Month: February 2012

It’s not often that the words “colossal” next to “failure” can be described as an understatement but I think the manner in which the Big Banks went wild during the residential real estate bubble, encouraging the underwriting of reckless bad mortgages, recording those overpriced mortgages improperly, bundling up these risky mortgages as collateralized debt obligations (CDO’s) and selling pieces of them as Triple A rated securities to investors who were lied to about their true value, and then using shady and illegal tactics to foreclose on many mortgages, good ones and bad — well “colossal failure” seems like a rather tame description to me:

Costs from faulty mortgages and shoddy foreclosures have topped $72 billion at the biggest U.S. banks as they near a settlement of a 50-state probe into the industry’s practices. […]

“It’s a colossal failure of basic banking,” said David Knutson, a credit analyst in Chicago with Legal & General Investment Management, a holder of bonds in some of the lenders involved. “It’s surprised everyone in terms of persistence and longevity and I think it will continue to surprise.”

I think “largest organized criminal conspiracy ever” is more in line with how the banks and their senior executives have behaved, don’t you? And ladies and gentlemen this should have surprised no one.

This is what happens to “basic banking” practices when you remove and/or weaken oversight of large financial institutions. The emotion of greed, not rational “free market” decision-making, gets the upper hand. I know. As a former lawyer and workout specialist during the Savings and Loan Crisis of the late 80’s and 90’s I saw what happened to those much smaller institutions once they were deregulated and allowed to lend to whomever and whatever enterprises they could find to take their money.

Those S&L bankers got greedy and went on a lending binge for commercial real estate projects that no one else would touch because they could! They even lent their borrowers the fees they charged, then booked those fees they paid themselves with their own money as profits. Bankers were encouraged to make any possible deal and handsomely rewarded when they did, and no questions were asked about the credit of the lenders, the shady appraisals that were used to justify the value of the properties or the non-recourse nature of so many loans (non-recourse means that the property was the only security for the mortgages issued to borrowers, who were usually real estate developers with a long track record of failure or brand new developers with no track record at all).

This created a big commercial real estate bubble that (surprise) collapsed when most of these developments failed. Sound familiar?

Let me tell you the secret about sound banking or basic banking principles — they go out the window the second someone in government isn’t looking over a banker’s shoulder insuring that the bankers don’t take excessive risks, don’t employ shoddy or compromised companies to assess the valuation of the “products” they are selling (see, e.g., the appraisers in the S&L crisis, and the compromised ratings agencies in the current crisis), and don’t lie to their shareholders and customers about what they have really done.

And now that the Banks have been bailed out by the Fed and the Treasury, now that their illegal and fraudulent activities have been exposed along every step of the process from generating the mortgages, selling them and now foreclosing on them, they have the gall to demand a sweetheart deal excusing them from all future liability for their crimes.

The banks are negotiating a settlement said to be worth as much as $25 billion with state attorneys general …

“The fear of the unknown is a lot worse than when you finally get a figure,” said Alex Lieblong of Key Colony Management LLC, which manages about $153 million, including shares in Bank of America and Wells Fargo. “If you could get it all into a box and say that this is the known figure, then that will be viewed as a positive.”

Spokesmen for all five of the lenders declined to comment.

The Mafia doesn’t comment about its activities either. And like Don Corleone in the Godfather, the Banksters have all the politicians in their pockets. I’ll bet so-called organized crime figures (a much smaller industry than our financial sector) would kill (literally) for the whitewashing of the crimes these Mega-Banks and Wall Street Fraudsters committed that our government seems determined to give them and which they are likely going to receive. the true victims of their ongoing crimes will never be made whole, but those hard-working Banksters will make out just fine, thank you very much.

“Colossal failure?” No this is simply bankers’ SOP (standard operating procedure) when no one is watching them to make certain they play by the rules. It doesn’t matter if they are big banks (present day) or small savings and loans (Regan era). Bankers think the same way and act the same way when the so-called “heavy hand” of “government interference” is lifted from their business. A financial bubble followed by a “startling” market collapse and financial crisis is the expected result of government deregulation. It’s not like we haven’t seen this same result time after time though out history. There was a reason the Banker so often played the role of villain in turn of the century silent movies. They were behaving then just as they are behaving now. When you get to play with other people’s money knowing that the worst consequence will be the government will come to your rescue with more money why wouldn’t you lie, cheat, steal, cover-up your con jobs, and gamble recklessly? And indeed, that is just what they do!

