Joe's Stuff

545 People

2008-08-20T19:54:00.001-07:00

By Charlie Reese

Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.
Have you ever wondered why, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered why, if all the politicians are against inflation and
high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does.
You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does.

You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.
You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.
You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme
Court justices 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly,
legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic
problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the
Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress.
In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a
sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason.
They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a
senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-picking thing.
I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash.
The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what
the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to
determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what
they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con
regardless of party.

What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.

The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives
for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the
speaker of the House? She is the leader of the majority party. She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million can not replace
545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts of incompetence and
irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is
not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the
plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal
government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to
exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.
If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red.
If the Army & Marines are in IRAQ , it's because they want them in IRAQ.

If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan
not available to the people, it's because they want it that way.
There are no insoluble government problems.

Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and
whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they
can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and
from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con
you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like
'the economy,' 'inflation,' or 'politics' that prevent them from doing
what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.

They, and they alone, have the power. They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees.

We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess!

Time For some Campaignin'

2008-08-05T17:52:00.000-07:00

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Americans Showing Their Clout!

2008-07-29T17:56:00.001-07:00

Oil hits 7-week low on demand worries, dollar gain

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Jul 29, 4:10 PM (ET)

By STEVENSON JACOBS

(AP) Graphic shows the price of crude oil; 1c x 3 inches; 46.5 mm x 76.2 mm
Full Image

NEW YORK (AP) - Oil prices tumbled more than $2 a barrel Tuesday,
finishing at their lowest level in seven weeks as a stronger dollar and
beliefs that record prices are eroding the world's thirst for energy
sparked another dramatic sell-off.

The drop - which surpassed $4 a barrel at one point during the day -
was a throwback to oil's nosedive over the past two weeks and
outweighed supply concerns touched off by a militant attack Monday on
two Nigerian crude pipelines. It was oil's seventh decline in the last
10 sessions.

Light, sweet crude for September delivery fell $2.54 to settle at
$122.19 on the New York Mercantile Exchange. It was the lowest
settlement price for a front-month contract since June 10. Earlier,
prices fell to $120.42, also the lowest level since June 10. Oil has
now fallen more than $25 from its trading high of $147.27, reached July
11.

More concerns that crude's run-up over the past year has pushed prices
to unsustainable levels fed Tuesday's decline. The U.S. Transportation
Department said Monday that U.S. drivers logged 9.6 billion fewer
vehicle miles in May - or 3.7 percent - compared to the same period
last year, the biggest drop ever for the historically busy summer
driving month.

And demand for oil in the U.S. - the world's thirstiest consumer -
continues to fall, dropping by 891,000 barrels per day in May compared
the same month a year ago, the Energy Department's Energy Information
Administration said Monday.

"We're seeing both statistical and anecdotal evidence of a very rapidly
weakening demand picture," said Jim Ritterbusch, president of energy
consultancy Ritterbusch and Associates in Galena, Ill.

The declines accelerated after oil briefly dipped below $122, a key
resistance level that triggered technical selling by computers
programmed to dump oil contracts once prices fall under a certain
threshold.

"Once we break through $120, we could easily slide through to $100," said Darin Newsom, senior analyst at DTN in Omaha.

Also weighing on prices was a sharply stronger dollar compared to the
euro, which made commodities less attractive to investors who have
bought oil futures as a hedge against inflation and weakness in the
U.S. currency.

(AP) Graphic shows the price of crude oil; 1c x 3 inches; 46.5 mm x 76.2 mm
Full Image

The euro bought $1.5584 compared with $1.5752 late Monday in New York.

"It looks like oil is selling off today with the very, very strong
dollar and nothing to drive it higher. Quiet seems to be bearish these
days," said Tom Kloza, publisher and chief oil analyst at Oil Price
Information Service in Wall, N.J.

In another sign that high prices are curbing Americans' consumption for
fuel, retail gas prices fell further below the $4-a-gallon mark. The
average price of a regular gas fell 1.7 cents to $3.941, according to
auto club AAA, the Oil Prices Information Service and Wright Express.

Monday's attack in Nigeria targeted two pipelines believed to be owned by a unit of Royal Dutch Shell PLC (RDSB)
and was the latest in a two-year campaign of attacks on the country's
oil industry. Shell said a pipeline had been damaged in attacks and
that some crude production had been shut down to prevent the oil from
spilling into the environment.

The oil company said Tuesday it may not be able to fulfill some
oil-export contracts because of the damage. Shell didn't specify how
much oil production was cut by the attack or how long repairs would
take.

