The Great
Swindle |
The 1960's is known as the era
of the Great Society. The Great Society was a massive
program of social engineering and redistribution of wealth
proudly brought to us by the Democrats. The 1990's will
become known as the era of the Great Swindle. I'd like to
say that Great Swindle was brought to us by a single party
because then we could throw out the scoundrels, dismantle
the programs and carry on life in the American tradition.
But I can't. The Great Swindle was a
collective
effort by both parties and now we are being asked to bail
out the financiers and the central planners of the swindle.
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The name of the con game for
the Great Swindle is 'globalization'. As with
all con games, greed is what blinds the mark from seeing the
con. The set up for the con was a Hollywood vision of
the 'New Economy in the 21st Century'. What a
marvelous vision it was:
- A new economy
where people don't go their jobs - they become
entrepreneurs and their jobs come to them - via
the Internet. All one needed to do was to
join a supply chain and to sell or provide
services to the billions of buyers that would
become accessible via the Internet.
- Because the
economy was to be net-centric with people working
out of their homes, we didn't need energy as we
did for that dirty, old industrial economy.
We could become self-sufficient in energy
production with windmills and solar panels - all
so very clean and 21st century. Remember the
Jetson's? In this 21st
century vision, we could even have a doctor's
visit via the Internet.
- And there would
be no need for money - we could just walk into
stores and walk out with what we want because the
chips in our arms and on the goods could
automatically record the purchases and debit our
virtual bank account. No need to
handle that dirty money - it's all so clean.
- The new 21st
century net-centric economy meant redesigning
cities. The idea for cities was to create
"communities" - small town environments with
neighbor helping neighbor; sharing and caring.
The social engineers figured that life for a
net-worker would be a lonely life so they planned
communities to have a social aspect to them.
- The new 21st
century net-centric economy also meant redesigning
transportation systems to deliver the goods that
originate from all over the world - right to the
doorstep of the community. Transportation
hubs accommodating all modes of transportation
were designed to speed those goods to market.
The basis for the 21st
century delusion of the New Economy was that multinational
corporations could become emissaries for U.S. foreign policy
and that business - money - could be the guiding light for
world peace. It's laughable but that's what brought us
to this critical juncture. And this plan was
formulated by the allegedly best and brightest minds in
America - and now they are asking us to turn over a $700
billion blank check to one of their leaders - Henry Paulson,
former chairman of Goldman Sachs. They need the
$700 billion to keep the con going because there is still a
sizable middle class in America that has yet to be fleeced.
The $700
Billion Takeover
First of all, we don't have
$700 billion. It's just more red ink added to the sea
of red ink on the U.S. ledgers so what we should really be
looking at is the power that would be given over to the
Secretary of the Treasury - no matter who that person might
be. As you'll see below, the
sub-prime mortgage problem was engineered.
People who lend money for a living don't just all of a
sudden get stupid about loaning it. Do you loan
money to your bum brother-in-law who hasn't held an honest
job in his entire life? No. And neither do
bankers.
A year ago at Georgetown
University - the center cell of Communitarianism - which is
newspeak for Communism,
Treasury Secretary Paulson participated in a conference
with the financial movers and shakers regarding U.S.
competitiveness in the global economy. The focus of
the conference was to talk about a
speech that Secretary Paulson had given to the New York
Economic Club months earlier. Notice how he speaks
in glowing terms about the U.S. financial markets - and it's
not as if he didn't know what was going on with the
derivatives, hedge funds and sub prime mortgages.
After all, he was the CEO of Goldman Sachs.
It's important to look at
this speech because this is the real thinking and objectives
behind the $700 billion bailout scam.
[Paulson -
November 20, 2006] We are experiencing sustained
growth and low unemployment. The economy has added
more than 6.8 million new jobs since August 2003.
Productivity, an indicator of future growth, has
grown at an annual rate of 3 percent since the
first quarter of 2001. And, very importantly, this
productivity is now translating into higher wages,
so more Americans are sharing in our economic
success. The U.S. economy is the envy of the
world, and we must keep it that way.
Capital markets
are the lifeblood of our economy. They connect
those who need capital with those who invest or
lend capital. They play a vital role in helping
entrepreneurs implement new ideas and businesses
expand operations, creating new jobs. They give
our citizens the confidence to invest, earn higher
returns on their savings, and reduce the cost of
borrowing for student loans, mortgages, and
consumer credit.
