Bernie Sanders uncovers the capitalist economy cooking the books again, and people are surprised?

Bernie Sanders:

U.S. senator's leak of oil trading information sparks concern

CFTC, Wall Street upset by leak of private oil data

WASHINGTON — Oil trading data that exposed the extensive positions speculators held in the run-up to record high prices in 2008 were intentionally leaked by a U.S. senator, sparking broader concern about industry confidentiality as Congress moves on Wall Street reform.

Senator Bernie Sanders, a staunch critic of oil speculators, leaked the information to a major newspaper in a move that has unsettled both regulators and Wall Street alike.

In a June 16 e-mail reviewed by Reuters, a senior policy adviser to Sanders discusses how his office received private data with the names and positions of traders and forwarded it exclusively to a Wall Street Journal reporter.

The e-mail, which also attaches two files with the data, was sent to Public Citizen’s Tyson Slocum asking him to review it and speak with the newspaper about his observations.

In a statement from Sanders provided to Reuters, Sanders said he felt the data needed to be publicly aired.

“The CFTC has kept this information hidden from the American public for nearly three years,” he said. “This is an outrage. The American people have a right to know exactly who caused gas prices to skyrocket in 2008 and who is causing them to spike today.”

The leaked information has sparked concern at the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, which is legally prohibited from releasing confidential information that identifies trader positions and identities.

The leak also raises broader questions as U.S. regulators gear up to collect massive new amounts of private data from market players on everything from swaps and hedge funds to blueprints for how large financial firms can be liquidated. The breach of data could make Wall Street less reluctant to hand over sensitive information if they fear it is not appropriately safeguarded.

“This type of incident will have a chilling effect on derivatives trading in the U.S. because market participants will be reluctant to take the risk that their positions will be exposed to the public-and their competitors,” John Damgard, president of the Futures Industry Association, said in a statement sent to Reuters.

Republicans have already raised concerns in recent hearings about the Treasury’s new Office of Financial Research created by Dodd-Frank, and whether its collection of data from hedge funds and banks may constitute a regulatory overreach.

Although the CFTC is barred from releasing confidential data, the law does require the CFTC to hand over such information if a Congressional committee acting within its proper authority requests it. Once it is in the hands of Congress, there is nothing to prevent lawmakers from releasing it publicly.

The leaked data contains long and short positions held by oil traders in 2008, the same year that oil prices spiked to $147 a barrel. Critics at the time accused oil speculators of driving up prices, leading lawmakers to later insert a provision into the Dodd-Frank Wall Street overhaul law compelling the CFTC to place stricter limits on how many commodity contracts any one trader can control.

Among the kinds of traders accused of excessive speculation included passive long investors such as pension funds, which often seek exposure to commodities markets indirectly by going through an intermediary swap dealer such as such as Goldman Sachs and Morgan Stanley.

The data that was leaked to the Wall Street Journal was compiled by the CFTC in 2008 during a “special call” in which the agency sought crude oil position data from swap dealers so they could piece together market activity occurring both on and off the exchange, people familiar with the matter said.

The CFTC first became aware of the breach of the data after a staffer from Sanders’ office sent the agency an e-mail with the information and asked the CFTC’s chief economist to discuss it more.

The agency began exploring internally whether or not any staffers were responsible for the leak, and concluded that no CFTC employees were involved, according to people familiar with the matter.

It is unclear exactly how Sanders acquired the private information, and a spokesman declined to say.

But people familiar with the matter say the data later obtained by Sanders was first formally requested by the U.S. House Energy Committee. From there it somehow migrated over to the U.S. Senate.

© Copyright (c) The Calgary Herald


Read more: http://www.calgaryherald.com/business/senator+leak+trading+information+sparks+concern/5276858/story.html#ixzz1VVbXvUy2

I belly laugh when I hear Obama's a Socialist

The Fiscal Times:  Obama: The Covert Conservative Liberals Have to Love

In a recent column, I argued that Barack Obama has in practice governed as a moderate conservative. Right wingers were, of course, incredulous, and insisted that he is a far left socialist no matter how thin the evidence. The truth is that Obama has always been moderately conservative – a fact that has been obvious to liberals dating back to the beginning of the 2008 campaign. It would be clear to conservatives as well if they weren’t so blinded by their partisanship and occasionally got their news from an unbiased source.

