THIS IS WHEN THE WEALTH INEQUITY IN ALL INTERNATIONAL ECONOMIC ZONES CREATED THAT 1% HAVING ALL WEALTH TO THE 99% BEING IMPOVERISHED.
It was Stiglitz under Clinton who created economic policy that busted the US middle-class and drove US poor closer to third world poverty meeting that World Bank goal of REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH from the US and Europe to developing nations under the guise of lifting developing poor wealth. You can ask any developing world citizen pushed into this global labor pool forced to work in International Economic Zone global corporate sweat shops if they think this brought them justice and you will find they are often the ones shouting DEATH TO AMERICA. No one but the 1% and their 2% feel any wealth justice happening from Stiglitz and the Roosevelt Institution's policies.
We know Stiglitz and Wall Street busted US middle-class by eliminating all oversight and accountability and this was all mid-management jobs---and busted unions ---those were the white collar and blue collar middle-class. Stiglitz was part of the Wall Street policies that deregulated banking which allowed Wall Street to literally loot American government coffers, middle-class wealth from home ownership to retirement funds to health insurance coverage. This was all in the name of justice for wealth equity in developing nations seeing Wall Street sending all that American wealth to building more International Economic Zones overseas bringing more developing nation citizens into the global labor pool.....we know it is simply SLAVE TRADING.
The old-school American middle-class has this past century been the range of $30,000---90,000 annual wage. These were the citizens busted and pushed into impoverishment. To do that CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA with Stiglitz under Clinton and then the World Bank restructured our government to one filled with commissions and committees at Federal, state, and local level where most public policies were written. They included our university leaders and local school board leaders----earning $200,000--400,000 a year. These people were as well privy to INSIDER TRADING as their wealth in stock investments soared while middle-class America's investments were used as fodder for Wall Street. These people became the 5% to the 1% these few decades.
THIS CREATED A NEW DEFINITION OF US MIDDLE-CLASS TO THOSE EARNING $120,000 TO A FEW MILLION A YEAR....THE 5% TO THE 1%.
This new class of government officials earned more because they were now corporate executives installing corporate policies. Baltimore's School Board Superintendent Alonzo earned $250,000 and more because----he was an executive of Bloomberg and his national corporate charter business pushing corporate education policy. We are calling these public officials but they were appointed to install global corporate policies. These salaries were not just at Federal level---our state and local government committee/commission appointments earned this as well.
For feds, more get 6-figure salaries
Updated 12/11/2009 12:15 PM
PUBLIC GAIN, PRIVATE PAIN
By Dennis Cauchon, USA TODAY
The number of federal workers earning six-figure salaries has exploded during the recession, according to a USA TODAY analysis of federal salary data.Federal employees making salaries of $100,000 or more jumped from 14% to 19% of civil servants during the recession's first 18 months — and that's before overtime pay and bonuses are counted.
Federal workers are enjoying an extraordinary boom time — in pay and hiring — during a recession that has cost 7.3 million jobs in the private sector.
The highest-paid federal employees are doing best of all on salary increases. Defense Department civilian employees earning $150,000 or more increased from 1,868 in December 2007 to 10,100 in June 2009, the most recent figure available.
When the recession started, the Transportation Department had only one person earning a salary of $170,000 or more. Eighteen months later, 1,690 employees had salaries above $170,000.
The trend to six-figure salaries is occurring throughout the federal government, in agencies big and small, high-tech and low-tech. The primary cause: substantial pay raises and new salary rules.
"There's no way to justify this to the American people. It's ridiculous," says Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, a first-term lawmaker who is on the House's federal workforce subcommittee.
Jessica Klement, government affairs director for the Federal Managers Association, says the federal workforce is highly paid because the government employs skilled people such as scientists, physicians and lawyers. She says federal employees make 26% less than private workers for comparable jobs.
USA TODAY analyzed the Office of Personnel Management's database that tracks salaries of more than 2 million federal workers. Excluded from OPM's data: the White House, Congress, the Postal Service, intelligence agencies and uniformed military personnel.
The growth in six-figure salaries has pushed the average federal worker's pay to $71,206, compared with $40,331 in the private sector.
Key reasons for the boom in six-figure salaries:
• Pay hikes. Then-president Bush recommended — and Congress approved — across-the-board raises of 3% in January 2008 and 3.9% in January 2009. President Obama has recommended 2% pay raises in January 2010, the smallest since 1975. Most federal workers also get longevity pay hikes — called steps — that average 1.5% per year.
•New pay system. Congress created a new National Security Pay Scale for the Defense Department to reward merit, in addition to the across-the-board increases. The merit raises, which started in January 2008, were larger than expected and rewarded high-ranking employees. In October, Congress voted to end the new pay scale by 2012.
• Paycaps eased. Many top civil servants are prohibited from making more than an agency's leader. But if Congress lifts the boss' salary, others get raises, too. When the Federal Aviation Administration chief's salary rose, nearly 1,700 employees' had their salaries lifted above $170,000, too.
___________________________
Now Stiglitz is back this time tied to Roosevelt Institution PRETENDING AGAIN to feel the pain of citizens facing all this inequity. Now the World Bank and Wall Street have come for the 5% to the 1% US citizens in this new middle-class as the ones having too much wealth needing to be sent to overseas workers and more International Economic Zone development. This is what Roosevelt Institute's stock market reforms ----holding those banks accountable policies will do. It is now those $125,00----a few million citizens Wall Street will bring down next decade with the coming economic crash and bond market collapse. This will change the concept of money as the world's 1% will have all the wealth and it will change what we know as public listings and stock owners. This is why Roosevelt Institution is coming out with the sharing economy----BitCoins and new forms of money----and it is why it is silent as CORPORATE BOND DEBT AND US TREASURY AND MUNICIPAL BOND SUBPRIMING IS GEARING UP TO IMPLODE OUR ECONOMY.
