CNBC Sponsors Town Hall Meeting for Obama

Despite the recent unhappiness of Mr. Immelt, CEO of Government Electric aka General Electric toward the administration he serves as economic advisor, his media subsidiary CNBC dutifully set up a town hall meeting for President Obama this morning so that the Prez can promote himself as the epitome of the "American Dream".

Oh that's rich.

Obama Town Hall: Defending His Record on Economy, Jobs
(9/20/2010 CNBC)

"President Obama spoke Monday to a cross-section of Main Street, Wall Street and Washington gathered at a CNBC-sponsored town hall, with the economy at a crossroads and the nation's precarious political structure hanging in the balance.

"Sharing an hour with a largely friendly crowd that gave him hoots of approval and a standing ovation at the end of the "Investing in America" forum, Obama defended his administration's record toward business while simultaneously deriding his critics as being politically motivated and saying he would work "setting a better tone" in Washington.

""I know how frustrated people. I know in some cases how desperate people are," he said, later adding, "I am confident that if we stay on course that gets us back to old-fashioned values of hard work and responsiblity and looking out for one another, that America will thrive."

"The president spoke just as the National Bureau of Economic Research proclaimed an end to the recession. But Obama acknowledged that times are still tough.

""Obviously for the millions of people still out of work, people who have seen their home values decline, people struggling to pay their home bills every day, it's still very real for them," Obama said.

"The audience also includes college students and union leaders, small business owners and retirees.

"...."My life, I'm testimony to the American Dream. Everything I've been doing since I came into office is to make sure that American dream continues for future generations," Obama said. "The challenge now is I'm thinking about the next generation and there are a lot of people out there thinking about the next election."" [The article continues.]

A lot of people thinking about the next election? Like yourself, Mr. President?

He claims he's "testimony to the American Dream" which he wants to make sure continues for future generations. So the American Dream these days is to receive endless subsidies and preferred treatments from the government based on anything from race, ethnicity, gender, union membership, income level, what have you, to breeze through top Ivy-league schools without worrying about paying back student loans for decades, and not to work a single day in the real world.

OK, I'm all for it. Sounds good.

How are you going to pay for that, Mr. President? Out of your own multi-million dollar pocket?

The American Dream as I've understood is more like him - "Up by the bootstraps". I guess I'm too old-fashioned.

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Did You Know This Is Not Ameria Any More?

And this officer tells the townhall meeting protester, "It ain't [America] no more, OK?" Then what is it that we are in, officer?

From Lewrockwell.com's LRC Blog.

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Sen. Feingold: No Health Care Bill Before End of Year

- and perhaps, not at all. Uh-oh.

Feingold: No health care bill before Christmas
(8/25/09 Lakeland Times) [emphasis is mine]

"U.S. Sen. Russ Feingold told a large crowd gathered for a listening session in Iron County last week there would likely be no health care bill before the end of the year - and perhaps not at all.

"It was an assessment Feingold said he didn't like, but the prospect of no health care legislation brought a burst of applause from a packed house of nearly 150 citizens at the Mercer Community Center.

""Nobody is going to bring a bill before Christmas, and maybe not even then, if this ever happens," Feingold said. "The divisions are so deep. I never seen anything like that."

Senator Feingold, who is the proponent of health care reform in principle, doesn't think the "reform" that's on the table right now is a right one. He favors experimentation and evidence-gathering before proceeding:

"The senator, a declared proponent of health care reform in principle, nonetheless did not seem too concerned about a potential failure of the Obama administration's effort. He said there was merit to the idea of trying a variety of proposals in various states first.

""Lindsay Graham and I sponsored legislation to have pilot programs in five states," Feingold told the audience. "Maybe we should try some different things. There might be a single-payer state. There might be a co-op state. Let's get some evidence on the ground. This thing right now is not going in the right direction. We might be in a situation where there won't be a bill worth passing.""

The Senator allayed some fears regarding several contentious issues in the current health care "reform". He said the public funding for abortion, which was removed from the House bill, won't be re-introduced in the Senate bill. He was also willing to join the "rest of us" in the health care plan, if he was eligible. (Under the current "reform", Congress would be exempt.)

