obamas timid budget freeze

i read all the comments up thread...very informative, angry, and entertaining

social security, medicare-medicaid, interest on the national debt, and defense+2 wars make up the 80% of the budget obama says he wont touch

would you?

if i were the president of the USA i would.....

i would freeze social security,

i would have passed the health care bill, house version, which btw was at least 50% about cost containment...which the repubs dont want cause they want medicare to fail...so they called the cost containment death panels etc

the interest on the national debt...
well "ZIRP bernanke" is taking care of that isnt he

and finally

i would get out of iraq because the sunni shia and kurds are gonna kill each other no matter what...

and i would close 600 of the 700 foreign military bases the usa currently operates,

the rest of the military budget should be frozen as well...the usa spends more than all the rest of the nations on the planet combined...we will be ok

then

there would be a coup

fool me once...bernanke

bernanke was compliant and complicit with the wrongs and errors that lead us to this financial crisis

it is equally clear that he possesses the expertise and the respect of the financial and political community necessary to pursue a vision that could lead us out of the abyss

two questions jump out

1 has bernanke seen the light and will thus put forward the correct policies?

2 however justifiable our impulse to punish bernanke might be, is it worth the risk of that an alternative candidate will either be less qualified, or, used by this senate as a political football and stall the appointment process

in the past, i supported bernanke as the nominee to fed chair because i believed he was the most intellectual and, knowledgeable candidate and, he was, i believed, not part of the paulson-geithner school of squid

that support i now regret

bernanke would have to have an awesome, public, heart felt, believable, "come to Jesus" moment of contrition for his errors, and enunciate a clear policy statement for the future.... before i would change my opinion

so for now, at least i say no on bernankes re-appointment ,

and i say it with neither relish nor joy

move your money dance

mock turtle Sun, 1/10/2010 - 9:22 am


i did the "move your money" dance this past week

and got into a little pissin match with the jpm-chase branch manager

after i had my cashiers checks in hand for ira rollover, savings , checking, and a CD

i politely informed the bank employee behind the desk that i would gladly share the reasons behind my decision to close my accounts if she was interested

i had previously just said personal reasons as they pressed me for about 10 solid minutes not to close my account and telling me all the services i could obtain at jpm-chase

the employee said yes id like to know

i stated that this was the only way i could peacefully, lawfully and effectively register my objection to the bank bailouts

and

the continuing casino behavior by the countries 'too big to fail" mega banks

the employee claimed that jpm-chase didnt need government backing, had paid back the tarp money back

as i began pointing out that many major mega banks had been recipients of flow thru government money

that came by way of AIG,

and were able to trade to the federal reserve, toxic Mortgage backed securities in exchange for triple A US treasury securities

thus shifting trillions of risk and loss from the banks to the taxpayers

she claimed not to know anything about this...and then the branch manager stepped over and said point blank that i was not telling the truth

we went back and forth for about 5 minutes with the bank people politely calling me a liar

and me quoting what ive learned at calculated risk , naked capitalism, market ticker, big picture and other blog spots

as things started to get ugly

i ended the conversation by saying i did not hold anybody in this branch responsible for the destructive behavior of the mega banks and big financial trading houses, and i wished them, personally, well

but in leaving, i suggested that they be sure to tell the people in the central office why i left

here is the one page doc that explains it all and im going to place it on the branch managers desk monday morning

"Behind The Real Size of the Bailout | Mother Jones"

...

join the movement

Move Your Money