http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/barackobama/7111332/Tea-Party-moves-from-margins-to-mainstream-in-US-politics.html
This is the real definition of the Tea Party movement. They are a group of average Americans that can no longer relate to an ever growing grossly overpopulated government that is destroying the foundation on which our country was formed.
The Tea Party movement is a catch-all phrase to describe a movement of everyday Americans who are asserting themselves for the first time in their lives because they fear the direction this country is going," he told The Sunday Telegraph. "They are great people and our campaign is built on the same principles."
Sarah Palin belongs to the big government crowd, her extravagant waste (the bridge to no where, one among others)guarantees her a seat in the governments hall of shame, for extravagant wasters.
Be aware of all those that want too ride the coattails of the American peoples anger to suit there own agenda.
If she could walk away from Alaska and her constituents there, her actions of self service must always remain in the forefront of the public's mind and not something to be disregarded lightly.
The movement is certainly experiencing some growing pains. Most notably, major splits have emerged ahead of the first Tea Party convention in Nashville this week over the $550 ticket charge for participants, to pay a reported $100,000 speaking fee for Sarah Palin.
Sunday, January 31, 2010
Friday, January 29, 2010
Secret Banking Cabal Emerges From AIG Shadows
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601039&sid=aaIuE.W8RAuU
There is no secret to the fact that the FED was looking out for it own.
What else can it be perceived as?
The conflict of interest cannot be over looked in this situation, it's to blatantly in your face to be able to do so.
The hearing before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform also focused on what many in Congress believe was the New York Fed’s subsequent attempt to cover up buyout details and who benefited.
By pursuing this line of inquiry, the hearing revealed some of the inner workings of the New York Fed and the outsized role it plays in banking. This insight is especially valuable given that the New York Fed is a quasi-governmental institution that isn’t subject to citizen intrusions such as freedom of information requests, unlike the Federal Reserve.
This impenetrability comes in handy since the bank is the preferred vehicle for many of the Fed’s bailout programs. It’s as though the New York Fed was a black-ops outfit for the nation’s central bank.
Geithner’s Bosses
The New York Fed is one of 12 Federal Reserve Banks that operate under the supervision of the Federal Reserve’s board of governors, chaired by Ben Bernanke. Member-bank presidents are appointed by nine-member boards, who themselves are appointed largely by other bankers.
As Representative Marcy Kaptur told Geithner at the hearing: “A lot of people think that the president of the New York Fed works for the U.S. government. But in fact you work for the private banks that elected you.”
There is no secret to the fact that the FED was looking out for it own.
What else can it be perceived as?
The conflict of interest cannot be over looked in this situation, it's to blatantly in your face to be able to do so.
The hearing before the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform also focused on what many in Congress believe was the New York Fed’s subsequent attempt to cover up buyout details and who benefited.
By pursuing this line of inquiry, the hearing revealed some of the inner workings of the New York Fed and the outsized role it plays in banking. This insight is especially valuable given that the New York Fed is a quasi-governmental institution that isn’t subject to citizen intrusions such as freedom of information requests, unlike the Federal Reserve.
This impenetrability comes in handy since the bank is the preferred vehicle for many of the Fed’s bailout programs. It’s as though the New York Fed was a black-ops outfit for the nation’s central bank.
Geithner’s Bosses
The New York Fed is one of 12 Federal Reserve Banks that operate under the supervision of the Federal Reserve’s board of governors, chaired by Ben Bernanke. Member-bank presidents are appointed by nine-member boards, who themselves are appointed largely by other bankers.
As Representative Marcy Kaptur told Geithner at the hearing: “A lot of people think that the president of the New York Fed works for the U.S. government. But in fact you work for the private banks that elected you.”
Did An 8.6 Quake Hit China?
Did An 8.6 Quake Hit China?
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.rense.com/general89/emsc.htm
One can only wonder if this is a part of the ramifications of Israel's experimental earthquake research.
We don't know what happened yesterday, but two seismic monitoring stations * some 1300 miles apart * both reported an 8.6 earthquake in China. Maybe it was a weapons test.
However, a large magnitude temblor struck in nearly this same location (36.50ºN, 105.70ºE) on December 12, 1920. The Haiyuan quake killed 200,000 people, caused landslides and collapsed thousands of homes. Various magnitudes were reported for this temblor ranging from 7.8 to 8.5. Aftershocks shook the country for three years following.
Below are two screen snapshots from reporting stations that still show an earthquake occurred. The INSF is from Switzerland and Red Puma is from Romania.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://pakalert.wordpress.com/2010/01/25/israel-makes-waves-by-simulating-an-earthqua
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://pakalert.wordpress.com/2010/0...an-earthquake/
IsraelNN.com) The Seismologic Division of the Ministry of National Infrastructure’s Geophysical Institute will attempt to simulate an earthquake in the southern Negev on Thursday. The experiment, financed by the U.S. Defense Department, is a joint project with the University of Hawaii and is part of a scientific project intended to improve seismological and acoustic readings in Israel and its environs, up to a 1,000 km/621 mile radius.
The experiment intends to improve the understanding of sound waves in the atmosphere. Scientists will then be able to fine-tune Israel’s seismological equipment to give advance warning of earthquakes. Measurements will also be taken in other countries, including Cyprus, Greece, France, and Germany.
Israel will create a controlled explosion of 80 tons of explosive material, which will simulate the intensity of a tremor after an earthquake of Magnitude 3. Natural earthquakes of a similar intensity occur in the Middle East region about once a week, without the public feeling them.
The results from the experiment will be available to the entire scientific community and is expected to make an additional contribution to scientific research of sound waves in the atmosphere and earthquakes.
In the last few years, the Geophysical Institute has created several earthquake simulations in order to calibrate its equipment.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://www.rense.com/general89/emsc.htm
One can only wonder if this is a part of the ramifications of Israel's experimental earthquake research.
We don't know what happened yesterday, but two seismic monitoring stations * some 1300 miles apart * both reported an 8.6 earthquake in China. Maybe it was a weapons test.
However, a large magnitude temblor struck in nearly this same location (36.50ºN, 105.70ºE) on December 12, 1920. The Haiyuan quake killed 200,000 people, caused landslides and collapsed thousands of homes. Various magnitudes were reported for this temblor ranging from 7.8 to 8.5. Aftershocks shook the country for three years following.
Below are two screen snapshots from reporting stations that still show an earthquake occurred. The INSF is from Switzerland and Red Puma is from Romania.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://pakalert.wordpress.com/2010/01/25/israel-makes-waves-by-simulating-an-earthqua
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
http://pakalert.wordpress.com/2010/0...an-earthquake/
IsraelNN.com) The Seismologic Division of the Ministry of National Infrastructure’s Geophysical Institute will attempt to simulate an earthquake in the southern Negev on Thursday. The experiment, financed by the U.S. Defense Department, is a joint project with the University of Hawaii and is part of a scientific project intended to improve seismological and acoustic readings in Israel and its environs, up to a 1,000 km/621 mile radius.
The experiment intends to improve the understanding of sound waves in the atmosphere. Scientists will then be able to fine-tune Israel’s seismological equipment to give advance warning of earthquakes. Measurements will also be taken in other countries, including Cyprus, Greece, France, and Germany.
Israel will create a controlled explosion of 80 tons of explosive material, which will simulate the intensity of a tremor after an earthquake of Magnitude 3. Natural earthquakes of a similar intensity occur in the Middle East region about once a week, without the public feeling them.
The results from the experiment will be available to the entire scientific community and is expected to make an additional contribution to scientific research of sound waves in the atmosphere and earthquakes.
In the last few years, the Geophysical Institute has created several earthquake simulations in order to calibrate its equipment.
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Morgan Stanley, UBS and Barclays sued by Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle
http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/1913-This-Is-What-SHOULD-Be-Happening-FHLB-Suit.html
Good luck Seattle, heres hoping justice serves you well.
This is exactly what I have advocated for the last two years:
Morgan Stanley, UBS and Barclays were among banks sued by Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle, which seeks to recoup more than $2 billion it paid for certificates backed by faulty mortgages.
The banks made misleading statements about the asset-backed securities and the credit quality of the mortgage loans that backed them when they sold them to Federal Home Loan, according to six complaints filed in state court in Seattle last month and transferred to federal court starting Jan. 22.
The banks also made misleading or "untrue" statements about underwriting guidelines of mortgage-loan originators who were "failing frequently, and increasingly frequently, to follow quality-assurance practices intended to detect and prevent fraud," according to the complaints.
Gee, you mean that the banks said the credit quality of buyers was "X" but never verified any of it, performed no quality control, and in fact that was a lie?
No, really? You mean starting in 2004 the FBI said this?
"It has the potential to be an epidemic," said Swecker, who heads the Criminal Division at FBI headquarters in Washington. "We think we can prevent a problem that could have as much impact as the S&L crisis", he said.
In fact it was worse than the S&L crisis eh?
Good luck Seattle, heres hoping justice serves you well.
This is exactly what I have advocated for the last two years:
Morgan Stanley, UBS and Barclays were among banks sued by Federal Home Loan Bank of Seattle, which seeks to recoup more than $2 billion it paid for certificates backed by faulty mortgages.
The banks made misleading statements about the asset-backed securities and the credit quality of the mortgage loans that backed them when they sold them to Federal Home Loan, according to six complaints filed in state court in Seattle last month and transferred to federal court starting Jan. 22.
The banks also made misleading or "untrue" statements about underwriting guidelines of mortgage-loan originators who were "failing frequently, and increasingly frequently, to follow quality-assurance practices intended to detect and prevent fraud," according to the complaints.
Gee, you mean that the banks said the credit quality of buyers was "X" but never verified any of it, performed no quality control, and in fact that was a lie?
No, really? You mean starting in 2004 the FBI said this?
"It has the potential to be an epidemic," said Swecker, who heads the Criminal Division at FBI headquarters in Washington. "We think we can prevent a problem that could have as much impact as the S&L crisis", he said.
In fact it was worse than the S&L crisis eh?
Who was paidoff in the AIG bailout
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/27/revealed-see-who-was-paid_n_438933.html
It wasn't just Goldman this little present was given to.
But by and large Goldman made out like a bandit
A key question at the heart of the controversial bailout of AIG is just how much money the government lost. The Federal Reserve and Treasury Department have worked to keep that number secret and to conceal who was on the winning end.
An unredacted document obtained by the Huffington Post list the damage in detail. Goldman Sachs alone, for instance, got $14 billion in government money for assets worth $6 billion at the time -- a de facto $8 billion subsidy, courtesy of taxpayers.
The list was produced as part of a congressional investigation led by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee into the federal bailout of AIG.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, then led by now-Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, purchased a slew of souring assets from the world's biggest banks for 100 cents on the dollar in November and December 2008. A scathing report by a government watchdog
It wasn't just Goldman this little present was given to.
But by and large Goldman made out like a bandit
A key question at the heart of the controversial bailout of AIG is just how much money the government lost. The Federal Reserve and Treasury Department have worked to keep that number secret and to conceal who was on the winning end.
An unredacted document obtained by the Huffington Post list the damage in detail. Goldman Sachs alone, for instance, got $14 billion in government money for assets worth $6 billion at the time -- a de facto $8 billion subsidy, courtesy of taxpayers.
The list was produced as part of a congressional investigation led by the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee into the federal bailout of AIG.
The Federal Reserve Bank of New York, then led by now-Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, purchased a slew of souring assets from the world's biggest banks for 100 cents on the dollar in November and December 2008. A scathing report by a government watchdog
TAPS
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4WRoWPhLU2Q
Dedicated to Ben Bernanke or the senators that vote him in!
Dedicated to Ben Bernanke or the senators that vote him in!
You want "US" to pay again?
http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/1910-Fiduciary-Responsibility-Where.html
Is my understanding of this right, the taxpayer is going to be tapped again to make up for the gambling debts of another high rolling advisor?
Where does it end?
And how long before the average taxpayer just says "FUCK YOU"?
I can't afford to pay for your garbage anymore!
Stick your investment lossses up your ass
You ain't double dipping out my pocket or mouth no more.
Because it is going to happen
Jan. 27 (Bloomberg) -- The California State Teachers Retirement System, the second biggest U.S. public pension, will need to ask taxpayers for more money after investment losses left it underfunded by $42.6 billion.
The pension’s unfunded liability, the difference between assets and anticipated future costs, almost doubled from $22.5 billion in June 2008, according to a report Chief Executive Officer Jack Ehnes will deliver to the board Feb. 5. The fund will ask lawmakers next year for an increase of as much as 14 percent to what the state and school districts already pay toward employee retirement benefits, said the report, which was posted on the fund’s Web site today.
Is my understanding of this right, the taxpayer is going to be tapped again to make up for the gambling debts of another high rolling advisor?
Where does it end?
And how long before the average taxpayer just says "FUCK YOU"?
I can't afford to pay for your garbage anymore!
Stick your investment lossses up your ass
You ain't double dipping out my pocket or mouth no more.
Because it is going to happen
Jan. 27 (Bloomberg) -- The California State Teachers Retirement System, the second biggest U.S. public pension, will need to ask taxpayers for more money after investment losses left it underfunded by $42.6 billion.
The pension’s unfunded liability, the difference between assets and anticipated future costs, almost doubled from $22.5 billion in June 2008, according to a report Chief Executive Officer Jack Ehnes will deliver to the board Feb. 5. The fund will ask lawmakers next year for an increase of as much as 14 percent to what the state and school districts already pay toward employee retirement benefits, said the report, which was posted on the fund’s Web site today.
Bernanke voted in today?
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Bernan...55726.html?x=0
The push is on to get the reconfirmation today rather than tomorrow, the financial committee hearings must be becoming a real threat.
What's already come out is actually damning enough to not reconfirm his position, and to have him and Timmy both arrested for perjury.
Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke's nomination for a second term running the world's most powerful central bank looked set for a final vote in the Senate on Thursday, just a few days before his current term expires.
The push is on to get the reconfirmation today rather than tomorrow, the financial committee hearings must be becoming a real threat.
What's already come out is actually damning enough to not reconfirm his position, and to have him and Timmy both arrested for perjury.
Federal Reserve chief Ben Bernanke's nomination for a second term running the world's most powerful central bank looked set for a final vote in the Senate on Thursday, just a few days before his current term expires.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Bases, Missiles, Wars: U.S. Consolidates Global Military Network
http://www.blacklistednews.com/news-7191-0-22-22--.html
This is how crud creeps
While death reaps
Can you see your self as a citizen of Nazi Germany? You pay for this growing monstrosity.
Afghanistan is occupying center stage at the moment, but in the wings are complementary maneuvers to expand a string of new military bases and missile shield facilities throughout Eurasia and the Middle East.
The advanced Patriot theater anti-ballistic missile batteries in place or soon to be in Egypt, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, the Netherlands, Poland, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates describe an arc stretching from the Baltic Sea through Southeast Europe to the Eastern Mediterranean Sea and the Caucasus and beyond to East Asia. A semicircle that begins on Russia's northwest and ends on China's northeast.
Over the past decade the United States has steadily (though to much of the world imperceptibly) extended its military reach to most all parts of the world
This is how crud creeps
While death reaps
Can you see your self as a citizen of Nazi Germany? You pay for this growing monstrosity.
Afghanistan is occupying center stage at the moment, but in the wings are complementary maneuvers to expand a string of new military bases and missile shield facilities throughout Eurasia and the Middle East.
The advanced Patriot theater anti-ballistic missile batteries in place or soon to be in Egypt, Georgia, Germany, Greece, Israel, Japan, Kuwait, the Netherlands, Poland, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Taiwan, Turkey and the United Arab Emirates describe an arc stretching from the Baltic Sea through Southeast Europe to the Eastern Mediterranean Sea and the Caucasus and beyond to East Asia. A semicircle that begins on Russia's northwest and ends on China's northeast.
Over the past decade the United States has steadily (though to much of the world imperceptibly) extended its military reach to most all parts of the world
LOL who's is first?
http://market-ticker.denninger.net/a...-Geithner.html
Looks like 2 smoking guns stinking up the room
Yeah we printed it?
Baxter admits Timmy's sign off?
Does anybody else smell the overwhelming scent of white collar crime?
Paulson gets the cake though - he admitted (under oath!) that The Fed just blatantly printed the money to rescue AIG and the banks (!!!)
So let's see - it wasn't his decision, it wasn't Timmy's decision, and yet at the very same time the entire world was about to come to an end unless the Congress immediately handed over $700 billion of taxpayer money?
Oh, and let's keep going. Paulson got skewered with what I pointed out in August of last year - that is, that he knew full well he wasn't going to buy any "toxic assets" prior to the final vote being taken in The House but notified nobody in Congress of this fact.
Then Mr. Baxter's turn comes and he says that Geithner signed off on paying AIG counterparties at par.
Didn't Timmy claim he had no part in the negotiations with AIG and the determination of what to pay? I thought he did..... maybe I misheard, but I seem to remember that he has continually maintained that he had no part in the decision process and in fact recused himself......
Oh wait - here it is!
I had no role in making decisions regarding what to disclose about the specific financial terms of Maiden Lane II and Maiden Lane III, and payments to AIGs counterparties.
Uhhhhhhh Turbotax Timmy? How do you explain that?
Looks like 2 smoking guns stinking up the room
Yeah we printed it?
Baxter admits Timmy's sign off?
Does anybody else smell the overwhelming scent of white collar crime?
Paulson gets the cake though - he admitted (under oath!) that The Fed just blatantly printed the money to rescue AIG and the banks (!!!)
So let's see - it wasn't his decision, it wasn't Timmy's decision, and yet at the very same time the entire world was about to come to an end unless the Congress immediately handed over $700 billion of taxpayer money?
Oh, and let's keep going. Paulson got skewered with what I pointed out in August of last year - that is, that he knew full well he wasn't going to buy any "toxic assets" prior to the final vote being taken in The House but notified nobody in Congress of this fact.
Then Mr. Baxter's turn comes and he says that Geithner signed off on paying AIG counterparties at par.
Didn't Timmy claim he had no part in the negotiations with AIG and the determination of what to pay? I thought he did..... maybe I misheard, but I seem to remember that he has continually maintained that he had no part in the decision process and in fact recused himself......
