Archive for March, 2010

March31

Empty tank: Expanding drilling is bad deal for taxpayers

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The Obama administration should not lift the moratorium on offshore drilling that has been in place since 1982. Offshore drilling does not solve our nation’s energy needs and is a dangerous distraction from real solutions.

Making a bad situation worse, President Barack Obama’s plan to pursue a broad expansion of offshore drilling while failing to hold Big Oil accountable on royalty reform will leave taxpayers shortchanged by billions of dollars.

This would have been bad energy policy in the 1980s; it is intolerable in 2010.

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Posted in: Climate Change, Congress, Energy1 comments

March31

Obama's kidney punch to environmentalists

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Chris Bowers on Open Left says that Obama’s decision to expand offshore drilling is more  a move to gain support from conservative Democrats than an attempt to reach across the aisle. As Bowers sees it, Obama’s popularity among core Democrats and progressives is high enough to allow him to play the middle against the left:

Rather than trying to placate green groups, the President Obama is playing up how he is charting a unifying course of moderation in opposition to those groups.  Much like Blanche Lincoln, he protrays himself as an independent, nonpartisan voice standing up to environmental extremists on behalf of his constiuents.

Posted in: Climate Change, Energy0 comments

March31

When it comes to opposing financial reform, banksters' inconsistency is their consistency

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While Wall Street is spending millions opposing the creation of a Consumer Financial Protection Agency, Elizabeth Warren, chairwoman of TARP’s Congressional Oversight Panel, points out today in Politico that just a few years ago the American Bankers Association had argued just the opposite. In 2006, the ABA argued that consumer protection duties should not be given to banking regulators because it would create “confusion.” Those duties should be handled by a separate entity, the bankers said in a memo to federal officials. Warren calls out the ABA:

The lobbyists’ consistent theme is unmistakable: They oppose meaningful rules in the consumer credit market.

In 2006, they opposed any structure that might have produced rules to rein in subprime mortgage lending. In 2010, they oppose any structure that might rein in a broader array of tricks and traps.

Posted in: Congress, Consumer Protection0 comments

March30

Your money for corporate campaigns?

By: Editor

Newly empowered by the Supreme Court’s disastrous ruling in Citizens United v. Federal Election Commission, corporate executives are ready to spend unprecedented millions to influence upcoming elections.

If you or someone you know has a 401(k), a similar retirement account or other investments, the corporations funded by these investments could be part of the problem.

Don’t let families’ nest eggs become political weapons for the corporate agenda. If a majority of shareholders tell a corporation to stay out of politics, then the corporation should do exactly that.

Corporations aren’t people, but shareholders are. The Shareholder Protection Act (H.R. 4790) proposed by Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Mass.) would empower shareholders to vote on whether or not to allow executives to spend corporate money on political campaigns.

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Posted in: Activism, Campaign Finance, Congress, Open Government0 comments

March25

Wall Street executives sneak backdoor bonuses

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Remember back in November, when the public’s outrage with Wall Street in general and Goldman Sachs in particular led the firm – which claimed to be doing “God’s work” – to forego bonuses for its top seven executives?

 Well, it turns out they weren’t exactly telling the truth.

Goldman Sachs CEO Lloyd Blankfein and his cronies hardly suffered from this obvious public relations stunt. Blankfein alone received $68.5 million in salary and bonuses the year before, so one would think he could somehow manage to pinch pennies – maybe by dining out a little less or postponing a few home improvements – and make that 2008 payment stretch throughout 2010.

But no. Reuters reports:

Blankfein received $18.7 million in distributions from investment funds open to executives and employees of the firm, according to a regulatory filing on Friday.

Goldman Chief Operating Officer Gary Cohn received $15.1 million, Chief Financial Officer David Viniar $11.5 million, and former President and Chief Operating Officer Jon Winkelried $9.8 million, the filing said.

The funds managed by Goldman Sachs are available to clients, and certain executives and other employees. The funds invest in private equity, venture capital and other assets.

The distributions came to $55.1 million, more than double the $24.2 million total in 2008 when $9.6 million went to Blankfein, $6.3 million to Cohn, $5.1 million to Viniar and $3.2 million to Winkelried.

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Posted in: Uncategorized0 comments

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