After American International Group Inc, or AIG, reached two major bailout agreements totaling $152.5 billion in taxpayer dollars, the company is stepping up its dealings with Islamic finance by offering Shariah-compliant homeowners insurance to the U.S. – outraging critics over AIG’s support of a “discriminatory ideology, that is against equality, and that is against liberty.”

Another major international financial institution has had its computer system attacked by unknown cyber-hackers, FOX News has learned.

The discovery of the assault last week threw into crisis the Washington, D.C. based International Monetary Fund (IMF), which offers emergency financial aid to countries faced with balance-of-payments problems, and provoked a shutdown of IMF computers that lasted for several days.

IMF officials clamped down on their computer systems on November 7, after they discovered spyware that was quickly spreading through the institution’s high-security computer system. Spyware is software that is secretly installed on a computer to intercept information or take control of the system.

Click here to read the full story.

Via APNews:

Regulators shut down Houston-based Franklin Bank and Security Pacific Bank in Los Angeles on Friday, bringing the number of failures of federally insured banks this year to 19.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was appointed receiver of Franklin Bank, which had $5.1 billion in assets and $3.7 billion in deposits as of Sept. 30, and of Security Pacific Bank, with $561.1 million in assets and $450.1 million in deposits as of Oct. 17.

The co-founder and chairman of parent Franklin Bank Corp. (FBTX) (FBTX), Lewis Ranieri, is credited with inventing mortgage-backed securities two decades ago, but apparently was unable to save his own company from getting ensnared in the home-loan bust.

Of course it’s the joos fault.  We control everything.  Via MEMRI:

In recent articles, several Arab columnists wrote that the global economic crisis is the result of a conspiracy by the U.S. government, by American Jews, and/or by the Zionists. They claimed that the conspirators were aiming to prevent the establishment of a Palestinian state, to seize Arab wealth, and to take over the global economy - all as a means of increasing their influence in the world.

Following are excerpts from the articles:

Egyptian Parliamentary Foreign Liaison Committee Head: Economic Crisis “Part of Global Political Conspiracy”

Egyptian Parliamentary Foreign Liaison Committee head Dr. Mustafa Al-Fiqqi wrote in the London daily Al-Hayat: “During the summer holidays, I was preoccupied with the global issue of the conspiracy theory. I examined everything that was happening around me in light of this theory, applying historical analysis to gain insight into events and opinions. [I was led to this] after scrutinizing, on a daily basis, the financial crisis that has shaken the American economy, impacting banks and markets, individuals and institutions, salaries and allowances…

“In my opinion, the current economic crisis, which is expected to get worse, is a new kind of conspiracy. It started in September, only seven years after the first [conspiracy, i.e. the September 11 attacks]. This time, the aim is to take over the property and capital of the Arabs, and to create a new climate of economic plundering in the wake of the political plundering. Such is the Western mentality - it excels at reaping what others have sown and at seizing anything that they have no right [to take]…

“The Bush administration was trained and impelled, by the American conservative right and by Jewish circles, to carry out this mission [in two stages] - at the beginning of [Bush's] first term in office, and at the end of his second term in office. The aim is to achieve two major goals - a global political [goal] in 2001, and a global economic [goal] in 2008. There is no doubt that small nations, poor countries, and areas rich in natural resources - especially oil - are bearing the brunt [of the economic crisis]. I assert that the developments sanctioned by this American administration - which, in my opinion, is the worst in history - is the result of a hidden conspiracy, whose results are now evident and clear to every sensible person…

“There is a close connection between [the events of] September 2001 and [those of] September 2008, which are mutually complementary, in that political influence cannot be achieved without economic control. Accordingly, the current U.S. administration has placed both together in one bag, producing [a single] new phenomenon that has encompassed the entire world and has demonstrated that the end of the political cold war does not [necessarily] mean an end to the economic cold war…

“Let me only say that, in my opinion, it would be wrong to assume that the Jewish mind is not involved and implicated in these developments. I reiterate that the global economic crisis is part of the global political conspiracy…” [1]

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Does anyone even have a clue about what is in the 500-plus page bailout legislation?  As Chuck Morris writes, in good bureaucratic fashion, the president signed it just an hour after receiving it from Capitol Hill.

But what’s in it?  Via WND:

In the fine print, inserted between the lines of that 500-plus page bill, are loads of fiscal additives and more financial toxic relief. Yes, the rumors are true. H.R. 1424 – Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, which has now been signed into law, officially includes more than $112 billion in political hors d’oeuvres and pork barrel additives that have absolutely no direct relation to the Wall Street bailout. Among them are:

• $6 million in tax breaks for wooden arrow manufacturers in Oregon;
• $148 million in tax breaks for wool-producing companies,
• $128 million in tax breaks for the manufacturers of car racing tracks;
• $10 million in tax breaks to small television and film producers;
• $223 million in tax breaks for Alaskan fisherman;
• $33 million for corporations operating in American Samoa;
• $192 million in tax breaks for rum producers in the Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

What the &^%$#@?! And that’s just a drop in the bailout bucket.

For a detailed, annotated explanation that delves deeper into each frame of this video, see Roger Kimball’s excellent article here.

An excellent summary of who caused the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression, written by Roger Kimball. A must-read.  Pass it along to everyone you know.
==========================================================================
Who caused “the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression?”

”Powerline links to a video that answers this question with admirable clarity. I’ll link to the video below. First, here are a few data points from the video and other sources:

The Root Cause

* According to Senator Chris Dodd (D. CT) the “root cause” of the problem is “the housing foreclosure crisis.”

