An article about the big mess: Crisis Hits Europe’s Banks As U.S. Seals Bailout Deal

Never mind that most Americans are against it, don’t go thinking your thoughts on this matter any. They’re going to ram this through and you can shout in the streets all you want, they’ll either ignore it or just lock you up for getting in the way.

Some commentators have mentioned that this is the biggest government intervention since the Great Depression, but at least in the past the lawmakers allowed a depression to occur without trying to jump in ahead of time and take over. They allowed the market to do some self correction instead of just running to nationalization as the cure early. As more and more of America is under federal control, beware of fascism.

Here are some quotes from the article above and my thoughts on it.

The White House and congressional leaders agreed on a deal to authorize the biggest banking rescue in U.S. history.

The $700 billion program would effectively nationalize an array of mortgages and securities backed by them — instruments whose deteriorating value has clogged the nation’s financial system.
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The government taking over large portions of America’s financial infrastructure. Seems that would limit the independent flow of commerce. Instead of the market correcting, a prop of magic money is being put under the mess. Mess that should be allowed to depress, fall in, so it might correct as a market should. Instead, what has failed is being failed-up!

…
The bill leaves many mechanics of the operation up to the Treasury. Among these are the crucial issues of how the U.S. government would decide which assets it will buy and how it would decide what to pay for them. The legislation leaves the Treasury 45 days to issue guidelines on those procedures. The bill awaits votes in Congress starting on Monday.
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So basically this all hit the skids with the Treasury watching and now the Treasury, which basically works in the interests of bankers is going to write the rules. Certainly the Treasury works in the interests of bankers, because they wanted bail out and the Treasury ran to give it to them. This all was not inspired by consumer groups.

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From big Wall Street houses to small community banks, executives have expressed an interest in signing up for the bailout. But some have said the extent of their involvement will depend on critical details.
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Money hand outs, just what you don’t want to give a financial failure, more money.

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The political fallout from the bailout could be substantial, given the enormous expenditure of taxpayer money. Some polls show wide opposition. But the legislation includes provisions designed to guard against ultimate losses for the government.
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What polls don’t show wide opposition, if just “some” polls show wide opposition? Polls of bankers?!!!

Guard against losses, oh yea, right. These bad loans were supposed to be guarded against loses before this by their own insurers, but that didn’t work out, did it? Now we’re supposed to believe it’s going to work well with the government doing it .

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Sellers of assets could include a broad range of financial entities — not just banks but also credit unions and pension funds. The assets offered to the government must have been originated or issued on or before March 14, 2008.
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Basically anybody who proved to be bad with lending is going to be eligible for receiving what you don’t give a financial failure, more money.

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The plan would impose some curbs on executive compensation at firms that sell assets to the government. These include a ban, for those that sell a large amount of securities to the U.S., on creating new “golden parachute” payments to departing top executives. Companies also would have to have provisions to “claw back” past bonuses found to have been based on misleading financial statements.
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Now this is one of the biggest crocks of the whole thing. The supposed ban against “golden parachute” packages. I knew this was going to be BOGUS. Because government can’t go changing existing CEO contracts. They are going to stop the creation of NEW packages. But THE GOLDEN PARACHUTES ARE ALREADY IN PLACE AND READY TO BE DEPLOYED! Executives who go now, will leave with all the terms of the deal they signed on with, including their already established packages. That new big packages won’t be made means nothing, the failures will get theirs from already existing deals. And so long as they report how bad of a failure they were without making up the figures they’ll get more money and their already existing “golden parachute” will be well funded. If these companies were allowed to go under, there would be no money for the existing “golden parachutes”.

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The Treasury would receive warrants giving it the right to acquire nonvoting common stock or preferred stock in firms benefiting from the bailout. The program would be subject to oversight that includes a bipartisan committee and the Government Accountability Office. The GAO would have an office located within the Treasury Department.
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Nationalization, the government owning companies and if the companies continue to fail do you think the government level of influence will decrease? If the company is found to be doing something wrong (and so many companies are doing something wrong) do you think government influence will decrease? This is the start of government’s flat out taking over of corporations.

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One likely method of purchasing and pricing assets is a reverse auction. In this, firms would offer to sell securities at given prices, and the Treasury could buy the least expensive on offer. Institutions would presumably offer to sell at prices high enough to alleviate their woes but not so high they’d be passed over in favor of lower-priced offers.
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And if everybody is padding what they want, oops I mean need, padding it a some, then the whole process is inflated.

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The agreement came together only after concessions on all sides. Democrats backed down from a proposal to let bankruptcy judges alter the terms of mortgages, and from another that would have steered government profits from the package to affordable-housing programs. The Bush administration, for its part, agreed to much broader executive-compensation limits than it originally envisioned, among other things.
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Here’s yet another reason I won’t be voting for McCain or Obama (or any of the others I know of that are running for President). Notice Obama and Democrats talk about doing things for those who are not well off, but they simply gave to the bankers. Notice McCain and Republicans don’t favor a free market, although they talk about favoring such, they favor giving to bankers. They all can come together, to give bankers money, the worst bankers, the biggest failures.

Well this all will likely lead to more inflation, possibly even stagflation and given failures are being propped up with money the government has printed and taxpayers can’t afford the government’s bills. This will likely lead to a future crash that’s even bigger than would have occurred now.

