Will This Gigantic Bailout Work?
By Sean O’Grady
http://www.countercurrents.org/ogrady200908.htm
This is what we might call the $1trillion question. That's $1,000,000,000,000, by the way. It is a little like surgery. The US government has amputated the gangrenous leg of the banking system to save the patient. But it is now preparing to graft the infected limb on to the body politic of America. The US taxpayers will be lucky if they do not feel distinctly unwell as a result of this little experiment

It's The Derivatives, Stupid! Why Fannie, Freddie, AIG Had To Be Bailed Out
By Ellen Brown
http://www.countercurrents.org/brown200908.htm
Why the extraordinary bailout measures for Fannie, Freddie and AIG? The answer may have less to do with saving the insurance business, the housing market, or the Chinese investors clamoring for a bailout than with the greatest Ponzi scheme in history, one that is holding up the entire private global banking system. What had to be saved at all costs was not housing or the dollar but the financial derivatives industry; and the precipice from which it had to be saved was an "event of default" that could have collapsed a quadrillion dollar derivatives bubble, a collapse that could take the entire global banking system down with it

The Point of No Return
By Mike Whitney
Neither China nor the Saudi princes are buying any more failing investment banks. They’ll leave that to the US taxpayer.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20811.htm

The Party’s Over
By Patrick J. Buchanan
The Crash of 2008, which is now wiping out trillions of dollars of our people’s wealth, is, like the Crash of 1929, likely to mark the end of one era and the onset of another.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20809.htm

Hey U.S., Welcome to the Third World!
By Rosa Brooks
It’s been a quick slide from economic superpower to economic basket case.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20808.htm

Paulson and Bernanke Stampede Washington – Continue Raid On The Public Purse
Citing Grave Financial Threats, Officials Ready Massive Rescue
By Binyamin Appelbaum and Lori Montgomery
The Bush administration is urgently preparing a massive intervention to” revive” the U.S. financial system, including a plan to sweep away the unpaid loans that are choking banks and blocking the flow of money to borrowers. – Paulson
and Bernanke presented a “chilling” picture of the state of the financial system, according to a participant in the meeting who spoke on condition of anonymity.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20807.htm

The World As We Know It Is Going Down’:
It really does look as if the foundations of US capitalism have shattered.
www.spiegel.de/international/business/0,1518,578944,00.html

In Hard Times, Tent Cities Rise Across the Country:
Since foreclosure mess, homeless advocates report rise in encampments.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20810.htm

Escape of the bankrupt:
The world’s financial markets remain at the eye of a perfect economic storm.- In the most glaring example of capitalism gone wrong, the Russian stock market was forced to close its doors for the second consecutive day yesterday. For a system that is built and flourishes on confidence, the future is extremely uncertain.
www.guardian.co.uk/commentisfree/2008/sep/19/banking.creditcrunch

Where’s Our Bailout?:
Almost overlooked in this morning’s extraordinary headlines about government intervention to protect the nation’s financial system from collapse was the failure of the House of Representatives on Thursday to act on a $50 billion stimulus package for the rest of us.
www.ourfuture.org/blog-entry/2008093819/wheres-our-bailout

For AIG, $85 billion might not be enough:
AIG had $971.7 billion of liabilities at the end of June, but a subsidiary also has about $447 billion of credit derivatives on its books. That compares with a little more than $1 trillion of assets.
www.reuters.com/article/email/idUSN1749377720080918

Tab for Government Rescues Rises to $900 Billion +:
The U.S. Federal Reserve stepped in to rescue insurance giant American International Group from bankruptcy with an $85 billion loan on Tuesday. The action brings the total tab
for government rescues and special loan facilities this year to more than $900 billion. Following are details of actions and amounts:
www.cnbc.com/id/26751385

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Invest in Lawmakers;
When the federal government announced two months ago that it would prop up mortgage buyers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, CRP looked at how much money members of Congress had collected since 1989 from the companies.
www.opensecrets.org/news/2008/09/update-fannie-mae-and-freddie.html

Confessions of a sub-prime mortgage baron:
Across the US, an estimated 2.5 million people are in danger of losing their homes to foreclosure this year as a result of the sub-prime mortgage crisis. Bitner’s description of day-to-day business at Kellner is an eye-watering glimpse of the industry’s slide into anarchy.
www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/sep/19/subprimecrisis.richardbitner