Oh wait - here it is!
I had no role in making decisions regarding what to disclose about the specific financial terms of Maiden Lane II and Maiden Lane III, and payments to AIGs counterparties.
Uhhhhhhh Turbotax Timmy? How do you explain that?
Republicans make new claim about Bernanke and AIG
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/republicans-make-new-claim-about-bernanke-and-aig-2010-01-27
Oh my god Ben the party is over
This will cost you the day
There's no way to roll it over
You did it your way
Republican politicians made a new claim Wednesday about Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's involvement in the 2008 bailout of insurance giant American International Group, one day before a vote on his re-nomination for a second term at the central bank.
Sen. Jim Bunning, a member of the Senate Banking Committee, said he read documents that show Fed staff recommended against bailing out AIG /quotes/comstock/13*!aig/quotes/nls/aig (AIG 24.88, -0.03, -0.12%) , leaving the insurer to file for bankruptcy like Lehman Brothers /quotes/comstock/11i!lehmq (LEHMQ 0.07, -.00, -3.03%) .
"His staff didn't agree with him," Bunning said, according to a transcript of a Tuesday interview with CNBC. "I'm talking about an e-mail that he sent his staff after his staff recommended that the Federal Reserve not touch AIG just like Lehman Brothers."
Geithner defends AIG bailoutU.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner defends the bailout of AIG in a hearing on Jan. 27, 2010. (Fox News)
The government ended up committing more than $100 billion to save AIG in multiple bailouts that have become among the most controversial aspects of the financial crisis.
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said his office received "important information from a whistleblower" confirming Sen. Bunning's comments, according to a letter Issa sent on Tuesday to Rep. Edolphus Towns, chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
Oh my god Ben the party is over
This will cost you the day
There's no way to roll it over
You did it your way
Republican politicians made a new claim Wednesday about Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke's involvement in the 2008 bailout of insurance giant American International Group, one day before a vote on his re-nomination for a second term at the central bank.
Sen. Jim Bunning, a member of the Senate Banking Committee, said he read documents that show Fed staff recommended against bailing out AIG /quotes/comstock/13*!aig/quotes/nls/aig (AIG 24.88, -0.03, -0.12%) , leaving the insurer to file for bankruptcy like Lehman Brothers /quotes/comstock/11i!lehmq (LEHMQ 0.07, -.00, -3.03%) .
"His staff didn't agree with him," Bunning said, according to a transcript of a Tuesday interview with CNBC. "I'm talking about an e-mail that he sent his staff after his staff recommended that the Federal Reserve not touch AIG just like Lehman Brothers."
Geithner defends AIG bailoutU.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner defends the bailout of AIG in a hearing on Jan. 27, 2010. (Fox News)
The government ended up committing more than $100 billion to save AIG in multiple bailouts that have become among the most controversial aspects of the financial crisis.
Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., said his office received "important information from a whistleblower" confirming Sen. Bunning's comments, according to a letter Issa sent on Tuesday to Rep. Edolphus Towns, chairman of the Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.
Crowds seeking aid in Haiti met with pepper spray and rubber bullets
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article7003750.ece
United Nations troops used pepper spray yesterday to hold off a crowd of hungry Haitians queueing for food at a makeshift camp in the grounds of the wrecked presidential palace.
“They’re not violent, just desperate. They just want to eat,” Fernando Soares, a Brazilian army colonel, said. “The problem is, there is not enough food for everyone
United Nations troops used pepper spray yesterday to hold off a crowd of hungry Haitians queueing for food at a makeshift camp in the grounds of the wrecked presidential palace.
“They’re not violent, just desperate. They just want to eat,” Fernando Soares, a Brazilian army colonel, said. “The problem is, there is not enough food for everyone
AIG and NY FED: Who's involved
http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/1906-AIG-and-NY-Fed-Whos-Involved.html
There is a big rush on now to have Bogus Ben reconfirmed for his position as head of the FED.
The vote is set to be cast tomorrow in spite of the turbulent weather of fraud and coercion accusations that seem to be growing daily.
The hand holding that can actually be seen deserves to be delved into with the highest scrutiny.
Bogus Ben's scent left at the scene of the crime is still found lingering in the air.
Collusion at this time seems to be a very strong point that can't be ruled out, and until it is, Bogus Ben's position should NOT be voted on for reconfirmation.
lest Congress wishes themselves to be seen as willing participants in the collusion, and cover up of the fraud that has now reared it's ugly head
Things like this are a tad hard to rebury, Hank worked very hard to make sure that you'd never see what the makeup of "the real deal was"
•It appears that The Fed was neck-deep in all of this - Zerohedge published an article which appears to document that Soc Gen had pledged reference securities at the Fed Discount Window that had a value of 49 cents on the dollar, probably without a material haircut! In other words this French firm was funding itself with money from our Federal Reserve with securities pledged at "par" that were in fact worth less than half and for which the taxpayer was on the hook for.
There is a big rush on now to have Bogus Ben reconfirmed for his position as head of the FED.
The vote is set to be cast tomorrow in spite of the turbulent weather of fraud and coercion accusations that seem to be growing daily.
The hand holding that can actually be seen deserves to be delved into with the highest scrutiny.
Bogus Ben's scent left at the scene of the crime is still found lingering in the air.
Collusion at this time seems to be a very strong point that can't be ruled out, and until it is, Bogus Ben's position should NOT be voted on for reconfirmation.
lest Congress wishes themselves to be seen as willing participants in the collusion, and cover up of the fraud that has now reared it's ugly head
Things like this are a tad hard to rebury, Hank worked very hard to make sure that you'd never see what the makeup of "the real deal was"
•It appears that The Fed was neck-deep in all of this - Zerohedge published an article which appears to document that Soc Gen had pledged reference securities at the Fed Discount Window that had a value of 49 cents on the dollar, probably without a material haircut! In other words this French firm was funding itself with money from our Federal Reserve with securities pledged at "par" that were in fact worth less than half and for which the taxpayer was on the hook for.
Is this true?
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the-washington-witch-hunt-hits-home-2010-01-27
This is a comment left on Todd Harrison's article on Marketwatch,
If this is true no local banks can survive
The reality of what the FDIC is asking for is horrifying.
[B]TODD- write something about FDIC insurance premium increases to small town banks.!...our local bank''s premium went from $37,000 in 2007 to $869,000 in 2009.(and going higher in 2010)...how long will "small town banks survive"- with that type of premium increases??
It appears our "Government/Fed" is bailing out the mega banks, BOA,Fannie,Freddie,Citi, AIG, and "Goldman's Slacks", Merril, etc. on the backs of our small town banks, and taxpayers, with "insurance premium" increases to small town banks, and "future tax" for us the Taxpayers!![/B]
This is a comment left on Todd Harrison's article on Marketwatch,
If this is true no local banks can survive
The reality of what the FDIC is asking for is horrifying.
[B]TODD- write something about FDIC insurance premium increases to small town banks.!...our local bank''s premium went from $37,000 in 2007 to $869,000 in 2009.(and going higher in 2010)...how long will "small town banks survive"- with that type of premium increases??
It appears our "Government/Fed" is bailing out the mega banks, BOA,Fannie,Freddie,Citi, AIG, and "Goldman's Slacks", Merril, etc. on the backs of our small town banks, and taxpayers, with "insurance premium" increases to small town banks, and "future tax" for us the Taxpayers!![/B]
Hidden losses risk new crisis, warns adviser
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23781668-hidden-losses-risk-new-crisis-warns-adviser.do
Speaking at a conference in Sussex, she revealed that an IMF study had found that banks had declared only half of the losses. She said: "Some European banks still have issues. The danger point comes not now, and not in 2010, but at the start of 2011."
Speaking at a conference in Sussex, she revealed that an IMF study had found that banks had declared only half of the losses. She said: "Some European banks still have issues. The danger point comes not now, and not in 2010, but at the start of 2011."
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
Federal spending, concentrated data
http://www.fedspending.org/fpds/chart_agency.php
Federal Contract Awards by Major Funding Agency, FY 2008 (last full year)
Very cool website
Federal Contract Awards by Major Funding Agency, FY 2008 (last full year)
Very cool website
Paulson Distances Himself From A.I.G. Payments
http://dealbook.blogs.nytimes.com/2010/01/26/paulson-distances-himself-from-aig-payments/?ref=business
Former Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. has a very direct message for the House committee investigating the bailout of the American International Group: Don’t blame me for paying about 100 cents on the dollar to A.I.G.’s trading partners to unwind tens of billions of dollars in credit default swaps.
“I was not involved in any of the decisions made with respect to those payments, nor was I involved in any of the decisions about A.I.G.’s public disclosure of those payments,” Mr. Paul said in his prepared testimony for a hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Wednesday. “Those matters were handled by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Federal Reserve Board. They sought to make appropriate decisions on those matters.”
Mr. Paulson asserted in his prepared testimony that “the rescue of A.I.G. was necessary,” and that he, Mr. Geithner and Ben S. Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman, “acted properly and in the best interests of the country.”
But Neil M. Barofsky, the special inspector general of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, is critical of the New York Fed’s limited efforts to negotiate concessions, or “haircuts,” from A.I.G.’s counterparties.
In his prepared testimony for Wednesday’s hearing, Mr. Barofsky said that the New York Fed “refused to use its considerable leverage as the regulator of several institutions to compel haircuts” because it was acting on behalf of A.I.G. instead of as a regulator, and that the New York Fed “was uncomfortable interfering with the sanctity of the counterparties’ contractual rights with A.I.G., which entitled them to full par value.”
He also noted that the New York Fed had no actual plans to carry out such a threat, and that it was concerned about the reaction of the credit rating agencies if haircuts were imposed, since that could viewed as the New York Fed “backing away from fully supporting A.I.G.”
Mr. Barofsky said in his testimony that the New York Fed was effectively paying A.I.G.’s counterparties par value “for securities that collectively had a market value, based on the amount of the collateral payments, of approximately 48 cents on the dollar.”
Former Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. has a very direct message for the House committee investigating the bailout of the American International Group: Don’t blame me for paying about 100 cents on the dollar to A.I.G.’s trading partners to unwind tens of billions of dollars in credit default swaps.
“I was not involved in any of the decisions made with respect to those payments, nor was I involved in any of the decisions about A.I.G.’s public disclosure of those payments,” Mr. Paul said in his prepared testimony for a hearing of the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee on Wednesday. “Those matters were handled by the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and the Federal Reserve Board. They sought to make appropriate decisions on those matters.”
Mr. Paulson asserted in his prepared testimony that “the rescue of A.I.G. was necessary,” and that he, Mr. Geithner and Ben S. Bernanke, the Federal Reserve chairman, “acted properly and in the best interests of the country.”
But Neil M. Barofsky, the special inspector general of the Troubled Asset Relief Program, is critical of the New York Fed’s limited efforts to negotiate concessions, or “haircuts,” from A.I.G.’s counterparties.
In his prepared testimony for Wednesday’s hearing, Mr. Barofsky said that the New York Fed “refused to use its considerable leverage as the regulator of several institutions to compel haircuts” because it was acting on behalf of A.I.G. instead of as a regulator, and that the New York Fed “was uncomfortable interfering with the sanctity of the counterparties’ contractual rights with A.I.G., which entitled them to full par value.”
He also noted that the New York Fed had no actual plans to carry out such a threat, and that it was concerned about the reaction of the credit rating agencies if haircuts were imposed, since that could viewed as the New York Fed “backing away from fully supporting A.I.G.”
Mr. Barofsky said in his testimony that the New York Fed was effectively paying A.I.G.’s counterparties par value “for securities that collectively had a market value, based on the amount of the collateral payments, of approximately 48 cents on the dollar.”
Two at Fed Had Doubts Over Payout by A.I.G.
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/27/business/27aig.html?hp
Weeks after rescuing the American International Group with an $85 billion taxpayer loan in late 2008, Federal Reserve Board officials rejected a proposal that would have forced the insurer’s trading partners to return $30 billion in cash that they had received from A.I.G. in the preceding months.
The Fed chose instead to let the banks keep the cash and to receive additional billions from taxpayers. This decision was made, internal documents show, after two Fed governors expressed concern that such a plan might be “a gift” to the company’s trading partners, including Goldman Sachs and Société Générale, a major French bank. The documents were provided to Congressional investigators by the Federal Reserve and were obtained by The New York Times.
Lawyers for the Fed argued in the documents that it did not have the legal authority to guarantee A.I.G.’s obligations
Weeks after rescuing the American International Group with an $85 billion taxpayer loan in late 2008, Federal Reserve Board officials rejected a proposal that would have forced the insurer’s trading partners to return $30 billion in cash that they had received from A.I.G. in the preceding months.
The Fed chose instead to let the banks keep the cash and to receive additional billions from taxpayers. This decision was made, internal documents show, after two Fed governors expressed concern that such a plan might be “a gift” to the company’s trading partners, including Goldman Sachs and Société Générale, a major French bank. The documents were provided to Congressional investigators by the Federal Reserve and were obtained by The New York Times.
Lawyers for the Fed argued in the documents that it did not have the legal authority to guarantee A.I.G.’s obligations
Obama to freeze pay of top government officials
http://voices.washingtonpost.com/federal-eye/2010/01/obama_issues_pay_freeze_will_n.html
Do these officials get their bonuses for risk taking like the banks?
Where does the money come from to pay these bonuses?
And last but not least, how many years have we been paying out bonuses before Obama's exemption from the practice?
This is also the second year that Obama has declined to pay bonuses. It's unclear how much a government official would earn from a bonus or who would earn one, but the decision theoretically would affect more than 3,000 officials across the government.
Do these officials get their bonuses for risk taking like the banks?
Where does the money come from to pay these bonuses?
And last but not least, how many years have we been paying out bonuses before Obama's exemption from the practice?
This is also the second year that Obama has declined to pay bonuses. It's unclear how much a government official would earn from a bonus or who would earn one, but the decision theoretically would affect more than 3,000 officials across the government.
Vatican bank charged with money-laundering
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116924§ionid=3510213
Holy shit Batman
The Bank of the Vatican has been accused of laundering USD 200 million by proxy through an Italian creditor, a report indicates.
The allegation of the Vatican bank's financial corruption has been made by an Italian magazine that pointed to the financial institute's purported involvement in stealth fiscal transactions —via several accounts —with Italy's UniCredit Bank, Russia Today television network quoted the Panorama magazine as reporting.
“This corruption is continuing on a regular basis in the Vatican,” claimed Janathan Levy, a lawyer familiar with the bank.
“Again, there's no reason for a religion to have a bank that does worldwide commercial activities, dealing in gold, dealing in insurance, dealing in property and then hiding behind the Roman Catholic Church," Levy pointed out.
Holy shit Batman
The Bank of the Vatican has been accused of laundering USD 200 million by proxy through an Italian creditor, a report indicates.
The allegation of the Vatican bank's financial corruption has been made by an Italian magazine that pointed to the financial institute's purported involvement in stealth fiscal transactions —via several accounts —with Italy's UniCredit Bank, Russia Today television network quoted the Panorama magazine as reporting.
“This corruption is continuing on a regular basis in the Vatican,” claimed Janathan Levy, a lawyer familiar with the bank.
“Again, there's no reason for a religion to have a bank that does worldwide commercial activities, dealing in gold, dealing in insurance, dealing in property and then hiding behind the Roman Catholic Church," Levy pointed out.
We Can't Spend Our Way Out of a Debt Bubble
http://www.minyanville.com/articles/obama-debt-bubble-1937-depression-credit-cash+for+clunkers-spending+freeze/index/a/26545
In 2003, Greenspan had a choice:
1. Take a hard recession now.
2. Take a depression later.
Greenspan chose the latter.
All stimulus did back then was create housing and debt bubbles. Then it crashed anyway. Now supposedly the cure is more spending?
This is what we face now: As soon as stimulus is taken away, the downslide begins. How many times can you pave a road or grant cash for clunkers? Eventually what little pent-up-demand there was is exhausted, and the stimulus ceases to have an effect.
This idea of Keynesian "priming the pump" has never worked and it never will. Japan and its national debt to the extent of 200% of GDP should be proof enough.
The only thing that can possibly work is the write off of bad debts -- something both the administration and the Fed are reluctant to do. We can either do this now, or drag it out for two decades like Japan, only to end up deeper in debt.
What ended the Great Depression -- and let's hope it doesn't come to that again -- was WWII and the destruction of capacity everywhere but the US.
In 2003, Greenspan had a choice:
1. Take a hard recession now.
2. Take a depression later.
Greenspan chose the latter.
All stimulus did back then was create housing and debt bubbles. Then it crashed anyway. Now supposedly the cure is more spending?
This is what we face now: As soon as stimulus is taken away, the downslide begins. How many times can you pave a road or grant cash for clunkers? Eventually what little pent-up-demand there was is exhausted, and the stimulus ceases to have an effect.
This idea of Keynesian "priming the pump" has never worked and it never will. Japan and its national debt to the extent of 200% of GDP should be proof enough.
The only thing that can possibly work is the write off of bad debts -- something both the administration and the Fed are reluctant to do. We can either do this now, or drag it out for two decades like Japan, only to end up deeper in debt.
What ended the Great Depression -- and let's hope it doesn't come to that again -- was WWII and the destruction of capacity everywhere but the US.
Consumer Confidence Index climbs in Jan.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Consumer-Confidence-Index-apf-518364660.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=2&asset=&ccode=
This is how they rate consumer confidence.
Who pays for this crap?
And how does this piss poor promotion of consumer confidence, have the ability to turn the market green let alone be seen as legitimate assessment of the overall public opinion?
You've got to be f*cking kidding me
And MSM reports on this mass illusion WHY?
"Consumers' short-term outlook, while moderately more positive, does not suggest any significant pickup in activity in the coming months," Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board's Consumer Research Center, said in a statement.
Tuesday's figures are based on a survey of 5,000 households by the private research group.
This is how they rate consumer confidence.
Who pays for this crap?
And how does this piss poor promotion of consumer confidence, have the ability to turn the market green let alone be seen as legitimate assessment of the overall public opinion?
You've got to be f*cking kidding me
And MSM reports on this mass illusion WHY?
