The Shell Game: AIG and the USA

 

I understand that when I write this it will be evident that I’m clearly not an ordinary American.  And I’m completely OK with that.  Here goes… I don’t believe that the AIG CEO should have been drawn in front of the cameras and skewered by Congressmen.  I don’t believe that AIG honoring contracts to pay $165 million in bonuses is a heinous act.  In fact, I feel that this whole parade of finger pointing at AIG is simply an effort to take the focus off of who is truly at fault in the first place.  This whole debacle is merely the result of a government gone bad—publicly—making even more horrible mistakes as they try to fix their egregious errors, and getting caught with the consequences. 

 

AIG is completely responsible for the debacle they created in the first place.  Clearly they got carried away with their own sense of power and influence and wrote too many checks they could not cover.  And they talked a good talk to many other key financial institutions worldwide to get them to play in their power game as well.  So what did that get us?  Financial ruin.  Now let’s look at this for a moment…  These people are supposedly uber-giants of expertise in financial management and yet they could not manage their own house!  They got completely drunk with their power and just like an inebriated lug of a giant they lost their reasoning and functionality abilities and stumbled—hard!  OK.  So we’ve got a giant who’s in a drunken stupor about to self-destruct and take down questionably innocent bystanders in his wake.  What do we do?  Well, yeah, we give the alcoholic lush MORE power.  No, we don’t take his license or privilege away.  No, we don’t put him into any kind of treatment.  Instead, we find him an even better “dealer” to work with (a.k.a. the Federal Reserve and U.S. Treasury) who can simply bail them out.  We give him an even more audacious privilege of using the tax payer dollars and that of several generations to come to “get him back on his feet.”  And then when he functions the same way he did previously, and even has the audacity to honor contracts, we react to publicly condemn him?  Condemn the giant so that nobody is wise to the “dealer” who feeds and encourages his misbehavior.  Now that’s quite the deception isn’t it?  (Side bar: It’s interesting to note that Congress doesn’t really care about the legality of contracts.  They don’t even enforce the most significant contract we Americans have to protect us, that of the U.S. Constitution.)

 

Here’s the perfect part of this deception, folks.  If (and I’m SOOO inclined to say “when”) AIG can’t pay us all back, what happens to them?  If they go bankrupt, what recourse do we, the tax payers who’ve been yoked with indentured servitude in order to lift this giant’s sorry caboose back up, get back?  What’s our collateral on this loan we’ve been forced to issue at the risk of death, jail time, or social and emotional ruin?  Not one blasted thing!  Nothing.  We probably won’t even get a sincere apology from a public official when it does go belly up.  Adding insult to injury is the fact that the primary people making these decisions are themselves so completely disconnected from the real picture due to their own wanton consumption habits.  They are endowed with their salary for the rest of their life, benefit from a royal health plan, and yet some even fail to pay their own taxes.  

 

AIG clearly has their own problems.  But just as I shake my head in disbelief when women refuse to leave their abusive husbands, I just can’t figure out what kind of maniacal plan the Secretary of Treasury and the Federal Reserve had in mind on this one.  Who gave them the authority to determine that one business gets bailed out above another?  That one business is any more important to our social fabric than another?  That the consequences called Real Life don’t apply to these companies?  Even worse, IF you’re going to perform such an unprecedented act, aren’t you at least willing to go through the homework of everything that act entails, i.e. reading all of the contracts that are presently in place, properly appraising just how much their other assets really are worth, etc?!  Gentlemen, don’t approve the act of an AIG bailout 100% and then get mad when something happens that you didn’t know about – i.e.: the AIG bonuses.  You had every opportunity to know everything there was to know.  It’s called a test.  A real life test.  You know, the kind of real life testing that all of your schooling and life experiences are supposed to prepare you for so that you’re actually competent enough to take the job that the American people pay you to do!  And clearly you screwed up!  It’s your own freaking fault that you didn’t know about it!  Just as it’s your own freaking fault that you overpaid for assets in the tens of billions of dollars!  So let’s be perfectly clear about this… whoever closed the bail out deal with AIG in the first place is 100% responsible and should be FIRED and perhaps even have charges filed for willful negligence at best, or treasonous acts at worst. 

 

How dare our government condemn Madoff when they are doing the EXACT same thing with all of our money?  And lest anyone forget, yes – it’s OUR money, not the government’s.  We earn it while we work on the frontlines while we simultaneously are shown how little responsibility and accountability means to those who are in power.  And yet we still provide our tax dollars for the purposes of paying for a government to protect our freedoms.

 

The U.S. Government is mismanaging funds.

 

They are playing a shell game. 

 

The Federal Reserve just keeps printing money and yet REFUSES to provide our country with an accounting of just how much money (via the M3 report) they are printing, thus we are unable to define for ourselves what our currency is really worth.  How in the world is that any different than Madoff having his CPA send out false solubility reports to his investors?!