McCain Attacks Wall Street Greed-While 83 Wall Street Lobbyists Work for His Campaign:
McCain has been quick with fiery, populist-tinged speeches. But one thing has been missing: any acknowledgment that McCain’s own campaign has been loaded with the type of people he’s been denouncing.
tinyurl.com/4xb92n

China Paper Urges New Currency Order After “Financial Tsunami”
By Reuters
Threatened by a “financial tsunami,” the world must consider building a financial order no longer dependent on the United States, a leading Chinese state newspaper said on Wednesday.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20798.htm

America and China Joined at the Hip
By DAVE LINDORFF
With the government now having spent over $800 billion in less than a year shoring up tottering financial companies that had become little more than casinos (and rigged ones at that), America is looking increasingly like China, a country where the state has been gradually getting out of the business of directly owning companies.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20797.htm

In Case You Missed It
The Meaning of the Collapse of Lehman Brothers
By Sam Marcy
The following article, written by Workers World Party chairperson Sam Marcy in the April 26, 1984, issue, holds tremendous lessons today as a growing number of Wall Street firms are collapsing with no end in sight. The root cause of the Lehman Brothers’ crisis 24 years ago was attributed to its merger with Shearson/American Express.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20801.htm

Socialism or Barbarism
By Frank Scott
While the dreadful Bush regime nears its end, the policies in place since long before it took power will continue destroying the American empire no matter which new gang attempts to control the crumbling operation. But so long as major media serve as stenographers for establishment power, the public will continue to be treated as preschool children and given naps between sweet treats and nursery rhymes. In fact, if we let under paid child care workers take over our government and media, we’d all be much better served.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20805.htm

No Bull
On Ethics, Deregulation and Financial Chaos
By William A. Cohn
US government policy has encouraged recklessness – most recently by taking extraordinary measures to privatize gains while socializing losses. As part of the agenda of its so-called ownership society (excepting ownership of responsibility by powerful bankers and insurers who fail) the govt. even sought to privatize public obligations – recall the Bush proposal to privatize social security. So why not play fast and loose if the rules are heads I win tails you lose?
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20800.htm

You’ve Been “Shafted” (Again)
By Larry Dorshkind
The ultimate tax obligation of your family figure is humongous? Just to give you a little sense of the scale, though, the present $9.5 trillion National Debt works out to be $38,000 per person (based on 250,000 Americans who can be expected to pay taxes). Therefore, for your 6-member family unit, your obligation for the current National Debt is $228,000.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20802.htm

The MSM Jumps on the Economic Bandwagon
By Kathy Sanborn
So the US economy is on the brink? Yawn. Tell me something I didn’t know at least two years ago. Now the mainstream media have been given the green light to announce, bold as you please, that we are in for some pretty tough times, but Internet news and blog readers have known about our faltering financial system for a long, long time. Now, in the mainstream press, it has become popular to state the obvious: the country is broke.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20806.htm

In Case You Missed It
Corporations Not Paying Income Tax
By LYNNLEY BROWNING
Two out of every three United States corporations paid no federal income taxes from 1998 through 2005, according to a report released Tuesday by the Government Accountability Office, the investigative arm of Congress.
www.informationclearinghouse.info/article20799.htm

Rattled Russia orders markets to stay closed:
Medvedev says they can open Friday, vows to prevent meltdown
www.msnbc.msn.com/id/26771176/

China accuses US of financial WMD:
Chinese state media has blamed the US for unleashing financial “weapons of mass destruction” and sparking a global market “tsunami”.
www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=69805&sectionid=351020404

Morgan Stanley in Talks with China’s CITIC;
Morgan Stanley is in talks to possibly be acquired by China’s CITIC, sources in the U.S. and China have told CNBC.
www.cnbc.com/id/26763431

‘Lehmans abandoned its UK staff’: Ex-employee reveals riddle of missing billions :
The US side of collapsed investment bank Lehman Brothers abandoned its employees at the London office, a senior insider at the bank has claimed.
tinyurl.com/5tblno

