While unemployment in The United States remains at more than ten percent and millions of Americans have been out of work for many months, one Congressman is doing his best to lobby foreign governments to build factories overseas to take more jobs away from his constituents.
From The New York Times, Monday, December 7, 2009
Representative Danny K. Davis, an Illionois Democrat, got the dignitary treatment when a big donor flew him to inner Mongolia to lobby for a new medical supplies factory in rural China. Despite changes intended to curb Congressional junkets, some lawmakers and even their families continue to take trips hosted by private groups and companies that revel in their access to Washington power brokers.
Omar medical supplies, just such a company, got its factory built in China with the help of the Illinois Congressman who acknowledged that "It's not going to create jobs in Illionois.
What the hell are you thinking Congressman? Are you working for the millions of people who voted for you or for the few people who paid for your campaign? Shame on you and see if you get reelected by all the people in Illionois out of work.
For The complete article read http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/07/politics/07trips.html
Monday, December 7, 2009
Sunday, December 6, 2009
Where Did Your TARP Money Go?
TARP, the Troubled Asset Relief Program was money the federal government lent to banks to alleviate the suffering of millions of AMERICANS who were in financial trouble due to the recklessness of those banks and other financial institutions. So what did Citibank do with the money the government earmarked for AMERICAN relief? Shortly after recieving billions of dollars in TARP funds from the U.S. government they lent 8 billion dollars TO DUBAI!
Now it seems that Dubai is likely to default on that loan, digging Citibank into a deeper quagmire of debt! As of December 1, 2009 Citibank is the only large financial institution that has not paid back its TARP money. Now it seems that this deby may never be repaid. As owner of more than 1/3 of Citibank's shares, The Federal government needs to fire the entire board of directors of Citibank as well as Ben "Bail 'em-out" Bernanke. This is just another prime example of our own governments ineptitude.
When it comes time for reelection, I hope the American people will not have a short memory and will vote every member of the Congressional Finance Committee out of office, starting with the head liar, Barney Frank who has received millions of dollars in campaign contributions from the financial industry lobby (talk about a conflict of interest. Would you like to see how your elected officials in congress are still circumventing the ethics rules regarding taking money from big business? See the NY Times article for Monday, December 7, 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/07/us/politics/07trips.html
Here is a long but complete list of the congressional finance committee:
Rep. Barney Frank, MA, Chairman and Chief DoDo
Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski, PA
Rep. Maxine Waters, CA
Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, NY
Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez, IL
Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez, NY
Rep. Melvin L. Watt, NC
Rep. Gary L. Ackerman, NY
Rep. Brad Sherman, CA
Rep. Gregory W. Meeks, NY
Rep. Dennis Moore, KS
Rep. Michael E. Capuano, MA
Rep. Rubén Hinojosa, TX
Rep. William Lacy Clay, MO
Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, NY
Rep. Joe Baca, CA
Rep. Stephen F. Lynch, MA
Rep. Brad Miller, NC
Rep. David Scott, GA
Rep. Al Green, TX
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, MO
Rep. Melissa L. Bean, IL
Rep. Gwen Moore, WI
Rep. Paul W. Hodes, NH
Rep. Keith Ellison, MN
Rep. Ron Klein, FL
Rep. Charles Wilson, OH
Rep. Ed Perlmutter, CO
Rep. Joe Donnelly, IN
Rep. Bill Foster, IL
Rep. Andre Carson, IN
Rep. Jackie Speier, CA
Rep. Travis Childers, MS
Rep. Walt Minnick, ID
Rep. John Adler, NJ
Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy, OH
Rep. Steve Driehaus, OH
Rep. Suzanne Kosmas, FL
Rep. Alan Grayson, FL
Rep. Jim Himes, CT
Rep. Gary Peters, MI
Rep. Dan Maffei, NY
Republican Members
Rep. Spencer Bachus, AL
Rep. Michael N. Castle, DE
Rep. Peter King, NY
Rep. Edward R. Royce, CA
Rep. Frank D. Lucas, OK
Rep. Ron Paul, TX
Rep. Donald A. Manzullo, IL
Rep. Walter B. Jones , NC
Rep. Judy Biggert, IL
Rep. Gary G. Miller, CA
Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, WV
Rep. Jeb Hensarling, TX
Rep. Scott Garrett, NJ
Rep. J. Gresham Barrett, SC
Rep. Jim Gerlach, PA
Rep. Randy Neugebauer, TX
Rep. Tom Price, GA
Rep. Patrick T. McHenry, NC
Rep. John Campbell, CA
Rep. Adam Putnam, FL
Rep. Michele Bachmann, MN
Rep. Kenny Marchant, TX
Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, MI
Rep. Kevin McCarthy, CA
Rep. Bill Posey, FL
Rep. Lynn Jenkins, KS
Rep. Christopher Lee, NY
Rep. Erik Paulsen, MN
Rep. Leonard Lance, NJ
TARP, the Troubled Asset Relief Program was money the federal government lent to banks to alleviate the suffering of millions of AMERICANS who were in financial trouble due to the recklessness of those banks and other financial institutions. So what did Citibank do with the money the government earmarked for AMERICAN relief? Shortly after recieving billions of dollars in TARP funds from the U.S. government they lent 8 billion dollars TO DUBAI!
