Friday, Mar 14, 2008
Socialism for the rich
CNBC: Jim Rogers: 'Abolish the Fed'
"Asked what he would do if he were in Bernanke's shoes, Rogers, who slammed the Fed for pouring liquidity in the system and accepting mortgage-backed securities as guarantees, said: "I would abolish the Federal Reserve and I would resign."
"No country in the world has ever succeeded by debasing its currency," he said. "That's what this man is trying to do. He's trying to debase the currency as a way to revive America. It has never worked in the long term or the medium term."
"Listen, investment banks have been going bankrupt since the beginning of time. If people make mistakes -- if you bail out every investment bank that gets in trouble, that's not capitalism, that's socialism for the rich," he said."
Posted by happyrenterz @ 01:29 PM (1384 views) Add Comment
14 Comments
- If you do not have an admin password leave the password field blank.
- If you would like to request a password allowing you to add comments and blog news articles without needing each one approved manually, send an e-mail to the webmaster.
- Your email address is required so we can verify that the comment is genuine. It will not be posted anywhere on the site, will be stored confidentially by us and never given out to any third party.
- Please note that any viewpoints published here as comments are user's views and not the views of HousePriceCrash.co.uk.
- Please adhere to the Guidelines
1. richc said...
Interesting that he's saying this even though the Fed's actions are a huge benefit to his investment positions in commodities.
Really is quite unfortunate that most people don't understand that the Fed's bailout for investment bankers and private equity moguls is coming straight out of their pocket through inflation. Does the average American really believe that their paycheck is going to keep pace with increases in the cost of living as the dollar tanks?
2. Stevie Dee said...
"that's not capitalism, that's socialism for the rich"
enough said really...
3. stillthinking said...
Just over one year ago I was under the impression that bank loans were from deposits. So I find it very believable that most people don't understand. I don't understand and I have been looking at money /housing/etc for a year now.
4. alan said...
Does anyone think that the Fed's loans to the market are over?
I reckon it will be $250bn next. And next time will be soon! Then $400bn worth of loans in April.
A cut of 0.5% won't do anything good for the exchange rate, and it certainly won't get passed on to the sub-prime mortgage payers.
Have a look at what people are saying about the G Bush support programme called "Hope now". Few have anything nice to say - another cosmetic exercise, perhaps?
Six months ago, the Fed were trying to get the chinese to upwardly revalue their currency. Now the Fed has debased the dollar.
5. Old Sage said...
Come on guys! Another reason for falling dollar is the upcoming presidential elections. Once they're over, the dollar will stop trading so low. Mark my words...
6. happyrenterz said...
@alan
"Six months ago, the Fed were trying to get the chinese to upwardly revalue their currency. Now the Fed has debased the dollar."
It amounts to the same thing I suppose, except now commodity prices are different with respect to the dollar.
I think the Fed loans have to be paid back in 28 days. So in 28 days they will have to "inject" the same amount unless banks have miraculously managed to shore up their balances some other way.
7. Alan said...
@happyrenterz,
It is unlikely the problem will subside in a month. Meanwhile more bail-outs will become necessary. Therefore each 28 days the amount will need to be rolled over, plus a bit extra.
I've just noticed your latest post, re: Bear Stearns.
Thanks.
8. happyrenterz said...
Fed action encouraging hedge fund liquidation?
"The Fed’s hedge asset laundry
As financial markets of all flavours convulsed on Thursday, a scary suggestion was doing the rounds - namely that the Fed’s emergency action this week could have the (presumably) unintended consequence of encouraging wholesale liquidations across the hedge fund industry.
As Robert Peston, discussing the collapse of Carlyle Capital Corporation, explains on his BBC blog:
…it’s arguable that the banks’ seizure of Carlyle’s $20bn-odd in assets has actually been encouraged by the Fed’s mortgages-for-Treasuries offer. Because the Fed’s new lending emergency lending facility allows the banks to swap mortgage-backed debt for Treasury Bills in a way that Carlyle could not do.
So it would be rational for the banks to take Carlyle’s assets and exchange them for top-quality, liquid US government bonds, rather than leave loans in place to a business, Carlyle, whose assets remained highly illiquid.
Apply this logic to the rest of the hedge industry and the consequences are pretty appalling. Any hedge fund trying to resist pressure from its banks to deleverage - arguing, say, that its underlying assets are either unfairly priced by the market or simply too illiquid - risks the banks saying “Fine, we’ll have those assets!”
Indeed, the Term Securities Lending Facility could quickly turn into grotesque money laundry.
Alarmist, perhaps. But as the dollar fell below 100 yen and equities dropped 2 per cent across London, there is every reason to believe something seismic might be underway…"
http://ftalphaville.ft.com/blog/2008/03/13/11564/the-feds-hedge-asset-laundry/
9. harold said...
Rogers is right - I cannot believe that this PRIVATE for profit banking cartel (the FED) will survive, or the politicians that suppot it.
10. mark wadsworth said...
Central banks are pointless if not counter-productive and entirely unnecessary, abolishing them would be a good place to start. Banks should be forced to insure each other - they would soon clamp down on risky lending practives by other banks if it were their own money at risk.
11. doomwatch said...
Interest rate to go to over 20% to solve "the problem"
I also like htis one
"What is Bernanke going to do? Get in his helicopter and fly around the world and collect rents? That's absurd," Rogers said.
As Cramer said (screamed) "...THIS GUY IS A JERK...HE HAS NO IDEA, NO IDEA"
12. Fed Up said...
Unfortunately the BoE is not learning from the Fed's mistakes and believes that it can inflate away all the UK's debt.
13. Tired Of The Thievs said...
A 30:06 with a scope would take care of the CEO"s of the banks as long as they were all taken out, nasty that thought is yet until they get the idea that real and painful consequences exist for their behavior that cant be bought off by purchasing a judge, regulator or an entire court system exist they will never change
14. This comment has been removed as it was found to be in breach of our Blog Policies.