I am not a chef and my sister can easily out cook me; but, we come from a family that had many great cooks in it. Unfortunately, I failed to learn anything from any of them and am self taught. My sister is an award winning cook. When she was younger, she was not that good a cook; but, she traveled the world and learned things I could only wish I had. I could never keep up with her anymore; but, I do have a few signature dishes and know how to spice and use some tricky techniques.
I prepare French food, Japanese Food, Italian food, Cuban food, Mexican food and of course American classics. While I do make some Chinese dishes, I don't consider them restaurant ready. I will put my braised ribs or mustard crusted rack of lamb up against anyone; but, not my Chinese food. The fact is that I used to really love cooking and stopped when I was ill. It is nice to be cooking again and I am getting crazy about it.
Tonight I made a Lobster bisque with clams that I cooked in a French manner separately. It was fantastic and if my doctor knew what I made he would probably chastise me; but, it was good. I also made a meal for a couple of days from now, I made Cuban shredded beef an a Cuban barbeque sauce from a reduction, that only took about 10 hours. It was completely made from scratch. I had never made the Cuban shredded beef before, ended up spending a hundred dollars on spices and it was the best shredded beef I have ever had in my life.
I am finding myself more and more drawn to Cuban food. I used to make Cuban sandwiches on Sundays when we would watch the show Dexter. There are different approaches to making Cuban sandwiches and the one I use involves marinating the pork tenderloin overnight after it has been given a special rub that includes lime zest. The flavor is amazing and very distinctive, it just takes two days to make the sandwiches. There is a famous Cuban restaurant in Southern California and the few people that have had both mine and theirs agree my mine is better. It isn't it is just a little more flavorful for a different part of Cuba.
The point is, I like cooking and do it the best when I am feeling well and I am feeling better and better. I like that it shows in my cooking, cooking is love and joy and hope. There is actually someone who reads this blog that has had a complete 5 course meal made by me for around 15 people, in a foreign kitchen, in a distant town for people I barely knew and they all asked that I publish some of my recipes to them and I did. I am much more limited in scope and abilities than my sister; but, I am pretty good at the ones I do know and fairly inventive. I should also say that I detest baking because it is so measured.
Now, lets talk about the news. I am an American and am not in favor of electing Anti-Americans; but, more and more the Republican party is becoming anti-American and it really annoys me. Too many Republicans believe that it is more important for companies to make a profit than whether or not they hire Americans. Reagan believed that the reason jobs were being sent oversees was because this country had too much red tape to get things going, thats why he de-regulated industries; but, he was wrong, de-regulation only led to more jobs being shipped overseas.
FoxNews - Humans are the true wealth of nations. The article from the notoriously right wing Fox news says that the most valuable asset of a nations is it's human capital. There conclusion is that we should let more intelligent Asians move to America, read through the nonsense and understand who we are putting in our universities and you will see that it is Chinese students. I disagree with the article, what if we invested in the most innovative workforce in the history of the world, Americans. What if rather than allowing in the best from other countries, we made sure that we had best educated our children first. These Republicans are not following the history of the party and don't care about Americans, only profit.
PandoDaily - Revealed: Apple and Google’s wage-fixing cartel involved dozens more companies, over one million employees. Apple is as anti-American as you get. All there manufacturing jobs are in Communist China. I am happy to say I have never owned an Apple product and don't plan on owning one. Bill Gates gives his money to Charities, Jobs gave his profit to the Chinese.
Apple and Google and other high tech companies conspired to fix the salary of their employees so they didn't move from one company to another. Think about that. These companies have been fixing salaries and want to bring in foreign citizens to compete with Americans; but, pay them less.
Sunday, March 23, 2014
Friday, March 21, 2014
Some More Media Misdirection at Fox
This is the third version of this blog and still goes back 4 years. I don't even know how much I wrote the first few years because I destroyed the past; but, the stats say I started the blog in 2007. I find it amazing that I have been writing this blog for 7 years and still find news to write about. I find it even more amazing to know that there are people who have been reading it for that long. I also find it odd that I have been giving sermons for about 3 years. My mother used to say that I began talking at 9 months and never shut up.
As I look forward to retirement this year, I am constantly thinking about what I want to do next. Firstly, there is a good possibility that I will move back into the Mojave desert, I like the desert and it is good for my arthritis. I am also considering putting my doctorate to use and teaching; but, recently I had a new idea. I am thinking about doing a radio show in the desert in the early am when nobody is listening. I would basically talk about the same things I talk about in this blog; but, take calls from other night dwelling desert rats and the random trucker. I have already found a channel that will put on such a show for a relatively modest amount and the truth is, it is cheap enough that I can make it my hobby without having to rely on advertisers or contributions, sort of a self funded deal.
I think that might be fun. Pulling into a radio station in the middle of the night in the dark of the desert, spewing my nonsense and take on the news and letting people who don't have a life themselves call me and give their opinion. To me that seems sort of a romantic ending to my life. I remember what Raymond Chandler said about Philip Marlowe, he said he always saw him living in some drabby little apartment, doing sad jobs for sad people or something to that effect and always being truthful to himself. I like that, I think there is honor in just telling your truth and not worrying about whether or not you personally benefit. As for preaching, I never felt the passion for it, I have been told I am good at it and enjoy it when I am doing it; but, I have always felt that I am a place setter waiting for the permanent assistant preacher to show up. LOL.
Now to some stupid reporters.
Fox News - Kristen Bell tweets 'rich people should pay higher taxes'. The lovely actress Kristen Bell tweeted (I actually used that word) that rich people should pay more in taxes and Fox News brought on someone to ridicule her. The first thing the person said was that if she wanted to pay more taxes than she could make a gift. They said the same thing about Warren Buffet when he suggested the same. Rather than addressing the issue that Ms. Bell raised, they deflect and seek to make the issue about her.
I will start with Ms. Bell's comment and tell you why she is mistaken in her presentation. The problem is not the tax rate, it is the deductions. Over 98% of the tax code is deductions for the wealthy that do not apply to the rest of us. What she should have said is that we should eliminate all tax deductions, then, the wealthy would actually have to pay their taxes. Why should someone who actually works for a living pay a higher tax rate then someone who inherited their money? By the way, Ms. Bell and Mr. Buffet work for a living and are quite good at what they do. Fox doesn't want to talk about tax deductions because the average person doesn't advertise on Fox; but, the grand scoundrels of the finance industry do.
