It’s been a whirlwind of non-stop financial news for the last several weeks.
Iconic investment firms fell, banks failed and Congress passed an historic bank rescue bill. Media outlets have been working non-stop to try and bring citizens reliable information to act on.
But no one's perfect. We want to know what stories you think have been missed or weren't covered adequately.
The markets are telling the government to stop meddling! Every new measure these clowns put in place has the opposite of the intended effect. I almost believe they want to make everyone totally beholden to them, to the point where we have to fully depend on their every move.
The bailout was of course completely stupid. Putting a crown on Paulson's head and opening a channel to transfer funds to their corporate buddies will accomplish the intended purpose of the bailout bill - to insure that future campaign contributions continue to flow to both Republican and Democratic candidates. Trust me, they could care less about "main street".
We have had a President who gleefully signs every spending bill put in front of him and then immediately blames Congress for excessive spending. I cannot believe I supported this man.
John McCain missed the chance to lock up the election by voting for the bailout bill. He knew full well that the Senate would pass it so he should have spoke to the House (instead of having a steak dinner with McConnell)and publicly stated that as a "maverick" (Ha!) he had to listen to the American people (78% of whom do not want any type of bailout) and was therefore going against the President and voting against the bill. He would have picked up tens of thousands of votes, but unfortunately he missed his opportunity. We all need to practice saying "President Obama" without getting too sick.
The story was how the American People spoke and said no to this "rescue: but our leaders, Senators, Congressmen, and President ignored "We the People" and took us down the road to socialism from which there will be no return. You missed writing the obit for America.
The panic and confusion of the average individual investor. All the individual investor keeps hearing is to not panic....obviously easier said than done. Investors with investment brokers that they are able to meet with face to face have, for the most part, been able to either be calmed down or even shift funds around to try to take advantage of the situation. But those investors who manage their own investments and use on-line trading sites are probably more paniced, more lost as to what to do. What percentage of those investors have cashed-it-all-in compared to those with a broker they can sit down with? How can the media best educate those investors? If I were them, reading a letter on the company's website or listening to the evening news wouldn't make a big difference to me. What about 401K investors that have to manage where their retirement is invested with no 'advice' from anyone? We were fortunate enough to not only meet with our broker, but he has now incorporated all the 401K information that is held by our employer. I just worry about those people that don't have the same resources.
I think the media just pushed aside the true feelings of the American people and now its coming through in the stock market. The loudest and most heard voice, before the bailout was passed, was from Wall Street types and now they aren't so loud.
With regards to the economy, you have not highlighted the fact when you buy things on credit, it is not real wealth and the markets (notice plural form) are readjusting. We (Americans) have been buying too many things on credit for too long (before Bush 2, before Clinton) and it is not a real sign of wealth (inflating and giving a false view of our economy).
What did the media miss? Just the fact that you're supposed to report the news, NOT rewrite it to fit your agenda. Everything that the media has pushed has come to pass.
How's that for a misuse of power?
The fed can cut the interest rate to 0 and it won't help ! People have been hurt so bad by this administration and by wall street CEO's that they now have a mental block aginst any type of investing. Generation will pass before the market rebouds (if ever),todays generation will die from old age before this is forgotten. I for one think we should raise interest rate's,this would make wallstreet have to compete to yield better then the fed. as long as the fed bails out wallstreet nothing will change.
How about this? Most of the people who either intentionally or unwittingly got in over their heads would be branded by our society as "living beyond their means," when in reality, we have a country that has long been living beyond its means.
* Government and so called economic experts have totally failed economics 101. Government job is to regulate not to inject itself into the business world.
* Why have these hearing with the CEO's, let the FBI and other regulatory agencies do their job of investigating the corp and ceo's.
* The Senate and House needs to be conducting hearing the fraud, and practices of it members (cleaning up their yard.
* Capitalism is dead as long as the governments are acting as businesses, in buying up companies, debt, and credit instruments.
* List your own....
