Whoa. The last full paragraph in the article is deeply moving.
A German film taking a new look at the bloody legacy of the Baader Meinhof Gang will open this week, aiming to blot out the "terrorist chic" image of the 1970s urban guerrilla outfit.
Reportedly the most expensive German picture ever made, "The Baader Meinhof Complex" is based on a bestseller by Stefan Aust, a former editor of the influential weekly Der Spiegel. It chronicles in exacting detail the wave of assassinations, bombings and kidnappings after the group, also known as the Red Army Faction (RAF), declared war on what it called the morally bankrupt West German state.
The filmmakers say the picture, which will be released Thursday and has already been selected as Germany's entry in the Oscar race, will put an end to the glamourisation the young revolutionaries have undergone in popular culture in recent years.
Some of the country's most influential critics have hailed the film as an authentic look at the most turbulent decade in postwar Germany. But several commentators, including children of the RAF's members and victims, say the A-list cast and estimated €20-million ($29-million) budget have created a titillating, irresponsible spectacle.
"Bernd Eichinger claims that his film will destroy the RAF myth but the opposite is the case," one of Meinhof's daughters, 46-year-old journalist Bettina Röhl, wrote on her blog referring to the screenwriter and producer. "The 'Baader Meinhof Complex' is the worst-case scenario - it would be impossible to top its hero worship."
The Baader Meinhof Gang, dubbed so after its founders Andreas Baader and Ulrike Meinhof, captured the imagination of a generation that charged that their parents had failed to own up to Germany's Nazi past.
Activists inspired by the 1960s student protests against the Vietnam War and US policy in the Middle East became radicalised, resorting to violence and mayhem to bring down West Germany's young democracy.
A second generation of RAF members continued the campaign after Baader and Meinhof were murdered by guards, or fellow inmates committed suicide in prison following their capture in 1972. But many sympathisers were eventually repelled by the band's reign of terror. It is believed to have killed 34 people before disbanding in 1998.
"This was, and not just for me, the biggest German tragedy of the postwar period," said Eichinger, whose 2004 drama "Downfall" set in Hitler's bunker was nominated for an Academy Award.
Like "Downfall" and the Stasi drama "The Lives of Others" which won the 2007 Academy Award for best foreign language film, "The Baader Meinhof Komplex" was conceived as a blockbuster to help Germans come to terms with another dark chapter of their past.
The cast include Moritz Bleibtreu ("Run, Lola, Run") and Martina Gedeck ("The Lives of Others"), who appear in hipster clothing and indulge in free love, drag racing in stolen Porsches and orgiastic shoot-em-ups. A stint in a Palestinian militant training camp in Jordan in one scene turns into a farce when the female guerrillas insist on sunbathing in the buff within the sights of the Muslim fighters.
The film has drawn comparisons with Steven Spielberg's "Munich" in its structure and themes, examining the corrupting power of fierce idealism when the ends are to justify the means.
In recent years, a handful of films and television programmes on the RAF including the 2002 biopic "Baader" were accused of lionising the charismatic, if fanatical, protagonists. T-shirts emblazoned with "Prada Meinhof" or the RAF's Heckler and Koch machine gun logo rode a wave of "terrorist chic" among 20-somethings in German cities.
The film received major public funding and the German government, ever wary of extremism, threw its support behind the project. "It's time we had an unflinching look at this topic using film as a medium. Until now, movies tended to make heroes out of the main characters," the president of the Federal Agency for Civic Education, Thomas Krueger, told German radio, praising the filmmakers' efforts. "But this is a blood stain that soaks a strain of German history. It needs to be confronted honestly."
Jörg Schleyer, son of industrialist Hanns Martin Schleyer who was murdered by the RAF in the notorious "German Autumn" of 1977, also raved about the picture after its gala premiere.
"The 'Baader Meinhof Complex' shows the wanton brutality of the RAF without sullying its victims' memory," Schleyer, 54, told the daily Bild. "You see how my father's chauffeur and another passenger in the car were just slaughtered. It hurts me to watch that but it is the only way to make clear to young people how brutal and bloodthirsty the RAF was at that time. They were not rebels or freedom fighters. They were murderers."
The film has been sold to several foreign markets and will be released in Britain and France in November.
#1
If true, this is a landmark event in the political maturation of the media-industrial complex. Ever since James Dean, the standard media meme has been to take the worship of "the rebel" to greater and greater extremes, the long-running deification of the psychopath Ernesto Guevara being only the most egregious example among many.
To the media-industrial complex, the world is a movie and terrorists have the James Dean role.
(Ironically, James Dean himself was a serious and studious young man who did not play the "James Dean" role in real life, his death in a sports car accident not withstanding.)
#3
Fuck the Baader-Meinhof gang, and all their fellow travelers. The whole lot of them can burn in hell.
I felt one of their blasts. Never forget. Never forgive.
"Until now, movies tended to make heroes out of the main characters"
True dat. Hope this one points out the fact that during his capture in Frankfurt, Baader was shot in the ass and squealed like a stuck pig little girl.
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/21/2008 18:47 Comments ||
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#4
oughtta be a way to tie this in to Ayers
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/21/2008 18:52 Comments ||
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#5
I was in Wiesbaden while the Baader-Meinhoff gang was terrorizing Frankfurt. Our unit was one of five that were specifically targeted by the RAF. A friend of mine was injured in the IG Farben building blast. The best thing that could ever happen to the Baader/Meinhoff gang is to be completely ignored and forgotten. They deserve no more.
Posted by: Old Patriot ||
09/21/2008 23:36 Comments ||
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A study has found that the last Egyptian pharaoh, Cleopatra VII, was of Macedonian stock and contrary to popular belief not a beauty. I wonder how much that cost Oh goodness, they're just now figuring out that Cleopatra was Macedonian? Of course she was, she was a Ptolemy!
When Alexander the Great, who conquered Egypt, passed away in 323 BCE, the country was passed to a Macedonian nobleman named Ptolemy, who became the founder of a dynasty famous for intermarriages. We knew the rule of Egypt passed to Ptolemy after Alexander. That's probably why they called the dynasty "the Ptolemies," in fact. The dynasty itself wasn't all that out of the ordinary in Egypt for its intermarriages, since that was the way Egyptian royal families kept the throne within the family. Succession passed through the female line, and the most successful brother got to marry one or two or more of his sisters. That accounts for the prevalence of hemophilia and buck teeth and other odd characteristics among Egyptian royals. The custom was frowned on for the common folk, but in colloquial Egyptian language husbands and wives referred to each other as "my brother" and "my sister." How much did the study cost, again? Can I get in on it for a few bucks?
According to the Encyclopedia Britannica 'the Macedonian-Greek character of the monarchy was vigorously preserved' and 'Cleopatra VII was of Macedonian descent and had no Egyptian blood'. The study relied on the Encyclopedia Britannica as a primary source? Which high school conducted the study? If brother and sister and sometimes father and daughter were in the habit of marrying each other, then it's likely none of them were of actual Egyptian blood. On the other hand, there were lotsa dancing girls and the occasional concubine to be had, and the occasional daughter would be sent to the royal household to cement this or that deal, so I'd guess -- even without rooting through the Ptolomy family bible or Book of the Dead or whatever they used -- that some few of the Ptolomies did manage to mix the royal blood with some of the locals.
