Bring It On! National News

Don’t for a minute think that this post is about you the disenfranchised foreclosed on former first time home owner. Even though you were told by your lending professional, abandoned on the side of the road used car salesman, small appliance repair, and fortune teller that you could afford your recently foreclosed home, this story is not about you. Justice is never about you so this post is not about anyone at or below the middle class income level that lost their home to dubious lending practices.

One thing is a given in America, the only justice is for the millionaires that can afford to demand it. All of the bum loans that the mortgage lending and banking industry gave out like free cheese to the poor was not a big enough problem to look into. And yet when the millionaire investors start loosing their shirts it just might be a problem.

F.B.I. Opens Subprime InquiryBy REUTERS
Published: January 29, 2008

WASHINGTON, Jan. 29 (Reuters) — The F.B.I. has opened investigations into 14 corporations as part of a crackdown on improper subprime lending, agency officials said on Tuesday.F.B.I. officials told reporters that the inquiry involved potential violations including accounting fraud and insider trading.

Separately, Bear Stearns, Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley said government investigators were seeking information from them about their subprime mortgage activities. But it was not immediately clear if the disclosures by the three banks were linked to the F.B.I. probes.

F.B.I. officials did not identify the companies they were looking at, but said the investigation reached across the industry to include developers, subprime lenders, companies that securitized loans and investment banks that held them.

The cases could lead to potential civil or criminal charges, the officials said.
The F.B.I. said it was investigating the cases with the Securities and Exchange Commission, which has opened about three dozen investigations into the subprime market collapse.

Targets of the S.E.C. probe include the investment banks Bear Stearns, Morgan Stanley and Merrill Lynch, as well as the Swiss bank UBS and the bond insurer MBIA. It was not clear whether any of those companies were involved in the F.B.I. investigation.

The S.E.C., which has formed an internal subprime-mortgage task force, is looking at how financial firms priced mortgage-based securities and whether they should have told investors earlier about the declining value of those securities. - New York Times

All of the businesses that sold the loans to you the former homeowner hardly ever hold on to those loans. They sell them to bigger banks and bigger banks bundle them all together and sell them as investment vehicles for the mega rich. Now that the loans are being defaulted on in larger than life numbers those investment vehicles are up on cinder blocks with tickets on them from the board of health as a public nuisance. AKA losing money for the mega rich people and businesses that invest in them.

What the F.B.I. is investigating at the banks is the fact that the SEC has some serious rules about selling bovine by product as any kind of investment product. Especially, when those products are purchased by the mega dough bucks people at the top of the income earners heap.

Now it’s officially a Subprime Lending crisis! Now let’s see who goes to minimum security, weekends off for god behavior prison? Maybe when these guys have to loose their golf handicap they might see what justice is really all about.

One more note, Bear Stearns, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs have all dropped in shareholder value between $15 and $20 in the last three months. Things that make you go hmmmm or screw them too?

Papamoka

Originally posted at Papamoka Straight Talk

Feel free to link to or borrow this post…

While on a recent road trip Hillary Clinton is talking about the economy and now is the time to talk about the economy and how we all got into this horrible mess. The near future is not as positive as some people would like to think and a clear path through it is needed. With the latest reports coming in from all of the world stock exchanges, the “Maybe Recession” is a world wide concern when you are talking about the United States of America. World economics is the key to saving not only our own economy but the worlds.

One of the key factors to the U.S. economy is the middle class and the shear numbers of them with disposable income. The facts are simple and the middle class in America has been downsized and locked out of the “Bush” economy from benefits too salary increases. In that same time period the cost of living in America has gone through the roof. One large contributor to that lockout was the executive release of responsibility in corporate America. In the world of business it should be called a signing statement, similar to the thoughts of our current President and the Constitution. Downsizing and outsourcing of entire manufacturing plants out of the country not to be competitive but to ensure the yearly top executives bonuses are protected and of course adjusted for inflation.

In some circles it could be argued that NAFTA and every other acronym for free trade helped to boost the economy in America but they never really stipulated if it was South America or North of the border of America? In reality, free trade literally meant a migration of American middle class jobs out of America and that is yet just one more source of the downfall of our economy. When our government supports the rights of other nations citizens for good jobs at good wages you better look at your last days of employment because that is the first tax break for corporate America to send your job over the border. Key phrases for shutting a factory or manufacturing plant here in the states is “Stock Holder Value”. Largest benefactors to stock holder value are CEO’s and top executives with stock options.

Senator Clinton in her race for the White House spoke about where she thinks we as a nation need to be and it is hard to argue with her thoughts when you look at the numbers realistically. Over at the New York Times they have this interview with Senator Clinton…

Todd Heisler/The New York Times

Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton said that if she became president, the federal government would take a more active role in the economy to address what she called the excesses of the market and of the Bush administration.In one of her most extensive interviews about how she would approach the economy, Mrs. Clinton laid out a view of economic policy that differed in some ways from that of her husband, Bill Clinton. Mr. Clinton campaigned on his centrist views, and as president, he championed deficit reduction and trade agreements.