"Consumers' short-term outlook, while moderately more positive, does not suggest any significant pickup in activity in the coming months," Lynn Franco, director of The Conference Board's Consumer Research Center, said in a statement.
Tuesday's figures are based on a survey of 5,000 households by the private research group.
FOMC Preview: Meeting Haunted by Ghosts
http://www.minyanville.com/articles/bernanke-fed-fomc-obama/index/a/26540
I saw the other day that the FED made 45 billion dollars for us.
The question is how much more would it actually have been if they had charged to lend?
And WHY aren't they doing it now after a year and a half.
How long is to long to let a bad thing go on?
The only meaningful policy consideration occurring at this meeting is the move to supplant the targeting of the Federal Funds rate (the rate at which banks borrow from one another overnight) with the interest rate paid on excess reserves.
Going back more than a year and a half, to the unfolding of the Lehman Brothers collapse, the Federal Reserve essentially lost control of the Fed Funds rate. It is still unable to bring it in, and so when the decision is eventually made to tighten monetary policy -- a decision I believe will come far later than they currently think -- there's a risk that the Fed Funds rate will not respond to a new, higher target, damaging what little credibility the central bank has left.
I saw the other day that the FED made 45 billion dollars for us.
The question is how much more would it actually have been if they had charged to lend?
And WHY aren't they doing it now after a year and a half.
How long is to long to let a bad thing go on?
The only meaningful policy consideration occurring at this meeting is the move to supplant the targeting of the Federal Funds rate (the rate at which banks borrow from one another overnight) with the interest rate paid on excess reserves.
Going back more than a year and a half, to the unfolding of the Lehman Brothers collapse, the Federal Reserve essentially lost control of the Fed Funds rate. It is still unable to bring it in, and so when the decision is eventually made to tighten monetary policy -- a decision I believe will come far later than they currently think -- there's a risk that the Fed Funds rate will not respond to a new, higher target, damaging what little credibility the central bank has left.
CBO: Federal deficit projected at $1.35T
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/CBO-Fe...sset= &ccode=
Yes we're all fully aware that they see it, and their solution to fix it is to raise the National debt limit and reward themselves with another 1.9 trillion dollars just to get by.
It's time to audit the government as well as the FED.
I'm sure if we did we'd see very much the same extravagant waste and personal pilfering that the UK did
Congressional Budget Office sees 2010 deficit of $1.35 trillion as economy lags
Yes we're all fully aware that they see it, and their solution to fix it is to raise the National debt limit and reward themselves with another 1.9 trillion dollars just to get by.
It's time to audit the government as well as the FED.
I'm sure if we did we'd see very much the same extravagant waste and personal pilfering that the UK did
Congressional Budget Office sees 2010 deficit of $1.35 trillion as economy lags
Monday, January 25, 2010
Congress Went to Denmark, You Got the Bill
http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2010/01/25/cbsnews_investigates/main6140406.shtml
The kids partied hard on our dime.
Thanks to a recently filed Congressional expense reports there's new light shed on the Copenhagen Climate Summit in Denmark and how much it cost taxpayers.
CBS News Investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports official filings and our own investigation show at least 106 people from the House and Senate attended - spouses, a doctor, a protocol expert and even a photographer.
Read the Congressional Expense Report
For 15 Democratic and 6 Republican Congressmen, food and rooms for two nights cost $4,406 tax dollars each. That's $2,200 a day - more than most Americans spend on their monthly mortgage payment.
CBS News asked members of Congress and staff about whether they're mindful that it's public tax dollars they're spending. Many said they had never even seen the bills or the expense reports.
Copenhagen Congressional Junket
Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., is a key climate change player. He went to Copenhagen last year. Last week, we asked him about the $2,200-a-day bill for room and food.
The kids partied hard on our dime.
Thanks to a recently filed Congressional expense reports there's new light shed on the Copenhagen Climate Summit in Denmark and how much it cost taxpayers.
CBS News Investigative correspondent Sharyl Attkisson reports official filings and our own investigation show at least 106 people from the House and Senate attended - spouses, a doctor, a protocol expert and even a photographer.
Read the Congressional Expense Report
For 15 Democratic and 6 Republican Congressmen, food and rooms for two nights cost $4,406 tax dollars each. That's $2,200 a day - more than most Americans spend on their monthly mortgage payment.
CBS News asked members of Congress and staff about whether they're mindful that it's public tax dollars they're spending. Many said they had never even seen the bills or the expense reports.
Copenhagen Congressional Junket
Rep. Henry Waxman, D-Calif., is a key climate change player. He went to Copenhagen last year. Last week, we asked him about the $2,200-a-day bill for room and food.
Did Goldman offer to tear up AIG CDS
http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/1903-NUCLEAR-Did-Goldman-Offer-To-Tear-Up-AIG-CDS.html
You smell that? It's called essence of the shit that hit the fan.
Oh oh.
Remember, Blankfein testified in front of the FCIC at 10:12 AM on 1/13 that he never got a request to take less than 100 cents on the dollar for AIG credit default swap contracts.
Well then what's this that Zerohedge dug up?
As everybody knows, AIG got a huge government bailout in September 2008 to help make payments on derivatives contracts with banks, including Goldman. Yet in the previous month, Goldman approached AIG about "tearing up" its contracts, according to a November 2008 analysis by BlackRock, then an adviser to the New York Fed.
WHAT?
TARP IG opens new probes of AIG
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0110/31995.html
You smell that? It's called essence of the shit that hit the fan.
Oh oh.
Remember, Blankfein testified in front of the FCIC at 10:12 AM on 1/13 that he never got a request to take less than 100 cents on the dollar for AIG credit default swap contracts.
Well then what's this that Zerohedge dug up?
As everybody knows, AIG got a huge government bailout in September 2008 to help make payments on derivatives contracts with banks, including Goldman. Yet in the previous month, Goldman approached AIG about "tearing up" its contracts, according to a November 2008 analysis by BlackRock, then an adviser to the New York Fed.
WHAT?
TARP IG opens new probes of AIG
http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0110/31995.html
SEC mulled national security status for AIG details
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60N1S220100124
This just gets better and better lol
They use the term "national security" for everything they want to keep secret don't they.
U.S. securities regulators originally treated the New York Federal Reserve's bid to keep secret many of the details of the American International Group bailout like a request to protect matters of national security, according to emails obtained by Reuters.
This just gets better and better lol
They use the term "national security" for everything they want to keep secret don't they.
U.S. securities regulators originally treated the New York Federal Reserve's bid to keep secret many of the details of the American International Group bailout like a request to protect matters of national security, according to emails obtained by Reuters.
Thousands of vets could get benefits upgrade
http://www.usatoday.com/news/military/2010-01-25-veterans-pentagon-benefits_N.htm
The military has agreed to expedite a review of the records of thousands of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans discharged with post-traumatic stress disorder to determine whether they were improperly denied benefits.
The agreement stems from a judge's order in a class action lawsuit originally filed by seven combat veterans who alleged the military illegally denied health care and other benefits to those discharged because of the disorder during a six-year period that ended Oct. 14, 2008.
Legal notices are currently being mailed to about 4,300 veterans informing them that they can "opt-in" to the lawsuit until July 24 to participate in the expedited review. Attorneys for the veterans estimate that millions could be paid to veterans under the agreement, with some veterans receiving hundreds or more dollars in increased monthly benefits.
The military has agreed to expedite a review of the records of thousands of Iraq and Afghanistan veterans discharged with post-traumatic stress disorder to determine whether they were improperly denied benefits.
The agreement stems from a judge's order in a class action lawsuit originally filed by seven combat veterans who alleged the military illegally denied health care and other benefits to those discharged because of the disorder during a six-year period that ended Oct. 14, 2008.
Legal notices are currently being mailed to about 4,300 veterans informing them that they can "opt-in" to the lawsuit until July 24 to participate in the expedited review. Attorneys for the veterans estimate that millions could be paid to veterans under the agreement, with some veterans receiving hundreds or more dollars in increased monthly benefits.
Financial terrorism?... You decide
http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/1895-Financial-Terrorism-You-Decide.html
Let the market roll
American taxpayers don't need Ben to continue to screw us over.
Wall Street is able to do that just fine all by itself, and has proven that it can do so quite effectively
Watch this video clip first, and pay careful attention to the implied threat: do this or the market will blow up.
Let's cut the crap - this isn't the first time that this sort of raw threat has been made.
I will remind people that in September of 2008 when Bernanke and Henry Paulson demanded $700 billion for EESA/TARP, and threatened that "if this doesn't pass the market will blow up."
Well, The House initially refused to pass the bill, if you remember.
Do you remember what Ben Bernanke was doing behind the scenes at the time?
I'll show you - once again
Let the market roll
American taxpayers don't need Ben to continue to screw us over.
Wall Street is able to do that just fine all by itself, and has proven that it can do so quite effectively
Watch this video clip first, and pay careful attention to the implied threat: do this or the market will blow up.
Let's cut the crap - this isn't the first time that this sort of raw threat has been made.
I will remind people that in September of 2008 when Bernanke and Henry Paulson demanded $700 billion for EESA/TARP, and threatened that "if this doesn't pass the market will blow up."
Well, The House initially refused to pass the bill, if you remember.
Do you remember what Ben Bernanke was doing behind the scenes at the time?
I'll show you - once again
Bradbury would create 'Bank of Oregon' if he were governor
http://www.oregonlive.com/politics/index.ssf/2010/01/bradbury_would_create_bank_of.html
It maakes sense to me. The federal government cares about none of us on a state or local level.
God helps those that helps themselves.
It's time to become more independant and create our own destiny.
Can "WE" do it? Yes I believe "WE" can.
The state of Oregon should have its own bank so taxpayer dollars could help fund local businesses instead of boosting the profits of big multinational banks, says Bill Bradbury, Democratic candidate for governor and former secretary of state.
Bradbury announced his proposal today in Portland as part of his plan to find jobs for more Oregonians. The state bank, modeled on one in North Dakota, would form the cornerstone of his jobs proposal, he said.
"It's time to make Oregon's money work for Oregonians," Bradbury said. Small businesses are hurting because banks are squeezing off credit necessary for growth
It maakes sense to me. The federal government cares about none of us on a state or local level.
God helps those that helps themselves.
It's time to become more independant and create our own destiny.
Can "WE" do it? Yes I believe "WE" can.
The state of Oregon should have its own bank so taxpayer dollars could help fund local businesses instead of boosting the profits of big multinational banks, says Bill Bradbury, Democratic candidate for governor and former secretary of state.
Bradbury announced his proposal today in Portland as part of his plan to find jobs for more Oregonians. The state bank, modeled on one in North Dakota, would form the cornerstone of his jobs proposal, he said.
"It's time to make Oregon's money work for Oregonians," Bradbury said. Small businesses are hurting because banks are squeezing off credit necessary for growth
Sunday, January 24, 2010
Goldman under investigation for its securities dealings
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/257/story/82899.html
One of Congress' premier watchdog panels is investigating Goldman Sachs' role in the subprime mortgage meltdown, including how the firm sold securities backed by risky home loans while it simultaneously bet that those bonds would lose value, people familiar with the inquiry said Friday.
The investigation is part of a broader examination by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations into the roots of the economic crisis and whether financial institutions behaved improperly, said the individuals, who insisted upon anonymity because the matter is sensitive.
Disclosure of the investigation comes amid a darkening mood at the White House, in Congress and among the American public over the long-term economic impact of the subprime crisis, prompting demands to hold the culprits accountable.
It marks at least the third federal inquiry touching on Goldman's dealings related to securities backed by risky home mortgages.
The separate, congressionally appointed Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, which was created to investigate causes of the crisis, began holding hearings Jan. 13 and
One of Congress' premier watchdog panels is investigating Goldman Sachs' role in the subprime mortgage meltdown, including how the firm sold securities backed by risky home loans while it simultaneously bet that those bonds would lose value, people familiar with the inquiry said Friday.
The investigation is part of a broader examination by the Senate Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations into the roots of the economic crisis and whether financial institutions behaved improperly, said the individuals, who insisted upon anonymity because the matter is sensitive.
Disclosure of the investigation comes amid a darkening mood at the White House, in Congress and among the American public over the long-term economic impact of the subprime crisis, prompting demands to hold the culprits accountable.
It marks at least the third federal inquiry touching on Goldman's dealings related to securities backed by risky home mortgages.
The separate, congressionally appointed Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, which was created to investigate causes of the crisis, began holding hearings Jan. 13 and
Off with the head of the FED
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/3831df1c-0780-11df-915f-00144feabdc0.html
How can the FED be independent, when they're playing with "OUR" money?
Economists warned that a rejection of Mr Bernanke could be seen as a threat to the central bank’s independence. US Treasury yields were little changed but stocks fell more than 2 per cent.
If you would check the record Mr Dodd, you will see that Ben's way is not working,
Paul Volcker does have the know how and experience to handle the situation.
We "The People" are tired of watching our country die.
We're in pain now, whats a little more if it rights our direction.
"WE" demand the best in breed, and that's Paul Volcker!
Chris Dodd, the chairman of the Senate banking committee, said a No vote would send the economy into a “tailspin”.
Ask your self why does the President have to FIGHT for Wall Street regulation.
Common sense says it should already be in place.
Mr Obama Friday made a defiant speech in Ohio at the end of a week in which he promised to fight for healthcare reform and Wall St regulation
How can the FED be independent, when they're playing with "OUR" money?
Economists warned that a rejection of Mr Bernanke could be seen as a threat to the central bank’s independence. US Treasury yields were little changed but stocks fell more than 2 per cent.
If you would check the record Mr Dodd, you will see that Ben's way is not working,
Paul Volcker does have the know how and experience to handle the situation.
We "The People" are tired of watching our country die.
We're in pain now, whats a little more if it rights our direction.
"WE" demand the best in breed, and that's Paul Volcker!
Chris Dodd, the chairman of the Senate banking committee, said a No vote would send the economy into a “tailspin”.
Ask your self why does the President have to FIGHT for Wall Street regulation.
Common sense says it should already be in place.
Mr Obama Friday made a defiant speech in Ohio at the end of a week in which he promised to fight for healthcare reform and Wall St regulation
Saturday, January 23, 2010
Obama endorses deficit task force
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Obama-endorses-deficit-task-apf-3690851821.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=1&asset=&ccode=
What a joke!
Why waste the money if you know nothing is going to get done?
This kind of garbage needs to be voted out of office.
You can see they're not fit to decide anything for, let alone run this country.
Notice how nothing gets decided, if anything ever does, until after the election.
It's not only time to audit the FED
It's time to audit the government.
It's impossible for them to do it themselves, and where they keep spending it and sending it has some serious questions as to the merit of it's expense.
President Barack Obama Saturday endorsed a bipartisan plan to name a special task force charged with coming up with a plan to curb the spiraling budget deficit, though the idea has lots of opposition from both his allies and rivals on Capitol Hill.
The bipartisan 18-member panel backed by Obama would study the issue for much of the year and, if 14 members agree, report a deficit reduction blueprint after the November elections that would be voted on before the new Congress convenes next year. The 14 would have to include at least half of the panel's Republicans -- a big obstacle.
[B]The general belief is that the task force idea will fail since many Republicans oppose the plan as a recipe for tax increases, while Democrats worry it'll lead to cuts to Medicare and Social Security benefits. And lots of powerful Democrats say the task force would encroach on their decision-making powers.
Still, some moderate Senate Democrats such as Evan Bayh of Indiana had demanded Obama's endorsement of the deficit panel idea, refusing to commit their votes for the unpopular debt limit measure next week without it.
The task force plan was offered by the top senators on the Budget Committee, Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., and Judd Gregg, R-N.H., who see it as the only way for Republicans and Democrats alike to take the leap into the treacherous business of curbing the deficit with politically unpopular tax increases and spending cuts.
Much of the opposition comes from top Democrats such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus of Montana, whose toes would be stepped on since the findings of the task force automatically receive a vote in both the House and Senate, eroding their power.
Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who supported the task before anti-tax activist Grover Norquist came out against the idea, is now strongly opposed. House GOP Leader John Boehner of Ohio appears opposed as well.
[/B]
What a joke!
Why waste the money if you know nothing is going to get done?
This kind of garbage needs to be voted out of office.
You can see they're not fit to decide anything for, let alone run this country.
Notice how nothing gets decided, if anything ever does, until after the election.
It's not only time to audit the FED
It's time to audit the government.
It's impossible for them to do it themselves, and where they keep spending it and sending it has some serious questions as to the merit of it's expense.
President Barack Obama Saturday endorsed a bipartisan plan to name a special task force charged with coming up with a plan to curb the spiraling budget deficit, though the idea has lots of opposition from both his allies and rivals on Capitol Hill.
The bipartisan 18-member panel backed by Obama would study the issue for much of the year and, if 14 members agree, report a deficit reduction blueprint after the November elections that would be voted on before the new Congress convenes next year. The 14 would have to include at least half of the panel's Republicans -- a big obstacle.
[B]The general belief is that the task force idea will fail since many Republicans oppose the plan as a recipe for tax increases, while Democrats worry it'll lead to cuts to Medicare and Social Security benefits. And lots of powerful Democrats say the task force would encroach on their decision-making powers.
Still, some moderate Senate Democrats such as Evan Bayh of Indiana had demanded Obama's endorsement of the deficit panel idea, refusing to commit their votes for the unpopular debt limit measure next week without it.
The task force plan was offered by the top senators on the Budget Committee, Chairman Kent Conrad, D-N.D., and Judd Gregg, R-N.H., who see it as the only way for Republicans and Democrats alike to take the leap into the treacherous business of curbing the deficit with politically unpopular tax increases and spending cuts.
Much of the opposition comes from top Democrats such as House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of California and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Max Baucus of Montana, whose toes would be stepped on since the findings of the task force automatically receive a vote in both the House and Senate, eroding their power.
Senate GOP Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky, who supported the task before anti-tax activist Grover Norquist came out against the idea, is now strongly opposed. House GOP Leader John Boehner of Ohio appears opposed as well.
[/B]
Israel Makes Waves by Simulating an Earthquake
http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/133083
Financed by the United States Defence Department, with your tax dollars.
America, We can't even afford ourselves, without wasting money on crap like this.
