WE ARE MEXICO'S WELFARE, BIRTHING CENTERS, JOBS AND JAILS PLAN!
latimes.com
L.A. County welfare to children of illegal immigrants grows
Payments to U.S.-born children rose to $52 million in July, prompting calls for policy changes
By Teresa Watanabe, Los Angeles Times
September 5, 2010
Advertisement
Welfare payments to children of illegal immigrants in Los Angeles County increased in July to $52 million, prompting renewed calls from one county supervisor to rein in public benefits to such families.
The payments, made to illegal immigrants for their U.S. citizen children, included $30 million in food stamps and $22 million from the CalWorks welfare program, according to county figures released Friday by Supervisor Michael D. Antonovich.
The new figure represents an increase of $3.7 million from July 2009 and makes up 23% of all county welfare and food stamp assistance, according to county records.
Last year, welfare and food stamp issuances totaled nearly $570 million, and the amount is projected to exceed $600 million this year. In addition, county taxpayers spend $550 million in public safety — mostly for jail costs — and nearly $500 million for healthcare for illegal immigrants, Antonovich said.
"The supervisor is very concerned," said Antonovich spokesman Tony Bell. "He believes we have an economic catastrophe on our hands."
Shirley Christensen of the county Department of Public Social Services said the number of households with illegal immigrant parents and U.S. citizen children receiving welfare increased by 7% from January to June of this year.
"With the economy the way it is, a lot of people have had to avail themselves of programs they may not have needed before," Christensen said. "Everyone is taking a hit, including undocumented immigrants."
Amid continued economic gloom, debate has intensified over the public cost of providing benefits to illegal immigrants and their U.S. citizen children. In recent months, calls have grown for a constitutional amendment that would effectively deny citizenship to the children of illegal immigrants, whose numbers increased from 2.7 million in 2003 to 4 million in 2008, according to the Pew Hispanic Center.
Currently, U.S. citizenship is automatically granted to children born on U.S. soil. Last month, U.S. Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) announced that he might introduce a constitutional amendment to deny citizenship to children of illegal immigrants. Antonovich and several legal scholars, however, argue that a federal statute would be sufficient to change the law.
But even some immigration hawks are wary of such a move. Steven Camarota of the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington-based research organization that supports immigration restrictions, said ending birthright citizenship would harm children for their parents' misdeeds, require new federal registration systems and create other problems. The solution, he said, is to continue driving down illegal immigration with tough enforcement.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
BORDERS SAFE? NOT IF OBAMA AND THE LA RAZA DEMS CAN HELP IT!
HOW MANY SAUDIS TERRORIST BROUGHT DOWN THE WORLD TRADE CENTERS AND BOMBED THE PENTAGON? 11!
Officials rescue 37
immigrants from
California house
Posted 14m ago
RIVERSIDE, California (AP) — Authorities say they
have rescued more than three dozen immigrants
locked inside a boarded-up bedroom in a Southern
California drop house.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said
Wednesday some of the 37 immigrants from six
Latin American countries had been held for weeks in
the 10-by-10-foot room in Riverside and had gone
several days without food.
Authorities say they began searching for the house
after a caller reported smugglers had threatened to
kill his relative when the family could not pay for his
release.
Debra Parker, assistant special agent in charge for
ICE Homeland Security Investigations in Riverside,
says six suspected illegal immigrants were also
arrested for investigation of the house, which was
searched Tuesday afternoon.
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ISN’T ARIZONA THE STATE NARCOMEX HAS OCCUPIED, AND OBAMA HAS ASSAULT BECAUSE OF THEIR ATTEMPT TO DEFEND THEMSELVES FROM THE MEXICAN INVASION????
*
50 illegal
immigrants, 10
smugglers arrested
in Arizona
Posted 3/26/2010 12:27 AM
PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona authorities say they
arrested 10 human smugglers and rescued 50
illegal immigrants held in drop houses in Phoenix
in two separate incidents this week.
Detectives from the Illegal Immigration Prevention
and Apprehension Co-op Team made the first
arrests Tuesday after a three-month investigation
into a human smuggling organization by the
Arizona Department of Public Safety.
Authorities say three suspected coyotes were taken
into custody from a drop house, and 12 Mexican
immigrants being held against their will were
rescued.
On Wednesday, 45 people were found in a Phoenix
home. The Department of Public Safety says seven
were identified as suspected human smugglers and
the remaining 38 were illegal immigrants from
Mexico.
All 50 suspected illegal immigrants were turned
over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement
officials.
Officials rescue 37
immigrants from
California house
Posted 14m ago
RIVERSIDE, California (AP) — Authorities say they
have rescued more than three dozen immigrants
locked inside a boarded-up bedroom in a Southern
California drop house.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials said
Wednesday some of the 37 immigrants from six
Latin American countries had been held for weeks in
the 10-by-10-foot room in Riverside and had gone
several days without food.
Authorities say they began searching for the house
after a caller reported smugglers had threatened to
kill his relative when the family could not pay for his
release.
Debra Parker, assistant special agent in charge for
ICE Homeland Security Investigations in Riverside,
says six suspected illegal immigrants were also
arrested for investigation of the house, which was
searched Tuesday afternoon.
*
ISN’T ARIZONA THE STATE NARCOMEX HAS OCCUPIED, AND OBAMA HAS ASSAULT BECAUSE OF THEIR ATTEMPT TO DEFEND THEMSELVES FROM THE MEXICAN INVASION????
*
50 illegal
immigrants, 10
smugglers arrested
in Arizona
Posted 3/26/2010 12:27 AM
PHOENIX (AP) — Arizona authorities say they
arrested 10 human smugglers and rescued 50
illegal immigrants held in drop houses in Phoenix
in two separate incidents this week.
Detectives from the Illegal Immigration Prevention
and Apprehension Co-op Team made the first
arrests Tuesday after a three-month investigation
into a human smuggling organization by the
Arizona Department of Public Safety.
Authorities say three suspected coyotes were taken
into custody from a drop house, and 12 Mexican
immigrants being held against their will were
rescued.
On Wednesday, 45 people were found in a Phoenix
home. The Department of Public Safety says seven
were identified as suspected human smugglers and
the remaining 38 were illegal immigrants from
Mexico.
All 50 suspected illegal immigrants were turned
over to Immigration and Customs Enforcement
officials.
THE ECONOMICS OF JOE ILLEGAL vs JOE LEGAL
MEXICANOCCUPATION.blogspot.com
THE ENTIRE REASON THE BORDERS ARE LEFT OPEN IS TO CUT WAGES!
“We could cut unemployment in half simply by reclaiming the jobs taken by illegal workers,” said Representative Lamar Smith of Texas, co-chairman of the Reclaim American Jobs Caucus. “President Obama is on the wrong side of the American people on immigration. The president should support policies that help citizens and legal immigrants find the jobs they need and deserve rather than fail to enforce immigration laws.”
*
MOST OF THE FORTUNE 500 ARE GENEROUS DONORS TO LA RAZA – THE MEXICAN FASCIST POLITICAL PARTY. THESE FIGURES ARE DATED. CNN CALCULATES THAT WAGES ARE DEPRESSED $300 - $400 BILLION PER YEAR!
“The principal beneficiaries of our current immigration policy are affluent Americans who hire immigrants at substandard wages for low-end work. Harvard economist George Borjas estimates that American workers lose $190 billion annually in depressed wages caused by the constant flooding of the labor market at the low-wage end.” Christian Science Monitor
*
Illegals make more than US workers (U.S.A)
Joe Legal works in construction, has a Social Security Number and makes $25.00 per hour with taxes deducted.
Jose Illegal also works in construction, has NO Social Security Number, and gets paid $15.00 cash "under the table".
Ready? Now pay attention...
Joe Legal: $25.00 per hour x 40 hours = $1000.00 per week, or $52,000.00 per year. Now take 30% away for state and federal tax; Joe Legal now has $31,231.00.
Jose Illegal: $15.00 per hour x 40 hours = $600.00 per week, $31,200.00 per year. Jose Illegal pays no taxes. Jose Illegal now has $31,200.00.
Joe Legal pays medical and dental insurance with limited coverage for his family at $600.00 per month, or $7,200.00 per year. Joe Legal now has $24,031.00.
Jose Illegal has full medical and dental coverage through the state and local clinics at a cost of $0.00 per year. Jose Illegal still has $31,200.00.
Joe Legal makes too much money and is not eligible for food stamps or welfare. Joe Legal pays $500.00 per month for food, or $6,000.00 per year.. Joe Legal now has $18,031.00.
Jose Illegal has no documented income and is eligible for food stamps and welfare. Jose Illegal still has $31,200.00.
Joe Legal pays rent of $1,200.00 per month, or $14,400.00 per year. Joe Legal now has $9,631 .00.
Jose Illegal receives a $500.00 per month federal rent subsidy. Jose Illegal pays out that $500.00 per month, or $6,000.00 per year. Jose Illegal still has $ 31,200.00.
Jose Illegal receives a $280.00 per family member/ month federal CASH AID for four family members . Jose Illegal has $ 43,200.00.
Joe Legal pays $200.00 per month, or $2,400.00 for insurance. Joe Legal now has $7,231.00.
Jose Illegal says, "We don't need no stinkin' insurance!" and still has $ 43,200.00.
Joe Legal has to make his $7,231.00 stretch to pay utilities, gasoline, etc.
Jose Illegal has to make his $ 43,200.00. stretch to pay utilities, gasoline, and what he sends out of the country every month.."actually Jose illegal doesn't pay for most utilities in many states as he gets county assistance to pay the bills and his late fees"
Joe Legal now works overtime on Saturdays or gets a part time job after work. "and pays a higher tax rate if he earns above a certain amount"
Jose Illegal has nights and weekends off to enjoy with his family.
Joe Legal's and Jose Illegal's children both attend the same school. Joe Legal pays for his children's lunches while Jose Illegal's children get a government sponsored lunch. Jose Illegal's children have an after school ESL program. Joe Legal's children go home.
Joe Legal and Jose Illegal both enjoy the same police and fire services, but Joe paid for them and Jose did not pay.
*
“THE AMNESTY ALONE WILL BE THE LARGEST EXPANSION OF THE WELFARE SYSTEM IN THE LAST 25 YEARS” Heritage Foundation
"The amnesty alone will be the largest expansion of the welfare system in the last 25 years," says Robert Rector, a senior analyst at the Heritage Foundation, and a witness at a House Judiciary Committee field hearing in San Diego Aug. 2. "Welfare costs will begin to hit their peak around 2021, because there are delays in citizenship. The very narrow time horizon [the CBO is] using is misleading," he adds. "If even a small fraction of those who come into the country stay and get on Medicaid, you're looking at costs of $20 billion or $30 billion per year." (SOCIAL SERVICES TO ILLEGALS IN CALIFORNIA ALONE ARE NOT UP TO $20 BILLION PER YEAR. WELFARE FOR ILLEGALS IN NEVADA, NOW 25% ILLEGAL, IS SOARING!)
*
FAIRUS.org
U.S. Taxpayers Spend $113 Billion Annually on Illegal Aliens
America has never been able to afford the costs of illegal immigration. With rising unemployment and skyrocketing deficits, federal and state lawmakers are now facing the results of failed policies. A new, groundbreaking report from FAIR, The Fiscal Burden of Illegal Immigration on U.S. Taxpayers, takes a comprehensive look at the estimated fiscal costs resulting from federal, state and local expenditures on illegal aliens and their U.S.-born children.
Expanding upon the series of state studies done in the past, FAIR has estimated the annual cost of illegal immigration to be $113 billion, with much of the cost — $84.2 billon — coming at the state and local level.
THE ENTIRE REASON THE BORDERS ARE LEFT OPEN IS TO CUT WAGES!
“We could cut unemployment in half simply by reclaiming the jobs taken by illegal workers,” said Representative Lamar Smith of Texas, co-chairman of the Reclaim American Jobs Caucus. “President Obama is on the wrong side of the American people on immigration. The president should support policies that help citizens and legal immigrants find the jobs they need and deserve rather than fail to enforce immigration laws.”
*
MOST OF THE FORTUNE 500 ARE GENEROUS DONORS TO LA RAZA – THE MEXICAN FASCIST POLITICAL PARTY. THESE FIGURES ARE DATED. CNN CALCULATES THAT WAGES ARE DEPRESSED $300 - $400 BILLION PER YEAR!
“The principal beneficiaries of our current immigration policy are affluent Americans who hire immigrants at substandard wages for low-end work. Harvard economist George Borjas estimates that American workers lose $190 billion annually in depressed wages caused by the constant flooding of the labor market at the low-wage end.” Christian Science Monitor
*
Illegals make more than US workers (U.S.A)
Joe Legal works in construction, has a Social Security Number and makes $25.00 per hour with taxes deducted.
Jose Illegal also works in construction, has NO Social Security Number, and gets paid $15.00 cash "under the table".
Ready? Now pay attention...
Joe Legal: $25.00 per hour x 40 hours = $1000.00 per week, or $52,000.00 per year. Now take 30% away for state and federal tax; Joe Legal now has $31,231.00.
