-
-
No shortage of tax-free work for pot 'clippers' who groom marijuana plan...
There's green to be made clipping and trimming the green leaves in British Columbia's marijuana industry.
The prospect of tax-free income is driving some people into temporary work as "clippers" for indoor and outdoor grow operations.
It's not only against the law, it's also considered the most labour-intensive part of the harvesting process. But there isn't a shortage of people willing to do the work.
Pot clippers - also known as trimmers - groom marijuana plants that have been harvested from fields or indoor grow operations. The workers pare down the buds from the plants to make them presentable for sale.
A demand for workers throughout the province starts at the beginning of fall, when most outdoor crops are ready to be harvested.
Payment is either on an hourly basis, starting around $10 an hour, or by weight, according to individuals who have worked in the business but did not want to be identified. Meals are often provided and clippers are usually allowed to keep some of the product for personal use.
The job is usually arranged through a drug dealer or someone close to the person who runs the operation. Since the sale of marijuana is illegal, trust plays a big role in scouting potential employees, which is why some people interviewed did not want their identities revealed.
One woman said she found out about the job through a friend, who lives in a remote part of the province. She spent two weeks earning the trust of the people who ran the outdoor grow op before being offered a job.
The woman never saw the crops. Instead, she was taken to a sheltered space, which she described as "cosy," where large amounts of dried plants were laid out.
She and several others spent up to 14 hours a day trimming buds off plants using special gardening scissors.
"By that point I was falling off my chair," she said of the long hours.
Although the work was repetitive and labour-intensive, the woman said she trimmed as much as she could because she was getting paid by the ounce. She could make up to $300 in cash for a single day's work.
"My relationship with cash was shifting, it was just paper," she said. "I was stuffing it into my pocket, I was like, 'This is demented.' "
The woman said she looks back on the experience favourably and would do it again in the future. Although there were pitfalls - along with the long hours, she also started feeling sick from breathing in dust in the close quarters - she made a lot off money in four weeks.
Never in her month as a clipper did the woman feel unsafe or nervous. She said the remote location gave her comfort, and the people she worked with were mostly laid-back and friendly.
Jacob Hunter, who works for the B.C. Marijuana Party, said he worked as a clipper while a student in Prince George. He had a hard time finding summer work in the city and was complaining to his pot dealer about his student loans when he was offered a job.
At $10 an hour, it may not have seemed that lucrative. But putting in long days paid off.
"They pay overtime, even though it was black market," he said. "You'd still get time-and-a-half for eight hours and double time for 12."
Hunter said he worked alongside several other people in someone's basement. He said while the work was monotonous, he enjoyed getting a "contact high" from handling large quantities of weed.
Overall, he described it as a decent job.
"They make it very comfortable, you're sitting on a chair, comfortably in someone's house," Hunter said. "It's warm, they pass around joints a lot and all your meals are paid for."
Both Hunter and the woman said they worked for people who grew weed on a medium scale and weren't linked to organized crime. Hunter said some growers are "stereotypically old hippies," the mom-and-pops of the marijuana industry.
"No one's getting rich off of it but you can make a decent, middle-class-level living by working just with friends and growing a normal amount and not being involved with organized crime," he said. There's green to be made clipping and trimming the green leaves in British Columbia's marijuana industry. ... more -
Sarah Palin Lsd Found in Car Going to Phish Show
Thursday, March 5, 2009
NEW KENT, Va. (AP) -- A man was arrested outside of New Kent, Va., Thursday after state troopers found more than 10,000 tabs of LSD in his car. The man was pulled over for speeding and state troopers conducted a search of his car after smelling a strong odor of "marijuana and general hippieness." They then discovered the massive quantity of LSD -- worth more than $50,000, officials said -- inside a tie-dye duffle bag. Each tab of this particular batch of the psychedelic drug featured a small picture of former Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin. The man was en route to Hampton, Va., where popular jam band Phish is to play its first concerts in nearly five years this coming weekend. Thursday, March 5, 2009 ... more -
Let's Play "WALLSTREET BAILOUT"
Oh My GOD, this is classical!
