Rasipedia Update #8

(Ras Note):Here is update #8 (as of 10-4-08) to the Rasipedia and the only thing I can say at this point is...ummm...well...WOW!

After yesterday's unprecedented events, if there was any doubt at all in my mind regarding the desperation of TPTB to try to resurrect the failed financial system, it has been completely obliterated.

Here are the updates, which prove the above premise:

1. The Hanktator Act non-bailout bailout bill was passed by the House and signed into law within 90 minutes by President Bush.

Once again I am impelled to remind the readers here that this Act gives Treasury the ability to launder TRILLIONS of fiatscos of dead "assets" (which still haven't been revealed, but supposedly must now be as Treasury buys them, accordine to the Act) and place the losses squarely on the backs of the taxpayer.

(Please see Section 1, "Update on the Hanktator Act" bailout bill", the newly-revised Section 3 "What will Happen even Though the Hanktator Act was Passed" and Section 7 "All efforts...Congress", point 4 for more information).

Yet, upon passage of this Act, the stock markets immediately took a dive...which I personally found to be remarkable. The only reason I could come up with on short notice for this simultaneous crumbling of the DJIA, S&P and NASDAQ was Nancy Pelosi promising to punish the Wall Street purveyors of these toxic tranches with more regulation.

But what do I know? I'm just a lost little Rasputin in a forest of fiat.

Also, related to the above, I have made a brief update to Section 2: "Timeline of Fannie/Freddie Big Bang..."

2. In a move that shows how deelpy this "Crony Capitalism" society that used to be the U.S.A. has sunk, Wachovia (which had just last week been driven into the arms of the equally-as-crippled Citi) was allowed, with a nod and a wink from regulators, to leave Citi at the altar and run off and elope with Wells Fargo. P-Bear poster SSS355 postulates that this is due to a derivatives book issue between Wells Fargo and Wachovia, which makes sense to me.

But then again, what do I know?

(Note: I have made no particular update to the Rasipedia below regarding this subject, since in my teeny Rasputin brain this deal is only a continuation of Wachovia having failed and not a materaial change to that fact. However, I will state for the record that this clearly yet another example of rampant "Crony Capitalism" as noted in point 2(a) below.)

2(a) In an even MORE precedent-shattering move, the regulators overseeing the deal to marry off Wachovia with Wells thought that it might be helpful if IRS rules were changed to make the deal more palatable tax-wise for Wells. Here is the actual ruling:

"For purposes of Code Sec. 382(h), any deduction properly allowed after an ownership change of a corporation that is a bank with respect to losses on loans or bad debts, including any deduction for a reasonable addition to a reserve for bad debts, shall not be treated as a built-in loss or a deduction attributable to periods before the change date. This guidance does not affect the application of any provision of the IRC except Code Sec. 382. Banks may rely on this guidance until further guidance is issued."

...which, according to calculatedrisk blog, allows Wells to accelerate the tax write-offs associated with absorbing the failed Wachovia's "assets".

Heh. Can there be any more doubt in anyone's mind that TPTB will stop at NOTHING to fight this epic failure of the world's financial system?

(Please see Section 7: "All government and central bank efforts...", point 16 for the ever-expanding list of astounding moves by TPTB to fight the collapse to the death.)

3. Finally, in the new category to the Rasipedia: Section 8: "European Efforts to Fight the Financial Collapse", I have added the update that reflects the Dutch government, instead of just pumping fiatscos into the failed Fortis, decided to just buy the bad bank outright.

Why not? It's only fiat, right?

Oh, I have also updated the "Grand Total" section at the very bottom of this tome to include the Hanktator Act and Europe's efforts to restore the corpse of the failed financial system back to vitality.

I won't spoil the surprise, but suffice it to say they have demonstrated that my "Age of Infinite Fiat" posts made all these years have proven to be absolutely correct--at least the initial "pump and prop" part, with the "Wash, Rinse Repeat" cycle soon to follow.

4.Typos: Using the recent SEC ruling on "Level III assets" as a guideline, I am now decreeing this missive to be 100% free of any typos, mis-spellings, grammmatical or syntatical errors or other defects and it is now ready to be sold at face value to the Treasury.

