financial turmoil
Sep. 22nd, 2008 12:22 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rmSome quick things about the current financial crisis:
1. It is irresponsible to tell people to get their money out of the banks. This is how bad things happen. Most of the institutions collapsing are very different from the sorts of banks you keep your checking and savings accounts in. I strongly suggest you go to http://www.myfdicinsurance.gov to get a better understanding of if and how your assets are covered by the FDIC. If you don't know, chances are they are. Simply because this implies you have simple assets in relatively small amounts.
2. If you are truly concerned about your money in the bank, even if it is covered by the FDIC, I strongly suggest not removing it but opening a secondary account at a credit union or one of the banks that is currently relatively well-capitalized (Bank of America, Bank of New York, and, I can't believe I'm saying this, Citibank). Split your funds between the two accounts, and when you decide which place as better customer service and you feel more confident, consolidate your funds back to one account. But taking your money out of the banking system entirely is not a good idea and not necessary.
3. While we're all sitting around saying "HOLY SHIT," "700 BILLION," and "THAT'S JUST TO START," it would behoove you to actually look at the current bailout plan (via several people on my friendslist, most recently![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
jonquil who gets the credit since this is when I've finally had time to write this).
There is, in my opinion a massive problem with it, and that's that it's completely subject to no oversight or examination in the future. I don't know about you, but not being able to call the crooks and liars who made this mess and are now being charged with cleaning it up on their actions in the process is pretty goddamn appalling to me. I suspect they think they can get away with this because a) we're all in shock and b) there are some pretty complex issues involved here.
HOWEVER, you should learn more and lodge your comments as regards the clause that says: "Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency." House and Senate contacts are available here (viajonquil): http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm and https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml . If anyone has any links specific to how to lodge complaints on the bail-out bill, please let me know.
4. I have a hard time imagining that any of you are voting for John McCain and at some point I will write an angry and uncomfortable screed about the state of things between you and I if you are. But let's overlook for that for a moment so I can make a note to you about the economic folly of considering John McCain for president in the current climate.
John McCain has stated he doesn't know much about the economy. He had threatened to fire major financial officials who do not, in fact, serve at the pleasure of the president (further demonstrating his ignorance), and, let us not forget, he was one of the Keating Five, who got us into our last major financial mess, back in the bad ol' S&L days.
This current situation is about 800 times worse and is truly a once-in-a-lifetime event (I say that as someone with living family members who recall the Great Depression and agree with me). In a time of legitimately frightening economic events, John McCain is not, in fact, qualified to be our president.
1. It is irresponsible to tell people to get their money out of the banks. This is how bad things happen. Most of the institutions collapsing are very different from the sorts of banks you keep your checking and savings accounts in. I strongly suggest you go to http://www.myfdicinsurance.gov to get a better understanding of if and how your assets are covered by the FDIC. If you don't know, chances are they are. Simply because this implies you have simple assets in relatively small amounts.
2. If you are truly concerned about your money in the bank, even if it is covered by the FDIC, I strongly suggest not removing it but opening a secondary account at a credit union or one of the banks that is currently relatively well-capitalized (Bank of America, Bank of New York, and, I can't believe I'm saying this, Citibank). Split your funds between the two accounts, and when you decide which place as better customer service and you feel more confident, consolidate your funds back to one account. But taking your money out of the banking system entirely is not a good idea and not necessary.
3. While we're all sitting around saying "HOLY SHIT," "700 BILLION," and "THAT'S JUST TO START," it would behoove you to actually look at the current bailout plan (via several people on my friendslist, most recently
jonquil who gets the credit since this is when I've finally had time to write this). There is, in my opinion a massive problem with it, and that's that it's completely subject to no oversight or examination in the future. I don't know about you, but not being able to call the crooks and liars who made this mess and are now being charged with cleaning it up on their actions in the process is pretty goddamn appalling to me. I suspect they think they can get away with this because a) we're all in shock and b) there are some pretty complex issues involved here.
HOWEVER, you should learn more and lodge your comments as regards the clause that says: "Decisions by the Secretary pursuant to the authority of this Act are non-reviewable and committed to agency discretion, and may not be reviewed by any court of law or any administrative agency." House and Senate contacts are available here (via
jonquil): http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm and https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml . If anyone has any links specific to how to lodge complaints on the bail-out bill, please let me know.4. I have a hard time imagining that any of you are voting for John McCain and at some point I will write an angry and uncomfortable screed about the state of things between you and I if you are. But let's overlook for that for a moment so I can make a note to you about the economic folly of considering John McCain for president in the current climate.
John McCain has stated he doesn't know much about the economy. He had threatened to fire major financial officials who do not, in fact, serve at the pleasure of the president (further demonstrating his ignorance), and, let us not forget, he was one of the Keating Five, who got us into our last major financial mess, back in the bad ol' S&L days.
This current situation is about 800 times worse and is truly a once-in-a-lifetime event (I say that as someone with living family members who recall the Great Depression and agree with me). In a time of legitimately frightening economic events, John McCain is not, in fact, qualified to be our president.
