In Bed with the Devil - The White House and Special Interests

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Rahm Emanuel, Obama's fiery tongued Chief of Staff, was recruited into the president's inner sanctum because of his Wall Street connections and his ruthless negotiating skills and in the first two years his success at extracting money from special interests was near legendary.

As a result the Obama administration became the most expensive money could buy shattering campaign spending records, nearly a billion dollar cost to get elected, and shaking down corporate and special interests after getting elected at a pace never seen in our nation's capitol before.

From the Wall Street bankers to health care industries the special interest money poured into campaign coffers after the election and most went to the Democrat majority controlling the business of our nation the Obama, Pelosi, Reid and Democratic party campaign committees. In fact, the federal lobbyists in 2009 spent the following money lobbying our government officials and feeding campaign funds.

Open Secrets.org - Center for Responsive Government

2009 Expenditures

Pharmaceutical/Health Care - $267,853,947
Business Associations - $183,498,730
Oil & Gas - $175,079,824
Insurance - $164,411,830
Electric Utilities - $145,691,753
Computers/Internet - $119,370,418
Misc Manufacturing & Distribution - $110,769,964
Hospitals/Nursing Homes - $107,892,681
TV/Movies/Music - $107,496,953
Education - $99,816,801
Securities & Investment - $94,135,458
Health Professionals - $84,284,513
Air Transport - $83,876,931
Civil Servants/Public Officials - $83,861,329
Health Services/HMOs - $74,234,045

Of course the two major legislative bills pushed by Obama were health care reform and financial reform, both of which were managed by Emanuel and passed this year. Deals were made between Rahm and the pharmaceutical boys with details yet to be disclosed. If we add the total health spending lobbying in 2009 to the spending in the first half of 2010 we see $1 billion was spent by the industry to get what they wanted.

A similar astounding spending spree went into financial reform by the business community as the total 2009 and 2010 spending totaled $472 million to get a watered down financial reform bill. Industry by industry the Obama administration, who pledged to get rid of special interest influence in Washington, set records in sucking money into the campaign coffers.

The payoff to the lobbyists can be equally staggering. The pharma companies were able to increase the cost of major drugs by over 8% last year while the inflation rate for America was under 1% yet there was no outcry on behalf of the people by the White House or Obama people. And as for Wall Street, the administration complained of the billions of dollars in executive bonuses yet did nothing to stop them.

Money controls our nation's capitol and the Obama administration played politics as usual better than anyone in history. This fall the people of America have the chance to rate the performance of the Obama and Democratic majority and the outcome will not be pretty.

Perhaps, the outsiders and new faces can get in office and start the road to recovery with meaningful campaign reform and limitations on the ability of special interests to buy our government.

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Do Special Interests Really Serve Special Interests?

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In this day of burgeoning special interest bureaucracies there are times when it seems the special interests have only one interest in mind and it is not what they proclaim. Oh yes they claim to address all those problems, perceived problems, and yet to be perceived problems of humanity and many even get a tax exemption for doing it under their banner. But does that mean it is their real purpose?

I wonder if some are more interested in survival, the old game of bureaucratic survival, than bringing a resolution to the causes they advocate. Take for example health care where there seem to be more special interests out to make America healthy than in practically any other endeavor.



Every disease has champions, most are non-profit groups fighting for the health of the public. Yet many are financed by the very pharmaceutical company who makes the drugs to control the disease. Clearly many of them want to prolong your treatment, in other words make you feel good while remaining sick, for the rest of your life, because curing you would be of no benefit to the drug company.

Did you ever notice those brainwashing commercials everywhere on television saying you can get rid of those pains if you just take a pill every day, or month, forever? You feel depressed, take a drug. It may not solve your depression but you will sure enjoy being depressed when you are legally stoned. No one seems to talk about curing you of your ailment. There is no profit in cures.