Jose Illegal: $15.00 per hour x 40 hours = $600.00 per week, $31,200.00 per year. Jose Illegal pays no taxes. Jose Illegal now has $31,200.00.
Joe Legal pays medical and dental insurance with limited coverage for his family at $600.00 per month, or $7,200.00 per year. Joe Legal now has $24,031.00.
Jose Illegal has full medical and dental coverage through the state and local clinics at a cost of $0.00 per year. Jose Illegal still has $31,200.00.
Joe Legal makes too much money and is not eligible for food stamps or welfare. Joe Legal pays $500.00 per month for food, or $6,000.00 per year.. Joe Legal now has $18,031.00.
Jose Illegal has no documented income and is eligible for food stamps and welfare. Jose Illegal still has $31,200.00.
Joe Legal pays rent of $1,200.00 per month, or $14,400.00 per year. Joe Legal now has $9,631 .00.
Jose Illegal receives a $500.00 per month federal rent subsidy. Jose Illegal pays out that $500.00 per month, or $6,000.00 per year. Jose Illegal still has $ 31,200.00.
Jose Illegal receives a $280.00 per family member/ month federal CASH AID for four family members . Jose Illegal has $ 43,200.00.
Joe Legal pays $200.00 per month, or $2,400.00 for insurance. Joe Legal now has $7,231.00.
Jose Illegal says, "We don't need no stinkin' insurance!" and still has $ 43,200.00.
Joe Legal has to make his $7,231.00 stretch to pay utilities, gasoline, etc.
Jose Illegal has to make his $ 43,200.00. stretch to pay utilities, gasoline, and what he sends out of the country every month.."actually Jose illegal doesn't pay for most utilities in many states as he gets county assistance to pay the bills and his late fees"
Joe Legal now works overtime on Saturdays or gets a part time job after work. "and pays a higher tax rate if he earns above a certain amount"
Jose Illegal has nights and weekends off to enjoy with his family.
Joe Legal's and Jose Illegal's children both attend the same school. Joe Legal pays for his children's lunches while Jose Illegal's children get a government sponsored lunch. Jose Illegal's children have an after school ESL program. Joe Legal's children go home.
Joe Legal and Jose Illegal both enjoy the same police and fire services, but Joe paid for them and Jose did not pay.
*
“THE AMNESTY ALONE WILL BE THE LARGEST EXPANSION OF THE WELFARE SYSTEM IN THE LAST 25 YEARS” Heritage Foundation
"The amnesty alone will be the largest expansion of the welfare system in the last 25 years," says Robert Rector, a senior analyst at the Heritage Foundation, and a witness at a House Judiciary Committee field hearing in San Diego Aug. 2. "Welfare costs will begin to hit their peak around 2021, because there are delays in citizenship. The very narrow time horizon [the CBO is] using is misleading," he adds. "If even a small fraction of those who come into the country stay and get on Medicaid, you're looking at costs of $20 billion or $30 billion per year." (SOCIAL SERVICES TO ILLEGALS IN CALIFORNIA ALONE ARE NOT UP TO $20 BILLION PER YEAR. WELFARE FOR ILLEGALS IN NEVADA, NOW 25% ILLEGAL, IS SOARING!)
*
FAIRUS.org
U.S. Taxpayers Spend $113 Billion Annually on Illegal Aliens
America has never been able to afford the costs of illegal immigration. With rising unemployment and skyrocketing deficits, federal and state lawmakers are now facing the results of failed policies. A new, groundbreaking report from FAIR, The Fiscal Burden of Illegal Immigration on U.S. Taxpayers, takes a comprehensive look at the estimated fiscal costs resulting from federal, state and local expenditures on illegal aliens and their U.S.-born children.
Expanding upon the series of state studies done in the past, FAIR has estimated the annual cost of illegal immigration to be $113 billion, with much of the cost — $84.2 billon — coming at the state and local level.
why illegals keep coming... and coming... and coming... and comging.......
Why do illegals cross our borders? (U.S.A)
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 2010-07-29, 4:27PM PDT
Reply to: comm-46gat-1870636882@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you cross the North Korean border illegally you get 12 years hard
labor.
If you cross the Iranian border illegally you are detained indefinitely.
If you cross the Afghan border illegally, you get shot.
If you cross the Saudi Arabian border illegally you will be jailed.
If you cross the Chinese border illegally you may never be heard from
again.
If you cross the Venezuelan border illegally you will be branded a spy
and your fate will be sealed.
If you cross the Mexican borders illegally you will jailed for two years.
If you cross the Cuban border illegally you will be thrown into political
prison to rot.
If you cross the United States border illegally you get:
1 - A job
2 - A driver's license
3 - A Social Security card
4 - Welfare
5 - Food stamps
6 - Credit cards
7 - Subsidized rent or a loan to buy a house
8 - Free education
9 - Free health care
10 - A lobbyist in Washington
11 - Billions of dollars in public documents printed in your language
12 - Millions of servicemen and women who are willing to - and do - die
for your right to the ways and means of our constitution
13 - And the right to carry the flag of your country - the one you walked
out on - while you call America racist and protest that you don't get
enough respect.
IF YOU AGREE, COPY AND RE-POST THIS....let us American Citizens who agree all REPOST THIS. Let us make this flow !!
•Location: U.S.A
•it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
PostingID: 1870636882
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 2010-07-29, 4:27PM PDT
Reply to: comm-46gat-1870636882@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you cross the North Korean border illegally you get 12 years hard
labor.
If you cross the Iranian border illegally you are detained indefinitely.
If you cross the Afghan border illegally, you get shot.
If you cross the Saudi Arabian border illegally you will be jailed.
If you cross the Chinese border illegally you may never be heard from
again.
If you cross the Venezuelan border illegally you will be branded a spy
and your fate will be sealed.
If you cross the Mexican borders illegally you will jailed for two years.
If you cross the Cuban border illegally you will be thrown into political
prison to rot.
If you cross the United States border illegally you get:
1 - A job
2 - A driver's license
3 - A Social Security card
4 - Welfare
5 - Food stamps
6 - Credit cards
7 - Subsidized rent or a loan to buy a house
8 - Free education
9 - Free health care
10 - A lobbyist in Washington
11 - Billions of dollars in public documents printed in your language
12 - Millions of servicemen and women who are willing to - and do - die
for your right to the ways and means of our constitution
13 - And the right to carry the flag of your country - the one you walked
out on - while you call America racist and protest that you don't get
enough respect.
IF YOU AGREE, COPY AND RE-POST THIS....let us American Citizens who agree all REPOST THIS. Let us make this flow !!
•Location: U.S.A
•it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
PostingID: 1870636882
MEX EMBASSY DEMANDS SURRENDER? OR ILLEGALS JUST VOTE GRINGOS GO HOME?
Mexico to file for Arizona, New Mexico, California and Nevada land
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 2010-07-28, 12:44PM PDT
Reply to: comm-bdmg8-1868321958@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rumors from the Mexican Embassy in Los Angeles stated that there have been discussions with high ranking politicians that Phillipe Calderon has organized talks asking for the return of portions of the Southwestern United States that include Arizona, New Mexico, California Nevada and Texas.
It was further announced that the United States has 'officially gone to hell in a hand basket'
as judge Susan Bolton outlawed parts of the laws of every state in the Union striking down
a fundamental requirement that all persons carry some form of personal identification.
Apparently, 'Common Sense' was also outlawed today in that if you are carrying a weapon
you may not be subject to questioning, if you are of hispanic descent.
Hispanics declared this a day of Universal Justice for them and stated that the revised law
only goes to prove that they actually own Arizona and no one can tell them what to do
because they are now above the U.S. legal system and that their next step is to file
papers in an international court and the U.N. to reclaim the lands of Arizona, New Mexico,
California and maybe Texas and Nevada
for the Mexican Government.
•it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
PostingID: 1868321958
*
Lou Dobbs Tonight
Monday, February 11, 2008
In California, League of United Latin American Citizens has adopted a resolution to declare "California Del Norte" a sanctuary zone for immigrants. The declaration urges the Mexican government to invoke its rights under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo "to seek third nation neutral arbitration of ....disputes concerning immigration laws and their enforcement." We’ll have the story.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon is in New York today on the first leg his five day tour across America to meddle in immigration issues in the United States. This is his first visit to the U.S. since he became President in 2006, but he will not meet with President Bush or any of the presidential candidates, who he has accused of spewing anti immigrant rhetoric. Join us for that report.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 2010-07-28, 12:44PM PDT
Reply to: comm-bdmg8-1868321958@craigslist.org [Errors when replying to ads?]
--------------------------------------------------------------------------
Rumors from the Mexican Embassy in Los Angeles stated that there have been discussions with high ranking politicians that Phillipe Calderon has organized talks asking for the return of portions of the Southwestern United States that include Arizona, New Mexico, California Nevada and Texas.
It was further announced that the United States has 'officially gone to hell in a hand basket'
as judge Susan Bolton outlawed parts of the laws of every state in the Union striking down
a fundamental requirement that all persons carry some form of personal identification.
Apparently, 'Common Sense' was also outlawed today in that if you are carrying a weapon
you may not be subject to questioning, if you are of hispanic descent.
Hispanics declared this a day of Universal Justice for them and stated that the revised law
only goes to prove that they actually own Arizona and no one can tell them what to do
because they are now above the U.S. legal system and that their next step is to file
papers in an international court and the U.N. to reclaim the lands of Arizona, New Mexico,
California and maybe Texas and Nevada
for the Mexican Government.
•it's NOT ok to contact this poster with services or other commercial interests
PostingID: 1868321958
*
Lou Dobbs Tonight
Monday, February 11, 2008
In California, League of United Latin American Citizens has adopted a resolution to declare "California Del Norte" a sanctuary zone for immigrants. The declaration urges the Mexican government to invoke its rights under the Treaty of Guadalupe Hidalgo "to seek third nation neutral arbitration of ....disputes concerning immigration laws and their enforcement." We’ll have the story.
Mexican President Felipe Calderon is in New York today on the first leg his five day tour across America to meddle in immigration issues in the United States. This is his first visit to the U.S. since he became President in 2006, but he will not meet with President Bush or any of the presidential candidates, who he has accused of spewing anti immigrant rhetoric. Join us for that report.
INVESTORS.com - THE OBAMA ASSAULT ON ARIZONA
What is unprecedented and unfortunate is the administration's war on Arizona for enforcing federal law and protecting its border, our border.
*
While Arpaio is being persecuted, er, prosecuted by the Justice Department, Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu notes that when 3,000 National Guard troops were requested by Arizona law enforcement and both U.S. senators, the Obama administration sent a paltry 30. Incredible.
*
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Land Management has felt it necessary to place 15 signs along a 60-mile stretch of Interstate 8 that links Phoenix, San Diego and Tucson warning travelers that they "may encounter armed criminals and smuggling vehicles traveling at high speed." The signs are 70 to 80 miles north of the border in what may now be called "occupied Arizona." This is unbelievable.
*
INVESTORS.com
Sheriff Joe Arpaio In The Dock
Posted 09/07/2010
Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Ariz., speaks to the media. The administration's notion of justice is to sue him for discrimination, while... Abuse Of Power: Our misnamed Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against an Arizona sheriff at the top of the administration's enemies list. Prosecute border sheriffs and sue states but protect the Black Panthers? Gotcha.
The Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, the county itself and outspoken Sheriff Joe Arpaio. The suit alleges that the sheriff's office is in violation of civil rights laws by refusing for 17 months to fully cooperate with an investigation into police practices and jail operations.
The federal probe itself deals with alleged discrimination, unconstitutional searches and seizures, and having English-only policies in the jails.
"The actions of the sheriff's office are unprecedented," said Thomas Perez, assistant attorney general for the department's civil rights division. "It is unfortunate that the department was forced to resort to litigation to gain access to public documents and facilities."
What is unprecedented and unfortunate is the administration's war on Arizona for enforcing federal law and protecting its border, our border.
The feds have sued the state over the implementation of SB1070, which mirrors existing federal law, alleging that it's racist even though the law specifically prohibits racial profiling. The administration, in a report to the United Nations, has cited the state as a human rights violator.
Now it's Arpaio's turn. What makes the case interesting, as the Washington Examiner's Byron York reports, is that in September 2008, four months before the Obama administration took over and nine months before the Justice Department first informed Arpaio of its investigation, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) conducted its own investigation of Arpaio's office and procedures and found nothing inappropriate or illegal.
The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office has 189 officers trained under the federal 287(g) program to enforce federal immigration laws. According to the ICE report, "The OI (Homeland Security's Office of Investigation) and DRO (Detention and Removal Operations office) consider the conduct and performance of the MCSO ... officers to be professional and meeting the standards of the MOA."
The Homeland Security Department has memorandums of agreement (MOAs) with some 70 state and local law enforcement agencies to participate in 287(g) partnerships to enforce federal law.
Arpaio's lawyers have a March 21, 2009, e-mail from an ICE employee to John P. Torres, then the acting assistant ICE secretary, that said, "Did you see this?" — referring to an attached news report of the DOJ investigation. "Yes," Torres responded a few minutes later, "interesting politics at play." Interesting politics indeed, for the charges and the investigation are clearly without merit.
