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This is a joke, right? Some detainees currently held at Guantanamo Bay could be released into the United States, while others might face criminal trials, Attorney General Eric Holder told reporters today. Yeah... the guys held at GBay have no chip on their shoulder or ill intent toward the US. Not to mention that some of them might just find that the fastest and surest way into the US is through Cuba.HopenchangeTM! Live it - love it! Just don't live next to it. |
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Cute Name, But Where's the Beef? |
I've never understood the attraction of Fannie Mae to an investor. In fact, I don't really get its appeal as a business model. I'm gonna keep this simple... Today's going rate, per Wells Fargo: roughly 5%. To fund a loan, Fannie borrows money from the US Treasury at about 3%. That leaves it with about 2% after paying the Treasury. So how is it that Fannie can offer its shareholders a dividend yield of 4.7%?  From Motley Fool in 2004: Want to know why Fannie Mae is in trouble? It's simple enough: This company, more than any other in America, is run by, in the interests of, and with the protection from politicians, not businesspeople. The advice at the end of the article: "Many people are getting interested in Fannie Mae for its rising dividend yield. Don't make this mistake -- that dividend is very much at risk." Again, this is from 2004.Fannie still hides under government protection, it's still not run by businesspeople, and its accounting is a massive shell game. Rather than approach the problem squarely with accountability and transparency to strengthen our economy, politicians in Washington screech about bonuses to a few executives. They do this to obfuscate their role in this mess. Don't look at them stab the taxpayer... look at those greedy executives instead! I ask you: what non-governmental entity competes against Fannie? Answer: None. Why is that? Because Fannie's impossible "business" model operates at a loss to give the power to Washington, creating a monopoly that is uncompetitive. AIG is in insurance. That's the next industry. And Washington's acquisition will yield similar catastrophic results. This is so not about bonuses. |
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Do You Like the Des Moines Farmers Market? |
Tamara and I love the Saturday morning Farmers Market. Wouldn't miss it. So, who would oppose the creation of a Food Safety Administration? Everyone wants safe food, right? Here's a terrific example of how the best intentions of politicians can overreach and screw up your life. In fact, if HR875 is passed, the Des Moines Farmers Market might become a thing of the past. I went and did something that members of Congress rarely do and actually read the bill. [HR875] was introduced by Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT 3rd) and, as of this writing, has around 36 co-sponsors including my Congressman, Andre Carson (D-IN 7th). It immediately strikes me as being terribly bad legislation.Under a heading described as protecting the public health and ensuring the safety of food it creates a "Food Safety Administration" within Health and Human Services. (14) FOOD PRODUCTION FACILITY- The term 'food production facility' means any farm, ranch, orchard, vineyard, aquaculture facility, or confined animal-feeding operation. What it essentially does is place a tremendous regulatory burden on all of these organizations and individuals by requiring them to have "food safety plans", consider all relevant hazards [note: I wish Congress would consider all "relevant hazards" or unintended consequences of everything THEY did], testing, sample keeping and to maintain all kinds of records. The bill also allows the government to dictate all manner of standards related to fertilizer use, nutrients, packaging, temperature controls and other items.This massive bloat in government regulation (and taxpayer expense to support it) would add additional cost and headache to every farm, some fishing boats, slaughterhouse, processing plant, CO-OP and anyone else associated with growing, storing, transporting or processing food. The bill authorizes fines of up to $1,000,000 (one million) dollars for "each act" and for "each day" of a violation. Who knew that the family garden was such a threat as to require regulation by bureaucrats. Fresh produce to market by local vendors? Come now - learn to love your nanny overlords. They will take of you... pay your mortgage, keep you employed, and allow lawyers to sue the crap out of anyone who might cause you any offense whatsoever.Super Geniuses, these politicians in Washington. Don't you just love the era of Big Government? ETC: By the way, while Republicans can be equally stupid, this is an all-Democrat sponsored bill. Expand the link near "Sponsor" and you'll see. |
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Barney Frank has never run a business in his life. He's never had to create a desirable product or spitshine a service that attracted customers to it. He's a lifelong politician, from the moment he emerged from Harvard in the 1960's. Regarding AIG, he says that "it's time for us to take over the company." Frank wants the government, which thanks to the $170 billion bailout issued to AIG last fall has an 80 percent stake in the company, to assert its ownership rights. There are a few problems with that:- When the government has "ownership" in a company, it writes legislation that protects that company - until it becomes a monopoly in its industry. It uses taxpayer dollars to prop up the company when it fails to make money. Fannie and Freddie are stellar examples of this very problem. How solvent are they?
