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Guest Post: N.Y.Times Op-Ed Impugns Financial Reform by Imagining Fannie Is Just Like Wall Street
Submitted by David Fiderer
N.Y.Times Op-Ed Impugns Financial Reform by Imagining Fannie Is Just Like Wall Street
John Carney's New York Times op-ed piece is a tour de force, a paean to nonsensical thinking. In, "Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac: Too Big Not to Fail,"
Carney ignores the Fannie and Freddie of the real world. Instead, he
goes after the Fannie and Freddie that exist only in his imagination.
You don't need to be a financial expert to see where the problem
lies. Anyone with good reading skills should be able to catch what was
wrong with this sentence:
Mortgages guaranteed by the F.H.A., however, are exempt from the 5 percent risk-retention requirement.
Stated more clearly: If the F.H.A. retains 100 percent of the
mortgage risk, it is exempt from the 5 percent risk requirement. And
since a guarantee from the Federal Housing Authority is supported by the
full faith and credit of the U.S. government, any bank that extends a
loan guaranteed by F.H.A. need not retain 5 percent U.S. government
risk.
Fannie and Freddie are culpable for many things, but they never acted
like Ameriquest or New Century or Goldman or Merrill Lynch or the other
entities that booked and repackaged subprime loans to be sold off as
securities to a bunch of greater fools. (Some of those fools happened to
be Fannie and Freddie.) On Wall Street, the business model was to earn
origination fees and then sell off the assets. This model enabled a lot
of the culprits to walk away rich. Roland Arnall, the owner of
Ameriquest, pulled out a$1 billion in profits before he shut down his
pump and dump operation. Merrill CEO Stan O'Neal walked away with more
than $100 million before his company slid into insolvency.
The business model of the government-sponsored enterprises is
antithetical to that of the sleazy mortgage lenders and some Wall Street
banks. The Fannie and Freddie business model has always been to retain
the credit risk. So it was inevitable that that Fannie and Freddie
would remain saddled with bad loans once the real estate bubble
deflated. If a quarter of all mortgages are under water, then it makes
sense that a proportionate share are held or guaranteed by Fannie and
Freddie.
John Carney sets up a bogus premise to support a bogus narrative,
which is that the Dodd-Frank Bill thwarts private competition to finance
home mortgages. He claims the problem is the 5 percent risk retention
rule for private label securitizations somehow puts Wall Street at an
unfair disadvantage. Five percent is pretty paltry, a gesture really.
Remember, Goldman Sachs, John Paulson, and Magnetar all went "long" on various subprime CDOs that were designed to fail.
There are a multitude of reasons why private label mortgage
securitizations have not been resuscitated since the financial collapse
of 2008. None of them have to do with Fannie and Freddie. The most
obvious comes from Moody's last week:
Moody's Analytics projects that the odds of a near-term
double-dip recession have increased to one in four. In a double-dip,
house prices would likely fall by another 20% before stabilizing in
early 2012, compared with our baseline outlook of a 5% drop to a trough
in early 2011.
If the odds of a 20 percent price decline look pretty good, why would
you want to extend a mortgage loan? Since time immemorial, real estate
lending has been governed by two simple rules: 1. Location, location,
location; and 2. Timing is everything. In other words, the post-closing
rate of home price appreciation, positive or negative, is the most
important driver in determining credit losses.
There are other obvious reasons why private lending hasn't taken off.
Banks and investors realized they had no idea what they were doing
before and don't want to repeat the same mistake twice. When it comes to
estimating losses on mortgage loans, the rating agencies have no
credibility. The market for existing securitizations remains a big
black box. That is, the secrecy surrounding CDOs and credit default
swaps precludes almost anyone from getting a big-picture view of the
overall market.
Since there is no private demand to finance new mortgage loans,
Fannie, Freddie, and the F.H.A. have stepped in to fill the breach,
financing 95 percent of the total. Carney probably imagines that those
loans could have been financed elsewhere, by all those investors wishing
eager take on that risk, if only the government regulations hadn't
gotten in their way. Perhaps he knows bankers who say, "Gee, I have all
these customers who want to buy mortgage bonds...if only I weren't
stymied by that 5 percent retention rule."
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"John Carney sets up a bogus premise to support a bogus narrative, which is that the Dodd-Frank Bill thwarts private competition to finance home mortgages"
This is a joke right? The mortgage market is now dominated by 5 banks (or less). At one time over 70% of all mortgages were initiated by wholesale originators (not bank employees) who if they were any good at what they did, had over 30 lenders if not 40 to select product for their clients from. So we have competition now? How? This is good for the consumer? How?