Reflecting what her aides said were very different conditions today, Mrs. Clinton put her emphasis on issues like inequality and the role of institutions like government, rather than market forces, in addressing them.

She said that economic excesses — including executive-pay packages she characterized as often “offensive” and “wrong” and a tax code that had become “so far out of whack” in favoring the wealthy — were holding down middle-class living standards.

Interviewed between campaign appearances in Los Angeles on Thursday, she said those problems were also keeping the United States economy from growing as quickly as it could.

“If you go back and look at our history, we were most successful when we had that balance between an effective, vigorous government and a dynamic, appropriately regulated market,” Mrs. Clinton said. “And we have systematically diminished the role and the responsibility of our government, and we have watched our market become imbalanced.”

She added: “I want to get back to the appropriate balance of power between government and the market.” - New York Times

Senator Clinton is obviously correct in stating that the markets from housing to Wall Street’s power brokers are out of control and need government oversight more now than ever. If our nation is to survive the current recession then restraints and intervention needs to come from our government. If it does not then the Robber Barron’s of days long gone will run the economy and the nation into the ground and ride out the destruction on the billions earned prior. And you can bet your last Rockefeller shiny new dime that they will pull their investments out of the stock market long before it crashes and outsource it to safer shores.

Salaries of record for one year to think about from Too Much…

$118.9 million for Leslie Blodgett, CEO of Bare Escentuals, who cashed out over 5 million option shares in her cosmetics company for a $117.6 million personal profit.$415.5 million for Occidental Petroleum CEO Ray Irani. To reach this total, the Times added to Irani’s $52.1 million in pay, as calculated by Equilar, the $270.1 million Irani cleared from cashing out stock options and the $93.3 million he withdrew from his deferred stock plan. Irani still holds another $124 million in deferred pay.

$647 million for Apple CEO Steve Jobs

$127 million for UnitedHealth CEO William McGuire

$32.6 million for Todd Nelson, CEO of the Apollo Group, a profit-making collection of higher education institutions

$131 million for Robert Nardelli, the Home Depot CEO forced out in January

$97 million for Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis

$1.5 billion for James Simons, Renaissance Technologies

$39.1 million for Ford CEO Alan Mulally, a sum that includes an $18.5-million bonus for leaving Boeing to join Ford. Ford had six executives in the industry’s top 15, despite record 2006 losses of $12.6 billion.

Some people would say that each one of these people earned their pay and in some cases I might not argue with you. In most cases though it is a race to the top of the heap and they never look back at all the folks they stepped on to get those annual salaries and mega stock options. That is not part of the horizon they are looking at when they cash out, sell out or move on to another corporate position to repeat the process all over again. Once there they never forget the politics that kept them there either with donations that max out. Atilla the Hun would have been very comfortable in corporate America but he would have owned it all.

Hillary Clinton is talking the talk and I would not be surprised if she became President that she would look at corporate politics with an evil eye but she will not hesitate to cash those campaign checks coming in till that day comes. She isn’t alone in the cashing of those check and that my friends scares me.

If your interested in seeing whom is giving political donations to whom and how much then I highly recommend NewsMeat. It’s a great search engine for political thoughts and seeing who is maxing out to their favorite candidates.

Papamoka

Originally posted at Papamoka Straight Talk…

As I sat and listened to the Idiot-in-Chief, I wondered if he actually believed what he said or just hopes to hell that we believe it.

He wants the tax cuts for the top one percent to be made permanent, but the ones he is outlining for the rest of America should only be a one-time deal.

Of course the following part really jacked my jaw: Folks at the extreme bottom of the economic rung shouldn’t get squat..because that is considered welfare.

Fark you Frat boy.

Here it is, what the Jackass-in-Chief wants and what lies and half-truths he spewed. Some lowlights:

The economic team reports that our economy has a solid foundation, but that there are areas of real concern. Our economy is still creating jobs, though at a reduced pace. Consumer spending is still growing, but the housing market is declining. Business investment and exports are still rising, but the cost of imported oil has increased.-Ok, the December report on how American’s spent their money showed it was in the toilet, the worst since 1991. The New York Times stated: Strong evidence is emerging that consumer spending, a bulwark against recession over the last year even as energy prices surged and the housing market sputtered, has begun to slow sharply at every level of the American economy, from the working class to the wealthy.

Sorry Bush, but your full of bat guano on that first point right out of the box. The way the government fixes it’s statistics on job growth have been crap for years. Too many variables that should be included in that statistic aren’t.

Wages are stagnant and good paying jobs disappear while the income of the top one percent of Americans that don’t actually work for a living and that love their stocks and hedge funds has continued to grow. To say we are growing and jobs are being created might be true..but what is the average wage of those ‘new’ jobs? The NYT article linked above shows how the lifestyles of average American’s has changed drastically:

One consequence is an upending of the traditional pattern, in which middle-aged children take in an elderly parent. As $15-an-hour factory jobs are replaced by $7- or $8-an-hour retail jobs, more men in their 30s and 40s are moving in with their parents or grandparents, said Cheryl Thiessen, the director of Jackson/Vinton Community Action, which runs medical, fuel and other aid programs in Jackson and Vinton Counties.

