We seem to be getting more stupid, as a nation

I couldn't believe it when I read it:

Texas Teen Jailed For Sarcastic Facebook Comment

So bankers can take literally millions upon millions of dollars from people--stealing it, factually--and aren't even charged with a crime but let one teenager type something sarcastic on a social page and HE'S jailed?

Where on Earth are our priorities?

And that one, above, is on top of this one from the recent past:

Police arrest sidewalk chalk-drawers in LA Occupy protest 

We don't arrest the thieves and liars at Bank of America but we arrest the people outside their banks, writing on the sidewalks in chalk.

Does any of this make any sense at all?  To anyone?  

Well, except to the banksters.

Missouri bank bailout money not repayed

I just found this video last evening:



Yikes.

Let's put pressure on this clown. Here's the link:

http://paybackthebailout.com/

Why people are protesting

Why we occupy: Billionaire John Paulson Paid Zero Taxes For 9 Billion Fee Income We spotted this today: “John Paulson, the most successful hedge-fund manager of all, bet against the mortgage market one year and then bet with Glenn Beck in the gold market the next. Paulson made himself $9 billion in fees in just two years. His current tax bill on that $9 billion? Zero.” Link to original post: http://statspotting.com/2011/04/billionaire-john-paulson-paid-zero-taxes-for-9-billion-fee-income/

More on that "Robin Hood Tax"

Because it's such a great, simple, intelligent and elegant idea. It makes too much sense to not do this, worldwide. Go here, if you would, to sign up for this campaign and show your support: http://robinhoodtax.org/. And please spread the word.

A "Robin Hood Tax" for bankers and banking

I hadn't seen or heard of this idea--a "Robin Hood Tax"--for and on the banking sector. It's described as a "Campaign video by Richard Curtis that could raise hundreds of billions for public services and to tackle poverty and climate change at home and around the world." Not only is it an excellent idea--and a simple one--but it's being supported and promoted, as you can see, in these wonderful, even funny, brief YouTube videos. And after all, who but the bankers will or would be against it? If administered intelligently and responsibly--which is possible, all you skeptics out there--it could help untold millions of the most needy and impoverished people across the globe. Great food for thought. See more here: http://www.robinhoodtax.org.uk. I can't think of anything that needs to go "viral" more than this video--and idea. (Thanks to reader and "friend" rbbrfsh for showing it to me).

Quote of the day on US social justice (with chart)

"We are slowly — and painfully — being forced to realize that we are no longer the America of our imaginations. Our greatness was not enshrined. Being a world leader is less about destiny than focused determination, and it is there that we have faltered. We sold ourselves a pipe dream that everyone could get rich and no one would get hurt — a pipe dream that exploded like a pipe bomb when the already-rich grabbed for all the gold; when they used their fortunes to influence government and gain favors and protection; when everyone else was left to scrounge around their ankles in hopes that a few coins would fall. We have not taken care of the least among us. We have allowed a revolting level of income inequality to develop. We have watched as millions of our fellow countrymen have fallen into poverty. And we have done a poor job of educating our children and now threaten to leave them a country that is a shell of its former self. We should be ashamed. Poor policies and poor choices have led to exceedingly poor outcomes. Our societal chickens have come home to roost." --Charles M. Blow, Op/ed columnist, The New York Times

"We're number one!" Except we're not. Far from it. Link to original post: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/10/29/opinion/blow-americas-exploding-pipe-dream.html?nl=todaysheadlines&emc=tha212

