20/20 – Bailouts and Bull**** Pt. 1 of 6
John S points out the stupidity of the congress critters and the “political class”!
RANT: Bailouts and Bull**** Pt. 1 of 6
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Leave a Comment » | 
Ranting | Tagged: Bailouts | 
Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
RANT: 90% taxes on employee bonuses
Thursday, March 19, 2009March 19, 2009
The House voted 328-93 to approve a bill imposing 90% taxes on employee bonuses from firms bailed out by taxpayers.
The bill would tax bonuses paid by firms that received more than $5 billion from the TARP. The Senate is working on its own plan to try to recoup bonuses.
The House bill is a response to the furor over millions in retention bonuses paid by AIG.
# – # – #
Can anyone say “Bill of Attainder”?
If these bozos would actually read what they vote on, then they wouldn’t have to have this pretend outrage!
Don’t forget all the Hollywood, Education, and Sports types?
# # # # #
Leave a Comment » | Ranting | Tagged: Bailouts | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
GOVEROTRAGEOUS: Why won’t the FED tell us? They don’t have to. It’s a private club!
Tuesday, March 17, 2009http://www.lewrockwell.com/cummings/cummings60.html
Where Did the Money Go?
by Richard Cummings
*** begin quote ***
Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke has resisted calls from Congress that he release the names of the banks that were recipients of the bailout money the Fed gave to AIG to prevent it from collapsing. AIG insured its counterparties against losses from mortgage-backed derivatives. The Fed poured $85 billion into AIG, which paid out $37.3 billion of that money to counterparties that had purchased a certain type of derivative-based protection from AIG, called multi-sector credit default swaps.
*** end quote ***
Seems like a fair question.
So what rathole DID our money go down?
And, what rat got fat on it!
# # # # #
Leave a Comment » | GOVEROTRAGEOUS | Tagged: Bailout, Bailouts | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
MONEY: Where are we going to be in 20 years?
Monday, March 16, 2009http://insidecatholic.com/Joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5565&Itemid=48
The Money Meltdown: A Conversation with Thomas Woods Jr. by Brian Saint-Paul 3/11/09
*** begin quote ***
Q: We’ve had bailouts and stimulus packages, and possibly more of both in the near future. If you were to look into a crystal ball, where are we going to be in 20 years? Where is all of this heading? Will we reach a point of total economic collapse? Or will we wind up as the newest Euro-style state?
It seems to me that the best-case scenario is a kind of European third-way stagnation: high unemployment, anemic growth (if any), and a whole bunch of people scratching their heads and wondering why this is happening. That could be our fate.
Of course, it could be worse. It may turn into something like what Japan endured in the 1990s and beyond — though at least Japan had some domestic savings as a cushion. Or there could well be a complete collapse of the system, with the dollar destroyed. This is all conditional, because it depends in large part on what the government does. Its cure is almost sure to be worse than the disease.
I’d love to think that if a collapse came, people would say, “Obviously, intervention doesn’t work, so let’s try what the Austrians have been suggesting.” But I think instead a demagogue would rise up to say — as usual — that the problem is not enough government involvement, and that he’s going to rescue us.
That’s the most likely outcome.
*** and ***
Thomas E. Woods Jr. is senior fellow in American history at the Ludwig von Mises Institute. He is the author of nine books, including two New York Times bestsellers: The Politically Incorrect Guide to American History and the just-released Meltdown: A Free-Market Look at Why the Stock Market Collapsed, the Economy Tanked, and Government Bailouts Will Make Things Worse, as well as the award-winning The Church and the Market: A Catholic Defense of the Free Economy. Visit his new Web site.
* end quote *
Leave a Comment » | MONEY | Tagged: Bailout, Bailouts, Depression, Economics, Inflation, Moral Hazard, Morality, personal liberty | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
GOVEROTRAGEOUS: Rep. Barney Frank has chutzpah!
Monday, March 16, 2009http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Frank-assails-bonuses-paid-to-apf-14646988.html
Frank assails bonuses paid to executives at AIG
House committee chairman rails against bonuses paid executives of financially-strapped AIG
Monday March 16, 2009, 8:24 am EDT
*** begin quote ***
WASHINGTON (AP) — Rep. Barney Frank charged Monday that a decision by financially strapped insurance giant AIG to pay millions in executive bonuses amounts to “rewarding incompetence.”
