John S White asked:


 

BANK IN AMERICA-BAILOUT?

 

Are Your Investments at Risk?

 

Is your bank account earning less than 1%?

 

Has your "fund manager" been arrested lately? 

This last question may seem funny, but in today’s economic climate, the sad answer may be "yes".

 

You may be losing sleep every night because you are worried about your investments.  They are not in your control and you can’t do anything about it.  Fear seems to be the natural feeling that is joined at the hip with the word "investing" today.  You can’t avoid it.  Your future and your family’s future may be riding on the paper, which is never the money, you have given to complete strangers.  That should scare anyone.

 

Wouldn’t you like to remain calm times of bailouts and talks of nationalization.  Wouldn’t you like to know that the money you have saved is safe from the ups and downs of the market?  If you had a choice, would you put your money where the whims of the idiots on Wall Street wouldn’t affect it? Or in your possession as Gold and Silver coinage.

 

Financial peace of mind seems such an unreal expectation today.  But do you realize that all the gloom and doom in the news lately has concerned "paper money" bailouts to nationalization.  No one is talking about "the gold crisis" or the "silver crisis", are they?

 

Let me ask you another question.  Would you like the peace of mind that comes from your money being "REAL"?  Let me explain the answer by providing some little known facts.   The paper money in your pocket today is just a "Promissory Note" from the Federal Reserve, which is a private corporation.  Paper money cannot hold its value.  The governments of the world can produce as many, or as few, as they want-see Zimbabwe one trillion dollar note. Use Gold and Silver coinage as a bailout.

 

What changes the "value" of paper currently in circulation?  Not the economy.  Not the stock market.  The paper themselves print more=more is less.  The Gold and Silver coinager never change in value.  An ounce of gold or silver today is going to be worth an ounce of gold or silver tomorrow and forever.  What changes is the amount paper bills you have to use to buy the ounce of precious metals.

 

True peace of mind comes from owning "REAL" money-Gold and Silver coinage.  By owning Gold or Silver coins you have the ability and the right to go anywhere – in any country - and spend it, even if your fund manager is in jail, or your local bank is nationalized even in America.  They cannot take the value of it away from you.

 

Take back the control of your money.  Don’t risk your future with paper as money.  Power and financial freedom come to those with the right knowledge and tools.  You can find out how to buy and sell gold  and silver coins without the built in the risk that naturally comes with fluctuating interest rates, market ups and downs, and poor decisions made on Wall Street that change the value of the paper bill. 

 

John White has a website where you can learn about coin purchases.  Get rid of the scary and nagging fear that comes with "no control".   Learn to eliminate the risk that comes with investing in the traditional places.  Get your FREE "The Money Book"

 

Go to:  http://neverthemoney.com 

 



Andrea

104inc.com asked:


Got an extra $5,000 to spend?

Yep, that is how much you and every American will be paying for the government bailout.  This does include your children.  Luckily, it doesn’t include your cats, dogs, and fish.  This year’s bailout includes the following items:  $700 billion proposed Wall Street bailout; $85 billion for AIG; $200 billion for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac; $150 billion stimulus package (your $600/person rebate check); $438 billion projected Federal deficit; and a small $29 billion bailout for Bear Stearns.   Makes you glad you got that rebate check earlier this year, doesn’t it?

The scary part is that this number will probably grow.  The Treasury Department is really just asking for a blank check and they won’t have any accountability to Congress or anyone else.  There is the potential to include more than problem mortgages in this package.  Car loans, student loans, and credit card debt could all be included in this package.  This $700 billion Wall Street bailout could grow to over $2.5 trillion dollars.

Just in case you were curious, this won’t help only American banks - it will also help foreign banks.  Pretty nice of the US taxpayer to help the world.  Though, I guess we did help create the problem.

It was all about trying to take advantage of the system.  The investment banks came up with inventive ways of repackaging debt.  The rating agencies went along with something they obviously didn’t understand.  Then, we didn’t think and went along with their greed.  Why?  Because we are just as bad as Wall Street is.

Some people bought houses with “neg am” loans.  What a concept – you can make a payment, but it doesn’t have to even cover your interest payment - just go deeper in debt.  The other cool idea was tapping into your new found “equity” in your home.  Just refinance or take out a home equity loan, take out some cash, and go deeper in debt.  Well, at least you got to buy a Gucci bag and a jet ski.  Hope it was worth it.

Yell and scream at Wall Street and the government all you want, but we are just as much to blame.