(AP) Graphic shows the price of crude oil; 1c x 3 inches; 46.5 mm x 76.2 mm
Full Image

The
Movement for the Emancipation of the Niger Delta says it is acting to
force the Nigerian federal government to send more oil industry funds
to the southern region, which produces all of Nigeria's crude oil but
remains impoverished after decades of corrupt and wasteful governance.

Analysts at JBC Energy in Vienna, Austria, estimated the repeated
attacks on country's oil installations, Nigeria's output had fallen to
just below 1.9 million barrels a day from more than 2.4 million barrels
a day in 2005.

Oil market analysts are awaiting U.S. data later in the week for
indications of how the world's largest economy could be expected to
perform in coming months. Figures for gross domestic product for the
second quarter will be released Thursday, while July auto sales and the
July employment report are both due Friday.

In other Nymex trading, heating oil futures fell 8.98 cents to settle
at $3.4722 a gallon while gasoline prices fell 6.23 cents to settle at
$3.0077 a gallon. Natural gas futures rose 5.4 cents to settle at
$9.217 per 1,000 cubic feet after trading lower most of the day.

In London, September Brent crude lost $3.07 to $122.77 a barrel on the ICE Futures exchange.

Could This Fish Begin to Stink?

2008-07-10T11:31:00.001-07:00

Bush signs bill overhauling eavesdropping rules

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Jul 10, 1:42 PM (ET)

By JENNIFER LOVEN

(AP) President Bush, accompanied by Attorney General Michael Mukasey, left, and Director of National...
Full Image

WASHINGTON (AP) - President Bush signed a bill Thursday that overhauls
rules about government eavesdropping and grants immunity to
telecommunications companies that helped the U.S. spy on Americans in
suspected terrorism cases.

He called it "landmark legislation that is vital to the security of our people."

Bush signed the measure in a Rose Garden ceremony a day after the
Senate sent it to him, following nearly a year of debate in the
Democratic-led Congress over surveillance rules and the warrantless
wiretapping program Bush initiated after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist
attacks. It was a battle that pitted privacy and civil liberties
concerns against the desire to prevent terrorist attacks and Democrats'
fears of being portrayed as weak when it comes to protecting the
country.

Its passage was a major victory for Bush, an unpopular lame-duck
president who nevertheless has been able to prevail over Congress on
most issues of national security and intelligence disputes.

Bush said the 9/11 attack "changed our country forever" and taught the
intelligence community that it must know who America's enemies are
talking to and what they are saying.

"In the aftermath of 9/11," Bush said, "few would have imagined that we
would be standing here seven years later without another attack on
American soil. The fact that the terrorists have failed to strike our
shores again does not mean that our enemies have given up."

Even before Bush signed the legislation, the American Civil Liberties Union said it would challenge the new law in court.

The president said the bill gives the government anti-terror tools it needs without compromising Americans' civil liberties.

Bush was joined at the ceremony by Vice President Dick Cheney, Attorney
General Michael Mukasey, Director of National Intelligence Mike
McConnell and more than a dozen members of Congress.

Even before Bush signed the legislation, the American Civil Liberties Union said it would challenge the new law in court.

The president said the bill gives the government anti-terror tools it needs without compromising Americans' civil liberties.

Bush was joined at the ceremony by Vice President Dick Cheney, Attorney
General Michael Mukasey, Director of National Intelligence Mike
McConnell and more than a dozen members of Congress.

On it's merits this looks like it would be a good thing, but and there always seems to be a but doesn't there. Can anyone tell me how any Americans there were involved in the last 9/11 attacks? Last count was ZERO. Even though GB is correct and deserves all the credit for

this fish may well begin to stink of "Americans" are targeted or this "law" gets used in "other types" of possible crimes.

Obama says bin Laden must not be a martyr

2008-06-18T13:34:00.001-07:00

Jun 18, 3:54 PM (ET)

By NEDRA PICKLER
(AP) Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama, D-Ill., right, with former Rep. Tim Roemer...
Full Image
WASHINGTON
(AP) - Barack Obama says if Osama bin Laden were captured on his watch,
he'd want to ensure he doesn't become a martyr if he were prosecuted.
Obama said he's not sure that the terrorist mastermind would be
captured alive.
But if he were, Obama said he would want to bring
him to justice "in a way that allows the entire world to understand the
murderous acts that he's engaged in and not to make him into a martyr."
Obama
was asked about how he would handle bin Laden at a news conference
Wednesday after he met with a new team of national security advisers.
The meeting came after rival John McCain's campaign criticized Obama
for a having a pre-9-11 mind-set for promoting trial of terrorists.

So does this set the stage for a "on death penalty" plea bargain?

