In school house rock format, this video gives good details on banking vocab.
I personally don’t trust bonds, especially with the discussion of American money being used within 10 years but hay, check it out, I could be just paranoid….

Japan Enters Recession as Firms Cut Spending [WSJ]
Citi Group Going Slice Crazy, Despite Mary J Blige Offer  
 It Seems No Gasless Flying Cars Now Mean No Bailout

At a hearing held by the House Oversight and Government Reform subcommittee today, one congressman questioned whether Kashkari was Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson’s “chump.”

Another congressman, firebrand Rep. Dennis Kucinich (D-Ohio), lambasted the Treasury for unilaterally deciding this week to junk its original rescue plan of buying bad mortgages from banks.

“Maybe this is some kind of game to some people in the administration,” Kucinich lectured the 35-year-old Kashkari. “They’re on their way out of office and they just feel they can do whatever they want.” [LA Times]

Congress is just putting up a smoke screen by fronting off Kashkari to distract from their lack of qualifications to understand finance trickery and rules set force under agreement. Numerous citizens called up Congress to NOT go forward with the bail out bill. Despite the knowledge of the bill allowing Paulson or President and their successors to take whatever action, without transparency, they moved forward.

Now they think snapping on Kashkari will make them look like the good guys. They permitted this by fear. Yelling at them now doesn’t make Congress look like an advocate, at all. If anything they will go down in history as the dummies that allowed this to happen.

Summit pledge to ‘restore growth’ [BBC]
World leaders seek to head off deep recession [MSNBC]
Hundreds protest as world leaders meet [Washington Post]

img via Huffington Post 

The part thats crazy, most DO NOT know the government does not own our money, a company called the Federal Reserve does. What has gotten me is that, why now? Why now for the public to care? My guess because of the dissolving economy. I dunno but, it seems like its too late and the plan in is motion to do whatever damage was intended. I’m never one for mass protest because tasks forces are so advanced now, it seems like a double edge sword.

If you are interested, check them out but,”I neuw nuting!” btw, turn your volume down, that song is arghhhherreaeaoerkp.

[End The Fed]

American Express (AXP: 18.74 0.00 0.00%) is the ultimate card, simply for the perks that come with exclusive card. Not much of a card person, I have two cards and I broke my oath to grab a once in a lifetime opportunity to join the American Express family. I mean, hay they don’t let everyone in and I got picked..yay. Well once the elation steamed off, I realized, the unlimited balance was not of my mindset. So, I got hit with a limit, last week…awh. Besides flipping the tires on my jeep, I really haven’t used it for anything. Well, besides checking out exclusive online coverage of tv shows.

Well as of this week, American Express joined the general banking family and because of that, feel they are entitled to some of the bailout pie. Shortly after a massive layoffs, they are now requesting $3.5 Billi

On Nov. 10, the Federal Reserve approved American Express’ application to become a bank holding company. Until now, AmEx couldn’t use the same tools as its rival credit-card companies to raise cash. Under the government’s bailout plan, banks regulated by the Federal Reserve could rely on cheap funding from the Fed and from other efforts by the government to prop up the banking system. Also, these banks can compete for deposits from bank customers, another relatively cheap form of funding.

AmEx’s rivals that are both banks and big credit issuers that are under the Fed’s watch include JPMorgan Chase (JPM: 28.47 0.00 0.00%), Bank of America (BAC: 13.06 0.00 0.00%), Citigroup (C: 6.40 0.00 0.00%), Capital One Financial (COF: 26.50 0.00 0.00%), and Discover Financial (DFS: 7.41 0.00 0.00%). [Business Week]

The real question, now that AMEX is a bank..err bank, will all of those awesome perks disappear?
American Express Becomes A Bank… And Wants Bailout Money [Consumerist]

Backstory. 2 years before then, I told them, I dreamt that not only would Obama win, he’d win by basically default. Or in his case…by a land slide. In Chicago, for me his win was bitter sweet. During the course of this year, it weighed on me from the fake support many of the Black community had for him, once it was “save” to support. And for Chicago’s Black community, support in general. Because I didn’t jump on a visible bandwagon or wear the t-shirts, I had one girl tell me, “Oh now your for Obama.” My annoyance made me give her a scathing response but, a rather ironic one. I told her, I should be asking YOU that.

See what most don’t know, Chicago. It never really supported Prez Obama, well until it was clear that not only he would run but, that he would really win. Obama’s grass roots campaigns up until the very end, was ironically creditied to Chicago’s North Side which is predominantly young Whites (Yuppies); Grad Students; White education community; post grads; people of color who lived on the North Side, 1 gen kids and bi-racials. At the most, a small number of Hyde Park community (where I used to live). The Black community in Chicago would instead show support for their political pastors and criminal afflaited business owners/aldermen/women.

Having voted for him 4 times “before” and 5 in total, and would have if 6 times if I was old enough during his first run, I knew that his win was special for people like us that lived in Chicago because we saw his potential before everyone else did. It wasn’t about what we would get out of this, personally but what we as a city would gain.

While most had never even voted before this let alone for Obama, their constant reminder that he needed to know his place for the Black relics in Chicago might explains, Jesse Jackson’s distain. The biggest secret, before this year, in private, most of Chicago’s leaders shared Jesse’s mindset about Obama, not asking for permission. I looked at most of the Black community in Chicago with annoyance and made a effort to not put them on blast. I kept my integrity because when you know the facts, its better than confidence.

Not being from Chicago and a child of immigrant parents, I stuck up for him and everyone who wanted to make Chicago better. The fight for change started in Chicago and went all the way to the White House and potential it will go the world. While I was wrong about the level of corruption in Crook County being too strong for him to fix, that uphill battle, redirected his goal to fix the bigger picture.

In the end, its bitter sweet. I’m glad he won but, the easliy persuaded bandwagon and blind support for him scares me because, it’s based on a lie and bliss. Can people step up? Because, it won’t take just voting to repair the American economy and overall brand. The PEOPLE have to step up.

The real question is, if you voted for him are you willing to DO what is needed to be better.
We have a Black president now and just showing up is no longer enough, doing something is the greater plan.