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government accountability: Regardless of Who Wins the Debt Negotiations, Americans Lose - 07/27/11 08:08 PM
While the media seem to love the political theater surrounding the debt negotiations, the truth is: Neither political party is proposing to do what is necessary to restore fiscal sanity to our nation’s budget.  Regardless of who wins the debt negotiations, Americans lose.  Both parties have offered budget cuts, but the reality is that neither has proposed legitimate reductions that would actually lower the deficit during the next decade.  In order to ensure acceptance of their so-called cuts by their bases, both sides are holding firm on certain provisions in order to pacify supporters and secure reelection. 
 
The reality, which … (24 comments)

government accountability: Foreclosures Are Coming, Millions of Them - 01/26/11 10:19 PM
 
In an interview today on Fox Business, Neil Barofsky, the special inspector general to the Troubled Assets Relief Program said that foreclosures are coming, millions of them.  The TARP “watchdog” indicated that the government’s foreclosure relief program, HAMP isn’t working; and it now seems obvious to most that it was never expected to work.  Citing uncooperative lenders and servicers, and an unwillingness from Treasury to pressure compliance, Barofsky once again pointed out how the Administration’s promises to help millions of homeowners avoid foreclosure have been a dismal failure.  With the potential for as many as 13 million foreclosures during this … (23 comments)

government accountability: Monday Morning Quarterbacking and Incompetence: The Government is Expert - 10/26/10 05:23 PM
 
Monday Morning Quarterbacking and Incompetence: The Government is Expert
 
Once again we find that politicians and bureaucrats have failed us.  Speaking at a housing conference in Arlington, Sheila Bair, Chairman of the FDIC, said that banking regulators should have realized that the streamlining and cost cutting done by banks in processing foreclosures must have come at a cost, but those measures were never examined.   According to Bair, “. . . those types of questions were not asked.”
 
Speaking at the same conference, Ben Bernanke, the financial wizard who totally missed the looming collapse of the housing market, said, … (21 comments)

government accountability: Surprise—Surprise: The White House Finds no ‘Structural’ Foreclosure Issues - 10/20/10 06:01 PM
An article on MarketWatch reports that HUD Secretary Donovan has stated that there are no “structural” foreclosure issues and that the “housing recovery that has begun can continue.” And while the government would like foreclosure scandal to just go away, many attorneys and homeowners facing foreclosure seem intent on getting their “day in court.”
 
Additionally, the states’ attorneys general are all performing investigations to see if the laws in the various states have been broken. It seems probable that most foreclosures will proceed, perhaps on a slightly longer schedule, but I do believe that the impact of this crisis will … (22 comments)

government accountability: The SEC Announces Christmas In July For Goldman Sachs - 07/16/10 05:18 PM
When the charges against Goldman Sachs were first announced, I wrote a POST analyzing both the complaint and the probable results. And now that the details of a settlement have been announced, it seems that the Wall Street giant has once again come out on top.
 
In my post I stated:
In the end, however, and once the dust has settled on this investigation, I’ll be surprised if Goldman doesn’t come out a winner, just as they came through the Great Depression and all subsequent recessions, growing larger and more powerful through periods of calamity. Though its reputation has been … (21 comments)

government accountability: Eminent Domain Disaster - 02/04/10 09:52 AM
Nine years ago a landmark Supreme Court ruling opened the doors for an eminent domain disaster in a ruling upholding the seizure of a 90 acre tract in New London, Connecticut known as the Fort Trumbull neighborhood. Many recall the controversy, known as Kelo v New London, and the neighborhood’s battle to protect its homes and businesses.
 
In a sweetheart deal with Pfizer Pharmaceuticals, the city had agreed to use the power of eminent domain to condemn the property for a development that was to include an expansion of Pfizer’s research headquarters, a hotel, condos, and office space. Additionally, the … (13 comments)

government accountability: Who Will Announce That The Emperor Is Naked? - 11/16/09 06:41 AM
In Hans Christian Andersen’s famous tale, The Emperor’s New Clothes, two weavers promise the Emperor a new suit of clothes that would be invisible to those who were unfit for their positions or stupid. Upon donning the nonexistent clothes, the pompous Emperor, fearing to appear incompetent, refuses to admit that he could not see them, and his aides marveled at of the beauty of the fabric.
 
I find a correlation between the fairy tale and the current attempts of the administration to convince us that their efforts to stem the tide of recession and joblessness are working. And Congress, bureaucrats, … (42 comments)

government accountability: Are We Surprised To Discover Fraud In The First Time Buyer Tax Credit? - 10/23/09 06:15 PM
A preliminary audit from the Treasury Inspector General for Tax Administration, TIGA, has uncovered as much as $500 million in fraud in the First Time Buyer Tax Credit. The audit has shown fraud to be both blatant and rampant, with thousands of aliens, hundreds of children, and as many as 53 IRS agents applying for the credit. There were also individuals who did not even own homes who received the credit.
 
