Category: Economy

President Barack Hussein Obama's March Towards Communism

In all honesty….  it is more like a marathon run towards Communism actually.

Thanks to the stupidity of the Carter and Clinton Administrations and the inaction on the Republican controlled 2003 Congress. We are now becoming a Communist Nation. We have no one to blame, but ourselves.

The Communist owned Washington Post reports:

The Obama administration is considering asking Congress to give the Treasury secretary unprecedented powers to initiate the seizure of non-bank financial companies, such as large insurers, investment firms and hedge funds, whose collapse would damage the broader economy, according to an administration document.

The government at present has the authority to seize only banks.

Giving the Treasury secretary authority over a broader range of companies would mark a significant shift from the existing model of financial regulation, which relies on independent agencies that are shielded from the political process. The Treasury secretary, a member of the president’s Cabinet, would exercise the new powers in consultation with the White House, the Federal Reserve and other regulators, according to the document.

The administration plans to send legislation to Capitol Hill this week. Sources cautioned that the details, including the Treasury’s role, are still in flux.

Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner is set to argue for the new powers at a hearing today on Capitol Hill about the furor over bonuses paid to executives at American International Group, which the government has propped up with about $180 billion in federal aid. Administration officials have said that the proposed authority would have allowed them to seize AIG last fall and wind down its operations at less cost to taxpayers.

The administration’s proposal contains two pieces. First, it would empower a government agency to take on the new role of systemic risk regulator with broad oversight of any and all financial firms whose failure could disrupt the broader economy. The Federal Reserve is widely considered to be the leading candidate for this assignment. But some critics warn that this could conflict with the Fed’s other responsibilities, particularly its control over monetary policy.

The government also would assume the authority to seize such firms if they totter toward failure.

Besides seizing a company outright, the document states, the Treasury Secretary could use a range of tools to prevent its collapse, such as guaranteeing losses, buying assets or taking a partial ownership stake. Such authority also would allow the government to break contracts, such as the agreements to pay $165 million in bonuses to employees of AIG’s most troubled unit.

The Treasury secretary could act only after consulting with the president and getting a recommendation from two-thirds of the Federal Reserve Board, according to the plan.

Geithner plans to lay out the administration’s broader strategy for overhauling financial regulation at another hearing on Thursday.

You see folks, this is where it starts. They start seizing businesses, and taking the assets for themselves. Then the Government decides to take YOUR assets; because they happen to think that you are making too much money. What amazes me, is the resounding silence from the Republicans, especially the Neo-Conservatives like Michelle Malkin and over at HotAir.com. Could it be that the Neo-Conservatives secretly approve of such actions? Possibly the Republican Party as well? Could it be that the Republican Party is now infiltrated with Communists to the point of having lost it’s true identity?

You decide.

Others: The Moderate Voice, Reuters, pw,  , The Strata-Sphere,Bloomberg, Washington Monthly, Pajamas Media, Right Wing News, Sweetness & Light, Neptunus Lex, Stop The ACLU, Sister Toldjah, and Fausta’s Blog

(Via Memeorandum)

Tim Geithner reveals his plan and it still sucks

There’s a great deal of coverage on this… go here to check it out. We’re screwed, and I do mean badly.

Others covering:

Frank James / The Swamp: Geithner’s financial-rescue plan, take two
Jeremy P. Jacobs / The Hill’s Blog Briefing Room: Geithner lays out toxic asset plan
Caitlin Taylor / The Note: The Note, 3/23/09: Crisis of Confidence …
Simon Johnson / The Baseline Scenario: Breaking The Bank  —  My problem with Monday’s expected announcement …
Bloomberg: Obama Seeks Investors in Plan to Buy Illiquid Assets
Atrios / Eschaton: Risk  —  One thing which stood out from Timmeh’s WSJ op-ed (perfect place to leg hump the
The Heretik / theheretik.us: Toxic Update  —  Geithner on those troubled toxic assets …
Ben Pershing / Washington Post: A New Week, A New Economic Plan to Sell
Clay Risen / The Plank: Foxes Guarding the Henhouse?
James Joyner / Outside The Beltway: Geithner Plan: TARP 2.0?
Caitlin Taylor / Political Punch: Will the Public Want to Partner with Wall Street?
Taegan Goddard’s Political Wire – bk: Geithner’s Plan, Take Two  —  In advance of his second attempt …
Betsy Newmark / Betsy’s Page: Obama and the AIG bonuses
Barry Ritholtz / The Big Picture: US Futures Higher: Dow 212+
Democracy in America: Geithner’s big day  —  FOREIGN stocks are up as the markets anticipate …
William Richards / Dealbreaker: Opening Bell: 03.23.09  —  Geithner Looks To Announce New Plan Today (Bloomberg)
Charles Lemos / MyDD: D-Day for Geithner  —  It’s showtime for Secretary Geithner.
Lambert / Corrente: What you mean, “we,” Timmy?
Doug Stanglin / On Deadline: Geithner set to unveil bank bailout plan
Brad DeLong / Grasping Reality with Both Hands: The World Is Divided into Four Groups of People
DownWithTyranny!: Is This Really How Geithner Plans To Keep Us From Falling …
Gaius / Blue Crab Boulevard: The Plan.  Such As It Is.  —  Timothy Geithner has a plan:
more via Memeorandum

Editorial: The psychos are running the nuthouse!

