Independent Journalism » debt

Go BK!?!

Schober — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 05:14:09 +0000

NEW YORK (MarketWatch) — You want to fix this economic crisis? You want to put people back to work? You want to light a fire under the economy?

There’s a way to do it. Fast. And relatively simple.

But you’re not going to like it. You’re not going to like it at all.

Default. A national Chapter 11 bankruptcy.

The fastest way to fix this mess is to see tens of millions of homeowners default on their mortgages and other debts, and millions more file for bankruptcy.

Click to Play Roy Smith: Break up the banks, even Goldman

Fears of recession, tough trading conditions, an ocean of unresolved litigation and the worsening euro-zone mess have delivered a real pounding to bank stocks this summer. Former Goldman Sachs partner Roy Smith joins Mean Street to offer a solution: Break up the banks.

I told you that you wouldn’t like it.

I don’t like it much either. It sticks in the craw that people got to borrow all that money and won’t have to pay it back.

But you know what? The time to stop that was five or 10 years ago, when the money was being lent.

It’s gone.

And mass Chapter 11 is, by far, the least obnoxious solution to our problems.

That’s because the real cause of our economic slump isn’t too much government or too little government. It isn’t red tape, high taxes, low taxes, the growing divide between the rich and the poor, too much government debt, too little government debt, corporations, [read more]

What a mess

phil — Sun, 13 Jun 2010 03:42:59 +0000

Article from the AP and Fox news.

Coast Guard Tells BP to Speed Up Containment Pace

Published June 12, 2010

| Associated Press

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ORANGE BEACH, Ala. — The federal government has given BP until the end of the weekend to find ways to speed up efforts to contain huge amounts of oil gushing from a ruptured well in the Gulf of Mexico, according to a letter released Saturday, as large globs of brown crude coated Alabama’s white sand beaches.

Coast Guard Rear Adm. James A. Watson sent a letter to BP officials on Friday expressing frustration with the overall pace of the effort and ordered the company to identify ways to expedite the process in the coming says.

“Recognizing the complexity of this challenge, every effort must be expended to speed up the process,” Watson wrote in the letter, sent to Doug Suttles, BP’s chief operating officer.

BP has struggled with several efforts to contain the oil. The latest cap installed on the blown-out well is capturing about 650,000 gallons of oil a day, but large quantities are still spilling into the sea.

Scientists have estimated that anywhere between about 40 million gallons to 109 million gallons of oil have gushed into the Gulf since a drilling rig exploded April 20, killing 11 workers and triggering the worst oil spill in U.S. history.

The Coast Guard initially sent a letter to BP on Wednesday asking for more details on its plans to contain the [read more]

What about America?

RobertBeadles — Fri, 11 Jun 2010 09:41:23 +0000

Hey all, I was reading Phil’s article and yes democrats are on the way out, for the most part, this election. But rather than just simply replacing a Republican for a Democrat or Democrat for a Republican as I have often said, we should hold them all equally accountable.

So many times we get fed up with one party and replace them with another, this needs to stop. We deserve better. We need to get to the root of the problem and fix it there. There has to be an individual accountability.

I won’t lie to you, I am a bit frightened about the whole democratic process ( we currently have a Republic but people still call it a Democratic process) I was looking at the numbers and saw that less than 10% in a lot of instances came out to vote in the primaries. This has me very worried.

We all have a huge stake in our Country and deserve what our Founding Fathers and our families fought so hard to give us. Why is it so many of us would rather watch our favorite sitcom than catch up on the current events or vote for our freedoms?

Why is it so many of us will never miss an American Idol episode and yet despise and cast out a televised political debate? We need political education people. We are fading away. Taxes are consuming us, political figures are betraying us, our freedoms are disappearing, our bankers are making their own rules that we have to pay for, it’s [read more]

I guess anyone can run?

Jason — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 23:14:44 +0000

Nice little Article From Fox: Greene’s South Carolina Primary Win Defies Odds, Leaves Democrats Perplexed

By Cristina Corbin

Published June 10, 2010

| FOXNews.com

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South Carolina Democratic Senate candidate Alvin Greene poses for a photo in Manning, S.C., June 9. (AP Photo)

Alvin Greene is the proverbial enigma wrapped in a riddle surrounded by mystery.

He’s also the new Democratic candidate for Senate in South Carolina.

Greene admits he had no campaign headquarters, no party support, no contributions, no job, no computer and no cell phone.

Yet, somehow, he managed to pull off the most unlikely of victories, and — unless state Democratic Party officials have their way — will face incumbent Republican Sen. Jim DeMint in November.

Greene’s improbable victory over Democratic candidate Vic Rawl, a former state legislator who officials expected would win, has unleashed a flood of questions, including how the unemployed Army veteran managed to pay $10,400 to get on the ballot before running a “low budget” campaign with no ads, website or fundraising.

Voters also are wondering how the 32-year-old Greene, facing a felony charge for allegedly showing pornographic images to a college student last October, managed to capture 59 percent of the primary vote.

In an interview Thursday with FoxNews.com, Greene said he won by “simple, old-fashioned campaigning” that included traveling the state and speaking to voters “wherever I could find them.”

Greene said his “self-managed” campaign was personally funded and cost well under $2,000. He said he held no “formal events” [read more]

Your Vote Counts

RobertBeadles — Wed, 26 May 2010 04:08:47 +0000

Your Vote Counts:

Let us all take a moment and carefully examine our ballots, if you have it. Some of you may have opted to vote by mail like I have making it more convenient for ourselves. It can be a hassle to have to drive to the designated areas to vote when we are so busy with our daily lives.

It’s nice to be able to fill it out in the comfort of our own homes or offices and simply throw it to the mail box when we are done and tell the Man our choices. If you have not opted to vote by mail, no problem. I am going to give you the CA District 11 choices, I encourage you to research every Candidate, Proposition and Measure. The world is at our finger tips with the Internet. We can find websites that help us with our choices or phone numbers to groups that can help us decide as well.

Lets get started! ( Remember this is for CA CD 11 although most will still apply )

And I excluded any candidate that has no challenger, simply write in a name or bubble in next to theirs.

Governor:

Robert C. Newman II

David Tully-Smith

Meg Whitman

Steve Poizner

Bill Chambers

Ken Miller

Douglas R. Hughes

Lawrence “Larry” Naritelli

LT Governor:

Sam Aanestad

Yvonne R. Girard

Bert Davis

Abel Maldonado

Dave Harris

Scott L. Levitt

Sec of State:

Damon Dunn

Orly Taitz

Controller:

David Evans

Tony Strickland

Attorney General:

Tom Harman

John Eastman

Steve Cooley

Insurance Commissioner:

Mike Villines

Brian Fitzgerald

Member, State Board Of Equalization, District 2:

Edward C. Streichman

Barbara Alby

George Runner

Alan Nakanishi

United States Senator:

Carly Fiorina

Al Ramirez

Chuch Devore

Tom Campbell

Tim Kalemkarian

United States Representative 11th District:

Brad Goehring

David Harmer-The only vote I [read more]