The Bear Stearns Situation, play by play. May 29, 2008
Posted by baxtersbrother2 in Accounting, Economy, Social Discourse, Tax Policy., US Government, Uncategorized.Tags: Bear Stearns, Federal Reserve, Government Intervention, JPMorganChase, Sub-prime mortgages, Wall Street Journal
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There is a very indepth series of articles from The Wall Street Journal that goes into great detail about the failure and “bailout” of Bear Stearns. The articles paint a picture that is nothing short of breath-taking. The beginning of the article has a vision of a trader, confronting the CEO, Alan Schwartz, and asking “How could this happen to 14,000 employees?” “Look into my eyes, and tell me how how this happened!” This is the 64,000 question.
Many large financial institutions have failed. One, was Drexel Burnham, Lambert, for example. But what makes this interesting is that this is the first time that the Federal Reserve responded.
Bear Stearns had alot of mortgages on their books, mortgages that were defaulting. The risk that Bear Stearns was assuming was great along with the fact that they had a cashflow problem.
Wikipedia explains it well…. As of November 30, 2007 Bear Stearns had notional contract amounts of approximately $13.40 trillion in derivative financial instruments, of which $1.85 trillion were listed futures and option contracts. In addition Bear Stearns was carrying more than $28 billion in ‘level 3′ assets on its books at the end of fiscal 2007 versus a net equity position of only $11.7 billion. During 2007, Bear Stearns had several funds that invested heavily in Sub-prime mortgages, and as the market tanked, the value evaporated. This was noticed in releasing earnings, when it was shown that net profits dropped 61%. Then in November, Bear Stearns wrote down another $1.2 billion. This caused more skepticism of the group, as many other brokerages (faced with their own problems) wanted to not do business with Bear Anymore.
In March, clients were dropping like flies. Cash was disappearing. Bankruptcy was definitely on the table, even though it would decimate the business. Then someone called the Federal Reserve. Then in an act of governmental interaction, the Federal Reserve, in connection with JPMorganChase issued an emergency 28 day loan. 4 days later, Bear Stearns and JPMorganChase agreed to a merger at $2 per share ( which got raised to $10, because of threat of shareholder lawsuits.)
What this blog found interesting was that the Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson was leery. The Wall Street Journal reports that “given the unprecedented level of government intervention in rescuing the troubled firm,& appearing to bailout Wall Street Investors while many were facing foreclosure.
GOT ALL OF THIS…. It is the opinion of this blog that this was a bailout that is unprecedented. The Congress is having a dreadful time regarding the Mortgage crisis, but can scope out a deal over a weekend. It furthers the question of how much governmental intervention is appropriate. There are two schools of thought, one is that Ok, you invested, got over extended, and failed; the second is that this needed to be done, otherwise the economy would have been driven further into recession.
The Bear Stearns situation is a situation that is the sign of the times. The sub-prime and other mortgage crisis not only effected the borrowers whose homes are repossessed, but large institutions as well. However, what is different, is that the government was quick to come to Bear Stearns aid and has been not as quick in coming to those effected by the sub-prime crisis. What is good for one, should be good for the other. Many, Many people lost billions of dollars because of the situation and there is empathy. The true effects will be felt for many years to come.
Ta Da! Gas has hit $4 a gallon… May 14, 2008
Posted by baxtersbrother2 in Economy, Election 2008, Energy Crisis of 2008, Iraq, Oil Prices, Social Discourse, The press, US Government.Tags: ANWR, Election 2008, Family Values, Federal Gas Tax, Fuel Additives, Gas Prices, Heritage Foundation, NY Times, President Bush, refineries, Rush Limbaugh, Strategic Petroleum Reserve, Wall Street Journal
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In connection with the last post, and what I saw on my way home, I thought that I would blog on an issue that is effecting families everywhere. The high gas prices are effecting food prices and of course discretionary income. This is ridicious to say the least. There are proposals everywhere, and this posting will go thru each proposal.
- Temporarily repeal the federal gas tax. A post on this blog goes into great detail about the case for repealing the Federal Gas Tax.
- Determine what is correct verses what is not. A post, confronts Rush Limbaugh regarding comments today about casting blame.
- Examine the issues regarding refineries. It sounds rational but NO OIL companies put up plans. Where does this blogger comes from it is called put up or shut up. As per an article from Money, that has not happened. Furthermore, it is based upon What the refineries are producing/focusing on. Another article goes into detail regarding this issue. Then further, there is evidence that it is because of refineries failures that drive up the price of gas. Review the NYTimes Article for details. An article from the Reason Foundation goes into detail that plays devils advocate. However, this posting is when Oil was $70 a barrel. Today, Oil Closed at $124 per barrel. The article is 3 years old, so the price of Oil has gone up 15% per year over the last three years or 45% overall.
- Determine fact from Fiction. OK regardless of your views on Global Warming ( It does exist), there are reasons why Gasoline Additives are added in the refining of Gas. Most Plainly, it is so people can not see the air that they breathe. However, it is ironic that every time gas rises, there is an instant call for the removal of ALL Additives from Gas. The additives are a part of an EPA Mandate for the Clean Air Act of 1973. There is a direct article from the Christian Science Monitor that addresses this question directly.
- Demand for Fuel has skyrocketed. If you can walk, do it or combine errands.
- Ok the next point takes some explanation. The Strategic Petroleum Reserve is the largest emergency supply in the world with the current capacity to hold up to 727 million barrels (115,600,000 m³) of crude Oil. As prices were rising dramatically, The US Government was adding to the reserve!! Yes Ladies & Gentleman, the crude that the US consumer is demanding be put into gas, the government is taking and putting into the reserve. So, the Government is actually hurting the consumer by increasing demand, and thus price! It is considered a first line of defense. A whitepaper goes into much more detail regarding this. There is sharp opinions regarding the opening the reserve. Heritage Foundation believes that this would be a mistake. The Christian Science Monitor remains neutral. This bloggers opinion is the same as demonstrated from The Wall Street Journal. Open the damn reserve already!
- My favorite point of debate, INCREASE fuel standards. God I like this one because it is so an issue of personal ego. OK. In the 1990’s we did not give a damn about fuel standards, but now that Energy is a problem, it is priority. If done at once, it may be a complete blow to an already struggling auto industry. If we modify standards, it needs to be done strategically, and would help better the auto industry.
- Open ANWR. Oh this is my favorite globally. There has been something so hotly debated, but little known. The environmentalist believe that this would be a global disgrace. People who believe in drilling do not see an issue. However, this has been an issue since 1980!!! There has been one report that says that there is oil there. Other than that, it would be a crapshoot. There are new technologies however, that make oil drilling more intrusive. President Bush and Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson have been long advocates of drilling. There is a website that is very well put together that is very Pro-Drill. Other sites, suggests the contrary. MSNBC has an article that indicates, that there will be little impact. However, as a person who appreciates the outdoors, I would hate for the environment to be destroyed.
We need leadership and actual solutions. If we can not have our leaders be accountable, then we need to elect others that are.
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