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POPSBecome a Bank Holding Company Like them, I’ve got some bad loans out there, and I’m suffering from “market turbulence.” My nephew is into me for two grand on a college loan, and he can’t seem to get a job that doesn’t require a hair-net. Meanwhile, my bartender at the Chug-a-Lug will testify that I’m behind on my bar tabs because of the “unusual and exigent circumstances” roiling financial markets. That’s the very line that American Express used to get its snout into the public trough, so why not me?
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POPSSelf Directed IRA In contrast to the market, IFAZ clients consistently earn 10 percent on their invested funds and their returns are contractually guaranteed. Learn more and watch this video.
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POPS The Myths Of Clintonomics The media assume the Clinton tax hikes somehow stimulated the economy, and are cheering on Obama's plan. Obama would raise the top rate "back to where Bill Clinton had it at the time of the greatest bull market, the greatest economic growth in the history of the country," Best Life editor Jack Otter told CNN. "Bill Clinton's tax rate was not a punitive tax rate. It didn't harm the economy." In fact, the economy grew in spite of, not because of , the Clinton tax hikes. The bull market took off precisely when then-Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan took his foot off the brakes and hit the gas in 1995. It was also then that Republicans took control of Congress — further blunting the effects of the Clinton tax torpedo that had taken effect the previous year. Their "deficit-reduction plan" didn't create the surpluses at all. They were a direct result of a tidal wave of capital-gains revenues generated by the GOP-led stock boom.
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POPSA Credit Crisis or a Collapsing Ponzi Scheme? 
the scheme is exposed, because when legal authorities begin examining accounting records of the so-called enterprise they find that many of the 'assets' that should exist do not." here’s where we are today. The promoters have clearly not vanished as in outcome 1. In fact, they are behaving as if they know they have nothing to fear. We are definitely seeing all the signs of outcome 2: the scheme is collapsing under its own weight; there are panic runs around the globe wherever Wall Street has left its footprint. outcome 3 Instead of arresting the perpetrators and shutting down the schemes, Federal authorities have developed their own new schemes and pumped over $2 trillion of taxpayer money into propping up the firms while leaving the schemers in place. Equally astonishing, Congress has not held any meaningful investigations. This has left many Wall Street veterans wondering if the problem isn’t that the firms are “too big to fail” but rather “too Ponzi-like to prosecute.
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POPSFed Covers Up Financial Crisis the current tax, spend and bailout policies. His basic message is that the U.S. is broke and that the situation will get worse under an Obama Administration because of its commitment to more federal interference and involvement in the economy. Schiff, who blows the whistle on these schemes, is not very popular in the media, which have been telling us consistently that things would get better after Wall Street was bailed out. Nevertheless, during this discussion, a week before the election, Schiff predicted an Obama victory because “nobody is going to vote for four more years of this” and voters “are going to grasp at straws and vote for anybody who promises change.” But the change is phony, he warned. Obama “will put several nails in the coffin,” he said. “We’re going to get more of the same, only worse.” Fox News Host Jaime Colby asked, “Where are the criminal prosecutions because I think their pictures should be hanging up in the post office?”
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POPSBush cheers “free enterprise” as US capitalism goes bust "Bush's message to those assembling in Washington was clear: Nothing will be accepted that interferes with the unfettered accumulation of wealth by America's financial elite and the defense of their interests, regardless the cost to the world's population."
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POPSTough Times: Congress Grew 13 Percent Richer In 2007
Rep Robin Hayes, R-N.C., ranks third, with $173.4 million. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., ranks sixth, with $62 million. In the Senate, the two Democrats from Massachusetts claimed two of the top three spots. Sen. John Kerry led the pack, with $336 million, while Sen. Edward M. Kennedy ranked third, with $104 million. Sen. Herb Kohl, D-Wis., ranked second, with $241.5 million. Overall, senators had a median net worth estimated at $1.7 million. The 535 members of Congress, who earn average annual salaries of $169,000 and receive cost-of-living pay increases, had a total net worth of $3.7 billion last year. Although some are likely to take a hit from Wall Street's woes, their average net worth soared by 61 percent from 2004 to 2007. Obama ranked as one of the biggest financial winners, with his net worth increasing from $800,000 in 2006 to $4.7 million last year McCain estimated at $28.5 million wealth attributed to his wife Cindy's family fortune.
