Brother can you spare an extra $167 billion?

As if there wasn't enough news about the banksters to infuriate people, now there's this.

Bailing out the financial sector will cost taxpayers $167 billion more than originally anticipated, according to a Congressional Budget Office estimate.

The original figure in January was $189 billion, but it is now $356 billion — $152 billion more for 2009 and $15 billion more next year, the CBO says in its March report updating the budget and economic outlook.

The CBO raised its projection because yields have increased on securities issued by the bailed-out financial institutions under the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program.

Yet somehow, Wall Street is treated differently than Big Auto. As bad as Detroit may be, the numbers aren't even close yet the treatment of executives is completely different. Read the rest of this post...

Former GE CEO gives Obama an "A" on leadership

Not that many Democrats are in alignment with the Republican executive but it's amazing to see such a positive review from a business leader who supported John McCain and every other Republican against Obama. Jack Welch on CNN:

"[I] like the way he's expressing a vision, the way he's brought a team together," Welch said. "He's done the vision thing, he's a great communicator and he's got a team-building skill that is really working."

Welch also had high praise for Obama's performance during his trip abroad, calling the president's recent town-hall meeting in Strasbourg, France "masterful."

"He didn't make one misstep — I thought his press conference in Strasbourg was an incredible job. The idea of explaining American exceptionalism in the context of Europe was as masterful a speech as I've ever heard."

Read the rest of this post...

The cost of Republican economics

Pathetic.

Shortly before the first signs of the stock market collapse, the Bush administration made a crucial decision that has propelled an estimated one to two million workers into stock-heavy retirement funds.

Many of the funds in which workers were automatically enrolled dropped more than 25 percent last year, while a more conservative investment strategy rejected by the Bush administration would have resulted in a gain of 4.7 percent.

The administration's decisions came in response to a congressional mandate to encourage more workers to participate in company-sponsored retirement savings plans. The Bush administration came up with a rule that enabled businesses to automatically enroll their workers in tax-free 401(k) retirement plans.

Why does anyone even listen to the Republicans when they talk about the economy? The only thing they know how to do is destroy wealth for average Americans. Read the rest of this post...

Virginia Republicans, in major intra-party battle, dump State Chair

Remember Jeffrey Frederick during the presidential campaign? He's the elected official (State Delegate) from Virginia and Chair of the Virginia Republican Party who wanted his party activists to link Obama to bin Laden:

With so much at stake, and time running short, Frederick did not feel he had the luxury of subtlety. He climbed atop a folding chair to give 30 campaign volunteers who were about to go canvassing door to door their talking points — for instance, the connection between Barack Obama and Osama bin Laden: "Both have friends that bombed the Pentagon," he said. "That is scary." It is also not exactly true — though that distorted reference to Obama's controversial association with William Ayers, a former 60s radical, was enough to get the volunteers stoked. "And he won't salute the flag," one woman added, repeating another myth about Obama. She was quickly topped by a man who called out, "We don't even know where Senator Obama was really born." Actually, we do; it's Hawaii.

Classy crowd, those Republicans. Nothing like inciting hate on the campaign trail.

This year, there's a governor's race in Virginia and the GOP desperately wants that office back after eight years. That party was shocked when Obama carried the state. And, the demographics of this once solidly red state have been changing dramatically.

So, the Republicans are trying to clean up their image. Yesterday, Delegate Frederick got dumped as Chair of the GOP in Virginia:

Virginia Republicans ousted embattled party chairman Jeffrey M. Frederick on Saturday at a tense meeting that left the party bitterly divided as it heads into a crucial campaign season.

Frederick's dismissal came after he repeatedly resisted public requests for his resignation from almost every top-ranking Republican officeholder in Virginia. They accused him of incompetence and mismanagement.

If incompetence and mismanagement was really a standard, the GOP would have dumped George Bush and most of the congressional leaders long ago.

