Friday, October 24, 2008

It's not a bailout -- it is a pullout.....or a shakedown?

The current financial “crisis” and government “bailout” is now all starting to make sense. What we are really experiencing is a scramble to pull out as much money from the federal government as possible before the election. Rather, it is really taking on the appearance of a bold-faced shakedown of our elected officials. How so? Well, it is becoming more and more clear that bad regulations are at the heart of the meltdown – the regulatory switch from mark-to-model to mark-to-market just at the point when most of the debt instruments would immediately lose all market value if switched from mark-to-model valuation.

This regulatory meddling in banking affairs forced the banks into only no-win options – forced write downs to “worthless” of otherwise valuable assets. The Republican legislators forced the first $850 Billion bailout to include the power to reverse the bad mark-to-market regulation. But, guess what? It is not being implemented. Instead, another round of shakedown of the government is in the works. Reversing the bad mark-to-market decision, now, will jeopardize the plan to extract more dollars from the government.

The actions are becoming painfully clear: whether Obama or McCain wins, our country is now on a fast-paced march towards socialism. It is Ann Rand (“Atlas Shrugged”) on a mega-scale. The financial powerhouses need to extract as much money out of our government as they can --- remove as much power as 1.5 – 2.5 trillion dollars can buy --- and as quickly before the election as possible --- before the United States finally closes the door to free enterprise.

It may not be one person doing it, or some huddle of masterminds, but it is the collective of thousands of people doing it. The financial world is not in crisis – it is actually acting intelligently. The intelligent thing to do is shake down the government for all it is worth – or as much as can be gotten, then regroup as much power as is possible later. Until the depths of socialism can be determined, this is a most intelligent strategy --- as it will be some time before anyone will be able to tell where and in what sectors, if any, there may be opportunity to use private capital. And, the entities who hold the cash will be needed to help enable the socialist agenda. So, whether the money will be used to prop up token capitalist activities in a shrunken free market, or the money used to drive new social programs, the outcome is the same --- the holder of the money will have the most say.

Since the quirky government regulations forced our bankers into this situation, what other option do they have? So, now is the time to get every penny out of the government as is possible --- even if that means panicking a collapse of the financial system in order to drive legislators & candidates into a panic.

(c) 2008 Knobloch. All rights reserved. Contact for publication permission. www.charlesknobloch.blogspot.com