The first Ptolemaic pharaoh to learn the Egyptian language, Cleopatra, was also the last pharaoh of Egypt, after whom the country became a Roman province. She was the heiress, but having hooked up with Caesar and produced a single male offstpring (Caesarian) and then with Marc Anthony, introducing an asp to her bosom before any results could show up, there wasn't a good candidate to take over the throne -- I believe she was 18 when she met Julius. She also made the mistake of siding with the losing side at the Battle of Actium, hence the asp, so her kingdom kinda sorta became spoils of war.
Despite the general belief that Cleopatra was a stunning beauty, the Greek essayist Plutarch describes her as 'by no means flawless or even remarkable' and writes 'her beauty was not in and for itself incomparable'. Other writers are quite complimentary of her nose and her hair, which if I remember correctly was red.
The coins remained from her time show her as having a fat neck, a hooked nose, long ears and a prominent chin, ABC reported. The art of coinage portraiture wasn't up to our modern standards way back then, so it's kind of an open question.
The queen's intelligence however is an undeniable fact. She was highly educated, could speak nine languages, had a compelling charisma and had a powerful regal presence from an early age. She was also good looking enough to seduce Julius on the first try, and he was not only no dummy but could pretty much have his pick of the girlies. Though he pretty much nailed any woman he could ...
The French leader Napoleon Bonaparte looted the mummy case of Cleopatra VII, which was found by workers in the 1940s, and emptied it into the sewers.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/21/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
There's a lot more to sex appeal than strictly physical beauty. And even there, tastes vary....
#2
Also she could be a beaty at fourteen, when Caesra met her and no longer ten or twenty years later when she killed herself. Roymas have access to far too many delicacies for theior own good.
#3
Persians still nursing that 2500 year old slap down by the Greeks.
ABC = Arab Broadcasting Corp? I always suspected it.
The French leader Napoleon Bonaparte looted the mummy case of Cleopatra VII, which was found by workers in the 1940s, and emptied it into the sewers.
Iranians discover time travel? Perhaps they will locate the madhi next.
Posted by: ed ||
09/21/2008 7:06 Comments ||
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#4
Persians still nursing that 2500 year old slap down by the Greeks.    LOL - yup.
The Iranians have learned that the West has this powerful activity called 'science' so they decided to get some of their own. Not clear on the concepts yet, though.
#5
*rolls eyes* The Egyptian Book of the Dead was not a record of those who died, but a guidebook to instruct individuals on the path from this world to the Judgement Seat, and what to expect based on the verdict. It was believed that the soul that learned stuff in this life would be able to apply that knowledge in the journey to the next.
My on-line nym, Ptah, was selected when I first visited another website where some of the members also selected Egyptian-god names as nyms. I selected it as a means of reminding people of the very poor way we treat those dieties who do us well: Ptah was the Architect of the World and the primal creator. When man was created, it was Ptah who initially set up the Egyptian worship system and devised the ceremony that, after death, separated the soul from the corpse and initiated its journey to the Judgement Seat and the Afterlife. As a "reward" for creating everything and sparing the souls of men from the horror of being trapped within a rotting corpse, he was relegated to being a Janitor worshipped in Memphis in a catch-all temple while other egyptian gods were made the bosses, ran things, got cities named after them, and got all the sacrifices made in elaborate dedicated temples. Kinda like the way the engineers in a company who actually get the shit done are treated while the managers bask in the praise, get the credit, and get all the goodies and fat bonuses.
One interesting thing about the Book of the Dead: the reader was supposed to memorize spells that would transform the soul into various creatures and entities to help them overcome obstacles and defeat hostiles during various parts of the Journey. There was only one spell that transformed the soul into one of the Egyptian gods.
That god was Ptah.
Figures. Live in the world he made worshipping every god except him, start the Journey using a ceremony devised by him, and when your soul is in deep shit and you need some real firepower to get your soulish butt out of that sling, you run, not walk, to the guy who built everything.
#13
"*rolls eyes* The Egyptian Book of the Dead was not a record of those who died, but a guidebook to instruct individuals on the path from this world to the Judgement Seat..."
Seems there's always somebody who's going to be offended by something.
South Africa's ruling party said yesterday that President Thabo Mbeki had agreed to resign after being asked to step down, a move that could heighten turmoil in Africa's economic powerhouse.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/21/2008 00:00 ||
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Communism is indeed alive and well. Zuma bears close watching.
(SomaliNet) A party official said on Thursday that Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and prime minister designate Morgan Tsvangirai are deadlocked over appointing cabinet ministers after reaching a power-sharing agreement.
On Monday, Mugabe signed the agreement with Tsvangirai, relinquishing some powers for the first time in nearly three decades of rule under pressure from regional leaders and a growing economic crisis. The pair met on Thursday to try to sort out who gets which posts in the cabinet. "The meeting was inconclusive, it was a deadlock and has been referred to the negotiating teams for further work to try and find common ground," said Movement for Democratic Change spokesman Nelson Chamisa.
The state-run Herald newspaper said earlier Mugabe had told a meeting of his ZANU-PF party on Wednesday that the agreement was "a humiliation." But: "Anyhow here we are, still in a dominant position which will enable us to gather more strength as we move into the future. We remain in the driving seat."
The deal with Tsvangirai and the head of a breakaway opposition faction followed weeks of tense negotiations to end a political crisis compounded by the veteran leader's disputed and unopposed re-election in a widely condemned vote in June. Under the agreement, Tsvangirai, who heads the largest of the two MDC factions, will become prime minister and chair a council of ministers supervising the cabinet. Tsvangirai's party is expected to get 13 cabinet posts, with Arthur Mutambara's breakaway faction likely to control an additional three ministries.
Mugabe's ZANU-PF, which lost control of parliament in the March election for the first time in 28 years, is likely to have 15 ministers in the cabinet. But the 84-year-old Zimbabwean ruler, who has governed since independence from Britain in 1980, will retain the presidency and head the cabinet as well as keep control of the powerful army. The police are expected to fall under the opposition.
Zimbabweans hope the agreement, brokered by South African President Thabo Mbeki, will be a first step in helping to rescue the once prosperous nation from economic collapse.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/21/2008 00:00 ||
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Commerce Adviser Hossain Zillur Rahman has said the caretaker government has not moved away from its goal to establish a sustainable democracy through holding a free, fair and credible election before the end of 2008.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/21/2008 00:00 ||
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"Bangladesh not going back to chaos"
When did they leave chaos?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/21/2008 11:09 Comments ||
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#2
Thursday. They had a day pass.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/21/2008 12:35 Comments ||
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#3
ROFL!
You're good, Steve. :-D
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/21/2008 13:22 Comments ||
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BNP and its allies yesterday told the Election Commission (EC) they will not accept the new electoral provisions being implemented in the upcoming parliamentary polls.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/21/2008 00:00 ||
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Division in BNP still exists as no so-called reformist BNP leaders were included in the delegation that sat for the electoral dialogue with the Election Commission yesterday.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/21/2008 00:00 ||
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Lest we think America has the only elections that matter ...
