Quantitative easing back for more cash!

Printing money is old hat. Quantitative easing is the new kid on the block. Actually a spotty teenager by now. The Monetary Policy Committee is chewing over whether to "pump more money" into the system. Who is being consulted on all this? Bernie Madoff in his jail cell?

I'd like to know, if this new QE idea gets the nod, which computer button gets pushed and from where does the "pumping" start? BP doesn't bother with empty wells so is the MPC any different?

Commenting on this Guardian article, Snix says -

"How much longer will this giant ponzi scheme go on for ? Who will decide to revert to the gold standard first? Those left holding worthless currencies will look so foolish. Better go and tend my garden."

Giant ponzi scheme indeed. It seems there's one rule for Bernie Madoff and another for the central bankers. But are they any different?

Gordon Brown to nationalise free enterprise!

Prudence has nothing to these days. She's definitely like Mr. Rochester's wife! Stuck in the attic, wondering what became of her. Gordon has taken up with a flibberty gibbet by the name of Gay Abandon!

The BBC says ministers are considering plans to guarantee up to £20bn of loans to small businesses to help them survive the downturn. This in effect would mean the taxpayer coughing up for every defaulted loan. Could make Fanny Mae and Freddy Mac look like amateurs!

The Conservatives say that every child born into the country starts off with a £17,000 debt. Guarantee schemes are OK if they are there to help the entrepreneurial activity of the country, but this is just bailing out failure.

The country needs to be reassured, because confidence is what it is all about. Most people are not confident, and no amount of posturing will help until money flows in the normal way. People need to be able to part with a pound in the reasonable knowledge that it won't be their last.

Dick Cheney answers Queen's question!

The Queen has been waiting a long time for the answer to her question about the financial mess we are all in. She asked, "Didn't anyone see it coming?". Nobody stepped up to answer. Our hapless prime minister has spent a whole year denying there was a recession on the horizon. He's still in some kind of denial, so has been no use there.

However, that gun-totting, oil-dealing, war-mongering sidekick of George Bush, by the name of Dick Cheney has come running to the rescue. He now says, “I don’t think anybody saw it coming.” In a garbled interview with the Associated Press’s Deb Reichmann, Vice President Cheney repeatedly insisted that no one anticipated the looming U.S. financial crisis. Aren't you glad he's only got a week to go?

"It's awful!", the Queen said. She meant the crisis, but she could equally have been referring to the behaviour of politicians.

Did Bush cause the financial crisis?

Sub-prime loans. Credit default swaps. Mortgage-backed securities. All dodgy ideas for pumping funny money round the financial system. Did Bush cause the financial crisis? Not on his own, but he knew what was going on. He muttered words about "folks hurting" but blithely carried on. So now we have a trillion dollar debt for Americans to be living with. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says, "Consider the terrible consequences of the 'anything goes' Bush Administration, whose irresponsible non-regulation of financial institutions has led to this crisis." Well yes, but she is just as much to blame. It's no good regulating without seeing what you are regulating. Did she say anything about the loans going to those who didn't have a dime? Did she sound off about the guarantees that were as worthless as lead balloon? I don't think so.

Still money is chasing indebtiness. Only when an honest day's work is paid for in proper money will we begin to see sense. Let's get the lumberjacks out to cut down those money trees that have sprouted out all over the place. We need a new approach right now.

Where's all the "lost" money gone?

This is what I don't get. If I drop a penny in the street, I've lost that penny. Maybe on a temporary basis if I find it again. If someone else finds it, he or she is the proud possessor. It's only really lost if it falls into the sewers never to be seen again. The penny is only useful if used for a purchase or lent out with interest. Othewise it has no value.

All this talk about banks losing money is very mystifying. If they've lost it, who has got it now? Unless they burnt bundles of cash, somebody has the use of it now. When companies go bust, you can bet your bottom dollar that somebody has made use of money in ways that were not always appropriate. But unless it's down the drain it is somewhere.

So where is this $700 billion coming from and where is it going to? I know that as night follows day, some people are going to see some of this trickle through their bank accounts. It isn't all going down the drain, is it?

The only person to "lose" his money, and his jewels mainly, was King John in the Wash. The loss of his personal belongings affected his health and state of mind. It is said he succumbed to dysentery and died shortly afterwards. Well, he was justified in feeling his loss. But those who gamble on future profits may obtain money from others or find it slipping away from their hold. They know whether they have it or not.

