As G20 Gets Underway, Economy Not Rebounding; Pentagon Cuts Coming
March 31st, 2009 - by: danny
PROSPERITY BREAKS OUT.
OBAMA PROMISES RICHES TO ALL …
Sounds great, but sorry you all, it’s just one more APRIL FOOL’S DAY — HOPE.
Not everything on April 1 is a joke. Five factual April 1st events:
1) 1976 — Apple Computer is formed
2) 1986 — The price of oil dips under 10 dollars a barrel
3) 1949 — The Republic of Ireland is formed
4) 1963 — “General Hospital” airs for the first time
5) 1982 — The United States transferred ownership of the Panama Canal to Panama
Breaking News and It’s Good:
Court cripples Norm Coleman comeback in Minn. Senate battle
PENTAGON: NEXT ON THE CHOPPING BLOCK?
PROTESTS PLANNED TO CONFRONT G20
PAUL KRUGMAN UNDER ATTACK
FINALLY, OR MAYBE EVENTUALLY: PENTAGON CUTS COMING
WASHINGTON — A Senate defense committee chairman says Pentagon budget will include large, painful cuts. Senate Armed Services Committee Chairman Carl Levin said Tuesday that major program cuts will not be pushed off until the 2011 budget, but will be included when Defense Secretary Robert Gates sends his spending plan to the president later this month.
Levin’s comments confirmed what many contractors and military leaders have expected, but he offered no details on which programs may be axed. He said Pentagon officials have indicated they will not be able to submit the much-anticipated spending plan by April 21, as initially hoped. READ FULL STORY HERE
About d*&% time, ya think? Whatever happened, as an investigation of taxpayer’s money MISSING, to this underreported gem? And, to think of how testy and crank the nation has become recently over the paltry, in comparison, $218.000,00 AIG bonuses when: 9/10/2001: Rumsfeld says $2.3 TRILLION Missing from Pentagon OR another story that receives so very little coverage: Watch Congress grill Rumsfeld and his discomfitureon the missing trillions here or another related video below: “Where’s The Money? — $20,000,000,00.00 Just Disappeared”
Rummy and to all of your predecessor’s, riddle me this: “How in the world do you lose $2,300,000,000,000.00? Does no one use Quickbooks?” — Dissectrix
RELATED: Update on the Nation of Dick as in Cheney:
NPR AUDIO — Seymour Hersh: Cheney ‘Left A Stay Behind’ In Obama’s Government, Can ‘Still Control Policy Up To A Point’
President Obama’s trip to London has all the networks there in action as the world News machine focuses on what will and will not be resolved by the G20 Meeting. Here’s our continuing coverage:
REAL NEWS: WHAT WILL THE G20 DO?
A “YES WE CAN” MARCH — Planned in London tomorrow outside US Embassy
“We will be marching through central London to Trafalgar Square.”
There is also an alternative summit in Trafalgar Square
Tony Benn; Arthur Scargill; Susan George; Bruce Kent, CND; Lindsey German, Stop the War Coalition; Dr Mahathir Mohamed, ex President of Malaysia; Daud Abduallah, Muslim Council of Britain; Jeremy Corbyn MP; Keith Sonnet, UNISON; Victoria Brittain; Alan Simpson MP, Billy Hayes,CWU; Ismail Patel, BMI; Mohammed Umar, Ramadan Foundation.
Peace Marchers Plan Confrontation with NATO
RELATED: Tony Benn [former member of Parliament and currently, President of "Stop The War Coaliton," beats John "neo-con" Bolton to a Pulp [ 2 years ago] while accusing the previous administration of war crimes.
Washington Post: Blame for Downturn Not Fixed on Obama
The number of Americans who believe that the nation is headed in the right direction has roughly tripled since Barack Obama’s election, and the public overwhelmingly blames the excesses of the financial industry, rather than the new president, for turmoil in the economy. READ FULL STORY HERE
Stiglitz – NYT: Obama’s Ersatz Capitalism
What the Obama administration is doing with the banks is far worse than nationalization: it is the privatizing of gains and the socializing of losses. READ FULL STORY HERE
• COULD GLOBAL FINANCIAL CRISIS MEAN THE BREAKING UP OF EUROPE?
