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Al Franken Endorses Elizabeth Warren For Consumer Protection Bureau

July 24, 2010

Sen. Al Franken (D-Minn.) joined the effort to persuade President Obama to appoint Elizabeth Warren to head the Consumer Financial Bureau in an interview with the Huffington Post on Saturday. Earlier that day, Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Oregon) said he was endorsing Warren for the position and has made his position known to the White House, as has Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.). More than 60 House members have called on the president to nominate Warren and more than 160,000 people have signed an online petition. “I really like Elizabeth Warren,” said Franken, adding that he often had her on as a guest on his talk-radio show. “Her work on bankruptcy is what put her on our radar at the show in 2005.” Sen. Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) has questioned whether she’d be able to get 60 votes to overcome a filibuster, though the statute would allow the president to appoint her on an indefinite basis until a nominee is confirmed. Franken said he wasn’t sure whether the White House wanted the fight. “The White House has to decide if they want a confirmation fight. I don’t know what their considerations are. In my consideration, I think Elizabeth would be the best,” he said.

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Jeff Merkley For Warren: I’ve Told The White House To Appoint Her

July 24, 2010

The gathering of online and progressive activists at the Netroots Nation convention this year has produced a fairly overt and direct campaign to get Elizabeth Warren appointed as the first head of the newly created Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Of the speakers addressing the recently passed regulatory reform bill, nearly every one has said the Harvard professor is best suited to head the board that she originally conceived. AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka, for example, called Warren the only choice to head the consumer agency. Since this remains a political appointment, such advocacy matters only to the extent that it influences the president, the man who will ultimately make the choice, as well as the Senate, the body who will likely have to vote on Warren’s candidacy. On the latter front, Warren’s defenders got a bit of a boost on Saturday, with Sen. Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) making a forceful case for her appointment and disclosing that he’s been lobbying the administration on this front “I support Elizabeth Warren,” the Oregon Democrat said in an interview with the Huffington Post. “I have advocated for the administration to back her. She has both the clarity of the need for an agency that has as its top mission protecting citizens against tricks, traps and scams, and she has the ability to articulate that vision. She has the leadership skills and the knowledge of the financial world. She has the full set of requirements to be an effective leader. So I certainly hope the administration will [take my advice].” With an appointment to the consumer board coming, in all likelihood, in the near future, Merkley’s endorsement is one of the first publicly offered by a sitting Senator. Indeed, there has been as much concern raised over Warren’s confirmation prospects as there has been advocacy on her behalf. Senate Banking Committee Chairman Chris Dodd (D-Conn.) said recently that he wasn’t sure if Warren would get the 60 votes necessary for confirmation. For Merkley, the case for Warren is not just about the individual attributes she’d bring to the post, but also the various shortcomings of the just-passed regulatory reform legislation. A leading proponent of stricter rules to clamp down on the financial services industry, Merkley acknowledged feeling trepidation that the final legislative product left too much power to the judgment of the regulators. Having a strong advocate in a key post, in short, had become a vital ingredient to the legislation’s success. Warren, he said, would be that type of regulator.

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Barney Frank: Elizabeth Warren Should Head CFPB, By Recess Appointment If Necessary

July 23, 2010

If President Obama fears Elizabeth Warren won’t be confirmed by the Senate to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, he should just appoint her while the Senate is on one of its many vacations, House Financial Services Chairman Barney Frank said Friday. Referring to her as “far and away the best candidate,” Frank said Warren, a noted consumer advocate and bailout watchdog who conceived the agency in a 2007 article, not only cares about protecting consumers but also has the political chops to get things done for them in Washington. “If [Warren] can’t be confirmed she should be a recess [appointment],” Frank, who helped shepherd the recently-enacted financial reform bill into law, told the Huffington Post on Friday. “Given the way [the Senate has] misused the filibuster… given it’s anti-Democratic, I think the President did exactly the right thing with Donald Berwick,” the 15-term Massachusetts Congressman added, referring to an earlier Obama recess appointment to head the Centers for Medicare & Medicare Services. Warren, a popular pick to lead the new consumer agency she envisioned, has seen her chances threatened by other candidates for the job. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner prefers Michael Barr, his assistant secretary for financial institutions and a veteran of the Clinton-era Treasury, according to people familiar with Geithner’s views. White House officials say the shortlist also includes Eugene Kimmelman, a former top official at consumer advocacy groups Consumers Union, the Consumer Federation of America and Public Citizen who now works in the Justice Department’s antitrust division. Warren’s critics cite as black marks her perceived lack of management experience, her distaste for Washington politics and, curiously, her vigorous advocacy on behalf of consumers. But Frank pushed back against those arguments, particularly on the question of Warren’s political savvy. “I think, frankly — and I’ve said this to [administration officials] — she’s the ‘advocate’, supposedly, and Michael Barr is the ‘inside guy’. But, frankly, Michael Barr’s initial proposal for the consumer agency had some problems in it politically that Elizabeth understood and helped us work around,” Frank said. “So I think she’s better even on the political side of it. She’s the better choice.” Warren is a noted defender of the middle class, widely respected for her research on debt-strapped Americans, bankruptcy and the working poor. White House senior adviser David Axelrod lauded her efforts last week during a conference call with reporters — though he stopped short of endorsing her for the CFPB, noting “there are other candidates.” “Elizabeth Warren is a great, great champion for consumers and middle-class families across the country,” Axelrod said. “She has helped inform this effort greatly and what has been done here in many ways reflects something she’s been advocating for years and years and years.” Earlier this week, Senate Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd expressed reservations about Warren’s odds of being confirmed by the Senate. White House officials quickly shot back, assuring reporters that Warren is “confirmable.” Frank said he doesn’t really care. “There is some concern that she would be hard to confirm,” he allowed. “My answer is, in the first place, I’m not sure I’d want anybody who’s easy to confirm given the way the Senate is.” Frank resisted efforts to water down the financial reform bill’s consumer protection provisions. In fact, when asked what he thought of placing the consumer agency inside the Federal Reserve — a place it will soon occupy thanks to a series of compromises — Frank reportedly asked if it was a “joke.” “Secondly, I don’t think you give in to the threat of a filibuster,” Frank continued. “I think you make them do it. There would be such strong support for her that she would get confirmed. “I think she has a strong populist appeal,” he added. The New Republic reported Friday that Charles Fried , a former solicitor general under Ronald Reagan who supported the Supreme Court nominations of John Roberts and Samuel Alito, supported Warren for the consumer position. “I support capitalism, and I don’t like thieves. And the people who got us into this mess are thieves, or there are a lot of thieves among them,” Fried, one of Warren’s colleagues at Harvard Law School, told TNR. “She’s far and away the best candidate,” Frank said. “And… though there’s some concern, I guess, over whether she could be confirmed, that’s no reason not to go ahead and make the fight.” ************************* Shahien Nasiripour is the business reporter for the Huffington Post. You can send him an e-mail ; bookmark his page ; subscribe to his RSS feed ; follow him on Twitter ; friend him on Facebook ; become a fan ; and/or get e-mail alerts when he reports the latest news. He can be reached at 646-274-2455.

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Financial Reform Coalition Endorses Elizabeth Warren To Head New Consumer Agency

July 19, 2010

On Monday, a coalition of groups fighting to reform the nation’s financial system formally endorsed Harvard Law professor and bailout watchdog Elizabeth Warren to head the new Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Americans for Financial Reform , an alliance of more than 250 organizations that has spent the past year advocating for financial reform legislation, said that Warren is the “most experienced, effective and independent person” to serve as the critical first chief of the new agency. The endorsement comes on the heels of Thursday’s Huffington Post report that Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner opposes Warren’s nomination, and Friday’s statements by a senior White House adviser and top Geithner lieutenants at Treasury that Warren was “well qualified” for the position, yet nonetheless was only one of three top candidates. AFR includes top labor groups and progressive advocacy organizations with deep ties to the Obama administration, including AFL-CIO and the Service Employees International Union. “[Elizabeth] Warren has shown a steadfast and tireless commitment to protecting consumers throughout her distinguished career and is without question the best candidate to run the new CFPB,” Heather Booth, AFR’s director, said in a statement. “We join many others in encouraging the White House to quickly move to nominate Elizabeth Warren to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau,” Booth added. Some Democratic groups, like the Progressive Change Campaign Committee, announced their support for Warren on Friday. The PCCC even launched an online petition urging President Barack Obama to pick Warren as the chief of the new agency designed to protect consumers from predatory lenders. More than 100,000 people have signed it so far. “There was some urgency to move forward” on the endorsement, an AFR spokesman said. The group drafted its statement over the weekend, intending to get it out before Monday. The move may put increased pressure on the White House to select Warren to head the new entity. Consumer advocates and financial lobbyists agree that the first director will have a tremendous impact on the agency that will likely last beyond the director’s term. A strong consumer protector will ensure tough consumer protections for years, as the agency’s staff and the director’s successors will take their cue from precedent; a weak chief nearly guarantees an ineffectual agency that will fall short of the promises advocated by the soon-to-be enacted financial reform legislation. Sources say Geithner supports one of his top deputies, Michael Barr, for the position. Barr, a former law professor and Treasury Department official during the Clinton administration, has drawn raves from consumer groups for his role in ensuring the survival of the new agency as the financial reform bill made its way through Congress. Though reformers have clashed with Barr on other aspects of the bill, he’s widely praised for his efforts on consumer protection. But the agency is largely Warren’s idea. A noted defender of the middle class, she’s widely embraced by progressives and Democrats in Congress. “Elizabeth Warren is a great, great champion for consumers and middle-class families across the country,” White House senior adviser David Axelrod told reporters on a Friday conference call. “She has helped inform this effort greatly and what has been done here in many ways reflects something she’s been advocating for years and years and years.” Warren introduced the idea for a consumer agency in a 2007 journal article. She’s done extensive research on the debt-strapped middle class, bankruptcy and the working poor. Geithner’s spokesman, Andrew Williams, called Warren a “driving force” behind the new agency’s creation. Warren currently serves as chair of the Congressional Oversight Panel, a watchdog created to keep tabs on the federal bailout. Barr serves as Treasury’s assistant secretary for financial institutions. The third candidate, Eugene Kimmelman, is a former top official at consumer advocacy groups Consumers Union, the Consumer Federation of America, Public Citizen. He now works in the Justice Department’s antitrust division. Kimmelman’s former employers are part of AFR. ************************* Shahien Nasiripour is the business reporter for the Huffington Post. You can send him an e-mail ; bookmark his page ; subscribe to his RSS feed ; follow him on Twitter ; friend him on Facebook ; become a fan ; and/or get e-mail alerts when he reports the latest news.

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Bill Mann: Canada’s Strong Economic Recovery Getting U.S. Media’s Attention

July 16, 2010

Canada’s remarkable recent success in regulating its banks and creating new jobs is finally starting to get the U.S. media attention it deserves. If this keeps up, U.S. right wingers will start attacking Canada’s banking and economic system like they attacked our neighbor’s government-run health-care system for years. As local U.S. banks continue to topple, it’s well worth noting that Canada has had only one bank failure in history — and none recently. It’s long been said that when the U.S. economy sneezes, Canada’s catches a cold. But these days, given recent upbeat economic news, more and more of us Canada watchers are saying, “What cold?” Last week’s report that Canada’s resurgent economy created 10,000 more jobs — 93,000 in all — than its southern neighbors has focused a lot of U.S. media attention lately to just what’s going on in the Canadian economy that’s different from ours. My colleague at Dow Jones-owned MarketWatch.com, Nick Godt, in a recent piece, noted that Canada’s “boring” regulated economy is working better than ours: “In Canada, ” he wrote, “where a regulated banking system and strong consumer protection laws helped the country weather the globe’s worst financial and economic crisis since the Great Depression, a vibrant private sector is hiring again.” He also noted that in Canada, “big money and business interests don’t have as much sway over policies as in the U.S.” Badda bing, eh? There’s been strong hiring in the service sector in Canada, and the Huffington Post took note of this in a recent piece headlined, “Need a job? Try Canada, where hiring is booming and home prices are rising.” “In terms of sheer job creation,” the HuffPo piece said, “June saw Canada create jobs at five times the rate predicted by economists.” Marketwatch only last week created a special Canada section, which partly includes my Canada blog – another new addition – to let its readers know more about our increasingly confident and noteworthy next-door neighbor. And Moody’s adds that Canada’s strong economic recovery is ongoing, even if the U.S. economy falls back into recession. Jimmy Jean, an economist at Moodys.com, says Canada’s economic recovery is safe, even if the U.S. suffers a double-dip recession. Jean: “With the shift toward a service-oriented economy over the last three decades, Canada has grown more immune to U.S. woes. The last two U.S. recessions are solid proof that Canada is now better able to withstand strong headwinds from the south. Should a downside mild double-dip U.S. recession materialize, Canada’s recovery would very likely survive. In addition to Canada’s strong commodity sector, Jean said the success of Canada’s recovery is also because of policy makers acting quickly in the depth of the crisis, consumers shrugging off the recession and beginning to spend again, and Canadian employers believing in the recovery and hiring again. MarketWatch’s Markets Editor Godt also blasted the U.S. Senate’s refusal to extend unemployment benefits thusly: “Isn’t blocking unemployment benefits for 2 million Americans a pretty good attempt to make sure consumer spending will drop, lead to less growth, and further job losses just in time for the midterm elections?” It is inconceivable to this long-time American Canada watcher that Canadian politicians — of whatever party — would ever refuse to extend these benefits to the unemployed. Many of my Canadian friends are shaking their heads in disbelief at the cynicism of heartless Republican Senators who voted against it.

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Bill Mann: Canada’s Strong Economic Recovery Getting U.S. Media’s Attention

July 16, 2010

Canada’s remarkable recent success in regulating its banks and creating new jobs is finally starting to get the U.S. media attention it deserves. If this keeps up, U.S. right wingers will start attacking Canada’s banking and economic system like they attacked our neighbor’s government-run health-care system for years. As local U.S. banks continue to topple, it’s well worth noting that Canada has had only one bank failure in history — and none recently. It’s long been said that when the U.S. economy sneezes, Canada’s catches a cold. But these days, given recent upbeat economic news, more and more of us Canada watchers are saying, “What cold?” Last week’s report that Canada’s resurgent economy created 10,000 more jobs — 93,000 in all — than its southern neighbors has focused a lot of U.S. media attention lately to just what’s going on in the Canadian economy that’s different from ours. My colleague at Dow Jones-owned MarketWatch.com, Nick Godt, in a recent piece, noted that Canada’s “boring” regulated economy is working better than ours: “In Canada, ” he wrote, “where a regulated banking system and strong consumer protection laws helped the country weather the globe’s worst financial and economic crisis since the Great Depression, a vibrant private sector is hiring again.” He also noted that in Canada, “big money and business interests don’t have as much sway over policies as in the U.S.” Badda bing, eh? There’s been strong hiring in the service sector in Canada, and the Huffington Post took note of this in a recent piece headlined, “Need a job? Try Canada, where hiring is booming and home prices are rising.” “In terms of sheer job creation,” the HuffPo piece said, “June saw Canada create jobs at five times the rate predicted by economists.” Marketwatch only last week created a special Canada section, which partly includes my Canada blog – another new addition – to let its readers know more about our increasingly confident and noteworthy next-door neighbor. And Moody’s adds that Canada’s strong economic recovery is ongoing, even if the U.S. economy falls back into recession. Jimmy Jean, an economist at Moodys.com, says Canada’s economic recovery is safe, even if the U.S. suffers a double-dip recession. Jean: “With the shift toward a service-oriented economy over the last three decades, Canada has grown more immune to U.S. woes. The last two U.S. recessions are solid proof that Canada is now better able to withstand strong headwinds from the south. Should a downside mild double-dip U.S. recession materialize, Canada’s recovery would very likely survive. In addition to Canada’s strong commodity sector, Jean said the success of Canada’s recovery is also because of policy makers acting quickly in the depth of the crisis, consumers shrugging off the recession and beginning to spend again, and Canadian employers believing in the recovery and hiring again. MarketWatch’s Markets Editor Godt also blasted the U.S. Senate’s refusal to extend unemployment benefits thusly: “Isn’t blocking unemployment benefits for 2 million Americans a pretty good attempt to make sure consumer spending will drop, lead to less growth, and further job losses just in time for the midterm elections?” It is inconceivable to this long-time American Canada watcher that Canadian politicians — of whatever party — would ever refuse to extend these benefits to the unemployed. Many of my Canadian friends are shaking their heads in disbelief at the cynicism of heartless Republican Senators who voted against it.

