Posts Made By: david elosser

According to Neil M. Barofsky, inspector general auditing AIG's bonuses, some people who received bonuses were "unessential" people:

"The new audit pointed out that the bonus program for the Financial Products unit was unusual because it included payments to unessential people. It cited a $7,700 bonus for a kitchen assistant, a $7,000 bonus for a mailroom assistant and $700 for a file administrator."

Sooo, according to this administration if you work somewhere in a kitchen preparing food, sort mail in a warehouse, or file documents in your company store room, you are officially branded "unessential."
Sooo, I guess you don't deserve bonuses either.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/10/14/business/14pay.html?em

David E

Timmy's Buddies:
"Gene Sperling, a senior Treasury adviser, was paid $887,727 by Goldman Sachs..."

"Matthew Kabaker, another adviser in the Treasury, earned $5.8m at Blackstone, the private equity firm, in the two years before joining the administration to work on plans to support banks and spur lending."

"Lewis Alexander, another adviser, was chief economist to Citigroup before joining the administration; he was paid $2.4m in the last two years."

"Even though some of the officials whose previous salaries were disclosed are senior, many were appointed as “counselors”, meaning they escaped Senate confirmation hearings which could have highlighted their past remuneration and employment at a time of heightened animosity towards the financial industry."

Obama: “We will not go back to the days of reckless behaviour and unchecked excess that was at the heart of this crisis, where too many were motivated only by the appetite for quick kills and bloated bonuses,” from a speech in New York last month.

Hmmm. You don't say. Wow.

David E

"Senators diverted $2.6 billion in funds in a defense spending bill to pet projects largely at the expense of accounts that pay for fuel, ammunition and training for U.S. troops, including those fighting wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, according to an analysis."

"While earmarks are hardly new in Washington, "in 30 years on Capitol Hill, I never saw Congress mangle the defense budget as badly as this year," said Winslow Wheeler, a former Senate staffer who worked on defense funding and oversight for both Republicans and Democrats. He is now a senior fellow at the Center for Defense Information, an independent research organization."

What can anybody say in defence of this? I say restore the funding the Pentagon and the Obama Administration wants for our troops fighting and dying in combat, and find the earmark money from somewhere else.

http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/oct/15/troop-funds-diverted-to-pet-projects/

David E

"Harvard University’s failed bet that interest rates would rise cost the world’s richest school at least $500 million in payments to escape derivatives that backfired...The university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, said it also agreed to pay $425 million over 30 to 40 years to offset an additional $764 million in swaps...Harvard sold $2.5 billion in bonds in the fiscal year, in part to pay for the swap exit, even as the school’s endowment recorded its biggest loss in 40 years..."

"The annual report provides new details on Harvard’s derivative-related losses. Many were entered into in 2004...Lawrence Summers, director of President Barack Obama’s National Economic Council, was the university’s president at the time.
Harvard has frozen employee salaries, slowed hiring, cut staff and offered other workers early retirement as part of a cost-cutting program to compensate for losses in its endowment."

Now, the main question that comes to mind is, shouldn't Larry Summers and each subsequent university president involved give back all their salaries and bonuses and perks and such when Harvard lost half a trillion dollars on their watch? At the very least, shouldn't they pay a retroactive 90% tax rate? Hmmm?

"White House spokesman Matthew Vogel declined to comment."

Really? No kidding! Of course, this Summers guy is the same man that said that Obama's trillion dollar economic stimulus package would "create jobs quickly." I guess he also thought the derivatives market would make quick money for Harvard.

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=aHou7iMlBMN8

David E

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.1ef7c6aec7ce1b7c16fc2e27bf0b3756.371&show_article=1

"I have continued to say a decision will be made in the coming weeks as the president goes through an examination of our policy," [Robert Gibbs told reporters.]

"Obama has been conducting an intensive review of US war strategy in Afghanistan with senior national security officials."

According to this poll most Americans now disagree with President Obama on key issues (it's a CNN poll, Rod ):
http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2009/10/20/cnn-poll-half-the-country-disagrees-with-obama-on-issues/

Some interesting quotes:
"Obama continues to do poorly among senior citizens," says Holland. "Most Americans over the age of 65 disapprove of how he is handling his job as president."

