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11/6/09 What recovery? Unemployment shoots past 10 percent Just when it was beginning to look a little better, the economy relapsed Friday with a return to double-digit unemployment for only the second time since World War II and warnings that next year will be even worse than previously thought. The jobless rate rocketed to 10.2 percent in October, the highest since early 1983, dealing a psychological blow to Americans as they prepare holiday shopping lists. It was another worse-than-expected report casting a shadow over the struggling recovery. 11/4/09 Fannie Mae to rent out homes instead foreclosing Thousands of borrowers on the verge of foreclosure will soon have the option of renting their homes from Fannie Mae, under a policy announced Thursday. The government-controlled company, through its new "Deed for Lease" program, will allow borrowers to transfer ownership to Fannie Mae and sign a one-year lease, with month-to-month extensions after that. The program will "eliminate some of the uncertainty of foreclosure, keeps families and tenants in their homes during a transitional period, and helps to stabilize neighborhoods and communities," Jay Ryan, a Fannie Mae vice president, said in a statement. Feds: 14 charged in insider trading case Criminal charges have been filed against 14 people, including attorneys and Wall Street professionals, in a widening $53 million insider trading case that has already snared one of the richest men in America, federal prosecutors said Thursday. The actions raise to 20 the number of people who have been charged in the case first disclosed last month with the arrests of Galleon Group founder and hedge fund operator Raj Rajaratnam and five others. After a flurry of stimulus spending, questionable projects pile up The $787 billion stimulus bill was passed in February and was promised as a job saver and economy booster. Here is where some of the money went: The $787 billion stimulus bill was passed in February and was promised as a job saver and economy booster. Here is where some of the money went: - $300,000 for a GPS-equipped helicopter to hunt for radioactive rabbit droppings at the Hanford nuclear reservation in Washington state. - $30 million for a spring training baseball complex for the Arizona Diamondbacks and Colorado Rockies. - $11 million for Microsoft to build a bridge connecting its two headquarter campuses in Redmond, Wash., which are separated by a highway. - $430,000 to repair a bridge in Iowa County, Wis., that carries 10 or fewer cars per day. - $800,000 for the John Murtha Airport in Johnstown, Pa., serving about 20 passengers per day, to build a backup runway. - $219,000 for Syracuse University to study the sex lives of freshmen women. - $2.3 million for the U.S. Forest Service to rear large numbers of arthropods, including the Asian longhorned beetle, the nun moth and the woolly adelgid. - $3.4 million for a 13-foot tunnel for turtles and other wildlife attempting to cross U.S. 27 in Lake Jackson, Fla. - $1.15 million to install a guardrail for a persistently dry lake bed in Guymon, Okla. - $9.38 million to renovate a century-old train depot in Lancaster County, Pa., that has not been used for three decades. - $2.5 million in stimulus checks sent to the deceased. - $6 million for a snow-making facility in Duluth, Minn. - $9.38 million to renovate a century-old train depot in Lancaster County, Pa., that has not been used for three decades. - $2.5 million in stimulus checks sent to the deceased. - $6 million for a snow-making facility in Duluth, Minn. - $173,834 to weatherize eight pickup trucks in Madison County, Ill. - $20,000 for a fish sperm freezer at the Gavins Point National Fish Hatchery in South Dakota. - $380,000 to spay and neuter pets in Wichita, Kan. - $300 apiece for thousands of signs at road construction sites across the country announcing that the projects are funded by stimulus money - $1.5 million for a fence to block would-be jumpers from leaping off the All-American Bridge in Akron, Ohio. - $1 million to study the health effects of environmentally friendly public housing on 300 people in Chicago. - $356,000 for Indiana University to study childhood comprehension of foreign accents compared with native speech. - $983,952 for street beautification in Ann Arbor, Mich., including decorative lighting, trees, benches and bike paths. - $148,438 for Washington State University to analyze the use of marijuana in conjunction with medications like morphine. - $462,000 to purchase 22 concrete toilets for use in the Mark Twain National Forest in Missouri - $3.1 million to transform a canal barge into a floating museum that will travel the Erie Canal in New York state. - $1.3 million on government arts jobs in Maine, including $30,000 for basket makers, $20,000 for storytelling and $12,500 for a music festival. - $71,000 for a hybrid car to be used by student drivers in Colchester, Vt., as well as a plug-in hybrid for town workers decked out with a sign touting the vehicle's energy efficiency. - $1 million for Portland, Ore., to replace 100 aging bike lockers and build a garage that would house 250 bicycles. Sources: News reports, Office of the Senate Minority Leader, Office of Sen. Tom Coburn 10/30/09 Market slide resumes as consumers pull in their horns After a one-day respite, the stock market is getting pounded again today as investors worry that suddenly cautious consumers won’t spend enough to justify higher stock prices.Separate measures this morning showed both the spending and confidence levels of consumers dropping in recent weeks amid mounting job losses and fear that the inchoate economic recovery could falter as government stimulus efforts wind down. California National Bank expected to be seized tonight Bank regulators are expected later today to take over Los Angeles-based California National Bank in what would mark the fourth-largest bank failure in the country this year, according to people familiar with the situation.The bank, a unit of FBOP Corp., is expected to be acquired by the U.S. Bank unit of Minneapolis-based U.S. Bancorp, with no losses to be incurred by depositors, the sources said. The branches would reopen as usual Saturday or Monday as U.S. Bank branches. Gov't says stimulus saved or created 650,000 jobs About 650,000 jobs have been saved or created under President Barack Obama's economic stimulus plan, the White House said Friday, saying it is on track to reach the president's goal of 3.5 million jobs by the end of next year.(I'm sorry....and how MANY MILLIONS OF JOBS HAVE BEEN LOST?.......sorry, this doesn't even begin to cut it Mr. Obama!) 10/24/09 Housing:
Best Recovery Bets The average home price is
forecast to plummet over the next two years. But these 5
