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DEL.ICIO.USOn Iraqi elections, Senate vacancies
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Thinking Right’s weekend free-for-all. Pick a topic:
Last Saturday’s elections for 440 seats on provincial councils in Iraq drew 14,000 candidates. By and large, the elections occurred peacefully. Amazing. Thank Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld and the men and women of this country’s armed forces who made this day possible.
If New Hampshire Gov. John Lynch and the Obama administration agreed to a deal to appoint a Republican to succeed U.S. Sen. Judd Gregg, the president’s nominee for Commerce Secretary, what principally is different from the deal former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich tried to cut to fill a Senate vacancy? Blago allegedly sought something of value, namely campaign cash. Before stepping down, Gregg extracted something of value —- a pledge not to appoint a Democrat who would diminish Republican influence in the U.S. Senate. Giving money or giving services. Don’t see the big difference.
President Obama thinks $500,000 is pay aplenty for CEOs in bailed-out firms. You take the money, you take the politicians. Pitcher Oliver Perez just signed a three-year contract with the New York Mets worth $36 million. Surely running a big auto company is worth more. But the angry mob is not clamoring for the blood of professional athletes. We really must find a disgraced CEO to do a perp-walk-in-orange across America.
Quote of the week, on turning 90, from Atlanta’s most famous twin, Ruby Crawford: “Ruth [the sister who died three years ago] and I always said when you live in Atlanta, heaven can wait.” The twins were as Atlanta as Rich’s Magnolia Room, “Gone With the Wind” and Peachtree Street.
Real fiscal conservatives would reject the enticement money contained in the pending economic stimulus that invites state and local government to expand programs —- Medicaid for one —- without a permanent funding commitment. Leave enticement money on the table.
Gold Dome Republicans tempted to tie spending to a specific funding source are on a course that marks them as no different than the Democrats they replaced. “Super-speeder” taxes-as-fines tied to trauma funding, or a $10 tax-as-fee on auto tags, as proposed by Reps. Austin Scott (R-Tifton) and Ron Stephens (R-Savannah), cause the kinds of problems that now exist with the Public Defender Standards Council. A tax created in conjunction with a specified service becomes, to claimants, an entitlement. Create programs and levy taxes; never connect one to the other.
Save the headline: “Federal aid helps, hurts insurer AIG.” For “insurer AIG,” substitute the name of any private sector company that gets bailout money.
Let it go, John, just let it go. Congressman Lewis wants Georgia Tech to preserve a building that once housed Lester Maddox’s Pickrick Restaurant. It’s strip-shopping architecture. Tear it down.
End of Course Tests, based on what teachers are expected to teach and students to know, reveal a fact about the education cultures of some local systems. Some give feel-good grades; some have high standards. For most of the eight subjects tested by EOCTs, the number who failed was two to three times the number who failed in class, according to a statistical study done by Chris Clark, an economics professor at Georgia College & State University in Milledgeville. In economics, 36 percent failed the statewide test, but only 6 percent failed the class. Some locals inflate grades, presumably to qualify the unqualified for HOPE. Money can’t be determined to be the problem in local systems until you know the competence of its leaders and understand the culture they’ve created.
It’s a tragic story, no doubt. A 93-year-old man froze to death in Michigan after the power company restricted his electricity usage because he’d failed to pay $1,000 in overdue bills. But as is sometimes the case in reports of suffering callously caused by the hard-heartedness of bureaucracies, the account is one fact shy. As is now revealed, the man had assets of $600,000. Still tragic —- but without bad guys. Same is true of the fire at the Forsyth County home of a woman who claimed it was because she had a Barack Obama yard sign. One more fact: Police now suspect her.
Permalink | Comments (34) | Post your comment | Categories: Column
Comments
By mm
February 6, 2009 11:21 AM | Link to this
Zero posts? I guess you’re not relevant either.
By Recreational flatuence
February 6, 2009 11:31 AM | Link to this
That you don’t see the difference between the New Hampshire and Illinois Senate situations says a lot about you. And, where we come from the old timers would have said: “I don’t believe I would’ve told that.”
Enticement money = bribe. Just write it like it is.
