Obtain Your Own BPO Listings For New BPO Agents

Obtain BPO Listings

HOW TO OBTAIN BPO LISTINGS

Obtain BPO Listings For New BPO Agents

Welcome - thank you for checking out the REO/BPO Online Training informational page,” Obtain BPO Lists For New BPO Agents”

BPO Agent Jobs

The goal of this particular page is to show some easy ways for you to Obtain Your Own BPO Listings . Right now, there are so many opportunities for those that want to become BPO Agents. Since you are here, I can guess that you already know about the current opportunities. Take the time to really understand how BPO’s work, and what it means to obtain BPO Listings, and I guarantee you that you wont give up before you get your first lead.And that is half the battle - if you can make through the beginning and really get your foot in the door, you will make it.

Sorry for the motivational “speech”, but I hate to see people, SMART people, decide to quit on something like real estate opportunities, when if they would just take some advice from people that have been there before, they would then see that everyday people can make a great living with BPO’s.So dont give up - and remember to use the tools that are available to you. Most times they dont cost more than $65-$100. It just depends on your goals, what you know and what you feel will help you to reach your final goal in the best possible manner or time frame. Just try not to limit yourself.

How to Get BPO Lisitngs - And Stand Out While Doing It

O.K., the banks happen to be the people that you should call. Basically, its a bit like cold calling. But
in order to obtain BPO Listings, we have to go to the source. Now, we usually call this Manually Obtaining BPO Listings, and of course, its not the only way for new agents to obtain BPO Listings, its just that its free and you can do it anytime.Personally its best that you buy yourself a nice, big BPO List from a reputable BPO Listing company. These list ARE legit -(Of course you will know that immediately) -but more importantly , they give you a chance to skip the tough part, and concentrate on your actual BPO Leads -instead of calling or emailing ton’s of local banks.

BUT - if you do have to start out contacting your local banks -dont forget to STAND OUT. Dont just send emails -Emails are O.K, but everybody does that. You need to CALL and build rapport with the people that are going to help you out in the long run.

The more the bank’s hear from you, the better your chances are of getting those BPO Lists.

But, if you can try to get a good list of 50-100 BPO leads.In the future, after you have built some experience, I would definitely recommend calling your local banks and lenders. These relationship’s will most certainly pay off -but its better for you to have some of your own BPO Clients under the belt.

Once You Have A BPO List - .

How To Obtain BPO Listings

No matter how you obtain your BPO Lisitngs, you must think about the best way for you to stand out among your leads.Most likely , you wont be the only BPO agent -so proving that you are more professional than the average BPO Agent , will not only give you a better chance at success, but these lead’s will REMEMBER YOU when considering there next BPO provider.It only takes a few simple strategies - like for instance, instead of an email, you can send them something on paper. This will give you a chance to show them you are serious, with something , like your own logo or letterhead

Although they seem so simple, these are the actions that are taken by,the best agents, the best businessmen,and basically the best professionals , period. But the reason why these techniques are so effective , is because you are doing anything major or drastic. These geture’s are simple -yet the impact is very substantial.

Your First Lead - Remember To Make Them Happy

I know that it sounds Obvious, but emailing a thank you is not only ideal, but not alot of people ACTUALLY think about doing it. Once again, you can separate yourself from other BPO Agents. The Average BPO agents DO NOT understand that asset managers deal with 100’s of BPO’s that they issue every week - and they can easily forget you even exist.And of course, this is good for you -as long as you do your part to stand out.

A thank you card isnt a big deal -There is no question that its worth doing.

How To Do BPO On Foreclosed Homes

Oil prices jumped significantly higher today after trading virtually sideways all week last week. Crude oil for August delivery was up $2.33 or 3.4 percent and finished the day on the New York Mercantile Exchange at $71.49 a barrel. This was the highest close since June 12. In early trading on Tuesday June 30 it was up another .76 cents and it’s predicted to go up.