Gordon Brown is set to lead Labour into an election bloodbath so crushing it could take his party a decade to recover, according to the largest ever poll of marginal seats which predicts a landslide victory for David Cameron. Eight cabinet ministers, including the Home Secretary and the Justice Secretary, would be swept away in the rout as the Tories marched into Downing Street with a majority of 146, says the poll, conducted for PoliticsHome.com and exclusively revealed to The Observer. Seats that have been Labour since the First World War would fall.
The sheer scale of the humiliation is almost as bad as that endured by the Tories in 1997, suggesting it could take Labour a similar time to claw its way back to power. The party would be virtually extinguished in southern England and left with only its hardcore redoubts in northern England, the Welsh valleys and deprived inner-city areas.
The stark findings from the survey of almost 35,000 voters across 238 seats, published on the PoliticsHome website today, are likely to fuel the stalled insurrection against Brown. A third of potential Labour voters in marginal seats would be more likely to back the party if he were replaced.
Intriguingly, the findings also suggest David Miliband's hopes of leading Labour may depend on him challenging Brown before the election. While the Foreign Secretary would survive the rout, his power base would be decimated, making it much harder for him to get elected in a party likely to have shifted to the left: cabinet allies James Purnell and John Hutton would have gone, along with senior Blairites Alan Milburn and Charles Clarke. Jacqui Smith, Ruth Kelly, John Denham, Des Browne, Geoff Hoon and Jack Straw are projected to lose their seats. In Scotland, the poll predicts the SNP will win next month's Glenrothes by-election
Yesterday as MPs gathered in Manchester for the annual party conference Brown began a fightback, pledging free part-time nursery places for two-year-olds in a move towards universal childcare for pre-school children. He told the Sunday Telegraph he wanted to see 'more choice for women and for families'.
However, even as Brown was being cheered onto the conference stage, Clarke was urging MPs to confront him. In an article for the Sunday Times he said prevarication was 'actually the most dangerous course of all'.
Today's poll shows how Labour's progressive face would be scarred by the projected defeat, with women disproportionately more likely to be defeated and five of its 13 black and Asian MPs, including three ministers, voted out.
By contrast, Cameron's new intake would include a lesbian businesswoman, a 'chick-lit' novelist and a single mother turned farmer. He could claim he had transformed the Conservatives into a modern and multicultural party, potentially tripling the number of women in the ranks and adding five new ethnic minority and three openly gay MPs. It comes amid signs of clear momentum building behind Miliband, who uses an interview in October's issue of Prospect magazine - to be published during the conference - to attack the 'abuse of market power' by failing executives paying themselves unjustified salaries.
The Foreign Secretary was also boosted when the Health Secretary, Alan Johnson, his biggest rival for the leadership, publicly ruled himself out and warmly praised Miliband. In a newspaper interview yesterday, Johnson praised his younger colleague's 'common touch', adding: 'I hope he goes a long way because I'm a big fan of his.'
Brown now has a mountain to climb at a conference likely to be dominated by the twin threats of Miliband and the global banking crisis. MPs are being asked to sign a loyalty pledge circulated by the backbencher Martin Salter, while the star of The Apprentice, Sir Alan Sugar, has recorded a film urging critics to back the leader or 'have the balls to get out'.
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/21/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
"Brown began a fightback, pledging free part-time nursery places for two-year-olds in a move towards universal childcare for pre-school children."
Gee, that sounds familiar. Where have we heard that before?
Posted by: Barbara Skolaut ||
09/21/2008 0:52 Comments ||
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#6
Aren't Canada's elections in mid-October, with the Conservatives set to turn a slight majority into a large one? Good news all over! Now we Americans have to hold up our end.
The outburst from Communities Secretary Hazel Blears threatens to undermineexplain Prime Minister Gordon Brown's determination for the British government to maintain a neutral position in the US presidential electionexpected bloodbath.
A suitcase filled with $800,000 in cash has embroiled Venezuela's President Hugo Chavez in a scandal which has fuelled claims of corruption and cover-up at the heart of his self-styled socialist revolution.
A court case involving wiretaps and explosive testimony has lifted the lid on alleged attempts to buy influence across Latin America, putting Chavez on the defensive during a torrid week of coup rumours and expulsions of human rights critics and the US ambassador. Tumbling oil prices compounded the anxiety in Caracas, which is almost wholly reliant on oil revenues, and prompted the President to warn that the government would rein in its free-spending ways.
"Sorry amigos, but we have to pay the Russians off first."
Chavez's most immediate headache came from a federal court in Miami which heard that Venezuela tried to funnel slush money to Argentina's President, Cristina Kirchner, for her successful election campaign last year. The Presidents denounced the story, which has been front-page news in both countries, as a 'garbage' attempt by Washington to smear South America's so-called 'pink tide' of left-wing leaders.
sounds like the Dem pol's little puke son is the guy..
The FBI is stepping up its investigation into the possibility that a University of Tennessee student hacked into the personal e-mail of Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin.
A person who identified himself as a witness tells 10 News that agents with the FBI served a federal search warrant at the Fort Sanders residence of David Kernell early Sunday morning. Kernell lives in the Commons apartment complex at 1115 Highland Ave. David Kernell is the son of Mike Kernell, a Democratic state representative from Memphis.
A Department of Justice spokesperson confirmed there has been "investigatory activity" in Knoxville regarding the Palin case, but she said there are no publicly available search warrants, and no charges have been filed. A separate law enforcement source confirmed to 10 News that a search warrant was served on Kernell's apartment.
According to the witness, several agents arrived at The Commons of Knoxville around midnight. They presented their badges upon entering Kernell's apartment, where several students were having a party, and took down their names. bet that put the kibosh on the fun. "Hey...is that weed I smell? Y'all are old enough to drink, right?"
The witness tells us they asked him and those who did not live in the unit to go outside. He believes the investigators took about 1.5 to 2 hours taking pictures of everything inside the apartment.
He says Kernell's three roommates were also subpoenaed, and must testify this week in Chattanooga. I (obviously) have no sympathy for this little punk
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/21/2008 16:30 ||
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#1
Supporters of a presidential candidate conduct a break-in to try to get the goods on an opposition candidate. Sounds vaguely familiar, but I can't quite place it. I'm sure the media will help fill in the context.
Next questions: what did Obama know and when did he know it?
#2
I'll give the O'man the benefit of the doubt. I recollect that Nixon didn't have prior knowledge of the break in, but did involve himself in a post event cover up to distance himself from the perps. In either case [to take a phrase from the lefty plan book] it was an atmosphere of 'anything goes' and 'ends justify the means' by the higher ups that set up both events.
#6
Assuming this all fallows through, the kid will learn the consequences of doing some fun thing that happens to be illegal - and getting caught. I read somewhere last week that there was some sort of working connection between him and an Obama staffer. He did some work for the staffer, or something like that. It will be very interesting if any such connections are found. May need more room under the bus. We'll see.
Posted by: Richard of Oregon ||
09/21/2008 22:35 Comments ||
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#7
Looks like University of Illinois Dept of Corrections!
Posted by: Mullah Richard ||
09/21/2008 12:50 Comments ||
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#2
Hope and change? I repeat: 0bama HOPES the voters don't notice that his positions continually CHANGE. Thankfully, journalists are starting to notice too.