Go get your mortgage from your local bank that understands the local market. If they turn you down, rent. Don't borrow from Wells, BofA, Citi or Chase. Fuck them.
I want forgivness beach!
Those banks act solely as conduits for the GSEs - no new lending other than government money in residential real estate. there are exceptions for community banks, somejumbo loans that can't be sold to Fannie/Freddie, but by and large the private mortgage market is a big sucking chest wound.
Securitization is dead. It's all about getting over it. It'll be a riot when the the GSEs play unplugged. You can have my ticket.
This was an outcome that Meredith Whitney nailed
long ago.
Ding, ding, ding....
Of course they aren't.
Unlike Wall Street, Fannie and Freddie contributed many, many hundreds of thousands of dollars to Senators (including BO) and other congress critters. Much of that came around the time the Bush administration had proposed legislation to make Fannie and Freddie tell congress what they were doing. It would have been the first step in reining Fannie and Freddie in. The contributions caused Dodd, Frank and other key committee members to spike the legislation in committee.
Unlike Wall Street, Fannie and Freddie paid tens of millions of dollars in bonuses to politically connected officers like Jaime Gorelick.
Unlike Wall Street, Fannie and Freddie had nothing to do with creating the current economic situation.
Yes. They are completely different.
Stupidity Bitchez!
Weres My Rent Bitch
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S805lTxqLSM
The White House is considering helping "under water"... unemployed.... homeowners...(?)... with loans of up to $50,000 interest free for 2 years.
Are they kidding...what the f---?
Their collateral is...?
The signature of someone who has no equity nor a job you say?
Garner votes for the Nov. elections?
Vote against ANY AND ALL incumbents no matter how sweet their lies sound. They are career politicians ...give them extra credit for their collective stupidity!
The White House is in complete panic and will launch any and all trial balloons no matter how stupid! Is it official, the W.H., Treasury, Fed and Congress are all in a panic because everything that "worked" before (read...caused the problems in the first place) don't work anymore?
They are desperate, grasping at anything and everything they can. It is only a matter of time until panic spreads to big money and Main St.
Why not just declare ALL debts the world over...null and void?
Why not just start over?
In reality this is what will happen in some way shape or form anyway. Why not just pull the trigger and get it over with?
Because those in power...lose power!
They will go down kicking and screaming but make no mistake, THE WHOLE SYSTEM will change...turned upside down because what is now cannot work and is/was not viable.
If this bill were to pass, good advice to everyone with an under water house would be...
quit your job...
get the 50K loan...
stop paying on your loan...
move only when evicted...
strip your house of anything and everything of value including the copper...
then RENT!
You could pay your rent with the 50K and maybe with the copper.
Call it retirement USA style!
Desperate people require desperate solutions.
Once again, ultra-left-wing totalitarian sycophant David Fiderer gets a platform at Zero Hedge. Hope you're getting something good out of this Tyler, but I doubt it. Souls are cheap these days.
enough stimulus will create rising home prices. that saves the banks. to the extent to which banks remain overcapitalized, they will also be able to endure the balance sheet hits coming as people continue to default. this huge capital cushion is created by low interest rates. even today banks borrow @ near 0% and lend at 4.5% for mortgages. you have 10:1 balance sheet leverage and that's 4% X 10 for a return of 40% on borrowed capital. you can fill a lot of holes with this kind of scenario. you don't need "papering over" with new borrowers, either, to fill holes under this scenario. why is Paulson buying banks? that's why. shawn mesaros, pamria, llc
All i want to know is, when can i put on my DOW 10,000 hat again!? It's starting to get dusty! Timescales please!
Monday or Tuesday, Aug 16 or 17 2010
You talking overnight or just a flash crash?
The GSE's have a lower cost of capital than private outfits and have always been able to pick off most of the good (credit risk) borrowers. I'm pretty sure this hasn't canged. In fact the only way to build any kind of business in the private rhelm was/is to go down the credit quality curve into subprime territory. Combined with government pressure to turn as many Americans into home owners as possible (especially politically favored demographics) ended up producing a bubble.
Yeah Fannie and Freddie are a major reason why private lenders aren't coming into the marketplace, the competition for quality borrowers is as bad as ever (and that pool has to be a lot smaller anyway), government mandates to make loan portfolios "look like America" are still in place and that all points the private lender to those parts of the market with crappier credit qualities. Yeah, I'm shocked private lenders aren't rising from the grave.
