Commodity Marketing

[jensend]

so much for supply and demand

http://network.nationalpost.com/np/blogs/fpposted/archive/2008/09/16/grain-prices-shrink-as-investors-flee-commodities.aspx

[Fransisco]

Well that should make all the folks happy who were mad at all the speculators in the market.

(BTW, I was not one of those people)

[AdamSmith]

Just got in from sitting on the machine and I feel I need to correct what I said earlier.

Was listening to Rush today and he pointed out that the seeds of this financial institution crash were planted in 1990's when BILL CLINTON signed a bill that overtuned the laws that seperated commercial banking from investment banking.

This was a Bill Clinton/Democrat deal not a George Bush deal. Bush tried to deal with it but the Democrats in congerss wouldn't go along.


read it here from Investors Business Daily
http://ibdeditorial.com/IBDArticles.aspx?id=306370789279709

[AdamSmith]

and along the same line

http://hotair.com/archives/2008/09/16/whose-policies-led-to-the-credit-crisis/


This is what happens when governments intrude into the free market

The Americans are quick learners, it only took them nine or ten years to learn the lesson,

We're 70 years into the same debacle in the wheat market here in Canada and were still having to fill out ration books.

Talk about s---l---o---w learners

Sheesh

[cottonpicken]

The us government now owns 50% of the morgages and the largest insurance company in the countrie,in the span of a few weeks.

Pretty soon-airlines and car companies and a couple hundred more banks.

Its all over except the crying

[jensend]

clinton signed the bill but phil gramm (mccain's lead advisor on the economy) helped draft and sponsor it. neither of the two parties has clean hands on this one. glass steagall was passed as a response to the same debacle occurring in the twenties.

The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, also known as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Financial Services Modernization Act, Pub. L. No. 106-102, 113 Stat. 1338 (November 12, 1999), is an Act of the United States Congress which repealed the Glass-Steagall Act, opening up competition among banks, securities companies and insurance companies. The Glass-Steagall Act prohibited a bank from offering investment, commercial banking, and insurance services.

The Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act (GLBA) allowed commercial and investment banks to consolidate. For example, Citibank merged with Travelers Group, an insurance company, and in 1998 formed the conglomerate Citigroup, a corporation combining banking and insurance underwriting services. Other major mergers in the financial sector had already taken place such as the Smith-Barney, Shearson, Primerica and Travelers Insurance Corporation combination in the mid-1990s. This combination, announced in 1993 and finalized in 1994, would have violated the Glass-Steagall Act and the Bank Holding Acts by combining insurance and securities companies, if not for a temporary waiver process [1]. The law was passed to legalize these mergers on a permanent basis. Historically, the combined industry has been known as the financial services industry

[jensend]

btw the above is from wikipedia

[agstar77]

The AIG mess stems from its insurance of Bank mortgages. The U.S. is digging itself deeper and deeper . Desparate to avoid a Depression. Unrestrained spending by the Bush regime has led to a toxic mess of financial distress huge deficit and an unpopular foreign adventure. If the U.S. was not running such a huge deficit , it could manage the financial crisis. Meanwhile on the goodship lollipop our fearless leader says we're okay, yeah right! What's Steve's answer, give first time home buyers money to build a new house in a market which will soon have a glut of houses. No wonder we're having an election , the cons could see the writing on the wall and are in panic mode to get re-elected before our economy tanks.

[cottonpicken]

I guess everyone is entitled to an opininion.

The 3800(yes that many) times this has happened before have all gone the same way.