Citizens' Oversight Maryland---Maryland Progressives
CINDY WALSH FOR MAYOR OF BALTIMORE----SOCIAL DEMOCRAT
Citizens Oversight Maryland.com
  • Home
  • Cindy Walsh for Mayor of Baltimore
    • Mayoral Election violations
    • Questionnaires from Community >
      • Education Questionnaire
      • Baltimore Housing Questionnaire
      • Emerging Youth Questionnaire
      • Health Care policy for Baltimore
      • Environmental Questionnaires
      • Livable Baltimore questionnaire
      • Labor Questionnnaire
      • Ending Food Deserts Questionnaire
      • Maryland Out of School Time Network
      • LBGTQ Questionnaire
      • Citizen Artist Baltimore Mayoral Forum on Arts & Culture Questionnaire
      • Baltimore Transit Choices Questionnaire
      • Baltimore Activating Solidarity Economies (BASE)
      • Downtown Partnership Questionnaire
      • The Northeast Baltimore Communities Of BelAir Edison Community Association (BECCA )and Frankford Improvement Association, Inc. (FIA)
      • Streets and Transportation/Neighbood Questionnaire
      • African American Tourism and business questionnaire
      • Baltimore Sun Questionnaire
      • City Paper Mayoral Questionnaire
      • Baltimore Technology Com Questionnaire
      • Baltimore Biker's Questionnair
      • Homewood Friends Meeting Questionnaire
      • Baltimore Historical Collaboration---Anthem Project
      • Tubman City News Mayoral Questionnaire
      • Maryland Public Policy Institute Questionnaire
      • AFRO questionnaire
      • WBAL Candidate's Survey
  • Blog
  • Trans Pacific Pact (TPP)
  • Progressive vs. Third Way Corporate Democrats
    • Third Way Think Tanks
  • Financial Reform/Wall Street Fraud
    • Consumer Financial Protection Bureau >
      • CFPB Actions
    • Voted to Repeal Glass-Steagall
    • Federal Reserve >
      • Federal Reserve Actions
    • Securities and Exchange Commission >
      • SEC Actions
    • Commodity Futures Trading Commission >
      • CFTC Actions
    • Office of the Comptroller of the Currency >
      • OCC Actions
    • Office of Treasury/ Inspector General for the Treasury
    • FINRA >
      • FINRA ACTIONS
  • Federal Healthcare Reform
    • Health Care Fraud in the US
    • Health and Human Services Actions
  • Social Security and Entitlement Reform
    • Medicare/Medicaid/SCHIP Actions
  • Federal Education Reform
    • Education Advocates
  • Government Schedules
    • Baltimore City Council
    • Maryland State Assembly >
      • Budget and Taxation Committee
    • US Congress
  • State and Local Government
    • Baltimore City Government >
      • City Hall Actions
      • Baltimore City Council >
        • Baltimore City Council Actions
      • Baltimore Board of Estimates meeting >
        • Board of Estimates Actions
    • Governor's Office >
      • Telling the World about O'Malley
    • Lt. Governor Brown
    • Maryland General Assembly Committees >
      • Communications with Maryland Assembly
      • Budget and Taxation Committees >
        • Actions
        • Pension news
      • Finance Committees >
        • Schedule
      • Business Licensing and Regulation
      • Judicial, Rules, and Nominations Committee
      • Education, Health, and Environmental Affairs Committee >
        • Committee Actions
    • Maryland State Attorney General >
      • Open Meetings Act
      • Maryland Courts >
        • Maryland Court System
    • States Attorney - Baltimore's Prosecutor
    • State Comptroller's Office >
      • Maryland Business Tax Reform >
        • Business Tax Reform Issues
  • Maryland Committee Actions
    • Board of Public Works >
      • Public Works Actions
    • Maryland Public Service Commission >
      • Public Meetings
    • Maryland Health Care Commission/Maryland Community Health Resources Commission >
      • MHCC/MCHRC Actions
    • Maryland Consumer Rights Coalition
  • Maryland and Baltimore Development Organizations
    • Baltimore/Maryland Development History
    • Committee Actions
    • Maryland Development Organizations
  • Maryland State Department of Education
    • Charter Schools
    • Public Schools
    • Algebra Project Award
  • Baltimore City School Board
    • Charter Schools >
      • Charter Schools---Performance
      • Charter School Issues
    • Public Schools >
      • Public School Issues
  • Progressive Issues
    • Fair and Balanced Elections
    • Labor Issues
    • Rule of Law Issues >
      • Rule of Law
    • Justice issues 2
    • Justice Issues
    • Progressive Tax Reform Issues >
      • Maryland Tax Reform Issues
      • Baltimore Tax Reform Issues
    • Strong Public Education >
      • Corporate education reform organizations
    • Healthcare for All Issues >
      • Universal Care Bill by state
  • Building Strong Media
    • Media with a Progressive Agenda (I'm still checking on that!) >
      • anotherangryvoice.blogspot.com
      • "Talk About It" Radio - WFBR 1590AM Baltimore
      • Promethius Radio Project
      • Clearing the Fog
      • Democracy Now
      • Black Agenda Radio
      • World Truth. TV Your Alternative News Network.
