Saturday, January 28, 2012
Dear Hilary Clinton - Thankyou for your public service
the President’s term. I would like to thank-you for your public
service and commend you for doing an outstanding job. Your job has
enormous scope, involving diplomacy, 24/7 readiness in a world of
minefields, playing policy chess in 3 dimensions, rebuilding a
battered organization, advocating for an increased budget, working
with Cabinet colleagues and dealing with a management with elements of
distrust who appointed czars in the middle of your field of command.
You are a team player, a true problem solver- knowing to define the
problem and doing what has to be done, a person of boundless energy
and leader of a large organization.
I know your true passion is caring for Americans. On Jan 21, 2010, I
suggested to Obama that you switch with Joe Biden. There are real
problems dealing with poverty and injustice in housing, education and
health.
As I write this I am reminded how cruelly Geithner deals with women.
He was part of the gang that lynched Brooksley Born. He was at odds
with Sheila Bair and stifled Elizabeth Warren. Two hugely competent
women dealing with the most incompetent member of Obama’s government.
Obama has no eloquence when it comes to gratitude, so I thanked
Christina Romer for her service. I know you appreciate people who do
their best but Obama never thanked Bair, Romer, Orszag, Summers,
Daley, Rouse and Goolsbee.
I will always remember how eloquently you pointed out that women have
extra hurdles to overcome. The press has pointed out that Obama is
hounded by angry black women in the East Wing and the West Wing
(Valerie Jarrett). You, Bair and Warren show how to battle and one
day the war will be won. That campaign let you find your voice, may
your rest let you find your hairdo … just kidding.
America is better because of the service of you and your husband.
Thank-you.
Saturday, October 29, 2011
huddled masses
“The CIA has reported that Russian sleeper agents have infiltrated the
senior ranks of the Treasury Department and American Banks. President
Medvedev has denied Russian infiltration. He said “The policy of
socialism for the too big to fail banks and capitalism for blue collar
Americans was a made in America policy.” The CIA alleges that Russian
planted policy makers arranged the bailout of AIG and Chrysler and
made sure that Tarp funds did not help ordinary Americans whose homes
were underwater. It is well known that former President Putin was
obsessed with restoring Russia to a world power and schemed for the
demise of the US. In a twenty year plan, he plotted for the rise of
oil and food prices and lower standard of living for everyday
Americans. Phase two involves rising crime rates and engaging Egyptian
and Tunisian revolutionaries to use Facebook to start uprisings in the
US, such as class revolts reminiscent of the Watts riots.”
Occupy Wall Street is the outcome and violence comes next summer.
It stems from the American value “Don’t tread on me” - the Wall Street
bullies, elitism in the education system and greed in medicine.
You are too young to know living history, but this was the condition
in May 1968 in France.
The people revolted.
Access to the best Universities is now determined by national
competition exams, not your family tree. Teachers are paid less than
bus drivers but are given more benefits, reduced bus and train fares
(government agencies) and housing allowances.
They opened up the med schools so that there are so many doctors, that
medicine is just a regular profession like engineering.
Politicians were sent a message that government was to serve the people.
People like Goolsbee, Summers and Romer have overly comfortable tenure
jobs with sabbaticals and are truly overpaid. Scholars should live
like monks. Scholarship is not about ransoming the people for
knowledge.
The problem with the medical system is greed. America has lost the
moral value that helping the ill is a noble notion. To profit from a
human’s misfortune is now the American way. We should strive for cost
effective healthcare for the people. The rich can take care of
themselves.
Housing a key economic driver
Geithner has served as Wall Street’s lapdog. A large part of the $800
billion Tarp money went to Wall Street. They never wrote down the
mortgages resulting in undeserved suffering for people who have to
foreclose today but who could afford to pay a mortgage reset at market
value. All because Geithner gave away money stupidly. He should
update anti-trust laws to take apart too big to fail companies. They
truly are bullies and he is a wimp.
Justice
You are responsible for the failure of the People to present an
acceptable case to the Courts regarding the Blackwater affair.
You are responsible for the failure of the People to present an
acceptable case to the Courts regarding DSK.
You are responsible for failing to provide KSM a fair trial.
You are responsible for failing to nominate replacement justices to
the courts for a whole year.
You are responsible for failing to close Guantanimo
Incompetence in the Justice Department fails a just Society.
Power
Your office forced Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack to fire Shirley
Sherrod. A total abuse of power and display of cowardice not to own up
to it.
You are promising to Veto the recognition of Palestine in the UN. Why
waste power trying to deny destiny?
Geithner used government money to create a wage czar to dampen Wall
Street pay. This was an illusion of power and a waste of money.
When it comes to serious important matters like a jobs bill, you fail.
