Modern Day Mutually Assured Destruction

Before the most recent report on Lehman Brothers’ use of Enron-like methods to hide debt from its balance sheet, Greece had recently been accused of similar shenangians.  The sovereign was under scrutiny for swaps it had set up with Goldman Sachs that allowed the nation to mask its real debt load, effectively cooking its books in order to meet the fiscal standards required for admittance into the Eurozone in 2001.  This was not the first time this type of deceptive transaction had been consummated.

The joyfully iconoclastic financial blog Zero Hedge had uncovered a little-known 2001 report by a little-known Italian Economist named Gustavo Piga which showed that Italy had used almost the exact same transactions as those used by the Greeks to mask their finances and gain entrance to the Eurozone in 1997.  For his courageous exposé, most disturbingly Piga’s life was threatened.  Why was this the case?

Piga had been the first to find “…a real-world example of how sovereign borrowers can use derivatives to window-dress public accounts as a means of achieving short-term political goals.”  As the Council on Foreign Relations which collaborated with Piga on the report noted, Italy was able to do this by “taking a cash advance in 1997 against an expected foreign exchange profit in 1998.  Under accounting rules, this is simply impermissible.  Borrowers cannot use loans to anticipate capital gains on a bond.”  The transactions allowed Italy to artifically reduce their deficit in 1997 by increasing their deficit in 1998.

And according to the CFR, what was the significance of this Enron-like Italian book-cooking?

(more…)

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Tags: alexander hamilton, Andrew Jackson, bailouts, banking, debt
Posted Mar 17th 2010 at 5:31 am in Congress, Economics, News, Obama, Politics, federal spending | 9025045 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/amellon/2010/03/17/modern-day-mutually-assured-destruction/Modern+Day+Mutually+Assured+Destruction2010-03-17+12%3A31%3A31Andrew+Mellon

The Corker-Dodd-Alinsky Bill? : Center-Right Coalition Letter Warns about ‘Proxy Access’

Capitol Confidential and Jim Hoft have done an excellent job laying out concerns with the potential “compromise” bill that comes out of Sen. Bob Corker’s negotiations with Chris Dodd.  But when it comes to the destructive provisions that could come out of a Dodd-Corker deal, they may have just scratched the surface.

In addition to the troubling new powers for a new nanny-state consumer agency and possibly the Federal Reserve added to the prospect of billions more in bailouts for reckless financial firm, the bill may also contain the sneaky  “proxy access” power grab for unions, radical environmentalists, and other groups on the Left. This rule, inspired by Saul Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals, is contained in Dodd’s “discussion draft” bill from late last year.

As I detailed in BigGovernment last week, “proxy access would federalize and override decades of state law governing the structure of corporations and force publicly-traded companies to put shareholders’ nominees for a board of directors on a company’s proxy ballot along with the firm’s own nominees for those positions.” Many shareholder groups that are pushing this are union pension funds, the radical Tides Foundation, and other progressive groups — from animal rights to anti-Israel — who place their own political agenda items at the expense of ordinary shareholders.

(more…)

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Tags: Alan Hevesi, bank bailout, Bob Corker, capitol confidential, Chris Dodd
Posted Mar 10th 2010 at 8:53 am in Big Labor, Congress, Economics, News, Politics | 8711438 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/jberlau/2010/03/10/the-corker-dodd-alinsky-bill-center-right-coalition-letter-warns-about-proxy-access/The+Corker-Dodd-Alinsky+Bill%3F+%3A+Center-Right+Coalition+Letter+Warns+about+%27Proxy+Access%272010-03-10+16%3A53%3A44John+Berlau

Obama’s Continued War on the Market

In a further attack on the housing market, the New York Times recently reported that President Obama may be amending his loan modification program to make it even more difficult for defaulting homeowners to be foreclosed upon.  The Times states:

The Obama administration, under intense pressure to help millions of people in danger of losing their homes, is considering a ban on foreclosures unless they have first been examined for potential modification, according to a set of draft proposals.

