In the past few days, as the economic crisis has deepened, Senator John McCain has been decrying the excesses of Wall Street. At a campaign rally in Tampa on Tuesday, he vowed that he and Alaska Governor Sarah Palin, if elected, ‘are going to put an end to the reckless conduct, corruption, and unbridled greed that have caused a crisis on Wall Street.’ He noted that the ‘foundation of our economy…has been put at risk by the greed and mismanagement of Wall Street and Washington.’ He blasted CEOs who ‘seem to escape the consequences.’ He denounced Wall Streeters who ‘dreamed up investment schemes that they themselves don’t even understand’ and who used ‘derivatives, credit default swaps, and mortgage-backed securities’ to try ‘to make their own rules.’ He excoriated Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac for gaming the system. And he slammed financial industry lobbyists for misguiding members of Congress. ‘I can promise you the days of dealing and special favors will soon be over in Washington.’ On Wednesday morning, after the federal government committed $85 billion to prevent the collapse of the American International Group (AIG) insurance conglomerate, McCain again assailed irresponsible corporate executives. ‘We need to change the way […]
As the news broke of the Lehman Brothers meltdown and the rest of the latest financial crisis, John McCain, speaking at a campaign rally in Florida on Monday, angrily declared, We will never put America in this position again. We will clean up Wall Street. This is a failure. And in a statement released by his campaign, McCain called for greater ‘transparency and accountability’ on Wall Street. If McCain wants to hold someone accountable for the failure in transparency and accountability that led to the current calamity, he should turn to his good friend and adviser, Phil Gramm. As Mother Jones reported in June, eight years ago, Gramm, then a Republican senator chairing the Senate banking committee, slipped a 262-page bill into a gargantuan, must-pass spending measure. Gramm’s legislation, written with the help of financial industry lobbyists, essentially removed newfangled financial products called swaps from any regulation. Credit default swaps are basically insurance policies that cover the losses on investments, and they have been at the heart of the subprime meltdown because they have enabled large financial institutions to turn risky loans into risky securities that could be packaged and sold to […]
ROCKVILLE, Md. — BPA is used in lightweight, durable plastics. Products include some baby bottles, sippy cups and reusable food and drink containers, such as reusable sports water bottles and Tupperware, compact discs, DVDs, eyeglass lenses and sports safety goggles and helmets. Recyclable, soft plastic bottles made for soft drinks and bottled water don’t contain BPA. Some manufacturers are phasing out BPA in some products and Tupperware’s website says it does not use BPA in children’s products sold in the United States and Canada. BPA is also in epoxy resins used to make paints, adhesives and canned food liners. Government toxicology scientists say that to reduce exposure, people can avoid non-recyclable plastic containers that have the number 7 on the bottom; avoid using these plastics in the microwave, and don’t wash them in the dishwasher with harsh detergents. A hormone-like chemical should be taken out of food packaging, especially baby bottles, infant formula cans and other products used by children and pregnant women, university researchers and consumer advocates told a Food and Drug Administration subcommittee Tuesday. The FDA has said that the chemical, bisphenol A, or BPA, doesn’t pose a risk at the levels […]
Tesla Motors’ second all-electric car, the Model S, is one step closer to reality. On Wednesday morning, the company will announce a deal to lease 89 acres of land in San Jose, Calif. to build a company headquarters and a 600,000-square-foot plant to produce the battery-powered Model S sedan. (The company’s first model, a $109,000 roadster, is assembled in England and California.) ‘This could bring 1,000 green-collar manufacturing jobs, which we’re trying to get back after losing a lot in the bust,’ said San Jose Mayor Chuck Reed. Tesla is the most recent clean technology company to set up manufacturing in Silicon Valley. ‘We have had a change here in the last year in manufacturing jobs, and Tesla is the latest,’ Mr. Reed said, citing thin-film solar companies that are also manufacturing in the region. The Model S will drive on the power from a lithium-ion battery pack and will be able to travel about 200 miles per charge. It will hit the roads at the end of 2010, the San Carlos, Calif., company said, and will sell for around $60,000. That is half the price of the 2010 Tesla Roadster sports car, which has a […]
NEW YORK — In an unprecedented move, the Federal Reserve Board is lending as much as $85 billion to rescue crumbling insurer American International Group, officials announced Tuesday evening. The Fed authorized the Federal Reserve Bank of New York to lend AIG (AIG, Fortune 500) the funds. In return, the federal government will receive a 79.9% stake in the company. Officials decided they had to act lest the nation’s largest insurer file bankruptcy. Such a move would roil world markets since AIG (AIG, Fortune 500) has $1.1 trillion in assets and 74 million clients in 130 countries. An eventual liquidation of the company is most likely, senior Fed officials said. But with the government loan, the company won’t have to go through a tumultuous fire sale. ‘[A] disorderly failure of AIG could add to already significant levels of financial market fragility and lead to substantially higher borrowing costs, reduced household wealth and materially weaker economic performance,’ the Fed said in a statement. The bailout marks the most dramatic turn yet in an expanding crisis that started more than a year ago with the mortgage meltdown. The resulting credit crunch is now toppling not only mainstay […]
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