The left media did a great job in hiding the truth about what Democrats don't want you to know about the Freddie, Fannie and AIG problems...The investment houses were merely a biproduct of the first 3
First I don't count Foxnews or Foxbusiness as part of the Media. The others have completely hidden who did what when to cause this mess. I can't blame Wallstreet for playing by the rules that Slick Willie Clinton wrote. Anyone trying to raise the Flag of this sub-prime mess was called a Racist. In all the Bubbles, (S&L, Internet, Oil, or housing) free money was free money. Clear thinking people were pushed to the side and greed took over. Is greed a bad thing, sure, but it also what creates Jobs and makes the world go round. The one good thing that will come out of this is the death of the SRO (self-regulated Organizations) concept. We have to level the playing field across our entire financial system, single point of reulation that allows innovation and restrics excesses. A independant commission must be setup and investigate this and let the chips fall where they fall. Both the Government and Private sectors need to be looked at very closely, if your hand was in the till that caused this, I hear Levenworth is nice in the spring!
The public housing brainstorm of the 30's through 60s provided cheap government financed tenements that resulted in blighted ghettos in almost every inner city. Seeing the problem this caused in education, the politicians mandated busing to solve the cultural and ethnic disparity. When this bright idea didn't work, the same guys had a new socialistic plan. They decided to offer easy loans to move more people out of the ghettos. Then in 1995 we began mandating that banks offer these sub-prime loans to buyers who were not financially able to repay. Today, the chickens of social meddling have come home to roost. Gullible American will probably vote these same people back into office. The same big-government idiots who created this socialistic morass in the first place.
G. Wheeler, Ed.D.
What did the media miss? That is a great question. They missed the fact that politicians in Washington got us into this mess. They missed that their lack of journalistic integrity caused them to overlook the cronyism on Wall Street and in Congress. They missed the fact that their favorite politicians swindled the American people and are now trying to make the taxpayer pay for their ineptitude. I hope the casualties of this current crisis are none other than media companies and banks.
The fact that we have an overabundance of houses, yet we still want to build more. The fact that supply and demand works if you let it. If demand goes down so does price. If you build to many houses, home values will go down. The fact that the gov't wants to controll everything messes with supply and demand. Get them out of the system and it will fix itself.
Amid all the harsh invective against predatory lenders on Wall St., the media seems to have ignored the pitfalls in our education system that have allowed such excessive debts to accumulate. What kind of a country do we live in where students are trained ad nauseum about plotting projectile motion and factoring polynomials, while receiving only cursory instruction on personal financial management?
Teachers and parents should work together to guide students of all ages through their own real financial decisions--including giving 10 year-olds the opportunity to assume light debt (e.g. $10)--so that young adults enter the real world with an understanding of the consequences of their actions. Training Americans to consistently live within their means could indeed eliminate business cycles altogether.
Media really doesn't know the praxology of how investors think and act. Investors want a more secure and stable investment, so when the government needs to "borrow" more tham $700B to finance the "bailout", they go to the bond market and borrow the money. VOILA! The investors take their money out of the stock martket and invest in low yield, but stable bonds.
The news media think they know all of the answers, but so do the rest of the elitists.
Somehting has to make a move and now that market is stuck in this daisy chain with the rest of the word...
Did you see the news on the existing home sales exceeded expectations. The National Association of Realtors Pending Home Sales Index, based on contracts signed in June, rose 7.4% in August to 93.4 from an upwardly revised index of 87.0 in July. The consensus was to be down 1.8%...
We need to get some of the negativity out of the market as I think now part of this is overblown...Granted, still a huge problem, but I think Wall Street is now in a bit of an over react mode.. I am starting to see some big value blue chips that have gone way past my low target price...I was sitting on the fence with all the FUD..Once the market is trading up or down 1% for 2 days..I am a buyer for about 10 different bluechips (non financially related, of course)
I'M STILL HERE, blogging and writing every government e-mail I can find to ask "What is considered legal tender in America?" I can't buy a (foreclosure) house for CASH.
Are the FEDS checking the history on the mortgages they are acquiring for auction. My MLS listing had been updated to show there was a bid on the home yet it was "bundled it for auction" and sold. With contracts, earnest money and proof of cash in place.
