View from The Ships Crow's Nest >>>>>

PAUL B. FARRELL Wall Street's 'Disaster Capitalism for Dummies' 14 reasons Main Street loses big while Wall Street sabotages democracy ARROYO GRANDE, Calif. (MarketWatch) -- Yes, we're dummies. You. Me. All 300 million of us. Clueless. We should be ashamed. We're obsessed about the slogans and rituals of "democracy," distracted by the campaign, polls, debates, rhetoric, half-truths and outright lies. McCain? Obama? Sorry to pop your bubble folks, but it no longer matters who's president. Why? The real "game changer" already happened. Democracy has been replaced by Wall Street's new "disaster capitalism." That's the big game-changer historians will remember about 2008, masterminded by Wall Street's ultimate "Trojan Horse," Hank Paulson. Imagine: Greed, arrogance and incompetence create a massive bubble, cost trillions, and still Wall Street comes out smelling like roses, richer and more powerful!

By Amory B. Lovins, Imran Sheikh, and Alex Markevich Correction Appended Nuclear power, we’re told, is a vibrant industry that’s dramatically reviving because it’s proven, necessary, competitive, reliable, safe, secure, widely used, increasingly popular, and carbon-free—a perfect replacement for carbon-spewing coal power. New nuclear plants thus sound vital for climate protection, energy security, and powering a growing economy. There’s a catch, though: the private capitalmarket isn’t investing in new nuclear plants, and without financing, capitalist utilities aren’t buying. The few purchases, nearly all in Asia, are all made by central planners with a draw on the public purse. In the United States, even government subsidies approaching or exceeding new nuclear power’s total cost have failed to entice Wall Street.

Treasury-Only Money Market Funds Fund Name Toll-Free No. Web Address ABN AMRO Treas MMF/Common Cl (800) 992-8151 http://www.astonasset.com/ AllianceBernstein Treasury Reserves (800) 251-0539 www.alliancebernstein.com American Century Capital Presv Fund (800) 345-2021 www.americancentury.com American Performance US Treas (800) 762-7085 www.apfunds.com BB&T US Treas MMF/Trust Shrs (800) 228-1872 www.bbtfunds.com BBH US Treasury MMF (800) 625-5759 www.bbh.com BNY Hamilton Treas MF/Hamltn Classic (800) 426-9363 www.bnyhamiltonfunds.com CitiFunds Premium US Treas Resvs (800) 846-5200 www.citibank.com CitiFunds US Treasury Reserves (800) 846-5200 www.citibank.com DWS US Treasury Money Fund (800) 621-1048 https://www.dws-scudder.com Dreyfus 100% US Treasury MMF (888) 782-6620 www.dreyfus.com Dreyfus US Treas Reserves/ Cl R (888) 782-6620 www.dreyfus.com Evergreen Treasury MMF/Cl A (800) 343-2898 evergreeninvestments.com Fidelity US Treasury MMF (800) 343-3548 www.fidelity.com Fifth Third ...

Crude Oil Price Forecast : "There will be no new refineries by Giuseppe Marconi - 2008/07/23 Oil companies won't be building more refineries, because there won't be enough oil left to refine by the time new refineries could pay for themselves. There hasn't been a new refinery built in the US since 1976. In 1982, there were 301 operable refineries in the U.S and they produced about 17.9 million barrels of oil per day. Today there are only 149 refineries, and they're producing 17.4 million barrels. This increase in efficiency is impressive but not a miracle. As with everything these outputs are carefully calculated to optimize profitability. Let me explain. Truth be told, new refineries require tremendous financial commitments which take anywhere from 15 to 25 years to amortize. With record oil prices it would make perfect sense to invest in a few refineries today, except... for the lack of oil to be refined 20 years from now. Trends have predicted that peak oil prod...

How This Bear Market Compares - Interactive Graphic - NYTimes.com

A Solvency crisis requires Capital NOT buying of JUNK INVESTMENTS AT TAXPAYER EXPENSE! The Becker-Posner Blog: The Financial Crisis: Why Were Warnings Ignored?--Posner : "The crisis appears to be one of solvency rather than (or perhaps along with) one of liquidity; banks, along with insurers of bonds and other securities, are undercapitalized and so, as I suggested last week, require a capital infusion rather than just a purchase of frozen assets. All of which merely underscores the enormous cloud of uncertainty that has enveloped the crisis and left economists struggling to understand the causes, magnitude, future course, and cures of what is shaping up as the biggest economic bust since the Great Depression of 1929 to 1933. Last week's stock market crash may also reflect doubts about the government's competence to deal effectively with the crisis. There is a sense that its reluctance to take an equity stake in the banks reflects a doctrinaire hostility to public ownershi...