The Treasury
Department plans to host a Conference on Capital
Markets and Economic Competitiveness early next
year. We will invite participants with a wide
range of perspectives, particularly the investor
perspective. The Conference will cover the three
primary areas I have discussed today – our
regulatory
structure, our accounting system, and our legal
system – all of which impact our capital
markets and are critical to the overall economic
competitiveness of our nation. Our objective will
be to stimulate bipartisan discussion and to lay
the groundwork for a long-term strategic
examination of these issues."
Then Paulson discusses the
regulatory structure, accounting and legal system.
It's in this discussion that you can know what Paulson is
really proposing in this sham bailout.
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Foreign Market Development
First, let me say
unequivocally, the development of competitive capital
markets overseas is a positive. Efficient capital markets
lower the cost of capital, creating more growth, more jobs,
and higher living standards. And economic growth abroad
creates markets for our products and jobs here at home.
In three weeks, I will
travel to Beijing for the first session of our recently
initiated Strategic Economic Dialogue with China. We will
encourage China to open up their financial markets to
competition in order to accelerate the development of those
markets and support sustainable economic growth – growth
that will bring benefits to both our nations.
A number of foreign markets
have developed excellent standards and protocols. In some
parts of the world, particularly Europe, public companies
adhere to the International Financial Reporting Standards –
an accounting system that differs from ours.
One important feature of the
IFRS accounting system is that it is principles-based,
rather than rules-based. By "principles-based," I mean that
the system is organized around a relatively small number of
ideas or concepts that provide a framework for thinking
about specific issues. The advantage of a principles-based
system is that it is flexible and sensible in dealing with
new or special situations. A rules-based system typically
gives more specific guidance than a principles-based system,
but it can be too rigid and may lead to a "tick-the-box"
approach. I will be talking about the difference between
principles-based and rules-based systems in a number of
contexts today.
International companies that
list in the United States must reconcile their IFRS
statements with U.S. Generally Accepted Accounting
Principles, or GAAP. We should recognize that the time and
cost that go into reconciling and restating IFRS statements
may not be a worthwhile expense for a foreign company
considering the U.S. market. Because of progress being made
in converging accounting standards, the U.S. and EU have
developed a "roadmap," with the goal of allowing listings in
the U.S. market on the basis of statements prepared using
IFRS, and likewise continuing to permit listings in the EU
on the basis of statements prepared according to GAAP. These
efforts are encouraging.
A number of foreign
exchanges have also aggressively embraced technology and
developed innovative business models that increase
efficiencies and reduce costs to investors in their markets.
These competitive forces have spurred responses in our
country. In the most recent example, the Chicago Mercantile
Exchange and Chicago Board of Trade announced plans to merge
and offer investors a broader range of exchange-traded
derivatives, with the goal of creating efficiencies in
technology and operations.
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Legal Burden
Let's begin with one challenge
that will take a concerted effort over the long term to
correct – the need for reform of our legal system. My own
32-year experience in the private sector – working in the
capital markets with U.S. and foreign companies alike – has
convinced me that legal reform is crucial to the long-term
competitiveness of our economy.
A sophisticated legal
structure – with property rights, contract law, mechanisms
to resolve disputes, and a system for compensating injured
parties – is necessary to protect investors, businesses, and
consumers. But our legal system has gone beyond protection.
In 2004, U.S. tort costs reached a record quarter-trillion
dollars, which is approximately 2.2 percent of our GDP. This
is twice the relative cost in Germany and Japan, and three
times the level in the UK. The consulting firm Towers-Perrin
found that the tort system is highly inefficient, with only
42 cents of every tort dollar going to compensate injured
plaintiffs. The balance goes to administration, attorney's
fees, and defense costs. Inefficient tort costs are
effectively a tax paid by shareholders, employees, and
consumers. Simply put, the broken tort system is an Achilles
heel for our economy. This is not a political issue, it is a
competitiveness issue and it must be addressed in a
bipartisan fashion.
