Dodd Praises Corker for Trying to Create Powerful Independent Agency, ‘Like We’ve Never Had Before’

Friday night on National Public Radio, a fitting place to announce an unprecedented growth in federal power, Sen. Chris Dodd praised his partner in crime Sen. Bob Corker for working together to create an “independent, autonomous, rule- writing entity, unlike anything we’ve ever had before.”  That is exactly why Tea Party activists from across the Volunteer State gathered in front of Corker’s office this past week to protest his back room dealmaking.

Why would  Corker ignore his constituents and abandon all conservative principles to work for legislation that earns him praise from Chris Dodd of all people?  Here’s why.

The big banks and Wall Street firms support the President’s Financial Reform package.  The House passed bill contains the mother of all bailouts — a $4 trillion authorization for the Federal Reserve to continue to bailout firms for decades to come.  In fact, as conservatives in the House reminded us when the Obama/Frank bill was on the floor, this bill makes bailouts the permanent policy of the US government.  And who gets those bailouts?  The same banks and firms that support the bill.  And who does Wall Street rain campaign contributions on?  None other than Bailout Bob Corker.

Corker has raised over $3 million from Wall Street and related firms since being elected to the Senate.  That’s a lot for a freshman Senator.  It seems like Wall Street is finally getting a good return on their investment.

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Tags: bank bailout, Bob Corker, car dealers, check cashing, Chris Dodd
Posted Mar 8th 2010 at 7:11 am in Congress, Economics, Politics, Regulation | 8567033 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/capitolconfidential/2010/03/08/dodd-praises-corker-for-trying-to-create-powerful-independent-agency-like-weve-never-had-before/Dodd+Praises+Corker+for+Trying+to+Create+Powerful+Independent+Agency%2C+%27Like+We%27ve+Never+Had+Before%27+2010-03-08+15%3A11%3A13Capitol++Confidential

Thursday Open Thread: Corker Edition

Sen. Bob Corker is close to cutting a deal with Sen, Chris Dodd to re-regulate the 5/6ths of the economy that isn’t touched by Obama Care. Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot. (Perhaps this is related to the over $3 million Corker has collected from Big Wall Street Banks. Just saying…) His office number is 202-224-3344.

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Tags: Bob Corker, financial regulation, Wall Street bailout
Posted Mar 4th 2010 at 5:27 am in Open Threads | 8394626 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/publius/2010/03/04/thursday-open-thread-congress-edition/Thursday+Open+Thread%3A+Corker+Edition2010-03-04+13%3A27%3A25Publius

A New Idea: Don’t Bailout Greece, or Anyone Else for That Matter.

Greece is in big troubles.  Its economy is in bad shape, its debt is massive and its future is quite bleak. Interestingly, other European nations do not seem very eager to come to its rescue. The 27-country EU block, led by Germany and France, have promised some support package for the country but it comes with strings attached and  a lecture on how Greece must get its act together by slashing public sector wages and other spending.

Yet, instead of being grateful, Greece’s prime minister, George Papandreou, is mad as hell. First, he refuses to be treated like a lab animal (hey, I am watching to see what a country’s collapse looks like). Second, it’s not its fault. According to him,  it’s the fault of the European Commission “for failing to crack down on the previous conservative government’s “criminal record” in falsifying statistics.”

Remind me, where have I heard that the previous administration is exclusively to blame for the sad fiscal outlook of a country?

What would happen if the EU failed to extend a bailout package to Greece and if the country went bankrupt? There isn’t any doubt that, if Greece defaults it be painful and it would have very ugly consequences for the people who invested in that country. Not to mention the consequences this fall would have on Spain, Portugal and Italy.

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Tags: auto bailout, bailout, EU, European Commission, george papandreou
Posted Feb 16th 2010 at 12:57 pm in Uncategorized | 7620658 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/vderugy/2010/02/16/a-new-idea-dont-bailout-greece-or-anyone-else-for-that-matter/A+New+Idea%3A+Don%27t+Bailout+Greece%2C+or+Anyone+Else+for+That+Matter.2010-02-16+20%3A57%3A20Veronique++de+Rugy

The Official Unraveling of the Obama Presidency

It can be no secret by now that President Obama did not have a signature achievement his first year in office. Of all his major initiatives, health care, cap and trade, civilian trials for terrorists and the “stimulus” bill – only the so-called stimulus bill was enacted. Hardly a success, as more Americans than not know what Paul Krugman and E.J. Dionne do not – that it was a bad idea. Worse for the Democrats — none of those efforts have produced a greater consensus or momentum for them or Obama. To the contrary, the Democrats lost key races in 2009, a Democrat House Member defected to the Republicans, the nation is more divided than ever and the Democrat Party is in disarray — as in the Obama presidency.