cities are predicted to post gains. 10/23/09 Bank failures top 100, only part of industry woes The cascade of bank failures this year surpassed 100 on Friday, the most in nearly two decades. And the trouble in the banking system from bad loans and the recession goes even deeper than the number suggests.Dozens, perhaps hundreds, of other banks remain open even though they are as weak as many that have been shuttered. Regulators are seizing banks slowly and selectively — partly to avoid inciting panic and partly because buyers for bad banks are hard to find 10/22/09 7,000 unemployed Americans lose their lifeline every day Another day, another 7,000 people run out of unemployment benefits.One month after the House passed a bill extending unemployment benefits, the issue is still being debated in the Senate.(you notice they take no time at all in voting themselves higher pay raises and benefits!!!!!!!!) 10/20/09 Prosecutor: Birmingham mayor took $235K in bribes Deeply in debt and fond of fancy clothes and jewelry, Birmingham Mayor Larry Langford took tens of thousands in cash and expensive gifts from a politically connected investment banker who made millions in county bond business in return, prosecutors said Tuesday. Revised formula puts 1 in 6 Americans in poverty A revised formula for calculating medical costs and geographic variations show that approximately 47.4 million Americans last year lived in poverty, 7 million more than the government's official figure. The disparity occurs because of differing formulas the Census Bureau and the National Academy of Science use for calculating the poverty rate. The NAS formula shows the poverty rate to be at 15.8 percent, or nearly 1 in 6 Americans, according to calculations released this week. That's higher than the 13.2 percent, or 39.8 million, figure made available recently under the original government formula. California
sues bank, alleging fraud against state's 2 largest pension
funds Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown says Boston-based State
Street Bank and Trust overcharged CalPERS and the state pension
fund for teachers for foreign currency trades. The suit seeks
more than $200 million.Reporting from Sacramento -
California sued State Street Bank and Trust today for allegedly committing "unconscionable
fraud" against the state's two largest public pension funds, and seeks more
than $200 million in overcharges and penalties. The Rich Have Stolen the Economy Bloomberg reports that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner’s closest aides earned millions of dollars a year working for Goldman Sachs, Citigroup and other Wall Street firms. Bloomberg reports that none of these aides faced Senate confirmation. Yet, they are overseeing the handout of hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer funds to their former employers. 10/17/09 Government
by Goldman Sachs "The Financial Services
Modernization Act.' 10/16/09 California job losses continue to climb Job losses for September are higher than expected and almost six times greater than in August, state officials say. L.A. County joblessness soars to 12.7%. Bank of America loses $2.24B as loan losses rise Bank of America Corp. said Friday it lost more than $2.2 billion in the third quarter as loan losses kept rising, providing further evidence that consumers are still struggling to pay their bills.
Geithner aides made millions on Wall Street Obama administration officials now working on fixing and regulating the financial system were beneficiaries of several million dollars in pay from Wall Street and private equity companies, it has been revealed. Financial disclosure forms show that prior to joining the government, Gene Sperling, a senior Treasury adviser, was paid $887,727 by Goldman Sachs and $158,000 for speeches to companies that included Stanford Group, the company run by Sir Allen Stanford, who has since been charged with fraud. Treasury Alert! America’s Last Great Bubble Is About to Explode Chuck Butler. Since its inception on April 24th, 1917, U.S. Treasury bonds have been heralded, applauded and embraced the world over. They saved America from two World Wars, a depression and several recessions. They funded our empire. But now, they’re about to rip us apart and take the rest of the world down with us. 10/2/09 Before the Station fire, a cost-cutting memo Three weeks before the deadly Station fire erupted, the U.S. Forest Service issued a cost-cutting order to reduce its use of state and local firefighters, documents and interviews show. Reinforcements from Los Angeles County were scaled back early in the battle against the fire in the Angeles National Forest, and federal officials now say they are investigating the actions that allowed the blaze to rage out of control. (and the cost now is ???....because of penny pinching short-sighted-ness!) Unemployment
rate rises to 9.8% as employers cut more jobs than
expected Reporting from Washington -
The nation's labor market took a turn for the
worse in September as employers eliminated a net 263,000
jobs, far more than expected and reversing a pattern of steadily
declining payroll losses in recent months, the Labor Department
said today. 9/20/09 Note greets Sacramento T.G.I. Friday's customers: Restaurant is closed Ten T.G.I Friday's restaurant locations in Sacramento and the Pacific Northwest were closed over the weekend, the latest in the persistent toll of business ills blamed on the economy.(Oh yeah....psssst, dont' tell them but the President says it is getting better...uh-huh!) Last week, 70 Jack in the Box restaurants in Central California were closed as the local franchisee, Kobra Associates Inc., filed for bankruptcy protection in U.S Bankruptcy Court for the Eastern District of California. The Jack in the Box restaurant re-opened Friday afternoon The Sins Of Seven By Seven Are you aware that the US dollar is trading as of today, September 17, 2009 at 0.6580 against the Euro? If you are American, planning a trip to the EU, you had better double check your credit card limit because it will be 35% less than you think it is in the EU. It will actually be even more severe because Americans cannot run their cards into the red negative limits in the EU. The card limits stop well short of what can be done in the US. The dollar is in free fall because of two major reasons: 1.) the irresponsible spending and debt levels of the US government; and 2.) central banks and major holders of dollars are moving away and reducing their holdings. 9/17/09 CAUTION: Monetary System Collapse It WILL happen if we don't change course. Tickerguy shows you the numbers, depicted in graphs. Every man, woman and child in America needs to see this video. Come check out the text at http://market-ticker.org/archives/143...
