Didn’t See This Comin’ Now, Didja’?

“Twenty-five billion dollars is obviously going to help the folks who are struggling more than Chase,” he began. “What we do think it will help us do is perhaps be a little bit more active on the acquisition side or opportunistic side for some banks who are still struggling. And I would not assume that we are done on the acquisition side just because of the Washington Mutual and Bear Stearns mergers. I think there are going to be some great opportunities for us to grow in this environment, and I think we have an opportunity to use that $25 billion in that way and obviously depending on whether recession turns into depression or what happens in the future, you know, we have that as a backstop.”

Read that answer as many times as you want – you are not going to find a single word in there about making loans to help the American economy. On the contrary: at another point in the conference call, the same executive (who I’m not naming because he didn’t know I would be listening in) explained that “loan dollars are down significantly.” He added, “We would think that loan volume will continue to go down as we continue to tighten credit to fully reflect the high cost of pricing on the loan side.” In other words JPMorgan has no intention of turning on the lending spigot.

(So When Will Banks Give Loans?, NY Times, 10/24/08)

And this post isn’t going to get any prettier …

First, the $700 billion rescue for the economy was about buying devalued mortgage-backed securities from tottering banks to unclog frozen credit markets.

Then it was about using $250 billion of it to buy stakes in banks. The idea was that banks would use the money to start making loans again.

But reports surfaced that bankers might instead use the money to buy other banks, pay dividends, give employees a raise and executives a bonus, or just sit on it. Insurance companies now want a piece; maybe automakers, too, even though Congress has approved $25 billion in low-interest loans for them.

(Deciding how to use bailout funds, Philadelphia Enquirer, 10/26/08)

“It’s clear that the government would like us to use the money to make loans,” said JPMorgan Chase & Co.’s CEO Jamie Dimon at a recent earnings conference call with analysts. “I don’t think the government is telling us what to do with the capital.”

(Temptation for banks to risk bailout funds, SF Chronicle, 10/19/08)

“We will have the opportunity to redeploy that (bailout funds),” John Thain, chief executive officer of Merrill Lynch (NYSE:MER), told The New York Times. (NYSE:NYT) “But at least for the next quarter, it’s just going to be a cushion,” he said.

Other bankers privately made similar remarks, the Times reported Friday.

(Banks may hoard bailout funds, UPI, 10/17/08)

Oh, and about those preferred shares we, the people, are ostensibly getting in return for our donations to the rich and powerful of the financial industry and Wall Street?

(My bold emphasis)

PNC Financial Services Group Inc., which acquired Baltimore’s Mercantile Bankshares last year, said yesterday that it is acquiring Cleveland-based National City Corp. for $5.58 billion, becoming the first bank to use fresh investments from a federal bailout program to make an acquisition.

The deal came within hours of PNC Financial receiving approval for $7.7 billion in cash from the government under the $700 billion government program aimed at relieving the continuing credit crisis.

. . .

The government will receive warrants to acquire a 15 percent stake in PNC Financial. The warrants will be good for 10 years unless retired by PNC, the company said.

(PNC using bailout funds to acquire National City, Baltimore Sun, 10/26/08)

Don’t know what those “warrants” are? They’re nothing more than a temporary promissory note … ie, for the next ten years we, the people, will have a legal right to 15% of PNC Financial, and then after ten years that all goes buh bye. (See this link for some discussion of warrants.)

Democratic Surrender, copyright Rama Schneider, 2007

We’ll just keep surrendering ’till we got ’em on the run

Just like we tucked our tails when this dumb ol’ war begun

When they’re sick of winning it all

We’ll watch them turn and flee

Yeah, we’ll just keep surrendering our way to election victory

“In our days of glory,” said the Democratic pol to me

“Everything that George Bush wants, you can be sure he’ll receive”

“We’re gonna end this Iraq war, of that you have no fear”

“It’s just gonna take a lot time, maybe we’ll start in a year”

We’ll just keep surrendering ’till we got ’em on the run

Just like we tucked our tails when this dumb ol’ war begun

When they’re sick of winning it all

We’ll watch them turn and flee

Yeah, we’ll just keep surrendering our way to election victory

“What’s a few more billion?” said the Democratic pol to me

“And who really cares about some ol’ Iraqi family”

