Will Someone Please Go Buy a Buick?

Take a look at this chart. GM stock owners are well aware of what has happened to their stock over the past year. Since February of ’08 GM stock has lost 92% of its value, from $25 per share to today’s $1.77.

That, friends and neighbors, is cheaper than the national average for a gallon of gas.

Which, by the way, is no different than conditions in October of ’08 when this news clip aired on CBS.

And the guy in the video is right. Right now is not the time for GM, or any auto manufacturer to be strapped for cash, which is why they are begging for more stimulation.

They need the money to retool.

So the real problem is that GM is making cars that no one wants to buy because a) the cars use too much gasoline, b) customers can’t be certain they will have a reliable supply of spare parts, and c) everyone is waiting for American car companies to make hybrids or battery-powered cars.

And they can’t make these new cars until they retool.

It’s a vicious circle.

So everyone go out right now and buy a Buick, OK?

And I’ll go out and buy some shares of GM stock at bargain basement prices. Heck, at these prices GM is worth more as a source of scrap metal.

Coffee Today

Ok, today I’m going to do something that I only rarely do: write about something non-political. And that’s because today I did something that I never do, and that is buy a CD album directly from the artist.

And I don’t know why people don’t do that more often. It’s the same price, you know, if you buy a CD from Border’s or Best Buy. Only the artist gets to keep more of the profit.

And there’s nothing wrong with that.

The artist that benefited from my credit card charge is a singer/songwriter that I had never heard of before last Tuesday. When I drive home from work I listen to the local Houston Pacifica station, KPFT. They have lots of variety for people who truly like all kinds of music. On Tuesdays the format is to play the music of local artists.

And they played the track off of a CD by a local Austin artist named Wendy Colonna. It was called “Coffee Today.”

Over the next couple of days I kept thinking about it, that it was a really well emoted song, and this quality appealed to me. So I finally googled the song title and happened on Wendy Colonna's website where I saw she was selling her CDs.

So what the heck, I bought a couple of them.

Take a listen and tell me if you agree that this singer has some talent.

And the red hair doesn’t detract from anything, does it?

Judge Sharon “Killer” Keller To Go On Trial

Remember the case of the presiding judge of the Texas Court of Appeals who refused to allow a condemned prisoner to file an after hours appeal on the evening before he was ultimately put to death?

I believe the words that sealed the ultimate fate of this man, accused of rape and murder, were “We close at 5.”

And so convicted rapist and murderer, Michael Richard, was put to death by lethal injection. It was the manner of death that was on issue, not the guilt or innocence of Richard.

Well while Republicans up and down the state “praised the judge for treating Richard like the killer he was” someone filed a complaint. Actually a whole bunch of death penalty activists did.

And so now “Killer” Keller will face the state’s judicial ethics commission in a public trial that could result in her removal from the bench, a reprimand, a slap on the wrist, or complete exoneration.

In my humble opinion, someone who is condemned to death – that is the public ending of his days - deserves to be heard and does not deserve the peckish and decidedly icy response “we close at 5.” It reflects on the entire state, and deservedly so, as it was the voters that put this cold-hearted woman on the bench.

Noriega Offered Assistant Secretary Post; Declines

Former state representative and senatorial candidate Rick Noriega has revealed in a newsletter to supporters that he was recently offered a position in the Obama Administration but decided not to accept the offer.

“Last week I was contacted and asked if I would consider a post as Assistant Secretary of Defense (Reserve Affairs) with the Secretary of the Air Force. I declined the position. I remain open to a position in President Obama's administration, one that is aligned with my core competencies. I am most honored to have been called. It is hard to consider leaving my family again, and I am not yet sure what the final outcome will be.”

Rick is right. Rick is a ground pounder, not a flyboy. Rick is used to dealing with soldiers whose hands are calloused, not manicured. I agree with this and call on the Obama Administration to take note of the talents that this man offers our nation’s military.

In another statement, Noriega announced that he has accepted the position of Vice President of Community Relations at Neighborhood Centers, Inc., an organization that once helped his own family through hard times, and “includes centers such as Ripley House, Head Start programs, senior programs, charter schools and more. It is a $ 200 million operation, caring for Houston's seniors, youngsters and needy, giving folks a hand up, not a hand out.”

