If you haven't seen it, yesterday Congressman Rush Holt released a new web ad. .In the ad Holt calls for a new "speculation" tax that would raise hundreds of billions of dollars from big Wall Street speculators.The money could then be used for investments in our roads, bridges, schools, energy research, our social safety net, and more.
This ad is the first in a series of ads that will be rolled out in the next few weeks that drive home the message that bold ideas are needed.
Our former Governor's fall from grace is nearly complete with the announcement that Federal regulators are, "...poised to sue Jon S. Corzine over the collapse of MF Global and the brokerage firm’s misuse of customer money during its final days, a blowup that rattled Wall Street and cast a spotlight on Mr. Corzine, the former New Jersey governor who ran the firm until its bankruptcy in 2011...". It's too bad, Corzine was/is a decent man who unfortunately made a couple of bad decisions while trying to restore his reputation a financial wizard. He hedged his bets (along with those of his investors) and lost.
It's ironic how a financier, turned politician, turned financier again, Corzine has become the poster boy for Wall Street accesses that lead to its collapse and the great recession of 2008, while others Wall Street execs and brokerage firms have gotten off scot free for ruining the world economy, it's the former politician that will be held accountable:
Without directly linking Mr. Corzine to the disappearance of more than $1 billion in customer money, the trading commission will probably blame the chief executive for failing to prevent the breach at a lower rung of the firm, the law enforcement officials said. If found liable, he could face millions of dollars in fines and possibly a ban from trading commodities, jeopardizing his future on Wall Street.
In a statement, a spokesman for Mr. Corzine denounced the trading commission for planning to file what he called an “unprecedented and meritless civil enforcement action.”
You can read all about it this morning at the New York Times
(NEW JERSEY) - With Mitt Romney speeding up his running-mate selection to stop his campaign's continuous bleeding of bad story after bad story, it is clear that Chris Christie isn't going to make the cut.
Here are 14 reasons why Romney won't select Christie for the vice-presidential slot:
1. Remember the last time a Republican picked a governor short of one-term who burst onto the national scene and became addicted to the adulation, who was more sizzle than substance and who cared more about personal brand than helping a ticket.
2. When Romney hears the word "shore" he thinks "offshore accounts - where I can stow away my money". But, Christie thinks "Jersey Shore - where I can bully constituents on the boardwalk during an ice cream cone run."
3. Ronald Reagan said the most dangerous 9 words were "I'm from the government, and I'm here to help"... but he was wrong, it's "I'm Chris Christie, and I know the nuke codes."
4. The fact that New Jersey's economy ranks 47th nationally under Governor Christie would remind folks that Massachusetts ranked 47th in job creation under Governor Romney.
5. Month after month, New Jersey chronically lags the rest of America in jobs - often a full percentage point higher in unemployment than the national average.
6. CNBC reports New Jersey slipped to 41st in business climate under Christie - which wouldn't really do well to shore up support among the GOP's Wall Street base.
7. One out of every twelve mortgages in New Jersey is in the foreclosure stage. This number continues to spike as rates nationally have fallen to the lowest levels since 2008. New Jersey now has the 2nd highest percentage of mortgage loans in foreclosure in the nation.
8. With all of Romney's Bain gambles and bailout hammering, does he want a running mate who gave a $261 million bailout to casino moguls?
9. Does Romney really need to add a Halfway House scandal to his list of campaign worries?
10. Romney doesn't want a running-mate who talks more often to the Koch Brothers than he does.
11. Christie wouldn't even be able to carry his home state... just like Romney won't carry Michigan or Massachusetts. And wouldn't that be embarrassing.
12. Christie has used his time in Trenton to audition for the national stage at the expense of doing his job back home. As running-mate, he would simply use the opportunity to audition for a future gig at the expense of the top of the ticket.
13. Christie falls asleep at Springsteen concerts. Can you imagine what he'd do during Romney's warbling rendition of "America the Beautiful"?
14. Christie might turn Romney down because he already has a more lucrative gig lined up at Fox News for after November.
* * * *
One New Jersey is shining a light on politicians who act against the best interests of New Jersey’s residents and who seek to divide our state for their own political gain. It is giving voice to the important issues that affect our daily lives. One New Jersey will closely monitor policy positions and actions of elected officials and expose their records on the issues that matter. You can follow One New Jersey on Twitter (@OneNJ) or search for “One New Jersey” on Facebook.