What you and the government missed is in spite of the Bail-out or the Recovery, what ever you want to call it, there is no confidence in the system, a system that got us here in the first place, all of you are avoiding finger pointing and fixing blame were it belongs, without knowing the Government is going find the persons responsible and remove them and give us a full accounting of what happened there will be know confidence that it wont happen again or the fear of just more of the same.
I think you missed the masses of people who wish Alan Greenspan was still in charge of the Federal Reserve! Where's a good financial mind when the entire world needs it?!?
The people who took the risks, borrowers and lenders are not being punished, but rewarded. The people who did right are being punished to pay for this mess. Since we are on a socialist path and mixup financial punishment and rewards we are headed for recession.
Democrats refused to regulate saying there was no problem since 2003. The Democratic Congress passes the bills and the President can only sign or veto.
I want to know why the media is not mentioning the fact that Raines who mismanaged Freddie and Fannie is a key economic advisor to Senator Obama. How can we continually say that Obama is better suited to run our country economically when he is being advised by someone who modified his compensation package based on mass insurance of very questionable loans, and then continued to cover up the risk of those loans?
Report on if the banks take part in the rescue plan have an obligation to free up credit to get the markets going? I have a feeling they are going to take a cash position for the short term, which will help nothing that the plan is supposed to help. Thanks
Mainstream media has really missed the stories of the real cause of the mortgage mess.
They haven't traced back the Democratic pressures on CRA, Acorn and the giveaway money to non quailified purchasers demanded by the Barack Obama's, Barnie Frank's and Chris Dodd's of government. Instead they want to place all the blame on the Republicans who fought them all the way. Now it has all come home to roost.
Credit crunch behanged! The credit markets are frozen up.....so what! Is that such a bad thing?............It was credit that got us into this mess! Get used to spending only what you can afford. Maybe the country will quit spending money it doesn't have.
The media has missed everything. They won't tell the truth. For some reason they want us to vote for Obama. I don't know why because he will ruin our country and there will no longer be a media. Do you know how depressing it must be to work for them. All they hear all day long is bad news about Obama and somehow they must spin it around to look like he is a great guy. They must remember, what goes around, comes around.
Most of the media kept pushing the bailout as the only option. Even when the public overwhelmingly rejected the bill at first, the media told us we just didn't understand how urgent this bill was and how bad it would be if we didn't pass it. Well, it has only gotten worse since it passed.
Where was the coverage of Plan B? None other than the ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, Shelby (R-AL) said he had a letter from hundreds of top economists saying the bailout was a bad idea. I never saw Shelby ever again nor did I hear about those top economists and their ideas for an alternative bill.
Where was discussion of forcing Dodd, Frank & Paulson to resign and phsing out subprime lending - the toxic paper we're choking on now. Where was the analysis of replacing the mark-to-market rule or eliminating the cap gains tax or really lifting the ban on drilling - free market solutions.
Pretty female Fox Business Anchors just kept hyperventilating about how the public just didn't get it. Maybe they were the ones that didn't get it?
The first thing that comes to mind is the effect of "Reverse Mortgages". No one has even mentioned this topic. Robert Wagner (distinguished actor from their generation) has dazzled folks with his info-mercials by telling them they can take money out of their homes and encouraging elderly people, who've paid mortgages on time for years, to pull the equity from their homes. What happens now that the value of that home has decreased due to the economy. When does this shoe drop?
Neil Covuto's blog about the 700 billion dollar bailout and how it represents that capitolism is closed... and How we do not have the freedom to fail anymomre.
The root cause of the current financial problems is the overabundance of personal, corporate, and government debt. The economy has been overstimulated by the easy availability of credit, and that could not be sustained indefinitely. The great depression's root cause was excessive debt loads, and voila, once again we reap what we sow... Those who fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them... Nice education system we have..
