Chris Matthews: Obama Guilty of Elitist Charge - Failed to Explain Economics

Chris Matthews takes a tough stance on Obama's failures, and it's a little jaw-dropping until he remembers how he earns his salary...oh yeah! I'm a Democrat shill...and remembers the current  administration talking points that voter's are unhappy because the president has not explained the complexities of his economic policy, and oh yes, Obama is an elitist, yes he is. See the video below.

Explaining Obama Economics

Matthews is confounded that Obama has not explained his progressive brand of economic, and says every Grad school student learns that a large deficit in a recession is necessary. Obama does not have a degree in economics, and perhaps he failed the undergraduate work. We wouldn't know. All his records are sealed. He has no life experience with economics. His economic policies, and the policies of his economic team, have flown in the face of sound fiscal policy. So what is there for Obama to "explain" without being laughed off the world stage.

Matthews is also disgruntled that Obama was so very patriotic during the 2008 elections, and he believed in America's exceptionalism...so very much, but then...there were the teleprompters, and Obama talked at us, not with us, and he didn't listen.

Precious few of the claims of Obama's campaign patriotism or the belief that America is exceptional were anywhere in the 2008 election. He was caught on camera not saluting the flag. Appalling. He wanted to redistribute our wealth. His father and his mentor were both communists. Showing just how out of touch with the framework of America, he thought America had 57 states, and he had visited them all. Oh, you say...he just misspoke? Surely he knew how many states in America? Apparently not. That's as absurd as saying he didn't know he should be saluting the flag.

 In a speech at the home of Harry Truman in the summer of 2008, he gave a speech to prove his patriotism, because so many believed there was so little. In that speech, I was not comforted that he spoke of his "growing awareness of our nation's imperfections" as a younger adult. Those of us who were honest knew Obama's fondness for Islam would tip the scales to less protection for Israel. Why does that matter? It matters because Israel is the only democracy in the Middle East. If we cannot stand for true democracy around the world, how do we defend our own republic?

Maybe Matthews' is looking for a way to save his journalistic life as this train wreck descends from the heady heights Liberals think he ascended.

Chris Matthews - Obama is Guilty of Elitist Charge

Partial transcript:

MATTHEWS: When he was a campaigner, he did nothing but talk about what a great country this is, what an exceptional country this is because a guy like me an make it here and only in a country like this could I have made it. He was very patriotic, very inclusive and he was very interactive in an interesting way. Ever since he has been president he has been elitist and he has come with his teleprompter, and he has given his speech. He hasn't listened, he has talked at us, rather than with us...

MITCHELL: At least that's what he has projected.

MATTHEWS: No, he actually does bring the teleprompter with him and he actually does know what he wants to say.

MITCHELL: No I don't mean that. I mean...you don't think that he's interactive even thought he's had these townhall meetings, you don't think he's given the sense...of...

MATTHEWS: No and I think he hasn't explained himself. Lincoln had to explain the Civil War, darn it.  Roosevelt had to explain everything about the Great Depression. You have to take people along with you. I think he is guilty of that elitest charge. If you are going to spend a $1.6 Trillion deficit in one year you better explain to the American people why you did it. He never explained economics the way he was taught it. We were all taught in graduate school you had to run a big deficit during a grand recession. How about explaining that. Everybody didn't go to graduate school.

Others Talking:
Hot Air 

Thanks to Doug Ross and Larwyn's Linx for the graphic

Posted by Maggie @ Maggie's Notebook

Content Scrapers: Until I can figure out what to do about your confiscation of my work for your own website, please be sure to give a link back as shown above.

John Bolton Presidential Bid?

Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, John Bolton, was asked three times in an interview if he will consider a run for the presidency. Three times Bolton did not say 'no,' but he also did not say 'yes.' The  usually straight-talking Bolton alluded to not being electable, but said his candidacy would raise the profile of national security - and that would be a good thing.

John Bolton

In an interview with the Daily Caller's Jamie Weinstein, Bolton answered the first question of a possible presidential run by saying he was honored that anyone would even ask the question. Acknowledging that the economy is first on everyone's mind, he astutely reminds us that "our adversaries overseas are not going to wait for us to get our economic house in order."

Asked again, DC says Bolton "seemed to suggest" that his presence in the race would escalate the national security conversation.

Asked a third time, he said he would not do "anything foolish" because he understands how the media works and that understanding would be a part of any decision he makes.

Bolton is a constant critic of the Obama administration. Everything Obama has done in Afghanistan, Bolton believes he was forced to do, and he believes Obama will never strike Iran. He is equally as critical of Obama's domestic agenda.

Asked if he gives any credit at all to the president for increasing drone attacks against terrorists in Pakistan and elsewhere, and tripling  troop levels in Afghanistan – both moves that have upset his left flank – Bolton said they were moves the president was forced to take.

“Well, certainly he has done things that have been unexpected in Afghanistan and certain aspects of the Terrorism. I think those are steps he has taken because it has been impossible – even for him – to avoid taking them,” Bolton proffered. “For example, much of what he has done in terms of interrogation or Guantanamo Bay or aspects of the War on Terrorism are things that are driven either by the imperative of defending executive branch prerogatives under the Constitution or because he has come to realize that the Bush administration looked at a lot of alternatives and couldn’t find any. So it is not that he has done these things happily or willingly.”

Bolton has been the lone voice crying-out in the wilderness, and echoing you and me, national security before all else - or else it will be too late, and that the United Nations is deceitful and wholly corrupt - and wholly against Israel. I would welcome John Bolton into the race for president. It is a sad commentary on our nation that a brilliant man who ultimately supports peace through strength would be lynched and worse by the media. Oh, Ran at Si Vis Pacem asks: ...but what if he ran as Sarah's Veep?

All the News We Need to Know to Remember November

The following Drudge headlines are all the news we need to know to Remember November.

Remember November

Drudge Report

UNEMPLOYMENT JUMPS TO 9.6%...

Economy LOST 283,000 jobs during 'Recovery Summer' months...

NPR: 'Recovery Summer' Ends With Economic Pothole...

Labor Sec. Declares: 'There are jobs out there'...

TREASURY HEAD RUSHES BACK FROM VACATION; AIDES SEARCH FOR OTHER JOBS PACKAGE...

120 Days to Go Until Largest Tax Hikes in History...

President Claims Job Creation; Doesn't Mention Net Job Loss of 54K...

HE NEEDS A VACATION: OBAMA TO CAMP DAVID...

Taxpayers to face initial loss on GM IPO; Treasury to sell first shares below break-even...


Linked by MindNumbedRobot - Thank You!

Obama Executive Orders on Environment Energy Economy: Defining Crisis and Emergency

President Obama has achieved little in his first year on the big issues facing the country:  the Environment, Energy and the Economy. His political capital is as non-existent as Martha Coakley's seat in the Senate, so he plans to issue executive orders to make things happen.

