Stop the Money Chase

Stop the Money Chase

Instead of drafting legislation that will regulate Wall Street Congress is feigning indignation over 165 million dollars given in bonuses to the AIG employees.

This is an amount that is almost insignificant compared to 170 Billion dollars congress gave with no strings attached. I did the math and the 165 million in bonuses amounts to less than one tenth of one percent of that 170 billion.

All this began because many of the politicians, who appear so outraged, helped to deregulate Wall Street and did so because they were chasing campaign funds from the lobbyists who represent Wall Street.

The most important thing that we can do at this time is to support campaign finance reform. I am asking everyone to support a legislation that is to be introduced later this week by Senators Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) called the Fair Elections Now Act. Fair Elections is a bi-partisan reform that will free our lawmakers from the never-ending fundraising treadmill and allow them to concentrate on the critical issues of the day.

Under Fair Elections, candidates would qualify for limited public money by raising a specific number of small donations from their community, and would receive additional funds to match their ongoing small contributions. They would be prohibited from taking any large contributions.

Get involved and get your friends involved help pass the Fair Elections Now Act. Congress needs to hear from we the people so that they know that we are tired of the money chase and we are not going to take it any more.

Here is an organization that is dedicated to this cause I encourage you to sign up for their email alerts on this issue.
http://www.publicampaign.org/

Here is the letter I am writing and feel free to use it or alter it and send it to your congressman ASAP.

Congressman Young

I strongly urge you to support the bi-partisan reform bill to be introduced later this week by Senators Dick Durbin and Arlen Specter called the Fair Elections Now Act.

Fair elections are about voters and not big campaign donors. This legislation is modeled after the successful clean elections laws in seven states and two cities. Candidates need to be able to seek public office without having to court big money special interests for campaign contributions

We need our lawmakers accountable to the only to the citizens and free from the never-ending fundraising treadmill so that they can concentrate on the critical issues of the day.

Sincerely
Michael Chavers

You can find your representative here.
http://www.house.gov/

Enough is enough stop the bailouts and start the Nationalization

Enough is enough stop the bailouts and start the Nationalization

Here we go again more bad news from A.I.G. For the last 30 years both the Democrats and Republicans gutted the basic laws and enforcement i.e. financial regulations, anti-trust prosecutions that prevented financial institutions from becoming as we have been told “too big to fail” and David Sirota said in his latest column If It's Too Big to Fail, It's Too Big to Be Private.

We are going to have to realize that we can’t and should not bailout these huge corporations who have operated without prudence and common sense. What needs to be done is nationalize these institutions and fire the executives whose responsibility was to protect their investors with sound investments strategies, investigate any possible crimes that where committed. We could then unload the toxic debt for its real value break up these giants that are to big to fail and resize them and sell them back to private enterprise, so that one failure will not cause the tumbling of the house of cards as we have today.

There is a lot of money for investment but people are just not investing now because of the uncertainty on what the government will do. We know the government is going to do something, but like Ron Paul said “will it act like a chicken with its head cut off” and if you have never seen this before you don’t know what direction that bird is going to run just that it will flail about until it collapses. We need a sound monetary policy and some incentives for investing in the stock market again like removing the capital gains tax for investments made into the stock market and left there for two years.

The government should cut spending. Bush and company spent this country into the poor house and his policies are the initial cause of this mess. Now with president Obama’s massive spending we are being put into a huge pit debt that will probably take decades to recover from if we ever do.

All we hear from Rush Limbaugh and most of the Rightwing, is Obama is getting us into such a mess, and I hope Obama fails, well lets lay the blame where it belongs and not rewrite history like Karl Rove would have us do. By the way Rush I saw you on the C-PAC show and WTF, were you going for the bloated Tony Manero Saturday Night Fever look, GEEEEEE WIZ.

Let’s Start with the $3 trillion cost of George W's misadventure in Iraq that the White House and Congress Republican and Democrat alike merrily slapped on our children's future. Or, remember just a few months back when Bush's treasury secretary and Federal Reserve chief madly borrowed several trillion dollars from our children to stuff into the pockets of Wall Street executives, with no requirements that the banks do anything productive with the money?

So let’s get this straight, Republicans controlled congress for 6 years and the White House, for 8 years. The Republican-driven deficits dwarf Obama's spending. They saddle future generations with enormous costs for, as Jindal put it, "things we don't need," without returning any benefits to our country.