 

Oh, and one last point I’d like to make here.  So, you have a government who has totally screwed up publicly enough that even the mainstream media can’t ignore it, and so what do the do to truly fix the problem?  They paint every recipient of that $165 million bonus share as some kind of a criminal—even a terrorist if you will—against the sovereignty of this American people.  And to show you just how big and powerful they are, they actually draft a bill which would directly tax all of these financial terrorists with a 90% tax!  Using taxes as a weapon, you say?  How can they do that?  They can’t.  It’s called a direct unapportioned tax, and it’s 100% illegal and completely unconstitutional, for the very same reasons why your present federal income tax is illegal.  You don’t believe that our wonderful U.S. government would commit such an illegal act?  Really?  You just watched them try to do it right in front of your eyes against the AIG bonus recipients! 

 

Of course the government did nothing to preemptively thwart the payment of the bonuses to AIG executives.  That’s because, very much like the ridiculous stimulus bill, they didn’t even bother to comprehend the entire picture of their actions.  This is the same government who overpaid by over $70 billion dollars for the assets it purchased from the companies it bailed out!  Whether or not there was a senator who acknowledged and attempted to keep the bonuses in the contract is beside the point.

 

I say kudos to the AIG Executive who resigned in the New York Times today!  And I don’t care whether or not he does donate any of his money to charity.  Legally, contractually, it’s his money.  The U.S. Government simply bought into a Lion’s Zoo and is now whining when they got bit!  And now they are claiming foul because many of the vital AIG personnel refuse to work under such circumstances.  Can you blame them?  Sure you can’t relate to such a huge bonus in your own life.  I get that.  But it’s what the guy signed on for.  It was part of the reason why he left his previous job to take a position with AIG 11 years ago.  And now he’s being asked to work for free for an undetermined period of time while AIG fixes all of their screw ups and be persecuted by nearly an entire country in the meantime.  Does that sound like a job you’d want to keep?  Heck, when I heard during the live Congressional questioning that the CEO was working for $1 and taking all of the crap from Congress, I would have quit on the spot and told Congress that they can fix their own mess and not use me as a whipping boy.

 

Here’s some wisdom my mother taught me.  “Be very aware of what people say about other people, because they are likely to be saying the same thing about you when you’re not around.”  You’ve seen what the U.S. Government is willing to do when we are looking.  Now, get a clue as to what they are doing when we’re not watching!

Copyright 2009 Kellene Bishop. All rights reserved. You are welcome to repost this information so long as it is credited to Kellene Bishop.

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Is Swiss Banking in Cahoots with the IRS?

Here’s food for thought for you.  Is the Swiss Banking system actually cahoots in with the IRS and our government?  I believe there is sufficient evidence to indicate that their recent buckling to legal maneuvering on the part of the U.S. and their supposed outrage at having to do so, is merely a ruse.  I believe that there is reason to believe that there’s more to these actions of divulging names of their U.S. depositors than simply complying with the premise of a lawsuit.  You decide.

 

So here’s the problem with the U.S. suing the Swiss Banking system to reveal the names of its account holders who may be guilty of tax fraud or tax evasion.  You’ve got at least 2 wrongs that definitely aren’t making up any rights.

 

First of all, it’s a fishing expedition.  None of these individuals have been proven in the U.S. to have committed tax fraud or tax evasion.  And yet without formal indictments the U.S. feels that it has cause to subpoena every American-held account in Switzerland?  No, instead the U.S. is making suppositions that if someone has an overseas account in the Swiss Banking system then they must be committing a crime.  That kind of supposition is AGAINST our legal system and our due process of law. 

 

Additionally, IF the government’s idea of tax fraud or evasion has ANYTHING to do with paying federal income taxes, then that too is illegal on our country’s part as federal income taxes are indeed illegal.  We merely pay them out of fear, submission, and ignorance.  No wonder we see IRS agents training with guns!  I’m sorry.  Someone tell me again why IRS tax collectors need to train with guns?  Hey if it’s for their own self-defense, I’m all for it.  But it’s the IRS who sanctions and REQUIRES such training.  (Man, I’m sure many of you would love to work for a company that requires you to use a firearm instead of penalizing you from even storing one in your car on company property!)  A repo man is not allowed to use a gun to get property back.  Are we supposed to believe that the IRS is a government entity?  Um…it is NOT.  These are U.S. citizens who have been deceived into believing they work for an official government entity and are enforcing some kind of federal law by collecting taxes on our labor—at gun point if necessary!  So why do the IRS have so much authority to spread fear into American citizens?  Oh, yeah…now I get it – because the IRS cannot commit their actions with the strength of truth and the law behind them.  They can only get away with what they do via force, fear, and brutal compulsion.  If you don’t believe a word I’ve said in this regard, check on the testimony of countless former IRS Agents who have been fired and socially skewered for questioning the IRS tax system, unable to find any justification for the federal income tax, who they themselves do NOT pay a federal income tax as a result of their belief that the law is on their side — and join a million of other Americans who do not pay their federal income tax, and who have boldly attempted to get their findings out to the rest of the citizens in the U.S.  One last note on the IRS — after decades of protestors taking this matter to courts of every level, to their IRS supervisors, and to legal mediation, there has yet to be ONE person who can show the LAW which enables the IRS to collect personal income tax.  Even the Supreme Court found that the 16^th Amendment did NOT provide any new power or authority to tax than the government had prior to the 16^th Amendment.

