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Hi All,
Greetings and Salutation!
I watched the movie version of “Chicago” the other night. Today, I think about this AIG fiasco and remember Richard Gere’s well done rendition of “Razzle Dazzle ’em” in that movie. The sly lawyer as he diverts attention from what is fact to what is emotion. In the instance of this AIG fiasco, diverting attention to bonuses paid executives and away from the truth. Any really, really, good swindle or scam uses that “Razzle Dazzle ‘em” rule. One must have a focus of attention somewhere other than upon the fraud itself. The shenanigans at AIG bring to mind a movie called “Paper Moon”. Destiny teams a little girl and a middle-aged man up as con artists. The man pays for some items in a story with a large bill. Behind him in line, the little girl pays for something with a small bill. When the girl sees her change, she balks, claiming that she had given the clerk the larger bill. Her distressed cry that the larger bill is a birthday gift with a birthday inscription on it, inciting emotions. Found in the cash drawer is a larger bill with the inscription the girl claims. The girl “earns” the larger bill via her deception. AIG is much the same con, right down to the little girl taking the fraud into a simpler swindle. A couple of more obvious short-changing maneuvers to increase her take or maybe just to show off her flair for the con game. In the AIG situation, these would be bonuses unnecessary yet still, bonuses useful in diverting attention toward facts to attention toward emotions. It can be a bit more complicated but the primary things that occurred up to and including the bailouts is the same. There are many faucets to this fraud. However, the base fraud is a matter of giving a small bill and pretending it is the large bill. The deregulation of laws, which had created borders betwixt Wall Street, the Banks, and the Insurance companies, that allowed great fraud to be committed. Long ago and far away, something called “buying on margin” came to be. This entailed a situation whereby a person could post X dollars of collateral and the stock market company would give an equal amount of credit. Thereby, one could have $100.00 in collateral and buy $200.00 in stock. This is termed “leveraging” and was fine when regulations were in place. The advent of such things as “options” for “hedging” will greatly increase this leveraging situation to create a “win-win” situation for the smart investor (or better said, “Sly” investor). The stock market always somewhat of a gamble, one could now “bet” that a stock would fall in value and make the big bucks. Even if one did not actually own the actual shares of that stock, one could control hundreds of thousands of dollars in stock with only a few hundreds of marginal dollars. Marginal dollars are the big bill that the little girl did not really give the store clerk; it never existed. However, the real big bill, which the store clerk gave back to the little girl, did exist. In effect, it was money used to “bail out” the clerk and the store due to emotional circumstances. One day it hit the news that a company called “Lehman Brothers” had taken the big dive and the world would collapse unless the government did not step in to help. The sky was falling, as it were. The big cats including the FED knew that Lehman would collapse if someone did not purchase it (and revise the books) or the FED did not step in with help. The stack of cards to build the house was going to come down. The FED knew long before Lehman Brothers failed that it would happen. Instead of bracing (or bailing out) Lehman Brothers, the Fed let Lehman Brothers fail. The auspice incongruously put out that Lehman would fall by itself and create only a pothole on Wall Street. This is incongruent because anyone familiar with the system would know that Lehman would take others with it. Lehman failed and AIG became responsible for the billions in insurance it sold against such a failure. The government fooled to step in with billions and no oversight. The insurance that AIG had sold and could not cover, billions in insurance to protect investors that they not lose their investment AND not lose the monies that did not exist; stocks and options bought on MARGIN. What a quandary, what a great fraud is the scam perpetrated on an unsuspecting people. AIG had insured billions of dollars that did not exist. Until the FED marched in and turned those dollars into real cash, the clerk handing the poor little child her take and her bonus for her short change game. The executives earned those bonuses because they pulled the biggest heist in history. In addition, they are taking the people’s eye off the proverbial ball and probably giving AIG plenty of time for a probable shredding enterprise. Find the insured and one will find the trail of fraud or one can play with the millions in bonuses and ignore the billions in fraud.
Loveya,
YES WE DID! YES WE MUST:
Þ Protect him from harm both verbal & phyiscal
Þ Stay "FIRED UP" by staying active
Þ Work Bi-Partisan to bring "Change" together
Þ Don't just bitch, get active and stay engaged
Þ Start and join a local "Change" group
Þ Be philanthropic, serve your community, state and nation
Þ Stick by Obama, STOP smears on the Right & the Left!!!! Hold yourself responsible as you hold Barack!