JIMMY KIMMEL: What AIG Should Be Advertising
RELATED:
Extreme Makeover: AIG Edition – Target: Treasury Secretary Geithner; President Obama — Sponsored by: Care2
We the people now own 80% of American International Group (AIG) thanks to our nearly $200 billion bailout “bonus.” Everyone likes to make a clean start, so what better way to launch our new relationship with AIG than to give our purchase a new name? SUBMIT YOUR IDEA AND READ FULL STORY HERE
ONE.org REPORTS: Stop The Cuts To The International Affairs Budget
The Senate Budget Committee, chaired by Senator Kent Conrad, wants to cut $4 billion from the president’s International Affairs Budget – the part of the budget funding almost all of our anti-poverty work, from fighting global AIDS to making sure the hunger crisis doesn’t turn into a starvation crisis. This is an outrage we don’t have to stand for. A bipartisan amendment now in the Senate would restore the full $4 billion, and it’s going to be voted on as soon as tomorrow. READ FULL STORY HERE
CHINA CALLS FOR MORE INPUT FROM POORER COUNTRIES
BEIJING, March 31 (Xinhua) — The upcoming G20 summit in London is a good chance to cobble together an out-of-crisis roadmap, not only for the developed countries, but also for the developing ones, including the world’s poorer nations. While on the global “radar screen” of stimulus measures, signals from the poorer nations in Africa, Latin America and Asia have been weak and scarce. However, the poorer nations’ suffering caused by the financial woes has no reason to be ignored.
The global crisis “hits Africa twice” and has left those poor countries to “face the very real danger of malignant decoupling, derailment and abandonment,” said Kofi Annan, the former secretary-general of the United Nations who now chairs the Africa Progress Panel.
Not only are the poorer countries most subject to the impact of the global crisis, but the very way in which the developed world has responded to the trouble continues to worsen their situation by encouraging capital to flee to perceived safety. Lacking the means to argue their case at the top tables in the global economic and financial structure, the African countries face the very real danger of losing their voices and are being further marginalized. READ FULL STORY HERE
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Bailout Fraud, Treasuries At Risk, Merrill Lynch Bonuses Bigger than A.I.G
March 31st, 2009 - by: danny
CRIME IN THE SUITES
I wrote about this and, guess what? I was not whistling Dixie.
Financial Times: ‘Tarp cop’ launches probes into bail-out fraud
US authorities have launched “more than a dozen criminal investigations” into possible fraud involving bank bail-out funds, the special inspector-general for the troubled assets relief programme told Congress on Tuesday.
Neil Barofsky – described at a Senate finance committee hearing as the “Tarp cop” – estimated the US had spent or lent almost $3,000bn of taxpayers’ money to aid banks and other companies, which would “inevitably attract those seeking to profit criminally”.
He said his investigators were already working with law enforcement officials on potential cases. “We actually have probably more than a dozen ongoing criminal investigations based on fraud related to the Tarp programme,” he said. A spokeswoman for Mr Barofsky said the office could not provide more detail as the probes were active. READ FULL STORY HERE
RELATED:
It’s a bird…It’s a plane…No, it’s Spitzer to the Rescue By Mike Whitney
If Obama is serious about restoring confidence in the markets, he should replace current SEC chief Mary Schapiro with Eliot Spitzer. That would send a message to the world that the president is through messing around. Schapiro is another Wall Street toady who believes that the markets can regulate themselves. READ FULL STORY HERE
RELATED: Greg Palast investigates –> Eliot’s Mess – The $200 billion bail-out for predator banks and Spitzer charges are intimately linked
While New York Governor Eliot Spitzer was paying an ‘escort’ $4,300 in a hotel room in Washington, just down the road, George Bush’s new Federal Reserve Board Chairman, Ben Bernanke, was secretly handing over $200 billion in a tryst with mortgage bank industry speculators.
Both acts were wanton, wicked and lewd. But there’s a BIG difference. The Governor was using his own checkbook. Bush’s man Bernanke was using ours. READ FULL STORY HERE
WEALTH DAILY: ARE TREASURES NEXT?
My colleague, Steve Christ, calls it “the worst-kept secret on Wall Street.” He’s referring to the U.S. Treasury Bubble.
