Day: December 9, 2008

Illinois Governor Arrested

You gotta love the politics in Illinois……if convicted it will be the 4th governor to do time in 40 years….you gotta love those darn politicians.

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich was arrested on Tuesday on charges that he brazenly conspired to sell or trade the U.S. Senate seat left vacant by President-elect Barack Obama to the highest bidder.

Blagojevich also was charged with illegally threatening to withhold state assistance to Tribune Co., the owner of the Chicago Tribune, in the sale of Wrigley Field, according to a federal criminal complaint. In return for state assistance, Blagojevich allegedly wanted members of the paper’s editorial board who had been critical of him fired.

A 76-page FBI affidavit said the 51-year-old Democratic governor was intercepted on court-authorized wiretaps over the last month conspiring to sell or trade the vacant Senate seat for personal benefits for himself and his wife, Patti.

Otherwise, Blagojevich considered appointing himself. The affidavit said that as late as Nov. 3, he told his deputy governor that if “they’re not going to offer me anything of value I might as well take it.”

“I’m going to keep this Senate option for me a real possibility, you know, and therefore I can drive a hard bargain,” Blagojevich allegedly said later that day, according to the affidavit, which also quoted him as saying in a remark punctuated by profanity that the seat was “a valuable thing — you just don’t give it away for nothing.”

He also allegedly discussed getting campaign funds for himself or possibly a post in the president’s cabinet or an ambassadorship once he left the governor’s office. He noted becoming a U.S. senator might remake his image for a possible presidential run in 2016, according to the affidavit. And he allegedly said a Senate seat would also provide him with corporate contacts if he needed a job and present an opportunity for his wife to work as a lobbyist.

“I want to make money,” the affidavit quotes him as saying in one conversation.

The affidavit said Blagojevich expressed frustration at being “stuck” as governor and that he would have access to greater resources if he were indicted while in the U.S. Senate than while sitting as governor.

The affidavit outlined a Nov. 10 call between Blagojevich, his wife, his chief of staff — John Harris, who also was arrested Tuesday — and a group of advisers in which Harris allegedly suggested working out an agreement with the Service Employees International Union.

Under the plan, Blagojevich would appoint a new senator who would be helpful to the president-elect and in turn get a job as head of Change to Win, a group formed by the union. The union would get an unspecified favor from Obama later.

Nothing in the court papers suggested Obama had any part in the discussion. In fact, Blagojevich allegedly said in the same conversation that Obama most likely would not appoint him as secretary of health and human services or to an ambassadorship because of the negative publicity that has surrounded the governor for three years.

Blagojevich also was charged with using his authority as governor in an attempt to squeeze out campaign contributions.

Corruption in the Blagojevich administration has been the focus of a federal investigation involving an alleged $7 million scheme aimed at squeezing kickbacks out of companies seeking business from the state. Federal prosecutors have acknowledged they’re also investigating “serious allegations of endemic hiring fraud” under Blagojevich, who has a $177,412 salary, though it’s unclear whether he accepts the total.

Political fundraiser Antoin “Tony” Rezko who raised money for the campaigns of both Blagojevich and Obama is awaiting sentencing after being convicted of fraud and other charges. Blagojevich’s chief fundraiser, Christopher G. Kelly, is due to stand trial early next year on charges of obstructing the Internal Revenue Service.

AS reported by the Associated Press.

Do We Really Need A ‘Car Czar’?

U.S. congressional Democrats have been drafting legislation for tight government control of the crippled U.S. auto industry, including the possible creation of an oversight board made up of five cabinet secretaries and the head of the Environmental Protection Agency and led by an independent chairman or “car czar.”

While the form of oversight was still being negotiated by congressional Democrats and the White House, the talks Sunday made clear the extent to which the auto companies would have to submit to substantial government supervision to receive a taxpayer-financed bailout.

Whatever oversight entity is created, it would direct the drastic reorganization plans that the auto companies have said they were willing to undertake in exchange for billions of dollars in short-term government loans to keep them in business, according to a senior congressional aide. A main factor complicating the deliberations was the imminent transition between the Bush and Obama administrations.

The discussions of how strong a hand the government should take with the auto industry came as congressional and White House negotiators sought to make the final touches on a $15 billion U.S. bridge loan to keep Chrysler, General Motors and Ford afloat. The legislation would also impose stringent taxpayer protections, including stock warrants giving the government an equity stake in the three firms, Chrysler, General Motors and Ford; new limits on executive pay; and a ban on stock dividends while the loans are outstanding.

Oversight will be needed but a ‘car czar’?  We have had a ‘drug czar’;, a ‘terror czar’, and an ‘interl czar’…..and how have all those ‘czars’ worked out?  War on Drugs is unwinable, the War on terror is not going as promised, but with some minor success and the ‘Intel’ czar has not brought all intel under one all encompassing leader….so just how effective will a ‘car czar’ be?  Oversight yes, but there has got to be a better way to accomplish that without some ‘czar’ wasting the taxpayers money and accomplishing very little.

Why Is US Health Care Wrong?

Most agree the inefficiency results from a healthcare industry that’s focused more on cure than prevention. It strives to treat heart and artery disease, doing little to discourage smoking, encourage healthful diets, exercise and blood pressure maintenance. Of course this is true. Good health maintenance saves extraordinary amounts of money and reduces demand on limited healthcare resources. Just as reducing demand on oil lowers the price of oil, reducing demand for health care services would reduce the cost of health care.

Potential causes of the cure-based, hospital-centric, non-maintenance health care industry include: A) A conspiracy, in which the nation’s doctors, nurses and insurance executives converged in a smoke-filled room and decided to do things wrong; or B) The tax code and government regulation, which have interfered with natural market functions.

