Sen Kerry targets bailout bank over golf soiree
"I'm sick and tired of picking up the newspaper and reading about another idiotic abuse of taxpayer money, while our country is on the brink," Sen. John Kerry, a Massachusetts Democrat, said in a statement released to Reuters.
The hypocrisy and irony! A Massachusetts Democrat who voted for the most massive increase in government spending, that's due to wreck not only the economy, but the economy for our next generation is sick and tired about some bank's abuse of taxpayer money?
Reading this makes me harken back to this anti-drug commercial from the 1980's:
Kerry: Who taught you how to waste money like that?
Banker: I learned it by watching you, Senator!
Tuesday, February 24, 2009
Saturday, February 21, 2009
Nationalizing Troubled Banks - not such a bad idea?
At first glance, the thought of nationalizing troubled banks (namely BankofAmerica and CitiGroup) sounds ludicrous, but after some careful consideration, that may be exactly what we need to do, to get rid of them for good, nice and fast.
We have all been to the DMV before, perhaps interfaced with the IRS and other govt agencies and services. We are all accustomed to the "govt service" that we are forced to deal with, when interfacing with govt entities and services. Everything from the long lines, extremely slow and poor service makes us all cringe anytime we have to deal with them. Picture for a moment, the same style service and operation at your nearest bank, something you deal with daily, weekly or monthly.
You are probably saying to yourself, " no way! I would immediately withdraw my money and place it someplace else.. non govt owned." Multiply that logic x 100, x 1000 x 1,000,000 people in the exact same position you are in.
That's precisely what would happen, if the govt were to nationalize the troubled banks. A bank is only as good as the deposits it holds. Without any deposits, the bank is worthless. A nationalized bank, would literally cause a run on the bank, turning that bad bank into a non-bank and wiping them out for good. Together, the govt, their decision to nationalize the bank and the useless management struture that is still in place would give us exactly what we have been waiting for. It would do away with these troubled, worthless banks in a much more effective way.
We all know the govt is not capable of running anything. We saw what happened with the "GSE's" Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac. They couldn't even run a profitable company.. and we are to expect them to turnaround a bad bank and make it profitable? I'm sure you are laughing just as I am.
I think that's what we really need. Bad bank nationalization. Sure, it wipes out the common stock holders, perhaps even the preferred and bond holders.. but it sure beats pouring trillions more into the system, realizing it didn't work, and wiping out the tax payers in the process.
We have all been to the DMV before, perhaps interfaced with the IRS and other govt agencies and services. We are all accustomed to the "govt service" that we are forced to deal with, when interfacing with govt entities and services. Everything from the long lines, extremely slow and poor service makes us all cringe anytime we have to deal with them. Picture for a moment, the same style service and operation at your nearest bank, something you deal with daily, weekly or monthly.
You are probably saying to yourself, " no way! I would immediately withdraw my money and place it someplace else.. non govt owned." Multiply that logic x 100, x 1000 x 1,000,000 people in the exact same position you are in.
That's precisely what would happen, if the govt were to nationalize the troubled banks. A bank is only as good as the deposits it holds. Without any deposits, the bank is worthless. A nationalized bank, would literally cause a run on the bank, turning that bad bank into a non-bank and wiping them out for good. Together, the govt, their decision to nationalize the bank and the useless management struture that is still in place would give us exactly what we have been waiting for. It would do away with these troubled, worthless banks in a much more effective way.
We all know the govt is not capable of running anything. We saw what happened with the "GSE's" Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac. They couldn't even run a profitable company.. and we are to expect them to turnaround a bad bank and make it profitable? I'm sure you are laughing just as I am.
I think that's what we really need. Bad bank nationalization. Sure, it wipes out the common stock holders, perhaps even the preferred and bond holders.. but it sure beats pouring trillions more into the system, realizing it didn't work, and wiping out the tax payers in the process.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Inflation Up - This is a Surprise?
Wholesale Inflation Takes Biggest Jump in 6 Months
To those of us with common sense - meaning us peasants not living in DC - this was a long time coming and it's just the beginning. The headline states inflation is at its 6 month high. Well, what did we start doing about six months ago? Here's a hint: it involved the Federal Reserve and a giant printer. Yes! We started printing money like it was going out of style.