      • Daily Censured
      • Bill Moyers Journal
      • Center for Public Integrity
      • Public Radio International
      • Baltimore Brew
      • Free Press
    • Far Left/Socialist Media
    • Media with a Third Way Agenda >
      • MSNBC
      • Center for Media and Democracy
      • Public Radio and TV >
        • NPR and MPT News
      • TruthOut
  • Progressive Organizations
    • Political Organizations >
      • Progressives United
      • Democracy for America
    • Labor Organizations >
      • United Workers
      • Unite Here Local 7
      • ROC-NY works to build power and win justice
    • Justice Organizations >
      • APC Baltimore
      • Occupy Baltimore
    • Rule of Law Organizations >
      • Bill of Rights Defense Committee
      • National Lawyers Guild
      • National ACLU
    • Tax Reform Organizations
    • Healthcare for All Organizations >
      • Healthcare is a Human Right - Maryland
      • PNHP Physicians for a National Health Program
      • Healthcare NOW- Maryland
    • Public Education Organizations >
      • Parents Across America
      • Philadelphia Public School Notebook thenotebook.org
      • Chicago Teachers Union/Blog
      • Ed Wize Blog
      • Educators for a Democratic Union
      • Big Education Ape
    • Elections Organizations >
      • League of Women Voters
  • Progressive Actions
    • Labor Actions
    • Justice Actions
    • Tax Reform Actions >
      • Baltimore Tax Actions
      • Maryland Tax Reform Actions
    • Healthcare Actions
    • Public Education Actions
    • Rule of Law Actions >
      • Suing Federal and State government
    • Free and Fair Elections Actions
  • Maryland/Baltimore Voting Districts - your politicians and their votes
    • 2014 ELECTION OF STATE OFFICES
    • Maryland Assembly/Baltimore
  • Petitions, Complaints, and Freedom of Information Requests
    • Complaints - Government and Consumer >
      • Sample Complaints
    • Petitions >
      • Sample Petitions
    • Freedom of Information >
      • Sample Letters
  • State of the Democratic Party
  • Misc
    • WBFF TV
    • WBAL TV
    • WJZ TV
    • WMAR TV
    • WOLB Radio---Radio One
    • The Gazette
    • Baltimore Sun Media Group
  • Misc 2
    • Maryland Public Television
    • WYPR
    • WEAA
    • Maryland Reporter
  • Misc 3
    • University of Maryland
    • Morgan State University
  • Misc 4
    • Baltimore Education Coalition
    • BUILD Baltimore
    • Church of the Great Commission
    • Maryland Democratic Party
    • Pennsylvania Avenue AME Zion Church
    • Maryland Municipal League
    • Maryland League of Women Voters
  • Untitled
  • Untitled
  • Standard of Review
  • Untitled
  • WALSH FOR GOVERNOR - CANDIDATE INFORMATION AND PLATFORM
    • Campaign Finance/Campaign donations
    • Speaking Events
    • Why Heather Mizeur is NOT a progressive
    • Campaign responses to Community Organization Questionnaires
    • Cindy Walsh vs Maryland Board of Elections >
      • Leniency from court for self-representing plaintiffs
      • Amended Complaint
      • Plaintiff request for expedited trial date
      • Response to Motion to Dismiss--Brown, Gansler, Mackie, and Lamone
      • Injunction and Mandamus
      • DECISION/APPEAL TO SPECIAL COURT OF APPEALS---Baltimore City Circuit Court response to Cindy Walsh complaint >
        • Brief for Maryland Court of Special Appeals >
          • Cover Page ---yellow
          • Table of Contents
          • Table of Authorities
          • Leniency for Pro Se Representation
          • Statement of Case
          • Questions Presented
          • Statement of Facts
          • Argument
          • Conclusion/Font and Type Size
          • Record Extract
          • Appendix
          • Motion for Reconsideration
          • Response to Defendants Motion to Dismiss
          • Motion to Reconsider Dismissal
      • General Election fraud and recount complaints
    • Cindy Walsh goes to Federal Court for Maryland election violations >
      • Complaints filed with the FCC, the IRS, and the FBI
      • Zapple Doctrine---Media Time for Major Party candidates
      • Complaint filed with the US Justice Department for election fraud and court irregularities.
      • US Attorney General, Maryland Attorney General, and Maryland Board of Elections are charged with enforcing election law
      • Private media has a responsibility to allow access to all candidates in an election race. >
        • Print press accountable to false statement of facts
      • Polling should not determine a candidate's viability especially if the polling is arbitrary
      • Viability of a candidate
      • Public media violates election law regarding do no damage to candidate's campaign
      • 501c3 Organizations violate election law in doing no damage to a candidate in a race >
        • 501c3 violations of election law-----private capital
      • Voter apathy increases when elections are not free and fair
  • Maryland Board of Elections certifies election on July 10, 2014
  • Maryland Elections ---2016