The guest talks about how Ms. Bell is a "savvy" social media user and self promoter whose film "Veronica Mars" is not doing to well. What his comments have to do with the issue of taxation is beyond me; but, then maybe he didn't really want to talk about tax disparity. We should understand that his comments are just bitter over her talking about taxes at all. The fact is that the Veronica Mars movie did not have to make a dime and did. It didn't have to make any money because it was already paid for by the fans of the show who did not invest in the film; but, financed it just to see it get made. I wrote about this when it came out, nothing new on my part. As to being a self promoter, Ms. Bell is not very good at it. In fact, she has gone after the paparazzi for taking pictures of people's children and is making a lot of enemies in the process.
The next part of the conversation is really interesting. The interviewer says that we should consider where these taxes are going when discussing taxes. Hmmm. I can tell you where a lot of it is going, it is going to pay for killing people in other countries and buying weapons. It also goes to the banks. He doesn't really talk about that.
The next game by the interviewer is to say how maybe we should ask what the right rate is, again this is true misdirection. What does it matter what the rate is if nobody pays it. It is the deductions that people should be focused on, not the rate.
The truth is that the whole report was garbage by a station that claims to be balanced and logical. Is the question of whether or not the tax rate appropriate to be decided on whether or not Kristen Bell wants to promote a movie? Is the most balanced and fair manner in which the issue of tax rates can be addressed or is it merely a character smear to avoid the real issues. Fox is completely insincere, pandering and prostituting themselves for the wealthy.
Lets try this, lets talk about how much the wealthy did not pay in taxes, the total valuation of all the deductions that the wealthy and businesses took last year. It is a fair question. What if I told you that American businesses had more in deductions than they paid in taxes, would that interest you? What if the reality was that for ever $100 you made in wages you paid $17 in taxes and got $3 in tax deductions; but, the wealthy paid only $19 in taxes for all income; but, got a tax deduction of $10? Would that seem fair or equitable to you?
Here is the biggest shame. We send the children of the poor to die in wars to profit the war machine (just as the great soldier and former president, Eisenhower, warned us of, and we pay the taxes to send our children to die. We pay to have our children die protecting the interests of oil companies that don't even pay their taxes.
The tax code is corrupt and it is not designed to benefit workers, it is designed to benefit owners. I don't want to tax people, I want to tax income and I don't care who it goes to or how they earn it, I want people to contribute to this nation proportionately to how they benefit from this society. A sales tax doesn't do that; but, an flat income tax does if it has no deductions. If you don't benefit from living here then you shouldn't have to pay. It is a very simple philosophy and the person who introduced it to me was Richard M. Nixon. Yet, that famous anti-communist and Republican was the first to introduce the idea that I know of.
Rabid "liberals" hate Nixon because of Watergate. The fact that Kennedy had help getting elected from the Mafia or that Johnson kept us in Vietnam doesn't seem to bother then as much as Nixon does. Nixon believed in the middle class and no president has since him.
As I look forward to retirement this year, I am constantly thinking about what I want to do next. Firstly, there is a good possibility that I will move back into the Mojave desert, I like the desert and it is good for my arthritis. I am also considering putting my doctorate to use and teaching; but, recently I had a new idea. I am thinking about doing a radio show in the desert in the early am when nobody is listening. I would basically talk about the same things I talk about in this blog; but, take calls from other night dwelling desert rats and the random trucker. I have already found a channel that will put on such a show for a relatively modest amount and the truth is, it is cheap enough that I can make it my hobby without having to rely on advertisers or contributions, sort of a self funded deal.
I think that might be fun. Pulling into a radio station in the middle of the night in the dark of the desert, spewing my nonsense and take on the news and letting people who don't have a life themselves call me and give their opinion. To me that seems sort of a romantic ending to my life. I remember what Raymond Chandler said about Philip Marlowe, he said he always saw him living in some drabby little apartment, doing sad jobs for sad people or something to that effect and always being truthful to himself. I like that, I think there is honor in just telling your truth and not worrying about whether or not you personally benefit. As for preaching, I never felt the passion for it, I have been told I am good at it and enjoy it when I am doing it; but, I have always felt that I am a place setter waiting for the permanent assistant preacher to show up. LOL.
Now to some stupid reporters.
Fox News - Kristen Bell tweets 'rich people should pay higher taxes'. The lovely actress Kristen Bell tweeted (I actually used that word) that rich people should pay more in taxes and Fox News brought on someone to ridicule her. The first thing the person said was that if she wanted to pay more taxes than she could make a gift. They said the same thing about Warren Buffet when he suggested the same. Rather than addressing the issue that Ms. Bell raised, they deflect and seek to make the issue about her.
I will start with Ms. Bell's comment and tell you why she is mistaken in her presentation. The problem is not the tax rate, it is the deductions. Over 98% of the tax code is deductions for the wealthy that do not apply to the rest of us. What she should have said is that we should eliminate all tax deductions, then, the wealthy would actually have to pay their taxes. Why should someone who actually works for a living pay a higher tax rate then someone who inherited their money? By the way, Ms. Bell and Mr. Buffet work for a living and are quite good at what they do. Fox doesn't want to talk about tax deductions because the average person doesn't advertise on Fox; but, the grand scoundrels of the finance industry do.
The guest talks about how Ms. Bell is a "savvy" social media user and self promoter whose film "Veronica Mars" is not doing to well. What his comments have to do with the issue of taxation is beyond me; but, then maybe he didn't really want to talk about tax disparity. We should understand that his comments are just bitter over her talking about taxes at all. The fact is that the Veronica Mars movie did not have to make a dime and did. It didn't have to make any money because it was already paid for by the fans of the show who did not invest in the film; but, financed it just to see it get made. I wrote about this when it came out, nothing new on my part. As to being a self promoter, Ms. Bell is not very good at it. In fact, she has gone after the paparazzi for taking pictures of people's children and is making a lot of enemies in the process.
