"You know what the news is-- in a minute, you're going to hear the rest of the story"- Paul Harvey
Well, it was another interesting day in the most corrupt financial system in the world.
The day started out pretty normal after news broke that Bank of America is asking for more government aid to buy a shyster brokerage firm. If I were BAC's CEO- Ken Lewis- I'd back out of the Merrill deal and let them go tits up.
Another group of shysters (CitiGroup) announced they are basically insolvent and want to break up the company.
In my book you are either a shyster or a loan shark if you charge more than 10% for a credit card while the fed funds rate is at a half a percent. Of course the people who allowed these rates to be legal (only for a chosen few) are shysters too (congress- law makers).
The news media keeps tripping over themselves regarding another shyster- Bernie Madoff. A shyster Judge in New York said that Madoff could remain free on bail as long as he stays in his Manhattan penthouse apartment. The media wants to know how many fund of funds were involved in funneling money into his Ponzi fund. All they need to do is follow the trail and they'll see a trail of blood running fro, Palm Beach to New York.
I could go on and on (Lehman, Bear Stearns, etc), but you're probably as sick of this as much as I.
As far as doling out punishment, I reiterate that we need to ship these characters off to China and let them handle it. We may have laws here in the U.S., but they obviously are not severe enough to deter the crimes.
China executes their financial criminals;
9:44 a.m. ET Sept. 14, 2004 BEIJING - China executed four people, including employees of two of its Big Four state banks, for fraud totaling $15 million, the Xinhua state news agency said on Tuesday, amidst a high-profile campaign against financial crime.
The executions come after a string of arrests in white-collar crime as China prepares to sell shares in its big banks.
The latest cases involved China Construction Bank, due to raise up to $10 billion in an IPO next year, and Bank of China — which is moving towards an IPO worth up to $4 billion.
Wang Liming, a former accounting officer at China Construction Bank in the central province of Henan, worked with others to steal 20 million yuan ($2.4 million) from the bank using fake papers, Xinhua said in a report on its Web site. An accomplice, Miao Ping, was also executed.
A nation of laws, justice and decency would allow someone like you and I to walk down the streets of any major city without fear of being beaten, robbed or killed by gang members. What we are dealing with now is a white collar gangs, and gangs that rule the streets of many inter cities.
As a kid my grandparents would take me all over the City of Detroit. The place was clean, the people were nice, and we had no fear of being robbed or murdered. Today however, Detroit (and many other cities as well) is a cesspool of filth, crime, and only compares to a downtrodden third world country.
In short, "We Don't Live in (America) Kansas Anymore".
Today, the stock market put in a mini-capitulation. The set-up is in place for an Obama rally next week.
The Dow was down as much as 205 points on concerns that Bank of America need more government money to pay for its rescue of Merrill Lynch. Citigroup sold off on rumors the government may step in and take over the bank.
Apple Computer shares closed down after CEO Steve Jobs said he was taking a leave of absence because of health reasons.
The mood is clearly as gloomy as it gets. This is a great point of entry for President Obama, and may mark the end of the nations pessimism. Let's see what happens in the weeks ahead. Is there a major mood change coming?