Kicking the can up the road, only makes it more dirty.

Just an interesting video.

I say, the documented performance reviews don’t lie! But sometimes company spokespeople do.

Related posts:

• $700 Billion In Magic Money And Who Knows What Might Be Nationalized Next.
• Credit Cards and Usury in America

An interesting article, best read in full.

Basically now the government is trying to head off a collapse it knew was likely to come. And to head it off, the government gains more control and places more burden on taxpayers. But wait, taxpayers can’t afford America’s debt. Well, that’s why other nations are buying up America. See any of the many articles such as China eyes Morgan Stanley but fears US resistance. Sovereign wealth funds, with who knows who actually behind them are what is really picking up a tab the American tax payer could not even afford before the $700 that is being proposed. Where’s American money come from? It’s printed up and has no hard backing under it. So the economy slides, the government has more money printed and says all is going to be OK. Well as the MPC member who questioned Alan Greenspan knows, somebody has to pay for all this mess. And other nations including America’s enemies will pick it up by buying more of our nation, for pennies on the dollar.

Well what can be done to stop it? As Paulson stated, he’s playing the hand as he was dealt it. And he was given the job because it was known he’d play the hand as he’s playing it. We’re way past the point of talking about stopping. This nation’s economy stands on a magic foundation, but you already knew there’s no such thing as “magic”.

Condolences to those who lost loved ones on 9/11. The Lord will repay evil doers, even if they evade man’s justice.

And for you in the path of hurricane Ike, do what you must to stay safe.

Given Ike, it seems some major oil refineries are in jeopardy. And this is causing mass panic. Check out this news report from here in Chattanooga, TN: Chattanooga: Rumors and reports lead to long gas lines, anger around town. And if you watch the video, you see even a gas station owner is saying gas prices will take a spike. Bloomberg is reporting that oil prices are shooting upward. I can say, gas stations here are still packed into the night and running out of gas already. (Yea I went and got some and was almost too late. Most gas stations were already sold out of 2/3 grades of gas [not including diesel which I didn't check].) Now if Ike does damage the flow of gas from TX, many of us might be in a bad situation. Just more proof that America needs to increase oil refining capacity. Gas prices have already been shooting up tonight and are likely to go much higher over the next few days.

There have even been rumors around this town, that gas rationing may have to be put in place. And with the current rush on gas, that would not be a surprise.

Here is a related article from FactCheck.org worth reading: Does the U.S. lack sufficient oil refining capabilities?

Just more proof Virgil Goode was right to oppose efforts to bring mass immigration from Muslim nations!

Check out this news video: Union Contract Dumps Labor Day For Muslim Holiday.

Oh don’t worry, when it comes to Christians being hated by the world, the Muslims are going to make sure any overtly or remotely Christian holiday is done away with in time. After all, where they have the numbers, they call the shots. Labor Day may be a holiday that is leveraged by Socialists and Communists, but this is just a first step towards conditioning the masses to feel Islam is OK. After all, everybody still gets paid right? So why have any issues with a holiday setup to acknowledge a pagan cult? Because perhaps it shows a nation that is further embracing paganism, that’s one reason. Well the Christian who works at that Tyson plan is NOT somehow paying homage to Islam by working there, it is a matter they have to accept as the rule of their workplace. Although they personally don’t acknowledge the day towards Islam and hopefully they didn’t vote for a holiday that endorses paganism. And no, the Christian who buys Tyson products is not endorsing Islam, no more than if you see a movie created by a Jewish movie company, it does not mean you endorse Judaism’s denial of Jesus as Christ. But if a Christian working for Tyson seeks another employer, I understand. If a Christian does not desire personally to purchase Tyson products, I understand. Although I don’t find biblical support for any call for the church (as a group) to “boycott” Tyson. Just as I noted I don’t find support for the AFA’s called “boycott” of Target and likewise with their calls to boycott McDonalds (see my comments in that last link under that post).

(I wonder how many of the people who are so swift to boycott when a company does something ungodly will be “enjoying” the Olympics, that are taking place in a nation where Christians are under stiff persecution? Shouldn’t that [endorsement of a global stage to a nation that is really an enemy of America AND persecutor of Christians] be tops for things Christians should be standing against supporting?)

But the real bottom line is this, it’s all a barometer of how things are going downward, not something Christians should feel can be resolved with a boycott. And even if immigration from Muslim nations ended, the anti-Christian movements within America attack the church more in time anyway. So the Word of God must be fulfilled and we Christians will have to face persecution.

Still, it’s always interesting to see the spiral downward play out. I never was in favor of Muslim immigration, but they’re here now and so being pagans they’ll promote their paganism everywhere they go. The only answer is Jesus and Christians must continue sharing the message of Jesus in truth with those willing to listen. Just as our brothers and sisters in Christ who live in Muslim nations do (although they might do so more discreetly). They have to buy their meat from the meat market that is run by pagans and share the gospel when there is opportunity, 1 Corinthians 10. And no, a company having a Muslim holiday does not equate to the company literally offering the meat to idols before selling it to you and you buying their meat does not put you in worship or reverence of idols. Still each saint must do as their conscience feels led in their own walk with Christ.

Related post: Tighter Controls on Muslim Immigration, yes, Yes, YES!

(Efforts to promote the cult of Muhammad are not allowed in comments here, 2 John 1:10-11.)