and the Band Played On
Posted: September 12, 2009 Filed under: Bailout Blues, Equity Markets, Main Stream Media, Surreality, The Bonus Class, U.S. Economy, Voter Ignorance | Tags: bank failure, Banking, banking cartel, banking regulation, FDic Comments Off on and the Band Played On
So the so-called conservatives are having their so-called freedom event with so-called commentators and news anchors from so-called news stations. It’s all a side show to the real problems of the country. It’s easy to misplace anger in an environment where misinformants rule the airwaves.
So, let me show you where the real theft is happening, in case you may have missed it.
First, the FDIC released yet another move towards creating a financial banking cartel. Another one bites the dust.
Corus Bank, National Association, Chicago, Illinois, was closed today by the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency, which appointed the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) as receiver. To protect the depositors, the FDIC entered into a purchase and assumption agreement with MB Financial Bank, National Association, Chicago, Illinois, to assume all of the deposits of Corus Bank, N.A.
But you know there’s really nothing to see here at the NY Times: A Year After a Cataclysm, Little Change on Wall St. Much more important to focus on creeping socialism and taking our government back from imagined enemies.
One year after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, the surprise is not how much has changed in the financial industry, but how little.
Backstopped by huge federal guarantees, the biggest banks have restructured only around the edges. Employment in the industry has fallen just 8 percent since last September. Only a handful of big hedge funds have closed. Pay is already returning to precrash levels, topped by the 30,000 employees of Goldman Sachs, who are on track to earn an average of $700,000 this year. Nor are major pay cuts likely, according to a report last week from J.P. Morgan Securities. Executives at most big banks have kept their jobs. Financial stocks have soared since their winter lows.
No nothing to see here. Wait, a minute. Maybe we should listen to people with some expertise instead of Glenn Beck or Rush Limbaugh who couldn’t even get one college degree or a freshman’s worth of credits between them . Maybe we shouldn’t focus on sycophants like Chris Matthews or Keith Olbermann who just want to hear themselves talk and hump each others legs until they tingle.
In fact, though, regulators and lawmakers have spent most of the last year trying to save the financial industry, rather than transform it. In the short run, their efforts have succeeded. Citigroup and other wounded banks have avoided bankruptcy, and the economy has sidestepped a depression. But the same investors and economists who predicted, and in some cases profited from, the collapse last fall say the rescue has come at an extraordinary cost. They warn that if the industry’s systemic risks are not addressed, they could cause an even bigger crisis — in years, not decades. Next time, they say, the credit of the United States government may be at risk.
Yup, what have we been talking about here for month after month after month, while we get named called every imaginable insult from one end of the political spectrum to another. I must defy definition if one day I can be called a racist republican ratfucker then be called a greenie and a leftie the next.
Oh, meanwhile …
SCOTUS Reviews “Hillary” the Movie
Posted: August 30, 2009 Filed under: Hillary Clinton: Her Campaign for All of Us, Main Stream Media, SCOTUS, Voter Ignorance | Tags: Austin v. Michigan Chamber of Commerce, Hillary: the Movie, SCOTUS Comments Off on SCOTUS Reviews “Hillary” the Movie{ Physical and Mental Health Warning!!! Watch right wing hate CDS youtubes at your own risk!!!}
Okay, here’s another constitutional question about which I am no authority but sure find interesting. Here’s the link to the NYT and Adam Liptak’s article today called “Supreme Court to Revisit ‘Hillary’ Documentary”. It’s high drama for the court because this basically pits first amendment rights against campaign funding. It’s also pitting interest groups that are usually allies against each other and has made strange bedfellows of the NRA and the ACLU. If the Supreme Court could actually pick away at how Corporations fund political campaigns this day and age I would be relieved, but of course not if it violates the First Amendment. So SCOTUS has to determine the fate of the baby and they’re coming back from their summer vacation early to do so. We also have some increased drama in that the court itself since it as polarized as the country itself and definitely the interest groups that are involved in providing huge campaign donations. I’m intrigued.
Do NOT Buy A Used Health Care Program from This Man!