Second fly in the ointment.  Tax evasion is not illegal in Switzerland.  And tax fraud has to be proven.  The fact that the Swiss Banking system has collapsed to a law suit by the U.S. government has suspicion written all over it.  The Swiss Banking system generated 36 percent of their income in the U.S. last year.  They contribute to about 20 percent of their economic growth in their own nation every year.  The fact that they would crumble like a sick dog due to a suit filed in a U.S. federal court is very suspicious to me.  Either their nation is crumbling, or ours made a sweet deal with them.  After acquiescing to providing 300 names to the U.S. (not evidence of any wrong-doing, mind you, just names, hence the “fishing expedition theory”) the U.S. turned around and sued for over 52,000 more names!!  Now how much do you want to bet that the U.S. doesn’t even have cases filed for over 52,000 wealthy individuals they suspect of tax fraud or evasion?  Switzerland has no legal justification to accommodate such a request other than bullying and fear or other reprisals.  Peter V. Kunz, head of the business law department at the University of Bern stated, “Switzerland is afraid of fishing expeditions from abroad,” Kunz said.  “It cannot be that just out of curiosity, without any hint of illegality, foreign authorities come to Switzerland and ask for information.”   The ridiculous nature of what is happening is that Switzerland IS allowing individuals to get information simply out of curiosity!

Bank secrecy is literally a cash cow in the Swiss Banking systems.  They could lose at least 50 percent of their depositors if they do not recover from this scandal immediately. 

 

Michigan Senator Carl Levin who oversees the U.S. Senate subcommittee which is investigating United Bank of Switzerland proposed new laws this week to STOP Americans from acting freely with their own money and to prevent them from using offshore financial centers altogether.  (This legislation was previously sponsored by Barack Obama!)  That’s right.  Our own currency and economy is going to hell in a hand basket, and this uppity senator wants to ensure that we all go down with it! At the very least they want to be able to put stiffer taxes on those with offshore accounts and give the Treasury Department the authority to take action against foreign jurisdictions that impede their efforts.

 

Our government claims that “conduct that actively facilitates tax evasion amounts to a declaration of war by offshore secrecy jurisdictions against honest, hardworking taxpayers.  We’re determined to fight back and end the abuses inflicted on us by those tax havens.”  In my opinion those who have placed some of their assets overseas are merely fighting the war that already exists within our own borders of illegal tax burdens and an economy that is unstable and out of control BECAUSE OF CHOICES WHICH OUR GOVERNMENT HAS MADE…not some act of God.  To me, our government bullying one of our allies in this manner and attempting to eliminate this venue for the income earners of our nation is no different than them attempting to take our firearms away.  I truly believe that they are indeed attempting to give us nothing to fight back with, including our own money.

 

Now how is this kind of reach of power even possible across country borders?  Because of the Federal Reserve and its relationship with the World Bank, that’s how.  And here we thought we lived in a republic, when in fact we are being governed by an international banking entity. 

 

This problem will not fix itself folks.  We don’t get to live in a republic if we do not act like free citizens and use our freedom to right wrongs.  Take action.  Start writing and start calling your government “leaders.”

Copyright 2009 Kellene Bishop. All rights reserved.
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Apathy to Bondage

As I shared earlier, bailing out the auto manufacturers of GM and Chrysler is a very bad idea.  These companies have already shown that they are incapable of running a tight ship.  And they could easily declare bankruptcy and never pay back the American taxpayers the money we’ve given them.  Well, guess what?  That’s exactly what GMs auditors are saying is going to happen with GM.  In spite of the bailout monies given to them, there is still talk of filing for bankruptcy “protection.”  I love how they call it that in corporate America.  “Protection”…like the taxpayers are the bad guys for wanting their bailout money paid back.

As you know AIG has been granted MORE money.  This is what really irks me.  GM and Chrysler are auto manufacturers. I suppose you can expect that they will “miscalculate” money.  But AIG is a money manager!  Not only were they criminal in their handling of money previously, but we gave them a bailout and they’ve shown that they are consistent with their mismanagement of money yet again!  What part of us giving them MORE money doesn’t seem incredibly ludicrous to anyone else out there?

And yet we Americans have allowed this insanity to rage on.  Who reading this has actually taken time to write their government “leaders” and let them know that this is unacceptable?  Very, very few.  And since the rationale can be applied that the “very few” don’t reflect the sentiments of the majority, the insanity rages on because our government “leaders” have forgotten their responsibility is to solely defend and protect our freedoms.  If such a crystal clear ruler was used when they made such insane financial decisions, then the bail out would never have happened in the first place, let alone the stimulus package. In what way do these monies defend and protect the freedoms of American citizens life, liberty, and possession of property?  NONE.  It only creates a heavier burden of bondage on us due to the horrific taxation that will follow. 

I pray that it is not too late for Americans to take action and responsibility for the insurance of their own freedoms instead of continuing to delegate incompetents to do so.

In Freedom,

Kellene

Copyright 2009 Kellene Bishop. All rights reserved.
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The Economy – Real Life, Real Time

*There’s a brand spanking new house on my street that has lost over $10,000 in equity every single month for the last 10 months!