One of the factors driving oil higher is the continued attacks on oil interests in Nigeria by rebel militants. Royal Dutch Shell had to close one of its facilities six weeks ago after an attack and a rebel group said it attacked another Shell facility on Monday. Just last week Nigeria’s president offered amnesty from prosecution if the militants turned over their weapons, they ignored the offer wanting money from oil companies who they claim are destroying the environment and for members of their groups to be released from jail, the Nigerian government of course, refuses to meet those demands.

Chevron and other U.S. companies also have oil interests in the volatile region of Africa as Nigeria sells 44% of its oil exports to the United States. According to government sources the attacks have at least temporarily shut down about 1.26 million barrels per day of oil production. Nigeria is a member of OPEC and produces approximately 2.17 million barrels per day of oil and is the 5th largest foreign oil supplier to the United States.

In addition to the problems in Africa, a positive stock market help buoy oil prices, many traders think a greater economy equals more spending and more spending equals more gas usage. The recent market turnaround has help to raise oil prices since it was trading around $40 in February. Oil has found recent support and resistance levels at $69 per barrel, $70 per barrel and $72 per barrel. So this recent price action may be a breakout sending oil prices significantly higher. Many commodity traders are still in fear of an oil superspike this summer that will make last years $140 a barrel oil look cheap. Some saying we could see prices go well over $200 a barrel.

Gold prices also rose over a dollar to nearly $942 per troy ounce. The precious metal should trade relatively sideways this week as people prepare their portfolios before the July 4th holiday. Gold prices have been strong since around June 12 when the dollar began its clear down trend. The $940 level has also been a key support and resistance level and this breakout signifies to many gold investors that the commodity is headed higher. Some commodity investors believe that we will see gold at $1300 before the end of the year. The bullishness of gold has also brought silver prices off of its June lows of around 13.86. Now trading around the $14.oo per ounce level.

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Learn penny stock trading. ETFs mean Exchange Traded Funds. ETFs represent an ownership stake in a basket of underlying securities. This basket can represent a specific index like the S&P 500 or the Nasdaq 100, segment of market like the small cap, large growth stocks, sector like semiconductor, energy, travel or foreign currencies like Euro, Yen.

Join sector hunter service.It can also comprise of bonds, gold, silver or other commodities. The value of the ETF is determined by the underlying securities. So you may be thinking this sound like a mutual fund. Discover a revolutionary new forex robot.

ETFs are different from the Mutual Funds in a number of ways. ETFs can be brought and sold throughout the trading day like ordinary stocks. The unit price of ETF changes instantaneously unlike the Mutual Funds that are priced at the end of the trading day.

There is no minimum for ETF purchases. ETFs can be traded using the market, limit and stop loss orders. ETFs can be shorted, traded with a margin account and many trade options. So ETFs offer the diversification advantages of mutual funds and the flexibility of stocks.

Suppose you have a bullish opinion on the oil sector. You will have to analyze dozens of companies in the oil sector and spend hours to select the one that you think is the strongest. One of the main advantages of ETFs is that they offer diversification.

ETFs provide you the benefit of diversification in the same way that mutual funds do to the small retail investors. You could choose the Oil Sector ETFs that would give you the advantage of mimicking some oil sector index. Instead of investing in a few stocks you have now invested in a particular sector just like investing in a mutual fund.

The key advantage that ETFs hold over mutual funds is that they can be sold or bought at anytime of the day. ETF prices keep on changing in relation to the underlying assets. However, mutual funds are priced only once at the end of each trading day.

Another main advantage of ETFs over mutual funds is the fees charged by each. A mutual fund charges management fees and can also charge upfront, backend or other sales loads. Expense ratios for ETFs on average are not more than 0.4%. ETF expenses are low because they are passively managed and generally follow an established index.

Currency trading has become extremely popular among the institutional investors, big companies and hedge funds. Foreign currency trading is not just for gamblers or commodity traders.

Foreign currency has become a respected asset classification. It is so hot that now you can trade Exchange Traded Funds (ETFs) on currencies. As with any other product there are advantages and disadvantages of trading ETFs so you need to do your due diligence before making any investment decision.