Now, onto the Rasipedia:


UPDATED RASIPEDIA (10-4-08):


Table of Contents:

Section 1: Update (as of 10-04-08) on the "Hanktator Act" bailout bill

Section 2: Timeline of "Fannie/Freddie Big Bang" leading to worldwide, systemic financial collapse

Section 3: What will happen even though the "Hanktator Act" was enacted.

Section 4: The four questions that were never asked during the Congressional hearings on the "Hanktator Act"

Section 5: Layman's explanation of the systemic, worldwide financial collapse

Section 6: Special section: The Fed's unprecedented move to backstop the entire $4 trillion money market fund sector

Section 7: All government and central bank efforts to date to combat the systemic global financial system collapse

Section 8: European Efforts to Fight the Financial Collapse:



Individual Sections of the Rasipedia:


Section 1: Update (currently as of 10-04-08) regarding the "Hanktator Act" bailout bill

After much back-and-forth wrangling, Congress finally pulled off the passage of this historic, unprecedented Act. Taking a scant two weeks to balloon the bill from the original three pages (as proposed by Hank Paulson) to over FOUR HUNDRED FIFTY pork-filled sheets of papyrus, the Capitol Hill Boys went berserk and handed Hank that "Infinite Fiat Blank Check" he demanded and will now allow him to launder literally TRILLIONS of fiatscos of dead, worthless, never-gonna-produce-one-iota-of-income-ever MBS, CDOs/Squareds/Cubeds, CDPOs and who knows what else through Treasury and right on to the backs of taxpayers.

And, as stated above, the stock markets immediately tanked upon passage of the Act.

Go figure. (More on this below in Section 3.)

One of the few upsides to the Act is that it calls for Treasury to actually disclose (after the fact, of course) exactly what toxic trash it is buying from the failed financial institutions on a Website for all to see. Yet, despite this requirement being enacted by Congress, why do I find myself still suspicious that Treasury will find some way to finagle their way around reporting the exact nature of the dead "assets" with which they are sticking the taxpayer?

Years of experience watching these guys in action is why, I guess.


Section 2: Timeline of "Fannie/Freddie Big Bang" leading to worldwide, systemic financial collapse

In order to help put into context the rapidly-moving events surrounding this systemic worldwide financial collapse, below is a timeline of the "Fannie/Freddie Big Bang" that touched off the derivatives implosion, which is why so many instituions failed simultaneously, worldwide.

To wit:

Timeline of "Fannie/Freddie Big Bang" CDS implosion, leading to current total, systemic, global financial collapse:

1. September 7th, 2007: Treasury takes over the failed Fannie and Freddie and FHLBs.

2. September 7th, 2008: All counterparties to the multiple tens-of-trillions of fiatscos of CDS positions are instantly thrown into chaos since many of these OTC private contracts are poorly documented and the gamblers are poorly capitalized and unable to pay up on the bets. (Many players immediately start failing that very week).

3. September 8th, ISDA issues an emergency press release confirming that there are huge (but undisclosed) amounts of CDS trades outstanding on Fannie/Freddie debt. ISDA urges emergency conference call with Federal Reserve New York in attendance be undertaken immediately. The call takes place that very morning.

4. September 8th to present: The failed gamblers scramble to construct a list of the failed trades.

5. September 16th: The Fed, feds, and ISDA step in and try one last ditch attempt to make a market in all the destroyed derivatives positions during the emergency "ISDA Sunday Swap Meet", which is a complete, abject, utter failure

6. Immediately after this failed "Sunday Swap Meet", the following players instantly are ruined (but not all topple over immediately) :

a. Lehman Brothers
b. Merrill Lynch
c. AIG
d. Morgan Stanley
e. Goldman Sachs
f. (Update): WaMu topples less than three weeks later
g. (Update): Wachovia bit the dust exactly three weeks later

And the Grand Total of just the top financial institution failures so far:

