I have admired your humility in victory and your effective counter-punching. Your townhall meeting at the Republican gathering in Baltimore was the finest display of statesmanship I have seen in my life. Good on you.
I have taken my swings at you. I lookout for your counterpunch, on each swing. You haven’t deflected the force of my hits and I consider the Massachusetts’ result a knockdown.
Your townhall performance reminded me of the 2008 election battle.
This is meant as a joke. What do I call your healthcare plan? …. “Lipstick on a pig.”
Ok, in Washington speak, it’s not a joke.
I told you so.
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Thursday, January 21, 2010
May you live in interesting times
All things considered, you must admit that the Massachusetts’ Senate result really makes my disparaging emails look good. I TOLD YOU SO. My reasoning was that with so many public failures and no wins, you gave the independents cause to look for change.
Out right losers, Geithner, Holder, Goolsbee.
Treading water, Biden, Axelrod, Rouse.
So here are the big changes to be made.
Joint-chiefs of staff James Baker, Rahm Emnual.
It will be the good cop, bad cop tag team, Baker, all things Economic, Emnual everything else. Each, have their own faults, but as a team they can get a lot done. Emnual can learn a lot about getting things done through the side door from Baker but the ideology will be Democratic. Emnual needs family time.
It will be announced that Biden withdraws from the VP slot for 2012 and Clinton will be it. She then comes into the White House. She brings great energy and is passionate about main stream matters, the perfect counter-party to the frat-boy Obama who only works out and shoots hoops. She really knows how to fix things… all things and now she is a proven team player.
Another Republican, Patrick J. Fitzgerald will replace Holder. He is the people’s choice, at least my choice.
I think Geithner should be replaced, if you had listened to me months ago, you will be ready.
Axelrod is having too much fun with the details and lost the strategic focus, lose the moustache and he’s a new man.
Out right losers, Geithner, Holder, Goolsbee.
Treading water, Biden, Axelrod, Rouse.
So here are the big changes to be made.
Joint-chiefs of staff James Baker, Rahm Emnual.
It will be the good cop, bad cop tag team, Baker, all things Economic, Emnual everything else. Each, have their own faults, but as a team they can get a lot done. Emnual can learn a lot about getting things done through the side door from Baker but the ideology will be Democratic. Emnual needs family time.
It will be announced that Biden withdraws from the VP slot for 2012 and Clinton will be it. She then comes into the White House. She brings great energy and is passionate about main stream matters, the perfect counter-party to the frat-boy Obama who only works out and shoots hoops. She really knows how to fix things… all things and now she is a proven team player.
Another Republican, Patrick J. Fitzgerald will replace Holder. He is the people’s choice, at least my choice.
I think Geithner should be replaced, if you had listened to me months ago, you will be ready.
Axelrod is having too much fun with the details and lost the strategic focus, lose the moustache and he’s a new man.
Monday, January 18, 2010
Change in character
I’m surprised by you haughty posture in the face of public failures.
Let us start with the Treasury Department.
In February 2009 you said that Geithner would announce in March, your government’s solution to the banking crisis – the questionable value of securitized mortgages in the banks which had frozen credit markets. There was considerable consternation at the long delay because Geithner had been appointed in December. His March presentation was inadequate. I am on record as presenting an alternative in March. A year has passed and there has been no change in the questionable value of securitized mortgages in the banks. I would consider this a public failure.
Newpapers have reported that Geithner authorized public funds to AIG to be passed through to Goldman Sachs before the CDS were valued, for at least 2.5 billion dollars. I submit this is a public failure of fiduciary responsibility.
The government has used public money to help AIG pay banks the CDS claims by the banks on the declining values of the securitized mortgages that they, the banks own. The banks have been paid the insurance policies they placed on their mortgages yet they have not removed these mortgages from their books. Geithner has budgeted taxpayer money to pay for devalued assets to remove them from the banks’ books. Your government has paid the banks twice, once through the CDS payments from AIG and the second time when you relieve the banks of the securitized mortgages. This double payment is a public failure of fiduciary responsibility.
The Justice Department.
The prosecution failed to present a case in the Blackwater affair.
Your promise to close Guantanamo by the end of the year failed and looks like a totally false promise.
Both are embarrassing public failures from an institution meant to protect the public.
My perceived Injustices
I think that it is unjust that milk has to compete against soft drink products because the fructose in the soft drinks, is from sugar beet and corn farmers who are subsidized by the government. The short term benefits MacDonald’s, Wendy’s and Burger King because they buy the cows from dairy farmers who are going out of business. In the long-term, fewer dairy farmers mean the price of cheese will rise, raising the price of pizza. Some suggest milk is healthy for children and the rising cost of milk may impact the health of children. It takes years to re-establish a herd.
