Friday, September 27, 2013
There is a tropical storm in the Atlantic. Just thought I'd mention it.
The way I see it.
The trick to downsizing banks is to increase availability to personal and small business interests without losing asset and liquidity in the market.
Increasing the number of autonomous small banks with credit lines to large banks will increase the capital to small businesses and increase employment.
Putting a large fine in the USA Treasury will serve a noble purpose, but, it will also remove asset value and liquidity out of the market. A market hard pressed to create jobs.
Healthier housing market sparks bank layoffs by the thousands: report (click here)
By
August 26, 2013 at 6:00 AM, updated August 26, 2013 at 6:06 AM
Who’s hurt by a strengthening housing market?
Bank employees, that’s who.
Large lenders around the country are starting to shed workers by the thousands now that fewer homeowners are tardy on their mortgages and interest rates are starting to rise, the L.A. Times has reported.
Wells Fargo, the largest U.S. mortgage lender, last week said it would eliminate the jobs of 2,300 workers who processed refinance applications, or 3 percent of its 70,000-person consumer lending group, the newspaper said.
Likewise, JPMorgan Chase said this month it would eliminate 3,000 mortgage jobs, all a part of previously announced plan to cut the lending unit by a total of 15,000 jobs by the end of next year.
And in July, Bank of America said it had reduced headcount at its Legacy Asset Servicing division by of 20,000 over the past year. This division was set up to handle troubled mortgages the bank inherited from Countrywide Financial during the 2008 takeover, the Times noted....
Let's say JP Morgan instead of paying a fine was to take $11 billion in assets and liquidity to establish a free standing bank to service 'the little people' while having a guaranteed line of credit for it's growth. Now, $11 billion is not a huge bank, but, it is not exactly a small one if it is located in the USA where such an institutions is needed the most AND where it will also grow to establish other lending sites. There is no reason to put a bank on the back forty only to have it fail. It should go perhaps to Wichita where small family farmers can grow the bank into more locations.
If such a bank was established with government fines it would maintain the assets and liquidity in the market while serving a vital service to assist the nation to grow. Such a bank would not be directly competitive with JP Morgan, but, in time there is a real possibility it would grow and other larger banks would be finding they can downsize without doing any economy damage.
Basically, these employees now unemployed or underemployed would have a new job market with re-establishing smaller banks. We lost a lot of small banks in the USA when 2008 occurred. In downsizing the larger banks by establishing free standing banks with lines of credit will maintain the integrity of the market while shifting focus to local economies.
Increasing the number of autonomous small banks with credit lines to large banks will increase the capital to small businesses and increase employment.
Putting a large fine in the USA Treasury will serve a noble purpose, but, it will also remove asset value and liquidity out of the market. A market hard pressed to create jobs.
Healthier housing market sparks bank layoffs by the thousands: report (click here)
By
August 26, 2013 at 6:00 AM, updated August 26, 2013 at 6:06 AM
Who’s hurt by a strengthening housing market?
Bank employees, that’s who.
Large lenders around the country are starting to shed workers by the thousands now that fewer homeowners are tardy on their mortgages and interest rates are starting to rise, the L.A. Times has reported.
Wells Fargo, the largest U.S. mortgage lender, last week said it would eliminate the jobs of 2,300 workers who processed refinance applications, or 3 percent of its 70,000-person consumer lending group, the newspaper said.
Likewise, JPMorgan Chase said this month it would eliminate 3,000 mortgage jobs, all a part of previously announced plan to cut the lending unit by a total of 15,000 jobs by the end of next year.
And in July, Bank of America said it had reduced headcount at its Legacy Asset Servicing division by of 20,000 over the past year. This division was set up to handle troubled mortgages the bank inherited from Countrywide Financial during the 2008 takeover, the Times noted....
Let's say JP Morgan instead of paying a fine was to take $11 billion in assets and liquidity to establish a free standing bank to service 'the little people' while having a guaranteed line of credit for it's growth. Now, $11 billion is not a huge bank, but, it is not exactly a small one if it is located in the USA where such an institutions is needed the most AND where it will also grow to establish other lending sites. There is no reason to put a bank on the back forty only to have it fail. It should go perhaps to Wichita where small family farmers can grow the bank into more locations.
If such a bank was established with government fines it would maintain the assets and liquidity in the market while serving a vital service to assist the nation to grow. Such a bank would not be directly competitive with JP Morgan, but, in time there is a real possibility it would grow and other larger banks would be finding they can downsize without doing any economy damage.
Basically, these employees now unemployed or underemployed would have a new job market with re-establishing smaller banks. We lost a lot of small banks in the USA when 2008 occurred. In downsizing the larger banks by establishing free standing banks with lines of credit will maintain the integrity of the market while shifting focus to local economies.
Call me crazy and it might be too late, but, rather than a fine why doesn't the USA downsize JP Morgan.
JP Morgan has been on a roller coaster ride since 2008. JP Morgan survived the global economic crash without much trouble. The company actually didn't need a bailout. It just seems to me JP Morgan has a loyalty to the USA that is seldom witnessed in the financial sector.
In reality, in 2008, JP Morgan came to the rescue of the financial sector, it could have acted differently.
I just think it is time for the big banks to start to downsize. I just thought some creativity in applying the fine of multiple billions could be used to begin a downsizing process rather than simply pay a fine.
It has to start sometime. These colossal banks can't go on forever. Morgan might be game to begin a downsizing process rather than paying fines. Just a thought. For the most part, Dimon is an honest broker or at least he attempts to be and if JP Morgan sees their way clear to begin to downsize the corporation he could be trusted to set a model for the Congress and other banks.