We note with some interest that Perez was the Justice Department point man in explaining to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission why Justice was reluctant — no, refused — to prosecute the New Black Panther Party for its voter intimidation outside a Philadelphia polling place in 2008. Perez testified before the commission in April that "the facts did not constitute a prosecutable violation of the federal criminal civil rights statutes."
But the case against Joe Arpaio is rock solid, right?
*
MEXICANOCCUPATION.blogspot.com
FAIRUS.org
JUDICIALWATCH.org
ALIPAC.us
FEINSTEIN AND BOXER ARE ONCE AGAIN WORKING AGAINST THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE FOR THEIR PAYMASTERS TO EXPLOIT MORE “CHEAP” LABOR ILLEGALS
THE OBAMA – REID – FEINSTEIN – BOXER bit by bit by bit AMNESTY
THE LA RAZA DEMS – NO BORDERS WITH NARCOMEX AND NO LEGAL NEED APPLY HERE.
*
While Obama pushes war over there, he is equally intent on leaving our borders with NARCOMEX undefended, open and ready for business with the Mexican drug cartels.
*
The Administration's Phantom Immigration Enforcement Policy
According to DHS’s own reports, very little of our nation’s borders (Southwestern or otherwise) are secure, and gaining control is not even a goal of the department.
By Ira Mehlman
Published on 12/07/2009
Townhall.com
The setting was not quite the flight deck of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln with a “Mission Accomplished” banner as the backdrop, but it was the next best thing. Speaking at the Center for American Progress (CAP) on Nov. 13, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano declared victory over illegal immigration and announced that the Obama administration is ready to move forward with a mass amnesty for the millions of illegal aliens already living in the United States.
Arguing the Obama administration’s case for amnesty, Napolitano laid out what she described as the “three-legged stool” for immigration reform. As the administration views it, immigration reform must include “a commitment to serious and effective enforcement, improved legal flows for families and workers, and a firm but fair way to deal with those who are already here.”
Acknowledging that a lack of confidence in the government’s ability and commitment to effectively enforce the immigration laws it passes proved to be the Waterloo of previous efforts to gain amnesty for illegal aliens, Napolitano was quick to reassure the American public that those concerns could be put to rest.
“For starters, the security of the Southwest border has been transformed from where it was in 2007,” stated the secretary. Not only is the border locked up tight, she continued, but the situation is well in-hand in the interior of the country as well. “We’ve also shown that the government is serious and strategic in its approach to enforcement by making changes in how we enforce the law in the interior of the country and at worksites…Furthermore, we’ve transformed worksite enforcement to truly address the demand side of illegal immigration.”
If Rep. Joe Wilson had been in attendance to hear Secretary Napolitano’s CAP speech he might well have had a few choice comments to offer. But since he wasn’t, we will have to rely on the Department of Homeland Security’s own data to assess the veracity of Napolitano’s claims.
According to DHS’s own reports, very little of our nation’s borders (Southwestern or otherwise) are secure, and gaining control is not even a goal of the department. DHS claims to have “effective control” over just 894 miles of border. That’s 894 out of 8,607 miles they are charged with protecting. As for the other 7,713 miles? DHS’s stated border security goal for FY 2010 is the same 894 miles.
The administration’s strategic approach to interior and worksite enforcement is just as chimerical as its strategy at the border, unless one considers shuffling paper to be a strategy. DHS data, released November 18, show that administrative arrests of immigration law violators fell by 68 percent between 2008 and 2009. The department also carried out 60 percent fewer arrests for criminal violations of immigration laws, 58 percent fewer criminal indictments, and won 63 percent fewer convictions.
While the official unemployment rate has climbed from 7.6 percent when President Obama took office in January to 10 percent today, the administration’s worksite enforcement strategy has amounted to a bureaucratic game of musical chairs. The administration has all but ended worksite enforcement actions and replaced them with paperwork audits. When the audits determine that illegal aliens are on the payroll, employers are given the opportunity to fire them with little or no adverse consequence to the company, while no action is taken to remove the illegal workers from the country. The illegal workers simply acquire a new set of fraudulent documents and move on to the next employer seeking workers willing to accept substandard wages.
In Janet Napolitano’s alternative reality a mere 10 percent of our borders under “effective control” and sharp declines in arrests and prosecutions of immigration lawbreakers may be construed as confidence builders, but it is hard to imagine that the American public is going to see it that way. If anything, the administration’s record has left the public less confident that promises of future immigration enforcement would be worth the government paper they’re printed on.
As Americans scrutinize the administration’s plans to overhaul immigration policy, they are likely to find little in the “three-legged stool” being offered that they like or trust. The first leg – enforcement – the administration has all but sawed off. The second – increased admissions of extended family members and workers – makes little sense with some 25 million Americans either unemployed or relegated to part-time work. And the third – amnesty for millions of illegal aliens – is anathema to their sense of justice and fair play.
As Americans well know, declaring “Mission Accomplished” and actually accomplishing a mission are two completely different things. When it comes to enforcing immigration laws, the only message the public is receiving from this administration is “Mission Aborted.”
*
MEXICANOCCUPATION.blogspot.com
*
Lou Dobbs Tonight
Monday, September 28, 2009
And T.J. BONNER, president of the National Border Patrol Council, will weigh in on the federal government’s decision to pull nearly 400 agents from the U.S.-Mexican border. As always, Lou will take your calls to discuss the issues that matter most-and to get your thoughts on where America is headed.
While Arpaio is being persecuted, er, prosecuted by the Justice Department, Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu notes that when 3,000 National Guard troops were requested by Arizona law enforcement and both U.S. senators, the Obama administration sent a paltry 30. Incredible.
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Land Management has felt it necessary to place 15 signs along a 60-mile stretch of Interstate 8 that links Phoenix, San Diego and Tucson warning travelers that they "may encounter armed criminals and smuggling vehicles traveling at high speed." The signs are 70 to 80 miles north of the border in what may now be called "occupied Arizona." This is unbelievable.
When the Deepwater Horizon oil-rig crisis hit, the administration's first response was to send a team of Justice Department lawyers and FBI agents to determine whom to prosecute. When Florida's Marco Rubio threatened the Senate bid of the Obama-friendly Charlie Crist, the IRS and the FBI opened investigations into the alleged misuse of Republican Party credit cards. And ObamaCare is riddled with fines and threats of imprisonment if you don't do what the government tells you.
Sheriff Joe Arpaio isn't the administration's only enemy threatened with government punishment. He's just at the top of the list right now.
*
While Arpaio is being persecuted, er, prosecuted by the Justice Department, Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu notes that when 3,000 National Guard troops were requested by Arizona law enforcement and both U.S. senators, the Obama administration sent a paltry 30. Incredible.
*
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Land Management has felt it necessary to place 15 signs along a 60-mile stretch of Interstate 8 that links Phoenix, San Diego and Tucson warning travelers that they "may encounter armed criminals and smuggling vehicles traveling at high speed." The signs are 70 to 80 miles north of the border in what may now be called "occupied Arizona." This is unbelievable.
*
INVESTORS.com
Sheriff Joe Arpaio In The Dock
Posted 09/07/2010
Sheriff Joe Arpaio of Maricopa County, Ariz., speaks to the media. The administration's notion of justice is to sue him for discrimination, while... Abuse Of Power: Our misnamed Department of Justice has filed a lawsuit against an Arizona sheriff at the top of the administration's enemies list. Prosecute border sheriffs and sue states but protect the Black Panthers? Gotcha.
The Justice Department has filed a lawsuit against the Maricopa County Sheriff's Office, the county itself and outspoken Sheriff Joe Arpaio. The suit alleges that the sheriff's office is in violation of civil rights laws by refusing for 17 months to fully cooperate with an investigation into police practices and jail operations.
The federal probe itself deals with alleged discrimination, unconstitutional searches and seizures, and having English-only policies in the jails.
"The actions of the sheriff's office are unprecedented," said Thomas Perez, assistant attorney general for the department's civil rights division. "It is unfortunate that the department was forced to resort to litigation to gain access to public documents and facilities."
What is unprecedented and unfortunate is the administration's war on Arizona for enforcing federal law and protecting its border, our border.
The feds have sued the state over the implementation of SB1070, which mirrors existing federal law, alleging that it's racist even though the law specifically prohibits racial profiling. The administration, in a report to the United Nations, has cited the state as a human rights violator.
Now it's Arpaio's turn. What makes the case interesting, as the Washington Examiner's Byron York reports, is that in September 2008, four months before the Obama administration took over and nine months before the Justice Department first informed Arpaio of its investigation, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) conducted its own investigation of Arpaio's office and procedures and found nothing inappropriate or illegal.
The Maricopa County Sheriff's Office has 189 officers trained under the federal 287(g) program to enforce federal immigration laws. According to the ICE report, "The OI (Homeland Security's Office of Investigation) and DRO (Detention and Removal Operations office) consider the conduct and performance of the MCSO ... officers to be professional and meeting the standards of the MOA."
The Homeland Security Department has memorandums of agreement (MOAs) with some 70 state and local law enforcement agencies to participate in 287(g) partnerships to enforce federal law.
Arpaio's lawyers have a March 21, 2009, e-mail from an ICE employee to John P. Torres, then the acting assistant ICE secretary, that said, "Did you see this?" — referring to an attached news report of the DOJ investigation. "Yes," Torres responded a few minutes later, "interesting politics at play." Interesting politics indeed, for the charges and the investigation are clearly without merit.
We note with some interest that Perez was the Justice Department point man in explaining to the U.S. Civil Rights Commission why Justice was reluctant — no, refused — to prosecute the New Black Panther Party for its voter intimidation outside a Philadelphia polling place in 2008. Perez testified before the commission in April that "the facts did not constitute a prosecutable violation of the federal criminal civil rights statutes."
But the case against Joe Arpaio is rock solid, right?
*
MEXICANOCCUPATION.blogspot.com
FAIRUS.org
JUDICIALWATCH.org
ALIPAC.us
FEINSTEIN AND BOXER ARE ONCE AGAIN WORKING AGAINST THE WILL OF THE PEOPLE FOR THEIR PAYMASTERS TO EXPLOIT MORE “CHEAP” LABOR ILLEGALS
THE OBAMA – REID – FEINSTEIN – BOXER bit by bit by bit AMNESTY
THE LA RAZA DEMS – NO BORDERS WITH NARCOMEX AND NO LEGAL NEED APPLY HERE.
*
While Obama pushes war over there, he is equally intent on leaving our borders with NARCOMEX undefended, open and ready for business with the Mexican drug cartels.
*
The Administration's Phantom Immigration Enforcement Policy
According to DHS’s own reports, very little of our nation’s borders (Southwestern or otherwise) are secure, and gaining control is not even a goal of the department.
By Ira Mehlman
Published on 12/07/2009
Townhall.com
The setting was not quite the flight deck of the U.S.S. Abraham Lincoln with a “Mission Accomplished” banner as the backdrop, but it was the next best thing. Speaking at the Center for American Progress (CAP) on Nov. 13, Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano declared victory over illegal immigration and announced that the Obama administration is ready to move forward with a mass amnesty for the millions of illegal aliens already living in the United States.
Arguing the Obama administration’s case for amnesty, Napolitano laid out what she described as the “three-legged stool” for immigration reform. As the administration views it, immigration reform must include “a commitment to serious and effective enforcement, improved legal flows for families and workers, and a firm but fair way to deal with those who are already here.”
Acknowledging that a lack of confidence in the government’s ability and commitment to effectively enforce the immigration laws it passes proved to be the Waterloo of previous efforts to gain amnesty for illegal aliens, Napolitano was quick to reassure the American public that those concerns could be put to rest.
“For starters, the security of the Southwest border has been transformed from where it was in 2007,” stated the secretary. Not only is the border locked up tight, she continued, but the situation is well in-hand in the interior of the country as well. “We’ve also shown that the government is serious and strategic in its approach to enforcement by making changes in how we enforce the law in the interior of the country and at worksites…Furthermore, we’ve transformed worksite enforcement to truly address the demand side of illegal immigration.”
If Rep. Joe Wilson had been in attendance to hear Secretary Napolitano’s CAP speech he might well have had a few choice comments to offer. But since he wasn’t, we will have to rely on the Department of Homeland Security’s own data to assess the veracity of Napolitano’s claims.
According to DHS’s own reports, very little of our nation’s borders (Southwestern or otherwise) are secure, and gaining control is not even a goal of the department. DHS claims to have “effective control” over just 894 miles of border. That’s 894 out of 8,607 miles they are charged with protecting. As for the other 7,713 miles? DHS’s stated border security goal for FY 2010 is the same 894 miles.
The administration’s strategic approach to interior and worksite enforcement is just as chimerical as its strategy at the border, unless one considers shuffling paper to be a strategy. DHS data, released November 18, show that administrative arrests of immigration law violators fell by 68 percent between 2008 and 2009. The department also carried out 60 percent fewer arrests for criminal violations of immigration laws, 58 percent fewer criminal indictments, and won 63 percent fewer convictions.