What I liked most about Senator Feingold, though, was his repudiation of Harry Reid's "evil-mongers" comment:

"Finally, Feingold repudiated Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid's remarks calling vocal critics of health care reform at town hall meetings "evil mongers." Feingold called Reid's remarks unfortunate and inappropriate. "I've been listening to the people for 16 years, and I have never impugned their motives," the senator said."

One participant in the Senator's townhall meeting seems to summarize the national sentiment quite well:

""This issue has definitely awakened a sleeping giant," the man said. "We're mad as hell and we're not going to take it anymore.""

Senator Feingold does not support cap and trade scheme, and he opposes "legislation to require gun registration, and he said such legislation would die a quick death in the Senate."

If you recall, he was the only Senator who voted no on the original Patriot Act. He also voted no on the resolution that authorized President Bush to invade Iraq. He is a Democratic Senator from Wisconsin.

(On these issues, he seems like my kind of Senator. Instead, here in California we have Feinstein and Boxer.)

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Reid's Town Hall "Evil-Mongers" and a Little Kitty Laughs

Not to be outdone by the House Speaker Nancy Pelosi's "protesters are un-American", the Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid is calling town hall protesters "evil-mongers".

Reid: Protesters are 'evil-mongers' (8/13/09 The Hill's Blog Briefing Room)

"Town hall protesters are "evil-mongers," says Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-Nev.)

"Reid coined the term in a speech to an energy conference in Las Vegas this week and repeated it in an interview with Politics Daily.

"Such "evil-mongers" are using "lies, innuendo and rumor," to drown out rational debate, Reid said.

""It was an original with me," Reid said of the term. "I maybe could have been less descriptive," he said, adding that "I doubt you'll hear it from me again."

"Nevertheless, Reid worked in the word one more time during the interview.

""I feel I haven't done anything to embarrass [my children]," Reid joked. "Except maybe call somebody an evil-monger.""

I was looking for an article that would make me laugh so that I could use this cute little gif animation, and now I've found the above. Good. And here's a kitty I found at Market Ticker.

What else can you do at this point, other than to laugh?

I simply do not understand the psychology of a person who calls his fellow Americans "evil-mongers", and is seemingly proud of the term he created.

And at the local town hall meeting in my area, people who were shouting down and drowning the legitimate concerns and opinions were, guess who? The supporters of the health care "reform" as proposed by Mr. Reid's Party. So much so that the Congressman who was conducting the town hall meeting mistook, at least initially, them as "opponents". After a particularly loud applause and shouting in support of what he just said, the Congressman thought the noise came from the opposition and admonished the audience for "not allowing the rational discussion". (He is not quite known as the sharpest guy in town, for sure.)

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Local Town Hall Meeting on Health Care "Reform"

Since the place was overflowed with people trying to get in, I gave up, went home, and am listening to the live radio coverage.

The Democratic Congressman and his handlers clearly stuffed the place with supporters (this town doesn't have big enough businesses that have big unions, but it has a large university campus) who yell and cheer and applaud at every full stop.

The Congressman is following the script given by the Democratic Party but doesn't sound very confident. Actually, he's giving out wrong information about the bill. He's cutting off questioners if the questioners are against the bill, and calling every critical comment as "false", with no clarification (like citing the actual sentences in the bill, for example, Congressman?).

(BTW, the Congressman sounds like "George" in "Seinfeld"...)

But no matter. Ever since the university came to town, this town has been transformed into one of the most "progressive" town in the United States. And the audience applaud at the idea that private insurance companies may go bankrupt if this bill gets enacted.

If I were to ask questions to the Congressman:

• If this bill is so good, as you depict, why then are the member of Congress exempt?
• Medicare and Medicaid are bust. Why should the government take on more, when it can't manage these existing programs?
• If the health care is a right, why are we paying for the right? Shouldn't a right be free?

Oh, and one more:

• Do you agree or disagree with Ms. Pelosi that the health care "reform" protesters are "un-American"?

