Thursday, March 14, 2013
Barker's Newsbites: Thursday, March 14, 2013
Courtesy of my friend Maria...
And here's the thing, kids... there really was no "$380" cut; in the real world of government baseline accounting, the "$380" being referenced is wholly theoretical as opposed to actual spending which... goes up.
Yep. Funny video. No argument! But the underlying message is anything but funny...
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
5 comments:
* TWO-PARTER... (Part 1 of 2)
http://blog.heritage.org/2013/03/14/morning-bell-what-we-still-dont-know-about-benghazi/?roi=echo3-14877450765-11822123-3ca56af4e37eae41a3ca3ab8ae161bfa&utm_source=Newsletter&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=Morning%2BBell
Yesterday, President Obama nominated a new ambassador to Libya to succeed Christopher Stevens - who was [assassinated] in the terrorist attack in Benghazi last September 11.
Six months after that attack — and two federal "investigations" later — we still have an alarmingly small amount of information about it.
* THE AMERICAN PEOPLE BY AND LARGE DON'T CARE. IT'S THAT SIMPLE. DISGUSTING... BUT SIMPLE.
The Obama Administration made quite a mess in the media with its conflicting accounts of the attack, originally blaming a controversial YouTube video for sparking protests abroad.
* BUT IF A TREE FALLS IN THE FOREST AND THERE'S NO HUMAN EAR TO HEAR IT...
(*SHRUG*)
After it came out that it was, in fact, a terrorist attack with ties to al-Qaeda, then-Secretary of State Hillary Clinton shocked Americans with her statement, “What difference, at this point, does it make?”
* AND THIS PIECE OF SHIT HAS SOMETHING LIKE A 65%-70% NATIONAL "APPROVAL" LEVEL. AGAIN... DISGUSTING. THE AMERICA PEOPLE ARE BY AND LARGE... NO LONGER AN AMERICAN PEOPLE WHOM I RECOGNIZE AS SUCH.
As Heritage expert James Phillips said, Clinton’s brush-off “indicates that the Administration misunderstands the nature and scope of the Islamist terrorist threat.”
* WHILE THAT MAY WELL BE TRUE... INDEED, NO DOUBT IS... THE PROBLEM ISN'T THE ADMINISTRATION - IT'S THE MAJORITY OF THE AMERICAN SHEEPLE WHICH PUT THEM IN POWER... PUT THEM BACK IN POWER... RETURNED THEM TO POWER EVEN AFTER WITNESSING THE DISASTERS OF THEIR POLICIES OVER THE PAST FOUR YEARS!
With a new Secretary of State and a new Libya team on the way, Benghazi can’t just be swept under the rug — because the safety of all of our diplomats is at stake.
* BUT IT HAS BEEN SWEPT UNDER THE RUG! AND IT'LL CONTINUE TO BE SWEPT UNDER THE RUG! THAT'S WHERE THE AMERICAN SHEEPLE WANT IT LEFT...!!!
* TO BE CONTINUED...
* CONCLUDING... (Part 2 of 2)
Both the State Department and the Senate have tried to figure out what went wrong in hopes of ensuring that such a tragedy would not happen again. So far, they have failed.
* FOLKS... THE STATE DEPARTMENT...? THE SENATE...? WE'RE TALKING THE BLIND, CORRUPT, AND INCOMPETENT LEADING THE BLIND, CORRUPT, AND INCOMPETENT! (AND, YEAH... THROW IN THE PENTAGON WHILE WE'RE AT IT!)
Heritage experts note in a detailed new paper that “Fully understanding the September 11, 2012, terrorist attack on the U.S. facility in Benghazi is vital to preparing for future security threats to American embassies, consulates, and diplomatic missions.” Lives depend on what the government learns from this attack.
(*SNORT*)
* WHAT MAKES THESE HERITAGE "EXPERTS" BELIEVE OBAMA AND HIS CRONIES CARE...???
* AGAIN... IF PAST HISTORY IS ANY GUIDE... IT DOESN'T MATTER WHAT "GOES WRONG" WITH OBAMA POLICIES AND PRACTICES!
Scott G. Erickson, Jessica Zuckerman, and Steven P. Bucci explain that four key questions remain unanswered:
1) Which counterterrorism and early-warning measures were in place to address security threats? 2) Which risk assessments were performed and which risk-mitigation measures were adopted before the attack? 3) What kind of contingency planning was undertaken and exercised to respond to armed assaults against U.S. facilities in Benghazi? 4) How was the interagency response to the incident organized and managed?
(*SNORT*)
* FOLKS... 1) NONE; 2) NONE; 3) NONE; 4) CORRUPTLY... INCOMPETENTLY... IN A WHOLLY POLITICIZED "CYA" MANNER!
