President Obama: I’m Ready to Rumble

“(Of course, there are also those who just disagree with the policies..” says jpt
yes, all they seem to know how to do is disagree and complain. Sadly, they lack any vision, depth or thoughtful alternative to this crisis. Many Republicans (not all) continue to present outdated talking points as policy to an unprecedented crisis. It’s a shame for America.

So the wealthy go back to the tax rates under the clinton era – remember that time, when the economy and the majority of the country actually did well? Reaganomics and the redistribution of wealth (to the wealthy) is the equivalent of 80% of the country each writing a $10,000 check to the top 2%. And people want more of this? Open your eyes folks! It’s astounding that so many are willing to rail against tax increases (for the top 2%) that will actually reduce their personal burden and provide necessary services – while they actually do get a tax cut. I guess that’s the long lasting effect of too much Limbaugh and Fox “News”.

ayn rand = stupid
people who read ayn rand = stupid
try on some noam chomsky you pathetic air head…

I didn’t read any whining into this report. All of us have a stake in how the money we send is spent and even how the stockmarket responds. I’ll even go so far as to say that federal and state employees, many of them Obama supporters for obvious reasons, have more at risk than the some of us as their pensions plans are heavily invested in the market. The less the market performs the less return you have or the more money taxpayers will have to fork over to keep your pensions alive.
I am all for the President cutting handouts or special loop holes but even the least of us realize that studies on “poop smells in Iowa” ain’t exactly urgent right now so why not save that money to pay down debt or hand it back to the tax payers.
Interesting times we live in, but we’ll make it!

Peach: “We have a government intent on punishing excellence and success.”
Funny, I didn’t see that when Clinton was president at all. On the contrary.
What I saw under Bush was incredible rewards for mediocrity, greed, cronyism, and fraud. There was no appreciation for excellence under GOP leadership and Bush, on the contrary. Excellence threatened to expose their own mediocrity and fraudulent behaviour, and had to be suppressed. Just look at what happened to James Hansen at NASA for one example.

We have a government intent on punishing excellence and success.
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Excellence? Hmmmm.. just a buzz word. Those banks sure showed excellence. They were excellent at taking us for a ride, excellent, and grabbing billions and returning nothing. Excellent at running our economy into the ground.
When someone mentions excellence I cringe.

Wake up America…before it is too late!
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We Have, James

The right-wingers at the New York Times express doubts about The Messiah’s forecasts:
“The economy is spiraling down at an accelerating pace, threatening to undermine the Obama administration’s spending plans, which anticipate vigorous rates of growth in years to come.
“A sense of disconnect between the projections by the White House and the grim realities of everyday American life was enhanced on Friday, as the Commerce Department gave a harsher assessment for the last three months of 2008. In place of an initial estimate that the economy contracted at an annualized rate of 3.8 percent — already abysmal — the government said that the pace of decline was actually 6.2 percent, making it the worst quarter since 1982.”

The right-wingers at the Associated Press ain’t seeing much Change:
“For all the sweeping changes that President Barack Obama has delivered, there also has been an ample helping of more-of-the-same.
“The Bush policy of imprisoning enemy combatants in Afghanistan without trial? The Obama White House is OK with that.
“The Bush tax cuts for the rich that candidate Obama promised to wipe out early? President Obama will let them run their course.
“The Bush team’s claim of a ‘state secrets’ privilege to avoid releasing information? The Obama White House has agreed thrice over, even as it reviews the policy.”

Another special interest group not all that happy with Obama’s new way of doing business- people with 401(k)s and college funds.

Oh dear, another Obama strawman. He’s done nothing since elected but cater to special interests. The only people he’s waging a fight with are those who believe in the American Dream.
Someone needs to start a Strawman Alert.

The “budget” represents real pork barrel spending, hardly a change from the past Washington practices… it is just masqueraded under another name called the stimulus bill.
I didn’t vote for Obama, but I had hoped that he was going to line veto pork barrel spending once he got elected as he had claimed on the campaign trail.
He was also going to be tough on lobbyists and yet, he hired onto two or more lobbyists into his administration, so how is that being tough? He is all talk so far, and no action. How could so many people have been taken in?

CNBC, DrudgeReport SCREAMS “Obama declares WAR on investors, businesses”
Obama NO Lobbyist in my administation, ..Well we know where that ended up.. LIES and DECEIT.
We KNOW your intent to destroy the middle class to make them more dependent on Government
How much does JOhn Kerry Pay
And especially How much does Ted Kennedy pay.. Kennedy ran from a reporter from fox when he was asked that question
Tell Us Obama.. what are your buddies paying in taxes?
The middle Class investor relies on his 401k or 403b or Ira to retire on.. and you and your little buddy TurboTax Timmy have driven the Market down till it is worthless
WE the citizens want an independent proecutor to investigate Chris Dodd and Barney Frank for their involvement in the Fannie Mae/Freddy Mac scandals, before they took over in 2006, the market was 14,000, unemployment was 4.5% inflation was less than 1%.. what did they do and when did they do it, its time the media stopped covering up for them. Bill Clinton called for an overhaul of the fannie mae/freddy mac system and was turned away by his own party in 1997, George Bush called for more regulation on fannie mae and Freddy Mac in 2003 and was turned away , We WANT ANSWERS!!!!!!

No President Obama, you are WRONG. You should not state “So Am I”; You should state “So Are WE” because most of us are behind you all the way!