Energy Guzzled by Al Gore’s Home in Past Year Could Power 232 U.S. Homes for a Month

2008-06-18T11:53:00.001-07:00

Tennessee Center for Policy Research
For Immediate Release: June 17, 2008

June 18, 2008

For Further Information, Contact:
Adam King, 615.383.6431
adam@tennesseepolicy.org

Energy Guzzled by Al Gore’s Home in Past Year Could Power 232 U.S. Homes for a Month
Gore’s personal electricity consumption up 10%, despite “energy-efficient” home renovations

NASHVILLE - In the year since Al Gore took steps to make his home more energy-efficient, the former Vice President’s home energy use surged more than 10%, according to the Tennessee Center for Policy Research.

“A man’s commitment to his beliefs is best measured by what he does behind the closed doors of his own home,” said Drew Johnson, President of the Tennessee Center for Policy Research. “Al Gore is a hypocrite and a fraud when it comes to his commitment to the environment, judging by his home energy consumption.”

In the past year, Gore’s home burned through 213,210 kilowatt-hours (kWh) of electricity, enough to power 232 average American households for a month.

In February 2007, An Inconvenient Truth, a film based on a climate change speech developed by Gore, won an Academy Award for best documentary feature. The next day, the Tennessee Center for Policy Research uncovered that Gore’s Nashville home guzzled 20 times more electricity than the average American household.

After the Tennessee Center for Policy Research exposed Gore’s massive home energy use, the former Vice President scurried to make his home more energy-efficient. Despite adding solar panels, installing a geothermal system, replacing existing light bulbs with more efficient models, and overhauling the home’s windows and ductwork, Gore now consumes more electricity than before the “green” overhaul.

Since taking steps to make his home more environmentally-friendly last June, Gore devours an average of 17,768 kWh per month –1,638 kWh more energy per month than before the renovations – at a cost of $16,533. By comparison, the average American household consumes 11,040 kWh in an entire year, according to the Energy Information Administration.

In the wake of becoming the most well-known global warming alarmist, Gore won an Oscar, a Grammy and the Nobel Peace Prize. In addition, Gore saw his personal wealth increase by an estimated $100 million thanks largely to speaking fees and investments related to global warming hysteria.

“Actions speak louder than words, and Gore’s actions prove that he views climate change not as a serious problem, but as a money-making opportunity,” Johnson said. “Gore is exploiting the public’s concern about the environment to line his pockets and enhance his profile.”

The Tennessee Center for Policy Research, a Nashville-based free market think tank and watchdog organization, obtained information about Gore’s home energy use through a public records request to the Nashville Electric Service.

The Tennessee Center for Policy Research is an independent, nonprofit and nonpartisan research organization committed to achieving a freer, more prosperous Tennessee through the ideas of liberty. Visit TCPR online at: www.tennesseepolicy.org.

Say it ain't so mister Green. . . .

Bush Will Seek to End Offshore Oil Drilling Ban

2008-06-18T08:48:00.001-07:00

By SHERYL GAY STOLBERG
Published: June 18, 2008

WASHINGTON — President Bush, reversing a
longstanding position, will call on Congress on Wednesday to end a
federal ban on offshore oil drilling, according to White House
officials who say Mr. Bush now wants to work with states to determine
where drilling should occur.
The move underscores how $4-a-gallon gas has become a major issue in
the 2008 presidential campaign, and it comes as a growing number of
Republicans are lining up in opposition to the federal ban.
The party’s presumptive presidential nominee, Senator John McCain
of Arizona, used a speech in Houston on Tuesday to say he now favors
offshore drilling, an announcement that infuriated environmentalists
who have long viewed him as an ally. Florida’s governor, Charlie Crist, a Republican, immediately joined Mr. McCain, saying he, too, now wants an end to the ban.
Even
before the disclosure of Mr. Bush’s decision, the drilling issue caused
a heated back-and-forth on the campaign trail on Tuesday, as Mr. McCain
sought to straddle the divide between environmentalists and the energy
industry, while facing accusations from his Democratic opponent,
Senator Barack Obama, that he had flip-flopped and capitulated to the oil industry.
In Washington, the White House press secretary, Dana Perino,
said Mr. Bush would urge Congress to “pass legislation lifting the
Congressional ban on safe, environmentally friendly offshore oil
drilling,” adding, “The president believes Congress shouldn’t waste any
more time.”
Mr. Bush has long advocated opening up the Arctic
National Wildlife Refuge in Alaska to drilling, and in 2006 signed into
law a bill that expanded exploration in the Gulf of Mexico. But the
topic of coastal drilling has been an extremely sensitive one in the
Bush family; Mr. Bush’s father, the first President Bush, signed an
executive order in 1990 banning coastal oil exploration, and Mr. Bush’s
brother Jeb was an outspoken opponent of offshore drilling when he was
governor of Florida.
Now, though, President Bush is considering
repealing his father’s order. Although Ms. Perino said Mr. Bush “is not
taking any executive action” on Wednesday, two people outside the White
House said such a move was under serious consideration, and a senior
White House official did not dispute their account.
“This is a
strong point of discussion inside the White House,” said Representative
John E. Peterson, a Pennsylvania Republican who has been asking Mr.
Bush for years to rescind his father’s action. Mr. Peterson is also
leading an effort in Congress to repeal its ban.
With oil selling
for more than $130 a barrel and no end in sight to high gasoline
prices, Mr. Bush, a former oilman from Texas who came into office
vowing to address an impending energy shortage, does not want to end
his presidency in the midst of an energy crisis.
No one knows
for certain how much oil is in the moratorium area, but the federal
Energy Information Administration estimates that roughly 75 billion
barrels of oil in the United States are off-limits for development, and
that 21 percent of this oil — or 16 billion barrels — is covered by the
offshore moratorium.
Mr. Bush’s new stance on offshore drilling
will inject him squarely into the presidential campaign, by putting the
full weight of the White House behind Mr. McCain at a time when he is
trying to demonstrate presidential stature. But it will also expose Mr.
McCain to accusations from Democrats that a McCain presidency would be
akin to a Bush third term.
At the same time, the move will put
the onus on Democrats, many of whom have long been staunchly opposed to
offshore drilling. And it is likely to exacerbate the 30-year-old
standoff in Washington over whether domestic drilling or conservation
is the way to end American dependence on foreign oil. . .

