One of the more frightening reports regarding this economic crisis has been that banks have refused to lend to one another because they do not trust that they would be paid back. Three months ago, the Administration was saying that everything was fine. This was just a glitch, and the fundamental economy was strong. What the F can you do in three months to completely cause a potential Global Catastrophe? All the signals are pointing to the Administration once again listening to lobbyists that are fighting to keep the government from imposing regulations on Wall Street. Politicians can no longer tell the truth, that is quite evident. They have been lying about the extent of the crisis for a year in the “hopes” that people would never find out. The system no longer works! We have to start over with new people. If it does not happen in this election cycle, I truly think we will see a meltdown of our complete way of life. This is not just a worst-case-scenario. That is a reasoned reality. The lawmakers can't even trust each other anymore, how are we, the
people, supposed to trust them now? It really is starting to feel like the end of an idea called The United States because it appears that it has been deemed we no longer know what is best for us and they do not trust each other, that is just great, was the whole thing, this USA,one big fraud from the beginning.
Then I wake to find out WaMu has been "seized" in the night along with all the assets and the shareholders are "out" WTF? A confidence crisis? They had better get their shit together before people start going for their lanterns and pitchforks!
After McCain said that he was headed back to Washington to “help” with the bailout package, most in Congress cringed. One (Republican, no less) Senator stated “He had spoken to Sen. Obama on the phone more in the last week, than he had spoken with Sen. McCain in the last two months”, This really illustrates a point I made earlier; John McCain is just to far behind the times to be an effective leader in the 21st Century. All of a sudden, McCain figures out, on Wednesday, that something is going on in Washington and I had better get there to say me too. Meanwhile, Henry Paulson, and Senate leaders are saying they have had ongoing contact with Obama via telephone and video conferences.
German Finance Minister Peer Steinbrueck said one outcome of the crisis would be a less dominant role for the United States in the global financial system. "The United States will lose its superpower status in the world financial system. The world financial system will become more multi-polar," he said.
He joined a growing chorus of international politicians who have blamed the United States for spawning the global financial crisis with a blind drive for higher profits and insufficient market regulation.
In decrying the lack of government regulation, France’s President Sarkozy joined a broad spectrum of European leaders and commentators who have interpreted the financial crisis as a death knell for the current financial markets and banking systems. Their comments sometimes have betrayed an "I told you so" sentiment, after years during which U.S. officials suggested that many of Europe's economic problems stemmed from an excess of regulation and government intervention.
French banks, in particular, have less to worry about than their U.S. counterparts, French officials have said, in part because regulatory powers are stronger in Europe than in the United States and the banks are less exposed to bad loans. The appropriate degree of state intervention in banking and financial dealings also has been a frequent subject of disagreement within the European Union. Those advocating more controls clearly have gained the upper hand for the time being.
"Self-regulation to solve all problems, it's finished," Sarkozy said. "Laissez-faire, it's finished. The all-powerful market that is always right, it's finished. . . . Self-regulation is sometimes insufficient. The market is sometimes wrong. Competition is sometimes ineffective or disloyal. It is necessary then for the state to intervene."
Some form of a crisis plan is needed (let us stop calling it a bailout for a while) that is one thing that seems perfectly clear. What is also becoming even clearer is the fact that Wall Street/Banking cannot be the overseers of the plan, and Congress is just to corrupt to watch over this as well. These are some ideas that I have found from everyday people that could work.
1] FED cannot receive any of the proceeds, which must be directed in total to Banks for their mortgages;
[2] No government agency can administer/manage the Assets;
[3] A Selection Committee of "say" Jack Welsh, Donald Trump, Warren Buffett, Steve Forbes and Bill Seidman will "select" 5-10 professional property management firms to handle the mortgaged properties.
[4] Property mgm't contracts will be incented for maximum returns to the "taxpayers". Additional rewards will result from competitive standings of the actual returns from each firm;
[5] Any fraud found during the asset procurement & sale cycle must be prosecuted. Greed, which threatens America, can no longer go unpunished! Enforce Title 8 and Title 11 of Sarbanes/Oxley.