Luckily, www.104inc.com isn’t going to be asking you to help them out.  Go check out their website to get away from this mess.





Roberta

Jose Roncal asked:


It’s only been a few weeks since Congress signed off on Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson’s big $700 billion bailout plan—the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).  What exactly do we have to show for it?  Nobody knows. What’s more, we now face a complex financial logjam that’s every bit as messy as the original fiasco.  And the situation is all the more hazardous because Paulson keeps waffling.

As you recall, the original plan was to buy $700 billion in toxic securities—spoilage from defaulted home mortgages that kicked off the financial meltdown.  Simply put, taxpayers would buy $700 billion worth of assets nobody else would touch, ostensibly to get frozen credit markets back in motion.  But the toxic-loan plan never got off the ground.  It couldn’t move far or fast enough to bring the immediate relief Paulson promised.

Instead, Treasury announced it had devised a new plan aimed at thawing out the frozen credit markets.  The new plan: Put money directly into big banks by enacting a little-known clause in Sec. 113, (e )(1) of the TARP legislation, which economists are calling the “Stock Injection Alternative.”

Paulson promised that stock injection effectively served to “rescue”  the banks, but instead of owning shaky assets, the government—the taxpayers—would become preferred shareholders of the banks themselves.  That means the taxpayer would be promised a return (since preferred shares pay interest), and those owning common shares would take the first hits. Thus, taxpayers would be more protected and less likely to lose money.

Amid this back-and-forth maneuvering, people started whispering that perhaps Paulson didn’t really know what to do. First he’d claimed that buying toxic mortgage-based investments from troubled banks, particularly those whose failure might undermine the domestic or global financial systems, was the only conceivable solution to bank failures.  And he tenaciously opposed any congressional suggestions that could modify his plan. 

Then after the first $350 billion had been released, he unexpectedly switched gears into what some believed was too broad and too vague a direction.

Paulson had already spent $85 billion to bail out insurance giant, AIG.  But even after a congressional hearing and scandalous admission about the company’s lavish corporate resort boondoggle, AIG still had the audacity to come back to the money trough and lap up another $40 billion.

If there is anyone in the Treasury keeping track of where all these dollars are going, they aren’t letting on. In fact, the money banks have received has done little to thaw out credit for U.S. businesses or consumers.  Banks appear to be more willing to lend to each other, judging by a drop in the LIBOR rate.  But the no-strings nature of the bailout has led some to use the money in ways Congress may not have intended. For example, PNC Bank, headquartered in Pittsburgh, PA, used part of its allotted cash to acquire Centurion branches in its market area.

Credit cars and auto loans next in line

In a further drift away from Congressional intent, Paulson announced he wanted to extend the bailout program to non-bank credit markets like those holding credit card receivables, auto loans and student loans. American Express has, with a sprinkle of Treasury pixie dust, been deemed a bank, thus qualified to feed at the trough with the others.  Companies like GMAC, the lending arm of General Motors, and other carmakers’ lending units, are standing in line as well.

In the original bailout plan Paulson asked for overarching Czar-like authority to move money around, without being subject to review by any court or administrative agency. His initial “just trust me” proposal didn’t fly. Congress assured the public that any plan they approved would have built-in oversight.

But by early November, not only had the White House failed to nominate a special inspector general to head up oversight efforts, Congress had yet to appoint any members to a five-person congressional oversight panel. In fact, a comprehensive plan seems non-existent.

A lot of money had been blowing out the door, but no one had bothered to consult with Congress about any of the details. Finally lawmakers stepped up to the plate.

On November 18, Paulson faced harsh questioning by members of the House Financial Services Committee where he shared the table with Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke. In addition to sharp criticism of mishandling matters, pointed questions reminded everyone that some TARP money was to have helped homeowners faced with foreclosure, an idea strongly supported by FDIC Chairman Sheila Bair.

Paulson argued that TARP was meant to stabilize financial markets and the flow of credit, not serve as a panacea for all our economic difficulties. And, he brushed aside questions about future plans by saying he had no intentions of doling out the second half of the $700 billion program — let the Obama administration deal with it, he said.

A secret $2 trillion deal

Back in mid-October, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation announced a new $2 trillion three-year program—the Temporary Liquidity Guarantee Program.  The program was meant to strengthen confidence and encourage liquidity in the banking system. This guarantee is in addition to the $250 billion preferred stock purchase plan we already mentioned. 