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bob
The markets are telling the government to stop meddling! Every new measure these clowns put in place has the opposite of the intended effect. I almost believe they want to make everyone totally beholden to them, to the point where we have to fully depend on their every move. The bailout was of course completely stupid. Putting a crown on Paulson's head and opening a channel to transfer funds to their corporate buddies will accomplish the intended purpose of the bailout bill - to insure that future campaign contributions continue to flow to both Republican and Democratic candidates. Trust me, they could care less about "main street". We have had a President who gleefully signs every spending bill put in front of him and then immediately blames Congress for excessive spending. I cannot believe I supported this man. John McCain missed the chance to lock up the election by voting for the bailout bill. He knew full well that the Senate would pass it so he should have spoke to the House (instead of having a steak dinner with McConnell)and publicly stated that as a "maverick" (Ha!) he had to listen to the American people (78% of whom do not want any type of bailout) and was therefore going against the President and voting against the bill. He would have picked up tens of thousands of votes, but unfortunately he missed his opportunity. We all need to practice saying "President Obama" without getting too sick.
bill
The story was how the American People spoke and said no to this "rescue: but our leaders, Senators, Congressmen, and President ignored "We the People" and took us down the road to socialism from which there will be no return. You missed writing the obit for America.
Michele
The panic and confusion of the average individual investor. All the individual investor keeps hearing is to not panic....obviously easier said than done. Investors with investment brokers that they are able to meet with face to face have, for the most part, been able to either be calmed down or even shift funds around to try to take advantage of the situation. But those investors who manage their own investments and use on-line trading sites are probably more paniced, more lost as to what to do. What percentage of those investors have cashed-it-all-in compared to those with a broker they can sit down with? How can the media best educate those investors? If I were them, reading a letter on the company's website or listening to the evening news wouldn't make a big difference to me. What about 401K investors that have to manage where their retirement is invested with no 'advice' from anyone? We were fortunate enough to not only meet with our broker, but he has now incorporated all the 401K information that is held by our employer. I just worry about those people that don't have the same resources.
Rick
I think the media just pushed aside the true feelings of the American people and now its coming through in the stock market. The loudest and most heard voice, before the bailout was passed, was from Wall Street types and now they aren't so loud.
Jeremy
With regards to the economy, you have not highlighted the fact when you buy things on credit, it is not real wealth and the markets (notice plural form) are readjusting. We (Americans) have been buying too many things on credit for too long (before Bush 2, before Clinton) and it is not a real sign of wealth (inflating and giving a false view of our economy).
Patricia
What did the media miss? Just the fact that you're supposed to report the news, NOT rewrite it to fit your agenda. Everything that the media has pushed has come to pass. How's that for a misuse of power?
Steve Alblinger
The fed can cut the interest rate to 0 and it won't help ! People have been hurt so bad by this administration and by wall street CEO's that they now have a mental block aginst any type of investing. Generation will pass before the market rebouds (if ever),todays generation will die from old age before this is forgotten. I for one think we should raise interest rate's,this would make wallstreet have to compete to yield better then the fed. as long as the fed bails out wallstreet nothing will change.
Doc Holliday
How about this? Most of the people who either intentionally or unwittingly got in over their heads would be branded by our society as "living beyond their means," when in reality, we have a country that has long been living beyond its means.
M Patton
* Government and so called economic experts have totally failed economics 101. Government job is to regulate not to inject itself into the business world. * Why have these hearing with the CEO's, let the FBI and other regulatory agencies do their job of investigating the corp and ceo's. * The Senate and House needs to be conducting hearing the fraud, and practices of it members (cleaning up their yard. * Capitalism is dead as long as the governments are acting as businesses, in buying up companies, debt, and credit instruments. * List your own....
Crooked Folks
The left media did a great job in hiding the truth about what Democrats don't want you to know about the Freddie, Fannie and AIG problems...The investment houses were merely a biproduct of the first 3
Frank
First I don't count Foxnews or Foxbusiness as part of the Media. The others have completely hidden who did what when to cause this mess. I can't blame Wallstreet for playing by the rules that Slick Willie Clinton wrote. Anyone trying to raise the Flag of this sub-prime mess was called a Racist. In all the Bubbles, (S&L, Internet, Oil, or housing) free money was free money. Clear thinking people were pushed to the side and greed took over. Is greed a bad thing, sure, but it also what creates Jobs and makes the world go round. The one good thing that will come out of this is the death of the SRO (self-regulated Organizations) concept. We have to level the playing field across our entire financial system, single point of reulation that allows innovation and restrics excesses. A independant commission must be setup and investigate this and let the chips fall where they fall. Both the Government and Private sectors need to be looked at very closely, if your hand was in the till that caused this, I hear Levenworth is nice in the spring!