By far the worse move ever could be to continue drilling for that black goo. Maybe a clean and fresh look at photovoltaic’s is in order. . .

New Agreement Could Mean More Help for Homeowners

2008-06-16T13:39:00.001-07:00

By MICHAEL R. CRITTENDEN
June 16, 2008 2:59 p.m.

WASHINGTON -- Top mortgage lenders and servicers,
under pressure to do more to help prevent record numbers of
foreclosures, have reached a major agreement on new guidelines to
improve and speed up the industry's voluntary efforts to help
struggling homeowners.

The agreement among the firms in the Treasury
Department-backed Hope Now alliance, which is scheduled to be announced
Tuesday, comes as U.S. Senate lawmakers prepare to begin debate this
week on a massive housing package aimed at slowing the record pace of
foreclosures that continues to roil the economy. That legislation,
which includes a program to refinance up to $300 billion in troubled
mortgages, could be voted on by the Senate this week, sources said.

The Hope Now agreement pledges to have lenders and
servicers take a uniform approach when dealing with homeowners,
including setting a specific timeline for them to respond to borrowers
seeking to avoid foreclosure.

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"Borrowers seeking help should receive an
acknowledgment of their request within five business days once received
by the lender, the agreement says, and would in most cases receive a
final decision on whether they will receive help with their loan within
45 days. Lenders would also promise to stay in touch with borrowers
while reviewing a particular loan -- calling, emailing or sending a
letter about the status of their help request"

Lenders and servicers have also agreed to other steps,
including the automatic subordination of second liens in certain
circumstances. The question of how to deal with second lien holders has
slowed efforts to modify loans and work with borrowers, but the
servicers' agreement suggests that a second lien holder should
re-subordinate their loans to allow refinancing or a loan modification
under certain conditions.

The agreement expands other options available to
lenders to help borrowers avoid foreclosure. In addition to
forbearance, repayment plans and loan modifications -- including a
writedown on a loan's principle -- the agreement directs lenders to
accept a deed in lieu of foreclosure or a short sale instead of
completing the foreclosure process.

The short-sale language is new, and pledges Hope Now
members to accommodate a homeowner's effort to sell their house at the
current fair market value, even if that value is less than the borrower
owes on their mortgage.

More generally, the agreement calls on servicers to
delay foreclosure proceedings that are about to begin, or have already
begun, when there is a possibility that other steps could allow a
homeowner to remain in their residence.

People familiar with the agreement, which all Hope Now
members had to sign off on, said the intent is to bring clarity and
transparency to the alliance's efforts, giving homeowners a better
understanding when they seek help with their loans. Though not legally
binding, all Hope Now participants are expected to implement the new
uniform standards within 60 days.

Hope Now claims its efforts have resulted in nearly
1.6 million loan workouts since July 2007, though those numbers have
been met with skepticism from policymakers and regulators who have
repeatedly called for more aggressive voluntary efforts by the mortgage
industry.

A report released last week by the Office of the
Comptroller of the Currency, which oversees national banks, suggested a
lower figure for loan workouts. The study, which was based on six
months of data from 23 million mortgages held or serviced by nine
national banks, found that there had been close to 167,000 loan
modifications or payment plans through March of this year.