Perhaps you might be curious about the details surrounding that $2 trillion deal, a little transparency perhaps?  Well, never mind.  Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said the central bank would not disclose any details of these loans of taxpayer funds because doing so would “stigmatize banks needing the money.”

The American taxpayers deserve a coherent explanation about what has happened with all the money spent so far, like who’s getting what, how much and why.  They were promised oversight and transparency, but Bernanke’s statement it’s yet another example of a whole country being left in the dark with no real answers.

Now more than ever Americans need confidence that their government is making smart decisions as they sort through this financial fiasco. The best way to instill confidence is for Congress to do what it said it would do: ensure strict oversight of the bailout process.  They would do well to start at the beginning by keeping a closer eye on Paulson, a man who seems hell-bent on making up the rules as he goes along.

Perhaps the entire bailout fiasco was summed up best during the congressional hearings when Gary Ackerman (R-NY) looked Paulson in the eye and said, “You seem to be flying a $700 billion plane by the seat of your pants.  It seems to be the second-largest bait-and-switch scheme that history has ever seen, second only to the reasons given to us to vote for the invasion of Iraq.”

This is far from being the final chapter of the story.  You can find updates at our website: www.financialspeculation.com.



Dora

Jayson Hunter asked:


The average American often times feels that eating healthy is too expensive. Fast food and foods loaded with fat and sugar tend to be inexpensive and always at hand. I have created a Nutritional bailout plan to help you through these tough economic times with some tips for healthy and affordable eating.

Too many people think they can’t afford to eat healthy, especially during this Economic Crisis. That’s why I want as many people as possible to know about these tips for eating healthy.

The following healthy eating tips will help any American lose weight fast during this Economic Crisis:

1 - Choose seasonal fruits to save on grocery bill costs with your grocery bill. Out of season fruits can add a good chunk to any food bill. This is real easy to do. If you are the one doing the shopping just watch the prices of the fruits and you will see the prices jump on fruits once they are no longer ‘in season”. The reason for this is because they now have to ship the fruit in from other parts of the country rather than getting the fruit from a local grower. This adds considerable cost to the fruit.

2 - Buy in bulk and freeze what isn’t needed. This is easy to do with meats. When buying ten chicken breasts it lowers the cost per pound of chicken. The chicken that is not going to be eaten in the next few days you can freeze and then thaw what is needed for next meal when necessary. Same idea works for beef and hamburger. Most stores offer these “family” packs where you can buy 6 or more chicken breasts or 4 pounds of hamburger, etc. Once you get it home just break it up into individual Ziploc bags. For example put 2 chicken breasts in a Ziploc bag. For the hamburger or ground beef break it up into 1 pound sections since those are the most commonly used quantities.

You can save a good chunk of change every month if you just buy in bulk and spend a little bit of time to preserve it to be used at a later time when it is convenient.

3 - Pay attention to sales. Many times, eating healthy can be easily accomplished just by focusing on special offers and coupons. Too many people ignore sales and coupons or don’t take advantage of them. Did you know that there are websites devoted to just letting you know of the latest sales and coupons for stores all across the country. People literally save hundreds of dollars a month by taking advantage of these sales and coupons. You can save a minimum of $10 on average every time you go grocery shopping just by taking advantage the coupons. Add in the sale items and you are looking at more than $20 of savings every time you go grocery shopping.

Right now everyone is a little worried about the economy and some may even be panicking in regards to what is happening with the economy. Take a step back and a deep breath and just analyze your situation. Most people do not need to panic and all you have to do is cut a few corners, watch your spending habits and you will find that this downturn in the economy won’t affect you quite so bad.



Renee

Mitch G asked:


I’m buying a house and I close on October 31. It’s a FHA loan and right now my rate is 6.375%. Should I lock in beforehand or should I wait for the bailout package to pass? What will happen to interest rates?

Charles

Brad Hodges asked:


It is almost becoming a stereotypical statement these days; we are in tough economic times. Stereotypical or not however, the statement is true.

A total of 2.6 million jobs disappeared in 2008, the most since World War II, and the pain of the recession is only getting worse as 11 million Americans search for work.

Unemployment hit a 16-year high of 7.2 percent in December, the government reported Friday, and could be headed for 10 percent by the end of 2009.

There is a lot of doom and gloom everywhere you turn and even being an eternal optimist is difficult right now. While the news may be true it is also a field day, a veritable gluttony, for the media who unfortunately thrives on bad news. Why not …misery loves company, the old saying goes and doesn’t it make us all feel better to hear we are not the only ones who may be suffering financially and emotionally if the crises have reached the level of losing one’s home and all their worldly possessions?

