Tag: Federal Funds

Trying To Reason With The Hurricane Season

Just a few days ago the 2025 hurricane began and the people down here where I live, the Gulf Coast, will be keeping close watch on the tropics waiting for that next show to fall.

I went through Katrina and the destruction was damn near complete….the Coast looked like a war zone and that was 20 years ago this year….and thanks to FEMA, MEMA and others we rebuilt….some say better than before.

But we have another worry to plague our minds…..Dear Donny and his helter skelter mindset towards any disasters….we will be able to weather (no pun intended) any massive storm like Katrina?  (Did you know that the director of Donny’s FEMA did not know it was hurricane season?)

I have my doubts because of what he has done to North Carolina….

President Trump talked a big game on the campaign about what he deemed an ineffective response by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) during hurricane season last year. In fact, during a trip to North Carolina in January, he made a point to criticize the Biden administration’s response to Hurricane Helene, saying, “This is totally unacceptable, and I’ll be taking strong action.”

Turns out that “strong action” would be telling the state, “Nah fam, you on your own.”

According to ABC News, FEMA has rejected a request from the North Carolina governor to continue matching state funds for efforts in cleaning up the damage left by Hurricane Helene. The Biden administration issued a cost-sharing directive last fall to match 100% of the funds the state spends on cleanup operations. Hurricane Helene was a Category 4 storm that killed over 230 people and resulted in record flooding throughout the state.

“After a careful and thorough review of all the information available, including that contained in your initial request for a cost share adjustment and appeal, we have concluded that an extension of the 100 percent federal cost share for debris removal and emergency protective measures, including direct federal assistance for an additional 180 days under major disaster declaration FEMA-4827-DR is not warranted,” acting Administrator David Richardson wrote in the letter.

Richardson is…an interesting fellow, to put it politely. A former Marine, he was named the acting director of FEMA despite having no experience managing natural disasters. In his initial remarks to the agency, he warned he would “run right over” any person who doesn’t agree with the changes being made to how FEMA operates.

His appointment seems to be yet another instance of the Trump administration valuing blind loyalty over an innate ability to do critical jobs. This isn’t even speculation, as Richardson more or less confirmed this when he told FEMA employees, “I will achieve the president’s intent. I am as bent on achieving the president’s intent as I was on making sure that I did my duty when I took my Marines to Iraq.”

North Carolina Denied Hurricane Relief Amid Changes At FEMA

How can this soulless son-of-a-bitch deny Americans the chance to rebuild their lives and communities after a catastrophic storm?

But yet he can find money to throw that the most wasteful and useless appendage of the government….the War Department.

He has no priorities other than making money for himself and his merry band of thieves.

You voted for this asshole….are you happy now?

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Has Congress Stolen From Social Security?

For awhile now the common and well used meme about the shortfalls in the social security system is because Congress has taken the money out to fund wars and such…..is this true?

If you were to peruse social media message boards on topics/articles pertaining to Social Security, you’ll commonly find that Congress is the scapegoat. Specifically, some commentors point to the idea of lawmakers stealing or raiding Social Security’s trust funds to fund wars and other line items, and failing to “put the money back, with interest.”

The thing about popular opinions on Social Security is that what’s popular isn’t always what’s right. In this instance, the idea of Congress stealing trillions from Social Security is completely baseless.

In August 1935, the Social Security Act was signed into law by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Among the laundry list of provisions and rules set forth by the Social Security Act of 1935 is the treatment of any excess income (asset reserves) collected — i.e., income collected above and beyond what’s paid out in benefits and used to cover the SSA’s administrative expenses to operate the program.

By law, any excess income collected by Social Security is to be invested in special-issue, interest-bearing government bonds. U.S. Treasury bonds are exceptionally safe and backed by the full faith of the U.S. government.

What’s most important to note is that every cent of these special-issue government bonds is accounted for. In fact, the SSA publicly updates the combined asset reserve amount for the OASI and Disability Insurance Trust Fund (DI), along with the average interest rate it’s generating on its asset reserves, every month. As of the end of December 2024, the combined OASI and DI held around $2.721 trillion in asset reserves, with an average yield of 2.557%.

https://www.fool.com/retirement/2025/01/20/has-congress-stolen-trillions-from-social-security/

There is a very simple fix for any shortfall…..that would be to make all people pay into the system with no exemptions…that could raise the money to cover the shortfall and possibly work on a excess that could be beneficial to retirees that have work hard for their entire lives.