Virginia Republicans are waging this intra-party war solely to clean up the party image. It's actually more like a whitewash. They still have the same bad policies and Jeffrey Frederick said what most Republicans think, but don't say out loud except to each other.

The hard-core activists aren't happy:

Dozens of Frederick's supporters rallied outside a hotel west of Richmond where the committee was meeting, waving signs that said "Don't Split My Party" and "We Elected Jeff. We Want Him to Stay" and chanting "Elected, Not Selected." Frederick stood on the sidelines, watching and praying with a small group of supporters.

"It's nothing but a mob lynching. That's what it is,'' said Theresa Robinson, a Republican activist from Chester.

Read the rest of this post...

6 gay men shot in Iraq after clerics urged crackdown on gays

Not smelling like victory.

Two gay men were killed in Baghdad's Sadr City slum, a local official said on Saturday, and police said they had found the bodies of four more after clerics urged a crackdown on a perceived spread of homosexuality.

Homosexuality is prohibited almost everywhere in the Middle East, but conditions have become especially dangerous for gays and lesbians in Iraq since the rise of religious militias after U.S.-led forces toppled Saddam Hussein six years ago.

"Two young men were killed on Thursday. They were sexual deviants. Their tribes killed them to restore their family honor," a Sadr City official who declined to be named said.

The police source who declined to be named said the bodies of four gay men were unearthed in Sadr City on March 25, each bearing a sign reading "pervert" in Arabic on their chests.

And this on the heels of the news from Afghanistan that our puppet there, President Karzai, just signed a law that legalizes some forms of rape and removes lots of other rights from women.

Afghanistan's President, Hamid Karzai, has signed a law which "legalises" rape, women's groups and the United Nations warn. Critics claim the president helped rush the bill through parliament in a bid to appease Islamic fundamentalists ahead of elections in August.

In a massive blow for women's rights, the new Shia Family Law negates the need for sexual consent between married couples, tacitly approves child marriage and restricts a woman's right to leave the home, according to UN papers seen by The Independent.

"It is one of the worst bills passed by the parliament this century," fumed Shinkai Karokhail, a woman MP who campaigned against the legislation. "It is totally against women's rights. This law makes women more vulnerable."

Yes, we've truly brought democracy to the Middle East. Read the rest of this post...

Lead religious right groups oppose stimulus spending to save economy

It's not terribly clear when the anti-gay/anti-Jewish bigots at the American Family Association, and their buddies at the oh-so-virile Family Research Council, became experts on fiscal policy. But since they're putting out action alerts opposing the government's stimulus spending, maybe it's time the media asked them if they're in favor of throwing America into another Great Depression? That is what the spending is meant to stop - us sinking into a Great Depression.

So if the bigots at the American Family Association and the Family Research Council are so upset about the spending Obama has had to propose in order to save the economy, the media should be asking them some tough economic questions about whether they prefer America go into another Great Depression, and whether, in the end, they simply exist to do the Republicans' bidding rather than God's. Or maybe they think Obama is overreacting?

Here is the Family Research Council's latest alert, obviously on behalf of the conservative Republican leaders in Congress:

It seems almost daily that the federal government launches yet another massive spending initiative. While it may be lost upon Washington bureaucrats that money for these projects doesn't just materialize from thin air, we Americans who have families, mortgages, car payments, tuition, and other expenses know differently. The money that Congress and the President seem to wield so nonchalantly comes from our pockets, our dreams, and our families.

Our friends at American Family Association are, along with other groups, helping to organize thousands of "TEA" (Taxed Enough Already) Parties across the country. I encourage you to visit the xxxxxx website and join the rallies happening in your area.

In a country such as ours where government, as described by Abraham Lincoln, is "of the people, by the people, for the people," we the people need to stand together to remind our officials not to use our families' hard-earned dollars so recklessly.

Read the rest of this post...