Posted: July 22, 2009 Filed under: Health care reform, Main Stream Media, New Orleans | Tags: Bobby Jindal, Louisiana, Trickle Down Economics 1 Comment
I’m going to bring out some information I put out on Bobby Jindal in December of last year so you’ll know exactly how little to pay attention to this man. Jindal is obviously positioning himself for a run at national office which doesn’t surprise me at all, because the guy’s been a bigger job hopper than our current POTUS. It’s evident that anything to be learned from any of those short-lived jobs is lost on him because he never puts facts, people, or effectiveness before ideology. He’s a faith-based ideologue. He’s totally convinced of the ‘rightness’ of his view regardless of what the facts are on the ground. Contrary to his insistence that Louisiana is improving when it isn’t, and contrary to his insistent that he’s cut state bureaucracy when the payrolls have gone up, he’s still just a man that never lets facts get in the way of a good dogmatic speech opportunity. I don’t think the man exactly lies, he just appears to be totally delusional.
I’ve written two things on him. One being his insistence that the state of Louisiana is all hunky dory just cause he’s in office. It’s not, our unemployment statistics are moving up now like the rest of the country because the FEMA and Federal Hurricane monies that were stimulating our economies are running out. We’re getting our dose of recession and it’s not going to improve for us any time soon. Of course, it goes against his ideology to suggest that government funding may have actually helped our state, so he just prefers to take all the credit himself.
He also has been insisting he’s passed these tough ethic laws, which is true, but he conveniently forgets to mention he’s exempted the governor’s office. Ask Jindal about those tickets to see Miley Cyrus at the SuperDome if you’re a reporter and you get a chance.
Governor Bobby Jindal, in the midst of Day 4 of a special session on ethics, is having to deal with a controversy surrounding Disney sensation, Hannah Montana. 9NEWS has learned that Governor Jindal’s chief of staff and several state legislators were able to get tickets for free. WAFB’s Jim Shannon has the story.
Much has been said down at the legislature about free tickets and lavish meals for lawmakers and appointed state employees. Granted, all of that talk is for future legislation. However, the governor’s office is not ignoring the perks that come with being governor. Governor Bobby Jindal’s special session on ethics is moving through the legislature on a fast pace. Amid cries of no more fat cat meals or tickets to sporting events and concerts, the governor is dealing with a ticket controversy within his own office.
A Deadly Unwind
Posted: May 23, 2009 Filed under: Bailout Blues, Global Financial Crisis, Main Stream Media, U.S. Economy | Tags: automobile dealers, bailouts, Chrysler bankruptcy, liquidation Comments Off on A Deadly Unwind
My dad was a small town Ford dealer (Council Bluffs, IA). Dad was fortunate enough to have a very rich mentor that put him into the dealer development program when I wasn’t even walking and so we moved to what I still believe is the middle of no where and put down roots. I don’t know if you’ve got much experience in a small town, but the local car dealers are actually pretty big businesses for them. My dad headed up blood drives and the United Way. He belonged to the Chamber of Commerce. When Dad was younger he volunteered for everything. As he got older, he wrote a lot of checks. He helped my Mom establish a Victorian house museum that still is world-renown. He always bought tons of tickets to the college world series to hand out to every one who walked in the door. He sponsored little league teams and bought advertising in the local newspapers and TV stations. His 50-100 employees were with dad for as long as I can remember. Not only the mechanics and the office folks stayed with Dad, but also the car salesmen. They were my family too. When dad retired in the 1980s after surviving those horrible energy crisis years, I came to look back on how central the car business is to small town America. Actually, Dad also sold a lot of trucks because we lived in farm country.
I’m thinking more and more about this as well as having a lot of discussions with Dad on the unwinding of the great 
American car companies. In a way, it feels like the unwinding of small America cities and a way of living. Chrysler and GM are dumping dealers all over the country. Most of the surviving dealerships are not going to look like the way dealerships developed when cars and the car industry were the most American of all business. I’m sure it’s going to be much more efficient and I am certain that each of the US automakers over franchised, but still, there is something about a small town car dealership that is not going to be replaceable. In many towns, it is one of the biggest employers and also a huge source of charitable donations.
