THERE IS A
REASON WHY OBAMA BROUGHT IN BUSH’S ARCHITECT FOR BANKSTERS’ NO-STRING BAILOUTS,
THE DARLING OF WALL ST CRIMINALS, TIM GEITHER!
AND THE
BANKSTERS LOVE IT! THEIR PROFITS HAVE SOARED UNDER OBAMA!
April 27, 2009
Geithner, Member and Overseer of Finance Club
Last June, with a financial hurricane gathering force, Treasury Secretary Henry M. Paulson Jr. convened the
nation’s economic stewards for a brainstorming session. What emergency powers
might the government want at its disposal to confront the crisis? he asked.
Timothy F. Geithner, who as
president of the New York Federal Reserve Bank oversaw
many of the nation’s most powerful financial institutions, stunned the group
with the audacity of his answer. He
proposed asking Congress to give the president broad power to guarantee all the
debt in the banking system, according to two participants, including Michele
Davis, then an assistant Treasury secretary.
The proposal quickly died amid protests that it was politically
untenable because it could put taxpayers on the hook for trillions of dollars.
“People thought, ‘Wow, that’s kind of out there,’ ” said John
C. Dugan, the comptroller of the currency, who heard about the idea afterward.
Mr. Geithner says, “I don’t remember a serious discussion on that proposal
then.”
But in the 10
months since then, the government has in many ways embraced his blue-sky
prescription. Step by step, through an array of new programs, the Federal
Reserve and Treasury have assumed an unprecedented role in the banking system,
using unprecedented amounts of taxpayer money, to try to save the nation’s
financiers from their own mistakes.
And more often than not, Mr. Geithner has been a leading architect
of those bailouts, the activist at the head of the pack. He was the federal
regulator most willing to “push the envelope,” said H. Rodgin Cohen, a
prominent Wall Street lawyer who spoke frequently with Mr. Geithner.
Today, Mr. Geithner is Treasury secretary, and as he seeks to
rebuild the nation’s fractured financial system with more taxpayer assistance
and a regulatory overhaul, he finds himself a locus of discontent.
Even as banks complain that the government has attached too many
intrusive strings to its financial assistance, a range of critics — lawmakers,
economists and even former Federal Reserve colleagues — say that the bailout Mr. Geithner has played such a central role in
fashioning is overly generous to the financial industry at taxpayer expense.
An examination of
Mr. Geithner’s five years as president of the New York Fed, an era of unbridled
and ultimately disastrous risk-taking by the financial industry, shows that he
forged unusually close relationships with executives of Wall Street’s giant
financial institutions.
His actions, as a
regulator and later a bailout king, often aligned with the industry’s interests
and desires, according to interviews with financiers, regulators and analysts
and a review of Federal Reserve records.
In a pair of recent interviews and an exchange of e-mail messages,
Mr. Geithner defended his record, saying that from very early on, he was “a
consistently dark voice about the potential risks ahead, and a principal source
of initiatives designed to make the system stronger” before the markets started
to collapse.
Mr. Geithner said his actions in the bailout were motivated solely
by a desire to help businesses and consumers. But in a financial crisis, he added, “the
government has to take risk, and we are going to be doing things which
ultimately — in order to get the credit flowing again — are going to benefit
the institutions that are at the core of the problem.”
*
Praise for Obamanomics
“The
notion that ‘big business’ is on the side of the free market is one of
progressivism’s most valuable myths. It allows them to demonize corporations by
day and get in bed with them by night. Obamanomics is conservative
muckraking at its best. It reveals how President Obama is exploiting the big
business mythology to undermine the free market and stick it to entrepreneurs,
taxpayers, and consumers. It’s an indispensable field guide to the Obama
years.”
—Jonha Goldberg, LA Times columnist and best-selling author
—Jonha Goldberg, LA Times columnist and best-selling author
“‘Every time government gets
bigger, somebody’s getting rich.’ With this astute observation, Tim Carney
begins his task of laying bare the Obama administration’s corporatist governing
strategy, hidden behind the president’s populist veneer. This meticulously researched
book is a must-read for anyone who wants to understand how Washington really
works.”
—David Freddoso, best-selling author of The Case Against Barack Obama
—David Freddoso, best-selling author of The Case Against Barack Obama
“Every
libertarian and free-market conservative who still believes that large
corporations are trusted allies in the battle for economic liberty needs to
read this book, as does every well-meaning liberal who believes that expansions
of the welfare-regulatory state are done to benefit the common people.”
—Congressman Ron Paul
—Congressman Ron Paul
“It’s understandable for
critics to condemn President Obama for his ‘socialism.’ But as Tim Carney
shows, the real situation is at once more subtle and more sinister. Obamanomics favors big business while disproportionately
punishing everyone else. So-called progressives are too clueless to
notice, as usual, which is why we have Tim Carney and this book.”
—Thomas E. Woods, Jr., best-selling author of Meltdown and The Politically Incorrect Guide™ to American History
—Thomas E. Woods, Jr., best-selling author of Meltdown and The Politically Incorrect Guide™ to American History
*
·
Hardcover: 256 pages
·
Publisher: Regnery Press (November 30,
2009)
·
Language: English
·
ISBN-10: 1596986123
·
ISBN-13: 978-1596986121
Wsws.org
Obama prepares sweeping cuts in social programs
8 January 2009
Barack
Obama took the occasion of his first press appearance in Washington as
president-elect to declare his determination to impose policies of budgetary
austerity, including the elimination of entire federal programs and
cost-cutting in the entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare and
Medicaid that are of vital importance to tens of millions of elderly and poor
people.
Obama
announced his appointment of Nancy Killefer, a director at the management
consulting firm McKinsey & Co., to a new White House post of chief
performance officer. Killefer, a Treasury official in the Clinton
administration, will be in charge of setting performance standards for federal
agencies and enforcing them on agency officials. Those programs that fail to
meet these standards will be targeted for reorganization or elimination.