The only other way to have money is to print it. Not a good idea for governments. There is talk of panic in the hedge funds over investors withdrawing their cash. John P. Rigas, the chief executive of Sciens Capital Management, is reported in the New York Times as saying,“It’s difficult with hedge funds because they are very fragile. By their nature they’re fragile instruments because investors can ask for their money.” So the hedge fund "loses" the money (use of) and the investor "gains" the money (use of again). We know where it is. Now unless the investor copies King John, he will put it somewhere. It will not be lost.

This is not about losing money. It is all about TRUST! "In God We Trust" is the official motto of the United States. The word trust is not to be bandied around lightly. Most of us now do not trust banks, politicians, or economic pundits. That is where we need to steady ourselves.

Trust is far more important than "losing" money.

Wachovia gets a big wobble

Wachovia, the fourth largest bank in the USA, has posted a quarterly loss, the first since 2001. The bank made an ill-timed $24.6 billion takeover of Golden West Financial Corp. in 2006, at the peak of the housing boom. Now things don't look so rosy. Andrew Seibert is a portfolio manager at NexTier Wealth Management in Pittsburgh, which oversees $400 million in assets. He has some pithy remarks to make. "They obviously didn't take a close enough look at Golden West. They made a mistake in buying Golden West. The driver of all this is summed up in one word - Greed. They saw the big dollars and they went for it.''

What is it with current the crop of bank bosses? They appear to be doing exactly what they advise their customers NOT to do! Wow! David Hendler, an analyst at CreditSights Inc., went a stage better. He said, "Wachovia is now looking almost as bad as Washington Mutual on the mortgage side. This shows investors have to be more cautious and not take management's word for granted.'' That's telling us they can't be trusted.

Integrity out - greed in! Great banking motto, I must say. And all this talk of losses? Unless the bank is burning dollars in some dumpster at the back of the building, somebody else is benefiting from the cash. Nobody loses money unless they drop it in the street. It is a game of winners and losers. A sort of snakes and ladders for bankers!

Americans dissatisfied with economy by 4 to 1!

The United States used to be the Land of Opportunity. Not anymore, it seems. Four-fifths apparently think their future lies between the average and the dire. According to a New York Times/CBS News poll, 81 percent of respondents said they believed that “things have pretty seriously gotten off on the wrong track,” up from 69 percent a year ago and 35 percent in early 2003. That's an acceleration of pessimistic thought beyond imagination!

Only 19 percent it must be assumed think life is OK. Could these be those that make up the Bush administration, Ben Bernanke and his Fed Friends, Wall Street "analysts" and sub-prime lenders? After all, they all have some reason to keep up the pretence that all is fine in the garden.

Just think. Walk down any street in any town in America and four out of five people you meet are of the opinion the country is on "the wrong track"! I remember Casey Jones being a tad upset if his trains got on the wrong track. Imminent collision was a strong possibility.

Sandi Heller, who works at the University of Colorado and is also studying for a master’s degree in business there, sums in up very well. “What I learned from economics is that the market is not always going to be a happy place. If the government steps in to help out, that will facilitate more of it happening.” She added, “There are a million and one better ways for the government to spend that money.” Precisely. But will they ever learn?

I really hope Americans seize the opportunity this November, not only to vote in a President that has some grasp of the impending problems, but also take back their democracy from the self-serving elite who have denied them ballot access, proper primary elections and a media that doesn't skew opinion and scramble the facts!

Ron Paul says "There's not a whole lot of democracy in this country!"

Ron Paul speaks to Glenn Beck about the future. No third run, but a great description of the mess that the cosy relationship between the Fed and the Bankers has got us into.

Is America a democratic country? Well, free speech is allowed, but trying to put your views into action, well that's another matter. Why is it so damn difficult to get on a ballot in the USA? Why is voting registration such a mess? Why are the primaries/caucuses increasingly being seen as a banana republic's system? Can Americans be so cool, calm and collected about having the expression of their democratic rights traduced in such a way?

All Ron Paul has done in this campaign is to highlight the banality of the American monetary policy and the lack of democratic accountability. For just doing that, he has been marginalised and almost ostracised!

America may be the Land of the Free but it sure isn't the Land of Democracy!