I think everyone needs to stop whining
about the stimulus, how else are we suppose to get people back to work and put this country into shape. Unless we stop corporations from shipping jobs overseas to pad their bottom line.
I also think at the same time we need to offer tax breaks to corps. to bring back jobs this country, how else are we going to keep US strong.
The next thing, NO MORE BAILOUTS! for everyones sake no one will learn the hard cold lesson

What I saw under Clinton was Fraklin Raines and Jamie Gorelick looting Fannie Mae for over $100 Million for their personal fortunes, while giving banks the green light to make subprime loans so that Fannie and Freddie could purchase them–and the more they purchased, the greater the bonuses for Raines and Gorelick.
Posted by: Fascist Hyena
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There are a lot of errors in this post:
1) Raines and Gorelick worked for Fannie under Bush
2) The accounting scandal was 10 million, not 100
3) Gorelick and Raines did not profit from that accounting scandal
4) Fannie was not the cause of the subprime scandal, they did not “green light” anything. Lenders not controlled or regulated by gov were the cause. Fannie and Freddie made bad decisions when they wanted to compete in that private market and became a victim. There is not one expert in the housing and financing industry who blames Fannie and Freddie as the cause of the crisis; only rightwing politicians and pundits.
Better luck next time Fascist Hyena

There are others getting ready to ‘get it on” and they are not lobbyists and special interest groups. It’s going to be a long summer……

Wait a minute. What happened to hope and a new era of bipartisanhip in Washington? Only 1.5 months into office and already he’s saying: see and do things my way or else we’re gonna throw down. LOL What a joke. Not Obama but the mindless puppets that voted for him.

Dennis Kucinich calls the President a liar:
“‘You cannot leave combat troops in a foreign country to conduct combat operations and call it the end of the war. You can’t be in and out at the same time,’ said Kucinich, an early opponent of plans to invade Iraq.”
Must be a right-winger…

You tell ‘em Mr. President – the American people have got your back on this one.
No matter what happens, all Americans are gonna have to pay off the debt. So it’s time for the middle class to have something to show for it, just like the good people of Iraq do.
Game on.

If Obama’s policy is to do the opposite of what’s been done in the past them I’m all for it.
If that were true JV, I would be his number 1 fan yet the more I see of him the more me thinks he is the same. There are too many to list but he has constantly berated the rich especially the bankers and other money changers yet Giethner was in charge of the region of banks (can anyone doubt where the most poorly ran banks and brokerages are based in) in the north east during Bush’s term, had to see what was going on yet here he is in charge and not only in charge but a tax cheat to boot. Is a guy like this the best he could find?
Passing bills without reading them, bailing out people who made poor decisions on loans and handing out tax money to other special interest such as ethanol producers while berating gas companies ain’t exactly the change I wanted to see.
And to put icing on the cake, varmits such as Barney Frank, Chris Dodd -people who watched Fannie and Freddie pull the wool over all our eyes get no repremand but are put in charge of getting these institutions “straightened” out.
Change doesn’t appear to mean the same to me as it does for him.

Hey folks
Watch CPAC today
Watch all the sour faces. Why
Because they know they are in exile. Why
Because their polices don’t work and their values are tired and antiquated. America has moved past big talk with no ideas.
Note to CPAC’ers
When given lemons don’t suck them (sourfaces)
Make lemonade.
Get a clue folks
Join America.

I heard something from Rush Limbaugh which I actually agree with. He said that, unlike most Republicans, he has the guts to admit that he wants the Obama administration to fail. Et tu?

I have become Obama’s number one fan. He is clearly acting as a leader in alignment with the right principles. If you attack him on his leadership skills because you are blowing hot air. If you attack him on principles, then that is a much simpler debate. You either like them or you don’t. Obama’s principles look right for Obama and right for America and I like them. On the other hand you may not like them because they are not right for Rush Limbaugh or special interests. Where are you on that continuum? I’m sticking with Obama.

Franklin Raines was CEO of Fannie Mae from 1999-2004.
Jamie Gorelick was Vice Chairman of Fannie Mae from 1997-2003
While it is true that both served during the Bush Administration, they both began their positions during the Clinton Administration.
In 2006 the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO)–the regulating body of Fannie Mae–announced a lawsuit against Franklin Raines in order to recover some or all of the $90 million in payments he received.
It has been reported that Jamie Gorelick collected $26.4 million in total compensation during her tenure.
So between the two of them, they received $116.4 million.

Presidential Approval Index now stands at +10, down from +30 on Inauguration Day.

Presidential Approval Index now stands at +10, down from +30 on Inauguration Day.
Posted by: Fascist Hyena | Feb 28, 2009 12:30:59 PM
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Awesome!!!
Keep your eye off the ball and talk about skewed polls.
Great……
Dems are on a roll. Reps don’t have a clue.

Obama isn’t as tough as my 17 year old blind and incontinent Yorkie
Posted by: Realilty | Feb 28, 2009 12:31:46 PM
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YESSSSSSSS!!!!!!!!!!!! Nothing but net!!!!!!! Three pointer!!!!
Crazy talk solidifies your non-credible status.
Any more far fetched statements. I’m loving it!!!

September, 2003: “Treasury Secretary John Snow testifies before the House Financial Services Committee to recommend that Congress enact ‘legislation to create a new Federal agency to regulate and supervise the financial activities of our housing-related government sponsored enterprises’ and set prudent and appropriate minimum capital adequacy requirements.”
His recommendation was rejected. Barney Frank accused him of “fear-mongering,” and opined that Fannie and Freddie were in fine shape.

Oh dear, another Obama strawman. He’s done nothing since elected but cater to special interests.
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Yes the Spoecial interest of the American people for a change!

“Keep your eye off the ball and talk about skewed polls.”
Which one was skewed–the one on January 22, or the one on February 28? And how was it “skewed?”

Lots of spending planned and lots of blaming the wealthy already starting. On the other hand, I give Obama points on honesty. He’s doing what he promised he would try and do. He’s also been fairly honest in budgeting – much better than the charades Bush used to hide the massive spending.
But, let’s get this straight who the “special interests” are: they are you and me. Problem is that my special interest may not be yours. When people talk negatively about “special interests” they generally are implying that all of those entities are nameless big corporations. But special interests are not bad things in general and it is our constitutional right (freedom of speech) to lobby our representatives for what we believe is the ‘right’ thing to do. If you don’t like the end result, don’t blame the special interests – blame yourself for voting in a doofus representative who doesn’t agree with you.
It’s also time to stop merely talking about the problems but to try and solve them as best as possible. The only failure is inaction.

