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Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Americans Must Exit From Wall Street




It does not appear that our government is about to bring jobs back to working America. Our government continues to engage in neo-liberalism's laissez-faire economic policies. President Obama's objective is to continue to erode our savings, our wages, and our jobs. The American people need to exit from Wall Street. That maybe the only civil action that would matter.

38 comments:

muralsigns said...

Here is my comment on James Howard Kunstler's current posting on his site kunstler.com. It was in response to a rant by a commentor who wrote about how the US kicks ass when they feel the mind to do so.

"Turn the desert into kitty liter? HUH? Yeah. We are so tough that we turned our economy into Swiss Cheese.

Not only have these wars been about oil, and as Jim stated a strategic wedge squeezing Iran, which most of the Middle East would like to see vanish, but first and foremost, these wars are for money.

The financial-banking-investment-insurance crime syndicate bosses also control the 33% of the military budget. General Dynamics builds 24 armored vehicles for millions of dollars (1/3 have already broken down). KBR and Haliburton, as well as GE and the rest need Treasury dollars to fatten their balance sheets because that is the only way they can do it. They earn little profit from selling in the private sector. In order to make profits, they need to socialize their balance sheet and get on the government no-bid, or contractual gravy train. The stock holders, and bond holders demand that profits be made any way they can.

If your retirement mutual funds invest in war, then they are doing what you want them to do. Make war!

This war is about money and profit for the corporate elite, who own this government, as well as the last several. War is money. Soldiers are tools. They wear the clothing, drive the vehicles, eat the food, buy the IPods, shoot the bullets, fly the planes, drop the bombs, fix the Humvees, watch the movies and more. They are the employees, the players in the corporate moneymaking game.

China brings in butter to the countries where the oil is drilled. But the US brings in bravado and bullets. Now which country of the two has the thriving economy and then, tell me which one is doing it with more sense."

jerry

SPECTRE of Deflation said...

Jerry, they are having a hard time keeping up with their current promises. Brace for impact!

Many Vets Can't Cash GI Bill Checks
Week of October 12, 2009

In response to the hardships caused by delays in delivering GI Bill benefits, the Department of Veterans Affairs began issuing advance educational benefit payments to veteran-students in the form of US Bank business checks. These emergency checks are being issued in amounts up to $3,000 for veteran-students who have applied for GI Bill benefits and who have not yet received their VA payment. VA's 57 regional offices began issuing these checks to eligible Veteran-students across the country on Friday, October 2, 2009. Unfortunately, many veterans have found it nearly impossible to cash the VA checks. To help with this latest snag, the VA has established a special customer service call-in number (1-800-827-2166) for banks to verify the validity of any US Bank check brought to them by a veteran. Banks calling these numbers will be connected directly to a VA employee who can access to all necessary information to verify who the check was issued to, the check number and dollar amount of the check, and whether the check was previously cashed or not.

To learn more, read the blog post on the Military Education Blog.

http://www.military.com/veterans-report/many-vets-cant-cash-gi-bill-checks?ESRC=vr.nl

SPECTRE of Deflation said...

Jerry, whatever you do, never mess with their ability to create money out of thin air. JFK had the Mint print up Treasury Notes and not FRNs by way of an Executive Order. Shortly thereafter he was killed, and nobody has brought it up again.


JFK assassination: Secret Service Standdown

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XY02Qkuc_f8&feature=player_embedded

SPECTRE of Deflation said...

Goldman Sachs 2009 bonuses to double 2008’s; $23 billion could send 460,000 to Harvard, buy insurance for 1.7 million families

Yesterday, we brought you the insurance company that wouldn't insure a 17-pound infant because he was too heavy. Today, we bring you the investment bank that manages to double its bonuses during the worst recession since the Great Depression.

On Thursday, Goldman Sachs will announce the firm's bonus payments for 2009. Analysts expect the bonus pool to mushroom to $23 billion -- double the bonus pool paid to employees in 2008. Earlier this year, Goldman Sachs said that it had put aside $11.4 billion for bonuses during the first half of the year.

“The absolute size of compensation payouts will rise significantly,” Keith Horowitz, an analyst at Citigroup, wrote in a note to clients two weeks ago, highlighted by Andrew Sorkin in The New York Times' dealbook column Tuesday.

How much is $23,000,000,000?
(SNIP)

http://rawstory.com/2009/10/goldman-sachs-2009-bonuses-to-double-2008s-23-billion-could-buy-115-million-iphones-or-send-460000-to-harvard/

SPECTRE of Deflation said...

