I will end the talk on corporate crime and corruption with a look locally...Maryland and Baltimore. We cannot exist as a health economy or as a democracy if we are forced to watch our public officials acting with the most evident of misbehavior. It is not OK for Speaker Pelosi to say that there is no insider trading law for members of Congress so she and Cardin are not guilty......OF COURSE THEY ARE GUILTY FOR GOODNESS SAKES. WE WILL NOT STAND FOR SUCH HUBRIS. I describe below some some of the dishonorable exchanges our minority contractor lawyer must endure as our Board of Estimates make a mockery of laws in place to protect all workers. I listen as union leaders describe agreements by handshake that later dissolve to lost work. It is incredible to watch. As one person is humbled so are we all.
I am listening to a group discussing just what is meant when the Baltimore City school superintendent states that most people in the city support School Choice when we all know there is no School Choice in operation......there is school 'NO CHOICE'. Clever wording by these public officials shows a level of dismissive behavior towards the public as they want to claim without actually saying 'WE WORK FOR THEM, NOT YOU'!
IT IS TIME TO SAY TO THESE POLS THAT HAVE GIVEN THEIR ALL AND ALL THAT IS OURS TO CORPORATIONS.....GOODBYE!!!!
VOTE YOUR INCUMBENT OUT OF OFFICE!!!!!
Strangely, or not, this article doesn't explain why buying a foreign manager of hedge funds would be a next move for an American investment firm. The answer is that in an attempt to circumvent financial reform laws surrounding derivatives trading and oversight, which by the way left a gaping loophole for all US financial firms to use, all US firms are simply using foreign partnerships to process all these derivative trades. This means nothing has happened in keeping the US markets safe and in providing oversight. So if you hear your incumbent tote their efforts in crafting the financial reform bill just let them know that you know that the entire bill was watered-down to almost no reform and that the markets are already leveraged to $600 trillion in derivative trading just as before the 2008 crash.
That is what is happening with Legg-Mason and it is a sign that here in Baltimore, our political leaders are silent as businesses again expose the American economy to yet more unsafe, reckless, and enormous financial markets. Wonder why Baltimore Sun left that out?
Legg Mason plans to acquire European provider of funds of hedge funds Terms of deal not disclosed
By Eileen Ambrose, The Baltimore Sun 8:34 a.m. EST, December 13, 2012
Baltimore-based Legg Mason Inc. announced Thursday morning it has agreed to acquire Fauchier Partners, a manager of funds of hedge funds based in Europe. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Fauchier will be merged into Legg's subsidiary Permal, an alternative asset manager. As a result of the combination, Permal will have about $24 billion assets under management and offices in nine locations worldwide, Legg Mason said. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of next year.
"This transaction significantly expands Permal's institutional business, creating a global institutional capability across geographies and client profiles," Joe Sullivan, Legg's interim CEO, said in statement. "This is an important step to growing our alternatives capabilities through Permal."
Fauchier Partners, which is based in London, Paris, New York and Guernsey, manages about $6 billion in assets. CEO Clark Fenton said in a statement, "Combining Fauchier Partners with Permal gives our clients the best of both firms. We maintain our existing investment process, but have the additional benefit of a much wider pool of investment talent and resources."
_______________________________________________
I TALK ALL THE TIME ABOUT HOW THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION IS THE AMERICAN PEOPLE'S NEMESIS AS IT IS PURE GLOBAL AND CORPORATE IN ITS POLICY PURSUITS. THEY CALL THEMSELVES A PROGRESSIVE THINK TANK, BUT THEY ARE THIRD WAY CORPORATE TO THE MAX. YOU WILL SEE PUBLIC MEDIA AND LOCALLY, JOHNS HOPKINS WILL ONLY ALLOW THIS THINK TANK TO REPRESENT THE DEMOCRATIC VIEW IN THEIR ATTEMPT TO BE 'BALANCED'.
BELOW YOU SEE THEY ARE ASKING THE PEOPLE WHO CREATED THE MASSIVE HOUSING CRISIS THROUGH MASSIVE FRAUD HOW WE FIX THE HOUSING MARKET AND HOME OWNERSHIP.
