All posts in Economy

JIB JAB FOR COLORADO POLITICS: Eric Weissmann Releases Video Hitting Jared Polis On Insider Trading

by Admin on April 2, 2012 in Colorado, Crony Capitalism, Disfunctional Congress, Economy with No comments

by: ColoradoPeakPolitics

With videos as well done as this one, the insider trading allegations could become a defining attribute of the race. The charges are based, in part, on a book by investigative reporter Peter Schweizer.

Schweizer, author of the book “Throw Them All Out,” detailed how Polis was making substantial equity investments in Bridgehealth, a medical tourism company, while supporting the passage of Obamacare. Medical tourism will naturally benefit if the U.S. sees the rationing of care other countries have when healthcare is nationalized.

“Don’t worry Grandma, I know we can’t get you a knee replacement here, but you can get it in India AND see the Taj Mahal!”

Outside the world of Congress, personally financially benefiting from insider information is called “insider trading”…but in Congress there is no such prohibition.

Eric Weissmann realizes this race will be an uphill battle, and since YouTube is the second-largest search engine after Google, getting his messaging into that space is critical. If Weissmann continues to use this kind of thoughtful approach to his entire campaign, Jared Polis should be more than a little nervous about his reelection prospects.

 

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Another $17 trillion surprise found in Obamacare

by Admin on March 30, 2012 in Economy, Obama's Economy, Obama's Radical Ideology, Obama's Transparency, Obamacare, Tyrrany with No comments

Via: The Daily Caller

AP Photo

Senate Republican staffers continue to look though the 2010 health care reform law to see what’s in it, and their latest discovery is a massive $17 trillion funding gap. “The more we learn about the bill, the more we learn it is even more unaffordable than was suspected,” said Alabama Sen. Jeff Sessions, the Republican’s budget chief in the Senate. “The bill has to be removed from the books because we don’t have the money,” he said. The hidden shortfall between new spending and new taxes was revealed just after Supreme Court justices grilled the law’s supporters about its compliance with the Constitution’s limits on government activity. If the court doesn’t strike down the law, it will force taxpayers find another $17 trillion to pay for the increased spending. The $17 trillion in extra promises was revealed by an analysis of the law’s long-term requirements. The additional obligations, when combined with existing Medicare and Medicaid funding shortfalls, leaves taxpayers on the hook for an extra $82 trillion in health care obligations over the next 75 years. The federal government has an additional $17 trillion unfunded gap in other obligations, including Social Security, bringing the total shortfall to $99 trillion. The shortfall is different from existing debt. The federal government already owes $15 trillion in debt, including $5 trillion in funds borrowed during Obama’s term. That $99 trillion in unfunded future expenses is more more than five years of wealth generated by the United States, which now produces just over $15 trillion of value per year. The $99 trillion funding gap is equal to almost 30 years of the the current federal budget, which was $3.36 trillion for 2011. The new $17 trillion funding gap is five times the current federal budget. Currently, the Social Security system is $7 trillion in debt over the next 75 years, according to the Government Accountability Office. Also, Medicare will eat up $38 trillion in future taxes, and Medicaid will consume another $2o trillion of the taxpayer’s wealth, according to estimates prepared by the actuarial office at the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The short-term cost of the Obamacare law is $2.6 trillion, almost triple the $900 billion cost promised by Obama and his Democratic allies, said Sessions. The extra $17 trillion gap was discovered by applying standard federal estimates and models to the law’s spending obligations, Sessions said. For example, Session’s examination of the health care law’s “premium support” program shows a funding gap $12 billion wider that predicted. The same review also showed the law added another $5 trillion in unfunded obligations for the Medicaid program. “President Obama told the American people that his health law would cost $900 billion over ten years and that it would not add ‘one dime’ to the debt… this health law adds an entirely new obligation—one we cannot pay for—and puts the entire financing of the United States government in jeopardy,” Sessions said in a floor speech. “We don’t have the money… We have to reduce the [obligations] that we have.” Follow Neil on Twitter Read more: http://dailycaller.com/2012/03/30/another-17-trillion-surprise-found-in-obamacare/#ixzz1qcgpama1

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National Data | January Jobs: Half of New Jobs Go To Immigrants—96% (!) To Hispanics

by Admin on February 4, 2012 in Economy, Illegal Immigration, Immigration, Obama Propaganda, Obama's Economy with No comments


Via:VDARE, By Edwin Rubenstein

January’s Jobs/ Unemployment data has been greeted with euphoria by the Democratic Party/ Main Stream Media (to the extent that the two can be distinguished). Example:

Jobs jump: A 2012 game-changer?