Sunday Talk Shows Open Thread

Looks like they're mixing it up a bit on the shows today. There's what has become the standard dose of economic news featuring Tim Geithner and some car talk. But, Stephanopoulos is actually veering off into foreign policy. You also get a double dose of Axelrod and yet another helping of Newt.

Here's the lineup:

ABC's "This Week" — Susan Rice, the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations; Richard Haass, president of the Council on Foreign Relations.

___

CBS' "Face the Nation" — Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner.

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NBC's "Meet the Press" — Fritz Henderson, chief executive officer of General Motors Corp.; William Rodgers, chief economist at the John J. Heldrich Center for Workforce Development at Rutgers University.

___

CNN's "State of the Union" — Henderson; Sens. Bob Corker, R-Tenn., and Debbie Stabenow, D-Mich.; Jack Welch, former chief executive of General Electric Co.; David Axelrod, White House senior adviser.


"Fox News Sunday" _ Axelrod; Gov. Mark Sanford, R-S.C.; former House Speaker Newt Gingrich, R-Ga.; Rep. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Fla.

Have at it. Read the rest of this post...

The Melodians - This Land

The updated reggae version of Woody Guthrie's classic. Americablog reader Cameron tells us that he's working on a new soundtrack that involves some of the greatest reggae musicians of all time including The Melodians and others who were on The Harder They Come soundtrack. What an amazing collection of talent.

Speaking of talent, how great was it to see Michigan State win last night? Tom Izzo may be the best coach in college hoops and a great guy, regardless of what happens against NC. Go State! Read the rest of this post...

Pfizer settles in illegal testing case

This is creepy and seems to confirm some of the worst accusations against Big Pharma. In this case a financial settlement appears to be generous to Pfizer. For those who wonder why Big Pharma and big business from the west are so disliked and distrusted in Africa and the developing world, this case provides a single but hardly exceptional case study. If people in Europe or the US discovered they were human guinea pigs the consequences may have been different.

Pfizer has reached a broad agreement to pay millions of dollars to Nigeria's Kano state to settle a criminal case alleging that the drug company illegally tested an experimental drug on gravely ill children during a 1996 meningitis epidemic.

The details remain private, but sources close to the negotiations said the total payments -- including those to the children, their families, the government and the government's attorneys -- would be about $75 million under the current settlement terms. Other details, including how the money will be distributed, are to be worked out within weeks.

Nigerian authorities say Pfizer's infamous trial of the antibiotic Trovan killed 11 children and disabled scores more. The world's largest drug company says the deaths and injuries were the result of meningitis.

Read the rest of this post...

EU points at yet another retread for President

How much do you have to fail to get a position of power in the EU? This consistently is the theme for positions of power. Screw up at home but be "important" and you will always have a place in Brussels. Start a war in Iraq and then get a cushy job as a Middle East envoy without ever delivering results and you're a leading candidate. Heck, you can even make millions "consulting" for banksters, but why should that matter? And the other leading candidate? And why should that trifling fact get into such a story during a world economic crisis led by the people that give him millions? That would be the current German Chancellor, so how is she a candidate? That's easy. If she loses her election in the autumn, consider her in the game.

Mr Blair will have spent two years in the Middle East role by July, giving him a legitimate opportunity to claim he has devoted enough time to the job.

But critics will say Mr Blair has failed to make any significant breakthrough. There is also little chance of progress towards the two-state solution under the new hardline Israeli government led by Binyamin Netanyahu.

In a sign that Mr Blair's mind is on an exit from the Middle East, he said in Brussels: "I think the next six months will be completely critical in determining whether this process will move forward or whether it will slip back. I do believe that if there is not significant progress in the year 2009, the peace process will be in very great jeopardy, because there are decisions that have to be taken."

So now Blair is using his failed efforts and riding on the backs of those who he has done so little to help to base his campaign on for President. And to think that people wonder why the EU remains an impotent and suspect organization. Go figure. Read the rest of this post...