....How about separating good government from bad government?
We can start by shutting down the House of Representatives!
(Sharon on left, Merkin on right)
NEW YORK (AP) -- New York's attorney general filed civil fraud charges Monday against a hedge fund manager who funneled $2.4 billion to Wall Street swindler Bernard Madoff without telling clients where their money was going.
The complaint accuses J. Ezra Merkin, the former chairman of GMAC Financial Services, of concealing his links to Madoff and lying to investors about what he was doing with their money, telling most he was personally investing their cash in things like distressed debt.
Over the years, Merkin collected $470 million in fees and performance bonuses from his clients, the suit said. It said many of those customers, which included several large charities and colleges, had no idea where their money really was until December, when Madoff was arrested.
"Merkin duped individual investors, non-profits, and charities into believing he was responsibly managing their investments, when in actuality he was dumping them into history's largest Ponzi scheme," Attorney General Andrew Cuomo said in a statement.
The complaint also accused Merkin of mingling his personal funds with the accounts of his management company, Gabriel Capital Group, and using some of the company's funds for personal purchases, including $91 million worth of artwork for his apartment.
http://finance.yahoo.com/news/Fund-manager-hit-with-civil-apf-14860314.html
"It is not easy to stay on the sidelines while others are busy getting rich. Wall Street, moreover, is constitutionally predisposed to overdo things. The stereotype imagines a Wall Street populated by bulls and bears. In reality, the Street itself is neither bull nor bear but shark, constantly shifting direction in an eternal search for food. This feeding process involves massive shifts of capital, which inevitably, is sometimes misallocated." - J. Ezra Merkin, writing in an introduction to a chapter in the 75th anniversary version of Graham and Dodd's Security Analysis.
Perp walks, orange jumpsuits, chain gangs, pitch forks and torches?
WASHINGTON – The nation's unemployment rate jumped to 8.5 percent in March, the highest since late 1983, as a wide swath of employers eliminated 663,000 jobs. It's fresh evidence of the toll the recession has inflicted on America's workers, and economists say there's no relief in sight.
If part-time and discouraged workers are factored in, the unemployment rate would have been 15.6 percent in March, the highest on records dating to 1994, according to Labor Department data released Friday.
The average work week in March dropped to 33.2 hours, a new record low. Since the recession began in December 2007, the economy has lost a net total of 5.1 million jobs, with almost two-thirds of the losses occurring in the last five months.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/economy
Scene: A cafe. One table is occupied by a group of Vikings wearing horned helmets. Whenever the word "spam" is repeated, they begin singing and/or chanting. A man and his wife enter.
Man: You sit here, dear.
Wife: All right.
Man: Morning!
Waitress: Morning!
Man: Well, what've you got?
Waitress: Well, there's egg and bacon; egg sausage and bacon; egg and spam; egg bacon and spam; egg bacon sausage and spam; spam bacon sausage and spam; spam egg spam spam bacon and spam; spam sausage spam spam bacon spam tomato and spam;
Vikings: Spam spam spam spam...
Waitress: ...spam spam spam egg and spam; spam spam spam spam spam spam baked beans spam spam spam...
Vikings: Spam! Lovely spam! Lovely spam!
Waitress: ...or Lobster Thermidor a Crevette with a mornay sauce served in a Provencale manner with shallots and aubergines garnished with truffle pate, brandy and with a fried egg on top and spam.
Wife: Have you got anything without spam?
Waitress: Well, there's spam egg sausage and spam, that's not got much spam in it.
Man: Why can't she have egg bacon spam and sausage?
Wife: THAT'S got spam in it!
Man: Hasn't got as much spam in it as spam egg sausage and spam, has it?
Vikings: Spam spam spam spam... (Crescendo through next few lines...)
Wife: Could you do the egg bacon spam and sausage without the spam then?
Waitress: Urgghh!
Wife: What do you mean 'Urgghh'? I don't like spam!
Vikings: Lovely spam! Wonderful spam!
Waitress: Shut up!
Waitress: Shut up! (Vikings stop) Bloody Vikings! You can't have egg bacon spam and sausage without the spam.
Wife: I don't like spam!
Man: Sshh, dear, don't cause a fuss. I'll have your spam. I love it. I'm having spam spam spam spam spam spam spam beaked beans spam spam spam and spam!
Vikings: Spam spam spam spam. Lovely spam! Wonderful spam!
Waitress: Shut up!! Baked beans are off.
Man: Well could I have her spam instead of the baked beans then?
Waitress: You mean spam spam spam spam spam spam... (but it is too late and the Vikings drown her words)
Vikings: (Singing enthusiasticaly) Spam spam spam spam. Lovely spam! Wonderful spam! Spam spa-a-a-a-a-am spam spa-a-a-a-a-am spam. Lovely spam! Lovely spam! Lovely spam! Lovely spam! Lovely spam! Spam spam spam spam!
OK. I'm a Bank of America retail customer. They called me last night to thank me for being a good customer, but really to sell me insurance. It took the guy a few minutes to ascertain who was underwriting it and he didn't know how that firm was rated. They called me a couple of weeks ago and asked me to buy some disability policy underwritten by AIG -- yeah right. It's nice being a "valued customer".
There's a fair amount of BAC stock in my IRAs - it used to offer a high dividend yield. Now BAC has SLASHED the dividend and the stock lost +/-80% value based on my average purchases. Guess I'll have to work a couple more years before retirement.
