--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnews/20090...ildrenlongterm
Stimulant drugs like Ritalin that are used to treat ADHD don't improve children's symptoms long term, according to new research published online in the Journal of the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry. That may come as a surprise to parents, but ADHD researchers have been arguing for the past 10 years over the findings of the Multimodal Treatment Study of Children with ADHD. Called the MTA study, it is the largest study conducted to compare the benefits of medication to behavioral interventions.
This latest report from the MTA study tracked 485 children for eight years and found those still taking stimulant medication fared no better in the reduction of symptoms such as inattention and hyperactivity or in social functioning than those who hadn't. Most of the children who had taken medication for the first 14 months were no longer taking it. This, the researchers wrote, raises "questions about whether medication treatment beyond two years continues to be beneficial or needed at all." Earlier reports found that children taking stimulants alone or combined with behavioral treatment did better in the first year than children who got no special care or who got behavioral treatment alone.
There's more: Stimulant drugs stunt children's growth, according to another report in the journal that analyzes MTA data. Children who never took stimulants were three quarters of an inch taller and 6 pounds heavier on average than children who took medication for three years. The children don't make up for that later on.
Tuesday, March 31, 2009
Recycled Water Causing Pistachio Outbreak?
http://www.rense.com/general85/recy.htm
A decent thought to ponder
With a possible reality to
I see that Pistachio products from California are now being recalled due to Salmonella contamination.
As I stated a couple of months ago on your program, I believe that the use of "recycled water" also known as sewage treated water, is the direct cause of so many food borne pathogens now being found in our food.
As long as we use sewage water on our crops and in our tree orchards we will continue to have these outbreaks.
I am very surprised that the FDA, USDA and whoever, is NOT checking irrigation water for pathogens. A
A decent thought to ponder
With a possible reality to
I see that Pistachio products from California are now being recalled due to Salmonella contamination.
As I stated a couple of months ago on your program, I believe that the use of "recycled water" also known as sewage treated water, is the direct cause of so many food borne pathogens now being found in our food.
As long as we use sewage water on our crops and in our tree orchards we will continue to have these outbreaks.
I am very surprised that the FDA, USDA and whoever, is NOT checking irrigation water for pathogens. A
The ghost of George Washington
The ghost of George Washington
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/em...-haunts-obama/
This is an outstanding pen and well worth the read
“It’s says; ‘We The People’, Mr. Obama, - not ‘We the Government,’ nor ‘We the Bureaucrat,’ nor ‘We the Department of Everything Pleasant and Unpleasant,’” the rigidly regal legend declared just seconds after materializing in the bedroom. Then, turning towards the window, his eyes widened almost dis-pleasingly, as he surveyed the city given his name.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://bighollywood.breitbart.com/em...-haunts-obama/
This is an outstanding pen and well worth the read
“It’s says; ‘We The People’, Mr. Obama, - not ‘We the Government,’ nor ‘We the Bureaucrat,’ nor ‘We the Department of Everything Pleasant and Unpleasant,’” the rigidly regal legend declared just seconds after materializing in the bedroom. Then, turning towards the window, his eyes widened almost dis-pleasingly, as he surveyed the city given his name.
It's just the exasperation of the game
And the retarded rules we run by
Where expertise is proclaimed
Yet they missed the friggin bulls-eye
It's here it's there and a very common thing
Where the experts are just fuck-ups
And now we pay with misery
Fools with the tools
Who don't know a god damned thing
Making decisions for everyone
And the failures that they bring
The brother knows the chicken chose
But not how small that it could be
He never read the description
Just the word antibiotic free
Another waste that left a foul taste
In the life of the family
And the retarded rules we run by
Where expertise is proclaimed
Yet they missed the friggin bulls-eye
It's here it's there and a very common thing
Where the experts are just fuck-ups
And now we pay with misery
Fools with the tools
Who don't know a god damned thing
Making decisions for everyone
And the failures that they bring
The brother knows the chicken chose
But not how small that it could be
He never read the description
Just the word antibiotic free
Another waste that left a foul taste
In the life of the family
FDA says to avoid pistachios amid salmonella scare
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/FDA-sa...-14797288.html
Federal food officials are warning people not to eat any food containing pistachios because of possible contamination by salmonella, in another food scare sure to rattle consumers already upset by the contamination of peanuts with the same bacteria.
The Food and Drug Administration said central California-based Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella Inc., the nation's second-largest pistachio processor, was voluntarily recalling more than 2 million pounds of its roasted nuts shipped since last fall.
"Our advice to consumers is that they avoid eating pistachio products, and that they hold onto those products," said Dr. David Acheson, assistant commissioner for food safety. "The number of products that are going to be recalled over the coming days will grow, simply because these pistachio nuts have then been repackaged into consumer-level containers."
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/FDA-sa...-14797288.html
Federal food officials are warning people not to eat any food containing pistachios because of possible contamination by salmonella, in another food scare sure to rattle consumers already upset by the contamination of peanuts with the same bacteria.
The Food and Drug Administration said central California-based Setton Pistachio of Terra Bella Inc., the nation's second-largest pistachio processor, was voluntarily recalling more than 2 million pounds of its roasted nuts shipped since last fall.
"Our advice to consumers is that they avoid eating pistachio products, and that they hold onto those products," said Dr. David Acheson, assistant commissioner for food safety. "The number of products that are going to be recalled over the coming days will grow, simply because these pistachio nuts have then been repackaged into consumer-level containers."
Sunday, March 29, 2009
Department of Health and Human Services Approves Fictitious Medical Device Review
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.naturalnews.com/025955.html
Just how trustworthy are medical review boards that review and approve medical devices? In a Government Accountability Office (GAO) sting, investigators were able to invent and register a fictitious review board with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), complete with a fictitious panel of doctors and a canine president named "Truper Dawg" (named after a real pet dog that had long since passed away).
Names of other board members on the fictitious organization approved by the Department of Health and Human Services included "April Phuls" and "Timothy Wittless." These names apparently did not raise any suspicions at the HHS. (Perhaps the U.S. government thought the review board was being run by a group of badly-named rappers?)
But that's not all: To check out the credibility of existing Independent Review Boards (IRBs), the GAO invented a fictitious medical product called Adhesiabloc -- an adhesive gel used as a kind of "stomach superglue" following surgery. A proposal to begin a clinical trial of this adhesive gel on humans was submitted to an FDA-recognized IRB company, and the company approved it! This, despite the fact that the clinical trial called for pouring one liter of this adhesive gel into the stomach of patients.
Misleading the misleaders
The IRB that fell for the ruse was Coast IRB, LLC of Colorado Springs, which after being caught, charged that the GAO investigators violated federal law by misrepresenting themselves when they submitted false credentials to the review company.
But isn't this exactly what a medical review company is supposed to notice and prevent in the first place? This company seems to think they can trust everything they're told by any person or company applying for review, regardless of whether the medical products in question make any sense at all.
Coast IRB is one of 6,300 IRBs (Independent Review Boards) that certify pharmaceutical trials and medical device trials for consideration by the FDA.
http://www.naturalnews.com/025955.html
Just how trustworthy are medical review boards that review and approve medical devices? In a Government Accountability Office (GAO) sting, investigators were able to invent and register a fictitious review board with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS), complete with a fictitious panel of doctors and a canine president named "Truper Dawg" (named after a real pet dog that had long since passed away).
Names of other board members on the fictitious organization approved by the Department of Health and Human Services included "April Phuls" and "Timothy Wittless." These names apparently did not raise any suspicions at the HHS. (Perhaps the U.S. government thought the review board was being run by a group of badly-named rappers?)
But that's not all: To check out the credibility of existing Independent Review Boards (IRBs), the GAO invented a fictitious medical product called Adhesiabloc -- an adhesive gel used as a kind of "stomach superglue" following surgery. A proposal to begin a clinical trial of this adhesive gel on humans was submitted to an FDA-recognized IRB company, and the company approved it! This, despite the fact that the clinical trial called for pouring one liter of this adhesive gel into the stomach of patients.
Misleading the misleaders
The IRB that fell for the ruse was Coast IRB, LLC of Colorado Springs, which after being caught, charged that the GAO investigators violated federal law by misrepresenting themselves when they submitted false credentials to the review company.
But isn't this exactly what a medical review company is supposed to notice and prevent in the first place? This company seems to think they can trust everything they're told by any person or company applying for review, regardless of whether the medical products in question make any sense at all.
Coast IRB is one of 6,300 IRBs (Independent Review Boards) that certify pharmaceutical trials and medical device trials for consideration by the FDA.
Germany's Mystery Cow Disease
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.spiegel.de/international/...615962,00.html
Interesting vaccination theory
A mysterious illness is causing calves to bleed to death on German farms. Veterinarians are stumped over what is causing the deaths: vaccines, genetically modified feed or perhaps even the first mother's milk?
What can a cattle farmer do when he sees blood running from his calves like water, when they become lethargic and febrile and, by the next morning, are lying dead on the floor, their coats covered in blood?
"Our calves from last summer looked like they had been beaten," says farmer Robert Meyboom, who is still shocked and perplexed today. "The animals' bodies were covered with drops of blood, and their eyes were bloodshot."
Many farmers blame the "blood sweating" on a controversial vaccine against bluetongue disease, which became mandatory for cattle in Germany in April of last year.
Since then, farmers who refuse to vaccinate their animals are threatened with fines. One of them
http://www.spiegel.de/international/...615962,00.html
Interesting vaccination theory
A mysterious illness is causing calves to bleed to death on German farms. Veterinarians are stumped over what is causing the deaths: vaccines, genetically modified feed or perhaps even the first mother's milk?
What can a cattle farmer do when he sees blood running from his calves like water, when they become lethargic and febrile and, by the next morning, are lying dead on the floor, their coats covered in blood?
"Our calves from last summer looked like they had been beaten," says farmer Robert Meyboom, who is still shocked and perplexed today. "The animals' bodies were covered with drops of blood, and their eyes were bloodshot."
Many farmers blame the "blood sweating" on a controversial vaccine against bluetongue disease, which became mandatory for cattle in Germany in April of last year.
Since then, farmers who refuse to vaccinate their animals are threatened with fines. One of them
Put "The People" first
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GEPSO5gPZMA
Protests before the G-20
With representation from many of the nations the theme remains the same
Put "The People" first
Protests before the G-20
With representation from many of the nations the theme remains the same
Put "The People" first
Friday, March 27, 2009
Seven states see jobless rate top 10 percent
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Seven-...-14767341.html
More states logged double-digit unemployment rates in February, with North Carolina and Rhode Island seeing their rates hit record highs.
The U.S. Labor Department's report, released Friday, showed the terrible toll the recession, now in its second year, is having on workers and companies alike.
Seven states have unemployment rates that topped 10 percent last month. That's up from four states in January.
The U.S. unemployment rate, released earlier this month, rose to 8.1 percent in February, the highest in more than 25 years. Economists predict the national jobless rate will hit 10 percent by year end even if the recession were to end later this year as some hope
More states logged double-digit unemployment rates in February, with North Carolina and Rhode Island seeing their rates hit record highs.
The U.S. Labor Department's report, released Friday, showed the terrible toll the recession, now in its second year, is having on workers and companies alike.
Seven states have unemployment rates that topped 10 percent last month. That's up from four states in January.
The U.S. unemployment rate, released earlier this month, rose to 8.1 percent in February, the highest in more than 25 years. Economists predict the national jobless rate will hit 10 percent by year end even if the recession were to end later this year as some hope
But on the other hand they want you to believe this
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Consum...-14767460.html
The government says consumers increased spending for a second straight month in February even though their incomes slipped due to continuing massive layoffs.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Seven-...-14767341.html
More states logged double-digit unemployment rates in February, with North Carolina and Rhode Island seeing their rates hit record highs.
The U.S. Labor Department's report, released Friday, showed the terrible toll the recession, now in its second year, is having on workers and companies alike.
Seven states have unemployment rates that topped 10 percent last month. That's up from four states in January.
The U.S. unemployment rate, released earlier this month, rose to 8.1 percent in February, the highest in more than 25 years. Economists predict the national jobless rate will hit 10 percent by year end even if the recession were to end later this year as some hope
More states logged double-digit unemployment rates in February, with North Carolina and Rhode Island seeing their rates hit record highs.
The U.S. Labor Department's report, released Friday, showed the terrible toll the recession, now in its second year, is having on workers and companies alike.
Seven states have unemployment rates that topped 10 percent last month. That's up from four states in January.
The U.S. unemployment rate, released earlier this month, rose to 8.1 percent in February, the highest in more than 25 years. Economists predict the national jobless rate will hit 10 percent by year end even if the recession were to end later this year as some hope
But on the other hand they want you to believe this
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Consum...-14767460.html
The government says consumers increased spending for a second straight month in February even though their incomes slipped due to continuing massive layoffs.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
Rahm Emanuel's profitable stint at mortgage giant
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/p...C5682373.story
He was named to the Freddie Mac board in February 2000 by Clinton, whom Emanuel had served as White House political director and vocal defender during the Whitewater and Monica Lewinsky scandals.
The board met no more than six times a year. Unlike most fellow directors, Emanuel was not assigned to any of the board's working committees, according to company proxy statements. Immediately upon joining the board, Emanuel and other new directors qualified for $380,000 in stock and options plus a $20,000 annual fee, records indicate.
On Emanuel's watch, the board was told by executives of a plan to use accounting tricks to mislead shareholders about outsize profits the government-chartered firm was then reaping from risky investments. The goal was to push earnings onto the books in future years, ensuring that Freddie Mac would appear profitable on paper for years to come and helping maximize annual bonuses for company brass.
The accounting scandal wasn't the only one that brewed during Emanuel's tenure.
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/p...C5682373.story
He was named to the Freddie Mac board in February 2000 by Clinton, whom Emanuel had served as White House political director and vocal defender during the Whitewater and Monica Lewinsky scandals.
The board met no more than six times a year. Unlike most fellow directors, Emanuel was not assigned to any of the board's working committees, according to company proxy statements. Immediately upon joining the board, Emanuel and other new directors qualified for $380,000 in stock and options plus a $20,000 annual fee, records indicate.
