[sicophiliac]

Yeah maybe if this was your run of the mill bear market then yeah a rebound towards the end of the year would be likely, but as you all know this time the situation is quite a bit different. I am sure around 1930 you would hear the same sort of thing about how a turn around is just around the corner.

[mefistofeles]

I feel sorry for Paulson, I think he's a very intelligent man and he understands the economy.

I just wonder if telling lies still bothers him or whether he just accepts it as part of his job?

Maybe I'm too honest but I have much fewer qualms against lying via ommision than telling outright lies per see.

Or who knows maybe Paulson does believe this stuff. I was watching Bloomberg and I recall an otherwise sensible fund manager talking about how the oil bubble would burst. This manager was an intelligent man and he understood that the underlying earnings assumptions for the S&P 500 were out of touch with reality.

Yet he utterly failed to grasp peak oil, of course Bloomberg's always lovely Betty Liu was shaking her head in agreement.
Yet this fund manager got displayed absolutely no understanding of peakoil. NONE.

So who knows perhaps Paulson really does believe the party line. Of course we he was talking about closing down ibanks without bailing them out so perhaps there is more than meets the eye.

[graham]

This guy was on newsnight last night, trying to calm peoples fears of a recession/depression. You could actually see him shaking- he clearly didn't believe a word of what he was saying. Judging by what the reporter was asking (i forget her name,) he clearly knows about peak oil (as do the bbc) yet neither would utter the words.

[Ache]

http://uk.reuters.com/article/companyNe ... dChannel=0

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')ASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. economy needs months to recover from its slowdown, but the banking system remains sound despite a home mortgage crisis that could cause more problems, Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said.

Paulson also said on Sunday morning news programs he was optimistic Congress would approve the Bush administration's request for authority to shore up the troubled mortgage giants Fannie Mae (FNM.N: Quote, Profile, Research) and Freddie Mac (FRE.N: Quote, Profile, Research).

The treasury secretary has been trying to reassure nervous financial markets and is scheduled to deliver an important speech on markets and the economy in New York on Tuesday.

"We're going to be in a period of slow growth for a while," Paulson told "Face the Nation" on CBS. "I think it's going to be months that we're working our way through this period."

High energy prices would prolong the slowdown, but the key to recovery was stabilizing the housing market, Paulson said.

He added that U.S. banking problems were manageable despite this month's highly publicized failure of mortgage lender IndyMac IDMC.PK bank.

The July 11 takeover of the bank by Federal regulators marked the third-largest bank failure in U.S. history. The lines of frustrated depositors outside its doors provided a stark illustration of the U.S. home financing crisis.

"Our banking system is a safe and a sound one," Paulson insisted on CNN's "Late Edition."

He had earlier told CBS, the list of troubled banks would grow. But "this is a very manageable situation ... our regulators are focused on it."

Five U.S. banks have failed this year, compared with an annual average of about 250 during the U.S. savings-and-loan industry crisis in the 1980s, Paulson said..

99 PERCENT HEALTHY

He said about 99 percent of the 8,500 U.S. banks, holding about 99 percent of bank assets, fell into the highest category of capitalization, a measure of financial health.

However at the end of the last quarter, the number of problem banks on the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.'s watch list rose to 90 with combined assets of $26 billion, up from 76 with $22 billion at the end of 2007.

Ensuring confidence in U.S. financial markets was crucial to reviving the housing industry and the broader economy, Paulson said.

To that end it was essential that Congress approve the stability plan for Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which are responsible for 70 percent of U.S. home loans.

Treasury asked Congress for unlimited authority to lend money to the troubled mortgage companies and to buy their stock if necessary to inject fresh capital. Some Republican lawmakers have balked at the prospect of a blank check that could cost U.S. taxpayers billions of dollars.

But Paulson told CBS he was "very optimistic we're going get what we need from Congress here, because Congress understands how important these institutions are."

The stability package would be accompanied by stronger regulation and oversight of the two banks, he said.

