Category Archives: Economy

Penny Pritzker Obama Economic advisor fundraiser, Media Matters aka Times of 1984, Destroy banks and economy, Blame others

Posted on February 23, 2012 | 102 comments

Penny Pritzker Obama Economic advisor fundraiser, Media Matters aka Times of 1984, Destroy banks and economy, Blame others

“During its 15 years in New York City, ACORN has helped squatters claim derelict city-owned property, forced bankers to invest in low-income communities, and organized a war against the city’s workfare program.

It’s also developed a reputation for no-holds-barred tactics—getting results through adversarial campaigns against bankers, politicians and bureaucrats using confrontation and concession rather than consensus.”…ACORN document, February 1999

“We intend to close loopholes that allowed big financial firms to trade risky financial products like credit defaults swaps and other derivatives without
oversight; to identify system-wide risks that could cause a meltdown; to strengthen capital and liquidity requirements to make the system more stable; and to ensure that the failure of any large firm does not take the entire economy down with it. Never again will the American taxpayer be held hostage by a bank
that is “too big to fail.”…Barack Obama

“Democratic presidential contender Barack Obama says he’ll crack down on fraudulent sub-prime lenders. If he really means it he can start by firing his campaign finance chair, Penny Pritzker. Before taking over Obama’s campaign finances, she headed up the borderline shady and failed Superior Bank. It collapsed in 2002. The bank’s sordid story and its abominable role in fueling the sub-prime crisis are well known and documented. It engaged in deceptive and faulty lending, questionable accounting practices, and charged hidden fees. It did it with the sleepy-eyed see-no-evil oversight of federal. It made thousands of dubious loans to mostly poor, strapped homeowners. A disproportionate number of them were minority.

Obama’s home state, Illinois, ranked near the top of thee states in the percentage of sub-prime mortgages. Nearly 15 percent of home loans were sub-prime according to the Mortgage Bankers Association. But that only tells part of the tale. According to the Woodstock Institute, a Chicago non-profit that studies housing issues, the sub-prime fall-out was far higher in the predominantly black and Latino neighborhoods of South and Southwest Chicago.

The predictable happened when many of those lost their homes. When the bank collapsed Pritzker and bank officials skipped away with their profits and reputations intact. Aside from the financial and personal misery sub prime lenders caused the thousands of distressed homeowners, sub-prime lending has been a major cause of the housing crisis in many areas, and has dealt a sledgehammer blow to the economy. Obama has said nothing about Pritzker, Superior Bank, or their dubious practices.”…Huffington Post, February 29, 2008

“As a businesswoman and education advocate, I have spent much of my life working to improve America’s economic competitiveness — and put the American Dream within reach for more people.”…Penny Pritzker

Birds of a feather flock together. The old saying seems to be true. Take Barack Obama and Penny Pritzker. They both have done their part to destroy banks and blame others for the devastation. They both use Media Matters which looks a lot like the Times of George Orwell’s “1984” to divert attention away from them.

Before I present more details on Penny Pritzker and her collaboration with Obama, here is an interesting article by David Moburg from November 8, 2002.

“Breaking the Bank”

“After federal regulators closed the $2.3 billion Superior Bank in July 2001, investigations revealed that the suburban Chicago thrift was tainted with the hallmarks of a mini-Enron scandal. New legal developments are adding additional twists, including racketeering charges. And yet the bank’s owners, members if one of America’s wealthiest families, ultimately could end up profiting from the bank’s collapse, while many of Superior’s borrowers and depositors suffer financial losses.

The Superior story has a familiar ring. Using a variety of shell companies and complex financial gimmicks, Superior’s managers and owners exaggerated the profits and financial soundness of the bank. While the company actually lost money throughout most of the ’90s, publicly it appeared to be growing remarkably fast and making unusually large profits. Under that cover, the floundering enterprise paid its owners huge dividends and provided them favorable loans and other financial deals deemed illegal by federal investigators.

Superior’s outside auditor, which doubled as a financial consultant, engaged in dubious accounting practices that kept feckless regulators at bay. Many individuals—disproportionately low-income and minority borrowers with spotty credit records—had apparently been exploited through predatory-lending techniques, including exorbitant fees, inadequate disclosure and high interest rates. In the end, more than 1,000 uninsured depositors lost millions of dollars in savings in one of the biggest bank failures of the past decade.

Yet unlike Enron, the people behind Superior’s collapse were not nouveau-riche corporate hustlers, but members of Chicago’s Pritzker family. The Pritzkers, whose two current patriarchs—Robert and his nephew Thomas—tie for 22nd place on Forbes’ list of the richest Americans, own an empire valued at more than $15 billion, including the Hyatt hotel chain, casinos, manufacturers and real estate, and they are major contributors to both political parties. They were equal partners in the private ownership of Superior with New York real estate developer Alvin Dworman, a longtime associate of Thomas’ father, Jay Pritzker, who died in 1999.

And Superior’s accounting and consulting was not provided by the disgraced Arthur Andersen, but by Ernst & Young. When regulators shuttered the bank, the publicity-shy Pritzkers, who take pride in their philanthropy (such as the prestigious international architecture award in the family name) quickly negotiated what appeared to be a generous settlement to stay out of the newspapers and the courtrooms.

But now both the Pritzkers and Ernst & Young may face the legal and public relations uproar they were trying to avoid. On November 1, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) sued Ernst & Young for more than $2 billion. The FDIC alleges that the firm concealed its improper accounting practices at Superior to facilitate the sale of its consulting unit for $11 billion, leading to Superior’s insolvency and ultimately costing the FDIC $750 million. Ernst & Young denies responsibility, blaming the bank’s managers and board, failed regulation and changing economic conditions. Investigators from the FDIC, Treasury Department and the General Accounting Office (GAO) had cited all those causes for Superior’s failure, but also had criticized Ernst & Young’s flawed work and conflicts of interest.

Meanwhile, in a case that has received no public notice, uninsured depositors are bringing a charge of financial racketeering against one-time board chairwoman Penny Pritzker, her cousin Thomas Pritzker, Dworman, other bank principals and Ernst & Young. In this federal class-action suit filed under the RICO (Racketeering Influenced and Corrupt Organizations) statute, plaintiffs’ attorney Clint Krislov claims that those who controlled Superior induced depositors to put money in the bank, “corruptly” funneling money out of the bank to “fraudulently” profit the owners. Pritzker attorney Stephen Novack says that the defendants will ask to dismiss the case as having no merit. Such a RICO suit has rarely, if ever, been used to recover money lost in a bank failure, partly because the owners in such cases, in the words of bank consultant Bert Ely, “usually don’t have a pot to piss in.” But the Pritzkers have a gold-plated pot.

This may not be the last of legal battles stemming from the Superior failure. Published reports indicate that a federal grand jury has been investigating potential criminal wrongdoing and that the Internal Revenue Service could press claims against the owners for tax evasion.

————–

The problems at Superior Bank date back to at least 1988, when the Federal Home Loan Bank Board, in an effort to conceal the depths of the developing savings-and-loan crisis, hastily made generous arrangements for the takeover of several failed thrifts. The Pritzkers and Dworman bought the failed Lyons Federal for the relatively modest price of $42.5 million, with each using a shell corporation to control half of Coast-to-Coast Financial Corporation (CCFC), a holding company created to own Superior.

Superior opened for business with substantial federal assistance and guarantees, but the Pritzkers also reportedly received $645 million in tax credits as an inducement to buy Lyons. This was not the first Pritzker-Dworman joint venture into banking. In 1985, the partners had acquired New York-based River Bank America. But in 1991, federal and state regulators closed River Bank, which was engaged in large-scale real estate speculation, when they discovered that the bank had inadequate capital and was badly managed. Nelson Stephenson, the chief financial officer of River Bank, later became chairman of Superior.

In 1992, the Pritzkers and Dworman transferred ownership of Alliance Funding Company, a nationwide mortgage banking company the partners had founded in 1985, to Superior Bank, which began specializing in selling securities backed by subprime mortgages. Prospective homeowners with less-than-stellar credit ratings often must turn to such subprime lenders, which typically charge higher interest rates to compensate for the higher risk of default.

But a great many subprime lenders also unfairly exploit borrowers, seeking them out through aggressive television, direct mail and telemarketing techniques, then charging excessively high interest rates and exorbitant fees. Since many borrowers are in difficult situations and financially unsophisticated, they often are duped into agreeing to harsh conditions, such as stiff penalties for pre-paying their mortgages if their credit improves or interest rates drop, or improper costs, such as having the entire dividend for a 30-year-mortgage insurance policy included up-front in their mortgage.

Superior Bank accumulated mortgages that originated from its own branches or Alliance offices, as well as those bought from other brokers. They would then issue securities with high credit ratings but lower interest rates than what they charged borrowers. As collateral, these securities were backed by the stream of income from the mortgages. Superior Bank would retain “residual interests”—part of the collateral mortgages plus some of the excess mortgage interest—but they also retained responsibility for all of the potential losses, or what’s known in the business as “toxic waste.”

Because of the greater risks of subprime lending, it was difficult to project the future value of Superior’s residual interests. But aided by Fintek, another subsidiary of CCFC, and abetted by Ernst & Young, Superior made extremely rosy projections and—like Enron—booked those projected profits as immediate, or “imputed,” earnings. The extremely optimistic value of some residual interests was also counted as part of Superior’s capital, which banks must maintain at regulated levels—depending on their condition and type of business—to make sure that depositors can be repaid.

————–

Examiners from the Office of Thrift Supervision (OTS) expressed concern about aggressive subprime policy, the value of residuals, the level of capital and other bank practices early in the ’90s. But Superior’s managers and board filed erroneous reports and repeatedly failed to take any of the action that regulators recommended. Nevertheless, according to investigators, the OTS did not take any corrective action. They were persuaded that management was experienced (even though two top managers had been involved in large losses or failures at other thrifts); that Ernst & Young had given its approval in annual audits without any reservations (even though the firm had a long history of penalties and censure for its involvement in high-profile thrift failures); and that “because of their financial status, the OTS placed a great deal of reliance on the ability of the owners to inject capital if the institution encountered any financial difficulties,” as the FDIC inspector general’s report stated.

