Organizing for America | Posts with the tag banking

Posts with the tag banking

Page 1 of 3 | Next | Last

By Kathleen - Nov 4th, 2009 at 3:03 am EST

Also listed in: Americans Abroad for Obama

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=59AxxLc9WSw

This is a true story that takes place in Germany, Lübeck area. In 1993, Kathleen, an American, was denied a Citibank account because she did not have a 9 to 5. In 2006 she applied and was told the same thing. In 2008 she was told the same thing, but this time she wrote Comptroller of the Currency (CCO) located in Texas. The customer service, overlooking national banks. All Americans are entitled to a bank account. Germany has the same law.

Kathleen was given an account, but being a foreigner and "whistle blower", payback was on the horizon. Regarding cashier´s checks, she now needs a drink just to deal with Citi´s German-branch.

The facts:

February 9, 2009, she mailed a letter to the local Citi branch, requesting two cashier´s checks in US dollars. Her account # and address were included. A week or so later was told that she needed to re-send the order because they don´t know where it is. She refused, so someone from headquarters in Duisberg got the info and put in the order. Weeks later the checks arrived.

April 14, 2009...she sent in another order, and the same thing happened: The order was lost so someone from the Duisberg office put it throuh, checks arrived weeks later.

In May, she phoned the Banking Online to order. They sent one check in euros, and the other in US dollars, the currency she had requested. The next time, the person correctly processed the and it arrived, weeks later. Again Kathleen phoned Banking Online, but was told "we don´t do that," and was told to call or go to her local branch. Meaning no online banking service.

July 24, 2009: Kathleen received a letter from Duisberg, instructing her to send orders for cashiers checks to their office -- considering she refused to send orders to the local branch where her personal info is floating around somewhere and they don´t know where... So on the end of July and August 11, Kathleen mailed her next orders to Duisberg.

Beginning of September, she still has still not recieved those checks -- and phoned Duisberg ... couldn´t talk to no one except the phone-girl who gave another telephone # to call. The person at the other # said the charges for those cashier´s checks were listed on her account August 13th.

Come September 8th, when her bank statement arrived, she noticed there were no charges for those checks...at all. She called the local branch and was told by Christine, the order for those checks did not arrive until end of August/beginning September. Which means that order sat in Duisberg from end of July to September. But Christine said the order has been sent.

Beginning of October. Kathleen noticed that the charge for the cashiers check was also not on the October statement. She called the local branch...a trainee answered the phone. No one else would come to the phone. The trainee said to wait until Christine came back from her weekend, this was Wednesday.

The following Monday, Kathleen spoke to Christine ---Christine said she would call her back. Kathleen said, "Today." But Christine didn´t call back until the next afternoon and said: For Kathleen to cancel the order and put it through again, because although they had ordered the checks, they don´t know where they are.

Mail to a Friend | Link | Comments (0) | Report Objectionable Content

June 19th Day of Judgment the Witching Hour an Act of God the Greed Test

By Richard Thomas Gerber - Jun 14th, 2009 at 2:26 pm EDT

Also listed in: 6 groups

Storyline: On June 19th if some act in greed, en masse, the global economy will totally tank. What is special about June 19th is that in the financial realm it is known as the quadruple witching hour. The final hour of the stock market trading session on the third Friday of March, June, September, and December, when in addition to the expiration of option contracts and futures contracts, which indicates a triple witching hour, the expiration of single stock futures (SSFs) also occurs.

What is extra special about this June 19th is that by raising the H1N1 Virus to level 6 in an emergency secret meeting today, establishing a global Pandemic status, it triggers the force majeure clauses in contracts. Force majeure or “act of God” is somewhat ironic because if there are acts out of greed then the very system that permitted it will collapse by an act of God. Normally a force majeure clause removes the obligation to honor a contract, due to natural events beyond one’s control. So while in reality the somewhat mild H1N1 (swine flu) virus which is hardly a threat or cause for alarm could be used as a legal excuse to not honor contracts. However the real reason the contracts cannot be honored is not a result of the virus but rather the greed and corruption of those that had been running the system which failed because of imbalance due to greed and corruption. Of course if certain numbers can resist temptation, acting from a holistic perspective, then the system, as a result of collaboration, could be reconstructed without a total failure, or maybe not.

This could really get interesting and I am starting to see that the truth may be making a play to bring certain things to light and triggering a major systems evolution, and in fact a realization is coming that will bring change. It is a bit like a game of chess.

See it does and is happening in reality; check out this Google news search for force majeure.

http://news.google.com/news?pz=1&ned=us&hl=en&q=force+majeure+

At one link we find this good question, what is the answer?

--->

Economic Force Majeure

Source: Blake, Cassels & Graydon LLP - Does a severe downturn in the economy constitute an event of force majeure? If you can no longer get financing because banks do not have the money to lend, can you claim force majeure because events are beyond your control?

<---

The answer could be yes and no, depending on the role one is playing and in what context.

Here are some perspectives I proffer.

