Money Beat

Ron Paul for Treasury Secretary. He is the only counter to these Keynesians run amok. He and Peter Schiff have correctly predicted all that is happening for nearly a decade now even in the face of mounting laughter and denial by other so called experts.

The problem is people still see the Obama administration looming over the horizon. If you want the markets to rise all it will take is a pre-emptive resignation by Obama.

Surely the stupid members of Congress did not really expect the banks to use our Billions wisely.They got into this mess by being greedy and stupid and that is not something you can recover from overnight.
We should demand that they give the money to the U.S. Citizens and let us bring the economy back up the old fashion way--CAPITALISM!

howwouldiknow - Nice partisan nonsense. Are you also for the bombing of Persians?

This whole economic mess was orchestrated by investors. Raise the price of everything sky high & then pull all your money out when it's at its height. Watch it all fall like a rock, then buy up the "extremely undervalued" assets with all the profits you made from running it up like that. Just like the price of gas. Do you really believe "worldwide demand" doubled the price in six months and then fell so sharply in six days? This economic mess is not an accident, nor is it stupidity.

We don't know everything that's going on behind the scenes. $125 billion is really small potatoes compared to the two trillion which the fed has reportedly injected into the financial system. If that money, nearly all printed, were spent in the market place it would cause a rise in inflation and a fall in the value of the dollar. That hasn't happened because the banks are, apparently, restricted to using this money only for loans. But banks can only lend money to people who want to borrow it, so if there is no increase in demand there can be no increase in loans, unless banks lower their lending standards, which they are, apparently, not doing. So, as near as I can tell, that money is just sitting there on the banks' balance sheets doing nothing.

Your dead on Market Man! Just look at the price of gas. The high prices we were paying 3 months ago was NOT caused by supply and demand issues rather market speculation that artificially inflated prices. There has been no increase in oil production, rather, OPEC cut production about 2 weeks ago. So much for the "drill, baby, drill" crowd. By the way, I haven't heard from those folks since prices have dropped!

Just as normal...Paulson & Bernanke don't know what to do. If they don't, why are they holding the offices they have? Let Obama's appointed ones take over. Jan. can't come soon enough!

Just as normal...Paulson & Bernanke don't know what to do. If they don't, why are they holding the offices they have? Let Obama's appointed ones take over. Jan. can't come soon enough!

It looks like someone (ANYONE!) in Washington would show some leadership on the economy. I am SO disgusted with Bush and Congress! How could America been so stupid to put these people in office!

@Danny

Bush was in office because John Kerry was a flake/flip flopper and many people didn't trust him. Bush wasn't much better, and that was reflected in his narrow victory. Pretty bad choice between those two.

The American economy is soon to have a total breakdown. As job losses mount and government spending greatly escalates under Obama, the world will declare the dollar to be worthless and gold will shoot throught the roof. It is over for this land of greed by the rich and handouts for multitudes of millions who do not deserve all they get. Find some country place and ride out the coming storm is the best that you can do.

Market Manipulation - I agree with steve9337 - you are "dead on!" Steve9337 - Interesting point that you brought up about no one calling for drilling anymore.Hmmm.
However, we know this market will not correct itself as soon as it has in the past, this economy, which is past recession and going deeper into a Depression, or at least a NY minute away from close to the 1929 Depression will get worse if Congress does not bail out the big 3 automakers.
Albeit their financial woes are basically their fault but to have thousands of their workers let go bcz Congress says its their fault, is to worsen the already failed economy and as always, the "little person" on the manufacturing totem pole gets the brunt of this catastrophe.

I'm thinking we're all screwed. In 6 months, we'll long for these days.

Go read the blogs. there was staunch opposition to a bail out because the problem was not that the banks and AIG did not have the monies to get the job done, they did not have the money to give themselves big bonuses or over bloated salaries, so the bail out covered that but not efficiency or the reason for the failures. The chips should have fallen where they are even without the bail out. That Paulson guy, his thinking is in the clouds. Freeze the accounts of all the millionaires in the banking businesses that received the bail out and stop the bleeding of the tax payers. Any further bail out should go directly to the tax payers and to retirement accounts that have lost millions in savings. Stop this day light highway robbery by banks and financial institutions and arrest all those who have looted the public. Money should not just disappear. When I said Let the chips fall where they may and Paulson and Berneke the babsy twins of wall street went ahead any way and the chips are falling even with a bail out and the deficit just has gone up by 700 billion dollars. At least that 700 billion could have financed saving people during the difficult times that the recession is about to bring.

