According to the Army Times:
"The 3rd Infantry Division’s 1st Brigade Combat Team has spent 35 of the last 60 months in Iraq patrolling in full battle rattle, helping restore essential services and escorting supply convoys.
Now they’re training for the same mission — with a twist — at home.
Beginning Oct. 1 for 12 months, the 1st BCT will be under the day-to-day control of U.S. Army North, the Army service component of Northern Command, as an on-call federal response force for natural or manmade emergencies and disasters, including terrorist attacks. Conservatives and conspiracy theorists are worried. This signals for many the coming of martial law and possible suspension of the 2008 Presidential Elections.
They may be called upon to help with civil unrest and crowd control or to deal with potentially horrific scenarios such as massive poisoning and chaos in response to a chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear or high-yield explosive, or CBRNE, attack.
Training for homeland scenarios has already begun at Fort Stewart and includes specialty tasks such as knowing how to use the “jaws of life” to extract a person from a mangled vehicle; extra medical training for a CBRNE incident; and working with U.S. Forestry Service experts on how to go in with chainsaws and cut and clear trees to clear a road or area.
The 1st BCT’s soldiers also will learn how to use “the first ever nonlethal package that the Army has fielded,” 1st BCT commander Col. Roger Cloutier said, referring to crowd and traffic control equipment and nonlethal weapons designed to subdue unruly or dangerous individuals without killing them."
Fear of riots and a run on the banks as a result of the current bailout crisis, the possibility of another depression - and possible looting and civil unrest is another reason for the troops.
And no - you won't read about this in The Danville Register & Bee because at least one of their reporters thinks communism is a good thing and welcomes a return to a socialist form of government. Nice to know your advertising dollars help pay for that isn't it!
Tuesday, September 30, 2008
Monday, September 29, 2008
CBS News apologizes - R & B should too..
CBS News apologized for a vicious column penned by one of their freelancers about Sarah Palin. Obviously THEY listen to readers - unlike The Danville Register & Bee who continues to allow their reporters to inject bias in the political stories they cover.
Will we continue to see anti-Goode articles by the PRO-Bama, PRO-Dem Register & Bee? Or can ALL readers expect to see "fair and balanced" just-the-facts reporting? Time will tell, but I'll guess that the ongoing bias extends not only to political life, but to issues of race and business as well. I know when I worked there I was told "too many stories about Blacks pissed off white advertisers..."
Sad. Sad. Sad.
Will we continue to see anti-Goode articles by the PRO-Bama, PRO-Dem Register & Bee? Or can ALL readers expect to see "fair and balanced" just-the-facts reporting? Time will tell, but I'll guess that the ongoing bias extends not only to political life, but to issues of race and business as well. I know when I worked there I was told "too many stories about Blacks pissed off white advertisers..."
Sad. Sad. Sad.
Man up Tom Perriello!!!
Democratic Congressional Candidate Tom Perriello’s campaign is calling on TV stations to pull a false ad run by Congressman Virgil Goode and he's announced he may SUE Goode to make sure it happens.
Get a life Tom. I'm not so sure I want a congressman with a thin skin who can't play politics. You attack Virgil over the 9/11 fundraiser and then when you feel slighted you want to sue? How many taxpayer dollars do you plan to tie up in litigation over bullshit and trivial issues if elected? Are you going to spend your time in office responding to trivia or to real issues?
Man up Tom.
Of course you can always call on your friends at The Danville Register & Bee who will send out their reporter - young Sarah, who is a personal friend of Obama and dedicated to destroying any Republican candidates regardless of who they are simply because she can. And the Register & Bee, in spite of reader protests over her obvious bias and unethical journalism, continues to cover these issues.
I suppose Publisher Steve Kaylor is on board with this. Or he's not reading his own paper. Or he's a staunch Democrat too. Hmm.......maybe he's waiting for Terry to tell him which way to jump.
Regardless - save your grandstanding for something IMPORTANT - like speaking out about the buyout and corruption on Wall Street and not your piss-ant stance on drilling. And no - I'm not a Republican - I'm independent.
Get a life Tom. I'm not so sure I want a congressman with a thin skin who can't play politics. You attack Virgil over the 9/11 fundraiser and then when you feel slighted you want to sue? How many taxpayer dollars do you plan to tie up in litigation over bullshit and trivial issues if elected? Are you going to spend your time in office responding to trivia or to real issues?
Man up Tom.
Of course you can always call on your friends at The Danville Register & Bee who will send out their reporter - young Sarah, who is a personal friend of Obama and dedicated to destroying any Republican candidates regardless of who they are simply because she can. And the Register & Bee, in spite of reader protests over her obvious bias and unethical journalism, continues to cover these issues.
I suppose Publisher Steve Kaylor is on board with this. Or he's not reading his own paper. Or he's a staunch Democrat too. Hmm.......maybe he's waiting for Terry to tell him which way to jump.
Regardless - save your grandstanding for something IMPORTANT - like speaking out about the buyout and corruption on Wall Street and not your piss-ant stance on drilling. And no - I'm not a Republican - I'm independent.
Misleading headlines? Yes. It sells papers.
A reader asked me today why the Register & Bee would print a headline like, "Danville shooting victim was key witness in murder trial" when the trial was over a year ago and more likely than not had nothing to do with his shooting.
Why would they do that? Because such a headline sells newspapers my dear. The Register & Bee is ALL about selling newspapers. The reporters don't write the headlines by the way, the copy editor or layout person does. Usually the person who lays the paper out doesn't read the whole story, may not understand the whole story and skims the story for words they can use to grab a reader's attention and compel them to buy the paper. Forget accuracy or ethics. As we all know the paper is short on both of those qualities. Plain and simple - they're trying to boost sales.
Why would they do that? Because such a headline sells newspapers my dear. The Register & Bee is ALL about selling newspapers. The reporters don't write the headlines by the way, the copy editor or layout person does. Usually the person who lays the paper out doesn't read the whole story, may not understand the whole story and skims the story for words they can use to grab a reader's attention and compel them to buy the paper. Forget accuracy or ethics. As we all know the paper is short on both of those qualities. Plain and simple - they're trying to boost sales.
Sunday, September 28, 2008
Here it is again in case you missed it.....
It's not enough for The Register and Bee to videotape women's breasts and demean women. Now they're running adult ads on their website! Todays Register and Bee shows an ad of a "Bad Kitty Adult" costume with a woman in skimpy clothing and a leather whip. Also advertised, a "Bunny French Maid" adult costume. Maybe we ought to call The Register and Bee the Raunchy and Baudy??
This is a Terry Jamerson's answer to increasing revenue? A "serious management decision" regarding the new direction of Register and Bee ads. Has she ever really spent any time in Danville? And school children have access to this??
Click on the ad below to see a larger version. Yup. What do you expect from the paper who brought you a front page story on alcohol with a reporter's assessment being he thought the drink was hopefully, "A real panty dropper." Your ad dollars HARD at work ladies and gentlemen!!
You'd think the Virginia Press Association would be embarrassed! I would. Unless they maybe condone this behavior? Or they're afraid of Media General...a large source of income....sad, sad, sad.....
This is a Terry Jamerson's answer to increasing revenue? A "serious management decision" regarding the new direction of Register and Bee ads. Has she ever really spent any time in Danville? And school children have access to this??
Click on the ad below to see a larger version. Yup. What do you expect from the paper who brought you a front page story on alcohol with a reporter's assessment being he thought the drink was hopefully, "A real panty dropper." Your ad dollars HARD at work ladies and gentlemen!!
You'd think the Virginia Press Association would be embarrassed! I would. Unless they maybe condone this behavior? Or they're afraid of Media General...a large source of income....sad, sad, sad.....
Here it is again in case you missed it.....
It's not enough for The Register and Bee to videotape women's breasts and demean women. Now they're running adult ads on their website! Todays Register and Bee shows an ad of a "Bad Kitty Adult" costume with a woman in skimpy clothing and a leather whip. Also advertised, a "Bunny French Maid" adult costume. Maybe we ought to call The Register and Bee the Raunchy and Baudy??
This is a Terry Jamerson's answer to increasing revenue? A "serious management decision" regarding the new direction of Register and Bee ads. Has she ever really spent any time in Danville? And school children have access to this??
This is a Terry Jamerson's answer to increasing revenue? A "serious management decision" regarding the new direction of Register and Bee ads. Has she ever really spent any time in Danville? And school children have access to this??
Abe Nelson - plagerist or victim of incompetence?
A friend of mine alerted me to a link on The Register & Bee website where MY byline was replaced on a story I wrote, with the name of Abe Nelson. Seems that Abe Nelson works for Media General. But what part of Media General? My question is - who screwed up yet once again - replacing my byline with Abe's? Now the Register & Bee is swapping out bylines like they swap out marriage partners eh? Don't like the old one, mix and match. They have an incompetent management structure....now the stories I wrote being attributed to someone else.
I did notice the ADULT Ads for Playboy Bunny and Wicked Kitty in leather ads were gone today...or maybe just recycled. Get some guff on that did you? Geesh, you'd think you guys were bound and determined to force porn on your readers!! You have a reporter filming women's breasts and flashing the footage around the newsroom...managers, married managers sleeping with subordinates, an editor playing grab-ass with his girlfriend and lots of backrubs and buttrubs going on....there really is life outside of extra-martial sex. Aren't you all paying attention in church?
Someone down there please try to get your heads out of the gutter, stop fooling around giving backrubs to co-workers or filming women's bodies or thinking of ways to slander Republicans and do some real work. And I know you hate me, but swapping out my bylines? That's just juvenile. But as readers tell me. What else can you expect. It is The Danville Register & Bee....
Ah Terry...you run such a TIGHT ship old girl. You are pure incompetence in motion.
Friday, September 26, 2008
A Conspiracy of Imbeciles
With primarily Democratic leanings at The Danville Register & Bee - including at least one reporter who wants to see America become a socialist country, you won't see this kind of story or background history about how the Democrats brought about the current financial crisis. They will attack Republicans like Virgil Goode and others while pushing their own agenda forward. If The Register & Bee had the answer do you think they'd be in the mess they're in now? With their sex, harassment and abuse women policy firmly in place - they're in keeping with the usual Democratic party line that Bill Clinton and other Dem's brought to the White House - focusing on sex, partying and being incompetent rather than the business at hand.
A Conspiracy of Imbeciles
Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Barney Frank, Chris Dodd
By Clayton Makepeace
Publisher & Editor
Washington is playing you for a sucker — shamelessly robbing you blind —
and they’re not just getting away with it; they’re actually being rewarded for it
Here’s what you must do now to hit them where it hurts and quite possibly, to save your financial future
Dear Business-Builder,
There’s an 800-pound gorilla in the room — a crisis that overshadows and dwarfs the importance of our individual careers and businesses.
Now, I’m well aware that what I’m going to say will be controversial. The truths I’m about to present will be welcomed by many of my readers. Many others will be offended by these facts. For that, I can only apologize in advance — and humbly suggest that if the truth offends you, it just might be a hint that your point of view could benefit from an honest re-examination.
They call this 800-pound gorilla the “Credit Crisis”— and whether you realize it yet or not,it is the single greatest financial catastrophe of your lifetime …
* It has probably already cost you tens of thousands of dollars and crippled your retirement – whether you know it or not: Depending on where you live, this crisis has already slashed as much as 35% off the value of your home. And since home equity is the #1 source of retirement savings for most Americans, it is destroying the retirement dreams of millions.
