Global markets take fright at the return of the zombie banks

[CHIMO]

The activities of financial markets are often irrational. Prices go up for no apparent reason and then suddenly the mood changes. What's worrying about the latest spasm that has convulsed bourses in Europe, Asia and North America is that the sell-off is grounded in real and ever-more pressing concerns. Make no mistake, something serious is going on here.

That something can be divided into three parts. The first cause for anxiety is the global economy, and in particular the United States. The report released on Thursday by the Philadelphia Federal Reserve covers only a small part of the Eastern US but it has a good track record for charting the ups and downs of the world's biggest economy. The Philly Fed's barometer has just plunged deep into recession territory.

There are also simultaneous slowdowns going on in the rest of the world. Europe's economy has slowed to stall speed, the UK is still operating way below its pre-recession level and activity has come off the boil in China, even though to western eyes growth still looks amazingly strong in China.

Two and a half years ago, financial markets rallied strongly on the assumption that the worst of the slump was over. There was relief that Great Depression 2 had been avoided. Now the talk is over a double-dip recession.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2011/aug/19/global-markets-take-fright-banks

[Moostache]

1. Can we PLEASE just let them die this time?

Seriously, I know all the BS arguments about how that would be a catastrophe for everyone, but would it REALLY?

If BoA, Citi, Goldman Sachs and their ilk all went belly up, would it really be much WORSE than it already is for someone who lost their job to China 120 - 150 weeks ago and has found NOTHING close to their original position or career since then?

If asshats like Lloyd Blankfein, Jamie Dimon and Hank Paulson lost everything they have ever stol..er, uh, "earned", in the last decade plus, would that REALLY hurt a single-mother with no health care and 2 children that have no daycare because it is unaffordable?

If speculators and idiots who bankrolled all of those zero-equity, adjustable-rate mortgages FINALLY had to face the fact that THEY FUCKED UP AND WE'RE DONE PAYING FOR IT....would that REALLY be a bad thing?

To my way of thinking, insanity (continuing to do the same things over and over and over and expecting a different result) is no longer a viable economic plan. WE should no longer allow a politician to say things like "job creators" without an immediate challenge to name 10 such individuals SPECIFICALLY and not in the ethereal abstract of ideology. We should demand that tax rates during war time are returned to the rates of the 1940's (90% on the top marginal) until such time as the wars are over and the bills from them are paid....and if the rich don't fucking like it, they can be incarcerated and have their beloved "wealth" auctioned off to pay their share...then when their sentence for sedition and treason are heard, they can swing.

I am sick to death of having the top 0.01% control everything, then allowing them to use the top 10% to quell the anger and outrage of the bottom 90%! This is no longer a tenable situation...FOR THEM! If the rich do not want to sacrifice, then they damn well should have muzzled their attack dog Neo-CONs and their mascot-in-chief Bush. They should be sitting down Cantor, Boehner, McConnell and the rest of the "leadership" and explain to them that they are about to make a HUGE ideological sacrifice and stop being led by the nose by a bunch of racist religious crazies.

The rich and the corporations had better start recognizing two things:

1) they have had it INCREDIBLY GOOD for too long and
2) they have no choice but to share - either by choice or by force of arms and bloodshed