 

*The Dow is just barely above 7,000 points which is a critical support level of our economy.  Once it goes down below that, then we will lose a significant number of investors who have reliably played a part in our economy. 

 

*Banks STILL are not lending freely with the tax dollars we’ve provided them–whether it be home mortgages, business loans or auto loans.  Previously banks would issue about 130% of the book value of a brand new car so long as you had a credit score above 680.  Now you have to have a 750 credit score to get 105% of the book value for a brand new car!  Wait a minute.  I give you the money so that you can lend, and then you don’t lend to those who gave you the money?  Something is VERY wrong here.

 

*Cheese, produce, and grains have increased in price by as much as 400%.  I used be able to buy an artichoke for less than a dollar each.  Now it’s nearly $4 each.  A bag of wheat used to cost $8.99 for a 50 pound bag.  Now it’s as much as $45 for the same 50 pounds!  The same goes for rice, cheese, milk, etc. 

 

I don’t know how “rich” Obama thinks the wealthy are, but he’s ridiculous to think that the rich are going to be able to pull us out of the recession.  Thinking that the government is the answer to this crisis is WORSE than “The Emperor’s New Clothes” because the emperor is strutting around naked, trying to tell everyone that he’s wearing new clothes, but he actually KNOWS that he’s strutting around in his birthday suit!

 

There is discussion going on in Capital Hill right now that in order to “save” the elderly, they are going to take over the administration of retirement accounts.  WHAT?  You mean the same government who can’t properly oversee the bankrupt Social Security accounts of our nation now want us to believe that they can handle our other retirement accounts?  This is the same government which doesn’t know the difference between a Promise and a Lie.

 

The government can’t even count votes, can’t pay their own taxes, overpays by BILLIONS of dollars for assets which they buy, can’t “make” banks give loans even when they provide them with the money to do so, can’t protect the freedom of our citizens — which is their number one responsibility — and can’t even take the time to read what they are voting on, and yet we’re supposed to believe that they are the sole solution for this economic meltdown?  PUH-LEEZE!

 

If this keeps up we’ll WISH we were living in a socialistic nation, only because it’s the lesser evil to a monarchy!

 

I believe that there are still REAL Americans out there that are starting to recognize that they’ve been hoodwinked, who are not cowards as the Attorney General likes to call them.  I think a Boston Tea Party is the least of our governments concerns. 

 

The Government has forgotten their purpose – to SERVE the American people.  Instead they are helping themselves to the fruits of the labors of the American people. They have forgotten that a FREE people are responsible for giving them any power in the first place, and that a FREE people have the rights to reclaim and reorganize that power. 

 

People of America, exercise your rights and make those cell phones and e-mails, fax machines and overpriced stamps actually mean something.  WRITE your legislatures, senators, congressmen, governors.  Reclaim your freedoms!  Our hard earned liberties which have cost the lives of thousands are being depleted more stringently and in more atrocious manners than any cause ever before!

 

Our lives, liberty and property depend on these freedoms.  Our peace and happiness depend on these freedoms. 

 

This crisis of our nation isn’t just about “overcoming the economy”. Warren Buffet was quoted today as saying that the American people “have overcome worse.”  No, they have NOT — to be completely forthright. They have NEVER been confronted with such a financial crisis COMBINED with a crisis of freedoms and rights!  Their money AND their freedoms are being stripped away.  This is a crisis that we have NEVER had to overcome previously.  I PRAY that we have the strength to overcome it now.

 

 

To find out who your local legislatures, senators, congressmen, governors are to contact, please visit http://www.visi.com/juan/congress/.

Copyright 2009 Kellene Bishop. All rights reserved.
You are welcome to repost this information so long as it is credited to Kellene Bishop.  

 

 

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Why the Stimulus Package Works!

I think that the stimulus package is a GREAT idea.  I think it just may stimulate a wealth of what this nation needs the most of right now…ACTION.

If you had been caught up in a natural disaster and went to the gas pump to purchase fuel only to find that the prices had been jacked up to $10 a gallon, surely you would take action right?  You would call the authorities. You would demand that things be made right, right? 

 

Then why are so many of our American citizens allowing for the same price gauging behavior now in the midst of this economic crisis?!

 

1100 pages of a bill that no one has read and yet our so-called leaders have voted for on our behalf.  Really?  On our behalf?  Was it in our behalf that the gas station jacked up its price to $10 a gallon?  No.  It was opportunistic politicking. And it’s very much like price gauging.

 

So many citizens are in a panic mode. They are understandably demanding action.  And as a result of our vulnerable pain and concern our political leaders who were voted into office to serve our needs are using such a dire situation to orchestrate their continued role of power and the charade of serving their fellowmen. 

 

And since no one read the 1100 pages of a spending bill, we’re now hearing that there may need to be yet another spending bill to fill in the gaps!

 

The American people did not cry out for a bill to fix roads, IRS administrative costs, or STD prevention.  I’m sorry. This may sound crass here. But why in the world should my children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren have to be indebted with a tax burden just because someone can’t take time to use a condom or to manage their hormones?!  

 

They NEED jobs and tax relief!  And yet only 12 cents of every dollar we are burdened with in the form of taxes will even go to that end. 

