Happy Anniversary Stimulus… or Perhaps Not So Happy

Yesterday was the one year anniversary of the failed stimulus. Only 6% of all Americans believe that the Stimulus Bill did anything to create or save jobs, while 7% believe that Elvis is still alive. Think about it~

OBAMA GOES TOO FAR AND FALLS TOO SHORT

Obama's 'plan' appears to be working. Of course, it's not the plan of which he speaks - healthcare for everyone, clean energy, jobs-jobs-jobs (that 3 letter word) and, let's not forget, world peace. No, it's his plan to destroy the America we all know and love, while in the process blaming George W. Bush. The problem is, or not, it appears to be blowing up in his face. This on the one year anniversary of his failed stimulus, for which he is doubling down.
Obama's popularity has gone through the floorboards, and his congress is jumping ship, seeing the writing on the wall. Bi-partisan conflict has nothing to do with his problems, when he has a majority in both Houses. Big corporations such as ConocoPhillips, BP, and Caterpillar have also jumped ship by quiting the Climate Group because the big lie is now public knowledge. Obama loves to bash, and is probably the most negative person ever to hold the powerful office of United States President. Polls apart from a loving and gracious President Ronald Reagan.

Dick Morris write a great piece on this from TheHill.com:
Obama Goes Too Far and Falls Too Short
by Dick Morris, February 16, 2010

One of my favorite quotes about politics comes from Henry Kissinger in his book Years of Upheaval, his memoir of the Ford Presidency:

"A statesman's duty is to bridge the gap between his vision and his nation's experience. If his vision gets too far out ahead of his nation's experience, he will lose his mandate. But if he hues too close to the conventional, he will lose control over events."
Now, at once, we see both happening to President Obama.

His health care proposals obviously ran afoul of the first of Kissinger's warnings. By pushing for changes that conflicted with America's values, common sense, and experience, he lost his mandate. In that disastrous push for an elusive goal, he ruined his own presidency and his party. It may take decades for the Democratic Party to recover from his folly. Indeed, his push for health legislation, in the face of rapidly eroding public support, ranks with the War in Vietnam, Watergate, and, of course, Clinton's health care initiatives as the most costly to their respective political parties.

But now, as he faces threats from Iran, domestic terrorism, continually high unemployment, and the swollen deficit, he is also violating the second half of the Kissinger warning - his politics are too passive and too conventional and, as a result, losing control over events.

In the phase of presidential dithering in the aftermath of the Brown victory in Massachusetts, there is no clear presidential message, no coherent strategy and, even, no identifiable program. His budget cuts are far too tepid. His tax program nothing new. Obama's stimulus 2 package seems like the same old, same old.

His short lived bounce from the State of the Union speech is indicative of how limited a vision he has these days. It lasted a week and was never more than three points at its apogee.

And, as Kissinger would have predicted, he is losing control over events. Senator Evan Bayh's retirement, with its implied blast at Obama's policies, the increasing recklessness of Iran, and the seemingly intractable unemployment all provide evidence that President Obama is no longer dictating the national agenda.

As a result, the negatives he incurred by moving too far out ahead of the nation's experience are combining with those he is getting for being too conventional. He is experiencing both ends of the Kissinger prediction. Republicans and Independents are still in shock from his headlong rush into socialism while Democrats are increasingly restive and disillusioned by his failure to lead.
And...the entire country is worried at his passivity in the face of domestic terror threats and the rapidly growing Iranian momentum toward the acquisition of nuclear weapons.

While his job rating has remained relatively stead in recent months, hovering just below 50% of likely voters, his ratings in specific areas - like holding down spending, cutting the deficit, creating jobs, and managing the economy -- are all eroding, presaging further drops in his overall ratings.

Seemingly paralyzed by adversity, President Obama and his advisors are showing a lack of resilience in the face of reversals that is perhaps the inevitable outcome of his smooth rise to the top in 2008. Never tried by bad outcomes (as Hillary has doubtless been), he and they seem unable to regain momentum and appear to be just flailing without strategic or even tactical direction.

All this might be what happens when you elect a State Senator whose US Senate career was consumed with his presidential campaign as president.

Go to DickMorris.com to read all of Dick's columns!

America… the financial fall is coming. That seems to be the consensus from all the experts! Use this time to prepare:

God, Gold, Guns and Granny’s Fruit Cellar Supplies are a good guide to follow to be ready for any emergency or for the Perfect Storm, that many have predicted.

