Obama '08?

For Immediate Release: April 20, 2010

20 States Challenge Unconstitutional Healthcare Mandates

Carter Leads Special Orders on State Attorneys General Effort to Overturn Healthcare Takeover

(WASHINGTON, DC) -- House Republican Conference Secretary John Carter will lead floor efforts tonight on CSPAN in support of the 20 States that are now suing to protect their citizens from the federal government’s attempted takeover of American healthcare.

Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Georgia, Idaho, Indiana, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Nebraska, Nevada, North Dakota, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Utah, and Washington have now joined the suit initially filed by Florida in Tallahassee challenging the constitutionality of the new law on multiple counts. Virginia has filed suit separately in Richmond focusing solely on the individual mandate to purchase a federally-approved health plan. Oklahoma has not yet filed suit but is expected to shortly, according to the Washington Post this afternoon, which would bring the state total to 21.

Carter and other GOP House Members are expected to help build the case against the unfunded individual mandate, unfunded state Medicaid mandates, and other areas of the recently passed healthcare bill that potentially violate federal law or the U.S. Constitution.

WHO: Congressman John Carter and GOP Members
WHAT: Floor Speeches on Attorneys General healthcare lawsuits
WHEN: TONIGHT, ESTIMATED start time 8:30pm Eastern
WHERE: House Floor, Live on CSPAN

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Is-Goldman-Obamas-Enron-No-its-worse-91613449.html
Is Goldman Obama's Enron? No, it's worse (Updated)
By: J.P. Freire
Associate Commentary Editor
04/20/10 1:41 PM EDT

Financial professional work in the Goldman Sachs booth on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York City. (Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images)
Campaign contributions from Goldman Sachs employees to President Obama are nearly seven times as much as President Bush received from Enron workers, according to numbers on OpenSecrets.org.

President Bush's connections to Enron were well-hyped during the company's accounting debacle that rippled through the economy. Time magazine even had an article called, "Bush's Enron Problem." The Associated Press ran with the headline, "Bush-backing Enron makes big money off crisis." David Callaway wrote that Enron for Bush was worse than Whitewater for Clinton.

In 2002, the New York Times wrote: "President Bush is seeking to play down his relationship with Enron's embattled chairman, Kenneth L. Lay. But their ties are broad and deep and go back many years, and the relationship has been beneficial to both." (h/t Lachlan Markey)

But the mere $151,722.42 (inflation adjusted) in contributions from Enron-affiliated executives, employees, and PACs to Bush hardly add up to Obama's $1,007,370.85 (inflation adjusted) from Goldman-affiliated executives and employees. That's also not taking into account how much Goldman contributed to Obama cabinet member Hillary Clinton ($415,595.63 inflation adjusted), which was itself almost three times as much as Bush received as well.

It would be fair to say that the total amount the Obama administration has received from those affiliated with Goldman Sachs is ten times that of what Bush received from Enron.

Goldman is being sued for civil fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission for deliberately putting unwitting clients on the wrong side of a mortgage security trade that had been designed to fail.

UPDATE: It's not even just campaign contributions. There's quite the revolving door. According to our own Tim Carney:

Greg Craig, Obama's first White House counsel, has joined Goldman, we learned this week. He may not have too much pull in the West Wing, which drove him out for hewing too close to Obama's campaign promises, but as a former insider he will provide valuable intelligence to the world's largest investment bank.

Rahm Emanuel, White House chief of staff, was paid $35,000 as a consultant to Goldman while also working as Bill Clinton's top fundraiser. Obama's fundraiser and economic adviser Warren Buffett is very long on Goldman, having bet on them in 2008 in the expectation of a bailout. Mark Patterson, chief of staff to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, was a Goldman Sachs lobbyist until months before joining Team Obama.

What does that add up to? Getting a hand in making the regulations:

Politico quoted a Goldman lobbyist Monday saying, "We're not against regulation. We're for regulation. We partner with regulators." At least three times in Goldman's conference call Tuesday, spokesmen trumpeted the firm's support for more federal control.

... Goldman's annual report explicitly endorsed stricter federal capital and liquidity requirements. Goldman reported on the conference call that it holds 15 percent "Tier 1 capital," meaning it is very liquid and not very risky. Goldman can play it safe, you see, without needing a regulation. But regulations prevent smaller competitors from taking the risks needed to compete with Goldman (and every competitor is smaller).

http://www.ncpa.org/sub/dpd/index.php?Article_ID=19245&utm_source=newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=DPD
April 21, 2010

DISASTROUS DEBT WILL TEST AMERICA

The global financial system is again transfixed by sovereign debt risks. This evokes bad memories of defaults and near-defaults among emerging nations such as Argentina, Russia and Mexico. But the real issue is not whether Greece or another small country might fail. Instead, it is whether the credit standing and currency stability of the world's biggest borrower, the United States, will be jeopardized by its disastrous outlook on deficits and debt, says the Financial Times.

America's fiscal picture is even worse than it looks, says the Times:

The Congressional Budget Office just projected that over 10 years, cumulative deficits will reach $9.7 trillion, and federal debt 90 percent of gross domestic product (GDP) -- nearly equal to Italy's.

