Everyone has a hidden agenda/Bank/Politics/Business/Countries particulaly when trillions are being handed out--perhaps even the author of this piece.
I posted this on the GFC thread and relevant here.
Associate Professor, William K. Black Criticizes the Bailout Plan --
Might Destroy the Obama Presidency
A giant fraud.
Instead of arresting the bankers they are giving them money.
The greatest looting of the American people in history and it will destoy the Obama presidency if it continues.
Baiing out favoured rich shareholders and bankers for no good and the American people will be incredibly outraged when they get the facts.
LOS ANGELES (MarketWatch) -- President Barack Obama is expected to tap Fannie Mae Chief Executive Herb Allison to head the government's $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, The Wall Street Journal reported late Monday, citing people familiar with the matter. Obama could announce his intention to nominate Allison as assistant secretary for the Office of Financial Stability as early as this week, the report said. He would replace Bush-appointee Neel Kashkari, who was asked by Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner to stay on until a replacement was found
http://moneyfeatures.blogs.money.cnn.com/2009/05/18/obamas-favorite-mutual-fund/
There’s an old bit of investment advice: If you don’t have a lot of money, you invest to build your assets. If you already have a lot of money, you invest to protect them. Well, it’s the second part of that statement that applies to our president. Judging from the report, he and his immediate family had investments and savings, as of year-end 2008, of at least $1.4 million and as much as $5.9 million. (Sorry about the imprecision there; blame the report’s format for the wide range of valuations.) And, boy, is his portfolio safe and liquid. His biggest holding, by far, is his stake in U.S. Treasury bills–somewhere between $1.05 million and $5.1 million. The next biggest chunk is the $100,000 to $250,000 that Barack and Michelle have in their joint checking account. Face it: When either of them uses a debit card to gas up the limo at the 7-11, they don’t have to worry about those pesky overdraft fees.
The president isn’t really into stock-picking. He and the First Lady used to own a few different equity mutual funds; now he owns only one, and it’s an index fund: the Vanguard FTSE Social Index fund (VFTSX). President & Mrs. Obama have somewhere between $115,00 and $250,000 in the fund, spread out among three different retirement accounts. And they’ve suffered like everyone else: The fund has a total return of negative 39% over the past year, slightly worse than that of the S&P 500. Michelle used to have big holdings in the actively-managed Vanguard Wellesley Income (VWINX) and Vanguard Wellington (VWELX) funds, but she apparently got rid of them last year.
Face it, when you’re President of the United States, your investment objectives and criteria are not like your next-door neighbor’s (if indeed you have any neighbors). As much as Obama might be concerned about protecting his wealth–and maybe he isn’t, since he’ll have a nice pension and plenty of opportunities to make money in retirement–he’s got to worry more about how his investments look to other people, and what those investments say about him. That’s what they euphemize in financial circles as the “optics” of the situation.
On that basis, the optics of Obama’s investments look pretty good. By investing in an index fund, he’s not making an active bet on a particular company (though he does end up making big bets, for better or worse, on particular industries: The Social Index fund has about 26% of its investments in financial stocks, 27% in information technology, and another 30% in either health care or consumer discretionary). That lone mutual fund invests nearly all its money in U.S. stocks, and it screens companies on the basis of their policies and performance relative to the environment, human rights, sweatshops, bribery and other social issues. Who’s going to argue with that? And think about it: With so much of Obama’s money in Treasury bills and cash, he’s making a big bet on the performance of the U.S. economy and the U.S. dollar. It’s like with any money manager: When he’s playing with your money, you want him to have a lot of his own assets at risk, too.
http://money.cnn.com/2009/05/15/news/economy/obama-stocks/index.htm
The vast majority of his mutual fund holdings are in the Vanguard FTSE Social Index fund (VFTSX), with a range of between $115,000 and $250,000.
According to the Vanguard site, the fund consists of mostly U.S. large and mid-sized companies that meet certain social and environmental criteria. The index tracks the performance of the FTSE4Good US Select.
The fund’s Top 10 holdings, according to the Vanguard site are:
JP Morgan Chase (JPM, Fortune 500)
Apple (AAPL, Fortune 500)
Google (GOOG, Fortune 500)
Intel (INTC, Fortune 500)
Qualcomm (QCOM, Fortune 500)
McDonald’s (MCD, Fortune 500)
Bank of America (BAC, Fortune 500)
Amgen (AMGN, Fortune 500)
CVS Caremark (CVS, Fortune 500)
Gilead (GILD, Fortune 500)
obamas assets lodgement document: http://www.whitehouse.gov/assets/documents/president_278_final.pdf
””””””-
jpm, aapl, goog, intel, maccas and boa are typical holdings..more interested in the other 4
QCOM: A wireless telecommunications research and development company based in San Diego, California.