In an interview with the Financial Times published on Saturday, Sen. Richard Shelby, the top Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, said he believed legislation shaped around the administration's rescue plan could reach the president before Congress takes a summer break at the end of the month.

[Blewbird]

I don't think they should pay off Fannie mae and Freeddie Mac, but they should pay off the loans themselves and give the people their houses.

Why pay the billionaires? Help your people now and then.

[emersonbiggins]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Blewbird', ' ')give the people their houses.

[manu]

Watching Paulson on CNN was like watching a corpse talk. Paulson speaks for his puppet masters. Sickening.

[roccman]

That is $2,200 per amerikan to bail out F & F...nice eh...from bloomberg

[DantesPeak]

Some here might remember I started talking about the upcoming demise of Fannie in 2005. That's when it became apparent to the Treasury Secretary at that time that Fannie would not survive in its present form once the extent of its profits - actually lack thereof - became well known. So to give the markets the appearance of normalcy, they somehow got China to shift much of its foreign exchange reserves from Treasuries to agencies (F & F).

Obviously something must have been promised to get China on board, and that was the sub-rosa bailout plan to have the US treasury back agencies when they started to fail.

This has nothing to do with confidence but much to do with having the US taxpayer bail out a private corporation from bankruptcy. Well eventually they actually won't even stop that, but as far as the Fed-Treasury are concerned the financial system is somewhat functioning while they are still in office.

[Cashmere]

When the lender comes to the borrower and says, "show us you'll make good on this dog of a loan we made you [ . . . or you get no further loans]," shockingly, the desired effect is rendered.

[pup55]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'd')emise of Fannie in 2005.

[DantesPeak]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('pup55', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'd')emise of Fannie in 2005.

[Snowrunner]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('DantesPeak', 'T')here probably comes a point when they just won't step up to the plate anymore to buy dollars. Words probably can't describe what would happen next.

[Roccland]

Rats bailing off ship...

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')ASHINGTON, Aug 10 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said in an interview aired on Sunday he had no interest in staying in his post beyond January when a new administration takes office.

"I look forward to doing other things next year," Paulson said on NBC television's "Meet the Press." The interview was taped on Saturday in China.

"I'm going to run right up until the end," he said. "I'm focused on getting everything done I can get done between now and January 19th."

In March, Paulson proposed overhauling the U.S. financial regulatory system and giving more powers to the Federal Reserve in the wake of the financial market upheaval that exposed gaping holes in oversight. (Reporting by Emily Kaiser and Andy Sullivan, editing by Alan Elsner)

http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssFinan....

[Cashmere]

Obama.

The man who will be holding the bag and whose unfortunate timing is going to prompt racists from all over to say, "<b><i>SEE? This is what happens when you put a black man in change.</b></i>.

Of course, white people are virtually 100% responsible for the mess we're in on this planet.

[AlexdeLarge]

[Homesteader]

Look for ADL at the front of the mob with foam around his mouth.

[3aidlillahi]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'O')f course, white people are virtually 100% responsible for the mess we're in on this planet.

[dorlomin]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Roccland', 'R')ats bailing off ship...

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('', 'W')ASHINGTON, Aug 10 (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said in an interview aired on Sunday he had no interest in staying in his post beyond January when a new administration takes office.

"I look forward to doing other things next year," Paulson said on NBC television's "Meet the Press." The interview was taped on Saturday in China.

"I'm going to run right up until the end," he said. "I'm focused on getting everything done I can get done between now and January 19th."

In March, Paulson proposed overhauling the U.S. financial regulatory system and giving more powers to the Federal Reserve in the wake of the financial market upheaval that exposed gaping holes in oversight. (Reporting by Emily Kaiser and Andy Sullivan, editing by Alan Elsner)

http://www.reuters.com/article/rbssFinan....

[cube]

$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Cashmere', 'O')bama.

The man who will be holding the bag and whose unfortunate timing is going to prompt racists from all over to say, "<b><i>SEE? This is what happens when you put a black man in change.</b></i>.