One of the aspects of downsizing the big banks is to provide an umbilical cord of credit to establish an autonomous institution that can compete in the real world. I think Dimon is capable of it. He is a leader.
Jill Treanor
The Guardian
Bank's Jamie Dimon (click here) may have to settle on record $11bn penalty following recent $920m fine over 'London Whale' incident
The boss of America's biggest bank, JP Morgan, was on Thursdaypersonally negotiating a new financial settlement with US regulators over allegations stemming from the way the bank sold sub-prime mortgage bonds before the banking crisis. The settlement could reach a record $11bn (£7bn)
Jamie Dimon, one of the few bankers still at the helm of a big bank following the 2008 financial meltdown, turned up for face-to-face talks with the US attorney general, Eric Holder, at the department of justice in Washington. The negotiations prompted fresh speculation that Dimon will be forced to agree to a payout bigger than the $4.5bn paid by BP over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
There are suggestions JP Morgan could be forced to make $4bn of payments to consumers and $7bn of penalties to cover losses incurred from the way mortgages were packaged by JP Morgan as the financial crisis took hold....
In reality, in 2008, JP Morgan came to the rescue of the financial sector, it could have acted differently.
I just think it is time for the big banks to start to downsize. I just thought some creativity in applying the fine of multiple billions could be used to begin a downsizing process rather than simply pay a fine.
It has to start sometime. These colossal banks can't go on forever. Morgan might be game to begin a downsizing process rather than paying fines. Just a thought. For the most part, Dimon is an honest broker or at least he attempts to be and if JP Morgan sees their way clear to begin to downsize the corporation he could be trusted to set a model for the Congress and other banks.
One of the aspects of downsizing the big banks is to provide an umbilical cord of credit to establish an autonomous institution that can compete in the real world. I think Dimon is capable of it. He is a leader.
Jill Treanor
The Guardian
Bank's Jamie Dimon (click here) may have to settle on record $11bn penalty following recent $920m fine over 'London Whale' incident
The boss of America's biggest bank, JP Morgan, was on Thursdaypersonally negotiating a new financial settlement with US regulators over allegations stemming from the way the bank sold sub-prime mortgage bonds before the banking crisis. The settlement could reach a record $11bn (£7bn)
Jamie Dimon, one of the few bankers still at the helm of a big bank following the 2008 financial meltdown, turned up for face-to-face talks with the US attorney general, Eric Holder, at the department of justice in Washington. The negotiations prompted fresh speculation that Dimon will be forced to agree to a payout bigger than the $4.5bn paid by BP over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill.
There are suggestions JP Morgan could be forced to make $4bn of payments to consumers and $7bn of penalties to cover losses incurred from the way mortgages were packaged by JP Morgan as the financial crisis took hold....
What happens to the water when the ice cubes are all melted? Don't say the Climate Crisis is not this simple, because, it is.
Friday 27 September 2013
The findings (click here) of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are frighteningly clear. Our environment is incontestably warming – each of the past three decades has been successively warmer than any since 1850 – and it is beyond reasonable doubt that human activities are the cause....
The findings (click here) of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change are frighteningly clear. Our environment is incontestably warming – each of the past three decades has been successively warmer than any since 1850 – and it is beyond reasonable doubt that human activities are the cause....
...The likelihood that temperature rises will stay below the 2C threshold, above which changes become catastrophic, looks less and less achievable. Indeed, we have already burned through 54 per cent of the “carbon budget” calculated to equate to a 2C spike....
...“This is yet another wake-up call: those who deny the science or choose excuses over action are playing with fire,” the Secretary of State said, before going on to affirm that the US is “deeply committed to leading on climate change”....
So, the covert drone wars are now official and not just skepticism and suspicion by the public.
This is Henry Bartle Frere's Statue on the Thames embankment. He was a great general according to British history. He would go on to become the Governor of Bombay and High Commissioner of South Africa.
Hasn't The West terrified the world enough?
This mess of Western Superiority has gone on for centuries and it is high time the people of these nations become disgusted with it all. At one point, British Society was convinced they were of superior intellect because their heads were bigger. The truth was their genetics demanded a larger hat size and they has perfected the practice of an educational system. We have all had enough of this mess and this is disgusting.
MoD study on attitudes to risk (click here)
Published time: September 27, 2013 01:05
Read the MoD document that formulates strategy for making British involvement in wars more palatable to the public
These machines and their use covertly to hide legalized killing by a nation's military is an immoral concept. It only goes to prove how The West, primarily the USA, believes the citizens of their nations can be manipulated to ignore the deaths of other peoples for the benefit of their own affairs. This is not about national security or sovereignty, this is about taking what does not belong to us and allowing the military to be judge and jury to APPROPRIATE deaths in the world.
This is completely disgusting and I won't be a part of it! My government WILL NOT treat me as a child that needs to be protected from reality and kill at will simply because they can.
Using more mercenaries, (click here) unmanned vehicles and elite forces could make the British public more willing to support future wars, given such losses do not rile the press as do deaths of regular soldiers, a strategic unit of the Ministry of Defence suggests.
In an internal discussion paper on how to sway “casualty averse” public opinion, the MoD development, concepts and doctrine centre (DCDC) also recommends lessening the public profile of repatriation ceremonies for war casualties.