The Economic Policy Institute, EPI tells you and shows you graphs and charts on how wages have suffered for the working part of America:

With the release of today’s consumer price index for December—up 0.3% for the month and 4.1% for 2007—we can now examine how real hourly and weekly earnings did over the course of last year (comparing this December to last December).

As shown in Figure 1, both hourly and weekly earnings fell in 2007, a sharp reversal from the gains in 2006. After growing by about 2% in 2006, both hourly and weekly earnings fell, after adjusting for inflation, by about 1% last year.

More from The Shrub’s speechifying:Passing a new growth package is our most pressing economic priority. When that is done, Congress must turn to the most important economic priority for our country, and that’s making sure the tax relief that is now in place is not taken away. A source of uncertainty in our economy is that this tax relief is set to expire at the end of 2010. Unless Congress acts, the American people will face massive tax increases in less than three years. The marriage penalty will make a comeback; the child tax credit will be cut in half; the death tax will come back to life; and tax rates will go up on regular income, capital gains, and dividends. -Notice that he really wants to keep those on top of the foodchain safe, but not anyone else. God forbid their taxes go back up in the form of capital gains, dividends and the estate tax.

For the 99% of American’s that actually work for a living, their income isn’t growing like the income for the wealthy at the top of the economic food chain. From the latest data that is complete:

From 2003 to 2004, the average incomes of the bottom 99 percent of households grew by less than 3 percent, after adjusting for inflation. In contrast, the average incomes of the top one percent of households experienced a jump of more than 18 percent, after adjusting for inflation. (Census data show that real median income fell between 2003 and 2004. Average income is pulled up by gains at the top of the income spectrum; much of the 2.3 percent rise among the bottom 99 percent seems to largely reflects gains by households in the top decile of the income spectrum. In contrast, trends in median income capture the experience of households in the middle of the income spectrum.)

The top one percent of households (those with annual incomes above about $315,000 in 2004) garnered 53 percent of the income gains in 2004.(emphasis mine)

Sadly the reality is..it’s worse than that. The CBPP explained that the enormous gains at the top of the income foodchain caused a rise of income as a whole. But average income dropped between 2003 and 2004, and has not risen appreciably since then. In short, while the top one percent get richer, the middle class is shrinking, as economist Paul Krugman pointed out in a speech earlier this year:

By the time World War II was over, we had become the middle-class society that the baby boomers in this audience grew up in. We had become a much more equal society. That high degree of equality began to go away — depending on exactly which numbers you look at — during the late 70’s, maybe a little earlier than that. And at this point we’re basically back to pre-tax and transfer to the levels of inequality that we had in 1929.

What happened in 1929? The Stock Market crashed and burned.

The final blurb from our Frat Boy in the White House: In a vibrant economy, markets rise and decline. We cannot change that fundamental dynamic. As a matter of fact, eliminating risk altogether would also eliminate the innovation and productivity that drives the creation of jobs and wealth in America. Yet there are also times when swift and temporary actions can help ensure that inevitable market adjustments do not undermine the health of the broader economy. This is such a moment.

I don’t really want to call our Decider-in-Chief a delusional moron or better yet a lying sack of crap, but if that shoe fits… you hold him down and I will stick it on his foot, while I put the other one where the sun doesn’t shine, otherwise known as his behind.

While all the politicians including the Hack in Chief of the United States are finally noticing that the economy is in a free fall the latest news everywhere is not enlightening on how to fix it. While one political party is calling for more tax cuts for the middle and upper classes the other is presenting tax cuts for the middle and lower classes. Stimulus tax cuts they call them. In a realistic world they would be called one layer of gauze tape to stop the bleeding of a lost limb.

Our nation is being bled dry not by outside influences but by our own behaviors as a nation. Rather than facing our worst fears we point out who is to blame and then head on over to Walmart or any other super store to save a few dollars on our household needs. It may not be fair to single out Walmart alone simply because every store you go into for any product your family needs and it has become increasingly harder to find products that are actually “Made in the U.S.A.”. Which should also mean made here and not just packaged here. All of the manufacturing jobs that used to make that tooth brush or that nail clipper or toaster are gone. Walmart is hiring part time workers though so you can make minimum wage being a greeter or cashier.

There is an enormous difference between a manufacturing wage and a retail wage. Huge difference! Our nations middle class economy is based in the manufacturing sector and when that is sold out to Wall Street and jobs shipped overseas, it tends to have a negative effect on local economies all across America.

Free markets without controls and rules are dangerous as ignored by the former majority political party and the latest reporting of the mega banks writing off hundreds of billions in foreclosed mortgages is outrageous. Without clearly written government rules, the industry of home lending is imploding on itself with bad loans for people that could not afford them to begin with and it is a self fulfilling prophecy. Greed will do that in a pyramid scheme when you leave the next guy holding the bad loan bag.