Not 100% accurate, perhaps–it’s really a credit crisis–but close enough for government work, especially from someone who has just happens to chair the Senate Banking Committee and who, completely coincidentally, has been such a conspicuous beneficiary of preferential mortgages and who, also coincidentally, leads the list of those who have received campaign contributions from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. (Guess who comes in 2nd and 3rd?)

* But what caused the housing crisis to which Senator Dodd alludes? The housing “bubble.”

* And what caused the housing bubble? “Sub-prime,” i.e., risky, mortgages; that is, mortgages made to people who, in the normal course of things would have to pay a premium in order to obtain a mortgage (if they could obtain one at all) because

a) they had bad or non-existent credit

b) their income was insufficient or

c) both.

Packaging the American Dream

A home of your own. It’s part of the American dream. Work hard, save up for a down payment, pay your bills on time and, presto, you, too, can buy a home.

For decades the government has done things to help Americans to realize the dream, e.g., graciously allowing citizens to keep some of their own money to help pay for the interest on a mortgage (the official term for this is a “tax deduction,” but I prefer my locution since it emphasizes the fact that it is YOUR MONEY we are talking about).

But what about people who do not work hard (if they work at all)? What about people who have not saved up for a down payment? What about people who do not pay their bills on time (if they pay them at all)? Why shouldn’t they get to live the American dream?

That was the question that led to

”The Community Reinvestment Act” (see here for more).

* The original Community Reinvestment Act was signed into law in 1977 by Jimmy Carter. Its purpose, in a nutshell, was to require banks to provide credit to “under-served populations,” i.e., those with poor credit.

The buzz word was “affordable mortgages,” e.g., mortgages with low teaser-rates, which required the borrower to put no money down, which required the borrower to pay only the interest for a set number of years, etc.

* In 1995, Bill Clinton’s administration made various changes to the CRA, increasing “access to mortgage credit for inner city and distressed rural communities,” i.e., it provided for the securitization, i.e. public underwriting, of what everyone now calls “sub-prime mortgages.”

Bottom line? It forced banks to issue $1 trillion in sub-prime mortgages.

$1 trillion, i.e., a thousand billion dollars in sub-prime,i.e., risky, mortgages, in order to push this latest example of social engineering.

But wait: how did it force banks to do this? Easy. Introduce a federal requirement that banks make the loans or face penalties. As Howard Husock, writing in City Journal way back in 2000 observed: “Bank examiners would use federal home-loan data, broken down by neighborhood, income group, and race, to rate banks on performance. There would be no more A’s for effort. Only results—specific loans, specific levels of service—would count.” Way back in 1994, for example, Barack Obama sued Citibank on behalf of a client who charged that the bank “systematically denied mortgages to African-American applicants and others from minority neighborhoods.”

* In 1997, Bear Stearns–O firm of blessed memory–was the first to get onto the sub-prime gravy train.

* Fannie Mae & Freddy Mac–were there near the beginning, too.

Anatomy of a bubble

Step 1. The intoxication: “My house is worth millions!” From 1995 - 2005, the number of sub-prime mortgages skyrocket. So did the house prices.

Step 2. The hangover: “Oh my God, my house isn’t selling. What went wrong?”

Why didn’t someone try to stop it?

Someone did: “The Bush administration today recommended the most significant regulatory overhaul in the housing finance industry since the savings and loan crisis a decade ago,” The New York Times, September 11, 2003.

But someone intervened to stymie the Bush administration. Who? The New York Times reports:

Supporters of the companies said efforts to regulate the lenders tightly under those agencies might diminish their ability to finance loans for lower-income families. . . . “These two entities — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac — are not facing any kind of financial crisis,” said Representative Barney Frank of Massachusetts, the ranking Democrat on the Financial Services Committee. “The more people exaggerate these problems, the more pressure there is on these companies, the less we will see in terms of affordable housing.”

Why didn’t someone else ring the alarm?

Someone else did. In 2005, John McCain co-sponsored the “Federal Housing Enterprise Regulatory Reform Act,” which among other things provided for more oversight of Freddie & Fannie. The bill didn’t pass. Guess who blocked it?

The bill was reintroduced in 2007. But again, no luck. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac had friends in the Senate:

* Chris Dodd, a recipient of “sweetheart” loans from a Freddie and Fannie backed company.

* The junior senator from Illinois, i.e., Barack  Obama, who turned to Jim Johnson, former head (1991-1998) of Fannie Mae, to help advise him on whom to pick for the vice-presidential slot on his ticket. From 1985 to 1990, incidentally, Johnson was managing director of Lehman Brothers. Remember them?

* You might also want to check out one of Barack Obama’s other advisors: Franklin Raines, former CEO of Freddie Mac: see here , for example, or here , or here.

Towards the end of the video, we read this salutary observation: “Everyone deserves a home, not a house of cards.”

Who gave us the house of cards? Watch the whole thing here (original link was  here). And then pass it along to everyone you know.

Members of the 110th Congress who have received campaign contributions from Lehman Brothers, 1989-2008

Read more »

Hang tough, folks.  Things are going to be ok.  Don’t do anything rash, don’t sell off, just ride this out and wait for the market to adjust itself. The sort of good news is that Wall Street rallied in a late-session today and hurtled the Dow Jones industrials up 400 points following a report that the federal government might create an entity to absorb banks’ bad debt. The report also cooled investors’ fervor for safe investments like government debt that were in demand for much of the day.  Read about it here.

The IHT is reporting that oil prices dropped sharply Monday to below $100-a-barrel, the lowest figure in six months…