Not to be out-done by 2009, in 2010, the Obama presidency has endured:

(1) the loss of the Kennedy seat (which is how the Democrats view that race) even though Obama stumped for the Democrats’ candidate;

(2) Obama’s deficit commission was shot down;

(3) The unions are warning the Democrats that they are “going to have a hard time getting members out to vote”;

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Tags: 94 republican revolution, Barack Obama, Big Labor, bush tax cuts, cap-and-trade
Posted Feb 12th 2010 at 5:21 am in Congress, Featured Story, News, Obama, Politics | 74026481 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/tdelbeccaro/2010/02/12/the-official-unraveling-of-the-obama-presidency/The+Official+Unraveling+of+the+Obama+Presidency2010-02-12+13%3A21%3A52Thomas+Del+Beccaro

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:

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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

Obama Completes the Liberal Hat Trick

In hockey, rough sport that it is, it is rare that one player scores three goals in one game.  They call that a Hat Trick.  In the game of politics, Obama now has managed the Liberal Hat Trick in the minds of the American Public.  In November, he may just find out how rough politics can be.

Of course, many people have known for a long time just how liberal Obama is and was.  There were many warning signs in the last election cycle.  The public however, in this slightly Right of Center nation, either was so tired of ineffective Republicans or, with the help of the Media, refused to acknowledge the warning signs.  In doing so they elected Obama with 52.9% of the vote – a victory but not an overwhelming victory.

Large margin or not, since being inaugurated, Obama has run quickly to the Left. In doing so, he fulfilled Reagan’s warning that Democrat Presidential candidates run as moderates but are determined to govern more to the Left, i.e. Jimmy Carter and Bill Clinton.  The Obama Administration’s response to the terrorist bomb attempt in Detroit completed that process in the minds of the American public.

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Tags: auto bailouts, bailouts, Barack Obama, bush tax cuts, Christmas terror attack
Posted Jan 4th 2010 at 6:58 am in Big Labor, Congress, News, Obama, Politics | 54938103 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/tdelbeccaro/2010/01/04/obamas-completes-the-liberal-hat-trick/Obama+Completes+the+Liberal+Hat+Trick2010-01-04+14%3A58%3A19Thomas+Del+Beccaro

New Spitzer Hypocrisy In AIG Case

Former New York Governor Eliot Spitzer took to the New York Times OP-ED page to call for the full release of a AIG corporate e-mails to determine how and why the company crashed.

This is the same Eliot Spitzer who stonewalled attempts by the New York State Senate Committee on Investigations and the New York Commission on Ethics to obtain the E-Mails of Spitzer and his top aides surrounding the abuse of power in his using the New York State Police to spy on his political opponents. Likewise, Spitzer attempted to prevent his top aides from testifying. This man’s hypocrisy knows no bounds.

The idea of former New York Governor and Attorney General Eliot Spitzer criticizing the AIG bailout is ridiculous; Spitzer is responsible for the economic condition of the company for which they needed a bailout. In fact, Spitzer’s crackdown on Wall Street caused the firms to increase leverage because he took away the ability for them to make money in research and underwriting, and they looked for other ways to make money; like securitizing subprime mortgages.

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Tags: AIG, AIG bailout, AIG Collapse, Alan Hevesi, bernie madoff
Posted Dec 25th 2009 at 11:31 am in Economics, News, Politics | 5213054 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/rstone/2009/12/25/new-spitzer-hypocrisy-in-aig-case/New+Spitzer+Hypocrisy+In+AIG+Case2009-12-25+19%3A31%3A54Roger+Stone

Obama: A Republican Plant?

Many of us had no idea the Republican Party had it in them, but to devise and implement such a plan was ingenious. Think about it; party leadership acting totally inept while a charismatic young Democrat presidential candidate captures the imagination of the normally lethargic youth vote, captures the senior vote, women, and even sends a thrill up the leg of the media.

And within a few short months after attaining the presidency, he conducts himself in a manner (personally and in office) that had not only invigorated his political opponents, but has them so energized they take to the streets and even march on The Capitol (more than once). One would have to conclude Barack Hussein Obama is either the most politically clueless president ever, or… is really a stealth Republican destroying the Democrat Party from within.

Is Barack Obama a Republican plant?

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Tags: auto bailouts, Barack Obama, Big Media, cap-and-trade, climate change
Posted Dec 22nd 2009 at 5:29 am in Featured Story, Obama, Politics | 46746160 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/bparks/2009/12/22/obama-a-republican-plant/Obama%3A+A+Republican+Plant%3F2009-12-22+13%3A29%3A31Bob+Parks

Obama Job Summit: Another Manufacturer Opts Out of U.S.A.

On November 11, David N. Farr, Chairman, CEO and President of Emerson Electric Co., announced at the Baird 2009 Industrial Conference in Chicago that President Obama has succeeded in chasing his multi-billion dollar industry right out of the U.S.A. Why? Onerous regulation, high taxes, and the over $1 trillion Obama debt should be reason enough for any business to consider shutting down U.S. facilities and seeking greener pastures overseas says Farr.

