President Obama's Weekly Address, April 24, 2010 (Video, Transcript)

Good News from the Auto Industry:

As the auto industry and financial markets begin to stabilize, the President says the government’s emergency interventions can now wind down. He pledges that real reform, particularly on Wall Street, must now begin.



Transcript

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Obama Administration, GET RID OF TIM GEITHNER (Video)

He needs to go. Period. How long is Barack Obama going to keep Wall Street's best friend around? What he did to protect AIG is criminal. He has to go. Read it all here.

From the Ed Show:



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When is Geither going to be asked for his resignation?

I don't know what more can be said about the problematic Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner. The very same individual who has protected Wall Street, the Big Banks and AIG. It is these decisions that have the American Public currently red hot about tax payer money being used to save these industries, which put us in the bind we are in. And the big banks? The very ones who used our money at 1% interest, invested it, made a bundle, paid the government back and still are not lending to move this economy.

Again, when are we going to see some asses flying from posts under the Obama Administration. This is a valid question, because this is all about changing Washington and not remaining the same, right?

An arm of the Federal Reserve, then led by now-Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, told bailed-out insurance giant AIG to withhold key details from the public about overpayments that put billions of extra tax dollars in the coffers of major Wall Street firms, most notably Goldman Sachs.

The sordid tale unfolds in a series of e-mails between the company and the New York Fed obtained by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-CA), the ranking member of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, and first publicly disclosed by Bloomberg News.

The matter is the subject of an "ongoing review" by the Office of the Special Inspector General for the Troubled Asset Relief Program (SIGTARP), communications director Kristine Belisle said in an e-mail to the Huffington Post. SIGTARP is headed by Neil M. Barofsky, a former federal prosecutor.

Taxpayers have committed about $182 billion to AIG. The under-regulated firm developed and sold complicated derivatives products without having adequate capital in place if those bets went bad, which they eventually did. The firm nearly single-handedly wrecked the entire financial system.

After the firm was given a taxpayer-funded backstop, one of its most controversial acts was to repay banks at 100 cents on the dollar for what was by that point nearly worthless insurance the banks had bought from AIG, known as credit-default swaps.

A brutal report issued in November by a government watchdog disclosed that AIG had actually been trying to negotiate better terms with the banks until - guess what? -- the New York Fed stepped in. The report held Geithner personally responsible, and led to renewed questions about his fitness for the job. read more here...

Geithner, for me was too close for comfort with his direct involvement of AIG and Wall Street. This disclosure to the public does not wear well on him nor the Obama Administration. Again, when is this man's resignation going to be on the President's desk?

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Obama and the polls a year later, not looking good

Again, Barack Obama and his mismanagement of the health care debate is a major reason why his poll numbers are where it is at, along with siding with the continuous bailouts of Wall Street, banks, automotive industry with NO RELIEF for Main Street. This equals anger out here and it is real. Barack Obama has done some good things, moving towards transparency, putting science first, standing with the military, movement in changing the education system, looking forward to climate change. But Obama must show more LEADERSHIP come 2010 because for many he lacked it in 2009. Sure, he had divisive people like the Republicans in his way, but they were always going to be there, Barack Obama must convey to this country what EXACTLY he wants, but more importantly he must DELIVER. And jobs? People don't believe this White House is focused on it, it clearly is displayed in the polling numbers. With no jobs, losing jobs, fear of losing jobs and the White House nonchalant to many, this is why the numbers are shitty.

Remember, people voted for Barack Obama on his agenda not for what is coming out of the White House now. So, if the middle class, independents, young, and many other are angry all Barack Obama needs to look at is right in his White House.

Until his behavior change, remove some people change, these polling numbers are going to continue to erode.

Wake up, Barack Obama. You are not on the ballot in 2010 but the WHOLE DEMOCRATIC PARTY is and if it is a bloodbath for Democrats, the blame will be put squarely on your shoulders.

The anger is real out here and our President better get in touch or we are talking bad times in 2010 for the Democratic Party.

From morning joe:



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The banks continue to make record profits on the taxpayer's back (Video)

Tim Geithner, a fan of I AM NOT, again continues to protect his Wall Street friends, but why shouldn't he? In this aspect, the Obama Administration is no different than any other administration that has sat in the Oval Office, for that is not change anyone can believe in. And progress? What progress? What happened to the transparency? That word is starting to be a joke. And the disparity of Wall Street to Main Street continues to erode. Folks, as the rich gets richer, the average joe/joesetta continues to be on the unemployment dole and unable to find a job. That is what 2010 forward will be all about. Many Americans don't follow the nitty gritty of politics, but they know EXACTLY what they had 5 years ago versus today, for that they understand they have gotten the bad end of the stick.

