tagged w/ Paulson
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What is a false dichotomy? It is a situation where there seems to be a narrow field of two options to choose from, when there is actually a larger set of possibilities beyond those guidelines. In other words, you are asked to choose between black and white, leaving you to think that the only colors in existence are black, white and maybe gray, when in reality there is a whole palette of different shades and tints that were left completely out of the discussion.
Continue @ http://wp.me/p1SPDJ-D6What is a false dichotomy? It is a situation where there seems to be a narrow field of... more
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Wanna know who made hundreds of millions destroying our country?
The "Inside Job" an excellent movie that exposes a good portion of what was happening and who was responsible for our current economic state.
http://www.sonyclassics.com/insidejob/
I'll say this in President Obama's defense, we elected him to go swim in a fishbowl full of sharks with more money and more power than him. The more we support him, the more he can do for us, plain and simple.Wanna know who made hundreds of millions destroying our country?
The "Inside... more
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President Obama won’t tell us in his State of the Union address. The deficit hawks won’t crow about it. Don’t expect the Tea Party or Rush and Beck to highlight our generosity either. But the sad fact is this: During the worst year since the Great Depression, with 30 million people out of work or forced into part-time jobs, Wall Street is awarding itself $150 billion in bonus money…..and it comes from us!
That’s $500 for every man, women and child in the country — $2,000 for a family of four. (Maybe we should try deducting it from our income taxes as a charitable donation.)
Had we not bailed out the financial sector, there would be no bonus pool this year. Zip, zero, ziltch.
It seems like financial Alzheimer’s setting in as many forget how all this happened. Wall Street, and no one else, crashed the economy through its fantasy finance extravaganza. It created, sold and traded a slew of newfangled financial instruments that were supposed to remove risk from risky investments. Wall Street went begging for subprime debt in order to create and market their new financial securities, the most profitable activity in their history. As a result of their securitization casino, which leveraged bet upon bet, the housing market turned into a bubble and finally burst. Wall Street had miscalculated, big time. The risk returned with a vengeance.
Not matter what Rick Santelli proclaims, government interference didn’t cause the crash. Greedy, stupid home buyers didn’t cause the crash. Poor people backed by the Community Reinvestment Act didn’t crash the system. And China didn’t cause it either. The book should be closed on this: Wall Street’s fantasy finance casino did us in. (Please see The Looting of America for a fuller account.)
Once housing prices stopped their meteoric rise, the entire precarious structure of bets piled upon subprime loans, turned toxic. The banking system froze and the real economy was tossed off a cliff. We truly were on our way to the next Great Depression.
Policy leaders of all stripes bailed out the financial system because they thought there was no choice–and that was true to an extent. Preventing total financial collapse was necessary. The choices to be made were about how to prevent a further collapse and what kinds of demands we’d make on the banks that had brought disaster upon themselves and the rest of us. Bush, Paulson, Bernanke, Obama, Geithner, Summers and Congress made their choices. They poured money into the banking sector like never before. We gave the Wall Street banks gigantic loans and enormous guarantees on their toxic assets. We gave them TARP. It all totaled to more than $12 trillion, with most of it still in play, even after the TARP repayments. (See Nomi Prins’s excellent accounting..)
We can, and should, argue about whether the bailout was put together properly. A strong case can be made that the victims (the public), rather than the perpetrators (Wall Street’s casinos), should have received our support. Clearly, there were much better ways to rescue the failing economy and produce jobs, which is still by far our number one problem.
Wall Street was saved from bankruptcy, including Goldman Sachs which now cavalierly insists that it didn’t really need the bailout money (yet it took $12.9 billion of taxpayer support via AIG, and tossed it into its bonus pool.) Wall Streeters actually think they’ve earned the $150 billion in bonuses through their own cleverness. Think again. It’s nothing more than taxpayer welfare.
Of course, no one wants to admit that we put the richest people in the world on welfare. It’s embarrassing to acknowledge that we are rewarding those who killed millions of jobs. And worst of all, our political establishment doesn’t have the nerve to take our money back.
More at the link:President Obama won’t tell us in his State of the Union address. The deficit... more
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The following is an adapted excerpt from Chris Hedges' book, Empire of Illusion: The End of Literacy and the Triumph of Spectacle (Nation Books, 2009) that first appeared in Tikkun magazine.
