Saving the Banks!

Here's a clip that is worth the watch. Rouboni is a bit hard to understand but he lays out the reasons why shoring up Fannie and Freddie is not only a "must do", but it is indeed only a very minor measure compared to what will have to happen, if we are to avoid wide spread failures of lending institutions.

Are Freddie, Fannie, & the Fed having an illicit affair?

Well, maybe. Perhaps this was all a ploy so that Freddie and Fannie could have the same access to borrowing from the Fed, as does the banking industry. It’s anyone guess as to what really was behind it all, but from some accounts these two organizations were not in danger of immediate collapse. Certainly, the panic was real and it’s not over yet.

I saw Senator Bunning on the news last week, which is rare, and he was giving an impassioned speech against putting the American public on the hook for bailing out two semi-private businesses – Freddie and Fannie. He also spoke adamantly in condemnation of the Federal Reserve and the miserable failures of Alan Greenspan. You can listen to an audio clip of his statement here:

http://src.senate.gov/public/_files/radio/bunning7_15_08.mp3

In my view his criticisms of the Fed and the Treasury are right on target. Bunning wants to radically limit their powers – all things that I fully support. However, right now they are the only lifeboats around and we need a definitive plan for moving in a different direction before we scuttle what we have.

Of course Bunning and all the rest of the do-nothing-congress are always looking around for someone to blame, and so he blamed the Fed for everything including the price of oil. Certainly the devaluation of the dollar is causing the cost of oil to rise – it simply takes more dollars to buy the same quantity of oil because our dollar isn’t worth very much and the Fed’s policies directly affect that. The thing that makes me incredulous about Bunning is that he never opened his mouth about the real cause of our economic woes and impending doom – and we know that cause to be "OIL FUTURES TRADING". Why do you think he remains silent on this hot-button issue? Maybe we should all ask him.

Collusion – Delusion – Elusion? Take your pick.

Is it just me or are the big four broadcasting companies ABC, CBS, NBC, and Fox woefully delinquent in their responsibility to provide hard-nosed investigative reporting into the oil shortage hoax? Certainly this hoax is being perpetuated by other information sources as well, especially the financial news services. Why aren’t these folks standing on top of Washington demanding answers as to why they are failing to end “Oil Futures Trading”?

We just can’t continue to allow ourselves to be served up a continual diet of misinformation. Washington and the media are going out of their way to frame the price of gas that you’re paying at the pump, in terms of supply and demand. It’s all a big lie! If we would take just a few minutes and fire off some emails to our elected officials in Washington, and to the network news organizations things would change. I encourage everyone to do just that. There is plenty of information posted on this blog that can be copied and pasted into emails and/or forms. I would also ask that you forward a link to this blog to everyone in your email list and ask him or her to do the same. Together we can make a difference – but it is going to require all of us to make use of our personal networks. http://www.madashell-party.blogspot.com/

There’s already a link posted on this site through which you can find your elected officials; here are links to the major news organizations.

ABC News: How do I contact ABCNews.com? An Online form to Charlie Gibson

Nightly@NBC.com - Email - Brian Williams

CBS Evening News with Katie Couric - CBS News Broadcast (Click on “Contact” at the bottom of the page – brings up an online form.

FOXNews.com - Contact Us - FOX News or email oreilly@foxnews.com

I’ve come to understand that every time the President speaks you can count on the exact opposite being true of whatever he may be talking about. So, if you listened to him last night (July 15, 2008) talking about the economy you should be very, very concerned. Unless the Congress acts quickly I believe that time is running out to save the country from a major depression. We would have eventually worked our way out the housing mess – no thanks to Alan Greenspan – but I fear that we can’t survive that disaster and the outrageous cost of energy at the same time. By the way – think about the notion of privatizing social security in the wake of Washington’s failure to regulate the banking and energy industries – give me a break!

Larry

Is it time for a Constitutional Convention?

