President Obama considers bank nationalisation

[Guest guest]

Dear friends,

 

It seems the Obama administration, even if the issue is normally highly controversial, is moving toward the idea of a tempoary nationalisation (government administration) of some weak banks, even the entire banking system. This would be a big break for US policy of leaving banks in private control. However, it would be consistent with the expected focus of the Saturn sub-period, which has just begun. Saturn indicates the interests of the common people and the economy and is placed in the 5th house of management in the SAMVA USA chart.

 

In the blog Predictions for the USA in 2009 it was suggested the policies would shift:

"During this period, the focus will shift gradually from the financial stability concerns of recent years during the Jupiter sub-period to issues indicated by Saturn. As 8th lord, there will be increased awareness of obstacles and endings in the national life during the Saturn period, but also on easy gains for the common people, such as through changes in the tax code or other reforms. As Saturn is a general indicator of the economy, working people and things mined from the ground the reforms and issues will be focused on these areas of the national life. The economy may become sluggish at this time. Moreover, as Saturn is natally placed in the 5th house, problems will tend to be found in the domain of national life ruled by this house. In other words, the focus will be on problems in the

management of the economy or of ordinary or disenfranchised people. "

 

Today the following news story appears:

 

Bank nationalisation gains ground with Republicans

February 18 2009 01:07

Long regarded in the US as a folly of Europeans, nationalisation is gaining rapid acceptance among Washington opinion-formers – and not just with Alan Greenspan, former Federal Reserve chairman. Perhaps stranger still, many of those talking about nationalising banks are Republicans. Lindsey Graham, the Republican senator for South Carolina, says that many of his colleagues, including John McCain, the defeated presidential candidate, agree with his view that nationalisation of some banks should be “on the tableâ€. Mr Graham says

that people across the US accept his argument that it is untenable to keep throwing good money after bad into institutions such as Citigroup and Bank of America, which now have a lower net value than the amount of public funds they have received. “You should not get caught up on a word [nationalisation],†he told the Financial Times in an interview. “I would argue that we cannot be ideologically a little bit pregnant. It doesn’t matter what you call it, but we can’t keep on funding these zombie banks [without gaining public control]. That’s what the Japanese did.†Barack Obama, the president, who has tried to avoid panicking lawmakers and markets by entertaining the idea, has moved more towards what he calls the “Swedish model†– an approach backed strongly by

Mr Graham. In the early 1990s Sweden nationalised its banking sector then auctioned banks having cleaned up balance sheets. “In limited circumstances the Swedish model makes sense for the US,†says Mr Graham. Mr Obama last weekend made clear he was leaning more towards the Swedish model than to the piecemeal approach taken in Japan, which many would argue is the direction US public policy appears to be heading. “They [the Japanese] sort of papered things over,†Mr Obama said. “They never really bit the bullet . . . and so you never got credit flowing the way it should have, and the bad assets in their system just corroded the economy for a long period of time.â€...Administration officials acknowledge that the rescue plan unveiled by Tim Geithner, Treasury secretary, last week could result in the temporary nationalisation of some weak banks....The Obama administration remains opposed to federal control. Mr Geithner last week said: “Governments are terrible managers of bad assets.â€

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/2ad3b750-fd27-11dd-a103-000077b07658.html?nclick_check=1

 

These are interesting times.

 

Best wishes,

 

Thor