1. Fannie Mae failed ($2.5 tril.)

2. Freddie Mac failed ($2.5 tril.)

3. FHLB system failed ($1.3 tril)

5. Merril failed ($800 billion tril)

4. Lehman failed ($700 tril)

5. AIG failed ($500 bil. in CDS)

6. Goldman Sachs effectively failed ($2 tril)

7. Morgan Stanley effectively failed ($1.5 tril)

8. WaMu failed ($300 billion)

9 Wachovia failed ($800 billion)

Sub Total: Approximately $13.1 trillion

(And now the simultaneous collapse of virtually ALL of Europe's biggest banks, followed by the unprecedented move to nationalize all the fallen financial freaks by the European governments. Please see:Grand Total ALL Reflation/Nationalization/Monetization Costs to Date,worldwide )

Time-frame for this epic collapse of virtually every major financial institution in the U.S. AND now Europe:

Less than four weeks,

...which clearly is a record.

Update: ISDA is supposedly holding an auction next week so that all the gamblers who were destroyed in their CDS bets can settle up and a new round of bankruptcies can ensue...wait strike that. Treasury will just make them all whole.


However, that's not all: also vaporized were virtually every:

1. Hedge fund
2. Pension fund
3. Insurance fund
4. Mutual fund
5. Money Market funds, both in the U.S. and in all other major countries, worldwide.

Sub Total: Who knows? Probably trillions more


ALSO crushed, and even more dangerously so:

1. Some percentage of the $62 trillion credit default swaps market

2. Some percentage of the $650 trillion overall derivatives markets

Sub Total: Who knows? I don't even want to guess anymore.



Section 3: What will happen even though the "Hanktator Act" was enacted

Now that the Hanktator Act has been officially passed, I am modifying my predictions for what will happen going forward--even though at this point it's anybody's guess as to what the heck will take place next in this insane economic environment.

To wit:


1. Perhaps there won't be any immediate runs on the banking system since FDIC was just given NOT ONLY the authority to cover all accounts up to $250k, BUT ALSO an infinite line of credit with the U.S. Treasury to guarantee all $6-plus trillion fiatscos in deposits.

2. You can bet that the Federal Reserve will be the first one lined up at Treasury's window to start trading in the half-trillion or so fiatscos worth of totally dead assets it took on its balance sheet from failed financial institutions around the world.

Taken on by the Fed, I might add, in order to keep the collapsed financial system from dragging down the rest of the so-called "real economies" in a cascading series of cross defaults.

Whether the Fed removes this toxic waste from their own coffers by a "Two-step" process (handing the trash back to the failed financial firms, who then pass them right along to Treasury), or directly with Treasury isn't important; the bottom line is the Fed is gonna be made whole. Yet the Fed may still wind up being a player in this little charade, as outlined below.

3. Perhaps McMansion prices will just continue on in a gentle downward slope instead of immediately collapsing 70% from present levels as they would have, had the Hanktator Act not been passed. With all the foreclosure forebearance provisions snuck into this bill (with more surely to come in the next bill), homedebtors should be able to enjoy luxuriating in a 5000-square foot stucco-siding-and-granite-countertops box without making ANY payments ever again.

4. And maybe--after the feds nationalize the U.S. auto industry too--they can start offering ten-year, no-interest loans to help keep the lambs purchasing gas-guzzling SUVs. It's in our national interest, you know...

5. Instead of millions of minions being thrown out of work, the federal government will now perhaps employ them cleaning the newly-restored McMansions, polishing all the cars soon to be sold, and shuffling all the paperwork created by the implementation of the Hanktator act.

6. However, after the immediate sell-off of all three stock indices once the Act was passed, I can't give any assurances that the sheeple's 401(k)/IRA mutual funds are gonna be protected from protacted contraction. But it's too early to prognosticate on this particular issue as I am quite confident that the feds will think of something to keep the lambs complacent in their little pens.

7. Now, this one is the "biggie": What happens to the U.S. fiatsco and the bond market? I dunno, but somebody's gotta step up and buy the trillions of fiatscos of debt that is gonna be created by Treasury in order to fund the resurrection of the failed financial system.

