Thursday, November 10, 2011

Facebook Archive - American Financial Market Crisis Analysis

Author's Note:  Wrtitten on September 25, 2008, one day before Washington Mutual failed and was bought up by JPMorgan and Chase for $1.9 billion.

Edit: As of 6:30 PST... FDIC has seized all of Washington Mutual stocks and assets and has been sold to JPMorgan for $1.9 billion. One part of my conclusion comes true... and so soon.

So I have studied closely financial turmoil hitting Wall Street. I have gone as far as taking a daily venture to get involved in a realistic Fantasy Stock Market based off of real time stocks from Wall Street here on Facebook.

I've seen the Senate Banking Committee meeting with all the heads of the government financial department testifying in front of Congress. McCain suspending his campaign to head back to Washington D.C. and Obama wanted to continue to debate on Friday. The President's speech last night, plus a multitude of varying opinions throughout internet.

I've seen financial giants Lehman Brothers, Bank of America, Washington Mutual, Goldman Sach, JPMorgan Chase, and Morgan Stanley heavily suffer in this mess. I saw American International Group, the world's biggest financial insurer collapse and get loaned $85 billion by the government. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the biggest mortgage companies collapsing earlier in September and consequently taken over by the US Treasury.

So what does mean for everyone? A lot of things... consequences that will last for a long, long time.

Analysis: As President Bush stated last night, "The entire economy is in danger." But why pass a $700 billion bailout... wait... bailout isn't the right word, more like loan. So its a $700 billion loan. The reason for it is quite obvious, to prevent a total, sudden collapse of the American financial market.

Before summer, I watched people, including myself, on the Fantasy Stock Market short Lehman Brothers. The interpret that, shorting a stock is to bet that certain stock is going to fall and one profits from a company's failure. Shorting Lehman Brothers back in April, I knew that its days were numbers, and here we are in September, Lehman Brothers is bankrupt, being sold in pieces to the highest bidder. If I had real money, I would have been quite rich from that.

The trouble signs of the current problems span more than a year ago, and the long-term road paved for this moment spans back when President Bush first came into office.

So big whoop, right, we're bailing out the financial fat cats on Wall Street? Wrong!

The situation is much larger then that now. The failure of not passing out $700 billion is resigning to the immediate Day of Reckoning that faces America. A total collapse of the American financial market is quite an immense consequence. So what would happen?
1. The United States faces the biggest depression since 1929 arrives on our doorstep.
2. Hundreds of American banks nationwide closed their door as they default.
3. Thousands lose their jobs as companies go bankrupt
4. Housing foreclosures increase rapidly as banks call in all loans
5. Little or no credit is issued, preventing the purchasing of houses, cars, attending college, and other 'big purchase' items.
6. The country loses more than $700 billion as the full effect of the collapse ensues.
7. The American problems now becomes the Global problem as the effects of the depression spreads.
8. Commodities skyrocket

That's some of the reasons... so the problem is that big and bad... time to fret, yes? No.

So greed has come to roost... and to 'continue' this almighty road to 'American Prosperity' is through this aid package.  Maybe its time to let the chips fall as they may, which I assure you that letting the chips fall would result in a depression. But who am I kidding with... nobody wants to suffer a global depression, including myself. Seriously though, lessons in complete failure is much more a learning experience than experiencing success. Isn't that what we all been taught that personal failure is a much better learning experience than success... just now, that same possible lesson could be implied upon an entire nation.

Conclusion:
This $700 billion bailout is a sure thing. It definitely won't solve any long term problems as the housing/credit crisis continues. Its there to cushion the fall so that everyone doesn't feel the fallout up their butt at once.
If this bailout doesn't pass... or doesn't work, everybody should hold on, things are going to take a turn for the worst and pray they get through this.  And consider this as a big government hedge fund... this $700 billion and with Secretary Paulson being the ex-Goldman Sach bigshot money maker, the government might make out of this thing some sort of profit if it goes well.

The $85 billion to AIG isn't going to make it big again... and when its all said and done, there probably won't be much of an AIG left in a couple years since this crippled it permanently. Selling parts of it is highly likely
Washington Mutual is definitely headed to be sold off in its entirety or in parts to another bank like JPMorgan.  There is definitely a long-shot hope that Goldman Sach and Morgan Stanley survive but as commercial banks instead of investment banks, more so for Goldman since Warren Buffet injected $5 billion in capital into that business.  Out of all the financial bigshots, JPMorgan and Chase and Bank of America are going to remand standing, with Goldman Sach and Morgan Stanley being probable in survival.

Lastly, pity the soul, either John McCain or Barrack Obama, when they truly inherit this mess. And honestly, do not expect them to be FDR and pull a New Deal... and the history books state how truly how much the New Deal worked... which wasn't much. This $700 billion is the New Deal people... welcome to the new era of America.

Oh... McCain's pledge to stop his campaign and go back to D.C. is political showboating, a technically good cause to go back and put up his sleeves, but he isn't God, nor is he in any economic committees in Congress... so the debate should go on, but Obama is doing the lame arguments to McCain... so its lame either way.

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