Walter Cronkite

Walter Cronkite [November 4, 1916 – July 17, 2009],

He was the first TV News Anchorman for CBS and led them to the #1 rating over NBC in the early 1960's. But the joke among some young people, by the 1970's, went like this:

Walter Cronkite told me that if I voted with the GOP my vote would destroy social security, result in race riots on the streets of America, and involve the USA in a massive war in Asia.

I should have listened to Uncle Walter...I voted GOP and sure enough Lyndon Johnson did all of those things.

Those who have taken the time to read Walter Cronkite's written words since he was replaced at CBS now realize that he was indeed just a talking head [empty?] reading lines written by anonymous others.

Cronkite began his career as a disc jockey on WKY radio after being forced to withdraw from The University of Texas after four semesters of study. He traveled to several other AM radio stations as a sports reporter. He finally became a TV reporter in Washington, DC with WTOP in 1950 and because of his booming, officious voice and College Professor like looks was able to work his way up the TV glamour ladder.

But in later years he revealed that he had little insight into the events which swirled around him. He obviously supported Lyndon Johnson for President in 1964 and had no problem with Johnson's lies about Vietnam or other subjects. But Johnson lost Cronkite's support when he announced in 1968 that, unlike Harry Truman in 1952, he would seek a second full term. Evidently Cronkite felt as though Johnson had broken a deal in which Johnson would be a caretaker President until Robert Kennedy was ready to run for the office.

Cronkite then staged a mock visit to Vietnam during which he expressed shock at the lies he had been reporting all the years he supported Johnson. Cronkite blamed Johnson. But because Cronkite was seen by millions every night he assumed that he understood the American people. He never guessed that by derailing Johnson he had set the stage for a man he truly hated, Richard Nixon.

In later years Cronkite noted that the smartest man he ever met was Jimmy Carter. He noted that communism was a good system and he upraided John Kerry for not being Liberal enough. The saddest thing is that because he performed in front of millions he thought he knew the heart and soul of the American people. In reality we knew him but he never knew us.

Bailout Boondoggle Part II

The Face of the 2008 economic bailout belongs to Henry Paulson. He singlehandedly informed the world that the mortgage crisis in US publicly created Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac Corporations threatened the entire worldwide banking system.

Last week in testimony before the House Government Oversight Committee [chaired by the prominent NY member of the Black Caucus, Edolphus Towns], Paulson revealed that he had pressured Bank of America into its merger with Merrill Lynch. Mr. Paulson went on to defend the fact that he had secretly broken the intent of the TARP emergency legislation ten days after it was signed into law by George Bush... because he had to.

So it may be timely to look at the bio of Henry Paulson. A former Chairman of Goldman Sachs, Paulson joined a trio of former Sachs CEOs who became prominent politicians [Stephen Friedman was Chief Economic advisor to George Bush, Robert Rubin was Treasury Secretary for Bill Clinton, Jon Corzine used his millions to become US Senator and then Governor of New Jersey].

Paulson was reportedly an English Literature major at Dartmouth College. After College he joined the Nixon Administration and served as asisstant to John Ehrlichman during the Watergate investigation. He joined Goldman Sachs in 1974 shortly before his mentor was convicted and imprisoned for perjury, obstruction of justice, and conspiracy. Ehrlichman and Paulson were both Eagle Scouts and members of the Christian Scientist Church.

After joining Goldman Sachs, Paulson worked his way through several administrative posts until he finally rose to the position of CEO. It is noteworthy that the two previous CEOs at Sachs were Democrats during Democratic Party control of the Senate, House, and White House. Then when the GOP controlled the legislative and executive banches, Sachs elevated their Republican staffers to the CEO position.

Cynics who have watched several of Paulson's public appearances note that he is not a dynamic speaker and that he punctuates his congressional testimony with blustery self aggrandizement. He rationalizes his seemingly illegal actions as necessary to save the monetary system. But others wonder if he was saving the investments of friends...especially those in the foreign community.

By forcing AIG to honor the fraudulent insurance claims of Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac and doing the same with Bank of America and Merril Lynch some observers believe that Paulson was saving the investments of Chinese banking interests. It is suspected that Paulson has undisclosed investments in China as observers note that it has been reported that Paulson has visited China over seventy times in recent years.

If Paulson is guilty of what Conservative Congressman are suggesting he may well follow in the foot steps of his first political mentor, John Ehrlichman. It might be unlikely, though, since chairman Towns seems more interested in getting to the truth than in prosecution of members of the other party. But if the truth leads to criminality by Paulson, then he may yet be prosecuted.

Conservative Radio host and Fox News analyst Glen Beck has described Paulson's actions as similar to a liquor store heist of the US Treasury.

AIG Bailout Boondoggle

The term "Bondoggle" was first coined in the 1930's to describe government projects that had no real purpose other than spending money.


Today's definition is as follows:

a project funded by the federal government out of political favoritism that is of no real value to the community or the nation.
–verb (used with object)
4. to deceive or attempt to deceive: to boondoggle investors....



The term"Bailout" was originally coined to describe the proces of escaping a plane crash in the 1950's.



Today's definition has evolved to the following:



an instance of coming to the rescue, esp. financially: a government bailout of a large company. [Dictionary.com]



But the AIG "Bailout Boondoggle" is developing into something of a novelists dream. As of today both the Federal Reserve Board and the Treasury Department along with the Federally appointed oversight Board of Directors of AIG, collectively refuse to give precise details regarding the bailout.



Then AIG in congressional testimony revealed that they were not insolvent at the time of the bailout and did not need a bailout. AIG revealed that they took the position that traditional insurance policy clauses in their policies buffered them from fraudulent acts by the lenders and borrowers of the failed mortgages.



That is, the loans that went bad from FREDDIE MAC, FANNIE MAE, Citigroup, Merril Lynch among dozens of others were given insurance by the giant insurer as a result of fraudulent misrepresentations made by the lenders and/or were given as a result of statements by the borrowers that the lenders knew or should have known were fraudulent.



However, Federal Treasury authorities along with members of the New York Federal Reserve Bank alledgedly told AIG that if the giant insurer did not assert its rights to relief due to fraud the FEDS would bail them out financially.



Now an unusual coalition of Congressional Conservative Republicans and prominent members of the Black Congressional Caucus are committed to forcing the bipartisan group of financial managers to reveal all of the AIG financial figures.



Recently the Wall Street Journal reported that from a leaked document they learned that US Funds funneled through AIG went to a list of prominent US and International Financial Institutions including the following:



Goldman Sachs Group Inc, Deutsche Bank AG, Merrill Lynch, Societe Generale, Calyon, Barclays Plc, Rabobank, Danske, HSBC, Royal Bank of Scotland, Banco Santander, Morgan Stanley, Wachovia, Bank of America, and Lloyds Banking Group. [Reuters]



Senator Christopher Dodd, the Democrat who chairs the Senate Banking Committee said, "The lack of transparency and accountability in this process has been rather stunning." [Reuters]



In my opinion it appears as though a cabal of financial players have grabbed control of large portions of the countries money and banking system. It appears as though they are both Republican and Democrat in political orientation. They are cloaking their actions as necessary to "save the system". But so far they are refusing to name which of their friends benefited from the "bailout" funds given to AIG and it looks very fishy.



It certainly would have been more transparent if the Fed had simply allowed AIG to assert its right to refuse to honor fraudulent insurance claims and save the individual banks from the fraudulent claims made by Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae.



But that may be the exact reason they did it this way...as a means of hiding what really happened and who is actually being saved.