Barack Obama is a brand. And the Obama brand is designed to make us feel good about our government while corporate overlords loot the Treasury, armies of corporate lobbyists grease the palms of our elected officials, our corporate media diverts us with gossip and trivia, and our imperial wars expand in the Middle East. Brand Obama is about being happy consumers. We are entertained. We feel hopeful. We like our president. We believe he is like us. But like all branded products spun out from the manipulative world of corporate advertising, this product is duping us into doing and supporting a lot of things that are not in our interest.
What, for all our faith and hope, has the Obama brand given us? His administration has spent, lent, or guaranteed $12.8 trillion in taxpayer dollars to Wall Street and insolvent banks in a doomed effort to re-inflate the bubble economy, a tactic that at best forestalls catastrophe and will leave us broke in a time of profound crisis. Brand Obama has allocated nearly $1 trillion in defense-related spending and the continuation of our doomed imperial projects in Iraq, where military planners now estimate that 70,000 troops will remain for the next fifteen to twenty years. Brand Obama has expanded the war in Afghanistan, increasing the use of drones sent on cross-border bombing runs into Pakistan, which have doubled the number of civilians killed over the past three months. Brand Obama has refused to ease restrictions so workers can organize and will not consider single-payer, not-for-profit health care for all Americans. And Brand Obama will not prosecute the Bush administration for war crimes, including the use of torture, and has refused to dismantle Bush's secrecy laws and restore habeas corpus.
Brand Obama offers us an image that appears radically individualistic and new. It inoculates us from seeing that the old engines of corporate power and the vast military-industrial complex continue to plunder the country. Corporations, which control our politics, no longer produce products that are essentially different, but brands that are different. Brand Obama does not threaten the core of the corporate state any more than did Brand George W. Bush. The Bush brand collapsed. We became immune to its studied folksiness. We saw through its artifice. This is a common deflation in the world of advertising. So we have been given a new Obama brand with an exciting and faintly erotic appeal. Benetton and Calvin Klein were the precursors to the Obama brand, using ads to associate themselves with risqué art and progressive politics. This strategy gave their products an edge. But the goal, as with all brands, was to make passive consumers confound a brand with an experience.
Obama, who has become a global celebrity, was molded easily into a brand. He had almost no experience, other than two years in the Senate, lacked any moral core, and could be painted as all things to all people. His brief Senate voting record was a miserable surrender to corporate interests. He was happy to promote nuclear power as "green" energy. He voted to continue the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He reauthorized the Patriot Act. He would not back a bill designed to cap predatory credit card interest rates. He opposed a bill that would have reformed the notorious Mining Law of 1872. He refused to support the single-payer health care bill HR 676, sponsored by Reps. Dennis Kucinich and John Conyers. He supported the death penalty. And he backed a class-action "reform" bill that was part of a large lobbying effort by financial firms. ///More at the link above:The following is an adapted excerpt from Chris Hedges' book, Empire of Illusion:... more
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'Sachs of Gold' bank, Goldman Sachs was given 70 billion taxpayer dollars because of Paulson and Geithner and through legalized theft, made 3 billion dollars profit in three months interest free.
That's right. They borrowed tax payer money, made profit and didn't pay a dime in interest!
How do we Americans get the interest we are owed?
Demand clawbacks. Call your representative today (which will only help if they aren't already on the 'Sachs of Gold' payroll).'Sachs of Gold' bank, Goldman Sachs was given 70 billion taxpayer dollars... more
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CNSNews.com) - Last October, then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson ordered nine banks that the Treasury Department described as "healthy" financial institutions to surrender ownership interests to the government or else face regulatory action that would force them to surrender ownership interests to the government, according to an internal Treasury Department document.
Paulson's extraordinary threat culminated in one of the most sweeping government intrusions into the free-enterprise system in the history of the United States.
Judicial Watch, a nonpartisan watchdog organization, used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain a copy of the internal Treasury Department "talking points" that were prepared for Paulson to use at his Oct. 13, 2008 meeting with the chief executive officers (CEOs) of the nine banks.
At the meeting--to which the bankers were called at short notice--Paulson made a conspicuous display of potential government regulatory power.
Paulson was flanked by Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke; current Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner (who was then president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York); Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) Chairman Sheila Bair and Comptroller of the Currency John C. Dugan.CNSNews.com) - Last October, then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson ordered nine banks... more
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So much for keeping the federal government from blowing millions in taxpayer money.
