Tuesday, September 30, 2008

We Will Be Live Blogging VP Debate

Join us on TWITTER: @beltwayscandal

Wednesday, October 1, 2008

The VP Debate...It Could GET UGLY

Greetings Readers:

First, for those interested, I'll be LIVE BLOGGING tomorrow nights debate via my twiter which is @beltwayscandal with the results instantly posting here in Washington Scandals, as well as my other blog, Washington Dick Cheese News and Reviews. (Yes, I really have that blog...LOL)

From an intellectual basis, it would be easy to give the victory nod to Joe Biden before he even shows up, but lets not be too hasty. I like Joe Biden, and his life story is an intriguing one...problem is, he does have a bad habit of talking to long, which usually ends with him eating toe jam. The right question, and if Joe is on top of his game, it is going to be a VERY LONG NIGHT for Sarah Palin and the Republicans.

Biggest advantages for Sarah Palin are two. First, her press interviews have been so pathetic that the expectations for her are almost nonexistent. Seriously, the woman could not name ONE MAGAZINE or NEWSPAPER SHE READS! "I read all of them!" Sorry Sarah, but this dumb old country boy living in the big city could easily tick off 20 or 20 newspapers and magazines I get World News from, that I read to help formulate my opinions and political views. I am not a major, will never be a Governor, and don't even think about being a Vice Presidential candidate, but I can answer that question. We've had eight years of a man that admits he does not read much, and we all know how that turned out.

The second, and perhaps biggest advantage Sarah has...she's female, and the rabid right wing of the Republican Party is laying in wait, hoping against hope to tag Joe Biden and the Democratic ticket as SEXIST, CONDESCENDING.

The night is going to turn on the questions, and how Joe Biden handles himself.

Monday, September 29, 2008

From The Fix...Who Is To Blame

Here are the early results from a poll over at The Fix (Washington Post).

Who is most to blame for the failure of the bailout bill today?
John McCain 16%
Barack Obama 1%
House Republicans 56%
House Democrats 7%
George W. Bush 8%
None of the Above 2%
All of the Above 8%
Created on Sep 29, 2008
Total Votes: 1,754

Forget John McCain's Houses...How About His $2 Million Dollar Parking Lot?

Forget about John McCain's 13 houses...let's instead take a look at his two million dollar parking lot.

The Wall Street Bailout From The Perspective Of One Middle Class American

Lets stop listening to the pundits on CNN and FOX for a few minutes, and examine the defeated Bailout For Wall Street from the perspective of Main Street America. If you agree with me, contact your elected officials and tell them we want a Main Street Bailout instead of a Wall Street Bailout that simply reapportions more of OUR WEALTH into the hands of the UBER RICH.

The Bailout of Wall Street Bill went down in flames today for various reasons, primary among them thin skinned Republicans voting not for the country, but out of anger as they swiped out angrily at Democrats, specific among them Nancy Pelosi. There will be no revote before Thursday because someone decided the Jewish Holiday was far more important than our nation…sorry, I have a problem with that one. Surely God would understand breaking the Sabbath in a National Time of Need? The bill as it exists is a farce that does absolutely nothing for Main Street America, no matter what pundits such as Ali Velchi say, no matter how much they try to convince us otherwise. The bill should go back to square one, the lobbyist should be LOCKED OUT OF THE HALLS OF CONGRESS, and a new bill should be written.

The Troubled Asset Relief Fund:

Bill authorizes $700 billion for the fund in installments. Treasury gets $250 billion, with an additional $100 billion immediately accessible, and with no strings attached to it. Congress supposedly has the option of blocking the $350 billion by issuing a joint resolution within 15 days of the request. Problem is, the President could simply veto said resolution, and unless there are enough politicians to override the veto, Wall Street gets the money…in short, the resolution out is nothing more than a paper tiger with no teeth.

How it all is supposed to work:

Treasury (specifically Mr. Paulson) will hire asset managers from his close circle of out of work friends who will figure out how to buy bad loans and other ailing assets from financial institutions. Those OTHER AILING ASSETS are not defined, left instead up to the discretion of one Secretary Paulson! Other details, such as pricing and purchase procedures, are left to the sole discretion of the Secretary of the Treasury and his hand picked staff

The bill would require the Treasury to establish guidelines for pricing, setting value of troubled assets, and mechanisms for purchasing assets, procedures for selecting asset managers and criteria for identifying troubled assets to buy, all within 45 days of the legistlation being passed and signed into law. If you start doing the math, Mr. Paulson would have started writing out BIG CHECKS to Wall Street just in time for Christmas. Perhaps the Republicans refused to vote in favor of the bailout today as the bill was not a big enough Golden Parachute to give to their friends as they give up the White House.

The bill would require the Treasury to purchase assets at the lowest price, most likely through auction, and occassionally directly from institutions. Problem with an auction…the UBER RICH will scoop up the BEST of these lousy assets, and leave us the taxpayers with the pits while the Buffett’s of the world scope up the cherries.

Executive compensation:

The legislation supposedly placed restrictions on executive compensation for certain companies that sell assets to Treasury. In reality, there are so many ways to dance around this salary limit that it amounts to nothing more than window dressing meant to apease the masses here in Main Street.

As a part of the bailout, taxpayers were supposed to get an Equity stake in the companies we were bailing out. Instead of an equity stake, Congress created a second tier profit picture for these companies. Instead of receiving stocks, the legislation has the Treasury receiving warrants from the companies that participate in the program. First, a warrant gives the holder the right to buy stock later on at a HIGHER PRICE than it is currently being sold for! So, right now the stock is worth a buck or two. We buy all their crappy assets, we SAVE THE COMPANY, their stock prices start RISING, and then we can go in and buy stock at the now elevated price! WOW, can I have that deal? Even these warrants are not all they are cracked up to be, and there is a HUGE LOOPHOLE…if the treasure buys assets at auction (as most purchases would be) the treasure would only get a small handful of non-voting warrants. Only when the Treasury buys assets directly from an all but failed company would it get a majority equity stake (still in warrants, rather than stock).