*** end quote ***
He should know incompetence. He’s part of the Fannie and Freddie mess. His hands aren’t clean by any means.
Aint congresscritters funny? If they were so dangerous to our liberties!
# # # # #
Leave a Comment » | GOVEROTRAGEOUS | Tagged: Bailout, Bailouts, FRAUD, Gooferment, raw naked power, Revolt | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
LIBERTY: Hold the ‘Catastrophe’: Obama Says He’s ‘Highly Optimistic’ About Economy
Friday, March 13, 2009http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D96SP30G5&show_article=1
Obama: Economic crisis ‘not as bad as we think’
Mar 12 05:49 PM US/Eastern
By JIM KUHNHENN
Associated Press Writer
Hold the ‘Catastrophe’: Obama Says He’s ‘Highly Optimistic’ About Economy
*** begin quote ***
WASHINGTON (AP) – Confronting misgivings, even in his own party, President Barack Obama mounted a stout defense of his blueprint to overhaul the economy Thursday, declaring the national crisis is “not as bad as we think” and his plans will speed recovery.
Challenged to provide encouragement as the nation’s “confidence builder in chief,” Obama said Americans shouldn’t be whipsawed by bursts of either bad or good news and he was “highly optimistic” about the long term.
The president’s proposals for major health care, energy and education changes in the midst of economic hard times faced skepticism from both Democrats and Republicans on Capitol Hill, as senators questioned his budget outlook and the deficits it envisions in the middle of the next decade.
But Obama, speaking to top executives of the Business Roundtable, expressed an optimistic vision and called for patience.
*** end quote ***
Well, “they” have passed the PORKULOUS bill and the various versions of TARP.
Guess they have always stampeded us into giving up more of our money and our liberty.
So much for “change”. Guess I’ll just have to “hope”.
So what are they going to repeal and cut.
# # # # #
Leave a Comment » | LIBERTY | Tagged: Bailouts, economic freedom, Gooferment, limited government, Obama, POTUS, POTUS08, Presidential2008 | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
GOVEROTRAGEOUS: Cramer (a leftist) points out how O doesn’t get it!
Wednesday, March 11, 2009Posted March 09, 2009
Cramer Takes on the White House, Frank Rich and Jon Stewart
By Jim Cramer
*** begin quote ***
Suddenly, bloggers, opinion people, columnists and, yes, pundits who haven’t paid attention to anything I have been saying or writing for the past 18 months are all over me. Suddenly, I find myself in the center of a firestorm over Obama’s economic policies, taking enfilading fire from the “liberal” media (from serious columnist Frank Rich to entertainer Jon Stewart) while being defended by Rush Limbaugh, the standard-bearer for the Republicans.
*** and ***
The answer lies in the way the two administrations handled criticism.
The Bush administration, I believed, simply chose to ignore my warnings, perhaps because of a brutal combination of ideology, fecklessness and complacency.
*** and ***
President Obama’s team, unlike Bush’s team, demonstrates a thinness of skin that shocks me. When I somewhat obviously and empirically judged that the populist Obama administration is exacerbating the crisis with its budget and policies, as evidenced by the incredible decline in the averages since his inauguration, I was met immediately with condescension and ridicule rather than constructive debate or even just benign dismissal.
*** and ***
The markets thought he could stop it; hence the giant relief rally when he was elected. But in fewer than 50 days of his ascendancy, the markets’ hopes were totally dashed and the averages are now forecasting the worst decline since the Great Depression. As someone who listens to what the averages are screaming, I think they are accurately predicting the future.
I welcome any serious exchange with the administration on the issues that are not beyond my ken: fixing house price depreciation, stopping the destruction of wealth as demonstrated by the stock market’s plunge, and solving the banking crisis before we nationalize every bank.
*** and ***
It’s time to get serious. It’s time to take the issue from the pundits and from the left and right, and put it where it belongs: serious non-ideological debate to put out the real firestorm, the collapse of the economy from Wall Street to Main Street and the ensuing Great Wealth Destruction for all.