The primary cause for inflation occurs when the government prints an excess supply of money. Just like anything else, when you have an excess of anything it becomes less valuable. That's why diamonds are so precious and dirt is dirt. When there's excess money, prices shoot up. This phenomena that many of us learned in college (or even high school) economics is called a demand-pull.
According to the article: "Despite the big jump in wholesale prices in January, economists do not believe inflation is on the verge of becoming a problem, given the country's deep recession."
Oh really? These must be the same economists who thought credit default swaps and sub-prime mortgages were a great idea. Inflation is up a little as a result of a few hundred billion dollars printed over the Summer, how will inflation react to the trillions of dollars in bailouts, stimulus, and "Fed injections" that have been pumped out since then? All of these programs have a ripple effect, and if we continue down this dangerous path of irresponsible government nanny-ing, we're going to see 2008 and 2009 as the good old days, when if we saw a dollar bill on the street we'd actually bother to pick it up.
Keep it up Congress, we'll start stocking up on toilet paper; a more valuable currency.
To those of us with common sense - meaning us peasants not living in DC - this was a long time coming and it's just the beginning. The headline states inflation is at its 6 month high. Well, what did we start doing about six months ago? Here's a hint: it involved the Federal Reserve and a giant printer. Yes! We started printing money like it was going out of style.
The primary cause for inflation occurs when the government prints an excess supply of money. Just like anything else, when you have an excess of anything it becomes less valuable. That's why diamonds are so precious and dirt is dirt. When there's excess money, prices shoot up. This phenomena that many of us learned in college (or even high school) economics is called a demand-pull.
According to the article: "Despite the big jump in wholesale prices in January, economists do not believe inflation is on the verge of becoming a problem, given the country's deep recession."
Oh really? These must be the same economists who thought credit default swaps and sub-prime mortgages were a great idea. Inflation is up a little as a result of a few hundred billion dollars printed over the Summer, how will inflation react to the trillions of dollars in bailouts, stimulus, and "Fed injections" that have been pumped out since then? All of these programs have a ripple effect, and if we continue down this dangerous path of irresponsible government nanny-ing, we're going to see 2008 and 2009 as the good old days, when if we saw a dollar bill on the street we'd actually bother to pick it up.
Keep it up Congress, we'll start stocking up on toilet paper; a more valuable currency.
Wednesday, February 11, 2009
Chuck Schumer - The Poster Boy for Term Limits
Watch this 16 second clip, and you'll see a senator who's so out of touch with his constituency you have to wonder how this guy manages to get re-elected term after term.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Busy Signal On Capitol Hill
If you've been trying to contact your Congressman or Congresswoman to tell them how bad of an idea this Stimulus Bill is - and I most certainly hope you are - then you may have noticed that you're getting a busy signal more often than you're getting anything else.
Somehow, I don't think people are swarming the phones telling Congress how great of a bill this is. America is making it loud and clear that this bill is a disaster waiting to happen.
If you haven't contacted your Senator yet, please do so. If you're even half as mad as I am, then you have to make your voice heard.
Since the phones are all tied up, try email or fax. You can find those numbers in my previous post. I didn't bother to write to Senator Chuck Schumer, who believes the bigger the bill the better. However, I did send a fax to New York's new senator Kirsten Gillibrand. Democratic Senator Gillibrand voted against the bailout as a New York state representative; which shows more guts and sense than many of her male Republican counterparts.
Unfortunately, I don't believe she'll be breaking ranks on this one, which is a terrible disappointment for what appeared to be an otherwise very positive looking Senator.
My fax is below in case you wish to use any part of it:
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand
531 Dirksen Senate Office Building,
District of Columbia 20510-3204
Fax: (202) 228-0282
Dear Senator Gillibrand:
Upon hearing of your nomination, I read your record and was pleased to see how you voted steadfast against the Bailout. As a New Yorker and an American, I am proud to have such a fiscally responsible Senator.
However, this Stimulus Bill is of great concern to me and many others who I speak to. The people mistrust their government. There is a tremendous record of irresponsibility and overspending, and I believe the government is now overreaching like never before. No other entity in the United States of America but the Federal Government would dare think that you can spend and spend your way out of your problems.