That would raise the stakes from the current practice, which strongly encourages lenders to evaluate defaulting borrowers for a modification but does not make it mandatory.

Meg Reilly, a Treasury Department spokeswoman, said Thursday that the proposed foreclosure ban was “one of the many ideas under consideration in the administration’s ongoing housing stabilization efforts.” The proposal was first reported by Bloomberg News.

To be fair, the effects of this program may be minimal, with some interpreting the ban to be more about PR than anything substantive:

Laurie Goodman, a senior managing director at the Amherst Securities Group who has been highly critical of the government’s modification program, said even if the proposal came to pass, it would not be “a major change. We think there is a large public relations element to this.”

…The Mortgage Bankers Association said its members were already doing what the administration was considering.

“Lenders generally go to foreclosure as a measure of last resort, after all other options, including loan modification, are exhausted,” said John Mechem, the trade group’s vice president for public affairs.

Any enhancements the government made to the modification program would be unlikely to stem many foreclosures, said Howard Glaser, a prominent housing consultant.

Regardless of the impact however, this potential loan modification addendum adds insult to the injury of an already wrongheaded and destructive policy, and will only prolong the pain in the housing market.

The reasons for the woes in housing are quite simple.  Banks extended mortgages to borrowers that were poor credit risks, and many borrowers took out mortgages that they shouldn’t have either out of speculation or profligacy.  That the depression is throwing people out of work and keeping many jobless exacerbates the problem, in that unfortunately many who could have reasonably expected to afford their homes now cannot given their lack of sufficient cash flow.  Of course, truly prudent buyers might have saved to purchase their homes outright with cash.

(more…)

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Tags: Barack Obama, CRA, Federal Reserve, Harry Reid, Jeremiah Wright
Posted Mar 2nd 2010 at 8:37 am in Congress, Economics, News, Obama, Uncategorized | 8173476 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/amellon/2010/03/02/obamas-continued-war-on-the-market/Obama%27s+Continued+War+on+the+Market2010-03-02+16%3A37%3A22Andrew+Mellon

The Stimulus is Like, You Know, Totally Awesome

It’s time for your weekly dose of markets and politics with Coffee and Markets, featuring The New Ledger’s Francis Cianfrocca, a podcast brought to you by the fine folks at Andrew Breitbart’s BigGovernment.com and LibertyPundits.com, your new home for Conservative podcasts. In this week’s edition, we celebrate the anniversary of the stimulus (celebrate probably isn’t the right word), unpack the ramifications of the financial meltdown in Europe, and hash out the realities of America’s jobless future.

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Related Links:

TNL: The President Thinks You’re Stoo-pid
The Atlantic: America’s Jobless Future
Business Insider: If You Think Greece is Bad…
The American: The Straw Stimulus
TNL: The Inconvenient Truth About Spending and Job Creation

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Tags: Barack Obama, Coffee and Markets, deficits, Federal Reserve, Greece
Posted Feb 19th 2010 at 8:00 am in Coffee and Markets, Economics | 7736228 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/newledger/2010/02/19/the-stimulus-is-like-you-know-totally-awesome/The+Stimulus+is+Like%2C+You+Know%2C+Totally+Awesome2010-02-19+16%3A00%3A23The+New+Ledger

Obama’s Financial Hope and Change: Free Money for Wall Street

A recent Pew survey revealed the nation’s big banks are drawing the most ire from the American public, and now that the Federal Reserve is poised to hand them another victory, it’s easy to see why Main Street’s anger burns deep.

Wednesday, Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke released a statement to the House Committee on Financial Services which detailed the accommodative policy the Fed implemented as a result of the Great Recession and outlined its exit strategy from that policy.

The objective of the Fed’s intervention was to alleviate the pressure on the balance sheets of the banks, which would provide them with the financial flexibility necessary to begin lending to consumers and businesses once again. To meet such an end, the Fed increased the size of its balance sheet through purchases of securities and real-estate loans from the banks, and decreased the interest-rate for interbank lending to nearly zero percent.

