David Stockman: “We have a far worse fiscal situation…”

The Daily Capitalist
Stockman On Budget And Downgrade
By Jeff Harding August 11th, 2011

This is an interview of David Stockman on Bloomberg Radio today by Kathleen Hayes. David goes into the budget crisis and the downgrade. As usual he pulls no punches. “We have a far worse fiscal situation….by 2012, 2013, 2014… the deficit situation is going to be dramatically worse and our ability to cope will be almost non-existent….”

This is an excellent interview on Bloomberg Radio which can be heard  Continue reading

RSN: Austerity: The Wrong Prescription

 “…the majority of Republicans in Congress continue to resist any measure that would raise revenues, a position we believe Congress reinforced by passing the act.”  Take over the mortgages – stupid! SEIZE MERS.

Austerity: The Wrong Prescription

Denise Brunal-Hicks, left, hugs her daughter Samantha, 18, as they stand next to a curb piled with their belongings. Brunal-Hicks was being evicted from her foreclosed home after spending thirteen years at the residence. (photo: Greg Kahn/Naples News)

By Carl Gibson, Reader Supported News
09 August 11

Reader Supported News | Perspective

f you were a patient in intensive care, sick and in pain, what would you say to a doctor whose only recommendation was cutting off your blood supply, meals and therapy, and redirecting your pain medicine to another patient who was already healthy and well? Would you follow your doctor’s orders, or sue them for malpractice? Continue reading

Understanding the Cause of the Economic Collapse

The average person is wondering why America can’t get out of this Depression and while we are not in bread lines like the 1930s – we’re getting awfully close.  Families are being displaced by foreclosures.  More tents are popping up around the cities and jobs are still hard to find.

To help understand what happened and what we can do about it let’s start with DERIVATIVES. These are unregulated investment vehicles that gambled away pension and retirement funds from around the world – so Wall Street could get rich… quick! This small clip, from the excellent documentary INSIDE JOB, explains in easy-to-understand terms how Collateralized Debt Obligations, or CDO derivatives, were instrumental to the global financial meltdown.

I highly recommend this documentary. INSIDE JOB sheds light on what really happened in 2008. Here’s a clip with the whole movie to follow.  Continue reading

Cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid and not raise taxes on the wealthy?

CALL CONGRESSWOMAN HIRONO AND TELL HER “NO”!
Why would we agree to cut Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid and not raise taxes on the wealthy?  They’ve had tax cuts since Bush and has the economy gotten any better?  It’s time for Real Change.

Progressive Change Campaign Committee

Last night, President Obama agreed to a deal with top Republicans that is widely seen as a big victory for the Tea Party.

It has trillions in spending cuts that will hurt poor and middle-class families and no taxes on the rich. It also lines up Social Security, Medicare, and Medicaid benefits for future cuts.

Nancy Pelosi said “none of us may be able to support it” — but many Democrats are making up their minds in the next few hours.

Your Representative, Mazie Hirono, signed a letter pledging not to vote for any deal that cuts Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. Can you call her right now?

Tell Rep. Hirono to keep her promise and vote NO on this bad deal — click here for the number and a script. Here’s what folks are saying about this deal: Continue reading

AG Settlement Opposition – MA Throws the First Punch

The questions to consider after reading this will be – (1) do you really need more time to consider your position on MERS?  And, (2) will any issues that entail MERS ultimately circle back to its creator – the cartel of members?  If so, why bother to settle?

PUNCH NO. 1:

Massachusetts AG Coakley: I Won’t Sign Away Liability Over MERS in Foreclosure Fraud Settlement

By: David Dayen Monday July 25, 2011 2:19 pm

Attorney General Martha CoakleyMassachusetts has joined several other states in saying they would oppose a foreclosure fraud settlement if it includes certain liability releases, particularly those relating to MERS. Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley (yes, that Martha Coakley) wants to retain the ability to pursue lawsuits against the banks and their subsidiaries over state consumer protection violations and fraud upon state courts.