As I have written in other posts on this blog, public service is what this entire family is about. It’s really too bad that more Texans didn’t agree with Democrats that Rick Noriega would have made a superb US Senator, much better than the one we have saddled ourselves with for another six years, a real shame – doubly – because his former opponent continues to vote against the interests of his own state, and takes campaign contributions from crooks and drug money launderers.

But our loss is Neighborhood Centers, Inc.’s gain.

New York Post Crosses the Racist Line

I don't care what anybody says, while true progress in racial attitudes has been made over the past 50 years, the American propensity to profoundly offend through blatantly racist messages is still with us.

With a vengeance.

Stanford’s Banks Are Running; So is Stanford

There appears to be no end to the story that developed over this past weekend about R. Allen Stanford’s successful attempt to bilk his clientele for $8 billion.

There were two developments today, one reported at the Manchester Guardian, and one at the London Telegraph.

The Brits are all over this story. I think they take it a little personally when someone messes with one of their former possessions. Antigua and Baruba were once part of the British West Indies.

And R. Allen Stanford calls himself Sir Allen, or maybe Sir R. because he was knighted by the islands’ Prime Minister a couple of years ago.

The Guardian is covering the story of the run on Stanford’s Antigua bank. It seems that hundreds of Antiguans are worried about the solvency of Stanford’s bank, and lined up around the corner to withdraw their money.

“The fall-out threatens catastrophic and immediate consequences ... There is no need for panic," Baldwin Spencer, the prime minister said on television. “

“Spencer said his government was working on a contingency plan to tackle the crisis with the six-nation Eastern Caribbean Central Bank and Antigua's central bank.

“The island was in shock. "Run on Stanford's bank", ran the front-page headline in yesterday's Daily Observer. ‘I have my savings in there in fixed deposits and I want it. I need to get my money,’ said a women who identified herself as Harriet. ‘I'm stunned. I've been hearing rumours about him all the time, but I didn't want to believe them,’ said Genevieve Gore, a 55-year-old manager of N&J's Fashion and Variety Store, in St John's, the capital city.”

And the fact is, this may just be the tip of the iceberg. Governments around the world are finding Stanford’s banks in their backyards, and have launched investigations of their own.

All of this prompting R. Allen, or Sir R., to try and take it on the lam. Now he’s no dummy and knows with all of those agencies with all of their letters investigating him, they were bound to have the airports covered should he decide to take a permanent vacation to, say, Antigua. So the Telegraph is reporting that Sir R. tried to charter a private jet to Antigua, and was darned near successful at it until the charter service, no dummies themselves, decided that they didn’t want to take Stanford’s credit card.

They wanted the funds wired to them.

And unfortunately for Sir R., this is not an easy thing to do when your assets have been frozen by the SEC.

At present, the Telegraph reports, Stanford’s whereabouts are unknown.

My guess is that he is lurking around the marinas in the Clear Lake to Galveston area trying to talk yacht owners there into giving him a lift to, say, Antigua.

Cornyn’s Out of Luck: Stanford Financial Benefactors Assets Seized

I mentioned this before, that Texas Senator John Cornyn was treated to a Delay-esque junket to a Caribbean paradise for 4 days just after the 2004 election, ostensibly to conduct a “fact-finding mission.” Treated to this boondoggle by Texas billionaire R. Allen Stanford.

And also that three federal agencies were investigating R. Allen Stanford’s activity in his offshore banks on Antigua and Barbuba. Well, the chickens came home to roost today as the SEC has filed civil charges against Stanford Financial, freezing their assets in the bargain.

Holy Madoff.

It seems that in these times of 3% CD interest, Stanford’s two Caribbean banks were offering an 8.25% return on $8 billion worth of CDs, leading the feds to ask how the guy can possibly pay out on that.

Leading me to wonder what John Cornyn did, or didn’t do to deserve a free paid vacation. John Cornyn and his “undisclosed companion.” Because living here in the heart of Texas 22, a congressional district that returned wheeler/dealer Republican former Congressman Tom Delay for 10 terms, notions like this become second nature to you.

Maybe someday we will find out.

But today, I come to find that John Cornyn didn’t just lose a free meal ticket in the seizure of assets of Stanford Financial.

He lost a substantial source of lucre.

Last time I mentioned that R. Allen Stanford donated $2,000 to Cornyn’s campaign committee, this despite the fact that he donated to Democrats by a larger margin than to Republicans in the last cycle.

It gets better.