Meanwhile, foreclosures around the country continue to
show few signs of abating. Foreclosure tracking firm RealtyTrac Inc.
said Friday that one in every 483 U.S. households received a
foreclosure filing in May, the highest monthly foreclosure rate since
the firm first started issuing its report in January 2005.

Write to Michael R. Crittenden at michael.crittenden@dowjones.com
One might want to take a closer look at the hi-lighted paragraph before getting all warm and fuzzy. It's still seems to me that the BANK is ultimately in control of whether you get any help and the decision is solely theirs to make. . . I'll pass on that foo.

ExxonMobil to sell 2,220 gas stations

2008-06-12T17:09:00.001-07:00

(CNN) -- Oil giant Exxon Mobil Corp. plans to sell its company-owned gas stations, saying they aren't profitable enough even with gasoline selling at $4 per gallon.

The 2,220 stations make up about 1/5 of the Exxon and Mobil stations in the United States.

The nation's largest oil company, which earned nearly $41 billion last year, says it will sell more than 2,000 stations over the next few years.
"The fuels marketing sector is a very challenging market," ExxonMobil spokesperson Prem Nair said, adding that the company is feeling particular pressure from hypermarkets like Wal-Mart that sell gasoline.
ExxonMobil plans to sell 820 owned and operated stations as well as 1,400 stations leased to dealers. The 2,220 stations make up about 1/5 of the Exxon and Mobil stations in the United States. The company says the stations to be sold will continue to sell ExxonMobil product.
"As the highly competitive fuels marketing business in the U.S. continues to evolve, we believe this transition is the best way for ExxonMobil to compete and grow in the future," said Ben Soraci, U.S. director of retail sales for ExxonMobil.
The states with the largest number of ExxonMobil-owned stations are California and New York, each with more than 200. ExxonMobil also has a large concentration of stations in Texas, Florida, Maryland, Tennessee and Virginia.
Now don't let anyone tell you that these boys don't know that the jig is up!

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So, how high will it go?

2008-06-12T05:30:00.001-07:00
With ever rising oil prices you just have to wonder just how high will it go? I’m sure most people in the U.S. have already cut back greatly on how much they drive, I know I have. I had to have cut my driving by at least 60%. This has a two fold effect; first my gas purchases are about the same “dollar” wise a week and secondly I’m getting healthier . I walk and ride more often.

    The simple reason for the rise in oil prices is not what they tell you, in my humble opinion it’s because about 3 years the oil company’s saw the writing on the wall that within the next 5 years they were going to have a whole lot of black goo no one wanted, so lets get what we can while we can. In so doing makeup any reason possible to cause the increase.

    Solar power has been around for about 40 or 50 years and the single reason why it hasn’t become the power of choice is both big power and the government haven’t figured out how to make money from it. I mean you charge your batteries with the sun (free) and then you charge your electric car from the batteries (free once again). Oil company and Power company out!
    Big power even went as far as trying to develop alternative fuels like bio’s just so they could still make money, but the auto industry is smart enough to see that most people in American are not to kin on that Idea. Soon there will be more and more electric vehicles at better and better prices.

     So start looking into solar collectors and windmills and in the mean time, break out the bikes and Converse All Stars and get ready for the revolution!

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Excite News - Actor Snipes gets 3 years, apologizes for `costly mistakes'

2008-04-25T06:15:00.001-07:00

"The sentencing court sends the right message to the American taxpayer - you've got to pay your taxes," U.S. Attorney Robert O'Neill told reporters outside the usually quiet central Florida courthouse. "Rich, poor, it doesn't matter. We all pay our taxes."
Excite News - Actor Snipes gets 3 years, apologizes for `costly mistakes'

What a load of bullshit that is. The tax system sucks and the only way to ever fix it is to abolish it.
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The only thing being pumped is you. . . . .

2008-03-11T07:06:00.000-07:00
By JOE BEL BRUNO

NEW YORK (AP) - Wall Street rebounded sharply Tuesday after the Federal Reserve and other central banks said they will pump $200 billion into the financial markets to help ease the strain from the credit crisis. The Dow Jones industrials surged more than 270 points.

The program is part of a worldwide effort to help struggling banks and mortgage providers. The Fed - acting in concert with the European Central Bank, the Bank of Canada and the Swiss National Bank - agreed to loan banks money in exchange for debt that includes slumping mortgage-backed securities.
The Fed's latest move was seen as a direct boost to struggling banks by avoiding having to dramatically slash interest rates when the central bank's policymaking Open Market Committee meets next week. Economists continued to be concerned about the unrelenting rise in oil prices and the dollar's weakness, which contribute to inflation - and cutting rates only add to these pressures.
"The big problem has been the financials, and this helps supply money directly to the banks and may take some of the need for aggressive rate cutting off the table," said Peter Dunay, chief investment strategist at Meridian Equity Partners. "The Fed is basically going to take the bad loans off the banks' books, and the market seems to be loving that idea."

