Bank Run in Spain and Its Destabilizing Ramifications for the Entire EU

'This is nothing but a sign of a run on Spanish banks. They can't get funding in the markets and there is a steady withdrawal of funds from the banks. For all practical purposes, the ECB is supporting the Spanish banking system with life support measures. This means that the ECB will have to drain funds from elsewhere in the system to sterilize this rescue operation. Without sterilization the effort becomes very inflationary, with sterilization the effort distorts the entire EU economy. It's all destabilizing.'

Read more...

SPECIAL TREATMENT: Bailout Of Bank With Obama Ties Raises Eyebrows; Citi, Goldman, Taxpayers To Rescue

Republicans on the House Financial Services Committee want to find out if anyone in the Obama White House attempted to influence the financial bailout of a well-known Chicago-based "community bank," which faced FDIC closure last week, and which, going back to the Clinton Administration, has had close ties to ACORN and the leftist community-organizing world of Chicago.

The story about the bailout attempt of ShoreBank first began breaking last Thursday night. The FDIC was demanding that the bank have $125 million in investments by Friday, but discussions to bail out the bank, which has close ties to both senior members of the Obama Administration, as well as the Clinton family, went deep into the weekend as Chicago politicians scrambled to save the bank.'

Read more...

Protesters Attempt to Storm Irish Parliament Over More Bank Bailouts

Police say officers staffing the wrought-iron gates drew batons and forced back several dozen protesters. They said the protesters' injuries were minor and none were arrested.

Tens of billions' worth of dud property loans are being transferred from five Irish banks to a new government-run "bad bank." The government also has bought multi-billion stakes in Allied Irish Banks and Bank of Ireland.'

Read more...

U.S. Taxpayers Could be Bailing out European Banks as Debt Crisis Worsens

As the European debt crisis picks up steam and batters world markets, various reports are surfacing that the US taxpayer is on the hook for billion of dollars in bailout funds via the International Monetary Fund (IMF). The United States provides approximately 20% of IMF funding, which means the taxpayer could pay $8 billion to prop up Greek banks.'

Read more...

Obama Repaying His Masters at Goldman Sachs

President Obama is sponsoring a bill by the Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd(D-CT) that would reward the Financial Firm Goldman Sachs with up to Billions of Dollars. The bill implements a $50 billion resolution fund to the firms creditors through fees that would come from banks and other businesses, which the bill calls a "nonbank financial company." Critics are calling it a "backdoor bailouts" to Goldman Sachs who was already payed $12.9 billion in tax dollars through the bailout of AIG.

Supporters are denying the bill is a bailout because its demands the removal of some management positions but Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission member Peter Wallison said "that act - paying off the creditors when the government takes over a failing firm - is a bailout. It doesn't matter that the management lose their jobs, or that the shareholders get nothing. When the creditors are aware that they will get a better deal with the failure of a large company than they will get with a small one that goes the ordinary route to bankruptcy, that is a bailout".'

Read more...

More Toxic Paper: New Subprime Bonanza in the Housing Market

Whew. That was fast. It didn't take long for Wall Street to figure out how to game Obama's new mortgage modification program, did it? The plan was hyped as help for "struggling homeowners", but it turns out, it's just another stealth bailout for pudgy bank-execs. It's funny, the program hasn't even kicked in yet and, already, bigtime speculators are riffling through their filing cabinets looking any garbage paper they can find to dump on Uncle Sam. Take a look at this on today's Bloomberg report:

"Subprime-mortgage securities are rising at an accelerating pace as the U.S. begins to encourage reductions to homeowners’ balances, which may lead to fewer foreclosures and a quicker end to the housing slump....Senior-ranked bonds tied to borrowers with poor credit will mostly benefit after the Treasury Department said for the first time it would seek to cut the size of mortgages, reducing the likelihood that loan modifications will fail, according to JPMorgan Chase & Co., Morgan Stanley and Barclays Plc. (Bloomberg)

What does it mean? It means that Obama's mortgage modification extravaganza has touched-off a gold rush in toxic paper. Subprime securitizations, which had been worth next to nothing, are now the hottest trade on Wall Street. It's a subprime bonanza! The investment sharpies are scarfing up all the crummy MBS they can get their hands on, because they know they can trade it in for Triple A FHA-backed loans when the program get's going. It's another swindle cooked up by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to keep the brokerage clan in the clover. Here's how a Wall Street veteran explained it to me.'

