“Congressman Grayson said, ‘Obviously, America wants and needs more competition in health coverage, and a public option offers that. But it’s just as important that we offer people not just another choice, but another kind of choice. A lot of people don’t want to be at the mercy of greedy insurance companies that will make money by denying them the care that they need to stay healthy, or to stay alive. We deserve to have a real alternative.’

“The bill would require the Secretary of Health and Human Services to establish enrollment periods, coverage guidelines, and premiums for the program. Because premiums would be equal to cost, the program would pay for itself.

“‘The government spent billions of dollars creating a Medicare network of providers that is only open to one-eighth of the population. That’s like saying, “Only people 65 and over can use federal highways.” It is a waste of a very valuable resource and it is not fair. This idea is simple, it makes sense, and it deserves an up-or-down vote,’ Congressman Grayson said.”
Grayson Bill Opens Up Medicare To Anyone Who Can Pay For It, Todd Jurkowski, Press Secretary, Rep Alan Grayson’s office, March 9, 2010

I like this idea, but it would be better and a better use of my taxpayer dollars if it was just FREE MEDICARE FOR ANYONE WHO WANTS/NEEDS IT. Oh, sorry , the capslock was on and I didn’t notice. Actually, this is a good idea, better than the mess the House is still working on.

Anyway, hurray for Alan Grayson!

“‘I’m just going to be blunt with you,’ he told Blankfein. ‘It sounds to me a little bit like selling a car with faulty brakes, then buying an insurance policy on the buyer of those cars. It doesn’t seem to me that’s a practice that inspires confidence in the market.’

“The bankers adopted a ‘mistakes-were-made’ posture while defending their pre-crisis methods as a product of the times and promising to do better since, as they admitted, the Federal Reserve has been watching them far more closely than the Securities and Exchange Commission.

“Blankfein, pressed on whether his company would own up to ‘excessive risk’ practices, raised the notion of a rare season of dangerous hurricanes.

“Angelides shot him down.

“‘Having sat on the board of the California Earthquake Authority, acts of God (are) exempt. These were acts of men and women. These were controllable,’ he said.”
Metaphors flying at Wall Street bankers hearing, by Steve Holland, Reuters, January 13, 2010

Phil Angelides: my hero.

And “…selling a car with faulty brakes, then buying an insurance policy on the buyer of those cars” really sums up the old moral hazard issue right there, don’t it?

“‘I never really think so much about the Option B, because that’s a loser’s attitude,’ Schwarzenegger answered, saying he would keep pushing until he succeeds.

“He neglected to tell the national television audience that he does have an Option B: a ‘trigger’ he included in his budget plan Friday under which he would eliminate the state programs providing welfare, children’s healthcare and home care for the elderly and disabled, among other cuts, if the federal government doesn’t come though. That plan is unlikely to be approved by state lawmakers, however.”
Governor chides California’s Congress members over federal money, by Michael Rothfeld in Sacramento and Richard Simon in Washington, LA Times, January 10, 2010

Oh my God, how much longer is this poltroon going to continue to pretend he’s governor of California? How much longer can we last with this bs?

My one regret is that I’ve known about these good people for years and never promoted them before. I’ll try to make up for that this year. They seem to have anything I’d buy from those people in Seattle, and what I can’t find there, I dig up on AbeBooks.com. Yay!

“The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors has approved an increase in the cost of a marriage license to $90 from $70. The cost of a so-called confidential license will rise to $85 from $70.

“According to a statement from the county, the fee hike will generate about $500,000 in additional revenue for the cash-strapped county government coffers between January and June.”
Cost of getting married in L.A. County is going up, by Shelby Grad, December 23, 2009

And if we’d legalized gay marriage, we could pay off the Schwarzendebt and live happily ever after forever and ever in lovely sunny California – a paradise on earth.

Dream on, Ginger, just dream the fuck on.

Not all of us need the Public Option.

Burden of proof on the consumer not the insurer! Noooo! Yes.

Private insurance even fucks over conservatives, but only if they’re dying.

It’s so obvious, America, it hurts: just expand Medicare to cover anyone and everyone who asks for it. Are we really this stupid as a country and a people? Don’t answer that, okay?

So there IS something to look forward to.

“Hundreds were turned away just on Tuesday, the first day of a weeklong clinic run by the nonprofit Remote Area Medical Volunteer Corp as part of its mission to provide free health, dental and eye care in needy spots around the world.