The
president-elect made the statement on the eve of a speech Thursday in which he
will make the case for a proposed stimulus package. It was a clear effort to
appease both congressional Republicans and the sizeable faction of fiscal conservatives
among the congressional Democrats, reassuring them that while unlimited funds
are to be provided to bail out big business, there will be a tight rein on
spending for programs that support the needs of working people.
Obama's remarks on Wednesday
shed light on the basic character of his stimulus plan, which is tailored to
the demands of the financial and corporate elite and will provide hundreds of
billions in additional public funds to prop up corporate profits, while doing
little to provide relief for tens of millions of working people facing the
deepest slump since the Great Depression.
Obama
noted the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimate released Wednesday that
the federal deficit for the current fiscal year will top $1.2 trillion, without
counting any additional spending for the economic stimulus plan that the Obama
administration and Congress will enact after his inauguration. "Trillion
dollar deficits will be a reality for years to come," he warned, declaring
that containing the deficit and putting the lid on federal spending must become
"fundamental principles of government."
When
a reporter from the Wall Street Journal asked about Medicare and Social
Security, noting that these were among the largest federal expenditures, Obama
replied, "We are beginning consultations with members of Congress around
how we expect to approach the deficit. We expect that discussion around
entitlements will be a part, a central part, of those plans." He added
that once the stimulus package was adopted, by mid-February, "we will have
more to say about how we're going to approach entitlement spending."
These
remarks and comments by Democratic congressional leaders are a warning of what
is to come: a frontal assault on the most important components of what remains
of a social safety net in the United States—the programs that provide at least
minimal retirement benefits and medical coverage for tens of millions of
elderly people, as well as medical coverage for millions of low-income
families.
While
both Social Security and Medicare are solvent, currently taking in more tax
revenues than they pay out, the Social Security Trust Fund, which represents
the accumulated contributions of three generations of working people, has been
effectively plundered to pay for the Bush administration's tax cuts for the
wealthy, two wars and the immense US military establishment.
Out
of $10.7 trillion in total federal debt, about 40 percent, or $4.3 trillion, is
borrowed from Social Security. The Trust Fund is the largest holder of federal
debt, followed by US private investors, who hold $3.4 trillion, and foreign
investors, many of them governments, who hold $3 trillion.
The
CBO figure of $1.2 trillion likely underestimates the current year's deficit by
a significant amount. It includes nothing for the stimulus package which has
yet to be spelled out in detail by the incoming administration, and assumes no
emergency spending to finance Obama's promised buildup of US military forces in
Afghanistan. Reuters reported Wednesday that Obama's secretary of defense,
Robert Gates, a holdover from the Bush administration, is requesting an
additional $70 billion for the ongoing wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, not
counting the additional cost of a doubling of US forces to some 60,000 in
Afghanistan.
The
CBO estimates that the US unemployment rate, at 6.7 percent in November, will
rise to 9 percent by the end of this year, although many economists project a
rate of 10 percent or more. Double-digit unemployment would drive up spending
on jobless benefits, food stamps and Medicaid, among other programs, swelling
the deficit even further.
The
CBO also placed the cost of the Treasury bailout of Wall Street at $180 billion
in 2009, although Congress is expected to authorize an additional $350 billion
on top of the $350 billion already expended since October. The bailout of
Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the two government-sponsored mortgage finance
companies brought down by the subprime mortgage crisis, will add another $240
billion to the deficit.
Senate
Budget Committee Chairman Kent Conrad, Democrat from North Dakota, echoed
Obama's warning of trillion-dollar deficits for several years, as well as his
pledge to tackle long-term problems in the financing of Social Security and
Medicare. He told the press, "It would send a very healthy message to the
markets and the American people if President-elect Obama were to simultaneously
announce an economic recovery package and the beginning of a bipartisan process
to deal with our long-term imbalances."
House
Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, who has close ties to the right-wing faction of
House Democrats, the so-called Blue Dogs, added his voice to the chorus calling
for long-term deficit-reduction measures, going so far as to suggest that the
Obama administration might have to follow the example of the Republican
administrations of the 1980s, when White House budget officials engaged in
across-the-board budget cuts by executive order, a process called
"sequestering."
Congressional
Democrats opposed sequestering 20 years ago, pointing out that there was no
constitutional authority for such executive action without congressional
authorization. It is a measure of how far to the right the Democratic Party has
moved that one of its top leaders now embraces such a policy.
Robert
Bixby, director of the Concord Coalition, a bipartisan group that advocates
fiscal austerity, provided an indication of what is being contemplated, saying,
"I would analogize it to what the government is doing with the auto
companies. Congress said, we'll give you the money but you have to show us a
plan for sustainability." In return for emergency loans to the US auto
companies, Congress demanded tens of thousands of layoffs, the closure of
dozens of plants and draconian cuts in auto workers' wages and benefits.
Four
years ago, George W. Bush began his second term as president by proposing a
sweeping privatization of Social Security, a measure which was never formally
introduced in Congress due to overwhelming popular opposition. The plan was
quietly shelved after the debacle of Hurricane Katrina demonstrated the Bush
administration's gross incompetence and utter indifference to the plight of
poor and working class Americans. It has thus been left to Obama, who
occasionally postures as the heir of Franklin Roosevelt, to take responsibility
for dismantling the last legacy of the New Deal.
Patrick
Martin
*
FROM DAY ONE, OBAMA HAS FILLED HIS ADMINISTRATION WITH BANKSTER
CONNECTED LOOTERS, AND LA RAZA SUPREMACIST!
OBAMA BANKS ON FILLING HIS POCKETS WITH BANKSTER MONEY, AND IS,
NO PRESIDENT IN HISTORY HAS TAKEN SO MUCH DIRTY MONEY FROM THE CRIMINAL
BANKSTERS THAT DESTROYED THIS NATION’S ECONOMY. ALL OBAMA NEEDS FOR A SECOND
TERM IS THE ILLEGALS’ VOTES AGAIN! HE’S SELLING US OUT FOR THAT DAILY!