Now it seems that Dubai is likely to default on that loan, digging Citibank into a deeper quagmire of debt! As of December 1, 2009 Citibank is the only large financial institution that has not paid back its TARP money. Now it seems that this deby may never be repaid. As owner of more than 1/3 of Citibank's shares, The Federal government needs to fire the entire board of directors of Citibank as well as Ben "Bail 'em-out" Bernanke. This is just another prime example of our own governments ineptitude.
When it comes time for reelection, I hope the American people will not have a short memory and will vote every member of the Congressional Finance Committee out of office, starting with the head liar, Barney Frank who has received millions of dollars in campaign contributions from the financial industry lobby (talk about a conflict of interest. Would you like to see how your elected officials in congress are still circumventing the ethics rules regarding taking money from big business? See the NY Times article for Monday, December 7, 2009. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/07/us/politics/07trips.html
Here is a long but complete list of the congressional finance committee:
Rep. Barney Frank, MA, Chairman and Chief DoDo
Rep. Paul E. Kanjorski, PA
Rep. Maxine Waters, CA
Rep. Carolyn B. Maloney, NY
Rep. Luis V. Gutierrez, IL
Rep. Nydia M. Velázquez, NY
Rep. Melvin L. Watt, NC
Rep. Gary L. Ackerman, NY
Rep. Brad Sherman, CA
Rep. Gregory W. Meeks, NY
Rep. Dennis Moore, KS
Rep. Michael E. Capuano, MA
Rep. Rubén Hinojosa, TX
Rep. William Lacy Clay, MO
Rep. Carolyn McCarthy, NY
Rep. Joe Baca, CA
Rep. Stephen F. Lynch, MA
Rep. Brad Miller, NC
Rep. David Scott, GA
Rep. Al Green, TX
Rep. Emanuel Cleaver, MO
Rep. Melissa L. Bean, IL
Rep. Gwen Moore, WI
Rep. Paul W. Hodes, NH
Rep. Keith Ellison, MN
Rep. Ron Klein, FL
Rep. Charles Wilson, OH
Rep. Ed Perlmutter, CO
Rep. Joe Donnelly, IN
Rep. Bill Foster, IL
Rep. Andre Carson, IN
Rep. Jackie Speier, CA
Rep. Travis Childers, MS
Rep. Walt Minnick, ID
Rep. John Adler, NJ
Rep. Mary Jo Kilroy, OH
Rep. Steve Driehaus, OH
Rep. Suzanne Kosmas, FL
Rep. Alan Grayson, FL
Rep. Jim Himes, CT
Rep. Gary Peters, MI
Rep. Dan Maffei, NY
Republican Members
Rep. Spencer Bachus, AL
Rep. Michael N. Castle, DE
Rep. Peter King, NY
Rep. Edward R. Royce, CA
Rep. Frank D. Lucas, OK
Rep. Ron Paul, TX
Rep. Donald A. Manzullo, IL
Rep. Walter B. Jones , NC
Rep. Judy Biggert, IL
Rep. Gary G. Miller, CA
Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, WV
Rep. Jeb Hensarling, TX
Rep. Scott Garrett, NJ
Rep. J. Gresham Barrett, SC
Rep. Jim Gerlach, PA
Rep. Randy Neugebauer, TX
Rep. Tom Price, GA
Rep. Patrick T. McHenry, NC
Rep. John Campbell, CA
Rep. Adam Putnam, FL
Rep. Michele Bachmann, MN
Rep. Kenny Marchant, TX
Rep. Thaddeus McCotter, MI
Rep. Kevin McCarthy, CA
Rep. Bill Posey, FL
Rep. Lynn Jenkins, KS
Rep. Christopher Lee, NY
Rep. Erik Paulsen, MN
Rep. Leonard Lance, NJ
Friday, October 2, 2009
Stop Spreading Spam
Many people do not truly understand how to properly send e-mail. Sure it seems simple enough, but do you realize that every e-mail that you send has the potential for adding the name of the person to whom you are sending the e-mail to, be added to the list that spammers use to target their victims?