The derivatives in your portfolio. If some of your savings are in a mutual fund, you’re probably an investor in derivatives. Many bond funds, including the nine most widely held funds, use derivatives both to protect against losses and to increase returns, because these swaps can appreciate in value when the prospects for a company and the overall economy improve. Funds aren’t required to disclose derivatives holdings, although those that make them a major part of their strategy typically do so. To see if your fund holds derivatives, check its prospectus and the listing of holdings contained in Securities and Exchange Commission form NQ. Those forms can be accessed at Sec.gov. If you’re still unsure about your fund’s holdings and don’t want to take the chance, financial advisors say, don’t hesitate to switch to an ultra-safe government bond fund. “Don’t be complacent,” says financial advisor Lawrence Glazer. “If you are uncomfortable with something, don’t be afraid to make a change.”

Mish's Global Economic Trend Analysis: Cancerous Activity of the Fed and Treasury : "Instead of attacking the cancer (the Fed itself), Bernanke is Pushing on a String In Academic Wonderland. The problem is not a failure to lend, the main problem is there simply is no pool of real savings to lend. Furthermore, given rampant overcapacity and rising unemployment, there is no reason to lend even if the funding was available. Robbing taxpayers to the tune of $700 billion does not change the equation."

Dear Wall Street: We're Watching You : "we're not at all pleased that you nearly managed to ruin capitalism for the rest of us. And we have folks in our midst who are capable of reading financial statements. Remember those big fat bonuses you got last year for turning toxic paper into AAA-rated inverse IO Strips which you dumped on some benighted bank somewhere (who really ought to have known better)? If your bonuses come within an order of magnitude of where they were last year, I'm pretty sure there will, in fact, be bloodthirsty mobs. By the time they're done, Wall Street will look like it has been hit with a wholly unlikely combination of calamities including hurricanes, staph infections, choking, golf ball-sized hail, dropsy, carpal tunnel syndrome, homeowners' association meetings, and Mongol invasion. It's the kind of violent force of nature you're pretty sure you'd rather have pointing away from you. Congress knows it, too. They would like n...

That’s more than the entire world’s GDP combined The $60 Trillion Nightmare of Credit Default Swaps - Seeking Alpha : "The 60 plus trillion dollar nightmare of the CDS (Credit Default Swaps) market is a dangerous anomaly of the tail wagging the dog, pushing risk premium higher against a downward spiral of collapsing market capitalization and lowered credit ratings for corporate debt. Imagine, 60 plus trillion dollars in total existing liabilities in the unregulated OTC (Over-The-Counter) market of Credit Default Swaps means that our government, in fact, all governments interconnected in the global economy could not possibly “bail out” that entire amount if ever forced to claim. That’s more than the entire world’s GDP combined!" WHAT ARE CREDIT DEFAULT SWAPS? MARKETPLACE.ORG > Reaction has been very positive to Paddy’s first lesson on collateralized debt obligations — “Uncorking CDOs.” If you haven’t seen it, he’ll make you an expert .

Slow down in BRIC's leading to worldwide recession Gmail - Financial Crisis Going Global - The slowing in the BRICs, which account for 40% of global growth, as well as the G7 will likely have knock on effects for other emerging markets. As a group, emerging markets have suffered significant outflows from the equity and bond markets in the past quarter, with many equity markets down 40-60% this year. Emerging markets with current account deficits and exposed banks like Turkey, Iceland and Korea have been particularly hard hit amid deleveraging and flight to the dollar (and yen).

More work to do Steps to Halt the Slide - Council on Foreign Relations : "Goldman Sachs or Morgan Stanley branches on the corner anytime soon. And even acquiring other banks over time, as a way to acquire deposits, is going to take a lot of time. Ninety percent of their borrowing is still overnight; they're leveraged thirty times, and they lend in ways that are illiquid and longer term"

Whatever money you may need for the next five years, please take it out of the stock market right now, this week by Cramer naked capitalism: Roubini: Fed Fiddles While Rome Burns : ..One spur for the depth of the move was normally relentless bull Jim Cramer's advice pre-opening, on the Today Show, that, “Whatever money you may need for the next five years, please take it out of the stock market right now, this week." The yen has rallied nearly 4% in a mere week, another sign of an accelerated retreat from risk. Brent crude is below $85 and gold has rise $36 per ounce so far today. (Update: reader Dwight pinged that the stock market staged a monster recovery immediately before the close, from a low of just over 9500 to 10,000. What gives? The trigger may have been the request by France for an emergency G8 meeting, but no one has even agreed!] Nouriel Roubini has weighed in even more forcefully on these issues in "The Fed keeps on wasting time while the mother of all bank r...

