Month: June 2009

GOP Plan For An Energy Policy

The conversation….well that is not quite accurate…the debate on an Energy policy has geared up….along with the debate on Health care.

Take a seat for their is a GOP plan for energy……surprise!

Let us begin…they, the GOP, do not like the Obama “cap and trade” deal…..why?  The main reason is they say it will cost the consumer more money for power.  I like it that their first concern is for the consumer….yeah right…and if you believe that then I have land in Florida I would like to sell by the gallon.

The NY Times has reported on the Repub plan.

The Republican proposal, drafted by a group led by Representative Mike Pence of Indiana, leans heavily on nuclear power, setting a goal of building 100 reactors over the next 20 years.

The bill also provides incentives for increased oil and gas production on public and private lands and offshore. It would also authorize oil drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska.

The Republican measure does not include any mandatory cap on emissions of heat-trapping gases, relying instead on nuclear energy, natural gas and renewable fuels like wind, solar and biomass power to reduce production of the gases, which have been linked to global warming.

Republican officials said they were intending to offer the proposal, known as the American Energy Act, as a substitute for the bill sponsored by Representatives Henry A. Waxman of California and Edward J. Markey of Massachusetts, both Democrats. The Waxman-Markey bill has been through hundreds of hours of public hearings and committee deliberations and passed the Energy and Commerce Committee last month on a 33-to-25 vote.

What part of this plan is not the same as it has been for 10 years?  Once again, the GOP has nothing new to offer the people of this country….just a rehash of tired old proposals from the past.

Time For Economic Good News?

Do not count on it.

The banks, some of them, will be allowed to repay about $68 billion and all is well…..only if you are on Wall Street.

The US Treasury Department on Tuesday approved the requests of 10 of the country’s biggest banks and financial firms to repay the bailout cash they received last year under the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP).

Press reports listed the firms as JPMorgan Chase, Goldman Sachs, Morgan Stanley, American Express, Bank of New York Mellon, State Street, US Bancorp, Capitol One Financial, BB&T Corporation and Northern Trust.

So is this good news or not?  NOT!

Barry Grey has written:

The $68 billion being returned is more than double the administration’s initial projection of some $25 billion being paid back this year. The money is also being returned much earlier than the government originally intended.

The banks’ motives in repaying the TARP handouts are entirely self-serving. Their campaign to return the money began in earnest last February, when Congress attached a provision to the administration’s stimulus package limiting executive bonuses at firms holding TARP funds to one third of base salary. Wall Street was outraged, and getting out from under TARP became a central preoccupation of the banking elite.

Banks that repay their TARP cash also stand to save billions of dollars in dividend payments on preferred shares they were required to give the government in return for the taxpayer money.

In other news of the economy:

The US government is preparing to unveil rules on executive pay for firms that have been bailed out, reports the BBC.

President Barack Obama will also appoint a “pay czar” who can reject compensation plans at companies getting “exceptional assistance”.  Oh goody…yet another “czar”….there are more “czars” than reps in Washington.

The new rules on executive pay are expected to be announced by the end of the week.

But think about this…if the banks pay back the TARP cash…why will they listen to Washington on pay packages?  This is all so damn silly and ineffective….just like the Dems and Repubs in Congress…they are allowing Wall Street to make their own rules.

Barry Grey continues:

The stress tests allowed the government to declare the banking system “fundamentally sound,” despite the existence of at least a trillion dollars of bad debts on the banks’ balance sheets. They were designed to provide a further boost to the banks.

Since the results were announced on May 7, the banks have raised almost $90 billion through offerings of common stock and bond issuances. Bank stocks have continued to soar, with big-bank stocks rising 87 percent since their lows in early March.

By allowing most of the biggest banks to repay their TARP funds, entirely on the banks’ terms, the administration is essentially giving them a clean bill of health and providing a rationale for rejecting any serious regulation of their activities. Tuesday’s Treasury announcement sets the stage for the administration’s release of its financial regulatory proposals, set for next week.

Yes Irene…nothing is changing……and Wall Street will soon return to their speculative ways that bottomed out the economy and we can play this damn silly game all over again…because NO ONE has the balls to make Wall Street play fair.

