Showing posts with label bailout. Show all posts
Showing posts with label bailout. Show all posts

Monday, April 27, 2009

545 PEOPLE


By Charlie Reese
Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them.

Have you ever wondered, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits?

Have you ever wondered, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes?

You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does.

You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of representatives does.

You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does.

You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does.

You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does.

One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country.

I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank.

I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes.

Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party.

What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it.

The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? She is the leader of the majority party. She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to.

It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million can not replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist.

If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair.

If the budget is in the red, it's because they want it in the red .

If the Army & Marines are in IRAQ , it's because they want them in IRAQ

There are no insoluble government problems.

Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like "the economy," "inflation," or "politics" that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do.

Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible.

They, and they alone, have the power.

They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people

Monday, March 2, 2009

ANOTHER BAILOUT FOR CITIGROUP??

Saudi Prince Is Humbled by Citigroup

Abu Dhabi, has invested around the world, buying a 75% stake in New York's iconic Chrysler Building last summer when oil prices were at their peak and helping to bail out the financial giant Citigroup with $7.5 billion at the end of 2007.

For Prince Walid, the developments at Citigroup are a stinging embarrassment. In November, he made a public splash by increasing his Citigroup stake, thus becoming its largest shareholder when the government carried out its second financial rescue.

But Prince Walid and several other investors from the Middle East and Asia, including the Abu Dhabi investment fund, are now suffering the public embarrassment of seeing their investments in Citigroup evaporate. With their ties to the royal families of their respective countries — Prince Walid is the grandson of Saudi Arabia’s founding king, Abdul-Aziz Ibn Saud, and the Abu Dhabi Investment Authority invests the surplus cash of Abu Dhabi’s kingdom — these two investors are among the world’s most influential.

Citigroup is close to a pact to boost the U.S. Government's stake in the failing bank to as much as 40%; Vikram Pandit's job, however, should be safe. [WSJ, NYP]

Well thank goodness Mr. Pandit’s job is safe! But, who are we bailing out here? Citigroup or Abu Dhabi?

Bill