they are using that argument. the fed announced a new facility to allow non depository institutions to borrow directly from the fed. the fact that the fed is accepting “a broad range of investment grade securities as collateral” should be evidence enough, but an outright lending facility to casinos???
the argument goes that the assets, counterparty liabilities, cds’, etc are spread across the entire financial industrial complex like butter and that the pricing of those assets, debts, etc cannot be forced to be repriced for fear of valuation collapse and ultimately derivatives collapse. that affects everyone. but to think that the fed can save the day is total fantasy; you only have the ultimate end game of nationalization (edit: if anyone is going to try and “save the day”). anything short of that is sticking your finger in the dyke. and nationalization itself is an admission of failure and not exactly a win.
the feds efforts to date will not stop the ultimate punishment of joe shmoe. however, it will divert hundreds of billions of dollars to the crooks that are too crooked to put into prison! the spitzer case was the most blatant act of corporate/government collusion and corruption, up until this bear stearns “deal”. jpm had exposure to bsc counterparty risks (jpm was on one side of a bet, bsc on the other. if bsc went belly up, jpm cant collect) but with this deal, they are now counterparty to themselves. shysty? you bet! they bought back their bets for pennies or fractions of pennies on the dollar. and the fed paid jpm 30 billion, some 100 times the asking price of 260 million that jpm paid! talk about subprime lending!
the feds actions are worthless and even criminal and punish you and me even more than if they had just let them all go and saved our money for the rebuild. as it stands, we still pay for the rebuild, but with devalued dollars and assets while joe billionaire walks scott free. how you like them lemons?
