Friday, October 30, 2009

Conflicts and Crooks, Obama and Democrats

93,000 crooks or thereabouts have been created, according to Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, by Obama's idiotic, wrongheaded and typically-ignorant $8,000 federal first-time home buying tax credit or welfare payment. We've lost trillions of dollars in the government's U. S.-bankrupting dictates to Democratic Party-controlled Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and Federal Housing Authority, so what's another $500,000,000? Citizens offered $8,000 simply to lie after Fannie and Freddie encouraged so-called "liar loans"? See how easy for the government to create criminals?. And it's nothing to Obama who will leave office in wealthy disgrace. That's the disgrace.

Raj Rajaratnam has donated millions of dollars to Sri Lanka Rebels, the brutal killers dubbed the "Tamil Tigers",  and the U. S. Democratic Party, Hillary Clinton and President Barack Obama's successful campaign for U. S. President.  Oh, yes, he's accused being at the center of the largest insider-trading case in decades, involving his Galleon Group and executives from IBM, Intel, McKinsey, and Intel.

Democrat Birmingham, AL, mayor Larry Langford is accused of accepting bribes of $235,000 for steering $7.1 million in bond business to a crony, which pushed Jefferson County to the brink of bankruptcy.  Jury selection continues.  OOps, update: October 29, 2009: CONVICTED!

Failed-Obama-nominee Gov. Bill Richardson, whose corrupt "play for pay" investigation got sidetracked, got it put on front burner when Saul Meyer, of Aldus Equity, Dallas, pled "guilty" to urging investments onto the New Mexico's Educational Retirement Board and its State Investment Council which enriched Democrat donors and supporters of the governor to the tune of some $22,000,000.   He said he gave into intense political pressure.

Massachusetts, strongbed of corrupt Democrats.  Five years ago Democrats changed Massachusetts law to rob the Republican governor, Mitt Romney, of the ability to appoint an interim senator.  That was then, now is now.  So with the death of Teddy Kennedy his senate seat is vacant and President Obama needs every vote he can get for his massive takeover of the American healthcare system.  Presto! The law gets changed back so Democrat governor Deval Patrick can appoint a Democrat, party hack Paul Kirk, to vote Obama's way.  Shame?  Honor?  None of each.  Machiavellian Democrats know best.

And more:  the Federal Democratic Food and Drug Administration approved an implantable knee device made by ReGen Biologics Inc's Menaflex because four Democrats from New Jersey, Senators Frank Lautenberg and Robert Menendez and Representatives Steve Rothman and Frank Pallone Jr. demanded it, clearly NOT in exchange for the $26,000 in campaign contributions ReGen made to them.

September 22, Hassan Nemanzee, close to Bill Clinton and finance chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committe as well as a major donor to Democrats, was indicted for stealing upwards of $290,000,000 in part to donate to Democrats, from three major banks.  Myriad Obama campaign entities will donate his contributions to charity.  ACORN perhaps?

September 9: Former chief fund raiser for former Illinois governor, Rod Blagojevich, pleaded guilty to fraud in A roofing job at O'Hare Airport. 57 months, plus another 37 months on an unrelated tax case. What state is our president from?

Senator Charlie Rangel, Chairman of Color of the United States House Ways and Means Committee, is not a crook. Only he forgot or was too naive to know that he was "rich", or at least richer than he had earlier disclosed on his required 2007 financial disclosure form. We is worth up to $2,500,000 (high number) not the $500,00 (low number) he said. He forgot: he had a quarter to a half a million dollars in a savings account; vacant land in New Jersey; Yum Brands (KFC, Taco Bell and Pizza Hut's owner); PepsiCo. And $75,000 in income from a beachfront villa in tony Punta Cana, Dominican Republic. And poor Mr. Rangel is forced to live in rent-stabilized apartments in Manhattan. Four of them in ritzy Lenox Terrace.

It seems clear to me that Eric Holder, president Obama's Attorney General (since he certainly doesn't represent either most Americans or the Constitution), lets liberals go and goes after Republicans. Case in point. Last January the Justice Department filed a civil suit against the New York Black Panther Party and three of its black panthers, for violating LBJ's 1965 Voting Rights Act by scaring voters with weapons, racial comments and militaristic uniforms. The Panthers didn't respond and that should have been that. A conviction. But no. Even though six career attorneys in Justice recommended continuing to pursue it, an Obama-appointed Associate Attorney General, Thomas Perrelli, said no with no explanation. The Obama Justice Department lets Democrats, especially black ones, get a "get-out-of-jail-free" card, or rather simply a pass and with that there goes the Rule of Law. Even liberals were outraged, but not the left-leaning national media, well except the way-liberal Village Voice whose publisher said it was "the most blatent form of voter intimidation I've ever seen."

Now off to Dallas where five black Democrat defendants, including a black former Democratic mayor pro tem and his wife and city planning commissioner were charged by federal prosecuters of pressuring developers to award contracts to minority friends. But since they are all black, it must be racism and they have asked the U. S. Attorney General, Eric Holder, to review the case. Shall we vote on the outcome?

Hassan Nemazee, a major fundraiser for the Democratic Party with close ties to the Clintons, former president Bill and present Secretary of State Hillary (I guess we've lost the Rodham), is an alleged crook. He "borrowed" $74 million from Citigroup Inc. by faking documents He was once finance chairman of the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee, a national finance chairman for Mrs. Clinton's failed presidential campaign then fundraiser for successful candidate Barack Obama, our president.

While this is small potatoes, it does indicate a continuing fraud on America by Democratic-leaning trial lawyers. Hinds County, Mississippi, Circuit Judge Bobby DeLaughter will plead guilty to lying to an FBI agent investigating his giving unfair advantage to Democrat contributor and fund-raiser extraordinaire, Richard "Dickie" Scruggs, chief architect of the multi-billion tobacco settlements of the 1990s. Dickie and Bobby indeed. Bobby also faces conspiracy, obstruction and mail fraud.

(Typed the day before Teddy Kennedy died.) How hypocritical and blatantly disgusting: Nearly-dead, Harvard cheater and possible girl-killer, hopefully-soon-to-be-former Senator Edward F. ("Teddy") Kenndey has asked that the law of succession be changed again to get another Democrat to take his absent-for-a-year place in the Senate. Teddy asked in a letter for the Democratic-controlled Legislature to allow Governor Deval Patrick, duh, a Democrat, to select a temporary replacement for Teddy "should a vacancy occur". This would reverse a provision which replaced an identical former provision when a Republican was government whereby a special election needed to be held. Get that? Teddy didn't want a Republican to appoint a Senator, but of course a Democrat should be able to. The Rule of Law? There is no Rule of Law, because the Ends -- of Democrat Rule -- Justify the Means -- the means being shredding our Constitution, one of the very tenets on which this great country was founded. Empathy indeed.

August 21, 2009: a Democrat 12-year Secretary of State, Rebecca Vigil-Giron, of New Mexico was indicted in a scheme to steal federal election funds. She is alleged to have given money to a political consultant and two Democratic lobbyists. Some $3.7 million is unaccounted for and thought to be or have been placed in their personal accounts. The 50 counts against each include:

• Four counts of fraud over $20,000 or, in the alternative, embezzlement over $20,000
• 11 counts of money laundering over $100,000.
• Five counts of money laundering over $20,000.
• Eight counts of tax fraud.
• 13 counts of tax evasion.
• Four counts of making or permitting false public vouchers.
• One count of soliciting or receiving an illegal kickback.
• One count of offering or paying an illegal kickback.
• Two counts of tampering with evidence.
• One count of conspiracy.

This on the watch of important Democrat governor Bill Richardson, who himself is under federal investigation for allegedly engaging in yet another Democrat "pay for play" scam to steer state financings to campaign contributors. This same old same old in a Democrat-controlled state included these Democrats indicted or conviced: two state treasurers, the former leader of the state senate, a director of affordable housing and two utilities regulators. Oh, BUT WAIT! Today, August 27, 2009, according to the Associated Press, the investigation of Richardson, nominated to be Obama's Commerce Secretary before withdrawing because of the investigation, "was killed in Washington". No doubt because the Attorney General is busy investigating CIA agents who were protecting America and Americans. Have no doubt Richardson will join Obama's corrupt administration.

When you thought they couldn't get any more low, "Fraud by Trial Lawyers Taints Wave of Pesticide Lawsuits", Wall Street Journal, Front page, Wednesday, August 19, 2009: [http://online.wsj.com/article/SB125061508138340501.html]. U. S. trial lawyers, all significant, if not major, funders of the Democratic Party which won't rein them in in exchange for such contributions, have stooped even lower. They descended on impoverished peasants in Chinandego, Nicaragua, panting over money from a settlement of $2,100,000,000 by Dole Food Co. Thousands of former- or fraudulent pinapple plantation workers were signed up bu U. S. trial lawyers. The pesticide was used in the '60's and '70's until 1977 when it was noticed that the chemical DBCP (dibromochloropropane) caused sterility in some men. In 1979 the U. S. Environmental Protection Agency banned it. Dole legally used it until 1980. Long story short, California Superior Court Judet Victoria Chaney dismissed suits citing "clear and convincing evidence" of fraud "permeates and discredits all such cases. Although only one lawyer has been investigated so far, another lawyer who flew down to attempt to reap the illicit dollars in Nicaraguy was Walter J. Lack, Esq., of Erin Brockovich movie fame.

And down below a few paragraphs is the discussion of the mass arrests of primarily-Democratic politicians, operatives and hangers-on (and on Republican). Good work one might think; well, no, not from a Democratic administration. The top federal prosecutor faces an internal ethics investigation for answering a question about New Jersey corruption with "The few people that want to change it seem to get shouted down. So how long that cycle's going to continue I just don't know." Apparently he might have been talking about his former boss Republican Chris Christie's challenge to incumbent New Jersey governor Democratic Jon Corzine. Perhaps U. S. Attorney Ralph Marra is being "shouted down".

And down there in Birmingham, Alabama, its mayor, Larry Langford, a Democrat, was bribed by investment banker William Blount, former state Democratic Party chairman, who pleaded guilty to paying thousands of dollars to the mayor in return for getting some bond financing work. Pay for Play cost $230,000, Mr. Blount said.