The Future of Homeownership in the United States Featuring Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan
Friday, December 14, 2012, 10:00 — 11:30 am
The Brookings Institution, Falk Auditorium, 1775 Massachusetts Ave, NW, Washington, DC
Homeownership has long been synonymous with achieving the “American Dream.” Yet the collapse several years ago of the housing market calls for homeowners, lenders, and the federal government to re-evaluate their expectations and roles to meet the goal of long-term stability, soundness, and fairness in homeownership.
On December 14, the Economic Studies program at Brookings will host a discussion with Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, followed by a panel discussion of industry and policy experts. The discussion will focus on the benefits and costs of homeownership and the appropriate role of lenders, investors and government policies, such as tax incentives and housing finance subsidies, to achieve this goal.
After the program, the speakers will take audience questions. Follow the conversation on Twitter using hashtag #housingfuture.
Introduction
Karen Dynan
Vice President and Co-Director, Economic Studies
The Brookings Institution
Keynote
Brian Moynihan
CEO
Bank of America
Panel Discussion
Moderator: Diana Olick
Real Estate Correspondent
CNBC
Janis Bowdler
Director of the Wealth-Building Policy Project
National Council of La Raza
Douglas Holtz-Eakin
President
The American Action Forum
Tom Deutsch
Executive Director
The American Securitization Forum
Ellen Seidman
Chair, Board of Directors
Center for Financial Services Innovation
Ted Gayer
Senior Fellow and Co-Director, Economic Studies
The Brookings Institution
________________________________________________
What the citizens of Baltimore discovered during this speed camera scam is that the city and state have one of these public-private partnerships, just as everything is today in Maryland, that gives the private company supplying the cameras half of the revenue from the tickets that the public pay. Then there is the bounty idea that makes it worth more profit the more tickets given that brings into question the failure of the cameras to operate properly. Now, O'Malley was involved in a similar public traffic scam with ticketing that proved to be corrupt that was costing the public tons of money. THESE ARE NOT ISOLATED INCIDENCES....THEY ARE PERENNIAL. OUR GOVERNMENT IS PREYING UPON US JUST AS BUSINESSES ARE. WHY DOES BALTIMORE NEED THE REVENUE? THE AMOUNT BROUGHT IN EACH YEAR FROM THESE SPEED CAMERAS IS SPENT IN ONE MONTH ON THE AFFLUENT ENTERPRISE ZONES. SO WHEN RAWLINGS-BLAKE CRIES OUT FOR THE NEED FOR THIS SPEED CAMERA REVENUE 'FOR THE CHILDREN'......WE ARE ASKING 'SHOW US THE MONEY RAWLINGS-BLAKE'!!!!
The problem with giving tax exemption to all businesses in these Enterprise Zones is that it costs all of the revenue from all of the citizens of Baltimore to maintain and match funding for these Rodeo Drive waterfront properties!!!!!!
She is only doing what she is told by Maryland's 1% and Wall Street......that is for whom she works after all!
Rawlings-Blake wants zero speed camera errorsCriticism of city's camera system mounts after Sun investigation
November 19, 2012|By Luke Broadwater, The Baltimore Sun
As criticism of Baltimore's speed camera system mounted for a second day Monday, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said she would not tolerate a single erroneous ticket issued by the cameras under her administration.
"We need to make sure we're administering the program accurately across the board," Rawlings-Blake said. "We're looking for a zero-error program."
State and city lawmakers pushed for more oversight of the camera program Monday after an investigation by The Baltimore Sun found that the $40 citations issued to motorists can be inaccurate and the process unfair.
The Sun's investigation found that the city continued to operate a camera on Cold Spring Lane, months after learning it had issued an incorrect speed reading. The Sun also showed that city judges routinely toss out tickets for deficiencies and that the city has long ignored the state's narrow definition of a "school zone," in which most cameras are supposed to be placed. Nearly 6,000 tickets have been deemed invalid by the city, The Sun found. Baltimore also has implemented what a top Maryland judge called a "bounty system," which rewards speed camera vendors with a cut of each fine the system issues.
"There's clearly work that needs to be done in oversight of the program," said Del. Luke Clippinger, who represents Baltimore. "The city is now aware of some of the problems they've had with the cameras, and I hope they'll fix them right away."
Meanwhile, Towson-based attorney Marshall Henslee said he and his clients at the York Container Co. plan to contest between 10 and 15 tickets its drivers received from the Cold Spring Lane camera that The Sun determined was issuing erroneous tickets. The company received a series of tickets before realizing something was amiss, he said.
