Thursday, October 16, 2008
Political Whack-A-Mole
0 commentsNever let the left hand see what the right hand
that he has stuck down into your pocket is doing.
Forget John McCain.
Don't waste time "pallin' around" with Sarah Palin.
Don't look anywhere the MSM wants you to look, especially the bobble-heads from the McCain campaign. Look where YOU NEED to look.
Watch Phil Gramm.
Closely.
Very closely.
Fail to do so, at your peril.
It was bad enough that this former Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee was the prime mover behind including foreign-owned banks (i.e., UBS, his employer) in the $700 billion bail-out trough that was just voted through.
Now, McCain's top financial adviser—A/K/A The Man Who Stole Your Money, for personally killing every banking regulation in sight which started this whole recent greed frenzy—just brokered a deal as head of UBS, the Swiss multinational banking biggie, to happily swindle the Swiss government.
I thought the Swiss were neutral. What'd they ever do to us to warrant being saddled with Phil Gramm?
"Money" quotes from the top link:Separately, Credit Suisse is raising billions more from private investors to meet stricter capital requirements. The government gave both banks a choice: go find private capital—as the stronger Credit Suisse did—or we will do the surgery, the option favored by UBS.
The Swiss banking system is big but nimble because it has fewer players. That's allowed the Swiss National Bank to move quickly to shore up its two giants.
Speed doesn't necessarily make a better deal. UBS is getting up to $54 billion in loans against the $60 billion in securities that will be held in a special purpose vehicle. The Swiss have no recourse should the UBS assets prove to be worthless. [GN emphasis]
Contrast that intervention with the route taken by Credit Suisse: the bank will be selling shares and convertible bonds. The bank has negligible write-downs during the last year and its financial strength is enough to give management confidence that private investors will step up to bolster the bank.
Sweet.
Screw this corporate good citizen crap, Phil says. Just grab the cash. Leave the other guy in the crosshairs.
Why sweat it out like Credit Suisse when you can get the Swiss government to put itself on the hook for all those 60 billion $3 bills in your very sizable wallet?
Really though, when you think about it, when someone fires all the lifeguards at your favorite beach, shouldn't they be held accountable when everyone starts drowning?
Especially, when they then use the notoriety to drive up beach front property values?
Maybe it's time for the general citizenry to start collecting feathers and begin heating up the tar...
Just asking.
posted by Gotham 1:28 PM
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