The Global Accounting System (monetary systems) are a man made creation it is not natural. If the Global Accounting System were based on natural principles we might say it was then beyond our control, however it is not at this time. The Economic System is actually manipulated and some things are contrived by independent agency attempting to produce effect, in other words unnatural cause. We have an economic system where there are some natural market forces at work but it is really dominated by human nature. Of course there are events that influence the system both natural and man made. In this context we might say the answer is “no”.

We also have the economic participants who must in order to live and sustain themselves utilize a system that is beyond their control, it is controlled by others sometimes to the controllers benefit and not that of the economic system participants as a whole. Therefore the inability to obtain financing to allow continued value creation could be considered beyond their control. In this context we might say the answer is “yes”.

One could also open up a can of worms with something I have pointed out long before, man is a part of nature, so any thing man does is an act of nature in a greater context, of course that also means that man is subject to the laws of nature, and if doing something that causes imbalance, threatens life or creates suffering, it will be corrected or if that is no possible destroyed by the natural forces of nature. In other words when an element in nature stops listening to the signals from the rest of the elements in the system it may cause dissonance and disruption in the system and threaten the whole body and therefore for the body to survive, if it cannot be corrected it must be destroyed.

There will be much greater understanding and realizations as one completes the articulation of economics in an easy to understand manner from a scientific and natural perspective and disseminates it. This will highlight the flaws of the current systems design and destroy the illusions that it is based upon that lead to detriment not benefit.

I also note that many in executive management may not intend detriment however when seeking guidance from those with vested interests one is getting distorted or inferior advice which results in detriment to the majority and the system as a whole. Management’s key deliverable is the correct choosing of individuals or entities to play support roles which include the ability for discernment of the truth and reality behind appearances and the ability to detect a compromised agent or those lacking in capacity.

Mail to a Friend | Link | Comments (0) | Report Objectionable Content

ALL BUSINESS: Bond-market rout lifts mortgage cost

By LindaLu Nordling - Jun 6th, 2009 at 10:24 pm EDT

Also listed in: 9 groups

Affordability is obviously STILL the missing LINK to stablize the real estate, mortage, lending... industries.

Greenspan did his experimentations to prove his Economic Theory and Bernanke is working on fixing the ill effects of such "theory".

In truth, there are ways to allow "affordability" to take place again, and the experts do know how. The question is are THEY willing to make affordability happen instead of keep on trying to bury this administration by attempting to link the BAILout$$$ and the fall of mortages to this administration.

They can make the mortage notes longer ... irregardless of the life expectancy of the borrower by having "ballon" payments at reasonable time say every 7 years and have it amortized over the current "maximum". There's NO DOUBT that such SAFE and Responsible mortage options will again bring our economy back, as Housing is STILL the major purchase and American Dream.

http://finance.yahoo.com/news/ALL-BUSINESS-Bondmarket-rout-apf-15457158.html?.v=4

Mail to a Friend | Link | Comments (0) | Report Objectionable Content

Great Viewing!

By EMK - May 15th, 2009 at 2:30 am EDT

Also listed in: 4 groups

Well, if it Fitts, http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5455605137215634518.

EMK

Mail to a Friend | Link | Comments (2) | Report Objectionable Content

Haywood County NC to cut 36 teaching positions next year

By Chelsea - May 4th, 2009 at 2:49 pm EDT

I am tired of reading newspapers, headlines on t.v. and blurbs across the bottom of the television about Oil Companies, Carmakers and Banks. Not only am I tired of hearing about it, I am tired of a large part of our nation's attention being directed towards these businesses. I suppose I am tired of it because I assume that we are a country founded on capitalism and a democratic government, yet, somehow these BUSINESSES have become the most important 'citizens' to date.

What ever happened to the laws of supply and demand? What happened to survival of the fittest? What happened to our government placing attention on the areas that are not affected by the market but are a staple to the continuation of our country as a world leader?

Reversion- why are our tax dollars being given to the automobile industry? I saw a picture on the news with a car lot the size of Rhode Island (sarcasm) full of empty cars and a news anchor whining about how Detroit is going under, along with the U.S. car industry, because consumers are not buying cars and production is being halted. Well, FYI, when the 'average' American is out of the job, getting raped by credit card companies suddenly deciding to double interest rates and has a house in foreclosure- THEY ARE NOT GOING TO BUY A CAR. So, the solution appears to handout hundreds of billions of dollars to the car makers and to save one dying area- Detroit. Excuse me for my lack of compassion, but I do not care one bit about the car makers. I do not even own an American car, and whether that is because of quality, money or lipstick is irrelevant. If you cannot survive as a business, someone else will rise to the challenge to meet the needs of the market. The automobile industry is not a monopoly, nor an oligopoly, in my opinion. So, why is there any need for government intervention?

The intervention is not because car prices have risen to the point that we are concerned with the mobility of our citizens to 'fuel' the economy and get to work- we are concerned with a company, an amoral entity. Ok, so, you may reply by indicating that the industry is being spoiled because of all the people they employ. So, I may reply by asking why we did not sustain the tobacco industry to date? Why do we not just keep building houses to help the housing industry? It is irrelevant as to whether or not there are people to live in them, at least the business would not have been hurt. The point here is simple economics- the laws of supply and demand- there is no demand for more cars, so can we stop supplying them with billions of dollars? Why don't we instead supply our citizens, our people, with billions of dollars? I am not talking about sending checks to households- I am talking about our government investing in our skill sets so that when the economy recovers and we realize that we no longer have the competitive advantage in the automobile industry, those workers will have something else to do besides being brainwashed into thinking that our government is working against them and has exported their jobs. FYI- the government did not do it!! Your amoral employer who supposedly cared so much about you did it. The only thing the government did was tease you into thinking your skills were necessary to the continuation of this economy.