Meanwhile, Superior was growing rapidly: Loan volume rose from $200 million generated in 1993 to $2.2 billion in 1999, with the value of securities issued reaching $9.4 billion. The bank reported a return on assets that was 12 times the industry average. But its reliance on the risky residual interests from its mortgage securitization soared to levels far out of line with the rest of the industry, and by 2000 the bank’s residual interests were valued at more than four times its less fictional capital (such as stockholder equity). Superior expanded its business to subprime auto loans, then had to pull out because it was clearly failing.

All this should have looked like a sea of red flags to regulators, but they issued modest warnings and failed to follow up when management ignored their recommendations. Superior’s management actually revised its accounting methods in 1997 to further exaggerate its projected earnings, and it more than doubled the volume of the lowest quality loans in the following years. It was all a house of cards, but a very lucrative one for the owners. During the ’90s, the bank paid CCFC—and thus the Pritzkers and Dworman—more than $200 million in dividends.

————–

There was a small problem, however. From 1995 on, investigators concluded, Superior was actually losing money, except for the fictional “imputed” earnings. So the dividends effectively were being paid out of the growing deposits, a practice that Ely describes as having “Ponzi-like characteristics.” Furthermore, in 2000 Superior sold loans to CCFC, which the holding company immediately resold for a $20.2 million profit. Such a sale of assets at less than fair market value to insiders is a violation of federal law. There were other loans made to CCFC and its affiliates totalling $36.7 million—all in violation of the Federal Reserve Act—that were never repaid, the inspector general reported.

Superior also supposedly loaned the Dworman family’s shell company $70 million in 1996, but even though Dworman promised to pay it all back by the end of 1999, the inspector general found no evidence of any payments being made. (Dworman reportedly claimed that the money was a dividend payment concealed as a loan, which would raise questions about tax evasion.) All these transactions enriched the Pritzkers and Dworman at the expense of the bank—and ultimately the FDIC insurance fund and uninsured depositors.

In the spring of 1999, both the OTS and FDIC downgraded Superior’s rating. Over the course of nearly two years, Superior and Ernst & Young resisted the analysis and recommendations of the regulatory agencies, but by January 2001 Ernst & Young finally agreed that the accounting of the residual assets had been wrong. The bank was deeply troubled even in good times, but the vulnerabilities would only increase. As interest rates declined, borrowers would try to pay off high-interest loans and refinance; as unemployment rose, increasing numbers of subprime borrowers would default.

After downgrading the bank further, regulators concluded that it was “significantly undercapitalized” and needed an infusion of $270 million, which the Pritzkers—with some participation by Dworman—agreed in March to provide. Then in July regulators reported that, as a result of overly optimistic assumptions, the bank would need to write off an additional $150 million of of its residual interests. The Pritzkers pulled out of the agreed capital plan, and the feds closed the bank.

————–

Wanting to avoid a lawsuit, the secretive Pritzkers quickly agreed to what the FDIC hailed in December as the biggest settlement they had ever negotiated. The Pritzkers would pay $100 million immediately, then $360 million over 15 years. But there were lots of little provisions in the agreement that benefit the Pritzkers. First, as former bank consultant and longtime thrift watchdog Tim Anderson notes, the $100 million doesn’t even quite pay back all of the unpaid loans made to the owners. The Pritzkers also pay no interest on the $360 million, and since it is paid over many years, the real cost to the Pritzkers may be only around $250 million. As of September 2002, according to FDIC figures, the insurance fund was still out $440 million after this settlement.

But it gets even sweeter for the Pritzkers. The FDIC also agreed to pay the Pritzkers 25 percent of any claim won in a lawsuit against Ernst & Young. Since the FDIC is now suing for $548 million, the Pritzker share could be $137 million. On top of that, the agreement stated that the Pritzkers get half of any civil penalties from such a lawsuit (after certain agency expenses). The FDIC is asking for triple damages, or $1.64 billion; the Pritzker share could be over $800 million.

Even taking into account the “record” settlement they made with the FDIC, the Pritzkers could make more than $700 million in additional profit for running a financial institution into the ground. They had already profited handsomely, sharing in the more than $200 million in dividends to the owners in the ’90s. They accomplished all this with an investment of about $21 million for each partner—though the Pritzkers had also already benefited from $645 million in tax credits.

Meanwhile, roughly 1,000 depositors who had deposits above $100,000 in a Superior account—money above the FDIC-insured limit—lost about $65 million. Most of them were middle-class individuals, attracted by Superior’s high interest rates. In the three months just before the bank was closed, there was a surge of $9.6 million in uninsured deposits. Since about 54 percent of the uninsured money has since been repaid as Superior was sold off, the depositors have still collectively lost about $30 million. (That just happens to be the amount that the Pritzkers gave to the University of Chicago’s Pritzker School of Medicine earlier this year.)

————–

Some of that money could have paid back Fran Sweet for the roughly $138,000 that she has still not recovered from her deposits at Superior. After retiring as a manager at a telecommunications company, Sweet was seeking a secure place to put her entire retirement savings of about $500,000. “I knew the Pritzkers were owners of the bank,” she says, “and they were a reputable name in Chicago. I had no idea that the bank was in trouble.”

She even asked a bank manager if there was anything wrong with the bank. “She said, ‘No, nothing is wrong, We’re owned by the Pritzkers,’ ” Sweet recalls. “I want it all back. I worked 23 years for a company and got this money from them as a buyout, and the Pritzker family and Dworman stole it from me.”

People at the other end of the deal—who borrowed from Superior—are also still hurting as a result of the scam. The National Community Reinvestment Coalition, which monitors bank lending, last year accused Superior of participating in a variety of predatory practices, including overly aggressive telemarketing, targeting low-income minority borrowers, and disproportionately incorporating problematic “balloon payments” in the loans. One borrower in Philadelphia, represented by attorney Brian Mildenberg, ended up in bankruptcy partly because Superior didn’t properly credit him for payments he had made. In another case, Cleveland construction worker Dan Sutton claims that a broker for Superior falsified papers to inflate his mortgage and charged exorbitant fees.

The Pritzkers are likely to make out like bandits, which is exactly what customers like Sweet and Sutton think they are. All of the government studies of Superior’s failure agree that there’s plenty of blame to spread around. As the FDIC inspector general’s report concluded, the bank managers pursued an ultra-risky strategy based on unrealistic assumptions and unjustifiably pumped dividends and illegal, unpaid loans out of the bank and into the owners’ coffers.

Ernst & Young provided inaccurate audits, resisted regulators, and did not test or properly disclose crucial financial assumptions. The OTS didn’t investigate or follow up on problems adequately, ignored warning signs for years, and unduly relied on the expertise of managers, the auditor’s report, and the promise of the wealthy owners to put their money behind the bank’s strategy, which they ultimately refused to do. While the FDIC lawsuit against Ernst & Young correctly highlights the accounting firm’s sorry record of accounting malpractice, it ignores the dubious history of the Pritzkers and Dworman in cases ranging from tax evasion to bank mismanagement, instead praising the Pritzkers for their charity.

What looked like a good deal for the FDIC in resolving Superior’s failure is now looking like yet another opportunity for the wealthy Pritzkers to further profit from their misdeeds. Certainly, the record suggests that Ernst & Young bears responsibility, but so do the Pritzkers and Dworman. The question is not just who will extract money from whose pocket in the aftermath of the bank failure, but also whether the rich are simply above the law. The RICO lawsuit against bank managers, owners and auditors raises the issue of criminal conspiracy and at least attempts to recover damages for the uninsured depositors. But beyond that, argues thrift watchdog Anderson, “I think there ought to be a criminal investigation.””

http://www.inthesetimes.com/article/671/

102 Comments

Posted in Bailout, Banks, Barack Obama, Chicago, Citizen News, Citizens for the truth about Obama, CitizenWells, Economy, Illinois, Jobs, Lies, media, News, Obama, Obama administration, Obama lies, Obama Nation, Obama records, Orwellian, Pay to play politics, Scandal, The Case Against Barack Obama, US economy, Washington DC, white house

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NC Truth Team, Citizen Wells provides facts for Obama Truth Team and Republicans, North Carolina jobs unemployment hardships, No more lies

Posted on February 16, 2012 | 70 comments

NC Truth Team, Citizen Wells provides facts for Obama Truth Team and Republicans, North Carolina jobs unemployment hardships, No more lies

“Guilford (Large NC County) appears on it’s way to a third consecutive year with annual jobless rates in double digits. Economists say that likely hasn’t happened since the Great Depression.”…Greensboro News Record December 2, 2011

“And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed–if all records told the same tale–then the lie passed into history and became truth. “Who controls the past,” ran the Party slogan, “controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.”…George Orwell, “1984″

“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.”…Jesus, John 8:32

Stephanie Cutter of Obama for America recently announced the formation of a Truth Team, sometimes referred to as the Ministry of Truth.
“For Immediate Release CONTACT: Obama for America Press Office
February 13, 2012 312-985-1198

OBAMA FOR AMERICA LAUNCHES THE TRUTH TEAM TO PROMOTE THE PRESIDENT’S ACHIEVEMENTS

AND HOLD REPUBLICANS ACCOUNTABLE

Chicago, IL – Today, Obama for America announced the launch of the Truth Team, a new national effort by President Obama supporters online and on the ground to promote the President’s achievements, respond to attacks on his record and hold the eventual Republican nominee accountable. More than a
million people took action as part of the Fight the Smears initiative during the 2008 campaign; the goal of the Truth Team is to double that number, reaching two million grassroots supporters who will communicate the President’s record and fight back against attacks before the Democratic National Convention this fall.

Beginning today with events across the country and continuing through the election, the Truth Team will engage grassroots supporters to spread the truth about the President’s record and respond to Republican attacks.”

“The goal is to ensure that when Republicans attack President Obama’s record, grassroots supporters can take ownership of the campaign and share the facts with the undecided voters in their lives.”

“The President needs folks on board to roll up their sleeves, stand with him, and get the truth out all over the country.”