Edison, NJ -- Congressman Frank Pallone, Jr. (D-NJ) will visit the EOS Energy Storage facility on Monday, February 27, 2012, to discuss his support for an “all-of-the-above” approach to American energy production and protecting consumers from rising gas prices at the pump.
Gas prices have reached an average of $3.52 a gallon in New Jersey as a result, in part, of speculative trading on Wall Street. Congressman Pallone will call for further investments in domestic energy sources and new energy technologies to reduce dependence on foreign oil and lower gas prices.
Congressman Pallone will also highlight the importance of innovative companies like EOS Energy Storage in reducing demand for foreign oil and creating American jobs. EOS develops lost-cost batteries for electric vehicles. Cars with EOS batteries have the same costs and range as gasoline vehicles with 1/10th the fuel cost.
After this week's Wall Street roller coaster ride, one could only hope that investing was so easy that a pigeon could do it. Unfortunately many feel otherwise after losing a fortune after S&P downgraded American debt last weekend.
With all of the volatility surrounding the stock market this week, fortunes have been lost and regained in record time. It's enough to make even the E-Trade baby a little sick.
This morning, a group of public servants showed up to work at a brand-new agency created to protect everyday Americans from the abuses of Wall Street.
They're the folks of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, and they'll be the cops on the beat protecting consumers from predatory credit card and mortgage lenders, bait-and-switch creditors, and anyone trying to make a quick buck by deceiving or manipulating Americans who are just trying to secure their financial future.
Many Americans don't know it, but this bureau is just one part of a sweeping Wall Street reform law -- the most pro-consumer and pro-taxpayer reform of our financial system since the Great Depression -- that President Obama signed a year ago today.
Watch this video to get a quick overview of the law, and a briefing on the special interests trying to undermine it:
Pointing to the foreclosure crisis and the economy, the President cites passage of Wall Street Reform over the ferocious lobbying of Wall Street banks as a pivotal acheivement -- and condemns Republicans in Congress for vowing to repeal it.
According to almost all media accounts, American voters are on the verge of rewarding the Republican Party for its determined efforts to block Democratic job-creating efforts and President Obama’s other modest reforms.
Amazingly, Wall Street leaders – after getting salvaged by government intervention themselves – are calling for more Republicans in Congress to prevent government initiatives to help other Americans get back on their feet.
There is a strange consensus emerging that, for want of a better phrase, “gridlock is good.”
So, is the United States about to take yet another flyer with “Reagan-Bush-ism,” the “government is bad” ideology that has dominated the nation’s precipitous decline over the past three decades?
Has the Right’s media power left Americans so confused that they have forgotten how the country emerged from the Great Depression and built the great American middle class, with a combination of government infrastructure-building and private enterprise? Have the painful lessons of the George W. Bush administration been forgotten already?
Philosopher George Santayana famously said, "Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it." But he surely didn't think that the people of a modern nation would forget their own history in less than two years.
That was one of the reasons for publishing the book, Neck Deep: The Disastrous Presidency of George W. Bush, which I wrote with my sons, Sam and Nat, in the final years of Bush’s reign. As difficult as it may be to relive some of that history, it is important to remember – or it will be repeated.
Robert Parry broke many of the Iran-Contra stories in the 1980s for the Associated Press and Newsweek. He founded Consortiumnews.com in 1995 as the Internet's first investigative magazine. He saw it as a way to combine modern technology and old-fashioned journalism to counter the increasing triviality of the mainstream U.S. news media.
As the President beats back lobbyists seeking to weaken Wall Street Reform, he talks about an even broader threat that would vastly expand the influence of massive industries and their lobbyists in Washington. A recent Supreme Court decision opened the floodgates for corporations, including foreign corporations, to spend endless money on political ads that would give them even more power at the expense of American families – the President pledges to fight for reforms to stem that influence.
As the auto industry and financial markets begin to stabilize, the President says the government’s emergency interventions are now winding down. He pledges that real reform, particularly on Wall Street, must now begin.
