LaVern Isely

Banning Derivatives and Other Such Foolishness

I agree with Paco Ahlgren that DERIVATIVES and other such foolishness should be banned. I used to believe that they should be REGULATED but I believe that Congress is so corrupt and full of lawyers, that it would be impossible to regulate them. Besides, I agree, I don't see any value in them, because any derivatives market that got to a $600 trillion market (according to FRONTLINE), is what I would consider totally out of control and not something any government in the world should allow. Counterfeiters, I thought, were susposed to be put in jail.
Yours truly, LaVern Isely, Overtaxed MIddle Class Taxpayer and Public Citizen Member

CIT's Failure Could Threaten Financial Sector's Overall Recovery

Seeking Alpha has been doing a terrific job of financial reporting and it's about time people in Congress noticed. They have to put REAL REGULATIONS on TOXIC DERIVATIVES such as credit default swaps which also got AIG in trouble. A quote from the article: "Wednesday, traders pushed up the cost of CIT's credit default swaps by 4% to 26%, the implication is that the lender has a 45% chance of defaulting on its debt within three months, and an 85% chance of defaulting on its debt by 2014." You can't expect to keep borrowing, without taxing the wealthiest billionaires, which makes up the 1% that has been escaping the burden of their own mistakes, by operating the economy like a lottery, through HEDGE FUND DEALERS and the TOXIC DERIVATIVES they promote through the INVESTMENT BANKS and the STOCK MARKET. The COMMERCIAL BANKS or the Small Business Administration are the ones that need the help because they are keeping the jobs in this country at a far greater percentage than the ones that are using AIG and taking the jobs abroad. How high do they think the unemployment has to go before they think it is real serious and how far in debt does Social Security have to be until we quit BORROWING FROM IT?
Yours truly, LaVern Isely, Overtaxed Middle Class Taxpayer, Public Citizen and AARP Member

AIG Needs Dissolving

I agree with Matthew Goldstein that AIG should be broken up. With the shape the economy is in and the debt getting worse every day, there's no way we can support a failing industry. If the federal government wanted to raise the federal income tax on the wealthy, it would help but up to now, I see no attempt to do so. They keep hiding their money OFFSHORE and demanding their huge bonuses. Also, there's no attempt to REGULATE HEDGE FUNDS or TOXIC DERIVATIVES.
Yours truly, LaVern Isely, Overtaxed Middle Class Taxpayer, Public Citizen and AARP Member

Buffett's Betrayal

Can you imaging the government going after some 6-year-old girl for not having the proper permits to run a lemonade stand and all the while, let these HIGH-CLASS CONSULTANTS virtually buy-off our government? What those 527 Groups can't do at election time! If our federal government can't straighten out ourselves, do you think the G-20 nations will RESPECT US? Doubtful.
Yours truly, LaVern Isely, Disgusted Middle Class Taxpayer, Public Citizen and AARP Member

More on Capital Ratios of U.S. Banks

It's about time SOMEBODY in Washington started watching the CAPITAL RATIOS, particularly in the Commercial Banks. I've been watching them for years and I could see they were headed for TROUBLE. President Franklin Roosevelt, said that a conservatively run bank should have a 16 1/2 % to 18% surplus to handle the day-to-day fluctuating market and he was a liberal. What it's going to take to restore our confidence is an OPEN-RUN GOVERNMENT and our auditors doing their job, otherwise, we'll continue to keep going in debt and borrowing money just because we have NO PLAN, concerning the economy. The Bush Administration was left of liberal. That's why the Blue Dog Democrats are gaining strength.
Yours truly, Disgusted Middle Class Taxpayer, Public Citizen and AARP Member, LaVern Isely

Greenspan Should Have Warned Against Mortgages

I agree with the article. Greenspan was the problem but you can't blame the Obama Democrats because Greenspan was in under President Clinton and George W. Bush. He talked President Clinton into getting rid of the GLASS-STEAGALL ACT, which he did and President GW Bush took full advantage of it and deregulated just about everything in the banking industry, particularly the HEDGE FUNDS selling those TOXIC DERIVATIVES which they call REAL MONEY. The GLASS-STEAGALL ACT SHOULD BE REINSTATED. My question is--why isn't someone in the Obama Administration going after this problem as fast as possible? They seem to be dragging it out, I suspose, because of Fed Chm Ben Bernanke, who isn't any better than the former Fed Chm, Alan Greenspan in doing what's right.
Yours truly, Disgusted Middleclass Taxpayer, Public Citizen and AARP Member, LaVern Isely

Federal Government Once Again Acts to Destroy Labor Market

Our federal government should believe in unions, as well as the minimum wage because I don't think Communism is the answer. What is scary though, is that the U.S. Chamber of Commerce doesn't believe in unions or the minimum wage. A hundred years ago when TEDDY ROOSEVELT was president, Henry Ford, who made the Model A and Model T, said you had to pay the laboring man that built this car, at least $5.00 an hour, so that they could buy his car. Educated lawyers in Congress might not understand this but it sounds like COMMON SENSE TO ME.
Yours truly, Disgusted Middleclass Taxpayer, Public Citizen and AARP Member, LaVern Isely

Canada vs. U.S. - Whose Banks Are Safer?

I wonder what excuse the country of free enterprise, which I happen to live in, is going to use when they compare Canada, a Socialist country, which is in BETTER financial shape than ours, to the United States. Could it be that the Bush Administration wasn't REALLY conservative and that they lied? They said DEREGULATION was going to save us money. At the end of President Clinton's term, he took off the GLASS-STEAGALL ACT and President Bush took full advantage of that in his eight years in office. He cut the income tax rate for the wealthy billionaires, while at the same time, he promoted HEDGE FUND DEALERS and TOXIC DERIVATIVES because he thought conservative banks should be run like the stock market. That's why we got Enron, World Com and now Bernard Madoff and R. Allen Stanford and many, many more, if they want to get to the bottom of it. Our country will not win, unless it can correct the image of DEBT FOREVER and eliminating our jobs and the middle class, while the wealthiest billionaires hide their money OFFSHORE.
Yours truly, Disgusted Middleclass Taxpayer, Public Citizen and AARP Member, LaVern Isely

The New SEC

While I'll really thrilled to see that Mary Shapiro, President Obama's SEC Chairman, is finally enforcing the rules concerning the stock market, I'm not too happy about the job that Fed Chm Ben Bernanke, a Bush appointee, and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner, an Obama appointee, are doing with regard to the bank bailout. How did five banks get 96% of the TOXIC DERIVATIVE market? The figures that I have add up to $193 trillion for the five banks. They can talk about mark to market, then do nothing. They can talk about reinstating the GLASS-STEAGALL ACT and they should, but they do NOTHING. It just shows that the HEDGE FUND DEALERS are running Washington through their large campaign contributions at election times. I wonder if Tim Geithner's visit to China will convince them that we are going to change our ways?
Yours truly, Disgusted Middleclass Taxpayer, Public Citizen and AARP Member, LaVern Isely

Mark-to-Market Accounting: Kill It Before It Eats Us Alive

I couldn't agree more. This has been going on for far too long concerning MARK TO MARKET ACCOUNTING and it is eating us alive. It's about time our Attorney General or some committee chairman looks into this very serious problem before our country, as well as the whole world goes bankrupt.
Yours truly, Disgusted Middleclass Taxpayer, Public Citizen and AARP Member, LaVern Isely