September 17th, 2012

9/17/2012

0 Comments

 
VOTE FOR WRITE-IN CANDIDATES THIS NOVEMBER FOR CARDIN, SARBANES, AND CUMMINGS!!!



I SENT THAT BLOG TO ALL MY POLITICIANS, TO PUBLIC SERVICE ORGANIZATIONS, AND THE MEDIA.  DO YOU HEAR ANYONE SHOUTING ABOUT SOMETHING THAT ANYBODY CAN SEE IS CRIMINAL AND CORRUPT?  IF YOUR LABOR AND JUSTICE ORGANIZATION LEADERS ARE NOT SHOUTING AND FINDING CANDIDATES TO RUN AGAINST INCUMBENTS.......

THEY ARE NOT WORKING FOR THE MIDDLE/LOWER CLASS!  THEY ARE CORPORATE POLITICIANS ....

VOTE THEM OUT OF OFFICE!!!

YOU WILL NOTICE THAT THE NURSES UNION HAS BEEN VERY VOCAL IN THESE PROTESTS.....THIS IS WHY.

BELOW YOU'LL SEE AN ARTICLE THAT SPEAKS TO THE AMOUNT OF MONEY OWED TO ALL LEVELS OF GOVERNMENT FROM THE MASSIVE FRAUD.  IT IS TOO INCREDIBLE TO IGNORE.  IT IS NOT A MATTER OF TRILLIONS STOLEN BUT ALSO TRILLIONS IN DAMAGES.  WE HAVE NO BUDGET DEFICITS......THERE IS NO NEED TO CUT HEALTH AND OTHER PROGRAMS.....YOUR ELECTED OFFICIAL IS DOING IT BECAUSE HE/SHE WANTS TO.

WE SAY THREE TROUBLING THINGS FROM MY LAST BLOG:

1)  THE QUALITY OF CARE WILL BE HORRENDOUS.
2)  THE HEALTH CARE WORKERS WILL BE EXPLOITED
3)  MASSIVE FRAUD IS IN THE PLANNING

WE ARE HEARING THAT HEALTH CARE AND TECHNOLOGY ARE THE NEXT GROWING JOB MARKET.  YOU HEAR O'MALLEY ASKING WHY MORE PEOPLE AREN'T SIGNING UP FOR THESE FEDERAL GRANTS FOR NEW MEDICAL CAREER 'COLLEGES'?  WHY AREN'T PARENTS SENDING THEIR CHILDREN TO HOPKINS' TRAINING CAMP K-12 CHARTERS?

COULD IT BE THAT NO ONE WANTS TO BE AN IMPOVERISHED INDEPENDENT CONTRACTOR?  IT IS IMPORTANT TO SEE WHERE THIS GOES.  THIS SENTIMENT IS EXACTLY WHY THERE ARE PLANS TO BRING IN THIRD WORLD WORKERS.  REMEMBER, WE HAVE THE MONEY TO HAVE THE BEST HEALTH CARE IN THE WORLD FOR EVERYONE....IT HAS BEEN STOLEN AND WE NEED TO BRING IT BACK TO THE ECONOMY.