The document, written in November 2012 and obtained by the Guardian under the Freedom of Information Act, regards how public opinion of wartime casualties can be manipulated. It also recommends the Ministry of Defence (MoD) have “a clear and constant information campaign in order to influence the major areas of press and public opinion.”...
There has always been a clear division when permited killing occurs with democracies. They believe some people are deserving of death. It occurs when thinking about Death Row Inmates, the Detainees at Gitmo, POWs, War Criminals and the enemy. It is a disconnect between what will happen to a citizen and what will happen to 'the bad guy.' The clear indication is when war occurs and a voluntary military is seen as heroic at all costs, "So long as it is someone else's family member" that has been killed in the heat of battle.
That disconnect carries a degree of morality as a person/a nation has a right to defend themselves, but, it also ALLOWS for a great deal of immorality and the possibility of becoming 'the bad guy' when a government turns on it's own people for the sake of sovereignty.
The immorality of the disconnect is right here. It is where technology takes away the moral conscience of a nation and allows the military to carry on without any cost to the country, except, for the military industrial complex budget.
This is about as immoral and disconnected as killing gets. The 'cyber-wars' are a prelude to a cyber-military that can kill according to a computer program. No conscience, no guilt, no thoughts about human frailties, only death by machine. How convenient to realize a government believes they have control over every aspect of life of a citizen. Disgusting only begins to describe the ideation.
How clever an idea it is to realize The Hague will not have to prosecute a computer programer.
Close Gitmo, the repairs are in the millions. No wonder the detainees are on a hunger strike.
Plywood. The lousy place can go up in flames in a instant. The Right Wing Congress has another failed policy on their hands.
Published time: September 27, 2013 01:56
A US military request for funding (click here) to renovate the prison base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba was denied by Pentagon officials in the Obama administration who, while pledging to close the prison, have been consistently prevented from doing so by Congress.
General John F. Kelly, the chief of US Southern Command and the officer in charge of Guantanamo Bay, requested $195.7 million to update and modify the prison in March 2013. He told Congress that buildings at Gitmo, originally only designed to temporarily house inmates eleven years ago, are disintegrating and presenting problems for troops on the base.
His request, according to the New York Times, included $99 million to build two new barracks buildings for guards, $12 million for a new cafeteria, and another $49 million to replace the notorious “Camp Seven,” where high-value inmates formerly in the custody of the CIA are held. Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the self-professed architect of the September 11 terrorist attacks, is currently held at Camp Seven.
The budget proposal was denied at some point during the summer but the news was not disclosed until Tuesday, when Southern Command spokesman Army colonel Greg Julian told the Times the request was denied “because of a lack of Congressional support to use the overseas contingency funding that we sought to complete those projects. So now we are working on various measures to mitigate some of the conditions of the facilities.”
Thursday, September 26, 2013
As the Affordable Care Act takes yet another step forward it is appropriate to hear these precious words again.
The Right Wing pathetically points to a mis-statement in the throes of the passage of the Affordable Care Act which took a year. When Speaker Pelosi stated "We have to pass it to find out what is in it," it was the fact the law would lead to regulation. The original law states throughout, that the burden of writing the regulation as stated by the law fell to the responsibility of the Secretary of Health and Human Services. It would be the regulation that would spell out the form the law would take.
Minority Leader Pelosi is a wonderful person and knows how dearly the country needs universal healthcare. At the very moment she stated these words on the house floor in recognition of the Late Senator Edward Kennedy, people were dying by the tens of thousand in the USA every year either with or without health insurance. But, these deaths were special. Those deaths could have been prevented. No, not just by receiving preventive care, but, by preventing victimization by the health insurance industry itself.
She is a moral person that understands Americans needs protection from cancelled contracts and ridiculous definitions of pre-existing conditions. She helped pass the law under her Speakership and the regulations were written and today we are on the verge of engaging the opportunity of health care for all. She has every reason to be proud of her accomplishment. It is necessary and vital and it raises the moral content of the nation. We have laws now that protect the innocent and that is one of the most important reasons to legislate.
Well done.
Someone want to remind me why the USA should ever bailout banks again.
49.24 
0.30(0.61%) 3:13PM EDT - Nasdaq Real Time Price
By JEFFREY SPARSHOTT And ERIK HOLM
WASHINGTON—The Treasury Department said it would generate $7.6 billion in proceeds from its sale of American International Group AIG -0.63% Inc.shares, as it sells nearly all its remaining holdings in the insurer it helped rescue at the height of the financial crisis.
The government said Tuesday it would sell about 234 million common
shares at $32.50 each, matching the price it got when it sold an even
larger slug of shares in September. AIG's stock closed Monday at $33.36,
and jumped 1.6% to $33.90 in heavy pre-market trading Tuesday.
The transaction is expected to close on Friday. By Treasury's calculation, the final round of sales means the government will have a net positive return on its AIG bailout of $22.7 billion...
The man is a bigot and rasict. I half expect his next musings to say, "Obama just wanted to hang white men." What a disgusting man. Bob here, must have been among friends at the Wall Street Journal to vent his anger so seriously.
Steven Perlberg Sep. 24, 2013, 12:57 PM
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, (click here) (Bob) Benmosche appeared to say that public anger over the company's decision to dole out $450 million in bonuses after it received $173.3 billion in government aid was "just as bad" as actual historical lynchings in the Deep South....
I am quite sure all these interests in AIG are only concern themselves with their earnings and not the reputation of the institution. I think it is time to divest.