“Massachusetts will not sign on to any global agreement with the banks if it includes a comprehensive liability release regarding securitization and the MERS conduct,” Coakley wrote to the Norfolk County register of deeds in Dedham, Massachusetts. “These investigations must continue.” The registry keeps records of real estate in the county […] Continue reading

Idiot of the Week – Ben Bernanke

By DEADLY CLEAR

This week’s IDIOT focus is on Chairman Ben S. Bernanke – Semiannual Monetary Policy Report to the Congress Before the Committee on Financial Services, U.S. House of Representatives and Committee on Banking, HOusing and Urban Affairs, U.S. Senate, Washington, D.C. ON July 13, 2011 and July 14, 2011, respectively.

Chairman Bernanke presented his overview of a weak economy, suffering because investors just don’t want to come back to Wall Street like they had earlier this decade.

Mr. Bernanke, do you think it might be due to the numerous investor lawsuits for securitization fraud and deception caused by [your pals] Wall Street’s greed and Congress’ failure to regulate derivatives?… Maybe, yeah?  You ask Congress for an incentive to bring investors back – regulation might be a good start to stabilization…’cause it sure didn’t work the other way! Continue reading

MERS Causes Banksters’ Nightmare to Continue

New York Times FAIR GAME

The Banks Still Want a Waiver

By Published: July 23, 2011

HOW should banks atone for those foreclosure abuses — all the robo-signing and shoddy recordkeeping that jettisoned so many people from their homes?

It has been four months since a deal to remedy this mess was floated. Not much has happened since — at least not publicly.

Last week, banking executives and state attorneys general met in Washington to try to settle their differences. At issue was how much banks should pay, and how and to whom, to make this all go away. The initial terms, which emerged in March, were said to carry a $20 billion price tag.

But here is a crucial question: to what extent would such a settlement protect banks from future liability? Will the attorneys general strike a deal that effectively prevents them from Continue reading

WSJ Posts: Government Weighs Turning Foreclosures Into Rentals – Lame, very lame!

By Nick Timiraos

There’s an 800-pound gorilla in the nation’s hardest-hit housing markets: hundreds of thousands of foreclosed properties are selling, and there’s four times as many potential foreclosures behind them.

The Journal writes today that one idea gaining support in Washington is an effort to pull some of those properties off the market and rent them out, either on homes owned by federal agencies or loan giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. Continue reading

CBS NEWS: John Boehner walks away from debt talks

CBS NEWS – POLITICAL HOTSHEET JUST POSTED:

John Boehner walks away from debt talks

By Brian Montopoli
Updated 6:05 p.m. Eastern Time
House Speaker John Boehner has walked away from negotiations with President Obama over a deal to raise the debt limit.“In the end, we couldn’t connect. Not because of different personalities, but because of different visions for our country,” Boehner said in a letter to colleagues. He said Mr. Obama ” is emphatic that taxes have to be raised” and “adamant that we cannot make fundamental changes to our entitlement programs.””For these reasons, I have decided to end discussions with the White House and begin conversations with the leaders of the Senate in an effort to find a path forward,” he said.House Republican leadership aides told CBS News that Boehner will work with the Senate leadership in an attempt to reach a deal that meets the GOP’s two central requirements: That spending cuts are equal to or greater than debt limit increase and that there are no new taxes.Without action, the debt limit will be breached on August 2 – 11 days from now –
potentially plunging the U.S. economy into chaos. Continue reading

…there was no next time

there was no next time.
By DEADLY CLEAR
July 21, 2011

Now is the time to speak up… Newsmax.com (a right-wing news blog) writes the ‘Gang of Six’ Plan ‘Total Joke’ and comments, “[T]he compromise plan that the so-called “Gang of Six” in the Senate is proposing to solve the debt-ceiling crisis is a “total joke” that shows nothing but contempt for the American people, Mark Steyn writes in The Corner column at National Review Online.”  

Progressive Democrats (a Progressive Change Campaign Committee PAC) are opposing President Obama and are refusing to re-elect him if he cuts Social Security and Medicare to which Senator Bernie Sanders from Vermont says, “This senator is going to fight back. I was not elected to the United States Senate to make devastating cuts in Social Security, in Medicare, in Medicaid…”.  And Investment firm economists like Mike Larson of Weiss Research, Inc. are urging their subscribers by email to be concerned saying, “I think it shows just how unsolvable our nation’s Continue reading