When is man supposed to have a conscious? When does it make a difference for a single person or one business or a single corporation to say a proposed event or action is wrong? I just read an article in my local paper about the on-going attempt to save the giant Wachovia Bank. Wachovia finds itself in the position of needing to be saved because of its huge investment in worthless mortgages. The article explained that Citibank first negotiated a rescue of what was once one of the top five banks in this country. Citibank had agreed to pour huge amounts of cash into the struggling Wachovia to acquire only the banking portion of the North Carolina giant. Apparently the big shots from Wachovia, the Federal Reserve and Citibank had pretty much come to a resolution on the bucket of worms the acquisition of a large bank involves. Before they could pack up their brief cases and make their final report to Erin Burnett from MSNBC, a pony express rider from Wells Fargo breezed into the room and insisted all action be ceased. Unknown to the original parties to the Citibank/Wachovia negotiations Wells Fargo had been in a meeting of their own, somewhere west of Denver, and had come up with a new and better solution to the Wachovia crisis.
After everyone was reseated at the huge conference table in the top floor of the tallest building in North Carolina, Wells Fargo began to speak. “We can do better”, the man who had previously been riding a pony express pony begin to speak. “We know your plan calls for a big infusion of tax payer money into this buy out by Citibank”, said the little fellow. “As you know, Wells Fargo is a big part of what made this country so great”, the man continued with no one understanding what he was talking about. “We have been talking about our old friend Wachovia’s problem and while all ya’ll have done a great job crafting this buyout to save the old Bank, we have a better solution for everyone”. “I don’t think so”, said the headman from Citibank, “we bought this thing and we do not need anything from you cowboys”. “Fine”, said the Wells Fargo man who had been doing all the talking. “You tell the public how you are using government tax money to buy this sweet old bank and how there was someone in the deal without tax money willing to accomplish the same thing if not more, how about that Mr. Federal Reserve man? The Federal Reserve man had just about gone to sleep thinking he had no dog in this fight. “Well I do think we should look at all our options before we spend the taxpayers money”, the Fed man was quick to say, even though he did not care who bought the damn thing as long as Wachovia did not go under. “I don’t have long”, the Fed man quickly said, “I’ve got to get this wrapped us quick or President Bush is going to miss the Simpson’s tonight and he won’t be happy”. “What you got to offer”, the Fed man was looking straight at Mr. Wells Fargo and hoping for a quick answer.
“Wells Fargo will buy the whole thing, lock-stock and barrel”, this little fellow from Wells Fargo was saying as he pulled some paperwork from his saddlebags. The Fed’s man knew Citibank was only buying the banking portion from Wachovia and the rest would have to be dealt with later in some fashion. He like the idea of getting everything done in one easy transaction and wanted to hear more about what this guy was talking about. The guys from Wachovia were speechless, they just wanted to go home, they had lost everything, including access to the executive john and they saw nothing in either offer for them. “Go on”, the Fed guy said, “we’ve already got a deal so this had better be good”. “It’s simple”, said Wells Fargo man, “we buy it all for very little more than Citibank is paying for just the bank”. “No Way”, said the Wachovia man, speaking for really the first time. “It has taken us a week to put all this together, we’ve got it signed, sealed and packed up and I’m ready to go home”. “Yea”, said the Citibank representative, “we got it fair and square while ya’ll were still in California and we’re not giving it back, no way”. “Fine”, said the Wells Fargo man, “you explain to the market how you used all this tax payer money to buy a dog like Wachovia. You’ll be the most despised company on the street, and we will take full advantage of your greed with our marketing”. “Next thing you know we will be buying you”, the hot shot Wells Fargo man was on a roll. “I’d like to talk with my friends from Wachovia for a moment alone if you don’t mine”, said the Wells Fargo man while Citibank was cooling down. “That’s fine with me”, said the Fed man, motioning to the Citibank contingency to follow him out side the conference room and into a lounge area where he intended to get a drink.