“We’re facing a recession in the economy,” Clinton told a predominantly black church outside of Los Angeles. “I know it’s already arrived.” - New York Times

“We don’t know whether we are already in a technical definition of a recession, but what I know from traveling all across the country is families have been struggling for a long time — even prior to the sub-prime lending crisis,” Obama said in San Francisco. - New York Times

John Edwards… We have to strengthen and grow the middle class, which is struggling mightily in this country today. And one of the reasons that we’ve lost jobs, we’re having trouble creating jobs, we’re having trouble growing & strengthening the middle class is because corporate power and greed have literally taken over the government. - On the Issues.org

Instead of a “Stimulus Tax Cut” lets look at the highest affect of the economy and largest creator of the American recession. Oil prices. Everything in your personal life is bound to the price of oil even if you are a new born child. All of the food on your table has a transportation cost to get it to the market and then to your refrigerator. I won’t even start on plastic products which are all oil based. You are not alone when you think that three bags of groceries should not cost fifty dollars when it was twenty less than six years ago. Transportation cost are passed on to the consumer in every industry product on the open market except the ones coming from China? They may now call it Black China as an accounting term rather than a political one. Government supports in China make the products the cheapest in the world and the cheapest on the shelf here in America.

Instead of a tax cut, we should urge our government leaders to propose a Legal Aid for America. awyers with a free will to go get them attitude with a government badge. How many of the best legal minds in America would sign up for a commission basis result of prosecuting market manipulation in the oil markets from any sector. We could call it the Green Beret’s of the Justice Department and just the site of any single one of them in the lobby of any Wall Street firm or Big Oil companies front office would set off the sprinklers in the CEO’s pants. Prices at the pump would drop and so would the preposterous ten and twenty billion dollar quarterly profits reported by the largest of oil companies. Not to mention the hundred million dollar bonuses for the top of the top on Wall Street every single year.

We need strong leaders and a strong legal arm of the government that is not beholding to the President no matter who it is. Our economy is being sucked down the drain because the friends of this current President are at the end of the money pipeline with his time left in office.

It was rather ironic that recently the most powerful man in the free world was forced to beg and kiss the ring of the King of Saudi Arabia to open the spigots to relieve the world oil supply needs after being rebuked by the King’s Oil Minister. Now that tells you who is really running the world doesn’t it.

Then of course there is the bleeding of our treasury to fight a war that has no end in the Middle East. Our nation is sending so much money into this endless pit that it has become an addiction of pride rather than an admission of the truth. Can’t fix it, won’t ever be fixed, and the people that live there don’t want it fixed. And yet the American people are screwed by the King of America and the King of Saudi Arabia.

I know that I personally thank our President in my own special way every time I fill up my tank. How about you? Do you feel no longer like an American and just another money chip on the political poker game table? If you do then voting now is more important than ever.

Papamoka

Feel free to link to or steal this post…

Originally posted at Papamoka Straight Talk

Now that reality and what it means to be an actual American is in the head lights of the politicians running for President maybe they will all see that it is the economy that is the heartbeat of America. With the hundreds of billions of dollars flowing out of America to pay for an endless war it is finally hitting home in the nations capitol.

We have had eight years of a President that simply can not stand Americans but loves to only show up at military bases and closed public meetings that are invitation only events. It has been a late revelation to me but something I have slowly put together over the last few days but I’m sure others have conceived the thought before I. George Bush is terrified to be President.

We have had eight years of a President that does not see the tasks of lenders that would lead to a housing market and ownership collapse. One thing that all economist know as the standard bar to base our economy on is the housing market. Right now and for a long time now the housing market has been in a free fall. And just not the President but the entire Congress has looked the other way from the millionaire club seats that most of them come from. None of them have lost their homes and most likely not one soul that they are familiar with has lost their home. While President Bush is on the road to the Middle East all you have to do is watch his body language to see that the suit does not fit. He is no more comfortable with that situation as much as he is facing the fact that he and our government can no longer fix the housing market free fall.

Some Fear Economic Stimulus Is Already Too LateBy PETER S. GOODMAN and FLOYD NORRIS
Published: January 13, 2008

As leaders in Washington turn their attention to efforts to avert a looming downturn, many economists suggest that it may already be too late to change the course of the economy over the first half of the year, if not longer.With a wave of negative signs gathering force, economists, policy makers and investors are debating just how much the economy could be damaged in 2008. Huge and complex, the American economy has in recent years been aided by a global web of finance so elaborate that no one seems capable of fully comprehending it. That makes it all but impossible to predict how much the economy can be expected to fall before it stabilizes.

The answer could be a defining factor in the outcome of the fiercely contested presidential election. Not long ago, the race centered on the war in Iraq.

But now, as candidates fan out across the country, visiting places as varied as the factory towns of Michigan and streets lined with unsold condominiums in Las Vegas, voters are increasingly demanding that they focus on the best way to keep the economy from slipping off the tracks. - New York Times

Americans need to face the facts and know that the government is no longer there to help you. That is till you stop paying taxes and feeding the machine with a bottomless appetite. Then they really care about you as an individual. So much so they will provide you with three square meals a day, a bed and a room mate to talk to in your prison cell.