PROFITS FOR OBAMA’S CRIMINAL BANKSTER DONORS AS SOARED, JUST AS
HAVE FORECLOSURES! PROFITS FOR BANKSTER FOR HIS BANKSTER ARE GREATER DURING
OBAMA’S FIRST TWO YEARS THAN ALL EIGHT UNDER BUSH!
NO WONDER THE BANKS LOVE THEIR BOY!
*
OBAMA’S
POLICY FOR HIS CRIMINAL BANKSTER DONORS:
“Hide Billions of
Losses, Take Bailouts, Collect Billions, Skip Jail.”
WHAT DID THE BANKSTERS KNOW ABOUT OUR ACTOR OBAMA THAT WE DIDN’T KNOW?
Records show that four out of Obama's
top five contributors are employees of financial industry giants - Goldman
Sachs ($571,330), UBS AG ($364,806), JPMorgan Chase ($362,207) and Citigroup
($358,054).
*
OBAMA AND HIS CRONY CAPITALISM
*
*
Corzine also exemplifies the
seamless ties between Wall Street and the Obama administration. A major
fundraiser for Obama’s reelection campaign, the now-disgraced banker-politician
hosted the president’s first fund-raising event at his Fifth Avenue apartment
overlooking Central Park. He was expected by many to be named treasury
secretary in a second Obama term.
Corzine is but one of many
figures in or around an administration loaded with Wall Street
multi-millionaires. Obama’s former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel
joined his administration after taking time out from Democratic Party politics
to earn millions as an investment banker in Chicago. He was replaced by
Clinton-era Commerce Secretary William Daley, who left his post as a top
executive at JPMorgan Chase to head up White House operations.
*
THE REASON OBAMA PUT WILLIAM DAILY
INTO THE WHITES HOUSE WAS BECAUSE OF DALEY’S JP MORGAN CONNECTIONS AND BECAUSE
HE’S AN ADVOCATE FOR OPEN BORDERS TO KEEP WAGES DEPRESSED FOR OBAMA’S
PAYMASTERS!
*
The MF Global collapse, the
Democratic Party and Wall Street
8 November 2011
The
collapse last week of US broker-dealer MF Global has put the spotlight on the
parasitic speculation and outright criminality that are at the heart of the US
financial system. It has also provided a text book example of the corrupt and
incestuous relationship between the American financial aristocracy and both the
political system in general and the Democratic Party in particular.
Facing
a run on its holdings, a collapse in its stock, and credit downgrades of its
debt to junk status, the Wall Street investment firm with $41 billion in assets
filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection on October 31.
A
last ditch bid to find a buyer for MF Global fell through when regulators
discovered that $633 million in clients’ money had gone missing. It is
suspected that the company, headed by former Goldman Sachs CEO and one-time
Democratic senator and governor of New Jersey Jon Corzine, moved money out of
client accounts in an attempt to meet margin calls from its creditors. It is a
crime for a firm to use clients’ money to trade on its own account, let alone
to pay off its debts.
Multiple
investigations have been launched by federal financial regulators, along with
criminal probes by the FBI and the US attorney for Manhattan. Last Friday,
after having hired a prominent criminal lawyer, Corzine resigned his post as
chairman and CEO of MF Global.
The
collapse of the firm, the eighth biggest bankruptcy in US history, was the
first major corporate failure resulting from the European debt crisis. It
demonstrates that nothing has been done since the Wall Street crash three years
ago to rein in the speculative activities of financial firms. The same
practices that led to the global recession continue unabated.
Several
months after taking control of the firm in March of 2010, Corzine began making
enormous bets with borrowed funds that the sovereign debt of countries such as
Spain and Italy would not collapse. He placed a single bet of $6.3 billion—six
times MF Global’s capital—on risky European state bonds, driving his firm’s
leverage (its assets to capital) to a ratio of 40 to 1.
When
MF Global reported a second quarter loss of nearly $190 million due to the
worsening of the European debt crisis, investor confidence in the company
collapsed.
The
disaster has also shown that along with the reckless speculative practices, the
obscene levels of executive compensation are intact. In his 18 months as head
of MF Global, Corzine pocketed $14.25 million in total compensation.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
The
64-year-old banker-politician personifies the intimate ties that bind the
Democratic Party to Wall Street. Leading Democratic officials, including
nominal “liberals” like Corzine, pass seamlessly between the corporate
boardroom and government office. They enrich themselves to the tune of millions
by engaging in financial manipulation and swindling and then oversee
legislation supposedly designed to regulate these very activities.
!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Corzine
was CEO of Goldman Sachs from 1994 to 1999, precisely the period when the
dismantling of corporate and banking regulations—which had begun under the
Democrat Carter and expanded under the Republicans Reagan and the elder
Bush—was completed under the Democrat Clinton. Corzine left his Wall Street
post with a reported fortune of $400 million. He proceeded to spend $62 million
of it to get himself elected US senator from New Jersey.
In
2005 Corzine spent another $38 million of his own money to win election as
governor of New Jersey. As governor, he imposed brutal cuts in health care,
pensions, higher education and aid to the cities, as well as slashing 5,000
state jobs. As a result, he lost his reelection bid in 2009 to right-wing
Republican Chris Christie, who has expanded the assault on New Jersey workers.
When
Corzine returned to Wall Street the following year he was given royal treatment
by government regulators. The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New
York, William Dudley, another Goldman Sachs veteran, gave MF Global entry into
the exclusive and lucrative club of “primary dealers”—financial firms chosen to
market US Treasury securities. This was despite MF Global’s relatively small
size and the fact that it had been fined $10 million one year before as a
result of a trading scandal.
When
MF Global’s primary regulator, the Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC),
moved to impose stricter limits on broker-dealers’ use of clients’ funds,
especially to invest in foreign sovereign debt, Corzine lobbied personally
against the regulation. Earlier this year, Gary Gensler, the head of the CFTC,
suspended implementation of the new rules.