Oversight:

In a word…NONE! The oversight was window dressing meant again to apease the masses while having no real teeth. The supposed oversight committee would have the SAME FOXES guarding the hen house.

Protecting taxpayers:

We ARE NOT PROTECTED! Sure, if after five years the treasure has a net loss, the president will be required to submit a legislative proposal to seek reimbursement from the financial institutions that participated. OH WOW! So, the president submits a proposal to the Congress asking them to pass legislation that would make Wall Street reimburse the government for our losses. The proposal is submitted to Congress, the Lobbyist on K Street throw a few campaign donations around, pay for a few trips to exotic places, and WALLA the proposal goes to committee where it is sent down to a sub-committee never to be heard from again!

Help for homeowners:

Again, WHAT HELP, there is NONE. The Secretary will "encourage the servicers of the underlying mortgages" to help minimize foreclosures. Doesn’t that make you feel BETTER? The treasury will ask those we are giving $700 Billion dollars to BE NICE, to work with us rather than take our homes away! Best case scenerio…to make it look good, every one will get and EXTRA 30 days before these financial institutions move to foreclose on your home. Think about it, they foreclose on your home, and have an INSTANT BUYER in the treasury!

Insurance:

What a BONANZA for financial institutions…yet another new product they can foist off on us the homeowner. How long do you think it will be before we are REQUIRED to have Mortgage Guard insurance on our loan at a yearly cost of a couple extra thousand dollars a year!

That is the bill in a nutshell…tell me Main Street, what is in it for us? What safeguards were put into the bill for us? Do you see anything that will RESTORE OUR LOST HOME EQUITY that was squandered away by Wall Street? The pundits want to run to the ramparts shouting their warnings to all who will hear, “The market lost one and a half TRILLION dollars today, the SKY IS FALLING!” I personally have lost over $60,000 worth of Equity in my home as a result of Wall Street. Multiply that times say 20 Million homes, and Main Street has lost $1.2 TRILLION of our equity in our homes! Where is our bailout? Maybe, just maybe…instead of bailing out Wall Street, the Congress should bailout Main Street! Renegotiate every foreclosed mortgage in a fashion that lets people keep their homes. Figure out neighborhood by neighborhood how much each home owner has lost in equity, and WRITE US OUT A CHECK! That money would be put back into the economy, rather than being BANKED by the rich and elite who are asking us to pay off their gambling debts.

John McCain Fails To Deliver Republican Bailout Vote!

Let's go back to last week when John McCain STOPPED HIS CAMPAIGN and went back to Washington, DC to get the job done. We all remember that day, the fact that his RASH move gave him the news cycle. Now lets fast foward to right now.

McCain FAILED to bring his Republicans to the table, failed to deliver the votes needed to pass the Wall Street Bailout! While Senator Obama and the Democratic leaders brought their vote to the table to (65 percent of their caucus members) in the hopes of Bailing out George Bush and his failed policies, John McCain was only able to bring to the table 33 percent of his own party on a bill brought forward by George W. Bush, and his appointee Mr. Paulson.

When it comes to leadership, John McCain's has been found to be lacking, has shown America he just does not have the RIGHT STUFF...which might explain how it was that he crashed not one, but FIVE military aircraft during his Naval Career.

With America On Brink Of Another Great Depression Republicans Decide To Play POLITICS

Today was a historic day in America as the Bailout of Wall Street went down to defeat. Personally, I am fine with that...what I am not fine with, is the way it went down to defeat. Simply stated, the Republicans were FAR MORE CONCERNED with playing politics than in supporting America, more interested in slashing out at the Demcoratic Party than doing what right for America's Middle Class. You do not vote against a bill because you do not like a person, or the speech they give, but this is EXACTLY what happened today, is the ROOT CAUSE of the market tanking (at one point by 680 points).

Let's not forget who CAUSED THIS CRISIS in America! REPUBLICANS! The George Bush John McCain doctrine and beliefs led us to this dark abyss, and instead of helping to turn the car around, the Republicans CHOOSE TO PLAY POLITICS on this dark day, and if America's voters have any sense, they will not send any Republican back to Washington that voted against today's bailout!

Sunday, September 28, 2008

Putting Bailout In Perspective For Minimum Wage Workers

Our Federal Government is about to give Wall Street $770 Billion dollars! Meanwhile, back in July the minimum wage LEPT to $6,55 per hour. Working a 40 hour work week, that is a pre-tax weekly wage of $262.00 or a yearly pre tax income of $13,624 IF YOU WORK 52 WEEKS A YEAR. It would take roughly 58 million 40 hour weeks of work at minimum wage to pay off this debt (with no interest).


http://www.dol.gov/opa/media/press/esa/esa20081024.htm

Federal minimum wage to increase to $6.55 on July 24



Agency also marks 70th anniversary of Fair Labor Standards Act



WASHINGTON — The U.S. Department of Labor reminds employers and employees that the federal minimum wage will increase to $6.55 on Thursday, July 24. With this change, employees who are covered by the federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) will be entitled to pay at no less than $6.55 per hour.



This increase is the second of three provided by the enactment of the Fair Minimum Wage Act of 2007. A third minimum wage increase to $7.25 an hour will become effective on July 24, 2009. Last year, on July 24, the minimum wage increased to $5.85 an hour.