Trading with foreign currencies, better known as Foreign exchange trading is conceived to be one of the most promising investing option. It is not very difficult to learn forex trading, and the skills of trading with foreign currencies can be acquired by everyone. However, the fact is that more than 90 percent of forex investors lose their fortune. So, how complicated is it to actually make successful inroads in the market of currencies? If experts are to be believed, if certain rules and advices are followed, any one can achieve currency trading success.

Success in this market needs proper methods, discipline and a positive mindset. This is basically the reason why most people lose money here. Along with the right knowledge of proper forex trading, one also needs to have the above cited virtues as well in order to succeed. In the article we will discuss some ways to create the proper mindset that is required for currency trading success.

1. Smart working and not hard working is the key: In the field of forex trading, one needs to work smart and not necessarily hard. While in most cases, your accomplishment will be dependent on the effort made behind a particular task, but here at forex trading, success comes only when he/she is correct in making the proper decision. There are certain myths related to Forex trading. The investor with proper knowledge of the market will never pay heed to such myths, and make the right decisions, which will help him succeed. By working smartly one can learn all about forex trading within a fortnight and start making profits the next day itself, since forex is one of the investment options option there is

2. Having confidence is the basic preparation: This is required to succeed in any form of job, regardless of whether it is related to investment or not. People do not talk much about confidence as a key component of successful trading, but according to most experts in this field it is an extremely important factor which comes into play during implementation of a transaction. This is something that no tutorial on earth will help you with. It generally comes from within. The confidence comes only when one has accomplished understanding about the forex market and its functioning.

3. Without discipline, one can not think of achieving success: The virtue of discipline is one of the most vital component of successful currency trading. Discipline must be there in all your methods otherwise it cannot be considered as a method in the first place. Discipline comes only when one has expertise over the market fundamentals and also is sure about his or her trading capabilities. These three qualities: confidence, knowledge and discipline make up for the only key factors that help you to accomplish currency trading success.

4. Passion to succeed: One needs to be passionate and committed about what he/she is doing. Although this is not a prerequisite for forex trading, but if you have it, one can be rest assured that he/she is in the right track. Acquiring knowledge would not be a problem for the passionate, its just the assurance and the discipline that one needs to master, and then success is unavoidable with the your wanted goal setting.

Real estate investing is among the most interesting and lucrative business practices out there. Investing in real estate is exciting, and if you make the right choices you are almost guaranteed to make a profit. After all, the price of houses keeps going up and up, as does commercial real estate. Don’t get me wrong real estate investments are not a sure thing. There is no such thing as a sure investment, and anyone who tells you different is not giving you the whole story. Nonetheless, it is one of the surest things out there.

I first got involved in real estate investing accidentally. I was renting a warehouse with some friends when the landlord suddenly decided he wanted to sell it. It wasn’t making enough from rent, and he had some bad debts that he wanted to settle. He gave us the option of buying it from him, and we decided that that was just the thing to do.

It was hard to get together money for a down payment, but once we did, we never regretted it. Although the area was depressed at the time, there was an urban renewal program that was bringing more money into the city. Soon, our warehouse artists space was worth a fortune.

I moved out after some time and decided to just sell my share and invest more more somewhere else. I pursued more of real estate investing. I put my money in a huge commercial lot which costs me a lot but sooner though, I was just collecting money on a monthly basis. Everything paid off well again.
Real estate investing does not mean that you have to purchase immense properties. You can just start with small shares in a few properties and earn in small amounts on a regular basis. Expand your portfolio through purchasing small shares in various areas.

Article by Chris Bradley, you can learn more about him at his profile

Many currency traders have been attracted by the ability to make positive returns while the stock markets plummet. Others are attracted by a market which is open 24 hours a day. Either way, thousands of traders each day are signing up for an account with a forex trading broker. In this article we will examine factors which traders need to take into account when choosing a forex trading broker.