The words of Stephanie Cutter and Truth Team resonated so strongly with me (I was damned near moved to tears) that I decided to assist in the effort to make certain that the Republicans and Obama read from the same page of facts. So in that spirit, I will continue to report facts that will hold the Republicans and Barack Obama accountable.

Today’s article will provide a summary of economic conditions in NC.

The stated unemployment rate in NC is 9.9 percent.

From Citizen Wells February 11, 2012.

“While the job market showed signs of growth last year, both Guilford and the state ended 2011 with more people unemployed than was the case the previous
December.

In Guilford , nearly 24,500 didn’t have jobs; statewide, the number surpassed 446,000.

And both the county and the state ended the year with jobless rates of 9.9 percent. That’s equal to or higher than the rates a year earlier.”

“At the current rate of growth–adding 8,300 annually–it will take 3.5 years–or until 2016–to regain the positions lost during and after the Great recession.

“Looking ahead, Quinterno said he expects more of the same this year.

“Absent robust job growth, joblessness and associated hardships will remain widespread,” he wrote. “2012 could well be the fifth consecutive year of negative or minimal job growth in North Carolina.””

https://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2012/02/11/nc-job-growth-dismal-greensboro-news-record-february-11-2012-guilford-county-and-north-carolina-9-9-percent-unemployent-446000-jobless-statewide/

The employment picture is much bleaker.

From Citizen Wells February 14, 2012.
“The weak job growth recorded during 2011 did little to replace the jobs lost earlier in the business cycle. Since the onset of the “Great Recession,” North Carolina has lost, on net, 295,300 positions, or 7.1 percent of its payroll employment base. The maximum job loss recorded during the business cycle occurred in February 2010, when the state had 323,000 fewer jobs (-7.7 percent) than it did 26 months before. Since that time, North Carolina has netted 27,700 positions (+0.7 percent), for an average monthly gain of nearly 1,300 jobs. While the state’s economy added more jobs in 2011 than in 2010 (+19,600 versus +5,400), the growth was too weak to materially alter the employment situation. Even if the annual level of job growth were to triple, it still would take roughly five years to close the current jobs gap, holding all else equal.”

“Estimates of the underemployment rate, a broader measure of labor under-utilization prepared by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics, indicate that 17.9 percent of North Carolina’s adjusted labor force was underemployed, on average, in 2011. That measure includes not only individuals who meet the formal definition of unemployment, but also those working part-time despite preferring full-time work and those marginally attached to the workforce. Over the year, the statewide underemployment rate rose by 0.5 percentage points, rising to 17.9 percent from a level of 17.4 percent in 2010.

Regardless of the exact measure used, a sizable amount of labor in North Carolina is currently sitting idle. Nearly 10 of every 100 members of the state’s labor force are unemployed (seasonally adjusted), while almost 18 of every 100 are underemployed. Moreover, the share of adult North Carolinians with a job has fallen sharply since late 2007. In December 2011, only 55.6 percent of working-age North Carolinians (seasonally adjusted) had jobs, a level no different from the one posted one year prior. This rate actually fell to a low of 55.3 percent near the end of 2011.Q3. At no other time since 1976 has the employment-to-population been as low as it has been in recent months (fig. 7). The current ratio also is well below the historical average rate of 63.6 recorded between January 1976 and December 2007.”

https://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2012/02/14/truth-team-real-unemployment-rate-nc-jobs-data-stephanie-cutter-truth-about-employment-in-us-and-north-carolina-obama-lies/

From the NC Division of Social Services, Food and Nutrition Services, we discover the following food stamp facts:

Number of Individuals

Jan 2012   1,660,464
Jan 2009   1,089,699

Increase        570,765

During Obama’s reign there has been a 52 Percent increase in food stamp participation in NC.

http://www.ncdhhs.gov/dss/stats/fsp.htm

Earlier today we reported:

“Number of homeless kids grows”

“More school-age chldren in Guilford County are without homes–48 percent more since 2007-2008, according to a count of the homeless population in Guilford County.

The children stay in emergency shelters and hotels or motels or with friends or relatives because their families lost their homes or cannot afford housing. Most of them are between prekindergarten and fifth grade.”

“Since tracking such data, the group has seen a 58 percent increase in the number of students living with a friend or relative because their families could no longer afford housing–reflecting a national trend.

Families with children are among the fastest growing segments of the homeless population, according to the National Coalition for the homeless.”

https://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2012/02/16/nc-homeless-school-age-children-rise-48-percent-since-2008-guilford-county-truth-team-data-unemployed-not-counted-cannot-afford-housing/

I agree Stephanie Cutter, let’s make certain that the Republicans quote these facts correctly.

No thanks necessary.

Wells

70 Comments

Posted in 1984, Barack Obama, Citizen News, Citizens for the truth about Obama, CitizenWells, democratic convention, Democrats, Economy, Election, Election 2012, Jobs, Lies, NC, News, North Carolina, Obama, Obama lies, Obama Nation, Obama records, Orwell, Orwellian, Presidential candidate, republicans, The Case Against Barack Obama, truth, Unemployment, voters, Washington DC, white house

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NC Homeless school age children rise 48 percent since 2008, Guilford County, Truth Team data, Unemployed not counted?, Cannot afford housing

Posted on February 16, 2012 | 24 comments

NC Homeless school age children rise 48 percent since 2008, Guilford County, Truth Team data, Unemployed not counted?, Cannot afford housing

“Guilford (Large NC County) appears on it’s way to a third consecutive year with annual jobless rates in double digits. Economists say that likely hasn’t happened since the Great Depression.”…Greensboro News Record December 2, 2011

“And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed–if all records told the same tale–then the lie passed into history and became truth. “Who controls the past,” ran the Party slogan, “controls the future: who controls the present controls the past.”…George Orwell, “1984″

“And you shall know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.”…Jesus, John 8:32

Here is some more data, truth for Stephanie Cutter and the Truth Team about NC. I am certain that Obama, et al will rewrite this history prior to the Democrat Convention in Charlotte, NC and the election. However, the bad economic conditions have happened on Obama’s watch.
From the Greensboro News & Record print edition February 16, 2012.

“Number of homeless kids grows”

“More school-age chldren in Guilford County are without homes–48 percent more since 2007-2008, according to a count of the homeless population in Guilford County.

The children stay in emergency shelters and hotels or motels or with friends or relatives because their families lost their homes or cannot afford housing. Most of them are between prekindergarten and fifth grade.”

“Since tracking such data, the group has seen a 58 percent increase in the number of students living with a friend or relative because their families could no longer afford housing–reflecting a national trend.

Families with children are among the fastest growing segments of the homeless population, according to the National Coalition for the homeless.”

24 Comments

Posted in Barack Obama, Citizen News, Citizens for the truth about Obama, CitizenWells, democratic convention, Democrats, Economy, Election 2012, Lies, NC, News, North Carolina, Obama lies, Obama Nation, Obama records, Presidential candidate, Schools, The Case Against Barack Obama, truth, US economy

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Real unemployment rate, Obama lies exposed, Labor force decline, 24 million Americans unemployed or underemployed, 5 million Americans fled workforce

Posted on February 12, 2012 | 31 comments

Real unemployment rate, Obama lies exposed, Labor force decline, 24 million Americans unemployed or underemployed, 5 million Americans fled workforce

“Guilford (Large NC County) appears on it’s way to a third consecutive year with annual jobless rates in double digits. Economists say that likely hasn’t happened since the Great Depression.”…Greensboro News Record December 2, 2011

“the Times of the nineteenth of December had published the official forecasts of the output of various classes of consumption goods in the fourth quarter of 1983, which was also the sixth quarter of the Ninth Three-Year Plan. Today’s issue contained a statement of the actual output, from which it appeared that the forecasts were in every instance grossly wrong. Winston’s job was to rectify the original figures by making them agree with the later ones.”…George Orwell, “1984″

“And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed
–if all records told the same tale–then the lie passed into
history and became truth. “Who controls the past,” ran the
Party slogan, “controls the future: who controls the present
controls the past.”…George Orwell, “1984″

We have been warning of the Orwellian attempts by the Obama regime to paint a rosier picture of employment in this country for months.

From Citizen Wells December 3, 2011.

“The unemployment rate, derived from a separate survey of households, was forecast to hold at 9 percent. The decrease in the jobless rate reflected a 278,000 gain in employment at the same time 315,000 Americans left the labor force.

“While the rate is certainly a very favorable rate, I would highlight that a lot of it is because people pulled out of the workforce,” Eric Rosengren, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, said in a speech yesterday.”

“RUSH: I don’t want to be an I told you so, but I told you so, and I told you so five weeks ago.  Gallup, every week, puts out their own unemployment numbers and Gallup has been signaling that this day unemployment below 9% was coming.  They’ve been blatantly saying so, based on their own unemployment data, which is not related to the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports.  It’s their own surveys; and in the last five weeks, occasionally they will say that their numbers that they come out with on a Wednesday or Thursday indicate that we’re getting very close to a Bureau of Labor Statistics unemployment number of under 9%.  I said, “The regime needs this, and when we finally get to under 9%, it will be eight-point-something, but the point-what won’t matter.  The only number that’s going to matter is the eight.”

“Well, Happy Holidays. They don’t do Merry Christmas in the media.  But we’re back, it’s done, they got the headline: “Unemployment, 8.6%!” Now, the truth of the matter is — and Bloomberg News even points out that the only way — it’s a corrupt number.  It is a corrupt number. Folks, the number of people who have quit looking for work in the last few weeks is 315,000.  Those are the people have thrown up their hands after 99 weeks or more of being unemployed; and they’ve said, “I’m quitting.  I’m not looking.”  So they’re not counted.  Therefore, the universe of jobs available in the country is down by 315,000.  That is the labor force participation rate.  The labor force participation rate is a meager 64%.  It fell to 64% from 64.2%.  So the 0.2% drop equals 315,000 people leaving the workforce.