Some how it was decided that everyone needs to stand on their own two feet. Be you man, woman or beast you must stand on your own two feet! Then the Republicans gutted the Veterans Administration that treated all the so called leaches needing medical help that fought for the nation they love. That is the true difference between a Democrat and a Republican, Democrats will recognize a veteran that was disabled in service to their nation, Republicans look at them as an expense on the backs of hard working people. One of them is wrong.

I know what the loss of hope is. I’ve lived it, I’ve fought it and still fight it every single day. So does every single American under the screw you and do it your damn self policies of the Republican Party. That is why change is so critical in our nation right now in this point in time. Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama can bitch and moan who moved or advanced civil rights to the center stage of American politics and it wasn’t John F. Kennedy, Lyndon Johnson or even Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. It was people that were sick and tired of the loss of hope. People like you, your neighbor and people that knew America could be better. People in mass made the difference by seeking change in their elected leaders.

A good friend reminded me that some people believe that Abraham Lincoln freed the slaves but it was not only his actions and words that eventually lead to that freedom existing in this nation. It was the actions of many willing to fight for that freedom and die for it. Not just white men but black men as well. Words are easy, fighting for what you believe in and putting your life on the line for it are true forms of courage that few politicians have the stomach for.

When Barack and Hillary figure out who is a racist and who is a bitch then somebody please pass a note or tell them that “It’s the damn economy!” Vote for change or fight for your bread in the next economy.

Maybe the problem we as Americans have is we keep electing millionaires as President that have forgotten what it is truly like to be hungry. Not politically hungry, stomach pain, have not eaten hungry.

Papamoka
Feel free to link to this post…

Originally posted at Papamoka Straight Talk and Cross posted to Michael Linn Jones.com

Following the election after Iowa is enlightening and educational to this Biden junkie. As much as I loved Joe Biden for President I am finding the Obama camp more to my liking without Joe in the race for President. Obama’s approach to the election is not about a divided America but a United America with a common purpose. Serving all Americans and what they need first.

There is no red state or blue state or division in his speeches and he reaches out in unity for all. That principal is something that people from all walks of life can vote for and believe in that Barack Obama and his message of change is what we need as a nation. From over at Liberal Values, Ron Chusid has this great video and read on Barack Obama’s victory in Iowa…

With about 98% of the vote in from the Iowa caucus, I project Barack Obama will be elected the next President of the United States.

Sure, a lot can still happen between now and November, but baring a major change it is difficult to see any other result. Edwards’ populism won’t sell in many states outside of Iowa, and having lost her aura of inevitability, support for Clinton is likely to hemorrhage. Dodd and Biden both withdrew, and Richardson performed too poorly to be a serious candidate. As for the general election, the record turnout of 227,000 in a state that went for George Bush is just one sign of the advantage the Democrats have. Some questioned the model used by The Des Moines Register that estimated 200,000 attendees but this number was greatly surpassed. By comparison, the turnout in 2004 was 125,000.

Not only did Obama win the caucus, he “won” in the post-caucus speeches. Clinton’s speech sounded like a speech of the Democratic Party past. John Edwards’ speech was the Dean scream put to words, showing yet again Edwards would never be elected president. Barack Obama gave the speech which would be expected not only by the leader of the Democratic Party, but by the president of all the people of the United States. The Republicans might be able to beat Hillary Clinton. I believe they would have beaten John Edwards. They will have a hard time beating Barack ObamaIn America we need to stand up for ourselves and vote for change simply because the Congress will not act if we do not send our elected candidates to speak for us. This is a time for great change in our nation and the only way it will happen is by voting for change. - Liberal Values

President Bush and his crew of political thugs have convinced the American people that there are two sides to every issue and if you are on the opposing opinion then you are anti-American. With us or against us mentality works in the school yard but not in the world we adults have to leave as a legacy to our children or grand children. Living under the cloak of perpetual Republican fear because the toughest kid on the block should never talk to the political leaders of other nations because they do not agree with us is isolationist and the fast track for our nations failure.

When the folks on the right side of the aisle talk about making your life just a little bit better they are talking about the top three to five percent of income earners. When Barack Obama talks about making your lives a little better he is talking to you and I that are struggling just to pay the mortgage or the rent and fill the gas tank of the family car. He is talking about the future and ending the tyranny of oil, the energy crisis that is crippling Americans at the pump or the oil heating tank in not just your home but your business. He is talking about change and change only comes from listening to inventors and people with innovative ideas that will cripple the domination and strangle hold that the oil industry and markets hold over Americans every single day. From that perspective, his love for our country and all of our people is genuine and unquestionable.

As for those that would question his patriotism or desire to end the war in Iraq he has a time line. Iraq is free, Iraq will have sixteen months to get its own house in order and our troops will be out. Much like Ronald Reagan let the Iranians know that he would not tolerate hostage takers as President, the result was freed hostages during his inauguration.