Jerry, this article goes to the heart of our problems. Both Crime Syndicates need us to hate each others views in order to control all of us. They play us like a damn fiddle:

Partisan Politics – A Fool’s Game for the Masses
by Robert Higgs

http://www.lewrockwell.com/higgs/higgs133.html

SPECTRE of Deflation said...

Jerry, this article was picked up by Cryptogon. I have said for a while that the fastest and easiest way to bring about the needed inflation is war just as has been the case throughout history. Make economic conditions bad enough, and you have economic conscription as an employment model. Cue CCRs "Fortunate Son":

Bleak U.S. Job Market Boosts Military Recruitment; All Recruitment Goals Met for First Time
October 14th, 2009
Economic conscription.

Via: Reuters:

Aided by a bleak job market, the U.S. military met all of its recruitment goals in the past year for the first time since it became an all-volunteer force in 1973, the Pentagon said on Tuesday.

Military services have been stretched thin by conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, giving added weight to recruitment efforts as President Barack Obama considers sending another 40,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan next year.

The United States already has 67,000 troops in Afghanistan and about 119,000 in Iraq.

Pentagon officials said recruitment gains were fueled by the deepest U.S. recession since the Great Depression and an unemployment rate nearing 10 percent.

“For the first time since the advent of the all-volunteer force, all of the military components, active and reserve, met their number as well as their quality goals,” said Bill Carr, deputy undersecretary of defense for military personnel policy.

The U.S. Army, Navy, Marine Corps and Air Force sent a total of about 169,000 active duty recruits to training in the 2009 fiscal year that ended on September 30, beating their 164,000-member goal, the Pentagon said.

National guard and reserve forces sent about 128,000 recruits to training, beating their goal.

Carr said rising private sector unemployment was a force behind the increase in military recruitment but was not the only factor that “allowed us to be, for much of the year, in a very favorable position.”

SPECTRE of Deflation said...

Jerry, I just knew this was coming. I don't mention CCR for nothing. Let's see, 13,000 support troops plus up to another 45,000 troops would be another 58,000. 58,000? Isn't that the number of dead on the Wall in DC because of a little thing they called the Vietnam War but was really a police action. We are doing the same damn thing to our troops once again.


United States to send 'up to 45,000 more troops to Afghanistan'

The US is expected to announce a significant surge of up to 45,000 extra troops for Afghanistan after Gordon Brown said that 500 more British troops would be sent to the country.


http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/asia/afghanistan/6330163/United-States-to-send-up-to-45000-more-troops-to-Afghanistan.html

muralsigns said...

Spectre, I will tell you things are really getting depressing. The DOW rallies past 10K, while the wars rage on, Americans are threatened by the health insurance companies, and the banksta thieves party hardy with huge bonuses paid by the taxpayers.

The sheeple shuffle along with blinders.

jerry

SPECTRE of Deflation said...

Jerry, it is very depressing to see our Republic turned into a third world Banana Republic while everyone shuffles along headed right for the edge of the cliff. The thieves are setting up the sheeple for slaughter. Get them all in once again, as they have done so many times, and then they hit them with a sledge hammer right between the eyes, and everyone looks surprised. The next leg down will be uglier than most can ever imagine. A crushing deflation followed by a collapse of the currency and hyperinflation.

Meanwhile the wars keep on going like the Energizer Bunny. I can't even call them wars really, as no General in his right mind would do the dumb shit we do with our soldiers. If we ran WWII like we have everything since, we would both be goose stepping right now.

Anyone who is old enough will remember the way Vietnam was run. The GIs got a great big shit sandwich while the clowns in DC diddled with their lives. How long would the North have kept on fighting had we prosecuted the police action like a real war? Constant B-52 runs, 24/7, until they cried momma, and they would of certainly cried momma. Instead we got the on again, off again bombing runs to bring them back to the table to supposedely end the war. Tokyo and Dresden know a thing or two about our bombing during WWII. It was and is all about the $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$.

SPECTRE of Deflation said...

Geithner aides made millions on Wall Street
By Tom Braithwaite in Washington

Published: October 14 2009 20:49 | Last updated: October 14 2009 20:49

Obama administration officials now working on fixing and regulating the financial system were beneficiaries of several million dollars in pay from Wall Street and private equity companies, it has been revealed.