- Very, very few politicians have a track record in succeeding at business. Most are lawyers (government is all about law, after all) and have no idea how to succeed at banking, retail, insurance, etc.
- The more businesses they "take over," the more businesses they're likely to "take over." See Venezuela.
This whole purported outrage over AIG in Washington is a deflection. It's an attempt to get people to ignore how politicians greased the skids for what's happening right now. Fannie and Freddie started this mess by giving out bad loans and ballooning the housing market, AIG was given money by Bush and Congress, and Obama and Congress want to continue this doomed-to-failure enterprise of government meddling in private business.I don't want Barney Frank taking over anything. He hasn't proved himself to be competent at anything. Nor has he proven to act transparently, honestly, or in the best interests of the American people. Instead, he's excited for acquiring more power in this great experiment of his and his comrades in DC. That's where our anger ought to be placed, and not at AIG. Big deal. If the company fails, it fails. Let it go bankrupt. Let it fold, if necessary. Let its competitors step in and take care of its customers. That's healthy. Throwing taxpayer dollars at a failed business is not healthy. But the more that Barney Frank and his comrades convince you that you own the company, the more likely they are to take this insurer and nationlize it with your blessing. And what do you think that will lead to? ETC: King Barney, where everything he touches turns to debt.  |
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Obama wants to force war-injured veterans to pay for the treatment of their own war injuries through private health insurance?!? Smarmy. Utterly, despicably smarmy. To even think such a concept exhibits a low, classless consideration of our military. The face that first spoke it should have been slapped. Hard. Twice. Smarmy. It's the only word for allowing this proposal to get any air whatsoever. Soldiers deserve far better. What a disgrace. ETC: Normally, I try to find some sort of humor in what Obama does, because a lot of his/Pelosi's/Reid's/Dodd's/Frank's plans are just plain laughable, even when they're harmful. But this crosses a line, and even if they planned to use it as a negotiating tactic by proposing the outrageous to then recall it later in exchange for some lesser concession... it's smarmy. Of course, this comes as the Commander-in-Chief's wife decides that she'll make military families a mission of hers. If that's true, it's too bad her husband won't. |
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Because Actual Business Experience Counts... |
Asinine! Wells Fargo Co. Chairman Richard Kovacevich criticized the U.S. for retroactively adding curbs to the Troubled Asset Relief Program, which he said forced the bank to cut its dividend, and called the administration's plan for stress-testing banks "asinine." When the U.S. Treasury persuaded the nation's nine biggest banks to accept capital investments in October, it signaled the whole industry was weak, Kovacevich, 65, said in a March 13 speech at Stanford University in California. Even though Wells Fargo didn't want the money, it must comply with the same rules that the government placed on banks that did need it, he said. Kovacevich joins a growing list of bankers who are chafing at restrictions imposed by the TARP program, which affect lending, foreclosures, pay and perks. Lenders including Bank of America Corp., U.S. Bancorp and Goldman Sachs Group Inc. have said they want to give back the money. I hope these businesses force the government to take the taxpayers' money back. Good for these business leaders(!) to stand up and tell it like it is. It's a shame that the administration and Congress hate business. Where do you suppose jobs and tax revenue comes from?Politicians in Washington: Super Geniuses. |
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Representative Leonard Boswell's Questionnaire |
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