Note the following from Liberal Democratic Senator Charles E Schumer

November 05, 2009

Sen. Charles E. Schumer on Thursday moved to block the federal government from doling economic stimulus dollars to a $1.5 billion dollar wind farm planned for west Texas because it will rely on turbines manufactured in China.

Under the $787 billion economic stimulus package enacted in February, the group is eligible to seek a federal grant paying for 30 percent of certain costs on the planned 648-megawatt wind farm. Although the project is expected to involve 2,000 to 3,000 manufacturing jobs in China, Schumer said it would create just a little over 300 in the U.S.


Although Schumer singled out the Texas wind project Thursday, he said he was concerned that about 84 percent of the more than $1 billion in stimulus grants doled out by the Energy Department has gone to foreign companies. (or 84 cents out of every dollar)

Schumer said the spending pattern is helping create jobs overseas, therefore running counter to the stimulus package’s goals of spurring an economic recovery within the U.S. And, he said, when the grant money flows outside U.S. borders that undercuts Congress’ goals of spurring domestic manufacturing jobs and plants for emerging alternative energy technologies.

http://blogs.chron.com/txpotomac/energy/

McAuleys World: Did the Administration take credit for these 3000 jobs “saved or created”?

 WASHINGTON — Investors are still trading common shares of Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac and American International Group Inc. by the billions, even though analysts say their prices are almost certain to go to zero. 

All three are majority-owned by the government and are losing huge sums of money. The Securities and Exchange Commission and other regulators lack authority to end trading of stocks in such “zombie” companies that technically are alive — until the government takes them off life support.

Shares of the two mortgage giants and the insurer have been swept up in a rally in financial stocks. Investors have been trading their shares at abnormally high volumes, despite analysts’ warnings that they’re destined to lose their money.

“People have done well by trading them [in the short term], but when it gets to the end of the road, these stocks are going to be worth zero,” said Bose George, an analyst with the investment bank Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc.

Some of the activity involves day traders aiming to profit from short-term price swings, George said. But he said inexperienced investors might have the false impression that the companies may recover or be rescued.

“That would be kind of unfortunate,” he said. “There could be a lot of improvement in the economy, and these companies would still be worth zero.”

The government continues to support the companies with billions in taxpayer money, saying they still play a crucial role in the financial system.

Fannie and Freddie buy loans from banks and sell them to investors. They have tapped about $96 billion out of a potential $400 billion in aid from the Treasury Department.

Officials have said AIG’s failure would be disastrous for the financial markets. The Treasury and the Federal Reserve have spent about $175 billion on AIG and AIG-related securities. The company also has access to $28 billion from the $700 billion financial industry bailout.

But analysts say the wind-down strategies for the companies are almost sure to wipe out any common equity. The shares would be worthless.

“There are some folks that believe that somehow that 20 percent [of the stock] that’s out there in the public market might be worth something someday,” said Daniel Alpert, managing director of the investment bank Westwood Capital LLC. The three companies are doomed because they are “massively indebted,” and the values of their assets are declining, Alpert said.

The stocks remain in circulation mainly for two reasons: They’ve violated no rules on the New York Stock Exchange, where they are traded. And no regulator has the power to halt their trading without evidence that securities laws are being violated.

Alpert said no regulations exist to deal with cases where the government props up unsustainable companies.

By contrast, regulators were able to warn investors about stock in the “old” General Motors, which also sits on a mound of government debt. The SEC and the Financial Industry Regulatory Authority, the brokerage industry’s self-policing group, have issued alerts and taken other steps to prevent investor losses on that stock.

In that case, the SEC could act because GM acknowledged the stock was headed for zero in a restructuring plan filed with the SEC.

Shares of Fannie, Freddie and AIG — along with their trading volumes — have jumped this summer, when activity normally fades as traders take vacations. Fannie shares have more than tripled since the end of July. Their volume soared from 6.45 million shares on the last day of July to 470 million shares per day in mid September.

Freddie and AIG shares have surged threefold since then. Freddie’s volume jumped to 169 million shares from 4.5 million. And 27 million AIG shares changed hands on mid september days, compared with 5 million on July 31.

