So High Above

In a somber warning to the American People, President Obama warned that the Stimulus Package would take years to begin to correct the Economy, not months. The highly anticipated Stimulus Bill was passed by the House without any Republican Support even though President Obama in a conciliatory gesture to the Republicans acquiesced and added more of their coveted tax cuts to the measure. Hopefully, President Obama has learned a valuable lesson from this experience and will realize that the Republicans have one goal and one goal only and that is to stop supporting the Federal Government with taxes from the wealthy and to place the burden squarely on the backs and families of the working class and middle class. The old tired idea that tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations will spur economic growth has been thoroughly disproved by the Bush Administration. The Spend and tax cut policies of the Bush years, along with invading Sovereign Countries have placed the US Economy on a tenuous foo...

Today, President Obama gave Vice President Biden a job to do. He is to be in charge of a task force to pursue the economic recovery of the middle class. This is a rather odd job for Mr. Biden. His support of the current Bankruptcy Bill is a major factor in the pain that the middle class is feeling during this economic crisis. The pain for the middle class began years ago when the Biden-backed and supported Bankruptcy Bill became law and was signed by Republican President George Bush. The Bankruptcy Bill that Biden supported allows Credit Card Companies to randomly raise a cardholder's interest rate based on their Credit Score. It allows Credit Card Companies to place a cardholder at a default rate even if the bill that they were late on was not the Credit Card Bill. A credit card company can dig through the personal financial data of a cardholder to find any late bill, even a utility bill, and claim justification for raising the cardholder's interest rate to an astounding 39.9...

The continued effort to pump the large multinational banks full of American Money is getting us nowhere. The Banks continue to spend money like they are the aristocracy of the American Economy. Government Bailout money has been used by the Banks to continue their exurbanite salaries and bonuses to their Executives and Upper Management, while continuing to farm out service payrolls overseas to India, Pakistan, and Asian Countries. First of all, what Bank Employees deserve any bonus? They should be returning 20-25% of their salaries that they received while they were practicing unusual business activities that led to the current state of affairs, never mind receiving bonuses. What person in their right mind would pay a bonus to an employee whose performance led the business to ruin? Doesn't anyone see anything wrong with this? What would be the larger crisis if these Banks were forced to sell off their assets in bankruptcy court. Thousands of Regional, Community Banks and Credit Unit...

To win Republican votes in the House on the highly touted Stimulus Bill, President Obama adjusted provisions of the Bill to cater to the failed, bankrupt ideas of the selfish Republican Party. President Obama even instilled more useless, wrong, tax cuts into the Bill to try to win bipartisan support for the Stimulus Bill. Well, not one Republican supported the Stimulus Bill, they ALL voted NO. Hopefully, President Obama learned a valuable lesson from this experience. He has tried since day one, through both words and actions to get both parties to work in concert to work on the current economic crisis, but to no avail. It is a nice gesture, however, the Republican party does not care about the American People. Their only concern is that their millionaire banker friends and financial institution friends can continue to pay the exurbanite salaries and bonuses to their employees which include many family members of the Republican Hierarchy. Now that President Obama sees in black and whit...

With the stimulus bill already becoming a cumbersome piece of legislation as it works its way around Congress, Ms. Pelosi has stated that it will be ready to pass by mid-February. Obviously, Ms. Pelosi and crew do not read the news, major corporations announced layoffs yesterday, January 26, 2009, across a broad spectrum of American Business from heavy machinery manufacturers, Caterpillar, to coffee shops, Starbucks. Yet the Congress seems unfazed, only when the banks come crying that their risky, leveraged speculation has gone sour does the Congress perk up and find money to keep them going. Is it because every Congressperson and Senator can count on the Banks for Campaign Donations or is it just because the Congress feels that Banks can not fail even if it is due to a bad business model and risky speculation. The place to get the stimulus started immediately is right in the Halls of Congress. First, Congress should vote to rescind the recent pay raise that they voted for themselves ...

In the January 26, 2009 edition of the New York Post an article written by Jennifer Gould Keil and Chuck Bennett entitled, JUST PLANE DESPICABLE 'RESCUED' CITI BUYING $50M JET, reveal that Citi Bank is planning on taking delivery on a $50 Million luxury jet with leather seats, sofas and a top of the line entertainment system. The Title of Ms. Gould Keil and Mr. Bennet's article hits the nail on the head. This is despicable. Citi has just taken massive amounts of government TARP money offered to them by former Secretary of Treasury Paulson and the Economic Wizard, former President George W. Bush. Obviously, Citi Bank is not in such dire straits if they can plop down $50 Million for a luxury jet. To paraphrase Shakespeare " something is rotten in Washington". Why are the banks being rewarded with Federal Money for bad business practices? Just like in the lead-up to the Iraq War, the story keeps changing, first Bush, Paulson, and Company said that the crisis was ca...

Even after the secret distribution of $350 Billion of U.S. Treasury Money and an accommodating Federal Reserve Policy U.S. banks are still bleeding. First Centennial Bank in California was seized by the FDIC as insolvent. Over 8,000 Financial Firms and 318 Banks have received some form of Government Bailout, yet the problem still persists. This leads one to believe that the business models, including the employee compensation packages at these corporations, are flawed. Fund Managers at these institutions receive millions of dollars in salary and compensation. A second-tier fund manager at these institutions receives a total compensation package of 5 million dollars, even if we assume that these managers work 65 hours a week for 52 weeks, which they absolutely do not, that means their average hourly salary is right around $1500 per hour. That is a staggering amount of money, which is the equivalent of 171 hourly workers earning the National Average of $8.73. Is any ONE person worth the ...