Making The World Safe For Billionaires
The U.S. market meltdown of the past few days has made other world economies nervous—nervous enough to dump a ton of cash into ours. The EU & Japan joined our own Federal Reserve in the injections, & in fact dwarfed ours.
The New York Times asked yesterday, “Should the Federal Reserve help bail out billionaire hedge fund managers and millionaire traders — the very people who bought the risky mortgages that led to the current market panic?”
“That, in essence, is the question swirling around Ben S. Bernanke as he confronts the first crisis of his 18 months as Fed chairman.
“There are no shortages of opinions, and some are being shouted. Jim Cramer, known for his histrionics on the CNBC financial news channel, angrily called for Mr. Bernanke to lower interest rates, something the Fed has resisted doing.
“A week ago, Mr. Cramer charged that the Fed was ‘asleep’ and that the chairman ‘has no idea how bad it is out there’ in the markets. A video clip of his remarks has been viewed more than one million times on YouTube.
“Lower interest rates would help operators of hedge funds and other money managers because the housing market presumably would strengthen as mortgage rates fell. A revived mortgage market would give the hedge fund operators and other holders of the risky securities a chance to sell them, which they are having trouble doing now in the current nervous market.”
One has to wonder if lower rates will trickle down to affect the people who really need the assistance—i.e., the homeowners whose homes are at risk. In the alternative, maybe regulation of the more heinous abuses of lenders getting “creative” would help. And while we’re at it, maybe we should think about reigning in the practices of credit-card issuers with regard to escalation of interest rates, double-billing cycles & holding payments just a few days so as to be able to fatten their profits with unearned & unwarranted late fees…
Oh goodness me, what was your Demon thinking? Such interference with the “natural market” processes is bad & evil & to be avoided at all costs.
Unless, of course, you’re a billionaire.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/11/business/11fed.html
The New York Times asked yesterday, “Should the Federal Reserve help bail out billionaire hedge fund managers and millionaire traders — the very people who bought the risky mortgages that led to the current market panic?”
“That, in essence, is the question swirling around Ben S. Bernanke as he confronts the first crisis of his 18 months as Fed chairman.
“There are no shortages of opinions, and some are being shouted. Jim Cramer, known for his histrionics on the CNBC financial news channel, angrily called for Mr. Bernanke to lower interest rates, something the Fed has resisted doing.
“A week ago, Mr. Cramer charged that the Fed was ‘asleep’ and that the chairman ‘has no idea how bad it is out there’ in the markets. A video clip of his remarks has been viewed more than one million times on YouTube.
“Lower interest rates would help operators of hedge funds and other money managers because the housing market presumably would strengthen as mortgage rates fell. A revived mortgage market would give the hedge fund operators and other holders of the risky securities a chance to sell them, which they are having trouble doing now in the current nervous market.”
One has to wonder if lower rates will trickle down to affect the people who really need the assistance—i.e., the homeowners whose homes are at risk. In the alternative, maybe regulation of the more heinous abuses of lenders getting “creative” would help. And while we’re at it, maybe we should think about reigning in the practices of credit-card issuers with regard to escalation of interest rates, double-billing cycles & holding payments just a few days so as to be able to fatten their profits with unearned & unwarranted late fees…
Oh goodness me, what was your Demon thinking? Such interference with the “natural market” processes is bad & evil & to be avoided at all costs.
Unless, of course, you’re a billionaire.
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/11/business/11fed.html
If you doubt the terrible impact this state of affairs is having on the New Captains of Money-as-Industry who have done everything right & still suffer through no fault of their own, read this & weep. Pass the collection hat. It's a good cause, & surely worth a few measly bucks of the taxpayers' money.
posted by Demon Princess at 1:32 AM
3 Comments:
Great article...keep in touch with the reality of what is happening all around us. As to what we discussed about the picture format...this looks good...I thing the pic on top of the post like this is just fine. I think that is what I will try for next time. We just have to center it is all. The pic was great by the way.
Hey Sumo,
It's easier on Blogger & the results look better, doncha think?
Yeah!
Post a Comment
<< Home