Banks seen offering plan to restore confidence

[CHIMO]

Source: THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

NEW YORK–As the outlook for Lehman Brothers appeared to dim Sunday, U.S. and foreign banks joined forces to create a plan aimed at inoculating the global financial system against the investment bank's possible failure, a top investment banking official said.

Banks were in tense talks to create a pool of money worth up to $50 billion (U.S.) to lend troubled financial companies, the official said on condition of anonymity because the discussions were ongoing. And officials at the U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve were expected to announce they are prepared to be more generous in the Fed's emergency lending program for commercial and investment banks.



Read more: http://www.thestar.com/Business/article/499192#

---

So seems like Barkleys were not included in the cushion, so they walked.

The reserve will now back special interest deals that meet their political objectives. How nice.

[whistle]

1. Paulson and Bernanke are still going to fuck over the American tax payer

...I can smell it coming

[MichiganVote]

3. Globalism. They can't handle it and we all end up screwed.

[whistle]

4. The International Bankers have them by the balls

[MichiganVote]

8. Managing to swim and sustain oneself in one economy is big job in itself..

so long as the current bunch of wonderbrains delude themselves into thinking they can wield unlimited and absolute monetary "expertise" across the whole world, we will be screwed. They'll steal the bread right out of our mouths and carry on themselves as though nothing has happened.

[Skittles]

2. can someone tell me why banks are being built on every corner around me?

I don't understand why banks are popping up everywhere

[aquart]

13. When you see that, put the cash in the mattress or buy pure gold.

Anytime banks can survive where retailing can't, you have to know that something is VERY wrong.

[54anickel]

5. $50 billion is nothing! The derivative markets are hundreds of trillions of dollars. $50 billion

would have just covered Lehmans counterparty settlements. Merrill just sold themselves to BoA, that means Morgan Stanley is on deck. How much will they need to bail out? Maybe $50 billion is enough to restore the confidence game....though I think it's more wishful thinking at this point.

[aquart]

14. Derivatives are the same as three-card monte, aren't they?`

[trthnd4jstc]

6. The pool needs to be $ 2 or 3 Trillion, from little that I can tell. n/t

[Patsy Stone]

7. Here's the CNBC link:

http://www.cnbc.com/id/26708143

Federal authorities are expected to be involved in the orderly disposition of Lehman assets if such a filing occurs. Sources knowledgeable about the weekend deliberations tell CNBC that without some government participation in the process, a bankruptcy filing by Lehman Brothers would cause major disruptions in the financial system.

Officials at the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury are taking steps to mitigate risk to the system and assure the orderly functioning of the markets tomorrow.

According to the New York Times, Lehman will seek to place its parent company, Lehman Brothers Holdings, into bankruptcy protection, while its subsidiaries will remain solvent while the firm liquidates its holdings.

A consortium of banks will provide a financial backstop to help provide an orderly winding down of the 158-year-old investment bank. And the Federal Reserve has agreed to accept lower-quality assets in return for loans from the government, the New York Times says.

[lonestarnot]

9. And the way consumers obtain money is now officially changed

according to those people. :scared:

[mrJJ]

10. USA! USA! WE'RE NO. 1

C&P from another DU user

USA! USA! WE'RE NO. 1 ! Our currency reserves are better than ... Botswana? Maybe? Kinda?

US foreign currency reserves have sunk to about $72+ billion, according to the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

The southern African nation of Botswana's foreign currency reserves stand at about $6 billion.

Yeah! USA! USA! WE'RE NO. 1 ! Our foreign reserves are about 10 times bigger than Botswana's !!

Oh yeah. Botswana is a nation of 1.8 million people, while the US is a nation of about 300 million people -- there are 166 times as many Americans and there are Botswana citizens.

Which means that on a per capita basis (per person), Botswana's foreign currency reserves are $3,277 while on the same basis ours are about $250 -- so the Tswana have have 13 times the foreign currency reserves per person we have.

OK what about a more suitable match up? How about USA versus Greneda! Oh wait, we already kicked their asses.

What about Hong Kong? I read somewhere that their foreign reserves are falling! Yeah, Go USA! Ooops, they were falling by a billion or so, but they were up at the end of August by $400 million and currently stand at $158.1 billion.

That's Hong Kong.

Not China.

Hong Kong, with its population of about the same size as New York City, has twice the foreign currency reserves of the entire U S of A. (China of course has around $1.8 trillion, about 23 times as much foreign reserves as the US).

Of course, a small country like Botswana, or a city-state like Hong Kong, or a big third world factory town like China, have to save foreign currency because they need dollars. We make our own goddamn dollars, thank you very much, and as long as the world accepts our manufactured dollars for their manufactures, we don't need no stinkin foreign currency reserves.

Oh wait a minute. If Freddie and Fannie default on the several trillion dollars worth of mortgage backed securities and other debt instruments, the world probably won't accept dollars any more.

Well, if so, we've always got that $72 billion or so in foreign reserves

Does that mean were screwn?

[burf]

11. Isn't there supposed

to be a liquidity crisis in the banking sector? If so, where is this $50 billion coming from? I suppose these banks will just walk up to the discount window with some worthless securities as collateral and Uncle Ben will fork over the needed bucks.

[Tutonic]

12. B of A is owned by the Mob--so I guess that RICO reallty worked

out huh Mr. Guilliani

[izquierdista]

15. CONFIDENCE!

That's what we need now, a couple of confidence men to help things along.



Come to think of it, the confidence men have been hard at work all along. Hmmmmm.