World Bank says to the US 5% to the 1%:
'The difference is because the US middle class is much wealthier than the average global middle
class consumer'.
Corporate Bond Sales in U.S. Surpass Last Year’s Record
Katherine Chiglinsky
December 1, 2014 — 4:36 PM EST Updated on December 2, 2014 — 10:32 AM EST
A customer stands at a counter inside a Verizon Wireless retail store in Washington, D.C., U.S. Verizon sold $14.8 billion of bonds this year while General Electric issued $13.2 billion, helping to drive investment-grade sales to the highest in data going back to 1999.
U.S. corporate bond sales swelled to an annual record as a late-year rush by borrowers to lock in low interest rates pushed offerings for 2014 past $1.5 trillion.
World financial analysts have reported these several years of the massive corporate debt being generated by US corporations getting free money from the FED to expand overseas---while placing their shareholders in danger because of the coming bond market collapse. The FED and Wall Street are allowing this destabilizing events to occur because the goal is to push US corporations traded on our stock exchange out of business and then simply enfolding them into global multi-national corporations----FURTHER CONSOLIDATION OF THE WORLD'S BUSINESS STRUCTURE. When this economic crash occurs taking the corporate bond market----all US investors will lose their stock values except the 1% and the 2% of the 1% protected by tranches with the highest level of insurance. I've spoken about how all this will take our community banks and credit unions but it is aimed at eliminating all identity of corporations operating in the US as AMERICAN. They are being made multi-national and will be headquartered overseas with a global corporate board and PRIVATE SHAREHOLDERS. We knew our pensions, 401Ks, retirement savings were being targeted---but this will take out all stock market wealth and the 5% to the 1% have most of their wealth tied to this stock market.
What Happens When a Corporate Bond Defaults?
February 16, 2012 By David Waring
Bond defaults happen when a company stops paying interest on a bond or does not re-pay the principal at maturity. Unlike treasury securities which are considered risk free because they are backed by the full faith and credit of the US federal government, corporate bonds default on a regular basis. When a company defaults, the government is under no obligation and is unlikely to rescue the company.
What happens to bond holders when a corporate bond issuer defaults? Typically, companies file for bankruptcy protection prior to a bond default. If a company defaults without declaring bankruptcy first, then creditors are likely to force them into bankruptcy. US companies can file for bankruptcy either under Chapter 7 or Chapter 11. Here is an overview of each.
Bond Defaults and Chapter 7 bankruptcy
Under Chapter 7 bankruptcy, the company ceases operations and goes out of business. The courts will have to first determine that reorganization and recovery is neither realistic nor worthwhile. The court then appoints a trustee whose core responsibility will be to liquidate all company assets and ensure the proceeds are used to pay outstanding claims.
There is a predetermined pecking order through which outstanding claims are paid:
There is no timeline as to when bondholders will receive payment as it all depends on the speed of asset disposal and whether any funds remain after creditors have been paid. Payments to bondholders may be distributed in several stages as assets are sold off. Its not unusual for the process to take from 1 to 3 years before the last payment is distributed. The Trustee is however expected to communicate with bondholders and keep them up to date during the process.
Bond Defaults and Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
Chapter 11 bankruptcy is more widespread, as well as being costly and complex. In a nutshell, Chapter 11 bankruptcy allows the business to continue operating shielded from recovery actions from its creditors. All major business decisions must however obtain approval from the bankruptcy court. The company is reorganized in order to return to profit and normalcy in operations.
The debt must, almost inevitably, be restructured. Both the Chapter 7 and Chapter 11 bankruptcy are likely to leave corporate bondholders with some loss. Under Chapter 11, corporate bondholders no longer receive principal and interest payments just like the shareholders will no longer receive a divided.
As soon as the reorganization plan has been agreed upon by the company’s management, it is made known to creditors including bondholders. The plan outlines the creditor’s rights, and what they can expect to get once the reorganization is complete. Bondholders may be issued with new stock or a combination of stocks and bonds in the restructured corporation in exchange for their bonds. The new securities are often fewer and are of lower value than the defaulted bond.
No two bankruptcies are ever the same so the exact course of action in the event of a Chapter 7 or 11 will vary.
Does the bond still trade when a company goes into bankruptcy?
Yes. In most cases when a bond defaults and goes into bankruptcy, the bond’s price is at a very steep discount to the face value of the debt.
Most investors will not buy the debt of bankrupt companies. Specialists called distressed debt traders, nicknamed “vultures” because they pick on the carcasses of dead companies, will determine the value of debt. In the case of chapter 7, they value the company based on how much they think the assets of the company are worth, and how long the sale of those assets will take. For chapter 11, the evaluation is much trickier as the legal wranglings will have a major impact on the value of debt.
_________________________________________
'The policy reforms we envision would restructure how businesses, employees, and the public sector work together to ensure that work delivers a good standard of living and that we make the investments needed for the U.S. economy to thrive and face the challenges of a globally competitive world'.
The World Bank and Stiglitz are restructuring the US towards the existing International Economic Zones overseas by eliminating what have been Western societal structures for several centuries----and creates the structure of the global corporate campus as being the place people live, eat, work, and go to school. When all of this is located on a global corporate campus---then there is no need for owning anything. If all this is on a global corporate campus then there is not need for social programs---no need to lobby government for better regulations or laws because ALL THERE IS IS THAT GLOBAL CORPORATE CAMPUS AND THAT GLOBAL CORPORATION IS ONLY INTERACTING WITH THE GLOBAL CORPORATE TRIBUNAL.
