Global Articles on what is going on...posted daily

[sandi66]

* Abdul Mahdi to be Iraqi vice president
December 30th, 2010 04:48 pm · Posted in NEWS
Abdul Mahdi to be Iraqi vice president
Posted: December 30, 2010 by CURRENCY NEWSHOUND – Just Hopin in Iraqi Dinar/Politics


Adel Abdul Mahdi

Baghdad, Dec. 30 (AKnews) – A member in the Supreme Council of the National Coalition, said on Thursday, that the Vice-President position was reserved for Adel Abdul Mahdi, pointing out that the president Jalal Talabani insisted on this.

Abdul Hussein Abtan, told AKnews that Mahdi will have the position of the Iraqi vice president as a candidate of the National Coalition.

Abtan mentioned that Mahdi was chosen by the presidnet, becuase he was recognized for beeing a hardworder as the vice president during the past period.

Turkmen lawmaker in the parliament demanded to have the vice president position and some service ministries, yet President Talabani expressed his desire to elect a third deputy for him; noting that the constitution did not state on this but it could be issued as a law

bit.ly/h4dXJt

theiraqidinar.com/2010/12/30/abdul-mahdi-to-be-iraqi-vice-president/

[sandi66]

* Passports will resume next week
December 30th, 2010 03:06 pm · Posted in NEWS
Posted: December 30, 2010 by CURRENCY NEWSHOUND – Just Hopin in Iraqi Dinar/Politics
Tags: Baghdad, Basra, Interior ministry, Iraq, Mosul, Warfare and Conflict

0
The Interior Ministry announced the resumption of work by issuing passports to all citizens over the next week.

The director of travel and Major General Yassin Yasiri in an exclusive statement (statement): the passport offices across Iraq will resume its work next week granting of passports to citizens in general, after the cessation of grant for the purposes of the annual inventory and compliance and auditing of revenues and expenses of the Department of Passports, indicating that these action taken.

He pointed out that the department was able to give more than one million passport for all citizens in 2010. While the number of passports granted to citizens since 2003 and so far more than seven million passport through the issuance of passports class s, h, a travel document paper , noting that all previous Iraqi governments, and over 81 years has not only completed 2.1 million passport only.

He Yasiri that the Directorate will set up new plants, special additional grant of passports in the provinces of Basra and Mosul as well as completing Monument stations, especially the granting of passports in 18 Arab and foreign countries to the Iraqis outside of Iraq, noting that this plan came from in order to provide excellent services to the Iraqi public, whether inside or outside Iraq.

bit.ly/hDU2wi

theiraqidinar.com/2010/12/30/passports-will-resume-next-week/

[sandi66]

Med says to (13:17:24):
I HAVE NOT GOTTEN THE THIRD CALL YET
BUT
SINCE IT IS OBVIOUS
THAT NO RV IS COMING IN 2010
I CAN TELL YOU WHY
SINCE I DO KNOW WHERE THIS CAME FROM
AND IT IS ACCURATE
OK I MESSED WITH YOU THIS MORNING ON THE BREAD BASKET
AND DOME
THE DOME WAS THE DOME PARLIAMENT CONVENES
THE BREAD BASKET WAS DINAR
AND IT WAS STACKS/PALLETS OF IT
AND SOME WERE RIGHT
IT WAS THE BUDGET
AS WE SAID THE RV IS NOT PART OF THE BUDGET
NOR IS IT BUILT INTO THE BUDGET
BUT ONE ISSUE OF THE RV IS
THAT NOONE THOUGHT ABOUT
I CAN TELL YOU THIS
IRAQ DID NOT DRAG ITS FEET
AND NO SHABIBI WAS NOT HOLDING IT UP
IT WAS TWO SIMPLE THINGS
AND A COINCIDENCE STOPPED THE RV
TEMPORARILY
SHABIBI REALIZED THAT HE HAD NOT ENOUGH SMALL DENOMS PRINTED FOR THE RV TO BE ISSUED IN COUNTRY
A SECOND PRINTING WAS ORDER BY DE LA RUE IN THE UK
WITH THE KURDISH/ARABIC AND ENGLISH ON IT
THE FUNDING FOR THE PAYMENT TO DE LA RUE WAS IN THE NEW BUDGET
WHICH ENDED UP BEING SCRAPPED
AND WAS SUPPOSE TO BE THEN REREAD
BUT THEN PARLIAMENT ABRUPTLY ADJOURNED
AND SHABIBI AND DE LA RUE NOW ARE TREADING WATER TILL THEY RECONVENE SO SHABS HAS THE FUNDING AUTHORIZED TO PAY DE LA RUE
DE LA RUE WILL NOT SHIP TILL PAYMENT IS MADE
THAT IS WHY THE RV IS HELD UP
IT WAS THAT SIMPLE
THIS COMES FROM THE TRADE BANK OF IRAQ
DIRECTLY
AND FROM MY FRIENDS CORPORATE HEADQUARTERS IN NY
WE WERE SEEING IS A THIRD PARTY WOULD CONFIRM THIS AM
BUT HAVE NOT HEARD ANYTHING BACK YET
AND I DIDN’T THINK IT WAS FAIR TO HOLD YOU IN SUSPENSE ANY LONGER
BUT
TO ALL YOU SEVERAL HUNDRED WHO JUST SHOWED UP FOR IT
SHAME ON YOU
IT WOULD BE NICE IF YOU HUNG WITH THE REST OF US
I FEEL LIKE THE FAIR WEATHER FOOTBALL TEAM
HERE
YOU SHOULD HAVE STUCK WITH US ALL THE TIME
PLEASE STAY NOW
AND AT LEAST FINISH THIS OUT
THIS ISSUE WILL BE DONE THIS MONTH
AND I AM TOLD THAT JAN IS THE MONTH THEY WANT THE RV RELEASED
IT IS THOUGH WE WAIT FOR PARLIAMENT TO RECONVENE
AND WE HAVE NOTHING WE CAN DO ABOUT IT
OK THAT IS IT
TY ALL DONE


peoplesdinar.invisionzone.com/index.php?/topic/5708-med-123110-117-pm/page__pid__65575#entry65575

[sandi66]

IRAQ

Posted Today, 01:24 PM

GCC urged to revise currency exchange rates
Dubai official says revision could be done within the monetary union
By StaffPublished Friday, December 31, 2010

Although not part of the monetary union, an official said the UAE could also other options. (FILE)

Gulf oil producers need to revise the fixed exchange rate of their currencies against the US dollar because of persistent fluctuations in the US

currency and post-crisis global fiscal changes, according to two Dubai officials.

While the fixed rate of the currencies in the six-nation Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) had ensured financial stability at the beginning, this stability

bas been shaken by dollar volatility after the 1990s and the 2008 global economic distress, said Hani Al Hamli, Secretary General of the Dubai Economic

Council (DEC).

He said the revision of exchange rates in the region could be done within the monetary union, which was launched by four GCC members in early 2010.

“The US dollar has witnessed dramatic changes since early 1990s while the economies of the GCC countries have passed through serious challenges because

of the global crisis,” he told the semi official Alittihad daily.

“These developments should prompt the GCC countries to revise the present currency exchange rates given their heavy reliance on oil exports, which are

priced in US dollar…this revision should be accelerated by the fact that the spectre of a currency war could have serious consequences to the world

economy, destabilise the financial order and bring back protectionism.”

Another official said the UAE, which is not signatory to the GCC monetary union, is not in a “pressing need” for unpegging its dirham from the US

dollar, to which most other GCC currencies are attached.

“But I think that with the continued weakening in the US dollar, the UAE should consider other options and strategies in case of a dollar crisis…..in

the short term, I believe the UAE should not unpeg the dirham from the US currency,” said Abdul Razzak Al Faris, chief economist at DEC.

Faris said it was too early to talk about any impact on the UAE currency and economy by the “so-called” global currency war, adding that other major

currencies such as the euro are also facing challenges.

The GCC groups the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman in an economic, political and defence alliance created in 1981. The UAE and Oman

are members of the GCC customs union and common market but have not joined the monetary union for different reasons.

The GCC currencies have been pegged to the US dollar for more than 30 years. Kuwait ended the peg and linked its dinar to a basket of currencies three

years ago within monetary measures to tackle soaring inflation, caused mainly by a surge in its import bill due to the weakening in the dollar.


peoplesdinar.invisionzone.com/index.php?/topic/5709-gcc-urged-too-revise-currency-exchange-rates/page__pid__65588#entry65588

[sandi66]

* found at Peoples Dinar
December 31st, 2010 04:13 pm · Posted in RUMORS
A month ago I posted the information below that I copied and pasted here to save time. Back then, I was really hoping that he was wrong because it seemed like everything was ready to “pop” at that time to me.
Posted 29 November 2010 – 03:16 PM

Hey People…

I’m not new to this investment, but have watched all the sites for quite some time. I initially started investing in the Dinar, due to having a close friend that is privy to reliable information out of iraq. I have never been more confident that the Iraqi Dinar WILL revalue…and SOON!…

But my contact has informed me that the RV will be pushed back somewhere between Jan. 1st and 3rd of 2011. Apparently everything is ready to roll, but being that it is this close to the end of the year, there are certain governments (ours for one)that could benefit greatly if this were pushed back into another tax year. (which apparently they will be taxing the “rich” at a higher rate)

We all pretty much know that Obama cannot get away with raising taxes on the “middle to upper class”, but his gloves are off when it comes to the “rich”.(which will be us after the RV)

There are many forces at work to make this happen and I,more than anyone, would love to see this thing “pop” tomorrow. I have been waiting for what seems forever, to reap the benefits of my investment,but in the big picture what is another month? However,if my source is wrong…then I would be most HAPPY!

Just passing on what I heard. WE ARE CLOSE GUYS!!

http://peoplesdinar….ch__1#entry5989

I just spoke to him again and he says that we are still on track for those dates. (Sorry that I cannot give his name, due to the fact that this would end our realtionship.)

The information that I posted below, seems to back up what he is saying…

The SDR is an international reserve asset, created by the IMF in 1969 to supplement its member countries’ official reserves. Its value is based on a basket of four key international currencies, and SDRs can be exchanged for freely usable currencies.

The following was posted by the IMF(International Monetary Fund) concerning SDRs on December 9, 2010…

“The basket composition is reviewed every five years by the Executive Board to ensure that it reflects the relative importance of currencies in the world’s trading and financial systems. In the most recent review (in November 2010), the weights of the currencies in the SDR basket were revised based on the value of the exports of goods and services and the amount of reserves denominated in the respective currencies that were held by other members of the IMF. These changes become effective on January 1, 2011. The next review will take place by 2015.”

www.imf.org/e…r/facts/sdr.htm

Yesterday(Dec, 30, 2010),the IMF posted this statement…”The precise amounts of each currency are determined so that the value of the new and existing SDR baskets are the same on the last working day, December 30, 2010, before the new basket comes into effect on January 1, 2011 (see SDR Valuation1 and New SDR Basket2). The actual share of each currency in the valuation of the SDR on any particular day depends on the market values on that day of the fixed amounts of each currency in the basket.”

www.imf.org/e…010/pr10516.htm

theiraqidinar.com/2010/12/31/found-at-peoples-dinar/

[sandi66]

Fri, December 31, 2010 10:28:15 AM

Subject: JUST POSTED

I hope relaying this won't get Ali (the owner of Dinar Trade) in trouble but if it's on the chat it is all over the place now or will be shortly.

Sent: Friday, December 31, 2010 1:16 PM Did anyone else see this? "RUMOR.......RUMOR........A member on the other PD chat, posted earlier that the person running Dinar Trade at Fort Smith office for Ali ( Debra ) had received a call from Ali stating that the RV had happened but he had not received official word yet.......