Instead of giving the money to the car makers, give it to people who buy new cars. If a taxpayer in the 25% bracket was given a $10,000 tax credit for buying a new car, the cost to the government would be $2500. $25 billion used this manner would buy 10 million cars.

Funny, I keep reading that banks can't give away money. So typical news media, pick one problem and make it an industry wide problem. The news media in this country have been doing happy dances with all the negative news they can print because it scares people into trying to get even more news...more viewers..more web hits...higher ratings..higher ratings=more money for the news medias. and no I'm not saying the economy isn't in tatters, I'm saying the news media is fanning the flames.

Capricorn Cory your right. I got two calls asking if I needed any loans for real property or work. We have been dupped by our leaders so they could protect their pals and their and our leaders million dollar investments.

Big mess, Big mess...Giving rich people more money to waste is not helping anybody's economy - domestic or foreign. Give me the money and I'll buy myself out of debt and then I'll turn around and spend money in the US economy and I'll be paying taxes at the same time. Rich people don't pay taxes when they spend money. Only the working slob payes taxes. It's our money. Give it to us and watch us bring this huge mess right out of the mess it's in. I don't need a corporate jet but I could sure use a new Chevrolet or a Ford or a Dodge. Hell, I might even buy me a newer or nicer home and maybe I could afford to take a trip to see the USA and spread some of my good fortune around THIS country. Yeah, you're giving that money to all the wrong people. You scratch my back and I guarantee you that I'll scratch yours. Bet it wouldn't cost nearly as much as 750 Billion Dollars...Won't happen though because that makes too much good sense. Governments don't work that way...................

gjkotw01 - You are right- give the money to the people. But then this country/gov't is so anti-socialism, which is how they perceive giving the money to the people, that they would never do that even though that would definitely turn this economy around. But then there would have to be restrictions, to make sure that the people use most of that money to pay back their mortgages, which would bail out the banks for sure and pay back the money owed on their credit cards, also, another sure fire to bail out the credit card companies and the banks. Then they could use the remainder of their share of the money to shop in the stores that are now laying off or closing...which would be another boost to the economy! But no, they give it to the CEO's who use it to further their financial gains. Like the CEO's of AIG who went on a spa spree spending $450K each. The gov't s/h arrest them for fraudulent use of gov't funds and make them return every cent. Then the gov't s/h take the rest of that bailout money back from the CEO's of AIG and hire accountants to pay the employees their salaries and make sure that the funds were used to make the co. solvent again.
That is how they should give the money to the automakers. Not to the CEO's but to the workers to pay off their debts and the accountants to make sure that the money was used only to make "Green" cars, pay off the Co's debts and make sure that the money that was already given to them for retooling is actually being used for that. So far they have not used the retooling funds for that purpose.

Huh.... You're user name, "huh?", perfectly fits your ignorance of this mess blaming it on Obama. What's occurring in the markets is the result of 8 years of "hands off" by the Bush administration. 8 years of neglect, does not turn around over night. Do you get it or not... huh?

Paulson gave the money to the big banks and did not buy troubled assets as promised. Country was left worse off than before. Economic Katrina. People drowning and crying out for help and Paulson recapitalizes the big banks. Heckuva Job Pauly! If it's not criminal,it should be.

People, President Elect Obama, did
not, I repeat did not, start this

financial mess, BUSH still is our

President, with Republicans they

always go out with a bang!!!!!!

STL

People who blame this mess on Obama are the same ones who still blame Clinton for Bush's troubles. Get real. Bush was a disaster. Period. Obama is going to fix this mess. I like what I see. And so does the market, rising 500 points on the news of his new Teasury Sec. appointment. The grown-ups are coming back in without a second to spare.