 U.S. Constitution - Crisis and Emergency

Obama hopes to enact some his cap and trade legislation through executive order. There is no emergency to be dealt with within cap and trade, although Democrats find it profitable to be the Saviors of a dying earth. Nevertheless, the President will try to strike down the will of the people.

Most executive orders throughout history have "war" or "national security" behind them, but not all. The quote below from Cornell Law says these powers are available to a president "in times of emergency," but we certainly see that most president's have taken advantage of the powers without much discretion.

Cornell Law on Presidential Executive orders:

Executive Orders

In times of emergency, the president can override congress and issue executive orders with almost limitless power. Abraham Lincoln used an executive order in order to fight the Civil War, Woodrow Wilson issued one in order to arm the United States just before it entered World War I, and Franklin Roosevelt approved Japanese internment camps during World War II with an executive order. Many other executive orders are on file and could be enacted at any time.

The following is identified as U.S. Supreme Court decisions, although I'm not sure about this intro into the article:

Presidential emergency powers should be distinguished into two categories, even though the boundary between them is sometimes obscure:

(1) the power to act in a crisis based entirely on the president's own prerogative; and

(2) the power to act in accordance with laws that give the executive special powers in a declared emergency.

The latter is a long‐standing feature of American law; the former is, from the standpoint of constitutional theory, more problematic.

Barack Obama has already unleashed a number of executive powers to further his environmental policies. He has ordered that the Feds set a 2020 greenhouse gas emission reduction target by by January 5, 2009, reduce fleet petroleum consumption, conserve water; reduce waste, support sustainable communities, and leverage Federal purchasing power to promote environmentally-responsible products and technologies.

None of the above promote a crisis or an emergency, and "supporting sustainable communities" simply takes your money and mine and piles it on the green industry. What department manager cannot "conserve water" without an executive order?" And if we are going to promote "environmentally-responsible products and technologies," let the American people know how much the deficit grew because of these mandated policies. Why did we not stop this executive order? You'll find a list of Obama's Executive orders for 2009 here.

Note that we seem to have "Greening the Government" (as Clinton's was titled) executive order from every modern day president.

Over the years, we have clearly redefined the definition of "crisis" and "emergency."

There is no provision in the text of the Constitution that the president has special power to act on his or her own discretion in an emergency. It is sometimes argued that such power can be inferred from the Vesting Clause (“the executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America”) and from the president's oath of office (“I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States”)—the only oath that is constitutionally prescribed.

In recent years, Bill Clinton used executive privilege, assuring his environmental legacy by designating millions of acres of land as national monuments, illegally done under the Antiquities Act, which calls for "the smallest area compatible" with care and management. Of the 5.6M acres grabbed by Clinton, one alone was 1.7M acres. Use of the land becomes then restricted: grazing, mining and timber harvesting come to a halt - even though the land is still privately owned.

This from The Heritage Foundation:

Former President Bill Clinton proudly publicized his use of executive decrees in situations where he failed to achieve a legislative objective. Moreover, he repeatedly flaunted his executive order power to curry favor with narrow or partisan special interests. If this were not enough, Clinton's top White House political advisers made public statements about his use of executive decrees that were designed to incite a partisan response, saying, for example, that the power was "cool" and promising that he would wield that power to the very end of his term....

History will show that President Clinton abused his authority in a variety of ways and that his disrespect for the rule of law was unprecedented. 

Presidential executive orders can be stopped through legislation or the courts:

...if the President attempts to issue an order regarding a matter that is expressly committed to another branch of government; it might even render the presidential action void.

One example is Bill Clinton's "striker replacement," where he tried to convince Congress to enact a prohibition against employers hiring permanent replacements for striking workers - in direct opposition to the National Labor Relations Act. Congress refused, and Clinton signed Executive Order 12954 to make it law. The U.S. Court of Appeals for D.C. unanimously over-turned the Order

The court first determined that it had jurisdiction over the case despite what the court described as President Clinton's "breathtakingly broad claim of non-reviewability of presidential actions." In short, the court said that it did not have to defer to the President's claim that he was acting pursuant to lawful authority under the Procurement Act. On the merits, the court ruled that since the NLRA "undoubtedly" grants an employer the right to hire permanent replacements for striking workers,

The job of the president is to be our Commander in Chief, Head of State, Chief Law Enforcement Officer and Head of the Executive Branch, so we should think about how our energy policy, directed only by Barack Obama, comes under authority. Is there any lawful action, he alone can take, on energy policy that is Constitutional?

Today, we find ourselves in the position of accepting questionable executive powers without questioning them, simply because it has gone on in other administrations. Barack Obama pounded G. W. Bush on the campaign trail for his use of executive powers, but once he stepped into the Oval Office, that rhetoric ceased.

There may be close cases in which the validity of the executive order is uncertain, such as when a claim of inherent constitutional authority is arguable and where Congress has been silent or its will is unclear....

Although the number of illegal executive orders issued by President Clinton does not constitute a large percentage of his total of 364, the pattern of illegal orders, often without any claim of statutory or constitutional authority, is still striking.

Presidential executive orders, in general, receive little attention. It is time to reign-in the Oval Office and define "crisis" and "emergency," to preserve the shreds of our Constitution - one shred at a time.

Mort Zuckerman Obama Deflation: NY Daily News Owner Slams Obama

Mort Zuckerman, the owner and publisher of New York Daily News says the "incredible deflation of Barack Obama" is underway. Zuckerman endorsed Obama for president, and lost, allegedly, some $40 million to Bernie Madoff and his Ponzi Scheme. He is not happy with his president.

There is some very cheeky analysis in his article in U.S. News and World Report, which he also heads. He referred to Obama's excess appearances on television as "promiscuity," and follows that up with "Now he faces the iron law of diminishing novelty."

Perhaps the inevitable outcome was disappointment—and on this Obama has not disappointed. Alas, he has accelerated the deflation of hope with his extraordinary volume of public appearances.

In his first six months, he gave three times as many interviews as George W. Bush, four times as many prime-time news conferences as Bill Clinton, and more interviews than both combined: 93 for Obama and 61 for his two immediate predecessors. He appeared on five Sunday talk shows on the same morning, followed the next day by David Letterman, the first-ever presidential appearance on a nighttime comedy show. In another week, he squeezed in addresses to the U.S. Climate Change Summit, the U.N. General Assembly, the U.N. Security Council, and a variety of press conferences.

Zuckerman moves from personality to substance:

Poor results. But Obama's problems are more than a question of style. There is doubt aroused on substance. He sets deadlines and then lets too many pass. He announces a strategic review of Afghanistan, describing it as "a war of necessity," only to become less sure to the point that he didn't even seem committed to the policy that he finally announced.

As for changing politics in Washington, he assigned the drafting of central legislative programs not to cabinet departments or White House staff but to the Democratic congressional leadership of Nancy Pelosi and Harry Reid the very people so mistrusted by the public. Who could be surprised that the critical bills—the stimulus program and healthcare—degenerated under a welter of pork and earmarks that had so outraged the American public in the past?