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Bill Mann: Canada’s Strong Economic Recovery Getting U.S. Media’s Attention

July 16, 2010

Canada’s remarkable recent success in regulating its banks and creating new jobs is finally starting to get the U.S. media attention it deserves. If this keeps up, U.S. right wingers will start attacking Canada’s banking and economic system like they attacked our neighbor’s government-run health-care system for years. As local U.S. banks continue to topple, it’s well worth noting that Canada has had only one bank failure in history — and none recently. It’s long been said that when the U.S. economy sneezes, Canada’s catches a cold. But these days, given recent upbeat economic news, more and more of us Canada watchers are saying, “What cold?” Last week’s report that Canada’s resurgent economy created 10,000 more jobs — 93,000 in all — than its southern neighbors has focused a lot of U.S. media attention lately to just what’s going on in the Canadian economy that’s different from ours. My colleague at Dow Jones-owned MarketWatch.com, Nick Godt, in a recent piece, noted that Canada’s “boring” regulated economy is working better than ours: “In Canada, ” he wrote, “where a regulated banking system and strong consumer protection laws helped the country weather the globe’s worst financial and economic crisis since the Great Depression, a vibrant private sector is hiring again.” He also noted that in Canada, “big money and business interests don’t have as much sway over policies as in the U.S.” Badda bing, eh? There’s been strong hiring in the service sector in Canada, and the Huffington Post took note of this in a recent piece headlined, “Need a job? Try Canada, where hiring is booming and home prices are rising.” “In terms of sheer job creation,” the HuffPo piece said, “June saw Canada create jobs at five times the rate predicted by economists.” Marketwatch only last week created a special Canada section, which partly includes my Canada blog – another new addition – to let its readers know more about our increasingly confident and noteworthy next-door neighbor. And Moody’s adds that Canada’s strong economic recovery is ongoing, even if the U.S. economy falls back into recession. Jimmy Jean, an economist at Moodys.com, says Canada’s economic recovery is safe, even if the U.S. suffers a double-dip recession. Jean: “With the shift toward a service-oriented economy over the last three decades, Canada has grown more immune to U.S. woes. The last two U.S. recessions are solid proof that Canada is now better able to withstand strong headwinds from the south. Should a downside mild double-dip U.S. recession materialize, Canada’s recovery would very likely survive. In addition to Canada’s strong commodity sector, Jean said the success of Canada’s recovery is also because of policy makers acting quickly in the depth of the crisis, consumers shrugging off the recession and beginning to spend again, and Canadian employers believing in the recovery and hiring again. MarketWatch’s Markets Editor Godt also blasted the U.S. Senate’s refusal to extend unemployment benefits thusly: “Isn’t blocking unemployment benefits for 2 million Americans a pretty good attempt to make sure consumer spending will drop, lead to less growth, and further job losses just in time for the midterm elections?” It is inconceivable to this long-time American Canada watcher that Canadian politicians — of whatever party — would ever refuse to extend these benefits to the unemployed. Many of my Canadian friends are shaking their heads in disbelief at the cynicism of heartless Republican Senators who voted against it.

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Don McNay: After Goldman Give Up, Why Would Wall Street Be Scared of SEC?

July 15, 2010

My father was a professional gambler and used to carry a roll of money that he called “walking around” money. Walking around money is what the SEC settled for in the Goldman Sachs case. $550 million is walking around money to a company like Goldman Sachs. It is less than 5% of the $10 billion in bonuses it paid itself last year. Maybe “walking around” money is an understatement. The stock market understood that Goldman got the best of the deal. Goldman’s stock price surged 4.43% on rumors of a settlement. As the Huffington Post pointed out, the stock gain was probably enough to cover the $550 million fine. Also, Goldman got a monkey off its back. It can go on without a lawsuit hanging over its head. If the SEC had taken the time to do a through and complete investigations, who knows what they would have found. In its never ending ability to accommodate Wall Street, the SEC announced the settlement on the day when the rest of the world was focused on passage of the financial reform bill. Thus, whatever “embarrassment” Goldman might have suffered was mitigated by the settlement not being a top news story. One of the first tricks they teach you in corporate public relations is to release bad news on a day when it will get buried. Goldman is rich enough to hire the best public relations people. And it looks like the best lawyers. There has to be some major high fives going on in the boardroom after getting such a sweet heart deal. I am not sure what the SEC hoped to accomplish with a quick and inadequate settlement. It didn’t make those of us on Main Street feel any better about our “watchdog.” It just gave more evidence that the SEC is safely in the arms of Wall Street. Don McNay, CLU, ChFC, MSFS, CSSC is an award-winning financial columnist and Huffington Post Contributor. You can read more about Don at www.donmcnay.com McNay has Master’s Degrees from Vanderbilt and the American College and is in the Hall of Distinguished Alumni of Eastern Kentucky University. McNay has written two books. Most recent is Son of a Son of a Gambler: Winners, Losers and What to Do When You Win The Lottery McNay is a lifetime member of the Million Dollar Round Table and has four professional designations in the financial services field.

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Small Business Confidence Deteriorates; Economy ‘Mediocre At Best’

July 13, 2010

Small business confidence plummeted last month by the largest amount since the height of the financial crisis as lackluster economic growth and anemic job creation begins to take its toll on America’s small businesses. The National Federation of Independent Businesses said its Small Business Optimism Index dropped 3.2 points to 89.0, its steepest decline since October 2008. The index reversed two months of gains. The NFIB said the consistent readings below 90 — 19 of the last 21 months have registered a sub-90 score — was “unprecedented in survey history.” “The performance of the economy is mediocre at best,” the small business advocacy group said in their report. “The small business sector is not on a positive trajectory and with this half of the private sector ‘missing in action’, the poor growth performance is no surprise.” From plans to create new jobs to expected sales to capital spending, the report shows that small business owners continue to retrench, potentially prolonging economic pain. Nearly 15 million American workers remain unemployed. Nearly half have been out of work for at least six months. “Owners do not trust the economic policies in place or proposed and are distressed by global and national developments that make the future more uncertain,” the NFIB said. Just one percent more of owners plan to create new jobs, only the second positive reading in 20 months. The NFIB noted that “since the third quarter of 2009, job creation plans have underperformed the recoveries from the other two deep recessions covered by the NFIB survey”; Six percent more owners expect business conditions to deteriorate further over the next six months. Last month, eight percent more owners expected conditions to improve. This metric had been on a positive trend for three months; Five percent more small businesses expect lower sales over the next few months, as opposed to last month’s report which showed that five percent more owners expected higher sales. “Far more firms [are] reporting negative sales trends quarter to quarter than positive,” the NFIB reported; “Small business owners continued to liquidate inventories and weak sales trends gave little reason to order new stock”; Thirteen percent more owners cut prices or held them constant versus raising them, dampening inflation expectations. Last month was the 19th consecutive month in which more owners reported “cutting average selling prices that raising them,” the report said, adding that “widespread price cutting contributes to the high percentage reporting declining sales revenues”; And just four percent more small businesses raised worker compensation. The report noted that “in past recovery periods, compensation improved at a much faster pace than we have experienced in this recovery period.” “While political leaders trumpet their ideological attempts to remake the economy and save ‘small business’, more and more ordinary folks are wondering what in the world are they are thinking,” the NFIB report stated. “Either policymakers have no idea how to help the economy or they are intentionally committing it to unsustainable expenditure growth and deficits so large that there will be no alternative but to raise taxes, a slow suicide for a dynamic economy.” While President Barack Obama and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke continue to implore banks to lend more to stimulate the economy and boost job creation — with Obama pressing Congress to authorize additional taxpayer money to support private business lending — the NFIB reports that small businesses maintain their position that sales and a poor economy are the biggest hurdles. About half the firms participating in the NFIB survey had less than five employees. Nine out of ten small businesses reported that all of their credit needs were met last month, according to the NFIB report. Just six percent of owners said “finance” was their single most important problem. Rather, poor sales, taxes and government red tape took the top three spots. “What businesses need are customers, giving them a reason to hire and make capital expenditures and borrow to support those activities,” the NFIB said. And financing has rarely been cheaper: borrowers paid an average of 6.0 percent interest on short-term loans, a drop of 50 basis points from May, the report shows. The lowest interest rate the NFIB has found in its survey was 5.9 percent, which was achieved last November. A basis point is equal to 0.01 percentage point. READ the full report: NFIB SMALL BUSINESS ECONOMIC TRENDS ************************* Shahien Nasiripour is the business reporter for the Huffington Post. You can send him an e-mail ; bookmark his page ; subscribe to his RSS feed ; follow him on Twitter ; friend him on Facebook ; become a fan ; and/or get e-mail alerts when he reports the latest news.

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OECD Warns Of ‘Muted’ Recovery, Criticizes Congress For Allowing Unemployment Benefits To Lapse

July 7, 2010

An international economic organization criticized the U.S. Congress on Wednesday for allowing extended unemployment benefits to lapse at the end of May, a move that thus far has denied more than 2 million Americans a critical lifeline during the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. In its report on the global employment outlook, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development noted that a “particularly worrisome feature” of America’s deep recession is the high number of workers who have been unemployed for more than six months. Nearly half of the unemployed fall into this category, while more than 1 in 4 has been unemployed for longer than a year, the Paris-based OECD noted. In the view of the OECD, “this group raises particular concerns for public policy,” as the long-term unemployed “are at an elevated risk of falling into poverty” and “risk becoming permanently marginalized in the labor market.” “In this context, it is troubling that the temporary extension of unemployment benefits to last as long as 99 weeks has been allowed to expire,” the report’s authors wrote. In the 36 days since extended jobless benefits expired, Congress has shot down several attempts to extend them further, the last falling just before legislators took the week off to celebrate Independence Day. In the meantime, layoff victims have been left ineligible for additional weekly benefits beyond the six-month period provided by states. By the end of this week, more than 2.1 million workers will have lost those benefits, according to Labor Department figures compiled by the National Employment Law Project. The group estimates that without action, that figure could rise to more than 3.2 million unemployed workers by the end of July — just before Congress goes on vacation for an entire month. And if Congress continues its obstinacy, the unemployed may remain out of work for years; the OECD doesn’t forecast a roaring recovery. “The economic recovery will be too muted to result in strong job creation,” the OECD report said. “Unemployment is likely to recede only slowly.” The U.S. recession has been particularly brutal compared to that experienced by the other 30 countries comprising the OECD, a group of advanced economies. On average, the OECD nations have seen unemployment rates rise by 50 percent; in the U.S., unemployment doubled from about 5 percent at the end of 2007 to more than 10 percent by the fall of 2009. To combat the high unemployment rate and restless job-creation machine, the OECD recommends that governments “should place a high priority on trying to encourage employers to step up hiring.” While most governments “have little room to apply additional monetary or fiscal stimulus” — given the Fed’s near-zero interest rate policy and the hundreds of billions in stimulus funds the Obama administration has already committed — nations should try employment-boosting measures that “achieve a lot of bang for the buck.” Nearly 15 million American workers are unemployed, according to the latest Labor Department figures. Among the methods the OECD suggests are government-sponsored programs that encourage private businesses to reduce workers’ hours rather than lay people off — something that “significantly reduced job losses” in 24 OECD countries — and “well-targeted hiring subsidies” like tax breaks for companies that hire additional workers. The OECD praised the HIRE Act enacted by Congress in March, which employs this method, adding that it could be “even more cost-effective” if firms were required to demonstrate that their new hires increased the firm’s overall payroll. Belgium, Ireland and other OECD members call for such a requirement. The U.S. does not. READ the OECD’s report: OECD on USA ************************* Shahien Nasiripour is the business reporter for the Huffington Post. You can send him an e-mail ; bookmark his page ; subscribe to his RSS feed ; follow him on Twitter ; friend him on Facebook ; and/or become a fan and get e-mail alerts when he writes.

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Exxon Valdez Lawyer: Louisianans, ‘To Use A Legal Term,’ Are ‘Just F–ked’

June 8, 2010

Long after oil stops spilling from the Gulf and the ecological catastrophe caused by the spill begins to be cleaned up, the process of determining the extent to which BP owes the afflicted will be litigated in the courts. And while the case against the oil company seems fairly clear-cut (BP admits, after all, to being responsible for the worst environmental disaster in U.S. history), a lawyer with perhaps the most relevant experience on the matter at hand is painting a depressing picture about the litigation ahead. “[I]f you were affected in Louisiana,” said Brian O’Neill, an attorney with the firm Faegre & Benson, “to use a legal term, you are just f–ked.” More than any attorney in the country, O’Neill personally understands the implications of that imprecise legal term. For more than two decades, he represented fishermen in civil cases related to the now second-most-damaging spill in U.S. history: the Exxon Valdez spill in 1989. And from it, he learned valuable lessons about how to sue an oil giant for the damages it has caused — above all, to push for the best and plan for the worst. “In Valdez we had 32,000 legitimate claims — that was a lot,” he said in an interview with the Huffington Post. “I think there will be more claims in this one.” “These big oil companies, they have a different view of time and politics than we do,” he added. “The fact that BP hard-asses it a little bit for 5 to 10 to 15 years, despite all the bad publicity there may be between segments of society and BP as a result [of this spill]. Exxon sure weathered it really well. The market went up the next day for Exxon stock [after the settlement]. They just thrived despite treating an entire state poorly. And there is a lesson there for BP, and that is: it really doesn’t matter whether you treat these people nicely or not. The only difference is if you extract oil. It sounds cynical but it might be true.” The similarities between the two crises are telling in many ways. When Exxon’s ship hit Prince William Sound’s Bligh Reef — in the process, releasing an estimated minimum of 10.8 million gallons of oil into the water — the company pledged (like BP has done now) that they would cover the entire cost of the cleanup and all legitimate claims of damages. Two decades of litigation and appeals resulted in punitive damages being reduced from $5 billion to $500 million. The irony, as O’Neill tells it, is that the law Congress passed in the wake of that spill — the Oil Pollution Act of 1990 — may end up hindering the type of relief that Gulf residents can expect currently. Under that legislation, a $75 million cap was placed on economic damages that an oil company can pay as a penalty for a spill (this isn’t true, O’Neill notes, in states that have passed their own liability caps — of which Louisiana isn’t one). Congress is currently trying to lift that cap. But there are constitutional questions about whether it can do so retroactively to cover BP. “Constitutionally, I don’t know whether you can do that. I don’t know whether it is ex post facto,” O’Neill said. “It will likely be challenged. I would, if I was representing BP.” There are other problems that the Exxon Valdez vet recognized when discussing the forthcoming courtroom battles for BP. There are questions, for starters, as to who actually can sue the oil company under the Oil Pollution Act law and whether, in fact, those 11 workers killed on the rig will have their settlements capped by the Death On the High Seas Act. Mainly, however, O’Neill is concerned over the pervasive influence that the oil industry has on all sector of governance — which he predicts will weigh heavily on the legal process. “This is more important than banks,” he said. “This is oil. And at some point in time, the administration and the states will resolve all their dealings and it will leave fisherman and the tourist industry to resolve their differences in the courts. It could be another 20 years till then because BP [is] going to defend this like Exxon did.”

