AIG Begins To Share With Taxpayers Where Their Money Is Going

Screen Grabs from AIG Slides – The four slide deck can be found here.  AIG’s press release may be found at bottom of post.

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Obama Signs Spending Bill, Issues Signing Statement

President Barack Obama’s administration is going to review former President G.W. Bush’s signing statements, but Obama is not giving up this presidential practice.

I’d like to read the statement Obama signed today after he signed the spending legislation, but I can’t because it’s not on his website.  The positive stuff of the day, such as an EO regarding the White House Council on Women and Girls made it up.

You can read what the Associated Press wrote about today’s events, here’s part of it:

Two days after criticizing his predecessor for issuing guidelines on how to put legislation into practice, President Barack Obama issued such a directive himself.

Out of public view Wednesday, Obama signed a $410 billion spending bill that includes billions for items known as earmarks, the targeted spending that lawmakers direct to projects in their districts. Obama promised during the presidential campaign to curb such spending.

He also issued a “signing statement” in which he objected to provisions of the bill that he said the Justice Department had advised “raise constitutional concerns.” Among them are provisions that Obama said would “unduly interfere” with his authority in the foreign affairs arena by directing him how to proceed, or not to, in negotiations and discussions with international organizations and foreign governments.

Another provision, Obama said, would limit his discretion to choose who performs specific functions in military missions.

On Monday, Obama ordered a review of former President George W. Bush’s guidelines for implementing bills passed by Congress — the signing statements.

Dear Secy Geithner: It’s Not Just Some Silly Bloggers Waiting for Change

I’ve now read in two different places that U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner blames some of his bad pub on those rascally bloggers.

Well, it’s not just the bloggers.  How about Paul Krugman in a column on Monday headlined, Behind the Curve:

So here’s the picture that scares me: It’s September 2009, the unemployment rate has passed 9 percent, and despite the early round of stimulus spending it’s still headed up. Mr. Obama finally concedes that a bigger stimulus is needed.

But he can’t get his new plan through Congress because approval for his economic policies has plummeted, partly because his policies are seen to have failed, partly because job-creation policies are conflated in the public mind with deeply unpopular bank bailouts. And as a result, the recession rages on, unchecked.

O.K., that’s a warning, not a prediction. But economic policy is falling behind the curve, and there’s a real, growing danger that it will never catch up. (emphasis Clips & Comment)

Or, how about Krugman last week in The Big Dither:

Last month, in his big speech to Congress, President Obama argued for bold steps to fix America’s dysfunctional banks. “While the cost of action will be great,” he declared, “I can assure you that the cost of inaction will be far greater, for it could result in an economy that sputters along for not months or years, but perhaps a decade.”

Many analysts agree. But among people I talk to there’s a growing sense of frustration, even panic, over Mr. Obama’s failure to match his words with deeds. The reality is that when it comes to dealing with the banks, the Obama administration is dithering. Policy is stuck in a holding pattern.

Notice something?  Geithner is mentioned in the Big Dither, but the bullseye for this mess with the banks and AIG is falling squarely on the president in both columns.

Here’s from an op-ed from David Smick in Tuesday’s Washington Post, Tim Geithner’s Black Hole:

Pity Barack Obama’s economic advisers. The blogs are now demanding their scalps, and Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner and his colleagues face a nasty dilemma: There are no solutions to the banking crisis without extraordinary political and financial risks. Thus, they have adopted a three-pronged approach, delay, delay, delay, in the hope that somebody comes up with a breakthrough. …

… The Obama team needs to remember that we got into this mess because of a lack of financial transparency. It’s time to tell the American people what the stock market already knows: that the path to recovery will probably be expensive and politically unpopular, perhaps explosively so. …

… In the end, at least one thing is certain: Our present position is unsustainable. The longer we delay fixing the banks, the faster the economy deleverages, the more credit dries up, the further the stock market falls, the higher the ultimate bank bailout price tag for the American taxpayer, and the more we risk falling into a financial black hole from which escape could take decades.

Here’s the problem with voters, taxpayers.  Or, should I say here’s the problem with at least this voter and taxpayer.  I voted for change.  I was incensed, not so much by the $700 billion Paulson bailout, but by the rabbit hole the money seemed to disappear down.  We were told at the time that there was a national emergency and the government needed to dole out this money and fast.  We were told it would be used to corral some of those toxic assets and allow the banks to get back on track.  Here’s a couple of stock quotes from today’s close:

• Citigroup – $1.05
• Bank of America – $3.75

The Bush Administration either lied to buy time or no one knows what the hell they’re doing.  Don’t forget, Tim Geithner was one of the architects of TARP 1 as head of the New York Fed.