Yet not just the pharmaceutical companies are guilty of it. The alternative health care people, the ones who are supposed to keep you from getting hooked on all those pharmaceuticals, have their own addiction to pitch saying if you take certain vitamins or herbs forever you will stay well. How can you be well if you are addicted to the cure whether it is drugs, vitamins or herbs?



There is medicine, vitamins and herbs for heart burn, digestion problems, constipation and diarrhea, but none of them cure the problem, they only trick your intestines into thinking all is well. I have a sure cure that does not require addictions, stop eating the crap that made you sick in the first place.

American's over age 60 take an average of 8 drug prescriptions a day. That does not count the psychologically fragile who need drugs to sleep, wake up, get motivated and relax. I once knew a successful television producer who took two briefcases to work, one with scripts and one with legal drugs in order to face whatever came up that day. It is amazing there are not Michael Jackson cases every day, where people are killed from legal overdoses or lethal mixes of different prescriptions.



So one must wonder if the legions of special interests in America today are more interested in their own interest than the good of the people. Personally I think any special interest that has a lobbying arm of some type should not be tax exempt. Such exemptions should be limited to those benefitting all people and should be charitable in nature.



They should also not be allowed any tax benefit if their affiliated groups include a PAC, political action committee that gives money to candidates for office. This is another loophole in the federal campaign laws that helps make the whole campaign law a joke. Congress has legalized bribes in the forms of campaign contributions from PACs, corporate and union people, and special interests. It is time to bring this to an end.

My agenda, like Obama's agenda, is aggressive and given little chance to get approved. There is a big difference however between mine and Obama's. His costs trillions of dollars while mine will reduce the cost of government.



Finally, if special interest groups do not pursue in a real way solving the problem they were formed to solve, they should be abolished. We are sick and tired of all the foolish claims on TV about how we have to have this or that reform. Tell us how to get well and you might be taken serious.


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Obama Faces the Lions - The GOP - Now Must Tame Three Wild Beasts

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What am I trying to say you might ask? Let me tell you, I have not been particularly kind to the Obama administration although I do have the utmost respect for the president. On the other hand, I have been as pointed toward the White House staff under Obama and the Democratic leadership in Congress as I was with the Bush advisors and Congress.



It is now clear after listening to Obama have a question and answer session with the Republicans in Congress, a first for his presidency, that he really has his hands full. Politics, and nasty politics runs deep in our nation's capitol. A sad but true situation. It is fueled by the news media and lobbyists who take sides with their mouths and money.



Obama has been criticized for being too much of a teacher and not enough of a leader. Yet my many articles over the years have pointed out that the problem in Washington is so deep that it encompasses both political parties, both houses of congress, the news media, the political commentators, and especially the White House staff.



This was the Republican chance to show that unlike the White House staff and Democratic Leaders in Congress they were willing to listen to the people and make a sincere effort to work on a bi-partisan agenda with the president and the Democrats for the good of the nation.



About half of those asking questions did that to some degree. The rest fell back into the same old sniping and politicking that has disgusted the public and makes all politicians look bad. So when a question was asked to make political hay the president shot back to set the record straight.



There is a lot the GOP and president agree upon. Even those present had to agree. But if Obama is honest and really sees the light and need for bi-partisan work, he has really got his work cut out. He is surrounded by ideologues on the left and right, Democratic and Republican partisans, media maniacs, conservative and liberal fanatics and political jerks in the White House.



I am beginning to believe none of them really want him to succeed. Even the Democratic leadership has done everything to inflame relations between the president and Republicans. His own staff cannot help offering a daily dose of negative nitpicking about conservatives, Republicans, Sarah Palin, Fox News or who knows what else.



Obama will have to be the best teacher in history to pull off teaching this class. Bringing peace to these polarized barbarians will be like converting cannibals to vegetarians. I'm beginning to think Coltons Point, where I live should not secede from the Union but should lead a national referendum to force Washington, DC to secede and take with it all the White House staff, Democratic and Republican politicians, media, lobbyists and special interests.