If you chose “B,” congratulations! The country’s healthcare industry provides inefficient care because of the regulatory disconnect between provider and customer. The system consists of few incentives for low prices and responsible consumption because most people have pre-paid health care services funded by premiums paid to insurance pools.

Americans with employer-based health plans have been lulled into a misperception that the health plan is a gift from the employer, when in it’s merely earned as an invisible form of compensation.

The system dates back to 1942, when Congress and President Franklin D. Roosevelt-initiated wage controls.

Businesses, needing to compete for the best employees, found that health benefits – in the form of insurance and pre-paid plans – provided a way around wage controls. That same year, the government encouraged non-cash compensation by eliminating payroll taxes on employer contributions to employee health plans. In 1943, a federal court ruled that companies could make payments to commercial insurance pools that would not be taxed as employee income. Those events established a system that lacks conventional free-market checks and balances that result from direct buyer/seller relationships.

The result of subsidized, third-party health coverage is a system in which working Americans have a surplus of pre-paid health coverage that consumes a substantial chunk of each worker’s earnings. When they consume medical services, a third party pays the bill. The insured consumer doesn’t even ask about the cost of an MRI, lab work, or other procedures. In fact, the more it costs the better, because it’s a benefit of the job. The pre-paid and insured consumer doesn’t strive to avoid the future need for expensive artery stents or bypass surgery, because a third-party payer will write the check. The arrangement eliminates any financial incentive for the consumer to avoid serious and costly health problems, and creates a bizarre incentive for consumers to consume expensive cures.

Healthcare professionals can talk themselves silly about the need for a maintenance-centric health care system. They will never get one, however, unless it financially rewards health maintenance, financially discourages neglect, and gives patients a reason to care about the price tags on services, procedures and drugs.

Yes Irene, there will NEVER be a good health care in the US as long as profit before patients is the rallying cry.  Will it change?  Nope!  Not for awhile…much will be debated but it will be on the backburner for at least a year, possibly longer.

A special thanks to the appealdemocrat.com for the op-ed here.

Are Home Owners Beyond Help?

THis story was found in CNN Money:

More than half of delinquent homeowners whose mortgages were modified earlier this year ended up redefaulting within six months, a top bank regulator said Monday.

Some 53% of borrowers with loans modified in the first three months of 2008 and 51% of those with loans modified in the second quarter could not keep up with payments within six months, according to U.S. Comptroller John Dugan, who spoke at a housing conference.

The report, which will be released in full next week, covers nearly 35 million loans worth a total of $6 trillion — or 60% of all primary mortgages in the United States.

The high redefault rate raises concerns about the long-term effectiveness of loan modifications, which many are pushing as a key solution to the nation’s financial crisis.

A record 1.35 million homes are in foreclosure, while the number of borrowers who have fallen behind on their payments soared to a record 6.99%, the Mortgage Bankers Association said last week.

Meanwhile, 1.7 million homeowners have been helped in 2008 through the Hope Now Alliance, a coalition of lenders, servicers, investors and counselors working with delinquent borrowers on modifications and repayment plans.

Other regulators speaking at the conference questioned the quality of the loan modifications, saying that early efforts to restructure loans were not very effective. Many simply tacked on the missed payments and penalties to the end of the loan.

To entice servicers and investors to participate, Bair’s plan calls for the government would share up to 50% of losses should the loan redefault. But that guarantee only kicks in after the borrower has made six monthly payments to better ensure the mortgage modification is sustainable long-term. It would cost $24.4 billion, which Bair has said could come from the rescue funds.

This basically, saying that maybe nothing is going to stop the foreclosures no matter the help that is given.

Pass The BBQ Sauce!

This story is just sick….what is happening to our society?

A man accused of murdering his girlfriend and possibly eating her after cooking her body parts on the stove has been found dead in jail.

Christopher Lee McCuin, 26, was found dead Sunday in his Smith County, Texas, jail cell, officials told the Houston Chronicle.

Smith County Justice of the Peace James Meredith said McCuin was pronounced dead at East Texas Medical Center. Foul play is not suspected, he told the paper.

McCuin was jailed for the killing of Jana Shearer, 21, and suspected cannibalism. When McCuin was arrested on Jan. 5, 2008, there was a plate of what appeared to be human flesh and a fork on his kitchen table, as well as an ear boiling in water on the stove.

Will Romney Run In 2012?

Damn silly question……of course he is gonna run.

Republican Mitt Romney is laying the groundwork for a possible White House campaign in 2012, hiring a team of staff members and consultants with money from a fund-raising committee he established with the ostensible purpose of supporting other GOP candidates.

The former Massachusetts governor has raised $2.1 million for his Free and Strong America political action committee. But only 12 percent of the money has been spent distributing checks to Romney’s fellow Republicans around the country.

Instead, the largest chunk of the money has gone to support Romney’s political ambitions, paying for salaries and consulting fees to over a half-dozen of Romney’s longtime political aides, according to a Globe review of expenditures.

In essence, Romney is financing a political enterprise that he can use to remain a national GOP leader and use as a springboard should he decide to launch another presidential bid for 2012.

Romney aides insisted that the primary mission of the Free and Strong America Political Action Committee is to raise money for other Republicans around the country and to promote GOP policies. The committee says that booster work included flying Romney to various districts to help congressional candidates, many of whom happened to support his 2008 presidential primary candidacy.

Romney is as close to a GOP leader as anyone right now and he would be foolish to not try and capitalize on that fact.