Has anyone been working at the SEC in recent years?

Another person talks about reporting a scam and nothing? Good grief.

Hazlett was a top performer at Stanford’s bank, having sold $10 million in certificates of deposit in a single quarter of 2002. The company rewarded him with a new BMW.

But when a client asked Hazlett for details about the investments, no one at the bank would give him even basic information about risk ratings and asset allocation, he said in an interview.

Eventually, Hazlett said, he called a meeting with a top officer of the bank to ask how the investments worked. Instead of answers, he got an ultimatum: Resign or be fired.

“I kind of peaked when I won the car and was doing great, but as soon as I started questioning things at the bank, they were setting up to let me go,” Hazlett said.

It wasn’t just promises to investors of earning twice the normal rates on certificates of deposit that fed his suspicions, Hazlett said. The company also lacked detailed balance sheets. And it used a small and little-known accounting firm.

The Securities and Exchange Commission has been criticized for missing the same red flag — a tiny accounting firm — when investigating Bernard Madoff, who allegedly ran a $50 billion Ponzi scheme for years despite the SEC’s receiving numerous tips about him.

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Clinton raised an excellent point this morning

It's refreshing to hear Obama talk seriously with the public about the economy as opposed to the nonsense we heard from Bush. The problems are very serious and as Roubini said today, we are only in the 3rd or 4th inning of this game with plenty of problems ahead. All of that said, Obama needs to do what he does best and talk about the future of America in a positive way. Maybe Clinton is too optimistic about "seeing signs of recovery soon" (define "soon") but Americans are the most optimistic people in the world and they want to at least hear some words about the recovery down the road.

Europe is going to have it's problems coming out of this and the UK, well, they're in even worse trouble. Change does not happen quickly in Europe and when the black clouds roll in as they have, pushing them out consistently takes longer than the US. Personally I remain very bearish on the economy into 2010 if not 2011 but I also still believe that the US has the capabilities to recover ahead of many other countries. As much as Bill Clinton can drive me mad from his actions in the last year, he's right on this one. Read More......

A Note To Time Magazine re: rating blogs

Any publication that includes the cartoonish rantings of Mark Halperin is in absolutely no position to rate the "best" and "most overrated" blogs, unless said publication includes Halperin's blog, The Page, in a category of "the blog most impressed with itself despite that high opinion having absolutely no basis in reality."

Over at Huffington, Bob Cesca and Jason Linkins have great fun at Halperin's expense, but Halperin makes it so easy. Cesca:

For instance, I'm hoping that in 2009 TIME blogger and MSNBC contributor Mark Halperin is finally recognized as not just another very serious haircut amongst a media gaggle of masturbation-addicted cardboard standees, but in fact as a Drudge-caliber hackery-factory providing the establishment media with absolutely the most unforgivably ridiculous pearls of conventional wisdom in an already super-stupid media world.

Jason's been deconstructing Halperin's musings on bipartisanship, here and here. This one of his best from last August:

Hey, kids! Late yesterday evening, Mark Halperin, who writes "The Page" for Time Magazine - which is like a comic book, full of listicles for children - had up on "The Page" a post that, in his Halperin-y way, suggested or spitballed that Obama had chosen his Veep, and that Veep was Dick Lugar.

Yet, Halperin's magazine is out there rating other blogs. Please. Read More......

Burris' chief of staff quits

The rats are fleeing. Interestingly, the chief of staff is on assignment from Harry Reid's office. Reid sent him there. And now Reid is apparently calling him back home. Had the Democrats held firm and not done a 180, and embraced Burris after saying he wouldn't be seated, we wouldn't be in this mess.

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Mormon bigot loses committee assignments

About time. You'll recall I wrote about this gentleman this morning. He's a Utah state senator who thinks gays and lesbians are the greatest threat facing mankind. Well, as a result of his bigotry, he just lost two key committee assignments. Of course, the Senate president, a Republican, then totally undercut the significance of the action by reiterating his agreement with "many" of the horrible things the bigoted senator said:

"I want the citizens of Utah to know that the Utah Senate stands behind Senator Buttars right to speak, we stand behind him as one of our colleagues and his right to serve this state," said Senate President Michael Waddoups, R-Taylorsville. "He is a senator who represents the point of view of many of his constituents and many of ours. We agree with many of the things he said. . . . We stand four square behind his right [to say what he wants]."

I will say one thing. It's a very interesting day when Mormon Republicans in Utah feel the need to punish a fellow Mormon Republican bigot for being anti-gay. That's progress. It's also yet another sign that the Mormon leadership is not impervious to public pressure. Far from it. They've been in a bit of a panic since their legislative gay-bashing in California back-fired, and exposed some of their more outrageous practices and beliefs to the rest of the country and the world (like their penchant for stealing the souls of dead Jewish Holocaust victims). Read More......