I keep harping on the fact that lobbyists have caused so much of this problem. Here is what will (and should) happen if things do not turn around soon. People in Washington D.C., the real people not politicians, will have less than they already do. Anger and resentment will increase. What I would like to see is that anger focused. Take your rage out on “K” Street, burn it to the ground, flush the lobbyists out like the vermin they are. If we do not GET RID of lobbyists, Congress will remain corrupt and there will be a Global Economic meltdown. People will be on the street, begging, “Brother Can you spare a dime”, and they will look for revenge. And I will be there with maps to “K Street”…
Showing posts with label Lobbyists. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Lobbyists. Show all posts
Friday, September 26, 2008
Saturday, September 20, 2008
The Recent Past Shows why the Present Mess
This is a USA TODAY article from 6-28-2005. This shows just another way we arrived where we are today, bad decisions, hubris and Washington as usual. Still at the core of the mess…lobbyists.
Big contributors to GOP reap big post-election rewards
By Jim Drinkard, USA TODAYWASHINGTON — Just six months into a new term for President Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress, some of their heaviest donors are scoring victories on the legislative and regulatory fronts.From rewrites of the laws governing bankruptcy and class-action lawsuits to relief for oil, timber and tobacco interests, GOP supporters who gave millions of dollars last year are reaping decisions worth billions from a Congress with more Republicans.
"Clearly, the election outcome has helped," says Bruce Josten, executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "We are heading in the right direction. A lot more has been done by this time in a new session than usual."
While much public attention has been focused on Bush's sputtering effort to sell an overhaul of Social Security, legislation long sought by the GOP and its business allies have been enacted with bipartisan support. In February, Congress passed and Bush signed a bill that sharply limits class-action lawsuits. The savings will likely come to several billion dollars a year, says Russ Sutter of Tillinghast-Towers Perrin, an actuarial firm that studies tort costs.
The business sector that includes manufacturing and retail was among top GOP donors last election cycle. It directed three of every five political dollars to Republicans — almost $121 million, according to the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics.
There was a similar partisan tilt in political giving by the finance industry, which won passage in April of a law making it harder to erase debts by declaring bankruptcy. Credit card companies and banks sought the change as a way to collect more debts.
The finance sector gave nearly $195 million to the GOP in the 2004 elections. And 105 of Bush's 548 elite fundraisers — those who raised $100,000 or more — were from the world of finance, making it his biggest base of top-dollar support, at $34 million.
"Many of the traditional business supporters are really getting the agenda they wanted, and it seems to be speeding up," says Larry Noble, director of the Center for Responsive Politics, which studies the impact of money on politics.
Still to come: Congress is pushing to complete an energy bill. Business interests want limits on liability for water contamination caused by MTBE, a fuel additive designed to reduce auto emissions, and oil companies seek to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling. The Senate passed its version Tuesday.
Bush supporters also have had good luck outside the legislative arena:
• Justice Department lawyers this month abruptly scaled back their request for a penalty in the government's lawsuit against tobacco companies. Rather than the 25-year, $130 billion smoking cessation program their own expert had recommended, they are asking for a $14 billion remedy. The tobacco industry favored Republicans three-to-one over Democrats last year, giving $2.7 million to the party and its candidates.
The Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility is looking into whether politics influenced the decision.
• After Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman William Donaldson resigned under fire from business groups who complained about overzealous regulation, Bush replaced him with someone with a pro-corporate record: Rep. Christopher Cox, R-Calif.
"It's hard to imagine somebody with a more nakedly deregulatory agenda," says William Lerach, a trial lawyer who has brought shareholder lawsuits against corporations accused of securities fraud. Securities and investment firms gave $47.8 million to Republicans last election.
• The administration last month reversed a ban on road construction, timber harvesting, mining and energy development on undeveloped national forest land. The government also has expanded oil and gas development on federal lands, including areas in New Mexico and Wyoming.
Energy and natural resources interests gave $39.3 million to the GOP last year, three times the amount given to Democrats.
Big contributors to GOP reap big post-election rewards
By Jim Drinkard, USA TODAYWASHINGTON — Just six months into a new term for President Bush and the Republican-controlled Congress, some of their heaviest donors are scoring victories on the legislative and regulatory fronts.From rewrites of the laws governing bankruptcy and class-action lawsuits to relief for oil, timber and tobacco interests, GOP supporters who gave millions of dollars last year are reaping decisions worth billions from a Congress with more Republicans.
"Clearly, the election outcome has helped," says Bruce Josten, executive vice president of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce. "We are heading in the right direction. A lot more has been done by this time in a new session than usual."
