- the $50B Madoff scam. Story broke on the same day as the auto bailout failure in senate. Markets down 300+ pts in pre-open, but miraculously rescued by announcement of White House action. This is a MAJOR story that has big consequences. How many hedge fund investors are now nervous and liquidating positions in order to spread their money? This has to have had a huge impact on market psyche.
- Rating agency downgrades of most financials. Citi down to “C” and the rock of Gibralter WFC dropped a notch (no more triple A).
- Paulson asking for remaining $350B. After insisting he would wait for new administration to use the funds, now he wants it. Considering that inauguration is less than a month away, if he is so desperate for the money, what does he know that we don’t? Is there something big brewing?
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Does anyone else here see that the government is desperately trying to prop up their cronies in corporations and state agencies and construction firms by stealing hundreds of billions from the U.S. Treasury through these bail-out packages?
We need higher taxes for the rich and use that money for free or cheaper healthcare. Rich people just use their money to buy stocks and increase their wealth, thus inflating stock value to a bubble. If the money was used however to make healthcare cheaper less people in the US would go bankrupt due to it’s astronomical healthcare costs. It would also mean the big three wouldn’t need to compensate union workers for healthcare making their salarys more competitive. healthcare is the number 1 cause of personal bankruptcies in the US and breaks families apart.
Evidence for the bubble caused by the rich: when Bush decreased taxes for the rich a few years ago, we had a housing bubble. The rich bought houses with their untaxed money to flip around like butter., creating false demand for houses, ths creating a huge bubble like oppurtunity. It didn’t help that greedy bankers joined the bubble with their toxic derivatives.
