Can someone please, please take them out behind the wood shed and teach them some manners? It seems to me that, rather than trying to convince the rest of the world Fannie Mae is doing great, Bill Gross should be taking PIMCO's marbles and going home. Or, at least to another playground.

Miraculously, the Brits seem to have a more reality-based outlook. According to bloomberg.com, British Chancellor of the Exchequer [rough equivalent to SecTreas Henry Paulson] Alistair Darling is a far cry from Paulson's Pollyanna:

"The effect [of the current financial industry's "global credit crunch"] is going to be far more profound than people predicted even at the turn of this year…. It is quite clear that if you look during the course of this year, conditions have become more difficult across the world."

[…]

In the [July 14 Bloomberg TV] interview, Darling said the worst is far from over, noting action to prop up the mortgage lenders Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae in the U.S….

Worldwide, banks and securities firms have raised $324 billion in the past year after record writedowns and credit losses of almost $410 billion from the collapse of the subprime mortgage market, according to data complied by Bloomberg.

"I don't think anyone would be wise to start speculating on how long the present difficulties will last," Darling said. "We are dealing with them here and other countries are dealing with them as well.  If you look at the problems the banks have had, they have moved into a different phase and governments have to take account of that."

Of course, one wonders what Mr. Darling means by "take account of that." As head of a state organ, I'm sure he means further regulation and consolidation of the financial oligarchy in the UK, the US, and elsewhere.

Bernanke's British doppelganger toes the party line much better than Darling, however — not that he denies a problem, just minimizes its import. From the same Bloomberg article:

The Bank of England has already presented a more somber outlook [than Darling's March, 2008, guesstimates of the immediate impact of the "crunch"]. Governor Mervyn King said then [in March] that there may be "an odd quarter or two of negative growth."  His deputy, John Gieve, said policy makers must grapple with inflation "well over" 4 percent, double the government's target.

[You've gotta love the Brits' mastery of phrase-turning!  "[A]n odd quarter or two of negative growth." Indeed!]

Our own Henry "Hank" Paulson, SecTreas to the stars, thinks things will get better if only we can leverage enough of our futures; if only Fannie and Freddie have access to the unvarnished [that is, non-existent] wealth of the US government, if only that government doffs all pretense to fascism and buys openly and directly into a corporate interest [which will not, of course, ever lead to preferential treatment in the affected sector], if only ordinary Americans would make themselves personally liable for any malinvestments — existing and future — those corporations may make [the subject GSEs currently hold over $5 trillion in bad paper — that's almost $17K for each and every man, woman, and child in this country, or over $100k for my family], if only a complicit and compliant Congress would allow these simple steps to be taken, everything would be just fine. Congressional idiots who know nothing of money or economics, of course, hoping to get re-elected this November, will dance to whatever tune he plays. "Trust me," he seems to say. "I know what I'm doing."

And Ben Bernanke is the evil little "Mini Me," furiously printing Monopoly money as long as he has paper on which to print it. Seriously, does "Big" Ben not know that the sole practical function of the central bank — from Newton, to Bismarck, and on — has been to inflate the currency, in order to fuel governmental expansion? Or does he, a protected political elite, simply not care? It's either complicity, or ignorance that drives these guys.

They're either idiots, or they're in on it.

I seriously wonder, sometimes, whether we don't all deserve what's coming. I'm not one to scream about the sky falling, but I do see a big "correction" on the horizon. And when this regulator-caused storm hits, what will be the cure? Why, more regulation, of course!

It's like they think they can get out of the hole by digging out the bottom.

Or is it just me?

Jim Cramer took the time to name names: this administration, Federal Reserve chairman Ben Bernanke, SEC chairman Christopher Cox, and Sec. of Treasury Henry Paulson. 

He hinted that they were intentionally rigging the system in favor of economic failure.

Cramer states that lack of enforcement of existing naked short selling rules and elimination of the up-tick rule in July, 2007, under the current administration are clear signs the market is rigged in favor of the bears over the bulls.

He had Rep. Gary Ackerman (D), New York, on the show today to talk about the problem.

Cramer calls for fair trade in the securities market. Thus, he is this Left Libertarian's patriot of the day.

