Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Strategies & Market Trends : 2026 TeoTwawKi ... 2032 Darkest Interregnum -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: carranza2 who wrote (61883)	3/12/2010 10:46:33 AM
From: Cogito Ergo Sum	Respond to of 220345

You know the deficits in the US are huge... but that's not what really will sink them.. They truly should be manageable with a little resolve and fiscal responsibility.. American tax allergy is certainly a headwind.. but things like what you posted are the real problem IMO.. The foundation is rotting...

To: carranza2 who wrote (61883)	3/14/2010 3:21:01 PM
From: KLP	3 Recommendations Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 220345

Unless the current government shuts the Lehman Report down, the thing should blow sky high.... Both Congress and Wall Street and yes, even Tim Geithner.... Found this FYI... The Last Temptation of Lehman Brothers By Andrew Zarowny Sunday, March 14th, 2010 at 7:03 am Across the pond, in jolly old England, government investigators have determined that Lehman Brothers practiced an “irresponsible business model”. Oh really? They just figured that out, huh? Only took them 18 months! That’s what I call job security! The Financial Times of London describes what happened as “temptation”. Lehman’s management took advantage of loopholes in U.S. laws to hide debt from the dreaded Sorbanes-Oxley Act (SOA). Passed in 2002, SOA was intended to prevent another Enron scandal of financial fraud. However, it has, in fact, had the exact opposite effect. Lehman Brothers used shell companies to park their debts and crazy hedge paper, like credit default swaps, to get around the SOA’s accounting rules. When Lehman was crashing, they pulled some $6 Billion dollars out of Barclays, a UK mega-bank, sending Barclay seeking a bailout from the British taxpayers. Lehman’s demise was directly responsible for the Crash of 2008. It exposed the weakness of mortgage-backed securities that ALL of Wall Street was trading in. All the mega-banks, AIG, hedge funds and investment firms got caught in the light of day. Despite the U.S. housing bubble bursting in 2005, Wall Street and their allies in Washington and in the Establishment Media, kept the hype of rainbows and unicorns rolling along. But when Lehman went under, the party was over! The reality of truth began to knock down the dominoes. Panic set in, leading to Federal Reserve Chairman, Ben Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson , to appear before Congress and warn that if they didn’t get $700 Billion dollars immediately, the whole system would collapse. The Age of Bailouts began! The Media, Washington and Wall Street, still trots out their ‘experts’ daily to cheer-lead the public that all will be well. They say the worst is over, citing statistics that we are in a recovery. Still, nothing has been done to fix the systemic problems. Yet, nobody, and I mean NOBODY, really knows just how deep of a hole we are in! We can guess-timate that there is at least still somewhere between $3-5 TRILLION dollars worth of bad mortgages on the books of the mega-banks, plus Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The numbers get much worse if we throw in the CDO and CDS paper connected with residential and commercial mortgages. Add to that the whole universe of derivatives and other exotic investment instruments, which is SOMEWHERE between $500-700 TRILLION dollars! Whether Lehman Brothers succumbed to temptation, made forgivable errors or deliberately committed acts of fraud (which is where my opinion tends to leans towards) will be a matter for courts and the justice system to ‘officially’ decide. When, or IF, our Congress will permanently repeal or amend the Sorbanes-Oxley Act is unknown. When, or IF, a genuine recovery will begin is unknown. I kind of doubt it will happen any time soon! Posted on: rightpundits.com