Below you see where the Roosevelt Institute describes this as they identify all of what citizens and businesses do as RENT-SEEKING. Please take time to understand what economists mean by RENT-SEEKING because it does not simply mean renting an apartment or business space.
Baltimore is further along in this global restructuring as Johns Hopkins has been allowed to be that first global corporate campus controlling all of Baltimore's government, all its non--profits, and through Wall Street Baltimore Development all its revenue distribution.
If global corporations own everything----we eliminate the need for citizens to lobby for anything.
ROOSEVELT INSTITUTE:
The agenda we offer pulls apart the web of privileges and incentives business lobbyists and their politicians have woven into the rules of the economy and our society—and which have led businesses away from the kind of productive investments that would lead to robust and broadly shared economic performance. The policy reforms we envision would restructure how businesses, employees, and the public sector work together to ensure that work delivers a good standard of living and that we make the investments needed for the U.S. economy to thrive and face the challenges of a globally competitive world.
The approach is two-fold. The first move is to
tame rent-seeking behaviors that unduly reward those at the top while raising costs for the
rest and reducing the efficiency and stability
of the U.S. economy. As long as the growth of the economy is predicated on rent-seeking and
financial bubbles, we will not see the investment
in companies, people, and infrastructure needed for sustainable growth. We begin by looking at
the markets where firms have outsized power--
both to make rules and to extract rents—and aim to reset the rules so that these markets will function more productively. Next, we examine
the financial sector, which for years has had
the power to regulate itself and evade public
scrutiny, and we seek to ensure that it fulfills its
societal missions without imposing excess costs on the rest of society. We also seek to address rampant short-termism, which has supplanted productive long-term corporate health. Finally, we outline tax reform that would reduce rent-seeking incentives and raise revenue for public investment.
'what economists mean by “rent seeking.” They use the term to describe people’s lobbying of government to give them special privileges. A much better term is “privilege seeking.”
_________________________
'We also seek to address rampant short-termism, which has supplanted productive long-term corporate health'.
CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA have installed Wall Street's policies to end what Roosevelt Institute calls RAMPANT SHORT-TERMISM. This describes the election cycles where WE THE PEOPLE with rights to elect public officials to write legislation WE want for our communities and states. This is what our entire US Constitution and Bill of Rights is about. You see where Roosevelt Institute is worried about the productive long-term corporate health. This is GLOBAL CORPORATE HEALTH. We have watched as Clinton Wall Street global corporate neo-liberals joined Bush Wall Street global corporate neo-cons in controlling all election wins and policy these few decades and they did it with lots of election rigging and fraud. This was the movement towards steady policy-making where global corporations saw enormous growth with our Presidents and Congress completely ignoring our US Constitution. WE THE PEOPLE WERE TAKEN OUT OF LEGISLATION to assure this Roosevelt Institution goal of ending RAMPANT SHORT-TERMISM.
Next decade will bring the building of US cities as International Economic Zones having only global corporate campuses that control every aspect of our lives----and a Trans Pacific Trade Pact that will provide what Stiglitz calls LONG-TERM CORPORATE HEALTH to the ONE WORLD network of global corporations.
When I listen to the 5% to the 1% saying----WAIT A MINUTE---THEY ARE TAKING AWAY CHAIRS FROM THE POWER STRUCTURE THAT MADE THEM THE WALL STREET PLAYER-----what they are seeing is the movement of the global 1% and their 2% into positions of power in our government, committees, commissions previously held by US 5%.
THAT PESKY US CONSTITUTION AND US RULE OF LAW CREATING A GOVERNMENT OF CITIZENS WITH 3 BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT TO HOLD POWER ACCOUNTABLE WAS CREATING TOO MUCH SHORT-TERMISM.
Below you see what is likely a family connection to our University of Maryland College Park President Loh. His appointment brought our once public university system into what is now 100% global corporate and tied to recruiting students globally. Malaysia has been identified as the worst of International Economic Zones with global factories most abusive and lowest-paying, a brutal dictator, and wealth extremes greater then our Wall Street. Loh now controls what is for Maryland citizens our major PUBLIC university system. Know where free and fair elections and an informed citizens knowing public policy starts? OUR PUBLIC UNIVERSITY SYSTEM. He is installing that global neo-liberal education structure as hard as he can----it's all about the global labor pool!
Loh-keyed but all eyes on Oriental’s Kian Chong
By Doreen Leong
Friday, 02 May 2014, 12:00 AM
At 38, Datuk Loh Kian Chong’s wealth of RM1.3 bil (US$410 mil) makes him Malaysia’s youngest billionaire. Forbes magazine in March ranked him the 36th-richest Malaysian.
Loh’s wealth is not entirely surprising as he is, after all, grandson of the late Tan Sri Loh Boon Siew, also known as Malaysia’s Honda King. Kian Chong’s father is Loh Kar Bee, eldest and only surviving son of Boon Siew.
Just an FYI about Loh's family history-----we see Loh's family leaving China for Peru-----and Peru was taken as an International Economic Zone with all the environmental and labor abuses seen in Malaysia and China. That was Fujimori in the 1990s chased from Peru for his brutality.
Wallace D. Loh
President
University of Maryland
About the President
The University of Maryland is the state's flagship and land-grant institution with 37,500 students in 12 schools and colleges, 9,000 faculty and staff, and a $1.9B annual operating budget, including $500M in external research funding. It is a member of the Association of American Universities.
Loh assumed the position in 2010. Previously, he was Executive Vice President and Provost, The University of Iowa; Dean, College of Arts & Sciences, Seattle University; Director, Executive Policy Office and chief policy adviser to Governor Gary Locke, State of Washington; Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculties, University of Colorado-Boulder; Dean, University of Washington Law School.
