Fraudster arrested and Calif wants bailout too!

Update as of 11:31 am, MT:
Now you're talking: Fraudster Tom Petters arrested in Minneopolis:
http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/10/03/pettersarrested/
11:25 AM 10/3/2008 In my opinion, arresting the crooks and replacing them with honest people in the banking, finance industries would do more for the public's confidence than a swindle by Congress.
And State of California wants bailout too--where does it end?
This quote:
"Absent a clear resolution to this financial crisis that restores
confidence and liquidity to the credit markets, California and
other states may be unable to obtain the necessary level of
financing to maintain government operations and may be forced
to turn to the Federal Treasury for short-term financing,"
Schwarzenegger said in a letter to Paulson dated Oct. 2 and
provided to Reuters on Friday." Read entire article at:
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idUSN0334520020081003/
11:28 AM 10/3/2008
And don't forget that Citigroup is planning to hold Wachovia to its
earlier legal agreement to do a deal with them. Unless some adults
interpose some real rules of finance and expect the financiers to
abide by them,the nation of the US is history!


Update as of 10:14 AM MT:
I listened to segments of the debate last evening and I am Republican and back the McCain Palin ticket for many reasons. One of those reasons is that while pretending to be the solution to America's problems Senator Joe Biden said a statement that is very accurate and very apropos to the situation of the bail-out. He said, 'the money was left behind..we didn't fund it'. That is exactly, precisely the problem with the phony bail-out:it is not funded, it includes perqs and benefits to those companies that had nothing whatsoever to do with the Wall Street mess in an effort to 'buy' their loyalties, and it does not punish the wicked who swindled and embezzled monies and it does not change the status quo to prevent more of that from happening, and it is a debt swap: swap the debts on the books of the crooks and put it on the books of the taxpayers. It is still a bad deal! Don't do it!
Update as of 10:43 AM, MT, why is the U.S. news avoiding the topic of the G8 summit scheduled in D.C. next week? Read this bit of news from the BBC:
Quote from article, 'EU leaders to discuss bank crisis" in the BBC News today:
"A European financial summit to discuss the current global crisis
is set to take place in Paris on Saturday.

Leaders from Britain, Germany and Italy, together with the
president of the European Commission and European Central Bank
chief, will be attending". Creating a disadvantage as stated:
"Disadvantage

European leaders are keen to agree a co-ordinated response

ahead of next week's meeting of the G8 finance ministers and
central bank governors in Washington."

Read entire article at:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7648249.stm/
And this topic is discussed also in
Mark Mardell's Euroblog, about French President Sarkozy
not including U.S. in the plan:

"He wants the leaders of Britain, Italy, Germany, the Commission and
the European Central Bank to join him in Paris this weekend."
Read entry at :
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/thereporters/markmardell/2008/10/did_brown_block_huge_bailout.html/
10:31 AM 10/3/2008
And this quote about Angela Merkel, chancellor of Germany:
"According to The Times Ms Merkel said that Germany could not
and would not issue a blank cheque for all banks, ?regardless of
whether they behave in a responsible manner or not?."
from the comment to that blog there by MaxSceptic at 2:36pm.
--
I tried to find some details of the new Senate version of the so-called bailout plan but they seem to have the same flaws as before. The mark the asset to the fair market value of it [mark to market] is common sense, and in any other industry it would not be questioned. Does insurance ever pay more than something was worth at the today's value to replace it? NO. When you go into a retail store do you pay the price as it is marked today [yea, in some countries you could barter the price down, haggle over it, but the US does not do that] or do you pay the price for what it will be worth in one year? Because you see, some assets depreciate in one year, including vehicles, houses, [have to be maintained, roofs, lawns,furnaces,etc] and some real property may appreciate in value but if not maintained which is often the case with public housing properties, they depreciate like letting the air out of a balloon. Here are some quotes from people who are more knowledgeable on these subjects than I am. I write as a woman who has a business degree from the University of Georgia and studied banking and finance there, but not an expert by any means on these topics. Quotes:

This quote from CNN Money today:
"I would advise our clients and the investing public that owning
any financials that failed to disclose their holdings accurately is
no longer an investment. It is pure speculation,
with more in common to spinning a roulette wheel," he [Barry
Ritholtz] said'.
Read entire article entitled,'The Accounting Rule you should care about" by
Chris Isidore at:
http://money.cnn.com/2008/10/01/news/economy/mark_to_market/index.htm?postversion=2008100120/
8:57 AM 10/3/2008
Warren Buffett's plan :
"Under Buffett's plan, Treasury would lend hedge funds, Wall Street
firms or any other investors 80% of the price for distressed assets.
Investors would benefit from borrowing at lower rates available to the Treasury. But the government would get first claim on the sale of those assets, which means it would get its loan back plus interest
and possibly turn a profit. Only then would investors see a penny.
Now you have someone with 20% skin in the game," explained Buffet
t. "Believe me, I won't be overpaying if I'm buying with that kind
of leverage." Quote from article in CNN Money, entitled, "Buffet:my fix
for the economy" by Chris Isidore. Read entire article at:
http://money.cnn.com/2008/10/02/news/newsmakers/buffett.fortune/index.htm?postversion=2008100216/
9:02 AM 10/3/2008
Update as of 9:52 am MT:
There is a well written article about the SEC failure to regulate and oversee, and the change that allowed the reserves against the debt [debt to earnings ratio type info] to be loaned on bad stuff also, is gist of this
article in the NY Times today, entitled, "Agency's 04 Rule Let Banks
Pile Up New Debt and Risk" by Stephen Labaton.

Quote from it:The commission’s most public role in policing Wall
Street is its enforcement efforts. But critics say that in recent years
it has failed to deter market problems. “It seems to me the
enforcement effort in recent years has fallen short of what one
Supreme Court justice once called the fear of the shotgun behind
the door,” said Arthur Levitt Jr., who was S.E.C. chairman in the
Clinton administration. “With this commission,
the shotgun too rarely came out from behind the door." and this quote
about Christopher Cox head of the SEC:"Mr. Cox dismantled a risk
management office created by Mr. Donaldson that
was assigned to watch for future problems." and also this quote by
Mr Cox: "He [Mr Cox] said that because the commission did not have
the authority to curtail the heavy borrowing at Bear Stearns and
the other firms, he and the commission were powerless to stop it.

“Implementing a purely voluntary program was very difficult
because the commission’s regulations shouldn’t be suggestions,”
he said. “The fact these companies could withdraw from voluntary
supervision at their discretion diminished the mandate of the
program and weakened its effectiveness. Experience has shown that
the S.E.C. could not bootstrap itself into authority it didn’t have.”
Update as of 11:16 am, MT:
This quote from Live Blogging:
12:07 p.m. | "Twenty traitors: Representative Steven LaTourette,
a Republican from Ohio, berated “twenty Republicans” for their
votes on a recent procedural rule that he says prevented the House
from removing pork from the bailout bill. (He also noted that a
$192 million subsidy for rum has thankfully ensured politicians
“the pirate vote” for November.) " and this quote from the 9:35 am entry:
9:53 a.m. | History on his side: Representative Mike Pence, a
Republican from Indiana, says that “When the government
chooses winners and losers in the marketplace, everyone loses.” He
enlists the support of a number of historical figures — the founding
fathers, Teddy Roosevelt — in his belief that the bill will “place on
the American public a responsibility which is not theirs,
” to rescue big financial institutions."[end quote]
Read article at:
http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/10/03/live-blogging-the-houses-bailout-debate/?ref=business/
11:11 AM 10/3/2008

9:43 AM 10/3/2008
signed gloria poole, RN and artist, Denver CO 80203