Because the Banks Went For The Heart

We must employ a system of oversight on the banking business. We can't even recover from the last scam the pulled before we have to dig our way out of a new one. Over and over and over.

San Francisco Chronicle Oct. 25, 2009


Eight million jobs have been lost nationwide since the recession began two years ago, and by some measures workers face the worst job market since the Depression. The average laid-off worker has been without a job for 61/2 months, a post-World War II record. Many of those workers will never recover financially.

California's hole, deepened by a state budget mess and volatile tax system, is far worse: Unemployment is at
12.2 percent, third highest in the nation; and adding discouraged and part-time workers puts it over 20 percent.

"It's not even a jobless recovery; it's a recovery with more job losses," said UCLA economist Lee Ohanian. "The idea of having essentially no net job creation after a remarkably severe recession is a real pathology for the U.S. economy."

'Painfully weak' job growth

Top White House economist Christina Romer of UC Berkeley told Congress on Thursday that employment growth could remain "painfully weak" through next year, and that the largest effect from the $787 billion stimulus enacted in February, mainly aid to states, is past. By mid-2010, she said, the stimulus will no longer contribute to growth.

Alarms are ringing at the White House and in Congress. But with a mind-boggling $1.4 trillion deficit this year, Democrats have used up their bullets. The word stimulus has such a bad connotation that the term has been banished from new efforts to goose the economy and help workers, such as extending unemployment benefits, sending $250 checks to seniors and a program the White House announced to help small businesses get loans.
House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-San Francisco, and top House Democrats met for four hours with economists Wednesday, amid criticism from the left that the stimulus was poorly targeted on jobs. Calls have mounted for a tax credit to hire workers, much like one tried three decades ago during the Carter administration, but there is little appetite in Congress or the administration for more stimulus spending.
Romer and Vice President Joe Biden's economist, Jared Bernstein, cited high deficits in downplaying calls for a new stimulus. "Remember, stimulus by definition is temporary," Bernstein said. "In the interest of fiscal rectitude, we need to ramp the spending down no later than necessary."
Even under optimistic assumptions, it could take seven straight years of solid growth just to get employment back to where it was before the downturn, a Rutgers University analysis found.

Almost no one is expecting job growth to roar back, given its anemic increase in the last decade, when the economy generated on average 1 million jobs a year, less than half as many as during the booms of the 1980s and 1990s. Median income actually fell more than $2,000 over the decade







Read more: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2009/10/25/MNMR1A9PMQ.DTL#ixzz0V0lyyfSX

It Took Banks to Ruin The World

Not really, but let me say this. Remember when the Dot.Com era was starting and electronic money transfers happened instantly? As it should? Well, the banks were losing too much revenue from charging people late fees and overdrafts that they had to find a way to prohibit us from transferring our money into our accounts in time to cover any possible problems. So they slowed the transfer time down. From instantly to 3-5 days. Think about that.

California Auto Insurance - A Joke

 California is one of the most exploited states when it comes to insurance. At the top of the list is auto insurance. The auto insurers have built a great business plan through lobbying lawmakers to slowly and quietly remove the consumer protection clauses in our laws. Laws that we put there to keep from being swindled. These laws were what made insurance more expensive here in the first place.

Some Bank Facts

Investment Banking


Lessons From 124 Banking Blow-Ups

 The seizure of Washington Mutual may be the largest bank failure in United States history, but unfortunately, there’s nothing new about a national banking crisis.

In fact, a just-released report from the International Monetary Fund counts 124 banking crises in the last 27 years, in countries like Japan, Argentina and Britain.

Economists at Merrill Lynch looked at the report and summed up some of its most interesting findings. Among other things, it showed that the average fiscal cost — net of any recoveries down the road — related to managing a banking crisis is a substantial 13.3 percent of a country’s gross domestic product.

The Last Thing You Should Do With Your Money

I'm trying to figure out what is the smartest option to protect and build my money from here on out. For obvious reasons I'm not going to put it in a bank. They don't deserve it and when they do have it they don't earn it, they just take it. I'm not going to invest it because I can't afford to lose everything I have every 7 to 8 years. I'll backtrack for you.
2009-2006 The economies world wide are in dire straights due to the mortgage crisis created by the banks in the United States. The stock market dives and unemployment is at the highest I can remember. And let me touch on this. If you didn't lose your job and neither did your spouse you might have been able to survive as long as you didn't have an adjustable mortgage. If this is you, consider yourself among the few. But a lot of people like myself couldn't avoid all of the pitfalls and if the mortgage didn't get you, one of you losing your job made life pretty hard. And if you're single and lose your job forget it. So all of the money I had invested for my retirement is gone. Which brings me to the next time frame.
2000-2003 The Dot Com collapse.....coming soon