Because in total, between Stanford, Stanford’s executive team, and Stanford’s PAC, John Cornyn’s campaign received $19,700 from this business entity whose assets have now been frozen by the SEC.

You know, John Cornyn wasn’t even on the Banking Committee when he was given that trip. But now that he is, and into this group of people who are being accused of fraud to the tune of over $27,000, gee, I don’t know. Do you think Cornyn should return all that money? Return this money at least to give the illusion of propriety?

I’ll bet these guys could use the money right now to pay their lawyers.

Maybe buy an “Obama Effect” Glock.

And here is the bigger mystery. Most of these guys at OpenSecrets.org are big players in DC. Huge amounts of influence to be gotten here. Why then, oh why, among all of these heavy hitters do we find the name of Pete Olson? Pete Olson, who never served a day in elected office in his life, somehow rated receiving a total of $14,500 from this same sorry group of people and PAC.

$2300 of it came from Stanford, himself.

For Pete Olson.

Gee, could it be that they know Pete Olson? Could it be that they know Olson through his previous staff job in DC working for Senator Phil Gramm? The same Phil Gramm that engineered the financial meltdown that we are all experiencing?

So what about it? Do you think Pete Olson should return his lucre as well?

The Obama Effect

I know, it sounds like some sort of scientific principle like the Tyndall Effect (seen in gelatin). But it is anything but scientific.

And appears to me to be completely unfounded.

The Obama Effect is being witnessed in big box stores like WalMart, Academy and Gander Mountain, as well as mom and pop gun stores like The Double Shot Liquor and Guns Drive Thru in Schulenberg, Texas.

People are buying up guns and ammunition at record rates.

And guess why?

Barack Obama.

People who love and appreciate the function of firearms have become concerned since his election that President Obama is going to do away with gun ownership in the United States. As a result, they are taking precautionary steps to stock up before he takes action.

Even now in these times of economic uncertainty and tight family budgets, people are going out and buying guns, guns and more guns. Concealed weapons classes are full. Some weapons, notably Glocks can’t seem to stay on the shelves.

Now the thing is, I don’t recall ever hearing that Barack Obama has at the top of his agenda a desire to limit the rights of gun ownership. I recall the “cling to their guns and their religion” remark, the remark that got now SecState Hillary Clinton out for a photo op at the firing range.

Yes, he does have issues with assault rifles, as do I. As I also have an issue with killing Bambi by shooting him full of lead. He did support the ban on handguns in DC (a ban that was lifted by Bush’s Supremes), but on limiting ownership, while I understand he doesn’t really enthusiastically support gun ownership, he basically doesn’t think he can do anything about it. Read about it here.

Here, I think, is the bottom line statement that leads me to my conclusion that Obama won’t be doing anything about guns:

“Q: When you were in the state senate, you talked about licensing and registering gun owners. Would you do that as president?”

“A: I don’t think that we can get that done. But what we can do is to provide just some common-sense enforcement. The efforts by law enforcement to obtain the information required to trace back guns that have been used in crimes to unscrupulous gun dealers. As president, I intend to make it happen. We essentially have two realities, when it comes to guns, in this country. You’ve got the tradition of lawful gun ownership. It is very important for many Americans to be able to hunt, fish, take their kids out, teach them how to shoot. Then you’ve got the reality of 34 Chicago public school students who get shot down on the streets of Chicago. We can reconcile those two realities by making sure the Second Amendment is respected and that people are able to lawfully own guns, but that we also start cracking down on the kinds of abuses of firearms that we see on the streets. ”

Now if that means Obama wants to take away your guns, then by all means, go out and spend your kids’ college money on another “Nine.” Get one for each member of your family.

The gun industry will thank you from the bottom of its cold, cold heart.

If price of crude oil is dropping, why is cost of gas rising?

That’s the headline of a piece in today’s Houston Chronicle. I take the Chronicle seriously on this subject because, after all, Houston remains the hub of the oil industry.

They should know what they are talking about.

Well, actually, the Chronicle was running a piece written by two AP reporters, Chris Kahn and John Porretto.

So I was wondering just the same thing the other day as I was putting gasoline in my rice burner, and paying $1.78.9 for the honor. Saving a whole 2 cents per gallon by choosing a non-major gas station.

So I looked at the article, hoping to have some answers. Here is what they said:

“The price of gas is indeed tied to oil. It's just a matter of which oil.”