Jerry Wheeler
The public housing brainstorm of the 30's through 60s provided cheap government financed tenements that resulted in blighted ghettos in almost every inner city. Seeing the problem this caused in education, the politicians mandated busing to solve the cultural and ethnic disparity. When this bright idea didn't work, the same guys had a new socialistic plan. They decided to offer easy loans to move more people out of the ghettos. Then in 1995 we began mandating that banks offer these sub-prime loans to buyers who were not financially able to repay. Today, the chickens of social meddling have come home to roost. Gullible American will probably vote these same people back into office. The same big-government idiots who created this socialistic morass in the first place. G. Wheeler, Ed.D.
Eric
What did the media miss? That is a great question. They missed the fact that politicians in Washington got us into this mess. They missed that their lack of journalistic integrity caused them to overlook the cronyism on Wall Street and in Congress. They missed the fact that their favorite politicians swindled the American people and are now trying to make the taxpayer pay for their ineptitude. I hope the casualties of this current crisis are none other than media companies and banks.
Philip
The fact that we have an overabundance of houses, yet we still want to build more. The fact that supply and demand works if you let it. If demand goes down so does price. If you build to many houses, home values will go down. The fact that the gov't wants to controll everything messes with supply and demand. Get them out of the system and it will fix itself.
Andrew Cohen
Amid all the harsh invective against predatory lenders on Wall St., the media seems to have ignored the pitfalls in our education system that have allowed such excessive debts to accumulate. What kind of a country do we live in where students are trained ad nauseum about plotting projectile motion and factoring polynomials, while receiving only cursory instruction on personal financial management? Teachers and parents should work together to guide students of all ages through their own real financial decisions--including giving 10 year-olds the opportunity to assume light debt (e.g. $10)--so that young adults enter the real world with an understanding of the consequences of their actions. Training Americans to consistently live within their means could indeed eliminate business cycles altogether.
Mike
Media really doesn't know the praxology of how investors think and act. Investors want a more secure and stable investment, so when the government needs to "borrow" more tham $700B to finance the "bailout", they go to the bond market and borrow the money. VOILA! The investors take their money out of the stock martket and invest in low yield, but stable bonds. The news media think they know all of the answers, but so do the rest of the elitists.
Somewhat encouraged
Somehting has to make a move and now that market is stuck in this daisy chain with the rest of the word... Did you see the news on the existing home sales exceeded expectations. The National Association of Realtors Pending Home Sales Index, based on contracts signed in June, rose 7.4% in August to 93.4 from an upwardly revised index of 87.0 in July. The consensus was to be down 1.8%... We need to get some of the negativity out of the market as I think now part of this is overblown...Granted, still a huge problem, but I think Wall Street is now in a bit of an over react mode.. I am starting to see some big value blue chips that have gone way past my low target price...I was sitting on the fence with all the FUD..Once the market is trading up or down 1% for 2 days..I am a buyer for about 10 different bluechips (non financially related, of course)
Proud to be an American
I'M STILL HERE, blogging and writing every government e-mail I can find to ask "What is considered legal tender in America?" I can't buy a (foreclosure) house for CASH. Are the FEDS checking the history on the mortgages they are acquiring for auction. My MLS listing had been updated to show there was a bid on the home yet it was "bundled it for auction" and sold. With contracts, earnest money and proof of cash in place.
Kenny
What you and the government missed is in spite of the Bail-out or the Recovery, what ever you want to call it, there is no confidence in the system, a system that got us here in the first place, all of you are avoiding finger pointing and fixing blame were it belongs, without knowing the Government is going find the persons responsible and remove them and give us a full accounting of what happened there will be know confidence that it wont happen again or the fear of just more of the same.