By Alexander Burns and Ben White, Politico.com. February 3, 2010

President Barack Obama hasn’t unfurled a “Mission Accomplished” banner just yet.

But Friday’s jobs report showing unemployment dropping to 8.3 percent, the lowest level of his presidency, is an unexpected boon for Obama’s reelection bid and a serious hurdle for his top competitor, Mitt Romney, who has staked his campaign on a jobs-and-economy message.

January was indeed a “game changer”—but not in the way portrayed. The displacement of American workers by immigrants (and of all races by Hispanics) reached unprecedented levels.

U.S. companies hired 243,000 workers—the most in nine months. The U.S. unemployment rate fell to 8.3% according to the government’s survey of employers—the lowest level in nearly three years. After months of better than expected gains, this surprised even the most cockeyed optimist.

But VDARE.com’s analysis starts with “other” employment survey, of households rather than businesses. The Household Survey is rarely headlined in the MSM. To do so would reveal inconvenient truths about the race, ethnicity, and nativity of new “American” workers.

According to the Household Survey, an astounding 847,000 jobs were added in January—the largest monthly gain in nine years.

That’s the good news. The not-so-good, or at least thought-provoking, news: an astonishing 96% of those jobs went to Hispanics—although they are only 15% of the workforce.

VDARE.com’s original American Worker Displacement Index, which we now call VDAWDI Classic, compared Hispanic and non-Hispanic job growth since January 2001 as a proxy for immigrant displacement of American workers. Just look at the January 2012 pop in Hispanic employment:

In January 2012:

  • Total employment rose 847,000 (+0.60 percent)
  • non-Hispanic employment rose 33,000 (+0.03 percent)
  • Hispanic employment rose 814,000 (+3.93 percent)

In percentage terms, Hispanic employment grew 131 times faster than non-Hispanic employment. The brutal explanation: Hispanics, immigrant and native-born, are systematically more willing to work for less.

Hispanic employment is interesting, but of course it was just a proxy for our primary interest: the displacement of native-born workers by immigrants. Our analysis of the Household Survey indicates that 414,000, or 49%, of January’s new jobs went to immigrants. That is more than three times their share of the labor force (16%). Native-born employment grew by 433,000.

Immigrant employment grew by 1.83% in January. Native-born employment grew by 0.37%.  At these rates, immigrant employment will double in just 39 months, while native-born employment will take 196 months to double. That’s 16 years.

Since January 2009—the month Barack Obama took office—data on foreign- and native-born employment has been included in the monthly employment report. Coincidence or not, this means we can piece together the monthly points to track the long-term impact of Mr. Obama’s policies.

To calculate our New VDARE.com American Worker Displacement Index (NVDAWDI), we set native-born and immigrant employment when President Obama assumed office in January 2009 at 100 each. From that January to this January immigrant employment rose by 6.6%—pushing the immigrant employment index up to 106.6. Over the same period, native-born employment declined by 1.7%, reducing the native employment index to 98.3. We then take the ratio of immigrant to native-born employment indexes and multiply by 100.

Bottom line: the January 2012 NVDAWDI is 108.4—or 100 times 106.6 divided by 98.3.

NVDAWDI (the yellow line) spiked to an Obama-era record in January.

Resurgent American worker displacement is also confirmed by comparing the seasonally unadjusted figures for January 2011 and January 2012.

