Wednesday
Sep092009
Submit Video And Written Questions For CNBC's Town Hall With Tim Geithner (Airing Live, Sep. 10)
There was an interesting email in my in-box this morning from a CNBC producer, alerting us to the following event. Tim Geithner has agreed to take questions from the unwashed masses, in a live Town Hall tomorrow night at 7pm est.
This is your our chance. We missed the opportunity with Digg, Geithner and the WSJ a few weeks ago, but you submitted some outstanding questions in comments that the Treas Head should see. The rules encourage both written and video queries.
I will be submitting the following 9 questions:
- Will you admit that with bank capital ratios at approximately 8% industry wide, and with most assets worth 40% less than purchase price, that essentially all banks are insolvent? And will you also admit that we've chosen to ignore the problem and whistle by the graveyard with FASB's change to fair-value accounting rules?
- In the discussion of bank losses, why are taxpayers asked and expected to bear the entire loss, while bank bondhholders who recklessly lent trillions to risky bank managements, are spared completely from the discussion? They knowingly took the investment risk in search of higher returns and they haven't been asked to forfeit a penny of their bond holdings.
- China is currently spending reserves buying natural resources all around the world that will be needed in the next century. Meanwhile we are wasting trillions propping up zombie banks, the mortgage market (Fannie & Freddie), AIG and the uncompetitive U.S. auto industry. Which seems like a smarter long-term strategy to you, Mr. Secretary?
- Who made the decision to pay AIG counterparties at par (100 cents on the dollar)? Was it your predecessor Henry Paulson at Treasury; was it Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, or was it Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs? Keep in mind that former AIG CEO Ed Liddy has stated under oath in testimony before Congress that the Fed is the agency that told him to make these payments at par.
- Why was LLoyd Blankfein, CEO of AIG's largest counterparty, allowed to attend the meeting to decide the fate of AIG? Do you not see a conflict of interest?
- Why did you agree to AIG counterparty payments at par, as Head of the New York Fed? As example, Lehman counterparties received only 11 cents on average. And why did you not demand preferred shares from the banks in exchange for these payments? Taxpayers received nothing in exchange. Please explain this mistake as it greatly contributes to the perception that the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury are captured by Wall Street interests.
- As head of regulation for Wall Street at the New York Fed, what were your thoughts personally when then CEO of Goldman Sachs, Henry Paulson, successfully lobbied the SEC to grant a leverage exemption to the 5 largest investment banks in 2004? Why did you not testify at this hearings, considering your role as regulator?
- Do you believe that the people who oversaw the build-up of this crisis, yet somehow missed it completely, should be the same regulators who establish the new rules. Or do you agree with Dr. Nassim Taleb and others who think we need a new set of sheriffs?
- When you worked for the IMF, you were famous around the world for your strict demand that failed, politically-connected banks should not and would not be supported in any IMF bailout. Why have you adopted the completely opposite approach to the U.S. banking crisis?
Make sure to submit your questions here
Sep 9, 2009 at 1:21 PM
Reader Comments (37)
http://dailybail.com/home/what-would-you-ask-tim-geithner-alan-murray-interviews-the-t.html
http://dailybail.com/home/liddy-on-aig-payouts-at-par-the-fed-made-us-do-it-video.html
Ok, who's surprised? The question is which Fed?
Does Liddy mean Bernanke (doubtful), Geithner as head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York last Fall when the deal got done (merely a puppet), or Henry Paulson and Lloyd Blankfein, the circus clowns?
The answer is not as critical as the need to ask the question. The secret is out; it has long been assumed that the AIG bailout was a stealth bailout for AIG's counterparties: another way to shovel taxpayer dollars to Wall Street and European banks without going to Congress for permission. Aig CEO Edward Liddy admitted as much yesterday in his testimony before the House Oversight Committee under questioning from California Republican Darrell Issa. Liddy said he acted under explicit instructions from the Fed to pay AIG counterpary obligations at 100 cents on the dollar (par), even though the contracts were trading at substantial discounts and could have been settled for much less.