9/10/09 The day before 9/11 vid $2.3 trillion missing Overspending on Debit Cards Is a Boon for Banks Banks and credit unions have long pitched debit cards as a convenient and prudent way to buy. But a growing number are now allowing consumers to exceed their balances — for a price.Banks market it as overdraft protection, and the fees it generates have become an important source of income for the banking industry at a time of big losses in other operations. This year alone, banks are expected to bring in $27 billion by covering overdrafts on checking accounts, typically on debit card purchases or checks that exceed a customer's balance.In fact, banks now make more covering overdrafts than they do on penalty fees from credit cards. 9/8/09
8/22/09 Economic wisdom, The great American money hole 8/18/09 Even Laguna Beach isn't recession-proof In the land of hillside mansions and ocean views, there are food banks. And the recipients aren't all low-income families. Some are white-collar workers who have fallen on hard times. WHY ARE WE BANKRUPT?The Costs of Illegal Immigration total is a whopping $ 338.3 BILLION DOLLARS A YEAR AND IF YOU'RE LIKE ME HAVING TROUBLE UNDERSTANDING THIS AMOUNT OF MONEY; IT IS $338,300,000,000.00 WHICH WOULD BE ENOUGH TO STIMULATE THE ECONOMY FOR THE CITIZENS OF THIS COUNTRY.
8/17/09 Stocks plunge as investors worry about consumers Investors' rising fears about consumer spending are turning stocks into a risky investment again. Stocks fell by the sharpest amount in six weeks and Treasury prices soared Monday as investors around the world feared that consumers are too anxious to spend the economy into recovery. The losses on stock exchanges extended the heavy selling that began Friday with a disappointing reading on consumer confidence. And bond investors, once again searching for a safe investment, bought heavily into Treasurys. (and just 'what' are the consumers supposed to use to spend?? more credit card debt?...I don't think so....we finally are 'getting it'! ) 8/16/09 Chicago: City Government Closed For Business On Monday If you planned to check out a library book, visit a city clinic or have your garbage picked up on Monday, you're out of luck. The City of Chicago will basically be closed for business on Aug. 17, a reduced-service day in which most city employees are off without pay, according to a release from the Office of Budget and Management. City Hall, public libraries, health clinics and most city offices will be closed.The 2009 budget anticipates saving $8.3 million due to the reduced-service days. (of course in the long run...since people lost salaries, that cuts down on the amount of commerce done in the city [and other places] and it cuts down on income taxes to the feds and the state....domino effect...but who is counting?..Obviously 'no one') 8/10/09 Three More US Banks CollapseBy Patrick O’Connor US regulators closed another three banks last Friday: First State Bank and Community National Bank, based in Florida, and Oregon’s Community First Bank. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is expected to pay out $185 million to cover closure costs and insured deposits for the three institutions. A total of 72 US banks have collapsed so far this year, up from 25 in all of 2008 and three in 2007.
7/26/09 *****Fed Planning 15-Fold Increase In US Monetary Base***** The fed is planning moves that would more than double its balance-sheet assets by September to $4.5 trillion from $1.9 trillion. Whether expressing approval or concern over the fed’s intentions, most commentators fail to understand the real magnitude of the projected expansion of the US monetary base because they don’t take into account the amount of dollars circulating abroad. At least 70 percent of all US currency is held outside the country, and this means the US monetary base is considerably smaller than the fed’s overall balance sheet. Liquidity is gone vid The #1 question. Here's a reality check 7/23/09 The National Debt Road Trip A great visual video to show how much we are in debt and how we have been getting there up till now, and how fast we are going and in what direction......real fast! HOW CALIFORNIA COULD TURN ITS IOU’S INTO DOLLARS California has over $17 billion on deposit in banks that have refused to honor its IOUs, forcing legislators to accept crippling budget cuts. These austerity measures are unnecessary. If the state were to deposit its money in its own state-owned bank, it could have enough credit to solve its budget crisis with funds to spare.