Join the future of this movement!!
http://change.gov/joinus
http://www.communityorganize.com
http://www.ourpresidency.com
http://www.usaservice.org
http://www.whitehouse.gov
Barack's DNC 2004 Speech
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eWynt87PaJ0&feature=PlayList&p=B1939005B8A4D4ED&index=188
Barack's DNC 2008 Speech
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ato7BtisXzE&feature=channel
Barack’s Election Acceptance Speech
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wJ-2Zu_Iic&feature=channel
Barack’s Inauguration Speech
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VjnygQ02aW4
From Ryan Seashore
Please Join us on Tues, January 20th
for the
San Francisco Inaugural Ball!
at the supperclub, 657 Harrison St. @ 3rd
Featuring the sounds of DJ's: D-Sharp, DJ Just,
Dan-Lo and Franchise
RSVP to: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=50994897750
Admission: is on a sliding scale $5 to $25
all proceeds go to Kiva.org
Doors Open at 9pm
21 and over
Drink Specials all night long!
Celebrate this historic event with other Obama Supporters!
Hosted by: Ryan Seashore and Generation Obama SF Co-Hosts: Brian Wang, Rebecca Prozan, Virg Cristobal,
Albert Hwu, AAPI's for Obama, Filipinos for Obama,
SF Obama Pride, South Asians For Obama,
And San Francisco Young Dems
In my event "Change is coming - get invoved" event on Saturday December 13th (see http://my.barackobama.com/page/event/detail/gsxb3c), I got a great note from a group of registrants, viz: "three internet entrepreneurs, headed your way. would like to discuss how we can open up government and the public's participation in it ... by taking it online!" from Chelsea Hardaway.
Look forward to seeing you there...
Cheers,
Ray
I'm about to head to Grant Park to talk to everyone gathered there, but I wanted to write to you first. We just made history. And I don't want you to forget how we did it. You made history every single day during this campaign -- every day you knocked on doors, made a donation, or talked to your family, friends, and neighbors about why you believe it's time for change. I want to thank all of you who gave your time, talent, and passion to this campaign. We have a lot of work to do to get our country back on track, and I'll be in touch soon about what comes next. But I want to be very clear about one thing... All of this happened because of you. Thank you, Barack
Find a polling place near you at Last Call for Change.
Dear Ken, Kevin, Michael, John and Patty,
Over the years I have watched, and argued with each of you as your political philosophies vacillated from left to right and vice versa. However, none of you have ever known me to support a Democrat. I have always been proud to be a fiscally conservative, socially liberal member, in good standing of the Republican Party. We have joked about the many Christmas cards, photographs and invitations to inaugurations that I have received from George Bush and the Republican Party. However, on the eve of this election I wanted to write to explain why I am supporting Barack Obama for President of the United States.
Put starkly, I am very concerned about the mess that my generation is leaving to you and particularly about the future facing my grandchildren. In foreign affairs, John McCain’s views are more hawkish than Bush’s and his principal advisors are Neo-Cons, or lobbyists who have represented foreign countries. Your children, like it or not, will live and work in a globalized world. We must regain the prestige and leadership that Bush has squandered.
On the economy, we risk another great depression. Yet John McCain says "the fundamentals of our economy are strong" then "suspends" his campaign to fly to Washington to showboat. He demonstrated that he was ineffective. The only "solutions" for our economic problems that John McCain promotes are to maintain and even increase the Bush tax cuts. This approach has led to some of you having trouble getting credit or a mortgage, employment insecurity and the plunging stock market that is cutting into retirement savings. Under Bush we have borrowed billions from Japan and China that, unless we change the policies that Bush and McCain support, your children will have to repay with a substantially reduced standard of living.
John McCain, espouses the "trickle down theory" of economics that has led to the current mess. He proposes more tax cuts for the rich and seeks to scare you that Barack Obama will increase your taxes. The truth is that it is John McCain who is proposing to tax the value of the medical benefits you get from your employer in exchange for a $5,000 tax credit to buy your insurance. I seriously doubt that any of you can replace the insurance you are getting from your employers with a $5,000 credit–it will cost you substantially more and I have a seriously doubt if you could get insurance covering preexisting conditions for you or your children if your employers cut back their medical plan since they would no longer be getting a deduction. John McCain has suggested deregulating the medical insurance industry just as was done for the banking industry. No thank you Senator McCain.
