Meanwhile, Back At The Ranch…
Aug 11, 2009 Political
Or in this case, back to the TARP, which has seemingly been forgotten, dropping off of the radar, which is, what I believe was the administration’s attempt to imitate David Copperfield, misdirecting everyone’s attention with all the flying donkeys that spin around the room. You have the TARP, Stimulus 1. stimulus 2, cash for clunkers, Cap & Tax, the healthcare- it’s enough to make your head spin, and that is what King Hussein wants. Like a con artist at the old shell game, he counts on the public not being able to keep up.
So it is up to us to try and keep score- after all, this is our money, not a bit of it is Hussein’s– and since he is not going to be transparent, we have to slice through the myriad layers of Chicago Bullsh*t that these people erect to disguise their thievery.
Despite a new oversight panel, a new special inspector general, the existing Government Accountability Office and eight other inspectors general, those charged with minding the store say they don’t have all the weapons they need. Ten months into the Troubled Asset Relief Program, some members of Congress say that some oversight of bailout dollars has been so lacking that it’s essentially worthless.
“TARP has become a program in which taxpayers are not being told what most of the TARP recipients are doing with their money, have still not been told how much their substantial investments are worth, and will not be told the full details of how their money is being invested,” a special inspector general over the program reported last month. The “very credibility” of the program is at stake, it said.
news.yahoo.com
That’s right- we the people, in the form of the special inspector general who is appointed specifically to keep track of where the money goes, will not be told by Treasury just who has what money, and how effective this program has been. This is not just an unforgivable lack of oversight, but a criminal offense, when Treasury stonewalls like this.
Henry Paulson , the Treasury secretary under former President George W. Bush , repeatedly stiff-armed the panel. Timothy Geithner , the current secretary, has been more open, but so far has testified just once before Warren’s group. Geithner is scheduled to appear again in September, and has agreed to do so quarterly, and two other senior Treasury officials also have appeared.
The relative lack of testimony from top officials, however, is one reason why critics of Warren’s panel think it hasn’t delivered on its promise.
In June, in an otherwise mundane congressional hearing, Republican Rep. Kevin Brady of Texas surprised Warren with an aggressive critique of the panel, saying it’s failed to help taxpayers understand what Treasury is doing with the billions at its disposal.
“There’s been very little value that the panel has brought to this issue or even insight on how these bailout dollars have been used,” he said. “I frankly believe at this point, given the reports that we’ve seen again with little value, I think the panel needs to be abolished.”
news.yahoo.com
Yes- to say that this panel hasn’t delivered on it’s “promise” is an understatement indeed- but what do you expect from people appointed by the one person who wants this to stay opaque- King Barama. He is relying on his minions to keep the transparency out of the equation, no matter what he said. For him, words are indeed cheap. But the value of keeping the public’s head spinning? Priceless.
Such a juggler- but then he has a supporting cast that only a Nazi could love- all those “Czars”- I have counted 28 of them so far, but the day is young. Most of these are either avowed Communists, Socialists, or environmental whackjobs. A few, the ones that will be overseas, are more mainstream- I guess the more mainstream you are, the farther from the halls of power you end up- the more radical you are, the more access you get with the Resident.
Together, they are assisting the Resident in fooling the American People- TARP is just one program that is not living up to it’s promise. There are others, and I will get into them soon, as well as these unsupervised, unaccountable “Czars” who want to rule us as the Czars did in Russia in the past.
The more things change, the more they stay the same.
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Tags: Bernanke, lies, misdirection, paulson, TARP
Stop The Bail Out Now
Sep 23, 2008 Political
I have written that I understand the reason for the bailout but that I am not happy with it. The government should not be in the business of giving taxpayer money to businesses that are failing because they were mismanaged. It makes no difference if the market turned, it was greed, or they did not know what they were doing. The fact is, taxpayers do not share the wealth when these companies make money and we should not pay for the problems when they don’t.
The government is moving toward socialism where it will own, subsidize or underwrite everything. This is not the America I grew up in and it is not the America I want to leave to my grandchildren.