When the government starts bailing out sports teams, then I think you’d see the same public support for limiting player salaries. Your argument is thin.
Love the quote from Ms. Crawford.
Amen on the state Republicans item. Ditto on the “helps, hurts” headline. And, the Pickrick.
I don’t know the answer to education. Of course, I was educated in Georgia public schools.
Suspected the homeowner in the fire from the start.
By The GodBlogger
February 6, 2009 11:37 AM | Link to this
So our troops have a civic mission in Iraq.
By DB, Gwinnettian
February 6, 2009 11:45 AM | Link to this
“Thank Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld and the men and women of this country’s armed forces who made this day possible.”
aren’t you going to include the trillion or so American dollars that really made it all possible?
And the four, five million people displaced? and the 100,000-1 million (nobody agrees, so let’s just peg it somewhere between) dead civilians?
funny, if you put it that way, suddenly it doesn’t seem like such a fabulous accomplishment, does it? Well, let’s kiss Bush’s butt anyway. Poor fella. So misunderstood. So misunderestimated.
By Get Real
February 6, 2009 11:50 AM | Link to this
I respectfully agree with you on something Wooten. We both believe taxes disguised as fees is nothing more than a shell game. You can’t say that you’re not saying you’re raising taxes when you’re implementing new fees. You forgot the $5 strip club tax to fund teen abuse programs. Thats about all we can agree on.
I believe if corporations take federal funds, then they should have caps on pay. Welfare recipients have to take drug tests and submit timesheets to receive TANF funds. Don’t you think CEOs who tanked our economy, and who are more dangerous and costly than anyone on welfare, should have to do the same thing in addition to a cap on their salary, Wooten? You take the money, you take the rules. Athletes aren’t taking any government money either. Thank Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld?? For what?? Iraq will have cost this country $1 trillion dollars that as you republicans like to say “will have to be paid back by our grandkids and their kids.” Was Iraq really worth it?? Where’s bin Laden?? Are all the terrorists dead?? I respectfully disagree with you Wooten. Bring on the new guy, this is too easy!
By Get Real
February 6, 2009 11:53 AM | Link to this
Wooten is withering liked the failed policies of his party.
By Ragnar Danneskjöld
February 6, 2009 12:26 PM | Link to this
Good afternoon all. I have always thanked President Bush, Vice President Cheney and Secretary Rumsfeld for their collective effort to make the world safer. Surely their most gratifying thanks is seeing the pictures of purple fingers.
President Obama arranged consideration to induce Judd Gregg to resign from the senate. Funny way to put it – one example is corruption using money, the other corruption using political power. I know the difference – democrats always use power to buy votes and therefore are exempt from the bribery laws.
Around the same time Jim composed his CEO pay note I wrote a similar argument: “My sense is that government constriction is generally a bad idea. I think the idea ought to be tested first in some areas that would not matter, to be sure there are no gravely adverse unforeseen consequences (as there always are in leftist schemes.) I suggest we try this first in Hollywood and in professional sports, and if it does not cause any adverse effects, spread it to the productive economy. Oh yes, and in law.”
Jim, with all due respect, real fiscal conservatives always call it the “stimulus” plan – if you don’t put the quotation marks around it, people might think you really believe it would stimulate something other than government activity.
Our Gold Dome republicans are obviously a lazy lot, cannot be bothered with having to actually consider allocations every year. Why? They might accidentally cut spending.
I think a hard hitting headline reading “Federal aid helps, hurts insurer AIG” ought to be completed “Maybe or maybe not. In certain circumstances.”
Maybe Georgia Tech wants John Lewis to reach into his own darn pocket to preserve the Ax Handle Palace.
I can answer the Economics test conundrum. The 30 % who failed the test, but not the course, were democrats who did not take the course. Of course. Our leftist brethren are congenitally incapable of understanding that which conservatives grasp intuitively.
I think it inappropriate to burn the homes of Obama supporters. The crime against society is committed by the voter, not by the innocent house. Tar and feathers are a better way to express displeasure. Of course, if the president continues to push bills like the “stimulus,” pretty soon we won’t be able to find anyone who will admit to voting for the Empty Suit.