Will the Asian debt-enablers keep funding this insanity?

At the same low interest rates?

Forever?

Or, will the Federal Reserve have to step up and fling some fresh fiatscos to buy the debt?

Again, it is too early to tell what will happen here, but we should know shortly because Hank has to immediately--within the next few weeks--start purchasing the dead "assets" from the failed insitutions in order to keep us from continuing to slide into "Great Depression II".

And he has to sell that debt to somebody.

So, for now, my only prediction is that...er...uh...oh heck I admit it:

I don't have a friggin' clue as to what will happen.



Section 4: The four questions that were never asked during the Congressional hearings on the "Hanktator Act"

The four questions that were never asked during the Congressional hearings on the "Hankzooka Act" were:

1. Of WHAT exactly do all these instruments consist? (Categorically: MBS, CDOs/Squareds/Cubeds, CDS, other derivativtes)

2. Exactly WHO is holding them?:

3. WHAT are the actual, verifiable, CASH FLOWS on the instruments that the destroyed financial sector are trying to foist on the American taxpayer?

3.(a) WHAT is a reasonable estimate of the "worth" of these assets, based upon number 3 above?

4. WHAT "assets" has the Federal Reserve accepted in exchange for the fiat/Treasuries flung under the various "TAF-like" programs? From WHOM has the Fed accepted these "assets?" WHAT is the cashflow from these "assets?" At WHAT price did the Fed value these "assets"? Will the Fed be swapping these "assets" back out to the players with whom they did these deals? (And then will the players be dumping these assets onto the Treasury under the "Hanktator Act"?)

(Ras): Four simple questions. The truthful answers to which would instantly collapse our entire economy and financial system even more so than it already has, because the truth is just too ugly to reveal.

Which is why we haven't heard them asked, nor will we hear them answered.


Section 5: Layman's explanation of the systemic, worldwide financial system collapse


Layman's explanation of our situation:

1. The current "Ponzi Pyramid of Death" monetary system is crumbling.

2. Right now, virtually every single large bank, medium-sized bank, hedge fund, pension fund, mutual fund, money market fund, stock broker and insurance company has failed or is failing. All the phony paper they have been trading back and forth is virtually worthless.

3. Somewhere between $10-$20 TRILLION (estimates are hard to make due to the opaque nature of the derivatives markets) in debt and derivatives "value" has been wiped off the books of the above-mentioned players.

4. The players are failing left-and-tight. ALL of the biggest, oldest Wall Street banks, plus the largest insurance company plus the two largest mortgage companies (Fannie and Freddie), plus the entire money market, plus the largest S&L (WaMu) and the fouth-largest bank (Wachovia), all failed in the span of three weeks. The rest of the thousands of institutions worldwide are mortally wounded will be toppling over soon.

5. Governments and central banks worldwide have already pumped approximately $5 trillion collectively to date to fight this systemic, sychronized, worldwide, complete, utter collapse. So far, their efforts have failed.

6. At this point, the fight will continue to the death. During these next few weeks, months, and even years the "economic convulsions" between the "Ponzi Pyramid" debt collapse destruction-deflation and government and central bank reflation/monetization/nationalization efforts will rage, with the back-and-forth battles getting wilder and wilder, until:

7. The entire world is plunged into final financial demise, with the people of all the nations suffering mightily. "Great Depression II" will ensue for the next five to ten years.

8. During this time, if the world doesn't blow itself up in all the wars that will surely follow, tens of millions of people in the U.S. are going to learn to fear debt and living beyond their means. This is a good thing.

9.Eventually, hopefully, the U.S. pulls through in one piece, the people's stock, bond, and housing assets are decimated, many have lost their jobs, but we all learn discipline, humility and sobriety and as a result, our national character grows.