While the official unemployment rate has climbed from 7.6 percent when President Obama took office in January to 10 percent today, the administration’s worksite enforcement strategy has amounted to a bureaucratic game of musical chairs. The administration has all but ended worksite enforcement actions and replaced them with paperwork audits. When the audits determine that illegal aliens are on the payroll, employers are given the opportunity to fire them with little or no adverse consequence to the company, while no action is taken to remove the illegal workers from the country. The illegal workers simply acquire a new set of fraudulent documents and move on to the next employer seeking workers willing to accept substandard wages.
In Janet Napolitano’s alternative reality a mere 10 percent of our borders under “effective control” and sharp declines in arrests and prosecutions of immigration lawbreakers may be construed as confidence builders, but it is hard to imagine that the American public is going to see it that way. If anything, the administration’s record has left the public less confident that promises of future immigration enforcement would be worth the government paper they’re printed on.
As Americans scrutinize the administration’s plans to overhaul immigration policy, they are likely to find little in the “three-legged stool” being offered that they like or trust. The first leg – enforcement – the administration has all but sawed off. The second – increased admissions of extended family members and workers – makes little sense with some 25 million Americans either unemployed or relegated to part-time work. And the third – amnesty for millions of illegal aliens – is anathema to their sense of justice and fair play.
As Americans well know, declaring “Mission Accomplished” and actually accomplishing a mission are two completely different things. When it comes to enforcing immigration laws, the only message the public is receiving from this administration is “Mission Aborted.”
*
MEXICANOCCUPATION.blogspot.com
*
Lou Dobbs Tonight
Monday, September 28, 2009
And T.J. BONNER, president of the National Border Patrol Council, will weigh in on the federal government’s decision to pull nearly 400 agents from the U.S.-Mexican border. As always, Lou will take your calls to discuss the issues that matter most-and to get your thoughts on where America is headed.
While Arpaio is being persecuted, er, prosecuted by the Justice Department, Pinal County Sheriff Paul Babeu notes that when 3,000 National Guard troops were requested by Arizona law enforcement and both U.S. senators, the Obama administration sent a paltry 30. Incredible.
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Land Management has felt it necessary to place 15 signs along a 60-mile stretch of Interstate 8 that links Phoenix, San Diego and Tucson warning travelers that they "may encounter armed criminals and smuggling vehicles traveling at high speed." The signs are 70 to 80 miles north of the border in what may now be called "occupied Arizona." This is unbelievable.
When the Deepwater Horizon oil-rig crisis hit, the administration's first response was to send a team of Justice Department lawyers and FBI agents to determine whom to prosecute. When Florida's Marco Rubio threatened the Senate bid of the Obama-friendly Charlie Crist, the IRS and the FBI opened investigations into the alleged misuse of Republican Party credit cards. And ObamaCare is riddled with fines and threats of imprisonment if you don't do what the government tells you.
Sheriff Joe Arpaio isn't the administration's only enemy threatened with government punishment. He's just at the top of the list right now.
EVERY DAY THERE ARE 12 AMERICANS MURDERED BY ILLEGALS FROM MEXICO!
EVERY DAY THERE ARE 12 AMERICANS MURDERED BY ILLEGALS FROM MEXICO!
Virginia rejects work permit cards as proof of legal status to get license or ID
By Derek Kravitz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 8, 2010; B01
Virginia said Tuesday that federal work permit cards can no longer be used to prove someone's legal status when obtaining driver's licenses or identification cards in the state after a fatal crash involving a Benedictine nun and a Bolivian man, accused of drunk driving, who immigrated here illegally.
The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles changed its policy to remove the federal government's I-766 permit from the list of documents that can be used to demonstrate "proof of legal presence." Melanie Stokes, a spokeswoman for the department, called the Aug. 1 death of Sister Denise Mosier, 66, the "catalyst" for the change. Carlos A. Martinelly-Montano, 23, is accused of swerving into the path of a vehicle carrying Mosier and two other nuns on their way to a retreat in Prince William County.
Martinelly-Montano, who had entered the United States illegally at age 8 with his parents, had been awaiting a deportation hearing after convictions for drunken driving in 2007 and 2008. In January 2009, he received a federal employment authorization card from the Department of Homeland Security and used it to obtain a Virginia ID card. Martinelly-Montano, who has been indicted on involuntary manslaughter and drunken driving charges in connection with the accident, did not have a valid driver's license at the time of the crash.
"We must ensure that documents accepted as proof of legal presence are reliable," Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) said. Twenty of the 21 documents accepted as proof of legal status are issued by the federal government, including 12 by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
The DMV change, which was first urged by Prince William County law enforcement officials after the accident, is Virginia's first attempt to distance itself from federal policies that allow the cards to be issued to illegal immigrants in the midst of deportation proceedings. Immigrant advocacy groups decried the move as a political overreaction.
"From a legal point of view, it's just plain stupid," said Crystal L. Williams, executive director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. "There are so many people who are here legally, and that's the only documentation they are able to produce."
The cards were introduced in 1997 as a way to identify those who are authorized to work temporarily in the United States. Virginia Transportation Secretary Sean T. Connaughton said the state's attorney general has been asked to review all of the documents allowed by DMV locations to "make sure we're following the law on our end."
Virginia was also the first state to try to increase the security of driver's licenses after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks; several of the hijackers had used driver's licenses issued to them by the commonwealth as proof of identification at airports and flight schools.
Maryland accepts the employment card to establish lawful status. The District does not have a "legal presence" requirement. In Virginia, the permits can still be used to establish proof of identity.
Prince William County Police Chief Charlie T. Deane said Tuesday that he was "pleased" by the DMV's action. The issuance of employment cards during active deportation cases sends a "mixed signal," Deane said.
Matt Chandler, a Department of Homeland Security spokesman, said officials are investigating what prompted Martinelly-Montano's release from federal custody after his second drunken driving arrest but would not comment on Virginia's decision.
Prince William County Board Chairman Corey Stewart said that he was "ecstatic that some good has come from this tragedy and that this has shone a light on the Obama administration's policy to release criminal illegal aliens back into our community." Stewart, the chief architect of a county policy adopted in 2007 that requires police officers to check the immigration status of anyone arrested on suspicion of violating a state or local law, has called on Virginia legislators to pass legislation that enhances law enforcement powers to capture, detain and deport illegal immigrants.
Meanwhile, figures from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement show the removal pace of immigrants who have committed crimes in fiscal year 2010 is 60 percent higher than in the last year of the Bush administration, according to TRAC, a Syracuse University research institute.
The Benedictine Sisters of Virginia and Mothers Against Drunk Driving have resisted efforts to politicize the accident.
"We want to stay with the facts. This was caused by drunk driving," said Sister Andrea Verchuck of the Benedictine Sisters, which are headquartered in Bristow. The two other nuns injured in the accident are hospitalized but are listed in stable condition, Prince William officials said.
*
According to a recent study from the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center, Hispanics involved in car crashes are two-and-a-half times more likely to be drunk than white drivers and three times more likely to be drunk than black drivers.
……….
TWELVE AMERICANS MURDERED EACH DAY BY ILLEGALS
By Joseph Farah 2006
WorldNetDaily.com
WASHINGTON – While the military "quagmire" in Iraq was said to tip the scales of power in the U.S. midterm elections, most Americans have no idea more of their fellow citizens – men, women and children – were murdered this year by illegal aliens than the combined death toll of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan since those military campaigns began. Though no federal statistics are kept on murders or any other crimes committed by illegal aliens, a number of groups have produced estimates based on data collected from prisons, news reports and independent research. Twelve Americans are murdered every day by illegal aliens, according to statistics released by Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa. If those numbers are correct, it translates to 4,380 Americans murdered annually by illegal aliens. That's 21,900 since Sept. 11, 2001. Total U.S. troop deaths in Iraq as of last week were reported at 2,863. Total U.S. troop deaths in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan during the five years of the Afghan campaign are currently at 289, according to the Department of Defense. But the carnage wrought by illegal alien murderers represents only a fraction of the pool of blood spilled by American citizens as a result of an open border and un-enforced immigration laws. While King reports 12 Americans are murdered daily by illegal aliens, he says 13 are killed by drunk illegal alien drivers – for another annual death toll of 4,745. That's 23,725 since Sept. 11, 2001. While no one – in or out of government – tracks all U.S. accidents caused by illegal aliens, the statistical and anecdotal evidence suggests many of last year's 42,636 road deaths involved illegal aliens. A report by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Study found 20 percent of fatal accidents involve at least one driver who lacks a valid license. In California, another study showed that those who have never held a valid license are about five times more likely to be involved in a fatal road accident than licensed drivers. Statistically, that makes them an even greater danger on the road than drivers whose licenses have been suspended or revoked – and nearly as dangerous as drunk drivers.
Virginia rejects work permit cards as proof of legal status to get license or ID
By Derek Kravitz
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 8, 2010; B01
Virginia said Tuesday that federal work permit cards can no longer be used to prove someone's legal status when obtaining driver's licenses or identification cards in the state after a fatal crash involving a Benedictine nun and a Bolivian man, accused of drunk driving, who immigrated here illegally.
The Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles changed its policy to remove the federal government's I-766 permit from the list of documents that can be used to demonstrate "proof of legal presence." Melanie Stokes, a spokeswoman for the department, called the Aug. 1 death of Sister Denise Mosier, 66, the "catalyst" for the change. Carlos A. Martinelly-Montano, 23, is accused of swerving into the path of a vehicle carrying Mosier and two other nuns on their way to a retreat in Prince William County.
Martinelly-Montano, who had entered the United States illegally at age 8 with his parents, had been awaiting a deportation hearing after convictions for drunken driving in 2007 and 2008. In January 2009, he received a federal employment authorization card from the Department of Homeland Security and used it to obtain a Virginia ID card. Martinelly-Montano, who has been indicted on involuntary manslaughter and drunken driving charges in connection with the accident, did not have a valid driver's license at the time of the crash.
"We must ensure that documents accepted as proof of legal presence are reliable," Virginia Gov. Robert F. McDonnell (R) said. Twenty of the 21 documents accepted as proof of legal status are issued by the federal government, including 12 by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.
The DMV change, which was first urged by Prince William County law enforcement officials after the accident, is Virginia's first attempt to distance itself from federal policies that allow the cards to be issued to illegal immigrants in the midst of deportation proceedings. Immigrant advocacy groups decried the move as a political overreaction.
"From a legal point of view, it's just plain stupid," said Crystal L. Williams, executive director of the American Immigration Lawyers Association. "There are so many people who are here legally, and that's the only documentation they are able to produce."
The cards were introduced in 1997 as a way to identify those who are authorized to work temporarily in the United States. Virginia Transportation Secretary Sean T. Connaughton said the state's attorney general has been asked to review all of the documents allowed by DMV locations to "make sure we're following the law on our end."
Virginia was also the first state to try to increase the security of driver's licenses after the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks; several of the hijackers had used driver's licenses issued to them by the commonwealth as proof of identification at airports and flight schools.
Maryland accepts the employment card to establish lawful status. The District does not have a "legal presence" requirement. In Virginia, the permits can still be used to establish proof of identity.
Prince William County Police Chief Charlie T. Deane said Tuesday that he was "pleased" by the DMV's action. The issuance of employment cards during active deportation cases sends a "mixed signal," Deane said.
Matt Chandler, a Department of Homeland Security spokesman, said officials are investigating what prompted Martinelly-Montano's release from federal custody after his second drunken driving arrest but would not comment on Virginia's decision.
Prince William County Board Chairman Corey Stewart said that he was "ecstatic that some good has come from this tragedy and that this has shone a light on the Obama administration's policy to release criminal illegal aliens back into our community." Stewart, the chief architect of a county policy adopted in 2007 that requires police officers to check the immigration status of anyone arrested on suspicion of violating a state or local law, has called on Virginia legislators to pass legislation that enhances law enforcement powers to capture, detain and deport illegal immigrants.
Meanwhile, figures from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement show the removal pace of immigrants who have committed crimes in fiscal year 2010 is 60 percent higher than in the last year of the Bush administration, according to TRAC, a Syracuse University research institute.
The Benedictine Sisters of Virginia and Mothers Against Drunk Driving have resisted efforts to politicize the accident.
"We want to stay with the facts. This was caused by drunk driving," said Sister Andrea Verchuck of the Benedictine Sisters, which are headquartered in Bristow. The two other nuns injured in the accident are hospitalized but are listed in stable condition, Prince William officials said.
*
According to a recent study from the University of North Carolina Highway Safety Research Center, Hispanics involved in car crashes are two-and-a-half times more likely to be drunk than white drivers and three times more likely to be drunk than black drivers.
……….
