FDIC Not Borrowing From Those It Is Protecting - Not Yet!

The FDIC announced last week its insurance fund has dropped 20 percent to $10.4 billion. Previous to the past two years, the only bank failures many of us had experienced were those talked about by our parents or grandparents, or by watching George Bailey nearly lose his family’s savings and loan business in It’s a Wonderful Life. Of course, there was the S&L crisis in the 80s and 90s where more than 700 savings and loans associations failed, costing taxpayers the then unthinkable amount of nearly $125 billion. Comparing to today’s challenges, wouldn’t we all be thrilled with that small of a number, and how unsettling is it to know that ONLY $125 billion would make us all so happy!

The FDIC is shouldering a huge amount in our current state of affairs, precipitously balancing the stifling weight of the nearly 85 banks which have failed so far this year, and hundreds more which are in peril. With the $3.7 billion lost by US banks in the second quarter alone, the FDIC’s fund is at its lowest point since 1992 when the S&L crisis was at its peak. While Sheila Bair, FDIC Chairwoman, is saying no to borrowing from you and me at this point, what happens if this current crisis continues to drag along the bottom? Will it drag us down with it, as the government is us? Will the fear of no place is a safe place for your money cause more runs on the banks, such as George Bailey experienced?

With the FDIC forecasting spending up to $70 billion on replenishing insured accounts through 2013, we all face another potentially hefty bailout. Bair says don’t worry at this point, since she does not see the need to tap the US Treasury – not yet. The FDIC is searching for options – it will attempt to replenish the fund through additional bank fees and has also indicated it is considering allowing private investors to buy failed institutions, bending rules to reduce the cash required that private equity funds must maintain in an aquired bank.

In the end, we are all “protected” by the government, which is to say, we are protected by ourselves, as our accounts are insured up to $250,000. At some point however, the bailouts come with the bill collector. Hopefully we’ll have something left in our wallets instead of turning our pockets inside out to find that they are empty.

[Via http://powellperspective.wordpress.com]

Brown's Afghanistan timing.

There’s been some interesting chat in the last couple of days (see Iain Dale, Political Betting and the Daily Mail) about whether Gordon Brown’s visit to Afghanistan on Saturday was timed deliberately to scupper David Cameron’s long-planned visit.

Cameron planned two months ago to visit Afghanistan today, only to see Gordon turn up there on a surprise visit on Saturday. Cameron promptly cancelled his visit, “to avoid an unseemly cat-and-mouse game and wasting of overstretched military resources.” While the official line from Cameron’s office is that they have no complaints about the timing of Brown’s visit, we know that Brown is comfortable using our heroic troops as political props. Indeed, there are strong similarities with his much-criticised visit to Iraq in October 2007. Completely against political principle, he visited the troops during the Conservative Party conference, in a pretty transparent attempt to steal the limelight from David Cameron. While there, he announced the withdrawal of a thousand troops from Iraq, only for it to emerge that the withdrawal of 500 of the troops had already been announced and 250 were already home.

Despite the obvious irritation at having to cancel his visit, there are a couple of subsequent stories which will put a smile on Cameron’s face.

Firstly, while he was out there, Brown was challenged by a young soldier as to why they have to pay tax while they are fighting abroad. Apparently American troops are much-envied for their tax-free salaries when fighting overseas, while French, German, Italian, Spanish and Dutch soldiers all receive ‘fighting bonuses’ – British soldiers receive nothing of the sort. Brown apparently waffled some ‘explanation’ about how soldiers are UK employees and therefore taxed back home, which i’m sure put the soldier’s mind at rest.

The other thing that will have improved Cameron’s mood is the result of the most recent voting-intention poll, as featured in the Observer yesterday:

Conservatives – 43%

Labour – 26%

Lib Dem’s – 17%

While the result is not that different to other recent polls, it comes as confidence in the economy is growing, as green shoots of recovery begin to emerge. 43% of the public expect the economy to improve in the next 12 months, compared with just 7% back in Spring 2008. Such a swing of opinion would have been expected to boost the incumbents’ poll rating, but it seems that the public are increasingly disinclined to reward Labour for any economic turnaround. This is sensible logic, for if the government said they were not to blame for the global recession, then they will presumably concede that they are not to be praised for a global recovery?

