Our own dog whistles

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Friday February 03, 2012 · 12:43 PM PST

2012/02/03 · 12:43

Why can't we refer to Mitt Romney as "policy polygamist" given his multiple stances on various public policy issues?

Why can't we link Newt Gingrich and Hayley Barbour (Barbour was RNC chairman in 1994) and refer to the "Barbourous" era in Republican politics

Why can't we say that Sarah Palin is promiscuous with the facts (I have no idea what that means, but it sounds good)

Foodstamps 102, Gingrich, Media

barry s

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Sunday January 22, 2012 · 6:00 PM PST

2012/01/22 · 18:00

Second attempt at this diary.

Under George W. Bush, the number of people on 'food stamps' increased 95%

In his first term alone, the number of people on 'food stamps' increased by 45%

Under William J. Clinton, the number of people on 'food stamps' dropped by 45%

The concern for work ethic seems to be an new phenomenon in SC. In 2004 and 2008, the massive increase in people on 'food stamps' didn't matter in their choice for President.

Also, the total spent on 'food stamps' since 1969 is around $850 billion. In January 2009 (days before the inauguration of the Kenyan Muslim Terrorist Socialist), Bush II provided nearly $500 billion in taxpayer guarantees to the share holders of Bank of America and Citibank. In two days, Bush (the favorite of the SC voters) handed more than half the money spent on 'food stamps' over the previous 40 years. The good people of South Carolina rightly blame the Kenyan Muslim Terrorist Socialists for what happened prior to his inauguration.

I dare anyone in the media to ask why the people of SC twice voted for a 'man' under whom the number of 'food stamp' recipients doubled and who handed over $500 billion in taxpayer money to two banks (one of which has a big influence in the economy of SC).

The link for any member of the media

Treason Thy Name is GOP

Foodstamps 101 for Fatboy and the Media

barry s

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Sunday January 22, 2012 · 1:50 PM PST

2012/01/22 · 13:50

In FY 2001 (The AWOL Drunk is cowering in his bunker), 17.3 million people on 'food stamps'

In FY 2009 (OBL is still enjoying the good life in a Pakistani military cantonment and his tab picked by the US taxpayer), 33.7 million people on 'food stamps'

An increase of 95%during the regime of our MBA/War Hero President.

I dare a single news source to do this basic analysis and confront Fatboy with the numbers.

But Fatboy rests comfortably knowing John King and Erin Burnette don't know how to use a search engine.

And also have a member of the media point out to Fatboy that in the days before the inauguration of Obama, Bush gave $500 billion in free insurance to the share holders of Citibank and Bank of America. In two days, Bush gave 20 years of what was spent on 'food stamps' to two private enterprises.

What created more jobs Bain or the US govt?

barry s

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Saturday January 14, 2012 · 11:32 AM PST

2012/01/14 · 11:32

The debate over 'free markets', 'job creation at Bain Capital' is akin to debating the role played by Bozo the Clown in drafting the Constitution.

Other than GOOPERs and their fellow travelers in the media, everyone knows that the US Government is largely responsible for our modern economy. The transcontinental railroad, the telegraph, Panama Canal, land grant universities, airplanes, airlines, transistors, computers all result from the heavy hand of the federal government. We are indeed fortunate that the Saint Ronald of Reagan and the Nawab of the GOP, Grover Norquist were not around in the 19th century.

And it is not just the US government. This continent was discovered when the Spanish Government funded Columbus' voyages. The Bain Capitals of the 15th century would only provide a portion of the funds needed. Queen Isabella gave the rest.

Alexander Graham Bell started what became Bell Labs with a grant from the French government.

Transistors, delta wing technology, jet engines were all developed in Germany with the assistance of both the pre-war and Nazi governments.

Silicon Valley exists because of the federal government. MIT and the UCal systems were started with land grant funds from the federal government. The research that led to transistors came form funds provided by the War Department to counter and then improve radar.

The missile and space program provided both the seed funding and customers for the nascent computer (both hardware and software) industries.

Alas, the Saint Ronald of Reagan, voters in the US South, the Nawab and the Begum Grover Norquist have done their best to impair the greatest generator of jobs the world has ever seen.

McNamara, Bush, Romney

barry s

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Tuesday January 10, 2012 · 1:53 AM PST

2012/01/10 · 01:53

All this talk from Gov. Romney about how he can directly apply the skills he acquired at Bain Capital in creating 100,000+ jobs reminds me of the hubris exhibited by Robert McNamara in the 1960s and our first MBA President, Bush II and the horrors their policies inflicted on the world.

