January 09, 2013 By: Juanita Jean Herownself Category: Uncategorized
Welcome to The World's Most Dangerous Beauty Salon, Inc.
My name is Susan DuQuesnay Bankston. I live in Richmond, Texas, in the heart of Tom DeLay's old district. It's nuttier than squirrel poop here.
I am honored and privileged to know Miss Juanita Jean Herownself, hairdresser extraordinary and political maven. Since she does not have time to fiddle with this internet stuff, I type her website for her and you can read it if you want to. If you don't, she truly does not give a big bear's butt.
A lot of what I post here has to do with local politics, but you probably have the same folks in your local government.
This ain't a blog. Blogs are way too trendy for me. This is a professional political organization.
Too bad that Paul Krugman has taken himself out of the running for Treasury Sec.–and I even signed a couple of petitions to put him in that role. Sigh.
This AIG suit has really got people scratching their heads. Can’t wait to hear a ruling on it. I bet it’ll be a classic smackdown.
I will buy economic stability with my coin. Oh, the look on the teabaggers faces, should this come to pass, should be priceless! Do it! Do it!
1Y’all be careful, the weather is lousy for driving and other people aren’t smart. The worst of it looks to be nearer the coast, but the rain gets heavy in Fayette Co and stays so in Wharton, Colorado and Ft Bend.
I couldn’t believe that crap I read about AIG. I guess the terms were too tough because they actually had to pay the money back?? These people have zero shame and unmitigated barely begins to describe their gall!
2AIG – I don’t know if they have a slogan, if not, here are a few suggestions they might consider:
3You’re in bad hands with AIG. Greedy hands too.
Like your worst neighbor, AIG is there.
I’m buying platinum with my platinum coin- if it’s good enough for WeirdRonPaul, I’ll give it a shot.
4I work at AIG. What they are telling us is that a lawsuit has been filed by Starr International, saying that the way the stockholders were dealt with during the bailout is unconstitutional. A court just held that the lawsuit can move forward. AIG is now required to respond to that suit. They have several options, but they must vote on which option to take.
When I first heard this story I reacted like everyone else, but I think this is writ twits doing what they have to do.
And while toting the company line is really not my strong suit, I will tell you that everyone here is very proud of the fact that the government has been paid back AND made money on the deal.
5Today’s take on the coin from the good Doctor:
http://krugman.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/01/08/rage-against-the-coin/?nl=opinion&emc=edit_ty_20130109
6My understanding of “the platinum coin” is that it gets minted. And, kinda deposited in the Federal Bank Account, (so we don’t default on what we owe people) and then after a couple of days….. it gets melted back down.
It’s the best way anybody has come up with….. to keep the Republicans from holding America hostage….. one more time…… on raising the national debt limit.
It’s all legal. It can be done. It should be done, and John Boehner and the Tparty should be told to kiss our collective Blue Butts.
Daily Kos has the most simple explanation of how this is done……. written by the guy who used to mint coins.
We cannot allow these idiots in the Republican Party in the House, or the Senate……. to cause The United States of America to default on what they owe.
The Platinum Coin….. would stop that foolishness.
Mint the damned coin.
7I know I’ve routinely had conversations about “if I got to rule the universe for a day” ideas. Things like term limits, making political pay dependent on performance, making all campaign funds have to donate 20% (or 30%) of those raised funds to the governing body that campaign is for [new revenue stream].
So if you could wave a magic wand and make Nation-wide instant changes…what changes would you want to see to our political structure?
8If we’re going to mint Big Dollar Coins, mint a thousand Billion-Dollar coins so mega-rich like Bill Gates, Warren Buffett, all of the Waltons, and The Koch boys can buy them. Interest free, of course.
9AIG does have to consider its shareholders when deciding whether to join this lawsuit. That is part of their fiduciary responsibility.
However, given where the shareholders would be now if the taxpayers hadn’t bailed out AIG, it’s hard to see how they can argue they were damaged by the bailout regardless of its terms.
10Lynn, one of the things that happened that if you did not own 1000 shares or more your shares disappeared. Now that the company is doing well, the argument can be made that you would have just held on to your 500 shares and now they would be worth something again. I’m not sure about other issues, that is just one that I know about.
11Best explanation on the platinum coin thing…. I’ve seen so far.
Hat Tip to Daily Kos
News, Community, Term . Daily Kos Staff, Front
Daily Kos editorsProfileDiaries (list).Tue Jan 08, 2013 at 08:20 AM PST.
Co-author of platinum coin law weighs in on trillion dollar coin
by kosFollow
for Daily Kos.
Philip Diel ran the U.S. Mint from 1994 until 2000,
and wasn’t just the author of the 50-state quarters, but was also the co-author of the law that authorizes the Mint to issue commemorative coins—the same law that would authorize the Trillion Dollar Coin being discussed as a way to bypass Republican opposition to raising the debt limit. He dropped us an email, spurred on by this diary, to further discuss the idea.
You’ve written the best article I’ve seen yet on the trillion dollar platinum coin idea. [Those kudos are for Letsgetitdone/Joe Firestone– kos.]
I’m the former Mint director and Treasury chief of staff who, with Rep. Mike Castle, wrote the platinum coin law and produced the original coin authorized by the law. Therefore, I’m in a unique position to address some confusion I’ve seen in the media about the $1 trillion platinum coin proposal.
* In minting the $1 trillion platinum coin, the Treasury Secretary would be exercising authority which Congress has granted routinely for more than 220 years. The Secretary’s authority is derived from an Act of Congress (in fact, a GOP Congress) under power expressly granted to Congress in the Constitution (Article 1, Section 8). What is unusual in this case is that the law gives the Secretary discretion regarding all specifications of the coin, including denominations.