“And the folk of our America who we send to kill and die”

“We all know they’ll keep doing their job without ever asking why”

We’ll just keep surrendering ’till we got ’em on the run

Just like we tucked our tails when this dumb ol’ war begun

When they’re sick of winning it all

We’ll watch them turn and flee

Yeah, we’ll just keep surrendering our way to election victory

“The important thing is next year,” said the Democratic pol to me

“If things are bad it only helps my electability”

“Cause I know I can scare you into joining my failed fold”

“I’ll scream your only option is the Republicans of old”

We’ll just keep surrendering ’till we got ’em on the run

Just like we tucked our tails when this dumb ol’ war begun

When they’re sick of winning it all

We’ll watch them turn and flee

Yeah, we’ll just keep surrendering our way to election victory

(Numbers all over the map, and put together. Interesting….not too helpful. – promoted by odum)

From Pollster.com (you can drag your mouse over the colored dots … very carefully … to see specifics of each data point):

That’s the term the former Fed-Head and still occupier of a post in the supposed economic gods pantheon,  Mr. Greenscam errr … span, used to describe his reaction to the recent economic turn of events particularly as they apply to the financial markets.

You mean “caught with hand in cookie jar”, don’t you, big Al?

Way back in the early 1980’s I, nothing more than an enlisted man in the US Army working on tugboats, saw it with great clarity … the newfangled “trickle down”, cheap labor, borrow and spend economic theology being pushed by the likes of Ronnie “doubler of payroll taxes on the working class” Reagan was a scam. It was as obvious then as it is now. You can’t simply borrow money forever without the bills coming due!

But you, Greenscam, sat down with the aforementioned Reagan and “Tip myself over to present my posterior as a sign of surrender to all things Republican” O’Neill (then speaker of the House) and came up with a grand scheme to borrow our way out of the Vietnam war debt created inflation morass that chased Carter out of the Presidency. The scheme included such things as tax breaks for rich folks, and to keep those tax giveaways popular the scheme included an increase in domestic spending … all paid for by debt. You’re scheme, Greenscam, also included almost doubling the payroll tax on working Americans so excess Social Security monies could be collected and used to fund your Greenscam/Reagan/O’Neill credit cravings.

It would have all fallen apart a decade or more ago, but two things happened: 1) H.W. Bush came to his senses and re-entered the time when he considered your scheme “voodoo economics” and increased taxes, and 2) Bill Clinton realized he couldn’t fund his Presidential ambitions and followed H.W’s lead by another common sense tax increase (not enough maybe, but adequate for sure).

It took a return of the Reagan legacy in the form of Dumbya Bush to help undo the budgetary advances made by his two predecessors.

Greenscam, you told congress there was something wrong with budgetary surpluses … ostensibly because there really was nowhere for those surpluses to be put. Of course paying off our national debt was out of the question … so said banker you who has no problem with the public dollar paying hundreds of billions of dollars a year in interest payments … money that could have funded education, medical care, environmental protections, worker safety, infrastructure maintenance and more.

Boy  … you sure kept your economic class in style!

Of course the workers of this country, you know … the folks who actually make the gears turn, were not of concern to you. As a matter of fact, Al, you insisted one of your jobs was to keep wage inflation down (while making sure stock inflation soared). Recently I caught you making just that sort of claim on Bloomberg News: you told the show’s host that you are very concerned about income disparity and the way to keep that disparity down is to allow more trained workers in as immigrants so America’s well trained workers will have wage competition!

Never occurred to you the income disparity is between the upper 5 or 10 percent (ie. YOU Greenscam) and the rest of us … did it?

Shock and disbelief? Fat freakin’ chance. Greenscam, anybody who’s ever balanced a checkbook knew exactly what was coming down the pike with your borrow and spend, cheap labor economic theology … and we’re seeing it today.

I knew it … but I’m still resistin’ … ’cause I’mmmmmmmmmmmm nooooooooooooooot gooooiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiing toooooooooooooo sleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee … ***snizzle*** ***snort*** ***snit*** ***snore***

Obama’s really isn’t a good guy, he’s just been hypnotizing you! How do I know? The freepers over at freerepublic.com told me so.