Like I said simple….but billionaires have the clout and the cash to stop any reform of the SS payment system…..

I Read, I Write, You Know

“lego ergo scribo”

Mississippi Is Number 1!

A change of pace today…….

Everybody should be proud of their state when it reaches the top of the lists that tell the tale of what it is like to live in that state…….unfortunately Mississippi is NOT one of those states.

It is my state and I have been writing about the damage that conserv politics has done to the state…..even under a Democratic governor and legislature…….for many long decades the voters of Mississippi have bought into the conserv talking point of small government and lower taxes and the world will be a brighter place…….

After decades of these failed policies Mississippi is number 1 in diabetes, obesity, poverty, etc…..and number 50 in things like education, health care, etc……and the voters keep believing that these lower taxes and small government will change things……..the only change it has brought about is the Mississippi is at the top of another list…….dependent on the federal government for its existence……..

1. Mississippi

  • Return on Taxpayer Investment: $3.07
  • Funding as Percentage of Revenue: 45.8 percent
  • Federal Employees Per Capita: 8.67

Along with its neighbors Louisiana and Alabama, Mississippi is heavily assisted with federal dollars. So much so, that WalletHub’s calculations place them at the top of the list for the most dependent on Washington for subsistence. Mississippi suffers from some serious socio-economic issues, including having the highest poverty rate and one of the lowest income rates in the country.

These are issues that have plagued the state for a long time, and there doesn’t appear to be any hope for change in the near future. There are a few things that capture federal funding that add to the state’s total, including several military bases, but the major issue appears to be the lack of jobs and opportunity suffered by the state’s citizens.

This is what I am always going on about…..Mississippi depends heavily on the Fed government for ots existence and yet the voters want to destroy the “Big Government” in DC…….at what point do these morons realize they would be cutting off their nose in spite of their face?

Where Have All The Poppies Gone?

No damn where!  Opium production in Afghanistan is going full tilt, just another indication that the “War on Drugs” is about as worthless as tits on a bull.

US efforts to eradicate opium poppy crops in Afghanistan have been “wasteful and ineffective”, the US envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan says.

Richard Holbrooke said the $800m  a year the US was spending on counter-narcotics would be better used in supporting Afghan farmers.

Efforts to eradicate poppy cultivation, Mr Holbrooke told a conference in Belgium – the Brussels Forum – had failed to make an impact on the Taleban insurgents’ ability to raise money from the drugs trade.

“It hasn’t hurt the Taleban one iota,” he said, “because whatever money they’re getting from the drugs trade, they get whatever they need whether we reduce the acreage or not.”

The US said last month that poppy cultivation had been reduced by 19% last year. Despite the drop, the UN estimates that Afghanistan accounts for 90% of the world’s illicit heroin supply.

“The United States alone is spending over $800m a year on counter-narcotics. We have gotten nothing out of it, nothing,” he said.

“It is the most wasteful and ineffective program I have seen in 40 years.”

Ya think?  Pretty much sums up the ENTIRE program of the War on Drugs….time to look for a REAL alternative and save the money for whgere it is needed…in the good old US of A.

Let Us Help Small Business

Holy Crap!  You people are thick!

Obama and his cracker jack economic team has come up with the idea of helping small business.  A noble endeavor but their approach is missing something.

President Barack Obama and Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner today are outlining a plan to free up credit for the nation’s struggling small businesses by raising federal loan guarantees and bolstering bank liquidity.

“Small businesses are one of the biggest drivers of employment we have,” Obama told a gathering of small-business owners, community banking executives and lawmakers at the White House today. “This is going to be a first step” of a continuing effort to help small business.

The Small Business Administration currently guarantees payment on 85 percent of a loan up to $150,000, and as much as 75 percent on loans of more than $150,000. The administration is raising the guarantee to 90 percent, reducing lender risk, and waiving fees of as much as $75,000 that are paid by borrowers.

Obama also is planning steps to thaw the secondary credit market using more than $10 billion from the $700 billion bank rescue fund. The estimated $375 million for the small-business lending initiative will come out of the $787 billion economic stimulus plan passed by Congress last month.

Yes small business is the engine that drives the economy and employment.  But once again it comes to the point that they are missing the entire problem.  They are looking for solutions in the economic bailout field.

One more time…dammit how many times does this have to be said?  The government can guarantee loans until they go stupid, if they already have not, but it will do NO good.  What bank will oan to a company that has NO sales?