By comparison, the trading volume of General Electric Co.’s common shares fell to around 66 million shares per day in mid September, compared with 109 million shares July 31. The stock price rose 5.3 percent in that stretch.

http://www.delawareonline.com/article/20090828/BUSINESS/908280321/1003/rss01/-Zombie-stocks–trading-briskly

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com/Investing/CompanyFocus/4-zombie-stocks-better-off-dead.aspx

What former Politicians or current Political contributors are cleaning up on this scam?

How much of the ”stimulus money” went to underwrite the budget in the State of Colorado and therefore indirectly underwrite this giveaway program?

We all know there is only so much money to go around – that is why the US Government is borrowing trillions of dollars from the Communist Chinese to pay our current bills. Trillions of dollars that the younger generations of Americans will be forced to repay.

And now we have this stupidy …….

The State of Colorado’s “income”, which it generates through taxes and fees and the transfer of funds from the US taxpayers who don’t live in Colorado, isn’t umlimited.

So why funnel $42,000 to inidivuals who buy a a Tesla. Tesla is a California based company, which is partially owned by Daimler AG (as of May 19, 2009). You remember, Damlier, Chryslers’ former owner?

Tesla has already received $500 Million from the US Department of Energy (March 2009) to “defer” the cost of developing these vehicles. $500 million from the Department of Energy, when the “owners” or “investors” in Tesla, have committed approximately $100 million of their personal wealth. In other words, 5 out of 6 dollars has been funded by American Taxpayers through the Department of Energy to start with. Now the Taxpayers will fund half the purchase price of the car for those who can plunk down $100,000 plus to start with.

You don’t need to sell Tesla’s to develop the technology – the technology is already in the car. If someone wants to use the “technology” they should pay a royalty to Tesla to use and adapt it. If the plan is to let Tesla “hoard” the technology, that is fine, but they can do that without further Government subsidy.  If Tesla can make autos that will sell on their own, let the private market place fund the venture, not the American taxpayer.   

At the present time Tesla employs something slightly more than 350 people. Tesla has 8 sales stores, 2 in California, 1 in Colorado, 1 in Illinois, 1 in Florida, 1 in Washington, DC, 1 in Toronto, Canada and 1 in Monaco.  At full production, Tesla manufacturers approximately 25 autos per week.

The Tesla vehicle in question carries a US Identification number, however, the chasis and most of the vehicles external parts are manufacturered outside of the US. The components are assembled and shipped to the US where the battery packs and power drive are installed.

It appears that the Tesla is a wonderful vehicle, but as a $100,000 plus 2 seater, it isn’t really a practical vehicle for a family of 4?

For every $42,000 that the Government “rebates” for the purchase of a Tesla, that is $42,000 that isn’t in the Government’s budget to pay for the operating expenses, expenses that lead to “budget deficits” and budget short falls. $42,000 that isn’t available for student loans, to pay teachers, fireman or police officers or to cover unemployment benefits for the 7.6 Million lost jobs in this Country.

$42,000 that must be replaced by taxing the average working stiff.  

Has the Country gone crazy or just the people we elect to govern it?

World’s Largest Cash-Back Rebate: $42K Off Tesla Roadster

provided by      

Hmmmm …. $20,000 plus off a Lexus LS 600 Hybrid.

Somebody pays for the $20,000 discount on the Lexus, just like somebody pays for the $42,000 on the Tesla. Wanna guess who?

Wanna guess whose tax money was sent to Colorado to subsidize their State Budget and indirectly subsidize this giveaway program? 

It is absolute insanity!

Remarkable similarities between where we stand today economically and where the Country stood in 1930, one year after the collapse of the Stock Market (DJIA) in 1929 …….
The Great Depression lasted from 1929 to World War II in 1942, 12 years in length. In nearly half of those years the DJIA recorded advances, in some years, subtantial advances. Did any of those advances signal an “economic recovery”? Of course not!

 

The following claims can be confirmed at these sites:

http://stockcharts.com/charts/historical/djia19201940.html                                                                                              http://seansrant.com/ive-said-it-before-and-ill-say-it-again-the-decline-still-isnt-over-and-heres-why-im-short-the-djia/

 

The DJIA high in 1929 was 381.17. After the 1929 “crash” the DJIA stood at 198.69, a 48% drop.

 

The DJIA “rebounded in 1930 to a high of  294.07, a gain of 95.38 points, a nearly 50% recovery, a recovery very similar to our current recovery in 2009.