After the Fed and the Citibank group were gone the Wells Fargo man took over. “I didn’t want to say anything in front of them but I think you are going to like this deal. If you guys just play along with us I know you will be a lot happier with our deal that with the Citibank deal”. “How can it make any difference to us, we’re busted and gone no matter what”, the second in command for Wachovia said. “Yea, I knew that subprime stuff was going to get somebody, I just didn’t think it would be us”. “Listen you idiots”, the Wells Fargo man said loudly, “if you’ll quit feeling sorry for yourselves for just a minute I’ll make your day. We’ve got some really good tax lawyers in California and they have figured this thing out so we can all get right and really screw the government”. The Wachovia contingent perked up some and leaned in to hear what sounded too good to be true. “Our guys got Treasury to set up a new regulation in the IRS Code, that will let Wells Fargo take 100% of your loss if we acquire 100% of your company”. “The hell you say”, gushed one of the Wachovia men. “You mean you can pay for us with the same money you would be paying in taxes anyway”. “Damn right”, said Wells Fargo, “and by buying the whole company we have to honor all the employment contracts you have with the old company, golden parachutes and all”. “There is a God”, said the first Wachovia man able to speak.
The rest of the story is history, Citibank whined and cried for a bit but finally gave in and let the deal go forward. No one from the government raised any objections since they were so happy that one of the top 5 banks had been saved. The only ones that should have complained were the taxpayers and there was no one to speak for them.
When will someone, someday simply say enough is enough. When will someone with a conscious simply say this is not sound or even fair and refuse to take advantage of the ordinary taxpayers? It’s time for someone to call Bull$$$$ on the obv
Thursday, November 6, 2008
'BAILOUT EXTENDED'
I’ve just had another, ‘you’ve got to be kidding me’ moment. I read in my morning paper where the White House was pleading with the Banks that have received the ‘Bail-Out Bucks’ in the Bail-Out giveaway show to start making loans with the money they received. I thought that’s what they were getting the giveaway ‘Bucks’ for in the first place. The same paper carried an article about how some of the recipient banks were now paying dividends to their stockholders out of these proceeds. This whole deal stinks and was nothing more than welfare for the rich. When this money is finally loaned, I guarantee it will go to some fat cats that have a statement just this side of Warren Buffet and most of the poor folks who are on the line to the government for their part of the Bail-Out plan will not ‘qualify’ for enough cash to buy an extra tank of gas.
If congress really wants to help the people most affected by this recession then I have a couple of suggestions. First, how about limiting the amount of interest the banks can charge the average ‘Joe’ on a credit card to 15%. Just a few years ago 15% would have been unheard of, but now it seems like it is the equivalent of finding gas at $2.25 per gallon. Poor folks out there today are getting slapped with 24% to 28% and the banks can’t get enough of this easy money. Next Congress could outlaw the $35 fee charged whenever an average customer goes over the credit limit established when he answered that unsolicited mailer offering him the great card with the low ‘introductory interest’. Every transaction is approved on the spot now so why not just deny the charge at the point of purchase if the credit limit is exceeded. The $35 fee is as close to being criminal as one can get. If I walked into one of a bank’s branches and pointed a carrot at a teller while passing a note demanding cash to avoid being shot by the carrot then took $35 from her at carrot point I’d be arrested and sent to jail. Again only the working stiffs are the ones with this problem. The people who qualify for the loans from the banks participating in the Bailout have credit limits they never exceed or have agreements with the banks to cover any such emergency situation. At least reduce to amount to a reasonable $5.00 per month should such overage occur. The next stimulus step would be to prohibit the banks from charging the $35 on every insufficient fund check that comes through the bank. Only the average Joe’s pay these robbery class fees. Bounce the check or pay it but don’t charge the poor writer any more than the amount of the check with a limit of $10 per check. Give the poor customer a break; they are the ones funding your Bailout.
Another point I think needs to be made. If I’m going to be a part of this new consortium that pulls the nations banks financial statements out of the fire I want to sit in some of those skyboxes they all have at the various sports stadiums around the country. Why should the big shots who got them into trouble in the first place be the ones sitting up there drinking all the good whiskey and eating the ribs? I want to be chauffeured to the stadium in a stretch limo and whisked by the common folks standing in line to get to their end zone seats on the third row. After all, who is paying for those boxes? The bank was broke before Congress gave them my money to stay open, I should get some of the benefits.
Alas, I know I am dreaming. It is the poor folks like me that is suppose to take care of those at the top. I think that is one reason we have had so much trouble with integration in this country. It was hard for all us white people to realize that the majority of us had become the slaves and we had always believed the color of our skin protected us from that fate. Really the gap just keeps getting wider and wider. It takes more and more people to support the lifestyles of the few selected ones at the top. That is why the rich elect a Congress to protect them in tough times. Every few years the working folks just have to come up with a little more to pay those salaries and dividends and it is easier for a Congress to take it than it would be for the elite to just force the issue. Every now and then someone will break out and move into the skyboxes but it becoming more and more a rarity. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, I still have color HD DIRECTV and a Big Green Egg.
