Archive for the TARP Category

They Can Print Money (November 2, 2015)

Posted in Bail In, Bailout/Bribe, Bankruptcy, Banks and Banking System, FDIC, Federal Reserve, Kleptocracy, TARP, Wall Street on November 2, 2015 by e-commentary.org

. . .

Q          “The FDIC can simply print money.”

B          “Maybe.  However, the response to the Big Jolt may be . . . nuanced?  By the government?  Let me explain.  Or at least confuse the issue.”

. . .

Q          “By any metric – economically, morally, psychologically, ethically, metaphysically, generationally – TARP was a grand fraud perpetrated on the American people.  And the central message is crystal clear – everyone in power knows that there are no limits or restraints of any kind to government criminality at the top.  They can simply print money.”

B          “Maybe.  During what I call the Financial Crime of 2008, the government could have nationalized the banks, but those in power allowed the banks to nationalize the government, in particular the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department.  The Fed and Treasury now have carte blanc to do anything that serves the interests of their Owners on Wall Street and with the Big Banks.  However, the FDIC may not have that absolute freedom and immunity from liability and accountability.  The bureaucrats in the bureaucracy at the FDIC bureaucracy may behave like bureaucrats.  Some risk-averse bureaucrat may seize up and say that she or he will not make the decision to commit the agency to exceed its authority because he or she may not have enough stroke to obtain immunity.”

Q          “The most risk-averse course of action still is to print money or create electrons.”

B          “Maybe.  The Owners have agreed that ‘bail ins’ are the answer to their self-created problem.  At some point, however, even J. Q. Public may say ‘bastante’ and swing by the bank and demand his or her deposits.” 

Q          “They will hand out a plastic card in lieu of physical cash.  Print money or produce plastic.  There is no difference.”

. . .

B          “Maybe.  Except that the fundamental problem today is not liquidity, it is solvency.  The system is insolvent.  Printing more money is akin to distributing cigarette butts.  The bucks, like butts, soon will not be cherished.”

Q          “At that point, we may be bartering cigarettes.”

B          “Maybe.  If they are available.”

. . .

[See the e-commentary at (M)End The Fed (July 11, 2011).]

Bumper sticker of the week:

Give a man a gun and he can rob a bank; give a man a bank and he can rob the world

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Is A “Strategic Default” Of A Mortgage Now A Moral Imperative? (February 28, 2011)

Posted in Bailout/Bribe, Banks and Banking System, Courts, Crime/Punishment, Economics, Housing, Kleptocracy, Law, Society, Supreme Court, TARP on February 28, 2011 by e-commentary.org

. . .

S          “You have heard of them.  A ‘strategic default’ is a default by a person who could make the monthly payments on the mortgage yet elects to cease making the payments because the property is underwater financially.”

D          “There are a flood of them today.”

S          “A strategic default may be de rigueur today.  Look at the law.  Start with the indoctrination process in law school.  Young law students are taught the theory of ‘efficient breach’ which counsels one to breach a contract if breaching the contract is worth more than performing the contract.  That is defined as ‘efficiency.’  The students who answer obediently get on the law review, clerk for the Supreme Court and make millions representing banks, big businesses and insurance companies.”

D          “And assist in running them into the ground.”

S          “That’s the plan.  They don’t even understand ‘efficiency.’  In practice, the party breaching the contract is not spawning a more efficient use of global resources.  The breaching party simply does not want to pay or perform and usually has far more money and can overwhelm the non-breaching party in court.  The party not receiving payment or performance loses big and usually has little judicial relief.”

D          “With a few exceptions, the legal system seems to exist to protect and serve the interests of the wealthy and the well-connected. I’ll take my direction from no one other than the MBAs at the MBA (Mortgage Bankers Association) who recommend defaulting on your mortgage if it is not working for you.  The banksters decided not to pay the mortgage on the MBA office building in D.C. (Washington, D.C.), even though the group had the funds to pay.  The banksters strategically defaulted.”

S          “They are indeed an example for all.  When the government bribed and bailed out the banks and other institutions, some contended that the government could not breach the contracts providing for unwarranted and illegal bonuses.  How un-American.  The government should have disregarded every contract and required the banksters to bring suit.  How American.”

D          “Allowing the banksters to file suit would allow them to file in a sympathetic Republican Federal District Court and possibly steer the case to a receptive judge.”

S          “Always a risk in the legal game.  However, before the banksters brought suit, their legion of lawyers would remind them that they could confront defenses and counterclaims.  In court, the government could assert a dozen affirmative defenses and also counterclaim for fraud, deceit, perjury, conspiracy, embezzlement, racketeering, misrepresentation, breach of fiduciary duty, obstruction of justice, etc.  Some of the banksters would not file suit which is the least expensive and, yes, the most efficient way of reaching a just resolution.”

D          “Seems that the courts are stacked against the public.  Nonetheless, there is a small chance that an independent judge might hear some of the cases and hold that the bonuses are illegal.  An affirmative award against the banksters is improbable but not impossible.”