 

The real “crash” of the Great Depression began in late 1930 when the DJIA began a decline to a level of 41.22 in 1933. Between 1930 and 1933 there were several sharp “spikes” upward, followed by precipitous drops of the DJIA.

 

Does our current “spike” indicate a recovery? Certainly not!

 

The toxic assets are still on the Bank’s books, yet the financial marklets are leading the recovery. Commercial real estate is on the brink of collapse, home mortgage foreclosures continue to climb – while the Obama mortgage assistance program has resulted in less than 2000 permanently modified mortgages - the President pledged to help 9,000,000. Credit card defaults and personal bankrupties continue to climb and the unemployment rate – incorrectly called a “lagging indicator” – continues to climb. Unemployment doesn’t lag – it is “current” – unemployment can only be said to “lag” other indicators which are actually “predicting” future activity. The DJIA current level is “predciting” that “profits” and associated dividends will be better six months from now -that ”prediction” is based on a set of “assumptions”, one of the assumptions is that unemployment will improve and not worsen. The unemployment rate predicts nothing – it is a number that “understates” a current condition.

 

The DJIA is not predicative of economic health.  

 

 

The following from: http://www.online-stock-trading-guide.com/great-depression-stock-chart.html

 

   

 

If you changed the dates from 1929 – 1930 to 2007 – 2009 you’d have an almost identical set of charts. http://seansrant.com/ive-said-it-before-and-ill-say-it-again-the-decline-still-isnt-over-and-heres-why-im-short-the-djia/

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The DJIA has “zero” value in predicting whether our economic health has “turned” the corner.

 

To this mix we will now add a half trillion dollars in new taxes to pay for Health Care Reform ….. this is a recipe for disaster!

What is the truth about the underlying fundamentals is our economy ……

At foreclosure auctions, broken dreams on sale

• On 11:52 am EDT, Thursday October 15, 2009

CHICAGO (Reuters) – The seven-bedroom, three-bath house in this city’s West Garfield Park neighborhood had once been someone’s American Dream.

But at a recent auction of about 100 foreclosed houses and condos, it was just Property No. 20 — and drawing no bids from a roomful of buyers despite its bargain-basement price.

“Any interest in this home at $7,000?” fast-talking auctioneer Renee Jones asked the crowd. “If not, we’ll move on.”

 http://finance.yahoo.com/news/At-foreclosure-auctions-rb-853906128.html?x=0&.v=1

 Foreclosures rise 5 percent from summer to fall

US foreclosures keep soaring as unemployment remains main cause of housing woes

• By Alan Zibel, AP Real Estate Writer
• On 1:59 pm EDT, Thursday October 15, 2009

WASHINGTON (AP) — The number of U.S. households caught up in the foreclosure crisis rose more than 5 percent from summer to fall as a federal effort to assist struggling borrowers was overwhelmed by a flood of defaults among people who lost their jobs.

AP – CHANGES headline and intro text; graphic shows total foreclosure filings for past 13 months …

The foreclosure crisis affected nearly 938,000 properties in the July-September quarter, compared with about 890,000 in the prior three months, according to a report released Thursday by RealtyTrac Inc. That puts foreclosure-related filings on a pace to hit about 3.5 million this year, up from more than 2.3 million last year.

Unemployment is the main reason homeowners are falling into trouble. While the economy is likely out of recession, the unemployment rate — now at a 26-year high of 9.8 percent — isn’t expected to peak until the middle of next year.  

http://www.charter.net/news/read.php?id=15958748&ps=1011&srce=news_class&action=1&lang=en&_LT=HOME_USNWC00L1_UNEWS 

This is after an 81% increase in mortage foreclosures between 2007 and 2008. http://www.thestandard.com.hk/breaking_news_detail.asp?id=11900

Credit card defaults up at major lenders

09.16.09
By Nicholas Storie

Over the past few months, banks had been releasing some promising figures regarding credit card defaults – but new data suggests that any signs of improvement may not be lasting.

The latest figures from major lenders implies that previous progress could be more accurately credited to seasonal factors and Americans paying down credit card debt with their tax refunds, according to Bloomberg.

Banks including JPMogan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup and Discover all reported an increase in credit card defaults – also known as charge-offs – during August. Charge-offs reflect credit card accounts that issuers deem uncollectable.