To Washington, from the Vatican, with love

To legislators in Washington: "...the Vatican called Monday for an overhaul of" the "world’s financial systems and a return to a global economy based on ethical behavior and “achievement of a universal common good,' the AP reports. While the Vatican has, in the past, criticized uncontrolled capitalism, the new call goes further, decrying 'an economic liberalism that spurns all rules and controls.'” "The call for greater control and equality in financial markets comes at a time when Republican presidential candidates — many of whom tout their religious credentials on the campaign trail — have called for the repeal of the Dodd-Frank financial reform law aimed at preventing a crisis similar to that of 2008, and as Republicans in both Congress and on the campaign trail continue to back budget cuts that would eviscerate programs that help the poor. At the same time, protesters spurred by the original Occupy Wall Street demonstrations have brought increasing attention rising income inequality, corporate greed, and tax breaks for corporations and the wealthiest Americans." "This isn’t the first time faith leaders have spoken out against so-called religious conservatives who have prioritized tax cuts for the wealthy and repealing financial regulations over helping low-income Americans. A group of Catholic bishops signed a letter to House Speaker John Boehner (R-OH) and Budget Committee Chair Paul Ryan (R-WI) — both practicing Catholics — during the debt limit fight, denouncing budget cuts that disproportionately hurt the poor. Other religious leaders made similar calls, with Rev. Jim Wallis telling Republicans, 'We did not get into fiscal trouble because of poor people. … The poor didn’t cause this. Let’s not make them pay for it.'” Link to original post: http://thinkprogress.org/special/2011/10/24/351277/the-vatican-calls-for-economic-equality-reform-of-world-financial-system/

Notice it's the guy with the money

Senator Bernie Sanders, on our national credit rating

"I find it interesting to see S&P so vigilant today in downgrading the US credit rating. Where were they 4 years ago when they, and other credit rating agencies, helped cause this horrendous recession by providing AAA ratings to worthless sub-prime mortgage securities on behalf of Wall Street investment firms? Where were they last December when Congress and the White House drove up the national debt by $700 billion by extending Bush's tax breaks for the rich?" --Senator Bernie Sanders, Independent, Vermont. Link: https://www.facebook.com/#!/senatorsanders

Important movie this Monday evening

HBO has had a terrific run of putting out good movies to see, of course.  This is a particularly nice change for them, I think, as it's more of a documentary along the lines of "Enron:  The Smartest Guys in the Room."

We all need to see and know just what happened a few years ago so we can maybe also find out if anyone did anything blatantly illegal they should be prosecuted for now.

Oh, and it would be nice if we could and would learn some lessons, so we know what not to repeat.

Look at me, getting all hopeful.

Yeah! Let's cut the welfare rolls!

(Thanks and a hat tip to Radioman for the pic and link).

Link (go here):  http://leftwingconspiracy.com/

Ayn Rand just took it too far

Ayn Rand just took her praise and dedication of and support for Capitalism--unfettered Capitalism--too far.

Completely,  utterly "free markets" leads to things like Gulf of Mexico oil spills and the collapse of both national and international economies and markets, as we've so tragically experienced recently.

Capitalism needs limits because there is no limit to greed.

Sure, we'll sue a German bank...

U.S. sues German bank over home loans

Deutsche Bank is accused of unfairly sticking American taxpayers with a monster tab.

To date, the U.S. government has brought few cases against big Wall Street banks in response to the mortgage crisis that nearly toppled the world's financial system almost three years ago. But the Justice Department today filed suit against Deutsche Bank for hundreds of millions of dollars, alleging that the banking giant unfairly stuck taxpayers with the tab for bad home loans it issued.

The complaint, filed in Federal District Court in New York, accused Deutsche Bank of failing to adequately scrutinize potential borrowers, then lying to government officials about its lapses of due diligence

Yeah, we'll jump all over a foreign, in this case, German, bank.  We'll sue them.  We'll go after them for lying to and cheating and stealing from Americans but an American bank?

Where are the lawsuits against Countrywide?

And since Bank of America bought Countrywide, where are the lawsuits against them?

And while we're at it, where are the lawsuits against Goldman Sachs for both pushing junk loans in one part of the company but then betting those same junk loans will fail in a different part of the same company, all to gain billions of dollars in profits?

Where are THOSE lawsuits?

We know the answer.