WE NEED NEW SKILL SETS. Invest in people, not products and not amoral mission statements.

Reversion- why are our tax dollars being given to the housing industry and the banks who 'unknowingly' bought and sold mortgages like monopoly houses? I just cannot believe that the greed within the housing industry backlashed in such a way (sarcasm). Just recently, the median price of the American home was ~$250,000. Am I the only one that sees a problem with this? Ok, let's break it down then- let's go back further than the subprime mortgages that were molded to present positive composite credit ratings, let's go back further than when these mortgages were sold to municipalities who had no idea what they were buying. I am going to go back to when flipping houses became a game.

There are numerous television shows that were created to show people how to put a minimal amount of effort into rebuilding something and then attempting to sell it for unearned and unnecessary profits. I will be referring to this approach again shortly, so, remember it.

Any Tom, Dick and Harry was buying houses and flipping them as if it were a sport. So, here comes the young, new American family- first time home buyers- picking up a house in an over appreciated market- keeping up with the Jones's. Some of these families even put in a few thousand in renovations and then flipped it again. It's contagious. It's also greedy. Now the same people who could not afford to buy homes can't even rent the over priced units, while those who were buying houses like baseball cards, sucking up the profits and basking in greed, stopped making mortgage payments. Uh-oh, this could make the housing bubble burst...worse yet, it could destroy the banking industry.

So, guess what- those pretty little AAA bonds and 'securitized' instruments created by the housing industry happen to carry just enough risk so that for the bankers and Wall Streeters and municipalities and investors who bought and sold them without really knowing the risk associated with the underlying assets- because there was a lack of due diligence- because there was a lack of reality- or because there was too much greed- this meant an avalanche was already coming, they were just too low on the mountain to see it yet.

Now look where we are- banks aren't lending. I can't even get a used car or a used home. My credit card companies have doubled interest rates because evidently I did not know how to properly read the minute literature the card company provided me with five years ago- there is a clause that (1) in a time of economic downturn, we retain the right to take more money from you, unannounced and that (2) we cannot assist you in keeping your account in good standing until you have irresponsibly or uncontrollably let the account go past due- help can only be provided once the account is no longer current and you have incurred a minimum of one late fee, one over the balance fee and one just-to-really-stick-it-to-you fee.

I believe that the 'average' American knows where I am coming from on this. I will delve no further into the banking industry because it has been a deceitful mess since its inception. Making money by lending money- I apologize for the lack of sympathy. Thanks FDIC (sarcasm).

So, my final reversion- application of minimal effort for the receipt of unearned and unnecessary profits. I am talking about education.

I have talked, thus far, about amoral industries and companies reaping profits (meanwhile whining about corporate taxes) while our citizens are working out payment plans with the IRS (really looking forward to my next stimulus tax break being TAKEN BACK by the government to cover the taxes that I am paying on a monthly basis- stimulus shmimulus), while our citizens are working out payment plans with the banks to save their homes, while our citizens are being raped and pillaged by credit card companies that appear to be immune to government regulation (at least until I have been screwed enough that I am in default and the fees assessed against me could be paying for that used car to get me to an underpaid job). All the while, my credit rating has fallen- the three digits that monopolize my life. I mean, I read about numbers being assigned to people in the Bible- I have seen movies about numbers being assigned to people in a world in which the dead walk among the living- where the hell am I?!?

Well, I can tell you where I am not. I am not in a world, a country, a community where we care about our children or our future. I am not in a world that cares about acquiring new skill sets to apply to new industries. I am not in a world that cares more about educating our young, or even our old for that matter, than it does about Detroit, or cars or John Rich Doe's vacation home. I am not in a world that instead of cutting over 36 teaching jobs in a single county in North Carolina would cut bailouts to an amoral industry. Bailouts to companies with CEOs making $1,000,000 a year who were evidently too busy or too stupid to realize what they were getting us into. Really?

I am not even in a world, a country, a community that can step back and look at the picture as a whole instead of the top right corner. We are part of a global community- surprise!! If we continue to diminish the importance of education, our students will continue to drop out, if they go to college, they will get by putting forth minimal effort, if they get a job, they will put themselves first instead of thinking of the pervasiveness of their actions on their fellow human beings. Of course, there is a sense of generalization in this statement, but we are most often affected by the sheepish behavior of many rather than the noble actions of one.

We have to start improving the quality of our education, work ethic and adaptability. We have to stop laying off teachers and cutting school programs in order to build a FORD or buy a second home. And to those who have happened to make it through this recession without any regard for the issues I have mentioned, to those who think their future will be fine because their child will not be subjected to public education- I am going to have to burst another bubble- you are not immune to the pervasiveness of miseducation- you are a member of a community, a country, a world and it is an intricate web. That fly that took your place as the spider's meal will not be there next time.