The Seismologic Division of the Ministry of National Infrastructure's Geophysical Institute will attempt to simulate an earthquake in the southern Negev on Thursday. The experiment, financed by the U.S. Defense Department, is a joint project with the University of Hawaii and is part of a scientific project intended to improve seismological and acoustic readings in Israel and its environs, up to a 1,000 km/621 mile radius.
Financed by the United States Defence Department, with your tax dollars.
America, We can't even afford ourselves, without wasting money on crap like this.
The Seismologic Division of the Ministry of National Infrastructure's Geophysical Institute will attempt to simulate an earthquake in the southern Negev on Thursday. The experiment, financed by the U.S. Defense Department, is a joint project with the University of Hawaii and is part of a scientific project intended to improve seismological and acoustic readings in Israel and its environs, up to a 1,000 km/621 mile radius.
Report: US weapon test aimed at Iran caused Haiti quake
http://www.presstv.ir/detail.aspx?id=116834§ionid=351020104
They don't care what they do or who it affects.
An unconfirmed report by the Russian Northern Fleets says the Haiti earthquake was caused by a flawed US Navy 'earthquake weapons' test before the weapons could be utilized against Iran.
United States Navy test of one of its 'earthquake weapons' which was to be used against Iran, went 'horribly wrong' and caused the catastrophic quake in the Caribbean, the website of Venezuela's ViVe TV recently reported, citing the Russian report.
After the report was released, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez also made a similar claim, saying that a US drill, carried out in preparation for a deliberate attempt to cause an earthquake in Iran, had led to the deadly incident in Haiti, claiming more than 110,000 lives.
In 1997, US Secretary of Defense William Cohen also expressed concern about activities that "can alter the climate, set off earthquakes, volcanoes remotely through the use of electromagnetic waves."
The US government, however, has chosen to stick to its position that HAARP is merely a program aimed at analyzing the Earth's ionosphere for the purpose of developing communications and surveillance technology.
They don't care what they do or who it affects.
An unconfirmed report by the Russian Northern Fleets says the Haiti earthquake was caused by a flawed US Navy 'earthquake weapons' test before the weapons could be utilized against Iran.
United States Navy test of one of its 'earthquake weapons' which was to be used against Iran, went 'horribly wrong' and caused the catastrophic quake in the Caribbean, the website of Venezuela's ViVe TV recently reported, citing the Russian report.
After the report was released, Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez also made a similar claim, saying that a US drill, carried out in preparation for a deliberate attempt to cause an earthquake in Iran, had led to the deadly incident in Haiti, claiming more than 110,000 lives.
In 1997, US Secretary of Defense William Cohen also expressed concern about activities that "can alter the climate, set off earthquakes, volcanoes remotely through the use of electromagnetic waves."
The US government, however, has chosen to stick to its position that HAARP is merely a program aimed at analyzing the Earth's ionosphere for the purpose of developing communications and surveillance technology.
Military Helps Fund Congressional Trips
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...067824382.html
Your tax dollars are paying not once but twice to serve the elite, in the manors that they have become so richly accustom to.
It would seem to ply them, there must be a tad bit of padding going on in the defence budget to fit things like this in, wouldn't you say?
Military officials bought thousands of dollars worth of alcohol, food and other amenities for the U.S. lawmakers they accompanied on trips overseas, travel records viewed by The Wall Street Journal show.
The documents don't show these outlays have secured any favors or favoritism from lawmakers. And the funds spent by military personnel—which ran about $4,300 per trip for the 43 trips examined by the Journal—usually account for only a small portion of the total lawmakers spend on overseas travel.
Instead, the records shed light for the first time on how the military exploits its official escort role on these trips to foster relationships with lawmakers who approve departmental budgets and top appointments. The disclosures also underscore the military's pervasive pursuit of congressional access.
House speaker Nancy Pelosi with the Dalai Lama during a March 2008 trip to India.
.Read More
Documents show that military liaisons who travel with U.S. lawmakers overseas often pick up the costs for food, alcohol and other expenses. The same military officials are also in charge of lobbying Congress.
Military aides bought hundreds of dollars in alcohol and snacks for a delegation of ten lawmakers that Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) led to England, India and Spain in March 2008.
The military paid $8.68 for a bottle opener and a corkscrew for a December 2008 trip to Egypt, Jordan, Iraq and Spain led by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D., N.D.).
Lawmakers on a trip to Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan and Hungary requested a bottle of Bailey's Irish Cream
An internal military email shows that the Army was hoping to "establish a personal connection" with Sen. Chris Dodd (D., Conn.) and get his support for a weapons program.
.Indeed, the military aides who accompany lawmakers overseas are usually the same people who lobby Congress at home; their offices are in buildings shared with lawmakers.
Joel Johnson, a defense-industry analyst with the TEAL Group Corp. who once worked on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, described the situation as the equivalent of
Your tax dollars are paying not once but twice to serve the elite, in the manors that they have become so richly accustom to.
It would seem to ply them, there must be a tad bit of padding going on in the defence budget to fit things like this in, wouldn't you say?
Military officials bought thousands of dollars worth of alcohol, food and other amenities for the U.S. lawmakers they accompanied on trips overseas, travel records viewed by The Wall Street Journal show.
The documents don't show these outlays have secured any favors or favoritism from lawmakers. And the funds spent by military personnel—which ran about $4,300 per trip for the 43 trips examined by the Journal—usually account for only a small portion of the total lawmakers spend on overseas travel.
Instead, the records shed light for the first time on how the military exploits its official escort role on these trips to foster relationships with lawmakers who approve departmental budgets and top appointments. The disclosures also underscore the military's pervasive pursuit of congressional access.
House speaker Nancy Pelosi with the Dalai Lama during a March 2008 trip to India.
.Read More
Documents show that military liaisons who travel with U.S. lawmakers overseas often pick up the costs for food, alcohol and other expenses. The same military officials are also in charge of lobbying Congress.
Military aides bought hundreds of dollars in alcohol and snacks for a delegation of ten lawmakers that Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D., Calif.) led to England, India and Spain in March 2008.
The military paid $8.68 for a bottle opener and a corkscrew for a December 2008 trip to Egypt, Jordan, Iraq and Spain led by Sen. Byron Dorgan (D., N.D.).
Lawmakers on a trip to Kuwait, Iraq, Afghanistan and Hungary requested a bottle of Bailey's Irish Cream
An internal military email shows that the Army was hoping to "establish a personal connection" with Sen. Chris Dodd (D., Conn.) and get his support for a weapons program.
.Indeed, the military aides who accompany lawmakers overseas are usually the same people who lobby Congress at home; their offices are in buildings shared with lawmakers.
Joel Johnson, a defense-industry analyst with the TEAL Group Corp. who once worked on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, described the situation as the equivalent of
America's Impending Master Class Dictatorship
http://www.financialsense.com/fsu/editorials/2010/0122.html
A must read kids and yes it's dire.
It's time for our country to see the dentist to have the rotten teeth extracted that are poisoning our whole system.
FOREWORD: At certain times, focusing on the big picture is important not just for investment success, but for personal welfare, and even survival. We believe such times are here. It is estimated that 98% of Americans have never held a gold coin in their hands. Yet 100% of Americans regularly handle Federal Reserve Notes. From a contrarian standpoint, the financial message from those two statistics is clear. Even so, gold is much more than money or an investment medium; it stands for liberty and throughout history has facilitated escape and ensured freedom. Never having touched a gold coin is the monetary equivalent to never having breathed fresh air, felt the warmth of sunshine, looked up at the stars or risen from the gutter. Fiat Federal Reserve Notes are becoming nothing more than sewage decomposing in the vast, toxic septic tank of predatory Washington politics, epic Federal Reserve arrogance and error, blatant Wall Street fraud and outright Master Class plunder. Below, we outline America’s troubling and compounding predicament, and urge you to think about how to protect yourself from its consequences, both financially and personally.
A must read kids and yes it's dire.
It's time for our country to see the dentist to have the rotten teeth extracted that are poisoning our whole system.
FOREWORD: At certain times, focusing on the big picture is important not just for investment success, but for personal welfare, and even survival. We believe such times are here. It is estimated that 98% of Americans have never held a gold coin in their hands. Yet 100% of Americans regularly handle Federal Reserve Notes. From a contrarian standpoint, the financial message from those two statistics is clear. Even so, gold is much more than money or an investment medium; it stands for liberty and throughout history has facilitated escape and ensured freedom. Never having touched a gold coin is the monetary equivalent to never having breathed fresh air, felt the warmth of sunshine, looked up at the stars or risen from the gutter. Fiat Federal Reserve Notes are becoming nothing more than sewage decomposing in the vast, toxic septic tank of predatory Washington politics, epic Federal Reserve arrogance and error, blatant Wall Street fraud and outright Master Class plunder. Below, we outline America’s troubling and compounding predicament, and urge you to think about how to protect yourself from its consequences, both financially and personally.
Friday, January 22, 2010
Paul Volcker: the 'big man' behind Barack Obama's bank reform
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/7054111/Paul-Volcker-the-big-man-behind-Barack-Obamas-bank-reform.html
It's time to repeat the past kids, and that means swallowing a big dose of reality
and demanding that Paul Volker head the FED.
He has the job experience and the knowledge to handle the situation, because he's done it before.
It was hard but he did guide us out of it.
It's time to fill the job with someone who understands the position and is disciplined enough to make the hard decisions that are unpopular to make.
This is the count on where Ben stands with the senators, find out where yours is at and if you need to make a call.
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/77625-bernanke-count-25-senators-support-13-oppose
It's time to repeat the past kids, and that means swallowing a big dose of reality
and demanding that Paul Volker head the FED.
He has the job experience and the knowledge to handle the situation, because he's done it before.
It was hard but he did guide us out of it.
It's time to fill the job with someone who understands the position and is disciplined enough to make the hard decisions that are unpopular to make.
This is the count on where Ben stands with the senators, find out where yours is at and if you need to make a call.
http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/77625-bernanke-count-25-senators-support-13-oppose
Thursday, January 21, 2010
Corporations are people to
http://www.movetoamend.org/
So this pretty much settles it, Corporations are persons.
So these very same persons can now be subject to prison sentences through prosecution of the crimes they've committed.
[B]On January 21, 2010, with its ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations are persons, entitled by the U.S. Constitution to buy elections and run our government. Human beings are people; corporations are legal fictions[/B]
So this pretty much settles it, Corporations are persons.
So these very same persons can now be subject to prison sentences through prosecution of the crimes they've committed.
[B]On January 21, 2010, with its ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, the Supreme Court ruled that corporations are persons, entitled by the U.S. Constitution to buy elections and run our government. Human beings are people; corporations are legal fictions[/B]
Obama blasts Court decision on campaign finance
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Obama-blasts-Court-decision-apf-2655950138.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=6&asset=&ccode=
Are you surprised?
Do you think Obama and friends will really deny their "Party"
their due riches in ALL of their entirety that comes with this decision?
President Barack Obama is condemning a decision by the Supreme Court to roll back restrictions on campaign donations by corporations and unions.
In a written statement, Obama says the campaign finance ruling will lead to a "stampede of special interest money in our politics." Obama declared that his administration will work with Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress to come up with a "forceful response" to the high court's action.
Are you surprised?
Do you think Obama and friends will really deny their "Party"
their due riches in ALL of their entirety that comes with this decision?
President Barack Obama is condemning a decision by the Supreme Court to roll back restrictions on campaign donations by corporations and unions.
In a written statement, Obama says the campaign finance ruling will lead to a "stampede of special interest money in our politics." Obama declared that his administration will work with Democratic and Republican leaders in Congress to come up with a "forceful response" to the high court's action.
Wednesday, January 20, 2010
Obama to Nationalize Student Lending with Pending Budget Bill
http://cnsnews.com/news/article/60074
Under the system proposed by Obama, the government would cut private lenders out of the picture entirely, setting the interest rates and collecting payments directly for all student lending.
Whether or not the government saw a profit or a loss from the new, federal loans would depend on the rate at which the government borrows money. For instance, the law currently sets the interest rate for direct loans at a maximum of 6.8 percent.
Under Obama’s proposal, if the government can borrow money at a rate lower than 6.8 percent, it would realize the difference as profit. If the government’s borrowing rate were to fall in the future, its profit on student loans would grow.
The idea to nationalize student lending was first put forth in President Obama’s fiscal-year 2010 budget and marketed as a way to save the government billions of dollars. According to a CBO estimate, the proposal would save the government $87 billion over 10 years.
The savings estimate results from the fact that the government believes it will collect more in interest payments from students than it would otherwise have to pay in fees to lenders
Under the system proposed by Obama, the government would cut private lenders out of the picture entirely, setting the interest rates and collecting payments directly for all student lending.
Whether or not the government saw a profit or a loss from the new, federal loans would depend on the rate at which the government borrows money. For instance, the law currently sets the interest rate for direct loans at a maximum of 6.8 percent.
Under Obama’s proposal, if the government can borrow money at a rate lower than 6.8 percent, it would realize the difference as profit. If the government’s borrowing rate were to fall in the future, its profit on student loans would grow.
The idea to nationalize student lending was first put forth in President Obama’s fiscal-year 2010 budget and marketed as a way to save the government billions of dollars. According to a CBO estimate, the proposal would save the government $87 billion over 10 years.
The savings estimate results from the fact that the government believes it will collect more in interest payments from students than it would otherwise have to pay in fees to lenders
Democrats propose $1.9T increase in debt limit
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20100120/ap_on_bi_ge/us_congress_debt_limit_11
Well that didn't tale long did it? We just pushed up the debt a month or so ago and now they want more.
How much can you put on the tab?
Senate Democrats on Wednesday proposed allowing the federal government to borrow an additional $1.9 trillion to pay its bills, a record increase that would permit the national debt to reach $14.3 trillion.
The unpopular legislation is needed to allow the federal government to issue bonds to fund programs and prevent a first-time default on obligations. It promises to be a challenging debate for Democrats, who, as the party in power, hold the responsibility for passing the legislation.
It's hardly the debate Democrats want or need in the wake of Sen.-elect Scott Brown's victory in Massachusetts. Arguing over the debt limit provides a forum for Republicans to blame Democrats for rising deficits and spiraling debt, even though responsibility for the government's financial straits can be shared by both political parties.
The measure came to the floor under rules requiring 60 votes to pass. That's an unprecedented step that could mean that every Democrat, no matter how politically endangered, may have to vote for it next week before Brown takes office and Democrats lose their 60-vote majority.
Well that didn't tale long did it? We just pushed up the debt a month or so ago and now they want more.
How much can you put on the tab?
Senate Democrats on Wednesday proposed allowing the federal government to borrow an additional $1.9 trillion to pay its bills, a record increase that would permit the national debt to reach $14.3 trillion.
The unpopular legislation is needed to allow the federal government to issue bonds to fund programs and prevent a first-time default on obligations. It promises to be a challenging debate for Democrats, who, as the party in power, hold the responsibility for passing the legislation.
It's hardly the debate Democrats want or need in the wake of Sen.-elect Scott Brown's victory in Massachusetts. Arguing over the debt limit provides a forum for Republicans to blame Democrats for rising deficits and spiraling debt, even though responsibility for the government's financial straits can be shared by both political parties.
The measure came to the floor under rules requiring 60 votes to pass. That's an unprecedented step that could mean that every Democrat, no matter how politically endangered, may have to vote for it next week before Brown takes office and Democrats lose their 60-vote majority.
It's time
I wanna tell you about this game I play with my kids at Christmas.
They're allowed to question me about their Christmas presents, size, shape, can you's and so on's. I answer each one and I never lie, but I do keep them confused, because the truth is broadly defined as "in the realm"
Example:
Can it be used only one time? Well "in the realm" a camera is used to shoot a moment in time that can be used only once. So yes it can only be used one time.
I keep them highly amused and very off balance so that they never know what their getting and it's always a complete surprise. It's never what they thought I told them.
That's a game I play with my children, not the way I want my country run.
As a stock holder in the corporation of the United States of America, I say we hold a stock holders meeting about where the direction of our company is going.
It's not being run very well and it's time the "party" talk was over and the "Peoples" talk is heard.
It's time to know where we stand as a Nation as to whats been happening with "Our" checkbook.
It's time to audit the country, and stop the overblown spending by our government.
Have you seen Pelosi's private hop to and from California every week?
And she can't take commercial why? Newt, had the same job and he did.
Why the extra expense now and what's the reason for it?
It's time to do what the UK did and start looking at expenses.
It's time for some fiscal responsibility.
As a taxpayer, I'm not longer going to accept "the party" bill or bull.
It's time to open up the books and set some curbs
It's the responsible thing to do.
They're allowed to question me about their Christmas presents, size, shape, can you's and so on's. I answer each one and I never lie, but I do keep them confused, because the truth is broadly defined as "in the realm"
Example:
Can it be used only one time? Well "in the realm" a camera is used to shoot a moment in time that can be used only once. So yes it can only be used one time.
I keep them highly amused and very off balance so that they never know what their getting and it's always a complete surprise. It's never what they thought I told them.
That's a game I play with my children, not the way I want my country run.
As a stock holder in the corporation of the United States of America, I say we hold a stock holders meeting about where the direction of our company is going.
It's not being run very well and it's time the "party" talk was over and the "Peoples" talk is heard.
It's time to know where we stand as a Nation as to whats been happening with "Our" checkbook.
It's time to audit the country, and stop the overblown spending by our government.
Have you seen Pelosi's private hop to and from California every week?
And she can't take commercial why? Newt, had the same job and he did.
Why the extra expense now and what's the reason for it?
It's time to do what the UK did and start looking at expenses.
It's time for some fiscal responsibility.
As a taxpayer, I'm not longer going to accept "the party" bill or bull.
It's time to open up the books and set some curbs
It's the responsible thing to do.
Tuesday, January 19, 2010
Keiser Report №9: Markets! Finance! Scandal!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ffE768Fr02k&feature=player_embedded#
You gotta love Max, Nobody is more blunt LOL.
You gotta love Max, Nobody is more blunt LOL.
Ron Paul on Wall Streets Bailout FRAUD 1 of 2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=onIYL5leAAk&feature=player_embedded
Are you really going to allow them to get away with this?