Make yourself as self reliant as possible and if you haven’t already, start today!!

Expect the worst and prepare for it while praying and hoping for the best.

If you are ready for any emergency and it doesn’t happen, you just end up ahead of the game for a natural emergency or with some extra. If you are not ready and there is an emergency, it could be devastating for you and your family.

GB: Happy Anniversary Stimulus!

It's been a great year, hasn't it? Filled with jobs and a booming economy, and it's all thanks to the stimulus. Well, no, but that sure is the way the administration made it sound today. Biden, with a straight face, touted the 2 million created or saved jobs in the midst of 9.7% unemployment. Glenn talks about the wonders of the stimulus on radio this morning. ( Transcript, Insider Audio)

There are solutions

Video 1

Video 2

“POTUS FLIP FLOP ON WHO REALLY CREATES JOBS… Spoken like the true idiot he is.......he has now flip flopped from one year ago when he said only government can create jobs. I guess it depends whether he reads the right or left teleprompter... hmmmmmm~” …Michelle Malkin

"Unimaginable" Tax Increases Coming

Pensions Aren't Sustainable

John Cornyn embraces declining President Obama polls… As He Helps Recruit GOP Candidates – Rand Paul Throws Hat in Ring

John Cornyn (R-Texas), the Senate GOP campaign chief, says Barack Obama's declining popularity is helping Republican recruiting and boosting the party's prospects for 2010.

“I don’t have to tell you about the general environment,” said Cornyn, chairman of the National Republican Senatorial Committee. “President Obama is now looking like a mere mortal, as opposed to someone who previously exceeded gravity.”

“I think there will be a significant number of voters who, leading up to 2010, will wonder if they voted for someone they didn’t get.”

Cornyn didn’t hesitate to jab Obama, saying that the president had achieved little in his first months in office. And the Texas Republican called Obama’s economic stimulus package “ill fated.”

Cornyn also touted recruiting successes in a handful of states, including Florida (Gov. CharlieCrist) and Illinois (Rep. Mark Kirk), and said it was evidence of the party’s success in the first part of the 2010 election cycle.

As NRSC chairman this cycle, Cornyn has history on his side — the party in power historically loses seats in the midterms — so he is more confident than his predecessors in the last two election cycles.

“While we’ve had some good successes in candidate recruitment, Democrats have had some notable failures,” Cornyn said, noting Democrats’ inability to woo Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan into a Senate bid. “I am optimistic.”

But with Supreme Court nominee Sonia Sotomayor headed for a vote later this week, Cornyn was also peppered with questions from reporters about whether his party’s strident opposition toward her candidacy would hurt Republican prospects among Hispanic voters.

Cornyn responded that, her ethnicity aside, Republicans had focused on Sotomayor’s record as a federal judge.

“One thing I do think is important is that we treated her with respect,” Cornyn said.

Cornyn — who has faced criticism in his heavily Hispanic state for coming out in opposition to Sotomayor — also said the GOP’s failure to win Hispanic support in 2008 was not necessarily a harbinger of things to come.

“I think it’s myopic to read too much into 2008 and Republican appeal among Hispanic voters,” Cornyn said, arguing that Hispanic voters would be more interested in Democratic policies headed toward 2010.

Cornyn was also asked whether he would support Sen. John Ensign should the embattled Nevada senator seek reelection in 2012.

“I’m really not going to comment on 2012 right now,” Cornyn said.

Cornyn defended protesters who were speaking up at Democratic town hall events across the country, saying it was wrong for the Democratic Party to “demonize” them.

“It’s part of our political process for people to express ... whatever they feel,” Cornyn said.

Republican Rand Paul, the son of 2008 presidential candidate Ron Paul, is ramping up to run for the Kentucky Senate seat currently held by Jim Bunning.
Paul announced his formation of an exploratory committee last night on MSNBC’s "Rachel Maddow Show," where he declared that the Republican party has “lost its mojo" on fiscal issues. He said that he supports Bunning, but is skeptical that the senator is planning to run for re-election.
“I’m happy tonight to announce on 'The Rachel Maddow Show' that I’m forming an exploratory committee to run for the U.S. Senate,” Paul said.

