Last week was Citigroup’s turn. Citi is one of the world’s best-known banking brands, and was once America’s largest bank by market capitalization.
Last week, investors knocked 60% off the value of Citi’s stock, in a nerve-rattling selloff that was too reminiscent of Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers for comfort.
Citigroup is too large to fail. It has about 200 million accounts in more than 100 countries. Its balance sheet has $2 trillion in assets. They also have more than $1 trillion in off-balance sheet assets. (The latter are of great concern because they’re not subject to the same reserve and capital requirements as the normal stuff.)
Here’s the term sheet that appeared on the FDIC’s web site in the wee hours this morning. Usually the authorities try to get things like this done by 7pm Eastern time on Sunday nights. But tonight they had a bit more wiggle room because markets in Tokyo are closed for a holiday.
Market reaction as I write (around 6am ET) is mildly positive. The US Treasury yield curve is flatter overall with higher yields in the belly.
The Treasury and the FDIC have essentially agreed to guarantee the value of certain assets of Citigroup, in a manner that shares a few features with prior bailouts, like the “Maiden Lane” structure engineered by the New York Fed for Bear Stearns, and the Treasury’s conservatorship of Fannie Mae/Freddie Mac.
Let’s see if I can explain this really simply.
Citigroup, the Treasury, and the FDIC will sit down and identify about $306 billion of Citi’s assets. (Most of them are securities backed by residential and commercial mortgages.) They’ll all agree on a notional current value for those assets.
Citi will be responsible for the first $29 billion of losses (if any) that are realized on these assets. (The $29 billion includes amounts that Citi has already reserved to protect against losses in these assets.)
The Treasury’s TARP program will take the second loss, up to $5 billion. And the FDIC takes the third loss, up to $10 billion.
If there are losses beyond that, the Federal Reserve will fund them by way of a non-recourse loan.
In return, Citigroup will give $7 billion in new preferred shares with an 8% coupon, that will be split between Treasury and the FDIC.
Also, Treasury will give Citigroup $20 billion in new capital from the TARP program (that’s the famous $700 billion bailout fund). This is on top of the $25 billion in new capital that Citi got from TARP last month, when Secretary Paulson did his Don Corleone imitation.
Among the other covenants are that Citigroup may not pay its common shareholders a dividend of more than a penny a share per quarter for the next three years. And they must agree to limits on executive compensation.
It’s not an exaggeration to say that the US taxpayers acquired a bank tonight. The government definitely would like to see new capital from private sources come into Citigroup, but the structure of this deal acknowledges the remoteness of that possibility.
The fact that Citigroup agreed to these terms is also an acknowledgement that their capital position was a lot weaker than they were willing to admit as late as last week. And the government is acknowledging that they will not allow Citigroup to fold.
You’ll object that simply backstopping 10 percent of Citigroup’s asset book hardly amounts to a taxpayer acquisition. But Citi’s common shareholders are left with almost no rights and very little discernible value in this deal. And there’s a clear presumption that if Citi needs more support in the future, it will be there. This is about as close as you can come to an acquisition of the bank by the taxpayers without actually using the word.
There is precedent for this kind of thing. In 1994, Sweden nationalized every single bank in the country, except for the handful that were willing and able to recapitalize from private sources. But most of the nationalizations were reversed within about two years as conditions stabilized.
At this moment, the future of the world’s financial system is simply opaque. Citigroup is now on explicit taxpayer-funded life support. Whether and how they emerge as a private company again are strictly TBD.
And the question for the coming week will be: Who’s next?
-Francis Cianfrocca
Daniel Horowitz
Neil Stevens
Moe Lane
Steve Maley
Jake Walker
I disagree with the idea...
Mark Malcolm (Diary) Monday, November 24th at 6:46AM EST (link)that any institution is ‘to big to fail’.
I do agree with the ‘who’s next’ question and am sick of seeing my tax dollars go down this rat hole.
I’m also tired of not seeing the cause of this squarely laid at the feet of the democratic congress who told us, ‘no, everything is fine with Freddie and Fannie’ and then blaming ‘fat cats’ on Wall Street.
I guess Justice isn’t the only thing that’s blind.
I may not agree with what you say but I’ll defend your right to say it to the very death.
