BusinessWeek is reporting that BayernLB has just received more taxpayer-funded bailout money from the German government:

BayernLB has already earned itself the unenviable accolade of becoming Germany’s first bank to request help from the government bailout funds. On Friday it added a massive bailout package to its trophy shelf: a €30 billion lifeline will be thrown to the ailing business.

To restore it to health, Bavarian Governor Horst Seehofer said the Munich-based BayernLB would be granted €10 billion ($12.9 billion). He also said the bank requires lending guarantees to the tune of €20 billion. Of that he said he would seek €15 billion in interbank lending guarantees under the federal plan.

Germany’s second biggest regional bank has been hit hard amid the financial domino effect. First, the US subprime lending crisis and subsequent credit crunch left it, and many peers, with hefty write-downs. Then, BayernLB’s problems deepened with losses generated by bank failures in Iceland.

(Original article here)

Dennis Kucinch spells out the “bait and switch” that was pulled by Henry Paulson and the corrupt administration:

Kucinch states, “This is a major economic matter that isn’t being appropriately addressed by the Bush administration and by his treasury secretary. Congress was sold a phony bill of goods…  Now you’ve got money for bank consolidation, money for parties and for bonuses.  What’s going on in America?”

Hit ‘em hard, Dennis.  The media seems to like you now that you’re not running for president…

The global economic storm continues to rage and national governments seem about as commanding in these conditions as small boats tossed around on a tumultuous sea. The week began with an emergency bailout of Citigroup, the world’s biggest bank, by the United States Treasury. A few days later the Federal Reserve released news of an $800bn credit market intervention. This was followed by a €200bn European Union-wide stimulus package from the European Commission. And expectations are rising that Barack Obama is planning an even bigger spending plan for when he takes office in Washington next year.

 

Yet the discomforting truth is that no one can say with any confidence that these various rescues and interventions will have any effect on the underlying crisis. Everything policymakers have thrown at the emergency thus far has had a disappointingly small effect. Our leaders appear to be surviving on a diet of hope. Nowhere is that truer than in Britain.

The Government presented its own contribution to the EU stimulus package in the pre-Budget report this week. But the real story of the PBR ended up not being the widely trailed £20bn stimulus, but the alarming projected borrowing figures…

(Read the rest of the article here, courtesy of The Independent)

Just thought you might like to see what I sent to Washington. I know it will end up in the dead letter bin, but you have to try. I will post any reply I get.

Dear Deadbutts (I didn’t include this line in the letter)

I know you have the world by the tail right now, but I don’t believe you will do anything with it. You have had the last 2 years with the dreamgirl at the helm, and have managed to screw up the nation worse than at anytime in recent history. Lucky for you it can be blamed on Bush. You don’t have to kiss my tail for a vote, I don’t vote for incumbents. But for the sake of the country, listen to what I say.

We just got a taste of how easily this country can be destroyed. I think we will recover from this current crisis, for a while. BUT, please get to work on this energy situation. Without a plan, this will happen again. Jimmy Carter made the same mistake, 30 years ago. What did you learn from that? What will Democratic Senator from Indiana 2038 learn from your actions? I predict nothing. But please prove me wrong. I know there is not a soul in Congress that has a plan. There are too many distractions to be coherent in Washington. What a bunch of deadbutts. Sorry, I will try to behave. Since there is not a functioning brain in Washington, look outside.

Start with Picken’s Plan. It makes good sense. Do what is right for America NOW. Drill, Wind, Solar, Nuclear, and most of all, increase infrastructure in natural gas. I don’t pretend to know what sort of games you are currently playing with all the bailouts, but why not put some money into making energy the last worry America has? Encourage the development of more efficient solar cells. Support the addition of many more wind generators. Support something we have never thought of, but the 12 year old down the street will invent. Show some vision. Be a Senator we could get behind.

If you want to know my views on why I believe America should prosper, I will be glad to share them with you. If you ever get the time to interact with real America, I will be glad to contribute. But for now, Please Don’t Forget What $4 per Gallon Gasoline Felt Like.

Sincerely and because I love America,

Duke Green

Life is back to good now. Bush is out, No-Experience is in. Personally, I have stopped listening to the news, so things are quite fine. Just remember, the media has predicted 27 out of the last 2 recessions. Screw ‘em all. Let the advertising dry up and the ‘news’ programs be cancelled. What will CNN do? Probably slip into reality programming. Or FOX? Geraldo needs more empty tombs to open.

Anyway, not what I wanted to talk about. If you remember (internet memory is far too short), gasoline was the hot topic a couple of months ago. Much hand-wringing about energy costs, but the smart people (both of us) were excited about the prospect of new technology coming to the forefront. Surely, there was someone that had a new idea about using something besides gasoline. But, those damn oil companies did it to us again and lowered the cost of a gallon of gas to below the bitch level for mindless America, bringing the contentment factor back to the numb level. Something has to be said about ’staying the course’ when it comes to alternative energy. And PLEASE, use your own head when it comes to deciding what makes sense. We almost let Congress (see definition under Deadbutts) talk us into making ethanol the latest saving grace. Never mind the Wall Street Journal let the story slip that it actually takes more energy (and carbon emissions) to make ethanol than normal gasoline. And, for the record, the Oil and Gas Journal said the same thing years before. But don’t listen to those folks, they actually know something about energy.

Anyway, not what I wanted to talk about. We are on the endthebailouts site, after all. For the record, again, if the Detroit auto industry gets a blank check like Congress got, I will never buy another American car. If those bloated fatcats really wanted to be on top in auto sales, they would have marketed a car that people would have wanted to buy. The auto industry seems to run in a cycle. Cars are crappy for a few years, Japan gets ahead, Detroit management decides to bust a few heads and the quality improves, then Japan loses a few points, union gets a raise. Repeat.

Anyway, not what I wanted to talk about. Refer to the title of this article. Today, an energy-efficient car is less than satisfying to own or drive. But, it doesn’t always have to be that way. Fast-forward a couple of decades. You know we will be driving some technology that nobody thought of today. Why not do it today?  I will tell you why. Because as long as it is cheaper to burn a barrel of oil, that is what we will do. How many of you have even thought about the price of gasoline since it dropped to less than $2? I see no hands. There are a few doing something out there, but they will crash and burn if oil stays cheap. And the rest of you will contribute to the crash and burn as long as you take the cheaper route.

OK, time to wax positive. Go to www.lincvolt.com. It is Neil Young’s website in which he is attempting to power a large car using only electricity. Now Neil Young knows nothing about technology, but he does know how to carry a cause. Just look at the anti-war stance that the ‘group in which he is mentioned last’ has historically taken. (Wonder how they view America’s involvement in the war to defeat Hitler?) They can definitely carry a cause. I have no doubt that Neil Young has the ability to champion a youngster that has a radical idea that may take us away from the path of oil. But it will take a few of us to spend a few dollars more to fill a tank with a new substance, to pay a bit more to shingle our house with solar cells, to ride in a smaller conveyance, to lower the thermostat in winter and raise it in summer, to minmize trips in the car, etc. Back to the title…

Please don’t forget what $4 dollar per gallon gasoline felt like.

I don’t fully agree with this guy often, but here’s Bill O’Reilly speaking against the auto bailout of the Big Three: