BS: The Bailout

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: Rapparee
Date: 04 Oct 08 - 08:19 AM

Ya know, at this point I think I RATHER be in a socialist country. At least in, say, Ireland, I'd get to take home enough for a pint.

I got my first paycheck yesterday under the WOW! 1%! raise the city gave this fiscal year. I'm earning forty bucks per pay period less that I was last Fiscal Year. At least they continued medical insurance.

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: Bobert
Date: 04 Oct 08 - 08:50 AM

Well, Rap, at least Boss Hog ain't closed all the libraries yet but not to fear... They are in Boss Hog's sights... Right after he blows the crap outta Social Security...

Hnag in there, Bud, and remember to keep yer powder dry...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: Donuel
Date: 04 Oct 08 - 10:29 AM

Happy new Fiscal Year everybody. bam whump crash

I'll get me coat..

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: Donuel
Date: 04 Oct 08 - 10:33 AM

GIANT BAND AID picture http://usera.imagecave.com/donuel/overdose.jpg

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: Rapparee
Date: 04 Oct 08 - 10:34 AM

Laugh a bit:

Following the problems in the sub-prime lending market in America and the run on Northern Rock in the UK, uncertainty has now hit Japan.

In the last 7 days Origami Bank has folded, Sumo Bank has gone belly
up and Bonsai Bank announced plans to cut some of its branches.

Yesterday, it was announced that Karaoke Bank is up for sale and will
likely go for a song, while today shares in Kamikaze Bank were
suspended after they nose-dived. While Samurai Bank fell on its sword,
Ninja Bank is reported to have taken a hit, but they remain in the
black.

Furthermore, 500 staff at Karate Bank got the chop and analysts report
that there is something fishy going on at Sushi Bank where it is
feared that staff may get a raw deal.

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: freda underhill
Date: 04 Oct 08 - 10:52 AM

Great,ju$t what I needed! :-D

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: Emma B
Date: 04 Oct 08 - 11:03 AM

LOL a great account!

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: Donuel
Date: 04 Oct 08 - 03:00 PM

GOOD NEWS

maybe the kind of good that being in the eye of a hurricaine without wind but good none the less.

Someone, no one knows who, stuck the best possible option for us all into the bail out bill that George Bush unwittingly signed.

It is the option for the Treasury Secretary to opt to implement stock share buy ins (like what Warren Buffet does)
instead of only buying traxh with tax payer money.

You see banks don't want the government moving into their house with the authority to throw out the freeloader crook. They just want cash via the free for all Paulson program.

The option clause was worded very wisely but and its a big BUT
Henry Paulson will have 60 days to dispose of as much of the 800 billion dollars as possible.

A new Treasury secretary will then be able to use the stock clause to truely let taxpayers invest instead of giving cash to the compulsive gamblers to supposeldy pay off their gambling debt.

So Good news if we use the inserted option and if Paulson doesn;t blow all the money in two months..

A

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 05 Oct 08 - 12:36 AM

The text of the bill may be found here (Huffington Post):
Emergency Economic Stabilization Act

Most posters here seem to prefer to invent their own fantasy versions, but one or two may be interested in the provisions of this long term plan and its ramifications.

A little easier to comprehend is the 'breakdown' published by the Washington Post:
Emergency Economic Stabilization Act

Amendments added in the Senate, bringing the bill to 451 pages-
Senate Amended
Pages 197-451.
The "pork," so-called, is in these pages. Without it, the bill would not have passed.

Paulson is given "broad latitude to purchase any assets from any firms at any price and to assemble a team of individuals and institutions to manage them."
Washington Post article by Montgomery and Kane.

If my links fail, google will find the articles easily.

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: Sawzaw
Date: 05 Oct 08 - 12:49 AM

"Yer doin' a good job, Barney"

....Democratic victories in the House of Representatives last fall (2006) landed him in the chairman’s seat on Financial Services.

From this position, Frank will play a major role in drawing up legislation and setting the political agenda on corporate governance issues of all types. Outraged at what he considers hubristic excess in executive pay, he promises a tougher line on remuneration. Populist-minded, he is committed to backing shareholders as they seek greater influence over board selection and a say in limiting C-suite perquisites. With Frank in charge, the little guy is likely to get a break....

“Chairman Frank is a very thoughtful man and a sophisticated policy player. Labels like ‘liberal’ don’t have much consequence,â€쳌 says Damon Silvers, associate general counsel for the AFL-CIO. “He’s aware of the linkage between good corporate governance and a good economy. How do we put our country in a good place globally? The country desperately needs leadership that thinks this way.â€쳌

Then there’s the fact that by far the biggest contributors to Frank’s political campaigns have been members of the financial services sector, which is strongly represented in Massachusetts. In the 2006 election, finance and insurance companiesâ€"including audit giants KPMG, Ernst & Young and PricewaterhouseCoopersâ€"forked over $519,434, compared with the $90,498 that came in from organized labor.

Perhaps reflecting his dual loyalties, Frank has introduced a new twist into corporate governance discussions with his so-called “Grand Bargain,â€쳌 which is designed to find common ground between the working man and management. Although it is somewhat vague, the compromise would involve business’ tolerating greater union organization, minimum wage hikes, housing aid and protections for American workers against free-trade job loss. In exchange, federal legislators would be sensitive to Corporate America when writing trade bills by taking into consideration business’ views on immigrant labor and other employment issues. They would also ease up on costly rules such as Sarbanes-Oxley compliance. Frank intends to hold hearings on the Grand Bargain this year to generate support for the conversation and to fine-tune its specifics. It has the full support of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi.


And Barney has done ___________________________________________

Well, I forgot there was a male prostitution ring run from his apartment.

Gobie's dream has come true. His accusation that Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) knew that Gobie had operated a prostitution service out of Frank's Capitol Hill apartment became national news after it was first reported Friday by the Washington Times.

Frank, one of two openly gay members of Congress, confirmed Friday that he paid Gobie for sex, hired him with personal funds as an aide and wrote letters on congressional stationery on his behalf to Virginia probation officials, but Frank said he fired Gobie when he learned that clients were visiting the apartment.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-srv/local/longterm/tours/scandal/gobie2.htm

Oh, and his significant other at one time was Herb Moses at Fannie Mae
    Moses was the assistant director for product initiatives at Fannie Mae and had been at the forefront of relaxing lending restrictions at the company for rural customers, according to the Feb. 23, 1998, issue of National Mortgage News (NMN).

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: Sawzaw
Date: 05 Oct 08 - 12:59 AM

There is one person who's been consistent on reform issues and that has been John McCain.

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: heric
Date: 05 Oct 08 - 02:59 AM

Yes, The People's Pork! God bless us, everyone!

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: Donuel
Date: 05 Oct 08 - 10:08 AM

http://thisamericanlife.org/

available monday

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: Sawzaw
Date: 05 Oct 08 - 10:33 AM

Land of the $20 million per movie stars, financially irresponsible California is next:

California: Hollywood hunk Arnold Schwarzenegger may have battled all the bad guys on celluloid and won but the California Governor just can't seem to beat the credit crunch.

Schwarzenegger, often called the Governator, after his famous Terminator series of Hollywood flicks, is now looking for a federal bailout.

He says his state will run out of money for key programs by the end of this month.

In an unusual and unprecedented move by a state, Schwarzenegger on Thursday sent Treasury Secretary of the US, Henry Paulson a letter warning that California may need an emergency loan.

Schwarzenegger pegs his state's requirement at US $7 billion if the state is not able to get the short term loans it normally relies on at this time of the year.

"That's something that happens every year and other states it also the only thing is right now because liquidity has dried up doesn't exist so therefore it's very hard not to get that loan so if we can't get that loan through the normal course we will go the federal government and ask for help," he said.

Schwarzenegger says that his state, California is buckling under pressure caused by the housing crisis, the global credit freeze and the loss of tens of thousands of jobs.

"Seven billion is the amount that we knew we needed two months ago. We need it now. So there's nothing new with the amount it's just that we need that money and cash is running out," added Schwarzenegger.

This translates into a potential inability to make payrolls in the coming months, to teachers, law enforcement and hospital workers and others. According to UCLA economist, Dan Mitchell, the situation does not paint a very sunny picture.

"In this case, if we went without our loan for some significant period of time there would be a lot of people who would essentially get IOU's and they would have to try to take those IOU's to their banks and hope that somebody would give them a loan for that period," explains Mitchell.

That is a scary thought for Los Angeles Maintenance Worker, Edwardo Soto. He worries that he will not be able to pay bills with an IOU.

"We're not going to stay over here and wait and see if they have money or not. We can go somewhere else," said Soto.

But jobs are tight already! 20,000 lay off notices have gone out to California teachers and the next year, many more may face the same fate.

Sacramento county employee Kim West worries that the city and county workers will also feel the impact.

"I would be very upset. I'm upset now because I'm getting the indirect effects of it and I wouldn't be able to afford my home. I also wouldn't be able to provide for my family," said a fearful West.

The Governor will be holding a special meeting with state legislators next week to make sure that does become a reality.

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: Sawzaw
Date: 05 Oct 08 - 11:03 AM

ACORN, Obama, and the Mortgage Mess

...ACORN stands for the Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now, a busy hive of left-wing agitation and "direct action" that claims chapters in 50 cities and 100,000 dues-paying members. ACORN is where Sixties leftovers who couldn't get tenure at universities wound up. That the bill-writing Democrats remembered their pet clients during such an emergency speaks volumes. This attempted gift to ACORN (stripped out of the bill after outraged howls from Republicans) demonstrates how little Democrats understand about what caused the mess we're in.

ACORN does many things under the umbrella of "community organizing." They agitate for higher minimum wages, attempt to thwart school reform, try to unionize welfare workers (that is, those welfare recipients who are obliged to work in exchange for benefits) and organize voter registration efforts (always for Democrats, of course). Because they are on the side of righteousness and justice, they aren't especially fastidious about their methods. In 2006, for example, ACORN registered 1,800 new voters in Washington. The only trouble was, with the exception of six, all of the names submitted were fake. The secretary of state called it the "worst case of election fraud in our state's history."

"The ACORN workers told state investigators that they went to the Seattle public library, sat at a table and filled out the voter registration forms. They made up names, addresses, and Social Security numbers and in some cases plucked names from the phone book. One worker said it was a lot of hard work making up all those names and another said he would sit at home, smoke marijuana and fill out the forms."

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: Rapparee
Date: 05 Oct 08 - 11:09 AM

I'd like a bailout from all these bailouts and blame-casting. Solve the goddam problems NOW and let the historians fix the blame. Jayzuz, with the energy being wasted on "who's to blame" I could light the bloody planet!

PLEASE!!

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: Sawzaw
Date: 05 Oct 08 - 11:27 PM

"Yer doin' a good job, Frankie"

Maxine Waters: "We do not have a crisis at Freddie Mac and particularly Fannie Mae under the outstanding leadership of Frank Raines"

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: CarolC
Date: 05 Oct 08 - 11:39 PM

'In recent days, Sen. John McCain (R-AZ) has been promising to "put an end to the reckless conduct, corruption, and unbridled greed that have caused a crisis on Wall Street." This is an interesting development for McCain, who before this week was a champion of deregulation.