It is odd that the first two articles that grabbed me this morning as I drunk my coffee were two contrasting views on the wind down of Chrysler. The first one was all about the finance and the bankruptcy and is on Salon. It’s called “Who is Screwing with the bankruptcy laws”. The second was on the front page of the business section of the NY Times. It goes to directly to the heart of the dealer closings and is entitled “Chrysler Francisees Make Case Against Closure”. Both show exactly how ugly the Chrysler bankruptcy has become.
Nobody Knows You When You’re Down and Out
Posted: May 5, 2009 Filed under: Main Stream Media, New Orleans | Tags: Baghdad on the Mississippi, Mayor Ray Nagin, Political Corruption 5 Comments
The military patrols in front of my house after Hurricane Katrina: Hummers, guns, and soldiers
I moved to New Orleans sight unseen about 14 years ago. It’s a city with much charm and beauty, tons of eccentricities and eccentrics, and it’s own brand of food, architecture and music that make you feel like you’re not quite in the US. For as much culture shock as I experienced when I first moved down here from cold, efficient, clean, crime free, marvelously developed and governed Minneapolis, I’ve learned to love my quirky home. I really don’t feel right when I go other places these days. It always feels like something is missing. I come back again to New Orleans own brand of wonderful food which rivals its music and architecture for my love and adoration. All of them are cheap, readily available, and wonderful. For those of us that live here, those cultural things completely outweigh the lack of amenities and civilities found around the rest of the country.
Hurricane Katrina changed some things. I was hoping that the aftermath would bring the best parts of this city to light so that we would be appreciated as the National Treasure that is New Orleans. It seems folks were fascinated with us for awhile, but there’s always a new thing to distract our fickle media and citizenry. For every celebrity and charity that is still hanging in here with our painfully slow recovery, there is now the old refrain that there is something ‘not quite right’ with us.
The first thing I would like to do is to ask Time Magazine if this headline is really necessary? Is Baghdad Now Safer Than New Orleans? The article uses murder statistics around the world to compare to the level of violence experienced in Baghdad. Even this quote shows the reach to meet the comparison. It further dismisses the roots of our problems which are related to our huge problems with black-on-black crime associated with drug use, poor education systems, and basic lack of opportunity for inner city teenagers. How do the problems of a largely ignored, poorly run and funded US city compare on any level with a city in a developing nation that we invaded only to unleash a set of bloody tribal wars?
Let’s go to the numbers: Caracas, with about 3.2 million people, is in a bloody league of its own, with an estimated murder rate of 130 per 100,000 residents according to government figures. Cape Town is about the same size as Caracas but nearer to Baghdad’s murder rate with 62 violent deaths per 100,000 people. New Orleans, with an estimated post-Katrina population of just over 300,000, is tiny in size compared to its rivals. But the number of murders is huge; figures vary, but even the low estimate puts the city on a par with Cape Town. By way of comparison, Moscow, one of the most violent cities in Europe, has an estimated murder rate of just 9.6 per 100,000 residents. New York City’s murder rate is 6.2, Washington D.C.’s about 32.
Today, the NY Times had a feature article on our goofball mayor, Ray Nagin who may have just achieved the lowest approval rating of all times, any where. Here’s the article: Term Limits Say New Orleans Mayor Can’t Return; Residents Say They Don’t Mind.
In a recent poll by the University of New Orleans, Mr. Nagin was cited as one of the “biggest problems” for the city, coming in third after crime and education. Just 24 percent of residents over all said they approved of the mayor, a drop from 31 percent the year before.
“It’s the worst approval rating we’ve reported since 1986,” when the poll was first conducted, said Robert T. Sims, the director of the university’s survey research center.
Among African-Americans, support dropped to 36 percent from about half of those polled last year. Among whites, who constituted much of Mr. Nagin’s voting base in his first election, the approval rating was 5 percent. (The survey’s margin of sampling error for whites was plus or minus five percentage points.)
Edward F. Renwick, a retired professor of political science at Loyola University and a pollster himself, said he found that figure surprising. “I have hardly ever seen 5 percent,” Dr. Renwick said. On the other hand, he added, “I have never met a white person who doesn’t hate him.”
That sentiment can be seen in a $2 bumper sticker that has become popular in the city’s souvenir shops. In vivid Mardi Gras colors, it says: “May 31, 2010: Nagin’s Last Day. Proud to See Him Gone.”
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