Will Repubs Apologize?

First it was Dr. Tiller, the abortion doctor that has been an “ogre” to the far right for years. and now we have another instance of far right violence.

As reported on FOX News:

The elderly man suspected of killing a security guard in Washington’s Holocaust Museum on Wednesday is an anti-Semitic World War II veteran with links to white supremacist groups who tried nearly 30 years ago to take Federal Reserve board members hostage, according to media reports and Web sites.

Police have yet to publicly identify James W. Von Brunn as the gunman, but law enforcement officials told FOX News they believe he is the shooter.

Von Brunn, 88, a self-described artist, advertising man and author living in Annapolis, Md., has a history of racism, anti-Semitism and anti-government aggression.

Two far right violent episodes in as many weeks…..what can we do?

I believe back in April the Homeland Security issued a reoprt citing the possibility of such actions and the department and its secretary were chastised by the Repubs in Congress and on the airwaves.  The secretary was basically forced into a retraction and an apology for the report.

Will the GOP do the same and apologize for being stupid?  Or for being totally wrong?

Bernanke Shows True Colors

As the TARPs and TALFs do their thing to try and stabilize the economy other fears surface.

Wall Street got theirs ….to the tune of about $1 trillion…..The Auto Industry got theirs…..billions…Banks got rescues and now some want to repay their loans from the government.

But recently the Fed chairman has said as reported by the AP:

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke on Wednesday urged Congress and the Obama administration to cut record-high budget deficits, warning that they could erode investor confidence and endanger the economy’s long-term health.

Bernanke’s comments came as concerns grow at home and overseas about the United States’ mounting red ink.

“Even as we take steps to address the recession and threats to financial stability, maintaining the confidence of the financial markets requires that we, as a nation, begin planning now for the restoration of fiscal balance,” Bernanke told the House Budget Committee.

The White House estimates that the government will rack up an unprecedented $1.8 trillion budget deficit this year. That would be more than four times last year’s all-time high.

Now that all the speculators have gotten their pound of flesh, Bernanke is concerned with the control of the growing deficit.  You know what that means, right?

Where will the government cut to help in this control?  Stim money…nope.  Nowhere but entitlements…you know those programs for the elderly and the poor….like Social Security and Medicare come to mind readily.  Fiscal conservatives, both Repub and Dem, will be screa,ming for some sort of deficit cutting measures and soon.

Wrting for wsws.org, Barry Grey analyzed Bernake as such:

The phrase “confidence of the financial markets” is a euphemism for the interests of Wall Street and major international banks and investors. In demanding the preparation of austerity measures to be imposed on the American people, Bernanke was speaking in behalf of the financial elite whose massive taxpayer subsidies have been the major cause of the explosive growth over the past year of the federal deficit and the US national debt.

Warning that a continuation of such levels of debt could drive up the cost of government borrowing—a disastrous prospect for an economy dependent on a continuous stream of loans from China, Japan and other countries—Bernanke said that the deficits would have to be reduced substantially either through tax increases or budget cuts. “The Federal Reserve will not monetize the debt,” he declared.

He made clear that his prescription for “fiscal balance” was dramatic cuts in what remains of social programs, rather than tax increases. He zeroed in on the basic programs upon which tens of millions of Americans depend—Social Security and Medicare.

Of course these programs will be on the chomping block…why?….reps have a great retirement and medical and such and their programs will not be effected.

Once again Main Street will be the victim of the government, while Wall Street gets all the consideration and perks.  When will we ever learn?

I Have Heard It All, Now!

Think back to the days gone by of political pandering and lies….I am speaking of the last primary then election cycle.  Recall when the buzzword of the day was patriotism or patriotic?  Remember when one candidates patriotism was questioned when there was no pin visible?  Think back to when liberals in Congress and the country were called un-American.

I know you would like to know where I am going with this…..I am coming to that.  Recently a conservative talk show host has called for a boycott of Chrysler and GM.  Yes you heard it right…a BOYCOTT!  Why would he do this?  Because if we buy from GM or Chrysler we woulkd be supporting socialism……and there it is the conservative argument to Obama’s success.