Since none of you are currently making over $250,000 the Obama tax plan will give you a tax decrease as opposed to an increase. What Senator Obama has proposed is to increase the top tax bracket from 35% to 39.6%–what it was under Clinton. Such a tax increase is neither socialism nor a redistribution of wealth. While you were growing up, I remember a top tax bracket of 90% and 70%. In those days we paid for wars and government rather than borrowing the money. As your grandfather used to say "the country has been good to us and we have an obligation to contribute to the common good by willingly paying taxes, government service and/or charitable activities." John McCain’s belief that if we just give tax breaks to the rich and to large corporations the wealth will "trickle down" to the middle class just hasn’t worked.. In the past eight years the income and wealth disparity in the country has spiraled out of control. 20 to 40 million dollar salaries to CEO’s, entertainers and athletes are becoming commonplace while the middle class is struggling to stay above water–a loss of job or an illness away from foreclosure. We are approaching the level of disparity between the top and the bottom that foments revolutions. Even if Barack Obama were to raise your taxes–which he will not–it would be far better than the McCain alternative where the rich would get richer while the middle class suffers.
As you know, on his birthday I wrote a letter to John McCain questioning whether, at age 72, we were both too old to be President. That letter was sent the night before John McCain put temporary electoral advantage ahead of country and brought us Sarah Palin. Since then, I have closely observed John McCain’s demeanor, temperament and judgment. The conclusion is inescapable that he is too old to be President for the reasons stated in my previous letter. However, apart from questions of age, the nature of the campaign that he has presided over disqualifies him for the job. Simply put, John McCain and his "sidekick" have conducted a totally negative campaign based upon character assasination and lies. Listen to a McCain and Palin speech–it is all about tearing down Obama. You never here the details of a positive program. Just pandering and spite.
In order to move forward we have to end the mindless partisanship that has infected Washington and eliminate the politics of negativism and character assassination. While the McCain camp says that both sides are negative, a review of both sides advertisements, speeches and positions refutes their claim. We have had eight years of lies and spin from the Bush administration. The lies and spin will continue if McCain-Palin are elected.
For all of the forgoing reasons I am supporting Barack Obama for President. This year move than ever, I also believe that it is important in voting for your Senator and Representative to consider their record. Have they voted as a mindless partisan? In particular, do they have a voting record like John McCain of 90% support of Bush policies? If so, you should consider also voting for change in your Senate or House race. Arguments that the Democrats are responsible for the mess in Washington because they controlled the House and Senate for the last two years ignore that progress has been hamstrung by vetoes by George Bush and a record use of filibusters by Senate Republicans. I hope that my Republican Party will see the light, purge the extremist elements and regain the traditions of Eisenhower, Goldwater and Regan. Then I can go back to the party, but for now we need to eliminate the "know nothings" that have infiltrated it.
I am certain that all of you will be voting on Tuesday and I hope this letter convinces you to vote for Barack Obama. Please share it with your spouses and feel free to also share it with your friends if you agree with me that it is vital to future generations that we give Barack Obama the chance to bring real change to our country.
With Love and Hope for the Future, Your Dad
Heather Knight, Chronicle Staff Writer
Political groups are spending more money to influence the outcome of the seven San Francisco supervisor races than they've ever spent before. Seven of the 11 seats are up for election Tuesday, and various groups have a...
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There is no doubt that if it wasnt for his name Joe wouldnt be where he is right now. I think a simple explanation for the endorsements from Republicans and Fisher money coming Alioto's way is a result of choosing from the lesser of two evils. Also, I would not define Chiu as any more of a democrat than Alioto because of his "Democratic Organization" endorsements. We all know what the DCCC endorsement means in SF. Not saying it wasnt a brilliant nor legitimate move by the Progressives, but its not indicative of how strong one's Democratic values are.
I can really appreciate this article. It shows and reflects the concerns WE all have in this time of CHANGE. Change is hard, is scary, is not what we would normally want to gravitate toward. I believe it is EVERYONE's HOPE that we recognize the mistakes of greed, of deceit, of pure selfishness (within us all) which NO ONE can escape from given the opportunity. But to reach higher, wider and deeper to INCLUDE because Properity lies in INCLUSION of more able people to contribute to the LARGER society than just our own self.