President Obama wants to create jobs and I think the first jobs Obama should create are hiring enough Border Patrol officers to secure our seaports and borders. He can immediately put people to work at the IRS investigating corporations who have been cheating on their taxes. He can put people to work by beefing up the SEC’s investigation personal so that we won’t have ponzi schemes that go on for years under the noses of the SEC undiscovered until after large numbers of people are duped into investing their life savings into worthless paper.

Some of the spending in Obama’s recovery package will buy roads, schoolhouses, water systems, parks, health care, mass transit, renewable energy and other real projects that we really do need. These things will be there to benefit future generations and me and many of my conservative friends support these things.

With our deficit problem though I think that the $237 Billion that gives $400 dollars to each worker isn’t going to be much help I would rather see that money used for more infrastructure projects. There are a lot of things in this stimulus package that I don’t agree with but we all should look at it and figure out where our priorities are and get busy and get congress to work on measures that will fix our economy and unite this country.

Peace, Liberty, and Prosperity through intelligence, strength, and integrity.

TO EVERYONE WHO HAS PROGRESS ENERGY

TO EVERYONE WHO HAS PROGRESS ENERGY:

PLEASE BE AWARE THAT YOU ARE NOW PAYING OVER 25% MORE FOR YOUR ELECTRICITY THAN CUSTOMERS OF FLORIDA POWER AND LIGHT CO. WE CAN TRY TO HAVE THIS INCREASE OVERTURNED BY FILING A COMPLAINT WITH THE FLORIDA PUBLIC SERVICE COMMISSION.

IT IS VERY EASY; Go on line at and fill in the complaint form. Feel free to use my letter or alter it any way you like to use.
http://www.floridapsc.com/consumers/complaints/index.aspx

OR CALL 1-800-342-3552. THERE WILL BE A MEETING IN MARCH, SO THE SOONER YOU DO THIS THE BETTER. THEY HAVE HAD THOUSANDS OF CALLS ABOUT THIS INCREASE, SO EVERY CALL WILL BE COUNTED.

Here is a site dedicated to helping consumers with info on Progress Energy
http://www.fireprogressenergy.com/



PROGRESS ENERGY Complaint letter to FLA Public Service Commission

Who decided that Progress Energy should be subsidized in their efforts to capitalize off building a nuclear power plant? It is very obvious that green energy is going to be a booming market in the very near future. Companies that can come up with new technologies and the infrastructure to deliver clean energy have a very bright future.

However, they should all have to compete for their share of this market but that’s not going to happen when you have a company that will have their infrastructure paid for when public officials approve a rate hike to pre pay for a new facility.

Also, what federal subsidies and contracts will Progress Energy be well positioned for after Floridians have paid for their new facilities? I don’t think that paying for Progress Energy’s construction costs is a fair or even wise move and I protest this increase.

Your Name
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Just remember "Even a little dog can piss on a big building." Jim Hightower " ...
Visit my web site Politics of an Independent Voter
http://michaelchavers.blogspot.com/
Mike Chavers

Peace and Liberty Through Intelligence, Strength and Integrity

Anyone who has followed my blog or articles at OpEd News has perhaps noticed that I signoff every time with my mantra, Peace and Liberty through intelligence, strength, and integrity. Today we stand on the verge of a total change in philosophy of how our federal government will behave nationally and internationally.

I believe that we have elected a new leader in Barack Obama, who possesses the intelligence, strength and integrity to bring Peace and Liberty and I shall add one more condition to this mantra, prosperity, to a nation that has veered so far off course for the last eight years.

Our new president has many challenges ahead. We as a people have many challenges ahead so let us put our differences aside and work together at least on the issues that we agree on.

Least not we forget that we are the heirs of the revolution that formed this great nation the United States of America. The torch has been passed to a new generation of Americans born in the 20th century and their deeds will shape the 21st century. Let us remain proud of our heritage and remain steadfast in defense of the Constitution.

Let every enemy foreign or domestic, that wishes us ill know, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, in order to assure the survival and success of our liberty.

In a world where the instruments of war have far outpaced the instruments of peace, let us begin a quest for peace before the powers of destruction unleashed by science engulf all humanity in self destruction.