Mail to a Friend | Link | Comments (0) | Report Objectionable Content

Letter to John McCan - Since we are not hearing from Obama

By Dale - Apr 30th, 2009 at 10:18 pm EDT

http://my.barackobama.com/page/community/blog/FinanceMatters

Distinguished Senator,
I know you are very busy but please take a moment to review my two posts on reducing medical costs at the source - capital equipment manufacturers and eliminating Group Purchasing Organization (GPOs) "High Health Care Costs Caused by Group Purchasing Organizations (GPOs) and National Manufacturers
By Dale - Apr 7th, 2009 at 9:56 pm EDT"

In addition, see my post on how banks are not lending and what they are doing to my brother's company. We urge you to call Cass Commercial Bank Director Wayne Grace 314-506-5500 (he is in the office today), President, Robert Mathias 314-506-5500, Executive Vice President, Mark A. Benten 314-506-5517, V-P Team Leader, Jeanne Scannell 314-506-5560.

We are also in pursuit of a Congressional Investigation of Cass Commercial Bank lending practices.

Mail to a Friend | Link | Comments (0) | Report Objectionable Content

SUBJECT: BANKING –What is your office doing to immediately stop these practices? Letter to Senator McCaskill

By Dale - Apr 19th, 2009 at 8:01 am EDT

Small Business needs YOUR HELP TO STOP PREDATORY LENDING PRACTICES. Small businesses have filed complaints to the Federal Reserve in Washington, D. C. and St. Louis regarding Cass Commercial Bank in St. Louis, MO. I should tell you up front the Federal Reserve position is there is no mechanism for Small Business complaints, only consumer complaints. The Federal Reserve in St. Louis will send a Bank Examiner to review but SMALL COMPANIES DO NOT HAVE MONTHS! Read More »

Mail to a Friend | Link | Comments (0) | Report Objectionable Content

HOUSING BUST OF TRUST

By caring_independent - Apr 8th, 2009 at 5:37 pm EDT

Do not live life from fear, littleones (oh my)
To take away your home, they might just try
Certainly the blaming gets nothing done
But by closing your eyes, they'd steal your Sun
They have an army and you are but one
Sacrificial lamb bled for the chosen

Your own integrity is what you risk
When their salaries met you fleeced, how brisk
Being placed next in the bank's line of whim
This life you never put out on a limb
To fight your way back in two recessions
Somehow Three-Card Monty nets them trillions

They never do better when the truth grates
As if the door to Heaven was Bill Gates
Those that have so much they give it away
Not to defame one man for all He gave
Uncle Sam, for offering solutions
Fall not into freedom's disillusions

The answers don't lie in your camp of yurts
Best not you lose sight of the equal hurts
But living in true peace apart from greed
Not to enforce your will or kind of creed
While dangers created by division
Innocent lives will meet in collision

Don't ever change the side of right for might
As hunger's appeased, others need your light
Find the little lambs who were chosen too
The ducks in your row that follow true blue
Live in life that power of conviction
Tell the words of our human condition
Written 04/04/09 copyright ME Wilson

Mail to a Friend | Link | Comments (0) | Report Objectionable Content

Our Constiotution Rights - Under Banking

By S.G from Shawnee, OK - Mar 21st, 2009 at 11:16 am EDT

Also listed in: 5 groups

I sure do know a Special Olympics bowler – Could Kick my Butt - Bowling. But I also know – There is No-Idiot-Greedster – Among the Wall-Streeters-Free-traders – And there B-Buddies – IN Washington - That is Smarter then us Special Economy Survivors. Now I wonder if these wall-streeters - ever thought - There going to running scared of the American People? Or even thought - maybe not f-over - those who can kick your butts? Or f-over those - you have to rely on to cover there backs - when you sure didn't cover threres? – Americans – Sure do know now beyond a doubt – There is wall-streeters-greedsters – and us special-mainstreeters – So do us Special-mainstreeters – Really care what happens to Wall-streeters? Fight your own battles from now on. George Mason wrote: "They may pass a law to issue paper money, but twenty laws will not make the people receive it. Paper money is rounded upon fraud and knavery." Washington, on the 1st of August, 1786, wrote to Jefferson: "Other states are falling into very foolish and wicked plans of emitting paper money." Madison spoke as follows: "Paper money is unjust; to creditors, if a legal tender; to debtors, if not legal tender, by increasing the difficulty of getting specie. It is unconstitutional, for it affects the rights of property as much as taking away equal value in land. It is pernicious, destroying confidence between individuals; discouraging commerce; enriching sharpers; vitiating morals; reversing the end of government; and conspiring with the examples of other states to disgrace republican governments in the eyes of mankind."

Mail to a Friend | Link | Comments (0) | Report Objectionable Content

Enough of Our Pledge! Ask Obama and Geitner to Face the Music!

By Connie - Mar 17th, 2009 at 10:45 pm EDT

Enough of the pledge this pledge that emails!

Ask Obama and Geitner to deal with the banking crisis: AIG, toxic assets, the flawed system.

