"Clown Prince" Weekly Blather; January 16th

A Patriotic Response To The "Clown Prince" 01/16/2010 Weekly Address January 16, 2010 Over the past two years, more than seven million Americans have lost their jobs. Countless businesses have been forced to shut their doors. Few families have escaped the pain of this terrible recession. Rarely does a day go by that I do not hear from folks who are hurting. That is why we have pushed so hard to rebuild this economy. But even as we work tirelessly to dig our way out of this hole, it is important that we address what led us into such a deep mess in the first place. Much of the turmoil of this recession was caused by the irresponsibility of banks and financial institutions on Wall Street. These financial firms took huge, reckless risks in pursuit of short-term profits and soaring bonuses. They gambled with borrowed money, without enough oversight or regard for the consequences. And when they lost, they lost big. Little more than a year ago, many of the largest and oldest financial firms in the world teetered on the brink of collapse, overwhelmed by the consequences of their irresponsible decisions. This financial crisis nearly pulled the entire economy into a second Great Depression. [What I'm not telling you: Between myself, members of previous obamacRATic administrations, we've been the force behind the financial devastation of the banking, real estate and mortgage sectors of the economy. "Slick-Willie" and his HUD Secretary, Andrew Cuomo 'suggested' {the word "coerced" could easily be substituted here} that FannieMae, FreddieMac, the major banks and mortgage institutions loosen their mortgage qualification requirements to put more welfareRATs into housing they couldn't afford and probably had no intention of paying for!! This method worked as a vote-buying tool for "Slick" and hopefully will for me, as well. For all his perceived faults, "Dub-ya" was smart enough to allow the mortgage industry to set their own standards, no matter who did or did not qualify. Thus explains that the "ruthless risks" were forced on the financial institutions by the fascist arm of the obamacRATic party. Sure the institutions lost big; we obamacRATs forced them into risks they knew were suicidal!! ] As a result, the American people – struggling in their own right – were placed in a deeply unfair and unsatisfying position. Even though these financial firms were largely facing a crisis of their own creation, their failure could have led to an even greater calamity for the country. That is why the previous administration started a program – the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP – to provide these financial institutions with funds to survive the turmoil they helped unleash. It was a distasteful but necessary thing to do. Many originally feared that most of the $700 billion in TARP money would be lost. But when my administration came into office, we put in place rigorous rules for accountability and transparency, which cut the cost of the bailout dramatically. We have now recovered most of the money we provided to the banks. That’s good news, but as far as I’m concerned, it’s not good enough. We want the taxpayers’ money back, and we’re going to collect every dime. That is why, this week, I proposed a new fee on major financial firms to compensate the American people for the extraordinary assistance they provided to the financial industry. And the fee would be in place until the American taxpayer is made whole. Only the largest financial firms with more than $50 billion in assets will be affected, not community banks. And the bigger the firm – and the more debt it holds – the larger the fee. Because we are not only going to recover our money and help close our deficits; we are going to attack some of the banking practices that led to the crisis. [What I'm not telling you: Even before I came into the office we bought; I whined and cried, pissed and moaned, that something must be done to bail out those banking and mortgage institutions that were laden with assets they would never collect on. Although the TARP giveaway program was written into law under the latest Bush administration, it was I who begged him to force the issue with the congress. My reasoning was that if it 'went to Hell in a hand-basket,' it would be on the Bush 'watch' not the obamacRATic 'saving grace' watch!! That "...want the taxpayers money back...." thingie?? That just so much more 'bovine feces' I'm so adept at spreading!! The vast majority of the bailout money we forced the banking industry to take; even those banks not in trouble with toxic assets, has been paid back. We're just creating another crisis to push for wealth re-distribution at an even faster rate. How it's going to work is this: banks work on a 1:10 assets-to-debt ratio. This means that the $117 billion that I want to assess on the banking industry as a whole, will remove $1.17 TRILLION from their ability to generate loan instruments!! That's a hell-uv-a hit on mortgage and general loan availibility, to say nothing of the economy in general. I realize that the banks are going to pass this fee on to the bank's patron; equating to another of the many new and increased taxes I said would never hit those with incomes of less than $250,000!! You probably believed that line about the fee would stay in place until the American taxpayer was made whole. Since when has a fee, surcharge or tax ever been rescinded