Checkout the New Website (Click here)

The New Website:

BlueDogLive.com

Mystery Fun Link of the Day (Click here)

Hope you like it!

Today's Mystery Fun Link (Click here )

Hopefully this will provide some entertainment and keep everyone from watching every tick of the markets today. Enjoy

Links that didn't make the cut:

http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1782932.ece
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=081007182106.97mcch3w&show_article=1
http://www.blogthings.com/quickanddirtyiqtest/

And finally, didn't they see the documentary about the guy who lived with bears in Alaska?
http://abcnews.go.com/2020/popup?id=5973610&contentIndex=1&page=1&start=false

Have a great weekend!

Call me a Pollyanna

I really don’t want to write a downer of a blog today. I’ll just repeat something I think most of my readers know. Markets do not crash from the top. They take a beating first, then they crash. I suspect our government(s) will try something new over the weekend to stem the tide of selling. I wish them luck. Now, go back & enjoy Today’s Mystery Fun Link and try to forget about all of this.

Today's Mystery Fun LInk ( Click here)

Please use this feature to leave your comments for all of today's posts. Just click on comment, write whatever you want, click on name to use a fake name ( just don't link to a URL), or select anonymous. Full comments will be displayed under this post. One Liners will show up in the right hand column. (If I can keep it working.) Enjoy

Please refrain from using too much profanity. Google will cutoff the blog. Thx.

And On the 7th Day …….

Today is the 7^th day and I think it is time to rest and examine all that has been made. Perhaps you can help. Here are a few observations. Please leave a comment or two and let me know what you think. In no particular order:

1. I blog to fast. I need to slow down on the posting so that they have a chance to be read.
2. I haven’t bought into the opinion polls. It just seemed like a way to engage you the reader. What do you think?
3. Perhaps I should develop a website with a larger focus and just include this subject matter as a page within larger discussions.
4. I think my favorite feature is going to be the Mystery Fun Link of the Day combined with anonymous comment postings. How about you?
5. I might call up miscellaneous politicians, corporations, or whoever for one-on-one interviews now that I am a legitimate journalist. Think they will buy it?

Any other suggestions are welcome.

Today’s Mystery Fun Link ( a new feature )

Just click on the blog title to see.

Does anybody have a beer & wine calculator they can send me?

Is your Grocery Store highly leveraged?

I don’t want to be a fear monger, but I don’t want to stick my head in the sand either. How leveraged is your grocery store? Check them out on Yahoo finance if you don’t know. The mom & pop stores are gone. Today’s grocer is a large conglomerate who has used cheap money to expand. If the commercial paper market doesn’t open up soon, how long will it be before they do not have a credit facility to keep their shelves stocked? Think Hurricane Ike, or Rita, or Katrina. Take your pick. Scary stuff. I agree with the decision to use the bailout money to support commercial paper. I disagree with how they lied to get the money.

McCain’s Mini-American Jubilee has already been enacted into Law! Time for the Full Meal Deal!

Thanks to a reader for clueing me in that McCain’s proposal has already been passed. It’s in the bailout. Pgs 27 & 28 Sec. 110 (b) 2 under Modifications. Modifications to residential mortgage loans may include reductions in interest rates & loan principal. Getting this pig passed might be easier than I thought. Just click on the title for this blog to link to the actual text. I don’t support the intro page to this document, but the document appears to be genuine.

Did John McCain just propose a “Mini-American Jubilee”?

I could have sworn he said & then repeated later, that he wanted to buy up all houses going into foreclosure, give them back to the individuals who just defaulted, and provide them with a reduced loan amount equal to the current market value of the home. I heard that, right? Exactly who is the Republican in this race? I'm confused.

Thanks to "Melpomene" for breaking the ice and leaving a comment.

I thought my McCain post would draw the first comment today. Perhaps an unpleasant one..... Instead, I received a substantive comment on a non- tongue-in-cheek topic. Thanks "Melpomene". Also, I need to figure out how to add my e-mail to this blog so you can contact me, but if you have an idea for an opinion poll, just leave it in a comment and I will be happy to run it up the flag pole.

The Opinion Poll about Whether or not Bernanke would oppose Paulson on whether an asset was necessary or not will be closing early.

We now know Bernanke will not oppose Paulson in determining what is necessary or not. Instead, the Fed Chairman will be leading the charge. Boy, I didn't see that one coming. I thought it would be the guy from Goldman Sachs who would jump into the mud first. Wow. Do you guys remember the movie Brewster's Millions staring Richard Pryor? He has to give away $30 million to inherit $300 million. This is the sequel, Bernanke's Billions, and there is a plot twist. He and his buddy have to give away $700 Billion in order to get another $700 Billion to give away.

I apologize for the John McCain slam in the UFO Opinion Poll.

Apparently, some of you may have been offended by my insinuation that John McCain may be an alien. I’m just saying, he is short, with a disproportionate sized head, and kind of moves like the humanoid robot in Mars Attacks.

It’s Official. Less than 2 business days after the bailout passed the money is being diverted.