Whenever you are sending an e-mail to more than one person you should put your e-mail address in the To: box and all your receipients names in the BCC: box . The Bcc or Blind Carbon Copy box means that everyones e-mail will be hidden from every reipient except the person recieving it. This protects people that recive your e-mail in as a forwarded e-mail. For example, when you e-mail a joke or interesting comment, a plea for charity etc, to several of your frinds and your friends forward your original e-mail to their friends eventually this huge list of e-mail addresses will be harvested by a spammer. Placing the recipients e-maill addresses in the BCC box makes it more difficult for spam bots to harvest the e-mail addresess.
Second: One very common method used by spammers to reap large numbers of e-mail addresses is to start a petetion. They will send an e-mail to someone asking them to "Join The Cause" for one thing or another and add their e-mail address to the list and forward it all their friends who will add their e-mail address to the list and forward it to their friends. This pyramid scheme of sorts will quickly mushroom into a very, very large list of e-mail addresses. The last step in this scheme is a link in the original e-mail to phoney e-mail addresses purported to be going to the intended reciever of the list such as Whitehouse. gov or Editor@nytimes, etc. but the e-mail link actually goes to the owner of the spam list. Never add your e-mail address to a petition list and forward it to your friends. At the least you should reserach the link to see where it actually goes or just google the the intended recipient of your e-mail and get their true e-mail addess, then as I said before, put everyones e-mail address in a Bcc
Whenever you post an e-mail address in a public forum don't put the @ sign in the e-mail addresses. Spam bots search these sites and use the @ to automatically detect the e-mail address. Instead use the human word for the @ sign and the . such as Fred AT FredKahn dot com. This makes it much more difficult for the spam bots to detect the e-mail addess.
You can also use programs such as Safe E-Mail Links Scout which generates spam-bot safe HTML code for e-mail links using inline javascript.
Whenever you are sending an e-mail to more than one person you should put your e-mail address in the To: box and all your receipients names in the BCC: box . The Bcc or Blind Carbon Copy box means that everyones e-mail will be hidden from every reipient except the person recieving it. This protects people that recive your e-mail in as a forwarded e-mail. For example, when you e-mail a joke or interesting comment, a plea for charity etc, to several of your frinds and your friends forward your original e-mail to their friends eventually this huge list of e-mail addresses will be harvested by a spammer. Placing the recipients e-maill addresses in the BCC box makes it more difficult for spam bots to harvest the e-mail addresess.
Second: One very common method used by spammers to reap large numbers of e-mail addresses is to start a petetion. They will send an e-mail to someone asking them to "Join The Cause" for one thing or another and add their e-mail address to the list and forward it all their friends who will add their e-mail address to the list and forward it to their friends. This pyramid scheme of sorts will quickly mushroom into a very, very large list of e-mail addresses. The last step in this scheme is a link in the original e-mail to phoney e-mail addresses purported to be going to the intended reciever of the list such as Whitehouse. gov or Editor@nytimes, etc. but the e-mail link actually goes to the owner of the spam list. Never add your e-mail address to a petition list and forward it to your friends. At the least you should reserach the link to see where it actually goes or just google the the intended recipient of your e-mail and get their true e-mail addess, then as I said before, put everyones e-mail address in a Bcc
Whenever you post an e-mail address in a public forum don't put the @ sign in the e-mail addresses. Spam bots search these sites and use the @ to automatically detect the e-mail address. Instead use the human word for the @ sign and the . such as Fred AT FredKahn dot com. This makes it much more difficult for the spam bots to detect the e-mail addess.
You can also use programs such as Safe E-Mail Links Scout which generates spam-bot safe HTML code for e-mail links using inline javascript.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
As American As Apple Pie?
Am I the only person in America that reads the little stickers on the Apples at the supermarket? I only buy apples grown in the United States. Why, when I live in one of the two biggest apple producing states in the United States, (NY and CA), would I buy an apple grown in another country? Why do we even allow foreign apples to be sold in the U.S? What's more American than apple pie? What's less American than apple pie made with apples from another country. Buy American apples whenever you can.