0.30(0.61%) 3:13PM EDT - Nasdaq Real Time PriceBy JEFFREY SPARSHOTT And ERIK HOLM
WASHINGTON—The Treasury Department said it would generate $7.6 billion in proceeds from its sale of American International Group AIG -0.63% Inc.shares, as it sells nearly all its remaining holdings in the insurer it helped rescue at the height of the financial crisis.
The government said Tuesday it would sell about 234 million common
shares at $32.50 each, matching the price it got when it sold an even
larger slug of shares in September. AIG's stock closed Monday at $33.36,
and jumped 1.6% to $33.90 in heavy pre-market trading Tuesday.The transaction is expected to close on Friday. By Treasury's calculation, the final round of sales means the government will have a net positive return on its AIG bailout of $22.7 billion...
The man is a bigot and rasict. I half expect his next musings to say, "Obama just wanted to hang white men." What a disgusting man. Bob here, must have been among friends at the Wall Street Journal to vent his anger so seriously.
Steven Perlberg Sep. 24, 2013, 12:57 PM
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, (click here) (Bob) Benmosche appeared to say that public anger over the company's decision to dole out $450 million in bonuses after it received $173.3 billion in government aid was "just as bad" as actual historical lynchings in the Deep South....
The Fracking Companies over reached their ability to carry out their contracts.
Landowners are being foolish. They don't listen. They believe those in conservation are crackpots. Now they have land that is compromised and losing value without the wealth they were promised.
...CUSICK: That was the total for May. They didn't get a check at all in March. The check comes from Chesapeake Energy Corporation based in Oklahoma City. It is the number one drilling company in Pennsylvania and number two for the whole country.
GEIGER: And I made three phone calls to Oklahoma City before they finally told me: We never sent you a check last month. We hadn't sold the gas - we didn't have the money....
One has to ask how a company is going to 'handle' their investments and whether or not the management sees royalties as an expense they want to control. The landowners should have stipulated the removal of natural gas from their lands was a cash and carry enterprise. As soon as the gas was extracted it was paid for and the futures belonged to Chesapeake.
North Carolina and the rest of the nation needs to take notice about the fracking legislation the new Governor and legislature was in such a rush to pass. The Pennsylvania experience has been a nightmare on many fronts.
...The presentation repackaged (click here) a lot of what we already know about the company. Great assets, massive leverage and high sensitivity to natural gas prices. More than anything else, the company strove to get across the point that the value of its 6.2 million acres of oil and liquids-rich fields more than balances out its mounting liabilities, including $13.2 billion in debt. Of $7 billion in capital spending this year, 85% will be directed towards liquids-rich plays....
I have no doubt Chesapeake has the money to pay landowners for their natural gas, but, they won't if they don't have to because the longer that money sits in the Chesapeake treasury the more interest it accumulates.
Then again, with Chesapeake paying out all these 'up front' monies, the company might be pinched for LIQUIDITY.
The fracking companies are not interested in a quick turn around of that natural gas either.
...If McClendon really could sell all those assets at $50 billion, Chesapeake would be left with zero liabilities, $30 billion in cash and a collection of gas fields in the Marcellus, Haynesville, Barnett shales that might not be economic now, but would be a valuable option on future gas prices. In that scenario, the company’s current $10 billion equity market cap would have a lot of room to grow. McClendon could slay all his doubters, deleverage his balance sheet and crow about how he was right all along.
It’s this kind of best-case scenario analysis that keeps Chesapeake bulls going....
And what was that about a cleaner, cheaper form of energy? The cheaper sure as heck isn't the consumer.
...In today’s presentation Chesapeake figures that at $2 natural gas it would do full-year ebitda of $2.7 billion. At $3 gas it would make $3.25 billion, still less than it needs to stay within covenants. Gas today is $2.70 for the front end of the strip and $3.20 a year from now....
People have to remember, the petroleum industry seeks profits from oil. The best quality oil is significantly diminished. So, the industry is seeking junk oil and natural gas to fill it's profit margins. This industry is going to want to exceed the profits from the past decades, so the idea this is cheap energy is a hideous thought.
...As a gas trader told me the other day: “Chesapeake is in that horrible stage of corporate crisis where you have your choice of getting your face ripped off by one or more of (i) the asset sale market, (ii) the corporate M&A market, (iii) the debt market. It’s amazing to watch the market punish someone that they don’t like/trust.”...
For all those folks who sold their mineral rights to be the next millionaire, their heirs might see that money, if they haven't lost the farm by then for all the pollution and diminished farm production fracking causes. But, will they be the millionaires they expected to be in their lifetime? Probably not.
Before Americans trust others with their land, they need to understand why the government passed legislation to allow this in the first place. And companies are going to want to refill their political coffers before they pay royalties for Round 2, 3 and 4 as time goes on. So, why not sell off old assets before the obligations of the new ones are paid?
Concerned Residents Mic-Check Rigged Congressional Hearing on Fracking (click here)
STEUBENVILLE, OH - A dozen anti-fracking Ohio and Pennsylvania residents were escorted from today's congressional field hearing on natural gas after interrupting the proceedings and attempting to present members of the committee with a $3 million check representing the money spent by industry just on members of the hearing.
Held by the Congressional Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources, today's event was the latest in a series of field hearings designed to promote hydraulic fracturing (a.k.a. "fracking") as a solution to the economic and energy crises.
Residents pointed out that Chairman Doug Lamborn (R-CO), Glenn Thompson (R-PA), and Bill Johnson (R-OH), have collectively received a total of at least $267,084 in campaign contributions from oil and gas corporations and therefore clearly have a conflict of interest that makes them unfit for reviewing the human health, environmental, and economic impacts of fracking.