Everytime Øbama calls something an “investment”, he is lying to us all. That is nothing but cowardly big government propaganda-speak for wanton, unnecessary spending.
OBAMA = FAILURE

As right-wing Nobel Laureate Milton Friedman taught us, the correct measure of the burden placed on future generations is government spending. Every dime spent will have to be paid for either through taxation, borrowing or inflating the currency. In less than two months in office this man has placed a burden on the children and grandchildren of today’s Americans from which they can never escape.

“Every dime spent will have to be paid for either through taxation, borrowing or inflating the currency.”
IRAQ WAR.
TAX CUTS FOR THE RICHEST 1%.
Repubs: YOU DID IT TO YOURSELVES.
BUH-BYE NOW.
G.O.P. = R.I.P.

Yes, finally a President with some brains, and a spine of steal. I have every confidence that the President will lead us out of this recession and into a new period in America where we will have less foreign oil dependence, more green jobs, some level of health care for everyone and a better chance at sending our kids to college. Stand up President Obama for those of us who actually work for a living and not just for those who invest for a living like George Bush did. Obama is good for the middle class and what is good for the middle class is good for America. God Bless you President Obama.

All I hear on talk radio and cabel news channels lately is about how Obama is a socialist because he wants to raise the tax rate on the very rich by a mere 4%. I would say I am stunned by the greed of these constant complainers, but then again when you look at the banks and wall street investors I guess there is no end to their greed. You all voted for Bush not once but twice – now after billions in Iraq and tax cuts for the top 1% our economy is in shambles. Republicans have no one to blame but themselves and their own greed – so if you are losing in the stock market now, too bad for you. That is what happens to greedy people.

Where were all the Republicans who are suddenly complaing about putting debt on the backs of our children and grandchildren when Bush was running up a trillion in debt? I guess debt was ok when it was the rich getting tax breaks, but now when it is the middle class getting a break you are all freaking out over the deficit! GOP = Hypocrosy

Yes the Spoecial interest of the American people for a change!
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Oh pray tell. How has the president helped you?

Criminal Obama and his idiot AG Holder made a goof…..he wasn’t supposed to call us a “nation of cowards” until after they took our guns! Come get mine….bullets first!!! Ya filthy animals!!!

The President might rumble his way out of this job.

Is Obama planning to fight the lobbyists he appointed to his administration??
ha!
Oblahma is the epitome of hypocrisy! – but Obots will never admit it.

Obama’s Budget:
- Tax cut for 95% of all americans ($500 per person / $1000 per family)
- Letting the “Bush Tax Cuts” expire.
- Going back to the Clinton tax rate on the highest earners. A tax rate under which the entire country prospered.
- Clinton wasn’t a “Socialist” with his tax rates, and neither is Obama
- This isn’t “tax the rich and give to the poor”, this is about rebuilding the MIDDLE CLASS, which made this country great!
- The tax rates before Reagan, under Republican and Democratic Presidents were greater than the rates under Obama.
And yet, everyone wants to rewrite history and somehow say that Obama is a socialist and engaging in Class Warfare?

Jake,
Your lead in is misleading. Obama “painted opponents of his budget proposal as entrenched fat-cat special interests and told them he’s ready for a fight.”
No, he specifically said that the “lobbyists and special interests” were not going to be happy and already beginning the fight.
He said nothing about “opponents” of his plan, or people who disagree with him.
Nice way to begin the “Republican two-step”.
He is specifically and carefully calling out against the forces of the special interests and lobbyists.
BTW – compared to Bush’s White House and Clinton’s, Obama’s lack of lobbyists is commendable.

No, he specifically said that the “lobbyists and special interests” were not going to be happy and already beginning the fight.
============
I think the “green energy” lobby and the special interests known as unions will be very happy.

What pure, easily de-bunked propaganda this speech is. Entrenched special interests doing business as usual? Oh my God. That’s just too rich.
The entrenched special interests each have their own chapter in this bill. All the special interest groups, whether ethnically based, community-activist-based or servicing illegal aliens, are gaining from this bill.
The only special interests that don’t are charities, which have lost their tax deductbble status for contributions. This is meant to force charities to rely more heavily on government largesse, and lose their operational independence.
The bill has to be huge to be able to crowd out the private investment that could otherwise be rallied to fuel regrowth.
The same thing will happen to the middle class. As they gush over Obama and thank him for protecting them, he is deconstructing the foundation that made their success and lives possible. The black middle class made huge strides in this society the past ten years. They will be hardest hit.
From middle-class to mediocrity, in one generation.

President Obama’s readiness to rumble for the relevant reasons ratifies the rare seriousness of the matter and merits to be vehemently vouched for. But it also warrants to be rarely and richly reviewed, as to what has brought this common passage of budget issue to such an intense and infuriating stage and to whom – the most powerful President of the sole super political power of the planet, while his presidency is at the infancy stage and he is enjoying ideal domestic mandate coupled with rare worldwide popularity.
Overwhelming the severest ever Economic Crises is though the exclusive and the foremost issue at every Forum all over the world, but it is uniquely unusual and strange too – as if some Natural Calamity beyond the human control has caused it.
It is breaking this eerie silence towards the masterminds, and those who failed to enforce the law or looked the otherway and trhus led this crises to happen and wreak all this inestimable and unspeakable havoc on millions of families in USA and the rest of the world, which is going to make truly meaningful and measurable difference. Taking the evildoers to appropriate task will not only deter recurrence of such planetary financial famine, but will stimulate the execution of the overwhelming efforts and who know may help tremendously in the recovery as well.

