{"id":237,"date":"2008-09-24T14:29:33","date_gmt":"2008-09-24T18:29:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mattfife.net\/wordpress\/?p=237"},"modified":"2008-09-24T14:29:33","modified_gmt":"2008-09-24T18:29:33","slug":"most-untrusted-man-i-ever-heard","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mattfife.com\/?p=237","title":{"rendered":"Most untrusted man I ever heard"},"content":{"rendered":"

I listened to some of the Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s address to congress about the bailout.\u00a0 It was stunning.\u00a0 The man seemed to have only one solution on the table – complete bailout without questions or accountability now.\u00a0 No questions, no alternatives, just dump the money on me and we’ll figure it out.\u00a0 Not only that, it was only two pages.\u00a0 Here’s the text<\/a>.\u00a0 Want scary – read these parts:<\/p>\n

Sec 8 – Review:
\nDecisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sec 10 – Increase in statutory Limit on the Public Debt:
\nSubsection (b) of section 3101 of title 31, United States Code, is amended by striking out the dollar limitation contained in such subsection and inserting in lieu thereof $11,315,000,000,000 <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

WHAT?!?!?!?<\/p>\n

So, if I’m reading right, he’s saying they must give him the money to dispense with in any way he pleases WITHOUT any oversight or review by courts or congress – even after the fact.\u00a0 Get out of jail free cards were never so easy to get!<\/p>\n

And if you think that the $750 billion is what it’ll cost, he just tipped his hand.\u00a0 Sec 10 says that the national debt may be raised to $11 TRILLION dollars. Our national debt currently stands at 9.7 trillion.\u00a0 So in other words, Bernanke is giving us a guess of what this bailout will cost: 11.3 – 9.7 = 1.6 Trillion dollars.\u00a0 That jives – most projected numbers for government projects are about half of the reality.<\/p>\n

Even worse, there is a staring match going<\/a> on between the Fed and the embattered loan companies who aren’t keen to reveal the extent of their bad loans just yet. \u00a0 I kid you not, one of these mortgage brokers was quoted saying:<\/p>\n

“If we can just get liquidity back (aka – money given to us), we’ll be able to move all this debt at current or better market value.” <\/em><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

You must be kidding me?\u00a0 With home prices dropping anywhere from 5%-50% depending on region – exactly where does this guy plan to sell this debt?\u00a0 In other words, these guys are flat lying through their teeth in order to cover up the extent of how bad it is (likely – since once a bailout starts -aka foot in the door – they can just keep shoveling since you wouldn’t want to stop now would you?), or they’re completely incompetent (even worse).<\/p>\n

I’m emailing all my congressmen\/senators today<\/a> about this – and I highly recommend you do to.\u00a0 Here’s what I sent (sans the swearing):<\/p>\n

1. A step-by-step bailout with regular re-evaluation.<\/strong>\u00a0 The markets are mostly stabilized right now (Wall Street).\u00a0 They believe a bailout will be coming and are now just sitting still.\u00a0 Ensure the markets that targeted support will be given by the government on a case by case basis.\u00a0 Just as we have been doing so far.\u00a0 Congress, if you bail these jokers out and give them a blank check – I’ll seriously be pissed off at every one of you.
\n2. If you are getting bailed out – you’re upfront and honest about the debt situation or you GO TO JAIL.<\/strong>\u00a0 What the f*ck!\u00a0 These guys running this thing can sit and lie to you while putting their hands out for wads of cash – cash they f*cked up the first time???\u00a0 Only an idiot gives a fool money.\u00a0 Their either fools or criminals – they should be treated as such.
\n3.\u00a0 If you get bought out – you lose your company.<\/strong>\u00a0 If the government buys you – then they get to set the rules of lending, they get all your perks, they get all your bonuses, they get everything until you’re paid back in full with interest (or all your assets are sold).\u00a0 Maybe at the end they give it back to you – much poorer and hopefully wiser.
\n4.\u00a0 Something very shady is happening – somebody likely needs to be going to jail.\u00a0 <\/strong>Bernanke didn’t offer one alternative than pass me the loot with no strings, oversight, or jailtime attached.\u00a0 That’s NOT open and honest government.\u00a0 Something very fishy is going on – and has been.\u00a0 There’s NO WAY these experts didn’t know what was going on.\u00a0 My single personal finance class told me that even before the housing crash were were headed for big trouble.\u00a0 How did they not?
\n5. The market needs to experience some SERIOUS pain.\u00a0 <\/strong>Unless folks lose some serious money.\u00a0 Unless some lose houses.\u00a0 Unless some go bankrupt, unless some folks go to JAIL – we will be in this situation again in 10-20 years.\u00a0 The problem was half lack of oversight, but as any behavioral psychologist will tell you – unless *core behaviors* change – we will do this again (like many other countries: Argentina’s a great example) every 10-20 years.\u00a0 Only a fool keeps lending money to relatives that can’t manage money.\u00a0 We simply have all been living beyond our means for too long.\u00a0 We all need to experience some personal ass kicking and loss or we will not change the core behavior of the people who did this.\u00a0 Instead, it will reinforce bad loaning behavior, it’ll reinforce bad consumer behavior (aka running up huge debts they can’t afford), and will ruin the value of our markets.
\nThe US is taken the first big step into becoming a second-world economy.\u00a0 The US dollar and markets are now no longer considered bullet-proof – so now folks are going to start take their money elsewhere.<\/p>\n


\n<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I listened to some of the Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke’s address to congress about the bailout.\u00a0 It was stunning.\u00a0 The man seemed to have only one solution on the table – complete bailout without questions or accountability now.\u00a0 No questions, no alternatives, just dump the money on me and we’ll figure it out.\u00a0 Not only that, it was only two pages.\u00a0 Here’s the text.\u00a0 Want scary – read these parts: Sec 8 – Review: Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to…<\/p>\n

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