Although not invited to testify, residents handed out pamphlets containing testimony regarding fracking's environmental devastation, as well as the Subcommittee's history of taking donations from the oil and gas industry, amounting to a sum of approximately $3 million split between 18 members of the Subcommittee. This is part of the $747 million spent by the industry for fracking as part of a 10-year lobbying campaign to persuade federal authorities to ignore the dangers of fracking as reported by Common Cause in their report "Deep Drilling, Deep Pockets."...
...CUSICK: That was the total for May. They didn't get a check at all in March. The check comes from Chesapeake Energy Corporation based in Oklahoma City. It is the number one drilling company in Pennsylvania and number two for the whole country.
GEIGER: And I made three phone calls to Oklahoma City before they finally told me: We never sent you a check last month. We hadn't sold the gas - we didn't have the money....
One has to ask how a company is going to 'handle' their investments and whether or not the management sees royalties as an expense they want to control. The landowners should have stipulated the removal of natural gas from their lands was a cash and carry enterprise. As soon as the gas was extracted it was paid for and the futures belonged to Chesapeake.
North Carolina and the rest of the nation needs to take notice about the fracking legislation the new Governor and legislature was in such a rush to pass. The Pennsylvania experience has been a nightmare on many fronts.
Christopher Helman, Forbes Staff
5/22/2012 @ 2:21PM...The presentation repackaged (click here) a lot of what we already know about the company. Great assets, massive leverage and high sensitivity to natural gas prices. More than anything else, the company strove to get across the point that the value of its 6.2 million acres of oil and liquids-rich fields more than balances out its mounting liabilities, including $13.2 billion in debt. Of $7 billion in capital spending this year, 85% will be directed towards liquids-rich plays....
I have no doubt Chesapeake has the money to pay landowners for their natural gas, but, they won't if they don't have to because the longer that money sits in the Chesapeake treasury the more interest it accumulates.
Then again, with Chesapeake paying out all these 'up front' monies, the company might be pinched for LIQUIDITY.
The fracking companies are not interested in a quick turn around of that natural gas either.
...If McClendon really could sell all those assets at $50 billion, Chesapeake would be left with zero liabilities, $30 billion in cash and a collection of gas fields in the Marcellus, Haynesville, Barnett shales that might not be economic now, but would be a valuable option on future gas prices. In that scenario, the company’s current $10 billion equity market cap would have a lot of room to grow. McClendon could slay all his doubters, deleverage his balance sheet and crow about how he was right all along.
It’s this kind of best-case scenario analysis that keeps Chesapeake bulls going....
And what was that about a cleaner, cheaper form of energy? The cheaper sure as heck isn't the consumer.
...In today’s presentation Chesapeake figures that at $2 natural gas it would do full-year ebitda of $2.7 billion. At $3 gas it would make $3.25 billion, still less than it needs to stay within covenants. Gas today is $2.70 for the front end of the strip and $3.20 a year from now....
People have to remember, the petroleum industry seeks profits from oil. The best quality oil is significantly diminished. So, the industry is seeking junk oil and natural gas to fill it's profit margins. This industry is going to want to exceed the profits from the past decades, so the idea this is cheap energy is a hideous thought.
...As a gas trader told me the other day: “Chesapeake is in that horrible stage of corporate crisis where you have your choice of getting your face ripped off by one or more of (i) the asset sale market, (ii) the corporate M&A market, (iii) the debt market. It’s amazing to watch the market punish someone that they don’t like/trust.”...
For all those folks who sold their mineral rights to be the next millionaire, their heirs might see that money, if they haven't lost the farm by then for all the pollution and diminished farm production fracking causes. But, will they be the millionaires they expected to be in their lifetime? Probably not.
Before Americans trust others with their land, they need to understand why the government passed legislation to allow this in the first place. And companies are going to want to refill their political coffers before they pay royalties for Round 2, 3 and 4 as time goes on. So, why not sell off old assets before the obligations of the new ones are paid?
STEUBENVILLE, OH - A dozen anti-fracking Ohio and Pennsylvania residents were escorted from today's congressional field hearing on natural gas after interrupting the proceedings and attempting to present members of the committee with a $3 million check representing the money spent by industry just on members of the hearing.
Held by the Congressional Subcommittee on Energy and Mineral Resources, today's event was the latest in a series of field hearings designed to promote hydraulic fracturing (a.k.a. "fracking") as a solution to the economic and energy crises.
Residents pointed out that Chairman Doug Lamborn (R-CO), Glenn Thompson (R-PA), and Bill Johnson (R-OH), have collectively received a total of at least $267,084 in campaign contributions from oil and gas corporations and therefore clearly have a conflict of interest that makes them unfit for reviewing the human health, environmental, and economic impacts of fracking.
Although not invited to testify, residents handed out pamphlets containing testimony regarding fracking's environmental devastation, as well as the Subcommittee's history of taking donations from the oil and gas industry, amounting to a sum of approximately $3 million split between 18 members of the Subcommittee. This is part of the $747 million spent by the industry for fracking as part of a 10-year lobbying campaign to persuade federal authorities to ignore the dangers of fracking as reported by Common Cause in their report "Deep Drilling, Deep Pockets."...
Just the other day Senator John Cornyn attacked his fellow Senator by stating how can a Red State Democrat vote against funding Obamacare.
This is the billboard in North Carolina inspired by Senator Cornyn.