Where's the outrage?
charliej (Diary) Monday, November 24th at 7:40AM EST (link)Let’s see; Robert Rubin sits on the board of Citi doesn’t he?
Paulson came from GS didn’t he?
Wholesale “purging” of management and boards are in order; but then they’ll just go into the government (like they’ve been doing..)
They continue to bailout their own; and “we the people” are getting shafted yet again…
What rat hole?
tankertodd (Diary) Monday, November 24th at 7:52AM EST (link)Our money isn’t exactly going down a rathole here. Our money is backing mortgages that folks like you and me own. Over the long term these mortgages will retain or exceed their value. Taxpayers have one advantage that other institutions don’t have: the ability to buy and hold.
I also agree in principle that neither Citigroup nor any other company is too big to fail. The problem is that right now if Citigroup failed investors would react sharply, and that reaction would cause problems. Bank panics are real and devastating. Imagine if everyone decided at the same time that a dollar isn’t worth a dollar anymore. The insuing reaction would be cataclysmic and indeed the dollar would become worth less even though nothing intrinsic changed. That’s scarier than being on the hook for mortgages that have lost paper value due to mark to market.
———————————
The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race – Chief Justice Roberts
We're socializing the costs of mortgage finance
Francis Cianfrocca (Diary) Monday, November 24th at 8:17AM EST (link)This is yet another little piece in a grand mosaic that started with Bear Stears back in March.
Mortgage finance is a business that, in America, is now almost completely insulated from free-market forces.
The reason this happened is that the bubble in housing values collapsed. It’s easy enough to say that everyone who owns a house she can’t afford should be foreclosed, and the banks should take those losses.
That means you have to find a home for the difference between what housing was worth in mid-2006, and whatever it will be worth over the next few years. That’s trillions of dollars in losses that someone has to eat. And the only entity that’s big enough is the US taxpayer.
Congress and the FDIC are embarked on a project to shift most of the cost of the housing collapse from banks onto homeowners themselves. This will be done by encouraging banks to renegotiate loans with the goal of preventing foreclosures. (In the case of banks directly controlled by FDIC, now including Citigroup, they will be forced to prevent foreclosures.)
Here’s how it works: you have a stable job, and you can afford your mortgage. But your house is now worth less than it was when you bought it. You don’t have the option to walk away from your house, or to refinance your loan. You’re stuck permanently paying too much for your home! Over ten, twenty, or thirty years, this has a cumulative and destructive effect on your real purchasing power.
The FDIC does not have enough assets to cover
Old_Crow (Diary) Monday, November 24th at 8:45AM EST (link)Citi’s balance sheet, which is one of the reasons why it is often described as ‘too big to fail’. How and why the regulators allowed a bank to grow to such a size is a good question that should be addressed.
“Enlightened statesmen will not always be at the helm.” — James Madison
What I want to know...
jcheney Monday, November 24th at 9:06AM EST (link)…is this whole bailout thing constitutional? Andrew Napolitano (former judge) says no. So now we are nationalizing banks, Obama wants to nationalize health care…where are we going? I am worried.
I hear everyday about some new industry with their hands out. I am not a conspiracy-theorist, but I am just wondering where this whole thing is going. It’s hard to believe anything you hear on the financial channels, because so far the bottom line is they don’t know.
I don’t expect anyone to have a crystal ball, but who can we really believe what we hear anymore?
Lehman Bros
rblack198 (Diary) Monday, November 24th at 9:23AM EST (link)Why is it becoming apparent that Lehman was the only institution allowed to fail? Was it small and of no consequence? If Citi is “too big to fail” I can only imagine the airlines, home builders, auto makers, auto parts makers, CC companies, mortgage lenders and all are “too big to fail” as well. Is the US taxpayers the only other institution besides Lehman that pays for all this?
The US Congress, Fed and Treasury have set a WICKED precedent that generation upon generation will be saddled with. I’m sure there are some that will say “imagine how bad it would be if we hadn’t done this”. Well its pretty stinking bad already.
Glad to see we’re only buying Trouble Assets from Citi, didn’t Paulson abandon buying trouble assets last week?
Forced to Loan
Scope (Diary) Monday, November 24th at 9:37AM EST (link)So Blackhedd, this means that we will be no better off than when the banks were “forced” to make bad loans to begin with. Is that correct?