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Regulatory Structure
Another issue to consider in
assessing the competitiveness of our financial markets is
regulation. Over the course of our nation's history, we have
added multiple regulators to respond to the issues of the
day. Our regulatory system has adapted to the changing
market by expanding, but perhaps not always by focusing on
the broader objective of regulatory efficiency.
For example, while the
business of banking has converged over time, we still have
four separate banking regulators. We have a similar dynamic
with the securities and commodities markets, and their
related self-regulatory structures. Each of these
organizations has different statutory responsibilities and a
number have different regulatory philosophies. We also have
a dual federal-state regulatory system in the banking and
securities markets – and the degree of federal preemption
over state law in these areas varies greatly. Another large
and important part of our financial sector, insurance, is
regulated solely at the state level.
A consequence of our
regulatory structure is an ever-expanding rulebook in which
multiple regulators impose rule upon rule upon rule. Unless
we carefully consider the cost/benefit tradeoff implicit in
these rules, there is a danger of creating a thicket of
regulation that impedes competitiveness.
Our rules-based regulatory
system is prescriptive, and leads to a greater focus on
compliance with specific rules. We should move toward a
structure that gives regulators more flexibility to work
with entities on compliance within the spirit of regulatory
principles.
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What Paulson is really seeking
with this sham bailout is the power to move regulation of
the U.S. financial markets to the international system -
giving up sovereignty over the regulation of our financial
markets. He is asking for
the power to manage our economy during the transition.
If you read the
draft legislation carefully, you'll see that this is an
open ended deal and the limitations on spending easily
circumvented. The issue of CEO pay is a straw man for
the media to harp on. The interesting thing about this $700 billion bailout is
that it is the Democrats who are in panic mode - not
Republicans. Is it that they care so much more about
the American people than the Republicans? I don't
think so. After all, they supported the
2005 Bankruptcy Reform bill that made it more difficult
for people to file for bankruptcy - even for debt incurred
due to medical bills.
Yesterday, information began surfacing about the Community
Reinvestment Act and how that legislation - along with
changes in law made during the Clinton Administration might
have something to do with the alleged banking crisis. |
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Administrative Sabotage |
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Office of the
Comptroller of the Currency
The Office of the
Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) charters,
regulates, and supervises all national banks. It
also supervises the federal branches and agencies
of foreign banks. Headquartered in Washington,
D.C., the OCC has four district offices plus an
office in London to supervise the international
activities of national banks.
The OCC was
established in 1863 as a bureau of the U.S.
Department of the Treasury. The OCC is headed by
the
Comptroller , who is appointed by the
President, with the advice and consent of the
Senate, for a five-year term. The Comptroller also
serves as a director of the Federal Deposit
Insurance Corporation (FDIC) and a director of the
Neighborhood Reinvestment Corporation.
The OCC's
nationwide staff of examiners conducts on-site
reviews of national banks and provides sustained
supervision of bank operations. The agency issues
rules, legal interpretations, and corporate
decisions concerning banking, bank investments,
bank community development activities, and other
aspects of bank operations.
National bank
examiners supervise domestic and international
activities of national banks and perform corporate
analyses. Examiners analyze a bank's loan and
investment portfolios, funds management, capital,
earnings, liquidity, sensitivity to market risk,
and compliance with consumer banking laws,
including the Community Reinvestment Act. They
review the bank's internal controls, internal and
external audit, and compliance with law. They also
evaluate bank management's ability to identify and
control risk.
History
In 1861, Secretary
of the Treasury Salmon P. Chase recommended the
establishment of a system of federally chartered
national banks, each of which would have the power
to issue standardized national bank notes based on
United States bonds held by the bank. In the
National Currency Act of 1863, the administration
of the new national banking system was vested in
the newly created OCC and its chief administrator,
the Comptroller of the Currency.
The law was
completely rewritten and re-enacted as the
National Bank Act. That act authorized the
Comptroller of the Currency to hire a staff of
national bank examiners to supervise and
periodically examine national banks. The act also
gave the Comptroller authority to regulate lending
and investment activities of national banks.
One of the reasons
Congress created a banking system that issued
national currency was to finance the Civil War.
Although national banks no longer issue currency,
they continue to play a prominent role in the
nation's economic life. The OCC regulates and
supervises about 1,700 national banks and about 50
federal branches of foreign banks in the U.S.,
accounting for nearly two-thirds of the total
assets of all U.S. commercial banks (as of June
30, 2008).