Originally published over at my column at NolanChart.com:

It has been a while since I have written an article for my column; with all my days spent blogging about the political happenings post-Obama election, I just have not had the time to sit here and hammer out a good column.  I have not forgotten to write, I just have not had the time to sit down and gather my thoughts and put my opinion to the current matters.

President Barack Obama has not been in the White House for 100 days yet and already it seems that our Country is headed for either one of two things; either economic disaster or outright European socialism.  Although I tend to believe that one will follow the other, I do firmly believe that capitalism is in grave danger.  I also believe that our Nation is going to be one that is going to become a society that rewards failure.

This applies in the area of the home mortgages; since when do we bail out people who have gotten in over their heads in debt?  To be clear, I do understand that there were those who were victimized, and those who did this, to innocent people, should be prosecuted.  However, those who knowingly got into mortgages that they knew they would not normally be able to afford, I have zero pity for.  You make a stupid mistake you pay the consequences.  That is how a free and democratic society works.  You have to responsibility for your own actions.

Let me give you a personal example.  When I was 19 years old, Discover Card sent me an application for a Credit Card.  My parents came on as co-signers. Between the time that I first received that card and the time in 2004, when I finally filed for bankruptcy, I was over 14K in debt.  Conversely it was over 18K of debt with the new truck that I bought, that I could not really afford; however because I had a job, I could make payments.  One day the unthinkable happened, I lost my job; the gravy train stopped and threw me off.  Those gravy trains never were known for their cordialness.  After doing the obligatory and quite painful grunt and skid across the debt parking lot.  I decided I had better go see a bankruptcy lawyer.

What does this have to do with what is happening now in the United States Government?  It has quite a bit to do with it actually.  Did the United States Government come in and offer to pay off my debt?  No.  Did the United States Government offer to come in and give me any kind of relief on my truck payments?  Nope!  I ended up losing that truck someone else owns it now.  In other words, I was not rewarded for making stupid decisions, like going over my head in debt.  Which by the way, was my own fault, I am the one that charged items on my discover card and got over my head in all that debt not anyone else, not that American taxpayers, but me.

Another way that the United States Government is rewarding failure is by losing their ever-loving minds over bonuses that were contractually awarded to employees of a company.  Now I understand the reasons why people are upset about the bonuses.  The problem is, the people on the left, or the Democrats are looking at this from a rather idiotic point of view.  If the Democrats in Congress are so mad about these bonuses, then why in the heck did they vote to prop up these banks in the first place?  The bonuses were a drop in the bucket to what we spent to take ownership in these companies.  Why nationalize a company and then gripe about a bonus?  It makes zero sense to me.

Again, even bailing out these companies in the first place is rewarding companies for failure.  Sorry, I do not buy the notion of a business being too big to fail, that is simply stupid political double talk for a nationalization argument.

Let me give you another personal example of why I think this propping up a business is just simply stupid and why it teaches that it is okay to have a bad business model.  I used to run a small electronics out of my house here.  I would never buy more than one or two items at the most. I would always tell my customers, you want something, you pay up front, and I will order the item.  I would get the money and order the item, and whatever I had left over, I kept for profit.  That is called responsible business practices.  However, what if I went out, got a loan for say $500.000, and bought a bunch of inventory and then the market fell out in the electronics business or what if I just did not bother to advertise?  I would be stuck with a bill for the loan and a bunch of inventory that I could not move.  Now would it fair for me to want the United States Government to bail me out of that situation?  I think not.  Nevertheless, that is what the Government is doing; they are essentially saying that some businesses are just too big to fail.

Not only this, but we are bailing these banks out with money that we do not even have.  We are using money that we are borrowing from china, money that is not even ours.  What we do not borrow from China, we are printing ourselves, which will devalue the dollar.  It is as the title of this column says a case of psychos that are running the nuthouse.

Obama's Katrina Moment?

Seems that way to me!

The Video:

(Via Jim Treacher on Twitter)

Barry's Budget might bring $9.3 trillion in deficits

Nothing like something to make your Saturday a bit more gloomy. Knowing that the Globetrotter in chief is basically spending your Country into a economic black hole.

Via the AP:

President Barack Obama’s budget would produce $9.3 trillion in deficits over the next decade, more than four times the deficits of Republican George W. Bush’s presidency, congressional auditors said Friday.

The new Congressional Budget Office figures offered a far more dire outlook for Obama’s budget than the new administration predicted just last month — a deficit $2.3 trillion worse. It’s a prospect even the president’s own budget director called unsustainable.