If congress really wants to help the people most affected by this recession then I have a couple of suggestions. First, how about limiting the amount of interest the banks can charge the average ‘Joe’ on a credit card to 15%. Just a few years ago 15% would have been unheard of, but now it seems like it is the equivalent of finding gas at $2.25 per gallon. Poor folks out there today are getting slapped with 24% to 28% and the banks can’t get enough of this easy money. Next Congress could outlaw the $35 fee charged whenever an average customer goes over the credit limit established when he answered that unsolicited mailer offering him the great card with the low ‘introductory interest’. Every transaction is approved on the spot now so why not just deny the charge at the point of purchase if the credit limit is exceeded. The $35 fee is as close to being criminal as one can get. If I walked into one of a bank’s branches and pointed a carrot at a teller while passing a note demanding cash to avoid being shot by the carrot then took $35 from her at carrot point I’d be arrested and sent to jail. Again only the working stiffs are the ones with this problem. The people who qualify for the loans from the banks participating in the Bailout have credit limits they never exceed or have agreements with the banks to cover any such emergency situation. At least reduce to amount to a reasonable $5.00 per month should such overage occur. The next stimulus step would be to prohibit the banks from charging the $35 on every insufficient fund check that comes through the bank. Only the average Joe’s pay these robbery class fees. Bounce the check or pay it but don’t charge the poor writer any more than the amount of the check with a limit of $10 per check. Give the poor customer a break; they are the ones funding your Bailout.
Another point I think needs to be made. If I’m going to be a part of this new consortium that pulls the nations banks financial statements out of the fire I want to sit in some of those skyboxes they all have at the various sports stadiums around the country. Why should the big shots who got them into trouble in the first place be the ones sitting up there drinking all the good whiskey and eating the ribs? I want to be chauffeured to the stadium in a stretch limo and whisked by the common folks standing in line to get to their end zone seats on the third row. After all, who is paying for those boxes? The bank was broke before Congress gave them my money to stay open, I should get some of the benefits.
Alas, I know I am dreaming. It is the poor folks like me that is suppose to take care of those at the top. I think that is one reason we have had so much trouble with integration in this country. It was hard for all us white people to realize that the majority of us had become the slaves and we had always believed the color of our skin protected us from that fate. Really the gap just keeps getting wider and wider. It takes more and more people to support the lifestyles of the few selected ones at the top. That is why the rich elect a Congress to protect them in tough times. Every few years the working folks just have to come up with a little more to pay those salaries and dividends and it is easier for a Congress to take it than it would be for the elite to just force the issue. Every now and then someone will break out and move into the skyboxes but it becoming more and more a rarity. I don’t mean to sound ungrateful, I still have color HD DIRECTV and a Big Green Egg.
'Joe the Plumber'
It’s Saturday, three days until what many are saying is the most important Presidential election in our lifetime, and John McCain just announced that ‘Joe the Plumber’ is his hero and he’s taking him to Washington. Now my question is, has this entire nation gone mad or is it just John McCain? McCain is a man who has served this country since he was 17 years old in one form or another. Here is a man who from birth, being the son and grandson of Admirals, a member of Congress for 26 years, and husband to the only woman richer than Oprah, has walked in the most rarified air this country has to offer. Now this nominee of the Grand Old Party is falling in love with the guy that dropped out of High School to pursue a career unclogging commodes with a plumber’s snake.
Everyone had a ‘Joe the Plumber’ in their class until he dropped out before the 11th grade or when he reached 16 years of age, whichever came first. It did not take long, usually by the 4th grade, for everyone to realize our ‘Joe’ was not going to need any advanced classes or college prep work. In my class there were two or three ‘Joe’s’ and I think I remember all three wanted to drive a truck. More than once one of the ‘Joe’s’ got me to thinking pretty hard about the cool life awaiting me if I had the nerve to join them for a life on the road. Fortunately for me I was afraid of my parents would kill me if I mentioned dropping out of school to pursue a truck stop life behind the wheel of an eighteen-wheeler. I have no idea whatever became of my ‘Joe’s’ but I know every class had some and I hope they are as happy as they planned to be during those early days of their limited formal education.