In Geithner, we trust...

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President Obama's speech on Wall Street, i.e., "You ain't getting anymore bailout money" (Video and Transcript)

The President speaks in New York City on the one-year anniversary of the collapse of Lehman Brothers. He looks back at how we came back from the brink of depression, and looks forward at how we prevent irresponsible actions by financial institutions from ever endangering our economy again. September 14, 2009. Transcript and youtube



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Obama announcing overhaul of financial regulatory system (Video)

Obama plan would cut number of US bank regulators

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Obama's remarks on General Motors filing Chapter 11 bankruptcy (Video)

MSNBC Video

Transcript

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As long as the job numbers are horrific, foreclosures will continue to rise

I am for the stimulus program, I see the Obama Administration signs around various construction jobs, but one thing that bothers me is the job numbers. The unemployment numbers are not coming down, the numbers are going up and I am not sold on the economy bottoming out.

Why is that? Well, I went out of town this holiday weekend. I left from one of the busiest airports in the world, Chicago's O'Hare International Airport. I am here to report that the travel was LIGHT. The plane I was on was half full leaving to my destination, though full on the flight back, but all in all, the airport traffic was one of the lightest I have seen in a very long time.

That says something. It says people don't have the money to travel, even though you can get good deals out there. It also says that if folks are not traveling, it has a roller ball, ripple effect on everything else.

Another indicator is the malls. The one big mall that I have frequented over the years have cut the hours down, drastically. My hairstylist, who works at this large mall, told me that it is hard to book all the stylists at Mario Triccoci, work there has been cut down. Shopping malls are another indicator of how strong the economy is. Case and point, I went to Best Buy to purchase Twilight on a Saturday and I have not been in Best Buy for quite a while, since I purchase most of my goods from the internet, going in that store was a reality check. It was a ghost town. This is an anchor store at a shopping mall, which at one point was crowded EVERY WEEKEND, was like a ghost town. Sure, folks are shopping on the internet, but when people don't have money for a basic lavish necessity as a DVD, times are hard. Yep, the shopping malls are ghost towns.

On the low-income east side of Charlotte, N.C., the 1.1-million-square-foot Eastland Mall recently lost a slew of key tenants, including a Dillard's and, next month, a Sears. Sales per square foot at the venue fell to $210 in 2008 from $288 in 2001.

The Metcalf South Shopping Center in Overland Park, Kan., is languishing after plans to redevelop it into an open-air shopping district fizzled. The stretch of shops that connects the two largest tenants -- a Sears and a Macy's -- stands mostly vacant, patrolled by security guards.

With their maze of walkways and fast-food courts, malls have long been an iconic, if sometimes unsightly, presence in the American retail landscape. A few were made famous by their sheer size, others for the range of shopping and social diversions they provided.

But the long recession is helping to empty out the promenades. Some analysts estimate that the number of so-called "dead malls" -- centers debilitated by anemic sales and high vacancy rates -- will swell to more than 100 by the end of this year.

For many when money is tight people move into the survivor mode of thinking, which means if I don't need it, I won't buy it. So, the smallest of luxury items, like a 13.99 DVD, is put in the I don't need list and if this mode of thinking is out there now, a lot of shopping malls are going through some tough times.

Enters that pesky job number or unemployment number, which is over 600K a month. Americans single most asset of value is their home, period. Americans have seen their home value plummet and the notion that it will pick back up is just a fallacy. It won't, not for a very long time. And since folks are getting the pink slips at record clip, this includes solid home owners, with solid credit, who are now behind on their mortgages.

As job losses rise, growing numbers of American homeowners with once solid credit are falling behind on their mortgages, amplifying a wave of foreclosures.

In the latest phase of the nation’s real estate disaster, the locus of trouble has shifted from subprime loans — those extended to home buyers with troubled credit — to the far more numerous prime loans issued to those with decent financial histories.

With many economists anticipating that the unemployment rate will rise into the double digits from its current 8.9 percent, foreclosures are expected to accelerate. That could exacerbate bank losses, adding pressure to the financial system and the broader economy.

“We’re about to have a big problem,” said Morris A. Davis, a real estate expert at the University of Wisconsin. “Foreclosures were bad last year? It’s going to get worse.”