* It has cost investors and retirees and pension funds hundreds of billions more: Skyrocketing mortgage defaults have killed great American institutions like Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, AIG, Washington Mutual and more … caused Washington to take control of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac … and gutted the share value of nearly every U.S. bank and brokerage. Millions of people who owned those stocks are now hundreds of billions; perhaps trillions of dollars poorer.
* It has launched U.S federal deficits through the roof: The attempt to save our dying institutions has caused the U.S. government to spend $25 billion to rescue Bear Stearns … another $80 billion to save American Insurance Group (AIG) … $200 billion to save Fannie and Freddie … $165 billion on last spring’s stimulus package for consumers … and in the next few hours — a few days at the most — Washington will blow another $700 billion attempting to prevent a financial meltdown that could surpass the Great Depression.
Altogether, that’s more than $1 trillion (one thousand billion dollars!) spent so far in an attempt to fight this crisis … an attempt that may — or may not — prevent, as Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson phrased it recently, “The total meltdown of the entire U.S. financial system.”
* It is crushing the dollar and killing jobs: A global loss of confidence in Washington’s ability to manage the U.S. economy combined with the tidal wave of paper dollars Washington has created to fight this crisis have contributed to the greatest crash in the value of the U.S. dollar in ages and raised the specter of hyper-inflation.
Plus, as banks get stingier with borrowers out of sheer self-defense, this crisis is crushing corporate earnings and share prices. Private investors, retirees, pension funds and institutions have lost more than $3 trillion in the past 12 months alone.
And it has stalled the U.S. economy in its tracks. America’s three largest automakers are now begging Congress for $25 billion to help them survive. Unemployment is careening higher; costing legions of Americans the ability to provide for their families.
* It’s pushing the U.S. economy relentlessly towards what may well be a new Dark Age: With that $1 trillion plus, plus, PLUS being added to America’s skyrocketing budget deficits for 2008 and 2009, there’s a real danger this crisis will also crush the bond market … send interest rates exploding through the roof … and trigger yet another, more intense phase of business failures, stock market losses and soaring unemployment in the months ahead.
And make no mistake:
It’s not over yet. Not by a long shot.
Compared to the losses now being suffered in every part of America’s $13 trillion economy, the $700 billion bank bailout that’s being rammed through Congress is like putting a Band-Aid on a sucking chest wound.
And remember: That money is just to save the banks that have already suffered huge losses from past mortgage defaults. Not even Washington could print enough money to stop the massive NEW tidal wave of mortgage defaults that’s taking shape now.
The monthly payments on more than six million adjustable rate mortgages with an estimated face value of $1.2 trillion are poised to reset in the months ahead. Some of the payments on these loans are expected to more than double. And many of them on homes that are no longer worth anywhere near what buyers owe on them.
That means millions more mortgage defaults are dead ahead no matter what Congress does. Millions more repossessed homes will flood onto the market and homeowners will suffer even more dramatic losses of home equity as the glut of unsold properties hammers the value of our homes into the ground.
And it means even greater pain for those who had counted on that equity to see them through retirement.
It also means that lenders who are fighting for their companies’ lives will have no choice but to continue raising credit requirements … slashing credit limits … and denying loans to all but the most supremely qualified applicants.
And that, in turn, means that every manufacturer, wholesaler, retailer and service business in America is now facing the specter of plunging sales, profits, share prices and in all too many cases, bankruptcy.
As those companies slash jobs or vanish altogether, millions of family paychecks will vanish, too. Nearly every American family is now a candidate for having to live off their savings; many are sitting ducks for bankruptcy and poverty. And every American child and even the as-yet unborn will suffer the consequences and pay the price for decades to come.
But that’s not what really scares me …
What terrifies me … what wakes me in a cold sweat … is that the single most corrupt, inefficient, incompetent and idiotic institution on face of the planet is now trying to “fix” the problem.
And that especially frightens me because, the closer I examine the roots of this crisis, the clearer it becomes that it was engineered almost entirely by the very bumbling buffoons who are now charged with ending it: The U.S. government.
And yet nowhere in the media do I see anyone even trying to uncover the roots of this crisis. What caused it? How can we make sure it will never happen again?
Instead, they simply report that …
* Banks and mortgage companies made loans to unqualified borrowers.
* Banks then sold those loans to Fannie, Freddie and other financial institutions.
* Fannie, Freddie and others then turned those loans into investment vehicles – and sold them to governments, banks and investors both here in the U.S. and worldwide.
* When all those unqualified borrowers inevitably defaulted on their mortgages, these investments crashed in value.
* And when their investments crashed, they pushed institutions and investors who had bought them to the brink – or in the case of Bear Stearns, Lehman, Fannie, Freddie, IndyMac, AIG and many other banks and investment banks, over the cliff.
But nobody I know is asking the obvious question …
“Why did so many smart lenders
make so many stupid loans
to so many people who couldn’t pay?”
It’s clear that lenders granted mortgages to millions of people with no savings or down payment … no proof of income, too little income to qualify and even no income at all … with no assets and with a record for welching on every debt they’d ever incurred; who’d had flaked out on credit cards, auto loans and pretty much every other loan they had ever been granted.
But why?
Why did lenders begin saying “YES” to these abysmal credit risks instead of their standard, resounding “NO”?
Were the CEOs at the helm of these lending institutions merely overpaid idiots who had no idea that loaning money to unqualified borrowers — and worse; to borrowers who had proven time and time again that they would NOT repay — would come back to bite them on the arse?
Or were they simply financial masochists; intentionally bankrupting their institutions and destroying their shareholders’ wealth just to get a cheap thrill?
The answer, of course, is neither. They were simply doing what they were told to do: What Washington forced them to do — under penalty of law.
Here’s the simple, frank truth about this crisis
the mainstream media will never tell you …
Here’s a quick timeline — all easily checkable online:
Jimmy Carter
Gee, thanks, Mr. Carter …
1977: Jimmy Carter rams the Community Reinvestment Act through Congress. It all began 31 years ago when Billy Carter’s brother Jimmy heard that some lenders were “discriminating” against low-income borrowers …
Now, nobody I know has ever accused Mr. Carter of being the sharpest crayon in the box … But he did know one thing: He was by-god incensed — incensed, I tell you — at discrimination of any kind!
Make no mistake here: Oprah was NOT having problems getting loans; nor were most of the millions of other hard-working, responsible minority wage-earners in America.
And it’s not like credit was available to low-income white people with no savings, no down payment and lousy credit histories.
But the facts, of course, didn’t matter to Carter. All that mattered was that someone had used the “D” word, so something had to be done. Political correctness demanded it.
And so, unfazed by the fact that lenders are supposed to be discriminating when deciding who’s a good credit risk — and blissfully unburdened by even the glimmer of an understanding of the catastrophic long-term impact of his actions — Mr. Carter sprang into action.
And in no time flat, Jimmy’s Community Reinvestment Act – “CRA” for short – had sailed through the Democratic Congress.
Suddenly, any lender caught denying mortgages and other loans to low-income people faced serious penalties — including denial of applications to open new branches, to do mergers and acquisitions and other draconian measures.
1992: The Fed drops a bombshell. In what was then heralded as a "landmark study,” the Boston branch of the U.S. Federal Reserve announced that, despite the many pounds of flesh the CRA exacted from lenders who turned down low-income loan applicants, mortgage discrimination was still pandemic in the financial system.
So in a matter of days, the Boston Fed produced a manual for mortgage lenders nation-wide stating, "Discrimination may be observed when a lender’s underwriting policies contain arbitrary or outdated criteria that effectively disqualify many urban or lower-income minority applicants."
What if we just gave the homeless houses?
“Hey buddy – forget the beer.
You want a HOUSE?”
So what were these "arbitrary” and “outdated" criteria?
“Oh, little things,” said the Fed. “Like the size of the mortgage payment relative to income. And the prospective borrower’s savings or credit history.
“And don’t even bother checking to see if the borrower has any income at all,” said the Fed. “If you do … and he doesn’t … and you deny the loan … you’re a dirty, no good discriminator!”
“In fact, come to think of it,” the Fed mused, “if the applicant has participated in a credit-counseling program, that means he’s now a responsible borrower. Better grant him the loan or you’re toast!”
“Oh. And also? Welfare payments and unemployment benefits are valid income so you’d better include them when qualifying loan applicants.”
And so lenders did what they were told under penalty of law and the surge of bad loans accelerated.
1995: Bill Clinton cranks it up a notch. Thirty-six months later, still alarmed at the “discrimination” the Fed had uncovered and eager to reward low-income voters for sending Bubba to the White House, Andrew Cuomo — Clinton’s secretary of Housing and Urban Development — investigated Fannie Mae for racial discrimination.
He “found” it of course — and quickly proposed that fully HALF of Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s portfolio be made up of loans to low-income borrowers by the year 2001.
Next, Clinton introduced significant revisions to the Community Reinvestment Act. In testimony prior to the new bill’s passage, Gene Ludwig — Clinton’s Comptroller of the Currency — explained why reform was so desperately needed:
“Fifteen years ago,” said Ludwig, “Congress passed the Community Reinvestment Act. But the CRA has never achieved its full promise.
“The proposed reform package will channel billions of dollars a year in new credit into America’s distressed communities.”
PLAIN ENGLISH TRANSLATION: Hey, lenders! You’re still not giving enough money to people who can’t — or won’t — pay it back. This law ensures that you will!
Bill Clinton
“Don’t want to give loans to lousy credit risks?
“I’ll fix you!”
Staggeringly idiotic. Right? But wait — the Clinton administration was only getting warmed up.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the president and his Democratic majority in Congress "… mandated that Fannie and Freddie increase their purchases of mortgages for low-income and medium-income borrowers. Operating under that requirement, Fannie Mae, in particular, has been aggressive and creative in stimulating minority gains."
Then, the Clinton administration added the final kicker: Fannie, Freddie and the nation’s lenders would be allowed to turn these subprime loans into securities and sell them to financial institutions and investors world-wide!
Given the fact that Clinton enjoyed a Democratic majority in Congress at the time, it should come no surprise that the revisions sailed through Congress in no time flat.
1999: It’s working! Four years later, with low-income borrowing skyrocketing, an enthusiastic Fannie Mae could be heard publicly bragging about “the end of discriminatory lending in America.”
It even singled out its most shining example: A lender, it said, that worked with community organizers and followed "the most flexible underwriting criteria permitted."
Previously, this lender had made only $1 billion in low-income loans. By 1992, under the provisions of the Community Reinvestment Act, it had loaned $80 billion to low-income borrowers. And thanks to Clinton’s “refinements,” that firm’s loans to low-income borrowers were well on their way to surging to over $600 billion.
Angelo Mozilo
“We just did what Congress told us to do. ”
– Angelo Mozilo, CEO Countrywide Financial
So, one might ask, “Who was this virtuous lender that had increased its loans to low-income people a whopping 59,900% in just over one decade?”
You guessed it: It was the very lender whose demise in 2007 turned out to be the first domino to fall in the subprime lending mess: Countrywide Financial.
2001: Bush administration warns of impending doom. In Bush’s first year in office, the White House’s chief economist, N. Gregory Mankiw, warned Fannie and Freddie’s loans to unqualified borrowers and other complications at the two institutions were creating a huge risk for the entire financial system.
Representative Barney Frank (D-MA) denounced Mankiw, accusing him of having no "concern about housing."
The New York Times fell into lockstep with its Democratic masters in Congress, reporting that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were "under heavy assault by the Republicans," but that it was O.K. — because these entities still had "important political allies" in the Democrats.
Congressional Democrats dug in their heels and made absolutely sure nothing was done to address the impending crisis.
