Saturday, February 21, 2009

Like his neighbor, the good old Governor of Louisiana, Barbour too will likely decline any funds to extend unemployment benefits in his state of Mississippi.

I guess his constituents will just have to bear the brunt of politics being played on their behalf, while some will not have money enough to feed their families, since jobs are tighter than a tick.

In an interview Friday, Barbour said he, too, would likely decline funds for broadening access to unemployment insurance.

“Subject to learning more, my position is that Mississippi won’t accept funds that require us to have a tax increase later, because [they would force] us to change our rules for qualifying for unemployment compensation,” he said.

Mississippi residents how do you feel about this? Those looking for a job, not able to find a job, and your governor plays partisian politics because he aspires to run for the presidency in 2012? While you, Mississippi residents are barely making it and can use that extension money for your family. This is politics at its worse.

The stench of the Bernie Madoff scandal has hit this country hard and heavy, with no indication of letting up. Now the confirmation, which many suspected is that Madoff never purchased stocks for his investors. In other words, many investors monthly statements were made up, fiction, a fairy tale. That is another dose of alcohol on running puss that just won't stop.

Investors wiped out by the Bernard Madoff scandal got more bad news on Friday: Investigators have confirmed suspicions that the monthly statements showing the disgraced financier was making stock trades for them were pure fiction.

[snip]

"There wasn't any stock bought or sold," said the attorney, David Sheehan. "It was all just made up. ... You got somebody else's money."

Which brings the real question to the front, "Why invest on Wall Street?" Really, why? Many folks did not know Madoff, personally, and many invested through brokerage companies which were suppose to investigate securities prior to investing. What happened here? Well, it is the good old "rich boys network" that happened. Since, Madoff was known in this community, many stood by him and vouched for his wonderful returns, while not lifting a finger to do the grunt work of really seeing if he can bring the returns back he claimed.

"There's a lot of frustration and fear because it doesn't feel like anyone is doing enough to help the individual investor," Bennett Goldworth said afterward.

The 52-year-old Goldworth said he had lost "several million," forcing him to put his Florida home up for sale and move in with his father in Manhattan.

One investor complained about both Madoff and the federal Securities and Exchange Commission, which has been harshly criticized for failing to detect the Ponzi scheme despite red flags raised to agency staff by outsiders over the course of a decade.

Raymond Spungin, 77, of Staten Island told Picard he had checked with the SEC before investing with Madoff in the early 1990s.

"They said Madoff was the greatest," he said. "We're the victims not only of Madoff but of the incompetence of the SEC." He and his wife believed they had $1.8 million in two accounts.

My thing is this, Wall Street and all these investment firms are a big ponzi scheme. These firms have made the public believe in their decisions, ethics with your money but trusting or guaranteeing nothing in return.

Right now, cash is king. And many are going to the old school practice, of going to the mattresses. The banks are not trustworthy or solvent, investment firms have taken a nose dive, the only capital if you have it is cash and why give it to all these jokers who have made very poor decisions to put this country where it is at today.

And Madoff? He is lucky, he is not swimming with the fishes. for real.

First lady Michelle Obama said Friday that the work of the Transportation Department touches the lives of every American and it will play a vital role in stimulating the country's economy.

Mrs. Obama also touted improvements in infrastructure that she said will come due to the $787 billion economic stimulus package her husband signed into law this week.

"Every day, you carry out the business of keeping America moving," Mrs. Obama told the agency's employees. "And now that President Obama has signed the Economic Recovery Plan into law, you will also help carry out the business of getting our economy moving again as well."

Friday, February 20, 2009

Miami Mayor Manny Diaz, who leads the U.S. Conference of Mayors, said he welcomed Obama's warning.

"Absolutely. We get called out every day at the local level," Diaz said, drawing laughs from other mayors in a gathering with reporters on the White House driveway. "We have plenty of constituents who will be doing that before the president does."

The GOP and Alan Keyes? This idiot delight is back with total misinformation? Who 'fer fecks sake is listening to him? Alan Keyes, the man who came to MY STATE, Illinois to challenge Barack Obama and he never laid his head on a pillow here? This idiot delight, who never WON AN ELECTION, gives anyone in the Republican Party, who is intelligent, a bad name.