The federal government is “doing everything in [its] manpower [and] capability to destroy U.S. manufacturing,” says David Farr, chairman and CEO of Emerson Electric Co., in a presentation at the Baird 2009 Industrial Conference in Chicago Ill., on Nov. 11. In comments reported by Bloomberg, Farr added that companies will continue adding jobs in China and India because they are “places where people want the products and where the governments welcome you to actually do something. I am not going to hire anybody in the United States. I’m moving. They are doing everything possible to destroy jobs.”

During his slide show on the state of Emerson’s business, Farr noted that the “unprecedented job loss experienced in this recession will result in a much slower U.S. recovery” and the federal government is making matters worse. The slide reports that the job loss this time is by many magnitudes worse than previous recessions. Noted are job losses from several recessions: 1980 with 1 million jobs lost; 1982 with 2.8 million; 1990 with 1.5 million; 2001 with 2.7 million. Finally Farr notes that we’ve seen a whopping 7.3 million jobs lost thus far (and climbing) in this 2008-2009-2010 recession.

And the culprit? Obama’s government interference. Farr’s presentation noted the following:

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Tags: cap-and-tax, cap-and-trade, economic growth, emerson electric, federal debt
Posted Dec 3rd 2009 at 9:31 am in Economics, Obama | 34562131 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/wthuston/2009/12/03/obama-job-summit-another-manufacturer-opts-out-of-u-s-a/Obama+Job+Summit%3A+Another+Manufacturer+Opts+Out+of+U.S.A.2009-12-03+16%3A31%3A47Warner+Todd++Huston

McCain Aides Attacks on Palin Grow Tedious

The continued attacks on Sarah Palin by campaign Aides to Senator John McCain are almost beyond belief. Continued attacks on Palin, and on her performance as the Vice Presidential candidate by McCain Aide Steve Schmidt, are particularly ridiculous given Schmidt’s track record of incompetence and missteps by the Senior McCain Aide during the Presidential campaign.

Schmidt is, after all, part of the gang that had McCain suspend his presidential campaign and rush back to Washington to take the exact same position as Barack Obama on the first Federal bailout bill which in the end, only bailed out Goldman Sachs and other Wall Street Bankers. With his endorsement of the bailout, McCain lost any chance to draw a contrast with Obama and wage a competitive race for the Presidency.

Schmidt, the political genius was also party to the late October announcement that the McCain campaign was writing off Michigan. Even if polling showed that Michigan was beyond reach, why would you announce it publically so the Obama campaign could shift resources from Michigan to another toss-up-state?

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Tags: John McCain, political incompetence, Sarah Palin, Steve Schmidt, toss-up states
Posted Nov 19th 2009 at 3:33 pm in Politics | 33966101 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/rstone/2009/11/19/mccain-aides-attacks-on-palin-grow-tedious/McCain+Aides+Attacks+on+Palin+Grow+Tedious2009-11-19+22%3A33%3A57Roger+Stone

Geithner: Economy Is Better By Any Measurement

This morning, in testimony before the Joint Economic Committee, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said that, by any measurement of the strength and stability of the US economy, the economy today is better than it was when Obama took office. Sheesh, tell that to the millions of people who have lost their job since January.

Apparently, “any measurement” doesn’t include the unemployment rate, job growth, number of jobs, wage growth, hours worked, home foreclosures, rate of mortgage delinquencies, etc.

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Tags: Barack Obama, economic downturn, Economy, job growth, job loss
Posted Nov 19th 2009 at 9:57 am in Economics, News, Obama, Politics | 3365478 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/publius/2009/11/19/geithner-economy-is-better-by-any-measurement/Geithner%3A+Economy+Is+Better+By+Any+Measurement2009-11-19+16%3A57%3A28Publius

Congress Creating Big Brother for Wall Street

Senator Chris Dodd’s (D-CT) approach to overhaul financial industry regulations is scheduled to be debated next week in the Senate Banking Committee with a mark-up of the bill starting in early December.  This bill is sold as an effort by the federal government to seize control of financial institutions with the potential to cause a financial market meltdown.  Sources in the Senate tell me that the true effect of this bill will be to lock in the Troubled Assets Relief Program (TARP), give special treatment for the trading partners of financial institutions facing bankruptcy, and grant more power to the Federal Reserve Board in Washington over monetary policy.  This financial regulatory reform effort will create a massive new bureaucracy that will oversee financial institutions that will effectively serve as a Big Brother for Big Business.

From a Senate Banking Committee press release

“It is the job of this Congress to restore responsibility and accountability in our financial system to give Americans confidence that there is a system in place that works for and protects them,” Dodd said at the press conference.  “We must create a sound foundation to grow the economy and create jobs.”