By the way: (and thanks to those who commented), the state of California grows tons of delicious FUJI APPLES every year!
By the way: (and thanks to those who commented), the state of California grows tons of delicious FUJI APPLES every year!
Sunday, September 27, 2009
How Congress caused the financial crisis
It is unfortunate, in my opinion, that congress can not be held responsible for what would otherwise be considered a criminally negligent act if they were not exempt from prosecution for their own stupidity. I am, of course, referring to H.R. 4577, The Commodity Futures Modernization Act of 2 000. Incorporated into H.R. 4577, the Consolidated Appropriations Act, 2001, which was passed by the 106th United States Congress and signed by President Bill Clinton on his way out in December 21, 2000.
This monumental act of stupidity was the key instrument which allowed the financial industry to run rampant with credit default swaps, a transaction that was specifically made illegal by prior congressional act (The Commodity Exchange Act of 1936). However, the 106th congress not only saw fit to amend the previous act and allow credit default swaps, but, to add insult to injury, also banned States from preventing these highly dubious transactions. Here is an excerpt from that law:
SEC. 117. PREEMPTION. HR 5660
This Act shall supersede and preempt the application of any State or local law that prohibits or regulates gaming or the operation of bucket shops.
It should come as no ones surprise that the majority of the financial pressure for the passage of this bill came from the Financial, Insurance and Real Estate Lobby (FIRE). (Don’t get me started on the ethics of the real estate lobby, I’ll save that for another time.) Flip-Flopping Phil Gramm (Democratic Congressman (1978–1983), a Republican Congressman (1983–1985) and a Republican Senator from Texas (1985–2002) received over $4.6 million over a ten year period towards the passage of this bill. CEO Sandy Weill of Citibank spent $12 million lobbying towards deregulation of Glass-Steagall between 1998 and 2000.
In case you were unaware, the second Glass-Steagall Act was passed in 1933 in reaction to the collapse of a large portion of the American commercial banking system in early 1933. However, once again, it was our old friend Phil Gramm working for the banking industry, instead of his constituents, who introduced the bill to repeal Glass-Steagall. This new bill allowed banks to merge with insurance companies and investment houses. 'The Financial Modernization Act, alternatively known as the Gramm Leach Bliley bill was lionized by its proponents, including senior staff in the Clinton administration and many now staffing President Obama, as the most important breakthrough in the worlds of finance and politics in decades!
Senator Bill Dorgan, Democrat from North Dakota, was one of only eight senators who voted against the bill, warning that the banks would become "too big to fail" which has proven to be an amazingly accurate prediction in the wake of the current financial crisis. This was back in 1999 and he seems to have made an eerily accurate prediction when he said then that Congress would "look back in ten years time and say we should NOT have done this." Senator Paul Wellstone (D. Minnesota) also opposed the bill, warning at the time that Congress was "about to repeal the economic stabilizer without putting any comparable safeguard in its place." Edward Kane, a finance professor at Boston College, warned that "nobody will be able to discipline a Citigroup" once the legislation passed, because the banks would be too big and the issues too complex.
Addendum: According to an article in The New York Times for Monday September 28, due to the mess that Congress created, The FDIC has already had to close 95 banks in 2009 as compared to only 25 in all of 2008.
Addendum2: On a related topic, The NY Times for Friday September 25, 2009 ran an article titled: FDA Reveals It Fell to a Push By Lawmakers about how the drug lobby influenced mebers of congress and other lawmakers from the state of New Jersey to pressure the FDA to change their decsion not to approve a medical device they considered unnecessary. This is yet another example of how politicians serve the lobbyists that giv them money instead of the constituency that elected them. Shame on them!
References: The Huffington Post
And also at Govtrack.us
And Also: Library Of Congress/Thomas
-------------------------------------------------------------
If the opposite of pro is con then the opposite of PROgress must be CONgress....
Riddle: What's the difference between Bernie Madoff and Alan Greenspan?
Answer: Bernie knew what he was doing!
This monumental act of stupidity was the key instrument which allowed the financial industry to run rampant with credit default swaps, a transaction that was specifically made illegal by prior congressional act (The Commodity Exchange Act of 1936). However, the 106th congress not only saw fit to amend the previous act and allow credit default swaps, but, to add insult to injury, also banned States from preventing these highly dubious transactions. Here is an excerpt from that law:
SEC. 117. PREEMPTION. HR 5660
This Act shall supersede and preempt the application of any State or local law that prohibits or regulates gaming or the operation of bucket shops.