It is doubly interesting though, because McCain voted for the bill that deregulated Wall St. and allowed such "reckless conduct" to occur in the first place. And one of the bill's architects was McCain economic adviser, former Sen. Phil Gramm (R-TX).

In 1999, Congress passed the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, which abolished "all of the significant rules put in place at the time of the Great Depression designed to prevent a repeat." Specifically, this act "destroyed the Depression-era barrier to the merger of stockbrokers, banks and insurance companies."

Yesterday, a group of economists, including Nobel Prize winner Joseph Stiglitz, slammed Gramm for having a "mentality that doesn't understand the nature of systemic risks in financial systems," and said that his bill helped create the current financial turmoil:

    Economic experts say that Gramm and others are to blame for the current crisis that is shaking Wall Street.

    Gramm's successful effort to pass banking reform laws in 1999, which reduced decades-old regulations separating banking, insurance and brokerage activities, helped to create the current economic crisis.

    "As a result, the culture of investment banks was conveyed to commercial banks and everyone got involved in the high-risk gambling mentality. That mentality was core to the problem that we're facing now," Stiglitz says.

Lakshman Achuthan, managing director of the Economic Cycle Research Institute, said that "we were setting up this bonfire years ago — the deregulation, the inordinate amount of liquidity given to the system all set the stage for the bubble and the bust."

So McCain is promising to put an end to the "reckless conduct" that he voted to allow, while being advised by a team that still believes rampant deregulation is the way to go.'

http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2008/09/20/economists-blame-gramm/


John McCain - "I'm glad I deregulated Wall Street"

http://thinkprogress.org/2008/09/21/mccain-deregulation/

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: Sawzaw
Date: 05 Oct 08 - 11:41 PM

Maxine Waters: Under the outstanding leadership of Mr. Frank Raines, everything in 1992 has worked just fine. In fact, the GSEs have exceeded their housing goals. What we need to do today is to focus on the regulator, and this must be done in a manner so as not to impede their affordable housing mission, a mission that has seen innovation flourish from desktop underwriting to 100% loans.

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: Sawzaw
Date: 06 Oct 08 - 12:07 AM

"McCain voted for the bill that deregulated Wall St"

As per the Senate records, the GLBA, s900 passed 90 to 8 on November 4, 1999

These are the 8 Nays and McCain did not vote

Boxer (D-CA)
Bryan (D-NV)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Feingold (D-WI)
Harkin (D-IA)
Mikulski (D-MD)
Shelby (R-AL)
Wellstone (D-MN)
        
Not Voting - 1
McCain (R-AZ)

Schumer, Dodd, Kerry, Reid, Biden voted Yea.


According to the Senate Banking committee records:

# November 4, 1999 -- Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act passed the Senate 90-8 and the House 362-57.

Here is the vote.

Pelosi voted Yea, Barney Frank voted Nay.

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: CarolC
Date: 06 Oct 08 - 12:29 AM

'But it's really no surprise that McCain is divorced from the reality of America's faltering economic system. Just take note of who advises his campaign on economic matters. The Wonk Room has assembled a report on John McCain's Econ Team — from those who helped spur the mortgage meltdown to those still blissfully unaware that anything is wrong with the economy:

Phil Gramm: McCain's "Econ Brain," who called America "a nation of whiners" in a "mental recession," former Senator Gramm was behind the Commodity Futures Modernization Act and the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. The former made legal "the mortgage swaps distancing the originator of the loan from the ultimate collector," while the latter "destroyed the Depression-era barrier to the merger of stockbrokers, banks and insurance companies." As The Nation wrote, "those two acts effectively ended significant regulation of the financial community."

Rick Davis: Before becoming McCain's campaign manager, Davis "served as president of an advocacy group led by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac that defended the two companies against increased regulation." As noted in the Progress Report, "During his tenure, Davis moved to challenge even the smallest measures to make sure that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are be held more accountable for their actions."

Donald Luskin: Like McCain, Luskin believes that "things today just aren't that bad," and everyone should "quit doling out that bad-economy line." In a Washington Post Op-ed on Sunday, he wrote that "we have surely become a nation of exaggerators," despite agreeing that "the foreclosure rate is the worst since the Great Depression."

Douglas Holtz-Eakin: Though occasionally exhibiting an off-message honest streak (like admitting that McCain will have to raise taxes), this former director of the Congressional Budget Office now spends his time incorrectly claiming that McCain will balance the budget by the end of his first term, trying to justify the $2.8 trillion gap between McCain's economic proposals and what he says on the stump, and saying "Main Street is hanging in there," despite significant evidence to the contrary.

Carly Fiorina: As CEO of Hewlett-Packard (HP), Fiorina exploited a corporate loophole to hold more than $14 billion in profits overseas, a loophole that McCain is against closing. She was forced out of HP after a merger with Compaq "failed to bring Hewlett the profits that Ms. Fiorina had forecast," resulting in "tumbling shares."

Nancy Pfotenhauer: As the Wonk Room has previously noted, Pfotenhauer's resume includes work for "Americans for Prosperity (founded by Koch), and the Independent Women's Forum (funded by Koch)." On the IWF/AFP agenda, and one of the major facets of McCain's economic plan, is a cut in the corporate tax rate, which will deliver $175 billion in tax breaks to America's corporations.

William Timmons: A consummate Washington insider, Timmons, who McCain tapped to head his presidential transition team, was a lobbyist with Timmons and Co., and lobbied for, among others, Freddie Mac. According to Time, "He has registered to work on bills that deal with the regulations of troubled mortgage lenders Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae."

In all, McCain has 159 lobbyists working for or raising money for his campaign, including representatives of Merrill Lynch, Fannie Mae, AIG, Bank of America, and Lehman Brothers.'

http://wonkroom.thinkprogress.org/2008/09/15/mccain-econ-team/

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: CarolC
Date: 06 Oct 08 - 01:11 AM

Tricky tricky...

McCain did vote for the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. The link in a previous post was not to the roll call for passage of the bill, but rather to the roll call for on the question of whether or not to agree to the conference report. Quoting directly from the link in the 06 Oct 08 - 12:07 AM post...


U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 106th Congress - 1st Session

as compiled through Senate LIS by the Senate Bill Clerk under the direction of the Secretary of the Senate

Vote Summary

Question: On the Conference Report (S.900 Conference Report )
Vote Number:         354        Vote Date:         November 4, 1999, 03:30 PM


Here is the roll call for the vote to pass the bill. McCain was present for this vote, and he voted Yea...


U.S. Senate Roll Call Votes 106th Congress - 1st Session

as compiled through Senate LIS by the Senate Bill Clerk under the direction of the Secretary of the Senate

Vote Summary

Question: On Passage of the Bill (S.900 as amended )
Vote Number:         105        Vote Date:         May 6, 1999, 08:14 PM

Grouped by Home State
Alabama:        Sessions (R-AL), Yea        Shelby (R-AL), Yea
Alaska:        Murkowski (R-AK), Yea        Stevens (R-AK), Yea
Arizona:        Kyl (R-AZ), Yea        McCain (R-AZ), Yea
Arkansas:        Hutchinson (R-AR), Yea        Lincoln (D-AR), Nay
California:        Boxer (D-CA), Nay        Feinstein (D-CA), Nay
Colorado:        Allard (R-CO), Yea        Campbell (R-CO), Yea
Connecticut:        Dodd (D-CT), Nay        Lieberman (D-CT), Nay
Delaware:        Biden (D-DE), Nay        Roth (R-DE), Yea
Florida:        Graham (D-FL), Nay        Mack (R-FL), Yea
Georgia:        Cleland (D-GA), Nay        Coverdell (R-GA), Yea
Hawaii:               Akaka (D-HI), Nay        Inouye (D-HI), Nay
Idaho:               Craig (R-ID), Yea        Crapo (R-ID), Yea
Illinois:        Durbin (D-IL), Nay        Fitzgerald (R-IL), Present
Indiana:        Bayh (D-IN), Nay        Lugar (R-IN), Yea
Iowa:               Grassley (R-IA), Yea        Harkin (D-IA), Nay
Kansas:               Brownback (R-KS), Yea        Roberts (R-KS), Yea
Kentucky:        Bunning (R-KY), Yea        McConnell (R-KY), Yea
Louisiana:        Breaux (D-LA), Nay        Landrieu (D-LA), Nay
Maine:        Collins (R-ME), Yea        Snowe (R-ME), Yea
Maryland:        Mikulski (D-MD), Nay        Sarbanes (D-MD), Nay
Massachusetts:        Kennedy (D-MA), Nay        Kerry (D-MA), Nay
Michigan:        Abraham (R-MI), Yea        Levin (D-MI), Nay
Minnesota:        Grams (R-MN), Yea        Wellstone (D-MN), Nay
Mississippi:        Cochran (R-MS), Yea        Lott (R-MS), Yea
Missouri:        Ashcroft (R-MO), Yea        Bond (R-MO), Yea
Montana:        Baucus (D-MT), Nay        Burns (R-MT), Yea
Nebraska:        Hagel (R-NE), Yea        Kerrey (D-NE), Nay
Nevada:               Bryan (D-NV), Nay        Reid (D-NV), Nay
New Hampshire:        Gregg (R-NH), Yea        Smith (R-NH), Yea
New Jersey:        Lautenberg (D-NJ), Nay        Torricelli (D-NJ), Nay
New Mexico:        Bingaman (D-NM), Nay        Domenici (R-NM), Yea
New York:        Moynihan (D-NY), Nay        Schumer (D-NY), Nay
North Carolina:        Edwards (D-NC), Nay        Helms (R-NC), Yea
North Dakota:        Conrad (D-ND), Nay        Dorgan (D-ND), Nay
Ohio:               DeWine (R-OH), Yea        Voinovich (R-OH), Yea
Oklahoma:        Inhofe (R-OK), Not Voting        Nickles (R-OK), Yea
Oregon:               Smith (R-OR), Yea        Wyden (D-OR), Nay
Pennsylvania:        Santorum (R-PA), Yea        Specter (R-PA), Yea
Rhode Island:        Chafee, J. (R-RI), Yea        Reed (D-RI), Nay
South Carolina:        Hollings (D-SC), Yea        Thurmond (R-SC), Yea
South Dakota:        Daschle (D-SD), Nay        Johnson (D-SD), Nay
Tennessee:        Frist (R-TN), Yea        Thompson (R-TN), Yea
Texas:               Gramm (R-TX), Yea        Hutchison (R-TX), Yea
Utah:               Bennett (R-UT), Yea        Hatch (R-UT), Yea
Vermont:        Jeffords (R-VT), Yea        Leahy (D-VT), Nay
Virginia:        Robb (D-VA), Nay        Warner (R-VA), Yea
Washington:        Gorton (R-WA), Yea        Murray (D-WA), Nay
West Virginia:        Byrd (D-WV), Nay        Rockefeller (D-WV), Nay
Wisconsin:        Feingold (D-WI), Nay        Kohl (D-WI), Nay
Wyoming:        Enzi (R-WY), Yea        Thomas (R-WY), Yea

http://www.senate.gov/legislative/LIS/roll_call_lists/roll_call_vote_cfm.cfm?congress=106&session=1&vote=00105


I don't blame McCain supporters for wanting to lie about his record on this vote, however. It's a horrendous record to have to live with.