Submitted by robchristensen on 2013-09-20 10:50
Americans for Prosperity (click here) said Friday that it is planning a billboard campaign in the Research Triangle and the Piedmont Triad questioning Democratic Sen. Kay Hagan's stance on the issue of carbon emissions tax....
What Senator Cornyn doesn't bother noticing about his fellow Senator from North Carolina is a cause that has needed to be addressed for as long as Cornyn has been in office.
Hagan pushes infant mortality legislation
Submitted by robchristensen
2013-09-24 10:22
Sen. Kay Hagan Tuesday (click here) touted two bills designed to reduce infant mortality by improving screening of new borns and the training of those who care for new babies.
"As a mother, I can not imagine the pain of losing a child, especially when that death may have been easily prevented,'' Hagan, chairman of the Senate Subcommittee on Children and Families, said in a teleconference call from Washington.
One measure, that Hagan co-sponsored with Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, and Democrat Diane Feinstein of California, reauthorizes a program to provide training for child care providers on CPR, first aid, and other safe practices....
Senator Kay Hagan is Carolina Blue through and through which means chidlren are at the center of her concerns.
In North Carolina in 2011: (click here)
- 7.2 babies died for every 1,000 born alive
- 5.5 white babies died for every 1,000 live births
- 5.4 Latino babies dies for every 1,000 live births
- 12.9 African American non-Hispanic babies died for every 1,000 live births
- 866 babies died in North Carolina
- 2008 - preliminary date for the U.S. shows 6.6 deaths for every 1,000 babies born alive
In 2010, North Carolina ranked the 15th highest infant mortality rate in the 50 United States at 7.1 deaths per 1000 infants born, Mississippi was Number 1 in infant mortality at 9.67. 16.1 % of citizens in North Carolina live in poverty.
Poor Children: 24% (525,983) of children live in poor families (National: 22%), defined as income below 100% of the federal poverty level.
For 2011, (click here) the federal poverty level is $22,350 for a family of four. Children living in families with incomes below the federal poverty level are referred to as poor. But research suggests that, on average, families need an income of about twice the federal poverty level to meet their basic needs. The United States measures poverty by an outdated standard developed in the 1960s.
She doesn't stop at advocating for children. She seeks to assist our heroes into the benefits they deserve.
Fayetteville Observer
By Greg Barnes
U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan (click here) said Tuesday that she has sent letters to the secretaries of defense and veterans affairs demanding that more be done to relieve the backlog of veterans benefits claims.
Hagan, a North Carolina Democrat, acknowledged that progress is being
made to relieve the backlog at the VA’s Winston-Salem Regional Claims
Office, but she said “we can all agree that there is still work to be
done.”
This is the second time this year that Hagan has written to VA Secretary Eric Shinseki urging faster claims processing in Winston-Salem, which serves most veterans in North Carolina.
In a March letter, Hagan called the situation “deplorable” and urged Shinseki to send senior-level staff members to the Winston-Salem office to get results....
And jobs are at the top of Senator Hagan's list:
September 6, 2013
By John Ostendorff
This is the second time this year that Hagan has written to VA Secretary Eric Shinseki urging faster claims processing in Winston-Salem, which serves most veterans in North Carolina.
In a March letter, Hagan called the situation “deplorable” and urged Shinseki to send senior-level staff members to the Winston-Salem office to get results....
And jobs are at the top of Senator Hagan's list:
September 6, 2013
By John Ostendorff
U.S. Sen. Kay Hagan (click here) told workers at research
equipment maker Thermo Fisher she was disappointed that Congress allowed
automatic spending cuts this year.
The sequester, as the cuts are known, required government researcher National Institutes of Health to cut 5 percent from its budget, hurting companies like Thermo Fisher that make some of the products it uses.
North Carolina lost $50 million in funding for academic research, she said on Friday, meaning a loss of about 1,000 jobs....
The sequester, as the cuts are known, required government researcher National Institutes of Health to cut 5 percent from its budget, hurting companies like Thermo Fisher that make some of the products it uses.
North Carolina lost $50 million in funding for academic research, she said on Friday, meaning a loss of about 1,000 jobs....
A palace without a king or queen.
Published: September 10, 2013
...Aquila (click here) was the last survivor of triplet polar bears – two males and a female – that were born at the Louisville Zoo in November 1992. The three siblings became the first bears in the N.C. Zoo’s polar bear exhibit when it opened in August 1994.
Aquila and the zoo’s other male polar bear, Wihelm, were sent to other zoos in summer 2011 as the zoo began an $8.5 million renovation and expansion of its polar bear exhibit. Aquila returned from the Detroit Zoo in April when renovations to part of the exhibit were completed, but Wilhelm remains at the Milwaukee Zoo while work on the exhibit continues....
Arctic exhibit on thin ice at zoo (click here)
by Katherine Ferguson
The Daily Tar Heel
Updated: 8 hours ago
With a babbling creek, an alpine meadow and arctic flora, the North Carolina Zoological Park’s refurbished polar bear exhibit is only missing one thing: polar bears.
The zoo, located in Asheboro, is planning to unveil the $8.5 million project in spring 2014 — but the lack of polar bears currently at the zoo and a decreasing wild population could pose obstacles for zoo curators.
Ken Reininger, general curator of animal collections at the zoo, said the exhibit may be home to another species for the near future.
“There’s just not a lot of (polar bears) there, either in the wild or in captivity,” Reininger said.