TWELVE AMERICANS MURDERED EACH DAY BY ILLEGALS
By Joseph Farah 2006
WorldNetDaily.com
WASHINGTON – While the military "quagmire" in Iraq was said to tip the scales of power in the U.S. midterm elections, most Americans have no idea more of their fellow citizens – men, women and children – were murdered this year by illegal aliens than the combined death toll of U.S. troops in Iraq and Afghanistan since those military campaigns began. Though no federal statistics are kept on murders or any other crimes committed by illegal aliens, a number of groups have produced estimates based on data collected from prisons, news reports and independent research. Twelve Americans are murdered every day by illegal aliens, according to statistics released by Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa. If those numbers are correct, it translates to 4,380 Americans murdered annually by illegal aliens. That's 21,900 since Sept. 11, 2001. Total U.S. troop deaths in Iraq as of last week were reported at 2,863. Total U.S. troop deaths in Afghanistan, Pakistan and Uzbekistan during the five years of the Afghan campaign are currently at 289, according to the Department of Defense. But the carnage wrought by illegal alien murderers represents only a fraction of the pool of blood spilled by American citizens as a result of an open border and un-enforced immigration laws. While King reports 12 Americans are murdered daily by illegal aliens, he says 13 are killed by drunk illegal alien drivers – for another annual death toll of 4,745. That's 23,725 since Sept. 11, 2001. While no one – in or out of government – tracks all U.S. accidents caused by illegal aliens, the statistical and anecdotal evidence suggests many of last year's 42,636 road deaths involved illegal aliens. A report by the AAA Foundation for Traffic Study found 20 percent of fatal accidents involve at least one driver who lacks a valid license. In California, another study showed that those who have never held a valid license are about five times more likely to be involved in a fatal road accident than licensed drivers. Statistically, that makes them an even greater danger on the road than drivers whose licenses have been suspended or revoked – and nearly as dangerous as drunk drivers.
OBAMA PLAN: WELFARE FOR WALL ST. & ILLEGALS -You Will Get the Bills!
WHILE BARACK OBAMA GIVES HIMSELF A B+ (HIS BANKSTERS GAVE HIM THE GRADE) JUDICIAL WATCH’S GRADE IS A BIT MORE REALISTIC:
JUDICIAL WATCH.org
With trillion dollar bailouts, government-run healthcare, banks and car companies, ACORN corruption, attacks on conservative media, illegal alien amnesty, unprecedented and dangerous new rights for terrorists, perks for campaign donors—this is the Obama legacy—and we haven't even gotten through the first year of his presidency!
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“Obama’s rejection of any serious jobs program is part of a conscious class war policy. Two years after the financial crisis and the multi-trillion dollar bailout of the banks, the administration is spearheading a campaign by corporations to sharply increase the exploitation of the working class, using the “new normal” of mass unemployment to force workers to accept lower wages, longer hours, and more brutal working conditions.” WSWS.ORG
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YOU WONDERED WHY WALL ST. OWNED OB AMA CAN’T HISPANDER ENOUGH?
MOST OF THE FORTUNE 500 ARE GENEROUS DONORS TO LA RAZA – THE MEXICAN FASCIST POLITICAL PARTY. THESE FIGURES ARE DATED. CNN CALCULATES THAT WAGES ARE DEPRESSED $300 - $400 BILLION PER YEAR!
“The principal beneficiaries of our current immigration policy are affluent Americans who hire immigrants at substandard wages for low-end work. Harvard economist George Borjas estimates that American workers lose $190 billion annually in depressed wages caused by the constant flooding of the labor market at the low-wage end.” Christian Science Monitor
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“Records show that four out of Obama's top five contributors are employees of financial industry giants - Goldman Sachs ($571,330), UBS AG ($364,806), JPMorgan Chase ($362,207) and Citigroup ($358,054). “
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J.P. MORGAN IS ONE OF THE BANKSTER PRESIDENT’S BIGGEST DONORS! THEY’VE MADE OUT VERY WELL WITH THEIR BOY IN THE WHITE HOUSE!
Records show that four out of Obama's top five contributors are employees of financial industry giants - Goldman Sachs ($571,330), UBS AG ($364,806), JPMorgan Chase ($362,207) and Citigroup ($358,054).
“In one session, Hans-Werner Sinn of the University of Munich declared that Americans will “just have to go down in their living standards after years in which their living standards soared in part based on foreign credit which is no longer there.” And Jacob Frenkel, chairman of JP Morgan Chase International “urged the United States to rein in entitlements as part of a ‘political deal’ that recognizes reality,” according to an Associated Press account of the conference. JP Morgan has received tens of billions in loans, debt buy-downs, and direct cash infusions from the federal government.”
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Simpson’s commission, established earlier this year by an Obama executive order to rein in budget deficits, is reportedly considering several measures, including raising the retirement age, perhaps to as high as 70, and cutting benefits as well as cost-of-living increases. It is expected to announce its recommendations in December—not accidentally, one month after the November elections.
OBAMA KEEPS CORPORATE RULING CLASS HAPPY!
“The class character of the calls for “sacrifice” and “responsibility” is increasingly naked. Even as Washington prepares for drastic cuts to Social Security and all manner of social spending, Congress appears likely to extend or make permanent the Bush-era tax cuts for the extremely wealthy, which have cost the federal government trillions of dollars.”
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WHERE WILL OBAMA’S LOOTING GO: HIS WALL ST. PAYMASTERS!
Like the rest of Obama’s proposals, the infrastructure plan is geared to the needs of corporate America, above all to the most powerful financial interests.
Instead, the president and his economic advisors are promoting the notion that more incentives are needed to induce the private sector to hire workers. This is the case even though major corporations have piled up large profits and cash reserves mainly through mass layoffs, wage cuts and speedup of the remaining workers.
Even if the measures were passed, they would do little to address the high levels of unemployment. The proposal for new tax cuts is entirely consistent with the administration’s pro-business policies, aimed at establishing a “new normal” of high unemployment in order to batter down the resistance of workers to wage cuts and intensified exploitation.
WHEN HAVE YOU SEEN A CONSTRUCTION SITE THAT HAD ANY WORKERS THAT WERE NOT HISPANIC ILLEGALS? “…. and the rehiring of large numbers of construction workers.”
On Monday, in a speech at a Labor Day event in Milwaukee, Obama announced plans for infrastructure spending that he claimed would lead to the construction of new high-speed rail lines, roadways, airports and other improvements, and the rehiring of large numbers of construction workers. The trade union bureaucracy and Obama’s other liberal apologists hailed the proposal as a major “public works” investment.
In the guise of creating jobs
Obama to propose further tax cuts for big business
By Jerry White
8 September 2010
President Obama is expected to announce new tax write-offs for big business today at a public appearance in Cleveland. The proposal is the latest in a series of measures which, in the name of creating jobs, will provide hundred of billions more to corporate America while doing nothing to seriously address the economic crisis that has left more than 25 million Americans without full-time work.
With popular anger mounting over his administration’s refusal to address the jobs crisis and indications growing that the Democrats could face a rout in the mid-term elections, the Cleveland speech, just two days after a Labor Day event in Milwaukee, is part of the White House’s effort to appear focused on the plight of the unemployed.
The administration has rejected out of hand any second stimulus package, let alone a government jobs program, even as economists predict unemployment will hover near 10 percent for 2011 and beyond. Instead, the president and his economic advisors are promoting the notion that more incentives are needed to induce the private sector to hire workers. This is the case even though major corporations have piled up large profits and cash reserves mainly through mass layoffs, wage cuts and speedup of the remaining workers.
The supposed “pivot” to job creation by the administration is entirely cynical. The president’s proposals have virtually no chance of being passed before Election Day, with a substantial section of Democratic lawmakers joining with the Republicans in opposing any new spending ostensibly aimed at ameliorating the social crisis.
Even if the measures were passed, they would do little to address the high levels of unemployment. The proposal for new tax cuts is entirely consistent with the administration’s pro-business policies, aimed at establishing a “new normal” of high unemployment in order to batter down the resistance of workers to wage cuts and intensified exploitation.
Obama is calling on Congress to pass legislation that will allow businesses to deduct the full value of new equipment purchases from their taxes through 2011. This would extend a tax break that allowed them to write off 50 percent of such investments in 2008 and 2009. According to the draft description from the administration, the proposal “would put nearly $200 billion in the hands of businesses over the next two years.”
In another measure geared to big business, the president wants to expand and make permanent a tax credit for corporate research and development. The credit has been enacted and extended temporarily over the last three decades “with frequent lapses that frustrate businesses,” the New York Times reported.
The new tax cuts, coming on top of the trillions spent to bail out Wall Street, will further deplete the US Treasury and add to the bipartisan demands for budget cuts, particularly in entitlement spending.
On Monday, in a speech at a Labor Day event in Milwaukee, Obama announced plans for infrastructure spending that he claimed would lead to the construction of new high-speed rail lines, roadways, airports and other improvements, and the rehiring of large numbers of construction workers. The trade union bureaucracy and Obama’s other liberal apologists hailed the proposal as a major “public works” investment.
New York Times columnist Bob Herbert, who has repeatedly warned of the socially explosive consequences of the president’s indifference to the plight of the unemployed, wrote that “a good faith commitment to rebuilding the infrastructure would show that the [Democratic] party has some idea of the scale of the effort that’s needed to overcome the worst downturn since the Great Depression and, ultimately, to build an economy that offers the prospect of a decent living to the next couple of generations.”
The measures proposed by Obama are nothing of the sort. They would merely revise and extend current federal transportation programs that are expiring. Rather than spreading out modest increases in spending over the next five or six years, the president proposes “front-loading” them into a $50 billion lump sum that states could spend in the first year.
Obama claims this will be paid for by eliminating tax breaks and subsidies for the oil and gas industry—a prospect that has almost no chance of being realized given the political influence of Big Oil over both parties.
Even if the $50 billion figure is taken at face value, it is a drop in the bucket compared to the $2.2 trillion the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) says is needed to repair and maintain America’s crumbling infrastructure over the next five years. Nor would it provide a substantial number of jobs for the 1.5 million construction workers who are currently unemployed.
Like the rest of Obama’s proposals, the infrastructure plan is geared to the needs of corporate America, above all to the most powerful financial interests. Rather than investing in repairing collapsing neighborhoods, schools and transportation systems, it is designed to rationalize current infrastructure spending.
According to legislation drafted by leading Democrats, the proposal includes an “infrastructure bank” that would be part of the US Treasury and would attract money from institutional investors. It would channel loans to projects selected by a panel.
As the New York Times notes, “The outside investors would expect a competitive return on their money, so many of the completed projects would have to charge fees, taxes or tolls.” For this reason, the bank would not focus solely on roads, railways and other projects that would have the most socially beneficial results, but also on “telecommunications, water, drainage, green-energy projects and other large-scale projects” that would benefit private investors.
“If the projects did not raise enough money,” the Times adds, “the Treasury might get stuck paying back the investors.”
“THE AMNESTY ALONE WILL BE THE LARGEST EXPANSION OF THE WELFARE SYSTEM IN THE LAST 25 YEARS” Heritage Foundation
"The amnesty alone will be the largest expansion of the welfare system in the last 25 years," says Robert Rector, a senior analyst at the Heritage Foundation, and a witness at a House Judiciary Committee field hearing in San Diego Aug. 2. "Welfare costs will begin to hit their peak around 2021, because there are delays in citizenship. The very narrow time horizon [the CBO is] using is misleading," he adds. "If even a small fraction of those who come into the country stay and get on Medicaid, you're looking at costs of $20 billion or $30 billion per year."
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FAIRUS.org
U.S. Taxpayers Spend $113 Billion Annually on Illegal Aliens
America has never been able to afford the costs of illegal immigration. With rising unemployment and skyrocketing deficits, federal and state lawmakers are now facing the results of failed policies. A new, groundbreaking report from FAIR, The Fiscal Burden of Illegal Immigration on U.S. Taxpayers, takes a comprehensive look at the estimated fiscal costs resulting from federal, state and local expenditures on illegal aliens and their U.S.-born children.
Expanding upon the series of state studies done in the past, FAIR has estimated the annual cost of illegal immigration to be $113 billion, with much of the cost — $84.2 billon — coming at the state and local level.
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THE ENTIRE REASON THE BORDERS ARE LEFT OPEN IS TO CUT WAGES!
“We could cut unemployment in half simply by reclaiming the jobs taken by illegal workers,” said Representative Lamar Smith of Texas, co-chairman of the Reclaim American Jobs Caucus. “President Obama is on the wrong side of the American people on immigration. The president should support policies that help citizens and legal immigrants find the jobs they need and deserve rather than fail to enforce immigration laws.”
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"This is country belongs to Mexico" is said by the Mexican Militant. This is a common teaching that the U.S. is really AZTLAN, belonging to Mexicans, which is taught to Mexican kids in Arizona and California through a LA Raza educational program funded by American Tax Payers via President Obama, when he gave LA RAZA $800,000.00 in March of 2009!
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“What's needed to discourage illegal immigration into the United States has been known for years: Enforce existing law.” ….. CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
JUDICIAL WATCH.org
With trillion dollar bailouts, government-run healthcare, banks and car companies, ACORN corruption, attacks on conservative media, illegal alien amnesty, unprecedented and dangerous new rights for terrorists, perks for campaign donors—this is the Obama legacy—and we haven't even gotten through the first year of his presidency!
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“Obama’s rejection of any serious jobs program is part of a conscious class war policy. Two years after the financial crisis and the multi-trillion dollar bailout of the banks, the administration is spearheading a campaign by corporations to sharply increase the exploitation of the working class, using the “new normal” of mass unemployment to force workers to accept lower wages, longer hours, and more brutal working conditions.” WSWS.ORG
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YOU WONDERED WHY WALL ST. OWNED OB AMA CAN’T HISPANDER ENOUGH?