“The benchmark for crude oil prices is West Texas Intermediate, drilled exactly where you would imagine. That's the price, set at the New York Mercantile Exchange, that you see quoted on business channels and in the morning paper.”

“Right now, in an unusual market trend, West Texas crude is selling for much less than inferior grades of crude from other places around the world. A severe economic downturn has left U.S. storage facilities brimming with it, sending prices for the premium crude to five-year lows.”

“But it is the overseas crude that goes into most of the gas made in the United States. So prices at the pump will probably keep going up no matter what happens to the benchmark price of crude oil.”

Well that makes sense. Oil is down but the oil price we track, West Texas Intermediate, or WTI, is abnormally lower than lesser quality crudes that are more likely to be turned in to gasoline.

Wait, that doesn’t make any sense at all.

Isn’t the market all about supply and demand as everyone keeps telling me? Shouldn’t a high quality crude like WTI be more likely to be turned into gasoline because it will give higher yields than heavier oil?

And in this, I was perfectly right. They go on to explain:

“Brent North Sea crude, which feeds some East Coast refineries — and therefore winds up at many gas pumps around America — now costs about $7 more per barrel than the West Texas crude. Deutsche Bank analysts say the trend should continue.”

“Historically, West Texas International (sic) crude has cost more. So nobody bothered building the necessary pipelines to carry it beyond the nearby refineries in the Midwest, parts of Texas and a handful of other places.”

“Now that the premium oil is suddenly very inexpensive, refiners elsewhere can't get their hands on it.”

Now that’s just crazy.

That’s not what Republicans are telling me. The Republicans are telling me that the we don’t have enough oil and have to import oil from Muslim fanatics because Democrats won’t let the oil companies drill in ANWR or offshore the pristine beaches of northern California.

Drill, baby, drill.

But now I’m being told that not only do we not choose to pipe WTI to distant oil refineries because it’s usually too expensive and we can get cheaper oil there instead, but also that we use the price of WTI as a benchmark price for oil produced in the United States.

Now that’s just crazy.

So I learned a couple of things today. I learned about a dirty little secret about domestic oil production that isn’t being widely shared. And I learned that when we want to know the price of oil is, we ask what is the price of the most expensive oil that most people don’t use.

So I got more curious, and wanted to know what the price of oil is in other parts of the world. What, for instance, is the price of North Sea Brent? What about Arabian Light? These crudes, they tell me, are being turned into gasoline and sold here at the pump.

And after several tries in a Google search I finally happened on the right keyword combination that found this site.

Where I did see that WTI (aka United States) is definitely about $2.30 per barrel below the world average, just like the AP article said. I also saw that the price of oil is not down.

It’s up.

OK, not up to what it was when we were paying $4.00 for a gallon of gas, but since the beginning of the year, on average, the price of oil has risen by $7.20 per barrel.

That’s a 21% increase in price.

So gasoline is up because the price of crude oil is up. Nothing new under the sun.

Now I have a new question. If gasoline is up because crude is up, why did those two AP reporters jump through so many hoops and negotiate so many tortuous curves to explain the supposedly unexplainable?

John Cornyn, Barbuda Still My Friend?

My friend Susan has a little piece on her not-a-blog today, Valentine’s Day 2009, on our favorite US Senator, John Cornyn. Susan says that Cornyn is stepping in to fill the empty shoes left by Tom Delay, who is busy these days being an icon of rightwing uberpartisanship.

In November of 2004, it seems, John Cornyn along with an undisclosed companion, took up an offer by Texas billionaire R. Allen Stanford, Chairman of Stanford Financial Services to visit his operations on the Caribbean islands of Barbuda and Antiqua. As seen in the link provided by Susan, the 4-day trip was to conduct a

“Financial services industry fact-finding mission hosted by constituent company with substantial operations on site Notes Sen. Cornyn discloses expenses for himself and a companion, but does not disclose the identity of the companion. Total Cost $7,441.00”

Interesting and timely, I say, as Cornyn is certainly not hanging back staying hidden in the woodwork this time around. He finds himself in the news obstructing bills and visiting high roller contributors in New York rather than staying in DC to vote in this time of financial crisis.

But then I opened up today’s Chronicle and find that this is more interesting, and more timely, than I thought at first.