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no subject
Date: 2008-09-22 04:38 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-22 05:38 pm (UTC)(Is Canadian and) had to think about that for a long moment. WIN.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-22 05:57 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-22 05:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-23 10:52 pm (UTC)Canadian politics may involve staring into the Abyss, until it says "Hi there, how you doing?"
U.S. politics is like being nibbled to death by Cthulhu.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-23 11:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-23 11:17 pm (UTC)Paying attention to American politics is as addictive as reality TV... and as terrifying. Especially since the American economy is like the restoring force of the spring for ours. We may keep going in one direction for a while, but we're apt to follow you eventually, since... we sell you our stuff. And buy your stuff.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-23 11:23 pm (UTC)Home to 9 million barrels of oil a day, every day, for a hundred years, and which hopefully no one in the U.S. can find on a map.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-23 11:24 pm (UTC)Also, LOL. Yes. Yes indeed. Perhaps you should delete your comment. The CIA may be deciding Harper is a threat to the Canadian People as we speak.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-23 11:38 pm (UTC)I'm much more worried about Harper screwing us over until a U.S. "offer" of
Anschlussannexation looks, if not good, at least plausible.no subject
Date: 2008-09-24 12:13 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-24 12:22 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-24 12:24 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-22 04:38 pm (UTC)Can't we just talk about this a little bit, please?
no subject
Date: 2008-09-22 04:39 pm (UTC)Normally I can see "both sides" of a political issue regardless of my own stance. This is the first time I absolutely cannot understand anyone who wants to vote Republican this time around.
Either he's...unqualified for the presidency, or he's totally insulated from actual reality.
Date: 2008-09-23 11:28 pm (UTC)Re: Either he's...unqualified for the presidency, or he's totally insulated from actual real
Date: 2008-09-23 11:30 pm (UTC)Re: Either he's...unqualified for the presidency, or he's totally insulated from actual real
Date: 2008-09-23 11:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-22 04:55 pm (UTC)In addition to being the wrong person to lead this country because his vision for the US is wrong and his policies will hurt me, my friends and most of the rest of the country, McCain is either criminally incompetent or actually a crook.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-22 04:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-23 10:43 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-22 04:58 pm (UTC)Sounds a little like the bait-and-switch (or rather, hash-and-hurry) they pulled with USA-PATRIOT. Preying on people's action biases in times of crisis to pass legislation that suits them, but does precious little else.
What d'you make of this? I'm inclined to take much that comes from Kos with a grainlet, but there's certainly food for thought there.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-22 05:24 pm (UTC)The theory went as follows: If the markets are freed of government burdens (aka regulation and taxes), it would stimulate economic growth, which would lead to greater profits. Greater profits would lead to greater tax revenues for the government and greater incomes for working adults (which leads to higher tax revenue to the government); the combination of higher tax revenues from industry and private individuals would allow the government to cut taxes even further. It sounds great in theory, but failed hard-core in practice for three reasons: the necessary fiscal restraint on the part of the government never, ever happened (save a few years under the Clinton administration), the theory neglected to consider fraud, ethics, and moral hazard, and finally it makes the completely flawed assumption that the markets (property, bond, dot.com, etc) will always go up.
The S&L mess in the 1980s was the warmup to all of this, and Senator McCain was in the thick of that. Aside from that, he has solidly and steadfastly voted for nearly every single market deregulation bill since the first Reagan administration. He's said on his campaign trail that he wants to cut taxes (ostensibly to ease the burden on "Middle America") and let the free market do its job. That has been the Republican party line for the last 25 years, except when the free market fails, and then he advocates tax breaks and stimulus to prop up the market.
Add that to the laundry list about women's issues, LBGT issues, questions of ethics, education, military issues, and so on, and you know why you couldn't pay me enough to vote for him.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-22 05:49 pm (UTC)I was pleased to discover that last week (i.e., before the Big Bailout was proposed) my local Representative asked the Congressional Budget Office to account for how much money the Fed has had to commit so far, and asked the Fed to not commit anything more until Congress knows how far in the hole we are already.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-23 03:40 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-22 06:41 pm (UTC)- John McCain, Contingencies Magazine, September 2008.
Timing is everything.
no subject
Date: 2008-09-22 07:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-22 07:16 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-23 01:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-09-23 10:56 pm (UTC)I'm liking the empty headed frat boy better and better these days.
Thank you for posting this
Date: 2008-09-23 10:57 pm (UTC)It got me off my butt to contact my senators and congressman. It's section 8 of the proposed bailout that does not permit any oversight. I heard an interview of Congressman Ellison(?) from Minnesota by Ed Schultz, who pointed out that section to the Congressman. There was a pause, then he laughed. "That's bullcrap," the Congressman chucked. "Needless to say, I would not support anything that had that kind of language in it." Kinda makes me wish I lived in his district.
Even scarier is the revelation today that the Bush administration has been planning this bailout for months. Months??!!
Thanks again!
In a time of legitimately frightening economic events, John McCain is not qualified to be President.
Date: 2008-09-24 12:36 am (UTC)