RUMOR [10:18:20 AM] ckeyes06: Alvin Jackson just posted on the other chat that one of Ali's employees sent a text out that the RV was done to see Mon. @ 3.70 [10:18:40 AM] (Alfred's notes – meaning that on Monday the rate will be posted at $3.70).

peoplesdinar.invisionzone.com/index.php?/topic/5730-strongly-supported-rumor/page__pid__66074#entry66074

(link is already removed)

[sandi66]

Subject: Totally Busted: The Truth About Goldman's Bailout by the Fed



[To be continued...
The above originally appeared in a slightly longer version as Outing Ben Bernanke at the Daily Reckoning. To learn more about the Daily Reckoning visit here.]


www.economicpolicyjournal.com/2010/12/totally-busted-truth-about-goldmans.html



Totally Busted: The Truth About Goldman's Bailout by the Fed


Wednesday, December 15, 2010


Eric Fry has put together the pieces, searched the articles and has done the timeline that show's how the Fed shoveled money into the coffers of Goldman Sachs. Even to help Goldman pay off its TARP debt.

This investigative report from Eric Fry is must reading. It should also be kept in mind that this is separate from the Goldman/AIG antics that Janet Tavakoli has been reporting on. Here's Fry :

Recent disclosures from the Federal Reserve reveal that honesty was one of the earliest casualties of the 2008 financial crisis. These disclosures contain a number of juicy tidbits, like the fact that Goldman Sachs received tens of billions of dollars in direct and indirect succor from the Fed.

Thanks to these spectacularly large taxpayer-funded bailouts, Goldman was able to continue “doing God’s Work” – as CEO Lloyd Blankfein infamously remarked – like the work of producing billion-dollar trading profits without ever suffering a single day of losses.

Thanks to the Fed’s massive, undisclosed assistance, Goldman Sachs managed to project an image of financial well-being, even while accessing tens of billions of dollars of direct assistance from the Federal Reserve.

By repaying its TARP loan, for example, Goldman wriggled out from under the nettlesome compensation limits imposed by TARP, while also conveying an image of financial strength. But this “strength” was illusory. Goldman repaid the TARP loans with funds it procured days earlier from the Federal Reserve. Then, over the ensuing months, Goldman recapitalized its balance sheet by selling tens of billions of dollars of mortgage-backed securities to the Fed.

And the public never knew anything about these activities until two weeks ago, when the Fed was forced to reveal them....

Secret bailouts do not merely benefit recipients; they also deceive investors into mistaking fantasy for fact. Such deceptions often punish honest investors, like the honest investors who sold short the shares of insolvent financial institutions early in 2009.

Some of these investors had done enough homework to understand that no private-market remedy could ride to the rescue of certain financial firms. Therefore, these investors sold short the shares of certain ailing institutions and waited for nature to take its course. But the course that nature would take would be shockingly unnatural. We now know why. The Federal Reserve altered the course of nature, and did so without telling anyone.

Many of the investors who sold short ailing financial firms in 2009 were alert to the possibility that bailouts by the Federal Reserve could change the calculus. In other words, the Fed could make the bearish case less bearish...at least temporarily. Therefore, many of these investors studied the Federal Reserve’s disclosures, as well as corporate press releases, in order to quantify the Fed’s influence.

Based on all available public disclosures, the story remained fairly grim into the spring of 2009. Accordingly, the short interest – i.e., number of shares sold short – on Goldman Sachs common stock hit a record 16.3 million shares on May 15, 2009 – about 3.3% of the public float. But over the ensuing six months, Goldman’s stock soared more than 30% – producing roughly $500 million in losses for those investors who had sold short its stock. Not surprisingly, the total short interest during that timeframe plummeted to less than 6 million shares, as short-sellers closed out their losing positions.

Was it just bad luck? Or was something more nefarious at work here?

Let the reader decide. But before deciding, let the reader carefully examine the chart below, while also carefully considering a selection of public announcements from Goldman Sachs during this timeframe.





Based upon contemporaneous public disclosures, Goldman Sachs was “forced” by the Federal Reserve to accept a $10 billion loan from the TARP facility in October 2008. But Goldman’s top officers repeatedly – and very publicly – bristled under the compensation limits the TARP loan imposed.
Therefore, as early as February 5, 2009, Goldman’s chief financial officer, David Viniar, remarked, “Operating our business without the government capital would be an easier thing to do. We’d be under less scrutiny...” And on February 11, 2009, CEO Blankfein magnanimously remarked, “We look forward to paying back the government’s investment so that money can be used elsewhere to support our economy.”

But at that exact moment, we now know, Goldman was operating its business with at least $25 billion of undisclosed “government capital.”

In April, 2009, The Wall Street Journal observed, “Goldman Sachs group Inc., frustrated at federally mandated pay caps, has been plotting for months to get out from under the government’s thumb... Goldman’s managers have a big incentive to escape the state’s clutches. Last year, 953 Goldman employees – nearly one in 30 – were paid in excess of $1 million apiece... But tight federal restrictions connected to the financial-sector bailout have severely crimp the Wall Street firm’s ability to offer such lavish pay this year.”

On May 7, 2009, a Goldman press release states: “We are pleased that the Federal Reserve’s Supervisory Capital Assessment Program has been completed... With respect to Goldman Sachs, the tests determined that the firm does not require further capital... We will soon repay the government’s investment from the TARP’s Capital Purchase Program.”

On June 17, 2009, Goldman finally got its wish, thanks to some timely, undisclosed assistance from the Federal Reserve. Goldman repaid its $10 billion TARP loan. But just six days before this announcement, Goldman sold $11 billion of MBS to the Fed. In other words, Goldman “repaid” the Treasury by secretly selling illiquid assets to the Fed.

One month later, Goldman’s CEO Lloyd Blankfein beamed, “We are grateful for the government efforts and are pleased that [the monies we repaid] can be used by the government to revitalize the economy, a priority in which we all have a common stake.”

As it turns out, the government continued to “revitalize” that small sliver of the economy known as Goldman Sachs. During the three months following Goldman’s re-payment of its $10 billion TARP loan, the Fed purchased $27 billion of MBS from Goldman. In all, the Fed would purchase more than $100 billion of MBS from Goldman during the 12 months that followed Goldman’s TARP re-payment.

Did private investors not have the right to know that the Federal Reserve was secretly recapitalizing Goldman’s balance sheet during this period? Did they not deserve to know that the Fed’s MBS buying was producing Goldman’s “perfect” trading record during this timeframe?

Yes, would seem to be the obvious answer.

“There’s a saying in poker: If you don’t know who the patsy is at the table, it’s you,” observes Henry Blodget, the once and again stock market analyst, “Next time you feel like bellying up to the Wall Street poker table, therefore, ask yourself again who the sucker is.”

To be continued...

The above originally appeared in a slightly longer version as Outing Ben Bernanke at the Daily Reckoning. To learn more about the Daily Reckoning visit here.


ty joye

[sandi66]

BAGHDAD / Aswat al-Iraq:

The Paris Club of creditor nations said Monday it has canceled a final $7.8 billion of Iraqi debt dating from the Saddam Hussein era.

Iraq's public debt was estimated to be US$120.2 billion in nominal value as of The debt owed to Paris Club creditors as of December 31, 2004, was.

The club grew out of crisis talks held in Paris in 1956 between the In 2004, the Club decided to write-off the debts of Iraq, as the rebuilding of Iraq is incomparable.

IRAQ Debt Treatment - November 21, 2004. Supporting aggreements with the international the Paris Club, who will inform other Creditors, of the debt swap.

The Paris Club agrees on a cancellation of the debt of the Togolese The Paris Club agrees on a reduction of the debt of the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

The Paris Club has called for forgiving at least 80% of Iraq's outstanding debt, which is Debt relief for Iraq is central to a blueprint launched at the Sharm.

PARIS, December 22 (RIA Novosti) - The Paris Club of creditor nations The Paris Club and Iraq agreed in November 2004 "on a comprehensive debt treatment of Jubilee.

Iraq members rallied outside the Paris Club's meeting in November 2004 and met with the Paris Club president to present Iraqi perspectives on the odious debt.

www.americannewsnow.com/2010/10/info-paris-club-debt-iraq.html

Read more: just4dinar.forum-motion.com/t18668-paris-club-debt-iraq#71171#ixzz19y5q118L

[sandi66]

old but interesting

Sebastian River Holding's Adds an Additional 100,000,000 Iraqi Dinar to Its Foreign Currency Division

SEBASTIAN, Fla., Dec 6 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- Sebastian River
Holding's Inc. (Pink Sheets: SBRV), today announced that the company has
added an additional 100,000,000 Iraqi Dinar to its portfolio. This gives
Sebastian River Holding's a total of 235,000,000 Iraqi Dinar in its foreign
currency division.
"With all the great news coming out of Iraq, the rate of the Dinar
rising every day and people by the busloads returning daily back to their
homes in Baghdad, it was an easy decision to increase our holdings in what
the company believes to be the best investment in foreign currency today,"
stated Daniel Duffy, president of Sebastian River Holding's Inc. "People
don't realize that prior to the war with Iraq the Dinar was $3.00+ per US
Dollar. Today the country is almost debt free; Iraq is one of the leaders
in oil, natural gas and holds a huge amount of gold in its country, and the
rate is 822.37 per million, which is up from $784.93 when we first started
in March 2007."
The Company believes in the near future there will be a revalue of the
Iraq Currency, it is the Company's opinion after doing its due diligence
and public statements from Iraq's government officials, that the revalue
could come in at between .82 and 1.00 per US Dollar. This would give
Sebastian River Holdings a profit of between $192,000,000 and $235,000,000.
The article below was taken from a daily address to the people from
Iraq's finance minister: Baqir Jabr Zubaidi.
"That the Iraqi government was able to extinguish the 90 billion
dollars of Iraqi debt and has worked to reduce the size of inflation from
66 per cent to Between 16 - 18%, and that the Central Bank of Iraq 22
billion dollars , 3 tons of gold specifically to support the Iraqi dinar,
rising value of the Iraqi dinar against the dollar from 3 thousand dinars
in 2004 to between 1200 1000, the dinar this year, stressing that every
effort will focus on Iraqi deleted 3 zeroes off the value of the Iraqi
dinar, leading to 1 Iraqi Dinar for every one dollar."
Forward-Looking Statement
This Press release may include forward-looking statements within the
meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the
Securities Exchange Act of 1934. These statements are based on the
Company's current expectations as to future events. The forward-looking
events and circumstances discussed in this press release might not occur,
and actual results could differ materially from those anticipated or
implied in the forward-looking statements.

[sandi66]

Monday, January 3, 2011
Ex-Bush aide killed, dumped in Del. River landfill
John Parsons Wheeler 3d, a Vietnam veteran officer who served in three GOP Presidential administrations, and who chaired the committee that raised funds from businesses, agencies and prominent Americans to get the Vietnam Veterans Memorial built on the Washington Mall, was found dead in a landfill a few miles from his New Castle Delaware home this weekend. Newark Del. police say this is a homicide.

Wheeler, a Yale Law School graduate, was a defense industry consultant whose last government job was assistant to the Secretary of the Air Force in the last George W. Bush administration. He had lately campaigned to return ROTC to Ivy League campuses, writes James Fallows of the Atlantic here. He'd quarreled with neighbors, says the Wilmington News-Journal here


www.philly.com/philly/blogs/inq-phillydeals/Ex-Bush_aide_killed_dumped_in_Del_River_landfill.html

[sandi66]

Republican attacks 'corrupt’ Obama

A senior Republican has accused Barack Obama of heading “one of the most corrupt administrations” ever seen in the United States.

Washington 5:55PM GMT 03 Jan 2011
Darrell Issa, a Congressman from California who will take over the powerful Oversight and Government Reform Committee in the House of Representatives, is set to subpoena dozens of Obama officials as he investigates a litany of issues. He has promised that the new Congress that convenes this week will vigorously pursue fraud and government waste.

His tough words indicated that the Democratic president is in for a rough ride over the next two years, when the Republicans will control the House after their victory in November’s mid-term elections.

Republicans have also renewed their vow to repeal health care reform, the signature achievement of Mr Obama’s first two years in office.

