You heard Obama say it. In fact, he said it several times in 2008. He warned that lost economic power weakens the dollar and weakens military power. He preached against the nation which, like everyone's familiar cousin, is constantly borrowing money.

So what has he done since taking office? He has crippled - not merely weakened - our nation's economic power by tripling the size of the budget deficit. TRIPLED the debt. Think about that. He knew the grave danger, yet he MADE it happen, not merely allowed it to happen. This year alone our federal government is spending ONE POINT FOUR TRILLION DOLLARS MORE THAN IT IS TAKING IN, IN REVENUE.

Either the man was being a cynical liar during the campaign as he argued for fiscal responsibility, something he knew Americans wanted to hear, OR he INTENDED to weaken the dollar and for the U.S. to lose its military preeminence by running up such outrageous, unsustainable, unrecoverable deficit numbers.

You heard him say it last month: "No one nation can or should try to dominate another nation. No world order that elevates ONE NATION. . . over another nation will succeed." That "one nation" he was speaking of that should not be elevated above other nations - was he speaking of the United States? If so, was his intent all along to weaken the United States economically so that the dollar would be undermined and that the U.S. would lose its military preeminence?

Was it Obama's intent from the beginning to damage the United States? If so, what do we do with such a man?

BOTTOM LINE: TAXPAYERS got the "SCREW"

The Wall Street BAILOUT— "FREE-FRAUD ZONE" where private contractors cash in on the mess they helped create

http://www.rollingstone.com/n...

Reuben Jeffery III -CHIEF INVESTMENT OFFICER r- $700 BILLION BAIL OUT of Wall Street. Jeffrey, served as executive director of Paul Bremer's infamous Coalition Provisional Authority (hiring civilian staff & DICK CHENEY interns) INTERN QUALIFICATONS - (hand over STACKS OF TAXPAYERS MONEY -a mad rush to private contractors NONSTOP CASH CONVEYOR BELT ) that earned the Green Zone a reputation, as "a FREE-FRAUD ZONE." Green Zone, overrun with PRIVATE COMPANIES COLLECTING LUCRATIVE CONTRACTS.

Law firm of BRACEWELL & GIULIANI -( yes, that Giuliani). The firm's chairman, Patrick Oxford, could scarcely conceal his glee over the prospect of CASHING IN ON THE BAILOUT Giuliani and his various outfits have EXTRAVAGANTLY PROFITED! Bigger than the price tag for the Iraq War itself.

In Iraq, A new team of CONTRACTORS LINED UP to RECONSTRUCT THE U.S. ECONOMY (reconstruct it from the mess made by those very banks,) Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, said the fact that so many law firms chose not to bid "shows that the guidelines are sufficiently rigorous."
Bankers and law firms that are now applying for contracts.

As soon as the bailout was announced, it became clear that Treasury officials would HIRE OUTSIDERS to PERFORM THEIR JOBS FOR THEM - AT A PROFIT. In a mad-rush - no time for an open bidding process.
The first MAJOR CONTRACT to be AWARDED in the bailout was for LEGAL ADVICE- and the choice Treasury made was HALLIBURTON-ESQUE in its AUDACITY!

Secretary Paulson promised that the BANKS WON'T JUST "HOARD" THE MONEY they will QUICKLY "DEPLOY IT" --THROUGH THE ECONOMY in the form of BADLY NEEDED LOANS. There is just ONE HITCH Neither Paulson nor Simpson Thacher got that "DEPLOY" PART IN WRITING ! nor did they put in place NO MECHANISM to REQUIRE BANKS TO SPEND TAXPAYERS BILLIONS. . (Apparently, the part about LENDING THE MONEY to HOMEOWNERS and SMALL BUSINESS was SORT OF IMPLIED.

"There is no obligation for banks to lend the money one way or the other," "But the banks have the understanding" that the money is intended for loans.
Unfortunately, MANY OF THE BANKS appear to have NO INTENTION of WASTING THE MONEY ON LOANS (At least for the next quarter, it's just going to be a cushion," said John Thain),

GARY CRITTENDEN,chief financial officer of CITIGROUP, had an even better idea: He hinted that his company would use its share of the cash — $25 billion — to BUY UP COMPETITORS and SWELL EVEN BIGGER. The handout, he told analysts, "does present the possibility of taking advantage of opportunities that might otherwise be closed to us."

And the folks at MORGAN STANLEY ? They're planning to PAY THEMSELVES $10.7 BILLION this year, much of it in BONUSES !! (almost exactly the amount they are receiving in the first phase of the bailout) Journalist, Jonathan Weil said , "Not only did we, the TAXPAYERS , save their company...WE FUNDED THEIR 2008 BONUS POOL !! "
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( NOTE) Five days before Paulson struck his deal with the banks, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown negotiated a similar bailout — only he extracted meaningful guarantees for taxpayers: voting rights at the banks, seats on their boards, 12 percent in annual dividend payments to the government, a suspension of dividend payments to shareholders, restrictions on executive bonuses, and a legal requirement that the banks lend money to homeowners and small businesses.
(NOTE) In sharp contrast, this is what U.S. taxpayers received: no controlling interest, no voting rights, no seats on the bank boards and just five percent in dividend payouts to the government, while shareholders continue to collect billions in dividends every quarter. What's more, golden parachutes and bonuses already promised by the banks will still be paid out to executives — all before taxpayers are paid back.

NO WONDER IF TOOK JUST ONE HOUR for Paulson to CONVINCE ALL NINE CEOs to accept his offer — less than seven minutes per bank. Not even the firms' own lawyers could have drafted a SWEETer DEAL .