I wrote earlier today that if the principled GOP, Republicans are so appalled by the stimulus bill, then don't take the money. This movement by Jindal to disenfranchise his unemployed constituents, even further, should have folks in that state saying more than "Hallelujah" but "Let's get Jindal out of office!!!"

When President Obama signed the Economic Recovery and Reinvestment Act last week, it included three different provisions to benefit unemployed workers. The first provided funding to states that allowed for a $25 per week increase in benefits. The second extended the Emergency Unemployment Compensation (EUC) program which gives 20 weeks of federally-funded unemployment benefits to individuals “who had already collected all regular state benefits,” while the third provision widened the pool of people eligible to receive unemployment benefits.

Today, however, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal announced his intention to oppose changing state law to allow his Lousiana citizens to qualify for the second two unemployment provisions. Jindal said the state would only be accepting money to increase the unemployment insurance payments for those who currently qualify for unemployment insurance.

In all, Jindal turned away nearly $100 million in federal aid for his state’s unemployed residents. Further, as the National Employment Law Project projected on Febuary 13, EUC extension alone would have benefited 24,981 Louisiana residents. Jindal justified his decision by claiming that expanding unemployment benefits would result in tax increases for businesses. read it all here.....

How will Jindal rectify, satisfy, explain denying to take money for his state to help unemployed workers? Because business told him too?

All I can write is this, "GOOD LUCK". The ads are being made as I hit the submit button.

And if you have not heard of the RICK RANT, a man who wants to be significant, view here.

Gibbs schools them at the presser, today.

"I also think that it’s tremendously important that for people who rant on cable television – to be responsible and understand what it is they’re talking about. I feel assured that Mr. Santelli doesn’t know what he’s talking about," Gibbs said during the daily White House briefing for reporters, .......read more here

My brother is on unemployment, as we were chatting a few days ago he told me that the state is not issuing live checks any longer, but the only option is debit card or your checking account.

My brother optioned the debit card because the last time he was on unemployment he ended up owing because they paid him too much. I asked why not direct deposit to his checking account? He said, "You must read the fine print. Unemployment can go into your account and withdraw any money, etc., for any mistakes they make." In other words, he did not want unemployment messing up his checking account with over draft fees.

Many in this country do not have checking accounts with banks and the way things are going now, I don't blame their choice. Banks now do credit checks before you can open a checking account and many in this country have hits on their credit. So, now the debit card.

The thing with this debit card is this, the card is not with a main stream bank, like Bank of America or J.P. Morgan, but an obscure bank that you never heard of in some out of the way place that you can't get to. So, here come the banking fees.

Bank of America, J.P. Morgan, etc., are charging from 3.00 on up to withdraw any money from their ATM machines which are on practically every corner. Oh, it gets better as my brother told me. The bank your debit card was issued for unemployment also charges an ATM fee because you did not withdraw the money from their ATM machine, which of course, is no where to be seen.

And the banks wonder why folks are livid with their practices which continue to dump on those struggling?

For hundreds of thousands of workers losing their jobs during the recession, there's a new twist to their financial pain: Even as they're collecting unemployment benefits, they're paying bank fees just to get access to their money.

Thirty states have struck such deals with banks that include Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp., JP Morgan Chase and US Bancorp, an Associated Press review of the agreements found. All the programs carry fees, and in several states the unemployed have no choice but to use the debit cards. Some banks even charge overdraft fees of up to $20 — even though they could decline charges for more than what's on the card.

"It's a racket. It's a scam," said Rachel Davis, a 38-year-old dental technician from St. Louis who was laid off in October. Davis was given a MasterCard issued through Central Bank of Jefferson City and recently paid $6 to make two $40 withdrawals.

The banks say their programs offer convenience. They also provide at least one way to tap the money at no charge, such as using a single free withdrawal to get all the cash at once from a bank teller. But the banks benefit from human nature, as people end up treating the cards like all the other plastic in their wallets.

The fees are raising questions from lawmakers who just recently voted to infuse banks with taxpayer money to keep them afloat. read more here....

When was the last time you saw free money, coming to you and you said no?

Yes, I thought so. Many will not say no, they will take the cash and quietly go away. But it is those who say NO that we remember.