After the unexpected death of Aquila, one of the zoo’s polar bears, earlier this month, the zoo has only one left. But that bear, 29-year-old Wilhelm, is staying at a zoo in Milwaukee and may be too elderly to return to the exhibit....
I can't help but wonder with all the cuts in education, how has that effected student outcomes.
By Maureen Downey
Despite a national effort (click here) to raise high school rigor, the SAT, treated as a key
barometer of student progress, refuses to budge.The average national score on the high-stakes college admissions test has remained virtually unchanged over the last five years.
The U.S. high school graduating class of 2013 scored on average 1498, the same as last year, out of possible 2400. (Critical reading: 496, Math: 514, Writing 488.)...
I think today's learning underestimates the power of book learning vs computer learning. Computers are fine for enhancing ability, but, I don't believe they should be the primary source of any learning. It is too easy to cheat, especially in math, when learning from a computer. Computers can enhance the classroom and reinforce learning, but, there isn't anything like a teacher, a book and plenty of homework.
In some states, per-pupil spending fell more than 20% since recession. (click here)
Since the recession began, K-12 education spending has declined dramatically in some states. In Alabama and Oklahoma, per-pupil spending fell by more than 20%.While the majority of state school systems have cut spending between fiscal year 2008 and the upcoming fiscal year 2014, the cuts have been much more severe in some places than in others. According to the latest school spending data compiled by the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), seven states have cut per-pupil spending by more than 15% in that time....
...In a report out today, (click here) the non-profit College Board says just 43% of SAT takers in the high school class of 2013 earned a score that indicates they will succeed in the first year of college. That percentage has remained "virtually unchanged" for at least five years, said Cyndie Schmeiser, chief of assessment for the College Board, based in New York.
Last month, an annual report by the Iowa-based non-profit ACT found that just 26% of high school graduates in the class of 2013 met college readiness benchmarks in all four of the subjects its tests cover: English, reading, math and science. That's up from 25% last year and 23% five years ago, but far too low, ACT chief executive officer Jon Whitmore said. "As a nation, we must set ambitious goals and take strong action to address this consistent problem."...
And Congress wants to defund what, exactly?
The
move to eliminate a tax on medical-device manufacturers - heavily
concentrated in Pennsylvania - represents a smaller but more attainable
goal in the GOP offensive against Obamacare. Even many Democrats who
back President Obama's health law have supported repealing the tax.
The 2.3 percent excise tax on medical-device makers affects companies that manufacture a wide range of items, including stents, artificial knees, and pacemakers. It does not affect over-the-counter items such as contact lenses or hearing aids.
Toomey said the GOP realistically cannot repeal the health law while Democrats hold the White House and Senate.
"What we can and should do," he said, "is repeal the parts of this bill that we can."The 2.3 percent excise tax on medical-device makers affects companies that manufacture a wide range of items, including stents, artificial knees, and pacemakers. It does not affect over-the-counter items such as contact lenses or hearing aids.
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/nation_world/20130926_Toomey_calls_for_repeal_of_a_tax_funding__Obamacare_.html#YdTt9SYUxietAjO8.99
Posted: Thursday, September 26, 2013, 2:01 AM
Jonathan Tamari, Inquirer Washington Bureau
Posted: Thursday, September 26, 2013, 2:01 AMRead more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/nation_world/20130926_Toomey_calls_for_repeal_of_a_tax_funding__Obamacare_.html#YdTt9SYUxietAjO8.99
The
move to eliminate a tax on medical-device manufacturers - heavily
concentrated in Pennsylvania - represents a smaller but more attainable
goal in the GOP offensive against Obamacare. Even many Democrats who
back President Obama's health law have supported repealing the tax.
The 2.3 percent excise tax on medical-device makers affects companies that manufacture a wide range of items, including stents, artificial knees, and pacemakers. It does not affect over-the-counter items such as contact lenses or hearing aids.
Toomey said the GOP realistically cannot repeal the health law while Democrats hold the White House and Senate.
"What we can and should do," he said, "is repeal the parts of this bill that we can."The 2.3 percent excise tax on medical-device makers affects companies that manufacture a wide range of items, including stents, artificial knees, and pacemakers. It does not affect over-the-counter items such as contact lenses or hearing aids.
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/nation_world/20130926_Toomey_calls_for_repeal_of_a_tax_funding__Obamacare_.html#YdTt9SYUxietAjO8.99
The
move to eliminate a tax on medical-device manufacturers - heavily
concentrated in Pennsylvania - represents a smaller but more attainable
goal in the GOP offensive against Obamacare. Even many Democrats who
back President Obama's health law have supported repealing the tax.
The 2.3 percent excise tax on medical-device makers affects companies that manufacture a wide range of items, including stents, artificial knees, and pacemakers. It does not affect over-the-counter items such as contact lenses or hearing aids.
Toomey said the GOP realistically cannot repeal the health law while Democrats hold the White House and Senate.
"What we can and should do," he said, "is repeal the parts of this bill that we can."The 2.3 percent excise tax on medical-device makers affects companies that manufacture a wide range of items, including stents, artificial knees, and pacemakers. It does not affect over-the-counter items such as contact lenses or hearing aids.
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/nation_world/20130926_Toomey_calls_for_repeal_of_a_tax_funding__Obamacare_.html#YdTt9SYUxietAjO8.99
...The move (click here) to eliminate a tax on medical-device manufacturers - heavily
concentrated in Pennsylvania - represents a smaller but more attainable
goal in the GOP offensive against Obamacare. Even many Democrats who
back President Obama's health law have supported repealing the tax.
