More drivel from CNN and Daily Kos
You ought to read this drivel over at Daily Kos.
Political rallies are intended to energize those who come to the rally.
When Obama draws huge crows the media calls it inspirational. When McCain and Palin (Mostly Palin) draw large crowds it is incendiary.
Good grief.
Mike Sylvester
Senator John McCain embraces socialism during last night’s debate
John McCain is, and always has been a moderate Republican. He would have to be considered pretty close to the political center by any objective person.
Last night Senator McCain did what he could to ensure that he is defeated in the upcoming election. Senator McCain keeps trying to reach out to moderates and Democrats when he should instead be focusing on conservatives.
His commentsabout bailing out homeowners who cannot afford to pay their home mortgages sounds like something a socialist or fascist would advocate rather then a conservative.
He wants to take 300 billion dollars of the 700 billion dollar bailout package and use it to bailout out certain home owners and write off a portion of their mortgage principle and negotiate a 5% interest rate fixed rate loan.
In other words he wants to reward people who made bad decisions by borrowing money we do not have and using that money to pay down the principal of these mortgages and refinance them at lower interest rates then most Americans have.
Good grief.
Mike Sylvester
P.S. Yes, I am voting Libertarian for President. Bob Barr has my vote for certain…
AIG, the plot thickens
As most of you know on September 16th, 2008 the Federal Government spent 85 billion tax dollars on a private company, AIG. Basically our Federal Government borrowed 85 billion dollars and turned around and loaned that money to AIG so they would not have to fail and declare bankruptcy. In return the Federal Government has stock warrants for 79.9% of the equity in AIG. Basically the Federal Government owns 79.9% of AIG. The 85 billion is a loan that supposedly must be repaid within 24 months and AIG has to pay interest that is 850 basis points above the three month LIBOR rate.
Today, 22 days later, it has been revealed that AIG had already drawn and spent 61 billion of the allowed 85 billion as of September 30th! Meaning that AIG has drawn and spent almost 71.8% of the 85 billion in just 14 days.
So today the Federal Reserve decided to loan AIG ANOTHER 37.8 billion dollars that we do not have. So this means we will sell more Treasuries and borrow that money and increase the National Debt even further.
Brilliant.
Mike Sylvester
Headline Of The Day
From the Wall Street Journal:
Markets Fall On Doubts Rescues Will Succeed
Biggest.Fraud.Ever
Barney Frank is an embarassment and should be “fired”
You just have to read this drivel from Barney Frank.
Barney Frank has been in Congress since 1981. He is the Democratic Chair of the Financial Services Committee. In my opinion Barney Frank is one of the people most at fault for the current financial crisis. He has done everything he can to force banks to lower their lending standards and he has fought against reform at Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.
That being said there is a lot of blame to go around in this “financial crisis” and that blame should be directed at:
- Our politicians who forced banks to lower their lending standards and at the SEC for allowing investments banks leverage themselves too far. (Republicans AND Democrats are to blame for this “crisis”)
- The consumers who purchased more then they could afford.
- The lending institutions who allowed people to borrow too much money.
- Wall Street and their attempts to create risky derivatives and for executive greed.
His comments in the article referenced above are ignorant, false, and not worthy of a US Congressman. He has pretty much joined the ranks of Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton in my mind…
Mike Sylvester
Congress must be so proud
Well it looks like out Treasury Secretary (A prior Goldman Sachs employee) has tapped another prior Goldman Sachs employee to lead the 700 billion dollar bailout.
He chose Neel Kashkari.
Nice, lets see how many Goldman Sachs employees he chooses…
I imagine Congress is extremely proud of themselves.
Vote the bums out (Both parties).
Mike Sylvester
Class Envy
Class Envy and the tax code
You can tell a Federal election is around the corner due to the discussions about making the middle class pay less in taxes and further subsidizing the poor - ensuring that not only do they pay no Federal income tax they also get a significant subsidy via various refundable tax credits.
These conversations are interesting; however, they are truly meaningless unless they are put into context.
What is middle classed? What is poor? What is rich?
Most often economists (and politicians) use median income to determine tax policy. Our Federal income tax code is designed to tax those who make more money at higher rates while at the same time subsidizing the poor by paying them more back then they pay in Federal income taxes.
Interestingly enough the Indiana tax code is designed to tax people fairly evenly no matter what their income. In Indiana your exemptions will exclude a small amount of income from tax; however, once you get above that amount everyone is taxed evenly in Indiana.
Explanations Wanted
I’m not being facetious here. I would seriously like for somebody to explain to me how this bailout will solve our current crisis. Don’t bother rehashing the problem - I get that; I understand the credit crunch.
But I would like to hear a good explanation on how this will actually solve that problem…
One root cause of the curent financial crisis
As I have said in previous posts the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) created part of this mess back in 2004 by allowing the big five investment banks to use more leverage which weakened their balance sheets significantly.
Karena Goldner emailed me a link to a New York Times article that is worth your time as long as you ignore the overly partisan statements.
Mike Sylvester
Car loans and the current financial crisis
Pretty much every financial expert I have talked to or whose articles I read feel that there is too much debt in the US economy. This is something I have blogged about for years. The US Economy is a “house of cards” built on debt.
Much of this debt is incurred to purchase a house, to purchase one or more cars, or to purchase various items on high interest rate credit cards.
If the current financial crisis has taught us anything, it should be that as a nation we have too much debt.
Sadly, that is not the message we are getting from the majority of our politicians in Washington DC. Rather they are saying that they want to “loosen up” the credit markets so Americans can continue to go out and secure loans that they often cannot afford.
Anyone with GOOD credit can secure a loan today with no problem! Please call a local bank or car dealership and they will certainly extend you credit if you are a good credit risk.
Reuters has a story that you should take the time to read, it discusses the drop in new car sales in September.