If we really wanted to defeat the terrorists we would send the Democrats and Republicans in Congress and the White House staff and Washington media to the war zone and you can bet every terrorist in Afghanistan and Pakistan would be consumed by the bickering, badgering and bullsh-- spewed across the landscape. Maybe it is a good thing Obama is like a teacher although it might even be more important to be a psychiatrist, wizard and sorcerer to try and tame this crowd.

Today Obama justifiably got a little testy at some of the pointed questions and nonsensical commentary before questions were asked. His White House staff said in advance that he was going to teach the Republicans a lesson. A typically stupid move. Give him an A for trying, a B for listening, a C for his comments and an M for martyr for entering the Coliseum to face the lions nearly naked.



All of Washington has demonstrated over and over again that they intend to ignore the people and they have disenfranchised the voters in the process. Many of these old politicians will be retired this fall and that is a good thing. Many more should be. It is a real shame we can't vote on the media and White House staff because then the needed housecleaning would be thorough and complete.

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Obama Fiddles, Congress Procrastinates and Rome Burns while Goldman, Morgan & the Rothschilds Reap Profits

It is early summer, one year since the oil price crisis nearly destroyed the world economy. Back then the Commodities Future Trading Commission (CFTC) disclosed a six month investigation of oil price manipulation was underway. A year later and the CFTC disclosed oil speculators controlled over 80% of all the oil derivatives contracts sold.

Goldman Sachs, JP Morgan, Citibank and Bank of America control the world derivatives market for major commodities. JP Morgan also controls the world gold futures market, which true insiders long considered a subsidiary of the Rothschilds, both the gold market and Morgan. So once again the boys on Wall Street have decided to drive up the prices.

Who really controls these markets? Take oil futures as an example. Successful manipulation would require control of several elements of the complex financial manipulation. These elements include being the recognized market expert or maker, having the funds to speculate in the market, and having the will to gamble by buying into the market. Goldman Sachs has played all three roles.

The research center of Goldman Sachs, the energy analysts and darlings of the media used a series of predictions last year to drive up the price of oil futures, revising the price predictions continuously until Goldman said oil would reach $200 a barrel. In spite of negative market forces and no justification for oil price increases the price spiraled to $147 a barrel.

Funds managed by Goldman provided the fuel to spark market activity while a wholly owned subsidiary of Goldman, J. Aron & Company, was the vehicle to buy and resell the oil futures contracts. Add to this the fact Goldman, and Morgan are major owners of the very oil futures market in London that sets prices and one wonders what the hell our government is covering up by refusing to attack the financial giants.

We know special interest money can buy a lot of influence in our nation's capitol but Obama and Pelosi are creating a whole new standard for proving the buying of politicians can be a most profitable investment. Look what happened when Goldman was about to lose $30 billion in loans to AIG for derivative purchases made by Goldman for AIG. Congress and the President gave AIG the biggest bailout in history and Goldman recovered 100% of the money owed it from the federal bailout.

Now bondholders and stockholders in Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, GM, Chrysler and a host of other companies certainly didn't recover 100% of their money and most lost all of their money. Why did Goldman and Morgan recover 100%? Ask our new president who long ago was taken in by Goldman executives at secret meetings in 2006 and 2007, whose employees gave Obama more Wall Street money than any other candidate and whose former employees are strategically placed throughout the new administration.

Goldman Sachs is the only financial company whose stock nearly tripled in value since Obama got elected. Goldman stock reached a low of $53.31 a share last November, by the March crash it climbed to $73.95 a share and today is over $150.00 a share, an astounding 281% increase in value.

Not even JP Morgan of the big four derivative traders achieved the same although Morgan was far ahead of most banking and investment houses. Morgan went from $23.38 when Obama was elected to a low of $15.90 in the March madness to $35.00 today, an increase of 49%.

Bank of America was at $11.47 last November, $3.14 in March and today is $11.98, a 4% increase leaving it slightly above where they started. Citigroup Chase was $3.77 in November, $1.02 in March and $3.41 today, a loss of about 10%.