MOST OF THE FORTUNE 500 ARE GENEROUS DONORS TO LA RAZA – THE MEXICAN FASCIST POLITICAL PARTY. THESE FIGURES ARE DATED. CNN CALCULATES THAT WAGES ARE DEPRESSED $300 - $400 BILLION PER YEAR!
“The principal beneficiaries of our current immigration policy are affluent Americans who hire immigrants at substandard wages for low-end work. Harvard economist George Borjas estimates that American workers lose $190 billion annually in depressed wages caused by the constant flooding of the labor market at the low-wage end.” Christian Science Monitor
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“Records show that four out of Obama's top five contributors are employees of financial industry giants - Goldman Sachs ($571,330), UBS AG ($364,806), JPMorgan Chase ($362,207) and Citigroup ($358,054). “
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J.P. MORGAN IS ONE OF THE BANKSTER PRESIDENT’S BIGGEST DONORS! THEY’VE MADE OUT VERY WELL WITH THEIR BOY IN THE WHITE HOUSE!
Records show that four out of Obama's top five contributors are employees of financial industry giants - Goldman Sachs ($571,330), UBS AG ($364,806), JPMorgan Chase ($362,207) and Citigroup ($358,054).
“In one session, Hans-Werner Sinn of the University of Munich declared that Americans will “just have to go down in their living standards after years in which their living standards soared in part based on foreign credit which is no longer there.” And Jacob Frenkel, chairman of JP Morgan Chase International “urged the United States to rein in entitlements as part of a ‘political deal’ that recognizes reality,” according to an Associated Press account of the conference. JP Morgan has received tens of billions in loans, debt buy-downs, and direct cash infusions from the federal government.”
*
Simpson’s commission, established earlier this year by an Obama executive order to rein in budget deficits, is reportedly considering several measures, including raising the retirement age, perhaps to as high as 70, and cutting benefits as well as cost-of-living increases. It is expected to announce its recommendations in December—not accidentally, one month after the November elections.
OBAMA KEEPS CORPORATE RULING CLASS HAPPY!
“The class character of the calls for “sacrifice” and “responsibility” is increasingly naked. Even as Washington prepares for drastic cuts to Social Security and all manner of social spending, Congress appears likely to extend or make permanent the Bush-era tax cuts for the extremely wealthy, which have cost the federal government trillions of dollars.”
*
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WHERE WILL OBAMA’S LOOTING GO: HIS WALL ST. PAYMASTERS!
Like the rest of Obama’s proposals, the infrastructure plan is geared to the needs of corporate America, above all to the most powerful financial interests.
Instead, the president and his economic advisors are promoting the notion that more incentives are needed to induce the private sector to hire workers. This is the case even though major corporations have piled up large profits and cash reserves mainly through mass layoffs, wage cuts and speedup of the remaining workers.
Even if the measures were passed, they would do little to address the high levels of unemployment. The proposal for new tax cuts is entirely consistent with the administration’s pro-business policies, aimed at establishing a “new normal” of high unemployment in order to batter down the resistance of workers to wage cuts and intensified exploitation.
WHEN HAVE YOU SEEN A CONSTRUCTION SITE THAT HAD ANY WORKERS THAT WERE NOT HISPANIC ILLEGALS? “…. and the rehiring of large numbers of construction workers.”
On Monday, in a speech at a Labor Day event in Milwaukee, Obama announced plans for infrastructure spending that he claimed would lead to the construction of new high-speed rail lines, roadways, airports and other improvements, and the rehiring of large numbers of construction workers. The trade union bureaucracy and Obama’s other liberal apologists hailed the proposal as a major “public works” investment.
In the guise of creating jobs
Obama to propose further tax cuts for big business
By Jerry White
8 September 2010
President Obama is expected to announce new tax write-offs for big business today at a public appearance in Cleveland. The proposal is the latest in a series of measures which, in the name of creating jobs, will provide hundred of billions more to corporate America while doing nothing to seriously address the economic crisis that has left more than 25 million Americans without full-time work.
With popular anger mounting over his administration’s refusal to address the jobs crisis and indications growing that the Democrats could face a rout in the mid-term elections, the Cleveland speech, just two days after a Labor Day event in Milwaukee, is part of the White House’s effort to appear focused on the plight of the unemployed.
The administration has rejected out of hand any second stimulus package, let alone a government jobs program, even as economists predict unemployment will hover near 10 percent for 2011 and beyond. Instead, the president and his economic advisors are promoting the notion that more incentives are needed to induce the private sector to hire workers. This is the case even though major corporations have piled up large profits and cash reserves mainly through mass layoffs, wage cuts and speedup of the remaining workers.
The supposed “pivot” to job creation by the administration is entirely cynical. The president’s proposals have virtually no chance of being passed before Election Day, with a substantial section of Democratic lawmakers joining with the Republicans in opposing any new spending ostensibly aimed at ameliorating the social crisis.
Even if the measures were passed, they would do little to address the high levels of unemployment. The proposal for new tax cuts is entirely consistent with the administration’s pro-business policies, aimed at establishing a “new normal” of high unemployment in order to batter down the resistance of workers to wage cuts and intensified exploitation.
Obama is calling on Congress to pass legislation that will allow businesses to deduct the full value of new equipment purchases from their taxes through 2011. This would extend a tax break that allowed them to write off 50 percent of such investments in 2008 and 2009. According to the draft description from the administration, the proposal “would put nearly $200 billion in the hands of businesses over the next two years.”
In another measure geared to big business, the president wants to expand and make permanent a tax credit for corporate research and development. The credit has been enacted and extended temporarily over the last three decades “with frequent lapses that frustrate businesses,” the New York Times reported.
The new tax cuts, coming on top of the trillions spent to bail out Wall Street, will further deplete the US Treasury and add to the bipartisan demands for budget cuts, particularly in entitlement spending.
On Monday, in a speech at a Labor Day event in Milwaukee, Obama announced plans for infrastructure spending that he claimed would lead to the construction of new high-speed rail lines, roadways, airports and other improvements, and the rehiring of large numbers of construction workers. The trade union bureaucracy and Obama’s other liberal apologists hailed the proposal as a major “public works” investment.
New York Times columnist Bob Herbert, who has repeatedly warned of the socially explosive consequences of the president’s indifference to the plight of the unemployed, wrote that “a good faith commitment to rebuilding the infrastructure would show that the [Democratic] party has some idea of the scale of the effort that’s needed to overcome the worst downturn since the Great Depression and, ultimately, to build an economy that offers the prospect of a decent living to the next couple of generations.”
The measures proposed by Obama are nothing of the sort. They would merely revise and extend current federal transportation programs that are expiring. Rather than spreading out modest increases in spending over the next five or six years, the president proposes “front-loading” them into a $50 billion lump sum that states could spend in the first year.
Obama claims this will be paid for by eliminating tax breaks and subsidies for the oil and gas industry—a prospect that has almost no chance of being realized given the political influence of Big Oil over both parties.
Even if the $50 billion figure is taken at face value, it is a drop in the bucket compared to the $2.2 trillion the American Society of Civil Engineers (ASCE) says is needed to repair and maintain America’s crumbling infrastructure over the next five years. Nor would it provide a substantial number of jobs for the 1.5 million construction workers who are currently unemployed.
Like the rest of Obama’s proposals, the infrastructure plan is geared to the needs of corporate America, above all to the most powerful financial interests. Rather than investing in repairing collapsing neighborhoods, schools and transportation systems, it is designed to rationalize current infrastructure spending.
According to legislation drafted by leading Democrats, the proposal includes an “infrastructure bank” that would be part of the US Treasury and would attract money from institutional investors. It would channel loans to projects selected by a panel.
As the New York Times notes, “The outside investors would expect a competitive return on their money, so many of the completed projects would have to charge fees, taxes or tolls.” For this reason, the bank would not focus solely on roads, railways and other projects that would have the most socially beneficial results, but also on “telecommunications, water, drainage, green-energy projects and other large-scale projects” that would benefit private investors.
“If the projects did not raise enough money,” the Times adds, “the Treasury might get stuck paying back the investors.”
“THE AMNESTY ALONE WILL BE THE LARGEST EXPANSION OF THE WELFARE SYSTEM IN THE LAST 25 YEARS” Heritage Foundation
"The amnesty alone will be the largest expansion of the welfare system in the last 25 years," says Robert Rector, a senior analyst at the Heritage Foundation, and a witness at a House Judiciary Committee field hearing in San Diego Aug. 2. "Welfare costs will begin to hit their peak around 2021, because there are delays in citizenship. The very narrow time horizon [the CBO is] using is misleading," he adds. "If even a small fraction of those who come into the country stay and get on Medicaid, you're looking at costs of $20 billion or $30 billion per year."
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FAIRUS.org
U.S. Taxpayers Spend $113 Billion Annually on Illegal Aliens
America has never been able to afford the costs of illegal immigration. With rising unemployment and skyrocketing deficits, federal and state lawmakers are now facing the results of failed policies. A new, groundbreaking report from FAIR, The Fiscal Burden of Illegal Immigration on U.S. Taxpayers, takes a comprehensive look at the estimated fiscal costs resulting from federal, state and local expenditures on illegal aliens and their U.S.-born children.
Expanding upon the series of state studies done in the past, FAIR has estimated the annual cost of illegal immigration to be $113 billion, with much of the cost — $84.2 billon — coming at the state and local level.
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THE ENTIRE REASON THE BORDERS ARE LEFT OPEN IS TO CUT WAGES!
“We could cut unemployment in half simply by reclaiming the jobs taken by illegal workers,” said Representative Lamar Smith of Texas, co-chairman of the Reclaim American Jobs Caucus. “President Obama is on the wrong side of the American people on immigration. The president should support policies that help citizens and legal immigrants find the jobs they need and deserve rather than fail to enforce immigration laws.”
*
"This is country belongs to Mexico" is said by the Mexican Militant. This is a common teaching that the U.S. is really AZTLAN, belonging to Mexicans, which is taught to Mexican kids in Arizona and California through a LA Raza educational program funded by American Tax Payers via President Obama, when he gave LA RAZA $800,000.00 in March of 2009!
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“What's needed to discourage illegal immigration into the United States has been known for years: Enforce existing law.” ….. CHRISTIAN SCIENCE MONITOR
OBAMA TO LOOT SOCIAL SECURITY to pay for his BANKSTER DONORS' LOOTING!
WSWS.org … get on their free no ads emails!
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“Records show that four out of Obama's top five contributors are employees of financial industry giants - Goldman Sachs ($571,330), UBS AG ($364,806), JPMorgan Chase ($362,207) and Citigroup ($358,054). “
OBAMA’S PLAN TO PAY FOR HIS BANKSTERS’ LOOTING OF AMERICA – Cut Social Security!
J.P. MORGAN IS ONE OF THE BANKSTER PRESIDENT’S BIGGEST DONORS! THEY’VE MADE OUT VERY WELL WITH THEIR BOY IN THE WHITE HOUSE!
“In one session, Hans-Werner Sinn of the University of Munich declared that Americans will “just have to go down in their living standards after years in which their living standards soared in part based on foreign credit which is no longer there.” And Jacob Frenkel, chairman of JP Morgan Chase International “urged the United States to rein in entitlements as part of a ‘political deal’ that recognizes reality,” according to an Associated Press account of the conference. JP Morgan has received tens of billions in loans, debt buy-downs, and direct cash infusions from the federal government.”
Simpson’s commission, established earlier this year by an Obama executive order to rein in budget deficits, is reportedly considering several measures, including raising the retirement age, perhaps to as high as 70, and cutting benefits as well as cost-of-living increases. It is expected to announce its recommendations in December—not accidentally, one month after the November elections.
OBAMA KEEPS CORPORATE RULING CLASS HAPPY!
“The class character of the calls for “sacrifice” and “responsibility” is increasingly naked. Even as Washington prepares for drastic cuts to Social Security and all manner of social spending, Congress appears likely to extend or make permanent the Bush-era tax cuts for the extremely wealthy, which have cost the federal government trillions of dollars.”
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WSWS.org … get on their free no ads emails!
US ruling class prepares attack on Social Security
8 September 2010
Prominent figures in the US ruling elite have recently made a series of statements that forewarn of massive cuts in social spending, up to and including Social Security, the bedrock federal insurance entitlement for elderly and disabled workers.
These comments reveal that, whatever the precise outcome of the midterm elections on November 7, they will set the stage for a bipartisan assault, in the name of “fiscal responsibility,” on what remains of the social reforms of the last century.
The knives are already being sharpened for a long-awaited attack on Social Security. In a rude and provocative e-mail to the president of the Older Women’s League dated August 23, former Republican Senator Alan Simpson—appointed by President Obama as co-chair of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform—revealed his deep hatred of both Social Security and the working people who depend upon it.
Social Security “has reached a point now where it’s like a milk cow with 310 million tits! [sic],” Simpson said. He blasted its recipients—retirees, those maimed and sickened by their work, and dependent survivors of dead workers—who, he said “milk it to the last degree.”
In an earlier outburst—in June, Simpson was caught on tape berating an independent journalist— he revealed the ruthless logic behind the ruling class drive for cuts: Workers, whom Simpson dubbed “the lesser people,” live too long. When Social Security was created “they never dreamed that the life expectancy would go from 57 years of age to 78 or 75 or whatever,” Simpson said. “Who would dream that? No one. They just died.”