On Emanuel's watch, the board was told by executives of a plan to use accounting tricks to mislead shareholders about outsize profits the government-chartered firm was then reaping from risky investments. The goal was to push earnings onto the books in future years, ensuring that Freddie Mac would appear profitable on paper for years to come and helping maximize annual bonuses for company brass.
The accounting scandal wasn't the only one that brewed during Emanuel's tenure.
This whole economic mess seems like a game of 52 card pickup after the house of cards has fallen, except the rules have been changed to that of pickup sticks. The extraction of one without disturbing the rest of the pile laying on top of it.
It's an impossible challenge to play both of these games together and collectively clean up this economic mess and yet that's exactly what they're still trying to do, all the while trying to rebuild the house of cards on the unstable foundation of the fallen mess and asking for individual rewards for even attempting the try.
It's enough to drive any mother crazy
It's an impossible challenge to play both of these games together and collectively clean up this economic mess and yet that's exactly what they're still trying to do, all the while trying to rebuild the house of cards on the unstable foundation of the fallen mess and asking for individual rewards for even attempting the try.
It's enough to drive any mother crazy
A Brief History of Bubbles
http://www.minyanville.com/articles/Bernanke-nasdaq-aig-TWX-debt-homeowners/index/a/21820/p/2
Sometimes it's hard to grasp what a problem actually looks like
There are 75 million houses in America; 24 million don’t have mortgages. Of those 51 million homeowners with a mortgage, approximately 15 million are underwater. According to Mr. Shilling, with the further decline in prices a given, 25 million homeowners will be underwater, to the tune of $1 trillion.
Anyone predicting a recovery by the end of 2009 is delusional.
Sometimes it's hard to grasp what a problem actually looks like
There are 75 million houses in America; 24 million don’t have mortgages. Of those 51 million homeowners with a mortgage, approximately 15 million are underwater. According to Mr. Shilling, with the further decline in prices a given, 25 million homeowners will be underwater, to the tune of $1 trillion.
Anyone predicting a recovery by the end of 2009 is delusional.
Wednesday, March 25, 2009
The criminalization of everyday life
http://www.citylimits.org/content/articles/viewarticle.cfm?article_id=3718
Are anyone's days entirely free of "offenses" that can get you arrested? > By Robert Neuwirth
I spent 24 hours in the slammer the other day. My crime? Well, the police couldn’t tell me when they locked me up. The prosecutor and judge couldn’t either, when I was arraigned the following day. I found out for myself when I researched the matter a few days after being released: I had been cited for walking my dog off the leash – once, six years ago.
Welcome to the ugly underside of the zero-tolerance era, where insignificant rule violations get inflated into criminal infractions. Here’s how it worked with me: a gaggle of transit cops stopped me after they saw me walk between two subway cars on my way to work. This, they told me, was against the rules. They asked for ID and typed my name into a hand-held computer. Up came that old citation that I didn’t know about and they couldn’t tell me about. I was immediately handcuffed and brought to the precinct. There, I waited in a holding cell, then was fingerprinted (post-CSI memo: they now take the fingers, the thumbs, the palms, and the sides of both hands) and had the contents of my shoulder bag inventoried. I could hardly believe it: I was being arrested without ever having committed a crime.
I was held overnight in the Midtown North Precinct lock-up (shoelaces and belt confiscated, meals courtesy of the McDonald’s dollar menu
Are anyone's days entirely free of "offenses" that can get you arrested? > By Robert Neuwirth
I spent 24 hours in the slammer the other day. My crime? Well, the police couldn’t tell me when they locked me up. The prosecutor and judge couldn’t either, when I was arraigned the following day. I found out for myself when I researched the matter a few days after being released: I had been cited for walking my dog off the leash – once, six years ago.
Welcome to the ugly underside of the zero-tolerance era, where insignificant rule violations get inflated into criminal infractions. Here’s how it worked with me: a gaggle of transit cops stopped me after they saw me walk between two subway cars on my way to work. This, they told me, was against the rules. They asked for ID and typed my name into a hand-held computer. Up came that old citation that I didn’t know about and they couldn’t tell me about. I was immediately handcuffed and brought to the precinct. There, I waited in a holding cell, then was fingerprinted (post-CSI memo: they now take the fingers, the thumbs, the palms, and the sides of both hands) and had the contents of my shoulder bag inventoried. I could hardly believe it: I was being arrested without ever having committed a crime.
I was held overnight in the Midtown North Precinct lock-up (shoelaces and belt confiscated, meals courtesy of the McDonald’s dollar menu
Obama And His Dick (Cheney) By Mickey Z.
http://www.rense.com/general85/obdick.htm
Here's how well they have us trained: The powers that be are no longer gonna call the illegally detained terrorism suspects [sic] by the name of "enemy combatants." Like the pre-programmed robots we've all become, we'll celebrate this as a welcome and much-needed change from the reviled Bush-Cheney administration. A step in the right direction, we might even say.
In addition, the Pope of Hope has promised not to torture. Our society is so fuckin' corrupt that a US president can announce -- without shame -- a purported plan to say no to committing crimes against humanity. Of course, we view this as "normal" and we foolishly believe him and even praise him.
Obama's blood brother, Dick Cheney, happily plays his pre-ordained role in this passion play by going on national television and declaring that our [sic] president's vague pledge to possibly adhere to accepted international law -- a pledge more honored in the breach -- is making the US less safe.
Here's how well they have us trained: The powers that be are no longer gonna call the illegally detained terrorism suspects [sic] by the name of "enemy combatants." Like the pre-programmed robots we've all become, we'll celebrate this as a welcome and much-needed change from the reviled Bush-Cheney administration. A step in the right direction, we might even say.
In addition, the Pope of Hope has promised not to torture. Our society is so fuckin' corrupt that a US president can announce -- without shame -- a purported plan to say no to committing crimes against humanity. Of course, we view this as "normal" and we foolishly believe him and even praise him.
Obama's blood brother, Dick Cheney, happily plays his pre-ordained role in this passion play by going on national television and declaring that our [sic] president's vague pledge to possibly adhere to accepted international law -- a pledge more honored in the breach -- is making the US less safe.
One Small Problem with Geithner's Plan: It Will Bankrupt the Banks
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://finance.yahoo.com/techticker/article/218286/One-Small-Problem-with-Geithner's-Plan:-It-Will-Bankrupt-the-Banks
Ah what's another 14 trillion?
The big problem with Tim Geithner's plan to fix the banks is the same as it ever was: The gap between what banks say their assets are worth and what the market says they are worth.
When a bank says an asset is worth 60 cents and the market says it's worth 30 cents, someone has to cover that spread. The genius of Geithner's plan is that it pawns most of the cost (and most of the risk) off on the taxpayer without the taxpayer noticing.
But unless the taxpayer gets stuck with the entire spread, which is probably what Geithner is hoping, banks that sell assets will have to take massive writedowns. This will start the whole cycle of violence again.
This risk to the banks is particularly acute when dealing with
http://finance.yahoo.com/techticker/article/218286/One-Small-Problem-with-Geithner's-Plan:-It-Will-Bankrupt-the-Banks
Ah what's another 14 trillion?
The big problem with Tim Geithner's plan to fix the banks is the same as it ever was: The gap between what banks say their assets are worth and what the market says they are worth.
When a bank says an asset is worth 60 cents and the market says it's worth 30 cents, someone has to cover that spread. The genius of Geithner's plan is that it pawns most of the cost (and most of the risk) off on the taxpayer without the taxpayer noticing.
But unless the taxpayer gets stuck with the entire spread, which is probably what Geithner is hoping, banks that sell assets will have to take massive writedowns. This will start the whole cycle of violence again.
This risk to the banks is particularly acute when dealing with
Tuesday, March 24, 2009
http://familylifenz.wordpress.com/2009/03/25/new-us-report-shows-that-gardasil-involved-in-far-higher-rates-of-adverse-effects-than-meningococcal-vaccine/
Will Congress take up the challenge to see just exactly who fast tracked this drug
for consumer consumption with total disregaurd for long term health side effects?
A new report, issued in February, by the centralized federal Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System in the United States, has compared the anti-HPV vaccine Garasil, with the Menactra (meningococcal) vaccine, and it has found that Gardasil is associated with a far high rate of serious adverse effects than Menactra is.
Here is a summary of some of the report’s important findings…
Will Congress take up the challenge to see just exactly who fast tracked this drug
for consumer consumption with total disregaurd for long term health side effects?
A new report, issued in February, by the centralized federal Vaccine Adverse Events Reporting System in the United States, has compared the anti-HPV vaccine Garasil, with the Menactra (meningococcal) vaccine, and it has found that Gardasil is associated with a far high rate of serious adverse effects than Menactra is.
Here is a summary of some of the report’s important findings…
Follow the Bailout Cash
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.newsweek.com/id/190363
There was plenty of outrage on Capitol Hill last week over the executive bonuses paid out by AIG after getting federal bailout money. But another money trail could make voters just as angry: the campaign dollars to members of Congress from banks and firms that have received billions via the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
A NEWSWEEK review of recent filings with the Federal Election Commission found that the political action committees of five big TARP recipients doled out $85,300 to members in the first two months of this year—with most of the cash going to those who serves on committees who oversee the TARP program. Among them: Bank of America (which got $15 billion in bailout money) sent out $24,500 in the first two months of 2009, including $1,500 to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and another $15,000 to members of the House and Senate banking panels. Citigroup ($25 billion) dished out $29,620, including $2,500 to House GOPWhip Eric Cantor, who also got $10,000 from UBS which, while not a TARP recipient, got $5 billion in bailout funds as an AIG "counterparty." "This certainly appears to be a case of TARP funds being recycled into campaign contributions," says Brett Kappel, a D.C. lawyer who tracks donations. (A spokesman for Cantor did not respond to requests for comment. A spokeswoman for Hoyer said it's his "policy to accept legal contributions.")
The cash flow is already causing angst inside the Beltway. "The last thing I want to do is wake up one morning and see our PAC check being burned on C-Span," said one bank lobbyist, who asked not to be identified because of the issue's sensitivity. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Financial Services chair Rep. Barney Frank both said recently they won't take donations from TARP recipients. But House Democratic fundraisers have quietly passed the word that the party's campaign committee will resume accepting them—down the road, though; not right now. Said one fundraiser, who also requested anonymity, "These are treacherous waters."
http://www.newsweek.com/id/190363
There was plenty of outrage on Capitol Hill last week over the executive bonuses paid out by AIG after getting federal bailout money. But another money trail could make voters just as angry: the campaign dollars to members of Congress from banks and firms that have received billions via the Troubled Asset Relief Program.
A NEWSWEEK review of recent filings with the Federal Election Commission found that the political action committees of five big TARP recipients doled out $85,300 to members in the first two months of this year—with most of the cash going to those who serves on committees who oversee the TARP program. Among them: Bank of America (which got $15 billion in bailout money) sent out $24,500 in the first two months of 2009, including $1,500 to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and another $15,000 to members of the House and Senate banking panels. Citigroup ($25 billion) dished out $29,620, including $2,500 to House GOPWhip Eric Cantor, who also got $10,000 from UBS which, while not a TARP recipient, got $5 billion in bailout funds as an AIG "counterparty." "This certainly appears to be a case of TARP funds being recycled into campaign contributions," says Brett Kappel, a D.C. lawyer who tracks donations. (A spokesman for Cantor did not respond to requests for comment. A spokeswoman for Hoyer said it's his "policy to accept legal contributions.")
The cash flow is already causing angst inside the Beltway. "The last thing I want to do is wake up one morning and see our PAC check being burned on C-Span," said one bank lobbyist, who asked not to be identified because of the issue's sensitivity. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and House Financial Services chair Rep. Barney Frank both said recently they won't take donations from TARP recipients. But House Democratic fundraisers have quietly passed the word that the party's campaign committee will resume accepting them—down the road, though; not right now. Said one fundraiser, who also requested anonymity, "These are treacherous waters."
CDC Takes Closer Look at Gardasil and Paralysis
http://health.usnews.com/blogs/on-women/2009/03/20/cdc-takes-closer-look-at-gardasil-and-paralysis.html
The CDC is just now taking a look at this poison that the FDA has approved for your child's ingestion and has been recommended to become a mandatory vaccine.
Greed kills and the nature of Gardasil is proof of that fact.
Phil Tetlock and Barbara Mellers were in a race against time to save their 15-year-old daughter, Jenny. As I reported last summer, Jenny developed a degenerative muscle disease nearly two years ago, soon after being vaccinated against the cervical-cancer-causing HPV. She became nearly completely paralyzed, though her mind was perfectly intact and she could still enjoy her pet parakeet, Hannah Montana, and Twilight.
The CDC is just now taking a look at this poison that the FDA has approved for your child's ingestion and has been recommended to become a mandatory vaccine.
Greed kills and the nature of Gardasil is proof of that fact.
Phil Tetlock and Barbara Mellers were in a race against time to save their 15-year-old daughter, Jenny. As I reported last summer, Jenny developed a degenerative muscle disease nearly two years ago, soon after being vaccinated against the cervical-cancer-causing HPV. She became nearly completely paralyzed, though her mind was perfectly intact and she could still enjoy her pet parakeet, Hannah Montana, and Twilight.
British judges air Guantanamo details U.S. wanted kept secret
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/117/story/64643.html
"He was being told he would never leave Guantanamo Bay unless he promised never to discuss his torture, and never sue either the Americans or the British to force disclosure of his mistreatment," Stafford Smith said. "Gradually, the truth is leaking out, and the governments on both sides of the Atlantic should pause to consider whether they should continue to fight to keep this torture evidence secret
"He was being told he would never leave Guantanamo Bay unless he promised never to discuss his torture, and never sue either the Americans or the British to force disclosure of his mistreatment," Stafford Smith said. "Gradually, the truth is leaking out, and the governments on both sides of the Atlantic should pause to consider whether they should continue to fight to keep this torture evidence secret
banks loaned millions to insiders
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/64551.html
Seven of the 10 banks with the largest insider loans received a total of more than $50 billion in the banking bailout late last year, banks' federal filings show.
Banks nationwide hold $41 billion in loans to directors, top executives and other insiders, a portfolio that experts say should be stripped of secrecy.
Insider lending to directors is particularly troublesome because it could cloud the judgment of people charged with protecting shareholders and overseeing bank management, the experts say.