But if it stays ad hominem, we will all be betrayed and the train wreck will become inevitable.
*** end quote ***
The inept politicians from both sides of the aisle have destroyed the investments of most people. And, all we get from them is “spend more” and “borrow more”.
STOP!
You’re putting future generations in a hole they will never get out of.
Let the failures go bankrupt. Tough medicine.
We are training future generations NOT to invest.
I’ve had two conversations that are noteworthy.
A young woman has pulled out of her 401k because the losses have eaten into her employer’s contribution and hers. A doctor is moving from equities to bonds and his “financial advisor” at the brokerage house thought it was a good idea (i.e., he gets a commission on trades; not results).
The Market’s P/E ratio is either in or going into the single digits. (Last time that happened the market doubled in a year!) The “natural recovery” from a downturn has already begun. See the uptick in home sales as the “affordability” measure is it’s lowest in decades.
Note to O: (1) Reinstate the uptick rule. (2) Aim the corporate beggars to the bankruptcy courts. (3) Grab your various regulators and ask them to resign. (4) Eliminate Federal guarantees of ARMs, Interest only, and any mortgage that’s not 20% down 30 year fixed “conforming”. (4) Tell the FBI anf your Federal Prosecutors you want some FRAUD convictions for all the bad paper. (5) Tell the SBA that you want a plan to stimulate small business by the end of the day.
Cut the spending, cut the debt, cut the waste.
Argh!
Like that’s ever going to happen!
# # # # #
Leave a Comment » | GOVEROTRAGEOUS | Tagged: Bailouts, Economics, Gooferment, investments, Moral Hazard, Obama, POTUS, POTUS08, Presidential2008, Revolt, Tax Revolt | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
POLITICAL: Poor Economy and the Gooferment
Wednesday, March 4, 2009http://irisheagle.blogspot.com/2009/03/its-not-all-media-hype.html
Wednesday, March 04, 2009
It’s not all media hype
*** begin quote ***
Twice this past weekend I found myself talking to two men – separate conversations – who believe that the “economic crisis” is mostly media hype. “They’ve got to sell papers”, is what one of them told me.
I didn’t know what to say. As someone who’s fairly well convinced that we’re heading down and fast I didn’t know where to start. I simply let each of them say what they had in mind and walked on. I was shocked. I have no idea what these men do for a living, but I hope to God they’re right. I’m sure they’re wrong, but I hope they’re right.
Today the news is full of the “mini-budget” or emergency budget or whatever you want to call it coming at the end of the month. I’m sure there’s a reasonable explanation for waiting a month – having been about 4 months late realizing how bad things are – but it’s lost to me. I can’t understand why they don’t just impose the tax hikes right now. What does the state gain from such a delay?
There’s a small part of me wondering if there isn’t something bigger being planned for the economy than 2c extra on the tax rates.
*** and ***
Comment
It’s bad, there’s no denying that – but there is an element of Chicken Littleism to the media reporting, the herd pack mentality running headlong off the cliff together. The media moves its focus in shifts, and now the hot story of the moment is the sky falling; you have to sift to get the nuance and balance that goes beyond the populist trend. So yeah, I’d agree that we aren’t getting a true picture of what is going on. The media is a populist beast.
Carrie
*** end quote ***
MY RESPONSE:
Well, there is a measure of truth to the “hype” argument. If you extract the financial firms from the indexes, the numbers don’t look absolutely terrible. It’s the options and derivatives that are putting downward pressure on the market. Where everyone of the experts really “stepped in it” imho is the failure to use bankruptcy as “medicine”. If they (the gooferment) had said “Sorry, corporations can use the Chapter 11 or one of the other options.”, then there would have been some immediate pain, but it would have been over. Quick and clean. The gooferment could have properly provided the bankruptcy judge with transitional financing assistance to the debtors taking over.
Bet there would have been a lot more serious consideration of the corporation’s options. After all, hard to be an executive if there’s nothing to be an executive up. THe law and implications are well understood.
AND, the market would have formed of “carrior eaters” who would “feast” on the “bones”. A tranche of mortgages would have gotten a quick proctology exam to determine what was good and what was toxic. Various vultures would have bid on the “remains”. The results would have been well-known.