7/20/09 7/18/09 Regulators shut banks in Calif., Ga. and SD Regulators on Friday shut two banks in California and two smaller banks in Georgia and South Dakota, boosting to 57 the number of federally insured banks to fail this year.The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. was appointed receiver of the four banks. The two biggest were Temecula Valley Bank, in Temecula, Calif., with $1.5 billion in assets and deposits of about $1.3 billion as of May 31 and Vineyard Bank, National Association, of Rancho Cucamonga, Calif. It had assets of $1.9 billion and $1.6 billion in deposits as of March 31. U.S. Mint gold, silver coin sales 'temporarily suspended' - again Unprecedented demand, a shortage of blanks, and restrictive policies and regulations continue to exacerbate what is almost becoming a chronic shortage of gold and silver coins authorized by the U.S. Mint. The U.S. Mint has again "temporarily" suspended sales of almost all of its gold uncirculated and proof coins, along with nearly all of silver uncirculated coins because of the limited availability of blanks.
7/15/09 Will Dems allow Goldman to manipulate a cap-and-trade market? Goldman Sachs, the Wall Street leviathan that is heavily invested in the cap-and-trade carbon market scam, has admitted it has developed and used software that can manipulate such financial markets. The revelation came during proceedings in a legal case with enough plot twists to make even John Grisham proud; it was made, not by Goldman, but by an assistant U.S. Attorney. Who are Goldman Sachs? For those of us who are asking.....who in the 'HE double toothpick" are these guys? 7/7/09 The Fate of Representative John Carter’s Proposed Amendments to Cap and Trade Texas U. S. Representative John Carter has galloped in to rescue us from the Cap & Tax bill, HR 2454, by proposing limitations on price increases that would repeal the bill automatically if the program raised diesel or gas prices by more than ten cents a gallon or our home electricity bills went up more than twenty dollars a month. He might just as well have proposed that we turn the whole pack of Democrats out of Congress and the White House for all the good his effort to restrict the tax will be. DeMint amendment to audit the Federal Reserve blocked by Senate Leadership vid 7/5/09 Banksters Love Cap-and-Trade The sweeping new bill which just passed the House last Friday, the Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, is ostensibly about climate change, but it is in fact a bill of staggering economic ramifications that is going to accelerate the takeover of the economy by the well-placed financiers who have already plundered the Treasury and the Fed of $12+ trillion and counting. It was rushed through the House in the tradition of such nightmarish legislation as the Patriot Act and the banker bailout of last October: hundreds of pages were added to it at the last minute and it was humanly impossible for anyone to have read it before they voted on it. This, of course, is exactly what Obama promised his administration would never allow to happen, and for good reason; bills passed in this manner are always the result of fear and panic and inevitably results in legislation that would never be passed upon sober second thought. The Coming Economic Apocalypse Astonishing to me is the fact that no one seems to understand the ultimate result of the current policies and practices of Washington D.C. and the Federal Reserve Bank, the Fed. I have studied our economic situation for about 3 hours per day for the last 8 months and conclude we are bankrupt. Think about the facts.Certainly most of the automobile industry, the airlines, 37 out of 50 states, are bankrupt. The lending industry, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac are bankrupt. Insurance giant AIG, bankrupt. The Pension Benefit Guarantee Corporation, or PBGC, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, or FDIC, Social Security including Medicare and Medicaid are rapidly approaching insolvency. Biden: "We Misread How Bad The Economy Was" The Obama administration "misread" the depth of the economic troubles it inherited and still expects more new jobs in the long term as the spending pace from the $787 billion stimulus plan quickens, Vice President Joe Biden said.(Runner ups for the 'Darwin' Awards)........HELLOOOOO????? !!!! We Can't Make It Here Anymore - by James Mcmurtry7/4/09 The Great American Bubble Machine Matt Taibbi on how Goldman Sachs has engineered every major market manipulation since the Great Depression / vid WORLD GLOBALIZATION OF THE BANKING & REGULATORY STRUCTURE The power base of the world has shifted…it is no longer in London, New York City, Washington D. C., or Tokyo. Neither is it in Beijing or Moscow. It is Basel, Switzerland. In 1930, the Bank for International Settlements-BIS was set up as a result of the Young Plan which was named after the man who presided over the Allied Reparation Committee, Owen D Young.7/2/09 Cap-and-Trade Means Regulate and Subsidize Last week, prior to voting for the American Clean Energy and Security Act of 2009, House Republican Leader John Boehner spent the better part of an hour reading from the 1201-page bill and the associated 300-page addendum, which had been dumped on Congress' door at 3:09AM. He did so, he told The Hill, because he believed "people need to know what's in this pile of s-it." Ron Paul's 'Audit the Fed' bill 'gaining steam' The Federal Reserve, the counterfeiters who inflate our money supply and whose easy-money policies have given us over 80 years of depressions, bubbles, and booms, is starting to sweat. Rep. Ron Paul (R-TX)’s “Audit the Fed” bill, HR 1207, is gathering steam, as CQ Politics notes:Both liberal Democrats and conservative Republicans have signed on to Paul’s bill, which would force the Federal Reserve to show exactly where every penny it printed up was spent. As you can expect, the head of this criminal institution Ben Bernanke has said that this bill would mean a “takeover” by Congress and “threaten the financial system, dollar, an economy.” Let me get this straight. The Fed prints up trillions of dollars out of thin air, artificially