Bernanke: Sorry, that's not at all that scary

[Mort Zuckerman]

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Subject: Bernanke: Sorry, that's not at all that scary

Date: Sep 24, 2008 2:33 PM

These are "whiney" construction workers looking for handout,
and "whiney" real estate agents whose lifestyle is above
their intellectual output.

No one ever said building small private homes
would make it easier for going green. We need to re-create
the cities with travel infrastructure.

Sorry, These are not scary enough arguments.

I'm not scared, I think the crooks pulled this fast
one to avoid investigations into their offshore properties and
illegal private spying agencies like the ALDF.com's otrglobal.com
and AIG Greenberg's Kroll:
http://www.iamthewitness.com/Maurice-Greenberg.html

Besides, how can they "restore confidence" by asking the people
who got screwed by this administration to bail out the
banking crooks, especially when the *whole* *world* knows
Americans are being had?

The world does not need any more convincing that we're selfish
idiots.

Kathleen M. Dickson
================================================

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/09/24/AR2008092401076_pf.html
washingtonpost.com

Bernanke Tells Congress That U.S. Economy Is Faltering

By Neil Irwin and Renae Merle
Washington Post Staff Writers
Wednesday, September 24, 2008; 2:08 PM

The key legs that have propped up the U.S. economy so far this year
appear to be
weakening, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke said today, as he
laid out a
case for Congress to quickly pass a $700 billion bailout proposal to
keep the financial
crisis from growing.

On the second day of testimony during which lawmakers asked pointed
questions about
the plan's enormous cost to taxpayers, the White House announced that
President
Bush will go on television at 9 tonight to address the financial
meltdown, which
has wiped out all of Wall Street's investment banks and resulted in
government
rescues of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and insurer AIG.

"This is a huge moment America," said White House Press Secretary Dana
Perino. "And if we don't take decisive and bold action, we could be
facing
financial calamity."

Stocks bounced between negative and positive territory today but
remained essentially
stagnate as investors continued to await news on the administration's
financial
rescue plan.

Before the Joint Economic Committee, Bernanke warned lawmakers about
the tightening
credit conditions and called for massive government purchases of shaky
mortgage
assets as a move to free up lending in the nation's financial sector
and keep
credit flowing through the economy.

"The intensification of financial stress in recent weeks, which will
make lenders
still more cautious about extending credit to households and business,
could prove
a significant further drag on growth," Bernanke said.

His testimony did not signal that the Fed is poised to cut interest
rates, but it
suggested that Fed policymakers might be more open to it at their late-
October meeting
than they were at their previous meeting last week, particularly if
the credit crisis
continues to deepen or there is new evidence that the economy is
getting sharply
worse.

But financial stress isn't the only area where Bernanke described
trouble.

Americans' spending fell in June and July, and based on early data it
looks
to have fallen again in August.

"Although the retrenchment in household spending has been widespread,
purchases
of motor vehicles have dropped off particularly sharply," Bernanke
said.

He noted that despite some signs of stabilization in home sales,
sharply fewer new
homes are being started, which could put further downward pressure on
construction-related
fields.

And although business investment held up through the first part of the
year, "a
range of factors, including weakening fundamentals and constraints on
credit, are
likely to result in a considerable slowdown in the construction of
commercial and
office buildings in coming quarters," the Fed chairman said. He noted
that
spending on business equipment and software also appear poised to
fall.

Moreover, international trade has been a big driver of growth through
the first
part of the year, but that appears set to dissipate in the months
ahead amid a slowing
global economy and deterioration in world financial markets.

The one bright spot in the outlook has been falling prices for energy.
But Bernanke
said that the inflation outlook remains "highly uncertain," and that
"the
fluctuations in oil prices in the past few days illustrate the
difficulty of predicting
the future course of commodity prices."

As of 1:45 p.m., the Dow Jones industrial average was up more than 36
points, or
0.3 percent, while the broader Standard & Poor's 500-stock index was
up
6 points, or 0.5 percent. The technology-heavy Nasdaq was up 22
points, or about
1 percent.

Some investors have grown nervous that resistance to the $700 billion
bailout package
could prolong debate about the measure, while others are in a holding
pattern as
they await more details. Skepticism about the plan's potential
effectiveness,
including whether it could boost the health of the broader economy,
have weighed
on stocks all week.

In addition to the drop in home construction that Bernanke mentioned,
the National
Association of Realtors reported this morning that the sale of
existing homes fell
again in August. Home resales, including condos and co-ops, dropped to
a 4.91 million
annual rate, a 2.2 percent decrease from July's 5.02 million annual
pace. It
fell 10.7 percent to 5.5 million compared with August 2007.

"I think the housing market continued to spin its wheels last month.
We're
not getting much worse, but we're not getting much better either,"
said
Mike Larson, a housing analyst with Florida-based Weiss Research.

The lobbying group said home mortgages were more expensive and harder
to get during
August, contributing to the sales slump. "The difficulty in obtaining
a mortgage
increased over past couple months, making it more challenging for
creditworthy borrowers
to find financing," Richard Gaylord, president of the association,
said in
a statement.

Home prices also continued to fall. The median price for existing
homes fell to
$203,100 in August, down 9.5 percent from a year ago, according to the
association's
data. "That's the sharpest decline we have seen yet," Larson said.

In some parts of the country, including elements of the Washington
area, the decline
in prices has spurred bargain hunting among some buyers, increasing
home sales.
Government programs to help distressed homeowners can help somewhat,
Larson said,
but "the real cures for the housing slump are time and price and
we're
seeing those lower prices start to work."

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