Showing posts with label stimulus plan. Show all posts
Showing posts with label stimulus plan. Show all posts

2/19/09

Foreclosure Prevention? BS! More Fraud Coverup!

Karl Denninger

So Obama comes out with his "plan" to try to halt foreclosures.

It won't do it, but it sure sounds good.

I will give him an "F" for substance but an "A" for effort.

Why an "F" for substance? Because what he's trying to do fundamentally cannot be done.

Here's the outline, in condensed form from Bloomberg:

Feb. 18 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. President Barack Obama pledged $275 billion to a program that will cut mortgage payments for as many as 9 million struggling homeowners and expand the role of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in curbing record foreclosures.

The plan also will help as many as 5 million homeowners refinance loans owned or guaranteed by Fannie and Freddie, according to a White House fact sheet. Treasury will buy as much as $200 billion of preferred stock in the two mortgage companies, twice as much as previously promised, the announcement said.

Another Obama attempt at a solution and another thumbs down from the pundits. Peacenik is losing track of all of Obama's initiatives. Lets see. Continue Bush DOJ policies. Escalate in Afghanistan. Give zillions of dollars to the bankers and banks. Waiver on torture policy. Waiver on investigating the Bush years. Give billions of dollars to the automotive industry that is dead as a dodo bird. Cave in to wingnuts at every opportunity. Yes Obama is in an impossible position. But continuing with Bush policies, and turning his back on the progressive movemnent is not the way forward. And now Obama is visiting Canada and talking up the tar sands. As if there is a solution to the environmental problems of the tar sands. Oh yeah. Obama is still talking about a growth economy. This, as another 600,000 Americans lost there jobs last month. Can someone remind Peacenik of one slam dunk good thing Obama has done?

2/17/09

Update: Russia Exchanges Closed

Posted by Karl Denninger at 07:21

Both the MICEX and RTS exchanges have been closed - lock limit down.
The markets have rendered their decision on the G7, Geithner and Obama's administration thus far, as expressed by Rick Santelli on CNBC this morning. As a picture is worth 1000 words, here 'ya go:

CNBC was running Terminator II theme music as their bumper this morning; that's pretty accurate. There is no chart support left between here and (unfortunately) the 500s in the SPX, and there's an argument to be made that the next real support is down around that dreadful 210 target that I laid out a couple of weeks ago.

Obama's administration must stop dicking around with asset prices. The "credit freeze" is manufactured as a consequence of idiotic actions of government; by at the same time threatening to support asset prices and destroy their value they have blown bid/offer spreads out to the point that trades cannot take place.

Ok, Peacenik has calmed down. (See previous post) This is only information afterall. Nothing Peacenik can do about it. So what if Russia had to close its stock exchange. So what if the markets are tanking and voting thumbs down on Geithner's stimulus plans. Pogge is starting for the Leafs tonight. And Canadian Tire has a sale on portable generators. And Peacenik still has some beer in the fridge. Life is good.