lowers interest rates to increase poor and malinvestment of capital, and gives Americans the rope of cheap credit to hang themselves with. 6/29/09 Bernard Madoff gets maximum 150 years in prison Convicted Wall Street swindler Bernard Madoff was sentenced to 150 years in prison Monday for a fraud so extensive that the judge said he needed to send a message to potential imitators and to victims who demanded harsh punishment. China Decision to Buy $80 Billion of Gold, the Dragon's Hoard First, it used to be that the threat of central bank gold sales would damage market sentiment. Now the threat of significant sales has been met with the threat of significant purchases. Though the dragon hoard depicted by our good friend, Ed Stein is not yet a reality, China can back its desire to own gold with plenty of cold hard cash. At nearly $1.4 trillion in dollar-based assets, and almost $2 trillion in total reserves, $80 billion would consume a paltry 6% of China's dollar reserves. At the same time 2600 tonnes translates to roughly one-third the U.S. gold reserve -- a significant ambition by any measure. To give you an inkling of how this new synergy might work, when the International Monetary Fund announced recently it would like to sell about 400 tonnes of gold, China joined India in publicly pressing the IMF to sell its entire 3200 tonne hoard. On that news the gold market, which had been in a slow slide as a result of the IMF's announcement, turned and took another run at the $1000 mark. First
picture of kidnap gang pensioner who abducted financial adviser
after he lost £2m savings Pensioners battered a
financial adviser with Zimmer frames before kidnapping and
torturing him for losing £2million of their savings. 6/25/09 Administration explores new bond as option for retirement accounts Officials in the Obama administration are moving quickly to develop the investment infrastructure behind the president’s proposal for mandatory automatic enrollment in individual retirement accounts, which could be supported by the creation of Treasury-issued retirement bonds. 6/24/09 Lawmakers reject budget fix; state will begin issuing IOUs next week (California) Obama
Defends Expansion Of Fed Powers President Obama defended
his recent decision to give the Federal Reserve
expanded oversight powers over the nation's biggest financial
institutions, during an exclusive interview with CBS' The
Early Show. While his critics argue the Fed
was partly responsible for letting reckless practices on
Wall Street get out of control, the president disagreed."It
wasn't the Fed," Mr. Obama said. 6/23/09 Man Destroys His House – I Have Nothing To Lose Using The Economic Crisis To Attack Workers California Collapsing Washington and Wall Street seem to be treating California as if it were a sideshow in the financial circus of these turbulent times.It’s not. 6/9/09 Supreme Court won't block Chrysler merger Three Indiana pension funds had said they were being shortchanged by the bankruptcy plan.The U.S. Supreme Court has cleared the way for Chrysler's merger with the Italian automaker Fiat. In an order handed down late today, the court rejected a request for a stay of the sale submitted by three parties, including a group of Indiana pension funds. They had argued that the sale violated normal bankruptcy procedure and that Chrysler had received federal funding for which it was not eligible. 6/6/09 Exclusive Interview with Future Prediction Expert Gerald Celente Human Events had the opportunity to interview forecaster extraordinaire Gerald Celente, President of Trends Research Institute, several days ago -- and the future he predicts looks bleak indeed. In fact, as Mr. Celente sees it, the Great Depression will seem like a mild recession as what waits for us in 2011 hits with the force of a Katrina financial hurricane. 5/28/09 Your Video Ticker for this evening.....update on the financial scene....vid 4/29/09 U.S. economy shrinks 6.1% in the first quarter 4/28/09 O.C.
financier arrested on charges that he violated
currency reporting laws FBI special agents on Tuesday
arrested Orange County financier Danny Pang on
charges that he hid more than $300,000 in cash from the government
by asking relatives and employees to cash checks small enough
to avoid currency-reporting laws.
The arrest came one day after the Securities
and Exchange Commission accused Pang of defrauding
investors of hundreds of millions of dollars, prompting a
federal judge to freeze Pang's assets and those of his Irvine-based
company, Private Equity Management Group Inc. 4/27/09 UNCLE SAM JOINS CORRUPT BANKER'S BOARD ROOM Hank Paulson's heavy handed pressure to force Bank Of America to absorb debt ridden Merrill Lynch last December put Uncle Sam squarely in the Board Room of the First Bailout Bank of Greed and Incompetence ~ with first quarter Big Bank's ' improved ' sham earnings reports showing shocking evidence of corrupt and unscrupulous accounting gimmicks: Allen L Roland4/24/09 Treasury lends $2 billion more to General Motors (thats YOUR MONEY FOLKS! do you think GM is going to give your a free car for the exchange?.......NOT!!!) 4/22/09 Geithner urges global effort to tamp crisis The United States bears "substantial" blame for the woes besetting the world economy but it will take a global effort to ease those strains, U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said on Wednesday.Speaking to the Economic Club of Washington, Geithner said it was essential to find a better-balanced model for world growth that relies less on U.S. consumers as economies bid to climb out of the steepest downturn in decades. Freddie Mac official found dead in apparent suicide David Kellermann, the acting chief financial officer of money-losing mortgage giant Freddie Mac, was found dead at his home early Wednesday in what police said was an apparent suicide. 4/21/09 Top bailed-out firms have money for lobbying The top 10 recipients of the government's $700 billion financial bailout spent about $9.5 million on federal lobbying during the first three months of the year.The biggest spender was bailed-out automaker General Motors Corp., which devoted $2.8 million to lobbying in the first quarter of 2009. It has received $13.4 billion in government loans and could get $5 billion more, according to a government report released Tuesday. 4/11/09 PETER SCHIFF REPORT APRIL 9, 2009 vid TAXPAYER TEA PARTIES ALL ACROSS AMERICA Have you had enough taxation, regulation, over-spending, over-borrowing, bailouts, stimulus packages, and redistribution of wealth? How well is your government serving you? Geithner, Paulson named in $200 billion lawsuit. AIG-related case claims they violated shareholders constitutional rights. A $200 billion lawsuit filed on behalf of shareholders of American International Group has been amended to include Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson and former Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman Christopher Cox as defendants 4/9/09 Is the