Governors Sanford of South Carolina, Jindel of Louisiana, Perry of Texas and Barbour of Mississippi can go ahead and say no, but it will be at the peril of their constituents in their states.

There is no doubt or argument that those states listed above are hurting in the unemployment numbers, struggling with balancing their budgets and are from the regional reduced Republican Party.

No one is putting a gun to these governors head to take this money. So, let Louisiana continue languishing, since it has never recovered from Katrina. Allow the unemployment numbers to continue rising while Sanford in South Carolina is fighting inside his party for the far right. These are examples, just continue to do nothing. That money can be spread out to other states that are not shy in saying my budget is messed up, we are losing jobs, we need to keep cops and nurses on their beats, our roads are atrocious, the infrastructure in the state is as bad as that bridge that fell in Minneapolis. Don't take the money, other states will be more than happy to have it and their constituents want it.

This posturing for television is stupid. And this goes for all these Republicans, especially those in Washington, D.C. Don't go on television beating the stimulus package but go back to your districts as the ribbon is cut for a new project that you did not vote on. Don't say the money is wasteful spending but you as a governor accepts it then try to run for the presidency stating you created jobs for you state. These are examples of hypocrisy ads already being made.

If these governors, politicians deeply do not believe in the stimulus bill, don't take the money. Stand on your principle. We don't have a magic bullet or wand to say this will work, but to stand by and do nothing is catastrophic for this country. But in the end for these principled politicians, to try talking out of the side of your mouth and to play it both ways is hypocritical and you will be called on it. If you have not learned anything, remember this, the public is not asleep the waking giant has awaken and the public is watching and listening to you.

Thursday, February 19, 2009

Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele says his party is going to launch an "off the hook" public relations campaign that will update the GOP’s image by translating it to "urban-suburban hip-hop settings."

[snip]

“We need messengers to really capture that region — young, Hispanic, black, a cross section…” he said in an interview published Thursday. “We want to convey that the modern-day GOP looks like the conservative party that stands on principles. But we want to apply them to urban-surburban hip-hop settings.”

Man, oh, man.

Michael Steele does not understand the hip-hop movement. This is a movement that was out there en force for Barack Obama, a movement that has been around a very long time. Sugar Hill Gang, anyone? This is a community that don't like "fake assed" folk, period. So, to use the term hip-hop loosely is setting up Steele and the GOP for real responses, from the hip-hop community.

Can you just imagine all those "old white guys" lovin' up on Grammy Award Winner, Lil' Wayne? Tha Carter III? Gettin' crunk with the P$C Crew? Remember that crew won an Oscar, best song for Hustle n' Flow. Can you see the GOP talkin' 'bout beats with Missy, Pharell or Timbaland? Noddin' their heads to Beyonce while she is tellin' the guys, while shakin' her a$$, if you like my sh*t to put a ring on it? Please. Michael Steele has just made the GOP look incredibly desperate while attempting to embrace a culture that they don't give a damn about. And more importantly the YOUNG FOLK, know this.

rikyrah at jjp is right. Where was this mo-fo when Wall Street was begging for a bailout? When Wall Street said, "if we don't get a bailout the financial system will collapse?" And finally when Wall Street was the MAIN PROBLEM of the housing collaspe in this country. Yes, the main problem because they kept saying YES to many who had too much debt or could not afford these houses, instead of saying, "NO". In other words, they only cared about their bottom dollar and not the consequences of what could happen to this country until after the fact.

Again, two set of standards. One for the very wealthy in this country and one for the average worker. The love of money will get you every time, we see it got Wall Street.

Well, we will now have some elegant action. No one can say the Bush years were boring, but as far as entertaining they were like two old people. They only had 8 State Dinners in 8 years, and Bush was known to run to Camp David practically every weekend.

Now, we have a young vibrant couple in the White House. Let the entertainment, begin!!

President Obama and First Lady Michelle will give the first glimpse of their entertaining style Sunday night when they host a black-tie White House dinner for the National Governors Association.

The East Wing, run by the First Lady has been working on the details of the dinner for several weeks.

It is the debut for White House Social Secretary Desiree Rogers, the Chicago executive and friend of both the President and First Lady.