Zuckerman hits Obama on legislation that had no time to be read by lawmakers (stimulus plan and health care). He hit him on the economy and Obama's ambivalence to the real creation of "jobs, jobs, jobs." He hit him for not recognizing the people's "distaste" for "big government, big spending and big deficits."

Instead of concentrating on jobs, jobs, jobs, he made the decision to "boil the ocean" and go for everything, from comprehensive health reform to global warming to a world without nuclear weapons ... and the beat goes on....

This was more than the Congress could absorb and more than the country could understand....

The result is a widespread concern that progressive taxation to pay for the "nanny state" will snuff out future opportunities that Americans believe they deserve for themselves and their children....

The consequence is that there isn't a single critical problem on which the president has a positive public rating.

Only a minority of Americans now believe the president will make the right decisions for the country.

Click the link above to read the entire article.

Paul Krugman Obama not the Great Progressive Hope: Not the One We've Been Waiting For

Liberal Paul Krugman threw Obama under the bus today with the headline "He wasn't the one we've been waiting for." Then he piles it on saying he is:

"...close to giving up on Mr. Obama, who seems determined to confirm every doubt I and others ever had about whether he was ready to fight for what his supporters believed in."

But friends, do not misunderstand his message. Krugman, who holds a Nobel Prize in economics, believes Obama did not spend enough on the stimulus and is specifically upset that The One did not get health care through, and now is running away from it.

In another column, he points out that his closest buddies in the high-science of economics missed all the signs of the coming financial meltdown. Last Fall, Krugman lamented the state of the "economics profession."

Few economists saw our current crisis coming, but this predictive failure was the least of the field’s problems. More important was the profession’s blindness to the very possibility of catastrophic failures in a market economy.

The article quoted above completely fails to address the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA) and the part that it, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and a Democrat Congress played in the tanking economy. What kind of economist would ignore the obvious? For all of his criticism of this administration, the answer is: only a far-left political hack. Really, it is an embarrasment to the profession, but not for the reasons Krugman lays out.

It is far more popular to blame Wall Street than to blame a program placing people into homes they could not qualify for - millions of people - in homes they could not afford. That's what happened to the economy. The Noble Prize winner for economics could not bring himself to mention the unmentionable.

I'll take Krugman's headline: He Wasn't the One We've Been Waiting For - from a Nobel Economics winner, no less, and chuckle at the obvious.

List of the 10 Unforgettable and Unforgivable in 2009

Last night at midnight, we left 2009 behind. Not one to carelessly wish away time, I nevertheless am ready to move into 2010. I'm anticipating a year of some hope and some change. To make that change come about, there are some things about 2009 that no serious conservative will ever forgive or forget.

Here's my list of the 10 Unforgivable and Unforgettable in 2009. I have purposefully left out the Stimulus and the bailouts, as well as the amnesty for illegals coming our way. Amnesty is the single biggest and most dangerous issue facing America, and compared to it, all else pales. I hope you'll add to this list in comments. Mine list is in no particular order of importance.

(1) The buying of Senate votes to pass Health Care on Christmas Eve, which Senator Tom Coburn (R-OK) characterized as "corruption, not compromise." Unforgivable and Unforgettable.

(2) The 111th Congress in general, and specifically for allowing unread legislation to pass. Unforgivable. Senator Tom Coburn summed-it-up: "This Congress will be remembered for its arrogance, corruption and stupidity." Unforgettable.

(3) Attorney General Eric Holder drops charges of voter intimidation in Philadelphia against the New Black Panthers. After the Black Panthers simply refused to show up in court, the government won a default judgment - which Holder promptly nullified. Unforgettable and Unforgivable.

(4) Obama stands behind Kevin Jennings as his Safe Schools Czar. Unforgettable and Unforgivable.

(5) The administration's refusal to call the Ft. Hood murders, terrorism and specifically Islamic terrorism, and actually withhold information on the murders from the investigative body of Congress. Unforgettable and Unforgivable.

(6) The constant and completely unsubstantiated charge from Democrats that Republicans "have no ideas."

(7) The continued, and shameful, support of ACORN from the White House

(8) The illegal firing of Inspector General, Gerald Walpin, by the White House, and then the ordering of related document shredding, also by the White House. This firing came about because Walpin's report showed that AmeriCorp has fraudulently misused $75 million in government funds, and also showed that Obama's close friend and donor, Kevin Johnson, former NBA star and currently Sacramento Mayor, was involved. Walpin was cleared of all wrong doing and wants his job back. Unforgettable and Unforgivable.

(9) Coming legislation to bailout newspapers.

(10) The confiscating of our personal health care records by the government, under the guise of providing more accuracy and safety for the patient. We all know that to the government, nothing is sacred. We will rue the day this happens.

None of the above would have been possible with even moderate media scrutiny. The ongoing media blackout, as outlined below, has left this country reeling. We can no longer depend on the ballot box to make our voices heard, UNLESS we vote in much bigger numbers than 'they' vote. The press will encourage and use ACORN to bring about the Leftist agenda. We must be 'gutterally' smarter than they.

(a) The War on Terror, including the indecent silence on radical Islam;

(b) The unread legislation, including the Stimulus Bill and Health Care

(c) The subverting of private industry jobs to newly created government jobs giving the Obama administration massive growth in...government

(d) The refusal to explore both sides of climate change and global warming, and then finally, the refusal to report the ClimateGate scandal.

(e) The refusal to report on Barack Obama's unknown life: his college records, the name used on applications, the passport he traveled with as a college student, and of course, the refusal to force his birth certificate, or the lack of one, up and out of the abyss.

(f) The lack of a truthful look at Henry Paulson's role in the economic meltdown in September 2008. Remember the "emergency meeting" between Paulson, Bernake and top Congressional members, when Paulson told Congress without passing the $700 billion bailout "tomorrow, we won't have an economy on Monday."

Remember President Bush standing, with Paulson looming over him, addressing the Nation about the coming economic disaster? We know now that a bailout was inherently wrong. Most of us knew it at the time, but coming in September 2008, Paulson single-handedly gave the Oval Office to Barack Obama. In my opinion, it was a conspiracy - and it worked.

Had the media done it's job, and simply reported what was widely-known and questioned, regardless of the end result, and let the readers make the judgment, Barack Obama would not be in office today.

Al Gore on Capitalism, Disclosure, Incentives, Regulation and Responsibility

Former Vice President, and carbon-trading mogul, Al Gore, has an article in Financial Times advocating a new kind of capitalism which he terms "sustainable capitalism." To bring this about, he says, there is a need to reconsider the basic building blocks of commerce and markets: accounting, disclosure, incentives, regulation and responsibility - and he completely ignores the news of the Hadley Institute's hacked emails and manipulated data. See a terrific video below.

Al Gore

If that isn't a hoot to hear Al Gore talk about disclosure, incentives, regulation and responsibility, I don't know what is. Gore says?