future Argentina?Can bankers really
bankrupt and impoverish
a rich country? vid 4/8/09 Next bailout: Life insurance gets lifeline from taxpayers (what about the taxpayers themselves???!!) 4/5/09 20 + States Declaring Sovereignty Under the 10th Amendment!!! Pennsylvania State Rep Sam Rohrer Glenn Beck - 20 States Move to Declare Sovereignty vid W.H. team discloses TARP firm ties 3/28/09 Dear A.I.G., I Quit! The following is a letter sent on Tuesday by Jake DeSantis, an executive vice president of the American International Group’s financial products unit, to Edward M. Liddy, the chief executive of A.I.G. 3/26/09 3/25/09 PETER SCHIFF THE CRISIS IS JUST BEGINNING !!! GOV'T NEEDS BAILOUT NOW !!! vid Hannan Tells Gordon He Is “Pathologically Incapable” U.S.Seeks Expanded Power to Seize Firms Goal Is to Limit Risk to Broader Economy Japanese Exports Plunge 49% As Global Slump Deepens 3/24/09 LET IT DIE: Rushkoff on the economy 3/23/09 How the markets really work (from 2007) vid3/19/09 Obama Officials Sought To Keep AIG Bonuses: Dodd In a stunning development, Sen. Christopher Dodd said that Obama administration officials asked him to add language to last month's federal stimulus bill to make sure the controversial AIG bonuses remained in place FDIC Failed to Collect Premiums for Years (and what does this mean to us?) 3/14/09 Obama focuses on food safety, picks FDA new chief The nation's food safety system is a "hazard to public health" and overdue for an overhaul, President Barack Obama said Saturday as he focused on that task by filling the top job at the Food and Drug Administration.Obama used his weekly radio and video address to announce the nomination of former New York City Health Commissioner Margaret Hamburg as agency commissioner and selection of Baltimore's health commissioner, Joshua Sharfstein as her deputy. Consumer groups applauded the picks. 3/5/09 PETER SCHIFF THE CRISIS IS JUST BEGINNING !!! GOV'T NEEDS BAILOUT NOW !!! vid Newsflash: Wonderboy Treasury Secretary is in over his head For five weeks, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has battled the worst economic crisis in generations with no key deputies in place. That’s made for a rocky debut for the man President Barack Obama put in charge of addressing the financial crisis.With an awkward first television appearance, a bank rescue plan that lacked promised specifics and two restructured bailouts that raised taxpayer risk, Geithner has failed to calm financial markets desperate for answers. And, he is flying 'solo' Fed Refuses to Release Bank Data, Insists on Secrecy (Update3) Auditors' finding ratchets up fears of GM bankruptcy The specter of a General Motors Corp. bankruptcy was raised today by the automaker's own auditors, which said there was "substantial doubt" about the company's ability to continue operating.Although the warning was not unexpected -- GM said last week that such a judgment was likely -- the confirmation of that prospect threw yet another spotlight on the automaker's dire position. GM lost $30.9 billion in 2008 and burned through $19.2 billion in cash, leading it to borrow $13.4 billion from the federal government and, last month, to request $16.6 billion more in taxpayer-funded support. 2/25/09 U.S. money managers accused of $550 million fraud Two money managers who oversaw investments for Carnegie Mellon University and other institutions were arrested on Wednesday on charges of running an estimated $550 million, decade-long swindle, the latest in a wave of big financial fraud cases. 2.22.09 120,000 people pack streets of Dublin in angry protest against government's handling of economic crisis Up to 120,000 people marched through Dublin today in an emotional and angry national demonstration over the Irish Government's handling of the economic crisis.The sheer size of the turnout meant it had to set off earlier than was organised, with the parade stretching the entire length of its two kilometre route at one stage.Hundreds more lined the streets of the city centre, many clapping and cheering, as both public and private sector workers came together under the banners of several trade unions for one the largest demonstrations ever seen in the capital. THE BURNING PLATFORM David Walker served as Comptroller General of the United States from 1998 through 2008. He is now the CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation and leader of the Fiscal Wake Up Tour. He has been a lone voice in the wilderness for the last decade regarding our looming fiscal disaster. As head of the General Accounting Office he would go before Congress and explain that the country need to change course before we flounder in a Perfect Storm of debt. They listened to him respectfully and proceeded to add $5 trillion to the National Debt in the next eight years. The borrowing binge is now entering a hyper-speed phase. President Obama has been only concerned with speed rather than long term corrective actions. 2/17/09 SEC charges Texas financier with 'massive' fraud NEW YORK – Federal regulators on Tuesday charged Texas financier R. Allen Stanford and three of his firms with a "massive" fraud that centered around high-interest-rate certificates of deposit, and raided some of the companies' offices.In a complaint filed in federal court in Dallas, the Securities and Exchange Commission alleged Stanford orchestrated a fraudulent investment scheme centered on an $8 billion CD program that promised "improbable and unsubstantiated high interest rates." 2/16/09 Kan. suspends income tax refunds, may miss payroll Kansas has suspended income tax refunds and may not be able to pay employees on time, state officials said Monday.The state doesn't have enough money in its main budget account to pay its bills, prompting Democratic Gov. Kathleen Sebelius to suggest borrowing $225 million from other accounts throughout state government. But the move required approval from legislative leaders, and Republican leaders refused Monday. With no budget, California to cut 20,000 state jobs California, which is on the brink of running out of cash, will notify 20,000 state workers on Tuesday their jobs may be eliminated, a spokesman for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger said on Monday. DOLLAR