As far as those holing mortgages that are being paid on time, if they want to sell or to get a home equity loan, they will have to go with a new appraisal value which may be thousands less than their mortgage payoff, therefore they have less borrowing power. Am I understanding that correctly?
And with the poor jobs forcast, and unemployment rising constantly, what happens if you lose your job and ability to pay your mortgage. Are the current plans including what may happen in the future?
I wonder when does the US govt. become
DGaines (Diary) Monday, November 24th at 9:40AM EST (link)to big to fail. It’s appears to be just a matter of time until the money runs out and wholesale printing begins.
Could someone at least fire all the idiots running each bank we taxpayers become involved with? Replacing them with new idiots would at least create the semblance of consequences.
It has become obvious that a whole generation of companies and banks were only making money based on their ability to transfer, create or utilize credit. In addition it appears that their strategies for doing so were based on faulty business logic and undue optimism. At this point the only thing that will temporarily restart the economy is a strong trend back toward heavy borrowing by both consumers and companies. Unfortunately it is my view that credit in this country has ceased being a tool and has become a way to earn a living. This is a recipe for a repeat somewhere down the road or perhaps for the government itself to overextend at some point and hyper-inflation to develop.
Sorry Blackhedd – I love your reporting and thanks for that, but here in the middle of the country I am starting to care little about the Northeast banking structure, companies, people etc. They screwed us. Let them pay the piper.
I’ll be growing what I need in the garden out back.
From the bloomberb article this morning.
DGaines (Diary) Monday, November 24th at 9:43AM EST (link)“The money that’s been pledged is equivalent to $24,000 for every man, woman and child in the country. It’s nine times what the U.S. has spent so far on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to Congressional Budget Office figures. It could pay off more than half the country’s mortgages”
Bloomberg article this morning
Like I said SCREWED!
Geithner
Scope (Diary) Monday, November 24th at 9:47AM EST (link)Blackhedd- What is your opinion of the Geithner pick. I am hearing on one side that it was a great choice because he is a pragmatist, a free trade believer and believes in monetary value. On the other hand I am hearing that he is known as Mr. Bailout. And, he was involved in the weekend meetings that are now bailing out Citi.
Citi- Beat Your Neighbor, Beg For Mercy?
William Collier Jr (Diary) Monday, November 24th at 9:49AM EST (link)Citi is suing my wife. After numerous efforts on our part to resolve a dispute over excessive fees and interest, disputes others settled amicably and who are being paid, we suddenly find they (Citi) are trying to take their case to court.
The irony is, of ALL the creditors I have ever dealt with, Citi is the LEAST amenable to negotiation or mercy. I had requested a full disclosure of what they said was owed and why and was actually told “it’s too late for that, we don’t have to give your anything..” (Something that no doubt will interest our State’s Attorney General).
These ingrates turned a $1500 debt we WANTED to pay at leas something on until things turn around into a $4000 “debt” they want paid NOW!
I have been sick for almost 2 years, I am better now and working to get back to work, and we lost $40,000 or so a year I was earning. All our creditors worked with us and accepted lower payments, stopped charging us fees and interest, and generally were easy to deal with.
Citi has tried various TRICKS to slip in a judgment against us, which we are now going to court to dispute and we are in the process of reporting to our Attorney General.
People should pay what they owe, and if they are really down and out, they should at least TRY and pay something. On the other hand, you can’t ask ME to help bail YOU out and then go out and beat your neighbor, refusing to have any mercy or to budge one bit, refusing even to STOP charging exorbitant fees in order to PILE ON when people are down and out.
I am against bailouts in general, even if that means I have to suffer a depression and lose everything, because they basically involve selling our children’s future. That being said, I believe that of ALL those who are seeking our tax dollars, Citi is the LAST lender who should EVER be asking for mercy!
William R Collier Jr.
www.Freedomist.com
We are already there
former_GOPer (Diary) Monday, November 24th at 9:50AM EST (link)The money that is being supplied to cover these bailouts is “printing press” money. The US is broke and acting like a sub-prime borrower. You are correct in that the bank will bust and sooner than you think. It makes you wonder if the bankstas and their buddies in the Gov’t aren’t planning to debase the currency, pay their debts with inflated dollars and reset.
