AIG, A Farce in Three Acts Continues: Dodd says Obama Officials told him to put in bonus loophole…
Who knows who will end up under the bus in this latest installment…
the maroons at the WH seem to be trying to hang Ben out to dry on this (they soo out of touch, TOTUS is in SoCal doing William Jennings Bryan-esque speeches for fraks sake), this while the market is praising Ben’s leadership with today’s FOMC move (see Ben the Bold), and all America feeling tight with Ben after 60 Minutes..
if anyone needs to be the scape goat it is Timmeh. who wrote the crappy bailout as head of NY Fed and Dodd isn’t going down quietly either….
So we have Geithner, Dodd and who next to complete the Three Little Maids From School, Gilbert & Sullivan number? At least make it entertaining if we all have to suffer..
Courtesy of AmorediPazzia
Three Little Maids From School Are We’
Joan Sutherland Ella Fitzgerald
Dinah Shore (1963)
In a stunning development, Sen. Christopher Dodd said that Obama administration officials asked him to add language to last month’s federal stimulus bill to make sure the controversial AIG bonuses remained in place
MiM isn’t stunned. Kanjorski who discussed these bonuses with Liddy and Treasury in October isn’t stunned…only the frakkin media could claim to be stunned…
“I did not want to make any changes to my original Senate-passed amendment, but I did so at the request of administration officials, who gave us no indication that this was in any way related to AIG,” Dodd said in a statement released by his office. The nearly $800 billion stimulus bill was approved by Congress in February.
So Dodd is saying he got rolled by AIG and Team Obama, no surprises there….back to you at the WH…
The White House did not immediately respond to CNN’s request for comment
Hit it Sideshow Bob…
The Man Behind the Mask
I knew it must be Jimmeh in disguise!
Look who was spotted coming out of Oval today!!! I am informed he must have run out of his polyjuice potion…
Former President Jimmy Carter looks out the door of the West Wing as he leaves the White House in Washington, Wednesday, March 18, 2009, after meeting with President Barack Obama's National Security Adviser James Jones. (AP Photo/Ron Edmonds)
BSG Rocks UN….
SciFiWire (get their feed!!!)
From left: Dave Howe, Mark Stern, Bonnie Hammer, Dave Eick, Whoopi Goldberg, Ron Moore, Mary McDonnell, Edward James Olmos, Radhika Coomaraswamy, Craig Mokhiber, Famatta Rose Osode and Robert Orr
The biggest names behind Battlestar Galactica —stars Edward James Olmos and Mary McDonnell and executive producers Ronald D. Moore and David Eick— sat on a panel in the Economic and Social Council Chamber with UN representatives to explore what the show had to say about world issues over its four-season run. Moderator Whoopi Goldberg led the panel through two hours of discussion that touched on race relations, terrorism, gender equality and a host of other issues.One of the UN reps, Craig Mokhiber, even took the opportunity to say to McDonnell, “Shame on you, President Roslin” for her treatment the Cylons in the show, specifically endorsing the use of torture and using dehumanizing tactics toward them. But it was the person next to her, Olmos, who raised the roof. ..
One of the things I love about Roslin is she kicks ass and takes names and doesnt frak with the safety of the fleet, figures the UN disapproves!!
In the most provocative moment of the evening, Olmos angrily declared to the audience that race and racism are illusory concepts, created by oppressors to encourage hostility toward other cultures. “There is only one race, and that is the human race!” he shouted, before inciting the crowd to chant along with him, “So say we all!” over and over, in a moment that paralleled Commander Adama’s inspirational speech at the end of the BSG pilot.
Taking questions from the audience, Moore and Eick revealed some of their creative process, like how the show’s gender neutrality was a natural consequence of their decision to re-imagine Starbuck as a female character. Moore closed with, “We had [the characters] trying to grapple with really complex moral and ethical dilemmas in the guise of a weekly television series about killer robots in outer space.”
You can see the full video here (sadly, RealPlayer format).