Others are starting to agree:
•” US Treasury notes losing allure as ‘safest’ investment,” says the New York Times.
• “Don’t get caught if the Treasury ‘bubble’ bursts,” reports USAToday.
• “If the Fed moves too slowly to pop the Treasury bubble when necessary,” writes the Denver Post, adding, “inflation could flare.”
You see, not only could this shake out to be the biggest bubble of all time …
Matt Renner: Merrill Lynch Bonus Payments Dwarf A.I.G.
“Anger over the bonuses at A.I.G. blew back onto members of the Obama administration as it was revealed that Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and others had been aware of the bonus payments but failed to halt them and did not express ‘outrage,’ until the bonus checks were already cashed. Further revelations of backroom dealings and million-dollar bonuses threaten to make any kind of assistance to financial institutions politically impossible for Congress. A larger and potentially far more explosive powder keg of bonus payments – this time to top executives at now defunct Merrill Lynch & Co. Inc. – may be about to blow.” READ FULL STORY HERE
CFO MAGAZINE: Study Predicts 50% Cut in Free Cash Flow
A new study that tracks free cash margins says the metric is set to drop to recession levels. The median free cash flow for nonfinancial companies could sink by 50% during the next year, especially if the recession continues to choke revenue streams, a new report says.
Up until now, cash-flow margins – free cash flow measured as a percentage of revenue – have remained flat. But recessions have a way of eating away at that ratio, says Charles Mulford, director of the Georgia Tech Financial Analysis Lab and co-author of the study. READ FULL STORY HERE
NYT: Bankruptcy Is Now ‘More Probable,’ New G.M. Chief Says
The new chief executive, Fritz Henderson, said he still hoped to restructure the company out of court.
WP: IS OBAMA TOUGHER ON AUTO COMPANIES THAN THE BANKS?
Might a slew of bank CEOs soon be following former GM chairman Rick Wagoner out the door? According to The Washington Post, “the president’s aggressive move against GM has left some banking executives wondering whether they are next in line.” So far, the government has only replaced CEOS at financial institutions it controls – AIG, Fannie Mae, and Freddie Mac. The Wall Street Journal reports, meanwhile, that the government has considered removing Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit in the past but left him due to lack of better options. If President Obama decides to replace any bank CEOs, it is likely that he will do so at the end of April, when the government finishes its “stress tests” of banks’ solvency. READ FULL STORY HERE
David Sirota on OurFuture.org: Obama’s Gordon Gekko Targets Union Workers
Remember Gordon Gekko from Wall Street? Specifically, remember how Gekko’s entire scheme for the airline industry was based on crushing the blue-collar union that Bud Fox’s dad was part of? Welcome to a real life version of that story, starring corporate raider Steve Rattner, who President Obama appointed to head the White House team now overseeing the auto industry (and don’t say you weren’t warned). READ FULL STORY HERE
ZOGBY POLL: Just 6% Prefer Giving Federal Money to Banks And 51% Say No Funding Even If Banks Fail
Minority Believes That Obama Forcing Change Too Quickly
UTICA, NY – Only 6% of adults believe having the federal government provide money to large banks and buy their troubled assets is the best action to take in resolving the banking crisis. One-half do not want the government providing more money to banks, even if that means some would go out of business. One-third wants the government to take over failing banks and sell them back to private investors if and when they recover. READ FULL STORY HERE
Obama’s auto plan: good strategy, poor tactics….Edward Harrison of the site Credit Writedowns
I like the fact that President Obama has drawn a line in the sand and signaled that no more funds will be given to U.S. automakers without their presenting a viable long-term plan for restructuring. Ultimately, the automakers cannot survive merely as a result of government largesse, but through the discipline of a competitive auto market. In my view, the American automakers are viable companies which can produce cars that sell well. It is their poor operating cost structure and disastrous balance sheets which make them bankrupt organizations. This should mean they are prefect candidates for restructuring. Nevertheless, other aspects of Obama’s treatment of the automakers are troubling. The dichotomy between how the big three automakers are being treated and how the big banks are being treated plus the sacking of a CEO at a critical juncture leave a lot of questions. READ FULL STORY HERE
STRESS IN MICHIGAN
Three alcohol-fueled fights erupted at a Michigan auto dealership last week on the day employees were told the business was closing, another sign of a community on edge as it tries to deal with the flailing economy. The first brawl took place outside Wayland Chevrolet at about 1 p.m. on Friday after several employees visited a bar. Police were alerted to the dispute, but it was broken up before they got … READ FULL STORY HERE
SOME BANKS WALKING AWAY FROM FORECLOSURES
David Enke writes:
As a result of both decreasing home values and increasing legal fees, some banks are deciding to not take possession of properties in foreclosure (see New York Times article). In addition to legal fees, homes in foreclosure are seeing increasing maintenance fees, due in part of vandalism and neglect. The problem is that once the bank walks away, the name of the homeowner is still on the title, making them responsible for maintaining the home.