Romney actually combines the worst traits of McNamara and Bush. McNamara and Romney differ from Bush in that they both had a record of success in the private sector that elevated their sense of confidence. Romney sounds as if he actually believes that he personally created 100,000+ jobs. Romney and Bush are similar in that they both grew up as sons of privilege yet believe themselves to be self made men. Romney sounds as if he actually believes that growing up as the son of the chairman of AMC and the governor of Michigan gave him no advantages in life.

Regardless, the record of the last 60 years shows that attempting to implement policies and procedures that might have worked in the private sector have had catastrophic consequences when used to implement foreign or domestic policy.

Indeed, the mindset of a private sector tycoon is the opposite of what is needed in government

What venture capitalist invested to create the transcontinental railroad, lay telegraph lines, build the Panama Canal, electrify the Tennessee Valley, send a man to the moon? The venture capitalists were around back then and they shunned the very projects that made the USA the great economic power. Go back even further, venture capitalists could not fund Columbus' voyage in 1492. The risks were too great. Let us be grateful that Queen Isabella did not have the VC mindset of a Gov. Romney.

Private sector experience is equally irrelevant in prosecuting wars. MBAs are taught that any problem can be solved by throwing enough resources. Alas, we learned from Vietnam and Iraq and Afghanistan that is not always the case.

At, least I hope that the American voter has learned that lesson.

Pres Obama's new Mortgage Plan -- the Truth

barry s

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Monday October 24, 2011 · 6:27 AM PDT

2011/10/24 · 06:27

President Obama is set to announce a new mortgage plan where homeowners home values far below their mortgage principal balance will be allowed to re-finance at lower rates.

The GOOPERs, the media, the Wall Street Welfare Queens will rail against 'socialism'. Rick Santelli will scream that George Washington never would have tolerated such an action and will wax nostalgic about how Ronald Reagan never bailed anyone out.

The reality is this -- the plan is a nothing more than a backdoor bailout of Bank of America. Right now, BAC faces massive losses from mortgage 'put backs' -- Fannie/Freddie can demand payment from fraudulently issued mortgages by Countrywide. That number totals in the tens of billions. Any mortgage that is re-financed now will have its 'put back' extinguished. And the new mortgage has no 'put back' provision.

This is yet another massive transfer of wealth from the taxpayer to the banks.

For the life of me, I can't understand why President Obama would sign off yet another bailout of the banks and get hit by the right.

Zombie Lies, Glass Steagall, GOOPER Shills

barry s

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Thursday October 20, 2011 · 6:38 PM PDT

2011/10/20 · 18:38

I find it hard to stomach all the lies being spread regarding Glass Steagall, Community Reinvestment Act, GSEs, etc. There is a diary here WoW! that contains so much distortion, it is hard to begin where to start. But I will try.

1) Repeal of Glass Steagall had nothing to do with the credit crises. First, Lehman, Goldman, Morgan Stanley, Bear Stearns, AIG were never covered by Glass Steagall. Second, banks were given the right to underwrite mortgage securities in April 1987 (when, according to the GOP, Bill Clinton was running drugs out of that airport in Arkansas). Citibank (note the word "bank") had a massive mortgage underwriting operation by the middle of 1987.

2) The decision to exclude swaps from CFTC regulation did not cause the credit crises. The CFTC only regulates trading of these instruments -- they have no control over pricing, risk taking etc. The CFTC has no authority to tell a bank they can't sell credit derivatives beyond a certain level. That is the job of the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency and the FDIC -- neither of which had anything to do with the Commodity Modernization Act.

3) Repeal of Glass Steagall has nothing to do with the ability of banks to trade derivatives. Banks have been trading currency derivatives sine 1973, interest rte derivatives since 1978 and credit derivatives since at least 1993. Banks have been taking on credit risk forever. The notion that Glass Steagall prevented banks from taking on credit risk borders on the insane.

4) Repeal of Glass Steagall as nothing to with the FDIC guaranteeing derivatives. That goes back to the Reagan Administration.

5) Loans to person not of white skin had nothing to do with the credit crises. The massive lending started in 2004 -- 24 years after Jimmy Carter left office and 4 years after Bill Clinton left office.

6) Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac did not cause the credit crises. Their obligations were never the obligations of the taxpayer. Every issuing document since 1970 made that point. Whatever losses Fannie and Freddie suffered would have been the problems of those who invested in their paper -- not the taxpayer.

The facts are simple: banks went crazy in 2004 because we had an AWOL drunk in the Oval Office. The GOOPER regulators at the SEC/FDIC/OCC let the banks run amuck. When things got tough for the banks, the AWOL drunk socialized their losses onto the backs of the taxpayer. And the GOOPER have the indecency to blame everyone for their own venal incompetence. And many here lend them tacit support.

Herman Cain, Mitt Rommney, Michele Bachman, et al are liars and fools. Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush (and those who voted for them) are responsible for this mess.

BAC has no shame and Obama's Moment of Truth

barry s

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Tuesday October 18, 2011 · 4:07 PM PDT

2011/10/18 · 16:07

The venal incompetents at Bank of America are shamelessly attempting to foist but literally tens of trillions in derivatives exposure onto the back of the taxpayer.

Like A Thief in the Night

Bank of America Corp. (BAC), hit by a credit downgrade last month, has moved derivatives from its Merrill Lynch unit to a subsidiary flush with insured deposits, according to people with direct knowledge of the situation.

The FDIC is opposing the move while the FED favors the move. The brain trust at BAC simply says that we don't need no stinkin' approval.

No doubt Erin Burnett, Rush Limbaugh will claim this a boon for the taxpayers. Cain, Mitts, Bachman will say this is bad and blame Jimmy Carter for not anticipating this in in 1979.

This is President Obama's Inchon, his Battle of Britain, his Emancipation Proclamation, his Louisiana Purchase.

The President should order his Secretary of Treasury to announce that the FDIC will seize control of BAC forthwith if the derivatives are moved to the backs of the taxpayer from the bank holding company. Further, the FDIC will use all resources of the United States of America to recoup any loss to the taxpayer from the assets of any officer with rank of Senior Vice President or above or any director or board member. And to protect the interests of the USA, the assets of all board members and executive officers of BAC are hereby frozen pending further review.

BAC can avoid these steps by immediately certifying to the FDIC that no derivatives positions have been transferred from the bank holding company to the bank.

This one action will send a signal that were are a nation of laws and forever eliminate the shameful 'too big to fail' that has hung like a sword of damocles over the taxpayer.

Why Can't We Just Tell the GOOPers the Truth?

barry s

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Thursday October 13, 2011 · 3:11 PM PDT

2011/10/13 · 15:11

The speech someone should give,

My Fellow Americans,

We are in the midst of the worst economic crises since the great Depression. However, the GOP would have us believe that we are in this mess because of entitlement programs, illegal immigration, legalized contraception, voter fraud, laziness and shiftlessnes on the part of minorities, gay marriage, policies implemented by Jimmy Carter and Grover Cleveland.

Alas, the real reasons are much simpler: George W. Bush launched two wars without proper funding and didn't win either one. His advisers warned him that he was underestimating the costs of the war. His advisers warned him that he was underestimating the level of troops needed to occupy Iraq. He ignored that advice to our peril -- not his.

Even earlier, our brave men and women had Osama bin Laden surrounded at Tora Bora. Our commanders asked for additional support. None was forthcoming from a man whose idea of courage is flying combat missions over the skies of Plano Texas in 1969. The killer of thousands of Americans was allowed to escape to a comfortable life in Pakistani resort.

How many lives would have saved had Osama bin Laden had been captured 'dead or alive' in the fall of 2001?

We now face not only the direct costs of his foolish, ill conceived adventures, we also face the indirect costs. All these have added trillions of dollars to our national debt. And his own economic advisers said that the cost would be in the trillions!

The price of oil has soared. The price of oil was $23.00 a barrel when G. W. Bush was selected by the U. S. Supreme Court to fill the highest office in our great nation. Look at a chart of the price of oil since our misadventure in Iraq. That, my fellow Americans, is the price we have to pay every day for George W. Bush's folly.

True, George W. Bush also destroyed the nation's financial infrastructure in 2008. However, that pales in comparison to his foolish actions from 2001-2007.

To those who would say the Democratic Party supported George W. Bush, I would only ask -- have you no sense of decency?

Until and unless we accept that the fault lies with George W. Bush and the people who twice voted for him, we cannot move the nation forward.

I thank you for your time.