By Redneck Convert
February 6, 2009 12:28 PM | Link to this
Well, I see the GA House voted to split their session. Go home in April and come back in June. Seems like they want to see if this Obama stimulation bill passes and if it has more money for GA.
Now that’s smart, real smart. It’s the reason why GA is Republican. They can call the stimulation bill pork spending and say they want it to fail but hope like heck it passes. That way they can get out of raising Aunt Josie’s property tax bill and cutting way back on other spending. You won’t never find a librul Democrat coming up with a idea like that.
So Wooten is wrong like he usually is. It don’t matter if the money from the stimulation bill is here to stay. What’s important is the next election. No godly Republican legaslater wants to go home and start campaigning about how he cut back on a bunch of stuff the home folks wanted and forced the county to raise property taxes. The money will be around for a couple years anyway, so the politicans can get reelected before the roof falls in. The GA senate is a lead-pipe cinch to pass the House bill too.
Have a good day everybody.
By @@
February 6, 2009 12:37 PM | Link to this
The Iraqis are well on their way to a true democracy.
The vote has brought the Sunnis back into the political system, it’s strengthened Iraqi nationalist elements at the expense of ethno-sectarian elements; and it has weakened Iran’s influence via the ISCI. Word has it that Obama, in anticipation of the Kurdish elections to follow, will divide Iraq into three autonomous regions — something that the Iraqi people have deemed destructive and infeasible.
Blagojevich spoke the truth in his impeachment hearing. “It’s not something that we haven’t all done before.”
And the chest-thumping, butt-smacking athletes (politicians) are supported by the pay-to-play fans. Stupid bench warmers.
Yea buddy, Ms. Ruby Slippers. Down here in my fair Clayton County…..”Home of Tara”, heaven for a black youth is just one heartbeat away. Black on black crime — it’s sooooo southern.
Georgia’s republican leaders SHOULD leave the pork on the table. It’d make ‘em leaner and “meaner” for the desserts in the next election. Unaffiliated voters will reward them with a cherry on top as the majority of the U-party are vehemently opposed to the stimulus bill.
Tax-as-fee is exactly why I refused to support Huckafee during the campaign.
John Lewis wants to “embrace” the past? Why am I not surprised? It holds “value”.
Feel-good grades? Give the democratic party an A+. Their ultimate goal is to insure failure so that the party can be hired as nanny.
You know as well as I do, Jim that liberals could “make the case” that Mr. Michigan was a victim of our ailing healthcare system. Dementia prevails.
There’s been little said by liberals about the Forsyth woman’s false claims. Did she actually vote for Obama? If so, liberals can be a forgiving bunch.
By Copyleft
February 6, 2009 12:55 PM | Link to this
I’m swinging at the easy pitch today, but it’s just so patently silly that it begs attention….
“Pitcher Oliver Perez just signed a three-year contract with the New York Mets worth $36 million. Surely running a big auto company is worth more.”
Umm, Mr. Wooten? Did Pitcher Oliver Perez royally screw up his job, bankrupt his team, and throw thousands of fans out of work, only to run—-hat in hand—begging to the government for a taxpayer-funded bailout? Didn’t think so. Therefore, the analogy fails.
But thanks for trying.
By Howard
February 6, 2009 12:56 PM | Link to this
Jim…you expect old racists like John Lewis and Joe Lowery to give up anything when it comes to the multi-bilion dollar race baiting industry?? Dream on!! As for that GOP senator trusting a Democrat governor to appoint a fellow GOPer to take his Senate seat? Damn trusting soul is he!! He must have forgotten that Democrats are like the Mafia! Two to one bet that governor tries to sneak in a Demo or a Republican in name only like McCain or Susan Collins.
By AC
February 6, 2009 1:08 PM | Link to this
President Obama has begun going after the excesses of capitalism.
He announced this week a $500,000 cap on the salaries of CEOs of companies that receive federal rescue money.
We don’t know how much the federal government can or should inject itself into corporate boardrooms. Frankly, it’s more than a little disconcerting when an American president starts issuing salary caps in the private sector. And you don’t want to chase off the best talent, either.