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Josh Silver: Harold Ford’s Corporate Crusade Against Net Neutrality

May 26, 2010

This week, Harold Ford, Chairman of the Democratic Leadership Council, showed how completely the DLC is captured by industry money, why the US congress is mired in gridlock, and why the government continues to protect the American public: from oil spills to banking crises to mining disasters, and now to the Internet. Big money lobbyists and their puppet politicians’ blind abandonment of reasonable government oversight. Harold Ford is one of those puppets. In his piece , “FCC Re-Designation of Broadband Will Bring Unwanted Market Uncertainty” Ford calls on the FCC to halt their efforts to reestablish the agency’s authority over Internet service providers (ISP’s) like Comcast and AT&T. As I have described in previous posts , the courts recently ruled that changes made by the Bush-era FCC has left the agency in charge of the nation’s communications without authority to oversee the 21st century’s dominant communications platform. This would be funny if it weren’t reality. Phone and cable companies are flooding Capitol Hill with cash and an army of lobbyists, including proxies like Ford, who failed to mention in his Huffington Post piece that he is the honorary co-Chair of ” Broadband for America “, an industry front group that pays him to spin on their behalf. If the FCC heeds Ford’s advice, you can say goodbye to candidate Obama’s promises of universal, affordable Internet access and Net Neutrality. You can say goodbye to the level playing field that the Internet has always been: where all content moves at the same speed, no matter who is sending it. With a broken political system awash in special interest money, Harold Ford is not alone. On Monday, 74 House Democrats signed an industry-written letter that echoes Mr. Ford’s line, calling on the FCC to stand down. The letter is so full of misleading information that it’s hard to know where to begin. And nearly every Republican in congress is toeing the phone and cable line. So tell it like it is, Harold Ford. You’re choosing the big money from the cable and telco juggernaut over the right of the American people to fast, affordable, universal Internet access. You’re ignoring how the US has slipped from 4th to 22nd in broadband speed and adoption. You’re ignoring Harvard Berkman Center’s findings that regulation promoting competition would serve US consumers well. Mr. Ford, you said that “Legal and Agency experts are not carefully examining the economic impact will have on investment decision”? But FCC Chairman Genachowski repeatedly stated his intent to ensure investment continued… just read his speech . Over the past few weeks we saw broadband providers themselves telling investors that they had no plans to slow investment in response to the FCC. Harold, I am looking for the consumers you claim have prospered under the current “light regulatory touch.” You mean all of the Americans who are paying more and getting less than in 21 other nations? Prospering more than in France, where you can get broadband, phone and 300 TV channels for $37 a month? By my estimate, Americans are paying about three times more here thanks to your “light regulatory touch” that abandons competition and other key oversight. Be warned, Mr. Ford, millions of Americans have called for Net Neutrality and universal Internet, and are not content to let shills like you lie to the American people any longer.

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Ian Gary: Will Chevron Heed the Call for Transparency?

May 25, 2010

Hundreds of Chevron shareholders will descend upon Houston this week to participate in the oil company’s annual general meeting. In the past year, we’ve seen the Huffington Post cover the oil industry and how it affects consumers – from the rise and fall of volatile gas prices to the most recent devastating Gulf of Mexico oil spill. Reading these stories, we can see how this billion-dollar industry has benefited Americans with jobs and fuel to heat their homes and run their cars. But the oil spill has us wondering, what about the adverse effects of the oil industry itself? Who truly benefits from its riches and who suffers the consequences of exploitation? Many communities along the Gulf Coast are yet again facing a threat to their livelihood as oil spreads across the ocean and begins polluting the shoreline. The spill shows us just how dearly local people and the environment can pay for the consequences of nearby oil projects that provide little local benefit. We must stand with these communities to support their right to a full recovery — first from Katrina and now from an oil company. But if corporate neglect and inadequate government response is the story line in the United States, what about the communities overseas that have little or no support from their governments? In 2008, Chevron paid more than $40 billion in taxes to governments around the world. At the same time, more than half of the world’s poorest people live in countries rich in oil and mineral resources, including many countries where Chevron operates. Vulnerable communities are dealing with the environmental and social effects of oil and mining projects, but they are often not benefiting from the revenues coming into their country. Managed properly, oil revenues can contribute to economic growth and poverty reduction. However, history has shown that oil company payments to governments are often kept secret, leading to embezzlement, corruption, and revenue misappropriation, which in many cases, has prevented oil revenues from contributing to economic development in these countries. This is a tragic paradox that must be addressed. Americans have a stake in seeing oil wealth overseas used well. In countries such as Nigeria, grievances over corruption and environmental degradation have led to protests and conflict. American oil workers have been kidnapped, and last year, one million barrels of oil were not produced because of instability in the Niger Delta. This means lost energy and lost jobs for many Americans. The shareholder meeting in Houston is an opportunity to help shed some light on secrecy in the oil industry. A group of shareholders filed a proposal with Chevron calling for a policy of publicly disclosing payments made to governments where the company operates. By publishing this information, Chevron would promote the rights of citizens in oil-rich countries by providing them with vital information, so they could hold their governments accountable for using these revenues for essential services like jobs, education, and healthcare. Chevron can be a leader in the oil industry by supporting transparent and accountable practices that would not only help these vulnerable communities, but also protect company investments and stabilize energy prices for consumers. This effort would go a long way toward improving Chevron’s relations with host communities and, in the long run, strengthening Chevron’s capacity to obtain legal and social “license to operate.” Unfortunately, Chevron management has failed to recognize the benefits of being a leader on payment disclosure and advised shareholders to vote against the shareholder proposal. We encourage Chevron shareholders to join us in support of transparency to break the cycle of secrecy that has undermined development, democracy, and human rights for decades. For more information about Oxfam America’s work to promote transparency in the oil, gas, and mining industry, visit www.oxfamamerica.org/rights-resources.

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Yielding To Wall Street, Credit Raters ‘Drink The Kool-Aid’

April 22, 2010

In the lead up to the financial meltdown, Wall Street firms routinely exerted influence on the nation’s largest credit rating companies— which judge the quality and safety of bonds—and the companies often surrendered to the pressure, according to the results of a Senate investigation. The rating companies, Standard & Poor’s and Moody’s, regularly awarded generous grades to thousands of mortgage-related investments that later collapsed and precipitated the financial crisis. Investors rely on the raters’ assessments in deciding what to buy and sell. But an examination, conducted by the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations, uncovered internal e-mails and documents that describe the raters as “beholden” to investment banks—firms the raters referred to as their “clients.” In an October 2007 e-mail, Moody’s chief risk officer warned the company’s chief executive, Raymond McDaniel, that Moody’s employees are “continually ‘pitched’ by bankers,” a process that can “color credit judgment, sometimes improving it, other times degrading it (we ‘drink the Kool-Aid’).” The risk officer said such influence “does constitute a ‘risk’ to ratings quality.” Moody’s spokesman Michael Adler said the company has “rigorous and transparent methodologies.”  S&P did not immediately respond to requests for comment. In the past, both raters have said their critics are wrong to characterize ordinary discussions about a rating as any kind of collusion. Both companies eased their standards as they battled for control over the credit rating business, according to the subcommittee. The raters, internal e-mails suggest, knew that some mortgage investments were flawed but gave them good grades anyway. “I’m not surprised; there has been rampant appraisal and underwriting fraud in the [mortgage] industry for quite some time as pressure has mounted to feed the origination machine,” an S&P managing director  wrote in a 2006 e-mail. This time period was crucial for the raters. Between 2006 and 2007, S&P and Moody’s each rated 10,000 mortgage securities, according to the subcommitee. Their revenues soared, peaking in 2007 at nearly $3 billion. But the raters later had to downgrade 90 percent of the risky mortgage securities they awarded top ratings to between 2004 and 2007, according to an analysis by BlackRock Solutions provided by the subcommittee. Such downgrades have been blamed for triggering the financial meltdown. “I don’t think either of these companies have served their shareholders or the country well,” said Sen. Carl Levin (D-MI), chairman of the subcommittee. “They were excessively influenced by investment bankers.” The Huffington Post Investigative Fund reported last year that rating analysts worked closely with financial institutions as they created mortgage investments. Banks often structured the financial products and then sold them to pension funds and other investors. In the most recent lawsuit filed against the raters, Ohio’s Attorney General Richard Cordray accused the companies of being “intimately involved in structuring” investments that caused retirement funds for police officers, firefighters and teachers to lose $457 million. Internal e-mails of Moody’s and S&P, released by the subcommittee, provide a window into Wall Street’s influence over the raters, said Levin. S&P’s residential mortgage rating group has “become so beholden to their top issuers [investment banks] for revenue they have all developed a kind of Stockholm Syndrome,” an S&P employee wrote in 2006. A June 2007 e-mail exchange between a Moody’s analyst and an investment banker highlights how rating fees were discussed as part of the rating process. The analyst told the banker that a particular rating likely could not be finalized until the “fee issue” was resolved. The banker, who worked for Merrill Lynch, responded: “We are agreeing to this under the assumption that this will not be a precedent for any future deals and that you will work with us further on this transaction to try to get to some middle ground with respect to the ratings.”    According to an e-mail Moody’s provided to the Investigative Fund late Thursday, there was more to the conversation. The Moody’s analyst replied to the Merrill Lynch banker later that day: “We will certainly continue working with you on this transaction, but analytical discussions/outcomes  should be independent of any fee discussions.” Still, competitive pressures affected the ratings process, the subcommittee said. In a 2004 e-mail, an S&P employee discussed “adjusting” rating procedures “because of the ongoing threat of losing deals.” Anxieties over losing deals surfaced in another instance. “We just lost a huge [mortgage deal] to Moody’s due to a huge difference in the required credit support level,” an S&P employee said in another 2004 e-mail. “There’s no way we can get back on this one but we need to address this now in preparation for the future deals.” S&P’s concerns cost them precious time, according to an e-mail released by the subcommittee. A new version of the S&P ratings model, “could’ve been released months ago and resources assigned elsewhere if we didn’t have to massage the sub-prime and Alt-A numbers to preserve market share,” an  S&P employee wrote in 2005. Some rating company employees appear to have objected to the changes.   In a 2005 e-mail, one employee wrote: “Screwing with [the model's] criteria to ‘get the deal’ is putting the entire S&P franchise at risk–it’s a bad idea.” Follow the Huffington Post Investigative Fund on Twitter or fan us on Facebook . Do you have information about this story? Send us a tip or submit a correction . REPUBLISH THIS STORY FOR FREE: The Huffington Post Investigative Fund licenses its content through Creative Commons. We encourage you to republish our stories in full with proper attribution.

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Bank of America Now Supports Cramdown, Giving Judges Authority To Modify Home Mortgages (VIDEO)

April 13, 2010

Bank of America, the nation’s largest lender and its biggest bank by assets, now supports changing the law to give federal judges the power to modify mortgages in bankruptcy. The bank joins Citigroup, the nation’s third-largest bank by assets, in supporting a change to existing law to give homeowners more leverage. Unlike other forms of debt, bankruptcy judges presently lack the power to change mortgage terms. The banking and home mortgage industry want to keep it that way — by not allowing judges the authority to change the terms, troubled homeowners are at the mercy of their lenders. They take what they get. But Wednesday, before a nearly-empty Congressional hearing room, Barbara J. Desoer, president of Bank of America Home Loans, said her bank now supports leveling that playing field. “As we’ve gone through the lessons that we’ve learned with modifications and other programs, there probably is some segment of borrowers for whom that would be an appropriate alternative,” Desoer said before the House Financial Services Committee. “So you would support that in some circumstances?” asked Rep. Brad Miller (D-N.C.) in a follow-up to his original question. “In some circumstances, yeah,” Desoer responded. In December, the House failed to pass an amendment to its financial reform bill that would have given judges this authority, despite the fact that it passed the chamber the previous March. The Senate defeated it the next month after banks and mortgage lenders of all sizes mobilized to kill the measure. Bank of America, though, is the nation’s largest lender and servicer of home mortgages. Desoer oversees a home mortgage unit that accounts for “about 20 percent of the U.S. mortgage origination market, with a $2 trillion servicing portfolio serving nearly 14 million customer loans,” according to the bank’s website. Its support now gives homeowner advocates in Congress added ammunition to pressure lenders to either do more to give distressed homeowners sustainable mortgage modifications, or to threaten the rest of the mortgage industry with the possibility of reintroducing a bill that would allow federal judges the authority to unilaterally do it on their own. Citigroup supported the change last year as Congress debated the proposal. Its position has not changed, bank spokeswoman Molly Meiners told the Huffington Post. Together, Bank of America and Citigroup hold a combined $4 trillion in assets, according to regulatory filings with the Federal Reserve. After Desoer appeared to qualify her support, committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.), who supports giving judges the authority to treat home mortgages like other forms of consumer debt, interjected in hopes of getting additional clarification. “Obviously the law would have to be modified to allow that circumstance,” he said. “We should make clear that we can’t change the bankruptcy law obviously case by case, so it would have to be an [inaudible] change.” Miller then asked a follow-up question. “You would support a legislative change in the bankruptcy law to allow the modification of home mortgages in bankruptcy?” he asked Desoer. “Yes,” she replied. “And I believe that there is a segment of borrowers for whom that is the appropriate alternative, subject to them having gone through qualification for HAMP, or something like that, and failed.” HAMP refers to the administration’s main foreclosure-prevention initiative, the Home Affordable Modification Program. “There is a segment of borrowers for whom that might be an appropriate alternative, yes,” Desoer added. The panel, though, was quickly reminded that Bank of America was alone in its support for homeowners. Mike Heid, co-president of Wells Fargo Home Mortgage, butted in after Desoer finished responding to Miller, and added his two cents: “I think you’d have to ask yourself whether a change in bankruptcy law is really the best way — and the fastest way — to achieve assistance for homeowners. I think there’s other alternatives,” Heid said in a response to a question that wasn’t asked of him. Miller quickly retorted, “We’re trying to do other alternatives now, and have been for three years, and without much to show for it.” Last year lenders foreclosed on more than 2.8 million homes, according to real estate research firm RealtyTrac. The firm estimates three million homes will get foreclosure notices this year; more than one million of them will be repossessed by lenders. WATCH the exchange:

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Don McNay: The "Don’t Ever Give Up" Business Plan

March 23, 2010

Here I am, on the road again. Here I am, up on the stage. Here I go, playing the star again. Here I go, turn the page -Bob Seger “Don’t Give Up. Don’t ever give up.” -Jim Valvano Seth Godin, who has helped thousands of entrepreneurs be productive, says that business people never realize that with a little bit of push, they can move past a seeming dead end and reach business success. I hope that is true in my case. In January, 2008, I released my second book, Son of a Son of a Gambler: Winners, Losers and What to Do When You Win the Lottery. Although it was critically acclaimed, it didn’t sell nearly as well as my first book, The Unbridled World of Ernie Fletcher, which had come out in 2006. The Fletcher book came out in October and had large crowds at the book signings. The Gambler book came out in January and it snowed every time we had an event. The Fletcher book came out as the economy was booming. Gambler came out as the economy was collapsing. I knew when the economy was turning, better than Ben Bernanke knew (who has never seemed to know where the economy is going, anyway). People would brave the elements to come to events, but would not buy anything. I could see in their eyes that they wanted a book but couldn’t afford it. I stopped marketing the book — a big mistake. I started working on a third book about why people blow “Big Money.” That book will be out later this year. Along with writing my weekly column, I started contributing to Huffington Post in 2008. That gave me a large, worldwide audience. When I joined Huffington, both of my books started selling again. Especially the Gambler book. It sold moderately well and stayed in stores. Then fate came into play. In the form of a dead lottery winner. In 2006, Abraham Shakespeare won $16.9 million in the Florida lottery. This year, they found his body buried five foot deep and under concrete. A new-found “friend and adviser” has been charged with his murder. After his death, I did a number of interviews about the trouble many lottery winners have holding onto their money. It’s a topic covered extensively in the Gambler book. One Sunday, I found myself quoted in hundreds of major newspapers and on television stations around the world. Suddenly, the Gambler book got hot. Now we are launching an “encore” book tour. As the son of a son of a gambler, it’s time for me to “double down” and do the kind of full-blown book tour that we should have done two years ago. Early indications are that the book tour will be a big success The ups and downs of Son of a Son of a Gambler taught me a lot about life and a lot about myself. It’s ironic that I quit on a book where my father was a central character. Dad and former North Carolina State coach and ESPN announcer, Jim Valvano, were roughly the same age and diagnosed with cancer at roughly the same time. Dad avidly followed Valvano’s courageous fight against cancer. Jimmy V was his hero. On the day of dad’s funeral, Jimmy V was given the inaugural Arthur Ashe Courage and Humanitarian Award. (I’ve included a link to it, below.) In one of the most inspiring talks I have ever heard, Valvano told us, “Don’t give up, don’t ever give up.” It took a while for Jimmy V’s message to hit, but I’m glad it did. When I decided to have a “double down” book tour, I compared it to Bob Seger’s song “Turn the Page.” It was a regional hit before Seger became a worldwide star. When Seger hit it big with “Night Moves,” “Turn the Page” found a new audience. Just like I think Son of a Son of a Gambler will find a new audience. The big lesson is one that any business, or person, needs to learn. Don’t give up when the initial feedback is negative. I almost did. I’m glad I kept referencing the book and telling the tale of wayward lottery winners. Now it is getting noticed. I’m hoping that doubling down turns out to a winning hand for Son of a Son of a Gambler. ESPY Speech and Jimmy V Foundation: http://www.jimmyv.org/remembering-jim/espy-awards-speech.html Don McNay, CLU, ChFC, MSFS, CSSC is one of the world’s leading authorities in helping people deal with “Big Money” issues. McNay is an award winning, syndicated financial columnist and Huffington Post Contributor. You can read more about Don and his upcoming book tour at www.donmcnay.com McNay founded McNay Settlement Group, a structured settlement and financial consulting firm, in 1983 and Kentucky Guardianship Administrators LLC in 2000. You can read more about both at www.mcnay.com McNay has Master’s Degrees from Vanderbilt and the American College and is in the Eastern Kentucky University Hall of Distinguished Alumni. McNays on tour promoting his latest book Son of a Son of a Gambler: Winners, Losers and What to Do When You Win The Lottery McNay is a lifetime member of the Million Dollar Round Table and has four professional designations in the financial services field.

