The stock answer to all Repukes should be to go f&^%! themselves; but as that is not very PC, the Dems should just remind them that they are only trying to get the country out of the hole they have put it in. And if they were so f$!^* smart, how did it get so deep in debt in the first place. Now sit back and let the adults give it a go. Like all the other times the Repukes have caused defecits and had to be bailed out. I wish the Dems would grow some balls.

... or am I the only one who believes that when Santelli screeched: "How many of you people want to pay for your neighbor's mortgage [...] raise your hands!"
I heard mostly BOOOOHs and one - only one - hand went up

I don't watch the tv so this is the first time I have seen and heard Robert Gibbs. He is teriffic! And cute! Just the kind of guy you might like to take home to meet Mama.

Update prequel:

Mr Santelli appears to be a Fat Cat Capitalist. He has nothing to complain about. We the peons are shoveling trillions to his Fat Cat Cronies.

That is the irony here. Obama is doing something about some of the people losing their homes. That seems to be good.

But at the same he won't let the banks go bankrupt. The banks have been trading heavily in credit default swaps, that is the major component of their loses.

Each dollar lost in a mortgage default can be multiplied by ten, fifty even one hundred times in credit default swaps.

There are some $15 trillion in the system that may blow up with the looming additional foreclosures on the horizon.

THIS IS THE PROBLEM. Geithner is paying these Swaps off at full value. When there are fifty swaps sold on one security, ONLY the first one should be paid off, if even that. The rest of the swaps are by the Fat Cat Gamblers who are betting, and so far winning, against we the peons.

The Presidents spokesperson does not dare tell the full truth:

The Fat Cats are in control of the government.

----

original comment:

I think we left a few months ago the adage that if it was good for a derivatives trader, that it was good for Main Street. I think the verdict is in on that.

HOOEY

The verdict is in but you didn't read it. Crony capitalism is alive and well.

Here VIKAS BAJAJ in the NY Times describes the latest Treasury/Fed swindle on we the peons. The TRILLION DOLLAR Treasury program is called the 'Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility', or TALF.

The new policy is the old policy (the emphasis is mine):

The program also does not try to change securitization practices that, many investors say, spread risks throughout the world and destroyed financial institutions. Policy makers acknowledge that for now, fixing credit ratings, reducing conflicts of interest and improving disclosure can wait.

The closing paragraph:

Simon Johnson, an economics professor at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a former chief economist at the International Monetary Fund, said many people might take a dim view of the TALF program because it provided government subsidies to investors like hedge funds. Investors who borrow from the Fed could enjoy annual returns of 20 percent or more.

More CRONY CAPITALISM.

status quObama

Here Joseph Stiglitz once again sheds some light on what the banks are trying to do.

Get our cash for their trash, that is to swindle we the peons.

Simon Johnson is seen with Bill Moyers here.

I think I like this guy.

What kind of commie is he?

Give me thick black French Roast coffee, where all light disappears, served in a Texan sized mug, not dainty China cups anyday.

santelli made WORST PERSON list...

he was railing about the losers, while standing among a bunch of bailed out losers... hypocrisy on display... again.

Were it not for the Bank Bailouts, that exchange would probably be the next shop to close.

Let's see, by a show of hands, how many here want to subsidize the failing Chicago Exchange?

Isn’t this like the fox giving advice to the hens? The only place you’re going to find Middle America on any trading floor is in the form paper on the floor. Frigging schmuck

Please don't get me started.

99.9% of Wall Street traders think they are smarter than everyone else and only have one objective in life - getting rich. They're nothing more than greedy, free market, cowboy, lemmings who hate government, hate paying taxes, and will suck on any t$t on Wall Street that has money coming out of it.

A few of them move up into management and screw with the big boys. Most of them go broke and end up selling cars, real estate, or running Internet lotto, gambling, and porn sites.

Ask any of them what it was that Richard Nixon, Ivan Boesky, or Bernard Madoff did that was wrong and it's a given they'll say it was getting caught.

I stepped on a pile of Rick Santelli the other day and ruined a good pair of shoes.

Let me ask you a question. Where was the objective media when billions of ad dollars were spent on all the TV and Radio stations and magazines touting the no downpayment, no doc loans? There wasn’t one intrepid reporter in the entire country that could see this Economic Disaster of Biblical proportions coming?! In the past 20 years objectivity has been replaced by advocacy. So when Santelli advocates the position of him and his co-workers, he is criticized by the WHITE HOUSE for exercising his FREE Speech. What the hell is going on?

And, if I hear one more damn politician say they “inherited” this economic melt down one more time I’m going to scream. THEY WERE RIGHT THERE! Dodd, Schumer, Pelosi, Reid, Frank — along with their Republican counterparts — were right there. They, in fact, had the fiduciary responsibility to make sure disasters like this didn’t happen. Now they blame the previous administration. How revisionist can you get? Yet the “objective” media never calls them out on the fact that this Congress and government officials were right there. Calls should be going out for impeachments, dismissals of non-elected government oversight officials and restructuring of U.S. Treasury, SEC, FDIC, Fannie, Freddie and the Fed. Instead we just throw our childrens’ and grandchildrens’ as yet unearned income tax dollars at fixes and plans that are not well-thought out and likely won’t work.

I edit a dealer “advocacy” trade publication for the automotive retail industry. At least I am honest about my position, instead of trying to thinly veil my advocacy like NYT, Washington Post, Fox News, NBC and others. Below is a column for one of the leadership experts who regularly contributes to my magazine. GIBBS ought to print it out and READ it. Sure people are hurting. Everyone is hurting. What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.

We cannot strengthen the weak by doing for them what they can and should do themselves.

A Wake-up Call to Whiners!