-
With all eyes on the bailout, House passes $612 billion defense bill
On Wednesday, the House passed a mammoth defense bill by a 392-39 vote. It’s expected to clear the Senate with little difficulty next week.
It was part of a trillion-dollar stop-gap measure to keep programs running through next March, allowing lawmakers to skip town without passing a final budget. The Associated Press reports, “The legislation came together in a remarkably secret process that concentrated decision-making power in the hands of a few lawmakers.”
In keeping with the tradition of recent years, Bush held a gun to his own head and threatened to pull the trigger if his demands weren’t met. According to the AP, “To earn President Bush’s signature rather than a veto, House and Senate negotiators dropped several provisions he opposed. They include a ban on private interrogators in U.S. military detention facilities and what would have amounted to congressional veto power over a security pact with Iraq.”
In other words, Congress also maintained recent tradition, swearing not to give Bush a blank check and then whipping out their pens and signing a blank check.
The number that the House sent to the Senate for “defense” — $612 billion for the coming year — is eye-popping. Imagine a stack of 612,000 million-dollar bills. Quite a pile. On Wednesday, the House passed a mammoth defense bill by a 392-39 vote. It’s expected to clear the Senate with little difficulty next ... more -
DORGAN SAYS WALL STREET BAILOUT PLAN IS "STAMPEDE IN WRONG DIRECTION"
U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) today issued the following statement on the proposal for a federal bailout of the financial industry. He said Congress should not approve the bailout without increasing regulation and making other changes to ensure the problems will not happen again...
________________________________________
“How did we get here? In 1999, when the Congress was pressured to repeal the financial protections that were put in place following the Great Depression, I voted against it. That bill, the mis-named Financial Modernization Act, repealed the Glass-Steagall Act. I warned then that a ‘financial swamp’ would result from the casino-like prospect of merging banking with the speculative activity of real estate and securities.
“In 1999, when the bill was debated, I warned, ‘This bill will also raise the likelihood of future massive taxpayer bailouts…I also think we will, in 10 years time, look back and say…we forgot the lessons of the past.’ I take no satisfaction that I was right.
“I agree that the Congress must now act, but that action must be smart and effective. That means any action taken must be guided by two principles: protecting U.S. taxpayers from being ripped off in a rushed, blank-check, no-strings-attached Wall Street bailout, and ensuring accountability and oversight to put an end to the very reckless business practices that led to this crisis and put our entire economy at risk.
“Congressional action must include:
1. Restoring the stability and safety of the banking system by recreating protections of the Glass-Steagall Act, which prohibited the merging of banking businesses with riskier investments. That post-Depression Era protection served us well for seven decades before its repeal.
2. Addressing the wildly excessive compensation on Wall Street, which has incentivized reckless behavior. In recent years, Wall Street has doled out more than $100 billion in bonuses to the very people who have steered us into this mess, including more than $33 billion in each of 2007 and 2006.
3. Developing a system of regulation that would require accountability for the speculative investment activities of hedge funds and investment banks that create and sell complex securities.
4. Providing for a period of forbearance on mortgages where homeowners could continue to pay mortgages at a set rate.
5. Creating a Taxpayer Protection Task Force that would investigate and claw back ill-gotten gains. This would be targeted at individuals and firms that profited from creating and selling worthless securities and toxic products. Despite the fact that this practice caused the current economic crisis, many of these individuals and firms now seek to benefit from a government bailout.
6. Making sure that U.S. taxpayers get to share in the increased values – not just the burden of risk – of the firms they are bailing out.
“If government action is taken without the safeguards described above, it will not address or cure the major problems of our financial system, and it could wreck our economy and lower our standard of living. This is a crisis and we must address it quickly, but we need to get this right.” U.S. Senator Byron Dorgan (D-ND) today issued the following statement on the proposal for a federal bailout of the financial industry.... more -
Is ecstasy still a drug problem?
In January, North Wales Police chief constable Richard Brunstrom courted controversy when he suggested ecstasy was less dangerous than aspirin.
And in 2006, a group of MPs warned that alcohol and tobacco were more harmful to the nation's health than LSD and ecstasy.
