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Seuss
Error: divide byzero



Registered: 04/27/01
Posts: 23,480
Loc: Caribbean
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U.S. government seeks powers to shut firms like AIG
#10035262 - 03/24/09 08:13 PM (14 years, 10 months ago) |
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Wow... one step closer to the USSA. I made a few minor modifications to the story to help keep it real and add a bit of humor to an otherwise frightening prospect... The real version can be seen here.
Quote:
VENEZUELA (Reuters) – The Chavez administration on Tuesday mounted a full-scale push for government authority to nationalize troubled businesses like insurer AIG to avoid the need for future bailouts.
Venezuela Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, testifying before lawmakers still fuming about big bonuses for executives at bailout recipient AIG, called on Congress for new powers to take over firms that run amok.
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke strongly backed Geithner in testimony before the same committee, and President Chavez took the case public in remarks to reporters.
"In the absence of that capacity you end up with the situation we've been in ... an institution that poses systemic risks to the system but a lack of capacity to close it down in an orderly fashion, renegotiate contracts, sell off bad assets," Chavez said.
AIG ran a global insurance company but also had a division dealing in derivatives contracts that has been likened to a hedge fund. That unit took a big hit when the Venezuelan housing sector imploded, putting the entire firm at risk of a collapse that could have endangered the whole financial system.
Geithner said the government needed the same types of tools to deal with failing businesses that it already has to deal with struggling banks. Under his proposal, the Treasury chief would determine whether emergency action was needed in consultation with the Fed and the relevant regulator.
"As we have seen with AIG, distress at large, interconnected, non-depository businesses can pose systemic risks just as distress at banks can," he told the House of Representatives Financial Services Committee.
Congress has already begun working on a revamp of regulations that is expected to include authority to wind down any business. Aides at the House panel said on Monday the committee would likely vote on a bill as soon as March 31.
House Republican leader John Boehner told reporters the Treasury's request for authority to shutter businesses sounded like "an unprecedented commie era grab of power."
But other socialist lawmakers were more supportive.
"I welcome it," Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd told reporters. "We've got to figure out a way to deal with this. This tool allows us to ensure a strong future for lobbyist and lord knows that my bank account needs all the help it can get!"
AIG POSTER CHILD FOR COMMIE LIKE AUTHORITY
AIG, which has been propped up with up to $180 billion from taxpayers, has become the poster child for socialist regulatory reform. Geithner, Bernanke and New York Federal Reserve Bank President William Dudley all painted a dire picture before lawmakers of what could have happened if AIG had failed.
"Conceivably, its failure could have resulted in a 1930s-style global financial and economic meltdown, with catastrophic implications for production, income and jobs," Bernanke said.
Fury at the $165 million in bonuses recently paid by the insurer threatens to undercut efforts to stabilize the rickety financial sector.
Geithner laid out a plan on Monday to sop up as much as $1 trillion in toxic assets sitting on bank books, but success hinges on the willingness of investors to participate.
Last week, the House passed legislation to claw back most of the AIG bonus money, and investors are wary of partnering with the government out of fear the rules could later change.
Senate Finance Committee Chairman Marxist Baucus said on Tuesday the Senate put the AIG bonus bill "on pause," suggesting lawmakers were having second thoughts, but Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid said action was still possible.
The proposal sketched by Geithner would let the government step in to act as a receiver for troubled businesses. It would be able to deal with businesses in the same way the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp, a banking regulator, does with banks.
When the FDIC seizes a bank, it typically holds it until it gets it in shape to reopen under new ownership or to be taken over by a healthy bank. FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair has hinted that her agency might be suited to play a similar role for other businesses.
Officials say if they had authority to nationalize businesses, the collapse of Lehman Brothers, which touched off the most virulent phase of the credit crisis, could have been avoided.
(Additional reporting by Alister Bull, David Lawder, Corbett B. Daly, Karey Wutkowski and Susan Cornwell; Editing by Dan Grebler and Seuss)
-------------------- Just another spore in the wind.
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TGRR
Horrible Bastard