after it accomplished it's pre-set goals?? I'm sure it happened once or twice, but I can't recall when!!] That’s important. The fact is, financial firms play an essential role in our economy. They provide capital and credit to families purchasing homes, students attending college, businesses looking to start up or expand. This is critical to our recovery. That is why our goal with this fee – and with the common-sense financial reforms we seek – is not to punish the financial industry. Our goal is to prevent the abuse and excess that nearly led to its collapse. Our goal is to promote fair dealings while punishing those who game the system; to encourage sustained growth while discouraging the speculative bubbles that inevitably burst. Ultimately, that is in the shared interest of the financial industry and the American people. Of course, I would like the banks to embrace this sense of mutual responsibility. So far, though, they have ferociously fought financial reform. The industry has even joined forces with the opposition party to launch a massive lobbying campaign against common-sense rules to protect consumers and prevent another crisis. Now, like clockwork, the banks and politicians who curry their favor are already trying to stop this fee from going into effect. The very same firms reaping billions of dollars in profits, and reportedly handing out more money in bonuses and compensation than ever before in history, are now pleading poverty. It’s a sight to see. Those who oppose this fee say the banks can’t afford to pay back the American people without passing on the costs to their shareholders and customers. But that’s hard to believe when there are reports that Wall Street is going to hand out more money in bonuses and compensation just this year than the cost of this fee over the next ten years. If the big financial firms can afford massive bonuses, they can afford to pay back the American people. Those who oppose this fee have also had the audacity to suggest that it is somehow unfair. That because these firms have already returned what they borrowed directly, their obligation is fulfilled. But this willfully ignores the fact that the entire industry benefited not only from the bailout, but from the assistance extended to AIG and homeowners, and from the many unprecedented emergency actions taken by the Federal Reserve, the FDIC, and others to prevent a financial collapse. And it ignores a far greater unfairness: sticking the American taxpayer with the bill. [What I'm not telling you: Can you believe this shit?!?! In one paragraph I indicate this bank fee crap is to punish the banking industry, although I don't use that word; the next paragraph, I say that "the goal is not to punish the financial industry...." If the whole program wasn't about wealth re-distribution, why wouldn't I just insist on equitable, workable regulations to insure the banking industry conforms to the accepted norms?? I know I've already "stuck it in your ass-and broke it off" so any discussion of unfairness to the American people is just another moot point. EVERYTHING I've done has "stuck it to the American people!!"] That is unacceptable to me, and to the American people. We’re not going to let Wall Street take the money and run. We’re going to pass this fee into law. And I’m going to continue to work with Congress on common-sense financial reforms to protect people and the economy from the kind of costly and painful crisis we’ve just been through. Because after a very tough two years, after a crisis that has caused so much havoc, if there is one lesson that we can learn, it’s this: we cannot return to business as usual. [What I'm not telling you: What should be unacceptable to the American peope--and justifiably so--is the way I unfairly treat one segment of the economy over another.... I'm beating the banking industry into the ground, while I give the auto industry a free ride!! As an example, GM alone, got $52Billion in bailout funds and has since paid back a measly $1.2Billion; this equates to LESS THAN 2.5 percent, while the banking industry has paid back upwards of 85%!! As the favoritism, I'll give ya three guesses and the first two don't count; it's the UAW!! The auto and other unions that helped me buy the election-I HAVE TO REWARD THEM by job security and job protection!! I've got another deal cookin' where I intend to "screw every fiscally conservative American to the wall!!" Check this out; it's ingenius; and I can get the congress to go along, just cuz it's wealth re-distribution-LITE!! Every Roth IRA, every regular IRA, every 401k, every 403b--actually every retirement financial vehicle--will be forced to invest their totality in Treasury Bills!!!! Is that ingenius or what?!?!?! See, China invested $977Billion [Nearly a TRILLION DOLLARS] in Treasury Bills. I can't even coerce them into buying more, UNLESS I raise the interest rate--which is currently ZERO-POINT-SHIT!!!!! You--the American worker who thought about retirement funding--have no choice!! That's the coolest part; you can bitch and whine all you want... If you want a retirement fund, YOU WILL put all the money in worthless T-Bills. The best you can hope for is that you'll get back what you put in.... WITH NO ACCOUNTING FOR INFLATION.... which should be "just around the corner!!" Bend-over-and-grab-your-ankles.... Prepare to kiss your financial ass good-bye!! That's all I have to screw you with so far this week!!]