But you know what? We’re right with him in spirit.
The excesses in corporate compensation and perks, especially by firms receiving emergency government money, have not only given capitalism a bad name, but they’ve driven this country to the brink of socialism.
Horror stories continue to come out almost weekly about companies that have already received bailout money from taxpayers, only to give out huge bonuses to executives, to sponsor extravagant events and to schedule lavish trips to resort destinations.
Bank of America, a recipient of bailout money, had a five-day party and hosted the “NFL Experience” outside the Super Bowl in Tampa. Wells Fargo planned an upcoming getaway for mortgage officers at some very nice Las Vegas hotels/casinos. But after a congressional and public uproar, the bank canceled the trip.
Bank of America, stung by criticism of its Super Bowl soiree, announced this week it is canceling all employee incentive trips for the time being. The bank received $25 billion in tax money last year.
Wall Street firms doled out $18 billion in bonuses alone last year, despite the economic collapse.
One CEO whose firm was laying off people famously spent $1.2 million on refurbishing his office and attached potty.
Such excesses may be the shareholders’ business any other time. But when a company receives tax bailout money, it becomes our business.
Again, we wonder how well equipped a government in a free-market republic is to curb the excesses of capitalism — and whether we even should want it to try.
So, we are left with this question: Why are the capitalists content to sit back and watch the government try to rescue capitalism?
When are the CEOs going to step forward and do their part to help the economy?
To their credit, some CEOs already have stepped up. Several of the Big Three auto company CEOs, for example, agreed to a $1 annual salary.
Why don’t the rest of these folks taking home $5 million, $15 million, even $50 million announce that they’re 1) cutting their pay by half or more and 2) using that money to hire as many workers as they can find work for?
Imagine the psychological effect alone on a country battered by rising unemployment, home foreclosures and the desperation of previously hardworking families that today don’t know where their next meal is coming from.
It might also have a significant stimulative effect — if more people have more money to spend, and more job security, the country’s commerce could get going again.
Only the capitalists can save capitalism. But they will have to want to.
In the process, they could help the country out of the doldrums and set a powerful example.
How much do these folks really need to live on? Twenty million? Fifty?
From outlandish pay for CEOs of failing companies that have been laying good workers off, to the bonuses and trips and perks that bailed-out firms have been caught spending money on, the excesses of capitalism are to the point of being immoral.
The onus is on them, not on the president, to change the way things are.
By The GodBlogger
February 6, 2009 1:11 PM | Link to this
The iraqi statue of liberty is a woman holding up her purple-tipped index finger high over her head……
….that’s not her index finger, but it’s purple….OMG it’s a matriarchy based on Lorraine Bobbit as the founding dismemberer……
By Recreational flatuence
February 6, 2009 1:17 PM | Link to this
“President Obama arranged consideration to induce Judd Gregg to resign from the senate. Funny way to put it – one example is corruption using money, the other corruption using political power. I know the difference – democrats always use power to buy votes and therefore are exempt from the bribery laws.”
As always, I respect your view. However, I do disagree. I see this arrangement as no different than the political horsetrading that goes on in the halls of government every day, i.e. trading a vote for a committee assignment. The government alleges Blagowhatitz was basically having a cash auction on Obama’s former seat.
I could be wrong.
— Maniac is accurate
By JB
February 6, 2009 1:28 PM | Link to this
Recreational flatuence,
We do bail out sports teams. Only its called investing in infrastructure ie. Stadiums.
By Recreational flatuence
February 6, 2009 1:30 PM | Link to this
In other words, in the realm of human sin, one is worse than the other.
By Leon
February 6, 2009 1:56 PM | Link to this
RD, count me in as one who proudly voted for this President! I’ll take my empty suit over the previous empty head all day long. Maybe Joe The Plumber has some new ideas because McCain & McConnell are bereft of any.
The Republicans have zero credibility on the economy
We reject the Republican theories that got us into this mess in the first place
We should make the Republicans stand and filibuster if they want to filibuster. No cloture votes!
Enough is enough.