Financial disclosure forms show that prior to joining the government, Gene Sperling, a senior Treasury adviser, was paid $887,727 by Goldman Sachs and $158,000 for speeches to companies that included Stanford Group, the company run by Sir Allen Stanford, who has since been charged with fraud.
(SNIP)

http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/f012c4b2-b8f6-11de-98ee-00144feab49a.html?nclick_check=1

muralsigns said...

Hello Spectre,

Thanks for the links and thoughts. I read the revolving Geithner financial department store-type door that brings in his "counselors", without Senate confirmation or questioning, from Goldman Sachs, Merrill Lynch and other banksta thieving investment casinos to help him "reform" the very institutions that made these "counselors" rich.

This is like hiring mobsters as bank executives.

jerry

SPECTRE of Deflation said...

Jerry, fox gaurding the henhouse comes to mind. We live in Bizzaro World where the very crooks who raped and pillaged all of us will be the very ones they intend to use to fix the debacle/crimes.

They can't lose, and we can't win. Heads they win, tails we lose. This is nothing yet. Wait until they hit folks scraping by with Cap and Trade and a VAT Tax. As a percentage of income, it will destroy the lower and middle classes completely. Anything for a Carbon Market I guess.

They have done nothing more than postpone the day of reckoning, but by their actions, they have made it exponentially worse. What was a credit crisis has now become a full blown Global Depression including a currency crisis dead ahead. This dog and pony show now being displayed on Wall St. will come to a very bad ending. Main St. swirls around the bowl while the thieves rake in tens of billions in bonuses. The elites are playing with fire, as a man can only be pushed so far before he breaks especially when it concerns his family.

The states are already calling a big bullshit on the Federal Government, as they invoke their 10th Amendment Right. They will use the Constitution to achieve this and not violent actions. There are legal means of doing this written into the Constitution for actions such as our Federal Government is now taking. The Govt. has a compact with the citizens of this country. They have broken the compact by their actions and not ours. There is no trust either by the citizens of this country or by the nation states we deal with with regarding our Government. We have a full blown aristocracy that we have enthroned running the Bread & Circus Express!

SPECTRE of Deflation said...

Jerry, someone has been reading your blog, as you said this while the run through was taking place.

Pittsburgh: Beta Test for a Police State
Kurt Nimmo...Infowars
October 14, 2009

The G-20 police response in Pittsburgh was a beta test. “We spent months getting ready for this and it was a lot of preparation, but we’ll see the dividends of that for a long time to come,” Public Safety Director Michael Huss told the Pittsburgh Tribune-Review.

In other words, Pittsburgh is not going to stand-down now that the G-20 has departed. The “dividend” is that it will remain a militarized police state.
(SNIP)

http://www.infowars.com/pittsburgh-beta-test-for-a-police-state/

SPECTRE of Deflation said...

From the Wall Street Journal by way of a blogger. Did I mention we are screwed? :>)!!


And you thought you had broken even. If investors had bought gold when the Dow first closed above 10000 in March 1999, they'd be up almost 280%.

Put another way, Dow 10000 a decade ago "cost" 36 ounces of gold, treating each Dow point as $1.

When the Dow revisited that level Wednesday, it was worth only 9.276 ounces of gold.

In oil terms, the Dow has gone from 609 barrels to 133.

SPECTRE of Deflation said...

Who would of known that Obama would use Military Recruitment as a means to full employment? Wars are a grand way to take your mind off all your problems, and Barry has embraced the Military just like Johnson. Who would of known?This kind of change doesn't come along often, and I feel so lucky he's our commander that I'm giddy. NOT!!
-----------------------------------
Military services have been stretched thin by conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq, giving added weight to recruitment efforts as President Barack Obama considers sending another 40,000 U.S. troops to Afghanistan next year.

The United States already has 67,000 troops in Afghanistan and about 119,000 in Iraq.

Pentagon officials said recruitment gains were fueled by the deepest U.S. recession since the Great Depression and an unemployment rate nearing 10 percent.

"For the first time since the advent of the all-volunteer force, all of the military components, active and reserve, met their number as well as their quality goals," said Bill Carr, deputy undersecretary of defense for military personnel policy.
(SNIP)

SPECTRE of Deflation said...

Jerry, of course to get to full employment, he has a ways to go as this FED chart vividly shows:

Civilian Unemployment 15 Weeks And Over (GOING BACK TO 1950)

http://research.stlouisfed.org/fred2/graph/?chart_type=bar&s[1][id]=UEMP15OV

SPECTRE of Deflation said...