And a ZH article is referencing fucking Moody's now as an authoritative systemic risk gauge? One begs to be given a break here.
GSEs need to go. Time to start thinking about how they get dismantled over the next five years, with the goal of all federal housing assistance gone by 2015 at the latest. Bring back the S&Ls let them be the sole state/federal entities chartered for home mortgages, limit them geographically, sell covered bonds, bring back real rating agencies, and clean up this mess.
Reinstate Glass Steagall; commercial banks collect deposits, pay interest and do only dull commercial lending; investment banks and hedge funds play with their own money. What else am I missing?
That wasn't very hard.
Tyler, you must be trolling us, or trying to get HuffPo readers...
I know you are likely jesting but the new media VC $ guys tend to be denizens of the left e.g. HuffPo Lerer, Pittman et. al.
Blodget scored $3m from that group a month ago and ZH would be on their radar given its traffic. Blodget's readers tend to be right of center (not quite as much as ZH but close) yet you see Bus Insider editors sneaking in left wing prop along with gratuitous promo articles on startups tied to its investors. Serious dollars at stake.
$$$$$$
Fannie good, Wall Street bad?
Can't we just acknowledge the truth in that... they're all bad, and that people shouldn't be buying fucking houses, plastic boats, and plastic cars on massive leverage?
Do you really need to fucking lever yourself to Pluto when buying land?
- off subject, but look out.
Wireshark Antivirus Virus
http://www.softsailor.com/how-to/37036-how-to-uninstall-remove-wireshark-antivirus-virus-removal-guide.html
Say what you will... this is relevant....WE ARE CAPTIVE OF OUR MILITARY INDUSTRIAL COMPLEX....
Venezuela Threatened By The US Via ColombiaThe notion that coming hostilities involving Iran could also be extended to the Latin American continent is plausibly argued by Russian analyst Nil Nikandrov of the Moscow Strategic Culture Foundation, the think tank associated with General Leonid Ivashov. Nikandrov points to the increasingly close relations between Iran and Venezuela to suggest that the conflagration may well be extended to this latter country as well. Here a likely scenario involves the US playing off Columbia against Venezuela in a classic exercise of the imperialist buck-passing favored by the Brzezinski faction. As Nikandrov argues, ‘Under B. Obama, the US started to actively reinforce the existing and set up new military bases along the borders of Venezuela. The US maintains 10 military bases in Columbia alone, though on top of that the Pentagon enjoys unrestricted access to the de facto occupied country’s own military infrastructures. US army and navy bases have also been promptly built in Costa Rica and Panama. Experts believe the list of potential targets of the forces deployed at the bases includes both Venezuela and its regional allies – Cuba, Nicaragua, and Ecuador. US military advisers are dispatched in increasing numbers to Guatemala, Honduras, and Salvador. Chavez speaks frequently about the threat posed by the US. This July, he mentioned several times the warnings about the higher than ever threat of the US aggression he received from a well-informed “secret friend” in Washington. Washington is waging a permanent smear campaign against Venezuela. Reports are circulated that Chavez hosts ETA terrorists or guerrillas from Iran, Palestine, and Lebanon and helps them to penetrate the US. The disinformation, easily disproved by Venezuela, will certainly reemerge when the US and Israeli forces hit Iran’s “nuclear infrastructures”, airports, and army bases. Ignoring Washington’s ire, Chavez openly sides with Iran. He visited Tehran on a number of occasions and keeps inviting the Iranian leaders to Caracas. Chavez pledges not to abandon Iran in trouble. The US is keenly aware what the signals sent by Chavez mean: against the backdrop of the war in Afghanistan and the coming war in Iran, Venezuela’s taking its barrels offline would send the oil prices skyrocketing up to $200 per barrel and thus reanimate the global economic crisis.’24 Unfortunately, increasing the price of oil is currently an enticement, rather than a deterrent, to the Anglo-American financiers.