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Richard Shelby: Chris Dodd ‘Is Gonna Go With His Bill And Go It Alone’

February 9, 2010

Senate negotiators are at an impasse over the Consumer Financial Protection Agency, Richard Shelby, the ranking Republican on the Senate Banking Committee, told the Huffington Post Tuesday night. After talking with committee chair Chris Dodd (D-Conn.), Shelby said: “I’m sure at this juncture that he’s gonna go with his bill and go it alone. We don’t believe he can pass a bill without us. To pass a meaningful bill it’s going to have to be, in my judgment, a bipartisan bill.” HuffPost asked Shelby if Dodd had confirmed to him on the floor that he was moving ahead with an independent Consumer Finance Protection Agency. “Well, that’s been our biggest split, okay, and it’s still at impasse there,” Shelby said. “But we’re talking.” Dodd, after the Senate floor conversation, also said that the talks would continue, but not forever. “We’re down to a couple of issues here that we need to work on and I’m determined to continue to work on those over the next few days to see if we can put something together. If not, then we’ll go forward with a bill. And there may be another day in this process before we’re at that point, but we’re working on it,” Dodd said, predicting a committee vote in the next few weeks. Asked if he specifically told Shelby he was moving ahead with an independent CFPA, Dodd said: “No, I didn’t say that. I said the door was open.” “We’ve gone a great distance in major areas in my view. Obviously, nothing’s done until everything’s done,” he said. Shelby recently gained national notoriety by placing a “blanket hold” on 70 Obama nominees in order to win a defense contract for a European company that hires non-union labor in his home state of Alabama.

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Jacques Henri Taylor: Despite Economic and Political Hardships, I Still Say This is a Great Time to be Alive

February 3, 2010

After all of the talk about the severity of the economy, the lack of jobs, shrinking credit availability, poor housing market, rising deficits, heart-breaking wars, deplorable education trends for our children and youth, an embarrassing health care system, soul crushing poverty at home and abroad, devastating natural disasters, global warming, and the stifling grip of social, sexual, racial, and economic injustice, I still say this is a great time to be alive. I say this for several reasons. 1. For all that is upsetting about our time, we have finally manifested an environment where discourse is valued. It is even encouraged. Just a few years ago, if you to disagreed with the Bush administration, you were called unpatriotic. That potent label was attached to anyone who did not want to go to war. And it was un-American not to or support the economic or social policies of the day. In contrast, there is plenty of tough criticism for the Obama administration from the same people who supported his run for office. This is a good thing. It is healthy. Our voices of concern and the expression of our different ideas will help lift the best ideas to the attention our government. I am not so naive as to think that this process will be easy, smooth, or always satisfying. I do believe that having a president that is encouraging the expression of ideas and solutions and who takes the time to listen and discuss them with his advisors is a hope-filled situation. Criticism, especially from the ones who support you can be good. It can be inspiring, refreshing, and it can also protect you from harm that you can not see coming. This is a very auspicious time to be alive. 2. The response by our global community to the needs of the people of Haiti after the earthquake struck is giving us a chance to restore faith in humanity. And so far, I think our species is doing well. Sure there is room for criticism and for improvement; however, I am moved by the breadth and scope of our global community’s generosity. The use of technology as exemplified by the use of texting to make donations and the massive number of TV commercials and news items that continue to encourage us all to give what we can. This is an affirmation of the potential for compassion. Haiti continues to have top page placement in leading media such as the Huffington Post. Governments from around the world are contributing to the humanitarian effort. NGOs are providing the medical, structural, and basic needs to help the Haitians rebuild. There even seems to be the social and political pressure to say focused on Haiti to give the Haitian people every chance to create a society of prosperity as opposed to one of just mere survival. It is amazing to see large corporations – like Wells Fargo – pressured by we the people into dropping transaction fees for donations to help the Haitians. And all of this for a country that has no oil or diamonds. All of this for a country whose greatest resource is its people – Black people. I know that the work is anywhere near completion, but doesn’t the possibility for real commitment feel more real than it ever has? When focused, motivated, creative our global community can get it right and for the right reasons. 3. Everything that needs to happen in Haiti needs to be addressed, although on different scales, right here in the US. I understand that it takes political will and a movement by the people to reallocate the kind of money that we are spending on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan towards healthcare, education, and infrastructure. And I think the time for this reshuffling of the nations resources is approaching. It feels to me that we are living in a time where we are becoming grounded, connected, and willing to open of hearts to an era of genuine compassion – and yes, change.

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Video: Arianna Huffington Sees `Deficit of Trust’ at Davos: Video

January 29, 2010

Jan. 29 (Bloomberg) — Arianna Huffington, author and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post, talks with Bloomberg’s Margaret Brennan about sentiment among participants at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. (Source: Bloomberg)

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Top Hospitals Questioned In Electronic Health Records Probe

January 20, 2010

A congressional inquiry into plans for spending billions of dollars in stimulus money on digital medical records is now questioning some of the nation’s most prestigious health care providers about possible safety flaws and other problems with the electronic systems. Sen. Charles E. Grassley (R-Iowa), ranking member of the Senate Finance Committee, has asked 31 hospitals and health systems across the country in a Jan. 19 letter to advise him of any problems with their computer systems and any “issues or concerns that have been raised by your health care providers” over the past two years. “Hospitals are on the front lines and their perspective will be very valuable in this effort, so I look forward to hearing what they have to say about expanded use of health care information technology,” Grassley said Wednesday in a statement. The hospitals include [ see full list here ] the prestigious Mayo Clinic and others among the country’s leading users and pioneers of digital records, such as Kaiser Permanente, a California-based health system with more than 8 million members. Several top government policy advisors on electronic health records currently work or have been affiliated with some of the institutions now included in the inquiry. David Blumenthal, the Department of Health and Human Services’ top digital records official and a physician, previously was with Massachusetts General Hospital, which received the query from Grassley. Federal officials expect to spend up to $27 billion in stimulus money over the decade to help doctors and hospitals purchase the systems. On Dec. 30, Medicare officials issued draft guidelines detailing standards that doctors and hospitals must meet to qualify for the stimulus payments. Starting next year, doctors can receive as much as $44,000 each from Medicare for buying the systems and making “meaningful use” of them. Hospitals are eligible for millions of dollars in Medicare bonus money. But Grassley, whose committee oversees Medicare, has expressed doubts about the quality of some systems as well as the business practices of some vendors. In October 2009, Grassley wrote to 10 manufacturers, asking them to report problems with what he termed “faulty software.” Grassley said some health care providers told him that, in some cases, software was producing “incorrect medication dosages because it miscalculated body weights by interchanging kilograms and pounds.” Grassley also expressed concern about allegations that some companies impose “gag orders” that prevent users from publicly discussing problems that crop up. The senator also is looking into any financial incentives vendors pay to hospitals that purchase their systems. In his statement, Grassley said he had expanded the investigation after receiving responses from the vendors, although his staff declined to explain what specific information they had received. But Grassley stated in the Jan. 19 letter: “Over the past several months, however, I have been made increasingly aware of difficulties and challenges associated with” adopting digital records systems. An official at the University of California, San Francisco Medical Center, which late last year scrapped part of a $50-million digital records installation amid persistent technical problems, confirmed the hospital had received the letter and would “provide the information requested.” In a statement, the hospital said it has begun working with a new company and expected to have a comprehensive electronic system “operational within the next two to three years.” Grassley’s spokesperson Jill Gerber said they had chosen the hospitals based on both “positive and negative” press reports, complaints, whistleblowers, and their own research. Grassley’s letter also signaled that he was reviewing “reported problems” that “appear to be associated with administrative complications” and “actual computer errors stemming from the programs themselves.” The senator also expressed concerns that many systems essentially cannot talk to each other and that administrators in some institutions have been slow to take action when confronted with software glitches and other concerns. “In addition, I have heard from health care providers around the country that when they report such problems to their facilities and/or the product vendors, their concerns are sometimes ignored or dismissed,” Grassley wrote. He also said that because the systems are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration, there is no national system for reporting “product errors or failure and adverse events associated with the use of such products.” Spokespersons for two of the facilities, Kaiser Permanente and Massachusetts General Hospital, confirmed they had received the letter, but had no further comment. Do you have information about this story? Send us a tip or submit a correction . Follow the Huffington Post Investigative Fund on Twitter or fan us on Facebook .

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Rep. Betsy Markey: Haiti Credit Card and Bank Donations: Companies Must Use Their Consciences

January 15, 2010

I am continually staggered by the sheer, selfless generosity of the American people. Every day we are confronted with examples of average people struggling to face this current economic crisis with some measure of dignity and courage. And then something unimaginably awful happens on a small island thousands of miles from most of our citizens and, as they have done time and time again, the American people step up. By Thursday evening, the American Red Cross had raised more than $35 million for their Earthquake relief fund, including $8 million through an unprecedented text messaging effort propelled by Facebook and Twitter. According to many relief organizations, while the average donation amount has been lower than in previous international crises, the number of donations has gone up. People may have less to give, but more people than ever are willing to give what they can. Which is why, after reading reports on the Huffington Post and from other news outlets that some major banks have been taking a cut from donations made through credit cards in the form of a 3% interchange fee, I got mad. Yesterday, I sent a letter to the major American credit card providers and banks asking them to waive all transaction fees for donations made to relief organizations on behalf of the Haitian earthquake effort. Some, including Visa and Mastercard, stepped up immediately and should be rewarded for that effort by our recognition and support. I am a pragmatic person. I started and ran two successful businesses in my life before I came to Congress. I try to avoid overheated rhetoric or carte blanche indictments. And I think that companies have a right to make a profit. But I also think that, in a country where taxpayers had to rush in to bail out big banks just barely over a year ago, where abuses by many of the credit lenders reached such a fever pitch that Congress had to step in and regulate practices just a few short months ago, banks and credit card companies need to apply some level of conscience to their actions. As any business owner knows, there is a time to be concerned with the bottom line and a time to remember that you have a responsibility to be a good corporate citizen. American Express announced intentions to waive transaction fees before my letter went out. Shortly after Discover said they would waive some fees. Capitol One is actually the only major credit card provider with a program already in place to waive transaction fees for charitable donations. We still await word from Citigroup, JP Morgan Chase, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America. My hope is that these providers will follow the example of Capitol One, American Express, Discover, Visa and Mastercard and make sure that every dollar donated to earthquake relief gets directly to the people of Haiti. Before I came to Congress I served as the chairman of our local food bank. Non-profit organizations that serve those in distress do a tremendous service to our world community and are not often in a position to advocate for business practices that would help them do their job better. And that is where the rest of us, especially those of us elected to serve in Congress, must step in. Congresswoman Betsy Markey represents Colorado’s Fourth District. She serves on the House Agriculture, Transportation and Infrastructure Committees.

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FCIC Commissioner Asks Public For Questions, HuffPost Readers Answer

January 13, 2010

Bill Thomas of Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC) recently contacted the Huffington Post requesting to have copies of readers’ questions in response the Ask a Banker campaign forwarded to his office. As the FCIC surges forward with the first public hearings on the causes and culprits of the financial crisis, Huffington Post readers have submitted questions across a number of platforms. The Twitter conversation is trending under the #FCIC hashtag . Comments on FCIC-related coverage number in the thousands. But questions from Americans to the bankers are paramount. A recent blog post co-authored by Eliot Spitzer, William K. Black, and Frank Partnoy put the gravity of the hearings and the public’s important role into perspective: FCIC should use this first public hearing for two quiet purposes. The primary goal should be to develop information. The subsidiary goal is to put the CEOs on record as to what went catastrophically wrong, which will allow the FCIC to judge their candor as the facts are developed. The FCIC, and the nation, need the utmost candor. In order to get your question heard, submit it now using the tool below. The same widget can also be found on all FCIC-related coverage. HuffPost editors will be compiling the questions in batches as they are received and will deliver them personally to Commissioner Bill Thomas.

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Commercial Real Estate: The Next Hole in the Economy | Goeshare

January 10, 2010

DC-area developer Jeff Neal gives the Huffington Post Investigative Fund a tour of empty commercial properties just blocks.

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‘Please Give My Dad A Job,’ Writes Twelve-Year-Old In Oregon

November 23, 2009

As part of its Bearing Witness 2.0 project, the Huffington Post is rounding up a few of the best local stories of the day. A 12-year-old girl in Eugene, Ore., wrote a letter pleading for an employer to hire her father who had been out of work for half a year, writes Bob Welch for the local Register-Guard . Andy Hess has been doing odd jobs off and on at Oregon Motorcoach, and his daughter, Cheyenne, was desperate for him to get hired full time. She wrote the boss, Ed Read, a letter. Her letter: Dear Ed Reed, Please give my Dad a job at Oregon Motorcoach. He has been out of a job since December 2008 and he deserves this job and you deserve such a great painter, he has a great painting skill. He has painted cars, coaches and he always has a good attitude about what he has to do. He has always been a good Dad, painter and lovely husband and friend. If you hire him you would be getting a good deal and a lot of new customers for life. My Dad has never been rude to anyone so you won’t have to worry about having meetings with him. So please, please, please hire him. He always has great ideas at meetings and never needs an assistant. Sincerely, Cheyenne Hess. Find out what happened . ********* The United Way discontinued Arkansas’s 211 service last week because of insufficient funding, reports Marla Cantrell of Fort Smith’s City Wire . The system connected needy callers to social services, from employment help to finding the nearest food bank or after-school programs. Every other state in the nation has a 211 service. Private donations have slowed in recent months , despite the service’s popularity in the state. “I’ve put these systems up in other states and I’ve never seen people gravitate toward it like they have in Arkansas,” said State Director Nathan Cook. The United Way attempted to push legislation to pay for 211 with government money, but the state maintained it did not have the funding. ********* A free clinic in Greensboro, N.C., that caters to the local Muslim population has been overwhelmingly popular, reports Nancy H. McLaughlin of the News & Record . The Al-Aqsa clinic operates twice a month in a donated office space and provides primary and prenatal care for low-income and uninsured patients. The clinic is bilingual in English and Arabic, and provides services to a niche community that might otherwise be overlooked. All of the health professionals are volunteers, and organizers are concerned about how long they can continue to operate with a demand so large and a supply so small. “One of the things we are running up against is that the demand for services… outstrips the ability for the network to meet that need,” said Brian Ellerby, chairman of a local network of care services. ********* Over the last year, food assistance programs in Rhode Island have served 30 percent more meals than the year before, reports the Providence Journal ‘s Paul Davis . Because of the recent economic collapse, about 123,000 people across the state live in poverty and a third of them are children. HuffPost readers: Seen a compelling local story? Have a neighbor going to bizarre lengths to get through the recession? Tell us about it! Email jmhattem@gmail.com .