The next part of the conversation is really interesting. The interviewer says that we should consider where these taxes are going when discussing taxes. Hmmm. I can tell you where a lot of it is going, it is going to pay for killing people in other countries and buying weapons. It also goes to the banks. He doesn't really talk about that.
The next game by the interviewer is to say how maybe we should ask what the right rate is, again this is true misdirection. What does it matter what the rate is if nobody pays it. It is the deductions that people should be focused on, not the rate.
The truth is that the whole report was garbage by a station that claims to be balanced and logical. Is the question of whether or not the tax rate appropriate to be decided on whether or not Kristen Bell wants to promote a movie? Is the most balanced and fair manner in which the issue of tax rates can be addressed or is it merely a character smear to avoid the real issues. Fox is completely insincere, pandering and prostituting themselves for the wealthy.
Lets try this, lets talk about how much the wealthy did not pay in taxes, the total valuation of all the deductions that the wealthy and businesses took last year. It is a fair question. What if I told you that American businesses had more in deductions than they paid in taxes, would that interest you? What if the reality was that for ever $100 you made in wages you paid $17 in taxes and got $3 in tax deductions; but, the wealthy paid only $19 in taxes for all income; but, got a tax deduction of $10? Would that seem fair or equitable to you?
Here is the biggest shame. We send the children of the poor to die in wars to profit the war machine (just as the great soldier and former president, Eisenhower, warned us of, and we pay the taxes to send our children to die. We pay to have our children die protecting the interests of oil companies that don't even pay their taxes.
The tax code is corrupt and it is not designed to benefit workers, it is designed to benefit owners. I don't want to tax people, I want to tax income and I don't care who it goes to or how they earn it, I want people to contribute to this nation proportionately to how they benefit from this society. A sales tax doesn't do that; but, an flat income tax does if it has no deductions. If you don't benefit from living here then you shouldn't have to pay. It is a very simple philosophy and the person who introduced it to me was Richard M. Nixon. Yet, that famous anti-communist and Republican was the first to introduce the idea that I know of.
Rabid "liberals" hate Nixon because of Watergate. The fact that Kennedy had help getting elected from the Mafia or that Johnson kept us in Vietnam doesn't seem to bother then as much as Nixon does. Nixon believed in the middle class and no president has since him.
Thursday, March 20, 2014
3/19/14 and News, juicy, intriguing news just like momma used to make
The Telegraph - Fire-sale of US Treasuries is a warning of acute stress across the world. Some nation is selling off it's US Treasury bonds, if they are selling, who will be buying from us when sell them this Friday?
The Street - U.S. Government Ceding Control of Key Internet Body. I have been writing about ICANN for years and years and saying that they were controlled by the Federal Government. I have been called a fool and conspiracy theorist for saying it and I have been told that nobody controls the internet by systems people. Please show me the number of shows people like Jesse Ventura have done about ICANN or where people like Alex Jones have talked about such things, I am patient and will wait. Nope none of these clowns have talked about it until now and how we are "giving up" our control of the internet. The truth is that we are not giving up control over anything, we still own the 13 computers that control how the internet works and are the only ones that can bring down the whole thing and restart it.
ABC News - Court OKs Barring High IQs for Cops. I understand beat cops not being brilliant; but, from them come the detectives. If the beat cops are not allowed to be smart than who will become detectives, Sherlock Holmes was smart. Can you become a detective without having been a cop? No.
Myfoxny.com - 'Smart' houses to become a reality. 50 billion devices connected to the internet in a world with 7 billion people.
CNBC - Raise the minimum wage, we slow hiring: Businesses. I am willing to debate the effect on hiring of people if the minimum wage is increased; but, the articles are pure propaganda and silly. You hire people because you believe you will make money off of them, not because they are cheap. That is just stupid. Imagine the same companies saying that if metal costs increase 5% they will stop using metal. Think about that. I detest threats; but, I know how to respond to them. I will agree to not support increasing the minimum wage if the same companies that took the survey promise to increase hiring by 10% next year. We have given trillions in taxpayer dollars to the banks and businesses and have they haven't hired anyone.
Huffington Post - Reuters - Fed Trims Stimulus By Another $10 Billion. Lets keep an eye on Friday and see what happens as countries dump billions in treasury bonds and the Federal Reserve buys fewer, who will buy the remaining ones?
The Street - U.S. Government Ceding Control of Key Internet Body. I have been writing about ICANN for years and years and saying that they were controlled by the Federal Government. I have been called a fool and conspiracy theorist for saying it and I have been told that nobody controls the internet by systems people. Please show me the number of shows people like Jesse Ventura have done about ICANN or where people like Alex Jones have talked about such things, I am patient and will wait. Nope none of these clowns have talked about it until now and how we are "giving up" our control of the internet. The truth is that we are not giving up control over anything, we still own the 13 computers that control how the internet works and are the only ones that can bring down the whole thing and restart it.
ABC News - Court OKs Barring High IQs for Cops. I understand beat cops not being brilliant; but, from them come the detectives. If the beat cops are not allowed to be smart than who will become detectives, Sherlock Holmes was smart. Can you become a detective without having been a cop? No.
Myfoxny.com - 'Smart' houses to become a reality. 50 billion devices connected to the internet in a world with 7 billion people.
CNBC - Raise the minimum wage, we slow hiring: Businesses. I am willing to debate the effect on hiring of people if the minimum wage is increased; but, the articles are pure propaganda and silly. You hire people because you believe you will make money off of them, not because they are cheap. That is just stupid. Imagine the same companies saying that if metal costs increase 5% they will stop using metal. Think about that. I detest threats; but, I know how to respond to them. I will agree to not support increasing the minimum wage if the same companies that took the survey promise to increase hiring by 10% next year. We have given trillions in taxpayer dollars to the banks and businesses and have they haven't hired anyone.
Huffington Post - Reuters - Fed Trims Stimulus By Another $10 Billion. Lets keep an eye on Friday and see what happens as countries dump billions in treasury bonds and the Federal Reserve buys fewer, who will buy the remaining ones?