Though such efforts would be defeated in the Senate, where the Democrats still hold a diminished majority, and could be vetoed by the president, Republicans are convinced that they can force the administration into making changes to the law, which provided health insurance to nearly all Americans.

They are also examining how Congressional authority can be used to deny funding to elements of the bill.

Related Articles

US Treasury attacked on Tarp03 Jan 2011
Barack Obama suffers tax and gays in military blows03 Jan 2011
Midterms 2010: Health backlash in key seats03 Jan 2011
US mid-term elections 2010: Barack Obama implores Americans to 'keep on believing'03 Jan 2011
Fed chief Ben Bernanke denies 'strong arm' claims over Merrill03 Jan 2011
US home-grown terrorists 'a global threat', warns congresswoman03 Jan 2011

Senator Lindsey Graham from South Carolina, said Republicans in the House and Senate will try to “defund the Obama care bill and start over”.

“It will be one big fight over the role of health care and should Obama health care be in existence in 2012 the way it is today,” he said.

Mr Issa said that his committee would identify where “waste, fraud and abuse” existed in the Obama plan.

“As Republicans, our goal is to repeal what was done on a partisan basis, come back and do on a bipartisan basis, real reform,” he said.

A staunch conservative who made a fortune in car alarms, Mr Issa is renowned as one of the most outspoken and most uncompromising members of the Congress.

He said that the Obama administration deserved to be called corrupt because of the corrosive effects of excessive government spending and regulation on the economy.

He is aiming to launch an investigation into the impact of regulation on job creation, and will summon business leaders to explain why the economy hasn’t “created the private sector jobs the president has promised”.

The government-backed housing companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, which lent heavily to first-time borrowers, will come under close scrutiny for their role in the excessive mortgage lending that triggered the 2008 financial crisis.

Conservatives have long complained that for political reasons the Obama administration failed to hold the two companies accountable, preferring to concentrate on blaming Wall Street.

Mr Issa’s committee will also examine corruption in Afghanistan and what he described as the weak government response to the disclosures in the US diplomatic cables released by the WikiLeaks website.

“If we can take any lessons away from the results of the mid-term elections, it’s that the American people will no longer tolerate a government that has institutionalised a culture of waste and abuse that acts carelessly with their tax-dollars,” said Kurt Bardella, Mr Issa’s spokesman.

“As chairman of this committee, Congressman Issa will pursue an agenda that aims to shed light on the failures of government for the purpose of reforming them so that the government is more transparent and accountable to the American people,” he told Politico.

www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/us-politics/8237463/Republican-attacks-corrupt-Obama.html

[sandi66]

Bush aide John Wheeler, war vet who helped get Vietnam memorial built, found murdered in landfill
BY James Gordon Meek
DAILY NEWS WASHINGTON BUREAU

Monday, January 3rd 2011, 3:22 PM



WASHINGTON - A war vet who worked tirelessly to build the Vietnam Veterans Memorial was found murdered in a Delaware landfill New Year's Eve, it was reported Monday.

John Wheeler, 66, was chairman of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial Fund in the early 1980s during a bitter fight over construction of the black granite memorial etched with over 58,000 names of veterans killed in the war.

The memorial became known simply as "The Wall."

"He was a great patriot," Jan Scruggs, the Wall's founder, told the Daily News Monday.

Like many of Wheeler's distraught friends and colleagues, Scruggs said he was shocked and baffled by the death of a man his friends called Jack, who police suspect was murdered in Newark, Del., and placed in a dumpster.

Friends said Wheeler, a defense contractor, was last seen getting off an Amtrak train in Wilmington last week.

The 1966 West Point graduate and decorated Vietnam vet's body was spotted by a landfill worker as it spilled out of a garbage truck Dec. 31, police in Delaware said. Wheeler was clothed and carrying identification.

Police are probing the death as a homicide and are asking for the public's help.

A Harvard and Yale graduate, Wheeler worked in the Reagan Defense Department and more recently served as a special assistant to the Secretary of the Air Force in the George W. Bush administration.

He was one of three officers instrumental in building the memorial after Yale student Maya Lin's stunning design for a black "V" etched with the names of the fallen became a lightning rod for controversy over the Vietnam War.

Wheeler was a politically-connected operator who helped broker a deal that allowed the Wall's construction to go forward after Texas billionaire H. Ross Perot allied with Reagan Interior Secretary James Watt to block what critics called a "black gash of shame" on the National Mall.

The memorial has been one of Washington's most-visited since 1982

www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2011/01/03/2011-01-03_bush_aide_john_wheeler_war_vet_who_helped_get_vietnam_memorial_built_found_murde.html

[sandi66]

Treasury Direct Deposits Extended to Millions


Treasury Direct Deposits Extended to Millions

Treasury Direct doesn’t mean much right. Well very soon it will mean a lot to millions of Americans. Treasury Extends Direct Deposit to Millions of Americans, Phasing Out Paper Checks for Federal Benefit Payments.
“Eight in 10 federal benefit recipients already use direct deposit, and now millions of additional retirees, veterans and other Americans will also receive their money in the safest, most reliable way – electronically,” says Treasury Fiscal Assistant Secretary Richard L. Gregg. “This important change will provide significant savings to American taxpayers who will no longer incur the annual $120 million price tag associated with paper checks and will save Social Security $1 billion over the next 10 years.”

“I urge everyone receiving a paper Social Security or Supplemental Security Income check to switch to electronic payments now, through the Go Direct campaign, rather than waiting until the final deadline,” says Michael J. Astrue, Commissioner of Social Security. “Switching now eliminates the risks of lost and stolen checks, and provides immediate access to your money on payment day.”

Treasury is launching a public education campaign today to inform Americans about the rule change and to help them understand what they need to do to get their payments electronically, whether they already receive payments by check or will be applying for federal benefits for the first time soon. Current check recipients will receive information enclosed with their payments, and the national campaign will also include public service announcements, a newly redesigned website, www.GoDirect.org, ongoing financial literacy programming and partnerships with hundreds of national, regional and local organizations.

The Go Direct® campaign is sponsored by the U.S. Department of the Treasury and the Federal Reserve Banks. The Direct Express® logo, Go Direct® and Direct Express® are registered service marks, and the Go Direct(sm) logo is a service mark, of the U.S. Department of the Treasury, Financial Management Service. The Direct Express® Debit MasterCard® card is issued by Comerica Bank, pursuant to a license by MasterCard International Incorporated. MasterCard® and the MasterCard® Brand Mark are registered trademarks of MasterCard International Incorporated.




www.worldnewsinsight.com/treasury-direct-deposits-extended-to-millions/3227/

Short URL: www.worldnewsinsight.com/?p=3227


ty nalmann

[sandi66]

January 3, 2011, 4:01 PM ET

Fed Likely to Add New Dealers for Treasury Market

By Min Zeng
After a hiatus of more than one year, the Federal Reserve is likely to expand a select group of dealers to help with hefty Treasury debt sales and the central bank’s monetary-policy operations, according to traders and dealers familiar with the matter.

Demand for safe-haven Treasurys has eased over the past couple of months as optimism over the economic outlook sparked more buying interest in riskier assets such as stocks. That means dealers need to play a bigger role in underwriting Treasury sales to avoid the risks of weak auctions.

Lackluster participation by primary dealers could force the government to pay higher interest rates to issue debt, which in turn would hurt the broader economy by raising rates for consumers and companies. Treasury yields are benchmarks for mortgage rates and a variety of other borrowing costs for consumers and companies.

“Adding a few more dealers makes sense. It is more efficient for the government to place their debt and there will be more liquidity for the market,” said James Caron, global head of interest-rate strategy at Morgan Stanley in New York, a primary dealer. “From a selfish perspective as a primary dealer though, it means more competition.”

Many economists forecast the Treasury Department will sell over $1 trillion in net government bond sales for fiscal year 2011 to fund a hefty budget deficit. The tax cuts approved last month by President Barack Obama to stimulate the economy will increase the shortfall.

Currently, there are 18 primary dealers in the U.S. government bond market, including Goldman Sachs, Barclays, HSBC, Morgan Stanley, J.P. Morgan and BNP Paribas. They trade directly with the Fed and are obligated to underwrite Treasury auctions. (See the full list.)

Becoming a primary dealer raises a company’s status in the industry, potentially boosting trading revenues from the Treasury market while helping the firms expand business in the broader fixed-income markets, including corporate bonds, mortgage-backed securities and municipal debt.

Several banks have applied to join the pool over the past year, including French bank Societe Generale SA, Canadian bank Scotia Capital, the investment-banking arm of the Bank of Nova Scotia, and MF Global, the world’s largest broker of exchange-traded futures and options that is headquartered in New York.

These companies have talked to the central bank regularly as part of the application process, and applications from some of the firms have entered into the final stage, according to several people with direct knowledge of the matter. That increased the chances that some of the applicants could be approved by the first half of this year, these people said.

A spokesman for Societe Generale, declined to comment Monday. A spokeswoman for MF Global and a spokesman for Scotia Capital, weren’t available for comments Monday. There is a public holiday in Canada Monday.

The Fed hasn’t added any new dealer to the pool since July 2009 when Nomura Securities International Inc. became the 18th member. Several banks have applied but the approval process has been lengthened after the central bank tightened rules for prospective dealers in January 2010, including an increase of capital requirements from $50 million to $150 million.

“The Fed wants high-quality and well managed institutions as dealers,” said Ward McCarthy, chief financial economist within the fixed income group at Jefferies & Co., a primary dealer. “The number of dealers is relatively small from a historic perspective but quantity is not their focus,” he said. Adding a few more dealers will help the Fed to withdraw monetary stimulus down the road, McCarthy added.

The Fed’s balance sheet has swollen beyond $2 trillion after the 2008 financial crisis. The central bank launched a $600 billion Treasury-bond buying program in early November, aiming to encourage consumer spending and spur economic growth. There have been some concerns by market participants that the primary dealer group may struggle to absorb the large-scale asset sales the central bank may have to undertake to withdraw the liquidity it has pumped into the system.

blogs.wsj.com/economics/2011/01/03/fed-likely-to-add-new-dealers-for-treasury-market/

[sandi66]

Boehner to Become New House Speaker

VOA News 03 January 2011

Republican John Boehner is to become the new speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday when the new Congress convenes.

The House speaker is the top-ranking position in the chamber and is elected by members of the party in power. The speaker helps set the party's legislative agenda and may preside over House debates, in addition to fulfilling regular duties representing his or her congressional district.

Boehner was selected by House Republicans as the speaker-designate in November after his party won control of the chamber from Democrats. He assumes the post after a vote by the full House on Wednesday. He is to give a speech outlining his plans for leading the chamber, which is four times larger and often more volatile than the Senate.

The 61-year-old Boehner is expected to take a more low-key approach to his transition to office than did his predecessor, Nancy Pelosi, the first female House speaker. Pelosi has been selected by Democrats to serve as House minority leader.

Boehner's aides say he will take the first few days slowly, rather than imitate the flurry of activity during Pelosi's first 100 hours as speaker.

Boehner has arranged for a reading Thursday of the U.S. Constitution on the House floor, fulfilling the wishes of Tea Party-backed Republicans who say the country has strayed from its founding principles.

In the coming days, he also is expected to preside over a mainly symbolic vote to repeal the new health care reform law that was a top domestic priority of President Barack Obama. The repeal effort is unlikely to succeed, as it would have to be approved by the majority-Democratic Senate and the president himself.

Boehner has said voters have sent a message to President Obama that the country needs to change course. He also said his Republican majority in the House will stand for a smaller, less costly and more accountable government.

Boehner, a small-business owner from a working-class family in the state of Ohio, was elected to Congress in 1990 and was one of seven freshman congressmen who gained notoriety by exposing corruption within the lawmaking body. He is the sole member of that group still in office.

www.voanews.com/english/news/usa/-Boehner-to-Become-New-House-Speaker-112820529.html

[sandi66]

The New Republic: What To Like In The New Congress
by E. J. Dionne



January 3, 2011
E.J. Dionne, Jr. is a Washington Post columnist and a senior fellow at the Brookings Institution. He is the author of Souled Out: Reclaiming Faith and Politics After the Religious Right.