Employment Status by Nativity, Jan. 2011-Jan. 2012
(numbers in 1000s; not seasonally adjusted)
Jan-11 Jan-12 Change % Change
Foreign born, 16 years and older
Civilian population 36,294 37,593 1,299 3.6%
Civilian labor force 24,517 25,156 639 2.6%
     Participation rate (%) 67.6% 66.9% -0.7% -1.0%
Employed 21,928 22,803 875 4.0%
Employment/population % 60.4% 60.7% 0.3% 0.5%
Unemployed 2,589 2,353 -236 -9.1%
     Unemployment rate (%) 10.6% 9.4% -1.2% -11.3%
Not in labor force 11,777 12,437 660 5.6%
Native born, 16 years and older
Civilian population 202,410 204,676 2,266 1.1%
Civilian labor force 128,019 128,329 310 0.2%
     Participation rate (%) 63.2% 62.7% -0.5% -0.8%
Employed 115,671 117,141 1,470 1.3%
Employment/population % 57.1% 57.2% 0.1% 0.2%
Unemployed 12,348 11,188 -1,160 -9.4%
     Unemployment rate (%) 9.6% 8.7% -0.9% -9.4%
Not in labor force 74,391 76,347 1,956 2.6%
Source: BLS, “The Employment Situation – January 2012,” February 3, 2012. Table A-7. PDF

Over the past 12 months:

  • Immigrants gained 875000 jobs, a 4.0% increase;  native-born workers gained 1,470,000 positions, a 1.3% increase. ADVANTAGE IMMIGRANTS
  • The foreign-born working age population increased by 3.6%; the comparable native population increased by 1.1%. ADVANTAGE IMMIGRANTS
  • The unemployment rate for immigrants fell by 1.2 percentage points; the rate for immigrants fell by 0.9 percentage points. ADVANTAGE IMMIGRANTS
  • The immigrant labor force increased by 2.6%; the native-born labor force increased by 0.2%. ADVANTAGE IMMIGRANTS

At VDARE.com, we’ve been following immigrant displacement of native-born American workers for over seven years. Of course, it’s a scandal that in that time the concept has not become part of the MSM labor reporting template—we don’t require credit. I urge VDARE.com readers to point this out in MSM comment threads. Let us know if you’re censored. But the ultimate question is: why has no GOP Presidential candidate raised the question—especially as they have no other ideas about reducing unemployment.

Edwin S. Rubenstein (email him) is President of ESR Research Economic Consultants

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Record 1.2 Million People Fall Out Of Labor Force In One Month, Labor Force Participation Rate Tumbles To Fresh 30 Year Low

by Admin on February 3, 2012 in Economy, Obama Propaganda, Obama's Economy with No comments

Via: Zero Hedge

A month ago, we joked when we said that for Obama to get the unemployment rate to negative by election time, all he has to do is to crush the labor force participation rate to about 55%. Looks like the good folks at the BLS heard us: it appears that the people not in the labor force exploded by an unprecedented record 1.2 million. No, that’s not a typo: 1.2 million people dropped out of the labor force in one month! So as the labor force increased from 153.9 million to 154.4 million, the non institutional population increased by 242.3 million meaning, those not in the labor force surged from 86.7 million to 87.9 million. Which means that the civilian labor force tumbled to a fresh 30 year low of 63.7% as the BLS is seriously planning on eliminating nearly half of the available labor pool from the unemployment calculation. As for the quality of jobs, as withholding taxes roll over Year over year, it can only mean that the US is replacing high paying FIRE jobs with low paying construction and manufacturing. So much for the improvement.

Chart below shows it all – that jump is not a fat finger!

And Labor Force Participation:

This is the largest absolute jump in ‘Persons Not In Labor Force’ on record…and biggest percentage jump in 30 years.

Chart: Bloomberg

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Obama’s Quiet War on Employers

by Admin on January 28, 2012 in Economy, Marxism, Obama's Economy with No comments

Via: Big Government, by Dan Danner

Imagine for a moment that you are a small-business owner looking to hire a new employee. As tough as the economy has been, you’ve managed to put your firm on track to expand.Now imagine facing a lawsuit for requiring perhaps one of the most basic qualifications for job applicants – a high school diploma. You don’t have to imagine that last part. It’s now an unfortunate reality thanks toguidance recently issued by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.The “informal discussion letter” states that requiring a high-school diploma as a qualification for employment may violate the Americans with Disabilities Act, which the EEOC enforces. Therefore, an employer must prove a high school education is “job related and consistent with business necessity,” or face potential fines or lawsuits brought under ADA.Employers should take note. Despite this being an “informal” letter, EEOC investigators and trial lawyers will undoubtedly use this to their advantage. It continues an unfortunate pattern of federal agencies quietly making policy and stepping up enforcement on small businesses for the slightest missteps.Take the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, for example. The agency plays an important role in setting standards for safety in the workplace, but, since President Obama has taken office, OSHA has shifted from a focus on compliance assistance to a regimen of heavy fines for violators. The agency’s statistics show they are issuing far more costly fines and requesting more money in the federal budget for enforcement.