These are fundamental questions — questions that should have been answered by now. And as the authors note, the conflicting accounts produced by the Obama Administration have made this inquiry unsettling from the start: "Given the conflicting narrative produced by the Obama Administration, there are two possible explanations. One possibility is that officials within the White House were uninformed, meaning communication with the State Department was woefully lacking. The other is that individuals within the White House consciously and deliberately promoted a public explanation of the Benghazi attack that was at odds with reality."
* THE ANSWER IS "BOTH!" INCOMPETENCE AND IRRESPONSIBILITY WHICH ALLOWED THE SUCCESSFUL ATTACK; THEN LIE AFTER LIE AFTER LIE AFTER THE ATTACK!
Our experts recommend that Congress establish a Congressional Select Committee to find answers. This type of committee steps in when there are sensitive issues relating to security — Select Committees investigated both Watergate and the Iran-Contra affair.
* OH, PLEASE... THE DEMS ON THE COMMITTEE WOULD SIMPLY PROVIDE COVER FOR THE WHITE HOUSE.
When dealing with the lives of American personnel abroad, it is not enough to issue a committee report. The State Department needs thorough answers, and then it needs to put the recommendations into action.
(*ROLLING MY EYES*)
The life of the new ambassador to Libya may depend on it.
* THREE-PARTER... (Part 1 of 3)
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424127887324128504578346922629685756.html?mod=WSJ_Opinion_LEFTTopOpinion
The nascent housing price recovery is restoring health to Fannie Mae Freddie Mac, the two government-sponsored enterprises that contributed so much to the crash of 2008.
* BY "RECOVERY" THE AUTHOR MEANS INFLATION - MEANING HOUSING COSTS MORE. HOW IS THIS GOOD...? ANSWER: IT'S NOT. NO... NOT EVEN FOR THE AVERAGE SELLER. BUT, HEY... AS LONG AS THE BANKS AND BANKERS PROFIT... THE INSIDERS... THE OLIGARCHS...
(*SIGH*)
When Fannie and Freddie were losing money, Congress had a strong incentive to privatize or liquidate them. Many plans were devised. The Obama administration proposed three options, the third of which was to restore them to the public-private status that fueled their rapid expansion in the late 1990s and early 2000s and contributed to their downfall.
* YEP... YOU READ THAT RIGHT! (FOLKS... YA CAN'T MAKE THIS SHIT UP!)
The GSEs' business in mortgage-backed securities is thriving, with Fannie having issued $865.5 billion of these instruments in 2012. The Fed is buying up $40 billion of mortgage-backed securities a month to keep interest rates for home buyers at rock bottom. So the two mortgage giants may be able to sustain their earnings recovery.
* AND US...? JUST PLAIN FOLKS...? WE GET TO "ENJOY" THE INFLATION BEING FANNED BY THE FED BUYING UP $40 BILLION OF MORTGAGE-BACKED SECURITIES WITH EVERYONE ON THE INSIDE - THE TRADERS... BROKERS... LAWYERS... - MAKING FORTUNES OFF THE "PROCESS."
* CALLING JON CORZINE... GOVERNOR JON CORZINE... SENATOR JON CORZINE... COME OUT, COME OUT, WHEREVER YOU ARE...
* TO BE CONTINUED...
* CONTINUING... (Part 2 of 3)
The disturbing thing about this rosy scenario is that the entire home mortgage industry — not only Fannie and Freddie — has been effectively nationalized.
(*NOD*)
True, there are still lots of private banks and mortgage companies generating and servicing mortgages, so the government doesn't "own" the whole industry. But the government (or the "lucky" half of the population who pay income taxes) now owns most of the risks.
* ...NOW OWNS MOST OF THE RISKS.
(*SHRUG*)
On the website ProPublica, Jesse Eisinger totaled up the numbers. As of December, he found that government agencies — mainly Fannie and Freddie but also the burgeoning Federal Housing Administration — bought or insured more than nine out of 10 home mortgages originated last year, a $1.3 trillion business.
* AND AGAIN FOLKS... WHO PROFITS FROM THIS "BUSINESS?" IS IT ONLY DEMOCRATS? NO. CERTAINLY NOT! BUT WHEN WE TOTAL UP THE MOVERS AND PLAYERS WITH POLITICAL CONTACTS WHICH PARTY'S POWER PLAYERS SEEM TO ALWAYS GAIN THE MOST...? BUT, HEY... INSIDERS ARE INSIDERS... THE OLIGARCHY IS THE OLIGARCHY...