We taxpayers give/lend BAC $$$billions and ask Ken Lewis to takeover Merrill Lynch. Otherwise-defunct Merrill Lynch pays out $$$millions to its employees.\
The Fed lowers interest rates at the window -- again, with all of us backstopping it through risk of currency devaluation, etc.
Interest rates are at record lows, almost zero, right?
I go home for lunch and what is in my mail box? A notice that they are raising the interest rate on a credit card. Never been over limit, always paid on time, no other changes in my FICO profile. I called to ask "why"?
The customer service response: 'We are raising rates on all cards. Everybody knows rates are going up.'
HUH???
I asked Ms Cust Service to make sure I get taken off their list for future solicitations. It used to feel good to be recognized a valued customer somewhere. At least they'd give you a toaster, $25 or something.
**Only the UK, Australia, Poland and Denmark provided troops at the invasion stage. The Marshall Islands, Micronesia, Palau and Solomon Islands don't even have standing armies.**Per the Bush#43 White House: President Bush is assembling a Coalition that has already begun military operations to disarm Iraq of its weapons of mass destruction, and enforce 17 UNSC resolutions. The Coalition will also liberate the Iraqi people from one of the worst tyrants and most brutal regimes on earth. Contributions from Coalition member nations range from: direct military participation, logistical and intelligence support, specialized chemical/biological response teams, over-flight rights, humanitarian and reconstruction aid, to political support. Forty-nine countries are publicly committed to the Coalition, including: Afghanistan Albania Angola Australia Azerbaijan Bulgaria Colombia Czech Republic Denmark Dominican Republic El Salvador Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Georgia Honduras Hungary Iceland Italy Japan Kuwait Latvia Lithuania Macedonia Marshall Islands Micronesia Mongolia Netherlands Nicaragua Palau Panama Philippines Poland Portugal Romania Rwanda Singapore Slovakia Solomon Islands South Korea Spain Tonga Turkey Uganda Ukraine United Kingdom United States Uzbekistan
"MyBO is currently experiencing some technical difficulties. We are aware of the problem and are working on fixing it as quickly as possible. We apologize for any difficulties this may have caused and thank you for your patience as we get this fixed."
For updates, contact the DNC @ 202.863.8000 ...
LONDON – G-20 protesters clashed with riot police in downtown London on Wednesday, breaking into the heavily guarded Royal Bank of Scotland and smashing its windows. Earlier, they tried to storm the Bank of England and pelted police with eggs and fruit.
At least 4,000 anarchists, anti-capitalists, environmentalists and others jammed into London's financial district for what they called "Financial Fool's Day." The protests were called ahead of Thursday's summit of world leaders, who hope to take concrete steps to resolve the global financial crisis that has lashed nations and workers worldwide.
Some protesters spray-painted the side of the RBS building with the phrases "class war" and "thieves." Others pushed against columns of riot police who swatted them away with batons.
Royal Bank of Scotland is at the center of protesters' anger because it had to be bailed out by the British government after a series of disastrous deals brought it to the brink of bankruptcy. The bank is now majority-owned by the British taxpayer.
Despite that, its former chief executive Fred Goodwin — aged just 50 — managed to walk off with a tidy $1 million annual pension for life, while unemployment in Britain now tops 2 million and is heading towards 3 million by the end of this year. Goodwin has been vilified by the British press.
RBS posted a British record loss of 24.1 billion pounds for 2008. The British government has invested 20 billion pounds in propping up the bank.
"Every job I apply for there's already 150 people who have also applied," said protester Nathan Dean, 35, who lost his information technology job three weeks ago. "I have had to sign on to the dole (welfare) for the first time in my life. You end up having to pay your mortgage on your credit card and you fall into debt twice over."
Demonstrators hoisted effigies of the "four horsemen of the apocalypse," representing war, climate chaos, financial crimes and homelessness.
Especially in Britain, bankers have been lambasted as being greedy and blamed for the recession that is making jobless ranks soar.
"It seems like everything is in a mess," said protester Steve Johnson, 49, an unemployed construction worker. "You get bankers getting massive bonuses, and the MPs (British lawmakers) are lining their own pockets."
Protesters waved banners reading "Banks are evil," "Eat the bankers," and "0% interest in others."
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090401/ap_on_re_eu/g20_protests
Call the DNC at 202.863.8000 and tell them you want this site cleaned up and monitored for SPAM!
This is "udderly" (sic) ridiculous!
PHNOM PENH (Reuters) – The chief Khmer Rouge torturer formally apologized Tuesday for the deaths of more than 14,000 people at S-21 prison, the first Pol Pot cadre to accept blame for crimes committed by the regime 30 years ago.
"I am responsible for the crimes committed at S-21, especially the torture and execution of the people there," Duch told a U.N.-Cambodian court where he is charged with crimes against humanity and war crimes.
But the 66-year-old former math teacher said he was only following orders issued by the top Khmer Rouge leadership, and had feared for the lives of his family if he had disobeyed.
Duch is expected to be a key witness in the future trials of those also deemed "most responsible" by the tribunal for one of the darkest chapters in the 20th century.
The other four -- "Brother Number Two" Nuon Chea, the regime's ex-president, Khieu Samphan, and Ieng Sary, its foreign minister, and his wife -- have denied knowledge of any atrocities.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090331/wl_nm/us_cambodia_rouge_apology
Who's next on the global "Top 20"?
Please get out a mop and bucket.
Thanks!
MSRP: $21,605 - $26,880
NOTE: The Maxima already has 200,000 miles on it.
Any adult supervision available?
Anybody else getting tired of reporting this garbage? Why can't the Site Admin/Moderator pick this up on its own?
