NorthernObserver's Blog

Folks, lets take a step back and reflect for just a second.  Our banks in this country were robbed of their assets.  The robber did not present a gun at the counter but a mortgage loan at a bank officer’s desk.  In this case the bank was also in on the robbery.  The bank was coerced by politicians and community organization groups like ACORN to write these loans.  They had a gun of sorts to their heads in the form or threats by both politicians and community groups.

Let’s not blame Wall Street for this mess.  The source is the bad paper that was sold to investors at various risk levels.  The bad paper got laundered as it went UP the investment chain.  At the top level the investors had no idea how bad the paper was because they had no idea of the financial status of all the original mortgagees.

This whole mess was a CON filled with deception in the name of do-gooders.  But in fact it was a BANK ROBERY.  Banks were forced to do things that they otherwise would never had done if the pressure was not on them to make these bad loans.

In the end the American People are all being ROBBED. Our net worth is plummeting like a rock and we are expected to pay the price for this robbery over the remainder of our lifetime.

Your thoughts?

No, this posting is not about the Reverend Wright comments.  It is about Barney Frank and how his good natured lending practices are now going to affect every town in the Bay State and how you the taxpayer are going to feel the economic pinch from another direction.

 The FOX 25 story headline reads; “In the wake of the tough economy, state officials are scrambling to slash hundreds of millions of dollars from the budget.”

 The State of MA has a budget shortfall and cities and towns are going to get pinched in the pocket.  How did we get here?  Ask Representative Barney Frank.  He along with ACORN (look them up on Google) put pressure on banks to make mortgage loans to low income people who did not have the income to afford the loan.   This economic meltdown that is affecting everyone’s 401K and stock portfolio is a direct result of what Frank and the organization called ACORN (who even got mortgage loans for illegal aliens) have perpetrated for the past decade.

 So if you think you got slammed by lower real-estate values and a shrinking investment portfolio, wait until your town has to dump additional taxes on you to make up for the money the State of Massachusetts once promised but will now have to withhold in the form of revenue sharing.

 If I were in Frank’s district, this would be the last year that he would be my representative. 

 If the House of Representatives were led by Republicans, Frank would be on the other side of the hearing table as he should be now if the house had any ethical integrity left. 

The top level executives and board members get fired!

Each company must split into ten smaller companies with new CEO’s.

Each smaller company gets one tenth the bailout money that the larger company would have gotten.

Some may fail and some may succeed but this minimizes the risk in the future.

None of these new companies will ever be allowed to merge with any other company or be held by any other company.

For example;

AIG becomes AIG1 through AIG10 or some other name.

Each AIG# gets 8.5 billion of the 85 billion.

Now we have competition for our business among the ten new companies.  That will keep costs down and they will compete for our business keeping premiums down.

Freddy Mac becomes Freddy Mac1 through Freddy Mac10.

Fannie Mae becomes a lot of little Fannies. LOL!

Barack Obama had identity problems as a child.  Like most people he is tribal and was looking for an affinity group with which to belong and feel comfortable.  He found consolation with an outspoken reverend and an influential activist who both hate America as it was and is today.  The men I speak of are the Reverend Jeremiah Wright and William Ayres. 

There was something undeniable that drew Barack Obama to these men.  It may have been the power they held or the words they spoke.  It may have been their beliefs or that they saw something special in him that they wanted to mold.  In any case, regardless of what he tells the American people in his quest to become President; there was and may still be a bond.

It would be wise if voters would take his tribalism into consideration when deciding on a candidate this November.  It should tell us something about how the man thinks and who he is comfortable with as his close associates.  He will decide the direction for the country in the next four years if elected.  His background is very brief so we have little to go on as to how he will accomplish his goals or even what his intrinsic goals may be. 

…and neither can most of you.

I have to ask why there are NO congressional hearings from people in the industry spelling out the problem and proposing solutions.  Are we to believe that politicians and their advisors are doing the right thing?  I want to hear from experts in the industry.  I want real information and not political spin.