The banks’ first ‘Win’ came as a result of those sales to the Fed which produced billions of dollars in revenue. Afterwards, many of us were wondering why the banks weren’t lending again, despite raking in record profits, but the answer was simple. They quickly realized they had found themselves with a can’t lose proposition, as they could make guaranteed money instead of taking on more risk from lending to consumers and businesses during a period of economic uncertainty.

How could they do that?

(more…)

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Tags: bank bailout, bank lending, Ben Bernanke, carry trade, Federal Reserve
Posted Feb 14th 2010 at 5:59 am in Economics, Exclusives, Featured Story, federal spending | 7469491 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/jarenas/2010/02/14/obamas-financial-hope-and-change-the-undefeated-banks/Obama%27s+Financial+Hope+and+Change%3A+Free+Money+for+Wall+Street2010-02-14+13%3A59%3A42J.C.+Arenas

The Folly of Financial Reform

I come bearing bad news.  Reform of our financial services industry is going to be a failure.  Leave aside the preconceived notions that politicians will come up with faulty or halfhearted regulations, that they are writing bills in cahoots with the big banks or conversely ACORN & Co. or that the Obama administration in general is anti-business.

While these ideas may all have merit, the reason that financial reform will be disastrous is that all legislation points towards dealing with symptoms rather than addressing the root causes of our financial collapse. While of course the narrative in the MSM centers on greedy “fat cat” bankers taking big risks and predatory lenders taking advantage of hapless borrowers, the fact of the matter is that in every aspect of this crisis government was the major enabler.  Ironically all financial reform centers around giving government more power.

Consider housing.  As we know, under the CRA and due to the “activities” of ACORN and subsidization from our taxpayer-owned siblings Fannie and Freddie, banks granted mortgages to borrowers far riskier than they would have in an uninhibited mortgage market.  That one of the innovations to meet the demand for mortgages was, for example, the adjustable-rate mortgage which reset to sky-high rates after a specified amount of time was not predatory but rather the natural way for banks to compensate for the massive incremental risk being taken by lending to uncreditworthy borrowers.

(more…)

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Tags: ACORN, bailouts, Barney Frank, Chris Dodd, CRA
Posted Feb 13th 2010 at 8:16 am in ACORN, Congress, Economics, Politics | 7435880 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/amellon/2010/02/13/the-folly-of-financial-reform/The+Folly+of+Financial+Reform2010-02-13+16%3A16%3A35Andrew+Mellon

Federal Reserve Bank of New York Subpoenaed in AIG Fraud Case

Here’s the latest in the question of the New York Fed, Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and the AIG bailout, as we’ve covered here at Big Government before (here and here). Last year, Iraq war vet Kevin Murray brought a lawsuit against the Treasury Department and Ben Bernanke (Murray vs. Geithner, et al) for its acquisition of AIG– a scheme that made the US taxpayer the world’s largest provider of Shariah-compliant insurance products. Lawyers David Yerushalmi and The Thomas More Law Center’s Robert Muise found, in the course of discovery, that that was just the tip of the iceberg.

Yerushalmi and Muise quickly realized that, in acquiring 77.9% of AIG, the New York Fed may have set up an illegal trust, with the knowledge that what they were to do was illegal. Tuesday, Murray’s attorneys issued a subpoena for the Federal Reserve Bank of New York.

(more…)

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Tags: AIG bailout, Ben Bernanke, David Yerushalmi, Federal Reserve, illegal trust
Posted Feb 10th 2010 at 10:51 am in Economics, Exclusives, Justice/Legal | 73078108 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/fgaffney/2010/02/10/federal-reserve-bank-of-new-york-subpoenaed-in-aig-fraud-case/Federal+Reserve+Bank+of+New+York+Subpoenaed+in+AIG+Fraud+Case2010-02-10+18%3A51%3A14Frank+Gaffney

Federal Court: No, the Government May Not Prevent Further Discovery of the Takeover of AIG

This week we broke the story of possible criminal wrongdoing in the government takeover of insurance giant AIG. In the last several months, the US government has tried, unsuccessfully, to throw out plaintiff Kevin Murray’s case, alleging that the government’s takeover of AIG puts it in the position of supporting and promoting Islam and Shariah finance.