It seems that R. Allen Stanford has been under investigation by the SEC, the IRS and the FBI for awhile now. Investigators have been pretty closed mouth about what the matter is all about, other than to say that Stanford’s Caribbean banks are selling CDs that net the buyers higher than usual returns. From the Chron:

“The entire scope of the probe is unclear, but investigators are looking into the sale of certificates of deposit issued by the firm’s Stanford International Bank in the Caribbean island nation of Antigua and Barbuda. The CDs have yielded returns higher than the average.”

Wow. The very banks that Cornyn and a companion were asked to visit in 2004 as part of a “fact-finding mission” are being investigated for some questionable business practices by 3 federal agencies whose terrible combination of letters usually spell B-A-D N-E-W-S.

I also checked the FEC, and saw that Stanford had given $2000 to Cornyn’s campaign in 2007. Interesting, because Stanford and many of his highest ranking corporate officers at Stanford Financial Services had, for the most part, maxed out for Barack Obama in the last election.

Obviously, Stanford likes to win. And this is just okey-dokey as far as John Cornyn is concerned.

Bipartisanship is DOA in Congress

Well it’s official. The only politician acting in a bipartisan way in Washington, D.C. is Barack Obama.

And sometimes 3 Republican senators.

Obama continues to reach his open hand across the aisle, only to have it slapped time and time again. Today, the House voted 244 to 188 to pass the $787 billion stimulus package that was agreed to in House/Senate meetings held to reconcile the differences between the House and Senate versions of the stimulus bill.

244 to 188.

Guess who made up that 188 minority?

11 Democrats who chose to vote against their party and their President, and every single Republican in the House except for Ginny Brown-Waite, who didn’t vote.

The bipartisanship that the Obama Administration was trying to foster, and going to tremendous lengths to do that at the angst of his own party’s base is DOA in the House. There is no life to breath into the corpse.

And yesterday, Obama’s bipartisan act in choosing a conservative Republican to be his Secretary of Commerce was rewarded by Senator Gregg flip-flopping without warning with an announcement that he was going to pass on Obama’s offer, return to the Senate, and vote against his bill.

And it is becoming very clear why there is very little bipartisanship in Congress. We’ve had two elections now where Democrats have swept Republicans out of office in huge numbers. Congressman in swing districts and Senators in swing states, or in states and districts that have outright flipped from Red to Blue are now largely Democrats. Moderate Republicans are practically nonexistent in Congress.

Apparently, the only other people acting in any kind of bipartisan manner are 3 Republican Senators, Specter, Snowe and Collins. But really, these are holdovers from former Republican states. Specter is from Pennsylvania and Collins and Snowe are from Maine. Both states went for Obama in a big way. If these three senators want to keep their jobs, they will have to be voting with the Democratic majority a great deal of the time. Either that or face the wrath of their voters.

Interestingly, this is exactly the same situation that my ex-congressman, Nick Lampson faced, and it worked out none too well for him, either.

Did it?

So do I think Barack Obama should abandon his attempts to appease the party of the Dark Side? Well, if he wants to stop wasting his time and if he wants to stop receiving the potshots that these uberpartisans want to deliver to him, maybe he should.

But I don’t think that’s his style. Besides, I ask myself, isn’t Barack Obama just acting out what every evangelical Christian Republican demands of their congregations? Isn’t Barack Obama obeying the Lord’s instruction?

“But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you. If someone strikes you on one cheek, turn to him the other also. If someone takes your cloak, do not stop him from taking your tunic. Give to everyone who asks you, and if anyone takes what belongs to you, do not demand it back. Do to others as you would have them do to you.”

Luke 6: 27-31

Jesus was bipartisan. But apparently what’s good enough for their Savior isn’t good enough for Republicans in Congress.

Olson Struts and Frets His Hour Upon the Stage

Wow. Pete Olson, my congressman, is certainly turning into a “poor player,” isn’t he?

Today, out comes a story in FortBendNow about how Pete Olson has signed a letter to President Obama, with 19 others of his ilk, the Texas Republican delegation to Congress.

And one US Senator.

It seems that they have an axe to grind with the President.

Their beef?

It seems they are afraid that if Obama closes the illegal prison at Guantanamo and brings the accused terrorists to US soil in general and Texas soil in particular, those prisons will become a terrorist target.

No, really. That’s what they think.

“Any terrorist detention center in the United States will immediately become a target. It is because of these risks that Guantanamo was opened in the first place and that is the way it should stay.”

No wait, it gets better.