At Maryland, he is Professor of Public Policy. Previously, he was Professor of Law at Washington, Colorado-Boulder, and Iowa; Visiting Professor of Law at Cornell, Peking University (China), Emory, University of Texas at Austin, University of Houston, and Vanderbilt. His scholarship and teaching are in the areas of law and social change and in criminal justice reform.
Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences; board of directors, American Council of Education; advisory board, U.S. Comptroller General; former advisory board chair, U.S. Department of Homeland Security; “Influential Marylander” (Daily Record); “Power 100” (Washington Business Journal); “Immigrant Achievement Award” (American Immigration Council); former President, Association of American Law Schools; “Trailblazer Award,” National Asian-Pacific American Bar Association; recipient of three honorary degrees.
Born in China, Loh moved with his family to Peru. After high school, he immigrated to the United States and became a naturalized citizen.
Education: Grinnell College, B.A.; Cornell University, M.A.; Universiteit te Leuven (Belgium), graduate study; The University of Michigan, Ph.D.; Yale Law School, J.D.
_________________________________________
1% Wall Street wants citizens to think the rent-seekers are today's corporate lobbyists but Wall Street uses this term for the 99% and their interests. When citizens fight against a global Wall Mart in their community----they are doing RENT-SEEKER actions and have hindered a perfectly good global corporate economic strategy. The rent-seekers are you and me====they are the small business owners trying to stop corporate monopolies from putting them out of business-----they are the citizens fighting against their public schools being closed when a perfectly good policy of installing global neo-liberal education policies handing schooling to global corporate campuses is much better. Don't allow these Wall Street players PRETEND they are fighting the corporate lobbyists. It will be only global corporate lobbyists heard by the global corporate tribunal and courts.
Rent Seekers Fighting Back
Rent Seeking is using political lobbying to increase one's share of existing wealth without creating additional wealth. In many cases, the rent seeker actively prevents new wealth from being created in order to protect their share. The obvious example of rent seekers are patent trolls, but more recently other rent seekers have been in the news.
Car dealerships are a great example of the rent seeking class. Politically influential on a local and state level, car dealerships have after a long history lobbied for and gotten laws that force manufacturers to sell through them rather than directly to the consumer. There isn't a Walmart or Costco of cars because of laws designed to protect dealerships. These laws prevent manufacturers from significantly changing the terms of their relationships with their dealers and requires that they use essentially the same business model that existed before the information age. The Big Three automakers don't just have to contend with a larger union workforce than foreign competitors, they also have to keep doing business through many more of their inefficient existing relationships thanks to car dealership franchise laws that force manufacturers to continue to renew their contracts with dealerships*. This legal monopoly that the dealers have results in a transfer of wealth from consumers and manufacturers to the dealerships. For more detail on this subject, see this paper State Franchise Laws, Dealer Terminations, and the Auto Crisis.
These rent seekers recently won a victory in New Jersey when Tesla's direct sales to consumers were banned. Tesla had no previous existing relationship with dealers, and the existing law does not have provisions to handle a car company selling directly to consumers without giving a cut to some politically connected middlemen so Tesla sales were banned in the state. The mentality of the rent seekers is captured perfectly in this article on The Verge.
"This Musk guy, he wants all the profits for himself," says Tom Dougherty, a 25-year veteran of the business who now works in sales at the BMW dealership in upscale Princeton, New Jersey. "They wanted to go direct, which means no sales force. That’s cutting out a lot of people. No way that’s gonna fly."
Go back to the definition of rent seeking - these dealers think it is perfectly normal for them to insert themselves into a transaction between two parties that have no relationship to them, Tesla and the consumer, and take a cut from that transaction. It would be more efficient in the long run to pay the dealerships and sales people to find new jobs than it would be to continue having them and any future employees muck up the automobile transaction process with their legally protected inefficient local monopolies.
Another group of rent seekers are the owners of taxi medallions. Taxi's are protected from the pressures of a competitive market by a policy that grants them a legal monopoly as long as they operate in a specific manner. Taxi's can't compete on price, and they lobby for restrictions in the number of medallions issued so they weren't forced to compete very much on service quality either. That changed when Uber, Lyft and Sidecar started turning anyone with a car and spare time into potential competitors to taxis.
But a few days ago taxi companies won a victory in Seattle when they restricted the above companies to only having 150 cars active at a time. This limitation will make it very difficult for consumers to efficiently use the services of these companies.
Uber, Lyft, and Sidecar are global corporations while taxis are our local citizens trying to have a business.
It's unfortunate that rent seekers are winning these battles - whenever rent seekers win it means that innovation is delayed and consumers are inconvenienced. All of this happens so that parasites like Tom at the dealership and taxi medallion owners can claim a share of wealth that they are only getting because better people are being kept from performing the same job.
I'M NOT A FAN OF AUTO DEALERSHIPS BUT THE AUTO BAILOUT OCCURRED BECAUSE THE FINANCE ARMS OF THE MAJOR AUTO-MAKERS PARTICIPATED IN AND PROFITED FROM THE SUBPRIME MORTGAGE FRAUD AND ALLOWED THEMSELVES TO BE TAKEN TO BANKRUPTCY FROM BEING SOAKED IN FRAUD. None of this was the auto dealership's fault yet they were pushed out of business by failure to enforce Rule of Law on Wall Street banks to protect the global auto corporations. So, it was the top-level RENT-SEEKER----THE GLOBAL AUTOMOTIVE CORPORATIONS AND NOT THE national car dealership RENT-SEEKERS creating these problems.
*Ironically, during the auto bailout bankruptcy reorganization many Republicans remained either blissfully or willfully ignorant about how car dealerships are inefficient legal monopolies backed by the government. Their continued existence has very little to do with free markets.