Over the past couple of years, more than one unregulated forex trading broker has been shut down by authorities for trying to defraud currency traders of their funds. One of the most important things to check with your forex trading broker is that they are regulated by the appropriate authorities. So, if you are in the UK, the relevant authority is the Financial Services Authority, and in the US, it is the National Futures Association.

A key consideration in your forex trading endeavours is how much commission they will charge you to make a trade, or how wide the ’spread’ is between the bid price and the ask price. Typically, the spread on major currency pairs will be between 2 and 4 pips. Spreads on currencies such as USD/CHF and EUR/GBP will be around three or four pips. Currency dealers with spreads wider than five pips for these currency pairs are best avoided.

This is why it is so important to exercise caution when conducting managed forex reviews. When it comes to managed accounts there can be no doubt about the fact managed forex reviews are essential, as otherwise you could end up losing money. Such an account helps pave the way into the market for investors that do not have the time to monitor the trading themselves or find it too complicated. New comers to the trade will find no better alternative to managed forex accounts as it offers them a ‘learn while you earn’ experience.

Investors who used to trade with shares on the stockmarket, and who move into currency trading will have a new concept to deal with, called leverage. Each forex trading broker will offer varying levels of leverage. Leverage can drastically increase your currency profits, however it can also increase your losses. For example, if a broker offers 100 times leverage, this means that if you have a balance of $10,000, you can trade with a notional $1,000,000.

Similarly, if you have a $10,000 balance in your currency trading account, and your forex trading broker offers leverage of four hundred, then you can trade with a notional amount of $4,000,000. The risk of using a lot of leverage means that if your trade is an unprofitable one, then you could get wiped out very quickly, and end up broke.

In the currency market, currency prices move very quickly, in miliseconds, so it is crucial that your forex trading broker can ensure that your trades are executed just as fast, and at the price that you require. So for good measure, before you open a live forex account, you should trade with a demo account, and test how good the execution prices are, and whether they reflect the true prices in the currency market.

Another consideration to bear in mind is that you will need a forex trading broker who offers a comprehensive charting package along with the trading account. An increasing number of brokers offer MetaTrader charting with their platform. This enables the trader to take a trade directly off the charts, and ensures that the trader gets the best possible price.

For more information about forex brokers and currency trading go to the Forex Village.com

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A scarce 1897 Ball railroad watch was purchased last week on eBay for $5,778. Also, a model #655 Rockford railroad watch went for $3,575. And just a short time ago, a Hamilton “Burlington” model railroad watch tallied at $3,703.

Are these high values unusual? Well, yes - and no! Yes - these particular watches were vintage models in exceptional condition. But, no - it is not inconceivable for ANY genuine railroad timepiece to sell for $500 to $5000.

In today’s volatile investment market there are no “sure things”. Take a look at what were considered “blue chip” stocks just a few short months ago. The best advice for any portfolio is diversification, and as a part of that diversity perhaps you would be well served to consider high caliber vintage railroad watches. Why? Because collecting or investing in Railroad watches is HOT! And it’s heating up more everyday!

What is it about antique Railroad watches that makes them so desirable?

7 Reasons to invest in antique Railroad Watches.

1) Craftsmanship
Today the Swiss are considered the world’s finest watch craftsmen; but that was not always so. At the end of the nineteenth century, American railroad watches where considered to be vastly superior in quality, reliability and accuracy to any other watch on earth.

2) No longer made
Today a few companies are making “replicas” railroad timepiece, but genuine railroad watches are no longer being made. The last to be marketed was Hamilton Watch company’s model 992B, in 1969.

3) Low Production numbers
Genuine railroad acceptedtimepieces were made especially to meet the demands and specifications of one industry - railroads. The number of authentic railroad watches made was nowhere near the number of traditional pocket watches marketed and sold to the general public. Even in the heyday of the railways, the true railroad watch, just wasn’t produced in sizable volume.