While much public attention has been focused on Bush's sputtering effort to sell an overhaul of Social Security, legislation long sought by the GOP and its business allies have been enacted with bipartisan support. In February, Congress passed and Bush signed a bill that sharply limits class-action lawsuits. The savings will likely come to several billion dollars a year, says Russ Sutter of Tillinghast-Towers Perrin, an actuarial firm that studies tort costs.
The business sector that includes manufacturing and retail was among top GOP donors last election cycle. It directed three of every five political dollars to Republicans — almost $121 million, according to the non-partisan Center for Responsive Politics.
There was a similar partisan tilt in political giving by the finance industry, which won passage in April of a law making it harder to erase debts by declaring bankruptcy. Credit card companies and banks sought the change as a way to collect more debts.
The finance sector gave nearly $195 million to the GOP in the 2004 elections. And 105 of Bush's 548 elite fundraisers — those who raised $100,000 or more — were from the world of finance, making it his biggest base of top-dollar support, at $34 million.
"Many of the traditional business supporters are really getting the agenda they wanted, and it seems to be speeding up," says Larry Noble, director of the Center for Responsive Politics, which studies the impact of money on politics.
Still to come: Congress is pushing to complete an energy bill. Business interests want limits on liability for water contamination caused by MTBE, a fuel additive designed to reduce auto emissions, and oil companies seek to open the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge to drilling. The Senate passed its version Tuesday.
Bush supporters also have had good luck outside the legislative arena:
• Justice Department lawyers this month abruptly scaled back their request for a penalty in the government's lawsuit against tobacco companies. Rather than the 25-year, $130 billion smoking cessation program their own expert had recommended, they are asking for a $14 billion remedy. The tobacco industry favored Republicans three-to-one over Democrats last year, giving $2.7 million to the party and its candidates.
The Justice Department's Office of Professional Responsibility is looking into whether politics influenced the decision.
• After Securities and Exchange Commission Chairman William Donaldson resigned under fire from business groups who complained about overzealous regulation, Bush replaced him with someone with a pro-corporate record: Rep. Christopher Cox, R-Calif.
"It's hard to imagine somebody with a more nakedly deregulatory agenda," says William Lerach, a trial lawyer who has brought shareholder lawsuits against corporations accused of securities fraud. Securities and investment firms gave $47.8 million to Republicans last election.
• The administration last month reversed a ban on road construction, timber harvesting, mining and energy development on undeveloped national forest land. The government also has expanded oil and gas development on federal lands, including areas in New Mexico and Wyoming.
Energy and natural resources interests gave $39.3 million to the GOP last year, three times the amount given to Democrats.
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Time to Cull the Lobbyists
So what is the deciding point for the Government to bailout a company? After doing a little research, it is clear how the decision is made.
Fannie and Freddie spent MILLIONS on lobbyists. AIG this year alone has spent $6.73 Million, Merrill Lynch spent $2.2 Million, and poor Lehman Brothers only spent $430 Thousand. Washington Mutual won't get any kind of bailout, even though it is the largest Savings and Loan. They only gave $570 thousand in bribe money to the lobbyists. (Open Secrets. Org)
So it really just depends on how much you give to lobbyists so they can bribe the needed politicians. That, by the way, is what it is. Bribery! Lobbyists are the bag men for corporations.
Can someone please tell me what Countries Economy G.W. is watching. I'm starting to think that he and McCain have the charts upside down.
Although the morons that run these companies think, their ego is far more important than us poor slobs that actually put our hard-earned dollars into a company stock hoping we might have something when the time comes to retire. As opposed to the CEO that got his stock in a well hidden option because he was able to take a Billion dollar company and turn it into a Million dollar company. I'll take the janitor to run the company over some putz with an MBA from a fancy school. At least the janitor will be honest with you, and would know right away what is wrong. They always do.
The fact of the matter is that it is LOBBYISTS that control what will happen to you and me. Another quick check finds that McCain’s campaign is FULL of banking lobbyists. The man could not take a dump without a lobbyist there to wipe his bum. Obama’s campaign does have a couple of lobbyists as advisers but they do not seem to be at the same level as the McCain group. I just cannot get over how a company says everything is all right one day and 2 days latter, they are going under. Does anyone watch these things? Alternatively, have the lobbyists hoodwinked EVERY politician in Washington.