It was Stiglitz under Clinton who created economic policy that busted the US middle-class and drove US poor closer to third world poverty meeting that World Bank goal of REDISTRIBUTION OF WEALTH from the US and Europe to developing nations under the guise of lifting developing poor wealth. You can ask any developing world citizen pushed into this global labor pool forced to work in International Economic Zone global corporate sweat shops if they think this brought them justice and you will find they are often the ones shouting DEATH TO AMERICA. No one but the 1% and their 2% feel any wealth justice happening from Stiglitz and the Roosevelt Institution's policies.
We know Stiglitz and Wall Street busted US middle-class by eliminating all oversight and accountability and this was all mid-management jobs---and busted unions ---those were the white collar and blue collar middle-class. Stiglitz was part of the Wall Street policies that deregulated banking which allowed Wall Street to literally loot American government coffers, middle-class wealth from home ownership to retirement funds to health insurance coverage. This was all in the name of justice for wealth equity in developing nations seeing Wall Street sending all that American wealth to building more International Economic Zones overseas bringing more developing nation citizens into the global labor pool.....we know it is simply SLAVE TRADING.
The old-school American middle-class has this past century been the range of $30,000---90,000 annual wage. These were the citizens busted and pushed into impoverishment. To do that CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA with Stiglitz under Clinton and then the World Bank restructured our government to one filled with commissions and committees at Federal, state, and local level where most public policies were written. They included our university leaders and local school board leaders----earning $200,000--400,000 a year. These people were as well privy to INSIDER TRADING as their wealth in stock investments soared while middle-class America's investments were used as fodder for Wall Street. These people became the 5% to the 1% these few decades.
THIS CREATED A NEW DEFINITION OF US MIDDLE-CLASS TO THOSE EARNING $120,000 TO A FEW MILLION A YEAR....THE 5% TO THE 1%.
This new class of government officials earned more because they were now corporate executives installing corporate policies. Baltimore's School Board Superintendent Alonzo earned $250,000 and more because----he was an executive of Bloomberg and his national corporate charter business pushing corporate education policy. We are calling these public officials but they were appointed to install global corporate policies. These salaries were not just at Federal level---our state and local government committee/commission appointments earned this as well.
For feds, more get 6-figure salaries
Updated 12/11/2009 12:15 PM
PUBLIC GAIN, PRIVATE PAIN
By Dennis Cauchon, USA TODAY
The number of federal workers earning six-figure salaries has exploded during the recession, according to a USA TODAY analysis of federal salary data.Federal employees making salaries of $100,000 or more jumped from 14% to 19% of civil servants during the recession's first 18 months — and that's before overtime pay and bonuses are counted.
Federal workers are enjoying an extraordinary boom time — in pay and hiring — during a recession that has cost 7.3 million jobs in the private sector.
The highest-paid federal employees are doing best of all on salary increases. Defense Department civilian employees earning $150,000 or more increased from 1,868 in December 2007 to 10,100 in June 2009, the most recent figure available.
When the recession started, the Transportation Department had only one person earning a salary of $170,000 or more. Eighteen months later, 1,690 employees had salaries above $170,000.
The trend to six-figure salaries is occurring throughout the federal government, in agencies big and small, high-tech and low-tech. The primary cause: substantial pay raises and new salary rules.
"There's no way to justify this to the American people. It's ridiculous," says Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, a first-term lawmaker who is on the House's federal workforce subcommittee.
Jessica Klement, government affairs director for the Federal Managers Association, says the federal workforce is highly paid because the government employs skilled people such as scientists, physicians and lawyers. She says federal employees make 26% less than private workers for comparable jobs.
USA TODAY analyzed the Office of Personnel Management's database that tracks salaries of more than 2 million federal workers. Excluded from OPM's data: the White House, Congress, the Postal Service, intelligence agencies and uniformed military personnel.
The growth in six-figure salaries has pushed the average federal worker's pay to $71,206, compared with $40,331 in the private sector.
Key reasons for the boom in six-figure salaries:
• Pay hikes. Then-president Bush recommended — and Congress approved — across-the-board raises of 3% in January 2008 and 3.9% in January 2009. President Obama has recommended 2% pay raises in January 2010, the smallest since 1975. Most federal workers also get longevity pay hikes — called steps — that average 1.5% per year.
•New pay system. Congress created a new National Security Pay Scale for the Defense Department to reward merit, in addition to the across-the-board increases. The merit raises, which started in January 2008, were larger than expected and rewarded high-ranking employees. In October, Congress voted to end the new pay scale by 2012.
• Paycaps eased. Many top civil servants are prohibited from making more than an agency's leader. But if Congress lifts the boss' salary, others get raises, too. When the Federal Aviation Administration chief's salary rose, nearly 1,700 employees' had their salaries lifted above $170,000, too.
___________________________
Now Stiglitz is back this time tied to Roosevelt Institution PRETENDING AGAIN to feel the pain of citizens facing all this inequity. Now the World Bank and Wall Street have come for the 5% to the 1% US citizens in this new middle-class as the ones having too much wealth needing to be sent to overseas workers and more International Economic Zone development. This is what Roosevelt Institute's stock market reforms ----holding those banks accountable policies will do. It is now those $125,00----a few million citizens Wall Street will bring down next decade with the coming economic crash and bond market collapse. This will change the concept of money as the world's 1% will have all the wealth and it will change what we know as public listings and stock owners. This is why Roosevelt Institution is coming out with the sharing economy----BitCoins and new forms of money----and it is why it is silent as CORPORATE BOND DEBT AND US TREASURY AND MUNICIPAL BOND SUBPRIMING IS GEARING UP TO IMPLODE OUR ECONOMY.
World Bank says to the US 5% to the 1%:
'The difference is because the US middle class is much wealthier than the average global middle
class consumer'.
