Hey everyone out there talking about Obama's pastor and Obama smoking cigarettes, "Fuck You!!!" You should have your voting privileges revoked!!! Fed Bailout of Bear Stearns First of its Kind Since Great Depression
The nation’s fifth largest investment bank Bear Stearns nearly collapsed last week. It was saved only after the Federal Reserve took extraordinary measures to help JPMorgan purchase the eighty-five-year-old firm. The Fed has become the lender of last resort for other investment banks in a move that marks one of the broadest expansions of the Fed’s lending authority since the 1930s. We speak with Nomi Prins, an author and former investment banker at Bear Stearns, and Max Fraad Wolff, an economist and writer.
AMY GOODMAN: We are seeing some of the worst crises we have seen in decades, whether we’re talking about the economy, whether we’re talking about the war, and those two issues, we’re going to take on today.
JUAN GONZALEZ: Yes, we are. Well, Wall Street and the nation’s economy is in a state of crisis. The nation’s fifth largest investment bank Bear Stearns nearly collapsed last week. It was saved only after the Federal Reserve took extraordinary measures to help JPMorgan purchase the eighty-five-year-old firm.
As part of the deal, the Fed put up $30 billion to guarantee Bear Stearns’s riskiest investments. For the first time ever, the Federal Reserve has become the lender of last resort for other investment banks in an effort to prevent firms from going under. It is a move that marks one of the broadest expansions of the Fed’s lending authority since the 1930s. At least ten investment funds, including the fund Carlyle Capital run by the Carlyle Group, have recently collapsed or been forced to sell assets.
Consumers are feeling the effects of the economic crisis everywhere. Food prices are rising. Gas prices have reached all-time highs. The dollar is weakening. Credit card debt is expanding. Home prices are falling. And foreclosures continue to rise.
AMY GOODMAN: A year ago, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson predicted the fallout from the subprime mortgage crisis was “largely contained.” But now, Alan Greenspan is admitting the current economic crisis will likely be the most wrenching since the end of the Second World War.
And then, there’s the occupation of Iraq, which has just entered its sixth year. The Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz projects the war will cost at least $3 trillion.
We’re joined right now by two guests. Nomi Prins is with us. She’s a former investment banker turned journalist. She used to run the European analytics group at Bear Stearns. She is the author of two books: Other People’s Money: The Corporate Mugging of America and Jacked: How “Conservatives” Are Picking Your Pocket. She’s now a senior fellow at the think tank Demos. Max Fraad Wolff is an economist and writer. He is an instructor at the Graduate Program in International Affairs, New School University, here in New York. He’s a frequent contributor to the Huffington Post, Asia Times and The Indypendent.
We welcome you both to Democracy Now! Nomi Prins, this story is personal for you. You worked at Bear Stearns.
Democracy NOW! DISH channels 9410 & 9415, DirecTV channel 275; TALKING ABOUT IMPORTANT NEWS!!!!!
DN! transcript or DN! video
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Rightwingnuts making excuses for McCain's "Al Queda" gaffe............
● Cafferty on McCain ‘gaffe’: ‘What kind of leadership is that?’
● To Let Facts Get In The Way Of A Good Story. Today, National Security Network held a press conference call discussing John McCain’s erroneous assertion that Iran was “taking al-Qaeda into Iran, training them and sending them back” into Iraq. The hosts, including CAPAF’s Brian Katulis, VoteVets’ John Soltz, and NSN’s Ilan Goldenberg, also discussed what this misstatement says about McCain’s fitness to be commander-in-chief.
● Right Wing Bloggers: McCain Was Wrong to Say He Was Wrong!
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News:
● AP president: US arrests journalist in Iraq to 'control' information
● Shill Osama Bin Laden "monitoring" group SITE, led by Israeli Rita Katz, pimps ANOTHER FAKE "Bin Laden" video and/or Bin Laden statement...WAKE UP, PEOPLE! Look up "Rita Katz" & SITE...this group should be investigated!!!!!!
● Soldier tells Mom: "My goal is to come home with both my legs"
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NEPA: Bill Clinton in Coughlin High School!!!
● WILKES-BARRE – For 38 minutes Wednesday evening, President Bill Clinton told more than 1,000 people gathered inside the Coughlin High School gymnasium why his wife should be the next president of the United States.
● Clinton visits W-B to support ‘best candidate’
● Prison may have overpaid contractor. A company that has done more than $1.2 million in repairs at the Luzerne County prison appears to have overbilled the county at least $78,235 for work that should have been covered under a flat-fee contract.
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