Simpson’s commission, established earlier this year by an Obama executive order to rein in budget deficits, is reportedly considering several measures, including raising the retirement age, perhaps to as high as 70, and cutting benefits as well as cost-of-living increases. It is expected to announce its recommendations in December—not accidentally, one month after the November elections.
There is unanimity in the ruling class in favor of the attack on Social Security. Co-chairing the Fiscal Responsibility commission is Erskine Bowles, formerly a White House chief of staff to Bill Clinton, and another long-time advocate of Social Security “reform.” And signaling the trade union bureaucracy’s active collaboration, Andy Stern, former president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), also sits on the commission.
“I agree with many Commissioners who have said that all entitlement programs should be on the table,” Stern has declared. “We should include as part of our agenda ideas for strengthening the private parts of the retirement security system, reviewing both the adequacy and the solvency of the Social Security system, and the possibility of universal add-on retirement accounts.”
Deepening the fiscal attack on the working class in the US, Europe and internationally was also the primary topic for discussion at the Ambrosetti Forum held last week on the shores of Italy’s elite Lake Como. Attended by political figures such as Spain’s José MarÃa Aznar, Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Henry Kissinger from the US and Israeli President Shimon Peres, as well as numerous European Union functionaries, top bankers, businessmen and academicians, the forum provides a sounding board for policies that few politicians would dare identify themselves with in public.
In one session, Hans-Werner Sinn of the University of Munich declared that Americans will “just have to go down in their living standards after years in which their living standards soared in part based on foreign credit which is no longer there.” And Jacob Frenkel, chairman of JP Morgan Chase International “urged the United States to rein in entitlements as part of a ‘political deal’ that recognizes reality,” according to an Associated Press account of the conference. JP Morgan has received tens of billions in loans, debt buy-downs, and direct cash infusions from the federal government.
The attack on entitlements and social spending is the second phase in a broad offensive against the living conditions of the entire working class, following quickly on the heels of the unprecedented attack on jobs and wages spearheaded by the Obama administration’s forced reorganization of the auto industry.
Workers are being conditioned to accept what is referred to as “the new normal” typified by low wages and benefits and the total absence of any form of social protection. Or, in the blunter words of Fiat head Sergio Marchionne, US workers must accept a “culture of poverty,” abandoning what he contemptuously referred to as a “culture of entitlement.”
The class character of the calls for “sacrifice” and “responsibility” is increasingly naked. Even as Washington prepares for drastic cuts to Social Security and all manner of social spending, Congress appears likely to extend or make permanent the Bush-era tax cuts for the extremely wealthy, which have cost the federal government trillions of dollars.
Peter Orszag, until July 30 Obama’s director of the Office of Management and the Budget, in a Tuesday column for the New York Times called for a two-year extension of the Bush-era tax cuts for the richest income earners. In the very same article, Orszag called for Social Security “reform,” a 5 percent cut to discretionary social spending, a 6 percent value added sales tax, and higher taxes on “middle-class and lower-class families,” which he called “troubling” but “unavoidable.”
The sharp move toward austerity and the attack being prepared on Social Security stand as a testament to the bankruptcy of American democracy. The upcoming election and the official debate that surrounds it—including Obama’s latest in a series of purely symbolic jobs proposals—only aim to disorient the population.
The basic thrust of US policy has already been determined. The ruling class is determined to shift the full burden of the financial and economic crisis onto the working class. In this context, the widely anticipated gains for Republicans in the election are already being presented as evidence that the demand for attacks on social spending originate in the population itself.
This is a lie. In fact, the objective interests of the great majority of the population—suffering through the worst social crisis in generations—demand a massive jobs program, free universal health care, secure retirement, improved quality and access to education and culture, and other social rights necessary for life in modern mass society.
The trajectory set by the ruling financial aristocracy is in precisely the opposite direction. The attack on living conditions will continue and deepen until the working class mobilizes its independent political strength to bring it to a halt.
Tom Eley
WSWS.org … get on their free no ads emails!
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“Records show that four out of Obama's top five contributors are employees of financial industry giants - Goldman Sachs ($571,330), UBS AG ($364,806), JPMorgan Chase ($362,207) and Citigroup ($358,054). “
Barack Obama has collected nearly twice as much money as John McCain
BY DAVID SALTONSTALL
DAILY NEWS SENIOR CORRESPONDENT
July 1st 2008
Wall Street firms have chipped in more than $9 million to Barack Obama. Zurga/Bloomberg
Wall Street is investing heavily in Barack Obama.
Although the Democratic presidential hopeful has vowed to raise capital gains and corporate taxes, financial industry bigs have contributed almost twice as much to Obama as to GOP rival John McCain, a Daily News analysis of campaign records shows.
"Wall Street wants change and wants a curtailment in spending. It wants someone who focuses on the domestic economy," said Jim Cramer, the boisterous host of CNBC's "Mad Money."
Cramer also does not discount nostalgia for the go-go 1990s, when Bill Clinton led the largest economic expansion in history.
"It wants a Clinton like in 1992, but not a Hillary Clinton," he said. "That's Barack Obama."
For both candidates, Wall Street's investment and banking sectors have become among their portliest cash cows, contributing $9.5 million to Obama and $5.3 million to McCain so far.
It's a haul that is already raising concerns that, as the nation's faltering economy has become issue No. 1, the two candidates may have a hard time playing tough on issues like market regulation or corporate-tax loopholes.
"No matter who wins in November, Wall Street will have a friend in the White House," said Massie Ritsch of the Center for Responsive Politics, which crunched the data for The News.
Wall Street's generosity toward Obama, in particular, would seem to run counter to its self-interests.
In addition to calling for corporate and capital gains tax hikes, Obama has proposed raising income taxes on those earning more than $250,000.
But Wall Street is often motivated by something more than money - winning.
"In general, these are professional prognosticators," said Ritsch. "And they may be putting their money on the person they predict will win, not the candidate they hope will win."
Records show that four out of Obama's top five contributors are employees of financial industry giants - Goldman Sachs ($571,330), UBS AG ($364,806), JPMorgan Chase ($362,207) and Citigroup ($358,054).
McCain's top five include Wall Street's Merrill Lynch ($230,310) and Citigroup ($219,551).
Obama's Wall Street haul is not the biggest ever. That distinction belongs to President Bush, who as an incumbent in 2004 raised $10,852,696 from Wall Street interests through April that year - about $1 million more than Obama.
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NOT MUCH “RELIEF” FROM THE RAPE AND PILLAGE OF BIG BANKERS! IN FACT, THE PILLAGE GETS WORSE BY THE DAY AS BANKERS TELL THEIR BOUGHT WHORES IN CONGRESS… NO REGULATION…. NO CURB ON CREDIT CARD LOAN SHARK RATES, NO RENEGOTIATING OF CRIMINAL MORTGAGE SCAMS PERPETRATED BY THE BANKERS ON THE PEOPLE…. AND NO CURB ON BONUSES TO THE BANKERS THAT CAUSED A GLOBAL DEPRESSION.
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April 1, 2009
OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR
Obama’s Ersatz Capitalism
By JOSEPH E. STIGLITZ
THE Obama administration’s $500 billion or more proposal to deal with America’s ailing banks has been described by some in the financial markets as a win-win-win proposal. Actually, it is a win-win-lose proposal: the banks win, investors win — and taxpayers lose.
Treasury hopes to get us out of the mess by replicating the flawed system that the private sector used to bring the world crashing down, with a proposal marked by overleveraging in the public sector, excessive complexity, poor incentives and a lack of transparency.
Let’s take a moment to remember what caused this mess in the first place. Banks got themselves, and our economy, into trouble by overleveraging — that is, using relatively little capital of their own, they borrowed heavily to buy extremely risky real estate assets. In the process, they used overly complex instruments like collateralized debt obligations.
The prospect of high compensation gave managers incentives to be shortsighted and undertake excessive risk, rather than lend money prudently. Banks made all these mistakes without anyone knowing, partly because so much of what they were doing was “off balance sheet” financing.
In theory, the administration’s plan is based on letting the market determine the prices of the banks’ “toxic assets” — including outstanding house loans and securities based on those loans. The reality, though, is that the market will not be pricing the toxic assets themselves, but options on those assets.
The two have little to do with each other. The government plan in effect involves insuring almost all losses. Since the private investors are spared most losses, then they primarily “value” their potential gains. This is exactly the same as being given an option.
Consider an asset that has a 50-50 chance of being worth either zero or $200 in a year’s time. The average “value” of the asset is $100. Ignoring interest, this is what the asset would sell for in a competitive market. It is what the asset is “worth.” Under the plan by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, the government would provide about 92 percent of the money to buy the asset but would stand to receive only 50 percent of any gains, and would absorb almost all of the losses. Some partnership!
Assume that one of the public-private partnerships the Treasury has promised to create is willing to pay $150 for the asset. That’s 50 percent more than its true value, and the bank is more than happy to sell. So the private partner puts up $12, and the government supplies the rest — $12 in “equity” plus $126 in the form of a guaranteed loan.
If, in a year’s time, it turns out that the true value of the asset is zero, the private partner loses the $12, and the government loses $138. If the true value is $200, the government and the private partner split the $74 that’s left over after paying back the $126 loan. In that rosy scenario, the private partner more than triples his $12 investment. But the taxpayer, having risked $138, gains a mere $37.
Even in an imperfect market, one shouldn’t confuse the value of an asset with the value of the upside option on that asset.
But Americans are likely to lose even more than these calculations suggest, because of an effect called adverse selection. The banks get to choose the loans and securities that they want to sell. They will want to sell the worst assets, and especially the assets that they think the market overestimates (and thus is willing to pay too much for).
But the market is likely to recognize this, which will drive down the price that it is willing to pay. Only the government’s picking up enough of the losses overcomes this “adverse selection” effect. With the government absorbing the losses, the market doesn’t care if the banks are “cheating” them by selling their lousiest assets, because the government bears the cost.
The main problem is not a lack of liquidity. If it were, then a far simpler program would work: just provide the funds without loan guarantees. The real issue is that the banks made bad loans in a bubble and were highly leveraged. They have lost their capital, and this capital has to be replaced.
Paying fair market values for the assets will not work. Only by overpaying for the assets will the banks be adequately recapitalized. But overpaying for the assets simply shifts the losses to the government. In other words, the Geithner plan works only if and when the taxpayer loses big time.
Some Americans are afraid that the government might temporarily “nationalize” the banks, but that option would be preferable to the Geithner plan. After all, the F.D.I.C. has taken control of failing banks before, and done it well. It has even nationalized large institutions like Continental Illinois (taken over in 1984, back in private hands a few years later), and Washington Mutual (seized last September, and immediately resold).
What the Obama administration is doing is far worse than nationalization: it is ersatz capitalism, the privatizing of gains and the socializing of losses. It is a “partnership” in which one partner robs the other. And such partnerships — with the private sector in control — have perverse incentives, worse even than the ones that got us into the mess.
So what is the appeal of a proposal like this? Perhaps it’s the kind of Rube Goldberg device that Wall Street loves — clever, complex and nontransparent, allowing huge transfers of wealth to the financial markets. It has allowed the administration to avoid going back to Congress to ask for the money needed to fix our banks, and it provided a way to avoid nationalization.
But we are already suffering from a crisis of confidence. When the high costs of the administration’s plan become apparent, confidence will be eroded further. At that point the task of recreating a vibrant financial sector, and resuscitating the economy, will be even harder.
Joseph E. Stiglitz, a professor of economics at Columbia who was chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers from 1995 to 1997, was awarded the Nobel prize in economics in 2001.
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“Records show that four out of Obama's top five contributors are employees of financial industry giants - Goldman Sachs ($571,330), UBS AG ($364,806), JPMorgan Chase ($362,207) and Citigroup ($358,054). “
OBAMA’S PLAN TO PAY FOR HIS BANKSTERS’ LOOTING OF AMERICA – Cut Social Security!
J.P. MORGAN IS ONE OF THE BANKSTER PRESIDENT’S BIGGEST DONORS! THEY’VE MADE OUT VERY WELL WITH THEIR BOY IN THE WHITE HOUSE!
“In one session, Hans-Werner Sinn of the University of Munich declared that Americans will “just have to go down in their living standards after years in which their living standards soared in part based on foreign credit which is no longer there.” And Jacob Frenkel, chairman of JP Morgan Chase International “urged the United States to rein in entitlements as part of a ‘political deal’ that recognizes reality,” according to an Associated Press account of the conference. JP Morgan has received tens of billions in loans, debt buy-downs, and direct cash infusions from the federal government.”
Simpson’s commission, established earlier this year by an Obama executive order to rein in budget deficits, is reportedly considering several measures, including raising the retirement age, perhaps to as high as 70, and cutting benefits as well as cost-of-living increases. It is expected to announce its recommendations in December—not accidentally, one month after the November elections.
OBAMA KEEPS CORPORATE RULING CLASS HAPPY!
“The class character of the calls for “sacrifice” and “responsibility” is increasingly naked. Even as Washington prepares for drastic cuts to Social Security and all manner of social spending, Congress appears likely to extend or make permanent the Bush-era tax cuts for the extremely wealthy, which have cost the federal government trillions of dollars.”