“I’ve gone around the state saying good things about [Bunning]. I think the problem is every time a reporter asks Jim Bunning are you running, their follow-up question is, ‘Jim are you really running?'”
Bunning has said he still plans on running for a third term, but Kentucky Secretary of State Trey Grayson has formed a Senate exploratory committee in case he changes his mind.
On MSNBC, Paul raised the possibility that Grayson and Bunning struck a private deal to ensure that Grayson would not face any Republican opposition on the primary ballot — and speculated that Bunning may announce his retirement right before the state’s filing deadline.
“What I hate to see is a politician who might go all the way up to the deadline and pull their papers out an hour before, and then you have one candidate and there’s no real primary,” Paul said.

By Josh Kraushaar

Source: Politico

President Trump? What If?

What if Donald Trump were President? What would he do?

As a guest on Greta Van Susteren’s show, on Fox News tonight, Donald Trump said that OPEC is laughing at us and the banks aren’t lending… and both are killing us financially!

He said that there is oil sitting in tankers everywhere and OPEC will dump it rather than sell it to us at a decent rate. HMMMM… so much for Obama’s cow-towing (and bowing) to the Arabs having any positive effect for America… in any arena!!

When Greta asked Donald Trump what he’d do if he were President he said he would force the banks to loan the stimulus money that we, the taxpayers, have given them. He said no matter how wealthy you are, you cannot go out and get a loan. The banks are just sitting on that money, covering their bottom-line.

Then Trump added that he would get the smartest and toughest guy he knew… a businessman, not a politician, to get over to the Middle East to negotiate, as well as splitting up OPEC. OPEC is a monopoly that would be illegal by the standards of most countries and they have destroyed many countries in the process by their greed. Trump said that OPEC has taken advantage of us for years; oil should be $20 a barrel, not $70.

There is an old blog post online from 2005 where Trump was saying these same things. Amazing how we don’t listen to people who know how to make and how to manage money?!? It is like the old adage: Those that can… do. Those that can’t… teach. The same goes for government: Those that can… do. Those that can’t… go into government service; just take a look at the Obama Administration.

Trump said that some of the smartest people he knows say if oil costs more than $20 to $30 a barrel, you have a problem. Last year OPEC pushed oil over a $150 a barrel, now it is at $70, and America can't afford it! He closed by saying, "Very few people, except me, are telling you that or trying to do anything about it". Perhaps you need to ask yourself why?!?

Ask Marion – Daily Thought Pad

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Banks to return $68 billion in bailout money

New York buildings are reflected in the window of a Capital One bank office window. The Treasury Department said Tuesday it will allow 10 of the nation's largest banks to repay $68 billion in government bailout money. (AP File)

Ten of the nation’s biggest financial companies got a green light Tuesday to return $68 billion in federal bailout money — freeing the banks from limits on executive pay and leaving the government with a small gain on the rescue cash.

While the paybacks could be a signal that the banking industry is stabilizing, analysts say it is far from a clean bill of health, and some said it was too soon to let the banks give back the money.

Presidential spokesman Robert Gibbs said the returned money would go “back into general revenue” and could even be used to bail out banks again. (And this seems to be the plan… Many banks have wanted to repay stimulus money before but were not allowed because they weren’t ready… per the administration. But now that people are starting to get fed up and money sources are drying up, they need the money, they will take the pay back and do it all again.

Still, the government has collected $1.8 billion from dividends on shares of preferred stock it received in exchange for bailout money, he said. And the government still holds warrants to buy shares of bank stock at cut-rate prices in the future.

The $68 billion in paybacks would be the largest since the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program took effect eight months ago at the peak of the financial crisis. Specifically, the money comes from a $250 billion slice of the $700 billion bailout package.

Other chunks of the $700 billion will be harder, if not impossible, to recover. Some of it, such as $70 billion funneled to failed insurer American International Group Inc., ended up in the pockets of healthier banks that did deals with AIG.

And even the banks getting out from under the TARP still rely on government support, including debt guarantees from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. and credit lines from the Federal Reserve.

The banks chafed under restrictions on executive pay imposed by the government for banks that took bailout cash, arguing they were losing top talent to other firms. The administration is expected to roll out new executive pay rules Wednesday that would apply to banks that still have TARP money.

“It’s our obvious hope that additional money is not going to have to be used to stabilize banks,” Gibbs said. “I certainly wouldn’t rule it out.”

Indeed, banking experts stressed that the payments do not signal an end to the financial crisis. In fact, they say, most banks approved to pay the money back never needed it in the first place.