The time has come to step up the efforts to rid our Government of lobbyists. If you know a lobbyist, render them unable to breed. It is a good start.
Here are a few other items I found regarding Fannie and Freddie’s lobby efforts to bring down our economy and Country. This was in “The Christian Science Monitor” which is probably the last unbiased newspaper in America, go figure.
Over the last decade, Fannie and Freddie together hired nearly every lobby shop in Washington – so many, in fact, that opponents complained that they had trouble finding someone to represent their interests.
In addition, Fannie and Freddie supported a vast network of charities, often specifically linked to members of Congress.
SOURCE: Center for Responsive Politics/Rich Clabaugh–STAFF
It has to stop. Lobbyists will destroy America. Do whatever you have to, but start with notifying your Congressman that if they have taken dollar one from lobbyists, no more votes, period. If they have taken money, they are CROOKS, Corrupted politicians that need to be removed, charged, found guilty of treason and hanged.
But that is up to the voter and so far, we have been stupid.
Fannie and Freddie spent MILLIONS on lobbyists. AIG this year alone has spent $6.73 Million, Merrill Lynch spent $2.2 Million, and poor Lehman Brothers only spent $430 Thousand. Washington Mutual won't get any kind of bailout, even though it is the largest Savings and Loan. They only gave $570 thousand in bribe money to the lobbyists. (Open Secrets. Org)
So it really just depends on how much you give to lobbyists so they can bribe the needed politicians. That, by the way, is what it is. Bribery! Lobbyists are the bag men for corporations.
Can someone please tell me what Countries Economy G.W. is watching. I'm starting to think that he and McCain have the charts upside down.
Although the morons that run these companies think, their ego is far more important than us poor slobs that actually put our hard-earned dollars into a company stock hoping we might have something when the time comes to retire. As opposed to the CEO that got his stock in a well hidden option because he was able to take a Billion dollar company and turn it into a Million dollar company. I'll take the janitor to run the company over some putz with an MBA from a fancy school. At least the janitor will be honest with you, and would know right away what is wrong. They always do.
The fact of the matter is that it is LOBBYISTS that control what will happen to you and me. Another quick check finds that McCain’s campaign is FULL of banking lobbyists. The man could not take a dump without a lobbyist there to wipe his bum. Obama’s campaign does have a couple of lobbyists as advisers but they do not seem to be at the same level as the McCain group. I just cannot get over how a company says everything is all right one day and 2 days latter, they are going under. Does anyone watch these things? Alternatively, have the lobbyists hoodwinked EVERY politician in Washington.
The time has come to step up the efforts to rid our Government of lobbyists. If you know a lobbyist, render them unable to breed. It is a good start.
Here are a few other items I found regarding Fannie and Freddie’s lobby efforts to bring down our economy and Country. This was in “The Christian Science Monitor” which is probably the last unbiased newspaper in America, go figure.
Over the last decade, Fannie and Freddie together hired nearly every lobby shop in Washington – so many, in fact, that opponents complained that they had trouble finding someone to represent their interests.
In addition, Fannie and Freddie supported a vast network of charities, often specifically linked to members of Congress.
SOURCE: Center for Responsive Politics/Rich Clabaugh–STAFF
It has to stop. Lobbyists will destroy America. Do whatever you have to, but start with notifying your Congressman that if they have taken dollar one from lobbyists, no more votes, period. If they have taken money, they are CROOKS, Corrupted politicians that need to be removed, charged, found guilty of treason and hanged.
But that is up to the voter and so far, we have been stupid.
Friday, September 5, 2008
Yes Jack, You Are A BAD Man!
Jack Abramoff, the now-disgraced lobbyist behind a corruption scandal that ensnared several prominent lawmakers and Washington power brokers a few years ago, pleaded with a federal judge to reduce his sentence in a letter sent yesterday, apologizing for his "blundering" but saying, he is not a "bad man."
"I am not a bad man (although to read all the news articles one would think I was Osama Bin Laden), but I did many bad things," he wrote. "I lied to clients, even while working to get them the results they expected. I cheated my law firm and took advantage of public officials. And, while I gave millions of dollars to charities, I thought I could then skirt the rules in paying the right amount of money to the government in taxes."
"I have a lot to make up for and a lot of amends to make," he wrote. "If I ever can earn more than a mere living again, I will be paying back those I have harmed for the rest of my life. However, little is accomplished by delaying that day by my being jailed longer than is necessary." (Read; I need to get back to work screwing people over so I can make more money.)