A World War?If things actually play out in this way, the resulting conflict, stretching from the Middle East to Latin America would indeed qualify as a new world war. One of the few bright spots in the present world intelligence picture is represented by the peace overtures to Chavez launched by the new Colombian President Manuel Santos in his inaugural address on August 6. Santos signaled a possible break with the reckless policies of his predecessor, Alvaro Uribe, who had acted as a provocateur under the direction of the United States. As the Voice of America was forced to concede, ‘The presidents of Colombia and Venezuela are set to meet … in an effort to repair a diplomatic break due to Venezuela’s alleged support of leftist rebels in Colombia. The security and trade partnership between the two countries has suffered during the past two years. The meeting in Santa Marta, Colombia, comes only three days after Juan Manuel Santos took the oath of office as Colombia’s president. The former defense minister used his inauguration speech on Saturday to try to set a new tone with Venezuela. He said that as president, he will seek peace with Colombia’s neighbors. He offered a frank and direct dialogue with Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez as soon as possible. In Caracas, Mr. Chavez welcomed the offer and said he would go to the meeting with an open heart and an extended hand.’25
US Gambits To Antagonize ChinaAt the same time that the exhausted and overstretched US military is preparing actions across a fast arc of countries stretching from Lebanon and Syria in the west to Pakistan in the east, the Obama regime is also assuming a decidedly bellicose demeanor in regard to China. Obama and company are evidently encouraged by their success in browbeating and blackmailing China into giving at least verbal assent to the latest round of UN Security Council economic sanctions against Iran. They are intent on creating diversions on the Chinese flanks to keep the Middle Kingdom tied down as much as possible in the moment that war might break out in the Middle East. Needless to say, this approach only underlines the inherent adventurism of the line currently dominant in Washington.
Hillary Meddles In The South China SeaOn the one hand, Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has announced her intention to begin meddling on a grand scale in the already difficult disputes about islands and oil in the South China Sea, parts of which are claimed by China, Taiwan, Vietnam, the Philippines, Indonesia, and so forth. As the New York Times sums up Mrs. Clinton’s demarche: ‘Opening a new source of potential friction with China, the Obama administration is stepping into a tangled dispute between China and its smaller Asian neighbors over a string of strategically significant islands in the South China Sea. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, speaking at an Asian regional security meeting in Vietnam, stressed that the United States remained neutral on which regional countries had stronger territorial claims to the islands. But she said that the United States had an interest in preserving free shipping in the area and that it would be willing to facilitate multilateral talks on the issue. Though presented as an offer to help ease tensions, the stance amounts to a sharp rebuke to China. Beijing has insisted for years that all the islands belong to China and that any disputes should be resolved by China. In March, senior Chinese officials pointedly warned their American counterparts that they would brook no interference in the South China Sea, which they called part of the “core interest” of sovereignty.’26
US Nuclear Deal With Vietnam Directed Against ChinaAnother prong of this attempt to keep the Chinese tied down in conflicts with hostile neighbors close to home is represented by the fast-moving negotiations between Washington and Hanoi for a nuclear technology sharing deal. This ploy obviously intends to scare the Chinese with the prospect of a nuclear-armed Vietnam, acting as a cat’s paw for the United States in the same way that the US is trying to use India. As the Wall Street Journal reported, ‘the Obama administration is in advanced negotiations to share nuclear fuel and technology with Vietnam in a deal that would allow Hanoi to enrich its own uranium—terms that critics on Capitol Hill say would undercut the more stringent demands the U.S. has been making of its partners in the Middle East. The State Department-led negotiations could unsettle China, which shares hundreds of miles of border with Vietnam. It is the latest example of the U.S.’s renewed assertiveness in South and Southeast Asia, as Washington strengthens ties with nations that have grown increasingly wary of Beijing’s growing regional might. U.S. officials familiar with the matter say negotiators have given a full nuclear-cooperation proposal to the communist country and former Cold War foe, and have started briefing House and Senate foreign-relations committees. A top U.S. official briefed on the negotiation said China hadn’t been consulted on the talks. “It doesn’t involve China,” the official said.’27 In the first three months of this year, we experienced a phase of growing US-Chinese hostility centering on the refusal of Google to obey relevant Chinese law regarding the Internet. After that, we had a short interval of relative calm, with the Chinese allowing their renminbi currency to float upwards to a limited and symbolic extent, and also voting for the UN sanctions against Iran demanded by the US. Now, tensions have abruptly begun to rise rapidly again in the Far East.
China’s Dong Feng 21 D, The Carrier KillerBut the Chinese are growing tired of being threatened and bullied by the United States. One part of their response is the development of a new and powerful anti-ship missile, explicitly designed to sink US attack carriers. As the Associated Press reported, ‘U.S. naval planners are scrambling to deal with what analysts say is a game-changing weapon being developed by China — an unprecedented carrier-killing missile called the Dong Feng 21D that could be launched from land with enough accuracy to penetrate the defenses of even the most advanced moving aircraft carrier at a distance of more than 1,500 kilometers (900 miles).’28 The last US aircraft carrier to be sunk by enemy action was the USS Princeton, which was lost to Japanese attacks during the Battle of Leyte Gulf off the Philippines in 1944.