Welcome to the Republicans who take over the House of Representatives this week. Since it is a new year, let us be optimistic about what this development means for our nation.

There is already a standard line of advice to Speaker-to-be John Boehner and his colleagues that goes like this: Democrats overreached in the last Congress by doing too much and ignoring "the center." Republicans should be careful not to make the same mistake, lest they lose their majority, too.

This counsel is wrong, partly because the premise is faulty. Democrats did not overreach in the last Congress. On the contrary, they compromised regularly. Compromise made the health care bill far more complicated than it had to be and the original stimulus bill too small. Democrats would have been better off getting more done more quickly, and more coherently.

And majorities are elected to govern according to their best lights. Like it or not, Republicans won the House in last year's election. They can be expected to do what they said they would do. And, yes, they have the advantage of knowing that if they pass truly outlandish stuff to satisfy their base, most of it will be blocked by the Senate or President Obama.

Republican House leaders are going in for a lot of symbolism, and why not? Symbols matter in politics.

Thus the new majority will open the next Congress with a full reading of the Constitution and establish a rule requiring that every new bill contain a statement citing the constitutional authority behind it.

My first response was to scoff at this obvious sop to the Tea Party movement. One can imagine that the rule's primary practical result will be the creation of a small new House bureaucracy responsible for churning out constitutional justifications for whatever gets introduced.

But on reflection, I offer the Republicans two cheers for their fealty to their professed ideals. We badly need a full-scale debate over what the Constitution is, means and allows — and how Americans have argued about these questions since the beginning of the republic. This provision should be the springboard for a discussion all of us should join.

From its inception, the Tea Party movement has treated the nation's great founding document not as the collection of shrewd political compromises that it is, but as the equivalent of sacred scripture.

Yet as Gordon Wood, the widely admired historian of the Revolutionary era has noted, we "can recognize the extraordinary character of the Founding Fathers while also knowing that those 18th-century political leaders were not outside history… They were as enmeshed in historical circumstances as we are, they had no special divine insight into politics, and their thinking was certainly not free of passion, ignorance, and foolishness."

An examination of the Constitution that views it as something other than the books of Genesis or Leviticus would be good for the country.

As for the House Republicans' plan to gut pay-as-you-go budget rules by not requiring offsets for tax cuts, it's ridiculous by the ordinary rules of mathematics. Tax cuts add to the deficit no less than spending increases do.

But here again, the Republicans' approach might bring a certain clarity to our muddled fiscal debates. It could force them to show — more quickly than their pollsters might like — how much they would have to eviscerate government to cover the costs of their tax-cut obsession.

One other thing: When Democrats held the majority, their control depended in part on holding moderate-to-conservative districts. This created a running story line about the disaffection of vulnerable Democrats with various liberal policies.

The new Republican House majority, by contrast, depends on holding moderate-to-liberal districts. As Shane D'Aprile usefully reported last week on The Hill's Ballot Box blog, 31 of the newly elected Republican House members represent districts that Obama carried in 2008, bringing to 62 the number of House Republicans hailing from Obama districts.

Reapportionment may change this a bit, and there is no guarantee that Obama will carry all those districts in 2012. Still, a large number of GOP House members will have to look at least occasionally over their left shoulders. How the House leadership accommodates this brute political fact will be one of the best stories of the next two years.

So let's celebrate. It can only be good for democratic deliberation if holding the majority requires House Republicans to show their policy and philosophical cards. They'll legislate. You'll decide.

www.npr.org/2011/01/04/132616433/the-new-republic-what-to-like-about-the-new-congress

[sandi66]

Editorial: Raise the stakes for Constitution gambit

Athens Banner-Herald

Published Tuesday, January 04, 2011

History will be made this week, when the Constitution is read on the floor of the U.S. House of Representatives. According to a United Press International report, the House Historian's Office "has no record of the Constitution being read on the House floor." The reading is part of a new package of rules for the House, which representatives are expected to approve Wednesday, the day before Ohio Republican Rep. John Boehner is sworn in as the new speaker of the House. Plans call for the Constitution to be read Thursday on the House floor.

It's certainly possible to see the reading as a conscientious and patriotic initiative of the House, now dominated by the GOP as a result of November's elections. But, given the fact that those electoral results, in large part, came courtesy of the various "tea party" groups around the country, and the House candidates who relied on their support to be elected, it's also possible to see the reading as a mere political sop to the general urging of the "tea partyers" that Congress limit itself to actions which, in their view, adhere strictly to the Constitution.

Insofar as the reading of the Constitution can be seen as nothing but a perfunctory nod to conservative voters, then neither the tea party activists - nor, frankly, the rest of us - should be satisfied that it represents adequate fealty to one of this country's foundational documents. Indeed, as the UPI report reminds us, Boehner last fall said, "We always hear members of Congress talking about swearing an oath to represent their constituents when in reality the only oath we take is to the Constitution. We pledge 'to support and defend the Constitution of the United States.' No more, no less."

Fair enough. So, if as Boehner correctly notes, members of Congress swear an oath to the Constitution, shouldn't they know exactly what they're swearing to support and defend? And shouldn't the people whom they're elected to serve have every confidence that members of Congress have a deep knowledge of the Constitution - a knowledge that, frankly, can't be imparted by simply reading or hearing its words?

All of that is to suggest that, instead of merely having the Constitution read to demonstrate his and his colleagues' devotion and dedication to it, maybe Boehner - or maybe the tea partyers, or maybe everyone in this country - should insist that Congress be tested on its knowledge of the document.

It might be too much to expect our elected representatives in Washington to have a nuanced knowledge of constitutional law, or to have walking-around familiarity with "letters of marque and reprisal." However, it would seem that a group of collegiate political science professors could come up with an exam which would measure, and indicate, some mastery of the Constitution's content and concepts.

Certainly, members of Congress shouldn't be expected to tackle the test without first getting a chance to study the Constitution in detail. However, members should be expected to sit for the exam after a few weeks of college-level instruction and some independent study.

And what about grading, and consequences? Well, maybe those members of Congress who demonstrate a substandard knowledge of the document they swear to support and defend would be required to forfeit their paychecks for the remainder of their terms, and would lose their committee assignments. Those who demonstrated an adequate, but not impressive, command of the Constitution might be allowed to keep their pay and committee assignments, but wouldn't be allowed to introduce or co-sponsor legislation.

That would leave only those in Congress who demonstrate a firm understanding of the Constitution with the full power, authority and perquisites of their office. And, in the end, aren't those the kind of people we should want in Congress?

www.onlineathens.com/stories/010411/opi_764958459.shtml

[sandi66]

January 5, 2011 at 8:20 AM EDT

Boehner Set to Take the Speaker's Gavel, Putting GOP Back in Control

After 20 years in Congress and a midterm election that saw his party net 63 seats, Ohio Republican John Boehner will become the 61st Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives on Wednesday.

The incoming speaker will begin his day by attending a 9 a.m. bipartisan prayer service at St. Peter's Catholic Church just a few blocks from the Capitol.

At noon, the House will be called to order, followed by a vote for speaker, with lawmakers making their choice known by voice.

At approximately 2 p.m., outgoing House Speaker Nancy Pelosi will deliver brief introductory remarks before handing the gavel over to Boehner, who will then address the members-elect before taking the oath of office.

The New York Times' Carl Hulse has a must-read look at the new speaker and the political reality he faces in the 112th Congress. "Driven from his party's leadership in 1998 and sidelined for nearly a decade, Mr. Boehner, a 61-year-old Ohio native who revels in his big-family, Roman Catholic roots, now faces the challenge of harnessing the Tea Party zeal that propelled him to power without disheartening those who might be expecting too much," Hulse writes.

Paul Kane of the Washington Post, meanwhile, looks forward to the Republicans' legislative agenda, including a vote next week to repeal the health care law enacted last spring. Kane writes: "Much of what Republicans do will be symbolic, given that Democrats still control the Senate and the White House. But the quick action will allow Rep. John A. Boehner (R-Ohio), the incoming speaker, and House Republicans to follow through on campaign pledges and to try to establish their party as a bulwark against what they see as an out-of-control government."

Following the official action on the floor, the freshly-minted speaker will participate in the ceremonial swearing-in with new members and their families, which is expected to last a few hours. The first major legislative action expected on the House floor will come Thursday when Republicans are expected push to cut the operating budgets of committees and offices by $35 million as a sign they intend to follow through on their campaign pledge to rein in government spending.

THE SENATE

The Senate also convenes at noon. Although most of the attention will be rightly focused on the House, there are some key things to watch for as 13 new senators prepare to join the world's most deliberative body.

Vice President Joe Biden will preside over the swearing-in of the new senators, as well as the old timers who were reelected in 2010.

We are most curious to watch the vice president's swearing-in interactions with Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, John McCain, Lisa Murkowski, Mario Rubio and John Thune.

Senators will then head to the Old Senate Chamber for a re-enactment photo-op with Vice President Biden.

No real legislative business is expected to take place, but Reid is expected to refrain from formally adjourning so that when the Senate returns to work on Jan. 24, it will still be treated as the first day of the session. This will allow a rules change surrounding the use of the filibuster to still take place by a majority vote if Democrats and Republicans are unable to work out a compromise.

On Tuesday, Sen. Tom Udall, D-N.M., and Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., debated the rules of debate on the NewsHour. To our ears, it sounds like there might be some room from compromise.

OBAMA'S NEW TEAM

Don't forget to take some time Wednesday to look down Pennsylvania Avenue. It is, no doubt, a day full of congressional pomp, and nothing can really steal the show from Boehner getting that gavel in hand.

But talk of a staff shakeup at the White House has reached critical mass, and it's more likely than not that we'll begin to see some movement Wednesday.

POLITICO's Glenn Thrush and Amie Parnes look ahead to Robert Gibbs' departure not just from the press secretary's podium, but from the White House.

"Until recently, many in the building had expected Gibbs to stay. But according to sources, he is now seriously considering an exit from the West Wing -- a move that would allow him to work on Obama's 2012 reelection campaign and act as a media surrogate for the president, the sources say," they write.

Deputy White House Press Secretary Bill Burton and Vice President Biden's communications director Jay Carney appear to be on the short list of candidates to replace Gibbs.

The Washington Post looks at as many as eight people taking on new roles inside the West Wing.

President Obama is eager to have his new team announced and in place in advance of his State of the Union address on Jan. 25.

www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/2011/01/boehner-set-to-take-the-speakers-gavel-putting-republicans-back-control-of-the-house.html

[sandi66]

Republicans Take Over House With Agenda to Undo Spending, Health Care

Published January 05, 2011
| FoxNews.com

WASHINGTON -- No wonder John Boehner keeps getting re-elected. He's got 11 siblings -- 10 of whom have traveled among four busloads of friends and family from Ohio to Washington to attend the ceremonial swearing-in of the new House speaker and 112th Congress on Wednesday.

At noon, the first session of the new Republican-led Congress begins. Up on the rostrum, the speaker's chair will be the one used on opening day by every speaker since Texas legend Sam Rayburn. After Nancy Pelosi hands over the gavel and moves to minority position -- a reversal of the two leaders' roles four years ago -- Boehner will participate in ceremonial oaths in the Capitol room named after Rayburn, who was a Democrat.

And in a gesture of solemnity that just may work for a day, the entire Constitution will be read aloud.

After taking the speaker's gavel, Boehner will commit to restoring the House as an institution focused on listening to the American people and declare an end to congressional maneuvers that have made it easy to avoid tough choices, his aides say.

Expect wet eyes and grand pronouncements as the new speaker delivers a speech in which he acknowledges how temporary his position will be if Republicans don't live up to the will of the American people.

"They have reminded us that everything here is on loan from them. That includes this gavel, which I accept cheerfully and gratefully, knowing I am but its caretaker," Boehner will say, according to an excerpt obtained by Fox News. "What they want is a government that is honest, accountable and responsive to their needs. A government that respects individual liberty, honors our heritage, and bows before the public it serves."