MPs on the Commons science and technology select committee demanded an overhaul of the classification system to give the public a "better sense of the relative harms involved".
They commissioned medical experts to analyse 20 substances for their addictive qualities, social harm and physical damage.
Heroin and cocaine, both Class A drugs, topped the league table of harm, while alcohol was ranked fifth.
Alcohol, tobacco and solvents, which can all be bought legally, were judged more damaging than LSD (14th) and ecstasy (18th)
The latest official figures show an estimated 567,000 people aged between 16-59 used ecstasy in 2006/07, and 272,000 of those were aged between 16-24.
Mr Shapiro believes usage has perhaps only slightly declined from the 1990s, while the price has dropped dramatically.
When the drug first hit the dance scene, it cost £25. Today, prices have fallen to as low as £5 or less, depending on quantity and quality.
In terms of ecstasy-related deaths there were 11 in 1998 and 17 in 1999. More recent figures show there were 246 deaths between 2003 and 2007.
But one thing that has not changed is the level of relative harm, according to Mr Shapiro.
"I don't think people would think ecstasy was as dangerous to individuals or the wider community as heroin or cocaine," he said.
"We support the idea that this drug should be in Class B. From a clinical point of view, we have never understood why ecstasy was classed as an A drug in the first place.
"It's not to say it is safe because it is clearly not but in a relative sense we have to have penalties that are proportionate to the risk and danger involved." In January, North Wales Police chief constable Richard Brunstrom courted controversy when he suggested ecstasy was less dangerous than... more -
Ron Paul on Fox Business News
Let the companies liquidate their bad assets through the market and go out of business.
Other companies will come in and fill the void left by these failed banks and make the credit available to American businesses and families.
Transfer the wealth from the wealthy companies to the market rather from the American tax payer to the wealthy companies.
It seems so simple.
Why do we have to follow the shock and awe doctrine of the Bush Administration?
Tell you representative not to vote for the bail out.
It's time for the corrupt system to have a correction not a rescue plan to continue business as usual. Let the companies liquidate their bad assets through the market and go out of business. ... more -
U.S. simply must invest in energy research
Almost 70 years ago, as Germany invaded France, President Franklin D. Roosevelt received an urgent visit from Vannevar Bush, then-chairman of the National Advisory Committee on Aeronautics and formerly vice president and dean of engineering at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology.
Bush's message was simple: For America to win the war that was to come, it had no choice but to make aggressive, focused investments in basic science. The case was so compelling that Roosevelt approved it in 10 minutes. From radar to the Manhattan Project, the innovations that decision unleashed produced the military tools that won the war...
=======================
Today, the United States is tangled in a triple knot: a shaky economy battering volatile energy prices; world politics weighed down by issues of energy consumption and security; and mounting evidence of global climate change...
========================
Building on the wisdom of Vannevar Bush, I believe we can address all three problems at once with dramatic new federal investment in energy research and development. If one advance could transform America's prospects, it would be ready access, at scale, to a range of affordable, renewable, low-carbon energy technologies -- from large-scale solar and wind energy to safe nuclear power. Only one path will lead to such transformative technologies: research. Yet federal funding for energy research has dwindled to irrelevance. In 1980, 10 percent of federal research dollars went to energy. Today, the share is 2 percent.
Research investment by U.S. energy companies has mirrored this drop. In 2004, it stood at $1.2 billion in today's dollars. This might suit a cost-efficient, technologically mature, fossil-fuel-based energy sector, but it is insufficient for any industry that depends on innovation. Pharmaceutical companies invest 18 percent of revenue in R&D. Semiconductor firms invest 16 percent. Energy companies invest less than one-quarter of 1 percent. With this pattern of investment, we cannot expect an energy technology revolution.
While industry must support technology development, only government can prime the research pump. Congress must lead. The potential gains -- from the economy to global security to the climate -- are boundless. Other nations are chasing these technologies. We must be first to market with innovative solutions. We must make sure that in the energy technology markets of the future, we have the power to invent, produce and sell -- not the obligation to buy.