10. We emerge as a chastened and humble nation. Exactly what we need.



Section 6: Special section: The Fed's unprecedented move to backstop the entire $4 trillion money market fund sector

The Fed's unprecedented move to backstop all Money Market funds:

First, a link to the Fed's "Interim Final Rule" on their loaning to the failed financial institutions enough fiatscos to try to revive the moribund ABCP scheme:

But we''re not desperate or anything. We just thought we''d do this outta the blue, on a Friday morning, because we weren''t very busy

Now, the KEY phrase from this document is this (with my emphasis added):

"To reduce liquidity and other strains being experienced by money market mutual funds, the Federal Reserve System adopted on September 19, 2008, a special lending facility that enables depository institutions and bank holding companies to borrow from the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston on a NON-RECOURSE basis if they use the proceeds of the loan to purchase certain types of asset-backed commercial paper (ABCP) from money market mutual funds (ABCP Lending Facility)."


Did you catch that part about "non-recourse"?

Do you know what that means?

Well, it means that when--not if--the ABCP the institutions hand the Fed in return for freshly-flung fiatscos goes bad, then THE FED WILL JUST EAT THE LOSS AND NOT, I REPEAT NOT, TRY TO RECOVER THE FIATSCOS FROM THE INSITUTIONS!!!


Section 7: All government and central bank efforts to date to combat the systemic, global financial system collapse

Government and Central Bank efforts from March, 2008 to present to fight the financial Collapse:

The sum, fiatsco-wise and in terms of actual actions, of the efforts of the various TPTB branches to fight the debt destruction convulsions and the related costs incurred to do so (so far) is presented below.

To wit:

Federal Reserve efforts undertaken to fight the credit collapse:

1. Dropped Fed Funds rates 325 basis points, some of these moves being surprise rate cuts.

2. Also pounded down discount rates by similar amounts and means.

3. Created unprecedented, even borderline Constitution-contravening, now-trillion fiatsco TAF, TSLF, PDCF,"Fed,LLC", "Fed, AIG", "Fed Euro-swap" programs Then, extended time-frames, amounts and frequency of many of those programs.

4. Instituted the stunning "Fed-FDIC" program on Friday, September 19th, whereby the Fed backstops ALL money market funds (total fiatsco exposure amount: over $4 trillion by itself), accepting worthless ABCP paper with NO-RECOURSEto try to stop a run on the funds by panicked bagholders.

5. Accepted hundreds and hundreds of billions (and now perhaps trillions) of fiatscos of totally dead "assets" from failed Wall Street firms and will not disclose what those "assets" are, nor from whom they were accepted.

6. Offered JPM "sweatheart $75 billion loan" as part of Lehman liquidation (probably to square up some failed CDS positions)

7. Suspended "Rule 23(a)", allowing commercial banks to fling fiatscos to their failed investment banking arms

8. Began outright purchases of Agency debt on Friday, September 19th

9. Allowed Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley to--with no waiting period--change from investment banks into commercial banks. Changed "rules" so that Morgan Stanley can continue to perform investment banking functions. Changed the "rules" regarding minority ownership of these giants

10. Did a special $25 billion "TAF" to Goldman and Morgan

11. Raised "SOMA" account credit limits by 25% from $3 billion to $4 billion

12. In an unprecedented move, on September 29th, the Fed committed to injecting $630 BILLION in "liquidity" into the world's financial system. This injection took the form of increased "TAF-like" injections (also extended in duration) as well as MASSIVE "Fed Euro Swap" injections--probably to help fight the collapse of all the European institutions that are stuffed to the gills with bad paper sold to them by Wall Street.


(Total liquidity/reflation/monetization effort costs on the part of the Fed):

Now over one trillion fiatscos, and no sign of let up, since they have proven they are willing to fling fiatscos in all directions to prop the money market funds and other failures. So don't for a minute believe that the Fed (or other central banks) are anywhere near throwing in the towel.

(Ras): That is one impressive list of accomplishments by the Fed in their battle against the debt destruction convulsions. Breaking all previous rules, precedents and protocols, the Fed is well on its way to playing out Bernanke''s promised "Roadmap to Weimar" as laid out in his famous 2002 speech:

"Deflation: Making Sure it Doesn't Happen Here".

However, these massive stunning, creative, and even nefarious moves on the part of the Federal Reserve don''t represent the total effort by TPTB to stave off economic collapse.

