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Obama Does Not Need Congress To Fund IMF and WB, Barney Frank Shocked, Compares Obama To W.
Barney Frank puts on his indignation hat on after realizing that the President has decided he doesn't need congressional approval on funding international financial institutions including the IMF and the World Bank. Here is the ensuing response when Barney realizes that for all his posturing, he is a third (and quite overinflated at that) wheel: "During the previous administration, all of us were critical of the President’s assertion that he could pick and choose which aspects of congressional statutes he was required to enforce. We were therefore chagrined to see you appear to express a similar attitude." Most odd is why the President wants unopposed decision making with regard to these organizations: is Larry Summers smelling a massive, upcoming global bail out that the American people are not allowed to be heard on?
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July 21, 2009
President Barack Obama
The White House
1600 Pennsylvania Avenue
Washington, D.C. 20500
Dear Mr. President,
We were surprised to read your signing statement in which you expressed the view that you are constitutionally free to ignore the conditions duly adopted in the legislative process regarding funding for the international financial institutions. As you know, there was a great deal of resistance to this funding during debate on the supplemental bill – as there often is for these entities – and the four of us worked very hard to support the inclusion of funding for the IMF and the World Bank.
The conditions that you have expressed your right to ignore are critical: each represents significant policy concerns, especially in light of the history of many of the international financial institutions that we believe have been insufficiently supportive of values that we know you share with us. In addition, these conditions were important in securing support in both houses.
During the previous administration, all of us were critical of the President’s assertion that he could pick and choose which aspects of congressional statutes he was required to enforce. We were therefore chagrined to see you appear to express a similar attitude.
Along with your assurances that you will respect these conditions, we request that you no longer assert the right to ignore provisions that Congress adds through the normal legislative process for funding for the international financial institutions.
If we are forced to conclude that you will not accept the terms and conditions under which the legislation passed, we must make clear that – both as a matter of the personal preference of those of us signing this letter and as a practical matter from the standpoint of getting sufficient votes to pass these measures in the future – it will make it virtually impossible to provide further allocations for these institutions. That is, the policy of using signing statements to assert the right of the White House to ignore certain provisions of legislation regarding the IMF, the World Bank, and other international financial institutions may result not in the invalidation of those various provisions, but rather in insufficient Congressional support for further funding of these institutions.
REP. BARNEY FRANK
Chairman, House Financial Services Committee
REP. DAVID R. OBEY
Chairman, House Appropriations Committee
REP. NITA M. LOWEY
Chairman, House Appropriations Subcommittee on State, Foreign Operations, and Related Programs
REP. GREGORY W. MEEKS
Chairman, House Financial Services Subcommittee on International Monetary Policy
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"is Larry Summary smelling a massive, upcoming global bail out that the American people are not allowed to be heard on?"
Once again I encourage everyone to read "The Creature from Jekyll Island"
The author spells out exactly this scenario. I don't think of myself as one of the "tinfoil hat" wearers, but this looks to me like another move towards a World Government.
Holy shit--my very well endowed public library has a waiting list of nearly 40 people for that book!
"well endowed public library"?
Is it available for massages?
Thought he was going to say restroom instead of library, in the theme of the topic.
IMF’s Board Agrees to $250 Billion Reserves Boost
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=newsarchive&sid=ag9_omms2Xf4
100 Billion of which is coming from Japan:
http://zeropointfield.wordpress.com/2009/07/02/imf-and-japans-bilateral-...
Step 1: Load up the coffers of IMF and World Bank
Step 2: IMF churns SDRs en-masse
Step 3: Bailout the Western exposure to Eastern Europe
Step 4: Go back to Step 1
Under what conditions can Obama be impeached? It is looking like that might be a possibility within a year or so, at this pace.
And get Joe Biden? HA! Just burn the whole thing down and start over. Might be cheaper and less painful.
And after Joe? Nanzi..
You're right, burn and begin anew. Think of it as burning an old crumbling structure or blowing up one of those old hotels that aren't used anymore. The thing's falling apart anyway, nobody wants to deal with it anymore and we all want something shiny and new in it's place...
Why would you want to impeach Obama? He is not the problem. Any standing President (a Bush or Obama)is enveloped by the problem. You impeach Obama and the powers that be will replace him with another hack carrying out the same plan.
Nice to see Barney doing something right. It'll be interesting to see if the MSM picks it up.
Amen to that. When did Barney Frank suddenly acquire the ability to make rational decisions?
Frank is jumping the fence now that he has been left out in the cold, very amatuerish!
So NOW you're complaining? Why are signing statements legal at all? Why didn't someone stop 43 from doing so many?
Homilies Ad Nausem ensue: What's good for the good is good for the gander, Closing the barn door after the horse's have left (and the barn has caught on fire!)
They "politicians" always throw a bone once in a while to show they care. It's part of the production. A charade of disent, checks and balances. There is NONE.
This thing is getting down right scary now, I mean really. I might have to join the tinfoil brigade about going into Armageddon mode! Obama is a juggernaught gathering size and pace as one outrageous act leads to another. What a mess.