OSHA chief David Michaels brags that the average penalty more than doubled in 2011 from the previous year not only to punish violators, but to set an example to entire industries. The only example he’s setting is that it’s a bad time to start or expand a business. His words and OSHA’s actions reveal a government operation that is completely out of touch with the economic reality faced by small businesses today. He’d rather shut down a business to set an example than help them comply, grow, and thrive.

I’d be remiss not to mention another group, appointed by President Obama, that is having a significant, negative impact on the American economy: the National Labor Relations Board. Conceived as an impartial arbiter between labor and employers, it has transformed into a pro-union advocate under President Obama’s leadership. One recent example, in a favor to labor unions, is the NLRB’s decision to issue a potentially unconstitutional rule requiring all private sector businesses to prominently post something that amounts to an instruction guide for employees on how to unionize. NFIB is suing to have the rule overturned.

The decision that made the NLRB downright infamous in the job-creating business community was, of course, their complaint last year against Boeing. It nearly stopped the company’s ability to open a new plant in South Carolina, a right to work state.

The government has come to think it’s in the business of telling small businesses what’s right or wrong for them. Bureaucrats in obscure federal agencies are under the impression that they know better than job creators. This amount of meddling in the private sector is absurd as the economy attempts a recovery from one of the worst recessions in history – the government is absolutely the last group we should trust with the well-being of private businesses.

It makes you wonder why the Administration would guide its agencies to manipulate and punish employers at the worst possible time in our economy. By President Obama’s logic, he’s making things better for workers. In reality, he’s creating an atmosphere of fear and apprehension among small businesses wishing to expand, which has a chilling effect on employers, slowing potential job creation. That’s not good for workers and it’s terrible for the economy as it shows signs of bouncing back.

Small businesses want to comply with the law, but thanks to an ever-changing labyrinth of workplace rules and regulations, it’s nearly impossible. There are new traps being set every day to prevent them from creating jobs.

The Administration knows that backdoor rulemaking and punitive enforcement on small businesses won’t attract big headlines, or even much attention from Congress in some cases. In doing so, they are quietly picking winners and losers. Sadly, the losers are the nation’s biggest job creators, job seekers, and the economy as a whole.

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LIGHTBULB. ENDGAME. HERE IT IS . . .

by Admin on January 28, 2012 in Agriculture, Corruption, Crony Capitalism, Economy, John Corzine, MF Global, Obama's Economy with 1 Comment
POSTED BY ANN BARNHARDT
Okay, okay. Yeah, I can be a little slow at the switch sometimes, but NOW I think I get it. MF Global. The CME. The big banks. The Fed. The Federal regulatory bodies. Okay. It’s all tied together. Behold the endgame, courtesy of Reuters:“Clearing houses: the next casualty of the crisis?”Last two sentences:

 Ultimately what began as regulatory push to force transparency in over the counter markets may end up being a more fundamental reform of the clearing house sector itself.“In an ideal world there would be a single global, not for profit, CCP backed by all central banks,” said Orchard.

Sorry. I wasn’t thinking on a large enough scale. I tend not to – I’m a micro economist and small business owner with no aspirations (past, present or future) to ginormousness. I don’t think in these terms – but there it is.

The point of MF Global and all of the subsequent activity, which looked positively suicidal, was to bring ALL FINANCIAL MARKETS on the planet under the control of a single clearing EXCHANGE owned by the a single global banking entity comprised of the central banks, i.e. the Federal Reserve and the European Central Bank.

And who populates, owns and runs the central banks? The big banks. Goldman. JPM. UBS. I thought the banksters only wanted to take over the FCMs and brokerage houses. It didn’t occur to me that they not only wanted to be the only game in town for execution and clearing, but they also want to be the EXCHANGE ITSELF. They want to run, own and control absolutely EVERYTHING.

