http://www.freerepublic.com/tag/meltdown/ en-us Thu, 18 Mar 2010 12:35:15 GMT Focus Forum 15 http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2473666/posts Meltdown investigation widening By MARCY GORDON Associated Press March 17, 2010, 10:30PM Share Print Share Del.icio.usDiggTwitterYahoo! BuzzFacebookStumbleUponWASHINGTON — The head of the Securities and Exchange Commission confirmed Wednesday that the agency is investigating several companies' actions in the run-up to the financial crisis of 2008. SEC Chairman Mary Schapiro said “it would be safe to assume” that the agency is looking very closely at the conduct of a number of firms during that time. She didn't name the companies. A new report by a bankruptcy examiner digging into the collapse of big investment firm Lehman Brothers in September 2008 raised... Houston Chronicle, AP sourced http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2473666/posts#comment Thu, 18 Mar 2010 12:35:15 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2468360/posts Every once in a while, the world is faced with a major economic development that is ill-understood at first and dismissed as of limited relevance, and which then catches governments, companies and households unawares. We have seen a few examples of this over the past 10 years. They include the emergence of China as a main influence on growth, prices, employment and wealth dynamics around the world. I would also include the dramatic over-extension, and subsequent spectacular collapse, of housing and shadow banks in the finance-driven economies of the US and UK. Today, we should all be paying attention to... Financial Times http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2468360/posts#comment Thu, 11 Mar 2010 00:54:46 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2464197/posts Mark Williams melts down as he speaks to a "Tea Partier"... this is absolutely pathetic and explains why MSNBC has a total of 5 viewers. Youtube http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2464197/posts#comment Thu, 4 Mar 2010 19:46:38 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2457292/posts Bill Nye the Science Guy was totally clobbered in a debate against meteorologist Joe Bastardi from AccuWeather over global warming on the O'Reilly Factor last night. The utterly mortifying results of this debate are what occur when an actual scientist with a degree in meteorology, Joe Bastardi, debates a pro-global warming, self-professed "scientist" in Bill Nye whose biggest claim to fame, ridiculously, was hosting a pre-teen kids show on PBS during the 90s. Bill Nye, of course, shocked his one or two, remaining fans (who can even remember him) from his 90s TV show when he went on Rachel Maddow's... Associated Content (AC) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2457292/posts#comment Tue, 23 Feb 2010 10:05:30 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2449915/posts Larence O'Donnell complete meltdown on Morning Joe this morning...Must see Tv. Neoavatara http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2449915/posts#comment Fri, 12 Feb 2010 15:29:24 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2446172/posts MSNBC's resident token lesbian Rachel Maddow has disparagingly and bigotedly called the Tea Party Convention attendees racists with white hoods. Spewing these comments on her shameful and lowly rated, barely watched cable opinion show this past Friday, Maddow was in fact basing her slurs on the statements of former Republican congressman Tom Tancredo, who spoke on the first day of the Tea Party Convention. As with all good, liberal bomb-throwers, Maddow is a hypocrite to say the least, but what makes her especially hypocritical is her membership in the token lesbian club on MSNBC. Since she's a gay person, Maddow... Associated Content (AC) http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2446172/posts#comment Sun, 7 Feb 2010 09:46:50 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2444515/posts I confess. I was utterly wrong. I listened to those around me and believed them. Everyone said President Obama was an intelligent man. So smart. So savvy. Harvard-educated. I believed them, and I was wrong. I really hate to say this, but our president is an idiot. At this morning’s National Prayer Breakfast, the president spoke, and after giving shout-outs to the various guests using questionable grammar, he launched into a talk that began beautifully: eloquent, soaring, euphonious. But it all came clattering and clanking down after the first few minutes. See if you can find the gaffes... g http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2444515/posts#comment Thu, 4 Feb 2010 22:10:18 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2444422/posts Thanks to the endless barrage of feel-good propaganda that daily assaults the American mind, best epitomized a few months ago by the “green shoots,” everything’s-coming-up-roses propaganda touted by Federal Reserve Chairman Bernanke, the citizens have no idea how disastrous the country’s fiscal, monetary and economic problems truly are. Nor do they perceive the rapidly increasing risk of a totalitarian nightmare descending upon the American Republic. One stark and sobering way to frame the crisis is this: if the United States government were to nationalize (in other words, steal) every penny of private wealth accumulated by America’s citizens since the nation’s... Financial Sense http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2444422/posts#comment Thu, 4 Feb 2010 19:50:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2441734/posts HH: Much to talk about with Mark Steyn, Columnist To the World. You can read all of Mark’s work at www.steynonline.com. I begin with a report we got from