Bush's disastrous financial rescue strategy

BLACK MONDAY, SEPT. 15, 2008, marked the collapse of a Bush administration policy, dating from the first subprime tremors of mid-2007, of trying to rescue America's biggest banks and investment firms, piecemeal.

The administration never had an overarching strategy for purging the financial system of its bad debt, or of systematically recapitalizing the biggest banks, or defining who deserved taxpayer bailout, or setting clear ground rules going forward. The rescues were all done on the fly.

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The strategy boiled down to allowing Wall Street to privatize the gains while government socialized the losses. After the fact - after more than a decade of letting Wall Street operate like a casino - the government had little choice: If a sufficiently large bank went bust, it could take the whole system down with it.

But after the creation of ever more exotic bogus securities running into the trillions, subprime loans being only the most notorious, there are simply too many worthless investments clogging the system. In ordinary times, bargain-hunting buyers can be found to scoop up bad investments at so many cents on the dollar. But in this crisis, there are few buyers, save the government. As confidence collapsed, stockholders fled even the largest and soundest financial institutions, further undermining their capital base.

More: http://www.boston.com/bostonglobe/editorial_opinion/oped/articles/2008/09/16/bushs_disastrous_financial_rescue_strategy/

...and Wall Street speculators, and explosion of Federal Debt and hyperinflasion, that's Bush's economic rescue program and it has failed:

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Consumer Price Index Summary
FOR TECHNICAL INFORMATION:
Stephen B. Reed (202) 691-7000 USDL-08-1308
CPI QUICKLINE: (202) 691-6994 TRANSMISSION OF
FOR CURRENT AND HISTORICAL MATERIAL IN THIS
INFORMATION: (202) 691-5200 RELEASE IS EMBARGOED
MEDIA CONTACT: (202) 691-5902 UNTIL 8:30 A.M. (EDT)
INTERNET ADDRESS: http://www.bls.gov/cpi/ Tuesday, September 16,
2008

CONSUMER PRICE INDEX: AUGUST 2008

The Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U) decreased
0.4 percent in August, before seasonal adjustment, the Bureau of Labor
Statistics of the U.S. Department of Labor reported today. The August
level of 219.086 (1982-84=100) was 5.4 percent higher than in August 2007.

The Consumer Price Index for Urban Wage Earners and Clerical Workers
(CPI-W) decreased 0.5 percent in August, prior to seasonal adjustment.
The August level of 215.247 (1982-84=100) was 5.9 percent higher than in
August 2007.

The Chained Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers (C-CPI-U)
decreased 0.2 percent in August on a not seasonally adjusted basis. The
August level of 125.843 (December 1999=100) was 4.7 percent higher than in
August 2007. Please note that the indexes for the post-2006 period are
subject to revision.

CPI for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U)

On a seasonally adjusted basis, the CPI-U decreased 0.1 percent in
August, following a 0.8 percent increase in July. The index for energy
fell 3.1 percent in August after three consecutive sharp increases. The
gasoline index declined by 4.2 percent in August but is 35.6 percent
higher than in August 2007. The index for household energy, which was up
3.8 percent in July, declined 1.6 percent in August. The food index
advanced 0.6 percent in August after rising 0.9 percent in July. The
index for food at home rose 0.8 percent in August after a 1.2 percent
increase in July and is up 7.5 percent over the past year. The index for
all items less food and energy increased 0.2 percent in August after
increasing 0.3 percent in July. A downturn in the index for lodging away
from home was responsible for almost half of the smaller increase.
Deceleration in the indexes for new vehicles, apparel, and telephone
services also contributed. Partly offsetting these were larger increases
in the indexes for medical care and recreation.

Table A. Percent changes in CPI for All Urban Consumers (CPI-U)


Seasonally adjusted


Expenditure Compound
Category Changes from preceding month annual Un-
rate adjusted
3-mos. 12-mos.
Feb. Mar. Apr. May June July Aug. ended ended
2008 2008 2008 2008 2008 2008 2008 Aug. 2008 Aug. 2008

All items.......... .0 .3 .2 .6 1.1 .8 -.1 7.2 5.4
Food and beverages .4 .2 .9 .3 .7 .9 .6 9.1 5.9
Housing........... .2 .4 .3 .5 .5 .6 -.1 4.2 3.8
Apparel........... -.3 -1.3 .5 -.3 .1 1.2 .5 7.4 1.7
Transportation.... -.7 .7 -.7 2.0 3.8 1.7 -1.5 16.8 12.1
Medical care...... .1 .1 .2 .2 .2 .1 .2 2.1 3.3
Recreation........ .1 .3 -.1 .1 .1 .4 .5 4.4 2.4
Education and
communication.. .1 .3 .4 .4 .5 .5 .2 5.0 3.6
Other goods and
services....... .2 .4 .5 .4 .4 .4 .2 4.0 4.1
Special indexes:
Energy............ -.5 1.9 .0 4.4 6.6 4.0 -3.1 32.9 27.2
Food.............. .4 .2 .9 .3 .8 .9 .6 9.6 6.1
All items less
food and energy .0 .2 .1 .2 .3 .3 .2 3.4 2.5



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http://www.bls.gov/news.release/cpi.nr0.htm

I think that 'notorious' should be swapped out for 'comprehensible'

Ringling Bros. and Barnum & Bailey Circus has acquired Lehman Brothers and will be integrating the former investment bank into a whole new three-ring act.

http://theskunk.org/2008/09/ringling-bros-acquires-lehman-bros/