It's called GREASING the palms... I give you money and you vote for what i giving you the money for.. it's what is ruining this country, greed. the politicians are to vote for what the constituants want, not what the person with the biggest wallet wants.
Telhill, you might be a little more credible if you didn't shout so much, or even knew how to spell "Daily." Alioto hasn't even run his own business, he works for his family business. He's been coasting on his family name, as has his sister. If he wasn't an Alioto, if you look at his qualifications, he would be waaay down the list of viable candidates in District 3. If Alioto is a true Democrat, why is he being backed by big Republican money, such as from billionaire Don Fisher? Or endorsed by the Examiner, which is owned by another billionaire Republican, and which endorsed John McCain for President? Why do most of the Democratic organizations in SF endorse his opponent, David Chiu?
SF Labor Council should not be advocating "sanctuary city" positions or candidates. It should advocate for the workers who live here first and foremost!
Alioto did not fill out the questionaire from the Tenants Union, or answer a direct question from them about rent control. Why is the Realtors Association, and all the big landlord associations throwing huge money at Alioto, because they think he will keep rent control? Chiu is the one who has been endorsed by the Tenants Union exactly because of his, and Alioto's true stances on rent control. For a story on how credible Alioto is, and how you can't believe him, take a look at this: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/1996/07/27/MN63203.DTL
DON’T BE FOOLED!!!! VOTE ALIOTO!!!! Chiu + Daily + Peskin = Critical Mass 365 Days a Year! We can’t afford this political theater and petty special interest agenda. With the mess on Wall Street and the economy at large – it’s time for serious people to bring sensibility to City Hall. Don’t be bamboozled by progressives comparing Alioto to McCain or saying that Alioto is anti rent control. Alioto is a true Democrat and has always been pro rent control. David Chiu has no experience, and is nothing but a quiet boy who was building web sites for the progressive party…… That’s why he was hand picked by Daily and Peskin - - TO BE THEIR PUPPET! VOTE ALIOTO!!!! VOTE ALIOTO!!!! VOTE ALIOTO!!!!
If lots of money is being spent on a cause you support, it is considered money well-spent. If it is being spent by the opposition, it is considered money that should have spent on the poor. I guess I'm becoming a cynic about political spending.
I spoke with Alioto at a bus stop yesterday and he does support rent control. He said he is also supporting Prop M which I found very surprising. Philo- how is alioto any different than cheng and jefferson who would all support the same agenda? Cheng would have all of Alioto's money (and she did) until downtown realized that she wasn't a viable candidate. Although I love Lynn, the same can be said about her. The truth is Alioto is the only one with a shot at beating Chiu.
Alioto is the one who is the stooge of Newsom and big interests. Are you a big interest? Then vote for him. He is related by marriage to Newsom, who has endorsed him. Alioto's sister is on the board already, and is the least effective of the Supes, and was rumored to not even live in the city. Do we really want one family in charge of our city? Everyone trying to link Chiu to Peskin and Daly have not come up with any evidence. Think Ayers and Wright. We have a rare opportunity to elect a brilliant, thoughtful, and well-reasoned and compassionate person to the Board of Supervisors. That person is David Chiu in District 3.
[1] A copy of my birthday letter to you is enclosed with this letter, in case your staff did not bring it to your attention, and it may be found at http://cutandrun-sffantasy.blogspot.com/ .
[2] http://www.desmoinesregister.com
[3] At least you appear to have silenced your economic gurus Phil Graham and Carly Fiorina.
[4] Joseph Welch-June 9, 1954
Last weekend, I traveled with 150 friends to the battleground state of Nevada, joining thousands of Californians in campaigning for Senator Barack Obama. Over the weekend, our group knocked on over 5,000 doors. We spread out across Las Vegas, meeting people in their homes and talking to them about their hopes and concerns. What we heard is that Nevadans, like many of their fellow Americans, are worried. They are yearning for change and strong leadership to put our country back on track. Most were responsive to Senator Obama's economic plan of tax cuts for the middle class and smarter regulation of our financial sector. I know that an Obama administration would bring renewed focus toward reviving our urban centers, and I will be working to bring that message to other voters between now and Election Day. Join us on another Drive for Change for the final Get Out the Vote Weekend.
