Random Thoughts on Financial Crisis
- Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley are no longer investment banks? Breath-taking. This move is clearly a matter of perception, since neither bank was doing poorly. As far as I'm concerned, this so-called crisis has already reached it's bottom when Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, and AIG were saved by King Paulson. There may be smaller bank failures, but the worst is over in my opinion.
- The current reaction in the market is about one year too late.
- When people talk about an AIG failure affecting the real economy, I have to laugh, laugh, laugh. Give me a break -- the experts need to come on down to and talk to people here in Florida. They will discover that unemployment is up, trucks are sitting idle, foreclosed homes are rotting away.
- Speaking of foreclosed homes, I have been trying to close on a house since June ... the excuse is that banks are so swamped with foreclosures, that they can't keep up and process closing in a timely manner. I also think banks have been unwilling to put in the time and money necessary to hire and properly train staff to handle the increased volume in foreclosures.
- The 700 billion dollar bailout deal currently being debated in Washington, D.C. -- you mean to tell me that individual banks would rather wait for the government, rather than work with individual borrowers? I have spoken to many folks down here who said they would have been willing to pay a portion of their mortgage payment to hold onto their house, rather than lose it to foreclosure. You mean to tell me that the banks would rather get pennies on the dollar from the government (with tax dollars), rather than individual borrowers? Something tells me banks have GAMBLED that they will get a better deal from the Feds! This is obscene, and SHOULD be criminal.
- I think you will see civil lawsuits, perhaps filed by states hit hard by this CRISIS, against all the banks involved.
- Glenn Beck had a funny bit yesterday -- they were talking about the CRISIS and how people need to stop getting into debt, pay themselves first every month ... then they took a fake caller who said, basically, "Yeah, my wife's got triplets on the way, I just bought a boat, I need to get a trailer for the boat, and I was wondering if I should take the no-annual fee deal the credit card company is offering to finance that?" They asked him what his current income was, and the caller said, "Oh, I'm unemployed ... I just use those courtesy checks from the credit card company to get by. So, what do you think I should do?"
Labels: aig, crisis, fannie, financial markets, freddie, mortgage, mortgage crisis
posted by Skew | Tuesday, September 23, 2008
6 Comments:
We should look to Japan, which had it worse 20 years ago:
at their WORST: their unemployment rate was only around 6% (as opposed to out 20%+) because the people were working on infrastructure projects.
Similar to a New Deal situation, I wish our federal government would put able-bodied people to work on rebuilding our State infrastructure- bridges, levies, sea walls, building, hurricane clean up, electric, urban projects, etc.
I don't know much about interest rates, loans, banks, the Fed, or what have you, but I do think it's ridiculous to have people not working as our nation is crumbling around us.
I find it amazing how so many people "need" boats in Florida....
glenn beck has to take fake callers to prove his political points.
plus hes just ripping off hendrie.
I agree with Damian, theres plenty of work that needs to get done in this country, whether its fixing or rebuilding homes in flooded areas, fixing collapsing bridges, building schools, or whatever.
the money should be spent to get that work done.
what the people who run this world dont want to understand is that nothing is free.
Bush and others talk about how "innovative" the american people are as an excuse for the government to stay out of these more practical projects, and instead spend the money on wallstreet bailouts.
government cant do everything, but they should at least organize our resources and pick up the slack in whatever area that the free market has failed to deliver.
whether its health care, or alternative energies.
they are waiting for the next thomas edison to spring up instead of leading or organizing anything.
Thanks, RAW.
Since everyone was still working in Japan they were able to actually save money, which in the long term helped the actual people.
And all I care about is actual people...not banks, not theory, not stock markets, not loans, not housing bubbles, and not corporations.
Instead of hundreds of billions in bail-outs to failed corporations, more jobs should be created for people without the 4-year degree requirement to help our infrastructure and other important things that the States can't get funding for.
States can't even get funding for police officers or schools to use nice computers, yet the gov has trillions in deficit. Heck, even our soldiers in Iraq don't get the best armor.
We live in a country where at the individual level, we can live comfortably as a single person making $30,000 a year if you managed your debts properly, never over-extended yourself by taking loans over your head, and if you actually saved money every month.
It's not our "right" to qualify to buy a house or to get "free" health care.
But if the government is just throwing trillions of dollars around on wars, foreign aid, emergencies, and bail outs, then maybe we SHOULD get "free" healthcare with $10 co-payments. Maybe we SHOULD pay less for our FP&L bills. Maybe we SHOULD get a free education in community college. Maybe we SHOULDN'T have to pay property taxes. Why can't WE get bailed out?
Anyway...going back to sleep now...not making sense, and nothing I say matters anyway.
Obama McCain do NOT have the answers for this.
"Why can't WE get bailed out?"
because limbaugh, hannity, and glen beck say that thats socialism.
and socialism is unamerican.
notice its not socialism when millionaires get bailed out.
its only socialism when poor people do.
I am DISGUSTED that the banks did not PROACTIVELY seek to help out the people who were getting behind on their mortgages over the past three years. Lowering their payments temporarily (and putting the unpaid amount on the back-end of the mortgage) would have prevented the millions of foreclosures that have occurred over the past year.
I truly believe the banks were gambling that it would come to this, where taxpayers would have to put up $700 billion or more to bail them out. They would rather crush the dreams of many people and bet on a government hand-out, rather than help out their customers on an individual basis.
If you're thinking it would cost too much money for the banks to be proactive ... give me a break. Everything is automated these days -- a simple line of command code could have triggered offers to be sent out to people struggling with their mortgages.
The banks KNEW people were in trouble, and did nothing.
The banks demand socialism for themselves! It's a disgrace!
I am glad the Senators rejected Paulson today (regardless of their motivations), and I hope they stand firm.
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