The longer we defer the proper accounting for externalities such as global warming pollution, the greater the strain we place on our already fragile economies. For example, by ignoring the real risk-profile of high-carbon businesses, we are both allocating capital poorly and creating trillions of dollars of “subprime carbon assets”.

Just as widespread assumptions about the value of bundled and securitised subprime mortgages collapsed when tested by reality (thereby detonating the first stage of the financial crisis), the current widespread assumption in markets that it is perfectly fine to dump 90m tons of global warming pollution into the thin shell of atmosphere surrounding our planet every 24 hours – as if it is an open sewer – is also now colliding with reality.

The only collision with reality is that Gore's climate data was cooked and the world knows it, and can prove it:

It was announced Thursday afternoon that computer hackers had obtained 160 megabytes of e-mails from the Climate Research Unit (CRU) at the University of East Anglia (UEA) in England. Those e-mails involved communication among many scientific researchers and policy advocates with similar ideological positions all across the world. Those purported authorities were brazenly discussing the destruction and hiding of data that did not support global-warming claims.

Professor Phil Jones, the head of the Climate Research Unit, and professor Michael E. Mann at Pennsylvania State University, who has been an important scientist in the climate debate, have come under particular scrutiny. Among his e-mails, Mr. Jones talked to Mr. Mann about the "trick of adding in the real temps to each series ... to hide the decline [in temperature]."

There is no accounting, disclosure or responsibility on the part of Al Gore's carbon credit business, and his efforts to reduce your tiny little carbon footprint, and mine, while expanding his own.

It is shocking to hear a Liberal hint that the housing meltdown was the beginning of the financial crisis, and I give him credit for his understated nugget of truth, but to the contrary, there was no widespread assumption agreeing to the "value" of subprime mortgages. There was only a Democrat scam to get constitutient voters into homes the buyer could not afford, with no credit check and no money down, resulting in a vote to return Maxine Waters and Barney Franks to the U.S. House and Chris Dodd to the U.S. Senate. The "scam" is known as the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). It was the single cause of the financial meltdown. Lenders were forced to grant these completely irresponsible loans, and this country is still paying dearly for the criminal and unconstitutional legislation - and it all began under the Clinton-Gore administration.

Gore and/or his co-author David Blood are cheeky enough to say "disclosure and transparency are critical to the optimal allocation of capital," and those words are even used in the same paragraph with endorsing the warped UN Global Compact. Undoubtedly, in Gore's world, "optimal allocation of capital," reduces to using capital first and foremost for "green" endeavors - even though there is no global warming and certainly no world-wide climate warming.

Gore invokes White House Chief of Staff, Rahm Emanuel's infamous comment that a "crisis is a terrible thing to waste." That quote from Stanford economist,Paul Romer, didn't mean creating a crisis to bring about a desired Liberal result.

The Apostle of Climate Change, Al Gore has all the momentum on his side though, as few are reporting on the recent discoveries of ClimateGate. When I search for certain words related to ClimateGate, I find none of the major newspapers reporting the story: The New York Times, the New York Post, USA Today, the Los Angeles Times, the Houston Chronicle, the Denver Post or the Chicago Tribune. My apologies if my pertinent search words haven't I forced an existing article to pop-up. There is nothing about the story they want to profile. Isn't it noteworthy that the chief science center for climate change data, the Hadley Climate Research Centre and the University of East Anglia Climate Research Unit, are  manipulating data to fit a need? Of course it is, but this Liberal cause, embraced and driven by Al Gore, will be championed, no matter the truth - and a publication such as Financial Times will deem this irresponsible article from this dangerously irresponsible politician fit to print. Read the background and the ongoing story of ClimateGate at ClimateDepot, and beware Al Gore's methods to revise capitalism.



Al Gore - Hide the Decline

Related: Hadley Hacked: Hadley Science Bogus: East Anglia Climate Research Hoax

Tim Geithner Out? Jamie Dimon In? Jamie Dimon Tim Geithner Replacement?

Last week, in a meeting of the Joint Economic Committee, Republican Kevin Brady (Texas) asked Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, if he would resign "for the sake of our jobs." Michael Burgess (R-Texas) told Geithner, face-to-face, "I don't think you should fired, I think you should have never been hired." And in a television interview, Democrat Peter DeFazio (Oregon) said America needs a new economic team.

Jamie Dimon

We have reports out from Bloomberg and the New York Post speculating that J.P. Morgan Chase CEO Jamie Dimon might be a replacement for Geithner, although most believe such a move will be "a stretch."

People familiar with Dimon's thinking said he "would love to serve his country," and in recent weeks Dimon has had a noticeably higher profile in Washington, making frequent visits to government officials and earlier this month publishing an op-ed in the Washington Post that makes the case for letting large institutions that take big risks collapse rather than receive government aid.

It appears that Jamie Dimon has a close personal relationship with Barack Obama, has known him for a very long time, and is a "frequent" visitor to the White House, although the official White House visitor logs released recently, only shows Dimon on the premises twice.

From Bloomberg: Dimon’s Missteps

Not that he hasn’t stumbled. When the housing collapse started, for example, Dimon viewed it as an opportunity to expand in the California market for jumbo mortgages. He was also slow to exit the business of purchasing mortgages originated by outside brokers.

Nevertheless, Dimon has maintained a stronger stronger balance sheet than rivals. JPMorgan’s tangible common shareholders equity was 3.4 percent of assets at the end of last year. This has become a key measure of balance-sheet health for investors. While not necessarily stellar, JPMorgan’s level compares with about 2.7 percent at Wells Fargo Co., Isecond biggest after JPMorgan in market value among U.S. banks.

Peter DeFazio Tim Geithner: Michael Burgess Tim Geithner: Kevin Brady Tim Geithner:

Democrat Congressman Peter DeFazio (Oregon) told MSNBC that America needs a new economic team. Even Chuck Schumer says "the world economy is at stake"  Congressmen Kevin Brady (R-TX), Sam Brownback (R-KS), and Michael Burgess (R-TX) actually spoke the minds of the American people. See video below.

 

Peter DeFazio

Rep. DeFazio appeared on The Edge and was asked:

Should he [Geithner] stay in his job, Congressman?

[DeFazio] No. We need a new economic team that cares more about jobs, Main Street and the American people, than it does about Wall Street and about huge bonuses.

Rep. Kevin Brady to Tim Geithner:

"for the sake of our jobs will you step down from your post?" "This is your budget, your bailout, your act."

Geitner's only answer was a haughty "I agree with almost nothing you said."

After Geithner blamed Bush for an "economy falling off the cliff, Brady asked:

Remind me Mr. Secretary, what post were you holding when President Bush left office?

Geithner: I was the president of the Federal Reserve in New York.

Rep. Michael Burgess:

I don't think you should be fired, I thought you should have never been hired.