This past Tuesday, Federal district court judge Lawrence P. Zatkoff rejected the Treasury Department’s and the Fed’s effort to prevent any further discovery while the government attempts to convince the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals to overrule Judge Zatkoff’s earlier ruling rejecting the government’s motion to dismiss the federal lawsuit challenging the government’s takeover of AIG on First Amendment-Establishment Clause grounds.

Tim Geithner: The “extraordinary move to depose a sitting Treasury Secretary”

The lawsuit, captioned Murray v. Geithner et al., was brought by attorneys David Yerushalmi and Robert Muise, representing the plaintiff, Kevin Murray, a tax payer and former combat Marine who served in Iraq. The federal lawsuit alleges that the U.S. government’s takeover and financial bailout of AIG was in violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment.

(more…)

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Tags: AIG, AIG takeover, Ben Bernanke, David Yerushalmi, Establishment Clause
Posted Feb 5th 2010 at 3:07 pm in Economics, Justice/Legal, News | 70606156 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/fgaffney/2010/02/05/federal-court-no-the-government-may-not-prevent-further-discovery-of-the-takeover-of-aig/Federal+Court%3A+No%2C+the+Government+May+Not+Prevent+Further+Discovery+of+the+Takeover+of+AIG2010-02-05+23%3A07%3A16Frank+Gaffney

Shariah Finance, Criminal Wrongdoing in the AIG Takeover: Will the Special Inspector General for the TARP Funds Investigate the Illegal Trust?

Yesterday we broke the story of possible criminal wrongdoing in regards to the bailout of AIG by Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, then Director of the New York Federal Reserve, and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke.

It appears that, through it’s 77.9% control of AIG’s equity and voting rights, the NYFed “sought to accomplish an illegal financial transaction through false means” by creating an “independent”: trust that was in fact not independent, placing it “in violation of federal anti-money laundering statutes (18 USC § 1956).” Here we elaborate a bit further, laying out the issue in the text of a letter submitted to Neil Barofsky, Special Inspector General for TARP (SIGTARP)– as the government takeover of AIG was accomplished using funds provided to the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

First, however, some context: Crucially, these facts were discovered while securities litigator David Yerushalmi and the Thomas More Law Center was representing Iraq War vet Kevin Murray in Murray vs. Geithner, et al. Mr. Murray is rightfully horrified that the very doctrines of the enemy he faced in combat would be promoted by the US government. Specifically, prior to the U.S. government’s takeover of the insurance giant AIG, the company was the world’s leading promoter of Shariah-compliant finance products and businesses. Bailing out and forcefully (and illegally) taking ownership of AIG put the American taxpayer in the position of advocating Shariah-compliant finance, which is troubling on many levels:

(more…)

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Tags: AIG, AIG bailout, Ben Bernanke, Fed Bank of New York, Federal Reserve
Posted Feb 3rd 2010 at 4:47 pm in Economics, Exclusives, Uncategorized | 6965093 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/fgaffney/2010/02/03/shariah-finance-criminal-wrongdoing-in-the-aig-takeover-will-the-special-inspector-general-for-the-tarp-funds-investigate-the-illegal-trust/Shariah+Finance%2C+Criminal+Wrongdoing+in+the+AIG+Takeover%3A+Will+the+Special+Inspector+General+for+the+TARP+Funds+Investigate+the+Illegal+Trust%3F2010-02-04+00%3A47%3A23Frank+Gaffney

Geithner and Bernanke: Laundering Money Through an Illegal Trust?