One thing is sure as we all live here in America and go about our lives is that the state of our nation is in trouble. The perception of America is no longer the defender of freedom. We are supposedly the police of the world and we can not be that for all nations. We as a nation need to put the Teddy Roosevelt big stick down and listen to the people of the world that used to be our friends. Selling fear is easy, selling the answers to overcome that fear is someone you need to listen to. We are not the ugly Americans but that is the perception around the world of our nation and of you. Can we change that? I don’t think we have a choice.

America is not just about Americans. We are the beacon of light to the world and many times we might get it wrong on world politics but we have the innate ability to prove that change is possible. When our nation is right, then we can all do amazing things for the world. When we are wrong and our President has a twenty eight percent popularity rating then we can and will initiate change by voting accordingly. We are not red states or blue states, we are Americans. If we want our government back then we need to stand up for change. It is that easy and that simple and Barack Obama is right!

Papamoka

Cross posted at Papamoka Straight Talk

Somebody check the Century 21 listings, I swear that 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue is on the market. By the looks of the offers in on this pristine address the price for the this strategic location is going into the hundreds of millions of dollars. In political home ownership it is all about location, location, and location.

As much as I love politics I detest the way it is paid for. Most of us political junkies that actually vote in large numbers can not attend a $500 or $1000 a plate dinner to support any candidate. We have to settle for the best that we can do and nuke a frozen dinner while flinging a stream of expletives at the opponents commercials on the boob tube.

One thing is certain though, some of these candidates have grass roots behind them and some of them have large, huge, mega huge businesses supporting them. For the most part they are all guilty of taking big money donations but that is part of the process that is built into being elected President. Is it not ironic that the upper classes of America (Royal’s) are donating so much to the probable winners of the election process. Even hedging your bets is not out of bounds when it comes to getting influence at the White House with the next President of the United States of America.

What is a political realtor to do but follow the money and the New York Times has this to say about it…

Iowa Victories Scramble the Money Game, TooBy LESLIE WAYNE
Published: January 6, 2008Victories by Senator Barack Obama and Mike Huckabee in Iowa have not only upset political calculations, they have also upset the money game and spurred a growing flood of donations for these candidates while making fund-raising trickier for the rest.Mr. Huckabee, a former Republican governor of Arkansas who ran a campaign with minimal resources, now finds more money flowing his way. As he jetted to New Hampshire from Iowa, money began to show up, click by click over the Internet — a total of $350,000 by the time he had landed at dawn. By Thursday, the campaign hopes to have an online total of $1 million in fresh cash.The one-day surge comes on top of a rise in donations that has coincided with Mr. Huckabee’s improving political fortunes. In the last quarter of 2007, as his campaign began to take off, Mr. Huckabee took in $5 million, after raising $2.3 million in the first nine months of the year. Mr. Huckabee has scheduled fund-raisers in Texas and Florida, and his campaign has said it is getting so many requests from supporters to hold fund-raisers that it cannot schedule them all.

“I have a feeling that after tonight,” Mr. Huckabee said on Fox News on the night of his Iowa victory, “we’re going to see a huge surge in fund-raising because up until now, people said, ‘Well, we would give to you but we’re not sure you can win.’ Now they’re thinking, he already has, and he is winning.”

Snip a contribution

In some cases, Democrats who supported Mrs. Clinton out of loyalty or conviction or because they felt she could win are now taking another look at Mr. Obama, Mr. Kramer said. Donors with enough resources can hedge their bets by giving the maximum $4,600 for the primary and general races to both Mr. Obama and Mrs. Clinton. - New York Times

First thought I have is for Governor Huckabee. Don’t sell that double wide trailer yet Reverend. If you win the office of President you might be able to park it on the front lawn of the White House but the neighbors over at the Smithsonian might complain. Snobby know it alls are like that in the nations capitol. Then there are those busy bodies over at the FBI and CIA that are always looking in your trailers windows. Very poor neighbors but great for neighborhood security. Most of the time good for neighborhood security if you take 9/11 out of the equation.

As for Barack Obama the race is not over and do not get a big head over winning Iowa alone. New Hampshire is not Iowa. Live Free or Die isn’t on the license plates of every car just because it is a catchy phrase. They actually believe in it and live it. Big government is bad and not a reflection on your liberal agenda. You sure you want the White House Barack? Latest trends are that the place has gone down hill with little support from the American people who own it to fix it up or even renovate. Absentee land lords are like that from what I hear. Are you sure Barack that you want to move into this house with all the problems it has now?

We can not discount the Co-Presidency attempt by Hill and Bill Clinton. Why they want to buy the Presidency back again is beyond belief. Didn’t they sell it out to the current slum lord? Some reports say that Hillary wants her damn drapes back and that is the only reason she is running for the office. Other rumors are that Bill thinks Monica still works there. I can not confirm either rumor but that is the way things go in politics.

Al Gore was looking to buy it from the Clinton’s some years ago but some legal problems at the last minute had his hopes dashed. Apparently, the Supreme Court decided he could not afford the mortgage even though his vote income more than met the criteria for home ownership. Al Gore, the first victim of our nations mortgage lending crisis, bookmark this page because you heard it hear first. He and Tipper were evicted and foreclosed on. Al Gore packed up his truck and moved back to Tennessee to forget America forever.