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: CarolC
Date: 06 Oct 08 - 01:22 AM

Here's another way to break that one down...

Grouped By Vote Position

YEAs ---54
Abraham (R-MI)
Allard (R-CO)
Ashcroft (R-MO)
Bennett (R-UT)
Bond (R-MO)
Brownback (R-KS)
Bunning (R-KY)
Burns (R-MT)
Campbell (R-CO)
Chafee, J. (R-RI)
Cochran (R-MS)
Collins (R-ME)
Coverdell (R-GA)
Craig (R-ID)
Crapo (R-ID)
DeWine (R-OH)
Domenici (R-NM)
Enzi (R-WY)
Frist (R-TN)
Gorton (R-WA)
Gramm (R-TX)
Grams (R-MN)
Grassley (R-IA)
Gregg (R-NH)
Hagel (R-NE)
Hatch (R-UT)
Helms (R-NC)
Hollings (D-SC)
Hutchinson (R-AR)
Hutchison (R-TX)
Jeffords (R-VT)
Kyl (R-AZ)
Lott (R-MS)
Lugar (R-IN)
Mack (R-FL)
McCain (R-AZ)
McConnell (R-KY)
Murkowski (R-AK)
Nickles (R-OK)
Roberts (R-KS)
Roth (R-DE)
Santorum (R-PA)
Sessions (R-AL)
Shelby (R-AL)
Smith (R-NH)
Smith (R-OR)
Snowe (R-ME)
Specter (R-PA)
Stevens (R-AK)
Thomas (R-WY)
Thompson (R-TN)
Thurmond (R-SC)
Voinovich (R-OH)
Warner (R-VA)

not that all of the yea votes except one, are from Republicans


NAYs ---44
Akaka (D-HI)
Baucus (D-MT)
Bayh (D-IN)
Biden (D-DE)
Bingaman (D-NM)
Boxer (D-CA)
Breaux (D-LA)
Bryan (D-NV)
Byrd (D-WV)
Cleland (D-GA)
Conrad (D-ND)
Daschle (D-SD)
Dodd (D-CT)
Dorgan (D-ND)
Durbin (D-IL)
Edwards (D-NC)
Feingold (D-WI)
Feinstein (D-CA)
Graham (D-FL)
Harkin (D-IA)
Inouye (D-HI)
Johnson (D-SD)
Kennedy (D-MA)
Kerrey (D-NE)
Kerry (D-MA)
Kohl (D-WI)
Landrieu (D-LA)
Lautenberg (D-NJ)
Leahy (D-VT)
Levin (D-MI)

Note that all of the nay votes are from Democrats.


Only two people did not vote, and they were both Republicans...

Present - 1
Fitzgerald (R-IL)
        
Not Voting - 1
Inhofe (R-OK)

The Republican Party almost single handedly (with the help of one Democrat) got rid of the Glass Steagall Act by creating and passing the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: CarolC
Date: 06 Oct 08 - 01:51 AM

John McCain, Crisis Enabler

In 1982, the same year John McCain entered the Senate, a bill was put forward that would substantially deregulate the savings and loan industry. The Garn-St. Germain Depository Institutions Act was an initiative of the Reagan administration, and was largely authored by lobbyists for the S&L industry--including John McCain's warm-up speaker at the Republican National Convention, Fred Thompson. The official description of the bill was "An act to revitalize the housing industry by strengthening the financial stability of home mortgage lending institutions and ensuring the availability of home mortgage loans." Considering where things stand in 2008, that's enough to make you wince. It should.

Seven years later, the S&L industry was collapsing. What was the cause? Garn-St. Germain had handed the S&Ls a greatly expanded range of capabilities, allowing them to go head to head with full service banks, but it hadn't handed them the bank's regulations. Left to operate in an anarchistic gray area, S&Ls had chased profits, indulged in amazing extravagances and cranked out enough cheap mortgages to fuel a real estate boom. They had also experimented with lots of complex, creative--and risky--investments, even though they didn't have the economic models to really determine the worth of the things they were buying. The result was a mountain of bad debts and worthless "assets." Does any of that sound eerily (or nauseatingly) familiar?

It wasn't a foregone conclusion. In 1985, three years after the deregulation of the S&Ls, the chairman of the Federal Home Loan Bank Board saw that the situation was already looking bad, with potential to get much worse. To try to head off disaster, he instituted a rule to limit the amount and types of investments S&Ls could carry on their books. However, many savings and loans--among them Lincoln Savings & Loan Association of Irvine, California, which was headed by a fellow named Charles Keating--promptly ignored these rules.

Now enters a familiar cast of characters. First to pop up was the universally beloved Fed-chief-to-be Alan Greenspan. Greenspan argued against the loan board's new rules, and persuaded Reagan to appoint one of Keating's pals to the board to blunt the requirements. A quintet of senators, among them John McCain, began having meetings with both the management at Lincoln and the regulators at the loan board. With their help, Lincoln was able to stay in business an additional two years, at the end of which they failed--taking the life savings of 21,000, mostly elderly, investors with them.

How involved was John McCain? McCain and Keating had known each other since 1981 and had become fast friends. Of all the "Keating Five," it was McCain who really moved into the life of the Lincoln S&L chief. The two men vacationed together multiple times, with the whole McCain clan (babysitter included) heading out for Keating's private Caribbean property on Keating's private jet. McCain didn't think to actually report these trips, or pay for them, until the investigators were breathing down his neck. And McCain took payment in more than just vacations. Keating and other members of Lincoln's parent company padded McCain's pockets with $112,000 in campaign contributions.

In John McCain's biography, he called his meetings with Keating and regulators "the worst mistake of my life," though from the text you'd think this was a spur-of-the-moment decision, not something that McCain did repeatedly over a space of years. Still, you might think that a "worst mistake" would stay fresh in his memory.

It certainly didn't fade quickly for the country. Following the S&L crisis, the Resolution Trust Company was formed to swallow up the debt of Lincoln and 746 other S&Ls gone wild, and taxpayers were left holding a $125 billion bag. The resulting budget deficit forced cutbacks in other programs. The artificial real estate boom collapsed, and housing starts fell to their lowest levels in decades. Finally, the whole nation settled in for a period nasty enough that three years later someone could still campaign around the idea "It's the economy, stupid."

Even so, by 1999 Phil Gramm--who had entered the Senate only a couple of years after McCain and become friends with the Keating Five maverick--put forward the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. This act passed out of the Senate on a party-line vote with 100 percent Republican support, including that of John McCain. (To be fair, the bill eventually passed again with a wide margin following revisions in the House.)

This act repealed part of the Glass-Steagall Act. This may sound like a bunch of Congressperson soup, but the gist of it is that Glass-Steagall was put in place in 1933 to control the rampant speculation that had helped cause the collapse of banking at the outset of the Depression, and to prevent such consolidation of the banks that the nation had all its eggs in one fiscal basket.

Gramm-Leach-Bliley reversed those rules, allowing not only more bank mergers but for banks to become directly involved in the stock market, bonds and insurance. Remember the bit about how S&Ls failed because they didn't have the regulations that protected banks? After Gramm-Leach-Bliley, banks didn't have that protection either.

Gramm wasn't done. The next year he was back with the Commodity Futures Modernization Act, which was slipped into a "must pass" spending bill on the last day of the 106th Congress. This act greatly expanded the scope of futures trading, created new vehicles for speculation and sheltered several investments from regulation.

As with both Gramm-Leach-Bliley and Garn-St. Germain, large parts of this bill were written by industry lobbyists. This included the "Enron loophole" that exempted energy trading from regulation, and was written by (big surprise) Enron lobbyists working with Gramm. Not coincidentally, Senator Gramm, the second-largest recipient of campaign contributions from Enron, was also key to legislating the deregulation of California's energy commodity trading.

Thanks to this fortunate trifecta of Gramm-crafted legislation, Enron was able to create "EnronOnline" and trade electricity in California with absolutely no oversight or transparency. They quickly worked out how to game the system. Previously, there had been only one Stage 3 rolling blackout in the history of California. Within months, the system had been manipulated by traders to generate thirty-eight such blackouts and wholesale electrical prices had gone up more than 3000 percent. Despite production capacity equal to four times the demand during winter, energy traders even engineered a blackout in mid-January.

During the confusion of these deliberate "shortages" and "price spikes," the California administration of Gray Davis--blind to speculator manipulations because of the walls erected by Gramm's legislation--was forced to sign energy contracts at enormous rates. There was little choice, because most of California's public utilities were on the brink of bankruptcy from the rising wholesale prices.

In a single year, the legislation allowed speculators to bring the state to its knees. Enron alone looted California of $11 billion. The manipulations of the energy market were also a major factor in Davis getting the hook, helped usher the governator into power, and they still have repercussions in California's budget battles today. By the end of that year, the depth of Enron's deception could no longer be hidden, and the whole company came crashing down in the largest bankruptcy in history--at the time. This brought more billions lost in mutual funds and pension funds across the country, and played a major role in the economic downturn of 2001.

But that was only the second act.

http://www.thenation.com/doc/20081006/sumner

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: Sawzaw
Date: 06 Oct 08 - 02:37 AM

# March 4, 1999 -- Senate Banking Committee approves the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999.

# April 28, 1999 -- Senate Banking Committee formally files the Financial Services Modernization Act in the Senate.

# May 6, 1999 -- The Senate approves S. 900, Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999.

# July 1, 1999 -- The House of Representatives approves H.R. 10.

# July 23, 1999 -- Senate Banking Committee's 20 members named to conference.

# July 30, 1999 -- House appoints members to conference.

# August 3, 1999 -- Conference committee holds first meeting.

# October 12, 1999 -- Chairmen Gramm, Leach and Bliley release chairmen's mark.

# October 22, 1999 -- Conference committee holds final meeting; names bill the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.

# November 2, 1999 -- Conference report signed by majority of conferees, clearing way for votes in House and Senate.

# November 4, 1999 -- Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act passes the Senate 90-8 and the House 362-57.

CC is referring to a vote on May 6, 1999, not the vote on November 4, 1999. It was not known as GLBA in May.

It is confusing and I could be wrong but in all the great oratory on the subject, I hear November 4, 1999 is when the final version of the bill passed.

Wiki: Nov 4, 1999: After passing both the Senate and House the bill was moved to a conference committee to work out the differences between the Senate and House versions. Democrats agreed to support the bill after Republicans agreed to strengthen provisions of the Community Reinvestment Act and address certain privacy concerns. The final bill resolving the differences was passed in the Senate 90-8-1 and in the House: 362-57-15. This 'veto proof legislation' was signed into law by President Bill Clinton on November 12, 1999

Washington Post, October 13, 1999:

"House and Senate Republicans yesterday unveiled a newly revised version of a bill to revamp banking law, but the White House said the proposed legislation inadequately protected consumers, didn't resolve other issues and would still result in a presidential veto. 'The administration is disappointed,' Treasury Secretary Lawrence H. Summers said of the bill and of the Republicans' decision to work on it behind closed doors without the help of Democrats."

