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POLITICALSOLUTIONS.INFO
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Get your free removable window sticker, at no cost to
you, by E-mailing me your mailing address to: jmarinoesq@netzero.com
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Lets get rid of the present members of Congress.
Send a message by displaying this removable
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Welcome to my website and blog: I use
this site as my method to share my political views and solutions to issues that most concern everyone in the U.S. today. You
can expect me to write about a new subject ever few days or so. I invite you to voice your ideas and help me solve our
national problems. Unlike congress, I will listen to your concerns and together, we can act with our votes. About me: I have 85 years of life experience involving
solving problems. I'm a retired attorney, living in Florida. Andy Looney is my pen name because I just might be
"looney" to think the American people can solve these long standing problems in America. We know congress hasn't
been able and continues to not be able to for years. I welcome your comments, so let's start some dialog people!
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Wednesday, February 25, 2009
THE ONE PROBLEM IN THE ECONOMY NO POLITICIAN WANTS
TO TALK ABOUT OR CORRECT 2/20/2009 The president and congress have already passed or addressed the problems
with bank and lending institution instability, the American economic downturn by passing a stimulus package. Now
they are planning to address the defaulting mortgage problem along with an acceptable plan to aid the ailing domestic auto
industry. All these actions make a lot of sense to help stimulate the economy and to relieve our rising
unemployment problem by finding temporary and permanent jobs for the half million persons losing their jobs monthly. However, the
first and longest lasting problem of gasoline and fuel oil prices has been ignored for thirty-five years without any suggestions
of corrections. Yes, you, Mr. president, have earmarked some funds for alternative energy sources but this
amount is picayune compared to this nagging problem. We should finally decide to end the control that the
mid east, Venezuelan and local oil producers have imposed on Americans all these years with unjustified and sometime crippling
rises in fuel prices. We need a quick fix or suffer until we can rid ourselves of this dependence on oil
first, such a move will save us about a trillion dollars in our trade deficit, which is like throwing our money overseas never
to return. Next we need to pressure the domestic oil companies to hold the line on profits and to find
a way to stabilize gas and oil prices or risk the alternative of domestic oil price controls. Even today,
with the record of high and low prices, over the last two years, while domestic oil companies have reaped shameful excess
profits, they have been the major cause of a collapse in the new vehicle market, while they artificially rigged the price
of diesel fuel used by trucks that are the main vehicles of transportation in our country. The price of
diesel is directly related to the price of food in our supermarkets furniture and other services dependent on transportation.
Truckers are ready to park their trucks because of the cost of fuel. It is for that reason, in addition
for the economy, that these prices and home fuel prices must be immediately stabilized, as part of the plan to lift our economy
which lies dead on the floor we need immediate help for most unemployed workers and families who depend on gasoline to
drive to work, feed their families, heat their homes and survive in this mobile economy. One thing that can and must
be done immediately is to remove the futures on oil and gas from the gyrations of the American stock market. This
futures market has been abused by investors looking for quick profits in the market at the expense of the American people.
Next, the president and congress must set the stage for open and fair competition among all energy producers, since
prices should only be governed by the principal of honest supply and demand, not rigged conditions and motivation for excess
profits. The veiled threat of price controls may be all that is necessary to bring reality to these domestic
oil companies short of nationalizing of all sources of energy in this country to get the job done. Of course,
no domestic oil company should be allowed to be in the alternative energy business in order to have open and free competitiveness
in the marketplace.
This problem with the stabilization of gasoline and fuel oil prices should be their next prioritized problem to solve
since it is entwined and vital to the recovery effort. Congress may have a problem addressing this problem
because of the influence of lobbyists but they must give way to the will of the American people or suffer the consequences
at the polls at the next congressional election. The American public is wary of the
bank bailout bill and apprehensive about the stimulus bill recently authored by congress. They are not
very sympathetic with the domestic auto company’s plight, but realize an attempt must be made to save them, if labor
and their unions cooperate in the effort and become part of the solution instead of part of the problem as they have been
for the last fifty years. We, the people, do not envy your task, but feel you will help us find our way through
these crises as America has done in the past. All Americans must put their hearts and minds to the task
and contribute in the ways they can to succeed, as we all must succeed to survive and put America and us on the right course
for the future, congress must economize, too. We
appreciate the efforts of the president and the congress, even if we don’t agree on some details. It
is obvious to everyone that there are many roads to success, and, it is not always discernable which road will get us there
the quickest. The American people will keep their patience, as long as they feel you are listening
to their complaints and that you always keep their best interest in your heart and mind as you will and must.