Obama is continuing to repeat the fallacy that health care costs are causing a bankruptcy ever 30 seconds.

President’ Obama YOU ARE NOT A LONE!!!!!
In your fight for the american people
all of the EVIL you are facing will
not win…GOD’S PROMISE.

“Sixty-seven percent of Americans surveyed Wednesday through Friday said they approve of the job that Obama is doing as president, according to the findings of the Gallup Poll.”
Still waiting for Bobby Jindal’s polling bounce …
G.O.P. = R.I.P.

Arrogance and ignorance do not go togather. Obama is blessed with both. Who does he think he is. Every person needs to read “Audicity of Hoope” to see what this man stands for. He never once voted Republican and said he was the most liberal Senator in the Senate. But most people will never read the book, if they did, they would understande what he is trying to do. It costs $5.95 in paperback.

“Arrogance and ignorance do not go togather.”
Sorry to be a spell-checker, Jane, but the irony is unavoidable.
You’ve described the Republican predicament quite precisely.
How do you think they got us in this mess?
G.O.P. = R.I.P.

I want to ask the poster called Indy how old he or she is, because I think she must have missed the Clinton years. Increasing taxes on luxury goods — jewelry, planes, furs, boats– led to those industries tanking as sales plummeted. After two years, the luxury tax was repealed.
You say the poor can’t afford those items anyway so they would not be affected. But who do you think BUILDS the planes and the yachts? Plenty of working people owe their jobs to the production of luxury goods. Remember when Obama went to indiana to a city with extremely high unemployment last month to talk about the economy? That town was suffering because its biggest employers made motor homes, a luxury good whose sales suffered in the downturn. Slapping a triple tax on the sale of those motor homes will help the working class? No, it will not.

So GetReal, you’re saying that the bazillionaire in the market for his eighth Lamborghini is going to say “now it’s too expensive” because of sales tax?
PEOPLE WHO BUY LUXURY ITEMS ARE RICH. Sales tax is CHUMP CHANGE.
TRICKLE-DOWN DON’T WORK.

Go Obama! We (the American people) got your back!

President Obama, I feel a righteous wind at your back.

The Republicans represent the same ole tired worn out idealogy and hasn’t realized that the American people are not stupid, and they cannot scare us with the words, “socialism, welfare, muslim, blacks, guns, abortion and no other code words they use. They are the words of the “few” that are angry because they were born. This party is not of love of their country, they represent treason, divisiness, falsehoods, riches, and two class of people, Rich and Poor. They would have total control then. WHAT KIND OF PARTY WOULD HAVE A MAN UH, DRUG ADDICT SPEAK FOR THEM? HE’S RICH, SO THEY AGREE. HE’S PART OF THE PLAN. Rest in Peace, Republicans, or jump off bridge real fast.

Apparently a lot of you don’t know that a luxury tax was passed in 1991 and was such a disaster even Democrats ultimately voted to repeal the tax.
Yacht retailers had a 77% drop in sales and 25,000 boat builders were laid off. With bipartisan support, all but the car tax was repealed in 1993, and in 1996 Congress voted to phase that out too.
What didn’t get reported much was that Massachusetts was hit particularly hard. Teak companies went out of business. Brass companies closed. The people who were put out of work no longer ate out so local restaurants closed. The dry cleaners no longer had uniforms to clean and many cleaners closed. And on and on it went. It was a disaster for many states, but MA was hit particularly hard.

In the congressional report that accompanies the budget legislation, Obama is listed as a sponsor of a $7.7 million earmark for “Tribally Controlled Postsecondary Vocational Institutions.” Obama’s co-sponsors on that earmark include Vice President Joe Biden and Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
President Obama pledged to fight the addition of pork-barrel earmarks to legislation during the presidential campaign.

“Well it is called a tax credit, But what I fail to understand is that you do not understand it; so, I can’t figure out why you are so mad that they don’t make enough to pay taxes.”
Same question: how do you get a tax credit if you don’t pay any taxes?
They do make enough to pay taxes–they’re just not required to any more.

Robert Johnson has never represent anything but his bank account, how would he know what another African American does. There you go with a “sound bite” from a smear campaign. He went on National TV to apology…I guess your lights were cut off that day. Prime example, how people hear what they want.

I thought all Americans believed in the American dream….that’s the issue. Dah!

I feel a righteous wind!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

“The Democrats’ repeated refusal to regulate the subprime mortgage racket financed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is what go us into it [this mess].”
AND the Republican’s refusal to regulate them too. While Bush may have ‘called’ for regulations the Republican controlled congress never passed any regulations.

Correction–”1995″ should read “2005.”

“…which is why the bill died in 1995…”
What bill? Give us an ID number for it.

Peach says:
“Yacht retailers had a 77% drop in sales and 25,000 boat builders were laid off. With bipartisan support, all but the car tax was repealed in 1993, and in 1996 Congress voted to phase that out too.”
========
Right on, Peach. That luxury tax literally killed the boat building business here in Rhode Island. I remember it well. In an effort to punish the successful, the Democrats ended up hurting their constituents instead.
Class warfare is red meat for the base but when enacted in the form of legislation never fails to punish the unintended. I wise man once said, “I’ve never received a paycheck from someone poorer than myself.”

Obama:
The dream killer who destroys ambition and pushes dependency on him and the government.
He’s counting on complacency and neediness to get re-elected.

Skip–It was S. 190, passed out of committee on July 28, 2005.
SNGeorgia, just for the record, the economy expanded, often quite robustly, in every year of G. W. Bush’s presidency until 2008. In fact, it expanded in 27 out of 32 quarters–and three of the five quarters in which it shrank came after Harry Reid and Nancy Pelosi took control of the congress. P.S.–they’re still there.