Forced to make bad loans...
izoneguy (Diary) Monday, November 24th at 9:50AM EST (link)…I think this is STILL going on. ACORN has not stopped that effort at all. But now I think banks that would be sued by people wanting loans that were denied loans will probably have a better case if it goes to court.
Problem is the banks would rather write up a bad loan then deal with lawsuits. And this is one of the biggest reasons the housing bubble burst. Until the CRA is abolished or strict guidelines on home lending are written, this will continue to be a cancer on the housing & mortgage industry.
The point cannot be made often enough: Modern liberalism, as embodied in the Obama presidency, is the defender of the status quo. And the status quo is a road to economic ruin. Political forces cannot redistribute the wealth that the economic system does not produce.
If I am paying that much...
izoneguy (Diary) Monday, November 24th at 9:53AM EST (link)…for these bailouts then I want some stock in all of these companies. Maybe a class action lawsuit from 50 million Americans will stop this crap.
The point cannot be made often enough: Modern liberalism, as embodied in the Obama presidency, is the defender of the status quo. And the status quo is a road to economic ruin. Political forces cannot redistribute the wealth that the economic system does not produce.
yes, that's what I'm talking about
havermeyer Monday, November 24th at 10:16AM EST (link)I will be watching my bank carefully. They become government owned and I’m going to look for a non-government owned bank if that’s even going to be an option in the future.
This whole thing stinks to high heaven.
All these smarty pants should be broke and begging for change (coins, not Obama) in a gutter somewhere. But they’re not even being reprimanded…and they’re taking government (not ours…I didn’t sign up for this and besides, they spent all our money long ago) money right in front of us in broad daylight.
un freaking believable
If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
If we're going to accept the idea
Next93 (Diary) Monday, November 24th at 10:31AM EST (link)If we’re going to be asked to bail out private businesses that are “too large to fail”, then we should also be doing something to make sure that (a) they don’t get that way in the first place, and (b) the ones that are already that size get broken up.
I’ve never been that fond of anti-trust laws in the past, but I’m starting to see a real use for them now.
Obama was The One in 2008.
He’ll be a BIGGER one in 2012.
Every single one of us
kowalski (Diary) Monday, November 24th at 10:34AM EST (link)Every single one of us (except, of course, for the people who have already retired with two or three pensions and disability payments to boot) is going to have to work an extra two weeks a year for the next ten years at the minimum to pay off the costs of this enormous malfeasance.
Get ready to stop going on vacation.
And all of this is before we even begin to think about the enormous problems with entitlement programs.
By the time it’s over, every man and woman of working age in this country is going to be working for most of the year to pay the government to hand out the money to other people.
We’ve screwed ourselves into being a Socialist country. Welcome to the 21st Century.
Defend Liberty — Join the NRA | Live in Massachusetts? Join GOAL.
can I self reply? or...David Brooks is a dummy
havermeyer Monday, November 24th at 10:49AM EST (link)If you’re reading this, then yes.
Spengler has this…
These facts came to mind while reading David Brooks’ November 21 New York Times panegyric to Obama’s prospective cabinet, which gushes, “Its members are twice as smart as the poor reporters who have to cover them, three times if you include the columnists.” Brooks added, “… as much as I want to resent these overeducated Achievatrons … I find myself tremendously impressed by the Obama transition.”
What a fool. if they’re so smart why do they have their hand out? They’re not smart, they’re above average at self preservation and below average on ethics.
And if you’re so smart Brooks why do people mock everything you write? Hell, I’ve never even read one of your articles, but you’re arguments are such easy targets, your name keeps coming up in columns I read.
And F’n Obama and his damn change. So, conservatives are dummies and never have any solutions. What the heck are 50,000 bailouts. Oh, and +1 when Obama gets sworn in? That’s great. What original thinking…How did they ever think of a bailout or stimulus package or printing money off of home computers as a solution? Genius.
I’m going back to work. Enough venting for one day. Hand outs are for Chumps.
If it moves, tax it. If it keeps moving, regulate it. And if it stops moving, subsidize it.
It's way out of hand, we've lost all control
Kate_Shanahan (Diary) Monday, November 24th at 10:51AM EST (link)Congress, the Treasury and the Feds will do what they want to complete the CYA.
