John R. Talbott

Bestselling author whose books predicted the economic crisis

Posted: October 1, 2010 12:28 PM

TARP Uncovered — the Real Cost of the Government Bailout

The New York Times reports this morning (“TARP Bailout to Cost Less Than Once Anticipated“) that the true cost of TARP will be less than $50 billion. I find this type of reporting to be incredibly misleading and deceitful. Focusing solely on TARP and ignoring the other more costly portions of the government bailout of our biggest banks and corporations ignores the true cost of the government's (both the Bush and Obama administrations, the Fed and Congress) inept response to this crisis. One of the reasons that TARP did not cost more was because of the government's other more costly bailout policies, and to ignore them is to dramatically understate the true cost of the bailout.

By claiming a narrow TARP success, the Times attempts to invalidate citizen anger at the bailout by making it appear that the electorate is somehow misinformed about its costs or is just plain stupid. Nothing could be further from the truth. Claiming that TARP was successful, but ignoring the much larger and more relevant costs of other areas of the government bailout is like claiming the voyage of the Titanic was successful because many of the lifeboats were recovered. It is important to remember that the ship sunk.

Read his entire article with detail list that adds up to:

Total estimated cost of government bailout = $14.85 trillion.

John R. Talbott is the bestselling author of eight books on economics and politics that have accurately detailed and predicted the causes and devastating effects of this entire financial crisis including, in 2003, “The Coming Crash in the Housing Market”, in January 2006, “Sell Now! The End of the Housing Bubble” and in 2008, “Contagion: The Financial Epidemic that is Sweeping the Global Economy”.

Phi Beta Iota: This author impresses us. This is precisely the kind of public intelligence in the public interest that must be structured so as to be available to all citizens in time to keep government honest as well as effective.

2010/10/02

Journal: US Government Funding the Taliban…

04 Inter-State Conflict, 05 Civil War, 08 Wild Cards, Corruption, Officers Call

David Isenberg

Author, Shadow Force: Private Security Contractors in Iraq

Taliban to PSC: How May We Serve You?

Today we have news straight out of Mario Puzo. It seems the Taliban made local Afghan private security contractors an offer they could not refuse.

Yesterday the Inspector General's office at the U.S. Agency for International released a report that found that millions of dollars in American taxpayer funds may have been paid to Taliban fighters in southern Afghanistan to provide security for a U.S. development project. The report says subcontractors hired to protect a development project near Jalalabad may have paid more than $5 million to the militants through local authorities.

Phi Beta Iota: INTEGRITY demands respect for reality. The U.S. Government is knowingly funding the Taliban as a “cost of doing business,” the “business” being the churning of the military-industrial complex–use everything up, wear everything out, so it has to be bought again new. This was done in Viet-Nam, and revisionist history is now showing that it was known that there would be a 50,000 US casualty cost beforehand. As long as the American public tolerates a two-party tyranny that excludes sane and sensible alternative candidates, and that allocates the taxpayer revenue behind closed doors and often without complying with the Constitution, the Republic will remain comatose.

Journal: Universities Join Two-Party Tyranny

04 Education, 09 Justice, 11 Society, Academia, Corruption, Reform

University and Media Hosted Debates Continue to Exclude Alternative Candidates Despite Responsibility to Maintain a Free Marketplace of Ideas.

Southwestern Community College Goes One Step Further, Censors Student Journalists.

SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Universities and media outlets across California are excluding alternative candidates from participating in the debates they sponsor. The September 28 debate held at the University of California at Davis and co-sponsored by The Sacramento Bee included Jerry Brown and Meg Whitman, but excluded all the other candidates. Other universities and media outlets have followed suit.

While colleges already suppress dissenting voices in the student population, they are also suppressing them in vital public debates. Once bastions of intellectual freedom, many of our nation’s universities have created a repressive environment, hindering tomorrow’s leaders from absorbing ideas from anyone but the leading Republican and Democratic candidates. And the media has continued the censorship through their coverage of only the top funded candidates.

Phi Beta Iota: The time has come to end the two-party tyranny and make it illegal–it is already unconstitutional–to deny ballot access and public voice to any earnest candidate for public office. The universities, in failing to honor their responsibility for nurturing clarity, diversity, and integrity in the public dialog, should be penalized by loss of funds from any public treasury, inclusive of all research grants….IOHO.