Economists refer to the current surge of foreclosures as the third wave, distinct from the initial spike when speculators gave up property because of plunging real estate prices, and the secondary shock, when borrowers’ introductory interest rates expired and were reset higher.

“We’re right in the middle of this third wave, and it’s intensifying,” said Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Economy.com. “That loss of jobs and loss of overtime hours and being forced from a full-time to part-time job is resulting in defaults. They’re coast to coast.”

To be honest, there is only so much at this point that government can do. The shame of this is that the Obama Administration inherited a huge financial anchor on its neck and no matter who was in the driver seat; the reality would be the same. The automotive industry is not helping the job numbers, expect unemployment numbers to escalate.

The reality is this in the end:

The issue here is that even the best credit rating in the world is little protection against the fact that if you’re laid off during a recession your income may drop a huge amount. Foreclosures, in turn, help make the economic situation worse and drive up the unemployment rate.

And that is a dilemma that the Obama Administration is in, they can not wave a magic wand and make it better. It will take time. And for some, time is not on their side.

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Bank of America needs a sh*tload of money, eventually more bailout money...

Again, I have been writing from the beginning, we cannot save all the banks. We cannot. We have sunk billions into Citibank and have been sinking the same into Bank of America. Now, we are all smart here and can smell the bulls*it, eventually the Obama Administration will have to cut the purse strings, which are our purse strings and let one of the big ones, that we were told, "CAN NOT FAIL", do just that. FAIL.

Bank of America Corp. stock rose in premarket trading after an initial decline, amid reports that it needs $34 billion in new capital.

The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal are reporting that regulators are telling the Charlotte, N.C.-based bank it needs about $34 billion in capital based on results of government "stress tests."

The New York Times quoted a bank executive, while the Journal report cited unnamed people familiar with the situation.

Bank of America was not immediately available to comment on the reports. The Treasury Department declined to comment.

Shares of Bank of America rose $1.02, or 9.4 percent, to $11.16 in premarket trading. The stock had been down more than 5 percent earlier in the morning.

Bank of America has been among the hardest hit banks by the credit crisis and ongoing recession. It has received more than $45 billion in government aid already, and has come under heavy scrutiny in recent months for its acquisition of Merrill Lynch.

The need for more capital comes as the government gets set to release the results of a stress test on Thursday that it completed on 19 banks to determine how they would fare in economic conditions worsened. The test aims to gauge how much of an additional capital cushion the nation's biggest banks need to protect against potential future losses.

Any of the banks that are deemed to need more capital will have an opportunity to raise the funds on their own before the government steps in to help support them.

Can BofA raise this capital? I don't know, this is not the only shaky bank out there and though the stock market is slowly becoming more solid, the job market is not and though the housing market is up it is only because many are purchasing drastically reduced homes. This also means that many Americans are sitting on mortgages in homes that have dropped drastically in value. Now 1 in 5 home owners owe more on mortgages than what the home is worth.

The downturn in home prices has left about 20% of U.S. homeowners owing more on a mortgage than their homes are worth, according to one new study, signaling additional challenges to the Obama administration's efforts to stabilize the housing market.

The increase in the number of such "underwater" borrowers comes amid signs that falling prices are making homes more affordable for first-time buyers and others who have been shut out of the housing market. But falling prices also make it more difficult for homeowners who get into financial trouble to refinance or sell their homes, and for others to take advantage of lower interest rates.

For instance, fewer will qualify to take advantage of a key component of the Obama administration's plan to stabilize the housing market. Under the plan, announced in February, as many as five million homeowners whose loans are owned or guaranteed by government-controlled mortgage giants Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac can refinance their mortgages, but only if the mortgage loan is a maximum of 105% of the home's value.

This leaves many STUCK with a mortgage on a home not worth, well, squat. So, now we should continue to keep the likes of Bank of American above water? Eventually, for the Obama Administration, people are going to get tired of this, if they are not getting ansy already.

WE CAN NOT SAVE THEM ALL. If we can let Chrysler go into bankruptcy, so can some of these banks. Like the automobile industry that drove themselves over a cliff, so did the greed of these banks.

ENOUGH ALREADY.

