The Traveling Fund Raiser

Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal is on another campaign fund raising trip.  This time to California where he will make 4 stops in his effort to add to his campaign war chest.  He raised over $3 million in 2008 for his reelection bid.

 

Despite his denials, Jindal is clearly trying to put himself in a position to be on a national ticket for the next presidential election.  It is ironic that Jindal talks about the Louisiana economy being in better shape than most other states, yet he is looking out side of Louisiana for most of his campaign cash.

 

More and more the governor is looking and acting like the same old republicans who has nothing new to offer the people or the country.  The only answer he has been able to give to Rush Limbaugh's statement, "he hopes the President fails" is Rush is a leader of conservative values.  Neither Rush or Jindal can describe what conservative values mean.

 

The governor also came out with egg on his face when he said he would not accept part of the stimulus package that had to do with unemployment compensation.  The reason, so he said was that it would make Louisiana employers un competitive with other states because their rates would have to be raised.  However, it was pointed out that Louisiana employers pay less unemployment tax than many of our neighboring states and that Louisiana workers receive less unemployment compensation that do workers in other states. 

 

The more Jindal exposes himself to the voters, the more they will understand that he represents the ideology of Newt Gingrich, Bush, McCain and the rest of the neocons.  In other words, he is a younger republican face that represents the failed policies that got us in the mess we are in today.  No wonder he is spending so much time raising money out of state.

A Common Denominator

The meltdown of the Savings and Loan industry of the 1980's which cost the taxpayers approximately $150 billion and the recent financial melt down of Wall Street financial institutions has the same common denominator.  Greed, deregulation and a lack of corporate checks and balances.  Financial reporters Paul Muolo and Mathew Padilla in their book, "Chain of Blame" tells the story of what went wrong.  Some of what they reported will be discussed below.

 

In 1982 President Reagan signed into law the Garn-St.Germain Depository Institutions Act and according to the book told an audience of S&L executives, bankers, members of congress, staffers and journalists that the bill would cut S&L's loose from the girdle of old fashioned regulations.  Prior to the act S&L's were the primary lender of home mortgages.  The act allowed the S&L's to get into the business of financing commercial real estate and development and they got into it big time.  New S&L's were created and started by people with no prior experience and soon became involved with financing commercial real estate ventures that they were ill equipped to do or understood.

 

The results were risky commercial loans that defaulted and caused the worst collapse in the history of the S&L industry.  The act opened up the industry to greed and failed to institute checks and balances to the lending process.

 

The present situation in the financial markets is a result of non bank lenderswho originated trillions of dollars in subprime  mortgages during the housing boom from 2000-2006.  There were few checks and balances in writing these subprime mortgages and many of the borrowers were never checked for their ability to repay their mortgage.  The non banks who originated these loans borrowed money from Wall Street bankers and others and then sold the mortgages to the likes of Merrill Lynch, Bear Stearns and others who wanted to participate in the trillion dollar business of subprime mortgages and failed to get a handle on the safety of the loans.

 

Merrill Lynch, Bear Stearns and other would package these subprime mortgages into bonds and other instruments and sell to investors.  When the subprime mortgage business went south because of the failure of home owners to repay their mortgage payments the financial industry went belly up.  Greed of wanting to participate in this trillions of dollars industry was the down fall of those Wall Street financial institutions along with their failure of understanding just how risky the subprime mortgage business was. 

 

In early 2008, the largest debt market in the world was the U.S. residential mortgage market at $9 trillion.  Corporate America, especially Wall Street has proven they can not be trusted to regulate themselves.  There is too much wealth at their disposal and the kind and amount of wealth we are talking about is corrupting.  That says it all.

 

I would recommend this book be read by everyone.

Elected Officials Are The Key

Governments are not the problem like some people would have you believe.  Governments can not exist with out people to run it and those people are our elected officials and their appointees.  They are the ones who are responsible for making government run smoothly and efficiently or bogged down and costly.

 

Everyone likes to talk about being responsible but are we.  Are the people who run corporate America responsible when they use their wealth to influence elected officials at the expense of the taxpayers, the cities, states or federal government.  Are elected officials responsible when they give those same people special treatment because of their wealth.  Why is business ready and willing to charge more to work for the government than they would charge a private enterprise.  Is it because we know doing business with government requires kickbacks and other goodies.  Why do elected officials accept kickbacks and other favors for doing their job.  If the answer is, "it cost more to do business with government because of red tape and etc., don't believe it, it won't wash, that is a built in excuse to support the status quo.  Keep in mind, what we already know about government contracts.  Many competitors are shut out of the process.