That means there are 315,000 fewer jobs to have, so the universe of jobs has been steadily shrinking.  What was the number of jobs created?  It’s 120,000 jobs.  It’s 120, 126,000, whatever. That’s in the ballpark.  That number of jobs created can lower unemployment rate 0.4%, almost one half of a percent? Creating 120,000 new jobs can do that?  That alone tells us how small the labor force participation rate is.”

https://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2011/12/03/unemployment-rate-lies-exagerations-obama-lies-315000-americans-left-the-labor-force-worst-jobless-figures-since-great-depression-in-nc/

From Forbes February 9, 2012.

“Don’t Be Fooled, The Obama Unemployment Rate Is 11%”

“When Barack Obama entered office in January, 2009, the labor force participation rate was 65.7%, meaning nearly two-thirds of working age Americans were working or looking for work.

When the recession supposedly officially ended in June, 2009, the labor force participation rate was still 65.7%.

In the latest, much celebrated, unemployment report, the labor force participation rate had plummeted to 63.7%, the most rapid decline in U.S. history. That means that under President Obama nearly 5 million Americans have fled the workforce in hopeless despair.

The trick is that when those 5 million are not counted as in the work force, they are not counted as unemployed either. They may desperately need and want jobs. They may be in poverty, as many undoubtedly are, with America suffering today more people in poverty than in the entire half century the Census Bureau has been counting poverty. But they are not even counted in that 8.3% unemployment rate that Obama and his media cheerleaders were so tirelessly celebrating last week.

If they were counted, the unemployment rate today would be a far more realistic 11%, better reflecting the suffering in the real economy under Obamanomics.

Just last month, while the Bureau of Labor Statistics reported finding 243,000 new jobs, they also reported in the same release that an additional 1.2 million workers had dropped out of the work force altogether, giving up hope under Obama. If labor force participation had remained the same in January, 2012 just as it was the month before in December, 2011, the unemployment rate would have risen to 8.7% in January rather than supposedly declining to 8.3% as reported.”

“At the official end of the recession in June, 2009, America was 12.6 million jobs short of full employment. By January, 2012, we were 15.2 million jobs short, falling behind by another 244,000 in that month alone.

The time has come to begin to raise questions about the precipitous decline in the labor force assumed by BLS. Are the career bureaucrats there partial to President Obama, and favorable towards promoting his political chances for reelection? Or has the Obama Administration placed someone in a leadership slot over at the BLS or the unemployment statistics branch that is imposing this assumed sharp decline? Because of the oddness of this record setting decline, coinciding with President Obama’s ascension to office, these questions bear further investigation.”

“But even with the steep decline in labor force participation, the BLS report for January still shows some horrific numbers more than 4 years after the start of the recession. Besides the 12.8 million unemployed, another 8.2 million were “employed part time for economic reasons.” The BLS explains that “These individuals were working part-time because their hours had been cut back or because they were unable to find a full-time job.”

Another 2.8 million “wanted and were available for work, and had looked for a job sometime in the prior 12 months,” but “were not counted as unemployed because they had not searched for work in the four weeks preceding the survey.”

That makes nearly 24 million Americans unemployed or underemployed. The unemployment rate in January counting them is not 11%, but 15.1% as reported by the BLS, a depression era level of unemployment.

For blacks, the unemployment rate was still 13.6%, even assuming another 350,000 African Americans dropping out of the labor force in January alone. For Hispanics, 650,000 were assumed to drop out of the work force in January alone, but the Hispanic unemployment rate was still in double digits at 10.5%.

For teenagers, the unemployment rate was still 23.2%, even though an additional 400,000 were assumed to have dropped out of the work force in January alone. For black teenagers, the unemployment rate was still nearly 40%.

Media and political discussions of Obama’s economic record suffer from at least two fundamental fallacies. One is that Obama’s record is to be measured by the progress made since the trough of the recession. Since that trough was so bad, of course the period since the trough is going to show some marked improvement. More important is how does that improvement compare to the prior peak before the recession? Have we caught up yet, and then continued to grow beyond that prior peak?”

“When President Obama entered office in January, 2009, the recession was already in its 13th month.  His responsibility was to manage a timely, robust recovery to get America back on track again.  What he gave us instead, with his outdated, throwback, Keynesian economics, is the worst economic recovery since the Great Depression.  A recovery now, way too little, way too late, cannot go back and change that record.  For that record of American suffering and despair, the voters will now hold Obama accountable.”

http://www.forbes.com/sites/peterferrara/2012/02/09/dont-be-fooled-the-obama-unemployment-rate-is-11/

Thanks to commenter Zach.

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Posted in Barack Obama, Citizen News, Citizens for the truth about Obama, CitizenWells, Economy, Election 2012, Employment, Financial crisis, Government, Jobs, Lies, News, Obama, Obama lies, Obama Nation, Obama records, Orwellian, Presidential candidate, The Case Against Barack Obama, Unemployment, United States, US economy, Washington DC, white house

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UNC tuition hikes, University of NC System raises tuition costs in dismal economy, Working students and families pay other’s tuition, Income redistribution

Posted on February 12, 2012 | 90 comments

UNC tuition hikes, University of NC System raises tuition costs in dismal economy, Working students and families pay other’s tuition, Income redistribution

“Guilford (Large NC County) appears on it’s way to a third consecutive year with annual jobless rates in double digits. Economists say that likely hasn’t happened since the Great Depression.”…Greensboro News Record December 2, 2011

“…and Socialist governments traditionally do make a financial mess. They [socialists] always run out of other people’s money. It’s quite a characteristic of them.”…Margaret Thatcher

A teachable moment.

Once again the Greensboro News Record has placed articles about the dismal jobs situation and economy in Guilford county and NC on the front page with  UNC, University of North Carolina University System tuition hikes. I congratulate them for that.

From the Greensboro News record February 11, 2012.

“Amid chants of protest from about 100 students, the UNC Board of Governors this morning approved President Tom Ross’ proposal for tuition and
fee hikes over the next two years.

Ross’ plan would raise tuition by an average of 8.8 percent across the system and keeps increases below 10 percent on every campus.

UNCG’s in-state undergraduates would see a $423, or 7.5 percent, increase in tuition and fees under Ross’ plan. Trustees had sought an increase of 7.8
percent.

N.C. A&T undergraduates from North Carolina would see an 8.4 percent, or $385, increase.

Ross’ plan also sets tuition increases for 2013-14. Tuition for UNCG resident undergraduates would increase $153, or 2.5 percent. Those at A&T would see an
increase of $200, or 4 percent.

Students from campuses across the state packed the lobby of the General Administration Building, showing their discontent over the hikes by carrying signs that, drawing on the Occupy movement, declared the board of governors as the one percent; beating drums and chanting throughout the entire meeting. They marched from the UNC-Chapel Hill campus and were met by police officers, who explained there was no capacity for all of them in the meeting room.

“We’re trying to take part in the governance of the university!” they yelled in response.

“Our university!”

“No justice! No peace!”

When David Young, chairman of the board’s budget and finance committee, sought a motion to vote, a group of students inside the meeting room interrupted, chanting in part, “Your tuition hikes will shackle students with years of debt and force many to drop out of UNC system schools!”

When board members turned to discussing what percentage of tuition dollars should support needy college students, protesters in the lobby could be heard
shouting, “We want financial aid!”

Today’s vote caps months of intense debate over tuition, which the system has used in recent years to help make up for legislative cuts to its budget. The
hikes have forced more students to take on extra jobs to pay for school, or drop out altogether.”

http://www.news-record.com/content/2012/02/10/article/amid_protests_unc_system_approves_tuition_fees_hikes

From the print edition:

“The state mandates that at least 25 percent of the money from the tuition dollars go toward financial aid for needy students. Some board members recently have spoken out about that requirement, saying it essentially calls for students, who themselves may be struggling, to subsidize the education of other students.”

The teachable moment.

To the students, working families struggling to pay tuition:

Most people do not fit neatly into boxes that define Republican, Democrat, Independent, Conservative, Liberal, etc. The only tag I accept for myself is
fiscal conservative. I also believe in the US Constitution as the rule of law. At the end of the day it is all that we have to protect you and me.

I promise you, as a fiscal conservative that I am more concerned about your condition in life than the many politicians or liberals spewing platitudes about
educational concerns.

Some observations about the UNC tuition hikes:

I have watched some of these schools spending like drunken sailors for years, apparently not anticipating or properly reacting to the downturn in the
economy.

Colleges in NC and elsewhere spend other people’s money. As Margaret Thatcher stated: “They [socialists] always run out of other people’s money.”

These “educators” are supposed to be educating our young people. What kind of message does this send?

Welcome to the world of socialism, redistribution of wealth. In a way I am glad this is happening. A real world example of taking from the “rich” and giving to the “poor.”

I am on the side of the students. Not because they have a right to a college education, but because as responsible citizens we should endeavor to keep costs down and subsequently teach the ultimate lesson about survival and what bad government and socialist policys yield.

90 Comments

Posted in Budget, Citizen News, Citizens for the truth about Obama, CitizenWells, Deficit, Economy, Government, NC, News, Newspapers, North Carolina, Socialists, Unemployment

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NC job growth dismal, Greensboro News Record, February 11, 2012, Guilford County and North Carolina 9.9 percent unemployent, 446000 jobless statewide

Posted on February 11, 2012 | 43 comments

NC job growth dismal, Greensboro News Record, February 11, 2012, Guilford County and North Carolina 9.9 percent unemployent, 446000 jobless statewide

“the Times of the nineteenth of December had published the official forecasts of the output of various classes of consumption goods in the fourth quarter of 1983, which was also the sixth quarter of the Ninth Three-Year Plan. Today’s issue contained a statement of the actual output, from which it appeared that the forecasts were in every instance grossly wrong. Winston’s job was to rectify the original figures by making them agree with the later ones.”…George Orwell, “1984″

“And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed
–if all records told the same tale–then the lie passed into
history and became truth. “Who controls the past,” ran the
Party slogan, “controls the future: who controls the present
controls the past.”…George Orwell, “1984″

Charlotte, NC is hosting the Democrat Convention in NC this year. The North Carolina State Motto is “Esse quam videri”, to be rather than to seem. The
Greensboro News Record presented the article below, once again on the same front page as a UNC University System tuition hike article, just as they did a few
weeks ago. I was pleased to see the News Record reporting on the negative jobs situation in NC but this was not presented by them on the internet, therefore
I was compelled to pick up the slack. I didnt want to “Videri quam esse”, you know, seem rather than be. For some reason the News Record does not make all of their print articles readily available on the internet. They must have a good reason, although I cannot discern it.