Fascist Hyena -
“The Democrats’ repeated refusal to regulate the subprime mortgage racket financed by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac is what go us into it.”
Please give up that tired Hannity talking point. Subprime is not the problem since that is a loan for people with marginal credit. The people that had good credit scores received liar loans and had no stake in the game.
Your friend Buffet indulged in subprimes and had this to say about it:
In contrast, Buffett said, Berkshire’s manufactured housing unit Clayton Homes had a 3.6 percent foreclosure rate at year end on loans it made, up from 2.9 percent in 2006, though more than one in three borrowers had “subprime” credit scores. The unit was profitable in 2008, earning $206 million before taxes, though earnings fell 61 percent, Berkshire said.
“The present housing debacle should teach home buyers, lenders, brokers and government some simple lessons that will ensure stability,” Buffett wrote. “Home purchases should involve an honest-to-God down payment of at least 10 percent and monthly payments that can be comfortably handled by the borrower’s income. That income should be carefully verified.”

Fippers/Investors did it!

Fascist Hyena, the bill (s. 190) died in the republican controlled senate banking committee at the end of the 109th congres..

Anybody seen CNN’s Rick Sanchez calling out Sean Hannity over his personal endorsement of Stanford? This while he tells his sheeple that Obama is the one hurting Americans.
===============
I haven’t seen that, but I’ve seen this:
WASHINGTON—Two members of Vice President Joe Biden’s family own the company that oversees an investment fund linked to Texas financier R. Allen Stanford.
Stanford is accused by the Securities and Exchange Commission of engaging in an $8 billion fraud.
On Tuesday, the attorney for a son of the vice president, Hunter Biden, and for one of the vice president’s brothers, James, said that the business arrangements began in June 2007 and ended one week ago.
A fund of hedge funds controlled by the Bidens was marketed by companies controlled by Stanford. Stanford-related companies also invested $2.7 million from individual investors under the arrangement.

“Beware the investment activity that produces applause,” Buffett wrote, “the great moves are usually greeted by yawns.”

MayBee-
/——-
Anybody seen CNN’s Rick Sanchez calling out Sean Hannity over his personal endorsement of Stanford? This while he tells his sheeple that Obama is the one hurting Americans.
===============
I haven’t seen that, but I’ve seen this:
WASHINGTON—Two members of Vice President Joe Biden’s family own the company that oversees an investment fund linked to Texas financier R. Allen Stanford.
Stanford is accused by the Securities and Exchange Commission of engaging in an $8 billion fraud.
On Tuesday, the attorney for a son of the vice president, Hunter Biden, and for one of the vice president’s brothers, James, said that the business arrangements began in June 2007 and ended one week ago.
A fund of hedge funds controlled by the Bidens was marketed by companies controlled by Stanford. Stanford-related companies also invested $2.7 million from individual investors under the arrangement.
——-/
Why did you leave off the next paragraph from the article? Afraid it would blow up your implication? The Biden’s product was only marketed by the Stanford ponzi — but let’s not forget that the ‘product’ the Biden’s pushed was NOT the ponzi. It was the Stanford’s ‘ponzi’ that pretended to have investments while pocketing the money.
So once again, we have the republican right-wing nutjob Hannity on video making personal endorsements for a ponzi product AND the best the right-wingnuts can do is make a his cousin knew her mother who knew his niece who once dated his uncle relationship. Piece of work!
Hannity endorsed Stanford’s ponzi scheme!

KJo, you are going to blame the Democrats for not passing legislation out of a Republican committee. I guess that means you are going to blame the Republicans for the stimulus bill too?

Stanford has much more direct connections with a lot of Republicans
~~~~~
Why don’t you tell us about it, since we are not hearing it. Did he do business with Cheney’s kids for example?

Brilliance in motion.
What a difference a brain makes.

holymoly,
You don’t get it do you? From an Obama supporter’s view, there is nothing to blame on Obama. He’s doing EXACTLY what we elected him to do.

Stanford Employees did contribute to both Republicans and Democrats, with about 2/3 going to Dems. However:
“Stanford and his wife, Susan, also donated $931,100 of their own money, with 78 percent going to Democrats, including $4,600 to President Barack Obama’s presidential campaign on May 31. Records show $2,300 of that was returned on the same day. ”
I think this, like Madoff, is blame game Democrats really don’t want to play.

Plumber,
I don’t see Cheney on the list, but the ponzi-scheming Stanford’s on the top 10 list of political contributions sits John McCain.

holymoly, if you don’t like America, why don’t you just leave?

Maybee,
That’s why the article you tried to use to mislead clearly stated that the Biden’s don’t know the guy — the relationship is a stretch. Let’s contrast that with the fact that Sean Hannity PERSONALLY ENDORSED the Stanford ponzi scam and so did the arrested Ms. Pendergest-Holt.

MayBee
/—–
In reality, Stanford and Madoff took a lot of smart people in.
—–/
Yeah but.. SEAN HANNITY ENDORSED the scheme in an attempt to LEAD HIS FOLLOWERS/sheeple to the prosperity he claims he knows how to lead you smart people to. Sean Hanniy wants you to invest in a ponzi scheme to get rich.
Obama wants the U.S. to invest in its own people starting with jobs and healthcare so that we can all have a fair chance. That would includd the businesses that can expunge healthcare from their expenses (like GM, Ford) to compete globally. Why would any ‘real’ American argue against that while taking advice (talking points) from a ponzi-scheme pusher?!

I don’t see Cheney on the list, but the ponzi-scheming Stanford’s on the top 10 list of political contributions sits John McCain.
~~~~~
So in your mind, getting a contribution from Stanford is akin to being in business with him?
Does that make President Obama’s actions on a par with Biden’s son’s?
Would you attribute the same amount of judgment to both?

Social Security and Medicare are the ultimate ponzi scheme. And yet we are still forced to contribute by the government.
Skepticism of the government has a firm foundation.

