Memo to Obama: Stop Playing the Economic Shell Game
If you lent someone money and that person offered to pay you back early and with interest, you’d take it, right? Not the Feds. They don’t want to take back your money, they want to lend you more. The Feds don’t have much common sense when it comes to the mood of the country. They don’t get it. We are waiting for the other shoe to drop.
Last Tuesday, David Kellerman, the acting CFO for Freddie Mac committed suicide. I had a flashback for a moment to early in the Clinton administration when White House Counsel Vince Foster committed suicide. What was so horrible, what piece of information so controversial, that it led men with so much to offer to think the world was better off without them? We may never know.
In the banking world, many have discovered it isn’t nice to have a partner the size of the Federal government. In fact, many of the banks didn’t want to take TARP money but the government – and particularly former Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson — didn’t want consumers to know which banks were in trouble, so they strong-armed the other banks into taking money they didn’t need. Right now, some of those banks want to pay back the money — our money — and the Feds don’t want to take it. This is a typical government practice but counter-intuitive to basic business principles.
There is about $110 billion dollars left in the TARP fund. The problem is there’s very little evidence that this program is working. While some banks are showing profits, many think the numbers are just being moved around to reflect a profit, the progress is all smoke and mirrors, and it won’t last. Now President Barack Obama’s economic team thinks it can avoid asking for more money from Congress if it converts loans made to banks to common stock. Having the Federal government as the major stockholder in the nation’s banks scares me and it should scare you. The government as shareholder means the Feds can determine hiring, salaries, and a whole host of other issues. Many of us like the idea of the government controlling corporate executives’ salaries, but what about when they cap everyone’s salaries?
“Many of us like the idea of the government controlling corporate executive’s salaries…”
Are you one of the “us”?
(And I think that would be “corporate executives’ salaries”….)
I knew when I was 15 that if you take money from someone, you are under that person’s power. I really have trouble believing that the bankers who took the money are REALLY THIS STUPID that they thought they could ask the government to leave the house whenever they got tired of them as “guests”.
If they ARE that stupid, they need to get out of banking.
Realized as soon I hit submit that they ARE getting out of banking. They are now just clerical staff. The government is the bank.
“Many of us like the idea of the government controlling corporate executive’s salaries, but what about when they cap everyone’s salaries?”
This falls under the heading of “be careful what you wish for…” Only a fool wishes for the government to overstep its Constitutionally mandated bounds. Unfortunately we have been a nation of fools for a very long time.
I’m with you Martha. Let the banks fall. Let the newspapers fall. Let the automobile-industry fall. They are useless gobblers. Oh, yeah, and let the liberal Democrats and RINO hacks fall in 2010.
The TARP money isn’t working because Americans arent’ a “good investment” to banks right now. Why invest in something that only gives you a 1 or 2% return or less? The only thing that will make Americans a good investment is a strong and confident economic outlook. The only thing that will begin to produce a strong and confident economic outlook is strong and confident leadership. This is what’s missing. This is what’s truly ruining America. I don’t care how “popular” a person is with the average population – if they aren’t good at leadership the popularity doesn’t matter much.
Hey; It’s not a game; Obama has a “gift”! And it’s wrapped in incompetence.
One board, no waiting. Paging Sean Hannity. Hate to think you’re hiding in any way, shape, matter or form. Paging Mister Hannity. Children of vets want, need, desire support and assistance from good Americans. Paging Mister Hannity. All set up here – towels. water, a plank. Ready to go here. Paging Sean Hannity. Is that you under the desk, Sean? Awwww, you’re shaking. It’s OK. Oh, sorry, Greta, thought your were Sean Hannity. Paging Mister Hannity. Need a hero over here, STAT!
The United States government has been captured by the large banking cartels that finance their social welfare experiments; they will use taxpayer dollars to support them, that is until they cannot, and then the FDIC will have no $ to cover deposits. That’s when things fall apart.
There is a limited amount of money to spend, and if they guess wrong, the whole thing goes down. And no one knows what the assets in the hideyholes of the banks really look like because the Feds and the banks are intentionally concealing those facts (though smart money has done the algebra, and figured out the missing part of the equation).
Incidentally, Sean Hannity is a moron, and is in way over his intellectual pay grade. Every time I hear him speak, I wince, and long for someone with a brain (paging Dr. Sowell) to take his mic away. He should be teaching 10th grade social science at a public school in Los Angeles.
Is it just me or does it seem that the troll known as “backatcha” is some sort of ‘bot, he (it) has posted the same thing on almost all of the entires for the last couple of days. the #7 entry above has appeared on at least four other PJM articles comments section today. I’m not a fan of banning but this idiot needs to stay on topic or be sent away.
On topic, take a look at the moves re: GM, the run amok government is taking over every losing business in this country. Do they think that these corporations can be made to be profitable?
If these bozos were around a hundred years ago we would still have a blacksmith in every town, living on the government dole and doing nothing constructive (or profitable).