August, 2009: Democrat governor Ed Rendell of Pennsylvania hired Bailey Perrin Camp & Bailey, attorneys at law, from Houston to prosecute Jansen Pharmaceuticals (subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson)manufacturer of antipsychotic drug Risperdal. I wonder how Governor Honest Ed selected the law firm way away in Texas (Houston)? Perhaps because law firm founder F. Kenneth Bailey was donating upwards of $90,000 to Honest's 2006 re-election campaign? Perhaps? Oh yes, that selfsame law firm has invested (bribed?) hundreds of thousands of dollars into the Democratic Attorneys General Association as well as countless individual attorneys general, who, if you don't know, make the decisions to farm out lawsuits. How do you say "Pay to Play"? The Pennsylvania Supreme Court will hear a legal challenge to these dirty activities.


United Brotherhood of Carpenters, Detroit Branch's, now-former executive secreatry-treasurer, Walter Mabry, was bribed to "invest" $77 million in a crooked "private equity" fund according to sources. Other "investors"? Millwrights Local 1102. International Operating Engineers Local 324. Michigan Teamsters Joint Council 43. Monies from the rank-and-files' pensions. Many of these are underfunded. Not so the bosses' pensions: Operating Engineers Washington DC bosses' pension fund is overfunded. And probably makes better investments. BUT hey, Obama thinks unions bosses disclose too much of this bitter information. His administration is cutting back disclosures demanded by the Bush Administration.."not be a good use of resources" to discover fraud by union bosses!

Democrat-appointed University oi Chicago trustees are under fire (two resigned so far) for dismissing the Rule of Law for their own AFFIRMATIVE ACTION initiatives. They created separate admissioins criteria for applicants sponsored by elected officials, big donors and themselves. Hundreds of them. "Less qualified." "From influential families." Chicago - Illinois - Democrats - Obama. Hmmmmmmm.

July 31, 2009: Judge Bobby DeLaughter, Hinds County Missdisssippi Circuit Court pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice, a federal charge, in giving unfair advantage to former huge Democratic contributor and trial attorney Richard "Dickie" Scruggs, in asbestos lawsuits.

This might be a stretch, but prime Obama-backer NBC and MSNBC's owner the General Electric Company settled with the Securities and Exchange Commission for civil fraud and other charges that GE misled investors in 2002 and 2003. Please see another post, "Governmnet Success in Running Companies" (today) and see that the SEC is "suing Mr. Maynard Jenkins, former CEO of CSK Auto (parts) Corporation which had formerly settled with the SEC and restated financials for $4,000,000. Mr. Jenkens was not accused of any wrong-doing. Let's see the SEC voted 3 (Democrats perhaps?) to 2 (Republicans perhaps?) to sue. You decide: arbitrary or the Rule of Law?" My question is, will the SEC sue the CEO of GO, Jeff Imholt? No because Imholt is a major backer of Obama and a member of his economic team. And GE is in hock to the U. S. government while it owns NBC, the primary mouthpiece of the Obama Administraion. I am certain the writers of the U. S. Constitution would have frowned on the conflict of interest with the government being in some control indirectly of the media.

(August 5, 2009) Former Louisiana Democratic Congressman William Jefferson was convicted for bribery schemes aimed at enriching him and his family.
A federal jury in Alexandria, Va., convicted him on 11 of 16 counts.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB124950747812708973.html

Michael Froman left Citigroup in January to become a senior White House aide for national security and international economic affairs and has known President Obama from Harvard Law. Don't know about his basketball play. He left Citigroup's private infrastructure fund in a tatters, losing $126,000,000 in the $3,400,000,000 fund from a breakup fee on a Chicago deal that couldn't get funded. (Chicago, huh? Wonder who got that money?) He walked with $4,000,000 cash and a demand for $10,000,000 more.

While this thread consists of Democrats who are legally or morally challenged, the Obama Administration thinks private health insurer companies are dishonest, thus needing a "means and mechanismn to keep [them] honest." So while his fellow Democrats are feasting on the public trough, if some of it is from prisons, he accuses law-abiding insurance companies of dishonesty because, in essence, they make profits. And in President Omama's world, profits are only gotten illegally.

But on to New Jersey, the Chicago of the East. 44 people were charged July 24, including several mayors of New Jersey cities, rabbis, and one Republican. Yes, one out of 44, 2%, was a Republican, leaving 43 or 98% if them Democrats, so clearly this sweep of crooks was bi-partisan. Payoffs, bribes, money laundering and even human kidney sales. Mr. Dweeb oh, I mean Mr. Solomon Dwek was caught in 2006 with his hand in some crooked-cookie jar and ratted the rest of them out. Nice guy. He was a real estate developer, Syrian Jew and formerly, I guess, a philanthropist.

Timothy Geithner won confirmation as President Barack Obama's treasury secretary in spite of his possible criminal activities in not paying taxes. Unfortunately this reinforces the fact that Democrats are above the law. Because Obama said, "Tim's work must begin at once", everything illegal he did is OK. That is the moral picture of Obama's self-righteous, self-centered administration. Whatever you want, Mr. President...Throw Geithner into the pool with other possible tax cheats such as Charlie Rangel, moral liars such as Eliot Spitzer and former-Democratic almost-candidate John Edwards, conflict-of-interesters such as Barney Frank and Chris Dodd and out-and-out indicted crooks such as Rod-O Blag-O. A group of which to be proud. This as of January 2009.

But the real tragedy is the continued clueless weakness of Republicans. They are continuing their losing streak. America is the real loser.

I will be updating this regularly with news of Democrat vs Republican crooks (a term I use to describe those indicted, convicted, acting immorally or illegally all as defined by me).

DEMOCRAT CROOKS

Pick for Protocol Post Corrects Failure to File Taxes in 2 Years:
By ALISON LEIGH COWAN Published: June 18, 2009 (The New York Times) President Obama’s choice as chief of protocol for the State Department, a position that carries the status of an ambassadorship, did not file tax returns for 2005 and 2006.

The nominee, Capricia Penavic Marshall, has placed blame for the problem on the Postal Service and on miscommunication between her husband and their accountant. Ms. Marshall was social secretary in the Clinton White House. Tax issues have bedeviled several high-level Obama appointees and cost the administration at least two of its picks. The protocol chief customarily helps plan events for visiting leaders and helps oversee protocol matters for the president and vice president abroad.

Thursday, June 18, 2009: DETROIT Detroit City Councilwoman Monica Conyers, the wife of House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers Jr., has been ensnared in a federal bribery investigation and is discussing a possible plea deal, The Washington Times has learned. Court papers say the council member accepted bribes from a consultant in connection with a City Council vote to approve a $1.2 billion sludge hauling contract. And on June 26 the good wife of this most important black Democrat (first elected in 1964) pleaded "GUILTY!" to conspiracy to commit bribery. Of course, Mr. Conyers was said to have not known. Of course. And she'll have some lame community work to pay off her sentence. Now this is the self-same Conyers who started an investigation of ACORN then like a hot potato dropped it, saying "the powers that be" waved him off. The only power to be I can think of is President Obama, and does this have any little thing to do with spouse crook Monica? (She resigned from the Detroit City Council and faces 5 years and $250,000.)

June 2009: Hmmm, while not a crook, it seems as if President Obama is protecting a friend and supporter of his, Kevin Johnson, a Democrat and mayor of Sacramento, CA, who plays basketball with our president and was a former NBA player. Obama did not follow Congress' own rules in firing Inspector General official Gerald Walpin. Walpin investigated, reported on and was fired personally by Obama: Johnson used to run a nonprofit academy St. Hope which improperly used AmeriCorps recruits to recruit students to his academy for politicking, to run and perform personal duties for Johnson, such as washing his car and driving him around, and doing bookkeeping for St. Hope. Johnson apparently settled for a small amount to run for mayor. And in another instance is the Teaching Fellows Program run by the Research Foundation of the City University of New York. Walpin's audit [www.cncsig.gov/AuditReports.html] uncovered myriad violations including duplicate awards of $16 million and costs of over $750,000. Walpin's directives were stonewalled by AmeriCorps' parent organization, the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS), which is now chaired by, as a payoff to, Democratic Alan Solomont for political fund raising. AmeriCorps now is $6 billion in a bill signed by Obama in April. Obama is a political animal, Mr. Walpin is unemployed for being a "government-employed whistle-blower" and blowing the whistle on Obama's cronies.

(In an irony, the First Lady Obama ran the AmeriCorps-funded nonprofit Public Allies in Chicago from 1993-1996 and served on its national board. It, too, was investigated by the Inspector General's office and violated basic rules including a lack of internal controls over education grants and living allowances given to people not being legal citizens or permanent residents.)

Walpin's office questioned duplicate educational awards of more

Rep. Peter Visclosky was subpoened related to federal investigations of defunct PMA Group and its clients. Visclosky, senior Democrat on House Appropriations Committee, received $1.36 million, Murtha $2.37 million and Rep. James Moran (D. Va.) nearly $1 million from PMA and its clients. In a complete coincidence, these and other Democrats inserted into spending bills specific earmarks to benefit PMA clients. In another coincidence, Democrats have successfully blocked Ethics Committee motions to investigate PMA.

6/9/09 Democrat from Chicago indicted (Isaac Carothers, chairman of Chicago City Council's police and fire committee) and pleads not guilty to taking $40,000, campaign money and sports tickets for fixing a zoning case. In Obama-Chicago this is hard to believe.

Trial Lawyer Extraordinaire Gene Cauley, who rose from obscurity to extort settlements worth tens of millions of dollars against a variety of corporations was named one of the top lawyers in 2005 by the National Law Journal! But lately he couldn't account for $9,300,000 of settlement money against Bisys Group Inc. The Democrat will plead guilty to two felonies, wire fraud and criminal contempt. Cauley is following in the footsteps of his mentor felon Bill Lerach, also a huge contributor to Democrats, who fronted the cash for Cauley to start his lawfirm. The judge might look for business-jet invoices for the money.