Breaking Update:Cuomo demands AIG release name of bonus recipients immediately…NY Judge orders BofA/Merrill to release bonus recipient names…
Breaking update CNBC , Cuomo demands AIG release list of bonus recipients, Told Ya! Go Andrew its your birthday…..
BREAKING on CNBC Chyron
victory for Cuomo, loss for Lewis and ultimately AIG who will now have to turn over names of THEIR bonus recipients under this precedent to Cuomo as well
by the pricking of my thumbs, something wicked this way comes…look out Timmeh it’s a bus…..
Market Update: Averages rally on Fed moves: Fed buys MBS and purchases long term treasurys, WOOT!
DOW closes up 91 to 7487, S & P up 16 to 794, NAS up 29 to 1491, and MiM also has calls to their bank to refi off the FED news :0)
Airtime: Wed. Mar. 18 2009 | 11:17 AM ET
The Fed funds rate remains unchanged at 0.0 to 0.25%, reports CNBC’s Hampton Pearson. Pimco’s Bill Gross and CNBC’s Steve Liesman share their insight
Airtime:
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Wed. Mar. 18 2009 | 11:43 AM ET
Tobias Levkovich, Citi chief U.S. equity strategist, discusses the Fed’s decision to leave its key rate unchanged.
Breaking: Fed Decision…BUYING LONG TERM TREASURIES!! 10 Yr yield dropping, BOOYAH for housing, refis for all :0) (but buy GOLD cause inflation in 2 years will be UGLY)
UPDATE: On the wires now
The U.S. Federal Reserve on Wednesday, in a surprise move, said it will buy up to $300 billion worth of longer-term U.S. government debt over the next six months and expand purchases of mortgage-related debt to help ease credit market conditions.
Bill Gross, PIMCO, who should know, just said the FED long term means the 10 yr not the 30..yep…yay for housing, rates at 4.00 for all Americans BOOYAH!!!
BACK OFF TIMMEH, BEN IS DA MAN!
FED STATEMENT HERE
To provide greater support to mortgage lending and housing markets, the Committee decided today to increase the size of the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet further by purchasing up to an additional $750 billion of agency mortgage-backed securities, bringing its total purchases of these securities to up to $1.25 trillion this year, and to increase its purchases of agency debt this year by up to $100 billion to a total of up to $200 billion. Moreover, to help improve conditions in private credit markets, the Committee decided to purchase up to $300 billion of longer-term Treasury securities over the next six months. The Federal Reserve has launched the Term Asset-Backed Securities Loan Facility to facilitate the extension of credit to households and small businesses and anticipates that the range of eligible collateral for this facility is likely to be expanded to include other financial assets. The Committee will continue to carefully monitor the size and composition of the Federal Reserve’s balance sheet in light of evolving financial and economic developments
Voting for the FOMC monetary policy action were: Ben S. Bernanke, Chairman; William C. Dudley, Vice Chairman; Elizabeth A. Duke; Charles L. Evans; Donald L. Kohn; Jeffrey M. Lacker; Dennis P. Lockhart; Daniel K. Tarullo; Kevin M. Warsh; and Janet L. Yellen.”
Steve Liesman to Bill Gross how much concern this is essentially monetizing the debt? Thats exactly what MiM has been saying :0) FED is reflating and taking no prisoners, my fear is Obama will sack Ben and put in Summers who wont do what Volcker did and kill the inflation when needed later….but hell take the bounce and refi if you can, rates should drop down to 4.50 now….
GOLD taking off, was under 900 now backing up over 920
DOW now up over 100
US Dollar dropping hard now, market averages popping up…..UPDATE: Dollar drop
Doubling size of amount of agency MBS (mortgage backed securities) Fed buying 750 billion and buying up to 300 billion of long term treasuries in next 6 months!!
FED balance sheet increasing to three trillion
treasury rates PLUNGING per Rick Santelli
Dollar getting whacked a bit says Rick, A whole new world Santelli says
this is huge
ginaswo
