So Long and Thanks for All the Cash
If I ever get around to inventing time travel (it’s on the to-do list!), the first thing I’m gonna do is go back in time and stop Congress from giving assholes like this guy buckets of cash:
With millions of homeowners losing their homes to foreclosure during this recession, megabank JPMorgan Chase plans to argue against the Obama administration’s latest weapon in its fight to stem the problem — principal cuts for struggling borrowers — by citing the sanctity of contracts and the borrower’s “promise to repay.”
In testimony to be delivered Tuesday afternoon, David Lowman, chief executive officer for home lending at the “Too Big To Fail” behemoth, will fight back against the program which calls for lenders and investors to decrease the outstanding debt owed on a home mortgage. While his competitors at Bank of America, Wells Fargo and Citigroup plan to dance around the issue — judging from their prepared remarks — Lowman cut right to it: borrowers don’t deserve it
And when I do invent time travel, well, what John Cole said:
Ok. Let’s go back two years and not do ANYTHING to help out the banks during the crisis and see if JPMorgan Chase sinks or swims under the load of their “sanctified contracts” without taxpayer largesse and huge government intervention at taxpayer expense. And let’s see how many homes JPMorgan Chase has foreclosed on the owners and then abandoned in areas like Cleveland, leaving the wrecked and unclaimed homes to be looted, vandalized, and serve as crack and crime dens up and until the taxpayers are forced to deal with it. Let’s make them live up to their sanctified god damned contracts and take responsibility for their mess. Let’s see how profitable they are without no-interest and extremely low interest loans from the Fed which they turn around and lend to consumers for a hefty profit.
Indeed.
4/13/10 11:48 am | | Permalink | Tags: bailout, foreclosures, JPMorgan Chase
Gov’t to Force Bailed-Out Companies to be Less Douche-y
- The Obama administration will require executives of corporations that took taxpayer bailout money to not pay themselves ridiculously large salaries this year. Socialism!!!!!1!!!11!! But the kind we can all agree on. (CNN Political Ticker)
- Reason #593 not to Google yourself: you might find out you’ve been fired. (ThinkProgress)
- A grieving nation mourns for Mike Rotch and Heywood Jablowme, who died because they have no health insurance. (TPMDC)
- Surprise! Nevadans just are not fans of how ineffectual Harry Reid seems all the time. (Las Vegas Gleaner)
10/21/09 6:45 pm | | Permalink | Tags: Alan Grayson, bailout, FOX News, Google, Harry Reid, healthcare, Marc Lamont Hill, NV-Sen
Hey, Hey, LBJ! How Many Kids Did You Make Cry Today?*
- Universally hated insurance giant AIG is making a profit again! Huzzah! (Kansas City Star/Bloomberg)
- Everyone thinks Lyndon Johnson was a great guy, what with the whole “Civil Rights Act” business, but he was actually a jerk to his daughter, whose only desire in life was to see the Beatles, live, at the White House. (CNN Political Ticker)
- It shouldn’t surprise anyone at this point that the woman who claimed to be “just a mom” when she accosted Rep. Steve Kagen (D-WI) yesterday is actually a long-time Republican operative. (NBC26 via Think Progress)
- The GOP is very disappointed that the unemployment rate has dropped because it messes up their ad campaign. (MSNBC First Read)
* Cf.
8/7/09 10:47 am | | Permalink | Tags: AIG, bailout, GOP, healthcare, Lyndon Johnson, Steve Kagen, teabaggers, The Beatles, unemployment
Roland Burris Has No Need for Your Elections
- Roland Burris will not run for re-election to the Senate. Or, to be more accurate, Roland Burris will not run for election, period. America’s Senator™ has no need for the little people! (Chicago Sun-Times)
- Republican sex machine Sen. John Ensign was so close to being out of the news forever, and then he had to go and get caught paying almost $100,000 to the family of the woman he slept with. Nothing says “family values” like a hundred grand in hush money. (Roll Call)
- In an interview with Al Jazeera, Newt Gingrich said that the US should use “covert operations” to blow the crap out of Iran’s oil refineries, resulting in the overthrowing of Iran’s regime. Uh, Newt? I think they get Al Jazeera in Iran, so, ummm, so much for covert. (Al Jazeera)
- Remember that time when AIG used federal bailout money to pay millions of dollars in bonuses to their executives and everyone hated them for it? They want to do it again. I doubt everyone will be super-happy about it this time, guys. (Washington Post)
- The Philadelphia swim club that kicked a summer camp out of the pool because the kids were black is being investigated by the Pennsylvania Human Rights Commission. (Daily Kos)
7/10/09 8:44 am | | Permalink | Tags: AIG, bailout, IL-Sen, Iran, John Ensign, Newt Gingrich, Philadelphia, racism, Roland Brris
Merrill Lynch: Heroes of American Capitalism!