More Obama good news.
From the Greensboro News Record February 11, 2012.
“Outlook for job growth muted”

“Guilford County and North Carolina share a dubious distinction. Over the past 12 years, neither has logged any job growth.

Put another way, there were fewer people working statewide and countywide in December 2011 than in December 1999.”

“And the suffering continues.

While the job market showed signs of growth last year, both Guilford and the state ended 2011 with more people unemployed than was the case the previous
December.

In Guilford , nearly 24,500 didn’t have jobs; statewide, the number surpassed 446,000.

And both the county and the state ended the year with jobless rates of 9.9 percent. That’s equal to or higher than the rates a year earlier.”

“At the current rate of growth–adding 8,300 annually–it will take 3.5 years–or until 2016–to regain the positions lost during and after the Great recession.

“Looking ahead, Quinterno said he expects more of the same this year.

“Absent robust job growth, joblessness and associated hardships will remain widespread,” he wrote. “2012 could well be the fifth consecutive year of negative or minimal job growth in North Carolina.”

http://www.news-record.com/

43 Comments

Posted in Barack Obama, Citizen News, Citizens for the truth about Obama, CitizenWells, democratic convention, Economy, Election 2012, Employment, Jobs, Lies, NC, News, Newspapers, North Carolina, Obama, Obama lies, Obama Nation, Presidential candidate, The Case Against Barack Obama, Unemployment, Washington DC, white house

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Obama lies don’t add up, Real unemployment rate, CBO forcasts over 8 percent through 2013, 12.8 million unemployed, 43 percent jobless more than six months

Posted on February 10, 2012 | 92 comments

Obama lies don’t add up, Real unemployment rate, CBO forcasts over 8 percent through 2013, 12.8 million unemployed, 43 percent jobless more than six months

“the Times of the nineteenth of December had published the official forecasts of the output of various classes of consumption goods in the fourth quarter of 1983, which was also the sixth quarter of the Ninth Three-Year Plan. Today’s issue contained a statement of the actual output, from which it appeared that the forecasts were in every instance grossly wrong. Winston’s job was to rectify the original figures by making them agree with the later ones.”…George Orwell, “1984”

“As soon as all the corrections which happened to be necessary in any partiucular number of the Times had been assembled and collated, that number would be reprinted, the original copy destroyed, and the corrected copy placed on the files in it’s stead. This process of continuation alteration was applied not only to newspapers, but to books, periodicals, pamphlets, posters, leaflets, films, sound tracks, cartoons, photographs–to every kind of literature or documentation which might conceivably hold any political or ideological significance. Day by day and almost minute by minute the past was brought up to date. In this way every prediction made by the Party could be shown by documentary evidence to be correct; nor was any item of news, or expression of opinion, which conflicted with the needs of the moment, ever allowed to be on record.”…George Orwell, “1984″ 

“And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed
–if all records told the same tale–then the lie passed into
history and became truth. “Who controls the past,” ran the
Party slogan, “controls the future: who controls the present
controls the past.”…George Orwell, “1984″

From the CBO January 2012.
“THE ECONOMIC OUTLOOK

In part because of the dampening effect of the higher tax rates and curbs on spending scheduled to occur this year and next, CBO expects that the economy will continue to recover slowly, with real GDP growing by 2.0 percent this year and 1.1 percent next year (as measured by the change from the fourth quarter of the previous calendar year). CBO expects economic activity to quicken after 2013 but to remain below the economy’s potential until 2018.

In CBO’s forecast, the unemployment rate remains above 8 percent both this year and next, a consequence of continued weakness in demand for goods and services. As economic growth picks up after 2013, the unemployment rate will gradually decline to around 7 percent by the end of 2015, before dropping to near 5½ percent by the end of 2017.”

http://www.cbo.gov/doc.cfm?index=12699

From Ezra Klein of the Washington Post February 1, 2012.

“Is the ‘real’ unemployment rate stuck?”
Back in December, the Financial Times’s Ed Luce estimated that “if the same number of people were seeking work today as in 2007, the jobless rate would be 11 percent.” Perhaps, many of us wrote at the time, that should be considered the “real” unemployment rate.

Today, Cardiff Garcia notes an unsettling chart from Nomura that compares the unemployment rate we have, where people can drop out of the labor force and thus out of the numbers, to this “real” unemployment rate, where discouraged workers aren’t dropped from the rolls. Worryingly, it’s barely moved:”

“What is striking about the broken line above isn’t where it now ends — at 10.3 per cent — but rather the lack of any meaningful, sustained improvement for more than two years,” comments Garcia. “This alternative measure has remained above 10 percent since September 2009, and aside from a bit of skittishness (some of which is down to uncaptured seasonality) has mostly just moved sideways.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/ezra-klein/post/is-the-real-unemployment-rate-stuck/2011/08/25/gIQAVyiTiQ_blog.html

From Cal Thomas February 08, 2012.

“The Obama administration is touting the latest unemployment numbers released last week”

“The Obama administration is touting the latest unemployment numbers released last week by the U.S. Department of Labor as proof its policies are working. But a closer look at the actual number of able-bodied people who are willing to work, but do not, reveals a different picture.

As economist John R. Lott has written, not only is the drop in the unemployment rate from 8.5 percent to 8.3 percent still half a percentage point higher than when President Obama took office three years ago, the number of unemployed is also higher. Compared with January 2009 when 11.6 million Americans were jobless, today, writes Lott, “there are 12.8 million unemployed and 43 percent have been out of a job for more than six months. The average length of unemployment has increased dramatically since the recovery started. Back in June 2009, ‘only’ 29 percent of the unemployed had been unemployed longer than six months.”

The way government counts things, slower growth in government spending amounts to a cut. In a similar, misleading fashion, a reduction in the percentage of unemployed people by two-tenths of 1 percent counts as progress, even if it results from wide-scale work force dropout.

Lott examined the Labor Department’s statistics and found that the number of Americans not in the labor force — neither working nor seeking work — grew and was revised upward last month by 1.2 million. Most people who join this category have given up looking for work and are no longer counted as unemployed. That fact skews the statistics to make the employment picture appear better than it is.

Real unemployment is mostly ignored by the major media, which was happy to tout the latest jobless rate reduction as a boon to Obama and a problem for Republican front-runner Mitt Romney. Most reporting has focused on the impression voters might have of an economic recovery, or at least trending in the right direction. The opposite is true and it is up to Romney to make that case.”

“Many in the major media can’t be counted on to tell the truth about the economy if doing so makes Obama and his policies look bad. This means the Republican nominee will have to go over or around the media to make his case. The best way to do this is not with statistics, but with real people.”

“Featuring real people who are out of a job and desperately want to work would help undermine the Democrats as the party of compassion, while simultaneously blunting the Republican stereotype as the party that doesn’t care about the poor.

Democrats seem eager to get more people onto food stamps than to adopt policies that would free them from addiction to government and give them the dignity of a real job and the self-sufficiency that goes with it.”

http://www.calthomas.com/index.php?news=3477

 

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Posted in Barack Obama, Citizen News, Citizens for the truth about Obama, CitizenWells, Economy, Election 2012, Employment, Government, News, Obama, Obama administration, Obama lies, Obama Nation, Obama records, Obama taxes, Taxes, The Case Against Barack Obama, Unemployment, US economy, Washington DC, white house

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Rush Limbaugh February 9, 2012, Mortgage lenders scapegoats for bad loans, Obama ACORN et al pushed low income loans

Posted on February 9, 2012 | 128 comments

Rush Limbaugh February 9, 2012, Mortgage lenders scapegoats for bad loans, Obama ACORN et al pushed low income loans

“However, in light of the politically oriented thrust of ACORN’s activities, it is fair to ask whether the CHD subsidies to ACORN are advisable and commensurate with the purposes of CHD.”

“This commentary does not oppose CHD funding of genuine, grassroots community organizations, run and supported by individual members of a parish or diocese. There is potential value and virtue in the collective voice. However, when the CHD funds Alinsky-style, church-based community organizations as in the best interest of the poor and supports organizations which advance other agendas, it divests the poor of their right to an authentic voice. This process tends to treat the poor as exploited units of human capital, rather than as human beings created in the dignity of God’s image.”

“To accomplish its goals, as outlined in the People’s Platform, ACORN has developed a political alliance with the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA). Together with others, ACORN and the DSA have formed a political party, the New Party.”…Report to the  Catholic Bishops of the US, 1999

“Illinois: Three NP-members won Democratic primaries last Spring and face off against Republican opponents on election day: Danny Davis (U.S. House), Barack Obama (State Senate) and Patricia Martin (Cook County Judiciary).”…New Party website October 1996

“During its 15 years in New York City, ACORN has helped squatters claim derelict city-owned property, forced bankers to invest in low-income communities, and organized a war against the city’s workfare program.

It’s also developed a reputation for no-holds-barred tactics—getting results through adversarial campaigns against bankers, politicians and bureaucrats using confrontation and concession rather than consensus.”…ACORN document, February 1999

I don’t get to listen to Rush Limbaugh that much due to the fact, as my mom always told me, that the British Royal Family does not acknowledge my claim to the throne. In the midst of working today I was able to catch part of Rush’s show.

“BEGIN TRANSCRIPT

RUSH: On the foreclosure front, big news here. Eric Holder and attorneys general from 42 states have shaken down the country’s mortgage lenders for $25 billion. Folks, this whole notion of these predatory lenders and people being tricked into taking out a mortgage, have you ever heard of that happening? People wandering innocently by a bank on the street and some guy inside the bank with a hook grabs ’em in, “Okay, pal, you’re taking out a mortgage.” That’s what the regime wants us to believe happened with this.