The strongest consumer protections ever. Bringing transparency to financial dealings. Closing loopholes to stop recklessness and irresponsibility. Holding Wall Street accountable and giving shareholders new power in the financial system. President Obama lays out what Wall Street Reform is about, and questions whether opposition from the Senate Republican Leader might have something to do with his recent meeting with Wall Street executives.
As a key committee in the Senate takes up reforming the ways of Wall Street, the President lays down a marker: “I urge those in the Senate who support these reforms to remain strong, to resist the pressure from those who would preserve the status quo, to stand up for their constituents and our country. And I promise to use every tool at my disposal to see these reforms enacted: to ensure that the bill I sign into law reflects not the special interests of Wall Street, but the best interests of the American people.”
As the President continues to work on immediate job creation, he discusses his proposal for a new fee on the largest financial institutions to ensure that every cent of taxpayer assistance gets paid back. Saying that, "we're not going to let Wall Street take the money and run," he then to discusses the ongoing push to make sure banks can never put our economy at risk again.
The President explains that while he continues to focus on jobs, it is also profoundly important to address the problems that created this economic mess in the first place. He commends the House of Representatives for passing reforms to our financial system, including a new Consumer Financial Protection Agency, and blasts Republican Leaders and financial industry lobbyists for their joint pep rally to defeat it.
Lost during this holiday weekend was news about how new jobs are being created in the State,both the New York Times and the New Jersey Newsroom published stories about it on Friday. Here is what both reported:
The fierce tug of war between New York and New Jersey over 2,300 financial jobs in Lower Manhattan is just about over.
New Jersey has come out ahead, winning most of the jobs, said government officials and real estate executives. But New York keeps the headquarters.
The Depository Trust and Clearing Corporation, a critical part of Wall Street’s financial machinery, had threatened early this year to move its entire operation to New Jersey, enticed by lower costs and a subsidy package worth well over $70 million.
Then followed nine months of wooing and pleading by top officials on both sides of the Hudson River, including Gov. Jon S. Corzine of New Jersey.
Now, Depository Trust appears to have reached a decision to keep its headquarters and roughly 700 employees at its current home at 55 Water Street, according to the officials and executives, who declined to be identified because the company has not formally announced its decision.
Most of its work force, however, will move to the Newport office complex on the Jersey City waterfront.
New Jersey Newsroom - New Jersey support brings EvaTees and 60 new jobs to the state.
New Jersey and local officials Thursday toured Eva Tees Inc. a company that moved to Piscataway in March with 60 new jobs.
Eva Tees, a wholesale distributor of clothing and other merchandise, was awarded a Business Employment Incentive Program (BEIP) grant from the state Economic Development Authority (EDA). The move also included a capital investment of over $17.9 million.
"Attracting jobs and encouraging private investment is critical to ensuring New Jersey emerges from the national economic recession," Gov. Jon Corzine said. " We've taken measures to encourage business growth during these challenging economic times and Eva Tee's decision to make New Jersey its home is great news."
Eva Tees was originally established by Mayer Neuhoff in 1950 as Eva Hosiery and Underwear Company. In 1974, Neuhoff's son joined the company and expanded the business to include imprintable active wear. Over three decades later, the company continues to grow and is now run by the third generation of the Neuhoff family.
Eva Tees offers a full line of active wear, corporate casual wear and accessories. Its product line includes styles from popular manufacturers like Hanes, Bill Blass, Izod, Fruit of the Loom, Gildan, Jerzees and Van Heusen. The state grant, which will amount to an estimated $153,900 over 10 years based on 57 new jobs, was a major incentive for Eva Tees to consolidate three sites in New York and establish a larger site in Piscataway.
Second ad in a week builds on hundreds of grassroots events and momentum for legislation during Congressional recess:
Greeted with a new massive nationwide ad campaign along with over 350 grassroots actions, members of Congress returned to their home states and districts this week to be reminded that a majority of the public demands passage of the Employee Free Choice Act. A new, hard-hitting television ad will hit national airwaves today exposing the real motives of those who oppose the Employee Free Choice Act. It joins another ad already on the air and grassroots events across the country highlighting the broad support for the bill.