“It marks the first time in RAM’s 25 years that it has gone to a major U.S. metropolitan area — a reminder that even in Los Angeles, with world-class doctors and hospitals, many do not have access to affordable healthcare.”
LA sports arena hosts health clinic of last resort, By Dan Whitcomb, Reuters, August 13, 2009

Does somebody want to tell me again why, in what should be one of the richest cities in the richest country in the world, this should be so and why we don’t need universal healthcare? Or, Christ, just give Medicare to anyone who applies for it. Is it really that difficult?

“DETROIT (Reuters) – The punishing four-year decline in U.S. auto sales may have reached a turning point this week — just as Michael Papa handed over the keys to his 1996 Ford Explorer for a government-sponsored trade-in.

“Papa, a Detroit-area restaurant owner, and thousands of other Americans took advantage over the past week of the U.S. government’s ‘Cash for Clunkers’ incentive of up to $4,500 to trade in older gas-guzzlers for newer, more fuel-efficient cars.

“The sudden rush of demand at car dealerships long empty of customers quickly exhausted the $1 billion allocated for the program and drove U.S. auto sales to their highest level of 2009, analysts and industry executives said.

“‘I wasn’t really looking for a new car, but that was a big incentive. That was the driving force to finally get rid of (the old car),’ said Papa.

“His Explorer had 150,000 miles on it and averaged 15 miles per gallon. The Ford Escape he got in return posts average fuel economy of 24 miles per gallon.”
Clunker trade-ins to boost July U.S. auto sales, Reuters, August 3, 2009

I think we got more for that first billion than 222,222 gas guzzlers off the roads. I’d be happier if they all had to buy really fuel efficient cars or hybrids, but this isn’t a bad lurch toward gasoline efficiency. Oh, yeah, auto sales are good, too.

This is also better than a tax deduction because the saving is RIGHT NOW for the buyer and most of us are a RIGHT NOW kind of consumer. I’m not, but apparently 222,222 of my fellow Americans are.

Be interesting to see what happens in a year or two when former gas guzzler drivers’ gasoline costs are half as much. Yay!

UPDATE 080609:
“Toyota’s Corolla sedan overtook the Ford Focus as the best-selling vehicle in the “clunker” program. Toyota had two other passenger cars, the Prius hybrid and the Camry, in the top five. The Honda Motor Co Civic was No. 3.”
U.S. “clunker” sales top 180,000: officials, Reuters, August 6, 2009

I have a Toyota Corolla and it gets great gas mileage. It also starts when I turn the key and keeps running until I turn it off. It’s also comfortable and not flashy, but still easy on the eyes. I’ve had Fords (69 Mustang and some year Escort) and they just weren’t as good experiences as I’ve had with Toyotas. I had a Toyota Echo, I had an accident in the Echo, the Echo was crushed and totaled by a Chevy Tahoe SUV. The other driver filed a medical claim from being slammed around in her SUV while crushing my fuel-efficient compact car. I didn’t have any injuries. Proof once more that size does not matter. Toyotas will always be my first choice when buying a car.

I’m glad to know people are voluntarily buying fuel efficient and hybrid cars on the program. America is getting smarter by the minute. And someday American automakers get smart and make cars as well as Japan.

I wonder. You just don’t see PSAs like this anymore.

Y’know, this would be funny if it were remotely funny at all. Fuck.

“The bargains are all direct from the forums at HotUKDeals, although we overheard some bloke going on about them while we were snorting up some A-grade Columbian off a model’s back in Tizer’s nightclub in Nuneaton at 1.45am this morning. Raaarrrrgggh!”
HotUKDeals Of The Day – Monday 15th June, by Andy Dawson, Bitterwallet, June 15, 2009

Raaarrrrgggh! Fanboys, take note.

The Human Cost of Cuts – Linnea’s Story, Budget Blog, June 10, 2009

There has to be a better way to “save” California than letting this young woman die. There just has to be a better way.

“‘They tasted like Cheetos but with legs,’ said Brenda Llamas, a 13-year-old trumpet player from Pacoima Middle School.

“With proposed state budget cuts threatening to strip schools of much-needed cash, music students in the San Fernando Valley have shown they’re not willing to leave anything to chance. Saturday was no exception as five middle school bands squared off in the first Battle of the Bands Family Music Festival at Sutter Middle School in Winnetka.