--

Kudlow & Company after Cramer were talking whether oil drilling would help the economy. One person let it slip that a strengthened dollar would help drive oil prices down. Another went on and made it blunt that the Federal Reserve needs to stop printing dollars.

Kudlow concludes the show stating that they are trying to solve today's economic problems.

We're having an effect. One MSM operation is starting to speak the truth. I hope Kudlow doesn't have an illegal copy of the Koran.

Now if we can just bring out the truth that the Federal Reserve and current administration is trying to collapse the economy with two primary goals, among other secondary objectives: consolidate wealth by buying distressed companies and consolidate power by justifying the Amero and North American Union.

--jeepndesert

Ron Paul vs Ben Bernanke

*) het financieele dagblad

"The economy continues to face numerous difficulties." -Ben Bernanke to Congress

Something is defenitely wrong with these pictures and The Daily Show's Jon Stewart has picked up on it. The president of our nation gives a press conference to say the economy is getting better while the Chairman of the Fed (um..a person who actually knows a little something something about the moo-lah) Ben Bernanke says otherwise. Signs that our nation leader knows what he's talking about? The meter doesn't seem to be leaning in his favor when it comes to this topic...or anything else. Don't blame it on the soundbites.

Congressman Ron Paul speaks about monetary policy and yesterday's testimony of Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. There are several other videos on the website as well.

To watch, visit the congressional webpage and click on the top video on the right. http://www.house.gov/paul/index.shtml

Stiff Right Jab contributing editor, Ron Paul, is a U.S. Congressmen out of Texas, Republican Party Presidential Candidate, and the number one bestselling author of The Revolution: A Manifesto.

...

10:20am Wednesday- President Bush holds a press conference to trump coverage of Fed. Chairman Ben Bernanke's testimony before the Senate Housing and Banking Committee.

From McClatchy

A gloomy day for the economy, except at the White House

President Bush began Tuesday trying to calm consumers troubled by an increasingly shaky economy, but his words had little effect. By the end of the day, the Dow had closed at its lowest level in two years, the government reported that prices had jumped at their sharpest pace in 27 years, and the chairman of the Federal Reserve Board warned that "significant challenges" lie ahead.
...

From USNews.com

Bush out of touch on the economy?

Amid the overwhelmingly negative coverage on the US economy, some press reports are casting President Bush's comments on the health of the economy and the US banking system as overly optimistic. McClatchy, in a dispatch titled "A Gloomy Day For The Economy, Except At The White House," reports the economic "turmoil" yesterday "clouded Bush's effort to use his first news conference since April to provide reassurance." The President "remained cautiously upbeat, sometimes with a gritty stay-the-course line, sometimes by telling folksy tales to illustrate his points."

The AP notes the President also "defended his insistence that the US economy was not in a recession, even though many economists believe it is," and USA Today reports, "Despite soaring gas and food prices and big declines in the stock market, the president insisted that 'our economy has demonstrated remarkable resilience,'" and "cited a 5.5% unemployment rate, slow first-quarter growth and expanding trade and productivity as reasons for consumers to have confidence." In a follow-up analysis, USA Today notes "It's a message that's been delivered by presidents before in times of economic trouble. 'Herbert Hoover kept telling the country during the Depression that "things are sound, it's the usual business cycle, and it will turn in the right direction,"' said presidential historian Robert Dallek."

Bill O'Reilly, on Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor said, "The economy is wobbling badly. People are scared." The President was shown saying, "I'm not an economist. But I do believe we are growing. I can remember, you know, this press conference here, people yelling recession this, recession that, as if you are economists. I'm an optimist." O'Reilly added, "Well, he is also a rich guy. The question is: Should people who aren't rich guys be worried? ... He came across a little arrogant there, the President did. ... The economy is frightening a lot of people."

On the Economy:

Bush: "Basically sound." 

Bernanke: "The economy continues to face numerous difficulties."

Bush: "Our economy has continued growing."

Bernanke: "Rapid increases in the price of energy and other commodities."

Bush: "Consumers are spending, businesses are investing."

Bernanke: "Economic activity has advanced at a sluggish pace."

Bush: "American productivity remains strong."

Bernanke: "Ongoing strains in financial markets, declining house prices, a softening labor market."

Bush: "You're protected by the federal government."

Bernanke: "Have boosted inflation."