Jerry, this is still one of my favorites. Congressman Grayson laughs at Bernanke's answers:

Florida congressman Alan Grayson laughs in Ben Bernanke's face - priceless!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=00ECLxK2YTs&feature=player_embedded

SPECTRE of Deflation said...

Senator Sanders asks Bernanke WHERE IS THE MONEY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8p0nBa866E&NR=1

jerry, of eye on washington said...

Hi Spectre,

Grayson is great. He as the guts needed to stand up to the knuckle dragging Congressional neanderthal seat warmers on both sides of the aisle. Sanders is another stand up member. Unrest is being felt. I will attend a Jason altmire town hall tomorrow. I will see what happens there. I hope to voice my opinion, as well.

On our Friday video show I spoke about what the Bernanke plan is all about. Our video show did not upload well. Only the podcast version turned out well with 63 minutes of the show on it.

He plans to devalue the dollar to a point where the bankstas can write off their toxic debt at a extremely low mark to market value, since no one touched the stuff months ago. He will sacrifice the overall economy to rescue the banks from larger write-offs. Then he will raise the interest rates.

jerry

SPECTRE of Deflation said...

Jerry, the LEs were from Chicago. Who else do I know in the public eye from Chicago?

Chicago police officers accused of forcing man to pose for photo during Pittsburgh G-20 summit
By DON BABWIN , Associated Press

Last update: October 16, 2009 - 3:11 PM
CHICAGO - The Chicago Police Department is investigating several of its officers accused of forcing a college student they arrested during last month's G-20 summit in Pittsburgh to pose for a group photo with them.

The department, which has been dogged by embarrassing allegations of misconduct in recent years, began investigating the Pittsburgh claims after video of the alleged incident was posted on YouTube.

The video apparently shows about 15 police officers in riot gear posing for a photo with a man they detained kneeling in front of them.
(SNIP)

http://www.startribune.com/nation/64526237.html

muralsigns said...

Hi Spectre,

I didn't know some of my "homeboys" from Chicago were here Pittsburgh acting the fool! I am glad that the administration inside the Chicago Police Department are taking action, since Pittsburgh's Police department administrators seem to have sat on the incident. Thanks for sharing with us.

jerry

SPECTRE of Deflation said...

Jerry, I thought Obama had Joe under lock and key?

US VP Biden Confirms USA entered depression

http://www.econochristian.com/government-investments/2009/10/20/us-vp-biden-confirms-usa-entered-depression/

SPECTRE of Deflation said...

"We're in a place we haven't been since the Depression: Our economy is so completely *ucked, the rich are running out of things to steal."
-Matt Taibbi Rolling Stone Oct 2009

SPECTRE of Deflation said...

Jerry, welcome to the very quaint 18th century. It brings new meaning to, "I'm with the govt., and I'm here to help". Man, this country is completely BROKE. Everyone enjoy the folly of the "big issues" while we slowly sink into the abyss.


Criminalizing Poverty For Profit: Local Government's New Debtors Prisons
(October 20, 2009)


Local government is desperate for new funding but doesn't dare tap the wealthy. So they're busily criminalizing poverty and filling new Debtor's prisons. Correspondent Jeff Ray sent in this story Milking the Poor: One Family's Fall Into Homelessness (The Atlantic) which is representative of the trend in local government to criminalize poverty for its own enrichment.

Here's the deal. Local government has grown fat in a decade of gargantuan capital gains and real rising real estate taxes. Employees pulling down over $100,000 each are legion, as are public retirees pulling down over $100,000 a year in pension payments. Local government has added 15% more employees even as population grew by a meager 3%. (The numbers may vary in your area but the percentages won't.)

Now the seven fat years are over and local government is not liking the seven lean years. Now that housing has plummeted, so have the tax rolls; capital gains have dried up and even sales tax revenues are crashing. Despite the usual bleatings of hope, the chances of tax revenues recovering are slightly lower than the proverbial snowball's chance of remaining frozen in Heck.

Foreclosures: 'Worst three months of all time' Despite signs of broader economic recovery, number of foreclosure filings hit a record high in the third quarter - a sign the plague is still spreading.

Meanwhile, a perfect storm is gutting public pension funds. More Pain for State's Taxpayers, Cities: CALPERS losses $50B. In order for the State amd local governments of California to meet their future pension obligations (paid by CALPERS, the massive public pension fund), they need to kick in hundreds of millions of dollars more in coming years, even as their revenues are falling.