I perceive a failure by the Anti-trust Division of the Justice Department to prosecute banks such a Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan Chase for anti-trust practices.
I respect Rahm Emnual’s untiring efforts in Government. For every minute of family life you enjoy he has given up an hour of family life with his family. He has been successful. I do not wish to diminish his accomplishment and sacrifice but you must acknowledge that healthcare is a limited success. You can fully celebrate the effort and historic breakthrough. You will be exasperating your haughty posture if you overplay the significance of the bill.
I thought you were a person of character who celebrates with humility and who responds to criticisms with effective counter-punches. We longer see these traits. In my frustration, I am accusing you of haughty behavior in the face of public failure. For me, a wage czar and tax on bank bailout profits are signs of thin-skinned attitudes and sticking with Geithner and Holder are signs of stubbornness. These pettinesses remind me of a G. W. Bush.
PS I keep telling you how the price of bread goes up. The price of breadcrumbs for Christmas stuffing was the price of a loaf of bread two years ago. Are you watching the standard of living index?
Let us start with the Treasury Department.
In February 2009 you said that Geithner would announce in March, your government’s solution to the banking crisis – the questionable value of securitized mortgages in the banks which had frozen credit markets. There was considerable consternation at the long delay because Geithner had been appointed in December. His March presentation was inadequate. I am on record as presenting an alternative in March. A year has passed and there has been no change in the questionable value of securitized mortgages in the banks. I would consider this a public failure.
Newpapers have reported that Geithner authorized public funds to AIG to be passed through to Goldman Sachs before the CDS were valued, for at least 2.5 billion dollars. I submit this is a public failure of fiduciary responsibility.
The government has used public money to help AIG pay banks the CDS claims by the banks on the declining values of the securitized mortgages that they, the banks own. The banks have been paid the insurance policies they placed on their mortgages yet they have not removed these mortgages from their books. Geithner has budgeted taxpayer money to pay for devalued assets to remove them from the banks’ books. Your government has paid the banks twice, once through the CDS payments from AIG and the second time when you relieve the banks of the securitized mortgages. This double payment is a public failure of fiduciary responsibility.
The Justice Department.
The prosecution failed to present a case in the Blackwater affair.
Your promise to close Guantanamo by the end of the year failed and looks like a totally false promise.
Both are embarrassing public failures from an institution meant to protect the public.
My perceived Injustices
I think that it is unjust that milk has to compete against soft drink products because the fructose in the soft drinks, is from sugar beet and corn farmers who are subsidized by the government. The short term benefits MacDonald’s, Wendy’s and Burger King because they buy the cows from dairy farmers who are going out of business. In the long-term, fewer dairy farmers mean the price of cheese will rise, raising the price of pizza. Some suggest milk is healthy for children and the rising cost of milk may impact the health of children. It takes years to re-establish a herd.
I perceive a failure by the Anti-trust Division of the Justice Department to prosecute banks such a Goldman Sachs and J.P. Morgan Chase for anti-trust practices.
I respect Rahm Emnual’s untiring efforts in Government. For every minute of family life you enjoy he has given up an hour of family life with his family. He has been successful. I do not wish to diminish his accomplishment and sacrifice but you must acknowledge that healthcare is a limited success. You can fully celebrate the effort and historic breakthrough. You will be exasperating your haughty posture if you overplay the significance of the bill.
I thought you were a person of character who celebrates with humility and who responds to criticisms with effective counter-punches. We longer see these traits. In my frustration, I am accusing you of haughty behavior in the face of public failure. For me, a wage czar and tax on bank bailout profits are signs of thin-skinned attitudes and sticking with Geithner and Holder are signs of stubbornness. These pettinesses remind me of a G. W. Bush.
PS I keep telling you how the price of bread goes up. The price of breadcrumbs for Christmas stuffing was the price of a loaf of bread two years ago. Are you watching the standard of living index?
Friday, January 8, 2010
One Important Paragraph
The most important decision for the decade is at hand. Deciding to
withdraw government infusion from the economy or to apply more
infusion is the single most important decision you have to make. It
affects America’s destiny. Premature pull back of monetary and fiscal
infusion will return to recession and possible deflation.
Over-applying monetary and fiscal infusion leads to inflation and
possible stagflation. Recession and inflation are skids but deflation
and stagflation are when things are out of control and the government
has no remedies. Much has been made of deflation, you must get Paul
Volcker to write about how to identify the pre-conditions of
stagflation and how to avoid it. He was there. The information to
make the decision is in three parts, the economic data which is
historical, the infusion in the pike but not yet in effect and
projected economic conditions. You must spend more time making this
decision than what to do in Afghanistan.