Jon Kyl, and I will interview him next hour, Mark Steyn. The Democrats have decided to use reconciliation to try and jam a version of Obamacare through the Senate with 50 votes plus Joe Biden. What do you think the reaction to that is going to be? MS: Well, I think the public will be annoyed, the citizenry will be annoyed, and they’ll express that anger in November. But I think... Steyn Online http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2441734/posts#comment Mon, 1 Feb 2010 09:53:14 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2440274/posts Here is video of GOP Rep. Mike Pence questioning President Obama today at a GOP House Conference held in Baltimore. After Obama made opening remarks, Pence asked Obama if would support an across the board tax cut. Obama launched into a combative answer that once again set forth a defense for his huge Stimulus Bill. At around the 7:05 mark of the video, Obama tells the Republicans "I am not an ideologue." Obama spent eight minutes (Pence finished his question at the 1:05 mark of the video) with his rambling answer and never answered the question! Pence got a word... Freedom's Lighthouse http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2440274/posts#comment Fri, 29 Jan 2010 20:13:49 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2440240/posts An angry Barack Obama met with House Republicans today at their retreat in Baltimore and attacked them for voting against his very radical and failed economic plans for restructuring America. To their credit not one single House Republican voted for the gigantic Stimulus Bill, the record Omnibus Bill, and the Obama Son of Stimulus Bill. And, only 5 voted for the democrat’s business-busting cap-and-tax bill and only one voted for Obamacare. Today Obama let them know what he thought about their lack of support for his radical agenda. Look at how ANGRY he is while speaking to the House Republicans Gateway Pundit http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2440240/posts#comment Fri, 29 Jan 2010 19:20:08 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2440164/posts This is unreal- Obama is lecuring the House GOP retreat- they're asking him questions and he's talking to them like they're 10th graders.. http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2440164/posts#comment Fri, 29 Jan 2010 17:49:02 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2440199/posts BALITMORE (AP) - President Barack Obama is telling Republicans that their rhetoric claiming his plans would "destroy America" has left them little room to reach bipartisan solutions. Obama on Friday told GOP members of the House that their name-calling and blind opposition have led them to become politically vulnerable because their sole message is that they say "no" to the first-term president. Obama says their characterization of his plans as part of some "Bolsheviks revolution" has been unhelpful to both parties. Associated Press http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2440199/posts#comment Fri, 29 Jan 2010 18:36:20 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2436024/posts The Minds Behind the Meltdown How a swashbuckling breed of mathematicians and computer scientists nearly destroyed Wall Street By SCOTT PATTERSON On Thursday, President Barack Obama proposed new rules to curb a number of Wall Street's risky—and highly profitable—trading activities. One target: The secretive trading operations within banks that use large doses of leverage, or borrowed money, to make huge bets on the market. Wall Street says the regulations are unnecessary, and since the financial crisis struck, most banks have cut back on these trading outfits. But when the downturn first hit in the summer of 2007, several of them... WSJ http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2436024/posts#comment Sun, 24 Jan 2010 12:56:02 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2428718/posts Bob Wiedemer is explaining to a roomful of hedge-fund investors that the end of America as we know it won’t be as bad as they think. Wiedemer is co-author of the new book Aftershock: Protect Yourself and Profit in the Next Global Financial Meltdown. Sound overblown? That’s what they said about his first book, America’s Bubble Economy, in which Wiedemer and his co-authors, his Ph.D. brother David and writer Cindy Spitzer, predicted that the U.S. residential real-estate market was overvalued and due for a crash. That was in 2006, months before the crash actually occurred. Now Wiedemer is warning people... National Review http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2428718/posts#comment Fri, 15 Jan 2010 03:15:49 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2427292/posts LONDON (AP) - Oxford, Cambridge and other British universities said Tuesday that the government's plan to cut hundreds of millions of pounds (dollars) from their funding would put their world-class reputations in jeopardy. Unlike most elite institutions in the United States, Britain's top schools rely almost exclusively on taxpayers keeping them going. But strapped for cash, the government has slashed its higher education budget by 600 million pounds (nearly $1 billion) over the next three years—a figure British media say comes to a 12 percent reduction when combined with other cuts. Breitbart | AP http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2427292/posts#comment Wed, 13 Jan 2010 14:31:19 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2392857/posts CHAMPAIGN, Ill. — A new study provides "incontrovertible evidence" that the volcanic super-eruption of Toba on the island of Sumatra about 73,000 years ago deforested much of central India, some 3,000 miles from the epicenter, researchers report. The volcano ejected an