Sound familiar??
Now the guy’s got the Government as a partner. Any problems, he goes to the Government. Trouble with the bill? He can go to the Government. Trouble with the cops, deliveries, anyone, he can call the Government. But now the guy’s gotta come up with the Government’s money every week no matter what. Business bad? F… you, pay me. Oh, you had a fire? F… you, pay me. Place got hit by lightning huh? F… you, pay me.”
Funny how similar our government is to a bunch of “Goodfellas” ???
Montisquieu: Yep, once your in with the Mob your “part of the mob”. They even have cool mob nicknames:
Barry “The Reader” O-bama
Joe Joe “The gaffer” Biden (O-biden for short)
Rahm “The Ballerina” Emanual
Johnny “Rubberface” Murtha
Barney “Sylvester” Frank
Davie “Da Brains” Axelrod
Bobby “Stonewall” Gibbs
Timmy “The Shylock” Geithner
Hillary “Kankles” Clinton
Arlen “Two Face” Spector
And let us not forget where “The Reader” gets his orders from:
George “Don Teleprompter” Soros
Feel free to add or improve …
Katheline “the Cleaner” Sebelius. She makes bloody messes (like thousands of illegal abortions and a life by years sentence for violating state law) disappear. For the right price, of course.
I feel so much better knowing President Obama is on the job, fighting the evil rich bankers and the subversive conservatives. It’s about time you evil rich people stopped being so greedy and send me some money. I need a new TV. A brand new, big screen digadal job. That would be sweet! President Obama’s gonna make you rich b***ards buy me one. I could use some new jewelry and a car. I’m sure President Obama will help me out. The President is just trying to help us poor people by making you evil rich people pay us to be poor. What’s not to understand? Besides, name me one, just one republican who looks halfway as good as President Obama does in a swim suit. Gotcha!!!
14 marsha . . . Lose your binky?
12. politech: . . . Feel free to add or improve …
I’ll take “improve” for a thousand, Alex:
John “The Flaccid” Boehner
Mitch “Don’t Ask Why I Left the Navy After Nine Weeks” McConnell
Lindsay “I Only LOOK Gay” Graham
Sean “Charity Can Wait” Hannity
Bill “Get My Pipe Up” O’Reilly
Michael “Yo Yo “Steele
Sarah “Who’s Pregnant Today?” Palin
Rush “The Junkie” Limbaugh
Newt “The Serial Philanderer” Gingrich
Bobby “I Blew My Future With One Speech” Jindal
Britt “Deputy Dog” Hume
Eric “How Much for Those Britney Tickets” Canter
Matt “I Like Eggs Sex” Drudge
Ann “The Man” Coulter
And let’s not forget who they get their orders from . . . Roger “The Whale” Ailes
sheesh: Those are excellent!
Here are a couple more…
John “Breck Girl” Edwards
John “bomb bomb Iran” McCain
Pardon my partisanship slip!
Once any politician gets to D.C. they quickly become part of the “Family”
Fertile ground to be sure.
Though I should point out sheesh, The media types in your list are more like the loose women that hang around the mobsters. Sure they’re nasty, but they only get what’s inside the wallet if they provided some services.
But I will grant that like a mob moll, they should get a grapefruit mashed into their mugs every now and again.
So much criticism of Obama. But what is our alternative?
May I humbly suggest that Sheila Bair, head of FDIC, would make a worthy opponent in 2012. Her views are fact-based, her stage-presence is superior to that of President Obama, her intellectual achievements and personal history are available to public view, she has run for office in the past, her values are mainstream, and she has a grasp of economic issues that is so advanced that she leaves Obama in the dust. She can win, becoming America’s first female American president.
Is there someone on this blog who can press the Republican power to consider her as a realistic option?
Unfortunately, other than Brad Sherman (D) and a small handful of Republicans, very few conservatives seem to get economics either. Hopefully Tom McClintock (R) will arrive and explain it to them. The conservatives should be on the offensive, but it’s kind of hard when you sold out for 2 terms to giant deficits, Henry Paulson, a .com bubble followed by a hyperinflated housing bubble, and then TARP. The Republicans have plenty to hang their heads about; they lack all credibility. Sigh.
Show Obama, Reid and Pelosi the tea party protests were not “astroTurf” but they were the beginning of a massive movement against massive Government growth and the control that comes with it. Tell them to Empower Individual Americans to take responsibility for their own lives and for the individual to have control over the direction of our country Sign the petition for Individual Empowerment!!! http://www.PetitionOnline.com/Indv1776/petition.html THE ONLY WAY THIS WILL WORK IS IF YOU COPY AND SEND IT TO FRIENDS AND FAMILY THAT HAVE THE SAME OPINIONS AS YOU. ALSO COPY AND POST IT ON OTHER NEWS SITES, BLOGS, EMAIL IT TO ORGANIZATIONS ETC