Alarming?

A former senior employee of AIPAC, the largest pro-Israel lobby in the US, finds the following quote "alarming." Do you?

"As long as the United States continues unconditionally to provide the subsidies and political protection that make the Israeli occupation and the high-handed and self-defeating policies it engenders possible, there is little, if any, reason to hope that anything resembling the former peace process can be resurrected" and decrying the consequences of "Israeli violence against Palestinians."

As a pretty staunch defender of Israel myself, I find the former AIPAC employee's words alarming. Read More......

Burris' support in the black community now wavering

I think some black leaders, especially the Congressional Black Caucus, were far too quick to embrace Burris simply because he's black. I learned a long time ago, being gay, that you have to be careful what embattled heroes you tie your wagon to, lest they end up being less than reputable, and hurt your cause. Burris is quickly turning into one such "hero." It appears that black church leaders in Chicago, who once supported Burris, are now ready to walk. Good for them. Read More......

Those crazy Mormon bigots

There they go again. This time, it's a Mormon state senator in Utah who compared gays to Islamic terrorists, and who said that gays pose the greatest threat to the world today.

Sen. Chris Buttars considers the gay-rights movement -- nationally and in Utah -- "probably the greatest threat to America."

In an interview with documentary filmmaker Reed Cowan, released by KTVX Ch. 4 on Tuesday night, Buttars said the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community doesn't want "equality, they want superiority."

"It's the beginning of the end. Oh, it's worse than that. Sure. Sodom and Gomorrah was localized. This is worldwide," the West Jordan Republican said in the interview.

On Wednesday, gay-rights activist Jacob Whipple, founder of the All For One Initiative, called for Buttars' resignation from the Utah Senate, urging supporters of the LGBT community to e-mail Buttars and Senate President Michael Waddoups, R-Taylorsville.

"He basically labeled my community as virtually the devil incarnate," Whipple said. "I don't think that he represents Utah any more. … Saying something so hurtful has no place on the hill."

Buttars also compared gay activists to Muslim terrorists.

Mind you, he isn't just some run-of-the-mill Mormon. He was important enough to be trusted with running what some call the Mormon version of a gulag. Oh, you haven't heard about those? I researched one for a feature story I was writing for TALK magazine right before September 11. I interviewed a young man who was in hiding after his Mormon parents had him kidnapped and sent to a Mormon "reeducation/work" camp for troubled kids. Yes, they were going to work and beat the gay out of him. Between the forced marches, the lack of food, the appalling living conditions - all meant to cure his homosexuality - and the multiple tropical diseases he came down with, he says they nearly killed him. (The kid told me that they shipped him off to another camp they run, out of the country, so that they wouldn't have to follow US child-protection laws- it's the Mormon version of extraordinary rendition, but applied to underage children. Oh let's do have a discussion about who has better morals and values - the gays, or the Mormons who torture children, that is when they're not trying to steal Anne Frank's soul.) I'll find my old notes and share some stories of exactly what this poor kid says the Mormons did to him.

It seems that our good Mormon senator ran one of these Mormon "tough love" camps before he went into the Utah Senate. The Mormons trusted him with straightening out their most troubled children - he's not just anybody.

The more we peel back the layers of the Mormon onion - such as their ongoing efforts to steal the souls of dead Jewish Holocaust victims - the more it's clear that Mormons ought to be the last ones judging others. But they arrogantly, and bullishly, invited the scrutiny - so now they're going to get it. In spades. Read More......

Banks charging fees on unemployment benefit cards

Enough is enough. Bank fees are a scam in the best of times but in the worst of times, they ought to be criminal. This example again reminds me of how bad consumers would be squeezed if the GOP had their way and outsourced Social Security to Wall Street. Can you imagine what a ripoff that would be?

First, Arthur Santa-Maria called Bank of America to ask how to check the balance of his new unemployment benefits debit card. The bank charged him 50 cents.

He chose not to complain. That would have cost another 50 cents.

So he took out some of the money and then decided to pull out the rest. But that made two withdrawals on the same day, and that was $1.50.

For hundreds of thousands of workers losing their jobs during the recession, there's a new twist to their financial pain: Even when they're collecting unemployment benefits, they're paying the bank just to get the money — or even to call customer service to complain about it.

Thirty states have struck such deals with banks that include Citigroup Inc., Bank of America Corp., JP Morgan Chase and US Bancorp, an Associated Press review of the agreements found. All the programs carry fees, and in several states the unemployed have no choice but to use the debit cards. Some banks even charge overdraft fees of up to $20 — even though they could decline charges for more than what's on the card.