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The mission of the Office of
the Comptroller of the Currency is to "ensure the safety and
soundness of the National Banking System".
Now meet Eugene Ludwig,
Comptroller of the Currency from 1993 to 1998.
Eugene Ludwig |
Eugene Ludwig was appointed to
the position of Comptroller of the Currency in 1993 by
William Clinton.
"...following Clinton's
1992 election, the president-elect invited Ludwig, an old
friend and banking industry specialist at Washington's
Convington and Burling, to guide the banking policy
components of the presidential transition team. (The pair's
relationship stretched back to their days as Rhodes Scholars
at Oxford and as classmates in Yale Law School's class of
1973.) From there, it was a short step to the OCC."
The following are excerpts
from articles written about the OCC and Eugene Ludwig: |
Comptroller of the Currency
1993-1998 |
Note: Emphasis added
Haverford Alumni Profile:
"How Eugene
Ludwig turned an obscure Treasury bureau into a
bully-pulpit for banking reform."
As comptroller,
Ludwig served as the chief federal supervisor and
regulator for the country's 3000 national
banks....The goal (per the OCC's stated mission):
to ensure the "safety and soundness of the
national banking system" by reigning in and
disciplining wayward banks whose policies might
expose them to the risk of failure.
Although Ludwig's
lack of experience in policy circles only
increased the scrutiny directed at the OCC, the
new comptroller didn't let the pressure intimidate
him. To the contrary, he returned to the source of
his authority - the National Banking Act - and
sketched out an aggressive plan to reassert the
office's chartered powers in the name of seismic
industry transformation. "For a variety of
different reasons, partly timidity, comptrollers
had not used their authority to allow the banking
system to develop fully," Ludwig explains. "It
was clear to me that I had the power to make these
changes. We didn't need legislation. It was
also clear to me that it would create a political
ruckus."
Ludwig's
ruckus-raising changes included not only a
successful 11-point program to address the credit
crunch, but the dramatic liberalization of laws
limiting banks to basic loan and deposit activity
- an effort intended to stem the steady defection
of top corporate customers to competitors with
direct access to bond and equity markets. "We
could Band-Aid the [credit] problem," Ludwig
explains, "but people failed to realized it was
a systemic problem, and what we needed was a
paradigm shift." With the president's mandate, the
OCC moved to allow banks to begin offering
products and fee-based services in insurance and
securities historically (thanks to 1934's Glass-Steagall
Act) beyond their purview. He also simplified the
OCC's bulky regulatory apparatus by "rewriting
every rule in the book," and improved banking
safety and soundness by implementing
computer-based risk-prediction models and a system
of "risk-based supervision" which focuses
attention on volatile investments like
derivatives. Ludwig proudly points out that in his
final two-and-a-half years, not a single national
bank failed.
Ludwig remains
proudest, however, of his efforts to compel bank
compliance with fair-lending laws and his
revitalization of the Community Reinvestment act (CRA),
a 1977 law requiring banks to invest in poorer
neighborhoods and improve lending and service to
low- and moderate-income borrowers. Although
branded an "activist" for his vigorous support of
the act - he enlisted the attorney general and
secretary of Housing and Urban Development to help
enforce it - he points to the cold, hard facts to
justify his tactics. After just one Justice
Department referral in the OCC's previous 129
years, Ludwig's tenure witnessed 27 fair-lending
cases, resulting in tens of millions of dollars in
fines against violators. Lending to low and
moderate income Americans increased tenfold, as
did national bank investments in community
development corporations. "The national banking
system as a whole," he asserts, "did more to help
low and moderate income Americans, and
particularly Americans of color, than at any time
in the history of the republic by far. The record
speaks for itself, and I'm proud of it."
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Note: Emphasis added
1993 - Press Briefing
By Lloyd Bentsen, Secretary of the
Treasury, Robert Rubin, Assistant to the President for
Economic Policy, and Eugene Ludwig, Comptroller of the
Currency
[Rubin] The
President, as you know, has a broad, comprehensive
strategy for dealing with the economic problems of
the country for putting the country back on the
right track for the long-term. A lot of the
legislative and executive actions that have taken
place in 1993 have been pursuant to that long-term
economic strategy of the President's.