Corporate Bond Sales in U.S. Surpass Last Year’s Record
Katherine Chiglinsky
December 1, 2014 — 4:36 PM EST Updated on December 2, 2014 — 10:32 AM EST
A customer stands at a counter inside a Verizon Wireless retail store in Washington, D.C., U.S. Verizon sold $14.8 billion of bonds this year while General Electric issued $13.2 billion, helping to drive investment-grade sales to the highest in data going back to 1999.
U.S. corporate bond sales swelled to an annual record as a late-year rush by borrowers to lock in low interest rates pushed offerings for 2014 past $1.5 trillion.
World financial analysts have reported these several years of the massive corporate debt being generated by US corporations getting free money from the FED to expand overseas---while placing their shareholders in danger because of the coming bond market collapse. The FED and Wall Street are allowing this destabilizing events to occur because the goal is to push US corporations traded on our stock exchange out of business and then simply enfolding them into global multi-national corporations----FURTHER CONSOLIDATION OF THE WORLD'S BUSINESS STRUCTURE. When this economic crash occurs taking the corporate bond market----all US investors will lose their stock values except the 1% and the 2% of the 1% protected by tranches with the highest level of insurance. I've spoken about how all this will take our community banks and credit unions but it is aimed at eliminating all identity of corporations operating in the US as AMERICAN. They are being made multi-national and will be headquartered overseas with a global corporate board and PRIVATE SHAREHOLDERS. We knew our pensions, 401Ks, retirement savings were being targeted---but this will take out all stock market wealth and the 5% to the 1% have most of their wealth tied to this stock market.
What Happens When a Corporate Bond Defaults?
February 16, 2012 By David Waring
Bond defaults happen when a company stops paying interest on a bond or does not re-pay the principal at maturity. Unlike treasury securities which are considered risk free because they are backed by the full faith and credit of the US federal government, corporate bonds default on a regular basis. When a company defaults, the government is under no obligation and is unlikely to rescue the company.
What happens to bond holders when a corporate bond issuer defaults? Typically, companies file for bankruptcy protection prior to a bond default. If a company defaults without declaring bankruptcy first, then creditors are likely to force them into bankruptcy. US companies can file for bankruptcy either under Chapter 7 or Chapter 11. Here is an overview of each.
Bond Defaults and Chapter 7 bankruptcy
Under Chapter 7 bankruptcy, the company ceases operations and goes out of business. The courts will have to first determine that reorganization and recovery is neither realistic nor worthwhile. The court then appoints a trustee whose core responsibility will be to liquidate all company assets and ensure the proceeds are used to pay outstanding claims.
There is a predetermined pecking order through which outstanding claims are paid:
- First are the secured creditors and holders of senior debt,
- Next are the the ordinary bondholders
- Equity shareholders are last in line
There is no timeline as to when bondholders will receive payment as it all depends on the speed of asset disposal and whether any funds remain after creditors have been paid. Payments to bondholders may be distributed in several stages as assets are sold off. Its not unusual for the process to take from 1 to 3 years before the last payment is distributed. The Trustee is however expected to communicate with bondholders and keep them up to date during the process.
Bond Defaults and Chapter 11 Bankruptcy
Chapter 11 bankruptcy is more widespread, as well as being costly and complex. In a nutshell, Chapter 11 bankruptcy allows the business to continue operating shielded from recovery actions from its creditors. All major business decisions must however obtain approval from the bankruptcy court. The company is reorganized in order to return to profit and normalcy in operations.
The debt must, almost inevitably, be restructured. Both the Chapter 7 and Chapter 11 bankruptcy are likely to leave corporate bondholders with some loss. Under Chapter 11, corporate bondholders no longer receive principal and interest payments just like the shareholders will no longer receive a divided.
As soon as the reorganization plan has been agreed upon by the company’s management, it is made known to creditors including bondholders. The plan outlines the creditor’s rights, and what they can expect to get once the reorganization is complete. Bondholders may be issued with new stock or a combination of stocks and bonds in the restructured corporation in exchange for their bonds. The new securities are often fewer and are of lower value than the defaulted bond.
No two bankruptcies are ever the same so the exact course of action in the event of a Chapter 7 or 11 will vary.
Does the bond still trade when a company goes into bankruptcy?
Yes. In most cases when a bond defaults and goes into bankruptcy, the bond’s price is at a very steep discount to the face value of the debt.
Most investors will not buy the debt of bankrupt companies. Specialists called distressed debt traders, nicknamed “vultures” because they pick on the carcasses of dead companies, will determine the value of debt. In the case of chapter 7, they value the company based on how much they think the assets of the company are worth, and how long the sale of those assets will take. For chapter 11, the evaluation is much trickier as the legal wranglings will have a major impact on the value of debt.
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'The policy reforms we envision would restructure how businesses, employees, and the public sector work together to ensure that work delivers a good standard of living and that we make the investments needed for the U.S. economy to thrive and face the challenges of a globally competitive world'.
The World Bank and Stiglitz are restructuring the US towards the existing International Economic Zones overseas by eliminating what have been Western societal structures for several centuries----and creates the structure of the global corporate campus as being the place people live, eat, work, and go to school. When all of this is located on a global corporate campus---then there is no need for owning anything. If all this is on a global corporate campus then there is not need for social programs---no need to lobby government for better regulations or laws because ALL THERE IS IS THAT GLOBAL CORPORATE CAMPUS AND THAT GLOBAL CORPORATION IS ONLY INTERACTING WITH THE GLOBAL CORPORATE TRIBUNAL.
Below you see where the Roosevelt Institute describes this as they identify all of what citizens and businesses do as RENT-SEEKING. Please take time to understand what economists mean by RENT-SEEKING because it does not simply mean renting an apartment or business space.
