PODCAST-TRANSCRIPT-WEEKLY-UPDATE-2009-JULY-12 (FRANCONOMICS.COM)
Hello, welcome to the weekly economic podcast from Franconomics.com for the week ending July 12, 2009. I am Sam Mishra, the podcaster who brings to you every week, week after week, how the corrupt politico-banking system is making us poorer and poorer, as the bankers keep getting richer and richer. We have 30 second advertising slot open for sale for these weekly podcasts, please use the Contact Us form on FRANCONOMICS.COM to get started. With the disclaimer that I voted for Obama, and if you have any doubts, please go and check the John McCain Swot article I wrote more than a year ago, let’s begin the podcast with some details on Goldman Sachs. It seems the world is finally catching up to the bubble heads for as per financial times,
Goldman executives sold stock worth $691 million between September 2008 and April 2009, more than the $438 million in stock sold between September 2007 and April 2008, when the average share price was substantially higher. We also have put a link to a YouTube video in our Video Resources section, where Dr. Paul Craig Roberts, a former Assistant Treasury Secretary during the Regan Administration and an award winning journalist quips, when asked if Geithner works for the people or the Wall Street Banking system --- Dr. Roberts has this to say: he works for Goldman Sachs. And why not? Even Rival Bank of America analyst Guy Moszkowski wrote this week to investors about Goldman --- Goldman Sachs has “unmatched risk-taking/risk-management skills in a market that strongly rewards these because of a decline in competitor risk appetite.”
Well let’s analyze this. Bear Stearns and Lehman are gone. So they can’t take any risks. But the risk-management skills of this firm are legendary. First Rubin, under whom Geithner worked, so we can say Geithner is a pseudo-goldman alum. First Rubin, then Hank Paulson, straight from Goldman CEO to Treasury Secretary, and now of course, Mr. Geithner. So, Goldman will take risks, and if push comes to shove, the government will bend its rules, and the company will be bailed out. And you, my dear friend, the only way you can participate in this corruption, is if you buy Goldman shares, which can go up… And I certainly don’t recommend that you finish last in the social rat race.
Oh, talking about rat race etc, we have a poll out on Franconomics.com where we are trying to find out what people like you think about the current 20 trillion dollar value drain under way. Whether you blame yourselves as in the social rat race to buy that home you could not afford, or whether you put the blame on bankers, or whether it is Summers and Geithner you mostly blame, or even a scholar like Bernanke who is loading up the federal reserve balance sheet with toxic waste like MBS – mortgage backed securities…So, please take a minute to take that poll, because your opinion is valued, the next time you visit FRANCONOMICS.COM.
This week, the TARP COP as in the TARP Congressional oversight panel released its July report, which states that Eleven small banks have repurchased their warrants from Treasury for a total amount that the Panel estimates to be only 66 percent of its best estimate of their value. If the warrants had been sold for their market value, taxpayers would have recovered $10 million more. Hmm, we have to add the $10 million to the $20 trillion value drain.
The fiscal year-to-date U.S. budget deficit broke past $1 trillion in June, and for the month of June, The federal government spent $94.32 billion more than it made, as per the Treasury Department. Last year, in all of fiscal 2008, the deficit was $454.8 billion and that was a record. And the White House has predicted the deficit will climb to $1.841 trillion this fiscal year.
Last week, we focused on the 9.5% official unemployment or the 15% full-time unemployed Americans. This week, let’s discuss its miserable brother, FORECLOSURES. The Mortgage Bankers Association released the National Delinquency Survey, as per which, foreclosure rates between quarters has reached its highest point since 1972 when the records were first kept. The increase in foreclosures on first time mortgages increased by 36 percent between the first quarter 2008 and first quarter 2009. Foreclosure rates also increased in many major cities around the country, including Dallas (7.75 percent), Fort Worth (6.16 percent), Detroit (4 percent), and Cleveland (3 percent). Also, home prices keep going down, making home buyers look like fools in such a down market. According to ForeclosureDatonline.com, nationally, prices have fallen by one-third since 2006. In key cities, prices have dropped significantly in just the last month: Chicago (close to 2 percent),and Denver (close to 4 percent). In other words, housing affordability continues to improve in response to the significant decline in house prices. Keep waiting, and you can afford an even bigger home…
In the past, we have brought to you our distaste for the fraudulent pPiP plan with extreme leverage. Looks like the news on the street is that the plan failed. Ooops, so much for triying one more round of scamming the gullible, you structured product gurus holding the AK-47s. We could not have defended ourselves with the green pea shooters. But I wonder why this brilliant Geithner plan failed? If we find out more, we will let you know.
Let’s discuss the G8 summit which concluded in Italy this week. On June 29, the People's Bank of China - the country's central bank had called for the creation of "an international reserve currency that can maintain the long term stability of its value." So much for the Treasury Secretary’s effective and efficient recent trip to China. And the Chinese call found backing from within the G8, particularly from France, with the French President Nicolas Sarkozy delivering an attack on the dollar's supremacy and saying the current international system was outdated.
OK, we have come to the end of this short and sweet podcast. Please tune in again for our next weekly podcast, and until then, stay well, take care of yourselves, your families, please treat the jobless, the homeless, and those who are without family and are lonely … with the kindness, courtesy, and respect they deserve, for these are our fellow human beings. Thank you.
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