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POPSAlleged Underwear Bomber: 'it was a mix-up in the laundry' Abdulmutallab comes from a prosperous Nigerian banking family, who live on $12 a day, four times the national average. Family members are used to having maids and other servants do the laundry in exchange for roots and berries. 'My underwear goes out, my underwear comes back', Abdulmutallab said. 'My cousin, his nephew, and his other brother and other nephew were all staying at the house. One of them was probably going to blow up a public urinal or a pay phone or something, and I got the explosive underwear by accident.' While investigations continue, Abdulmutallab is complaining about his nick-names. 'Some are calling me 'the Underbomber', 'Suicide Fart', or 'Lightning Pants', he said. 'Some even call me 'Fizzle Dick'. These prison names are awful. But at least the inmates keep away from me in the showers. I even dropped my bar of soap several times without incident.'
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POPSSmall Business Owners Lose in Credit Crunch But despite the taxpayer bailouts that have allowed the banks to stay afloat despite plunging the country into a banking crisis they are generally not lending, even though they are doing well again. For the most part, they still holding on to their capital.
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POPSHospital Cleaners More Valuable Than Bankers
Interesting article. More below: "The study, "A Bit Rich" from the New Economics Foundation looked at six different types of British employees in aggregate, and found that: For a salary of between ?50,000 and ?12 million, top advertising executives destroy ?11 of value for every pound in value they generate. # or every ?1 hospital cleaners are paid, over ?10 in social value is generated. # For a salary of between ?75,000 and ?200,000 tax accountants destroy ?47 of value for every pound in value they generate. # For every ?1 of spent on waste recycling workers' wages, ?12 of value will be generated. Contrary to what we might expect, given the vociferous defence of the importance of wholesale banking to the UK economy, the City of London contributes only around 3 per cent of value added every year. Claims have been made about the trickle down effects of wealthy City bankers' spending in the economy but there is little real evidence to back this up"
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POPSThe Bunch of "Fat-Cats"- A Big Fat F, "Me"- A Good Solid B+ "They're still puzzled why is it that people are mad at the banks. Well, let's see," he said. "You guys are drawing down $10, $20 million bonuses after America went through the worst economic year that it's gone through in -- in decades, and you guys caused the problem. And we've got 10% unemployment." Relations between the banking industry and the White House were frosty from the start and have deteriorated in recent weeks, with large banks lobbying against portions of legislation that would toughen financial-market regulations and administration officials angered by some banks' continued payment of high bonuses and their reluctance to lend. Mr. Obama is scheduled on Monday morning to meet with bankers to exchange ideas on ways to increase lending; to review the financial-industry regulatory bill moving through Congress; and to discuss bankers' compensation, the White House and industry representatives said.
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POPS Obama Banking Bill Passed by US House mortgages of financially struggling borrowers was defeated. David Hirschmann, a director of the US Chamber of Commerce, said: “While there is a laundry list of bad choices that were made by the House, the creation of the CFPA tops the list.” However, he said he was encouraged by the “growing group of moderate Democrats” who helped amend the bill to prevent states from setting tougher consumer protection standards. Another provision that has been resisted by banks allows regulators to impose a loss on creditors of failing financial institutions that need to be seized by the government. After stark warnings that the provision would make credit less liquid and more expensive, the size of the “haircut” to be imposed on creditors was reduced to up to 10 per cent and some securities were exempted. But it stayed in the bill. Read full Financial Times article at http://bit.ly/8SGlGW Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2009
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POPSObama's Naive Foreign Policy It is so sad that we have China putting us in our place. In this case, they are completely correct. Unless we get our financial house in order our influence on foreign affairs will disappear. Obama and his Congress should get their priorities straight.
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POPSThe Something Awful/Paypal fiasco
More: I'm not going to tell people to close their Paypal accounts. I'm not going to say all their actions were completely unwarranted. I'm just presenting my experience with them and will allow you to draw your own conclusions. However, I harbor a fundamental disagreement with their business practice of assuming all their clients are filthy criminals who must repeatedly prove their innocence to a series of unmanned servers and computer systems. I do not support their ability to freeze entire accounts, take money from whoever they want at whatever time they want, and impose whatever arbitrary rules and regulations they deem necessary without having to answer to any organization. Every single cent in every single Paypal account is earning their company ungodly amounts of interest in their central bank account. They offer users credit cards and the chance to put your money into interest-generating accounts. So exactly why are they not under banking and FDIC rules again?