Digging deeper, it was likely Paulson who orchestrated the entire show and made the decision to pay claims at par, knowing that it would be a simple yet effectively hidden manner of further re-capitalizing Wall Street (and Goldman) without pesky questions from Congress. We have been told there were 4 attendees at the meeting to decide AIG's fate: Paulson, Lloyd Blankfein (CEO of Goldman Sachs), B-52 and Geithner. That is Paulson's crew, and any decisions emanating from this meeting are ultimately his responsibility, no matter how it is spun to Congress months later.
Them's some good questions. Tim Geithner will be in some "HELLified shit" if he has to answer any of those.
The bondholder question is the killer, but this one made me laugh:
"Who made the decision to pay AIG counterparties at par? Was it your predecessor Henry Paulson at Treasury or was it Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke, or was it Lloyd Blankfein, CEO of Goldman Sachs? "
There is one other thing I'd like to know: "Did you pick-out that ugly-ass tile in the bathroom of the house you can't sell?"
"What's the deal with the hair?"
"Did you pick-out that ugly-ass tile in the bathroom of the house you can't sell?"
(It's the part after "bathroom" that I really like here -- I mean, what a dumbass!?)
1. How do you sleep at night you bloodsucking, predatory, Goldman Sachs lap dog, son-of-a-bitch?
2. How in the hell did you manage to keep a straight face throughout the entire Digg interview?
Something Polish,
I imagine it's kind of hard to get your hair combed just right when there's a vampire squid wrapped around your face.
Great idea and execution james...
And I will perhaps be forced to reconsider my religious construct, were the unthinkable to occur.
There could be no greater gift to THE ANGRY than allowing WalStreetPro to ask the first question...
It's like praying for a lottery ticket...only slightly better.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/32372470
and here is the most direct link if you wish to skip the intro page for teh Town Hall...
http://www.cnbc.com/id/32626454
If you have the time and want to see our questions get answered, then copy/paste them and submit them to CNBC. You never know, maybe with your help they might not ignore my submission.
Thanks.
"The reforms I'm proposing would not apply to those who are here illegally," Obama said.
"You lie!" Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., shouted from his seat, jabbing a finger in the air.
That's gotta hurt! Nancy Piglosi tried to stare down the GOP but her face remained expressionless.
And remember... This is the Federal Reserve! This is a lousy private bank operating irresponsibly, at the behest of the Congress, and whose shadowy owners include, to one degree or another, foreigners and foreign central banks that are operating by the grace of their own governments which are just as corrupt and desperate as our own, but it was the Fed that created enough money to buy a trillion dollar's worth of US government bonds for itself! A trillion!
It's called "monetizing the debt", which Ben Bernanke said, in response to a direct question about it recently, that the Fed would "never" do! "Never" has now been re-defined to mean "continually?" Hahaha! Too much!
As an astute observer, you figure this must be pretty bad, gauging by the way I make a Very Loud Mogambo Fuss (VLMF) about it and droplets of spittle are flying from my flapping lips at supersonic speed as a throbbing vein is bulging out on my forehead.
And since a lot of this money was spent to buy government debt, how big was the federal budget deficit? You will be sorry you asked, and if you want to know the actual size of the actual federal deficit for the actual last year because you are pretty sure that the government is lying to you about the real size of their deficit-spending, then you have also come to the right place, because Treasury Public Debt is, as of last Friday, $11.797 trillion, whereas 12 lousy months ago it was $9.667 trillion, meaning that even if you are not sober enough to get this damned calculator to work or see those tiny little numbers, you can do the subtraction in your head!
The actual, in-your-face federal deficit was $2.130 trillion in the last 12 months! The deficit-spending by Congress is a whopping 15.2% of GDP, for crying out loud!
And if you are collecting unemployment, then you will be interested to know that the federal contribution to your check could have been painlessly almost doubled, as, according to Wikipedia, the 2009 federal budget had $360 billion for "Unemployment/Welfare/Other", while the budget also had another $260 billion that could be used to help you out, but had to be spent for "Interest on National Debt."
And this brings up the interesting point that since the national debt is $11,790 billion and this "interest on the national debt" is $260 billion, this means that the government is paying an average of 2.2% interest! Wow!
