Paulson says foreign banks can use U.S. rescue plan

[City Lights]

Source: Reuters via Yahoo

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson said on Sunday that foreign banks will be able to unload bad financial assets under a $700 billion U.S. proposal aimed at restoring order during a devastating financial crisis.

"Yes, and they should. Because ... if a financial institution has business operations in the United States, hires people in the United States, if they are clogged with illiquid assets, they have the same impact on the American people as any other institution," Paulson said on ABC television's "This Week with George Stephanopolous."

Paulson was appearing on the Sunday television talk show circuit to fill in some of the details of the U.S. government plan for a sweeping bailout to mop up hundreds of billions of dollars in toxic mortgage debt.

The moves capped a week in which financial markets faced their most serious confluence of crises since the Great Depression in the 1930s and threatened national economies and the worldwide banking system. (Reporting by Mark Felsenthal)


Read more: http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20080921/bs_nm/financial_bailout_paulson_dc_3

[AzDar]

1. Whaaaaaat?

:wow:

[geckosfeet]

2. Wow. World wide socialism. Cool.

How about a health care program for US citizens, dickheads.

[readmoreoften]

50. Not socialism. Fascism. This is a dictatorship of the elite, not the proletariat.

[Blue Diadem]

3. WHAT?

OMG, I feel ill.

[jaxx]

8. Maybe they'll get a coalition of the willing to help with the bailouts.

Yeah, that was sarcastic!

[MercutioATC]

4. Wow. That could create sooooo many problems.

Let me first go on record as saying that I don't agree with this bailout. That said,

If Schumer has his way, we'd get stock warrants in return for the bailout. Not a great solution, but it's something. I'm assuming this requirement would apply to foreign banks, too. The problem is, we can legislate the dealings of American banks but not foreign banks. U.S. taxpayers will essentially have a shareholder interest in the banks that are bailed out and we'd have no way of regulating any of our foreign "investments".

[eShirl]

6. k&r

[Pale Blue Dot]

5. This is getting worse and worse.

Holy crap.

[OregonBlue]

7. They are planning on bailing out the whole world with our tax dollars? I'm so mad I can't even see

straight. Time for a real change. Get rid of them all. Start over with a whole new congress. Let every one of our Dems know that if they vote for this, if they cave in again, they are history!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Lorien]

12. Amen. This has become a bank heist of unprecidented proportions.

and WE are the ones who have become the bank to those gluttonous criminals!

[galileoreloaded]

21. I agree. No incumbents. None. N/T

[PDittie]

9. Which ones are the socialists, again?

Could I look at your program?

[peacebird]

10. WHY SHOULD U.S. TAXPAYERS HAVE TO BAILOUT OTHER COUNTRIES?!?!?!?!

arrrghhhhhh.......

:wtf:

So WE get to eat all the bad debt and Paulsons rich buddies get to buy up property for pennies on the dollar from him. The land barons will get to reclaim tons of property and we the people will be screwed.

:grr:

This is so bad on so many levels.

[Lorien]

16. What are Paulson's credentials anyway?

was he Dubya's former caddy, or maybe a drinking buddy from college? Palin promoted a friend to secretary of agriculture because she likes cows, maybe Paulson was a childhood chum who "likes money"? He sure as hell seems as unqualified as Palin's pal from High School.

[kirby]

42. He was CEO of Goldman Sachs Investment Bank n/t

[Mojorabbit]

48. The only thing I can think of

is that other countries that loaned us money must be calling in their loans.

[thunder rising]

11. the United States, saving the world one billionair at a time..

[Supersedeas]

54. we fight their wars and they tax our labor -- the New World Order has benes for the Tuxedo base

[mbperrin]

13. Wow..........I have no idea why I have worked for 40 years, two jobs for

32 of them, and why I thought I'd ever get to retire. I literally feel I've been hit in the head with a club. I've already let my rep and senators know how I feel, but it looks like the fix is in. I guess Phil Gramm and UBS are saved now, huh?

[FreakinDJ]

14. What about the rumor Obama wanted to shift American wealth

to poor nations

Where is the damm outrage

[UpInArms]

15. the US taxpayers are going to be bailing out FOREIGN BANKS?????????

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!

[yy4me]

17. This is theater of the absurd. We struggle here and will have

to bail out the rich at our expense, now we will bail out the world?

Good grief, what must the rest of the world be thinking of us. Fools, that's what.

