Wall St falls as Obama speech fails to spur - International Social/Political

Wall St falls as Obama speech fails to spur
by Leah Schnurr via fleet - Reuters Wednesday, Feb 25 2009, 9:24am
international / social/political / commentary

Dead man breathing -- just!

Obama PROMISED but FAILED to REDEEM THE NATION from its CRIMINAL PAST. Obama’s presidency is therefore STILLBORN, DEAD; it failed before it began. A nation must first be RE-VITALISED before it can progress. America MUST confront itself and purge its POISONOUS past before it has a hope of future viability. Ignoring the horrendous crimes of the past only weakens the nation’s ‘soul’ or national psyche; DENIAL is literally KILLING the nation from within!

Catharsis precedes all healing and allows for new directions, as the baggage of the past is no longer carried by the population – the nation MUST address the issues that are killing the peoples’ will to survive! The previous regime must answer for its crimes or the nation perishes – REDEMPTION before RE-CONSTRUCTION!

After Obama attended the Bilderberg meeting with his ‘opponent’ Hillary Clinton, it became clear to anyone with half a brain that Obama would serve EXACTLY the same interests that lorded over the Bush regime!

Markets reacted negatively to Obama’s address to Congress for very sound reasons – there are too many ‘ifs’ in the equation and nothing kills markets like DOUBT and uncertainty!

The people lack the motivation, courage and will to pull themselves out of the hole that has been dug for them by the Clinton and Bush regimes. Ignoring the fiascos of the recent past eats at the very SOUL of the nation– think of the principles upon which the nation was formed and what the nation has become and it will be readily appreciated why HEALING is necessary before new directions are possible.

If the American people fail to address and deal with the horrors of the recent past, frankly, America has not a hope in hell of succeeding! The reason the new administration fails to address the real issues that threaten the nation is that it is part of the problem!

Reuters report follows:

WASHINGTON — Taking the wraps off its much anticipated bank-rescue plan, the Obama administration on Wednesday announced that it will provide a virtually unlimited solvency guarantee to the nation's 19 largest banks.

Shortly after Treasury unveiled details of its plan, President Barack Obama appeared before TV cameras with congressional leaders to launch what he hopes will be a quick move to replace what he called a 20th century financial regulatory system.

"This financial crisis was not inevitable," Obama said, noting that his goal wasn't to inhibit the free market but to regulate it better to prevent a repeat of the global meltdown now occurring.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner unveiled the administration's bank-rescue plan on Feb. 10, and financial markets tanked as investors fretted over a lack of detail.

Markets got those details Wednesday and the Dow Jones Industrial Average initially recovered from a loss of 200 points in mid-afternoon trading. However, that rally faded, and the Dow closed the day down 80.05 points to 7270.89. Other market indexes were off by similar margins.

While investors appeared to cheer the confidence-boosting design of the Capital Assistance Program, it may prove less popular with taxpayers because it amounts to a blank check to ensure that the top banks — those with assets over $100 billion — remain solvent.

The plan works like this: Through the end of April, federal regulators will pore over the books of the 19 largest banks — such as Citigroup, Bank of America, Wells Fargo and others. They'll be looking at conventional measures such as the composition of a bank's cash on hand, and at unconventional ones, such as how financial firms are valuing complex and opaque investments that are often shorthanded as toxic assets.

The idea behind the so-called stress tests is to gauge if the banks have enough capital to cope with a more severe downturn than even today's — one in which the economy contracts by 3.3 percent and the unemployment rate tops 10 percent. That's far from the worst-case scenarios that some of the gloomier forecasters predict.

"Supervisors will work with institutions to estimate the range of possible future losses and the resources to absorb such losses over a two-year period," said a joint statement from four federal bank regulators — the Federal Reserve, Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the Office of Thrift Supervision.

At the end of the exercise, if it's determined that banks lack enough capital to weather such a storm, they'll be given six months to raise more capital from private investors or to ask for a capital buffer from the government.

