Originally written by David Kallans on October 23, 2008 5:46 PM All banking is faith based ....

You can say that again!

Chase recently received $25 billion in federal funding...

Given … that Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. had decided to use the first installment of the $700 billion bailout money to recapitalize banks instead of buying up their toxic securities, which he had then sold to Congress and the American people as the best and fastest way to get the banks to start making loans again, and help prevent this recession from getting much, much worse.

In point of fact, the dirty little secret of the banking industry is that it has no intention of using the money to make new loans. But this executive was the first insider who’s been indiscreet enough to say it within earshot of a journalist. (He didn’t mean to, of course, but I obtained the call-in number and listened to a recording.)

“Twenty-five billion dollars is obviously going to help the folks who are struggling more than Chase,” he began. “What we do think it will help us do is perhaps be a little bit more active on the acquisition side or opportunistic side for some banks who are still struggling. And I would not assume that we are done on the acquisition side just because of the Washington Mutual and Bear Stearns mergers. I think there are going to be some great opportunities for us to grow in this environment, and I think we have an opportunity to use that $25 billion in that way and obviously depending on whether recession turns into depression or what happens in the future, you know, we have that as a backstop.); sizingMethod="image" ref_bubble.png?, word_reference global images graphics8.nytimes.com http:>”

Read that answer as many times as you want — you are not going to find a single word in there about making loans to help the American economy. On the contrary: at another point in the conference call, the same executive (who I’m not naming because he didn’t know I would be listening in) explained that ….

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/10/25/business/25nocera.html?em

...........

Nanna

Read on a friend's facebook profile: 

DUE TO THE FINANCIAL CRISIS, THE LIGHT AT THE END OF THE TUNNEL HAS BEEN TURNED OFF.

http://www.motherjones.com/washington_dispatch/2008/10/credit-rating-agencies-we-sold-our-soul-to-the-devil.html

For years, credit rating agencies--the referees of Wall Street--insisted they were an impartial source of information, despite their financial reliance on the companies they rated. Then came the market meltdown--and a chorus of accusations that firms had artificially inflated their risk ratings to please their clients and gain a competitive edge. And now there's plenty of evidence to suggest the "referees" were unduly influenced by the players.

And AIG Has Used Much of Its $123 Billion Bailout Loan

Unable to help myself, I asked (with the most serious expression) the teller at my bank how soon the funds would be available in my account as I wanted to go shopping. With just as serious an expression she said, “Oh, Mr. Tucker, the money isn’t for you. It is for the bank.”  So far this bailout, rescue, or whatever other term is applied leaves a bad taste in my mouth -and no more money in my account. I guess it is going to be the same as usual for me -living within my budget. Damn, and I was wanting to go shopping.

David

Treasury set to dish out financial rescue funds

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20081027/ap_on_bi_ge/financial_meltdown

Cost of crash: $2,800,000,000,000
http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2008/oct/28/economics-credit-crunch-bank-england

Contd.: http://www.utne.com/2008-10-24/Spirituality/Financial-End-Times.aspx?blogid=28&utm_source=iPost&utm_medium=email

Are Americans living in a recession or a financial apocalypse? Is now a time for prudent financial choices or a time to pray? Sean Cole reports for Marketplace that some economists are embracing the gloomy financial indicators as a sign that Armageddon is upon us. Cole talked to an “end times economist” who said that the current recession is God “saying that this world's financial system is built upon an unrighteous foundation.”

The financial system has become a religious cult of its own, Peter Laarman writes for Religion Dispatches. The financial crisis was caused in part by an adherence to “economism,” a creed that Laarman describes as “the notion that every part of human life is governed by economic considerations and that everything that happens—or at least everything that matters—is reducible to human monads pursuing their rational self-interest.”