People who blame this on anyone except for the people who don't pay their own bills & the CEO's who have wasted money & not kept to a budget are nuts. I will say Ithink the government needs something better in place to help out out of work people for a period of time. The bail out is not going to work.

I say bail the industry out with the following requirements:

1. All Board Members and Auto management will receive no bonuses until loans are paid off.

2. All cars built for the United States must be built in the United States using parts suppliers from the US.

3. All car fleets will need to meet an average of 35 MPG per the passenger fleet. Industrial vehicles must have an average of 20 MPG. They have 2 years to meet this goal. Failure to meet this goal will require each industry to reduce upper management by a percentage point per MPG number missed.

4. All Auto unions contracts will be frozen with base pay assignments invoked which are based on the performance of the company.

5. All cars manufactured will provide a bumper to bumper warranty that covers 20,000 miles per year for 4 yeras.

6. 75% of all fleets must have a hybrid comparable design that costs no mor 10% of it's gas engine model.

The above protects this country and forces the three automakers to become competitive.

Reality Check. The bailout was so J.P. Morgan could buy banks and become one of the largest financial organizations in the world. Citibank tried, but can't get past the morgan vanguard of the new Change and Dem Congress. Who does Obama put on the economic advisory team? Yep, J.P. Morgan. I wonder if Obama does know he has sold his soul to the devil? As for me, I am so glad I will die soon. This economic slavery is way too much for me and I have no more blood to give to the real government of the US, the financiers and the Federal Reserve Bank.

Washington (Democrats and Republicans) aren't responsible for people taking out mortgages they couldn't afford and people buying on credit instead of saving and paying with cash. If you weren't financially responsible (individuals and corporations) then you should suffer the consequences.

the only way out is to fire each and every ceo or cut there pay to what they produce.

The public has lost faith in banks because bank CEO's have become too greedy and corrupt. Banks used to be a place to keep one's money for safe keeping. Now we know all the real money is hiding in off shore and numbered accounts, leaving the shell investments for suckers like John Q. Public. Something was remarkably wrong with banks when their second highest source of income were late fees and overdraft penalties instead of payments on loans.

I hope you don't die 2 soon clancy, but last time I checked I don't remember Chase looking around for a bailout i.e loan, that's not to say Chase is any better than any other bank, they all look to swindle the avg Joe at some point it is only to what degree that swindling takes place. People need more than just money, they need good paying jobs, not everyone took out loans they couldn't afford, but it doesn't take much to end up behind the 8 ball. Who here can guarantee that their job will be there for them for the nxt 20 or 30 years, or they won't get sick etc, most people probably were able to pay their bills etc till the rug was pulled out from under them. I don't like bailout money being used to bail out the big 3, but I don't like thousands of people being out of work either, which will only make this crisis worse.

one of the banks that got money from the bailout laid me off months ago because of the poor decisions mgmt made...so guess what, the bank ceo still has his job, also his own private jet. I saw where the big 3 auto ceos were in the news about their jets...why didn't the news people fuss about the bank ceos and their jets. I think that if a company lays off people, then they also have to feel the pain and lose all their bonus, past present and future.

Don't fall for the easy mantra of "we need more government regulation of the market!" We have suffered with the results of such meddling for the past 100 years under the privately-held Federal Reserve Bank, and it has bought us nothing but a century of inflation, artificial boom and bust cycles, and war. Our once mighty dollar has lost 98% of its purchasing power under the watchful 'guidance' of these jackals. This is the sort of help we cannot afford. Get rid of this criminal cartel at the Fed, remove their stranglehold over every aspect of our lives, and replace their worthless Monopoly dollars with ANYTHING as long as it's backed with something more substantial than unfulfilled promises and outright lies. Obama likes to fancy himself a new JFK- why not have him re-initiate the silver certificate program begun by Kennedy, specifically to wrest control from the banker thugs at the Fed and return it to the American people? Ask yourselves-- why are we paying one trillion a year in interest to some bank so they can print more worthless money?

We're still better off than the rest of the world. Just wait until Barclays goes belly up and the Bank of England tanks...just wait. The poop is getting ready to hit the fan and we'll all be in bread lines. Here comes DEPRESSION redux.

