lunar

U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson Jr., left, testifying at a House committee hearing in Washington, with Ben Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman. (Jonathan Ernst/Reuters)

U.S. government considers takeover of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac


By Stephen Labaton and Steven R. Weisman
Published: July 11, 2008


WASHINGTON: Alarmed by the growing financial stress at the two largest mortgage finance companies in the United States, senior officials in the Bush administration are considering a plan to have the government take over one or both of the companies and place them in a conservatorship if their problems worsen, according to people briefed about the plan.

The companies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, have been hit by the tsunami of mortgage foreclosures. Their shares are plummeting and their borrowing costs are rising because of investor worries that they will suffer losses far larger than the $11 billion they have already lost in recent months. Now, as housing prices decline further and foreclosures grow, the markets are worried that Fannie and Freddie themselves may default on their debt......

full story: http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/07...ss/mortgage.php

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Silverbay

... erste Dollarblüten treiben ( flussaufwärts )
Richtung Münsterbrücke – ppt macht's möglich.

lunar

IndyMac Seized by U.S. Regulators Amid Cash Crunch (Update4)
By Ari Levy and David Mildenberg




July 11 (Bloomberg) -- IndyMac Bancorp Inc. became the second-biggest federally insured financial company to be seized by U.S. regulators after a run by depositors left the California mortgage lender short on cash.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. will run a successor institution, IndyMac Federal Bank, starting next week, the Office of Thrift Supervision said in an e-mailed statement today. Customers will have access to funds this weekend via automated teller machines. Regulators intend to eventually sell the company.

The Pasadena, California-based lender specialized in so- called Alt-A mortgages, which didn't require borrowers to provide documentation on their incomes IndyMac's home state, where Countrywide Financial Corp. was also located before it was bought last week, has been among the hardest hit by foreclosures.

``Given their focus on Alt-A and a heavy concentration in California, they would have suffered meaningful losses in almost any scenario,'' Brian Horey, president of Aurelian Management LLC in New York, said before the seizure was announced. Aurelian is short-selling IndyMac shares to gain from declines.

Had IndyMac ``applied some common sense and changed their approach to underwriting as the housing market peaked, they might have lived to see the next cycle,'' Horey said.

IndyMac came under fire last month from U.S. Senator Charles Schumer, who said lax lending standards and deposits purchased from third parties left it on the brink of failure. In the 11 business days after Schumer explained his concerns in a June 26 letter, depositors withdrew more than $1.3 billion, the OTS said.

Liquidity Crisis

``This institution failed due to a liquidity crisis,'' OTS Director John Reich said in the statement. ``Although this institution was already in distress, I am troubled by any interference in the regulatory process.''.....

......$900 Million in Losses

The lender racked up almost $900 million in losses as home prices tumbled and foreclosures climbed to a record. California ranked second among U.S. states, with one foreclosure filing for every 192 households in June, 2.6 times the national average........

full story: http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?...Ulk8&refer=home


Bankenaufsicht schließt kalifornische Hypothekenbank

Größter Banken-Crash in den USA seit 1984: Die US-Aufsichtsbehörde hat die kalifornische Hypothekenbank IndyMac in Folge der Kreditkrise geschlossen. Experten rechnen mit einem Schaden in Höhe von bis zu acht Milliarden Dollar. mehr... [ Forum ]

• Finanzkrise: Märkte bangen um US-Immobilien-Finanzierer

.....Fannie Mae ist US-Branchenführer im Hypothekengeschäft, Freddie Mac die Nummer zwei. Seit vergangenem Sommer haben die Institute mehr als 11 Milliarden an Verlusten angehäuft. Hinter den beiden Konzernen stehen mehr als die Hälfte aller Hypotheken in den USA. Fannie Mae und Freddie Mac befinden sich zwar in Privatbesitz. Wegen der engen Verzahnung mit der Politik erwarteten die Finanzmärkte stillschweigend, dass der Staat (...also der Steuerzahler ) letztlich für deren Schulden weitgehend geradestehen würde. Diese Hoffnung hat sich nun getrübt.........

• Kurssturz: Ölpreisrekord und Kreditkrise drücken Börsenkurse
• Dax-Geflüster: Stunde der Portfolio-Magier

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lunar

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Silverbay

... eine weite Reise, der eagle

lunar

President George Bush: 'Goodbye from the world's biggest polluter'

By Robert Winnett, Deputy Political Editor and Urmee Khan
Last Updated: 7:52AM BST 10/07/2008
George Bush surprised world leaders with a joke about his poor record on the environment as he left the G8 summit in Japan.