We dare not tempt the enemies of liberty with weakness. We must remain strong to the point that any enemy, domestic of foreign who would attack our liberty will know with certainty that they must fail.

To the world let us never negotiate out of fear but we must remember we should never fear to negotiate. We must always find what unites us instead of belaboring those problems which divide us.

Let America stand for invoking the wonders of science instead of its terrors. Let us create clean and renewable energy, eradicate disease, protect the environment, explore the universe, encourage the arts and commerce.

Let us together create a new world where the rule of law is supreme, where the strong are just and the weak shall be secure and the peace preserved. This may take longer than a lifetime but let us begin now.
Remember in the hands of our citizens more than Obama’s rests the final success or failure of the new course. Through mindful attention to our problems we must struggle against the common enemies of man: tyranny, poverty, disease, and war.

We are at a turning point in the history of the world. The energy, the faith, the devotion which we bring to this endeavor will determine its outcome.

So president Obama I wish you Godspeed and will stand with all who shall support the principles of Peace, Liberty, and Prosperity, through intelligence, strength and integrity.

The real reason our financial crisis has happened. Runaway Greed

The Securities and Exchange Commission was created during The Depression to restore a sense of trust to Wall Street and to instill investor confidence. That confidence has been dashed once again. The S.E.C. was like an aging third string quarterback trying to sit on the sidelines the rest of his career without getting dirty, all the while this crisis brewed and history repeats itself once again.

We used to have a regulation call “the net Capital Rule”, and what this did was to require investment banks to have a responsible cash reserve on hand for the companies to weather downturns in the market and to prevent excessive debt loads.

Well back in 2004 when the Republicans where in all their glory all the major Wall Street players led by Henry Paulson, then the Goldman Sachs CEO and now the current Treasury Secretary, put the squeeze on their buddies at the Securities and Exchange Commission aka S.E.C. to grant an exemption of this rule so they could take advantage of the sub prime mortgage market, with all their unregulated mortgage backed securities that promised to make everyone rich. Then with the unanimous vote of all five S.E.C. members granted this exemption of the rule to the investment banks of Wall Street. Unleash the pit bulls Igor, there ain’t no lipstick here.

Do I hear a WTF???

So what did they do with their safety net? They went to a crap shoot and laid it down on the sub prime mortgaged backed securities market, putting their shareholders and the entire stability of the market at great risk.

The commissioners ignored the lessons of the Savings & Loan disaster of the 80’s, when deregulating that industry led to enormous abuses, the point is boys, Foghorn Leghorn said so eloquently, pay attention when I’m talking to ya, you can’t allow the foxes to guard the hen house.

Then the Coup de grâce came when Bush appointed Christopher Cox as the S.E.C. chairman in 2005 and the first thing he did was to gut the effectiveness of the seven member oversight committee established to watch out for abuses of the securities market. Now Wall Street could do as they wished without any meaningful review.

Back in March 2008 Cox said “we have a good deal of comfort about the capital cushions at these firms at the moment” even though some in the S.E.C. warned about excessive debt and dangerous practices within the investment banks. Then a few days later Bear Stearns crashed and burned and was gobled up by JP Morgan Chase, using taxpayer money to the tune of 29 million dollars.

Then the dominoes started to tumble because of the emense bad debt the S.E.C. exemption allowed the investor banks to accumulate. Chairman Cox, running with his tail between his legs has said sheepishly “the last six months have made it abundantly clear that voluntary regulation does not work.”

Duh..!!!

Peace and Liberty through intelligence, strength, and integrity.

The Real America for Lipstick Wearing Pitbulls

You know what gets me angry? Is watching Sarah Palin talk about how she is a real American. By her definition myself and more than half of the country must be fake Americans.


She runs around this great nation in her new 150 thousand dollar wardrobe and with that shrill nasal toned voice of hers talking incessantly about how small town, moose shootin, hockey moms like her are the real Americans. God help us if McCain gets elected and doesn’t live to finish his term and that piece of work Mrs. Palin becomes the president.


Well Mrs. Palin, I was born and raised in Niagara Falls, N.Y. I came up through public schools, I drive a Chevy one that was actually made in America, I drink beer, I pay taxes, and I work 2 jobs in order to barely squeak through each month, I have actually read the Constitution.