The people above pay their representatives "campaign finance" money--far better and more accurately known as bribes--to get whatever they want in the form of legislation and/or, in this case, just to be quiet and leave them alone.

Well, that and the fact that Goldman Sachs is IN the White House, has been for years and is having their way with us.

Lies and the liars who tell them

One of the things that seems most maddening to me has to do with the financial breakdown we've had in the last 2 or 3 years, that it was allowed to happen and that we've done nothing--nothing--to rein in abuse in the system, regulation-wise, and that no one has been prosecuted for outright, blatant abuse of the system and our laws.

It's nearly insane.

It's certainly irresponsible.

And here's a prime example, today, from Yahoo! News on one of their news blogs, "The Lookout".  It seems Alan Greenspan didn't do enough to wreck our economy by allowing the "bubble" he created, years ago as Chairman of the Federal Reserve, now he wants to make sure we don't have any financial oversight of the industry:

Wall Street reform: 

In a recent op-ed in the Financial Times, Alan Greenspan went after Dodd-Frank, the legislation passed by Congress last year to rein in the financial sector. The former Fed chair argued the global financial system is so complicated that almost any regulation is doomed to fail, and that, "with rare exceptions" like the 2008 financial crisis, unregulated markets have a pretty good track record anyway.

Now this case is a little different, because Greenspan was expressing an opinion. And everyone's entitled to an opinion. But the barrage of withering criticism directed at the man who used to be known as "the maestro" made clear this was an opinion largely unsupported by facts. Numerous commentators poked gaping holes in the former Fed chair's argument: For one thing, the 2008 crisis, which nearly toppled the world financial system, shouldn't be glossed over in a parenthesis; for another, it's far from the only exception to global economic stability since the industry was deregulated beginning in the late 1970s; and finally, there's reason to believe that smart regulations can indeed help make sure the financial system functions smoothly.

So we're going to rank Greenspan's claims one level higher on our gauge-- not as completely bogus as the idea that BP spilled less oil in 2010 than previous years, or that no one knew Obama growing up. But not much more accurate.

If one more right-wing or Republican or "Conservative" or even Libertarian person says we don't need any additional financial regulation after the debacle of the last 3 years, I'll at least scream, at minimum.

There's some more real beauties on here, too, if you want to look, like BP saying they didn't spill that much oil this last year:  http://news.yahoo.com/s/yblog_thelookout/20110405/ts_yblog_thelookout/closer-look-are-bp-donald-trump-and-alan-greenspan-telling-the-truth
Background on Mr. Greenspan:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alan_greenspan

One more way Americans show we're just not that bright

Okay, remember oh, so long ago, the big banking financial crisis/scandal/debacle we had that almost brought down our--the world's largest--economy and then, for good measure, the world's economy, too?

Remember that?

Yeah, I thought so.

Remember, too, how the Feds brought a bunch of bankers into the room on Dubya's watch and forced them all to sign that piece of paper and promise to take the multi-billion dollar loans?

Hopefully you heard or read about that.

Well, it all happened and the reasons for the collapse were stupid and irresponsible and then the reasoning behind the loans was questioned--and then later ridiculously, absurdly blamed on the successor to Dubya', the black guy, 'cuz, hey, that's just fun--and then no one was held accountable or responsible for all the insane, illegal home mortgage loans that were created and signed off as AAA rated but actually they were junk.

Okay, confusing, sure but follow me here.

Anyway, we came out, on the other side, a lot worse for wear but at least we're here and not everything has fallen apart.

Well, it just so happens, at the time, that our banks and banking system was falling apart and these big loans were made to American banks, to save our collective, financial and economic butts.

But, surprise, surprise, WE ALSO MADE BIG MULTI-MILLION DOLLAR LOANS TO FOREIGN BANKS.

Check it out:

...foreign banks also relied heavily on the emergency lending program. On one day in late October, Dexia, a Belgian-based European bank, and Depfa, a German subsidiary headquartered in Dublin, each drew about $25 billion in overnight loans. That represented about half of the money that was borrowed by 44 banks that day.