“Jazz bands, concert bands, rock bands and orchestras took the stage in button-up vests and bow ties for a chance to honk, strum and strike their way to victory. The prize was a big one, considering that some schools might receive as little as $200 in spending cash next year. First place would bring $2,500 (second place $750) to buy instruments, sheet music and supplies.”
Music students hold a noteworthy fundraiser in the San Fernando Valley. Youths battle it out onstage to help their cash-strapped schools, by Esmeralda Bermudez, LA Times, June 7, 2009

Ow, it’s tough you have to subsidize your own High School music education. But go, kids, go! You’re undaunted and I’m impressed!

Well, thank you, all those clicks added up to almost $100! And then Google pulled their ads for some obscure reason and now the Furies won’t ever get that money your diligent clicks to Google’s advertisers made for them. This is very sad.

What is even SADDER is that the Furies are very clever women who were planning to spend that first $100 on cute little marketing thingys like bookmarks, bookplates, whatnot. What is totally TRAGIC about this is that these Furies know cute, like CUTE, like, Lawdy, do they know CUTE. So, now, not only do they not get their first start-up $100 to make some cute marketing things, we, World, will not be able to get any of these cute marketing things. And all because of Google Legree.

However, the Furies still have a donation button on their website. It’s tastefully at the bottom of the left sidebar. If any of you fine people who read this blog could toss them a few bucks, like more than $5, I’m sure they’d send you some cute Furies swag when they get enough dosh to make some. This is also a good deed: these are very brave women to even be thinking about starting a business, let alone one as risky as comics, in this economy. They’re taking it slow, so the Google shenanigans is a big-ish set back.

Also, if you could spread the word about the Furies Fundraiser, I’d be much obliged.

“In the short-term, expenditure reductions in any of these programs (CalWORKS, etc.) have significant implications for the state economy. The multiplier effects for these programs are found to range between 1.05 and 1.44, meaning that output and employment resulting from human services program expenditures are greater than the expenditures alone would suggest.

“In particular, In-Home Supportive Services are found to provide in excess of a 40 percent boost to the local economy. The multipliers for CalWORKs and Food Stamps are also significant and comparable at 1.34 and 1.37, respectively. Other programs, those that provide primarily services and less in the way of cash benefits, are found to have a smaller multiplier effect. The importance of these services, however, should not be diminished by the smaller multipliers that were found. This report discusses the likelihood that service reductions in many of these programs may result in the following: a higher incidence of homelessness, poverty, malnutrition, substance abuse, violence, and negative health outcomes for toddlers and infants. Aside from the toll these harmful circumstances have on the individuals involved, a higher incidence of these maladies produces not only higher economic costs today, but in the future as well. This suggests another sort of multiplier that ought to be included in the analysis – the indirect effect of reducing the demand for services tomorrow by providing them today.

“Finally, many of these programs are funded by federal in addition to state expenditures. These federal dollars are often only available as matching funds to state expenditures. The effect of matching funds was found to raise the multiplier for some state spending as high as 7.35. With matching funds, $1 in state spending translates into between roughly $3 and $5 in total spending on most of these programs. The effect on output and employment, and on the economic stimulus effect of state spending on these programs, is thus significantly magnified.”
SPENDING ON COUNTY HUMAN SERVICES PROGRAMS IN CALIFORNIA: AN EVALUATION OF ECONOMIC IMPACTS (pdf), By Jon Haveman, Ph.D., Beacon Economics, Eric O’N. Fisher, Ph. D., California Polytechnic State University, Fannie Tseng, Ph.D., Berkeley Policy Associates, Presented to Child and Family Policy Institute of California, March 17, 2009 (via, which has more links and is a faster read)

$1 CA dollar can, with matching funds, turn into up to $5 spent in grocery stores, doctors, public transit, etc. in California. I’m not very good at math either, so bear with me:

$1M = $5M, so $500K = $2.5M, $0.50 = $2.50, but $0 = $0, which is what I think the heartless bastard rightwingnuts in California ultimately want. Don’t any of those people have businesses, homes or investments in California? Or, y’know, humanity? Because sinking the whole State to gratify some sick fear and loathing of children, disease and poverty seems pretty crazy to me.

So, really, the only reason Arnold is going after these programs is because they have no powerful advocates. And he’s a heartless bastard placating heartless bastards.