Getting back to my rant, it is simply disgusting that it will take two hundred million dollars plus to occupy the oval office at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. That price is a direct reflection on who really owns our nation and it is no longer Joe Six Pack and his 2.3 kids. Next time you fill up your tank start humming “Hail to the Chief” and fork over the $3.00 a gallon with a smile. Tell me which one of any of the candidates has pumped their own gas recently and then you have someone that knows what Joe Six Pack and his 2.3 kids are trying to budget for but can not.

Maybe we need rent control for the White House because nobody ever stays more than eight years? Then again maybe we need to get private funds out of our election process and put candidates that will actually serve all of the people in office. Take the money out and you will actually have people elected to the Presidency that are not beholden to the money that elected them. Would that not be a true change in American politics. This post courtesy of and thank you George W. Bush aka King George W who sold us all out to the highest bidder and enriched his inner circle! Change is coming and its one election away.

Papamoka

When the Bush administration first responded to concerns that the economy was on the verge of recession, they were quick to point to the stable unemployment figures and steady job growth. Well, as with most of what comes out of the Bush administration, the unfolding facts suggest their analysis may have been wrong…again.

The latest reports seem to support the concerns of numerous economists that a perfect storm may be materializing which could plummet the country into recession. The latest data on unemployment and job growth will undoubtedly put wind in the sails of those who believe the economy is tanking as well as force the Bush administration to once again shift their rhetoric.

First a look at the latest data.

From Bloomberg.com:

Jan. 4 (Bloomberg) — Hiring in the U.S. slowed more than forecast in December and unemployment jumped to a two-year high, raising the odds that the Federal Reserve will cut interest rates by half a point this month to ward off a recession.

Payrolls rose by 18,000, capping the worst year for job creation since 2003, the Labor Department said today in Washington. The jobless rate increased to 5 percent from 4.7 percent in November, while the Institute for Supply Management said growth in U.S. service industries cooled last month.

“This tells you that the strains from credit problems and so forth that have been developing the last six months are starting to bite and they’re biting in a way that now finally draws consumption into question,” said Neal Soss, chief economist at Credit Suisse Group Inc. in New York.

“It’s not a done deal, but if we’re going to have a recession, it’s too late to do anything about it,” said Stuart Schweitzer, global markets strategist at JPMorgan Wealth & Asset Management in New York. “The Fed can’t prevent a recession if one’s in the making, and we’re pretty close.”

The world’s largest economy grew at a 1 percent pace in the fourth quarter after expanding at a 4.9 percent rate the previous three months that was the strongest since 2003, according to the median estimate of economists surveyed last month. Growth for all 2008 was projected at 2.3 percent.

Keep in mind that a recession is defined as two consecutive quarters of negative growth…or a decline in GDP. The fact that the fourth quarter GDP barely remained in the black, coupled with the beliefs of many that the downturn (fueled largely by the sub-prime lending crisis and it’s impact on consumer confidence and spending) has yet to hit bottom, seems to suggest that negative growth is just beyond the horizon. While we’re not in a recession at the moment, one would be foolish to imagine any indicators of a strong economy in the short term.

Returning to the rhetoric of the Bush administration, it now appears that the powers that be have taken note of the tepid data…a fact that cannot be encouraging to a Republican party that needs every advantage it can find heading into the 2008 election cycle.

From The New York Times:

WASHINGTON — President Bush said Thursday that he was considering whether to propose a stimulus package to shore up the economy, the clearest indication yet of a growing concern inside the White House over rising oil prices, the subprime mortgage crisis and the possibility of recession.

“I’m concerned about people losing their homes and paying a lot for gasoline,” Mr. Bush said in an interview with Reuters.

Asked if he intended to do anything more to help people stay in their homes, the president volunteered the idea of an economic stimulus package, although he said he had not made up his mind and would probably not do so until sometime around his State of the Union address, which he delivers on Jan. 28.

“In terms of any stimulus package, we’re considering all options,” Mr. Bush said.

But it is a safe bet that tax cuts, long a centerpiece of the Bush domestic agenda, would be a feature of any administration initiative. And it is an equally safe bet that Democrats, who are contemplating their own economic stimulus package, would object, saying further tax cuts are unaffordable.

Mr. Bush has repeatedly said economic fundamentals are strong, a theme he is likely to echo Monday in Chicago when he delivers a speech on the economy. But with polls showing that the economy has eclipsed Iraq as the leading concern among voters, and with Democrats warning of a “Bush recession,” it has become increasingly apparent that inside the White House, there is a growing feeling that he cannot leave the economy to its own devices in his final year as president.

I’m of the opinion that the election year dynamic won’t help the President sell his party’s economic credentials or additional tax cuts. Truth be told, the Bush administration’s tax cuts have had little impact on the average American and the Bush apologist’s efforts to tout their success have never gained traction.

Add in the huge deficit, the doubling of the national debt, and the outsourcing of jobs under George Bush and it’s difficult to imagine voters trusting the GOP to solve what ails the economy. I suspect the Democrats will make the case that the President’s tax cuts were little more than a band-aid placed upon an economy in need of skillful stitching…and a handout to those already basking in the bounty of trickle-down tax strategies.