The evidence is right through this link:

Obama is not just using subliminal messages, but textbook covert hypnosis and neuro-linguistic programming techniques on audiences that are intentionally designed to sideline rational judgment and implant subconscious commands to think he is wonderful and elect him President.  Obama is eloquent. However, Obama’s subconscious techniques are shown to elicit powerful emotion from his audience and then transfer those emotions onto him, to sideline rational judgment, and implant hypnotic commands that we are unaware of and can’t even consciously question.  The polls are misleading because some of Obama’s commands are designed to be triggered only in the voting booth on November 4th.  Obama is immune to logical arguments like Wright, Ayers, shifting every position, character, and inexperience, because hypnosis affects us on an unconscious and emotional level.  To many people who see this unaccomplished man’s unnatural and irrational rise to the highest office in the world as suspicious and frightening and to those who welcome it, this document uncovers, explains, and proves the deceptive tactics behind true “Obama Phenomenon” including why younger people are more easily affected.

Ouch, my head hurts.

Colin Powell just endorsed Obama on Meet the Press. Powell’s primary dissatisfactions with McCain: economic proposals, negative campaign, narrowing of campaign to a few negative issues, and choice of Palin as VP. Primary positives for Obama: economic proposals, positive campaign, reaching across generational and racial lines, and ability to convey messages and connect with people.

the national Repub committee takes on Obama and ACORN.

The newest distraction du jour from the Republican Party side of politics is the non-existent but still well publicized “voter fraud” and other claimed (and unsubstantiated much less proven) voter registration transgressions on the part of ACORN … and Barack Obama who is apparently ACORN’s newest best friend (couple of years ago it was John McCain … click here ***sigh***).

So off we go to the GOP’s exposure of Obama and his nefarious connections to ACORN:

Obama’s Campaign “Paid More Than $800,000” To ACORN For Get-Out-The Vote Efforts; The Campaign Originally “Misrepresented” The Group’s Work To The FEC.  “U.S. Sen. Barack Obama’s presidential campaign paid more than $800,000 to an offshoot of the liberal Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now for services the Democrat’s campaign says it mistakenly misrepresented in federal reports.  An Obama spokesman said Federal Election Commission reports would be amended to show Citizens Services Inc. — a subsidiary of ACORN — worked in ‘get-out-the-vote’ projects, instead of activities such as polling, advance work and staging major events as stated in FEC finance reports filed during the primary.”

(GOP page)

Okay, Obama’s campaign mislabeled the activities it paid an “offshoot” of ACORN … gotcha’ there!

The Chicago ACORN Received Grants Of $45,000 (2000), $30,000 (2001), $45,000 (2001), $30,000 (2002), And $40,000 (2002) From The Woods Fund. (Donors Forum Website, ifs.donorsforum.org, Accessed 6/10/08)

*  NOTE: From 1993 To 2002, Barack Obama Served On The Board Of Directors For The Woods Fund.

(GOP page)

Damn, now we find out Obama served on the board of an organization that describes its grants thusly

The Woods Fund of Chicago typically awards $3.4 million in grants annually in four program areas: community organizing, public policy, the intersection of community organizing and public policy and arts and culture. Our grants lists reflect our continued commitment to giving voice to less-advantaged individuals and communities as they attempt to work diligently to achieve greater participatory democracy, especially in underserved, underresourced communities to reduce poverty and enable work.

(Woods Fund web page)

Son-of-a-bitch … gotcha’ again, Obama!

Obama Was Part Of Team Of Lawyers Who Represented ACORN In A Suit Against The State Of Illinois. “Obama was part of a team of attorneys who represented the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now (ACORN) in a lawsuit against the state of Illinois in 1995 for failing to implement a federal law designed to make it easier for the poor and others to register as voters.”

(GOP page)

Can you believe this crap? Now we find out Obama, as an attorney, was working with community organizers in an attempt to force Illinois into following federal election laws! FREAKIN’ DESPICABLE! Yet one more gotcha’ against Obama.