The new GOP majority vows to cut the congressional budget as one of its first actions -- and repeal the health care law, a pledge that's unlikely to be filled. Referring to past legislation as "job killing," Boehner will vow that the GOP's focus will then turn to stopping the government spending binge, though maybe not as much as the American voters are seeking.

The first spending cut vote is set for Thursday, a 5 percent reduction in the amount ticketed for lawmakers' and committees' offices and leadership staff. Aides estimate the savings at $35 million over the next nine months.

Republicans have pledged to vote at least once a week on bills that cut spending. And Cantor challenged President Obama to include significant spending cuts in his State of the Union address on Jan. 25.

But with 2012 campaigns getting underway soon, Obama and congressional Republicans will have to decide whether conflict or compromise works best.

Obama told reporters aboard Air Force One on Tuesday that he expects Republicans initially to "play to their base."

"But I'm pretty confident that they're going to recognize that our job is to govern and make sure that we are delivering jobs for the American people," he added. "My hope is that John Boehner and (Senate GOP leader) Mitch McConnell will realize that there will be plenty of time to campaign for 2012 in 2012."

For her part, soon-to-be-minted House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi will also deliver remarks. Already on Tuesday, she said it has been the Democratic Party's "mantra" to cut deficits. She added that jobs have been and will be the other big priority for Democrats.

"Democrats will judge what comes before Congress by whether it creates jobs, strengthens our middle class and reduces the deficit -- not burdening future generations with debt. When the new Speaker of the House, John Boehner, and the new Republican majority, come forward with solutions that address these American challenges, you will find in us a willing partner," she will say, according to an excerpt released in advance.

Already, the incoming GOP majority prepared to break its own new rules next week when the House votes, without hearings or a chance to make changes, to cancel Obama's signature health care law -- even though the document is only two pages long.

"It's not like we haven't litigated this for over a year," Boehner said.

Claims have also been made that the repeal would undo another pledge to reduce spending, since the Congressional Budget Office concluded the health care law as passed would cut spending by $143 billion over the next decade. Incoming House Majority Leader Eric Cantor suggested CBO had to cook the books since it's only allowed to use numbers provided to it from the sources requesting the estimate of the bill's cost.

"Everyone knows ... this bill has the potential to bankrupt the federal government and the states," Cantor said.

On the Senate side, the clock moves more slowly. Democrats are pledging to vote on removing senators' filibuster options -- an effort they say will make it easier to pass legislation in a divided chamber by reducing the 60-vote threshold to move forward on bills to a simple majority of 51. That would make bills a lot easier to pass in a Democratic-led chamber whose majority has been reduced form 60 to 53.

The filibuster rules were last changed more than a quarter-century ago, when the number of votes needed to end the stalling tactic was reduced to 60. A two-thirds majority had previously been required.

"The brazenness of this proposed action is that Democrats are proposing to use the very tactics that in the past almost every Democratic leader has denounced, including President Obama and Vice President Biden,"` Sen. Lamar Alexander, R-Tenn., said in a speech Tuesday.

On the other hand, the shrunken Democratic ranks give Republicans leverage to bargain for a reduction in spending on items like a $1.4 billion food safety measure Obama signed Tuesday.

www.foxnews.com/politics/2011/01/05/gop-house-takeover-sets-stage-fight-obama/

[sandi66]

Boehner elected House Speaker, replaces Pelosi

Wed Jan 5, 2011 2:24pm EST

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - Republican John Boehner was elected on Wednesday as speaker of the House of Representatives, replacing Democrat Nancy Pelosi.

Boehner was chosen in a vote by the full 435-member House, shortly after the Republican-led chamber convened, ending four years of Democratic rule.

www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE70445T20110105

[sandi66]

Top U.S. Official Murdered After Arkansas Weapons Test Causes Mass Death

January 5, 2011

A shocking report prepared for Prime Minister Putin by the Foreign Military Intelligence Directorate (GRU) states that one of the United States top experts in biological and chemical weapons was brutally murdered after he threatened to expose a U.S. Military test of poison gas that killed hundreds of thousands of animals in Arkansas this past week.

According to this report, John P. Wheeler III, Special Assistant to the Secretary of the Air Force, Washington, D.C. from 2005-2008, when he became the Special Assistant to the Acting Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Installations, Logistics and Environment, was found brutally murdered and dumped in a landfill, and as we can read as reported by the Fox News Service

inteltrends.wordpress.com/2011/01/04/top-u-s-official-murdered-after-arkansas-weapons-test-causes-mass-death/

[sandi66]

* Canadian Off-Shore Bank President’s Opinion on the Iraqi Dinar

January 5th, 2011 05:15 pm ·

Here is an opinion from a Canadian friend who is president of an off shore Bank – meets with committees in the UN on a regular basis. – Rich Buy Dinar

Dinar Friends and Colleagues,

Attached is an article titled “Complete Understanding of the Iraqi Dinar Investment”. This is well worth reading as it puts everything into perspective.

I received it just before Christmas and it predicts, among other things, that the RV/RI would happen by Dec 31, 2010. That of course has not happened since I am writing this e-mail to you January 4, 2011. I resisted passing this on to you at the time because I sensed there was more reality than was allowed for in the article.

I believe absolutely that the RV/RI will happen. The attached article does too. However, what is unknown by everyone is the date, the rate and the exact process of getting there.

I have come to believe that there are actually two “mega games” going on – not just one. Iraq wants to get back into the world community of international trade as a sovereign nation. For that to happen, the international community in the form of the IMF, the UN and the Paris Club hold the trump cards, and they are essentially telling Iraq what they have to do to be allowed back into the game. (Note: IMF=International Monetary Fund. The IMF and the UN are essentially controlled by US interests. The Paris Club is an informal association of banking and financial officials from 19 of the worlds largest economies including Western Europe(14), North America(2), Russia, Japan and Australia.) This is the mega game that is easily seen, and the one that gets all the reporting.

I believe the second mega game that is going on is the biggest legal theft in history. The worlds international financial community is anxious to steal the ownership of Iraq’s oil, natural gas and agricultural assets for as little cost as possible. In this game, Iraq holds the trump cards, and their biggest trump card is that the international community does not want the world at large to realize what is really going on. What is really going on is simple.

Iraq is arguably the richest nation in the world in terms of its natural resources – oil, natural gas and agriculture. In 1990, Saddam Hussein gave the international community a golden opportunity to “take control” by invading Kuwait. That 1990 righteous war happened so fast that the international public were not supportive of the “international allies” staying in military control of Iraq long enough to “get the job done” – the militarists had to go back for a second war in 2001. All through the years of these last two decades, the international community – through the imposition of UN Chapter 7, economic and financial sanctions and military occupation has indirectly controlled Iraq. Now, the PLAN.

First the international value of the Iraqi currency was depressed to near zero. Second, (after removal of Saddam Hussein) the New Iraqi Dinar was reprinted … in the many trillions – because its value was so low. At the same time, what existed of the Iraq economy was trashed by war – with the “need” for the international community to do so greatly assisted by the bickering and insurgencies of the various warring factions of the Iraqi people. Next the major banks and major governments of the world set about “supporting” Iraq and its re-development attempts to get back into the world community and at the same time stocked up on the valueless New Iraqi Dinars. This stage was set very simply by the IMF and the US Government “allowing” US brokers and people (and subsequently other countries) to speculate in buying, trading, owning and holding the valueless New Iraqi Dinar.

Now, the final stages are set to play out – the re-instatement or re-valuation of the Iraqi Dinar … i.e., the increase in monetary value of the Iraqi Dinar from $.00086usd to in the order of $3.22 – $16.00usd (according to the attached article) – in increase of at least 375,000% And when that happens, who will own Iraq’s resources? The people who own Iraq’s money – and to a significant extent that is already not Iraq. It is the foreign currency reserves of the worlds major governments and the asset bases of the worlds major banks.

We private people who hold a few Dinars are pawns in the game. By speculating in the Dinar, we give legitimacy to the PLAN. What happens when we “cash in”? We exchange our actual physical Dinars for local virtual Bank Credit – numbers in our bank accounts. And where do the actual Dinars go? They go into the bank’s vault and onto the asset side of the Bank’s balance sheet. And what do the governments do? – they tax us and the banks … in order to pay back their loans with interest to their commercial bankers!!! And what happens when we spend our new found wealth? We give legitimacy to the PLAN and our local economy recovers. And when all the dust settles, who is/are the ultimate winners … the international commercial banking system – that’s why the RV/RI of the Iraqi dinar is an absolutely sure bet. Only the date, the time and the process of getting there are unknown.

So, as I similarly said in a Dinar News sometime back, regardless of all the deadlines set by the IMF, the UN, the Paris Club, or anyone else, and in spite of all the intelligence, information and analysis put forth by the various dinar watcher websites, the RV/RI of the Iraqi dinar will happen when all the major players are satisfied they’ve got the best deal they can possibly negotiate for their own interest group. The only interest group that could possibly rush this is the only group that has no interest in rushing it at all, because they win regardless of how long it takes – and that is the world’s international commercial banking system. And for the largest number of people to never suspect who the real winners are it is important for the process of the world’s governments helping Iraq to get back on its feet to take as long as it needs to.

The good news is that all indications are that the RV/RI day is very close. However, this is a tremendously complex situation and every step taken identifies other steps that must be taken. I’m glad all I have to do is cash in when the time comes.

The latest skuttlebut is January 7-10. We’ll see.

Anonymous (I took the name off to protect this gentleman)


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

DOCUMENT REFERENCED ABOVE:

Complete Understanding of Iraqi Dinar Investment

To be done by Friday 12/31/2010

POPULAR
I Just received this from a fellow investor and wanted to share with everyone.

If you are invested in the Iraqi Dinar (IQD) then you are a Currency Speculator.

What is a Currency Speculator? A currency Speculator is one who is gambling on a rate of a certain currency. Nearly all global currency values rise and lower in a continual ebb and flow dictated by the global economy. Generally speaking the values only rise and lower in the single digit percentages unless in rear cases a catastrophic event occurs such as war.

A currency speculator looks at different economies and gambles on potential outcome that will cause an upward trend in a given currency. Once they make their decision based on their studies, they simple exchange their currency for the currency they are speculating, then watch the global foreign currency exchange market (like Forex) to know when to sell. This practice is very much the same as trading stocks and does carry risks. As with stock, one can minimize their rise by simple doing their homework. For instance, there are some currencies that are against the law to speculate, if you are not aware of this and exchange into that currency, you will not be able to get rid of that currency. There are also counterfeiters in all currencies and if you do not know what to look for in a given currency, you may be buying fancy colored paper instead of an actual currency with a value.

Another key point that you may or may not be aware of is that some currencies have national or international restrictions placed on them, not allowing the currency to be speculated. However a key point I want to make here about our investment. When the PLAN was being formed back in 2003 or before, the IQD was singled out and given a special consideration. A mandate was granted from the IMF (International Monetary Fund) and the US to allow the IQD to be speculated, thus giving us in the know an opportunity of a life time.

The PLAN we speak about was developed many years ago based on the world economy. You see, one would have to do a lot of studding of the global history to see but there is and has been pattern and a need to make global economic adjustments every decade or so based on where the economy is at a given time. When these occur, most of the global population is unaware of the adjustments and if you were paying attention, all you would notice is your governments local economy seems to start doing better. The last time this occurred was after Kuwait was liberated. There was a much smaller window but the fact remains that there were folks the speculated the Kuwait dinar and made millions. In this instance, the need for the global financial adjustment was slight.

As you know by listening and reading in the news, this financial crisis is wide spread and touches every world economy in a major way. The architects of the plan realized the depth and breadth of this serious economic crisis. So the design in this case is huge because it has to be, to jump start economies around the globe. Iraq became the natural target for the needed economic adjustment for many reasons. First and foremost was to oust Saddaam and try him for crimes agent Humanity. The second was when he took control of Iraq; he pulled all of Iraq’s currency and printed his own currency with his face on all of the notes. At this time the standard IQD was pulled off the international market and shelved. The IMF gave it a program rate of 1180 IQD to $1.00 USD (even as far back as this was, the insanely low rate could have been part of the PLAN). This was a major decline in the value which was $3.22 IQD to $1.00 USD.

