The SOB’s in the Senate are at it again. They have porked the you know what out of the emergency bailout package. I downloaded a copy and read through it tonight. I am absolutely shocked and ashamed of what I found. It is totally business as usual. Dozens and dozens of special interest appropriations. Page after page of items that have absolutely nothing to do with our financial crisis. Don’t get me wrong, some of these things are important, but DO NOT belong in this emergency package. Unfortunately, this bill would not pass without dangling the candy in front of our addicted public servants. It will be interesting and scary to see how much this 700 billion dollar bill will actually cost tax payers.

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Here we go again. I promised myself I would not blog about the financial crisis again until there was some light at the end of the tunnel. Well, there is light, but it appears to be a freight train. I feel like the alarmist town crier, hustling newspapers with bad news. But unfortunately folks, we have had nothing but bad financial news lately.

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With the dizzying array of bad news in the financial world, it can sometimes be overwhelming. Over the past several months I have attempted to inform you of the events in an easy to understand, straight forward way. However, sometimes complex issues are better understood when explained from a personal perspective. I recently came across a blog post by Aldon Hayes of Orient Lodge. Aldon tells his very personal story in:

My Role in the Collapse of Lehman Brothers

Unfortunately, his story is not unique. It is happening all across our country. You may know someone who is or perhaps you are, in a similar situation. When reading his article, I felt like it put a human face to the numbers. I recommend checking it out, as it is a good read.

John

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In what seems to have become common place, we had another weekend of nasty financial news. First up, the announcement by Lehman Brothers that it has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. The 158 year old company was unable to work out a deal to be purchased. In a separate move, Bank of America agreed to purchase Merrill Lynch, saving it from a similar fate. Add these failures to the collapse of Bear Stearn’s and you have 3 of the 5 largest US investment banks failing in 2008. Not to mention the government bail out of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. And as if that were not enough, AIG the worlds largest insurance company, is asking the Federal Reserve for “emergency funding”.

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By now I’m sure you have heard about the latest unprecedented government move to take over Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae. Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson announced the news on Sunday. It is estimated that 50% of the 5.4 trillion in US mortgages are held by Freddie and Fannie. Many experts agree that they are too big and important to fail. So here we go again with another tax payer bail out.

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