… reduce the government debt?

Lots of people want to adopt kids and there are too few available. Many Americans spend large amounts of money to adopt kids from Russie, Romania, etc.

Why don’t Pelosi and Obama just auction off American kids who are living on welfare?

Remember the aborted (pun intended) “Million Burkha March”? Inspired by the “Million Ton Mom March” of Rosie ODonnel fame, it was called off when the government of Saddam was toppled. I was just wondering if Pelosi, Feinstein, Boxer, et al., still had theirs and would like to auction them off for a worthy charity. Or better yet, start wearing them again.

Anyone have any info on this? Thanks. Luv Jack

The Bush Administration never meant to make Wall Street bankers responsible for the bailout money, now its obvious. The Bush Administration fell all over itself to convince the American taxpayers to hand over 3/4 of a trillion dollars to the crooked bankers, for what?

Will the Bush administration will go down in history as the absolute worst, most incompetent, grossly neglegent, presidential administration in history? I can’t see how it could otherwise.

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/28232631

Executive pay limits may prove toothless
Loophole in bailout provision leaves enforcement in doubt

WASHINGTON – Congress wanted to guarantee that the $700 billion financial bailout would limit the eye-popping pay of Wall Street executives, so lawmakers included a mechanism for reviewing executive compensation and penalizing firms that break the rules.

But at the last minute, the Bush administration insisted on a one-sentence change to the provision, congressional aides said. The change stipulated that the penalty would apply only to firms that received bailout funds by selling troubled assets to the government in an auction, which was the way the Treasury Department had said it planned to use the money.

Now, however, the small change looks more like a giant loophole, according to lawmakers and legal experts. In a reversal, the Bush administration has not used auctions for any of the $335 billion committed so far from the rescue package, nor does it plan to use them in the future. Lawmakers and legal experts say the change has effectively repealed the only enforcement mechanism in the law dealing with lavish pay for top executives.

Joe-republican, a white man and a Faux News-viewing house slave, defended his masters for the past 16 years. A slave though he was, as long as he could have a perceived social advantage over the other slaves, also white, who toiled in the fields, he was content with defending the cruel slave owners. Even though he was whipped by his master twice last year, when none of the field slaves were whipped even once, it was still worth it to have the social distinction of being a house slave.

Hey cons, how’s defending big business going for ya? Find yourself on the auction block yet?

This woman is awesome! Down with wasteful government spending!!

Global Warming is killing the planet. So our brain trust is congress is looking for ways to reduce carbon emissions. So they are proposing Cap and Trade.

A key element in Cap Trade proposals to limit greenhouse gases is how to allocate carbon-dioxide emissions allowances to companies.

Proposals include a government-run auction, which would generate revenue for the U.S. Treasury.

But a detailed industry-backed blueprint unveiled last week calls for a significant number of emissions allowances to be given to companies as free allotments, which would curb the cost of compliance and mitigate price increases for consumers.

While both proposals would likely mean higher electric costs for utilities, relying solely on a government auction would mean dramatically higher rates, according to Duke Energy, which has about 1.3 million electric customers in Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana.

Duke played a key role in developing the blueprint for the allotment program presented to Congress by the U.S. Climate Action Partnership, a coalition of 32 corporations, including General Electric, DuPont and General Motors.

More than 95 percent of the electricity Duke sells in the local region is from carbon-dioxide producing coal-fired generating plants.

An analysis Duke Energy did last summer showed that an initial $30-a-ton carbon emission price would cost the utility an additional $629 million a year in 2012 when fully effective, and mean a 35 percent rate increase for industrial, commercial and residential customers.

A $44-a-ton price would cost $864 million and mean a 48 percent rate increase, said John Stowell, vice president of environmental policy for Duke Energy Ohio.

So can you afford a 35 to 48% increase in your home heating bill? How are the poor going to pay for this?

2008 was the coolest year in over a decade. 2009 right now is well below the normals. So are we warming or cooling?
See the source:

http://news.cincinnati.com/article/20090118/BIZ01/901180334/1076/rss01

Dems pushing hard for global warming regulations:

http://www.breitbart.com/article.php?id=D95NNE8O0show_article=1

“…Amoco — later taken over by British Petroleum — was an early partner with Yukos in a highly prospective Siberian oil field Priobskoye. Amoco spent $300 million developing the oil field …………

Because Khodorkovsky’s father is Jewish, Cheney said it was motivated by anti-Semitism, and that it is only one of many steps to clearing Russian economy from Jews. Gusinskiy and Boris Berezovsky, who too have Jewish roots, have also been persecuted

When he was arrested, $14 billion worth of stocks he held in Yukos Oil–44 percent of all shares in the company–were frozen by government prosecutors, who said Yukos owed Russia $24 billion in back taxes. This prevented him from going through with a $20-billion projected investment deal with Exxon-Mobil that undoubtedly was behind his downfall

auction is reported to be $8.6 billion, but whoever buys it will have to pay $25 billion more to the Russian government to cover the taxes. (Interfax)

I’m SOOOOO sick of hearing “the Chinese could just ‘call in’ their ‘loans’ to us……”

Look if you’re going to comment on something, read up on it and learn how it works.

China’s central bank buys Treasury securities – mostly long bonds – at auction, because it keeps foreign currency reserves. You can’t put Treasurys back to the federal government. You can ask that the Fed sell your bonds FOR you at MARKET prices, at open auction. Arguably China could use this vehicle to ‘dump’ Treasurys but that would de-value their foreign currency reserves – it would harm them a lot more than it would harm us.

