Thur Post #3: President Obama's Speech

US President Obama's joint speech to Congress can be boiled down to a couple of simple points.

The Teleprompter President kicked off the 2012 Election Campaign by trying to seize the initiative in a bitter ideological battle with Republicans.

In 14 months voters will decide whether to give him a second term.

And with his poll numbers at new lows, with 9.1 percent unemployment, Obama is taking on the Republicans and setting the tone by calling the current state of affairs a “national crisis.”

To revive the stalled economy and avert another recession Obama told Congress he will introduce his “American Jobs Act.” 

If the Republicans vote it down, he will use the issue as the basis for his re-election campaign.

The bottom line is his 'plan' will cost $447 billion by the end of this year.

How will he pay for it?

The idea is to offset the cost with deficit reductions.

Like a tired, old stage play the formula is always the same with a refrain like Wimpy, the Popeye cartoon character: "I will gladly pay you Tuesday for a hamburger today."

QE to infinity is well underway.

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Bank Failure Friday (2009/02/27)

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UPDATE: Bank Failures #15 & #16 added.

Has it been a week already?

As faithful readers know, bank failures in the US always seemed to be delayed until late on Friday afternoons, prompting Friday to be jokingly referred to as 'Bank Failure Friday' in many economic blogs.

2009 is off to a record breaking year with 14 failures so far.

Mind you... for a while it looked like last Friday might slip by without one. Will that be the case today?

We wait with eager anticipation for today's carnage. Updates from the FDIC as they come in, check back late this afternoon. Click here to read our post: "US Bank Failures - Why Do We Care".

In the meantime, an interesting youtube clip in which Fox News Commentator Glenn Beck goes over the history of housing prices and makes the case that President Obama's plans to stem the collapsing housing market in the US may be doomed from the start. His statistics suggest the collapse - to date - may not have even reached the mid-way point.

Interesting.



Bank Failure #15

From the FDIC: MB Financial Bank, N.A., Chicago, Illinois, Assumes All of the Deposits of Heritage Community Bank, Glenwood, Illinois.

Heritage Community Bank, Glenwood, Illinois, was closed today by the Illinois Department of Financial Professional Regulation, Division of Banking, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver.

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund will be $41.6 million. MB Financial Bank's acquisition of all the deposits was the "least costly" resolution for the FDIC's Deposit Insurance Fund compared to alternatives. Heritage Community Bank is the fifteenth FDIC-insured institution to fail in the nation this year and the third in the state.

Bank Failure #16:

From the FDIC: Bank of Nevada, Las Vegas, Nevada Assumes All of the Deposits of Security Savings Bank, Henderson, Nevada

Security Savings Bank, Henderson, Nevada was closed today by the Nevada Financial Institutions Division, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver.

The FDIC estimates that the cost to the Deposit Insurance Fund will be $59.1 million. The Bank of Nevada's acquisition of all the deposits of Security Saving Bank was the "least costly" resolution for the FDIC's Deposit Insurance Fund compared to alternatives. Security Savings Bank is the sixteenth bank to fail in the nation this year.


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Email: village_whisperer@live.ca