We are being asked our opinions on the bailout plan.  I say no and here is why.  I have yet to see the wording of the bailout plan.  I have no confidence in politicians telling me what I should or should not support since many of them are part of the original problem. So a vote of NO is better than agreeing to something I know nothing about.

I would like to have a financial expert or better yet a panel of financial experts explain the pros and cons of whatever plan is on the table for a vote.  Give me people like Neil Cavuto, Dagen McDowell  and Stuart Varney to explain and even debate the situation in American English and not legal speak.

I want to know about all the fine print and what other little tidbits are put into the bill that have nothing to do with saving the nation from financial disaster.  After that we can all formulate an opinion and make intelligent choices.

I waited and waited for John McCain to point out Obama’s lack of experience but it never came.   He let Obama say he voted against the Iraq war.  Hindsight is always 20-20. The fact is that Obama didn’t have a vote on Iraq.  He did not have access to all the CIA reports to make any sort of qualified decision as many of the democrat senators like Clinton who voted for the war.  Obama was not a member of the US Senate at the time the vote was taken.

He let Obama blame the current economic situation on the Bush Administration when everyone knows the problem stems from left wing politicians like Barney Frank pushing banks to write sub-prime loans to people who did not have the means to pay them back. This practice started under Clinton in 1999.  Again.. John was not prepared well.

Obama was so prepared for the debate that he would not stray from his agenda to even acknowledge that his biggest supporter, Teddy Kennedy was in the hospital.

However, John McCain did acknowledge that Teddy was taken to the hospital.  Why, because he considers himself to be his friend beyond politics.

I just got a flyer from Jeanne Shaheen for NH US Senate slamming John Sununu.  One item it points out is titled “Billions in tax breaks for the oil companies.”  It has a footnote to a senate vote #425, so I looked it up and guess what?  John Sununu voted NAY on the bill.

 So I ask; How did voting NAY on a bill (Question: On the Cloture Motion - Motion to Invoke Cloture on the Motion to Concur in the House Amendment to the Senate Amendment with an Amendment to H.R. 6 ) give Billions in tax breaks for the oil companies?

 Anyone?

If you have been worrying about paying your heating bill this winter, STOP!  The price of oil is falling like a rock and I know why.  Do you?

Everyone is watching the banking industry coming apart but there is an upside to the story.  It was the investment banks who were speculating on oil prices.  Now they are crashing just like the internet industry did and with their demise so goes oil speculation.

Commodities speculation is a very risky investment.  Banks and investment companies no longer have the assets to play in this market.  They are scared right now and cannot afford to speculate on volatile investments.  In fact they are selling oil futures to cover their losses while trying to survive.  Gold should be next.  It is just a matter of time. 

Both oil and gold futures were selling at an artificially high price and we all knew it but we just did not know who was doing the manipulation.  Now we know.  It was the members of the World Bank and the IMF.  Their money is drying up with the housing market crash and along with it so goes oil and gold speculation. 

What goes up must come down and it is coming down and fast.  Oil is down to $91 and gas prices will follow just as soon as those refineries in Texas start back into production.  It is over for the oil companies.  To make matters worse for them, GM just announced the first mass produced ELECTRIC car for 2010.  Electric cars may need a little grease for bearings but NO oil or gas.  GM did NOT want to do this.  It will kill their maintenance business but they have to do it to survive.

Goodbye Hugo Chavez.  Goodbye OPEC.  Goodbye Vladimir Putin.  You no longer own us.  It is GAME OVER and you lost!

For the past year I have been inundated by their political commercials on TV.

They want me to hate big oil.  They want me to hate pharmaceutical companies.  They want me to hate my boss.  They want me to hate my company. They want me to hate people who own more than one home.  They want me to hate rich people.  And last but not least, I must hate George W. Bush.

Sure gas is expensive but I need gas to get to work.  I do not want them to disrupt the supply by taxing gas companies which will not only keep the price high but will affect the supply.

Yes, drugs are expensive but so is the research the drug companies pay for with the hope that they can produce a cure for something. 