Gensler
is another Goldman Sachs graduate, having worked with Corzine at the firm for
18 years, rising to become co-head of finance before leaving in 1997. Gensler
has been forced to recuse himself from the CFTC investigation into the MF
Global collapse.
Corzine also exemplifies the
seamless ties between Wall Street and the Obama administration. A major
fundraiser for Obama’s reelection campaign, the now-disgraced banker-politician
hosted the president’s first fund-raising event at his Fifth Avenue apartment
overlooking Central Park. He was expected by many to be named treasury
secretary in a second Obama term.
Corzine is but one of many
figures in or around an administration loaded with Wall Street
multi-millionaires. Obama’s former White House chief of staff Rahm Emanuel
joined his administration after taking time out from Democratic Party politics
to earn millions as an investment banker in Chicago. He was replaced by
Clinton-era Commerce Secretary William Daley, who left his post as a top
executive at JPMorgan Chase to head up White House operations.
Others
include Ron Bloom, a member of Obama’s auto task force and then chief adviser
on manufacturing, and Steven Rattner, the financier chosen to head the auto
task force. Rattner was later forced to step down after being indicted for
making payoffs to obtain contracts with New York State pension funds.
Corzine’s
troubles will complicate the cynical attempts by Obama and the Democrats to
appropriate the anti-Wall Street anger expressed in the Occupy movement and
channel it behind the Obama reelection campaign. What, in fact, the MF Global
saga and Corzine’s career demonstrate is that the fight against social
inequality, poverty and corporate domination of the government is a fight
against the Obama administration and both parties of the financial-corporate
elite.
It
requires the independent mobilization of the working class in a struggle to put
an end to capitalism and establish socialism.
Barry
Grey
*
“Obama's
rhetoric covered the whole financial industry, but the key changes will affect
only a few high-profile players, including JPMorgan Chase & Co., while
sparing investment banks like Goldman Sachs Group Inc.”
*
Lou Dobbs
Tonight
Thursday, July 9, 2009
And Harvard economics professor JEFFREY MIRON will weigh in on the state of the U.S. economy—and why the only plausible argument for bailing out banks crumbles on close examination.
Thursday, July 9, 2009
And Harvard economics professor JEFFREY MIRON will weigh in on the state of the U.S. economy—and why the only plausible argument for bailing out banks crumbles on close examination.
*
Lou Dobbs Tonight
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Joining Lou in the Independent Nation on Wednesday will be MARK KNOLLER of CBS News. Knoller has identified two areas in which President Barack Obama has already surpassed former President George W. Bush: rounds of golf played and number of fundraisers attended.
And WAYNE ALLYN ROOT, author of The Conscience of a Libertarian, says he sees parallels between President Obama and… Bernard Madoff. So does Root smell a big political Ponzi
scheme brewing? The former Libertarian vice presidential candidate will explain.
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Joining Lou in the Independent Nation on Wednesday will be MARK KNOLLER of CBS News. Knoller has identified two areas in which President Barack Obama has already surpassed former President George W. Bush: rounds of golf played and number of fundraisers attended.
And WAYNE ALLYN ROOT, author of The Conscience of a Libertarian, says he sees parallels between President Obama and… Bernard Madoff. So does Root smell a big political Ponzi
scheme brewing? The former Libertarian vice presidential candidate will explain.
*
Lou Dobbs Tonight
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
The Obama administration could be weakening a successful joint federal and local program aimed at keeping illegal immigrants off our streets. "287 G" gives local police the training and authority to enforce federal immigration law. Supporters of the program believe the administration wants to limit the program to criminal illegal immigrants already in custody -- limiting the investigative authority of police.
Tuesday, October 6, 2009
The Obama administration could be weakening a successful joint federal and local program aimed at keeping illegal immigrants off our streets. "287 G" gives local police the training and authority to enforce federal immigration law. Supporters of the program believe the administration wants to limit the program to criminal illegal immigrants already in custody -- limiting the investigative authority of police.
*
Lou Dobbs Tonight
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Also, is there something “fishy” at the White House over healthcare and President Obama’s senior adviser David Axlerod? Axlerod is connected to a Chicago-based PR firm that’s being paid millions of dollars to push the president’s healthcare message. It just so happens.. the same firm owes Axlerod millions of dollars as well.
Wednesday, August 19, 2009
Also, is there something “fishy” at the White House over healthcare and President Obama’s senior adviser David Axlerod? Axlerod is connected to a Chicago-based PR firm that’s being paid millions of dollars to push the president’s healthcare message. It just so happens.. the same firm owes Axlerod millions of dollars as well.
The White House is stepping up its efforts to silence opponents of President Obama’s health care plan and demonstrators who are exercising their constitutional rights to protest. White House press secretary Robert Gibbs saying it’s “manufactured anger”. We’ll have complete coverage of the Administration’s attempts to crack down on anyone who dares to challenge its policies.
*
Lou Dobbs
Tonight
And there are some
800,000 gang members in this country: That’s more than the combined number of
troops in our Army and Marine Corps. These gangs have become one of the
principle ways to import and distribute drugs in the United States. Congressman
David Reichert joins Lou to tell us why those gangs are growing larger and
stronger, and why he’s introduced legislation to eliminate the top three
international drug gangs.
*
Lou Dobbs Tonight
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Immigration experts
are appearing on Capitol Hill today to release the results of a study showing
the cost of illegal immigration on the criminal justices system in the 24 U.S.
counties bordering Mexico–more $1 billion in less than a decade.
*
Lou Dobbs Tonight
Monday, April 20, 2009
And compelling new evidence that H-1B visas for foreign workers lower the pay of information technology workers in this country. Critics say the report, by NYU’s Stern School of Business and Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, proves that corporate elites are importing cheap overseas labor simply to lower the wages of American workers. We’ll have a special report.