4) Many didn’t survive.
Add to the small production numbers, the fact that few remain today. Over the ages many were misplaced or inadvertently tossed out. Some where taken apart by watch makers for their parts. Countless numbers met the fate of being buried with the death of their owners. Perhaps the largest percentage of railroad watches that didn’t survive, fell prey to being melted down for the gold or silver value of their cases. Those railroad watches that still survive today, in ANY condition, are very hard to find. Those in GOOD condition are truly rare, and command excessive prices.

5) Romance and Allure of the Rails
The attraction that the public has for anything pertaining to trains and the railroad industry is phenomenal. Many collectors, both young and old alike, are fascinated by the spirit of the rails. Perhaps it is because over the last one hundred and fifty years, the railroads where such a vital part of mankind’s proliferation. For whatever the reason; the seduction of the railways draws collectors to railroad pocket watches like bees to pollen.

6) Accelerating Prices
Perhaps the number one reason people are getting into Railroad watches as collectibles is for their solid performance as investments. The soaring prices of precious metals - in particular, gold and silver - has drawn astute investors to evaluate vintage pocket watches in an all together new light. Like rare coins, gold and silver cased pocket watches will never decrease in value below the value of their precious metal content.

7) Undervalued
Despite the reasons above, railroad watches are STILL exceptionally undervalued today. As more and more collectors battle to own fewer and fewer watches prices will continue to accelerate upward. And perceptive investors know this! Rarity and desirability, will always drive prices upwards. Curiously, railroad watches can still be found at quite modest prices on eBay and other on line auction sites. Costs have accelerated somewhat in the last 24 to 36 months, largely due to the fact that European collectors are discovering them. But, according to experts, prices on are expected to elevate even more. Perhaps you should invest in some yourself.

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In the current market situation, the usual mix of investments in equity and bonds can no longer comprise 100% of one’s portfolio — simply because it can no longer provide the desired safety of capital. The world’s markets have become so interdependent that all asset classes are now very correlated. This means that they rise and fall together, fully exposing the investor to global risks. Diversification of one’s holdings is more important now than ever, and equally hard to achieve.

True diversification is still reachable, and the way is to include currency investments and active trading strategies into one’s portfolio. Currency investment takes many forms, from the very conservative buy-and-hold of government bonds nominated in foreign currencies to short-term speculation on forex. Currencies are remarkable in their non-correlation with stocks. For example, while the Dow has lost 34% in 2008 (Jan 01 to Dec 31), the Japanese Yen gained 23% in the same time period. Of course, currencies can follow stocks as well. It is important to note that currency exchange rates are affected by different factors than stocks. A stock has a natural tendency to follow the company’s earnings. If the company grows its business, the stock price follows. Currencies don’t do that. Their value is mostly determined by actions of the issuing central banks and relative inflation. Consequently, the main difference between stocks and currencies is that stocks in general can be expected to grow long-term, while currencies are all losing their purchasing power at different speeds, and their foreign exchange rates can change directions quickly.

Because of this, it is best to approach currencies with short to medium-term active trading strategies on forex. Gains and losses realized in currency trading do not necessarily depend on the direction of the market, but are determined by the strategy itself. The properties of a trading strategy can be designed in a way that would guarantee low or negative correlation with the rest of the portfolio, no matter which direction the market takes. Brokers provide a number of ways to implement an active trading strategy, including highly automated online forex trading terminals that have the ability to automatically analyze the market and place orders.

While investing in currencies is necessary for asset diversification and provides many benefits, including protection from loss of the purchasing power of the dollar, it is also a highly risky endeavor. Investing in currencies is different from investing in the stock market, and requires a skill set that most retail investors don’t have. This is precisely the reason why investment in currency is not recommended to clients by mainstream financial advisors – they consider it best to be safe than sorry and, frankly, this advice is the best one for many people whose itch to get rich fast overcomes their ability to reason.

However, a prudent investor must at least be aware of the possibilities offered by currencies. It is easy to get a first hand impression — any broker will be happy to offer a free forex demo account for practice, without any obligations.