Far from it.

Next we will focus on the Treasury/Administration/SEC/FDIC gang's efforts and see just what rabbits they have pulled out of their collective hats. Trust me, they have produced an entire litter of "reflation bunnies" in their attempts to keep this collapsing system intact.

And here they are:


Treasury/Administration/Congress/SEC/FDIC efforts:

1. Congress proffered "Economic Stimulus Checks for Sheeple" program of $150 billion

2. Treasury floated various failed "Super SIV" programs before turning to the "big gun" efforts described below

3. Treasury (Hank Paulson) demanded, and received, from Congress an $800 billion (so far) "Bazooka" to nationalize Fannie, Freddie, FHLBs

4. Within six-weeks, Hank used that bazooka to take over the GSEs, injecting an initial $200 billion into these fallen frauds and also instituted a Federal Reserve-like function of monetizing GSE MBS. Also, offering "liquidity" for MBS

5. Treasury pulled off two emergency funding Treasury auctions totalling $200 billion to give Federal Reserve more ammo to fire at collapsing financial institutions worldwide

6. Treasury demanded "Hanktator" emergency legislation from Congress, giving Treasury literally dictatorial powers over the entire financial system. Further demanded authority to keep shuffling dead assets from Wall Street banks into government (and taxpayer's) lap

7. Treasury/FDIC/SEC rranged "shotgun weddings" between failed Wall Street banks, commercial banks and major mortgage originators

8. On Friday,September 19th., Treasury announced they were turning the GSEs loose to once again start snapping up dead MBS from the failed financial system

9.The FDIC quietly allowed banks and S&Ls to practice "foreclosure forebearance" which gives these failed institutions the authority to pretend that all their deadbeat real estate loans are "performing". Also, have quietly shut down or married off failed banks (And are just beginning this last effort, with perhaps thousands more to go.)

10.The SEC ruled that "Short-Selling Seditionists" are a financial threat and released a 799-member "untouchable" list of failed financial institutions which cannot be shorted. This action came after a smaller version of same was instituted in July. Have continually added to this list, including many non-financial stocks

11. The FDIC arranged an unusual THURSDAY NIGHT takeover of WaMu, dealing off its deposits to JPM. Additionally, and no surprise at all, WaMu's derivatives positions were also transferred to JPM

12. FDIC decided that the collapse of WaMu did NOT constitute a "Credit Default" therefore no CDS payments need be triggered. This is a HUGE event because the FDIC just basically negated ALL CDS contracts, in my opinion.

13. On September 29, the FDIC authorized that Citi take over the failed Wachovia. And, in what is becoming par for the course, Citi was allowed to "cherry pick" Wachovia's deposits and some of the debt, and the rest of the rotting carcass will be strewn across the backs of the taxpayers to be carried like so much rotting meat, similar to the recently-failed WaMu.

And who knows what further CDS bombs were set off by this latest failure of one of Wachovia, which is the world's largest financial institutions? My sense is that Wachovia's collapse was "not helpful" to the already devastated credit default swaps market in particular and the whole derivatives space in general.

14. ON September 30th, in yet another stunning move by the increasingly-desperate TPTB, the SEC and FASB decided to make it even easier for the failed gamblers holding dead, toxic "assets" to completely abandon any and all pretense of "mark-to-market" and just allow the mortally-wounded institutions to literally make up any "value" for these "assets" they deem necessary to shore up the ol' balance sheet.

The SEC and FASB offered a press release, found here:

But Rules are for little taxpaying sheeple, NOT big, failed, Wall Street gamblers.

...whereby they explain that it is perfectly okay for the destroyed financial institutions to simply make up whatever valuation they desire for the trillions of fiatscos worth of dead, rotting "assets" currently stuffed in the dungeons of their balance sheets.

This latest desperation move is obviously intended to obscure the massive, multi-trillion fiatsco losses which have crushed the gambler's corrupt enterprises until the Hanktator Act can be passed and these rotting corpses can be laundered through the new entity.