So don’t tell me I am not a real American, don’t call my friends who served their country and shed their blood in Viet Nam, that are Democrats are not real Americans. Don’t call my activist friends who watch and report when all you crooked politicians take money from corporate lobbyists. Your campaign of half truths and outright lies, I hope will come back to show you what the real Americans think of you.


My friends are white, black, Christian, Muslim, liberal, conservative, pro-choicer, and community organizers and free thinkers and that Mrs. Palin in your world is Anti-American.

Apparently in your view the only real Americans are the ones who show up for your rallies.


What is really un-American Mrs. Palin are people like you who are would divide us and enrich your war profiteering pals, practice policies that have bankrupted this country and involved us in foreign occupations while letting the plotters of 9/11 escape into Pakistan.


It is you Mrs. Palin and your so called maverick running mate who don’t under stand what makes this country great. It is the wonderful diversity of our people and the realization that no one group is more American than the next.


What unifies real Americans Mrs. Palin is our belief in that American values should work for the common good of all Americans, and those who would try to separate us from that unifying bond are the real enemies of America. So Mrs. Palin it is you and your maverick running mate who need to get real.


Peace and Liberty through intelligence, strength, and integrity.

McCain spotlight’s Obama’s associations. Let’s look at McCain’s..

McCain spotlight’s Obama’s associations. Let’s look at McCain’s..

The Republican’s will be getting the blame of this economic crisis we are in by the independent voters this election. The only way that they can take the conversation from the issues that face the Nation like the war, health care, social security, and the economy, is by changing the subject.

Every time the candidates talk about real issues McCain’s numbers fall in the polls so the McCainiac’s will attack Obama about his ties to the Reverend Wright and Bill Ayers, the onetime Weatherman who has been a University of Illinois education professor for almost 20 years.

On Saturday that pesky little pit bull Palin said she has finally remembered what she reads and she went on to say that she reads the New York Times and cited a story and then had the nerve to accuse Senator Obama of “palling around with terrorists” . Actually I doubt that she even read the story. She got it from the McCainiac’s slime machine to parrot as she gallivants around the country trying hard to avoid real reporters and parroting lies to the republican base.

According to the Washington Post’s Harold Meyerson
“The story of Obama's interaction with Ayers is drenched in irony, since it is basically a tale of Obama being co-opted into Chicago's civic establishment. In 1995, Obama, then a young lawyer with political ambitions but as yet no office, was recruited to chair the board of a school reform organization funded and established by the Annenberg Foundation -- a group that distributes the wealth of the estate of Walter Annenberg, Richard Nixon's ambassador to Britain. It was only then that Obama met Ayers, who already was a board member and a figure in Chicago's education-policy elite. (Mayor Richard Daley, that known radical, told the Times that he had consulted Ayers on education issues for years.”
Well Johnny Boy what about you and your running mate’s dubious association’s

The McCain-Hagee Connection
http://www.cjr.org/campaign_desk/the_mccainhagee_connection_1.php

The McCain-Keating Connection, One Crook Went To Prison, The Other Is Running For President
http://mccainkeatingfive.com/

McCain's Spiritual Guide: Destroy Islam
http://www.motherjones.com/washington_dispatch/2008/03/john-mccain-rod-parsley-spiritual-guide.html

Gun Control Lobby Claims McCain Insider Had Ties to NRA Spy Op
http://abcnews.go.com/Blotter/story?id=5606100&page=1

Phil Gramm, John McCain's former economic adviser, asserting that the country "had become a nation of whiners" in a "mental recession."
http://abcnews.go.com/Politics/story?id=5835269&page=1

Video of Palin and Stevens: The ‘Big Difference Between Reality and Perception’
http://www.propublica.org/article/video-of-palin-and-stevens-the-big-difference-903/

Palin's Church Promotes Gay Conversion
http://news.aol.com/elections/article/palins-church-promotes-gay-conversion/165471

The McCainiac’s have said big bad John will come into the October 7th presidential debate seeking to change the subject from the economy to Obama’s radical associations.

See John when you and your pit bull attack with lies and distortions not everyone is asleep as you would seem to believe. We are watching and we are not going to let you steal this election using the standard operating procedure of the Republican Party.

How about in a time of deepening economic crisis, let’s focus on the issues. America deserves a debate in which the candidates focus on their ideas for fixing the problems facing America rather than partisan attacks on Obama’s presumed associates.

Peace and Liberty through intelligence, strength, and integrity.