An important
component of that strategy is to deal with the
problems of the inner city and distressed rural
communities -- pursuant to his belief that we must
make real progress in those areas if this country
is going to be successful in the future for all of
us. The reform of the Community Reinvestment Act
is an essential building block in the efforts I've
just mentioned.
In July the
President asked the four banking regulators to
reform CRA, to reduce paperwork in process and
reward performance, and to get that done by
January 1, 1994. We're delighted to report that
that has been accomplished on schedule. And in
conjunction with the President's Community
Development Bank and financial institution
legislation, which recently passed the House of
Representatives, CRA reform will generate billions
of dollars in new lending and extend basic banking
services to the inner cities and to distressed
rural communities around the country.
Before I turn
this over to Secretary Bentsen who, as always, did
an extraordinary job in marshalling the resources
of the Treasury to deal with this priority of the
President's, I would like to thank Chairman
Greenspan and Governor Lindsay, of the Fed, Andrew
Hove, of the FDIC, and Jonathan Fiechter of the
OTS for their substantial contributions to this
process. We would also like to give special thanks
to Comptroller Gene Ludwig in his efforts to make
CRA reform a reality.
[Bentsen] The
only thing that ought to matter on a loan
application is whether or not you can pay it back,
not where you live. There are businesses out there
that are safe bets for loans. Those businesses are
critical to creating jobs and sustaining the
growth we're beginning to see. You see the big
headlines when IBM or General Motors cuts out
5,000, 10,000 people; but what you're not seeing
is the accretion, the outsourcing, the types
of things taking place for small business that
don't add up in themselves to large numbers, but
in the total have seen an amazing change in the
increase of jobs in this country.
[Ludwig] During
the presidential campaign last year, then Governor
Clinton, responding to the complaints of bankers
and community leaders, vowed to reform CRA; to
make the law work by emphasizing performance over
paperwork. Following up on his campaign pledge
the President, last July, challenged the federal
banking regulators to breathe new life and new
purpose into the law. He told us to rethink the
entire system of regulation through which we put
the CRA into effect and to make the law work.
The proposed
reform package we are unveiling today follows the
President's directive and fulfills the promise of
the law. It will channel billions of dollars a
year in new credit into America's distressed
communities, while at the same time reducing
unnecessary burdens on banks.
By replacing
paperwork requirements with performance tests,
this package would stimulate bank lending,
investment and service in low and moderate income
communities. This proposal is not about formulas.
Community groups and bankers both emphasized the
need for flexibility. So this proposal recognizes
the diversity of banks and the markets they serve.
It reduces the examination burden, particularly on
small banks without reducing their obligation to
serve their communities; and it recognizes that
regular public participation is critical if we are
to achieve the goals of the law.
The 12 current
CRA assessment factors would be replaced with
three tests -- a lending test, a service test and
an investment test. And I have right behind me
the 12 current assessment factors which are highly
subjective and really don't focus on the target of
what we're talking about here which is getting
loans and services and investments out to our
communities. And the simple three tests we will
have under the new reform: a lending test, a
service test, an investment test. Are you making
loans? Are you providing services? Are you making
investments? It's really, in the end, just that
simple.
Did you catch
that?
You see the big
headlines when IBM or General Motors cuts out
5,000, 10,000 people; but what you're not seeing
is the accretion, the outsourcing, the types
of things taking place for small business that
don't add up in themselves to large numbers, but
in the total have seen an amazing change in the
increase of jobs in this country.
They were promoting the
idea that all those people who lost their jobs went into
business for themselves picking up business from
corporations that were outsourcing functions.
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1993 - Community Reinvestment Act - Background Briefing
SENIOR
ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: Thanks. I'll be real
brief here, and we get right on to questions.
Basically, as you
know, we've got two initiatives announced today.
They both fit into one another, and they both fit
into as parts of the President's overall economic
program. Clearly, the community development banks
are intended to be genuine investments. The whole
program is designed to foster the growth of
institutions that will continue on into the
future. This is not just a one-time
expenditure, but rather to help develop existing
institutions further and promote new institutions
that continue on indefinitely to support their
communities.