Sunday, March 16, 2014
Goodbye David Brenner
I don't know how to describe his humor. He was mostly clean, he wasn't exciting; but, could always be counted on to amuse. He liked to talk about stupid things we do and say. He told one joke about how people always say that they know that whatever they are looking for will be found in the last place they look. He asked, why wouldn't it be, why would you keep looking once you found it.
Here is what I do know about Mr. Brenner, he helped young comedians get noticed and with their work. Comedy is pretty cut-throat and a lot of comedians steal jokes from other comedians. I never heard of Mr. Brenner being accused of that. His official website posted that he had a sex related injury and was being cared for by his family and three undisclosed ladies. In fact, he died from cancer; but, joking till the end. I am posting a link to his last big televised concert.
Youtube - David Brenner: Back with a Vengeance!
Here is what I do know about Mr. Brenner, he helped young comedians get noticed and with their work. Comedy is pretty cut-throat and a lot of comedians steal jokes from other comedians. I never heard of Mr. Brenner being accused of that. His official website posted that he had a sex related injury and was being cared for by his family and three undisclosed ladies. In fact, he died from cancer; but, joking till the end. I am posting a link to his last big televised concert.
Youtube - David Brenner: Back with a Vengeance!
Saturday, March 15, 2014
Veronica Mars and topical news
I took today off work. For the past few years taking a day off meant taking care of personal business or seeing the doctor. Nope, I just took the day off. I went out to the movies and saw "Veronica Mars" and then had dinner with friends. My dear friends don't get a lot of time out, they spend a lot of time taking care of others and while they have an interest in world affairs, they really don't have the time follow it the way I do.
A few people that know me in the real world have told me that I write just like I talk. I guess that could be good or bad. When we go out the subject matters usually have a little personal information (obviously I showed them pictures of my grandchild and talked about how she was doing) and news of the day. Because they don't have time to read the blog or much else, often I sort of go over things that I have recently written about. We talked about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the Malaysian flight that disappeared, I haven't written about that and may tonight, we shall see.
The great thing about having these conversations is that I get feedback and questioned. My friends are fairly traditional conservatives with spiritual beliefs and old school family type people. To those who don't personally know me I have to explain something, while my thinking may be different and my views all over the place, I live the most conservative and quiet lifestyle and attempt to avoid conflict in my personal life. The Pimpernel is quite boring and prefers to listen to music, read and write. I am also very tolerant about other people's lifestyles, my friends span the gammit. I am not very social, as a rule, and prefer to be around people I already know well. The people I work with and know through business often assume that I am very social, some have said they thought I was a ladies man of some sort and I don't even date. Only my closest friends know how personal I really am. Even on this blog you really only see a very small part of who I am because I rarely discuss how I feel and try to keep to issues that I am pondering. It is partly magic, the closer you look, the less you see and the best part of magic is not the trick; but, the show.
At dinner, my friends and I discussed what the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac thing was really about. I brought up the articles and issues in the same order that I recently wrote about them. As I dripped bits of information, one of my friends followed the line of thought I expected from someone with conservative views to the tee. Because of the progression of the articles being explained as we talked, the point could be made and the biases could be looked past. That is the key to how the media works, The first article is released and our response is judged, then the second balloon is floated and again our biases are monitored. By the time the story gets to it's next phase, you stop listening to the questions and only hear your biases.
Now, to Veronica Mars. My daughter was a fan of the show; but, as she just had the baby could not go to the opening today. I never watched the show until I read about the Kickstarter campaign. I decided that if over 91,000 people would donate $5.7 million to have a movie made, I should find out why. I watched the series on the computer and it was good enough. I thought the writing was snappy and the acting showed a true connection between the actors. I did not believe that you could make a movie with the production values needed for the amount of money being spent; but, it turned out the actors worked way below what they could have gotten.
I liked the movie. I thought they gave the audience their moneys worth. I will not give any specifics about the plot; but, it worked. I love film and would have enjoyed film making; but, I had a different career that I was committed to. I am always disappointed when someone takes over $100 million and makes a piece of garbage with no heart, I think about how much more they could have done with that money making a worthwhile film. This was a very worthwhile film. Now, to the news.
The Guardian - Feinstein accuses CIA of 'intimidating' Senate staff over torture report. The press has either been talking about how she shouldn't care because she thinks it is okay for everyone else to be monitored and others in the press are talking about how "Obama" is monitoring politicians to influence their decisions. Neither is the real point of the story. The fact of the matter is that all people that are given certain information are monitored, we monitor anyone with access to secrets and Fienstein knows that, she is faking outrage. The real thing to watch for is her solution to the "problem".
The Guardian - Dianne Feinstein statement on CIA torture report 'cover-up' – full text. Now, I want you to read the actual text of what she said and it shows some interesting things. Firstly, she is the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, do you really believe she didn't know that the congress was also monitored. EVERYONE with top secret clearance can be monitored at any time.
Yahoo - How the jobless deal could cut your pension. Everything that this writer says is garbage and I will pick some of them. Firstly, he talks about how congress is going to restore benefits for people who were long term unemployed. Further down the article he states that this will give people about $300 a month. LOL. Welfare pays more and general relief pays about the exact same amount. The difference between putting people on general relief (what long term unemployed and people who never worked) get is the same cost; but, by showing them as unemployed, it changes the employment numbers.
What is really disturbing is that congress is using this promise of paying "unemployment benefits" to justify allowing companies to not fund their pensions. There is no connection between private pensions and unemployment benefits at all. This is about stealing from any retirement that they can. They have been working on this for years and will continue down this path.
Huffington Post - Reuters - FDIC Sues 16 Big Banks For Rigging LIBOR Rates. Taxpayers, pensioners, governments and just about everyone else has lost more because the big banks conspired to fix markets than they pay for benefits for citizens. Think about that.
Yahoo - Investors Business Daily - Fannie Mae Foreclosure Perks Go To Residents, Not Investors. Another article with a writer completely ignorant of what is going on or a complete shill. Lets start with this little bit, it talks about "owner occupants" and "residents", what do you think that means? I can assure you that there are very few renters in foreclosed upon properties, these are the people who used to own the homes and got foreclosed upon but still live in them and that is why they were not called renters in the article.