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/homepage/story/64551.html
Seven of the 10 banks with the largest insider loans received a total of more than $50 billion in the banking bailout late last year, banks' federal filings show.
Banks nationwide hold $41 billion in loans to directors, top executives and other insiders, a portfolio that experts say should be stripped of secrecy.
Insider lending to directors is particularly troublesome because it could cloud the judgment of people charged with protecting shareholders and overseeing bank management, the experts say.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Plan to Solve Crisis: Let Immigrants Buy Houses
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker...=TBD&ccode=TBD
Stick your future Americans where the sun don't shine there John!
You've got to be kidding me Cap!
The Fed's actions to lower mortgage rates won't stop home prices from falling, because lower rates aren't enough to sop up the huge supply of excess housing inventory, says John Mauldin, president of Millennium Wave Advisors and author of the popular "Thoughts from the Frontline" e-letter.
Instead, Mauldin believes the U.S. government should pursue a controversial idea that's been floated a few times in the past year, including here by Gary Shilling, among others: give immigrants a pathway to citizenship if they buy a house.
The economic benefits of this concept are potentially powerful:
An inflow of foreign money into the U.S. economy, which will both boost the dollar and the economy because of related spending.
Help sop up the supply of excess homes on the market, which will help put a floor under prices and revive the construction industry, creating jobs.
Help shore up America's middle class. This assumes most immigrants with the money to buy a home are educated, white-collar workers who can help do what immigrants have done throughout U.S. history - energize the country as they pursue the American dream.
http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker...=TBD&ccode=TBD
Stick your future Americans where the sun don't shine there John!
You've got to be kidding me Cap!
The Fed's actions to lower mortgage rates won't stop home prices from falling, because lower rates aren't enough to sop up the huge supply of excess housing inventory, says John Mauldin, president of Millennium Wave Advisors and author of the popular "Thoughts from the Frontline" e-letter.
Instead, Mauldin believes the U.S. government should pursue a controversial idea that's been floated a few times in the past year, including here by Gary Shilling, among others: give immigrants a pathway to citizenship if they buy a house.
The economic benefits of this concept are potentially powerful:
An inflow of foreign money into the U.S. economy, which will both boost the dollar and the economy because of related spending.
Help sop up the supply of excess homes on the market, which will help put a floor under prices and revive the construction industry, creating jobs.
Help shore up America's middle class. This assumes most immigrants with the money to buy a home are educated, white-collar workers who can help do what immigrants have done throughout U.S. history - energize the country as they pursue the American dream.
Treasury to provide $5 billion in aid to auto suppliers
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/090319/busin...=TBD&ccode=TBD
Short and sweet
But then they have to don't they? Because if they don't have supplies they can't make cars and then the Autos would fail and we can't have that now can we since we just bailed them out.
And the cycle never ends.
http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/090319/busin...=TBD&ccode=TBD
Short and sweet
But then they have to don't they? Because if they don't have supplies they can't make cars and then the Autos would fail and we can't have that now can we since we just bailed them out.
And the cycle never ends.
http://www.rense.com/general85/dthr.htm
Americans have had enough
In testimony before Congress the current head of AIG, Edward Liddy, testified today that several death threats have been made against some of those individuals that received the obscene bonus payments by way of yet another bailout of the criminals that caused this mess in the first place.
Mr. Liddy read aloud one of the death threats that the people receiving the money had already received, and implied that this was not the only one.
"All the executives and their families should be executed with piano wire around their necks!"
Liddy was asked by Rep. Barney Frank to release the names of those individuals that received the money. The CEO of AIG refused to give the names of the individuals unless he could be assured that their names would be kept "confidential." This was an astounding claim to make; since AIG, the Federal Reserve and the government have been arguing all along how brilliant and indispensable these individuals are, not to mention "how absolutely critical their services are to resolving this crisis, going forward" If that were true why would those "brilliant and indispensible people" not want the whole world to know exactly who they are? (1)
Americans have had enough
In testimony before Congress the current head of AIG, Edward Liddy, testified today that several death threats have been made against some of those individuals that received the obscene bonus payments by way of yet another bailout of the criminals that caused this mess in the first place.
Mr. Liddy read aloud one of the death threats that the people receiving the money had already received, and implied that this was not the only one.
"All the executives and their families should be executed with piano wire around their necks!"
Liddy was asked by Rep. Barney Frank to release the names of those individuals that received the money. The CEO of AIG refused to give the names of the individuals unless he could be assured that their names would be kept "confidential." This was an astounding claim to make; since AIG, the Federal Reserve and the government have been arguing all along how brilliant and indispensable these individuals are, not to mention "how absolutely critical their services are to resolving this crisis, going forward" If that were true why would those "brilliant and indispensible people" not want the whole world to know exactly who they are? (1)
http://biz.yahoo.com/rb/090319/business_us_usa_economy_jobless.html?sec=topStories&pos=4&asset=TBD&ccode=TBD
Those numbers add up
To the part they never show
It's now over 5 million
On the unemployment rolls
Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast 652,000 new claims.
The number of people staying on the benefits roll after drawing an initial week of aid surged 185,000 to 5.47 million in the week ended March 7, the latest week for which the data is available, from 5.29 million the previous week. This was the highest on record and pushed the insured unemployment rate to 4.1 percent from 3.9 percent the week before, the highest since June 1983.
The four-week moving average for new claims, considered to be a better gauge of underlying trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, rose to 654,750, the highest since
Those numbers add up
To the part they never show
It's now over 5 million
On the unemployment rolls
Analysts polled by Reuters had forecast 652,000 new claims.
The number of people staying on the benefits roll after drawing an initial week of aid surged 185,000 to 5.47 million in the week ended March 7, the latest week for which the data is available, from 5.29 million the previous week. This was the highest on record and pushed the insured unemployment rate to 4.1 percent from 3.9 percent the week before, the highest since June 1983.
The four-week moving average for new claims, considered to be a better gauge of underlying trends as it irons out week-to-week volatility, rose to 654,750, the highest since
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/03/17/us-injecting-billions-int_n_175454.html
For more than a year, the U.S. Federal Reserve System has been increasingly acting as the world's central bank, injecting hundreds of billions of dollars into foreign government treasuries in an effort to increase liquidity in those countries.
The foreign central banks have used the U.S. currency to bail out financial institutions within their borders. The Fed program links its balance sheet directly to the fates of foreign central banks at a time when they're on the ropes.
The program has so far gone unreported in the mainstream media and is a major expansion of Federal Reserve involvement in the global economy. It represents a stark break from the prior role of the Fed, moving it into territory more traditionally occupied by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
For more than a year, the U.S. Federal Reserve System has been increasingly acting as the world's central bank, injecting hundreds of billions of dollars into foreign government treasuries in an effort to increase liquidity in those countries.
The foreign central banks have used the U.S. currency to bail out financial institutions within their borders. The Fed program links its balance sheet directly to the fates of foreign central banks at a time when they're on the ropes.
The program has so far gone unreported in the mainstream media and is a major expansion of Federal Reserve involvement in the global economy. It represents a stark break from the prior role of the Fed, moving it into territory more traditionally occupied by the International Monetary Fund (IMF).
World moving into second wave of financial crisis
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/20...t_11032412.htm
Oh yeah lets just give them some more bailout money!
The world is moving into the second wave of the financial crisis, which will be symbolized more by the deterioration in the global business cycle than the financial market itself, said Stephen Roach, chairman of the Hong Kong-based Morgan Stanley Asia.
"I think the second wave will be driven by the weakening of profitability of corporations around the world and that will have a negative impact on their ability to pay back loans to banks and other financial institutions," said Roach in an exclusive interview with Xinhua at Morgan Stanley Asia's headquarters.
The first wave came about through the so-called subprime crisis, sparking a broadly based and severe recession in the world economy, he said.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/20...t_11032412.htm
Oh yeah lets just give them some more bailout money!
The world is moving into the second wave of the financial crisis, which will be symbolized more by the deterioration in the global business cycle than the financial market itself, said Stephen Roach, chairman of the Hong Kong-based Morgan Stanley Asia.
"I think the second wave will be driven by the weakening of profitability of corporations around the world and that will have a negative impact on their ability to pay back loans to banks and other financial institutions," said Roach in an exclusive interview with Xinhua at Morgan Stanley Asia's headquarters.
The first wave came about through the so-called subprime crisis, sparking a broadly based and severe recession in the world economy, he said.
The AIG Bonuses: A Welcome Scandal
http://biz.yahoo.com/usnews/090318/18_the_aig_bonuses_a_welcome_scandal.html?sec=topStories&pos=7&asset=TBD&ccode=TBD
That first line says it all because most people don't have the finacial savy to really understand what the investment banks did to this country as well as the world.
Finally. A scandal we can relate to.
For the last year, something has been really wrong with the U.S. economy. But what, exactly? The collapse of Bear Stearns in March 2008 was the first indicator. The government stepped in with a $29 billion bailout, marking the first time many Americans may have heard of "mortgage-backed securities."
After that, the indomitable housing market started to plunge. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac became wards of the state. Lehman Brothers failed, with Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, and even Morgan Stanley at risk of falling next. Then AIG nearly collapsed, saved only by an emergency government loan of $85 billion that made Bear Stearns seem like a bargain.
That first line says it all because most people don't have the finacial savy to really understand what the investment banks did to this country as well as the world.
Finally. A scandal we can relate to.
For the last year, something has been really wrong with the U.S. economy. But what, exactly? The collapse of Bear Stearns in March 2008 was the first indicator. The government stepped in with a $29 billion bailout, marking the first time many Americans may have heard of "mortgage-backed securities."
After that, the indomitable housing market started to plunge. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac became wards of the state. Lehman Brothers failed, with Merrill Lynch, Citigroup, and even Morgan Stanley at risk of falling next. Then AIG nearly collapsed, saved only by an emergency government loan of $85 billion that made Bear Stearns seem like a bargain.
Had enough fraud America
http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/877-Had-Enough-FRAUD-America.html
The Federal Reserve be told that either IT cooperates in this matter and both disgorges its garbage on the balance sheet back to its originators, ceases all non-lending actions and opens its kimono here and forward or its charter will be revoked by Congress and The Fed's function will be subsumed by Treasury.
What I laid forth as my postulate has now been proved correct in the fullness of time.
Gee, Eliot Spitzer is back and says the same thing:
The appearance that this was all an inside job is overwhelming. AIG was nothing more than a conduit for huge capital flows to the same old suspects, with no reason or explanation. (No really? - me)
So here are several questions that should be answered, in public, under oath, to clear the air:
What was the precise conversation among Bernanke, Geithner, Paulson, and Blankfein that preceded the initial $80 billion grant?
Was it already known who the counterparties were and what the exposure was for each of the counterparties?
What did Goldman, and all the other counterparties, know about AIG's financial condition at the time they executed the swaps or other contracts? Had they done adequate due diligence to see whether they were buying real protection? And why shouldn't they bear a percentage of the risk of failure of their own counterparty?
What is the deeper relationship between Goldman and AIG? Didn't they almost merge a few years ago but did not because Goldman couldn't get its arms around the black box that is AIG? If that is true, why should Goldman get bailed out? After all, they should have known as well as anybody that a big part of AIG's business model was not to pay on insurance it had issued.
Why weren't the counterparties immediately and fully disclosed?
No kidding.
Cut the crap Mr. President, Mr. Geithner and Congress. You are lying and this entire "bonus" game is a smokescreen to try to divert attention from the real theft - nearly $100 billion dollars of taxpayer money that has gone to Goldman and other banks, including foreign banks, to pay off Credit Default Swaps written by AIG that were worthless as the company had no capital behind them. This in turn means that the accounting of these firms has in fact fraudulently overstated earnings - perhaps for years - and still is!
The Fed, OTS and OCC have and had jurisdiction over American banks that bought these products, and were clearly derelict in their duty to prevent these regulated entities from purchasing these CDS from a firm that was unable to prove capital adequacy to cover its bets.
The European regulators have similar jurisdiction over those institutions and similarly have been derelict in their duty.
What the hell are we doing bailing out FOREIGN REGULATORS AND GOVERNMENTS who were derelict in their duty with regards to the institutions under their control?
Finally, TurboTimmy, it is not acceptable for you to simply "deduct" the
The Federal Reserve be told that either IT cooperates in this matter and both disgorges its garbage on the balance sheet back to its originators, ceases all non-lending actions and opens its kimono here and forward or its charter will be revoked by Congress and The Fed's function will be subsumed by Treasury.
What I laid forth as my postulate has now been proved correct in the fullness of time.
Gee, Eliot Spitzer is back and says the same thing:
The appearance that this was all an inside job is overwhelming. AIG was nothing more than a conduit for huge capital flows to the same old suspects, with no reason or explanation. (No really? - me)
So here are several questions that should be answered, in public, under oath, to clear the air:
What was the precise conversation among Bernanke, Geithner, Paulson, and Blankfein that preceded the initial $80 billion grant?
Was it already known who the counterparties were and what the exposure was for each of the counterparties?
What did Goldman, and all the other counterparties, know about AIG's financial condition at the time they executed the swaps or other contracts? Had they done adequate due diligence to see whether they were buying real protection? And why shouldn't they bear a percentage of the risk of failure of their own counterparty?
What is the deeper relationship between Goldman and AIG? Didn't they almost merge a few years ago but did not because Goldman couldn't get its arms around the black box that is AIG? If that is true, why should Goldman get bailed out? After all, they should have known as well as anybody that a big part of AIG's business model was not to pay on insurance it had issued.
Why weren't the counterparties immediately and fully disclosed?
No kidding.
Cut the crap Mr. President, Mr. Geithner and Congress. You are lying and this entire "bonus" game is a smokescreen to try to divert attention from the real theft - nearly $100 billion dollars of taxpayer money that has gone to Goldman and other banks, including foreign banks, to pay off Credit Default Swaps written by AIG that were worthless as the company had no capital behind them. This in turn means that the accounting of these firms has in fact fraudulently overstated earnings - perhaps for years - and still is!
The Fed, OTS and OCC have and had jurisdiction over American banks that bought these products, and were clearly derelict in their duty to prevent these regulated entities from purchasing these CDS from a firm that was unable to prove capital adequacy to cover its bets.