Just theorizing here now, but it seems to me that the best way to bring such a scheme to fruition would be to plant one of your boys in a major FCM, have him raid the customer seg funds, go out of your way (change rules and laws on the fly, abolish all precedents, file fraudulent BKs) to make sure the customers hang and are profoundly damaged, then use the contrived “crisis” to gin up a call for massive centralization.

This is what these rat-bastards do. They create crises and then before it is all over, they have the sheeple BEGGING THE OLIGARCHS to take over and enslave them in the name of “rescue”, “protection”, “security” and “salvation”. Am I the only person who has ever read the history of the Soviet Union?

No wonder Corzine is brazenly shopping for office space in Lower Manhattan. This mess isn’t wrapping up – they’re just getting started. Corzine was first to bat and got on base just as he was supposed to. We’re still at the top of the inning with a man on base and no outs. Oh, and the umps are all on the take and the strike zone is about the size of a saucer.

————————————————–

On a similar note, here is a URL for a Wall Street Journal piece titled, “MF Global Probe Focuses on Back Office”.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203735304577164670090033702.html

In one of the first interviews I did on MF Global – maybe Andrea Shea King on 11/21/2011? – I was asked if it was possible that a low-level staffer was responsible for any of this. I said at that time that NO, this was NOT the doing of some $40k per year treasury clerk in Chicago, but that I suspected that eventually Corzine et al would attempt to pin this on some poor back office grunt.

It looks like that process is starting. And this is EXACTLY how Marxist-Fascist oligarchs operate. They view the working grunts in society as nothing more than economic units with one purpose and one purpose only. They use the lower class and the lower-middle class (the proletariat) in order to achieve power. They gin up class warfare and government dependency among these people. But they really DESPISE them. They claim to be their champion, but as soon as the proletariat is no longer needed, they are liquidated and exterminated like the vermin that the oligarchs consider them to be.

Here is what they are going to eventually try to do. They are going to find the person who actually, physically keypunched the wire transfers from the customer seg funds to the proprietary trading accounts at JP Morgan.

Let me describe that person to you. That person is probably something like a single mother with a high school diploma or GED who rides the Orange Line into the Loop every morning from the Southside. Her entire job is to sit at a desk in a cubicle with a computer terminal which logs in to the Fed wire transfer system. She is handed pieces of paper or emails all day that are set up in a template that request wire transfers. The template contains the source MF Global account number and the wiring instructions of the destination and the dollar amount. She has absolutely no fathom which accounts are which. She is just a data-entry clerk. Her job is menial and repetitive, but she is happy to have it because it is steady, relatively secure (or so she thought) and has health insurance benefits for her kids. Needless to say, this person has ZERO motive to carry out one of the largest financial crimes in history. None. This person doesn’t even understand WHAT all of these accounts trade or why they exist at all. All this person understands is how to do their very specific job, which is to send wire transfers. To the contrary, this person is probably keen to keep their job in the midst of this economic depression and not make any clerical mistakes, and enter the data into their terminal quickly and accurately.

In that last week of October, this menial back office wire clerk was handed or emailed wire transfer requests that looked exactly like all of the other transfer requests she had handled that day and every other day. She entered the account numbers and the money was sent out of the customer seg accounts to JP Morgan – and we know it was JPM and that JPM knew exactly what was going on because they specifically sent a letter to MFG requesting confirmation that the source accounts were NOT customer seg funds. Uh, talk about the most obvious CYA maneuver in the history of the world. Give me a break.

These Marxist-Fascist jackals are probably now planning, as we speak, to frame and send up the river some poor, innocent back office person. And that is the real point I want to drive home. These people are psychopaths and view other human beings as utterly disposable pawns in their game. Think about that. Think about Corzine and the rest sitting around a table with a bunch of attorneys calmly discussing sending an innocent person or people to prison as scapegoats for their crimes. Think about the strategy of repeatedly stating that “Tonya Jefferson” (or whoever) is the person who physically sent the wires, and thus is responsible. Think of how black and evil a heart a person would have to have to do such a thing.

Watch this carefully. IF this plays out and they try to destroy and imprison a back office staffer or staffers who OBVIOUSLY had no material part in this . . . well, let’s just say that wars have been fought over less. MUCH less.