Several othe talk show host have signed on to this thinking…telling there listeners that it is better if these companies fail and disappear then to support they paranoia over socialism.

These dipsticks had rather see American workers loose everything than support a popular president.  I have even heard them say that the workers will get over it…that they will find other employment …..would that be in the same country as I live where the unemployment is 9.4% and climbing?

Sorry guys but that call is about as unpatriotic as it comes…..anytime someone calls for the destruction of an Americaqn industry…they are unpatriotic.  The biggest problem is that someone is listening….the same people that still think Obama is a Muslim….the same idiots that wantr the country to fail….the same people that hate.

The Real Health Care Story

The debate is heating up over health care….Dems have a plan….Repubs….as usual have nothing to offer in opposition.

I received this in an email from a friend in Oregon.  The exerpt was from a piece written by Patrick Martin.

President Obama’s Saturday address initiated the public phase of his administration’s effort to pass major healthcare legislation. His remarks were notable for the absence of any reference to the actual crisis facing tens of millions of working people in the United States: more than 47 million people are living without health insurance, and millions more are underinsured and face crippling bills and even bankruptcy in the event of a serious illness.

Instead, Obama focused entirely on the rising cost of healthcare, which he presented as a major problem both for the federal government, the largest single payer of healthcare bills, and for corporate America. He declared, “The soaring costs of health care make our current course unsustainable” and pledged to heed concerns “that the ballooning costs of Medicare and Medicaid could lead to fiscal catastrophe down the road.” In other words, the administration is concerned, not about improving healthcare services for the American people, but about cutting costs in order to improve the financial health of American capitalism.

The Obama administration has already ruled out the only rational response to the crisis of healthcare availability: the establishment of a single-payer system in which the federal government would guarantee universal access to healthcare as a matter of right. Every other advanced industrialized country has some form of universal coverage. But such a system would eliminate the tens of billions raked in by insurance companies whose “business model” requires that they limit coverage, deny treatment or reject bills—in other words, it would infringe on the “right” of MetLife, Aetna, CIGNA and other giant corporations to make a profit from illness and disease.

So far the debate has offered nothing, in my opinion, that would actually help the average person…the debate continues….we will see.

Payback Is A Bitch!

Reuters is reporting:

The Obama administration is expected to announce next week that a higher-than-expected number of large financial institutions will be allowed to repay their government bailout funds, the Washington Post reported in its Saturday edition.Citing unnamed sources who spoke on the condition of anonymity because the official announcement has not been made yet, the newspaper report said the size of the repayments may be twice the initial estimate of $25 billion.

That could mean that nearly all of the nine institutions found to have sufficient reserves in a recent government-run “stress test” might be allowed to return the money under the Treasury Department’s Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Now Geithner and the Boyz will decide if these banks will be allowed to repay their loans.

At first I thought, “what the hell?”  Be allowed to repay their loan…..I thought you mean the government may not want the taxpayer’s money returned?  But after I calmed down I realized that it would mean that the Treasury would look to see if the banks could remain slovent if they repay.

Institutions want to repay the government as soon as they can in order to get out from under some unwanted obligations such as executive compensation restrictions, dividend payments, among others.  It aloso sounds like these banks are dying to get out of the government spotlight so they can return to their speculative ways that caused the situation we are fighting today.

So you think I am making this stuff up or that I am paranoid, eh?

Barry Grey wrote for wsws.org:

In the guise of enhanced regulation, the Obama administration is working with major Wall Street banks to sanction a continuation of the speculative practices that precipitated the financial meltdown and deepest economic slump since the Great Depression.

Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner has, according to a detailed exposé published June 1 by the New York Times, adopted a proposal drawn up by a group of big Wall Street firms for new regulations on the lucrative trade in derivatives such as credit default swaps. Geithner headed the New York Federal Reserve Bank and played a key role in the Bush administration’s bank bailout program before being named to his present post by Obama. His recently issued proposal on derivatives regulation, in opposition to measures backed by certain corporate interests, such as agribusiness firms and the congressmen who represent them, would exempt most trading in credit default swaps from any serious public exposure or government regulation.

