Financial crisis: Government to take majority stake in RBS (Royal Bank of Scotland)

The Telegraph (UK) ^ | October 12, 2008 | Edmund Conway, Philip Aldrick, Mark Kleinman, Alistair Osborne

[penelopesire]

I believe they are talking about the British government taking control of RBS. Britain is already a socialist mess as you probably already know. We have to pray that the Bush Administration holds firm on this tide or at least puts in place firm sunset laws that will untangle the US governemnt from our banking system in short order. Otherwise...we are doomed to socialism.

I am reading ‘The Forgotten Man’ by Amity Shales right now. I highly recommend it.

[airborne]

They sure loved him in Germany.

They loved Hitler in Germany too!

And look how that worked out!

[jersey117]

Life in America could be worse.

I agree and hope we are headed for better days. I had always been one to see the glass half full. I am just having a hard time seeing a happy ending to all of this. Our children's futures are at stake. We need to do all we can to get out the vote for McCain/Palin.

[Lazamataz]

I believe they are talking about the British government taking control of RBS. Britain is already a socialist mess as you probably already know. We have to pray that the Bush Administration holds firm on this tide or at least puts in place firm sunset laws that will untangle the US governemnt from our banking system in short order. Otherwise...we are doomed to socialism.

The problem is, Bush has socialist leanings. That's why we are where we are in so many ways.

The last capitalist to occupy the White House was Ronald Reagan.

God, I miss him.

[penelopesire]

Yep...I was watching him standing behind Bush the other day during Bush’s presser....man oh man...he was looking this way and then that way..very nervous indeed.

We should all say a fervent prayer for the Bush Administration right now for God’s guidance, wisdom and grace. No matter what our opinions are on the matter.

[mplsconservative]

Me too, Laz, me too.

[Captain Kirk]

If that is an argument for John “socialist bailout/mortgage bailout” McCain, it isn’t going to work.

[Huck]

I'm planning on dipping a little toe back in the equity market. I'm gonna spend Monday researching for a few individual stocks to buy. Nothing huge. Looking at investing $1200 back in of the $20K I took out before the big drop. I figure it like this: either this is a good opportunity to buy some serious bargains and make serious money over the next 5-10 yrs, or else the world is coming to an end and $1200 doesn't really matter anyway.

Any one got any good stock pix? Something that's very cheap, a company with a good dividend? Something that is also a good cyclical play?

[teletech]

The huckster spoke about economic terrorism last night on Geraldo. He didn’t name names or anything specific, just wink-wink its probably a dem strategy to get bho elected.

We will have our answer if all this suddenly turns around if Obama is elected. You know, like the messiah has come to fix all that's broken bow-jazz.

[Huck]

Huckabee seemed to be musing about unsubstantiated rumors based on conjecture with no evidence to support it. Other than that, what he was saying seemed pretty solid /s

[penelopesire]

We all miss Reagan. I don’t think Bush has entrenched ‘socialist leanings’, however, some folks advising him might and that is scary. Reports are coming out today that the administration is pushing back and pushing back hard on the nationalization of our banks...that’s not being an entrenched socialist.

Pray..pray hard...that the Lord will protect this country and guide our leaders through this storm.

[Captain Kirk]

have read articles that they are doing all they can to push back the socialist tide. It would be different if we knew that the republicans would retain control of the WH and at least hold a filibuster proof minority in Congress. They could work to untangle the government’s role in private industry as the crisis eases.

The facts literally scream otherwise. During the Bush administration, the Republicans have done more to advance big government and socialism than any party since the New Deal. Many of these big government measures, such as the prescription drug socialization, occurred when the Republicans controlled both the presidency and Congress.

[Chgogal]

Well, that was helpful information. Well done IMF! Just add gas to the fire, why dontchya?

[Lazamataz]

I don’t think Bush has entrenched ‘socialist leanings'

I would be delighted to agree, but then I remember:

• The Medicare Prescription Bill.
• Teaming up with Ted (The Head) Kennedy on the Education bill.
• Pushing NAFTA.
• Signing CFR (one of the trademark issues with socialists and communists is throttling their right to free speech.)

[LRoggy]

Funny, after all this, I haven’t heard ANY talk about outlawing derivatives or credit default swaps. Give it 2 or 3 years—they’ll be back with a vengence. This time the geeks will SWEAR that they’ve gotten the bugs out of their math models (heh, heh).

---

Until the government releases all of the HARD STATISTICS about defaults and foreclosures, we are all GUESSING about
what the causes of this crisis are.

I want to see the default rates and foreclosures by Zip Code and Ethnicity. I want to know how many upper middle income yuppies walked away from flips that went badly. I want to know how many hispanics tried to leverage in Miami and Phoenix and lost badly. I want to know if the HUD stats about 5 million fraudulent mortgages by illegal immigrants is true and if some mortgage brokers are complicit.

I want to know why so many building permits were issued in Miami when it was clear the inventories were too high (did local developers recycle lent money to favored politicians)?

I want to know why builders insisted on putting up so many McMansions that so few could afford.

You think that this is a derivative driven crisis. You can't actually think that removing all currency futures, commodity futures and interest rate swaps will make our system less risky, do you?

It is only when they are used for speculation OVER AND ABOVE their utility as hedging products that they become problematic. Position limits on these instruments would take care of that.

Even Credit Default Swaps have their place. The problem with that market right now is not the swaps themselves, but the ‘cross-party risk / transactional risk’ of the underlying security. That is why one of the most important issues being discussed right now is the Federal Reserve serving as a new clearinghouse for interbank lending. This market used to act on the faith that each other institution had in one another to actually deliver collateral for commercial paper.

THIS IS WHAT MARKET PARTICIPANTS ARE REFERRING TO AS THE SYSTEM NEEDING OIL, OR UNCLOGGING THE ARTERIES.

THE INSTITUTIONS IN THE COMMERCIAL PAPER MARKET NOT TRUSTING OTHERS WITH OVERNIGHT LENDING.

Until they do, we are going to be putting out fires in many locations, and new ones will start up.

UNTIL WE COME CLEAN ON THE STATISTICS THIS IS ALL SPECULATION, AND WE MAY SOLVE THE WRONG PROBLEMS.

[Mad_Tom_Rackham]

This is bizarre.

[Cold Heat]

Almost pulled the trigger on that stock...........

[College Repub]

For those of you who don’t know, Charter One Bank and Citizens Bank (New England) are owned by Royal Bank of Scotland...

[CindyDawg]

It’s sadly amusing how people are quoting Huckabee now. If he knows what he is talking about then why was he bad mouthed so bad during the campaign? How come it isn’t Huckabee/Palin running now?

[cgbg]

either this is a good opportunity to buy some serious bargains and make serious money over the next 5-10 yrs, or else the world is coming to an end and $1200 doesn't really matter anyway.

That is my risk/reward analysis as well.

I loath the stock market--because of the lack of transparency of financial statements (CPAs are no more reliable than appraisers these days), the crazy hucksterism of the conflict-of-interest "analysts" and "financial advisors", and the dangers of mass psychology causing crashes without warning.

But that was six hundred DOW points ago.

:-)

This seems like a good time to risk a little cash--certainly no riskier than a visit to the local casino.

:-)