By Jessica Simpson
February 6, 2009 2:07 PM | Link to this
A bizarre 38-minute set by opening act Jessica Simpson inadvertently stole the spotlight from headliner Rascal Flatts in a show at the Van Andel Arena.
The Grand Rapids Press said Simpson forgot her lyrics, struggled with her ear monitors, mumbled through songs and fought back tears during Thursday night’s performance.
At one point, the 28-year-old singer-actress asked her backing band to start over on one song, and she forgot the words to another.
”Jessica had an off night,” Cindi Berger, a representative for Simpson, said Friday. ”She’s a perfectionist, and wanted to start some of the songs over. She always wants to give her best performance to her fans.”
Simpson apologized to the supportive audience of about 9,000 by mouthing the word ”sorry” on two large video screens.
While introducing her last song, Simpson said she sometimes feels like quitting. She appeared to be wiping away tears after finishing the song and walking off the stage.
By your successor
February 6, 2009 2:10 PM | Link to this
Your argument about excutive compensation as compared to pro athlete compensation is moot. MLB and/or the Mets have not received any TARP money. In fact, there is probably not a better example of private sector ecomomics at work than MLB (save the tax subsidies and “bailout” money teams receive when looking for funding to build a stadium). But, who knows, perhaps the sports/entertainment bubble will burst, and MLB, the NFL, NHL and NBA will be looking for a handout.
By Jackie
February 6, 2009 2:14 PM | Link to this
@Howard,
Could you clarify what you meant when you said John Lewis and Joseph Lowery “old racists like John Lewis and Joe Lowery to give up anything when it comes to the multi-bilion dollar race baiting industry??”
If you were one that supported Low-Blow Saxby, I find it strange that you could seek to justify your statement.
By Bo Chambliss LOBBYIST
February 6, 2009 2:34 PM | Link to this
When are you going to write about Saxby’s relationship with Peanut Corporation of America?
By Ragnar Danneskjöld
February 6, 2009 2:40 PM | Link to this
Dear Maniac @ 1:17, no, you are correct – I have heard the “horse trading” endemic to politics described as more akin to the oldest profession. In the big scheme, I don’t have a real problem with the Illinois governor selling Obama’s seat. Fits my definition of Chicago politics. They elected him, they knew what they were getting. I have a bigger issue with Chris Dodd taking the submarket loan from Countrywide at the time he was the ranking member of the committee with oversight over FNMA. Not so much because he took the bribe, but because he acted on it.
Dear Leon @ 1:56, I think you don’t realize that the problem now is the looming largest tax increase in the history of the world – kinda depresses people who run businesses – and that is exclusively a Pelosi creation. Didn’t have to be that way, but the democrats really need a depression. A simple business slowdown won’t do. The sheep will not swallow a $900 billion pot of graft-money without fear of something real, and if they have to cause the problem, so be it.
Dear successor @ 2:10, hypothetically, how would you feel if the Mets’s new stadium was heavily subsidized by the City of New York, and then New York solicited and received TARP or “stimulus” monies? I say “feel” because I know leftists “feel” rather than “think.”
By ron
February 6, 2009 2:44 PM | Link to this
Good afternoon,——I’ve been away,doing personal battle with my ISP.That ended when I told them they could disconnect me whenever it was convenient for them.I have paid for poor service long enough.I had to take a rare trip to the city to finally do this as it was apparent they were never going to change.
No bad guys now that the 93 year old has been found to have had $600,000 on account?What explains the company’s plan to outlaw power limiters?Just ‘cause they’re good guys?Don’t fool yourself.Heads rolled o’er this one and there’s more to come.I would NOT want to be the BBMFIC.
I see the two lady Senators from Maine are in there digging and scratching,trying to limit spending to actual stimulants to the economy.Right,wrong or indifferent,they’re trying.Quite a tax cut proposed for small business.
As noted before,I am about to run out of internet,so I won’t be around any longer.It’s been fun,but I can’t see giving money to an outfit that no longer cares if it provides service or not.My high speed satellite internet is testing out at 17k,which is actually very slow dial-up.Take care,redneck,Ragnar,dusty,Glenn,All you all,and especially you Jim.Good luck on your retirement.