The European regulators have similar jurisdiction over those institutions and similarly have been derelict in their duty.
What the hell are we doing bailing out FOREIGN REGULATORS AND GOVERNMENTS who were derelict in their duty with regards to the institutions under their control?
Finally, TurboTimmy, it is not acceptable for you to simply "deduct" the
Army Investigating How and Why Troops Were Sent Into Alabama Town After Murder Spree
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://cnsnews.com/public/content/ar...x?RsrcID=45206
Now this is interesting!
The U.S. Army has launched an inquiry into how and why active duty troops from Fort Rucker, Ala., came to be placed on the streets of Samson, Ala., during last week's murder spree in that tiny South Alabama community. The use of the troops was a possible violation of federal law.
http://cnsnews.com/public/content/ar...x?RsrcID=45206
Now this is interesting!
The U.S. Army has launched an inquiry into how and why active duty troops from Fort Rucker, Ala., came to be placed on the streets of Samson, Ala., during last week's murder spree in that tiny South Alabama community. The use of the troops was a possible violation of federal law.
http://www.minyanville.com/articles/GS-C-ms-school-business-MBA/index/a/21695/from/yahoo
And here lies the problem all of those "Everybody's doing it" people are now somehow supposedly picked as prime candidates to run this country and resolve this very same mess that they created. I say supposedly because
greasing the wheels of a presidential candidate or just being from the same fraternity can get you positioned into a choice position, but it does not mean you have the intelligence factor needed to help run this country!
If business schools are in need of an image adjustment, one place to start is their ethics. To me, an exasperating part of the whole sad Wall Street saga is the conspicuous lack of a mea culpa. Executives just can’t stomach apologizing. Elsewhere in the world, apology is commonplace - heck, in China, they execute perpetrators of corporate malfeasance.
But these individuals are products of their environments. According to a study of cheating among graduate students, published in 2006 in the journal Academy of Management Learning & Education, 56% of all MBA students cheated regularly - more than in any other discipline.
The reason was “perceived peer behavior” - in other words, students thought everyone else was doing it.
Sounds familiar, doesn't it?
And here lies the problem all of those "Everybody's doing it" people are now somehow supposedly picked as prime candidates to run this country and resolve this very same mess that they created. I say supposedly because
greasing the wheels of a presidential candidate or just being from the same fraternity can get you positioned into a choice position, but it does not mean you have the intelligence factor needed to help run this country!
If business schools are in need of an image adjustment, one place to start is their ethics. To me, an exasperating part of the whole sad Wall Street saga is the conspicuous lack of a mea culpa. Executives just can’t stomach apologizing. Elsewhere in the world, apology is commonplace - heck, in China, they execute perpetrators of corporate malfeasance.
But these individuals are products of their environments. According to a study of cheating among graduate students, published in 2006 in the journal Academy of Management Learning & Education, 56% of all MBA students cheated regularly - more than in any other discipline.
The reason was “perceived peer behavior” - in other words, students thought everyone else was doing it.
Sounds familiar, doesn't it?
Tuesday, March 17, 2009
http://www.minyanville.com/articles/bac-lehman-merrill-aig-economy-leaders/index/a/21680/from/yahoo
This won't wash today Peter
Because the government is catering to Wallstreet and the common man sees it.
Lobbyists pay for political positioning and "The People" are tired of being screwed for the lifestyles of the rich and elite.
It's time for heads to roll because ignoring the cause and using the same ole solution of sticking our heads in the sand over the corruption showing is yesterdays agenda and it only allows the continuation of a very rotten cycle.
We need to disperse the crowd and allow our political and business leaders to focus all of their energy on solutions, not retribution
This won't wash today Peter
Because the government is catering to Wallstreet and the common man sees it.
Lobbyists pay for political positioning and "The People" are tired of being screwed for the lifestyles of the rich and elite.
It's time for heads to roll because ignoring the cause and using the same ole solution of sticking our heads in the sand over the corruption showing is yesterdays agenda and it only allows the continuation of a very rotten cycle.
We need to disperse the crowd and allow our political and business leaders to focus all of their energy on solutions, not retribution
http://www.reuters.com/article/marketsNews/idINN1728961520090317?rpc=44
* 73 at AIG received $1 mln or more in bonuses-NY's Cuomo
* Cuomo says contracts locked in pay at 2007 levels (Adds details of brief)
NEW YORK, March 17 (Reuters) - American International Group (AIG.N), which has received $180 billion in taxpayer money to stay in business, created 73 millionaires with bonuses of $1 million or more in 2008, New York's Attorney General said on Tuesday, releasing details of a probe into payments at the insurer.
Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said in a letter to Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services, that his office found that the top bonus recipient at AIG last year got more than $6.4 million and the top 10 received a total of $42 million.
"These payments were all made to individuals in the subsidiary whose performance led to crushing losses and the near failure of AIG," said Cuomo, who offered the details to Frank before a hearing
* 73 at AIG received $1 mln or more in bonuses-NY's Cuomo
* Cuomo says contracts locked in pay at 2007 levels (Adds details of brief)
NEW YORK, March 17 (Reuters) - American International Group (AIG.N), which has received $180 billion in taxpayer money to stay in business, created 73 millionaires with bonuses of $1 million or more in 2008, New York's Attorney General said on Tuesday, releasing details of a probe into payments at the insurer.
Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said in a letter to Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the U.S. House Committee on Financial Services, that his office found that the top bonus recipient at AIG last year got more than $6.4 million and the top 10 received a total of $42 million.
"These payments were all made to individuals in the subsidiary whose performance led to crushing losses and the near failure of AIG," said Cuomo, who offered the details to Frank before a hearing
Wall Street Pursues Pay Loopholes
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123724826580949187.html
One way or another the pride of Wallstreet will be paid.
Some Wall Street firms are looking for ways to sidestep tough new federal caps on compensation.
In response to expected bonus restrictions, officials at Citigroup Inc., Morgan Stanley and other financial institutions that got government aid are discussing increasing base salaries for some executives and other top-producing employees, people familiar with the situation said.
The crackdown
One way or another the pride of Wallstreet will be paid.
Some Wall Street firms are looking for ways to sidestep tough new federal caps on compensation.
In response to expected bonus restrictions, officials at Citigroup Inc., Morgan Stanley and other financial institutions that got government aid are discussing increasing base salaries for some executives and other top-producing employees, people familiar with the situation said.
The crackdown
Rage at AIG Swells As Bonuses Go Out
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...602961_pf.html
People have had it. They aren't going to put up with it any longer
A tidal wave of public outrage over bonus payments swamped American International Group yesterday. Hired guards stood watch outside the suburban Connecticut offices of AIG Financial Products, the division whose exotic derivatives brought the insurance giant to the brink of collapse last year. Inside, death threats and angry letters flooded e-mail inboxes. Irate callers lit up the phone lines. Senior managers submitted their resignations. Some employees didn't show up at all.
"It's a mob effect," one senior executive said. "It's putting people's lives in danger."
Politicians and the public spent yesterday demanding that AIG rescind payouts that they said rewarded recklessness and greed at a company being bailed out with $170 billion in taxpayer funds. But company officials contend that the uproar is scaring away the very employees who understand AIG Financial Products' complex trades and who are trying to dismantle the division before it further endangers the world's economy.
"It's going to blow up," said a senior Financial Products manager, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak for the company. "I have a horrible, horrible, horrible feeling that this is going to end badly."
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...602961_pf.html
People have had it. They aren't going to put up with it any longer
A tidal wave of public outrage over bonus payments swamped American International Group yesterday. Hired guards stood watch outside the suburban Connecticut offices of AIG Financial Products, the division whose exotic derivatives brought the insurance giant to the brink of collapse last year. Inside, death threats and angry letters flooded e-mail inboxes. Irate callers lit up the phone lines. Senior managers submitted their resignations. Some employees didn't show up at all.
"It's a mob effect," one senior executive said. "It's putting people's lives in danger."
Politicians and the public spent yesterday demanding that AIG rescind payouts that they said rewarded recklessness and greed at a company being bailed out with $170 billion in taxpayer funds. But company officials contend that the uproar is scaring away the very employees who understand AIG Financial Products' complex trades and who are trying to dismantle the division before it further endangers the world's economy.
"It's going to blow up," said a senior Financial Products manager, who spoke on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak for the company. "I have a horrible, horrible, horrible feeling that this is going to end badly."
RIGHTS-VIETNAM: End of the Road for Agent Orange Victims?
http://ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=46112
Just another instance of Corporate irresponsibility.
But this precedent must be set, because Iraq and Afghanistan victims loom large on the horizon.
Where can Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange get justice? Probably nowhere, after the United States Supreme Court refused to hear, this month, a final appeal by Vietnamese plaintiffs against chemical giants Dow and Monsanto.
Just another instance of Corporate irresponsibility.
But this precedent must be set, because Iraq and Afghanistan victims loom large on the horizon.
Where can Vietnamese victims of Agent Orange get justice? Probably nowhere, after the United States Supreme Court refused to hear, this month, a final appeal by Vietnamese plaintiffs against chemical giants Dow and Monsanto.
Common sense
http://www.minyanville.com/articles/GS-Paulson-db-aig-bailout-cdo/index/a/21677/from/yahoo
Let's just reflect on this for a moment: Our government has determined, with no vote or discussion, that certain firms needed to be saved. After all, if AIG couldn't make do on its CDO obligations, Goldman would suffer. And why should Goldman suffer, if it were properly hedged?
The reality, of course, is that Goldman wasn't properly hedged. In a truly free market, Goldman would have a tombstone right next to lesser firms like Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers.
Let's just reflect on this for a moment: Our government has determined, with no vote or discussion, that certain firms needed to be saved. After all, if AIG couldn't make do on its CDO obligations, Goldman would suffer. And why should Goldman suffer, if it were properly hedged?
The reality, of course, is that Goldman wasn't properly hedged. In a truly free market, Goldman would have a tombstone right next to lesser firms like Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&refer=exclusive&sid=a_OqNC8WLyfU
It's time to get rid of the lobbyists. We cannot continue to buy the old way, and they are paid to ensure it stays the same.
“Businesses wants business as usual,” Weller said. “But there are massive challenges to the economy, not just now but over the next few years. We have to rethink the way we run the economy.”
It's time to get rid of the lobbyists. We cannot continue to buy the old way, and they are paid to ensure it stays the same.
“Businesses wants business as usual,” Weller said. “But there are massive challenges to the economy, not just now but over the next few years. We have to rethink the way we run the economy.”
http://www.star-telegram.com/business/story/1259373.html
There is a nagging in my head
That things are out of control
It's up to you to keep your family fed
So it's time to tend the soil
Do it for the fun
And the practicality to
And food never tasted better
When it's grown with love by you
Remember about your neighbors
So plant a little more
Then learn how to make some bread
So your not relying on the store
Because the day after tomorrow
It might not be there anymore
There is a nagging in my head
That things are out of control
It's up to you to keep your family fed
So it's time to tend the soil
Do it for the fun
And the practicality to
And food never tasted better
When it's grown with love by you
Remember about your neighbors
So plant a little more
Then learn how to make some bread
So your not relying on the store
Because the day after tomorrow
It might not be there anymore
Numbers don't lie
http://www.thetruthaboutmortgage.com/completed-foreclosures-hit-new-high-in-February/
Moratoria what? Completed foreclosures reached their highest point since the crisis got underway, rising 67 percent from January’s muted total.
In February, 121,756 homes were repossessed by banks and lenders, up from 72,694 in January and topping the previous high of 104,243 last September, according to Foreclosures.com.
Of course, many will argue that most of these foreclosures were initiated a long time ago, before lenders’ moratoria were in place, but the numbers paint a more troubling picture.
Even pre-foreclosure filings hit a new high, rising to 207,703 in February, up 24 percent from 166,860 in January and nine percent from 190,467 in December, the previous high.
“Despite the efforts to stem foreclosures by government and many banks, the hopeful signs of the last quarter of 2008 and January didn’t follow through in February,” said Foreclosures.com president Alexis McGee. “Many homeowners are in trouble and rising unemployment continues to threaten to intensify the problem.”
“Annualizing the first two months of this year, if foreclosures were to continue unabated, we could end up with another 1.2 million homes back in lenders’ hands by year-end.”
Completed foreclosures (REO) jumped 138 percent month-to-month in the Northeast, 90 percent in the Midwest, and 63 percent in the Southwest.
By state, completed foreclosures were up 260 percent
Moratoria what? Completed foreclosures reached their highest point since the crisis got underway, rising 67 percent from January’s muted total.
In February, 121,756 homes were repossessed by banks and lenders, up from 72,694 in January and topping the previous high of 104,243 last September, according to Foreclosures.com.
Of course, many will argue that most of these foreclosures were initiated a long time ago, before lenders’ moratoria were in place, but the numbers paint a more troubling picture.
Even pre-foreclosure filings hit a new high, rising to 207,703 in February, up 24 percent from 166,860 in January and nine percent from 190,467 in December, the previous high.
“Despite the efforts to stem foreclosures by government and many banks, the hopeful signs of the last quarter of 2008 and January didn’t follow through in February,” said Foreclosures.com president Alexis McGee. “Many homeowners are in trouble and rising unemployment continues to threaten to intensify the problem.”
“Annualizing the first two months of this year, if foreclosures were to continue unabated, we could end up with another 1.2 million homes back in lenders’ hands by year-end.”
Completed foreclosures (REO) jumped 138 percent month-to-month in the Northeast, 90 percent in the Midwest, and 63 percent in the Southwest.