 

If these facts don’t bring you to take action to reclaim your freedom and dignity, then I’m not sure what will. You wouldn’t suffer yourself to endure such indignity of a price gauging at a gas station. Surely you will not stand for something so much worse!

 

I hope that this stimulus bill creates action on the part of our American citizens, as we’ve had a dearth of such action since the Regan era of capitalism.  This bill is a prison sentence to generations upon generations.  This bill certainly won’t create jobs.  It will make some cronies wealthy, I’m sure.  But no government can create jobs for a free people and have them continue to be free.  Only we can truly be responsible for our living, our debts, and our future and still have freedom.

 

Copyright 2009 Kellene Bishop. All rights reserved.
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Bail Out Means…

When we used to hear the words “bail out” we would usually associate it with a sentence like, “I just had to bail out my crack addict cousin from jail.”  I find myself wondering if it isn’t a coincidence that such a pairing of words is considered appropriate for what we find being implemented by our government today.

 

Based on the information that we’ve been fed by the media, yes, I believe it was a crime what Bernie Madoff did to his investors. Clearly he was derelict in his duties.  However, I’m wondering why Madoff is a criminal and yet the heads of Goldman Sachs, AIG, Countrywide, and so many others aren’t considered a member of the criminal league? While Madoff is accused of abusing $50 billion, Goldman Sachs, AIG and others are truly guilty of abusing significantly more!  And yet there are no criminal charges brought against these leaders.  Were these professionals derelict in their duties?  Yes.  Were they apathetic towards their handling of others money?  Yes.  In such a world that we live in, there’s simply no excuse NOT to make money with so much money.  Madoff was an idiot not to have succeeded in making a return on investments of over $50 billion as are the heads of so many of these Wall Street companies and banks. Yes, indeed these criminals are being bailed out at the expense of the honest tax paying citizens of this nation.  And all for naught.  Think about it.  Does the bailout for these banks and investment companies do any good financially?  I mean really!  Does anyone think that once the nation has seen how such companies mismanage funds that any sane person is really going to trust these same companies with their retirement money?  This bail out is as insane as throwing money at the Diamond Pet Food company who poisoned so many pets due to dereliction and apathy just so that they could recover from the financial hardship such an error created!  Hey, while were at it, let’s go back in time and bailout all of the dot com companies that caused such a financial hardship for so many investors!

 

Of course we have politicians in favor of such payouts.  Apparently many of them have a problem even acknowledging that such monies are coming from their tax dollars as many of them have not even paid their taxes!

 

General Motors and Chrysler just received a portion of this criminal action reward in the form of billions of dollars.  Even more ridiculous is that these companies are already anticipating failure in spite of such a bail out, as they are already projecting a need for another $14 billion!  I’m sorry.  Would that kind of strategy work for any homeowner in the U.S. today?  “Hey. I know you just gave me a loan of $1 million for a home I can’t currently afford.  So in order to make up for the shortfall I need to borrow another $2 million.”

 

Here’s the even more insane aspect of this bailout.  General Motors and Chrysler can STILL declare bankruptcy somewhere down the road and the American taxpayers will never be paid back.  And yet the American people do not have the luxury of declaring bankruptcy as a result of our tax burden.  Nope.  You can file bankruptcy and be relieved of debt for everyone else in the world except the U.S. Government.  You don’t pay them.  You go to jail. 

 

Perhaps if these automakers didn’t promote aggressive price haggling and foreign outsourcing of some of their production process they could have enjoyed more long-term customer loyalty.  While I did not get the opportunity to vote against my tax dollars being used in such a criminally insane manner, I can vote now.  And so should you.  I intend to “vote” by solely rewarding automakers who are fiscally responsible with their companies.  If money can be handled so haphazardly by these automakers, then I can’t help but wonder how conscientious these same automakers are in making my vehicle safe enough to transport my family in.  I vote no more GM or Chrysler.  If GM and Chrysler are willing to sell their soul to the devil (ie: government control in exchange for the money they received) then what are they willing to sell my safety for?

 

Does failure really deserve a reward such as those given on the backs of the taxpayers?  In that case, perhaps the British should still rule our nation.  NOT!

Copyright 2009 Kellene Bishop. All rights reserved.
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Stated Income Loans…I told you so

I’ve read several stories today in the news of “victims” of foreclosure as a result of taking on mortgage loans that could not be paid for.  As a longtime expert in this residential industry, I’d like to pull back the curtain on part of the problem so that you can better understand what goes on behind the scenes.  How do these loans get originated in the first place? Who’s to blame?

 

First of all, allow me to say that there are at least 3 guilty parties in the origination of such loans.  The ones that are the most common are known as “stated income loans.” Mind you that such loans are very, very difficult to come by now, but prior to the meltdown an individual who had a high enough score was able to merely “state” their income instead of providing tax returns, bank statements etc, and be approved for financing. 

 

The initial problem was with the lenders themselves though. For example, the stated income program was originally created to be less burdensome to self-employed income earners.  However, in their greed, lenders began to make such programs available to wage earners who could easily manifest pay stubs instead of stating their income, as well as fixed income earners, who could easily manifest their awards letters.  Should either of these income groups also be self-employed, I see this stated program as an asset. However, if the borrower was merely a wage earner or living on fixed income, the approval of such borrowers on a stated income program was ripe for fraud.