We are on the edge and the fall of everything is near. Yes, I'm getting to be a pessimist because
it just keeps getting more stupid.
We insult the rest of the world with our behavior and will now bail them out because it is the right thing to do?
I'll tell you what the right thing to do is, take care of the well being of America.
Find ways to help people find housing, food, money to heat their houses, jobs.

No-one could have ever made these 8 years into a worse book of horror, not even Steven King.

[Ghost Dog]

23. Not the rest of the world. Only the super-rich in the rest of the world.

Same as in USA.

But don't worry, most of said foreign financial institutions will be British, and UBS (ie. the usual cronies).

[MercutioATC]

18. We FINALLY found an issue on which DUers and Freepers agree!

They hate this idea just as much as we do. Not one positive comment on FR threads on this.

[halobeam]

30. Absolutely. I was at my freeper relatives wedding yesterday...

Big time right wingers! It was the FIRST time everyone on both sides of the isle agree.

[bluesmail]

19. We owe mammoth debt to China. et al

This is one way to repay it. Ala back room deals. Head Hurts. I must be awake.

[SmallTimeFarmer]

22. no bailout

Let them all fail...foreign and domestic, thats what the free-market is all about isn't it?

This whole fiasco is literally making me sick to the stomach. I'd rather have my nest egg go to zero than bailout those rich b*stards that created this problem.

Why is there no organized outrage? Why isn't anyone even suggesting the possibility of giving them the bailout but agreeing to raise taxes by $100B per year on those same firms until 110% of the bailout is paid back?

Obama didn't create this problem, but he really is dropping the ball on this one. Can't see a lick of difference between the parties on this issue. I think if he (Obama) stood up and said "NO, NO BAILOUTS", his approval ratings would go up (among some), and he would show that he actually has a different agenda than the republicans.....

Why isn't Obama running campaigns showing John McCain, just one week or so ago declaring that the "economy is fundementally sound", or showing how John McCain wants to "deregulate the health industry like we have deregulated the finance industry", or how John McCain wants to put our social security in the hands of wall street....why? why? why?

Why isn't he doing anything? Is he trying to lose the election?

[ixion]

41. yeah, this is a win/win for China

they're making money on both the front and back ends of the deal, and will wind up owning our sorry asses either way.

[Vapor Trails]

20. Great post! The Obama camp needs to get this story out n/t

[EmeraldCityGrl]

26. We need to actually DO something this time. They have completely underestimated

how opposed Americans are to this corporate bailout. There's going to be a run on the banks next week.

[NeoConsSuck]

31. You might want to wait

until you are sure of Obama's position regarding this. How do you know he is not going to support bailing out foreign banks??

[Vapor Trails]

32. Good point n/t

[ozymandius]

24. The Senate needs to begin impeachment proceedings against this fraudster,

He's sounding like a 50cent whore. America is anybody's for pennies on the dollar.

[City Lights]

37. The House impeaches; the Senate convicts or acquits.

And while I would love to see this criminal cabal impeached and convicted for their crimes, I'm not holding my breath.

[ozymandius]

38. Of course. Kinda lost my head about the impeachment process - I was so angry.

My sentiment toward this scandalous wretch remains the same.

[City Lights]

40. I hear ya.

I'm fuming too. :mad:

And I suspect the Dems will once again be cowed into doing whatever the pukes want!

[greyghost]

25. I call BULLSHIT! This is simply their last grab of our money!

Stand up and stop the BULLSHIT!

[CitizenPatriot]

27. un-fuc*ing believable

unlimited power to this asshat to bail out anyone with no congressional or court scrutiny

for some ODD reason they don't want the books looked at?

bail out your foreign friends' banks?

Listen, you Carpetbagging assclowns, when I buy a company, I read their financials and they disclose their debt - ALL of it. Since you allowed these people to hide their debt and bilk the small investor through lack of oversight, I am most CERTAINLY not buying your POS run company with no ability to SEE your books.

this is such utter bullshit.

I was devastated last week to discover they had driven us into a ditch that needed emergency repair. I am now STUNNED that they are trying to use this moment, their OWN complete and utter fuck up, to pry even more money out of the middle class and get complete power for themselves with no ability for oversight.

Um...Hello? THAT WAS THE PROBLEM.

GOP: GO FUCK YOURSELVES. Dishonest, fraudulent, incompetent, lying fascists.

not this time. ENOUGH.

[CitizenPatriot]

29. I am so angry

BLACKMAILing motherfuc*ers.

Another 911.

Their incompetence lands us into this shite, and then they feel entitled to OUR complete trust?

No. sorry.