Please consider past results: TARP was passed, and no one knows where the money went and how it was used. The government can use words such as oversight, but even with the best of intentions it simply does not happen. The government's record on responsible spending does not exist. Trusting the government with another trillion in spending would be equivalent to letting an alcoholic run a liquor store or a drug addict run a pharmacy.
I also see many prominent people, including our President saying how bleak our circumstances are, and we must act now. Rash action without thinking things through does not work. I see these calls for immediate action as scare tactics, or when one watches an infomercial, where if we "act now" we get additional junk.
I hope you once again can see the responsible side, and choose to say no. Without a doubt we are going through hard times, but burdening our children with trillions of dollars of debt so we can supposedly avoid hard times is not only selfish, but doomed to fail.
This is being sent by facsimile since your web site does not post an email, nor can I reach your office by telephone. Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Somehow, I don't think people are swarming the phones telling Congress how great of a bill this is. America is making it loud and clear that this bill is a disaster waiting to happen.
If you haven't contacted your Senator yet, please do so. If you're even half as mad as I am, then you have to make your voice heard.
Since the phones are all tied up, try email or fax. You can find those numbers in my previous post. I didn't bother to write to Senator Chuck Schumer, who believes the bigger the bill the better. However, I did send a fax to New York's new senator Kirsten Gillibrand. Democratic Senator Gillibrand voted against the bailout as a New York state representative; which shows more guts and sense than many of her male Republican counterparts.
Unfortunately, I don't believe she'll be breaking ranks on this one, which is a terrible disappointment for what appeared to be an otherwise very positive looking Senator.
My fax is below in case you wish to use any part of it:
Senator Kirsten Gillibrand
531 Dirksen Senate Office Building,
District of Columbia 20510-3204
Fax: (202) 228-0282
Dear Senator Gillibrand:
Upon hearing of your nomination, I read your record and was pleased to see how you voted steadfast against the Bailout. As a New Yorker and an American, I am proud to have such a fiscally responsible Senator.
However, this Stimulus Bill is of great concern to me and many others who I speak to. The people mistrust their government. There is a tremendous record of irresponsibility and overspending, and I believe the government is now overreaching like never before. No other entity in the United States of America but the Federal Government would dare think that you can spend and spend your way out of your problems.
Please consider past results: TARP was passed, and no one knows where the money went and how it was used. The government can use words such as oversight, but even with the best of intentions it simply does not happen. The government's record on responsible spending does not exist. Trusting the government with another trillion in spending would be equivalent to letting an alcoholic run a liquor store or a drug addict run a pharmacy.
I also see many prominent people, including our President saying how bleak our circumstances are, and we must act now. Rash action without thinking things through does not work. I see these calls for immediate action as scare tactics, or when one watches an infomercial, where if we "act now" we get additional junk.
I hope you once again can see the responsible side, and choose to say no. Without a doubt we are going through hard times, but burdening our children with trillions of dollars of debt so we can supposedly avoid hard times is not only selfish, but doomed to fail.
This is being sent by facsimile since your web site does not post an email, nor can I reach your office by telephone. Thank you for taking the time to read this.
Friday, February 6, 2009
Say NO to 780,000,000,000.00
The battle lines have been drawn between sanity and insanity. No one else in the United States of America but the Federal Government would ever dare spend so much money without any idea how to pay for it. How do you stimulate an economy by borrowing an astronomical amount from China and/or by printing it in the basement? You can't.
The number is a "compromised" 780,000,000,000.00. Not 780 billion, or 780b. 780,000,000,000.00. Take a good look at that number. If the idea of government spending its way into prosperity worked, why didn't we spend this much when times were good?
Isn't anyone looking at past results? We passed this idiotic TARP bill and the government doesn't even know where the money went. Can you trust the government with a reputation for irresponsible spending with that kind of money? Would you let an alcoholic run a liquor store or a drug addict a pharmacy?
And what's with our President? Every day he gets on the mike and says how bleak our circumstances are. What happened to his campaign of hope, and optimism? I call what he's doing right now scare tactics. He's trying to scare us into supporting this stimulus bill as our only hope of recovery.
I hope you're with me when you say you don't believe it. You don't believe the government is more capable of spending your tax dollars than you are. You don't believe that shouldering generations of Americans with massive debt is an appropriate response for difficult times. You don't believe that these congressman and congresswomen (who just voted themselves in a pay increase THREE TIMES the annual norm) have our best interests at heart, and/or know what they're doing.
