Lobbyists Swarm the Treasury for Piece of Pie

Disgusting.

New York Times article by Mark Landler and David D. Kirkpatrick

"Then there is the National Marine Manufacturers Association, which is asking whether boat financing companies might be eligible for aid to ensure that dealers have access to credit to stock their showrooms with boats — costs have gone up as the credit markets have calcified. Using much the same rationale, the National Automobile DealersAssociation is pleading that car dealers get consideration, too.

"The first wave of lobbying came in early October when Mr. Paulson announced the plan to buy troubled mortgage-related assets from banks. The Treasury said it would hire several outside firms to handle the purchases, and would dispense with federal contracting rules.

"Alston & Bird, for example, highlights its two biggest stars — former Senator Bob Dole and former Senator Tom Daschle. Mr. Dole “knows Hank Paulson very well” and has been “very helpful” with the financial rescue groups, said David E. Brown, an Alston & Bird partner involved in its effort.

"Underscoring the many ways companies can take part in the rescue fund, the Hispanic Chamber of Commerce and other Hispanic business groups met with Mr. Paulson to push for minority contracts in asset management, legal, accounting, mortgage services and maintenance jobs, like plumbing and masonry."

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The lessons from this: a) If the government is handing out money, get your piece. b) You make more money after you leave the Congress than during it. c) Keep on screwing the little guy, because the government tax is heavy on the little guys and we the powerful should all get a piece of that $700 billion.

Disgusting.

Reflections

Pure and undefiled religion in the sight of our God and Father is this: to visit orphans and widows in their distress, and to keep oneself unstained by the world.

From the letter James wrote to the churches. How often do I do this, never mind if I do it on a regular basis?

Let's Give $ to the Rich!

This morning the Treasury and the Fed agreed to inject an additional $40 billion into AIG. (source: money.cnn.com) That brings the total to $150 billion. Why?! AIG is a big counterparty, so if they fail to pay the western world's financial system may collapse.

So we continue to privatise gains and socialize the losses. We give money to the already ultra rich (by calling them management bonuses) but take money from the middle class and the poor (by calling THAT bailouts). When the company fails, we don't ask the previous bonuses back, but we do ask to limit the future golden parachute (but do taxpayers know how many millions of dollars constitute a "fair" parachute?).

Circuit City filed for bankruptcy this morning. Too bad it wasn't a bank, but only the nation's number 2 electronics retailer.

Time Shifting

Around this time every year I think about daylight savings time, and why nations closer to the poles do this time shifting business but no country near the equator does it. Of course, I also wonder why the state of Arizona rejects the time shifting as well.

The simplest explanation I can think of is this: during "normal times" the sun reaches its highest point at noon. During "daylight savings time" we intentionally shift the definition of time so that the sun reaches its highest point at 1 p.m. Why? So we can have more sunlight at night.

Ever since we have burning oils, and then lamps, we humans have stayed awake later and can do things even when the sky is dark outside. Despite that, time shifting means we don't waste those precious sunlit hours being asleep and we can have the sun instead of lamps guiding our activities.

The folks at the equator doesn't need such time shifting, because they don't have extremely long sunny days (or extremely long dark days). Time shifting does not do enough for them.


So in the future, if you like to think of planets and the sun like me, then you just have to ask, "are we in the time when the sun is at its height during noon or 1 p.m.?" Then the appropriate clock settings make sense. Or you can just remember a silly rhyme like, "fall back and spring forward", to figure it out.

Carry Trade...using the US Dollar against us!

With the stocks falling, the economy in tatters, the housing market in a coma, why would anyone want to invest in the United States?

The US dollar-to-anything-else exchange rate is actually rising, quite mysteriously I add. I know that there are several commentators that say despite the economic meltdown, the United States is the safest place to park their money. That is why people are still buying the US dollar, driving its price up.

I disagree. I think that with the Federal Reserve bank issuing loans at 1%, the United States as joined Japan as the world's favorite source of money. Borrow money in the US at 1%, and money from Japan at 0%, and then invest it in Europe for 3.5%. That sounds easy.

The carry trade is happening against the US Dollar. All that precious money is not really being spent to spur the US economy, but being used in the large washing machine known as the world financial system.