The "investors" that are being taken advantage of, they are not investors in Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, they are potential buyers of the properties, speculators. The same people who helped create the housing bubble. The real issue is that once this program is in place, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will see a windfall in profits for the taxpayer and the banks don't want to see that, they want to buy up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from the government at a low price before they become really profitable.
Bloomberg - Fannie Mae Liquidation Seen Sparing Preferred Holders. I like the lies in this article because just about nobody is going to get it. Lets start with this, the article says, common share values (the shares the government holds; but, it doesn't tell you that) dropped in value when it came out that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would turn a profit for taxpayers and Preferred Stock has had a five fold increase in value even though their payouts should not increase more than the payouts for common shares (please read the previous few posts if you don't understand this - common shares get the increased profits and preferred shares get what they were promised).
Basically, members of congress want to sell Fannie and Freddie Mac to the large banks, the same ones that have rigged all the markets. If you continue down the article it becomes very clear that the plan, now that these two companies are making big profits, is to sell them off cheap and the supposed benefit is that taxpayers will be responsible for any losses these companies have that are greater than 10%. If the government sells the stock to private investors, why should we keep the liabilities?
Here is a quote from the article, "Any wind down of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would have to address whether the companies’ values -- from the loans and bonds on their balance sheets to income from their existing guarantees on about $4 trillion of securities -- is split up among several stakeholders or left for taxpayers." I don't know who wrote the article; but, they should know that it is not okay to have one sentence paragraphs. The lie within their statement is that there is a question over how the profits of the sale are to be split, there is no question, all profits in the sale of common stock goes to the Federal government, to taxpayers as it should.
The article also makes this statement, "The Corker-Warner bill called for the proceeds from unwinding of the companies’ estates once their replacement was established to be first used to pay down the government’s investment and then their preferred shares. Anything left would go to holders of their common stock." So, this bill, intended legislation, requires that the government be paid back it's "investment" and then pay the preferred shares giving the profit to the common shares. Huh? But the government is holding the common shares, so how does this plan change anything? Oh, it is the purchasers of the common shares that get all the profit, the people who buy the shares from the government. That is some tricky propaganda their kids.
A few people that know me in the real world have told me that I write just like I talk. I guess that could be good or bad. When we go out the subject matters usually have a little personal information (obviously I showed them pictures of my grandchild and talked about how she was doing) and news of the day. Because they don't have time to read the blog or much else, often I sort of go over things that I have recently written about. We talked about Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and the Malaysian flight that disappeared, I haven't written about that and may tonight, we shall see.
The great thing about having these conversations is that I get feedback and questioned. My friends are fairly traditional conservatives with spiritual beliefs and old school family type people. To those who don't personally know me I have to explain something, while my thinking may be different and my views all over the place, I live the most conservative and quiet lifestyle and attempt to avoid conflict in my personal life. The Pimpernel is quite boring and prefers to listen to music, read and write. I am also very tolerant about other people's lifestyles, my friends span the gammit. I am not very social, as a rule, and prefer to be around people I already know well. The people I work with and know through business often assume that I am very social, some have said they thought I was a ladies man of some sort and I don't even date. Only my closest friends know how personal I really am. Even on this blog you really only see a very small part of who I am because I rarely discuss how I feel and try to keep to issues that I am pondering. It is partly magic, the closer you look, the less you see and the best part of magic is not the trick; but, the show.
At dinner, my friends and I discussed what the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac thing was really about. I brought up the articles and issues in the same order that I recently wrote about them. As I dripped bits of information, one of my friends followed the line of thought I expected from someone with conservative views to the tee. Because of the progression of the articles being explained as we talked, the point could be made and the biases could be looked past. That is the key to how the media works, The first article is released and our response is judged, then the second balloon is floated and again our biases are monitored. By the time the story gets to it's next phase, you stop listening to the questions and only hear your biases.
Now, to Veronica Mars. My daughter was a fan of the show; but, as she just had the baby could not go to the opening today. I never watched the show until I read about the Kickstarter campaign. I decided that if over 91,000 people would donate $5.7 million to have a movie made, I should find out why. I watched the series on the computer and it was good enough. I thought the writing was snappy and the acting showed a true connection between the actors. I did not believe that you could make a movie with the production values needed for the amount of money being spent; but, it turned out the actors worked way below what they could have gotten.
I liked the movie. I thought they gave the audience their moneys worth. I will not give any specifics about the plot; but, it worked. I love film and would have enjoyed film making; but, I had a different career that I was committed to. I am always disappointed when someone takes over $100 million and makes a piece of garbage with no heart, I think about how much more they could have done with that money making a worthwhile film. This was a very worthwhile film. Now, to the news.
The Guardian - Feinstein accuses CIA of 'intimidating' Senate staff over torture report. The press has either been talking about how she shouldn't care because she thinks it is okay for everyone else to be monitored and others in the press are talking about how "Obama" is monitoring politicians to influence their decisions. Neither is the real point of the story. The fact of the matter is that all people that are given certain information are monitored, we monitor anyone with access to secrets and Fienstein knows that, she is faking outrage. The real thing to watch for is her solution to the "problem".
The Guardian - Dianne Feinstein statement on CIA torture report 'cover-up' – full text. Now, I want you to read the actual text of what she said and it shows some interesting things. Firstly, she is the chair of the Senate Intelligence Committee, do you really believe she didn't know that the congress was also monitored. EVERYONE with top secret clearance can be monitored at any time.
Yahoo - How the jobless deal could cut your pension. Everything that this writer says is garbage and I will pick some of them. Firstly, he talks about how congress is going to restore benefits for people who were long term unemployed. Further down the article he states that this will give people about $300 a month. LOL. Welfare pays more and general relief pays about the exact same amount. The difference between putting people on general relief (what long term unemployed and people who never worked) get is the same cost; but, by showing them as unemployed, it changes the employment numbers.
What is really disturbing is that congress is using this promise of paying "unemployment benefits" to justify allowing companies to not fund their pensions. There is no connection between private pensions and unemployment benefits at all. This is about stealing from any retirement that they can. They have been working on this for years and will continue down this path.