Baltimore is further along in this global restructuring as Johns Hopkins has been allowed to be that first global corporate campus controlling all of Baltimore's government, all its non--profits, and through Wall Street Baltimore Development all its revenue distribution.
If global corporations own everything----we eliminate the need for citizens to lobby for anything.
ROOSEVELT INSTITUTE:
The agenda we offer pulls apart the web of privileges and incentives business lobbyists and their politicians have woven into the rules of the economy and our society—and which have led businesses away from the kind of productive investments that would lead to robust and broadly shared economic performance. The policy reforms we envision would restructure how businesses, employees, and the public sector work together to ensure that work delivers a good standard of living and that we make the investments needed for the U.S. economy to thrive and face the challenges of a globally competitive world.
The approach is two-fold. The first move is to
tame rent-seeking behaviors that unduly reward those at the top while raising costs for the
rest and reducing the efficiency and stability
of the U.S. economy. As long as the growth of the economy is predicated on rent-seeking and
financial bubbles, we will not see the investment
in companies, people, and infrastructure needed for sustainable growth. We begin by looking at
the markets where firms have outsized power--
both to make rules and to extract rents—and aim to reset the rules so that these markets will function more productively. Next, we examine
the financial sector, which for years has had
the power to regulate itself and evade public
scrutiny, and we seek to ensure that it fulfills its
societal missions without imposing excess costs on the rest of society. We also seek to address rampant short-termism, which has supplanted productive long-term corporate health. Finally, we outline tax reform that would reduce rent-seeking incentives and raise revenue for public investment.
'what economists mean by “rent seeking.” They use the term to describe people’s lobbying of government to give them special privileges. A much better term is “privilege seeking.”
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'We also seek to address rampant short-termism, which has supplanted productive long-term corporate health'.
CLINTON/BUSH/OBAMA have installed Wall Street's policies to end what Roosevelt Institute calls RAMPANT SHORT-TERMISM. This describes the election cycles where WE THE PEOPLE with rights to elect public officials to write legislation WE want for our communities and states. This is what our entire US Constitution and Bill of Rights is about. You see where Roosevelt Institute is worried about the productive long-term corporate health. This is GLOBAL CORPORATE HEALTH. We have watched as Clinton Wall Street global corporate neo-liberals joined Bush Wall Street global corporate neo-cons in controlling all election wins and policy these few decades and they did it with lots of election rigging and fraud. This was the movement towards steady policy-making where global corporations saw enormous growth with our Presidents and Congress completely ignoring our US Constitution. WE THE PEOPLE WERE TAKEN OUT OF LEGISLATION to assure this Roosevelt Institution goal of ending RAMPANT SHORT-TERMISM.
Next decade will bring the building of US cities as International Economic Zones having only global corporate campuses that control every aspect of our lives----and a Trans Pacific Trade Pact that will provide what Stiglitz calls LONG-TERM CORPORATE HEALTH to the ONE WORLD network of global corporations.
When I listen to the 5% to the 1% saying----WAIT A MINUTE---THEY ARE TAKING AWAY CHAIRS FROM THE POWER STRUCTURE THAT MADE THEM THE WALL STREET PLAYER-----what they are seeing is the movement of the global 1% and their 2% into positions of power in our government, committees, commissions previously held by US 5%.
THAT PESKY US CONSTITUTION AND US RULE OF LAW CREATING A GOVERNMENT OF CITIZENS WITH 3 BRANCHES OF GOVERNMENT TO HOLD POWER ACCOUNTABLE WAS CREATING TOO MUCH SHORT-TERMISM.
Below you see what is likely a family connection to our University of Maryland College Park President Loh. His appointment brought our once public university system into what is now 100% global corporate and tied to recruiting students globally. Malaysia has been identified as the worst of International Economic Zones with global factories most abusive and lowest-paying, a brutal dictator, and wealth extremes greater then our Wall Street. Loh now controls what is for Maryland citizens our major PUBLIC university system. Know where free and fair elections and an informed citizens knowing public policy starts? OUR PUBLIC UNIVERSITY SYSTEM. He is installing that global neo-liberal education structure as hard as he can----it's all about the global labor pool!
Loh-keyed but all eyes on Oriental’s Kian Chong
By Doreen Leong
Friday, 02 May 2014, 12:00 AM
At 38, Datuk Loh Kian Chong’s wealth of RM1.3 bil (US$410 mil) makes him Malaysia’s youngest billionaire. Forbes magazine in March ranked him the 36th-richest Malaysian.
Loh’s wealth is not entirely surprising as he is, after all, grandson of the late Tan Sri Loh Boon Siew, also known as Malaysia’s Honda King. Kian Chong’s father is Loh Kar Bee, eldest and only surviving son of Boon Siew.
Just an FYI about Loh's family history-----we see Loh's family leaving China for Peru-----and Peru was taken as an International Economic Zone with all the environmental and labor abuses seen in Malaysia and China. That was Fujimori in the 1990s chased from Peru for his brutality.
Wallace D. Loh
President
University of Maryland
About the President
The University of Maryland is the state's flagship and land-grant institution with 37,500 students in 12 schools and colleges, 9,000 faculty and staff, and a $1.9B annual operating budget, including $500M in external research funding. It is a member of the Association of American Universities.
Loh assumed the position in 2010. Previously, he was Executive Vice President and Provost, The University of Iowa; Dean, College of Arts & Sciences, Seattle University; Director, Executive Policy Office and chief policy adviser to Governor Gary Locke, State of Washington; Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs and Dean of Faculties, University of Colorado-Boulder; Dean, University of Washington Law School.