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Official: Chrysler to enter bankruptcy

I know the Obama Administration will try to paint this as a "good thing", but who is going to buy anything from a company, especially a high ticket price tag as a car, when you don't know if the doors are going to close on you for good. Especially, if you need to take the car back for anything and what about your warranty on this vehicle? I said from the get, we are not going to be able to save EVERYONE. And let's not even start to think about the folks who are in retirement mode, I know they are very worried right now.

Chrysler will file for bankruptcy protection after talks with creditors aimed at reducing its huge debt burden failed, officials said on Thursday.

The No. 3 U.S. automaker faces a government deadline of 11:59 p.m. Thursday to have deals in place with labor, creditors and Italian automaker Fiat. Two of the three pieces appeared to be in place. A small group of debtholders were the remaining obstacle, as they hold out for a better deal from the U.S. government.

Talks between Chrysler LLC's lenders and the Treasury Department to reduce the automaker's secured debt and keep it out of bankruptcy protection broke down early this morning, a person familiar with the talks said.

President Barack Obama is scheduled to talk about the auto industry in remarks at 12 noon EDT.

Four banks with 70 percent of Chrysler's $6.9 billion debt had agreed to erase it for $2 billion, or less than 30 cents for each dollar held. That left Chrysler's fate in the hands of about 40 hedge funds with about 30 percent of the debt.

To entice the hedge funds into going along with the banks, the government on Wednesday afternoon added $250 million to the $2 billion that the banks had settled for and gave the hedge funds a 6 p.m. deadline to work it out, two people briefed on the talks said.

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GM closing plants for 9 weeks

In other words, most of the summer....

General Motors Corp. is planning to temporarily close most of its U.S. factories for up to nine weeks this summer because of slumping sales and growing inventories of unsold vehicles, two people briefed on the plan said Wednesday.

The exact dates of the closures were not known, but both people said they will occur around the normal two-week shutdown in July to change from one model year to the next. Neither person wanted to be identified because workers have not been told of the shutdowns.

GM spokesman Chris Lee would not comment other than to say the company notifies employees before making any production cuts public.

The automaker is living on $13.4 billion in government loans and faces a June 1 deadline to cut its debt, reduce labor costs and take other restructuring steps. If it doesn’t meet the deadline, the company’s CEO has said it will enter Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.

United Auto Workers officials at several factories said they have meetings scheduled Thursday and Friday with plant managers and GM human resource officials to discuss production changes.

The automaker’s sales were down 49 percent in the first quarter compared with the same period last year, and GM had a 123-day supply of cars and trucks at the end of March, according to Ward’s AutoInfoBank. GM already has more than a six-month supply of several models.

Seperately, the troubled automaker said Wednesday it may miss a $1 billion bond payment due June 1 if it doesn’t complete a debt-for-equity exchange by then.

Bad news......

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Wall Street worries about the banks again? And?

I am sorry, but no pity party for banks here.

We can not save the innovation that put America on the map, the auto industry, but we can give more money to banks that put themselves in this predicament because of sheer greed? The same organizations that don't understand that bonuses in the millions to folks that put the economy where it is just is unacceptable, while American families are struggling partly because of their bad decision making?

Puh-leaze. No pity here.

Obama Administration trend very carefully here. If you want the auto industry to go bankrupt, you for damn sure better make sure some of these banks go down the drain, as well. If you don't, many middle class Americans won't get that picture, AT ALL.

Anxiety is growing again over the health of the nation's largest banks, and with Congress hesitant to commit more money, the Obama administration is exploring ways to strengthen them in the face of an unrelenting recession.

Results of the federal government's "stress tests" on big banks are due May 4, and Wall Street is increasingly worried they will show some banks are in worse shape than expected.

The renewed bank fears drove the stock market down on Monday in its worst showing in six weeks. Bank of America stock lost nearly a quarter of its value, and the Dow Jones industrial average fell almost 290 points.

Bank of America reported a first-quarter profit of $2.8 billion, joining other banks whose earnings reports have looked positive at first blush. But some analysts say accounting steps are concealing the depth of the financial industry's woes.

The banks have been helped by income from trading and cheap borrowing, but they are still struggling with bad debt, said Joe Saluzzi, co-head of equity trading at Themis Trading LLC.

Investors are "looking at bank numbers and are saying they are not that great," he said.

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Obama Administration to reveal health of top banks

This administration should, especially since we have been dumping money in some of these banks like crazy and they STILL are doing what they want to do with our money with no repercussions in sight.

The administration has decided to reveal some sensitive details of the stress tests now being completed after concluding that keeping many of the findings secret could send investors fleeing from financial institutions rumored to be weakest.

