9.16.2005
Follow the Money for the Real Story
by Molly IvinsThe Chicago Tribune
Thursday 15 September 2005
Austin, Texas - Here's a good idea: Consumer groups and progressive congress-folks have joined in an effort to stop hundreds of thousands of victims of Hurricane Katrina from being further harmed by the new bankruptcy law, scheduled to take effect Oct. 17. This law was written of, by and for the consumer credit industry and is particularly onerous for the poor.
The bill was passed with massive support from the Republican leadership in Congress and from a disgusting number of sellout Democrats. While it was being considered in committee earlier this year, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) offered an amendment to protect victims of natural disasters. It was defeated, without debate, on a party-line vote.
Now, Congress has a chance to rethink some of the most punitive parts of the bill. Katrina victims who were planning to file before the new law goes into effect are out of luck - where are they gonna find a lawyer, let alone an open courthouse?
Under the new law, anyone whose income is above the state median must file under Chapter 13, a more restrictive category that requires some repayment of debt. The new law grants no exemption for natural disaster, even though it's going to be a little tough for some citizen sitting in the Houston Astrodome who no longer has a home to come up with tax statements, pay stubs and six months of income and expense data.
Meanwhile, it's an ill wind that blows no one good, so we should not be surprised to learn the first winner out of the gate on Katrina is Halliburton Co., whose deserving subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root already has been granted a $29.8 million contract for cleanup work in the wake of Katrina.
Of course, no one would suggest Halliburton and its subsidiaries get government contracts (it already has billions of dollars of Iraq rehab work) just because Vice President Dick Cheney is still on the payroll. Heavens no. The veep continues to get deferred pay from the company he once headed - $194,852 last year.
But Cheney has nothing to do with the Halliburton contracts - that, friends, goes through none other than the noted lobbyist and former head of - of all things - the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Since Joe Allbaugh, who was Bush's campaign manager in 2000, announced that he was leaving FEMA in December 2002, it appears he has been busy making sure reconstruction contracts in Iraq go to companies that give generously to the Republican Party.
Now, aren't you ashamed of yourself for thinking there's something wrong with that? Besides, Allbaugh is now with a big-time Washington lobbying firm, where he also represents Shaw Group Inc., and - voila - Shaw Group, too, already has a $100 million emergency contract from FEMA for housing management and construction and a $100 million order from the US Army Corps of Engineers for Katrina repair.
Congress has appropriated $51.8 billion in emergency funding for recovery costs, and it's estimated that the final costs could top $100 billion.
Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project on Government Oversight, told Reuters: "The government has got to stop stacking senior positions with people who are repeatedly cashing in on the public trust in order to further private commercial interests."
Now, Ms. Brian, get a grip. Not all the money goes to big, politically connected firms.
Michael ("You're doing a heckuva job") Brown liked to spread federal money around. In fact, Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.) was so annoyed by Brownie's distribution of largesse in Miami after Hurricane Frances that he urged President Bush to fire Ol' Brownie last January. What upset Wexler about the $30 million in FEMA checks to cover new wardrobes, cars, lawnmowers, vacuum cleaners, furniture and appliances was that the hurricane did not affect Miami. It landed 100 miles away.
Some of you may have heard me observe a time or two - going back to when George W. was still governor of Texas - that the trouble with the guy is that while he is good at politics, he stinks at governance. It bores him, he's not interested, he thinks government is bad to begin with and everything would be done better if it were contracted out to corporations.
We can now safely assert that W. has stacked much of the federal government with people like himself. And what you get when you put people in charge of government who don't believe in government and who are not interested in running it well is ... what happened after Hurricane Katrina.
Many a time in the past six years I have bit my tongue so I wouldn't annoy people with the always obnoxious observation, "I told you so." But I did.
Next time I tell you someone from Texas should not be president of the United States, please pay attention.
==================================================================
Source: TuthOut.org - http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091505A.shtml
by Molly IvinsThe Chicago Tribune
Thursday 15 September 2005
Austin, Texas - Here's a good idea: Consumer groups and progressive congress-folks have joined in an effort to stop hundreds of thousands of victims of Hurricane Katrina from being further harmed by the new bankruptcy law, scheduled to take effect Oct. 17. This law was written of, by and for the consumer credit industry and is particularly onerous for the poor.
The bill was passed with massive support from the Republican leadership in Congress and from a disgusting number of sellout Democrats. While it was being considered in committee earlier this year, Rep. Sheila Jackson Lee (D-Texas) offered an amendment to protect victims of natural disasters. It was defeated, without debate, on a party-line vote.