Pt2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HU-vYbGxTrE&feature=player_embedded
Are you really going to allow them to get away with this?
Pt2
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HU-vYbGxTrE&feature=player_embedded
http://www.boston.com/news/odd/articles/2010/01/18/boys_science_project_prompts_school_evacuation/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+News+of+the+odd
http://www.boston.com/news/odd/articles/2010/01/18/boys_science_project_prompts_school_evacuation/?rss_id=Boston.com+--+News+of+the+odd
Coz this is now the world you live in.
Fire officials said a San Diego middle school was evacuated when a student's science project was mistaken for a bomb. Fire-Rescue spokesman Maurice Luque said a vice principal's concerns prompted the evacuation of Millennial Tech Magnet Middle School Friday afternoon. Luque said an arson team took photos and x-rays of the empty plastic bottle with wires and determined it was harmless.
Discuss
COMMENTS (6)
Luque says the 11-year-old boy was trying to build a motion detector from instructions
Coz this is now the world you live in.
Fire officials said a San Diego middle school was evacuated when a student's science project was mistaken for a bomb. Fire-Rescue spokesman Maurice Luque said a vice principal's concerns prompted the evacuation of Millennial Tech Magnet Middle School Friday afternoon. Luque said an arson team took photos and x-rays of the empty plastic bottle with wires and determined it was harmless.
Discuss
COMMENTS (6)
Luque says the 11-year-old boy was trying to build a motion detector from instructions
The FED says bring it on
http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60I4FJ20100120?feedType=RSS&feedName=businessNews&rpc=23&sp=true
Federal Reserve officials on Tuesday launched a vigorous defense of their dealings with American International Group, calling for a congressional audit and denying any inappropriate action with respect to payments the bailed-out insurer made to banks.
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke invited a full congressional audit of the U.S. central bank's dealings with AIG and the New York Federal Reserve Bank turned over 250,000 pages of documents to a House committee that has scheduled a hearing on the matter next week.
The U.S. House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform Committee is investigating whether the New York Fed improperly limited public disclosures about payments to banks to unwind $62.1 billion in AIG credit default swaps.
Federal Reserve officials on Tuesday launched a vigorous defense of their dealings with American International Group, calling for a congressional audit and denying any inappropriate action with respect to payments the bailed-out insurer made to banks.
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke invited a full congressional audit of the U.S. central bank's dealings with AIG and the New York Federal Reserve Bank turned over 250,000 pages of documents to a House committee that has scheduled a hearing on the matter next week.
The U.S. House of Representatives Oversight and Government Reform Committee is investigating whether the New York Fed improperly limited public disclosures about payments to banks to unwind $62.1 billion in AIG credit default swaps.
FBI sting nets 22 executives in bribery probe
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/516f276c-054d-11df-a85e-00144feabdc0.html?nclick_check=1
OOPS looks like they got busted buttering their bread.
Agents at the Federal Bureau of Investigation have arrested 22 executives, three of whom are British, in a sting operation, which prosecutors say exposed attempts to bribe an African minister of defence.
The arrests of the executives, all but one of whom were attending a conference for sellers of military and law enforcement products in Las Vegas, is the single largest investigation and prosecution by the Department of Justice of charges involving foreign bribery.
EDITOR’S CHOICE
FBI release - Jan-19..It also marks an important step up in transatlantic co-operation in such prosecutions, with US officials working with City of London police officers who searched seven British properties in their own investigation.
According to prosecutors, the 22 executives who were arrested had each sought to engage in a scheme to bribe a minister of defence of an unnamed African nation in order to win a portion of a $15m (€10.5m, £9m) deal to fit out the country’s presidential guard.
What the defendants did not know was that the “sales agent” whom they allegedly believed represented the minister, was an undercover FBI agent.
Executives named in the indictments worked for mostly US companies, as well as two British and one Israeli businesses, although those were not named. They sold products ranging from body armour to firearms and ammunition.
Although guns and ammunition were the focus of Tuesday’s announcement, DoJ officials said the pharmaceutical industry was an ongoing area of interest for bribery investigations.
OOPS looks like they got busted buttering their bread.
Agents at the Federal Bureau of Investigation have arrested 22 executives, three of whom are British, in a sting operation, which prosecutors say exposed attempts to bribe an African minister of defence.
The arrests of the executives, all but one of whom were attending a conference for sellers of military and law enforcement products in Las Vegas, is the single largest investigation and prosecution by the Department of Justice of charges involving foreign bribery.
EDITOR’S CHOICE
FBI release - Jan-19..It also marks an important step up in transatlantic co-operation in such prosecutions, with US officials working with City of London police officers who searched seven British properties in their own investigation.
According to prosecutors, the 22 executives who were arrested had each sought to engage in a scheme to bribe a minister of defence of an unnamed African nation in order to win a portion of a $15m (€10.5m, £9m) deal to fit out the country’s presidential guard.
What the defendants did not know was that the “sales agent” whom they allegedly believed represented the minister, was an undercover FBI agent.
Executives named in the indictments worked for mostly US companies, as well as two British and one Israeli businesses, although those were not named. They sold products ranging from body armour to firearms and ammunition.
Although guns and ammunition were the focus of Tuesday’s announcement, DoJ officials said the pharmaceutical industry was an ongoing area of interest for bribery investigations.
Putin Says Chlorine in Chickens Unsafe
http://www.foodsafetynews.com/2010/01/pm-putin-says-chlorine-in-chickens-unsafe/
The rest of the world doesn't want what they force you to eat.
How much poison can a body ingest?
Getting another American chicken into Russia just got harder.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin weighed into the Russian ban on U.S. chicken imports.
"We haven't seen any readiness to meet Russian standards on the part of some of our partners, mainly the companies from the United States," Putin said. "If our foreign suppliers are unable or reluctant to meet our security requirements, we will use other sources."
The Russians banned chickens from countries using chlorine in poultry processing beginning Jan. 1 2010. Putin made the Americans the odd man out saying that Russia was merely joining the European Union in banning, for food safety reasons, chickens from chlorine-using counties.
"One shouldn't look for political background in this case, God forbid," said Russia's former President and one-time KGB agent. "No political background here!"
The rest of the world doesn't want what they force you to eat.
How much poison can a body ingest?
Getting another American chicken into Russia just got harder.
Prime Minister Vladimir Putin weighed into the Russian ban on U.S. chicken imports.
"We haven't seen any readiness to meet Russian standards on the part of some of our partners, mainly the companies from the United States," Putin said. "If our foreign suppliers are unable or reluctant to meet our security requirements, we will use other sources."
The Russians banned chickens from countries using chlorine in poultry processing beginning Jan. 1 2010. Putin made the Americans the odd man out saying that Russia was merely joining the European Union in banning, for food safety reasons, chickens from chlorine-using counties.
"One shouldn't look for political background in this case, God forbid," said Russia's former President and one-time KGB agent. "No political background here!"
Outsourcing War - Rise Of Private Military Contractors (PMCs)
http://www.rense.com/general89/outs.htm
If it was your bread and butter, would you end the gravy train?
Defining a Mercenary
Article 47 in the 1977 Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions provides the most widely, though not universally, accepted definition, based on six criteria, all of which must be met.
"A mercenary is any person who:
(a) is specially recruited locally or abroad in order to fight in an armed conflict;
(b) does, in fact, take a direct part in the hostilities:
(c) is motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain and, in fact, is promised, by or on behalf of a Party to the conflict, material compensation substantially in excess of that promised or paid to combatants of similar ranks and functions in the armed forces of the Party;
(d) is neither a national of a Party to the conflict nor a resident of territory controlled by a Party to the conflict;
(e) is not a member of the armed forces of a Party to the conflict; and
(f) has not been sent by a State which is not a Party to the conflict on official duty as a member of its armed forces."
If it was your bread and butter, would you end the gravy train?
Defining a Mercenary
Article 47 in the 1977 Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions provides the most widely, though not universally, accepted definition, based on six criteria, all of which must be met.
"A mercenary is any person who:
(a) is specially recruited locally or abroad in order to fight in an armed conflict;
(b) does, in fact, take a direct part in the hostilities:
(c) is motivated to take part in the hostilities essentially by the desire for private gain and, in fact, is promised, by or on behalf of a Party to the conflict, material compensation substantially in excess of that promised or paid to combatants of similar ranks and functions in the armed forces of the Party;
(d) is neither a national of a Party to the conflict nor a resident of territory controlled by a Party to the conflict;
(e) is not a member of the armed forces of a Party to the conflict; and
(f) has not been sent by a State which is not a Party to the conflict on official duty as a member of its armed forces."
The Guantánamo “Suicides”: A Camp Delta sergeant blows the whistle
http://harpers.org/archive/2010/01/hbc-90006368
Late in the evening on June 9 that year, three prisoners at Guantánamo died suddenly and violently. Salah Ahmed Al-Salami, from Yemen, was thirty-seven. Mani Shaman Al-Utaybi, from Saudi Arabia, was thirty. Yasser Talal Al-Zahrani, also from Saudi Arabia, was twenty-two, and had been imprisoned at Guantánamo since he was captured at the age of seventeen. None of the men had been charged with a crime, though all three had been engaged in hunger strikes to protest the conditions of their imprisonment. They were being held in a cell block, known as Alpha Block, reserved for particularly troublesome or high-value prisoners.
As news of the deaths emerged the following day, the camp quickly went into lockdown. The authorities ordered nearly all the reporters at Guantánamo to leave and those en route to turn back. The commander at Guantánamo, Rear Admiral Harry Harris, then declared the deaths “suicides.” In an unusual move, he also used the announcement to attack the dead men. “I believe this was not an act of desperation,” he said, “but an act of asymmetrical warfare waged against us.” Reporters accepted the official account, and even lawyers for the prisoners appeared to believe that they had killed themselves. Only the prisoners’ families in Saudi Arabia and Yemen rejected the notion.
Two years later, the U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which has primary investigative jurisdiction within the naval base, issued a report supporting the account originally advanced by Harris, now a vice-admiral in command of the Sixth Fleet. The Pentagon declined to make the NCIS report public, and only when pressed with Freedom of Information Act demands did it disclose parts of the report, some 1,700 pages of documents so heavily redacted as to be nearly incomprehensible. The NCIS report was carefully cross-referenced and deciphered by students and faculty at the law school of Seton Hall University in New Jersey, and their findings, released in November 2009, made clear why the Pentagon had been unwilling to make its conclusions public. The official story of the prisoners’ deaths was full of unacknowledged contradictions, and the centerpiece of the report—a reconstruction of the events—was simply unbelievable
Late in the evening on June 9 that year, three prisoners at Guantánamo died suddenly and violently. Salah Ahmed Al-Salami, from Yemen, was thirty-seven. Mani Shaman Al-Utaybi, from Saudi Arabia, was thirty. Yasser Talal Al-Zahrani, also from Saudi Arabia, was twenty-two, and had been imprisoned at Guantánamo since he was captured at the age of seventeen. None of the men had been charged with a crime, though all three had been engaged in hunger strikes to protest the conditions of their imprisonment. They were being held in a cell block, known as Alpha Block, reserved for particularly troublesome or high-value prisoners.
As news of the deaths emerged the following day, the camp quickly went into lockdown. The authorities ordered nearly all the reporters at Guantánamo to leave and those en route to turn back. The commander at Guantánamo, Rear Admiral Harry Harris, then declared the deaths “suicides.” In an unusual move, he also used the announcement to attack the dead men. “I believe this was not an act of desperation,” he said, “but an act of asymmetrical warfare waged against us.” Reporters accepted the official account, and even lawyers for the prisoners appeared to believe that they had killed themselves. Only the prisoners’ families in Saudi Arabia and Yemen rejected the notion.
Two years later, the U.S. Naval Criminal Investigative Service, which has primary investigative jurisdiction within the naval base, issued a report supporting the account originally advanced by Harris, now a vice-admiral in command of the Sixth Fleet. The Pentagon declined to make the NCIS report public, and only when pressed with Freedom of Information Act demands did it disclose parts of the report, some 1,700 pages of documents so heavily redacted as to be nearly incomprehensible. The NCIS report was carefully cross-referenced and deciphered by students and faculty at the law school of Seton Hall University in New Jersey, and their findings, released in November 2009, made clear why the Pentagon had been unwilling to make its conclusions public. The official story of the prisoners’ deaths was full of unacknowledged contradictions, and the centerpiece of the report—a reconstruction of the events—was simply unbelievable
Racketeering 102: Fed's Lacker Threatens With Mutually Assured Destruction If Fed Audited
http://www.zerohedge.com/article/racketeerin-102-feds-lacker-threatens-mutually-assured-destruction-if-fed-audited
It was a four short months ago that the Clearing House Association, in a court filing, threatened with untold destruction if the Fed was ordered to submit to an audit that would expose all their dirty laundry in the form of undervalued assets used as collateral by the Federal Reserve. We recall the direct threat used back then:
If the names of our member banks who borrow emergency funds are publicly disclosed, the likelihood that a borrowing bank's customers, counterparties and other market participants will draw a negative inference is great. Public speculation that a financial institution is experiencing liquidity shortfalls - which would be a natural inference from having tapped emergency funds - has caused bank customers to withdraw deposits, counterparties to make collateral calls and lenders to accelerate loan repayment or refuse to make new loans. When an institution's customers flee and its credit dries up the institution may suffer severe capital and liquidity strains leaving it in a weakened competitive position.
It is fitting that as attempts to expose the Fed's shady practices accelerate on all fronts, and include direct legal approaches as well as subpoena demands by various politicians, that a Fed President would once again come out today, and recap the good old Mutual Assured Destruction treatise that both Wall and Main Street have gotten used to since the beginning of the bailouts. Somehow financial M.A.D. makes an appearance every time the bankers demand something and have no other rational justifications. So why not just feed the stupid plebs something about the Apocalypse that is certain to transpire should the financial oligarchs not get their way. Today was no exception.
Enter Richmond Fed president Jeffrey Lacker. His words, from prepared tesimony to the Richmond Risk Management Association:
It was a four short months ago that the Clearing House Association, in a court filing, threatened with untold destruction if the Fed was ordered to submit to an audit that would expose all their dirty laundry in the form of undervalued assets used as collateral by the Federal Reserve. We recall the direct threat used back then:
If the names of our member banks who borrow emergency funds are publicly disclosed, the likelihood that a borrowing bank's customers, counterparties and other market participants will draw a negative inference is great. Public speculation that a financial institution is experiencing liquidity shortfalls - which would be a natural inference from having tapped emergency funds - has caused bank customers to withdraw deposits, counterparties to make collateral calls and lenders to accelerate loan repayment or refuse to make new loans. When an institution's customers flee and its credit dries up the institution may suffer severe capital and liquidity strains leaving it in a weakened competitive position.
It is fitting that as attempts to expose the Fed's shady practices accelerate on all fronts, and include direct legal approaches as well as subpoena demands by various politicians, that a Fed President would once again come out today, and recap the good old Mutual Assured Destruction treatise that both Wall and Main Street have gotten used to since the beginning of the bailouts. Somehow financial M.A.D. makes an appearance every time the bankers demand something and have no other rational justifications. So why not just feed the stupid plebs something about the Apocalypse that is certain to transpire should the financial oligarchs not get their way. Today was no exception.
Enter Richmond Fed president Jeffrey Lacker. His words, from prepared tesimony to the Richmond Risk Management Association:
Obama confidant's spine-chilling proposal
http://www.salon.com/news/opinion/glenn_greenwald/2010/01/15/sunstein/print.html
Cass Sunstein wants the government to "cognitively infiltrate" anti-government groups
Cass Sunstein has long been one of Barack Obama's closest confidants. Often mentioned as a likely Obama nominee to the Supreme Court, Sunstein is currently Obama's head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs where, among other things, he is responsible for "overseeing policies relating to privacy, information quality, and statistical programs." In 2008, while at Harvard Law School, Sunstein co-wrote a truly pernicious paper proposing that the U.S. Government employ teams of covert agents and pseudo-"independent" advocates to "cognitively infiltrate" online groups and websites -- as well as other activist groups -- which advocate views that Sunstein deems "false conspiracy theories" about the Government. This would be designed to increase citizens' faith in government officials and undermine the credibility of conspiracists. The paper's abstract can be read, and the full paper downloaded, here.
Sunstein advocates that the Government's stealth infiltration should be accomplished by sending covert agents into "chat rooms, online social networks, or even real-space groups." He also proposes that the Government make secret payments to so-called "independent" credible voices to bolster the Government's messaging (on the ground that those who don't believe government sources will be more inclined to listen to those who appear independent while secretly acting on behalf of the Government). This program would target those advocating false "conspiracy theories," which they define to mean: "an attempt to explain an event or practice by reference to the machinations of powerful people, who have also managed to conceal their role." Sunstein's 2008 paper was flagged by this blogger, and then amplified in an excellent report by Raw Story's Daniel Tencer.
There's no evidence that the Obama administration has actually implemented a program exactly of the type advocated by Sunstein, though in light of this paper and the fact that Sunstein's position would include exactly such policies, that question certainly ought to be asked. Regardless, Sunstein's closeness to the President, as well as the highly influential position he occupies, merits an examination of the mentality behind what he wrote. This isn't an instance where some government official wrote a bizarre paper in college 30 years ago about matters unrelated to his official powers; this was written 18 months ago, at a time when the ascendancy of Sunstein's close friend to the Presidency looked likely, in exactly the area he now oversees. Additionally, the government-controlled messaging that Sunstein desires has been a prominent feature of U.S. Government actions over the last decade, including in some recently revealed practices of the current administration, and the mindset in which it is grounded explains a great deal about our political class. All of that makes Sunstein's paper worth examining in greater detail.
* * * * *
Initially
Cass Sunstein wants the government to "cognitively infiltrate" anti-government groups
Cass Sunstein has long been one of Barack Obama's closest confidants. Often mentioned as a likely Obama nominee to the Supreme Court, Sunstein is currently Obama's head of the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs where, among other things, he is responsible for "overseeing policies relating to privacy, information quality, and statistical programs." In 2008, while at Harvard Law School, Sunstein co-wrote a truly pernicious paper proposing that the U.S. Government employ teams of covert agents and pseudo-"independent" advocates to "cognitively infiltrate" online groups and websites -- as well as other activist groups -- which advocate views that Sunstein deems "false conspiracy theories" about the Government. This would be designed to increase citizens' faith in government officials and undermine the credibility of conspiracists. The paper's abstract can be read, and the full paper downloaded, here.