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SHOCK REPORT: TARP FRAUD GROWS, FEDS ADMIT TAXPAYERS ‘WILL NEVER GET BACK’ BILLIONS OF DOLLARS

by Admin on January 27, 2012 in Economy, Fiscal Responsible Government, Obama Propaganda, Obama's Economy, Obama's Transparency with No comments

Christy Romero, Deputy Special Inspector General and acting Special Inspector General for the federal bailout program known as TARP (SIGTARP.gov)

Via: The Blaze

U.S. taxpayers are still owed nearly $133 billion that companies haven’t repaid from the financial bailout, according to a quarterly Special Inspector General Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP) report. The report also states that as of December 31, 2011, the Treasury has “written off $4.2 billion and realized losses of $7.8 billion that the taxpayer will never get back,“ and that it ”predicts losses on other TARP investments.”

But perhaps this shouldn’t come as a surprise. After all, some programs were designed as a “Government subsidy with no return to taxpayers,” according to the report.

Of the $700 billion Congress authorized for the bailout of financial companies and automakers, also known as the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP), approximately $413 billion has been lent. Of the $413 billion, the government has allegedly recovered about $318 billion, or about 77 percent of it, according to the Associated Press.

However, although 77 percent sounds pretty good, keep in mind that the TARP bailouts, which were launched at the height of the financial crisis in September 2008, will continue to exist for years.

According to SIGTARP report:

TARP programs that support the housing market and certain securities markets are scheduled to last until as late as 2017, and Treasury can spend an additional $51 billion on these programs during those years.

“TARP is not over,” Christy Romero, the acting special inspector general for the $700 billion bailout, said in a recent statement.

But perhaps even more troubling than the prospect of the continuation of the bailouts or the massive amounts of taxpayer dollars being “written off” is the fact that SIGTARP continues to uncover TARP-related fraud.

While the mainstream media has kept itself busy reporting that a large chunk of the TARP money has been returned, it has failed to report that the known instances of TARP-related fraud hasincreased since SIGTARP’s January 2011 report.

Consider the following [all emphases added]:

Jan. 2011: “As of December 31, 2010, SIGTARP had 142 ongoing criminal and civil investigations…”
Jan. 2012: “As of December 31, 2011, SIGTARP had more than 150 ongoing criminal and civil investigations…”

Jan. 2011: There were “criminal convictions of 13 defendants for fraud”
Jan. 2012: There were “criminal convictions of 31 defendants, of whom 22 have been sentenced to prison (others are awaiting sentencing)”

Jan. 2011: SIGTARP reported “civil or criminal actions against 45 individuals to date, including 22 senior officers (Chief Executive Officers, owners, founders, or senior executives)”
Jan. 2012: SIGTARP reported “criminal actions against 61 individuals, including 45 senior officers (CEOs, owners, founders, or senior executives) of their organizations)”

Jan. 2011: There were 12 “civil cases naming…corporate entities as defendants”
Jan. 2012: There were 18 “civil cases naming…corporate or other legal entities as defendants…”

Now, to be clear, SIGTARP reports are released quarterly and the above is an annualcomparison. However, whether it’s a matter of 3 or 12 months, the increase in known TARP fraud is still troublesome. And while it’s laudable that SIGTARP has prosecuted and convicted a good number of these financial thieves, it is unsettling to see that that number continues to grow with each report.

It would seem that FBI Director Robert Mueller was correct when he predicted that TARP fraud would become the “next wave of financial fraud cases.”

But before we get lost in these numbers, let’s revisit that part about companies who have yet to repay their debts. Who still owes?

“Among the largest bailed-out companies, American International Group Inc. [AIG] still owes taxpayers around $50 billion, General Motors Co. owes about $25 billion and Ally Financial Inc. about $12 billion,”  the AP reports.

General Motors Co. still owes about $25 billion? That’s odd. It seems that just yesterday someone was touting the Detroit auto manufacturer as the very model of economic success.

Where does that put us? Billions of taxpayer dollars “written off” and an increase in known instances of TARP fraud. Is there any other bad news in the SIGTARP report?

Actually, there is.

“Treasury bailed out companies in the form of loans. It converted its loans to some of the biggest recipients into common shares in those companies,” the AP reports. “Those shares are now trading below Treasury’s break-even prices.”