A quote attributed to Sandra Cichon, a private citizen, is spreading across the internet as a living example of White Racism. Did a reporter put words in this woman's mouth? An article in the St. Petersberg Times, quotes Cichon as having said, "I can't imagine having a black president . . ."
In a phone interview Saturday, Sandra Cichon of Spring Hill, Florida denied that she ever spoke with any pollster or reporter concerning Obama or about anything regarding race. Cichon was taken by surprise when phoned by this reporter, and she was not aware that she had been quoted in any newspaper.
The September 15, 2008 article Black 'issue' hangs over presidential polls by Adam Smith of the St. Petersburg Times Political states:
A pollster calling Sandra Cichon, a 60-year-old Democrat from Spring Hill, would hear her identify herself as an undecided voter. But is she really?
"I can't imagine having a black president, and I think he's inexperienced," she told a reporter recently, eventually acknowledging she was leaning unenthusiastically toward McCain. "I don't think we (Democrats) have a chance to be in the White House with Obama."
Many analysts wonder how many voters answering polls hide their racial biases or mislead survey-takers about their real preferences.
The article fails to name the pollster who claimed to have called Cichon. When asked during my phone interview, Cichon denied speaking to any pollster on the phone.
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/21/2008 09:35 ||
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#1
Vote for Obama:
He will give you (false)hope, (take your) change and if you don't you are a buck-toothed red state racist.
#2
Sandra Cichon is must be a Republican racist. Oh. She's a Democrat? But she's can't really be a Democrat......and she said something about BO being inexperienced too. But what does inexperience have to do with anything, not many people have had much experience being a Messiah. No matter, he will get OTJ training. Wrong!
#3
Wow--by attributing these stupid things to someone they identify by name, age, place of residence, they are endangering the person. A lot of people would want to cause harm to someone who is (falsely) quoted as saying, "Now can I cook you up a batch of Obama waffles?" This is leftist fascism. Scary.
#4
They don't care, anymore than the hackers care that they endangered the Palin children by publishing their cell phone numbers and private email accounts to every slavering paedephile out there.
#5
Nah, its the Klan reborn [just refocused] and inhabiting the same old political shell it once thrived in to play out its politics of hate and intolerance. Its the same behavioral pattern, the same wink and a nod from the same usual suspects.
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/21/2008 17:01 Comments ||
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#7
I predict a landslide for McCain in Nov.
I have a question for any lefties out there: Are you happy to be associated with the stuff coming from your compadres?
The Obama campaign can only be described as a collection of mean-spirited jerks who are falling apart faster than anything I have ever witnessed in my lifetime.
I suspect a good percentage of democrats, who are not frothing at the mouth, won't show up to vote. They will tell the pollsters that they will be there, and they will intend to go, but in the end they will be busy that day and well...they don't really like him much anyway.
I won't be the least bit surprised if we see multiple states such as Iowa, PA, OH, IN, CO, NM, MN, and others go towards McCain. JMHO.
#9
A lot of people would want to cause harm to someone who is (falsely) quoted as saying, "Now can I cook you up a batch of Obama waffles?"
The "waffles" thing is very clearly snark added by the writer at the Double Take blog. Sowell is being either disingenuous or dumb by taking it seriously.
You know, polls only measure one kind of demographic: those who don't have anything better to do than gab to strangers on the phone.
#10
Angie - it may be true that it was intended to be snark, but too many Obama supporters have displayed a mean streak that I have never before witnessed in my life time. "Obama waffles" or "Bush the idiot chimp who can't read" is par for the course. But a part of the left is simply becoming unhinged and vicious in their words and actions.
You just knew that when Joe O'Connell, former head of the local AFL-CIO, got on stage here with John McCain and Sarah Palin things were not going smoothly for the Obama campaign among union voters.
"I am a lifelong Democrat, an intelligent Democrat, who is supporting John McCain," O'Connell said last week as a crowd of 7,000 waved "Another Democrat for John McCain" signs and roared its approval.
O'Connell assured the energized crowd that "organized labor will have a seat at the table when John McCain becomes president."
Joe Rugola sees a respect among union members for McCain.
It's the kind of statement that Pennsylvania AFL-CIO President Bill George does not want to hear. "It's a problem," George admits, "but we are in an all-out effort to educate our members that the Democratic Party is the only one for working families."
Working families like Penny Pritzker's ...
He is not exaggerating when he says "all-out effort" - just try following him for a day and you're exhausted by the events, focus groups and sit-downs in which he participates.
Democrats count on unions for get-out-the-vote efforts and for the support of members and their families. Without them, states such as Pennsylvania and Ohio -- which each have about 740,000 workers who belong to unions, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics -- would move into the Republican column.
George narrows the problem down to race. "There is no question, earlier in the primary campaign the racial issue was there, just like the gender issue was with Hillary for some unions," he says. "We in America like to think we don't have any hang-ups or stereotypes. But because of our history and because of a lot of industrial psychology controlling the masses, people have innate prejudices."
For example, a lot of people hate Sarah Palin just because she's successful and not a card-carrying feminist ...
George says that the mind-set of some people in the labor movement regarding race is no different than it is in church groups, or in the Republican Party.
Or in the Democratic Party but of course he won't say that ...
Joe Rugola is George's counterpart in Ohio and he, too, is seeing a problem with race and his members. Yet he also sees another dynamic going on -- a respect among union members for McCain. "There is no question that John McCain historically has had a cultural connection with our members," Rugola says, "but the reality is that his policies are not good for working families."
Frank Stricker, a history professor at California State University and a union expert, says race is a key to what alienates segments of the labor movement, especially in Ohio and west of Philadelphia in Pennsylvania. Stricker says that other than people not voting for a black candidate, a couple of factors -- such as Obama's cultural style and pro-choice stand -- do not sit well with culturally conservative union members.
University of Virginia professor Larry Sabato is blunter: "There's no question that race is at the heart of Obama's problem with blue-collar white union members. You'd have to be pretty naive to think otherwise."
Sabato explains that, normally, today's severe economic dislocation would send union members flocking to the Democrats' nominee. "Well, they are not flocking. McCain is their kind of guy. His biography and maverick nature are appealing."
Oh, so it's not all race after all, huh Larry ...
Yet for some labor members race does not factor at all in their voting decisions. Joe Swistok, 62, of Southington, Ohio, is a lifelong union member who began working at Republic Steel in 1964; his father had worked there since 1936. He switched his party registration to Republican during the Reagan years. "Reagan impressed me. That guy did a lot for this guy," Swistok says, referring to himself. "This area is devastated for one reason: You can't tax businesses and expect them to stay."
Stricker thinks Obama "must make a strong economic-populist appeal," one hinging on class warfare, in order to win Pennsylvania and Ohio.
To that end, both George and Rugola are engaged in huge voter-contact efforts -- door-knocking, phone calls, mailings, peer-to-peer efforts. According to an AFL-CIO spokesman, 2.1 million registered voters live in union households in Ohio, 1.7 million in Pennsylvania. In a close election, every one of these votes matters for Democrats.
