Are you stressed about the ‘stress test’?

You aren’t? Well shit, the banks aren’t either!

The ‘too big to fail’ banks know the government will give them what they need to stay afloat. After all, according to Dick Durbin they run Congress. But..what if they are wrong on that? From the NYT:

But that does not necessarily mean the banks will get that money from the government. The findings, to be released Thursday by the Obama administration, suggest that the rescue money that Congress has already approved will be enough to fill the gaps. If so, the big bailouts for the banks may be over.

All of this assumes that the economy does not take another turn for the worse, which would result in even more losses at the banks — and the need for even more money to prop them up. But hopes that the tests will be a turning point in this financial crisis electrified Wall Street on Wednesday and some overseas markets the next day. Financial shares soared, lifting the broader American stock market to its highest level in four months. The Dow Jones industrial average rose 101.63, or 1.2 percent, to close at 8,512.28 Wednesday, while Japan’s Nikkei index rose more than 4 percent by midday Thursday.

Now, I could give a rat’s ass how the ‘markets’ reacted. I am really friggin tired of seeing the Dow Jones on the bottom of the screen on MSNBC all fucking day. If you have any stocks at this point in time..you can afford to wait for the upswing. It will come you know..but it might be awhile.

Did you read Timmy Geithner’s OpEd? No? Oh well, just step right up and click that linky folks!

What? You don’t give a shit how Timmy sells us another boatload of bullshit? Even if this time it’s the stress test and his version of recent history. Ok, you are forcing me to post some of his fuckery here:

The president came into office facing a deep recession and a damaged financial system. Credit had dried up, forcing businesses to lay off workers and defer investment. Families were finding it difficult to borrow to finance a new house, buy a car or pay college tuition. Without action to restore lending, we faced the prospect of a much deeper and longer recession.

President Obama confronted these problems with dramatic action to address the housing crisis and to restart credit markets that are responsible for roughly half of all business and consumer lending. The administration also initiated a program to provide a market for legacy loans and securities to help cleanse bank balance sheets. These programs are helping to repair lending channels that do not rely on banks, and will contribute to fixing the banking system itself.

However, the banking system has also needed a more direct and forceful response. Actions by Congress and the Bush administration last fall helped bring tentative stability. But when President Obama was sworn into office in January, confidence in America’s banking system remained low.

Because of concern about future losses, and the limited transparency of bank balance sheets, banks were unable to raise equity and found it difficult to borrow without government guarantees. And they were pulling back on lending to protect themselves against the possibility of a worsening recession. As a result, the economy was deprived of credit, and this caused severe damage to confidence and slowed economic activity.

It seems to me that Timmy explains things like he is talking to a ten year old. I am not ten years old. I do not need for Timmy to tell me a ‘story’.

I know what happened and when thanks to PublicIntegrity.org and ProPublica.org. I know how crappy things were when Obama took over the oval office Jan 21, 2009. I know that the Obama administration is just as good as Bush’s was..when it comes to explaining how they spend our money.

Don’t condescend to me buddy. It pisses me the hell off, and frankly, doesn’t make you look very good either.

Geithner wants super powers…

Not like Superman of course, more like Bush43. Oh, and Benny Bernanke wants them too! From the NYT article on the subject:

The Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, agreed with Mr. Geithner that Congress should grant the Treasury Department and Federal Reserve new powers. Mr. Bernanke told members of the House Financial Services Committee that if the government had had such authority in September, when the depth of A.I.G.’s troubles became obvious, the company could have been put into receivership or conservatorship and regulators would have been able to “unwind it slowly, protect policyholders” and take other prudent measures.

We have foxes in charge of the financial hen house now…why would we want to give them more power?

The Glass-Steagall act and the 1956 Bank Holding Company Act were rolled back by greedy Phil Gramm and his cohorts when they created the Financial Services Modernization Act, which was signed into law by Bill Clinton. We need to re-institute them and make them stronger. We don’t need a Financial Czar like Bernanke or Geithner.

Absolute power corrupts.

Thoughts on Geithner and Bernanke’s appearance today

As I watched the dog and pony show in the House Financial Services committee this morning I thought aloud:

Timmy G looked a little pissed off at all the grilling he was getting.

Bennie Bernanke got down right hostile at one point. From the WaPo link above:

Earlier, Bernanke came the closest that anyone is likely to see to flashing public anger when responding to some hounding from Rep. Donald Manzullo (R-Ill.), who was demanding a “simple yes or no” from Bernanke, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and N.Y. Fed President Bill Dudley on a complicated matter.

“Not one of you three can give me a yes or no?” Manzullo thundered.

“That’s because it’s a poorly posed question,” Bernanke zinged back. Naturally, Bernanke’s facial expression remained unchanged.

The members of the committee, especially Maxine Waters, were not in a happy place today. They looked and sounded highly pissed off. Ms Waters is a democrat, but that didn’t stop her from going off on Geithner.

You can read Bernanke’s opening statement here.

Oh, and I finally got Sirens Chronicles back to normal, graphics and all. Happy Happy Joy Joy! 😉 I am checking on strengthening the security on the site.

The bonuses…its all about the damn bonuses?

I am really tired of this subject. AIG was not the only financial company to reward failure. Lehman Bros did too. Hell, I would be willing to bet all if not most of the banks and financial houses did prior to putting their hand out for that corporate welfare check.

Timmy Geithner needs to set the record straight on what he knew and when. Chris Dodd needs to name the ‘administration official’ that told him to change the language in the stimulus bill from wiping out all bonuses to letting a few of them slide through.

So what did the folks in the House of Reps do today? Why they passed a bill that smells totally illegal and unconstitutional..it taxes anyone that received a bonus or will receive a bonus…to the tune of a 90% tax rate. Retroactive legislation is rarely legal…they should know that. It was pure unadulterated theater folks! From CNN:

The measure would tax individuals on any bonuses received in 2009 from companies getting $5 billion or more in money from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP. Bonuses for people with incomes over $250,000 would be taxed at a 90 percent rate.

Yes we are outraged…but I think we are pissed at the wrong people…Timmy G and Benny Bernanke should be higher on our shit list than the folks that took the bonuses their companies were contractually obligated to pay.

Timmy has been on the side of the carpetbaggers since day one. Five bucks says he is the one that told Dodd to remove the section prohibiting bonuses.

And Bernanke knew about these fucking bonuses for months and never informed anyone in the new administration? WTF dude? He just moved up my shit list too.

Friggin carpetbaggers, and their friends in high places…kiss my brown ass. I hope all your names are released publically and you are shamed into returning those bonuses.

As for Benny and Timmy..they need to resign their posts…but they won’t. Obama can fire Timmy, but not Bernanke.