S          “Neither the Republicans nor the Democrats ever intended to bring criminal charges against the criminals.  We seem at times to be alone in a lawless world with millions of laws on the books.  We in America have moved from a democracy to a kleptocracy.”

D          “And no one to throw the book at them.  Except that the law and morality are clear.  Homeowners are morally obligated to default on the payment of their mortgages if the property is underwater financially.  The government is morally obligated to default on the payment of the bankster’s bonuses.  In today’s amoral America, a strategic default is both an economic necessity and a moral imperative.”

S          “Perhaps a provision should be added to Title 18 of the United States Code making it a crime not to strategically default if the property is underwater financially.  Not to strategically default is so un-American.  And inefficient.  We just can’t have that.”

D          “Strategically defaulting immanentizes the eschaton.”

S          “Indeed.”

. . .

Mortgage Bankers Association Defaults:  http://www.thedailyshow.com/watch/thu-october-7-2010/mortgage-bankers-association-strategic-default

Home Sales Data Is Overstated:  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704476604576158452087956150.html

“Three years after a horrific financial crisis caused by massive fraud, not a single financial executive has gone to jail, and that’s wrong.”  Charles Ferguson upon receiving the Oscar along with Audrey Marrs for the Best Documentary for the movie “Inside Job.”

“Almost everyone counted publicly each and every single day of the event known as the ‘Iran hostage crisis,’ yet no one is counting publicly the days that have passed since September 15, 2008 without a single major criminal indictment of the banksters and their ilk who caused the financial crisis that continues to plague this country today.”

[See the “e-ssay” titled “1000 AUSAs (February 9, 2009).”]

Bumper stickers of the week:

Do as I do not as I say

Mortgage Bankers Association: Strategically Default Today

Free $1000 an hour legal advice:  Strategically Default On Your Mortgage Today

Efficiency uber alles

Efficiency is Inefficient

If your property is underwater, should you plant seaweed in the front yard this spring?

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On The Bribe/Bailout And Financial Reform (July 26, 2010)

Posted in Bailout/Bribe, Banks and Banking System, Bernanke, Federal Reserve, Journalism, Press/Media, TARP on July 26, 2010 by e-commentary.org

. . .

K          “So many commentators contend that the bailout/bribe of 2008 saved the American economy, yet they do not provide any detailed discussion or explanation.  Few seem to be challenging the conclusion.”

J          “When you think about it, no one has offered a coherent explanation of two things.  No one has explained the exposure of the economy and the problems encountered in September, 2008; no one has traced the impacts and consequences of the bailout, good and bad.”

K          “Spewing money randomly was unwise and counterproductive.  The market was the only way to purge the excesses of the market.  Purging the economy of the poison would have been painful, yet we as a country would be much better off in the intermediate and long runs.”

J          “Not many commentators were sounding warnings in 2005 or earlier.  I recall some warnings and misgivings from a few writers with the conventional press.  I also recall scattered concerns shared in some of these things called ‘blogs.’  Yet there was not enough chatter to capture the public imagination and stir any action or pause.”

K          “Some reports suggest that the some government funds have been repaid.  There is no way to verify the claims.  The Federal Reserve in particular is exempt by statute from any effective scrutiny, oversight and regulation.”

J          “The financial reform bill may be one of those bills that has not been read carefully by its proponents or by its opponents.  However, I believe that a small group of connected individuals is making far too much money to allow any meaningful reform to pass.”

K          “Aren’t we in worse economic trouble now because things have not changed.  Yet no one is really worried.”

J          “Too few journalists, even economic journalists, understand the economy.  Just reading and digesting the public statements issued by the Federal Reserve is almost a full time job.  The popular press may summarize some of the information in the Beige Book and G.19 Consumer Credit reports, yet there is not much analysis.  Who has the background and the experience to connect the dots.  And who do you trust.”

. . .

Bumper stickers of the week:

Don’t end the Fed; mend the Fed

ABCNNBCBS does not have many answers; Faux/Fox does not even ask the right questions.

“Ever since my husband began listening to NPR, he is so informed . . . and so depressed.”

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The TARP Is A Trap (January 19, 2009)

Posted in Bailout/Bribe, Economics, TARP on January 19, 2009 by e-commentary.org

No one has offered a plausible explanation of or justification for the continuing Bailout/Bribe know as TARP (Troubled Asset Relief Program).  [See the e-ssay dated October 6, 2008 entitled “A Bleak Day: The Trillions Dollar Tragedy”].  What was the problem in September, 2008 that had not been there for years and continues unabated today?  A “credit crunch”?  For the first time in years, the availability of credit was at a rational level.  Those who were creditworthy were able to obtain credit; those who were not were not.  We burned more money and more daylight while the underlying conflagration continued to rage.

Bumper sticker of the week:

Pouring water into a watering can does not water the plant; pouring water around the roots of the plant waters the plant.

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