Every day: ACORN, a criminal enterprise? Monday May 2, 2009, the state of Nevada charged ACORN with fraud; the registrar of voters in Las Vegas said he believes 48% of the forms submitted by ACORN are fraudulent. The Deputy Election Commissioner in Philadelphia (a Democrat) complained of at least 1,500 fraudulent voter registrations last fall. Ditto, Matthew Porrer, St. Louis deputy elections director (also a Democrat). In my own Washington State ACORN was fined $25,000 for voter registration fraud in 2007. There have been and are on-going investigations in 14 other states. It finally got to Congress where New York Representative Gerald Nadler chairman of the House Subcommittee on the Constitution, Civil Rights and Civil Liberties was asked by Rep. (Michigan Democrat) John Conyers, Chairman of the House Judiciary Committee to hold hearings. But then he reneged, "Just joking" he didn't say, after changing his mind. (Did ACORN ask him to?) And get this the Chariman of the House Financial Services Committee, inimitable Barney Frank voted for an amendment to a mortgage bill to withhold from receipt of federal housing or legal assistance grants any entity indicted for boter fraud. Later he gutted it and said he, well, really hadn't read it. (Par for that course.) So ACORN can still apply for $2,000,000,000 in funds for doing stuff. And Obama's own Internal Revenue Service filed three tax liens for almost $1,000,000 against ACORN concerning employee withholdings. And last year ACORN's parent, Citizens Consulting Inc. was paid $832,000 by the Obama campaign which was incorrectly described as "staging, sound, lighting" but was actually for getting out the (Democrat) vote. ACORN and the Democrats want free and identification-less voting while Republicans typically would like only proven citizens to vote. Go figure. More on this crime syndicate (?) coming in all probability, but certainly not from its related party, the Democratic Congress.

June 5, 2009: Countrywide Financial Corp., former CEO and others were charged with fraud. Anthony Mozilla was an architect of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac investing billions into "sub-prime" mortgages and he provided top Democrat Congressmen with sweetheart mortgages apparently as inducements (vehemently denied, duh!, by said Congress members) to pass laws allowing such activity, which quickly became one of Fan and Fred's largest activities.

May 20, 2009, Norman Hsu, former top fund raiser for the Democratic Party, was convicted of four counts of campaign-finance fraud in New York. To Mr. Hsu, Hillary Clinton said: "What am I going to do with you, Norman? You are working so hard for me...I've never seen anybody who has been more loyal and more effective..." And Mr. Loyal Hsu pled guilty to a Ponzi scheme last month swindling at least $20 million. Our Secretary of State is a great judge of character!+-

May 4, 2009, The chairman of the New York Federal Reserve Bank, Stephen Friedman, sat on the board of directors and had -- and increased -- a stock holding in Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. when it received speedy approval to convert to a bank holding company and receive $10 billion in capital for the Treasury Department. While Friedman argues no conflcit of interest (duh!) he WAS in violation of the rules which bar such stock holdings. Then, of course, he was given a waiver by the Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner. Before and after the waiver, Friedman purchased 52,600 shares (bringing his holdings to 98,600) which, as of today, show a profit of $2.7 million. At the urging of that self-same New York Fed, American International Group (AIG) was bailed out to the tune of $85 billion then and counting (fast) which allowed it to repay $8.1 billion owed to...yes...Goldman Sachs. At the time that repayment transaction was not disclosed.

May 4, 2009: President Barack Obama pledged that lobbyists wouldn't run his administration except when they will. (How do you spell hypocracy?) Recently former lobbyist, William Corr, former executive director of lobby organization "Campaign for Tobacco-free Kids" funded by pharmaceutical companies with a stake in curtailing smoking with the products Nicorette gum and NicoDerm patches, was nominated for #2 in Department of Health and Human Services. The biggest financial supporter of his organization is the Robert Wood Foundation, a large shareholder of Johnson & Johnson producer of those two smoking-cessation products.

4/22/09
Did President Obama's auto czar Steven Rattner's former firm Quadrangle Group "intentionally deceive" the city of New York's pension funds when it failed to disclose paying a finder's fee to now-indicted political advisor' Hank Morris for a New York Pensioin Funds' investment in Rattner's firm's hedge fund? The New York City's comptroller's office is conducting an investigation. The suspense continues.

4/22/09
Democratic Representative from California, Jane Harman, denied any wrongdoing when she was wiretapped having as she said, "casual conversations and kid[ding]around" with pro-Israel lobbyists about seeking leniency for two of them being investigated for espionage by trying to influence the Bush administration. And apparently she was trying to convince Queen Nancy Pelosi to put her on the House intelligence committee, whatever. Change as usual.

4/16/09 News Alert from The Wall Street Journal

Steven Rattner, leader of the auto task force, was one of the investment-firm executives involved with payments now under scrutiny in a state and federal probe into an alleged kickback scheme at New York state's pension fund.
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123992516941227309.html#mod=djemalertNEWS

April Fools Day, 2009: "Cabinet pick has tax trouble" (Seattle Times page A4) Another Obama cabinet selection, this time Gov. Kathleen Sebelius, made "errors" on tax returns, this time for fudging charatable contributions, the sale of a home and business expenses. Only $8,000 and "unintentional".

"FBI investigates generous donor to Dicks, Murray" (Seattle Times, March 23, 2009, front page http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/politics/2008906547_pma23.html ). Seems the PMA Group, Arlington, VA, has donated hundreds of thousands of dollars to mostly Democratic members of the Appropriations Committees in exchange said politicians earmarked millions of dollars to PMA clients. These Democrats have killed any effort -- so widely advertized while they and President Obama were running for office -- to rein in such extortion. Hopefully the FBI -- under Obama's Justice Department -- will be allowed to really investigate and also hopefully it won't all be swept under the table by these dirty politicians donating "questionable donations" to charity.

And from another blog, March 30, 2009:
Criminal Inquiry Into Murtha Lobbyist Heats Up
Monday, March 30, 2009 2:28 PMBy: Rick Pedraza

The PMA Group, a lobbying firm that was raided in November as part of a federal criminal probe into embattled Rep. John Murtha, D-Penn., has closed up shop after reports that federal prosecutors recently raided the office and home of its top operative Paul Magliocchetti, the New York Times reports. Magliocchetti, who is under investigation for making campaign donations in the names of other people, reportedly directed tens of millions of dollars in contributions to lawmakers while steering hundreds of millions of dollars in earmarked contracts back to his clients at PMA. Murtha earmarked millions of dollars for the Electro-Optics Center at Penn State University, which then rerouted the money to clients of PMA Group, a military-oriented lobbying firm that has close ties with Murtha, Politico reports. Former PMA staff members familiar with the inquiry tell The Times that prosecutors are focusing on the possibility that Magliocchetti used straw campaign contributors to give large sums in coordination with PMA, whose offices were raided by the FBI in November.
The front, which allegedly funneled illegal donations to friendly lawmakers, carries a felony charge that could result in a minimum sentence of five years.
Prosecutors also are looking into whether violations of longstanding Congressional ethics rules occurred, which could lead to more serious bribery charges if linked to official acts by Murtha.
According to the Center for Responsive Politics, Murtha has collected $2.37 million in campaign contributions from PMA lobbyists, the Associated Press reports.
“All the combustibles are here for a very salacious set of allegations that could go far beyond his campaign finance problems,” Stanley Brand, a Washington criminal defense lawyer, tells The Times. Murtha, who is head of the House defense appropriations subcommittee, was involved nearly three decades ago in the Abscam corruption probe, a federal investigation that convicted several lawmakers of taking bribes in return for doing business with the government.
A spokesman for Murtha says the lawmaker had done nothing wrong and is not involved in the investigation. The FBI is continuing its investigation into whether Murtha earmarked special-interest spending provisions in return for campaign contributions. “We have not been contacted by any federal agency,” Murtha spokesman Matt Mazonkey tells Newsmax, “and no one is suggesting that Congressman Murtha has anything to do with this investigation.”

"Acting Director of OTS (Office of Thrift Supervision) Put on Leave Amid Probe (From the Wall Street Journal March 27, 2009 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123812215116454401.html )
This was backdating a capital infusion into IndyMac Bankcorp a bank which arguably a letter by Senator Charles Schumer (Democrat) put into failure. This same bank is being bought by investor including Uber Democrat George Soros. Hmmmmmm.

It is reported (The Wall Street Journal, March 20, 2009, page A14, "Congress's Own Liechtenstein") that Democrat, Representative Pete Stark, from California has been claiming --illegally -- that he lives in Maryland to beat the punitive taxes in his home dacha, California. He, along with fellow Congressperson, Democrat from New York (another Soviet colony) Eliot Engel, has been told nada, you can't do that, Comrade Mr. Congressman.

From some blog today, March 19, 2009:
White House Calls Vivek Kundra's 1997 Theft Conviction 'Youthful Indiscretion'Eric Krangel, Silicon Valley Insider. Should a crime committed 12 years ago stick with you forever? That's the question being asked of America's CIO Vivek Kundra. Earlier this week, it surfaced Vivek pled guilty to a charge of misdemeanor theft (less than $300) back in 1997, when he was 22. Nick Shapiro, White House spokesman, weighs in: "Twenty years ago, Vivek committed a youthful indiscretion. He performed community service and we are satisfied that he fully resolved the matter." (1997 was twenty years ago?) There's also an ongoing FBI investigation into bribery and kickbacks at Vivek's old office. "Mr. Kundra has been informed that he is neither a subject nor a target of the investigation," the White House says. Still no word on just what it is Vivek stole.

3/12/2009 Chris Dodd, Chair Senate Banking Committee. Received two preferential-rate mortgages from Angelo R. Mozilo, founder of Countrywide Financial Corporation in 2003. In addition, he -- like President Obama -- entered into a real estate transaction, in Dodd's case a 10-acre estate on the island of Inishnee on Galway Bay off the Ireland Coast, County Galway, purchased with a shady "investor" who sold his share back to Dodd at a low-call price, thus increasing Dodd's net worth by potentially hundreds of thousands of dollars. Along with them was Edward Downe, Jr. a convicted insider trader for whom Dodd got then-president Clinton to grant a pardon. It is possible that Sen. Dodd lied on his Senatorial disclosure documents about this transaction.