THE REPUBLICAN PARTY IS OFFICIALLY DEAD.

The Republicans couldn't get elected for dog catcher. There you go boys...you've effectively destroyed the party.

The party's over...turn out the lights!

Yeah...Prince smokinweed is going to invest in Citi. Lots of luck...sucker.

To: Alice Gomstyn

Just what we need, another Jerry Springer style reporter. Alice, if someone yells "fire" in a theater, they're usually thrown in jail. You're screaming, "FIRE" and that's exactly what you should be..."FIRED"!

FIRE PAULSON THEN PUT THE A-HOLE IN JAIL.

I'm not one of those nuts who sees a conspiracy around every corner, so why do I get the feeling we're being withheld so much information?

For example, the experts inviewed on 60 Minutes said it wasn't bad mortgages that sunk Lehman, etc, I was "Credit Default Swaps" which were touted as insurance but backed up by no real money and that CDS's were specifically invented to circumvent federal laws on insurance.

Tonight, the French equivalent of Sec. of the Treasury said on the news on PBS that a big problem is that Hedge Funds are not regulated in America and some other countries and without doing so, no one knows how much leveraging is being done - and she said that hedge funds were the nail in Lehman's coffin: it was involved in them a lot. Yet ABC News hasn't breathed a single word that I can recall about either Credit Default Swaps or Hedge Funds. If they are so centrally important, why aren't we hearing a word of detail about them in any of these news stories?

Strange and upsetting.

this sux....you suck.....give the money to the people and go from the bottom up..... obviously going from the top down doesn't work!!!!!

I'm convinced that this is yet another Bush Co insider hoax, lets see... a synopsis: controversial election, probably illegal, nothing happens for 110 days, flood! fire! famine! 911! - a thousand inconsistencies and failures then surface in the evidence as to who and why... Our Central government stridently insists we attack to Wrong country based on evidence that was seen as shakey at the time (I watch Deutsch Welle more than Fox...) after being mired in said attack other multiple scandals emerge - repeatedly emphasizing Bush & Co's willingness to lie.. another election, that really focused on the "Wartime" president, too much crap to re-visit... and now the housing market overheats (likey a legitimate situation, although Freddy and Fanny (read Gov't) are the triggers - then several banks are siezed... er "saved" nearly overnight and on, and on,... how credulous are we? This situation may have had real roots but its the Bush admins last giant ripoff and they'll still walk away, knowing that the people of this country are utterly powerless to hold any one responsible, or accountable - many countries have took to the streets for less in the past - me I'll keep some money in stocks - but bottled water and canned goods are good options too at this point- I hope Obama's team can keep our ship off the beach - but I think the market manipulators might simply have put the world economy out of control and we'll all pay for it. with much more than money.

Wow, there will be a real bank vacuum when they all are gone. So who's going to fill the void? If the fed funds rate goes to zero, and the fed is willing to allow many companies to become banks, then there should be plenty of newcomers on the scene.

If anyone is really serious about stimilating the economy, take the 700B and divide by the population of this country and give each individual their share, rather than bailing out those responsible for this mess. The recession would be over overnight if every man, woman, and child were to recieve a check for $200,000. Mortages would be paid, Detroit would be back selling cars, X-mas sales would rebound and people would once again be optimistic. Let those that created the problem suffer and give those that can fix it the tools to do so. The only problem is that the rest of us are to proud to ask for the money. Who are ther real Americans.

I think it's time to take all our money out of Citibank as soon as possible.

Jail for Paulson. Jail for Cox. Nothing else will make the markets bounce back.

We can not always capitalize the profit for wall streets and socialize the losses for Main Street. All failing companies should restructure for the 21st century global market by going for chapter 11 stage. Chapter 11 stage is not chapter 7 stage.

Chapter 11 stages was made by law makers for the same purpose that companies which are in bad shape can restructure themselves from all corners. Able to renegotiate the contracts, change the management, and get tax exhumations. Today all these industries are not competitive, chapter 11 will help these companies to reduce and renegotiate the cost of labor, real state cost, legacy cost, healthcare cost, retirement cost, ideal worker cost, access labor cost etc.

