Alright folks, since my last post it appears as though our United States Federal Government wants to take steps to change the preferred shares of the major banking companies to true equity positions. What this means is that companies like Citi, Bank of America, AIG would essentially be owned and likely operated by our friends in Washington. Does that scare anyone??? It sure as sh^t ought to. The government cannot run anything, so how would we believe that they would be able to run these corporations? And does that not frighten you to have the US Government running the banks that hold BILLIONS of dollars of people's and businesses assets?
The sick part about this is that the banks are MAKING MONEY!!!! HELLOOOOOO, THEY ARE PROFITABLE!!! These companies that accepted the TARP money have ALREADY turned profits in Q1 of 2009.......many want to return some or all of the TARP funds. It is clear that the Government has thankfully done their job and direct control/intervention of banks is NOT REQUIRED. The bailout seems to have worked so the US ought to take the repayments of the TARP funds and GET OUT OF THE WAY. The real test of long term recovery of the financial system will be whether these companies can heal themselves from here. And besides, we as citizens should want these companies to pay back the HUNDREDS OF BILLIONS of dollars to pay down the Fed's debts. God knows we need to do so.
I leave you with this thought: Are we headed towards becoming "The People's Republic of America"? Would love to hear your opinions on this. Thanks, JC
Showing posts with label Business. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Business. Show all posts
Monday, April 20, 2009
Monday, April 13, 2009
Is the economy out of the woods yet?
In a word, I believe yes. Ok, back it up right?
The biggest reason I believe so is that the banking system appears to have made reversal, a big reversal. The Federal reserve has been lending money to the banking industry at basically nothing, and they have been lending it at a 4-5% margin. Look at the Wells Fargo first quarter results and the fact that Goldman Sachs wants to pay back the TARP money they received as soon as the Fed will accept the payment. This is huge, the banking industry is making money again....WOO HOO!!! This time around it will be different. The industry is making money with debt that is of much higher quality, none of the big banks wants to go down the road of financial collapse again.
I honestly believe that Americans will want "heads to roll" in a not so nice fashion if these executives pull the kind of garbage with bad loans, derivatives, etc. just to make the big money.
Also, savings is higher than it has been in 20 years, but this will not last. The American consumer will consume, that is just the way the lastest generation has been raised. American consumers have paid a price, they have learned hard lessons either by way of the news or unfortunately first hand. Those lessons hurt.....but people will learn from the past year or so of economic misery. That being said, Americans ar finding bargains and they will consume, maybe not at the rate that would sustain the high growth of the early 2000s, but consume we Americans will do.
The only catalyst that will help bring the American economy back will be when companies start hiring. The Federal Stimulus money is getting out into the economy and this will temporarily help. With greater employment will be greater confidence in the economy and this will also bring the American consumer out of its coma. The employment figures should improve in the next few months and become stronger into 2010.
The one thing that would help all as well as the stock market would be to lower business and personal income taxes. I do not believe the Obama administration has any desire to put our money back into our pockets. Honestly, this would make the greatest impact on Americans, however the Obama-nomics crew only want to confiscate more of our money. This will put an impediment in the way of any recovery.
My take on things, for what it is worth. Enjoy
The biggest reason I believe so is that the banking system appears to have made reversal, a big reversal. The Federal reserve has been lending money to the banking industry at basically nothing, and they have been lending it at a 4-5% margin. Look at the Wells Fargo first quarter results and the fact that Goldman Sachs wants to pay back the TARP money they received as soon as the Fed will accept the payment. This is huge, the banking industry is making money again....WOO HOO!!! This time around it will be different. The industry is making money with debt that is of much higher quality, none of the big banks wants to go down the road of financial collapse again.
I honestly believe that Americans will want "heads to roll" in a not so nice fashion if these executives pull the kind of garbage with bad loans, derivatives, etc. just to make the big money.