While all of the banks are expected to pass the tests, some are expected to be graded more highly than others. Officials have deliberately left murky just how much they intend to reveal — or to encourage the banks to reveal — about how well they would weather difficult economic conditions over the next two years.

As a result, indicating which banks are most vulnerable still runs some risk of doing what officials hope to avoid.

The decision on handling the stress tests underscores the delicate balancing act by the government, which has spent hundreds of billions to stabilize banks. Despite some signs of improvement in the financial system, many economists remain concerned that banks are still weighed down with toxic assets stemming from the housing downturn.

Until now, the Treasury De-partment has simply said that it will reveal the amounts of any new infusions of capital into banks that regulators judge to be at risk if the economic downturn is prolonged or the economy takes a further dive.

The administration’s hand may have been forced in part by the investment firm Goldman Sachs, which successfully sold $5 billion in new stock on Tuesday and declared that it would use the proceeds and other private capital to repay the $10 billion it accepted from the government in October.

That money came from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, or TARP, and Goldman’s action was seen as a way of predisclosing to the markets the company’s confidence that it would pass its stress test with flying colors.

Goldman’s action has put pressure on other financial institutions to do the same or risk being judged in far worse shape by investors. The administration feared that details on healthier banks would inevitably leak out, leaving weaker banks exposed to speculation and damaging market rumors, possibly making any further bailouts more costly.

The Goldman move also puts pressure on the administration to decide what conditions will apply to institutions that return their bailout funds. It is unclear if Goldman, for example, will continue to be allowed to benefit from an indirect subsidy effectively worth billions of dollars from a federal government guarantee on its debt, a program the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation adopted last fall when the credit markets froze and it was virtually impossible for companies to raise cash. In ordinary times, regulators do not reveal the results of bank exams or disclose the names of troubled banks for fear of instigating bank runs or market stampedes out of a stock. But as top officials at the Treasury and the Federal Reserve Bank focused on the intensity with which the markets would look for signals about the nation’s biggest banks at the conclusion of the stress tests, the administration reconsidered its earlier decision to say little. read more here....

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Even though he was FIRED, former GM CEO walks away with about 23M

Are you tired of this yet?

Former General Motors Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Rick Wagoner won’t get a severance payment from the automaker, but he’ll still get a pension and other benefits worth an estimated $23 million.

In nearly 32 years with the company, Wagoner accrued pension benefits that the company valued at $22.1 million at the end of last year. The actual amount Wagoner will receive could vary because it will be paid in installments over the rest of his life.

Wagoner, 56, also is entitled to $366,602 in unvested stock awards and $534,627 in deferred compensation as of Dec. 31, according to GM’s annual report.

Sigh.

These CEOs represent the worst of leadership and the anger of greed.

Here is Keith Olbermann's take on this:

And Republicans? They need to get on the side of the middle class instead of taking up and defending a CEO that was one of the problems of GMs demise.

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Michigan has to take responsibility, too.

I know everyone is up in arms over the Obama speech, but there is much more going on here.

The Automotive Industry, the big three, knew this was coming, this is nothing new.

Folks working for the big three saw folks not buying these cars, not with the price tag or bad mileage attached.

The economy is part of this, but folks had already started to ease away from those SUVs, Trucks, fancy price tags. This is nothing new, this was coming a while ago.

Al Gore got laughed in his face from the big wigs in Michigan. He told them about CAFE standards and they laughed him out of Michigan.

These fat cats did not want to change. They wanted to remain the same.

Well, when you come to the government for help to not prop you up, but pick you up before you hit the garbage heap, you must conform.

I feel the pain for those who are losing jobs, lost jobs, won't get jobs back, etc. But, the decisions in Michigan must be dealt with.

I know many are also angered at President Obama about not doing enough to Wall Street. I don't know how many times I must write this, Obama does nothing without all the facts. The banks have not opened up all their books, the stress tests on these banks are not done. When this is complete and they need more money, as the car industry does, you will hear the Obama blast to them, as we heard today to the car industry.

Also politicians in Michigan must take heat also. All of them. They have protected the car industry for decades. For Granholm to act shocked is a joke. There is no one on here who can write that Granholm did not know what was about to happen. She knew. This is about salvaging what she can. Both senators from Michigan are great, but they have stood with an industry that has REFUSED to change. This industry's refusal put them where we are at now.

