The critters begin to depart the ship as it begins its really serious list...
He'd be gone before now, except that Himself would not be able to get anyone willing to endure the confirmation process in order to serve until next January, and not even Obama thinks he'd get away with some bogus 'Recess Appointment' nonsense. The markets (especially the US bond market) would hit the 'risk off' button and hold it down the day after he tried that.
Next up? Lessee, who is most likely to be a subject of discussion in the fall campaign?
Oh, Mr. Holder, let's talk about that Fast and Furious operation, why don't we? Or...maybe not...
Showing posts with label Tim Geithner can't tell the truth 'cuz he doesn't think truth exists... Show all posts
Showing posts with label Tim Geithner can't tell the truth 'cuz he doesn't think truth exists... Show all posts
Wednesday, January 25, 2012
Thursday, August 25, 2011
The Bailouts, Round 2: JPM To Buy BAC With 100 Billion Tax Dollars
Word floating that Little Timmy will be ponying up 100 billion dollars of OUR MONEY to make the pending Bank of America failure less traumatic to the banksters.
If the House Republicans want to live up to the promises they made the voters, they need to scream bloody murder at the very top of their lungs.
Three years ago, we were all caught by surprise, and the dirty deeds were done before we could understand what was happening.
Now, no longer. We have all grown cynical, and informed.
BAC is the product of a shotgun marriage, paid for with tax dollars, as they took over Merrill Lynch, shortly after buying Countrywide. That worked out well, did it not?
Now for the next round, to attempt to paper over that mess.
Whatever happened to the concept of risk in business? Or is that just for small, Main Street businesses, small banks, individual families?
This will not end well, ya'll.
If the House Republicans want to live up to the promises they made the voters, they need to scream bloody murder at the very top of their lungs.
Three years ago, we were all caught by surprise, and the dirty deeds were done before we could understand what was happening.
Now, no longer. We have all grown cynical, and informed.
BAC is the product of a shotgun marriage, paid for with tax dollars, as they took over Merrill Lynch, shortly after buying Countrywide. That worked out well, did it not?
Now for the next round, to attempt to paper over that mess.
Whatever happened to the concept of risk in business? Or is that just for small, Main Street businesses, small banks, individual families?
This will not end well, ya'll.
Saturday, July 30, 2011
Broad Oak Blog: Banks' Final Grab: The Land
So eloquently stated, that no comment from here is needed.
Imagine what Thomas Jefferson and Andrew Jackson would say, if they could see how in the Land of the Free a tiny elite not only owns most of the cash, bonds and shares, but now aspires to seize the real estate. America is approaching a peak of wealth inequality and mass servitude comparable to the condition of England in the eighteenth century, but without the hopes offered by the Industrial Revolution.
Saturday, June 4, 2011
Monday, May 9, 2011
The Greek Two-Year Bond Now Yielding +25%: But, No Worries, Just Go Back To Watching 'Housewives' And 'Oprah'
What happens when a nation is run by politicians who promise to spend more and more into perpetuity, all the while simply borrowing from the rest of the world to cover its shortfalls?
It goes broke. Like Greece. And we get moon-shot charts of short-term gubbermint interest rates that look like this.
The US carries 15 trillion in debt, and Barry and Timmy insist we just must-must-must borrow 2 trillion more, lest bad-bad-bad things happen to us.
What might happen here?
OK, ya'll. Didn't wanna get nobody upset, heah? Jes' go back to that re-run of yesterday's NASCAR event, and make sure you got the tivo set up for wrasslin' tonight.
It goes broke. Like Greece. And we get moon-shot charts of short-term gubbermint interest rates that look like this.
The US carries 15 trillion in debt, and Barry and Timmy insist we just must-must-must borrow 2 trillion more, lest bad-bad-bad things happen to us.
What might happen here?
OK, ya'll. Didn't wanna get nobody upset, heah? Jes' go back to that re-run of yesterday's NASCAR event, and make sure you got the tivo set up for wrasslin' tonight.
Tuesday, March 15, 2011
The High Price Of Electing Children To High Office...