By Dave Anderson

If you still don’t believe that we’ve devolved into a society of victims, whiners and wimps, the buzz of bawling and babbling in the Big Easy during the recent NADA Convention would have convinced you otherwise. I am addressing this article to whiners. While you are probably not one, you most likely know one. If this is the case, please feel free to share these four points with them. It may not shake them out of their denial, but you’re likely to feel better as a result. If fact it was therapeutic for me just to put these thoughts down on paper.

It is more about decisions than conditions. Everyone is blaming conditions for their current, sorry state: the economy, the government, the past president, the manufacturer, their co-workers, the competition, the banks and the list continues ad infinitum. Without question, external factors can impair your business. However, it is your inside decisions, more than outside conditions that have the power to either compound your misery or accelerate your recovery. The fact is, during the robust times, many of you made the decision to do the following: stop recruiting; fail to hold others accountable; avoid tough decisions; neglect controlling expenses, incur new debt, let up on training, take your customers for granted, stop prospecting for new business, ignore personal growth, bond with bunglers, confuse tenure with loyalty, reward mediocrity, freeze in a comfort zone and calcify in a mold. How convenient, to commit these leadership sins and then blame what you can’t control when business turns south! Get a grip! Of course the outside conditions are relevant, but they’d be far less so if you had made better inside decisions. Start making better decisions now and you can limit the damage that external conditions inflict on your business.

Although you wouldn’t know this by listening to the news, there are still plenty of businesses out there having fun and making money. They are those who have chosen to focus more on the quality of their decisions that can move them forward, than a list of conditions that justifies their failures. The adage is true: “Adversity causes some men to break and others to break records.” You can’t break records if you’re blaming conditions!

2. You aren’t as good as you thought. I would like to particularly address the young, cocky, know-it-all sales managers who got into this business in the middle of a strong economy and were propped up by hot product helium and zero percent financing. The favorable outside conditions may have convinced you that you were God’s gift to our industry. Surprise! You’re not, so I hope that you didn’t embarrass yourself by mistaking a bull market for brains. Fact: The good times made you look better than you were. To be fair, the down times are probably making you look worse than you really are as well. Learn from these times. Sharpen your skills, humble yourself, listen more than you speak, admit and correct your failures and commit to going back to the drawing board and proving yourself over again each day.

I know this will come as a surprise to those who are products of today’s “everyone is special”, “don’t keep score” and “every player gets a trophy” entitled times, but here’s the reality. The chances are quite good that you are not that special; rather, you are one of many. You may have talent and potential, but unfulfilled talent and potential are two of the most common tragedies known to man. Simply having these assets makes no one special. Converting talent and potential into results is what is special! You’re not special because you show up, but because you step up! And here’s a newsflash: In the real world, we do keep score and not everyone goes home a winner. Anyone who told you otherwise: teachers, parents, friends, bosses and the like, fibbed to you. One of the best things your mentors could have taught you is that life is filled with absolutes: There is right and wrong; winning and losing; winners and losers, success and failure. However, just because you’re losing doesn’t make you a loser. Losing is a temporary condition, being a loser is a state of mind. But the key that prevents you from devolving from losing into becoming a loser is to toughen up, straighten up, grow up and accept responsibility for your life.

3. Lose your sense of entitlement. Let me suggest what your company owes you: a fair wage, a safe place to work, competent and character-based leadership, training to improve your skills…and that’s about it. Incidentally, you’re not owed the next promotion simply because you have the most tenure. Nor are you due a raise because you’ve been at your desk for another calendar year. These things must be earned and not assumed. And perks ranging from donuts on Friday, free coffee in meetings, turkeys at Thanksgiving or a candy cane at Christmas are offered at the free will of your employer. You don’t have any of these things coming.

Now let’s talk about what you owe your company: (1). When you’re at work, “be there”! Don’t run your personal life or agenda on company time. This includes severely limiting personal phone calls, text messaging, and Internet usage. If you don’t like this or feel too restricted by it, then you should join the other 7.2 percent of the workforce looking for a job at this moment because, contrary to what you may think, it is not your employer’s responsibility to dedicate itself to making you happy. (2). Stop pacing yourself and budgeting your efforts. Give 100 percent of your efforts to your job each day and don’t try to cash royalty checks from what you did, once-upon-a-time. (3). Care! Stop bringing your hands to work while you check your head and heart at the door. Look for ways to improve every aspect of your organization. Do what is required, and then some. Speak well of your organization and its people when you are away from the job. (4). A positive attitude and sense of gratitude for your job. There are eleven million people out of work in America at this moment. Your workplace may not be Shangri-la and your boss probably isn’t Ozzie or Harriet, but there are plenty of folks who would trade their unemployment slips and eviction notices with your paycheck in a heartbeat. You can say “thank you” for the opportunity you have to come to work each day by following the four points previously outlined in this section and others like them.

4. This storm is too long to wait out. Don’t be naïve: This downturn isn’t going to turnaround anytime soon. The economy hasn’t even bottomed out yet, and it won’t begin the process of a slow, methodical recovery until that happens. Because of this, you’ve got to stop waiting for the things around you to change and begin to change more of the things around you. You’ll need to move farther, faster than you have in the past as you seize opportunities, cut losses and adjust your course. Shelve your longer term forecasts for a time and put a business plan into place that works today, in this market. Stop waiting out the storm, get out there and dance in the rain! Get proactive. Revive your killer instinct. Get the upper hand back on your business. Focus on what you can control. The shelf-life for whiners in these current market conditions is becoming increasingly short.

All of us must accept the reality that Big Daddy is here to stay. It is impossible to keep order without a mediator and that is the job of Big Daddy. But we must make sure that Big Daddy has no favorites and distributes all goods and services fairly. There are those that have been getting the lions share and don’t want to give it up. But there is a new and fairer Big Daddy and he will leave no child behind.

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