The Obama Factor (since his election in November):

Goldman Sachs - 281% increase in value
JP Morgan - 49% increase in value
Bank of America - 4% increase in value
Citigroup Chase - 10% loss in value

Dow Jones - 16% increase since election in November
Oil Prices - 138% increase since December low
Home Values - 21% loss of value from a year ago
Gold prices - 33% increase since Obama election

Of course this is just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to master manipulating. There is the case of the 25-35 oil super tankers leased by oil producers and financial houses at a cost of about $63,000 a month each. These giant ships can carry up to 20 million barrels of oil per ship. If a ship was filled and parked in March the oil in that ship has already increased $700 million in value.

Then there is the potential for financial houses like Goldman and Morgan to use the information provided to them for due diligence by corporations seeking financing to call loans and options and virtually squeezing the distressed companies into bankruptcy. This gives them the opportunity to acquire the assets at fire sale prices like Morgan did with Bear Stearns and Goldman did with oil pipeline giant Semgroup.

Finally there is the potential conflict of interest I raised nearly three years ago of Goldman and Morgan being founders and major investors in ICE, the international company that now owns the London oil futures market.

One thing none of our illustrious politicians seem to be talking about is the long promised campaign reform to close all the loopholes in financing political campaigns. Nearly $1 million was poured into Obama's campaign by Goldman employees. Special interest money flowed at a record rate into all campaigns although some was disguised as individual contributions.

Obama shattered all records spending about $750 million while political parties and special interest groups spent a couple of hundred more million for his campaign, making him the first billion dollar candidate in our history. Apparently he raised so much money that the source of over $88.6 million cannot even be identified. To date and in spite of his promises, there has been no effort to introduce legislation to limit federal fund raising or to expose such massive unidentified contributions in future races.

Who Gets Credit for Backing Joe Biden's Line of Credit?

With credit card reform being debated in Congress our "people's" Vice President Joe Biden has been unnaturally silent on the bill and the criticism of the credit card companies. He should be silent. It is much harder to stick your foot in your mouth when your mouth is closed, or is that sealed shut.

Maybe it is for good reason. Look at the position of his boss, President Obama, who has railed against lobbyist money and attacked the unscrupulous practices of the giant credit card companies.

The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal have reported that Joe Biden, D-Del., took more than $200,000 in campaign contributions from Delaware based credit card giant MBNA during his 35-year career in the U.S. Senate.

Consumer advocates may take a harsh view of Biden’s vote in favor of the Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act of 2005. The law was the first major re-write of the bankruptcy code in over 30 years, and, according to critics, made it harder and more expensive for lower and middle-class consumers to file for bankruptcy. Biden may have reason to regret that vote.

Robert Lawless, a bankruptcy law professor at the University of Illinois-Champaign, said Biden and other legislators apparently viewed that bill "as a 'free vote' to benefit their corporate constituencies. Now most people think that law was a disaster and that vote is coming back to haunt them, especially with this ongoing consumer credit crisis."

The credit card and banking lobby, including Biden-donor MBNA, pumped millions of dollars into Congress over 10 years to help get approval of that bill. Biden worked for the bill for ten years and voted for it in 2005, while Obama was one of the 25 senators who voted against it.

During the same time Biden's son was getting a very lucrative job and lobbying contract from MBNA. Needless to say Biden insists the fact his son was a hired lobbyist at the same time his dad was championing the MBNA bill and stripping consumers of their rights had no relationship, nor did the $200,000 MBNA poured into his federal campaigns.

So can somebody please tell me what is transparent and new about this Administration? The only change I see in this new Administration it that fat cat Senators or Vice Presidents can now change their vote and act like they really didn't take all those contributions, act like their son really is not a lobbyist for the same credit card companies and be comfortable with such a house of cards because the liberal media will never be able to question the real record of our VP.

Did I mention MBNA also purchased a million dollar house from Biden? I wonder what kind of line of credit Biden earned after all those years of protecting the credit card industry?