Clearly, our democracy is broken and in need of repair. To be sure the constitution as it is written provides the framework through which to fix what ails us. One such way is through the Amendment Process and the other is through Constitutional Conventions. Unfortunately, it will never happen through the Amendment Process because the Congress, Presidency, and the Judicial systems are the very means by which you would expect things to get fixed. The sad reality is that you can’t repair a broken tool with another broken tool. Without question the root of the problem is our two party system. So it follows that the existing two parties will never preside over a process by which they are forced to share power.

Strange as it may sound, the framers of the Constitution envisioned that there would be periodic Constitutional Conventions. They understood that the document they created was far from perfect and would have to be kept current. There’s much that could be placed on the agenda for a Constitutional Convention but there is none more important than those items, which would bring an end to the tyranny under which we suffer because of being held hostage by the Democrat and Republican parties. Creating an environment in which more than two parties could flourish would require a total overhaul of the electoral processes. In the end the best of all systems would be one in which we were able to select our representatives based neither on what party they are affiliated with nor how much money they had, or how good of spin-doctors there were.

The second most important item on the Agenda would bring about a complete renovation of the structure of Congress and the way it operates. We absolutely do not have – may never of had – a government of the people. What we have is a government by “committees” which are so far from your and my influence that they might as well be on the moon. Are you not sick of hearing about this or that “powerful committee”? When this new Constitutional Convention was over the Congress would be mandated to hold up or down votes on every bill, and no longer could attachments be tacked on to any bill, and there would be a total end to the process of “earmarking”.

Thomas Jefferson, one of the more prominent framers of the Constitution, wrote extensively to his friend James Madison about his belief that the earth belonged to the living and not the dead. In one of his letters to Madison he writes, “No society can make a perpetual constitution, or even a perpetual law. The earth belongs always to the living generation.” Life expectancy in those days was significantly less than now and so Jefferson establish a time base of 19 years in his letter to Madison. You can read his letter in its entirety here: From Revolution to Reconstruction: Presidents: Thomas Jefferson: Letters: THE EARTH BELONGS TO THE LIVING.

Jefferson and Madison held a common belief that one generation should not impose burdens on the next. Their writings are fascinating as pertains to limiting the amount of acquired debt, to that amount which can be paid in one generation. Jefferson saw it not only in terms of the constitution being a living document he was also keenly interested in control of the government’s ability to wage wars that could not be paid for in one generation. Now think about the trillions of dollars in debt that our children’s children will be paying for because of the Iraq war.

So, weigh in on this topic and voice your opinion. Let’s compile a list of goals (end results) that you believe would be achieved by a successful Constitutional Convention. We don’t necessarily need to think about the “how’s” right now – let’s just assume that will all be worked out – right now let’s just think from the perspective that the Convention has been completed and we as a nation now enjoy (blank), or we no longer endure (blank). I will compile the list into a survey, along with my own thoughts and then place the survey on to this blog so that anyone who is interested can take it and see the results. Perhaps we can get someone’s attention – although that’s probably not realistic considering the fact even the airline industry can’t get Washington to respond and has to resort to letter writing campaigns.

I’ve included video links on this blog to Larry Sabato who does a really good job of articulating the need for a National Constitutional Convention.

“A true patriot never hunkers down and makes the best of things – rather they stand and fight for change.” - Larry

Let's do more than shout into the dark

Here is a copy of a letter that was drafted by an alliance of Airlines and sent out to their customers. What impresses me with this letter is not that it comes form a coalition of 38 airlines - which is really significant in and of itself - but that it speaks directly to the collusion between the Congress and the Oil Industry and just how powerful the oil lobby really is.

Now, how have I reached that conclusion just from this letter's existence? I admit that my conclusion is based on me reading between the lines, but try this out. If you follow the Link provided to the right or the one below, you can see the names of these 38 airlines. Individually these are some really big companies, collectively they represent billions of dollars and many thousands of people. Still, this coalition is exhorting folks like you and I to get involved and to force our elected officials to do the right thing.