Monday, February 23, 2009
THE VOTERS’ TEN MOST IMPORTANT CHANGES
TO
REFORM CONGRESSTO HELP THE U.S. ECONOMY Congress and its majority
of members have sat idly by and either
caused this economic mess or are responsible for not helping the recovery.
Unless congress comes to grips with their many failings, they are doomed to
repeat them. First
of all, congress never should have voted to end the in place control’s over the financial institutions and the Fanny
Mae and Freddy Mack agencies.
Secondly, to compound the problem, last fall when president Bush and treasury secretary Paulson made an emergency demand
for a 700 billion dollar bailout of these banks and lending institutions who caused this mess in the first place, they should
have had the sense and experience to vote no. To add insult to injury, congress not only voted
the treasurer that money without any controls on how and where the money should be spent as they were required to do under
their constitutional powers, they added about 50 billion dollars of pork projects onto the bill. When
everyone realized that Paulson had a carte blanche on how the money would be spend and refused to account for the money, they
vowed to correct this problem when the $350 billion dollar balance was released to the incoming administration.
Instead, congress recently voted to release this huge sum on the same terms as the last and, as a result no one but
the treasury department knows where the money is going, except the promise to use 100 billion of these fund for “mortgage
foreclosure relief.” If this is an
example of fiscal responsibility and the competence of congress it is easy to realize why congress is held in lower esteem
than the outgoing president Bush. This situation is not new, it has been going on for about ten years
while congress won the reputation of a do nothing congress when it comes to solving problems. It is abundantly clear that congress members are more interested in raising
funds for their re-election campaigns then doing anything worthwhile, while sitting in session. The bickering between the political parties
seems to take center stage on everything proposed and discussed in congress while all votes seem to be along party lines instead
of what may be right for the American people. This last election saw a rather large turnover of congressmen, as did
the election of 2006. The Democratic Party has made substantial gains in both houses of congress whereby
they have numerical and a filibuster proof majority. They do not need a veto proof majority since
the new president is a democrat also. The vote of the people at these two congressional elections
was not one for the democrats but a vote against the Bush administration and congress by the electorate demanding change. As
a result the democratic congress of 2006 to 2008 did nothing to help the worsening economy and continued to bicker and argue
along purely party lines. Democrats are in the majority in congress, today, by default, not acclaim and
they need to prove their worth. The nomination and election
of Obama as president was the strongest message Americans could send to inform congress, they were tired of the same old faces
in Washington and the need to end this bickering and get down to the business of finding solutions to the economy and put
Americans back to work, to do this, the theme must be change and the action must be swift. Congress must begin to work as the representative of all the people both
democrats, republican and independents, but in doing so they must act in the best interests of the masses and not their party
or principles, we must all act as loyal Americans, not as politicians. There
are many things the congress must do during this session that recently started, first, they must get their own house in order
to meet the coming challenge of finding real and lasting solutions to our economic problem. The following
are humbly suggested as a start:
1. The practice of
sitting congressmen by party affiliation, the democrats on the left and the republicans on the right must end and all members
should be seated in alphabetical order. People that sit together, work together, while sitting at
opposite ends of a room give the appearance of two battle lines facing each other, ready to do battle.
2. Congress should remain in session at least five days a week just like
the workweek of the average American. It is time for congress to put its full time and effort to the critical problems
facing our country.
3. The practice of seniority in
congress must end. Each congressman must have equal representation in the congress in voice and position.
To be rightfully representative of the district or state they represent. The key is the equality
of each member with another. Just as the speaker is selected by a vote of the majority all positions in
committees must be chosen by the majority not by seniority, which has no place in a democratic institution under our constitution.
4. Members of congress should repeal the pay raise they voted themselves
at the last session, in this day of deficit spending and mounting national debt, congress must lead the way in showing fiscal
responsibility. This is also a time to cut the cost of governing and the cost of government.
To reduce our debts, not increase them congress’s budget should be cut between ten to fifteen percent.
5. Congressmen, may not introduce, speak for, or vote in favor of any legislation
in favor of companies or businesses or represented by lobbyists, from whom they have accepted contributions
or gifts of any nature for a term of two years before or after a vote of congress that may be interpreted as a conflict of
interest, bias, or favoritism for said contributor.
6. To
insure the integrity of congressmen and their complete allegiance to their electorate, all congressmen may only accept contributions
from individual American voters in an amount of not more than two thousand dollars in a calendar year. Contributions
from political parties or action committees must be limited to the same amount and from one political organization only during
the same period. Contributions from foreign countries or agents are prohibited.