The 2.3 percent excise tax on medical-device makers affects companies that manufacture a wide range of items, including stents, artificial knees, and pacemakers. It does not affect over-the-counter items such as contact lenses or hearing aids.
Toomey said the GOP realistically cannot repeal the health law while Democrats hold the White House and Senate. The 2.3 percent excise tax on medical-device makers affects companies that manufacture a wide range of items, including stents, artificial knees, and pacemakers. It does not affect over-the-counter items such as contact lenses or hearing aids.
"What we can and should do," he said, "is repeal the parts of this bill that we can."...
$2.4 Billion: subsidies to the Big Five producers debated and defeated in the Senate in 2011 and 2012
$4 Billion: Subsidy cuts President Obama proposed in the 2013 budget.
President Obama has proposed cutting fossil fuel subsidies every year
he’s been in office. The projections for savings have varied slightly each year but always hover around $4 billion annually. Congress has never even proposed voting on all of them.This was proposed by never passed. The Royalties to the USA are still suspended under 42 USC § 15905.
(B) DEEP WATER PRODUCTION- Section 345 of the Energy Policy Act of 2005 (42 U.S.C. 15905) is repealed. (click here)
Mr. ELLISON introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Ways and Means, and in addition to the Committees on Transportation and Infrastructure, Natural Resources, Science, Space, and Technology, Energy and Commerce, Agriculture, Appropriations, Financial Services, and Foreign Affairs, for a period to be subsequently determined by the Speaker, in each case for consideration of such provisions as fall within the jurisdiction of the committee concerned...
This is one of the most egregious laws the American people know very little about. It not only allows the drilling that killed the Gulf Coast fisheries, it provides for 'royalty free' profits by the petroleum industry. Rep. Ellison attempted to end this crony permission for exploiting USA natural resources of future generations to benefit Wall Street profiteers.
42 USC § 15905 - Royalty relief for deep water production (click here)
(b) Suspension of royalties
The suspension of royalties under subsection (a) shall be established at a volume of not less than—
(3)
12,000,000 barrels of oil equivalent for each lease in water depths of 1,600 to 2,000 meters; and
The
move to eliminate a tax on medical-device manufacturers - heavily
concentrated in Pennsylvania - represents a smaller but more attainable
goal in the GOP offensive against Obamacare. Even many Democrats who
back President Obama's health law have supported repealing the tax.
The 2.3 percent excise tax on medical-device makers affects companies that manufacture a wide range of items, including stents, artificial knees, and pacemakers. It does not affect over-the-counter items such as contact lenses or hearing aids.
Toomey said the GOP realistically cannot repeal the health law while Democrats hold the White House and Senate.
"What we can and should do," he said, "is repeal the parts of this bill that we can."The 2.3 percent excise tax on medical-device makers affects companies that manufacture a wide range of items, including stents, artificial knees, and pacemakers. It does not affect over-the-counter items such as contact lenses or hearing aids.
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/nation_world/20130926_Toomey_calls_for_repeal_of_a_tax_funding__Obamacare_.html#YdTt9SYUxietAjO8.9
The
move to eliminate a tax on medical-device manufacturers - heavily
concentrated in Pennsylvania - represents a smaller but more attainable
goal in the GOP offensive against Obamacare. Even many Democrats who
back President Obama's health law have supported repealing the tax.
The 2.3 percent excise tax on medical-device makers affects companies that manufacture a wide range of items, including stents, artificial knees, and pacemakers. It does not affect over-the-counter items such as contact lenses or hearing aids.
Toomey said the GOP realistically cannot repeal the health law while Democrats hold the White House and Senate.
"What we can and should do," he said, "is repeal the parts of this bill that we can."The 2.3 percent excise tax on medical-device makers affects companies that manufacture a wide range of items, including stents, artificial knees, and pacemakers. It does not affect over-the-counter items such as contact lenses or hearing aids.
Read more at http://www.philly.com/philly/news/nation_world/20130926_Toomey_calls_for_repeal_of_a_tax_funding__Obamacare_.html#YdTt9SYUxietAjO8.99
Wednesday, September 25, 2013
Wendy had a better filibuster under more harsh conditions and she won hers.
According to Liberty News (click here): Texas Senate Bill Number Five would have shut down most abortion clinics in the Lone Star State, died early this morning after a successful filibuster by Democratic Senator Wendy Davis....
Texas
Senate Bill Number Five, which would have shut down most abortion
clinics in the Lone Star State, died early this morning after a
successful filibuster by Democrat Senator, Wendy Davis. - See more at:
http://www.libertynews.com/2013/06/texas-senators-ten-hour-filibuster-kills-strongest-pro-life-legislation-in-america/#sthash.N89OnTBN.dpuf
Texas
Senate Bill Number Five, which would have shut down most abortion
clinics in the Lone Star State, died early this morning after a
successful filibuster by Democrat Senator, Wendy Davis. - See more at:
http://www.libertynews.com/2013/06/texas-senators-ten-hour-filibuster-kills-strongest-pro-life-legislation-in-america/#sthash.N89OnTBN.dpuf
Texas
Senate Bill Number Five, which would have shut down most abortion
clinics in the Lone Star State, died early this morning after a
successful filibuster by Democrat Senator, Wendy Davis. - See more at:
http://www.libertynews.com/2013/06/texas-senators-ten-hour-filibuster-kills-strongest-pro-life-legislation-in-america/#sthash.N89OnTBN.dpuf
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