And remember that this $2.130 trillion increase in the national debt is just the deficit in Congressional spending, which doesn't even include the $2.6 trillion in the budget that was "paid for" by offsetting revenues!
So, being the cantankerous sort that I am, suspecting treachery at every turn and disaster at the hands of the corrupt, the ignorant and the stupid that we lovingly call "Congress", let me note that the morons of Congress have spent $2.6 trillion, plus $2.1 trillion equals $4.7 trillion, which they spent in a $14 trillion economy! The government is spending the equivalent of 34% of GDP! Gaaahh!
"Can Treasury honestly claim to have made a "profit" on the bank bailouts when only a small amount of the total TARP funds have been paid back? Isn't it especially misleading when you consider that companies like Goldman Sachs, who paid back $10B in TARP funds (plus warrant buybacks), also received around $13B in taxpayer money from AIG, which they will NEVER pay back?"
"On July 10 of this year, Congressman Brad Sherman (D-CA) asked you whether derivatives such as credit default swaps, which were issued today, might be the subject of a bailout tomorrow if the issuing party became unable to meet its obligations. You refused to answer the question because you said you "disagree[d] with the premise." Isn't the real reason you refused to answer because you are ready and willing to bail out other financial institutions in the future? If not, then why don't you tell the viewers that there will be no more taxpayer bailouts of private institutions?"
I responded directly to the producer who contacted me...we'll see if that helps.
Dare I whisper the phrase monopoly, or is it too soon?
"JP Morgan, Bank of America, Wells Fargo & Citigroup now issue 50% of all mortgages and 67% of credit cards." - via Washington Post.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/08/27/AR2009082704193.html?hpid%3Dtopnews
http://www.cnbc.com/id/32626454
BANKER THUGS scammed us with biggest crime in Human History and they get rewarded by Washington Criminal Blood Sucking Pests with our future generation blood sweat tax dollars........it is biggest injustice and tyranny on "we the People" Now should be called " We the DEBT SLAVES"
The tax system in the US was snuck in over a few generations. Now we have a system that is more like Mafia "protection money" than freedom. If the government claims the right to collect the product of your labor, and enforces that right with violence, then they are, in fact, claiming ownership of you. Even if you let a slave keep a majority of what they earn, they are still a slave.
We are slaves as long as we are forced to pay taxes under the threat of violence and imprisonment.
"I'm a home grown American citizen, 53, registered Democrat all my life. Before the last presidential election I registered as a Republican because I no longer felt the Democratic Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. Now I no longer feel the Republican Party represents my views or works to pursue issues important to me. The fact is I no longer feel any political party or representative in Washington represents my views or works to pursue the issues important to me. There must be someone. Please tell me who you are. Please stand up and tell me that you are there and that you're willing to fight for our Constitution as it was written. Please stand up now. You might ask yourself what my views and issues are that I would horribly feel so disenfranchised by both major political parties. What kind of nut job am I? Will you please tell me?
Why Banker thugs not in jail who scammed us?
That is one question all Fellow Americans should ask
Here is Andrew JAckson on Banker Thugs:
Andrew Jackson quotes:
The bold effort the present (central) bank had made to control the government ... are but premonitions of the fate that await the American people should they be deluded into a perpetuation of this institution or the establishment of another like it.
Andrew Jackson quotes:
Every man is equally entitled to protection by law; but when the laws undertake to add… artificial distinctions, to grant titles, gratuities, and exclusive privileges, to make the rich richer and the potent more powerful, the humble members of society -- the farmers, mechanics, and laborers -- who have neither the time nor the means of securing like favors to themselves, have a right to complain of the injustice of their government.
Andrew Jackson quotes:
Gentlemen, I have had men watching you for a long time and I am convinced that you have used the funds of the bank to speculate in the breadstuffs of the country. When you won, you divided the profits amongst you, and when you lost, you charged it to the bank. You tell me that if I take the deposits from the bank and annul its charter, I shall ruin ten thousand families. That may be true, gentlemen, but that is your sin! Should I let you go on, you will ruin fifty thousand families, and that would be my sin! You are a den of vipers and thieves.