Don’t the Saudis own 30% of Citi? Isn’t this great. We give our enemies a blank check to destroy us.
One of our enemies is “hedging”:
Kate
“It is the American vice, the democratic disease which expresses its tyranny by reducing everything unique to the level of the herd.” Henry Miller
It's time for another Tea Party
Kate_Shanahan (Diary) Monday, November 24th at 11:01AM EST (link)I’m willing to work and extra two weeks and donate my time to any group that get the message out about what really happened here and give a bully pulpit to restoring America.
Anyone have an alternative to the total lockdown the left has on education, entertainment and media??
Kate
“It is the American vice, the democratic disease which expresses its tyranny by reducing everything unique to the level of the herd.” Henry Miller
You are in it...
izoneguy (Diary) Monday, November 24th at 11:14AM EST (link)…the internet will rule. If Obama does not try and shut it down. At this point the internet is like a wildfire that cannot be controlled. I think if Washington did try to control the internet it will be a hackers revolt and they can shut-down the government. The best & the brighest do not work for Washington. I feel like my kids waste the time they are at school. I see what they work on and my 9 year old son is way beyond his 4th grade studies. At school the computers are old and slow and the software they are learning from is probably circa 1999. Once the kids get home the real work begins. At the last parent teacher conference my sons 4th grade teacher remarked about my sons computer skills and that he had shown her how to “Google”…..
The MSM’s mask is being torn off and as it’s advertising revenues fall they will probably be in line for their bail-out.
The point cannot be made often enough: Modern liberalism, as embodied in the Obama presidency, is the defender of the status quo. And the status quo is a road to economic ruin. Political forces cannot redistribute the wealth that the economic system does not produce.
The people who voted for Obama
Kate_Shanahan (Diary) Monday, November 24th at 11:21AM EST (link)get their info from the Democrats, MSM and entertainment. The young people are brainwashed by the education system. THAT is what needs to be counterbalanced.
Conservative teachers, conservative textbook authors and publishers, conservative entertainment producers, conservataive media. The internet doesn’t work when you don’t have any foothold at all with the group that put Obama in office.
Kate
“It is the American vice, the democratic disease which expresses its tyranny by reducing everything unique to the level of the herd.” Henry Miller
Is anyone the tiniest bit suspicious about this financial meltdown?
Kate_Shanahan (Diary) Monday, November 24th at 11:29AM EST (link)We should not be bailing out the world, and that is what it appears we are doing. It’s time for the mousey American public to roar on this one.
Remember all of the talk about financial terrorism? Is that not what we are experiencing?
WT_? I say stop and collect wits here. This does not pass the smell test.
Kate
“It is the American vice, the democratic disease which expresses its tyranny by reducing everything unique to the level of the herd.” Henry Miller
Looks like we're running out of fingers, seriously
civil truth (Diary) Monday, November 24th at 11:44AM EST (link)Blackhedd, you’re starting to sound like Howard Cosell narrating a sports competition between the Titanics and the Icebergs.
Sure seems like we’re standing in front of a dike that keeps springing new leaks, and like the proverbial Dutch boy our Washington bankers keep sticking another finger to plug the newest leak.
At least I notice that nobody’s promising that the latest rescue signals the end to the crisis.
The only thing that’s going to stop things is when the pressure head on the other side of the wall is relieved. Unfortunately, it’s starting to look like that pressure drop will result from a substantial lateral transfer of water, with the velocity vector pointed in my face.
And the lifeboats have all been commandeered already. Better hope I can float…
Or is there a King Canute around with a more effective battle strategy than his last skirmish?
The greatest evil…is conceived and ordered (moved, seconded, carried, and minuted) in clean, carpeted, warmed, and well-lighted offices, by quiet men with white collars and cut fingernails and smooth-shaven cheeks who do not need to raise their voice. Hence, naturally enough, my symbol for Hell is something like the bureaucracy of a police state or the offices of a thoroughly nasty business concern. -C.S. Lewis
http://www.gmsplace.com/
Not "the tiniest bit," but rather a whole
Achance (Diary) Monday, November 24th at 11:47AM EST (link)Helluva bunch. See my, Did we lose a war … diary. I also wrote one a couple of weeks ago questioning whether the whole thing was a contrivance. The reaction to both has been mixed. Blackhedd is the expert and he says nobody is powerful enough to do it. I’m not convinced.