Sunstein advocates that the Government's stealth infiltration should be accomplished by sending covert agents into "chat rooms, online social networks, or even real-space groups." He also proposes that the Government make secret payments to so-called "independent" credible voices to bolster the Government's messaging (on the ground that those who don't believe government sources will be more inclined to listen to those who appear independent while secretly acting on behalf of the Government). This program would target those advocating false "conspiracy theories," which they define to mean: "an attempt to explain an event or practice by reference to the machinations of powerful people, who have also managed to conceal their role." Sunstein's 2008 paper was flagged by this blogger, and then amplified in an excellent report by Raw Story's Daniel Tencer.
There's no evidence that the Obama administration has actually implemented a program exactly of the type advocated by Sunstein, though in light of this paper and the fact that Sunstein's position would include exactly such policies, that question certainly ought to be asked. Regardless, Sunstein's closeness to the President, as well as the highly influential position he occupies, merits an examination of the mentality behind what he wrote. This isn't an instance where some government official wrote a bizarre paper in college 30 years ago about matters unrelated to his official powers; this was written 18 months ago, at a time when the ascendancy of Sunstein's close friend to the Presidency looked likely, in exactly the area he now oversees. Additionally, the government-controlled messaging that Sunstein desires has been a prominent feature of U.S. Government actions over the last decade, including in some recently revealed practices of the current administration, and the mindset in which it is grounded explains a great deal about our political class. All of that makes Sunstein's paper worth examining in greater detail.
* * * * *
Initially
White House, CEOs Talk Management
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB1000...article_MoreIn
President Barack Obama has tongue-lashed business leaders one day and courted them the next. Now, he's looking for their advice.
Mr. Obama last Thursday took time out from the Haiti crisis and health-care negotiations to welcome 50 chief executive officers from an array of companies including soft-drink giant PepsiCo Inc., apparel maker Liz Claiborne Inc. and farm-machinery maker John Deere & Co. to discuss how to make the government run more efficiently. It is the first of what the White House hopes will be a series of such brainstorming sessions.
Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer, one of about 50 CEOs who attended a forum at the White House on Thursday.
."There may be a little bit of a cultural clash here," Mr. Obama said. The resulting discussions, captured on video, bore out the president's prediction.
Administration officials asked: How could the government get employees to go along with its information-technology overhaul? Indra Nooyi, CEO of PepsiCo, said her company did it by offering "performance bonuses on top of regular bonuses."
That produced pained looks from some of the government officials in the room. Just that morning, Mr. Obama had slammed Wall Street bankers for "obscene bonuses at some of the very firms who owe their continued existence to the American people."
President Barack Obama has tongue-lashed business leaders one day and courted them the next. Now, he's looking for their advice.
Mr. Obama last Thursday took time out from the Haiti crisis and health-care negotiations to welcome 50 chief executive officers from an array of companies including soft-drink giant PepsiCo Inc., apparel maker Liz Claiborne Inc. and farm-machinery maker John Deere & Co. to discuss how to make the government run more efficiently. It is the first of what the White House hopes will be a series of such brainstorming sessions.
Microsoft Chief Executive Steve Ballmer, one of about 50 CEOs who attended a forum at the White House on Thursday.
."There may be a little bit of a cultural clash here," Mr. Obama said. The resulting discussions, captured on video, bore out the president's prediction.
Administration officials asked: How could the government get employees to go along with its information-technology overhaul? Indra Nooyi, CEO of PepsiCo, said her company did it by offering "performance bonuses on top of regular bonuses."
That produced pained looks from some of the government officials in the room. Just that morning, Mr. Obama had slammed Wall Street bankers for "obscene bonuses at some of the very firms who owe their continued existence to the American people."
Haiti earthquake: US troops take control of presidential palace
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/centralamericaandthecaribbean/haiti/7027893/Haiti-earthquake-US-troops-take-control-of-presidential-palace.html
First things first here in Haiti,
Domination first, aid as an afterthought.
It's the only way America knows how to do things anymore
Paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne division arrived in at least four choppers to secure the executive mansion, a once elegant white building in the devastated city centre, now surrounded by a vast refugee camp.
From the palace, a 60-strong squad of soldiers headed on foot to the city's general hospital, swamped with injured left behind by last week's catastrophic earthquake, which the Haitian government says killed at least 70,000.
US accused of 'occupying' Haiti as troops flood in The arrival was the most spectacular deployment so far in the US military's operation to bring relief to Port-au-Prince, but was not welcomed by some in the crowd who saw the arrival as an affront to Haitian sovereignty.
"I haven't seen the Americans in the streets giving out water and food, but now they come to the palace," said Wilson Guillaume, as some of the homeless living rough in the Champ de Mars square before the palace shouted abuse.
"It's an occupation. The palace is our power, our face, our pride," said Feodor Desanges.
While army paratroopers took charge of key downtown sites, Marines were landing southwest of the city to link up with UN peacekeepers and prepare to land a larger flow of troops and equipment, a US military official said.
First things first here in Haiti,
Domination first, aid as an afterthought.
It's the only way America knows how to do things anymore
Paratroopers from the 82nd Airborne division arrived in at least four choppers to secure the executive mansion, a once elegant white building in the devastated city centre, now surrounded by a vast refugee camp.
From the palace, a 60-strong squad of soldiers headed on foot to the city's general hospital, swamped with injured left behind by last week's catastrophic earthquake, which the Haitian government says killed at least 70,000.
US accused of 'occupying' Haiti as troops flood in The arrival was the most spectacular deployment so far in the US military's operation to bring relief to Port-au-Prince, but was not welcomed by some in the crowd who saw the arrival as an affront to Haitian sovereignty.
"I haven't seen the Americans in the streets giving out water and food, but now they come to the palace," said Wilson Guillaume, as some of the homeless living rough in the Champ de Mars square before the palace shouted abuse.
"It's an occupation. The palace is our power, our face, our pride," said Feodor Desanges.
While army paratroopers took charge of key downtown sites, Marines were landing southwest of the city to link up with UN peacekeepers and prepare to land a larger flow of troops and equipment, a US military official said.
A by-the-numbers look at Obama's first year
http://www.breitbart.com/article.php...show_article=1
Highlights of Obama's first year, by the numbers:
Sources:
AP reporting and analysis
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Treasury Department
Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
RealtyTrac Inc.
Defense Department
White House Transition Project
Highlights of Obama's first year, by the numbers:
Sources:
AP reporting and analysis
Bureau of Labor Statistics
Treasury Department
Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.
RealtyTrac Inc.
Defense Department
White House Transition Project
U.S. Military Weapons Inscribed With Secret 'Jesus' Bible Codes
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/us-military-weapons-inscribed-secret-jesus-bible-codes/story?id=9575794
The hypocrisy never ends. This absolutely just makes me sick.
Coded references to New Testament Bible passages about Jesus Christ are inscribed on high-powered rifle sights provided to the United States military by a Michigan company, an ABC News investigation has found.
The sights are used by U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and in the training of Iraqi and Afghan soldiers. The maker of the sights, Trijicon, has a $660 million multi-year contract to provide up to 800,000 sights to the Marine Corps, and additional contracts to provide sights to the U.S. Army.
U.S. military rules specifically prohibit the proselytizing of any religion in Iraq or Afghanistan and were drawn up in order to prevent criticism that the U.S. was embarked on a religious "Crusade" in its war against al Qaeda and Iraqi
The hypocrisy never ends. This absolutely just makes me sick.
Coded references to New Testament Bible passages about Jesus Christ are inscribed on high-powered rifle sights provided to the United States military by a Michigan company, an ABC News investigation has found.
The sights are used by U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan and in the training of Iraqi and Afghan soldiers. The maker of the sights, Trijicon, has a $660 million multi-year contract to provide up to 800,000 sights to the Marine Corps, and additional contracts to provide sights to the U.S. Army.
U.S. military rules specifically prohibit the proselytizing of any religion in Iraq or Afghanistan and were drawn up in order to prevent criticism that the U.S. was embarked on a religious "Crusade" in its war against al Qaeda and Iraqi
Henry David Thoreau on the duty of civil disobedience
http://www.lewrockwell.com/orig5/thoreau1.1.1.html
What once was required high school reading, now has been deemed to bear no merit enough to teach.
The question is WHY?
I heartily accept the motto, "That government is best which governs least"; and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe – "That government is best which governs not at all"; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have. Government is at best but an expedient; but most governments are usually, and all governments are sometimes, inexpedient. The objections which have been brought against a standing army, and they are many and weighty, and deserve to prevail, may also at last be brought against a standing government. The standing army is only an arm of the standing government. The government itself, which is only the mode which the people have chosen to execute their will, is equally liable to be abused and perverted before the people can act through it. Witness the present Mexican war, the work of comparatively a few individuals using the standing government as their tool; for in the outset, the people would not have consented to this measure.
This American government – what is it but a tradition, though a recent one, endeavoring to transmit itself unimpaired to posterity, but each instant losing some of its integrity? It has not the vitality and force of a single living man; for a single man can bend it to his will. It is a sort of wooden gun to the people themselves
What once was required high school reading, now has been deemed to bear no merit enough to teach.
The question is WHY?
I heartily accept the motto, "That government is best which governs least"; and I should like to see it acted up to more rapidly and systematically. Carried out, it finally amounts to this, which also I believe – "That government is best which governs not at all"; and when men are prepared for it, that will be the kind of government which they will have. Government is at best but an expedient; but most governments are usually, and all governments are sometimes, inexpedient. The objections which have been brought against a standing army, and they are many and weighty, and deserve to prevail, may also at last be brought against a standing government. The standing army is only an arm of the standing government. The government itself, which is only the mode which the people have chosen to execute their will, is equally liable to be abused and perverted before the people can act through it. Witness the present Mexican war, the work of comparatively a few individuals using the standing government as their tool; for in the outset, the people would not have consented to this measure.
This American government – what is it but a tradition, though a recent one, endeavoring to transmit itself unimpaired to posterity, but each instant losing some of its integrity? It has not the vitality and force of a single living man; for a single man can bend it to his will. It is a sort of wooden gun to the people themselves
INSIDE WASHINGTON: Secret bill-writing on the rise
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/INSIDE....html?x=0&.v=2
The civics books say the House and Senate produce a final bill by sitting around a table where the public can watch them work out their differences.
It's a quaint idea, but a different modern reality has been on display this month. Democrats are refusing to open to the public the end-stage negotiations on how the government is going to change the delivery of health care.
And it's not just on the high-profile health care bill; the trend on much legislation is to shut the door and keep the minority party, cable TV and other media on the outside.
Dating back to 1789, the House and Senate have dealt with differences in bills by convening conference committees to thrash out a unified approach that the chambers can pass and send to the president. For the past two decades at least some of these bicameral, bipartisan meetings have been open to C-SPAN cameras.
But in those same two decades, leaders from both parties have held fewer and fewer conference meetings, or reduced their significance to photo ops.
In the 93rd Congress of 1973-75, Congress filed 190 conference reports, the end product of formal House-Senate negotiations. In the session of 2005-07, the last time Republicans controlled both chambers, that number had fallen to 28. Last year, the first year of the current Congressional session, there were only 11 conference reports.
Of those 11, eight were annual appropriations bills or the budget bill, measures that lend themselves to the conference committee process because House-Senate differences on spending levels can be resolved by splitting the difference.
Conferees did meet briefly last February on the $787 billion economic stimulus package, but only after the White House and Democratic leaders had reached agreement on the key issues. A few speeches were made, and the meeting was abruptly adjourned, never to be reconvened after Republicans asked when the negotiating with them might begin.
Other major bills sent to the president last year -- a credit cardholder bill of rights, a women's fair pay bill, a smoking regulation bill and a war spending bill -- were completed without open conference meetings.
Instead, leaders of the two chambers either worked out a deal where one chamber would accept the other's version, or took a "pingpong" approach where each chamber modifies its bill and sends it back across the Capitol for another vote until the two sides agree.
Senate Historian Donald Ritchie said the demise of the conference meeting has coincided with the rise of partisanship, and the health care bill is a perfect example; there's no motivation
The civics books say the House and Senate produce a final bill by sitting around a table where the public can watch them work out their differences.
It's a quaint idea, but a different modern reality has been on display this month. Democrats are refusing to open to the public the end-stage negotiations on how the government is going to change the delivery of health care.
And it's not just on the high-profile health care bill; the trend on much legislation is to shut the door and keep the minority party, cable TV and other media on the outside.
Dating back to 1789, the House and Senate have dealt with differences in bills by convening conference committees to thrash out a unified approach that the chambers can pass and send to the president. For the past two decades at least some of these bicameral, bipartisan meetings have been open to C-SPAN cameras.
But in those same two decades, leaders from both parties have held fewer and fewer conference meetings, or reduced their significance to photo ops.
In the 93rd Congress of 1973-75, Congress filed 190 conference reports, the end product of formal House-Senate negotiations. In the session of 2005-07, the last time Republicans controlled both chambers, that number had fallen to 28. Last year, the first year of the current Congressional session, there were only 11 conference reports.
Of those 11, eight were annual appropriations bills or the budget bill, measures that lend themselves to the conference committee process because House-Senate differences on spending levels can be resolved by splitting the difference.
Conferees did meet briefly last February on the $787 billion economic stimulus package, but only after the White House and Democratic leaders had reached agreement on the key issues. A few speeches were made, and the meeting was abruptly adjourned, never to be reconvened after Republicans asked when the negotiating with them might begin.
Other major bills sent to the president last year -- a credit cardholder bill of rights, a women's fair pay bill, a smoking regulation bill and a war spending bill -- were completed without open conference meetings.
Instead, leaders of the two chambers either worked out a deal where one chamber would accept the other's version, or took a "pingpong" approach where each chamber modifies its bill and sends it back across the Capitol for another vote until the two sides agree.
Senate Historian Donald Ritchie said the demise of the conference meeting has coincided with the rise of partisanship, and the health care bill is a perfect example; there's no motivation
Monday, January 18, 2010
Catch the beat
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w8KQmps-Sog
Muse - Uprising
Muse - Uprising [OFFICIAL VIDEO]
From the album 'The Resistance'
Muse - Uprising
Muse - Uprising [OFFICIAL VIDEO]
From the album 'The Resistance'
Sunday, January 17, 2010
AIG more NY FED concealment
http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/1868-AIG-More-NY-Fed-Concealment.html
Karl's definitely got a case going on.
I can clearly see where the NY FED has a very serious case of conflicting interests going on, very much like the Federal Reserve itself.
It's becoming very obvious and seriously can't be denied as to whose interest come first.
The question is, how much longer will "The People" settle for this back stabbing garbage?
The New York Fed has said its focus in AIG disclosures has been "ensuring accuracy and protecting taxpayers interests during a time of severe economic distress."
Accuracy only occurs with scrutiny and disclosure. With the public generally and market participants specifically, being able to view the transactions that took place, including their terms.
Without that there is no "accuracy" - only corruption, secrecy and deceit. With secrecy comes mischief and and cover to permit lies.
The NY Fed argues it has the right to do this, as does the FOMC.
I disagree.
The NY Fed may be a bank with commercial interests but when it acts at the direction of, directly or indirectly, the FOMC and The Fed generally it acts as a fiduciary of the Taxpayer and Congress.
Karl's definitely got a case going on.
I can clearly see where the NY FED has a very serious case of conflicting interests going on, very much like the Federal Reserve itself.
It's becoming very obvious and seriously can't be denied as to whose interest come first.
The question is, how much longer will "The People" settle for this back stabbing garbage?
The New York Fed has said its focus in AIG disclosures has been "ensuring accuracy and protecting taxpayers interests during a time of severe economic distress."
Accuracy only occurs with scrutiny and disclosure. With the public generally and market participants specifically, being able to view the transactions that took place, including their terms.
Without that there is no "accuracy" - only corruption, secrecy and deceit. With secrecy comes mischief and and cover to permit lies.
The NY Fed argues it has the right to do this, as does the FOMC.
I disagree.
The NY Fed may be a bank with commercial interests but when it acts at the direction of, directly or indirectly, the FOMC and The Fed generally it acts as a fiduciary of the Taxpayer and Congress.
Wall St. Weighs a Challenge to a Proposed Tax
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/18/business/18bank.html?hp
I can't wait to see the outcome on this one.
Wall Street’s main lobbying arm has hired a top Supreme Court litigator to study a possible legal battle against a bank tax proposed by the Obama administration, on the theory that it would be unconstitutional, according to three industry officials briefed on the matter.
Wall Street PayIn an e-mail message sent last week to the heads of Wall Street legal departments, executives of the lobbying group, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, wrote that a bank tax might be unconstitutional because it would unfairly single out and penalize big banks, according to these officials, who did not want to be identified to preserve relationships with the group’s members.
The message said the association had hired Carter G. Phillips of Sidley Austin, who has argued dozens of cases before the Supreme Court, to study whether a tax on one industry could be considered arbitrary and punitive, providing the basis for a constitutional challenge, they said.
I can't wait to see the outcome on this one.
Wall Street’s main lobbying arm has hired a top Supreme Court litigator to study a possible legal battle against a bank tax proposed by the Obama administration, on the theory that it would be unconstitutional, according to three industry officials briefed on the matter.
Wall Street PayIn an e-mail message sent last week to the heads of Wall Street legal departments, executives of the lobbying group, the Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, wrote that a bank tax might be unconstitutional because it would unfairly single out and penalize big banks, according to these officials, who did not want to be identified to preserve relationships with the group’s members.
The message said the association had hired Carter G. Phillips of Sidley Austin, who has argued dozens of cases before the Supreme Court, to study whether a tax on one industry could be considered arbitrary and punitive, providing the basis for a constitutional challenge, they said.