- Ted Kennedy and friends are not very pleased with niece Caroline for using his fatal and uncurable brain cancer as an excuse to drop out of the New York Senate “race.” (TIME)
- Merrill Lynch spent $4 billion paying bonuses three days before it was taken over by Bank of America. Any guesses where that $4 billion came from? Yep, from you, the American taxpayer, courtesy of that nice big bailout. (Daily Kos)
- Mark Foley, who resigned from Congress after sending sexually explicit messages to Congressional pages, is on Facebook. Ugh. (ABC News/Facebook)
- Former Secretary of the Interior Dirk Kempthorne bid his employees adieu with a 600-image slide show of himself at national parks. (Washington Post)
- Sarah Palin will be a part of your life forever once she publishes her autobiography, for which she would like to be “earmarked” $11 million. (Los Angeles Times)
1/22/09 3:46 pm | | Permalink | Tags: bailout, Caroline Kennedy, Dirk Kempthrone, Facebook, Interior Department, Mark Foley, Merrill Lynch, NY-Sen, Sarah Palin, Ted Kennedy
Almost-End-of-Year Blogging
- The “Barack the Magic Negro” controversy may actually help Chip Saltsman became the chairman of the party of white racists. For refusing to be offended, Ken Blackwell the Magic Negro now also has a pretty good shot. (Politico)
- Secretary of State Colin Powell’s former chief of staff calls George W. Bush a “Sarah Palin-like president” which is probably the single worst insult in politics. (Vanity Fair)
- Mitch McConnell had no problem rushing to approve an almost $1 trillion bailout for Wall Street executives, but Obama’s stimulus package for the rest of us? Nah, that’s just wasteful spending, he says. (Washington Post)
- Okay, see if you can follow this one. The Treasury Department is giving $5 billion to GMAC, the financial arm of General Motors. They’re also giving GM $1 billion to buy a larger stake GMAC. … Huh? (ABC News)
12/30/08 8:35 am | | Permalink | Tags: bailout, Chip Saltsman, Colin Powell, General Motors, George W. Bush, Mitch McConnell, RNC, Sarah Palin, stimulus, Treasury Department
Sunday Update
- It’s one thing for the senior Senator from Pennsylvania facing a tough reelection battle to get up at a fancy dinner and tell Polish jokes, but it’s a whole other thing for the same Senator to ask if anyone in the room is Polish and then tell Polish jokes. Nice job, Arlen Specter. (Pittsburgh Tribune-Review)
- Senate Republicans have no problem letting the Big 3 collapse if it allows them to take a swipe at unions for supporting Democrats. Nice way to rebuild the party. (Los Angeles Times)
- Welcome to Virginia, where every year is an election year! In 2009, we’ve got the big race for governor, and it’s gonna be a close one. All three Democratic candidates–Brian Moran, Creigh Deeds, and Terry McAuliffe–poll within five points of Republican Bob McDonnell. (Rasmussen Reports)
- Apparently we should not be surprised by Rod Blagojevich because it is just assumed that Illinois politicians are corrupt. Or, as Jon Stewart points out, you have a better chance of going to jail by being the Governor of Illinois than you do if you kill someone. (New York Times/The Daily Show)
12/14/08 10:55 am | | Permalink | Tags: Arlen Specter, bailout, Bob McDonnell, Brian Moran, Creigh Deeds, PA-Sen, Rod Blagojevich, Terry McAuliffe, VA-Gov
Greatest Quote Ever
On Louisiana Sen. David Vitter’s opposition to the auto industry bailout:
Morgan Johnson, president of the United Auto Workers local representing General Motors workers in Shreveport, said Friday that Sen. David Vitter’s role in blocking an auto bailout indicates “he’s chosen to play Russian roulette” with Louisiana jobs and the national economy.
“I don’t know what Sen. Vitter has against GM or the United Auto Workers or the entire domestic auto industry; whatever it is, whatever he thinks we’ve done, it’s time for him to forgive us, just like Sen. Vitter has asked the citizens of Louisiana to forgive him, ” said Johnson, president of Local 2166. Otherwise, Johnson said of Vitter, it would appear, “He’d rather pay a prostitute than pay auto workers.”
12/13/08 9:54 am | | Permalink | Tags: bailout, David Vitter
Friday Morning Update
- Well, the Big 3 bailout failed in the Senate last night because Senate Republicans didn’t want to pay auto workers a fair wage, to which the auto workers shockingly objected. Anyway, it now falls to the White House to take some of the money previously allocated to bailing out millionaire bankers and use it to bail out some $50k-per-year blue collar workers. Good luck selling that one to the millionaires. (Washington Post/Politico)
- Convicted felon Sen. Ted Stevens is a sore loser. He refuses to meet with Mark Begich, the man who will replace him in the United States Senate in January. Maybe Stevens tried to send him an email, but it got tangled up with all these things going on the Internet commercially. (Anchorage Daily News/Wikipedia)
- Clinton supporters are putting pressure on NY Gov. David Paterson not to appoint Caroline Kennedy to fill Hillary Clinton’s Senate seat, noting that Kennedy has never been elected to any office. I thought dashing good looks and poltical experience were hereditary in the Kennedy family? (NY Daily News)
- Illinois House Democrats and Republicans are meeting to discuss the logistics of impeaching Gov. Rod Blagojevich. Huzzah for bipartisanship! Also, Illinois newspaper editorial boards are humorously conflicted over whether Blaggy should resign or be impeached. Hmmmm…. (AP/FOX News)
12/12/08 10:18 am | | Permalink | Tags: AK-Sen, bailout, Caroline Kennedy, corruption, David Paterson, Hillary Clinton, Illinois, Mark Begich, NY-Sen, Rod Blagojevich, Ted Stevens
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