The conclusion that the medical and pension benefits which were promised in the fat years are no longer payable is anathema to public unions and managerial staff alike, and so the machinery of local government has geared up to stripmine the citizens like a giant trawler stripmines the sea: parking tickets have been jacked up to $60 or more, traffic violations are in the hundreds of dollars, speed traps abound, and as noted in the top story, fees for "crimes" like driving without auto insurance now cost more than the insurance itself.

And gosh forbid if you don't pay on time--the penalties double the original fine and then go up from there.

Is there anything more pernicious, malicious and immoral that this criminalization of poverty to engorge the coffers of local government? If John Q. Citizen defaults on his credit card, he might have to endure harrassing phone calls from bill collectors. But worst case, he can unplug his phone or cancel that number and get another phone number. Fortunately, the bank cannot have him imprisoned (yet).

But local government isn't quite as kind and gentle as the bankers. Mess with their revenues (i.e. don't pay the hefty fines they levy) and they'll haul your carcass into court and then into jail (can't make bail? Too bad. You're a full-blown criminal now.)

Exactly what is the difference between racking up $1,000 in fines off an innocuous violation and being imprisoned for lack of payment and a 19th century-era Debtors prison?

Isn't this part of the reason why the Parisian mobs tore down the Bastille?

Does this make any sense at all, arresting people who can't pay their nonsensically stupendous fines and penalties just so government employees don't have to take a cut in pay and benefits? When did a ticket go from $50 to $300 and up? And why? Does anyone think the cost leaped up "for the public good"?
(SNIP)

http://www.oftwominds.com/blogoct09/criminalizing-poverty10-09.html

SPECTRE of Deflation said...

Dylan Ratigan tears Goldman SUCKS a new one! WOW!!


http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31510813/#33346455

SPECTRE of Deflation said...

The war on drugs was started about the same time as CCA was formed. Both Crime Families (Rs and Ds) made out very well with putting away non-violent drug offenders in the newly built privately run prisons. Afghanistan is all about the POPPY. It's always about the dirty money made on the backs of the little guys of this world. Anyone who believes the F**Ktards of Washington care about the little guy is in need of a mental evaluation, and they will probably get one when our healthcare is decided by the douche bags of DC. These are the people that will run our healthcare? "ONE FLEW OVER THE CUCKOO'S NEST" comes to mind. The sheeple argue the point on who is right while New Rome burns to the ground. It takes our minds off the real fact of being flat ass broke, or if you prefer bread and circus for everyone please! Lock them up and throw away the key for many happy RETURNS!!!!


Ackman Says Pershing Owns 9.5% of Corrections Corp. (Update2)


http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=a96APKKcMHgQ

muralsigns said...

Hello Spectre,

Thanks for the articles and links. Dylan Ratigan is terrific. It is no holds barred with this guy. He is all over the theft by the banking crime syndicate. The regressive "tax" used to fine and punish working people with excessive fines for whatever reason is a way to kick people when they are really down. The oligarchs at their best.

Thanks, jerry

SPECTRE of Deflation said...

Jerry, they are all lying sacks of shit! As I said when this began $1 Trillion is probably 25% of what anything they put out will actually cost. So much for transparency and change we can believe in. Buying off the Docs is anything but, and Obama is full of shit!!

“Doc Fix” Fails: 13 Dems Join Republicans In Shooting It Down
October 21, 2009
Posted by: Erin

A huge scam got squelched today; this year’s version of the Medicare “Doc Fix”. Democrats wanted to shift 10 years of Medicare payments to doctors– a whopping $250 BILLION DOLLARS. They wanted the payments to be taken out of the health care bill and shifted to our deficit. Just tack it on! This is crazy! Obama said he wouldn’t sign any health care bill that added to the deficit. Not that you should believe that.

13 Democrats boldly joined Republicans in shutting this attempt down. Doesn’t make Harry Reid look too good, as he’d said he wouldn’t bring any legislation to the floor if he didn’t have the votes.

The Democrats splitting with Harry on the vote included Sens. Evan Bayh of Indiana, Robert Byrd of West Virginia, Kent Conrad of North Dakota, Christopher Dodd of Connecticut, Russ Feingold and Herb Kohl of Wisconsin, Claire McCaskill of Missouri, Bill Nelson of Florida, Jon Tester of Montana, Mark Warner and Jim Webb of Virginia, and Ron Wyden of Oregon. Independent Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut also voted against the bill. (My children and grandchildren thank them all!)

Senator Orrin Hatch (R-UT) called the plan a “budget gimmick”.

