Bernie Ebbers, you were CEO of the wrong company.

To state that we are in a financial crisis is to put it mildly. Every day we hear $700 billion. Today we saw the market plunge 777 points. Is there something with 7's? Obviously, it's not a lucky number after all. I keep thinking...how do they, the government "they," arrive at $700 billion dollars? Where did this number come from? I have the answer, but you have to keep reading....

I don't even want to look at my 401k statement. Ignorance is bliss. But, you know, this crisis reminds me of a couple of guys who cooked their books and and rode regulation and deregulation like a cowboy on a mechanical bull. Well, they did ride, until the Wall Street Music stopped and those things called numbers....those good, old, truthful numbers, once again proved to never, ever lie.

Remember Enron and WorldCom? After a couple of whistle blowers were heard, there was a stampede of lawyers, forensic accountants, auditors and politicians breathing down these companies books/backs. These two companies were the impetus for Sarbanes-Oxley. Many consumers, employees and investors lost their pensions, retirement savings, investments and jobs because of Bernie's and Ken's oversight, or lack thereof, of the financial reporting and profits that were practiced by a couple of their renegade CFO's...or so we are to believe. Bernard Ebbers, I hear, is in some comfy, white collar prison in the South. And, Ken Lay? Well, the stress got to him and he passed away of a heart attack before he was sentenced.

Does this financial story sound familiar? I don't think I am painting with a broad brush, so, let me just cut to the chase. I am surprised that there hasn't been an investigation into the obvious fraud and corruption that had taken place in Fannie and Freddie. More surprisingly, Franklin Raines, CEO of Fannie, was fired by "regulators" over "accounting problems" and walked away with a severance package from Fannie of $19 million dollars. Now, that is $19 million more than the $90 million he collected between 1998 and 2003.

If I do my forensic math correctly, Franklin Raines, in 5 years at Fannie Mae, earned, $109 million. Fannie Mae's accounting "practices" between 2001-2004 forced them to restate over $6.3 billion dollars in accounting errors. Yes, you heard me $6.3 Billion clams. Now, I know, I know, Worldcom was $11 billion clams. But, I have to stop and ask myself, would Bernie rather be in a "comfy" white collar prison, or would he rather be Senator Obama's economic advisor.



I am Miss Tory, and I approve of this message.

Okay, here is the answer if you are just reading this to get to this:
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=980CE6D9103EF930A15756C0A9609C8B63&sec=&spon=

What Caused The Economic Crisis?

Via Sen. Jim DeMint:

What Caused The Economic Crisis? Watch This!

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Nancy Pelosi--Wine, Woman and that same old liberal song

Is anyone alarmed that Nancy is third in line to the president? Can I see a show of hands please?  Anyone?  I'm sorry, are you still getting over the shock of that question?  It's okay.  It took me awhile to wrap my head around that one too.  

 What surprises me most about this presidential election is not the Jeremiah Wright Sermons, or the fact that someone wants to change my country, or a woman 2nd in line to the presidency.  What surprises me most is that this election, according to the bloated news coverage and the screams from the left, is really not about the presidency after all. Nope. This election in November is about the Vice Presidency.  We should rename it, the "Vice Presidential Election."  Has a ring to it.  I like it.  Even sounds, well, presidential.

 I have been voting for nearly 20 years and I cannot remember a time when I was so strongly encouraged and warned to carefully consider my vote for the Vice Presidential nominee. Dan Quayle was laughed off the podium for talking about that inane and ridiculous thing called "family values." Oh yes, and let us not forget the first woman VP nominee, Geraldine Ferraro............   So, hey, while we are at it, let's talk about the great Napa Valley Wine Star, Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi. Because if we are talking about 2nd place, we should talk about 3rd place.  Potatoes, potahtoes.

9/23/08:  Nancy Pelousy, in her regally coifed manner, essentially stated,  "our current economy is the prime example of why free markets do not work."  She then chastises the Bush administration's lack of regulation and blank check policies, blah blah blah.  Nancy, Nancy, Nancy.  

 That statement  would make sense and would be true if we, the educated public, were never taught in elementary/middle school about how our government works.  GOVERNMENT 101: Congress has the authority and is responsible for the general welfare and financial and budgetary matters of the United States.   I clearly remember referring to Congress as providing checks and balances over the Executive Branch.  Furthermore, Congress has what is called "Congressional Oversight."  This oversight is usually delegated to Committees.  Allow me to list the Chairs of Certain Committees:  Chris Dodd (D), Chairman of Housing, Banking and Urban Affairs. Barney Frank (D), Chairman of the House Financial Services Committee, and who, along with his Democratic colleagues in 2005, opposed a Republican bill that would have created an agency within the Treasury Department to provide oversight of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.  The fear of the Democrats, as explained to us by Barney, was that the bill would be taking away affordable housing from the lower and middle class, AND, as he further stated, "Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are fine."   Now,  Ms. Speaker, free markets, as you loosely stated, lacked oversight,  so just where was the Congressional Oversight?  If free markets do not work, what markets do you believe, do work?

Nancy, we hear your whine; we know you know about wine.  But please, do us middle class Americans a favor and sing another song...maybe something along the lines of UB 40's Red Red Wine.  That song is old, but I can dance to it.

I am Miss Tory, and I approve of this message.  

  

Let's Do It by the Numbers

It seems so much is about simple numbers lately. The price of gas, the amount of the next federal bailout handout, John McCain's age (Whoa! Nellie!). So it's time we look at a few numbers that matter.

Speaking of the economy, it seems our "friends" (I do type that with a sniveling sneer) on the left wing of this free bird we call America seem to be following Senator Obama's lead and are reading a lot of Leninist literature lately. In typical mob-mentality fashion they are bloodthirstily screaming for the rape of the rich who are unfairly hoarding the fruits of their years of gainful, diligent employment and ingenuity (um, I tried to write that with a straight face. Let's just assume that statement is true. Come on, pretty please? With a cherry of credibility on top?) And so they demand the taxation of the rich. That is, the increased taxation of the top earners in this great nation. They claim the rich are not taxed enough.

Shall we take a peek into the Swirling Kaleidoscope of Truth? a.k.a. the .jpg image? The evil rich are not paying enough taxes when they are paying nearly 90% of the nation's taxes. The truth is, in fact, that the top 1% of income earners in the U.S. pay the same amount in federal taxes as the bottom 95% (source). Leave the tax issue alone. We pay enough taxes--and if you want more tax income for government programs, that income is going to come from the lower tax bracket folks. Just look at the data again. So let that old dog just die. And quick kicking him.

And how about the recent report that came out about our well-to-do friends in Congress? I'm wondering how Mr. Kennedy ended up in the #9 slot. John Kerry was #1. Take a look at the roster of our lawmakers and wonder at how they can sympathize with the common folk. Tax holidays? Who needs 'em? In fact, those sorry civilians surely can cough up an extra $700 billion to give to our friends--er, irresponsible big banks and lenders--you know, to save our country and whatnot. God Bless America and whatever.

And that's our first session of By the Numbers. Thanks for counting with me.