Where is the UAW? I can tell you where they are at. Numb and quiet. They have seen the books and know that there is either concessions or bankruptcy. It is as plain and clear as that. The suppliers? It won't be like it used to be and there will be fewer of them when this is over. Retirees? They will see some cuts in benefits. It is either that or go bankrupt. Go bankrupt, who will cut your check then? Car dealerships will shrink tremendously in this country. And there will be more unemployment. Folks up in arms, keep the jobs!! What jobs? How can we keep the jobs when the supply is more than the demand and has been that way BEFORE the September hit? Who is out there buying a 30,000 car? NOBODY. Hard decisions down the immediate road.

None of us like what has happened but this is the reality of now. You can't suck blood from a turnip when it is dry or dead already. The auto industry put this country on the map of innovation, but in the end refused to innovate themselves. Now it is either bankruptcy or conform and change. They can either take it or leave it.

And the Republicans? They don't have a pot to piss in, nor a window to throw it out of. They can not come back to Michigan and say, "I was for you, saving your jobs", when they are on video saying let the automotive industry go bankrupt. Which do we want? The Republican way or the Obama Administration way to help this industry get back in the saddle?

This is tough love. This is what we voted for, leadership, this is what we are getting the hard decisions. And Waggoner had to go.

cross-posted @ Daily Kos

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Capitol Hill's "OUTRAGE" is Bullshit....Follow the money....

We have been witnessing all the RAGE, OUTCRY, ANGER, being whipped up in a damn frenzy on the Hill. The Republicans and some concerned trolling Democrats have been running to the nearest microphone with their RAGE.

So, as in all bullshit frenzy, money is either the root of all evil or a tool, if used effectively to give these political gasbags a cup of STFU. Here we have these politicians so enraged, but taking bailout out money, the taxpayers money for their political coffers. Does this smell of utter bullshit?

There was plenty of outrage on Capitol Hill last week over the executive bonuses paid out by AIG after getting federal bailout money. But another money trail could make voters just as angry: the campaign dollars to members of Congress from banks and firms that have received billions via the Troubled Asset Relief Program.

While a few big firms, such as Wells Fargo and JP Morgan Chase, have curtailed their campaign giving, others are quietly doling out cash to select members of Congress, particularly those who serve on committees that oversee TARP. In recent filings with the Federal Election Commission, the political action committee for Bank of America (which got $15 billion in bailout money) sent out $24,500 in the first two months of 2009, including $1,500 to House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer and another $15,000 to members of the House and Senate banking panels. Citigroup ($25 billion) dished out $29,620, including $2,500 to House GOPWhip Eric Cantor, who also got $10,000 from UBS which, while not a TARP recipient, got $5 billion in bailout funds as an AIG "counterparty." "This certainly appears to be a case of TARP funds being recycled into campaign contributions," says Brett Kappell, a D.C. lawyer who tracks donations. (A spokesman for Cantor did not respond to requests for comment. A spokeswoman for Hoyer said it's his "policy to accept legal contributions.")

Eric Cantor has been all over TV slamming the Obama Administration, in angst and awe over bailing these corporations out, just in utter OUTRAGE of AIG, but takes money from bailout institutions? Is the pot calling the kettle yet? Oh, and if you think Hoyer and Cantor are the ones just being called out? Don't worry; the list will soon roll out on all these hypocrites.

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Obama Administration attempting to perform sweepers

Cleaning up executive pay for these banks, Wall Stree, should not be required by the government, period. The government should not have any say, AT ALL, about what private institutions do, as long as these companies follow the law. But we are in different waters, at different times.

What AIG did with their carelessness of ramifications to the financial markets in this country is still unbelievable. I know many are just angry, including myself, at the bonuses, but should anyone be surprised? Overall, I am not. President Obama made the best explanation of what AIG did when he sat on the couch chatting with Jay Leno from the Tonight Show. It was a small division of the company, AIG, including some overseas, who gambled the bank and came up very short. In fact some on the board and higher up claimed that they were unaware of what was going on and happened, but believe that if you believe the moon is pink. Thus, it meant that an emergency influx of cash to keep AIG solvent was made in September, 2007, beginning the crap shoot of saving a company that destroyed itself because we were told, "They are too big to fail....."

Here comes the oversight of executive pay.

I feel like this, since Wall Street and these banks are getting taxpayers money than they should be the first to be overhauled. It is these institutions that have put this country where it is at. We must be honest here, what happens to Wall Street affects us down to the very job we have, lost or trying to find. If the financial market is not stable, job freezes will continue, credit will not open up, and what is happening now will continue.

