1. Well, last week we posted that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were crashing. Over the weekend, (VERY wayward) portions of the U.S. government decided that they were going to work to bail out these massive failing institutions. Jim Rogers, a very famous global investor, is calling the deal an “unmitigated disaster” and joins us in calling the two government sponsored entities essentially insolvent.

My take on this situation is thus: these entities should have never been floated by the U.S. government in the first place. There is no place for the federal government in trying to “guarantee” low mortgage rates. Whenever the body of force in society becomes involved in such issues, it ruins things. The last 10 years of the massive national housing/mortgage/credit boom and now bust has much of its roots planted firmly in the market/government position of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. At this point, since we cannot change the ugly past, it is a must that we work forward in a manner to get rid of these institutions with as little pain as possible. FNM and FRE should be wound down gradually in a way that maintains taxpayer wealth as much as possible. In the future such entities should not be created and there should be no bail out. These are my thoughts and I am wholly confident that they are righteous and sound.

2. Also over the weekend, large California-based bank IndyMac Bank (IMB), facing a run on its liquid assets due to its very questionable balance sheet and general aware self interest on the part of its individual creditors, was taken over by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC). This is the second largest bank failure in U.S. history and could take a large chunk out of the assets available to the FDIC for bank failures.

The next bank that I am worried about for potential failure is Washington Mutual (WM). The stock is down another 33% today and over 90% over the past year. Please be aware that you are not insured for any assets over $100,000 in any “FDIC Insured” account. Additionally, you may not want to deal with the headache of working with the FDIC, so it will likely pay to avoid questionable banks like WM. Many banks hold terrible mortgage assets and will struggle to raise funds to pay out creditors. Work to protect yourself, your business and your family.

It is interesting to note that in spite of the accuracy of warnings including those here on Ponder This…, among many other sage advisers and true leaders, there remain ridiculous online misinformation or “bury” brigades. These people have been thoroughly discredited at this stage and it will not pay to listen to those with their head buried in the sand or who have ulterior motives. Much of the “mainstream” corporate media is included in the discredited portion of the message-producing population.

3. The award-winning Times of London is reporting that George W. Bush is backing an Israeli plan for a strike on Iran. This action would undoubetdly escalate to include the U.S. as an aggressive strike by Israel would clearly initiate defensive actions by Iran and her allies. The U.S. would clearly likely become involved in the idiocy and that would lead to unknown potential outcomes, including a potential destruction of U.S. forward forces as they are already highly stretched very thin. I do not know what our “leaders” are thinking, but it is not good. The U.S. population DOES NOT SUPPORT WAR ON IRAN. Now is not the time to sit around idly. It is time to talk to people, contact your representatives and DEMAND ACTION. If we are taken into war with Iran outside of our will, it will bring further destruction to our economy and well being. Please act.

4. Very excellent online sage Justin Raimondo provides further extraordinary insight into the proceedings related to the U.S. “leadership”, Israel and Iran. If you do not want the U.S. to fall victim to a significant war-and-bubble-induced depression, and you want to be aware of what’s going on in the war front, I advise staying up-to-date on Mr. Raimondo’s writings.

5. In spite of the relative chaos that is transpiring (or at least threatening to transpire) in the global political-economy, there are now indications that the U.S. government is actually realizing that it has limited ability to bail out any failing institution. This is something that we have been calling. Many people naively thought that the federal government would have the intenstinal fortitude and/or gall to bail out all failing financial and banking institutions. The problem is, there are only so many resources to throw at the problem. MSNBC is reporting that the government will not bail out any further institutions after Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Considering the size of Fannie and Freddie, they simply may not be able to go further.

6. And while the government is starting to find that it is reaching its limit (far too late), the esteemed Ron Paul, who has shown a tremendous understanding of the underlying issues we are currently facing, speaks of the overwhelmingly supported position that we need to start coming home from Iraq.

Given the destruction to our well being that the Iraq War has contributed greatly towards, it is not now time to go further audaciously against Iran, it is now time to end the violence, end the occupations, and bring our brave fighting individuals home to truly defend America. Enough of the death, tyranny and wealth destruction, it is NOW time for liberty, peace, and prosperity.

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