By state, completed foreclosures were up 260 percent
Monday, March 16, 2009
http://news.yahoo.com/s/usnw/20090316/pl_usnw/the_american_legion_strongly_opposed_to_president_s_plan_to_charge_wounded_heroes_for_treatment
The Commander, clearly angered as he emerged from the session said, "This reimbursement plan would be inconsistent with the mandate ' to care for him who shall have borne the battle' given that the United States government sent members of the armed forces into harm's way, and not private insurance companies. I say again that The American Legion does not and will not support any plan that seeks to bill a veteran for treatment of a service connected disability at the very agency that was created to treat the unique need of America's veterans
The Commander, clearly angered as he emerged from the session said, "This reimbursement plan would be inconsistent with the mandate ' to care for him who shall have borne the battle' given that the United States government sent members of the armed forces into harm's way, and not private insurance companies. I say again that The American Legion does not and will not support any plan that seeks to bill a veteran for treatment of a service connected disability at the very agency that was created to treat the unique need of America's veterans
AIG Bombshells: $1.2B in Bonuses, Over $100B Paid to Goldman, Other Banks
http://finance.yahoo.com/tech-ticker/article/208786/AIG-Bombshells-1.2B-in-Bonuses-Over-100B-Paid-to-Goldman-Other-Banks?tickers=AIG,GS,C,BAC,DB,BCS,XLF
President Obama has instructed Tim Geithner to "pursue every legal avenue to block these bonuses" planned for AIG executive. It's "hard to warrant any bonuses" at AIG and there is no way to "justify this outrage," the President said midday at the White House. After tripping over his words at one point, the President said, "I am choked up with anger," a familiar feeling in America today.
Earlier: Every time AIG is in the news, it's almost guaranteed to provoke a gag reaction from American taxpayers and policymakers. This weekend was no different as two stories of bailout abuse and outrageous behavior came to light:
First, AIG was lambasted as disclosures of its $1.2 billion bonus pool came to light. About $450 million of the bonuses were planned for employees of its financial services unit, the rogue hedge fund insider the insurer, which lost $40.5 billion later year. The Wall Street Journal reports at least seven individuals at that unit were due bonus payments of $3 million each.
President Obama has instructed Tim Geithner to "pursue every legal avenue to block these bonuses" planned for AIG executive. It's "hard to warrant any bonuses" at AIG and there is no way to "justify this outrage," the President said midday at the White House. After tripping over his words at one point, the President said, "I am choked up with anger," a familiar feeling in America today.
Earlier: Every time AIG is in the news, it's almost guaranteed to provoke a gag reaction from American taxpayers and policymakers. This weekend was no different as two stories of bailout abuse and outrageous behavior came to light:
First, AIG was lambasted as disclosures of its $1.2 billion bonus pool came to light. About $450 million of the bonuses were planned for employees of its financial services unit, the rogue hedge fund insider the insurer, which lost $40.5 billion later year. The Wall Street Journal reports at least seven individuals at that unit were due bonus payments of $3 million each.
GVSU student, Derek Copp, shot in chest by police for smoking marijuana: Executing children for the War on Drugs (Update 3)
http://www.chycho.com/?q=node/2228
This is how far the war on drugs goes. But on the other hand our sitting president can admit to cocaine use in college and still be come elected.
Makes sense doesn't it?
This is how far the war on drugs goes. But on the other hand our sitting president can admit to cocaine use in college and still be come elected.
Makes sense doesn't it?
Merkel Keeps Cashbox Closed as She Spurns Obama’s Stimulus Plea
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aDQ2DHZhyx7A&refer=exclusive
March 16 (Bloomberg) -- Forget Nicolas Sarkozy. Ignore Gordon Brown. Angela Merkel, taking advantage of Germany’s economic heft, is now the European Union’s dominant figure. And leaders from Warsaw to Washington had best not forget it.
Just as the German chancellor vetoed a bailout for eastern Europe on March 1, she is now leading European opposition to U.S. President Barack Obama’s call for a global pump-priming package. She’ll determine the fate of a 5 billion-euro ($6.4 billion) infrastructure proposal at an EU summit in Brussels later this week.
“It’s Merkel who holds the key to the cashbox, and she doesn’t want to give it up,” says Jean-Dominique Giuliani, chairman of the Robert Schuman Foundation, a research center in Paris.
Merkel’s rejection of more stimulus touched off the first trans-Atlantic clash of the Obama administration and led critics to say she risks deepening the global recession. Even as finance ministers from the Group of 20 nations were meeting in southern England March 14, seeking to paper over differences with a pledge to deliver a “sustained effort” to boost growth, Merkel was 42 miles (67 kilometers) away in London, defending her opposition to further spending.
“Germany really has contributed its share,” said Merkel
March 16 (Bloomberg) -- Forget Nicolas Sarkozy. Ignore Gordon Brown. Angela Merkel, taking advantage of Germany’s economic heft, is now the European Union’s dominant figure. And leaders from Warsaw to Washington had best not forget it.
Just as the German chancellor vetoed a bailout for eastern Europe on March 1, she is now leading European opposition to U.S. President Barack Obama’s call for a global pump-priming package. She’ll determine the fate of a 5 billion-euro ($6.4 billion) infrastructure proposal at an EU summit in Brussels later this week.
“It’s Merkel who holds the key to the cashbox, and she doesn’t want to give it up,” says Jean-Dominique Giuliani, chairman of the Robert Schuman Foundation, a research center in Paris.
Merkel’s rejection of more stimulus touched off the first trans-Atlantic clash of the Obama administration and led critics to say she risks deepening the global recession. Even as finance ministers from the Group of 20 nations were meeting in southern England March 14, seeking to paper over differences with a pledge to deliver a “sustained effort” to boost growth, Merkel was 42 miles (67 kilometers) away in London, defending her opposition to further spending.
“Germany really has contributed its share,” said Merkel
Liberal media watchdog begins anti-CNBC drive
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D96V7JR82&show_article=1
All the facts rather than personal opinion would be an excellent starting point
in deciding if the program you watch for your daily financial news is accurate or not. If your relying on a personality pitch for your financial advice rather than your own due diligence, then you can't actually bitch about being taken on a pump and dump. Kramer was a paid personality with imposed obligations to his parent company. He worked for a show not the news, there is a big difference.
Some critics are seizing on comedian Jon Stewart's attacks of CNBC to launch an online petition drive urging the network to be tougher on Wall Street leaders.
The liberal media watchdog Media Matters for America and some economists are behind the effort, launched Monday. They're asking CNBC to hire economic voices with a track record of being right about the current crisis and do more to hold business leaders accountable.
CNBC has been in the firing line since Stewart pointed out network personalities who, in retrospect, offered bad financial advice.
CNBC had no immediate comment. CNBC spokesman Brian Steel said last week that the network was proud of its record of offering diverse opinions on the economy.
All the facts rather than personal opinion would be an excellent starting point
in deciding if the program you watch for your daily financial news is accurate or not. If your relying on a personality pitch for your financial advice rather than your own due diligence, then you can't actually bitch about being taken on a pump and dump. Kramer was a paid personality with imposed obligations to his parent company. He worked for a show not the news, there is a big difference.
Some critics are seizing on comedian Jon Stewart's attacks of CNBC to launch an online petition drive urging the network to be tougher on Wall Street leaders.
The liberal media watchdog Media Matters for America and some economists are behind the effort, launched Monday. They're asking CNBC to hire economic voices with a track record of being right about the current crisis and do more to hold business leaders accountable.
CNBC has been in the firing line since Stewart pointed out network personalities who, in retrospect, offered bad financial advice.
CNBC had no immediate comment. CNBC spokesman Brian Steel said last week that the network was proud of its record of offering diverse opinions on the economy.
Fed-up Americans mobilize: More than 150 tea parties
http://www.worldnetdaily.com/index.php?fa=PAGE.view&pageId=91398
A revolution is brewing as American patriots and advocates of the free-market system unite in protest against out-of-control government spending – with a wildfire movement of more than 150 nationwide tea parties.
A revolution is brewing as American patriots and advocates of the free-market system unite in protest against out-of-control government spending – with a wildfire movement of more than 150 nationwide tea parties.
Friday, March 13, 2009
All travel plans to be tracked by Government
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...overnment.html
This is for the UK, but it's also what your future looks like to.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/ukne...overnment.html
This is for the UK, but it's also what your future looks like to.
Thursday, March 12, 2009
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article5891366.ece
Britain's chief financial regulator blamed Gordon Brown yesterday for contributing to the economic crisis, coming close to accusing him of stoking the credit-fuelled housing boom and bust.
Hector Sants, chief executive of the Financial Services Authority (FSA), said that the pro-debt view of government ministers was one of the structural failures that led to the crisis. He said that one problem was “a prevailing mindset of Government and society promoting the benefits of credit and asset inflation, notably in housing”.
The comments appear to be the first time that the FSA has directly criticised the Government for its role in creating some of the imbalances that led to the banking catastrophe of the past two years.
Britain's chief financial regulator blamed Gordon Brown yesterday for contributing to the economic crisis, coming close to accusing him of stoking the credit-fuelled housing boom and bust.
Hector Sants, chief executive of the Financial Services Authority (FSA), said that the pro-debt view of government ministers was one of the structural failures that led to the crisis. He said that one problem was “a prevailing mindset of Government and society promoting the benefits of credit and asset inflation, notably in housing”.
The comments appear to be the first time that the FSA has directly criticised the Government for its role in creating some of the imbalances that led to the banking catastrophe of the past two years.
It's the deep water Cap. It's pressurized.
Your water, with an air rise it's easier for you.
I'm making a little stinky smoke right now
I gotta little PMS (Planetary mind shift)
And the damned water is making me dizzy
I hate when that happens
Pretty cool breeze today
Does that mean booyah was your boss
Coz I just can't imagine that even if I try
Vicious is a wicked word Cap
You make it sound like the mafia or somethin
What's up with that
Your water, with an air rise it's easier for you.
I'm making a little stinky smoke right now
I gotta little PMS (Planetary mind shift)
And the damned water is making me dizzy
I hate when that happens
Pretty cool breeze today
Does that mean booyah was your boss
Coz I just can't imagine that even if I try
Vicious is a wicked word Cap
You make it sound like the mafia or somethin
What's up with that
Foreclosures up 30 percent in February
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Foreclosures-up-30-percent-in-apf-14614126.html
In the house of lies called the PPT
With the retail ties of unreality
Here's the picture to view it all
With the open eyes of total recall
Despite halts on new foreclosures by several major lenders, the number of households threatened with losing their homes rose 30 percent in February from last year's levels, RealtyTrac reported Thursday.
Nationwide, nearly 291,000 homes received at least one foreclosure-related notice last month, up 6 percent from January, according to the Irvine, Calif-based company. While foreclosures are highly concentrated in the Western states and Florida, the problem is spreading to states like Idaho, Illinois and Oregon as the U.S. economy worsens.
"It doesn't bode well," for the embattled U.S. housing market, said Rick Sharga, vice president for marketing at RealtyTrac, a foreclosure listing firm. "At least for the foreseeable future, it's going to continue to be pretty ugly."
The rise in foreclosure filings came despite temporary halts to foreclosures by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and major banks JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and Bank of America. Those companies pledged to do so in advance of President Barack Obama's plan to stem the foreclosure crisis, which was launched last week.
In the house of lies called the PPT
With the retail ties of unreality
Here's the picture to view it all
With the open eyes of total recall
Despite halts on new foreclosures by several major lenders, the number of households threatened with losing their homes rose 30 percent in February from last year's levels, RealtyTrac reported Thursday.
Nationwide, nearly 291,000 homes received at least one foreclosure-related notice last month, up 6 percent from January, according to the Irvine, Calif-based company. While foreclosures are highly concentrated in the Western states and Florida, the problem is spreading to states like Idaho, Illinois and Oregon as the U.S. economy worsens.
"It doesn't bode well," for the embattled U.S. housing market, said Rick Sharga, vice president for marketing at RealtyTrac, a foreclosure listing firm. "At least for the foreseeable future, it's going to continue to be pretty ugly."
The rise in foreclosure filings came despite temporary halts to foreclosures by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and major banks JPMorgan Chase, Morgan Stanley, Citigroup and Bank of America. Those companies pledged to do so in advance of President Barack Obama's plan to stem the foreclosure crisis, which was launched last week.
Wednesday, March 11, 2009
Monsanto's dream bill
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Mon...90309-337.html
To begin reversing GM contamination will require ending the power biotech companies such as Monsanto exert over our government and through that, over our food.
HR 875, was introduced by Rosa DeLauro whose husband Stanley Greenburg works for Monsanto.
The bill is monstrous on level after level - the power it would give to Monsanto, the criminalization of seed banking, the prison terms and confiscatory fines for farmers, the 24 hours GPS tracking of their animals, the easements on their property to allow for warrantless government entry, the stripping away of their property rights, the imposition by the filthy, greedy industrial side of anti-farming international "industrial" standards to independent farms - the only part of our food system that still works, the planned elimination of farmers through all these means.
The corporations want the land, they want more intensive industrialization, they want the end of normal animals so they can substitute patented genetically engineered ones they own, they want the end of normal seeds and thus of seed banking by farmers or individuals. They want control over all seeds, animals, water, and land.
Bills: HR 875 and S 425
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://dprogram.net/2009/03/09/video...ganic-farming/
What it Does:
* Legally binds state agriculture depts to enforcing federal guidelines effectively taking away the states power to do anything other than being food police for the federal dept.
* Effectively criminalizes organic farming but doesn’t actually use the word organic.
* Effects anyone growing food even if they are not selling it but consuming it.
* Effects anyone producing meat of any kind including wild game.
* Legislation is so broad based that every aspect of growing or producing food can be made illegal. There are no specifics which is bizarre considering how long the legislation is.
* Section 103 is almost entirely about the administrative aspect of the legislation. It will allow the appointing of officials from the factory farming corporations and lobbyists and classify them as experts and allow them to determine and interpret the legislation. Who do you think they are going to side with?
* Section 206 defines what will be considered a food production facility and what will be enforced up all food production facilities. The wording is so broad based that a backyard gardener could be fined and more.
* Section 207 requires that the state’s agriculture dept act as the food police and enforce the federal requirements. This takes away the states power and is in violation of the 10th amendment
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.opednews.com/articles/Mon...90309-337.html
To begin reversing GM contamination will require ending the power biotech companies such as Monsanto exert over our government and through that, over our food.
HR 875, was introduced by Rosa DeLauro whose husband Stanley Greenburg works for Monsanto.
The bill is monstrous on level after level - the power it would give to Monsanto, the criminalization of seed banking, the prison terms and confiscatory fines for farmers, the 24 hours GPS tracking of their animals, the easements on their property to allow for warrantless government entry, the stripping away of their property rights, the imposition by the filthy, greedy industrial side of anti-farming international "industrial" standards to independent farms - the only part of our food system that still works, the planned elimination of farmers through all these means.