I guess if you live the sheltered life of an Admiral’s son you really don’t meet many ‘Joe’s’. While John McCain had a bad five years in Hanoi, the rest of his life has been pretty structured and privileged. He probably doesn’t realize the woods are full of guys like his newfound hero. There are some traits in a guy like ‘Joe’ that are attractive at first blush. ‘Joe’s’ learned early to talk loud about the obvious. He is usually a quick study and can often be heard telling everyone around him how formal education is not all it’s cracked up to be and how fortunate he is since he went to the school of hard knocks and how he is conversant in just about any subject. The problem with this ‘Joe’ and most of the other ‘Joe’s’ is that the school of hard knocks degree and the brash talk run thin pretty quick. The press took fifteen minutes to find out that ‘Joe’ was not a plumber, ‘Joe’ was not about to buy a plumbing business, and ‘Joe’ in fact was behind on taxes he owed in the past. ‘Joe’ did not say anything about ‘spreading the wealth’, which McCain has jumped on so fast. ‘Joe’, if he were here in the south would be described as simply a ‘loud mouth dumb ass’.
Now my next question is what is McCain going to do with ‘Joe’ when he gets him to Washington. The candidate for the highest office in the land gets absolutely giddy when he talks about ‘Joe’. This amazes me, the dumb ass completely missed one campaign stop where poor old McCain was expecting him and caused the old man to stand on stage, behind a lectern and literally call ‘Joe’ for several minutes. For the potential President of the United States of America to be calling in vain for a ‘dumb ass’ days before the election of a lifetime is scary proposition.
The experts and the candidates keep telling us this election is about judgment. I to think this office more than any other must be about judgment for many reasons. If judgment is the issue then Senator John McCain has got a serious problem. His judgment in choosing Marge Gunderson as his Vice-Presidential running mate and now his judgment in picking dumb ass ‘Joe the Plumber’ as a member of his inter circle move me to wonder if Mrs. McCain needs a long term assisted living program through her beer distributorship in place for John.
Why is this thing even close???
Everyone had a ‘Joe the Plumber’ in their class until he dropped out before the 11th grade or when he reached 16 years of age, whichever came first. It did not take long, usually by the 4th grade, for everyone to realize our ‘Joe’ was not going to need any advanced classes or college prep work. In my class there were two or three ‘Joe’s’ and I think I remember all three wanted to drive a truck. More than once one of the ‘Joe’s’ got me to thinking pretty hard about the cool life awaiting me if I had the nerve to join them for a life on the road. Fortunately for me I was afraid of my parents would kill me if I mentioned dropping out of school to pursue a truck stop life behind the wheel of an eighteen-wheeler. I have no idea whatever became of my ‘Joe’s’ but I know every class had some and I hope they are as happy as they planned to be during those early days of their limited formal education.
I guess if you live the sheltered life of an Admiral’s son you really don’t meet many ‘Joe’s’. While John McCain had a bad five years in Hanoi, the rest of his life has been pretty structured and privileged. He probably doesn’t realize the woods are full of guys like his newfound hero. There are some traits in a guy like ‘Joe’ that are attractive at first blush. ‘Joe’s’ learned early to talk loud about the obvious. He is usually a quick study and can often be heard telling everyone around him how formal education is not all it’s cracked up to be and how fortunate he is since he went to the school of hard knocks and how he is conversant in just about any subject. The problem with this ‘Joe’ and most of the other ‘Joe’s’ is that the school of hard knocks degree and the brash talk run thin pretty quick. The press took fifteen minutes to find out that ‘Joe’ was not a plumber, ‘Joe’ was not about to buy a plumbing business, and ‘Joe’ in fact was behind on taxes he owed in the past. ‘Joe’ did not say anything about ‘spreading the wealth’, which McCain has jumped on so fast. ‘Joe’, if he were here in the south would be described as simply a ‘loud mouth dumb ass’.
Now my next question is what is McCain going to do with ‘Joe’ when he gets him to Washington. The candidate for the highest office in the land gets absolutely giddy when he talks about ‘Joe’. This amazes me, the dumb ass completely missed one campaign stop where poor old McCain was expecting him and caused the old man to stand on stage, behind a lectern and literally call ‘Joe’ for several minutes. For the potential President of the United States of America to be calling in vain for a ‘dumb ass’ days before the election of a lifetime is scary proposition.