By Leon
February 6, 2009 3:25 PM | Link to this
RD, So this is just a “business slowdown”? Whew….for a minute there I thought the economy was in real trouble. Must have been a mis-print on my last 401(k) statement, the Mrs. will be releived.
By Recreational flatuence
February 6, 2009 3:32 PM | Link to this
Yes, Dodd and Blagowhatitz should be cellmates.
By The GodBlogger
February 6, 2009 3:40 PM | Link to this
My daughter was at that Rascal flats concert. In fact, she danced on a shadow screen on stage the entire time as part of the background atmosphere and a small part of the act. She said that Jessica Simpson has enormous boobs and is a total hottie.
I wonder if Jessica Simpson has an………
By Raggedisnott Dangdingleberriesclingtomybunghole
February 6, 2009 4:05 PM | Link to this
Avast, children of the boards! ‘Tis I, the Reichwing Randian Relayer of Rhetorical Retardation, holding forth from the fear-fraught fray fostered by my fellows in felonious fudgepacking, aye, those masters of mendacity, the despoiling dinosaurs of desecrated democracy, our cohorts in corrupted commerce, The People’s Party its own self— the Republicans! Advantageous it is for me that I am a lawyer, well-versed in dissembling disengenuously as I bend forward, pandering to the prevaricating cadre of cacaphonous conservatives crowding this board of our Great Thundrous One, Woo-tang the Wootificent. Aye, though he be silenced nigh any day now, be not distraught, my dithering dittos, for together, we shall smite the libertine leftists and the mountebank moderates with our mighty blasts of buttockular (yea, my myopic milquetoasts, I did this very moment pull that word from mine own erudite anal abyss) bombast. Hark, an I shall resurrect my words of wisdom from prior posted postulations, so that my learned loquaciousness may be recycled to the benefit of all here…forsooth, by complete and utter happenstance, methinks I just joined the ranks of the conservationists! See, ye leftist heathen, ‘tis indeed possible to be a Greenie of the GOP persuasion…but whereof was I speaking? Ah, yes—political equine prostitution, with which, in truth, I have no issue, save the difficulty of levying taxes upon such bestial buggery. Lest ye mistake me, I do not “feel” ‘tis necessary to levy taxes on a tarpaulin-covered brothel-borne beast of burden; nay, I “think” so. And because I “think”, ergo, I “am”. Aye, but I simply Kant get enough of Sartre (for those amongst us whose humour tends toward the lowbrowed, yours truly just engaged in persiflage, a wisecracking waggery)! Thppppppppt! Beg pardon—indulging my wit ofttimes loosens my sphinctoral musculature (one needn’t be uncultivated to take my meaning, I’m certain). Well, my fecund followers, methinks my weekend shall deservedly get off to an early start. I shall betake me to my couch, and there imbibe of the finest the grape has to offer, until sweet Nepenthe o’ertake me and lead me to dreams of Palinian pulchritude. Parting is such sweet sorrow—avaunt, ye righties and lefties, more bluster on the morrow!
By deegee
February 6, 2009 4:07 PM | Link to this
Bush-Cheney-Rumsfeld were clueless. Thank the US foot soldiers, the Generals on the ground, and thank the Sunni Awakening Councils. If the US generals hadn’t armed them and paid them millions of bucks to run al-qaeda out of most of Iraq then we would still be arguing over whether or not 140,000 US soldiers are better than 110,000 US soldiers while waging war. BTW we still have 146,000 soldiers in Iraq.
By GOP Big Bucks
February 6, 2009 4:37 PM | Link to this
Washington is on the horns of a dilemma. It needs banks to start lending more freely, greasing the wheels of commerce and spurring growth. And it needs banks back on a sound footing — out of the red, with less risky debt and bigger reserves.
It’s going to take a delicate balancing act. Creation of a “bad” bank is a positive step. President Obama’s plan for the federal government to take over toxic debt will get it off balance sheets, immediately improving banks’ financial health.