Ok Dems, Sit Down And Listen

Although I used to consider myself a democrat I will vote independent starting next election because our two party political system is broken. Both parties are at fault. I've already stated what I thought is wrong with the GOP. Here is what is wrong with the Dems. Our democratic leaders have succumb to the same forces as the GOP. Lobbying. Democrats are on the verge of becoming the party which blows which way the political wind blows. Dems have always lacked the bite to go with the bark. So they get steamrolled. Well, that's ok if you're getting the important things done. But you're not. At least the GOP throws it all on the table for the world to see. the Dems have made themselves a reputation of "Giving all that it takes to ge what they want". That's a nice way of saying you are selling us out. You have become so frustrated at not being able to get anything done because of the Republicans "Talk to the Hand" mentality that it appears you yourselves have given up. Because all the REALLY important things people need like health care are ending up at an impasse. Once you were above these games, now you are part of them. And if you keep going you will end up below them.

I'll See Your Nobel and Raise You

There is a theme starting to develop in the Democratic Party. It almost smells of compassion. I would say it is compassion but I just can't see it in politics now days. This is the second Nobel Peace Prize in recent years given to a high ranking Democratic leader ( I'm going to try to keep this out of the mud and stay somewhat diplomatic). The reason in both instances is because the person getting it showed compassion and concern for their fellow brothers and sisters.

She Never Voted But Why Not Run For Governor

I guess it's a requirement for politicians to be disassociated with our constitution, bill of rights, and reality. Meg Whitman, from EBay and HP is trying to explain why she never voted. I can tell you this. There isn't an excuse in the world that covers 35 years of elections. She said she decided to run after she saw the roadblocks government put in the way of business. Now that she wants to be Governor what do you think she wants to do if she is elected. It isn't going to be helping the people, that is for sure. If she gets elected I'm getting the hell out of this screwed up state.

In All Fairness

In All Fairness:  We should never have to pay a bank fee for the rest of our lives.

In All Fairness: Big business should pay taxes. There is no reason not to make them. The excuse of "We want to attract business to the U.S. is worn out. We have more than enough businesses starting up every day by individuals. The most in the free world. I guess new business doesn't have enough capital to stuff Washington DC's  pockets.

I Can't Wait To Retire

I remember right before 9/11 the hot button issue was retirement and George W was pushing for the employees to contribute the money into a self maintained low tax financial plan like a 401k letting the businesses off the hook. The dot.com era was in full speed ahead. Jobs were plenty and I was working in Software Quality Assurance for MCI. I had a nice little nest egg that didn't include my stock options which at their peak were valued at about $70,000. Financially I was on the right path. I was about 30 years old at the time and I was married.
         Then the signs started to appear. First it was Enron. The least offensive thing they did

How Lobbying Is Destroying America

Whether or not you believe it, it will prove out in the long run. Mark my words. Before our local and federal governments had it set up so that business could basically bribe our politicians by stuffing their pockets, the country was still by the people and for the people. But when the people who make the laws set it up so they benefit instead of the people who voted for them, the result is the snowball effect. They realized that they had just created "The Perfect Storm" so to speak in which they could get what they wanted under the guise of helping us and do it all legally leaving the voters very little recourse. Then once they realized that the lawmakers themselves couldn't read the bills before they had to vote on them, the politicians started slipping their little "pet projects" into them. So the only thing ending up in the laws that are passed are the wants of business and the wants of politicians. It's disgusting. Too bad we can't place wagers on whether or not the politician we voted for ends up helping us or helping themselves. I know I could make all the money back that I've lost in this last (and still very much ongoing) recession.
        It has become a Kids in a Candy Store type of mentality that now is prevalant in all levels of government. And the politicians have it all figured out. As long as we don't say anything it will continue. I knew we were in trouble when the country sat there as Bush broke laws left and right and I never heard the word impeach muttered from anyone but me. This has nothing to do with which political affiliation you claim. If it was a democrat then by all means BOOT HIM. This is about whether our leader is trying to help us or help themselves. And it is also about speaking up. There is a saying which definitely applies to politicians now. Give them an inch and they take a mile. WRITE YOUR ELECTED OFFICIALS AND LET THEM HAVE IT! Or if you're happy with the state of the nation, then you'll be ecstatic in about 10 more years.