“Consider this partial list of the governor’s proposed cuts to health and humans services:

· Elimination of the CalWORKs program;
· Elimination of the Healthy Families Program;
· Eliminating certain Medi-Cal state-only programs;
· Elimination of community based services programs at the Department of Aging;
· Eliminate State funding for Community Care Licensing;
· Elimination of remaining General Fund for Maternal, Child, and Adolescent Health;
· Elimination of funding for community clinic programs, such as Rural Health Services and the Seasonal and Agricultural and Migratory work programs;
· Elimination of funding for drug treatment programs established by the voters through Proposition 36;
· Reducing in-home supportive services eligibility and care provider pay;
· Reducing funding for foster care rates; and
· Reducing SSI/SSP monthly payments benefiting the aged and disabled to the minimum allowed under federal law.

“All of us know someone who will be affected by these cuts. This is not just a matter of balancing the state’s books. For some Californians, it is a matter of life and death.

“A society in crisis should not throw women, children, and seniors overboard first.”
Impact of Governor’s Proposed Health and Human Services Cuts, Budget Blog, by Assemblymember Noreen Evans, May 27, 2009 (also see Noreen Explains the Budget Crisis)

I think what you mean, Assemblymember Evans, is that a civilized society in crisis should not throw women, children, and seniors-who-didn’t-buy-their-home-in-the-1950-70s overboard first. We’re talking about California, not, y’know, something civilized.

By the way, when you run for higher office, Noreen, I’m sending you some money.

Here’s the TOS. Not a word about what kind of “disturbing” content they reserve the right not to print. Jerks.

“Assemblywoman Noreen Evans, Chair of the Budget Committee, spells out slowly for everyone the structural problems and false assertions about the California budget process.”

(via)

“But the California precedent still has me rattled. Who would have thought that America’s largest state, a state whose economy is larger than that of all but a few nations, could so easily become a banana republic?”

But, Paaaaauuuuuuulllll! It’s not a banana republic! It’s a Libertarian Paradise!

Me, I think it’s more of a dystopia.

Here’s why they go by the names they write under on the blog:

“Virgil, probably working from an Alexandrian source, recognized three: Alecto (“unceasing,” who appeared in Virgil’s Aeneid), Megaera (“grudging”), and Tisiphone (“avenging murder”).” Wikipedia

“Joseph, 29, was among 22 residents from Nickerson Gardens and other public housing developments who graduated Friday from the Sherwin-Williams Home Work Painter Training Program.

“The two-week program sponsored by the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development is funded primarily by Sherwin-Williams, Los Angeles housing officials said. It focuses on teaching students about asbestos, mold and lead-based paint and gives them materials and real-world experience painting units in their own housing projects.

“‘There’s more to just putting paint on the brush and then putting it on the wall,’ Joseph said.

“The program has been in existence since about 2003, but the housing authority of the city of Los Angeles brought the series to Southern California last year. Housing officials said that so far 91 people had been trained during sessions at Jordan Downs, Estrada Courts, Mar Vista Gardens and Nickerson Gardens.

“The two remaining sites for this year’s programs are in Rancho San Pedro and Ramona Gardens.”

~snip~

“‘I was all for it,’ Joseph said. ‘I thought it’d be a great opportunity for me.’

“He’s not sure whether it will lead directly to employment but said he is confident that the training will help. Bob Ballew, who works for Sherwin-Williams running the training courses, said 72% of the roughly 5,000 graduates of the program across the nation have found employment.

“‘In spite of all the negative, this is something positive,’ Ballew told the graduates Friday. ‘Even though the economy is bad, we hear the doom and gloom, there is still an opportunity to find employment.’”
Public housing residents learn tools of painting trade, by Amanda Covarrubias, LA Times, April 13, 2009

You know what they say at Homeboy Industries: Nothing stops a bullet faster than a job.

Thank you Sherwin-Williams for being cool enough to have a program like this and thank you City of LA for being smart enough to bring it here. I feel hope today, that’s probably a mistake on my part, but that I feel hope today.

“Responding quickly to public outrage over the bonuses after the giant insurer received government bailouts of up to $180 billion, the House voted 328-93 to approve a 90 percent tax on bonuses for some executives at companies getting federal aid.