IT IS WORTHWHILE TO READ THIS ANALYSIS BY THE INSTITUTE OF HEALTH AS IT GIVES US AN IDEA OF THE APPROACH THEY WILL TAKE IN REFORM.  WHEN THEY SAY WASTE......WE KNOW THERE IS PLENTY.....WE WANT TO BE SURE THE SERVICES CUT ARE NOT CRITICAL CARE.  YOU CAN BET THERE WILL BE ATTEMPTS TO SIMPLY CUT WHAT IS EXPENSIVE RATHER THAN PROFITABLE.  MOST OF ALL, WE REALIZE THAT SENDING ALL THIS HEALTH BUSINESS OUT TO PRIVATE CONTRACTORS WILL NOT FIX THE PROBLEMS....IT WILL HEIGHTEN THE PROBLEM.

How Broken Is The U.S. Health Care System? Let's Count The Ways by Scott Hensley  NPR   September 7, 2012

  Just about everybody who's ever needed health care in this country has seen firsthand the problems that make our system inefficient, costly and often downright unsatisfying.

The nonpartisan Institute of Medicine just put out a 450-page report about the problems along with some ideas for improvements.

How bad are things? Well, nearly a third of spending on health care — or about $750 billion in 2009 — is wasted (I dare say wasted involves much fraud). There's lots of inefficiency, excess overhead and some outright fraud, too. But the biggest slice, as you can see in a chart from The Atlantic's Brian Fung, is unnecessary care — about 28 percent of the waste pie.

Money's not the only issue. Poor quality hurts patients. The report, called "Best Care at Lower Cost: The Path to Continuously Learning Health Care in America," says that about 75,000 deaths a year might be prevented if the type of medicine practiced in the best states was the standard nationwide.

The numbers and technical details in the report could really glaze your eyes in a hurry. So it was nice to see a passage in the introduction that boils down the problems into some analogies. I've boiled them down some more and offer them up to you for a vote. Which one does the best job of conveying the routine screw-ups in health care?


____________________________________________________________


THERE IT IS ......................THE DEMOCRATS ARE DUMBFOUNDED TO FIND THAT MOST FAMILIES WON'T BE ABLE TO AFFORD HEALTH CARE WITH THE HEALTH CARE REFORM.  THIS IS A THIRD WAY POLICY THAT THEY SUPPORT.  THEY KNEW MOST PEOPLE WOULD BE OUT OF THE LOOP.  WE ALL CAN SEE THAT IF THIS IS LEFT TO STAND 65-75% OF AMERICANS WILL BE GETTING THIS 'MEDICAID' LEVEL OF CARE.

WE WANT PUBLIC OPTION/UNIVERSAL CARE AND WE WANT OUR MONEY BACK!!

Ambiguity in Health Law Could Make Family Coverage Too Costly for Many
By ROBERT PEAR Published: August 11, 2012 New York Times


WASHINGTON — The new health care law is known as the Affordable Care Act. But Democrats in Congress and advocates for low-income people say coverage may be unaffordable for millions of Americans because of a cramped reading of the law by the administration and by the Internal Revenue Service in particular.

Under rules proposed by the service, some working-class families would be unable to afford family coverage offered by their employers, and yet they would not qualify for subsidies provided by the law.

The fight revolves around how to define “affordable” under provisions of the law that are ambiguous. The definition could have huge practical consequences, affecting who gets help from the government in buying health insurance.

Under the law, most Americans will be required to have health insurance starting in 2014. Low- and middle-income people can get tax credits and other subsidies to help pay their premiums, unless they have access to affordable coverage from an employer.

The law specifies that employer-sponsored insurance is not affordable if a worker’s share of the premium is more than 9.5 percent of the worker’s household income. The I.R.S. says this calculation should be based solely on the cost of individual coverage for the employee, what the worker would pay for “self-only coverage.”

Critics say the administration should also take account of the costs of covering a spouse and children because family coverage typically costs much more.

In 2011, according to an annual survey by the Kaiser Family Foundation, premiums for employer-sponsored health insurance averaged $5,430 a year for single coverage and $15,070 for family coverage. The employee’s share of the premium averaged $920 for individual coverage and more than four times as much, $4,130, for family coverage.

Under the I.R.S. proposal, such costs would be deemed affordable for a family making $35,000 a year, even though the family would have to spend 12 percent of its income for full coverage under the employer’s plan.

The debate over the meaning of affordable pits the Obama administration against its usual allies. Many people who support the new law said the proposed rules could leave millions of people in the lower middle class uninsured and frustrate the intent of Congress, which was to expand coverage.

“The effect of this wrong interpretation of the law will be that many families remain or potentially become uninsured,” said a letter to the administration from Democrats who pushed the bill through the House in 2009-10. The lawmakers include Representatives Henry A. Waxman of California and Sander M. Levin of Michigan.