The same is true of Uncle Sam doling out funds to community banks. About 1,600 of the 8,000 such institutions have asked for Treasury Department aid, even though few of them engaged in the risky lending blamed for current woes. Most that are in harm’s way are simply threatened by the vortex of dwindling sales and rising joblessness. About 300 community banks will end up getting help. Eventually, those efforts will bear fruit.
Meanwhile, there’s a tightrope being walked by regulators and bankers alike. For the watchdogs, that means sufficient strictness to restore the integrity of the banking system without making credit so tight it risks deepening the recession. For bankers, it means being tough enough with borrowers to improve balance sheets and meet regulators’ standards but lenient enough not to drive more borrowers under.
Federal Deposit Insurance Corp., for example, will limit the interest rates weak banks can charge. The FDIC fears that lenders on the bubble may push some of their borrowers too hard, winding up with even more defaults. The agency is also upping the fees banks pay it for federal insurance coverage. And at the same time that bank examiners are tightening capital reserves, regulators are expanding loan guarantees to free up funds for lending.
Expect careful, case by case consideration of new and existing loans. Banks and regulators know that many current borrowers are likely to be struggling and need some forbearance. If loans aren’t in default but borrowers are at risk — out of compliance with covenants, for example — calling the loan isn’t a sure thing. Instead, decisions will take into account not only what shape the borrower is in, but also local and regional business conditions, the state of the relevant industry and more, including what the remainder of the lender’s portfolio looks like.
By the time all is said and done, many more banks will disappear: about 100 before year-end, another 100 in 2010. A total of 25 failed last year. Big banks are clearly in the worst shape and carry a disproportionate weight. The top five institutions hold 37% of total deposits. But the fallout is hitting lenders of every ilk, big and midsize regionals, community banks, credit unions and so on.
By The GodBlogger
February 6, 2009 4:52 PM | Link to this
The Newspaper In Heaven.
Does anyone here remember where they were when Christ was crucified? Send your comments to the GodBlogger.com.
Today’s Jumble: How many gods do U C in your life?
One. (Zero). Two. Infinity. allahtheabove.
God, the Father made a brief appearance at a rally to recognize limbo again. The Holy Ghost and God the Son were not available, they had previous commitments. One was at a benefit for frost-bit snow-angel wings, and the other was at a chariot wash.
In other news, Satan has apologized! He claims to mean it this time and is appealing his sentence of an eternity in hell. He’s requested that if the parole board turns him down again, that some water torture would be a groove….
Now to the weather. It’s very graceful outside right now, the barametric pressure is a perfect vacuum so we probably wont see any holy water this weekend.
By Glenn
February 6, 2009 4:59 PM | Link to this
I’m so happy for the Iraqi elections having passed so peacefully, so enthusiastically and democratically that I just spin in the kind of dance we used to do in Texas, with our .45s firing into the night! I’m so happy for them. They really embraced the beauty of the thing. Bold move.
By Dick C.
February 6, 2009 5:25 PM | Link to this
Court papers filed in Houston no Friday show Kellogg, Brown & Root LLC is preparing to plead guilty to violating the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act for promising and paying tens of millions of dollars in bribes to officials in Nigeria in exchange for engineering and construction contracts between 1995 and 2004.
The government filed a criminal information in federal court, a document which is often used as part of a plea deal.
KBR, a major engineering and construction services company with operations around the world, was split off as a separate public company from Halliburton in 2007.
By The GodBlogger
February 6, 2009 5:31 PM | Link to this
Here’s hoping the money trail leads to Cheney’s man-sized safe.
By Glenn
February 6, 2009 5:45 PM | Link to this
This goes to one of Jim Wooten’s bullet-points; you choose which one:
In Tony Kushner’s play “Angels in America”, a common character lies dying from AIDS, and is instrurcted by his attending angel to envision a Heaven he’d wish to enhabit for Eternity. The angel says that it’s like San Francisco. The dying man, protesting, points our that “the real San Francicso, on Earth, is impossibly beautiful,” and so goes the argument.
Saint Paul consoles those disappointed by his own protoge, saying that in due time they shall have the promise of a new city, a city whose founder and builder is God Himself, for He shall not be ashamed of them, or of their wrongdoing.