 

As a wholesale account representative and as the owner of a retail loan origination business, I took a lot of flack from my clients (other residential mortgage brokers) and my own employees (licensed mortgage brokers) when I took the hard line stance that I would not approve or accept any stated income loans in which I knew the income stated was to be fraudulent, unreasonable, or just plain wrong.  Too many times I heard the so-called professionals in my business call these “liar loans.”  I would always retort that stated income loans were for one purpose and one purpose only—to eliminate the hassle of manifesting all of the documentation that would support the claimed income.  Too often I had submissions from residential loan officers without any income stated whatsoever. Their plan being that as the wholesale account rep, I would join them in their fraudulent actions and tell them what the stated income amount needed to be in order to get their loan approved. Instead I would turn down the loan or approve it as a  “No Documentation” loan which would carry with it a higher interest rate due to the higher risk.  I would often tell the brokers “it’s called a stated income loan because the income is supposed to be STATED…not made up, not fabricated, not estimated.”  It’s to be a statement of fact.

 

In most cases I either lost the deals in my wholesale days because of this stance, or the broker would get wise and never send me a blank loan application again, ensuring that the income was “properly stated.”  On one deal in particular with a broker…we’ll call him Brian, who now owns a commercial loan origination company out of TX, swore up and down to me that his client really made the income she stated on the loan application.  Unfortunately, not only did this woman not make the money stated on the application, but she missed her very first mortgage payment to our company and claimed that she had never stated any such income on her loan application.  (Ironically, this same “Brian” spent time in jail shortly after this incidence for manslaughter (in MO) as he killed someone while driving drunk—in spite of the fact that his license was suspended due to other DUI violations. Guess when you break one law without the consideration of consequences, it’s easy to break others). 

 

I lost many residential loan officers at my retail operation as well because of this.  When the loan officer couldn’t get a “stated” loan approved in my shop because I turned it down from being submitted due to overinflated income, inevitably some wholesale account reps would tell my loan officers where they could work elsewhere for a less “unreasonable” person and get the deal through with no problem.  Individuals who worked for me  saw no problem finding the right people to work for who would look the other way and provide such perilous funding in spite of the facts.  The deception was they were such nice and enjoyable people to work with otherwise. They simply saw no problem in falsifying the income in order to obtain the largest amount of financing their borrower would ever be responsible for.

 

While this blog may sound unintentionally bitter, it is as a result of the headlines and news stories I read today.  The domino effect of so many of these “liar loans” being put into market is so huge today that there’s no longer any refuge for these individuals who would commit the crime in the first place of lying about income.  Plus, there’s no respite for those homeowners who would take on a loan for a mortgage that they could not pay.  Fortunately for the homeowners, it looks as if there is enough dirt on the hands of the lenders that many may end up getting out of foreclosure proceedings in spite of their illegal applications.  Unfortunately, the big picture is as a result of the nefarious actions of many an entire nation now suffers an economic collapse of historical proportions. 

 

The little acts of deception do add up folks.  And in this instance it’s crumbling our entire nation financially.  I believe in “opposition in all things.” If the little bits of deception add up, then certainly can’t the minor acts of honesty, heroism, and proactive efforts for good?  I certainly hope so.  In fact, I’m banking on it.

Copyright 2009 Kellene Bishop. All rights reserved.
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Our Nations Unemployment Rate: The Manifestation of a Sleeping Giant

 

Statistically, small business owners provide the largest percentage of jobs in the U.S. — yes an even larger percentage of jobs than all of those bail-out “worthy” industries. In spite of all of the bail out monies that were supposed to loosen up the purse strings of banks in order to strengthen small businesses in extremely tough times, small businesses have become ignored and have nothing to show for any of the so-called efforts on their behalf. In fact, even without the economic crisis that is truly upon us, historically small businesses get very, very little considerations, tax breaks, or other incentives to operate their businesses.  As a result, the economic drain our nation is experiencing is merely a manifestation of a long time attitude apathy towards what really makes this country healthy.  Is it any wonder that the job loss in the last 12 months has been the worst it’s been since the World War II era?  Over 250,000,000 jobs were lost in 2008 and that doesn’t take into account the millions of individuals who were forced from full-time employment to part-time, nor does it take into account the self-employed individuals who have had to hang up their dreams and stand in the unemployment line with millions of others.  In my opinion, the economic crisis could have been averted long ago, and even the Wall Street and mortgage disaster impact lessened had national and state leaders paid more attention to the needs of small business owners.

 

When a CEO runs a company into the ground, it’s an innocuous entity.  The CEO is merely losing his regular pay check and other corporate perks. But when a true small business is run into the ground, chances are high that the life savings of the business owner, customers they’ve become friends with, and long-time employees they’ve connected with personally suffer through the carnage of such an event.  By the time the doors are finally shut on a small business, great sacrifices have already been for its survival.  Great personal financial risks such as mortgaging personal homes to the hilt, stripping it of all available equity only to find the value dropping far below the lien amount months later, and cashing in retirement and savings accounts just to last as long as possible in hopes that a life preserver will come their way.  And yet for all of this sweat, tears and sacrifice, small business owners can’t lay claim to appropriate health insurance tax deductions, can’t get access to the same affordable health care packages that large corporations enjoy, and are inundated with paper work requirements while their larger counterparts have enormous legal and accounting teams to deceive their shareholders. 