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Commercial Real Estate The Next Hole in the Economy | Gerald …

November 21, 2009

Commercial Real Estate The Next Hole in the Economy. D.C.-area developer Jeff Neal gives the Huffington Post Investigative Fund a tour of empty commercial properties just blocks from the Capitol. Hundreds of small and medium-size banks …

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Senator Says Loophole In Derivatives Regulation Undermines Reform

November 20, 2009

The effort to impose new restrictions on the financial system falls short of true reform if there’s a gigantic loophole for foreign exchange derivatives, Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) said Thursday. “Most people who write about the ‘comprehensive reform’ — they’re missing the point, which is, you’ve got to have derivatives regulation,” she said in an interview with the Huffington Post. And indeed, bills being considered in Congress would bring transparency and accountability to the complex and opaque derivatives contracts that nearly brought down the financial markets last year — by forcing them to be traded through clearing houses or on exchanges. But the bills, based on a proposal put forth by the Obama administration, would exempt foreign exchange derivatives from disclosure requirements. That loophole is now facing opposition in both houses of Congress. As Cantwell explains it: “The whole foreign issue is a scapegoat. The real issue is that if you have a loophole that people can drive their tractor through, drive their volume through, you create a dark market.” This one loophole could be widely exploited, Cantwell argued, and “You can’t have exemptions that are 50-80 percent of the market or it won’t be reform.” Foreign exchange derivatives — private contracts to buy or sell currencies in the future -currently make up about eight percent of the largely opaque derivatives market. U.S. firms with extensive operations overseas like Nike and Apple use them as insurance against currency fluctuations. Virtually the entire market is traded in the shadows by the biggest banks. Wall Street wants to keep it that way. Banks made more than $18 billion off foreign exchange derivatives in 2007 and 2008, according to a report by national bank regulator the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency . By comparison, these same banks lost about $13.7 billion during the same period from all other types of derivatives trades. Supporters of the exemption argue that the system is working fine, and that any attempts to regulate it will simply drive the market overseas into much more opaque places, beyond the reach of meaningful regulation. Cantwell’s response to that concern: “The international community is waiting for the United States to stand up and have transparent markets before they themselves have transparent markets. Se we ought to be the beacon for how it’s done, not sit around and blame foreign countries that might have dark markets.” The two leaders responsible for shepherding derivatives reform legislation through the chamber — Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Agriculture Committee Chairman Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) — have committed to closing the foreign exchange loophole, the Huffington Post reported earlier this week . In the Senate, the bill introduced by Banking Committee Chairman Christopher Dodd (D-Conn.) includes the loophole. However, since the Senate Agriculture Committee also has jurisdiction over how derivatives will be regulated (American farmers have been using derivatives for more than 100 years) it’s unclear what will ultimately emerge from the Senate. “This is a long battle,” Cantwell said. “It’s like a porous border. We’ve got to make sure we really are closing those loopholes.”

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Mother Sues Indiana Social Services For Cutting Off Daughters’ Medicaid

November 20, 2009

As part of its Bearing Witness 2.0 project, the Huffington Post is rounding up a few of the best local stories of the day. A family in Indianapolis, Ind., is suing the state’s welfare agency because they were dropped by Medicaid, reports WTHR’s Sandra Chapman . Melissa Grant’s two daughters need medication to manage their seizures, but they were dropped from the welfare system at 19, and Grant cannot afford the $800 cost. The lawsuit alleges that the family’s case has been pending in the appeals process for the last year and a half, during which time the Social Services Administration had no right to stop services. “When [the department employees] get overloaded, they just mass delete [cases],” claimed Grant’s lawyer. A spokesperson for the agency declined comment to WTHR. ********* A bureaucratic loophole in legislation extending federal unemployment benefits prevents state governments from extending their own benefits, reports Chad Mira for Columbia, Mo.’s KOMU . Rhonda Victor is one person caught in the middle: her current unemployment runs out in two weeks, but she has to wait to apply until her state can implement federal guidelines and process her application. “I’m at a panic state because I’m the only person in the household so [when my benefits end] I will have no income coming in,” she said. The state Department of Labor said it will likely take weeks for new applications to be filed for unemployment checks to be sent. ********* A program in North Carolina designed to keep responsible homeowners in their houses has been extended statewide, reports WRAL’s Monica Laliberte . The North Carolina Home Protection Program gives an interest-free loan of $24,000 to qualified applicants who are current on recent payments, but have been laid off or suffered other financial hardships. “I did everything right that I thought I should do. I worked hard. I paid my bills on time. I earned decent money,” said Angela Satterwhite, a former investment banker who lost her job almost a year ago. “I feel the program has helped me save my home.” ********* A free dental clinic in Asheboro, N.C., was patronized by hundreds of unemployed or uninsured workers Friday, reports Tracey McCain for WFMY News . “I’m unemployed, I’m uninsured, I don’t know how else I would be able to get my teeth fixed if I didn’t come here,” said Kat Ore, who was thankful that the dentists would sooth her aching teeth. HuffPost readers: Seen a compelling local story? Have a neighbor going to bizarre lengths to get through the recession? Tell us about it! Email jmhattem@gmail.com .

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Senate Health Care Bill Offers Less Immediate Help Than House Version

November 19, 2009

If the Senate has its way with health insurance reform, Sandra Ingram, a 63-year-old cancer patient undergoing intensive chemotherapy treatments in Iowa, would lose her health insurance next July. That’s when the temporary health benefits she gets from her former employer will expire. Ingram, who knows no private insurer will sign up a cancer patient at an affordable rate (if at all), will have to wait half a year before she can apply for a temporary public insurance plan, and it’ll be another year after that before she’s eligible for Medicare. “The metastasis has reached the bone, the liver and what they’re doing is keeping me alive as long as possible,” Ingram told the Huffington Post. She said she’ll keep doing one chemo treatment or another until either the cancer is gone or she’s tired of fighting it. She doesn’t know what to expect in six months — but for now, she’s not giving up. “I’m fighting this booger,” said Ingram, who lost her job in January. “I hate cancer. It’s a monster.” Ingram wouldn’t lose her benefits under the House plan. While the Senate bill does not extend health benefits for laid-off workers, the House version would keep Ingram covered through next year and until 2013, when the big reforms — the exchange, through which people can choose from a range of affordable policies, including a public option — are up and running. The bill allows any laid-off worker who continued his or her employer’s health care plan under the government’s COBRA law to keep that coverage until the exchange is in place. (The Senate bill pushes the start date of the big reforms back to 2014.) COBRA gives fired workers 18 months during which they can pay full price for their policy under their former employer’s group plan — not very affordable, but typically less than it would cost to buy insurance on the individual market. The stimulus bill provided for 65 percent reduced COBRA payments, and it’s likely that Democratic leaders in Congress will try to renew that benefit for another year before the Christmas break. Ingram said her reduced COBRA payment is $270 a month. There is a program in Iowa for people who’ve been denied insurance, but she said she thought it would cost more than $800 a month. Under the House plan, she’d get a much better deal. “The Senate is selling us out,” Ingram said. She’s been calling Sen. Chuck Grassley, the Iowa Republican who opposes the bill altogether, and urging him to flip his position. Both bills create a $5 billion temporary public insurance option for people who have been denied insurance due to a pre-existing condition. The Senate bill gives the Health Secretary 90 days to set up the “high-risk pool,” whereas the House bill wants that pool ready for swimming on New Year’s Day. And the Senate bill is stingier about how soon some people can jump in. Mary Duffy is a 60-year-old three-time cancer survivor in California whose COBRA benefits will expire in December. Under the House version, Duffy will be eligible for the high-risk pool as soon as a private insurer refuses to cover her or offers her a bad deal — she does not also have to wait six months. Under the Senate version, a person must both wait six months and have a pre-existing condition to qualify.

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Steve Parker: Radio’s auto shows this weekend

November 13, 2009

Join us LIVE Saturday at 11am Pacific/2pm Eastern (NEW TIME!) and Sunday at 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern on www.TalkRadioOne.com for our exclusive LIVE motoring and motorsports talk shows! Steve Parker’s The Car Nut Show NEW TIME! Join us LIVE every Saturday at 11am Pacific/2pm Eastern Nissan’s all-new 2011 Leaf “pure EV” was officially launched in the US last night in oh-so-hip Santa Monica, CA, and Steve Parker was there for all the hoopla, food and booze, interviewing Carlos Ghosn, Nissan/Renault CEO and Bruce Campbell, Leaf lead designer from Nissan North America, among others. Plus Steve’s 60-second road tests and your phone calls! Join two-time Emmy Award-winner Steve Parker, also automotive writer for the Huffington Post, NBC-TV auto show Whipnotic and the Santa Monica Daily Press newspaper. Be sure to join-in the conversation: The call-in number is: 213-341-4353. Nissan Leaf 2011 production model / Steve Parker photo Steve Parker’s World Racing Roundup Sunday starting at 5pm Last week it seemed a given that NASCAR’s Jimmie Johnson was headed for an unprecedented fourth straight Sprint Cup championship, but his spin on the third lap of last Sunday’s race in Texas shook-up all the leaders’ standings. Now Mark Martin has a real shot at his first title! Ron Hornaday has tied-up his fourth Camping World Truck Series title while the Nationwide Series is still up in the air. Plus all the latest on the “silly seasons” in all the racing series in the world. The call-in number is: 213-341-4353. Join in! Mark Martin Podcasts of both shows are available one hour after the live shows conclude. That’s our NEW TIME this Saturday at 11am Pacific/2pm eastern and Sunday at 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern time every week on www.TalkRadioOne.com!

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Steve Parker: Radio’s auto shows this weekend

November 13, 2009

Join us LIVE Saturday at 11am Pacific/2pm Eastern (NEW TIME!) and Sunday at 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern on www.TalkRadioOne.com for our exclusive LIVE motoring and motorsports talk shows! Steve Parker’s The Car Nut Show NEW TIME! Join us LIVE every Saturday at 11am Pacific/2pm Eastern Nissan’s all-new 2011 Leaf “pure EV” was officially launched in the US last night in oh-so-hip Santa Monica, CA, and Steve Parker was there for all the hoopla, food and booze, interviewing Carlos Ghosn, Nissan/Renault CEO and Bruce Campbell, Leaf lead designer from Nissan North America, among others. Plus Steve’s 60-second road tests and your phone calls! Join two-time Emmy Award-winner Steve Parker, also automotive writer for the Huffington Post, NBC-TV auto show Whipnotic and the Santa Monica Daily Press newspaper. Be sure to join-in the conversation: The call-in number is: 213-341-4353. Nissan Leaf 2011 production model / Steve Parker photo Steve Parker’s World Racing Roundup Sunday starting at 5pm Last week it seemed a given that NASCAR’s Jimmie Johnson was headed for an unprecedented fourth straight Sprint Cup championship, but his spin on the third lap of last Sunday’s race in Texas shook-up all the leaders’ standings. Now Mark Martin has a real shot at his first title! Ron Hornaday has tied-up his fourth Camping World Truck Series title while the Nationwide Series is still up in the air. Plus all the latest on the “silly seasons” in all the racing series in the world. The call-in number is: 213-341-4353. Join in! Mark Martin Podcasts of both shows are available one hour after the live shows conclude. That’s our NEW TIME this Saturday at 11am Pacific/2pm eastern and Sunday at 5pm Pacific/8pm Eastern time every week on www.TalkRadioOne.com!

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Father Joins Military To Give Family Home For Winter

November 11, 2009

As part of its Bearing Witness 2.0 project, the Huffington Post is rounding up a few of the best local stories of the day. Natalia Mielczarek reports in the Tennessean that Stephanie Dick’s husband recently volunteered to serve a tour of duty in Iraq so his family could move out of the 21-foot-long RV camper they have been living in, and into a home — even if just for the winter. The couple, who have two children and three dogs, make just barely too much money to qualify for help from federal stimulus funds, and were kicked out of their home in October. They were living full-time in a campground, but have since used a loan from Stephanie’s mother to move into a trailer park. They’re still trying to get something more permanent, and better suited for the upcoming cold. “We’re OK on the clothes,” said Stephanie, “the one thing that worries me is that even with the heaters, it’s still going to be cold.” ********* Jeff and Yanthy Zerner, of Phoeniz, Ariz., came home last week to find a foreclosure notice posted on the door of their home. “I get this notice that says you have five days to vacate the property,” said Jeff. “So I called the number and I say, ‘Who are you?’ and they say, ‘We’re the [new] legal owners of this house. It went up for foreclosure.’” Technically, it did. But it shouldn’t have. The Zerners had made all of their payments on the mortgage, and had just finished a trial loan modification, which they claim should have led to a permanent modification. Chase, which provided their loan, confirmed to KPHO’s Sarah Buduson that the bank had, in fact, made a mistake, and had foreclosed and sold the Zerners’ house in error. The company had “reached out to Ms. Zerner to discuss where we go from here,” according to a statement, but had not yet given the couple their house back. ********* Laura Byrnes, of Ocala, Fla.’s Star Banner , reports that local food pantries are running out of food as many of the people who used to donate items have started lining up to get help for themselves. “We’re definitely seeing the middle class, not just the poor anymore, and we’re seeing a lot more homeless, especially women, on the street,” said Gary Linn, director of Interfaith Emergency Services . He said his organization has served 75 percent more families this year than last, and 400 percent more than in 2007. A combination of more patrons and fewer donors has strained the charities. “The folks who lost their jobs… used to have food drives and toy drives for us, and now they’re trying to get food for themselves,” explained Linn. And as joblessness continues to rise through the holiday season, food banks see no end. ********* Children whose parents have recently lost their jobs are starting to suffer the emotional and psychological consequences, reports Michael Luo for the New York Times . One family, the Bachmuths, of the Woodlands, Texas, said that both their daughters — Rebecca, nine, and Hannah, 12 — started to display behavioral difficulties when their father, Paul, lost his job about a year ago. “I’m starting to think it’s all my fault,” he expressed. In families where the chief breadwinner recently lost their job, children were 15 percent more likely to repeat a grade, according to one recent academic study . “The extent that job losers are stressed and emotionally disengaged or withdrawn, this really matters for kids,” said Dr. Ariel Kalil, a professor of public policy at the University of Chicago. She added that parents tend to argue more after a job loss, which also affects children’s behavior. ********* Almost half the nation’s hotel owners won’t be able to pay their mortgages this year, reports Steve Huettel of the St. Petersburg Times . Hotels, desperate to get tourists in the door, are cutting prices, which means their profits are slipping. That loss of cash flow does not necessarily mean that hotels will foreclose, though; instead, services have been cut back, from staff to landscaping to food preparation. HuffPost readers: Seen a compelling local story? Have a neighbor going to bizarre lengths to get through the recession? Tell us about it! Email jmhattem@gmail.com .