Huffington Post - Reuters - FDIC Sues 16 Big Banks For Rigging LIBOR Rates. Taxpayers, pensioners, governments and just about everyone else has lost more because the big banks conspired to fix markets than they pay for benefits for citizens. Think about that.
Yahoo - Investors Business Daily - Fannie Mae Foreclosure Perks Go To Residents, Not Investors. Another article with a writer completely ignorant of what is going on or a complete shill. Lets start with this little bit, it talks about "owner occupants" and "residents", what do you think that means? I can assure you that there are very few renters in foreclosed upon properties, these are the people who used to own the homes and got foreclosed upon but still live in them and that is why they were not called renters in the article.
The "investors" that are being taken advantage of, they are not investors in Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, they are potential buyers of the properties, speculators. The same people who helped create the housing bubble. The real issue is that once this program is in place, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac will see a windfall in profits for the taxpayer and the banks don't want to see that, they want to buy up Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from the government at a low price before they become really profitable.
Bloomberg - Fannie Mae Liquidation Seen Sparing Preferred Holders. I like the lies in this article because just about nobody is going to get it. Lets start with this, the article says, common share values (the shares the government holds; but, it doesn't tell you that) dropped in value when it came out that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would turn a profit for taxpayers and Preferred Stock has had a five fold increase in value even though their payouts should not increase more than the payouts for common shares (please read the previous few posts if you don't understand this - common shares get the increased profits and preferred shares get what they were promised).
Basically, members of congress want to sell Fannie and Freddie Mac to the large banks, the same ones that have rigged all the markets. If you continue down the article it becomes very clear that the plan, now that these two companies are making big profits, is to sell them off cheap and the supposed benefit is that taxpayers will be responsible for any losses these companies have that are greater than 10%. If the government sells the stock to private investors, why should we keep the liabilities?
Here is a quote from the article, "Any wind down of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would have to address whether the companies’ values -- from the loans and bonds on their balance sheets to income from their existing guarantees on about $4 trillion of securities -- is split up among several stakeholders or left for taxpayers." I don't know who wrote the article; but, they should know that it is not okay to have one sentence paragraphs. The lie within their statement is that there is a question over how the profits of the sale are to be split, there is no question, all profits in the sale of common stock goes to the Federal government, to taxpayers as it should.
The article also makes this statement, "The Corker-Warner bill called for the proceeds from unwinding of the companies’ estates once their replacement was established to be first used to pay down the government’s investment and then their preferred shares. Anything left would go to holders of their common stock." So, this bill, intended legislation, requires that the government be paid back it's "investment" and then pay the preferred shares giving the profit to the common shares. Huh? But the government is holding the common shares, so how does this plan change anything? Oh, it is the purchasers of the common shares that get all the profit, the people who buy the shares from the government. That is some tricky propaganda their kids.
Friday, March 14, 2014
Stealing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac From Taxpayers
Yesterday I wrote about corned beef and Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, if you didn't read the post, I recommend that you go back and do so before reading this post. The bottom line is simple, taxpayers "bailed out" Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac after they had purchased bad mortgages from banks and after being bailed out, Fannie and Freddie along with the Federal Reserve bought up just about all the remaining mortgages. Funny thing is, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have paid the taxpayers back and with interest. They now stand to profit about $18 billion a year for ten years. That is more than enough to fund the postal pensions and those of most others in the Federal government from the profits alone and the government would still own Trillions in assets (mortgages).
There is no way that your congressman are going to allow the government to be profitable, there is too much to be made in selling off our governmental assets at a discount to their friends. Taxpayers were given all the risk and bad debt and will not be allowed to reap the rewards.
Yahoo - CNBC - Corker: Deal to end Fannie, Freddie is just right. I want my readers to pay attention to what this article says. Firstly, it doesn't mention at all that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have paid the government back all the money plus interest and completely avoids discussing how much more the taxpayers will get if we hold onto Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The slimebag that wrote this article is the worst kind of panderer.
I find this line from his article truly dishonest, "Lawmakers from both parties want to revamp the $10 trillion mortgage market to make it less likely taxpayers will ever be put on the hook again." It is the exact opposite of the truth and is proven if anyone reads the rest of the article. Their solution is to sell off Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac at a discount and keep taxpayers on the hook if they fail beyond the first ten percent and any larger loss would fall on the taxpayers still.
UNRELATED PERSONAL STUFF:
I was listening to music while writing this and my mind wandered. I started thinking about wanting to thank my doctor. A number of years back I stopped seeing my doctors, they seemed to enjoy putting me in the hospital a bit much. I did not like it. Sometime in around 2008 I suffered my first heart attack and still did not go back to see a doctor and had stopped taking my blood pressure and other pills. I may not have my years right; but, basically that was it.
Last year I went back to my medical plan and saw a doctor again. I went in for a simple hemorrhoid problem and didn't want to hear about my blood pressure or have it taken because it was always life threatening. The readings said that I should be in cardiac arrest or passed out. The nurse was horrified. The doctor saw me and my numbers and quickly began considering how to get me into the hospital where I made it clear I did not wish to go. If he would have put me in, I would have avoided him and ignored him like the ones in the past; but, he worked with me. That first day was tough, I had to go through lots of testing to make sure I wasn't having a heart attack. I took it all quite cavalierly. I wasn't that concerned about dying, I just didn't want to be annoyed along the way. I ended up seeing the doctor weekly for a few months and playing pill roulette as we sought to see what combo of medications would bring down my blood pressure at least close to acceptable limits.
We eventually found the right pill mix and my numbers are almost all acceptable and the ones that are not are pretty close, a few weeks back I reported what my doctor said to me. He said when I left his office that first time he almost cried because he didn't think I would live the year. I never thought about it from his perspective. He is around 30 and really involved in the health of his patients, this guy really cares and he got stuck with me. Here I am a guy that didn't seek help after having a heart attack, I had been off pills for years and joked about death. I understand why he felt like crying and didn't think I would live a year. When he got back my EKG and told me I had a heart attack, I laughed and told him I remembered having it and that it had hurt. I even told him where I was when I had it, lovely Baker, California. LOL.