"Approximately a quarter of all American households say there is a union member in the home," Sabato explains. "They are much more Democratic than average, but in GOP landslide years like 1972 and 1984, a majority has voted Republican."
Sabato says that a third or more union members consistently vote Republican for president, despite their union leaders' recommendations.
Part of Obama's problem is the contrast he presents: On one day alone last week, he spoke passionately about the country's economic concerns, then zipped off to Los Angeles to raise $9 million from Hollywood's elites. That's sort of like John Kerry windsurfing during the 2004 election: Union members in Youngstown or in "Little Washington," Pa., just can't relate.
#5
As a lifelong supporter of unions (when they are needed to protect workers; NOT solely for the benefit of union higher ups!!!) I say Cornsilk Blonde and Pappy hit the nail on the head.
Negotiators for the campaigns of Sens. John McCain and Barack Obama agreed yesterday on a format for the Oct. 2 debate between Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin and Sen. Joseph R. Biden Jr., resolving an issue left open in August after the campaigns settled on the structure of the three presidential debates, according to sources involved in the talks.
Under the plan agreed to yesterday, Palin and Biden will have less time than McCain and Obama to reply to moderators' questions and discuss each other's answers. And there will be no guidelines given to Gwen Ifill of PBS, moderator of the vice presidential debate, as to subject matter, allowing her to mix in questions about foreign and domestic matters, the sources said.
Both sides were satisfied with the final agreement, the sources said. The Commission on Presidential Debates, the independent nonprofit organization that manages these quadrennial events, had hoped the campaigns would agree to the same longer segments for the vice presidential aspirants as those adopted in August for the presidential debates.
In the negotiations, Republicans wanted to limit the amount of time available for their neophyte candidate, Palin, to be questioned on a single topic. No bias here; move along.
Democrats, meanwhile, wanted to be sure Biden and Palin spoke from lecterns rather than sitting at a table the way Vice President Cheney and his rivals in 2000 (Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman of Connecticut) and 2004 (Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina) did. Both sides got what they wanted. Palin and Biden will each have 90 seconds to respond to questions, followed by a two-minute period for discussion between the candidates.
Posted by: Bobby ||
09/21/2008 07:11 ||
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#6
From a Mod -- Impartial and Objective, why don't you go watch a football game? You're level of reasoning just doesn't fit in here. Facts and sometimes even opinions we accept, but some of your rhetoric is out of line.
#7
Sherry, you should see the examples of his "thinking" in the other threads where he has graced us with his presence. (grin) I think he's gone 3/4 of the way through the Soros talking points.
#3
Decade? I can't believe he even got 15 minutes. Its hard to recall anything he did on SNL that was funny. Do remember him and his partner smirking about the need to violently overthrow the US government at the end of one of their skits.
Amid disturbing revelations that the verdicts of Islamic Sharia courts are now legally binding in civil cases in the United Kingdom, U.S. Representative Tom Tancredo (R-Littleton) moved quickly today to introduce legislation designed to protect the United States from a similar fate.
According to recent news reports, a new network of Sharia courts in a half-dozen major cities in the U.K. have been empowered under British law to adjudicate a wide variety of legal cases ranging from divorces and financial disputes to those involving domestic violence.
“This is a case where truth is truly stranger than fiction,” said Tancredo. “Today the British people are learning a hard lesson about the consequences of massive, unrestricted immigration.”
Sharia law, favored by Muslim extremists around the world, often calls for brutal punishment – such as the stoning of women who are accused of adultery or have children out of wedlock, cutting off the hands of petty thieves and lashings for the casual consumption of alcohol. Under Sharia law, a woman is often required to provide numerous witnesses to prove rape allegations against an assailant – a near impossible task.
“When you have an immigration policy that allows for the importation of millions of radical Muslims, you are also importing their radical ideology – an ideology that is fundamentally hostile to the foundations of western democracy – such as gender equality, pluralism, and individual liberty,” said Tancredo. “The best way to safeguard America against the importation of the destructive effects of this poisonous ideology is to prevent its purveyors from coming here in the first place.”
Tancredo’s bill, dubbed the “Jihad Prevention Act,” would bar the entry of foreign nationals who advocate Sharia law. In addition, the legislation would make the advocacy of Sharia law by radical Muslims already in the United States a deportable offense.
Tancredo pointed to the results of a recent poll conducted by the Centre for Social Cohesion as evidence that the U.S. should act to prevent the situation in Great Britain from replicating itself here in the United States. The poll found that some 40 percent of Muslim students in the United Kingdom support the introduction of Sharia law there, and 33 percent support the imposition of an Islamic Sharia-based government worldwide.
“We need to send a clear message that the only law we recognize here in America is the U.S. Constitution and the laws passed by our democratically elected representatives,” concluded Tancredo. “If you aren’t comfortable with that concept, you aren’t welcome in the United States.”
#2
I would think the laws are already in place to prevent Sharia in a free society -- although I believe the laws are in place to prevent illegal immigration, too...
Posted by: regular joe ||
09/21/2008 7:44 Comments ||
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#3
Link with what is happening in UK with David Cameron.
#4
I would like to see the Catholics, Jews (and any other group who has non-liberal standards) demand the same set of legal standards for their beliefs...abortion is wrong, divorce is wrong, etc.; and see if the courts and liberals in the United Kingdom would support them.
Just sayin', ya' know.
#5
Muslims Against Sharia praise Congressman Tancredo's initiative. We advocated similar measures in the past and fully support "Gihad Prevention Act"
"Any person from a country where a substantial part of the population is pro-Sharia should not be allowed in the West, not only as an immigrant, but even as a visitor with a few exceptions, i.e., political asylum or as a diplomat etc. ... Every legal immigrant should be allowed to stay only if he/she did not display desire to establish a Sharia state in a host country. Any naturalized citizen who displays a desire to establish a Sharia state in a host country should have his/her citizenship revoked and promptly deported. I think the latter two groups is where the real danger lies." Linda Ahmed, FrontPage Magazine, July 24, 2008
"Anyone who proclaims Islamic extremist views should be tried for sedition, since we are at war with radical Islam, or at the very least, promptly deported." Khalim Massoud, FrontPage Magazine, September 9, 2008
#6
That's good to know, Muslims Against Sharia. Thank you. I'm not sure about not allowing visitors, though. I mean, you clearly have the right attitude, and you are Muslim. Do you have any ideas how we could encourage others like you?
As Prime Minister Ehud Olmert bows out under a cloud of corruption allegations, Israel hopes his successor Tzipi Livni can live up to the "Mrs. Clean" label her supporters have given her as she tries to unite the ruling party.
"Livni's victory did not stem from a feat of organization or from political alliances," columnist Nahum Barnea wrote when she was elected this week to succeed Olmert as Kadima party leader. "It stemmed from the public's general longing for new, fresh and mostly clean leadership," the influential Barnea wrote in the country's best-selling newspaper Yedioth Ahronoth.
However, Livni faced her first challenge hours after winning the vote with a lead of just one percentage point over her main rival, Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz.
Livni sought to restore unity within the governing Kadima party as new rifts emerged. Livni met top party members to try to stress the need to close ranks as the centrist party seeks to form a new coalition government. Evidently disgruntled, Mofaz, a hawkish former army chief, said on Thursday he will take a break from politics in a move Israeli media called a "bombshell."