Quoted from Tyler Durden at ZeroHedge, today:
And so the US Treasury has hit the proverbial paycheck to paycheck sustenance level. After burning $12.8 billion (without a change in gross debt) in cash today alone, and $75 billion in the month of March so far, primarily driven by a back end-loaded tax refund calendar, according to the Daily Treasury Statement, today's cash balance dropped to the scary level of just $14.2 billion. Without the benefit of incremental funding, this is the same amount that the Treasury burns on a good day! In other words, we take back what we said about the US Treasury existing paycheck to paycheck - Geithner now has to scramble to find funding on a day to day basis. If tomorrow operating outflows surpass $14.2 billion (and, again, the amount was $12.8 billion today) the world's "greatest" country (i.e. banana republic) runs out of cash, period. And as the following schedule indicates, there are no Long-Term bond issuances until next week (and the Bill issues are merely funding of rolling issues), we have some trouble seeing how the US Treasury will fund itself for the balance of the week...
Congress and White House now playing 'chicken'. Little Timmy Geithner in way the hell over his head. Obama working on his golf game. Gadafi is winning the war in Libya. Heaven only knows what's going on with Japan.
White House and Congress taunting one another like schoolyard children.
And so the US Treasury has hit the proverbial paycheck to paycheck sustenance level. After burning $12.8 billion (without a change in gross debt) in cash today alone, and $75 billion in the month of March so far, primarily driven by a back end-loaded tax refund calendar, according to the Daily Treasury Statement, today's cash balance dropped to the scary level of just $14.2 billion. Without the benefit of incremental funding, this is the same amount that the Treasury burns on a good day! In other words, we take back what we said about the US Treasury existing paycheck to paycheck - Geithner now has to scramble to find funding on a day to day basis. If tomorrow operating outflows surpass $14.2 billion (and, again, the amount was $12.8 billion today) the world's "greatest" country (i.e. banana republic) runs out of cash, period. And as the following schedule indicates, there are no Long-Term bond issuances until next week (and the Bill issues are merely funding of rolling issues), we have some trouble seeing how the US Treasury will fund itself for the balance of the week...
Congress and White House now playing 'chicken'. Little Timmy Geithner in way the hell over his head. Obama working on his golf game. Gadafi is winning the war in Libya. Heaven only knows what's going on with Japan.
White House and Congress taunting one another like schoolyard children.
Saturday, November 20, 2010
Timmy Through The Looking Glass: Geithner's Interview On Bloomberg
File this under: YouJustCan'tMakeThisStuffUp...
Or: WhatPlanetIsHeFrom?
Or: WhatIsHeSmoking?
Words fail, so OS will just lift a couple of the more prominent quotes, but providing appropriate local translation, since Timmy insists on employing JargonSpeak in lieu of English.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner warned Republicans against politicizing the Federal Reserve and said the Obama administration would oppose any effort to strip the central bank of its mandate to pursue full employment.
“It is very important to keep politics out of monetary policy,” Geithner said in an interview airing on Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt” this weekend. “You want to be very careful not to take steps that hurt our
credibility.”
Translation: Yew! Yeah, Yew Bubbah! You just gotta sit yer behonkus down and shut up!
We're busy printing money here, and saving the world in the process. If you start complaining, why that'll just mess everthing up! And if thangs go south on us, it'll aaaallll be yer dam' fault! Instead of George Bush's fault...
Geithner, 49, declined to say what compromise the Obama administration would be willing to consider on extending Bush- era tax cuts, while ruling out making permanent the reductions for the wealthiest Americans.
“It is not responsible, and I could not recommend to the president in good conscience, that we go out and borrow $700 billion to make those high-end tax cuts permanent,” Geithner said.
Shoot-fahr, ya'll! we're borry'in that 700 large for our pet projects and vote buyin'. We gotta keep Kuhlifornia, YewNork and Illinoiz from rolling over and dyin' on us, gotta keep the borders open to let all those new voters in for 2012, keep all the Gulf states from drilling for oil and gettin' prosperous and uppity on us again, pay for all them civilian trials so we can cut them jihadists loose; and when that GM trash starts headin' for 20, we gotta have us some cash on hand to keep the UAW happy. Hell, I won't even START to tell you how much we gotta funnel to the NEA to keep them girls quiet! Whoo-wee, they jest won't let up!