At Maryland, he is Professor of Public Policy. Previously, he was Professor of Law at Washington, Colorado-Boulder, and Iowa; Visiting Professor of Law at Cornell, Peking University (China), Emory, University of Texas at Austin, University of Houston, and Vanderbilt. His scholarship and teaching are in the areas of law and social change and in criminal justice reform.
Fellow, American Academy of Arts and Sciences; board of directors, American Council of Education; advisory board, U.S. Comptroller General; former advisory board chair, U.S. Department of Homeland Security; “Influential Marylander” (Daily Record); “Power 100” (Washington Business Journal); “Immigrant Achievement Award” (American Immigration Council); former President, Association of American Law Schools; “Trailblazer Award,” National Asian-Pacific American Bar Association; recipient of three honorary degrees.
Born in China, Loh moved with his family to Peru. After high school, he immigrated to the United States and became a naturalized citizen.
Education: Grinnell College, B.A.; Cornell University, M.A.; Universiteit te Leuven (Belgium), graduate study; The University of Michigan, Ph.D.; Yale Law School, J.D.
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1% Wall Street wants citizens to think the rent-seekers are today's corporate lobbyists but Wall Street uses this term for the 99% and their interests. When citizens fight against a global Wall Mart in their community----they are doing RENT-SEEKER actions and have hindered a perfectly good global corporate economic strategy. The rent-seekers are you and me====they are the small business owners trying to stop corporate monopolies from putting them out of business-----they are the citizens fighting against their public schools being closed when a perfectly good policy of installing global neo-liberal education policies handing schooling to global corporate campuses is much better. Don't allow these Wall Street players PRETEND they are fighting the corporate lobbyists. It will be only global corporate lobbyists heard by the global corporate tribunal and courts.
Rent Seekers Fighting Back
Rent Seeking is using political lobbying to increase one's share of existing wealth without creating additional wealth. In many cases, the rent seeker actively prevents new wealth from being created in order to protect their share. The obvious example of rent seekers are patent trolls, but more recently other rent seekers have been in the news.
Car dealerships are a great example of the rent seeking class. Politically influential on a local and state level, car dealerships have after a long history lobbied for and gotten laws that force manufacturers to sell through them rather than directly to the consumer. There isn't a Walmart or Costco of cars because of laws designed to protect dealerships. These laws prevent manufacturers from significantly changing the terms of their relationships with their dealers and requires that they use essentially the same business model that existed before the information age. The Big Three automakers don't just have to contend with a larger union workforce than foreign competitors, they also have to keep doing business through many more of their inefficient existing relationships thanks to car dealership franchise laws that force manufacturers to continue to renew their contracts with dealerships*. This legal monopoly that the dealers have results in a transfer of wealth from consumers and manufacturers to the dealerships. For more detail on this subject, see this paper State Franchise Laws, Dealer Terminations, and the Auto Crisis.
These rent seekers recently won a victory in New Jersey when Tesla's direct sales to consumers were banned. Tesla had no previous existing relationship with dealers, and the existing law does not have provisions to handle a car company selling directly to consumers without giving a cut to some politically connected middlemen so Tesla sales were banned in the state. The mentality of the rent seekers is captured perfectly in this article on The Verge.
"This Musk guy, he wants all the profits for himself," says Tom Dougherty, a 25-year veteran of the business who now works in sales at the BMW dealership in upscale Princeton, New Jersey. "They wanted to go direct, which means no sales force. That’s cutting out a lot of people. No way that’s gonna fly."
Go back to the definition of rent seeking - these dealers think it is perfectly normal for them to insert themselves into a transaction between two parties that have no relationship to them, Tesla and the consumer, and take a cut from that transaction. It would be more efficient in the long run to pay the dealerships and sales people to find new jobs than it would be to continue having them and any future employees muck up the automobile transaction process with their legally protected inefficient local monopolies.
Another group of rent seekers are the owners of taxi medallions. Taxi's are protected from the pressures of a competitive market by a policy that grants them a legal monopoly as long as they operate in a specific manner. Taxi's can't compete on price, and they lobby for restrictions in the number of medallions issued so they weren't forced to compete very much on service quality either. That changed when Uber, Lyft and Sidecar started turning anyone with a car and spare time into potential competitors to taxis.
But a few days ago taxi companies won a victory in Seattle when they restricted the above companies to only having 150 cars active at a time. This limitation will make it very difficult for consumers to efficiently use the services of these companies.
Uber, Lyft, and Sidecar are global corporations while taxis are our local citizens trying to have a business.
It's unfortunate that rent seekers are winning these battles - whenever rent seekers win it means that innovation is delayed and consumers are inconvenienced. All of this happens so that parasites like Tom at the dealership and taxi medallion owners can claim a share of wealth that they are only getting because better people are being kept from performing the same job.
I'M NOT A FAN OF AUTO DEALERSHIPS BUT THE AUTO BAILOUT OCCURRED BECAUSE THE FINANCE ARMS OF THE MAJOR AUTO-MAKERS PARTICIPATED IN AND PROFITED FROM THE SUBPRIME MORTGAGE FRAUD AND ALLOWED THEMSELVES TO BE TAKEN TO BANKRUPTCY FROM BEING SOAKED IN FRAUD. None of this was the auto dealership's fault yet they were pushed out of business by failure to enforce Rule of Law on Wall Street banks to protect the global auto corporations. So, it was the top-level RENT-SEEKER----THE GLOBAL AUTOMOTIVE CORPORATIONS AND NOT THE national car dealership RENT-SEEKERS creating these problems.
*Ironically, during the auto bailout bankruptcy reorganization many Republicans remained either blissfully or willfully ignorant about how car dealerships are inefficient legal monopolies backed by the government. Their continued existence has very little to do with free markets.
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