Then it gets worse:

The documents also show that the Arab Banking Corporation took out loans from the discount window during the financial crisis. The central bank of Libya owns a large stake in that bank, according to the bank's web site.

We made big multi-billion dollar loans to an Arabian bank?  Don't they have all our oil money?  Isn't that enough?

Vermont's Senator Bernie Sanders said it best when, yesterday,  he called the Fed discount-window lending "welfare for the rich and powerful."

What conclusion can you come to but that we Americans seem to be the world's largest patsy?

If not humanity's.

And history's.

I wish this were an April Fool's joke.

Try to have a great weekend, y'all.

Link:  http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/us_fed_crisis_lending

Why haven't we made "naked credit default swaps" illegal?

First, a definition:


Credit Default Swap:  A "swap" (trade) designed to transfer the credit exposure of fixed income products between parties.


Or there's this definition:


A specific kind of counterparty agreement which allows the transfer of third party credit risk from one party to the other. One party in the swap is a lender and faces credit riskfrom a third party, and the counterparty in the credit defaultswap agrees to insure this risk in exchange of regularperiodic payments (essentially an insurance premium). If the third party defaults, the party providing insurance will have to purchase from the insured party the defaulted asset. Inturn, the insurer pays the insured the remaining interest on the debt, as well as the principal.


Good luck with a definition of a credit default swap.  Trust me on this.  Google "credit default swap" and go through the list, see if you can understand it.  


Here's the best, simplest definition I could find:  The buyer of a credit swap receives credit protection, whereas the seller of the swap guarantees the credit worthiness of the product. By doing this, the risk of default is transferred from the holder of the fixed income security to the seller of the swap. 


What it boils down to is a giant ripoff, designed by JP Morgan and company:


The first CDS contract was introduced by JP Morgan in 1997 and by mid-2007, the value of the market had ballooned to an estimated $45 trillion, according to the International Swaps and Derivatives Association - over twice the size of the U.S. stock market.


And as anyone who has read anything by Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone magazine would know, these are a) not really, officially "insurance" at all and so b) are not regulated by the Federal Government.  The banking community created a $45 trillion dollar market and has kept it away from any regulation which would be fine but if this market crashes, as it nearly did in 2008, it could take down not just the US markets but the world's.


So here's what's been going on, and what a "naked credit default swap" is, as told by that same Matt Taibbi, on his blog (link below):  


In insurance...you can’t buy policies on someone else’s property. But in finance, you can buy credit default protection on anything, whether you own the underlying property or not. This is called a naked credit default swap. So if Bank of America is holding a billion dollars in mortgage-backed securities, Goldman Sachs can actually buy swaps on all of those MBS, even though it doesn’t own them. Your problem with this is that you don’t understand it because you think it doesn’t make sense, and that’s because it doesn’t make sense – a naked CDS is totally indistinguishable from gambling, but it’s legal. There was an ill-fated attempt by Byron Dorgan to outlaw naked CDS in the negotiations for the Dodd-Frank bill, but that attempt failed. 


So, other than the fact that Goldman Sachs is inside the White House and has been for at least decades and the fact that the banking industry virtually runs, if not owns our government, why have we not made "credit default swaps" and especially "naked credit default swaps" illegal?  It's a great question.  CDS's and the banking industry nearly wrecked our economy and they're still running the game.


Why are you not mad as hell?


And why aren't you raising hell with your Congressman about this?


(Well, other than the fact that we're all just trying to keep our jobs, not have our unions wrecked by the Republicans, keep up our payments on our homes and our outrageously-high health care, etc., etc.)


Final note:  If you want to get a great, enjoyable, even fun, if sick read that will also tell you where America has been economically for the last decade or so and where we likely still are, go get Matt Taibbi's
 book Griftopia:  Bubble Machines, Vampire Squids, and the Long Con That Is Breaking America.  You'll be very glad you did.