With Thanksgiving coming, bread crumbs, for stuffing costs today, the
same as one and half loaves bread when you entered office.
Hilary and Bill Clinton would channel all their powers to improve the
lot of the 46 million on foodstamps. It is what calls them to public
service.
You channel half of your time to fund raising. You said, hope and
change, close Guantanamo in a year, eliminate waste from government,
build an economy on solid foundations, immigration legislation by the
end of the first year.
You have made Americans tired, poor, homeless - huddled masses
yearning to breathe free.
Tuesday, August 16, 2011
Democrat, Republican and Independent
A Democrat, Republican and Independent were sitting at a bar. They watched news report of 46 million Americans on food stamps.
Democrat’s reaction to 46 million Americans on food stamps.
The economy, stupid.
Republican’s reaction to 46 million Americans on food stamps.
Keep the change.
Independent’s reaction to 46 million Americans on food stamps.
I know where the buck stops.Monday, August 15, 2011
Obama's Katrina Moment
Katrina moment, for me. I found departures of Orszag, Romer, Summers
and Goolsbee, demonstrated a breakdown of teamwork in the monumental
task of righting the economy. To see Obama spending so much of his
time on funding raising across the country in these times upsets me.
I am very uncomfortable with an unemployment rate of 12% and the high
price of food and gas.
Now 15% of Americans, 46 million are on food stamps!
Obama is reacting the same way G. W. Bush reacted to Katrina. The
heck of a job Brownie is great job Geithner. Tarp was supposed to
resolve the housing mortgage crisis, at 800 billion. Geithner’s fixes
didn’t work. I find it a weakness in leadership to over do the blame
game. We know where the buck stops.
Monday, August 8, 2011
May you live in interesting times
I resent all the time you take off, for fund raising, rather than hold serious economic meetings. Clinton wound have meetings with Greenspan, they would compare personal notes. It would be a waste of Bernake’s time to meet with you… you have no personal notes. Your notes are based on what you are told, you are dependent on your feeders. You are living in a bubble, you don’t even know the price of a loaf of bread or a gallon of milk.
You have spent more time tearing apart your economic team than trying to fix the economy. There has never been a buzz from a crack economic team addressing the economy.
You sought empathy in a nominee to the Supreme Court yet there is no sign that you govern with empathy. 46 million Americans are on food stamps. You are ignoring the plight for human dignity of a person who is unemployed but is willing to work,
I despair.
Wednesday, June 8, 2011
To: Austan Goolsbee
This truly is a worthwhile government intervention.
My suggestion would be to tweak the anti-trust laws from monopolies to oligopolies. The intent of the law is the same. Canada has 5 major national banks. The competition keeps them honest both for the “big deals” and fighting on every street corner for retail business. I don’t know how scaling up works but maybe 15 would be a good number for America. There is the issue of, how big do you have to be, for international statue. This issue really bugs Canadian bankers but they were spared the 2008 melt down.
For me, anti-trust has had a checkered record. The Standard Oil, AT&T, Alcoa, and railroad breakups seemed to fight up stream, against a current that wants to consolidate. Bigness does produce problems but we didn’t get the competitive market place we were looking for either. The battles against IBM and Microsoft seemed so right but ended in futility. Ultimately, the market place took care of them.
Two things I learned at community college.
Accounting 101 – Assets are valued at the lesser of book value or fair market value.
The Obama administration never took Accounting 101 when dealing with the housing crisis.
Electronics 102 – My instructor said “Those who can – do. Those who can’t – teach.”
What can you possibly teach - “How I screwed up in my time at government.”?
I know you were against the right wing agenda. It’s truly surprising how many believe in less tax and less government. No one advocates my desire for smart government at reasonable cost. The case for government was hurt by Geithner’s excesses in giving away money to the banks like Goldman Sachs yet failing citizens whose homes were underwater especially if they could have paid a market value mortgage. This example of bad government gives government a bad name. I believe you, like Obama, were well intentioned but didn’t seem to know how to operate the levers of power and failed to make a difference.
The press has made you out to be a real wimp - afraid to lose tenure. What’s wrong with joining the 9.1% of Americans who are unemployed? What will be sweet revenge for them, will be seeing Obama in the unemployment line-up in late November 2012. They might not understand how bad things could get if the Tea Party prevails but Geithner really did screw things up for Obama. Obama never caught on.
Why don’t you check out Peter Orszag’s head hunter- Pete’s Vice Chairman Global Banking Citi.