"For a while, they were just paying them off," Henslee said. "Eventually, they noticed many of their drivers came to them and said, 'There was no way I was driving that fast.' They realized there was something messed up about that camera."
Rawlings-Blake has created a task force to study the cameras. The committee's eight members include representatives of city and state government, a driver advocacy group and a community group.
"I trust them and depend on them to bring their professional talents to the table to advise," Rawlings-Blake said.
Del. Shawn Tarrant, a Baltimore Democrat, questioned whether such a task force was independent enough to properly evaluate the program. He called the erroneous tickets "a shame" and suggested the city staff its cameras with police officers to check if motorists are actually speeding. He also suggested the city reduce its number of cameras, which now stands at 83.
"If they didn't have so many damn cameras, they could actually have a human to back up the cameras," Tarrant said.
Baltimore's speed camera revenue has steadily increased over the past few years. The city received $19.2 million from the program over the past year — a nearly tenfold increase in the three years the cameras have been operating. In 2010, the city took in just $2.4 million.
Rawlings-Blake said the city's goal is to eventually reduce those totals to zero.
"In order for this speed camera program to work in the way that it's supposed to, we have to change the behavior, which will lead to getting zero revenue because everyone, during school hours in school zones, is driving at the proper speed limit," she said.
Rawlings-Blake does not plan to add more speed cameras in the near future, according to her budget projections, and the city expects its speed camera revenue to start falling soon. The city is counting on $11.4 million from speed cameras next year; $7.5 million in 2014; and $6.9 million in 2015.
Early Monday morning, the Rawlings-Blake administration reacted to The Sun's investigation by sending out data comparing its speed camera program to Washington, D.C.'s. The district took in nearly triple the revenue in fines and issues higher-priced tickets, the release stated.
Ragina Averella, the manager of public and governmental affairs for driver-advocacy group AAA Mid-Atlantic, criticized that response.
"I'm not really sure why the city of Baltimore would want to compare itself to the District of Columbia on this issue," she said. "Their [D.C.'s] speed camera system ... is commonly referred to as a 'speed trap system.' Not only that, it truly is an unfair comparison because the speed cameras in the district are not and never have been placed in school zones."
Spokesman Ian Brennan said the mayor's office only sent out the comparison with Washington to underscore the larger revenues of that system.
In The Sun's article Sunday, Xerox State & Local Solutions, Baltimore's speed camera vendor, called the city's automated traffic enforcement system the largest in North America.
"We obviously welcome AAA's input regarding our camera system, that is why the mayor added them to the task force," Brennan said.
I am listening to a group discussing just what is meant when the Baltimore City school superintendent states that most people in the city support School Choice when we all know there is no School Choice in operation......there is school 'NO CHOICE'. Clever wording by these public officials shows a level of dismissive behavior towards the public as they want to claim without actually saying 'WE WORK FOR THEM, NOT YOU'!
IT IS TIME TO SAY TO THESE POLS THAT HAVE GIVEN THEIR ALL AND ALL THAT IS OURS TO CORPORATIONS.....GOODBYE!!!!
VOTE YOUR INCUMBENT OUT OF OFFICE!!!!!
Strangely, or not, this article doesn't explain why buying a foreign manager of hedge funds would be a next move for an American investment firm. The answer is that in an attempt to circumvent financial reform laws surrounding derivatives trading and oversight, which by the way left a gaping loophole for all US financial firms to use, all US firms are simply using foreign partnerships to process all these derivative trades. This means nothing has happened in keeping the US markets safe and in providing oversight. So if you hear your incumbent tote their efforts in crafting the financial reform bill just let them know that you know that the entire bill was watered-down to almost no reform and that the markets are already leveraged to $600 trillion in derivative trading just as before the 2008 crash.
That is what is happening with Legg-Mason and it is a sign that here in Baltimore, our political leaders are silent as businesses again expose the American economy to yet more unsafe, reckless, and enormous financial markets. Wonder why Baltimore Sun left that out?
Legg Mason plans to acquire European provider of funds of hedge funds Terms of deal not disclosed
By Eileen Ambrose, The Baltimore Sun 8:34 a.m. EST, December 13, 2012
Baltimore-based Legg Mason Inc. announced Thursday morning it has agreed to acquire Fauchier Partners, a manager of funds of hedge funds based in Europe. The terms of the deal were not disclosed. Fauchier will be merged into Legg's subsidiary Permal, an alternative asset manager. As a result of the combination, Permal will have about $24 billion assets under management and offices in nine locations worldwide, Legg Mason said. The deal is expected to close in the first quarter of next year.