From another blog, 2-29-09 Economic Crisis, The Audit — April 28, 2009 06:12 PM
Bronte Capital with a Major Scoop on Alleged Fraudster, By Ryan Chittum

John Hempton the excellent Aussie blogger who writes Bronte Capital appears to have a blockbuster of a scoop.
A Connecticut hedge fund called Ponta Negra Group, run by 27-year old Francesco Rusciano has been frozen by the SEC, which accused it of fraud. Hempton was all over this a few weeks ago, but had to take down his posts when Ponta Negra lawyers threatened to sue him. They’re back up now.
But the big news here is Hempton’s discovery that the allegedly fraudulent fund has some, um, oddly coincidental connections to Vice President Joe Biden’s son and brother, who run a firm called Paradigm Global. The firms are run out of the same floor at 650 Fifth Avenue in New York, share the same “marketer,” a guy named Jeffrey Schneider of Onyx Capital LLC, whose website is currently down, and the SEC filing gives a phone number for Ponta Negra that goes through Paradigm’s switchboard.

This wouldn’t be the first time the Bidens’ fund has intersected with an alleged fraudster. Two months ago it was discovered to be entangled with disgraced financier Allen Stanford in a $50 million fund co-branded Paradigm Stanford Fund and marketed by Stanford.
Mr. Schneider was involved in that joint venture, which the Bidens say they made without ever even meeting Mr. Stanford: A Paradigm marketer, Jeffrey Schneider, confirmed accounts provided by others that he brought in the Stanford business. Stanford would bring clients to the fund and Paradigm would manage it, according to Mr. LoPresti. Now, I suppose there could just be an amazing amount of coincidences here. Hempton is good on the “to-be-sure” stuff:
I was worried at first that Ponta Negra might be a legitimate fund headquartered in another cubicle on the 17th Floor of 650 Fifth Avenue. It turns out that there are several funds also HQ’d there. Paradigm it seems does all the signage on the floor – but once you get past the couple of Paradigm people on the front desk you find several doors behind which reside several hedge funds – a hedge fund hotel if you want. Most of the offices were empty mid-morning – which was very surprising. These funds are largely marketed by Paradigm. Still there could be a fund (Ponta Negra) independent of Paradigm on the 17th floor. There could be – they too would need to employ a Jeffrey Schneider as a marketing agent.
But let’s face it:
Ok – by this point you should at least be open to the possibility that the Vice President’s son and brother employ someone who uses the good Biden name and a stolen client list to market Ponzi schemes. There is no allegation here that the Bidens are involved. Just that their standard of due diligence is low. Very low. Now the Biden’s hedge fund hotel contains an assortment of other colourful funds. One of them is a SIPC registered broker dealer who also manages client money. This broker dealer does not list their auditor anywhere on their website. However they report startlingly good funds management results for 2006 and 2007 though they have surprisingly failed to update their website to include 2008 results. Their website boasts that their trades will be completed with zero commissions and transaction charges allowing them to focus exclusively on the investments that best meet the needs of the clients without the concern of transaction charges and hidden revenue sharing…
Here’s what Dow Jones says about Rusciano:
According to the complaint, Rusciano previously worked at UBS Securities before forming the Ponta Negra Group, but was later forced to resign after he allegedly misreported certain Brazilian bond transactions and non-deliverable forwards. He now also faces charges by the Federal Reserve that he engaged in illegal trading and banking practices and schemed to defraud UBS by trying to conceal major losses, the complaint said. After starting up his own company, the SEC further claims he never disclosed the Fed’s allegations against him or the reasons why he left UBS.
Not only did Hempton break the news on what he originally called a “Ponzi scheme” before having to take it down under legal threat, he’s put together this Biden family connection.
Just outstanding work.
It wouldn’t be the first time a fraud has been cracked by a blogger before the big media and regulators lumber around to it. Alex Dalmady broke the Stanford scandal, with a big push from Felix Salmon, then at Portfolio—and got disgracefully little credit by the media.
This is going to be a big story. I’ll be eyeballing the press closely to see how it handles attributing the news to the Bronte Capital blog.
(h/t Felix Salmon)

A fund of hedge funds managed by the brother and son of the Vice President of the United States, Joseph Robinette "Joe" Biden, Jr. , was marketed exclusively by disgraced and accused Texas "financier" (crook?) R. Allen Stanford. It is alleged by the Securities and Exchange Commission that he engaged in an $8 billion fraud. The fund, co-branded by Stanford Financial Group and the Bidens' Paradign Global Advisors LLC was Paradigm Stanford Capital Management Core Alternative Fund and had $50 million, including $2.7 million of Stanford cash for seed money. Little Biden son, Hunter, wanted to be a hedge fund operator like the big boys and apparently bought Paradigm with Uncle James -- Joe Biden's brother. Apparently Joe didn't want HuntHunt to be a lobbyist, which he was, when Daddy ran for President, which he laughingly did. Even John Edwards beat him. And with respect to its purchase the Bidens are suing some guy named Anthony Lotito Jr. who sounds like an Italian. Can't say it's illegal, but did those 104 investors ($49.8 million) want something from VP or Senator Honest Joe? Also can't say if HuntHunt or Uncle Jim knew anything about hedging or investing. The hugely successful asbestos litigation firm, SimmonsCooper invested put up $2,000,000 for Hunter and Uncle Jim after teaming with another Joe son, Beau Biden's firm in Wilmington, Del.In 2005, SimmonsCooper shifted its focus away from Madison County, Illinois, after Chief Judge Edward Ferguson transferred the mammoth asbestos docket from Circuit Judge Nicholas Byron to Circuit Judge Daniel Stack. The firm targeted Delaware because many businesses incorporate there and the firm's roster of defendants always includes Delaware corporations.No one at SimmonsCooper held a Delaware law license, so Beau Biden's firm filed the suits and SimmonsCooper identified itself as, "of counsel."Beau Biden dropped an asbestos defense client to accommodate SimmonsCooper.At the same time, Joe Biden resisted asbestos litigation reform in the Senate judiciary committee. HuntHunt and Uncle Jim reportedly bought Paradigm from a drug addict with a partner who specialized in providing ACCESS to public employee retirement funds for money managers and apparently had been engaged in touting a number of penny stock "investments". In addition there were rumors of "side deals", kickbacks and representation by a lawyer heading to prison for fraud. All this is too sick for me to continue. He is our vice (so to speak) president, anyone interested in this crap can Google it all.

And speaking of ..."Texas Businesman Sought for Influence in Corridors of Capitol. (The Wall Street Journal, Wednesday, February 18, 2009, page A13) and the next article down. "SEC Charges Financier Stanford With 'Massive' $8 Billion Fraud". Both are about Texas "businessman" R. Allen Stanford, of the Biden article above, and how 1) he stole and 2) contributed greatly to House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Charles Rangel (D. N.Y.), iand $250,000 to the Democratic Party, among other Democratic coffers. His main lobbiest is Ben Barnes, "influential Democratic lobbyist and fund-raiser, Men Barnnes to whom he paid $1,125,000 lobbying for Stanford Financial Group. Stanford is also fighting the IRS over $70,000,000 in back taxes and interest.

Is the NY Times (or Seattle Times, for that matter) railing about Democrat corruption yet?

REPUBLICAN

Ummm, none this year so far, oh wait some senator just announced that he had had an affair.

Wednesday, October 28, 2009

Obama WIns a Battle as a Teachers' Union Shows Flexibility

What has been described as a showdown or ideological battle between the Obama administration and his primary financier, the teachers unions, looks, according the Wall Street Journal (October 17-18, 2009 page A 1, "for the moment, a little less likely."  One union, the 1,600 New Haven, CT, union voted 21 - 1, about a 1% turnout (the two major teachers unions have 3,600,000 members) for some contract changes bringing more flexibliity on work rules and teacher compensation.  I would venture this is a meaninglessness at best misleading at worst headline, article and so-called "model".  The unions members were paid a 3% raise for 4 years, nearly 13%, while inflation is running under 1/2 of 1%.  While advertised as a breakthrough it simply to me looks like a bribe so Obama can log in a "win" and try to affirm his independence from the organizations that spent upwards of $300,000,000 to elect him.  "Yes, I am tough, I stand up to unions." -- Obama could have meant, and clouded mens' mionds.  But honest it is not.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Wage, Price and Business Controls are Here

Czar Feinberg sets compensation for a bunch of corporate executives.  Wage controls.  (And funny because it's supposed to rein in "dangerous risks" which are absolutely not defined by any stretch of any Rule of Law.  They are capricious and arbitrary.  Revenge for success?)  Couple that with rules announced October 22, 2009 by Obama's Federal Reserve and Obama's Treasury Department that will limit and change pay packages at thousands of financial institutions and you get...Wage Controls.

The U. S. House of Representatives also on Thursday, October 22, 2009, voted to create a new federal agency to "police" -- control -- financial products offered to U. S. consumers, this courtesy of the Obama White House's initial draft.  The new agency perhaps to be named ObamaControl Agency would have the power to investigate widely and punish brutally any company from one-man payday loan shops to the mighty (well once mighty, until the U. S. government brought it low) Bank of America and any other company it wants to get.  Price and Business Controls.  Excepting only the biggest campaign contributors and lobbyists such as auto-dealer-financiers.

Friday, October 23, 2009

American Idea by Walter E. WIlliams

A sadly accurate article below.  I don't know if I can legally put Mr. Williams' article on this post, but here it is...a valuable column.  The United States of America is the most humane, exceptional country ever invented, yet we are committing suicide. A self-inflicted Obama to the head. The left owns schools, the arts, the media...the propaganda arms. The only slip sliver of hope is a foreigner. Rupert Murdock of  News Corp's Fox News and the Wall Street Journal. If that isn't irony I don't know what is. But people are listening, reading, viewing the truth. But listen, folks, with his numbers won't competition enter the conservative world? Maybe after all free enterprise will win out, because if you get people's minds, you can get their hearts.  Or is it the other way around?