 

Many aspects of government is in efficient, outdated and over staffed because government is a political system.  It need not be like that.  Many government employees think the people work for them instead of the reverse.  There are so many snow balling reasons why governments do not work properly and I believe the people understand them.

 

The bottom line is the peoples tax dollars get wasted and there fore buy very little of the services needed by the people.  Republicans say the government should be run like a business, but we have witnessed first hand how corporate America has failed the worker with their transfer of wealth.  What is needed is a government of elected officials who put the citizens first and foremost in their plans and look after their tax dollar to maximize the governments purchasing power on their behalf.  I read where former New Orleans Mayor, Victor Schiro said long ago, "if its good for the people of New Orleans, I'm for it."  The motto of elected officials now seems to be, "if its good for corporate America, I'm for it."

 

Term limits won't do the job because there is no checks and balances during the term and the term would be for a longer time.  The answer is for voters to demand better stewardship of the taxpayers money and stop voting for those who do not perform.  That is the best way to make government more efficient and more in tune to what the people deserve.  The voters have to make the elected officials the key to lock the door on the status quo.

A Common Sense Ruling

The U.S. Supreme Court recently ruled that federal approval of a prescription drug does not provide a shield against lawsuits from injured patients.  It was a rejection of President Bush's policy to bar suits in state courts after federal approval of a drug by the Food and Drug Administration.  Justice was served in favor of common sense which represented both conservative and liberal justices vote.  The vote was 6-3.

 

Justice Stevens noted that congress passed laws regulating drugs for many years but lawmakers never bared consumers from suing drug makers for good reason.  The ruling lets stand a $7 Million jury judgement of a Vermont musician whose right arm had to be amputated after she was injected with an anti-nausea drug.

 

The Bush administration lawyers entered the case and asked the Supreme Court to side with Wyeth (the drug maker) and wanted the court to adopt the Bush policy as federal law.  Another one of the many examples of the President and his administration favor to big business.  This decision was an American decision by the Supreme Court.

Rush Limbaugh's Big Problem

So Rush wants a debate with President Obama.  Well the country and its people have been there and done that.  It is called the Presidential election of 2008 where the people made a decision and wise choice of choosing substance over republican failure and division.  Conservatives will stoop to any low to try and nullify elections they lose.  They do not like people to have the freedom to choose.

 

Limbaugh's influence is mainly with the right wing of the republican party, its base.  That is why republican fail to take him to task when he undermines America with his phony ideology.  The one thing the people have learned about Rush and Hannity is their inability to cope with the truth about republicans and conservatives.  They are on record as wanting the President of the U.S. to fail and there fore the country to fail. 

 

It is the same track they took after the people elected Bill Clinton and Mr. Clinton erased the sad fiscal wreckage of 12 straight years of record deficit spending and debt by Reagan-Bush 41.  Wrapping themselves in the flag will not wash.  They both need to grow up and lean how to be an American.  

Israel's Leaders And The Status Quo

By their own action Israeli leaders have proven they do not seek peace with the Palestinians.  Washington Post reporter Glenn Kessler reported:  Secretary of State Clinton criticized the Israeli government for plans to demolish dozens of Palestinian homes in East Jerusalem, calling the actions un helpful and a violation of international obligations.  The Jerusalem municipal government in recent weeks began planning to evict 1,500 residents and raze 88 homes in an area Israel has designated as a national park, Kessler also reported.

 

The situation will become more dangerous if Benjamin Netanyahu becomes the new prime minister as thought.  Netanyahu does not believe in a two state solution to the Israel-Palestinian conflict.  He is a right wing neocon and was quoted by Cal Thomas in one of his columns as saying, "the liberals are smashed, they must be quiet or join in applause for President Bush's policies."  That statement was made after the tragic event of 9-11.  Now 8 years later I'm sure Netanyahu knows Bush's policies have created a whole new generation of terrorists.

 

Mr. Netanyahu can not be trusted and the President and Secretary of State have to keep him at arms length if he does become prime minister.  This guy is dangerous to the safety of America.