It's crystal clear - in spite of all the power and influence these 38 companies have, they can't get Washington to get out of bed with oil industry. In the end the thing that politicians fear more than anything is when voters rally around a central point; these airline companies know this; the question is, do we? So, become an activist - contact your elected officials and tell them to end futures trading in energy. Send a link to this Blog Spot out to as many people as you can - let's see if we can make a difference. I've placed a "hit counter on the blog to see if I'm just "shouting into the dark".


An Open letter to All Airline Customers:
Our country is facing a possible sharp economic downturn because of skyrocketing oil and fuel prices, but by pulling together, we can all do something to help now. For airlines, ultra-expensive fuel means thousands of lost jobs and severe reductions in air service to both large and small communities. To the broader economy, oil prices mean slower activity and widespread economic pain. This pain can be alleviated, and that is why we are taking the extraordinary step of writing this joint letter to our customers.

Since high oil prices are partly a response to normal market forces, the nation needs to focus on increased energy supplies and conservation. However, there is another side to this story because normal market forces are being dangerously amplified by poorly regulated market speculation. Twenty years ago, 21 percent of oil contracts were purchased by speculators who trade oil on paper with no intention of ever taking delivery.

Today, oil speculators purchase 66 percent of all oil futures contracts, and that reflects just the transactions that are known. Speculators buy up large amounts of oil and then sell it to each other again and again. A barrel of oil may trade 20-plus times before it is delivered and used; the price goes up with each trade and consumers pick up the final tab. Some market experts estimate that current prices reflect as much as $30 to $60 per barrel in unnecessary speculative costs.

Over seventy years ago, Congress established regulations to control excessive, largely unchecked market speculation and manipulation. However, over the past two decades, these regulatory limits have been weakened or removed. We believe that restoring and enforcing these limits, along with several other modest measures, will provide more disclosure, transparency and sound market oversight. Together, these reforms will help cool the over-heated oil market and permit the economy to prosper.

The nation needs to pull together to reform the oil markets and solve this growing problem. We need your help. Get more information and contact Congress by visiting http://www.stopoilspeculationnow.com/

Hey - it's just not me that's mad as hell!

There’s lot’s of people out there that are members of the Madashell Party; I’ve added two such links one is to Lea Iacocca’s blog and the other is to “Stop Oil Speculation Now”. Below is a letter that is attributed to Mr. Iacocca that I received in an email today, and I wanted to pass it on – it’s worth the read. One of my favorite quotes of Mr. Iacocca, and one that I’ve always tried to live by, is “Lead follow or get the hell out of the way”. That’s exactly what Congress should do.

Remember Lee Iacocca, the man who rescued Chrysler Corporation from it's death throes? He's now 82 years old and has a new book, and here are some excerpts...

Lee Iacocca Says:

'Am I the only guy in this country who's fed up with what's happening? Where the hell is our outrage? We should be screaming bloody murder.

We've got a gang of clueless bozos steering our ship of state right over a cliff, we've got corporate gangsters stealing us blind, and we can't even clean up after a hurricane much less build a hybrid car. But instead of getting mad, everyone sits around and nods their heads when the politicians say, 'Stay the course' Stay the course? You've got to be kidding. This is America , not the damned 'Titanic'.

I'll give you a sound bite: 'Throw all the bums out!' You might think I'm getting senile, that I've gone off my rocker, and maybe I have. But someone has to speak up. I hardly recognize this country anymore.

The most famous business leaders are not the innovators but the guys in handcuffs. While we're fiddling in Iraq , the Middle East is burning and nobody seems to know what to do. And the press is waving 'pom-poms' instead of asking hard questions. That's not the promise of the ' America ' my parents and yours traveled across the ocean for.

I've had enough. How about you? I'll go a step further. You can't call yourself a patriot if you're not outraged. This is a fight I'm ready and willing to have.

The Biggest 'C' is Crisis! (Iacocca elaborates on nine Cs of leadership, crisis being the first.) Leaders are made, not born. Leadership is forged in times of crisis. It's easy to sit there with your feet up on the desk and talk theory. Or send someone else's kids off to war when you've never seen a battlefield yourself. It's another thing to lead when your world comes tumbling down.