The Federal Reserve is acutely aware of the situation. They
scrutinize the data and will be very judicious in wielding their
tools. You are in charge of the fiscal part of the economy, and must
have an infra-structure in place to vet the information and fully
control fiscal spending. There are systemic problems with the
framework of your economic team to thread the needle. You must change
the systemic problems in the structure of your economic team.
You need a Supreme Economic Council. They will scrutinize the data,
and then react to the activities of the Federal Reserve. This council
is mediated by Jim Baker and the esteemed members are Alan Greenspan
and Paul Volcker., America’s best. They will convene three days after
each Fed meeting to determine how changes in monetary policy require
changes in fiscal policy.
You need an uber-czar who controls all government spending including
Treasury. That uber-czar should be Rahm Emnual. Nobody will cross
him and cheat on their spending. He will be disciplined when it comes
to spending.
From the outside, your economic structure is worse than the
anti-terrorist security structure.
There are too many councils with too many opinions, and there is no
accountability for the actual economic policy. It looks like a no
fault economic policy where you are left holding the bag.
Let’s start with the kind of information you are getting. Clinton had
his personal set of economic indicators, so he had his own set of eye
glasses, no matter what the official numbers wanted to spin.
Greenspan mentioned that he was heartened to be able to share with
Clinton, personal financial indicators because it meant Clinton,
himself, had a sound command of economics. It is obvious you don’t
know enough to formulate your own indicators and you are too trusting
of the numbers fed to you. Someone recently clarified to me that my
concern about the rising cost of bread (tripled) and milk (doubled)
are not inflationary but have to do with the standard of living. You
need ask about indicators about main street (you are a family of
five), for example if their standard of living is dropping, it means
they are hurting. This should help give you the human and political
interpretations of economic statistics. You must resolve to sharpen
your personal grasp of economics. You are far from being credible if
you were to give a fire side chat on the economy. You must be
prepared to explain to the American public how we find ourselves in
another recession or how your government will combat inflation.
Like the anti-terrorist agency, you have so many economic voices that
important actionable events either are not handled in time or not even
identified. What have Austan Goolsbee, Cecilia Rouse done for this
country, besides tying up your agenda? What is the benefit of the
Economic Recovery Advisory Board and the Council of Economic Advisors?
How about getting actionable advice out of the National Economic
Council? You are spending more money on advice than helping the
guy/gal on the street!
Then there is the performance of your Administration. I never fail to
mention how Geithner has failed you. Geithner has pressed on the gas
pedal with a heavy foot, oblivious of the amount of gas in the tank
(the national debt). He has not fixed the engine (toxic assets in the
banks) so we use more gas than we need to and we risk to have another
break down. Geithner’s wage czar has not yet recognized that Emnual’s
salary should be quadrupled considering his import to the country.
What a stupid idea – wage czar… you can give Emnual a big bonus he
worked really hard and successfully.
It is also now clear that the Bush Administration ravaged the Justice
Department as badly as the economy. The stupidity of the prosecutors
in the Blackwater trial is a reflection of the management structure
Bush put in place. My burning issue in Justice is the sleepiness of
the Anti-trust division. I know nothing about law but do like the way
Patrick J. Fitzgerald, US Attorney for the Northern District of
Illinois, works. I would like to see him head the Anti-trust division
in Justice. Is there any way you could put in a good word with Eric
Holder? If the anti-trust laws need to be sharpened up to address the
Bullies of Wall Street, I would like to see a guy like Eliot Spitzer
help draft such laws. Geithner is a wimp, but these two boys will
find justice.
Don’t take your eye off the ball this year, and hit the books on economics.
I told you so.
withdraw government infusion from the economy or to apply more
infusion is the single most important decision you have to make. It
affects America’s destiny. Premature pull back of monetary and fiscal
infusion will return to recession and possible deflation.
Over-applying monetary and fiscal infusion leads to inflation and
possible stagflation. Recession and inflation are skids but deflation
and stagflation are when things are out of control and the government
has no remedies. Much has been made of deflation, you must get Paul
Volcker to write about how to identify the pre-conditions of
stagflation and how to avoid it. He was there. The information to
make the decision is in three parts, the economic data which is
historical, the infusion in the pike but not yet in effect and
projected economic conditions. You must spend more time making this
decision than what to do in Afghanistan.
The Federal Reserve is acutely aware of the situation. They
scrutinize the data and will be very judicious in wielding their
tools. You are in charge of the fiscal part of the economy, and must
have an infra-structure in place to vet the information and fully
control fiscal spending. There are systemic problems with the
framework of your economic team to thread the needle. You must change
the systemic problems in the structure of your economic team.