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Rove and Fox News continue to lie about Barney Frank and housing crisis

Shocking, I know, but what else are they going to do at this point? Whether they admit it or not, they know that they are the leaders in destroying the US economy and will be blamed for this for decades. Lying and dodging responsibility is what they do. More from Media Matters:

During the February 18 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, Fox News contributor Karl Rove falsely asserted that Rep. Barney Frank (D-MA) "was one of the more prominent opponents of [housing] reform in 2004 and 2005." In fact, Frank supported efforts to enhance regulatory oversight on mortgage brokers Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2005, and he has long championed policies that emphasize low-income home rentals as opposed to homeownership.

As Media Matters for America has documented, Frank has supported efforts to strengthen regulatory oversight on Fannie and Freddie. In 2005, Frank, then the ranking Democrat on the House Financial Services Committee, worked with then-committee chairman Michael Oxley (R-OH) on the Federal Housing Finance Reform Act of 2005, which would have established the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) to replace the Office of Federal Housing Enterprise Oversight (OFHEO) as overseer of the activities of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac. After voting for the bill in committee, Frank voted against final passage of the bill on the House floor, stating that he was doing so because an amendment to the bill on the House floor imposed restrictions on the kinds of nonprofit organizations that could receive funding under the bill.

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Friday Morning Open Thread

Good morning.

It's a cold one here in D.C. Cold and windy.

The Obamas are changing the tone of the city (for the actual residents, not "The Villagers"). They've created a bit of a buzz around town -- and D.C. rarely buzzes. I have to give a shout out to Michelle Obama, who has really been making an impact. Almost every day, she's doing some cool event like the one this week for Black History Month with D.C. kids. She's going to all the cabinet agencies to thank the federal employees for their service. And, she's been stopping at local social service organizations around town. But, the day I knew she was really cool was when she went to the Five Guys right off Dupont Circle for burgers and fries. I've had a lot of burgers in my life, but nothing compares to Five Guys. It's just really good and totally unpretentious. Michelle is making D.C. seem fun -- and that's no small task.

Let's get this Friday rolling... Read More......

UK's national debt grows to 150% of income from 48%

No wonder Peter Mandelson was so upset about the Starbucks CEO's assessment of the British economy. Sometimes the truth hurts. The British economy has lived on easy credit for too long so paying down the credit and rebuilding is not going to occur quickly.

Gordon Brown suffered a double blow yesterday when government statisticians recalculated Britain's national debt at £1.5tn and the CBI accused the prime minister of lacking a coherent economic recovery strategy.

As the prime minister warned in Rome that the world was being hit by an "economic hurricane", his fightback plan at home was complicated when the Office for National Statistics raised the prospect of Britain's national debt rising to 150% of national income from its current 48%.

The ONS classified Lloyds and Royal Bank of Scotland as public corporations and thus added all their liabilities - up to £1.5tn - on to the taxpayers' balance sheet. The ONS said the recapitalisations of Royal Bank of Scotland and Lloyds Banking Group meant they had in effect become public corporations, which would have to add the full extent of their liabilities to the national debt.

The move, which the Treasury dismissed as a "technical classification" with few policy implications, prompted Tory warnings that Britain was now facing a debt crisis. Kenneth Clarke, the shadow business secretary, called on Alistair Darling, the chancellor, to introduce a dramatic reduction in the growth in public spending from this April, rather than waiting until next year.

"We are going to quite staggering levels of public debt," Clarke told the BBC. "The voters are going to have to pay the interest on all this mounting debt. "

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Pope's Holocaust-denying Bishop evicted from Argentina

At least someone is taking action -- though, as expected, it's not the Pope. The Hitler Youth Pope needs to wake up and see that it's no longer Germany circa 1941, where you can dismiss antisemitism and the Holocaust with a wave of the swastika. Just because Pope Benedict doesn't care about the murder of millions of Jews and others doesn't mean the rest of the world ignores hateful bigots who would rewrite one of the darkest chapters of world history.

Argentina has thrown out Holocaust-denying British bishop Richard Williamson, saying he must leave the country in 10 days.

The Interior Ministry said last night Williamson had failed to declare his true job as director of a seminary on immigration forms and because his comments on the Holocaust "profoundly insult Argentine society, the Jewish community and all of humanity by denying an historic truth".

Williamson's views created an uproar last month when Pope Benedict XVI lifted his excommunication and that of three other bishops consecrated by the late Archbishop Marcel Lefebvre as part of a process meant to heal a rift with ultra-conservatives.

The flap led the Vatican to demand that the clergyman recant before he could be admitted as a bishop in the Roman Catholic Church. It also prompted the Society of St Pius X, founded by Lefebvre, to dismiss Williamson as director of the La Reja seminary in Argentina and to distance itself from his views.