What took place from that period until now, is as they say, the rest is history. So now we are at the present and there is a ton of people invested in the IQD (actually less than 8% of the total global population) wanting to know when and if Iraq is going to RI/RV their currency.

History and why we know Iraq will RI/RV?

First I want to point out the statement RI/RV. RI represents a Reinstatement of the IQD, which means Iraq would reinstate the Dinar back to per-Saddam value of $3.22 IQD to $1.00 USD. An RV represents a Revalue of the Dinar meaning that they will give their currency a higher value than it once had before the IMF gave them a program rate in the beginning of the Saddaam take over.

There are as many opinions on the topic of RI or RV as there are forums. Along with that only 8% of the global population is invested in IQD. By design, the entire global population cannot know about this and take part because Iraq could not cover that many people being involved. Nor do they have enough IQD for everyone to own some. Just as any country, Iraq knows exactly how much currency they have printed. So to curve speculators Iraq and other governments around the globe have put out false information and propaganda to steer the attention away from what is happening. However, for this to work for the global economy, Iraq and the IMF needed a certain amount of speculators, you and me to accomplish two things.

First Iraq needed us to hold the rate of the IQD stable once they got rid of the Saddaam currency and put their original IQD back out there. We made it stable buy purchasing it through currency exchanges. The daily auction Iraq has been having is to establish a rate and then show the IMF they can hold it stable. The IMF needs a certain amount of speculators; you and me, to boost the economies around the globe, by spending our new found wealth once all is done and Iraq adjust their currency. Just image the impact it is going to have on the us economy when over 1million new millionaires start spending their new found wealth on housing, cars, and goods. That is not to mention the relief the US government will realize from the estimated 7 trillion IQD they hold in the US Foreign Currency Reserves, as well as all of the taxes they will be collection from you and me and this is going to happen in every country on the globe. You start to understand the magnitude and the full breath of the PLAN…

Okay, what is in it for Iraq:

Well first and foremost, we removed a dictator that ran the country without regard to humanity amongst the Iraqi people. He kept them in poverty while he ran one of the most corrupt regimes on the planet. Murder, corruption, fear, and hunger were a way of life for many years.

Lead by the US, the UN and many counters from around the globe liberated Iraq from this dictator and brought him to Iraqi justice, you know the rest.

The collaboration of forces set the stage for Iraq to become the great nation it once was. IT is Iraq’s desire and continual effort to become an upstanding member of the International community once again. They have made great strides as they have worked to get rid of the many atrocities and problems the former regime left in its’ wake. Iraq has worked methodically to eliminate the many road blocks that stand between them and regaining their once proud heritage as a member of the International community and in good standing.

1. There were many resolutions that needed attention

2. There were and still are some sanctions placed on them

3. They were in Chapter 7 protection

4. They had to rework their Constitution

5. There was considerable debt owed to the world governments

6. They had to grasp a full understanding of their financial books, after many years of corrupt book-keeping and the loss of billions of IQD.

The Culmination

There were agreements made with Iraq and the world, namely the UN and the IMF. The UN and IMF explained to the Iraqi leaders of the plan and their role. Iraq says how can w do this, we have nothing but the oil we have in the ground and no other commodity to allow us sell and get funds to rebuild our land to a point where we can start to produce oil to pay back all of the debt the previous regime has left us with.

The UN forces back by the US troops said we have a plan and here it is…

1. See there is a thing called the Paris Club, which is a group of 19 major governments from around the globe. All of which you, Iraq, owe a great deal of money too. In the billions in fact. Well we have put together an agreement that says we, the 19 world economies will forgive your debit as long as you allow each of us to hold your IQD in our Currency Reserves and allow us to eventually return the IQD we are holding for a revalued dinar rate. Furthermore we will not release our entire dinar holdings on you all at once. It will be a controlled return over a period of 24 month. (For this piece, which Iraqi agreed to, they have to RI/RV by Dec. 31st 2010 or the forgiven Debt will be due at once).

2. The IMF will grant you short term loans so you have funds to work with.

3. We will lift Chapter 7 only after you accomplish several things

a. Get your government seated and working

b. 2011 Budget worked out so we see you have included the RI/RV

c. Border disputes with Kuwait

d. Show that you have made great strides in getting the HCL completed.

4. Iraq if you do all of these things, we the UN/IMF will allow you to, at a minimum reinstate you currency at the $3.22 rate it once was at prior to the former regime destroying its value in the international market. We will also allow you to add 20% for cost of living increases that have taken place over the years that your IQD has been out of circulation.

5. As an added incentive, based on the quality and quantity of crude you have in the ground, we will allow you to revalue you currency instead of reinstating it to a value within reason. We are allowing this because based on our investigation of your oil fields… You Iraq will be one of the richest if not the richest countries on the globe. It is your choice as to where you want to revalue your IQD but our projections estimate you could withstand a rate as high as $16.00 IQD to as low as $1.00 USD. We would highly recommend to you that a rate that high will cause many problems and have inherent risk. With all of the news and knowledge regarding your economic potential it would be way to risky to come out with a rate lower then you previous value for $3.22 IQD to $1.00 USD because anyone with enough backing could come in and buy up all of your currency, there by controlling Iraq. It is our opinion that the rate needs to be such to curve further speculation but also be something manageable in the short and long term.

6. We feel a managed float over at least a 24 month period of time, with a controllable rate for now will accomplish what is in the best interest of all. It will allow sustained growth for the Iraqi economy, it will allow Iraq to become a member of the international community once again, and it will allow the IMF to boost the world economy. Also, it will keep someone from coming in and buying up your country…

Summarization:

Iraq has been given a choice,

1. The IMF is saying to Iraq, we are granting you the ability to reinstate your currency at the pre-Saddaam rate of $3.22 with a 20% increase for cost adjustment for the years it was out of circulation. Or because of the potential we see with your economy, we will also allow you to revalue your currency to a rate within reason. If you do this by December 31st 2010, we will agree to allow the Paris Club to forgive your debt and we will lift you from Chapter 7 sanctions. Thus allowing you to rejoin the international community with your currency and trade.

Sanctions that will be lifted:

a. Allows you to have an international recognized currency

i. Which allows you to trade on the Forex

ii. Allows Iraqi stock to be traded on the international market

iii. Allows all of the signed contracts for the oil fields, utilities reconstruction, road construction, building construction to begin

b. Allows you to receive global shipments from all of the ships that have been sitting in your ports.

c. Allows you to finally pay your government employees

d. Allow you to load the smart cards that will pay the Iraqi citizens living expenses for the short term, also pay the retired citizens. All of which have not been reviving anything for some time.

At this point, Iraq has agreed to everything and we are now in the last phases of this plan. We are waiting for Iraq to finally pull the trigger and release the RI/RV between now and Dec. 31st.

I believe the World community and the UN/IMF are not really leaving Iraq a choice and they are tired of Iraq dragging their feet… But, if for some reason they don’t pull the trigger by Dec. 31st, this coming Friday… According to the PLAN this was to happen in 2009… Not sure of all that would come down on them but it certainly would be the end of the current GOI…

The latest Intel we have received is that the message that came out yesterday that the GOI will be breaking for two weeks starting tomorrow is false.

PD claims that they have proof that the GOI is meeting right now and will be all this week.

They are still expecting the RV to happen before Friday and the very bottom rate, the lowest it could be is $3.22.

SO we wait and watch…

theiraqidinar.com/2011/01/05/canadian-off-shore-bank-presidents-opinion-on-the-iraqi-dinar/


ty Chas

[sandi66]

Fifty Words and Phrases in the Constitution Likely to Make John Boehner Cry

by Juli Weiner January 4, 2011, 10:15 AM

Tomorrow, House Republicans—as well as many unsung heroes taking A.P. U.S. History—will read the Constitution aloud in its entirety. As it happens, representatives have never before recited the document on the House floor. Many on the left have dismissed the exercise as pandering political theater—a sacrifice to the angry Tea Party gods. Mother Jones’s David Corn, for instance, characterized the endeavor as “the showy equivalent of wearing a flag pin.” However, Mark Meckler, co-founder of the Tea Party Patriots, lauded the planned proceeding as “pretty extraordinary.” The gods are pleased.

“The reading of the Constitution will occur Jan. 6, one day after the swearing in of Speaker-designate John Boehner, R-Ohio,” The Salt Lake Tribune reports. “The 4,543-word document, including all 27 amendments, could be read aloud in just 30 minutes. But the exercise probably will last longer.” It will most definitely last longer, given Boehner’s propensity to weep in the presence of pomp. But which specific phrases and words are mostly likely to move the Speaker to tears? Our 50 best guesses, below.

1. “All legislative Powers herein granted shall be vested in a Congress of the United States”
2. “Year by the People”
3. “Electors in each State”
4. “shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five Years”
5. “Representatives and direct Taxes shall be apportioned among the several States”
6. “Numbers”
7. “those bound to Service for a Term of Years”
8. “excluding Indians not taxed, three fifths of all other Persons”
9. “three Years after the first Meeting of the Congress”
10. “each State shall have at Least one Representative”
11. “New Hampshire”
12. “When vacancies happen”
13. “Power of Impeachment”
14. “Senate”
15. “the United States”
16. “each Senator shall have one Vote”
17. “No Person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty Years”
18. “an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen”
19. “The Vice President of the United States”
20. “divided”
21. “President pro tempore”
22. “the Office of President of the United States”
23. “the”
24. “Oath or Affirmation”
25. “no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two thirds of the Members present”
26. “disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor”
27. “shall nevertheless”
28. “subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment”
29. “Times, Places and Manner”
30. “may at any time”
31. “The Congress shall assemble at least once in every Year”
32. “different Day”
33. “a Majority of each shall constitute a Quorum to do Business”
34. “from day to day”
35. “compel the Attendance of absent Members”
36. “Rules of its Proceedings”
37. “punish its Members”
38. “and, with the”
39. “two thirds”
40. “a Journal of its Proceedings”
41. “Yeas and Nays”
42. “more than three days”
43. “sitting”
44. “Treason, Felony and Breach of the Peace”
45. “going to and returning from the same”
46. “Place”
47. “the Authority of the United States”
48. “Senate” (different “Senate” from No. 14)
49. “whereof shall have been”
50. “Section 7”

And that’s just Article I!

www.vanityfair.com/online/daily/2011/01/50-words-and-phrases-in-the-constitution-likely-to-make-john-boehner-cry.html

[sandi66]

House to open with reading of Constitution

Published: Jan. 6, 2011 at 7:30 AM

WASHINGTON, Jan. 6 (UPI) -- U.S. House Republican leaders, fulfilling a pledge to make the chamber Constitution-focused, open Thursday's session by reading the document.

Historians say the exercise will be the first time the Constitution has been read in chamber although it has been inserted as part of the congressional record.

The man responsible, Rep. Bob Goodlatte, R-Va., told Fox News the reading goes beyond a simple ninth-grade civics lesson.

"This is a very symbolic showing to the American people," Goodlatte said, "and it's a powerful message to members of Congress. We are a nation of laws, not of men."

House Speaker John Boehner of Ohio will kick off the exercise by reading the Constitution's preamble, Fox said. House Majority Leader Eric Cantor, R-Va., is schedule to read Article 1, Section 1, followed by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., reading Article 1, Section 2.

Goodlatte estimated it will take about 90 minutes to read the Constitution and all of its amendments. He said representatives will use one copy of the document that will be passed among members during the reading.

