Monthly Archives: September 2009

Bailout Propaganda Begins

Nearly a year after the federal rescue of the nation’s biggest banks, taxpayers have begun seeing profits from the hundreds of billions of dollars in aid that many critics thought might never be seen again.

via As Biggest Banks Repay Bailout Money, the U.S. Sees a Profit – NYTimes.com.

It was inevitable that the same people who pushed through the multi-trillion-dollar bailout of Wall Street would come out later on and tell us what a great idea theirs turned out to be, in retrospect and under the light of evidentiary examination. And we’re getting that now, with a pair of reports, the above one in the New York Times and another in the Financial Times, telling us the bailout is working because the government has made some money on TARP. They came to this conclusion by quoting Fed officials, who apparently calculated how much interest the Fed earned on TARP investments above what it would have earned on T-bills. The amount so far, according to these worthy gentlemen: $14 billion.

This is sort of like calculating the returns on a mutual fund by only counting the stocks in the fund that have gone up. Forgetting for a moment that TARP is only slightly relevant in the entire bailout scheme — more on that in a moment — the TARP calculations are a joke, apparently leaving out huge future losses from AIG and Citigroup and others in the red. (Read more from trueslant.com)

Establishment backing over Trey Grayson over Rand Paul for KY senate

On September 23rd, 23 US Senators are holding a $500 per plate fundraiser in Washington DC for Trey Grayson. This deck stacking favoritism in a hotly contested GOP primary is unacceptable!

Join in the fight and help Rand Paul deliver a knock out punch to establishment republican candidate Trey Grayson on the same date!

(Read more from dailypaul.com)

Cindy Sheehan Protesting Obama’s Illegal Wars Of Aggression

My dear liberal friends,

These wars are Obama’s now. If you hated Bush for bringing us these wars, what do you say now about Obama?

Cindy Sheehan, the famous anti-war protester who used to set up camp outside George Bush’s Crawford Ranch, is at it again. This time she’s on Martha’s Vineyard, and the war that’s got her all riled up has a new Commander In Chief.

“The reason I am here is because … even though the facade has changed in Washington D.C., the policies are still the same,” Sheehan said. (Read more from therobalution.com)

American Bankruptcies 1994-2009

This is from abiworld.org:

Quarterly Business Filings by Year (1994-2009)

Year 1st Quarter 2nd Quarter 3rd Quarter 4th Quarter Total
1994 13,858 13,617 12,878 12,021 52,374
1995 13,123 12,216 12,648 12,891 51,878
1996 13,388 13,992 13,198 12,887 53,465
1997 13,831 13,991 13,456 12,653 53,931
1998 12,410 11,552 10,346 9,888 44,196
1999 9,180 10,378 8,986 9,020 37,564
2000 9,456 9,243 8,211 8,413 35,472
2001 10,005 10,330 9,537 10,013 40,099
2002 9,775 9,695 9,433 9,500 38,540
2003 8,814 9,331 8,446 8,294 35,037
2004 10,566 8,249 7,574 7,778 34,317
2005 8,063 8,736 9,476 12,798 39,201
2006 4,086 4,858 5,284 5,586 19,695
2007 6,280 6,705 7,167 7,985 28,322
2008 8,713 9,743 11,504 12,901 43,546
2009 14,319 16,014

Fed survey shows US recession may be over

Economic activity is stabilizing or improving in the vast majority of the country, according to a new government survey, adding to evidence that the worst recession since the 1930s is over.

The Federal Reserve’s snapshot of economic conditions backs predictions by Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke and most other analysts that the economy has started to grow again in the current quarter.

In the survey released Wednesday, all but one of the Fed’s 12 regions indicated that economic activity was “stable,” showed “signs of stabilization” or had “firmed.” (Read more from news.yahoo.com)

Ha!

