Helicopter Ben is always good for a laugh

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Henry Paulson & The great American bubble machine

This article was originally from Rolling Stone magazine, and is here shown in a blog from somethingawful.com. It seems that Henry Paulson was the former CEO of Goldman Sach’s, a time honored vampire that has sucked the life blood of the sheeple. Even in the times before the Federal Reserve.

Omnislash
May 25, 2004

This isn’t really an exclusive, but aside from a scanned PDF copy of the physical magazine, the complete article isn’t online anywhere I can see thanks to Rolling Stone being completely retarded, so I OCR’d it. This is one of the best articles he’s written yet, and even as cynical as I am, I was still sick to my stomach by the time I finished the last section.
quote:

THE GREAT AMERICAN BUBBLE MACHINE

From tech stocks to high gas prices, Goldman Sachs has engineered every major market manipulation since the Great Depression – and they’re about to do it again

By MATT TAIBBI

The first thing you need to know about Goldman Sachs is that it’s everywhere. The world’s most powerful investment bank is a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money. In fact, the history of the recent financial crisis, which doubles as a history of the rapid decline and fall of the suddenly swindled-dry American empire, reads like a Who’s Who of Goldman Sachs graduates.

Read the whole article ~here~, or click the link at the top for a PDF file of the original article in Rolling Stone magazine.

kudos to Omnislash

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Rep. Alan Grayson’s bill to cap executive compensation on bailed out financial institutions

Well, as you probably already know, Fox News makes me feel like losing my groceries, but I had to show this video attack on Congressman Alan Grayson. This repulsive dude, Neil Cavuto, is attempting to take on the appearance of authority to trick him into giving him an absolute number on an argument that doesn’t really call for anything but a relative example.

What Alan is dealing with here is known as The “Cavuto mark”. Following a satirical segment proposing it on The Daily Show on September 13, 2006, the word “Cavuto” is sometimes used to refer to a question mark “used to turn any statement, no matter how outrageous, into a simple, seemingly fair, question.”

Barney Frank: “This is presumably a psychological disorder”

Huffington Post

April fools day, 2009

House Republicans did their best Wednesday to battle Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) on the House floor and wound up on the receiving end of some classic Frank jabs.

The bill at issue, authored by Rep. Alan Grayson (D-Fla.), would cap executive compensation at bailed-out financial institutions and it puts the GOP in a tough spot: after expressing outrage over the AIG bonuses, it’s tough to vote against the bill.

In announcing their opposition, Republicans such as Rep. John Culberson (R-Texas) took to the floor to decry the fact that the stimulus allowed the bonus payments to be made. They excoriated Democrats for not reading the full stimulus bill but said they objected to the bill on the floor that would fix the loophole that had been in the stimulus.

Frank had a field day with it.

“This is really extraordinary,” he said. “What you have just heard is a denunciation of something the Congress did a few weeks ago and a refusal to undo it. I’ve never seen people, Mr. Chairman, so attached to something they hate. This is presumably a psychological disorder which I am not equipped to diagnose. The objection of the gentleman from Texas was that when the recovery bill was passed, it was passed too quickly [and it] included a provision that shouldn’t have been in there. This bill takes it out.”

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Congressman Alan Grayson on AIG: “One of Those Times We Have to Amputate”

by Geezer Power

TPM

By Elana Schor – March 16, 2009, 2:52PM

I just spoke with Rep. Alan Grayson (D-FL), a freshman on the House Financial Services Committee who’s become a fast-rising star thanks to his tenacious advocacy for transparency in bailout lending by the Federal Reserve.

Grayson joined fellow Democrats as well as Republicans in blasting AIG for its refusal to give up hundreds of millions of dollars in bonus payments. He painted the government’s choice as a stark one, using the metaphor of treating a wound versus amputating a limb.

“It’s not clear to me at all that we’re taking the correct approach by allowing AIG to continue to operate, regardless of who owns it,” Grayson told me. “At this point, ownership is becoming an amorphous concern when comes to a company that borrows millions and millions without any prospect of paying it back. … Do we continue to allow the bleeding or not?”

Converting AIG from a ward of the state in all but name to an outright arm of the government would be a politically controversial move, given the level of apprehension in Washington over calls to nationalize failing banks.

But Grayson views the dilemma facing lawmakers as a common-sense decision: AIG executives who made more than a million dollars while running the company into the ground should immediately be fired. “The people who caused the problem are not going to be able to solve it,” he said.

Article

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Fed Lends Two Trillion Without Oversight

by Geezer Power

So, you know about the Treasury’s $700 billion bailout plan. But you probably don’t know that the Federal Reserve has lent out about $2 trillion since September. Few do. And that is what’s irritating bulldog Congressman Alan Grayson. Will he be able to shed a light on the Fed’s secret spending?

Grayson raises voice, hackles in D.C.