The day after it met with the nation's top banks, Treasury announced that it had selected the firm that would receive the juiciest contract of all: that of "master custodian." The winning company will be to the bailout what Halliburton is to the military: the contractor of contractors. It will purchase toxic debts from Wall Street, service them and auction them off in the future — a so-called "end-to-end process." The contract is for a minimum of three years.

Seventy firms applied for the gig; the winner was Bank of New York Mellon. Describing the scope of the megacontract, bank president Gerald Hassell said, "It's the ultimate outsourcing — because the Federal Reserve and the Treasury do not have the mechanics to run the entire program, and we're essentially the general contractor across the entire program. It's going to cross our entire company."

This raises an interesting point: Has the Treasury partially nationalized the private banks, as we have been told? Or is it the other way around? Is it Treasury that has been partially privatized by Wall Street, its massive RESCUE PLAN NOW ENTIRELY in the HANDS OF PRIVATE BANK is DIRECTLY SUBSIDIZING?

Shortly after receiving the contract, HASSELL TOLD INVESTORS that his institution is now WELL-POSITIONED to PROFIT FROM THE "MARKET MELTDOWN". "There's a lot of new business that's going on even in this chaotic marketplace," he said, "and so some of those THINGS HAVE BEEN VERY POSITIVE TO US".
(NOTE) Just how positive, we don't know, because Treasury has BLACKED OUT the 10 LINES of the "master custodian" contract that reveal how much Bank of New York Mellon will be paid.
(NOTE) Though Treasury says it will release the information eventually, the secrecy goes beyond anything the Bush administration attempted in Iraq. Even HALLIBURTON'S DODGY CONTRACTS came with PRICE TAGS ATTACHED. Still, when the terms of the contract do become public, they may turn out to be surprisingly modest.

Goldman Sachs has apparently offered to fulfill at least one bailout contract for free. Altruism may not be their only motivation. The real money at stake in the bailout lies not in payment for the work but in how the work is done. Think about it: If you're the one selling your debts to the government, wouldn't you also want to help decide which debts are eligible and how much they're worth?
"The financial firms with assets to sell are in many instances the same firms the Treasury will rely on to value and manage the assets it is buying," The New York Times observed. "That is an invitation for these firms to set the price too high or to INDULGE IN OTHER MISCHIEF at the TAXPAYERS' EXPENSE".

(NOTE) Bank of New York Mellon has a bad record for mischief. It is embroiled in a $22.5 billion money-laundering lawsuit in Moscow and has been forced to pay out a $14 million settlement in a related case.

Though the bank's "master custodian" contract with Treasury prohibits unethical conduct, the arrangement seems rife with OPPORTUNITIES FOR ABUSE. According to its most recent earnings report, Bank of New York Mellon holds $1.2 BILLION IN SUBPRIME MORTAGE CURITIES, (That means that IN ADDITION TO the $3 BILLION it will receive as part of the EQUITY PROGRAM, it will also be ELIGIBLE to APPLY FOR TAXPAYER MONEY from the program it is being PAID TO ADMINISTER) ***Neither the bank nor Treasury would comment on this direct conflict of interest***.

On the same day that he allocated the first $125 BILLIONS TO THE BANKS, Secretary Paulson announced the LARGEST FEDERAL BUDGET DEFICIT IN U.S. HISTORY. (Buried in his statement was a preview of the next phase of the financial disaster. The deficit numbers, he declared, reinforce the need to "pursue policies that promote economic growth and fiscal responsibility, and address ENTITLEMENT REFORM .

******NOW YOU SEE THE WHOLE PICTURE ON HEALTH CARE REFORM???

" PAULSON was REFERRING to AMERICANS who feel ENTITLED TO RECEIVE SOCIAL SECURITY in their old age and MEDICAID when they are sick. Those programs, Paulson implied, might not be able to survive the budget crisis he is currently creating for the next administration.(OBAMA)

(NOTE) This is why the stakes of the bailout are so high: Unless we get a good deal, there will be NOTHING LEFT OVER after the BANKS ARE DONE FEEDING to pay for the MEAGER SERVICES now provided IN EXCHANGE for TAXATION, let alone for the more ambitious initiatives PROMISED ON THE CAMPAIGNE TRAIL.

********** MISMANAGED TAXPAYERS $$ (CROOKS!
(NOTE ) The spiraling cost of saving Wall Street from its bad bets is already being used as an excuse for why we can't solve our many other crises, from health care to climate change.

(NOTE) There is a better way to fix a broken financial system. Treasury's plan to buy up the toxic debts never made sense and should be immediately scrapped — a move that would also handily get rid of most of the CRONY CONTRACTORS.

(NOTE) As for purchasing equity in banks, the next round of deals — and there will be more — has to start from the premise that the banks are bankrupt and will therefore accept whatever terms we choose to impose, including real regulatory oversight.

The POSSIBILITIES OF WHAT COULD BE DONE if a chunk of the BANKING SYSTEM were genuinely UNDER PUBLIC CONTROL l — from a moratorium on home foreclosures to mandatory investment in green community redevelopment — are limitless.

Because here is what George Bush and Henry Paulson are hoping we won't figure out: WHEN A SOCIETY NO LONGER HAS ENOUGH MONEY TO PAY FOR ITS MOST PRESSING NEEDS, there are WORSE THINGS than discovering YOU OWN THE BANKS.
From Issue 1065 — November 13, 2008