So, in conclusion, describing the damage the Big Banks caused to the global economy while enriching the bottom line of their senior executives as a “Colossal Failure” of “basic banking” simply doesn’t cut it with me. It’s a gross understatement of crimes that were perpetrated on all of us, and for which we are still paying the price while amoral Wall Street bakers celebrate with champagne and sneer at the Occupy Movement from the balconies of their marble edifices to greed and the principle of caveat emptor.

Rush Limbaugh:

Rush Limbaugh mocked the Republican establishment on his radio show Wednesday for being “shocked” by Rick Santorum’s three-state win, saying, “I can’t believe how insulated they are.”
“They’re literally shocked. The Republican establishment had no idea this was percolating out there. I can’t believe how insulated they are,” Limbaugh said. “To look at the reaction they’re having today, to see how shocked they are that Rick Santorum has come out of what they thought was an impossible position equivalent to nowhere, is an incredible thing.”

Hard to argue with that. The Republican Establishment deserves even more mockery.

If wars don’t really end until the last soldier dies, then World War I finally ended on Feb. 4, 2012 with the death of Florence Green in King’s Lynn, England.  Mrs. Green was 110 and had joined the the Women’s Royal Air Force in September 1918 at the age of 17.

If the past truly is prologue, then the US War in Iraq will “end” sometime in the early 22nd century.

I refer not just to the candidates—Mitt Romney finishing 3rd in Minnesota after winning it handily four years ago, Ron Paul finishing 4th (behind Newt!) in the Colorado caucuses, Rick Santorum failing to claim victory the night of the Iowa caucuses, Gingrich deciding his South Carolina victory was a mandate to talk about colonizing the moon—but also to the Republican Party itself:

   
• Iowa taking weeks to count its votes accurately;

   

• Ballot counting problems in Nevada last week;

   

• Missouri holding a “beauty contest” primary yesterday but allocating delegates at March caucuses.

It looks like the problems associated with the Republican party’s disregard for voters (and their ballots) may be, in some small ways, coming home to roost.

Crossposted at: http://masscommons.wordpress.com/

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Many Sunni states are already supplying money and arms to the Syrian rebels taking part in the revolt. It has become clear there are foreign insurgents crossing the border into Syria. Forces from Turkey, Libya, Qatar and al-Qaeda Arabs.

Is al-Qaeda Infiltrating Syria through Lebanon’s Beka’a Valley?

(Jamestown) Jan 12, 2012 – Disputes over the possible presence of al-Qaeda in Lebanon’s Beka’a Valley are beginning to destabilize Syrian-Lebanese relations.  Attention on the Beka’a region has intensified following the December 23, 2011 and January 6, 2012 suicide bombing attacks in Damascus, which left a combined 60 dead and 229 wounded. On December 21, two days before the attacks in Damascus, Lebanese Defense Minister Fayez Ghosn told a meeting of Lebanese Army officers that the region of Arsal, in the northeastern Beka’a Valley, was being used for the smuggling of weapons and al-Qaeda members masquerading as Syrian dissidents into Lebanon (Al-Liwaa, December 21, 2011).  

The Syrian government blamed members of al-Qaeda for the bombings, alleging some were seeking refuge and a base of operations in Lebanon by using the traditional human trafficking routes of the Beka’a Valley as a transit point from Syria into Lebanon. An already simmering dispute between Lebanon and Syria over the policing of contested areas of the Beka’a Valley, particularly in the northeastern frontier of Lebanon near the village of Arsal, has taken on new importance in determining the course of relations between the two countries since the Damascus bombings. Syria has mined its side of the border and conducts regular military helicopter patrols of the roads leading from Syria into Lebanon.

• Rebels Without a Clue: Why can’t the Syrian opposition get its act together?

More below the fold …
Sunni Revenge for Hariri Murder? and UNIIIC Chief Brammertz reports to US Embassy – Wikileaks

Syrian Rebels’ Supply Lines plus Analysis [Stratfor]

Northern Route
The Sunni-concentrated region of Homs in Syria depends heavily on supplies smuggled from northern Lebanon and the northern Bekaa Valley. Lebanese villages such al Al Fakiha and Arsal in the northern Bekaa have large Sunni populations and support the Future Trend party of Lebanese Sunni leader Saad al-Hariri. These villages have helped provide shelter to Syrian defectors and supplies to Syria’s insurgents.  Additionally, the Al Qaa village in the northern Bekaa is a predominantly Greek Catholic town. Al Qaa is a center of support for the Maronite Christian Lebanese Forces militia led by Samir Geagea and plays an important role in the smuggling route from the northern Bekaa. Several main roadways connect Homs to sympathetic towns in the northern Bekaa Valley, and numerous side roads run parallel to and complement each main road. Furthermore, the border between Homs and the northern Bekaa region is highly porous. Located in a broad valley, this border area provides much less restrictive terrain and several possible points of entry along the border.

