armageddon is here

check the business sections of the news sites this afternoon/evening.

we're done. get your canned goods and your tinfoil hat and head for the cave.

WTF?

What's happening?

europe is falling apart. credit markets are toast.

the fed had an emergency announcement today that foreign countries needed US dollars, and they couldn't find any, so the fed and central banks are going to print another several hundred billion to try and keep the engine oiled.

yay inflation! not enough money? lets just print more!


this is going to be fun. fuck.

Aristotle wrote:europe is falling apart. credit markets are toast.

the fed had an emergency announcement today that foreign countries needed US dollars, and they couldn't find any, so the fed and central banks are going to print another several hundred billion to try and keep the engine oiled.

Oh. Just fucking beautiful.

dow was already down 300 points earlier today.

ryguy79 wrote:dow was already down 300 points earlier today.

I was just reading that. Jesus Christ. There are times when I love working for the government in Canada's wealthiest province. This is one of those times.

this whole deal is quite depressing. i think i'm going to go riding.

ryguy79 wrote:this whole deal is quite depressing. i think i'm going to go riding.

On the plus side Obama seems to be nicely ahead in the polls. So that's something.

Aristotle wrote:europe is falling apart. credit markets are toast.

the fed had an emergency announcement today that foreign countries needed US dollars, and they couldn't find any, so the fed and central banks are going to print another several hundred billion to try and keep the engine oiled.

This is exactly how the great depression got going. It wasn't the stock market crash-it was chaos in the credit markets combined with expansion and contraction of the money supply.

Oh, shit...oh, shit...

MAN THE TINFOIL HAT GUNS!!

Number 6 wrote:

Aristotle wrote:europe is falling apart. credit markets are toast.

the fed had an emergency announcement today that foreign countries needed US dollars, and they couldn't find any, so the fed and central banks are going to print another several hundred billion to try and keep the engine oiled.

This is exactly how the great depression got going. It wasn't the stock market crash-it was chaos in the credit markets combined with expansion and contraction of the money supply.

Oh, shit...oh, shit...

This is some seriously scary stuff. There are some economists up here saying that Canada's going to be hit pretty hard as well, by all this. So we'll have to wait and see. I'm beginning to think that this may have been the wrong time to get a new car.

And this bail out is kind of worrying me. It seems, almost, like a last grasp attempt to stave off disaster. Ill planned, expensive, and frantic. Kind of like the guy who, desparate to make up for his losses at vegas, drains the last $1000 from his savings account and puts it on black.

yeah, we're fucked.

major problems:

- gave big loans to people that had no creditworthiness

- china artificially built a country overnight, via building big, unused shit EVERYWHERE over there, creating huge worldwide demand, and now they've disappeared from the table. not importing anything now, because they don't need it.

- we built more houses than we had people to occupy them, even with a higher birth rate than the one we currently enjoy

- ceos, afraid of losing their jobs, wouldn't immediately write down their losses, leading to banks losing confidence in each other, because they didn't know if they'd ever get their capital back.

TheWoerus wrote:And this bail out is kind of worrying me. It seems, almost, like a last grasp attempt to stave off disaster. Ill planned, expensive, and frantic. Kind of like the guy who, desparate to make up for his losses at vegas, drains the last $1000 from his savings account and puts it on black.

the bailout will be alright. if we don't get it, things will be a lot worse, because the bailout is basically a thinly-disguised move by the feds to turn into loan originators. they're only coming up with random names and different legislation, because there needs to be accountability, oversight, etc., since this is different than the fed window, where they exchange bonds for collateral on a short-term basis. this situation is a longer-term one.

Last night i was telling myself i should buy wachovia. Now i'm telling myself I should buy a shotgun.