Obama wants the U.S. to invest in its own people starting with jobs and healthcare so that we can all have a fair chance.
—————————————
Fair chance? What’s unfair? We all have the same opportunity to acquire marketable skills, start a business, create jobs for ourselves and others, and buy health insurance. It’s called the American Dream.
Who doesn’t have this opportunity?

holymoly,
So you admit that the opportunists did NOT create jobs over the last eight years. I agree if so. Time to stimulate some other people that CAN do the job.

Todays remarks from the president give us a new bad guy. The evil oil companies and banks are joined by insurance companies.

Pulbmer, the person most responsible for killing the bill you refer to is Rick Davis, lobbyist for Stanford and chair of John McCain’;s campaign.
~~~~~~~
I’m not referring to a bill. I’m referring to Biden’s son working with a guy who is robbing people blind. Isn’t this the same son facing indictment?

“Fascist Hyena, the bill (s. 190) died in the republican controlled senate banking committee at the end of the 109th congres…”
False. It was voted out of committee on a party-line vote. It’s a matter of record; wake up.

Mr. van Oranje makes the following assertions:
“1) Raines and Gorelick worked for Fannie under Bush
2) The accounting scandal was 10 million, not 100
3) Gorelick and Raines did not profit from that accounting scandal
4) Fannie was not the cause of the subprime scandal, they did not ‘green light’ anything.”
1) Why not just be totally honest and forthcoming here” Raines became CEO of Fannie Mae under Clinton in 1999. Gorelick was appointed vice chairman in 1997–under Clinton.
2) The accounting scandal was $10 Billion (with a “B”), not $10 Million. All I can do is suggest that the curious reader, perhaps including Mr. van Oranje, look it up.
3) I did not assert that Raines and Gorelick made their $100 million “out of the accounting scandal.” I said they made that amount in bonuses, by buying bad mortgages from lenders who otherwise would not have made them. Raines was forced to give back $9 million.
4) Google “New York Times September 1999 Fannie” and read all about it. Here, let me save you a little trouble:
“‘Fannie Mae has expanded home ownership for millions of families in the 1990′s by reducing down payment requirements,” said Franklin D. Raines, Fannie Mae’s chairman and chief executive officer….
“In moving, even tentatively, into this new area of lending, Fannie Mae is taking on significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulties during flush economic times. But the government-subsidized corporation may run into trouble in an economic downturn, prompting a government rescue similar to that of the savings and loan industry in the 1980′s.”
And the rest is history.

Top Recipients of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
Campaign Contributions, 1989-2008
1. Dodd, Christopher J D-CT
$133,900
2. Kerry, John D-MA
$111,000
3. Obama, Barack D-IL
$105,849
4. Clinton, Hillary D-NY
$75,550
Common Sense, you might want to re-read the article in the New York Times dated September 29, 1999.

Fascist,
/—–
“In moving, even tentatively, into this new area of lending, Fannie Mae is taking on significantly more risk, which may not pose any difficulties during flush economic times.”
——/
What part of that didn’t turn out to be the problem don’t you understand? The post I responded to (which you conveniently cut out) was a direct quote from you which stated that “bad mortgages” were bought. Hell, what part of your own current quote don’t you get about “tentatively”?
Over 90% of Americans pay their mortgage. Later, the F’s premise for relaxing down payment requirements was because wages/salaries were expected to rise. Little did they know that the big corps would beg for an increase in H1B slave wages that would cause Americans to lose their jobs or have salaries decreased. Still, most of working class managed to secure 2nd and 3rd jobs (depriving the less fortunate of their oppportunities) in order to make due.
The problem is the flippers. They typically held liar loans based on another system created by H1Bs.
Don’t you think it is dangerous to have ALL U.S. business stifled because credit systems built by outsourced labor says Americans aren’t worthy? Again, the only people that qualified for liar loans were those with high credit scores. They bypassed the loophole in the H1B created credit systems and bought 10-12 houses for a quick investment profit.
At the same time, the big corps bypassed the legal requirements to NOT displace Americans by replacing them with H1B labor.
In other words, the risk would be minimal if Americans had jobs. This isn’t that hard. Work with me.

Fascist,
/—–
Common Sense, you might want to re-read the article in the New York Times dated September 29, 1999.
—–/
Why? That was 10 years ago. Wasn’t that when the Congress was a majority Republican? FYI, I didn’t vote for Clinton after learning of how the H1B expansion hurt this economy!

Common Sense: So you admit that the opportunists did NOT create jobs over the last eight years. I agree if so. Time to stimulate some other people that CAN do the job.
—————————————-
Can someone translate this for me? For the life of me, I can’t figure out what the heck he/she is talking about.

Common Sense has become rather desperate, and it’s embarrassing to see.
Consider this:
“Why? That [1999] was 10 years ago. Wasn’t that when the Congress was a majority Republican?”
Are you able to read? Do you understand that Fannie Mae, which embarked on its reckless program in that year (“tentatively,” then ever more aggressively), does not work for either the congress or the president? Do you understand that the Bush administration, and Republicans in congress, repeatedly sought to create a regulatory authority to oversee Fannie Mae’s mortgage activities, and was repeatedly thwarted by the Democrats?
I really can’t tell whether you do not understand that indisputable bit of history, or whether you understand it but choose to deny it because it is very inconvenient for you and the Democratic party. But I don’t much care…it’s there in black and white, and there is nothing left for sensible people to argue about. That’s the way it happened.

Meanwhile, in other Commander-inChief news:
“KABUL — U.S. deaths in Afghanistan increased threefold during the first two months of 2009 compared with the same period last year, after thousands more troops deployed and commanders ramped up winter operations against an increasingly violent insurgency. As troops pour into the country and violence rises, another sobering measure has also increased: More Afghan civilians are dying in U.S. and allied operations than at the hands of the Taliban.”
And cynics will note that when Mr. Obama completes his “withdrawal” from Iraq, he will still have more troops there than in Afghanistan. But hey, not to worry–this guy was on the Harvard Law Review!

“Another strawman. There’s a difference between wealthy and successful.”
Yes, but not to the people to whom I was addressing my comment. In case you haven’t noticed right-wingers use wealth as a measure of success, especially when insulting others.

I wouldn’t have a problem with the FHA financing FAMILIES (NOT flippers and real estate tycoons) who come out just under the qualifications for private banks for mortgages. The VA does the same for Veterans. A guy can serve at least 180 days on active duty, fall off of an APC and screw up his back and get full retirement and VA benefits…without ever having been shot at.
Remember that most of the victims on 9-11 were civilians. A dead American is a dead American whether they die in a uniform or in an office building.
Also, VA benefits are the same for the cook who never went overseas as for the guy with AK-47 rounds whistling past his head in the Middle East…so giving a helping hand through the government for the Average Joe is, to me, not socialism nor unfair.
What is unfair is this mess Frank and company have created for ideological purposes along racial and socio-economic lines.
Fannie and Freddie are a surreptitious way for government to profit through these quasi-private companies and should be done away with.

Obama said, he is ready to rumble. I think he is very stupid to say this, this is not very presidential, it is stupid talk.

