Believe jobs will come back at least in Financial Industry soon

At the local 7-11 daily the lines are growing for those waiting for day to day work. Shoot after being laid off for a year I sometimes want to stand there for work. My question is with seeing so many people standing there and not just immigrants anymore, getting paid under the table daily- how is this "no tax" approach stimulating the economy?

I just read a story on the internet (MSN News) The AP is reporting that production is down.
(Insert from the AP Report says: "Factories and mines are increasingly idle, as the total industrial capacity utilization rate fell to 69.3 percent from 70.3 percent, the lowest on records dating to 1967, the Fed said.")
I live near an interstate and am hoping someone can tell me what is inside of the thousands of 18-wheeler's and big rigs traveling up and down that highway? I can't help wondering if production is so down would I not be seeing less big rigs on the highway?

Why is it that the government, media, Wall St- heck everyone- is acting so surprised that retail took a substantial drop in sales? That shouldn't have come to any surprise to anyone. People are being laid off on a daily basis- there are those who have been laid off for months- many exhausting their benefits who can't just go out and splurge. Watching the news yesterday and today they talk like it is such a big surprise. It wasn't to me. The answer is to get people working again. The biggest problem is going to be instilling job security in millions of Americans.

As I was reading the news today with bleak economic predictions, I wondered why banks are still holding back on credit despite bail-outs?? It seems that the credit flow is still tight thereby hurting the small businesses the most. These businesses are not getting anything from the government and are basically the bread and butter of the economy as collectively they employ the majority of the work force. Should the government not be making sure that they are provided credit to ensure survival??

With its ever trusted ally, the U.K by its side, Americans are facing a tough audience at the G20 summit. President Obama is pushing his stimulus spending to revive the economy with only U.K and Japan on his side.
Germany and France, however, are completely opposed to this idea and the fingers point at the U.S for not doing enough to regulate the U.S. financial market. Both these countries are pushing for a global financial regulations that would not only apply internationally but also domestically for the U.S. President Obama's resistance to this is completely understandable as he tries to divert pressure from outside forces. While not overtly pushing protectionism, there seems to be an underlying tone to his message as he tells other nations not to rely on the U.S market for their exports.
In my opinion waiting on the sidelines, Russia and China will be using this downturn of U.S economy as a leverage. Let's wait and see if the Chinese still think that the U.S. economy is viable enough for them to invest in.

Tomorrow is the G20 summit in London and the Heads of States of the group of 20 countries deemed important enough to discuss economic woes meet. I wonder what the outcome will be? We already know about the bail out plans and the stimulus bills and the need to regulate. I do hope that somehow there is good news regarding the economy that leaks out because at this point it all seems like a broken record.

Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner peeled another layer of his proposed Financial Regulatory System to reveal a firmer stance for non-bank financial institutions yesterday. It seems that with each follow up to his plan, he gets more confident and thus more strict.
I am sure much to the chagrin of the proposed financial institution, (like insurance companies involved in mortgage loans, investment banks and firms, hedge funds and private equity firms) Timothy Geithner is asking that any company over a certain size be required to register with the Securities and Exchange Commission. I suppose what the specifics of this size are, will be revealed at some other step of his plan!!! Oh...the suspense!!! However, the concept here is that this will help in the government in creating a risk profile for these institutions.
During their profitable periods, these institutions will be required to save more capital for the rainy days. In my opinion, kind of like having an in-house insurance back up.
Since FDIC is non-political and independent and has experience with handling smaller banks that are struggling, the Treasury is proposing to give FDIC the authority over bigger financial institutions as well.
FDIC would be able to sell assets, nullify or renegotiate existing contracts (of course, in response to AIG bonuses) and be able to fire and replace top executive.
This all seems rather heavy-handed but also a demand of our times and situation. If I were an exec of a huge financial institution, I think I would do the following:
- Cash out, Take my money and Run NOW !!! OR
- Stick it out but make sure I have clean balance sheets OR
- Get in a fighting mode and demand to investigate the competency of the FDIC, the FED and the Treasury.

News update for Financial Institutions: You are about to have a watchdog, monkey on your back, a micro manager or whatever else you may want to call it.
Yesterday in front of the House Financial Services Committee, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner and Federal Reserve Chairman formed a united front and asked to be given the power and authority take control of non-bank financial institutions if they are troubled and too big to fail. The justification here is that the domino effect of the failure of these institutions is too risky and detrimental for the overall economy.
Along with AIG like insurance companies, this proposed legislation includes control over hedge funds and private equity firms. The momentum and uproar started by the AIG bonuses has provided a perfect leverage to the federal government to get this proposal passed. It has firm support from the President and the Democrats who are insisting on the urgent need of a financial regulatory system.
The power and control would remain with the Treasury and the FDIC in conjunction with the White House and the Fed. The question remains, Is this the way to control unethical profit making practices or is the government trying to curtail and curb the inherent essence of the free market /capitalist system that the U.S economy is based on?

Not just the U.S. stocks but the world stocks also rallied at the announcement by the U.S Treasury that it intends to buy up-to $1 trillion worth of bad banks loans and assets. The purchase will include residential and commercial loans.
The Dow Jones leaped to almost 500 points, its highest 1 day gain since November, signaling that consumer and public confidence is directly based on performance (or in this case, the expected and anticipated performance) of the financial sector. In additions, financial institutions like Citigroup announced profits and home sales also increased in February.
The Public - Private Investment plan by the government has seen investment interests from financial institutions like Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs that plan to purchase the bad loans at a depressed price and sell them when the economic conditions are more profitable.
The question does arise as to exactly how the government is going to decide what the right price is to buy these bad mortgages?