A Little Perspective on the National Debt

03 Wednesday Mar 2010

Posted by in budget, Congress, economy, Politics

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Any time the discussion turns to the national debt, a popular tactic among Democrats is to go back to the origin of exploding debt numbers under President Reagan. They like to point out that when Reagan took office in 1981 the debt was $998 billion and when he left in 1989 it was $2.9 trillion, due mostly to tax cuts and spending increases over that time. That is true, but here’s the rest of the story.

Spending and revenue bills originate in the House of Representatives, and at no time during Reagan’s 8 years did Republicans control the House. In the 4 Congresses during Reagan’s 2 terms, the 97th thru the 100th, the average spread in the House of Representatives was 257 Democrats to 178 Republicans. The Kemp-Roth tax cuts of 1981, for example, passed 323-107 and there were only 191 Republicans in the House at that time. Likewise with spending. Democrats had the numbers to stop any of those proposals but didn’t.

Let’s be honest, when parceling out blame for our massive national debt there’s plenty of blame to go around, and plenty of fingers to be pointed in both directions.

Happy Days Are Here Again…on Wall Street Anyway

03 Wednesday Mar 2010

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Wall Street’s return on their Washington investment:

“In fall 2008, after Lehman Brothers collapsed and other Wall Street firms seemed ready to topple, New York appeared to be headed for a brutal recession, one that would rival the worst downturns in the city’s history.

Now city officials and private economists are revising their forecasts with a drastic change in tone. The gathering consensus is that the recession is nearly over in the city and, largely because of the enormous amount of federal aid poured into the big banks, the toll on New York will be much less severe than most had feared.”

You’re welcome, banksters.

Treasury Official Leaves to Begin Lobbying

02 Tuesday Mar 2010

Posted by in lobbyists, Obama, Politics, special interests, Wall Street

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This is a recording. Some things never change:

“Barack Obama has made cracking down on K Street a signature cause of his presidency. But a year into his tenure, the executive branch’s revolving door has already started to turn with one senior official making the exodus from administration insider to hired gun.

Munchus will be a test case for Obama’s tightened revolving-door policy, which prohibits former administration officials from lobbying the executive branch for the remainder of his administration.”

Damon Munchus, the principal liaison between the Treasury Department and Congress regarding financial institutions and capital markets, signed on Monday as a managing director with financial services lobbying boutique the Cypress Group, whose clients include some of the nation’s biggest banks [Citigroup, Freddie Mac, and Bank of America to name three].

What happened to this:

“President Obama has consistently made clear that he will strive to lead the most open, transparent, and accountable government in history.  Whether it is reigning in the influence of lobbyists in Washington, bringing unprecedented accountability to federal spending, opening doors to engagement with the American public, or shutting down the “revolving door” that carries special interest influence in and out of the government, the highest standards will be sought in every thing the federal government does.”

And this portion of the “pledge” all incoming members of the administration, including Mr. Munchus, signed:

“5.Revolving Door Ban — Appointees Leaving Government to Lobby… I also agree, upon leaving Government service, not to lobby any covered executive branch official or non-career Senior Executive Service appointee for the remainder of the Administration.”

Did you catch the loophole? “I agree not to lobby any executive branch official.” No mention of lobbying Congress, which falls into Mr. Munchus’ area of expertise:

“Munchus worked in the Office of Legislative Affairs, which deals directly with the Hill. His position as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Banking and Finance gave him intimate knowledge not just of the process but of key lawmakers…That’s invaluable information to investors.”

But in the spirit of bi-partisanship:

“Munchus’ arrival at Cypress Group comes on the heels of another addition to the firm, Republican Jeb Mason. Mason, former deputy assistant secretary for business affairs under then-Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson, was tasked with business outreach and coalition building in the Bush administration.”

In fact:

“With the acquisition of Munchus, Cypress can now boast to employ high-level officials from four straight Treasury Secretaries.”

And the band plays on….

The Great American Kabuki Dance

28 Sunday Feb 2010

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“Politics is not about ideology – it’s little more than an over dramatic stage play  .  After the first year of the Obama administration the change he talked about has not occurred.  The reason is simple, policy is not made in the White House or the halls of congress – it’s made in the boardrooms of a few large corporations and those boardrooms are occupied by sociopaths who don’t care about anything but their own power and wealth.”

Rahm Goes to the Capitol to Get Pelosi’s Mind Right

27 Saturday Feb 2010

Posted by in Congress, Democrats, health care, Obama, Politics, Progressives

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Don’t do it, Nancy. Don’t do it:

“Rahm Emanuel ventured to the Capitol Friday evening to hash out health care strategy with House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), a White House aide confirmed.

Senior Hill aides speculated to HuffPost that Emanuel, the White House chief of staff, would bring the message that the House must move first, with a pledge from Senate Democrats that they would follow.”

The meeting comes as Democrats are searching for a way to get to the health care finish line, though neither chamber wants to move first. Senate leaders want the House to pass the Senate bill first, after which the Senate would use reconciliation to fix the legislation to the liking of the Senate. House leaders contend that the votes aren’t there for the Senate bill if the upper chamber doesn’t move. The House, after two centuries of watching the Senate lag behind, doesn’t trust that it’ll act.

Dear Speaker Pelosi,

You’re being conned. The Senate wants the Senate bill without the modifications. President Obama wants the Senate bill without the modifications. He only proposed them as bait, next come the switch. And trust me, President Obama is the master of the bait and switch. Just ask those who voted for him in November of ‘08. Ask me, I fell for it. If you go first and pass the Senate bill the promised reconciliation fixes will NEVER happen. Don’t say you weren’t warned.