“The tax would apply to executives with incomes over $250,000 who worked for companies that got at least $5 billion in government aid. That could ensnare others getting federal help, such as mortgage financing company Fannie Mae.”
House votes to recoup bonuses from bailed-out firms, by Jeremy Pelofsky and Susan Cornwell, Reuters, March 19, 2009

“Between mis- and disinformation, cheap political posturing and crowd pleasing histrionics masquerading as commentary, the public has been inundated by a flood of dangerous nonsense. Cable news networks must think their audiences have the attention span of fruit flies.

“Many in the New York/Washington media establishment appear to identify with the financial and political geniuses who got us into this mess, and to share their values. Jamison Foser at mediamatters.org noticed that coverage of President Obama’s budget in The Washington Post and The New York Times centered mainly upon increased taxes affecting “the oil and gas industry, hedge fund managers, multinational corporations and nearly 3 million of the nation’s top earners,” poor babies.

“ABC News produced a heartbreaking tale of woe about harried professionals scheming to reduce their incomes to avoid higher tax brackets. A dentist told the reporter she was contemplating cutting her income from her current $320,000 to under $250,000 by having her dental hygienist work fewer days and by treating fewer patients.

“Neither she nor the reporter appeared to have any idea how marginal tax rates work. To wit, she’d pay the higher 36 percent rate only on income above $250,000. The current rate is 33 percent. Hence, Dr. Happy-Tooth’s brilliant plan would save her exactly $2,100 in taxes at a cost of $67,900 in forgone income. No wonder people like her vote Republican.

“ABC subsequently filed an amended version of the story making itself look a bit less foolish.”
Simple story fails public, by Gene Lyons, Arkansas Democrat Gazette, March 12, 2009

Is it even possible for ABC and Greedpublicans to look less foolish?

As usual, Gene Lyons nails it.

“High expectations for details on how the new administration would address the growing banking crisis and faltering economy were dampened after the inauguration speech concluded with little new information to digest.”
Banks sink stocks on Inauguration Day, by Chuck Mikolajczak, Reuters, January 20, 2009

High finance – it’s wonderful.

It’s not that I don’t think the O Team can do it, I’m just sorry they have to on their first day on the job.

“Weeks after receiving its first $25 billion taxpayer investment, Citigroup returned to the Treasury to confess that — lo! — the markets still didn’t trust Citigroup to survive. In response, on Nov. 24, the Treasury handed Citigroup another $20 billion from the Troubled Assets Relief Program, and then simply guaranteed $306 billion of Citigroup’s assets. The Treasury didn’t ask for its fair share of the action, or management changes, or for that matter anything much at all beyond a teaspoon of warrants and a sliver of preferred stock. The $306 billion guarantee was an undisguised gift. The Treasury didn’t even bother to explain what the crisis was, just that the action was taken in response to Citigroup’s ‘declining stock price.’

Three hundred billion dollars is still a lot of money. It’s almost 2 percent of gross domestic product, and about what we spend annually on the departments of Agriculture, Education, Energy, Homeland Security, Housing and Urban Development and Transportation combined. Had Mr. Paulson executed his initial plan, and bought Citigroup’s pile of troubled assets at market prices, there would have been a limit to our exposure, as the money would have counted against the $700 billion Mr. Paulson had been given to dispense. Instead, he in effect granted himself the power to dispense unlimited sums of money without Congressional oversight. Now we don’t even know the nature of the assets that the Treasury is standing behind. Under TARP, these would have been disclosed.

“There are other things the Treasury might do when a major financial firm assumed to be ‘too big to fail’ comes knocking, asking for free money. Here’s one: Let it fail.

“Not as chaotically as Lehman Brothers was allowed to fail. If a failing firm is deemed ‘too big’ for that honor, then it should be explicitly nationalized, both to limit its effect on other firms and to protect the guts of the system. Its shareholders should be wiped out, and its management replaced. Its valuable parts should be sold off as functioning businesses to the highest bidders — perhaps to some bank that was not swept up in the credit bubble. The rest should be liquidated, in calm markets. Do this and, for everyone except the firms that invented the mess, the pain will likely subside.”
How to Repair a Broken Financial World, by Michael Lewis and David Einhorn, January 3, 2009 (this article actually starts at The End of the Financial World as We Know It. It’s all a time-worthy read.)