On September 11, 2001, we needed a strong leader more than any other time in our history. We needed a steady hand to guide us out of the ashes. A Hell of a Mess So here's where we stand. We're immersed in a bloody war with no plan for winning and no plan for leaving. We're running the biggest deficit in the history of the country. We're losing the manufacturing edge to Asia , while our once-great companies are getting slaughtered by health care costs. Gas prices are skyrocketing, and nobody in power has a coherent energy policy. Our schools are in trouble. Our borders are like sieves. The middle class is being squeezed every which way!

These are times that cry out for leadership. But when you look around, you've got to ask:'Where have all the leaders gone?' Where are the curious, creative communicators? Where are the people of character, courage, conviction, omnipotence, and common sense? I may be a sucker for alliteration, but I think you get the point.

Name me a leader who has a better idea for homeland security than making us take off our shoes in airports and throw away our shampoo? We've spent billions of dollars building a huge new bureaucracy, and all we know how to do is react to things that have already happened.

Name me one leader who emerged from the crisis of Hurricane Katrina. Congress has yet to spend a single day evaluating the response to the hurricane, or demanding accountability for the decisions that were made in the crucial hours after the storm. Everyone's hunkering down, fingers crossed, hoping it doesn't happen again. Now, that's just crazy. Storms happen. Deal with it. Make a plan. Figure out what you're going to do the next time.

Name me an industry leader who is thinking creatively about how we can restore our competitive edge in manufacturing. Who would have believed that there could ever be a time when 'The Big Three' referred to Japanese car companies? How did this happen, and more important, what are we going to do about it?

Name me a government leader who can articulate a plan for paying down the debt, or solving the energy crisis, or managing the health care problem. The silence is deafening. But these are the crises that are eating away at our country and milking the middle class dry.

I have news for the gang in Congress. We didn't elect you to sit on your asses and do nothing and remain silent while our democracy is being hijacked and our greatness is being replaced with mediocrity. What is everybody so afraid of? That some bonehead on Fox News will call them a name? Give me a break. Why don't you guys show some spine for a change?

Had Enough? Hey, I'm not trying to be the voice of gloom and doom here. I'm trying to light a fire. I'm speaking out because I have hope! I believe in America . In my lifetime I've had the privilege of living through some of America 's greatest moments. I've also experienced some of our worst crises: the 'Great Depression', 'World War II', the 'Korean War', the 'Kennedy Assassination', the 'Vietnam War', the 1970's oil crisis, and the struggles of recent years culminating with 9/11. If I've learned one thing, it's this: 'You don't get anywhere by standing on the sidelines waiting for somebody else to take action. Whether it's building a better car or building a better future for our children, we all have a role to play. 'That's the challenge I'm raising in this book. It's a call to 'Action' for people who, like me, believe in America It's not too late, but it's getting pretty close. So let's shake off the crap and go to work. Let's tell 'em all we've had 'enough.'

Make your own contribution by sending this to everyone you know and care about. It's our country, folks; and it's our future. Our future is at stake!

When Smart People Miss the Point

Last night (07 Jul 08) on the McNeil-Lehr report there was a piece on alternative energy. During this segment there were a couple of very well educated PhD’s. I didn’t take time to write down their names – I was too busy screaming at the TV screen; PBS.org didn’t post the piece on their website. The jest of their comments was that the current price of energy is where it needs to be, and one individual even went so far as to advocate placing a floor on the price of crude oil so that it could never go below $40.00 a barrel. Their logic for this position was that the world would never rid itself of dependency on fossil base energy, if the price of crude oil is low. If I were oil producers and futures traders I would send those folks a big gift – maybe they already did?

While their logic is probably correct it would be, and is currently a disaster for you and I. These people Smart folks no doubt, but they totally missed the point and have moved to a remedy that ignores the basic and underlying cause of why we are in this energy waste land. That cause is simply the lack of leadership and integrity in Washington. It’s an outrage that any well-educated person would advocate a strategy to energy independence by bankrupting you and I, while the fat-cats reap enormous benefits.