This is a big problem for Democrats. Obama and the Democrats are so closely tied in agendas that I predict this could be a serious problem for them in the next few years.

The poll also suggests that two out of three Americans say Obama has the qualities a president should have, down 12 points from April - one indication the Nobel Peace Prize may not have helped him much in that regard.

I laughed when I read that. I can't believe CNN is admitting the truth about the Nobel Peace Prize, that its purpose was to boost his approval ratings!

"It's not surprising that Clinton tops Barack Obama on the favorable ratings," says [CNN Polling Director Keating] Holland. "Secretaries of State don't get blamed for economic problems or unpopular domestic policies, and they often don't get the same share of the blame as the commander-in-Chief for international slip-ups either."

Hmmm, so according to Mr Holland, President Obama is getting the blame after all.

David E

For those of you who still think there's no federally funded abortion on demand in HCR:

http://apnews.myway.com/article/20091023/D9BGMCP00.html

"House Democrats are at an impasse over whether their remake of the nation's health care system would effectively allow federal funding of abortion. At least two dozen anti-abortion Democrats believe it would, and...their opposition is unlikely to stall the legislation in the end..."

"Currently a law called the Hyde amendment bars federal funding for abortion - except in cases of rape and incest or if the mother's life would be endangered...But the Democrats' health overhaul bill would create a new stream of federal funding not covered by the restrictions."

"In the Senate, where the leading health overhaul bill includes language similar to that in the House, abortion has been much less of an issue."

David E

GONE! Overseas to:
"...a new multi-million-dollar technology fund for Muslim nations...will provide financing of between 25 and 150 million dollars for selected projects and funds. The Global Technology and Innovation Fund will "catalyze and facilitate private sector investments" throughout Asia, the Middle East and Africa." bragged President Obama. "...projects could help foster the development of new computer technology or telecommunications businesses, or widen access to broadband Internet services."

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=CNG.96323f483e0be9f6a793eaa215ad708a.211&show_article=1

David E

KABUL (AP) - A U.S. military helicopter crashed Monday while returning from the scene of a firefight with suspected Taliban drug traffickers in western Afghanistan, killing 10 Americans including three DEA agents in a not-so-noticed war within a war.
Four more troops were killed when two helicopters collided over southern Afghanistan, making it the deadliest day for U.S. forces in this country in more than four years.
http://apnews.myway.com/article/20091026/D9BJ27AO0.html

October is now set to be the fourth consecutive month in which more than 40 US military personnel have died in Afghanistan...
http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/421a4b56-c264-11de-be3a-00144feab49a.html

“I’m not much for this war. I’m not sure it’s worth all those lives lost,” said Sergeant Christian Richardson as we walked across corn fields that will soon be ploughed up to plant a spring crop of opium poppy. A New Yorker who joined the marines after 9/11 and served two tours in Iraq, Richardson, 24, said his men had achieved much. “You can see we are making progress, slowly. But when we leave, the Taliban and Al-Qaeda will surely return...”
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/Afghanistan/article6888996.ece

"I used to believe in what we were doing here," the soldier said. "I'm not too sure anymore. It's just we don't know what the endgame is. We've been getting hit hard out here. What are we here to win? I have to believe that what Gen. [Stanley M.] McChrystal is doing is going to work.But who knows how long that will last before someone else decides to change the game plan again? I mean, do the people in Washington even remember we're here?" ...
Sgt. Coble urged Americans to think about the sacrifices U.S. troops have made in Aghanistan and the consequences of narrowing the mission before it has more time to succeed. "We're not just numbers," she said. "I'm not going to say morale is high with everything going on at home. We're here for a reason. This is not a draft military. When people go out on the streets in America and say, 'Bring our troops home,' it infuriates me. Don't go out there talking about bringing our troops home, let us decide when to come back home. We're here because we want our children, my son, to have a safer world, and we know the risks."
http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2009/oct/26/troops-hope-sacrifices-not-in-vain/?page=2

President Obama ties George W. Bush on golf game...
http://www.politico.com/click/stories/0910/obama_ties_bush_on_golf.html

David E

There goes the Dodge.
http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/Dispatch/default.aspx?feat=1337558

Maybe I've got the wrong impressions here but, it seems like Ford is doing so much better than the bailed-out companies. I've seen their commercials, they've got some awesome stuff out now.

David E