The reality is that the federal government is unable to do things effectively and they are irresponsible with our money. That’s right our money. In addition to the fiasco and huge expense that Treasury Secretary Paulson is working on to bailout his buddies in the financial world, the government is adding many items to the bailout showing once again that they cannot wait to spend our money. The Washington Times reports:
In the dark of night over the weekend when most people were snoozing, the Treasury dramatically expanded its bailout plan to include buying student loans, car loans, credit card debt and any other “troubled” assets held by banks.
The changes, which were included in draft language that also opened the bailout program to foreign banks with extensive loan operations in the United States, potentially added tens of billions of dollars to the cost of the program.
Although it was a major addition to what was already the nation’s largest-ever bailout, it did not become part of the debate between Democrats and the Treasury over details of the program. A Monday counterproposal by Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher J. Dodd included such consumer loans as well as mortgages, just as the Treasury’s draft did Saturday night.
When exactly are people going to be held accountable for their own risks in life? The financial geniuses who make millions of dollars in salaries are still rich while the country pays for their sins. Now, the government is adding people who made bad decisions with their credit and students who finance their schooling to the program.
Let me be clear; IT IS NOT THE RESPONSIBILITY OF THE TAXPAYER TO PAY FOR ANY OF THIS.
People who are in credit card debt or have car loans that they cannot afford have no one to blame but themselves. Students who take out loans for an education are making an investment in their future. I wonder how these students would act if their future earnings were given to taxpayers. It is, after all, only fair. If we pay for your car, house or credit cards then we deserve to have the things you bought. This idea that the world will end if people or businesses fail is ridiculous.
We need to end this whole bailout now. ALL OF IT. If AIG and other companies, including foreign banks, are going to fail than let them fail. This is a buyer’s opportunity to pick up cheap investments. Lehman Brothers is being purchased, Constellation Energy is being purchased (by a Warren Buffet company) and there are many (like Buffet) looking for bargains. If a company fails there are people who will buy them on the cheap and have a go at making them successful. If no one buys them then they can go out of business.
It is a shame that people lose their jobs as a result of mismanagement and the ineptitude of the corrupt government but that is not the fault of the taxpayer.
John McCain needs to oppose this bailout. He needs to provide real leadership and show that he truly is against government waste because surely, this bailout is just that. The money is designed to let Paulson help his buddies and it is designed to allow politicians claim they were there to help during a time of crisis. This is particularly important to them because it is an election year and they are the ones who helped cause it.
Look at the items added. Christopher Dodd added consumer loans. He is the criminal most responsible. He has his Countrywide VIP loan that saved him $75,000 and he failed, to act early on when President Bush, on 17 occasions, warned of trouble and tried to get something done. The last things we need are the people who caused this mess to be the ones overseeing its cleanup. Yes, greed on Wall Street is partly responsible but to be fair, many mortgage companies were following the inane law that allows people with no hope of affording a house to buy one. Did they [financial companies] abuse the process? You bet and they should be held accountable.
Everyone involved should be held accountable. We can do this by:
- Getting rid of the CEOs and ensuring they do not receive a severance.
- Take back some of the untold millions these people made through greed and shady practices
- Stop the bailout and let unsound companies fail (or be bought up)
- Vote for the non incumbent challenger in all 435 House seats (thereby replacing the entire House)
- Vote for the non incumbent challenger in all contested Senate seats (thereby replacing 1/3 of the Senate)
- Hold people accountable for their own loans. If they fail they will learn a valuable lesson. If we bail them out, they will not
It is time for a shake up in DC. We need to replace all of these criminals so that they are held accountable for their misdeeds.
It is also time we held our fellow citizens accountable for their actions. Ron Paul has an excellent piece on this. He states exactly what I believe:
Additionally, the government’s actions encourage moral hazard of the worst sort. Now that the precedent has been set, the likelihood of financial institutions to engage in riskier investment schemes is increased, because they now know that an investment position so overextended as to threaten the stability of the financial system will result in a government bailout and purchase of worthless, illiquid assets.
I would add that this extends to any individual who takes risky decisions and is bailed out by the government.
Big Dog Salute to Raven who, as usual, is on top of things.
Others:
Texas Pundit
Tags: bailout, corruption, dodd, mortgage companies, paulson, sham, taxpayer fraud