European Tribune - Dow in the Tank-Pump in more $ fast
The patient has cancer, and jolting him isn't going to cure that.
funny that, i was just musing today how these bailouts are like shooting a dying man full of cocaine. there are a few spasms resembling genuine life force, but the end result is the same, possibly even hastened by the intervention.
these clowns have no principles other that 'more of everything, for me and mine, now and forever amen', they remind me of chickenhawks, talking like macho men behind desks while real men go to die at their behest and to their profit, these adders strike at the heart of all that's purportedly decent and 'fair play' about trust in institutions, by debasing that trust, along with the quality of life for millions who never voted them into having so much power. if this is democracy, no wonder it has to be forced on so many unwilling victims ('cursed' with envied resources) at gunpoint.
and then they want to be paid to slink off into the shadows or lurk in economic terror shock doctrine think-wanks till the economy has waxed fat again, and people relax their guard.
maybe that's why we've arranged it so this next crash will leave permanent lessons, not the merely evanescent memories of '29 that remain in their distant sepia tones.
nice to see you diarying, NN. a good rant is hard to find.
:) ~"When an inner situation is not made conscious, it appears outside as fate." Karl Jung~
$250 billion injected into banks with toxic balance sheets does not restore confidence in or the willingness of those institutions to lend. Too many knowledgeable people still fear what might be on their books. If your water supply has been poisoned, diluting that supply with a known pure additional few percent of water is useless. The only possible solution for that existing supply would be to filter out the poison.
That takes time and a solution is urgently needed. I have suggested standing up new, untainted banks with about that amount of capital. They could make loans and provide credit. Bruce McF has suggested turning conservatively run credit unions into full service banks with commercial lending capabilities. It would also be possible to beef up upgraded credit unions or to inject capital into some of the many local and regional banks that have been well and conservatively run. A thorough inspection of balance sheets and draconian penalties for misrepresentation would be required.
The Federal Reserve and FDIC could also just purchase the commercial banking divisions of contaminated banks for fair value and merge them into healthy banks, along with new capital in return for senior preferred stock. If they can force partial nationalization on the big boys, they could do that as easily. It is shameful that they haven't moved in this direction. As the Dutch said while fighting the Spanish: "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