“‘Granting such (constitutional) rights to these dangerous enemy combatants could potentially lead to their release into the towns and cities of Texas,’ the congressional members said. ‘We refuse to accept that outcome, which would put innocent Texans in great danger, and we will do everything we can to prevent it from happening’”

And I guess part of “everything we can” is to publish a letter that brings fear and dread to people. Dick Cheney is out of office, so I guess someone has to step in and fill the “fear and dread void” that he left behind. And I guess it takes 20 Republicans to fill that vast void.

But that first one, the thing about making prisons terrorist targets, that’s a little too much to take. The reason I say this is that it is the MO of terrorists to strike at the innocent. To strike at the unarmed.

In prisons, the guards have guns.

Yes they do.

And despite the fact that the guns are usually trained inward, I see no reason why they cannot turn around and shoot outward. I think the terrorists can figure that out, too.

But maybe the real reason that Olson and his compadres are concerned with the possibility of dumping terrorists in Texas prisons is a practical consideration. If Barack Obama does one day close Guantanamo, and he has said he would, do you think he will want to bring the prisoners to a state that helped get him elected or a state that didn’t?

If Obama wants another term, do you think he would deliver these terrorists to the Federal Correction Institution at Terminal Island, California, or to the Federal Correctional Institution at Bastrop, Texas?

Actually, since Texas is about to go purple, and the Obama camp knows this, I think Pete and his fearful friends can probably relax if this is what concerns them. More likely than not, some place like the Federal Correctional Institution at Morgantown, West Virginia would be getting these people.

Or maybe the one in Safford, Arizona.

House and Senate Agree on Stimulus Package: Now, Will It Work?

It has been pared down to a mere $789 billion, but the stimulus plan that has been approved by a bunch of Democrats and three Republicans appears to be on its way to President Obama’s desk for signing, since an agreement was thrashed out in the House/Senate committee.

But we still have to formalize it with a vote, and anything still goes.

Republicans have one last chance to get on board with a plan, rather than look like a bunch of obstructionist zombies.

Now the two questions I have to ask myself are these:

1. When will I know that the stimulus is working?
2. What will Republicans dream up to demonstrate that it isn’t?
   

Here is what I could find to answer the first question.

From Business Week:

“At his first prime-time press conference, President Obama was asked a central question about the $800 billion-plus economic stimulus package: How will Americans know if it's working? ‘My initial measure of success is creating or saving 4 million jobs,’ Obama answered.”

I guess that’s a safe bet, but still . . . what are going to be the early indicators?

But the first thing we should see is that people are getting the support that they need to overcome the immediate effects of unemployment. Receiving extended unemployment benefits and food stamps.

“‘What you'll see [in benefit] and when you see it depends on who you are,’ says Steve Ellis, vice-president at Taxpayers for Common Sense, a taxpayer advocacy group. ‘If you are living hand-to-mouth, you should have greater access to food stamps and other assistance right away.’”

What about interest rates?

“"If interest rates stay extremely low, the plan is definitely working," says [J. Bradford DeLong, an economics professor]. "If Treasury interest rates do start to rise by more than normal levels, then we worry that [the spending] is crowding out private economic activity and discouraging investment.”

But here is the big problem. We aren’t living in a science lab. We don’t have a “control group” or a group being given only a placebo. So whatever effect we see we won’t really know if it is because the stimulus plan is working, because we don’t know what the world would look like in a reality where no stimulus bill was ever passed.

And this, I think, answers my second question.

Ruin-ous, UBS

On the news that Swiss bank giant UBS reports a record loss of SFr20 billion, that’s $17 billion US, my only comment is what goes around most certainly comes around, doesn’t it.

More on that in a minute.

This is the biggest yearly loss in the entire corporate history of the bank, and will result in the layoff of 2000 of its employees, mainly in its investment banking division, the part of the bank responsible for the losses.

From Reuters:

“UBS, the world's biggest banker to the rich, was one of the first to be hit in the credit crisis, as a disastrous expansion into investment banking forced it to write down almost $49 billion and shattered its reputation for Swiss solidity.”

And guess who is Vice Chairman of UBS’ Investment Bank?

None other than former Senator from Texas Phil Gramm.

Those who have read my previous postings on this guy know where I am going with this.

Phil Gramm can be singled out as singularly responsible for the global financial crisis that we find ourselves embroiled in right now. He spearheaded the 1999 Gramm-Leach-Billey Act, an act that repealed much of the Glass-Steagall Act the 1933 act that established, among other things, the FDIC, but also prohibited a bank holding company from owning other financial companies.