Mark K. Matthews | Washington Bureau
February 9, 2009

“WASHINGTON – In just a few short weeks, freshman U.S. Rep. Alan Grayson, D-Orlando, has delivered more memorable quotes than some members of Congress do in an entire career.”

“In interviews, the 6-foot-5-inch Grayson downplays his combative approach, bridling at a reporter’s use of the “abrasive” label and saying that he would not have been assigned to the House Science Committee — the “most bipartisan committee in Congress,” he said — if he wasn’t collegial.”

“Meanwhile, his Dylan-quoting, freewheeling stance has earned him liberal fans nationwide, including Darcy Burner, a failed Washington state congressional candidate who has already asked supporters to back Grayson’s re-election campaign.”

“He’s going to have a vicious re-election battle in two years, and he’s getting pressure to sell out to the lobbyists and corporations so that he’ll have enough money to fund his re-election. That, my friends, would be a real pity,” Burner wrote in a letter.

“Fundraising, however, is unlikely to be a problem. He is the 10th-wealthiest House member, with assets of more than $29 million, according to the Center for Responsive Politics.”

The rest of the story

Here’s Grayson’s alter ego Steven Seagal as an abstract, reality TV, illustration of what should really happen to the major players in the shadow government that still hangs over the White House.

Youtube video

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Rookie Congressman Alan Grayson a Power Hitter

Geezer Power

Rep. Alan Grayson asked Citigroup CEO Vikram Pandit about the terms of the government assistance his firm received, and read comments from several angry constituents. He is one of the more Progressive Democrats on the Obama team and should prove to be a real asset, especially on issues of accountability.

Grayson also has a record of combatting war protiteering and waste concerning the Defence Industries, as he points out, “the money we have thrown away on war profiteers could go a long way on the domestic front”.

Because of his track record suing defense contractors, Grayson is completely uninterested and unintimidated by ridiculous arguments about secrecy and national security. He thinks that war crimes have been committed, that people need to be put in prison, and that we absolutely cannot let bygones be bygones with the 2000-2008 era.

I really like this guy. Here he is defending Obama from the attacks of right wing media spin, as Rush Limpballs gets a perspective from the other side of the mirror.

“Rush Limbaugh is a has-been hypocrite loser, who craves attention,His right-wing lunacy sounds like Mikhail Gorbachev, extolling the virtues of communism. Limbaugh actually was more lucid when he was a drug addict. If America ever did 1 percent of what he wanted us to do, then we’d all need pain killers.”

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(Former) (UK) Banking Bosses Say Sorry

February 10th 2009 | Sky News

Four of Britain’s top bankers have apologised to a committee of MPs for the distress caused by the financial crisis. But they did not accept responsibility for the credit crunch. Joey Jones watched their evidence to the Treasury Select Committee.

Anthony says:

Yesterday it was the turn of former UK bank bosses to appear beofre the Treasury Select Committee. Today US bank bosses will be appearing before a select committee of Congress. Talk about parallel universes!

U.S. bank chiefs face grilling in Congress over bailout funds

Executives from the financial institutions who received TARP funds testifying at a hearing on Capitol Hill on Wednesday. (Doug Mills/The New York Times)

Louise Story | International Herald tribune | February 11, 2009

WASHINGTON: Eight of the top bankers in the United States faced off against skeptical lawmakers in Congress on Wednesday who questioned their use of tens of billions of dollars of taxpayer money and pointed out the growing public anger at the banks in the bailout.

“When you took taxpayer money, you moved into a fishbowl,” said Representative Paul Kanjorski, Democrat of Pennsylvania. “Now, everyone is rightly watching your every move from every side.”

The eight banks collectively received $125 billion in bailout money in exchange for shares in their companies, and two of them – Citigroup and Bank of America – were given tens of billions of dollars more because of their financial problems.

Keep reading…

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Bankers Testify: Live Video

Bailed Out Bankers Testify: Live Video

MSNBC |   February 11, 2009 08:58 AM

The eight chief executives from bailed out Wall Street banks are testifying today before Congress. The CEOS will be quizzed aggressively on how they have used more than $160 billion in taxpayers’ money.

Watch the hearing live here

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Banking leaders face the hot seat in Congress

Via: Raw Story/ Associated Press
Published: Wednesday February 11, 2009

Banking leaders who benefited from a federal bailout are bringing a message of accommodation and gratitude to Congress, hoping for a better reception than the one given Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

The eight chief executives nevertheless will likely hear plenty of skepticism Wednesday morning when they take seats at a witness table in the Rayburn House Office Building. It will be the first such examination by lawmakers since they passed the bailout bill last year. The CEOS will be quizzed aggressively on how they have used more than $160 billion in taxpayers’ money.

In prepared testimony, the banking industry leaders applauded the program for making more loans available and promised to pay their share of the money back to the Treasury over time. Anticipating confrontations over their own compensation, several asserted that none of the government’s money went to bonuses or dividends.

MORE HERE

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