The only fair and equitable strategy to energy independence and emissions control is through governmental policies and tax code modification that creates meaningful incentives for the development and deployment of alternative energy sources. The consumer will bare some of the cost – and rightly so – but the major part of the burden should be born by the oil industry.

Now tell me – don’t you think that if a guy like me, setting in his office in everyday America can see this, that your elected officials can see the same thing? Of course they can. When will they act? Only when people like you and I get mad enough to force them to it.
Here is a link that you can use to locate your Washington based elected officials:



Congress.org - Congressional Directory

An Open Letter to Washington

Sometimes one comes down to the end and when that happens there's nothing to be done but move on. Clearly, all of our elected officials are demonstrating once again that they do not have the courage to do the right thing and so it is with regret that I have begun a public campaign to focus attention on the real problem. Unfortunately, my numerous attempts over the past few months to engage them in meaningful dialogue pertaining to the cessation of oil futures trading has gone totally unanswered. I and people like you have a lot to offer them in the way of constructive problem solving, but for whatever reason they have chosen not to take advantage of this offer. They really do need to get their finger on the pulse of those that they represent – failing that they really should not be allowed to maintain their job.

So, if your tired of it all then join the ground swell of outrage and indignation and let it break over Washington so that we will have a lot of elected officials packing their bags to come home.


An open letter to Washington:

I suppose that there's not a big enough rock in the universe that could fall on Washington which would wake any of you up to the fact that we the downtrodden, the huddled masses, the oppressed have had enough! We will no longer accept being robbed by a corrupt system, which you have allowed to grow and flourish! This system of which I speak is "OIL FUTURES TRADING". The fair market value of Crude oil should be at $75.00 a barrel, not a $143.00.

And, please - p-l-e-a-s-e, do not make any more speeches and statements boasting of how much your party has done and how the other party is the cause of everything. The first thing that all of you do is come to an impasse on taping our resources on the North Slope and the Continental Shelf. While I agree that these two things should and must happen, you and everyone else know that the law of supply and demand is not driving the cost of gas at the pump. Let me repeat, there is NO SHORTAGE OF CRUDE OIL.

I'm sure that you never read any of these letters, but let me be perfectly clear, the only "big rock" I have is my vote. Therefore, come November I will cast a vote against anyone who is currently holding office, unless you act definitively. Bottom line is that anyone in office right now – Republican or Democrat is directly responsible for the dire straits in which we find ourselves, and should therefore be fired. You might not get excited about one voter, but let me tell you that I’m not unique in my resolve.

All of you sat on your hands while the Fed failed to fulfill their mandate to the American people as evidenced by their bungling of the Sub-prime mess. Your hands must be getting tired as you once again sit on them while the oil industry robs us. Unless you act quickly and decisively, the economy will fall into a major depression. The buying of oil contracts must be limited to those that directly produce it from the earth, and those that refine it – it’s that simple. In addition, the tax code for 2008 should be amended to provide an energy related capital gains tax rate of at least 75%, so that the American Consumer can regain some of the money that has been stolen from them.

Then there’s the issue of HEALTH CARE. Please take a moment to reflect on the word “care”. Most of the time our current system works to a reasonable degree, that is to say that most of the US population has enough income to buy functional medical insurance. Then comes hard times, and let us not forget that you helped create these hard times, so a lot of people can no longer afford medical insurance and certainly they can not purchase drug coverage. At a minimum, the Medicaid system should have built-in triggers that automatically lower the qualifying threshold for drug and medical services during those times when you guys get it wrong. “Get it wrong ” means, but wait just look at the price of fuel and food and you’ll understand what “getting it wrong” means!

So my dearly beloved elected official – you’ve got a short amount of time to put away your patrician differences and turn this country around. Failing that you can hereby consider yourself “FIRED”! And just to be clear, whoever takes your place – you’ve got one term to fix this mess – if you don’t then I will fire you as well.

I invite all who read this to make it their own and send it along to Washington.

Larry
Chairman of the Madashell Party