"The White House is the place where our bond as Americans is strengthened," said Rogers in a statement. "We look forward to welcoming the nation's governors to celebrate our democratic ideals, our diversity, our shared values and the best of the American spirit."

The evening will feature performances by the Marine Corps band and Earth Wind and Fire, the jazz and rhythm and blues group from the 1970s with Chicago roots.

If you did not know, the President will visit Prime Minister Steven Harper in Ottawa today. This is considered a working trip and the President will be in Canada for about six hours.

President Barack Obama will leave today for Canada -- his first foreign trip as president -- where he is expected to discuss trade and the environment with Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

A top Obama aide said this week that the president's main message to Harper will be to reassure Canadians that the United States intends to maintain a robust trading relationship with its neighbor.

"This is no time to -- for anybody to give the impression that somehow we are interested in less rather than more trade," said Denis McDonough, deputy national security adviser. "And that's what -- that's the message that he'll underscore."

McDonough said the discussion will include some reassurances from Obama that "Buy American" trade provisions inserted into the economic stimulus legislation the president signed this week will not adversely affect trade. read more here

No Surprise. Let's just hope she has no tax issues and the Obama Folks have learned a thing or two about, vetting.

President Obama has settled on Gov. Kathleen Sebelius of Kansas, a key ally with a record of working across party lines, as his top choice for secretary of health and human services, advisers said Wednesday.

Should she be nominated, Ms. Sebelius would bring eight years of experience as her state’s insurance commissioner as well as six years as a governor running a state Medicaid program. But with Mr. Obama about to begin a drive to expand health coverage — an issue on which the parties have deep ideological divisions — her strongest asset in the White House view may be her record of navigating partisan politics as a Democrat in one of the country’s most Republican states.

I posted Mayor Bernero's video yesterday from 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. He schooled them ALL about the disparity of the working man and Wall Street. Damn right, what has Wall Street given up? Because they for DAMN SURE, have not given up their damn checks, have they? And here they are at the taxpayers till AGAIN, for more money to help them fix their 'effed up books due to the mortgage meltdown.

It appears part of President Obama's housing plan is to force the bailout banks to cut mortgage payments. Btw, Obama is announcing the housing plan in Arizona, today. This could work, since these banks have cut lending, while still taking our tax payer's money to clean up their mismanagement mess.

While many are grasping the stimulus package, the housing mess is something everyone in this country fully understand. Some in congress felt Obama should have addressed this first, my take, it does not matter. Many things have been left for Obama to clean up by the Bush Administration, the housing mess is just one on the list to be addressed.

President Obama’s plan to reduce the flood of home foreclosures will include a mix of government inducements and new pressure on lenders to reduce monthly payments for borrowers at risk of losing their houses, according to people knowledgeable about the administration’s thinking.

The plan, to be announced Wednesday, is expected to include government subsidies for reducing a borrower’s interest rate, which a lender would have to match with its own money.

But officials cautioned that subsidies for lower interest rates would not in themselves help many troubled homeowners, because lenders were still likely to view many of those borrowers as bad risks and refuse to restructure their loans. As a result, they have been casting about for sticks as well as carrots to persuade the lenders to take part.

Exactly what kind of pressure Mr. Obama would bring to bear remains unclear. One possibility is a stepped-up effort to enact legislation that would give bankruptcy judges new power to restructure mortgages and reduce a borrower’s payments.

The part I emphasized above should be read with caution by every American. If we want out housing prices to stop falling, foreclosures to stop in our neighborhoods, short-sells to cease, the Obama Administration will have to give these lending institutions or bailout banks some type of incentive to restructure these loans, bad debt or toxic assets sitting on their books.

We don't like these banks right now. Many of us feel dumped on by Wall Street and their greed, I feel all of this, but if you want your home price to stabilize then a deal will have to be made. These banks, as of now, have no obligation to homeowners who got tricked into these funny mortgages, homeowners who got greedy flipping homes, or homeowners with their second or third vacation home who can not afford the payments now.

Folks, a deal will have to be cut and we in the end will have to take it.

This is the website where every dollar of the stimulus package can be tracked state-by-state. This site is important because for the first time transparency of where the tax payer's dollar is in full view. Any questions we may have can be addressed in D.C. and in our own state.

There is also a cool time line of when payments will be disbursed to each state. There is also a link, here, to read the full American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, which I still call the stimulus bill.

