WASHINGTON - The federal agency that insures bank deposits, which is asking for emergency powers to borrow up to $500 billion to take over failed banks, is facing a potential major shortfall in part because it collected no insurance premiums from most banks from 1996 to 2006. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, which insures deposits up to $250,000, tried for years to get congressional authority to collect the premiums in case of a looming crisis. But Congress believed that the fund was so well-capitalized - and that bank failures were so infrequent - that there was no need to collect the premiums for a decade, according to banking officials and analysts.
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A tent city is burgeoning in Sacramento, Calif., prompting local officials to consider whether such an encampment should be made permanent, with plumbing and all.
The primitive settlement sits in the shadow of the state capitol and is home to about 300 people who have no toilets or running water, creating unsanitary conditions that advocacy groups worry could promote diseases like cholera. With the downturn in the economy and more working-class people losing their jobs and their homes, the tent city is expanding.
No worries.. other people "won", and the natural consequence of "winning" is those losers..
3 comments:
Tent city eh? In the mighty USA.
I do recall alluding to such eventualities in my longer reply a few weeks back. That's not an 'I told you so' as your reply was excellent. But I believe the truth of the situation will wind up somewhere between both our viewpoints.
It's actually really depressing to see how messed up the world is.
Quite a mindfuck. And sometimes it seems the only way to navigate the rest of the things that need doing on a daily basis is 'switch off' and don't let it drag you down.
The world being fucked up is not a new thing of course. I guess it's been easier to ignore for decades when it's skinny black kids in africa on CNN.
There's just something extra obscene about it when you have people in houses in california that could watch trash like The Biggest Loser on their TV only to look out their window and see their countrymen living in tents.
It is strange times for sure. I grew up in the 70's.. did the school thing in the 80's.. and cruised through the 90's. There never seemed much to get uptight about..
Then that fucking chimpanzee somehow figured out how to get the presidency.. 9/11.. 2 wars.. and an imploding economy.
Go figure..
Hopefully it'll be an opportunity to wash the fuckers down the toilet.. but it would suck if a lot of people have to suffer to get there.
Over a longer timeline what the world is experiencing now is just another blip.
Adversity is the mother of innovation and I expect this could be applied to everything from stone tools to antiseptics.
The question I suppose is what humanity will get out of this current shit storm.
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