You need a Supreme Economic Council. They will scrutinize the data,
and then react to the activities of the Federal Reserve. This council
is mediated by Jim Baker and the esteemed members are Alan Greenspan
and Paul Volcker., America’s best. They will convene three days after
each Fed meeting to determine how changes in monetary policy require
changes in fiscal policy.
You need an uber-czar who controls all government spending including
Treasury. That uber-czar should be Rahm Emnual. Nobody will cross
him and cheat on their spending. He will be disciplined when it comes
to spending.
From the outside, your economic structure is worse than the
anti-terrorist security structure.
There are too many councils with too many opinions, and there is no
accountability for the actual economic policy. It looks like a no
fault economic policy where you are left holding the bag.
Let’s start with the kind of information you are getting. Clinton had
his personal set of economic indicators, so he had his own set of eye
glasses, no matter what the official numbers wanted to spin.
Greenspan mentioned that he was heartened to be able to share with
Clinton, personal financial indicators because it meant Clinton,
himself, had a sound command of economics. It is obvious you don’t
know enough to formulate your own indicators and you are too trusting
of the numbers fed to you. Someone recently clarified to me that my
concern about the rising cost of bread (tripled) and milk (doubled)
are not inflationary but have to do with the standard of living. You
need ask about indicators about main street (you are a family of
five), for example if their standard of living is dropping, it means
they are hurting. This should help give you the human and political
interpretations of economic statistics. You must resolve to sharpen
your personal grasp of economics. You are far from being credible if
you were to give a fire side chat on the economy. You must be
prepared to explain to the American public how we find ourselves in
another recession or how your government will combat inflation.
Like the anti-terrorist agency, you have so many economic voices that
important actionable events either are not handled in time or not even
identified. What have Austan Goolsbee, Cecilia Rouse done for this
country, besides tying up your agenda? What is the benefit of the
Economic Recovery Advisory Board and the Council of Economic Advisors?
How about getting actionable advice out of the National Economic
Council? You are spending more money on advice than helping the
guy/gal on the street!
Then there is the performance of your Administration. I never fail to
mention how Geithner has failed you. Geithner has pressed on the gas
pedal with a heavy foot, oblivious of the amount of gas in the tank
(the national debt). He has not fixed the engine (toxic assets in the
banks) so we use more gas than we need to and we risk to have another
break down. Geithner’s wage czar has not yet recognized that Emnual’s
salary should be quadrupled considering his import to the country.
What a stupid idea – wage czar… you can give Emnual a big bonus he
worked really hard and successfully.
It is also now clear that the Bush Administration ravaged the Justice
Department as badly as the economy. The stupidity of the prosecutors
in the Blackwater trial is a reflection of the management structure
Bush put in place. My burning issue in Justice is the sleepiness of
the Anti-trust division. I know nothing about law but do like the way
Patrick J. Fitzgerald, US Attorney for the Northern District of
Illinois, works. I would like to see him head the Anti-trust division
in Justice. Is there any way you could put in a good word with Eric
Holder? If the anti-trust laws need to be sharpened up to address the
Bullies of Wall Street, I would like to see a guy like Eliot Spitzer
help draft such laws. Geithner is a wimp, but these two boys will
find justice.
Don’t take your eye off the ball this year, and hit the books on economics.
I told you so.
Sunday, December 13, 2009
Teamwork
A good example of team work is how Clinton and Gates were able add to
your speech to surge in Afghanistan and propagate your message.
Clinton has a particularly difficult job (always walking on egg
shells), accepting your boxed in position (regional czars) yet hit the
ground running and performs at high energy levels. Rahm Emnual has
taken on the tough jobs and delivered. These are great team players
and don't nearly receive the gratitude they deserve.
The failure of teamwork by your economic sector has created a dismal
economy with dim prospects. No economic policy ever gets amplified.
Romer has an interview, Summers has an interview, Geithner mumbles and
things get sucked into a sink hole.
I never fail to remind you how Geithner fails you. In March, I
patiently waited for Geithner's solution to the securitized mortgage
crisis. I felt it was inadequate but rather than pan it, I made an
effort to provide an alternative. The Congressional Oversight Panel’s
year-end report concludes that “the foreclosure crisis continues to
grow,” and finds that “TARP’s foreclosure mitigation programs have not
yet achieved the scope, scale, and permanence necessary to address the
crisis.” Geithner failed.
Some consider housing as the backbone of the American economy. The
mortgage modification program has provided 10 revised mortgages. Reset
mortgages will continue to trigger for 17 more months. The number of
homes whose mortgage exceeds market value is sustainably high.
Unemployment contributes to more foreclosures. Your administration
has only provided band-aid fixes. You have never defined the problem
and this makes it difficult to arrive at a solution.