Also, savings is higher than it has been in 20 years, but this will not last. The American consumer will consume, that is just the way the lastest generation has been raised. American consumers have paid a price, they have learned hard lessons either by way of the news or unfortunately first hand. Those lessons hurt.....but people will learn from the past year or so of economic misery. That being said, Americans ar finding bargains and they will consume, maybe not at the rate that would sustain the high growth of the early 2000s, but consume we Americans will do.
The only catalyst that will help bring the American economy back will be when companies start hiring. The Federal Stimulus money is getting out into the economy and this will temporarily help. With greater employment will be greater confidence in the economy and this will also bring the American consumer out of its coma. The employment figures should improve in the next few months and become stronger into 2010.
The one thing that would help all as well as the stock market would be to lower business and personal income taxes. I do not believe the Obama administration has any desire to put our money back into our pockets. Honestly, this would make the greatest impact on Americans, however the Obama-nomics crew only want to confiscate more of our money. This will put an impediment in the way of any recovery.
My take on things, for what it is worth. Enjoy
Saturday, April 4, 2009
Celebrating Incompetence
It seems for the last 6 months this country has been encouraging and celebrating incompetence.
The biggest winner in this debacle has got to be the investment bankers that have been rewarded for their poor investment judgement. And we the taxpayer saved their industries. These same corporations put this planet's financial and economic system in great peril, and these companies should have been bankrupt 15 times over. Yet, they continue to take billions of dollars for their companies from the Federal Government. And to top it all, folks like AIG and many others collect millions and millions of dollars living lavish lifestyles and collecting fortunes in bonuses for their great accomplishments. They act as it is their unalienable right to such obscene compensation, probably because of the "all that we have gone through" mentality, as if it is some sort of outside force that caused the financial ruin of their firms. These people are lucky Americans are stupid, otherwise they all might be tarred and feathered........or worse.
Then we get to the automobile industry. The American automobile manufacturers have more or less been walking dead for 30 years. I mean, how incompetent do you have to be to agree to a union contract that allows for workers without assignments to be put into a 'Jobs Pool'? The "underutilized" worker sits and plays cards and waits for an assignment, while making 90% pay. There are workers in the Jobs Pool that have been there for years. Isn't it pathetic that a person would not want to be productive for that long. I know I would quit that job. It is just as pathetic that the industry pays for no work from an employee. I know auto workers who brag about how little they do and how much they skate at work.....they are actually proud of these accomplishments. Also, the hypocrisy of the American industry is astounding, they scream "Buy American" but then all the heavy process equipment has Japanese and German names, very few US made machines. And their cars, a large percentage of the car parts---foreign. This industry has made one poor decision after another and are the biggest hypocrites.
The biggest winner in this debacle has got to be the investment bankers that have been rewarded for their poor investment judgement. And we the taxpayer saved their industries. These same corporations put this planet's financial and economic system in great peril, and these companies should have been bankrupt 15 times over. Yet, they continue to take billions of dollars for their companies from the Federal Government. And to top it all, folks like AIG and many others collect millions and millions of dollars living lavish lifestyles and collecting fortunes in bonuses for their great accomplishments. They act as it is their unalienable right to such obscene compensation, probably because of the "all that we have gone through" mentality, as if it is some sort of outside force that caused the financial ruin of their firms. These people are lucky Americans are stupid, otherwise they all might be tarred and feathered........or worse.
Then we get to the automobile industry. The American automobile manufacturers have more or less been walking dead for 30 years. I mean, how incompetent do you have to be to agree to a union contract that allows for workers without assignments to be put into a 'Jobs Pool'? The "underutilized" worker sits and plays cards and waits for an assignment, while making 90% pay. There are workers in the Jobs Pool that have been there for years. Isn't it pathetic that a person would not want to be productive for that long. I know I would quit that job. It is just as pathetic that the industry pays for no work from an employee. I know auto workers who brag about how little they do and how much they skate at work.....they are actually proud of these accomplishments. Also, the hypocrisy of the American industry is astounding, they scream "Buy American" but then all the heavy process equipment has Japanese and German names, very few US made machines. And their cars, a large percentage of the car parts---foreign. This industry has made one poor decision after another and are the biggest hypocrites.
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