Sorry Jack. You just don’t get it. All those things you mention DO MAKE YOU A VERY BAD MAN!
Not only should Abramoff stay in jail for the full 11 years (to bad it will only be 8 years) but also there is a very good treason case to be made against him and Treason carries the death penalty.
One of the truly great ills that our Country has is Lobbyist. Until a Constitutional amendment is passed that FORBIDS all types of lobbying. Our Country is no better than the “Third World” corruption centers that we always complain about.
"I come before you as a broken man," Abramoff said at his sentencing before U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle. "I'm not the same man who happily and arrogantly engaged in a lifestyle of political and business corruption." He knew what he was doing! He knew he was tearing away the very fabric of our Government! Yet he still wanted leniency. This unmitigated Traitor has spent his time in prison cooperating with a book that portrays him much differently: as a victim of Washington politics. This is the “yes I tried to buy Politicians, but they really wanted to be bought” defense.
Defense attorney Abbe Lowell portrayed Abramoff as a conflicted man. Yes, he corrupted politicians with golf junkets, expensive meals and luxury seats at sporting events. But he also donated millions of dollars to charity, and his good deeds were catalogued in hundreds of letters from friends. However, as it turns out, many of those donations were made in the name of Politicians, or to their favorite charity, for their support. That’s like saying I killed the whole family so no one would get survivors guilt.
McCain ran the hearings that helped bring Abramoff down, yet still plays footsie with other big name lobbyists. Obama has banned lobbyists from being involved in his campaign. Nevertheless, one thing the Abramoff case brings to light is how pervasive corruption is in Washington. Moreover, the only way to combat the problem is to COMPLETELY BAN LOBBYISTS! Until that happens, quit saying we are a “Government of the people, by the people”. The lobbyists govern us; Government of the lemmings, by the Lobbyists.
"I am not a bad man (although to read all the news articles one would think I was Osama Bin Laden), but I did many bad things," he wrote. "I lied to clients, even while working to get them the results they expected. I cheated my law firm and took advantage of public officials. And, while I gave millions of dollars to charities, I thought I could then skirt the rules in paying the right amount of money to the government in taxes."
"I have a lot to make up for and a lot of amends to make," he wrote. "If I ever can earn more than a mere living again, I will be paying back those I have harmed for the rest of my life. However, little is accomplished by delaying that day by my being jailed longer than is necessary." (Read; I need to get back to work screwing people over so I can make more money.)
Sorry Jack. You just don’t get it. All those things you mention DO MAKE YOU A VERY BAD MAN!
Not only should Abramoff stay in jail for the full 11 years (to bad it will only be 8 years) but also there is a very good treason case to be made against him and Treason carries the death penalty.
One of the truly great ills that our Country has is Lobbyist. Until a Constitutional amendment is passed that FORBIDS all types of lobbying. Our Country is no better than the “Third World” corruption centers that we always complain about.
"I come before you as a broken man," Abramoff said at his sentencing before U.S. District Judge Ellen Segal Huvelle. "I'm not the same man who happily and arrogantly engaged in a lifestyle of political and business corruption." He knew what he was doing! He knew he was tearing away the very fabric of our Government! Yet he still wanted leniency. This unmitigated Traitor has spent his time in prison cooperating with a book that portrays him much differently: as a victim of Washington politics. This is the “yes I tried to buy Politicians, but they really wanted to be bought” defense.
Defense attorney Abbe Lowell portrayed Abramoff as a conflicted man. Yes, he corrupted politicians with golf junkets, expensive meals and luxury seats at sporting events. But he also donated millions of dollars to charity, and his good deeds were catalogued in hundreds of letters from friends. However, as it turns out, many of those donations were made in the name of Politicians, or to their favorite charity, for their support. That’s like saying I killed the whole family so no one would get survivors guilt.
McCain ran the hearings that helped bring Abramoff down, yet still plays footsie with other big name lobbyists. Obama has banned lobbyists from being involved in his campaign. Nevertheless, one thing the Abramoff case brings to light is how pervasive corruption is in Washington. Moreover, the only way to combat the problem is to COMPLETELY BAN LOBBYISTS! Until that happens, quit saying we are a “Government of the people, by the people”. The lobbyists govern us; Government of the lemmings, by the Lobbyists.
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