I proposed that property values be reset to market rates through a
task force of External Auditors. The mortgage lenders take the hit
for the amount of the mortgage in excess of the market value. The
home owner's equity portion in home ownership becomes fair. The
bubble was caused because certain owners were not required to make a
down payment, to establish a reasonable equity position and didn't
know their variable rate mortgages would escalate. It is
irresponsible to give hope to these people that they could re-finance
their mortgage.
The current stalemate is that the lenders (the Banks) have not taken
their loss and are unwilling to do so. The role of Government, to
ensure that property values fairly reflect market values and then
undertake the administrative paperwork to re-write home owners
mortgages based on this market price at whatever interest rate the
bank dictates. The banks are unwilling to provide the human resources
for such an undertaking. This is the perfect stimulus project. Create
a Mortgage Revision Bank that hires a lot of unemployed mortgage
officers and bank officials and does the administrative work for the
banks.
There is a real need for team wok in your Economic sector- amongst
themselves, with Congress and the electorate. They have failed at
teamwork. You have failed as coach, manager and owner. You need a
game plan, a set of plays to execute the plan and the bodies to
execute the plays. I sincerely feel that James Baker can make a
strong contribution because he is a team player, he gets along with
Congress and he's smart and willingly does the dirty work, a
diplomatic Rahm Emnual! Don't make him in charge, he was a disaster
as Secretary of Treasury, but he will make a big contribution
especially if Congress goes Republican. My hope is that he would
carry some of Emnual's workload.
Pundits compare your first year to Clinton and Reagan, unfavorable
polls with hostile Congress yet ending strong. Let me warn you that
you are looking a lot like Jimmy Carter, financial calamity, hostile
foreign affairs yet a really decent guy. Carter faced historic
inflation,...so will you! One day, the dollar will drop forcing
interest rates up and when it starts moving, there is no reason to
stop. I must admit, I don't know what I'm talking about. I've always
considered your greatest strength is your ability to counter-punch. I
haven't heard anything from you that counters my assertions.
I told you so.
PS
I know you are wary of group think and seek out divergent opinions. I
would suggest that you meet Elizabeth Warren and John Geanakoplos for
a two hour meeting. It will be worth your while.
your speech to surge in Afghanistan and propagate your message.
Clinton has a particularly difficult job (always walking on egg
shells), accepting your boxed in position (regional czars) yet hit the
ground running and performs at high energy levels. Rahm Emnual has
taken on the tough jobs and delivered. These are great team players
and don't nearly receive the gratitude they deserve.
The failure of teamwork by your economic sector has created a dismal
economy with dim prospects. No economic policy ever gets amplified.
Romer has an interview, Summers has an interview, Geithner mumbles and
things get sucked into a sink hole.
I never fail to remind you how Geithner fails you. In March, I
patiently waited for Geithner's solution to the securitized mortgage
crisis. I felt it was inadequate but rather than pan it, I made an
effort to provide an alternative. The Congressional Oversight Panel’s
year-end report concludes that “the foreclosure crisis continues to
grow,” and finds that “TARP’s foreclosure mitigation programs have not
yet achieved the scope, scale, and permanence necessary to address the
crisis.” Geithner failed.
Some consider housing as the backbone of the American economy. The
mortgage modification program has provided 10 revised mortgages. Reset
mortgages will continue to trigger for 17 more months. The number of
homes whose mortgage exceeds market value is sustainably high.
Unemployment contributes to more foreclosures. Your administration
has only provided band-aid fixes. You have never defined the problem
and this makes it difficult to arrive at a solution.
I proposed that property values be reset to market rates through a
task force of External Auditors. The mortgage lenders take the hit
for the amount of the mortgage in excess of the market value. The
home owner's equity portion in home ownership becomes fair. The
bubble was caused because certain owners were not required to make a
down payment, to establish a reasonable equity position and didn't
know their variable rate mortgages would escalate. It is
irresponsible to give hope to these people that they could re-finance
their mortgage.
The current stalemate is that the lenders (the Banks) have not taken
their loss and are unwilling to do so. The role of Government, to
ensure that property values fairly reflect market values and then
undertake the administrative paperwork to re-write home owners
mortgages based on this market price at whatever interest rate the
bank dictates. The banks are unwilling to provide the human resources
for such an undertaking. This is the perfect stimulus project. Create
a Mortgage Revision Bank that hires a lot of unemployed mortgage
officers and bank officials and does the administrative work for the
banks.
There is a real need for team wok in your Economic sector- amongst
themselves, with Congress and the electorate. They have failed at
teamwork. You have failed as coach, manager and owner. You need a
game plan, a set of plays to execute the plan and the bodies to
execute the plays. I sincerely feel that James Baker can make a
strong contribution because he is a team player, he gets along with
Congress and he's smart and willingly does the dirty work, a
diplomatic Rahm Emnual! Don't make him in charge, he was a disaster
as Secretary of Treasury, but he will make a big contribution
especially if Congress goes Republican. My hope is that he would
carry some of Emnual's workload.