Monday, April 20, 2009
And compelling new evidence that H-1B visas for foreign workers lower the pay of information technology workers in this country. Critics say the report, by NYU’s Stern School of Business and Pennsylvania’s Wharton School, proves that corporate elites are importing cheap overseas labor simply to lower the wages of American workers. We’ll have a special report.
*
Lou Dobbs Tonight
Friday, October 17, 2008
Tonight, a Supreme Court ruling is putting our democracy at risk. The court today overturned a federal appeals court decision that would have forced Ohio to do more to verify questionable voter registrations. We’ll have the very latest in our special report.
Plus, in the War on the Middle Class tonight, a government program is found to be rampant with fraud and abuse, giving even more American jobs to foreign workers. A new Department of Homeland Security report shows cases of violations, forgery and shell businesses in the H-1B visa program. We’ll have that and much more.
Friday, October 17, 2008
Tonight, a Supreme Court ruling is putting our democracy at risk. The court today overturned a federal appeals court decision that would have forced Ohio to do more to verify questionable voter registrations. We’ll have the very latest in our special report.
Plus, in the War on the Middle Class tonight, a government program is found to be rampant with fraud and abuse, giving even more American jobs to foreign workers. A new Department of Homeland Security report shows cases of violations, forgery and shell businesses in the H-1B visa program. We’ll have that and much more.
*
Lou Dobbs Tonight
Thursday, July 9, 2009
And Harvard economics professor JEFFREY MIRON will weigh in
on the state of the U.S. economy—and why the only plausible argument for
bailing out banks crumbles on close examination.
*
"There
is a populist and conservative revolt against Wall Street and financial elites,
Congress and government," Democratic pollster Stanley Greenberg warned in
an analysis this week. "Democrats and President Obama are seen as more
interested in bailing out Wall Street than helping Main Street."
*
*
THE DEATH OF THE
AMERICAN DREAM – OBAMA TURNS THIS NATION INTO A “CHEAP” WAGE THIRD-WORLD
DUMPSTER HELPING HORDES OF ILLEGALS JUMP OUR BORDERS, AND SERVICES HIS CRIMINAL
BANKSTER DONORS FOR THEIR GREATEST PROFITS EVER!
*
August 21, 2010
Janet
Tavakoli.President, Tavakoli Structured Finance
August 15, 2010
How to Thwart the
Assassins of the American Dream
Arianna Huffington's new book, Third World America: How Our
Politicians are Abandoning the Middle Class and Betraying the American Dream,
paints a grim picture of the State of the Union:
"Every day, Americans, faced with layoffs and tough
economic times, are forced to use their credit cards to pay for essentials such
as food, housing, and medical care -- the costs of which continue to escalate.
But, as their debt rises, they find it harder to keep up with their payments. When they don't, banks, trying to offset
losses in other areas, turn around, hike interest rates, and impose all manner
of fees and penalties..."
Third World America, (P. 77)
Our mediocre grammar school and high school educational
system continues its downward slide. The Great Recession is squeezing school
budgets. We are failing our children, our most important resource of all.
In 2009, the American Society of Civil Engineers gave the
nation's infrastructure a near failing D rating:
"Flip on a light switch, and you are tapping into a
seriously overtaxed electrical grid. Go to the sink, and your tap water may be
coming to you through pipes built during the Civil War. Take a drive, and pass
over pothole-filled roads and cross-if-you-dare bridges. The evidence of decay
is all around us." (P. 95)
The over-hyped American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of
2009 earmarked only $72 billion of the $787 billion appropriation of taxpayer
dollars to projects to improve the country's infrastructure.
Meanwhile, multi-national corporations avoid taxes,
sheltering $700 billion in foreign earnings to end up with a measly $16 billion
(2.3%) tax bill. GM is among those companies, yet it took almost a half billion
dollars in bailout loans. Boeing and KBR Halliburton are among the defense
contractors that avoid taxes, while enjoying government contracts worth tens of
billions.
Banks (not Fannie and Freddie) Crippled the Housing Market
Fannie and Freddie do not make loans. They purchase mortgage
loans and earn fees for guaranteeing payments on the loans. According to the
Mortgage Bankers Association, in 2006, Fannie and Freddie accounted for 33% of
total mortgage backed securities issuance. In the first half of 2010, they
accounted for around 64% of new issuance. They were forced to pick up the slack
and buy more when Wall Street's private label securitization Ponzi scheme blew
up.
Fannie and Freddie are Wall Street's dumping ground. They
would have had problems on their own, but their problems would not have been
close to their current scale, and they did not create the housing bubble.
Congress twisted arms to make Fannie and Freddie buy more
than $300 billion of phony "AAA" rated mortgage-backed securities
from banks, not counting loans that didn't meet their stated requirements.
Today Fannie and Freddie want banks to repurchase tens of billions of these
loans, since they fail to meet representations and warranties, and the banks
are fighting this obligation.
Top subprime lenders included Wells Fargo; Countrywide, purchased by
Bank of America; Washington Mutual, now part of JPMorgan Chase; CitiMortgage,
part of Citigroup; First Franklin (now closed), purchased by Merrill Lynch,
which was purchased by Bank of America; ChaseHome Finance, JPMorgan Chase; Ownit,
partly owned by Merrill Lynch, which was later purchased by Bank of America;
and EMC, part of Bear Stearns, which was purchased by JPMorgan Chase. Most of
the rest depended on massive loans from Wall Street. Many of these lenders were
sued by states for fraud and paid billions in settlements.
According to Inside Mortgage Finance, the top mortgage
backed securities underwriters during 2005-2006, only two of the subprime abuse
years, included now defunct Lehman Brothers ($106 billion); RBS Greenwich
Capital ($99 billion); Countrywide Securities, which is now part of Bank of
America ($74 billion); Morgan Stanley ($74 billion);Credit Suisse First Boston
($73 billion); Merrill Lynch ($67 billion); Bear Stearns, which is now part of
JPMorgan Chase ($61 billion); and Goldman Sachs ($53 billion).