"The more specificity, the less uncertainty, the more it does provide banks an opportunity to raise private capital . . . is frankly the right way to go. It clearly is a time frame that I think is reasonable," said Stuart Hoffman, chief economist for PNC Financial Services, one of the 19 firms that will be put through the stress test.

If a bank is unable to raise private capital and needs to get capital from the federal government, it would do it in exchange for "convertible mandatory preferred shares." They could be converted into common stock on an as-needed basis, which would inject new capital into the bank. The government would become a shareholder in the company through its ownership of common stock.

Banks don't have to complete the stress test to apply for this capital buffer. Citigroup is expected to get a fresh injection of capital through this program in coming days. In exchange, the government is expected to take a stake as high as 40 percent.

The administration's plan has two goals. One is to ensure that banks have adequate capital cushions to withstand any downturn. The other goal is to restore investor confidence by showing that these big financial firms have access to as much money as they need, because the government is willing to invest as needed.

How much will it cost? No one is saying.

There’s no price tag on the CAP, at least until the stress tests are over in April. If most of the 19 banks were determined to need additional capital, the Obama administration would have to seek much more Wall Street bailout money from Congress.

"The fact is there is no explicit cap on the assistance that can be provided under this program," said one senior government official on the condition of anonymity to speak freely.

Whether the plan will work depends in part on whether other components of the administration’s rescue effort prove effective. Those include the public works spending envisioned in the $787 billion stimulus plan and an effort coming next week from the Federal Reserve to serve as the buyer of last resort for pools of securities backed by loans for new cars, students, small businesses and credit-card debt.

Few analysts are willing to guess whether Obama’s plan ultimately will work.

"I don't know what its going to take to calm the markets at this point, because everyone is just so paranoid that it's hard to know," said David Wyss, chief economist for the rating firm Standard & Poor's in New York.

© 2009 McClatchy Newspapers

TO WHOM DO WE OWE MONEY?
by peate - Say NO to international bankers Thursday, Feb 26 2009, 6:25am

It is just amazing how we go along believing we owe a huge debt .... to whom?

If the gov produces the money we create on demand -- the money that is backed by our collateral ie (our) gold, oil, natural resources, as in true lending based on...ka ching!...assets, you know that stuff you put up to get a loan, or create money... check out ''The Commonwealth Bank Story,''[PDF available below] -- that should get you going!

The reason we have 'huge debt,' is private banks, masquerading as Gov banks, produce the money then lend it to our govs, with interest -- that is they charge interest on the money they produce from NOTHING!

It really is so simple; REAL representative gov (of the people) produces money/wealth FREE of Interest! No outside entity that enslaves via debt creation is required!

Private bankers run countries, as it is they who control the flow of money and its 'value.' We are duped into believing we owe them, when in actual fact it is the people that produce REAL WEALTH!

The major flaw with all 'debt' propaganda is failure to understand the role of the Fed, Bank of England, the ''Reserve Bank'' of Oz, and all private central banks.

In 1913 the US Federal Reserve Bank, a private concern/entity, was created as the principal (only) institution allowed to manufacture money -- the traditional role of government banks! By forfeiting the sovereign right to print money, governments allowed their respective nations to be enslaved to those interests that controlled the manufacture and flow of money -- private reserve banks! [Search google for further info.]

Private bankers create recessions and depressions to get nations in evermore debt to them. By providing cheap loans on inflated housing markets then calling the loans in when recessions depress housing prices, they (bankers) win both ways, as it is they who create money AND recessions! Think people!

Check out Google for those docos ''Freedom to Fascism'', Aaron Russo, ''Money Masters'', Bill Still, "Money is Debt," Paul Grigon, and dozens of others, also check out ''Zietgiest'', if you haven't seen it!

Your reality is only a construction of what you have been LED to believe or a perception of information you access! It's time to reach our full potential and liberate ourselves from the clutches of international organised crime (private banking). Have a good one!

Link to Commonwealth Bank PDF:

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