Banks really suck right now.

[BonzoHansen]

SS is a giant mess...and medicare is too.

[SteveR]

Here's another point that just came to me. As these huge companies go under or downsize, there is a measurable percentage of the laid off workforce that is choosing a retirement package ahead of when they would have normally retired. These retirements early are going to drastically increase the depletion of the SS fund ahead of projections.

[BigAls87Z28]

This is the begining of the end.
We are talking about a total financial break down of the US.
We have gone beyond **** hitting the fan. Take whatever money you have, and turn it into Euros.

[GP99GT]

time to buy lots of booze and guns

[Jclt12003]

I don't see how bailing these banks out helps anyone? I believe it's just going to for long the financial disaster because when other banks keep failing the government is going to have no more money to loan or bail banks out with and then were really screwed, this money had to of course come from somewhere. I feel as if were in for a real rude awakening here shortly as other economies are booming and were slowly falling further and further down the list of economies. It also doesn't help that the dollars face value is falling and pretty soon the dollar is going to be worth nothing just my 02 cents

[BigAls87Z28]

We, as in people 18-30, will be paying this off for the rest of our lives, and our childrens lives.
But to put it in perspective, the 700billion is to bail out banks that have a total of over 14 TRILLION dollars in outstanding residential and commercial loans.
In the hearings, the 700 billion was more or less a big number to make your average american go "things are gunna be great cause the goverment just bought 700 billion dollars of loans!!"

[Knipps]

hmm.. this is where dual citizenship can come in very handy
need to graduate first, though

[Savage_Messiah]

Originally Posted by SteveR

EXACTLY. It's transformed, because of the very sudden swing in workforce to retiree balance, from you paying into your own SS account for your retirement, to the SS fund so far behind that you are right now paying for the current wave of retirees, and because of the fact that the money they put in is worth less than what they are taking out, it gets further and further in debt to itself as time goes by until it won't be able to sustain itself.

Depending on SS for retirement is pretty close to idiotic in any case anyway

[Jclt12003]

yea very true Savage_Messiah i have been pluckin away at my 401k now for a while although i am taking a pretty big hit on it right now i'm hoping it will come back when the market comes back i mean i think it's just a matter of time before it will

[Savage_Messiah]

401k and IRAs I have no qualms about. the market's taken bigger hits... and it always comes back. leave your money in long anough and you're fine... I gotta look it up but I believe there have been barely any 10 year periods that have been in the red, and no periods longer than that that have been red

[shane27]

if the banks were left alone in the first place we wouldnt be having these problems. Demo****s got their stupid faces in the banks business and started telling them to approve under qualified people for loans...well it backfired all right....and believe me when i tell you because ive been working at lakeland bank for about a year now.

[NJSPEEDER]

How can you blame a political party for the current banking crunch? The banks, not elected officials, are the ones who made the risky loans and got burned on it. There was no law broken, just very poor judgment during one of the biggest housing booms the nation has ever seen.
Unfortunately, now we all get to pay. It sucks, but it isn't the end of the economy.

[NJSPEEDER]

Also, saw a news report about Wachovia being in play for a by out. A mid-line mortgage company(Loans for second tier credit) they over payed for several years ago has apparently bit them in the ass. It isn't a big negative equity, but the self insured side of the company is apparently in deep doo-doo and it is straining Wachovia's available cash flow to write new, first tier credit loans, to get everything back to square.

[BonzoHansen]

He's not wrong about lenders being forced to hand out loans under the threat of discrimination charges.

[NJSPEEDER]

They all started playing with risky credit voluntarily, I don't see the equal rights based threats as inappropriate or the cause of the problem. They were also popularly supported across the aisle, just like every other measure the second someone screams discrimination. No way to blame a particular party when everyone agreed to pass the threats along.

Either way, teh risk was taken, not by teh government, but by the banks. Now they are burning for it. It's ok though, they will all fire their CEO's who will have to walk away with only 25-75 million bucks worth of severance pay. Poor guys will have to settle for the jacuzzi that only seats 10 instead of the ones tht seat 14.

[BonzoHansen]

It's part of the problem. And that is the point, it was not just lenders. It was lenders. It was borrowers. It was the repeal of all the regulations (glass-steagal). It was the regulators. It was the fed's money supply control and low rates. It was the rating agencies.

[Njgunslinger]

Well we the first to go...good Old Bear Stearns...luckily JP Morgan retained me.....I miss Bear Stearns...oh sorry, carry on.

[SteveR]

hot off the presses

http://finance.comcast.net/www/news....29/1073123.xml

Citi will buy Wachovia's banking operations, while the rest of Wachovia's stock plummets 87% to just over $1. Looks like the rest of Wachovia is about to go under.

[BonzoHansen]

To reinforce what Shane said, I suggest you research the Community Reinvestment Act. Then research the history of Fannie & Freddie. To say the govt was not involved in the growing risk is naive.

[SteveR]

I saw this coming. With our current banking disaster, foreign companies are going to start buying up our financial infrastructure.

http://finance.comcast.net/www/news....29/1073214.xml

[BonzoHansen]

It's been happening, where have you been? LOL, at least they lose on a failure.

[SteveR]

Originally Posted by BonzoHansen

It's been happening, where have you been? LOL, at least they lose on a failure.

Yea, it's been increasing a lot lately, but with all of the banks like they are, foreign companies can now buy controlling amounts of our nations financial infrastructure. That can be disastrous. Imagine at some point in the future we have a disagreement with Japan or any other country that's buying us up? If they have a controlling stake in our economy they can raise rates, refuse loans, cancel commercial lending, etc. You can't go to war with a country that controls your economy.

[BigAls87Z28]

Actually, my father was sent an article his friend had from the NYT's dating back to 1999. The Clinton Admin wanted to loosen up some of the tolerences on Fannie/Freddie's "sub-prime" loans to lower income familes.
In the article it stats something to the effect that this is great in the current economic boom, but if it gets out of control and the country were ever to go into a large downturn, that this could prove to really hurt them and the goverment would have to bail them out like what happend with the S&L's in the 80's/90's.

[SteveR]

FBI is issuing subpoenas investigating fraud to Lehman, Freddie, Fannie, Bank of America, and AIG, among others.

http://finance.comcast.net/www/news....29/1073271.xml

[BonzoHansen]

Originally Posted by SteveR

Yea, it's been increasing a lot lately, but with all of the banks like they are, foreign companies can now buy controlling amounts of our nations financial infrastructure. That can be disastrous. Imagine at some point in the future we have a disagreement with Japan or any other country that's buying us up? If they have a controlling stake in our economy they can raise rates, refuse loans, cancel commercial lending, etc. You can't go to war with a country that controls your economy.

Although if they did that they lose all their investment...so there is incentive on their side to not do that.