How much should we invest? In 2006 the government spent between $2.4 billion and $3.4 billion (less than half of the annual R&D budget of our largest pharmaceutical company). Many experts, including the Council on Competitiveness, recommend that federal energy research spending climb to twice or even 10 times current levels. In my view, the nation should move promptly to triple current rates, then increase funding further as the Energy Department builds its capacity to convert research into marketable technologies.
Vannevar Bush's insight was his appreciation of the value of basic research in powering innovation. I believe we stand on the verge of a global energy-technology revolution. Will America lead it and reap the rewards? Or will we surrender that advantage to other countries that have clearer vision? I believe we can chart a profoundly hopeful, practical path to America's future -- through rapid, sustained, broad-based and intensive investment in basic energy research.
(Susan Hockfield is president of the Massachusetts Institute of Tech- nology. She testified on this subject this week before the House Select Committee on Energy Independence and Global Warming.) Almost 70 years ago, as Germany invaded France, President Franklin D. Roosevelt received an urgent visit from Vannevar Bush, then-chai... more -
Marijuana ingredient may fight bacteria
Marijuana may be something of a wonder drug — though perhaps not in the way you might think.
Researchers in Italy and Britain have found that the main active ingredient in marijuana — tetrahydrocannabinol, or THC — and related compounds show promise as antibacterial agents, particularly against microbial strains that are already resistant to several classes of drugs.
It has been known for decades that Cannabis sativa has antibacterial properties. Experiments in the 1950s tested various marijuana preparations against skin and other infections, but researchers at the time had little understanding of marijuana's chemical makeup.
The current research, by Giovanni Appendino of the University of the Eastern Piedmont and colleagues and published in The Journal of Natural Products, looked at the antibacterial activity of the five most common cannabinoids. All were found effective against several common multi-resistant bacterial strains, although, perhaps understandably, the researchers suggested that the nonpsychotropic cannabinoids might prove more promising for eventual use.
The researchers say they don't know how the cannabinoids work, and whether they would be effective as systemic antibiotics would require much more research and trials. But the compounds may prove useful sooner as a topical agent against methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA, to prevent the microbes from colonizing on the skin. Marijuana may be something of a wonder drug — though perhaps not in the way you might think. ... more -
Colleges take on drinking age
"129 college presidents have signed a statement calling on elected officials "to support an informed and dispassionate public debate over the effects of the 21-year-old drinking age."
Known as the Amethyst Initiative, it has stirred discussions on campuses and editorial pages across the United States. It's also drawn stinging criticism from groups such as Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD), which defends the age limit as a key factor in reducing traffic fatalities.
John McCardell, president emeritus of Middlebury College in Vermont, organized the initiative. Eight presidents helped draft the statement this summer, and the group then invited presidents of all four-year colleges and universities to sign on.
Science is on the side of the age-21 law, Ms. Dean-Mooney says. More than 50 studies show it has helped save lives, according to the MADD website. One new study by the Pacific Institute for Research and Evaluation accounted for a variety of car- and roadway-safety improvements and still attributed to the 21 drinking age an 11 percent drop in alcohol-related traffic deaths among youths. Dean-Mooney also raises the concern that making alcohol more accessible to 18-year-olds would push problems onto the shoulders of high school principals.
In the wake of the public controversy, several college presidents have removed their names from the list. Kendall Blanchard of Georgia Southwestern State University in Americus "has wanted to be part of the national discussion," spokesman Stephen Snyder says, "but has decided this was not the time, place, or venue for that discussion."
"On both sides, it's running on very strong emotions," says Susan Bruce, director of the Center for Alcohol and Substance Education at the University of Virginia in Charlottesville. "It's important that we can really look at the data and not go on gut feelings."
Join the conversation by commenting below "129 college presidents have signed a statement calling on elected officials "to support an informed and dispassionate publi... more -
Two drug offenders jailed 18 years
The Asamankese Circuit Court presided over by Mr Kofi Akrowiah, on Monday sentenced two young men to a total of 18 years in prison for drug offences.
Eric Owusu, 20, charged with possessing Indian hemp received 13 years while Jerry Appoh, 22, had five years for smoking the hemp.