 « click to enlarge

Potential Northern Route
Another route that could be used to smuggle supplies runs through the northwestern tip of Lebanon where the Quleiat airstrip is located. This corner of Lebanon is predominately Sunni, and there are rumors that Lebanese officials sympathetic to the FSA are preparing the Qulay’at airstrip (also called Rene Mouawad Airport) to facilitate the movement of supplies into Syria. The airfield, which has not been in use since the outbreak of the Lebanese civil war in 1975, is being reopened, ostensibly for civilian aviation. According to Stratfor sources, the main reason for reopening the Quleiat airstrip, which is only 11 kilometers (7 miles) from the Syrian border, is to provide for Syrian refugees at a later point in the Syrian conflict — when rebel-held protected zones for civilians will require a steady stream of supplies. The proposal to reopen the airstrip is unsurprisingly eliciting resistance from some Lebanese officials, who seem to understand that supplies smuggled from this airstrip will likely make their way into the hands of the Syrian opposition.

Lebanon-Syria Border Report – 2009

• British and Qatari special operations units in Syria back Homs rebels
• Turkey preparing intervention and creating a buffer zone

"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."

The New York Times:

WASHINGTON — Facing vocal opposition from religious leaders and an escalating political fight, the White House sought on Tuesday to ease mounting objections to a new administration rule that would require health insurance plans — including those offered by Catholic universities and charities — to offer birth control to women free of charge….

Please note that this is an “escalating political fight” even though polls show that clear majorities of Americans — and Catholics — support birth control coverage. The leadership of the Catholic Church is peeved, but rank-and-file Catholics aren’t. So why is this a firestorm?

It’s a firestorm, I think, because the American political elite teems with high-profile right-wing Catholics — among them converts such as Newt Gingrich, Robert Bork, Sam Brownback, Laura Ingraham, Lawrence Kudlow, and Ramesh Ponnuru. There’s been a concerted effort in recent years to win influential wingers over to the Catholic Church (Father John McCloskey, a prime mover in this effort, was described in a 2002 Slate article as “The Catholic Church’s K Street lobbyist”); the effort seems to be the political equivalent of Scientology’s focus on converting famous entertainers.

When you combine all these wingnut Catholic converts with birth Catholics who are prominent right-wingers (William Bennett, Scalia/Thomas/Roberts), you get a Catholic-winger noise machine that can convey the sense within the Beltway that Catholics believe a certain thing when, in fact, only prominent right-wing Catholic pols and pundits believe it in great numbers.

This is a great mechanism for fooling easily spooked non-right-wing Catholics such as Cokie Roberts and E.J. Dionne — both of whom have engaged in fretful hand-wringing about the terrible political misjudgment President Obama has allegedly made. Well, it really does looks like a terrible decision — if the only Catholics you encounter regularly are your Georgetown cocktail party pals.

(X-posted at No More Mister Nice Blog.)

Nate Silver has some details on just how spectacularly badly Mitt Romney performed in last night’s primary and caucuses. He’s following Hillary Clinton’s trajectory, with wins in New Hampshire, Florida, and Nevada, and losses everywhere else. (I believe Obama actually netted one more delegate out of Nevada, but he lost on the percentages). The take away from last night is less that Romney lost than the thoroughness with which he lost in both Missouri and Minnesota, failing to win a single county in either state. Even when Obama was losing states badly to Clinton, he was winning in the cities and college towns. Romney is weak across the board.

Romney has now lost in Iowa, Minnesota, and Missouri, and his performance in the Midwest is getting worse, not better. He’s banking on winning Michigan, which is where he grew up and where his father served as a fairly popular governor. But I see no signs in the polling data that should give Romney encouragement. You’d think a man nicknamed ‘Mittens’ would be a lock to win the Mitten State, but he’s polling behind Gingrich in Ohio, and he’ll probably be in third place there when the next survey comes out. I think Santorum will focus all his energy on winning over the largely Catholic Reagan Democrats in the Detroit suburbs and leave Arizona for Gingrich to mine.

