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Tuesday, March 10, 2009

I guess Barack Obama also crucified Jesus and kidnapped the Lindbergh baby too
Posted by Jill | 5:02 AM
Yup, the economic free-fall we're in is all about Barack Obama. The colossal mismanagement of the nation's financial behemoths had nothing to do with it:
America's five largest banks, which already have received $145 billion in taxpayer bailout dollars, still face potentially catastrophic losses from exotic investments if economic conditions substantially worsen, their latest financial reports show.

Citibank, Bank of America, HSBC Bank USA, Wells Fargo Bank and J.P. Morgan Chase reported that their "current" net loss risks from derivatives — insurance-like bets tied to a loan or other underlying asset — surged to $587 billion as of Dec. 31. Buried in end-of-the-year regulatory reports that McClatchy has reviewed, the figures reflect a jump of 49 percent in just 90 days.

The disclosures underscore the challenges that the banks face as they struggle to navigate through a deepening recession in which all types of loan defaults are soaring.

The banks' potentially huge losses, which could be contained if the economy quickly recovers, also shed new light on the hurdles that President Barack Obama's economic team must overcome to save institutions it deems too big to fail.

While the potential loss totals include risks reported by Wachovia Bank, which Wells Fargo agreed to acquire in October, they don't reflect another Pandora's Box: the impact of Bank of America's Jan. 1 acquisition of tottering investment bank Merrill Lynch, a major derivatives dealer.

Federal regulators portray the potential loss figures as worst-case. However, the risks of these off-balance sheet investments, once thought minimal, have risen sharply as the U.S. has fallen into the steepest economic downturn since World War II, and the big banks' share prices have plummeted to unimaginable lows.

With 12.5 million Americans unemployed and consumer spending in a freefall, fears are rising that a spate of corporate bankruptcies could deliver a new, crippling blow to major banks. Because of the trading in derivatives, corporate bankruptcies could cause a chain reaction that deprives the banks of hundreds of billions of dollars in insurance they bought on risky debt or forces them to shell out huge sums to cover debt they guaranteed.


Now someone tell me how this is Barack Obana's fault. I'm not kidding. Tell me. But don't go posting recycled talking points from Rush Limbaugh and Fox News in the comments. It's a waste of time and it ought to be embarrassing to anyone who does it. I want someone to tell me how Barack Obama made all these bank executives and board get embroiled in this stuff.

You can't do it. Not and sound like you're sane.

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7 Comments:
Anonymous Anonymous said...
You see he's the magic negro....
3/9/09, 10:41 PM  
Blogger Unknown said...
Of course it's not Obama's fault. But it is his responsibility. He will be given a pass for a while, and duly so, but there will come a point at which he and the Dems will "own" the economy, for better or for worse.

Meanwhile, one must acknowledge that the market hasn't exactly given the administration a huge vote of confidence for his stimulus package and other measures. Geithner's helpless "squirrel in the middle of the road" act doesn't help much either.
3/10/09, 6:54 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...
Those placing any blame on Obama for either the banking crisis or the whims of the same Wall Street geniuses who thought this would last, are as misguided as a fan in a fart factory.

Providing confidence to Wall Street is not Obama's job at this point. If he comes out and says everything is ok, he is out of touch. If he tells the truth, he is too negative. Point is, NO ONE knows how deep and connected derivative trading went. For 8 years Bush saw this growing - and did NOTHING to regulated such trading strategies at CDSs.

But of course that's Obama's fault.
3/10/09, 11:33 AM  
Blogger HAWK said...
It took the Bush admin. & the Banks
2848 days to destroy our Republic but the Conservative Republician &
their ekco chamber want Pres. Obama to undo all the damage they have done
in 50 days.
GO FIQURE!!!!!!
3/10/09, 11:46 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...
He also caused AIDS.
3/10/09, 12:03 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...
Ownership of this mess will not fall to Obama no matter how much people claim it will. This is the whole reason behind the Republicans wanting him to fail: so that he is seen as a failure alongside Bush, so that he can share in the blame. But the pathetic state of the GOP says everything. THEY own it. Period. Obama will be able to stabilize this eventually and people realize that we are in the shape we are in due to decades of conservative policy and that they did such a level of damage that expecting this to turn around in a matter of a year or two may be impossible.

The notion that if Obama can't fix this within 12-16 months he's out makes me laugh. To think that independents would abandon him and turn to the very people who created this mess in the first place just because we take turns or something is nonsense.

The equation is very simple. The Republicans got complete control of the government for the first time in decades and catastrophe, chaos and fraud ensues. They have ruined themselves along with this country. The GOP is out for a very long time.

FDR didn't turn the country around in 16 months and yet somehow got reelected more than once.
3/10/09, 12:29 PM  
Blogger Batocchio said...
Nationalize, already... Obama deserves criticism for not going far enough with Wall Street, and on defending Bush secrets and power, but not the misdeeds of Wall Street. It's unconscionable how little transparency there's been, too, and some investigations into these Wall Street scoundrels, jail terms or at least the stocks and rotten fruit would be good.
3/10/09, 1:32 PM  
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