Monday, May 30, 2011
The Pope, the Queen and Nelson Mandela
The Pope, the Queen and Nelson Mandela walk into a bar. Mandela: “I say, that chap Obama tried to use us as the start of a joke, but true to form, he couldn’t finish, just like he said hope and change, close Guantanamo in a year, eliminate waste from government, build an economy on solid foundations, immigration legislation by the end of the first year . . .”
O’bama: “I'm told the last three speakers here have been The Pope, Her Majesty the Queen, and Nelson Mandela, which is either a very high bar or the beginning of a very funny joke.”
There were these Presidential advisors, Geithner, Goolsbee, Jarrett and Sperling
- the beginning of a not so funny joke.
What's Irish and is spread throughout suburban America? Patio furniture.
Speaking of housing.
I wrote you in March 2009 (included in post script) offering an idea to clean up the securitized mortgage fiasco. My plan was to calculate the loss, charge it to the lenders ie banks (who would be bailed out by Tarp – unforeseen by me at the time). The write down reduces the mortgages, giving owners a market valued chance to keep their home, thus saving many deserving families. Geithner’s plan flooded the banks with money and a fool hardy plan to bailout underwater mortgages without reflecting market values. I still remember in February 2009 you said you didn’t want to pre-empt Geithner’s solution which he presented in March 2009. There was no solution – the emperor had no clothes and still doesn’t.
The housing market is a significant part of the economy and influences durable goods purchases. A loss of wealth is felt by home owners because of low market values and contributes to stalling consumer consumption.
Your government’s implementation of Tarp has not addressed the housing market. I also didn’t like the seeming give a way of tax payer money, billions in a cash advance to Goldman Sachs for the CDS, advances which AIG refused to pay and paying out 100 cents to the dollar for the CDS where the recipients were expecting no more than 60 cents to the dollar.
The situation is muddied by your selection of staff members. Wm Daley was on the Board of Fannie Mae. The New York Fed, under Geithner created the belief that housing only goes up. Tom Donilon, National Security Adviser, was at Fannie Mae. Tom Nides, at the State Department, was at Fannie Mae. Jim Johnson was the CEO of Fannie Mae, was on the selection committee for your vice presidential candidate and is currently on the board of Goldman Sachs and head of their compensation committee. Did you say you were opposed to group think?
The victims are people whose homes are under water but needn’t be if mortgages were re-aligned to market values, something Tarp was supposed to do.
Your government has been inducing inflation hoping to re-inflate the housing market to negate the low prices. You don’t care about the cost of food or gas.
Irish seven course dinner. A potatoe and a six pack.
PS
March 8, 2009 Proposal to address the securitized mortgage crisis.
The government consolidates all bundled securitized mortgages, uses a task force of Audit firms to re-value them, then re-distributes the actual mortgages back to eligible holders. The banks will properly show mortgages in their long-term assets instead of current assets when they held the securitized slices (An improper accounting shift to enhance executive bonus's). We will end up with a mortgage market true to capitalism.
Detailed explanation.
Securitized mortgages means mortgages were bundled then tranches of the bundle were sold off. Every mortgage is local so this instrument is invalid.
1)Collect all bundled mortgages.
2)Classify the Mortgages
Within each bundle is a list of mortgages.
All the mortgages must be placed on a master list.
This list must be sub-divided in the following order:
Region/city New England, Rust belt, New York, East coast,
Florida, Nevada etc
Interest rate Standard prime, escalating interest rates including subprime
Current market value divided by mortgage
Mortgagee income to mortgage amount -ability to repay
Within each region you will be able to determine three categories
Low, medium and high risk.
3)Calculate the write down.
4)Collect all holders of bundled mortgages
5)Pro-rate the write down according the portion of the bundled mortgage holding.
6)Classify holders
Banks allowed to issue Mortgages in US and those not allowed.
7)Re-distribute the gathered mortgages to the banks allowed to issue mortgages in the US.
The US government only has jurisdiction over banks allowed to issue mortgages in the US.
The other holders will get no mortgages, it's a risk they took.
If this is too severe offer silent partner relationships with the banks with title.
The redistribution will have to depend on what the data looks like.
Redistribution must be as fair as possible so should be done before a Judge (We want justice).
Ideally regions would be distributed to a regional bank but markets may have to be tranched among several banks to fairly spread the risk
31-May-2011
National Home Prices Hit New Low in 2011 Q1 According to the S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices
Data through March 2011, released today by Standard & Poor’s for its S&P/Case-Shiller Home Price Indices, the leading measure of U.S. home prices, show that the U.S. National Home Price Index declined by 4.2% in the first quarter of 2011, after having fallen 3.6% in the fourth quarter of 2010. The National Index hit a new recession low with the first quarter’s data and posted an annual decline of 5.1% versus the first quarter of 2010. Nationally, home prices are back to their mid-2002 levels.