If you get laid off right now, God help your soul. You better hope you’ve got savings or someone backing you. Many have no faith in this system any longer and seeing companies like GM, Chrysler ET AL, get giant handouts from the government yet still continue to hold lavish corporate retreats and fly around in Lear Jets certainly does not help keep the faith.

The recession, which just entered its second year, is the longest in a quarter-century. The fact that the country is battling a housing collapse, a lockup in lending, rising unemployment, shrinking consumer spending and the worst financial crisis since the 1930s makes the downturn especially dangerous.

SO many are at the mercy of “The Man” and the man ain’t coming through. Where there was once solace in a long time job it is often found that when the going gets tough the security and stability of that job gets a back seat to the survival instinct of the owner who now begins to cut loses to save his own skin. The team and all that spirit which goes along with it now give way to the lone wolf syndrome.

What can you do about it? Stop being a victim of the economy. Become the hunter and take back control of your life! Create your own bailout plan and seriously consider becoming your own economic stimulus by starting a small business at home.

There is a quiet revolution going on in America in the extra bedrooms that have now become ME, Inc. as home offices. According to IDC, a top national research firm, there are between 34.3 million and 36.6 million home office households in the United States alone. Nationwide, the number of home-based businesses may range from 18 million to 38 million, depending on who is doing the counting.

If you have ever considered the possibility of being your own boss, having a 30 foot commute instead of a two hour commute, spending more quality time with your family and declaring independence from corporate America and the economy, now may be that time.

Don’t wait too long, however. If you feel your job may be on the upcoming chopping block start now. If you have savings and or a 401k plan you may want to begin planning an exit strategy.

If you have the luxury, begin part time in the evenings and create a business plan on what you could do using your strengths to work for yourself. A good start would be to use a basic business strategy called S.W.O.T which stands for strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats to establish what you have to bring to your home business table.

The biggest mistake you can make is to take a shotgun approach and start buying and trying every make money quick scheme out there. You will rapidly eat up any money you have set aside. Use common sense and do your research.

There are many good resources on the Internet but beware of the so called “gurus”. If it sounds too good to be true nowhere is this statement more accurate that in the Internet make money realm… IT IS.



Antonio

Ernie Fitzpatrick asked:


Where is it in teh Constitution that it says the role of the Federal government is to bail out business? And when we begin that process and enter the black hole, how low, how deep can we go anyway? At what point does the one who does the bailing out, need bailing out? Is that even a possibility? We have entered unchartered waters and I’m sure we’re going to encounter some “unintended consequences”. 

Now that Congress has approved the $700 billion bailout, Paulson isn’t going to use the funds for what we were told they would be used for. We’re not taking all those toxic mortgages off the market. The first thing we’ve done is GIVE $125 BILLON to the banks. Bankers nee bonuses this Chrismas you know.

Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said Wednesday that original plan to purchase distressed mortgage assets from Wall Street firms is not the best use of the $700 billion financial rescue package, and officials will now focus on direct capital injections into the struggling financial firms.

Can he do that? 

Paulson said that nonbank financial institutions, including companies that deal with credit cards, auto loans and student loans, may be eligible for direct capital injections. Companies such as American Express, which is one of the country’s largest credit card companies, is reportedly seeking $3.5 billion in fresh capital from the government. Hey can I get just one milion? I can probably make it on just a half million if things are tight.

The US government could be entering a bottomless pit of bailouts if it starts propping up failing companies outside the financial sector—including the struggling auto industry, economists say. Many economists are against the idea, saying an auto maker bailout would open the door to a taxpayer rescue of virtually any major company with cash problems. As though we haven’t already entered those turbulent waters.

“Where do you stop?” says Bill Isaac, former chairman of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp and now managing director at the LECG global consulting firm in Vienna, Va. “Circuit City’s going down. Do we help them? What do you do if Starbucks gets in trouble? Do you help them?” Now you’re making this PERSONAL! Hell yes we save Starbucks! 

NOT!



Albert

R. Sebastian Gibson asked:


This is hot news. The $700 Billion Bailout has been passed. The world is saved. Well, maybe America is, but Europe looks to be in even worse shape and without the tools to fix their problems.

Still, once again I have to applaud the U.S. Treasury, Members of Congress, the SEC and the President for giving more work to that great labor force in America, America’s lawyers.