Bush spent much of his time lambasting Congress.  Yes, I lambast them too, for giving Bush any power in the first place.  And the people, for voting him into office. 

P.S.  Gasoline was $1.48 a gallon when President George Bush took office in 2001.

Despite level borrowing from the Fed, mortgage rates have been increased and foreclosures continue to rise in the United States. Falling wealth and real income, tightening credit conditions, rising energy prices, and sharply declining consumer sentiment were seen as likely to restrain consumer spending later this year, particularly after the effects of the fiscal stimulus trail off.

The economic stimulus as dispensed by the Internal Revenue Service has been very slow. Instead of mailing out in two groups as originally promised, the IRS instead decided to slowly milk the process, dispensing the stimulus based on social security numbers over a period of several months. As a result, the economic stimulus was spread out over a period of time. A few recipients still may not have received their stimulus payment. It is almost as if the government couldn't afford to let go of the money, deciding to use a payment plan, even though the money had been borrowed since February.

The Fed declined to comment on the effect of the government holding back on the stimulus money over time. Inflation is up and based on their barometers, the Fed is looking at more of the same. Because of gas and food prices, the Fed is very worried about consumer confidence.

While the news isn't good, at least the nation is being more realistic. Economists say June's sharp rise in unemployment is just the start of a relentless climb in the number of unemployed.

As many European Union bankers have decided, the Federal Reserve now has "zero credibility" because they have not handled their responsibilities well. Unfortunately, the demands of the patient have the doctor turning in circles.

Why did Congress go along with this shit? Well, it meant that Congress didn't have to explain itself to the taxpayer about what it needed their money for anymore. It could just go skipping along to the Fed, the Fed would write them an imaginary check, then they'd go skipping along their merry way and have the bank cash their imaginary check. To paraphrase G. Edward Griffin there was no money until Congress went to the bank and cashed the motherfucker. Paper money isn't tangible like silver or gold. It doesn't get dug out of the ground, it gets printed up, and the Federal Reserve wins by propping up the sham banking system which makes money from us out of nothing. We get loans from the bank on the strength of our own initial investment, and the banks make money from the interest on the loan. Those fuck-pigs prosper and prosper while most of us teeter on the edge of the economic precipice, balancing on one leg, hoping no strong winds come along. It's enough to give you a Military Industrial Complex. Incidentally, if I have a Military Industrial Complex, does that mean there's a doctor somewhere who can prescribe me some inner peace? And how much will that cost? My fuckin' soul ?!?

By Shobhana Chandra and Timothy R. Homan

July 16 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. consumer prices surged 5 percent in the past year, the biggest jump since 1991, just as households struggled with falling home values and the credit crunch.

Spiraling expenses for food and fuel spurred the increase in June, the Labor Department said today in Washington. The cost of living rose 1.1 percent from May, more than forecast and the second-largest rise since 1982. Separate figures showed industrial production rose more than estimated because of the end of a strike at American Axle & Manufacturing Holdings Inc. and increased electricity output.

Price gains accelerated last month even after stripping out energy and food, underscoring the challenge for Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke as he attempts to steer the economy through the slowdown and credit crisis. Treasuries fell.

``This is a problem for the economy; it's even worse for the Fed,'' said Joel Naroff, president of Naroff Economic Advisors Inc. in Holland, Pennsylvania. ``Inflation numbers are high enough that under different circumstances the Fed would be hiking rates.''

Excluding food and energy, so-called core costs climbed 0.3 percent in June from the previous month and 2.4 percent from a year before.

Yields Jump

Benchmark 10-year note yields rose to 3.93 percent at 4:20 p.m. in New York, from 3.82 percent late yesterday. The Standard & Poor's 500 Stock Index advanced 2.5 percent to close at 1,245.36, after earnings from Wells Fargo & Co. topped analysts' estimates.

Consumer prices were forecast to rise 0.7 percent, according to the median estimate of 79 economists in a Bloomberg News survey. Projections ranged from gains of 0.2 percent to 1.1 percent. Costs excluding food and energy were forecast to rise 0.2 percent, the survey showed.

Bernanke told lawmakers in semiannual testimony on the economy yesterday and today that inflation risks have ``intensified.'' At the same time, he dropped his June assessment that risks to the economic expansion had diminished, indicating policy makers aren't ready to raise interest rates to contain expenses.

