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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.

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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.
    • Waiting2awake, on 07/24/2008, -2/+28America seems to have the memory of a goldfish...
      • leerayIG88, on 07/24/2008, -0/+3I'm actually a nishikigoi.
      • macwac, on 07/24/2008, -1/+2According to this digg story 6 months ago: http://digg.com/general_sciences/Goldfish_remember ...
        That received over a thousand diggs. Goldfish can remember things for days not seconds as previously thought.. America seems to have memory that lasts mili-seconds.. we need a new analogy.
      • noen, on 07/24/2008, -0/+2How about "America seems to have the memory of the average Digger"?
      • coyote1284, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1I was going to make a witty comeback, but I forgot it.
      • AUniquePerson, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1"Wow, how did this castle get into my bowl!?"
    • 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.
      • CalvinMonk, on 07/24/2008, -1/+2To be fair, I listen to Diggers as well. I am not sure which category that would fall into
    • 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.
      • coyote1284, on 07/24/2008, -0/+2I was going to say "You mean a *third* party?" but then agreed that Rs & Ds are just different sides of the same manure heap.
    • dragon76, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1No visible means of support and you have not seen nothin' yet
      Everything's stuck together
      I don't know what you expect staring into your tv set
      Fighting fire with fire
  • nontoxyc, on 07/24/2008, -2/+10Which bank next?
    • CalvinMonk, on 07/24/2008, -2/+1Please let it be the First National Wal-Mart Bank (woodforest) - really, banking at a Wal-Mart
  • seks03, on 07/24/2008, -8/+22Wachovia then WaMu
    • OMGWTFROFLMAOx2, on 07/24/2008, -2/+2Yes, Wachovia and WaMu will go under right after the Atlanta Falcons win the Super Bowl.
  • markaussie, on 07/24/2008, -7/+18America isssssssss BANKRUPT
    • 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.
      • 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.
      • coyote1284, on 07/24/2008, -0/+3Wanna play 52 card pick-up?
  • highps3, 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.
      • Pittance, on 07/24/2008, -1/+1And what will the money be worth when the fed dries up?
    • redxninja, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1Like trying to save the Iraq?
  • wynja, on 07/24/2008, -4/+37It's the end of an empire, and everything must go!!!!!
  • StingingNettle, on 07/24/2008, -2/+171.99 cent stores here come!
    • Theugly, on 07/24/2008, -1/+1$1.99? Wow, that's almost 1.25EU!
    • 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.
      • 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.
      • Thuktun, on 07/24/2008, -1/+1What is a "one dollar dollar store", anyway?
  • 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.
  • umbriago, on 07/24/2008, -4/+9Just don't forget to leave a big tip for your bartender, George Bush
  • VideoHost1, on 07/24/2008, -3/+11Call me Blind.
    But I dont see any light at the end of this long tunnel
    • chaosevil, on 07/24/2008, -2/+3"There is no darkside of the moon really, matter of fact its all dark."
    • CrazedLeper, on 07/24/2008, -1/+5There is light but it's the train.
    • D3koy, on 07/24/2008, -0/+2It's not so much a tunnel as it is a well, and at some point we're all going to hit the bottom and drown...
  • 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.
    • 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.
      • sgtiger, on 07/24/2008, -0/+2Then I mean for those of us with immaculate credit history, and decent sized debt, without dinging our credit by doing so. :-)

        Kind of a situation where they are making no money off my outstanding debt due to the low APR, so they are better off taking my money now and lending it to someone else at a blistering APR.
  • mrzack, 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.
    • 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.
      • 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)
      • sodade, on 07/24/2008, -0/+49mm ammo. That is all.
      • Coffeedemon, on 07/24/2008, -0/+5"The gangs took over the highways, ready to wage war for a tank of juice"
      • 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.
      • WhoWatches, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1It was a white-line nightmare...
      • 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.
      • 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.
    • kingmanic, on 07/24/2008, -3/+3I always scratch my head at people who push this idea. Gold and silver have very little practical value. Less so then say iron or silicon. But so many or the paranoid insist it's what you buy when things go south. They are simply commodities. Higher demand = higher prices. There are enough of these paranoid individuals to actually drive the price up in bad times but like any commodity, when the demand goes down so does the price. So right now gold is at a fairly high price, buying it now carries a fairly high odds that you will lose money in the short to medium term. There isn't any more security in gold or silver then there is in buying blue chip, platinum, telecoms, German brothels, or coal.

      I guess the only real things going on is that people who are invested in gold or silver profit if other buy into it. So Mr.Zack probably has a lot of his personal wealth tied to gold and silver and would really appreciate it if you suckers would buy more of it at the fairly high prices it sits at now.
      • PhantomRogue, on 07/24/2008, -1/+2Exactly, a commodity is just that... If the dollar falls flat, the gold you spent 10,000 on, will be worth 100,000... but that 10,000 you spent on it, will be the equivalent of 100,000 when you sell it. You aren't making any money.