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Elkhart Coroner Blames High Suicide Rate On Recession

November 10, 2009

As part of its Bearing Witness 2.0 project, the Huffington Post is rounding up a few of the best local stories of the day. In Elkhart, Ind., coroner John White has linked the rising suicide rate to the continuing economic recession, reports MSNBC’s JoNel Aleccia . As many as 24 people have killed themselves this year in the Northern Indiana region, and over a quarter of them can be directly tied to recent job loss or financial hardship. Elkhart has suffered more than any other county with more than 25,000 residents, according to a stress map from the Associated Press released in May. One woman shot herself in the head the day after her car had been repossessed, her home already on the brink of foreclosure. “This was a vivacious, very strong woman, and she was taken to her knees because of money,” said her daughter. Anecdotal evidence suggests that the recession has caused higher suicide rates nation-wide, but a data leg prevents full analysis — the most recent national data only go up to 2006. ********* A little over a year ago in Tavares, Fla., four-day-old Chase Jucha had to undergo open-heart surgery, reports the Orlando Sentinel . His parents, Brian and Jessica, were uninsured, and got emergency Medicaid to help save his life. Then, as Chase was recovering — exactly a year after his surgery — Brian had a headache that turned out to be a tumor twice the size of a golf ball, and he had to undergo brain surgery. And then Jessica lost her job at a childcare center in September. The Juchas have been receiving help from their church, the First Baptist Church of Tavares , whose 200 parishioners have already donated more than $1,800 to help the family, which also has another three-year-old son, Bradley. Brian, a landscaper, is also out of work. “Our desire was to be able to make sure their day-to-day and week-by-week needs were going to be met,” said Rev. Tom Keisler. “They’re a wonderful couple. This really hit everybody hard.” Donations can be made by contacting the church . ********* A homeless shelter in Fayetteville, Ark., has seen a record number of homeless veterans, reports 40/29 TV . There’s been “a huge increase, and we didn’t think it could get any higher,” said Jon Woodward, executive director of the Seven Hills Homeless Center . The center reports that about half of its patrons are veterans, caught in the midst of high unemployment and unable to transfer their battlefield experience into civilian employment and a stable home. “The challenge is just like anybody looking for jobs,” said Terry Jaggers, of the Department of Workforce Services in Fayetteville. “There’s just not that many jobs available.” ********* Peter Whoriskey reports for the Washington Post about a region of North Carolina that has had more jobs outsourced to other countries than just about anywhere else in the nation. Local workers are struggling to switch careers in a job market already strained by high unemployment and the lingering recession. Many laid-off employees cannot enroll in a federal program designed to re-educate workers for new kinds of jobs, because their unemployment checks aren’t enough to support them long enough to earn a degree or training certification. “The people in the think tanks keep saying we are going to become — what’s the term? — an ‘information and services’ economy,” said Allan Mackie, manager of the local North Carolina Employment Security Commission office. “That doesn’t seem to be working out too good.” ********* In Michigan, the high number of foreclosed houses threatens to throw off totals for the 2010 census, which could rob the state of a congressional seat, reports Catherine Jun of the Detroit News . Massive unemployment across the state has caused many to move away, and even more to lose their homes. HuffPost readers: Seen a compelling local story? Have a neighbor going to bizarre lengths to get through the recession? Tell us about it! Email jmhattem@gmail.com .

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Federal Reserve Tours Foreclosed Homes: "Very Sobering"

November 2, 2009

As part of its Bearing Witness 2.0 project, the Huffington Post is rounding up a few of the best local stories of the day. Representatives of the Federal Reserve joined activists, civic leaders and struggling homeowners in a tour of Brockton, Mass. on Sunday to get a sense of how the foreclosure crisis is affecting communities. This was the ninth and final trip through a town hit hard by the foreclosure crisis, reports Bryan Manquard of the Boston Globe . The bus tour, organized by the Brockton Interfaith Community , rolled by shuttered buildings and empty houses, and featured personal stories of people trying to hold on despite turbulent times. This trip “gives us on-the-ground, firsthand knowledge of what’s happening,” said Sandra Braunstein, who works for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve. “I think it was very interesting and very sobering,” she said. Brockton has the highest foreclosure rate in the state, at about 44 foreclosures per 1,000 housing units , and 1,500 in the last five years . After the tour, community members met with House Financial Services Committee Chairman Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.) and Fed officials to discuss the housing situation. ********* Lillie Greene, 65, lost everything when she fell victim to a Ponzi scheme. John Henderson of the Rocky Mount Telegram writes that Lillie Greene, 65, of North Carolina, quit her job of 27 years in 2001 so she could stay home and take care of her son, who was partly paralyzed after a stroke. “His father had died earlier,” she explained, “I didn’t want my son to go to a group home.” Trying to be financially judicious, she trusted her money to a local financial adviser, Joe Jones. But Jones, along with his partner, Charles Harrison, swindled her along with other retirees from around the region. The crooked investors have both been convicted and sent to prison for over a decade, but Greene has yet to have any of her money returned. Since then, Greene went back to work part-time as a school bus monitor. “I’m living from day to day,” she said, “I’m fighting every day not to file bankruptcy.” ********* Residents of mobile home parks in Southern California are being kicked out to make way for a new condominium development, reports Rebecca Kimitch of the San Gabriel Valley Tribune . The home owners are being paid to move out, but they feel shafted because their reimbursements are significantly less than what they paid for the house in the first place. “You are facing a foreclosure for them,” described Leah Simon-Weisberg of the Eviction Defense Network . As a response, the Rosemead cIty council is currently considering an ordinance to govern when and how mobile home parks are closed and converted for another use. In the meantime, residents say that the park is raising their rent, and is trying to force them out. ********** With six unemployed workers for every available job, employers can afford to be choosy. Diane Stafford of the Charleston Port and Courier reports that Rachelle Rand claimed that she slaved for days for the application for a single job, just to lose it to an internal hire. She had a day-long interview, where she claimed she met with about 20 people back-to-back, as well as an initial hour-long phone interview. “I did a lot of preparation for the interviews and research prior to both interviews,” Rand said, speaking as one of many who are devoting countless hours to finding a new job, all to no avail. HuffPost readers: Seen a good local story? Know of a neighbor going to bizarre lengths to get through the recession? Tell us about it! Email jmhattem@gmail.com .

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Maria Cantwell: I’m "Not Sure" Why Geithner Still Has Job (VIDEO)

November 2, 2009

A Democratic senator said on Monday that she’s “not sure” why Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner still has his job, calling his financial reform plans “appalling.” Appearing on MSNBC’s Morning Meeting with Dylan Ratigan , Sen. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) said that Geithner’s plans left banks the same loopholes and encouraged the same risks that led to last year’s economic meltdown. Ratigan asked Cantwell, “Knowing two massive exemptions in the piece of legislation the Secretary endorsed yesterday on ‘Meet the Press’ … why does Tim Geithner still have a job?” “I’m not sure,” Cantwell responded, “because David Gregory had him almost — trying to get a straight answer out of him. What the Treasury Secretary basically said was, yes, banks should take more risks and we should continue the loopholes and that is really appalling because, right now, we know that lack of transparency has caused this problem with the U.S. economy and Wall Street is continuing, one year later, continuing the same kind of loopholes. And so if the Treasury Secretary doesn’t come down hard against these loopholes and advocate for closing them, then we’re going to have a tough time closing them in Congress. So the Treasury Secretary is dodging the issue.” Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News , World News , and News about the Economy A member of the Senate Finance Committee, Cantwell wrote about the dangerous lack of regulation on Wall Street for the Huffington Post on Friday . Get HuffPost Politics On Facebook and Twitter!

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Single Father Turned Away From Homeless Shelters

October 29, 2009

As part of its Bearing Witness 2.0 project, the Huffington Post is rounding up a few of the best local stories of the day. Attila Streyar and his toddler daughter Layla are homeless reports Barbara Grijalva of Tucson’s KOLD News , and because he is a single father, Streyar had been turned away from several shelters. “I’m a single dad and I have this baby and we’ve fallen upon hard times,” he said through tears. “I needed some help, just to get shelter. There was no place in this town that I could find that takes care of men with children by themselves.” Streyar found some assistance at the Primavera Foundation , which offers temporary housing, food and relief to struggling families. It operates the only local shelters that will accept single fathers, workers told KOLD. Primavera placed Streyar and his daughter in a motel it uses for temporary family housing. ********* Police officers in Kingston, N.Y., are going door to door on their time off to fight impending layoffs, reports Adam Bosch of the Times Herald-Record . The city administration is looking to cut jobs because of budget deficit. Residents have been eager to sign petitions; already over 1,600 have pledged their support, and the police expect to get 2,500 total signatures by the Nov. 5 budget hearing. “The idea of cutting police here is asinine,” said Corteckia Lightfoot, whose 16-year-old son was shot and killed in 2007. “You’ve got our backs; we’ve got your backs,” she told the cops. ********* The state legislature in South Carolina acted Wednesday to send millions of dollars in benefits to the unemployed, reports Yvonne Wenger of the Post and Courier . The state legislature acted to correct an “oversight” that prevented the use of stimulus funds, Wenger reports, extending benefits for five months. About 113,000 residents have exhausted their benefits so far this year. ********* Twelve thousand new workers at the CityCenter mega-complex in Las Vegas are in high spirits now that they have new jobs, reports Amanda Finnegan of the Las Vegas Sun . “This is like early Christmas. This is like the best gift I could unwrap for myself,” said one man who’d been laid off in February. Nearly 160,000 people applied for the jobs. HuffPost readers: Seen a good local story? Know of a neighbor going to bizarre lengths to get through the recession? Tell us about it! Email jmhattem@gmail.com .

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Another House Democrat Backs Away From Loophole In Investor Protection Bill

October 28, 2009

A leading House Democrat backed away Wednesday from a sweeping proposal that would have watered down a post-Enron reform, permanently exempting small publicly-traded companies from a requirement that they obtain outside audits of their internal controls. Rep. Carolyn Maloney, of New York, originally proposed that firms with market capitalization less than $75 million be exempt from a provision of the Sarbanes-Oxley Act, the 2002 law designed to increase investor confidence that was enacted after accounting scandals at Enron and WorldCom rocked investors. The loophole would have applied to about 55 percent of publicly-traded firms. Maloney’s amendment, co-sponsored with Rep. Scott Garrett, a New Jersey Republican, was to be attached to the Investor Protection Act of 2009, a pending bill in the House Financial Services Committee. It was first reported by the Huffington Post. But after investor groups protested her amendment — and after the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Paul Kanjorski, (D-Penn.), reached out to Maloney — the New York Congresswoman offered a new one, calling instead for a study of the costs of complying with the already-existing provision, and delaying its planned implementation by a year. Small firms are expected to comply with the provision by next June; Maloney’s new amendment would delay that until 2011. A spokeswoman for Kanjorski said the Congressman thought Maloney’s original amendment was “too big. The revised version is more focused.” Investor groups and consumer advocates opposed Maloney’s original amendment, arguing that it weakened investor protection and would have made financial fraud harder to detect. “The need for strong internal controls is particularly important for the generally riskier smaller public companies that would be the beneficiaries of any exemption,” wrote Jeff Mahoney, general counsel for the Council of Institutional Investors, a nonprofit association of public, union and corporate pension funds, in a letter to members of the committee. Though these firms are required to obtain outside audits of their internal controls, the Securities and Exchange Commission has granted them annual deferrals from complying with the law for the last seven years. The latest deferral was granted earlier this month, though the SEC said that this was the last one. In an interview Wednesday, Maloney said she offered the new amendment because she got new information on smaller firms’ costs of complying with the provision. “I did not know that the SEC has just come out with a huge report — it’s like 50 pages long, I haven’t had a chance to read it — but they are claiming that they have come out with ways that will reduce the burden by 30 percent — the cost on small businesses,” the nine-term Congresswoman said. “I don’t know if that’s true or not — I haven’t had a chance to read it. I’m going to ask for a public hearing on it…to see if in fact that is true.” Regarding pressure from other lawmakers to dial back her original amendment, Maloney said, “I didn’t talk to them until after I had decided what I was going to do.” The committee passed Maloney’s new amendment in a voice vote.

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Flood Evacuees Form New Community As Neighbors

October 27, 2009

As part of its Bearing Witness 2.0 project, the Huffington Post is rounding up a few of the best local stories of the day. Thirteen families displaced by flooding in the Southeastern United States in September are now living as neighbors in an apartment complex, reports Mark Davis of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution . The families, some of whom escaped their old homes only with what they could carry, originally met at the local Cobb County Civic Center, which was operating as an emergency shelter. They have since formed a tight-knit community, doing favors for each other and cooking meals together. “It was the Lord who brought us together,” said Marla Jackson. Many of the families are in their new homes with the help of non-profits like Hosea Feed the Hungry & Homeless , who help with rent and food. ****** Rosemary Ponnekanti of the Washington News Tribune writes about musicians in the Pacific Northwest who are giving up their passions for paychecks. “I’ve been doing this since 1997,” said Anne deMille Flood, whose color pencil drawings of local landmarks have made her a local stalwart, “and at the peak in 2007 I’d be selling around 15 originals a year, at around $500 each.” Since then her sales — and her income — have dropped 60 percent, and she is looking for another job. “I hate to give it up,” she said “but…I gave it my best shot. I hope the economy will recover, and I’ll get back to it.” ****** Shannon McGinnis, a single mother of two recovering from lymphoma cancer, earns just $485 a month as a nanny. But her bills are much more than that, and she depends on the Colville Food and Resource Center , reports Sophia Aldous of the Eastern Washington Statesman Examiner . She credits the food bank with keeping her family together: “They’re not just a food bank. They help me with the electricity bill, school supplies for my kids…I know they are here for me,” she said. The Food and Resource Center supports over 1,200 people a month — about half of them minors — and, like many food banks and shelters, is gearing up to serve even more people during the holiday season. ****** In Lafayette, Ind., Amanda Hamon of the Journal and Courier reports that 67 crumbling houses and buildings have been demolished by the city Hearing Authority. The department, established in 2006, identifies unsafe buildings and seeks to either refurbish them or tear them down. A rise in foreclosure rates has sent many homes into disrepair, and the city receives several calls a day because of blighted property. HuffPost readers: Seen a good local story? Heard about a heroic judge, neighbor, or doctor helping people stay in their homes? Tell us about it! Email jmhattem@gmail.com .

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Steve Parker: Auto radio shows this weekend

October 23, 2009

Join us LIVE Saturday and Sunday at 5pm Pacific time on www.TalkRadioOne.com for our exclusive LIVE motoring and motorsports talk shows! Steve Parker’s The Car Nut Show Saturday starting at 5pm Pacific The federal government is forming a new agency to protect consumers against finance company, credit card and bank rip-offs, but car dealers are exempt from the plan. Do consumers already have enough protection when they’re car shopping? We want your opinion! And the Tokyo Motor Show opens with hybrids and EVs galore. Plus road tests, industry news and your phone calls! Join two-time Emmy Award-winner Steve Parker, also automotive writer for the Huffington Post, NBC-TV auto show Whipnotic and the Santa Monica Daily Press newspaper, as he recounts and explains all this and more. Plus his popular “One Minute Road Tests.” Be sure to join-in the conversation: The call-in number is: 213-341-4353. A lot of people still have this image of car dealers Steve Parker’s World Racing Roundup Sunday starting at 5pm The Formula 1 champions have been crowned, with one race to go in their season. NASCAR is in the midst of its 10-race Chase for the Sprint Cup, and one driver appears dominant as he goes for his fourth consecutive title. And A1GP is almost out of business. The call-in number is: 213-341-4353. Join in! Is Jimmie Johnson headed for four straight NASCAR titles? Podcasts of the shows are available one hour after the live shows’ conclusions. That’s this Saturday and Sunday at 5pm USA Pacific time on www.TalkRadioOne.com!