Yes, the president of my company makes a lot more money than I do but I can go home at 5pm and return at 8am the next day while he has the responsibility to keep the stock holders happy and make sure the company keeps making money in order to be able to pay me my salary.

My company is now manufacturing products in China.  They reached a point with the union where it became cheaper to move the operation out of the country rather than put up with strikes and unreasonable benefits.

Why should I care how many homes a person owns or how much money a person makes?  I have every opportunity as an American to seek my own fortune.  If I do not have the confidence to take a risk I will never progress beyond where I am today.  What gives me the right to take money from someone else because I make less?  Isn’t that called stealing?  Our tax code is not fair or equal for everyone.  It simply allows politicians to manipulate me. 

And last but not least, why should I hate George W. Bush?  Al Gore LOST the election.  Get over it!  Every recount proved he lost the election.  Let is go!  All the handshakes and hugs he gives McCain will never make me think they are alike or that they even like each other.  I remember the 2000 Presidential election.  McCain remembers it as well.

Is this the strategy of the left?  Let’s fire up the base by getting them to hate so much that they will vote democrat?  Do they think that the base be more easily manipulated if they are directed to blame all their problems on one or more of the above?  Are democrats haters?  Is the democrat party the party of hate?  They want me to think that they are the party of change.  I guess more hate is change, but it will eat me up and get in the way of my future. 

The democrat response is that it is George Bush’s fault.  Nothing could be further from the truth but that is what we will hear all week from the DNC convention.

Most of the people loosing their homes could not afford their mortgages when they were written.  They failed to assess their own finances (income vs. expenses) to determine that they could NOT pay their mortgages.  Sure the finance companies and banks suckered them into signing but that is what banks do.   The banks did not get approval for the loans from George Bush.  The banks did not care if they lost their homes.  They foreclose the mortgage, seize the property and resell it to someone else.  It sounds cruel but banks and finance companies run a business not a charity. 

It is your responsibility to run your life and make sure you can afford the things you buy.  It is NOT George Bush’s fault or the fault of anyone else if your life is not what you would like it to be.  It is your fault.  Take personal responsibility for your actions and your life.  Stop trying to place the blame on others.

Every weekend thousands of people in New England flock to local short tracks to watch auto racing.  Twice a year more than a hundred thousand people gather at New Hampshire Motor Speedway for up to a week to witness NASCAR racing at its best.  Guinness just witnessed and verified for the record, a record breaking wave of 160,000 race fans at Bristol Motor speedway in Tennessee while millions of fans watch them on TV.  Sponsors of every product imaginable pay millions of dollars to have their names etched in paint on race cars.  We see race car drivers doing commercials for products on TV.  Lots of cars all over New England have race related bumper stickers and flags on them.  People are seen all over the country wearing t-shirts, jackets and hats of their favorite drivers.  Yet very few sportscasts in MA even mention the winner of a weekly NASCAR event.  Can anyone explain to me why? 

Auto racing is not a just a southern sport anymore.  Is it so hard to say; “Carl Edwards won the Sprint Cup race at Bristol last Saturday night”?  You do not need highlight films or special race reporters; just a 15 second announcement would suffice.  No one needs to be trained to know the difference between a tear off and a lug nut.  You can even get the winners name from nascar.com.  How simple is that?  Even the GEICO cave man could do it.

…and trust

Honor - a keen sense of ethical conduct, one's word given as a guarantee of performance.

Trust - assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something. One in which confidence is placed

As voters we know very little about the big political machines that run the primary election process.  We assume that they do so with the best interests of the voters in mind.  This was not the case with the DNC this past year! 

Florida and Michigan both moved their primary dates up and were severely penalized by the DNC. The DNC ruled, prior to the primaries being held in both Florida and Michigan, that the votes in those states would not be counted and that the delegates would not be seated at the DNC convention.  Voters trusted that the DNC would honor their ruling.