I remember the first time I met my doctor, he said I should be dead and had dodged a bullet. He couldn't believe I was alive. I must have been a odd job to be given to him. I told him he only needed to get me to retirement, he said he wanted to get me better so that I could enjoy my retirement. He did and soon I will retire; but, I had the added blessing of holding my first grandchild, he doesn't know that and when I see him I will tell him about it. I will show him a picture of my granddaughter and thank him for getting me here.
There is no way that your congressman are going to allow the government to be profitable, there is too much to be made in selling off our governmental assets at a discount to their friends. Taxpayers were given all the risk and bad debt and will not be allowed to reap the rewards.
Yahoo - CNBC - Corker: Deal to end Fannie, Freddie is just right. I want my readers to pay attention to what this article says. Firstly, it doesn't mention at all that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac have paid the government back all the money plus interest and completely avoids discussing how much more the taxpayers will get if we hold onto Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. The slimebag that wrote this article is the worst kind of panderer.
I find this line from his article truly dishonest, "Lawmakers from both parties want to revamp the $10 trillion mortgage market to make it less likely taxpayers will ever be put on the hook again." It is the exact opposite of the truth and is proven if anyone reads the rest of the article. Their solution is to sell off Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac at a discount and keep taxpayers on the hook if they fail beyond the first ten percent and any larger loss would fall on the taxpayers still.
UNRELATED PERSONAL STUFF:
I was listening to music while writing this and my mind wandered. I started thinking about wanting to thank my doctor. A number of years back I stopped seeing my doctors, they seemed to enjoy putting me in the hospital a bit much. I did not like it. Sometime in around 2008 I suffered my first heart attack and still did not go back to see a doctor and had stopped taking my blood pressure and other pills. I may not have my years right; but, basically that was it.
Last year I went back to my medical plan and saw a doctor again. I went in for a simple hemorrhoid problem and didn't want to hear about my blood pressure or have it taken because it was always life threatening. The readings said that I should be in cardiac arrest or passed out. The nurse was horrified. The doctor saw me and my numbers and quickly began considering how to get me into the hospital where I made it clear I did not wish to go. If he would have put me in, I would have avoided him and ignored him like the ones in the past; but, he worked with me. That first day was tough, I had to go through lots of testing to make sure I wasn't having a heart attack. I took it all quite cavalierly. I wasn't that concerned about dying, I just didn't want to be annoyed along the way. I ended up seeing the doctor weekly for a few months and playing pill roulette as we sought to see what combo of medications would bring down my blood pressure at least close to acceptable limits.
We eventually found the right pill mix and my numbers are almost all acceptable and the ones that are not are pretty close, a few weeks back I reported what my doctor said to me. He said when I left his office that first time he almost cried because he didn't think I would live the year. I never thought about it from his perspective. He is around 30 and really involved in the health of his patients, this guy really cares and he got stuck with me. Here I am a guy that didn't seek help after having a heart attack, I had been off pills for years and joked about death. I understand why he felt like crying and didn't think I would live a year. When he got back my EKG and told me I had a heart attack, I laughed and told him I remembered having it and that it had hurt. I even told him where I was when I had it, lovely Baker, California. LOL.
I remember the first time I met my doctor, he said I should be dead and had dodged a bullet. He couldn't believe I was alive. I must have been a odd job to be given to him. I told him he only needed to get me to retirement, he said he wanted to get me better so that I could enjoy my retirement. He did and soon I will retire; but, I had the added blessing of holding my first grandchild, he doesn't know that and when I see him I will tell him about it. I will show him a picture of my granddaughter and thank him for getting me here.
Wednesday, March 12, 2014
Corned Beef and Todays News
As my readers may or may not know, I am of Irish decent. There is a little English in me; but, we don't talk about that much. LOL. In fact my ex was Finnish, French, English, American Indian and a whole bunch of other things. I used to joke that she had destroyed the purity of my bloodline when we had kids. In reality I consider myself American and I consider my ex and my children to be American. Having said that I will on occassion celebrate my Irish heritage in odd ways. I do not drink beer and no longer drink scotch so I am left with food.
Unfortunately, food was often scarce in Ireland and potatoes kept the country alive for a long time. Ireland has a long history of using fish; but, it never traveled well within the country. After the English took over Ireland, they also took all the beef. What was left was root vegetables and the worst of all beef cuts, which was used for corned beef. They were cooked by being boiled as it used less wood for the fire and a meal could be made in one pot. When the world gives you lemons, you learn to make lemonade and the Irish found spices and boiling made the food edible and okay.
Anyways, I have been feeling better and getting back into cooking from scratch. I decided that with Saint Patricks day coming up I would go old school and boil myself a corned beef. I went to the store and found some a 2 1/2 pound piece of corned beef for $4 and took it home to prepare. I didn't expect much; but, I had picked the best cut I could find and dutifully boiled it for about 3 hours. I intended to cut it extra thin and pair it with pastrami for sandwiches. That is not going to happen, it came out perfectly tender and delicious. I hate to say it; but, it is the best corned beef I have ever cooked. If I could have cut it thinner it would have been even better in a sandwich.
Our elders knew lots of ways to use the worst and cheapest things and still make good meals. Heck, ribs used to be budget food. As we enter tougher economic times we should try and remember how our parents and grandparents made due with what they had. Oh I boiled it with a red potato, a white potato and a carrot. Those will taste fantastic tomorrow.
CNN - Assange to SXSW: We're all being watched. The title speaks for itself.
CBS - DC - Massive Police Hunt For Bank Robbers Shuts Down I-270. You cease having a right to privacy the moment you travel. Whatever happened to probable cause?
Now the fun stuff; but, to understand what is happening you have to read them in order.
Yahoo - Reuters - Fannie, Freddie could send $179.2 billion to taxpayers: White House. It turns out that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the holders of over 60% of all mortgages and they themselves are owned by the Federal government, are not only returning all their bailout money ahead of schedule; but are also on track to make the government a tidy little income stream profit. The bailout cost taxpayers about $187 billion and they are about to repay approximately $202 billion. In addition to paying us back, over the next ten years they should pay the government back about $179 billion in profit. Just imagine, with that return we could fully fund Social Security for a very long time.