 

When a small business owner sees fit to terminate an employee who steals from them or conducts themselves inappropriately, the state still requires them to pay unemployment benefits unless such an infraction is specifically outlined in some kind of written form that the employee has manifested the receipt of. 

 

Large corporations have money and staff to handle these items. Many such monies derived by secret government contract negotiations, unfair labor practices, political connections, and international outsource savings. In contract, small business owners are beat up every which way they turn.  They pay sales taxes when they purchase items to make their businesses run better, or make their jobs easier, and then they are assessed additional taxes by their cities on those same items merely because they possess them. 

 

Long ignored is the fact that small businesses historically pay better average wages than big corporations, and discounted is the fact that employees are typically more satisfied working for a smaller business.  There is absolutely nothing done to throw a rope for small businesses in spite of their obvious strength to the economy which has been historically present for over a century! 

 

We’ve heard the saying “money talks.”  The current economic crisis is not as a result of Wall Street collapsing, a residential mortgage scandal, or the ineptness of the Federal Reserve. It’s an inevitable manifestation of ignoring the goose the lays the golden eggs. I wonder how much worse things have to get before the REAL talking money gets listened to.

Copyright 2009 Kellene Bishop. All rights reserved.
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Celente Predicts Revolution, Food Riots, Tax Rebellions By 2012

Paul Joseph Watson
Prison Planet.com
Thursday, November 13, 2008

	Gerald Celente

The man who predicted the 1987 stock market crash and the fall of the Soviet Union is now forecasting revolution in America, food riots and tax rebellions – all within four years, while cautioning that putting food on the table will be a more pressing concern than buying Christmas gifts by 2012.

Gerald Celente, the CEO of Trends Research Institute, is renowned for his accuracy in predicting future world and economic events, which will send a chill down your spine considering what he told Fox News this week.

Celente says that by 2012 America will become an undeveloped nation, that there will be a revolution marked by food riots, squatter rebellions, tax revolts and job marches, and that holidays will be more about obtaining food, not gifts.

“We’re going to see the end of the retail Christmas….we’re going to see a fundamental shift take place….putting food on the table is going to be more important that putting gifts under the Christmas tree,” said Celente, adding that the situation would be “worse than the great depression”.

“America’s going to go through a transition the likes of which no one is prepared for,” said Celente, noting that people’s refusal to acknowledge that America was even in a recession highlights how big a problem denial is in being ready for the true scale of the crisis.

Celente says that by 2012 America will become an undeveloped nation, that there will be a revolution marked by food riots, squatter rebellions, tax revolts and job marches, and that holidays will be more about obtaining food, not gifts.

Celente, who successfully predicted the 1997 Asian Currency Crisis, the subprime mortgage collapse and the massive devaluation of the U.S. dollar, told UPI in November last year that the following year would be known as “The Panic of 2008,” adding that “giants (would) tumble to their deaths,” which is exactly what we have witnessed with the collapse of Lehman Brothers, Bear Stearns and others. He also said that the dollar would eventually be devalued by as much as 90 per cent.

The consequence of what we have seen unfold this year would lead to a lowering in living standards, Celente predicted a year ago, which is also being borne out by plummeting retail sales figures.

The prospect of revolution was a concept echoed by a British Ministry of Defence report last year, which predicted that within 30 years, the growing gap between the super rich and the middle class, along with an urban underclass threatening social order would mean, “The world’s middle classes might unite, using access to knowledge, resources and skills to shape transnational processes in their own class interest,” and that, “The middle classes could become a revolutionary class.”

In a separate recent interview, Celente went further on the subject of revolution in America.

“There will be a revolution in this country,” he said. “It’s not going to come yet, but it’s going to come down the line and we’re going to see a third party and this was the catalyst for it: the takeover of Washington, D. C., in broad daylight by Wall Street in this bloodless coup. And it will happen as conditions continue to worsen.” 

“The first thing to do is organize with tax revolts. That’s going to be the big one because people can’t afford to pay more school tax, property tax, any kind of tax. You’re going to start seeing those kinds of protests start to develop.”

“It’s going to be very bleak. Very sad. And there is going to be a lot of homeless, the likes of which we have never seen before. Tent cities are already sprouting up around the country and we’re going to see many more.”

“We’re going to start seeing huge areas of vacant real estate and squatters living in them as well. It’s going to be a picture the likes of which Americans are not going to be used to. It’s going to come as a shock and with it, there’s going to be a lot of crime. And the crime is going to be a lot worse than it was before because in the last 1929 Depression, people’s minds weren’t wrecked on all these modern drugs – over-the-counter drugs, or crystal meth or whatever it might be. So, you have a huge underclass of very desperate people with their minds chemically blown beyond anybody’s comprehension.”

The George Washington blog has compiled a list of quotes attesting to Celente’s accuracy as a trend forecaster.