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Chamber Of Commerce Strong-Arms Service Provider Into Shutting Down Spoof Site

October 23, 2009

The U.S. Chamber of Commerce demanded that the company providing Internet service for the Yes Men shut down their site on Tuesday, claiming the spoof troupe’s fake version of the Chamber’s site constituted copyright infringement. “The Website infringes the Chamber of Commerce’s copyrights by directly copying the images, logos, design, and layout of the Chamber of Commerce’s copyright-protected official website,” said the letter from the Chamber’s lawyers, who threaten “legal liability” for the service provider, Hurricane Electric. The mockup of the Chamber’s site was part of the Yes Men’s epic hoax , which included a phony press conference at the National Press Club, where a fraudulent Chamber spokesman announced that the superlative lobbying organization had reversed its controversial stance on climate change. Hurricane Electric obeyed the Chamber’s letter and shut down the spoof site. But in the process, they shut down hundreds of other sites maintained by May First / People Link , the Yes Men’s direct provider (Hurricane Electric is its “upstream” provider). “I wasn’t able to only shut down that one website,” said Benny Ng, director of infrastructure for Hurricane Electric in an interview with the Huffington Post. “The only way I could do it was by taking down their entire connection which I don’t want to do but in order for me to comply with the [Chamber's letter] that was my only option.” Ng said the sites were down for an hour or so. He said he reconnected them after May First agreed to take the site off Hurricane’s network. “We were very unhappy with Hurricane Electric’s response,” May First’s Alfredo Lopez told the Huffington Post. May First immediately “mirrored” the Yes Men spoof page — he stressed that it’s going to stay on the web. As for Hurricane, “They did that because they don’t want to spend the time or the money on a lawyer.” The Chamber of Commerce, added Lopez, is “disgusting.” In a statement, the business federation defended its effort to knock down the site: “Consistent with our legal right to protect our intellectual property, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce requested that the Hurricane Electric, an upstream provider, take down a fake site that appeared to be, but was not, from the Chamber. The Chamber never requested removal of the web site theyesmen.org or theyesmenfixtheworld.com or any sites other than chamber-of-commerce.us . Hurricane Electric told us that it could not respond because it was an upstream provider. We took no other action with Hurricane.” Andy Bichlbaum of The Yes Men had strong words for the Chamber. “This is a blow against free speech, and it demonstrates in gory detail the full hypocrisy of the Chamber,” he said in a statement. “The only freedom they care about is the economic freedom of large corporations to operate free of the hassles of science, reality, and democracy.” Copyright law allows for “fair use” of copyrighted material “for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research.” “This seems to be a pretty clear fair use case,” said Matt Zimmerman, a senior staff attorney with the Electronic Frontiers Foundation, which is representing the Yes Men. He called the Chamber’s letter a “nastygram” commonly used to scare people into removing stuff from the web. “People will frequently use this provision [of the Digital Millennium Copyright Act ] when they don’t really have a basis for doing so.” Zimmerman sent a letter to the Chamber’s lawyers demanding they withdraw their takedown notice. The letter also pointed the lawyers to the “Free Speech” page on the Chamber’s site.

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Father Calls Insurance Company’s Decision To Drop Son’s Coverage "Attempted Murder"

October 15, 2009

As part of its Bearing Witness 2.0 project, the Huffington Post is rounding up a few of the best local stories of the day. Rather than continue to pay for Ian Pearl’s million dollar medical treatments, one insurance company has decided to end certain lines of coverage altogether, reports William Ehart of the Washington Times . Pearl, 37, suffers from Type II spinal muscular dystrophy, and has been using a wheel chair and connected to a breathing tube for most of his life. Patients with his type of muscular dystrophy rarely live past infancy, but Peal credits his vitality to the care he has received all his life. On December 1 his insurer, Guardian, is discontinuing a portion of its coverage, which will effectively kill him. Without his extensive coverage Pearl will be admitted to a state hospital under Medicaid, with less treatment. Pearl’s mother said that in a state hospital her son would be lucky to live more than a few weeks. Pearl’s plan, as of now, covers 24-hour home nursing, which Medicaid, and the vast majority of plans, do not. “This is attempted murder” said his father, Warren, “the insurance companies are cheating in order to have obscene profits.” Last year Guardian reported $437 million profits, up 50 percent from 2007. ****** The Los Angeles schools superintendent is standing by a decision that allows recently laid-off teachers to have priority for substituting jobs over veteran subs with more seniority, reports the Los Angeles Times , which puts substitutes’ health benefits at risk. In July, in the midst of a budget crisis, the Los Angeles Unified School District laid off 2,000 teachers and registered almost all of them to be substitutes, bumping ahead of veteran subs, a move roundly rejected by the local teachers union . ****** Leslie Park has lived in her South Minneapolis home for 21 years. But in May, after her mother fell victim to a shady mortgage deal with an adjustable rate, her home was sold by the local sheriff and she’s now in what is called the redemption period — a period of six to 12 months after the sale where the previous owner can continue to stay, with the potential to buy back the title, plus interest. The redemption period ends November 30, and Park is not optimistic that she’ll be able to buy he home back. Instead, reports Charles Hallman of the Minnesota Spokesman-Recorder , she has joined with four other women, dubbing themselves the Foreclosure Five, and, as part of the Minnesota Coalition for a People’s Bailout , are urging the state legislature to place a moratorium on foreclosures and make owners of foreclosed houses let the occupants stay and make their monthly payments. She, like many others, has pledged to fight: “They are not going to get me out of that house.” ****** A pilot program of the New York State Department of Labor is going to help job-seekers find employment using a mathematical algorithm that searches for phrases and paragraphs in an applicant’s resume, instead of just keywords, reports Ilya Marritz for WNYC . The formula was designed for people like Danielle Lazzaro, who lost her job four months ago and has had no luck posting her resume on internet job help sites like Careerbuilder or Monster.com. “I’ve been on the internet six to eight hours a day looking for a job,” she said, “I’ve pretty much made it my full time job looking for a job.” New Yorkers hope the new software, already used by corporations like Coca Cola and Accenture, as well as the state of Minnesota, will help cut down the growing unemployment numbers and help people find jobs. HuffPost readers: Seen a good local story? Heard about a heroic judge, neighbor, or doctor helping people stay in their homes? Tell us about it! Email jmhattem@gmail.com .

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Schools And Students React To Surge Of Homelessness

October 14, 2009

As part of its Bearing Witness 2.0 project, the Huffington Post is rounding up a few of the best local stories of the day. Clarence Banks grew up homeless, sleeping on floors of motel rooms and bouncing from apartment to apartment. Now, at 20, he’s attending college, reports Scott Martindale of the Orange County Register , and was awarded a $2,000 scholarship last week by the Crystal Dreams Foundation , a nonprofit that helps underprivileged youth get to college. In an interview, Banks described how he struggled to maintain focus in high school and eventually made the difficult decision to leave his family to move in with his grandparents so that he could have the stability to focus on college: I was working part time at Smart & Final in Long Beach and helping to pay the rent for the motels we were staying at. I remember one day I came home from work, and I felt empty. I knew I was helping my mom, watching my brothers, but I wasn’t doing anything for myself. That’s why I made the decision to move back to my grandparents’ house to finish my schooling. ****** Griffin Ringle was one of the final graduates of the Good Will-Hinckley Home for Boys & Girls , a residential school for students with social and behavioral difficulties in Maine. The school ended its core residential and academic programs over the summer, reports Scott Monroe of the Morning Sentinel . After he graduated, Ringle was hoping to live at the school for a while to help him find a job, a place to live and think about college. Instead, because of state-wide budget redirecting, he got to spend two weeks in the school before they pushed him out into the world with a month’s worth of rent money. The money ran out quickly, and Ringle could not get a job despite filling out over 50 applications. He lived with a friend for a week before settling into a homeless shelter. Then, in July, Ringle was hit by a car in a hit-and-run, fracturing his ribs and splitting his shoulder. “It’s kind of depressing when you feel like your bowl is glued back together and you have the last piece back in there, and then all of sudden it shatters into dust,” he said. Ringle has since enrolled at Kennebec Valley Community College, with help from scholarships and grants, but admitted that his lack of a permanent home would make things tough: “If I don’t have a stable place to live, I won’t do well in school.” ****** In Anchorage, the number of homeless students has grown by 38 percent over the past year, reports Chrstine Kim of NBC affiliate KTUU . Half of all homeless in Anchorage are students in Kindergarten through 12th grade, and the numbers keep getting bigger. The school district has been tracking these students, offering free or discounted meals, transportation, and parenting classes to families burdened with the uncertainty of not knowing where they will be sleeping. “Most of our parents are working parents and they just fell into hard times,” said Marcus Wilson, principal of the North Star Elementary School. “Most of them say, ‘Hey, we’re just one paycheck away from being in a homeless situation,’” he continued, “and when it actually does happens, that’s just the way the world is now. Unfortunately we’re starting to see that a lot more, and it’s just your everyday working families that are falling into situations like this.” ****** Like many school districts forced to respond to the upswing of foreclosure cases and homelessness, the Beauregard Parish School Board, in Louisiana, is adding a new position to better serve its homeless students, reports Billie Ho Rassat of the Beauregard Daily News . The foreclosure crisis, which has forced many families into homelessness, has urged a number of schools to approve similar positions to identify homeless students and help them concentrate of their schoolwork. In Beauregard Parish there are 80 children officially homeless, and the administration wants to make sure they stay in the system. ****** The school board in Muscatine, Iowa, voted on Monday to unanimously approve spending $23,000 from the America Recovery and Reinvestment Act for the hiring of four tutors to work with homeless families, reports Cynthia Beaudette for the Muscatine Journal . The small-town school district has over 150 homeless students, and the new tutors will hold sessions designed to let those kids concentrate on their homework. The tutoring sessions will feature healthy snacks, child care for younger siblings, and encourages parents to attend and get involved in their children’s education. (Is it just us kids, or is there something oddly cruel about this lede? “Just because a student doesn’t have a home doesn’t mean he or she shouldn’t have homework.”) HuffPost readers: Seen a good local story? Heard about a heroic judge, neighbor, or doctor helping people stay in their homes? Tell us about it! Email jmhattem@gmail.com .

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Another Company May Leave Chamber of Commerce Over Extreme Position On Climate Change

October 13, 2009

The holding company owned by multi-billionaire Ronald Perelman is debating whether to leave the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the Huffington Post has learned. Driving the debate is the controversial stance taken by the country’s biggest business lobby on climate change. Executives at MacAndrews & Forbes Holdings , which owns significant stakes in a range of companies, most notably cosmetics maker Revlon , have been holding internal discussions on whether to pull out of the chamber over its recent challenge to the Clean Air Act. Should McAndrews & Forbes withdraw from the powerful business lobby, it would be the latest in a string of high-profile defections . Household names like Apple and Nike have left the organization in protest, as have Pacific Gas & Electric and Exelon — the nation’s largest power company. The moves were in response to an August court petition filed by the chamber demanding that the Environmental Protection Agency subject itself to an open debate over whether credible scientific evidence exists that global warming endangers public health. For the vast majority of scientists and experts, it’s a foregone conclusion . The fallout has been significant, and swift. MacAndrews & Forbes may soon join the likes of Nike and Apple. A spokeswoman said no decision has been made, but that one is expected soon. “There have been internal discussions about making our position known, meaning that we would like the chamber to have a different point of view,” said spokeswoman Christine M. Taylor. The chamber’s position on climate change “is a concern of ours,” she said. “We want to be on the right side. We’re supporters of clean energy, environmental protection — Ronald [Perelman] is involved with the NRDC [Natural Resources Defense Council, an environmental group]. We want to state our position,” Taylor said. Perelman, whose net worth is estimated at $10 billion, is the 23rd-richest American , according to Forbes magazine. A call to the chamber was not returned.

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Ten Thousand Apply For Ninety Job Openings In Louisville

October 9, 2009

As part of the Huffington Post’s efforts to bear witness to the effects of the current economic environment on ordinary Americans, we’re rounding up some of the most compelling stories reported by local news organizations around the country. Jere Downs of the Louisville Courier-Journal reports that 10,000 people applied for 90 jobs at a General Electric factory there over three days. The positions have a salary of about $27,000 per year, but come with extensive benefits. “There are no jobs out there paying these kinds of wages that also offer these kind of benefits,” said Jerry Carney, president of the local IUE-CWA labor union. For the roughly 8,000 former factory workers who applied, these jobs are their only hope to make more than minimum wage. Only half of the prospective employees graduated from high school. Just five percent had a bachelor’s degree or higher. For these men and women, the options are few. “I am thinking seriously about going to McDonalds,” said Shane Hopkins, 48, “just for the benefits if nothing else.” ****** Backers of two potential coal power plants that could create thousands of jobs in Michigan are at odds with green energy proponents, who see the state’s economic future in environmentally friendly power. Sven Gustafson of MLIve.com reports on the delicate balancing act between creating employment today and preparing for employment tomorrow. Gayle Miller, legislative director of the Sierra Club, told the Lansing State Journal that “if we build these plants, we’re sending the message to the world that we’re not interested in clean energy.” But a number of state officials joined union workers and energy lobbyists to say that any and all income sources are needed to reinvigorate the state economy: “I want not only green jobs, I want any job that pays green,” said a state representative. ****** Reporter Becky Bosshart lost her job while working on a series about the unemployed, she writes in Las Vegas Weekly . Like many across the country, and especially in the newspaper industry, Bosshart found herself lost and scared. Her life, she explains, was in the hands of government bureaucrats who doled out her unemployment checks and mishandled her information. Bosshart weaves her own story in with the subjects of her reports and people she has met recently, and comes to the realization that she and they are all part of a larger community. HuffPost readers: Seen a good local story? Heard about a heroic judge, neighbor, or doctor helping people stay in their homes? Tell us about it! Email jmhattem@gmail.com .

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Ten Thousand Apply For Ninety Job Openings In Louisville

October 9, 2009

As part of the Huffington Post’s efforts to bear witness to the effects of the current economic environment on ordinary Americans, we’re rounding up some of the most compelling stories reported by local news organizations around the country. Jere Downs of the Louisville Courier-Journal reports that 10,000 people applied for 90 jobs at a General Electric factory there over three days. The positions have a salary of about $27,000 per year, but come with extensive benefits. “There are no jobs out there paying these kinds of wages that also offer these kind of benefits,” said Jerry Carney, president of the local IUE-CWA labor union. For the roughly 8,000 former factory workers who applied, these jobs are their only hope to make more than minimum wage. Only half of the prospective employees graduated from high school. Just five percent had a bachelor’s degree or higher. For these men and women, the options are few. “I am thinking seriously about going to McDonalds,” said Shane Hopkins, 48, “just for the benefits if nothing else.” ****** Backers of two potential coal power plants that could create thousands of jobs in Michigan are at odds with green energy proponents, who see the state’s economic future in environmentally friendly power. Sven Gustafson of MLIve.com reports on the delicate balancing act between creating employment today and preparing for employment tomorrow. Gayle Miller, legislative director of the Sierra Club, told the Lansing State Journal that “if we build these plants, we’re sending the message to the world that we’re not interested in clean energy.” But a number of state officials joined union workers and energy lobbyists to say that any and all income sources are needed to reinvigorate the state economy: “I want not only green jobs, I want any job that pays green,” said a state representative. ****** Reporter Becky Bosshart lost her job while working on a series about the unemployed, she writes in Las Vegas Weekly . Like many across the country, and especially in the newspaper industry, Bosshart found herself lost and scared. Her life, she explains, was in the hands of government bureaucrats who doled out her unemployment checks and mishandled her information. Bosshart weaves her own story in with the subjects of her reports and people she has met recently, and comes to the realization that she and they are all part of a larger community. HuffPost readers: Seen a good local story? Heard about a heroic judge, neighbor, or doctor helping people stay in their homes? Tell us about it! Email jmhattem@gmail.com .