It's designed
to have maximum leverage at the private sector so
that ultimately the amount of funds that are put
up by the federal government can be multiplied
substantially in terms of the total amount of
credit delivered to the distressed communities.
It's targeted particularly for the distressed
communities. And it's intended to help build the
communities themselves, the businesses in those
communities that can then provide jobs, housing in
those communities that can then make them more
revitalized. This is both inner city and rural,
Indian reservation -- it's got a broad potential
application. And as the President mentioned, it's
a number of different kinds of financial
institutions, not just banks.
Again, this fits
in with the overall program of the President. It's
very important that we get this total economic
program, the total budget passed in order for this
to fit in as a piece of it. The Community
Reinvestment Act is oriented, as the President
said, just simply to get performance -- objective
measures of how banks are doing in terms of
actually delivering credit to the communities in
which they operate, particularly credit; other
services, too.
And one of the
factors which will be taken into consideration in
measuring the performance of banks is the degree
to which they support, by investment or otherwise,
the community development banks that are going to
be developed as part of the other program. So
again, the pieces fit together.
...
Q Do you have a
rough estimate of how many new community
development institutions this will create as
opposed to helping existing institutions?
SENIOR
ADMINISTRATION OFFICIAL: We don't have a
particular bias one way or the other about new or
existing institutions. We don't have a -- the
question was do we know how many new institutions
are going to be created. There's no initial bias
one way or the other. If we have an institution --
we're open to applications. The fund is
intended to be open to applications from existing
entities which are maybe community development
banks, maybe community development credit unions,
micro-lenders, community development corporations
that may be already operating successfully and
need more capital in order to expand. If they
have a good track record and a good program to
present to the board of this fund, they will be
eligible for funds that can help them expand. If
somebody else comes in with a new idea, they want
to form a new institution of any one of these
forms in a distressed community and they file an
application, they will get equal treatment.
There's no particular bias one way or the other.
This does not
have a specific homeless initiative in it.
However, CD banks are designed to work in
tandem with empowerment zones which bring in a
comprehensive redevelopment strategy. They bring
tax incentives to attract a business. This is --
CD banks would be yet an additional access to
capital strategy in the midst of a comprehensive
redevelopment plan that has housing together with
economic development, together with
infrastructure.
So when you put
it all together you will be taking care of, at
least addressing, the multifaceted needs of the
community.
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1996 New York Times - "Modernizing a Bank Law"
The chief
regulator of about one-third of the nation's banks
announced this week that he would allow the banks
under his control, on a case-by-case basis, to
more easily enter securities and insurance
markets. Eugene Ludwig, Comptroller of the
Currency, has thereby outflanked an antiquated law
passed during the financial turmoil of the
Depression that serves no modern purpose.
Consumers will
reap the benefit of added competition in the
market for insurance and investment products.
Taxpayers should also applaud. By permitting banks
to diversify investments out of local real estate,
Mr. Ludwig has made it all the more unlikely that
a regional downturn will trigger big bank failures
like those that struck the savings and loan
industry in the 1980's, forcing taxpayers to put
up hundreds of billions to bail out depositors.
The outmoded
Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 separated the
securities and banking industries. At the
time, some in Congress presumed that the wave of
bank failures at the dawn of the Depression had
been triggered in part by speculative investments
that banks made in stocks and other securities. As
Prof. George Benston of Emory University has
convincingly shown, the presumption was wrong. Few
banks that owned stocks failed. But myths die
hard, and besides, after 60 years, the securities
and insurance industries have built up a huge
interest in preserving Glass-Steagall.
Mr. Ludwig
has exploited a statutory loophole to approve the
new banking activities. That is not an
ideal way to correct the nation's banking laws.
But he has proceeded with exemplary caution.
Banks would be required to set up separately
funded subsidiaries, providing solid protection
against a financially plagued subsidiary going
after the parent bank's insured deposits.
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1999 - Vice President Al Gore - Announcement of Partnership
to Build One Million Homes
We are truly living
in a golden age of homeownership in America. Six
years ago, if you had said that America today
would have the highest homeownership rate in
history, the highest six-year rise in
homeownership in history, the highest level of
Hispanic and African-American homeownership in
history, and the highest rate of new
construction jobs since Harry Truman was in
the White House -- most people wouldn't have
believed you. But then, there aren't many people
who believed that we could take the highest budget
deficit in history and turn it into the highest
budget surplus in history, either.
