Dealbreaker

Entry: I Need A Moment To Vent

posted by Distressed Debt

Sep 17, 2008 8:30PM

If the problem at GS and MS is the declining stock price, is there a legal/regulatory reason why the employees/management can't buy blocks of the stock? Didn't MS give out $10B GS give out $18B in bonuses last year? Can't these guys show their faith in the companies and buy their own stock?

Entry: Does John McCain Have Any Idea What's Going On?

posted by Distressed Debt

Sep 18, 2008 9:11AM

Why do Republicans always fall for the bullshit line that Democrats are going to raise your taxes? My god, people, Obama is proposing to put the tax rate on those with income over $250K back to the rates in effect before George Bush II decided to cut taxes while increasing spending. Remember the years before George Bush II when Clinton was President and the economy was humming along and we had a budget surplus and the smart people from Goldman Sachs (Bob Rubin) was Treasury Secretary? I understand that higher taxes equal less money in your pockets but this can’t be the only issue on which you make a decision to vote for a candidate. Plus, the last time a checked the President can’t enact a tax hike without Congress passing a law, so to say Obama will raise your taxes shows, at best, a serious lack of understanding of how our political system works or plain stupidity on the part of people who fall for this line. Democrats are not hostile to profit making. Most of us simply believe that to those who much is given much is demanded. So we have no problem paying more taxes or giving money to charity or helping those less fortunate than ourselves.

Entry: Does John McCain Have Any Idea What's Going On?

posted by Distressed Debt

Sep 18, 2008 11:45AM

@108 are you serous? Have you been paying attention the last few months? What do you call the government bailing out these businesses? Isn't that socialism? Again, privatize the profits and socialize the losses but we won't call it that because socialism is so bad. Unreal.

Entry: "Nationalized."

posted by Distressed Debt

Sep 18, 2008 12:21PM

Rosa Brooks:
Hey U.S., welcome to the Third World!
It's been a quick slide from economic superpower to economic basket case.
Rosa Brooks
September 18, 2008
» Discuss Article Dear United States, Welcome to the Third World!

It's not every day that a superpower makes a bid to transform itself into a Third World nation, and we here at the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund want to be among the first to welcome you to the community of states in desperate need of international economic assistance. As you spiral into a catastrophic financial meltdown, we are delighted to respond to your Treasury Department's request that we undertake a joint stability assessment of your financial sector. In these turbulent times, we can provide services ranging from subsidized loans to expert advisors willing to perform an emergency overhaul of your entire government.

As you know, some outside intervention in your economy is overdue. Last week -- even before Wall Street's latest collapse -- 13 former finance ministers convened at the University of Virginia and agreed that you must fix your "broken financial system." Australia's Peter Costello noted that lately you've been "exporting instability" in world markets, and Yashwant Sinha, former finance minister of India, concluded, "The time has come. The U.S. should accept some monitoring by the IMF."

We hope you won't feel embarrassed as we assess the stability of your economy and suggest needed changes. Remember, many other countries have been in your shoes. We've bailed out the economies of Argentina, Brazil, Indonesia and South Korea. But whether our work is in Sudan, Bangladesh or now the United States, our experts are committed to intervening in national economies with care and sensitivity.

We thus want to acknowledge the progress you have made in your evolution from economic superpower to economic basket case. Normally, such a process might take 100 years or more. With your oscillation between free-market extremism and nationalization of private companies, however, you have successfully achieved, in a few short years, many of the key hallmarks of Third World economies.

Your policies of irresponsible government deregulation in critical sectors allowed you to rapidly develop an energy crisis, a housing crisis, a credit crisis and a financial market crisis, all at once, and accompanied (and partly caused) by impressive levels of corruption and speculation. Meanwhile, those of your political leaders charged with oversight were either napping or in bed with corporate lobbyists.

Take John McCain, your Republican presidential nominee, whose senior staff includes half a dozen prominent former lobbyists. As he recently put it, "I was chairman of the [Senate] Commerce Committee that oversights every part of the economy." No question about it: Your leaders' failure to notice the damage done by irresponsible deregulation was indeed an oversight of epic proportions.

Now you are facing the consequences. Income inequality has increased, as the rich have gotten windfalls while the middle class has seen incomes stagnate. Fewer and fewer of your citizens have access to affordable housing, healthcare or security in retirement. Even life expectancy has dropped. And when your economic woes went from chronic to acute, you responded -- like so many Third World states have -- with an extensive program of nationalizing private companies and assets. Your mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are now state owned and controlled, and this week your reinsurance giant AIG was effectively nationalized, with the Federal Reserve Board seizing an 80% equity stake in the flailing company.

Some might deride this as socialism. But desperate times call for desperate measures.

Admittedly, your transition to Third World status is far from over, and it won't be painless. At first, for instance, you may find it hard to get used to the shantytowns that will replace the exurban sprawl of McMansions that helped fuel the real estate speculation bubble. But in time, such shantytowns will simply become part of the landscape. Similarly, as unemployment rates continue to rise, you will initially struggle to find a use for the expanding pool of angry, jobless young men. But you will gradually realize that you can recruit them to fight in a ceaseless round of armed conflicts, a solution that has been utilized by many other Third World states before you. Indeed, with your wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, you are off to an excellent start.

Perhaps this letter comes as a surprise to you, and you feel you're not fully ready to join the Third World. Don't let this feeling concern you. Though you may never have realized it, you've been preparing for this moment for years.

Entry: If He's Not Up For It, Shall We See If Ang. Moz. Wants The Job?

posted by Distressed Debt

Sep 22, 2008 9:28AM

How can anyone vote for this guy?

Entry: Nothing To See Here People, He's Just Got A Quota To Make

posted by Distressed Debt

Sep 25, 2008 9:51AM

China banks to stop lending to US banks
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSPEK16693720080925

Entry: Callan Reflects On Firing

posted by Distressed Debt

Sep 26, 2008 11:51AM

@15 I agree. What's up with these women wearing sleeveless tops/shirts who have not seen a gym in like forever. Cover up those chubby things. Those aren't arms, more like yams.

Entry: Halloween Comes 10 Days Early This Year

posted by Distressed Debt

Oct 11, 2008 3:17PM

"According to ISDA, once prices for the CDSs have been set, counterparties will have to settle their contracts."

What if the counterparties decide not to settle their contracts? I would imagine that the only recourse would be for the aggrieved counterparties to bring litigation seeking damages for breach of contract. And who knows how long those lawsuits will take to conclude? And will the counterparties have money to pay the damages?