There’s no put – no option to just sell back to the federal government at face value.

Yet Libs keep talking as if China or any other bondholder could do this?

Do they even know what a put IS?

“…Amoco — later taken over by British Petroleum — was an early partner with Yukos in a highly prospective Siberian oil field Priobskoye. Amoco spent $300 million developing the oil field …………

Because Khodorkovsky’s father is Jewish, Cheney said it was motivated by anti-Semitism, and that it is only one of many steps to clearing Russian economy from Jews. Gusinskiy and Boris Berezovsky, who too have Jewish roots, have also been persecuted

When he was arrested, $14 billion worth of stocks he held in Yukos Oil–44 percent of all shares in the company–were frozen by government prosecutors, who said Yukos owed Russia $24 billion in back taxes. This prevented him from going through with a $20-billion projected investment deal with Exxon-Mobil that undoubtedly was behind his downfall

auction is reported to be $8.6 billion, but whoever buys it will have to pay $25 billion more to the Russian government to cover the taxes. (Interfax)
When Khodorkovsky was jailed, the crème de la crème of Washington’s oil-soaked political elite tried to intervene on his behalf. Khodorkovsky had hobnobbed with George H.W. Bush, the former president; Henry Kissinger, a Rockefeller protégé; former New Jersey Sen. Bill Bradley, who advises the Open Russia Foundation, funded by Khodorkovsky; and former Energy Secretary Spencer Abraham. He had also given large donations to the Car negie Endowment for International Peace and the American Enterprise Institute, bastions of imperialism.

Now Cheney is **** off!!! & want a nuclear base right at the door step of Russia = US tax $$$ and US blood.

[Second, as markets have lost confidence in mortgage-backed securities, their prices have dropped sharply, yet the value of many of these assets will likely be higher than their current price, because the vast majority of Americans will ultimately pay off their mortgages.The government is the one institution with the patience and resources to buy these assets at their current low prices and hold them until markets return to normal.] – from the transcript of the President’s 9-24 primetime address via the NYT

Compare to Bernanke’s opening statement to the Senate Banking Committee about how the $700 billion bailout will help Wall Street:

[ I believe that under the Treasury program, auctions and other mechanisms could be devised that will give the market good information on what the hold-to-maturity price is for a large class of mortgage-related assets. If the Treasury bids for and then buys assets at a price close to the hold-to-maturity price, there will be substantial benefits. First, banks will have a basis for valuing those assets and will not have to use fire sale prices. Their capital will not be unreasonably marked down ...]

The President’s statement looks like a bait and switch. Wall Street has been unwilling to sell at mark-to-market (“firesale”) prices. That’s the heart of the problem!

was gained except that the Government bought 25% of someones New Car?The dealers will sell them at auction and they will be right back on the road .
BTW did it ever occur to the Congress that the dealers at Government Motors are so Hungry now to turn a profit that they will add 4000$ to theSelling price?

“Before the Committee on Financial Services, Humphrey Hawkins Hearing on Monetary Policy, U.S. House of Representatives, July 21, 2009

Mr. Chairman, at a time when we find ourselves once again receiving a report on the Federal Reserve’s conduct of monetary policy, it is more important than ever that we in the Congress push for more effective oversight and transparency of the Federal Reserve System. It would be unconscionable for this body, especially after the financial crisis of the last two years, not to take forceful and deliberate action to bring more transparency to the Fed.

A common misconception is that the Fed is completely independent of political pressure, and that any attempt to oversee or audit the Fed would jeopardize that independence. While the Fed has far too much authority to make agreements with foreign governments and central banks, or create temporary liquidity facilities, the governors and, more importantly, the chairman, are appointed by the President. The chairman is the dominant figure within the Board of Governors and the Federal Open Market Committee, the public face of the Fed, and he must be reappointed by the President every four years, with the advice and consent of the Senate. Thus, his job security as chairman is dependent on keeping the President and the Senate pleased. Every time the chairman acts, it is with the knowledge that within four years he will be forced to justify his actions to the President and the Senate.

Meetings of the Federal Open Market Committee, the committee responsible for conducting monetary policy and setting interest rates, are held in secret. Minutes are released after three weeks, and transcripts after five years. The ostensible reasons for this secrecy are that too much openness will either hamper the freedom of FOMC participants to discuss issues freely, or that markets will be unnerved. However, this is not really a condemnation of transparency, but rather a sign that far too much power has been given to one tiny organization.

We here in the Congress hold our committee hearings publicly, broadcast on C-SPAN and over the Internet. We are the most powerful branch of the government and our decisions have no less effect on the lives of everyday Americans than the decisions of the Fed. More importantly, our discussions have a direct impact on our ability to win re-election. Every word we speak can be used against us in our campaigns for re-election. It would be far easier for us to hold hearings in secret and release minutes and transcripts well after the fact. Yet we understand that the American people deserve to know not only what comes out of Congress, but also what goes on in the legislative process.

In the same way, it is vital that the American people understand what is going on inside the Fed. Attempts at enhanced transparency and auditing of the Fed’s auctions are not intended to dictate monetary policy to the Fed or second-guess the Fed’s actions. To my knowledge not a single legislative proposal put forward thus far has this as its intended goal. We as Congressmen have the ultimate responsibility for keeping the Fed in check, but how can we fulfill that duty if we do not know what the Fed is doing? Greater transparency is the first step, and only then can we begin to perform effective oversight. Given the Fed’s abysmal stewardship of the dollar and repeated fumbling of financial crises, we owe this to the American people.
The last… this is what he said.