15. The SEC has extended the "Anti Short Selling Seditionist" emergency rule has been so successful in fixing all stock, bond, currency, debt-derivatives problems that they are extending it for another few weeks or so. Sheesh, and to think TPTB could have saved themselves all this heartache and stress of having to take the OTHER thirty or so unprecedented, emergency actions if they just would have implemented this one simple rule up front. Whod'a thunk it?

Oh well, better late than never I say.

16. IRS rules were changed to make the deal more palatable tax-wise for Wells. Here is the actual ruling:

"For purposes of Code Sec. 382(h), any deduction properly allowed after an ownership change of a corporation that is a bank with respect to losses on loans or bad debts, including any deduction for a reasonable addition to a reserve for bad debts, shall not be treated as a built-in loss or a deduction attributable to periods before the change date. This guidance does not affect the application of any provision of the IRC except Code Sec. 382. Banks may rely on this guidance until further guidance is issued."

...which, according to calculatedrisk blog, allows Wells to accelerate the tax write-offs associated with absorbing the failed Wachovia's "assets".

So, once again we are witnessing the complete and utter blowing off of all previous laws, regulations and precedents as TPTB becomes increasingly desperate to fight the systemic financial collapse that is consuming the world.

And please don't make the fatal mistake that these guys are anywhere NEAR finished in this epic battle. They have only begun to fight. And I can hardly bear to contemplate what they will do next, so I won't at this point.


(Total nationalization/stimulus/reflation effort costs on the part of Treasury):

Estimated $2.3-plus trillion so far, with open-ended commitment going forward.

(Ras):Once again I have to confess pure,unbridled shock and awe at the impressive array of weapons that this particular branch of TPTB has amassed--and used--in their battle against the evil forces of deflationary debt collapse convulsions.

Yet, despite outlining the above massive and unprecedented steps taken, we''ve not yet completed our quest to document all TPTB''s powers and programs undertaken to date.

Let us do so now:

Congressional efforts:

1. Passed the proposed $150 billion "economic stimulus" program suggested by Treasury/Administration

2. Passed the "Save the Homedebting Sheeple Act" with an estimated cost of $300 billion (but will surely be much more)

3. Then tacked on the "Bazooka" provision to allow Treasury to nationalize Fannie/Freddie for another $800 billion (so far)

4. passed the afore-mentioned "Hanktator" act, giving Treasury unprecedented dictatorial powers over the failed financial system and perhaps multiple-trillions of fiatscos to do so.

so that we can buy ourselves a few more weeks or months worth of reprieve before "Great Depression II" continues unabated.

5. Just passed $25 billion aid to auto manufacturers

(Total stimulus/reflation effort costs on the part of Congress, avoiding double-counting costs already attributed to Fed/Treasury above):

$300 billion to $1 trillion.

(Grand Total ALL Reflation/Nationalization/Monetization Costs to Date, U.S. only):

Approximately $ 5 trillion. So far.


Section 8: European Efforts to Fight the Financial Collapse:


In addition to the nationalization of Northern Rock in 2007, Europe has been in a mad scramble to try to revive their equally-as-collapsed-as-the-United states'. financial system. Virtually every single big bank throughout Europe in the last week.

And the governments have responded with unprecedented moves to nationalize the broken banks.

To wit:

Monday. September 29th Germany's biggest bank bail-out, putting together a €35 billion loan package to save Hypo Real Estate.

Belgium, changing their stance from a mere "liquidity injection" decided that nationalized Fortis, a 300-year odl institution that survived everything except the "Great Real Estate Bubble" of 2002-2008, was a better idea.

And a day later, a bail-out for Dexia took place.

The Irish government issued a blanket guarantee of the deposits and debts of its six largest lenders in the most radical bank bail-out since the Scandinavian rescues in the early 1990s.

The government of Greece folllowed Ireland and announced that it was guaranteeing all deposits in all banks.

(Grand Total ALL Reflation/Nationalization/Monetization Costs to Date, worldwide):

Who knows anymore? Ten trillion fiatscos, with the passage of the Hankator act?

And even more as Europe's collective governments continue nationalization of their biggest banks?

I am literally losing track here.