Congressional Leaders Stunned by Warnings

Congressional Leaders Stunned by Warnings

www.nytimes.com

WASHINGTON — It was a room full of people who rarely hold their tongues. But as the Fed chairman, Ben S. Bernanke, laid out the potentially devastating ramifications of the financial crisis before congressional leaders on Thursday night, there was a stunned silence at first.

Mr. Bernanke and Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. had made an urgent and unusual evening visit to Capitol Hill, and they were gathered around a conference table in the offices of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.

“When you listened to him describe it you gulped," said Senator Charles E. Schumer, Democrat of New York.

As Senator Christopher J. Dodd, Democrat of Connecticut and chairman of the Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee, put it Friday morning on the ABC program “Good Morning America,” the congressional leaders were told “that we’re literally maybe days away from a complete meltdown of our financial system, with all the implications here at home and globally.”

(visit the link for the full news article)

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Edit: The headline was edited to reflect actual news source headline.



[edit on 9/20/2008 by maria_stardust]

Yikes - this is pretty serious. I also am concerned that the Fed has used tactics to centralize the money even more.

www.nytimes.com
(visit the link for the full news article)

Heres what really irks me in the whole situation. Go back to the presidential primary debates and listen to all of the candidates mock Ron Paul for his economic policies. Yet almost everything he said would happen has come to pass. Now we have all of congress today acting like they are these great saviors, yet they have all refused to listen to Paul and others say this for years.

Now we have congress people saying, "We regret having to do this, but we have no choice". But they did have a choice. They could have prevented this from happening decades ago, but they either were to lazy to learn about it or criminal wanting it to happen so there friends could get rich.

Shumer was shocked at what was being said? Well, I'm a lowly college student, and I along with countless other people have seen this coming for years. Yet the same people that are shocked today were calling me and others like me kooks for years. Now I'm suppose to trust these people make economic decisions?

We the people should demand accountability. We now have to pay over a trillion dollars in taxes to bail this companies out, and somehow everyone is escaping blame. Now is the time to tell your family and friends just how corrupt these politicians are, and try to get them to stop supporting the garbage Republicans and Dems. Let them know how the Fed is a private bank, and how while our economy is reeling, these jerks are getting wealthier and wealthier.

If anything good can come out of this situation, it would be that average people will start to see just how corrupt our politicians and the Fed are, and we may be able to finally end them both. Sadly, the pessimist in me knows this won't happen, but I'll try my hardest to keep informing people to try to make it happen.

And the one man that predicted this but nobody listened to

Today on CNN American Morning



People need to wake up and rise up.

[edit on 19-9-2008 by ModernAcademia]

I am not sure, but doesn't this kind of comment even more aggrevate a run for the banks. If I had any money, I would take it all out tomorrow. And so would probably everyone else who read this. I really hope this doesn't create any panic on the streets tomorrow. This is so far the worst fear-mongering publication I read during this crisis.

Do they really try to create a mass hysteria on the streets ? Wy else would they write something like that ? This is very scarily weird !

Ok this may sound dumb, but why is that article dated Sept 20th? its only the 19th. Please don't bash me if its obvious to you, after all I do empty your trash in the mornings.

Originally posted by Benarius
If I had any money, I would take it all out tomorrow.

If you did that, you'd just have some pretty green paper. It wouldn't do any good to have your money.

Thanks for posting this. Monday morning, I told my husband, "This is IT. You will lose your job within 2 weeks." Looks like that may have been a generous estimate.

I believe it is dated for the future because the article is to be printed on the hard copy tomorrow morning, while it is already available online. I'm not sure, but that's probably why.

The irony of this whole situation is this is a pretend crisis with pretend money. With good will it could be resolved almost instantly, with the apropriate restructuring. The economy would stutter but it would not fail.

As it is failure looks imminent.

This situation, happening in the information age, will further force people to wake up. People should, thanks to the efforts of all the beautifull people that flew in the face of mockery and denounced this situation, know that this is by design and is a power and land grab, an effort at centralization. There can be no doubt, it is so unambiguous.

In the hard times ahead I have one fundamental piece of advice: forget your bitterness and find it in your hearts to help one another. For only this way will you be able to survive the looming crisis. In the midterm things will get better, but it could get a whole lot worse before that.

I hope that whatever comes of this situation results in the elites losing their grab of America, and the country returning itself as the land of the free.

Best of luck, and peace.

Bets are open for another Black Monday. Any takers?


I'll pay 1 to 1 000 000 000 odds; same as the Federal Reserve ratio for paying for all those homes. I wish I had a printing press that made monopoly money for the real world.

Originally posted by ModernAcademia
And the one man that predicted this but nobody listened to

Today on CNN American Morning

People need to wake up and rise up.

[edit on 19-9-2008 by ModernAcademia]

At 2:57 in that video you can clearly see the shady subliminals to the left of the Ron Paul screen. The symbolism is clear, Obama above, McCain below, and the word "Change" by Obama.

Modern media disgusts me, in their blatant attempts to manipulate the populace.

The solution for what is about to happen is out of the two party system, and dare I say out of the political sphere altogether. People need to wake up to all the lies and manipulation and take control of their own municipalities. Create systems that are not only idiot proof, for you average politician, but sociopath proof, for your average elitist powermonger.