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

American Idea
by Walter E. Williams

Americans are harder workers, more philanthropic, individualistic, self-reliant, anti-government than people in most other countries. We’ve turned what was an 18th-century Third World nation into the freest and most prosperous nation in mankind’s entire history. Throughout our history, United States has been a magnet for immigrants around the world. What accounts for what some have called American exceptionalism?
We Americans, as human beings, are no different from any other people, including Germans, Russians, Chinese, Africans and other people who have produced tyrannical regimes such as those of Hitler, Stalin, Mao and Idi Amin. As such we are just as capable of committing acts of gross evil that have been a part of mankind throughout his history. We’ve not been a perfect nation but we’ve never approached the level of hideousness seen in other nations. That’s despite the fact that our population consists of people who have for centuries been trying to slaughter one another in their home countries, whether it’s between the French and Germans, English and Irish, Japanese and Chinese, or Palestinians and Jews, Igbos and the Hausa of Nigeria. Thrown into the American mosaic are religions that have been in conflict for centuries such as Catholic and Protestant, and Christian and Muslim. The question is: Why is the United States an exception and will it remain so?
At the heart of the American idea is the deep distrust and suspicion the founders of our nation had for government, distrust and suspicion not shared as much by today’s Americans. Some of the founders’ distrust is seen in our Constitution’s language such as Congress shall not: abridge, infringe, deny, disparage, violate and deny. If the founders did not believe Congress would abuse our God-given rights, they would not have provided those protections. After all, one would not expect to find a Bill of Rights in Heaven; it would be an affront to God. Other founder distrust for government is found in the Constitution’s separation of powers, checks and balances and the several anti-majoritarian provisions such as the Electoral College and the requirement that three-quarters of state legislatures ratify changes in the Constitution.
The three branches of our federal government are no longer bound by the Constitution as the framers envisioned and what is worse is American ignorance and acceptance of such rogue behavior. Look at the current debate over government involvement in health, business bailouts and stimulus packages. The debate centers around questions as whether such involvement is a good idea or a bad idea and whether one program is more costly than another. Those questions are entirely irrelevant to what should be debated, namely: Is such government involvement in our lives permissible under the U.S. Constitution?
That question is not part of the debate. The American people, along with our elected representatives, whether they’re Republicans or Democrats, care less about what is and what is not permissible under our Constitution. They think Congress has the right to do anything upon which they can secure a majority vote, whether they have the constitutional or moral authority to do so or not. What Congress does have is the brute force to enforce compliance with their unconstitutional acts. You say, "What do you mean, Williams?" Article I, Section 8 of the Constitution grants Congress the power to tax and spend for the enumerated activities therein. Every American is duty bound to pay his share. Congress has neither constitution nor moral authority to take the earnings of one American for the benefit of another American. What do you think will happen to you if don’t comply, say with Congress' demand that part of your earnings be taken to bail out a failing business? You’ll see all the brute force that you want to see and if you resist too much, death is not off the table.
We are losing what’s made our country great. Instead of moving toward greater liberty, we’re moving toward greater government control of our lives.

United States Being Eclipsed in Capital Raising.

The United States of America has become the greatest country in history in part because of its freedom.  In the late 18th century, citizens freely gathered under a buttonwood tree at the foot of Wall Street to talk and trade securities and money. In 1792, they formalized their association with the "Buttonwood Agreement", the origin of the New York Stock Exchange.  That little beginning created the first capital market of the U. S. and the foundations under which capital markets around the world were created.  Those citizens, and later institutions, with excess money traded it for ownership interests in organizations and companies which wanted it.  These investors thought they could garner better returns through investing.

The New York Stock Exchange was the predominant securities exchange in the world for decades, trading more than any other.  And American companies -- and the country itself -- were the primary benefactors of the NYSE and other, smaller institutions of capital.  But finance has evolved and America is being eclipsed by competition.  This year so far, the largest initial public offerings (IPOs) of securities to raise capital belong to foreign companies.  Banco Santander Brasil as of the first of October is the largest (raising $8 billion) and China State Construction Engineering Corp. is second at nearly $7-1/2 billion. 

And as of October 9 they are: Banco Santander Brasil, Brazil $8,067.6; China State Construction Engineering, China $7,342.7; Visanet  Brazil; China Metallurgical Constr. China; Verisk Analytics Inc, U.S.; Everbright Securities Co, China; SINOPHARM, China; Glorious Property Holdings Ltd, Hong Kong; China Zhongwang Holdings Ltd; China; National Hydro Electric Power, India .

Only one of the largest IPO was on the NYSE, one jointly with NYSE andthe Sao Paolo Stock Exchange and one through NASDAQ.  The rest were from other country's exchanges with the most on the Hong Kong Exchange.  Two-thirds of the IPOs in the United States were from Chinese companies.  For more information about China, please see my post, "China Eats United States for Lunch".

Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Mr. Obama, may I have the comp I earned, Sir?

Today, October 22, 2009 is a tsunami, a hurricane, a cyclone of overwhelming governmental power over the private sector.  It is the nail being pounded into the coffin of capitalism and freedom, not to mention free enterprise in the United States of America.  President Barack Obama's Chairman of the Federal Reserve System thinks that he and President Obama know more about executive compensation than appointed and elected (by the owners) compensation committee members of the boards of directors of companies in the "private" sector in the United States of America.  While 9/11/2001 killed thousands of people in the United States, 10/22/2009 will be the mark of the slow killing of free enterprise in the United States of America.  President Barack Obama who has never held a job in the private sector, but living off the profits of it which had been taken in taxes by the U. S. federal government, now believes that he, or should I write He, should set compensation levels.  Pure hatred and jealosy of someone who could not be successful in the private sector.  Now for those of you readers who understand some history, the Q & A from the Fed sounds like the "guidelines" which forced commercial banks to make community redevelopment loans or they wouldn't be allowed to expand.  Beginning with Barney Frank and other Democrats.  This, along with marginally-legal campaign contributions primarily to Democrat Congressmen, directly led to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac buying up trillion of dollars of "sub-prime" mortgages which began with dictating community redevelopment.  Which directly led to today's recession. 

The Wall Street Journal today reported:  "U.S. Treasury and the Federal Reserve unveiled a set of curbs and rules for executive compensation at U.S. banks that mark a watershed moment for government intervention in the private sector.

The Fed is proposing that it more aggressively regulate compensation practices at U.S. American banks under its control. The central bank "is working to ensure that compensation packages appropriately tie rewards to longer-term performance and do not create undue risk for the firm or the financial system," Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said Thursday.

The policies would become part of the supervisory process, the Fed said, noting large, complex organizations would face special "horizontal" reviews that compare one bank's pay practices with those of its peers.
http://online.wsj.com/?mod=djemalertNEWS
Fed's Q&A on pay policies:  http://blogs.wsj.com/economics/2009/10/22/fed-qa-on-compensation-guidance/ " which is:
The following are questions and answers provided by the Federal Reserve on its proposals for executive compensation:


1. What is a guidance? What does it do? How is it enforced?

Supervisory guidance is one of the Federal Reserve’s most important supervisory tools for focusing attention on risk issues and for articulating supervisory expectations to the banking organizations that it supervises. It is particularly useful in addressing risks in areas where there may be significant differences among banking organizations or a variety of approaches that may be used by banking organizations to achieve the desired goal. In such cases, a formal rule runs the risk of being potentially too broad or too narrow.

This guidance sets clear expectations for banking organizations concerning their incentive compensation arrangements and related risk-management, control, and governance processes. As explained in the guidance, Federal Reserve examiners will review whether the arrangements and processes of banking organizations are consistent with the guidance and safety and soundness. Deficiencies will be factored into the organization’s supervisory ratings, which can affect the organization’s ability to make acquisitions or take other actions. In addition, the Federal Reserve in appropriate circumstances may take enforcement action against a banking organization. Such an action may require the organization to develop and promptly implement a plan to correct deficiencies in its incentive compensation arrangements or related processes.

2. What happens next?

The Board will accept comments on the guidance for 30 days. Nevertheless, the Board expects banking organizations to immediately review their incentive compensation arrangements to ensure that they do not encourage excessive risk-taking and to implement corrective programs where needed.

To help spur action, the Federal Reserve also will move forward with the two supervisory initiatives outlined in the guidance. For example, as part of a horizontal review, large, complex banking organizations (LCBOs) will provide the Federal Reserve with information and documentation that clearly describes their plans, including relevant timetables, for improving the risk-sensitivity of incentive compensation arrangements and related risk management, controls, and corporate governance practices. We will work closely with the LCBOs on these plans and will monitor their adherence to the plans and associated timetables.

3. Why is the Federal Reserve not suggesting a pay cap or outlawing particular practices?

As noted in the Principles for Sound Compensation Practices issued by the Financial Stability Board in April 2009, “one size does not fit all” firms or employees. Best practices for balancing risk and rewards in incentive compensation programs continue to develop and are likely to evolve significantly in the coming years.

For most banking organizations, the use of a single, formulaic approach to making employee incentive compensation arrangements appropriately risk-sensitive is likely to provide at least some employees with incentives to take excessive risks. For example, spreading payouts of incentive compensation awards over a three-year period may not be sufficient by itself to balance the compensation arrangements of employees who may expose the organization to substantial longer-term risks. Further experience may reveal specific compensation practices that may appropriately be required or prohibited. In the Federal Register notice proposing the guidance, the Federal Reserve has asked for comment on this point.

4. Why is the Fed doing this? What authority does the Fed have to oversee compensation?

Recent events have highlighted that inappropriate compensation practices can contribute to safety and soundness problems at banking organizations and to financial instability. Traditionally, banking organizations and supervisors relied on strong risk management, internal controls and corporate governance to help constrain risk-taking. However, the financial crisis has illustrated that the incentives created by poorly designed and implemented incentive compensation arrangements can be powerful enough to overcome risk controls.