The corporations want the land, they want more intensive industrialization, they want the end of normal animals so they can substitute patented genetically engineered ones they own, they want the end of normal seeds and thus of seed banking by farmers or individuals. They want control over all seeds, animals, water, and land.
Bills: HR 875 and S 425
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://dprogram.net/2009/03/09/video...ganic-farming/
What it Does:
* Legally binds state agriculture depts to enforcing federal guidelines effectively taking away the states power to do anything other than being food police for the federal dept.
* Effectively criminalizes organic farming but doesn’t actually use the word organic.
* Effects anyone growing food even if they are not selling it but consuming it.
* Effects anyone producing meat of any kind including wild game.
* Legislation is so broad based that every aspect of growing or producing food can be made illegal. There are no specifics which is bizarre considering how long the legislation is.
* Section 103 is almost entirely about the administrative aspect of the legislation. It will allow the appointing of officials from the factory farming corporations and lobbyists and classify them as experts and allow them to determine and interpret the legislation. Who do you think they are going to side with?
* Section 206 defines what will be considered a food production facility and what will be enforced up all food production facilities. The wording is so broad based that a backyard gardener could be fined and more.
* Section 207 requires that the state’s agriculture dept act as the food police and enforce the federal requirements. This takes away the states power and is in violation of the 10th amendment
Official warns Congress not to force lending
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Offici...-14605251.html
Dennis Kucinich just asked the 64,000 dollar question and one I'd really like the answer to!
The official in charge of the Treasury's $700 billion bailout program for the financial sector warned Congress that the government should not force banks to make loans that bankers may deem risky.
Neel Kashkari, interim assistant secretary for financial stability at Treasury, told a congressional oversight panel Wednesday that bad lending practices were at the root of the financial crisis and cautioned Congress not to "micromanage" institutions that receive government funds.
"However well-intended, government officials are not positioned to make better commercial decisions than lenders in our communities," he said.
Subcommittee chairman Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, complained that at least three financial institutions that have received TARP money -- Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp., and J.P. Morgan Chase and Co. -- have made foreign investments.
"If the banking system is in serious enough trouble to require massive amounts of federal support, shouldn't that federal support be channeled to the domestic economy?" Kucinich asked.
The misgivings were bipartisan.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Offici...-14605251.html
Dennis Kucinich just asked the 64,000 dollar question and one I'd really like the answer to!
The official in charge of the Treasury's $700 billion bailout program for the financial sector warned Congress that the government should not force banks to make loans that bankers may deem risky.
Neel Kashkari, interim assistant secretary for financial stability at Treasury, told a congressional oversight panel Wednesday that bad lending practices were at the root of the financial crisis and cautioned Congress not to "micromanage" institutions that receive government funds.
"However well-intended, government officials are not positioned to make better commercial decisions than lenders in our communities," he said.
Subcommittee chairman Dennis Kucinich, D-Ohio, complained that at least three financial institutions that have received TARP money -- Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp., and J.P. Morgan Chase and Co. -- have made foreign investments.
"If the banking system is in serious enough trouble to require massive amounts of federal support, shouldn't that federal support be channeled to the domestic economy?" Kucinich asked.
The misgivings were bipartisan.
http://www.alternet.org/audits/130891
One can only wonder WHY the US taxpayer is forced to support the Israeli government.
One can only assume at this point that it's protection money to keep Israel from further terrorizing the United States, a task made easy by their infiltration into our own government under the guise of duel citizenship.
Israel runs one of the most aggressive and damaging espionage networks targeting the U.S., yet public discussion about it is almost nil. Tools
Scratch a counterintelligence officer in the U.S. government and they'll tell you that Israel is not a friend to the United States.
This is because Israel runs one of the most aggressive and damaging espionage networks targeting the U.S.. The fact of Israeli penetration into the country is not a subject oft-discussed in the media or in the circles of governance, due to the extreme sensitivity of the U.S.-Israel relationship coupled with the burden of the Israel lobby, which punishes legislators who dare to criticize the Jewish state. The void where the facts should sit is filled instead with the hallucinations of conspiracy theory -- the kind in which, for example, agents of the Mossad, Israel’s top intelligence agency, engineer the 9/11 attacks, while 4,000 Israelis in the Twin Towers somehow all get word to escape before the planes hit. The effect, as disturbing as it is ironic, is that the less the truth is addressed, the more noxious the falsity that spreads.
Israel's spying on the U.S., however, is a matter of public record, and neither conspiracy nor theory is needed to present the evidence. When the FBI produces its annual report to Congress concerning "Foreign Economic Collection and Industrial Espionage," Israel and its intelligence services often feature prominently as a threat second only to China. In 2005 the FBI noted, for example, that Israel maintains "an active program to gather proprietary information within the United States." A key Israeli method, said the FBI report, is computer intrusion. In 1996, the Defense Intelligence Service, a branch of the Pentagon, issued a warning that "the collection of scientific intelligence in the United States [is] the third highest priority of Israeli Intelligence after information on its Arab neighbors and information on secret U.S. policies or decisions relating to Israel." In 1979, the Central Intelligence Agency produced a scathing survey of Israeli intelligence activities that targeted the U.S. government. Like any worthy spy service, Israeli intelligence early on employed wiretaps as an effective tool, according to the CIA report. In 1954, the U.S. Ambassador in Tel Aviv discovered in his office a hidden microphone "planted by the Israelis," and two years later telephone taps were found in the residence of the U.S. military attaché. In a telegram to Washington, the ambassador at the time cabled a warning: "Department must assume that all conversations [in] my office are known to the Israelis." The former ambassador to Qatar, Andrew Killgore, who also served as a foreign officer in Jerusalem and Beirut, told me Israeli taps of U.S. missions and embassies in the Middle East were part of a "standard operating procedure."
According to the 1979 CIA report
One can only wonder WHY the US taxpayer is forced to support the Israeli government.
One can only assume at this point that it's protection money to keep Israel from further terrorizing the United States, a task made easy by their infiltration into our own government under the guise of duel citizenship.
Israel runs one of the most aggressive and damaging espionage networks targeting the U.S., yet public discussion about it is almost nil. Tools
Scratch a counterintelligence officer in the U.S. government and they'll tell you that Israel is not a friend to the United States.
This is because Israel runs one of the most aggressive and damaging espionage networks targeting the U.S.. The fact of Israeli penetration into the country is not a subject oft-discussed in the media or in the circles of governance, due to the extreme sensitivity of the U.S.-Israel relationship coupled with the burden of the Israel lobby, which punishes legislators who dare to criticize the Jewish state. The void where the facts should sit is filled instead with the hallucinations of conspiracy theory -- the kind in which, for example, agents of the Mossad, Israel’s top intelligence agency, engineer the 9/11 attacks, while 4,000 Israelis in the Twin Towers somehow all get word to escape before the planes hit. The effect, as disturbing as it is ironic, is that the less the truth is addressed, the more noxious the falsity that spreads.
Israel's spying on the U.S., however, is a matter of public record, and neither conspiracy nor theory is needed to present the evidence. When the FBI produces its annual report to Congress concerning "Foreign Economic Collection and Industrial Espionage," Israel and its intelligence services often feature prominently as a threat second only to China. In 2005 the FBI noted, for example, that Israel maintains "an active program to gather proprietary information within the United States." A key Israeli method, said the FBI report, is computer intrusion. In 1996, the Defense Intelligence Service, a branch of the Pentagon, issued a warning that "the collection of scientific intelligence in the United States [is] the third highest priority of Israeli Intelligence after information on its Arab neighbors and information on secret U.S. policies or decisions relating to Israel." In 1979, the Central Intelligence Agency produced a scathing survey of Israeli intelligence activities that targeted the U.S. government. Like any worthy spy service, Israeli intelligence early on employed wiretaps as an effective tool, according to the CIA report. In 1954, the U.S. Ambassador in Tel Aviv discovered in his office a hidden microphone "planted by the Israelis," and two years later telephone taps were found in the residence of the U.S. military attaché. In a telegram to Washington, the ambassador at the time cabled a warning: "Department must assume that all conversations [in] my office are known to the Israelis." The former ambassador to Qatar, Andrew Killgore, who also served as a foreign officer in Jerusalem and Beirut, told me Israeli taps of U.S. missions and embassies in the Middle East were part of a "standard operating procedure."
According to the 1979 CIA report
It's called manipulation Cap
And yes your in that category to
As a function of where you sit
Caused by the AIG backing from you
Now I know you know
Who that money goes to
And how the why it comes about
To keep the banks suspended up to
So there in lies the crack of trust
The common man doesn't need the bluff
We say let it die because it's no longer green
It's just the same old faces in the illusions dream
The united states of israel trying to make the scene
And yes your in that category to
As a function of where you sit
Caused by the AIG backing from you
Now I know you know
Who that money goes to
And how the why it comes about
To keep the banks suspended up to
So there in lies the crack of trust
The common man doesn't need the bluff
We say let it die because it's no longer green
It's just the same old faces in the illusions dream
The united states of israel trying to make the scene
Tuesday, March 10, 2009
The Case for Giving Eli Lilly the Corporate Death Penalty
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.alternet.org/healthwellne...ath_ penalty/
It just goes to show you friends in high places gives you perks
Since when can you pay to have a criminal investigation ended?
When George Bush and Homeland Security are involved!
Eli Lilly & Company's rap sheet as a public menace is so long that for Lilly watchers to overcome the "banality-of-Lilly-sleaziness" phenomenon, the drug company must break some type of record measuring egregiousness. Lilly obliged earlier this year, receiving the largest criminal fine ever imposed on a corporation.
If Americans are ever going to revoke the publicly granted charters of reckless, giant corporations -- well within our rights -- we might want to get the ball rolling with Lilly, whose recent actions appalled even the mainstream media. And with Lilly's chums, the Bush family, out of power, now might be the right time.
On January 15, 2009, Lilly pled guilty to charges that it had illegally marketed its blockbuster drug Zyprexa for unapproved uses to children and the elderly, two populations especially vulnerable to its dangerous side effect. Lilly plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge and agreed to pay $1.42 billion, which included $615 million to end the criminal investigation and approximately $800 million to settle the civil case.
http://www.alternet.org/healthwellne...ath_ penalty/
It just goes to show you friends in high places gives you perks
Since when can you pay to have a criminal investigation ended?
When George Bush and Homeland Security are involved!
Eli Lilly & Company's rap sheet as a public menace is so long that for Lilly watchers to overcome the "banality-of-Lilly-sleaziness" phenomenon, the drug company must break some type of record measuring egregiousness. Lilly obliged earlier this year, receiving the largest criminal fine ever imposed on a corporation.
If Americans are ever going to revoke the publicly granted charters of reckless, giant corporations -- well within our rights -- we might want to get the ball rolling with Lilly, whose recent actions appalled even the mainstream media. And with Lilly's chums, the Bush family, out of power, now might be the right time.
On January 15, 2009, Lilly pled guilty to charges that it had illegally marketed its blockbuster drug Zyprexa for unapproved uses to children and the elderly, two populations especially vulnerable to its dangerous side effect. Lilly plead guilty to a misdemeanor charge and agreed to pay $1.42 billion, which included $615 million to end the criminal investigation and approximately $800 million to settle the civil case.
It's what they train for
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.d72dee6b34ee20d4e72e635602e707b3.691&show_article=1
A veteran Hong Kong stock commentator burst into tears during a live television broadcast as she saw HSBC's shares plunge dramatically seconds before the end of Monday's trading
Agnes Wu's comments on the recent volatility of the banking giant's Hong Kong-listed shares trailed off as she saw its price slump to 33 Hong Kong dollars (4.23 US) after a last-minute sell order, a clip on Cable News showed.
The order almost doubled the size of Monday's fall for shares in HSBC, which ended down 24.1 percent, its largest one-day fall on the Hong Kong bourse.
Wu and the anchor of the show were both wide-eyed and they shouted out the closing price in surprise. She was unable to continue talking and shook her head for a few seconds.
The normally tough commentator then started to sob and said: "It's a heart-wrecking fall."
She then wiped her right eye, but remained silent until the live show ended.
Wu later told The Standard newspaper she does not hold shares in the financial heavyweight. She explained she could not help bursting into tears because she felt it was unfair for big players to bully small investors.
She said HSBC's share plunge was the result of short-sellers who wanted to drive down the price and snap up shares after the bank completes a 17.8 billion US dollar rights issue, according to the newspaper.
A veteran Hong Kong stock commentator burst into tears during a live television broadcast as she saw HSBC's shares plunge dramatically seconds before the end of Monday's trading
Agnes Wu's comments on the recent volatility of the banking giant's Hong Kong-listed shares trailed off as she saw its price slump to 33 Hong Kong dollars (4.23 US) after a last-minute sell order, a clip on Cable News showed.
The order almost doubled the size of Monday's fall for shares in HSBC, which ended down 24.1 percent, its largest one-day fall on the Hong Kong bourse.
Wu and the anchor of the show were both wide-eyed and they shouted out the closing price in surprise. She was unable to continue talking and shook her head for a few seconds.
The normally tough commentator then started to sob and said: "It's a heart-wrecking fall."
She then wiped her right eye, but remained silent until the live show ended.
Wu later told The Standard newspaper she does not hold shares in the financial heavyweight. She explained she could not help bursting into tears because she felt it was unfair for big players to bully small investors.
She said HSBC's share plunge was the result of short-sellers who wanted to drive down the price and snap up shares after the bank completes a 17.8 billion US dollar rights issue, according to the newspaper.
Fed up with the FED
http://www.minyanville.com/articles/gold-C-jpm-bac-Federal-Reserve/index/a/21536/from/yahoo
The average American doesn’t know much about the Federal Reserve. Most Americans believe it’s part of the government. They’re wrong; it’s a privately held corporation owned by its stockholders, the largest banks in the United States.
The average American doesn’t know much about the Federal Reserve. Most Americans believe it’s part of the government. They’re wrong; it’s a privately held corporation owned by its stockholders, the largest banks in the United States.
Monday, March 9, 2009
http://www.rense.com/general85/riot.htm
It's true, they do want "the people" to riot
It makes it easier for them to ensue a police state.