WHY DO OBAMA HATERS MAKE FOOLS OF THEMSELVES HARSHLY JUDGING A LEADER THAT HAS ONLY BEEN AT THE HELM FOR A LITTLE MORE THAN A MONTH?
I wonder whether people posting harsh and early judgment of President Obama know how idiotic their comments sound to a person of wisdom. Let me give you a simple analogy of what I’m saying.
Imagine you are at an NFL Super Bowl game. You know there are 4-quarters to a game with 15-minutes per quarter. Quarterback Obama drives the team down field and his team scored 1-minute into the new game. (Touchdown being the ‘Economic Recovery’ package). Now imagine how ridiculous it would be to hear a person in the stand make a comment that Obama’s team is going to lose because they didn’t make the two-point conversion for a total of 8-points (again, in the first minute of the game).
Now you would turn and say to that idiot, there are 14 minutes left in the first quarter with 3 additional quarters to follow. So how is it possible so many stupid fans could judge so harshly Quarterback Obama when he has nearly 98.5% of clock time remaining on the board? In essence, how can you claim Obama’s team (aka America’s team) has lost when he already scored with 98.5% of the game left (nearly 4-years) to go to fix 8-years of Bush-Cheney disasters.
In short, I think I would need a little more than the first minute of the game, or the first month of a four year term to make an intelligent judgment of whether President Obama’s team will fail or succeed to reversing Bush-Cheney gargantuan debacle.

Resident Obama has been more of a disaster in one month than the last 43 presidents combined. Amazingly, there remain idiots who continue to support this diabolical usurper with all of their being. Let’s see, 20 years racist church, launches political career home of domestic terrorist, gives ACORN 800,000.00 during his campaign. wont release his campaign donor list, or vault birth certificate, or college admissions records, hires a known TAX CHEAT to be Treasury Secretary, is a purveyor of infanticide, and has already indebted multiple generations to come.
No red flags there eh?

I challenge all of you Liberals to read the transcript, or even better yet, watch the video of Rush Limbaugh’s speech before the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) yesterday. It will give you a great insight on what we REAL Conservatives are REALLY about.

Perusing Through, I am not an Obama hater, although I disagree very strongly with many of his policies, particularly in the fiscal realm. However, I have to respond to your complaint that those who speak out about the problems with the Obama administration are foolish because we are in the opening minutes of the game, to use your football analogy.
The problem, as I see it, is that your analogy does not fit this situation. Yes, President Obama has not been in office very long. However, this is not a football game, this is governance. In a football game, there are two, and only two, teams on the field. They are compared by how many points each can score in the time allotted and a winner is declared. This is not how government works, now is it?
While I agree that many people seem to think in those terms– winners and losers, gaining and losing ground, scoring–that is not a particularly useful way of thinking about approaches to the major problems we face, in my opinion. The “teams” on the field should ideally be working toward the same goal, for openers. And I would argue that there should be more than a binary dynamic at play– not just democrats vs. republicans, liberals vs. conservatives. Most of us probably defy such reductive categorization (I know that I do), such as a person who is a fiscal conservative, a foreign policy pragmatist, and who supports gay marriage (socially liberal) and abortion rights (also socially liberal) but also the death penalty (socially conservative). No, I am not describing myself, but someone else I know. My point is that people should not be reduced to simple stereotypes.
So, we have a number of teams on the field, all trying to solve the problems we face. And, in your analogy, the points that President Obama scores in the opening minutes of a game should not be viewed in isolation, for we must wait until the end of his administration to view his overall accomplishments and assess his successes and failures. Do you not see that at that point, it is too late. In a simpler analogy, you cannot unring a bell. Once the president puts his massive spending programs in place, once he makes the change in the relationship between government and governed that he proposes, it will be extremely difficult to reverse that course. So the time to complain, to work against specific proposals with which one disagrees, to debate and analyze the consequences of his proposals and the actions he has taken is now, while there is still time to change direction or to make adjustments.
Assessing the plays on the field, to follow your metaphor, makes perfect sense. Isn’t that what the folks up in the broadcast booth do during the football games? Talking about how the moves he is making will have negative (or positive) consequences in the future is an important part of our public discourse. Perhaps you should think in terms of chess rather than football, if you want to use a sports analogy. A single move early in the game can lead to other moves later on but also render other moves impossible. No chess move is a discrete move divorced from what came before or what comes after. So watching the game unfold, we can see what may or may not come later, as everyone from pawns to bishops to rooks to kings plays their roles together.

Funny how quickly Obamas racist church, terrorist friends, 830K to ACORN, sealed birth certificate, TAX FRAUD for Treasury Secretary, and his broken pledges of transparency, and open government all seem to go unchallenged after one stinking news cycle.
This resident of our country is pushing nothing but snake oil, while president Pelosi (clueless as they come), and vice president Reid (complete utter moron) are raping, and robbing america blind.

tanarg,
“Hint: Trickle-down works for taxes too. Higher prices for everyone. And small business will be laying off workers. Happy?”
Jake Tapper made it on the MediaMatters last week.

All we have heard liberals say for years is that “deficit spending is bad”.
Now, we have a new President who is deliberately planning record setting deficit spending, unlike anything ever seen and these same liberals are now saying “deficit spending is good”. lol…How can that be?

I like Obama’s comments….Paint Republicans as wimps who do not have the courage to make the decisions to drive this nation forward. Unfortunately, that is not just rhetoric but the truth as evidenced by Republican’s lack of a comprehensive alternative proposals.

Conservatism was roundly rejected at the polls last November. Now the Republicans are finished with their week long hissy fit. Maybe we won’t have to hear from them again now.

Oh, dear. Barry’s poll numbers are down to 58% according to the latest Rasmussen poll. Pity.

“As troops pour into the country and violence rises…
“Didn’t take him long to fail as Commander-in-Chief…”
We didn’t send more troops over there to pass out flowers. With more fighting there will be more collateral damage.

Val, what is your definition of the “Middle Class?”
According to the latest IRS statistics (2006), the top 10% of the nation’s individuals filing federal income tax returns with a positive Adjusted Gross Income–13,571,916 individuals making greater than $108,904.00–accounted for 70.79% of the total federal income tax revenue. The top 25%–33,929,790 individuals making greater than $64,702–accounted for 86.27% of the total federal income tax revenue. That means the bottom 75%–101,789,370 individuals making less than $64,702–accounted for just 13.73% of the total federal income tax revenue.

I’m beginning to think that the damage Bush caused is too big to be fixed. All of the states are making deep cuts in education, and without education you have nothing. You can be sure that China, India and other countries fund their education systems. Instead we have millions of morons who think creationsism is science. LOL
Republican policies=ignorant, third world country

I’m beginning to think that the damage Bush caused is too big to be fixed.
~~~~~~
translation: Obama is screwing up, we need to prepare to shift the blame.
Good to see you well prepared Joan.