I'm not sure any Presidential assertions have relevance but I do believe our Congress needs to get off of its ass and reassert its check on what appears to be a power grab by the executive branch over the last few decades. Any funding of the IMF is a farce anyway. We aren't financially obligated to do anything other than flip them the bird whenever we so choose.
Yep, on the checks on the executive branch.
Exceutive power abuses have increased in the last few decades, but really ramped up during Bush II.
The most disppointing thing about Obama so far is his willingness to carry over these abuses of power. Obama's advisors, however, must be giddy with all this underlying blank check authority, though (much like Cheyney/Rowe/Wolfowitz during the Bush years).
The outcry from Congress on this has been weak-- and that doesn't surprise me all too much when there is only one party in power.
The mere fact that Barney Frank stated anything on the matter is something-- though I gather it's more a posturing move on "turf protecting" with Frank, rather than an endorsement on a movement that is all encompassing.
The IMF and World Bank are both "american" set up and owned banks. The whole thing is a joke.
Whitehouse: "Ok, we give you X amount and you "loan" it back to us"
World Bank "That's right. Its actually referred to as "Money laundering"."
Obama won't even make it out of his own party in 2012; Clinton will beat him this time. Is it possible the market has been rallying in realizing that he is a one termer?
It is about time congress got some balls. Disturbing to see Obama doing same thing as bush
This is exactly what I warned people about since Bush Sr. was president after Reagan. I've had lots of problems with each president's actions, but it's worse watching each one build their command towers ever taller on the foundation of their predecessor. You think BushW was bad? Think Obama's bad and getting worse? Just wait til the next one. At some point, the killers will take over, because then the towers will be irresistible.
Congress being bought and paid for--and feeling remote and detached from the real world we live every day--spells trouble for you if you expect any real chance of reform from them. We might be better off if we show up to the Capitol en masse, kick the bastards out, elect a few thousand of us from right there in the crowd and start over. Remember, the militia existed before the USA and it will exist after it. You have original jurisdiction. Those people that waged the first American revolution were traitors and inciters and criminals in the eyes of the King, you'd surely be called the same. It would as true as then.
Barney is just pissed because *HE* had plans to toss that money at his constituents and Obama is taking away his lollipop.
Seriously, how can we possibly afford all (any of) this? There has to be some motivation for Barack & Co. to spend like drunken Republicans. Occam's Razor suggests that the ultimate goal is to make everyone completely dependent on government for every little thing, so that the power resides in the politicians' hands. They are then seen as benevolent do-gooders for bringing the needs of the people to them.
I just don't get it.
Please expound on how Occam's Razor suggests commu/socialsim. In previous posts on this site, I've concluded that the Razor leans towards "...it's all about the money...", such that most conspiracy theories are degraded to greed.
Oh, wait... I see your point...
I never thought I'd live to see the day Barney Frank did something right.
The damage done so far under obammi, Bernanke, Greenspan Geithner, Summers, Paulson, and Bush is irreversible.
good finance articles
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by Anonymouson Mon, 07/20/2009 - 22:05
#10864 Are they going to assume the roll of the bankrupt Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac? Is the 'Shadow System' taking a bank holiday? WTF! A complete sham. Caterpillar's revenue is down 66% (40-some% last year!) and they have laid off 20% of their employees. BAC upgrades from neutral to buy. thus the stock is up 15% over the past 5 days. GTFO! Caterpillar is completely dependent on the US government's ability to extract $$$ from the tax-payers and foreigner investors and funnel it into projects such as bridges to nowhere. Watching the market over the past week has been excrutiatingly painful. The absolute ridiculousness of it
Obama... Bush with a Tan.
He left the same criminals in charge of everything that bush appointed. Can't change anything if you don't change anything!
100% agree..
I did vote for this man.. CHANGE? what change?!?!?!?.... WHAT A WASTE OF A VOTE! I want my vote back.. I would have just stayed home.. no point in voting.. both parties are controlled by the same power structure!
Barny the buffoon has an ego that is larger than his keester. What an ass. He's only mad because he is being left out of the party, not because it is the right thing to do.
Two days ago, Senator Jim Dement (R, SC) (typo intentional) made the statement that if Rebublicans (again, typo intentional) could stop Yobama on healthcare, it could be Yobama's Waterloo. This morning, while talking about healthcare, Yobama made a statement just as revealing of his core philosophy. When asked about his insistence on an August deadline, his answer was "If you don't set a deadline in this town, nothing gets done. The default is towards inaction and inertia."
Our Napoleonic President is of the belief that the body of elected representatives of the American people, the Congress, is an albatross standing in the way of action and progress. This clearly explains the end-run around Congress that characterized the PPIP, the GM and Chrysler bailouts, AIG conduit payments, etc. The latest end-around involves removing Congress' authority to regulate Medicare reimbursement rates and assigning that task to an "independent" commission. And, of course, the classic work in progress in this regard is the proposed appointment of the Federal Reserve as a systematic bailout provider, er, I mean systemic risk regulator.
Soon Congress will have little to do other than vote on Flag Day resolutions.
Don't forget passing vitally important resolutions in response to pop culture celebs leaving this world.
Sorry, my bad. Basically, Congress is held in ill regard by both the executive and the people, largely due to the wrangling and cronyism to which it has fallen prey. Maybe we are ready for either another revolution of a dictatorship....