Demand!!!!!!!!  Okay dipsticks……one more time…….there can be NO sales without DEMAND!  The only way to help small businesses is to put money in the hands of the people…they will spend it and business will profit….This is NOT rocket science.

How Does This Work?

The whole AIG thing is just so much bullshit!

Especially when the CEO of AIG Liddy talks.

Liddy, a former board member of Goldman Sachs—the investment house believed to have received a large portion of the bailout money after it was “laundered” through AIG’s insurance contracts—fired back an extraordinary letter telling the government to get lost.

“Quite frankly, AIG’s hands are tied,” he wrote, claiming that the bonuses were “binding obligations”—part of the executives’ employment contracts—and interfering with them could provoke lawsuits. Moreover, he argued that they were fully warranted, despite the massive losses for which those receiving them were responsible. Without doling out a billion in additional compensation, he claimed, AIG would be at risk of losing “the best and the brightest to lead and staff the AIG businesses.” Employees would leave if “their compensation is subject to continued and arbitrary adjustment by the US Treasury,” he said.

First of all…CRAP!….retention of people?  Would these be the same people that screwed up everything in the past?  Why woul;d you want them to stay?  A better question is where will these pricks go?  If all WallStreet sucks, then they have choices, huh?

“The best and the brightest?” The executives in AIG’s financial division ran an unregulated credit-default swap operation that was just as much a scam as Bernie Madoff’s fund, and far more destructive.

The obvious question is: where precisely are these “best and brightest” going to go if they fail to get their hundreds of millions in bonuses? The market for this type of financial parasitism has collapsed, dragging down with it the livelihoods of millions upon millions of working people. Rather than getting bonuses, those in charge of the financial manipulations carried out by AIG and its partners should be on the receiving end of criminal investigations.

Let me see…thge treasury controls the cash that it gives out and Geithner says there is nothing he can do to stop the bonus pay outs……may I suggest a “stop payment” on their checks from the government.

Is the Federal government so impotent that it cannot control what is done with its money?  Or is it more that they do not want to do anything that would harm Wall Street?  I still do not understand why the American people are not more pissed at this type of story.  The American people are truly a flock of sheep, if they allow this type of crap to continue.  If you want to fix things then get rid of the a/holes you have in Washington, they are NOT helping.

Why Are You Not Angry?

The continuing saga of AIG.

In a bid to avoid default, the American International Group (AIG) warned regulators that the “company’s collapse could cripple money market funds, force European banks to raise capital, cause competing life insurers to fail and wipe out the taxpayers’ stake in the firm,” reported Bloomberg News on Monday.

AIG is seeking $30 billion in fresh capital to add to the $152 billion of taxpayers’ money already in place. The request came after AIG posted a $61.7 billion fourth quarter loss, the worst quarterly loss in US corporate history.

Quoting from a draft presented by AIG to the Federal Reserve Board and Treasury on February 26, labeled “strictly confidential,” Bloomberg News said the giant insurance firm is appealing for a fourth injection of taxpayers’ money to avoid a “catastrophic” collapse with consequences far worse than the demise of Lehman Brothers six months ago. The AIG statement warns, “What happens to AIG has the potential to trigger a cascading set of further failures which cannot be stopped except by extraordinary means.”

American International Group Inc. used more than $90 billion in federal aid to pay out foreign and domestic banks, some of whom had received their own multibillion-dollar U.S. government bailouts.

The embattled insurer’s disclosure on Sunday came amid outrage on Capitol Hill over its payment of tens of millions in executive bonuses, and followed demands from lawmakers that the names of trading partners who indirectly benefited from federal aid to AIG be made public.

The company, now about 80 percent owned by U.S. taxpayers, has received roughly $170 billion from the government, which feared that its collapse could cause widespread damage to banks and consumers around the globe.

But wait!  The best part of the story is yet to come……

The American International Group, which has received more than $170 billion in taxpayer bailout money from the Treasury and Federal Reserve, plans to pay about $165 million in bonuses by Sunday to executives in the same business unit that brought the company to the brink of collapse last year.

Word of the bonuses last week stirred such deep consternation inside the Obama administration that Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner told the firm they were unacceptable and demanded they be renegotiated, a senior administration official said. But the bonuses will go forward because lawyers said the firm was contractually obligated to pay them.

PEOPLE!  Time to wake up and smell the damn coffee…..this continues to be a story of Washington helping Wall Street…..time for ANGER and time to retribution.