Yes! Nationalize it all! Then the taxpayers (like me!) would own it and we’re a Socialist/Capitalist Utopia! God, I never thought I’d live to see the day…oh, wait…I haven’t because the wingunts would go crazy if anyone other than bushco or zombieSt.Reagan tried to do anything remotely like that. Oh well. It was a nice thought while it lasted.

(So since it’s not going to happen, I might as well add that liquidating in calm markets might be trickier than it sounds. In The Greatest-Ever Bank Robbery: The Collapse of the Savings and Loan Industry, by Martin Mayer, he spends much of the last chapters describing the near impossibility of buying defunct S&L assets, mainly property, from the government. No one even knew which departments were in charge of selling it to buyers, with CASH, who called to inquire. Crazy, very crazy. I’m not sure it’s any better even now.)

By the way, I think Paulson panicked and started throwing money at whatever scared him most. I really do wonder what the hell he’s so afraid of. Maybe I should be afraid of it, too.

“For reasons that, at this particular moment in economic time, make little sense—and border on the totally embarrassing—I was in Monaco recently at a business conference that attracted many private-equity types who are still traveling grandly on the 2 percent fees private-equity firms pay themselves on the money they’ve raised. At my table in the ballroom of the Hôtel de Paris, in Monte Carlo, at a dinner hosted by Prince Albert of Monaco, there was a gentleman whose company, backed by private equity, had gone public and risen to $130 a share, but had, through the terrible autumn, dropped to $17. To my left there was a gentleman from K.K.R.—the seminal name in the corporate-buyout business, having survived and profited off a quarter-century’s worth of bubbles and busts. Actually, the gentleman joined K.K.R. after the collapse of Lehman Brothers, where he had been for many years. (By my quick calculation, in all that time of being compensated with Lehman stock, he probably lost between $30 and $120 million in the collapse. Still, he seemed to have homes in London, Dubai, and New York.) I asked, lowering my voice, ‘So … who’s on the brink?’

“‘Carlyle,’ he responded darkly. Indeed, Carlyle Capital Corporation, the arm of the Carlyle Group that invests in mortgage-backed securities, had defaulted last spring on more than $16 billion.”

~snip~

“And Blackstone, at the top of the market—indeed doing the last big deal of the bull market—paid $26 billion for Hilton Hotels. (Hotels, where private-equity guys spend most of their time, form a big part of the P.E. mythology. Not only has Blackstone become the biggest hotelier in the world, owning at various times mass-market chains such as La Quinta and Extended Stay America as well as Claridge’s, in London—reportedly Mr. Schwarzman’s favorite home away from home—but the Carlyle Group is named after the Carlyle Hotel in New York, David Rubenstein’s favorite hotel.) Actually, Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns, and a few other banks paid $26 billion for Hilton—they lent Blackstone the money. Or, in fact, because Lehman and Bear have collapsed and their debts have been bailed out by the U.S. government, you’ve paid for the Hilton hotels—with their dramatically devalued real estate on which their empty rooms sit.”
The Ultimate Bubble?, by Michael Wolff, Vanity Fair, February 2009 issue (go read the whole thing, it’s…fascinating)

I hope this is the ultimate bubble and no one ever has to live through this at all. I bet they said that in the Depression, too.

Suckers at the top? Sure, why not? But maybe bushco made us tax-paying, hard working, honest types are the biggest suckers of all with the bailout, the tax cuts, Iraq, and all the other fuck the working and middle class attacks over the past 8 years. Who paid for all that? You and I and generations to come. Unless the U.S. hits the lotto, which I don’t think it even plays. Wait…where did that come from?

So, anyway, good luck, Mr. Obama! You’re gonna need it.

“‘Bank Medici will in every way cooperate with the government supervisor and take all measures to ensure the most transparency and efficiency possible in solving the current challenges,’ it said in a statement.

“It said Medici, which is 25 percent owned by UniCredit’s (CRDI.MI) Bank Austria, remains sound, has good liquidity and will present a new business model in the coming weeks.

“It said clients’ assets were not at risk ‘because of its (Medici’s) strong capital base.’”

“Banks across the globe have unveiled billions of dollars in damage from the scandal, with a number of private banks catering to rich clients and fund-of-fund businesses particularly prominent victims.”
Madoff-exposed Medici under state supervision, by Christian Gutlederer, Reuters, January 2, 2009

Why would a bank, any bank, be this stupid? Bank Medici possibly has a $3B exposure. But why wouldn’t they, or other banks, figure Madoff out in due diligence? They’re banks, they’re supposed to be smarter than this. And if they’re not, then consumers and governments better wake up and get tough pdq.