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Bernanke's Town Hall Meeting

A town hall meeting sponsored by the Federal Reserve?? I've never heard such a thing, how about you? It actually happened on Sunday, in Kansas City, Missouri.

The Fed Chairman in a town hall meeting. What was he selling?

Bernanke: Economy to bounce back stronger
(7/26/2009 CNN Money)

"NEW YORK (CNNMoney.com) -- Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke said Sunday that lessons learned from the recession and the financial crisis will help make the economy stronger than it was before the crisis.

"The Fed chairman answered questions from members of the public as well as moderator Jim Lehrer of PBS at a town hall event sponsored by the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, Mo.

"The silver lining in this whole thing is that people are starting to save more, since they saw what happened with 401(k) investments," Bernanke said. "People are adopting good habits, so not only will we will be back on track, but the economy will be stronger than it had been before this started."

Hmmmm, do I see a semi-visible hand of the Fed's new lobbyist from Enron?

Bernanke says the economy will be stronger. How? He doesn't say. Just fluffy and vague words to allay vague fears by the mass: Things happen, but this, too will pass.

"Facing questions from many concerned consumers, Bernanke sought to assure the audience by noting that "recessions happen." Though he said this is the worst recession since the Great Depression, he also said that, like all prior economic downturns, this one will end too.

"Bernanke said the economy is beginning to show signs of improvement, but recovery will be gradual. He said gross domestic product will likely rise by the end of the year into 2010, but job growth will lag. He conceded, "economic forecasts make weather forecasts look like physics," but said unemployment will top out above 10% before falling back in the second half of next year."

All he could offer is that the economy has recovered from recessions before, so it will recover someday from the curent one. And we are supposed to breathe a sigh of relief?

But the real purpose of this silly exercise (town hall meeting) is not to discuss the economy or the supposed recovery that's coming. The article continues:

"He declined to say outright that he opposes efforts by Congress and the Obama administration to create a separate consumer financial protection agency. But he said there were drawbacks to it, including possible "duplicative efforts" in monitoring. And he defended the Fed as being "very active" in the last three years on the consumer protection issue.

"Bernanke was even more defiant about a congressional proposal to audit Fed monetary policy and actions. He said politics need to remain separate from the Fed to ensure that inflation and financial stability remain in balance.

""It is incredibly important that the Fed maintain its independence -- it is so critical to the stability of economy," Bernanke said. "I don't think people realize that Congress' bill would allow the Government Accountability Office to be able to audit Fed decisions. That's not congruent with independence.""

This was the whole point of this town hall meeting: to sell the Federal Reserve as an independent, benevolent overseer of the U.S. financial matters; to lobby for more powers for the Fed and attack the Audit the Fed bill in the House (H.R. 1207) which now has 276 co-sponsors.

The Federal Reserve, to be sure, is indeed audited by an accounting firm (Deloitte). However, according to the Forbes article on July 21, (BTW, this Forbes article is very misleading; more later in another post)

"The law currently disallows auditing of three areas: the swap lines the Federal Reserve arranges with other central banks and international financing organizations; the actual deliberations and decisions of monetary policy (such as how much to raise and lower interest rates); and transactions made under the Federal Open Market Committee's direction."

Under the third - transactions made under the Fed Open Market Committee's direction - is where the garbage resides: TALF, TSLF, TAF, PDCF, OMO, ABCPMMMFLF (or AMLF for short), CPFF, etc, etc. Do we know who's getting these loans and how much? What are the collaterals? How are they priced? How about Maiden Lane LLC to "manage" Bear Stearns and AIG "assets"? Do we know what are those assets and how they are priced?

"Too big to fail" best describes the Federal Reserve.

Just last week, the U.S. Treasury Department auctioned off $65 billion of 70-day Cash Management Bill, which happen to carry higher interest rate than the equivalent regular Treasury bill, just so that the Federal Reserve can use the money for whatever that they've been doing. And the chairman is telling the taxpayers who foot the bill to just trust him.

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