In Vino Veritas
Credit Card Debt Defense
jimmuy8 (Diary) Monday, November 24th at 11:51AM EST (link)In the credit card debt defense business, Citi is known as one of the worst at filing. A friend who used to work at one of their firms said they’d file suit over $500. When the filing fees and process fees would cost around $300. And, usually 40% of any recovery goes to the attorney.
I know a lot of “good, solid conservatives” like to think it’s only because one is a deadbeat, ne’er-do-well that they quit paying on their credit cards. Get back to me when the “universal default” rules (which you already agreed to) kicks all your revolving credit accounts up to 24% because you were late on your electric bill. (Which rate will likely be closer to 40 or 50% if there are any fees tacked on.)
The Democrats and Republicans already bailed out the credit card industry once with the BAPCPA of 2005. What a nice, fat gift that was: Debtors, already squeezed dry by credit card companies and forced to bankruptcy, now are forced into Chapter 13–4 more years of bad credit while they have to pay even more money to those they’ve already paid more than they ever borrowed. And up until this year, the credit card companies have been seeing profit margins that make oil execs blush.
No, Citi and the rest are not failing because of bad debtors–they are failing because their business model was “squeeze a few more drops of blood out of those turnips.” Now, the turnip is dead and it’s our fault? We’re the ones who have to pay? Because they are “too big to fail?” And then, when (or if) good times return, they’ll be around–bigger than ever–to go right back to squeezing more turnips? Gee, that sounds like an awesome idea.
We got a stake in Dracula’s heart and he screams, “Who’ll keep my minions under control if I die?!” So, the Democrats and Republicans are rushing in teams of surgeons and barrels of our blood . . .
Here's what you ought to do.
Francis Cianfrocca (Diary) Monday, November 24th at 11:51AM EST (link)You can buy a credit-default swap on US Treasury debt for 35 basis points. If your assessment is correct, then you’ll end up with a huge fistful of inflated dollars.
(Of course, if you’re wrong, you’ll get one heck of a collateral call.)
If this is not a matter of national security
Kate_Shanahan (Diary) Monday, November 24th at 12:39PM EST (link)nothing is. I think a consortium of folks can be powerful enough to do this. Remember how long they take to plan these things? This has been years in the making, 10 or more.
I am so pissed I can’t see straight.
Kate
“It is the American vice, the democratic disease which expresses its tyranny by reducing everything unique to the level of the herd.” Henry Miller
How do you do that?
Scope (Diary) Monday, November 24th at 1:59PM EST (link)Kate- Remember the “few” actors or hollywood types that came out in support of McCain, they were ostracized by the Libs. Some won’t even admit they are R’s or they may never work again. The only way to get teachers to teach conservative ideas would be to get rid of the teachers union, and that ain’t gonna happen. As far as the MSM, well that ain’t gonna happen either. Soros has way too much money that he more or less stole from england.
So Oil and Gas are up 10% today...
charliej (Diary) Monday, November 24th at 2:15PM EST (link)And it’s being partially blamed on the fall in the USDollar (which is down about 0.8% vs a basket of currencies; that’s 8/10th of a percent..)
Any question as to what’s really behind the oil and gas markets should really be erased; it’s minimally supply and demand but mostly “traders..” Which we’ve just bailed out yet again..
DISGUSTING…
Bloomberg sums it up nicely: ‘They (Congress) Got Snookered’ (w/link)
Alberta (Diary) Monday, November 24th at 4:03PM EST (link)Anti-bailouters, some red meat.
But heres what I want to point out:
Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.
Abraham Lincoln
Erik Cantor
Scope (Diary) Monday, November 24th at 5:24PM EST (link)Who was just made the minority whip and is considered an up and coming with the GOP not only voted for the bailout, but he actually promoted it. So much for the bright being smart.
Did he? Shame. I liked him.
Alberta (Diary) Monday, November 24th at 6:43PM EST (link)n/t
Sir, my concern is not whether God is on our side; my greatest concern is to be on God’s side, for God is always right.
Abraham Lincoln
Nope, sorry...
