From the "Bribing Us With Our Own Money Department"

AP in the Wall Street Journal Online version dated June 8, 2010, “Obama Pitches Health Bill to Seniors”:

“President Barack Obama is turning his attention back to his signature health-care bill and trying to win over the most skeptical constituency: seniors.

Mr. Obama was set to pitch the bill at a senior center in Wheaton, Md., Tuesday. The event will be broadcast live and seniors will be able to listen by phone and ask questions at dozens of gatherings around the country.

The timing coincides with the release later this week of the first batch of $250 checks to seniors who fall into Medicare's prescription drug coverage gap, known as the "doughnut hole." The checks will be the first tangible benefits most of them will be seeing from the law Mr. Obama signed in March. Some 4 million elderly and disabled people will get checks this year, and the first batch of 80,000 is supposed to go out Thursday.”

Let me see, 4 million times $250 = $1 Billion. Just a drop in the bucket, hey!  To put this into perspective, NASA's budget for 2010 was $18.7 Billion, but some of that may have been cut. So the President and Congress decided to  pass 20% of the NASA budget to seniors in a one time "bribe" in an attempt to pass the health care bill. Well, I guess we do have to have our priorities. 

Here's a link to the original article:

Obama Pitches Health Care Program to Seniors

Rigging the Energy Star Ratings

This from a May 18th article from EDN. The common thread to this and other recent revelations is that our "regulators" are a joke. If it's about promoting the agenda of the congress or the adminstration, then full speed ahead. Otherwise, rubber stamp anything seems to be the motus operandi.

The article stated that "The GAO (government accountability office) has released a report that shows you can get an energy Star rating for your product for pretty much just asking for it. They got Energy Star ratings for a gas-powered alarm clock and a room cleaner that was a feather duster shoved into the grill of a space heater."

Here is a link to the original article:

Click here for article on Rigging Energy Star Ratings


Here is a link to an article at Appliance Design Magazine:

Appliance Design - Rigging Energy Star Ratings

Betting Against Goldman is Like Betting Against the House

That was the title of an article by Brett Arends in today's Wall Street Journal. His comments were directed toward investors and the recent SEC action against Goldman Sachs.

I couldn't have said it better myself!

Mr. Arends states in part:

.... someone betting against the Wall Street banks is also taking a big, big risk.  ...Betting against Wall Street is like betting against the house. These guys are well connected.

Wall Street is the number two source of campaign funding for politicians across the board, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-profit that tracks money and politics. The only industry more important: Lawyers.

Since 1990, investment firms and their staff have given a staggering $683 million to federal election campaigns. While Democrats have done better in recent elections, this industry is not partisan: Over two decades the donations have split 51% to Democrats, 48% to Republicans. The GOP got a majority of the money from 1996 through 2004.

Here is a link; a subscription may be required:

WSJ-Arends-on-Betting-Against-the-House

I'm Not the Only Cynic - Congress and the Fed Work for the Banks

Here's and interesting summary of the recent financial disaster, explained clearly and naming some of the players. And yes, we were all a part of it.

The video was created April 7, 2010. There are two versions. The First is the "Long" version of about 13 minutes. The Second a shorter version, of 7 minutes. Watching these videos, you can see the source of some of the current congressional interest in politicizing the Fed. Unfortunately for us, the taxpayers and citizens of the U.S., the solutions proposed would simply pass the baton to the President and to Congress. And, given all the evidence of the financial crises, in these matters our Congress, which was also complicit, cannot be trusted either!

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

Sorry for the gap

I'm back.

I'll begin posting here on a regular basis. Lot's has happened and I wanted a breather to see how the economy and so on would stabilize. It was like a "data storm" out there and I came to the conclusion that I and just about everyone was in info overload.

Now that things have stabilized, and the volleys have returned to the normal political polarization, I think it is time to begin some analysis of events.

Health care, the economy, our politicians, my home state of Illinois, all will be discussed here.

Have a great day and I'll be posting in a day or two.

Norm

Looking Back on Fannie and Freddie and How We Got Here

The Government's Retort

In November 2008, one of our self esteemed bankers made a statement saying we don't need three automakers. See:

http://foreverthecynic.blogspot.com/2008/11/quote-from-banker.html

Well, the government has made its own statement. According to the Wall Street Journal on May 11, an administration official made this comment about shutting out the creditors in the Chrysler bankruptcy crisis: "You don't need banks and bondholders to make cars."

According to the article "..Chrysler's suppliers, dealers and unionized workers are critical to its survival -- and so is Fiat, which will contribute high-efficiency engines and foreign distribution [however] the creditors were expendable". The article went on to say that "Pulling a trick from the hedge-fund playbook, the government used its leverage as the sole willing lender to Chrysler, either in bankruptcy court or out, to extract deep concessions from some of the country's biggest banks".

So what goes around, comes around!