Jesse's Café Américain : Have you wondered why the Treasury asked for a $700 Bn emergency package with the full force of the Fed behind them, and gave the Congress less than a week to deliver it? Either these fellows have lost their nerve or the markets are riding to a fall, and it could be terrific. We've been looking for some event, something that would have created such an extraordinary set of actions as we have seen in the past few days. This just might be it. Special thanks to Yves Smith for flagging it. Time to start settling those Credit Default Swaps for Fannie and Freddie (Oct. 6), Lehman Brothers (Oct. 10) and Lehman Brothers (Oct 23). LIBOR is eight standard deviations from the norm, because the banks don't know who is holding what in their cards, but there might be some Aces and Eights in there. The TED spread is at an all time record high. An insurance company is said to be heavily exposed. Do you need to buy a vowel? Let's hope we get lucky. Brace for impa...

THE BILL STATUS: Bill# has changed to HR1424: http://www.opencongress.org/bill/110-h1424/show Senate used an old renewable energy tax credits bill from last December and added the new Bailout bill to it. Who would guess. Senate vote breakdown on Wednesday night: http://www.opencongress.org/roll_call/show/5093 Last Monday vote breakdown: http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2008/09/metrofax-compatible-fax-list-for-all.html The 12 key House Nah votes last Monday; up for re-election: http://globaleconomicanalysis.blogspot.com/2008/09/congressional-most-endangered-list.html Live on CSPAN – Friday House vote http://www.c-span.org/Watch/C-SPAN_wm.aspx starting at 9 am Friday October 03, 2008 THE MARKET SITUATION: Nouriel Roubini Oct 3, 2008 Financial and Corporate System is in Cardiac Arrest: The Risk of the Mother of All Bank Runs It is now clear that the US financial system - and now even the system of financing of the corporate sector - is now in cardiac arrest and at a risk of a...

Charles Goyette - America's Most Independent Talk Show Host! : "STOP THE $700 BILLION SWINDLE! NOTE FROM CHARLES: Grab a pitchfork now, or we'll all end up living in government housing! The Paulson wealth tranfser scheme has met with more than a cold shoulder from the public. It has been generating outright hostility. And it should. This in an act of theft so brazen as to leave one breathless! The losses in the real estate mortgage meltdown are real. They have already taken place. Another Fed bubble has popped, and under the guise of reflating it, this act seeks to transfer the losses from the institutions that willingly undertook the risk of loss, to you. Both wings of the Washington Party are enabling this massive fraud. But it can be stopped!"

Does this show our confidence in the Bailout Plan or disgust with the spineless Congress that is NOT LISTENING to their constituents or the list of over 200 economists that oppose this bailout plan (HR3997)? Or both? The question is not whether to act. It is to act prudently with a hearing and with the best forethought and advise from someone besides those who created this crisis or have coprorate lobby interests involved. Yes, the crisis is spreading, but NO it will not go away because we act now and it may not be minimized by the rushed up Bailout either! STOP, LISTEN AND START OVER with a new bill. I want it all reviewed and designed by people I can trust, not the greedy and crucks who have been lying to us all along. by Norton

Salon.com | Where is the outrage? :by Garrison Keillor, author: "Poor Larry Craig got a truckload of moral condemnation for tapping his wingtips in the men's john, but his party proposes to spend 5 percent of the GDP to buy up bad loans made by men who walk away with their fortunes intact while retirees see their 401K go pffffffff like a defunct air mattress, and it's business as usual.... (Garrison Keillor is the author of a new Lake Wobegon novel, "Liberty," published by Viking.) "

Bloomberg.com: News : "Roubini Sees `Silent' Run on Banks, Urges `Triage': Audio Sept. 30 (Bloomberg) -- Nouriel Roubini, chairman of Roubini Global Economics and an economics professor at New York University's Stern School of Business, talks with Bloomberg's Ken Prewitt and Tom Keene about the government's $700 billion plan to revive the credit markets, the state of the banking system and the outlook for the economy and financial markets. (Source: Bloomberg)"

commentarty at Market Watch Oct. 1, 2008 This country needs a TOTAL re-think. Not a tweak here and there. A TOTAL re-think if we are going to survive in this new world of global trade. European governments spend their money on a government run health service. We spend our money on the military and weapons and if we haven't got enough money to pay for all that expensive, up to date military hardware, we print more. Yet an illiterate guy with a rag on his head can stop our military in it's tracks with an explosive device made out of an obsolete bomb, costing less than $10. Government is waaaaay too big..."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-v6SGLKH1kc