The above doesn't even include the credit derivatives,
collateralized debt obligations (CDOs), and structured investment vehicles
(SIVs) that amplified losses. Yet, Arianna notes how America imploded while
bankers soared:
"Someone like [Robert] Rubin is able to wreak
destruction, collect an ungodly profit, then go along his merry way,
pontificating about how 'markets have an inherent and inevitable tendency --
probably rooted in human nature -- to go to excess, both on the upside and the
downside.' This from the man who, as Bill Clinton's Treasury secretary, was
vociferous in opposing the regulation of derivatives -- a key factor in the
current economic crisis -- and who lobbied the Treasury during the Bush years
to prevent the downgrading of the credit rating of Enron -- a debtor of
Citigroup." (P. 150)
Robert Rubin operated an economic wrecking-ball from
prestigious positions of influence including former co-chairman of Goldman
Sachs, director of the National Economic Council, former Treasury Secretary
under President Bill Clinton, board member and senior "risk wizard"
counselor at Citigroup, member of the President's Advisory Committee for Trade
Negotiations, member of the SEC's Oversight and Financial Services Advisory
Committee, unofficial econmic adviser to President Obama, and co-chairman of
the Council on Foreign Relations.
Rubin is just one example of the many bankers, who helped
destroy the economy while creating a connected financial oligarchy.
Hide Billions of
Losses, Take Bailouts, Collect Billions, Skip Jail
Instead of apologizing for screwing up, the banks demanded
the Great Bailout. At the start of the meltdown, the IMF and the U.S.
administration estimated losses of $2 to $2.5 trillion. Unemployment and the
losses are now shockingly worse. What was merely a recession escalated into the
Great Recession.
How big are the
actual losses? No one knows.
How big are the
actual losses? No one knows.
How big are the
actual losses? No one knows.
How big are the
actual losses? No one knows.
After destroying the value of major banks, culprits used
their enormous political influence -- funded with taxpayer dollars -- to get
Congress to force the accounting board to change accounting rules (as of April
2009) so banks don't have to recognize losses until they sell the assets.
According to William
K. Black, after the much tinier S&L crisis, there were over 1,000
successful felony prosecutions, several thousand successful enforcement
actions, and roughly 1,000 successful civil actions.
This time Congress gave us the Great Cover-up. Bank officers
dodged jail time and collected billions in bonuses. As one of my South American
friends observes, he's witnessed this third-world corruption before, and this
time it's in English.
Banks Stall the Recovery and Prolong the Great Recession
Unemployment marched
upward, delinquencies soared, and banks stalled foreclosures. The longer banks
delay foreclosures and sales, the longer they can avoid acknowledging losses.
Phony accounting and zero cost funding from taxpayers created an illusion of
recovery.
Stalling helps banks
while they pressure Congress to bail out failed mortgages with taxpayer
dollars. Instead of working out mortgages with homeowners, they can wait for a
government program to buyout or subsidize their failing loans. The markets
aren't recovering, because banks own colossal chunks of mystery-meat assets.
It's a black hole of debt. If banks were forced to price
these assets at market values and sell them, the market would clear, and the
market would make a faster recovery. When Japan did this, it stalled its
economy for twenty years, and it still hasn't recovered.
Voters Must Demand the Solution
Voters must demand
that Congress uncovers and publicizes facts and prosecutes the financial system's
massive multi-year frauds. This will mean thousands of felony prosecutions,
enforcement actions, and civil actions.
Congress completely failed in genuine regulation and
enforcement. It must start over on financial reform, regulate derivatives,
commodities trading, update Glass-Steagall, and more. It will have to break-up
the Too Big to Fail financial institutions.
CEOs of our Systemically Dangerous Institutions (SDI's) fail
to manage them, because no one is capable of doing it. Like a morbidly obese junk
food addict, banks won't even get on a scale. Our banks refuse to properly
measure (account for) the problem.
OBAMA’S AMERICA!
Third World America
elegantly summarizes the way forward. Arianna Huffington names the culprits and
gives a roadmap for solutions. The rest is up to us. We deserve better than a
third world economy divided by ultra-rich on one side and debt-ridden middle
class and dirt poor citizens on the other. Citizens must demand a clean-up of
corruption and a foundation for healthy growth.
*
Geithner’s “carefully designed” government intervention
mindset is at the core of why the Obama administration’s economic policies have
been a complete failure.
FROM HERITAGE
FOUNDATION
Morning Bell: End
Crony Capitalism
At 300 East 23rd Street in the exclusive Gramercy Park neighborhood [1] of Manhattan, where to get into parts of the park you need a key granted just to residents, a new 98-unit luxury apartment complex has been built with an outdoor movie theater and panoramic city views [2]. The problem is that not enough buyers are coughing up the $820,000 to $3 million the project’s developers are asking for the privilege to own a unit in the building. But don’t worry, the Obama administration is coming to the rescue. Last December, the Federal Housing Administration loosened its financing rules [3] so that U.S. taxpayers would have the honor of backing loans with downpayments as low as 3.5%. Now rich Manhattanites can better afford condos in buildings with pet spas, concierges and rooftop lounges like the one in Gramercy Park, all on the taxpayers’ dime.
You read that correctly: the FHA, created in 1934 to make homeownership attainable for low- to moderate-income Americans, is now subsidizing Manhattan luxury condominiums. How did we get here? The mindset that allowed this unconscionable public policy to occur was on display yesterday in Washington, where Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner hosted his Future of Housing Finance symposium. While Secretary Geithner promised [4] “fundamental reform” of our nation’s housing policies, he also insisted that the federal government must continue to play a strong role in U.S. mortgage markets: “There is a strong case to be made for a carefully designed guarantee in a reformed system, with the objective of providing a measure of stability in access to mortgages, even in future economic downturns.”
Geithner was not asked if FHA’s backing of Manhattan luxury condos fit his definition of a “carefully designed guarantee in a reformed system,” but American Enterprise Institute fellow Alex Pollock was there to at least throw some cold water [4] on Geithner’s central-planner arrogance: “You can either, in my view, be a private company or a government agency — one or the other, but not both.”