Bruce Lesley, the president of First Focus, a child advocacy group, said: “This is a serious glitch. Under the proposal, millions of children and families would be unable to obtain affordable coverage in the workplace, but ineligible for subsidies to buy private insurance in the exchanges” to be established in each state.

Businesses dislike the idea of insurance mandates and penalties, but said the I.R.S. had correctly interpreted the law.

“Employers who offer health coverage do so primarily on behalf of their employees,” said Kathryn Wilber, a lawyer at the American Benefits Council, which represents many Fortune 500 companies. “Although many employers do provide family coverage to full-time employees, many do not.”

The I.R.S. issued final rules for the health insurance premium tax credit in May, but deferred its final decision on the affordability of family coverage.

Sabrina Siddiqui, a Treasury Department spokeswoman, said, “We welcome comments from stakeholders and consumer groups and look forward to continuing to work with them to implement these rules and to ensure families get the affordable care they need.”

The administration is trying to strike a balance. If the rules allow more people to qualify for subsidies, it would increase costs to the federal government. If the rules require employers to provide affordable coverage to dependents as well as workers, it would increase costs for many employers.

Wayne Goodwin, a Democrat who is the insurance commissioner of North Carolina, said the proposed federal policy would create a hardship for many state employees.

North Carolina pays all or nearly all of the premium for health insurance covering state government employees, but it has never paid the cost for their dependents, Mr. Goodwin said.


“The average salary of North Carolina state employees is about $41,000,” Mr. Goodwin added, “and the cost of family coverage in the basic plan is $516 a month, which is not affordable for many state employees. Because employee-only coverage for this plan is provided at no cost to the employee, based on the proposed regulations, all family members would be prohibited from obtaining subsidies through the exchange.” Related
Dr. David I. Bromberg, a spokesman for the American Academy of Pediatrics, said, “The I.R.S.’s interpretation of the law could unravel much of the progress that has been made in covering children in recent years.”

The Service Employees International Union said the proposal “discriminates against marriage and families.”

Some of the most important provisions of the law will be carried out by the I.R.S. Besides offering tax credits to individuals and families, it will impose tax penalties on people who go without insurance and on businesses that do not offer it.

The agency said its reading of the law was supported by the Congressional Joint Committee on Taxation. The health care rules were drafted by “our legal experts — career civil servants who are some of the best tax lawyers in the world,” said Douglas H. Shulman, the I.R.S. commissioner.

The law says an employer with 50 or more full-time employees may be subject to a tax penalty if it fails to offer coverage to “its full-time employees (and their dependents).” However, more than two years after President Obama signed the law, the employer’s obligation to dependents is unclear.

In explaining how the penalty is to be computed, the law does not mention dependents. Employers pay a penalty only if one or more full-time employees receive subsidies.

Companies are less likely to offer or pay for coverage of dependents in industries with low wages and high turnover, like restaurants.

Some employers and members of Congress have suggested a possible compromise. The government would still look at the cost of “self-only coverage” in deciding whether insurance was affordable to an employee. If family coverage under the employer’s plan was too expensive, a family could get subsidies to buy insurance for dependents in the exchange, and the employer would not be penalized.

_____________________________________________________

Thank you for placing this back into the public. As we listen to our state and local politicians trying to pretend there is a budget deficit that requires everything public downsize and public employees driven to poverty, we need to shout loudly and strongly that it is a deficit of justice we are experiencing ........trillions in fraud and the damages caused from criminal activity coming from the banks is all we need to get America on the right track. We need to elect honest politicians which means.....

vote your incumbent out of office!



How much did the financial crisis cost us? $12.8 trillion, one group says
Posted by Suzy Khimm on September 16, 2012 at 1:00 pm  Washington Post

Is it even possible to tally up the total impact of the financial crisis? Better Markets tried to give it a shot and puts the price tag at “no less than $12.8 trillion.”

(Richard Drew / AP)

Better Markets, a non-profit that’s pushing for stricter rules on Wall Street, explains its calculations in a new report: $7.6 trillion is the estimated actual GDP lost between 2008 and 2018—what the country’s output would have been had the financial meltdown not occurred, according to data from the Federal Reserve Bank in St. Louis and forecasts from the Congressional Budget Office.

The remaining $5.2 trillion is GDP loss that was avoided, but only because it was prevented by the “extraordinarily fiscal and monetary policy actions” by the government during the crisis.