Even if the home is to the point of being demolished, the homeowner may be responsible for the cost of demolition and clean-up. It looks like the banks are indeed getting some of their problem loans off the balance sheet, but this may not be the way the Fed and Treasury had in mind. READ FULL STORY HERE
• Why is Obama Going Easier on Banks?
• RENTING IS IN: The American Dream Is Now Up For Rent — More people than ever choosing to rent
• HP: Chris Dodd: The Time For Credit Card Reform Is Now
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The Counterattack on Paul Krugman; NH Court Limits Ml-Implode.com; April Fools?
March 31st, 2009 - by: danny
It was a matter of time. Just as Paul Krugman’s critique of Obamanomics seems more persuasive, he becomes the target of a media attack, in this case from Newsweek, a magazine owned by the Washington Post, the major competitor of the NY Times:
Felix Salman: Newsweek’s Fearful Krugman Profile
Evan Thomas has a profile of Paul Krugman on the cover of Newsweek. The 2,825-word article has six on-the-record quotes about Krugman; none of them — not even the one from his mother — are particularly flattering. No one is quoted saying a single nice thing about Krugman’s economics or his opinions.
When it comes to the substance of what Krugman produces, rather than his personality, the only two quotes come from Daniel Klein of George Mason (“a lot of what he says is wrong”) and Dan Okrent, the former NYT ombudsman with whom Krugman had a bruising encounter. (“When someone challenged Krugman on the facts, he tended to question the motivation and ignore the substance.”) READ FULL STORY HERE
ANOTHER COURT CIRCUMSCRIBES ON LINE JOURNALISM
Aaron Krowne, editor of the indispensable ML-implode blog writes:
…. a New Hampshire judge (on our “little” lawsuit) just ordered us to cease posting materials a company complained about (which we had already voluntarily removed), but much worse, to give up the identities of the poster and informant. There has been no litigation of the facts, and in fact not even a hearing on the matter of whether the Plaintiff’s claims were anything more than “alleged”. Yet the judge accepted their claims at face value and ordered against us anyway.
So, now we are appealing to the NH Supreme Court, which we MUST do, otherwise we’re in violation of this preliminary order.
This effects all online (and even offline) media, especially small/independent media, as part of the judge’s logic was basically that we “aren’t really the press”. But apparently, if you publish or allow users to publish anything that some commercial interest in New Hampshire considers “defamatory” or “secret”, even if you have no business in or with the state, you can be forced to take it down BEFORE a settling of the facts in trial, and forced to give up the identities of the posters/informants.
Nice, huh?
That seems like it pretty much does away with all meaningful whistle blowing-centric online independent publishing, and a good deal of polemic user commenting on the web in general. It is difficult to express in mere words how bad this ruling is.
IHT redesigns newspaper, merges website
The International Herald Tribune on Monday unveiled a redesign of its print edition and merged its website with that of its owner, The New York Times. The new front page features a new streamlined nameplate using a typeface that more closely identifies the Paris-based English language daily with the New York Times editions. Each section has been reshaped with cleaner layouts emphasizing bolder treatments of photos and section headings, said a note to readers by IHT editor Martin Gottlieb. The new website was described as a ‘global home page’ for combined copy from the IHT and the New York Times from more than 40 bureaus worldwide, and edited in New York, Paris and Hong Kong. There had been speculation that the IHT’s days were numbered after The New York Times announced last year that it was shutting down the website. But IHT publisher Stephen Dunbar-Johnson said in October that the Times was committed to the IHT, which has been based in Paris since 1887.(AFP)
Media News
IWantMedia.com: CBS Falls After UBS Cut on Deeper Ad Slump
Bloomberg: CBS dropped the most in four months in New York trading Monday after UBS analyst Michael Morris recommended selling the shares because the advertising slump may be deeper and longer than expected. Industry-wide ad sales in 2010 will be “very similar” to this year.