Of course, I’m referring to the $700 Billion dollar bailout, less commonly referred to as the Troubled Asset Relief Program or TARP as it will soon be known by even small children when they study how America became bankrupt saving companies from declaring bankruptcy.

Why will this create more work for corporate lawyers? One word. Regulations. This is the era of deregulation that led to Enron, $180/barrel gasoline, and heating oil too expensive for the average person to buy to heat their home. Then there is that other little mess deregulation led to. The global mortgage and financial credit crisis.

With regulations now coming into force in the corporate and banking world like a hurricane, those carefree days corporations enjoyed until now are gone. Once those laws are passed, they will have to be deciphered, enforced, avoided, fought over, analyzed, scrutinized, watered down or strengthened and almost certainly challenged in the courts.

We are witness to the start of the greatest passage of regulatory laws to govern corporations and banks the world has ever seen. As soon as Congress returns from their campaigning for the November elections, you can count on Congress and State legislators as well to begin looking for donkeys to pin the tail of blame on for this mess. And once the legislators believe they fully understand how we got into this mess, they will pass the laws they believe will keep us from ever getting in this mess again.

And it won’t stop there. With the financial crisis in the U.S. having spread to Europe, Asia and most of the rest of the world, those countries will follow suit with probably even stricter regulations.

For an international corporate lawyer, this is like Christmas in September. At large law firms around the world, lawyers are sickened like everyone else at what this global crisis is doing to individuals around the world, including themselves and many of their staff, who don’t know how they will pay their mortgage, put food on the table, or buy gasoline. TARP, as we will soon all be calling the bailout, may not even accomplish a darn thing. Only one thing is certain. Governments around the world will be passing new laws by the truckload, and lawyers will be called upon to understand them.

Visit our website at http://www.sebastiangibsonlaw.com if you have any type of business, finance, or corporate matter or need legal representation or legal defense in San Diego, Carlsbad, Oceanside, San Clemente, San Juan Capistrano, Newport Beach, and Huntington Beach and the inland areas around Orange County, Anaheim, Irvine, Santa Ana, Costa Mesa, Yorba Linda, Fullerton, Ontario, Rancho Cucamonga, Riverside, San Bernardino, Temecula, Palm Springs, Palm Desert, Victorville, Santa Barbara, Ventura, or need legal representation of any other kind in La Jolla, Del Mar, San Marcos, Encinitas, Solana Beach, Pacific Beach, El Cajon, Chula Vista, or Escondido.



Jacob

Jim Pappas asked:


Will the $700 billion bailout of our financial system bail you out?  In all actuality, will it help save your home?  Will it stop your home from going into foreclosure?  This $700 billion bailout is designed to make available funds to the Treasury Secretary to buy troubled mortgages held by banks and other larger investors. But how does that affect the troubled homeowner as it all plays out who perhaps might be you?

In the process of the bailout, these assets will come under government control.  It then becomes a requirement for the federal officials to try and develop a plan that will maximize assistance for troubled homeowners. The government can then use their authority to try and minimize foreclosures.  Whether this happens, in all actuality, remains to be seen.

With this financial crisis, federal officials have been encouraging lenders to find ways to modify the terms of loans that are in trouble whenever possible. Your bank or lender does not want your house.  The whole process of foreclosure is expensive for them.  Many lenders are only willing to make “modest” changes to payment plans in order to avoid the cost of foreclosure.  Their willingness to make these modifications is strongly impacted by your ability to make the new modified payment.  If they determine your present income cannot make the new payment, their losses would still be too great.  Remember, employee time is costly too.  Time invested and then lost was salaries paid with no results.

According to the Los Angeles Times, nearly 2 million mortgages are delinquent by 60 days or more, putting them at risk for foreclosure. And, there have been more than 900,000 foreclosures since 2007. 

So will the bailout bail you out? There are different opinions, “yours” and “theirs” whoever “they” are.  “They” being the government, mortgage lenders, large investors, banks, and your neighbors.   According to Steven Adamske, spokeman for the House Financial Services Committee, “the government is here to help.  We want to rebuild neighborhoods from the ground up.” 

Building neighborhoods is not usually the focus of a larger investor or lender, but keeping you from financial failure is because you have formed a partnership.  And as for your opinion, it might just depend on your ability to work with your lender and adjust faithfully to a modified payment plan.  Your ultimate goal is to not be in the category of the 2 million people facing foreclosure.



Sean