Geithner’s “carefully designed” government intervention
mindset is at the core of why the Obama administration’s economic policies have
been a complete failure. Since taking office the Obama administration has used
the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and other initiatives to buy
one car company [5], give
another to union allies [6], punish
non-union workers [7], undermine
the bankruptcy code [6], enrich
Wall Street at the expense of Main Street [8],
bail
out Mickey Mouse [9], keep
unionized zombie firms from dying [10]
and generally
terrorize the world economy [11]. That
is why, for the first time ever in 2010, the United States fell from the ranks
of the economically “free,” as measured by The Heritage Foundation’s Index of Economic Freedom [12]. From housing, to banking, to spending and
taxation, the U.S. economy will only truly recover once it is clear to private
enterprises that their best bet is investing in employees, machines and ideas,
not lawyers and lobbyists in Washington. To that end, Heritage’s just-released Solutions
for America [13] chapter on Restoring
the U.S. to a Free Economy [14]
recommends:
Unwind Government Intervention: The government should end the interventions it has made since 2008, starting with abolition of the TARP program. It should then abolish Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae and repeal all U.S. government regulatory measures that interfere with mortgage markets. Congress should also repeal the Sarbanes–Oxley Act, which discriminates against small firms and reduces competition. Companies should be allowed to fail, and laws and regulations should create no expectation of a future bailout.
Reduce Government Involvement in Commercial Decision-making: Congress must eliminate the insidious practice of earmarking, which corrupts the legislative process. The government needs to divest itself of all assets acquired in connection with the financial crisis and recession and refrain from interfering in bankruptcy cases.
Reduce Tax Rates: Our corporate income tax rate, currently the second highest in the developed world, must be cut to restore U.S. competitiveness. The corporate tax rate should be set at or below the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development average of 26% to eliminate the incentive for businesses and jobs to move overseas. We should also stop taxing businesses as individuals, but rather reduce rates to 25%, which would help business to grow and create jobs.
Spend Less and Devolve Responsibilities: Congress should enact a firm cap on the annual increase in total government spending, limited to inflation plus population growth. Lawmakers should exert all effort to keep overall federal spending to less than 20% of U.S. GDP, the historical post–World War II average for federal spending.
Give Workers a RAISE: Union contracts set both a wage floor and a wage ceiling. Unionized employers may not give productive workers pay raises outside those envisioned in the collectively bargained contract. The RAISE Act (Rewarding Achievement and Incentivizing Successful Employees) would allow employers to pay individual workers more, but not less, than the union contract specifies thus restoring to millions of union members the inherent American right to earn individual raises through individual efforts.
On Monday, President Barack Obama visited the ZBB Energy battery factory in Menomonee Falls, Wis. Last January, the Obama Energy Department invested $14 million in the company, and President Obama was on hand to claim credit for every employed person there. But The Wall Street Journal [15] did some homework and found that since going public in June of 2007, ZBB has been hemorrhaging money. The firm lost $4.9 million in fiscal year 2008, $5.5 million in fiscal year 2009, and has a “cumulative deficit” of $44.1 million. ZBB has admitted that its ability to continue as a “going concern” depends on securing additional investment. In a free market economy, private investors would provide those funds, reap the rewards if ZBB prospered and suffer the losses if ZBB failed. But under President Obama’s crony capitalist economy, ZBB is the big winner if the company survives, and if they fail, it is you, the taxpayer, who loses.
*
OBAMA HAS TWO AGENDAS. SERVICING BANKSTER DONORS, AND PUSHING
OUR BORDERS OPEN FOR MORE ILLEGALS. HE KNOW WE WON’T BE PUNKED BY HIS
PERFORMANCES THE SECOND TIME AROUND!
*
“Records
show that four out of Obama's top five contributors are employees of financial
industry giants - Goldman Sachs ($571,330), UBS AG ($364,806), JPMorgan Chase
($362,207) and Citigroup ($358,054).”
*
An initial term sheet outlining a possible settlement emerged in March, with institutions including Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo being asked to pay about $20 billion that would go toward loan modifications and possibly counseling for homeowners.
An initial term sheet outlining a possible settlement emerged in March, with institutions including Bank of America, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase and Wells Fargo being asked to pay about $20 billion that would go toward loan modifications and possibly counseling for homeowners.
In exchange, the attorneys general participating in the deal would
have agreed to sign broad releases preventing them from bringing further
litigation on matters relating to the improper bank practices.
*
ONE REASON WHY DALEY WAS ASKED TO JOIN OBAMA’S LA RAZA INFESTED
ADMINISTRATION IS BECAUSE HE EMBRACES OBAMA’S OPEN BORDERS AGENDA TO KEEP WAGES
DEPRESSED WITH HORDES OF ILLEGALS HOPING OUR
BORDERS AND JOBS.
(Bloomberg)
-- President Barack Obama is considering naming William Daley, a JPMorgan Chase
& Co. executive and former U.S. Commerce secretary, to a high-level
administration post, possibly White House chief of staff, people familiar with
the matter said.
*
YOU HAVE TO BE A BANKSTER OR LA RAZA SUPREMACIST FOR OPEN
BORDERS TO WORK IN OBAMA’S CORRUPT WHITE HOUSE.
FROM CREOLE FOLKS
Obama Seeks Brother of "Chicago
Mob Boss" for Top White House Post
The
roaches and con-artist, fake journalist on cable news are all lying about
William Daley being all this and all that, this man is an open borders, down
with America, free trade globalist. MSNBC and Greta "the
Scientology" Van Susteren from Fox News are knowingly deceiving the
public about D. Issa & his letter to "business owners"=which they
made into such a BIG DAM DEAL, but no one says anything when Barrack
Hussein Obama, comes around with all of these shady bankers, hedge fund
managers and Wall St. Tycoons, which he puts in his cabinet. All of
Obama's meeting with Wall Street asking, "What can I do for you?" is
never something covered by Keith Oberman or Rachel Maddow.