        The ONLY way you make money, is if the investment you make, rises at a higher rate than inflation; AND you sell it back before the 'collapse'. If bread, gas, and overall cost of living goes up by 10,000... then you best have made 15,000 in your interest or you actually lost money and would have been better off spending it for ***** you can use/enjoy while you can.
      • Pittance, on 07/24/2008, -0/+2How well off is the german brothel market these days?
    • 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.
  • gills62ca, on 07/24/2008, -4/+17Bush seems to know an awful lot about being drunk.
  • sizzzzlerz, on 07/24/2008, -4/+9Hey, if anybody knows drunk, it's Bush.
  • catcher6250, on 07/24/2008, -4/+3I love this President!
  • levelred, on 07/24/2008, -2/+5encourage US companies to accept euros and you will see the bankers and politicians start to straighten up.
    • treehugger87, on 07/24/2008, -0/+2Seriously, is there a bank where I could do all my transactions in Euros instead of dollars? Whenever I make a payment it's in dollars but the money is stored in the bank as Euros?
      • prophetpimp, 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.
      • Temo1, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1Well sure, but that only helps if the dollar futher depreciates versus the Euro. I mean, you can convert your money into Euros, but you'll pay the current exchange ratio. So you still have the same amount of dollars, although maybe more if the exchange ratio changes.
      • treehugger87, on 07/24/2008, -0/+2I found this from HSBC (http://www.offshore.hsbc.com/1/2/international/cur ... Sounds like it would work for what I need. Minimum balance is $10k, but it looks like the only penalty for dropping below that balance is you don't get interest on your deposits. I don't see the dollar going back UP against the Euro anytime soon, so it might be worth doing.
  • duckyinc, on 07/24/2008, -2/+5In other news: Companies go bankrupt in economic crisis and Saying obvious things will make you sad
  • 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.
    • 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.
  • 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.
  • 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~
    • coyote1284, on 07/24/2008, -1/+3Untopical, but replace "Banks" with "Churches" and it's just as true.
  • gaapgod, on 07/24/2008, -8/+9PEOPLE, Bush had nothing to do with the lending practices and bets on mortgage backed securities that caused the credit crisis. I mean I'm not exactly a Bush fanboy, but comments like these are just ignorant.

    Ask yourself: Do I understand how MBSs are securitized and sold, then quasi-guaranteed by financial institutions, including FNMA & FHLMC? If the answer is no, then STFU.
    • 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, -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?
    • nycmac247, on 07/24/2008, -2/+3@gaapgod

      so the gov't isn't supposed to stand between us and our rape by corporations?

      maybe we should live in the just-industrializing UK or in current sub saharna africa where we can have our deregulation, right?

      both parties are responsible to letting all the checks and balances after the great depression getting rolled back and more and more NEW ways to "speculate on speculation" to occur.

      but you want something for nothing and then claim its normal when it all crashes, right? How are your derivatives looking?

    • 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.
      • gaapgod, on 07/24/2008, -1/+1Wow. You are really good at copying the talking points pilobilus. I also see that you felt the need to repeat yourself. Nice.

        Also, I thought even cronies like yourself would avoid using the term "as a matter of fact" in an OPINION expressed on Digg. I would bury you, but I have a policy of not doing that to those who reply to my own comments.
  • frostbyt, on 07/24/2008, -6/+7I am going to have to raise my price on letting women give me hand jobs.
  • 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.
    • sgtpppr, on 07/24/2008, -0/+2They are definitely inheriting a hornets nest. We got two wars going on and an economy taking a dive rapidly. I hope whoever wins is up to the challenge...because I seriously doubt they will come out looking like a savior.
  • dpantages, on 07/24/2008, -3/+5"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.

    -I disgusts me to read this garbage. He talks to us as if he needs to dumb everything down to his level. News Flash: the majority of Americans have an intellectual aptitude higher then a twelve year old. It's about time for him to come up to OUR level.
    • sysop073, on 07/24/2008, -0/+4He's not dumbing it down -- he really is that stupid
    • 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?
    • sgtpppr, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1You're talking about a population that voted Bush into office twice in a row and spent FAR more money than they could possibly ever pay back in 400 years. Now this population along with the companies who loaned them the money are begging the gov't to help them. I know it's possible some people got lied to or plan out didn't understand the loan they were signing, but ignorance is not really an excuse when you borrow $300,000 on a variable rate when you're making $25k a year and have $30k in credit card debt.
    • TinternAbbot, on 07/24/2008, -0/+11) The majority of Americans are stupid.
      2) Bush has a Harvard MBA. I think he has a pretty good idea of how banking works. It's not difficult.
  • 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.
  • tufftugg, on 07/24/2008, -2/+3Yehaw, sucks yah we habin some weird economich times, but golly.
  • 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.
    • TinternAbbot, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1You buy huge HDTVs when you're drunk? *****, I want you to party at my apartment.
    • Drewnami, on 07/30/2008, -0/+1It was part of the metaphor, but you knew that.
  • rugrat54, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1Its not the swimming as much as the climbing out thats gonna get us. But if we all work together for a common cause I believe we will survive this. What other options do we have?
  • TinternAbbot, on 07/24/2008, -0/+1Can hardly blame the banks. There's something called opportunity cost.
  • PilotHead, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1....selling any money?
  • goodinohio, on 07/25/2008, -0/+1Should we learn Russian or Chinese?
  • TradeMaster007, on 07/29/2008, -0/+0Banks are really having a crashing, Interesting how Wachovia is going to deal with the billions lost.
  •  

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