Hint to government officials: If you want the American people to have confidence in you and the markets, quit lying! Per the Fed press release, (click on the title of this posting for a link), “The Treasury believes this facility is necessary to prevent substantial disruptions to the financial markets and the economy and will make a special deposit at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York in support of this facility.” Necessary? Probably more necessary than purchasing bad exotic credit bets from Wall Street! Still, does anybody remember what they told us they needed the money for? Mortgage something or another. Is it ok for our elected officials to deceive us in order to get what they want? There cannot be a more blatant violation of the public trust than what we are currently witnessing. It’s no wonder people believe in UFOs. After seeing this, they might be right.

CNBC Rumor / Report that FED Will Enter Unsecured Debt Market

Update: Waiting for more info. Special Purpose Vehicle/Entity being proposed for a Fed / Treasury JV to buy commercial paper.

Original Post:

I am still trying to find written confirmation of the CNBC report late yesterday that the Fed will begin accepting unsecured debt instruments as collateral. If true, the Fed Chairman has shown by his actions that he deems these assets as necessary. You can expect the Secretary of the Treasury to follow suit shortly and commit part of the $700B to that asset class as well. So much for mortgage related! However, if these instruments are in fact commercial paper which is the lubricant that literally keeps merchandise on store shelves, food in the grocery store, enables payroll disbursements, etc., it addresses the crisis more effectively than the “The Bailout” as sold. I just don’t appreciate all of the lying to get to this point.

Did you know there is already a Jubilee Act Pending before Congress?

Per JubileeUSA.org, the stated purpose is to “expand debt cancellation to impoverished countries that need it to fight poverty, promote responsible lending and require an audit of odious, illegal and onerous loans.” I am not affiliated with JubileeUSA.org, but I do recommend their website. If you click on the title to this post, it will take you there. The Act has already passed the full house and one senate committee. Only one senator is blocking it from passing the full senate. So, The American Jubilee Bill isn’t as far fetched as you might believe. If we become an impoverished country, I vote the current Act be amended to include all American citizens. What do you think? If you have the time, visit JubileeUSA.org and click on the “Truth About Debt” tab in the upper left hand corner, and then read “Why drop the debt?” Think about how those philosophies could be applied to America if the banking system does fail. Congress has already concluded that they are appropriate for other countries. Why couldn’t they approve them for us, the American people, if the banks have already failed?

The Bailout Bill: Lies, Lies, Lies! No oversight in sight!

Click on the title for this posting & See page 6, Line 13, for the definition of "Troubled Assets". The Secretary of the Treasury can spend the money on any asset he deems necessary as long as the FED Chairman agrees and they notify, not ask permission from, Congress. How can the program ever be held accountable if the Secretary of the Treasury just has to say "it was necessary"? Will the FED Chairman stick his neck out and get in the way of administering this money? No! So, what did you guys do this weekend? Read the bailout bill, pardon me, law?

The Real Estate Value Marketing Pitch, Did you fall for it?

As far as I can tell, the run-up in home prices over the last 15 years was due to 1. the cost of money going down, and 2. that money being made available to a greater number of people. The result was a greater number of total homes in the US and the appreciation of all property. I don't think the bailout package materially impacts either of these, and we will see an acceleration of losses in the values of our homes and all classes of real estate. The BS about holding up the value of our homes was simply a marketing ploy. I would wager that only an insignificant portion of the $700 B will go towards purchasing true mortgage backed securities. Did anyone else notice how they stopped using the term mortgage related in the second sales pitch for the package? Did anyone else notice they gave Paulson the authority to use it for anything he wanted in the final version? Yes, I know the bill was really about credit liquidity and fully understand the implications of that. Have you read the title of this blog? Congress should have called the bailout package the Talladega Nights Final Car Wreck Scene Act. All it's going to do is prolong the agony for the average American. I just hope the politicians keep their lips to themselves at the end of this comedy/horror flick. Check it out for yourself. Just click on the title of this post to link to the actual text and go to page 3, Sec. 2 Purposes.

What if we just talk about an American Jubilee?

How motivated would Wall Street be to solve this crisis with their much advertised creativity and intellect if Main Street began talking about and pushing Congress to have all debt forgiven?

What are possible safe havens for individual wealth?

Again, this is a last resort option and we are assuming that the financial world as we know it has changed dramatically. It will be a cash or barter system until credit facilities can be restarted albeit more conservatively than we have seen in the last 15 years. I would think various hard assets that you can physically lay your hands on would be a significant part of the mix. And, assuming stocks have been thoroughly devalued to their hard asset value and the companies no longer owe monies for previous debt obligations, they might be a suitable proxy for owning the hard assets directly. And of course, some amount of cash or coinage in the hands of us, the general public, would help restart merchant related buying and selling.

What about the banks?

If there are only 4 or 5 government supported “super-banks” remaining and the rest are insolvent, and everyone is on a cash basis, does it really matter? All of the politicians love to say that it is the small business owner who drives economic growth. Why not take the foot of credit oppression off of their throats first and enable them to get the ball rolling again? If most of the banks are already insolvent, then save the average American and restart the economy. Furthermore, would this be the quickest way to jumpstart tax revenues again? Having just witnessed the aftermath of Ike, I can tell you FEMA wasn’t who started things rolling again. It was the local authorities and individual citizens. I suspect the same will be true for this financial catastrophe. Wall Street may have caused this crisis, but it will be the average American who stands up and delivers us from it! Screw Wall Street and save the average American instead so he can start rebuilding America.