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forex trading money with automated systems is a big deal. This is even more so because of so many regular individuals are now into Trading forex. All you need is a 300 dollar mini-account, and you’re in. I’m not saying that it is easy to make loads of money starting with just 300 dollars. There is some work that must be done. That, however, does not change the fact that it gives a lot of people who wouldn’t normally meet the requirements an opportunity to make some money. I think that every individual’s approach to trading is different. This is, to some extent, a function of one’s background and skills. I got in because I wanted to create my own system that would automatically trade for me and make me rich. Much has changed since then. I still want to get rich. I am just a bit more sensible about it.

That said, what does trading with an automated Forex system entail? Big Trading institutions (think Banks, professional trading firms and other organizations like that) have been using Automated systems for a long time. Some of these systems are incredibly complex. They employ large numbers of mathematicians and traders to develop and maintain them, so they are used quite a lot. Individuals have now been granted access to advanced trading algorithms because of the proliferation of advanced trading and charting software. Almost all accounts come with trading software these days. Trading Algorithms can work well, in theory, for smaller traders as they can help detect fluctuationss in patterns, even in the short term. Some algorithms are better at picking up market fluctuations. Using the term “fluctuation” is also a bit questionable in this case, as this fluctuation might occur over a few minutes, a few days or even years. It all depends on the time frame.

The technology is getting better and better everyday. When you open your account, it is likely your broker might offer some simple trading systems for free. They will most likely save the better options for traders who will pay money for them, but you should get something. Forex Trading systems tend to run on particular software packages. The catch is that the software in question has to be running all the time if the Automated system is to do it’s job efficiently. If you are running this on your computer, it would mean not shutting down the program, and also keeping your computer and internet connection running constantly. This means no downtime; no accidental crashes. It could be a catastrophe if that were to happen. This method may work well for some users, but many serious traders would be unable to accept the downtime risks. For those, the other option might be to install the software and trading system on a web server. That way, you don’t have to depend on your PC.

Whatever option you choose, Automated trading is getting easier to implement. Even the ones that are paid for tend to give you a free trial so they can be tested. If you really want to, you can give it a go without risking much money by using them on a demo account, for instance.

You should not venture into trading with an Automated system if you don’t have a good idea of the fundamentals of the markets. If you get the basics, then you will be able to do much better at your trading. This applies whether or not you choose to trade with an Automated System.

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First in a Series of Debates on Money Supply, the Federal Reserve and our Economic Crisis

In this post, I debate with a blogger who is a self-proclaimed “Free Trader” / Libertarian. While I am all for market-based capitalism in our American economy, I believe that the innate greed that drives human economic behaviour must be managed to some degree. Regulations are important, especially in the area of money supply and banking. Money is the lifeblood of an economy and must be carefully protected by the national authorities to whom we entrust that responsibility. My opponent calls regulation “Central Planning”, which is a big overstatement. I make the argument that our current economic crisis is due to a complete breakdown of that care which comes from prudent regulation. This is now what we need to repair. Please read on:

Free Trader (FT): “I’m not sure what you base your opinion on (regarding the inherent strength of the American economy), but from what I understand the fundamentals to be, they show that we’re in for some trouble. This is just the beginning; the crash has not yet happened. Think about the trade deficit, the national debt, the deficit spending…we’re poor, we just don’t know it yet. When done slowly the destruction isn’t as noticeable. But sometimes, as in the case of the housing boom, the Federal Reserve inflates (creates new money) at a tremendous rate. In that instance, there is lots more money chasing the same amount of goods (like houses).”

Regulated Capitalist (Me): That was what I thought, too, until about a year ago (early 2008), that it was the Fed that had expanded money supply driving down interest rates and making cheap loans easily available. Then I read one of the Paul McCulley’s (PIMCO) columns that talked about the “shadow banking system”, an idea Mr. McCulley attributes to economist Hyman Minsky. What a revelation. Shadow banking in the past 10 years completely swamped the amount of money created by the Federal Reserve. The Fed even tried raising rates in the 2004-07 period to slow money supply growth, with no effect. It was not the Federal Reserve that caused the housing bubble (even Greenspan got caught by surprise on this one), it was the unregulated “Shadow Banking” system making cheap and plentiful money available to home buyers.