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POPS Limo Libs Take A Hit Barney didn’t do so bad, though. Not so good at managing other people’s money, but a shrewd investor where his own bottom line is concerned. Rep. Barney Frank, chairman of Congress’ financial services committee, which oversaw the banking crisis, suffered relatively minimal losses as his net worth went from an estimated $1.3 million to $972,000, the study found. “The fact is it depends on where people had their money. In my case, I have been most heavily invested in assets that didn’t suffer major losses,” Frank said. “Members of Congress are full participants in the economy - for the good and the bad.” Here’s the net worth of the Massachusetts delegation. Boston Herald . http://bit.ly/70Lwaz Question: How do career public servants, who have presided over decades of mounting deficits and repeated financial debacles, rack up this kind of wealth? I know, there’s golddigging here, legacy there, stints in white-shoe law offices .......
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POPSEntrpreneurship on the rise ""Rather than creating the next generation of employees, we want to create the next generation of employers," says Ted Zoller, associate professor and executive director of the Center for Entrepreneurship at the UNC Kenan-Flagler Business School (Kenan-Flagler Full-Time MBA Profile)."
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POPSChina's Blunt Talk for Obama Before heading to China, Obama underscored the urgency of his agenda on Iran by joining Russian President Dmitry Medvedev in warning Tehran that “we are now running out of time.” The trip has already had some hiccups. Wrangling between the administration and Beijing over Obama’s town hall meeting with university students in Shanghai on Monday was intense, with China wanting to screen the audience and its questions, and the U.S. wanting a freer exchange.
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POPSHouse Attacks Fed, Treasury ... Ron Paul's Measure Approved 
The Fed faces a stinging backlash from legislators from both parties who argue that has too much power and too little oversight. On Thursday, the Senate Banking Committee began debating legislation that would largely remove the Fed from bank supervision over the objections of the Fed and the Obama administration. The Fed audit provision was added to pending legislation on financial regulation that the committee's chairman, Barney Frank, a Massachusetts Democrat, had planned to put to a vote Thursday. But he abruptly announced late in the afternoon that the bill wouldn't move ahead until after Thanksgiving. The reason: Ten members of the Congressional Black Caucus on the committee said they would oppose the bill to protest a lack of action to address the economic pain borne by their constituents. Although the economy appears to be growing again, lawmakers face increasing pressure in their districts to do more to boost growth and address an unemployment rate now at
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POPSPortrait of a Sociopath The world’s most successful investment bank likes to hide behind the tidal wave of money that it generates and sends crashing over Manhattan, the City of London and most of the world’s other financial capitals. But now the dark knights of banking are being forced, blinking, into the cold light of day. The public, politicians and the press blame bankers’ reckless trading for the credit crunch and, as the most successful bank still standing, Goldman is their prime target. Here, politicians and commentators compete to denounce Goldman in ever more robust terms — "robber barons", "economic vandals", "vulture capitalists". Vince Cable, the Lib Dem Treasury spokesman, contrasts the bank’s recent record results — profits of $3.2 billion in the last quarter alone — and its planned bumper bonus payments with what has happened to ordinary people’s jobs and incomes in 2009.
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POPSPart Two of The 9.11 Attack, The Trial in NYC Federal Court CHARLES KRAUTHAMMER: Giving KSM the Rights of an American Citizen is Unconscionable In a splitting the baby moment, though, in the announcement Friday will be plans to hold a military tribunal for Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri, alleged to have planned the 2000 bombing of the USS Cole. So, the man who blew up New York gets a civilian trial and the guy who blew up the Cole gets a military tribunal. Perhaps Obama is banking on a jury of New Yorkers intent on hanging Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, but remember, if he goes to a jury in New York, he gets to wind his way through the system claiming he got no right to a fair trial. If we’re talking show trials, this is more and more evidence of the Obama Administration developing all the characteristics of a third world kleptocracy or totalitarian regime. http://www.redstate.com/erick/2009/11/13/khalid-sheikh-mohammed-to-be-sent-to-new-york-for-trial/
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POPSBrits Could Be Given a Personal 'Carbon Allowance' If their "carbon account" hits zero, they would have to pay to get more credits. Those who are frugal with their carbon usage will be able to sell their unused credits and make a profit. Lord Smith will call for the scheme to be part of a "Green New Deal" to be introduced within 20 years when he addresses the agency's annual conference on Monday. An Environment Agency spokesman said only those with "extravagant lifestyles" would be affected by the carbon allowances. He said: "A lot of people who cycle will get money back. It will probably only be bankers and those with extravagant lifestyles who would lose out." However, some have criticised the move as "Orwellian" and say it will have a detrimental impact on business. Ruth Lea, an economist from Arbuthnot Banking Group, told the Daily Mail: "This is all about control of the individual and you begin to wonder whether this is what the green agenda has always been about. It's Orwellian.
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POPSGE Money Bank Read GE Money Bank Consumer Complaints: GE Money Bank specializes in providing of personal banking that include credit cards servicing, different kinds of loans: home loans, auto loan, student loans, healthcare loans; and Identity Theft Protection program.
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