The report calls the $12.8 trillion price tag a “very conservative” figure, as it doesn’t include a host of other costs, some of which can’t be readily quantified: the conversion of investment banks like Goldman Sachs into bank holding companies that receive “full access to federal support for regulated banks” and the destruction of human capital through long-term mass unemployment, for example.

Better Markets produced partly as a response to industry-favored “cost-benefit analysis” of financial regulations that fails to take into account the very cost of the crisis itself. The group also stresses that “absent an understanding of the true costs of the financial and economic crises, a sense of complacency can arise and a lack of urgency to take action to prevent such crises from happening again, especially as the memory of these events and their impact fades.”
_____________________________________________

NOW,  I'M MAD ENOUGH TO CALL THE SACKING OF THE US ECONOMY THROUGH FRAUD 'TREASON' AND 'TERRORISM'.... AS IT IS.  IF AN OUTSIDE AGENT HAD DONE WHAT US BANKS DID TO THE AMERICAN PEOPLE THEY WOULD BE TRIED IN US COURTS FOR JUST THAT.

BELOW WE SEE AN INTERNATIONAL VIEW OF THE US AS CORRUPT AS ANY THIRD WORLD COUNTRY AND THE FAILURE TO REFORM THE BANKS AT ALL WILL ONLY MAKE YOU AND I CONSTANTLY FIGHTING TO RECOVER.

THIS IS WHY OUR HEALTH CARE IS EXPENSIVE, IT IS WHY OUR SOCIAL SECURITY IS UNDER ATTACK, WHY OUR SCHOOLS ARE UNDER ATTACK BY WALL STREET.

MARYLAND HAS THE SAME INCUMBENTS IN OFFICE THROUGHOUT THIS DEBACLE......STOP SENDING THEM BACK

VOTE YOUR INCUMBENT OUT OF OFFICE!!!


Money market mutual funds The SEC's dereliction of duty
Sep 7th 2012, 16:48 by M.C.K. | WASHINGTON



The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission is supposed to “protect investors, maintain fair, orderly, and efficient markets, and facilitate capital formation.” It is odd, then, that the regulatory body decided last week to preserve one of the most egregious loopholes in the entire financial system. Money market mutual funds were effectively declared “Too Big to Fail” by the authorities in 2008 yet remain wholly unregulated. They are the rotten core of the shadow banking system—providing ridiculously cheap leverage to speculators courtesy of the American taxpayer.

Money market funds were created to get around bad regulations. Until the 1980s, banks were limited by law on how much interest they could pay to depositors. The thinking was that the financial system would be safer if banks did not have to do anything risky or competitive to earn a profit. Thus the government suppressed funding costs and bankers got to live the 3-6-3 lifestyle: pay 3% on deposits, earn 6% on loans, and leave the office in time to tee off at 3 in the afternoon. It is not a surprise that bankers accepted relatively strict supervision and international capital controls under these circumstances.

This arrangement broke down when inflation accelerated in the late 1960s. Faced with negative real interest rates on their deposits, savers pulled their money out of the banking system and put it to work in the short-term debt markets, which offered better returns.[*] Money market mutual funds were the vehicles of this “disintermediation.” These unregulated instruments pretend to offer the same features as regulated checking accounts (stable value and access to the payments system) while paying higher interest rates. In reality, they issue shares to investors and use the funds to purchase commercial paper and t-bills. Sometimes they lend out their securities in the repo markets. Unlike banks, money funds do not shield savers from losses with an equity cushion, much less a government-backed insurance program like the FDIC. Money funds also have no formal relationship with the lender of last resort in case “depositors” ever try to redeem their shares in large numbers.

The funny thing about the multi-trillion dollar money fund industry is that most of its business involves lending to the big banks, including investment banks and foreign banks: about three-quarters of the U.S. commercial paper market funds financial firms rather than the real sector. The perceived safety of money market accounts allows speculators to fund their positions cheaply. When the bankers’ bets go right, nobody notices that the system “rests on quicksand,” as the FT’s John Gapper artfully put it. The truth only becomes apparent when things start to go south.