Together, we knew:
that fiscal discipline was the surest path to
increased homeownership. Today, I am proud to say
that with your help, five days ago, the Clinton
Gore Administration submitted another balanced
budget --
to help keep interest rates low and housing
starts high, well into the 21st Century.
And there is
nowhere where that progress is being felt more
than America's cities. As a nation, we not only
have the highest budget surplus ever -- we now
officially have the longest peacetime economic
expansion in American history.
Through
initiatives like Empowerment Zones and Community
Development banks, we are working to get start-up
capital into the hands of small businesses that
need it most -- and we are especially proud of the
fact that of the more than $1 trillion in private
sector financial commitments that have been made
to distressed communities under the Community
Reinvestment Act -- more than 95 percent has been
made since 1992.
Through our
community policing initiative, we are well on our
way to putting 100,000 new police on our streets
-- which has helped produce the largest drop in
violent crime in more than two decades. Last
year, we made our first down payment on 100,000
new teachers for America's schools -- and as
part of this year's budget, we are asking Congress
to finish the job, and work with us to rebuild
and modernize 5,000 schools. We are making new
efforts to move people from welfare to work, and
we have even proposed new funding to help
America's cities build more parks and green spaces
where parents can play with their children in
safety.
Together, we have
built a strong foundation for growth in America's
cities, and set the stage for a whole new
generation of homeowners. Today, I am proud to
announce that we are building on that foundation,
and taking the housing partnership that has
brought America so much success one step further.
Today, I am proud to announce that the National
Association of Homebuilders and the U.S.
Conference of Mayors are coming together with the
Department of Housing and Urban Development to
commit themselves to the goal of building one
million new homes in America's central cities over
the next ten years. That's on top of the 250,000
new homes that are already being built in
America's central cities each year.
As part of this
agreement, NAHB will work with its more than
800 state and local home builder associations to
encourage them to work with communities to build
homes in our inner cities; the Conference of
Mayors will encourage its members to work with HUD
and NAHB to identify and remove barriers to the
private sector for new home production; and HUD
will provide community builders to assist mayors
and homebuilders in bringing agencies together and
identifying new federal resources.
I am also proud to
announce that this partnership is also working
together to create a new "Council on Building
Homes in America's Cities." This Council will
be based at the U.S. Conference of Mayors and will
develop a detailed plan for achieving the goal of
a million homes over the next ten years.
By now, the pattern should
be obvious to just about everybody. It's a simple
formula:
Deregulate :
Woe is me... terrible problems :
Re-Regulate under the international system controlled by the
European Comintern.
We have been victimized by
a Great Swindle but we don't have to allow them to continue
it. It can stop here and now by stopping the fraud of
this $700 billion bailout (takeover).
There was never a 'New
Economy'. It was a fiction - a beautiful dream that
has become our nightmare. There were no surpluses
during the Clinton-Gore era. There were only loss
leader contracts. The hard core unemployed
that were taken off the welfare rolls were given make-work
jobs on the public dole in what is essentially privatized
welfare. The government is still paying them through
grants to the non-governmental organizations. The NGO's then use those people as "success stories" for welfare
reform and also as insurgents masquerading as members of
public interest groups.
The flood of funding into
depressed areas under the heading of 'Community
Reinvestment' was a government created bubble of investment
that wasn't sustainable because there is no real economy
underlying it
besides the government money for building and rebuilding.
The funding for 100,000
cops on the street and 100,000 teachers in the classroom are
really communitarian agents for social change. They
are people who have been trained - in their respective
fields to facilitate (delphi method) change in the
communities for the
'New Economy' that was a fraud covering
up the move to a centrally planned, socialist system aligned
with the United Nations Comintern.
Globalization is the Great
Swindle and if we allow the fraud to continue, it will be
the end of America as we know it.
And I just got a link to this article by Jerome Corsi
that provides a lot more depth to the treason of
internationalization of our legal structure - treason
against American sovereignty and we should hang by the neck
until dead every last one of these bast*rds.
7-year
plan aligns U.S.
Rules, regs to be integrated
Vicky Davis,
September 26, 2008
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