At some point, the voting public has to realize that perpetual tax cuts have little to do with sound economic policy and more to do with assuring that corporate America will fund the political aspirations of their GOP lapdogs. The next time a president dangles a tax treat, it needs to end up in the mouths of those who work hard each day to make ends meet; not in the bank accounts of a few fat cats who are salivating at the thought of another round of tax cuts.

Cross-posted at Thought Theater

Damn that librul media! They aren’t staying on top of buying up all the available tv stations. Rupert has sold off some of his television holdings to another rightwing equity firm, OakHill Partners. From the RawStory writeup:

Oak Hill Partners lead investor Robert M. Bass, a longtime associate of President Bush, is also the founder of the Ft. Worth, Texas-based Bass Brothers Enterprises. Oak Hill issued a statement announcing the stations would be jointly managed by a broadcast holding company, Local TV, that was created by Oak Hill for the purpose of purchasing 9 other television stations from The New York Times previously this year.

*snip*

News Corp. had originally intended to sell off nine of its US television stations; however Bass’s subsidiary, Local TV, could not purchase WHBQ-TV in Memphis, Tennessee as it had previously purchased CBS affiliate WREG-TV: “Federal Communications Commission rules allow market duopolies but only one of the two stations under a single owner can be among the market’s four top-rated stations there and there must be least eight unique station owners in the market once the duopoly is formed.”

I don’t want to hear about that liberal bias in the media. Not with these guys selling to each other to keep it in the ‘family’ as it were. With newspaper circulation dropping each quarter, television stations are vastly more important than print media as a form of news dissemination.

It only took 32 years for the Congress and the White House to finally realize that the sacrifice American’s need to make is in our energy consumption. All of the SUV’s that are gulping down the Go-go juice will have to change and that is just the beginning of the end of the oil monopoly in the world. President Bush has stated that he will sign the bill into law and frankly I thought he would have vetoed it based on some ridiculous facts. I am frankly and apologetically stating that I was wrong about President Bush and this issue. Stuff that up your back side Haszinski! That is another story from another post.

Through all the arguments in the House and in the Senate over the last few weeks we now have a compromise and an energy policy that just might reverse the madness that is our energy usage. Over at the New York Times they have this coverage on the only real energy policy change in 32 years in America…

House Passes Sweeping Energy Bill
By JOHN M. BRODER
Published: December 18, 2007
WASHINGTON — Legislation that will slowly but fundamentally change the cars Americans drive, the fuel they burn, the way they light their homes and the price they pay for food cleared the House on Tuesday by a large margin. President Bush said he would sign the hard-fought energy bill on Wednesday. The bill, which passed on a bipartisan vote of 314 to 100, sets higher fuel economy standards for cars and light trucks by law for the first time in 32 years and requires the production of 36 billion gallons of renewable fuels by 2022, a nearly fivefold increase from current ethanol production levels. The measure, known as the Energy Independence and Security Act, also establishes new efficiency requirements for household appliances and government buildings and aims to phase out the incandescent light bulb within 10 years. Its passage marks one of the largest single steps on energy that the nation has taken since the Arab oil embargoes of the 1970’s. But its full costs will not be known for years. Critics contend it will make cars and trucks less safe and more expensive, divert farmland to costly production of feedstock for ethanol and other synthetic fuels, and raise the price of food because of competition for corn and grain between fuel refiners and livestock growers. - New York Times

With the strangle hold of the Middle East on our energy consumption needs we need this policy as a starting point. No matter what items were dropped from this piece of legislation it gets us started down the road to freedom and energy independence. Arguments from both sides of the aisle have finished for now and the debate on tweaking it will be up to the next President’s of this nation and for that matter the next generations coming up. What has been started with this legislation we can only hope that it will begin the process of new energy sources from all thoughts possible by the human mind.

There are so many payoffs to our nation with these changes in the future that leads me to a sense of comfort for the first time in my adult life. This is the first time in three plus decades that our nation and our Government has literally chucked the bird at the corporations here at home and around the world when it comes to our energy needs. Our children or future grandchildren will never be obligated or owned by a foreign nation that can dangle our way of life over their heads ever again. Energy sources made in the good old United States of America and not imported can never be a bad thing.

Somewhere at OPEC headquarters it could possibly be heard “Doo-ohhh!” when President Bush signs this into law. That would be similar to Homer Simpson with an Arabic accent but you get the general idea. At $2.00 production cost for Saudi Arabia and the market price flirting at $100 per barrel every couple of weeks the writing is on the wall for this over priced energy source.

The ramifications of American interest and involvement in the Middle East region with its never ending turmoil because of this policy will drop as our nation slowly backs away from their strangle hold on the oil supply. Energy independence will only work if we keep locking horns over it and debating this critical issue for all Americans. This should not have taken 32 years. I think we can do better than that now. Realistically, we do not have a choice other than to do better.

Papamoka

Originally posted at Papamoka Straight Talk