It's All About Greed

We're still reeling with shock from the fall of Wall Street then here comes another blow. It seems like fate has chosen western capitalism as its target. And fate isn't missing. Fate knows what the culprit is.

The fall of Wall Street was inevitable. The government giving incentives to banks to lend to those who don't deserve (who knows why), banks grabbing the opportunity to lend to those who have little chance to pay, and borrowers wanting more money so they can buy the latest and up their lifestyle, their future was set. Greed is the name of the game — the desire for luxury and more money and utter disregard and concern for others. It's the Me generation.

Now Madoff. He made off with investors' money. And to think he was able to scam $1 billion off of HSBC! What happens to the savings of HSBC's customers? How about the retirements of investors of investment companies? (And OPEC wants to raise oil prices and pull out their investments from western banks. The same is true for South American countries.)

Western nations cannot serve both the Christian God and greed. They will surely love one and hate the other.

Madoff under curfew on $10m bail

Mr Madoff did not respond to reporters' questions

Bernard Madoff, the hedge fund boss accused of a $50bn (£32bn) fraud, has put up $10m bail and in effect been placed under house arrest.

Mr Madoff turned up at New York's federal court to sign some papers but did not answer reporters' questions.

He signed over his New York flat and his homes in Long Island and Palm Beach, Florida to make up the bail.

He will also be fitted with an electronic tag and will have to seek permission to leave his flat.

In addition to surrendering his own passport, Mr Madoff has also agreed to hand in that of his wife Ruth.

The bail conditions were tightened after Mr Madoff failed to find the required four people to co-sign his bail agreement.

If the correct documents are supplied, Mr Madoff will not have to make another court appearance until 12 January.

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Why Not the Auto Industry?

Congress approved a $700 billion bail out plan for Wall Street but refused to approve a $14 billion bail out request from the auto industry. Why?

A hit on Wall Street is a hit at the very pocketbooks of congressmen and senators, while a hit on the auto industry isn't a direct hit for Congress. Could it be self-interest? What's the big difference between a collapse at Wall Street and a collapse in Detroit?

Here's an excerpt of a news report from BBC:

White House considers auto rescue

The White House says it is considering using money earmarked to rescue the US banking industry to bail out the country's struggling carmakers.

A $14bn (£9.4bn) bail-out deal for the US car industry failed to get Senate support, raising fears of job cuts and a possible industry collapse.

The White House said that the US economy could not withstand a body blow like the collapse of the auto industry.

Meanwhile General Motors said it was temporarily stopping some production.

And Honda is also to cut back output in North America.

GM, which has been pleading for an emergency government loan to avert collapse, said it would halt 30% of its North American production "in response to rapidly deteriorating market conditions".

It saw vehicle sales fall 41% in November, when overall US car sales fell 26% industry wide.

The temporary shutdowns will affect 14 US factories as well as three in Canada and three in Mexico, reducing output by 250,000 vehicles in the first three months of 2009.

"The speed and severity of the US auto market's decline has been unprecedented in recent weeks as consumers reel from the collapse of the financial markets and the resulting lack of credit for vehicle financing," it added.

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