Republicans, especially when appearing on C-SPAN, as they did here, should be talking about what brought the economy down, just a mere two months before the election. Barney Frank, Chris Dodd and Maxine Waters should be mentioned in every conversation about the economy. We should be relentless in pointing out that, without the housing bust, brought on by Frank, Dodd and Waters, the American people and Wall Street would not be in the middle of the struggle we have today. A reminder:

Barney Franks - recipient of $40,000 from Fannie Mae since 1989: Allegedly sleeping with head of Fannie Mae, Herb Moses, probably didn't have a thing to do with his complicity in the failure of housing. Right? Franks stood on the the floor of the House and railed against all Bush proposals to rein-in the wobbly companies.

Franks said the problems of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were "exaggerated, and five years later, the "problem" was estimated to be in the hundreds of billions.

Let's talk about Maxine Waters - not as guilty as Barney Frank...she is simply one foolish woman, but you can bet her constituents received the Community Reinvestment Loans, and you can bet some couldn't afford them, and you can bet that she was well aware of the situation. See Barney and Maxine here.

Maybe you haven't thought of the criminal actions of Mary Schapiro, appointed by President Bush, the former head of the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority who did not regulate, even when she had a whistleblower turning blue in the face from blowing the darn thing. What did Obama do, he promoted her - all the way to the Security and Exchange Commission (SEC) Chief. J.C., Obama promoted her!!! All that regulating she was paid very big money to exercise, was over the SEC. You can read more on this here, and see an excellent video about the obscenities committed by "oversight."

Senator Chris Dodd: The Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee postured and puffed...and he is the biggest recipient of campaign monies from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, (and the second largest recipient of AIG donations, not to mention his wife's AIG Board of Directors income.

At this moment, the Senate and the House are in the middle of a giant cover-up for Dodd, who raise a campaign buck in his own home town.

The Community Re-Investment Act - the legislation that allows those with no credit and no money to buy homes they cannot afford, has bankrupted Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, and so Franks and Dodd just moved the program to the FHA. Coming up next: a bankrupt FHA.

When I think of Geithner stepping down, I have to ask who would follow him. This president and this administration have one goal. Break the country then control it for life. I applaud these men who spoke boldly: Reps. DeFazio, Brady, and Burgess.







 Kevin Brady and Tim Geithner


Related: Tracking the Mess of Fannie and Freddie

Charles Krauthammer Election Myths Ridiculous: Henry Paulson Timothy Geithner Election Crisis

Charles Krauthammer, writing for the Washington Post, takes a look at the November 2008 presidential election and says "...it was all ridiculous from the beginning. The '08 election was a historical anomaly." Then a theory about Henry Paulson and Timothy Geithner and the election crisis that gave the election to Barack Obama. See two astounding videos below.

Charles Krauthammer

The entire article Krauthammer here. Snippets:

Exactly a year later comes the empirical validation of that skepticism. Virginia -- presumed harbinger of the new realignment, having gone Democratic in '08 for the first time in 44 years -- went red again. With a vengeance....

In 2009 in Virginia, the black vote was down by 20 percent; the under-30 vote by 50 percent. And as for independents, the ultimate prize of any realignment, they bolted. In both Virginia and New Jersey they'd gone narrowly for Obama in '08. This year they went Republican by a staggering 33 points in Virginia and by an equally shocking 30 points in New Jersey.

About administration excuses:

White House apologists will say the Virginia Democrat was weak. If the difference between Bob McDonnell and Creigh Deeds was so great, how come when the same two men ran against each other statewide for attorney general four years ago the race was a virtual dead heat?

November '08 was one shot, one time, never to be replicated. Nor was November '09 a realignment. It was a return to the norm -- and definitive confirmation that 2008 was one of the great flukes in American political history.

 My 5 cents (2 cents adjusted for inflation since 1980): Secretary of Treasury Henry Paulson and Timothy Geithner, then head of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, figured that a financial meltdown of never-before-seen-proportions, would be a winning strategy for Barack Obama. Flash forward to September 14, 2008 and we awaken to President George W. Bush standing beside Paulson. Paulson told us that our financial world has changed, this very day, and he (Paulson - a Democrat) was in charge. Bush stood by, small and lonely, and let it happen. Paulson and the Federal Reserve had created their manufactured crisis and they handed the election to Barack Obama.

From James E. Campbell, Professor and Chair, University at Buffalo, SUNY: (important disclaimer, Professor Campbell does not mention a Paulson-Geithner-Federal Reserve conspiracy):

The Republicans did carry substantial political baggage into the 2008 election; but despite these considerable disadvantages, the open seat election was shaping up as a very close contest in the weeks before the national conventions and McCain took the lead after the conventions, only to plummet in the polls with the Wall Street meltdown in mid-September. The Wall Street meltdown was an unanticipated financial crisis that shook the electorate. It was the game changer. It derailed the course of the election and was critical in tipping the election to Obama...

...around the time of the conventions, public opinion begins to gel. More voters have made up their minds or given their choice some serious thought by the conventions. While it is true that Obama led in the polls before the conventions, the race was tight. In the two weeks leading up to the conventions, the average Obama two-party support was at 51.7 percent in the Real Clear Politics polls and at 51.0 percent in Gallup's registered voter tracking polls. In the week immediately before the Democrats convened in Denver, Obama's mean support was only 51.1 percent in Real Clear Politics and 50.6 percent in Gallup. An election that could turn on a swing of one or two points, or even less, is on track to be a close election. 

McCain's lead in the polls after the conventions was more than a "brief honeymoon." Polls after the conventions are important because a significant number of voters make up their minds around convention time. In the fifteen elections from 1948 to 2004, only one candidate with an early September poll percentage over 51 percent lost his election

...on its face, one would expect the Wall Street meltdown to make a significant political difference. The events were unanticipated just weeks before at the conventions and were catastrophic in magnitude. It is hard to imagine how they could not be "game changers." The first sign that the subprime mortgage mess amounted to something considerably more than a few isolated bankruptcies was on September 7 when the government seized control of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Eight days later, Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy and a distressed Merrill Lynch was bought by the Bank of America. The next day, September 16, the government made an $85 billion bailout loan to insurance giant AIG. On September 19, President Bush called the crisis "a pivotal moment for America's economy" and asked Congress to "act now to protect our nation's economic health from serious risk."  ...

While everyone understood that the economy was weak, not even financial experts anticipated the crisis and its ramifications for the economy. In mid-August, half way through the third quarter of the year, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia released a survey of 47 prominent economic forecasters. These forecasters predicted a real GDP third quarter growth rate of 1.2 percent. This would indicate a sluggish economy, but not one in recession....

The meltdown was a crisis in its own right that exacted a severe cost to the economy, much as it had taken its toll on the stock market (and would take on the political fortunes of the in-party)....


...did Americans understand this? Did Americans regard the meltdown as a crisis, as the derailed election thesis claims?...The polling evidence is that the public was staggered by the crisis.