2003: The Bush administration tries to avert catastrophe a second time. Alarmed by fraud and abuses that had been discovered at Fannie and Freddie, President Bush repeatedly urged Congress to pass a bill increasing oversight on the two companies.
The Bush administration had every reason to be worried: A report by outside investigators had concluded that Freddie Mac manipulated its accounting to mislead investors. Experts were warning that Fannie Mae was not adequately hedging against rising interest rates.
Barney Frank
“These two entities – Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – are not facing any kind of financial crisis.”
Representative Barney Frank (D-MA)
Arguing against Republican attempts to reform the two corrupt mortgage lenders in 2003.
Bush’s Treasury Secretary, John Snow, told the House Financial Services Committee, ”There is a general recognition that the supervisory system for housing-related government-sponsored enterprises neither has the tools, nor the stature, to deal effectively with the current size, complexity and importance of these enterprises.”
After the hearing, two Republican congressmen — Representative Michael G. Oxley of Ohio, chairman of the Financial Services Committee, and Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee — announced their intention to draft legislation based on the administration’s proposal.
”We have seen in recent months that mismanagement and questionable accounting practices went largely unnoticed” by the independent agency that regulated Fannie and Freddie, said Oxley.
But once again, congressional Democrats and their lackeys in the media scoffed at the Bush plan to save Fannie and Freddie. Some went so far as to point at the plan as proof that Republicans hate minorities and poor people.
And Barney Frank (D-MA) now the Chairman of the powerful House Financial Services Committee — the sack of excrement in a suit you see grandstanding on TV as Congress mulls this newest bail-out — denied there was any crisis at all.
“These two entities — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,” declared Frank, “are not facing any kind of financial crisis.”
And so, yet another opportunity to avert the crisis that now is — according to Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson — threatening to “completely destroy the entire U.S. financial system” was lost.
The simple truth
Despite everything the Democrats in Congress are telling you now …
Despite all the mindless spin the mainstream media is trying to shove down your throat on the six-o’clock news …
Despite all the talk about how “greedy lenders and incompetent CEOs and lax government regulation” caused this crisis …
Despite the ridiculous claims that only increased government regulation and intensified congressional oversight can end the crisis (regardless of the fact that political regulation and oversight caused it) …
Yaron Brook
“The Government Did It”
“Through the stick of the CRA and the carrot of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Fed created the mortgage market debacle.”
– Economist Yaron Brook
And despite the lies congressional Democrats and their presidential candidate are telling in an unbelievably hypocritical attempt to hang this crisis on the Bush administration (and by extension, on John McCain) …
The simple truth is, this crisis was engineered and implemented almost entirely by Democrats.
The more frightening truth is, they once again control Congress — just like they did when the laws were passed that created this crisis.
And the terrifying truth to anyone who cares about his family’s financial security is that they will probably also control the White House, come next January.
Barack Obama
The CRA — the idiotic law that created this crisis — also made Obama who he is today.
“Why is that so terrifying?” you ask …
Consider this: According to his autobiography, Obama spent his years after college and before he ran for the Illinois Senate becoming an expert in real estate law and fair housing while working as a “community organizer.”
What he was really doing was blackmailing Chicago lenders into throwing money at his low-income constituents. And the club Obama used to bludgeon banks into submission — into granting loans to people with no down payment, no job, no income and lousy credit histories — was called … you guessed it … “The Community Reinvestment Act of 1977.”
Now, to anyone who has even the glimmer of an understanding of how Washington works, it should come as no surprise that Mr. Obama was well-rewarded for his untiring efforts to force banks to throw money at unqualified borrowers — and it should also come as no surprise that those rewards flowed from the two quasi-private companies that benefited most from the explosion in subprime mortgages: Fannie and Freddie.
Recently, we learned that of the hundreds of political contributions made by Fannie Mae over the last couple of years, Obama received the second highest amount — second only to the Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, Christopher Dodd (D-CT).
Other Democrats were also well-rewarded for this catastrophic explosion in subprime lending with lucrative jobs at Fannie and Freddie. And four of these former Fannie and Freddie big shots — former CEOs and a board member of these corrupt institutions — have been on the Obama bandwagon since Day One:
Franklin Raines
1. Franklin Raines, former Clinton administration budget director who earned $90 million in his five years as Fannie Mae CEO, from 1999 to 2004 — has been called by the Obama campaign several times for advice on (believe it or not) housing and the economy according to The Washington Post …
2. James Johnson, former aide to Democratic Vice President Walter Mondale, who earned $21 million in his last year alone serving as Fannie Mae CEO from 1991 to 1998 — was appointed to head Obama’s vice presidential selection committee …
Jamie Gorelick
3. Jamie Gorelick, former Clinton administration deputy attorney general, who earned $26 million as vice chair of Fannie Mae from 1998 to 2003 — has been mentioned as a prime candidate for a possible cabinet position in an Obama administration by insiders, and …
Rahm Emanuel
4. Rahm Emanuel, former Senior Advisor in the Clinton White House served on the Board of Directors for Freddie Mac where he is said to have opposed every reform proposed by the Bush Administration. Emanuel is credited with being the one man responsible for rallying support for Obama early on among Congressional Democrats.
Take a good, long look at those names and faces: These, along with the aforementioned Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Barney Frank and Christopher Dodd, are the eight people who created this crisis and who profited the most from it — both politically and financially.
Now, their abysmal economic ignorance, political ambition and mindless greed are killing great American companies … robbing millions of their home equity and their paychecks … driving the federal deficit through the roof … and pushing us to the brink of the greatest financial catastrophe in U.S. history.
Plenty more blame to go around
Now, I make it no secret that I’m no fan of either one of the major political parties.
Like Reagan, I believe that government isn’t the solution; it’s the problem. And by studying history, I’ve learned that whenever Washington attempts to solve any problem, it’s a slam-dunk it will only wind up creating two, three or even more far more serious ones.
Even the most casual observer would conclude that as a class, politicians in both parties are notorious for their inability to locate their own arses — even if allowed to use both hands. Until now, we have tolerated them because they — and the massive, bloated, abusive, oppressive government they have created — have been merely a dead weight on us.
Not now. Now, there’s a very real risk that their lust for power, political ambition, corruption and cowardice will cost you your job, your home, and any prospects for a prosperous life.
The ONLY way to limit the damage they do to you, to me and to every other American is to keep Washington on a short leash … prohibit them from dabbling in matters they have no business fooling with … and to strictly limit the size and scope of the government.
“A pox on both their houses,” is my studied philosophy.
So I don’t mind telling you that plenty of Republicans bear guilt for this crisis as well.
Many are guilty of not having the guts to scream bloody murder while these mindless laws were being passed …
Of not taking a stand when Bush tried not once but twice to head off this crisis at the pass …
Or worse; voting with the Democratic majority for laws that elevated populism and political correctness above financial prudence.
And sure: Many CEOs at our distressed or defunct financial institutions are guilty of the same things.
And of extending the same courtesies the government demanded for low-income borrowers to the middle class; luring millions of others into more house than they could afford with no-down-payment loans and adjustable rate mortgages with irresistibly low interest rates.
Plus, the way I see it, there’s no reason why anyone with an IQ larger than my shoe size (11) would invest a penny in mortgages signed by people who had no means or no intent of repaying them.
And of course, millions of Americans are also complicit for allowing themselves to be seduced into taking on more debt than they could ever repay.
But make no mistake: It took two Democratic presidents working with Democratic majorities in Congress to engineer this crisis. Without the disastrous “fair housing” legislation imposed on this country by Carter, Clinton, Frank, Dodd and other Democratic lawmakers, this crisis would never have happened.
And never forget; it was the Democratic Party that killed not one but two attempts by the Bush administration to stop this credit catastrophe before the first subprime lender bit the dust.
This is what happens when hysterical race-baiting and populist politics are allowed to subvert prudent business practices.
This is what happens when despicable politicians are allowed to buy votes from low-income people with laws that endanger your financial survival.
This is what happens when imbeciles — most of whom have never held a real job or have had to make payroll in a company of their own — are allowed to tamper with the economy.
And now, these same clowns
are about to make matters worse
… AGAIN!
Unbelievably, these same drooling morons — the very people who caused this mess in the first place — are now charged with saving our economic system from certain destruction.
Because they are the majority party in Congress, the very Democrats who engineered this crisis — most notably Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd (Fannie Mae’s fair-haired boy and #1 beneficiary of its political contributions) and House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (who blocked every early attempt to avoid this crisis) — are running the show.
Joe Biden
And if the current state of the presidential polls are any indication, our next vice president — Obama’s running mate, Joe Biden, a loyal Democrat while this disaster was being created in Congress — will be available to break any ties on future Senate votes.
And of course, Obama himself — the self-proclaimed “Candidate of Change” — who has never attempted to change or reform one, blessed thing in his entire life …
Who, much to the contrary, shamelessly exploited Chicago’s notoriously corrupt “pay-to-play” political system for all it’s worth and also built his entire political base on the very law that created this crisis …
Barack Obama
… Will soon be lighting up his beloved Marlboros in the Oval Office.
So …
* The next time you hear that your home equity has vanished into thin air and that your house is now worth less than you paid for it; maybe even less than you OWE on it …
* Or find that your credit limit has just been slashed or you get rejected when you apply for a loan …
* Or check your stock portfolio or retirement plan only to find that it’s a mere shadow of what it once was …
* Or discover to your horror that our massive federal deficit has gutted your buying power and driven the price you pay at the supermarket or gas station sky high …
* The next time you hear that a friend or family member has been laid-off, is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy and in danger of losing everything he or she has ever worked for …
* The next time you want to kick the dog because your newly nationalized mortgage or insurance company is suddenly exhibiting all the competence of the U.S. Post Office and the sensitivity of an IRS collection agent …
* And the next time Barney Frank or Charlie Rangel or Joe Biden or any other one of these unrepentant, hypocritical scoundrels tells you he’s raising your taxes because you’re not shouldering “your fair share” of the $1 trillion burden his blundering has saddled you with …
You know who to thank.
The moral of the story:
If you trust Washington to save you; you’re screwed.
If this crisis proves anything, it’s that these people don’t give a good goldarn about you. You’re not rich enough to bail out or poor enough to be given a hand-out.
So you, my friend, are on your own.
There are certain things you can do to protect yourself, though. And with this crisis unraveling at a breakneck pace, there’s no time to waste.
Here’s a checklist I hope will come in handy …
1. Rake in every dollar you can. First and foremost, it is absolutely critical that you do everything in your power to increase your income while you still can. Pull out all the stops in your business. If you work for someone else, work overtime or even multiple jobs if you have to. Sell stuff you don’t need or don’t use. Scrape together all the dollars you can.
2. Save every dollar you can. Guard every one of them like a junkyard dog. You’re going to need them. Go through your family budget with a fine-toothed comb and ruthlessly, unapologetically slash every unnecessary expense. The more you save now, the more you’ll have to see you through when the ca-ca hits the air conditioner.
You might also want to check with a financial advisor to explore ways to cut every payment you have to the bone. Because when the trillions of counterfeit paper dollars Washington’s now creating out of thin air begin working their way through the economy, you’ll probably be able to repay every debt you owe with dollars that are worth a fraction of what they’re worth today.
Also — whether you realize it or not, your single largest monthly expense is NOT your mortgage or your car or your health insurance or anything else. Your largest financial burden by far is the government — the federal, state and local taxes you pay dwarf every other expense you have.
So seeing a qualified tax advisor about ways to make absolutely sure you’re paying the absolute minimum required by law would be a stellar idea. Be sure not to forget your property taxes. If your home is declining in value, you may be able to appeal for a downward adjustment that could save you thousands.
