NEWS Daily Headlines & Propaganda 20080916 human beings are free TUESDAY Afternoon Edition, International Bankers' Control of U.S.A. Increasing Daily

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Daily Headlines & Propaganda from HumanBeingsAreFree
Tuesday, 16 September 2008 see All News
Afternoon Edition, International Bankers' Control of U.S.A. Increasing Daily

BY FAR BIGGEST FINANCIAL MERGER IN KNOWN HISTORY: There are no longer significant divisions between the US Gov't and multinational bankers. Former cut-throat competitors now claim they are cooperating with one another, the Federal Reserve and the US Treasury--all for the "good of the country." No stretch of the imagination can call this free market capitalism... socialism and globalization are better descriptors.

Central Banks Add More Liquidity to Markets
Excerpt(s): "Central banks around the world pumped short-term cash into strained money markets for the second day in a row Tuesday as markets reeled amid a fast-moving crisis that is reshaping the contours of the global financial system. With interest rates on the overnight loans banks make to one another rising sharply on market unease, European policy makers boosted the amount of funds on offer. The European Central Bank injected €70 billion ($100.17 billion) in one-day funds into euro-zone money markets, more than double its Monday injection of €30 billion. The Bank of England offered £20 billion ($36.05 billion) in extra ..."
Read full article: http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122155213509941987.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

Government Trying to Arrange Financing for AIG
Excerpt(s): "The federal government has asked investment banks Goldman Sachs and JPMorgan Chase to lead a $70 billion to $75 billion lending facility to help struggling insurer American International Group, CNBC has learned... The move appeared to confirm earlier reports that the government preferred that funds for AIG should come from private sources... Meanwhile, New York State will allow AIG to use $20 billion of assets held by its subsidiaries to provide cash needed for the troubled insurer to stay in business, Gov. David Paterson said. Paterson asked New York state insurance regulators to essentially allow AIG to provide a bridge loan to itself... The governor has also asked the head of New York's insurance department to talk with Federal regulators about providing an additional bridge loan to AIG."
Read full article: http://www.cnbc.com/id/26718923

U.S. Gives Banks Urgent Warning to Solve Crisis
Excerpt(s): "As Lehman Brothers teetered Friday evening, Federal Reserve officials summoned the heads of major Wall Street firms to a meeting in Lower Manhattan and insisted they rescue the stricken investment bank and develop plans to stabilize the financial markets... Timothy F. Geithner, the president of the New York Federal Reserve, called a 6 p.m. meeting so that bank officials could review their financial exposures to Lehman Brothers and work out contingency plans over the possibility that the government would need to orchestrate an orderly liquidation of the firm on Monday, according to people briefed on the meeting. Flanked by Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. and Christopher Cox, the chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, he gathered the executives in person to impress on them the need to work together to resolve the current crisis. Mr. Geithner told the participants that an industry solution was needed, no matter what, and that it was not about any individual bank, according to two people briefed on the meeting but who did not attend. They said he told them that if the industry failed to solve the problem their individual banks might be next... The Wall Street executives included the following chief executives: Lloyd Blankfein of the Goldman Sachs Group, James Dimon of JPMorgan Chase, John Mack of Morgan Stanley, Vikram Pandit of Citigroup and John Thain of Merrill Lynch. Representatives from the Royal Bank of Scotland and the Bank of New York Mellon were also present. Lehman Brothers was noticeably absent from the talks... Mr. Paulson and Mr. Geithner insist that Wall Street needs to come up with an industry solution to try to stabilize Lehman Brothers and calm the markets... Mr. Geithner, who led the session, firmly stood his ground. He told the banks that this was about fixing the system and preventing the crisis from worsening... Fed officials, for example, are now embedded at each of the big Wall Street investment banks and have at least some capacity gauge the firms’ exposure to hedge funds and other big players, as well as their positions in financial derivatives and other opaque markets. Fed and Treasury officials have also been taking the daily pulse of executives and traders on Wall Street for months, and much of that discussion has been about Lehman... the Federal Reserve and the Treasury Department... have abandoned free-market orthodoxy, fearing that the collapse of institutions like Bear Stearns or either Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac could cripple the financial markets, and perhaps the economy itself."
Read full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/13/business/13rescue.html?ref=worldbusiness