Links:  http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/mailbag-friedman-naked-swaps-and-madoff-20110228
http://www.investopedia.com/articles/optioninvestor/08/cds.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Credit_default_swap
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/exclusive-excerpt-america-on-sale-from-matt-taibbis-griftopia-20101018
http://www.randomhouse.com/catalog/display.pperl/9780385529952.html

"This Was Never About the Little Guy" (guest post)

There were approximtely $1.4 trillion worth of subprime loans outstanding in the United States by the end of 2007. By the first quarter of 2009, there were forclosure filings against approximately 4.4 million properties. If it was only the subprime market's fault, $1.4 trillion would have covered the entire problem, right?

Yet the Federal Reserve, the treasury, and the FDIC forked out $13 trillion to fix the housing “correction”… With all that money, the government could have bought up every residential mortgage in the country – there were about $11.9 trillion  worth at the end of December 2008 – and still have had about a trillion left over to buy homes for every American who couldn’t afford them.

--Nomi Prin, former VP at Goldman Sachs from her book It Takes a Pillage: Behind the Bailouts, Bonuses, and Backroom Deals from Washington to Wall Street  (with thanks for the reference to Matt Taibbi of Rolling Stone Magazine).  Ms. Prin "frequently makes the point that the bailouts were more about paying off bets than they were about stabilizing the economy."

We've been had as chumps.

Try to have a great weekend, y'all.

Links:  http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/blogs/taibblog/mailbag-friedman-naked-swaps-and-madoff-20110228

http://www.nomiprins.com/it-takes-a-pillage/

From a friend today on Facebook, on the banks

His post: 

I would like to congratulate the banking industry for a job well done!



Now we have all the clowns in Washington in the same car. They want to reward you on putting 1 in 5 Americans on unemployment. Taking the whole global economy to it's k...nees. Your unbridled greed in the commodity markets have caused many a parent worldwide to worry on how they can fed their children. Playing with grain futures that is so you after all. Those end of year bonuses do look good, don't they. After all you do have to spend more time in the Hampton's, too get away from all the slums in the city.


Taking peoples nest eggs and a making an omelet out of them.


Now they want to give you total control of the housing market. So here's your reward Fannie-Mae and Freddie-Mac. Come on how can you mess up the housing sector.


Good job bankers keep up your contempt of those around you and I hope that someday not to repay you for your actions.


--From a taxpayer in need
 
My response:
 
AND they're still fighting to be totally, completely and utterly unregulated, as they are right this moment---and they have the Republicans fighting for them so it doesn't happen!! What a great bunch of people!

That whole "dust up" in Wisconsin over private sector pay?

So Governor Walker, in Wisconsin, thinks collective bargaining should be thrown out and done away with for whatever reason, as though the public sector makes so much money?

As was so well pointed out last evening on "Real Time with Bill Maher" on HBO, the bankers took us all, nationally and internationally, to the financial cleaners, nearly taking down the entire world economy, while making off with billions of dollars for themselves, but we want to balance the books on the backs of the teachers, police and fire departments in the country, as is so well shown in Wisconsin right now.

So much for the public sector being paid more than the private sector:

May 20, 2010


Another Wage Gap: Public Sector vs. Private Sector

A report released in April 2010 reveals a continuing gap between the wages paid to employees in the public sector compared to those working for private companies. That's not news. But interestingly, the report found that, even when benefits are factored in, public sector employees still earn less than their private sector counterparts.
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Commissioned by the Center for State and Local Government Excellence and the National Institute on Retirement Security (NIRS), “Out of Balance? Comparing Public and Private Sector Compensation over 20 Years,” examined pay data over 2 decades and found the gap wider now than in years past.


Among the findings:
Public sector jobs typically require more education than private sector jobs. About 48% of public sector employees have completed college, compared to 23% of people working in the private sector.


When comparing employees with comparable earnings determinants, such as education level and work experience, state workers earn about 11% less than their counterparts in the private sector, and local workers about 12% less.