There is also a more historical precedent being followed here – the last two decades have seen an apparent end to the rule that general elections are decided on the state of the economy – the Conservatives won in 1992 when the economy was in trouble (just 5 months before Black Wednesday) and lost in 1997 when the economy was in good shape (there’s a story told that when Brown became Chancellor in 1997, an official said to him: “These are fantastically good figures – the state of the economy is much better than predicted.” His reply was: “What am I supposed to do about this? Write a thank-you letter?”). The point, though, was that the Conservatives had lost the public’s trust years previously and nothing – however great the economic recovery – could restore that trust. Sound familiar?

[Via http://jamesmanning.wordpress.com]

Entry #46 - Tea anyone?

‘I would like some tea, please. Don’t ask me HOW I would like it. Don’t try to make small talk with me. Up until 2minutes ago we were total strangers. You are not doing this because you want to. You are doing this because you have to. Don’t try to stall me with questions that would only intensify a thirst which, before you came prouncing along, wasn’t initially there. Just pour it and drop it and I’ll try not to sip it and spill it. I don’t care if it’s Iced Tea or Regular hot tea. I don’t care if its Earl Grey, De-Caff, Herbal or Chai Tea. I don’t care if it’s made by Lipton, Twinning’s, PG Tips, Tetley or low-budget teabags made for Economy class passengers. I don’t care if it comes with milk either so don’t ask me if I want full creamed, skimmed, semi-skimmed, evaporated, condensed, powdered, or any other white liquid substance that was supposedly drawn from a cow…or goat for that matter. Don’t assume that I would use the sugar in the sachet. You don’t know if I like to use sweetners. You don’t know if I take my tea with honey. You must be thinking that if I allowed you to ask how I take my tea I could have responded with a single-sentence which would save time and energy for both you and me? Well I would have said something like “I take it in a teacup like everyone else” – not the kind of answer you would like to hear. So now that you’ve probably learnt a thing or two (or not) ask me how I would like take my tea…I dare you’ xD

[Via http://crazynigerian.wordpress.com]

Japan Elections, Economy and Plants

Today is Japan’s national elections, with the opposition Democratic Party expected to take power in a landslide victory over the ruling Liberal Democratic Party, previously out of power only once since 1955. The electoral shift has been related to the nearly two decades economic decline and a desire for political change.

Recently, the British owner of one of Tokyo’s most expensive plant shops explained to me how the current economic downturn is affecting sales at his store. Global banks, corporate headquarters, and office lobbies have suspended regular deliveries, forcing the plant shop to layoff employees and reduce salaries.

In this difficult economy, the shop’s revenue has become more heavily dependent on government and the yakuza. In anticipation of today’s election, a US political advisor has ordered 480 of his most expensive white orchids, five stems for 50,000 yen ($535) each, for each winner of the lower house of the Diet. That single order is worth $250,000. It is interesting how an election creates direct economic benefits, and the owner is sad that it does not happen more often.

The other clients who have not cut back in spending are the yakuza. According to my source, the yakuza routinely order very expensive plants and flowers to send to their rivals. They also insist that delivery be made by the shop’s truck, even in Osaka and Kobe so that the prestige of the Tokyo shop is circulated publicly. I was taken aback at the idea of sending such lavish gifts to one’s rivals, but apparently the yakuza, like almost all other sectors of this consensus-oriented society, strive to maintain positive relationships with their enemies.

[Via http://tokyogreenspace.wordpress.com]

Obama vows not to forget lessons of Katrina

It has been what FOUR years now sense katrina, and he has been in office now for NINE month, and now seeing what he can do to help the the people down in that part of the country, why did he not do it sooner, well that is probable because taking over this country was more important then the taking care of the American citizen that he swore to protect.

=======================================================

By PHILIP ELLIOTT, Associated Press Writer

OAK BLUFFS, Mass. – President Barack Obama promised Saturday that his administration would not forget what he called … a tragic response to Hurricane Katrina. He said he would visit the still-recovering New Orleans before the end of the year.

Obama has already dispatched 11 members of the Cabinet to the region to inspect progress and to hear directly local ideas on how to speed up repairs to a region destroyed by flooding four years ago this weekend.

“None of us can forget how we felt when those winds battered the shore, the floodwaters began to rise and Americans were stranded on rooftops and in stadiums,” Obama said during his weekly radio and Internet address, released while he is vacationing on Martha’s Vineyard off the coast of Massachusetts.