3. Watch your bank accounts like a hawk. Whatever you do, do NOT assume that your bank is safe just because this most recent bail-out proposal is likely to become law.
Most banks have already suffered massive losses. Many are wounded; bleeding; struggling to survive. And many still have huge amounts of toxic loans in their portfolios that are steadily eroding their asset bases even further.
The bail-out is NOT going to replace the money they originally paid to buy those investments — and that means they’ll be booking even more losses as they dump those investments into the U.S. Treasury in the months ahead.
If you have more than $100,000 in a bank, make absolutely sure that no single account at any one bank contains even a single dollar more than the limit that’s insured by the FDIC. If you’re not clear on the rules, check out the FDIC website at WWW.FDIC.GOV
4. Program your business for success in this tough environment. If you are starting a business or are considering expanding your business’ product line, carefully consider this new economic environment when setting your strategy.
Think especially hard about recession-proof products and services — the things people can’t live without. Seriously consider products and services that cater to the very wealthy who are likely to be least affected as this crisis unfolds. Also consider things that might help beleaguered wage-earners, consumers, taxpayers, and other business owners get through this alive.
5. Expect stocks and mutual funds to plunge. If you own stocks — either directly, in a mutual fund or ETF or through a retirement or pension plan — you should seriously consider the risk you’re taking with that money.
Some analysts, including the ones who have been the most accurate in their warnings about this crisis from the get-go, are warning that, with the economy and stock market now as nervous as a hooker at a snake-handler convention, the next chunk of bad news that hits the wires could be the straw that breaks the market’s back.
And please — for all our sakes:
HELP US GET THE WORD OUT!
Send this article — in its entirety — to everyone you know. Post it or link to it on every blog, every forum you can think of. Send more links to everyone on your Contacts List and to reporters at the newspapers you read and the TV networks you watch.
Write letters to both of your Senators and Congressperson and urge everyone you know to do the same.
Demand that they repeal the Community Reinvestment Act that caused this crisis (yes, it’s still on the books and still being enforced!).
Tell them you know what they did to cause this crisis.
Demand that criminals in Congress who actually DID cause this crisis suffer at least as distressing a fate as the corporate CEOs they’re scapegoating.
The sooner Washington gets the message that we’re on to them and that we’re not going to take it any more, the sooner things can begin to change.
This is YOUR financial future we’re talking about here. If Washington’s power brokers have proven anything, it’s that they can NOT be trusted to do the right thing until millions of us rise as one and shout “Enough!”
A Conspiracy of Imbeciles
Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Barney Frank, Chris Dodd
By Clayton Makepeace
Publisher & Editor
Washington is playing you for a sucker — shamelessly robbing you blind —
and they’re not just getting away with it; they’re actually being rewarded for it
Here’s what you must do now to hit them where it hurts and quite possibly, to save your financial future
Dear Business-Builder,
There’s an 800-pound gorilla in the room — a crisis that overshadows and dwarfs the importance of our individual careers and businesses.
Now, I’m well aware that what I’m going to say will be controversial. The truths I’m about to present will be welcomed by many of my readers. Many others will be offended by these facts. For that, I can only apologize in advance — and humbly suggest that if the truth offends you, it just might be a hint that your point of view could benefit from an honest re-examination.
They call this 800-pound gorilla the “Credit Crisis”— and whether you realize it yet or not,it is the single greatest financial catastrophe of your lifetime …
* It has probably already cost you tens of thousands of dollars and crippled your retirement – whether you know it or not: Depending on where you live, this crisis has already slashed as much as 35% off the value of your home. And since home equity is the #1 source of retirement savings for most Americans, it is destroying the retirement dreams of millions.
* It has cost investors and retirees and pension funds hundreds of billions more: Skyrocketing mortgage defaults have killed great American institutions like Bear Stearns, Lehman Brothers, AIG, Washington Mutual and more … caused Washington to take control of mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac … and gutted the share value of nearly every U.S. bank and brokerage. Millions of people who owned those stocks are now hundreds of billions; perhaps trillions of dollars poorer.
* It has launched U.S federal deficits through the roof: The attempt to save our dying institutions has caused the U.S. government to spend $25 billion to rescue Bear Stearns … another $80 billion to save American Insurance Group (AIG) … $200 billion to save Fannie and Freddie … $165 billion on last spring’s stimulus package for consumers … and in the next few hours — a few days at the most — Washington will blow another $700 billion attempting to prevent a financial meltdown that could surpass the Great Depression.
Altogether, that’s more than $1 trillion (one thousand billion dollars!) spent so far in an attempt to fight this crisis … an attempt that may — or may not — prevent, as Treasury Secretary Henry Paulson phrased it recently, “The total meltdown of the entire U.S. financial system.”
* It is crushing the dollar and killing jobs: A global loss of confidence in Washington’s ability to manage the U.S. economy combined with the tidal wave of paper dollars Washington has created to fight this crisis have contributed to the greatest crash in the value of the U.S. dollar in ages and raised the specter of hyper-inflation.
Plus, as banks get stingier with borrowers out of sheer self-defense, this crisis is crushing corporate earnings and share prices. Private investors, retirees, pension funds and institutions have lost more than $3 trillion in the past 12 months alone.
And it has stalled the U.S. economy in its tracks. America’s three largest automakers are now begging Congress for $25 billion to help them survive. Unemployment is careening higher; costing legions of Americans the ability to provide for their families.
* It’s pushing the U.S. economy relentlessly towards what may well be a new Dark Age: With that $1 trillion plus, plus, PLUS being added to America’s skyrocketing budget deficits for 2008 and 2009, there’s a real danger this crisis will also crush the bond market … send interest rates exploding through the roof … and trigger yet another, more intense phase of business failures, stock market losses and soaring unemployment in the months ahead.
And make no mistake:
It’s not over yet. Not by a long shot.
Compared to the losses now being suffered in every part of America’s $13 trillion economy, the $700 billion bank bailout that’s being rammed through Congress is like putting a Band-Aid on a sucking chest wound.
And remember: That money is just to save the banks that have already suffered huge losses from past mortgage defaults. Not even Washington could print enough money to stop the massive NEW tidal wave of mortgage defaults that’s taking shape now.
The monthly payments on more than six million adjustable rate mortgages with an estimated face value of $1.2 trillion are poised to reset in the months ahead. Some of the payments on these loans are expected to more than double. And many of them on homes that are no longer worth anywhere near what buyers owe on them.
That means millions more mortgage defaults are dead ahead no matter what Congress does. Millions more repossessed homes will flood onto the market and homeowners will suffer even more dramatic losses of home equity as the glut of unsold properties hammers the value of our homes into the ground.
And it means even greater pain for those who had counted on that equity to see them through retirement.
It also means that lenders who are fighting for their companies’ lives will have no choice but to continue raising credit requirements … slashing credit limits … and denying loans to all but the most supremely qualified applicants.
And that, in turn, means that every manufacturer, wholesaler, retailer and service business in America is now facing the specter of plunging sales, profits, share prices and in all too many cases, bankruptcy.
As those companies slash jobs or vanish altogether, millions of family paychecks will vanish, too. Nearly every American family is now a candidate for having to live off their savings; many are sitting ducks for bankruptcy and poverty. And every American child and even the as-yet unborn will suffer the consequences and pay the price for decades to come.
But that’s not what really scares me …
What terrifies me … what wakes me in a cold sweat … is that the single most corrupt, inefficient, incompetent and idiotic institution on face of the planet is now trying to “fix” the problem.
And that especially frightens me because, the closer I examine the roots of this crisis, the clearer it becomes that it was engineered almost entirely by the very bumbling buffoons who are now charged with ending it: The U.S. government.
And yet nowhere in the media do I see anyone even trying to uncover the roots of this crisis. What caused it? How can we make sure it will never happen again?
Instead, they simply report that …
* Banks and mortgage companies made loans to unqualified borrowers.
* Banks then sold those loans to Fannie, Freddie and other financial institutions.
* Fannie, Freddie and others then turned those loans into investment vehicles – and sold them to governments, banks and investors both here in the U.S. and worldwide.
* When all those unqualified borrowers inevitably defaulted on their mortgages, these investments crashed in value.
* And when their investments crashed, they pushed institutions and investors who had bought them to the brink – or in the case of Bear Stearns, Lehman, Fannie, Freddie, IndyMac, AIG and many other banks and investment banks, over the cliff.
But nobody I know is asking the obvious question …
“Why did so many smart lenders
make so many stupid loans
to so many people who couldn’t pay?”
It’s clear that lenders granted mortgages to millions of people with no savings or down payment … no proof of income, too little income to qualify and even no income at all … with no assets and with a record for welching on every debt they’d ever incurred; who’d had flaked out on credit cards, auto loans and pretty much every other loan they had ever been granted.
But why?
Why did lenders begin saying “YES” to these abysmal credit risks instead of their standard, resounding “NO”?
Were the CEOs at the helm of these lending institutions merely overpaid idiots who had no idea that loaning money to unqualified borrowers — and worse; to borrowers who had proven time and time again that they would NOT repay — would come back to bite them on the arse?
Or were they simply financial masochists; intentionally bankrupting their institutions and destroying their shareholders’ wealth just to get a cheap thrill?
The answer, of course, is neither. They were simply doing what they were told to do: What Washington forced them to do — under penalty of law.
Here’s the simple, frank truth about this crisis
the mainstream media will never tell you …
Here’s a quick timeline — all easily checkable online:
Jimmy Carter
Gee, thanks, Mr. Carter …
1977: Jimmy Carter rams the Community Reinvestment Act through Congress. It all began 31 years ago when Billy Carter’s brother Jimmy heard that some lenders were “discriminating” against low-income borrowers …
Now, nobody I know has ever accused Mr. Carter of being the sharpest crayon in the box … But he did know one thing: He was by-god incensed — incensed, I tell you — at discrimination of any kind!
Make no mistake here: Oprah was NOT having problems getting loans; nor were most of the millions of other hard-working, responsible minority wage-earners in America.
And it’s not like credit was available to low-income white people with no savings, no down payment and lousy credit histories.
But the facts, of course, didn’t matter to Carter. All that mattered was that someone had used the “D” word, so something had to be done. Political correctness demanded it.
And so, unfazed by the fact that lenders are supposed to be discriminating when deciding who’s a good credit risk — and blissfully unburdened by even the glimmer of an understanding of the catastrophic long-term impact of his actions — Mr. Carter sprang into action.
And in no time flat, Jimmy’s Community Reinvestment Act – “CRA” for short – had sailed through the Democratic Congress.
Suddenly, any lender caught denying mortgages and other loans to low-income people faced serious penalties — including denial of applications to open new branches, to do mergers and acquisitions and other draconian measures.
1992: The Fed drops a bombshell. In what was then heralded as a "landmark study,” the Boston branch of the U.S. Federal Reserve announced that, despite the many pounds of flesh the CRA exacted from lenders who turned down low-income loan applicants, mortgage discrimination was still pandemic in the financial system.
So in a matter of days, the Boston Fed produced a manual for mortgage lenders nation-wide stating, "Discrimination may be observed when a lender’s underwriting policies contain arbitrary or outdated criteria that effectively disqualify many urban or lower-income minority applicants."
What if we just gave the homeless houses?
“Hey buddy – forget the beer.
You want a HOUSE?”
So what were these "arbitrary” and “outdated" criteria?
“Oh, little things,” said the Fed. “Like the size of the mortgage payment relative to income. And the prospective borrower’s savings or credit history.