The problem is that the big government approach to the financial regulatory reform effort may harm economic growth and grants sweeping new political powers to the Federal Reserve over monetary policy.  The big ticket item for the legislation is the creation of a new federal bureacracy called the “Consumer Financial Protection Agency.”   The discussion draft of the legislation describes the new agency as “an independent watchdog to ensure American consumers get the clear, accurate information they need to shop for mortgages, credit cards, and other financial products, while prohibiting hidden fees, abusive terms, and deceptive practices.”    The fact of the matter is that this new government entity distracts freedom loving Americans from many other disturbing aspects of this bill that will grow government and harm economic prosperity.

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Tags: bank bailout, Ben Bernanke, Consumer Financial Protection Agency, credit card fees, Federal Reserve
Posted Nov 14th 2009 at 6:31 am in Congress, Economics, Featured Story | 3037849 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/bdarling/2009/11/14/congress-creating-big-brother-for-wall-street/Congress+Creating+Big+Brother+for+Wall+Street2009-11-14+13%3A31%3A01Brian+Darling

The Real Axis of Evil: Washington, the Fed, and Wall Street

As Washington extends its reach farther into our lives and limits our freedoms, the Fed destroys the value of the dollar and our savings, and Wall Street continues to make billions of dollars using taxpayer money without creating any sustainable growth for the economy, Americans should begin to ask ourselves who our enemies really are. Sure, Iran, Syria, and North Korea are evil. I would love to see their regimes destroyed, but they haven’t really done anything to interfere with my life as far as I know. On the other hand, I can identify exactly the many ways that Washington, the Fed, and Wall Street are destroying our freedoms and our economy and stealing our and our children’s future.

Let’s begin with Washington. They want to take a broken health care system and make it worse by further injecting government. They’re going to raise taxes even though people are struggling with the worst economy in decades. They’ve started a job-killing trade war with China–our largest trading partner and our largest lender–to pacify Big Labor. They’ve given hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer money to insolvent and poorly managed, but politically connected, Wall Street banks and Detroit car companies in the name of saving our economy. We’ve continued to lose millions of jobs anyway. They’ve spent additional hundreds of billions of taxpayer dollars on a stimulus that was supposed to create jobs. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner says there will be jobs some day, but should we really believe him? This is the same guy who thought subprime lending wasn’t a problem. The same guy who thought it made sense to give billions to lender CIT. How did that work? Oh, right, they’re bankrupt now.

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Tags: american capitalism, bailout, Ben Bernanke, Charlie Gasparino, discount window
Posted Nov 12th 2009 at 8:03 am in Economics, Politics, Uncategorized | 2947430 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/cgrey/2009/11/12/the-real-axis-of-evil-washington-the-fed-and-wall-street/The+Real+Axis+of+Evil%3A+Washington%2C+the+Fed%2C+and+Wall+Street2009-11-12+15%3A03%3A49Christopher+Grey

The Tea Party Movement: How We Got Here

Something curious happened during the summer of 2008. Democrats, led by Speaker Nancy Pelosi,
shut down the House and C-SPAN cameras with a resolution that passed by just one vote, smack in the middle of an energy crisis. Afterwards, Madame Speaker jetted off on a week-long book tour while gas prices soared.

The Republicans stood in the dark and refused to leave. A few officials, including John Culberson, took out their phones and began Twittering the action to America, this spawning the #dontgo movement. It was the first nudge to the hibernating conservative constituency who were excited about having something over which to be excited in their party. Netroots activists seethed at the realization that Democrats left America in limbo rather than vote against reducing energy costs and drilling stateside –  though the majority of the population approved of such. They rallied around the legislators that had the brass to stay and urged them to “Don’t go!”

Democrats shut down Republicans a second time promptly after the election by moving to bar them from amending legislation in the House.

Taxpayer fury over these offenses grew to a shriek in February when Rick Santelli delivered his famous diatribe on the floor of the Chicago exchange. The feelings of angry disenfranchisement felt by so many conservatives coalesced following Santelli’s speech. The first wave of tea parties came from this, the first national effort occurring on February 27th, 2008. I was at St. Louis’s very first tea party and stood across the mighty Mississippi on the Arch steps with a bunch of wide-eyed, virgin protesters who were just as shocked as I was to see the amount of people who had assembled.

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Tags: Americans for Prosperity, Chicago, Claire McCaskill, Jim Hoft, John Culberson
Posted Sep 12th 2009 at 6:59 am in Economics, Obama, Politics, Tea Party | 1326186 Commentshttp://biggovernment.com/dloesch/2009/09/12/the-tea-party-movement-how-we-got-here/The+Tea+Party+Movement%3A+How+We+Got+Here2009-09-12+13%3A59%3A30Dana+Loesch