Allowing for some normal dissipation of the convention bump, McCain's poll standing early in the meltdown crisis (September 14) was about 51 percent in both Gallup and in the Real Clear Politics poll average. Less than three weeks later (October 2), after the crisis was in full meltdown, McCain's poll standing had dropped to 46 percent in Gallup and 47 percent in the Real Clear Politics poll average, about where the final vote percentage wound up.  

...could there be an explanation for McCain's late September poll plunge other than the Wall Street meltdown? Could the McCain fall and Obama rise in the polls be the result of some other factor? Two possibilities have been suggested-the debates and Sarah Palin's post-convention difficulties. The debates are not plausible as an alternative explanation because of timing. McCain's drop in the polls began well before the first debate on September 26....


Was the McCain plummet in the polls a negative reaction to his selection of Sarah Palin as a vice presidential candidate or a negative reaction to the Wall Street meltdown? The evidence again supports the impact of the meltdown.... 

 In the first video below, you'll see and hear Henry Paulson and Tim Geithner's credibility questioned by Rep. Cliff Stearns (R-FL), as well as the credibility as the Federal Reserve.

In the second video below you'll hear and see a discussion about the Federal Reserve Bank and all of the other "big" banks in America (erase the image of Eliot Spitzer and high-paid call girls from your visual - but pay attention to what Spitzer says, including "a ponzi scheme and an inside job...").

Well, it is all history now but we know this (1) those who do not know history are doomed to repeat it, and (2) those who do not remember history are doomed to repeat it. I will continue to look forward to Charles Krauthammer's election myths anytime he is not talking about the elegance of an Obama speech delivery. Thanks to the Daily Bail for the first video and the second video.

Henry Paulson and Rep. Cliff Stearns - Paulson Squirms (video)

Federal Reserve, Henry Paulson, timothy Geithner (video)

White House Hosts Jeremiah Wright and William Ayers: Andrew L. Stern SEIU Tops List of Most Numerous Visitor

A list made available by the White House shows that both William Ayers and Jeremiah Wright have visited the White House since President Obama took office. William Ayers was there twice, once on May 2, 2009  and once on April 9 January 27 , 2009. Jeremiah Wright arrived on March 24, 2009 with no record of departure. Neither had an audience with the President of the United States (POTUS), and according to officials, neither are the William Ayers or the Jeremiah Wright. See 10-31-09 update below.

White House Visitors

The list is available in PDF file and an Excel file, thanks to MSNBC's Bill Dedman. Note that I've taken a guess at the positions these people hold. The information is not provided on the White House list, so...this is a guess.

The most interesting observation is that Andrew L. Stern, the president of SEIU (Service Employees International Union) met with Mr. Obama more times than anyone on this particular list - 7 times, none of them in Oval Office. (see update about Stern below)

Edward L. Yingling, President and CEO of the American Bankers Association met with Obama 4 times

Camden R. Fine, CEO of the Independent Community Bankers of America (ICBA) - 4 times
Daniel A. Mica President and CEO of Credit Union National Association
John Huntsman - perhaps Jon Huntsman, Jr., Ambassador to China - 4 times

Jesse Jackson met with the President 3 times and numerous other visits with White House personnel. Al Sharpton made it to the Oval Office, Jesse Jackson did not.

Below is are those meeting with the President in the Oval Office and then a list of those that met with Barack Obama somewhere on the White House grounds. The list often does not have middle initials and many visits are undated. If we could embarrass this White House, this record keeping would be embarrassing. Robert Gibbs said this week that "hundreds of thousands of vistors" had come through the White House since Obama's arrival - here we have only about 500.

List of those visiting with the POTUS in the Oval Office:  
Mahmoud Abbas - Chmn Palestinian Liberation Organisation (PLO), undated

The Newt Gingrich on May 7 for an meeting on "education"
William Gates - the Microsoft William Gates according to Dedman, no date 
Hamid Karzai - President of Afghanistan, no date
Alfred Sharpton May 7, May 26


List of those meeting with the President somewhere on White House grounds:
Fred Becker - probably CEO and President of National Assoc. of Fed. Credit Unions - undated

Lloyd C. Blankfein - CEO and Chair Goldman Sachs - February13 and March 27

John Boehner - US Congressman R-OH POTUS and FLOTUS undated

Shawn Carter - can this be Jay-Z, the husband of Beyonce Knowles? - undated

"Billy" Clinton March 24th

Kent Conrad - US Senator D-ND POTUS and FLOTUS undated

Jon Cornyn - US Senator R-TX, undated

Richard M. Daley - Chicago mayor, undated

Richard Daley March 17

David B. Dillon - COB Kroger Company,  Feb. 13th

James Dimon - CEO and Chmn of JPMorgan Chase, twice - Feb. 13 and once undated

Byron Dorgan US Senator D-ND, POTUS and FLOTUS


Steve Driehaus - US Congressman D-OH, twice undated

Dick Durbin US Senator D-IL, February 1 and twice undated

Dick Durbin POTUS and FLOTUS undated

Steve Elmendorf - Democrat strategist, undated

Camden R. Fine - CEO of ICBA, March 27, May 20, June 17 and once undated

Kim A. Gandy - former president of NOW,  March 11 and May 26

Steve C. Gunderson, CEO and president of Council on Foundations, no date

Hill Harper, actor (real name Frank Harper), no date

Jon Huntsman - Ambassador to China??? twice on May 16 and twice undated

Kay Baily Hutchison POTUS and FLOTUS

Jesse Jackson undated

Jesse L. Jackson POTUS and FLOTUS twice undated


Nancy A. Keenan - president of NARAL,  February 18

Nancy Keenan March 11, May 26

Robert Kennedy in March

Edward M. Kennedy, no date

Robert P. Kelly - CEO Bank of New York Mellon, March 27


Amy Klobuchar February1

Amy Klobuchar POTUS and FLOTUS no date

Paul Krugman - Prof. of Economics/International Affairs at Princeton, April February 1

AG Lafley - former CEO and COB Proctor & Gamble, February 13

Gara Lamarche - CeO The Atlantic Philanthropies,  February 18

Philip Lamarche - perhaps with the New York State Board of Elections? no date

Philip G. Lamarche no date

Carol S. Larson - President and CEO David and Lucile Packard Foundation, no date

Risa Lavizzomourey - Pres. and CEO Robert wood Johnson Foundation, March 5 and
June 22

Kenneth Lewis - CEO and President Bank of America, March 27

Ronald E. Logue - CEO of State Street, March 27

John J. Mack - CEO and Chmn Morgan Stanley, March 27

Ellen  R. Malcom - Founder of Emily's List, IBM heiress, president of America Coming Together,  March 11

Mark Mallory - Cincinnati mayor, no date

Robert L. McDonald - Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern, no date

