Remembering AIG

Bill Moyers asked in 2009, "Are we chumps?" Former chief IMF economist Simon Johnson responded saying that depends on how we react, in other words, it depends on whether or not we let the investment bankers get away with it.

The following observations on AIG is a reminder not to let them get away with it.

1. AIG's insurance of exotic Wall Street derivatives helped give the false sense of security that allowed the financial industry house of cards to grow so astoundingly large, ... where were the regulators?
2. The argument that bonus contracts are sacrosanct is bogus on two levels: First, the sanctity of contracts is applied hypocritically to the white collar financial industry, but not blue collar auto industry... an industry that actually produces something tangible. More important, AIG is effectively bankrupt and survives only because tax-payers are propping it up. AIG should be treated like a bankrupt corporation and the contracts should be voided.
3. Most of the money going to AIG is actually going to.... the huge financial institutions, Citigroup, Bank of America, Goldman Sachs. Thus, A) the dollar figures of tax-payer bailout funds you hear begin quoted for these monopolistic banks should also count the pass-thru money going to them via AIG. And B) Why are our tax dollars going to pay the insurance on bad gambles? ... insurance payments on gambles that, under further investigation, might actually be founded on fraudulent financial actions?
4. If you're not angry enough already, DemocracyNow reports: "As AIG faces the loss of its bonuses, it’s quietly filed a lawsuit to recoup more than $300 million in what it says are overpaid taxes. The company says it overpaid the government in charges for using offshore tax havens. The suit effectively means AIG is using US taxpayer money to sue its majority owner, the US taxpayer. The government owns an 80 percent stake in AIG following its $170 billion bailout."
5. I heard a disturbing idea from Brian of WakeUp AM blog.... he posits that all of these bonuses, not just to AIG, smell like hush money.... "You get your million-plus and promise not to talk about what you know."
6. Finally, a disturbing AIG factoid: Again from Democracy Now: "A top Obama administration official is coming under scrutiny for his ties to AIG. Richard Holbrooke, Obama's special envoy to Pakistan and Afghanistan, served on AIG’s board from 2001 until early last year. Holbrooke is believed to have collected up to $800,000 during his AIG stint."

That last point is prime material for the Challenge the Establishment blog, which often probes the ills of Republicrats.

For Your Convenience:

• Contact the Broadcast Media
  
• Contact the Newspapers
  
• Contact the US Senate
  
• Contact the House of Representatives

Sources:

GDAE Podcast Episode 9, March 2009

GDAE Podcast - Episode 21

Episode 21 Afghanistan

• Afghanistan Escalation in the Balance: Voices of Rickback Bookboch, Stephen Walt, General Petraeus, WakeUp AM, Obama, Richard Engel.
  
• MUSIC: Dana Lyons' "Cows with Guns".
• Prosecute Bush: Guantanamo Detainee Attorney Michael Rapkin calls for Bush & Cheney prosecutions for torture.
• Afghanistan II: Rory Stewart on US Poised to Drive off Cliff in Afghanistan
• The Answer: How we know "We are All One"

Play GDAE Podcast Episode 21.

Previous Episodes & 60-Sec Promo:

GDAE Podcast 60-Second Promo

GDAE Podcast Episode 20 October 9, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 19 September 27, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 18 September 16, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 17 August 31, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 16 July 30, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 15 June 17, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 14 June 10, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 13 May 22, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 12May 5, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 11 April 24, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 10 April 9, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 9March 28, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 8 March 15, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 7 March 1, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 6 February 17, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 5 February 6, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 4 January 24, 2009

Sources:

GDAE Podcast - Episode 11

The Rise of the Uniformed Right Wing

• Teabagging rallies as a 'case study' with help from WakeUp AM Podcast.
• Were the teabagging rallies really "grass roots"? Rachel Maddow and Fox's Glenn Beck weigh in.
• Fear-mongering attacks on Obama taken on by Frank Schaffer and Colonel Lawrence Wilkerson.
• Bill Moyers on incitement of the right wing fringe by right wing radio celebrities.
• MUSIC by Danny Elfman's Oingo Boingo "Only a Lad."
• Noam Chomsky: Darkness and light.
• MUSIC duet: Watson Blues on fiddle and mandolin.
  