This afternoon on Secure Freedom Radio we announced a breaking news story concerning the Administration’s ongoing cover-up of AIG financial wrong-doing.  In an interview with David Yerushalmi, senior litigator on the Murray v. Geithner et al lawsuit, we expose possible fraud, money-laundering and criminal activity.

As Yerushalmi says in the interview, “So here’s what we find out in the midst of discovery when we depose the Treasury Department’s deponent and the Fed and get documents, here’s what we’ve learned: The Federal Reserve Bank of New York at the time that it structured the debt that it was going to give AIG insisted that not only did it get the debt, not only would it get principal and interest payments and collateral for that, it wanted 80% of AIG, precisely 77.9% of the shares and the voting rights.  But the Federal Reserve Bank and Geithner knew that it was illegal for the Fed system whether there’s a Fed or the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to own that, so what did they do….”

(more…)

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Tags: AIG, Ben Bernacke, Ben Bernanke, David Yerushalmi, Federal Reserve
Posted Feb 2nd 2010 at 5:10 pm in Congress, Economics, Tax Reform, federal spending | 68910148 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/fgaffney/2010/02/02/geithner-and-bernanke-laundering-money-through-an-illegal-trust/Geithner+and+Bernanke%3A+Laundering+Money+Through+an+Illegal+Trust%3F2010-02-03+01%3A10%3A36Frank+Gaffney

More Bailouts? Forever? Not So Fast

Pollster Frank Luntz has confirmed what conservatives, Tea Party activists and, well, every other American not affiliated with Wall Street banks have known all along — voting for bailouts is a political death sentence.

Big Government has obtained a copy of a new poll conducted by The Word Doctors that should send shivers down the spine of proponents of the Financial Reform bill that passed the House of Representatives in December.  The legislation created a $150 billion bailout fund for future bailouts for banks and corporations and authorizes the Fed to spend up to another $4 Trillion.

Luntz’s poll asked whether “you would be more or less likely to vote for your member of Congress if they voted for a Financial Reform bill that contained a fund to bail out banks and Wall Street?”  The results:  5% more likely.  79% Less Likely.  An incredible 52% of respondents said that they would be “much more likely” to vote against bailout supporters.  A copy of the Luntz poll can be found here:

(more…)

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Tags: bailout fund, bank bailout, Barack Obama, Chris Dodd, Federal Reserve
Posted Jan 30th 2010 at 9:19 am in Congress, Economics, News, Obama | 6728668 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/publius/2010/01/30/more-bailouts-forever-not-so-fast/More+Bailouts%3F+Forever%3F+Not+So+Fast2010-01-30+17%3A19%3A38Publius

The Republicans’ ‘Hip Gap’

It permeates the public’s consciousness and Big Media obsessively promotes the perception to our detriment.  Yet, like a canker on a suitor, polite Republicans won’t discuss it.  No longer, however, can we pretend the issue doesn’t exist.  It does and, though painful to admit, we must confront the truth.

Republicans have a “hip gap.”

This is not to say Democrats are hip.  People who squander their precious breaths of life poring over Das Kapital, practicing rhythmic chanting with Kindergarten lyrics, chaining themselves to national monuments and/or writing memoirs prior to accomplishing anything are utter stiffs.  They can only pass themselves off as cool in comparison to…well, us.

Oh sure, we’d like to think this is just another slanderous Leftist attack on Republicans.  But, let’s be honest:  a large gaggle of GOPers have yet to put a toenail into the Twenty-First Century’s cultural crosscurrents – or, for that matter, the Nineteenth’s.

(more…)

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Tags: 78 rpm records, Alice Cooper, Andrew Breitbart, Big Hollywood, C. Montgomery Burn
Posted Jan 26th 2010 at 5:21 am in Culture, Featured Story, News, Political Humor, Politics | 65294194 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/tgmccotter/2010/01/26/the-republicans-hip-gap/The+Republicans%27+%27Hip+Gap%272010-01-26+13%3A21%3A32Rep.+Thaddeus+G.+McCotter+%28R-MI%29

Saturday Open Thread: Bernanke Edition

Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke is up for Senate confirmation for another term. It isn’t going well.