Now, Congress has a chance to rethink some of the most punitive parts of the bill. Katrina victims who were planning to file before the new law goes into effect are out of luck - where are they gonna find a lawyer, let alone an open courthouse?
Under the new law, anyone whose income is above the state median must file under Chapter 13, a more restrictive category that requires some repayment of debt. The new law grants no exemption for natural disaster, even though it's going to be a little tough for some citizen sitting in the Houston Astrodome who no longer has a home to come up with tax statements, pay stubs and six months of income and expense data.
Meanwhile, it's an ill wind that blows no one good, so we should not be surprised to learn the first winner out of the gate on Katrina is Halliburton Co., whose deserving subsidiary Kellogg, Brown and Root already has been granted a $29.8 million contract for cleanup work in the wake of Katrina.
Of course, no one would suggest Halliburton and its subsidiaries get government contracts (it already has billions of dollars of Iraq rehab work) just because Vice President Dick Cheney is still on the payroll. Heavens no. The veep continues to get deferred pay from the company he once headed - $194,852 last year.
But Cheney has nothing to do with the Halliburton contracts - that, friends, goes through none other than the noted lobbyist and former head of - of all things - the Federal Emergency Management Agency. Since Joe Allbaugh, who was Bush's campaign manager in 2000, announced that he was leaving FEMA in December 2002, it appears he has been busy making sure reconstruction contracts in Iraq go to companies that give generously to the Republican Party.
Now, aren't you ashamed of yourself for thinking there's something wrong with that? Besides, Allbaugh is now with a big-time Washington lobbying firm, where he also represents Shaw Group Inc., and - voila - Shaw Group, too, already has a $100 million emergency contract from FEMA for housing management and construction and a $100 million order from the US Army Corps of Engineers for Katrina repair.
Congress has appropriated $51.8 billion in emergency funding for recovery costs, and it's estimated that the final costs could top $100 billion.
Danielle Brian, executive director of the Project on Government Oversight, told Reuters: "The government has got to stop stacking senior positions with people who are repeatedly cashing in on the public trust in order to further private commercial interests."
Now, Ms. Brian, get a grip. Not all the money goes to big, politically connected firms.
Michael ("You're doing a heckuva job") Brown liked to spread federal money around. In fact, Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.) was so annoyed by Brownie's distribution of largesse in Miami after Hurricane Frances that he urged President Bush to fire Ol' Brownie last January. What upset Wexler about the $30 million in FEMA checks to cover new wardrobes, cars, lawnmowers, vacuum cleaners, furniture and appliances was that the hurricane did not affect Miami. It landed 100 miles away.
Some of you may have heard me observe a time or two - going back to when George W. was still governor of Texas - that the trouble with the guy is that while he is good at politics, he stinks at governance. It bores him, he's not interested, he thinks government is bad to begin with and everything would be done better if it were contracted out to corporations.
We can now safely assert that W. has stacked much of the federal government with people like himself. And what you get when you put people in charge of government who don't believe in government and who are not interested in running it well is ... what happened after Hurricane Katrina.
Many a time in the past six years I have bit my tongue so I wouldn't annoy people with the always obnoxious observation, "I told you so." But I did.
Next time I tell you someone from Texas should not be president of the United States, please pay attention.
==================================================================
Source: TuthOut.org - http://www.truthout.org/docs_2005/091505A.shtml
Gold Hits 17 Year High
9-15-5
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. benchmark gold futures powered to a 17-year high Thursday as concerns about inflation and U.S. economic growth drew safe-haven buying and fund interest into the market, traders and analysts said.
The rally came as gold was in the rare position of breaking from its close inverse relationship with the dollar, which climbed against the euro on Thursday.
December delivery gold on the New York Mercantile Exchange's COMEX division finished at $459.30 an ounce, up $5.60, or 1.2 percent, in a range of $452.40 to $459.70.
The contract bolted higher on aggressive fund buying from the opening bell, hoisting the price for a most-actively traded futures month to the loftiest since June 1988.
The move lifted gold past key resistance at the $458.70 mark, set in December 2004 by the then-benchmark COMEX February gold contract.
Gold, which is often viewed as an inflation hedge by investors, has been bolstered recently by near record-high crude oil and gasoline prices as well as worries about U.S. economic growth after Hurricane Katrina, analysts said.