The Senate quietly stripped whistleblower protections from the final stimulus package Wednesday afternoon, as the bill's authors bragged of a bipartisan compromise. The removal is particularly significant because of the bill's $789 billion price tag.
Despite the ugly record of federal spending in Iraq -- where auditors found problems with $88 million in federal contracts, and couldn't account for 8.8 billion dollars -- senators quietly nixed the measure from the bill, without explanation.
Talking Points Memo, which cited a source close to the final bill, said the provision was removed by Republican Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME), one of the senators brokering the compromise.
Some Republicans take umbrage with the idea of blanket whistleblower protections, saying they could damage the US's ability to collect intelligence.
Project for Government Oversight, a government watchdog group, blasted the removal.
"Accountability got mugged today when congressional leaders stripped federal whistleblower protections from their compromise stimulus bill," the group said in a release.
-This is a crock of shit. They are guilty of raping the US economy and robbing the taxpayer to cover it up. And now they are preventing the witnesses who would nobley sacrifice themselves for the greater good from doing so. I want t he TRUTH. And they expect us to believe removal of the whistleblower protection in an economic stimulis bill falls under the guise of "national security". Come on! The Bush Paulson TARP specificially proctects the Treasurer's (Paulson) actions with those funds from "prosecution in any US Court or review by any Federal Agency". They must really be scared about what they have done to us. Every American should be outraged. - Bansheewail, over and out.So much for keeping the federal government from blowing millions in taxpayer money.... more
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In efforts to stabilize troubled banks, the Treasury Department overpaid those institutions by nearly $80 billion, the head of a bailout oversight panel told lawmakers Thursday.
Elizabeth Warren, who chairs the congressional panel overseeing the Troubled Asset Relief Program, said Treasury officials chose not to risk-adjust the government’s investments in troubled banks, instead paying “a uniform price” regardless of each bank’s health. As a result, she estimates, taxpayers have spent $254 billion on capital investments worth just $176 billion — a difference of roughly $78 billion.
-File this one under: "Oh, my F*cking God", "Holy F*cking Sh*t" or "You have got to be kidding me."In efforts to stabilize troubled banks, the Treasury Department overpaid those... more
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Even as the media continue to repeat the claim that credit has frozen up, evidence has emerged suggesting the entire story is wrong.
There is something approaching a consensus that the Paulson Plan -- also known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP -- was a boondoggle of an intervention that's flailed from one approach to the next, with little oversight and less effect on the financial meltdown.
But perhaps even more troubling than the ad hoc nature of its implementation is the suspicion that has recently emerged that TARP -- hundreds of billions of dollars worth so far -- was sold to Congress and the public based on a Big Lie.Even as the media continue to repeat the claim that credit has frozen up, evidence has... more
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Two months ago, in late September, I penned a piece titled Liars, and the Lying Lies They Are Telling You, which examined just one single publicly available FDIC document from 2002 which shows beyond any doubt that the Feds were not only aware of the problems in the finance industry that have led to near economic collapse...Two months ago, in late September, I penned a piece titled Liars, and the Lying Lies... more
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This can't be good...
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Customers of New York City-based Citibank have lost access to much of their account information because of a computer outage.
Many of the troubled bank's clients haven't been able to retrieve account details online or by telephone since Tuesday afternoon. Others can access only parts of their account profiles.
Citibank telephone representatives say they don't know what caused the outage but technicians are working to fix it. They've been telling customers to call back after Wednesday morning.
A Citibank spokeswoman hasn't replied to a phone message or an e-mail sent after business hours.
Citibank is a division of Citigroup Inc., which is struggling to survive the global financial crisis with billions of dollars in aid from the government.This can't be good...
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Customers of New York City-based Citibank have... more
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US authorities escalated their economic firefighting programme yesterday by pumping $800bn (£500bn) into the mortgage and consumer credit markets, amid further confirmation of a rapidly deteriorating outlook.
The latest move exceeds the $700bn troubled asset relief programme, or Tarp, that performed a taxpayer-backed rescue on the US banking system and, according to economists, underlines how the credit crisis has spread from the corporate to the consumer sphere.