While organizations, their shareholders and others are examining compensation practices, the Federal Reserve has an important role to play as well. Because of the presence of the federal safety net, shareholders of a banking organization may be willing to tolerate a degree of risk that is inconsistent with the organization’s safety and soundness. Thus, aligning the interests of employees and shareholders may not be sufficient to protect the safety and soundness of the organization or financial stability.

Supervisors also can play a critical role in addressing the “first mover” problem that may make it difficult for individual firms to act alone in addressing misaligned incentives for fear of losing valuable employees and business to other firms. Supervisors can help counteract these forces by promoting the coordinated movement of the industry toward better practices.

The Federal Reserve has clear authority to act in this area. Section 8 of the Federal Deposit Insurance Act authorizes the Federal Reserve to take action against a banking organization if the organization is engaged, or is about to engage in, any unsafe or unsound practice. The Federal Reserve and the other Federal banking agencies regularly issue supervisory guidance based on the authority in section 8 of the FDI Act. Guidance is used to identify practices that the agencies believe would ordinarily constitute an unsafe or unsound practice and identify risk-management systems, controls, or other practices that the agencies believe would ordinarily assist banking organizations in ensuring that they operate in a safe and sound manner.

5. Who will be subject to this compensation guidance?

The guidance will apply to all banking organizations supervised by the Federal Reserve. This includes U.S. bank holding companies, state member banks, Edge and agreement corporations, and the U.S. operations of foreign banks with a branch, agency, or commercial lending company subsidiary in the United States.

Because incentive compensation arrangements for executive and non-executive personnel who have the ability to expose a banking organization to material amounts of risk may, if not properly structured, pose a threat to the organization’s safety and soundness, the guidance applies to incentive compensation arrangements for:

Senior executives and others who are responsible for oversight of the organization’s firm-wide activities or material business lines;

Individual employees, including non-executive employees, whose activities may expose the firm to material amounts of risk (for example, traders with large position limits relative to the firm’s overall risk tolerance); and

Groups of employees who are subject to the same or similar incentive compensation arrangements and who, in the aggregate, may expose the firm to material amounts of risk, even if no individual employee is likely to expose the firm to material risk (for example, loan officers who, as a group, originate loans that account for a material amount of the organization’s credit risk).

6. How is this guidance related to recent work by international bodies like the Group of Twenty or the Financial Stability Board?

The guidance is consistent with the Financial Stability Board’s (FSB) Principles for Sound Compensation Practices issued in April 2009 and with the FSB’s recent Implementation Standards. Both documents mention a number of possible methods of improving compensation arrangements for individual employees. The Federal Reserve will focus on whether compensation arrangements provide employees incentives to take excessive risks that could threaten the safety and soundness of the banking organization. The Federal Reserve will continue to work with representatives of other nations to achieve a level playing field with respect to compensation incentives.


***

Post from October 20, 2009:  The Obama pay (don't call me) Czar -- or, rather the Special Master for Executive Compensation of the United States Treasury Department Kenneth Feinberg, said "No!" to retiring Chief Executive Officer of the Bank of America Corp.  Kenneth D. Lewis would have earned approximately $2,500,000 in salary for 2009, of which $1,000,000 has already been paid, plus an earned bonus.  Arbitrarily, Mr. Feinberg "suggested" Mr. Lewis  forego it all and pay back the $1,000,000 already paid.   With the mighty United States government at his throat, Mr. Lewis said, "OK" or words to that effect, adding that he didn't think it in his or his bank's best interests to engage in a battle with his "paymaster".  Mr. Lewis will take with him his retirement of nearly $70 million (plus a bunch of stock earned and purchased over his 40-year career with the bank) that Mr. Feinberg thinks is quite enough.  There is conflict already between the U. S. government and Mr. Lewis.  Early on a supporter of the Treasury Department's Troubled Asset Recovery Program (TWERP), Mr. Lewis saved the government billions of dollars by buying up quickly-sinking Countrywide Financial, largest supplier of sub-prime loans to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  Later, Mr. Lewis came to an agreement to save Merrill Lynch but upon finding its fincancial statements troubling, started stepping back when the Treasury Department bullied him into completing the purchase, again saving the government billions of dollars.  Among other threats, the government apparently threatened Mr. Lewis with firing from the Bank of America after a stellar 40-year career if he didn't go through with it.  Later the government secretly sanctioned the bank and stripped Mr. Lewis' board.  Once feted as one of the best bankers in America, Mr. Lewis was brought down and personally humiliated by President Obama and one of his Czars, for doing exactly what they demanded.  If everyone in this country isn't frightened by the arbitrariness and punitive hosility of the Obama administration toward business, and their overt and negative abuse of power, severely frightened, then they are mindless Democrats.  Oh, did I say this move and humiliation was cheered by Obama's pet financier, the Service Employees International Union?  Have no doubt the president is taking down companies at the bidding of his union bosses.  Have no doubt.

Monday, October 12, 2009

Venture Capital Shrinking. Bad Omen for America

Venture capital is the fuel that has charged the growth and wealth of America, since it was "invented" by wealthy capitalists such as the Melons and the Rockefeller families. It was the glue that stuck together ambitious entrepreneurs; sources of risk capital whose owners were willing to lose in exchange for vast profit possibilities, a free marketplace of buyers both consumers and businesses; and innovation and invention. The wonderful changes to the world are countless. After "Japan Inc." was supposed to take over the world of commerce during the Democrat rein of Jimmy Carter and a U. S. of high taxes, oppressive rules and regulations, and killing inflation, President Reagan stopped Japan Inc. in its tracks by slashing taxes, loosening regulations and stepping out of the way, letting lucky and tenacious Americans seek the American Dream. And find it many did. To the huge betterment of the world. That world is going, going... Entrepreneurs and their workers can't get rich. So why start innovative companies? Competition is no longer in the free marketplace, it's in Washington, D.C. where success comes in your political ideology, who you know and who you pay. Sarbanes Oxeley's ridiculous attempt to legislate morality was Death Step 1. Election of anti-business Democrats to control the purse strings and legislation was Death Step 2. Election of a president who has never worked for a living, but lived off the fat of government is Death Step 3 and the last one. This time it's not Japan Inc. (In the '80's it wasn't either, it was our own attempted suicide, which Republicans averted.) but China, Inc. India, Inc. Etc, Inc. Well no, again it's our own Democrat-led suicide. R.I.P. AMERICA

News from the Wall Street Journal, October 12, 2009, page C 3, "Echoes on 16th Floor: Venture Capital Exits" discusses the demise of many regional venture capital funds, from Dallas to Seattle (where only two new funds raised $16,000,000 this year against $507,000,000 to five funds in 2006.  Even New York only had a half a billion raised versus almost $2 billion in '06.  Nationally, $8 billion was raised the first nine months of 2009, $1 billion by one person, Vinod Khosla (who's concentrating on the Democrats' "green industries" to get government funds in after his) compared to $30.5 billion in 2006.

While still active, investing almost $30 billion in 2008, venture capital firms have had lower exit payoffs, the fuel that drives the industry. Exit cash equalled $25 billion. Most partnerships last ten years, so this amount is troubling, but doesn't sound a death-knell as a jump in income taxes did for the industry in the 1970's. Then, also, Japan, Inc. was widely-publicized as shutting off the United States innovation. At the end of 2008 there were nearly 7,500 venture capital principals in 882 firms off from 8,900 in 1,019 firms a year previously. The virtual dearth of initial public offerings of venture capital-backed firms bodes ill for the future. U. S. Venture capital-backed companies are the most innovative and wealth-producing entities in the world over the fifty years since the "invention" of venture capital. American competitiveness, wealth- and job-creation may well greatly suffer in the future as a result.

Update: venture capital fell to a 13-year low during the second quarter of 2009. Only 25 funds raised $1,700,000,000, down from last year's $4,600,000,000.

U. S. Government Supports More Risky Business, Ignores Private Sector Solutions and History

Deja Vu All Over Again.  Or, here we go again.  Headline in Wall Street Journal, Front Page September 28, 2009:  "$35 Billion Slated For Local Housing".  Barney Fife (oops, Frank, chair...ummm...man of the House Financial Services committee) and his henchmen at ACORN, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac put this nation and the entire financial organization of the world at risk.  He starting small by threatening banks to put up money so poor folks who couldn't afford to could "buy" houses.  What exactly is the definition of "sub-prime"?  He expanded that concept until Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were guaranteeing a trillion or two dollars worth of these sub-prime and marginal mortages. That expansion failed misearbly AND BARNEY BLAMED EVERONE BUT THE CAUSE: BARNEY FRANK and the U. S. is in a crippling recession  with 17,000,000 unemployed by some accounts and in hock another $10,000,000,000,000 give or take.  Now that failed, President Obama is "close" to commiting another taxpayer $35,000,000,000 to help those stupid "beleaguered state and local housing agencies" by giving them more dough to blow.  These local government-operated housing finance agencies, such as ACORN's, need funding for these sub-sub-prime loans.  So here comes Obama to ACORN's rescue.  Well,  I don't know if ACORN is now involved since its child-prostitution scandal, but it was.  Oh, that man, Barney Fife (oops. Frank) was the author (or his henchmen were) of identical legislation earlier in the year. 

This is the story of dangerous ignorance by the U. S. central bank, the Federal Reserve. The good news is the stock market is up 40% from March lows (as of June 3, 2009). The bad news is that the reason is a flood, no, tsunami, of dangerous market distorting and inflationary liquidy. Interest rates have crept up with the $900 billion expansion of the Fed's balance sheet, by its buying treasury and mortgage-backed (Fan and Fred) securities. Is it another balloon to burst? Stay tuned.

And now get this. U. S. Government financial regulators had concerns about the lack of banking and financial expertise of the Board of Directors of the Bank of America Corp. And so selected to be chairman is Walter Massey. Mr. Massey has no banking experience. None. He spent much of his career in academia. He was president of...the historically black men's college in Atlanta, Georgia, Morehouse College where he and current CEO Kenneth Lewis met while raising money for that institution. Let's see, he's black. Is he simply a politically-correct black body (who was on the boards of McDonald's Corp. and Motorola Inc. but I am sure "affirmative action" and "diversity" had nothing to do with this) thrown to molllify President Obama?

