He said: “Instead of catalyzing recovery, the financial system is working against recovery. And at the same time, the recession is putting greater pressure on banks. This is a dangerous dynamic, and we need to arrest it. It is essential for every American to understand that the battle for economic recovery must be fought on two fronts. We have to both jumpstart job creation and private investment, and we must get credit flowing again to businesses and families."
And Bloomberg.com is reporting:
“The S&P 500 dropped 2.7 percent to 846.09 at 11:12am in New York as all 10 of its industries slipped. The Dow average slumped 226.12 points, or 2.7 percent, to 8,044.75. The Russell 2000 Index of small-company shares decreased 1.7 percent to 459.78. Stocks in Europe and Asia fell.”
And market/financial experts – talking heads – are making reference to:
1. platforms of shadow banking
2. aggressive regulatory backbone
3. TARP
4. the market trying to “hit” the right “tone”
5. the Hedge Fund “community”
6. private sector equity contributions
7. term asset backed securities
8. loan swaps
And Geitner is heading over to Italy toward the end of the week. His “plans” are estimated to cost taxpayers $2 TRILLION!
And guess what? The “common man” is clueless about what is going on. It’s a big huh? what? A billion this – a trillion that. People are asking where’s the beef?
And where are the jobs? Where is the freight? What about “my” taxes? How are “we” going to survive?
“Traders” are reportedly “upset” about the lack of details in the plan. Apparently they “got” upset even before Geitner finished. Is anyone who has anything to do with the stock market ever “satisfied” with anything? No is the answer. To the common man these people are totals aliens – not the Mexican or French kind – the Jupiter kind.
For the “common” man, the market is just something that is there. It exists. It does something. It is highly volatile – sorry – unstable - and confusing. It is a place “smart” rich folks get richer and “we” can’t. It is a complete mystery that even “our” high school teachers couldn’t explain.
Folks “kinda” know the market has “something” to do with the economy, but they’re not quite sure what or how. Most people just accept it, like the strings hanging from a puppet, or taxes, what the news reports or what the preacher says. There is a whole lot of confusion and ignorance going around on all sides these days.
Speaking of confusion and ignorance - “our” Senators are right now up in Washington DC “debating” the “stimulus” spending “plan.” $838 BILLION. The Democrats want to get “something” on the Presidents desk by Feb. 16th. Obama “says” we “need” to get this done “like” yesterday. No one knows quite why. More acceptance.
The House already passed a bill without Republican support. The Republicans are trying to keep it simple.They say they want less “liberal hopes and dreams” in the bill. The Democrats say the Republicans are “nitpicking.” I hear the word “persnippity” used quite a bit.
My Blackberry just beeped – it seems those “persnickety” Senators just passed the $838 BILLION bill. The vote was along party lines. No big surprise. The bill will eventually pass. Too bad.
Because the poor “common” man will be no better off, certainly no wiser and definitely not any richer. And the stock market will continue to be “upset.” And nobody will understand what the “talking heads” are saying. And folks still don’t know the difference between the House and the Senate. And our new Treasury Secretary will eat some great food in Italy this week.
Bloomberg.com reports:
“Bank of America Corp. and Citigroup Inc. lost more than 11 percent after Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said he’s still “exploring a range of different structures” to bail out lenders. Principal Financial Group Inc. plunged 28 percent on concern the life insurer needs more capital. Alcoa Inc. slumped 6.9 percent after S&P cut the aluminum producer’s credit rating to the lowest investment grade.
The S&P 500 Index dropped 3.8 percent to 836.54 at 1:16 p.m. in New York and lost as much as 4 percent, the most since Jan. 20. The Dow Jones Industrial Average decreased 309.43 points, or 3.7 percent, to 7,961.44. Ten-year Treasury notes rose, driving their yield down by 0.11 percentage point to 2.87 percent. The dollar gained 0.6 percent against the euro, and gold rose 2.1 percent as investors sought havens. “
Huh? What?
The photo credit is: www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic-art/412352...