Pundits compare your first year to Clinton and Reagan, unfavorable
polls with hostile Congress yet ending strong. Let me warn you that
you are looking a lot like Jimmy Carter, financial calamity, hostile
foreign affairs yet a really decent guy. Carter faced historic
inflation,...so will you! One day, the dollar will drop forcing
interest rates up and when it starts moving, there is no reason to
stop. I must admit, I don't know what I'm talking about. I've always
considered your greatest strength is your ability to counter-punch. I
haven't heard anything from you that counters my assertions.
I told you so.
PS
I know you are wary of group think and seek out divergent opinions. I
would suggest that you meet Elizabeth Warren and John Geanakoplos for
a two hour meeting. It will be worth your while.
Monday, November 9, 2009
One year down, three to go
I can praise Rahm Emnual’s dedicated efforts for the stimulus package and healthcare and the teamwork of Robert Gates and Hilary Clinton (Defense thinks State should be bigger and get more money). These peoples’ hearts and yours and Axelrods’ are in the right place.
These good efforts have been undermined by your failure to mind the store and the economy has sunk. I never fail to remind you how Geither has failed you. In March, he never produced a plan to address the banking credit crisis. He gave away billions of dollars of Tarp money that ended up as Goldman Sachs bonus pay, yet the bad debts still remain on the bank books. You talk of taking more care to get out of Iraq than was taken to go to Iraq. Geithner said he was unprepared to think of exit strategies during Congressional hearings. Your failing is that you don’t have a clue as to the difficulty to extricate tax payer money from the bailouts Geithner dived into. When debating whether to bail out the car manufacturers, certain members of Congress asked, what assurances there are, that more bailouts won't be needed. Well GMAC came back and asked for more. Someone told me that your Grandmother was concerned that you if didn’t manage your money well, someone would take advantage of you. Her fears were well founded.
If you want to salvage your Presidency I would create a true economic recovery team. Bill Clinton, Alan Greenspan and James Baker. Each man brings a great talent, Clinton the vision, Greenspan the specifics and Baker the implementation). Sadly you bring nothing.
I perceive an intellectual smugness on your part (some would call it cockiness). If you think you can win in 2012 because the Republicans are divided, you may not see the surprise attack. I will be following the Michael Bloomberg candidacy for President. He can buy the Republican election machinery and appeal to enough Democrats, Republicans and Independents to wipe you out in 2012. He is truly purple. Frankly speaking, six words can wipe you out “The economy, stupid. Jobs, jobs jobs”.
If you see the light and concede that you are a lame duck, you could finish your days by doing the right things such as:
-eliminate farm subsidies. Farming is too fragile to be a naked open market. Build a farm marketing board that charges a 3% surtax on profitable farm income, but guarantees a break even selling price when market prices are below farmer’s costs. This board allocates quotas to define how much of a farmer’s output will be covered by the break even guarantee to prevent overreach by farmers.
-downsize the military budget. The military budget is filled with political payoffs that are not functional if not wasteful. Better to pay these people unemployment rates than the marked up rates.
-introduce election reform. Geithner gave AIG money that flowed through to Goldman Sachs, before the CDS were valued, because Goldman Sachs was the biggest contributor to the Democratic election campaign. Anti-trust suits against Goldman Sachs are not forth coming for the same reason. Fanny Mae should be forced onto Goldman Sachs and Freddy Mack forced onto J.P. Morgan Chase. You cannot do the right thing because your very election and re-election attempt are beholding to Goldman Sachs. Government fails the people. The same could not be said if Bloomberg wins in 2012, he could use the full force of the government to serve the people.
-for the energy independence dream, focus on the energy conservation stuff, kick this issue down the road.
-immigration reform is a dead issue in a recession that feels like a depression.
-my personal concern is the huge and growing gulf been the haves and have nots. The social unrest among the poor will explode into crime and then riots and cries for revolution. You worked this beat. My life experience tells me that oppression breeds a powerful revulsion. You seem so out of touch with main street (people who buy a loaf bread and gallon of milk) never mind the mean streets. This does not appear to be an issue for your administration.
These measures address serious problems with the deficit that most President’s can’t touch. You got a million from the Swedes, you could split some with Axelrod. I think President elect Bloomberg would hire back Emnual, Clinton and Gates and I know he would fire your 38 czars. Geithner will get hired by Goldman Sachs with the flow-through government money he gave AIG.
This bitter tone stems from the frustration that you must accept that this economic fiasco is of your doing, since you never intervened when the problems were pointed out to you along the way. I told you so.