CIA Veterans Urge Obama To Desist From AggressionOn August 3, the Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity (VIPS), an association of retired intelligence officials, appealed to Obama to turn away from war while there was still time. This appeal was signed by Phil Giraldi, Larry Johnson, Ray McGovern, W. Patrick Lang, Coleen Rowley, and Ann Wright. This appeal states: ‘We write to alert you to the likelihood that Israel will attack Iran as early as this month [August 2010]. This would likely lead to a wider war. This can be stopped, but only if you move quickly to pre-empt an Israeli attack by publicly condemning such a move before it happens. … as we hope your advisers have told you, regime change, not Iranian nuclear weapons, is Israel’s primary concern.’29
A New National Intelligence Estimate On Iran Is PendingThe VIPS cite, among the motivations for Israel to launch a quick preemptive attack and drag the United States into war, the possibility that the new National Intelligence Estimate on the Iranian nuclear weapons situation will reinforce the conclusion of the earlier NIE of December 2007 that there is no Iranian and nuclear weapons program. But this diagnosis appears to be overly optimistic, and does not take into account the growing power of the neocon faction at the expense of the Brzezinskyites which is reflected in the ascendancy of the neocon warlord Petraeus, as well as in Obamas own increasingly desperate and bellicose rhetoric. There is no doubt that the entire neocon faction is now fully mobilized with the overriding goal of concocting a new NIE which brands Iran as a de facto nuclear weapons state, thus making a direct US attack mandatory.
Among the reflections of this neocon agitation in the press, we can cite the article by Edward Jay Epstein in which the author, just as predicted in the present writer’s essay of July 21, attempts to use the recent Amiri affair to concoct a plausible explanation for why the December 2007 NIE was so adamant that there was no Iranian nuclear weapons program. This is the same Edward Jay Epstein who is otherwise notorious for his attacks on New Orleans District Attorney Jim Garrison and on filmmaker Oliver Stone, attacks carried out in defense of the discredited Warren Commission report on the 1963 Kennedy assassination.
Epstein had this to say about the connection between the Amiri affair and the December 2007 NIE: ‘One Iranian agent who supplied information to the CIA is Shahram Amiri, who defected to the U.S. last year and re-defected back to Iran this month. He reportedly provided details about the termination of Project 111 [the alleged nuclear weapons program] that presumably dovetailed with other information we got from the CIA’s compromised network. Iran now claims Mr. Amiri was a double agent all along. Whether Iran controlled his secret reports to the CIA will be hotly debated for years to come. But willful blindness on our part should not be ignored. There were high-level people in the newly reorganized U.S. intelligence community who wanted to believe Iran was ending its quest for the bomb, and messages to the CIA from agents inside the country that diplomatic pressure was accomplishing this task fell on receptive ears. Whether the erroneous conclusions in the 2007 NIE proceeded from Iranian deception or American self-deception, they undercut the case for taking more drastic action against Tehran. To the degree that other countries believed Iran had ended its nuclear program, they had little incentive to join us in imposing further sanctions.’30 The neocons intend to roll back all that as soon as possible.
Krauthammer: Relentlessly Visit Ruin Upon IranMost American newspapers never reported Achmadinejad’s statement about the US getting ready to attack two countries within the next three months. Ironically, the only way this news crept into the Washington Post was by way of a belligerent opinion screed by neocon Charles Krauthammer. For Krauthammer, the alliance of Iran and Hezbollah assumed almost apocalyptic significance. Krauthammer comments that ‘for all his clownishness, Ahmadinejad is nonetheless calculating and dangerous. What “two countries” was he talking about? They seem logically to be Lebanon and Syria. Hezbollah in Lebanon has armed itself with 50,000 rockets and made clear that it is in a position to start a war at any time. Fighting on this scale would immediately bring in Syria, which would in turn invite Iranian intervention in defense of its major Arab clients — and of the first Persian beachhead on the Mediterranean in 1,400 years.’