I want one of two things.  First, justice.  That means the pigs who brought this down upon us should experience the ultimate downside of that pure capitalism they love so much – failure.  Or, second, someone in the federal government to take whatever time is needed and explain to the American people as simply as possible why any of these foolish companies are too big to fail and what it will take to make things right.

When Tim Geithner whines about blogs, he’s whining about Americans who are frustrated with a system that is rigged for only the wealthy and privileged among us.  He’s whining about people who do their part, play their role in this economy whose lives are being changed or put on hold because of high tech, high finance gambling on Wall Street.  While the Treasury Secretary ‘dithers’ and prepares to throw more of our money into the maw of AIG or CitiGroup with little transparency or meaningful explanation, he’s blowing his boss’ political capital as well as our tax dollars.

I guess you could sum this up as follows: If we’re in what’s akin to a wartime situation, lay it out for us, don’t talk down to us.  And, since this isn’t war, shed the light of day on where the hundreds of billions of money from the executive branch has gone – every penny – and explain what $4 trillion in “guarantees” from the Federal Reserve means.

White House Press Office Getting Better, Obama CIO’s data.gov Will Be Transparency Writ Large

I’m still not sure why the Bush press office could deliver press briefing transcripts within two to three hours of the briefing and the current staff don’t manage to get them up until the next day sometimes, but the Briefing Room at the White House has improved.

When I last wrote, I got some email criticism that I unloaded too quick on the Obama White House for not living up to President Obama’s constant refrain of a more accessible, transparent federal government.  Perhaps the critics were right, because overall the site has improved.

I was an early critic because I believed in what candidate Obama said about the need for transparency and easy access to information – and I voted for him partially on this issue.  The executive branch under Presidents Bush & Cheney seemed like a cold, bleak wilderness on too many matters of public substance.  I understand the power of technology to get information out there quickly and I know the Obama team is capable.

So, after about six weeks, here’s what’s looking better:

• Now there are press briefing and gaggle transcripts
• Speeches are posted quickly as they were during the campaign
• Availability of White House photographer work is more available – and the pictures are more interesting
• There has begun to appear, on some issues, links to further background information and executive branch analysis on some topics – the President’s foreclosure relief efforts for one

Room for improvement:

• Briefing transcripts would be nice within two to three hours of the briefing – sometimes they’ve been delayed until the next day
• More background information would be great, similar to that which was provided around budget and foreclosure issues
• Go easy on the marketing slant.  This president is kicking ass.  You have to sell us during the campaign, he’s the president now, more straight information.

Great News of the Day on Transparency – data.gov coming

President Barack Obama today appointed Vivek Kundra the federal Chief Information Officer.  According to a web article on Computerworld, Kundra told a conference call of journalists that his first major project will be establish a website serving as a clearinghouse for federal government data, which is planned to be located at data.gov.

The federal government collects an enormous amount of interesting data but it’s currently spread all over the place.  Kundra’s proposed project would be a boon to researchers, journalists and any citizen trying to look into the “numbers” on any given issue.

From the article linked above:

Kundra, in conference call today with reporters shortly after President Barack Obama named him as federal CIO said one of his first projects is to create a data.gov Web site to “democratize” the federal government’s vast information treasures by making them accessible in open formats and in feeds that can be used by application developers

Obama Transparency Train Makes a Stop at Justice Dept.

Several Bush/Cheney Memos Secret Memos Not Secret Any Longer

If there’s one thing the Bush/Cheney Administration loved, it was secrecy.  They would say the president had the power to authorize things like shipping enemy combatants to other countries to be softened up, write a memo or legal opinion, then lock it away.  Today, several of these memos were released by the U.S. Dept. of Justice after years of being locked in someone’s safe there.

Now, these legal opinions may see the light of day where scholars and the public can judge their merits.

Why should you care?  Because we elect presidents to exercise their power within the bounds of the Constitution, existing laws and treaty obligations.  This is the rule of law.  We deserve to know whether or not the law is being observed or bent to the will of maniacs like DICK Cheney and David Addington.

• DoJ Press Release
• Link to PDFs of the Released Memos/Opinions
  

Obama Administration Should Get Kudos for Orszag’s Budget Blog

The White House gets this right on:

To a lot of people, the budget can seem dry or wonky, and a lot of time it doesn’t get the attention that other major legislation does. But the truth is that as heavy on numbers and figures as it is, it’s a profoundly moral document, it’s a blueprint for the nation’s priorities.

There’s been some criticism here about the way both the Bush and the Obama Administrations have dealt with the banks and financial services industry that brought this mess of an economy down around all of us.  But this post is about unadulterated praise, it’s about change you can believe in.

In President Obama’s address to the joint session of Congress the other night when he said:

Finally, because we’re also suffering from a deficit of trust, I am committed to restoring a sense of honesty and accountability to our budget.  That is why this budget looks ahead ten years and accounts for spending that was left out under the old rules – and for the first time, that includes the full cost of fighting in Iraq and Afghanistan.  For seven years, we have been a nation at war.  No longer will we hide its price.