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Tags: Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve, keynsian economics, Too Big To Fail
Posted Jan 23rd 2010 at 3:31 am in Open Threads | 6425869 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/publius/2010/01/23/saturday-open-thread-bernanke-edition/Saturday+Open+Thread%3A+Bernanke+Edition2010-01-23+11%3A31%3A36Publius

New Questions Surface About Bernanke’s Role In AIG Bailout

Sources on the Hill tell Big Government that the nomination of Ben Bernanke to remain Chairman of the Federal Reserve is in deep trouble.  A Senior Capitol Hill Staffer said to Big Government, “if [Senate Majority Leader] Reid does not file for cloture tonight, I don’t think they have the votes to confirm him.”  The Wall Street Journal thinks the vote will be “tight,” yet the White House is spinning that they have the votes.  Hill sources say that this nomination is trending in the wrong direction for the Obama Administration and many on the Hill are stunned by the news that, according to CNBC, Senator Barbara Boxer (D-CA) has announced her opposition to the nomination.  There is growing opposition to this nominee remaining in charge of the Federal Reserve for a second term.

Senators have made public statements indicating that there may be non-public information that is hurting this nominee.  Senator Jim DeMint (R-SC) said that “the Fed continues to stonewall Congress and the public.”  Senator Jim Bunning (R-KY) referenced “ongoing examinations by Congress and the GAO of the Fed’s AIG bailout” and that there are “unpleasant facts for the Fed and Chairman Bernanke” that will come out after “full public disclosure of all information about the AIG bailout” that has only been shared with “select Congressional Committees and the GAO.”  Senator David Vitter (R-LA) said, “it is vitally important that Congress has the ability and time to adequately review the Federal Reserve’s bailout of AIG.  Although some of our offices have had time to review some of the documents, not all are available at this time and Congress should wait until GAO’s review before proceeding with his nomination vote.” (more…)

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Tags: AIG, AIG bailout, Barbara Boxer, Ben Bernanke, David Vitter
Posted Jan 22nd 2010 at 3:52 pm in Economics, Featured Story, Politics, federal spending | 6420661 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/capitolconfidential/2010/01/22/new-questions-surface-about-bernankes-role-in-aig-bailout/New+Questions+Surface+About+Bernanke%E2%80%99s+Role+In+AIG+Bailout+2010-01-22+23%3A52%3A25Capitol++Confidential

Wednesday Open Thread: Federal Reserve Edition

Today, in 1913, President Woodrow Wilson signed the Federal Reserve Act, creating the Federal Reserve. Less than 100 years later, the head of this institution would become Time’s Man of the Year.

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Tags: Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve, Time Man of the Year, Woodrow Wilson
Posted Dec 23rd 2009 at 3:25 am in Open Threads | 5116288 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/publius/2009/12/23/wednesday-open-thread-federal-reserve-edition/Wednesday+Open+Thread%3A+Federal+Reserve+Edition2009-12-23+11%3A25%3A51Publius

The Market, Job Numbers, and Who Could Replace Bernanke

So it’s time we asked the question: if not Ben Bernanke, who could be the next Fed chairman? And what are we going to do about job creation, since the president seems more interested in holding pointless conferences to waste time talking about job creation? Today’s the 100th episode of Coffee and Markets, a daily podcast from The New Ledger on politics, policy and the marketplace with Francis Cianfrocca, brought to you by BigGovernment.com.