The Vatican had no comment on the Argentine action.

No comment? What cowards. Read More......

Ryanair introduces mobile calls on flights

The good news is, the flights are short so the misery can only last for so long. It will be like every country bumpkin who steps on the Eurostar and immediately starts yapping on their phone at levels loud enough for the entire train to hear "we're leaving London now on the train...yes, the train that goes under the Channel..." (Yes, the damned train that has been running for around 15 years now. *That* train, now shut up.)

It's one of those common courtesy things where nice people step between cars and call instead of waking the dead as though mobile phones were only invented yesterday and insist on yelling. I like to think my groans on the train of "shut up and go to the end" have helped but I have plenty of company in that department these days. If Facebook wasn't so evil, I might even start a group of those who detest phone screaming on trains or other confined areas but fortunately the actions infuriate others enough to charge into action without an online group. French railways have been assigning seats in talking cars or no-phone cars which is great. This works well for everyone who can't manage the 3 second walk to the end of the car.

On the new Ryanair flights, you'll be out of luck as there will be nowhere to hide. On the upside, as long as you aren't carrying any luggage or want anything to drink, the price is nice. Pack your ear plugs and everything will be fine.

In its illustrious history of reshaping air travel, Ryanair has totted up many firsts. It proudly introduced the £9.50 airport check-in fee, bravely pioneered the £3 cup of no-frills instant coffee and recently dreamt up the brilliant wheeze of charging £30 if your duty-free fails to fit in your hand luggage.

Shortly after 10am yesterday, flight FR113 from Gatwick to Dublin changed flying in Britain forever by unleashing on the unsuspecting air traveller another budget airline innovation. Precisely seven minutes after take-off, a green light on a newly-installed overhead cabin sign lit up, reading: "Mobile use permitted."

Rest assured, the steeply-priced snacks were still there, along with the £9.50 airport check-in fee, the £16 excess baggage levy and the eye-watering £142.50 charge to change a name on a ticket. But to this cornucopia of what Ryanair likes to call its "ancillary revenues" can now be added a new wallet-bashing in-flight experience – the £3 per minute mid-air phone call.

From this week, Ryanair's 67 million passengers will be able to use their mobile phones at 30,000ft, after the Irish airline installed cutting-edge technology that allows voice calls, text messages and emails to penetrate one of the few remaining modes of public transport that has hitherto been free from those conversations along the lines of: "Hello? Hello? I'm on the ... Hello? Hello? Yes, it's me, I've been delayed... Hello? Hello?"

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Another day, another SEC exposed ponzi scheme

That didn't take long from the last scandal in big finance. Two days? The good news is that the SEC is a functioning organization despite them being MIA for a few years. The bad news is it's another ponzi scheme.

The Securities and Exchange Commission obtained a court order halting an alleged Ponzi scheme by Hawaii-based Billions Coupons and its CEO Marvin R. Cooper that was targeting members of the Deaf community in the U.S. and Japan.

The SEC alleges Billions Coupons and Cooper raised more than $4.4 million from 125 investors since at least September 2007 by holding investment seminars at community centers for investors who were deaf.

The SEC is also alleging that Cooper pocketed at least $1.4 million in investor funds to pay personal expenses as well as purchase a new home.

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Italian fashion industry presses for stimulus plan

Funny how the "Made in Italy" stimulus didn't cause as much of a commotion as the "Made in the USA" provision in the US stimulus plan. Again, this so-called protectionism argument is the most false argument out there today. It's total BS. Pick any country and spend a few minutes reading and you will find protectionism. Clearly there everyone needs to avoid extremes, but a stimulus plan paid for by taxpayers should not have to make excuses for helping their own people.

"The Italian clothing and textile sector risks falling to pieces under the weight of the international economic crisis," Michele Tronconi, was quoted by Italian media as saying.

"We don't want someone to pedal for us. We know how to ride a bicycle well but at this time a push is necessary."

The Italian government this month approved a total stimulus package of more than 2 billion euros ($2.52 billion) aimed at the auto sector and household goods, in the latest attempt by the debt-laden government to boost the economy amid the financial crisis.

Italy's National Chamber of Fashion, which has already said fashion businesses were shocked that their sector had not been taken into consideration, added weight to the call for aid on Wednesday.

Chairman Mario Boselli told reporters it was understandable aid was aimed at the auto and domestic appliances sectors but questioned furniture being helped over fashion.

"I am pleased they are being helped but I would say fashion merits being first and getting more," he said.

The Industry ministry said a meeting would be held next week on the textile and clothing industry, adding it has already taken measures for the "Made in Italy" manufacturing sector.

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