Saturday, January 16, 2010
Obama Regulation Czar Advocated Removing People’s Organs Without Explicit Consent
http://www.cnsnews.com/news/article/53534
Cass Sunstein, President Barack Obama’s nominee to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), has advocated a policy under which the government would “presume” someone has consented to having his or her organs removed for transplantation into someone else when they die unless that person has explicitly indicated that his or her organs should not be taken.
Under such a policy, hospitals would harvest organs from people who never gave permission for this to be done.
Cass Sunstein, President Barack Obama’s nominee to head the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA), has advocated a policy under which the government would “presume” someone has consented to having his or her organs removed for transplantation into someone else when they die unless that person has explicitly indicated that his or her organs should not be taken.
Under such a policy, hospitals would harvest organs from people who never gave permission for this to be done.
Let's Hope These 4 Things Don't Happen
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Lets-Hope-These-4-Things-Dont-usnews-2604707770.html?x=0&.v=1
Don't hold your breath kids that these things are not going to happen, because there is no way that they can't not happen.
In the cast of corporate characters, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are A-list villains, thanks to the central role they played in the 2008 financial meltdown. The two mortgage-finance firms failed as spectacularly as AIG, the poster child for finance-gone-wrong, with the combined Fannie-Freddie rescue totaling about $111 billion so far--the biggest bailout of all. Both firms are effectively nationalized, and the government would probably wind them down except for one thing: They underwrite about three quarters of all the mortgages issued in the United States.
Don't hold your breath kids that these things are not going to happen, because there is no way that they can't not happen.
In the cast of corporate characters, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are A-list villains, thanks to the central role they played in the 2008 financial meltdown. The two mortgage-finance firms failed as spectacularly as AIG, the poster child for finance-gone-wrong, with the combined Fannie-Freddie rescue totaling about $111 billion so far--the biggest bailout of all. Both firms are effectively nationalized, and the government would probably wind them down except for one thing: They underwrite about three quarters of all the mortgages issued in the United States.
Banksters: U.S. economy hit by perfect storm
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n0XIF84AtYg
To big to succeed That just about says it all.
I love that their still trying to blame it on the weather of the perfect storm, when it's so obvious that they created the conditions for it.
This was no act of God or an error of man. It was the greed of gain, that brought our country to it's knees, created and manipulated by common thieves who thought they couldn't be caught.
If prison was good enough for Bernie Madoff, it's good enough for them.
Wall Street bankers testifying before Congress yesterday said the financial collapse was the perfect storm. Dylan Ratigan and Eliott Spitzer say it was MANMADE and they should pay us back for the destruction. Spitzer adds: Follow the money
To big to succeed That just about says it all.
I love that their still trying to blame it on the weather of the perfect storm, when it's so obvious that they created the conditions for it.
This was no act of God or an error of man. It was the greed of gain, that brought our country to it's knees, created and manipulated by common thieves who thought they couldn't be caught.
If prison was good enough for Bernie Madoff, it's good enough for them.
Wall Street bankers testifying before Congress yesterday said the financial collapse was the perfect storm. Dylan Ratigan and Eliott Spitzer say it was MANMADE and they should pay us back for the destruction. Spitzer adds: Follow the money
Friday, January 15, 2010
Justice Department eyes possible fraud on Wall Street
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/82408.html
Oh check it out, now their creating a Financial Fraud division, I guess the DoJ just didn't believe the FBI in 2004.
Talk about covering your ass as an after thought.
Turning its scrutiny to bigger fish in the subprime mortgage scandal, the Justice Department is investigating whether lenders or Wall Street firms defrauded investors in the sale of risky mortgage securities, its Criminal Division chief disclosed Thursday.
"We absolutely are looking at the conduct of the securitizers themselves, and what did they say to those who purchased the (securities)," Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer told a commission created by Congress to investigate causes of the nation's economic collapse.
"Candidly, (we) have been looking at that for awhile and are looking at that right now in a very key matter
Oh check it out, now their creating a Financial Fraud division, I guess the DoJ just didn't believe the FBI in 2004.
Talk about covering your ass as an after thought.
Turning its scrutiny to bigger fish in the subprime mortgage scandal, the Justice Department is investigating whether lenders or Wall Street firms defrauded investors in the sale of risky mortgage securities, its Criminal Division chief disclosed Thursday.
"We absolutely are looking at the conduct of the securitizers themselves, and what did they say to those who purchased the (securities)," Assistant Attorney General Lanny Breuer told a commission created by Congress to investigate causes of the nation's economic collapse.
"Candidly, (we) have been looking at that for awhile and are looking at that right now in a very key matter
U.S. spending in Afghanistan plagued by poor U.S. oversight
http://www.mcclatchydc.com/251/story/82448.html
How much has the government spent on our antiquated grid lately?
The U.S. has spent more than $732 million to improve Afghanistan's electrical grid since 2002, but delays and rising costs have plagued many of the projects in part because of poor oversight by the American government, a watchdog agency reports.
In 2006, the USAID awarded the two U.S. companies a five-year, $1.4 billion joint contract to build many of the roads and energy projects that now are under way in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan's electrical capacity has increased in the last eight years from 430 megawatts to more than 1,028 megawatts, a significant achievement in a country in which only about 6 percent of rural citizens have electricity, the auditors said.
However, it's unclear whether Afghanistan will be able to operate the system without foreign aid, they said.
One major hurdle is collecting enough money to keep the grid running, the report said. The reason: systemic corruption.
How much has the government spent on our antiquated grid lately?
The U.S. has spent more than $732 million to improve Afghanistan's electrical grid since 2002, but delays and rising costs have plagued many of the projects in part because of poor oversight by the American government, a watchdog agency reports.
In 2006, the USAID awarded the two U.S. companies a five-year, $1.4 billion joint contract to build many of the roads and energy projects that now are under way in Afghanistan.
Afghanistan's electrical capacity has increased in the last eight years from 430 megawatts to more than 1,028 megawatts, a significant achievement in a country in which only about 6 percent of rural citizens have electricity, the auditors said.
However, it's unclear whether Afghanistan will be able to operate the system without foreign aid, they said.
One major hurdle is collecting enough money to keep the grid running, the report said. The reason: systemic corruption.
We "The People" have had enough
http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/1861-WE-THE-PEOPLE-Have-Had-Enough.html
It's time to take a stand people over the serial rape and pillage of our country.
It's time to retake control back from those who have no business running it in the first place.
THE seminal question for this year - coming into the mid-term elections - is exactly that.
Have you had it?
Are you tired of being bent over the table with 29.9% credit card interest rates while these big banks borrow at zero from The Fed and use that money to speculate in the markets?
Are you tired of "too big to fail" - better stated as heads we (the banksters) win, tails you (the taxpayer) lose?
Are you enraged beyond words with the fact that this economic mess was not an accident - it was an intentional act of willful blindness and perhaps even fraud?
Do you feel helpless to do anything about the fact that Government has willfully and intentionally refused to both clean up the mess and prevent it from happening again due to the presence of huge lobbying interests in Washington DC - paid for by the very same banksters who nearly destroyed this nation?
Do you realize that we have fixed nothing - the bad loans are still there, they are still bad, that millions of Americans have lost their jobs, that the economy is not actually recovering (despite what they say) and that without resolving the actual problems odds are that within a few years, and perhaps within a few months, we will face another crash - this one likely bad enough to destroy our economy and perhaps our government?
Let's look at the facts.
It's time to take a stand people over the serial rape and pillage of our country.
It's time to retake control back from those who have no business running it in the first place.
THE seminal question for this year - coming into the mid-term elections - is exactly that.
Have you had it?
Are you tired of being bent over the table with 29.9% credit card interest rates while these big banks borrow at zero from The Fed and use that money to speculate in the markets?
Are you tired of "too big to fail" - better stated as heads we (the banksters) win, tails you (the taxpayer) lose?
Are you enraged beyond words with the fact that this economic mess was not an accident - it was an intentional act of willful blindness and perhaps even fraud?
Do you feel helpless to do anything about the fact that Government has willfully and intentionally refused to both clean up the mess and prevent it from happening again due to the presence of huge lobbying interests in Washington DC - paid for by the very same banksters who nearly destroyed this nation?
Do you realize that we have fixed nothing - the bad loans are still there, they are still bad, that millions of Americans have lost their jobs, that the economy is not actually recovering (despite what they say) and that without resolving the actual problems odds are that within a few years, and perhaps within a few months, we will face another crash - this one likely bad enough to destroy our economy and perhaps our government?
Let's look at the facts.
Fake gold bars! What's next?
http://www.viewzone.com/fakegold.html
What question is: What hasn't been raped or pillaged in this country?
It's one thing to counterfeit a twenty or hundred dollar bill. The amount of financial damage is usually limited to a specific region and only affects dozens of people and thousands of dollars. Secret Service agents quickly notify the banks on how to recognize these phony bills and retail outlets usually have procedures in place (such as special pens to test the paper) to stop their proliferation.
But what about gold? This is the most sacred of all commodities because it is thought to be the most trusted, reliable and valuable means of saving wealth.
A recent discovery -- in October of 2009 -- has been suppressed by the main stream media but has been circulating among the "big money" brokers and financial kingpins and is just now being revealed to the public. It involves the gold in Fort Knox -- the US Treasury gold -- that is the equity of our national wealth. In short, millions (with an "m") of gold bars are fake!
Who did this? Apparently our own government.
Background
What question is: What hasn't been raped or pillaged in this country?
It's one thing to counterfeit a twenty or hundred dollar bill. The amount of financial damage is usually limited to a specific region and only affects dozens of people and thousands of dollars. Secret Service agents quickly notify the banks on how to recognize these phony bills and retail outlets usually have procedures in place (such as special pens to test the paper) to stop their proliferation.
But what about gold? This is the most sacred of all commodities because it is thought to be the most trusted, reliable and valuable means of saving wealth.
A recent discovery -- in October of 2009 -- has been suppressed by the main stream media but has been circulating among the "big money" brokers and financial kingpins and is just now being revealed to the public. It involves the gold in Fort Knox -- the US Treasury gold -- that is the equity of our national wealth. In short, millions (with an "m") of gold bars are fake!
Who did this? Apparently our own government.
Background
White House budget director blames old computers for ineffective government
http://thehill.com/blogs/hillicon-valley/technology/75965-white-house-blames-inefficient-government-on-outdated-technologies
Oh look one more excuse by Andanother, for the piss poor job our government is doing.
And look who Obama is meeting with to fix it.
A big reason why the government is inefficient and ineffective is because Washington has outdated technology, with federal workers having better computers at home than in the office.
This startling admission came Thursday from Peter Orszag, who manages the federal bureaucracy for President Barack Obama.
The public is getting a bad return on its tax dollars because government workers are operating with outdated technologies, Orszag said in a statement that kicked off a summit between Obama and dozens of corporate CEOs.
Obama had proposed the meeting in April. CEOs from Craigslist, Facebook, Microsoft, Adobe Technology and Monster.com are among those taking part.
Oh look one more excuse by Andanother, for the piss poor job our government is doing.
And look who Obama is meeting with to fix it.
A big reason why the government is inefficient and ineffective is because Washington has outdated technology, with federal workers having better computers at home than in the office.
This startling admission came Thursday from Peter Orszag, who manages the federal bureaucracy for President Barack Obama.
The public is getting a bad return on its tax dollars because government workers are operating with outdated technologies, Orszag said in a statement that kicked off a summit between Obama and dozens of corporate CEOs.
Obama had proposed the meeting in April. CEOs from Craigslist, Facebook, Microsoft, Adobe Technology and Monster.com are among those taking part.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Testimony of Michael Mayo before the financial crisis commission
http://www.fcic.gov/hearings/pdfs/2010-0113-Mayo.pdf
Very worth the read kids.
What I can't understand is how the banks were allowed to not make their insurance deposits funds for 10 years and what did they do with that excess money they didn't have to spend?
Whose bright idea was that and who was dumb enough to allow it?.
I believe the banks owe the FDIC some money and ought to pay up since the FDIC is in dire need of such funds.
Damn if we aren't being governed in some very strange ways.
Very worth the read kids.
What I can't understand is how the banks were allowed to not make their insurance deposits funds for 10 years and what did they do with that excess money they didn't have to spend?
Whose bright idea was that and who was dumb enough to allow it?.
I believe the banks owe the FDIC some money and ought to pay up since the FDIC is in dire need of such funds.
Damn if we aren't being governed in some very strange ways.
A need to read
http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/1854-A-Paper-You-MUST-Read.html
The question is : Why are there political difficulties when it's so obvious that our country is in trouble.
Common sense says if our government really cared about this country, they'd audit the FED and our own Treasury and see where we really stand.
Folks, these solutions are not technically difficult. They are politically difficult but the question we need ask ourselves in this country is this:
Are we willing to undergo another crash similar to 2008/2009? WE WILL if we don't stop the insanity, and it will likely come sooner rather than later
The question is : Why are there political difficulties when it's so obvious that our country is in trouble.
Common sense says if our government really cared about this country, they'd audit the FED and our own Treasury and see where we really stand.
Folks, these solutions are not technically difficult. They are politically difficult but the question we need ask ourselves in this country is this:
Are we willing to undergo another crash similar to 2008/2009? WE WILL if we don't stop the insanity, and it will likely come sooner rather than later
Comon sense
This extended family is going through some very hard times. There are 5 sets of families and each has their own problems. They've lost alot. Three business between them, so the bills are piling up due to no funds to pay them.
The oldest family is in their 70's and 80's and are on a waiting list for an assisted living environment. Not for health reasons, but for the everyday things that are getting harder to do.
My family lives with my in-laws, fun, fun, but that's another story or stories should I say that would intrigue to no end saved for another day.
The house we live in is huge, no shit, there's seven bathrooms. Each bedroom has it's own bathroom, and one of them is set for the handicapped, and so is the rest of the house for wheel chair access.
Aunt Hazel was living with them when they built the house, so it was designed with intention of ease in taking care of her. Anyway, needless to say our family could accommodate our oldest family easily and ease their own burden while there doing it, but the idea has been shot down.
I just can't figure out why.
Common sense says it's the thing to do.
It's hard to watch suffering when you can see a solution and you know it makes sense all the way around.
The oldest family is in their 70's and 80's and are on a waiting list for an assisted living environment. Not for health reasons, but for the everyday things that are getting harder to do.
My family lives with my in-laws, fun, fun, but that's another story or stories should I say that would intrigue to no end saved for another day.
The house we live in is huge, no shit, there's seven bathrooms. Each bedroom has it's own bathroom, and one of them is set for the handicapped, and so is the rest of the house for wheel chair access.
Aunt Hazel was living with them when they built the house, so it was designed with intention of ease in taking care of her. Anyway, needless to say our family could accommodate our oldest family easily and ease their own burden while there doing it, but the idea has been shot down.
I just can't figure out why.
Common sense says it's the thing to do.
It's hard to watch suffering when you can see a solution and you know it makes sense all the way around.
Wednesday, January 13, 2010
The Three-Pronged Attack on the Fed
http://www.minyanville.com/articles/Mish+Shedlock-AIG-bailout-fed-bernanke-FCIC-goldman+sachs/index/a/26362
Mish fails to mention that it's a disposable diaper, they hold more you know, with less leakage, and at this point it actually looks more like the size of a depends, in more ways than one.
We have a right to know what's in that crap filled diaper and to change it.
The Fed is pulling out all stops to defend its secrets, including publishing self-serving mathematical gibberish. Please consider the St. Louis Fed article on the Social Cost of Transparency.
(Editor's Note: See also, Everything You Need to Know About the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission.)
Unless you're an academic wonk, you'll be stymied by pages that look like this:
Mish fails to mention that it's a disposable diaper, they hold more you know, with less leakage, and at this point it actually looks more like the size of a depends, in more ways than one.
We have a right to know what's in that crap filled diaper and to change it.
The Fed is pulling out all stops to defend its secrets, including publishing self-serving mathematical gibberish. Please consider the St. Louis Fed article on the Social Cost of Transparency.
(Editor's Note: See also, Everything You Need to Know About the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission.)
Unless you're an academic wonk, you'll be stymied by pages that look like this:
US insurers have limited exposure in Haiti
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/US-insurers-have-limited-apf-2080601566.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=8&asset=&ccode=
It's life or death time friends, and the choice is yours.
Your voice must be heard, "The People" of Haiti need your help,
And they need it now!
Obama wants over 700 billion for the wars next year
And, is going to ask again in Feb. for 30 billion more just to get by due to the surge of new troops he sent to Afghanistan.
We pay for enough death, it's time to give for life.
Haiti is one of the smallest insurance markets in the Americas, with a total non-life insurance premium income of just under $20 million, "which reflect the country's poverty," according to a report Wednesday from Newark, Calif.-based Risk Management Solutions Inc. By comparison, the total net premiums for property and casualty coverage in the U.S. in 2008 totaled nearly $441 billion
It's life or death time friends, and the choice is yours.
Your voice must be heard, "The People" of Haiti need your help,
And they need it now!
Obama wants over 700 billion for the wars next year
And, is going to ask again in Feb. for 30 billion more just to get by due to the surge of new troops he sent to Afghanistan.
We pay for enough death, it's time to give for life.
Haiti is one of the smallest insurance markets in the Americas, with a total non-life insurance premium income of just under $20 million, "which reflect the country's poverty," according to a report Wednesday from Newark, Calif.-based Risk Management Solutions Inc. By comparison, the total net premiums for property and casualty coverage in the U.S. in 2008 totaled nearly $441 billion
Bank execs defend pay, say sorry for behavior, bad choices
http://www.usatoday.com/money/companies/regulation/2010-01-13-wall-street-hearing_N.htm
Not exactly Mr. Dimon, I believe it was America that choked and is still chocking on it.
How is it that my undereducated self with only a high school diploma could figure out what you and your kind of overly educated minds could not?
America is no longer buying the bullshit that you and your kind a spewing.
Hey by the way we want to thank you and your kind for the loan modifications.
The 3000 was mighty magnanimus of you all, but then again it was probably your friends that were given to.
Dimon said a crucial blunder was "how we just missed that housing prices don't go up forever." Added Mack: "We did eat our cooking and we choked on it."
Not exactly Mr. Dimon, I believe it was America that choked and is still chocking on it.