7. The practice of hiring and using pages in congress
must be ended this year as unnecessary and costly in many ways.
8. Congress shall be in session between 9:00 am and 5:00 pm each workday with a two-hour
break, between 12:00 pm and 2:00 pm. All congressmen are
required to be present and seated at all times, except for excused emergencies, during each session.
9. Congress must stay in session all the calendar year, except for four
one week breaks or vacations to coincide with national holidays as much as possible and only by vote of the majority.
10. All committee hearings should be held at evening sessions, between 6:00 am and
9:00 pm or at Saturday sessions.
Thursday, February 19, 2009
THE “STRAGEDY”
OF THE PROPOSED MORTGAGE STRATEGY February 19, 2009
Dear president Barack Obama, we have waited patiently and listened intently to your proposed plan to help homeowners out
of their mortgage difficulties and find it solely lacking and inadequate to resolve the present problem.
First
of all, to pour money into Fannie May and Freddie Mack to pick up mortgages is like leaving the fox in charge of the hen house.
This is the very agency that helped cause most of these no or low down payment or unverified income mortgages.
When you add the outrageous wages of the people in charge of these government backed agencies you must realize that
these people cannot be put in charge of any mortgage plan until you reform this agency and/or set up a National Bank to handle
said loans. These mortgages will certainly default if values continue to fall, as is the case
at the present time.
Secondly, your plan does nothing to prevent these mortgage abuse practices
by banks and lending institutions in the future. Legislation needs to be passed to rein in these abusive
practices and high interest rate loans and to impose limits of liability on all government quarantined loans, written to prevent
this unfettered control that has resulted in the government being left holding the bag of responsibility alone. This,
no risk practice by the banks, has caused this problem over the years, now reaching catastrophic numbers.
In the future the U.S. must limit guarantees to 50 % of the loan.
Thirdly, your plan does nothing to punish these banks for this past practice
and, in fact, rewards them by using the American people’s money and guarantees to rid these banks of their bad loans,
in most cases. They should be made to lower the mortgages to no more than the market value of the
home, reduce the interest rate to current figures and to re-write said mortgages based on a fifty year payout.
You should heed the lesson resulting from president Bush’s bailout with the banks with no controls or conditions,
if the banks refuse to do this, they will end up in bankruptcy along with the borrower. Then, the
bankruptcy judge can straighten out all the parties involved, not just the innocent borrower. Banks
and investors can be replaced overnight. Any plan you may adopt must cover all the existing mortgages because it is the only way to stabilize
the real estate market and stop its decline. Without such a plan, values will continue to fall and people
will not return to the real estate market and buy, nor will homeowners be prompted to arrange a new mortgages with their lenders.
Construction will not start up again until the market stabilizes on values. That is one most important
key to solving this economic crisis while solving the mortgage crisis, which was brought to the forefront with falling values.
Fourthly, your goal to help only those
owner occupied homes, whose mortgages are no more than 105 % of market value, just about eliminates everybody and excludes
the people that most need the relief today since most market values are down about 50 % while most mortgages exceed market
value by 50 %. The result is that you are attempting to help the homeowner who least needs the help
while abandoning the homeowner who most needs your help. Again, the banks and investors who made or bought these loans must suffer the consequence of the risk they took in
the open market, they either reduce the amount of the loan to market value of the property of risk bankruptcy which is the
fate you plan and suggest to those that cannot pay the loan and are facing foreclosure. It is painfully
obvious, that your treasury secretary is trying to save the banks and the financial institutions when they should be left
to suffer the consequence of their deliberate actions, while most homeowners are innocent and victims of the times of an economic
downturn certainly not under their control. We are of the opinion, at this
time, under these circumstances, that you force the banks to act, under the third comment above. If
they fail to act in this way, let the foreclosure process go forward, and the U.S. government can back a bid by the owner
at the foreclosure auction, based on market value, less ten percent to cover declining values, then issue a mortgage to the
qualifying homeowner based on market value at the prevailing rate of interest for a fifty years term. The
30 odd percent figure of income you suggest should be used in the qualifying process and the mortgage cannot exceed market
value to succeed in order to stabilize the real estate market. Fannie Mae and Freddy Mac need to be
cleaned up from their own mess first so a new agency like a National Bank should be set up to handle these new mortgages and
then sold when the market conditions permit.