The government is supporting risky lending of General Electric Corp, parent of Obama-supporting NBC and CSNBC and MSNBC. Also wholly-owned sub, GE Capital is raising tens of billions of dollars guaranteed by the Obama government guarantee. $48,000,000,000 in longer-term debt and $20,00,000,000 in short-term commerical paper. Its guaranteed interest costs are far less than that of non-guaranteed debt, giving GE a leg up over many competitors.

And municipal debt? A part of Obama's so-called "stimulus" program pays 35% of state and local issued taxable debt's interest. "Build America Bonds" alters municipal debt from "subsidies to the wealthy" via interest free of federal income taxes for investors to obligations of, yes, U. S. taxpayers, the majority of which are the same wealthy people who used to buy tax-free municipal obligations. A double whammy on those targeted by Obama to equalize their wealth with the non-rich. It is said that this change may lead to "staggering costs" to the U. S. upwards of $25,000,000,000 over the next 30 years. But that's now pocket change to Obama.

The following is a tale of two stories. The first, a possible brilliant solution, from the private sector but one that doesn't garner votes for politicians and will take a long time to slog through. It makes sense and will be ignored by government: "INNOVATIVE BANK OFFERS A WAY OUT OF DEBT CYCLE", headline, front page Seattle Times, Sunday, May 24, 2009. (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/businesstechnology/2009256799_expressbank24.html)

The other, "TAX CREDIT CAN BE BRIDGE TO NEW HOME", (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/realestate/2009254583_harney24a.html) Same Seattle Times paper, page E 1, Real Estate Section discusses people who don't have enough money to make a down payment on the purchase of a house being able to immediately monetize an $8,000 federal tax credit for first-time home purchasers. President Obama's Housing and Urban Development Departmetn's Secretary, Shaun Donovan, touted the Federal Housing Administration's change from prior practice. Yes, let's continue making it easy for people who can't afford houses into them. Democratic Congress Majority, President Obama, don't you get it? Are potential votes so important? This is exactly what caused the financial bust that has engulfed our economy! I'd guess that people who don't pay any federal income tax -- nearly 50% of the population will still be able receive this welfare check and put it up to buy a house they can't afford. FHA finances closing costs and other fees. Skin in the game? NOT! And now FHA insures one-third of all new mortgages, up from 2% in 2006.

And we elect these idiots?



Further proof is the article: "California is its own worst enemy" (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2009256795_calanalysis24.html) which discusses where the United States of America is headed fast under the Democratic oligarchy. Required reading for those who won't read it and if they did they'd ignore it: Democrat politicians.

Can Congress be bought? A group of financial firms engaged a multimillion dollar lobbying effort to pursuade Congress to change an accounting issue which was at the heart of the financial "meltdown". "Mark to (no) Market", which forced the low valuation of mortgage-backed and similar securities when no explicit values were obtainable. The financial firms were forced to make huge write-offs which, they argued, were not reliable and, if given time to work out the sale of securities over time, would have been vastly higher. These write-offs arguably caused the crisis. Rep. Paul Kanjorski (DEMOCRAT from Pennsylvania) who heads the House Financial Services subcommittee got $18,500 and strongly pushed the revision by the Financial Accounting Standards Board (FASB). Other Democrats were also "not bought', Reps. Perlmutter, Lucas, Ackerman and a Republican, but who cares about the minority? (Bachus of Alabama). Oh, yes the highly honest and reputable Rep. Barney Frank who heads the House Financial Services Committee, got his, too. Essentially, they threatened broadened oversight on FASB, causing three members to "threaten" resignation. Of course that was a hollow threat. And the institutions got the help their money bought.

China Eats the United States for Lunch

And thank you, President Barack Obama for letting the fox (not news!) into the hen house.  Obama's General Motors has sold its Hummer SUV brand and dealer network to Sichuan Tengzhong Heavy Industrial Machinery Co., the first time a Chinese vehicle company has been able to offer a product made in the U. S. GM will make the vehicles until 2012, when the Chinese buyer will take over.  The price?  A nominal $150,000,000, but its sales are off 64% this year, so a turnaround will be needed.  A new HQ will be centered in Detroit or nearby.  If nothing else the long-term thinking Chinese will learn how to do it.  It probably would have been smarter to forego both the $150,000,000 and the upcoming competition.

With vast wealth and natural resources at its 60th birthday, China is stepping up and out of the shadows.  It is establishing stock markets for emerging companies, invests in private and public equity, and U. S. government securities, of which it is the largest owner.  And now it is establishing an internal marketplace to trade commodities, opposing the U. S. presently by far the most important.  Believing it can keep its costs down and gain some control, initially for the $130,000,000,000 of its imported oil.   Sometime in 2010, the Shanghai Futures Exchange may compete with the New York Mercantile Exchange, the dominant international price setter for light, sweet crude today.

And while President Barack Obama is borrowing $3,000,000,000 likely from the Chinese government to buy and destroy 700,000 useable automobiles and light trucks (that poor people could use, in the "Cash for Clunkers" fiasco) China is investing that money into raw materials, natural resources and real estate. It's buying into Kazakhstan's second largest oil producer for $1,00,000,000 for 11% of KazMunaiGasExploratioin Production.

September 29: Hong Kong Exchanges & Clearing -- the stock exchange -- is getting more and more initial public offerings (IPOs) at the expense of the U. S. UC Rusal, Russian aluminum giant is looking for a $30,000,000,000 valuation.  U. S.-based Wynn Resorts and Las Vegas Sands and others are looking.  American rules and regulations among other things turn companies off.  And on October 1, Wynn Macau Ltd. raised $1,600,000,000 selling stock at the high-end of expectations with strong demand.  Sorry, New York Stock Exchange.

The Unites States' markets for initial public offerings is open (a shadow of what it once was, but open). Taking advantage of it is...China. One-third of the U. S. initial public offerings -- 1/3! -- have been Chinese/Asian companies.

Well now even French President Nicolas Sarkozy is jumping off the dollar bandwagon saying it can't remain the world's only reserve currency. Obama's exploding debt is fingered as the threat to the American dollar.

Interesting, U. S.-based Duke Energy Corp., has signed a deal with China Huaneng Group to develop the clean coal technology that is anathema to the Obama Administration's special interest envoronmental backers. The "integrated gasification combined cycle systems" produce about 20% less carbon than conventional pulverized coal plants. Let China do it, not the arm-tied U. S.

China is the world's largest holder of foreign-exchange reserves with $2, 132,00,000,000 by June 30, 2009. The United States government is relying on China to loan it money to monetize its unprecedented deficits. To do so, China is demanding -- and getting -- from the U. S. inflation-protected securities. Huge deficits coupled with the continued easy money typically creates huge inflation as it did in the U. S. before Ronald Reagan's presidency. With inflation interest rates spike and bond prices fall. If interest rates increase on outstanding bonds, those bonds do not lose value. These are "Treasury Inflation-Protected Securities" ("TIPS"). This week Treasury will sell a record $75,000,000,000 of them. Interest payments at, say, 3% of $75,000,000,000 are $2,250,000,000 a year. Just after Reagan was inaugurated the policies of Democratic president Jimmy Carter caused interest rates to hit a high (10-year maturities) of 14.3% -- Fourteen and three-tenths per cent. The above-mentioned $75,000,000,000 of securities would force the U. S. government to fork over -- GET PREPARED TO PANIC --$10,750,00,000 a year to China, perhaps Russia, perhaps India. $10 and three-quarters billion each and every year. Think about this.




CHINA TO LAUNCH START-UPS MARKET
(The Latest Comments Are On Top)

China has adopted many free-enterprise components of its economy invented in the U. S. And China is growing, unlike most of the rest of the world. While the U. S. under Democrats in general and President Obama specifically is guiding the U. S. onto central economic command and control and nationalization of key industries, China is doing the opposite (as now is much of formerly-socialist Europe). Obama is a decade or two behind. The comments below discuss this from a variety of sources. _______________________________________________________________________________________
July 15, "I saw the end of Detroit." So Frank Zhao left as a Chrysler senior engineer and went to work for Geely Holding Group, one of China's best-selling automobile brands. Geely is in the bidding for Ford's Volvo brand. And has the U. S. in it sights for export in the next few years. Geely grew in sales in 2008 and so far in 2009.

July 13: China State Construction Engineering Corp. is on track to raise nearly $6 billion in what would be the largest sale of stock in the world so far during 2009 eclipsing Brazil's Visa-Net's $4.3 billion last month. But in actuality on July 23 it raised $7,340,000,000.

July 8, China admitted that it wants Opel for the technology it can gain from the General Motors affiliate. Question will be, will Obama let GM sell Opel to a Chinese company? GM wants it, but Opel would be a major Chinese-government-supported competitor in U.S.-government-supported GM's only growing market, China, which has become the largest market for autos in the world. Will Obama allow China to reap GM's technology and perhaps ultimately win in China to GM's losing, costing the U.S. huge monetary losses and Obama's United Auto Workers union large job losses? Important business questions for a man who knows nothing about business!
Beijing Automotive Industry Holding Co., plans to make a bid for GM's Opel and Vauxhall unit in competition to Russia's Magna International (backed by Sberbank Rossia and OAO Gaz Group). And interestingly enough GM said (July 2, 2009) its first-half 2009 sales to China rose 38%, over 800,000 cars. In January China cut the purchase tax on small cars by half (to 5%) as the Obama Administration is considering increasing its tariff on Chinese-made tires 55%.
Obama's GM is faced with choosing between China and Russia to buy its majority interest in Opel and its UK sister, Vauxhall. China wants GM's engine technology. If it wins, it'll compete in China with virtually-identical products.
China is pushing "reform" of the international currency system to make it more diversified and less reliant on the (un-named) dollar. Although apparently ignored by President Obama and his co-owners the labor union bosses, if China succeeds, and it is by far not the only nation wanting such a change, the U. S. dollar could be at risk as well as dangerous to the ability of the U. S. government to borrow the trillions needed for the Democrats' re-architecting the entire U. S. economy. And perhaps at the margin, a chance for a quasi-bankruptcy of the U. S. Government.
June 25, 2009, the China-owned oil company, Sinopec Group, agreed to acquire Canadian Addax Petroleum adding to its widespread purchasing of natural resources around the world. (This for $7,000,000,000.) While Democrats in the U. S. tie the hands of oil exploration, China is grabbing what it can at today's distressed prices.


