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Gas Shortage in the South Creates Panic, Long Lines

While Ike was a lot less damaging than he could have been, it turns out that he did wreak enough havoc to create a severe gas shortage across the southeast.

I raise this for two reasons.

One, this can’t be helping the mood down there…running out of gas is both shocking and distinctly un-American.

Two, this just shows what happens to complex delivery networks that operate on a just-in-time delivery basis.

Gas Shortage in the South Creates Panic, Long Lines

by Chris Martenson

While Ike was a lot less damaging than he could have been, it turns out that he did wreak enough havoc to create a severe gas shortage across the southeast.

I raise this for two reasons.

One, this can’t be helping the mood down there…running out of gas is both shocking and distinctly un-American.

Two, this just shows what happens to complex delivery networks that operate on a just-in-time delivery basis.

FDIC May Need $150 Billion Bailout

by Chris Martenson

This news is from yesterday, but it bears mentioning.

[quote]From 2002 to 2007, U.S. lenders made a total of $2.5 trillion in subprime mortgages, according to the newsletter Inside Mortgage Finance. "Given the magnitude of the bad loans still on bank balance sheets, it would be miraculous for the FDIC to squeak by with losses of less than $200 billion,” Whalen says. [/quote]

Link

The pace at which these monster cost estimates are piling up tells us that there’s a very high probability that the Federal Reserve is going to be directly monetizing debt, if they haven’t started already.

This little chart from the Fed raises the prospect that direct monetization has already begun.

FDIC May Need $150 Billion Bailout

by Chris Martenson

This news is from yesterday, but it bears mentioning.

Link

This little chart from the Fed raises the prospect that direct monetization has already begun.

Government Seizes WaMu and Sells “Some” Assets

by Chris Martenson

As recently predicted here, Washington Mutual became the next big bank failure. However the details are slightly beyond my comprehension and I will have to wait for more details to understand exactly what happened here.

First of all, I have no idea what "some" or "virtually all" assets means.

[quote]Washington Mutual, with $307 billion in assets, is by far the biggest bank failure in history.

Regulators simultaneously brokered an emergency sale of virtually all of Washington Mutual, the nation’s largest savings and loan, to JPMorgan Chase for $1.9 billion, averting another potentially huge taxpayer bill for the rescue of a failing institution.

By taking on all of WaMu’s troubled mortgages and credit card loans, JPMorgan Chase will absorb at least $31 billion in losses that would normally have fallen to the F.D.I.C. [/quote]

Link to NYT article

And it is completely left unsaid why JPM would agree to eat $31 billion in losses the "normally would have fallen to the FDIC"

But I can explain that. That $31 billion will be foisted upon the unlimited billion bailout fund as soon as possible. In short, the US taxpayer is being asked to provide a massive grant to JPM so it can expand its business reach.

And, of course, the greed of Wall Street is so profound that they can’t even resist the urge to rub this fact into the public nose.

[quote]“We are building a company,” Mr. Dimon said in a brief interview. “We are kind of lucky to have this opportunity to do this. We always had our eye on it.”[/quote]

As if you needed any further confirmation about just how out of control the looting and theft of the public funds really are, the NYT provides it in the very next paragraph.

[quote]Mr. Fishman [MW’s new CEO], who has been on the job for less than three weeks, is eligible for $11.6 million in cash severance and will get to keep his $7.5 million signing bonus.[/quote]

$18.1 million dollars for less than three weeks. Only in America friends, only in America. We might like to tempt ourselves with the thought that this money came from some magic pool, but it came directly from investors, depositors and/or taxpayers.

Government Seizes WaMu and Sells “Some” Assets

by Chris Martenson

First of all, I have no idea what "some" or "virtually all" assets means.

[quote]Washington Mutual, with $307 billion in assets, is by far the biggest bank failure in history.

By taking on all of WaMu’s troubled mortgages and credit card loans, JPMorgan Chase will absorb at least $31 billion in losses that would normally have fallen to the F.D.I.C. [/quote]

Link to NYT article

And it is completely left unsaid why JPM would agree to eat $31 billion in losses the "normally would have fallen to the FDIC"

And, of course, the greed of Wall Street is so profound that they can’t even resist the urge to rub this fact into the public nose.

[quote]“We are building a company,” Mr. Dimon said in a brief interview. “We are kind of lucky to have this opportunity to do this. We always had our eye on it.”[/quote]

As if you needed any further confirmation about just how out of control the looting and theft of the public funds really are, the NYT provides it in the very next paragraph.

We have nothing to fear but (the) Fed itself

by Chris Martenson

Sorry to have been out most of the day – it was a day of non-stop phone calls and meetings.

At this point, I am about to ready to charge Ben Bernanke under the anti-terrorism law.

How else to explain these comments that came across the newswire today?

We have nothing to fear but (the) Fed itself

by Chris Martenson

Sorry to have been out most of the day – it was a day of non-stop phone calls and meetings.

At this point, I am about to ready to charge Ben Bernanke under the anti-terrorism law.

How else to explain these comments that came across the newswire today?

Dollar Crisis – What are the odds?

by Chris Martenson

The US dollar is poised to face its most serious challenges since the slamming of the gold window by Nixon in 1971. If the dollar fails and loses 20%, 40%, or even 90% of its international value, everything that we import, notably energy, will skyrocket in price.

And with that, so will all other basic living expenses, such as goods that are tied to energy. This means pretty much everything.

Dollar Crisis – What are the odds?

by Chris Martenson

And with that, so will all other basic living expenses, such as goods that are tied to energy. This means pretty much everything.

My personal view on the markets

by Chris Martenson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0Fi1VcbpAI

My personal view on the markets

by Chris Martenson

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0Fi1VcbpAI

Treasury seeks to expand definition of “troubled assets” covered by bailout

by Chris Martenson

I know things are moving fast, but I object to
retroactive editing of online articles without any indication that
this has been done.

I captured the quote (below) from this article in Bloomberg
earlier, but it no longer exists in the linked article. You can still
find this quote in the Google flush, but I don’t know how long it will
remain there either.

Treasury seeks to expand definition of “troubled assets” covered by bailout

by Chris Martenson

I know things are moving fast, but I object to
retroactive editing of online articles without any indication that
this has been done.

Dollar down, gold up, and markets down – bailout hits a snag (?)

by Chris Martenson

Looks like the markets are not all that impressed with the bailout plan. I suspect that his reflects concerns that the plan may not sail through smoothly, as hoped by Paulson and Bush.

Turns out a bunch of people wrote their representatives (thanks everybody!),and a lot of editorial pages came out against this massive act of larceny.

Dollar down, gold up, and markets down – bailout hits a snag (?)

by Chris Martenson

Looks like the markets are not all that impressed with the bailout plan. I suspect that his reflects concerns that the plan may not sail through smoothly, as hoped by Paulson and Bush.

Turns out a bunch of people wrote their representatives (thanks everybody!),and a lot of editorial pages came out against this massive act of larceny.

What the latest bailout plan means

by Chris Martenson

Now that the details are out, we can safely state that the US political and financial leadership has completely sold out the taxpayers and has done so in a manner that is startling, both in its recklessness and its brazenness.

The reckless part I will spell out in the details below.

The brazen part is in how this is being spun out, as if the entire plan were hatched in a hurried rush, at the last minute, after events forced the issue. This is the spin, but it is completely false.