Saturday, November 22, 2008

It's NOT $700 Billion it's a $3.5 TRILLION Bailout

Bailout Price Tag: $3.5T So Far, But 'Real' Cost May Be Much Higher

Yahoo Finance News

"Yes, $3.45 trillion has already been spent, as Bailoutsleuth.com details:

  • $2T Emergency Fed Loans (the ones the Fed won't discuss, as detailed here)
  • $700B TARP (designed to buy bad debt, the fund is rapidly transforming as we'll discuss in an upcoming segment)
  • $300B Hope Now (the government's year-old attempt at mortgage workouts)
  • $200B Fannie/Freddie
  • $140B Tax Breaks for Banks (WaPo has the details)
  • $110B: AIG (with it's new deal this week, the big insurer got $40B of TARP money, plus $110B in other relief)"

Wednesday, November 19, 2008

Sunday, November 16, 2008

Thursday, November 13, 2008

Fed Defies Transparancy Aim in Refusal to Disclose
Bloomberg
"The Federal Reserve is refusing to identify the recipients of almost $2 trillion of emergency loans from American taxpayers or the troubled assets the central bank is accepting as collateral.
". . .
as the Fed lends far more than that in separate rescue programs that didn't require approval by Congress, Americans have no idea where their money is going or what securities the banks are pledging in return."

[refusing to disclose and using public monies without the approval of Congress is criminal enough but wait, I thought the bailout was only for $700 billion?]

Dems Target Private Retirement Accounts
Carolina Journal
"Democrats in the U.S. House have been conducting hearings on proposals to confiscate workers’ personal retirement accounts — including 401(k)s and IRAs — and convert them to accounts managed by the Social Security Administration."