2010/09/302010/09/30

Journal: Chuck Spinney on Deadly Games of Deceit

09 Justice, 10 Security, 11 Society, Corruption, Cultural Intelligence, Government, Intelligence (government), Methods & Process, Military, Officers Call, Power Behind-the-Scenes/Special Interests, Secrecy & Politics of Secrecy

editor spinney time — Chuck Spinney On the Record

The linked article by William Pfaff illustrates how the Pentagon set up Mr. Obama to do its bidding.

Are Obama’s Hands Tied?

28 September 2010

By William Pfaff

A splendid and courageous new book, Washington Rules: America’s Path to Permanent War, by Andrew J. Bacevich of Boston University (and for many years previously, the U.S. Army), describes with lucidity the degree to which the power of the American presidency over war and peace has been weakened in our day, and, in important respects, superseded.

One might call this a silent coup against the presidency, but a coup implies intention: a responsible actor who sets the coup d’etat into action for a defined purpose. The argument Bacevich makes implies that a coup can be institutional or intellectual, and come from outside as well as inside government. Its characteristic is to create a situation in which a president is no longer free to act as he might wish, because all of the doors except one have been closed.

Read Rest of Original Article

Chuck Spinney's Original Comments Continued

The name of the bureaucratic game, of course, is to remove all realistic alternatives to the Pentagon's preferred decision before that decision is made. Pfaff's discussion is based on Andrew Bacevich's new book “Washington Rules.” I have not read Bacevich's book yet, and will not be able to until I return to the states in November, but I have read several reviews and from that perspective can say that the behaviour Pfaff describes comports well with behavior I witnessed in my years in the Pentagon.

The picture is more subtle and far more complicated than that portrayed by Pfaff, however.

Continue reading “Journal: Chuck Spinney on Deadly Games of Deceit”

2010/09/302010/09/30

Journal: The Domestic Politics of Afghanistan

08 Wild Cards, 10 Security, Corruption, Government

Marcus-Aurelius-150x150 — Marcus Aurelius Recommends

Following editorial appeared in today's Washington Post, commenting on a series of three excerpts of Bob Woodward's new book, “Obama's Wars.” Invite your attention to highlighted portions, particularly the final one, “,,, the president had treated the military as another political constituency that had to be accommodated …” Anybody wanna speculate how that's making the guys on combat outposts in Afghanistan feel today?

Washington Post September 29, 2010 Pg. 20

The War Over The War

Bob Woodward's new book portrays an administration deeply divided over Afghanistan

Phi Beta Iota: The entire piece is below the line. We normally do not do this, but the Post is losing its mind again and demanding registration while also switching headlines and using a mediocre search engine. The President is a failure largely for lack of integrity: 1) he sold out during the campaign to the providers of the $500 million that was not from small donors; 2) he allowed David Axelrod and Rahm Emanuel to dictate White House policy; 3) he failed to fix intelligence or get a grip on strategic perspectives of any kind; 4) he did not trust his instincts–this is a smart man afraid of Wall Street and the carpetbaggers. He has blown a historic opportunity for change, but our colleague Harrison Owen would say this was meant to be, for he has done what Dick Cheney could not do: shown the Democratic Party to be the twisted ignorant unethical beast that it is, the lite counterpart to the twisted ignorant unethical Republican Party.

Continue reading “Journal: The Domestic Politics of Afghanistan”

2010/09/29

Journal: Congressional Report Card

Corruption, Government

Congress punts tough choice until after election

By ANDREW TAYLOR and LAURIE KELLMAN (AP) – 1 hour ago

WASHINGTON — A deeply unpopular Congress is bolting for the campaign trail without finishing its most basic job — approving a budget for the government year that begins on Friday. Lawmakers also are postponing a major fight over taxes, two embarrassing ethics cases and other political hot potatoes until angry and frustrated voters render their verdict in the Nov. 2 elections.

. . . . . .

One foot out the door, the House and Senate convened just long enough to vote on a “continuing resolution,” a stopgap measure to keep the government in operating funds for the next two months and avoid a pre-election federal shutdown.

. . . . . .

Only two of a dozen annual appropriations bills have passed the House this year and none has passed the Senate as Democratic leaders have opted against lengthy floor debates and politically difficult votes on spending.

Read balance of article…

2010/09/292010/09/29