A article May 26, 2009, indicated that the stock market in China for new-share issues described below is set to resume.
"Chinasdaq"?

If an article ever underlines the wrongheadedness of our government over the past decade and especially right now, it is this one: "China Takes Caution With Start-Ups Market" (The Wall Street Journal, Thursday, March 5, 2009, page C2 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123616846094028661.html). While our country is doing everything it can to diminish our capital markets and fill them with useless, expensive regulations (not to mention negative rhetoric), for nine years China has been researching and preparing to launch a Nasdaq-style stock market for start-up companies. Make no mistake, America, it has been the easy flow of capital from individuals and institutions to businesses that has been the building block to American dominance in innovation, entrepreneurship, creation of wealth (for the world) and freedom. Although this article discusses a delay in its launch for higher-risk companies, have no doubt: it is coming. And while we are asking, "Has Obama Buried Reagan?" (in today's The Wall Street Journal Opinion, page A15 http://online.wsj.com/article/SB123621098187034487.html ) with "Reagan" being a proxy for the free-enterprise system and capitalism, China is taking great strides exactly creating what we are "burying". Clearly the leaders of China are smarter and more far-thinking than those we have elected recently. President Obama thinks the stock market is like an opinion poll and throws out embarassingly ignorant terms such as "profit and income ratios". It is ironic that an apparent Communist country is embracing the successful tenets of capitalism while an apparent capitalist country is embracing the failed tenet of Communism which is central planning. Perhaps it indicates the merit of quasi-dictatorships or oligarchies, or whatever China is, as opposed to democracy where the votes of the masses can be bought by policies that ultimately harm them. While I certainly know little about China, this article is profoundly disturbing to me, a former venture capitalist, who understands the overwhelming merits of capitalism, with all its human warts, in bringing an end to poverty and uplifting the lives of millions of people. Unfortunately, it seems apparent that embracing capitalism does not get Democrats elected and that is all they seem to want.
Oh, did I mention that China is expecting economic growth -- growth -- of about 8% this year - 2009. It is holding off on any financial stimulous after November's $585 billion, to see how that fares. Seems prudent, unlike the political "stimulous" -- essentially to elect and re-reelect Democrats n 2010 and forever beyond. Obama and the Democrats are deaf and blind to the threat of the China Government. Holder of something like $500 billion of U. S. Treasury securities -- some say as high as two-thirds of China's $1.9 trillion foreign-exchange reserves are U.S. Government debt (roughly $1.2 trillion) -- China recently (Friday the 13th of March, 2009?) expressed concern about the safety of U.S. government debt and called upon America to guarantee its safety (which of course it has be simply issuing it!). Let's see, there is publicly held around $6.6 trillion of U. S. debt and it's on a course to grow by up to $4 trillion from Obama's Elect Democrats in 2010 "stimulus" bill, not counting $5.3 trillion of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac liabilities. All this is cash from somewhere that must be loaned to the United States of America.
There is a follow-up article, "Venue for Start-Ups Begins to Jell in China" (WSJ April 1, 2009, page C2.) The creation of this potential future threat to NASDAQ, (China's Growth Enterprise Market -- GEM --) but more importantly, the threat to the United States' virtual monopoly on venture capital and early-stage entrepreneural companies doesn't seem to be understood, especially in the Obama administration which seems to view NASDAQ as a gambling parlor. The GEM could be launched as early as June 2009. America take note.
As I have written about Obama, he promised us CHANGE and is delivering us CHAINS held by the Chinese Government. Is it planned to destroy capitalism or only ignorance, or perhaps a lack of experience, on his part?

And the question of the day, "Where are the three of the five most valuable (by market capitalization March 2009) companies located?"
U. S. ? No
European Union? No
Japan? No
China? Well, of course. PetroChina (#2), China Mobile (#4, but #1 Mobile Telecom company) and Commercial Bank of China (#5 and the world's biggest bank)

The other two, Exxon Mobil (#1) and U. S. union-hated Wal-Mart (#3) are U. S. based. In 1999 four of the top companies were U. S. based. Go America!

An article of June 12 ("Chinese Car-Parts Makers Expand" WSJ, page B 2) describes China's auto-parts industry as thriving while, of course, that of the United States is as bankrupt as GM and Chrysler. China is emerging as the world's number one market for light vehicles which, of course, creates a vast manufacturing market for parts. And it is selling to the world, with quality that is increasing. This year China is expected to pass Japan as the world's largest vehicle manufacturing country. President Obama, as you are protecting your unions at the expense of American tax payers, you are letting China eat our lunch in cars and parts.

Superamerican

The Whirling Dervish to Failure

Where to start. The most inexperienced president in U. S. history is acting...inexperienced. He is under the delusional assumption that activity, whirl, equates to achievement. Since before he was inaugurated, this president has been whirling around touching every corner of these United States with the aim of "change", to transform the United States of America into his vision. Change for change's sake, or maybe change for power's sake. To the four corners of the world, he delivers emotional, charasmatic words.  It is the typical activity of someone with little self-confidence.  Truly I believe Barack Obama never thought he'd get so far so fast.  And he's suffering from "rock star syndrome" by which youthful individuals rise in popularity rapidly, beyond their experience level and certainly beyond their emotional level.  I believe Mr. Obama knows he didn't earn the presidency, Nobel Peach Price notwithstanding, or perhaps withstanding!  Whirling Dervish of activity: buy a bank here, an insurance company there, a car company over there in Michigan, whirl, don't stop.  He can't stop himself.  Satisfy the extreme left wing which financed your election. Manage the information to the vast middle of America, the independents who actually cast the overwhelming votes to elect him. Set the Antitrusters on Google, IBM. Bail out the Autoworkers Union, the Steelworkers. Dismiss any thought of tort reform and push for forced unionization. Oh, save the world by a $787,000,000,000 "stimulus" that, in retrospect stimulated very little. (Except: The Transportation Department's inspector general is asking why nearly $30,000,000 of this dough is heading to Akiachak and Ouzinkie, Alaska, courtesy of the Federal Aviation Administration, which gets to blow $1,100,000,000. Let's see? Inexperience.)

Seek the chimera, the brass ring, the golden fleece (appropriate) of healthcare "reform" where others have failed.  Whirl.

Your $3,500,000,000 budget must have taken a little time, whirl.

And $33,000,000,000 annual expansion in the State Child Health Insurance Program (SCHIP), whirl.

$330,400,000,000 to rescue big banks, whirl.

Timmy, be a doll and get the debt ceiling lifted to $12,100,000,000,000, but keep Fannie and Freddie, Medicare and Medicaid off the books, whirl.

A trillion for a healthcare monopoly, whirl.

Energy? capit, tradeit, and taxit, damnit. Whirl, a trillion or two more.

Speaking of the "Stimulus" $787,000,000,000 -- not much has really been spent so far -- that is the good news -- but most has been used to finance local and state budget deficits, road repavings (FDR built dams, which of course liberals want removed, Eisenhower build the interstates, Obama is building, oops filling, potholes) little is for actual, useful infrastructure, that'd take too long, whirl. Mostly the "stimulus" is, as I wrote earlier ("Elect Democrats in 2010 Act passed" 2/12/2009) to re-elect Democrats in 2010 and 2012.

So, president Obama, what was the goal here? To see how much money you could toss into the air? Well, looks as though you couldn't even do that well with under 10% of the "stimulus" money going out to stimulate the economy before it rights itself in 2010, but no doubt your propaganda machine will take credit for all of it, whirl.

It is to generate campaign contributions from corporations threatened by your central steering of the economy? Well, here you are doing great. But this is only stimulating the re-election of the Democrats. (In the first half of 2009 AT&T and Verizon, two corporations threatened with antitrust put up nearly $20,000,000 in lobbying money. My guess? Mostly to Democrats.)

Friday, October 9, 2009

OBAMA'S INTERNATIONAL SURRENDER

President Barack Obama of the United States of America is surrendering America's free enterprise system to the vagaries of international central control.  At his initiative the so-called Group of Eight ("G-8" Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan, Russia, the United Kingdom and the United States; in addition, the European Union is represented within the G8, but cannot host or chair) "most-developed countries" will cater to those less-developed ones, becoming the Group of Twenty ("G-20" adding Argentina, Australia, Brazil, China, India, Indonesia,  Mexico, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea and Turkey) to become the permanent council of international economic cooperation.  The new entity is to reduce their dependency on the United States consumer and encourage it to reduce its debt; it wants China to increase its domestic markets; and Europe to encourage investment.  Each country would assess other countries' achievements, a "peer review" of "sustainable growth".  If recent history is any lesson, President Obama will be the first to give in and weaken the U. S.

Friday, October 2, 2009

STIMULUS SPENDING DOESN'T WORK

A Harvard University professor of economics has a working paper for the National Bureau of Economic Research that shows no evidence of a Keynesian 'multiplier' effect.  Keynes' assertions from nearly 75 years ago are the foundation of Democrats' massive spending of U. S. taxpayers' monies to try to control the normal ups and downs of an economic cycle.  See the entire article in the Wall Street Journal, Thursday, October 1, 2009, page A 23. [http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052748704471504574440723298786310.html]

As it has for years, Keynes' and the Democrats' contention that government spending helps recessions and depressions has been proven false.  But never to worry about facts and truths, President Obama spends, spends and spends money he has to borrow from China.  And, like the Cash for Clunkers, is gone with no tails of success. 

It has also been proven without a non-political doubt that tax cuts incent growth.

But no matter, Democrats will do anything, anything to get reelected and gain and retain power, raw power over others.

Finally, politicians should simply admit the truth: that they are essentially powerless to control economic cycles and that citizens should be prepared for them to occur once in a while by having some savings and manageable debt levels.