It should come as no ones surprise that the majority of the financial pressure for the passage of this bill came from the Financial, Insurance and Real Estate Lobby (FIRE). (Don’t get me started on the ethics of the real estate lobby, I’ll save that for another time.) Flip-Flopping Phil Gramm (Democratic Congressman (1978–1983), a Republican Congressman (1983–1985) and a Republican Senator from Texas (1985–2002) received over $4.6 million over a ten year period towards the passage of this bill. CEO Sandy Weill of Citibank spent $12 million lobbying towards deregulation of Glass-Steagall between 1998 and 2000.
In case you were unaware, the second Glass-Steagall Act was passed in 1933 in reaction to the collapse of a large portion of the American commercial banking system in early 1933. However, once again, it was our old friend Phil Gramm working for the banking industry, instead of his constituents, who introduced the bill to repeal Glass-Steagall. This new bill allowed banks to merge with insurance companies and investment houses. 'The Financial Modernization Act, alternatively known as the Gramm Leach Bliley bill was lionized by its proponents, including senior staff in the Clinton administration and many now staffing President Obama, as the most important breakthrough in the worlds of finance and politics in decades!
Senator Bill Dorgan, Democrat from North Dakota, was one of only eight senators who voted against the bill, warning that the banks would become "too big to fail" which has proven to be an amazingly accurate prediction in the wake of the current financial crisis. This was back in 1999 and he seems to have made an eerily accurate prediction when he said then that Congress would "look back in ten years time and say we should NOT have done this." Senator Paul Wellstone (D. Minnesota) also opposed the bill, warning at the time that Congress was "about to repeal the economic stabilizer without putting any comparable safeguard in its place." Edward Kane, a finance professor at Boston College, warned that "nobody will be able to discipline a Citigroup" once the legislation passed, because the banks would be too big and the issues too complex.
Addendum: According to an article in The New York Times for Monday September 28, due to the mess that Congress created, The FDIC has already had to close 95 banks in 2009 as compared to only 25 in all of 2008.
Addendum2: On a related topic, The NY Times for Friday September 25, 2009 ran an article titled: FDA Reveals It Fell to a Push By Lawmakers about how the drug lobby influenced mebers of congress and other lawmakers from the state of New Jersey to pressure the FDA to change their decsion not to approve a medical device they considered unnecessary. This is yet another example of how politicians serve the lobbyists that giv them money instead of the constituency that elected them. Shame on them!
References: The Huffington Post
And also at Govtrack.us
And Also: Library Of Congress/Thomas
-------------------------------------------------------------
If the opposite of pro is con then the opposite of PROgress must be CONgress....
Riddle: What's the difference between Bernie Madoff and Alan Greenspan?
Answer: Bernie knew what he was doing!
Thursday, September 24, 2009
New eBay Classes Scheduled
I will be teaching another eBay class soon at NYPC, The New York PC Users Group. The course is titled "The Basics of Selling on eBay" and is an official eBay course. It follows the official eBay education Specialist course outline and uses the official eBay course materials. The NYPC classroom is located in the New Yorker Hotel, Room 550 at 481 Eigth Ave (corner of 34th Street). Class begins at 10 am (sharp!) at lasts until everyome is happy, usually around 4 pm. The cost for the class is only $49.00 ($29.00 for NYPC members).
To sign up please visit my website, www.FredKahn.com or call me at 718 263-2041.
Please visit my website; http://www.fredkahn.com/ to watch for the next class date..
To sign up please visit my website, www.FredKahn.com or call me at 718 263-2041.
Please visit my website; http://www.fredkahn.com/ to watch for the next class date..
Visit My New Website
My new website has been completed (well, it will always be a work in progress). My new website URL is www.FredKahn.com
I think that you will find a few interesting items on my new website such as te information about Internet Fraud. I have been doing research for the last few months on internet fraud, the statistics and what the government has been doing to combat it. As it turns out, the FTC and the FBI are doing quite a bit, however no one seems to know much about their efforts. They are not doing such a great job about letting people know they are working hard on the problems. Visit my website to get all the details and find out how you can protect yourself and help the government stop fraud.
I think that you will find a few interesting items on my new website such as te information about Internet Fraud. I have been doing research for the last few months on internet fraud, the statistics and what the government has been doing to combat it. As it turns out, the FTC and the FBI are doing quite a bit, however no one seems to know much about their efforts. They are not doing such a great job about letting people know they are working hard on the problems. Visit my website to get all the details and find out how you can protect yourself and help the government stop fraud.
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