DECEPTION: 2/15/09 Stimulus Verdict: A $3.27 Trillion Porker The gargantuan stimulus bill Congress has rubber-stamped with virtually no Republican support contains tens of billions of the very spending projects that made the legislation a lightning rod for criticism. And although the bill is generally described as costing $787 billion, the Congressional Budget Office reports the actual figure is now closer to $3.27 trillion2/11/09 ABSENT IN GEITHNER'S BANK PLAN / TRUTH AND TRANSPARENCY Congress, White House agree on $790B stimulus bill 2/10/09 California budget deficit imperils 10,000 state workers' jobs Reporting from Sacramento -- As legislative leaders Tuesday moved toward a deal that could wipe out the state's $42-billion deficit with temporary tax hikes on retail sales, cars, gasoline and millionaires, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger threatened to lay off as many as 10,000 state employees if a new budget is not passed this week 2/7/09 Barclays set to give big bonuses to bankers who scuttled Woolworths 2/4/09 Keynesian Economics Is Wrong: Bigger Gov't Is Not Stimulus vid1/30/09 U.S. Subsidiaries in Offshore Tax Havens Many of the largest United States corporations, including big banks now receiving federal bailout money, operate scores of subsidiaries in offshore tax havens that may let them evade or defer their tax bills, according to a government study released Friday. California Pension Funds Close ToBankruptcy The two largest pension funds in California, the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (CalPERS) and the California State Teachers’ Retirement System (CalSTRS), have lost billions of dollars in value. Hundreds of thousands of retiring state employees and teachers now face the stark choice of accepting much reduced pension checks or working past their retirement age. Obama’s Bill Hands ACORN $5.2 Billion Bailout Caterpillar says to cut 20,000 jobs Home Depot to cut 7,000 jobs, close Expo chain Card Data Breached, Firm Says A New Jersey credit-card processor disclosed a data breach that analysts said may rank among the biggest ever reported.Heartland Payment Systems Inc. said Tuesday that cyber criminals compromised its computer network, gaining access to customer information associated with the 100 million card transactions it handles each month. Ex-trader tells how he lost so much for one bankPARIS: A year ago, Jérôme Kerviel rocked the financial world with the biggest trading loss in history. Things have moved on since then.The €4.9 billion hole he inflicted on the accounts of Société Générale no longer astonishes after the horrendous losses on subprime mortgages and other risky assets that banks have booked since then.In describing a year later how he nearly wrecked the bank - and found himself facing possible criminal charges - Kerviel sounded like he could be describing the mind-set that led to the whole financial meltdown. "The problem," Le Parisien, a daily newspaper, quoted him as saying Thursday, "is that the bank never says, 'Attention guys! The money you're playing with is not virtual. At the other end of your computer, there are real people, with real lives, pay attention what you do, you could do something very bad to them."'"Everything you do as a trader remains in the virtual world," he added. "It's a little like playing a computer game. Lose or win a few million: It only takes a few seconds." Will Diving Dollar Force Acceptance of ‘Amero’ Currency? 1/10/09 Burien - Follow The Money Again, Please Predatory Lenders' Partner in Crime World stocks drop as US jobless rate hits 7.2 pct Stimulus Plan: The Need and the Size The Darkness And The Power The Dictator announced his relief-package for the Big Three yesterday: The media is calling it "a Christmas-gift." This is a LOAN-agreement: Gift's do not come wrapped in razor wire. This too-little-too-late proposal is meant to bring an end to the problem of having to pay anyone, for whatever they do on-the-job in the United States. 12/20/08 Japan stumps up more cash, Belgian govt falls Japan approved extra funding and Germany pledged new measures on Saturday to confront a financial crisis that has toppled banks, wrecked world growth and now played a part in the demise of Belgium's government.Tokyo has joined governments worldwide in pledging hundreds of billions of dollars of fiscal stimulus to lessen the impact of the crisis on their economies, many of which, Japan's included, are already in recession. A Devastating Impact as the Market Unleverages and a Winter of Discontent Two sets of rules on wall street, 50 billion ponzi scheme by Bernard Madoff uncovered, court case for the toxic waste coverup, Paulson's efforts are futile, commercial and residential real estate market alike now frozen, fed is frantic, an elitist engineered collaps of the U.S, derivative problems galore, and no real debate taking place in government As we know there are two sets of rules in banking and on Wall Street - one for the anointed and one for everyone else. 12/18/08 A Second Mortgage Disaster On The Horizon? When it comes to bailouts of American business, Barney Frank and the Congress may be just getting started. Nearly two trillion tax dollars have been shoveled into the hole that Wall Street dug and people wonder where the bottom is. 12/16/08 Bailout payout tops $8 trillion