STOP AND FILIBUSTER – NO DEAL Don Knotts Key essential elements for a good plan by Norton West Sept. 25, 2008 1. TRANSPARENCY, FULL DISCLOSURE, PUBLIC AIRING to culminate in a public referendum, especially if any funding comes from taxpayers. 2. START WITH A COMPREHENSIVE CRISIS ANALYSIS IN ADVANCE: Create a comprehensive list of all default-financial market perils including commitments already made to Fannie Mae, Bear Stearns…..add CDS market exposure (about $ 50 trillion dollars), credit card exposure, commercial mortgage loan exposure, HE loan exposure, auto loan exposure and any other off-balance sheet contingent liabilities. We this total in hand begin to work on a Bailout Plan. No future surprises. Those who design and execute this plan will be fully accountable and liable under the law as trustees in the Public interest. Plan must have a funding and cash flow project plan for over a 5 – 10 year period. This is the starting point of analysis for a viable plan. This sounds much...

ELEMENTS OF A GOOD TARP PLAN by Norton West 1. NO! STOP! START OVER – TARP / PAULSON PLAN is poorly conceived, has bad assumptions, rewards the culprits, punishes the victims and will not work. This is too important to yield to fear tactics and a rush job by lobbyists and the Administration. More than 200 economist oppose this plan including Marc Faber, Nouriel Roubini, Jim Rogers, past FED officials: http://faculty.chicagogsb.edu/john.cochrane/research/Papers/mortgage_protest.htm 2. START WITH A COMPREHENSIVE CRISIS ANALYSIS IN ADVANCE of approval. No more piecemeal plans. There must be limits on the total exposure. Is it Paulson’s $ 700 Billion or Marc Faber’s $ 5 TRILLION? Who can we trust? Who is accountable? What are the consequences of failure? Who takes on the consequences? 3. Form this plan in light of our national budget and priorities: education, defense, security, jobs, health insurance etc., and renewable energy. We must not supersede all other national priorities for the n...

Trust Bush and Paulson? I think NOT! The FOX is managing the Chicken Coup! Bush Changes the Rules The Bush administration’s Office of Legal Counsel in the Department of Justice has been issuing classified legal opinions about surveillance for several years. As a member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) had access to DOJ opinions regarding presidential power and he had three declassified in order to show how the judicial branch has, in a bizarre and chilling way, assisted Bush in circumventing its own power. According to the three memos: 1. “There is no constitutional requirement for a president to issue a new executive order whenever he wishes to depart from the terms of a previous executive order. Rather than violate an executive order, the president has instead modified or waived it;” 2. “The president, exercising his constitutional authority under Article II, can determine whether an action is a lawful exercise of the president’s authority und...

Wall Street Pirates Wont Get Unconditional Bailout - The International Forecaster : "That way, the key nations of the world will all be on roughly the same socio-political page when the attempt to implement world government and an Orwellian world police state is finally made by the Illuminati through their propaganda front at the United Nations. All these nations, which are rabidly hostile toward the US, are used by the Illuminati to stir up the trouble pot. 'Double, double, toil and trouble, fire burn, and caldron bubble,' here come conflicts to fuel the military-industrial complex and acts of terror to scare once freedom-loving people into giving up their Constitutional rights."

FED Bolsters Liquidity by Printing More Money; Inflation is Your New Permanent Houseguest « With One Breath : "In case there was any doubt that the Federal Reserve is not a federal agency and operates outside the scope of Congress and the wishes of We the People, you should be comforted by the fact that the Federal Reserve, in a move to “bolster liquidity” has pumped over $630 billion (U.S. dollars) into global central banks. The bailout plan failed, so the FED acted anyway, printing off billions of dollars of more debt. Yes, debt - for you and me to clean up." Norton's comment: And this is over and above the potential TARP Bailout! That is $ 650 billion was just spent this week. Add the bailout of $ 700 billion or what could really be as much as $ 5 TRILLION.........and you get more than $ 6 TRILLION DOLLARS AND COUNTING.

Could the “bailout” be a very quiet restructuring of the Republican Party’s power structure? « White Noise Insanity : "Bernanke has withdrawn $125 billion from the banking system in the last 4 days alone to create a crisis situation that will incite credit market mayhem and increase the likelihood of passing the bill . This is coercion of the worst kind. Flash:Fed speaking out both sides of mouth...."

Calculated Risk: Mark-to-Market Quotes : "'Suspending mark-to-market accounting, in essence, suspends reality.' Beth Brooke, global vice chair at Ernst & Young LLP, WSJ, Sept 30, 2008"