Jeff Merkley (D-OR) - POTUS and FLOTUS no date


Danne L. Mica POTUS and FLOTUS no date

Daniel Mica undated

Daniel Mica POTUS and FLOTUS, twice undated

Daniel A. Mica - CEO Credit Union National Assoc. June 17 and once undated

Michael C. Moore (?) June 22

David J. OReilly - CEO and Chmn Chevron Corp., February 13

Sally R. Osberg - Ex. Dir. Children's Discovery Museum, no date

Robert S. Nichols - Pres & COO Financial Services Forum, May 20, June 17

Vikram Pandit - CEO Citigroup, March 27

Nancy Pelosi no date
Collin Peterson - Congressman (D-MN) POTUS and FLOTUS, no date

John D. Podesta - CeO Center for American Progress, February 2 and once undated

Lynn C. Richards - ?, February 18, March 5

John W. Robert - ?, undated

Nancy Roob - Pres. & CeO Edna McConnell Clark Foundation, undated
Timothy Ryan March 17

Timothy Ryan POTUS and FLOTUS undated

Timothy T. Ryan - former NFL Tampa Bay Buccaneers or is this T. Timothy Ryan, CEO Securities Industry and Financial Markets Assoc.?, undated

Timothy Ryan POTUS and FLOTUS, undated

Alfred Sharpton, May 26th

Paul Smith, undated

Paul M. Smith - Attorney, partner at Jenner & Block, twice on May 26

Andrew L. Stern February 18, and February 23, May 26, July 13 and twice undated

Andy Stern March 17

Ted Strickland - Democrat Governor of Ohio? undated

John G. Stumpf CEO & Pres. Wells Fargo, March 27

Nancy Stutley - Chair WH Council on Environmental Quality, no date

Scott E. Talbott - Senior VP the Financial Services Roundtable (an organization of CEO's of the nation's largest banks, brokerages and insurers, May 20

Rex W. Tillerson - CEO and Chmn. Exxoon February 13

Richard L. Trumka -  President AFL-CIO, February 6

Luis A. Ubinas - President, Ford Foundation, undated

Bill White - is this the leader of the American National Socialist Worker's Party? undated

William White - is this the Episcopal Bishop of Pennsylvania? or the Canadian economist? undated

Edward L. Yingling - Pres. & CEO of the American Bankers Association, March 27, April 23, May 20, June 17

Update 10-31-09:

Michelle Malkin headline of 10-25-09: SEIU leads new banking shakedown campaign. We can see from the small list of POTUS visitors above that Obama has concentrated on SEIU and bankers. If I were a banker, I think I'd give some thought to Barack Obama being a spy for SEIU.

Feds Own Bailed-Out OKC Mall: Crossroads Mall Fed Owned

An Oklahoma City property, the Crossroads Mall, is now owed by the U.S. government. The mall came out of bankruptcy last Spring, has a $77 million debt on its books, and is for sale with a price tag of $24 million. All the major anchor stores are long gone.

Fed Owned Crossroads Mall

The Obama government hired a real estate broker to sell the property on behalf of the America people.

Losses are potentially at taxpayer's expense because the Fed generally makes a fat annual profit running the country's payments system and other operations, and any losses reduce how much it can pay out to the U.S. Treasury, and hence taxpayers.

After bailing out JPMorgan Chase, to the tune of $29 billion, they purchased Bear-Stearns and acquired the OKC property through their portfolio. Are there other "physical" properties out there that our government owns in our cities and towns? Well yes, and there are probably far more than these examples:

In part, this decline in value is because two other pieces of the Bear Stearns collateral -- Extended Stay Hotels, and the GrandStay Residential Suites Hotels in Oxnard, California -- have sought court bankruptcy protection.

Extended Stay owes the Fed almost $900 million, consisting of $153 million in commercial mortgage-backed securities and $744 million in junior mezzanine debt, while GrandStay won Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection with a bit under $10 million in debt.

Our cities, towns and counties all have "federal" buildings, but now, "federal building" takes on a whole new meaning. We don't pay our trash and water bills in these new "federal buildings."

What the Fed and banks have said they are worried about is a new wave of losses on commercial real estate and here is an example of an early adopter in the Fed's portfolio," said Lou Crandall, chief economist at Wrightson ICAP in Jersey City, New Jersey.

"The fact that the thing was written so that the Fed does not have the oil rights is just classic. Not that that is the Fed's fault," he said.

That's a very telling comment. "Fed does not have the oil rights is just classic." There is an oil pump in the parking lot of this mall.  Oil and mineral rights are often not sold in Oklahoma when a property changes hands. What would the Feds have done, had they known owning mineral rights on this property was a possibility, and the owner of those rights did not want to sell?

Here's a humorous look coming out of Oklahoma City's NewsOk.com, written by Richard Mize:

A cell phone in Washington, D.C. belts out "If You’ve Got the Money, I’ve Got the Time,” by Willie Nelson.

A recorded voice answers: "FRB Property Management. We’re busy. Leave a message!”

Caller: "Ben! Jim, in Oklahoma City. The women’s rest room next to my store is backed up! Help!”

Willie sings again: "If you’ve got the money, honey ...”

Caller: "Ben, Josh, in Oklahoma City. Some of the lights are out again in my end of the mall. Can you get somebody on it?”

Willie warbles: "Bring along your Cadillac, leave my ol’ wreck behind ...”

Caller: "This is Jim again, in Oklahoma City. Mr. Bernanke, the backed-up rest room is flooding my store! Do something!”

Silly, huh? But Ben Bernake, as Federal Reserve Board chairman, is, in fact, the landlord of Crossroads Mall in Oklahoma City.

The Mize article says that the Feds are now in court in New York City City trying to hold the original mall owners responsible for the debt.That's an interesting concept - kind of like the way old-America used to work.

The half-empty Crossroads Mall is still open for business on the south side of Oklahoma City.

Gulf Arab States: Oil Producers Deny Dollar Dump

Gulf Arab States and Russia deny plans to dump the U.S. dollar as the currency for oil trading. The Russian deputy finance minister, Dmtry Pankin, said there was no discussion of giving up the USD for a basket of currencies. Saudi's central bank chief said the reports are "absolutely incorrect."

Gulf Arab States 

Converting oil purchases to non-dollar purchases is hot news. There are abundant statements from world leaders to make the effort believable:

Russia has in the past publicly raised the idea of shifting its oil trade away from the dollar because of the weakness and volatility of the currency, which has been undermined by the U.S. trade and budget deficits.

China, holder of the world's biggest foreign exchange reserves, has suggested that in the long term, the dollar should lose its role as the globe's top reserve currency.

The above report, however, offers a reason why dumping the dollar may not be feasible:

And apart from the strong political links between Gulf nations and the United States, the lack of convertibility for many Gulf currencies and the yuan tops the list of practical hurdles to making such a shift.

The United Nations wants the USD diminished. China wants it. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geither is open to the suggestion.

Denials from oil producers are flying today regarding dumping the dollar, but perhaps they "protesteth" too much. This is exactly the time to take these efforts seriously. Read Oil for Basket of Currency: Falling Dollar Road to One World Currency? - fresh from yesterday's news. The danger signs are clear.

Oil for Basket of Currency: Falling Dollar Road to One World Currency?