As the holiday season commences, it’s worth taking stock of the last gift that President George W. Bush and the 110th Congress have left for U.S. taxpayers. It’s a package of about $8.7 trillion dollars’ worth of potential taxpayer commitments for loans, guarantees and other bailout goodies for businesses and distressed homeowners. Amid the tissue paper: • More than $1.5 trillion in Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. loan guarantees, including a $139 billion assist to the lending arm of General Electric Corp. • $1.8 trillion in cash, tax breaks and loan guarantees doled out from the Treasury Department to taxpayers, financial institutions and credit companies. • $300 billion for homeowners from the Federal Housing Authority. • $25 billion in assistance for auto companies from a program overseen by the Energy Department, which is separate from the bailout proposal that tanked last week in the Senate. And $5 trillion worth of new money, loan guarantees and loosened lending requirements from the Federal Reserve Bank. According to Bianco Research President James Bianco, who crunched these numbers, that amounts to more government aid and assistance than nine other historic bailouts and big government outlays combined. The New Deal, for instance, cost an estimated $32 billion in its day, which would be about $500 billion in today’s dollars. The Marshall Plan cost about $12.7 billion, which is the equivalent of a paltry $115.3 billion. The Louisiana Purchase? The French got $15 million, which would be worth about $217 billion today. If you take those three items, add in the adjusted costs of the Race to the Moon, the savings and loan crisis, the Korean War, the Iraq war, the Vietnam War and assistance for NASA, you still get to just $3.92 trillion — not even half of the taxpayers’ exposure today, according to Bianco.
They are promising a newer and bigger stimulus package early next year — one that could make last spring’s $168 billion government giveaway to taxpayers (remember that fixer?) look like pocket change. Asked just how much the taxpayers are on the hook for, Bianco said: “I just say you should use the number infinity, because nobody understands these numbers, and I would include the Treasury secretary and chairman of the Fed in that group.” There is a bright side, sort of. Only about $2.9 trillion of the government money, loans and guarantees have actually been spent or committed. And some of the deals are structured with the idea that taxpayers could one day make money off them by selling pieces of companies or the government’s new stake in them. But that can’t be done until the economy rebounds, something that most economists aren’t yet willing to predict — probably because it would be even more depressing. Now, all this is not to say that these measures weren’t necessary to save consumers from an even worse fate. That’s a big unanswered question that now will be left to speculators. But the vast majority of the smart economic crowd, from both sides of the aisle, say the job losses and economic calamity that would have ensued without government intervention today would make the Great Depression look like an economic hiccup. “If we don’t fix this, it doesn’t matter if we can’t pay for it,” said Heather Boushey, a senior economist at the Center for American Progress. “The problem will only get worse and become harder and even more expensive to fix.” Meanwhile, she said, unemployment rates could soar abruptly, as they did during the Depression. “Every person who loses a job could also lose a house and health insurance and the ability to pay for college,” she added. “We could lose a generation.” Given that, it was something of a wonder when Senate Republicans quashed a $14 billion rescue plan last week for domestic automakers. Republicans had taken a beating on Election Day, in part because of resentment within their own base at the bailout bonanza in Washington. But the automakers’ request seems a pittance given all the taxpayer cash already flooding the private market. Part of the answer might have come from an Obama-style Internet campaign launched by FreedomWorks, a grass-roots organization led by former House Majority Leader Dick Armey (R-Texas). FreedomWorks purchased Google search ads that popped up any time someone clicked for information about the auto bailout. The ad urged people to oppose the measure. Thomas Keeley, the organization’s online advertising specialist, said the ad helped them generate nearly 100,000 messages to Congress. “We did very well, especially given the limited time we had on this,” he said. The auto industry wasn’t idle. General Motors and Ford also took out Google search ads urging support for the package — a message that would have been tough to deliver in a big television ad campaign. The cyberspace campaigns are likely a harbinger of how future bailout battles will be waged once Obama takes office with an e-mail list of more than 10 million supporters. Already, Peter Greenberger, who’s heading up Google’s new issues advocacy sales team, says he’s warning interest groups that may take a stand on either side of the Democrats’ expected trillion-dollar stimulus package not “to organize a 20th-century advocacy campaign against a 21st-century administration.”
The democracy will cease to exist
when you take away from those who are willing
to work and give to those who would not. I predict future happiness for
Americans if they can prevent the government
from wasting the labors of the people
under the pretense of taking care of
them. My reading of history convinces
me that most bad government results from
too much government. No free man shall ever be debarred
the use of arms. The strongest reason for the people
to retain the right to keep and bear
arms is, as a last resort, to protect
themselves against tyranny in government. The tree of liberty must be refreshed
from time to time with the blood of patriots
and tyrants. To compel a man to subsidize with
his taxes the propagation of ideas which
he disbelieves and abhors is sinful and
tyrannical. The Origin of the $1 bill US government is on the 'Dole'?
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