Letters:
Antony Lowenstein – Australia:
My latest column for Australian online magazine New Matilda is about the incoming Israeli government and its refusal to understand the growing international outrage over the Jewish state’s behaviour:
Mark — Geneva:
The rest of the world cannot understand how, after bitter election campaigns, American politicians can kiss and makeup. For instance, Gov. Palin has invited, to her great state of Alaska, the men who defeated her: Barack Obama and Joe Biden. She has set up a moose hunting trip for their enjoyment and hired three prominent experts in their fields to assist them. Dick Cheney will lead them on the hunt, Ted Kennedy will drive them back to their cabins each evening, and Bill Clinton will entertain their wives and daughters. What a lady! That Sarah is such a sport and thinks of everything!
The Parade That Should Be Have Been
And finally, if only this was true. Prankster Joey Skaggs, who does the Art of the Prank Blog, sends along this invite:
The 23rd Annual April Fools’ Day Parade will march down Fifth Avenue from 59th Street beginning at 12 noon, Tuesday, April 1st, 2008. The parade route has changed temporarily due to construction in Washington Square Park. This year the parade will detour east across Fourteenth Street to Union Square where the post-parade festivities will begin.
The New York April Fools’ Day Parade was created in 1986 to remedy a glaring omission in the long list of New York’s annual ethnic and holiday parades. These events fail to recognize the importance of April 1st, the day designated to commemorate the perennial folly of mankind. In an attempt to bridge that gap and bring people back in touch with their inherent foolishness, the parade annually crowns a King of Fools from parading look-alikes.
The parade will be led by President George Bush and his entire cabinet. They will be given a 60-second lead and then pursued by an outraged lynch mob. This will be followed by a Macy’s Day Parade-size helium balloon of a B52 Bomber Equipped with Nuclear Missiles flying overhead as the April Fools’ Day Parade Marching Band plays Woody Guthrie’s “So Long, It’s Been Good to Know You.” The Parade’s Grand Marshall will be Ralph Nader, appropriately dressed as The Jester.
The public is encouraged to participate, in or out of costume, with or without floats, and may join the procession at any point along the parade route. Floats can be no wider than 10 feet and no longer than 25 feet. They can be self-propelled, towed, pushed or pulled. Customized bicycles, tricycles, baby carriages and aerial balloons are welcome. The Parade Committee assumes no liability for damages caused by satire. All participants are costumed look-alikes. Parade floats and marchers must be at 59th Street and Fifth Avenue no later than 11:30 a.m.
This year’s floats will be led Mardi Gras-style by Angelo Mozilo, CEO of Countrywide Financial, and instead of beads his Loan Shark Cronies will toss out loans you can’t refuse to the crowd; Michael Vick will be taking bets on his Dog Fight Float with caged, snarling pit bulls; a Chinese Dry-Cleaning Float will feature Roy Pearson screaming, “Where are my pants? I’m going to sue!”; an Archeological Dig float designed by James Cameron will feature Jesus and Mary’s Bones; a Tourette’s Syndrome Float will feature radio personality Don Imus, political pundit Ann Coulter, the Reverend Louis Farrakhan, radio talk show host Bill Cunningham, and Dog the Bounty Hunter-all shouting obscenities at the crowd. READ FULL STORY PRANK HERE
Happy April Fools Day. I hope that’s not the reason that the G20 chose April 1. Comments to dissector@mediachannel.org
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About Danny Schechter
Danny Schechter is an Emmy award winning journalist, television producer and independent filmmaker who also writes, blogs and speaks about media issues.
His latest film is PLUNDER The Crime Of Our Time.
Mr. Schechter is NOT the Godfather of Soul.
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