Who are we to believe? The government responsible for making the right decisions, or the people like Ron Paul telling us this is completely the wrong thing to do. However way this turns out will determine a lot of how i think about the American government. If it turns out they should have allowed the markets to correct themselves instead of pumping all that money into the system how can people have any faith in it? There are enough people predicting a worse crash to come, saying the billions are just a band aid and will only make things worse in the long run.Then why on earth is this decision being made, shouldn't they should be looking to resolve the problem in the best way possible thinking about the future and what's at stake. Surely the people who have made this decision would be aware of the real outcome before they make the decision, no? If this whole situation gets worse, the conspiracy theories will sound more believable to me, because if this is the case there must be alterior motives at hand. And f the markets do crash how will the people react to the governments decision then? Maybe i'm getting ahead of myself though, things could turn out OK yet, couldn't they?

I don't know much about politics, but am finding these times fascinating and trying to make some sense of it, so please excuse my post if it seems at all ignorant.

Congress is acting surprised and broadcasting this powerless, helpless image of itself. A few days ago Sen. Reid (Sen. Maj. Leader) said something to the effect of "Congress has no idea what to do" and implied that they'd just let the Treasury and Fed Res handle it if Bernanke and Paulson asked them to. This strikes me as incredibly, truly strange. High profile congressmen saying they are impotent? Admitting that they can't help? That is just not something major politicians and officials do. Part of their unspoken code of conduct is to maintain a calm and in-control facade, to broadcast stability, knowledge and power (i.e. leadership ability). Even though they are rarely sincere when they claim to be totally on top of a situation, they still do it and it's expected of them. This is the behavior of politicians and officials for thousands of years. What could they possibly be thinking? I cannot figure this out.

Yahoo news cached link for those who don't have a new york times account:

Cached --original is no longer available!

"Total complete meltdown" is difficult for me to understand. Hmm, is that bad?

[EDIT: Somebody is definately removing this story, cached versions still appear in yahoo but the originals are disappearing fast. oooops, we need this weekend to go smoothly if you don't mind. --Hey remember when weekends were supposed to be for relaxing and sabbath-type rest? Not for bankers!]


smallpeeps

[edit on 19-9-2008 by smallpeeps]

This bubble has been inflating for decades, it had to burst at some point.

Too bad so many will have to suffer because of this. There are some businesses that thrive in these times. I know, I am reluctantly involved and working in one. When people are down, they turn to things that make them feel better.

I do not believe this will last long. First of all we have all seen how this was all escalated by rising energy costs which affected prices of everything, causing the American people to have less monies to spend on other things, businesses failed, people lost jobs, a vicious cycle that has ended up with a busted housing bubble, failed mortgage institutions, and ultimately major financial institutions....

Someone once told me that one day the US dollar would be so devalued that the paper it is printed on would be worth far more than the face value. That the economy would collapse, that one by one businesses would close until everyone found themselves without any basic services, on their own for a period of time, a time of survival, a time of global war, a time when everything will have to reset following a kind of backward evolution.

Of course I said, "you're crazy" it'll never happen.

Maybe that crazy person was right, perhaps we will have to completely hit the bottom, hope to survive it, and start all over.

Nah, things will get better soon. This is the United States of America!

[edit on 19-9-2008 by The_Alarmist2012]

I wonder if there are any journalists out there? I wonder if any of the worlds MANY avenues of communication will have the courage to describe, accurately, where the money went.

The fractional reserve lending policy has dealt us a mortal wound, and the doctors (our beloved political party members) were the weapon.

Derivatives...... Credit swapping..., gambling at our expense. But guaranteed - they are all rich beyond reason.

How do we know this is not just a nice show before the Elections .
If it works even temporarily at least stabilizing things before the Elections then wham we have Republicans as heros and everyone goes out and votes for them again this Election.

We all know that the market is manipulated .We are manipulated ....everything is manipulated to suit their purpose (Those in power who have the money )
I dont even have a clue about all of this stuff and I at least know that much .

reply to post by The_Alarmist2012


You're right. The bubble has been inflating for years. Our economy has been a house of cards for quite a while and it looks like the wind machine has been turned on.

I disagree about it not lasting long. Yes, we've had economic highs and lows in the past but if the ultimate goal is a one world government then money will no longer be necessary once the goal is achieved. Chip everyone, "re-educate" the fence sitters via Rex-84 camps, and kill the rest (domestic terrorists, dontchaknow).

Egypt was once the pinnacle of great civilizations. Look at it now. I wonder if they're still waiting for their luck to change?
Rome was once ruler of the known world. Look at it now. Not so much.
America: The Greatest Nation in The World! I think we will also go the way of all "great civilizations". We will fall from within and the fall will be permanent.

We do have one advantage: The Constitution and Bill of Rights. I don't think they'll be in effect once the NWO is in place but some of us will remember what it was like to be free and teach our children. It may someday be one of those myths that scholars will wonder if there was some element of truth to. And even if it dies out completely and there remain no rumors that freedom ever existed for individuals, it is within human nature to long for it, and maybe, one day to fight for it again. Hopefully next time, we can figure out a way to hold on to it.

reply to post by whitewave


I was trying to put a sarcastic, optimistic spin on it.

Did it work?

Seriously, the going will be tough, but I still have some faith left in the American people, even the apathetic will be motivated soon by all of this. It WILL affect everyone!

I don't think the politicians are kidding -- I believe they ARE in the dark about how the economy works.
Its as if it has become standard thinking that really understanding money markets, like understanding God, is beyond all but the "anointed", and the rest of us, including politicians, need only obey.

I do believe Ron Paul, has had a very clear understanding all along, but because he is in such a minority, the "dumber" majority pooh-poohed him, and the rest of us ignorant bunch couldn't figure out he was right, and believed the dumb majority.

Now we are all in a fix. As someone has already suggested, I hope only that the crisis is finally enough to get people to stop and begin to actually think critically about what has gotten us into this problem, begin to question the standard media bias, and give Mr. Paul some of the spotlight for a change.