True to the neocon party line, Krauthammer demands that Obama stay the course towards Middle East conflagration: ‘after 18 months of failed engagement, the administration is hardening its line. The hardening is already having its effect. The Iranian regime is beginning to realize that even President Obama’s patience is limited — and that Iran may actually face a reckoning for its nuclear defiance. All this pressure would be enough to rattle a regime already unsteady and shorn of domestic legitimacy. Hence Achmadinejad’s otherwise inscrutable warning about an Israeli attack on two countries. (Said Defense Minister Ehud Barak to Fox News: “Who is the second one?”) It is a pointed reminder to the world of Iran’s capacity to trigger, through Hezbollah and Syria, a regional conflagration. This is the kind of brinkmanship you get when leaders of a rogue regime are under growing pressure. The only hope to get them to reverse course is to relentlessly increase their feeling that, if they don’t, the Arab states, Israel, the Europeans and America will, one way or another, ensure that ruin is visited upon them.’31 William Kristol, another of the neocon dogs of war, offered Obama a column full of friendly political advice, concluding inevitably with a call for ‘military action military action against the Iranian nuclear program—and you’ll have a real shot at a successful presidency.”32
Still No Iraq GovernmentBefore starting the Iran war, the Obama regime would like to finally set up a puppet regime in Iraq which would be as anti-Iranian as can be managed under the current situation. The chosen agent of influence to head such a government would be Ayad Allawi. But the Iraqi politicians have been bickering about a new government since the March 7 parliamentary elections, so far with no success. Vice President Biden has made four trips to Iraq in the hope of installing Allawi, but so far he has failed. The most recent meetings between Allawi and the pro-Iranian Maliki have also brought no results. As UPI reported, ‘A meeting between Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri al-Maliki and his rival Iyad Allawi produced no political breakthroughs, secular leaders said. Allawi met in Baghdad with Maliki following talks in Damascus with anti-American cleric Moqtada Sadr. Hayder al-Mullah, a representative from Allawi’s Iraqiya slate, told the Voices of Iraq new agency Wednesday that Allawi expressed his determination to form a new government.’33 If the US strikes Iran, it is inevitable that the civil war inside Iraq will resume on a scale even more serious than what was observed in 2006-2007.
Obama Wants Iran To Release Three Us HikersObama has also been calling for Iran to release three alleged US hikers who supposedly went for a walk in Iraqi Kurdistan and suddenly found themselves on the Iranian side of the border, where they were arrested. The case is suspicious because of CIA covert operations among Kurds, Arabs, Azeris, Turkmen, Baluchis, and other minority nationalities of the Islamic Republic. AsPolitico reported, ‘President Barack Obama called on Iran Friday to free three American hikers it detained one year ago. He also said that Sarah Shourd, Shane Bauer and Josh Fattal never worked for the U.S. government and were people who have demonstrated open-mindedness and a desire for social justice. Iran recently charged the three young University of California Berkeley graduates with having improperly crossed the border, while it continues to carry out an investigation. But it did not charge them with espionage, as it had previously threatened. Obama also called on Iran to provide information in the case of former FBI agent Robert Levinson, who went missing after a 2007 meeting on Kish Island.’34
———————————————-
1 Webster G. Tarpley, “Obama is Preparing to Bomb Iran,” July 21, 2010, http://tarpley.net/2010/07/22/obama-preparing-to-bomb-iran/
2 http://www.cubanews.ain.cu/2010/0807fidel-calls-on-the-world-to-persuade-obama-not-to-unleash-war.htm In the original: “Mas, en ese mismo instante en que diera la orden, que es además la única que podría dar debido al poder, la velocidad y el incontable número de proyectiles nucleares acumulados en una absurda competencia entre las potencias, estaría ordenando la muerte instantánea no sólo de cientos de millones de personas, entre ellas, un incalculable número de habitantes de su propia Patria, sino también de los tripulantes de todos los navíos de la flota de Estados Unidos en los mares en torno a Irán. Simultáneamente, la conflagración estallaría en el Cercano y el Lejano Oriente, y en toda Eurasia.” (Granma)
3 http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/world/2010-08/04/c_13430358.htm
4 http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/Blast-Damages-Japanese-Tanker-Near-Iran-Oman-99458299.html?refresh=1
5 Michael Casey, ‘UAE: Japanese tanker attacked in Persian Gulf,’ AP, August 6, 2010, athttp://www.google.com/hostednews/ap/article/ALeqM5ijprLX5wJOPvJeITBt9isdD-Ml6wD9HE6LDG1