If so, it's not enough to sit back and complain. We really need to make our voices heard.
Write Your Representative
Contact Your Senator
Or just call the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask for your Senators and your representative. Tell them what you think. Tell your friends/family/enemies to do the same. This is more than just another stupid bill in Congress - this is our future.
The number is a "compromised" 780,000,000,000.00. Not 780 billion, or 780b. 780,000,000,000.00. Take a good look at that number. If the idea of government spending its way into prosperity worked, why didn't we spend this much when times were good?
Isn't anyone looking at past results? We passed this idiotic TARP bill and the government doesn't even know where the money went. Can you trust the government with a reputation for irresponsible spending with that kind of money? Would you let an alcoholic run a liquor store or a drug addict a pharmacy?
And what's with our President? Every day he gets on the mike and says how bleak our circumstances are. What happened to his campaign of hope, and optimism? I call what he's doing right now scare tactics. He's trying to scare us into supporting this stimulus bill as our only hope of recovery.
I hope you're with me when you say you don't believe it. You don't believe the government is more capable of spending your tax dollars than you are. You don't believe that shouldering generations of Americans with massive debt is an appropriate response for difficult times. You don't believe that these congressman and congresswomen (who just voted themselves in a pay increase THREE TIMES the annual norm) have our best interests at heart, and/or know what they're doing.
If so, it's not enough to sit back and complain. We really need to make our voices heard.
Write Your Representative
Contact Your Senator
Or just call the Capitol switchboard at 202-224-3121 and ask for your Senators and your representative. Tell them what you think. Tell your friends/family/enemies to do the same. This is more than just another stupid bill in Congress - this is our future.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Executive Pay: A Decent Day for Free Market Capitalism
President Obama now says that senior executive compensation will be capped at $500,000 for those companies receiving "exceptional assistance" from the government. Be happy about this, but not because we want to punish those big bad Wall Street executives.
This is good. Anyone watching CNBC and/or Fox Business when Congress passed TARP or approved a bailout for AIG, Citi, or any other bankruptcy deserving company/industry. Everyone on the trading floor was cheering and patting each other on the back. The DOW went up. Those jerks were thrilled about receiving welfare. As a business owner, the last thing I want is the government getting involved in any way, shape or form in my business.
Sorry Wall Street, most of us learned a long time ago there's no free lunch. These guys are worse than the people who take a "free vacation", not realizing that they need to sit through a very high pressure time share sales pitch.
Let the government put more regulations on these bailouts. Make them so unattractive that no company has any interest in taking them. The government has no idea how to run these companies. Look at the SEC. People were reporting this Madoff scam for years, and the SEC looked the other way. These are the guys who want to run Wall Street and health care.
On the other hand, don't be fooled. President Obama started his talk by explaining the urgency of this so-called Stimulus Plan, and then cleverly switched over to executive pay. Popularity for the Stimulus Plan is dropping like an anchor, as it should. The President is trying to tie executive pay together with the nonsense of the Stimulus Plan. They have nothing to do with each other.
This is good. Anyone watching CNBC and/or Fox Business when Congress passed TARP or approved a bailout for AIG, Citi, or any other bankruptcy deserving company/industry. Everyone on the trading floor was cheering and patting each other on the back. The DOW went up. Those jerks were thrilled about receiving welfare. As a business owner, the last thing I want is the government getting involved in any way, shape or form in my business.
Sorry Wall Street, most of us learned a long time ago there's no free lunch. These guys are worse than the people who take a "free vacation", not realizing that they need to sit through a very high pressure time share sales pitch.
Let the government put more regulations on these bailouts. Make them so unattractive that no company has any interest in taking them. The government has no idea how to run these companies. Look at the SEC. People were reporting this Madoff scam for years, and the SEC looked the other way. These are the guys who want to run Wall Street and health care.
On the other hand, don't be fooled. President Obama started his talk by explaining the urgency of this so-called Stimulus Plan, and then cleverly switched over to executive pay. Popularity for the Stimulus Plan is dropping like an anchor, as it should. The President is trying to tie executive pay together with the nonsense of the Stimulus Plan. They have nothing to do with each other.
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