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Politics : Sioux Nation -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Ron who wrote (156589)	12/21/2008 12:30:22 PM
From: cirrus	Respond to of 361855

That's criminal. Last week ABC News asked 16 of the banks that have received handouts from the Treasury Department’s $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program the same two direct questions: How have you used that money, and how much have you spent on bonuses this year? Most refused to answer.

To: Ron who wrote (156589)	12/21/2008 12:36:57 PM
From: cirrus	Respond to of 361855

What's interesting is individuals who invested in various funds marketed by their brokerage firms may have lost money but don't know it yet. It seems Madoff was a financial advisor for many "House Brand" investment vehicles... something they wouldn't know unless they read the fine print. And no one knows how it happened, least of all the federal regulators charged with policing him and protecting the public.

To: Ron who wrote (156589)	12/21/2008 10:20:17 PM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 361855

The Anti-Greenspan _____________________________________________________________ Why Obama's new Fed pick may be the most important member of his economic team. newsweek.com By Michael Hirsh Newsweek Web Exclusive Dec 19, 2008 He's probably the least-noted member of Barack Obama's new financial regulatory police, but Dan Tarullo may end up having the most impact. Think of Tarullo as the anti-Greenspan, or perhaps as a pro-regulation virus planted in the heart of a Federal Reserve System that for two decades has been predisposed to letting markets self-correct. Certainly Tarullo—who was named Thursday to fill one of two open spots on the seven-member Board of Governors—is far from you run-of-the-mill Fed official. Most governors have been academic economists, bankers or businessmen. Tarullo, a Georgetown law professor who specializes in bank regulation and international monitoring, is basically a high-toned cop. "Our regulatory system has let us down," he said on PBS's Lehrer show last April, before the worst of the subprime fallout hit. "We've had multiple opportunities in the last 10 or 15 years to take account of the new forms of financial activity. We haven't done so." Most media attention is focused on Obama's nomination of Mary Schapiro, a tough-minded former futures regulator, to head the Securities and Exchange Commission, and Gary Gensler, a Treasury undersecretary in the Clinton administration, to chair the Commodities Futures Trading Commission. But those two may end up waiting on direction from the new super-empowered Fed. Many experts agree that one reason the subprime securitization disaster occurred is because it cut across so many once-segregated sectors; mortgage lending and securitization were once entirely separate practices. The SEC, for example, is only supposed to oversee publicly issued securities, and can't do anything about lending practices. Only the Federal Reserve Board can monitor the entire financial landscape. As a result, Tarullo could potentially play a bigger role than either Schapiro or Gensler in the future financial system, some experts say. "It just depends on what deal was made" with Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke, "or whether there was a deal," says Ted Truman, a former senior Fed official. "It's not automatic that someone with that kind of expertise would immediately have a role in banking policy. Board members are assigned in terms of seniority." Bernanke, a conservative, has already expanded regulation. Under the Home Ownership and Equity Protection Act passed by Congress in 1994, the Fed was given the authority to oversee mortgage loans. But then-Chairman Alan Greenspan, an Ayn Rand libertarian who by his own admission believed that markets could mostly self-correct, kept putting off writing any rules and stoutly resisted other efforts to regulate derivatives on Wall Street. Bernanke, by contrast, earlier this year instituted "Regulation Z," which created common-sense rules such as forbidding loans without sufficient documentation. Bernanke has also vastly expanded the Fed's lending powers to deal with the crisis. He believes the Fed should at some point return to its old modest role as a regulator of the money supply and inflation. But since he is also known to want re-appointment as chairman next year—and incoming Obama economic advisor Larry Summers is said to covet the post—it's likely that Bernanke will go out of his way to satisfy Tarullo. And that may mean a whole new regulatory structure that will dwarf anything Schapiro does at the SEC or Gensler can accomplish at the CFTC. Those who who've worked with the soft-spoken Tarullo says he brings the right blend of save-the-world zeal and balanced judgment. "I think it's a great choice," says a former senior member of the Clinton administration. "It's the right person with the right skill set and the right judgment at right time." The question is whether Tarullo will push for too much regulation. In his 2008 book on international banking regulation, "Banking on Basel," Tarullo repeatedly argues that the subprime crisis is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to regulate. "The crisis has—at least for a time—altered the political environment for financial reform by placing banks on the defensive," he wrote. "Domestic reformers may have the upper hand if they move quickly." The debates at the Fed should tell us a lot in the coming months.