So as part of a campaign effort here, reelection effort, $25 billion from the country’s mortgage lenders to give to customers who were hit upon and forced, under duress, to take out a mortgage… (interruption) What was that? Can you get a piece? Perhaps. I think everybody’s share comes out to as much as $20,000. You might get paid off as much as $20,000 here if I’m reading it right. Now, what this is, folks, is social justice at work, because after all, the banks were forced by the government at the point of a gun to loan to people they knew couldn’t afford the mortgages. That’s what really happened. That’s the root of the subprime mortgage crisis. It was the government forcing the banks to lend money to people that never had a chance, would never be able to repay the loans. Social justice, affordable housing, the so-called good intentions and don’t judge us on the failure of our results.

So now the banks have the pay the price for making those bad loans. This is all part of continuing the ruse that the banks were the originators of this scandal and the originators of the problem. And so now there’s a $25 billion shakedown. I’m gonna tell you, Snerdley, you can apply for it, but I’m gonna tell you all of you mortgage people, you are not gonna see a dime. This is nothing but a slush fund. What Obama has done is gone to the bank, ’cause they’re having trouble fundraising. They’re nowhere near their billion dollars they’ve been bragging about. You ought to see what they’re gonna do at their convention. They’re gonna charge, what is it, a million dollars for a skybox. A million-dollar donation or something like that, to witness Obama’s acceptance speech. I think there’s a million-dollar charge or donation for something.”
“Now, this is Obama servicing his constituents. He is fulfilling that campaign promise he made to pay their mortgages. You may think, “Come on, Rush, he didn’t promise that.” We ought to dig out sound bites from one of his early town halls in 2009, the famous one that was in I think Tampa where a woman, who it turned out had a couple of houses or whatever, stood up and wanted a new kitchen. She thought that’s what the election of Obama meant. That’s what she thought it meant. I’m sure a lot of people that voted for Obama thought that’s what their lives held in store for them. Obama was gonna give them a house. Obama was gonna make sure that all the transgressions and all the discrimination and all the evil that had been perpetrated against these people in all of these years since the country was founded is gonna be fixed here.

Obama’s gonna make sure they get what they’ve been denied. That’s what they thought. They even showed up at town halls and asked him. As I said previously mere moments ago and I think quite accurately, I will be shocked if any of these people ever see any of that $25 billion. It’s just gonna get laundered back to the Democrat National Committee, which most union salaries end up being laundered back, at least a percentage of them, to the Democrat National Committee. That’s where all of this kind of money, most of it, ends up ultimately. But we’re told that one million underwater homeowners could be eligible for as much as $20,000.”

“Some evil bankers came along and tricked them into taking out a mortgage. That’s the basic claim, that these evil bankers (who are all big supporters of Obama and the Democrat Party: JPMorgan Chase, General Motors Acceptance Corporation, Bank of America) tricked poor people into applying for mortgages. They tricked people into lying about their incomes and assets, and they used robosigning. Have you ever heard of robosigning? (interruption) You have? (interruption) You know what robosigning is? I didn’t know what it was. I had to dig deep and find out. You know where the term comes from? What it really means? Robosigning is a term that was coined by a foreclosure lawyer in Florida way back in October 2011. It was made up out of whole cloth.”

“OBAMA: Lenders who sold loans to people, uh, who couldn’t afford them — by buyers who knew they couldn’t afford them, by speculators who were looking to make a quick buck; by banks that took risky mortgages, packaged them up, uh, and traded them off for large profits. It was wrong, and it cost more than four million families their homes to foreclosure.

RUSH: That’s right. They were tricked! These poor schlubs, they were tricked into this, but now Obama’s getting even with the tricksters. Obama is getting even with these evil bankers, the lenders who sold loans to people that couldn’t afford them. I can’t tell you how big a lie all of this is. All of this is a lie. Well, some of this stuff happened, but the reason for it is a total, total lie. The banks did take risky mortgages and package ’em up and traded ’em off, sold ’em to other unsuspecting dupes until they weren’t any unsuspecting dupes left. And then it was, “Bye-bye, Lehman Brothers,” and, “Hello, bailouts,” and that’s exactly what happened.

The banks were told to lend money, people couldn’t afford ’em, they did. Under federal duress. There was no income stream on these mortgages because people couldn’t pay them back, they never qualified, they never were gonna be able to pay them back. So worthless mortgages with no income stream were packaged up sold. Mortgage-backed securities. Yes, a brand-new financial product and they were sold to unsuspecting people. “Look at the income stream from all of these mortgages,” and their eyes got big and they saw a monthly income stream out the wazoo! Until they found out nobody’s making payments on their mortgages. They couldn’t afford them. They had no money. So the second dupees found a new way to package the mortgages for a third set of dupees.

And they kept going and kept going until they weren’t any people left to dupe. And then it was time to bail everybody out for this. The people who did the right thing are the people who are gonna pay for the people who do the wrong thing. The people that did the right thing — got a mortgage, make the payments — you are the ones paying for the people that did the wrong thing. The banks bundled these mortgages to try to protect themselves. They were forced to make these transactions! They knew they are shaky. They were trying to share the risk. I don’t know, did Clinton and Obama just expect the banks to go under? Did they except them just to absorb all of this as the definition of “affordable housing” and “social justice”? Here’s the second Obama sound bite as he takes his victory lap here.”

http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2012/02/09/regime_shakes_down_banks_for_25_billion

Obama, Rezko, Penny Pritzker, Franklin Raines , Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, et al.

Citizen Wells October 21, 2011.

https://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2011/10/21/obama-bank-failure-policies-acorn-penny-pritzker-cellini-trial-witness-rosenberg-dredges-up-old-memories-capri-capital-where-is-house-judiciary-committee/

Obama, et al,played a large role in creating the sub prime mortgage problem and in typical Obama fashion, he blames others.

Obama lied about his connections to Acorn:

  • Obama helped Acorn in organizing of “Project VOTE” in 1992.
  • Obama was a community organizer.
  • Obama represented Acorn as attorney, ACORN vs. Edgar.
  • Obama was involved in Acorn leadership training sessions.
  • Obama, Annenberg Challenge, William Ayers, Acorn.
  • Acorn, New party endorsement of Obama.
  • February 25th to May 17th 2008, Obama camp paid $832,598 to Acorn.
  • Acorn Voter fraud.
  • Obama may have stolen the nomination through Acorn voter fraud.


https://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2008/10/10/obama-acorn-community-organizer-new-party-democratic-socialists-of-america-dsa-saul-alinsky-obama-acorn-attorney-exploited-poor-acorn-voter-fraud-obama-lied-about-his-connection-to-acorn/

There is plenty more at Citizen Wells on Obama’s connections to ACORN and Chicago corruption ties and how they created this mess. A simple search will find them.

128 Comments

Posted in Acorn, Attorney General, Barack Obama, Chicago, Citizen News, Citizens for the truth about Obama, CitizenWells, corruption, Economy, Election 2012, Eric Holder, Fannie Mae, fraud, Freddie Mac, Lies, News, Obama, Obama lies, Obama Nation, Obama records, Obama taxes, The Case Against Barack Obama, Tony Rezko, US economy, Washington DC, white house

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February 9, 2012, Obama lies continue, Economy and jobs, Diversions cloud true picture, Most people are worse off, Deficit soars

Posted on February 8, 2012 | 59 comments

February 9, 2012, Obama lies continue, Economy and jobs, Diversions cloud true picture, Most people are worse off, Deficit soars

“Guilford (Large NC County) appears on it’s way to a third consecutive year with annual jobless rates in double digits. Economists say that likely hasn’t happened since the Great Depression.”…Greensboro News Record December 2, 2011

“the Times of the nineteenth of December had published the official forecasts of the output of various classes of consumption goods in the fourth quarter of 1983, which was also the sixth quarter of the Ninth Three-Year Plan. Today’s issue contained a statement of the actual output, from which it appeared that the forecasts were in every instance grossly wrong. Winston’s job was to rectify the original figures by making them agree with the later ones.”…George Orwell, “1984″

“And if all others accepted the lie which the Party imposed
–if all records told the same tale–then the lie passed into
history and became truth. “Who controls the past,” ran the
Party slogan, “controls the future: who controls the present
controls the past.”...George Orwell, “1984″

Lies, Lies and more Obama Lies.

It’s the economy again stupid.

If Obama has improved economic conditions, you wouldn’t know it in NC, or most other states for that matter.

I have not noticed people in the streets rejoicing.
Let’s begin with gas prices, which affect the price of almost all other goods. Gas prices have risen again in NC and Obama just recently pandered to his core support, the far left, and said no to the Canadian pipeline.

From Citizen Wells  September 21, 2011.

“One of the biggest, if not biggest drains on the economy, one exacerbated by Obama and his cronies, is gasoline prices. This affects the cost of everything and is killing our economy. The left are so  concerned about theoretical environmental damage and emulating Europeans that they disregard the plight of average Americans. Below is a chart showing the rise in fuel prices during the Obama reign.”

https://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2011/09/21/middle-class-incomes-fell-in-past-decade-between-2000-and-2010-incomes-fell-in-2010-adjusted-for-inflation-gas-prices/

 

From Investors Business Daily February 8, 2012.
“The American public’s dependence on the federal government shot up 23% in just two years under President Obama, with 67 million now relying on some federal program, according to a newly released study by the Heritage Foundation.

The conservative think tank’s annual Index of Dependence on Government tracks money spent on housing, health, welfare, education subsidies and other federal programs that were “traditionally provided to needy people by local organizations and families.”

The increase under Obama is the biggest two-year jump since Jimmy Carter was president, the data show.”

http://news.investors.com/Article/600452/201202080802/government-dependence-jumps-under-president-obama.htm

From ABC News February 7, 2012.

“Corporate Profits Aren’t What They Seem”

“As companies close their books on the final three months of last year, the big ones that make up the Standard & Poor’s 500 stock index appear likely to earn about $230 billion. That would be $12.6 billion more than a year earlier.

But the increase, 5.8 percent, is less than half the speed at which quarterly profits grew the first nine months of 2011. In the average quarter since the beginning of 2010, earnings have grown five times as fast.

Analysts expect profit growth to accelerate later this year. But so far, almost all the growth comes from two companies, one of them among America’s most favorite, the other among its most hated — Apple and the bailed-out insurance company AIG.