Chris
I think you missed the masses of people who wish Alan Greenspan was still in charge of the Federal Reserve! Where's a good financial mind when the entire world needs it?!?
Monnica
I think you guys are doing fine! Right now, this is what we (atleast my husband and I) want to be informed about.
Woody
The people who took the risks, borrowers and lenders are not being punished, but rewarded. The people who did right are being punished to pay for this mess. Since we are on a socialist path and mixup financial punishment and rewards we are headed for recession. Democrats refused to regulate saying there was no problem since 2003. The Democratic Congress passes the bills and the President can only sign or veto.
Glen Snell
I want to know why the media is not mentioning the fact that Raines who mismanaged Freddie and Fannie is a key economic advisor to Senator Obama. How can we continually say that Obama is better suited to run our country economically when he is being advised by someone who modified his compensation package based on mass insurance of very questionable loans, and then continued to cover up the risk of those loans?
Drew
Report on if the banks take part in the rescue plan have an obligation to free up credit to get the markets going? I have a feeling they are going to take a cash position for the short term, which will help nothing that the plan is supposed to help. Thanks
Kevin M
Mainstream media has really missed the stories of the real cause of the mortgage mess. They haven't traced back the Democratic pressures on CRA, Acorn and the giveaway money to non quailified purchasers demanded by the Barack Obama's, Barnie Frank's and Chris Dodd's of government. Instead they want to place all the blame on the Republicans who fought them all the way. Now it has all come home to roost.
Larry
Credit crunch behanged! The credit markets are frozen up.....so what! Is that such a bad thing?............It was credit that got us into this mess! Get used to spending only what you can afford. Maybe the country will quit spending money it doesn't have.
Susan
The media has missed everything. They won't tell the truth. For some reason they want us to vote for Obama. I don't know why because he will ruin our country and there will no longer be a media. Do you know how depressing it must be to work for them. All they hear all day long is bad news about Obama and somehow they must spin it around to look like he is a great guy. They must remember, what goes around, comes around.
Matt Cude
Most of the media kept pushing the bailout as the only option. Even when the public overwhelmingly rejected the bill at first, the media told us we just didn't understand how urgent this bill was and how bad it would be if we didn't pass it. Well, it has only gotten worse since it passed. Where was the coverage of Plan B? None other than the ranking member of the Senate Banking Committee, Shelby (R-AL) said he had a letter from hundreds of top economists saying the bailout was a bad idea. I never saw Shelby ever again nor did I hear about those top economists and their ideas for an alternative bill. Where was discussion of forcing Dodd, Frank & Paulson to resign and phsing out subprime lending - the toxic paper we're choking on now. Where was the analysis of replacing the mark-to-market rule or eliminating the cap gains tax or really lifting the ban on drilling - free market solutions. Pretty female Fox Business Anchors just kept hyperventilating about how the public just didn't get it. Maybe they were the ones that didn't get it?
Proud to be an American
The first thing that comes to mind is the effect of "Reverse Mortgages". No one has even mentioned this topic. Robert Wagner (distinguished actor from their generation) has dazzled folks with his info-mercials by telling them they can take money out of their homes and encouraging elderly people, who've paid mortgages on time for years, to pull the equity from their homes. What happens now that the value of that home has decreased due to the economy. When does this shoe drop?
Stephen
Neil Covuto's blog on how Capitolism is closed.. and How we no longer have the freedom to fail
digivix
EVERYTHING that really matters.
Stephen
Neil Covuto's blog about the 700 billion dollar bailout and how it represents that capitolism is closed... and How we do not have the freedom to fail anymomre.
Gary Moseley
The root cause of the current financial problems is the overabundance of personal, corporate, and government debt. The economy has been overstimulated by the easy availability of credit, and that could not be sustained indefinitely. The great depression's root cause was excessive debt loads, and voila, once again we reap what we sow... Those who fail to learn the lessons of history are doomed to repeat them... Nice education system we have..