That's another fine mess Bush has got us into. Well, as Whitney, who has been doing some really excellent analysis lately on the banking crisis, explains, Clinton and Rubin also had their hands in the genesis of the financial de-regulation which is threatening the very solvency of the major American banks.

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Bernanke is faced with a pretty stark Hobson's choice: he can convince the government to make a heroic effort to re-liquidify the banks with a Resolution Trust Corporation type bailout on the order of a half to a trillion dollars, or he can sit and watch the banks go under. It seems inevitable, and it is also a shame that we've got two neo-liberals and one would be neo-conservative running for the presidency that are as clueless as can be about how to fix things.

One thing I don't think is a slam dunk. Whitney thinks that the dollar is headed into the toilet, but I'd say that the foreign central bankers might have a say in that. Sure, there'd be inflation, but nobody has the stomach for a worldwide deflationary depression, which seems to be the main alternative. So we get crumbling housing, a teetering banking system, and just enough inflation to keep the house of cards from caving in.

You criticized the Jew Haters. The posters on this lesser board will ignore you now.

Think of Kausfiles Special as Sing Sing. It was created by Mickey and Moira to contain the worst of the worst so they wouldn't infect the better boards.

Get out while you can, man.

Absolutely brilliant! And also a very good explanation for why YOU post here as well.

That's a good take on the overall picture of the financial mess. I wonder just how much of our structure is undermined by foreign investments in our currency. Do we still own the dollar or did we sell out trying to keep the ship afloat, which amounted to pawning the life boats when the ship is floundering on the shoals of corruption.

I agree about the dollar, though. The world in general cannot let is deep-six. The fallout of such a move would be disasterous but that is not to say that, gradually, the world could wean itself away from the dollar as a standard -- a trend that seems to have already begun.

Gramps

Bravo! Smartass enjoy it while you can cuz I don't compliment you neocons that often.

BTW...don't drop the soap. ha ha ha

SG

You are ignorant if you think the President of the United States caused the sub-prime mortgage melt down.

TickleBob:

You are ignorant if you think the President of the United States caused the sub-prime mortgage melt down.

Tha lack of regulation caused the Sub prime mess.We can blame the whole bunch in WDC and now they want more power.

And I am not using bar soap any more SG! Not in this place!:o)

I wonder just how much of our structure is undermined by foreign investments in our currency. Do we still own the dollar or did we sell out trying to keep the ship afloat?

It would be my guess that while the foreign investment in our currency (think: treasury bonds, for one) has been huge, it may now be reversing. The 10-year T-bond is now yielding about 3.5% in an official inflation environment of over 4%. That's quite unusual, and I would say unsustainable.