Welfare-Warfare State

Army: Drone strike ‘condolence payments’ for targets killed ‘an expression of sympathy’

"There’s little documentation of where and how such payments are being made. The government has released almost no information on civilian casualties sustained in drone strikes conducted by the CIA and the military in Pakistan, Yemen and Somalia. Officials maintain they have been 'in the single digits' in recent years, while independent researchers put the total for the past decade in the hundreds. Certainly, though, drone strikes and condolence payments make for a striking match: The technological apex of war combined with an age-old method of compensating loss." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingArmy: Drone strike ‘condolence payments’ for targets killed ‘an expression of sympathy’

Fannie Mae record profit: How long until it pays back bailout money?

"The firm, along with a sibling corporation named Freddie Mac, is at the heart of a US mortgage market that imploded during the financial crisis. The two firms received some of the biggest taxpayer bailouts in 2008. But now, as housing markets are recovering, so are their fortunes. Fannie Mae has drawn some $116 billion in financial support from the US Treasury since the firm was taken over in a federal conservatorship in 2008. Some $35.6 billion of that has, in effect, been paid back through dividend payments to the Treasury since 2009. Executives at Fannie and Freddie are touting the role they’ve played in buoying the housing market since the recession ended." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFannie Mae record profit: How long until it pays back bailout money?

“3% Down” Mortgages: They’re Back!

"With the Federal Reserve System buying half a trillion dollars worth of Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac IOUs a year, the mortgage market is flooded with newly created money. Lenders are now offering 3% down payment mortgages. Why, it’s 2006, back from the grave. There is a problem here: the number of mortgage applications has remained flat for three years. So, the recovery is nowhere near a bubble. Not enough people can qualify for loans. The rates are great, but only if you qualify. The time to buy an income-producing rental home is sooner rather than later. But don’t pay retail. Shop." Continue reading →

Continue Reading“3% Down” Mortgages: They’re Back!

Obama Administration Wants to Subsidize Banks to Make More Dodgy Loans

"The Obama Administration is proposing to once again put the economy at risk by subsidizing banks to give mortgages to people with poor credit. Even though we’re still dealing with the economic and fiscal damage caused by the last episode of government housing subsidies! Brings to mind the famous saying from George Santayana that, 'Those who cannot remember the past are condemned to repeat it.' But what’s especially amazing – and distressing – about this latest scheme is that 'the past' was only a couple of years ago." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingObama Administration Wants to Subsidize Banks to Make More Dodgy Loans

QE 3 Moves to Japan

"The Bank of Japan has announced a quantitative easing (mass inflation) QE program that matches Bernanke’s: $75 billion a month in purchases of Japanese government bonds. This is just under $1 trillion a year. But Japan’s GDP is only $6 trillion — 40% the United States’ GDP. This is way beyond Bernanke. For the Bank of Japan, this is QE1. But it is QE3 in the United States. It’s the same policy. The government of Japan has always been Keynesian. Now it has adopted desperation Keynesianism: just like the United States and the eurozone." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingQE 3 Moves to Japan

Feds Offering $48/hr To Obamacare ‘Navigators’ Who Can Actually Explain Obamacare

"As part of new regulations to assist Americans choose the right Obamacare options for their families and needs, officials are scouring the country for what they call 'navigators.' In some cases, these navigators can earn up to $48 an hour – a far cry from the standard minimum wage of $7.25 — all to assist consumers in getting a better understanding of the benefits they are signing up for. From translating in their preferred language to breaking down jargon, navigators will basically navigate you through the so-called ‘Obamacare experience.’" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFeds Offering $48/hr To Obamacare ‘Navigators’ Who Can Actually Explain Obamacare

State-Wrecked: The Corruption of Capitalism in America – David Stockman

"As the federal government and its central-bank sidekick, the Fed, have groped for one goal after another — smoothing out the business cycle, minimizing inflation and unemployment at the same time, rolling out a giant social insurance blanket, promoting homeownership, subsidizing medical care, propping up old industries (agriculture, automobiles) and fostering new ones ('clean' energy, biotechnology) and, above all, bailing out Wall Street — they have now succumbed to overload, overreach and outside capture by powerful interests. The modern Keynesian state is broke, paralyzed and mired in empty ritual incantations about stimulating 'demand.'" Continue reading →

Continue ReadingState-Wrecked: The Corruption of Capitalism in America – David Stockman

French Socialist budget minister charged with hiding money in UBS account

"France's former budget minister Jérôme Cahuzac confessed on Tuesday to having hidden €600,000 ($770,000) in foreign bank accounts for the last 20 years, reversing repeated denials weeks after a probe was launched into his alleged Swiss account. The minister, who faces five years in prison and a fine of up to €375,000 said he had been 'caught up in a spiral of lies and lost his way.' Cahuzac had been leading the government's charge against wealthy French citizens evading taxes through foreign accounts." Continue reading →

Continue ReadingFrench Socialist budget minister charged with hiding money in UBS account

U.S. will ‘respond’ to North Korea’s provocations, says Chuck Hagel

"Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said Thursday that the United States was 'prepared to deal with any eventuality' from North Korea and warned that danger from Pyongyang was on the rise. 'We will unequivocally defend — we are unequivocally committed — to that alliance with South Korea as well as our other allies in that region of the world,' Hagel told reporters. 'We will be prepared...to deal with any eventuality,' Hagel said after the United States flew two nuclear-capable B-2 stealth bombers on a mission over South Korea. 'We must make clear that these provocations by the North are taken by us very seriously and we’ll respond to that,' Hagel said. Continue reading →

Continue ReadingU.S. will ‘respond’ to North Korea’s provocations, says Chuck Hagel