Read more...

Irish Bailout 'Would Spark Revolution'

A revolution will erupt if billions of euro more in taxpayers' money is handed over to Anglo Irish Bank, Enda Kenny has warned.

The Fine Gael leader said people can no longer tolerate massive public funding of the nationalised bank as it stands.

Expected record losses at the bank, to be announced later this month, have fuelled speculation it will seek another six billion euro from the Government, on top of the four billion it has already pumped in.

Mr Kenny told Taoiseach Brian Cowen there will be a popular uprising if any such request is given the go-ahead.

"There'll be revolution on the streets if you do that," he insisted.'

Read more...

The Secret Bank Bailout

There's one method that the Federal Reserve has been employing to shovel money to the bank elite that is rarely mentioned, though I hear the sums that have been shoveled are in the billions and they are showing up on the books of firms like Goldman Sachs as pure profit. It's really pure scam.

Here's what went on for months, according to traders familiar with the situation.'

Read more...

Bankers Get $4 Trillion Gift From Barney Frank

It authorizes Federal Reserve banks to provide as much as $4 trillion in emergency funding the next time Wall Street crashes. So much for “no-more-bailouts” talk. That is more than twice what the Fed pumped into markets this time around. The size of the fund makes the bribes in the Senate’s health-care bill look minuscule.'

Read more...

US Gives Blank Check to Fannie and Freddie to Keep Foreign Creditors Happy

The Treasury announced Thursday it was removing the caps that limited the amount of available capital to the companies to $200 billion each.

Unlimited access to bailout funds through 2012 was "necessary for preserving the continued strength and stability of the mortgage market," the Treasury said. Fannie and Freddie purchase or guarantee most U.S. home mortgages and have run up huge losses stemming from the worst wave of defaults since the 1930s.'

Read more...

Top Bailout Recipients Spent $71 Million On Lobbying In Year Since Bailout

Twenty-five top recipients of government bailout funds spent more than $71 million on lobbying in the year since they were rescued, an extensive review of federal lobbying records by the Huffington Post reveals.

A year after taxpayers forked over $700 billion to help rescue the biggest names in banking, insurance and the automotive industry, those same institutions are using portions of the cash to influence legislation with a direct impact on taxpayers.'

Read more...

The Looting of America: Billionaire Bailout Society

CIT Bankruptcy: Taxpayers Stiffed on Company's Bailout Billions While Execs Reap Bonuses

If people were pissed off about AIG's temporary decline and permanent bonuses, CIT's bankruptcy ought to enrage them.

The giant lender to businesses is heading for a quick in-and-out in bankruptcy court, and when it emerges, taxpayers will be the ones who have gotten the ol' in-out: CIT won't have to repay its $2.33 billion TARP bailout.'

Read more...

£4,350 Per Family to Bail Out Britain’s Banks

The Chancellor confirmed that the Government would pump an extra £25.5 billion into Royal Bank of Scotland, and declared that it was the only way to keep the business alive.

Taxpayers have poured a total of £53.5 billion into RBS, including the £20 billion part-nationalisation last year and another £8 billion that was set aside as insurance against further trouble in the future.

In total, the Government has put £74 billion of taxpayers’ money into the banks, including RBS, Lloyds and HBOS, since the start of the financial crisis last year.'

Read more...

Robber Banks Defer Bonuses in Return For Extra £40 Billion

Royal Bank of Scotland (RBS) and Lloyds have both agreed to defer bonuses in return for an additional £40 billion of taxpayers' money as part of a deal with the Government that will break up two of Britain's biggest lenders.

In return for receiving billions of pounds more of taxpayers' money, the Treasury said, both banks will not pay cash bonuses for 2009 to any staff earning more than £39,000 a year while the board of each lender will defer bonuses due for this year until 2012.'

Read more...

£40 Billion more of your taxes so their bonus payments only get deferred. Wake up and smell the scam!!!