Republicans have changed House rules to require proposed legislation to cite the section of the Constitution giving Congress the authority to enact the measure.

www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/01/06/House-to-open-with-reading-of-Constitution/UPI-11911294317012/?dailybrief

[sandi66]

Paul Volcker Gives Up, Resigning as Obama Advisor

By TraderMark|Jan 6, 2011, 1:12 PM

I originally had high hopes when the news broke that Paul Volcker would work as an advisor for the Obama administration. This was a no nonsense, tell it like it is guy who actually has the ‘people’s’ interest in mind. But hope goes to Washington D.C. only to die. The man was marginalized dramatically by Larry Summers, and any impact he had on financial “regulation” was effectively loop holed to death by the banking lobbyists. I give him credit for hanging in there for 2 years – I would have thrown my hands up in disgust by day 2.

Lobbyist dollars by top 10 banks 1st half 2010 (representing perhaps 300K Americans): $16.3M
Lobbyist dollar by consumer protection groups (representing 300M+ Americans): $0.8M

—————————–

Charlie Gasparino, formerly of CNBC, wrote a nice summary of the situation in The Daily Beast: Volcker Rule is a Sad End to a Brilliant Career.

He’s one of the greatest economists of our time and tamed inflation as Fed chief, but when Paul Volcker resigns as Obama’s adviser, he’ll be forever tied to a watered-down financial reform that won’t prevent another collapse.

One of the saddest things about Paul Volcker’s probable resignation as one of President Obama’s top economic advisers is how he will be remembered. He won’t just be the Fed chairman who decades earlier performed a national service by defeating the economic evil known as inflation, but the bureaucrat who helped craft a convoluted financial “reform” law that has done little in the way of reforming activities that caused the 2008 financial collapse.

Volcker spent much of his first year in the administration with very little influence on economic policy. The White House and its economic brain trust of Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, chief economist Larry Summers, and senior adviser Valerie Jarrett were still cozying up to bankers and campaign contributors like JPMorgan Chase’s Jamie Dimon and Goldman Sachs’ Lloyd Blankfein. They didn’t want to hear advice from the crazy old man who showed up occasionally at economic policy meetings and groused about putting an end to Wall Street risk-taking once and for all.

Volcker didn’t seem to care. He spent long hours devising his plan to take Wall Street out of the risk-taking business, meeting occasionally with bankers he knew and trusted from his days as Fed chairman and later as a chief economist for an independent investment firm. These people said he spent most of his time listening to how Wall Street changed over the past three decades leading to the financial collapse, how it became less of a business that was paid to give advice and more of a gambling den that rolled the dice with shareholders’ money with little accountability from regulators.

Volcker, of course, had never really liked the big banks. He once quipped that the greatest innovation coming from the men of high finance was the ATM. He didn’t like the banks when he was Fed chairman, certainly not when he was out of government (just check some of his speeches), and certainly not now. And because of that, the bankers’ friends in high places, namely Geithner and Summers and ultimately the president himself, marginalized Volcker’s plan to make Wall Street a safer place.

wallstreetpit.com/56113-paul-volcker-gives-up-resigning-as-obama-advisor

[sandi66]

Foreclosures May Be Undone by State Ruling on Mortgage Transfer

By Thom Weidlich


Jan. 6 (Bloomberg) -- Massachusetts’s highest court is poised to rule on whether foreclosures in the state should be undone because securitization-industry practices violate real- estate law governing how mortgages may be transferred.

The fight between homeowners and banks before the Supreme Judicial Court in Boston turns on whether a mortgage can be transferred without naming the recipient, a common securitization practice. Also at issue is whether the right to a mortgage follows the promissory note it secures when the note is sold, as the industry argues.

A victory for the homeowners may invalidate some foreclosures and force loan originators to buy back mortgages wrongly transferred into loan pools. Such a ruling may also be cited in other state courts handling litigation related to the foreclosure crisis.

“This is the first time the securitization paradigm is squarely before a high court,” said Marie McDonnell, a mortgage-fraud analyst in Orleans, Massachusetts, who wrote a friend-of-the-court brief in favor of borrowers. The state court, under its practices, is likely to rule by next month.

Claims of wrongdoing by banks and loan servicers triggered a 50-state investigation last year into whether hundreds of thousands of foreclosures were properly documented as the housing market collapsed. The probe came after JPMorgan Chase & Co. and Ally Financial Inc. said they would stop repossessions in 23 states where courts supervise home seizures and Bank of America Corp. froze U.S. foreclosures. Massachusetts is one of 27 states where court supervision of foreclosures generally isn’t required.

Took Their Homes
The Massachusetts homeowners argued that the banks that took their homes didn’t follow their own rules for transferring mortgages into mortgage-backed trusts that issued bonds. The banks and the mortgage-bundling industry counter that the securitization documents themselves assign the mortgages.

If loans weren’t transferred properly, the banks that sponsored such trusts may have to repurchase them, Adam J. Levitin, an associate professor at Georgetown University Law Center in Washington, said in prepared testimony in the U.S. House of Representatives in November.

If the problem is widespread enough, it may cost the banks trillions of dollars and make them insolvent, Levitin said.

There is “a surprising lack of consensus” as to “what method of transferring notes and mortgages is actually supposed to be used in securitization and whether that method is legally sufficient,” he said.

Persuasive Ruling
While real-estate law varies by state, litigants may point to decisions from other jurisdictions as being persuasive.

“It ties into a theme nationally,” said Professor Kurt Eggert of the Chapman University School of Law in Orange, California. “The broader theme is the argument that efficiency of transfer is more important than real-property law.”

The Massachusetts cases started in 2005 when Rose Mortgage Inc. lent Antonio Ibanez $103,500 and Option One Mortgage Corp. lent Mark and Tammy LaRace $129,000, according to court papers. Ibanez and the LaRaces stopped paying on their adjustable-rate subprime mortgage loans and were foreclosed on in 2007.

By that time, US Bancorp and Wells Fargo & Co. said they controlled the loans, which had been subsumed in mortgage-backed trusts. The banks bought the homes in foreclosure auctions in July 2007.

‘Substantial Discount’
They were the only bidders, buying “at a substantial discount” from the appraised values and “wiping out all of the defendants’ equity,” according to a lower-court ruling.

The banks had initially filed the state-court lawsuits to obtain judicial approval of the use of the Boston Globe to announce auctions in Springfield, Massachusetts.

Massachusetts Land Court Judge Keith C. Long in Boston ordered the banks to prove they had the right to foreclose in the first place.

In March 2009, he ruled they didn’t. Published notices listed U.S. Bancorp unit U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo as the foreclosing parties when they weren’t the actual mortgage holders at the time of the 2007 auction, a violation of state law, the judge said.

The Ibanez mortgage had been transferred to U.S. Bancorp 14 months after the auction, and the LaRace mortgage was transferred to Wells Fargo 10 months after, the judge said.
Long voided the two foreclosures, saying U.S. Bancorp and Wells Fargo didn’t own the mortgages.

‘Standard Practice’
“It was not only common, it was the standard practice” to foreclose before doing the mortgage transfer, said Richard D. Vetstein, a real estate lawyer in Framingham, Massachusetts, who isn’t involved in the case. “Judge Long kind of changed the rules in the middle of the game.”

In October 2009, Long denied the banks’ request to change his decision because of new evidence purportedly showing that the mortgages were effectively transferred to their control by the documents establishing the mortgage-backed trusts.

The judge found that even if the documents could assign the mortgages, fatal missteps occurred in transferring them to the loan pool. Long said it was important to address the new facts and arguments “since they are alleged to be common to many securitized loans.”

Rose Mortgage, the original lender to Ibanez, endorsed the promissory note and assigned the mortgage to Option One Mortgage, which was also the LaRace couple’s original lender.

Option One endorsed both notes and assigned both mortgages “in blank,” meaning no assignee was identified. The loan passed eventually into the trusts overseen by U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo.

Mortgage Assignment
Long said the banks couldn’t foreclose without a mortgage assignment that could be recorded in a local land office. The assignments they had didn’t pass muster, he said, because they didn’t name the assignee.

“These blank mortgage assignments were never recorded and they were not legally recordable,” he said.

At the time of the foreclosures, Option One, not U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo, held the mortgages because the blank assignments “transferred nothing,” according to Long. Option One was then owned by H&R Block Inc. and is now owned by American Home Mortgage.

Stephen F.J. Ornstein, a Washington partner of the Chicago- based law firm SNR Denton LLP, said there’s nothing wrong with making blank mortgage assignments.

‘Quite Common’
“It’s quite common,” said Ornstein, who has co-written an article on mortgage loan transfers to securitization trusts. “The fact that the mortgages were assigned in blank doesn’t invalidate the foreclosures. The trial-court judge was terribly misguided there.”

The judge also rejected the banks’ contention that having the note, the blank mortgage assignment and a contractual right to obtain the mortgage gave them the “indicia of ownership” of the mortgage.

“Even a valid transfer of the note does not automatically transfer the mortgage,” Long wrote. In this case, U.S. Bank and Wells Fargo owned the notes while Option One owned the mortgages, he said. The banks’ title-defect problem “is entirely of their own making as a result of their own failure to comply with the statute and the directions in their own securitization documents,” Long wrote.

The American Securitization Forum, an industry lobbying group, said in a Nov. 16 white paper that Long “cast doubt on the ‘mortgage-follows-the-note’ rule.”

The Supreme Judicial Court heard the banks’ appeals of Long’s rulings on Oct. 7. They argued that the documents they received that bundled the loans into pools legally transferred them the mortgages.

‘New Business Model’
“The record in this case reflects how mortgage lending changed in recent years and how the industry failed to ensure that its new business model conformed to state law,” Massachusetts Attorney General Martha Coakley wrote in a brief supporting the borrowers.

Teri Charest, a spokeswoman for Minneapolis-based US Bancorp, the fifth-largest U.S. bank by deposits, referred questions to American Home Mortgage Servicing Inc., the servicer of the mortgages. Philippa Brown, a spokeswoman for Coppell, Texas-based American Home Mortgage, said in an e-mail that agreements to pool mortgages that formed the basis for issuing bonds were sufficient to make transfers effective.

The agreements “assigned and transferred the borrowers’ mortgages and notes to the two securitization trustees at issue,” giving them the authority to foreclose, Brown said.

Appeal Brief
Jason Menke, a spokesman for San Francisco-based Wells Fargo, the fourth-largest U.S. lender by assets, said American Home Mortgage filed the appeal brief on the trusts’ behalf.

The banks, acting as trustees on behalf of the owners of debt issued based on bundled home loans, argued in their brief that borrowers can’t challenge their compliance with securitization agreements because they aren’t parties to them.

The Securities Industry and Financial Markets Association, Wall Street’s largest lobbying group, said in a statement Oct. 20 that customary securitization methods, which it described in terms similar to the Ibanez and LaRace assignments, “are sound and in accordance with generally applicable legal principles.”

Katrina Cavalli, a spokeswoman for the organization, declined to comment.

The banks said that if the Supreme Judicial Court upholds Long, the ruling should apply only to future foreclosures. Some people who bought from other homeowners -- possibly as long as 15 years ago -- would lose their property because of the bad chain of title, the Real Estate Bar Association for Massachusetts said in a brief to the high court.

Wreaked Havoc
Vetstein, the Framingham lawyer, said Long’s rulings have wreaked havoc, putting hundreds or thousands of Massachusetts foreclosures in limbo.

The home-loan-bundling industry bears the responsibility and should bear the cost of such title disputes, Coakley, the state attorney general, told the state high court.

“Having profited greatly from practices regarding the assignment and securitization of mortgages not grounded in the law, it is reasonable for them to bear the cost of failing to ensure that such practices conformed to Massachusetts law,” she wrote.

Glenn F. Russell Jr., a lawyer in Fall River, Massachusetts, who represented the LaRaces before the state high court, said the mortgages were illegally transferred because the banks and servicers were interested in maximizing their business volume.

“The most insidious part of this is, it’s the roof over someone’s head you were playing around with,” said Russell, who added: “And then they said, ‘Who’s going to challenge us?’”

The case is U.S. Bank v. Ibanez, 10694, Supreme Judicial Court of Massachusetts (Boston). The lower-court cases are U.S. Bank National Association v. Ibanez, 08-Misc-384283, and Wells Fargo Bank NA v. LaRace, 08-Misc-386755, Commonwealth of Massachusetts, Trial Court, Land Court Department (Boston).