These good efforts have been undermined by your failure to mind the store and the economy has sunk. I never fail to remind you how Geither has failed you. In March, he never produced a plan to address the banking credit crisis. He gave away billions of dollars of Tarp money that ended up as Goldman Sachs bonus pay, yet the bad debts still remain on the bank books. You talk of taking more care to get out of Iraq than was taken to go to Iraq. Geithner said he was unprepared to think of exit strategies during Congressional hearings. Your failing is that you don’t have a clue as to the difficulty to extricate tax payer money from the bailouts Geithner dived into. When debating whether to bail out the car manufacturers, certain members of Congress asked, what assurances there are, that more bailouts won't be needed. Well GMAC came back and asked for more. Someone told me that your Grandmother was concerned that you if didn’t manage your money well, someone would take advantage of you. Her fears were well founded.
If you want to salvage your Presidency I would create a true economic recovery team. Bill Clinton, Alan Greenspan and James Baker. Each man brings a great talent, Clinton the vision, Greenspan the specifics and Baker the implementation). Sadly you bring nothing.
I perceive an intellectual smugness on your part (some would call it cockiness). If you think you can win in 2012 because the Republicans are divided, you may not see the surprise attack. I will be following the Michael Bloomberg candidacy for President. He can buy the Republican election machinery and appeal to enough Democrats, Republicans and Independents to wipe you out in 2012. He is truly purple. Frankly speaking, six words can wipe you out “The economy, stupid. Jobs, jobs jobs”.
If you see the light and concede that you are a lame duck, you could finish your days by doing the right things such as:
-eliminate farm subsidies. Farming is too fragile to be a naked open market. Build a farm marketing board that charges a 3% surtax on profitable farm income, but guarantees a break even selling price when market prices are below farmer’s costs. This board allocates quotas to define how much of a farmer’s output will be covered by the break even guarantee to prevent overreach by farmers.
-downsize the military budget. The military budget is filled with political payoffs that are not functional if not wasteful. Better to pay these people unemployment rates than the marked up rates.
-introduce election reform. Geithner gave AIG money that flowed through to Goldman Sachs, before the CDS were valued, because Goldman Sachs was the biggest contributor to the Democratic election campaign. Anti-trust suits against Goldman Sachs are not forth coming for the same reason. Fanny Mae should be forced onto Goldman Sachs and Freddy Mack forced onto J.P. Morgan Chase. You cannot do the right thing because your very election and re-election attempt are beholding to Goldman Sachs. Government fails the people. The same could not be said if Bloomberg wins in 2012, he could use the full force of the government to serve the people.
-for the energy independence dream, focus on the energy conservation stuff, kick this issue down the road.
-immigration reform is a dead issue in a recession that feels like a depression.
-my personal concern is the huge and growing gulf been the haves and have nots. The social unrest among the poor will explode into crime and then riots and cries for revolution. You worked this beat. My life experience tells me that oppression breeds a powerful revulsion. You seem so out of touch with main street (people who buy a loaf bread and gallon of milk) never mind the mean streets. This does not appear to be an issue for your administration.
These measures address serious problems with the deficit that most President’s can’t touch. You got a million from the Swedes, you could split some with Axelrod. I think President elect Bloomberg would hire back Emnual, Clinton and Gates and I know he would fire your 38 czars. Geithner will get hired by Goldman Sachs with the flow-through government money he gave AIG.
This bitter tone stems from the frustration that you must accept that this economic fiasco is of your doing, since you never intervened when the problems were pointed out to you along the way. I told you so.
Monday, November 2, 2009
Empathy
Rahm Emnual, the noble statesman, picks his spots and fights the truly
worthy battles, the stimulus package and healthcare. His next
assignment should be to battle the national debt. Let him make
government more efficient, cut the waste and reign in uncontrolled
treasury excesses.
Your sense of government is troubling. There are 38 czars! You
required empathy in the Supreme Court nomination yet created a void of
empathy in the economic branch. Your economic teams operate with the
impunity of George Bush’s Defense Department invading Iraq. PBS makes
them out to be the Robert Rubin’s cabal.
I never fail to remind you how poorly Geithner is doing. He operates
like a czar, yet his sole supporter is you! He has no support in
Congress, among White House staff or the public. His plan to address
the credit crisis at the banks has not worked (I offered a timely
constructive alternative). The investment market place is not headed
to the sound foundations that you promised. A wage czar over the
private sector is an absurd sense of government. Turn your wage czar
on the government especially the military and the empire of czars.