And don’t blame it on Sonja Kohn. Unless she personally guaranteed the investment with Madoff, it was up to the bankers and lawyers at Bank Medici to see through Madoff before they went out on a $3B limb.

(More Madoff Madness from the NYT: Madoff Scheme Kept Rippling Outward, Across Borders, by Diana B. Henriques, December 20, 2008. Via Pen Elayne)
By DIANA B. HENRIQUES
Published: December 20, 2008

“Just before Christmas, an economics student in Utah figured out a way to help the environment by messing up the mechanics of an auction. The Bush administration had Bureau of Land Management auction offer a last minute auction to sell off 150,000 acres near Arches National Park.

“Tim DeChristopher, 27, just started bidding when the government tried to auction off the land. That threw a wrench into the whole auction. He went home — after a brief visit with police — owning 22,000 acres of land and owing $1.7 million. But he also pushed the price up for oil developers. So much so that the whole auction results are now in question. The AP says buyers were given 10 days to decide if they paid too much. I don’t think that offer applies to DeChristopher himself. They may have to have a do-over for the whole auction — but that would be under the Obama administration.”

~snip~

“DeChristopher didn’t start off his day hoping to stand in the way of Bush’s last minute sale to the oil industry. Instead, he went to his scheduled final exam. …one of his exam questions was whether this very auction was fair since only the oil companies were bidding. That got him thinking.

“DeChristopher went straight from the test to the auction. He passed the protesters and went inside, wanting to do something more, but not knowing what. Then a woman asked him: ‘Are you here to bid?’ That gave him the idea.

“Patrick Shea, who is representing DeChristopher, says that when he ran the BLM under President Clinton he required bidders to show they could afford their purchases. The lack of a requirement was part of the “rush” of the Bush administration to sell the land before leaving office, Shea says. It looks like once again deregulation has not turned out to be the capitalist’s best friend.”

~snip~

“DeChristopher says the most surprising thing was that he bought some of the land at $2.25 an acre. ‘That’s shocking — that we can sacrifice our public lands for as little as $2.25 an acre.’ There is some talk of environmental groups buying DeChristopher’s land. His first payment of $45,000 was due Monday.”
The hero auction wrecker, by Carol Vinzant, WalletPop, December 30, 2008 (more on Mr. DeChristopher)

If there’s a legal defense fund for my new hero, Tim DeChristopher, I’d like to toss a few bucks his way. What a guy!

By the way, what’s the deal with no money down auctions of public land, bushco? Don’t you jerks know that even housing auctions require a $5K cashiers check to even get in the door? Serves you creeps right.

Advantage DeChristopher! Sorry about the legal problems, dude, where can I send a check?

Update 123108: “Tim DeChristopher announced Wednesday afternoon that he would pay the U.S. Bureau of Land Management $45,000 to hold the 13 lease parcels he won in a Dec. 19 sale. His aim is to fend off drilling at least until President-elect Barack Obama takes office and new officials are in charge of the federal Interior Department and Bureau of Land Management.

“‘This would be the most effective way of ensuring we could protect the land at least until the new administration came in,’ DeChristopher said.

“The 27-year-old economics major faces possible federal felony charges after winning bids totaling about $1.8 million on 13 lease parcels that he admitted he had neither the intention nor the money to pay for.

“But since committing what he called an act of civil disobedience, DeChristopher has heard from hundreds of individuals around the country willing to chip in to keep drill rigs off the land and DeChristopher out of prison.

“So far, would-be benefactors have pledged $14,000, he said. ($14,050 now)

“DeChristopher, his lawyers and other advisers reckoned that if there were a specific reason for the fundraising, rather than just an ill-defined defense fund, enough money would roll in to allow him to write a $45,000 check to the BLM within the next couple of weeks.”
Land auction monkeywrencher has a new plan
Fundraising. DeChristopher hopes to run out the clock, by Patty Henetz, The Salt Lake Tribune, December 31, 2008

Tim DeChristopher Legal Defense and Land Paying For Fund

Agency auctions off moral high ground, by J. Scott Christianson, Columbia Tribune, December 30, 2008

Another good Tim DeChristopher story, more details.