Simple Solution to End Tax Payer Bailouts Wall Street

barry s

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Saturday October 08, 2011 · 1:46 AM PDT

2011/10/08 · 01:46

We can end forever the periodic trillion dollar bailouts (invariably by a GOP President) of Wall Street. It is a 'free market' solution that should give a woody to the Ayn Randers (well, maybe not) and requires no legislation. The rule:

The FDIC shall hold personally responsible any employee of an FDIC insured institution (Or any institution that borrowed from any FRB discount window) who received more than $250K in total annual compensation (salary + bonus + benefits) in the previous seven years for any loss that threatens the financial health of that institution.

Under this rule, Jamie Dimon, Ken Lewis, Brian Monynihan, John Thain even Hank Paulson, all the traders at Merrilll Lynch, Morgan Stanley,Goldman Sachs, etc. would pay dearly for what they inflicted on the American taxpayer. They actually would have skin in the game. The FDIC could have gone back to 2005 to get money back from the traders at Merrill Lynch that came close to bringing down Bank of America.

You will suddenly see a major upgrade in internal risk management systems. Banks will suddenly exit the credit derivatives market with an epiphany that there is risk in these markets. Suddenly systems will crop up to deal with rogue traders. You will suddenly see institutions wanting to leave the FDIC system.

This is a variant of a rule that existed for nearly 4 decades in the Savings and Loan industry until the Saint Ronald of Reagan repealed it in 1982 (on the orders of Jimmy Carter, no doubt).

We will, of course, see crocodile tears shed by the likes of Erin "Brains" Burnett and Rush "Man Tits" Limbaugh about the exodus of 'talent' from the banking industry.

I will, regardless, submit the rule in writing to the Nawab of the GOP, Grover Norquist, for his consideration.

Erin "Brains" Burnett is a fool

barry s

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Friday October 07, 2011 · 2:28 PM PDT

2011/10/07 · 14:28

when she claims we made money on TARP. Leaving aside the technicalities (such as the truth), she fails for a single moment to consider the risk of the transaction.

Your buddy takes a $5.00 bill from you, tosses it on the path of an oncoming commuter express train and says he'll pay you $1.00 if you retrieve your own five dollar bill. You comply and just make it back barely missing the oncoming express. He gives you $1.00.

Then Erin "Brains" Burnett says, "Wow! you just made 20%!!! What a deal. Much better than you would have in the stock market. Aren't you one shrewd investor! How can you not be happy? Don't you know anything about trading/investing"

Someone should tell the official network of the Tea Baggers that risk adjusted return is not that difficult a concept

Reagan, Norquist, Steve Jobs

barry s

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Thursday October 06, 2011 · 11:14 PM PDT

2011/10/06 · 23:14

I fully understand the tributes paid to Mr. Jobs but wonder how much more he could have accomplished if the the philosophies of St. Ronald of Reagan and the Nawab of the GOP, Grover Norquist had credence back in the day.

1) Land Grant Universities. The Saint and the Nawab surely would not have allowed the federal government to start a nationwide network of technical education institutes that provided the brain power for the Industrial Revolution and the computer revolution. The government is not the solution. The Saint and the Nawab would no doubt say that Liberty Baptist would provide the needed staff who understood the meaning of 666.

2) Computers. The computing industry was supported and subsidize by the devil -- the US government. It was orders from the Satan's fallen angels -- Defense Dept, NASA, Commerce to IBM, Remington, UNIVAC that provided sustenance to the embryonic industry. The government also demanded that federally insured banks computerize. The Saint and the Nawab would be shocked at this intrusion into to natural functioning of free markets.

3) Space Program. This massive government program produced much of the computer technology still in use today. And --- it was all funded by the taxpayers and run by civil service employees. The Saint and the Nawab would be aghast that money that could be used to subsidize tobacco farmers and provide for abstinence education was being so shamefully spent.

4) Foreign Aid. Yet another waste of taxpayer money was spent on funding universities in third word countries where brown people were taught un Christian subjects like physics and calculus. The Saint and the Nawab did their best to curtail these efforts. Alas, the money wasted prior to the 1980s helped India produce engineers whose work at Sun, Intel, Microsoft, Apple, Motorola, Apollo, Bell Labs prevented free markets from functioning and produced no benefit to the United States. Would that the money spent on foreign aid have been spent at Bob Jones University.

One wonders how much more the giants of the private sector could have accomplished if the Saint and the Nawab had been around 100 years earlier.

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