Purchasing oil by dumping U.S. dollars for a basket of currencies is being discussed world-wide. Non-dollar oil payments are increasingly favored by world financial powers, and especially those countries relying on the Middle East for their oil concessions. See video below.

 Currency

The U.S.'s dismal financial management and lack of any responsible monetary policy, has given the rest of the world, like China, the Middle East and Russia, the boost to get the talks going. How attractive - moving the world aways from the almighty USD. Is now the time for these U.N. loyalists to follow the U.N. lead and establish a one-world-currency? We've been whispering about it for years. If we start with non-dollar oil purchases, can that evolve into the U.N.'s coveted one-world-currency?

This from Mark Reinoso at The Examiner:

The UN wants to replace this collapsing currency with a world currency, or SDR's, for international transactions in order to "provide more stability". This is just the first step in order to move away from the US dollar.  As soon as the US dollar ceases to be the world's reserve currency, no one will have use for it, and this country will collapse.  What the UN doesn't realize is, that when the US dollar dies, it will take the rest of the world with it.

How about considering the new "unified" currency soon to come from the Middle East? Add the euro, the yen, some gold - shake it all together and buy your oil. Reports say the rouble will join the basket of currencies in the near future.  The USD? pffffftttt.

This from Robert Zoellick, World Bank President:

The decline of American economic power linked to the current global recession was implicitly acknowledged by the World Bank president Robert Zoellick. "One of the legacies of this crisis may be a recognition of changed economic power relations," he said in Istanbul ahead of meetings this week of the IMF and World Bank.

But it is China's extraordinary new financial power – along with past anger among oil-producing and oil-consuming nations at America's power to interfere in the international financial system – which has prompted the latest discussions involving the Gulf states.

China sees President Obama as "too busy" to understand what is happening:

Chinese financial sources believe President Barack Obama is too busy fixing the US economy to concentrate on the extraordinary implications of the transition from the dollar in nine years' time. The current deadline for the currency transition is 2018.

These plans will change the face of international financial transactions," one Chinese banker said. "America and Britain must be very worried. You will know how worried by the thunder of denials this news will generate.

In the video below, you will see that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was "open" to a proposal for a single currency by the governor of China's central bank. The Washington Times:

Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner and Austan Goolsbee, member of the Council of Economic Advisers, have refused to rule out a global currency. Such views by top policymakers cause the dollar to drop. Even worse, this shows that the Obama administration supports dramatically greater centralization on a national and international scale.

Timothy Geithner One World Currency (video)


Photo credit: SXC by majeye

Bernake Paulson Lies: Barofsky Exposes Bernake Paulson TARP

Special Inspector General Neil Barofsky tells us what most of us already know: TARP money went to losers. According to IG Barofsky, institutions receiving money in the first round of redistribution of taxpayer's wealth, were not sound institutions and should not have qualified for the funds.

Henry Paulson

 Ben Bernake

"These are healthy institutions, and they have taken this step for the good of the economy," Paulson had declared at the time.

Barofsky said that the fact that Citigroup Inc. and Bank of America Corp. soon required billions in additional assistance highlighted the inaccuracy of that claim and raised questions about the whole effort. In addition, Merrill Lynch, which was also in the original nine, was in the process of being acquired by Bank of America because of its weakening financial position.

"Statements that are less than careful or forthright -- like those made in this case -- may ultimately undermine the public's understanding and support," the report said. "This loss of public support could damage the government's credibility and have long-term unintended consequences that actually hamper the government's ability to respond to crises."

Note that this report gives Paulson and Bernake no out. The statements were "less than careful." Secretary Paulson's announcement on television, with George Bush standing by his side in September 2008, is one of those moments I will always remember. In my kitchen, looking out over the kitchen bar to the TV, my husband and I listened and couldn't believe what we were hearing.

Anyone believing this whole thing was not contrived, is not paying attention. Usher in Barack Obama.

The Federal Reserve and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation also joined in the deception. Nevermind that the FDIC was soon claiming that they were underfunded and couldn't cover the claims coming their way.

Barofsky's report says "the government did not have the time needed to get the toxic asset program up and running," and that is why Paulson changed horses mid-stream, didn't buy up toxic assets as first planned - and just "injected capital" (gave money to the banks to enable them to lend out so that you and I could purchase a home or start a business, which didn't happen).

 Henry Paulson and Ben Bernake led the drive to bailout AIG. Paulson engineered the bailouts of Fannie Mae and Freddit Mac. Remember that Paulson had complete control - the last and only say about these funds. King Henry Paulson was granted unprecedented authority by Congress - historic in it's stark negating of Congress' own powers. It was Paulson who told bankers they would take the government money, whether they needed it or wanted it.

Goldman Sachs, of which Paulson is a previous CEO, benefitted from at least $12 billion of the bailed-out AIG funds.

IG Barofsky has exposed this insider-scam (that left Bush an outsider) that, in my opinion, put Barack Obama in the White House, and put the future of our grandchildren and great-great grandchildren in the trash heap of un-American history. Ben Bernake continues today as the Chairman of the Federal Reserve - an Obama nomination.

Geithner G-20 Summit Bankers Pay: Worlds Largest Economies Agree to Limit Pay, Bonuses

Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania welcomed the G-20 Summit this week. Our Treasury Secretary, Timothy Geithner, is leading the discussion on limiting pay and bonuses for bankers in the world's largest economies.

 

Pittsburgh G-20 Summit

A "basic agreement" has been reached, but no dollar figures have been announced. One source that I refuse to link, reports that the agreement will be finalized on Friday, September 25th. The same report says that Europeans are "horrified" that financial institutions might get back in the habit of high pay and even higher bonuses. French President, Nicolas Sarkozy threatened to walk out if an agreement is not reach. Now, remember the earlier talk from the Obama administration about limiting pay and bonuses to bankers? Some referred to as "analysts" say that Obama is "at the forefront of the fight against such measures...." What???
Then the same article points out:

In January, Obama called it “shameful” that U.S. financial executives had bagged $18.4 billion in bonuses in 2008. Earlier this month, he scolded a Wall Street audience: “We will not go back to the days of reckless behavior and unchecked excess at the heart of this crisis,” in which “too many were motivated only by the appetite for quick kills and bloated bonuses.”

This article from February 2009 out London said "the days of wine and roses -- and company=paid country club memberships -- are fading fast for international bankers."

The move to slash their salaries, bonuses and perks extends far beyond the United States, where President Barack Obama has limited salaries to $500,000 for those whose banks accept bailout money. In Europe, some bankers are being forced to renounce bonuses and accept salary caps, while others have volunteered to do so to quell public anger.

Everyone believing Obama is truly not lusting to restrict banker's pay, send me an email or leave a comment. Once the agreement, (probably a non-binding agreement) is finalized, each country will "set separate standards." Fortunately for world economies, [barf bag alert] the new "Financial Stability Board" comprised of international bankers and regulators will be the watchdog.