“And don’t even bother checking to see if the borrower has any income at all,” said the Fed. “If you do … and he doesn’t … and you deny the loan … you’re a dirty, no good discriminator!”
“In fact, come to think of it,” the Fed mused, “if the applicant has participated in a credit-counseling program, that means he’s now a responsible borrower. Better grant him the loan or you’re toast!”
“Oh. And also? Welfare payments and unemployment benefits are valid income so you’d better include them when qualifying loan applicants.”
And so lenders did what they were told under penalty of law and the surge of bad loans accelerated.
1995: Bill Clinton cranks it up a notch. Thirty-six months later, still alarmed at the “discrimination” the Fed had uncovered and eager to reward low-income voters for sending Bubba to the White House, Andrew Cuomo — Clinton’s secretary of Housing and Urban Development — investigated Fannie Mae for racial discrimination.
He “found” it of course — and quickly proposed that fully HALF of Fannie Mae’s and Freddie Mac’s portfolio be made up of loans to low-income borrowers by the year 2001.
Next, Clinton introduced significant revisions to the Community Reinvestment Act. In testimony prior to the new bill’s passage, Gene Ludwig — Clinton’s Comptroller of the Currency — explained why reform was so desperately needed:
“Fifteen years ago,” said Ludwig, “Congress passed the Community Reinvestment Act. But the CRA has never achieved its full promise.
“The proposed reform package will channel billions of dollars a year in new credit into America’s distressed communities.”
PLAIN ENGLISH TRANSLATION: Hey, lenders! You’re still not giving enough money to people who can’t — or won’t — pay it back. This law ensures that you will!
Bill Clinton
“Don’t want to give loans to lousy credit risks?
“I’ll fix you!”
Staggeringly idiotic. Right? But wait — the Clinton administration was only getting warmed up.
According to the Los Angeles Times, the president and his Democratic majority in Congress "… mandated that Fannie and Freddie increase their purchases of mortgages for low-income and medium-income borrowers. Operating under that requirement, Fannie Mae, in particular, has been aggressive and creative in stimulating minority gains."
Then, the Clinton administration added the final kicker: Fannie, Freddie and the nation’s lenders would be allowed to turn these subprime loans into securities and sell them to financial institutions and investors world-wide!
Given the fact that Clinton enjoyed a Democratic majority in Congress at the time, it should come no surprise that the revisions sailed through Congress in no time flat.
1999: It’s working! Four years later, with low-income borrowing skyrocketing, an enthusiastic Fannie Mae could be heard publicly bragging about “the end of discriminatory lending in America.”
It even singled out its most shining example: A lender, it said, that worked with community organizers and followed "the most flexible underwriting criteria permitted."
Previously, this lender had made only $1 billion in low-income loans. By 1992, under the provisions of the Community Reinvestment Act, it had loaned $80 billion to low-income borrowers. And thanks to Clinton’s “refinements,” that firm’s loans to low-income borrowers were well on their way to surging to over $600 billion.
Angelo Mozilo
“We just did what Congress told us to do. ”
– Angelo Mozilo, CEO Countrywide Financial
So, one might ask, “Who was this virtuous lender that had increased its loans to low-income people a whopping 59,900% in just over one decade?”
You guessed it: It was the very lender whose demise in 2007 turned out to be the first domino to fall in the subprime lending mess: Countrywide Financial.
2001: Bush administration warns of impending doom. In Bush’s first year in office, the White House’s chief economist, N. Gregory Mankiw, warned Fannie and Freddie’s loans to unqualified borrowers and other complications at the two institutions were creating a huge risk for the entire financial system.
Representative Barney Frank (D-MA) denounced Mankiw, accusing him of having no "concern about housing."
The New York Times fell into lockstep with its Democratic masters in Congress, reporting that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac were "under heavy assault by the Republicans," but that it was O.K. — because these entities still had "important political allies" in the Democrats.
Congressional Democrats dug in their heels and made absolutely sure nothing was done to address the impending crisis.
2003: The Bush administration tries to avert catastrophe a second time. Alarmed by fraud and abuses that had been discovered at Fannie and Freddie, President Bush repeatedly urged Congress to pass a bill increasing oversight on the two companies.
The Bush administration had every reason to be worried: A report by outside investigators had concluded that Freddie Mac manipulated its accounting to mislead investors. Experts were warning that Fannie Mae was not adequately hedging against rising interest rates.
Barney Frank
“These two entities – Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac – are not facing any kind of financial crisis.”
Representative Barney Frank (D-MA)
Arguing against Republican attempts to reform the two corrupt mortgage lenders in 2003.
Bush’s Treasury Secretary, John Snow, told the House Financial Services Committee, ”There is a general recognition that the supervisory system for housing-related government-sponsored enterprises neither has the tools, nor the stature, to deal effectively with the current size, complexity and importance of these enterprises.”
After the hearing, two Republican congressmen — Representative Michael G. Oxley of Ohio, chairman of the Financial Services Committee, and Senator Richard Shelby of Alabama, chairman of the Senate Banking Committee — announced their intention to draft legislation based on the administration’s proposal.
”We have seen in recent months that mismanagement and questionable accounting practices went largely unnoticed” by the independent agency that regulated Fannie and Freddie, said Oxley.
But once again, congressional Democrats and their lackeys in the media scoffed at the Bush plan to save Fannie and Freddie. Some went so far as to point at the plan as proof that Republicans hate minorities and poor people.
And Barney Frank (D-MA) now the Chairman of the powerful House Financial Services Committee — the sack of excrement in a suit you see grandstanding on TV as Congress mulls this newest bail-out — denied there was any crisis at all.
“These two entities — Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac,” declared Frank, “are not facing any kind of financial crisis.”
And so, yet another opportunity to avert the crisis that now is — according to Treasury Secretary Hank Paulson — threatening to “completely destroy the entire U.S. financial system” was lost.
The simple truth
Despite everything the Democrats in Congress are telling you now …
Despite all the mindless spin the mainstream media is trying to shove down your throat on the six-o’clock news …
Despite all the talk about how “greedy lenders and incompetent CEOs and lax government regulation” caused this crisis …
Despite the ridiculous claims that only increased government regulation and intensified congressional oversight can end the crisis (regardless of the fact that political regulation and oversight caused it) …
Yaron Brook
“The Government Did It”
“Through the stick of the CRA and the carrot of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the Fed created the mortgage market debacle.”
– Economist Yaron Brook
And despite the lies congressional Democrats and their presidential candidate are telling in an unbelievably hypocritical attempt to hang this crisis on the Bush administration (and by extension, on John McCain) …
The simple truth is, this crisis was engineered and implemented almost entirely by Democrats.
The more frightening truth is, they once again control Congress — just like they did when the laws were passed that created this crisis.
And the terrifying truth to anyone who cares about his family’s financial security is that they will probably also control the White House, come next January.
Barack Obama
The CRA — the idiotic law that created this crisis — also made Obama who he is today.
“Why is that so terrifying?” you ask …
Consider this: According to his autobiography, Obama spent his years after college and before he ran for the Illinois Senate becoming an expert in real estate law and fair housing while working as a “community organizer.”
What he was really doing was blackmailing Chicago lenders into throwing money at his low-income constituents. And the club Obama used to bludgeon banks into submission — into granting loans to people with no down payment, no job, no income and lousy credit histories — was called … you guessed it … “The Community Reinvestment Act of 1977.”
Now, to anyone who has even the glimmer of an understanding of how Washington works, it should come as no surprise that Mr. Obama was well-rewarded for his untiring efforts to force banks to throw money at unqualified borrowers — and it should also come as no surprise that those rewards flowed from the two quasi-private companies that benefited most from the explosion in subprime mortgages: Fannie and Freddie.
Recently, we learned that of the hundreds of political contributions made by Fannie Mae over the last couple of years, Obama received the second highest amount — second only to the Chairman of the Senate Banking Committee, Christopher Dodd (D-CT).
Other Democrats were also well-rewarded for this catastrophic explosion in subprime lending with lucrative jobs at Fannie and Freddie. And four of these former Fannie and Freddie big shots — former CEOs and a board member of these corrupt institutions — have been on the Obama bandwagon since Day One:
Franklin Raines
1. Franklin Raines, former Clinton administration budget director who earned $90 million in his five years as Fannie Mae CEO, from 1999 to 2004 — has been called by the Obama campaign several times for advice on (believe it or not) housing and the economy according to The Washington Post …
2. James Johnson, former aide to Democratic Vice President Walter Mondale, who earned $21 million in his last year alone serving as Fannie Mae CEO from 1991 to 1998 — was appointed to head Obama’s vice presidential selection committee …
Jamie Gorelick
3. Jamie Gorelick, former Clinton administration deputy attorney general, who earned $26 million as vice chair of Fannie Mae from 1998 to 2003 — has been mentioned as a prime candidate for a possible cabinet position in an Obama administration by insiders, and …
Rahm Emanuel
4. Rahm Emanuel, former Senior Advisor in the Clinton White House served on the Board of Directors for Freddie Mac where he is said to have opposed every reform proposed by the Bush Administration. Emanuel is credited with being the one man responsible for rallying support for Obama early on among Congressional Democrats.
Take a good, long look at those names and faces: These, along with the aforementioned Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, Barney Frank and Christopher Dodd, are the eight people who created this crisis and who profited the most from it — both politically and financially.
Now, their abysmal economic ignorance, political ambition and mindless greed are killing great American companies … robbing millions of their home equity and their paychecks … driving the federal deficit through the roof … and pushing us to the brink of the greatest financial catastrophe in U.S. history.
Plenty more blame to go around
Now, I make it no secret that I’m no fan of either one of the major political parties.
Like Reagan, I believe that government isn’t the solution; it’s the problem. And by studying history, I’ve learned that whenever Washington attempts to solve any problem, it’s a slam-dunk it will only wind up creating two, three or even more far more serious ones.
Even the most casual observer would conclude that as a class, politicians in both parties are notorious for their inability to locate their own arses — even if allowed to use both hands. Until now, we have tolerated them because they — and the massive, bloated, abusive, oppressive government they have created — have been merely a dead weight on us.
Not now. Now, there’s a very real risk that their lust for power, political ambition, corruption and cowardice will cost you your job, your home, and any prospects for a prosperous life.
The ONLY way to limit the damage they do to you, to me and to every other American is to keep Washington on a short leash … prohibit them from dabbling in matters they have no business fooling with … and to strictly limit the size and scope of the government.
“A pox on both their houses,” is my studied philosophy.
So I don’t mind telling you that plenty of Republicans bear guilt for this crisis as well.
Many are guilty of not having the guts to scream bloody murder while these mindless laws were being passed …
Of not taking a stand when Bush tried not once but twice to head off this crisis at the pass …
Or worse; voting with the Democratic majority for laws that elevated populism and political correctness above financial prudence.
And sure: Many CEOs at our distressed or defunct financial institutions are guilty of the same things.
And of extending the same courtesies the government demanded for low-income borrowers to the middle class; luring millions of others into more house than they could afford with no-down-payment loans and adjustable rate mortgages with irresistibly low interest rates.
Plus, the way I see it, there’s no reason why anyone with an IQ larger than my shoe size (11) would invest a penny in mortgages signed by people who had no means or no intent of repaying them.
And of course, millions of Americans are also complicit for allowing themselves to be seduced into taking on more debt than they could ever repay.
But make no mistake: It took two Democratic presidents working with Democratic majorities in Congress to engineer this crisis. Without the disastrous “fair housing” legislation imposed on this country by Carter, Clinton, Frank, Dodd and other Democratic lawmakers, this crisis would never have happened.