By now, it is clear that the failure of the financial system is the core of our economic woes. Has Geitner shown us any insight into the problems? Has he dealt with the banks and insurance companies with authority and clarity? The bottomline is: where is the EXIT strategy?

We can build roads and conserve energy, we can reform education and restructure tax system, we can even draw up a new health plan, but unless the core of our problem is fixed, the whole economy may cave in again and again and never regain health.

Just like we asked Bush to focus on Islamic extremists and Al Qaeda, we should ask President Obama to confront the financial crisis headon. Yes, it is still a crisis one year after the collapse of Bear Sterns! Next time Mr. Geitner goes to negotiate with Wall Street, offer him some Iron Supplements and wash them down with a Red Bull!

Mail to a Friend | Link | Comments (0) | Report Objectionable Content

This is interesting, GA HB 430.

By EMK - Feb 15th, 2009 at 6:54 pm EST

Also listed in: 4 groups

This is a short, 4-page bill, but it's worth a look. Simple and straight-forward: GA HB 430.

Interesting, isn't it?

[UPDATE: THIS LINK IS THE PAGE FOR THOSE OF YOU WHO ARE INTERESTED IN FOLLOWING THE STATUS OF GA HB 430, ESPECIALLY FOR THOSE WHO ARE NOT FROM GA! Thanks for the interest!]

EMK

Mail to a Friend | Link | Comments (3) | Report Objectionable Content

HOW DID OUR COUNTRY GET IN THIS MESS:

By Alex Karoub - Jan 4th, 2009 at 10:47 pm EST

Contact: Alex.Karoub@gmail.com

It has been my perception that what has driven some Americans increasingly in the past two decades has been personal greed; greed not for just money but for power, control, influence, domination, security, knowledge, ideology, ..., all for individual or limited closed association/club benefit. That is not only the mentality of individuals, but of people operating in government and business as well.

We now witness the results of greed by a select few:

Corrupt and special interest government officials who set themselves above as aristocrats regulating government for their own investments or hidden ownerships in companies and organizations. Many who also take bribes and illicit favors from corrupt lobbyists.
Laws are actually written/drafted by who? Do you really think your legislator, congressman, or senator sits down in front of a computer or uses his own pen and paper? Or, did you think it's his staff? It is lobbyists who actually do 99% of the work; work they have vested interests in, to see it is written the way their 'client' wants it worded. Do you as an individual have lobbyists employed by you?
Financial institutions that cheat and steal from the unsuspecting, far beyond the weak laws of usury. Trustworthy? Bank & 'Trust?' Wanna givem another bailout for cheating? It looks like lobbying paid off for the financial 'institutions' (we have all been taught to 'respect?' the term 'institution?', but maybe we are learning).
Insurance Companies that 'legally?' bribe law enforcement, judges, and congress/legislators with grants, equipment gifts, perks, and free trips in order to gain unprecedented influence/control -- everything from mandatory laws, to not or barely paying claims, to price fixing, to all sorts of corrupt and unfavorable methods imposed on individuals. Do most people realize that premiums (a name of 'respect?' for monthly payments you are charged) are used by Insurance Companies to pay for -- grants, equipment gifts, perks and trips as payoffs for public laws, regulations, and controls that the public does not want. It is a form of taxation represented/controlled by insurance companies, not taxation with public representation. It's a twisted form of taxation charged by insurance companies.
Manufacturing barons who import economic slave labor and outsource to slavery.
Pharmaceutical corporations that cover-up sickness and death with misinformation in order to push up profits.
Weapons manufacturers that promote violence, war, and enduring sickness.
Energy companies that monopolize production/prices and cause destructive environmental damage.
American Companies, or those using names, that import/offshore products who turn a deaf ear and blind eye to safety, quality, and poisons.
Service providers that care not about consumers but are strictly money driven, with less regard for employees; employees who suffer with unreasonable demands for performance and who are not paid a living wage.
Private educational institutions that cater to the wealthy who have abandoned the public. The concept for the masses of "let them eat cake"; they will eventually go away from malnutrition of education because it will make them perish; and, those who survive can be the servants.
Suburban Public School administrators in growing housing markets whose actual and hidden agendas are to serve land developers and government aristocrats. They play statistical number games made of fudge, intentionally choking out struggling students by actually encouraging students to drop out or be 'home schooled' by mom or dad. That's how suburban schools 'look' more attractive to potential home buyers, with faked academic 'success' -- faking the 'No Child Left Behind' statistics, a real game, using kids as pawns. But aristocrats brag, statistically they look like they have done a good enough job to re-elect them. And, most importantly to them, they can continue to reap the profits from either the land they own or are financially connected with.
Inner City School administrators in decaying areas that hopelessly cope with being under funded, attracting the poorest quality teachers. Children do not choose to be born into poor families, or choose uncaring parents, nor do they choose parents that are ignorant and uneducated. Do these kids have the hope of opportunity? They are pushed aside as the burdens of a greedy society, in hopes they are not seen nor heard from now or later in life -- good to be used as the pawns in wars, or workers for catering to the wealthy though.
Employees of city/county/state/fed. institutions (schools, universities, jails, prisons, leases/sales of buildings to Gov., contracted services, hospitals, VA facilities,...) who take kickbacks and gifts, in return for higher costs and sweetheart deals with companies often owned by or financially benefiting government aristocrats.
Major colleges and universities chasing the buck by catering to overseas students. They somehow brag of a 40% to 60% foreign enrollment, while American students grasp for help and aid.
Community colleges that are given the leftovers in funds, coping with unrealistic expectations of graduating students or preparing them for major colleges. Even with 100% tuition/books paid, it is unrealistic to expect students to juggle working full time jobs (for food and living) while going to school and studying full time. It is not surprising to see such an astronomically high dropout rate in America. Capitalist have made it clear to students, not to have hopes that are too costly; or, they will import already educated talent. Do wealthy capitalist require students in their families to work full time at low paying jobs while pursuing higher education's? Maybe they simply know it's a story made up for the 'less fortunate', like a fairytale dream, achieved by one to two percent and used as shining examples, stories told to pacify the masses. Those with capital also know, they can hire a well enough educated dropout at a reduced rate to do the job of a graduate, a real bargain.
…