It’s not now remembered, but when Obama initially ran for president he wasn’t the preferred candidate of even the traditionally liberal African-American community. Many remembered Bill Clinton as their friend and someone whose economic policies reduced the black unemployment rate to its lowest level in recent memory – less than half of what it is today. Consequently, many African-Americans were initially inclined to support Hillary Clinton for the presidential nomination, not Obama.

Many blacks were also disturbed by Obama’s biracial heritage and wondered whether he was “black enough.” Al Sharpton accused Obama of “grandstanding in front of white people” when he urged nonviolence in the wake of a racially charged court verdict. Jesse Jackson said that Obama talked down to black people when he said that they bear some responsibility for their condition, and Andrew Young joked that Bill Clinton had probably dated more black women than Obama had.

White liberals were no less concerned about Obama’s persistent deviations from their dogma. On June 25, 2008, Sen. Russ Feingold criticized him for supporting legislation giving telephone companies immunity for permitting government surveillance in national security cases, as well as for opting out of federal campaign funds, thereby undermining liberal support for campaign finance reform.

On June 30, 2008, Arianna Huffington assailed Obama for abandoning his base, saying it was politically counterproductive. “When Obama kneecaps his own rhetoric and dilutes his positioning as a different kind of politician, he is also giving his opponents a huge opening to reassert the McCain as Maverick brand,” she complained.

The next day, Markos Moulitsas, founder of the widely-read Daily Kos web site, penned a bitter attack on Obama for betraying liberals, taking swipes at left-wing groups and other offenses. “There is a line between ‘moving to the center’ and stabbing your allies in the back out of fear of being criticized,” Moulitsas said. “And, of late, he’s been doing a lot of unnecessary stabbing, betraying his claims of being a new kind of politician.”

On July 13, 2008, the New York Times published an article quoting a number of liberal activists who were deeply disappointed that Obama was giving short shrift to their issues. The article was entitled, “Obama Supporters on the Far Left Cry Foul.”

Simultaneously, some conservatives began warming to Obama. In a July 15, 2008, column, James Taranto of the Wall Street Journal editorial page praised his moderate views on race, calling Obama the Mikhail Gorbachev of the civil rights movement.

Fareed Zakaria, in a July 18, 2008, column for Newsweek, praised Obama for his foreign policy realism. “What emerges is a world view that is far from that of a typical liberal, much closer to that of a traditional realist,” he wrote. “It is interesting to note that, at least in terms of the historical schools of foreign policy, Obama seems to be the cool conservative and McCain the exuberant idealist.”

Even arch supply-sider Larry Kudlow professed admiration for Obama’s pragmatism when he wrote, “Lo and behold, Team Obama is moving toward the supply-side and pivoting toward the political center on key aspects of its tax policy.” He was impressed that Obama had promised not to raise the tax rate on capital gains any higher than 20 percent, a promise he has kept.

Soon, a large number of prominent Republicans and conservative intellectuals were publicly endorsing Obama. Following is a short list:

Ken Duberstein, Ronald Reagan’s White House chief of staff;

Charles Fried, Reagan’s Solicitor General;

Ken Adelman, director of the Arms Control and Disarmament Agency for Reagan;

Colin Powell, Secretary of State under George W. Bush;

Scott McClellan, Bush’s press secretary;

And Jeffrey Hart, former senior editor at National Review magazine and speechwriter for Reagan and Richard Nixon;

Radio talker Rush Limbaugh was so alarmed by conservative defections to Obama that he read the riot act to his “ditto heads.” He said it was “maddening” that Obama “is moving right” and sounding as conservative on many things as McCain. To counter these inroads among conservatives, Limbaugh handed down his marching orders: “We have to portray this guy as inexperienced, far leftist, despite what he’s saying about moving to the center.”

According to exit polls, Obama ended up with 20 percent of the conservative vote in 2008.

After the election, many conservatives who thought that Obama’s centrism was a campaign ploy were shocked when he followed through with appointees that could – and often did – hold positions in Republican administrations. Looking at Obama’s national security team, foreign policy hawk Max Boot professed himself “gobsmacked.” Most of them, he admitted, “could just as easily have come from a President McCain.” On economic policy, many conservatives expressed comfort with Obama advisers Paul Volcker, Larry Summers, Austan Goolsbee, and Jason Furman.

Fred Barnes of the right-wing Weekly Standard spoke for many conservatives when on December 8, 2008, he said: “It’s not that Obama, despite his unswervingly liberal record in the Senate, turns out to be a pragmatist. The point is he’s pragmatic (so far) in one direction – rightward. Who knew?”

