Walk the talk

You don’t walk your talk about fairness.

You are the promoter of socialism for the big guys and capitalism for everyday Americans.

This was most evident when you paid off the insurance policies (CDS’s) of Wall Street with Tarp money, but never repaired the damage being insured, the homeowners forced to continue to pay a mortgage greater that the house was worth.

Your 2013 budget you doesn’t address farm subsidies that profit the large agricultural companies to the detriment of family farms. The benefits and disadvantages of these subsidies are now so obscure that a taxpayer has to right to consider it a government sink hole. I have written you several times that family dairy farms have been slaughtered because the subsidies favor factory farms that produce the most quantity of milk yet milk is out priced because of the drinks made from fructose from subsidized corn farmers. Remember Republican Congressional District 23 in New York voted Democrat in 2009 hoping you would help dairy farmers.

We can understand how nature can ruin a farmer’s business. Capitalism would let him fail. Prudent farmers would save for a rainy day. The big agra-business farms don’t make provisions for bad times yet want subsidies in good times. Where is the fairness in that? Why are you forced to provide socialism for the big guys and capitalism for the little guy?

Some of the subsidy does lower the cost of food but the distribution of the subsidy appears to be based on political favor. Some of us care about the people and would prefer helping the people with foodstamps rather than let big agra-companies pay off politicians

I know so little about where government spends our money and how it’s wasting it.

Who is minding the store?

Why aren’t you on top of these problems?

You can bet that if Mitt Romney were President he would have a top right hand man – a hand picked Chief of Staff. Both Jim Baker and Howard Baker made their boss look good. You have gone through 4 Chief’s in 3 years, frankly none of them come close to the two Bakers.

You are very poor at defining the problem and solving it. You don’t understand that Congress is your problem. You can’t see that relying on the old hierarchy of power is failing, just relying on Egyptian leaders. You must use brains to address the problem. The Military is trained to address this kind of problem. You need to build a whole war room dealing with Congress. You need special ops forces on the ground dealing with each member of Congress on a bill by bill basis, Intelligence Agents who know of skeletons in the closet, secret liaisons, illegal bribes and earmark weaknesses. You need to hire Tom Delay.

You claim to be a student of Ronald Reagan. He said “Trust but verify.” You trust your staff but a Chief of Staff must verify. I have often written about the incompetence of members of your staff. I predicted the Occupy Wall Street movement. Has either the Attorney General or Secretary of Homeland Security warned you of the riots coming this summer? Ever heard the expression “Long, hot summer?” Rahm Emanuel says 5% of Chicago is lawless with no sense of civics. Both Pennsylvania and California have clusters of these ghettos.

You are failing as coach, general manager and owner.

Dear Hilary Clinton - Thankyou for your public service

Last Thursday, you told your staff, that you will leave at the end of
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.

huddled masses

Last April 1, I wrote you.
“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.

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.

Obama's Katrina Moment

The fact 46 million Americans receive food stamps represents the Obama
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.

May you live in interesting times

For the sake of the country, I made an effort to seek out leading economists to offer themselves to fill Goolsbee’s job. I got one reply, from a famous economist - not likely you would attract anyone notable. Your standing is such that you can’t even attract America’s best for the most important problem. Time to despair.

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.

To: Austan Goolsbee

Would you have time to fix the “too big to fail” situation?

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.