And never forget; it was the Democratic Party that killed not one but two attempts by the Bush administration to stop this credit catastrophe before the first subprime lender bit the dust.
This is what happens when hysterical race-baiting and populist politics are allowed to subvert prudent business practices.
This is what happens when despicable politicians are allowed to buy votes from low-income people with laws that endanger your financial survival.
This is what happens when imbeciles — most of whom have never held a real job or have had to make payroll in a company of their own — are allowed to tamper with the economy.
And now, these same clowns
are about to make matters worse
… AGAIN!
Unbelievably, these same drooling morons — the very people who caused this mess in the first place — are now charged with saving our economic system from certain destruction.
Because they are the majority party in Congress, the very Democrats who engineered this crisis — most notably Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd (Fannie Mae’s fair-haired boy and #1 beneficiary of its political contributions) and House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (who blocked every early attempt to avoid this crisis) — are running the show.
Joe Biden
And if the current state of the presidential polls are any indication, our next vice president — Obama’s running mate, Joe Biden, a loyal Democrat while this disaster was being created in Congress — will be available to break any ties on future Senate votes.
And of course, Obama himself — the self-proclaimed “Candidate of Change” — who has never attempted to change or reform one, blessed thing in his entire life …
Who, much to the contrary, shamelessly exploited Chicago’s notoriously corrupt “pay-to-play” political system for all it’s worth and also built his entire political base on the very law that created this crisis …
Barack Obama
… Will soon be lighting up his beloved Marlboros in the Oval Office.
So …
* The next time you hear that your home equity has vanished into thin air and that your house is now worth less than you paid for it; maybe even less than you OWE on it …
* Or find that your credit limit has just been slashed or you get rejected when you apply for a loan …
* Or check your stock portfolio or retirement plan only to find that it’s a mere shadow of what it once was …
* Or discover to your horror that our massive federal deficit has gutted your buying power and driven the price you pay at the supermarket or gas station sky high …
* The next time you hear that a friend or family member has been laid-off, is teetering on the brink of bankruptcy and in danger of losing everything he or she has ever worked for …
* The next time you want to kick the dog because your newly nationalized mortgage or insurance company is suddenly exhibiting all the competence of the U.S. Post Office and the sensitivity of an IRS collection agent …
* And the next time Barney Frank or Charlie Rangel or Joe Biden or any other one of these unrepentant, hypocritical scoundrels tells you he’s raising your taxes because you’re not shouldering “your fair share” of the $1 trillion burden his blundering has saddled you with …
You know who to thank.
The moral of the story:
If you trust Washington to save you; you’re screwed.
If this crisis proves anything, it’s that these people don’t give a good goldarn about you. You’re not rich enough to bail out or poor enough to be given a hand-out.
So you, my friend, are on your own.
There are certain things you can do to protect yourself, though. And with this crisis unraveling at a breakneck pace, there’s no time to waste.
Here’s a checklist I hope will come in handy …
1. Rake in every dollar you can. First and foremost, it is absolutely critical that you do everything in your power to increase your income while you still can. Pull out all the stops in your business. If you work for someone else, work overtime or even multiple jobs if you have to. Sell stuff you don’t need or don’t use. Scrape together all the dollars you can.
2. Save every dollar you can. Guard every one of them like a junkyard dog. You’re going to need them. Go through your family budget with a fine-toothed comb and ruthlessly, unapologetically slash every unnecessary expense. The more you save now, the more you’ll have to see you through when the ca-ca hits the air conditioner.
You might also want to check with a financial advisor to explore ways to cut every payment you have to the bone. Because when the trillions of counterfeit paper dollars Washington’s now creating out of thin air begin working their way through the economy, you’ll probably be able to repay every debt you owe with dollars that are worth a fraction of what they’re worth today.
Also — whether you realize it or not, your single largest monthly expense is NOT your mortgage or your car or your health insurance or anything else. Your largest financial burden by far is the government — the federal, state and local taxes you pay dwarf every other expense you have.
So seeing a qualified tax advisor about ways to make absolutely sure you’re paying the absolute minimum required by law would be a stellar idea. Be sure not to forget your property taxes. If your home is declining in value, you may be able to appeal for a downward adjustment that could save you thousands.
3. Watch your bank accounts like a hawk. Whatever you do, do NOT assume that your bank is safe just because this most recent bail-out proposal is likely to become law.
Most banks have already suffered massive losses. Many are wounded; bleeding; struggling to survive. And many still have huge amounts of toxic loans in their portfolios that are steadily eroding their asset bases even further.
The bail-out is NOT going to replace the money they originally paid to buy those investments — and that means they’ll be booking even more losses as they dump those investments into the U.S. Treasury in the months ahead.
If you have more than $100,000 in a bank, make absolutely sure that no single account at any one bank contains even a single dollar more than the limit that’s insured by the FDIC. If you’re not clear on the rules, check out the FDIC website at WWW.FDIC.GOV
4. Program your business for success in this tough environment. If you are starting a business or are considering expanding your business’ product line, carefully consider this new economic environment when setting your strategy.
Think especially hard about recession-proof products and services — the things people can’t live without. Seriously consider products and services that cater to the very wealthy who are likely to be least affected as this crisis unfolds. Also consider things that might help beleaguered wage-earners, consumers, taxpayers, and other business owners get through this alive.
5. Expect stocks and mutual funds to plunge. If you own stocks — either directly, in a mutual fund or ETF or through a retirement or pension plan — you should seriously consider the risk you’re taking with that money.
Some analysts, including the ones who have been the most accurate in their warnings about this crisis from the get-go, are warning that, with the economy and stock market now as nervous as a hooker at a snake-handler convention, the next chunk of bad news that hits the wires could be the straw that breaks the market’s back.
And please — for all our sakes:
HELP US GET THE WORD OUT!
Send this article — in its entirety — to everyone you know. Post it or link to it on every blog, every forum you can think of. Send more links to everyone on your Contacts List and to reporters at the newspapers you read and the TV networks you watch.
Write letters to both of your Senators and Congressperson and urge everyone you know to do the same.
Demand that they repeal the Community Reinvestment Act that caused this crisis (yes, it’s still on the books and still being enforced!).
Tell them you know what they did to cause this crisis.
Demand that criminals in Congress who actually DID cause this crisis suffer at least as distressing a fate as the corporate CEOs they’re scapegoating.
The sooner Washington gets the message that we’re on to them and that we’re not going to take it any more, the sooner things can begin to change.
This is YOUR financial future we’re talking about here. If Washington’s power brokers have proven anything, it’s that they can NOT be trusted to do the right thing until millions of us rise as one and shout “Enough!”
Thursday, September 25, 2008
Register and Bee accepting Adult Ads now?
It's not enough for The Register and Bee to videotape women's breasts and demean women. Now they're running adult ads on their website! Todays Register and Bee shows an ad of a "Bad Kitty Adult" costume with a woman in skimpy clothing and a leather whip. Also advertised, a "Bunny French Maid" adult costume. Maybe we ought to call The Register and Bee the Raunchy and Baudy??
This is a Terry Jamerson's answer to increasing revenue? A "serious management decision" regarding the new direction of Register and Bee ads. Has she ever really spent any time in Danville? And school children have access to this??
This is a Terry Jamerson's answer to increasing revenue? A "serious management decision" regarding the new direction of Register and Bee ads. Has she ever really spent any time in Danville? And school children have access to this??
Wednesday, September 24, 2008
Get off the phone and work Terry
Quit yakking and hang up and manage Terry. The Register & Bee "forgot" to run yet another ad and people are blogging about it - not just me. The Dalton Family wasn't happy either.
They write: Barry had an Open House for his Danville property on Sunday, but the Register & Bee forgot to run the ad so no one came! Big disappointment.
Yeah, well - lots of people disappointed in a lot of things about The Danville Register & Bee. How did YOU get your job? Seems like a lot of people around there get promoted because of who they know, not what they know. Seems like if YOU were qualified to run things you would be running them. Hang up the phone. Manage. Rinse. Repeat. You'll figure it out.
They write: Barry had an Open House for his Danville property on Sunday, but the Register & Bee forgot to run the ad so no one came! Big disappointment.
Yeah, well - lots of people disappointed in a lot of things about The Danville Register & Bee. How did YOU get your job? Seems like a lot of people around there get promoted because of who they know, not what they know. Seems like if YOU were qualified to run things you would be running them. Hang up the phone. Manage. Rinse. Repeat. You'll figure it out.
Tuesday, September 23, 2008
Hypocrites hard at work at the R&B...
Danville Braves Pitcher Matthew Small is being harassed by The Danville Register & Bee who wants a comment about Small's 50-game suspension for drugs. Matthew - only you know what the facts are - but let me point you to copies on this blog of a former Danville Register & Bee SPORTS EDITOR AND GOOD FRIEND OF EDITOR ARNOLD HENDRIX who managed to amass at least three DUI's and an "Evading Police" charge against him here in Daville (and another DUI in North Carolina at the same time!!!) 13 arrests total that I could find....
Ask the Register & Bee why all of those arrests and the resulting convictions didn't make it into the newspaper and he was able to hold onto his job as long as he did....and why no one openly challenged all those cozy "share a hotel room" trips out of town to sporting events. Well, no buddy of Arnold's is going to be embarrassed! But they feel free to call and harass you? Will someone who knows Matthew please pass this along to him - that the pot (Register & Bee) can't call the kettle (Matthew) black until they admit they're pretty much covering up a lot of crap inside their offices. If the Register and Bee wants to ask citizens and businesses and athletes about drugs, alcohol and sex then they need to write about the same when it goes on inside the Register and Bee. What's good for the goose is good for the gander....and the Register and Bee has a long list of problems that piss poor, incompetent managers like Terry Jamerson and Steve Kaylor and Arnold Hendrix just don't want to address.
Ask the Register & Bee why all of those arrests and the resulting convictions didn't make it into the newspaper and he was able to hold onto his job as long as he did....and why no one openly challenged all those cozy "share a hotel room" trips out of town to sporting events. Well, no buddy of Arnold's is going to be embarrassed! But they feel free to call and harass you? Will someone who knows Matthew please pass this along to him - that the pot (Register & Bee) can't call the kettle (Matthew) black until they admit they're pretty much covering up a lot of crap inside their offices. If the Register and Bee wants to ask citizens and businesses and athletes about drugs, alcohol and sex then they need to write about the same when it goes on inside the Register and Bee. What's good for the goose is good for the gander....and the Register and Bee has a long list of problems that piss poor, incompetent managers like Terry Jamerson and Steve Kaylor and Arnold Hendrix just don't want to address.
Oh...one more thing....
Steve Kaylor answers to a WOMAN!! LOL!!!!!!!!
Terry Jamerson must be some sort of pit bull eh Steve? She obviously hates being a woman or she'd have done something about Mac....but then, she's too busy trying to make money to care about the little things in life - like employees peeing in the parking lot or her reporters filming women's breasts....or printing entire obit pages wrong...maybe she needs to be replaced. Seems like the ship is sinking on her watch.
How about it Terry? Why don't you retire or at least learn to actually RUN a successful business. It's obviously not working for you right now....I hear that may be the plan anyway....
Loser.
Terry Jamerson must be some sort of pit bull eh Steve? She obviously hates being a woman or she'd have done something about Mac....but then, she's too busy trying to make money to care about the little things in life - like employees peeing in the parking lot or her reporters filming women's breasts....or printing entire obit pages wrong...maybe she needs to be replaced. Seems like the ship is sinking on her watch.