Rogers: Global Bankers Have Unleashed Inflationary Holocaust
Legendary investor Jim Rogers warned during a CNBC interview this morning that global central banks are creating the environment for an inflationary holocaust by their ceaseless overprinting of currency, a measure that isn’t even successful in stabilizing the stock market.
Rogers said that the only solution to the market crisis was to let failing banks and speculators go bankrupt and stop pumping endless amounts of liquidity into the system, labeling it outrageous that responsible investors and taxpayers are being made to bail out crooks on Wall Street.
“The way to solve this problem is to let people go bankrupt,” Rogers stressed, “All of this pumping money into the system is not going to save it – see what the market is saying, it’s saying we don’t buy that, let people go bankrupt,” he added.
“Then you will hit bottom and then you start over. The people who are sound will take over the assets from the people who aren’t sound and we will start over. This is the way the world has worked for a few thousand years,” said Rogers.
Final comments:
Wall Street thieves can't be Wall Street thieves without getting into bed with government. That's called Fascism. Both aspects need to go away so that free enterprise can reign. A separation of government and business you might say.
Ron Paul would have killed the charter for the Federal Reserve System -- that is why no party will choose him as their representative. The revolution is coming -- and like the crash of the dollar, it won't be confined to America. When the people of the world align themselves against the banks, we will finally be facing the real enemy of freedom, prosperity, equity, rule of law, and justice. It won't be pretty -- but the price must be paid or it is global slavery for all.
Dean Baker
Wednesday, 09 September 2009 07:58
Guardian UK
Most of us work for a living, the rest are bankers. These days the news is filled with great tales about how America's banks are coming back.
Even that giant corpse Citigroup is showing signs of life. Its stock is now selling for more than five times the lows it hit earlier this year. Its market capitalization is up near $57bn, a bit more than the $45 billion that the government lent them through the Troubled Assets Relief Programme, or Tarp. Some are even expecting that the government will make a profit on its Citigroup investment.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/cifamerica/2009/aug/31/banking-profits-us-economy
American Tea Party Anthem (with words) by Lloyd Marcus
http://www.the-912-project.com/2009/03/25/american-tea-party-anthem-by-lloyd-marcus/
9/12 Taxpayer Tea Party March on Washington, DC
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-VMXz6xGeqc
Contract From America
http://www.contractfromamerica.com/Idea.aspx
Two Million Conservatives March On DC
http://www.therightperspective.org/2009/09/12/two-million-conservatives-march-on-dc/
An estimated two million conservatives, fed up with runaway government spending marched on Washington, DC today and delivered a resounding “no” to a proposed nationalization of the American health care system.
The rally is the culmination of the 9/12 Project, an effort put together by conservative-libertarian talk show host Glenn Beck.
“No matter which way you cut it, the size and scope of today’s citizen march on Washington is an historic, groundbreaking event,” wrote The Columbia Conservative Examiner of the event. “Ordinary citizens who have been called ‘the great silent majority’ normally do not protest…at least not in public. That day is long gone.”
While Labor Day Tea Party rallies last Monday indicated a large turnout for this weekend’s finale, the actual turnout has surprised most pundits in the so-called “mainstream media.”
What is up with the viagra fetish? It is 1617 words long, all about pills. I hope this is not the solution, I do not want to screw them to death. LOL
I edited Ken's post to remove the offending SPAM.
Final warning handed to all WASHINGTON WEB SITES:
I am on the record today.Unite and organize revolt or cicil unrest will consume us all.
HEY BARNEY FRAN AND REST OF CRIMINAL POLI-TICS GANG IN WASHINGTON DC
THIS IS MY LAST LETTER FOR YOU ALL
THIS DAY IN AMERICAN HISTORY: I HOLD USA DEMONRATS(DEMOCRATS) AND REPO-CONS(GOP) GUILTY OF TREASON CRIME
HISTORY WILL SOON UNFOLD TO PUT YOU IN RIGHT PLACE WHERE YOU ALL BELONG
DR. RON PAUL IS ONLY THE ONE WHO WILL SHINE IN GOLDEN LETTERS OF 2ND REVOLUTION NOW....
My Obama letter removed?
Why?
only they might not let him have his bat LOL