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WSWS.org … get on their free no ads emails!
US ruling class prepares attack on Social Security
8 September 2010
Prominent figures in the US ruling elite have recently made a series of statements that forewarn of massive cuts in social spending, up to and including Social Security, the bedrock federal insurance entitlement for elderly and disabled workers.
These comments reveal that, whatever the precise outcome of the midterm elections on November 7, they will set the stage for a bipartisan assault, in the name of “fiscal responsibility,” on what remains of the social reforms of the last century.
The knives are already being sharpened for a long-awaited attack on Social Security. In a rude and provocative e-mail to the president of the Older Women’s League dated August 23, former Republican Senator Alan Simpson—appointed by President Obama as co-chair of the National Commission on Fiscal Responsibility and Reform—revealed his deep hatred of both Social Security and the working people who depend upon it.
Social Security “has reached a point now where it’s like a milk cow with 310 million tits! [sic],” Simpson said. He blasted its recipients—retirees, those maimed and sickened by their work, and dependent survivors of dead workers—who, he said “milk it to the last degree.”
In an earlier outburst—in June, Simpson was caught on tape berating an independent journalist— he revealed the ruthless logic behind the ruling class drive for cuts: Workers, whom Simpson dubbed “the lesser people,” live too long. When Social Security was created “they never dreamed that the life expectancy would go from 57 years of age to 78 or 75 or whatever,” Simpson said. “Who would dream that? No one. They just died.”
Simpson’s commission, established earlier this year by an Obama executive order to rein in budget deficits, is reportedly considering several measures, including raising the retirement age, perhaps to as high as 70, and cutting benefits as well as cost-of-living increases. It is expected to announce its recommendations in December—not accidentally, one month after the November elections.
There is unanimity in the ruling class in favor of the attack on Social Security. Co-chairing the Fiscal Responsibility commission is Erskine Bowles, formerly a White House chief of staff to Bill Clinton, and another long-time advocate of Social Security “reform.” And signaling the trade union bureaucracy’s active collaboration, Andy Stern, former president of the Service Employees International Union (SEIU), also sits on the commission.
“I agree with many Commissioners who have said that all entitlement programs should be on the table,” Stern has declared. “We should include as part of our agenda ideas for strengthening the private parts of the retirement security system, reviewing both the adequacy and the solvency of the Social Security system, and the possibility of universal add-on retirement accounts.”
Deepening the fiscal attack on the working class in the US, Europe and internationally was also the primary topic for discussion at the Ambrosetti Forum held last week on the shores of Italy’s elite Lake Como. Attended by political figures such as Spain’s José MarÃa Aznar, Italy’s Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, Henry Kissinger from the US and Israeli President Shimon Peres, as well as numerous European Union functionaries, top bankers, businessmen and academicians, the forum provides a sounding board for policies that few politicians would dare identify themselves with in public.
In one session, Hans-Werner Sinn of the University of Munich declared that Americans will “just have to go down in their living standards after years in which their living standards soared in part based on foreign credit which is no longer there.” And Jacob Frenkel, chairman of JP Morgan Chase International “urged the United States to rein in entitlements as part of a ‘political deal’ that recognizes reality,” according to an Associated Press account of the conference. JP Morgan has received tens of billions in loans, debt buy-downs, and direct cash infusions from the federal government.
The attack on entitlements and social spending is the second phase in a broad offensive against the living conditions of the entire working class, following quickly on the heels of the unprecedented attack on jobs and wages spearheaded by the Obama administration’s forced reorganization of the auto industry.
Workers are being conditioned to accept what is referred to as “the new normal” typified by low wages and benefits and the total absence of any form of social protection. Or, in the blunter words of Fiat head Sergio Marchionne, US workers must accept a “culture of poverty,” abandoning what he contemptuously referred to as a “culture of entitlement.”
The class character of the calls for “sacrifice” and “responsibility” is increasingly naked. Even as Washington prepares for drastic cuts to Social Security and all manner of social spending, Congress appears likely to extend or make permanent the Bush-era tax cuts for the extremely wealthy, which have cost the federal government trillions of dollars.
Peter Orszag, until July 30 Obama’s director of the Office of Management and the Budget, in a Tuesday column for the New York Times called for a two-year extension of the Bush-era tax cuts for the richest income earners. In the very same article, Orszag called for Social Security “reform,” a 5 percent cut to discretionary social spending, a 6 percent value added sales tax, and higher taxes on “middle-class and lower-class families,” which he called “troubling” but “unavoidable.”
The sharp move toward austerity and the attack being prepared on Social Security stand as a testament to the bankruptcy of American democracy. The upcoming election and the official debate that surrounds it—including Obama’s latest in a series of purely symbolic jobs proposals—only aim to disorient the population.
The basic thrust of US policy has already been determined. The ruling class is determined to shift the full burden of the financial and economic crisis onto the working class. In this context, the widely anticipated gains for Republicans in the election are already being presented as evidence that the demand for attacks on social spending originate in the population itself.
This is a lie. In fact, the objective interests of the great majority of the population—suffering through the worst social crisis in generations—demand a massive jobs program, free universal health care, secure retirement, improved quality and access to education and culture, and other social rights necessary for life in modern mass society.
The trajectory set by the ruling financial aristocracy is in precisely the opposite direction. The attack on living conditions will continue and deepen until the working class mobilizes its independent political strength to bring it to a halt.
Tom Eley
WSWS.org … get on their free no ads emails!
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“Records show that four out of Obama's top five contributors are employees of financial industry giants - Goldman Sachs ($571,330), UBS AG ($364,806), JPMorgan Chase ($362,207) and Citigroup ($358,054). “
Barack Obama has collected nearly twice as much money as John McCain
BY DAVID SALTONSTALL
DAILY NEWS SENIOR CORRESPONDENT
July 1st 2008
Wall Street firms have chipped in more than $9 million to Barack Obama. Zurga/Bloomberg
Wall Street is investing heavily in Barack Obama.
Although the Democratic presidential hopeful has vowed to raise capital gains and corporate taxes, financial industry bigs have contributed almost twice as much to Obama as to GOP rival John McCain, a Daily News analysis of campaign records shows.
"Wall Street wants change and wants a curtailment in spending. It wants someone who focuses on the domestic economy," said Jim Cramer, the boisterous host of CNBC's "Mad Money."
Cramer also does not discount nostalgia for the go-go 1990s, when Bill Clinton led the largest economic expansion in history.
"It wants a Clinton like in 1992, but not a Hillary Clinton," he said. "That's Barack Obama."
For both candidates, Wall Street's investment and banking sectors have become among their portliest cash cows, contributing $9.5 million to Obama and $5.3 million to McCain so far.
It's a haul that is already raising concerns that, as the nation's faltering economy has become issue No. 1, the two candidates may have a hard time playing tough on issues like market regulation or corporate-tax loopholes.
"No matter who wins in November, Wall Street will have a friend in the White House," said Massie Ritsch of the Center for Responsive Politics, which crunched the data for The News.
Wall Street's generosity toward Obama, in particular, would seem to run counter to its self-interests.
In addition to calling for corporate and capital gains tax hikes, Obama has proposed raising income taxes on those earning more than $250,000.
But Wall Street is often motivated by something more than money - winning.
"In general, these are professional prognosticators," said Ritsch. "And they may be putting their money on the person they predict will win, not the candidate they hope will win."
Records show that four out of Obama's top five contributors are employees of financial industry giants - Goldman Sachs ($571,330), UBS AG ($364,806), JPMorgan Chase ($362,207) and Citigroup ($358,054).
McCain's top five include Wall Street's Merrill Lynch ($230,310) and Citigroup ($219,551).
Obama's Wall Street haul is not the biggest ever. That distinction belongs to President Bush, who as an incumbent in 2004 raised $10,852,696 from Wall Street interests through April that year - about $1 million more than Obama.
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NOT MUCH “RELIEF” FROM THE RAPE AND PILLAGE OF BIG BANKERS! IN FACT, THE PILLAGE GETS WORSE BY THE DAY AS BANKERS TELL THEIR BOUGHT WHORES IN CONGRESS… NO REGULATION…. NO CURB ON CREDIT CARD LOAN SHARK RATES, NO RENEGOTIATING OF CRIMINAL MORTGAGE SCAMS PERPETRATED BY THE BANKERS ON THE PEOPLE…. AND NO CURB ON BONUSES TO THE BANKERS THAT CAUSED A GLOBAL DEPRESSION.
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April 1, 2009
OP-ED CONTRIBUTOR
Obama’s Ersatz Capitalism
By JOSEPH E. STIGLITZ
THE Obama administration’s $500 billion or more proposal to deal with America’s ailing banks has been described by some in the financial markets as a win-win-win proposal. Actually, it is a win-win-lose proposal: the banks win, investors win — and taxpayers lose.
Treasury hopes to get us out of the mess by replicating the flawed system that the private sector used to bring the world crashing down, with a proposal marked by overleveraging in the public sector, excessive complexity, poor incentives and a lack of transparency.
Let’s take a moment to remember what caused this mess in the first place. Banks got themselves, and our economy, into trouble by overleveraging — that is, using relatively little capital of their own, they borrowed heavily to buy extremely risky real estate assets. In the process, they used overly complex instruments like collateralized debt obligations.
The prospect of high compensation gave managers incentives to be shortsighted and undertake excessive risk, rather than lend money prudently. Banks made all these mistakes without anyone knowing, partly because so much of what they were doing was “off balance sheet” financing.
In theory, the administration’s plan is based on letting the market determine the prices of the banks’ “toxic assets” — including outstanding house loans and securities based on those loans. The reality, though, is that the market will not be pricing the toxic assets themselves, but options on those assets.
The two have little to do with each other. The government plan in effect involves insuring almost all losses. Since the private investors are spared most losses, then they primarily “value” their potential gains. This is exactly the same as being given an option.
Consider an asset that has a 50-50 chance of being worth either zero or $200 in a year’s time. The average “value” of the asset is $100. Ignoring interest, this is what the asset would sell for in a competitive market. It is what the asset is “worth.” Under the plan by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, the government would provide about 92 percent of the money to buy the asset but would stand to receive only 50 percent of any gains, and would absorb almost all of the losses. Some partnership!
Assume that one of the public-private partnerships the Treasury has promised to create is willing to pay $150 for the asset. That’s 50 percent more than its true value, and the bank is more than happy to sell. So the private partner puts up $12, and the government supplies the rest — $12 in “equity” plus $126 in the form of a guaranteed loan.
If, in a year’s time, it turns out that the true value of the asset is zero, the private partner loses the $12, and the government loses $138. If the true value is $200, the government and the private partner split the $74 that’s left over after paying back the $126 loan. In that rosy scenario, the private partner more than triples his $12 investment. But the taxpayer, having risked $138, gains a mere $37.
Even in an imperfect market, one shouldn’t confuse the value of an asset with the value of the upside option on that asset.
But Americans are likely to lose even more than these calculations suggest, because of an effect called adverse selection. The banks get to choose the loans and securities that they want to sell. They will want to sell the worst assets, and especially the assets that they think the market overestimates (and thus is willing to pay too much for).
But the market is likely to recognize this, which will drive down the price that it is willing to pay. Only the government’s picking up enough of the losses overcomes this “adverse selection” effect. With the government absorbing the losses, the market doesn’t care if the banks are “cheating” them by selling their lousiest assets, because the government bears the cost.
The main problem is not a lack of liquidity. If it were, then a far simpler program would work: just provide the funds without loan guarantees. The real issue is that the banks made bad loans in a bubble and were highly leveraged. They have lost their capital, and this capital has to be replaced.
Paying fair market values for the assets will not work. Only by overpaying for the assets will the banks be adequately recapitalized. But overpaying for the assets simply shifts the losses to the government. In other words, the Geithner plan works only if and when the taxpayer loses big time.
Some Americans are afraid that the government might temporarily “nationalize” the banks, but that option would be preferable to the Geithner plan. After all, the F.D.I.C. has taken control of failing banks before, and done it well. It has even nationalized large institutions like Continental Illinois (taken over in 1984, back in private hands a few years later), and Washington Mutual (seized last September, and immediately resold).
What the Obama administration is doing is far worse than nationalization: it is ersatz capitalism, the privatizing of gains and the socializing of losses. It is a “partnership” in which one partner robs the other. And such partnerships — with the private sector in control — have perverse incentives, worse even than the ones that got us into the mess.
So what is the appeal of a proposal like this? Perhaps it’s the kind of Rube Goldberg device that Wall Street loves — clever, complex and nontransparent, allowing huge transfers of wealth to the financial markets. It has allowed the administration to avoid going back to Congress to ask for the money needed to fix our banks, and it provided a way to avoid nationalization.
But we are already suffering from a crisis of confidence. When the high costs of the administration’s plan become apparent, confidence will be eroded further. At that point the task of recreating a vibrant financial sector, and resuscitating the economy, will be even harder.
Joseph E. Stiglitz, a professor of economics at Columbia who was chairman of the Council of Economic Advisers from 1995 to 1997, was awarded the Nobel prize in economics in 2001.
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