The EU has no problems sharing the benefits of a Saddam free Iraq, and the free flow of oil from the region, but the burden of paying for it landed squarely on the American taxpayers. The same goes for the money we just spent in/on Libya. That was soley to protect the EU's oil.  

So yeah, I say fuck em, right in their latte drinking asses.

Unlike you however, I have no intentions of going to jail

-- Modified on 9/25/2011 6:02:46 PM

Yes, the U.S. stake in the IMF is 18%. They have a pretty good track record of not losing money. If you are country that needs money, and you can't get the money the normal way, you go to the IMF as the last resort. They are the pawn shop to fucked up countries like Argentina, Mexico, Greece. They put a gun to the countries head and say here are the terms and conditions, which usually include high interest rates and an extreme austerity plan. Ever see those commercials for Cash Call. They are like that.

Doc, do you have any money? Do you have any money invested in a 401K, IRA, pension, whatever? Over 125M people in this country have money invested in the market, whether they know it or not. Most of these people are not evil Wall Street bankers, corporate CEO's, or have names like GaGambler and St. Croix. Most of the people are just normal everyday non-union and yes union folks. They have pensions that invest in stocks and bonds.

If Europe blows up, so do we, and everybody gets fucked. But it would appear you want to get fucked in JAIL. Pour yourself a drink and relax.

spent that $535 million taxpayer guaranteed loan on a factory they did not need complete with a state of the art conference room enclosed by glass walls filled with a dark gas that could blur the glass when they wanted privacy, I think ranting is in order.

     After telling Congress this summer that sales were rosy, these guys declared bankruptcy 6 months later and last week took the Fifth. I hope these guys end up being Bernie Ebbers' roommates.

     And how dare you day that Greece is a fucked up country? It was just a few years ago that they were spending public money to build a state of the art pole vault facility enclosed in a new track and field stadium. You are not against the pole vault, are you?


    Like Enron, they put most of the debt in off budget vehicles. I have been very surprised that the public workers take so much  blame for the crisis and there is so little coverage of the Olympic scandal.

If this European crap explodes, it will make Lehman Bros look like a hiccup. We will be in a recession like 2008/09, and equities will react accordingly. So that means your 7 figure (it is 7 figures right?) investment in BAC will be 50% less than it is today. I know, you've already lost 50% based on $12 being your break even.

So yeah a little ranting is OK, but for Doc Gonzo to go international Tea Party on us is a little too much. I know, Doc and Tea Party is an oxymoron.

Every equity will get hammered, some more than others, some less than others. BOA was $3 back in March of 09. Why can't it be $3 again?

Hey, even your sweetheart Meredith Whitney said a few positive comments about banks the other week. Shit, Dick Bove says BOA and other banks are a screaming buy. So mari, you have a vested interest in ensuring Merkel, Sarkozy, the 17 members of the EU, the ECB, the IMF, the NAACP (just messing with you on the last acronym) need to get this shit resolved for you. For you marikod. If they do, there will be a nice healthy rally in the market. Not sure if it will be long lasting, but even BOA will pop a couple of dollars, even without exposure to Europe.

BOA has so much cash on its balance sheet that it could pay back all of its short-term debt and a substantial amount of its long- term debt, according to the usually wrong Dick Bove. They did not have those kind of cash reserves in 2008.

    Cash always provides a floor for a stock price.

    BOA also has more capital than in 2008. While the Buffet 5 billion does not count as Basel capital, it does go on the balance sheet.

  As far as I can figure, BOA has 500 million exposure to greek bonds and 17 billion to all of Europe. On a 2.2 trillion balance sheet, that is not an undue amount. They were happy to pay 20 billion just to settle the mortgage litigation in part.

   But I hope you are right about that pop - I have two sets of call options that are are looking a little red at the moment.

You can read the article for yourselves. The link is attached.

So help me if the Shmucks in DC even DARE to suggest we need to help bail out Europe before they have turned our own economy around, I will go fucking postal.

I have really had enough of the rampant hypocrisy and corruption of our dysfunctional government.

We can't even clean up our own house, why in the fuck should we even CONSIDER throwing money at the Euroflunkies unless our marching orders are coming FROM across the Atlantic in the first place.

Now don't get me wrong, I KNOW the article doesn't mention anything about US financial assistance to the IMF, but we all know the US pays more than its fair share into IMF annually and gets diddly squat for it, just like we sink millions into the bullshit organization known as the United Nations for which we get bupkis.

We, the people of the United States need to get our own affairs in order and reign in the runaway financial train before its too damned late.

Bad enough my tax dollars went to pay for Dick Cheney's air conditioned private Wyoming bunker or some fucking Wall Street bankers private yacht. I flat out refuse to sanction one damned penny of my tax dollars to be used to bail out Europe. I WILL go to jail first.

Call this a pre-emptive rant. Fuck 'Em All.

This will never happen.  If it does,  I will join you at the barricades.

Have big exposure to europe. And if it does I will personally raise your property tax.

If they lose it in Europe there is a chance the smart money will flee the EU and wind up here in stocks and bonds.

You may think Gold would get a big bump but there is problems with gold for a massive influs of buying. Not enough gold in the world, can't use it for pocket change. It's against the law in the US to use it as a method of payment.

The overhang with BOA is countrywide and law suits. Untill that clears BOA will bottom feed.

I think if the Greek's can ordely default the downturn will be short lived and actually a good thing for the markert over say 6 months. The remainning PIIGS won't default in the near term. US bank don't have a large exposure to any Greek debt but they do to the Euro banking system.

By the way the US GOV and taxpayers are already on the hook for some of the bailout. It's call the IMF. International Monetary Fund. Yea. I'll bet we put money it the damn fund.

Adminstration authorized financial bailouts for Russia, Mexico, Argentina, South Korea and a couple of others I cannot remember all, through generosity of Billions and Billions of US Taxpayer money. Sorry, Dr. Gonzo, but your outrage is misdirected. Robert Robin prior to working as a public servant worked at Goldman Sachs. The after he and Summers, and with help of a Republican Congress authorized the repeal of the Glass-Steagal Act, he went to work at Citigroup. He made millions all through the use of his insider connections. He even used his insider connections in the US Treasury Department to convince bond-rating agencies not to downgrade the corporate debt of Enron, a debtor of Citigroup.

Let's be clear the financial bankruptcy that is occurring around the world and here is a result of moral bankruptcies. It's been going on for a long time. This moral bankruptcy is not the sole ownership of any particular party or person. However,
however........

President Obama missed an opportunity after 2008 when the finanicial crisis occurred and after TARP to make meaningful reforms to prevent such malfeasance. Where I disagree with my friend St. Croix is that TARP may have worked but it was temporary and because it's temporary the positive effects are only temporary. For this nation and the world economy to achieve economic recovery we need permanency. Continued financial bailouts, stimulus programs are all temporary fixes. People best respond economically to permanency. Renacting Glass-Steagall that separated finanicial institutions from commercial and investment banking and reforming the Credit Rating agencies would be a start. So would if the FBI, IRS and SEC would start enforcing the law on those who stole money on Wall Street.

As Michael Corleone said to the Senator from Nevada "We are all part of the same hypocrisy".

-- Modified on 9/25/2011 10:15:34 PM

And superior to the great original. Quite a hat trick.

Presernting a sane and logical argument?  It is not accepted. Ranting, raving, calling names, and moronic opinions are welcome here.

Kidding asid, great post.

"Leave the gun.  Take the canoli."
Also:
"If anything in this life is certain, if history has taught us anything, it is that you can kill anyone."