  You can take ACTION: AskDOJ@USDOJ.gov Urge Attorney General Eric Holder to investigate Bush administration lawyers for torture.

Play GDAE Podcast Episode 11 from this page.

Previous Episodes & 60-Sec Promo:

GDAE Podcast Episode 10 April 9, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 9 March 28, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 8 March 15, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 7 March 1, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 6 February 17, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 5 February 6, 2009
GDAE Podcast Episode 4 January 24, 2009
GDAE Podcast 60-Second Promo

The Great Cover Up.... Again

History has shown that, first the corporate establishment creates a scandal, then the government creates a cover up scandal. We're watching a cover up unfold before our eyes.

Why the cover up? Because the establishment in charge is trying to 1) hide their role in causing the scandal, and 2) preserve their wealth and power... at the expense of common folk.

A historical example: The "cover up" during the 1980s Savings and Loan debacle, which by the way was about the size of the AIG piece of what's shaping up to be the downfall of the US Empire, was as follows. Rather than expose the depth of the S&L mess, risking public out cry that would expose Congress' role in causing the mess, Congress swept it under the rug. They spread the S&L bailout costs over a long time, creating a huge interest payment burden for the public. A lot of these interest payments were eventually paid to many of the financial industry thieves who stole money and caused the S & L failures.

Same type of coverup is happening now and a mark-to-model shell game, on which I wrote today, shaping up to is a big part of it. In the short run, things will look good, but it's also dangerous. It's the same kind of trickery that Japan played in the 1990s that led to their lost decade, drifting in and out of recession.

The internet is all abuzz about last weeks interview of William K. Black by Bill Moyers. Black was involved in exposing the theives of the S&L crisis. One of them was Charles Keating, after whom the senate's so-called "Keating Five" were named, including John McCain. According to Moyers, Keating wrote a memo that read, in part, "get Black — kill him dead."

William Black fired a broadside last Friday, April 3, on Bill Moyers Journal:

BILL MOYERS: Why are they firing the president of G.M. and not firing the head of all these banks that are involved?

WILLIAM K. BLACK: There are two reasons. One, they're much closer to the bankers. These are people from the banking industry. And they have a lot more sympathy. ... But the other element of your question is [they] don't want to change the bankers, because if [they] do, if [they] put honest people in, who didn't cause the problem, their first job would be to find the scope of the problem. And that would destroy the cover up.

BILL MOYERS: The cover up?

WILLIAM K. BLACK: Sure. The cover up.

BILL MOYERS: That's a serious charge.

WILLIAM K. BLACK: Of course.

BILL MOYERS: Who's covering up?

WILLIAM K. BLACK: Geithner is charging, is covering up. Just like Paulson did before him.

Black levels the charge that the Obama administration is intentionally covering up the insolvency of the big banks. Some will say that this is to preserve stability, a montra of the establishment, but as noted above, it's really about preserving establishment power and wealth.

William Black Interview Transcript

Psssst... Do Something

• Contact the Broadcast Media
  
• Contact the Newspapers
  
• Contact the US Senate
  
• Contact the House of Representatives

Sources:

Bill Moyers Journal, April 4, 2009. (Video, transcript and more).

Demand Drastic Change of the Banking System

Economic literacy is important. For that reason, I maintain a list of Business/Econ web sites in the column to the right. Today I've added a new one, Baseline Scenario. It was co-founded by economist Simon Johnson. Simon Johnson, professor of global economics and management at MIT's Sloan School of Management. He is the former chief economist of the International Monetary Fund.

We have Bill Moyers to thank for guiding me to the Baseline Scenario site. Simon Johnson appeared in a segment on Bill Moyer's Journal, February 13, 2009. Here's a highlight:

Johnson explains ... that the U.S. financial system reminds him more of the embattled emerging markets he encountered in his time with the International Monetary Fund than that of a developed nation. As such, Johnson believes that the U.S. financial system needs a "reboot," breaking up the biggest banks, in some cases firing management and wiping out shareholder value."

It Continues...

Without drastic action, Johnson argues, taxpayers are merely subsidizing a wealthy powerful industry without forcing necessary systemic changes: "Taxpayer money is ensuring their bonuses. We're making sure that banks survive. And eventually, of course, the economy will turn around. Things will get better. The banks will be worth a lot of money. And they will cash out. And we will be paying higher taxes, we and our children, will be paying higher taxes so those people could have those bonuses. That's not fair. It's not acceptable. It's not even good economics."