How is it that my undereducated self with only a high school diploma could figure out what you and your kind of overly educated minds could not?
America is no longer buying the bullshit that you and your kind a spewing.
Hey by the way we want to thank you and your kind for the loan modifications.
The 3000 was mighty magnanimus of you all, but then again it was probably your friends that were given to.
Dimon said a crucial blunder was "how we just missed that housing prices don't go up forever." Added Mack: "We did eat our cooking and we choked on it."
December budget deficit sets record
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/December-budget-deficit-sets-apf-1794322399.html?x=0&sec=topStories&pos=4&asset=&ccode=
Hey look what spending your way out of it does, it attomatically adds more to the bar tab.
The Treasury Department said Wednesday that the deficit last month totaled $91.85 billion, the largest December deficit on record and a bigger imbalance than the $92 billion that economists had expected.
For the first three months of the current budget year, which began on Oct. 1, the deficit totals $388.51 billion, 16.8 percent higher than the $332.49 billion imbalance recorded during the same period a year ago.
Hey look what spending your way out of it does, it attomatically adds more to the bar tab.
The Treasury Department said Wednesday that the deficit last month totaled $91.85 billion, the largest December deficit on record and a bigger imbalance than the $92 billion that economists had expected.
For the first three months of the current budget year, which began on Oct. 1, the deficit totals $388.51 billion, 16.8 percent higher than the $332.49 billion imbalance recorded during the same period a year ago.
The coming collapse of middle America
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=akVL7QY0S8A&feature=PlayList&p=DA3FAD5AD5CC153E&index=0
Look who knows why we are constantly being forced into drinking that ever refilled glass of piss that the rich and overly educated think is fitting for us to get by on.
Distinguished law scholar Elizabeth Warren teaches contract law, bankruptcy, and commercial law at Harvard Law School. She is an outspoken critic of America's credit economy, which she has linked to the continuing rise in bankruptcy among the middle-class
Look who knows why we are constantly being forced into drinking that ever refilled glass of piss that the rich and overly educated think is fitting for us to get by on.
Distinguished law scholar Elizabeth Warren teaches contract law, bankruptcy, and commercial law at Harvard Law School. She is an outspoken critic of America's credit economy, which she has linked to the continuing rise in bankruptcy among the middle-class
An Insider's Look at the Financial Crisis
http://www.minyanville.com/articles/goldman-sachs-morgan-stanley-bank-of-america-jp-morgan-chase-gs-ms-boa-jpm/index/a/26353
America is tired of drinking the rich man's overly educated piss.
One more time consumers have been placed at the head of the blame line, rather than
see the physiological manipulation enacted against them for what it really was.
Who made the regulations with all their loopholes?
Who pays for the lobbyist for or against them.
How do these very same people obtain the power to hold the position as head of the Treasury, so that they can continue to instill the use of the same over flowing toilet of crap to the American public, that is in a constant state of dire need of clean up?
Drunks always miss the toilet and piss on the floor, what makes you think that's going to change anytime soon?
Reboot or re-inflate the same ole same ole?
The whole operating system is so corrupt, it's to the point that the entire system needs to be shut down.
America is tired of drinking the rich man's overly educated piss.
One more time consumers have been placed at the head of the blame line, rather than
see the physiological manipulation enacted against them for what it really was.
Who made the regulations with all their loopholes?
Who pays for the lobbyist for or against them.
How do these very same people obtain the power to hold the position as head of the Treasury, so that they can continue to instill the use of the same over flowing toilet of crap to the American public, that is in a constant state of dire need of clean up?
Drunks always miss the toilet and piss on the floor, what makes you think that's going to change anytime soon?
Reboot or re-inflate the same ole same ole?
The whole operating system is so corrupt, it's to the point that the entire system needs to be shut down.
Army to end robotic vehicle, aircraft efforts
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/75541-army-to-terminate-robotic-vehicle-aircraft-programs
The question is how much was forked out before the decision to terminate was made.
The Army has informed Congress that it is terminating a robotic vehicle and an unmanned aircraft program that were once part of the Army’s largest modernization effort.
The move, which comes as the Pentagon prepares its 2011 budget request, highlights the Army’s need to pour money into technologies that military planners see as much more necessary to support soldiers deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq.
The cancellation of the unmanned ground and air vehicle programs eviscerates what once was known as the Army’s Future Combat Systems. The once-ambitious $160 billion FCS was envisioned as a series of combat vehicles and unmanned systems linked through a software network, but has been whittled down to a few sensors and small unmanned systems.
The question is how much was forked out before the decision to terminate was made.
The Army has informed Congress that it is terminating a robotic vehicle and an unmanned aircraft program that were once part of the Army’s largest modernization effort.
The move, which comes as the Pentagon prepares its 2011 budget request, highlights the Army’s need to pour money into technologies that military planners see as much more necessary to support soldiers deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq.
The cancellation of the unmanned ground and air vehicle programs eviscerates what once was known as the Army’s Future Combat Systems. The once-ambitious $160 billion FCS was envisioned as a series of combat vehicles and unmanned systems linked through a software network, but has been whittled down to a few sensors and small unmanned systems.
Armed Forces to slash 33,000 troops to balance books
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/journalists/thomas-harding/6974706/Military-concerns-over-new-Iraq-inquiry.html
Do I actually detect a tad bit of common sense here?
To bad it's in the UK, America is in dire need of the same approach, rather than to
just continue to put it on the tab.
The Armed Forces will be forced to slash 33,000 troops in order to balance the books at the Ministry of Defence, an influential think tank report has disclosed.
Do I actually detect a tad bit of common sense here?
To bad it's in the UK, America is in dire need of the same approach, rather than to
just continue to put it on the tab.
The Armed Forces will be forced to slash 33,000 troops in order to balance the books at the Ministry of Defence, an influential think tank report has disclosed.
California grows a brain
http://market-ticker.denninger.net/archives/1846-California-Grows-A-Brain.html
Karl has such a way with words it deserves a share
Prohibition - the worst mistake our federal government ever made when it came to restraining freedom, in that all it did was provide the fuel for criminal gangs to buy weapons, bullets and harm lots of innocent bystanders - was ended by The Depression and a need for tax revenues.
Now California in the crunch of a massive budget deficit is considering the first act of sanity in a nearly-100-year old drug war that has similarly done nothing to promote general societal welfare, but has locked up hundreds of thousands of non-violent Americans who have engaged only in consensual adult transactions and acts, wasted hundreds of billions of dollars, fueled wars in foreign nations and provided the money that criminal gangs in the United States have used to buy weapons with which they have terrorized the population.
I am speaking of Assembly Bill 390 - The Marijuana Control, Regulation, and Education Act.
From the summary:
This bill would remove marijuana and its derivatives from existing statutes defining and regulating controlled substances. It would instead legalize the possession, sale, cultivation, and other conduct relating to marijuana and its derivatives by persons 21 years of age and older, except as specified. It would set up a wholesale and retail marijuana sales regulation program, including special fees to fund drug abuse prevention programs, as specified, to commence after regulations concerning the program have been issued, and federal law
permits possession and sale consistent with the program. It would ban local and state assistance in enforcing inconsistent federal and other laws relating to marijuana, and would provide specified infraction penalties for violations of these new marijuana laws and regulations, as specified.
It's about damn time.
Never mind that there's a lot of use for the hemp plant that has nothing to do with getting stoned
Karl has such a way with words it deserves a share
Prohibition - the worst mistake our federal government ever made when it came to restraining freedom, in that all it did was provide the fuel for criminal gangs to buy weapons, bullets and harm lots of innocent bystanders - was ended by The Depression and a need for tax revenues.
Now California in the crunch of a massive budget deficit is considering the first act of sanity in a nearly-100-year old drug war that has similarly done nothing to promote general societal welfare, but has locked up hundreds of thousands of non-violent Americans who have engaged only in consensual adult transactions and acts, wasted hundreds of billions of dollars, fueled wars in foreign nations and provided the money that criminal gangs in the United States have used to buy weapons with which they have terrorized the population.
I am speaking of Assembly Bill 390 - The Marijuana Control, Regulation, and Education Act.
From the summary:
This bill would remove marijuana and its derivatives from existing statutes defining and regulating controlled substances. It would instead legalize the possession, sale, cultivation, and other conduct relating to marijuana and its derivatives by persons 21 years of age and older, except as specified. It would set up a wholesale and retail marijuana sales regulation program, including special fees to fund drug abuse prevention programs, as specified, to commence after regulations concerning the program have been issued, and federal law
permits possession and sale consistent with the program. It would ban local and state assistance in enforcing inconsistent federal and other laws relating to marijuana, and would provide specified infraction penalties for violations of these new marijuana laws and regulations, as specified.
It's about damn time.
Never mind that there's a lot of use for the hemp plant that has nothing to do with getting stoned
Wall Street Executives Admit Missteps at Hearing
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704362004575000752756113586.html?mod=WSJ_hpp_LEFTWhatsNewsCollection
The 9/11 commission was a joke, a lie and a cover up all at the same time.
Real intervention needs to happen and the excuse of "We know what we did and we won't do it again" needs to be seen for what it really is.
Manipulated control. "To big to fail" needs to be brought to it's knees and divided up into the individual sum of it's parts.
This man already identifies himself and his industry alongside the importance of God.
Do you really think the enforcement of fair policing of his industry by his own brethren can even exist with that type of attitude?
I think not!
Let's not do things the way we always do and settle for "The excuse" or the apology.
It's time for real accountability and real punishment, not just the accepted payoff without the admission of the fraud or the theft, that these people and their corporate empires have laid before the feet of most of the civilized world.
It's time to call a spade a spade and this should and be seen for exactly what it was, the RAPE and Premeditated MURDER of the world's financial system carried out by those in to big to fail financial institutions that just didn't give a damned over what the consequences of their actions would bring.
Wall Street's biggest banks acted like used-car salesmen knowingly selling lemons to consumers, the head of a commission investigating the financial crisis said Wednesday, as top bank executives came under fire on Capitol Hill.
Former California State Treasurer Phil Angelides kicked off the first of two days of hearings with an aggressive exchange with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein, suggesting the investment bank was not taking responsibility for its actions in the lead up to the crisis.
The bipartisan, 10-member panel was created by Congress to investigate and report on the financial crisis, and Mr. Angelides said the scope of the panel's work should be "similarly thorough" to the 9/11 Commission, which conducted more than a thousand interviews and reviewed millions of pages of documents.
The 9/11 commission was a joke, a lie and a cover up all at the same time.
Real intervention needs to happen and the excuse of "We know what we did and we won't do it again" needs to be seen for what it really is.
Manipulated control. "To big to fail" needs to be brought to it's knees and divided up into the individual sum of it's parts.
This man already identifies himself and his industry alongside the importance of God.
Do you really think the enforcement of fair policing of his industry by his own brethren can even exist with that type of attitude?
I think not!
Let's not do things the way we always do and settle for "The excuse" or the apology.
It's time for real accountability and real punishment, not just the accepted payoff without the admission of the fraud or the theft, that these people and their corporate empires have laid before the feet of most of the civilized world.
It's time to call a spade a spade and this should and be seen for exactly what it was, the RAPE and Premeditated MURDER of the world's financial system carried out by those in to big to fail financial institutions that just didn't give a damned over what the consequences of their actions would bring.
Wall Street's biggest banks acted like used-car salesmen knowingly selling lemons to consumers, the head of a commission investigating the financial crisis said Wednesday, as top bank executives came under fire on Capitol Hill.
Former California State Treasurer Phil Angelides kicked off the first of two days of hearings with an aggressive exchange with Goldman Sachs Group Inc. Chairman and Chief Executive Lloyd Blankfein, suggesting the investment bank was not taking responsibility for its actions in the lead up to the crisis.
The bipartisan, 10-member panel was created by Congress to investigate and report on the financial crisis, and Mr. Angelides said the scope of the panel's work should be "similarly thorough" to the 9/11 Commission, which conducted more than a thousand interviews and reviewed millions of pages of documents.
More war money needed
http://news.mobile.msn.com/en-us/articles.aspx?afid=1&aid=34831989
It's never going to be enough, a trillion dollars already spent and they continue to demand MORE
The Obama administration plans to ask Congress for an additional $33 billion to fight unpopular wars in Afghanistan and Iraq on top of a record request for $708 billion for the Defense Department next year, The Associated Press has learned.
The administration also plans to tell Congress next month that its central military objectives for the next four years will include winning the current wars while preventing new ones, and its core missions will include both counterinsurgency and counterterror operations.
The administration's Quadrennial Defense Review, the main articulation of U.S. military doctrine, is due in Congress on Feb. 1. Top military commanders were briefed on the document at the Pentagon on Monday and Tuesday. They also received a preview of the administration's budget plans through 2015.
The four-year review outlines six crucial mission areas and spells out capabilities and goals the Pentagon wants to develop. The pilotless drones used for surveillance and attack missions in Afghanistan and Pakistan are a priority, with a goal of speeding up the purchase of new Reaper drones and expansion of Predator and Reaper drone flights through 2013.
The extra $33 billion in 2010 would go mostly toward expansion of the war in Afghanistan. Obama ordered an extra 30,000 troops for that war as part of an overhaul of the war strategy late last year.
It's never going to be enough, a trillion dollars already spent and they continue to demand MORE
The Obama administration plans to ask Congress for an additional $33 billion to fight unpopular wars in Afghanistan and Iraq on top of a record request for $708 billion for the Defense Department next year, The Associated Press has learned.
The administration also plans to tell Congress next month that its central military objectives for the next four years will include winning the current wars while preventing new ones, and its core missions will include both counterinsurgency and counterterror operations.
The administration's Quadrennial Defense Review, the main articulation of U.S. military doctrine, is due in Congress on Feb. 1. Top military commanders were briefed on the document at the Pentagon on Monday and Tuesday. They also received a preview of the administration's budget plans through 2015.
The four-year review outlines six crucial mission areas and spells out capabilities and goals the Pentagon wants to develop. The pilotless drones used for surveillance and attack missions in Afghanistan and Pakistan are a priority, with a goal of speeding up the purchase of new Reaper drones and expansion of Predator and Reaper drone flights through 2013.
The extra $33 billion in 2010 would go mostly toward expansion of the war in Afghanistan. Obama ordered an extra 30,000 troops for that war as part of an overhaul of the war strategy late last year.
Businesses Criticize Cast of Inquiry Panel
http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/108566/businesses-criticize-cast-of-inquiry-panel?sec=topStories&pos=3&asset=&ccode=
Here comes the same ole same ole, using the same stacked deck.
I think the change that we can believe in is that it's never going to happen.
A congressional commission examining the causes of the financial crisis was drawing fire even before its first public hearing got under way Wednesday, with business interests complaining that some panel members' ties to a major plaintiffs law firm could aid litigants seeking to sue financial firms.
The panel, the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, was created by Congress last year and also includes several members with ties to the banking industry. It will begin taking sworn testimony Wednesday from the chief executives of several big Wall Street banks, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and J. P. Morgan Chase & Co.
The panel also will hear from federal, state and local officials about their current efforts to uncover wrongdoing
Here comes the same ole same ole, using the same stacked deck.
I think the change that we can believe in is that it's never going to happen.
A congressional commission examining the causes of the financial crisis was drawing fire even before its first public hearing got under way Wednesday, with business interests complaining that some panel members' ties to a major plaintiffs law firm could aid litigants seeking to sue financial firms.
The panel, the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission, was created by Congress last year and also includes several members with ties to the banking industry. It will begin taking sworn testimony Wednesday from the chief executives of several big Wall Street banks, including Goldman Sachs Group Inc. and J. P. Morgan Chase & Co.
The panel also will hear from federal, state and local officials about their current efforts to uncover wrongdoing
Goldman E-Mail Message Lays Bare Trading Conflicts
http://finance.yahoo.com/banking-budgeting/article/108565/goldman-email-message-lays-bare-trading-conflicts?sec=topStories&pos=8&asset=&ccode=
Here comes another buy off, pay the penatly and resume the game.
If you or I did this it's jail time but since a corporation did it, it's only takes a small fine to make it go away.
For years, Wall Street whispered that Goldman Sachs profited handsomely by trading ahead of -- or even against -- its own clients.
On Tuesday, a Goldman executive made an unusual admission that, in some cases, the rumors were true.
Under federal rules, research analysts cannot mislead clients by promoting stocks that the analysts privately do not believe in or that the firm has a vested interest in. Research analysts are also prevented from providing information to their firms' own traders before disseminating their reports more broadly.
Here comes another buy off, pay the penatly and resume the game.
If you or I did this it's jail time but since a corporation did it, it's only takes a small fine to make it go away.
For years, Wall Street whispered that Goldman Sachs profited handsomely by trading ahead of -- or even against -- its own clients.
On Tuesday, a Goldman executive made an unusual admission that, in some cases, the rumors were true.
Under federal rules, research analysts cannot mislead clients by promoting stocks that the analysts privately do not believe in or that the firm has a vested interest in. Research analysts are also prevented from providing information to their firms' own traders before disseminating their reports more broadly.
Tuesday, January 12, 2010
Should corporations be allowed to buy the elections?
http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/la-oe-youn10-2010jan10%2C0%2C5465869.story?track=rss
Voters stand to lose out if the Supreme Court treats political spending by businesses and other big-money players as protected speech.
Corporations are pitching a bizarre product -- a radical vision of the 1st Amendment. It would give corporations rather than voters a central role in our electoral process by treating corporate political spending as protected speech. If this vision becomes reality, businesses and other big-money players will spend billions either hyping their preferred candidates or running attack ads against elected officials who don't support their preferred agenda. Voters will be forced into a couch-potato role, mere viewers of the electoral spectacle bought and paid for by wealthy companies.
Voters stand to lose out if the Supreme Court treats political spending by businesses and other big-money players as protected speech.
Corporations are pitching a bizarre product -- a radical vision of the 1st Amendment. It would give corporations rather than voters a central role in our electoral process by treating corporate political spending as protected speech. If this vision becomes reality, businesses and other big-money players will spend billions either hyping their preferred candidates or running attack ads against elected officials who don't support their preferred agenda. Voters will be forced into a couch-potato role, mere viewers of the electoral spectacle bought and paid for by wealthy companies.
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