounting losses. The U.S. House of Representatives has approved expanding its credit line to $6 billion from $100 million.

“Service continues uninterrupted at both” lenders, the NCUA said in its statement. “Members are free to make deposits and access funds.”

U.S. credit union profits plunged 48 percent in 2008 from a year earlier on mounting losses related to mortgage-backed securities and loan delinquencies. Net income for the 7,806 federally insured credit unions was $2.44 billion compared with $4.65 billion in 2007, the NCUA said last month.

Obama to Outline Regulation Changes to Avoid Repeat of Crisis

March 22 (Bloomberg) -- The Obama administration will this week outline regulatory changes aimed at avoiding a repeat of the financial crisis that’s crippled the banking system and pushed the U.S. into the deepest recession since 1982.

The proposals will address the risks that remain in financial regulation, an administration official said, including the need for an agency to have the power to resolve a breakdown at a major financial institution. Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke two weeks ago called for regulators to be given the authority to seize such firms, in the way the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. already has for deposit-taking institutions.

Officials favor giving the Fed greater responsibility for managing risk across the financial system as was proposed almost a year ago by former Treasury secretary Henry Paulson, support for which is waning in Congress. President Barack Obama may also subject executive pay to greater scrutiny, the New York Times reported. An administration official denied that curbing compensation will be a major focus of the regulatory plan.