On Europe, Geithner said a financial rescue of Ireland could mark an end to the continent’s sovereign debt crisis.
That's 'cuz we're just gunna pretend Greece, Spain, Portugal, and Italy don't exist no moh'! That'll fix that problem, once and fer all! And we'll just ignore all those bad loans to Poland and parts east. They don't exist no more, neither!
“It is very important that we respect and honor what the Congress did when it set up our independent central bank with a mandate to keep prices low and stable over time and to make sure” it promotes “sustainable economic growth,” said Geithner, who was president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York before taking over as Treasury secretary last year.
Whut'sThatChewSay? You disagree? Then you be politicizin' that great American institution, The Fed'ral Reserve. Them's the folks that have done us the favor of lowering the value of the dollar 90% since they set up shop in 1913. Yew jest sitcherselfdown now, and keep quiet.
People might suspect we don't know whut weeze doin'. That would erode people's confidence in us...and we gots us lots of that theze daze. Hell, they might even start thankin' that it looks funny to have a revolving door between the Fed and the Treasury, like there might be some, you know, undisclosed conflicts of interest stuck away in the broom closet.
And, no, you ain't allowed to ask about them, neither.
Or: WhatPlanetIsHeFrom?
Or: WhatIsHeSmoking?
Words fail, so OS will just lift a couple of the more prominent quotes, but providing appropriate local translation, since Timmy insists on employing JargonSpeak in lieu of English.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner warned Republicans against politicizing the Federal Reserve and said the Obama administration would oppose any effort to strip the central bank of its mandate to pursue full employment.
“It is very important to keep politics out of monetary policy,” Geithner said in an interview airing on Bloomberg Television’s “Political Capital with Al Hunt” this weekend. “You want to be very careful not to take steps that hurt our
credibility.”
Translation: Yew! Yeah, Yew Bubbah! You just gotta sit yer behonkus down and shut up!
We're busy printing money here, and saving the world in the process. If you start complaining, why that'll just mess everthing up! And if thangs go south on us, it'll aaaallll be yer dam' fault! Instead of George Bush's fault...
Geithner, 49, declined to say what compromise the Obama administration would be willing to consider on extending Bush- era tax cuts, while ruling out making permanent the reductions for the wealthiest Americans.
“It is not responsible, and I could not recommend to the president in good conscience, that we go out and borrow $700 billion to make those high-end tax cuts permanent,” Geithner said.
Shoot-fahr, ya'll! we're borry'in that 700 large for our pet projects and vote buyin'. We gotta keep Kuhlifornia, YewNork and Illinoiz from rolling over and dyin' on us, gotta keep the borders open to let all those new voters in for 2012, keep all the Gulf states from drilling for oil and gettin' prosperous and uppity on us again, pay for all them civilian trials so we can cut them jihadists loose; and when that GM trash starts headin' for 20, we gotta have us some cash on hand to keep the UAW happy. Hell, I won't even START to tell you how much we gotta funnel to the NEA to keep them girls quiet! Whoo-wee, they jest won't let up!
On Europe, Geithner said a financial rescue of Ireland could mark an end to the continent’s sovereign debt crisis.
That's 'cuz we're just gunna pretend Greece, Spain, Portugal, and Italy don't exist no moh'! That'll fix that problem, once and fer all! And we'll just ignore all those bad loans to Poland and parts east. They don't exist no more, neither!
“It is very important that we respect and honor what the Congress did when it set up our independent central bank with a mandate to keep prices low and stable over time and to make sure” it promotes “sustainable economic growth,” said Geithner, who was president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York before taking over as Treasury secretary last year.
Whut'sThatChewSay? You disagree? Then you be politicizin' that great American institution, The Fed'ral Reserve. Them's the folks that have done us the favor of lowering the value of the dollar 90% since they set up shop in 1913. Yew jest sitcherselfdown now, and keep quiet.
People might suspect we don't know whut weeze doin'. That would erode people's confidence in us...and we gots us lots of that theze daze. Hell, they might even start thankin' that it looks funny to have a revolving door between the Fed and the Treasury, like there might be some, you know, undisclosed conflicts of interest stuck away in the broom closet.