Tuesday, February 17, 2009
THE STIMULUS PACKAGE THAT
HELPS ONLY CONGRESSMEN February
14, 2009 Dear president Barack Obama, With congress’s passage of that trillion dollar
stimulus package recently, you may think you have helped and mollified the suffering American people but in reality you have
only helped give congress a belly full of pork barrel projects, while the American people are left with empty plates in their
hands.
This plan was ill conceived, ill planned and executed by a democratic congress, hungry to satisfy their personal desires
and not the needs of the American people. The fact that the Republican Party members voted against this
plan, reveals that there was no bipartisan support and never will be, except for a scattered few that may have selfish reasons
to support you.
What makes matters worse, is that the American people, put all of their hope, trust and confidence in you, their new
president, to help solve this economic crises. Instead, you let congress selfishly feast themselves,
at the expense and dismay of struggling Americans. You have left them, without the hope, trust and the
confidence they have placed in you. You have spent all that popularity after only about a month in office.
Congress has railroaded this 1100 page bill, no one has read through congress in less than 24 hours casting aside any
hope of study and compromise, the cornerstone of our democratic process. The American people have always
been skeptical of congress and now they are beginning to doubt your intentions. Are you purely political
or are you an American first, as you should be as our president. There is an old saying that
“haste makes waste”, but this haste makes disaster, without the real immediate help for the unemployed, those
losing their homes, those already homeless and those that are left without funds for food, they cannot survive much longer,
these people cannot wait for the tax relief that will not come for another fourteen months for this help. They
cannot wait for the employment these work projects will not generate until next year or so. They cannot
wait another two plus years they have already waited for home mortgage relief. Funds should have been provided
for a works project in every city and town, to put all the unemployed to work immediately, since that is the best way to help
the economy. Temporarily and assist the city’s and towns. When people work
and pay their taxes everyone gains, while small cash handouts only help those who receive them. We understand
your next plan is to bring relief to the millions of homeowners in trouble with their mortgage loans. Please
do not, under any circumstances, let banks and lending institutions off the hook by buying up all their bad debts, the U.S.
may be obliged to make good on failing banks deposits and government guaranteed mortgages and small business loans, but that
should be the limit of the U.S. obligations. You just cannot reward these lenders, again for their misdeeds.
Let the banks fail since new investors will replace them in less than twenty-four hours. First you
must arrange a moratorium on mortgage foreclosures for a few months in order put a final plan in motion.
This will stabilize the falling values of homes, because of the continuing foreclosures, added to the sales market.
We suggest the plan must be to reduce the mortgage balances to a level no higher than the market value of the home,
where they may be re-written at current interest rates and for terms up to fifty years, to keep the monthly payments as low
as possible. This process may be done in either of two ways. First, the banks themselves
may elect to do this in order to stop this costly foreclosure process. Secondly, the U.S. government
could buy up these mortgages at market value during a moratorium period designed to stabilize the home values and write these
new mortgages as described above. Unless values are stabilized this process will fail if values continue
to fall for the last two years, the over built housing market has finally been mostly disposed of and the existing homes will
sell if and when prices stabilize. Gasoline and fuel oil prices must be reined in and stabilized
before we can hope to help the economy, and give confidence to the American people to buy vehicles of any sort and help the
auto industry. The threat of price controls should be enough to stabilize these prices by the gouging oil
companies. Once the housing market is stabilized and mortgages re-written to keep
homeowners in their homes, you need to find permanent jobs for the unemployed.
Support for a real, sincere crash alternative energy program will give americans new and permanent jobs while ridding
our country of the dependence on foreign oil and eliminating the trade deficit due to oil imports. We need
to perfect the use of solar, wind, water, hydrogen and other alternative energy sources to a point it can be sold to compete
with gasoline at about a dollar a gallon. We need research and development, facilities and factories, all
built and manned with American labor and materials only. We need to stop these H 1 B work visas and send
these people home until we have full employment. We need to extend the e-verify system so Americans have
preference to all jobs first. The public will never stand for another amnesty program for illegal aliens
at this stage. We need to have 100% border and port security with many more permanent border patrol jobs
on both borders and all ports of entry along with our armed forces and National Guard. We need to do something to stop
the flow of our jobs and factories overseas. We have suggested a balanced trade policy to rebuild our industries.
For our own national defense labor unions must do more than win higher and higher wages for their members.