The ad calls out corporations, many of whom have received billions of dollars in taxpayer-funded bailouts, as opposing workers’ freedom to bargain with their employers for better wages and benefits at a time when the imbalance of power is the reason for our economic crisis. Instead of focusing on rebuilding our economy and getting us out of the mess they helped to create, the ad points out that companies like Bank of America took $45 billion in taxpayer money and have been working against the Employee Free Choice Act, exploiting their low wage workers, and rewarding its leaders, like CEO Ken Lewis, with million dollar payouts.
“The public and lawmakers alike need to know that the special interests opposing the Employee Free Choice Act are the same ones who caused this economic meltdown,” said American Rights at Work Executive Director Mary Beth Maxwell. “This new ad sends a resolute message that now is the time to help workers to bargain for a better life. The Employee Free Choice Act is urgently needed to create fairness in this economy.”
The momentum for the Employee Free Choice Act is growing, with ramped up grassroots events underway during the recess including rallies, anti-corporate actions, leafleting, lobbying, town hall meetings, moving billboards, community forums, vigils, call-in days, and more. Workers, elected officials, small business owners, students, faith leaders, civil rights activists, and other advocates, are participating in an array of actions underscoring the broad and diverse support for the measure.
The new ad campaign and recess activities continue to build on the broad support for the Employee Free Choice Act: independent polling confirmed a majority of the public supports its passage; over 40 leading economists – including Nobel laureates – released a joint statement endorsing the legislation as a critical part of our economic recovery; and just last week the “Faces of the Employee Free Choice Act ” campaign was unveiled by award-winning cast members of The West Wing standing alongside workers to promote the freedom to form unions on Capitol Hill.
WASHINGTON — President Obama announced on Wednesday a salary cap of $500,000 for top executives at companies that receive the largest amounts of money under the $700 billion federal bailout, calling the step an expression not only of fairness but of “basic common sense.”
“We all need to take responsibility,” the president said, in discussing the compensation restrictions, which include an exception for restricted stock. He also used the occasion to prompt Congress once again to act on his separate economic stimulus program, whose cost could approach $1 trillion.
Mr. Obama repeated his comments that some Wall Street executives had shown “the height of irresponsibility” when millions of nonwealthy Americans were bearing the burden of Wall Street’s failures.
The people are sick and tired, Mr. Obama said, of seeing Wall Street executives come to the government “hat in hand when they were in trouble, even as they paid themselves customary lavish bonuses.”
“This is America, we don’t disparage wealth,” the president said. “We don’t begrudge anybody for achieving success. And we certainly believe that success should be rewarded.”
But Americans definitely begrudge “executives being rewarded for failure,” especially if their earning are subsidized by taxpayers, “many of whom are having a tough time themselves,” he said.
Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, appeared with the president to announce the restrictions, which do not require Congressional approval. “The economic crisis was caused in part by a loss of confidence in our financial institutions, and it was made worse by a loss of faith in the quality of judgments made by some executives and some boards of directors,” Mr. Geithner said.
There is a general feeling among not-so-rich Americans, he said, that they are bearing a greater burden because of the financial crisis than those who helped to create it. Mr. Geithner said he would devote “every ounce of energy” to restore public trust in financial institutions — the bedrock of the country’s credit system.
The $500,000 salary cap will be stricter for those companies getting “exceptional assistance” from the Treasury Department. “Exceptional assistance” companies wanting to pay executives more than $500,000 will have to do so by using stock that cannot be sold or liquidated until the government money is paid back.
If you missed it, Governor Corzine made an appearance on CNBC's Squawk Box yesterday morning. The Governor talked about President Obama's Economic Stimulus package and what it means for New Jersey as well as the Country.
The Governor talked about New Jersey's economy and how the State is fairing during this economic crisis. He also talked with Jack Welch about the bonuses being paid out to some of the executives on Wall Street.
Raw Story - One of the most inexplicable economic events of the past year involved the doubling of the price of oil last spring and summer from $69 a barrel to nearly $150 -- driving gasoline and heating oil costs through the roof -- followed by its even more rapid collapse this fall to under $50
60 Minutes looked into various theories of what happened and concluded that "many people believe it was a speculative bubble .. and that it had more to do with traders and speculators on Wall Street than with oil company executives or sheiks in Saudi Arabia."
Oil is traded on the commodities futures market, whose original purpose was to enable farmers and manufacturers to stabilize their expenses and receipts. But in 2007, those markets began to behave erratically.