(*PAUSE*)
* BUT, FOLKS... AGAIN... HASN'T BARACK HUSSEIN OBAMA BEEN PRESIDENT SINCE JANUARY OF 2009? ISN'T WHAT YOU'RE READING HERE REPORTAGE THAT HE'S DONE NOTHING TO "CHANGE THE GAME" AND INDEED A CASE IS BEING MADE THAT WE'RE BEING SET UP FOR YET ANOTHER CRASH... AFTER THE INSIDERS HAVE ONCE AGAIN RAPED THE SYSTEM IN ADVANCE AND GOTTEN OUT WITH THEIR GAINS...???
* AGAIN: "CALLING JON CORZINE... SENATOR JON CORZINE... GOVERNOR JON CORZINE..." "CALLING ROBERT RUBIN..." "CALLING FRANKLIN RAINES..."
* HEY... "HE WHOSE NAME DARE NOT BE MENTIONED"... QUESTION FOR YOU: WHAT KIND OF RETIREMENT LIFESTYLES DO YOU SUPPOSE CHRIS DODD AND BARNEY FRANK ARE NOW ENJOYING...???
(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)
* TO REITERATE:
Government agencies — mainly Fannie and Freddie but also the burgeoning Federal Housing Administration — bought or insured more than nine out of 10 home mortgages originated last year...
In 2006, the government share was only three in 10.
(*SHRUG*)
* YEP... THE LAST YEAR OF BUSH AND THE RINOs. (AND SOME THOUGHT IT COULD NEVER GET WORSE...) (*SIGH*)
* TO BE CONTINUED...
* CONCLUDING... (Part 3 of 3)
[How about other] monstrous taxpayer obligations to others acquired in recent years[?}
Student loans, which were subsumed by the government in 2010, represent another trillion-dollar business, and delinquencies are rising rapidly.
Then there is the exposure supervised by the Financial Stability Oversight Council, created in 2010 by the Dodd-Frank financial-reform law. This council is commissioned to "resolve" the nation's "too-big-to-fail" banks when they fail, most likely with taxpayer money if the 2008 precedent is any guide.
Plus, of course, there is the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation and other lesser and long-standing government insurers.
(*JUST SHAKING MY HEAD*)
And none of this includes the astronomical obligations represented by the future promises of Social Security, Medicare, Medicaid and ObamaCare to vast numbers of Americans.
(*NOD*)
Thanks to developments over the last four years, the government is now insuring a large chunk of America's nearly $16 trillion economy — while being essentially bankrupt, having run budget deficits exceeding $1 trillion for the last four years.
* AND DON'T FORGET... (READ ON...)
The future insurance and entitlement obligations are, of course, off the books.
(*THROWING MY HANDS UP*)
The housing industry obligations are partly the work of powerful Washington lobbies. When President Clinton forced the banks to begin their subprime mortgage binge in the 1990s, he called it "affordable housing" for people with limited means, a politically appealing idea. But the real muscle came from well-heeled lobbies — the builders, real-estate agents, bankers and construction-worker unions.
* CORRECT!
As we should have learned in the 2000s, guarantees and taxpayer-supported lending create moral hazard. With Uncle Sam backing you, risk analysis is thrown out the window. Current FDIC bank-capital standards give a zero risk rating to securities guaranteed by government agencies, meaning that holding them doesn't require banks to raise more capital to cover these newly acquired assets against potential losses. That makes it all the more attractive for banks to acquire more of these securities.
(*NODDING WHILE SHRUGGING*)
* BY THE WAY... "UNCLE SAM" HAS BEEN "FATHER BARACK" SINCE JANUARY 2009. (JUST SAYIN'...)
To implement affordable housing in the Clinton years, the Department of Housing and Urban Development lowered capital standards for Fannie and Freddie and encouraged them to be very tolerant in their mortgage purchases. Soon fast-buck artists were generating substandard paper and palming it off on Fannie and Freddie, who later would show that they too were no strangers to corruption.
To further liquefy the market, pools of mortgages became the basis for issuing vast amounts of mortgage-backed securities that circulated all over the world. When housing prices began to fall and foreclosures began to mount in 2006, holders of these securities began to realize that many of the mortgages backing their securities — as many as half, we later learned — were subprime. The market froze, precipitating the crash.
The moral is that government backing — implicit during the heyday of Fannie and Freddie and explicit today — leads to sloppy banking and ultimately to defaults. Taxpayers, with little knowledge of the commitments made on their behalf, become responsible for the losses.
Whereas a year ago there was some hope that taxpayers could unload at least some of the Fannie and Freddie mortgage guarantees, that hope is fading. When the whole edifice collapses, who will be left to pay the bill?
Post a Comment