``We don't think they're going to raise rates now -- until June next year now is our forecast -- until basically the economy starts to get some footing,'' Beth Ann Bovino, senior economist at Standard & Poor's in New York, said in an interview with Bloomberg Radio. ``Right now the beast is what's going to happen with the economy.''

Exceeding Forecasts

Prices were forecast to climb 4.5 percent in June from a year earlier, according to the survey median.

A separate report today said confidence among U.S. homebuilders dropped to 16 this month, a record low. Readings for current sales, expected sales and buyer traffic in the National Association of Homebuilders/Wells Fargo sentiment index also were at all-time lows.

``The magnitude of the housing bubble was unprecedented, and the corrective process promises to be a long and painful one,'' Joshua Shapiro, chief U.S. economist at Maria Fiorini Ramirez Inc. in New York, said in a note to clients.

The Fed said today that production at factories, mines and utilities increased 0.5 percent last month after dropping 0.2 percent in May. Capacity utilization, which measures the proportion of plants in use, rose to 79.9 percent from 79.6 percent.

Strike's Resolution

The resolution of a three-month strike by General Motors Corp.'s largest axle supplier, American Axle, probably helped lift auto output. Excluding autos, factory output fell 0.1 percent for a second month.

Wholesale costs rose 1.8 percent in June, the most in seven months, the Labor Department reported yesterday. From a year ago, prices climbed 9.2 percent, the biggest surge since 1981.

Companies, unable to fully recover ballooning raw-material costs by raising prices, have cut staff and reduced equipment purchases as profits shrink.

Kimberly-Clark Corp., the maker of Huggies diapers and Scott paper towels, said earnings for this year will trail its previous forecast as expenses rise more than twice as fast as predicted,

``Inflation has outpaced our ability to offset higher costs in the near term through price increases, cost reductions and other measures,'' Thomas Falk, the Dallas-based company's chief executive officer, said this week in a statement.

Price Increase

Procter & Gamble Co., the maker of Tide detergent and Head & Shoulders shampoo, last week said it'll raise prices as much as 16 percent due to higher costs for plastic, energy and paper. The increases start in September and are the Cincinnati-based company's steepest in at least 18 months.

Energy expenses jumped 6.6 percent, the biggest gain since November. Gasoline soared 10.1 percent and fuel oil jumped 10.4 percent.

The cost of fuel will continue stoking price pressures. Crude oil futures reached a record $147.27 a barrel on July 11 and have risen almost 90 percent in the past year. Regular gasoline, which topped $4 a gallon for the first time in June, kept rising this month, AAA figures show.

The consumer price index is Labor's broadest gauge of costs. Almost 60 percent of the CPI covers prices consumers pay for services ranging from medical visits to airline fares and movie tickets.

Food Expenses

Food prices, which account for about a fifth of the CPI, increased 0.8 percent, driven by the biggest gain in the cost of vegetables in almost four years.

The report showed that food and fuel weren't the only items on the rise. Costs for airline fares jumped 4.5 percent, the most since 2001.

Rents which, make up almost 40 percent of the core CPI, also accelerated. A category designed to track rental prices rose 0.3 percent after a 0.1 percent gain in May.

Today's figures also showed wages decreased 0.9 percent in June after adjusting for inflation, the biggest drop since September 2005, and were down 2.4 percent over the last 12 months. The decline in buying power is one reason economists forecast consumer spending will slow.

Americans trimmed purchases of automobiles, furniture and restaurant meals last month as the cost of gasoline soared, a Commerce Department report showed yesterday. Retail sales rose 0.1 percent, less than forecast, a sign the boost from the tax rebate checks is already fading.

To contact the reporter on this story: Shobhana Chandra in Washington at schandra1@bloomberg.netTimothy R. Homan in Washington at thoman1@bloomberg.net

Because of the turmoil in the economy and banking industry, Bernanke has flagged his optimism somewhat, announcing that growth will eventually pick up over the next two years.

Years ago, no one would have expected oil futures to be running the economy, yet that is exactly what Mr. Bernanke is concerned about most now. Any downside risks in the economy and banking in general can be attributed to uncertainty in oil prices in his view. Despite a lively debate over the last few months, the media has recently continued to sound the alert that commodity trading is creating the tension in the oil market. A rumor in the "oil speculation market" supposedly set off a temporary decline the price of oil. The admission on all sides is that oil speculation is becoming considered an established fact in the cost of oil rather than the stuff of rumors. Like the mortgage banking debacle, could we see a similar financial scandal in the oil commodities market?