Senior figures in Kadima defined Mofaz's decision as "crushing the party," the Maariv daily said, amid media speculation the minister could return to the right-wing opposition Likud party that he, Livni and Olmert left in 2005.
At Friday's Kadima meeting, which was marked by the absence of Mofaz, Livni made it clear she hoped to maintain the current alliance with the centre-left Labor party and the religious party Shas.
'Clean politics'
While Olmert's accusers have painted vivid tales of him accepting envelopes stuffed with cash in hotel rooms from an American businessman and of filing multiple claims for the same expenses, Livni has maintained a 'pure' image. The 50-year-old former Mossad spy and daughter of a prominent Zionist fighter from the days of Israel's creation in the 1940s, has tried to present herself as carrying a banner of integrity during her decade in politics. "It outrages me, the attempt to claim that it is a matter of norms that everyone who enters politics needs to adopt," she said in May after Olmert's cash donations first came to light.
While campaigning this week to lead the Kadima party, she presented her candidacy to its members as a chance to put such scandals behind them: "This is a second chance to shape Israel's image, to fix the damage and to place the good of the country and its people at the centre," she said.
Olmert plans to resign as premier once Livni has formed a new government coalition, a process that may take some weeks.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/21/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
Yep, that was the ticket, "Clean", that help get Mr. Carter into the White House. Notice how well that worked out in Iran and your future security?
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni sought on Friday to restore unity within her governing Kadima Party as new divisions emerged in the wake of her narrow victory in this week's primary. Livni met top party members in a bid to stress the need to close ranks as the centrist party seeks to form a new coalition government. After the meeting, Livni told journalists that she wanted to form a government "as soon as possible, as long as everybody acts responsibly."
Livni won Wednesday's vote to replace scandal-plagued Premier Ehud Olmert as party leader, but she may struggle to find enough coalition partners to command a parliamentary majority and avert early elections.
She faced her first challenge hours after winning the vote with a lead of just one percentage point over her main rival, Transport Minister Shaul Mofaz. Evidently disgruntled, Mofaz, a hawkish former military chief of staff, said Thursday he would take a break from politics in a move Israeli media called a "bombshell."
Senior Kadima figures described Mofaz's decision as "crushing the party," the Maariv daily said, amid media speculation he could return to the right-wing opposition Likud Party that he, Livni and Olmert left in 2005.
Livni, a 50-year-old former Mossad spy who has been leading the US-backed peace negotiations with the Palestinians, will have 42 days to form a new coalition if early parliamentary elections are to be avoided. At the Kadima meeting, marked by the absence of Mofaz, Livni said she hoped to maintain the current alliance with the center-left Labor Party and the religious party Shas. "There is no reason to change the set-up of the coalition," she said.
Labor members have reportedly sent out mixed messages, with some demanding a renegotiation of coalition agreements and party leader Ehud Barak, the defense minister, calling for snap elections.
Posted by: Fred ||
09/21/2008 00:00 ||
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Frozen Al: for the last time, the source html goes in the source box, not embedded as a link in the text. I don't have the time (or patience) to keep cleaning these up. AoS.
I am including this as a counter point to all of the doom and gloom being spread about the economy recently. Some little known facts:
The balance sheets of U.S. corporations as a whole, including many with headquarters in the Twin Cities area, are healthier than they've been in years. Corporate America was sitting on $14 trillion in cash in the second quarter, according to Federal Reserve flow of funds statistics. That's an 18 percent gain since 2002, after adjusting for inflation. Meanwhile, corporate debt over the same period rose only 8 percent.
That means many companies will be able take advantage of strategic opportunities.
"Clearly, the need to borrow is not that high," said Nariman Behravesh, chief economist at Global Insight, a leading economic forecasting firm based near Boston. "As a result, the corporate sector is somewhat insulated from this financial crunch that seems to be going on."
Posted by: Frozen Al ||
09/21/2008 14:21 ||
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#1
"Clearly, the need to borrow is not that high,"...
So who has been doing all the borrowing that got us to this 'crisis'?
Why are the turkeys in Washington talking about 'capitalizing' the market to support borrowing?
#2
This has been coming on for a long time. These companies are hoarding cash to protect themselves from the chaos. That is, while they are building reserves, they are just sitting on them, not lending money.
It means that until somebody breaks the ice and starts lending again, this money has been taken out of the economy.
For the first time since 1940, the short term T-bill went into negative territory recently. This means that people were willing to pay the government to protect their money, instead of getting interest on that investment. It means that they weren't willing to lend it to *anyone* but the government.
#3
For the first time since 1940, the short term T-bill went into negative territory
Moose in another thread you were saying TBills were worthless couldn't sell 'em for any soaring interest rate, let's work on the consistancy on our insanity okay?
#4
You only think there is a conflict here. It wasn't long after t-bills went negative in 1940 that the government had to introduce war bonds, because their budget was so stretched.
FY '09 is going to be a bloody nightmare for the feds, as tax revenues may be double digit less than they were for FY '08. The top 20% of income earners pay 80% of the federal income tax. They make most of their money through investments, and it has not been a good year for investments.
And 40% of all federal taxes are corporate taxes.
This means a huge budget deficit, if spending is anything like it was this year. And a huge budget deficit, plus huge bailout payments, means a butt load of t-bill offerings.
Right now, t-bills are one of the safest investments. But the more t-bills that are offered, the less safe they become. This is because the government does not pay yields via earnings, but by tax revenues.
In effect, issuing t-bills to pay off the yields of other t-bills. This next year, interest on the federal debt along may equal defense spending. It is already the fourth highest expenditure in the budget, after HHS, Social Security, and the Pentagon.
This article provides a decent summary of what's happening so far ...
Sept. 20 (Bloomberg) -- The Bush administration asked Congress for unchecked power to buy $700 billion in bad mortgage investments from U.S. financial companies in what would be an unprecedented government intrusion into the markets. The plan, designed by Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, is aimed at averting a credit freeze that would bring the financial system and economic growth to a standstill. The bill would bar courts from reviewing actions taken under its authority.
``It sounds like Paulson is asking to be a financial dictator, for a limited period of time,'' said historian John Steele Gordon, author of ``Hamilton's Blessing,'' a chronicle of the national debt. ``This is a much-needed declaration of power for the Treasury secretary. We can't wait until the next administration in January.''
As congressional aides and officials scrutinized the proposal, the Treasury late today clarified the types of assets it would purchase. Paulson would have authority to buy home loans, mortgage-backed securities, commercial mortgage-related assets and, after consultation with the Federal Reserve chairman, ``other assets, as deemed necessary to effectively stabilize financial markets,'' the Treasury said in a statement.
Continued on Page 49
Posted by: Steve White ||
09/21/2008 00:00 ||
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#1
The light hasn't dawned on them that T-bills are worthless. Nobody wants them even at sky high yields. The game is up, there is no $700B to spend.
Treasury can put those T-bills out there, but they are nothing but junk bonds.
#2
That's the deal: Even if this bailout has congressional support, 100 percent, where's the Fed going to get the money and who will buy the treasuries needed to fund the loan?