In 2008, the Reserve Primary Fund, the oldest of the American money funds, was stuck with losses on its $785 million portfolio of Lehman Brothers debt. Unable to maintain the charade that its shares would always be worth $1, investors fled and the Reserve Primary Fund was forced to dissolve. This untimely demise created a panic. According to the Investment Company Institute, a trade body, more than $134 billion left money funds in less than two weeks. Only the unprecedented extension of the Treasury’s safety net—a full guarantee of all the savings held in money funds—stopped the bleeding:

Ironically, the low short-term interest rates established by the major developed world central banks since 2009 have caused nearly $1.5 trillion to bleed out of money funds—far more than left during the panic:

After the crisis was over, the money markets were an area that seemed worthy of further scrutiny. Like asset-backed securities before them, they had appeared boring and safe when they were actually a large source of hidden risk. The industry, however, put up an unprecedented lobbying campaign against the SEC. As a result, it was able to avoid any changes the existing rules, even though they had proven so hopelessly inadequate prior to the crisis. How could this have happened? An excellent and detailed investigative report by Bloomberg provides an answer: the SEC is a captured organization whose employees regularly alternate between government and lobbying on behalf of the firms the SEC is meant to keep in line. It is not right to call this a “revolving door,” since that implies some kind pause while going from one side to the other.

Let’s be clear. If the events described in the Bloomberg article happened in China, everyone would immediately (and rightly) decry cronyism and corruption. Why not do the same here?


[*] Gradually, the rules on deposit rates (Regulation Q) were relaxed so that banks could pay fair prices for short-term funds. Unfortunately, these prices were higher than the interest rates on their old long-dated assets because of inflation. Despite many law changes and acts of “regulatory forbearance,” this process ended up destroying the thrift industry.




0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Author

    Cindy Walsh is a lifelong political activist and academic living in Baltimore, Maryland.

    Archives

    April 2019
    March 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    September 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    April 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012