It was the repeal of the regulations of the Glass-Steagall Act combined with the 2000 exemption of over-the-counter derivatives such as credit-default swaps from regulation that brought on the eventuality of the credit crisis that we have today.

By the way, Gramm almost completely denies any culpability in his acts being the root cause of this crisis.

From Time:

“…Gramm acknowledged that the credit-default swaps market as it developed was ‘so opaque that nobody knew who was holding the bag.’ But he said he didn't buy that it was a major precipitating cause of the crisis. What was? ‘It was a confluence of two forces,’ he said. ‘Alone, neither would have created a cataclysm’”

Well, whatever.

Now it appears that the “confluence of two forces” has come home to roost in Phil Gramm’s own backyard, and 2000 of his workmates will have to update their resumés.

And what do you think. Do you think Gramm himself will have to get out his interview suit? Do you think in this era of accountability someone who has such convincing forensic evidence that even the OJ defense of “if it doesn’t fit you must acquit” won’t fly, we will finally have a deserving head roll out UBS’ front door?

Will Phil Gramm lose his job at UBS?

Nahhhhh.

Hutchison: I’ll Vote Against the Stimulus But Won’t Turn Down the Money If It Passes

Did you see the news clip at KVUE where Texas Senator Kaye Bailey Hutchison first talked out of one of her two mouths in criticizing the stimulus bill and promises to vote against it “because of so many of the factors that are wrong,” then out of the other one when she admits that the $2.8 billion in transportation funds that would come to Texas as part of the plan is completely appropriate because “we have so many needs for transportation in Texas.”

Is there any consistency here? On the one hand the stimulus bill is wrong, but on the other hand the state needs the transportation funds that it would deliver to Texas?

Clearly Hutchison is trying to play to two audiences, and to neither of them is she very convincing.

Clearly Hutchison is joining her party’s faithful anti-stimulus movement choosing to oppose it not because it won’t bring funds needed here, but because Republicans, led by Rush Limbaugh, want to see the stimulus fail.

Because if it does, the Republicans look good. And like the “success of the surge” arguments, Republican will try to define what failure is, and then call the stimulus a failure. That’s their MO.

On the other hand, Rick Perry, Hutchison’s future gubernatorial opponent in the March 2010 Republican primary, promises to reject any and all funds that come to Texas from the stimulus bill, should it pass. So Hutchison plays to the anti-Perry crowd and criticizes that idea.

And ends up praising the bill because of what it could bring to Texas.

If it passes.

Which she opposes.

Now what is really bad about this whole thing is that Hutchison is a woman. And when I see or hear a woman make such bubble-headed remarks like that, I cringe, knowing that the advances women continue to make in our paternal society are not helped by these utterances.

Congress: Don’t Cut Aid to States

While the dollar totals of the House and Senate versions of the Economic Stimulus bills are just about the same, one big difference is that the Senate version cut the amount of aid to state governments from about $60 billion to about $20 billion.

This is such a very bad idea. If the House does anything to rectify this bill, it must put that state funding back in.

And I will tell you why.

States get the cash to run things in large part from property taxes. Some states more than others. And who pays most of these property taxes? Big corporations.

Big corporations that are, by the way, becoming economically strapped themselves because profits are turning into losses. Some of these businesses will gut it out, some will benefit from the stimulus, but some of them are going to go belly up or file for bankruptcy under Chapter 11.

Businesses and corporations that contribute a good deal towards the funding of state and local services simply aren’t going to be there anymore. And when that happens where are the states going to get their funding to say, run a police department, staff a school, or pay the salaries of early responders?

Case in point. A multinational chemical firm with a huge presence in the Houston area, LyondellBasell has filed for bankruptcy under Chapter 11. This Dutch-owned company has chemical plants all over the Houston area and suburbs. A big presence in Pasadena, Houston and Galena Park. In total, LyondellBasell pays $113 million in property taxes. Taxes that go toward funding things like school districts and municipal services like police and fire protection.

And on Monday, February 2^nd, those taxes for 2008 were due.

But the only thing that came out of the treasury coffers of LyondellBasell last Monday was . . . crickets.

The sound of crickets and no promises of this critical funding anytime soon.

From the Chronicle:

“Meantime, some local school districts, municipalities and counties where LyondellBasell has operations said they could face holes in their budgets because of the shortfall in collections.”

