Bailout? I think not.

Everyone keeps talking about the "Government Bailout" of the big banks and wall street companies. Why does everyone have such a difficult time recognizing theft and criminal activity when they see it?

I grew up in East Los Angeles. I know crime when I see it:

Between 2000 and 2007, the banking institutions in America with virtually zero oversight from both mortgage guarantee operations (Fannie Mae & Freddie Mac) and zero interference from the federal government made millions of loans to people they knew had no way to pay back the borrowed money. Each time they made these loans, they then sold the loans to Wall Street as “mortgage backed securities” all along they made billions in interest, commissions and origination fees. Then, in 2007 and 2008 when the entire house of cards collapsed, the banks decided to just stop making loans. This is the strange part: Banks make money by taking the money you deposit in your savings, checking and money market accounts and lending it out to people and businesses who want to borrow it. The difference between the interest they charge on borrowed money and the interest they pay you while your money is on deposit is profit. This profit when combined with earnings on invested money is the bank’s revenue. Since they were not making any loans, and all of their investments were losing value, they were not making money…. Right?

Wrong… the banks told the federal government that they would not be able to survive unless they were given hundreds of billions in TARP loans. Then when the federal government gave them the billions of our tax payer money, with no way to track where the money went or what it was used for the banks simply had big parties, paid huge bonuses and waited for the stock market to crash. This happened in the first week of March 2009. (The DJIA fell from 14,000 in October 2007 to 6,600 in March of 2009.) The beauty of the situation was that the banks and financial institutions caused the crash by selling investors these broken loans, then used our tax dollars (in the form of TARP loans) to buy stocks and investments at the very bottom of the market beginning in March of 2009. It was a beautiful play by the banks. Then finally in March of 2010, our elected officials emerged from every back room in Washington, came forward and “DEMANDED ACCOUNTABILITY” from every bank and financial institution that borrowed TARP funds. The banks responded by saying "NO" to accountability and all of a sudden, they started paying back the hundreds of billions in TARP money they had borrowed in 2007 and 2008. If the banks were so broke where were they getting the money to pay back these TARP loans?

The money came from the sale of securities purchased by the banks which had grown considerably over the year the banks had kept it invested in the stock markets. the banks had also made enormous gains on the investments they made using the TARP rescue money. This is how they "survived" the "financial crisis".

Why was the money handed out without any accountability then after the scam was pulled and the banks had made trillions in gains from our “borrowed” tax dollars now everyone who had signed the legislation that gave the banks our money in the first place all of a sudden demand accountability?

Simple… The banks and financial institutions own and control our elected officials. Every elected official depends on these kinds of back room deals to provide money for kickbacks that pay for everything from election contributions to all manner of criminal debauchery found at every level of public office.

Since most people choose to remain uneducated and simply refuse to recognize this activity by banks, financial institutions and elected officials as criminal activity, the guilty keep on doing it. The elected officials who are honest wind up getting set up and black balled or kicked out of office for ridiculous scandals.

People really need to wake up. Tell a friend about this blog.... maybe some lights will go on in people's heads!!

That is my opinion…What do you think?

Big Oil makes a mess and we get to clean it up.

I look at the incredible destruction to the ecosystem and businesses in the Gulf of Mexico caused by the ongoing oil spill caused by BP and wonder…

Will the ecosystem ever be able to recover?

What will be the overall economic impact to the region?

How much will it cost to clean up?

Will BP be held accountable for the careless practices that led to the spill?


To find the answers I look back 23 years to Exxon Valdez / Alaska and realize:

The ecosystem will never fully recover in my lifetime.

The economic impact will be measured in decades and cost us billions & billions

It will cost us hundreds of millions to contain and clean up the mess.

BP will in essence be let off the hook with a small fine and a few stern words. They will not be held accountable for thier actions.

Well, after all big oil practically owns all three branches of our federal, state and local government. Why would a congressman, senator, representative or any other elected official want to piss in the Kool-Aid of the company that funded his election campaign, pays for his yacht and vacation properties and keeps all of that money flowing into his bank accounts in the Cayman Islands? The answer of course is that he wouldn’t think of upsetting big oil by making them take financial and moral responsibility for their careless actions.

So that just leaves us to clean up this mess.

What do you think?

American Flags and Immigrants

I am growing increasingly concerned with the issue of immigrant rights in this country. Our leaders at home, school and in government forget where we live, who we are as a people and thier duites to those who follow or listen to them.

I am not an opponent of immigrant rights. I am an opponent of ILLEGAL immigrant rights. If you are breaking the law by simply being in the country, then you are breaking the law and therefore you have no rights. People who are here illegally do not deserve any of rights that citizens and legal residents are entitled to because they are breaking the law by being here.

This week, students in a California school were sent home for wearing t-shirts displaying American flags. AMERICAN flags! The most ridiculous part of this is the fact that it was the teacher and principal of the school who were listening to latino students who sent the students home. Sure, the students who were sent home were wearing thier American flag shirts on May 5th (cinco de mayo) and were making a statment. but come on... what were the teacher and principal thinking?

The citizens and LEGAL residents of this country need to get it straight. We are all Americans. We may all be from somewhere else (in fact we are all from somewhere else) but when we are here in these United States, we need to recognize and respect our country. This country. USA.

You can be proud of your heritage, traditions and family history and also be proud to be an American.

That's my opinion... what do you think?