“Whole neighborhoods of a great American city were left in ruins. Communities across the Gulf Coast were forever changed. And many Americans questioned whether government could fulfill its responsibility to respond in a crisis.”

Katrina struck the Gulf Coast on Aug. 29, 2005, killing more than 1,600 people in Louisiana and Mississippi and leaving behind more than $40 billion in property damage. Hurricane Rita followed almost a month later, with billions of dollars in additional damage and at least 11 more deaths.

Obama acknowledged that recovery has not come at an acceptable pace despite recent moves to speed up the process.

“I have also made it clear that we will not tolerate red tape that stands in the way of progress or the waste that can drive up the bill,” said Obama. “Government must be a partner — not an opponent — in getting things done.”

Obama’s FEMA chief, Craig Fugate, has been cited by Gulf Coast officials and Obama administration officials alike for breaking through the gridlock that has delayed recovery.

Gov. Bobby Jindal, R-La., recently said he had a lot of respect for Fugate and his team. “There is a sense of momentum and a desire to get things done,” he said of the career emergency official.

In half a year, Obama’s team says it has cleared at least 75 projects that were in dispute, including libraries, schools and university buildings.

Even so, many towns remain broken, littered with boarded-up houses and overgrown vacant lots. Hundreds of projects — including critical needs such as sewer lines, fire stations and a hospital — are entangled in the bureaucracy or federal-local disputes over who should pick up the tab.

“No more turf wars,” Obama said. “All of us need to move forward together, because there is much more work to be done,” he said.

[Via http://1autolatry.wordpress.com]

Van Jones Thugs Give Glenn Beck Ratings Boost

Thanks go to rjjrdq for the post.

Free speech is getting more popular not less as a result. Well, they have a plan for that too. We can only hope that it fails as badly as this little Alinskyan escapade.

When Glenn Beck spoke the truth, the White House was uncomfortable. When Glenn Beck spoke race, Obama minions pulled out their card and sprang into action. A group called the Color of Change, a group associated with Van Jones, the current green czar, the self proclaimed “rowdy national and communist” is behind the boycott. This group is turning the screws on advertisers on Beck’s program, and many have dropped their advertising.

Well, success, right? Not so fast. Since the attack on free speech boycott, the ratings for Beck’s show have skyrocketed. Yes, skyrocketed. In addition, some of these advertisers have pulled their ads from the left leaning competition.

I said earlier that Van Jones is, or was associated with the Color of Change. The reason that description was so murky is that these groups tend to form, then fall apart or morph into a new group, or even congeal with several other groups so tracking the origins of the group and who founded or co-founded can be difficult. Van Jones had a hand in the formation of this group. He now has the ear of Barack Obama. Van Jones is a communist. His words. Van Jones is a radical. And Van Jones is certainly not the only radical in the Obama administration. More on that is coming.

This issue isn’t about race. Certainly Barack Obama can’t have a problem with it or he would have walked out on Jeremiah Wright 20 years ago. He at the very least doesn’t have a problem with the concept. This is a concerted effort to silence free speech. Beck is laying out the Obama agenda and all its radicals player daily. He’s painting an easy to understand big picture. That’s what this is all about. We bloggers talk about the details (which are extremely important), but Beck is piecing those details together in a portrait of the big agenda. We need the details, but we also need someone to put together the puzzle from hell. That’s where Beck comes in. Color of Change (or whoever is currently winding their clock) want to shut him-and us down. Their mistake is that they think we need Glenn Beck. We don’t. We want Glenn Beck. The first amendment will live on with or without him. But if they get to him, and if they are successful in silencing him, you can be sure they will eventually get to you.

Don’t stand for it. It’s very easy to get a list of advertisers that have pulled out of Beck’s program, and a list of those that have stayed-or just signed on. You have the power to buy. Who do you want to support with your dollars? Companies that don’t mind hearing the truth, or companies complicit in the stifling of free speech? Your call, your money.

[Via http://warrantonegirl.wordpress.com]

Is a Tobin Tax 'unworkable'?

Something of a bidding war is in progress to see who can propose the toughest measures aimed at bank profits/bonuses. The latest entrant is Lord Turner head of the Financial Services Authority, who, in an interview with Prospect magazine has argued in favour of governments levying a so-called ‘Tobin Tax’ on banking transactions. Given the likelihood of his departure and the sidelining of the FSA; Turner probably feels able to speak as he pleases pretty much and will not be bothered by the annoyance expressed by pretty much all politicians.

