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Desperate Banks Are Selling Everything That Isnt Nailed Down

slate.com — President Bush neatly summed up the complex problems in the financial sector last week in terms he could understand. "Wall Street got drunk," he said. "It got drunk and now it's got a hangover." And to pay for the hangover cure, Wall Street is now selling Grandma's silverware and little Billy's new bicycle.

Who dugg this? Made popular Jul 24, 2008

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  • theNazz, on 07/23/2008, -10/+47Bush family Presidents and bank failures go hand in hand. I thought the USA knew that by now.
  • wynja, on 07/24/2008, -4/+37It's the end of an empire, and everything must go!!!!!
  • zaneperry, on 07/24/2008, -2/+32"And to pay for the hangover cure, Wall Street is now selling Grandma's silverware and little Billy's new bicycle."

    And getting your tax dollars from the government.
  • Waiting2awake, on 07/24/2008, -2/+28America seems to have the memory of a goldfish...
  • StingingNettle, on 07/24/2008, -2/+171.99 cent stores here come!
  • seks03, on 07/24/2008, -8/+22Wachovia then WaMu
  • gills62ca, on 07/24/2008, -4/+17Bush seems to know an awful lot about being drunk.
  • inactive, on 07/24/2008, -6/+19Hey the $1 is still worth something... LOL.. Honestly this was a long time coming. I like how we try to save all these other countries meanwhile ours is in the sh!tter... God bless America. Please seriously we need help.
  • wynja, on 07/24/2008, -1/+14Nobody has been trying to save anyone. Everyone has been attempting to line their pockets with as much money as possible before it goes boom.
  • markaussie, on 07/24/2008, -7/+18America isssssssss BANKRUPT
  • sgtiger, on 07/24/2008, -1/+12At what point will this allow those of us to leverage the debt we have outstanding in our favor?

    With a creditcard company, "I'll pay off my debt for 80 cents on the dollar in full right now."

    Especially if we have low fixed rates.
  • Fun4Two, on 07/24/2008, -0/+10Im starting to feel sorry for the guy who will inherit the presidency. Whoever gets elected, will undoubtedly have their time when most of the country will hate and despise him. If McCain gets elected, the presidency will basically wear down a man who will be in his 80s pretty soon. And just think of the reaction in the future if Obama becomes a despised and unpopular president like our previous ones (Bush, Clinton, Bush Sr, Reagan, Carter, Nixon, etc). Will we remember that there was a time when people were crazy about him. This is truly the hardest 4 year contract job in the world.
  • CrazedLeper, on 07/24/2008, -1/+11The USA does not learn because it only listens to it's "experts" and "authorities" and does not think for itself.
  • SheilaNoya, on 07/24/2008, -4/+14Bush and the Republicans removed most of the financial regulations so the so-called "Free Market" could do whatever it wanted to. Now we know why so many of those regulations were created in the first place.
  • larissa13, on 07/24/2008, -0/+9Banks have done more injury to the religion, morality, tranquility, prosperity, and even wealth of the nation than they can have done or ever will do good. ~John Adams~
  • altgeeky1, on 07/24/2008, -1/+9Unfortunately, with an Electoral College in place both the Democrats and Republicans need not fear a second party's competition from their end of the spectrum. Thus there will never be a party which represents the "center", and voters are artificially herded to one party or the other.
  • nontoxyc, on 07/24/2008, -2/+10Which bank next?
  • Jexie, on 07/24/2008, -2/+9Everyone forgets this wonderful 'invisible hand' is quite happy to give us all big punch in the nuts too. A free market is more of a religion to the right wing than anything, they won't learn, if anything they will blame it on too much regulation and want to remove even more.
  • inactive, on 07/24/2008, -3/+8buy Gold and silver bullion, don't waste your time on numismatic or rare collector's coins.
    American eagles are nice because they don't have to be reported to the IRS when you sell em.
  • pilobilus, on 07/24/2008, -1/+6As a matter of fact Bush is 100% personally responsible for the looting of our mortgage industry by his corporate cronies. 50 U.S. governors organized to stop it, and Mr. Bush had his Department of Justice shut them down cold.

    No mistakes were made. Large players in the mortgage banking and securities industries created a huge amount of worthless paper (uncollectable debt), misrepresented its value, repackaged it and sold it overseas.