This will be a topic of GDAE Podcast, Episode 7. You might also want to see the Simon Johnson interview with Bill Moyers [Video], or read the transcript. If you're moved, then ... Do Something. Make your voice heard.

• Contact the Broadcast Media
  
• Contact the Newspapers
  
• Contact the US Senate
  
• Contact the House of Representatives

Our Veterans

For some reason I'm most deeply moved when ever I hear reporting about the situation of military veterans. I just listened to last week's podcast of Bill Moyers Journal hosted by Deborah Amos, which ended with a piece acknowledging Veteran's Day. At the end, I literally shed a tear.

I think my emotions relate to my sense of injustice. This is a sentiment that moves me on most issues, including the shaft the common working person is experiencing with an economic system that has been tilted in favor of the elite and a bailout that is also tilted that way.

Many military people aren't informed about the political factors that determine their fate. Some do, however, take the time to learn what Maj. Gen. Smedley Butler learned. They learn that most members of the military are pawns in a rich man's game. But that's not the theme of this essay.

Deborah Amos asked: "How should the rest of us who don't serve in the military honor the service of those who do?" She posed the question to veterans, and here are their responses.

JOHN CAMPBELL: Once the parades are over, then what happens? How do you fill in? How do you really continue to bring support for people that feel, in a lot of ways, so isolated? That's what we really think we're missing is this sense of community.

ANDREW ROBERTS: Putting the yellow ribbon in the window is great, but that's not supporting the troops. Right now- you know, if you look at World War II, there was all sorts of different things that were going on. There were little kids were running around collecting the rubber off their pencils to contribute to the war in some way. To support the troops in some way. And you just don't see that going on right now.

CARLOS LEON: First thing they could do is go to your local VA's and volunteer, or just go to say "hi" to a veteran. For a guy that's laying, or for a woman, that's laying in bed and can't really do much, and a total stranger comes by and says "I just wanted to come by and say good afternoon or good morning," that's a big deal.

DREW BROWN: Even just a handshake. Just "hey man, welcome home, and thank you for your service." That usually is enough. That warms my heart more than you know. And it's a huge thing, because veterans always feel this sense of separation from the society that they protect.
If you just take that little bit of time, you know, to just write a letter or, you know, get a care package or put little things in like, you know, a comic book for some of the guys or, you know, a magazine, that's more than enough. And it's very well appreciated.

KRISTEN ROUSE: A really important lesson that I learned in the military, is that you have to help people where you can. If you can do something for somebody, then do it. Whether that be, you know, serving the public in one way or another, military service, community service, political service, medical ser--, you know, whatever it is that you can do to help other people in this country and in other countries too.

ANDREW ROBERTS: There are many organizations out there that really work very hard, every single day, to support the troops in some capacity.

Sometimes just being a member of those organizations makes them more powerful. That's supporting the troops. That's actually doing something.

GENEVIEVE CHASE: The best thing people can do is be aware. Pick up the newspaper and read about what's going on.

ROMAN BACA: So many children are uneducated about the military, and I have kids walking up to me all the time and say "You're in the military? What's it like? What'd you do? Did you shoot somebody?" Parents need to get involved and educate their kids about a lot more.

ANDREW ROBERTS: I mean, I haven't even heard a call to service to join the military at all. So I think that that's an important first step to help galvanize the American population.

DON BUZNEY: I know when I came back from Vietnam, I was told that I could not be hired because I'd spent four years in the military. And my civilian counterparts had more civilian-type experience.

So, overcome that. Recognize the talent, the skills, the training that the men and women in uniform have and they bring back to. So, find a veteran. Give them a hug, and find them a job.

GENEVIEVE CHASE: I really encourage Americans who can to take a minute to write a letter to their congressman or to their senator, and say, "Can you please remember our vets?"

ANDREW ROBERTS: We just have to continue to remind our leaders that these are our veterans, and they've made tremendous, tremendous sacrifices for our nation. They ask for very little in return. But we owe it to them to make sure that we get them what they need when they come back.

Sources:

Bill Moyers Journal, Honoring Our Veterans, November 14, 2008.