You gonna relay on foreign countries to buy ever cheaper Fed debt?
Where are you going to get the money? Gonna raise taxes on all citizens and transfer the wealth to Wall Street?
#3
Sorry, but it should be restricted to US corporations only. Let other countries bail out their own. None of them would help ours out from stupid mistakes.
#5
Probably not 'very profitable', but it wouldn't surprise many people if some of this bad debt they purchase turns out to eventually be worth more than they paid.
The T-bill is a junk bond?
Please tell me you're not serious?
Posted by: Mike N. ||
09/21/2008 7:12 Comments ||
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#6
Unlikely. The only way to make a profit is if the underlying real estate value exceeds the price the taxpayers are paying for the bad loans.
In the early 1990's the Savings and Loan bailout ended up costing taxpayers $125 billion out of the $500 billion taken over. Most of that in bad real estate loans. Extrapolate that to today's proposed $700 billion takeover and taxpayers will fork over $175 billion to the financial sector sharks and loan deadbeats.
A tiny portion of the bailout costs should be recovered by suing the crap out of the folks who profited handsomely from this. Unfortunately, they are too connected and have given too much campaign contribution money for the politicians to take any action against them.
Posted by: ed ||
09/21/2008 7:29 Comments ||
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#7
On second thought, it will probably cost the taxpayers more than $175 billion. The government took over S&Ls with a total portfolio value of $500 billion. Not all of that was bad real estate loans. This time the gov proposes to take responsibility for $700 billion in risky real estate.
Posted by: ed ||
09/21/2008 7:34 Comments ||
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#8
Moosey what would you have us do? Take the PU to the bank? Buy gold? Fishhooks? Likker? Gulp Bait? Call in the now defecting army and have the enforce the zoning laws. Jeeeeebus.
#10
A failure by the government to support the U.S. financial system could lead to ``a depression,'' Senator Charles Schumer told reporters in New York. ``To do nothing is to risk the kind of economic downturn this country hasn't seen in 60 years.'
Do you mean like suicides and greedy Charlie Shumer Washington politicians jumping out of skyscraper windows? And the downside is? Bring it on! I've got my Victory Garden ready to go!
#13
.5MT: If you max out your credit cards, you can no longer buy things with them. The same applies to the US government. If it cannot get credit, and thus create debt, it *has* no more money. It *must* stop spending. It cannot just magically increase the debt. The money has to come from somebody else.
Most Americans, and even congress, are hypnotized to think that the US government can just make money out of thin air. It cannot do this.
Unless somebody loans them the money, they are instantly broke, bankrupt. They have already spent this years tax revenues, and then some.
The only alternative is to stop spending money already appropriated.
Literally, to shut down a broad section of the US federal government, and divert the money it was apportioned to the other parts, the vital parts, until the next tax quarter brings in more.
Call it a "holiday", if you like. As much as 25%, my guess, of the government, will have to shut down.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
09/21/2008 14:34 Comments ||
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The light hasn't dawned on them that T-bills are worthless. Nobody wants them even at sky high yields.
This is not true. Last week the Treasury auctioned off at least $100 billion in short term notes, over & above previously scheduled routine auctions. The terms varied from 7 days to about 6 months. Interest rates varied from 0.1% to 2%. The lower the interest rate, the higher the demand.
As long as all other financial institutions continue in very doubtful condition, the demand for Treasury notes will continue strong.
The real crunch would be if the full faith & credit of the USA becomes doubtful, at which point even Federal Reserve Notes (i.e, cash) will lose their value. There are so many financial entities manipulating values at this time, it is hard to know where to turn just to maintain the value of one's savings.
#16
Probably not 'very profitable', but it wouldn't surprise many people if some of this bad debt they purchase turns out to eventually be worth more than they paid.
Black Swan has an interesting comment (after the usual boilerplate about how Bush is the anti-Christ - or would be, if BS were Christian):
If the banks were to receive $.60 on the dollar for their mortgage backed securities, it would be a total gift. Remember, Merrill Lynch "sold" its mortgage backed securities for $.22 on the dollar. ML also carried the paper. In other words, they gave the appearence that they got financial asbestos off their balance sheet, but in actuality, they were unable to sell it. ML had $30.6 billion of CDOs that were already marked down to $11.1 billion. Yet, they "sold" this garbage to Lone Star for 6.7 billion. That left Merrill Lynch taking another $4.4 billion write-down and 'selling' those securities at 22% of the original face value. If it were a real sale, it probably would have gone for $.05 on the dollar (it wasn't a real sale because Merrill still carried the liability for losses if the securities fell below $0.22 on the dollar - in essence, Merrill pledged the assets as collateral in exchange for a loan), or, possibly, couldn't have been sold at all.
The National Australia Bank (NAB) took a 90% writedown on its 550 million (AUD) in holdings of US mortgage debt. What it did was to admit that it's AAA-rated securities were virtually worthless. So what are these mortgages that the Treasury wants to buy with first $700 billion chunk of US taxpayer money worth? They are worth nothing. This is a gift from the former CEO of Goldman Sachs to his cronies. The first $700 billion increment of mortgages bought by the taxpayers will constitute a direct payment to the very banks that destroyed the American economic system. These mortgage backed securities will be collateralized by the absolute worst toxic waste the banks have been stuck with. Once in posession of this money, the banking elites can continue to pay themselves huge bonuses, while continuing the leveraged looting that became legal the day Bill Clinton Signed Phil Gramm's bill (Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act), a bill that vitiated the Glass-Steagall Act.
The problem with this deal is that real estate prices are still falling to historic norms, and all toxic instruments associated with them will continue to decline in value.
#17
The problem with this deal is that real estate prices are still falling to historic norms, and all toxic instruments associated with them will continue to decline in value.
They're already worth practically nothing, as the article notes. Assuming the Treasury pays practically nothing, they might not do too bad in terms of recovering a chunk of that 700 billion.
As for housing prices falling, yep. At the very least until next spring when the defaults begin to slow, then we can begin to work off the inventory glut.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
09/21/2008 16:32 Comments ||
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#18
As for housing prices falling, yep. At the very least until next spring when the defaults begin to slow, then we can begin to work off the inventory glut.
I think it will take way beyond spring. Hong Kong has a shortage of land, and ten years later, prices are still 50% of what they were in 1997. This is in a place without zero down payment, option ARM loans and really high savings rates, where the population went from 1m in 1945 to 7m today. What that means is that any assets bought today have quite a way down to go. I suspect a big chunk of the items Merrill sold were the 20 portion of 80/20 loans (i.e. zero downpayment mortgages where the 80 (first claim) portion of those loans was sold, and Merrill hung on to the 20 (secondary claim) portion).
#19
Interest rates varied from 0.1% to 2%. The lower the interest rate, the higher the demand.
See Moose, the Fed's seems to be able to move easily. Please, please consider wtf you are posting. Many new posters think you know what the fuck you are talking about.
#23
The Community Reinvestment Act probably contributed to this situation but likely was only a minor instrument. The 1st version of the CRA was in the 70s and it has been amended many times making it difficult to allocate specific blame to various sections of the law.