Both pleaded not guilty.
Police Chief Inspector Ben Brew told the court that on January 11, 2007 Suhum Police had information that a group of young men had converged on the field near the Suhum Secondary Technical School smoking wee.
The police moved to the area and on seeing them they took to their heels but Owusu and Appoh were arrested.
Owusu had in his possession a small bag containing 47 wrappers of the hemp while Appoh was caught smoking the wee. The Asamankese Circuit Court presided over by Mr Kofi Akrowiah, on Monday sentenced two young men to a total of 18 years in prison for... more -
What would you ask Nancy Pelosi, [House Speaker] if you had the chance?
Hello Seed Planters,
Digg.com is doing an interview with Nancy Pelosi at the Democratic National Convention. The link in our blog will take you to a page where you can vote up or down any of the questions posed. Currently rank third, the important question of: “As a taxable resource, what stops marijuana from being legalized, for medicinal or recreational purposes, throughout the country?”
The questions with the most Diggs will be asked in the interview. Please take a moment to visit the link above and show your support for this question. Look for the drop down box near the comments section and select “Most Dugg”. Tell your friends about this too. Should we gather enough support and keep this pertinent question at the top of the list, then it should be very clear that America is ready to move out of the dark ages of prohibition.
It’s important to hold these guys to their word. So if the question remains at the top, and doesn’t get asked; we will have to follow up. But for now, we will hope for the best.
Danks,
Outgrow Big Bro!
because if we don’t, who will? Hello Seed Planters, ... more -
Naval blockade against Iran! Bill cont. to be pressed through.
Read- Concurrent Military Operations: War in the Caucasus about how Iran Has bilateral military cooperation from Russia AND China!
"A blockade is an act of war under international and domestic law. A "Blockade" is a term used under international law to specifically refer to belligerent measures taken by a nation for the purposes of preventing the passage of vessels or aircraft to and from another country. Customary international law recognizes blockades as an act of war because of the belligerent use of force even against third party nations in enforcing the blockade. Blockades as acts of war have been recognized as such in the Declaration of Paris of 1856 and the Declaration of London of 1909 that delineate the international rules of warfare."
Call your representatives! e-mail, Myspace, Throw a damn rock with a message tied to it through a window if you have to! Get their attention the best you can and protest this bill. Go to WWW.house.gov (make sure you put "www")
The bill did have over 200+ supporters and it was forced to be revised because of you voice!
What do you think should be done? Read- Concurrent Military Operations: War in the Caucasus about how Iran Has bilateral military cooperation from Russia AND China! ... more -
Colleges want lower drinking age
At least two metro Atlanta colleges are bowing out of a nationwide debate about lowering the legal drinking age.
Morehouse College and Emory University confirmed Thursday they are not taking part in the the Amethyst Initiative, a nationwide effort to get college presidents talking about urging lawmakers to lower the drinking age.
“While we welcome and encourage spirited public debate about appropriate standards of behavior, we do not support policies that would have the effect of encouraging or making it more likely that younger citizens would use alcohol or drugs,” Morehouse president Robert M. Franklin said.
Emory released a similar written statement: “Emory University has decided not to join the Amethyst Initiative. Emory will continue its long-standing commitment to educate students about the dangers of abusing alcohol and other drugs.”
College presidents from about 100 well-known U.S. universities — including Duke, Dartmouth and Ohio State — support of the issue, according to the Amethyst Initiative. The group plans to call on lawmakers to consider lowering the drinking age from 21 to 18, saying current laws encourage dangerous binge drinking on campus.
The movement began quietly recruiting presidents more than a year ago to provoke national debate.
“This is a law that is routinely evaded,” said John McCardell, former president of Middlebury College in Vermont who started the organization. “It is a law that the people at whom it is directed believe is unjust and unfair and discriminatory.”
Choose Responsibility, a national non-profit organization that promotes safe drinking, supports the Amethyst Initiative. Organizers say the initiative is to get people talking about underage drinking.
