The Poverty Pimp's Poem

The Poverty Pimp's Poem by Thomas Sowell -- Capitalism Magazine:
"MY FELLOW-ECONOMIST WALTER WILLIAMS has for years kept track of how much money it would take to lift every American man, woman and child in poverty above the official poverty level. That sum has consistently been some fraction of the money actually spent in 'anti-poverty' programs. In other words, if you gave every poor person enough money to stop being poor, that would cost a fraction of what our welfare state programs and bureaucracies cost."

I first heard the term Inner City Poverty Pimp just a few weeks ago and thought it was very apropos of today's race hustlers. My delight at discovering such a new and refreshing phrase was short lived when I came across this article by Thomas Sowell describing the ICPP phenomena. That piece was published in 2001 from an original 1998 work. No matter, it's a great observation on America's Race Hustlers who seem to own Federal, State, and Local officials. Own may be a poor choice of words, petrify and extort are more fitting.

Monday's Reverse Repo Test?

Monday's Reverse Repo Test? - The Market Ticker: 
"Are people really this dumb over at The Fed? It appears so, and begs the question - how big of a disaster are we about to undergo?"

Denninger asks an interesting question, and I think the answer is staring us right in the face.
The Banks Are Broke. Not just in the good old US of A, but in all of the Western World. Savers in the US are not the only ones that are going to be "holding the bag". China and the Arabs are going to be very pissed when they can't dump their worthless paper fast enough to avoid massive losses. Right now they have been content with slowly divesting themselves of "fiat currency" so as not to start a panic. But sooner or later someone is going to blink and the whole house of cards is going to collapse.
Just Sayin.

Bank Fees For Timely Credit Card Payments - USATODAY.com

Latest bank fee is for paying off credit card on time every month: 
"Starting next year, Bank of America will charge a small number of customers an annual fee, ranging from $29 to $99. The bank has characterized the fee as experimental. But card holders who have never carried a balance or paid late fees could be among those affected.
Citigroup, meanwhile, has started charging annual fees to card holders who don't put more than a specific amount on their cards, typically $2,400 a year. Other banks are charging inactivity fees if customers don't use their credit cards during a specific period of time. You heard that right: You could be spanked for staying out of debt."

What can you say about this one? The Fed collects taxes from us, gives the money to the banks so that they can stay in business. The banks take your tax money that they get for next to nothing and charge you 5%+ to borrow it for Mortgages, and 16-24% to borrow it on a Credit Card. Not being satisfied, they charge you fees if you don't use your Credit Card enough, and questionable overdraft fees on your own Debit card use. Then to top it all off they pay their executives outrageous bonus' for all this misuse of Your Tax Money.
I've been a capitalist all my life, but this is "beyond the pale".

Wall Street's Naked Swindle

Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers Wall Street's Naked Swindle: by Matt Taibbi

A scheme to flood the market with counterfeit stocks helped kill Bear Stearns and Lehman Brothers — and the feds have yet to bust the culprits

"The new president for whom we all had such high hopes went and hired Michael Froman, a Citigroup executive who accepted a $2.2 million bonus after he joined the White House, to serve on his economic transition team — at the same time the government was giving Citigroup a massive bailout. Then, after promising to curb the influence of lobbyists, Obama hired a former Goldman Sachs lobbyist, Mark Patterson, as chief of staff at the Treasury. He hired another Goldmanite, Gary Gensler, to police the commodities markets. He handed control of the Treasury and Federal Reserve over to Geithner and Bernanke, a pair of stooges who spent their whole careers being bellhops for New York bankers. And on the first anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers, when he finally came to Wall Street to promote "serious financial reform," his plan proved to be so completely absent of balls that the share prices of the major banks soared at the news."

In the spirit of full disclosure, this is an article from The Rolling Stone written by Matt Taibbi, both lean way left of center. That said, on the subject of Wall Street these days I am starting to pay close attention to what the left has to say. Their intent for what they say may be different than mine, but the observations ring true.

Delaying Foreclosure - St. Petersburg Times

Delaying Foreclosure can lead to Ethical 'Heebie Jeebies':
"If you suspect foreclosure is imminent, stop making your monthly house payments. Hire a lawyer to frustrate the bank. Use the yearlong delay to build a nest egg with the deferred house payments. Enjoy living in the house mortgage-free."

I've been seeing a lot of articles like this, check out the comments to see how people are pro "walking away". When the subject of stiffing the banks started to surface about a year and a half ago, the sentiment was that these people were "typical deadbeats". Now - Not so much.

FOUND: Photo of Adam Storch, 29-Year-Old Goldman Guy Who Is Now COO Of The SEC

Adam Storch, 29-Year-Old Goldman Guy Who Is Now COO Of The SEC:
"That sure didn't take long.
Only a few moments ago we noted that we hadn't yet been able to track down a photograph of the 29-year-old Goldman Sachs vice president who has just been named the chief operating officer of the Securities and Exchange commission. And now we've got this photo."

The number of articles and opinions on Goldman Sachs earnings, bonuses, and influence pedaling over the past several days has the Blog-sphere abuzz. This appointment of a GS guy as COO for the Security and Exchange Commission has everyone scratching their heads.
He bears a strange resemblance to a junior programmer I once knew. Funny thing was that with all his impressive background, they still wouldn't let him work on anything important. As always check out the comments.

Lawsuit Over Unclaimed World War II Bonds

Billions in unclaimed bonds date to World War II :

"HELENA, Mont. – The federal government is facing a lawsuit over billions in unclaimed bonds that date back to the patriotic fundraising efforts of World War II, leading to a showdown between states who say they should be given the money and a Treasury Department that claims ownership.
World War II sparked an unprecedented bond buying campaign, spurred on by one of the largest advertising campaigns ever seen — a drive wrapped in dutiful pleas from celebrities, politicians and cartoon characters alike."

As a kid I remember watching the re-runs of cartoons and old movie trailers pushing War Bonds. Imagine the fed trying to appeal to America's Patriotism today to fund a war, fat chance. Now they just print the money, it's interest free don't cha noe.