They should invest in the very factories their members are employed. There must be a marriage between
workers and management with profit sharing incentives to keep American jobs and factories here. We must
explore ways to compete in the open market to keep jobs here. This is only part of plan 2,
we have proposed previously with more information coming. You need to win and keep the support
of the American people because, with that support you do not need anyone else, public opinion alone will eventually sway congress
and the republican members of the opposition, who are waiting for you to falter and fail. Like you said,
“there are no blue or red states there are only the United States,” and the American people are the United States.
If you take the time to explain your plans in detail and precisely how you intend to do it, you need only to sell it
to the American people and no one else. In the final analysis you know you must not
fail, for the sake of the American people who have placed their hope and prayers in you. If you fail, we
fail and the country will fail please stop acting like a politician and act like the American we need.
Monday, February 2, 2009
THE BANKS, THE BANKS, THE BLANKETY BLANK BANKS
Dear
president Barack Obama, if
the banking crisis was not so serious, the above heading of this story would be funny, but in reality it’s purpose is
to get your attention from another point of view, that of the American people. Back
in 1933, president, Franklin D. Roosevelt closed the nation’s banks to stop the run by depositors to withdraw their
meager funds. He soon realized the government needed to do something to induce depositors to have faith
and trust in banks and return their funds to a safe depository, in lieu of their mattresses and other hiding places, he established
the Federal Depositors Insurance Corporation, a government agency which would guarantee depositor’s funds up to one
hundred thousand dollars, which solved that problem for about fifty years, soon another problem arose. In the mid eighties, banks and lending institutions, riding high, profit wise, on an expanding
economy, took exceptional risks in granting marginal loans to many speculating land developers and contractors, more for the
profit considerations than good business sense, since they soon realized, if the loans went bad and the bank failed their
depositors were protected by the F.D.I.C. guarantees. The famous savings and loan scandal in Texas is just
one of thousands of examples of this greed. When the bottom fell out of these banks, the U.S. government
reluctantly but dutifully, made good on the money lost by depositors at these banks at the expense of the U.S. treasury. Now, only twenty-five years later, we are faced with the very same problem, but
magnified a hundred times since we have heavy mortgage foreclosures added to the mix we did not have fifty years ago. F.D.R.
set up the home loan corporation then to rewrite deflating mortgages to avoid foreclosures. Now, the
added guarantees by Fannie Mae and Freddie Mack, two government agencies, apparently completely out of control, with the help
of congress, have added billions maybe trillions of dollars of government responsibility by way of guaranteed mortgages. Again, the greedy banks, freed from controls by acts of congress have
saddled the government and the American people with responsibility to cover maybe more trillions of dollars of deposits, while
the bank managers, directors and C.E.O.’s have filled their pockets with ridiculously big salaries and bonuses, without
regard to the rights of shareholders and obligations to depositors. Last October, president Bush’s answer to this problem was to grant 700 billion dollars to some of the biggest
or favorite banks or lending institutions, “to keep them solvent and hopefully help fund loans to businesses to meet
payrolls”. These funds were also needed to help the mortgage foreclosure crises, which has worsened
since 2006 and continues to gain in numbers, while unemployment rises and more businesses fail because of the sinking economy. The American people, who have a long memory were against this so called bailout, simply because it
was helping the very people who again have caused this financial crisis, whereby the government and the American people are
required to pick up the bill for the bad business practices of the banks and financial institutions. Congress mindful of the upcoming election and a chance to cash in on these crises quickly passed
the measure, only after they were permitted to add fifty billion dollars of pure pork measures to this bailout sum.
Now, three months later they find that no conditions were placed on this bailout and it is business as usual
with the bank managers with a refusal to account for this money while continuing to grant pay raises and bonuses to management
and employees and squandering millions on vacations, parties, office renovations and the like. The only way to rein in this practice, is the following:
1. Do not give these greedy institutions any more money.
2. Banks and lending institutions must be put under strict fiscal and management controls
including salaries and bonuses for all employees and controlled by the S.E.C. and government agencies.
3. The F.D.I.C. guarantees must be reduced by fifty percent, with the bank being required to guarantee
the remaining fifty percent with bank funds or private insurance.
4. Strict criminal penalties must be imposed on all bank employees including management for any
violations of said imposed controls. Forfeiture, heavy fines, restitution and recoupment should
apply in any case.
5.
Under our free enterprise system if banks or lending institutions are insolvent,
they must be put out of business or reorganized or sold to the many American investors who always stand ready to invest in
the lucrative business of such institutions. 6. Bank examiners
must be permitted to do their job and to report all irregularities in business practices.
3:46 pm
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