UK bank Lloyds buys rival HBOS:
British bank Lloyds TSB has bought rival HBOS to create a £28bn ($50bn) mortgage company, after HBOS shares plummeted over fears for its financial stability.
english.aljazeera.net/news/europe/
2008/09/200891822634355831.html

Consumer Confidence Plummets, Down 8% Overnight:
Consumer confidence held up during the first few days of this tumultuous week on Wall Street, but fell 8% overnight. Investor confidence is still heading south at a more rapid pace and has fallen 15% since the weekend.
www.rasmussenreports.com/public_content/
business/indexes/rasmussen_consumer_index

McCain: US is not in decline:
“I reject the doom and gloom that says our nation is in decline. America’s best days are ahead of us,” McCain said in a visit to a factory of US car manufacturer General Motors, in Lake Orion, Michigan.
www.presstv.com/detail.aspx?id=69836&sectionid=3510203

SEP presidential candidate speaks on financial crisis
Posted: 19 Sep 2008 06:37 PM CDT
Dandelion Salad SEPupload Jerry White, presidential candidate of the Socialist Equality Party, spoke today on moves by the Federal Reserve to bail out Wall Street speculators while workers face deepening hardship. White called for the return of resources appropriated by the financial elite, and for the transformation of banks into democratically controlled utilities, as part of a […]
feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DandelionSalad/~3/397657903/

Bush Announces Bailing Out Wall Street
Posted: 19 Sep 2008 06:12 PM CDT
Dandelion Salad heathr456 Bush announced a massive bailout of Wall Street Sept. 19, 2008. more about “Bush Announces Bailing Out Wall Street”, posted with vodpod *** Cartoon by Mark Fiore: www.markfiore.com/fundamentals_0 see The Point of No Return By Mike Whitney Ron PauI: It’s Like A Fix For A Junkie! Global Financial Meltdown by Michel Chossudovsky The U.S. Is Becoming an Impoverished Nation by […]
feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DandelionSalad/~3/397644811/

The U.S. Is Becoming an Impoverished Nation by Richard C. Cook
Posted: 19 Sep 2008 08:35 AM CDT
by Richard C. Cook featured writer Dandelion Salad richardccook.com Sept. 19, 2008 Everything the Federal Reserve and the U.S. Treasury Department are trying to do to stem the tide of the self-destructing U.S. financial system is a stopgap. They are locking the barn door after the horse—many horses—have already escaped, and they know it. They also […]
feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DandelionSalad/~3/397216713/

The Dog Days of September By Gary Corseri
Posted: 19 Sep 2008 08:04 AM CDT
By Gary Corseri featured writer Dandelion Salad Sept 19, 2008 “Waves of anger and fear Circulate over the bright And darkened lands of the earth. The unmentionalble odour of death Offends the September night.” –W.H. Auden, “September, 1939" Historians may look back on September, 2008 as America’s economic 9/11.  Major financial institutions are collapsing—to use a bitter analogy–like the twin towers: first, Bear Stearns (already […]
feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DandelionSalad/~3/397203373/

Democracy Now!: US bails out AIG for 85 million dollars
Posted: 18 Sep 2008 10:12 PM CDT
Dandelion Salad US Seizes Control of AIG with $85 Billion Bailout IWantDemocracyNow more about “Democracy Now!: US bails out AIG for …”, posted with vodpod see It’s the Derivatives, Stupid! Why Fannie, Freddie, AIG had to be Bailed Out Congressional Hearing Federal Bureau of Investigation Oversight Rep. Kapture: They Want Mama To Make It All Better! The Economy Sucks and […]
feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DandelionSalad/~3/396825742/

It’s the Derivatives, Stupid! Why Fannie, Freddie, AIG had to be Bailed Out
Posted: 18 Sep 2008 09:34 PM CDT
by Dr. Ellen Hodgson Brown featured writer Dandelion Salad Ellen’s post Sept 5, 2008 webofdebt.com “I can calculate the movement of the stars, but not the madness of men.” – Sir Isaac Newton, after losing a fortune in the South Sea bubble Something extraordinary is going on with these government bailouts. In March 2008, the Federal Reserve extended a […]
feeds.feedburner.com/~r/DandelionSalad/~3/396793876/