Winter Patriot Community Blog

WASHINGTON (MarketWatch) -- Over 100 private institutions have sought government approval to join the Treasury's program to clear $1 trillion in so-called toxic mortgage securities and other assets from banks, the Treasury Department said Wednesday.
Treasury expects to identify which applicants have been pre-approved to participate in the program on May 15.
Under the so-called public-private program, private investors and the Treasury would put in equal amounts of money backed by a loan guarantee from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. to buy troubled loans and mortgage-backed securities from banks. The purchases would be made through auctions.
The Treasury plans to pick five large private investors to bid on illiquid securities sold by banks. Under pressure from consumer groups, Treasury on April 6 expanded the program to allow smaller firms run by women, minorities and smaller funds to participate. The Treasury is seeking to "facilitate" having these funds partner with larger, more established funds to apply, an endeavor that the agency believes is working.
"We are pleased to see a number of creative partnership proposals among the applications we are currently evaluating," Treasury said in a statement.
Funds that have been approved on May 15 will then be required to start raising the $500 million in private capital needed to participate. Fund managers are required to seek out retail investors to participate in the program. Treasury plans to match the private capital raised with taxpayer funds to participate in the program.
However, it is unclear when the program will be up and running.
The FDIC hopes to hold a pilot auction of illiquid assets by early June, according to agency spokesman David Barr. The goal would be to test the auction process so that private investors and banks could observe the process and make sure it works.
BlackRock Inc. is one of the applicants. Also, money manager Invesco Ltd. and billionaire buyout specialist Wilbur Ross have applied to the program. They are committing $1 billion to participate.
Others that may be interested include Western Asset Management, owned by Legg Mason Inc. (LM:
Legg Mason Inc) Investor John Paulson & Co., may be interested as well. Blackstone Group, which owns an asset management firm, may also be interested.
J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. Chief Executive Jamie Dimon said last week the bank has no plans to

http://www.marketwatch.com/news/story/Treasury-100-funds-seek-buy/story.aspx?guid={0735173E-5AA6-413D-860E-1B5A4E3B6E1B}

WASHINGTON (AFP) — China, wary of the troubled US economy, has already "canceled America's credit card" by cutting down purchases of debt, a US congressman said Thursday.

China has the world's largest foreign reserves, believed to be mostly in dollars, along with around 800 billion dollars in US Treasury bonds, more than any other country.

But Treasury Department data shows that investors in China have sharply curtailed their purchases of bonds in January and February.

Representative Mark Kirk, a member of the House Appropriations Committee and co-chair of a group of lawmakers promoting relations with Beijing, said China had "very legitimate" concerns about its investments.

"It would appear, quietly and with deference and politeness, that China has canceled America's credit card," Kirk told the Committee of 100, a Chinese-American group.

"I'm not sure too many people on Capitol Hill realize that this is now happening," he said.

The Republican lawmaker said that China was justified in concerns about returns from finance giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which were bailed out by the US government due to the financial crisis.

Kirk said he was the first member of Congress to tour the Bureau of Public Debt, which trades bonds, and was alarmed at how much debt was being bought by the US Federal Reserve due to absence of foreign investors.

"There will come a time where the lack of Chinese participation may have a significant impact," Kirk said.

"We should track that, because up until last month they were the number one provider of currency to the United States and now they're gone."

With China's economy also hit by the global economic crisis, Premier Wen Jiabao has openly voiced concern about the status of his country's investments in the United States.

China has also floated replacing the dollar as the key international currency with a basket of units bringing in the euro, sterling and yen.

Copyright © 2009 AFP. All rights reserved

....According to Estulin’s sources, here are a few of the talking points and concerns for this year’s meeting:

* The future of the US dollar and US economy: The plan is for the Bilderberg Group players, through their allies in Washington and Wall Street to continue to deceive millions of savers and investors who believe the hype about the supposed up-turn in the economy. They are about to be set up for massive losses and searing financial pain in the months ahead. The bank “stress tests” now being conducted by Washington are little more than a shameless hoax: Based on the irrational assumption that the economy won’t get as bad as it already is!
* US unemployment: Solutions and assumptions (Stated as such in the pre-meeting booklet sent out to attendees.) Bilderberg is quietly assuming that US unemployment numbers will hover around 14% by the end of this year, far higher than the official numbers released by the US government.
* Depression or a prolonged stagnation? (Stated as such in the pre-meeting booklet sent out to attendees.) Bilderberg is looking at two options: Either a prolonged, agonizing depression that dooms the world to decades of stagnation, decline, and poverty ... or an intense-but-shorter depression that paves the way for a new sustainable economic world order, with less sovereignty but more efficiency.
* There will be a final push for the enactment of Lisbon Treaty, pending on Irish voting YES on the treaty in Sept or October. One of their concerns is addressing and neutralizing the anti-Lisbon treaty movement called “Libertas” led by Declan Ganley. One of the Bilderberger planned moves is to use a whispering campaign in the US media suggested that Ganley is being funded by arms dealers in the US linked to the US military.
...