REUTERS
George Bush shares a joke with Prime Minister of Japan Yasuo Fukuda and Chinese President Hu Jintao at the G8 Summit in Toyako

EPA
George Bush proves to be quite an entertainer

The American leader, who has been condemned throughout his presidency for failing to tackle climate change, ended a private meeting with the words: "Goodbye from the world's biggest polluter."

He then punched the air while grinning widely, as the rest of those present including Gordon Brown and Nicolas Sarkozy looked on in shock.....

full story: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/2277298/President-George-Bush-'Goodbye-from-the-world's-biggest-polluter'.html

....er ist wirklich kaum zu überbieten obwohl - ausnahmsweise sagte er ja die Wahrheit

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lunar

11.07.2008

SKURRILE MITARBEITERSUCHE

Bewerbungsunterlagen für Fluglotsen in Blindenschrift

Blinde können sich in England als Fluglotsen bewerben. Für Anwärter gibt der Flughafen St. Mary's Unterlagen in Blindenschrift heraus. Diskriminierung oder nicht - für den Job werden gute Augen gefordert.

ganzer Artikel: http://www.spiegel.de/reise/aktuell...,565350,00.html

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I'm the barn owl watching the mouse

Richard Russell snippet
Dow Theory Letters
Jul 14, 2008

Extracted from the Jul 11, 2008 edition of Richard's Remarks

What am I thinking about these bright summer days? I'm thinking, as usual, about a long list of things, but one item I've been zeroing in on is the 50% Principle as it applies to the current market.

The 50% Principle works like this -- We have the Dow low of 7286 recorded in October 2002. And we have the record Dow high of 14164 recorded in October 2007. The 50% or halfway level between Dow 7286 and Dow 14164 comes in at 10725.

As of today's close, the Dow was just 375 points above the 10725 halfway level. The 50% Principle tells us that if the Dow closes decisively below 10725, then there is a good chance the Dow will continue down to test the level from which the entire advance started -- that level is 7286.

And I wonder to myself -- what would happen if the Dow breaks below 10725 and then declines to the 7286 area? My immediate thought is -- disaster. And probably a severe recession or even a depression. Remember, the Dow is only 375 points away from the halfway or 50% level.

Anyway, that's one thing I'm thinking about, and that's one thing I'm watching. I'm watching it the way a barn owl watches a mouse -- in other words, with extreme interest.

A second phenomenon I've got my eyes on is the extraordinary performance (at least so far) of the D-J Transportation Average. At today's close, the Transports were a big 635 points ABOVE their January 2008 low close of 4140.29. The Transport action is the most bullish event that has taken place in the market so far.

What happens, I ask myself, if the Dow collapses through 10725 and the Transports still do not confirm, meaning that the Transports continue to hold above 4140.29? That's a question I can't answer, because I've never seen a situation like the present one before.

Here's oil (which almost all Transportation depends on) over 145 a barrel, here's gasoline near five dollars a gallon, here's diesel at record highs -- and the Transports continue to hold up. Amazing. Something's going on with the Transports that I don't know about. But I don't have to know -- I don't have to know why, I just have to know what -- what are the blessed Transports doing?

I do feel this in my guts. Between now and the fourth quarter of 2008 we're going to see some fireworks. And I'm wondering whether this market can possibly hit bottom somewhere during October-November period. I talked to Paul Desmond (head man at Lowry's) yesterday. He said that one reason for the huge spread between the Selling Pressure Index and the Buying Power Index (compared with spreads in the past) has to do with the massive increase in NYSE volume over recent years.

Paul also offered the opinion that the lows of this market maybe take place over an extended period of time such as the extended low base of 1980 to 1982. And I agree with Paul -- I've been thinking the same thing. The problems now imbedded in the US (and the world) economies are so severe that it could take several years of a bottoming process before the next bull market can get started.

We both agreed that the next bull market, from wherever and whenever it starts -- could be huge, could be a super-whopper. There's all that fiat currency in the world today -- multi-trillion of dollars worth of it. One of these days, that money will be spent. But first we must somehow arrive at the bottom of the current damnable bear market or whatever you want to call it.

full story: http://www.321gold.com/editorials/r...sell071408.html

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Originally Posted by beggarsthumb - http://www.netcastdaily.com/broadca...2008-0712-2.mp3
the interview w/bud burrell on puplava was fantastic. a must listen

toothpicker - Wow - that was intense - and good!

Buds' webpage: http://www.thesanitycheck.com/

...nach einer ziemlich langen Einleitung, geht es um "naked short selling"

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A Mental Depression

Posted: July 12 2008

Sen. Phil Gramm and some of his trite ideas on the economy, his enron loophole law that is still in effect and driving oil speculation, and other blunders and folly of economists in power, credit default swaps, Fed grabs more power, get out of the markets or get ready to experience the consequence, G8 gastronomic orgy served while discussing food crisis, America no longer any kind of model citezen in the world......