Democrats only acceded to the newly veto-proof bill after Republicans agreed to strengthen provisions of the Community Reinvestment Act and correct privacy concerns the original version failed to address.

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: CarolC
Date: 06 Oct 08 - 03:55 AM

It is correct to say that John McCain voted for the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, because he did vote for it. On May 6, 1999.

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: CarolC
Date: 06 Oct 08 - 03:56 AM

Or rather, he voted for the original version of the bill that became known as the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act.

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: CarolC
Date: 06 Oct 08 - 03:58 AM

So this statement, "McCain voted for the bill that deregulated Wall St", is entirely correct.

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: Riginslinger
Date: 06 Oct 08 - 07:02 AM

Yeah, and McCain was doing pretty good until the economy blew a fuse. One has to wonder if George Soros is behind this too.

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: Sawzaw
Date: 06 Oct 08 - 09:44 AM

#1. It was not Known as GLBA May 6th.

#2. It is correct to say only 7 Democrats voted against GLBA.

#3. If the second and final vote does not mean anything, Why even vote for it? And if you were against it, why vote for it the second time?

#4 Democrats wanted some CRA extras added and then they voted for it after they voted against it.


Who's baby is CRA?

The CRA was passed by the 95th United States Congress and signed into law by President Jimmy Carter in 1977 as a result of national pressure to address the deteriorating conditions of American cities.

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: GUEST,bigrickpa
Date: 06 Oct 08 - 09:57 AM

in 329 posts sofar, i've only seen 1 mention of what is coming due.these derivitives that the fatcats on wall st. manufactured to sell these mortgage-backed "investment vehicles" could only be sold with a "crs", a credit relief swap. a crs is a clause in the sales agreements that was supposed to provide some protection for these investors, like an insurance policy. why was it called a swap, instead of a insurance policy? because if it were called insurance, it would have been regulated. but if called a swap, it's unregulated.so they got insurers like aig into these "investment vehicles". only problem was,because of no regulation, nobody forced the insurers to form a pool of capital to cover this, in case of a loss.now as these things were sold back and forth, with each seller taking a profit, the lack of protection only gauranteed that the true cost would escalate, until nobody in their right fiscal mind would lend them the money to cover the losses.the bill is now coming due, to the tune of about 40 TRILLION dollars.
now, what exactly is a derivitive?it is a scheme developed by these fatcats to market bundles of subprime mortgages that were developed by not accountants or economists, but PHYSICISTS AND MATHEMETICIANS! these agreements are hundreds of pages long, and so arcane that virtualy nobody can understand them. but they had crs' in them, so there was protection built in, right? WRONG! with no regulation, the protection that the investors thought they had was not worth the paper they were written on.
still think that deregulation is the answer? if these numbers are correct, 700 billion is a drop in the bucket compared to the real bill coming!
i'm reminded of a saying a salesman friend once told me, "if you can't dassle em' with brilliance, baffle em' with bullshit"

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: Stringsinger
Date: 06 Oct 08 - 10:41 AM

Thom Hartmann's solution: 1/2% tax on investments of all kinds including investors and sellers.

What we have now is Wall Street robbery. And 150 bill on top for pork.

We've been had.

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: Q (Frank Staplin)
Date: 06 Oct 08 - 01:45 PM

It is now becoming apparent that a world-wide recession cannot be avoided. All markets continue to sink. The U. S. package is too little, too late, to help.

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: Donuel
Date: 06 Oct 08 - 01:58 PM

Apple stock is at 89 dollars down from 201 this summer.

I do not see it ever going below 80

IF you have 1000 bucks to bet that Macintosh computers are here to stay, it would be a wise stock to buy and hold.

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: CarolC
Date: 06 Oct 08 - 02:30 PM

The article I quoted didn't call it the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act. The article I quoted only said that "McCain voted for the bill that deregulated Wall St". Which a poster is trying to say is incorrect by saying it wasn't called the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act on May 6th.

The article I posted is entirely correct when it says that McCain voted for the bill that deregulated Wall Street. Because he did.

McCain was and is a de-regulator, first and foremost, and as such, he helped to create the financial crisis that we face today. And if he tries to say he was/isn't, he's lying.

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: Bobert
Date: 06 Oct 08 - 03:14 PM

Well, Carol, McCain was boasted of being a deregulator... Well, at least until perhaps recently when being a deregulator isn't in favor... But seems that McCain ain't talking too straight these days as he is willing to say purdy much whatever might get him back in the race... But maybe that's why he isn't back in the race???

B~

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: Riginslinger
Date: 06 Oct 08 - 07:13 PM

And that's why he was so erratic last week, he wasn't being regulated.

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: akenaton
Date: 07 Oct 08 - 03:05 AM

Well, a couple of days ago I said the bailout might work for a month or a year....Seems I was being optimistic.

The markets continue to fall.   How do we inspire confidence into the banking system?
Do they deserve to survive? Would we really be worse off if they were allowed to fail and the fat cats punished.

Or was it all a desperate attempt to salvage some "political capital" from the chaos.....Ake

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: meself
Date: 07 Oct 08 - 09:24 AM

Remember, though, that the bailout has not yet taken effect - in other words, the financial institutions have not yet been handed the taxpayers' hard-earned money (um - exactly where is this money at the moment? under a mattress in the White House?). On the other hand, they have been 'promised' the money, and you'd think that would make a difference. And maybe it has ... or maybe not ...