"This transaction significantly expands Permal's institutional business, creating a global institutional capability across geographies and client profiles," Joe Sullivan, Legg's interim CEO, said in statement. "This is an important step to growing our alternatives capabilities through Permal."
Fauchier Partners, which is based in London, Paris, New York and Guernsey, manages about $6 billion in assets. CEO Clark Fenton said in a statement, "Combining Fauchier Partners with Permal gives our clients the best of both firms. We maintain our existing investment process, but have the additional benefit of a much wider pool of investment talent and resources."
_______________________________________________
I TALK ALL THE TIME ABOUT HOW THE BROOKINGS INSTITUTION IS THE AMERICAN PEOPLE'S NEMESIS AS IT IS PURE GLOBAL AND CORPORATE IN ITS POLICY PURSUITS. THEY CALL THEMSELVES A PROGRESSIVE THINK TANK, BUT THEY ARE THIRD WAY CORPORATE TO THE MAX. YOU WILL SEE PUBLIC MEDIA AND LOCALLY, JOHNS HOPKINS WILL ONLY ALLOW THIS THINK TANK TO REPRESENT THE DEMOCRATIC VIEW IN THEIR ATTEMPT TO BE 'BALANCED'.
BELOW YOU SEE THEY ARE ASKING THE PEOPLE WHO CREATED THE MASSIVE HOUSING CRISIS THROUGH MASSIVE FRAUD HOW WE FIX THE HOUSING MARKET AND HOME OWNERSHIP.
The Future of Homeownership in the United States Featuring Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan
Friday, December 14, 2012, 10:00 — 11:30 am
The Brookings Institution, Falk Auditorium, 1775 Massachusetts Ave, NW, Washington, DC
Homeownership has long been synonymous with achieving the “American Dream.” Yet the collapse several years ago of the housing market calls for homeowners, lenders, and the federal government to re-evaluate their expectations and roles to meet the goal of long-term stability, soundness, and fairness in homeownership.
On December 14, the Economic Studies program at Brookings will host a discussion with Bank of America CEO Brian Moynihan, followed by a panel discussion of industry and policy experts. The discussion will focus on the benefits and costs of homeownership and the appropriate role of lenders, investors and government policies, such as tax incentives and housing finance subsidies, to achieve this goal.
After the program, the speakers will take audience questions. Follow the conversation on Twitter using hashtag #housingfuture.
Introduction
Karen Dynan
Vice President and Co-Director, Economic Studies
The Brookings Institution
Keynote
Brian Moynihan
CEO
Bank of America
Panel Discussion
Moderator: Diana Olick
Real Estate Correspondent
CNBC
Janis Bowdler
Director of the Wealth-Building Policy Project
National Council of La Raza
Douglas Holtz-Eakin
President
The American Action Forum
Tom Deutsch
Executive Director
The American Securitization Forum
Ellen Seidman
Chair, Board of Directors
Center for Financial Services Innovation
Ted Gayer
Senior Fellow and Co-Director, Economic Studies
The Brookings Institution
________________________________________________
What the citizens of Baltimore discovered during this speed camera scam is that the city and state have one of these public-private partnerships, just as everything is today in Maryland, that gives the private company supplying the cameras half of the revenue from the tickets that the public pay. Then there is the bounty idea that makes it worth more profit the more tickets given that brings into question the failure of the cameras to operate properly. Now, O'Malley was involved in a similar public traffic scam with ticketing that proved to be corrupt that was costing the public tons of money. THESE ARE NOT ISOLATED INCIDENCES....THEY ARE PERENNIAL. OUR GOVERNMENT IS PREYING UPON US JUST AS BUSINESSES ARE. WHY DOES BALTIMORE NEED THE REVENUE? THE AMOUNT BROUGHT IN EACH YEAR FROM THESE SPEED CAMERAS IS SPENT IN ONE MONTH ON THE AFFLUENT ENTERPRISE ZONES. SO WHEN RAWLINGS-BLAKE CRIES OUT FOR THE NEED FOR THIS SPEED CAMERA REVENUE 'FOR THE CHILDREN'......WE ARE ASKING 'SHOW US THE MONEY RAWLINGS-BLAKE'!!!!