......."We've never been more dominant; we've never had more natural advantages than we have today," he said. "We have benefited greatly" from the globalization of the economy in the last 30 years.

These quotes from former Senator Gramm, who is one of the most corrupt personalities of Washington politics and who we can only describe as the penultimate example of both a reprobate and a sociopath, will go down as the most false, crass and callous remarks in the history of American politics. This may well have cost Dumbo Presidential candidate, John McCain, who Gramm advises on economic matters, the presidential election this November. We are left stunned and speechless at the unmitigated arrogance and gall of this miscreant. Under what rock, we ask, did the elitists ever find this ball of slime and detritus?

Now mind you that this is the man who helped push through The Financial Modernization Act of 1999, also known as the "Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act," which effectively repealed the Glass-Steagall Act which was passed during the Depression Era as a measure intended to avoid a repeat of the 1929 Stock Market Crash. The Glass-Steagall Act prohibited a bank from offering investment, commercial banking and insurance services, or from consolidating with other companies providing such services. The ill-advised, spurious and egregious repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act is the single most important factor driving the subprime and credit-crunch debacles because it allowed rampant fraud and outrageous conflicts of interest to develop between different financial sectors, resulting in a complete breakdown of confidence and trust in our system of finance which has been destroyed right before your eyes. "Gramm's Blunder" and "Greenspan's Folly" together have powered the fraud and deceit that made the subprime debacle possible. The passage of the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, more than any other causal factor, destroyed the due diligence and integrity of the entire financial sector, and paved the way for rampant and outrageous fraud by dismantling the usual system of checks and balances......

........Apparently, at least according to Mr. Gramm, the destruction of our economy by profligate financial policies, powered by his toxic legislation, an out-of-control Fed and the elitist free trade-globalization agenda, is all a figment of your imagination. You're really not experiencing hyper-stagflation and runaway oil and food prices. Never mind all the silly talk about negative GDP and severe recession, which our totally truthful and infallible government statistics prove do not exist. Never mind the increasing trade deficits and lopsided balance of payments, as it is quite clear we are experiencing an export boom in our virtually nonexistent manufacturing sector. And never mind that minimum wage service job you had to take after your previous lucrative job was off-shored or given to an illegal alien for a fraction of what you were paid, as it is clear that you are now a proud participant in our dynamic service sector whose slave labor now produces 80% of our GDP. By the way, you know that seemingly real unemployment line you are standing in right now due to off-shoring and outsourcing by Illuminist transnational conglomerates, well, that is just another phantasm. So stop whining, pop another valium to drive away your thoughts of mental recession, and plug yourself into the electrodes of your Goldilocks Matrix pod. Don't worry, and be happy that people like Mr. Gramm are in charge of your financial well-being and security. Oh, and incidentally, on that note, may we strongly suggest that you don't take any Prozac, since you might become suicidal.......

......Well, the meltdown continues. Men of "Chaos," better quickly get those two dark liquidity bourses, Project Turquoise and Baikal, up and running while you can still get out of the markets behind everyone's backs -while we still have markets, that is. The Dow on Friday dropped below 11,000 before closing at 11,100.54, the lowest close since August 14, 2006, some 23 months ago. On August 14, 2006, spot gold closed at 626.60, while this Friday spot gold closed at 958.85. Dow: Zippo - Gold: +53% - GET THE PICTURE?!......

......One month gold lease rates and one, two and three month silver lease rates are now all negative, which means they will pay you to lease both their gold and silver short term. So much for earning a return on non-income producing assets, which is the usual excuse given for leasing. The leasing of precious metals is really all about gold and silver suppression, and little else. The longer term rates are ludicrously low as well. But of course we have free markets. Yep, just keep pumping money into the ETF's so the bullion banks can lease your gold and silver from the ETF's against you whenever the PPT demands it, AND GET PAID FOR DOING IT!!!......

full story: http://www.theinternationalforecast...ntal_Depression


....ob alles so ist jedenfalls spannend zu lesen und ins kommt man wohl so oder so kommt mir auch alles so bekannt vor

...und ein ketzerischer Gedanke - Gramm bei der UBS, ob er die "so gut" beraten hat mal schaun wer/wie/was "gerettet" wird :o

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lunar

Warum sterben die Bienen?

• Donnerstag, 17. Juli 2008, 21.00 - 21.45 Uhr .
• Montag, 21. Juli 2008, 10.20 - 11.05 Uhr (Wdh.)

