CLibertyC

Ex-Sen. Ben Nelson Cashes in on his Obamacare Vote

"Sen. Ben Nelson delivered a crucial vote to pass Obamacare into law in 2009, and now he is cashing out of the Senate to make money off the organizations that benefitted from the legislation. Nelson's last day as a senator was Jan. 3, and on Jan. 22 he announced he had taken two jobs on K Street. Nelson's second K Street job, CEO of the National Association of Insurance Commissioners, might not even exist without Obamacare. Obamacare mentions the NAIC 18 times. Some provisions of the law basically delegate regulatory power to the NAIC. Now, with Ben Nelson on the payroll, the NAIC can be even more confident it will get its wishes." Continue reading →

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How Much of a Revolving Door Crony is the New Obama Appointee for Head of the SEC?

"White's current spin through the revolving door is not her first. As I reported, White has, 3 separate times, worked at the high-powered law firm, Debevoise & Plimpton. She split those gigs up with revolving door government jobs. Translation: Total establishment revolving door operative. The unprincipled crony left doesn't mind because, and this also seems to be lost on Taibbi, with Obama as president the crushing by White, in her new SEC position, will be focused on the non-connected. It won't be the banksters. White targets will be many of others the left will love to go after." Continue reading →

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The Interior Secretary’s $222,000 Bathroom

"The personal bathroom used by the secretary of the Interior is so swanky that its renovation cost $222,000. No detail was overlooked: It has a $3,500 sub-zero refrigerator (hey, if you’re going to have a fridge in the bathroom, it might as well be a good one) and a $689 faucet. At least the 'vintage tissue holder' was cheap: just $65 bucks. The renovation was done in 2007 under President George W. Bush’s Interior Secretary Dirk Kempthorne, but is only now coming to light, thanks to the dogged reporting by ABC News Atlanta affiliate WSB-TV, which first filed a Freedom of Information Act request on the renovation four years ago." Continue reading →

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It Pays to Be a Bankster: Blankfein Buys $33 Million Hamptons Mansion

"Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein has bought a seven-bedroom home in New York’s Hamptons that was listed for $32.5 million, a person with knowledge of the deal said, reports Bloomberg. Blankfein took title to the property on Ocean Road in Bridgehampton in recent weeks, says Bloomberg. Property records reported by LexisNexis list the owner as ‘Fein, Blank.’ The home, with six full bathrooms, includes a tennis court, 'sculpted gardens,' a swimming pool, and 'a winding driveway to a home of which dreams are made,' says a real estate listing." Continue reading →

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Sending Granny (and Gramps) to the Home

Author’s Note: This is the fourth in a series of articles about Nebraska’s Medicaid program, the Unicameral’s apparent intent to expand it, and the many reasons why expansion is an uncommonly bad idea. Although they don’t have to be read in order, here are links to the previously-published articles in the series: NE Medicaid Expansion:… more

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Bernanke Is Blind As A Bat

"Following the stock market crash of 1929, there was a short period of calm before the government and Fed would deliver a Great Depression. During that short period of calm, the establishment and authorities did their best to assure everyone that things were ok. I don't doubt that they even believed what they were saying. Here are some examples of what was said during the calm period." Continue reading →

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What Is Middle Class in Manhattan?

"Manhattan is not like most places. Its 1.6 million residents hide in a forest of tall buildings, and even the city's elite take the subway. Middle-class neighborhoods do not really exist in Manhattan — probably the only place in the United States where a $5.5 million condo with a teak closet and mother-of-pearl wall tile shares a block with a public housing project. In a city like New York, where everything is superlative, who exactly is middle class? What kind of salary are we talking about? Where does a middle-class person live? And could the relentless rise in real estate prices push the middle class to extinction?" Continue reading →

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Housing Prices Starting to Melt Up

"Home prices may be starting to melt up. That means that fewer homeowners will have negative equity in their homes and more of them will have less of it. [...] The median existing single-family home price rose 10.9% y/y during December, the best performance since January 2006. This is happening because the supply of existing homes available for sale dropped last month to the lowest since January 2001." Continue reading →

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One Thing Explains Why Home Prices Are Rising In Some Cities And Falling In Others

"One key reason for the discrepancy is the legal process for foreclosing on a home, explains Bank of America Merrill Lynch's Michelle Meyer. 'Broadly, states with a non-judicial process witnessed a sharper decline in home prices at the beginning of the downturn, but are currently enjoying price appreciation,' said Meyer recently. 'This is due to a more efficient disposition of delinquent supply, leaving lean inventory in many markets. In contrast, states with a judicial process are still struggling to clear the pipeline of distressed loans. As a result, home prices in the Chicago and New York metro areas have continued to edge lower.'" Continue reading →

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The Echo Boom in Housing-Recovery Stocks

"Speculative bubbles often produce an 'echo boom' a few years after the bubble has burst, as the cultural/institutional memories of the asset's spectacular gains remain operative long after the initial boom/bust. Is the much-hyped housing recovery an organic, sustainable trend, or is it merely a speculation-driven echo boom that is doomed to fade?" Continue reading →

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