The assumption is that Romney can overwhelm his opponents with superior organization and saturation advertising, but that hasn’t worked so far and it might be counterproductive considering that the more people see of Mitt Romney, the less they like him.

Overall, 55 percent of those who are closely following the campaign say they disapprove of what the GOP candidates have been saying. By better than 2 to 1, Americans say the more they learn about Romney, the less they like him. Even among Republicans, as many offer negative as positive assessments of him on this question.

It’s also a lot easier for Romney to attack Newt Gingrich than it is for him to attack Rick Santorum. What’s he going to attack him for? Being too religiously conservative? Being too sanctimonious? Blasting him for receiving earmarks is just a big yawner.

As things stand, I don’t think Mitt Romney will win in Michigan. He has to hope that the media shines a new light on Santorum’s career and some of his more controversial positions and idiosyncrasies, but it’s not easy to exploit Santorum’s weaknesses while simultaneously trying to convince people you’re a conservative. Blasting Romney’s face all over the airwaves doesn’t seem to work, either. But maybe his people can come up with a really effective ad campaign that can pull him through.

I have less of a feel for Arizona. It seems like a better fit for Romney, and I’m not sure Gingrich has enough left in the tank to get any momentum going. I don’t think Santorum will seriously contest there unless the polls come out showing him in the lead. So, lacking any data or real feel for the conservative electorate there, I can’t predict that Romney will lose Arizona. But he better win, because he can’t afford to get shut out again or the nomination might actually slip out of his grip.

Romney is supposed to be the nominee because he has the money, organization, endorsements, and temperament that his opponents lack. But it turns out that people don’t like his face, he can’t organize worth a damn, no one cares about endorsements, and his temperament is off-putting. Meanwhile, his money advantage is blunted by the Citizens United ruling that allows Super PACs to keep his opponents going on a shoestring budget. Romney’s advantages have so far turned out to not be advantages after all. Even the conservative media has failed to unite behind him.

At this point, even if he wins the nomination, which is still the likeliest result, he’ll be several times weaker than Walter Mondale as a general election candidate. He has now entered the danger zone where he faces the real prospect of epic collapse and failure.

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Personally touched by an abusive son-in-law and a wrecked marriage of my daughter, I’m caring for my grandson (5 yrs. old now) for a few hours every week. The former son-in-law and my daughter have joined custody of the child after a lengthy court battle. During these last 5 years I have been trying to understand the cause of abuse and am fearful for the welfare and safety of my grandson. With much interest I have followed the mystery of the “disappearance” of Susan Powell in Utah in 2009. I was not surprised when I read of the final event a few days ago – Horrific details emerge in Josh Powell double-murder and suicide. Powell’s sister, attorney, social worker called 911 during explosion. Detailed timeline of events surrounding Josh Powell, Susan Cox Powell.

Abuse has many faces. What I recognize in Josh Powell is a mental disturbance, controlling personality, pathological liar, anger, victim and perpetrator roles change, destruction of Susan Cox-Powell’s world/remembrance and a distorted form of religion: Church of the Latter Day Saints. What I recognise in my former son-in-law are these very same traits. There is a family history of mental illness: borderline by his maternal grandmother and a fundamental form of protestantism.

I found this article with an amazing similarity in the patriarchal, woman unfriendly form of worship in the conservative LSD and Catholic churches. Reasons for leaving the LDS church. Romney and Santorum should team up well together and please their evangelical and teabagger base. Yes, a very distinct political view from the Obama administration. Will evil make a comeback in November 2012?

"But I will not let myself be reduced to silence."

Remember when I was writing all those posts about the possibility of a brokered convention for the Republicans? The premise was that Romney would never be able to close the deal and that Republican voters would vacillate between Romney and at least two other candidates. Whenever Romney won something, the base would rebel and go running to an alternative. When that alternative proved unpalatable, they’d move to another alternative. When the second alternative proved odious, they’d go back to Romney. And the cycle would repeat long enough that no single candidate would win a majority of the delegates.

Whether or not that winds up happening, it’s clear tonight that the GOP base does not want Romney. Once they think about Santorum for a while, they won’t want him either. They didn’t want Gingrich after they had time to think about his victory in South Carolina.

What we need is for this cycle to go around for a few more cycles.

Romney will probably win the nomination but he is coming in third place tonight in Colorado and Minnesota. Rick Santorum is winning in those two contests, but he’s also winning in the beauty contest in Missouri in a landslide.

The rest of February will be spent discussing what’s wrong with Mitt Romney.