Bernanke also admitted that the dollar, weakened by credit expansion and the war fronts, has contributed to the price of oil. For years, the Fed has ignored the price of fuel and food when figuring inflation. This is no longer possible. Considering food and fuel alone, the yearly inflation rate is now at 21.6% based on June figures based on data from the U.S. Department of Labor. Naturally, these figures fluctuate from month-to-month, so the yearly total may be higher or lower over time. Curiously, the Department is claiming a 9.2 percent adjusted inflation rate for the last 12 months. However, the real facts and figures don't lie.

The U.S. government continues to manipulate economic data, as it has for years. Reports typically confirm the deception if you are willing to watch closely. For example, more jobs were lost than official numbers indicate. Washington continues this deception to extend the illusion of economic growth in the effort to keep consumer confidence high with the promise of higher consumption of goods. Strength in the U.S. economy since 2002 has mostly been fueled by financing. Right now, most financing is heavily curtailed for multiple causes. Even worse, because Americans aren't spending, the EU and other regions suffer as well in their economies.

Looking at foreclosure statistics and the like may be a better measure of the real state of the economy since these figures are much harder to manipulate or spread over time. Unfortunately, these statistics are rather grim and negative.

Meanwhile, the inflation of the dollar has deflated the value of the dollar as opposed to the Euro and other currencies. Even so, inflation is up in the European Union. An advertised 50 percent jump in crude oil prices this year has driven inflation and drained spending power as economic growth weakens. Even the EU is putting their faith in the stabilization of oil prices.

Note how, in an eerie parallel to the man's career, he begins by sounding somewhat sane, only to gradually ramp up the weirdness over time.

I imagine Bunning today, going home from work in the Capitol each evening to his Unabomber-style shack, where he sits on the porch cleaning his guns while muttering about finally getting those floating purple woodsprites once and for all. Beam me up!

These comments by Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody's Economy.com, are fairly typical:

If the government hadn't moved and Fannie and Freddie failed, the cost to taxpayers and the overall economy would be enormous. If Fannie and Freddie were unable to play their huge roles in financing new mortgages, the housing market would only suffer more, not to mention the turmoil for the financial institutions around the world that invest in Fannie and Freddie's debt securities.

Zandi’s comments are exactly the opposite of the truth—if the government continues to bailout those who made bad bets on the housing market, the cost to the taxpayers and economy will be catastrophic, not just enormous.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have engaged in fraud, have helped to corrupt the political process, and have helped to raise the price of housing. Their debt holders should not be made immune from the same sharp decline in the value of their securities that their shareholders have already suffered.

First, the fraud and corruption issue: In May 2006, the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO), released a "Report of the Special Examination of Fannie Mae." The report covered the years from 1998-2004 and found that top management at Fannie Mae were engaging in fraud: "By deliberately and intentionally manipulating accounting to hit earnings targets, senior management maximized the bonuses and other executive compensation they received, at the expense of shareholders."

Fannie Mae is a prolific giver of campaign money to candidates of both political parties. Instead of responding to the serious accusations in the OFHEO report, they had the temerity, according to Bryon York, to lobby “Congress to cut OFHEO's funds unless it got rid of the top official in charge of investigating Fannie Mae.” Further, they continue to spend much money lobbying Congress. In the first quarter of 2008 alone, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac spent about $3.5 million on lobbying and hired 42 outside firms in this effort.

And how have they pushed up housing prices? Mish Shedlock looked at the mission of Fannie Mae: “We are a shareholder-owned company with a public mission. We exist to expand affordable housing and bring global capital to local communities in order to serve the U.S. housing market.” Mish pointed out:

Fannie Mae exists to expand affordable housing. Clearly Fannie Mae has failed its core mission. All government sponsored corporations fail their mission. The very nature of promoting housing makes prices go up, until the final blowoff top which we are now on the backside of, having reached Peak Credit.