Based on the DNC ruling, many voters in those states changed their voting habits.  Many of the democrat candidates did not campaign in those states and a few did not even register to be on the ballot.  The candidates trusted that he DNC would honor their ruling when they strategized their campaign tactics.

Then the primary heated up and the votes for the top two candidates got close. When the heat was applied, the DNC changed their own ruling long after the primaries were held in both states.  They are now going to seat all the delegates from those states but only give them a one half vote.  This is not only unfair to the voters but unethical and unfair to the primary candidates’ no longer in contention for the nomination.  The outcome of the election may have been different had all candidates been eligible to campaign for votes in those two large states.  The outcome of the DNC convention should be questioned by voters.  Momentum and enthusiasm plays a large part in primary elections.  Winning one state tends to tip the scales in another as voters decide who to choose.   The DNC should be ashamed of going back on their word.

In summation;  To me, actions speak louder that political rhetoric.  The DNC did NOT honor their own ruling and I ask you; if this is how democrats make laws and break their own laws when the heat is on, can the democrats be trusted to represent you to make laws in your state or our country that are in your best interest? 

Obama claims that he will be an agent of change for America but why should we believe him.  He has no record of having made any sort of successful major changes in private industry or in government in his very short history. 

He points out some of the things he will change like healthcare and energy but he has no viable proposals to facilitate positive changes in either of those industries.  Taxing big oil companies for what he calls excess profits has been done in the past with disastrous results.  To make good changes he has to have an understanding of the bad changes made by previous administrations.

 He claims he will create five million new jobs but he has never led an army or a company or a city or a state.  He has never managed a budget or recruited an employee.  The big industries he is going to punish with higher taxes for going over seas are the ones who also create jobs and hire people here.  Warren Buffet a big benefactor to the democrats owns lots of these companies.  

Expecting him to guide the country through some as yet undefined change is like hiring a guide to take you through the forest who has never even been in the woods.

How can he honestly claim to be an agent for change with no history of making changes?  He sounds like a college kid fresh from school at his first job trying to tell the boss he knows how to do things better than the executive officers of the company.

Putin seems to be on an ego trip driven mad by oil money.  He has been accused of rigging elections in Russia and bordering countries.  He has punished countries by cutting off energy resources.  He made a claim on the North Pole by faking the planting of a Russian flag on the bottom.

Now he invades Georgia, a country of only 4 million people.  His army appears to be acting like the Iraqi army that invaded Kuwait.  They are Very undisciplined and unprofessional. They are not only waging war and killing people but stealing equipment and crushing police cars in a very juvenile manner.  The appear on the news like a modern version of barbarians rather than a well trained army.

Now Russia threatens Poland with a missile strike if they do not do as Russia wants. They appear to be sending a message to all the former conquests of the old USSR.

 What is Putin and Russia up to?  Are they just flexing debilitated muscle or are they attempting to take back what was once the USSR and expand their control over most of Europe?  One has to ask if the Russian people are a civilized peaceful lot or simply barbarians with the thirst for power and riches eager to gain both by force.  Time will tell.  I just hope that they do not provoke a nuclear disaster that this world has never seen.

Russia is bombing and invading Georgia!  Homes are being hit.  People are being injured.  I am waiting for the human rights folks to condemn Russia.  Fat Chance of that!  I am waiting for the weasels in the EU and the UK to condemn Russia.  Do you think this will ever happen?

Fri Aug 8, 2008 10:31am EDT

MEGVREKISI, Georgia (Reuters) - Tensions over Georgia's rebel territory of South Ossetia exploded on Friday when Georgia tried to assert control over the region with tanks and rockets, and Russia sent forces to repel the assault.

A senior Georgian security official said Russian jets had bombed the Vaziani military airbase outside the Georgian capital Tbilisi, and President Mikheil Saakashvili said 150 Russian tanks, armored personnel carriers and other vehicles had entered South Ossetia from neighboring Russia.  He also said Georgian forces had downed two Russian jets.

The roar of warplanes and the explosions of heavy shells were deafening more than three km (two miles) away from Tskhinvali. Many houses were ablaze.