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: Sawzaw
Date: 07 Oct 08 - 11:32 AM

McCain did not vote for GLBA. He was not in town.

Only 7 Democrats voted against it. I thank them for that. Give them a medal. Put them in charge.

Schumer, Dodd, Kerry, Reid, Biden and Pelosi voted for it.

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: CarolC
Date: 07 Oct 08 - 11:56 AM

John McCain voted for S.900, which was also named the Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act, and...

-- Financial Services Modernization bill
-- ATM Fee Reform Act of 1999
-- Federal Home Loan Bank System Modernization Act of 1999
-- Prime Act
-- Program for Investment in Microentrepreneurs Act of 1999

The bill was passed in the Senate on May 6, 1999 (McCain voted for it on May 6, 1999). Question: On Passage of the Bill (S.900 as amended)

It passed in the House on July 20, 1999.

The differences were resolved on November 4, 1999 (that's when the vote on the Committee Report was taken, and this is the vote McCain was not present for. This was not the vote on the bill or on the merits of the bill in the Senate - that had already occurred - it was only a vote on the language of the bill.

http://www.govtrack.us/congress/bill.xpd?bill=s106-900

The Democrats (except one) did not vote for the bill itself. They only voted to accept the language of the bill. The bill would have become law even if they had not done that. All of the Democrats but one voted against the bill itself. That vote took place on May 6, 1999.

McCain voted for the bill on May 6, 1999. He voted on the merits of the bill on that day, and he voted to pass the bill on that day. The only vote he did not make was on the language of the bill - how the bill would be worded.

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: CarolC
Date: 07 Oct 08 - 11:57 AM

But I can surely understand why McCain and his supporters would want to run away from his record in the Senate. It's a shameful record.

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: akenaton
Date: 07 Oct 08 - 01:19 PM

Latest news ....Federal Reserve is by-passing the American banking system and buying-in to top American companies with your dollars.

Better get the revolution started quick comrades, or "you'll be sure be left behind, when we're sailing through the air"

Is Mr Obama another "Che".....I think not, I'll follow the lady with the gun.....Ake

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: irishenglish
Date: 07 Oct 08 - 02:41 PM

Well, a couple of days ago I said the bailout might work for a month or a year....Seems I was being optimistic.

The markets continue to fall.   How do we inspire confidence into the banking system?
Do they deserve to survive? Would we really be worse off if they were allowed to fail and the fat cats punished.

Or was it all a desperate attempt to salvage some "political capital" from the chaos.....Ake


Neither here nor there, but I believe most people realized that it was going to get worse before it got better, and things would still look dire. I think thats whats going on here now.

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: Riginslinger
Date: 07 Oct 08 - 06:07 PM

At least the illegal immigrants are leaving!

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: Bobert
Date: 07 Oct 08 - 06:44 PM

Carol,

Yes, NMcCain's record in the Senate is shamefull... Perhaps that's why he's all but quit voting on anything...

B~

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: CarolC
Date: 07 Oct 08 - 06:55 PM

The lady with the gun is another Che?


( ...no, she's just hot)

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: Sawzaw
Date: 08 Oct 08 - 12:54 PM

S900 was not named GLBA May 6 1999. McCain did not vote for GLBA. He voted for S900. I suppose you could say that he voted for a bill that turned into GLBA.

If the bill would have passed on Nov 4, even if everybody voted against it, why did Dems change their vote form Nay to Yea? Why didn't they vote against it again? Why even go through the motions of a vote when I would pas regardless of the vote?

It says "Differences Resolved Nov 4, 1999" I assume that means the Democrats agreed to the contents of the bill and passed it Nov 4.

Do you want to cherry pick the votes so you can say Dems actually voted against the bill before they voted for it?

November 4, 1999 -- Gramm-Leach-Bliley Act passes the Senate 90-8 and the House 362-57

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: Sawzaw
Date: 08 Oct 08 - 01:20 PM

NYT Oct 10 1999

..."Senator Christopher J. Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat, said: "The bill has strong support, but we are down to one, or two, people who are standing in the way of the first real successful effort to modernize our banking system in 20 years. It's frustrating."...


Hmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm.

How could anybody be standing in the way of a bill that would pass anyway?


And why was the Blame Gamer Dodd, in favor of the bill?

Subject: RE: BS: The Bailout
From: Sawzaw
Date: 08 Oct 08 - 01:28 PM

Doddgate:

Christopher Dodd took control of the Senate Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs Committee in January 2007....

....Dodd pledged to conduct oversight of the Federal Reserve and an alphabet soup of agencies - FDIC, OCC, HUD, OTS, SEC, NCUA, FHFB and OFHEO - that are supposed to ensure that financial institutions and markets operate in a safe, transparent and efficient manner....

.....Since 1989, Dodd has raised $43 million for his federal campaigns, including $13.2 million from the financial services sector, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.

Among his top contributors have been executives of Wall Street giants now in trouble: Bear Stearns, $351,950; American International Group, $281,438; Goldman Sachs, $264,116; Morgan Stanley, $209,725; JP Morgan Chase, $180,173; and Lehman Brothers, $160,400, according to the center.

Dodd also has been criticized for receiving special treatment from Countrywide Financial Corp. when he refinanced mortgages in 2003. The company, one of the nation's largest subprime lenders, included Dodd in a VIP program it aimed at currying favor with congressional leaders by providing cut-rate loans, waiving fees and erasing points.....