The pay gap has increased over the last 15 years.


It is generally accepted that public employees earn less because their benefits tend to make up the difference. “For a long time,” says Beth Almeida, NIRS executive director, “there has been a trade-off in public sector jobs—better benefits come with lower pay as compared with private sector jobs. This study tells us that this is still true today.”
But the report adds another facet. “What’s striking is that, on a total compensation basis—looking at pay and benefits—employees of state and local government still earn less than their private sector counterparts.” The report found the difference to be 6.8% for state employees, and 7.4% for local employees.
“The picture is clear,” according to Keith A. Bender, a co-author of the report and an associate professor of Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. “In an apples-to-apples comparison, state and local government employees receive less compensation than their private sector counterparts.”
Could that be a reason some public sector jobs remain chronically unfilled? It might be, said Elizabeth K. Kellar, president and CEO of the Center for State and Local Government Excellence. “Hiring managers told us (in another recent study) that, despite the economy, they find it difficult to fill vacancies for highly-skilled positions such as engineering, environmental sciences, information technology and healthcare professionals. The compensation gap may have something to do with this.”

Why are people not pissed off at the bankers?
 
Why have we not thrown any of those people in jail already?  The did, in fact, break laws and it's verifiable.
 
God, we're a stupid people.
 
Link to original post:  http://compensation.blr.com/Compensation-news/Compensation/Administrative-Exemption/Another-Wage-Gap-Public-Sector-vs.-Private-Sector/

3 involved men

There are 3 men, currently, who are very involved with the current negotiations for the economic stimulus and this administration whose approaches are very different.

Two are very similar while the third is very different in their approaches.

It seems that Senator John Cornyn (R., Tx) and Represetative John Boehner (R., OH) both have a "Jones", so to speak, to grandstand and oppose things from the Democrats.

It's not like it's a surprise it's just frustrating.

Rep. Boehner seems to really enjoy the limelight, as much and frequently as possible. I get the sense he isn't sure what he likes more--his own photo on paper or footage of himself on television.

Both Cornyn and Boehner seem to want to block progress just to be blocking progress.

The thing is, we're in one heck of an ugly financial mess right now and we need to put politics aside, unfortunately for these two men, and work for solutions.

It's very unfortunate for them because in the first place, the Republican leadership in the past 8 years got us to where we are today and, as I said here earlier, if we get the solutions we do need--as we should--now, with this Democratic President, the Republicans run the risk of being out of power for many years to come.

A large legacy of screw-ups from the Bush years, followed by success in Obama years will doom them for a long time to come, certainly. (And here's hoping).

Republicans, right now, keep saying we need to put in more tax cuts into the stimulus package and not just spending.

Well, they handed out their tax cuts during the just-left Bush administration--only it was to the very wealthy of the country. Also, we have debt out the wazoo. How do you lower taxes further when we can't pay for what we already get? (But that's another column: tax cuts vs. insanely large spending--neither of which we can afford).

The fact is, we need to solve these very large problems because so many people's lives and livelihoods are at stake now. People have already lost their life savings or their jobs, due to this banking, economic mess.

It's not a time for stalling and blocking. It's a time for solutions.

The third person I mentioned is one Bill Perkins, from Houston, Texas.

Have you seen the large ads Mr. Perkins has run in newspapers either mocking Washington or just asking where the trillions of dollars in bailouts went in the last few months?

They're huge.

And frequent.

He's paying big money to ask these questions.

And I think they need to be asked.

And answered.

It seeemed, for a while there, that no one in Washington wanted to even ASK where the money for the first 1/2 of the bank's bailout went, let alone give Americans answers.

So here's to Mr. Perkins--thank you from the rest of us.

We'd like to know where this boondoggle has gone, too.

Who knows? We might avoid throwing away many more millions--or even billions--of taxpaid dollars, all in a supposed attempt to "kickstart the economy."