How about it Terry? Why don't you retire or at least learn to actually RUN a successful business. It's obviously not working for you right now....I hear that may be the plan anyway....
Loser.
IMPOTENCE at the Register & Bee
Ah....my Richmond sources tell me that basically Steve Kaylor is impotent....when it comes to managing the Register & Bee anyway. Seems that the Register & Bee is really run by Lynchburg. The R&B is a puppet for a Lynchburg puppet master. And Lynchburg has no intention of giving or appearing to give a damn about Danville, its advertisers or anything else. Sorry Danville...you're all being laughed at by Lynchburg. They've got your advertising dollars, your obits and your money and don't care at all that they screw up your ads, your delivery or your obits. THEY'RE PICKING YOUR POCKETS. Wake up. Or turn around bend over and pass the vaseline....cause Lynchburg's not done yet.
So sorry for you Steve...and here everyone thought you really had some power. You can't do anything but stand around with your hands in your pockets until Lynchburg says "JUMP SWEETHEART." Then you say "how high!"
Poor bastard.
So sorry for you Steve...and here everyone thought you really had some power. You can't do anything but stand around with your hands in your pockets until Lynchburg says "JUMP SWEETHEART." Then you say "how high!"
Poor bastard.
Friday, September 19, 2008
Time for the 411 (Info) on Danville, VA
I've been hearing more and more from citizens who want REAL news - the kind of information and listings and attention they're not getting from The Danville Register & Bee. A new website IS under construction for that...but in the meantime, here's another blog you can turn to for news about upcoming events, news, features and photos in and around Danville.
So I've created: danville411
If you have something you'd like to see posted or covered, let me know. Right now we're depending on citizen journalists to cover events and report for us. Email me information about your event along with a contact number and name and I'll be happy to post it once I confirm it! Thanks much!
Becky
So I've created: danville411
If you have something you'd like to see posted or covered, let me know. Right now we're depending on citizen journalists to cover events and report for us. Email me information about your event along with a contact number and name and I'll be happy to post it once I confirm it! Thanks much!
Becky
SIPS Open House on Tuesday!!
SIPS of America (www.sipsofamerica.com) will be hosting an open house this coming Tuesday. SIPS stands for structural insulated panel and this is our Danville manufacturer. Please plan on visiting SIPs of America, Inc., 200 Learner Lane, Blairs on Tuesday, September 30th.
The OPEN HOUSE runs from 3:00pm to 5:00pm. If you can't be at the open house, check out their new website!!!
Refreshments will be served and SIPs personnel will conduct tours of the facility and explain the manufacturing process. Wear comfortable shoes! Parking available in front of building at end of lane and in back of building (as you turn onto Learner from US 29 North, there will be a gate to your right that leads into large parking lot at back of building).
Be sure to thank our own Jimmy Farlow for including our group in this special event! He is a wonderful and supportive member of our OPEC Not! group and a real entrepreneurial businessman.
The OPEN HOUSE runs from 3:00pm to 5:00pm. If you can't be at the open house, check out their new website!!!
Refreshments will be served and SIPs personnel will conduct tours of the facility and explain the manufacturing process. Wear comfortable shoes! Parking available in front of building at end of lane and in back of building (as you turn onto Learner from US 29 North, there will be a gate to your right that leads into large parking lot at back of building).
Be sure to thank our own Jimmy Farlow for including our group in this special event! He is a wonderful and supportive member of our OPEC Not! group and a real entrepreneurial businessman.
Thursday, September 18, 2008
Who is Seth Godin and why should I care?
Seth Godin is an American author of business books and a popular speaker with appearances at Google, TED and a number of charities. His blog is one of the most popular blogs in the world with more than 80,000 subscribers. Godin popularized the topic of permission marketing.
He graduated from Tufts University in 1982 with a degree in computer science and philosophy. He later earned his MBA in marketing from Stanford Business School. From 1983 to 1986, he worked as a brand manager at Spinnaker Software. For a time Godin commuted every week from California and Boston to do both his new job and complete his MBA.
After leaving Spinnaker Software in 1986, Godin became a book packager. It was in the same offices that Godin met Mark Hurst, and founded Yoyodyne. After a few years Godin sold the book packaging business to his employees and focused his efforts on Yoyodyne, one of the first online marketing companies. It was with Yoyodyne that Godin came up with the concept of permission marketing. For a period of time, Godin served as a columnist for Fast Company. In 1998, Godin sold Yoyodyne to Yahoo! for $30 million and became its vice president of direct marketing, a position he held until 2000.
A couple of months ago Seth started a new social media network called www.Triiibes.com and limited membership to 3,500 people. I was number 1,264 or thereabouts in that number of members. At least one of the case studies I wrote about tribes will be published in an upcoming ebook he'll be publishing along with his latest book, "Tribes." I'm waiting to hear if I was one of 100 people selected to attend the launch of his book in October in New York.
Why should any of you care? Because what you're witnessing at Media General, newspapers in general and The Danville Register & Bee in particular is what is causing the demise of big business. Why? Because corporations have quit caring about their "tribe," the people who follow them, buy their product and support their business.
The Danville Register & Bee has done just about all it can to alienate its readers, its advertisers and the community. They have put money ahead of integrity and advertising dollars ahead of duty. Based on business models the experts are studying now - they have nowhere to go but down. With no real leadership to speak of, and the leadership that's there now refusing to apologize for its abuse of women and a hostile workplace (I mean c'mon. The employees have to use the parking lot for a bathroom and the most critical elements of the paper - obits and ads are sent to Lynchburg! And editorial is going - employees say - to India!! Is that a company that gives a damn about Danville??!) No.
If you have a small business you need to be aware of how the economy is changing, how marketing is changing and how you need to be avoiding the same mistakes The Danville Register & Bee has made - by NOT alienating your customers.
"Tribes" is a new model - one that leading business experts nationwide are agreeing is where business is headed. It's not just business. It's churches, government - any organization where a group forms around common values. I've started several new blogs and will be posting their addresses here. In the meantime, remember the name "Seth Godin." You'll be hearing a lot more of it.
He graduated from Tufts University in 1982 with a degree in computer science and philosophy. He later earned his MBA in marketing from Stanford Business School. From 1983 to 1986, he worked as a brand manager at Spinnaker Software. For a time Godin commuted every week from California and Boston to do both his new job and complete his MBA.
After leaving Spinnaker Software in 1986, Godin became a book packager. It was in the same offices that Godin met Mark Hurst, and founded Yoyodyne. After a few years Godin sold the book packaging business to his employees and focused his efforts on Yoyodyne, one of the first online marketing companies. It was with Yoyodyne that Godin came up with the concept of permission marketing. For a period of time, Godin served as a columnist for Fast Company. In 1998, Godin sold Yoyodyne to Yahoo! for $30 million and became its vice president of direct marketing, a position he held until 2000.
A couple of months ago Seth started a new social media network called www.Triiibes.com and limited membership to 3,500 people. I was number 1,264 or thereabouts in that number of members. At least one of the case studies I wrote about tribes will be published in an upcoming ebook he'll be publishing along with his latest book, "Tribes." I'm waiting to hear if I was one of 100 people selected to attend the launch of his book in October in New York.
Why should any of you care? Because what you're witnessing at Media General, newspapers in general and The Danville Register & Bee in particular is what is causing the demise of big business. Why? Because corporations have quit caring about their "tribe," the people who follow them, buy their product and support their business.
The Danville Register & Bee has done just about all it can to alienate its readers, its advertisers and the community. They have put money ahead of integrity and advertising dollars ahead of duty. Based on business models the experts are studying now - they have nowhere to go but down. With no real leadership to speak of, and the leadership that's there now refusing to apologize for its abuse of women and a hostile workplace (I mean c'mon. The employees have to use the parking lot for a bathroom and the most critical elements of the paper - obits and ads are sent to Lynchburg! And editorial is going - employees say - to India!! Is that a company that gives a damn about Danville??!) No.
If you have a small business you need to be aware of how the economy is changing, how marketing is changing and how you need to be avoiding the same mistakes The Danville Register & Bee has made - by NOT alienating your customers.
"Tribes" is a new model - one that leading business experts nationwide are agreeing is where business is headed. It's not just business. It's churches, government - any organization where a group forms around common values. I've started several new blogs and will be posting their addresses here. In the meantime, remember the name "Seth Godin." You'll be hearing a lot more of it.
Wednesday, September 17, 2008
Keep your cards and letters coming!
"Wrong obits!! Did you see this?!"
I had to go looking to see for myself, but thank you readers for sending me your photos and clippings. Here's one. I have another of the two papers side-by-side but it is not large enough to post here. If whomever sent it can send it in again - only larger, or if someone else can send in BOTH papers showing the error, I'd appreciate it. It really is odd to seem them both side-by-side. You're right. You have to remember, the paper rarely apologizes for such things....this is what happens when you have a management that promotes people based on who they're friends with or sleeping with, not on competency.
Talk of the town!
The emails are still coming in! I understand some folks don't know how to post a comment, and that's okay. You can email me and I'll post it for you. Don't worry! I won't use your name.
Another reader writes:
"Becky, Talk of the town Tuesday! What few Danville readers the paper still has were in for a shock as they opened their Tuesday September 16, 2008 paper and saw nine obits which had run in the Saturday August 16,2008 paper...What did the families and friends think of this? What about the families and friends of those they were to be in the paper Tuesday announcing visitations Tuesday and funerals scheduled for Wednesday? How can the Register & Bee staff and management be so incompetent?... I can't believe any business continues to advertise with them..It makes the businesses look like they are run by IDIOTS!..I stopped my paper long ago as many others have and I'm sure on a daily basis as I hear around town ......we will be going to Greensboro and HighPoint Saturday to shop...But do shop with those that advertise in the Piedmont Shopper,Chatham Star Tribune,Showcase Magazine and those on WBTM 1330...Love Your Blog ...Its the Talk of The Dan River Region and more....Everybody is reading it....The Truth Will Set You Free...."
Another reader writes:
"Becky, Talk of the town Tuesday! What few Danville readers the paper still has were in for a shock as they opened their Tuesday September 16, 2008 paper and saw nine obits which had run in the Saturday August 16,2008 paper...What did the families and friends think of this? What about the families and friends of those they were to be in the paper Tuesday announcing visitations Tuesday and funerals scheduled for Wednesday? How can the Register & Bee staff and management be so incompetent?... I can't believe any business continues to advertise with them..It makes the businesses look like they are run by IDIOTS!..I stopped my paper long ago as many others have and I'm sure on a daily basis as I hear around town ......we will be going to Greensboro and HighPoint Saturday to shop...But do shop with those that advertise in the Piedmont Shopper,Chatham Star Tribune,Showcase Magazine and those on WBTM 1330...Love Your Blog ...Its the Talk of The Dan River Region and more....Everybody is reading it....The Truth Will Set You Free...."
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Died twice?
Thanks readers! Since I don't read the Danville Register & Bee I depend on my readers to update me about what's happening. Several wrote today to say: "Check out the obits in todays paper. All these people died once in
August... now they are dead again."
One of those readers said, "I sent potato salad and fried chicken not knowing Bert was already dead and buried. Now I've upset his widow and I want to know if Steven K. is going to reimburse me for all my unnecessary expense and trouble!"