Global capital markets are unlikely to accept that credit erosion; if they revolt, as in 1979, ugly changes in fiscal and monetary policy will be imposed on Washington.

How bad is the outlook?

The size of the federal debt will increase by nearly 250 percent over 10 years, from $7.5 trillion to $20 trillion.

Other than during the Second World War, such a rise in indebtedness has not occurred since recordkeeping began in 1792.

It is so rapid that, by 2020, the Treasury may borrow about $5 trillion per year to refinance maturing debt and raise new money; annual interest payments on those borrowings will exceed all domestic discretionary spending and rival the defense budget.

Unfortunately, the health care bill has little positive budget impact in this period.

Why is this outlook dangerous? Because dollar interest rates would be so high as to choke private investment and global growth, says the Times.

Source: Roger Altman, "America's disastrous debt is Obama's biggest test," Financial Times, April 20, 2010.

ican, the Obama not born here issue keeps rearing its ugly head, doesn't it? I don't know what to make of it, I have no clue really, but so far I haven't seen a birth certificate copy that actually wipes away all doubt. We know the Hawaiians have provided a certificate, but apparently it isn't of live birth, and apparently alot of people can obtain such certificates, so who knows? And Obama hasn't done anything significant to erase all doubts as far as I know. And some of his own relatives and people in Africa keep claiming he was born there.

The whole issue would be a non-issue for me if he would just act like he actually liked this country, whether he was born here or not, that would be nice.

Obama was created in a laboratory and he must sync with his teleprompter nightly.

H2O MAN, I read the article to which you posted a link. Thank you!
I thought the article important, so I posted it here.

Quote:

http://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/blogs/beltway-confidential/Is-Goldman-Obamas-Enron-No-its-worse-91613449.html
Is Goldman Obama's Enron? No, it's worse (Updated)
By: J.P. Freire
Associate Commentary Editor
04/20/10 1:41 PM EDT

Financial professional work in the Goldman Sachs booth on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange in New York City. (Photo by Chris Hondros/Getty Images)
Campaign contributions from Goldman Sachs employees to President Obama are nearly seven times as much as President Bush received from Enron workers, according to numbers on OpenSecrets.org.

President Bush's connections to Enron were well-hyped during the company's accounting debacle that rippled through the economy. Time magazine even had an article called, "Bush's Enron Problem." The Associated Press ran with the headline, "Bush-backing Enron makes big money off crisis." David Callaway wrote that Enron for Bush was worse than Whitewater for Clinton.

In 2002, the New York Times wrote: "President Bush is seeking to play down his relationship with Enron's embattled chairman, Kenneth L. Lay. But their ties are broad and deep and go back many years, and the relationship has been beneficial to both." (h/t Lachlan Markey)

But the mere $151,722.42 (inflation adjusted) in contributions from Enron-affiliated executives, employees, and PACs to Bush hardly add up to Obama's $1,007,370.85 (inflation adjusted) from Goldman-affiliated executives and employees. That's also not taking into account how much Goldman contributed to Obama cabinet member Hillary Clinton ($415,595.63 inflation adjusted), which was itself almost three times as much as Bush received as well.

It would be fair to say that the total amount the Obama administration has received from those affiliated with Goldman Sachs is ten times that of what Bush received from Enron.

Goldman is being sued for civil fraud by the Securities and Exchange Commission for deliberately putting unwitting clients on the wrong side of a mortgage security trade that had been designed to fail.

UPDATE: It's not even just campaign contributions. There's quite the revolving door. According to our own Tim Carney:

Greg Craig, Obama's first White House counsel, has joined Goldman, we learned this week. He may not have too much pull in the West Wing, which drove him out for hewing too close to Obama's campaign promises, but as a former insider he will provide valuable intelligence to the world's largest investment bank.

Rahm Emanuel, White House chief of staff, was paid $35,000 as a consultant to Goldman while also working as Bill Clinton's top fundraiser. Obama's fundraiser and economic adviser Warren Buffett is very long on Goldman, having bet on them in 2008 in the expectation of a bailout. Mark Patterson, chief of staff to Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, was a Goldman Sachs lobbyist until months before joining Team Obama.

What does that add up to? Getting a hand in making the regulations:

Politico quoted a Goldman lobbyist Monday saying, "We're not against regulation. We're for regulation. We partner with regulators." At least three times in Goldman's conference call Tuesday, spokesmen trumpeted the firm's support for more federal control.

... Goldman's annual report explicitly endorsed stricter federal capital and liquidity requirements. Goldman reported on the conference call that it holds 15 percent "Tier 1 capital," meaning it is very liquid and not very risky. Goldman can play it safe, you see, without needing a regulation. But regulations prevent smaller competitors from taking the risks needed to compete with Goldman (and every competitor is smaller).

The arguments by the birthers is very similar to the hundreds of hoax e-mails sent out by the right. O's birth certificate is on the Internet, and the Hawaiian authorities have strongly confirmed his birth in their country. But this will not bother you, since you are one of the congenital liars in this forum.

A Kenyan official says that O was born in Africa. Therefore, that settles the matter. What more is there to say?

Obama was created in a laboratory and he must sync with his teleprompter nightly.