Qualcomm is the inventor of CDMAone (IS-95), CDMA 2000, and CDMA 1xEV-DO, which are wireless cellular standards used for communications. The company also owns significant number of key patents on the widely adopted 3G technology, W-CDMA. The license streams from the patents on these inventions, and related products are a major component of Qualcomm’s business.
AMGN: Is an international biotechnology company headquartered in Thousand Oaks, California.
Its products include Epogen, Aranesp, Enbrel, Kineret, Neulasta, Neupogen, Sensipar / Mimpara and Nplate. Epogen and Neupogen (the company’s first products on the market) were the two most successful biopharmaceutical products at the time of their respective releases.
CVS: Is an integrated pharmacy services provider, combining a United States pharmaceutical services company with a U.S. pharmacy chain.
CVS/pharmacy is the nation’s largest retail pharmacy chain, with approximately 6,800 stores across 41 states.
GILD: Is a biopharmaceutical company that discovers, develops and commercializes therapeutics to advance the care of patients suffering from life-threatening diseases.
For many years since the company was founded, the company concentrated primarily on antiviral drugs to treat patients infected with HIV, hepatitis B or influenza.
In January 1997, Donald Rumsfeld, a Board member since 1988, was appointed Chairman of the company. He stood down from the Board in January 2001 when appointed Secretary of Defense at the start of George W. Bush’s first term as President. Federal disclosure forms indicate that Rumsfeld owns between USD$5 million and USD$25 million in Gilead stock. The rise in Gilead’s share prices from USD$35 to USD$57 per share will have added between USD$2.5 million to USD$15.5 million to Rumsfeld’s net worth.
In November 2005, George W. Bush urged Congress to pass $7.1 billion in emergency funding to prepare for the possible bird flu pandemic, of which one billion is solely dedicated to the purchase, and distribution of Tamiflu.
seeker401so there it is..you would have to seriously consider looking at any company or fund obama is into..for the obvious reasons..he knows where the money is going..doesnt he?
401
________________________________________
From: David Plouffe, BarackObama.com [mailto:info@barackobama.com]
Sent: Saturday, 23 May 2009 6:56 AM
To: Doris *******
Subject: June 6th: It all begins
Remember this date: Saturday, June 6th, 2009. We will look back on that day as the moment when the fight for real health care reform began in your neighborhood -- perhaps even in your own living room.
On June 6th, in thousands of homes across the country, we'll gather to launch our grassroots campaign for health care. We'll watch a special message from the President. We'll build the teams and draw up the plans for winning health care reform the same way we won the election: Building support one block, one neighbor, one conversation at a time. And we'll put those plans into action.
These kickoffs are so crucial that President Obama will join confirmed hosts and attendees on a live conference call.
After the election, people gathered at over 9,000 meetings across every state to set priorities for health care reform. Our voices were heard. Now the race is on to make sure Congress produces a plan that reflects the President's call for reduced costs, guaranteed choice, and quality care for all.
To make that happen, we need to build a groundswell of support in every district and every state, and we have no time to lose. All summer we'll be reaching out to our neighbors, knocking on doors, serving in our communities, and building a grassroots network strong enough to win.
These gatherings on June 6th are just the beginning of a battle between those who fought and believe in change and those who would protect a broken status quo. The stakes for our country could not be greater.
Some call this strategy pie-in-the-sky. They say we'll never have enough volunteers to make a real impact; that you need insiders and Washington lobbyists to make a difference. But you and I know firsthand how wrong they are. Starting June 6th, it's once again time to show this country how bottom-up change is done.
Please sign up today to host or attend a kickoff near you.
http://my.barackobama.com/HCkickoff
These kickoffs will be both effective and fun. You'll meet like minded supporters in your neighborhood, share stories, enjoy good company and a shared mission, and know that no matter what this effort requires of us, if we work together we'll be ready to face it and persevere.
I look forward to joining you and the President to chart our course.