Don't give them what they want
The idea is not only to collapse the American economy, but to throw so much money at the problem (the banks mostly) as quickly as possible so that the response options of the government are zero by the time the economy really crashes on the scale that is planned.
It's true, they do want "the people" to riot
It makes it easier for them to ensue a police state.
Don't give them what they want
The idea is not only to collapse the American economy, but to throw so much money at the problem (the banks mostly) as quickly as possible so that the response options of the government are zero by the time the economy really crashes on the scale that is planned.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financetopics/recession/4960447/Larry-Summers-says-global-economy-needs-a-universal-demand-agenda-now.html
How stupid does this sound?
And he's a leader to
You can't spend what you haven't got
And no job to buy it to
Our junkie world needs a fix
And this just isn't going to do
We need the dry heaves and the DT's
The urgent need to keep consumers' spending must take immediate priority over fixing the global imbalances that many believed contributed to the financial crisis, Mr Summers told the Financial Times
How stupid does this sound?
And he's a leader to
You can't spend what you haven't got
And no job to buy it to
Our junkie world needs a fix
And this just isn't going to do
We need the dry heaves and the DT's
The urgent need to keep consumers' spending must take immediate priority over fixing the global imbalances that many believed contributed to the financial crisis, Mr Summers told the Financial Times
JPMorgan Chase to Increase India Outsourcing 25%
http://www.businessweek.com/globalbiz/content/mar2009/gb2009039_431274.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index+-+temp_global+business
This is the loyalty that JP affords to you
NONE!
This is the loyalty that JP affords to you
NONE!
Pentagon: Chinese vessels harassed unarmed ship
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D96QJ2S00&show_article=1
It makes you wonder doesn't it
The Pentagon charged Monday that five Chinese ships shadowed and maneuvered dangerously close to a U.S. Navy vessel in an apparent attempt to harass the American crew.
Defense officials in the Obama administration said the incident Sunday followed several days of "increasingly aggressive" acts by Chinese ships in the region. The incident took place in international waters in the South China Sea, about 75 miles south of Hainan Island.
U.S. officials said a protest was to be delivered to Beijing's military attache at a Pentagon meeting Monday
It makes you wonder doesn't it
The Pentagon charged Monday that five Chinese ships shadowed and maneuvered dangerously close to a U.S. Navy vessel in an apparent attempt to harass the American crew.
Defense officials in the Obama administration said the incident Sunday followed several days of "increasingly aggressive" acts by Chinese ships in the region. The incident took place in international waters in the South China Sea, about 75 miles south of Hainan Island.
U.S. officials said a protest was to be delivered to Beijing's military attache at a Pentagon meeting Monday
Obama urged to let banks fail
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/81887d7c-0c1f-11de-b87d-0000779fd2ac.html?nclick_check=1
Two powerful Republicans on Sunday called on Barack Obama, US president, to let some big banks fail instead of propping them up with public money.
Richard Shelby, the top Republican on the Senate banking committee, warned that the US would end up following the same path as Japan, which suffered a lost decade of economic growth by tackling its banking crisis too slowly, unless some big institutions were allowed to fail.
EDITOR’S CHOICE
Obama visit to bolster ties with Turkey - Mar-08Obama says health reforms cannot wait - Mar-06In depth: Obama’s first 100 days - Jan-20"Close them down, get them out of business. If they're dead, they ought to be buried," Mr Shelby told ABC News. "We bury the small banks. We've got to bury some big ones and send a strong message to the market."
The comments were made as experts debate whether the US should nationalise insolvent banks or allow the "zombie" institutions to fail.
The Obama administration is administering
Two powerful Republicans on Sunday called on Barack Obama, US president, to let some big banks fail instead of propping them up with public money.
Richard Shelby, the top Republican on the Senate banking committee, warned that the US would end up following the same path as Japan, which suffered a lost decade of economic growth by tackling its banking crisis too slowly, unless some big institutions were allowed to fail.
EDITOR’S CHOICE
Obama visit to bolster ties with Turkey - Mar-08Obama says health reforms cannot wait - Mar-06In depth: Obama’s first 100 days - Jan-20"Close them down, get them out of business. If they're dead, they ought to be buried," Mr Shelby told ABC News. "We bury the small banks. We've got to bury some big ones and send a strong message to the market."
The comments were made as experts debate whether the US should nationalise insolvent banks or allow the "zombie" institutions to fail.
The Obama administration is administering
Appeal of U.S. debt adds to pain of ailing nations
http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/03/09/business/dollar.php
"Debt collapses are going to wreak havoc with exchange rates," Rogoff predicted. "A lot of countries in Europe are already on the brink of default."
Only two years ago, many analysts were suggesting that the International Monetary Fund - created more than 60 years ago to rescue countries in financial distress - no longer had a clear reason to exist. Now, the fund is scrambling for contributions from developed nations to bolster its $350 billion war chest. Setser suggested it needed $1 trillion for all that might yet unfold.
Because worries are deeper nearly everywhere else, the United States and the dollar have essentially benefited from the worldwide panic. In the past year, the dollar has risen 13 percent against major foreign currencies after adjusting for inflation, according to Federal Reserve data. Foreign holdings of Treasury bills increased by $456 billion in 2008.
"It's a huge safe-haven effect," said William Cline, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. "The basic assumption that people are making is that the U.S. government will never default on its debt."
"Debt collapses are going to wreak havoc with exchange rates," Rogoff predicted. "A lot of countries in Europe are already on the brink of default."
Only two years ago, many analysts were suggesting that the International Monetary Fund - created more than 60 years ago to rescue countries in financial distress - no longer had a clear reason to exist. Now, the fund is scrambling for contributions from developed nations to bolster its $350 billion war chest. Setser suggested it needed $1 trillion for all that might yet unfold.
Because worries are deeper nearly everywhere else, the United States and the dollar have essentially benefited from the worldwide panic. In the past year, the dollar has risen 13 percent against major foreign currencies after adjusting for inflation, according to Federal Reserve data. Foreign holdings of Treasury bills increased by $456 billion in 2008.
"It's a huge safe-haven effect," said William Cline, a senior fellow at the Peterson Institute for International Economics in Washington. "The basic assumption that people are making is that the U.S. government will never default on its debt."
Social unrest is on the rise as downturn in Europe intensifies
http://link.brightcove.com/services/player/bcpid959009704?bclid=1350269312&bctid=10049579001
World Bank offers dire forecast for world economy
http://www.iht.com/articles/2009/03/08/business/econ.php
In a bleaker assessment than those of most private forecasters, the World Bank predicted Sunday that the global economy would shrink in 2009 for the first time since World War II.
The bank did not provide a specific estimate, but bank officials said its economists would be publishing one in the next several weeks.
Until now, even extremely pessimistic forecasters have predicted that the global economy would eke out a tiny expansion but had warned that even a growth rate of 5 percent in China would be a disastrous slowdown, given the enormous pressure there to create jobs for the country's rural population.
The World Bank also warned that global trade would contract for the first time since 1982, and that the decline would be the biggest since the 1930s.
In a bleaker assessment than those of most private forecasters, the World Bank predicted Sunday that the global economy would shrink in 2009 for the first time since World War II.
The bank did not provide a specific estimate, but bank officials said its economists would be publishing one in the next several weeks.
Until now, even extremely pessimistic forecasters have predicted that the global economy would eke out a tiny expansion but had warned that even a growth rate of 5 percent in China would be a disastrous slowdown, given the enormous pressure there to create jobs for the country's rural population.
The World Bank also warned that global trade would contract for the first time since 1982, and that the decline would be the biggest since the 1930s.
http://www.cnbc.com/id/29593953
Yeah they all stick together
They just up the cost to play
For them it's not stormy weather
Coz the taxpayer foots the bill to pay
The head of the agency that insures bank deposits said Monday it has plenty of money to cover any failures this year
Just 2 1/2 months into the year, 17 federally insured banks have failed. The FDIC believes U.S. bank failures will cost the deposit insurance fund more than $65 billion over the next four years.
Yeah they all stick together
They just up the cost to play
For them it's not stormy weather
Coz the taxpayer foots the bill to pay
The head of the agency that insures bank deposits said Monday it has plenty of money to cover any failures this year
Just 2 1/2 months into the year, 17 federally insured banks have failed. The FDIC believes U.S. bank failures will cost the deposit insurance fund more than $65 billion over the next four years.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/McDonalds-cautions-on-1Q-apf-14580493.html
A sign of the times
And what will prevail
McDonald's Corp., the nation's No. 1 hamburger chain, posted higher comparable sales Monday but warned that the stronger dollar and higher commodity costs may take some of the meat out of its first-quarter sales and profit.
A sign of the times
And what will prevail
McDonald's Corp., the nation's No. 1 hamburger chain, posted higher comparable sales Monday but warned that the stronger dollar and higher commodity costs may take some of the meat out of its first-quarter sales and profit.
Saturday, March 7, 2009
The U.S. Financial System Is Effectively Insolvent
http://www.forbes.com/2009/03/04/global-recession-insolvent-opinions-columnists-roubini-economy.html?321
For those who argue that the rate of growth of economic activity is turning positive--that economies are contracting but at a slower rate than in the fourth quarter of 2008--the latest data don't confirm this relative optimism. In 2008's fourth quarter, gross domestic product fell by about 6% in the U.S., 6% in the euro zone, 8% in Germany, 12% in Japan, 16% in Singapore and 20% in South Korea. So things are even more awful in Europe and Asia than in the U.S.
For those who argue that the rate of growth of economic activity is turning positive--that economies are contracting but at a slower rate than in the fourth quarter of 2008--the latest data don't confirm this relative optimism. In 2008's fourth quarter, gross domestic product fell by about 6% in the U.S., 6% in the euro zone, 8% in Germany, 12% in Japan, 16% in Singapore and 20% in South Korea. So things are even more awful in Europe and Asia than in the U.S.
America loses 23,000 jobs every day
http://business.timesonline.co.uk/tol/business/economics/article5860579.ece
American businesses were forced to shed more than 23,000 jobs every day last month as recession tightened its grip on the economy, pushing the unemployment rate to a 25-year high.
The rate jumped from 7.6 per cent to 8.1 per cent, the highest level since the downturn of the early 1980s. The US economy has lost 4.4 million jobs since the beginning of the slowdown, with more than half of these positions disappearing in the past four months alone.
American businesses were forced to shed more than 23,000 jobs every day last month as recession tightened its grip on the economy, pushing the unemployment rate to a 25-year high.
The rate jumped from 7.6 per cent to 8.1 per cent, the highest level since the downturn of the early 1980s. The US economy has lost 4.4 million jobs since the beginning of the slowdown, with more than half of these positions disappearing in the past four months alone.
Friday, March 6, 2009
Tube party organiser was City banker
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/2065899/Tube-party-organiser-was-City-banker.html
Interesting
A banker was one of the chief organisers of the drinking ban protest on the London Underground which descended into violence
Interesting
A banker was one of the chief organisers of the drinking ban protest on the London Underground which descended into violence
Unopened claims letters hidden at VA offices
http://www.armytimes.com/news/2009/03/military_veteransaffairs_unopenedmail_030309w/
Another body count the media doesn't talk about
A new report about Veterans Affairs Department employees squirreling away tens of thousands of unopened letters related to benefits claims is sparking fresh concerns that veterans and their survivors are being cheated out of money.
VA officials acknowledge further credibility problems based on a new report of a previously undisclosed 2007 incident in which workers at a Detroit regional office turned in 16,000 pieces of unprocessed mail and 717 documents turned up in New York in December during amnesty periods in which workers were promised no one would be penalized.
“Veterans have lost trust in VA,” Michael Walcoff, VA’s under secretary for benefits, said at a hearing Tuesday. “That loss of trust is understandable, and winning back that trust will not be easy.”
Unprocessed and unopened mail was just one problem in VA claims processing mentioned by Belinda Finn, VA’s assistant inspector general for auditing, in testimony before the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee
Another body count the media doesn't talk about
A new report about Veterans Affairs Department employees squirreling away tens of thousands of unopened letters related to benefits claims is sparking fresh concerns that veterans and their survivors are being cheated out of money.
VA officials acknowledge further credibility problems based on a new report of a previously undisclosed 2007 incident in which workers at a Detroit regional office turned in 16,000 pieces of unprocessed mail and 717 documents turned up in New York in December during amnesty periods in which workers were promised no one would be penalized.
“Veterans have lost trust in VA,” Michael Walcoff, VA’s under secretary for benefits, said at a hearing Tuesday. “That loss of trust is understandable, and winning back that trust will not be easy.”
Unprocessed and unopened mail was just one problem in VA claims processing mentioned by Belinda Finn, VA’s assistant inspector general for auditing, in testimony before the House Veterans’ Affairs Committee
Thursday, March 5, 2009
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/suspicions-grow-that-attack-was-inside-job-1637730.html
Dramatic footage showing the alleged perpetrators of Tuesday's audacious attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team making their getaway was released by a Pakistani news channel last night.
Conspiracy theories fuelled by security lapses as hunt for gunmen continues
The grainy images, captured by four CCTV cameras minutes after the ambush, show the gunmen strolling calmly through the back streets of Liberty Market just before 9am. In one sequence, three of the men walk down a narrow, deserted street, carrying heavy bags and with weapons slung over their shoulders. They then mount a waiting motorcycle and speed away.
Yesterday, police released "wanted" posters bearing sketches of the suspects. Up to 14 masked gunmen took part in the attack on the Sri Lankan team's tour bus at the Liberty Square roundabout in the heart of Lahore. They opened fire on the bus, killing a driver and six police officers escorting the Sri Lankans. Six players and two assistant coaches were wounded.
Dramatic footage showing the alleged perpetrators of Tuesday's audacious attack on the Sri Lankan cricket team making their getaway was released by a Pakistani news channel last night.
Conspiracy theories fuelled by security lapses as hunt for gunmen continues
The grainy images, captured by four CCTV cameras minutes after the ambush, show the gunmen strolling calmly through the back streets of Liberty Market just before 9am. In one sequence, three of the men walk down a narrow, deserted street, carrying heavy bags and with weapons slung over their shoulders. They then mount a waiting motorcycle and speed away.