The problem with giving tax exemption to all businesses in these Enterprise Zones is that it costs all of the revenue from all of the citizens of Baltimore to maintain and match funding for these Rodeo Drive waterfront properties!!!!!!
She is only doing what she is told by Maryland's 1% and Wall Street......that is for whom she works after all!
Rawlings-Blake wants zero speed camera errorsCriticism of city's camera system mounts after Sun investigation
November 19, 2012|By Luke Broadwater, The Baltimore Sun
As criticism of Baltimore's speed camera system mounted for a second day Monday, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake said she would not tolerate a single erroneous ticket issued by the cameras under her administration.
"We need to make sure we're administering the program accurately across the board," Rawlings-Blake said. "We're looking for a zero-error program."
State and city lawmakers pushed for more oversight of the camera program Monday after an investigation by The Baltimore Sun found that the $40 citations issued to motorists can be inaccurate and the process unfair.
The Sun's investigation found that the city continued to operate a camera on Cold Spring Lane, months after learning it had issued an incorrect speed reading. The Sun also showed that city judges routinely toss out tickets for deficiencies and that the city has long ignored the state's narrow definition of a "school zone," in which most cameras are supposed to be placed. Nearly 6,000 tickets have been deemed invalid by the city, The Sun found. Baltimore also has implemented what a top Maryland judge called a "bounty system," which rewards speed camera vendors with a cut of each fine the system issues.
"There's clearly work that needs to be done in oversight of the program," said Del. Luke Clippinger, who represents Baltimore. "The city is now aware of some of the problems they've had with the cameras, and I hope they'll fix them right away."
Meanwhile, Towson-based attorney Marshall Henslee said he and his clients at the York Container Co. plan to contest between 10 and 15 tickets its drivers received from the Cold Spring Lane camera that The Sun determined was issuing erroneous tickets. The company received a series of tickets before realizing something was amiss, he said.
"For a while, they were just paying them off," Henslee said. "Eventually, they noticed many of their drivers came to them and said, 'There was no way I was driving that fast.' They realized there was something messed up about that camera."
Rawlings-Blake has created a task force to study the cameras. The committee's eight members include representatives of city and state government, a driver advocacy group and a community group.
"I trust them and depend on them to bring their professional talents to the table to advise," Rawlings-Blake said.
Del. Shawn Tarrant, a Baltimore Democrat, questioned whether such a task force was independent enough to properly evaluate the program. He called the erroneous tickets "a shame" and suggested the city staff its cameras with police officers to check if motorists are actually speeding. He also suggested the city reduce its number of cameras, which now stands at 83.
"If they didn't have so many damn cameras, they could actually have a human to back up the cameras," Tarrant said.
Baltimore's speed camera revenue has steadily increased over the past few years. The city received $19.2 million from the program over the past year — a nearly tenfold increase in the three years the cameras have been operating. In 2010, the city took in just $2.4 million.
Rawlings-Blake said the city's goal is to eventually reduce those totals to zero.
"In order for this speed camera program to work in the way that it's supposed to, we have to change the behavior, which will lead to getting zero revenue because everyone, during school hours in school zones, is driving at the proper speed limit," she said.
Rawlings-Blake does not plan to add more speed cameras in the near future, according to her budget projections, and the city expects its speed camera revenue to start falling soon. The city is counting on $11.4 million from speed cameras next year; $7.5 million in 2014; and $6.9 million in 2015.
Early Monday morning, the Rawlings-Blake administration reacted to The Sun's investigation by sending out data comparing its speed camera program to Washington, D.C.'s. The district took in nearly triple the revenue in fines and issues higher-priced tickets, the release stated.
Ragina Averella, the manager of public and governmental affairs for driver-advocacy group AAA Mid-Atlantic, criticized that response.
"I'm not really sure why the city of Baltimore would want to compare itself to the District of Columbia on this issue," she said. "Their [D.C.'s] speed camera system ... is commonly referred to as a 'speed trap system.' Not only that, it truly is an unfair comparison because the speed cameras in the district are not and never have been placed in school zones."
Spokesman Ian Brennan said the mayor's office only sent out the comparison with Washington to underscore the larger revenues of that system.
In The Sun's article Sunday, Xerox State & Local Solutions, Baltimore's speed camera vendor, called the city's automated traffic enforcement system the largest in North America.
"We obviously welcome AAA's input regarding our camera system, that is why the mayor added them to the task force," Brennan said.
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