David Plouffe
Organizing for America
P.S. -- This week, President Obama asked us to send in our personal health care stories. Hundreds of thousands of people have already responded, and the stories are simply incredible. Here are just few that help remind us what we're fighting for:
I am a single parent and have lost my teaching job effective in June. I'm scared to death because my son has a serious pre-existing condition (Neurofibromatosis) and can't go without medical insurance. However, my employer has just informed me that continuing my family coverage under COBRA will cost $1,400.00 a month! That's a house payment for me. Or three times my car payment! How can I keep my family covered without going under financially?
--Cathy
Apple Valley, Minnesota
Since I lost my job in 2006, I have had no health insurance. After paying for insurance through my employer for 30 years, I have no major medical. But now that I am approaching 60, I may need insurance more than ever. I have not had a mammogram for three years because it would be too stressful to find anything suspicious. Risky but true.
--Kathy
Macon, Georgia
My husband isn't getting enough hours at his job to qualify for health insurance so we have been looking around for a provider. He has a pre-existing health condition (non-epileptic seizures) and he is being denied left and right. We don't make a lot of money, about $23,000/year and we can't afford to not have insurance, in case he needs to go to the doctor. And it looks like we can't afford to have it either. We are stuck.
--Amanda
Pasadena, California
Paid for by Organizing for America, a project of the Democratic National Committee
-- 430 South Capitol Street SE, Washington, D.C. 20003.
This communication is not authorized by any candidate or candidate's committee.
Interesting weight in pharmaceutical stocks Metric, considering the huge population currently unable to buy them!
This email reminds me of Swan's budget, in quoting voters he'd listened to... using Obama's strategy.
The grassroots organisation skills used in Chicago, the nomination and election campaigns, continue to involve people in feeling they have a say and thus can make a difference with inadequacies of their governance.
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601109&sid=ad3g0wmJFaZQ&refer=homeBond Vigilantes Confront Obama as Housing Falters (Update3)
By Liz Capo McCormick and Daniel Kruger
May 29 (Bloomberg) -- They’re back.
For the first time since another Democrat occupied the White House, investors from Beijing to Zurich are challenging a president’s attempts to revive the economy with record deficit spending. Fifteen years after forcing Bill Clinton to abandon his own stimulus plans, the so-called bond vigilantes are punishing Barack Obama for quadrupling the budget shortfall to $1.85 trillion. By driving up yields on U.S. debt, they are also threatening to derail Federal Reserve Chairman Ben S. Bernanke’s efforts to cut borrowing costs for businesses and consumers.
The 1.4-percentage-point rise in 10-year Treasury yields this year pushed interest rates on 30-year fixed mortgages to above 5 percent for the first time since before Bernanke announced on March 18 that the central bank would start printing money to buy financial assets. Treasuries have lost 5.1 percent in their worst annual start since Merrill Lynch & Co. began its Treasury Master Index in 1977.
“The bond-market vigilantes are up in arms over the outlook for the federal deficit,” said Edward Yardeni, who coined the term in 1984 to describe investors who protest monetary or fiscal policies they consider inflationary by selling bonds. He now heads Yardeni Research Inc. in Great Neck, New York. “Ten trillion dollars over the next 10 years is just an indication that Washington is really out of control and that there is no fiscal discipline whatsoever.”
Doris,
You should read some of Theodore Dalrymple.
His take on this would be that the Nomenklatura, the political class, alone rule, and eventually have everyone tapped.
Their opinions are then used not to increase the happiness or wealth of the nation but to keep the politicians in power.
Thus in a way their opinions are used against them, their jobs are converted to government/ union / dependent on government/ ones and thus they and they alone ( The political class ) know what is best for the people.
The Nomenklatura, as in the old Eastern Bloc.
gg
Some advocate for democracy only when they are out of power.
Once in power they are ruthless in suppressing the rights of others.
* Without these ingredients elections do not make a democracy:
- place interests of the people and the political process above your party
- government of the people by the people... by consent not coercion.
- ability to speak your mind and have a say in how you are governed
- government that is transparent and does not steal from the people
- freedom to live as you choose.
* not just American ideas... They are human rights and this is why we will support them everywhere.
* Choose progress over a self-defeating focus on the past
'We can only achieve it together'.
One rule at the heart of every religion: Do unto others as we would have them do unto us. God's vision.
It's politics. Kiss, smile and tell them what they want basic qualities. The best of the bunch to sway the world to a lesser prognosis of nuclear apocalypse is fine. I like Obama he is a skilled orator, intelligent, affiable. He has his misgivings like all of us. But hey, the other choice would have seen a bomb go off by now.
But then George bush gave some memorable ones as well
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