Take away those two companies and profits for the remaining 498 are expected to grow a measly 1.1 percent, according to FactSet, a provider of financial data.”

“The immediate future looks about the same. For this quarter, which ends March 31, profits for the S&P 500 are expected to be up about 1 percent from the year before. And that’s with Apple and AIG thrown in.

“Were the economy to sustain a shock, this makes us more vulnerable,” says Barry Knapp, chief U.S. stock strategist at Barclays Capital.

In a report Thursday highlighting “unusually weak” results so far, Goldman Sachs strategist David Kostin noted that stock analysts have been cutting their estimates for what S&P companies will make for all of 2012.”

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/corporate-profits-15525353#.TzLac1wV33c

From Citizen Wells December 4, 2011.

“data released Thursday by the Employment Security Commission of North Carolina show that Guilford appears on it’s way to a third consecutive year with annual jobless rates in double digits.

Economists say that likely hasn’t happened since the Great Depression.

“I suspect we would have to go back to the 1930′s (to find that),” said Don Jud, professor emeritus at UNCG’s Bryan School of Business and Economics.”

https://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2011/12/04/nc-unemployment-worst-since-great-depression-uncg-and-government-spending-spree-other-peoples-money-obama-supporters-predictable/

Latest NC unemployment data.

“Unemployment rates increased in 93 of North Carolina’s 100 counties in December. Rates decreased in four counties and remained the same in three.”
 
 
 
From Citizen Wells December 3, 2011.
 

“The unemployment rate, derived from a separate survey of households, was forecast to hold at 9 percent. The decrease in the jobless rate reflected a 278,000 gain in employment at the same time 315,000 Americans left the labor force.

“While the rate is certainly a very favorable rate, I would highlight that a lot of it is because people pulled out of the workforce,” Eric Rosengren, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, said in a speech yesterday.”
“RUSH:”

“Well, Happy Holidays. They don’t do Merry Christmas in the media. But we’re back, it’s done, they got the headline: “Unemployment, 8.6%!” Now, the truth of the matter is — and Bloomberg News even points out that the only way — it’s a corrupt number. It is a corrupt number. Folks, the number of people who have quit looking for work in the last few weeks is 315,000. Those are the people have thrown up their hands after 99 weeks or more of being unemployed; and they’ve said, “I’m quitting. I’m not looking.” So they’re not counted. Therefore, the universe of jobs available in the country is down by 315,000. That is the labor force participation rate. The labor force participation rate is a meager 64%. It fell to 64% from 64.2%. So the 0.2% drop equals 315,000 people leaving the workforce.

That means there are 315,000 fewer jobs to have, so the universe of jobs has been steadily shrinking. What was the number of jobs created? It’s 120,000 jobs. It’s 120, 126,000, whatever. That’s in the ballpark. That number of jobs created can lower unemployment rate 0.4%, almost one half of a percent? Creating 120,000 new jobs can do that? That alone tells us how small the labor force participation rate is. That tells us how small the universe of available jobs in the country is, when creating 120,000 — and we still have, don’t forget, over 400,000 applications for unemployment compensation reported yesterday. So just 120,000 new jobs can lower the unemployment rate almost a half a point. That’s not possible without that 315,000 figure, the 315,000 people who have just walked away.”

https://citizenwells.wordpress.com/2011/12/04/nc-unemployment-worst-since-great-depression-uncg-and-government-spending-spree-other-peoples-money-obama-supporters-predictable/

From Rush Limbaugh January 06, 2012.
 
“But now back to this 8.5%, folks.  They are celebrating, even this as fraudulent as it is, this 8.5% is fraudulent.  The news is out there something like 200,000 jobs created, surging in December.  However, 42,000 of them are seasonally adjusted couriers and messengers.  In December, a category called couriers and messengers, they’re hired during the holiday season, they’re temps.  Forty-two thousand of them.  They will not be counted in January and February ’cause they’re let go.  But, look, we could nitpick here on the numbers.  That misses the point.  The point here is what we were talking about yesterday.  The truth is not what is important here; it’s what’s being reported.  I could sit here all day and tell you how these jobs numbers are not accurate.  It’s not gonna matter.  The news is Obama’s policies are working.  The news is it’s finally kicking in.  The news is the economy is growing. The news is jobs are being created.”
 

“So 8.5% unemployment, millions of unemployed people, millions of jobs lost, millions of people on government benefits because they can’t find jobs — and this is the progress we have, this is what we have to show for trillions of dollars in deficit spending. Trillions of dollars! The unemployment rate is still higher than when Obama took office. The media is reporting, “The unemployment rate lower than it’s been in three years!” They don’t tell you lower than since Obama was inaugurated, but that’s the truth: $5 trillion in deficit later, we have an 8.5% unemployment rate. That’s it? This is what we’re supposed to party down over? And of course we have to provide the perspective here because few others will.

So we’ve got $6 trillion in new deficits. We ignore the millions who have dropped out of the workforce, we ignore all those who are holding part time rather than full-time jobs, and the best Obama can come with — the best the Democrats can come up with, the best the media can come up with — is 8.5%, and we’re supposed to celebrate today. How much have these jobs cost? Morning news reports this is a good picture. There are six million fewer jobs today than there were in 2008, folks! There are six million fewer jobs available in this country than there were three years ago. The unemployment rate is 15.2% when you include those who have dropped out and those who want full-time jobs but have to take part-time jobs. That’s the latest figure. So the Obama plan: Shrink the workforce, expand the welfare state, and then claim economic progress. Then slash the military, take that money and subsidize public sector employees who vote reliably Democrat, like NEA members.”
http://www.rushlimbaugh.com/daily/2012/01/06/it_s_party_time_8_5_unemployment

From News Max February 3, 2012.

 
“Rush: Obama’s Jobless Numbers Are ‘Corrupt’
Friday, 03 Feb 2012 01:18 PM
 
The jobless rate reported today is “corrupt as it can be” because President Barack Obama’s administration has decreased the size of the workforce, Rush Limbaugh said on his radio show.
 
According to the Department of Labor, employers added almost a quarter of a million jobs in January. According to Limbaugh, it eliminated 2 ½ million positions.
 
“The number of jobs not available to be filled exploded by an unprecedented, record number of 1.2 million,” he said. “That’s not a typo. That’s part of this 2 ½ million fewer jobs. It is corrupt as it can be.”
 
He said the shrinking of “the overall universe of jobs” led to the misconstrued dip in the unemployment rate, to 8.3, from 8.5 in December.
 
“No president has ever been re-elected when the unemployment rate’s over 8 percent, so guess what it’s going to be by the time we get to Election Day,” he said.”
 
 
Your assignment?
 
Make certain all of those around you know the truth.
 

59 Comments

Posted in Barack Obama, Citizen News, Citizens for the truth about Obama, CitizenWells, Economy, Election 2012, Employment, Government, Jobs, Lies, News, Obama, Obama lies, Obama Nation, Obama records, Rush Limbaugh, The Case Against Barack Obama, US economy, Washington DC, white house

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The Corruption of America, Porter Stansberry, America is in decline, Americans Are Getting Poorer Fast, Entitlement root of many serious cultural problems

Posted on January 16, 2012 | 156 comments

The Corruption of America, Porter Stansberry, America is in decline, Americans Are Getting Poorer Fast, Entitlement root of many serious cultural problems

The following are exerpts from a well written article by Porter Stansberry on many of the economic and social woes of America. The full article is worthy of your time.

“The Corruption of America”

“Why I’m still bullish on America
By: Porter Stansberry
The numbers tell us America is in decline… if not outright collapse.

I say “the numbers tell us” because I’ve become very sensitive to the impact this kind of statement has on people. When I warned about the impending
bankruptcy of General Motors in 2006 and 2007, readers actually blamed me for the company’s problems – as if my warnings to the public were the real problem, rather than GM’s $400 billion in debt.

The claim was absurd. But the resentment my work engendered was real.

So please… before you read this issue, which makes several arresting claims about the future of our country… understand I am only writing about the facts
as I find them today. I am only drawing conclusions based on the situation as it stands. I am not saying that these conditions can’t improve. Or that they
won’t improve.

The truth is, I am optimistic. I believe our country is heading into a crisis. But I also believe that… sooner or later… Americans will make the right
choices and put our country back on sound footing.

Please pay careful attention to the data I cite. And please send me corrections to the facts. I will happily publish any correction that can be
substantiated. But please don’t send me threats, accusations against my character, or baseless claims about my lack of patriotism. If I didn’t love our
country, none of these facts would bother me. I wouldn’t have bothered writing this letter.

I know this is a politically charged and emotional issue. My conclusions will not be easy for most readers to accept. Likewise, many of the things I am
writing about this month will challenge my subscribers to re-examine what they believe about their country. The facts about America today tell a painful
story about a country in a steep decline, beset by problems of its own making.

One last point, before we begin… I realize that this kind of macro-economic/political analysis is not, primarily, what you pay me for. You rightly expect me to provide you with investment opportunities – whether bull market, bear market, or total societal collapse. And that’s what I’ve done every month for more than 15 years.

But that’s not what I’ve done this month. You won’t find any investment ideas at all in these pages. This issue is unlike any other I have ever written.

I’m sure it will spark a wave of cancellations – costing me hundreds of thousands of dollars. I fear it will spark a tremendous amount of controversy. Many
people will surely accuse me of deliberately writing inflammatory things in order to stir the pot and gain attention. That’s not my intention. The truth is,
I’ve gone to great lengths throughout my career to protect my privacy.

I am speaking out now because I believe someone must. And I have the resources to do it. I am sharing these ideas with my subscribers because I know we have arrived at the moment of a long-brewing crisis.

Our political leaders, our business leaders, and our cultural leaders have made a series of catastrophic choices. The result has been a long decline in
America’s standard of living.

For decades, we have papered over these problems with massive amounts of borrowing. But now, our debts total close to 400% of GDP, and America is the world’s largest borrower (after being the world’s largest creditor only 40 years ago)… And the holes in our society can no longer be hidden…

We’ve reached the point where we will have to fix what lies at the heart of America’s decline… or be satisfied with a vastly lower standard of living in
the future.