[lostnotforgotten]

28. We Are All Financial Slaves Now!

eom

[bronxiteforever]

33. How can this be? Our party better fight this to the death

:argh:

[dgibby]

34. Don't hold your breath. nt

[CitizenPatriot]

35. bush will just veto them

and then, there's always the "signing statement" power of that POS POTUS.

You know, the non-constitutional powers he's invoked on behalf of his Fascist friends?

[EmeraldCityGrl]

36. If Schumer's comments are any indication, we're on our own...Depemding now

on Obama.

[ixion]

39. Henry sure is generous with OUR MONEY...

damnit!! :argh:

What the hell. So now we're buying ALL THE BAD PAPER IN THE WORLD? :wtf:

Well, if we weren't bankrupt before (which we were) we most certainly will be after that. :puke:

[Trillo]

43. It's a World-Wide Fascist! Not Just Socialism for Corporations (Corporate Welfare)

But restricted in the sense of only U.S. taxpayers paying for corporations in other countries! NOT FAIR!

In a hypothetical situation where this unreasonable bill passes congress (it didn't pass yet, did it?), the only way for it to be fair is for all citizens worldwide to be paying into the rescue plan with their taxes, but even that is unfair as corporations shouldn't need to be on Welfare!

The U.S. citizen, many whom have lost their jobs, who may not have health insurance, who may rent instead of own their housing, who have a minimum wage of at least 1/4 of a Living Wage, who have trouble with rising costs just like citizens everywhere, this small subset of poorer taxpayers is expected to subsidize through transfer payments not only U.S. Corporations (which they shouldn't be required, IMO), but corporations elsewhere in the world as well? It's certainly true that the U.S. has a few citizens who are rich beyond most measures, the Top 400 for instance, but why tax the poor to pay for the world's corporate overlords?

It's a World Wide Fascist! An accounting shell game!

The corporations asking for this welfare are worse than heroin and crack and LSD addicts. Zero Tolerance for Corporatism! Let them suffocate in their own bankrupt paper!

[eowyn_of_rohan]

44. I'll bet this is why: (European) Lehman administrator seeks $8bn

Source: BBC
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=3502525

The European administrators of failed US investment bank Lehman Brothers have filed a court order in New York demanding $8bn (£4.4bn) is returned from the US to London.

A PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) spokesman said the money was needed to pay creditors, salaries, property bills and other day-to-day expenses.
...
Before it went into administration last Monday, Lehman Europe frequently transferred money from its London HQ to its parent company in New York, said the BBC's Joe Lynam.

"The money was usually kept overnight - earning interest - before being sent back to London."

But, as the bank neared its end last Sunday, that did not happen and Lehman Europe found itself down by $8bn, having formally requested the money earlier in the week, our reporter said.

[City Lights]

46. Interesting...reminds me of the money "mistakenly" wired to Lehman from a German bank:

Finance | 17.09.2008
German Bank Slammed for Mistakenly Wiring Lehman Millions

Berlin demanded an inquiry Wednesday into why a German government bank transferred 300 million euros ($427 million) to Lehman Brothers just hours before the US bank collapsed amid continuing turmoil on Wall Street.

Anger mounted in Berlin on Wednesday, Sept 17, after it emerged that German state development bank KfW transferred 300 million euros ($427 million) by mistake to Lehman Brothers hours before the US investment bank folded.

The news overshadowed calls in the parliament by Chancellor Angela Merkel for an improved regulatory framework following continuing turmoil on Wall Street.

A KfW spokesman told German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung that there had been "an erroneous swap payment on Monday ... the reasons for which are being examined internally."

The paper reported that the German bank, which was set up as a reconstruction bank and handles most federal-government investments, had tried frantically to stop the transaction on Monday but without success.

http://www.dw-world.de/dw/article/0,2144,3652019,00.html

[neverforget]

45. The Dumptruck Economy brought to you by Bush/Paulson/Wall Street

Just back your bad debt up the US and dump it on the US taxpayer. We're a bunch of sheep who don't give a shit.

[LynnTheDem]

47. All I can really say is...

:rofl:

[ticked]

49. You have got to be kidding me

:wtf: Now he wants us to bail-out the world, I can't believe this is actually going to happen. We are so screwed :scared:

[OakCliffDem]

51. We need to take care of our own first

[MaineDem]

52. I have no problem with the idea of paying taxes, however...

NOT to bailout foreign banks. No no no.

[GinaMaria]

53. Paulson says?

What about what the American people say? When people like this are not given limits, they will not impose any limits on themselves, not even limits of fairness, human decency or country first! People like Paulson need to be on a choke chain 24/7.