To contact the reporter on this story: Thom Weidlich in Brooklyn, New York, federal court at [e-mail].
To contact the editor responsible for this story: David E. Rovella at [e-mail].

Last Updated: January 6, 2011 00:01 EST

•Foreclosures May Be Undone by State Ruling on Mortgage Transfer


noir.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=aVXTQnqBjKxo&pos=10



ty joye

[sandi66]

* TerryK Rumor: G.E.T. 1/7/11 (Confirmation of IQD Rate on Forex)
January 7th, 2011 02:17 pm · Posted in RUMORS
11:40 AM [terryk]HOLY crap
[terryk] just all hang on
[terryk] let me get al in here [terryk] ok al is here
[terryk] we ready al
[terryk] room we have an annoucnement to make
[amadden] yes we are
[terryk] if what we have is correct and we feel 99.999 that it is
[terryk] we have have a confirmed rate [terryk] on the screen from forex
[terryk] 5.27 [terryk]telling you all this here first [terryk] 5.27
[terryk] you will not be able to see it [terryk] i got this from the forex contact
[terryk] and al has been able to confirm thru his source
[amadden] it is only on the Banking side (Forex) only
[terryk] and al has been able to confirm thru his source
[amadden] it is only on the Banking side (Forex) only
[terryk] the cash in will be monday
[amadden] the rate is live!!!
[terryk] yea thats the term that was used
[terryk] live rate
[amadden] or Tuesday
[amadden] mjwagg live rate is for the banks to gear up for the expected influx of people and put larger reserves on the order ($$$)
[benrinca] let’s keep grounded folks
[wycoffjul] I just got off the with my Chase Banker that is watich it for me and she said she is seeing .0216 , isn’t that higher than what we were seeing?
[mikev] sweetvirgodinar he is still calculating and probably in shock

theiraqidinar.com/2011/01/07/terryk-rumor-g-e-t-1711-confirmation-of-iqd-rate-on-forex/

[sandi66]

Jim Rogers: Invest in Rare Earth Metals Right Now

Friday, 07 Jan 2011 07:35 AM Article Font Size

By Forrest Jones

Rare earth metals, used in a variety of scientific and industrial processes, are due for a sharp upswing in price due to supply concerns, says legendary commodities investor Jim Rogers. China controls more than 97 percent of the world's rare earth metals and has said it will crack down on illegal mining as well as curb exports.

"The future of rare earth is great. What is happening is the prices are going through the roof because the Chinese do control the supply, but it is pure simple capitalistic economics now,” Rogers tells India’s business television channel ET Now.

The time to buy rare earth metals — used in green energy and high-tech components such as wind turbines, fiber-optic cables, cell phones and flat-screen monitors — is now, as prices will come down when new mines eventually open.

"So it’s all going to bring a new supply and eventually the price of rare earth will come down again. But in the mean time until the new mines can come on stream, somebody is going to make a lot of money."

Rare earth elements like dysprosium, terbium and europium come mainly from southern China.

According to a United States Energy Department report, dysprosium, crucial for clean energy products has risen to $132 a pound today from $6.50 a pound in 2003.

"We do believe that this source of supply is diminishing, and there is some evidence leakage over the border into Vietnam is diminishing," Judith Chegwidden, a managing director specializing in rare earths at Roskill Consulting Group in London, tells the New York Times.





Read more: Jim Rogers: Invest in Rare Earth Metals Right Now

www.moneynews.com/StreetTalk/Jim-Rogers-Invest-Rare/2011/01/07/id/382130


ty AlanC

[sandi66]

11/12/2010
Why Basel III Matters to You
The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision is a joint project of the G-20 central banks. It produces recommendations and best practice guidance that national central banks are expected to incorporate into their domestic banking regulations.

The most important of the Basel Committee's functions is producing the Basel Accords, which provide guidance as to minimum capital requirements that national regulators should demand of their banks.

Basel II was the accord in place during the financial crisis of 2007-2008 and took a lot of heat for failing to prevent the credit crunch.

A new round of negotiations is currently underway to produce a revised accord known as Basel III.

The new accord would make many changes in bank regulation. Here are the main points:

Basel III: Banks will have to increase their core tier-one capital ratio to 4.5% by 2015. In addition, they will have to carry a further "counter-cyclical" capital conservation buffer of 2.5% by 2019. Any bank that fails to meet the new requirements is expected to be banned from paying dividends to shareholders until it has improved its balance sheet.

Financial supervision: The G20 wants closer supervision of systemic risk at local and international levels.

Derivatives: The G20 has called for greater standardisation and central clearing of privately arranged, over-the-counter contracts by the end of 2012.

Hedge funds: US reforms are in line with the G20 pledge that funds above a certain size should be authorised and obliged to report data to supervisors. A draft EU law includes private equity groups and restrictions on non-EU fund managers seeking European investors.

Accounting: The G20 wants common global accounting rules by mid-2011.

Credit rating agencies: The G20 wants them registered and supervised by the end of 2009. The EU has adopted a law mandating registration and direct supervision that takes effect this year. US legislation passed this year includes similar provisions.

Pay: The G20 has endorsed principles designed to stop bonus schemes in banks from encouraging too much short-term risk-taking.

The bottom line is that it will require banks to raise hundreds of billions of dollars in new capital. With what effect on the credit markets? Well, that's where things get interesting:

Jaap Barneveld writes that:

Simon Johnson, editor of a highly recommendable weblog (www.thebaselinescenario.com), drew my attention to an interesting letter published in the Financial Times concerning the reform of the capital requirements for banks (Basel III). The letter has been written by a significant amount of academic experts that argue that the proposed regulation fails to eliminate the key structural flaws in the current system. The banking lobby argues that by requiring banks to hold more capital, the economy will be hurt and growth will be undermined. The academic experts beg to differ, based on surprisingly basic and fundamental concepts, that everyone who ever took a foundation course in corporate finance ought to know:

“Some claim that requiring more equity lowers the banks’ return on equity and increases their overall funding costs. This claim reflects a basic fallacy. Using more equity changes how risk and reward are divided between equity holders and debt holders, but does not by itself affect funding costs.”

Remember Modigliani & Miller? The capital structure of a firm is irrelevant to its value. However, because interest is tax-deductible, leveraging can create value. The experts:

“Tax codes that provide advantages to debt financing over equity encourage banks to borrow too much. It is paradoxical to subsidize debt that generates systemic risk and then regulate to try to limit debt. Debt and equity should at least compete on even terms.”

The experts point to the (also very basic) moral hazard problem inherent to the use of too much leverage:

“High leverage encourages excessive risk taking and any guarantees exacerbate this problem. If banks use significantly more equity funding, there will be less risk taking at the expense of creditors or governments.”

...

As Simon Johnson notes, the fact that so many important scholars are weighing in on the debate and basically are telling the bank officials that their analysis is just wrong, is pretty huge. The experts’ main point, that “ensuring that banks are funded with significantly more equity should be a key element of effective bank regulatory reform”, is supported by a recent paper that is prepared to be published in the Journal of Economic Perspectives.

Technically, the Basel Accords aren't legally binding on member states. They are hugely influential, however. As a result, we need to consider the impact compliance with Basel III would have both on internal US credit markets and the competitiveness of US banks globally. If the critics are right, we could see a dramatic tightening of credit--especially trade credit--and a resulting decline in trade and GDP.

At thew G-20 meeting, the second round of quantitative easing (QE2) has taken prominence. But keep your eye on what happens to Basel III. In the long run, it will matter more.

www.professorbainbridge.com/professorbainbridgecom/2010/11/why-basel-iii-matters-to-you.html



ty George

[sandi66]

Board of Executive Directors at the IMF advised to raise the prices of exchange and the increase in foreign reservePosted: January 9, 2011 by CURRENCY NEWSHOUND - Just Hopin in Iraqi Dinar/Politics
Tags: Capital (economics), Emerging markets, Executive director, IMF, India, International Monetary Fund, iPod, Saudi Arabia Board of Executive Directors at the IMF advised to raise the prices of exchange and the increase in foreign reserve

Council discussed the Executive Directors of the Fund International Monetary ways to reduce the volatility of capital flows across borders, and enhance their role in supporting economic growth and stability and the protection of the financial system, but differing views and attitudes of the case without reaching an agreement that allows change the terms of agreement Bretton Woods, who founded the IMF and World Bank international law, including allowing the establishment of an international legal framework to address the issues associated with the movement of so-called hot money capital.

Did not disclose the Board of Directors unveiled the nature of the differences, but only the reference in the statement that some managers indicated a willingness to discuss the amendment of the Agreement Constitution, while I felt the majority was that it was premature to begin discussions on the issue, before subjecting capital flows for further analysis, and study the practical experiences Member States.

According to the statement that the managers (from what appears to be few enthusiastic to the question of establishing a legal framework), they noted that volatile capital flows have played a major role in the global financial crisis, both increase the vulnerabilities and shocks to be transmitted across the border, arguing that these flows are lacking governed by the international road map, like the international rules governing trade in goods and services, as well as the international monetary arrangements ».

The Directors agreed on the need to strengthen the IMF’s role in matters relating to capital flows, on the basis of the responsibility entrusted to him on the stability of the financial system.

The decision to implement the plan of the Board of Governors, the highest authority in the Fund, adopted at its annual meeting in October (October) the past, and sentenced to «deepen» Role of IDA in the affairs of exchange rates and capital flows, which they considered of «vital to the functioning of the economy and the stability of the system Cash global ».

Spokeswoman Monetary Fund Caroline Atkinson in a press conference, that the Fund is working on an extensive analysis of capital flows and their engines and the experiences of Member States, noting that a preliminary study presented by the Foundation to the meeting of Board of Directors, which included a package of measures which States, especially emerging economies, which have made it a revival of their economies and high yielding investment, compared with developed countries more attractive for foreign investments, applied to reduce the dangers of these flows.

Among the key actions in the package reduce the risks available to emerging economies, the target levels of huge flows of capital seeking high returns, highlighted Atkinson increase reserves states of hard currencies, and allow their currencies to the national high exchange rates, in addition to procedures secondary aims to strengthen the capacity of financial sectors Banking and resistant to shocks, such as a precautionary measure, which resorted to Brazil last week, it ordered the banks to raise levels of reserves.

And according to recent estimates by the institutions concerned with the affairs of the emerging economies, the private investment that flowed to emerging markets Chairperson last year, exceeded most forecasts as Nahzat 820 billion dollars, registering an increase Tnov 40 percent, compared to 2009.

And are expected to maintain these capital flows, which are direct investments in stocks of productive projects about 40 percent of the total volume, to maintain the level if not a slight increase this year.

The share of five emerging economies of the Arab president, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Egypt, Morocco and Lebanon in 2010 about $ 60 billion, double the level recorded in 2009.

Attracted oil and gas projects in Saudi Arabia and the UAE the bulk of direct investment, while financial markets regained some of the Arab, especially Egypt, the attractiveness of investments in shares.

However, the Fund has published several reports which confirmed that the fight against the repercussions of the global economic recession through the programs of investment and government spending and support the capacity of financial and banking sectors to resist shocks, sapped the energy savings for many emerging economies.

A report, foreign currency reserves of the fund, which he published last week, the emerging economies strengthen reserves resumed strongly in the second half of 2010, but at a slower pace than the previous year.

In the first nine months of 2010, the balance of emerging economies rose by 7.8 percent to 5.9 trillion dollars, while the reserve that used by States in the form of the Chairman of the financing of imports, rose 10 percent in the same period of 2009, to 5.17 trillion dollars.

But the accumulation of reserves of hard currency is in itself a strong indication that the emerging economies, especially China, which is unique to about 45 percent of the balance of these economies (2.65 trillion U.S. dollars), is not enthusiastic about the item relating to raising the exchange rates of their national currencies of the package of measures which it deems Fund «appropriate» to combat the threat of capital flows.

bit.ly/gFuWqi

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