Nick Clegg thinks that such a tax is unworkable but shares Turners ’sentiments’. Clegg is to a degree right that there would be serious questions marks over a ‘UK only’ bank tax but then again that wasn’t what Turner was proposing so it is something of a straw man that Clegg is arguing against. Turner proposes the measure as part of  ”a very major reconstruct of the global financial regulatory system”. Given the fact that most global f9inancial transactions take place in only nine countries it would indeed be most effective if implemented by these nine. However, it is not entirely true that it is impossible to operate such a tax on a regional basis; the ‘Bank of the South’ in South America has implemented one recently and is using the monies raised for a development fund for the region. Meanwhile, the Canadian government passed a resolution in favour of the tax in 1999.

It is also true that such a tax would not be explicitly aimed at curbing bonuses though it is not unfair to assume that having to pay the tax in the first place would result naturally in lower bonuses being paid. At this point you being to suspect that there is less sympathy with the ’sentiments’ than has been stated.  The tax could be set at a low rate and still raise billions in revenue which could either be reinvested in each economy or used to support developing economies. The real nail in the coffin of Clegg’s argument that it is ‘unworkable’ is supplied by none other than the City of London itself which reported that a simplified version of the tax was, in fact, workable.

A ‘Tobin Tax’ is not something that exists against or in opposition to measures to ‘break-up’ High Street banks or indeed Vince Cable’s recently proposed high-pay commission. It is in fact, as Turner rightly says, part of the major restructuring that needs to take place following the latest ‘crash and burn’ of the global economy.

[Via http://momentsofc.wordpress.com]

In the eye of hurricane male bovine feces

I read the standard news fare today and reflect back decades ago and it was not much different.

From an impeding ice age we discovered that underarm deodorant in spray cans caused the ozone layer to disappear, heating up the earth and causing skin cancer.  Eggs and milk were considered unhealthy for a while and now are back in.

Global warming is in, but no one really thinks its a problem, otherwise they would do something.  If governments were really convinced that our earth was warming that quickly, they would curtail pleasure driving altogether, outlaw motor homes, restrict gasoline sales and cut manufacturing for all non essential items as a few measures that would help right away, not ten years from now.

The end of the world is something prophesied by religion and science.  It is expected every generation.

One day we will disappear I am sure, like the dinosaurs and cave men.

Maybe that rock they found from Mars came here when life fled Mars when it became uninhabitable?

In my youth the Viet Nam war and Commies threatened our way of life, now it the Axis of Evil and a few other players.

The recession is over they say.

The world is still spinning for the moment.

I feel I am in the eye of the bullshit storm.  It will start again about something, people will believe it, a war will start and everybody’s wish will come true.

We will disappear in the brown hurricane.

[Via http://plainview.wordpress.com]

LifeWork Arrival and MondayChurch.org Official Launch!

Finally, Darrow Miller’s new book is available for purchase and immediate shipment! Through August 31st, you have the opportunity to buy this book at a deep discount of $8.95. Anyone who desires the Church’s deeper impact in all areas of society should own, study, and share this book.

In addition to the long-awaited book, comes MondayChurch.org and many free downloadable resources, including a chapter-by-chapter study guide for the book, a LifeWork small group Bible study, a resource titled “Discover Your Calling” which is perfect for young people and those in work transitions, vocation-specific studies/resources, and much more.  You can watch an introduction and overview of Monday Church.org here:

[Via http://disciplenations.wordpress.com]

Blog Action Day - Originally for 2008

Poverty is a horrible thing no matter what aspect of life it affects, but just throwing money at it won’t completely solve the problem.

When it comes to poverty there are no easy answers. With the US in an economic crisis money and poverty are on everyone’s mind. But poverty isn’t just about money. People can be poor in many other ways, such as health, spirit, and love.

When it comes to helping others who are suffering we need not look too far. Just look at your own family, friends, and community. There is no better time than now to help those in need. If money is tight for you, as it is for most right now, give your time, love, and energy to others.

Give your time to others who might need someone to help watch their children. Give your love to those who just need someone who will listen to what they have to say. Truly listen! And give your energy to those around you, especially your family, that need help in even the smallest of ways.

True giving should hurt a little. If you give because you just have too much of something then that is not true giving. Give to others what you yourself would need.

[Via http://treadearthlightly2.wordpress.com]