How do I know? How do I statistically define the decline of America?

The broadest measure of national wealth is per-capita gross domestic product (GDP). Economists use this figure to judge standards of living around the world.
It shows the value of the country’s annual production divided by the number of its citizens. No, the production isn’t actually divided among all the
citizens, but this measure provides us with a fair benchmark to compare different economies around the world. Likewise, this measure shows the growth (or the decline) in wealth in societies across time.

So… is America growing richer or poorer based on per-capita GDP? Seems like a simple enough question, doesn’t it? Is our economy growing faster than our
population? Are we, as individuals, becoming more affluent? Or is the pie, measured on a per-person basis, growing smaller?

This is the most fundamental measure of the success or the failure of any political system or culture. Are the legal and social rules we live under aiding
our economic development or holding us back? What do the numbers say?

Unfortunately, it’s a harder question to answer than it should be. The problem is, we don’t have a sound currency with which to measure GDP through time.
Until 1971, the U.S. dollar was defined as a certain amount of gold. And the price of gold was fixed by international agreement. It didn’t actually begin to
trade freely until 1975. Therefore, the value of the U.S. dollar (and thus the value of U.S. production, which is measured in dollars) was manipulated higher
for many years.

Even today, our government’s nominal GDP figures are greatly influenced by inflation. The influence of inflation is particularly pernicious in GDP studies.
You see, inflation, which actually reduces our standard of living, drives up the amount of nominal GDP. So it creates the appearance of a wealthier
country… while the nation is actually getting poorer.”

“You see, I believe the decline of our country is primarily a decline of our culture.

We have lost our sense of honor, humility, and the dedication to personal responsibility that, for more than 200 years, made our country the greatest hope for mankind. I want to detail some of the factors that gave rise to the current entitlement society. We have become a country of people who believe their well-being is someone else’s responsibility.

I’ve labeled these problems: The Corruption of America.

These problems manifest themselves in different ways across institutions in all parts of our society. But at their root, they are simply facets of the same
stone. They are all part of the same essential problem.

The corruption of America isn’t happening in one part of our country… or in one type of institution. It is happening across the landscape of our society,
in almost every institution. It’s a kind of moral decay… a kind of greed… a kind of desperate grasp for power… And it’s destroying our nation.

The Ethos of ‘Getting Yours’

Americans know, in their bones, that something terrible is happening. Maybe you can’t articulate it. Maybe you don’t have the statistics to understand
exactly what’s going on. But my bet is, you think about it a lot.”

“Bloomberg news published an article based on confidential sources about how Henry Paulson, the former CEO of Goldman Sachs and the Republican U.S. Treasury secretary during the financial crisis, held a secret meeting with the top 20 hedge-fund managers in New York City in late July 2008. This was about two weeks after he testified to Congress that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were “well-capitalized.””

“This was the most outrageous example of graft and corruption I have ever seen. Certainly it involves more billions of dollars in misappropriated value than
any other similar story I can recall. These managers had the risk-free ability to make tens of billions of dollars, if not hundreds of billions, by using
derivatives to capitalize on what they knew was the imminent collapse of the world’s largest mortgage bank. Who picked up the tab? You know perfectly well.
It was you and me, the taxpayers.”

“What does that say about our country when even the most egregious kind of corruption – involving hundreds of billions of dollars – is simply ignored?

It seems like everyone in our country has lost his moral bearing, from the highest government officials and senior corporate leaders all the way down to
schoolteachers and local community leaders. The ethos of my fellow Americans seems to have changed from one of personal integrity and responsibility to
“getting yours” – the all-out attempt, by any means possible, to get the most amount of benefits with the least amount of work.”

“It is routinely alleged in national political debates that something is fundamentally unfair and un-American about the huge “wealth gap” between the poorest Americans and the wealthiest. Some politicians like to argue that the poor never have a real shot at the American dream, and as a nation, we owe them more and more of our resources to correct this injustice. Most important, it is alleged that only the government has the resources to correct this inequality.

This is a dangerous notion…

First, it promotes the idea of entitlement. Entitlement is a fairly new idea in the American political lexicon – perhaps because most of our nation’s wealth
is still fairly new. The American idea of entitlement argues that because you were born into a rich society, other people owe you something. The idea has
become pervasive in our culture. It underlies the basic assumptions behind the idea of a “wealth gap.” Implicit is the assumption that successful Americans
haven’t rightfully earned their wealth… that in one way or another, they’ve taken advantage of the society and have an obligation to give back most of what
they’ve “taken.”

As you’ll see, I believe the idea of entitlement lies at the root of many of our most serious cultural problems.

The more obvious problem is the idea that the government is responsible for fixing the “wealth gap.” But the government has proved wholly ineffective at
dealing with poverty in America. The data is nearly conclusive that government efforts are far more likely to be the cause of the wealth gap than the
solution.”

“It has now been almost 50 years since the start of the War on Poverty, President Lyndon Johnson’s program to radically increase domestic welfare spending.
These programs and their various spinoffs have been at the center of Democratic politics ever since. In fact, if you compare speeches about these programs from the mid-1960s until today, you will find the verbiage never changes. Obama is merely echoing the same calls for “social justice” that Robert Kennedy used in his ill-fated 1968 campaign for president.”
“And what do the Democrats do with this power? They push a form of American socialism. This political system features transfer payments, government jobs, and lucrative government contracts to voters in exchange for political support – and in many cases, outright bribes. They do all of these things under the cover
of “progressive” politics and “social justice.”

But if you brush away the veneer, what you find is a history of abuse of power, corruption, and outright bribery. Conyers himself was found guilty of several
minor ethical violations in 2006 – mainly of using his staff as personal servants, forcing them to babysit and chauffer his children. In 1992, he was one of
the most egregious abusers of the House Banking scandal. He wrote 273 bad checks and left his account overdrawn for nine months. But that’s all small-time
graft compared to how things really work in his office and in his district.

How do I know? Well… just ask yourself where Conyers’ wife sleeps today.

Monica Conyers, the wife of the second-longest tenured congressman in the United States, sleeps in a federal prison in West Virginia. She pled guilty to
bribery in June 2009. She is serving a 37-month sentence for accepting $60,000 in bribes as the president pro tempore of the Detroit City Council. And yet…
and yet… Conyers won re-election handily in 2010.”

“Government Employee Unions:
Organized Corruption

A big part of the answer lies in understanding the key mechanism in the Democratic Party’s funding system. (Don’t worry… so far, we’ve been talking about Democratic Party failures, but I’ll get to the Republicans next. The corruption of America is a bipartisan problem.)”

“A government union turns the public servant into the public’s master. It is a means of using the government’s own spending to organize control of that
government. And that is exactly what’s happened. The government, unlike private companies, isn’t limited by normal economics because the government controls the monopoly on force and has the power to levy taxes.”

“Our country’s core problems are not found in only one political party.

There is just as much corruption, if not more, on the Republican side of the aisle. It was, for example, as I pointed out earlier, a white, Republican-
appointed Treasury secretary (Henry Paulson) who tipped off 20 top hedge-fund managers about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac’s imminent collapse after assuring the public that it wouldn’t happen.

For big business, the powerful role of government in our society is simply too valuable to ignore. And the amount of corruption it inspires is stunning. Few
politicians even bother trying to hide the fact that they’re bought and sold like furniture.

Take Newt Gingrich. The white, Republican former House speaker was paid $1.6 million for “consulting” by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac during a period of time the two firms were under constant attack by Newt’s fellow Republicans. Were the attacks efforts to truly reform a major threat to our financial system… or were they merely shakedowns? All we know for certain is Fannie and Freddie collapsed, just as many Republicans warned they would. The Republican effort to reform the firms failed. Newt collected $1.6 million.

Fannie and Freddie could end up costing taxpayers as much as $500 billion. No, I’m not ignoring the colossal role the Democrats played in staffing Fannie and
Freddie, lobbying Congress for the companies, etc. I’m simply pointing out that, in Washington, everything and everyone seems to be for sale, on both sides
of the aisle.”

“Here’s a simple solution. Hold the senators and congressmen personally liable for any deficit, each year. We elected these people to be our leaders. We did
not elect them to spend us into bankruptcy. We did not elect them to feather their own nests with unlimited public spending. We did not elect them to buy
votes. The only way to stop what’s happening is to make them personally responsible for their actions. Either they will balance the budget or face personal
financial ruin.

Demanding personal accountability for fiduciary responsibilities would have an immediate and profound impact on our society. It would wipe out the
entitlement mentality that’s destroying our society – almost overnight.”

“I do agree that the nation will soon face a choice between heading down the path towards fascism… or turning back the power of government and restoring the limited Republic that was our birthright. I continue to believe Americans will choose personal liberty.

I believe they will choose more freedom rather than more totalitarian rule. I don’t believe Americans will tolerate martial law for long – even in the advent
of a real emergency, which I do believe will occur.”

“What gives me confidence for the future? Gun sales, for one thing. U.S. citizens legally own around 270 million firearms – about 88 guns per 100 citizens
(including children) today.

That’s a hard population to police without its consent. America is the No. 1 country in the world as ranked by the number of guns per-capita. That plays a
major factor in the kind of government you will see take root in America. Things might go too far in this country for a while… And I’d argue they’ve been
going the wrong way for too long. But the government can only take things so far before they’ll be faced with a very angry, well-armed opposition.

If the government attempts to take our guns… my opinion would change immediately. But that’s one right the Supreme Court has been strengthening recently.
It gives me hope that most people in America still understand that the right to bear arms has little to do with protecting ourselves from crime and
everything to do with protecting ourselves from government…”

Read more:

http://www.stansberryresearch.com/pub/reports/201112PSI_issue.html

Thank you, Porter Stansberry,  for this well written and insightful article.

I urge you all to read the entire article and pass it along to your elected officials and those running for office.

156 Comments

Posted in America, Americans, Barack Obama, Budget, Citizen News, Citizens for the truth about Obama, CitizenWells, Congress, corruption, Democratic Socialists of America, Democrats, Economy, Financial crisis, Government, Money, Obama, Pay to play politics, Politics, republicans, Socialists, United States, US economy, Washington DC, white house

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