I’m beginning to think that the damage Bush caused is too big to be fixed.
Exactly what did Bush do, Joan? we spend more on services for illegal aliens than for the Iraq war.
Bush?
This disaster stems from what? The securitization of bad loans. You can thank Democrats for that. I know facts make a big mess of Democrats’ lives.

Plumber, I’m not shifting blame. The blame remains with Dubya and the dummies who voted for him because they are the ones who caused this mess.
But I don’t think Obama is bold enough to make the big changes that we need. Most economists have said that the stimulus isn’t big enough, and that it will increase the deficit. If you’re going to borrow money, borrow enough to fix the problem.
Plus Obama talks about education, but he let the Republicans cut 200 million from the stimulus that was suppsosed to go to education. That’s what bipartisanship means: education cuts. It seems like all the stimulus money is going for construction projects. Small business shoud get some of that money because that’s who creates jobs.
I know it’s only one month into his term, but if things don’t improve in my state, espcially in education spending, I won’t vote for him again.

Plumber, I’m not shifting blame. The blame remains with Dubya and the dummies who voted for him because they are the ones who caused this mess.
~~~~~
What mess are you talking about Joan? The economic meltdown? Or are you unhappy that we haven’t been attacked in 7 years?
Obama is a man who talks pretty and has no experience doing anything. The Dow is plummeting, consumer confidence is in the toilet, and we are about to spend our way into oblivion. Will you still be shifting blame when you take your place in the coming bread lines? I’d bet on it.

“You can be sure that China, India and other countries fund their education systems.”
Actually, no, China and India do not fund their education systems. Chinese parents in urban areas who can afford to send their children to private school. Ditto India. Rural areas frequently have no schools, and even those that are fortunate enough to have schools are inadequately funded. Parents are expected to buy schoolbooks, and they don’t have the money.
Ditto healthcare and pensions, by the way.

Plumber: Obama has been in office for one moneth, so he isn’t the cause of the economic meltdown.
We had an incompetent DUI loser for eight years who could not even speak English, his native language. You guys voted for him because he had an “R” after his name.
Republicans do not demand intelligence from their leaders: Reagan, Quayle, Palin, Dubya, Arnold, Limbaugh.
FOOLS, all of them!
Why are you guys so afraid of learning? Of rational thought? Of math and science? Republicans are holding America back. I want America to be #1 forever! I don’t want to speak Chinese when I’m an old lady!

For this fight a lot of us are in Obama’s corner against big business.
The collective greed of big corporations, big banks and lending institutions has brought our country’s economy to its knees. They tried to bleed us for every penny they could while turning a blind eye to the fact they had gone too far.
Thank goodness we have a President and many members of Congress who are sticking up for the American people and small businesses.
And to Peach, all that baloney about ‘we have a government intent on punishing excellence and success’ is nonsense. The whole idea that only tax breaks for the rich helps the economy grow has been disproven again and again. The tax rates Clinton had for the rich didn’t hurt them because with the economy booming they made more money.

The man who is President Obama’s newly minted urban czar pocketed thousands of dollars in campaign cash from city developers whose projects he approved or funded with taxpayers’ money, a Daily News probe found.

Bravo! Mr. President. We will fight by your side. Keep on shakin’ it up on the hill and never doubt that the people are behind you – well except maybe the fat cats.

Will the leader of the Republicans please stand up!!!!
Rush?
Sean?
Sara?
Bobby?
Mitt?
Who.
Barack needs to know who represents you.

Tramadol.

Tramadol. Side effects of tramadol.