MELTDOWN: THE SET-UP
TIMELINE:
1. The subprime mortgage crisis reached a critical stage during the first week of September 2008, characterized by severely contracted liquidity in the global credit markets and insolvency threats to investment banks and other institutions.
2. Reserve balances from banks in the Federal Reserve System began increasing over required levels of about $10 billion at the beginning of September 2008, just after the Democratic and Republican national conventions, and just before the stock market crash and presidential debates.
3. Clinton, Obama Harlem meeting 9/11
4. On Friday afternoon September 12, Hank Paulson told Wall Street that the government would not step in to save Lehman.
Barclays walked away from the negotiating table on September 13th or 14th. There was physically not enough time, before the opening of the markets on Monday September 15th, for Lehman to negotiate anything with anyone else. Lehman was forced to file for Chapter 11 on Monday September 15th, and a few days later Barclays was able to cherry pick Lehman's best assets and business units and buy them for a reduced price.
5. HEADLINE
Wall Street Meltdown: The Sky Is Falling
By: Pamela Leavey
September 15th, 2008 @ 9:09 am
6. 16/09/09 "The Scotsman" -- - SLAM. Slam. Slam. Slam. Like a scene from a gathering of Mafia dons, the doors of 30 black Lincolns slammed shut as their besuited occupants stepped out into a Manhattan downpour – and into a global financial storm. That storm broke yesterday, with stock markets tumbling around the world. In London, the FTSE 100 plunged almost 4 per cent to 5204.2. Scotland's banking giants were among the biggest victims. HBOS slumped 17.5 per cent; Royal Bank of Scotland lost 12.2 per cent. In the US, the Dow Jones industrial average suffered its biggest fall since 9/11
7. On The Financial Crisis McCain Gives Speech, Obama Holds Press Conference
Added by Mark Nickolas on Sep 19, 2008
8. Rupert Cornwell: Wall Street meltdown rekindles Obama's fire Out of America: After a summer in which the Republican candidate has made all the running, events are at last starting to fit the Democrats' script.
According to James Campbell, the mid-September financial crisis hit the 2008 presidential election like a bolt out of the blue, transforming it from a horserace in which John McCain had a real chance of victory into a one-sided contest in which Barack Obama enjoyed a decisive advantage.
9. Sunday, 21 September 2008
Bill Clinton: He's really, really glad to see John McCain
Exerpt:
John McCain, in suspending his presidential campaign to (eventually) head back to Washington from New York to help the push for a financial rescue plan, may have nixed a planned appearance on "Late Night with David Letterman" and cancelled a chat with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
But McCain wasn't about to snub his old friend, Bill Clinton, this morning. And the ex-president, for all his expressions of support for Barack Obama and predictions of victory in November for his fellow Democrat, continues to give the impression he's definitely hedging his bets.
DON'T WE JUST KNOW IT!!!
HIGH HO HILLARY AS SECRETARY OF STATE
GOT TO BE MY WORST NIGHTMARE