Aristotle wrote:

TheWoerus wrote:And this bail out is kind of worrying me. It seems, almost, like a last grasp attempt to stave off disaster. Ill planned, expensive, and frantic. Kind of like the guy who, desparate to make up for his losses at vegas, drains the last $1000 from his savings account and puts it on black.

the bailout will be alright. if we don't get it, things will be a lot worse, because the bailout is basically a thinly-disguised move by the feds to turn into loan originators. they're only coming up with random names and different legislation, because there needs to be accountability, oversight, etc., since this is different than the fed window, where they exchange bonds for collateral on a short-term basis. this situation is a longer-term one.

Do we know how intrusive this oversight will be? Is there any chance that these investment banks will just continue on a 'business as usual' course despite the oversite and simply plunge us into another situation like this 10 years down the road?

Never mind, that looks like an error. Thank god.

yeah, this is fucked: http://finance.google.com/finance?q=NYSE%3AWB

TheWoerus wrote:

Aristotle wrote:

TheWoerus wrote:And this bail out is kind of worrying me. It seems, almost, like a last grasp attempt to stave off disaster. Ill planned, expensive, and frantic. Kind of like the guy who, desparate to make up for his losses at vegas, drains the last $1000 from his savings account and puts it on black.

the bailout will be alright. if we don't get it, things will be a lot worse, because the bailout is basically a thinly-disguised move by the feds to turn into loan originators. they're only coming up with random names and different legislation, because there needs to be accountability, oversight, etc., since this is different than the fed window, where they exchange bonds for collateral on a short-term basis. this situation is a longer-term one.

Do we know how intrusive this oversight will be? Is there any chance that these investment banks will just continue on a 'business as usual' course despite the oversite and simply plunge us into another situation like this 10 years down the road?

no, i'm not sure. i think they haven't published the details, since the vote hasn't happened yet, and the bill was written yesterday.

but, yeah, there's always a chance 'business as usual' could commence. however, the good news is that a lot of the companies with poor judgment are gone or are soon to be gone, via bankruptcy or fed seizure.

big_jesus wrote:yeah, this is fucked: http://finance.google.com/finance?q=NYSE%3AWB

hahah yeah, that has to be an error.

i don't believe WB even opened today.

the stock, i mean. the bank is still open for business.

Apparently they're voting on the bill. I wonder if there's a serious chance of it not passing. There seems to be significant bi-partisan support for it... at the same time it doesn't sound like it's passing is anywhere near a sure thing.

Holy fuck, the Dow just fell 700 points because people are voting against the bail out?

Jesus.

Holy fuck. It looks like the Bill is going to fail...

207 Y to 226 N.

So just how fucked are we? Aris?

It looks like it's a done deal. No bailout. Voting is being kept open in case people change their minds. Sweet jesus.

God damn it I can't hear what they're talking about in Congress because I don't have audio. What the fuck is going on???

haha looks like Congresses webpage is down. wow.

As I noted in my corrupt monetary practice thread. The unraveling of the hulk that is the garbage based around our global monetary/banking practices is beginning. In trying to be optimistic though I will say this, it will force the global hand to actually make meaningful, sustainable change on how we conduct monetary, banking and investment policies world wide and that will be a good thing in time. To continue putting Band-Aids on this corrupt system only makes the suffering longer and more painful. This in the end will be a true global referendum on global fiscal-conservatism, esp. the neocon one.

This rocks.


Fire up the soup kitchens!!!!

Olds wrote:This rocks.


Fire up the soup kitchens!!!!

Fuck the soup kitchens.... I wish I was still downtown to watch the bankers jump from their offices.

I bet my former boss is losing a shit ton of money.

holy fuck wally. i was out and just found out about this.

it's over.

we are fucked.

no hiding anywhere.

Aristotle wrote:holy fuck wally. i was out and just found out about this.

it's over.

we are fucked.

no hiding anywhere.

I was hoping for optimism... I thought maybe Aris will say "Well, it's bad, but we'll weather through"... or "disappointing, tough times ahead..."

Alas, it was not to be.

Politicians aren't working to fix it. They don't give a shit. They're trying to lay blame and pander for votes.

i can't even fukcing get on cnn