Bailout chart by Propublica.org
I couldn’t resist this one. It looks really interesting. What could be a more appropriate way to track the history of government bailouts, than with colored bubbles. Check it out and see.
Source: Brattleboro Reformer, November 12, 2009
“It took the House nearly 2,000 pages to draft a health care reform bill. Vermont Sen. Bernard Sanders needed far less paper to come up with a bill calling for the breakup of failing financial institutions within a year.
Sanders introduced the “Too Big to Fail, Too Big to Exist Act” on Friday. In just two pages, he outlined a simple remedy to avoid a repeat of last year’s massive taxpayer-funded bailouts…
…Back in the 1990s, when Congress passed legislation removing regulatory limits on financial institutions, Sanders was one of the few who warned that deregulating the financial industry could lead to disaster. But breaking up the big banks is not enough.
We also need a return to the kind of financial regulation that was imposed in the 1930s, starting with a restoration of the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933. Back then, after wild speculation ended with the stock market crash of 1929 that brought on the Great Depression, the Roosevelt administration pushed for restraints on Wall Street. Glass-Steagall separated government-insured commercial banks and the non-federally backed investment banks. By keeping consumer and speculative capital separate, it made it possible to understand the activities of all financial organizations.
In 1999, Congress repealed Glass-Steagall and replaced it with the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. It allowed the stockbrokers, insurance companies and banks to merge for the first time since the 1930s, and ushered in a new era of financial irresponsibility.
By reinstating the regulatory firewalls that were ripped down a decade ago, re-regulating the energy markets to end rampant speculation in oil and regulating or abolishing the various financial instruments that are at the heart of the current financial crisis, we can avoid having to pay for another costly bailout.”
Why is no one talking about breaking up the too big banks? Why are there no controls on the mergers that create these too big institutions, cost millions of jobs, and leave us with monsters that are all but impossible to control? What happened to the anti-trust laws?
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
Polluters join ag commissioner in fighting against clean water
It is hard to imagine anyone defending the polluters that are turning Florida’s waters green and slimy. But, hey, money talks. At long last, The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is agreeing to set legal, enforceable limits on such nutrients as phosphorous and nitrogen, which are poisoning Florida’s public waters. EPA’s historic decision settles the lawsuit we filed in July 2008. Now the state’s biggest polluters are trying to block the settlement. Big Agriculture, sewage plants, utilities, and phosphate miners have filed legal challenges to try to force the EPA to back down. And the state’s Agriculture Commissioner, Charles Bronson, is using taxpayer dollars to side with the polluters and against clean water.
Alan Grayson and Ron Paul: Progressive Democrat, libertarian Republican promote Fed audit bill
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/politics/orl-grayson-targets-fed-092509,0,5177529.story
WASHINGTON – A measure backed by one of Washington’s oddest couples — libertarian Republican Ron Paul of Texas and self-styled progressive Democrat Alan Grayson of Orlando — took another step toward becoming law Friday.
Legislation that would allow a congressional audit of the Federal Reserve — the secretive central bank with authority over interest rates and the nation’s money supply — won support from a dozen members of the House Financial Services committee, including its influential chairman, U.S. Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts.
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The only hope we have is to educate people about what is going on and enable them to figure out what they need to do. How do we do this when schools are laying off teachers and classes are being cut? Is there some way we can use the new technology to educate people who shun classrooms?
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
The following quote from Susan Older about sums up my feeling about the news and 21st Century journalism.
“Journalism isn’t in trouble because we’re reading it online instead of on paper. It’s in trouble because of poor judgment on the part of sloppy, clueless, and often angry people who handle carelessly the precious gem we used to call the “news.
The media spent countless hours investigating why we had the meltdown, who’s to blame, and which regime is responsible for which part of the bailouts, yet they failed to turn up these findings by the Kansas Supreme Court regarding enforcement of foreclosures by third party owners of notes of interests.
The court held that in order to foreclose a property the statutes require the holder of the deed of trust to also hold the note, or prove an agency relationship exists between the holder of the deed and the holder of the note. The lack of transparency of ownership precludes the right to foreclose.
“…Without the agency relationship, the person holding only the note lacks the power to foreclose in the event of default. The person holding only the deed of trust will never experience default because only the holder of the note is entitled to payment of the underlying obligation. The mortgage loan becomes ineffectual when the note holder did not also hold the deed of trust… [Citations omitted from excerpt.]“
Thank you Ellen for bringing this to our attention. Hopefully someone in the mainstream media will pick this up and cover it.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost
Going after ACORN may be like shooting fish in a barrel lately — but jumpy lawmakers used a bazooka to do it last week and may have blown up some of their longtime allies in the process.
The congressional legislation intended to defund ACORN, passed with broad bipartisan support, is written so broadly that it applies to “any organization” that has been charged with breaking federal or state election laws, lobbying disclosure laws, campaign finance laws or filing fraudulent paperwork with any federal or state agency. It also applies to any of the employees, contractors or other folks affiliated with a group charged with any of those things.
Read more at: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/09/22/whoops-anti-acorn-bill-ro_n_294
My comments: Is is possible that the US Congress is ready to come clean and really change the way they award contracts? I’m not holding my breath. I’m sure the moment will pass and they will conveniently forget the entire thing before the ink is dry on the pages, but the fantasy is out there. The conversation is underway. Now that American citizens are scaling back on their spending habits, they expect their government to do the same. Saving is in. Charging is out.
ACORN is by no means the only recipient of government funding under investigation for misconduct. This list from POGO.org is guaranteed to raise some eyebrows.