What does this mean?

“For Treasury to sell its stock in the largest recipients at the price where taxpayers would break even — $28.73 a share for AIG, $53.98 for GM — it could take years,” the AP reports.

Considering that AIG’s shares closed Thursday at $25.14 and GM ended at $24.72 (Ally isn’t publicly traded), the AP is probably correct.

“We’ll continue to balance the important goals of exiting our investments as soon as practicable and maximizing value for taxpayers,” Treasury spokesman Matt Anderson said.

While that’s supposed to sound reassuring, the bottom line is still this: billions of dollars have been “written off” by the Treasury, SIGTARP is uncovering more cases of TARP-related fraud, and it could take years for the Treasury to offload the stock from the biggest bailout recipients.

Read the Full SIGTARP report here.

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Obama’s Failing Record: The Numbers Do Not Lie

by Admin on January 27, 2012 in Economy, Obama's Economy with 1 Comment

Via: Big Government, by Joel B. Pollak

Following President Barack Obama’s self-congratulatory State of the Union address, Rep. Dave Camp (R-MI), chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, produced a simple chart that tells the real story of the Obama administration:

America Before President Obama Took Office and Now

  Before Now Change
Number of Unemployed1 12.0 Million 13.1 Million +9%
Long-Term Unemployed2 2.7 Million 5.6 Million +107%
Unemployment Rate3 7.8% 8.5% +9%
“High Unemployment” States4 22 43 +95%
Misery Index5 7.83 11.46 +46%
Price of Gas6 $1.85 $3.39 +83%
“Typical” Monthly Family Food Cost7 $974 $1,013 +4%
Median Value of Single-Family Home8 $196,600 $169,100 -14%
Rate of Mortgage Delinquencies9 6.62% 10.23% +55%
U.S. National Debt10 $10.6 Trillion $15.2 Trillion +43%

For more, and for references, visit the House Ways and Means Committee website here.

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Obama: People Don’t Get Rich On Their Own, They’re Successful Because Of The Federal Government…

by Admin on January 27, 2012 in Capitalism, Class Warfare, Economy, Obama Propaganda, Obama's Economy with 1 Comment

Via: Weaselzippers, He’s about as clueless as it gets.

(Fox News) — President Obama tells a college audience that people don’t get rich on their own. Obama’s point that without government and paying your fair share, ultimately the successful wouldn’t be able to get where they are.

“We do not begrudge wealth in this country. I want everybody here to do well. We aspire to financial success, but we also understand that we’re not successful just by ourselves,” President Obama said at a campaign event in Ann Arbor, Michigan on Friday morning.

“We’re successful because somebody started the University of Michigan. We’re successful because somebody made an investment in all the federal research labs that created the internet. We’re successful because we have an outstanding military that costs money. We’re successful because somebody built roads and bridges. And laid broadband lines and these things didn’t just happen on their own. And if we all understand that we’ve got to pay for this stuff, it makes sense for those of us who’ve done best to do our fair share and to try to pass off that bill on to somebody else, that’s not right. That’s not who we are,” he said.

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AUTHOR: BUFFETT MAY HAVE BEEN INVOLVED IN CONGRESSIONAL INSIDER TRADING SCANDAL

by Admin on November 22, 2011 in Creeping Communism, Crony Capitalism, Economy, Tyrrany with 2 Comments
So you think the Congressional insider trading scandal is bad, right?

It might get worse.

Similar to some members of Congress, billionaire philanthropist and market speculator Warren Buffett has allegedly been using an “informational advantage” to make bets and investments on the market.

The man who once said, “Through the tax code, there has been class warfare waged, and my class has won,” might have been investing in the markets with information that only he and a select few had been given access to.

Peter Schweizer, whose book Throw Them All Out details Congressional insider trading, sat down with the staff of Business Insider to discuss Buffett’s part in this.

 

If this is true, and Buffett was given said information simply because of his close partnership with the government, then this could explain some of his mysterious third quarters investments, specifically his investment in IBM (he rarely, if ever, invests in technology). For those unfamiliar with the Congressional insider trading scandal, see Blaze Editor-in-chief Scott Baker interview Peter Schweizer on GBTV to get a better idea of the whole story:

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