Yesterday, police released "wanted" posters bearing sketches of the suspects. Up to 14 masked gunmen took part in the attack on the Sri Lankan team's tour bus at the Liberty Square roundabout in the heart of Lahore. They opened fire on the bus, killing a driver and six police officers escorting the Sri Lankans. Six players and two assistant coaches were wounded.
CORRUPTION-US: How Wall Street Paid For Its Own Funeral
http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=45969
An interesting little read.
It's nice to know someone was taking notes.
WASHINGTON, Mar 4 (IPS) - A new report says that Wall Street has only itself to blame for the misguided deregulation that led to the current deepening financial crisis.
Issued Wednesday by Essential Information and the Consumer Education Foundation, the report documents billions of dollars spent by the financial sector on what would eventually be their own downfall.
The 231-page report, "Sold Out: How Wall Street and Washington Betrayed America," shows that the financial sector invested more than 5 billion dollars on purchasing political influence in Washington over the past decade, with as many as 3,000 lobbyists winning deregulation and other policy decisions that led directly to the current financial collapse.
"The report details, step-by-step, how Washington systematically sold out to Wall Street," said Harvey Rosenfield, president of the California-based non-profit organisation Consumer Education Foundation.
An interesting little read.
It's nice to know someone was taking notes.
WASHINGTON, Mar 4 (IPS) - A new report says that Wall Street has only itself to blame for the misguided deregulation that led to the current deepening financial crisis.
Issued Wednesday by Essential Information and the Consumer Education Foundation, the report documents billions of dollars spent by the financial sector on what would eventually be their own downfall.
The 231-page report, "Sold Out: How Wall Street and Washington Betrayed America," shows that the financial sector invested more than 5 billion dollars on purchasing political influence in Washington over the past decade, with as many as 3,000 lobbyists winning deregulation and other policy decisions that led directly to the current financial collapse.
"The report details, step-by-step, how Washington systematically sold out to Wall Street," said Harvey Rosenfield, president of the California-based non-profit organisation Consumer Education Foundation.
360,000 veterans may have brain injuries
http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2009-03-04-braininjuries_N.htm
Estimates
Some how that's just not good enough
No wonder they never mention the trauma count
They don't really know
WASHINGTON — Pentagon officials estimated for the first time Wednesday that up to 360,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans may have suffered brain injuries. Among them are 45,000 to 90,000 veterans whose symptoms persist and warrant specialized care.
Army Brig. Gen. Loree Sutton provided the estimate during a news conference about March as Brain Injury Awareness Month. She heads the Pentagon's Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury
Estimates
Some how that's just not good enough
No wonder they never mention the trauma count
They don't really know
WASHINGTON — Pentagon officials estimated for the first time Wednesday that up to 360,000 Iraq and Afghanistan veterans may have suffered brain injuries. Among them are 45,000 to 90,000 veterans whose symptoms persist and warrant specialized care.
Army Brig. Gen. Loree Sutton provided the estimate during a news conference about March as Brain Injury Awareness Month. She heads the Pentagon's Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/pakistan/4944703/Sri-Lankan-cricketers-Pakistan-accuses-Chris-Broad-of-lying-about-terror-attack.html
I spy with my little eye
A curious sight to see
A lie ...Oh My
Not such an anomaly
The country's cricket chief accused former England cricketer Chris Broad, the match referee, of lying about police protection in the moments before the assault which left eight dead.
The head of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Ijaz Butt, contested his claims that television footage of the attack showed "not a sign of a policeman anywhere," leaving him and fellow officials "sitting ducks" when armed men began shooting and throwing grenades at them.
"That a gentleman of his stature is saying this is unfortunate," Mr Butt told a news conference. "It is a big lie that there were no policeman. We will lodge a protest."
Tuesday's assault opened the floodgates to criticism that security forces should have done more to prevent an attack.
Mr Broad had also claimed he believed that there was a conspiracy as the Pakistan cricket team had not set off for the stadium until five minutes after the Sri Lankan team.
He and several of the Sri Lankan cricketers alleged that officials may have known of the attack and held the Pakistani team back so that it would not be caught in the attack
I spy with my little eye
A curious sight to see
A lie ...Oh My
Not such an anomaly
The country's cricket chief accused former England cricketer Chris Broad, the match referee, of lying about police protection in the moments before the assault which left eight dead.
The head of the Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB), Ijaz Butt, contested his claims that television footage of the attack showed "not a sign of a policeman anywhere," leaving him and fellow officials "sitting ducks" when armed men began shooting and throwing grenades at them.
"That a gentleman of his stature is saying this is unfortunate," Mr Butt told a news conference. "It is a big lie that there were no policeman. We will lodge a protest."
Tuesday's assault opened the floodgates to criticism that security forces should have done more to prevent an attack.
Mr Broad had also claimed he believed that there was a conspiracy as the Pakistan cricket team had not set off for the stadium until five minutes after the Sri Lankan team.
He and several of the Sri Lankan cricketers alleged that officials may have known of the attack and held the Pakistani team back so that it would not be caught in the attack
http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=220252&title=cnbc-gives-financial-advice
High five for the best of the day
No one else could tell the news that way lol
Can ya hear me now
Yeah that reception was OK
Show the truth and light the way
It's always good to laugh
When you know the games they play
High five for the best of the day
No one else could tell the news that way lol
Can ya hear me now
Yeah that reception was OK
Show the truth and light the way
It's always good to laugh
When you know the games they play
Fed Refuses to Release Bank Data, Insists on Secrecy
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=washingtonstory&sid=aG0_2ZIA96TI
What's the big secret
A similar AIG woe?
There is nothing there to hold the water
So it's a continued taxpayer flow
Of debt and mass destruction
To the dollars in our hand
That ain't buying jack shit now
But we're to stupid to understand
The motto and how it goes
Feed the rich and fuck the poor
Because that's how life just goes
The Federal Reserve Board of Governors receives daily reports on loans to banks and securities firms, the institution said in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by Bloomberg News.
The Fed refused yesterday to disclose the names of the borrowers and the loans, alleging that it would cast “a stigma” on recipients of more than $1.9 trillion of emergency credit from U.S. taxpayers and the assets the central bank is accepting as collateral
What's the big secret
A similar AIG woe?
There is nothing there to hold the water
So it's a continued taxpayer flow
Of debt and mass destruction
To the dollars in our hand
That ain't buying jack shit now
But we're to stupid to understand
The motto and how it goes
Feed the rich and fuck the poor
Because that's how life just goes
The Federal Reserve Board of Governors receives daily reports on loans to banks and securities firms, the institution said in response to a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by Bloomberg News.
The Fed refused yesterday to disclose the names of the borrowers and the loans, alleging that it would cast “a stigma” on recipients of more than $1.9 trillion of emergency credit from U.S. taxpayers and the assets the central bank is accepting as collateral
Wednesday, March 4, 2009
Oil producers running out of storage space
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/29495753/
Supertankers that once raced around the world to satisfy an unquenchable thirst for oil are now parked offshore, fully loaded, anchors down, their crews killing time. In the United States, vast storage farms for oil are almost out of room.
As demand for crude has plummeted, the world suddenly finds itself awash in oil that has nowhere to go.
Supertankers that once raced around the world to satisfy an unquenchable thirst for oil are now parked offshore, fully loaded, anchors down, their crews killing time. In the United States, vast storage farms for oil are almost out of room.
As demand for crude has plummeted, the world suddenly finds itself awash in oil that has nowhere to go.
U.S. private sector cuts 697,000 jobs in February
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/US-pri...-14539302.html
Well it's not all bad news today,
At least the stockmarket is green right?
U.S. private sector job losses accelerated in February, according to a report by ADP Employer Services that suggests hefty employment declines are on the way in the government's payrolls report due on Friday.
ADP said on Wednesday that private employers cut 697,000 jobs in February versus a revised 614,000 jobs lost in January. The January job cuts were originally reported at 522,000.
It was the biggest job loss since the report's launch in 2001 and showed the misery of declining employment spreading broadly and evenly throughout the economy.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/US-pri...-14539302.html
Well it's not all bad news today,
At least the stockmarket is green right?
U.S. private sector job losses accelerated in February, according to a report by ADP Employer Services that suggests hefty employment declines are on the way in the government's payrolls report due on Friday.
ADP said on Wednesday that private employers cut 697,000 jobs in February versus a revised 614,000 jobs lost in January. The January job cuts were originally reported at 522,000.
It was the biggest job loss since the report's launch in 2001 and showed the misery of declining employment spreading broadly and evenly throughout the economy.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
http://www.recombinomics.com/News/03030902/H5N1_Indo_CC.html
Well the question of the day is, who funds the "World Heatlh Organization?
And are they gettin it, because this concerns us all as a human race.
Thus, the continuing rapid evolution of H5N1 in Indonesia, coupled with frequent larger H5N1 clusters continues to increase pandemic concerns, while the level of WHO transparency on cases and clusters declines.
Well the question of the day is, who funds the "World Heatlh Organization?
And are they gettin it, because this concerns us all as a human race.
Thus, the continuing rapid evolution of H5N1 in Indonesia, coupled with frequent larger H5N1 clusters continues to increase pandemic concerns, while the level of WHO transparency on cases and clusters declines.
http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/2009-03/03/content_10936232.htm
What's wrong with this picture?
Israel can do anything and the US will still support them
Got Bush?
Visiting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday said that the U.S. administration will stand by any Israeli government that comes out of the ongoing cabinet-making process.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=85225§ionid=351021701
What's wrong with this picture?
Israel can do anything and the US will still support them
Got Bush?
Visiting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday said that the U.S. administration will stand by any Israeli government that comes out of the ongoing cabinet-making process.
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=85225§ionid=351021701
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Bernanke-recovery-hinges-on-apf-14525989.html
How long will we let this horse suffer before we put it down?
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress Tuesday that any hope for an economic recovery will hinge on the government's ability to prop up shaky financial markets.
The effectiveness of a string of radical actions taken by the Fed, the Treasury Department and other agencies to stabilize markets "will be critical determinants of the timing and strength of the recovery," Bernanke said in testimony to the Senate Budget Committee
How long will we let this horse suffer before we put it down?
Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke told Congress Tuesday that any hope for an economic recovery will hinge on the government's ability to prop up shaky financial markets.
The effectiveness of a string of radical actions taken by the Fed, the Treasury Department and other agencies to stabilize markets "will be critical determinants of the timing and strength of the recovery," Bernanke said in testimony to the Senate Budget Committee
http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20090226172555683
The world of Nano and what they won't show
For greed is a need that can only grow
European scientists are starting to identify tangible health concerns associated with the use of nanoparticles in consumer products. Academic health experts within the European Union's scientific committee on emerging and newly identified health risks have raised some serious problems in a new detailed paper.
It represents a hardening of concerns: while the committee has previously highlighted the lack of knowledge about how nanoparticles could migrate from clothing and their dyes into consumers' bodies, it is now raising tangible fears.
The committee's chair is Professor Jim Bridges, of Britain's University of Surrey, and its vice-chair is Dr Wim De Jong, toxicological pathologist in the Laboratory of Pathology and Immunobiology at the Netherlands National Institute of Public Health and the Environment.
The world of Nano and what they won't show
For greed is a need that can only grow
European scientists are starting to identify tangible health concerns associated with the use of nanoparticles in consumer products. Academic health experts within the European Union's scientific committee on emerging and newly identified health risks have raised some serious problems in a new detailed paper.
It represents a hardening of concerns: while the committee has previously highlighted the lack of knowledge about how nanoparticles could migrate from clothing and their dyes into consumers' bodies, it is now raising tangible fears.
The committee's chair is Professor Jim Bridges, of Britain's University of Surrey, and its vice-chair is Dr Wim De Jong, toxicological pathologist in the Laboratory of Pathology and Immunobiology at the Netherlands National Institute of Public Health and the Environment.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Fed-launches-new-200B-apf-14525219.html
I have to laugh at an old saying we used to use
"Payback is a bitch"
That's exactly what we're going through right now
And it's quite apparent the FED has a screw loose.
If we have to much debt to pay for now, how the hell are we supposed to pay back more?
And they run this country lol
Now that's enough to make a person sick
The Federal Reserve on Tuesday rolled out a much-awaited program aimed at boosting the availability of credit to consumers and small businesses.
The Fed will lend up to $200 billion to spur consumer lending -- for autos, education, credit cards and other things. The bold program, dubbed the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility, was first announced late last year and originally scheduled to start in February.
Participants -- companies and investors that pledge eligible collateral to back the loan -- must request the new government loans by March 17. The Fed will provide the three-year loans on March 25.
The Fed said the program has the potential to generate up to $1 trillion of lending for businesses and households.
I have to laugh at an old saying we used to use
"Payback is a bitch"
That's exactly what we're going through right now
And it's quite apparent the FED has a screw loose.
If we have to much debt to pay for now, how the hell are we supposed to pay back more?
And they run this country lol
Now that's enough to make a person sick
The Federal Reserve on Tuesday rolled out a much-awaited program aimed at boosting the availability of credit to consumers and small businesses.
The Fed will lend up to $200 billion to spur consumer lending -- for autos, education, credit cards and other things. The bold program, dubbed the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility, was first announced late last year and originally scheduled to start in February.
Participants -- companies and investors that pledge eligible collateral to back the loan -- must request the new government loans by March 17. The Fed will provide the three-year loans on March 25.
The Fed said the program has the potential to generate up to $1 trillion of lending for businesses and households.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/4901871/Gordon-Brown-aims-for--global-new-deal-with-Barack-Obama.html
Who do they think they are
To make decisions for the world
That is why President Obama and I will discuss this week a global new deal, whose impact can stretch from the villages of Africa to reforming the financial institutions of London and New York - and giving security to the hard-working families in every country."
It would require all continents to make cash injections to boost economies, all countries to adopt green policies, universal banking reforms and changes to international bodies, he suggested.
Who do they think they are
To make decisions for the world
That is why President Obama and I will discuss this week a global new deal, whose impact can stretch from the villages of Africa to reforming the financial institutions of London and New York - and giving security to the hard-working families in every country."
It would require all continents to make cash injections to boost economies, all countries to adopt green policies, universal banking reforms and changes to international bodies, he suggested.
Monday, March 2, 2009
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