“When CNN wants to know about the Top Trends, we ask Gerald Celente.”
— CNN Headline News

“A network of 25 experts whose range of specialties would rival many university faculties.”
— The Economist

“Gerald Celente has a knack for getting the zeitgeist right.”
— USA Today

“There’s not a better trend forecaster than Gerald Celente. The man knows what he’s talking about.”
– CNBC

“Those who take their predictions seriously … consider the Trends Research Institute.”
— The Wall Street Journal

“Gerald Celente is always ahead of the curve on trends and uncannily on the mark … he’s one of the most accurate forecasters around.”
— The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“Mr. Celente tracks the world’s social, economic and business trends for corporate clients.”
— The New York Times

“Mr. Celente is a very intelligent guy. We are able to learn about trends from an authority.”
— 48 Hours, CBS News

“Gerald Celente has a solid track record. He has predicted everything from the 1987 stock market crash and the demise of the Soviet Union to green marketing and corporate downsizing.”
— The Detroit News

“Gerald Celente forecast the 1987 stock market crash, ‘green marketing,’ and the boom in gourmet coffees.”
— Chicago Tribune

“The Trends Research Institute is the Standard and Poors of Popular Culture.”
— The Los Angeles Times

“If Nostradamus were alive today, he’d have a hard time keeping up with Gerald Celente.”
— New York Post

So there you have it – hardly a nutjob conspiracy theorist blowhard now is he? The price of not heeding his warnings will be far greater than the cost of preparing for the future now. Storable food and gold are two good places to make a start.

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You Can’t Fix Stupid

Yup. You may not be able to fix stupid, but in this case, I think it’s perfectly legal to kill it.

Wow! I thought the majority of discrimination had been eliminated nowadays. Clearly I’m wrong and somewhat naïve though. Can you believe it? American Express is now openly admitting that they are lowering their credit exposure to individuals based on whether or not they have a loan with a mortgage lender that ALSO lends to sub-prime candidates and if the client has the audacity to shop at stores where low income individuals also shop. And apparently they aren’t the only ones to enact such insulting practices in the credit card industry.

Wells Fargo used to be one of the most aggressive sub-prime lenders in the nation. They are soon to be poised as one of the largest banks with their takeover of Wachovia, even if only receiving a portion of the assets of that bank. And yet someone who qualifies for an “A Paper, Roll Out the Red Carpet loan” from Wells Fargo could be targeted with less favorable terms because of Wells Fargo’s subprime division.

Countrywide was very aggressive in the subprime market as well. And as you know, Countrywide has bit the dust. Regardless of the fact that A paper, reputable, and financially strong banks have purchased Countrywide’s mortgage assets, you could still be financially penalized because you have a loan with them. Ironic isn’t it? You can pay perfectly on your loan with absolutely no hiccups, but because the company you make your check out to every month has made questionable decisions in their lending practice, your access to credit is compromised?

Is it just me, or is this absolutely ridiculous? (Warning: Sarcastic tirade up ahead) Let’s compound the suffering of the American people by penalizing them for the actions of others yet one more way. And when they try to react to the economic crisis by shopping at Target or Wal-Mart to make their dollars stretch that much more, let’s assume that they should be treated as a trailer trash drug addict and credit derelicts and minimize their accessibility to credit. After all, drug addicts have to shop somewhere, right? And if you’re dumb enough to shop where the financially struggling do, then your access to credit should be minimized, if not taken away all together! And while were at it, we should also be take preemptive measures and round up and put to death anyone who has the name of Charles or Manson or Oswald- just to be safe, you know.

Yup. The dumb keep getting dumber folks. This outlandish decision has three Code Red ailments.

1. It holds the potential to increase the gap of distance between the wealthy and the other classes. Such a gap can foster a surge in pride and snobbery.
2. If affects the spending ability of the wealthy. And I’m telling you… the wealthy do not like to be told what to do with their money. The wealthy now have reason to literally FEAR shopping at Target or Wal-Mart. Even if they pronounce either store with a French accent, they could lose their access to credit as a result. Just in case you didn’t know, the wealthy have experienced an inflation ratio of 12% over the last few years which is as much as double or triple what the other classes have been subjected to for the goods and services they buy. Thus the wealthy are now bound to experience an even bigger inflation ratio as they will now be required to buy their everyday goods from more upscale stores, or risk the fate of lowered credit access. With this asinine decision, the wealthy are less likely to change their inflation rate any time soon.
3. And folks, like it or not, the wealthy provide jobs. That’s the 3rd ailment. So not only does this Nazi-styled discrimination practice harm the middle class in their ability to grow their businesses, it has the ability to affect the lower class as well, in their dependence on the wealthy for employment.

My vote? I choose to stop rewarding stupidity right now by eliminating all of my credit card access. Will it be challenging at first? You betcha! It’s ingrained in me to perform my business transactions this way. But I’ll be darned if I let the Plastic Prince tell where I can or can’t shop. I look at it this way. Benjamin Franklin was one of the wealthiest and most successful business people in history. He did so without the Melamine Methodology, and dog gone it, so will I.

Credit Cards. May they melt in peace.

Copyright 2009 Kellene Bishop. All rights reserved.

You are welcome to repost this information so long as it is credited to Kellene Bishop.

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