The real estate bubble would have been popped and, while traumatic, it wouldn’t be in “limbo”. That’s why the Street is reacting badly. Uncertainty.
And the gooferment acts like they could NOT find their own A Double Q in a dark closet with a flashlight. This is like the Great Depression in that the gooferment interference in the marketplace is making the problem worse.
My fear is we are going to have a gooferment induced “Lost Decade” for the next 20 years. Like Japan.
Argh!
reinkefj 03.04.09 – 11:37 am
# # # # #
3 Visitors Online
Name:
Email:
URL:
Comment: ?
Notify me of followup comments via email
Commenting by HaloScan
Leave a Comment » | Political | Tagged: Bailouts, Economics, Gooferment, Tax Revolt | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
POLITICAL: Eliminate the corporate income tax
Sunday, February 22, 2009http://www.reason.com/news/show/131556.html
Economic Change We Can Believe In
To improve the economy, eliminate the corporate income tax
Jeffrey A. Miron | February 6, 2009
*** begin quote ***
President Barack Obama’s stimulus proposal entails an awkward tradeoff between spending and efficiency. Fiscal stimulation suggests large, rapid increases in spending, while efficiency means cautious, modest increases. Similarly, Obama’s plan favors tax cuts for low-income families, since they are most likely to spend rather than save, yet the drive for efficiency means cutting marginal tax rates on high-income consumers.
*** and ***
One policy change, however, can stimulate both the economy in the short-run and enhance efficiency in the long-run: repeal of the corporate income tax, which collects up to 35% of the difference between revenues and costs of incorporated businesses.
*** and ***
Corporate income taxation has other negatives. It requires a complicated set of rules and regulations, over and above the personal income tax system, generating compliance costs. Special interests ensure that corporate tax systems favor specific industries or activities, further distorting private investment decisions. Along those lines, corporation taxation reduces financial transparency, making it harder for investors to monitor corporate behavior.
So repeal of the corporate income tax is good policy independent of the state of the economy and would provide short-run stimulus.
*** end quote ***
Corporations don’t pay taxes; they hide them in the final price of goods sold!
Only people pay taxes!
# # # # #
1 Comment | Political | Tagged: Bailouts, Economics, Gooferment, Tax Revolt, Taxes | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
RANT: About the pork fest “stimulus” bill
Sunday, February 8, 2009reinkefj has left a new comment on the post “Not as stimulating as we’d hopede“:
No? Tax cuts, when accompanied by spending cuts, don’t accomplish anything? Please explain how Kennedy’s “rising tide raises all boats” tax cut and Regan’s “government is the problem” tax cut ignited decades of prosperity. Guess it was just luck.
Personally, I’d like to see the congress critters ELIMINATE the corporate tax (corps don’t pay taxes they just pass them along to real people hidden in the prices), the death tax (grave robbers! destroy a person’s life’s work like the real family farm), and the regressive payroll tax (humorously referred to as the employee’s and employer’s share; like it all doesn’t come out of the employee’s pocket).
Of course, to pay for it, I’d close the Department of Agriculture (for rich psuedo farms), Commerce (for big business), HHS (meddling the State’s business and spend lots of money), … … did I pay for it yet? … … I’d end the psuedo-Drug War, pardon all non-violent drug offenders, shut down Selective Service, close Job Corps, Head Start, … … did I pay for it yet? … AMTRACK, Post Office, … … I must be close … … Repeal legal tender laws.
If we did that I’m SURE that there would be an economic boom that would rival any previous one.
I’d shut down the TSA, shut down welfare, and take the plastic bag off the Statue of Liberty. No illegal immigration problem if there are ZERO freebies. Everyone has to work. No free loaders in the life boat.
I’d task the FBI to review every fraudulent loan document and prosecute the fraudsters.
I think that would be a good first step! It’s easy once you get the country moving back towards Liberty!
Post a comment.
Unsubscribe to comments on this post.
Posted by reinkefj to CHANNEL SURFING at 10:57 AM
1 Comment | Ranting | Tagged: Bailouts, Gooferment | Permalink
Posted by reinkefj
Reinke Faces Life 
You must be logged in to post a comment.