Fed expands lending programs
Excerpt(s): "The U.S. Federal Reserve Bank said Monday it will expand two lending programs... The Fed expanded eligible collateral for the Primary Dealer Credit Facility and the Term Securities Lending Facility, both moves intended to enhance liquidity for both primary dealers and the financial markets in general, the statement said. In addition, the bank will conduct Schedule 2 TSLF auctions every week, rather than the previous schedule of every other week. Bernanke said the Fed has kept "in close contact with other U.S. and international regulators, supervisory authorities, and central banks to monitor and share information on conditions in financial markets and firms around the world."
Read full article: http://www.upi.com/Business_News/2008/09/15/Fed_expands_lending_programs/UPI-77321221504431/

4 big U.S. banks use Fed's discount window
Excerpt(s): "Four large U.S. banks Wednesday said they each borrowed $500 million from the Federal Reserve's "discount window," adding liquidity to the credit markets. Citigroup Inc. (NASDAQ:PLJC), J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. (NYSE:JPM), Bank of America Corp. and Wachovia Corp. (AMEX:AWO) said they borrowed $500 million apiece. Citigroup said it borrowed the money "on behalf of clients." The other banks said in a joint statement they borrowed the money "to display the effectiveness of the facility." "While JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America and Wachovia each have substantial liquidity and the capacity to borrow money elsewhere on more favorable terms, the companies believe it is important at this time to take a leadership role in demonstrating the potential value of the Fed's primary Credit Facility and to encourage its use by other financial institutions," the banks said."
Read full article: http://www.upi.com/Business_News/2007/08/22/4_big_US_banks_use_Feds_discount_window/UPI-39901187809111/

SLIDE SHOW: Willing to Lease Your Bridge
Excerpt(s): "As governments struggle to raise funds to build and maintain bridges, roads and airports, private investors are eager to step in and privatize it... In recent years, billions of dollars have been raised by banks and private equity firms to build, fix and operate roads and airports in the United States and around the world."
Read full article: http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2008/08/27/business/0827-FUND_index.html

ECONOMICS EDITORIALS: Debating the Collapse of Financial Markets and the Real Economy

Financial system collapse threatens United States
Excerpt(s): "Will Black Sunday 2008 replace Black Tuesday 1929 in the mythology of financial disaster? It sure looks like it. Lehman Brothers (NYSE:LEH) and Merrill Lynch (AMEX:ESM), two of the biggest financial giants in American history, have just collapsed on the same day. And they are just the tip of the iceberg. There is no end in sight... Forget the Bush administration's ridiculous hairsplitting rhetoric about the country not being technically in a recession, let alone a depression. The wolf of hyperinflation and international collapse of confidence is no longer at the door, it is roaring through Wall Street and George W. Bush's White House, devouring everything in sight."
Read full article: http://www.upi.com/news/issueoftheday/2008/09/15/Financial_system_collapse_threatens_United_States/UPI-41561221487558/

Financial Russian Roulette
Excerpt(s): "Will the U.S. financial system collapse today, or maybe over the next few days? I don’t think so — but I’m nowhere near certain... nobody knows what will happen next. To understand the problem, you need to know that the old world of banking, in which institutions housed in big marble buildings accepted deposits and lent the money out to long-term clients, has largely vanished, replaced by what is widely called the “shadow banking system.” Depository banks, the guys in the marble buildings, now play only a minor role in channeling funds from savers to borrowers; most of the business of finance is carried out through complex deals arranged by “nondepository” institutions, institutions like the late lamented Bear Stearns — and Lehman. The new system was supposed to do a better job of spreading and reducing risk. But in the aftermath of the housing bust and the resulting mortgage crisis, it seems apparent that risk wasn’t so much reduced as hidden: all too many investors had no idea how exposed they were."
Read full article: http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/15/opinion/15krugman.html

New Wall Street Powerhouses Emerge
Excerpt(s): "With Bear, Lehman and an independent Merrill out of the picture, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs remain the last brokers standing... No doubt this is a big blow to New York and New Jersey economies due to widespread layoffs. But going forward, the banking industry -- while consolidated and much smaller, will most likely be more powerful."
Read full article: http://blogs.abcnews.com/moneybeat/2008/09/new-wall-street.html