Well there you have it! Your government hard at work once again it give it to right in the ass. Why not give that money to the people who were screwed by these same banks? Yes let's give it to the same guys who live large on the backs of the little. What a great idea this was oh and guess who will wind up paying for it in the end. You!

You think they'd give it to the people to help pay their loans

2008-03-07T08:03:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON (AP) — The Federal Reserve is taking bigger steps to ease the nation's credit crisis, including increasing the amount of loans it plans to make available to banks this month to $100 billion.
The Federal Reserve announced Friday that it will boost the size of auctions planned for March 10 and March 24 to $50 billion each. That is up from the $30 billion limits it had previously announced. The auctions serve as short-term loans to get banks the cash they need to keep lending to their customers.
The Fed, in a statement, said it planned to continue the auctions for at least six months, and would move to even larger auction amounts if needed.
In a second step, the Fed said it will make $100 billion available to a broad range of financial players through a series of separate transactions starting on Friday.

The Fed has been working to pump billions of dollars into the banking system to aid an economy rocked by the subprime mortgage crisis and the severe tightening of credit. The central bank started its new type of auction in December to provide short-term loans to cash-strapped banks in hopes of keeping them lending. So far, the Fed has made available a total of $160 billion in short-term loans to banks through six auctions.
Fears are growing that the country is teetering on the edge of a recession, if one has not already begun.
The picture worsened just after the Fed's announcement Friday when the Labor Department released a report showing employers slashed another 63,000 jobs in February, the most in five years.
Senior Federal Reserve officials said the steps announced Friday were geared to providing relief to credit markets, which have deteriorated further in recent days, and not related to the weak employment figures.
A meltdown in the housing and credit markets has made banks and other financial institutions reluctant to lend to each other, causing a cash crunch. Financial companies wracked up multibillion-dollar losses as investments in mortgage-backed securities soured with the housing market's bust. Problems first started in the market for subprime mortgages— those made to people with blemished credit histories. However, troubles have spread to other areas.

U.S. Mortgage Foreclosures Rise as Owners `Give Up' (Update2)

2008-03-06T09:25:00.000-08:00

By Kathleen M. Howley

March 6 (Bloomberg) -- U.S. mortgage foreclosures rose to an all-time high at the end of 2007 as borrowers with adjustable-rate loans walked away from properties before their payments increased, the Mortgage Bankers Association said today.

New foreclosures jumped to 0.83 percent of all home loans in the fourth quarter from 0.54 percent a year earlier. Late payments rose to a 23-year high, the organization said in a report today.

``We're seeing people give up even before they get to the reset because they couldn't afford the home in the first place,'' said Jay Brinkmann, vice president of research and economics for the Washington-based trade group.

The worst housing slump in a quarter century is sending foreclosure rates higher and home prices tumbling as an oversupply of properties reduces demand. The Federal Reserve has slashed its benchmark rate twice this year in an attempt to avert the first recession since 2001 and financial companies have had at least $181 billion in asset writedowns and credit losses since the start of 2007, according to Bloomberg data.

``It comes down to an overstretching of buyers to get into homes they couldn't afford and an overextending of credit by lenders who were more willing to take risk,'' Brinkmann said.

Subprime Loans

About 40 percent of all foreclosures are homeowners with prime or subprime loans who couldn't make their payments before the reset, Brinkmann estimated in an interview. Another 23 percent are borrowers who received some form of loan modification, typically a freezing or a reduction of their rate, and then default, he said.

The share of all home loans with payments more than 30 days late, both prime and fixed-rate loans, rose to a seasonally adjusted 5.82 percent, the highest since 1985, the bankers' group said in today's report.

Forty-two percent of new foreclosures in the fourth quarter were people with adjustable-rate subprime mortgages, given to borrowers with limited or tainted credit records, according to the report. Those types of loans accounted for about 7 percent of all mortgages, the report said.

Adjustable Rates Hurt

Another 20 percent of new foreclosures were prime adjustable-rate mortgages, which accounted for 15 percent of all home loans, according to the report.

Twenty percent of adjustable-rate subprime loans had late payments in the fourth quarter, a number that excludes the one of every eight mortgages already in foreclosure, the bankers group said in their report.