“It will be completely deficit financed,” stressed Hatch during a teleconference with conservative bloggers, adding “I think by the time you get through the full 10 years it’s going to be double that, or somewhere in that neighborhood.

President Obama promised deficit-neutral healthcare reform. And the ‘doc fix’ is part of healthcare reform — so why’s it being done separately?”

Sen. Hatch says that the plan is motivated in part by Democrats’ wish to cut down the price tag of the Finance Committee’s healthcare proposal, (estimated to cost more $800 billion over 10 years.) Hatch says that by passing more permanent payment reform before Congress tackles Obamacare, Dems can create the illusion that whatever health care idiocy they may pass… adds less to our deficit.


No wonder they don’t want us to see what they’re doing. Give those 13 Democrats your thanks.

SPECTRE of Deflation said...

Jerry, when he turns out to be exactly right, it won't matter concerning what the govt. has promised. We are toast!

Bailout May Cost $23.7 Trillion: Barofsky
Published on 10-21-2009


Source: Huffington Post

WASHINGTON - The federal government has devoted $4.7 trillion to help the financial sector through its crisis, a level of assistance equal to about one-third of the overall U.S. economy, a watchdog report said Monday.

Under the worst of circumstances, the report said, the government's maximum exposure could total nearly $24 trillion, or $80,000 for every American.

The figures are part of a tough new quarterly report to Congress from special inspector general Neil Barofsky, who accuses the Treasury Department of repeatedly failing to adopt recommendations aimed at making one component of the government financial rescue effort more accountable and transparent.

The $4.7 trillion commitment to the industry takes into account about 50 initiatives and programs set up since 2007 by the Bush and Obama administrations as well as by the Federal Reserve. Barofsky oversees one of the initiatives -- the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Much of the government assistance is backed by collateral and Barofsky's $23.7 trillion estimate represents the gross, not net, exposure that the government could face.

Because of declining participation in short-term loan programs and because some infusions of money have been repaid, the maximum amount actually spent has declined to a current outstanding balance of $3 trillion, Barofsky said.

Treasury spokesman Andrew Williams said the actual cash outlay to date of all the programs cited by Barofsky is actually less than $2 trillion and said the maximum exposure estimate "is inflated in a number of ways."

The agencies and the programs assisting the financial sector include a newly created Federal Housing Finance Agency, increased deposit insurance initiated by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., and 18 support programs created by the Fed under the special powers it can deploy to address a systemwide financial crisis.
Story continues below

Banks have cut back on their use of the Fed's emergency lending program as well as other programs to ease credit stresses. Given that, the Fed has reduced the amount it will lend to financial institutions under two programs and it has decided to let a program to support money market mutual funds to expire as currently scheduled at the end of October.

Barofsky's $23.7 trillion estimate represents the maximum exposure that the government would face if all eligible applicants requested the maximum assistance at the same time. It does not account for the fees and other costs that some of these programs charge and for the collateral that many of the programs require that participants provide.

For instance, Barofsky assigns $6.8 trillion in potential exposure to the Federal Housing Finance Agency, which oversees mortgage giants Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and the 12 federal home loan banks. However, losses of that magnitude would require every homeowner with a Fannie or Freddie guaranteed mortgage to default and the value of the homes drop to zero. And Barofsky concedes that the finance agency and Treasury are not entirely liable for Fannie and Freddie losses.

The total also includes $3.35 trillion for a Treasury program, announced in September, to back money market mutual funds. But the Treasury has capped its liability for that program at $50 billion.
(SNIP)

SPECTRE of Deflation said...

Jerry, here is a real hero for the ages. The F**Ktards of DC are not fit to wipe her shoes. God rest her beautiful soul!

21 October 2009
Irena Sendler

There recently was a death of a 98 year-old lady named Irena. During WWII, Irena, got permission to work in the Warsaw Ghetto, as a Plumbing/Sewer specialist. She had an 'ulterior motive' ... She KNEW what the Nazi's plans were for the Jews, (being German.)

Irena smuggled infants out in the bottom of the tool box she carried and she carried in the back of her truck a burlap sack, (for larger kids..) She also had a dog in the back that she trained to bark when the Nazi soldiers let her in and out of the ghetto. The soldiers of course wanted nothing to do with the dog and the barking covered the kids/infants noises.

During her time of doing this, she managed to smuggle out and save 2500 kids/infants. She was caught, and the Nazi's broke both her legs, arms and beat her severely. Irena kept a record of the names of all the kids she smuggled out and kept them in a glass jar, buried under a tree in her back yard. After the war, she tried to locate any parents that may have survived it and reunited the family. Most had been gassed. Those kids she helped got placed into foster family homes or adopted.