What this demonstrates is the government’s inability to administer this program. Any time there are billions of taxpayer dollars involved and dishonest, incompetent, or indolent bureaucrats doling it out, … (11 comments)

government accountability: Are We Hacking At Branches? - 10/12/09 02:42 PM
After more than a year of the Great Recession, many are pointing fingers at politicians, bankers, Wall Street tycoons, lobbyists, and at their neighbors for making financially irresponsible decisions. And what have we gained? Little of consequence.
 
Many seem to believe the problem doesn’t lie with us, but with a vague and indeterminate “them.” Few are willing to take personal responsibility for the nation’s problems and find it much easier to lament their plight, throwing up their hands in defeat. But they fail to acknowledge that: No single raindrop believes it is to blame for the flood.
 
Neither … (22 comments)

government accountability: Who Will Remain To Pick Up The Tab? - 10/05/09 04:34 PM
With almost half of all Americans owing no Federal Income Tax in 2009, who will remain to pick up the tab for our government’s unbridled spending? For politicians a trillion has now become the new billion. And amazingly, the number not paying tax isn’t shrinking; it’s growing rapidly. About a quarter of “taxpayers” will have a net liability of zero, including Medicare and Social Security taxes, according to a report on CNN Money.
 
There is growing concern from a few in DC, and which is more widespread among economists and other non-politicians, that many of our “leaders” are ignoring the … (14 comments)

government accountability: Think The "Fat Cats" Got The Message? Think Again! - 09/27/09 12:41 PM
Following the financial meltdown and the government’s infusion of billions of dollars into banks and “wanna-be” banks, the government promised oversight of executive bonuses and loose business practices of those businesses receiving taxpayer funds. And with public disclosure and ridicule of executive’s use of private jets, frivolous corporate junkets, and other irrational business adventures, most would have expected that the spotlight on government and business leaders would have brought an end to corporate idiocy. Such is the stuff of dreams, however, and expectations of logic and prudence from our corporate and political leaders appears little more than fantasy.
 
In … (42 comments)

government accountability: Social Security Executives Party On Taxpayer Dime - 07/15/09 09:49 PM
In a report on ABC news, it seems that Social Security Administration has taken almost 700 of its executives on a $700,000 luxury trip to Phoenix to relieve stress. While I applaud the attempt at encouraging employee efficiency and perhaps improving service, I question the timing, the logic, and the appropriateness of conducting such an event when the average American is hard pressed to buy groceries.
 
My suggestion would have been to hold an event that would encourage the executives to SAVE rather than WASTE taxpayer money. After all, Social Security is broke—it has NO money. Perhaps the organizers could … (19 comments)

government accountability: Life As It Is - 07/02/09 02:58 PM
In the movie version of Don Quixote, the protagonist, played by Peter O’Toole, imprisoned by the Inquisition, responds to a fellow prisoner’s statement, “A man has to come to terms with life as it is.” Don Quixote then proceeds to describe why just seeing the realities of life are never enough, how man’s greatest insanity is to see life as it is, “and not as it should be.”
 
Isn’t that where we are today. We focus upon the disasters, the pain and suffering, the distortions and dishonesty from business and government; and we accept it as beyond our control. … (14 comments)

government accountability: What If Our Economy Really Is On The Brink? - 06/25/09 04:04 PM
What if the reports of “green shoots” are wrong? What if we really are on the edge of financial collapse? Would you plan differently? Spend differently? Save differently? What if all the news from Washington had been manipulated to give the impression that the economy was rebounding, but the opposite was true.
 
While I’m not an alarmist and don’t follow “conspiracy theories,” I’m honestly concerned by the actions of our leaders who keep telling us that there’s nothing to worry about. “The economy will recover from this recession just as it has from all past recessions.” I’m also apolitical, and … (27 comments)

government accountability: Prepare For The Jobs Of The Future - 06/01/09 02:14 PM
Lost your job and need work? Perhaps you’ve just graduated from college and are trying to figure out where to use that degree in Mesolithic Romanian cave paintings. While you may have training in other areas, you should prepare for the opportunities to come. The turmoil in government, the financial sector, and manufacturing, combined with the overall depressed state of the economy, will demand thousands of new skills and millions of workers.
 
I’ve outlined a few of the potential jobs openings below:
• Money counters – With trillions being printed by the Treasury Department, there will be numerous openings … (14 comments)

government accountability: What We Have Here Is A Failure To Communicate - 05/20/09 05:59 PM
The line from the classic Paul Newman film, Cool Hand Luke, describes our situation perfectly. “What we have here is a failure to communicate.” We have failed to communicate with our elected leaders; or more appropriately, they have failed to listen. We say one thing, “Health care costs are out of control, help us,” and the politicians hear, “Let’s develop a trillion-dollar health care program.”
 
We didn’t just ask that they throw money at the problem. We asked that they do something to fix it, to help make it less expensive and more accessible. Developing a trillion dollar program is … (9 comments)

 

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