8 posts tagged “politicians”
Elizabeth Coleman, Inspector General of the Federal Reserve. What the hell does she even do then? You have to love how someone holds a position like that without a clue as to what the hell it is they do.
Make sure to remember which politicians these are at the next election! Railing against bailouts while taking money from them is disgusting!
“The collateral is not being adequately disclosed, and that’s a big problem,” said Dan Fuss, vice chairman of Boston- based Loomis Sayles & Co., where he co-manages $17 billion in bonds. “In a liquid market, this wouldn’t matter, but we’re not. The market is very nervous and very thin.”
Bloomberg News has requested details of the Fed lending under the U.S. Freedom of Information Act and filed a federal lawsuit Nov. 7 seeking to force disclosure. “It’s your money; it’s not the Fed’s money,” said billionaire Ted Forstmann, senior partner of Forstmann Little & Co. in New York. “Of course there should be transparency.” Federal Reserve spokeswoman Michelle Smith declined to comment on the loans or the Bloomberg lawsuit. Treasury spokeswoman Michele Davis didn’t respond to a phone call and an e-mail seeking comment.
President-elect Barack Obama’s economic adviser, Jason Furman, also didn’t respond to an e-mail and a phone call seeking comment from Obama. In a Sept. 22 campaign speech, Obama promised to “make our government open and transparent so that anyone can ensure that our business is the people’s business.”
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aOngFPgq7r3M&refer=home
How can anyone have faith in government in this country? These people are so crooked, so wrong, and so short-sighted, that I can't stand it. I can't stand it.
You’ve got to love the banking industry.
As our friends in the financial sector were passing the hat among taxpayers last week for $700 billion in bailouts to cover their crappy mortgage investments, they were simultaneously condemning the House of Representatives’ passage of a “Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights,” which aims to crack down on some of the industry’s more troublesome practices.
The legislation — HR 5244 — would, among other things, end card issuers’ self-proclaimed right to change interest rates at any time. [...] It also would give cardholders more time to pay by requiring issuers to mail bills at least 25 days before the due date, as opposed to the current 14 days.
[...] “We are very concerned that this bill would significantly hinder our ability to price the risks of lending and would result in less credit being made available to creditworthy borrowers at the worst possible time, with generally higher prices for those who do receive credit,” said Bank of America Corp. spokeswoman Betty Riess.
Nonsense.
“They’re using the I’ll-take-my-toys-and-go-home argument,” said Linda Sherry, a spokeswoman for Consumer Action. “But that won’t be the case. They’ll keep fighting for our business.”
[...]A Credit Cardholders’ Bill of Rights would level the playing field by protecting consumers from questionable late fees and sudden rate hikes, and requiring clear disclosure of terms and conditions.
That doesn’t seem too much to ask of an industry that has no problem asking taxpayers to cover its bad bets.
http://www.dvorak.org/blog/?p=25965
Does Washington not see that bailing these people out will not change anything? They will be in the same situation down the road. 100% fact. Imagine someone who has poor skills with money and has gotten themselves into credit card debt. You come along and pay their outstanding debt without saying a word. Do you honestly think that in 3 years that person will not be in debt again?
Our government has continued to reward terrible business practices and even worse management behavior. The Lehman Bros. fallout the other day illustrates how badly these companies are run. They also demonstrate how the entire system is rigged to reward those on top and screw those on the bottom. Want an example? How about the CEO of Lehman Bros. (despite COMPLETELY running the company into the ground) took home a salary of $75 MILLION this year. The government needs to wake up! Throwing obscene amounts of money to your fellow cronies won't fix anything.
The latest example is AIG. This pisses me off to no end. These companies are allowed to make terrible business decisions, the executives can bilk the company out of millions, and everyone at the top gets rich. Instead of investigating these companies for malpractice and fraudulent behavior, our bipartisan (I repeat...BIPARTISAN) elected officials have decided to bail them out with billions of dollars. Are they too stupid to realize that this won't fix the problem?
"It might not just bring down other financial institutions in the U.S. It could bring down overseas financial institutions," said Timothy Canova, a professor of international economic law at Chapman University School of Law. "If Lehman Brother's failure could help trigger AIG's going down, who knows who AIG's failure could trigger next."
This is a cycle that will only get worse. Much worse. Don't worry however, as us taxpayers have nothing to worry about.
Taxpayers will be protected, the Fed said, because the loan is backed by the assets of AIG and its subsidiaries. The loan is expected to be repaid from the proceeds of the asset sales.
Wanna take any bets that we get screwed? I already bought my vaseline...
Taxpayers are now on the hook for tens of billions of dollars of capital necessary to save Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The CEOs of both companies–the ones who ran them into the ground–have thankfully been shown the door. But they’re taking a nice pot of money with them.
Specifically, Dan Mudd, the CEO of Fannie Mae, is getting $9.3 million of severance for destroying his company. Richard Syron, the CEO of Freddie Mac, is getting $14.1 million–in part because of a clause he added to his employment contract two months ago, when it was clear the company was headed for disaster…
The severance money comes right out of the pockets of taxpayers, who didn’t agree to the severance deals and aren’t ponying up to save the companies because they want to. Taxpayers are saving Fannie and Freddie because they have to–because Mudd and Syron were incompetent.
“Incompetent”? Is that too harsh? Absolutely not. Both men gambled big and lost bigger. The fact that they may not have appreciated how big a risk they were taking is no defense: If they didn’t, they should have.Both Mudd and Syron chose to run their companies at an astronomical level of leverage, borrowing more than $50 for every $1 they put to work. Why? Because, in the good years, the companies made more money than they would have had they been levered, say, 20-to-1. Just because a housing crash of the current magnitude hasn’t happened since the 1930s doesn’t mean Mudd and Syron shouldn’t have guarded against it. Instead, they chose not to, and the companies–and shareholders and taxpayers–have paid the price.
How about giving them what shareholders get? NOTHING...The good ol' boys club is alive and well. I despise corporate corruption and welfare. I hope they all have terrible car accidents.
http://www.startribune.com/local/26126214.html?location_refer=Local%20+%20Metro:highlightModules:3
Since this happened in my area (I was on that bridge 2 hours before it collapsed!), I am appalled that this worthless human being has been given a position in the Department of Homeland Security. Do you want to know what kind of person she is? Here is an example:
"After the bridge collapse Aug. 1, Pitt didn't return to Minnesota for nearly two weeks, even as emergency officials struggled to recover the bodies of 13 people killed in the disaster."
People like her disgust me. And in our messed up country, instead of punishing her, we offer her a high position in government. Of course. If I asked you to show me a good politician, you would have to dig one up.
Who is to blame? Is it the current administration? Is it croneyism? Is it the media that cries about everything, thus preventing any progress on any issue? Is it the apathy and general ignorance of the public? How about all of them. All of them is the correct answer.
http://www.livescience.com/technology/080725-sb-education-future.html
This is a terrific essay by a physics professor on the nations failing education system. I firmly believe that parents are largely responsible for the rise in obesity among their children as well as the failure to properly educate them before they become an adult. Don't worry, I am sure that they will keep electing people who throw money at the problem with no plan and no attempt to address the real issue. Have you ever seen a politician blame their constituents? Even when it is warranted?