“The Amethyst Initiative is not calling for a lower drinking age, it’s not calling for an 18-year-old drinking age,” said Grace Kronenberg, assistant to the director of Vermont-based Choose Responsibility. “It’s a group of leaders in higher education are speaking out on an issue they know a lot about.” At least two metro Atlanta colleges are bowing out of a nationwide debate about lowering the legal drinking age. ... more -
Proposed changes to Endangered Species Act illegal?
The Bush administration wants to rewrite the Endangered Species Act to cut scientific review by independent experts out of the equation
Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) is it calling "illegal."
Under current law, agencies must subject any plans that potentially affect endangered animals and plants to an independent review by scientists at the Fish and Wildlife Service or the National Marine Fisheries Service. Under the proposed new rules, dam and highway construction and other federal projects could proceed without delay if the agency in charge decides they would not harm vulnerable species.
That's right, the agencies in charge, which don't have biologists on staff, get decision-making power over their own projects. Environmentalists and Democrats are apoplectic. Here's the statement from Boxer on the rewrite:
... another in a continuing stream of proposals to repeal our landmark environmental laws through the back door. I believe it is illegal, and if this proposed regulation had been in place, it would have undermined our ability to protect the bald eagle, the grizzly bear, and the gray whale."
No vote is needed here, just a 30-day comment period and then the rules are in place. Of course the new administration could reverse the change, but that'll take months. Lots of points of view on this one. Here's the story (via WashPost) in The Times, in the Environmental News Service, and the original Associated Press story.
Why the photo of the bald eagle? If not for the Endangered Species Act, our national symbol would almost certainly be extinct.
Write your congressman now:
https://forms.house.gov/wyr/welcome.shtml
Write your Senator now:
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senat...
Join the conversation by commenting below. The Bush administration wants to rewrite the Endangered Species Act to cut scientific review by independent experts out of the equatio... more -
Iraq Vet, Ash Madia, to be America's youngest Congressman... redefining patri...
Ashwin Madia is a Marine Corps Iraq War veteran running for US Congress in Minnesota's 3rd District. After winning a competitive party endorsement, Madia is now in a position to become America's youngest Congressperson. Madia's message of redefining patriotism is resonating throughout the country. Minnesota's Third Congressional District has been represented by Republican Jim Ramstad. Ramstad is retiring and the seat is up for grabs.
This will be one of the most competitive races in the country. Ashwin Madia is a Marine Corps Iraq War veteran running for US Congress in Minnesota's 3rd District. After winning a competitive... more -
After 7 Years, Talks on Trade Collapse
Us Economy too weak to negotiate trade agreements.
GENEVA — World trade talks collapsed here on Tuesday after seven years of on-again, off-again negotiations, in the latest sign of India’s and China’s growing might on the world stage and the decreasing ability of the United States to impose its will globally.
Pascal Lamy, director general of the World Trade Organization, could not bridge differences between a group of newly confident developing nations and established Western economic powers. In the end, too few of the real power brokers proved committed enough to make compromises necessary to deliver a deal.
The failure appeared to end, for the near term at least, any hopes of a global deal to further open markets, cut farm subsidies and strengthen the international trading system.
“It is a massive blow to confidence in the global economy,” said Peter Power, spokesman for the European Commission. “The confidence shot in the arm that we needed badly will not now happen.”
After nine consecutive days of high-level talks, discussions reached an impasse when the United States, India and China refused to compromise over measures to protect farmers in developing countries from greater liberalization of trade.
Supporters of the so-called Doha round of talks, which began in 2001, say a deal would have been a bulwark against protectionist sentiments that are likely to spread as economic growth falters in much of the world.
The failure also delivers a blow to the credibility of the World Trade Organization, which sets and enforces the rules of international commerce. It could set back efforts to work out other multilateral agreements, including those intended to reduce the threat of global warming.
The collapse of the talks will not bring an end to world trade, of course, which will continue under current agreements, many of which are between two or more countries rather than under the W.T.O.
But it is a big setback, particularly to the hopes of smaller and poorer developing countries, which were counting on gaining greater access to consumers in the United States, Europe and Japan.
Economists and trade experts predicted that negotiators, having come this close, might not find the conditions for a broad deal among the 153 members of the trade organization for years, if ever again.
