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Youth :
Yes, but I didn't inhale.
Bernanke replaces Greenspan as Fed Chairman :
Bernanke oversees several rounds of rate cuts as the stock market tanks
in early to mid 2008 (the unprecedented volatility begins) :
In 2008, it was revealed that
when you get ratings from the rating agencies,
you have to do a little conversion in your head.
Triple A = Triple D.
Bernanke & Paulson presenting & defending the "Paulson Plan"
in Congress, Sep-Nov 2008 :
You can see more exhibits, focused on Paulson, in the
Paulson wing.
Bernanke explains the Paulson-Bernanke method of supporting the economy.
The 'something he said' could have been the way Paulson
answered the Congress men and women's questions.
In an answer, he would talk for 20 minutes
and say two basic things :
1) "The toxic assets are too complicated for you to understand."
and
2) "I welcome oversight." [left unsaid: because I know oversight by a
Congressional committee is no oversight at all --- and besides,
they must take complaints to the Executive branch
for remedy, and guess who's in charge there.]
Implementation of the bailout, Nov 2008 - Jan 2009 :
Going bear hunting with Paulson is kind of like
going bird hunting with Cheney. Don't know about the bear,
but the taxpayers sure got shot up.
The destruction of the safeguards implemented
following the Crash of 1929 --- that is, separation of
investment institutions from bank deposits --- is now complete.
The investment branches of the 'holding' companies
now have unfettered access to depositors' life savings.
(If you think they will be "highly regulated",
I have a bridge to sell you.)
Depositors in Bank of America and Wells Fargo (banks that merged
with investment institutions, like Merrill Lynch), be afraid,
be very afraid. (Best to scatter your deposits --- or use
the tactic of farmers in the 1930's, bury savings in a place
you can remember, like the corner of a fenceline.)
Let the give-aways begin.
Who is controlling whom?
It appears someone is abdicating their duty to the taxpayers.
This cartoonist apparently didn't get the message from FoxNews and CNBC.
He was supposed to be convinced that the lenders
--- who were advertising 'Bad credit? Bankruptcy? No problem!
Get your mortgage right here! No interest for 12 months!' ---
were being taken advantage of by those diabolically evil borrowers.
Those hyper-aggressive borrowers were forcing the lenders to
take out those ads in newspapers and on the Internet.
Those poor, mis-treated lenders. What could they do?
They feared for their lives. They had no choice but to lend
to those threatening married couples and those bankrupt persons
with all their friends in high places. Millions of evil borrowers.
Even if it doesn't help the patient,
it makes the doctor feel like he's done something
to deserve his high-fees, when he writes a prescription.
AND, the great thing is ... the patient has to pay for the drug too.
In this case, 1000s of dollars for every man, woman, child in the country.
See how it works?
Awwwww. Isn't it touching? Sweethearts.
Gee, yet another group getting bailed out.
Well, where else can bond dealers get money.
The banks don't trust the bond dealers.
The banks don't trust each other.
Say ... how much of the bailoutS are going to financial lobbyists in D.C.?
Bernanke once mentioned dropping money from a helicopter.
The dinosaurs seemed too big to fail too.
Seems alligators and lizards and insects and primates and,
eventually, man came through that catastrophe. There is a lesson there.
Let the big banks go, and let the small banks pick up the pieces.
Betcha, in a matter of months, no one will miss the big banks ---
or their CEO's.
OR, we can continue to do this.
The Fed will get America buying financial stocks again, even if
the Treasury has to spend the very last penny of the taxpayers' future.
The Main-Street appraiser is connected to the Main-Street lender.
The Main-Street lender is connected to the Mortgage-bundler.
The Morgage-bundler is connected to the Wall-Street banks.
The Wall-Street banks are connected to the Wall-Street debt insurers.
And the U.S. taxpayers have to bailout the last two.
(The home-builders are in line.)
(Let the foreign investors beware.)
By the way, what happened to that plan for taxpayers to buy mortgages?
Taxpayer, which would you rather have --- a mortgage on a somewhat depressed
property? --- or a (probably to-be-worthless) bank stock?
Oh yeah. And why aren't banks lending to each other, even after
350 billion dollars of bailout? Could it be because there are still
many mortgages on their books --- and the CEO's don't trust each other?
Then why should we trust them, and their stock warrants?
Well, the economy WAS basically sound ... once upon a time,
long, long (at least 7 years) ago.
We will have to see how these graphs, of the value of the dollar,
do in 2009.
Is this going to be the end result?
Bernanke Caricatures :
Passing the baton ... so to speak.
Is that a fish or an anchor? Either way, it's not looking good.
Man the lifeboats. Investment robbers ... I mean, investment bankers,
lenders (unethical as well as ethical), and debt insurers first.
That brings to mind the question -- why isn't any of the bailout
money being spent to track down and prosecute unethical lenders?
If the Republicans in Congress managed to gut and repeal all
the pertinent laws that could be used to prosecute them, then
let the public humiliations (preferably tar and feathering or stoning)
begin.
At the very least, let the Internet Halls of Shame begin.
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