Last year Irena was up for the Nobel Peace Prize. She was not selected.

Al Gore won, for a slide show on Global Warming.

[I forgot who won this year.]

muralsigns said...

Hi Spectre,

There is a movie about Irena and her heroism during a dangerous time. I watched last year on DVD. She was an amazing and brave person. She is far above those who are pretending to rescue our economy and citizens from devastation.

Also, Barofsky is another hero of our day. He is speaking out again and again laying out the economic travesty that has gone on now for 10 years and longer.

Take care, jerry

SPECTRE of Deflation said...

Do we have Chavez II in Amerika? This is the "change we can believe in"? Someone tell the dumbass in the WH, that would be you Barry, and I didn't think anyone could be more stupid and arrogant than Bush, that he's not a f**king dictator because he obviously thinks he is. Hey Barry, you suck!! YOU WILL NOT TAKE AWAY FREEDOM OF THE PRESS! EVER!!!

Unprecedented: White House Tries to Ban Fox from Press Pool


Today the White House stepped up its attack on Fox News, announcing that the network would no longer be able to conduct interviews with officials as a member of the Press Pool. The Pool is a five-member group consisting of ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News and NBC organized by the White House Correspondents Association. Its membership is not subject to oversight by the government.

Before an interview with "Pay Czar" Kenneth Feinberg, the administration announced that Fox News would be banned from the press pool. This marks the first time in history that an administration had attempted to ban an entire network from the press pool.

To their credit, the other networks objected. They told the White House that if Fox were banned, none of the other networks would participate. The White House relented, but in an apparent act of petulant retaliation, it restricted each network to a two-minute interview instead of the standard five.

Interestingly, this behavior completely contradicts an opinion rendered Tuesday by White House spokesman Robert Gibbs when questioned by ABC's Jake Tapper.

White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs: We render opinion based on some their coverage and the fairness of that coverage.

Tapper: That's a pretty sweeping declaration that they're not a news organization. How are they different from, say another, say ABC, MSNBC, Univision?

Gibbs: You and I should watch sometime around 9 o'clock tonight or five this afternoon.

Tapper: I'm not talking about their opinion programs. Or issues you have with certain reports. I'm talking about saying that thousands of individuals who work for a media organization do not work for a news organization. Why is that appropriate for the White House to say?

Gibbs: That is our opinion.

Carol E. Lee, Politico: Does that mean the White House doesn't believe they should be part of the press pool?

Gibbs: The press pool is decide by the White House Correspondents Association.

Lee: So you have no opinion on whether they should be ...

Gibbs: I'm not going to delineate for the White House Correspondents Association how the pool is conducted. That's not my job.

So the administration contradicted itself within 48 hours. That's about twice as long as normal.

Perhaps the White House will next try to pull Fox News' press pass.

That would be entirely consistent with the Hugo Chavez-style of government that President Axelrod and his advisers are trying to install.

I'm patiently waiting for the ACLU to stand up for freedom of the press and complain to President Obama about quashing Fox's First Amendment rights.



Update: Dan Riehl: "For the first time in my life I'm actually uncomfortable knowing that this guy has control of our military and Federal police forces. If he thinks he can simply shut down a member of the press on a whim, how long before he goes full Chavez?"

SPECTRE of Deflation said...

Hey Barry, give them one of your numerous SS #s, and maybe you slide through.


NOBODY REMEMBERS OBAMA AT COLUMBIA

Looking for evidence of Obama's past, Fox News contacted 400 Columbia University students from the period when Obama claims to have been there, but none remembered him.

Wayne Allyn Root was, like Obama, a political science major at Columbia who also graduated in 1983. In 2008, Root says of Obama, "I don't know a single person at Columbia that knew him, and they all know me.

I don't have a classmate who ever knew Barack Obama at Columbia. Ever! Nobody recalls him. I'm not exaggerating, I'm not kidding."
Root adds that he was also, like Obama, "Class of '83 political science, pre-law" and says, "You don't get more exact or closer than that. Never met him in my life, don't know anyone who ever met him.

At the class reunion, our 20th reunion five years ago, who was asked to be the speaker of the class? Me.

No one ever heard of Barack! And five years ago, nobody even knew who he was. The guy who writes the class notes, who's kind of the, as we say in New York, the macha who knows everybody, has yet to find a person, a human who ever met him. Is that not strange?