And who is really being protected? London’s Financial Times reported that “Bill Gross, whose Pimco Total Return fund is the world's largest bond mutual fund, has tripled his bet on mortgage debt, which now comprises about 61 percent of the fund's assets. ” Gross commented, "Government policy is moving to sanctify the status of the government-sponsored agencies. It became a question of which institutions would be sheltered by the government umbrella."

In other words, the taxpayer is bailing out the investors in Gross’s bond fund and others who bought securities issued by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are in trouble because they helped finance too many low quality mortgages; and in so doing, they pushed housing prices up to unsustainable levels. Matt Kibbe, president of FreedomWorks, commented, "The prospectus for every GSE (Government Sponsored Enterprise) bond clearly states that it is not backed by the United States government. That's why investors holding agency bonds already receive a significant risk premium over Treasuries."

Thus as Harry Long points out: “Any bailout of the GSEs would not be about homeowners. It would be about charity to financial institutions and investors who have not behaved logically and stand to lose terribly due to sloppy decision making. I like to call it affirmative action for the rich and stupid.“ Bill Gross makes more in a year than most taxpayers will make in a lifetime—it is hardly in the interest of taxpayers that they subsidize him.

There are a few politicians in Congress who understand all of this. Just yesterday, during Senate testimony by Ben Bernanke, Senator and Hall of Fame pitcher, Jim Bunning said,

The Fed is asking for more power. But the Fed has proven they cannot be trusted with the power they have. They get it wrong, do not use it, or stretch it further than it was ever supposed to go. As I said a moment ago, their monetary policy is a leading cause of the mess we are in…

Now the Fed wants to be the systemic risk regulator. But the Fed is the systemic risk. Giving the Fed more power is like giving the neighborhood kid who broke your window playing baseball in the street a bigger bat and thinking that will fix the problem. I am not going to go along with that and will use all my powers as a Senator to stop any new powers going to the Fed.

The Fed is not the only institution getting bigger bats—Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are too, and they are destructive bullies. Giving the bullies bigger weapons will only ensure that the once great American economy will continue to be destroyed.

The ComScore study on comScore Study Finds Online Credit Card Applications
From ‘Subprime’ Candidates Rise 30 Percent Over Year Ago

"...online banking and credit industry, which showed that the number of online credit card applications submitted by subprime applicants (defined as individuals having the equivalent of a FICO creditworthiness score of 660 or less) increased by 30 percent in Q1 2008 versus the same period last year. Meanwhile, the number of applications submitted by prime applicants (defined as individuals having the equivalent of a FICO score greater than 660) declined by 16 percent."

There's also going to be a Webinar explaining the results taking place on Thursday, July 17th - here's the details:

"...Additional results from the comScore study will be presented during a 1-hour, live webinar entitled “Industry Insights: Credit Cards and Banking” on Thursday, July 17 at 2:00 p.m. ET/ 11:00 a.m. PT.  To register for the webinar, please visit: https://www1.gotomeeting.com/register/316294436.

I can see this kind of data being a footnote to a Paul Krugman blog post or Op-Ed

*Subprime defined as individuals having the equivalent of a FICO score of 660 or less;
Prime defined as individuals having the equivalent of a FICO score greater than 660.

Interestingly, there's no explaination on why "Prime" applecants for Credit Cards are down - where you'd think they'd all be crunched - so I question this data, or, at least, I'd like to know more - and if I have time I'll attend the Webinar.

ComScore's study also look at Search Behavior:

According to data from comScore Marketer, the number of searches for the term “cash advance” more than doubled, while the number of searches for the term “foreclosure” jumped 68 percent. Other terms that have increased in search volume include “credit card” (up 20 percent), “mortgage” (up 13 percent), and “bad credit” (up 9 percent).

Searches* for Banking and Credit-Related Terms Date: Q1 2007 vs. Q1 2008 Total U.S. – Home/Work/University Locations Source: comScore Marketer
Search Term	Total Number of Searches (MM)
	Q1 2007	Q1 2008	Percent Change Y/Y
Bad Credit	3.71	4.06	9%
Cash Advance	0.64	1.36	113%
Credit Card	15.77	18.93	20%
Foreclosure	4.18	7.03	68%
Mortgage	21.69	24.58	13%

*Based on broad matches of the search term.