The share of late payments for adjustable prime loans was 5.51 percent, from 3.39 percent a year earlier, and the foreclosure inventory rose to 2.59 percent, almost tripling from a year earlier.

The Mortgage Bankers survey came on the same day that the National Association of Realtors reported that the number of Americans signing contracts to buy previously owned homes was unchanged in January.

The Realtors' index of signed purchase agreements held at 85.9, higher than forecast and the second-lowest level since the Chicago-based group began keeping records in 2001.

To contact the reporter on this story: Kathleen M. Howley in Boston at kmhowley@bloomberg.net.
Last Updated: March 6, 2008 10:52 EST

Dumbass’

2008-02-09T11:23:00.001-08:00

Well so those clowns in Washington think that a mere few hundred bucks 6 months from now is going to fix what ails Americans? What a bunch of maroons. This money will go right where they know it will, in the pockets of big energy. Most every American is now feeling the sting of these ridiculous energy costs and when they get their mere pittance it will go right to paying their bills, not into any other part of the economy.
As just like in the past, energy has been the foreteller of the recession doom. It just amazes me how they can say some of the things they do and then state record profits of nearly 40 Billion (that's right BILLION with a B) and the word profit pretty much means after they paid everything they needed to pay. . .
I'm sure the government is kissing their asses quite nicely as we get it in yours. . . I just wonder if this country will ever get it that's it all about the money and how "they" can extract it from the common "man". As all this stuff goes on around us we seem to think that the next bozo elected as president is going to fix it. Well here's some news, it's not broke to them!
I'm 47 and for the past 25 years that I've been paying attention I've realized that nothing ever gets "fixed", it just gets replaced by something else that's just as bad, but comes in as the cure. It doesn't matter whether you vote for a donkey or elephant; you still pick up the crap.
America, the land of the dumbass!

Exxon Posts Record 4Q, 2007 Profits

2008-02-01T08:46:00.000-08:00

HOUSTON (AP) — Exxon Mobil Corp. on Friday posted the largest annual profit by a U.S. company — $40.6 billion — as the world's biggest publicly traded oil company benefited from historic crude prices at year's end.
Exxon also set a U.S. record for the biggest quarterly profit, posting net income of $11.7 billion for the final three months of 2007, beating its own mark of $10.71 billion in the fourth quarter of 2005.
The previous record for annual profit was $39.5 billion, which Exxon Mobil made in 2006.
The eye-popping results weren't a surprise given record prices for a barrel of oil at the end of 2007. For much of the fourth quarter, they hovered around $90 a barrel, more than 50 percent higher than a year ago.
Crude prices reached an all-time trading high of $100.09 on Jan. 3 but have fallen about 10 percent since.

The record profit for the October-December period amounted to $2.13 a share versus $1.76 a share in 2006. Year-ago net income was $10.25 billion.
Also extraordinary was Exxon Mobil's revenue, which rose 30 percent in the fourth quarter to $116.6 billion from $90 billion a year ago.
For the year, sales rose to $404.5 billion — the most ever for the Irving, Texas-based company — from the $377.64 billion it posted in 2006.
In a statement, Exxon Mobil Chairman Rex Tillerson said the company continued to meet the world's energy needs through its "globally diverse resource base."
"Our long-term investment program, in projects often far from major consuming nations, continued to provide resources essential to the increasingly interdependent global energy supply network," Tillerson said.
Exxon Mobil produces about 3 percent of the world's oil.
Its shares fell 37 cents to $86.03 in morning trading after rising as high as $87.86 earlier in the session.
Higher commodity prices in the quarter were clearly evident from earnings at Exxon Mobil's exploration and production arm, known as the upstream. Income rose 32 percent to $8.2 billion from $6.2 billion a year ago

Anyone else feeling the need for a bigger jar of Vasoline?

Once again, Bad payers not greedy bankers are to blame!

2008-01-09T13:19:00.001-08:00

AS the next great recession looms it's all due this time to those simple people who thought owning their own home was the start of a better life. Not so, they are the cause of the next recession according to those greedy bankers. Screw them and the energy company's as well because it's their sole greed that drives this recession as it has always been.
clipped from online.wsj.com
Stocks Twist Amid Economic Jitters

By Peter A. McKay

Word Count: 731
| Companies Featured in This Article: Countrywide Financial, DuPont, Alcoa, E*Trade Financial, MBIA

An early stock rally strained to withstand the weight of a recession call by Goldman Sachs and rising mortgage delinquencies among Countrywide Financial customers.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average, which has slipped in and out of positive territory throughout Wednesday's session, was up 72.67 points in late-afternoon trading, or 0.6%, at 12661.74.
In 2008's early going, the market has repeatedly been hammered by rampant fears about the economy's ability to withstand the unwinding and disclosure of bad mortgage bets on Wall Street. With a flurry of fourth-quarter profit announcements due out beginning after the close today, investors are particularly focused ...