The experts and the candidates keep telling us this election is about judgment. I to think this office more than any other must be about judgment for many reasons. If judgment is the issue then Senator John McCain has got a serious problem. His judgment in choosing Marge Gunderson as his Vice-Presidential running mate and now his judgment in picking dumb ass ‘Joe the Plumber’ as a member of his inter circle move me to wonder if Mrs. McCain needs a long term assisted living program through her beer distributorship in place for John.
Why is this thing even close???
Hannity and Limbaugh's World is Gone
When it comes to the election of Barack Obama not everybody seems to get it. While millions of people around the world celebrated the election of Mr. Obama on Tuesday, a few continue to seem totally lost as to what made this election so different and special. Obama should be appreciated more for the manner in which he ran his campaign than for the fact that he is the first black to be elected President in this nation that still leads the free world. This history making campaign in unique in that for nearly two years its focus was on the issues as opposed to the trivia and non consequential. It was June of ’08 before Mr. Obama and his campaign managers bent to the pressures of his party to even answer the negative attacks by his opponent and even then did the Obama campaign counter the onslaught of attack ads running against him. Through Bill Ayers, Rev. Wright, the Muslim connection and attacks on a supposedly un-American wife the Obama campaign kept talking about the economy, national defense, tax relief for the middle class and health care for the nation. The American voters were paying attention and listening. The decided early that this election was going to be about more than personal attacks and the minutia, that the future of life as we know it was far too important to allow the election of our leader to not be about substantive matters.
Those who fail to get it this time will probably never get it. I switched over last night, the night after election day just to see what Sean Hannity was saying one day removed from Obama’s big win. There in prime time, the day after what many consider to be a benchmark election in our nations history, was mega conservative T.V. star and talk show host Hannity with special guest ‘Joe the Plumber’. ‘Joe the Plumber’, unshaven, wearing what appeared to be a dirty T-shirt, was explaining how President-elect Obama was unpatriotic, un-American and totally unfit to be President. What Hannity and those like him fail to understand is that this nation for at least a fleeting moment has grown beyond the gimmicks and flash card sound bytes of the old Lee Atwater/Carl Rove politics. As an electorate we’ve seen our better angels and we know electing our officials can be done in a much better way. Hannity was pitiful in his obvious efforts to lead poor old Joe into saying whatever Hannity thought sounded good. Joe on the other hand looked and sounded like he was just coming off a day long drunk and would have followed any lead Hannity offered. Probably the best part was when Joe assured Hannity that he had done research on just what un-American and unpatriotic meant by looking them up in the Webster’s Dictionary earlier and was confident Obama met all the requirements.
Hopefully Sean it is not all about tricks and gimmicks any more. The Hannitys, the Limbaughs and the other leaders of the far right can now go peacefully back under the rocks from whence they came. The United States has experienced the light of legitimate campaigning and hopefully it will be far too painful to slide back into the dark and negative world of ‘Joe the Plumbers’.
Those who fail to get it this time will probably never get it. I switched over last night, the night after election day just to see what Sean Hannity was saying one day removed from Obama’s big win. There in prime time, the day after what many consider to be a benchmark election in our nations history, was mega conservative T.V. star and talk show host Hannity with special guest ‘Joe the Plumber’. ‘Joe the Plumber’, unshaven, wearing what appeared to be a dirty T-shirt, was explaining how President-elect Obama was unpatriotic, un-American and totally unfit to be President. What Hannity and those like him fail to understand is that this nation for at least a fleeting moment has grown beyond the gimmicks and flash card sound bytes of the old Lee Atwater/Carl Rove politics. As an electorate we’ve seen our better angels and we know electing our officials can be done in a much better way. Hannity was pitiful in his obvious efforts to lead poor old Joe into saying whatever Hannity thought sounded good. Joe on the other hand looked and sounded like he was just coming off a day long drunk and would have followed any lead Hannity offered. Probably the best part was when Joe assured Hannity that he had done research on just what un-American and unpatriotic meant by looking them up in the Webster’s Dictionary earlier and was confident Obama met all the requirements.
Hopefully Sean it is not all about tricks and gimmicks any more. The Hannitys, the Limbaughs and the other leaders of the far right can now go peacefully back under the rocks from whence they came. The United States has experienced the light of legitimate campaigning and hopefully it will be far too painful to slide back into the dark and negative world of ‘Joe the Plumbers’.
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