estimated 800 cubic kilometers of ash into the atmosphere, leaving a crater (now the world's largest volcanic lake) that is 100 kilometers long and 35 kilometers wide. Ash from the event has been found in India, the Indian Ocean, the Bay of Bengal and the South China Sea. The bright ash reflected sunlight off the landscape, and volcanic sulfur... University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2392857/posts#comment Mon, 23 Nov 2009 20:23:04 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2388226/posts It's coming in 2012: Another, bigger meltdown of Wall Street's "too-greedy-to-fail" banks. No, this is not another fanatical warning about that Dec. 21, 2012 end-of-days prediction based on the Mayan calendar, though you may well ask "Who will survive?" Here is what's happening: History is repeating itself. Wall Street's soul-sickness is setting up a new meltdown. Dead ahead. Be prepared. My track record speaks for itself. Back on March 20, 2000, my column headline read: "Next crash? Sorry, you'll never hear it coming." Bull's eye: The dot-com bubble popped at 11,722. The economy collapsed. A 30-month recession. Markets lost $8... Marketwatch http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2388226/posts#comment Tue, 17 Nov 2009 15:49:16 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2381548/posts "For it is impossible for any one to begin to learn what he thinks he already knows." -- Epictetus In a little-known book entitled Capital Rules: The Construction of Global Finance written in 2007 a year before the global financial meltdown, Harvard professor Rawi Abdelal tells how it was French socialists, not Wall Street or the U.S. Treasury or credit rating firms (S&P, Moody’s, etc.), that liberalized global finance. The only problem with this book is that it is not one of the many books on the financial meltdown that follows the successful pop journalistic formula of demonizing greedy financial... Pasadena Sub Rosa http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2381548/posts#comment Sun, 8 Nov 2009 16:50:35 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2380833/posts Given the source, I was skeptical. I expected 55 straight minutes of Republican-bashing. I was wrong. Much to my surprise this video placed the blame exactly where it belongs...on the merry band running the Clinton financial team. And for good measure, they hit Obama with a few whacks as well (since he has some of the culprits in his cabinet NOW!) PBS http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2380833/posts#comment Sat, 7 Nov 2009 14:27:16 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2374364/posts Here is a look at the key components of GDP, showing how much each one contributed or subtracted from growth in the third quarter, along with forecasts for how they will perform going forward. CONSUMER SPENDING HOW MUCH IT GREW: 3.4 percent rate in third quarter, best showing since early 2007. CONTRIBUTION TO OVERALL GDP: 2.36 percentage points of the 3.5 percent third-quarter growth in GDP came from consumer spending. Car sales alone represented 1 percentage point of total growth, reflecting the success of the government’s Cash for Clunkers program. PROSPECTS: This is the biggest question facing the fledgling recovery,... Chattanooga Publishing Company http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2374364/posts#comment Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:05:07 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2351603/posts Over 5 million YouTube views. Dems will call it "old news." Conservatives will call it "a history lesson from which we need to learn." Who's more the more responsible group of folks here? The Patriot Room http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-bloggers/2351603/posts#comment Wed, 30 Sep 2009 15:27:00 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2343766/posts I always wondered how the people survived in Argentina's currency melt down. Here is a video with the answer. It is very interesting and inspiring. youtube http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/2343766/posts#comment Sat, 19 Sep 2009 19:18:27 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2342060/posts WASHINGTON – The chairman of a new congressionally appointed panel has promised a no-holds barred investigation into last year's devastating economic collapse. The inquiry will look into whether any of the nation's biggest financial firms and the regulators in charge of monitoring them were guilty of criminal misconduct. Phil Angelides, appointed this year by Democrats to lead the 10-member Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, said the group will examine the conduct of top officials at such firms as Lehman Brothers, Citigroup, AIG and Bear Stearns, as well as mortgage buyers Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. AP on Yahoo http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2342060/posts#comment Thu, 17 Sep 2009 16:27:07 GMT http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2341028/posts A year ago this week, Lehman Brothers blew up, dramatically advancing one of the worst financial disasters in history. The reckless behavior of greedy Wall Street bankers had come home to roost, making life a lot tougher for the rest of us. Since then, what have President Barack Obama and Congress done to prevent them from doing it again? Pretty much what Obama did when he spoke to Wall Street earlier this week. Talk. "They really haven't done anything that could prevent another meltdown," says Joseph Mason, financial-sector expert who used to work for one of the main national banking... MSN Money http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/2341028/posts#comment Wed, 16 Sep 2009 14:30:46 GMT