And three major banks that have not been approved by the government to pay the money back — Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp. and Wells Fargo & Co. — could need federal help for years to come.

“When a troubled bank is capable of repaying, that would be significant,” said Barry Ritholtz, head of the financial research firm FusionIQ. “But we’re not going to see that anytime soon because they can’t afford it.”

Among the banks approved to pay back their bailout cash are eight that passed the government “stress test” earlier this year: JPMorgan Chase & Co., American Express Co., Goldman Sachs Group Inc., U.S. Bancorp, Capital One Financial Corp., Bank of New York Mellon Corp., State Street Corp. and BB&T Corp.

Those banks had to show they could raise private capital without federal guarantees before getting permission to pay back TARP money.

Morgan Stanley did not pass the test, but got approval to return its bailout money after quickly raising enough capital. And Northern Trust Corp. did not undergo the “stress test” but said it also had received permission to repay its bailout money.

President Barack Obama welcomed the news but said: “This is not a sign that our troubles are over — far from it.”

Indeed, the repayments carry risk. Some say it could create a banking system of winners and losers, with weaker banks stuck with federal restrictions and finding it harder to compete for customers and talent against rivals that operate more freely.

Others say the repayments could conceal problems in the banking industry. Smaller banks are still saddled with billions in risky commercial real estate loans. And large banks still hold the toxic mortgage-backed assets at the heart of the financial crisis.

Paying the government back leaves banks with less protection against future losses, said Christopher Whalen, managing director of the consulting firm Institutional Risk Analytics. And with less capital on hand, they may have to scale back lending.

Other critics said it was dangerous to allow the money to be paid back before the administration overhauls the regulatory framework that governs banks.

“The credit crisis made it clear that the banks acted in irrational and greedy ways. I don’t believe that enough changes have really happened yet,” said Donald Thomas, an independent research analyst.

Adding to the concerns, a report released Tuesday by the congressional panel overseeing the bailout said the hypothetical scenarios used in the “stress tests” might have been too rosy.

That raises the troubling possibility that even raising enough capital to satisfy the government won’t guarantee banks can withstand a deeper recession. And that means the banks might have to seek more federal aid.

Citi and Bank of America, two of the most troubled financial institutions, have taken $45 billion each in bailout money. Wells Fargo said it has not asked for permission to pay back $25 billion in TARP money.

Banking analyst Bert Ely said it could be years before those banks disentangle themselves from the government.

More than 600 banks have received a total of almost $200 billion from the TARP, and 22 smaller banks have already paid the money back. The $1.8 billion in dividend money includes stock the government owned in these smaller banks.

Besides the preferred-stock dividends, the banks that took bailout money issued warrants that give the government the right to buy bank stock at a fixed price later. Bank stocks have been battered but are expected to rise as the economy recovers, so the warrants could deliver substantial profits to taxpayers.

Or the government could sell the warrants back to the banks “at fair market value,” the Treasury Department said — presumably also locking in profits for the taxpayers.

Testifying before a Senate panel, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the value of the warrants for banks permitted to repay TARP funds are in the “several billion dollar range.”

But it sounds like Secretary Geithner’s understanding might not always be right on…~ Geithner said, after his visit to China that “the Chinese have justifiable confidence in our economy”. Yet other reports, including from Illinois Congressman Kirk, say that China is very uneasy and concerned about the U.S. economy. A telling moment was when a round of laughter broke out as Tim Geithner was speaking in China and said “your investments are secure”; the rudeness of laughing at someone virtually never happens in China. M~

By: Stevenson Jacobs and Daniel Wagner - Associated Press
06/09/09 7:44 PM EDT

This week we will be selling treasury bonds (T-bills). The question is who will buy them… Who wants to luck up their money our future for 30-years? Who buys those bills could make a huge difference in all our lives!

Posted: Daily Thought Pad

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Adopt-A-Stimulus-Project

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Adopt-A-Stimulus-Project

It is never too early to start watchdogging one of the largest spending bills in U.S. history – the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. It includes $27 billion to repair America’s roads and bridges.

Monitoring thousands of construction sites around the country is an impossible task for a single reporter. Or a handful of reporters. That’s why we need your help.

Search for stimulus projects in your state below, then pick one to monitor over the next few months. We’ll send you suggestions and tips on how to watchdog your project. Use this form to send us reports (we'll also send you a link to it by email when you sign up).

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