The irresponsibility of these companies has hurt us all. I don't blame folks for being angry at these executives, but the Obama Administration needs to do more. Most of these people need to be fired, removed from their office, so this country can try to move forward, especially with the AIG debacle. The Administration has not handled this well, let's be honest, they have not. I appreciate President Obama and his steadfastness with his Treasury Secretary, Tim Geithner, but Geithner has shown that he does not have the communicative savvy or the gravitas, yet, for this job.

Geithner is a tossup here, for many. I find his excuse for not knowing about AIG bonuses rather laughable, because he was right there in the fire when all this went down about AIG. Next the lame excuse of AIG and their contracts is another rolleyes. Contracts in this country are broken every single day; ask the automotive industry that is what mediation and courts are for. Lastly, Geithner did not show the gravitas, strength to tell AIG where they can kiss it, in professional terms, of course. How can you tell them where to go, when you were in the kitchen helping to create the stew that gave them the bonuses?

There is a disconnect here. A total disconnect. Too many in this administration have been too close to Wall Street, thus we saw what happened with AIG or what did not happen to AIG. Did the President know all the details, intricacies? No, I do not believe Barack Obama read every single contract regarding AIG, that is what cabinet secretaries and staff are for, but congress did not read all the tall-tell signs about AIG, either. Most in congress have not even read many of these bills that are presented in conference the ones they vote on the floor about, that is what their staff is for. Congress stated that they did not know that the bonus element was removed, some did and has started to come out with the admission of Senator Chris Dodd's involvement. As for the others who knew, it will come out. And, the D.C. outrage is manufactured bullshit, really it is. The premise that they did not know, or understand, is not believable, only laughable.

President Obama has a hard job ahead, extremely hard. One thing I do think he is doing right, that is taking it to the American people, stepping over Washington, DC. D.C. must understand, though they are all about ME, is that the American public is not in the D.C. area. The American Public is the rest of this country. Many are angry about the AIG fiasco, while many do not blame Obama for it. We all must remember, in the end while President Obama is taking the responsibility, all this bullshit was left by the Bush-Cheney crowd. Bring up Bush-Cheney and many on the right will shut up right away. In the end, there is nothing to say about it, because it is true.

Officials said the proposal would seek a broad new role for the Federal Reserve to oversee large companies, including major hedge funds, whose problems could pose risks to the entire financial system.

It will propose that many kinds of derivatives and other exotic financial instruments that contributed to the crisis be traded on exchanges or through clearinghouses so they are more transparent and can be more tightly regulated. And to protect consumers, it will call for federal standards for mortgage lenders beyond what the Federal Reserve adopted last year, as well as more aggressive enforcement of the mortgage rules.

The administration has been considering increased oversight of executive pay for some time, but the issue was heightened in recent days as public fury over bonuses spilled into the regulatory effort.

The officials said that the administration was still debating the details of its plan, including how broadly it should be applied and how far it could go beyond simple reporting requirements. Depending on the outcome of the discussions, the administration could seek to put the changes into effect through regulations rather than through legislation.

One proposal could impose greater requirements on company boards to tie executive compensation more closely to corporate performance and to take other steps to ensure that compensation was aligned with the financial interest of the company.

The new rules will cover all financial institutions, including those not now covered by any pay rules because they are not receiving federal bailout money. Officials say the rules could also be applied more broadly to publicly traded companies, which already report about some executive pay practices to the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Hard for any politician to not agree with what the Obama Administration is attempting above. In this bastion climate? When folks are thrown out of their homes, losing their jobs, small businesses cannot get credit? You think congress will not go along with this? They may try, but they better be very careful because the public outrage is hot and on fire.

And Chris Dodd? The banking chairman on the hill?

Well, he has his own problems starting back during the primaries. But, my beef with him has been his coziness with Countrywide and AIG. Too close for my comfort. Hard to regulate and vote against the problematic source that has given you millions for your campaign coffers and who knows what else. Dodd has a hard road next year to win. If he is that much of a liability and knowing Connecticut, maybe he should be primaried out. Dodd has been in that seat for a very long time, maybe it time for fresh eyes. Isn't this what the change campaign was all about?

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President Obama's Town Hall, Costa Mesa, California (Video and Transcript)

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Obama: "The buck stops with me. I am responsible, I am the President of the United States" (Video)

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