Sincerely,
A victim of OBSS (Obama Bait and Switch Syndrome)

Those Who Profit from Foreclosures In Charge of Anti-Foreclosure Program

27 Saturday Feb 2010

Posted by in bailout, economy, Financial Crisis, Wall Street

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From the Washington Independent (emphasis added):

“One year after the Obama administration launched its $75 billion anti-foreclosure program the housing market remains volatile, loan modifications have been scant, foreclosures are still sky-high — and more and more lawmakers are wondering why the White House hasn’t been more aggressive in tackling the crisis.”

White House? Aggressive? Surely you jest.

“Administration efforts to stabilize the troubled housing market have prioritized lenders above struggling homeowners, a number of House Democrats charged Thursday, leading to thousands of foreclosures that might otherwise have been prevented — and threatening thousands more in the months to come.

Although the Obama White House has offered billions of dollars to banks that successfully alter loans to make them more affordable, only 116,00 of those modifications have been made permanent, the Treasury Department reported The reason for the discrepancy, some Democrats contend, is clear: The decision to modify loans, under Obama’s programs, has been left in the hands of the same mortgage servicing companies that often stand to profit more from foreclosures. That conflict of interest, critics say, all but ensures that the administration’s voluntary modification program will fail.”

But why would the administration want to see the program fail?

“Despite the fact that the free-falling housing market was at the root of the global economic collapse, Washington policymakers have dedicated more attention — not to mention dollars — to the bankers of Wall Street than the homeowners of Main Street.”

Yep, that explains it. The Golden Rule: Those who have the gold buy those who make the rules.

The Case of the Vanishing Justice Department E-Mail

27 Saturday Feb 2010

Posted by in Justice Department, Obama, Politics, torture

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The legacy of Rose Mary Woods is alive and well at the Justice Department:

“Large batches of e-mail records from the Justice Department lawyers who worked on the 2002 legal opinions justifying the Bush administration’s brutal interrogation techniques are missing, and the Justice Department told lawmakers Friday that it would try to trace the disappearance.”

And in a stroke of what I’m sure is pure coincidence, what’s missing just happens to be from a crucial time period:

“The Justice Department’s Office of Professional Responsibility…pushed to get access to a range of e-mail records and other internal documents from the Justice Department to aid in its investigation.

But it discovered that many e-mail messages to and from John Yoo, who wrote the bulk of the legal opinions for the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel, were missing…Also deleted were a month’s worth of e-mail files from the summer of 2002 for Patrick Philbin, another Justice Department lawyer who worked on the interrogation opinions. Those missing e-mail messages came during a period when two of the critical interrogation memos were being prepared.”

But never fear, the Obama DoJ is on the case. Kinda, sorta, maybe:

“Gary Grindler, the acting deputy attorney general who represented the Justice Department at Friday’s hearing, said he did not think there was “anything nefarious” about the deletion of the e-mail messages, but he could not explain what happened to them.

He said he had directed administrative personnel at the Justice Department to review the situation and determine whether there were problems in the department’s system for automatically archiving internal documents. He said the review would also seek to recover the missing e-mail messages if possible.”

Why do I get the feeling that in the spirit of the cover-up looking forward, not back, recovering the missing messages will be found impossible. Just a hunch.

Rubin May Testify Before Financial Crisis Commission

27 Saturday Feb 2010

Posted by in economy, Financial Crisis, Obama, Politics, Wall Street

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One of the architects of the financial meltdown, and the Godfather of the Obama economic team, might have some ‘splainin’ to do. From Bloomberg:

“Robert Rubin, the former U.S. Treasury secretary who later advised Citigroup Inc. as the bank piled up subprime-mortgage losses, may soon face his first public grilling on the 2008 financial crisis.

The Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission investigating the worst economic slump since the Great Depression, plans to ask Rubin to testify in April, said two people with knowledge of the commission’s decisions.

Ask? How about subpoena?

“Rubin’s reputation dimmed  after the U.S. bailed out New York-based Citigroup with $45 billion and AIG had to be propped up because of losses on derivatives. When Rubin was President Bill Clinton’s Treasury secretary, he fought efforts to regulate derivatives.”

His reputation dimmed? Barack Obama didn’t get that memo:

“[Obama] named Rubin to be an economic adviser during the 2008 presidential campaign, and two Treasury protégés, Lawrence Summers and Timothy Geithner are top officials in the White House. Summers, 55, is chief economic adviser and Geithner, 48, is Treasury secretary.”

And that’s not all:

“Just below Summers is Jason Furman, who worked for Rubin in the Clinton White House and was one of the first directors of Rubin’s Hamilton Project.

And as head of the powerful Office of Management and Budget, Obama named Peter Orszag, who served as the first director of Rubin’s Hamilton Project.”

…to serve alongside Furman at the NEC [Obama hired] management consultant Diana Farrell, who worked under Rubin at Goldman Sachs. In 2003, Farrell was the author of an infamous paper in which she argued that sending American jobs overseas might be “as beneficial to the U.S. as to the destination country, probably more so.”

…Over at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which is supposed to regulate derivatives trading, Obama appointed Gary Gensler, a former Goldman banker who worked under Rubin in the Clinton White House. Gensler had been instrumental in helping to pass the infamous Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2000, which prevented regulation of derivative instruments like CDOs and credit-default swaps that played such a big role in cratering the economy last year.