* The accounting treatment of the coin is identical to the treatment of all other coins. The Mint strikes the coin, ships it to the Fed, books $1 trillion, and transfers $1 trillion to the treasury’s general fund where it is available to finance government operations just like with proceeds of bond sales or additional tax revenues. The same applies for a quarter dollar.
* Once the debt limit is raised, the Fed ships the coin back to the Mint, the accounting treatment is reversed, and the coin is melted. The coin would never be “issued” or circulated and bonds would not be needed to back the coin.
* There are no negative macroeconomic effects. This works just like additional tax revenue or borrowing under a higher debt limit. In fact, when the debt limit is raised, Treasury would sell more bonds, the $1 trillion dollars would be taken off the books, and the coin would be melted.
* This does not raise the debt limit so it can’t be characterized as circumventing congressional authority over the debt limit. Rather, it delays when the debt limit is reached.
* This preserves congressional authority over the debt limit in a way that reliance on the 14th Amendment would not. It also avoids the protracted court battles the 14th Amendment option would entail and avoids another confrontation with the Roberts Court.
* Any court challenge is likely to be quickly dismissed since (1) authority to mint the coin is firmly rooted in law that itself is grounded in the expressed constitutional powers of Congress, (2) Treasury has routinely exercised this authority since the birth of the republic, and (3) the accounting treatment of the coin is entirely routine.
* Yes, this is an unintended consequence of the platinum coin bill, but how many other pieces of legislation have had unintended consequences? Most, I’d guess.
Philip N. Diehl
35th Director
United States Mint
[Director of the United States Mint and thereafter Diehl executed a dramatic turnaround of the Mint. By the time he left the agency in March 2000, the Mint had convinced Congress to exempt it from all procurement regulations and annual appropriations,[5][6] eliminated nine of ten political patronage positions,[6] and resolved its long-standing financial management weaknesses.[7][8] The Mint also reformed its troubled commemorative coin program[6] and built one of the most successful e-Business sites on the web.[6][9]
12on Tue Jan 08, 2013 at 01:35:31 PM PST
@ Cheryl Ann, the ONLY reason I supported bailing out AIG, GM and the other companies that got TARP assistance was because of people like you. Regular everyday people who were suddenly going to be left without a leg to stand on if their employers all went kaflooie. So how did the shareholders lose on this deal? Why don’t they compare their outcome to the Enron outcome? Bet they will sing a different tune! If the shareholders have a problem they need to take it up with AIG not USA. Maybe they need to review that little disclaimer in the prospectus, you know, the one that says future earnings are not guaranteed by past performance? The investment is not worthless after all; maybe they should pay more attention to AIG’s financial dealings and investments and board activities if they are so concerned about their stake!
13AIG BREAKING NEWS – AIG will not join lawsuit against government: WSJ. AIG are worried about the potential damage to the firm’s reputation if the insurer joined the lawsuit:
14http://www.marketwatch.com/story/aig-will-not-join-lawsuit-against-government-wsj-2013-01-09-14914325?siteid=bnbh
Just got an email notice – AIG board voted to NOT join the Starr lawsuit or to let Starr pursue it in their name.
Please be clear – this lawsuit did NOT start with AIG, it started with Starr.
And yes, thank you for your donations. 🙂 I’m glad its paid back, there was a long time there where I didn’t say where I worked.
15I have come to the conclusion that if AIG were a pseudo celebrity instead of a company, it would be Donald Trump. It just has a special gift for ticking people off.
Remember that old proverb about the scorpion and the fox (sometimes it is a turtle, or a frog, etc)? The one where the scorpion convinces the fox to allow him to ride on his back in order to cross the raging river? At the end of the journey the scorpion stings the fox and when the fox asks why the scorpion responds, as they are both sinking to the bottom of the river, “It’s my nature.”
Yep, sure is.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2013/01/09/aig-bailout-suit/1819709/
“NEW YORK (AP) — Insurance giant AIG is considering whether the company should join a lawsuit against the government, which spent $182 billion to save it from collapse.”
Cheryl Anne is right. If a lawsuit like this is brought and AIG doesn’t “consider” it their board can then be sued by their stockholders for not doing their “fiduciary duty.” That is the last thing they want even if it is BAD optics.
The problem is that the jerks running credit default swaps that took AIG, a host of other companies, the global economy, millions of homeowners and yes workers like Cheryl Anne who didn’t have a darn thing to do with this, to the cleaners got off not just Scott free but with bonuses! The jerk who filed this suit is one of those profiteers who should have gone to jail.
16If I had a trillion dollar coin, I’d pay teachers what they were worth, build amazing schools that taught actual science, math, history, logic and reading comprehension, and hire Bruce Springsteen to play at all the graduations.
Then I would fund the political careers of my most promising graduates.
17Thank God AIG is not joining the lawsuit. It would be a major blunder especially after all that hoopla with the AIG ads thanking the American people for bailing them out.
18Realizing all of you have probably moved on (I’m a couple of days behind on my reading) this still seems like a good place to post this. I was trying to explain the debt ceiling and platinum coin scenario to my 16 year old son. He routinely watches Daily Show and Colbert, we talk politics all the time, he’s bright and a history buff. As I was talking (with my explaination) his expression was priceless. He was convinced I was crazy. Then that our gov’t is crazy. I think he thought the coin thing may be the part that makes the most sense. The idea that our govt can be brought to a standstill over an imaginary line that congress created and made a legal issue and has total control over that they’ve been raising with no fuss over several administrations – well, the look on his face was hilarious!
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