The President has made it clear that every taxpayer dollar spent on our economic recovery must be subject to unprecedented levels of transparency and accountability. He has identified five crucial objectives for Federal agencies, to ensure that:

Recovery funds are awarded and distributed in a prompt, fair, and reasonable manner;

The recipients and uses of all recovery funds are transparent to the public, and that the public benefits of these funds are reported clearly, accurately, and in a timely manner;

Recovery funds are used for authorized purposes and every step is taken to prevent instances of fraud, waste, error, and abuse;

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

This mayor is SPOT ON. We have to keep throwing money to these greedy Wall Street financiers who drove their companies to where they are at and throw more money on these bailout banks which are flaming out by the day, while the Auto Industry is fighting for its life. Again, pissing on the middle class worker.

I stood up for Burris getting this senate seat, not because I believe he could win in 2010, I stated that I believed he could not, but because the process was legally right. Though many of us did not like Blagojevich picking a senator, it was his right at the time to do so, since he was not indicted nor convicted of anything. It stunk of high heaven, but the law is the law and the senate in D.C. had to deal with it.

Now this. What Blagojevich did was criminal for the Democratic Party and State of Illinois, but what Burris did to get this seat is equally as bad. Burris stated that he did not participate in no 'quid pro quo' but now he has revised his statement several times since this story broke Saturday. Should an ethic investigation commence? At this point, who cares? The damage is done. One thing we hoped that Burris was bringing to getting seated as the junior senator was closure of this mess, but more importantly his name and credibility being clean. It is not.

The race for President Obama's seat is wide open. And will the Republican candidate win? Who knows, but for a once safe seat for Democrats has gone to a tossup with a bunch of hotmess attached all over it.

There are pragmatic Republicans and there are the just say "NO" D.C. Republicans.

Governors all across this country must balance their budgets and with times as tight as they are this is a hard thing to do now. If budgets are not balanced, programs are cut, this means jobs are lost.

With this in mind, many must realize that unbeknownst to us, we use state services every day. Whether dropping our kids off at school, getting our streets fixed, going to a hospital for emergency, much of these services are paid out of the state monies. This is why many Republican governors have broken with the say "NO" crew in Washington, D.C. and have backed the Obama Stimulus Package.

These states are relying on this help and have been asking for help since Bush was in office, but to no avail from his administration. With this help these states can retain teachers, state workers, work on state projects, etc.

So, there really is a divide going on in the Republican Party. When Charlie Crist introduced Barack Obama last week in Florida, the GOP was so angry they probably could have taken a gun out and shot him. But the thing is this, Crist don't care what these state or D.C. Republicans have to say, his constituents liked the move. The thing is this, folks want action not the same finger pointing that has happened for the past 8 years out of Washington, D.C., with the same old gridlock.

So, while the Republicans and GOP continue the same old stuff of the old, this is what Barack Obama is doing. Listening.

Mr. Douglas in January sought a meeting with the new administration at the White House office that is a liaison to governors. Instead, he got an Oval Office meeting with Mr. Obama.

When reporters briefly came in — the two men flanked the fireplace just as presidents and foreign heads of state typically do — Mr. Douglas praised Mr. Obama for his leadership. The stimulus bill “might be a little different” if he had written it, the Republican said. “But the essence of a recovery package is essential to get our nation’s economy moving.”

And when George W. Bush was in office?

Privately, Republicans favorably contrasted Mr. Obama with the outgoing Republican president, George W. Bush, according to two participants.

Though Mr. Bush had been a governor — in good economic times — his relations with state executives were distant at best. Amid a downturn early in the decade, he unsuccessfully opposed $20 billion for the states. Last fall, he resisted some Republicans’ pleas for aid.

For many in state government, Obama is really change you can believe in.

As these are great pictures, the reality is that now some Republicans are out in their districts touting the money coming in their districts for jobs, these are the same Republicans who voted against the stimulus package in the House of Representatives. Expect many ads out called "hypocrisy" in 2010, if this package works as many anticipate it will. Lastly, since the Republican Party of NO wanted nothing to do with President Obama, they surely wanted his autograph.

Though the Republicans did not vote for the stimulus package, they hover around for Obama's autograph

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