$9.24

2008-01-04T19:06:00.000-08:00
My eldest daughter lives in the great state of Big Sky Montana. She just recently moved into her new two bedroom apartment and she called to tell me how much her first electric bill was. . .

The reason for this is I keep tell her sometimes how living in the the armpit of the US (NEW YORK CITY) how the bills are just getting to be ridiculous. Since 2004 they have had to have tripled for most residents here. Anyway I told here that my last bill as almost $290.00 and that included an $150.00 "delivery charge". . . What a load that is. . . pardon the pun.

So today she had to call to tell me that for the 3 weeks shed lived in here apartment where every thing is run by electricity that her bill was $9.24. At least she doesn't have to wait for a gas bill! Please, don't get me started. . . . . .

Anything to raise the price of oil.....

2008-01-02T21:13:00.001-08:00

Every single day I can find another reason in the news as to why the price of oil keeps going up! I like the one about which way the wind blows. . . . . .

clipped from www.bloomberg.com
an. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Crude oil traded near a record in New
York after reaching $100 a barrel for the first time yesterday on
concern violence in Nigeria may further cut output in Africa's
biggest oil producer.

Nigerian militants killed 12 people in the southern oil
city of Port Harcourt on Jan. 1. Violence has already curbed the
nation's daily production by almost a quarter. Gold surged 3.1
percent yesterday to a record as the dollar's slump against major
currencies enhanced the appeal of commodities as a hedge against
inflation.

``It was the violence in Nigeria that pushed prices up there,
combined with the fact that a lot of the bigger players are back
in the market after the holiday,'' said David Aleman, a senior
analyst at Grand Central Trading Co. in Newport Beach, California.
``The market was looking for bullish reasons to keep going higher
and this event fits the bill.''

Presidents & Senators

2007-10-04T09:12:00.001-07:00

The people in this country always focus on the wrong race, it's Senators that kill us, not Presidents.. .
clipped from www.time.com
"On the other hand, it may also be that the disease will have incapacitated me. I am not willing to take a chance that the people who have so honored me with their trust for 40 years might not be served as well as they deserve in the United States Senate."

John McCain says with a BIG GRIN

2007-10-01T16:53:00.001-07:00

That seems like a reasonable statement to me. . .
clipped from www.cnn.com
"I just have to say in all candor that since this nation was founded primarily on Christian principles, personally, I prefer someone who has a grounding in my faith,"

Student Tasered at Kerry Event

2007-09-21T11:30:00.000-07:00
What a load of bullshit that was. . . My other words are so horrific that I can't in good consequences post them. . . . .

Dealing With It.

2007-09-14T07:53:00.001-07:00

I'm sure some of you know that back in June I had two stents put into one of my hearts artery's as a result of a blockage. Well the good news is that I'm feeling fine, but I've gained about 20lbs in 3 months (not good). I'm sure it's a combo of limited work, but I think it also had something to do with the medications I'm taking.
Well I've said to myself that enough is enough and I'm going to take some action. The first is I'm going to start to exercise, work more and go on a heart healthy diet. As of today I weight about 245 lbs and if any of you have seen my resent videos. . . I think it's time.
I post my progress every fews days. My goal is to get down to a fit 215-220.

A Reflection on 9/11

2007-09-11T06:48:00.001-07:00

As luck would have it, it's also my wedding anniversary. My wife and I don't let that get us down because of the great tragedy that happened on that faithful day in 2001. We still enjoy the day, but remember as well.
So, on this the sixth anniversary I'd like to say that I'm grateful that this country as not been the victim of any more horrific events and that I'm so disappointed that OBL isn't dead, especially after watching "The Falling Man" last night.

Seattle parent 'vindicated' by Supreme Court school ruling (Sometimes they get it right)

2007-06-28T08:33:00.001-07:00

SEATTLE -- A Seattle parent who battled the school district over its
racial balancing policy says she feels vindicated by the today's
Supreme Court decision.

Kathleen Brose is president of "Parents Involved in Community Schools."

She says she's relieved the seven-year dispute was settled in her favor.

She says she felt the lawsuit was something she had to do after her
daughter was rejected from her top three choices for high school partly
because she is white.
Ruling in cases from Seattle and Louisville the Supreme Court rejected school assignment plans that take account of students' race.

The district says the policy was necessary for diversity but hasn't used it since 2002 while the case has been in the courts. The district has a news conference later today to comment.

Brose says she supports public schools and
diversity, but not discrimination. She says schools can achieve racial
integration through other policies such as magnet schools.

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