http://money.cnn.com/2007/12/12/news/economy/bc.na.fin.eco.us.fed.credit.ap/index.htm?postversion=2007121209

Quote :

"he Federal Reserve announced Wednesday it is coordinating with other central banks to deal with the global credit crunch. The central bank said it had reached an agreement with the European Central Bank as well as the Bank of England, the Bank of Canada and the Swiss National Bank to address what it termed "elevated pressures" in credit markets. The Fed said that it was creating a temporary auction facility to make funds available to banks and was also setting up lines of credit with the European Central Bank and the Swiss Central Bank that could be used for additional resources. The Fed said that commercial banks would be able to bid at auction for funds that would be drawn from the Temporary Auction Facility. The money would be intended to help cash-strapped banks raise money needed to keep making loans to businesses and consumers. The action represented another step by the Fed to deal with a serious credit crunch stemming from the tightening of bank lending standards in the wake of multibillion dollar losses from a rising tide of defaults on mortgage loans. The Fed's announcement came a day after it cut a key interest rate for the third time this year. That quarter-point rate cut disappointed Wall Street, which pushed the Dow Jones industrial average down by 294 points. Investors had hoped for a bolder response to the growing housing and mortgage crisis in the United States."

Not an economics major but what exactly does this mean?? Is this going to promote inflation or solve the credit crisis? I noticed all the stocks have been jumping green like crazy after taking a beating yesterday afternoon.

12/12/2007 10:23:29 AM

Promotes inflation, promotes growth, but may lead to an overheated market.

I guess that's the 3 second version of what might interest rate decreases can do. ;D

12/12/2007 11:21:21 AM

Looks like we're taking the inflation scam global.

Our central Fed bank is suppose to be there to prop up member banks who get in trouble.

Now we need other country's central banks to prop up our central bank?

One thing I can predict now..just by seeing a new gov't -created entity with the word "temporary" in the title..... the "Temporary Auction Facility" will become permanent.

12/12/2007 11:33:39 AM

Just what America needs. More debt.

Bend over...Now bend over more.

12/12/2007 12:47:06 PM

Guess when you spend nearly a trillion dollars playing World Police instead of taking care of shit at home you gotta get money from somewhere.

btw...

http://www.cnn.com/2007/POLITICS/12/12/debate.preview/index.html

lets bitch about wetbacks stealing some rednecks job picking berries, mowing grass, or building decks. meanwhile our troops are getting blown away in some stupid war that has pissed off a lot of the world with us. Also, while our economy takes a turn for the dumps with our current game plan to bend over and let foreign countries put it in our ass as the fix

I'm fucking tired of politicians using these distraction issues to take the focus off the real problems...
2008- Illegal immigration
2006- Gay marriage
2004- Flip Flopping
1996- Clinton getting blowjobs

Who cares if a politician has an awesome economic plan and no skeletons in the closet; it is OMFG no votes for him if he has a mexican doing his gardening and is supportive of gay civil unions.

[Edited on December 12, 2007 at 1:22 PM. Reason : a]

[Edited on December 12, 2007 at 1:22 PM. Reason : aa]

12/12/2007 1:11:15 PM

Not that I don't disagree with a lot of what you're saying, but illegal immigration is hardly a distraction issue. It's been a serious issue for nearly two decades impacting tens of millions of people in the United States. Depending on which side you belong to, its either illegals who are undermining the national infrastructure while depressing wages for the most vulnerable in the United States or its tens of millions of people who are being exploited and deserve to get a legitimate path to citizenship. The fact that our border security is a joke is also a really serious issue and not just because of immigration.

Also, your timeline is off. Gay marriage wasn't an issue in 2006, it was in 2004. If gay marriage was a driving force in 2006, then you wouldn't have a Democratic Congress in power.

12/12/2007 2:27:22 PM

There was no driving issue in 2006 because of the Foley thing, which really wasn't used as much as it could have been for political gain. If Republicans had tried to play any kind of moral issue up, Dems would have whipped that out in a heartbeat.

12/12/2007 2:32:11 PM

Quote :

"illegal immigration is hardly a distraction issue. "

yeah if you pick strawberries for a living, Dey Tukkk ER Jerbs!!!!!

12/12/2007 3:35:34 PM

^ Out of curiosity, how do you feel about outsourcing?

12/12/2007 8:56:10 PM

depends

but this effects me and my friends more then mexicans coming over to scrub dishes. It is really a tricky subject. Liberals raising corporate taxes merely encourages businesses to move overseas to increase net profit. On the other hand Conservatives breaking down trade barriers makes it more profitable to outsource labor overseas. I really am starting to fully understand that no single issue is black v. white. It is all about balance. For example having millions of starving, unemployed, desperate people on the street is a huge liability to the establishment. On the other hand becoming a socialist paradise with the gov't giving free handouts to everyone promotes laziness and hinders incentive for innovation and overall progression of society.

12/12/2007 10:54:48 PM

Quote :

"yeah if you pick strawberries for a living, Dey Tukkk ER Jerbs!!!!!"

I'm not that much older than the students at NCSU and I can see how it has shaped the face of this area since I moved here in 1997.

Back in the day NCSU students could get summer landscaping jobs paying $11-$16 an hour. It was backbreaking work, but it was also over twice the $5.15 minimum wage. Lots of students took these jobs and the college crowd was so popular that companies would stick up flyers around campus as the semester end neared and kids were looking for jobs. Now you'd be lucky to get $9 for similar work.

I also had a friend who was doing day labor construction in his free time. He'd pretty much just drive around to neighborhoods with a lot of building on mornings when he wanted to work and talk to the foremen. He could normally get $15-$16 an hour working under the table as a skilled carpenter. Those days are gone though.

There is no job Americans won't do. We just expect a living wage for doing it. There is nothing noble about the decline of our standard of living.

12/13/2007 3:58:25 PM

Quote :

"yeah if you pick strawberries for a living, Dey Tukkk ER Jerbs!!!!!"

As mentioned above, there's a lot of work in sectors such as landscaping and construction that used to be done by Americans but is now being filled by Mexicans at lower wages. Other low-skilled service sector work as well; low skilled factor work and janitorial are a couple that immediately come to mind. While its beneficial to those who have money to hire them to do this work, it hasn't been beneficial to those who used to be contractors and suddenly discover that they're competing against people who'll do their same job for half the price.

Of course, you mention that this is just a distraction. I suppose you're right because we all know that these Americans are just a bunch of lazy punks who are being greedy for having the audacity to ask for a double digit wage that they could actually support a family on. Sitting up in our ivory towers with our tunnel vision, why do we have to worry about the fates of the uneducated masses?

I'm not saying we should necessarily expel them or give them all citizenship, but simply brushing it off as if the problem were just about cheap strawberries ignores how important this issue is.

And again, illegal immigration must be a somewhat important issue because it's been continuously debated for over two decades by politicians of all stripes.

12/13/2007 4:35:35 PM

boohoo

12/13/2007 4:37:47 PM

The world's Central Banks are flooding banks with fresh inflationary money...

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/071219/fed_credit_crunch.html?.v=1

A good recap on how we got there ....

http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north591.html

12/19/2007 11:27:26 AM