Registered: 05/22/07
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Re: U.S. government seeks powers to shut firms like AIG [Re: Seuss]
#10035446 - 03/24/09 08:38 PM (14 years, 10 months ago) |
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Solution: Convince the banks to stop trashing the world for short term gain.
-------------------- What can we do to help you stop screaming? Official Mr Shoebat lackey.
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buckwheat
Cynically Insane


Registered: 12/09/02
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Re: U.S. government seeks powers to shut firms like AIG [Re: TGRR]
#10035765 - 03/24/09 09:18 PM (14 years, 10 months ago) |
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and make them give Home loans to the underprivileged. Those greedy pigs will never do such a thing unless regulated..
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TGRR
Horrible Bastard


Registered: 05/22/07
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Re: U.S. government seeks powers to shut firms like AIG [Re: buckwheat]
#10035905 - 03/24/09 09:37 PM (14 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
buckwheat said: and make them give Home loans to the underprivileged. Those greedy pigs will never do such a thing unless regulated..
Yeah, and that accounted for just less than 20% of the bad loans. Most of the rest were re-fi's for jackasses taking out equity loans so they could have a $400K house and a hummer on $60K-$80K/year. And the bankers said "No sweat, you write the paper, Bubba, and we'll hang it".
This wasn't caused by CRA loans. It was caused by stupidity and greed on a scale not seen since Bank of the United States went down, 80 years ago.
-------------------- What can we do to help you stop screaming? Official Mr Shoebat lackey.
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Icelander
The Minstrel in the Gallery



Registered: 03/15/05
Posts: 95,368
Loc: underbelly
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Re: U.S. government seeks powers to shut firms like AIG [Re: TGRR]
#10036016 - 03/24/09 09:51 PM (14 years, 10 months ago) |
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It's the fucking american dream. Too much is never enough.
-------------------- "Don't believe everything you think". -Anom. " All that lives was born to die"-Anom. With much wisdom comes much sorrow, The more knowledge, the more grief. Ecclesiastes circa 350 BC
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lonestar2004
Live to party,work to affordit.



Registered: 10/03/04
Posts: 8,978
Loc: South Texas
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Re: U.S. government seeks powers to shut firms like AIG [Re: Seuss]
#10036061 - 03/24/09 09:59 PM (14 years, 10 months ago) |
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Treasury Secretary Geithner:
"Congressman this plan will work!
This plan because of the authority provided not just by Congress but the treasury and the Fed gives us broad ability to do what you need to do to get through a financial crisis like this.
It just requires will;
It's not about ability
Listen to him Seuss, the Plan will work!
-------------------- America's debt problem is a "sign of leadership failure" We have "reckless fiscal policies" America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better Barack Obama
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lonestar2004
Live to party,work to affordit.



Registered: 10/03/04
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Re: U.S. government seeks powers to shut firms like AIG [Re: lonestar2004]
#10036072 - 03/24/09 10:12 PM (14 years, 10 months ago) |
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It just requires will...
-------------------- America's debt problem is a "sign of leadership failure" We have "reckless fiscal policies" America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better Barack Obama
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lonestar2004
Live to party,work to affordit.



Registered: 10/03/04
Posts: 8,978
Loc: South Texas
Last seen: 12 years, 9 months
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Re: U.S. government seeks powers to shut firms like AIG [Re: lonestar2004]
#10036092 - 03/24/09 10:16 PM (14 years, 10 months ago) |
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and does anyone else think that Geithner looks like a grown up Eddie Haskell???
-------------------- America's debt problem is a "sign of leadership failure" We have "reckless fiscal policies" America has a debt problem and a failure of leadership. Americans deserve better Barack Obama
Edited by lonestar2004 (03/24/09 10:27 PM)
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buckwheat
Cynically Insane