“Take the Pasadena Independent School District. Closely linked to the company through teachers whose spouses work at a nearby plant and plant workers’ children who attend its schools, the district also relies on $2 million a year in payments from the chemical maker.”

Now there are some states where bankruptcy of big chemical firms won’t affect the bottom line because their taxes don’t go to pay the salaries of teachers and policemen. States like New Hampshire, which funds its schools through taxes on liquor and cigarettes.

But that is of little comfort to those states that rely on corporate property taxes to fund their basic services.

And tragically, the Senate has placed in their stimulus bill a provision to allow fewer upper middle class Americans to have to pay the Alternative Minimum Tax, to the tune of $79 billion. This is “trickle down theory” writ large. A theory that has been totally discredited.

So the last thing, the very last thing you want to do in these times is remove the states from the stimulus bill, especially when you add, in its place something that prevents upper end middle class from having to pay the AMT. These are not the people, after all, who need stimulus.

Barack Obama on the Economic Stimulus Plan

President Obama has a new video on YouTube. In it he further explains the stimulus plan and the urgency to pass it.

This attempt at transparency is truly unprecedented. To have a website at Recovery.gov where we can all watch to see who is getting what for what is a fabulous idea, but I just have to wonder now whether that will be yet another reason for my two senators to vote against it.

Transparency in government is not the strong suit of the party of the Dark Side.

The Senate has just adjourned for the day and will probably pass their version of the bill by a narrow margin on Monday.

Texas in the Top Ten Most Religious States

In a recently released Gallup survey of over 350,000 people, the Gallup Poll has the state of Texas in the top 10 most religious states in the country.

Actually right at the bottom of the list, and tied with Kentucky at 74.

74 per cent, that is. 74 percent of Texans who were asked admitted to the pollsters that religion is an important part of their lives.

The Bible Belt is still very entrenched here in The South, a belt that closely follows the Red Belt trend revealed by the New York Times last November.

Also referred to as The Cracker Belt.

Take a look for yourself and see if you don’t agree.

Here is the New York Times graphic showing in red the counties that voted more Republican than they did in 2004 .

And here is the map of The Bible Belt as seen in the Wikipedia article on same.

Now don’t get me wrong, I think that it is marvelous that people find comfort in being strongly religious. But I live here in the heart of the Bible Belt and am here to tell you that being here in the confluence of those two red-colored belts is no picnic.

Because having a strong religious belief in this area does nothing for having compassion for your fellow man. It’s very much the other way.

Jesus, you see, is still viewed as a white guy with long flowing wavy red hair. But that is just about the extent of it.

Here in the Bible Belt, you see, they want to pass voter id laws to prevent the elderly and the poor from voting.

Here in the Bible Belt they want to pass laws that require illegal immigrants to live in "sanctuary cities." I recall when another government tried that. It was called the Warsaw Ghetto.

Here in the Bible Belt they want to pass a law that would allow refusal to issue birth certificates for children of illegal immigrants, children born legally in the United States.

Here in the Bible Belt we have a US Congressman who likens his party, the GOP that is, to the Taliban. You know, that other party of bigoted religious zealots.

John 11:35

A Modest Proposal: Ebay the Speaker’s Apartment

Today we receive the news that former Texas House Speaker Tom Craddick, and his spendthrift wife, Nadine, went on a $169,400 spending spree during the last week he was in office - after announcing he would not stand for re-election - liberating these funds from the State Preservation Fund to put the finishing touches on their $1.3 million remodeling project. A project to remodel the 1804 square foot Speaker’s apartment that lies beyond the Speaker’s private door to the House chamber.

By my reckoning, that comes to about $720 per square foot.

During the last week of his term, the Speaker placed orders for 2 paintings totaling $45,400, a crystal chandelier for $75,000, $26,500 for a piece of furniture, and another chandelier for $22,500.

Leaving a grand total of $18.50 in the remodeling fund.

To what end Craddick did this, I can only guess, but I imagine that since it was Tom Craddick who got his wealthy contributors and lobbyists to pony up the 1.3 million in the first place, the last thing he was going to do was let that horse racing promoter Straus use it.

Well I have a modest proposal.

Let’s send a message to these two people, who will forever be remembered as symbols of gratuitous excess and opulence. Let’s put all of this stuff on Ebay.

Then let’s use the proceeds to buy office supplies for the Texas Legislature for the next 10 years.