In particular, BofA reported that charge-offs climbed from 13.8 percent to 14.5 percent last month, while Citigroup saw a rise from 10 percent to 12.1 percent during the same period.

 

 

 

 

  

 

 

 

 

 

http//www.credit.com/news/credit-debt/2009-09-16/credit-card-defaults-up-at-major-lenders.html

 14.5%?  13.8%?   That is more than twice a normal or healthy default rate.

 Personal bankruptcies hits a 4-year high

Mounting unemployment and housing crisis push the filings to the highest level since 2005.

NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) — Personal bankruptcies topped the 1 million mark in the first nine months of the year, the first time it has done so in four years, according to an industry research firm released Friday.

The personal bankruptcies were up 35% from the same period in 2008, according to the report from the American Bankruptcy Institute (ABI).

http://money.cnn.com/2009/10/02/news/economy/consumer_bankruptcy/index.htm?section=money_latest

 

 How can you report that over 500,000 filed for 1st time unemployment benefits again - and claim that is good news – the 514,000 is the smallest number in how long – Gee, to me the story is we have had at least 500,000 file for 1st time benefits 12 consecutive months in a row. In October 2008, 533,000 filed first time claims, so 19,000 fewer have filed this October, but the total number of employed persons has dropped considerably, in other words the total pool of people who could potentially become unemployed is much smaller so that the number of people filing claims is a higher percent of the employed than it was a year ago.

I remember the reports from this time last year – “the worse economy of our lifetime” – when we had an unemployment rate of 6.5%.

“The number of employed Americans has declined by 1.2 million over the first 10 months of 2008, with half of the loss taking place since August.¹ The result is that the October national unemployment rate of 6.5 percent represents the highest level of unemployment since March 1994.^{“  http://www.prb.org/Articles/2008/employmentinstability.aspx?p=1}

 We have lost almost 3 times that many jobs in the 1st 10 months of this year. A total of nearly, 3.6 million jobs lost this year (2009).

What a nut job – Boy our President can really pick them can’t he. First Chavez and now Zeleya ………

They’re torturing me, Honduras’ Manuel Zelaya claims -

Honduras’ fallen leader told The Miami Herald he is being subjected to mind-altering gas and radiation — and that `Israeli mercenaries’ are planning to assassinate him.

TEGUCIGALPA — It’s been 89 days since Manuel Zelaya was booted from power. He’s sleeping on chairs, and he claims his throat is sore from toxic gases and “Israeli mercenaries” are torturing him with high-frequency radiation.

“We are being threatened with death,” he said in an interview with The Miami Herald, adding that mercenaries were likely to storm the embassy where he has been holed up since Monday and assassinate him.

Zelaya said he is being subjected to toxic gases and radiation that alter his physical and mental state.

Israeli government sources in Miami said they could not confirm the presence of any “Israelis mercenaries” in Honduras.

Micheletti took Zelaya’s place after the military, executing a Supreme Court arrest warrant, burst into Zelaya’s house and forced him into exile. The country’s military, congress, Supreme Court and economic leaders have backed the ouster, arguing that Zelaya was bent on conducting an illegal plebiscite that they feared would ultimately lead to his ceasing power unconstitutionally and naming himself President for life.

“The embassy has been turned into a bunker for Zelaya,” Assistant Foreign Minister Martha Lorena Alvarado de Casco told The Herald. “He’s turned it into his headquarters, and he is using it to call for insurrection.”

(Brazil has severed diplomatic ties with Honduras, so the ”former” Brazilan Embassy (you can’t have an Embassy in Country you don’t have diplomatic relations with), has no special protections under international law. The former Brazilian Embassy is just anotherr office building now. As Zeleya was removed from office legally, his calls for insurrection are acts of treason and the Honduran Government would be within the law to arrest Zeleya for treason …… The Honduran Government obviously recognizes the fact that Zelaya is just as “bonkers” as Quadiffi of Libya …… and has todate refrained from taking Zeleya into custody).

New Honduran elections had been scheduled for this November (2009) and are still scheduled to proceed. Zeleya was prohibited by the Honduran Constitution for running for re-election. Zelaya was replaced by his party’s second in command – current President Roberto Micheletti. Presdient Micheletti is also prohibited from running for re-election because the Honduran Constitution prohibits running for a second Presidential term.