And, no, you ain't allowed to ask about them, neither.
Monday, August 30, 2010
Hmm...University Of Texas Begins To Hedge Its Portfolio With Gold
This peeks above the radar from Inside Higher Ed.
News that the investment arm of the University of Texas has started buying up gold is validating the concerns of some analysts who fear high inflation and increasing U.S. debt will wreak havoc on other more commonly held endowment securities, such as bonds.
The University of Texas Investment Management Company (UTIMCO) announced last month that it would move $500 million into gold. While that constitutes just 3 percent of the $22.3 billion in assets UTIMCO controls, it’s a marked shift in strategy for a management company that had no gold in its portfolio a year ago.
(and later in the article)
Given the fact that a gold investment strategy is predicated on the idea that the dollar is declining and the nation is too deep in debt, some have described the gaga for gold trend gripping the conservative movement – see Glenn Beck – as ideologically driven.
But you don’t have to be a conservative talk show host to see the merits of UTIMCO’s position, said Sandy Leeds, a senior lecturer of finance at the University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business. Leeds was so fired up by the news of UTIMCO’s strategy that he wrote an op-ed on the subject for The Houston Chronicle, which originally reported on a public meeting where the investments were discussed.
“While unstated by UTIMCO, we should consider the possibility that they are hedging against a U.S. meltdown,” Leeds wrote.
Leed's op-ed is well worth reading.
The financial problems we face are immense. In addition to our trillion-dollar deficit, our total debt is approaching 85 percent of gross domestic product. A recent academic study by Carmen Reinhart and Ken Rogoff suggested that a debt level above 90 percent of GDP is a tipping point that results in slower growth.
In reality, I would be ecstatic if our debt level was only 90 percent of GDP. The real issue is that we have approximately $50 trillion of unfunded liabilities - Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. This is a daunting liability. Public investors such as mutual funds, pension funds, endowments, hedge funds, foreign governments and individuals have all combined to loan the United States approximately $8.5 trillion to fund our accumulated deficits. If we wanted to be fully funded in today's dollars, we would need to issue another $50 trillion of debt.
Now, if OS may break into the local patios:
Ya'll, these are grownups who have to be in charge of the endowments of major universities, unlike the clown circus who run the White House and Congress. University of Texas existed long before this crew ever got together, and intends to be in business long after they have left to write their mutually-incriminating biographies.
These people ain't no AstroTurf, or TeaParty TeaBaggers, or Glenn Beck devotees, or secessionists, or Klan members, or any of that stuff. These are serious, sober, boring respectable people who have to make sure the alma mater is still in business for their grandchildren.
They are voting with their investment decisions, and they ain't endorsing The One, TurboTax Timmy, and Helicopter Ben, Miz Nancy and Mr. Harry, and Rahmbo. They are distancing themselves from this crowd, and trying to keep their corner of the world intact when things begin to come unwound.
News that the investment arm of the University of Texas has started buying up gold is validating the concerns of some analysts who fear high inflation and increasing U.S. debt will wreak havoc on other more commonly held endowment securities, such as bonds.
The University of Texas Investment Management Company (UTIMCO) announced last month that it would move $500 million into gold. While that constitutes just 3 percent of the $22.3 billion in assets UTIMCO controls, it’s a marked shift in strategy for a management company that had no gold in its portfolio a year ago.
(and later in the article)
Given the fact that a gold investment strategy is predicated on the idea that the dollar is declining and the nation is too deep in debt, some have described the gaga for gold trend gripping the conservative movement – see Glenn Beck – as ideologically driven.
But you don’t have to be a conservative talk show host to see the merits of UTIMCO’s position, said Sandy Leeds, a senior lecturer of finance at the University of Texas at Austin’s McCombs School of Business. Leeds was so fired up by the news of UTIMCO’s strategy that he wrote an op-ed on the subject for The Houston Chronicle, which originally reported on a public meeting where the investments were discussed.
“While unstated by UTIMCO, we should consider the possibility that they are hedging against a U.S. meltdown,” Leeds wrote.
Leed's op-ed is well worth reading.