What is the Shadow Banking System? It is a Wild West “free market” banking system that came about because of an over-abundance of global savings. During the 1990s and early 2000s, the Western world, especially America, imported more and more goods from Asia. We know this because of the problems Asian imports caused with labor outsourcing and balance of trade. Labor unions and the political Left made it very clear that the transfer of wealth from America to Asia through free trade was unacceptable. But most people don’t understand the reciprocal problem this exchange created was greater than the loss of jobs.

The economies selling the West their goods (manufactured goods in Asia and increasingly petroleum products from the Middle East) could not hold the dollars they received without experiencing an appreciating currency that would make that currency less competitive globally and also might precipitate deflation in their home market (as savings exceeded consumption making the currency more and more valuable). So, what did they do, they sent their US dollars back to America by buying securities denominated in dollars. At first, they just bought U.S. Treasuries, but soon that was not enough to clear the accumulating dollars and they needed more places to send them. So, they started purchasing securitized packages of mortgages and other American credits (broadly known as “derivatives” today). Wall Street was happy to create and sell those securities and become wealthy on the margins. The buyers were reassured by the triple AAA ratings given those derivatives by American rating agencies (that the buyers may have misunderstood to be government-sponsored entities), as well as by the historical dynamism and relative safety of the American economy.

However, and this is the most important point to understand, this money flowing back into America from other countries was completely unregulated (free market banking), and it was plentiful measuring into the trillions. It was so plentiful that soon credit standards started to drop to clear all of the available funds and anyone who could “fog a mirror” as the real estate profession likes to say, could get a loan.

Beyond credit derivatives, another source for “shadow banking” money flows were private banks and hedge funds playing the so-called “carry trade”. The economies that had strong economic exports in the same period, but with low interest rates (Japan, New Zealand, Australia, even Iceland) became hotspots for borrowing by these private, unregulated, non-bank “free market” entities. With Glass-Steagall banking regulation a thing of history, hedge funds and other private investors could make themselves into, effectively, a bank. These private “banks” became so by borrowing cheap foreign currency, and then lending (or buying commodities, businesses, real estate) at a higher rate / price. This was all well and good for a while, but the incredible amount of money created, multiples of the American M2 or M3 money supply, swamped markets and caused the pricing bubbles in all asset classes as we observed from 2004 to 2007. It is this “carry trade” unwind in 2008, into early 2009, that has crushed the commodities and energy market the past year and it is the “derivatives” unwind that is crushing the financial, housing and commercial (busines loan) markets.

So, don’t put this economic disaster at the feet of the Fed and Treasury, though characters like Hank Paulson, Ben Bernanke and Tim Geithner are easy and appealing targets. Upon analysis, they were helpless to stop the bubbles and then the crash with current laws and regulations (though Greenspan’s cheerleading in 2004 did not help because it emboldened borrowers). Rather, it was the unregulated Shadow Banking System, administered by the investment banking industry, and run through mortgage brokers with Fannie and Freddie approval, that caused the disaster.

As for Freddie / Fannie complicity in this deal, that was enabled by some in Congress (led by Dems Frank and Dodd) who wanted to make home ownership a national right rather than a privilege. And it was also given an assist by the Repubs who wanted to extend free markets to the banking system by deregulating them through the abolition of Glass-Steagall and the declawing of the SEC.

The bottom line: we had no national banking problems until free markets got involved. Banking is one industry that cannot be Free. Other crises in banking happened because of insufficient regulation and oversight (including the S&L crisis due to a lack of Federal regulation during the 1980s). Sorry, if I have to make a choice between free markets and central planning where banking is concerned, “Central Planning” wins.

NEXT in the Series: Debating the proper course to deal with money supply contraction / deflation: “a balanced budget, higher taxes and induced consumer saving”, or “more of the dog that bit you: money expansion, looser credit, encourage consumer spending”

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