Bloomberg - Westhus Reaping Fannie Windfall to Rival Big Short: Mortgages. Okay so when Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac looked like they would go bankrupt, a few knowledgeable investors bought up their preferred stock (which do not have voting rights, they are more like company debt than ownership). So the people that bought the preferred stock now know that there is a big payday coming to the Treasury and they want the money themselves. The Treasury has common stock and that allows it to vote on how and who gets paid when profits are made. It should be noted that Preferred stock does not usually share in the profits as much as the common stock which is now owned by the Treasury.
Finance & Commerce.com - Bill would eliminate Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac. The first two stories show that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are about to make $179 billion for someone and it should go to the taxpayer; but, private money wants it first. That is a lot of money on the table which might explain this move. Some congressman are now looking to fast track the idea of selling Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac while still keeping the government on the hook if the mortgages fail. Selling off all the value and keeping all the risk. These people are criminals. What is particularly interesting to me is how quickly the idea of selling off the stock came up after it was determined that the stock had value and our representatives willingness to guarantee our taxes to pay off any losses even once the stock is sold.
I believe the creation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was a mistake. I believe it allowed the cost of housing go up more than it otherwise would have and I do not believe the government should be backing up any loans. I also don't believe in corporate subsidies or tax deductions. I believe everyone should pay the same percentage of their income regardless of how it was earned in the year it was paid to them. Now that we are past all of that, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac do exist and were going to go bankrupt and the taxpayers bailed them out.
Isn't it funny how right after it was announced that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would pay a return to the Treasury (the taxpayers who bailed them out), the fight became over who in private finance would steal the profit from the taxpayers and keep it for themselves and neither of the last two articles really showed any concern over the value of this asset to taxpayers.
Don't trust the mainstream media, they are nothing other than a puppet for the wealthy. And don't trust the alternative media as they tend to be busy trying to sell you stuff like gold that has no real value. We are flooded with garbage, lies and deception so that the wolves can take advantage of the sheep and we are told we deserve to be taken of advantage of because people are sheep, it is all a lie to fulfill greed and selfishness with a justification our abusers like.
Unfortunately, food was often scarce in Ireland and potatoes kept the country alive for a long time. Ireland has a long history of using fish; but, it never traveled well within the country. After the English took over Ireland, they also took all the beef. What was left was root vegetables and the worst of all beef cuts, which was used for corned beef. They were cooked by being boiled as it used less wood for the fire and a meal could be made in one pot. When the world gives you lemons, you learn to make lemonade and the Irish found spices and boiling made the food edible and okay.
Anyways, I have been feeling better and getting back into cooking from scratch. I decided that with Saint Patricks day coming up I would go old school and boil myself a corned beef. I went to the store and found some a 2 1/2 pound piece of corned beef for $4 and took it home to prepare. I didn't expect much; but, I had picked the best cut I could find and dutifully boiled it for about 3 hours. I intended to cut it extra thin and pair it with pastrami for sandwiches. That is not going to happen, it came out perfectly tender and delicious. I hate to say it; but, it is the best corned beef I have ever cooked. If I could have cut it thinner it would have been even better in a sandwich.
Our elders knew lots of ways to use the worst and cheapest things and still make good meals. Heck, ribs used to be budget food. As we enter tougher economic times we should try and remember how our parents and grandparents made due with what they had. Oh I boiled it with a red potato, a white potato and a carrot. Those will taste fantastic tomorrow.
CNN - Assange to SXSW: We're all being watched. The title speaks for itself.
CBS - DC - Massive Police Hunt For Bank Robbers Shuts Down I-270. You cease having a right to privacy the moment you travel. Whatever happened to probable cause?
Now the fun stuff; but, to understand what is happening you have to read them in order.
Yahoo - Reuters - Fannie, Freddie could send $179.2 billion to taxpayers: White House. It turns out that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the holders of over 60% of all mortgages and they themselves are owned by the Federal government, are not only returning all their bailout money ahead of schedule; but are also on track to make the government a tidy little income stream profit. The bailout cost taxpayers about $187 billion and they are about to repay approximately $202 billion. In addition to paying us back, over the next ten years they should pay the government back about $179 billion in profit. Just imagine, with that return we could fully fund Social Security for a very long time.
Bloomberg - Westhus Reaping Fannie Windfall to Rival Big Short: Mortgages. Okay so when Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac looked like they would go bankrupt, a few knowledgeable investors bought up their preferred stock (which do not have voting rights, they are more like company debt than ownership). So the people that bought the preferred stock now know that there is a big payday coming to the Treasury and they want the money themselves. The Treasury has common stock and that allows it to vote on how and who gets paid when profits are made. It should be noted that Preferred stock does not usually share in the profits as much as the common stock which is now owned by the Treasury.
Finance & Commerce.com - Bill would eliminate Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac. The first two stories show that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are about to make $179 billion for someone and it should go to the taxpayer; but, private money wants it first. That is a lot of money on the table which might explain this move. Some congressman are now looking to fast track the idea of selling Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac while still keeping the government on the hook if the mortgages fail. Selling off all the value and keeping all the risk. These people are criminals. What is particularly interesting to me is how quickly the idea of selling off the stock came up after it was determined that the stock had value and our representatives willingness to guarantee our taxes to pay off any losses even once the stock is sold.
I believe the creation of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac was a mistake. I believe it allowed the cost of housing go up more than it otherwise would have and I do not believe the government should be backing up any loans. I also don't believe in corporate subsidies or tax deductions. I believe everyone should pay the same percentage of their income regardless of how it was earned in the year it was paid to them. Now that we are past all of that, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac do exist and were going to go bankrupt and the taxpayers bailed them out.
Isn't it funny how right after it was announced that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac would pay a return to the Treasury (the taxpayers who bailed them out), the fight became over who in private finance would steal the profit from the taxpayers and keep it for themselves and neither of the last two articles really showed any concern over the value of this asset to taxpayers.
Don't trust the mainstream media, they are nothing other than a puppet for the wealthy. And don't trust the alternative media as they tend to be busy trying to sell you stuff like gold that has no real value. We are flooded with garbage, lies and deception so that the wolves can take advantage of the sheep and we are told we deserve to be taken of advantage of because people are sheep, it is all a lie to fulfill greed and selfishness with a justification our abusers like.
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