In his White House run, Obama assailed the economic policies of his predecessor, but the eye-popping deficit numbers threaten to swamp his ambitious agenda of overhauling health care, exploring new energy sources and enacting scores of domestic programs.

The dismal deficit figures, if they prove to be accurate, inevitably raise the prospect that Obama and his Democratic allies controlling Congress would have to consider raising taxes after the recession ends or else pare back his agenda.

By CBO’s calculation, Obama’s budget would generate deficits averaging almost $1 trillion a year of red ink over 2010-2019.

Worst of all, CBO says the deficit under Obama’s policies would never go below 4 percent of the size of the economy, figures that economists agree are unsustainable. By the end of the decade, the deficit would exceed 5 percent of gross domestic product, a dangerously high level.

Here is the real kicker, what are the so-called “Liberal Experts” saying is the solution to the above? Spending more money! But of course!

As Washington Post columnist Steven Pearlstein pointed out, the numbers confirm that “the recession is worse than they thought when they did these things last time,” and thus “the more urgent it is for us to spend more money to stimulate the economy.

It is indeed a scarey time to be an American. The mental cases are running the asylum.

Others:

Palin's Crap shoot

I said the same thing about Mark Sandford, not on the blog; but I did think this at the time. I really feel what Sarah Palin is doing here is huge crap shoot. I’ll explain after the quote:

Gov. Sarah Palin just told reporters that she’s accepting only 55 percent of the federal economic stimulus money being offered to Alaska. The governor said that she will accept only about $514 million of the $930 million headed to the state.

“We are not requesting funds intended to just grow government. We are not requesting more money for normal day-to-day operations of government as part of this economic stimulus package. In essence we say no to operating funds for more positions in government,” Palin said.

The biggest single chunk of stimulus money that Palin is turning down is $160 million for education. There’s also $17 million in Department of Labor funds (vocational rehabilitation services, unemployment services, etc.), about $9 million for Health and Social Services and about $7 million for Public Safety. The full list and the specifics aren’t available from the governor’s budget department yet.

The reason I say this is a crap shoot is this. If Obama’s stimulus is a failure or does not bring the expected change in the economy; Palin and Sandford will be considered heroes in the Republican Party, and amongst open-minded Independents that voted for Obama.  On the other hand; If Obama’s Stimulus package works and the economy does turn around,  The Republicans who opposed this stimulus as well as Palin and Sanford will be considered those who stood in the way of rescuing the Nation’s economy from total meltdown.

Either way, it is a very risky crap shoot and not one I personally would have taken. Because there is that risk that you might end up regretting your actions. While appealing to your loyal and sometimes overly ideological base may be nice, one has to remember is that Sanford and Palin are Governors of the entire state that they Govern and not just Governors of that State’s Republican Party base.

Another theory I have is this; perhaps Palin knows that her popularity within the party and amongst Alaskans is gone, and she’s basically setting herself up to not run in 2010 for Governor or get defeated. I could be wrong on that one. But sometimes politicians do this sort of a thing, knowing that they won’t be running for reelection or have seen the poll numbers and are going out in a blaze of glory.

Others, on Both Sides: Hot Air, Think Progress, The Moderate Voice, Power Line, Salon, Conservatives4Palin.com, RedState, AMERICAblog News, Don Surber and TPMDC

Mark Steyn on debt to our kids

Mark Steyn on the debt that we’re leaving our Children:

Just between you, me, and the old, the late middle-aged and the early middle-aged: Isn’t it terrific to be able to stick it to the young? I mean, imagine how bad all this economic-type stuff would be if our kids and grandkids hadn’t offered to pick up the tab.

Well, OK, they didn’t exactly "offer" but they did stand around behind Barack Obama at all those campaign rallies helping him look dynamic and telegenic and earnestly chanting hopey-hopey-changey-changey. And "Yes, we can!"

Which is a pretty open-ended commitment.

Are you sure you young folks will be able to pay off this massive Mount Spendmore of multitrillion-dollar debts we’ve piled up on you?

"Yes, we can!"

We thought you’d say that! God bless the youth of America! We of the Greatest Generation, the Boomers and Generation X salute you, the plucky members of the Brokest Generation, the Gloomers and Generation Y, as in "Why the hell did you old coots do this to us?"

via Mark Steyn: Welcome, kids, to the Brokest Generation – Opinion – OCRegister.com.

Now, I realize that Steyn was being snarky. To be fair, much of this debt was brought on, long before Obama ever took office. But Obama sure did not do anything to stop the increase of that debt. In fact, Obama has added to it.

This whole idea of tax the rich, and spend out way out of a recession, is just bad all the way around. Mainly, because we are spending money that we do not even have. We are getting it from China, who is increasingly getting nervous about giving us this money; not to mention, they are becoming more hostile by the day.

So, while I think it is quite fun to blame the Democrats from everything from the weather to my inability to get laid. (Surprised)  Some things you just cannot put on one party or the other; because, quite frankly, both parties have done the dirty of adding to our national debt.

Others: Cold Fury and Pajamas Media