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POPS Emergency Loans For Detroit's Big Three Could Set Up Showdown Between Congress, White House Executives with the Detroit automakers and the head of the United Auto Workers are expected to make their case at a hearing next Wednesday before Frank's committee. A House vote on Frank's measure could come as early as next Thursday. Democratic leaders also are considering pairing the measure with a broader economic aid bill, including money for unemployed workers whose jobless benefits have run out, aides said.
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POPSUSA unfair to Chavez I feel strongly that the central and southern american countries have a right to self determination
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POPSBloggers on Health Care Reform Wondering how Senator Max Baucus' plan was received by leading health care reform thinkers/bloggers? The New America Foundation, a non-profit think tank, has rounded up some high-profile blogs and commentary.
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POPSBailout? What Bailout. Does acting quickly have the desired effect of appearing to know what you are doing? In the case of the $700B Wall Street bailout, the answer is apparently, No. The fact is Henry Paulson doesn’t have a clue how to best use this money and the program that was originally passed has changed. It is down right scary to know that Congress will vote for a plan without details of that plan and place unprecedented power in the hands of a man who has now clearly shown does not know what to do with the money. People are still loosing their homes and jobs, and our faith in our future is being badly shaken. CEO’s and big oil are walking away with record profits. Politicians grasp at any glimmer of hope to keep things working and no one is truly in control of anything.
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POPSToo Poor For Bankruptcy "Are we one nation? Or are we just interest groups? Can we rescue Wall Street and ignore Main Street?" "The new President promises change and I wish him well and I hope for the best. But I won’t hold my breath because no one hates Americans more than other Americans."
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POPSTop Trend Forecaster Predicts Revolution "There will be a revolution in this country. It’s not going to come yet, but it’s going to come down the line and we’re going to see a third party and this was the catalyst for it: the takeover of Washington, D. C., in broad daylight by Wall Street in this bloodless coup. And it will happen as conditions continue to worsen. What’s going on right now – this Wall Street bailout is really taxation without representation. "
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POPSPublic Works, Work “There is no better time than today” to launch a major public works program. That’s not a quote from some lefty do-gooder, but from the head of the National Association of Business. Corporate executives are now joining labor leaders, mayors, and other progressives who see the urgent need to invest in and rebuild America, creating new infrastructure and new middle-class opportunities all across our land.
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POPSBonuses to Bankers - From the Taxpayers OK - the democrats are in power. Let's see how they can prevent their lobbying pallies from getting huge megabonuses funded by taxpayers. Ain't gonna happen, folks. These fat cats are in democrat politician pockets, and there are no greater whores than democrat pols, who would sell out their own mothers for $$ and power.
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POPSObama's 'Change' and Rahm-bo: Neo-conned Again? This article, if read, will burst the bubble of belief by Obama cheerleaders. (Did Pelosi or a Dem Congress change anything either?) Roberts does not spare Obama any more than he did Bush: War policy: In “Hail to the Chief of Staff,” Alexander Cockburn describes Emanuel as “a super-Likudnik hawk,” who as chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee in 2006 “made great efforts to knock out antiwar Democratic candidates.” The neoconservatives were and are intimately tied to the Israeli Likud Party with its militant Zionist war agenda for a "new middle east". On Economy: Obama’s advisers are drawn from the same gang of Washington thugs and Wall Street banksters as Bush’s. Consider Obama's support of Lieberman then too, who supported McCain and is another "super-Likudnik hawk" when it comes to Israel and war policy. Get the picture yet? Some very important policies (primary ones) will not "change" at a
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POPSAutonomous Cookie Monster Imagine...you are a small child...you open a present and this cookie monster is inside...you are all happy and excited because your favorite character off of sesame street is now your own personal toy...then...it starts following you. Freaking creepy.
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POPSFinally Bust at Liar's Poker "Sooner rather than later, there would come a Great Reckoning when Wall Street would wake up and hundreds if not thousands of young people like me, who had no business making huge bets with other people’s money, would be expelled from finance."
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