Does the word credit swap ring a bell in your head?  In case you are not sure let me help.

Trading in credit default swaps played a major role in the subprime mortgage bubble that imploded in August of 2007, leading to the financial crash of 2008. The collapse of insurance giant American International Group, which has to date received $170 billion in government funds, was the result of the firm’s massive holdings in credit default swaps tied to subprime mortgage-backed securities and other dubious assets. AIG bet that the underlying mortgages would not default. It lost its bet and was required to come up with huge amounts of cash as collateral, which it did not have.

Does that help?  In other words, NOTHING will have changed and this whole ball of crap will happen again.

Take The Money & Shut Up!

Do you remember all those Repub govs who did not want any of the stim money?  Some took it and others did so reluctantly, but there was always one who said he did not want any thing from Washington and that is the Gov of South Carolina, Mark Sanford.

South Carolina—-the third highest unemployment at 11.5%, had to cut $1 billion from its budget and has a sharply plunging tax revenue because of the recession.  A state that has a high percentage of poor people, low educational results and in other words a traditional Southern state.

South Carolina’s Supreme Court ordered Gov. Mark Sanford on Thursday to take $700 million in federal stimulus money aimed primarily at struggling schools.

The decision brings a likely end to months of wrangling between the nation’s most vocal anti-bailout governor and legislators who accused him of playing politics with people’s lives.

Now dickhead take the money and shut the hell up!

There Is Always An Environmental Trade-Off

When the new light bulbs became vogue, my daughter said that there had to be a trade off for something good.  She was right!  The new lights bulbs contain mercury and in the future there is a good possibilty for the mercury to make it into the water table.

Using that same question I checked into wind power….would there be a trade off for the good that the power source would be providing?  Of course there is!

Reuters has a pretty good article on the subjust:

For the most part the wind energy industry has coasted along with favorable press and public opinion. The industry has had to weather some resistance, particularly pertaining to wildlife impacts (primarily birds and bats) and the consistency and reliability of wind power. Yet these criticisms have not gained enough traction to have a noticeable effect on the growth of the industry, which is being hailed as a source of tens of thousands of potential new jobs in the evolving green economy.

Wind turbines emit inaudible sound waves in the low end of the sound spectrum and rhythmic vibrations caused by the spinning blades. These are suspected to cause a host of adverse health effects in some people that live in close proximity to the turbines, including:

insomnia,
headaches,
acute hypertensive episodes,
cardiac arrhythmia,
heart palpitations,
high blood pressure,
the sensation of bugs crawling on the skin,
humming in the head,
continuous ringing in the ears,
dizziness

My daughter seems to be always right….when something good and environmentally friendly is considered, there will always be a trade off.

Political Debate On Spending

As usual the commentators on the right and the left are throwing accusations around about the final product of the massive spending bills that have been passed.  Yes, it is a personal agenda.  Those on the Right say the media is in love with the Obamas and for that reason they will not report on the down side of the spending programs.  They say there is NO substantial debate on the spending.

The part I love is that, for now, it is that they are concerned with the effects that all this spending will have on future generations…….smile…….as I remember back to the day, future generations were not important when spending was for wars or massive satellite systems or other defensive programs.  I remember being called naive and stupid when I brought this up 20 or 30 years ago.

It is all so much horsesh!t!  These commentators are doing nothing more than justifying their existence.  These dipsticks do not want a conversation…they want an argument.  Again, so much crap in a can.

These people, and I use the term loosely, do NOT, I repeat do NOT, look at what John Q. Public wants.  John is worried about feeding his kids or their health or if they will continue to have a home….he is worried about today the next generation is just a TV show….2025 is too far away for worry and today at 0800 hrs is the most pressing of problems.

Politicians and commentators can piss and moan and sell their little books and boring interviews, but not one has a plan to solve any of the problems of today.  All they have is their egotistical rants and average person suffers and worries while the analysts listen and love the sounds of their own voices.

John Q. Public wants a liveable wage, his home,  health care, education for his children and beyond that is of NO concern.