We could each recite instances far beyond this short list, and it is all for greed. People’s greed has been rooting through our nation and causing so much destruction. Certainly money has been a primary instrument of their greed, but their other instruments of power, control, influence, domination, security, knowledge, ideology, … have all been used to chip away and damage each of us who together form our great nation. With renewed vision and focused determination we will heal and rebuild to become more active and much stronger.

To learn more details, you can read my other three blogs about 1) Educational Devastation, The Need for an Entirely New System, 2) The Auto Industry, A Few of My Personal Experiences, and 3) Invention, Innovation, and Education.

Blog members can reply here, or anyone is welcome to contact me at: Alex.Karoub@gmail.com

Mail to a Friend | Link | Comments (0) | Report Objectionable Content

Blagojevich and Madoff aren't the REAL THEIVES

By EminemsRevenge - Dec 16th, 2008 at 7:21 am EST

As the Fed gets ready to LOWER interest rates to below 1%, JP WaPu Morgan Chase and their cronies see THAT as a good reason to RAISE minimum payments into the loansharking realm Read More »

Mail to a Friend | Link | Comments (1) | Report Objectionable Content

Proposed New Federal Law to Prevent Future Home Foreclosures

By JimBO - Dec 15th, 2008 at 5:11 pm EST

Also listed in: North Las Vegas, MLK - Nellis Organizing Team (NV 164)

I propose a new federal law, that protects home buyers from ever losing value in their home by no fault of their own. If a home ever goes under what it was originally purchased for the mortgage company will be required to take a loss and write off the principle. At first I'm sure you are saying no way, this is wrong, and maybe even unAmerican. But what does it mean to be an American? Does it mean that we corrupt and like it that way? Does it mean that we do not look out for one another, and try to pull each other down anyway we can whether or not it's ethical or moral? It seems to me that alot of the times now a days that's exactly what it is. And we allow it to go on and turn the other cheek and just say to ourselves that's just the way it is and nothing can change it. Well not nothing. We can change it if we want to. I have put a little thought into this new law and I think it may very well be the correct solution. Let's think about it for a second. If there was a law that required a mortgage company to write down a principle if a home went under that value originally purchased, do you think maybe banks would make sure they are making good loans? Ummm absolutely. If they don't get the home value right, they will take the loss. Not the buyer. Do you think they will make sure they are not handing out risky loans? Absolutely, we all know what happens now when you have too many foreclosures. Would this create a real estate market that was fair and stable? Yes, a market that is as safe and stable as a FDIC insured savings account and a market that people would want to invest in again. One of the big problems now is that people do not trust the market anymore, and just don't want to take such a risk anymore. The law is simple and straightforward, the banks take the loss. After all they are to blame as well. They are taking the risk of whether or not you are going to pay back the loan. Now things are so bad, no one wants to pay the loan and they are risking their entire companies. Why? They're reputations are now that they cannot be trusted and now no one wants to do business with them.

Now the only problem I forsee with this law is that banks may end up dictating home prices. That's a big maybe.. I think the reason they require 20% or 10% down is just in case you pay to much for a home. So if you put 20% down and the home is worth 20% less well, the bank wouldn't take that loss. That would be on you. But if it goes beyond the 20%, then the law would state the bank would be required to write down the principle of the loan to the home value minus the 20%. This is only fair that the bank would do this. After all you've already lost everything you put down. You took that much risk. The bank should take the rest.

If anyone has any thoughts or ideas for or against proposed law, please add it to this blog.

Mail to a Friend | Link | Comments (0) | Report Objectionable Content

New (Web-based)Bank of the United States

By Frederick from Evanston, IL - Oct 16th, 2008 at 10:08 am EDT

Also listed in: Critical Support (Yes We Can But) | Peace, Economy, Freedom, Obama

This post has been buried and not fully discussed so I am reposting it as the other fixes have not been very effective. The advantage of this plan is that it is not dependent on the behavior of the entrenched bankers to work but does give them an example and some friendly competition to get back to work. By using the records of the IRS we can devise a formula to set a limit on any American's bank card - that of the taxes he paid averaged over the past 5 years! Similarly we can project his ability to pay off a home loan. I do not believe this system should try to replace the private banks but rather provide a redundant failsafe so that the world's economy may go on under difficult circumstances. Please read the extended post for rest of the story...