Well, knowing that Publisher Steve Kaylor LIED to the woman (a supposed friend even - someone he knew AND AN ADVERTISER) about knowing that one of his reporters had filmed her breasts AND shown them around the newsroom....and STILL HAS NOT APOLOGIZED nor fired the reporter involved, I'd say the chances of you getting an apology or reimbursed for your expense and trouble is slim to none. Most likely close to NONE. I'd like to know if readers also got billed twice for the duplicate obits. If you were billed twice, please email me and send me copies of the invoices. I'd be more than happy to post them here! For all of you who sent flowers and food around, blame it on the newspaper. That's what happens when you send your local newspaper out of town (the obits are done in Lynchburg, along with the ads. And I understand some of the editorial is going to India for copyproofing.) As long as advertisers continue to support the newspaper this is the kind of thing you'll continue to see. Quit buying ads and the newspaper will go away and some other publication will step in to fill the void.
In the meantime, remember what Steve and Arnold Hendrix and Media General told you months ago, "CONVERGENCE is GOOD! By consolidating services we'll have a better product." Write me, but write and call the newspaper too! If you need Steve's email again, it's skaylor@registerbee.com.
August... now they are dead again."
One of those readers said, "I sent potato salad and fried chicken not knowing Bert was already dead and buried. Now I've upset his widow and I want to know if Steven K. is going to reimburse me for all my unnecessary expense and trouble!"
Well, knowing that Publisher Steve Kaylor LIED to the woman (a supposed friend even - someone he knew AND AN ADVERTISER) about knowing that one of his reporters had filmed her breasts AND shown them around the newsroom....and STILL HAS NOT APOLOGIZED nor fired the reporter involved, I'd say the chances of you getting an apology or reimbursed for your expense and trouble is slim to none. Most likely close to NONE. I'd like to know if readers also got billed twice for the duplicate obits. If you were billed twice, please email me and send me copies of the invoices. I'd be more than happy to post them here! For all of you who sent flowers and food around, blame it on the newspaper. That's what happens when you send your local newspaper out of town (the obits are done in Lynchburg, along with the ads. And I understand some of the editorial is going to India for copyproofing.) As long as advertisers continue to support the newspaper this is the kind of thing you'll continue to see. Quit buying ads and the newspaper will go away and some other publication will step in to fill the void.
In the meantime, remember what Steve and Arnold Hendrix and Media General told you months ago, "CONVERGENCE is GOOD! By consolidating services we'll have a better product." Write me, but write and call the newspaper too! If you need Steve's email again, it's skaylor@registerbee.com.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Register & Bee management nominated for despair award
I have nominated The Register and Bee for a despair award. What is that you ask? When companies don't "get it" about how to relate to their employees they act much like the CEO in this video. Sorry I can't embed it here, but CLICK HERE TO VISIT THE SITE. Click on the photo on the site to play the video. Remind you of the R&B management?
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
The news is for sale....who and what is the CFR?
Want to know what is happening with the newspaper industry? It's got nothing to do with the internet. It has everything to do with control. Watch this. Then remember the head of Fox News is a former George Bush campaign manager:
Thursday, September 4, 2008
OLD photos in new pages...guess we weren't so bad
Wow. Keep scrolling!!
The photographers the Register & Bee management fired or forced out are still considered "Top Notch" by the Danville Register & Bee Advertising Department.
With no one there able to take any new or good photos, staffers are relying on old photos or even "stock" photography of scenes that aren't real! Yeah! They're using CLIP ART for news photos!!! lol!!! The great convergence...any local high school could do better.... This is from the Thursday paper...the dancers and sunflowers are Richard Davis' photos and the sunset is Julian Henderson's. It's a photo they used on a cover a couple of years ago. Months later after we are gone and they still use our photos....The action football photos in recent preview were old Richard and Julian photos.......surely they can come up with their own with all the experts they have.
On Sunday August 31,three out of four photos on the front page of the 'Discover the Dan River Region' were Richard Davis' photos. Hmmmm...Didn't Publisher Steve Kaylor tell the Rotary club about the paper's great new plan for equipping every reporter with a camera? Too bad those camera's aren't working. Editor Arnold Hendrix keeps them locked up - insists they work while all the reporters sneak their own onto assignments since the official cameras don't work and the paper can't afford ones that do. Sad huh. But Steve will still get his bonus. If he had a heart maybe he could figure out a way to get the bathrooms open for the carriers. And you all wonder why your newspapers are late? Folks have to run home to pee...they'll be fired if they're caught peeing in the parking lot. That's okay. We have an amateur photographer waiting to get a photo of the puddles and the poop so we can post them here....thanks guy!!! No ....you don't have to be in the picture.
Is the Register & Bee next on the firing line?
Thanks to another loyal reader for this news tip!
http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/3476556/
NEWS & OBSERVER OFFERS BUYOUTS TO 320 EMPLOYEES
Steps to kill a newspaper: 1) Big conglomerate buys up paper, only cares about bottom line ($$$) 2) Newspaper is forced to layoff more expensive experienced reporters that have developed many links and sources in the community over the years. 3) With the less experienced staff left, the quality of reporting begins to decline. 4) The degradation in quality causes unhappy advertisers and readers, and the newspaper loses money. 5) Repeat steps 2 and 3 6) The newspaper folds, and the large media conglomerate moves on to another paper in another town.
RALEIGH, N.C. — The News & Observer of Raleigh has offered voluntary buyouts to about 320 employees - about 40% of its workers and ALL OF THE NEWSROOM EMPLOYEES. Bye-Bye reporters. News & Observer publisher McClatchy Co. is in the same dizzy, downward death spiral that is clutching at the Danville Register & Bee. Not only is the News & Observer continuing to face declining advertising revenue but so is our own worthless rag.
It's the third cost-cutting move in the last five months.
In April, the newspaper offered voluntary buyouts to 230 employees, and 33 accepted. In June it enacted layoffs to 70 employees. Last month, it implemented a one-year wage freeze.
McClatchy Co. is the second-largest U.S. newspaper publisher. It also publishes The Charlotte Observer, which also reported Wednesday that most of its 810 full-time employees will get buyout offers. If the big dogs are going down, Media General is not far behind.
I'm SO GLAD I SOLD MY MEDIA GENERAL stock....shouldn't you be unloading yours?
http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/3476556/
NEWS & OBSERVER OFFERS BUYOUTS TO 320 EMPLOYEES
Steps to kill a newspaper: 1) Big conglomerate buys up paper, only cares about bottom line ($$$) 2) Newspaper is forced to layoff more expensive experienced reporters that have developed many links and sources in the community over the years. 3) With the less experienced staff left, the quality of reporting begins to decline. 4) The degradation in quality causes unhappy advertisers and readers, and the newspaper loses money. 5) Repeat steps 2 and 3 6) The newspaper folds, and the large media conglomerate moves on to another paper in another town.
RALEIGH, N.C. — The News & Observer of Raleigh has offered voluntary buyouts to about 320 employees - about 40% of its workers and ALL OF THE NEWSROOM EMPLOYEES. Bye-Bye reporters. News & Observer publisher McClatchy Co. is in the same dizzy, downward death spiral that is clutching at the Danville Register & Bee. Not only is the News & Observer continuing to face declining advertising revenue but so is our own worthless rag.
It's the third cost-cutting move in the last five months.
In April, the newspaper offered voluntary buyouts to 230 employees, and 33 accepted. In June it enacted layoffs to 70 employees. Last month, it implemented a one-year wage freeze.
McClatchy Co. is the second-largest U.S. newspaper publisher. It also publishes The Charlotte Observer, which also reported Wednesday that most of its 810 full-time employees will get buyout offers. If the big dogs are going down, Media General is not far behind.
I'm SO GLAD I SOLD MY MEDIA GENERAL stock....shouldn't you be unloading yours?
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
The cost of news going up, quality is going down
Thanks again dear readers for all your emails and support. It's welcomed! As you all know I NEVER name names online or off. Your input, info and photos are all anonymous so thanks for sending them in. Both a Register and Bee advertiser and another reader wrote today:
"Did you notice that the cost of an issue of the R&B has jumped 50% from .50 cents an issue to .75/issue?"
You're right! With circulation declining, paper size decreasing and general apathy among readership... It's not the best time for such a huge increase. Have you seen how many papers are going unsold and being trashed?
And as I pointed out to those who wrote, yes, the photos of the newspapers in the recycle bin are real. A former advertiser asked me if this was common practice - and I said yes, all unread and undistributed newspapers are typically recycled. Not all of them are however. Sometimes carriers will simply dump papers in a trash bin rather than recyle them. Papers that go unsold are often taken home to be used for fireplace starters, cat box liners or garden mulch. The photos posted on this website are just the tip of the iceberg and don't show all the newspapers or inserts that often get pitched.
I agree. If you're an advertiser you do need to think about where your advertising dollars are being spent. You might be better off investing in a webpage and advertising in something like the Piedmont Shopper. Ask Jimmy Farlow if his investment in a webpage paid off. www.sipsofamerica.com. I think you'll see it has and his business has picked up significantly since I redesigned his webpage. I'm also going to be showing local businesses how they can get online and start increasing their business with an internet presence.
What are my credentials? Gee....an association/membership online with Seth Godin's Triiibes.com for one. I'm co-authoring a book with 80 of the top internet marketers in the world to show small businesses and entrepreneurs how to create a web presence and make money on the internet. Best of all - it'll be a free guidebook you can download from this site. For those of you interested in more info, I'll be teaching a class later this fall on the same topic. Email me for more information.
"Did you notice that the cost of an issue of the R&B has jumped 50% from .50 cents an issue to .75/issue?"
You're right! With circulation declining, paper size decreasing and general apathy among readership... It's not the best time for such a huge increase. Have you seen how many papers are going unsold and being trashed?
And as I pointed out to those who wrote, yes, the photos of the newspapers in the recycle bin are real. A former advertiser asked me if this was common practice - and I said yes, all unread and undistributed newspapers are typically recycled. Not all of them are however. Sometimes carriers will simply dump papers in a trash bin rather than recyle them. Papers that go unsold are often taken home to be used for fireplace starters, cat box liners or garden mulch. The photos posted on this website are just the tip of the iceberg and don't show all the newspapers or inserts that often get pitched.
I agree. If you're an advertiser you do need to think about where your advertising dollars are being spent. You might be better off investing in a webpage and advertising in something like the Piedmont Shopper. Ask Jimmy Farlow if his investment in a webpage paid off. www.sipsofamerica.com. I think you'll see it has and his business has picked up significantly since I redesigned his webpage. I'm also going to be showing local businesses how they can get online and start increasing their business with an internet presence.
What are my credentials? Gee....an association/membership online with Seth Godin's Triiibes.com for one. I'm co-authoring a book with 80 of the top internet marketers in the world to show small businesses and entrepreneurs how to create a web presence and make money on the internet. Best of all - it'll be a free guidebook you can download from this site. For those of you interested in more info, I'll be teaching a class later this fall on the same topic. Email me for more information.
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
New newspaper in town? You bet.
There's a new "social network" in town - a place where advertisers can advertise for FREE FOR EVER...and a place where neighbors can meet, chat and talk and where issues can be debated, discussed and examined.
Do you have a group or organization you'd like to see noticed? A calendar event you want to post NOW or later for the whole community to see? The place to do it is the new SCCChatham site. You get your own page (free) for business or individual. It's invitation only to keep out the spammers. email me at beckyblanton@juno.com to get an invite.
Visit Southside Concerned Citizens
Do you have a group or organization you'd like to see noticed? A calendar event you want to post NOW or later for the whole community to see? The place to do it is the new SCCChatham site. You get your own page (free) for business or individual. It's invitation only to keep out the spammers. email me at beckyblanton@juno.com to get an invite.
Visit Southside Concerned Citizens
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