    During the swindle, executive bonuses were in the millions of dollars. After the swindle, a collapse in the housing market is enabling those with enough capital to purchase long term investment properties at pennies on the dollar. I will say it again, no mistakes were made: Those responsible for this massive fraud have cashed their checks and stand to make millions more.
  • Coffeedemon, on 07/24/2008, -0/+5"The gangs took over the highways, ready to wage war for a tank of juice"
  • umbriago, on 07/24/2008, -4/+9Just don't forget to leave a big tip for your bartender, George Bush
  • sizzzzlerz, on 07/24/2008, -4/+9Hey, if anybody knows drunk, it's Bush.
  • MiDri, on 07/24/2008, -0/+4If post epoc movies/shows have taught me anything it was that food though valuable will never be as valuable as gasoline, batteries, and gunpowder. Food can be grown. Once the establishment fails processed goods such as the 3 listed here will become harder to find and small amounts of them could be used to acquire large amounts of food (lawfully or unlawfully)
  • CrazedLeper, on 07/24/2008, -1/+5There is light but it's the train.
  • Spire3660, on 07/24/2008, -1/+5Ill never understand the reasoning that precious metals are a safe investment in financial turmoil. Sorry, but ill invest in stuff people can eat, get warm from, etc. Putting my cash in 'gold' just doesnt seem very smart since its value is pretty arbitrary, having no real day to day survival value.
  • CrazedLeper, on 07/24/2008, -4/+8Worse, America was built on bankruptcy; it would be just a matter of time before the house of cards became a pile of cards. The "Federal" nothing-in-Reserve private Bank knew that when they duped the Senate into "passing" the Federal Reserve Act.
  • sysop073, on 07/24/2008, -0/+4He's not dumbing it down -- he really is that stupid
  • kingmanic, on 07/24/2008, -0/+4Secret: You can do that right now. Just phone your card company up, and if you have a significant enough debt and a bad enough payment history you can settle for $0.50 on the dollar. But you will not be lent money again.
  • auranfyrbringer, on 07/24/2008, -0/+4The wise thing to do then would be to pick up some kind of skill that would allow one to produce necessary goods on a small scale like smithy, weaving, carpentry etc. The kind of grassroots industry that can form the basis of a resurgent society.
  • sodade, on 07/24/2008, -0/+49mm ammo. That is all.
  • trafficlight, on 07/24/2008, -3/+7He may not have started it, but he is doing his part to make it worse with the bailouts of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

    Giving them billions of taxpayer (!) dollars is not going to fix their problems. It's like giving a drunk another bottle of whiskey to help him out. That doesn't solve anything.
  • pilobilus, on 07/24/2008, -0/+4American Eagles are not negotiable as gold, they contain too much "base metal". Maple Leaves and Krugerrands are negotiable as gold. But silver is a better bet, world supplies have been drawn down to dangerous levels by industrial use and the real value of the metal will go nowhere but up no matter what some worthless paper money does. Also, people are less likely to kill you for your silver.
  • WhoWatches, on 07/24/2008, -0/+4You could say that the US stopped being what it was founded on the minute it took up arms against its own former citizens during the Civil War. Since then it has continued to debase its standards.
  • Drewnami, on 07/24/2008, -0/+4To be fair, "Wall Street got drunk...and now it has a hangover" is a damn good analogy. Economically, we DID party hard, and now it's the morning after and we're wondering why we bought a huge HDTV.
  • pilobilus, on 07/24/2008, -2/+650 U.S. governors tried to organize to stop the looting of the mortgage industry and Our Mr. Bush had his Department of Justice shut them down cold. "Free Trade", a $6 trillion Federal deficit, and the "sub-prime mortgage" swindle, have destroyed the U.S. economy with the full approval of Bush & Co. Inc., all of whom have made massive personal profits. Why else steal two Presidential elections?
  • Pittance, on 07/24/2008, -0/+3If you want a society based in medieval times. Actually, If the world falls apart, I'm going to the Renaissance fair. At least they'd know what to do.
  • Paulish, on 07/24/2008, -0/+3...With power...
  • McShr3dd3r, on 07/24/2008, -0/+3Personally, I go to the $1 dollar store. Everything is half the price of the $1.99 cent store.
  • sonoran, on 07/24/2008, -3/+6Yep in a big sector downturn, in this case admittedly caused by excess greed and poor loan managment, companies sell off their assets. So what are the assets being sold? According to the article: stock holdings, ownership stakes in other companies and internal buisnesses (spinoffs). How these qualify as "heirlooms" is beyond me. They're investments, meant to be sold when the company needs capitial.

    Is it all the end of the world as we know it? I don't think so, but I guess it makes a dramatic story.
  • leerayIG88, on 07/24/2008, -0/+3I'm actually a nishikigoi.
  • inactive, on 07/24/2008, -0/+3Open account in Hong Kong and wire yourself the money in the HK account. Use ATM card to get your money out.
  • sjaskow, on 07/24/2008, -0/+3"News Flash: the majority of Americans have an intellectual aptitude higher then a twelve year old. " - Um, no, the majority of Americans read at about the 8th grade level and have a financial aptitude that's way less than that. After all, how many people thought an "interest-only" loan was a good thin?
  • naner, on 07/24/2008, -0/+3Personally, I go to the $1 dollar store. Everything is (nearly) half the price of the $1.99 cent store.

    Fixed.
  • Cuchanu, on 07/24/2008, -4/+7This sucks, my paycheck is dependent on the economy and right now I AM F-ING BROKE!!!

    Don't vote for McCain unless you want to see Phil "De-Regulation" Gramm become an important economic adviser in the McCain white house.
  • coyote1284, on 07/24/2008, -0/+3Wanna play 52 card pick-up?
  • duckyinc, on 07/24/2008, -2/+5In other news: Companies go bankrupt in economic crisis and Saying obvious things will make you sad
  • levelred, on 07/24/2008, -2/+5encourage US companies to accept euros and you will see the bankers and politicians start to straighten up.
  • Thuktun, on 07/24/2008, -0/+3"Actually, If the world falls apart, I'm going to the Renaissance fair. At least they'd know what to do."

    Joust, act out skits, and sell turkey legs and wine? Sounds good.
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