Children’s books about our dear leader, chairman Obama

Here is the description, direct from the Publisher’s Website:

Ever since Barack Obama was young, Hope has lived inside him. From the beaches of Hawaii to the streets of Chicago, from the jungles of Indonesia to the plains of Kenya, he has held on to Hope. Even as a boy, Barack knew he wasn’t quite like anybody else, but through his journeys he found the ability to listen to Hope and become what he was meant to be: a bridge to bring people together.

a few choice paragraphs:

His mama, white as whipped cream; his daddy, black as ink…

He was there in Chicago because he cared about these people. They were his family. People in Kenya were his family. Indonesians were his family. And no matter where he was, the world was his home. And who he was could be summed up in one word: loveable.

and

When Barack wasn’t studying he liked to jog along the Hudson River. He couldn’t help but notice the river of hurt and hate and history that separated blacks and whites. Being both, he could not take sides. Don’t worry, said Hope. I will be your bridge. In time you will be the bridge for others.

but that’s not all, there’s more:

When his classes came to an end, he raced to Chicago to join hands with the church, to learn new lessons: Not how to be black or white, but how to be a healer, how to change things, how to make a difference in the world.

of course, no book about Vladimir Lenin would be complete without talking about his days in the trenches as a community organizer:

The work was grueling, with stretches of failure, and puny patches of success. Door-to-door Barack went, early mornings, late nights, pleading and preaching, coaxing strangers to march together, to make life better for everyone. He worked hard as a farmer, planting the words “Yes, we can!” like seeds in spring.

but that’s not all, there’s still more good stuff:

Before Barack chased his future, he visited his past, traveling to Kenya to find his family, his father’s bones, and his own place in the circle of Africa…Finally, Barack knelt in the soil at his father’s grave, listening to the still, small voice that spoke to his heart: Go now. Fly free. Become the man you were meant to be. Live in hope.

Having gotten the blessings of his father’s spirit, Barack set forth…

Hope may be slim and beautiful, but she is no weak thing…[Barack] proved it again when all of Washington, D.C., wondered what this skinny kid with the funny name could offer a nation in need. But the hope that lived in Barack burned bright, and on the night he became a senator, everybody felt the flame.

but that’s not all! He had a date with destiny, and:

One sun-drenched day, as his wife Michelle stood by, Barack smiled on a sea of faces from Wichita to Waikiki. He saw whites and blacks, rich and poor, Christians and Muslims and Jews; he saw the ghosts of his parents, of Gramps and Toot, of Martin Luther King, Jr. and JFK. And on that special day Barack was the bridge that held them all together. “I want to be your president,” he said. “Can we make America better? Can we work together, as one?” With a single voice the crowd called out, “Yes! We can!”

And that’s just one book. I personally think we need to change the calender to BB (Before Barack) and AB (After Barack). I mean it is undeniable that the man is the second coming. But, that’s not all, let’s look at the other tome on Barack Obama for children:

(Read more from aipnews.com)

The National Park’s Service’s Million Dollar Out-House

THEY DON’T EVEN FLUSH!!! If the national parks department can pay a million dollars for an outhouse, how much do you think the national healthcare system will pay for hospitals?

“Heading to a national park this holiday weekend? As I reported before, if you go to the right one, you may have the privilege of using a million-dollar outhouse.

In Pennsylvania, the National Park Service built a one-seater outhouse that looks more like a chalet than a toilet.”

“When the government spends your money, they decide local slate isn’t good enough. The slate must be imported from Vermont.

They must use flower seed that costs $700 a pound. The outhouse must have windows and a porch. Why does an outhouse need a porch? And of course, the paint must be epoxy that costs $78 a gallon.

When the smoke cleared, more than $780,000 had been spent to build the outhouse. How did they spend that much? Well, bureaucracy costs money.

It took more than a dozen Park Service engineers and architects two years to design the outhouse. That cost over $100,000. Then to oversee the project, a supervisor from Denver lived onsite in Pennsylvania for about a year. That cost another $80,000.

Then they had to get environmental approvals and meet all government construction rules. That meant hiring minority-owned firms; size requirements mandated by the Americans With Disabilities Act; and paying union-like construction wages. It adds up.

And it gets worse. In Montana, the Park Service has built a four-hole outhouse. The cost: One million dollars. Give me a break. ” (from blogs.abcnews.com)

Madoff Claimed He Was “On The Short List” To Be Next SEC Chairman

The crooks are in charge.

Bernard Madoff once boasted that he ‘was on the short list’ to be the next chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission, according to a report issued Wednesday by the agency’s internal watchdog.

The blistering report offers new details into how the agency missed the multi-billion-dollar Ponzi scheme.

Madoff’s claim came during a 2005 interview with agency investigators. The report doesn’t detail whether Madoff’s claim was ultimately verified but it did note that Madoff told the investigators that Christopher Cox — the now-disgraced former SEC chairman — would be appointed to the position ‘a few weeks prior’ to the official announcement. (Read more from huffingtonpost.com)