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Debtors’ Revolt: Bank Of America Cuts Deal With Another YouTuber

October 9, 2009

Got a gripe with Bank of America? Put it on YouTube. Ben Frasier of Douglas, Ore. said in a YouTube video that he wouldn’t make any more payments on a $30,000 personal line of credit unless Bank of America would let him settle up with a lump sum. Bank of America wasn’t interested in the offer when Frasier made it over the phone. But after he made his demand publicly , and it received some media attention , Bank of America made an offer that Frasier is happy with. The video-sharing website has become an effective complaint department for angry customers willing to put their faces to a declaration of “debtors revolt!” Ann Minch of Red Bluff, Calif., did it first in September , when she refused to pay a credit card debt unless Bank of America lowered her rate. After her story went viral, Bank of America agreed to her demand . And Darren Bryant of Pensacola, Fla., won attention from the bank within four hours of “going YouTube” after he wasted 20 hours calling the bank to no avail. Another person uploads a “debtors revolt” rant against Bank of America and other big banks almost every day . Frasier said that because of an unexpectedly high interest rate, he paid $8,000 but dented the $30,000 loan’s principal by only $1,500. He said in his video that he wanted pay Bank of America $23,000 and call it even. After some negotiation over email, a Bank of America agent made the following offer on Thursday: Based on the new payment amount from you of 15,134.78 and the credits to that account that I stated below, it would leave a remaining balance on the account of roughly $12,215.00. I would then be able to set that amount to a 60 month payoff term and an interest rate of 8.99%. The new payment on that amount for the 60 months would be roughly $260.00. Frasier replied that he would accept the offer as soon as he saw it on paper. He told the Huffington Post he’s happy with the deal, though he thought the way he got it was ridiculous. “In terms of YouTube, it was a very effective mode of communicating with them,” Frasier told the Huffington Post on Friday. “You have to go someplace unsecure to tell your story where everybody knows pretty much who you are, everybody knows the details. You’d think you could do that on Bank of America’s website. It’s an incredible website. Unfortunately, you just don’t command the attention you do on YouTube.” Bank of America did not immediately respond to a request for comment from the Huffington Post, but a spokeswoman previously said, “Our associates talk to millions of customers every day and we work very hard to help them. It is more likely that we can work with them when they call us directly to resolve their issues.”

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WellPoint Subsidiary Fights Maine Over Big Rate Hike (VIDEO)

October 5, 2009

Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Maine, a subsidiary of WellPoint, the nation’s largest insurer, wanted the state to approve an average rate hike of 18.5 percent on its policyholders. Maine rejected the increase and now the insurer is fighting for the hike in court. Robert Greenwald’s Brave New Films is taking aim at Anthem’s rate reach in the latest installment of his “Sick for Profit” series. The video, posted below, is a slick pitch for pitchfork-style outrage. It notes how much WellPoint pays its CEO ( $9.8 million ) and how much of its policyholders’ premiums it spends on lobbying ( $9.5 million ). WellPoint’s subsidiary in Maine says it needs the rate increase to guarantee a 3 percent profit margin. “The only justification for this lawsuit is just pure greed,” says Ali Vander-Zanden of the Maine People’s Alliance in the video. And the Maine attorney general’s office seems to buttress that argument — in a Sept. 23 filing, in response to the insurer’s claim that raising premiums is necessary for the financial health of the company, the AG says Anthem is perfectly profitable. In its filing, Anthem said it had lost $3.7 million on its individual insurance products over the past five years. The AG says Anthem has made $5.4 million from individual consumers over the past two years, and points out that Anthem paid $75.7 million in dividends to WellPoint in 2008, $40.4 million in 2007, and $35.6 million in 2006. And its executives paid themselves pretty well, too. “In 2006, Anthem executive compensation in Maine for its nine highest-paid employees totaled over $4.3 million, averaging almost $500 thousand per executive,” the AG’s filing says. “This included total base salaries of nearly $1.6 million, bonuses in excess of $835 thousand, and all other compensation of over $1.9 million (which may include payouts under multi-year long term incentive plans, sales incentives, severance, and the exercises of stock options granted in prior years.) … During 2006-2008, the three-year average executive compensation for Anthem’s top nine employees remained at nearly $500,000.” The attorney general points out how much Mainers already pay: “In addition to the average annual premium of approximately $6,000 paid by Maine consumers to Anthem in 2008, these same individuals paid their own health care costs below the deductible. The average deductible as $7,250 in that year, and is projected to grow to an average of $7,570 in 2009… That means the average policyholder would have to incure a total cost of more than $13,000 in premium and deductibles, prior to becoming eligible to receive any health benefits under the policy.” The filing states that with the rate increase, Anthem’s 12,000 policyholders in Maine “would have paid an additional $12 million in annual premium for the same level of benefits.” Oral arguments are expected in November. An Anthem spokesman has not yet responded to a request for comment from the Huffington Post. Here’s the video from Brave New Films:

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Uninsured And Sick, Student Begged For His Life

October 2, 2009

Freddie Effinger started feeling what he called a “bizarre pain” in his upper thigh during the summer of 2007, just before his third year at the University of Alabama law school. After a scan, his doctors told him it was probably some sort of mass, nothing serious, and that they would remove it surgically in September. Effinger, then 23, didn’t have insurance. His parents’ policy dropped him after college, and he had figured he could coast through three years of law school and land a job with benefits before suffering any catastrophic illness or injury. (“Superman Complex,” he calls it.) The operation to remove the mass would only cost him about $1,200. But when they operated, Effinger’s doctors discovered something more serious. “The tumor was the same size as my hand,” Effinger told the Huffington Post. “And directly underneath that tumor was another tumor, and further down my leg was another tumor.” The following month, an oncologist told Effinger he had advanced stage lymphoma . The oncologist told him that his chemotherapy could cost tens of thousands of dollars per session, and that he would need 12 sessions. Effinger panicked. “My mom’s a schoolteacher and my dad’s a juvenile detention officer,” Effinger said. “They’re good people, but that’s not going to happen.” Effinger scrambled for insurance. He said he was told that the school’s health plan for students wouldn’t have adequately covered chemotherapy treatment at the nearby University of Alabama at Birmingham Hospital. He had no luck on the private insurance market outside the university. “After making a couple calls explaining the situation, it was pretty much discussions of blackout periods and ‘We wouldn’t be able to do it,’” he said. “And it was frustrating and frightening.” Meanwhile, his leg hurt more and more. He was afraid the cancer would spread. Staff at the hospital, St. Vincent’s East in Birmingham, Ala., came up with a solution. “I spoke to someone at the hospital and they mentioned there’s a certain number of patients a year they grant charity to,” he said. He was eligible because he had zero income. He was indigent. “They called me that later that day and told me they would grant me 100 percent charity. I broke down in tears. Somebody told me they were going to let me live. It was an amazing feeling.” Effinger finished up chemo and got married in July 2008. He even managed to finish law school on time and score a job with an employment law firm in Birmingham. But Effinger is still on the hook for about $9,000 for other parts of his treatment. (That’s on top of $100,000 in student loan debt, but, he said, “at least the student loan people are being cool” by comparison; debt collectors harassed him over the medical bills.) His credit is wrecked. And the warm, fuzzy feeling Effinger got from the kindness at the hospital was tempered by the realization that he had to beg to survive, that he owed his life to charity and had added considerably to his debt all the same. He’s become an advocate for health insurance reform, going door to door for Organizing for America . “I’m a pretty humble guy, but it’s really demoralizing to have to beg a hospital for your life, to be to be able to be treated for this thing you just found out that you had,” he said. “I don’t just have a right to be healthy? I have to beg for it? I have to show that I am poor? It’s frustrating. It’s embarrassing. It’s really unacceptable.”

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Bank Of America: Another Customer Gets Bank’s Attention Via YouTube (VIDEO)

September 30, 2009

Darren Bryant of Pensacola, Fla. spent hours in what he calls Bank of America’s “phone maze,” getting bounced from person to person, never reaching somebody who could address his situation. Finally, in one last desperate attempt to get someone’s attention, he uploaded a five-minute video to YouTube in which he explains his predicament and gives his phone number and email address. “The reason I’m making this video is to get in contact with somebody from Bank of America that can make a decision,” Bryant says in the video, which he uploaded on Monday. He then emailed a link to over a dozen Bank of America email addresses he said he found online. Within four hours of posting the rant, Bryant got a phone call. It was somebody from the office of David Darnell , president of Global Commercial Banking at Bank of America Merrill Lynch. “She says, ‘We received your video and I’m calling you to see what the deal is and to go over the situation with you,’” Bryant said. The woman asked for his account number and said the bank would investigate. “She said, ‘We take this very seriously when somebody posts a video.’” Bank of America has proven responsive to other videos from its customers. Ann Minch of Red Bluff, Calif., made a huge splash in September when she declared via YouTube that she wouldn’t pay off her credit card debt unless the “evil, thieving bastards” at Bank of America lowered her interest rate. The video went viral, and within a week of its posting an executive got in touch with Minch and agreed to her demand . Bank of America spokeswoman Jumana Bauwens confirmed to the Huffington Post that the bank got in touch with Bryant after he made his video. But even though Minch’s one-woman “debtors’ revolt” has become a fledgling movement , Bauwens said Bank of America would have responded to Bryant video or not. “If he sent that letter without the video he would have got the same response,” Bauwens said. Bryant, a 45-year-old real estate investor with three kids, said he’s struggling to keep afloat with fewer tenants and lower rents in his 32 units; he wants Bank of America reduce his interest rate on a $750,000 loan by a point and a half. Otherwise, he said, he’ll lose everything, including his own personal home, and Bank of America will lose hundreds of thousands in the foreclosure process. “You have a $750,000 note. If you sold the property in these market conditions like they are now, you’d be lucky to get $500,000 for the property. Basically you’re going to be forcing me into a foreclosure which will force me into bankruptcy. It’s not going to be a win-win situation for Bank of America, nor myself.” He said he wasn’t inspired to use YouTube to air his grievance by Minch — he said it’s entirely coincidental that he posted his plea in the midst of the “debtors’ revolt.” “Basically, I’m forced to get on YouTube for my last resort and see if I can get any help,” he said in his video. “The whole purpose of this video is not to make Bank of America look bad, but to inform Ken Lewis the CEO of Bank of America what is going on. It’s hard to imagine that with me filling the properties back up, getting the properties back into a cash flow position, that Bank of America’s not willing to work with me.” (Bank of America announced Wednesday that Lewis would be stepping down .) Here’s Bryant’s first video: Bryant uploaded a second video on Wednesday with an update. He said he heard from a Bank of America executive who explained that “right now there’s no government assistance, there’s no modifications, there’s nothing for any investment properties as far as somebody that’s in your situation.”

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Credit Rating Agency Analysts Covering AIG, Lehman Brothers Never Disciplined

September 30, 2009

Analysts at the three biggest credit rating agencies who gave positive, investment-grade ratings to AIG and Lehman Brothers up until their collapse have not been fired or disciplined, the heads of the agencies admitted at a Congressional hearing today . Moody’s, Standard & Poor’s, and Fitch Ratings all maintained at least A ratings on AIG and Lehman Brothers up until mid-September of last year. Lehman Brothers declared bankruptcy Sept. 15 ; the federal government provided AIG with its first of four multibillion-dollar bailouts the next day . Under questioning by Rep. Jackie Speier (D-Calif.), Raymond W. McDaniel, Jr. of Moody’s, Deven Sharma of S&P, and Stephen Joynt of Fitch said the analysts in charge of ratings for the now-disgraced firms are still employed. McDaniel defended Moody’s ratings of Lehman Brothers by pointing to the government-engineered rescue of Bear Stearns in March of 2008 , arguing that it played an important role in Moody’s analysts maintaining an A rating on the now-bankrupt firm. Joynt said his analysts have since done “a lot of thoughtful soul-searching.” The big three rating agencies have come under fire since the 2007 collapse in the subprime home mortgage market for issuing rosy ratings on a plethora of securities that are now considered to be junk. The Obama administration and Congress are exploring various reform proposals. At the hearing today, the exchange between Speier and the agency chiefs was particularly contentious. “You had rated AIG and Lehman Brothers as AAA, AA minutes before they were collapsing. After they did fail, did you take any action against those analysts who had rated them?” Speier asked. “Did you fire them? Did you suspend them? Did you take any actions against those who had put that kind of a remarkable grade on products that were junk?” McDaniel answered first. “No, we did not fire any of the analysts involved in either AIG or Lehman,” he replied. “An important part of our analysis was based on a review of governmental support that had been applied to Bear Stearns earlier in the year. “Frankly, an important part of our analysis was that a line had been drawn under the number five firm in the market [Bear], and that likely number four would be supported as well. Additionally…” Speier then interrupted him. “But that’s not analysis,” the first-term Congresswoman shot back. “That’s an opinion. I can have that kind of an opinion, and I’m not an analyst. How could you possibly make that kind of a decision based on an opinion when you have millions of people relying on that?” “Our opinion applies to whether we believe an instrument will pay or will not pay,” McDaniel responded. “That was a political determination that you made, Mr. McDaniel,” Speier retorted. S&P’s Sharma said his analysts also were not fired. Joynt of Fitch said the same. He said that Fitch analysts in charge of Lehman Brothers and AIG were “disappointed” and “surprised.” In an interview with the Huffington Post after the exchange, Speier said she was “flabbergasted” by the responses. “It just makes the case over and over again of the lack of accountability in the financial services industry,” she said. “It’s heads they win, tails the public loses.” The analysts “should have been disciplined, and they should have gone back and looked at their modeling, which was flawed to begin with. We don’t need your political opinions [off which] to base a rating of a security,” she added. “For all the talk of all this being such a deliberative, scientific process…to have this decision was remarkable to me.” Get HuffPost Business On Facebook and Twitter

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Top Republican Calls Proposed Consumer Protection Agency "Fundamentally Flawed"

September 30, 2009

In a move sure to delight bankers, the top Republican on the House Financial Services Committee on Wednesday called the Obama administration’s plan for a new consumer financial protection agency “fundamentally flawed.” Representative Spencer Bachus of Alabama said the new agency — first proposed by Harvard Law professor and current TARP watchdog Elizabeth Warren — would “create more confusion for consumers…and less consumer protection.” At a congressional hearing on financial regulatory reform, Bachus instead championed a competing bill he introduced in July. The Bachus bill calls for a new consumer protection unit, within a new bank overseer, that would establish a “toll-free hotline and a website for consumers to contact regarding inquiries or complaints” and that would review existing regulations at least once every seven years. Its proposals for new consumer-protection rules would also be subject to approval by bank regulators. The administration’s plan calls for a new stand-alone agency that would be able to write and enforce consumer-protection regulations; ban unfair credit practices; audit financial institutions for compliance; and enforce its measures through fines and penalties. At this point, even free-market champion and former Fed Chairman Alan Greenspan wants an independent regulator whose primary objective is consumer protection. House Financial Services Committee Chairman Barney Frank (D-Mass.) has been paring down the White House version of the CFPA. Although some consumer advocates criticized the lessened protections in a conference call with reporters Tuesday, none argued that the agency wouldn’t be worth creating in that form. “It should be clear to everyone by now that our current regulatory structure is incapable of standing up for the consumer against the powerful financial services industry and its allies,” said Nancy Zirkin, the executive vice president of the Leadership Conference for Civil Rights, which comprises some 200 civil and human rights organizations. “CFPA will make sure that consumers have a choice of responsible financial products, and the tools needed to make the best choices for them and their families. The CFPA will also have an important role to play in protecting the civil rights of consumers, and we’re grateful to Chairman Frank for seeing the need for that.” A group of 74 professors with expertise in consumer and banking law wrote Frank and other key Congressional committee chairmen to endorse the creation of the CFPA. One of the signatories told the Huffington Post he was disappointed by the changes made last week, but “a watered down approach is better than nothing.” Jeff Muskus contributed to this report.

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