6 There was speculation about the possible role of Bedouin tribesmen as enablers of Hamas: ‘Restive Bedouin communities populating the mountainous desert area have long been at odds with the Egyptian government. Bedouins complain of state discrimination, lack of access to government resources, and racism. Now there are growing Israeli concerns that Hamas, an offshoot of Egypt’s banned Muslim Brotherhood, has tapped into Bedouin discontent. Bedouins are believed to have at least provided space for militants to operate, if not directly assisted them, in both the latest rocket attack, and a similar one in April.’ http://www.csmonitor.com/World/Middle-East/2010/0805/Egypt-Gaza-militants-actually-did-launch-Monday-s-rocket-attacks-from-Sinai
7 Ed Pilkington, “US has plan to attack Iran if needed, military chief admits,” Guardian, August 1, 2010,http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/01/us-iran-attack-plan-mullen
8 http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100801/ap_on_go_ca_st_pe/us_us_iran
9 http://www.france24.com/en/20100803-iran-officals-slam-us-admirals-attack-plan-remarks?quicktabs_1=1
10 Yitzhak Benhorin, “Obama on Iran: All options on table,” Ynet News, May 17, 2009,http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3716807,00.html
11 Kourosh Ziabari,’Obama Threatens Iran With “All Options” Again, OpEd News, May 7, 2010,Opednews.com/articles/Obama-Threatens-Iran-With-by-Kourosh-Ziabari-100504-671.html
12 Obama’s interview with Yonit Levi, Israeli TV, Conducted July 7, 2010,http://www.politico.com/blogs/laurarozen/0710/Obamas_interview_with_Israeli_TV.html
13 Fox News Sunday interview with Israeli PM Netanyahu, 11 Jul 2010,http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/Government/Speeches+by+Israeli+leaders/2010/Fox_News_interview_PM_Netanyahu_11-Jul-2010.htm
14 ‘Ahmadinejad sure US will strike Middle East in 3 months,’ Reuters, Jul 28, 2010,http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/world/middle-east/Ahmadinejad-sure-US-will-strike-Middle-East-in-3-months/articleshow/6225072.cms
15 ‘Vahidi: any Israeli injudicious action will trigger the countdown of its destruction,’ Jouhina News, July 27, 2010, athttp://www.jpnews-sy.com/en/news.php?id=1552
16 Jack Devine, ‘The CIA Solution for Afghanistan: There’s no ‘victory’ to be had there. But we can prevent it from becoming a haven for al Qaeda with a covert strategy based on Predator drones and alliances with local leaders,’ Wall Street Journal, July 29, 2010, at http://online.wsj.com/article/NA_WSJ_PUB:SB10001424052748704201604575373253893718806.html
17 “Wikileaks founder Julian Assange is ‘annoyed’ by 9/11 truth,” Infowars, http://www.infowars.com/wikileaks-founder-julian-assange-is-annoyed-by-911-truth
18 David Cameron accused by Labour of Iran nuclear ‘gaffe’, BBC, 5 August 2010, http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-10886435
19 Hezbollah warns against ‘false charges.’ PRESSTV, Wed, 28 Jul 2010, http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=136570§ionid=351020203
20 Edward Luce, “Obama faces growing credibility crisis,” Financial Times, July 13, 2010,http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2010/aug/01/us-iran-attack-plan-mullen
21 http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/26/AR2010072602020.html
22 Tony Karon, ‘Iran War Rhetoric: A Self-Fulfilling Prophecy?’, Time, July 29, 2010,http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,2007246,00.html
23 http://mideast.foreignpolicy.com/posts/2010/07/29/the_republican_backdoor_to_war_with_iran
24 Nil Nikandrov, ‘The US is Synchronously Preparing to Launch Aggressions Against Iran and Venezuela,’ RIA Novosti, July 29, 2010, http://www.en.rian.ru/international_affairs/20100729/159994768.html
25 ‘Colombia’s Santos to Host Meeting with Venezuela’s Chavez,’ VOA, August 9, 2010,http://www1.voanews.com/english/news/americas/Colombias-Santos-to-Host-Meeting-with-Venezuelas-Chavez-100307519.html
26 Mark Landler, ‘Offering to Aid Talks, U.S. Challenges China on Disputed Islands,’ New York Times, July 23, 2010, athttp://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/24/world/asia/24diplo.html?_r=1&pagewanted=print
27 Jay Solomon, ‘U.S., Hanoi in Nuclear Talks; Vietnam Plan to Enrich Uranium May Undercut Nonproliferation Efforts, Rile China,’, Wall Street Journal, August 3, 2010, athttp://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704741904575409261840078780.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
28 “Chinese missile could shift Pacific power balance,” Eric Talmadge, Associated Press, Aug. 5, 2010
29 Veteran Intelligence Professionals for Sanity, “Obama Warned Israel May Bomb Iran,” August 3, 2010,http://www.consortiumnews.com/2010/080310c.html
30 Edward Jay Epstein, ‘How the CIA Got It Wrong on Iran’s Nukes: In 2007, U.S. intelligence said Iran had stopped its nuclear weapons program. Analyst policy bias and disinformation from Iranian double agents may explain the mistake,’ Wall Street Journal, July 29, 2010.