The financial problems we face are immense. In addition to our trillion-dollar deficit, our total debt is approaching 85 percent of gross domestic product. A recent academic study by Carmen Reinhart and Ken Rogoff suggested that a debt level above 90 percent of GDP is a tipping point that results in slower growth.
In reality, I would be ecstatic if our debt level was only 90 percent of GDP. The real issue is that we have approximately $50 trillion of unfunded liabilities - Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. This is a daunting liability. Public investors such as mutual funds, pension funds, endowments, hedge funds, foreign governments and individuals have all combined to loan the United States approximately $8.5 trillion to fund our accumulated deficits. If we wanted to be fully funded in today's dollars, we would need to issue another $50 trillion of debt.
Now, if OS may break into the local patios:
Ya'll, these are grownups who have to be in charge of the endowments of major universities, unlike the clown circus who run the White House and Congress. University of Texas existed long before this crew ever got together, and intends to be in business long after they have left to write their mutually-incriminating biographies.
These people ain't no AstroTurf, or TeaParty TeaBaggers, or Glenn Beck devotees, or secessionists, or Klan members, or any of that stuff. These are serious, sober, boring respectable people who have to make sure the alma mater is still in business for their grandchildren.
They are voting with their investment decisions, and they ain't endorsing The One, TurboTax Timmy, and Helicopter Ben, Miz Nancy and Mr. Harry, and Rahmbo. They are distancing themselves from this crowd, and trying to keep their corner of the world intact when things begin to come unwound.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
The Charm Offensive: Obama and Geithner on Fox (aka, Maybe Pigs Fly After All!)
After years of pretending that the Fox News Network doesn't exist, suddenly we have TurboTax Timmy doing a live interview on Fox Business yesterday.
Well, when you release a long document that tells Congress 'We saved the world, and we're recovering, but the New Normal will be about 8% unemployment after 2012...' And, by the way, we still plan to do Health-Care, Cap-n-Tax, etc... you'd better start trying to make nice with somebody. Ain't nobody watching MSNBC and CNN.
And, today, Himself is scheduled to appear on Fox News.
Holy Denial, Batman! These Fox News people are are are are, eeeeewwww!!! Conservatives!
They're all White (exept for the ones who aren't, but they don't count!) and speak with southern and midwestern accents, and didn't go to Yale or Brown.
Eeeeewwwwwww!
(Of course, once Himself doesn't need to appear like he cares, the White House boycott of anyone who deigns to question TheTransformationOfAmerica will resume.)
Well, when you release a long document that tells Congress 'We saved the world, and we're recovering, but the New Normal will be about 8% unemployment after 2012...' And, by the way, we still plan to do Health-Care, Cap-n-Tax, etc... you'd better start trying to make nice with somebody. Ain't nobody watching MSNBC and CNN.
And, today, Himself is scheduled to appear on Fox News.
Holy Denial, Batman! These Fox News people are are are are, eeeeewwww!!! Conservatives!
They're all White (exept for the ones who aren't, but they don't count!) and speak with southern and midwestern accents, and didn't go to Yale or Brown.
Eeeeewwwwwww!
(Of course, once Himself doesn't need to appear like he cares, the White House boycott of anyone who deigns to question TheTransformationOfAmerica will resume.)
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Our Situation, Illustrated
A big OS Hat-Tip to Jesse, the ever-droll Jesse, who informs us that the Bank of England will be floating a big debt issue.
No big deal.
In dollars.
Hmmm...
Now, my friends in England's Green and Pleasant Land, if the pound drops significantly against the dollar, the price of that paying off that debt goes up dramatically, out of your pockets.
Now, of course, they'll be buying credit insurance from AIG, the zombie corporation owned by the US Treasury. Whatever AIG loses, we pay for. Sort of like having a cocaine-addicted child and giving him keys to the Ferrari. What could go wrong?
In the end, all those dollars are carried on the backs of the households of the US. It's up to us, in the end, to make good on them.
Ergo, the BofE, with a Wall Street bank, have figured out a way to lay the ultimate risk of this debt issuance off on us, after they are through with you.
Of course, this behavior always comes with a price. Do you guys really want Bernanke, Geithner, and Obama to grasp your good country by the short hairs?
These guys will throw you under the bus, just because they can.
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