Mail to a Friend | Link | Comments (0) | Report Objectionable Content

Bailout, or capitalization of new banks? Either way, make it transparent.

By Dr. Jeffrey Kargel - Oct 14th, 2008 at 2:36 pm EDT

As Sal Khan, in a CNN interview October 10, and Jeffrey Miron in a CNN interview today have explained, there is a fundamental problem with the bank bailout owing to tack of transparency in the balance sheets of major lending institutions claiming a need for a bailout. Sal Khan (CEO of BlueBear International) proposed a radical different solution that might actually work. He said in the CNN Interview, "Why not take the $700 billion and capitalize a brand-new financial system? $700 billion... is more than the book value of the equity ...[of] J.P. Morgan, Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Washington Mutual, Wachovia, and Bank of America combined." If we could get beyond the obvious difficulty of determining who gets capitalized and who does not, out of the many outstretched hands that will offer themselves to become instant Nasdaq companies, these would be entities that would have immediate recognition as not holding toxic debt. The other approach would be simply to require existing entities to become more transparent. Those who refuse probably have a reason for refusing, and they ought to be allowed to slide underwater. Handing over dumptruck loads of money without any real transparency results in gross fraud, and sometimes grievously consequential actions with little recourse to correct (case in point: the Iraq War). In any case, taxpayers have a right to see absolutely what they are being ordered to invest in. Parents have a definite interest in making sure that their children will not hold additional toxic debt forced on us by government. If this bailout is needed to increase liquidity, so is transparency. Jeff Miron's analysis would suggest that this transparency is not yet in place.

Mail to a Friend | Link | Comments (0) | Report Objectionable Content

How to Fix the Economy

By An Individual representing Free Speech - Oct 14th, 2008 at 9:59 am EDT

The Economy is like the Ocean. There's a food chain involved, and at the bottom is algae and zooplankton. In the Economy everyone feeds off of everyone else in the system. Either way if the bottom of the food chain fails, everything dies. Like any other food chain, everything depends upon the very bottom rung of the food chain. Likewise, the economy, the entry level employee and a living wage.

The irony of it all is that Inflation is a good thing, and no matter how increasing minimum wage will cause some inflation, if it is regulated and deliberate, it is a good thing because, it allows for government to depict a better standard of living in America. In 1908 the Federal Deficit was 13 million Dollars and a pound of coffee cost 12 cents. Today, the deficit is much bigger and a pound of coffee goes for 12 bucks.

Mail to a Friend | Link | Comments (0) | Report Objectionable Content

Why I don't trust the bailout and what I would do about it

By Michael P. - Oct 9th, 2008 at 1:38 pm EDT

Also listed in: Fort Collins Organizing for America - Fort Collins4Obama | Independents for Obama

My Fears and Suggestions for the Economy.

I'm a little older than many in the country and my memories have a broader scope. The first time economics had any meaning to me was 1971, in the Air Force, in Germany, and President Nxon announced he was letting gold float to find it's own value on the open market and that he was going to revalue the dollar. I'm not going to dwell on the fact that gold was $36 US an ounce at the time. It is too painful. But three related occurrences stuck in my mind. The first was as the dollar began to float how fast the deutchmark gained strength. The second was that eventhough Nixon wanted the dollar to float to find its true value in international money markets many foreign nations wanted gold to remain at $36 US an ounce. The third was how American banks overseas used the floating dollar to their advantage by writing international loan payments in local currencies which were gaining strength and declaring profits based on the US dollar value of the loan at the time it was written, then dumping their own US dollars for other currencies to devalue the dollar to lower the real amount of tax they paid on profits when reported.

What I learned was those who live and die by money and stock markets, in this country we referred to as "Wall Street", will do anything and everything to manipulate those markets to insure themselves a profit, everyone else, including their own country, be damned. That is what the average American needs to understand about the fiscal crisis today.

My fear is Wall Street will respond to the current fiscal crisis which they in fact created in the most despicable way. It will drop credit and insurance stocks like a hot potato and leave the mess for the American taxpayer to clean up. Wall Street refuses to take responsibility for its failure and also refuses to be regulated, so the major players are taking their toys and playing elsewhere. Senator Frank expressed this fear the other day. His concern was whether the bailout was enough to loosen credit. Obviously it was not because Secretary Paulson and the Fed Chairman Bernanke are still trying to pull the rabbit out of the hat that will get bankers to respond. In the meantime, the market dropped below 10,000 and is still dropping today.

This brings me to my suggestion as to how the "bailout/rescue should be handled. First, as implemented it became a bailout. It solved nothing. In fact it made the situation worse because Wall Street now has proof the government will bail them out. Why else would the markets continue to fall? That is not to say something did not need to happen. The problem is the money was given directly to Wall Street which is the same as giving a bank robber money to keep the bank solvent after he just robbed it. What we needed was a revolutionary solution. The legislation passed should have provided for Federal and State governments the ability to establish credit banks and use the $850 billion to compete in mortgage and insurance markets and for business loans, while making individual taxpayers investors in the enterprise. This would force existing banking and credit entities to compete with the Federal and State banks for business while taking the concept of nationalizing the banking industry to a totally new level. Taxpayers would have a way of knowing exactly what the money was being used for and get divedend checks to boot. No major Wall Street players allowed, thank you. What a concept, investment in the financial success of our mutual futures instead of fueling the wealth and greed of the few.