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Related Links:

Barnes: Infatuated with the New Deal
Politico: Strange Coalition Targets Bernanke
Three Strikes Against Bernanke

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Tags: Barack Obama, Ben Bernanke, Federal Reserve, Job Summit, small businesses
Posted Dec 7th 2009 at 9:51 am in Coffee and Markets, Economics | 420628 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/newledger/2009/12/07/the-market-job-numbers-and-who-could-replace-bernanke/The+Market%2C+Job+Numbers%2C+and+Who+Could+Replace+Bernanke2009-12-07+16%3A51%3A45The+New+Ledger

Unpacking the Job Numbers, Roadblocks for Bernanke, and the Future of Mainstream Media

Tons of news in the market today as we unpack the surprisingly good job numbers, the Senate holds placed on Ben Bernanke’s renomination, and the massive Comcast-NBC deal and what it says about the new realities for mass media. Today’s the 99th edition of Coffee and Markets, a daily podcast from The New Ledger on politics, policy and the marketplace with Francis Cianfrocca, brought to you by BigGovernment.com.

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Related Links:

On Bernanke: Vitter, DeMint, Corker, Bunning
FTC on Media Bailout
New Realities for Mass Media
The FTC’s Shallow Dive into Journalism’s Future
The Real Reason Comcast is Buying NBC
Mainstream Media’s Broken Business Model

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Tags: Ben Bernanke, Comcast, Federal Reserve, FTC, GE
Posted Dec 4th 2009 at 8:58 am in Coffee and Markets, Economics, Media Criticism | 4116217 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/newledger/2009/12/04/unpacking-the-job-numbers-roadblocks-for-bernanke-and-the-future-of-mainstream-media/Unpacking+the+Job+Numbers%2C+Roadblocks+for+Bernanke%2C+and+the+Future+of+Mainstream+Media2009-12-04+15%3A58%3A11The+New+Ledger

Pork Report November 30, 2009: Stimulus Snafus Edition

Tens of thousands of TSA screeners to receive government bonuses, including millions of dollars paid to more than 10,000 who have been rated poorly

Government bailout watch: Despite receiving $5.5 billion in stimulus funds, Government Services Administration’s backlog of deferred maintenance projects now totals $8.8 billion and the agency is proposing billions of dollars in new projects

As stimulus money doubles Wisconsin’s weatherization budget, a review finds weatherization work done on hundreds of low-income homes failed to meet federal standards; Inspectors found projects done in a way that could threaten the safety of residents or did not save enough energy

Stimulus funds pay to replace “unattractive” streetlights; The new lights “aren’t especially energy-efficient, and the old ones work”

Federal Reserve tries theater ads to improve its image

Las Vegas’ $4.1 million housing plan built on federal stimulus money stalled over squabbles about how to hand out the money and to whom

(more…)

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Tags: bike paths, eminent domain, Federal Reserve, federal spending, Government Services Administration
Posted Nov 30th 2009 at 4:56 pm in Pork Report | 3877028 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/porkreport/2009/11/30/pork-report-november-30-2009-stimulus-snafus-edition/Pork+Report+November+30%2C+2009%3A+Stimulus+Snafus+Edition2009-11-30+23%3A56%3A22The+Pork+Report

Economy in the Lurch: Negative Interest Rates, the Fed Audit, and Geithner in the Dock

Negative interest rates finally materialize, Tim Geithner falls on his face at Congress, and the House moves forward with their policy of gutting the authority of the Federal Reserve. That’s three big stories to talk about on today’s Coffee and Markets, a daily podcast from The New Ledger on politics, policy and the marketplace with Francis Cianfrocca, brought to you by BigGovernment.com.

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Related Links:

WSJ: House Attacks Fed, Treasury
MarketWatch: Panel Votes to Audit Fed Balance Sheet
WP: Threatening the Fed’s Independence
Bloomberg: Geithner Resignation Calls Increase
Ryan and Hensarling: Why No One Expects a Strong Recovery

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Tags: Congress, Economy, Federal Reserve, Gold Standard, interest rates
Posted Nov 20th 2009 at 9:13 am in Economics | 3428239 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/newledger/2009/11/20/economy-in-the-lurch-negative-interest-rates-the-fed-audit-and-geithner-in-the-dock/Economy+in+the+Lurch%3A+Negative+Interest+Rates%2C+the+Fed+Audit%2C+and+Geithner+in+the+Dock2009-11-20+16%3A13%3A56The+New+Ledger