I put the same 5 keywords in Radian6 to see what I could pick up using Social Media Buzz Monitoring over the last 30 days (I tried to tie these keywords in with "credit cards" by adding it as a condition on each keyword phrase)

The Buzz information seems to mirror what Comscore is saying - but I wonder how it breaks down according to type of media with 99% of it being comprised of Blogs and Forums.

Too bad Radian6 lacks  a measure of "Reach" assigned to each source of data - it might be more accurate to estimate the effect of Social Media is we can mash up the Engagement Score with the possible Audience numbers that could have seen the media - and right now, I haven't found a tool that does that.  In fact, data on the potential readers (ie: Unique Visitors) to any page/site are out there (ie: Quantcast, Compete, Alexa, ComScore - for the larger properties) and I think we need to add potential audience as a dimension to Social Media Measurement that is not, as yet, being counted.

Three other random notes:

Go to CSPAN to watch the rest.

With stocks plummeting across the world, the White House has decided its time to send George Bush out to give us a pep talk. I doubt he will tell us to stop whining, but the guy who was a cheerleader at Andover must be pretty pissed off that he has to end his Presidency in the same stupid business.

It doesn't really matter what he says, because the U.S. economic freefall is not something he can do anything about. Take the dollar. British governments bonds are yielding 5%  (Euro Bonds 4.5%) while U.S. Treasuries yield 2%. This simple fact is why the dollar is in freefall and oil costs us more everyday. In his congressional testimony this morning, Fed Chairman Bernanke talked about the banks need to rebuild capital, but as Bloomberg pointed out yesterday, even the biggest banks are in far more trouble than their balance sheets would indicate.

At an investor presentation in May, Citigroup Inc. Chief Executive Officer Vikram Pandit said shrinking the bank's $2.2 trillion balance sheet, the biggest in the U.S., was a cornerstone of his turnaround plan.

Nowhere mentioned in the accompanying 66-page handout were the additional $1.1 trillion of assets that New York-based Citigroup keeps off its books: trusts to sell mortgage-backed securities, financing vehicles to issue short-term debt and collateralized debt obligations, or CDOs, to repackage bonds.

Way back in January we warned about the Shadow Banking System , the $500 Trillion of off balance sheet derivatives that would come to haunt America. When this slow-motion crash is all over and the genius quants and hedge fund wizards have taken early retirement in their Greenwich mansions some brave soul in Congress will call a 21st Century version of the Pecora Commission and these Masters of The Universe will have to tell under oath the rationale behind the debt addled insanity that brought us here. And though Republicans like Phil Gramm, Wendy Gramm, David Stockman and James Baker will be in that rogue's gallery, we must also include Democrats like Robert Rubin and Sandy Weill who pushed through banking deregulation. This house of cards was a bi-partisan project.

Executive Summary:

On Monday, the Federal Reserve Board approved new rules to ban misleading and deceptive practices in mortgage lending. The rules, which will go into effect in October 2009, do not need Congressional approval, and Federal Reserve Board Chairman Ben Bernanke stated that the new measures would not be retroactive. Among other provisions,  the mortgage market's ability to disburse "higher priced loans" has been restricted unless they can verify the borrower can repay the highest loan rate after the Adjustable Rate Mortgage (ARM) has reset.

International Summary:

Britain's inflation rate jumped to 3.8% in June, nearly double the 2.0% the Bank of England had targeted for the first half of the year. This marked the third month in a row that inflation figures have come in above forecast and the 2nd time in three months that the annual rate has jumped by at least one-half percentage point. Increased food and fuel prices are the main drivers for the higher inflation rate.

Robbed:

• Nothing to report today.

They Fought The Law, And...

• William Rook Byard, 44, was charged with the robbery of Amarillo Community FCU in Amarillo, Texas on January 29, 2008. Byard allegedly entered the credit union brandishing a handgun, demanded cash, and fled on foot to his getaway vehicle several doors down. The vehicle was identified at a Saturn dealership in June, leading police to Byard's arrest.
• A teller has been arrested in connection with the July 3, 2008 robbery of Goldenwest Credit Union in South Jordan, Utah. Jeffrey Lyle Nay, 20, allegedly planned the robbery with Curtis Brad Cordery, 20, which entailed taking two credit union staff into the vault, taking an undisclosed amount of cash, and removing the dye pack before exiting the financial institution. Nay is in custody while Cordery remains at large.