Obama Directed Project Vote And Later Taught Classes For “Future Leaders Identified By ACORN And The Centers For New Horizons.” “He [Obama] says he is drawn to politics, despite its superficialities, as a means to advance his real passion and calling: community organization. … In 1992 Obama took time off to direct Project Vote, the most successful grass-roots voter-registration campaign in recent city history. Credited with helping elect Carol Moseley-Braun to the U.S. Senate, the registration drive, aimed primarily at African-Americans, added an estimated 125,000 voters to the voter rolls–even more than were registered during Harold Washington’s mayoral campaigns. ‘It’s a power thing,’ said the brochures and radio commercials. … Obama continues his organizing work largely through classes for future leaders identified by ACORN and the Centers for New Horizons on the south side.”

(GOP page)

Got that? Obama “took time off to direct Project Vote, the most successful grass-roots voter-registration campaign in recent city history.” What an anti-American asshole this guy is!

And Obama’s final transgression?

“[A]CORN’s political action committee endorsed Barack Obama for President. … The endorsement reflects a belief that Obama – who worked as a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago – understands that change must come from the ground-up, as part of a working coalition, rather than from position papers.”

(GOP page)

ACORN endorsed Obama because, like ACORN, Obama believes people are empowered to do the right thing when one works from the grassroots level up. That, “my friends”, is most definitely NOT what America is about … we really, really gotta stop this guy!

****heavy, heavy, heavy sigh****

I don’t know if the knotheads at the GOP understand what a pro-Obama site they’re operating, but after reading those things … well, Obama really does seem pretty damned decent.

under the heading of “Duh!” …

Here’s a link to C-Span’s coverage of a November, 2006 Alaska gubernatorial debate.

I forced myself to listen to the full almost 1 1/2 hour, and I heard a funny thing. Palin pronounced all the ‘ing’s and there was no “betcha” and no “guys ‘n gals”.

Compare the Palin of 2006 with the Palin of 2008 … talk about a manufactured public persona!

Thanks to The Brad Blog for this heads up!

Montana Republicans abandoned their challenge to almost 6,000 voter registrations today, after county election officials said they would reject thousands of the challenges as invalid.

(Montana Republicans abandon voter challenges, KXMB (Montana), 10/07/08)

Kudos to the Obama campaign for stepping in to help on this one.

PS. I have found Brad Friedman of The Brad Blog a great source of information. His postings and follow ups on a wide range of issues have been tested and found true by the passing of time. Perfect? No … just one of the best.

Taliban leaders are holding Saudi-brokered talks with the Afghan government to end the country’s bloody conflict — and are severing their ties with al Qaeda, sources close to the historic discussions have told CNN.

. . .

According to the source, fugitive Taliban leader Mullah Mohammed Omar — high on the U.S. military’s most-wanted list — was not present, but his representatives were keen to stress the reclusive cleric is no longer allied to al Qaeda.

. . .

The Afghan government believes the Taliban cannot be defeated militarily, and the Taliban believe that they can’t win a war against the U.S.-led coalition in Afghanistan, the Saudi source said.

(Sources: Taliban split with al Qaeda, seek peace, CNN.com, 10/06/08)

Keep in mind that the politics of Afghanistan (as in every other part of the world) are muddy with many intertwined relationships.

That said, I have heard and read (nothing specific I can cite at this moment) that the NATO/US military has been actively trying to kill the Taliban leadership interested in working out an arrangement with the current Afghan government.

This would mirror what we tried, and failed, to do in Iraq: keep pursuing those we don’t want in the government even if the local population wants to work with those we’re pursuing.

The Iraqis woke up and have said no thanks, time for us to leave … and now Afghanistan is following suite.

Then Gov. James Douglas and University of Vermont President Daniel Fogel reached an agreement Wednesday on a partnership for working on recommendations of a panel set up to research the problem. Douglas called the agreement “a major step forward for the state” that will help Vermonters “maintain our reputation as the greenest state in the country.”

(State forging ahead with green initiatives on climate change, Barre/Montpelier Times Argus, 10/06/08)

Ouch … and that wasn’t even including the headline!