Even Jennifer Rubin, now the resident right-winger at the Washington Post, wrote on January 5, 2009, “So far it’s hard to imagine McCain would have been doing more than the incoming Obama team seems to be proposing…to further some key center-Right policy aims.”

No doubt, many of these conservatives would say today that they are disappointed that Obama didn’t follow through on his centrist promise. Nevertheless, it’s clear that Obama’s conservatism, which I believe is fully evident in his policies as president, has long been there to see by those willing to be honest with themselves.

Another strike against the American People

Bernie Sanders goes highlights the attack on the American People with the debt "agreement":

Another round of class warfare from the top down

From Canadian Business:

JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — The two Republicans running for lieutenant governor say people receiving welfare or unemployment benefits in Mississippi should be subject to drug testing.

The proposal is part of a policy agenda that one of the candidates, state Sen. Billy Hewes, unveiled Wednesday during a news conference in the state Capitol.

His opponent in the Aug. 2 primary, state Treasurer Tate Reeves, said in a separate interview that he agrees with drug testing for people on public assistance. Reeves questioned why Hewes hasn't already pushed it into law, since Hewes has been in the Legislature 20 years.

"Has he filed a bill to do that?" Reeves asked.

The legislative website shows that Hewes did file such a bill this year, and that it died in the Senate Public Health and Welfare Committee.

Hewes said he also wants to repeal the state inventory tax, strengthen vocational training in high schools, consolidate administrative functions for state agencies, order audits of state consulting contracts and require more disclosure about contracts for private attorneys who handle lawsuits on behalf of the state.

Reeves said his priority would be job creation.

"I don't believe government creates jobs," Reeves said. "Government simply creates the environment which encourages the private sector to invest capital and create jobs."

Reeves said he also wants to eliminate the inventory tax but over time. Doing so immediately, he said, could hurt local governments that rely on the revenue. He said he also wants to increase educational attainment in Mississippi and streamline state government by reducing the number of publicly-owned or leased vehicles and cell phones. Reeves said he agrees with requiring more disclosure about public contracts for private attorneys.

Hewes and Reeves both said they'd push for a "Caylee's Law," requiring parents or grandparents to promptly report missing or dead children. Legislators in several states say they'll push for such laws to honor Caylee Anthony, a toddler slain in Florida.

Reeves questioned the timing of Hewes' releasing a list of policy proposals.

"After 20 years in the Legislature and with only 13 days to go in this campaign, I wonder why my opponent is just now bringing up some of these ideas," Reeves said.

The drug testing proposal is not unique to Mississippi. Other states, including Florida and Missouri, enacted laws this year requiring drug testing for people on public assistance.

The Florida law requires people applying for welfare to pay for their own drug testing. If they pass, they're reimbursed. If they fail the test, they can't receive public assistance for at least a year. The Missouri law requires testing if there's reasonable cause to suspect a welfare recipient is using illegal drugs.

Hewes responded to questions Wednesday about whether he'd require drug testing only for low-income people on public assistance or if he'd also propose it for executives of companies receiving tax breaks or other incentives to bring jobs to Mississippi.

"I think if we're going to do drug testing at one level, we should have it at all. If you're receiving any sort of assistance from the state, it ought to be across the board," Hewes said.

Then, after more detailed questions, Hewes said his drug testing proposal would only be for people receiving welfare or unemployment benefits. He also said he would not kick children off Medicaid, for example, if a parent tests positive for illegal drug use.

"You can't fault the kids for what the parents are doing," Hewes said.

Janis Lane, a Hewes supporter who attended the news conference, said people who work for private companies are often subject to random drug testing and she believes it's fair to put the same requirement on those receiving public aid. Lane, 63, is retired from a telephone company and is president of the Central Mississippi Tea Party.

"I don't spend my money on drugs, and I don't think anyone should because I think we should have clear minds so that we can make reasonable decisions and we can conduct our business appropriately," Lane said. "With drugs, you're taking away from your children, and that money could be used more wisely, being spent on your children."

The lieutenant governor's race will be decided, for all practical purposes, in the Republican primary. No Democrat is running. A Reform Party candidate is expected to be on the Nov. 8 ballot, but the Reform Party has no history of winning elections in the state.

The current lieutenant governor, Republican Phil Bryant, is running for governor this year.

The lieutenant governor presides over the 52-member state Senate, appoints Senate committee chairmen and assigns bills to committees.

Hewes, 49, of Gulfport, is in the insurance business and has been a state senator the past 20 years. Reeves, 37, of Flowood, has been state treasurer for the past eight years.