You should be privately vetting candidates to replace Geithner
I think an empathetic White House would not ignore the plight, for human
dignity, of a person who is unemployed but is willing to work. You
are ignoring human suffering, the rising cost of the necessities of
life is not an arcane economic term “the cost of living” but the cost
of surviving! Like many successful people, you deny your past when
your mother was on food stamps. America is more than surviving, it can
afford to embrace human dignity.
You need an economic plan for main street.
Let’s do something to get American kids to exercise. In-line skating
and bicycling are great activities that can even save gas. So public
works for bike and skate lanes would be good. Ice skating is a great
activity and the rinks can be used as in-line skate rinks in summer so
build some ice rinks. This idea is so good even your daughters can
get excited about it.
Basketball is also great, church and school gyms should be modified to
allow public access after school hours.
How do you finance the rinks and gyms? Partner them with Starbucks,
McDonalds, Burger King and Wendy’s. Rinks and gyms could be operated
by chains. You have to work on laws to address litigation for
personal injury because unfortunately these activities can break
bones. A screwed up society has made skating, biking and pick-up
basketball legally unappealing.
Mass transit is important for main street. Have a plan where
companies gain when they subsidize or pay for bus lines that service
their street so their employees use the bus to get to work. Encourage
companies to work with public transit to make it worthwhile to involve
public transit to transport employees.
Public works, that help Americans change the way they eat, would be
healthy. Greenhouses built on the roofs of government buildings.
Grow tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers and strawberries. Use pubic lands
for urban farms. This was done in the thirties.
There is a real loss of sense of government. The big financial
companies can bully the government because government isn’t strong
enough to enforce laws like anti-trust. Government has spent the
people’s money bailing out failed companies not hard working people
who may become unemployed or lose their house. Government, at
30,000 feet, says there is no inflation but when you live on the ground, the
cost of surviving has increased while income has declined. The future
is bleak because of the national debt and unemployment. You talk as
if unemployment is some kind of economic term, ever think that in
three years you could be unemployed?
worthy battles, the stimulus package and healthcare. His next
assignment should be to battle the national debt. Let him make
government more efficient, cut the waste and reign in uncontrolled
treasury excesses.
Your sense of government is troubling. There are 38 czars! You
required empathy in the Supreme Court nomination yet created a void of
empathy in the economic branch. Your economic teams operate with the
impunity of George Bush’s Defense Department invading Iraq. PBS makes
them out to be the Robert Rubin’s cabal.
I never fail to remind you how poorly Geithner is doing. He operates
like a czar, yet his sole supporter is you! He has no support in
Congress, among White House staff or the public. His plan to address
the credit crisis at the banks has not worked (I offered a timely
constructive alternative). The investment market place is not headed
to the sound foundations that you promised. A wage czar over the
private sector is an absurd sense of government. Turn your wage czar
on the government especially the military and the empire of czars.
You should be privately vetting candidates to replace Geithner
I think an empathetic White House would not ignore the plight, for human
dignity, of a person who is unemployed but is willing to work. You
are ignoring human suffering, the rising cost of the necessities of
life is not an arcane economic term “the cost of living” but the cost
of surviving! Like many successful people, you deny your past when
your mother was on food stamps. America is more than surviving, it can
afford to embrace human dignity.
You need an economic plan for main street.
Let’s do something to get American kids to exercise. In-line skating
and bicycling are great activities that can even save gas. So public
works for bike and skate lanes would be good. Ice skating is a great
activity and the rinks can be used as in-line skate rinks in summer so
build some ice rinks. This idea is so good even your daughters can
get excited about it.
Basketball is also great, church and school gyms should be modified to
allow public access after school hours.
How do you finance the rinks and gyms? Partner them with Starbucks,
McDonalds, Burger King and Wendy’s. Rinks and gyms could be operated
by chains. You have to work on laws to address litigation for
personal injury because unfortunately these activities can break
bones. A screwed up society has made skating, biking and pick-up
basketball legally unappealing.
Mass transit is important for main street. Have a plan where
companies gain when they subsidize or pay for bus lines that service
their street so their employees use the bus to get to work. Encourage
companies to work with public transit to make it worthwhile to involve
public transit to transport employees.
Public works, that help Americans change the way they eat, would be
healthy. Greenhouses built on the roofs of government buildings.
Grow tomatoes, lettuce, cucumbers and strawberries. Use pubic lands
for urban farms. This was done in the thirties.
There is a real loss of sense of government. The big financial
companies can bully the government because government isn’t strong
enough to enforce laws like anti-trust. Government has spent the
people’s money bailing out failed companies not hard working people
who may become unemployed or lose their house. Government, at
30,000 feet, says there is no inflation but when you live on the ground, the
cost of surviving has increased while income has declined. The future
is bleak because of the national debt and unemployment. You talk as
if unemployment is some kind of economic term, ever think that in
three years you could be unemployed?
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