(Bloomberg)
-- President Barack Obama is considering naming William Daley, a JPMorgan Chase
& Co. executive and former U.S. Commerce secretary, to a high-level
administration post, possibly White House chief of staff, people familiar with
the matter said.
*
Obamanomics:
How Barack Obama Is Bankrupting You and Enriching His Wall Street Friends,
Corporate Lobbyists, and Union Bosses
BY TIMOTHY P
CARNEY
Editorial Reviews
Obama Is Making
You Poorer—But Who’s Getting Rich?
Goldman
Sachs, GE, Pfizer, the United Auto Workers—the same “special interests” Barack
Obama was supposed to chase from the temple—are profiting handsomely from
Obama’s Big Government policies that crush taxpayers, small businesses, and
consumers. In Obamanomics, investigative reporter Timothy P. Carney digs
up the dirt the mainstream media ignores and the White House wishes you
wouldn’t see. Rather than Hope and Change, Obama is delivering corporate
socialism to America, all while claiming he’s battling corporate America. It’s
corporate welfare and regulatory robbery—it’s Obamanomics.
Congressman
Ron Paul says, “Every libertarian and free-market conservative needs to read Obamanomics.”
And Johan Goldberg, columnist and bestselling author says, “Obamanomics
is conservative muckraking at its best and an indispensable field guide to the
Obama years.”
If
you’ve wondered what’s happening to America, as the federal government swallows
up the financial sector, the auto industry, and healthcare, and enacts deficit
exploding “stimulus packages,” this book makes it all clear—it’s a big scam.
Ultimately, Obamanomics boils down to this: every time government gets bigger,
somebody’s getting rich, and those somebodies are friends of Barack. This book
names the names—and it will make your blood boil.
*
Obama Is Making You Poorer—But Who’s Getting Rich?
Goldman
Sachs, GE, Pfizer, the United Auto Workers—the same “special interests” Barack
Obama was supposed to chase from the temple—are profiting handsomely from
Obama’s Big Government policies that crush taxpayers, small businesses, and
consumers.
Investigative
reporter Timothy P. Carney digs up the dirt the mainstream media ignores and
the White House wishes you wouldn’t see. Rather than Hope and Change, Obama is
delivering corporate socialism to America, all while claiming he’s battling
corporate America. It’s corporate welfare and regulatory robbery—it’s
Obamanomics. In this explosive book, Carney reveals:
* The
Great Health Care Scam—Obama’s backroom deals with drug companies spell
corporate profits and more government control
* The Global Warming Hoax—Obama has bought off industries with a pork-filled bill that will drain your wallet for Al Gore’s agenda
* Obama and Wall Street—“Change” means more bailouts and a heavy Goldman Sachs presence in the West Wing (including Rahm Emanuel)
* Stimulating K Street—The largest spending bill in history gave pork to the well-connected and created a feeding frenzy for lobbyists
* How the GOP needs to change its tune—drastically—to battle Obamanomics
* The Global Warming Hoax—Obama has bought off industries with a pork-filled bill that will drain your wallet for Al Gore’s agenda
* Obama and Wall Street—“Change” means more bailouts and a heavy Goldman Sachs presence in the West Wing (including Rahm Emanuel)
* Stimulating K Street—The largest spending bill in history gave pork to the well-connected and created a feeding frenzy for lobbyists
* How the GOP needs to change its tune—drastically—to battle Obamanomics
If
you’ve wondered what’s happening to our country, as the federal government
swallows up the financial sector, the auto industry, and healthcare, and enacts
deficit exploding “stimulus packages” that create make-work government jobs, this
book makes it all clear—it’s a big scam. Ultimately, Obamanomics boils down to
this: every time government gets bigger, somebody’s getting rich, and those
somebodies are friends of Barack. This book names the names—and it will make
your blood boil.
*
Praise for Obamanomics
Praise for Obamanomics
“The
notion that ‘big business’ is on the side of the free market is one of
progressivism’s most valuable myths. It allows them to demonize corporations by
day and get in bed with them by night. Obamanomics is conservative
muckraking at its best. It reveals how President Obama is exploiting the big
business mythology to undermine the free market and stick it to entrepreneurs,
taxpayers, and consumers. It’s an indispensable field guide to the Obama
years.”
—Jonha Goldberg, LA Times columnist and best-selling author
—Jonha Goldberg, LA Times columnist and best-selling author
“‘Every
time government gets bigger, somebody’s getting rich.’ With this astute
observation, Tim Carney begins his task of laying bare the Obama
administration’s corporatist governing strategy, hidden behind the president’s populist
veneer. This meticulously researched book is a must-read for anyone who wants
to understand how Washington really works.”
—David Freddoso, best-selling author of The Case Against Barack Obama
—David Freddoso, best-selling author of The Case Against Barack Obama
“Every
libertarian and free-market conservative who still believes that large
corporations are trusted allies in the battle for economic liberty needs to
read this book, as does every well-meaning liberal who believes that expansions
of the welfare-regulatory state are done to benefit the common people.”
—Congressman Ron Paul
—Congressman Ron Paul
“It’s
understandable for critics to condemn President Obama for his ‘socialism.’ But
as Tim Carney shows, the real situation is at once more subtle and more
sinister. Obamanomics favors big business while disproportionately punishing
everyone else. So-called progressives are too clueless to notice, as usual,
which is why we have Tim Carney and this book.”
—Thomas E. Woods, Jr., best-selling author of Meltdown and The Politically Incorrect Guide™ to American History
—Thomas E. Woods, Jr., best-selling author of Meltdown and The Politically Incorrect Guide™ to American History
*
·
Hardcover: 256 pages
·
Publisher: Regnery Press (November 30,
2009)
·
Language: English
·
ISBN-10: 1596986123
·
ISBN-13: 978-1596986121
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