" Hey bartender, can I close out my tab? What's the damage? FOUR TRILLION dollars, WTF?"US authorities escalated their economic firefighting programme yesterday by pumping... more
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The government has introduced a pair of new programs that will provide $800 billion to help unfreeze the market for consumer debt which Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson calls vital to supporting the economy.The government has introduced a pair of new programs that will provide $800 billion to... more
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The government is working on a new loan facility to help companies that issue credit cards, make student loans and finance car purchases.The government is working on a new loan facility to help companies that issue credit... more
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Barack Obama will today place himself at the centre of the global economic crisis by announcing the team given the task of navigating the US and the world out of the financial mess and implementing one of the most ambitious public spending programmes since Franklin Roosevelt's New Deal.
Obama's transition team, seeking to calm the fears of Americans alarmed about jobs, homes and pensions, said yesterday the president-elect wanted Congress to have a two-year economic aid plan of spending and new tax cuts ready for him to enact into law when he takes over from George Bush on January 20.Barack Obama will today place himself at the centre of the global economic crisis by... more
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Monday, lifted by the U.S. government's plan to rescue beleaguered financial giant Citigroup.
On Sunday, the United States announced a massive aid package for Citi, the latest government effort to stabilize the ailing financial sector.
Bank stocks in Europe rose, led by Citigroup, which surged 35% in Frankfurt trading.
"On Sunday, since when does our government work on Sunday? I think Obama's announcment of his Treasury and Commerce cabinet appointments have had just as much to do with the market surge as the Citigroup bailout. The other bailout dispersements had little affect on the markets. The Change is restoring some confidence in the marketplace. You can believe that." - BansheewailMonday, lifted by the U.S. government's plan to rescue beleaguered financial... more
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WASHINGTON — Federal regulators late Sunday agreed to backstop about $306 billion of Citicorp's riskiest assets to bolster the staggering banking giant, in yet another in a growing list of radical efforts shore up confidence in troubled financial markets.
Under the agreement announced by the Treasury Department, the FDIC and the Federal Reserve, the government will protect Citi securities backed by residential and commercial real estate. The assets will remain on Citigroup's (C) balance sheet. As a fee for the government protection, Citi will issue $7 billion in preferred stock to the Treasury and FDIC.WASHINGTON — Federal regulators late Sunday agreed to backstop about $306... more
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Forbes magazine President and CEO Steve Forbes called Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson "the worst treasury secretary we've had in modern times", citing, among other things, the government's handling of the housing crisis.
"Yet, he still has control of hundreds of billions of dollars in taxpayer bailout money to divy-up anyway he sees fit with no oversight."Forbes magazine President and CEO Steve Forbes called Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson... more
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Danny Schechter: While world debated bailout, Treasury snuck bank merger tax break under congress' nose.
While everyone was debating the wisdom of giving $700B over to the US Treasury to divide amongst failing banks in late September, the Treasury Department silently changed the tax code and in doing so opened up an opportunity for banks to save billions when acquiring other banks. The Associated Press reports that, in some cases, banks will actually make money in the act of buying up their competitors. They point to Wells Fargo's effort to acquire Wachovia, a deal that will cost roughly $15B but that, under the new tax code, will save Wells Fargo $20B. Danny Schechter believes that this is a prelude to the type of activities that can be expected from an empowered Treasury Department. He also points out that this is in line with the effect that the bailout bill itself is having, with the bailout money being used to acquire competitors instead of financing the flow of credit.
Meanwhile, Danny says, the Democrats are claiming that the bailout process lacks transparency, after they promised during the bailout debate that they would ensure oversight while pushing the bill through congress. Danny also indicates that all levels of government are stalling on what to do about the quickly sinking auto industry, a problem being made worse by the power vacuum in the White House as there are still two months before Obama takes over as president. At the end of the interview, Danny relays the rumors that Obama is looking to past administrations to fill his empty slot at the recently empowered Treasury Secretary position, with former Clinton Treasury Secretaries Lawrence Summers and former Federal Reserve Chairman under Reagan and Carter, Paul Volcker, being on the reported shortlist of candidates.
Danny Schechter, "The News Dissector," is a former network TV producer, radio newscaster, and edits MediaChannel.org. He has written nine books on media themes. His latest, 'Plunder', was inspired by his latest film, In Debt We Trust: America Before The Bubble Bursts.Danny Schechter: While world debated bailout, Treasury snuck bank merger tax break... more
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