How many industry we can bailout Real state Industry, Financial industry, Auto Industry, Steal Industry, Timber Industry etc. We should see the long-term approach towards all these industries rather than short-term bailout approach.

Let’s call for a new world Industiral approch. Lean, smart and forward looking approch. Devil is in the details. We should focus on stake holder wealth creation rather than short term share holder gain.

Well, investors still have a fundamental fear of financial institution stocks because we still dont know how bad their balance sheets really are. Or how bad they will become. Much of their assets are loan obligations. In todays environment , you really dont know how many or how much of the loans a bank holds will be paid back. Thus low bank stocks.

to howwouldiknow, the market tanked 40% before the outcome of the election was known. plus,all Obama plans for the economy i have seen is to spur job creation. he is even considering postponing the tax increase on the wealthy 5% like he was proposing. i submit that these policies wall street would embrace, so just stop blaming Obama for the market meltdown. it is just not true.

to curtis hennings, i like your idea, but your math is off a bit. 700 billion to 200 million americans would be only $3500 per person, not 200k. But you are right that money needs to be injected from the bottom up, not from the top down. that has been the fundamental problem with everything the treasury and fed has done since the stimulus last summer. If you remember, that actually worked . These loans and bailouts really havent. If you inject money into the consumers hands, you solve myriad problems. Homeowners can get caught up on their mortgages and stay out of foreclosure. consumers can buy stuff which would keep retailers going. automakers could sell cars again. win win for everyone.

Yes they have bank have some bad assests but that doesn't represent a majority of the holdings. How many additional bad assest are the banks creating due to their failure act.
Take a leaf out of the UK a book and start passing some of these Interest savings to consumers which in time, will help consumers to cut debt, increase spending, promote growth and enable people to pay the additional tax that is now essential to bay back all these bailout loadns.

How is it that with the UK base rate at 3%, banks can afford to lend at rates just over 5% for periods up to 276 months !! On the same logic, why is it US Banks are unable to lend at circa 2% for 23 yr periods ! see link - http://uk.biz.yahoo.com/mortgage/index.html.

Clearly the current focus is limiting losses rather than promoting growth !

Alice,
Banks don't suffer....people and creatures do.

Boy do I feel dumb. While every 711 worker was out there borrowing and buying half million dollar homes, I was scrimping and saving, renting the tiniest hovel just to get by so someday, when I retired from 60-80 hour work weeks I could build a decent home in a nice place, and maybe go fishing. Now it seems, all those 711 workers want a free home paid for by tax dollars because their gamble didn't work. I was stupid, and should've lived high on the hog instead of working like a dog. Please, have a laugh on me.

I wonder who reads these. It's a great way to vent, but if the 'powers that be' were reading, they might remember that, during the campaign, we were told solidly that there would definitely be another round of tax rebates. That seems to have falled into the black hole from where there is no return. Of COURSE the first one didn't work well. Gas was $4 a gallon. Fill Lizzie once for $70 and there's nothing left. KEEP JUST ONE PROMISE RIGHT NOW, CALL THE IRS

X-Republican Because of Bush - Actually what is happening goes back decades. The Feds policies have seen a prosperity based on consumption financed on debt. Just check out the charts on CPI, M1, M2, etc. if you don't believe me. Don't make fun of my username. Play nice you Obama loving partisan hack. By the way I am glad Obama beat McCain, but I supported neither.

In my view, the root cause of current challenge might be 'PAIN AT THE PUMP'&'CASH-STRAPPED CONSUMER' rather than finantial system, as high gas prices led to high key interest rate,high mortgage rates due to inflation pressure.
As a result,MAIN STREAM might have to be put before wall street.

huh-I would rather precision Iranian weapons facilities and kill a few Persians than have Millions of Israelis die. How does Shakespeare say it? I think it was "To be, or NOT to be." (emphasis added)

"My God, such as the economic crisis, looooook, handbags are not worth www.handbagsjobber.com" Excuse me, you, I see only good news would like to share.Merry Christmas everybody

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