Mark Malcolm (Diary) Monday, November 24th at 8:12PM EST (link)That money doesn’t back my mortgage or anyone elses who is paying on time and will continue to do so (like upwards of 90-95% of all mortgages I believe though I could be wrong).
We the tax payers are going to foot the bill for the loans the banks didn’t want to make but were told they HAD to make all the way back to Carter, then Clinton, and yes, Bush is culpable as well.
However, when the Republicans called Bull$#!+ back in ’04 we were all told by the liberals, ‘everything is fine. nothing to worry about here’. Now it’s collapsed and the same people who said it was fine are now in charge of making it ‘fine’ again.
I may not agree with what you say but I’ll defend your right to say it to the very death.
If banks can become too big to fail, then the merging and acquisition of banks needs to be stopped
JSobieski (Diary) Monday, November 24th at 11:54PM EST (link)The only institution in the country that is too big to fail is the federal government. Everything else needs to be fair game.
My rules of the road for primary season.
Rule #1: Vote for YOUR first choice in the primaries
Rule #2: Vote for the R in the general.
Rule #3: Don’t let anyone convince you to violate Rule #1 or Rule #2
Rule #4: When in a center-right argument, reaffirm Rules #1-#3–it will help us all to get along better.
Rule #5: If you are using the language of the left, you probably aren’t furthering conservativism
Rule #6: The priority is issues first, candidates second, and supporters third. Nobody is bigger than the issues. Conversely, if you spend your time focusing on supporters, you are wasting everyone’s time.
STOP THE MADNESS!
A reduction in the rate of spending increases is NOT a cut!
In-state tuition for illegals is NOT amnesty!
Requiring someone to pay their medical bills is NOT an individual mandate!
Reducing tax rates is NOT a tax increase!
JSobieski, you've hit it
Reaper0Bot0 (formerly Han_Pritcher) (Diary) Tuesday, November 25th at 12:10AM EST (link)We’ve created a system that encourages this sorts of mergers because the surviving (massive) firms will not be allowed to die. As if there weren’t enough reasons for consolidation….
I’m a lying troll.
I would actually prefer allowing the mergers/acquisitions to occur, as well as for large entities to "die"
JSobieski (Diary) Tuesday, November 25th at 12:14AM EST (link)but it seems to me that if this “to big to die” meme is going to be used to justify these interventionist policies, then I am definitely against Big Banks.
My rules of the road for primary season.
Rule #1: Vote for YOUR first choice in the primaries
Rule #2: Vote for the R in the general.
Rule #3: Don’t let anyone convince you to violate Rule #1 or Rule #2
Rule #4: When in a center-right argument, reaffirm Rules #1-#3–it will help us all to get along better.
Rule #5: If you are using the language of the left, you probably aren’t furthering conservativism
Rule #6: The priority is issues first, candidates second, and supporters third. Nobody is bigger than the issues. Conversely, if you spend your time focusing on supporters, you are wasting everyone’s time.
STOP THE MADNESS!
A reduction in the rate of spending increases is NOT a cut!
In-state tuition for illegals is NOT amnesty!
Requiring someone to pay their medical bills is NOT an individual mandate!
Reducing tax rates is NOT a tax increase!
Consolidation often enhances efficiency, but if being too big is going to justify these bailouts, then I am all for some constraints on efficiency
JSobieski (Diary) Tuesday, November 25th at 12:17AM EST (link)nt
My rules of the road for primary season.
Rule #1: Vote for YOUR first choice in the primaries
Rule #2: Vote for the R in the general.
Rule #3: Don’t let anyone convince you to violate Rule #1 or Rule #2
Rule #4: When in a center-right argument, reaffirm Rules #1-#3–it will help us all to get along better.
Rule #5: If you are using the language of the left, you probably aren’t furthering conservativism
Rule #6: The priority is issues first, candidates second, and supporters third. Nobody is bigger than the issues. Conversely, if you spend your time focusing on supporters, you are wasting everyone’s time.
STOP THE MADNESS!
A reduction in the rate of spending increases is NOT a cut!
In-state tuition for illegals is NOT amnesty!
Requiring someone to pay their medical bills is NOT an individual mandate!
Reducing tax rates is NOT a tax increase!