It's very strange." Obama's photograph does not appear in the school's yearbook and Obama consistently declines requests to talk about his years at Columbia, provide school records, or provide the name of any former classmates or friends while at Columbia.


[link to en.wikipedia.org]

NOTE: Root graduated as Valedictorian from his high school, Thornton-Donovan School, then graduated from Columbia University in 1983 as a Political Science major (in the same class as President Barack Obama WAS SUPPOSED TO HAVE BEEN IN)

SPECTRE of Deflation said...

Jerry, next they will just throw the opposition in jail a.k.a. The Chavez Vacation. This bullshit is as far away from liberalism as you can get. Fascism is what it really is!!

Representative Towns locks Republicans out, literally

Government Reform Chairman Ed Towns has figured out a novel way to lock Republicans out in a bitter dispute over a committee hearing.


He’s locking them out. Literally.


Towns (D-N.Y.) is seething mad that the top Republican on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) tried to force a subpoena vote in the committee regarding a Countrwide Financial investigation, without Towns’ consent. Towns got even angrier when Republicans posted a video of Democrats slipping out the side door to avoid that vote last week. That left leave Republicans without the proper committee quorum, but the video did give the GOP fodder to portray Democrats as avoiding a tough vote on documents related Countrywide, which offered VIP mortgages to Democratic Sens. Chris Dodd and Kent Conrad.


Asked why the Democrats changed the locks on committee doors, Towns fessed up.


“Because they [Republicans] don’t know how to behave,” Towns said in a statement to POLITICO.


And was this retaliation for posting a video of Democrats scooting out the side door?


“Yes,” Towns added.


Issa, who has fashioned himself as a good-government agitator on the Oversight and Government Reform Committee, seems both amused and annoyed by Towns’ antics.


“It's not surprising that they would choose to retaliate given the embarrassment we caused by catching them in a lie on tape,” said Issa spokesman Kurt Bardella. “If only they would use their creative energy to do some actual oversight rather than resorting to immature tactics, but I guess we're getting some insight into what lengths they'll go to avoid addressing the Countrywide VIP issue.”

SPECTRE of Deflation said...

Jerry, from another blog. The revolving door is spinning at an unbelievable speed:

Regular content contributor GG sent us a link to this press release: Adam Storch Named Managing Executive of SEC’s Enforcement Division. GG's comment: "Unbelievable! The Securities & Exchange Commission last week appointed a 29-year old Goldman Sachs executive as the managing executive of its enforcement division. You already know about all the curious contacts Goldman's leader Lloyd Blankfein has had with Treasury heads Hank Paulson and Tim Geithner. So I assume the SEC must also be aware of these contacts. While I have no reason to question Mr. Storch's ethics or motives in taking this job that presumably pays a fraction of his Goldman salary, not to mention bonus, isn't the SEC even a little concerned about its already soiled reputation?"

SPECTRE of Deflation said...

Jerry, another Dylan video for your viewing pleasure. He interviews Barofsky which makes everything much clearer. We are screwed!

The American Sucker-Holding A Bag Of SH*T

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTYEO1gaRnw&feature=player_embedded

muralsigns said...

Hi Spectre,

Thanks again for being part of the national news resource gatherer. I appreciate what you send us/me.

Here we go again. Bush wouldn't reveal his military records or his grades at his university, and now, there is a question about Barack's time at Columbia. How disillusioning to believe we can no longer believe in those who are elected to protect, serve and defend the country.

In regards to FOX News. I don't own a tv and surely wouldn't watch FOX if I could. I don't believe they are really critical where real criticism needs to be. Their role in Bush's reelection and their support for him during his reign of error causes me to believe they should not be allowed into the party room.

Now, to be excluded from the Press Room- ridiculous. Gibbs just doesn't need to call on their reporters. That would be very easy.

take care, jerry

muralsigns said...

I believe the rumors about Obama not ever attending Columbia is a hoax.

On another note, Michael Moore has just come out and stated in his What Not To Do list that Americans should not own, therefore should sell, any and all financial banking crime syndicate stocks, and get out of all stocks.

I have been saying this for a couple of months now. I have two Youtubes recommending this.

This is only way to make a change that will be effective. Teach Wall Street a lesson.

Buy doing this the bonuses would stop, the raises would stop, new tough regulations would be passed into law. Real Change would occur.

http://www.dailykos.com/storyonly/2009/10/22/795837/-Michael-Moores-Action-Plan:-15-Things-Every-American-Can-Do-Right-Now