To: Ron who wrote (156589)	12/22/2008 1:33:36 AM
From: Asymmetric	4 Recommendations Read Replies (3) \| Respond to of 361855

Did Anyone Hear? Spielberg is making a movie about Madoff . It's called "Swindlers List"...and it's about a group of crooks who are taken in by an even bigger, sneakier crook. You'll laugh....you'll cry....you'll check for your wallet!!! -A.

To: Ron who wrote (156589)	12/22/2008 6:53:04 AM
From: stockman_scott	Respond to of 361855

China Cuts Key Rates for Fifth Time in Three Months (Update1) By Li Yanping Dec. 22 (Bloomberg) -- China cut interest rates for the fifth time in three months to support the world’s fourth-biggest economy after trade growth collapsed because of recessions in the U.S., Europe and Japan. The one-year lending rate will drop by 0.27 percentage point to 5.31 percent and the deposit rate by the same amount to 2.25 percent from tomorrow, the People’s Bank of China said on its Web site. The central bank also reduced the proportion of deposits lenders must set aside as reserves by 0.5 percentage point. Exports fell for the first time in seven years last month, imports plunged and manufacturing contracted by a record. China’s slowdown will deepen before a 4 trillion yuan ($584 billion) stimulus package kicks in from the second quarter of next year, Liu He, a senior policy official, said Dec. 12. “The central bank won’t stop the rate-cutting cycle until the economy starts to recover,” said Li Wei, an economist at Standard Chartered Bank Plc in Shanghai. “It may not boost borrowing, but the government needs to show that it’s doing something.” The reserve requirement will drop to 15.5 percent for big banks and to 13.5 percent for smaller ones effective Dec. 25. China reduced rates by the most in 11 years last month and announced the package of spending through 2010 on infrastructure and low-cost housing. The State Council pledged Dec. 13 to boost money supply by 17 percent next year to encourage lending and buoy domestic consumption. Still, economic growth may slump to 5 percent in the first half of next year, less than half the 11.9 percent expansion in all of 2007, according to Royal Bank of Scotland Plc. The slowdown threatens to trigger social unrest as factories close and unemployment climbs in the world’s most populous nation. It may also reduce the nation’s contribution to global growth, forecast by Merrill Lynch & Co. at 80 percent next year. Uniden Corp., a Japanese maker of wireless communication gear including cordless phones, said Dec. 11 it will eliminate 6,200 jobs in China. Zhang Ping, China’s top economic planner, warned last month of the risk of “massive unemployment.” Besides the trade collapse, weakness in the property market is undermining investment, construction, consumption and economic growth. Home sales dropped 20.6 percent in the first 11 months from a year earlier, according to the statistics bureau. The government has switched from battling inflation in the first half of the year to guarding against the risk that falling prices will contribute to the economy spiraling down. Inflation was the slowest in 22 months in November. China needs to prepare for a “worst case scenario” as the global economic slump deepens, central bank Governor Zhou Xiaochuan said Dec. 4. China’s economy will expand by 7.5 percent next year, the least in almost two decades, the World Bank forecast last month. The nation is targeting an 8 percent expansion to generate jobs and avoid social instability, China Banking Regulatory Commission Chairman Liu Mingkang said in Beijing on Dec. 13. To contact the reporter on this story: Li Yanping in Beijing at yli16@bloomberg.net; Last Updated: December 22, 2008 06:04 EST