The execs at Fannie and Freddie deserve much of the blame as do others. The Bush administration tried to reform Fannie and Freddie in 2003 but they were thwarted (US Rep Barney Frank has claimed credit for the thwart).
#24
ZF: I suspect a big chunk of the items Merrill sold were the 20 portion of 80/20 loans (i.e. zero downpayment mortgages where the 80 (first claim) portion of those loans was sold, and Merrill hung on to the 20 (secondary claim) portion).
In plain English, in places like California, where median sale prices have gone down 30%, the secondary claims get nothing, and most holders of those debt securities don't even bother registering a claim, given the legal and procedural costs.
Foreclosure costs also take up a hefty chunk of the recoverable value of homes. Most foreclosures take months, and can take up to a year. Even after the foreclosure, the property can sit on the market for a while. During that time, squatters can leave their messes in the house, pipes can burst, mold can grow and thieves can strip the house of plumbing, electrical wiring, appliances, windows, and in the worst case, transients can burn it to the ground for kicks. The bottom line is that foreclosed properties can end up selling for a fraction of its reduced value. These are the hazards that a buyer of distressed assets faces. To buy them at anything like their real values, inspections and appraisals will have to made of portfolios of properties - something that will probably take many months - months during which property prices will continue to slide. And then there's the issue of unpaid utility bills, HOA bills and property taxes, all of which have to be paid, and will reduce the value of the home. The idea that the government will do a good job of getting value for money just isn't that high, especially when you consider the pay differentials between government and private sector employees. More likely, they (meaning we taxpayers) will get taken to the cleaners.
#25
mhw: The Community Reinvestment Act probably contributed to this situation but likely was only a minor instrument.
Barry Ritholtz says that in 2004, the SEC gave special dispensation for the five brokerages under siege to increase their leverage from 12 to 30. Notice how Piper Jaffray isn't in danger of going out of business. Notice how nobody's talking about AG Edwards getting wiped out.
#26
Moose: The light hasn't dawned on them that T-bills are worthless. Nobody wants them even at sky high yields. The game is up, there is no $700B to spend.
Treasury can put those T-bills out there, but they are nothing but junk bonds.
Actually T-bills are in great demand right now, because several money market funds have broken the buck (gone below $1 for every dollar of assets invested). The government's move to guarantee that money market funds will not break the buck has slowed down withdrawals from those funds. The problem is that if that guarantee persists, the temptation will be for those funds to invest in the riskiest securities (with the minimum required ratings) that they can find - in part to cover the insurance premium required by the government. A government guarantee for money market funds makes them a substitute for Treasuries. While yields for Treasury bills are at an all-time low, I expect a flood out of them into higher-yielding money market funds next week, meaning Treasury yields will spike.
#28
I think there's an urge to blame people who must have known this would happen and make them criminally liable. I think in this context, "know" is a strong word. I think they believed, as in every other financial mania (tulips, internet, et al), those fatal words - "This time, it's different". This is why a lot of CEO's rode their stock losses into the ground, and even bought more stock as their share prices fell. Everyone, from home buyers to mortgage securities investors, believed that home value to income ratios in America would start to approach the high levels of Europe and the rest of the developed world. They were wrong.
Nonetheless, everyone who bet money and lost during this financial bubble should not be allowed to shirk the consequences of his behavior. For one thing, giving him a free pass would give him an incentive to repeat this kind of unproductive risk-taking behavior in the future. For another, we taxpayers should not be responsible (and in any case, are too financially-strapped) for paying the bill for someone else's mistakes.
#29
mhw: Actually AGEdwards is owned by Wachovia and without the Treasury's action, Wachovia might go under.
You're right about AG Edwards 2007 takeout - my bad. Wachovia, however, will go under if the Treasury buys its assets at anything like their actual values. And that's the sticking point - if the Treasury's intent is to buy the assets for what they're actually worth, all they're doing is ensuring an orderly liquidation - and huge FDIC claims. If the intent is to rescue banks like Wachovia, they will pay much more than the assets are worth. And with the second option, taxpayers, not shareholders or bondholders, will take the hit and the management team that took the company to the cleaners will remain intact.
#30
.5MT: But then again, many new posters might confuse you with someone who knows more about economics than just snarky sniping.
As I mentioned in the parallel thread, "It wasn't long after t-bills went negative in 1940 that the government had to introduce war bonds, because their budget was so stretched.
FY '09 is going to be a bloody nightmare for the feds, as tax revenues may be double digit less than they were for FY '08. The top 20% of income earners pay 80% of the federal income tax. They make most of their money through investments, and it has not been a good year for investments.
And 40% of all federal taxes are corporate taxes.
This means a huge budget deficit, if spending is anything like it was this year. And a huge budget deficit, plus huge bailout payments, means a butt load of t-bill offerings.
Right now, t-bills are one of the safest investments. But the more t-bills that are offered, the less safe they become. This is because the government does not pay yields via earnings, but by tax revenues.
In effect, issuing t-bills to pay off the yields of other t-bills. This next year, interest on the federal debt along may equal or exceed defense spending. It is already the fourth highest expenditure in the budget, after HHS, Social Security, and the Pentagon."
Posted by: Frank G ||
09/21/2008 20:30 Comments ||
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#32
Treasury proposal keeps changing:
-- Now to buy "troubled assets" without specifying type
-- Treasury backup of money market funds limited to depositors as of 9/19 and excluding subsequent contributions (eliminating incentive to move bank deposits into MMF & also avoids competing with Treasury paper offerings)
-- firms with HQ's outside of US will now be eligible
I use spring - March sometime - As when defaults begin to fall a little because March of 2006 was when the the rediculious loan madness began to tail off.
Posted by: Mike N. ||
09/21/2008 22:48 Comments ||
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#34
Barry Ritholtz says that in 2004, the SEC gave special dispensation for the five brokerages
For those following along at home, here's the link:
A multi-volume chronology and reference guide set detailing three years of the Mexican Drug War between 2010 and 2012.
Rantburg.com and borderlandbeat.com correspondent and author Chris Covert presents his first non-fiction work detailing
the drug and gang related violence in Mexico.
Chris gives us Mexican press dispatches of drug and gang war violence
over three years, presented in a multi volume set intended to chronicle the death, violence and mayhem which has
dominated Mexico for six years.
Rantburg was assembled from recycled algorithms in the United States of America. No
trees were destroyed in the production of this weblog. We did hurt some, though. Sorry.
A study has found that the last Egyptian pharaoh, Cleopatra VII, was of Macedonian stock and contrary to popular belief not a beauty. 
(SomaliNet) A party official said on Thursday that Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe and prime minister designate Morgan Tsvangirai are deadlocked over appointing cabinet ministers after reaching a power-sharing agreement. 
You just knew that when Joe O'Connell, former head of the local AFL-CIO, got on stage here with John McCain and Sarah Palin things were not going smoothly for the Obama campaign among union voters.
Israeli Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni sought on Friday to restore unity within her governing Kadima Party as new divisions emerged in the wake of her narrow victory in this week's primary. Livni met top party members in a bid to stress the need to close ranks as the centrist party seeks to form a new coalition government. After the meeting, Livni told journalists that she wanted to form a government "as soon as possible, as long as everybody acts responsibly."