Honigbienen liefern nicht nur süßen Brot-Aufstrich, sie gelten als das drittwichtigste Haustier: denn ihre Hauptaufgabe ist das Bestäuben von Obst-, Gemüse- und Wildpflanzen. Ein Drittel der menschlichen Nahrung ist direkt oder indirekt von Honigbienen abhängig. Aber was passiert, wenn es keine Bienen mehr gibt? Seit Herbst 2006 verschwinden in den USA Millionen von Bienenvölkern. Über die Ursachen dieses geheimnisvollen Massensterbens rätseln Wissenschaftler weltweit. Großimker, die in Amerika mit Tausenden von Bienenvölkern quer durch das Land ziehen, um Obst und Gemüsepflanzen zu bestäuben, erleben schon jetzt starke Einbußen.

Quarks & Co begibt sich auf die Spur dieses unheimlichen Phänomens und begleitet einen amerikanischen Bieneninspektor bei der Suche nach den Ursachen. Warum sterben die Bienen? Wie sieht die Situation in Deutschland aus? Welche Folgen hat das Verschwinden der Honigbienen für den Menschen? Gibt es überhaupt Alternativen zur Honigbiene, andere Insekten, die Blüten ebenso gut bestäuben wie das Vorbild?

Redaktion: Claudia Heiss



.....finde diese Sendung im WDR nicht (mehr) war mal

http://www.lernzeit.de/sendung.phtm...b468dd68bbb377f

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Fannie, Freddie say they have plenty of capital

Sat Jul 12, 2008 5:11pm EDT



By Mark Felsenthal and Alister Bull

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac said on Friday that their finances were sufficiently sound to withstand the housing crisis as government officials scrambled to restore confidence in the country's two largest mortgage finance companies.

U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson indicated that a bailout of Fannie and Freddie was unlikely despite financial market concerns that the agencies, which finance nearly half of U.S. homes, may have trouble raising enough money to keep buying mortgages......

full story: http://www.reuters.com/article/idUS...lBrandChannel=0


*****************************************************


phideaux I have this chart on my office wall. There's no way the mortgage and credit mess can be cleaned up before 2012.

**************************************************


PAGE ONE

Rescue Debate: Paulson Insists
Fannie, Freddie Holders Lose

By DEBORAH SOLOMON, JAMES R. HAGERTY and SERENA NG
July 12, 2008; Page A1

As the crisis worsens for mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson is insisting that any potential government rescue plan not benefit the companies' shareholders, according to people familiar with the matter.

The two stockholder-owned, government-sponsored companies, whose operations are vital to the functioning of the U.S. housing market, faced a severe crisis of confidence after a week in which their stocks each lost nearly half their value. On Friday, Freddie Mac finished the day at $7.75 a share, and Fannie Mae at $10.25.

The discussions at Treasury highlight the dilemma created by the financial crisis gripping the U.S: Some institutions are considered too big to fail, but propping them up could erode the market's incentive to properly judge risk by offering investors a false sense of security.....

............If a rescue becomes necessary, Mr. Paulson does not want to help the shareholders because of the "moral hazard" it would create -- desensitizing investors to risk because they believe the government will bail them out. It's a similar position he took during the government-orchestrated rescue of Bear Stearns by J.P. Morgan Chase & Co....

full story: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121...p_us_whats_news
"moral hazard"

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Benzinpreise in den USA: Nie wieder so mobil wie früher?



70 Cent pro Liter Kraftstoff - davon können deutsche Autofahrer nur träumen. Für Amerikaner jedoch sind das Horror-Preise, die mächtig aufs Gemüt der Nation drücken.
http://www.sueddeutsche.de/automobi...cke/753/185172/

photo Posted by honey

Angehängte Grafiken

oh_3.jpg (68,0 KB, 14x aufgerufen)

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AP
SEC opens probe to prevent spread of false info
Sunday July 13, 3:22 pm ET
By Jeannine Aversa, AP Economics Writer
SEC opens probe to prevent spread of false information that manipulates stocks

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The Securities and Exchange Commission said Sunday it is immediately opening a probe to prevent the spread of false information used to manipulate securities prices.SEC Chairman Christopher Cox said the investigation is aimed at "ensuring that investors continue to get reliable, accurate information about public companies in the marketplace."

The probe comes amid a new bout of turmoil that has gripped investors. Questions have been swirling about the financial health of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac as well as Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc.

Earlier this year, a run on Bear Stearns pushed the investment bank to the brink of bankruptcy and into a takeover by JPMorgan Chase. Bear officials blamed market rumors for the run....

......The probe is separate from SEC's investigations, already under way, into alleged intentional manipulation of securities prices through "rumor-mongering and abusive short selling," the agency said in a statement.

full story: http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080713/sec_probe.html


ohh i feel so much better now that the sec is on the job. whew i was really gettin worried i was. wj

Alles wird gut

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