31 Charles Krauthammer, ‘Iran starts feeling heat,’ Washington Post, July 30, 2010, athttp://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/07/29/AR2010072904901.html
32 Washington Examiner, August 2, 2010, p. 9.
33 Maliki, Allawi talks go nowhere, UPI, July 21, 2010, at http://www.upi.com/Top_News/Special/2010/07/21/Maliki-Allawi-talks-go-nowhere/UPI-55031279725288/
34 ‘Obama to Iran: Free the hikers,’ Politico, July 30, 2010, athttp://www.politico.com/blogs/laurarozen/0710/Obama_to_Iran_Free_the_hikers.html
#18 is least topical
33 Enlightened you,,,my pleasure!!
Gee that is an interesting post that touches on some things I was aware of and some things I wasn't, but what is it doing here?
and some things I wasn't
Thats why....
I'm just glad Tyler reads that NYT rag so I don't have to. Same goes for all the other propaganda channels from the Chosen ones.
Paul "Auto-Tune" Joseph Watson on the "sucker's rally", the US debt interest, QE2, the 20% Brit 'ish VAT tax, AMerican/European collapse; he talks Faber's "Mad Max" scenario, "buy a farm you can tend to yourself, with dobermans". He talks food inflation-Russia per se, and cocoa beans and coffee; he is long chickens.
http://www.youtube.com/user/fairinfowar#p/u/10/KQoirWyjW1g
Fannie and Freddie are not like Wall Street. They are worse. If he suggested Fannie and Freddie are like Wall Street, then he impugned Wall Street. And that's sort of like impugning Baghdad Bob by calling him Goebbels.
Hello ZHer's. Do you want to connect a few dots in the hidden agenda?
Patent 6904336
http://www.google.com/patents?id=ePQVAAAAEBAJ&printsec=abstract&zoom=4&source=gbs_overview_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false
Insider Patenting: How Fannie Mae Chief Got the Patent for Cap and Trade in 2006
http://www.conservativeblogwatch.com/2010/05/28/insider-patenting-how-fannie-mae-chief-got-the-patent-for-cap-and-trade-in-2006/
CO2e
http://www.cantorco2e.com/
Chairman Edolphus Towns
http://oversight.house.gov/
Cap & Trade, ObamaCare all wrapped up in one operation thru?? You guessed it.
Go down the rabbit hole.
envision the logic of owning a 30 year bond yielding 4% (25 times pre-tax earnings) and then consider the equity alternative of owning the S&P at a paltry 13X post-tax earnings with a bona-fide inflation hedge built in-- whereby the equity component generally "inflates" over time vs that 4% pre-tax (bond) yield with principal value that's "inflated away" over time. we're much closer to DOW-20000 than we are to DOW-5000 when you consider the long term odds. nonetheless--- the T30 market has become a trading vehicle for those who can't afford to own USD with a 0% coupon so if we get a stronger USD as foreign governments borrow USD to recycle their debts going into year-end, you may see T30 continue to rally before the last gasp finally occurs. shawn mesaros, pamria, llc
"... more principal and more current cash flow. over a long enough timeframe, cash is the only asset guaranteed to be worthless"
WTF TYLER DURDEN???
Why do you keep posting "David Fiderer" articles here at ZH? This guy is a professional propagandist for the Democratic Party. He makes his living writing in defense of the Obama administration. What do you expect him to say? What insights do you hope to gain from him? Do you think he can get his dick out of Barney Frank's ass long enough to write something unbiased?
You create article after article attacking Obama administration policies and attacking propaganda from the likes of CNBC --- and then you go and post something from a paid propagandist for the Obama administration!?!? Why do you keep doing this? Why?
What is the morbid fascination with this douche?