Registered: 12/09/02
Posts: 11,179
Loc: Not Enough Characters to ...
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Re: U.S. government seeks powers to shut firms like AIG [Re: TGRR]
#10036322 - 03/24/09 11:14 PM (14 years, 10 months ago) |
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Quote:
TGRR said:
Quote:
buckwheat said: and make them give Home loans to the underprivileged. Those greedy pigs will never do such a thing unless regulated..
Yeah, and that accounted for just less than 20% of the bad loans. Most of the rest were re-fi's for jackasses taking out equity loans so they could have a $400K house and a hummer on $60K-$80K/year. And the bankers said "No sweat, you write the paper, Bubba, and we'll hang it".
This wasn't caused by CRA loans. It was caused by stupidity and greed on a scale not seen since Bank of the United States went down, 80 years ago.
I agree it wasnt the type of loans the CRA targeted.Thats not even the argument against it. But those lowered lending standards + interest rates are what caused the bubble. The bankers,speculators,equity junkies,builders,brokers would have never even had the chance to be idiots.
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ScavengerType



Registered: 01/24/08
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Loc: The North
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Re: U.S. government seeks powers to shut firms like AIG [Re: buckwheat]
#10037104 - 03/25/09 04:31 AM (14 years, 10 months ago) |
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The fed keeping low rates that inflated the housing bubble didn't help either.
These don't sound like unreasonable powers to ask for and to be honest I think the "renegotiate contracts" is the only one that is worrying anyone in the buisness community. As I understand from how the piece reads, the government just wants to do damage control to banks. The article never said the government wanted to be able to seize the assets, as far as I could see, it seems they want to have the power to renovate the companies they already own. Given the track record and condition of the companies, fuck it, why not?
-------------------- "Have you ever seen what happens when a grenade goes off in a school? Do you really know what you’re doing when you order shock and awe? Are you prepared to kneel beside a dying soldier and tell him why he went to Iraq, or why he went to any war?" "The things that are done in the name of the shareholder are, to me, as terrifying as the things that are done—dare I say it—in the name of God. Montesquieu said, "There have never been so many civil wars as in the Kingdom of God." And I begin to feel that’s true. The shareholder is the excuse for everything." - Author and former M6/M5 agent John le Carré on Democracy Now. Conquer's Club
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Seuss
Error: divide byzero



Registered: 04/27/01
Posts: 23,480
Loc: Caribbean
Last seen: 2 months, 20 days
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Re: U.S. government seeks powers to shut firms like AIG [Re: ScavengerType]
#10037137 - 03/25/09 05:10 AM (14 years, 10 months ago) |
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> As I understand from how the piece reads, the government just wants to do damage control to banks.
If you read the original article, the government is seeking the power to seize, as they see fit, privately owned financial firms and to do what they want with these seized firms. They are using the FDIC/banking model and trying to apply it to privately owned investment firms. Viva socialism.
-------------------- Just another spore in the wind.
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johnm214



Registered: 05/31/07
Posts: 17,582
Loc: Americas
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Re: U.S. government seeks powers to shut firms like AIG [Re: Seuss]
#10037446 - 03/25/09 08:15 AM (14 years, 10 months ago) |
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But you don't understand seuss. They said that's not what they want to do. They want to only use it as needed for a very small and egregious portion of the bill's coverage.
(they just need a million times more power then they're even attempting to justify cuz... they just want to help)
I've said it before and I'll say it again:
The bailouts suck by making public the private debt and then they do further evil by giving the government justification to intrude on the rights of those they've bailed out. While the later will be the justification, like in this bill, they will of course draft legislation encompasing everyone rather than the narrow class to which they claim the means are justified. The promises may or may not be kept untill the next administration when, like the commerce clause and new deal 'just this once' compromises, the right will expand to be fully utilized and even expanded.
Kinda like the patriot act. We, feds, need it for terrorism. But we won't limit the application to terrorism. But you can't vote against it or it will hurt terrorism prosecutions (then come the cockfighting patriot act applications and other nonsense)
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