"People are buying gold because it is now apparent that we are going to see massive inflation," said Leonard Kaplan, president of Prospector Asset Management, in Evanston, Illinois. "Gold is the best hedge for inflation."
"Now you have momentum players and volatility players being attracted into the market," said George Gero, senior vice president at Legg Mason Wood Walker.
COMEX gold in June 1988 rose as high as $470 an ounce, as the market was gradually declining from its all-time high of $870 hit in January 1980.
The next major target that traders say would confirm gold was breaking to higher levels stands at last year's peak of $471 an ounce, set on Dec. 2 by COMEX spot December gold.
Kaplan said he believed gold might be able to extend its rise to perhaps $480, but then, in all likelihood, concerns about the historically high speculative long position in the New York futures market could spark some sort of a sell-off.
Bullion on Thursday hit a 2005 high at $455.60 an ounce in New York trading, coming within $2 of a 17-year peak. A jump above $456.75 would be a high dating back to 1988.
Spot gold fetched $455.10/455.80 versus $449.50/0.20 late Wednesday. The Thursday afternoon London fix was $454.80.
Gold priced in euros, meanwhile, made an all-time high at 373.08 per euro on Thursday.
In other precious metals, COMEX December silver gained 3.3 cents to end at $7.078 an ounce, dealing from $6.985 to $7.14. Spot silver reached $7.01/7.04 versus $6.98/7.01 late Wednesday. It fixed at $7.0275.
NYMEX October platinum hit a one-month high of $923.80 an ounce before closing at $919.70 for a gain of $2.20. Spot platinum last traded at $916/920.
December palladium rose $2.40 to $187.15 an ounce. Spot palladium was quoted at $184/186.
=================================================================
Source: http://rense.com/general67/gold2.htm
9-15-5
NEW YORK (Reuters) - U.S. benchmark gold futures powered to a 17-year high Thursday as concerns about inflation and U.S. economic growth drew safe-haven buying and fund interest into the market, traders and analysts said.
The rally came as gold was in the rare position of breaking from its close inverse relationship with the dollar, which climbed against the euro on Thursday.
December delivery gold on the New York Mercantile Exchange's COMEX division finished at $459.30 an ounce, up $5.60, or 1.2 percent, in a range of $452.40 to $459.70.
The contract bolted higher on aggressive fund buying from the opening bell, hoisting the price for a most-actively traded futures month to the loftiest since June 1988.
The move lifted gold past key resistance at the $458.70 mark, set in December 2004 by the then-benchmark COMEX February gold contract.
Gold, which is often viewed as an inflation hedge by investors, has been bolstered recently by near record-high crude oil and gasoline prices as well as worries about U.S. economic growth after Hurricane Katrina, analysts said.
"People are buying gold because it is now apparent that we are going to see massive inflation," said Leonard Kaplan, president of Prospector Asset Management, in Evanston, Illinois. "Gold is the best hedge for inflation."
"Now you have momentum players and volatility players being attracted into the market," said George Gero, senior vice president at Legg Mason Wood Walker.
COMEX gold in June 1988 rose as high as $470 an ounce, as the market was gradually declining from its all-time high of $870 hit in January 1980.
The next major target that traders say would confirm gold was breaking to higher levels stands at last year's peak of $471 an ounce, set on Dec. 2 by COMEX spot December gold.
Kaplan said he believed gold might be able to extend its rise to perhaps $480, but then, in all likelihood, concerns about the historically high speculative long position in the New York futures market could spark some sort of a sell-off.
Bullion on Thursday hit a 2005 high at $455.60 an ounce in New York trading, coming within $2 of a 17-year peak. A jump above $456.75 would be a high dating back to 1988.
Spot gold fetched $455.10/455.80 versus $449.50/0.20 late Wednesday. The Thursday afternoon London fix was $454.80.
Gold priced in euros, meanwhile, made an all-time high at 373.08 per euro on Thursday.
In other precious metals, COMEX December silver gained 3.3 cents to end at $7.078 an ounce, dealing from $6.985 to $7.14. Spot silver reached $7.01/7.04 versus $6.98/7.01 late Wednesday. It fixed at $7.0275.
NYMEX October platinum hit a one-month high of $923.80 an ounce before closing at $919.70 for a gain of $2.20. Spot platinum last traded at $916/920.
December palladium rose $2.40 to $187.15 an ounce. Spot palladium was quoted at $184/186.
=================================================================
Source: http://rense.com/general67/gold2.htm
