You've basically reiterated what Bernanke stated and did this week. He lent out about a half trillion dollars of Fed money directly into the short-term corporate debt market.

Expect more of the same.

elenchos: The banks can't or won't lend. So Bernanke started lending to non-financial institutions directly, in the corporate paper market. While he isn't lending fed dollars to individuals quite yet, this is getting close to a federal banking system that completely bypasses the failing banks.

This is a totally distinct act from Paulson's lending or equity injections into banks.

and to go back to the initial bailout plan...I very well predicted that it would be an unmitigated disaster the way it was structured and laid out. It didn't resolve the underlying problems of credit markets or what sent credit markets into a tizzy: risk.

And now we have asshats thinking we need more money? Money doesn't solve problems in and of itself. It needs to be applied smartly. I can't fathom anyone telling me at this point that the AIG bailout was well worth it.

on the upside, oil will go below $60 in the near term making me some money.

Have you talked to them yet? They held up my check for completely bogus reasons, without telling me why until I called them. They might be doing the same to you.

I just don’t have the heart to tell people that the FDIC only has about $39 billion on tap when there’s some $5 TRILLION in bank and mutual fund money market accounts.

Even more to the point, if there truly is an economic collapse, it’ll immediately be followed by a wave of hyperinflation that’ll totally wipe out the value of our US dollars anyway.

The Reserve Primary fund broke the buck largely because they had around $800 million in Lehman paper that was suddenly worthless when Lehman declared bankruptcy, which subsequently led to a run on money market funds.

AIG is a similar situation in that it will cause a cascade failure of many businesses and institutions if it goes under.

herez an empee3

http://www.touchandgorecords.com/bands/album.php?id=17#

Re: Municipals

Sorry, no.

Just like private individuals and businesses, many guvmits took on astronomical debt loads and are closer to bankruptcy than most people realize.

Jefferson County, Alabama, for example, avoided bankruptcy just this week (for now).

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/03/12/business/12bama.html

No one knows, which is why everyone's hitting the panic button and Bernanke's running the printing presses full speed ahead.

They've started the process of identifying and spinning off the profitable divisions of AIG, but an orderly liquidation of the company will take at least two years.

on the other hand, you could just pull your money and let the spectre of hyperinflation fuck you over, like you think it will.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OCbuRA_D3KU

OOH DAANNNNY BOY!

My long-term investments aren't in cash; not sure where you got that idea. And feel free to check out the returns on muni-bond funds if you'd like to have a good long Halloween scream.

You're correct in that there is strong public resistance to tax hikes. I seriously doubt anyone could get elected by telling Americans how much their guvmit actually costs or demanding that the super-rich pay their fair share, which is why we have a $10 trillion+ national debt (and growing!). It's almost humorous watching the campaigns dicking around over who gets which tax cuts while we tailspin towards Bushville, but sadly the epidemic stupidity of wingtard Americans is beyond my control.

look at it this way.

If you're seriously suggesting that people go long equities now, you're giving a tough sell because nobody knows where bottom is and which companies have the wherewithal to suffer through a 3-5 year recession. I personally wouldn't advocate throwing money into a fire with equities at the moment for this reason. If it's a matter of principle that government stays stable and has the ability to meet it's obligations, lend them the money yourself. If you're more concerned with how you'll make out in the end go for the big returns...

This gets to the heart of the problem though. People chasing their own best interest led to this entire debacle up and down the line. If a few of the outraged people here put their money behind their belief and support the government while meekly benefiting themselves. some people here already think investing at all is a betrayal of what is right.

as for the fair share of taxes the rich pay, thats entirely subjective matter. I'd say that the baseline at 250k is 45% and that capital gains should have it's own brackets that are independent of normal income. but thats only my opinion.

Europe has been my hope for the world for some time now, but our economy is so damn big that we're dragging them down too.

Screw it. These guys are only important to day to day because they're part of the money markets. Let's begin directly buying and selling commercial paper at lower than current, but higher than pre-crisis rates and let these assholes burn.