Deep skepticism about the advantages of free trade was on vivid display during the Democratic primaries and it is growing in Europe, particularly as France, Italy and other countries have fallen into an American-style economic malaise. Us Economy too weak to negotiate trade agreements. ... more -
Last hurrah for the banking system
FDIC has only $53 billion in reserves to guarantee $4 trillion in total bank deposits.
As the bank-runs increase, the FDIC will be forced to admit the truth, that they don't have the resources to deal with a problem this big. Currently, the FDIC has only $53 billion in reserves to guarantee $4 trillion in total bank deposits. The entire system has a mere $267 billion cash in the vaults. What a shabby way to run a banking system. Where's the money going to come from when depositors start withdrawing their savings? How will the FDIC deal with the ongoing deleveraging in the market which is forcing more and more investors move into cash?
On Friday, after the market had closed, the FDIC shut down two more banks, First Heritage Bank and First National Bank. Two weeks earlier, regulators seized Indymac Bancorp following a run by depositors. The FDIC now operates like a stealth paramilitary unit, deploying its shock troops on the weekends to do their dirty work out of the public eye and at times when it will least effect the stock market. The reasons for this are obvious; there's only one thing the government hates more than seeing flag-draped coffins on the evening news, and that's seeing long lines of frantic soccer moms and blue-collar working guys waiting impatiently to get what's left of their savings out of their now-deceased bank. After all, flag-draped coffins merely indicate that we're losing a war, but lines at the bank prove that the system is broken. And the system is broken, that's why people are depressed and confidence is waning.
Last Sunday, sought Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson tried to reassure the public that the banking system is sound, while bracing people for more trouble ahead:
* "I think it's going to be months that we're working our way through this period — clearly months. But again, it's a safe banking system, a sound banking system. Our regulators are on top of it. This is a very manageable situation."
Paulson is like a broken record. Everything is always hunky-dory. He is the consummate Wall Street investment sharpie; a bright guy who could charm a hungry dog off a meat-wagon. But when it comes to telling the truth; forget about it. You'd be better off listening to Bush, which isn't saying much. The banking system is not sound nor is it well capitalized. It is a corpse that's been propped up in the office hallway next to the water-cooler so that everyone who passes bye gets a stifling whiff of the decaying flesh. Still, the charade goes on. Still the lies persist.
If the rate of bank closures continues at the present pace, by the middle of 2009 their will be restrictions on withdrawals. Even now, if you go to your bank and try to withdraw $9,000 or $10,000, it sends waves of panic through the entire building like a 5-alarm fire that quickly engulfs the main exits. It's crazy. Tellers go scampering around helter-skelter, and bank managers suddenly appear at the window grimacing in pain and wringing the sweat from their brows.
Most people are unaware of the fact that the new Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac bailout package that was passed into law on Saturday, provides Paulson with $300 billion of taxpayer dollars to shore up the faltering mortgage behemoths. In order to accomplish this, the congress increased the national debt by a whopping $800 billion sending it over the $10 trillion mark for the first time in history. FDIC has only $53 billion in reserves to guarantee $4 trillion in total bank deposits. ... more -
Homeowners get help in DC, but not from government
Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America helps tens of thousands restructure their home mortgage.
This week, while Congress was busy providing assistance to Fannie May and Freddie Mac, a non-profit organization called The Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America was provided free consulting to homeowners who could no longer afford their mortgage. The five day event, called "Save the Dream of Home Ownership", ended on Wednesday after providing assistance to countless people who are at risk of losing their largest equity holding. NACA has also been providing financial counseling to the countless Americans who are lost in the complexities of the US banking system. Neighborhood Assistance Corporation of America helps tens of thousands restructure their home mortgage. ... more -
Congress helps banks, but what about homeowners?
Danny Schechter: "This is a 50 state Katrina"
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, Squeezed: America As The Bubble Bursts was inspired by his latest film, In Debt We Trust: America Before The Bubble Bursts Danny Schechter: "This is a 50 state Katrina" ... more
-
related topics
US Congress
Contributors (287)
US Congress
