Mike PouraryanBlack Friday......
October 4th 2008 16:48
:
Tough Times......
As the Bailout package was debated in the House yesterday, here is just a sampling of the news that was coming out:
1) 159,000 Jobs were lost in September;
2) According to a Report in Friday's Financial Times by Anousha Sakoui and Gillian Tett, "...AT&T, the American telecoms giant, has admitted it was forced to rely on ultra short-term financing for its regular treasury operations......(AT&T) had last week been unable to sell any commercial paper for terms longer than overnight...."
3) GE had to raise capital from Berkshire Hathaway to shore up GE Capital
4) Marriott warned about new hotel openings and a drawdown of $ 900 Million to supplement its cash position because of the expected downturn;
5) The Detroit-3 and Toyota all announced disastrous sales results. Toyota began pushing 0% financing to try and shore up sales;
6) California (which is the 8th Economy in the world!!!) asked for a $ 7 Billion Note from the Federal Government;
7) The IMF told the world that the U.S. Economy will be faced with a sharp and severe downturn.
As for California, it apparently goes to the markets to raise short term financing to fund continuing operations. It acts similiarly to companies selling Commercial Paper to finance their treasury operations. With the way things are right now, apparently California can't raise the money to pay for services.
The Bailout did pass. A lot of people have had profound reservations because they say that it is a bailout of "Wall Street', not "main street". I have not heard anything about a plan B. I have not heard recommendations about what can be done differently. Some said that we ought to let the "market" work itself out. I cringe at the alternative of having done nothing. It is true that if you have a choice to do something stupid or do nothing, it is better to do nothing. However, in my view, this was not stupid.
The idiocy of talk radio and the attack by the king of talk radio, Rush Limbaugh, was the icing of the cake. Rush tried to shift the blame to Democrats. The fact is everyone is responsible. Leadership at all levels were asleep at the whell. Any rewriting of history will just be irresponsible. The fact is that now that the bailout has been passed, it will take a while for it to work itself down to "main street".
The day, weeks and months ahead will be very challenging.
1) 159,000 Jobs were lost in September;
2) According to a Report in Friday's Financial Times by Anousha Sakoui and Gillian Tett, "...AT&T, the American telecoms giant, has admitted it was forced to rely on ultra short-term financing for its regular treasury operations......(AT&T) had last week been unable to sell any commercial paper for terms longer than overnight...."
3) GE had to raise capital from Berkshire Hathaway to shore up GE Capital
5) The Detroit-3 and Toyota all announced disastrous sales results. Toyota began pushing 0% financing to try and shore up sales;
6) California (which is the 8th Economy in the world!!!) asked for a $ 7 Billion Note from the Federal Government;
7) The IMF told the world that the U.S. Economy will be faced with a sharp and severe downturn.
As for California, it apparently goes to the markets to raise short term financing to fund continuing operations. It acts similiarly to companies selling Commercial Paper to finance their treasury operations. With the way things are right now, apparently California can't raise the money to pay for services.
The Bailout did pass. A lot of people have had profound reservations because they say that it is a bailout of "Wall Street', not "main street". I have not heard anything about a plan B. I have not heard recommendations about what can be done differently. Some said that we ought to let the "market" work itself out. I cringe at the alternative of having done nothing. It is true that if you have a choice to do something stupid or do nothing, it is better to do nothing. However, in my view, this was not stupid.
The idiocy of talk radio and the attack by the king of talk radio, Rush Limbaugh, was the icing of the cake. Rush tried to shift the blame to Democrats. The fact is everyone is responsible. Leadership at all levels were asleep at the whell. Any rewriting of history will just be irresponsible. The fact is that now that the bailout has been passed, it will take a while for it to work itself down to "main street".
The day, weeks and months ahead will be very challenging.
| 31 |
| Vote |
Shared on
Add Comments
Read More
Comments (1)