And now, with Office of Management and Budget Director using blogging as a tool to speak plainly and without legislative language about our nation’s budget, transparency at the federal level gets another lift.

Any government’s budget is too often thought to be a dry, ponderous document.  Perhaps that’s why they are written and presented in the ways that they are — the government is trying to lull you to sleep before you figure out what you’re really reading.  The Obama Administration’s view of the budget as a “moral document” a “blueprint for change,” is a sea change.  These people are beginning to recast the way government does its business in accordance with their core philosophies – the philosophies and principles we voted for.  In this case, we actually seem to be getting what a politician promised.

Final Text: Economic Stimulus Bill, Reported From House-Senate Conference

1. Part A – Click to View
2. Part B – Click to View

At the beginning of this process, the President and Congress said that there would be at least five days for public review of this.  This bill is at least twice as many pages as that which was originally introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives, and longer than what came out of the U.S. Senate.  This is the reconciling of those two versions, known as a Conference Report.  This is the actual bill.  Nancy Pelosi, according to reports today, has announced that she has to leave for a trip to Europe at 6 p.m. tonight, so this monster needs to be voted on NOW.  Public review of the final bill will have amounted to mere hours – not five days.

White House.Gov Was Better Under Bush

I read this tonight on BlogNetNews Ohio and decided I would add my two cents to my first disappointment with the Obama Administration.

The “Briefing Room” sucks. I say this as a fervent Obama supporter.

BlogNetNews’ David Mastio summed it up in the post linked above:

If bloggers agree on anything, it should be on the freedom of information — openness and accountability on the part of our government. The Obama administration has been getting a great ride with lots of promises to be more open than the Bush administration.

But maybe not so much … Obama’s people have stopped the tradition of posting transcripts of the daily press briefing. This is the most basic kind of public information, but failure to put it online means that bloggers can’t link to it and the administration’s history doesn’t build up over time.

Here’s what the White House press staff says about the briefing room:

The White House provides timely and accurate information about the President’s latest events and public statements.  Here you’ll find photos, video, and blogs, as well as proclamations, executive orders, and press releases.

As Mastio says, “Not so much.”

The first couple of days of the Obama Administration, I had some misgivings about the site because it is organized in the manner of their campaign website’s media room.  There’s a blog, with plenty of fluff.  Press releases are even harder to find on the White House’s site (there aren’t any) than they were on the campaign’s site.  During the campaign there were releases and statements going out all the time, but they were never all in one place.   There were “statements” sent out to the national media to counter something  the other side said, but those didn’t make it to the website and accessible to everyone.  The campaign did get a lot of this information out in other ways – there were at least two Obama “setting the record straight” websites, but why not just put it all in one place?  If you can send it to the boys and girls on the bus, why not make it available to everyone? (Bloggers …)

This White House site seems like a lot of eye candy and no substance.  As a consumer over the past several months of the Bush White House press site, there’s no comparison.  Dana Perino’s daily press briefings were transcribed and posted in a timely manner.  Additionally, “press gaggles” which were conducted by Perino or other White House talkers were also transcribed and posted.  All of President Bush’s speeches were made available as prepared for delivery or as transcripts.  Each day you could see the public events of the president and there were background fact sheets.  Albeit they were Bush Administration bullshit, but at least they were putting it out there.

It’s one thing to support a candidate during a campaign and accept the rah, rah website.  I think we deserve a more serious attempt at transparency – ie. more information – and less eye candy and marketing from an elected official engaged in the serious business of fighting two wars, proposing the biggest stimulus bill in history, probably nationalizing banks and trying to restore our “moral standing” in the world.

If the Obama communications team wants to dumb down information, they can save it for their blog.  I’m hopeful we’ll see some serious original source information added to the Briefing Room and organized in a manner that puts transparency and accessibility before selling the Obama brand.  I already bought that.

Some Clear Thinking on the Financial Mess from Norris and Krugman

I read both of these columns in last Friday’s edition of the New York Times.  It’s the end of a historic year for the U.S. economy.  We may look back in a few years and say that 2008 was the beginning of the end for supply-side economics (trickle down) and a nearly wholly unregulated financial services system.  2008 will hopefully become known as the time when ordinary people got concerned enough about the price they were paying for the excesses of banks which traded stocks, brokerages which sold insurance and insurance companies which did both.  2008 was a year when ordinary folks began to understand mortgage backed securities and credit default swaps – and what the failure of those derivatives meant for their local widget makers’ line of credit.

If you don’t read anything else today, read these two columns:

• Op-Ed, Floyd Norris: A year of financial contradictions and chaos - New York Times
• Op-Ed, Paul Krugman: The Madoff Economy – The New York Times

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