Mail to a Friend | Link | Comments (0) | Report Objectionable Content

Fight the Smears--but pay attention

By Nanci - Oct 9th, 2008 at 10:06 am EDT

Also listed in: Tri-Cities (WA) United for Obama

We are down to the wire, folks, and things are getting ugly out there.While Bush-McCain go on with their smears, enlisting the help of their 'girls', the US government is beginning to look at the powers they coerced Americans to give them to "rescue" (convenient change of terms from bailout, and no rescue in sight so far), the banking and financial industry.

Who was the first candidate to call out AIG for their junket after receiving their bailout? Obama. Who knows the middle class makes under $250,000/year? Obama. Who knows health care insurance costs more than $5000 per year, and who will avoid taxing employer sponsored health care plans? Obama.

Now the Bush/Republican administration is again expanding its powers by getting further involved in the private sector by proposing the takeover of the ownership of banks. This is the party famous for small government? Somehow Bush has engineered an expansion of government and ruin of the economic system that puts capitalism at jeoprady. How did that happen?

Pay attention. Your dollars, not just tax dollars, but your paycheck are at risk. Your health care is at risk. Your children are at risk. Your very system of government is at risk. And McCain's response is to ask for more, more bailout money for the bankers and CEOs. What? One junket is not enough? Are CEOs not happy with their $480,000,000 severance paychecks?

Pay attention. Obama must win this election or we'll be in a socialist economy and standing in food kitchen lines in another four years. Consider contributing to the Obama campaign in these last days.

Obama is too much of a gentleman to go on and on about the Keating Five. McCain is too much of a coward to smear him face to face (age changes people). But whatever you do, whichever side you are on--do Pay Attention!

VOTE FOR CHANGE!! VOTE FOR REAL CHANGE!! VOTE FOR AMERICA!! VOTE FOR OBAMA!!

A FALL POEM FOR YOU

Nothing Gold Can Stay

Robert Frost (1923)

Nature’s first green is gold,
Her hardest hue to hold.
Her early leaf’s a flower;
But only so an hour.
Then leaf subsides to leaf.
So Eden sank to grief,
So dawn goes down to day.
Nothing gold can stay.

VOTE FOR AMERICA!! VOTE FOR OBAMA!!

Mail to a Friend | Link | Comments (0) | Report Objectionable Content

The First Battle Begins As An Open Discourse About Money and Banking

By MoorAmerican - Oct 7th, 2008 at 11:58 am EDT

Also listed in: NY Call Team | POPLUV THE PAYGO | Seniors for Obama

Recorded for the Library of Congress October 6, 2008; Three Days Before Yom Kippur - 29 Days before Election Day 2008.

The first battle event about the ECONOMY is the “The Money Supply and Banking”. The event is being held in the Historical Archives of the Supreme Court Justice at the Library of Congress. The American War Heroes gather as a united non-partisan Continental Congressional Commonwealth of the American Revolutionary Leadership. The seven members of the panel are John Hanson, George Washington, Abraham Lincoln, Alexander Hamilton, Andrew Jackson, Ulysses S. Grant, and Benjamin Franklin. They unanimously support the 44th Presidency of the United States of America in Congress Assembled and advocate for the 28th Amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America.

The united non-partisan American Revolutionary Leadership is assembled in battle formation on the front line of the General Election Battleground of 2008 under the battleground banners of [[[ GOD: the original Government Office Director and Grass-root Organized Presidency of the Republic ]]], [[[ CONSTITUTIONAL CHANGE WE NEED NOW ]]], and [[[ COUNTRY FIRST ]]] --- the banner they striped away from the Republican Alqaeda Trickette ticket of the 43rd Presidency. Their battle flag is none other than The Stars and Stripes… the national flag of the United States of America. The rules of engagement are the universal humanitarian principles of LOVE, TRUTH, FREEDOM, PEACE, and JUSTICE.

Supreme Court Justice Thurgood Marshall and the American Civil Rights leader; Nobel Peace Prize honoree Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. are the moderators. Three critical constitutional questions were presented to start the discussion:

Does the constitution make provisions for a Fourth Branch of government called the independent agencies?

Does the constitution make provisions for a central bank --- the Federal Reserve Banking System?

Does the constitution prohibit the American People from creating an honest monetary system of generating and circulating public obligation paper instruments of Commonwealth money as lawful unit value of United States Dollar currency that functions as a medium of exchange, unit of account, standard of deferred payment, and store of value that preserves consumption purchasing power?

The American people openly engage as the rest of the free world silently observes the discourse.

Mail to a Friend | Link | Comments (0) | Report Objectionable Content

Page 1 of 3 | Next | Last

Posts

Content on blogs in My.BarackObama represents the opinions of community members and in no way should be interpreted as endorsed or approved by the campaign.