    Categories

    All
    2014 Economic Crash
    21st Century Economy
    Affordable Care Act
    Affordable Care Act
    Alec
    Americorp/VISTA
    Anthony Brown
    Anthony Brown
    Anti Incumbant
    Anti-incumbant
    Anti Incumbent
    Anti Incumbent
    Attacking The Post Office Union
    Baltimore And Cronyism
    Baltimore Board Of Estimates
    Baltimore Board Of Estimates
    Baltimore Development Corp
    Baltimore Development Corp
    Baltimore Recall/Retroactive Term Limits
    Bank Fraud
    Bank Fraud
    Bank Of America
    Bank Settlement
    Bank-settlement
    B Corporations
    Bgeexelon Mergerf59060c411
    Brookings Institution
    Business Tax Credits
    California Charter Expansion
    Cardin
    Career Colleges
    Career Colleges Replacing Union Apprenticeships
    Charters
    Charter School
    Collection Agencies
    Common Core
    Consumer Financial Protection Bureau
    Consumer-financial-protection-bureau
    Corporate Media
    Corporate-media
    Corporate Oversight
    Corporate-oversight
    Corporate Politicians
    Corporate-politicians
    Corporate Rule
    Corporate-rule
    Corporate Taxes
    Corporate-taxes
    Corporate Tax Reform
    Corporatizing Us Universities
    Cost-benefit-analysis
    Credit Crisis
    Credit-crisis
    Cummings
    Department Of Education
    Department Of Justice
    Department-of-justice
    Derivatives Reform
    Development
    Dismantling Public Justice
    Dodd Frank
    Doddfrankbba4ff090a
    Doug Gansler
    Doug-gansler
    Ebdi
    Education Funding
    Education Reform
    Edwards
    Election Reform
    Election-reform
    Elections
    Emigration
    Energy-sector-consolidation-in-maryland
    Enterprise Zones
    Equal Access
    Estate Taxes
    European Crisis
    Expanded And Improved Medicare For All
    Expanded-and-improved-medicare-for-all
    Failure To Prosecute
    Failure-to-prosecute
    Fair
    Fair And Balanced Elections
    Fair-and-balanced-elections
    Farm Bill
    Federal Election Commissionelection Violationsmaryland
    Federal Election Commissionelection Violationsmarylandd20a348918
    Federal-emergency-management-agency-fema
    Federal Reserve
    Financial Reform Bill
    Food Safety Not In Tpp
    For Profit Education
    Forprofit-education
    Fracking
    Fraud
    Freedom Of Press And Speech
    Frosh
    Gambling In Marylandbaltimore8dbce1f7d2
    Granting Agencies
    Greening Fraud
    Gun Control Policy
    Healthcare For All
    Healthcare-for-all
    Health Enterprise Zones
    High Speed Rail
    Hoyer
    Imf
    Immigration
    Incarceration Bubble
    Incumbent
    Incumbents
    Innovation Centers
    Insurance Industry Leverage And Fraud
    International Criminal Court
    International Trade Deals
    International-trade-deals
    Jack Young
    Jack-young
    Johns Hopkins
    Johns-hopkins
    Johns Hopkins Medical Systems
    Johns-hopkins-medical-systems
    Kaliope Parthemos
    Labor And Justice Law Under Attack
    Labor And Wages
    Lehmann Brothers
    Living Wageunionspolitical Action0e39f5c885
    Maggie McIntosh
    Maggie-mcintosh
    Martin O'Malley
    Martin O'Malley
    Martin-omalley
    Martin-omalley8ecd6b6eb0
    Maryland Health Co Ops
    Maryland-health-co-ops
    Maryland-health-co-ops1f77692967
    Maryland Health Coopsccd73554da
    Maryland Judiciary
    Marylandnonprofits
    Maryland Non Profits
    Maryland Nonprofits2509c2ca2c
    Maryland Public Service Commission
    Maryland State Bar Association
    Md Credit Bondleverage Debt441d7f3605
    Media
    Media Bias
    Media-bias
    Medicaremedicaid
    Medicaremedicaid8416fd8754
    Mental Health Issues
    Mental-health-issues
    Mers Fraud
    Mikulski
    Military Privatization
    Minority Unemploymentunion And Labor Wagebaltimore Board Of Estimates4acb15e7fa
    Municipal Debt Fraud
    Ndaa-indefinite-detention
    Ndaaindefinite Detentiond65cc4283d
    Net Neutrality
    New Economy
    New-economy
    Ngo
    Non Profit To Profit
    Nonprofit To Profitb2d6cb4b41
    Nsa
    O'Malley
    Odette Ramos
    Omalley
    O'Malley
    Open Meetings
    Osha
    Patronage
    Pension-benefit-guaranty-corp
    Pension Funds
    Pension-funds
    Police Abuse
    Private-and-public-pension-fraud
    Private Health Systemsentitlementsprofits Over People
    Private Health Systemsentitlementsprofits Over People6541f468ae
    Private Non Profits
    Private-non-profits
    Private Nonprofits50b33fd8c2
    Privatizing Education
    Privatizing Government Assets
    Privatizing-the-veterans-admin-va
    Privitizing Public Education
    Progressive Policy
    Progressive Taxes Replace Regressive Policy
    Protections Of The People
    Protections-of-the-people
    Public Education
    Public Funding Of Private Universities
    Public Housing Privatization
    Public-libraries-privatized-or-closed
    Public Private Partnerships
    Public-private-partnerships
    Public Transportation Privatization
    Public Utilities
    Rapid Bus Network
    Rawlings Blake
    Rawlings-blake
    Rawlingsblake1640055471
    Real Progressives
    Reit-real-estate-investment-trusts
    Reitreal Estate Investment Trustsa1a18ad402
    Repatriation Taxes
    Rule Of Law
    Rule-of-law
    Ruppersberger
    SAIC AND INTERNATIONAL SECURITY
    Sarbanes
    S Corp Taxes
    Selling Public Datapersonal Privacy
    Smart Meters
    Snowden
    Social Security
    Sovereign Debt Fraudsubprime Mortgage Fraudmortgage Fraud Settlement
    Sovereign Debt Fraudsubprime Mortgage Fraudmortgage Fraud Settlement0d62c56e69
    Statistics As Spin
    Statistics-as-spin
    Student-corps
    Subprime Mortgage Fraud
    Subprime-mortgage-fraud
    Surveillance And Security
    Sustainability
    Teachers
    Teachers Unions2bc448afc8
    Teach For America
    Teach For America
    Technology Parks
    Third Way Democrats/new Economy/public Union Employees/public Private Patnerships/government Fraud And Corruption
    Third Way Democratsnew Economypublic Union Employeespublic Private Patnershipsgovernment Fraud And Corruption
    Third-way-democratsnew-economypublic-union-employeespublic-private-patnershipsgovernment-fraud-and-corruptionc10a007aee
    Third Way/neo Liberals
    Third-wayneo-liberals
    Third-wayneo-liberals5e1e6d4716
    Third Wayneoliberals7286dda6aa
    Tifcorporate Tax Breaks2d87bba974
    Tpp
    Transportation Inequity In Maryland
    Union Busting
    Unionbusting0858fddb8b
    Unions
    Unionsthird Waypost Officealec3c887e7815
    Universities
    Unreliable Polling
    Unreliable-polling
    Van Hollen
    Van-hollen
    VEOLA Environment -privatization Of Public Water
    Veterans
    War Against Women And Children
    War-against-women-and-children
    Youth Works

    RSS Feed

Powered by Create your own unique website with customizable templates.